Disclaimer: I like 'Nubis, I like Sekhmet, I don't own an-y-thi-ng… la la la la…
Rowen's Obsession
Chapter Two – Enter 'Chaos', stage left
An annoying pattern kept hitting poor, nearly catatonic Cye's face as he lay on the picnic tables outside the school, still snoring away. What was it? He really didn't care, and just kept on sleeping through it.
That is, he did until a bolt of lightning nearly took his head off.
"YAAAAAAAAH!"
___
Sage sat hunched over the wheel of his convertible, trying to resist the ever-growing urge to strangle Kento, who was singing 'I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves', and had been singing it (off key, no less) for the past two hours. God damn all traffic jams. Why the hell did the stupid truck driver feel the need to jackknife another car and cause a massive pileup right on the main highway to Toyama?! Of course, it was all a plot against him, though…
"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves…"
The blonde's face began to turn red with rage. Was the ever-patient Sage beginning to actually lose it? The infernal singing continued. Finally, Sage whirled around in his seat and grabbed the front of Kento's shirt in a very violent and non-friendly manner. "Shut up. Or I'll drive your head through the leather top of this car, and you can stay that way for the rest of the drive. Am I understood?" Sage hissed, his eyes blazing.
Ryo, who was in the passenger seat, stared wide-eyed at Sage and Kento. Man, this whole Rowen mess was getting waaaaaay out of control… he'd be happy when it was all back to normal. As Kento and Sage had a little spat, he turned on the radio to a local news channel and sat back in his seat, only half-listening as he tried to ignore the Kento/Sage mini-brawl.
"…The tractor-trailer accident on the Toyama Highway was apparently caused by four slightly sadistic men in strange clothing wielding large ancient weapons. When we, TRS, exclusively interviewed one, he said only this: 'We were bored, it was something to do. Ha, ha, ha.' Oddly enough, the man had green hair. Back to you, John!"
The three ronins froze and stared at the radio; Sage trying to strangle Kento, Kento trying to breath and pull out a crowbar from the back of Sage's car, and Ryo cringing away from the two others. They looked at each other. Then back at the radio. Then at each other.
"Well damn," Kento finally said, then laughed, but was cut off by Sage's hands tightening on his throat. "Those stupid bastards… they shall pay…"
Ryo gently pried Sage's hands from Kento's neck, and then gestured to the road. "Hey, look, Sage… the emergency crew and tow trucks are finally here. We'll be moving soon!"
The radio buzzed again. "…and the delay on the Toyama Highway is expected to last at least three more hours. In other news, a heavy lightning storm is headed towards the suburbs of Toyama…"
"I hate you, Rowen. I hate you so much."
___
With the other ronins stuck in traffic or caught out in the rain, our very own Rowen Hashiba was free to do as he pleased. And, of course, that involved just one thing: "Total Destruction, Massive Graphic Violence, Fuzzy Animals and Armageddon". The sacred game. The very meaning of his core existence.
Other than jelly donuts, of course.
But, at the moment, Rowen was completely at peace. He had a box of jelly donuts the size of a file cabinet, he had his room, and he had TDMGVFAA. Yes, life was good for the little blue-haired demon. Even Whiteblaze seemed happy. He had killed three rabbits that day. The big kitty was tearing them apart into little tiny strips of flesh on Rowen's bed, specifically on top of his planet-and-space-print comforter. Yes, Whiteblaze was indeed happy.
Ignoring the corpses and giant tiger on his bed, Rowen simply concentrated on his wonderful little TV set and his game. Niggling in the back of his mind, however, was something that could be called a 'conscience' in other people. However, in Rowen's case it was more of a 'too much chaos to be healthy for my gaming plans advisor'.
And his 'advisor' was telling him, however quietly, that he was probably very screwed because Cye wasn't yet home.
___
Cye tromped towards the house that he had helped to buy, covered head to toe in mud. Not just any mud, mind you, HIGH SCHOOL mud. If you don't know the deadly properties of High School mud, I don't want to be the one to give you nightmares about it… just be assured that it's far more deadly and harder to clean than normal mud.
He slammed open the front door, causing several pictures to fall from their wall hangings as a result of the force. He headed for the bathroom and grabbed a bundle of towels on the way, and a clean set of newly-laundered clothes from the laundry basket outside the bathroom. He slammed that door shut and locked it, not even bothering to look for the blue-headed maniac.
___
"…and that's the story. Will you help us?" Sage finished, glancing at the warlords. Pressing a cold pack to a blossoming black eye, Anubis scowled. Sekhmet, putting antiseptic on a few new cuts, grumbled. Kale, passed out on a couch, did nothing. Dais, complete with a few new bruises, glared.
They, along with Ryo and Kento, were sitting in the warlords' flat in the upper section of Toyama. They were sprawled around the living room, which was spacious, and would be called tastefully furnished had it not been for Kale's giant, bright blue beanbag chair.
The bearers of Wildfire and Hardrock bit their lips in apprehension at the warlords' delay in response. "Maybe Sage shouldn't have gone all berserk on them…" Kento whispered to Ryo, watching the injured and very annoyed warlords (at least the conscious ones). "I think he even gave Kale a concussion."
Dais, Sekhmet, and Anubis exchanged glances.
"Well, what have we to lose?" Sekhmet muttered. "Just our sanity," Anubis said dryly. Dais smirked and added, "And quite possibly our lives if Mia finds out."
"She won't find out, guys," Ryo said hastily, smiling in an extremely fake and obvious way. "I promise!"
The warlords looked at each other again. "Sure, why not?" Anubis said, then winced as Kale sat up abruptly and hit his arm on Anubis' black eye.
"TO INFINITY, AND BEYOND!" Kale shrieked, before falling back onto the couch and starting to snore again.
The ronins and warlords just stared.
___
Finally clean and in warm, non-muddy clothing, Cye rubbed his wet hair a few times with a towel making it stick up all over. He smiled in a tired fashion and sat down on the couch, totally exhausted. He sat for a while, his eyelids slowly drooping further down as he sat. He was about to fall asleep, when…
BOOM!!!
An explosion shook the house, and Cye unceremoniously fell of the couch and onto the floor face-first. "What the…?"
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! ATOMIC AND HYDROGEN MISSILE VERSUS DUST BUNNIES FROM MARS LEVEL!!!!!!" The crazed, joyful yell emitted from upstairs… from Rowen's room. Cye sat up with his back against the couch and scowled angrily, the dark bags under his eyes accentuating the slightly demonic look that crossed his normally pleasant features.
"That's it. He's got to bloody well go."
Cye headed for the kitchen. Well, actually, he headed for the knife drawers of the kitchen. The butcher knives. The really, really dangerous and sharp ones. The Brit grinned maniacally and lifted a large cleaver out of the drawer with a glint in his eyes.
___
Outside the house, a dark blue pickup truck, Sage's convertible, and a black sedan pulled into the driveway. Out came the other ronins and warlords. In full armor, of course. None of them would ever dream of challenging a donut and video game crazed Rowen without full armor. What kind of warriors would they be if they even gave such a thing a second's thought? Not very good ones, I'd say.
Ryo jogged to the door and pushed it open, and the rest of the group followed him, trying to shield themselves from the heavy rain. Kale had, of course, finally woken up, and could apparently remember nothing of his brief 'episode' as Buzz Lightyear.
After stepping into the nice, dry, warm house, they glanced around, the warlords at the point positions. Sekhmet's attention was caught by movements on the stairs, and he raised an eyebrow. "Wow. I could swear that was Cye up there on the landing looking like a homicidal freak and holding a probably very sharp cleaver and heading towards Rowen's room."
The rest of the small party immediately looked up to the landing, where, sure enough, the eloquently described Cye was standing. "Cye! Calm down, buddy!" Kento said loudly, trying to go up the stairs slowly.
Cye, finally noticing his visitors, glared and pointed down at Kento. "NO! No more! I can't take it any longer! Must kill!" With that, the bearer of Torrent let out a strangled battle cry and ran towards Rowen's room.
The warlords and Sage followed out of curiosity and interest. Ryo and Kento followed out of concern for Rowen's well being and for Cye's ever-fragile sanity. "Well," Dais said with a grin as he unsummoned his armor, "This is sure to be a good show one way or another."
***
*You are brought this time before the Almighty Authoress' Special Kitchen. Only the warlords are seen here with City this time. Anubis and Kale sit on the counter, Dais leans against the fridge, and Sekhmet is ransacking the pantry after finding snake treats.*
Sekhmet: OOooh! You have the limited edition mongoose flavored ones!
Anubis: …Sekhmet, you really scare me sometimes.
Sekhmet: And they were half off! *GASP*
City: Yeah, yeah, Sekky. You can have them all if you want.
Sekhmet: *teary eyed* Oh, Sparky will be so happy! *runs off with the box*
Dais: …That entire event isn't worth my witty commentary.
Kale: Yes! And we shall save the universe! Er, I mean, we shall eat potato chips until we bust! *munches a Huge Bag O' Chips*
City: …Whatever. Anyhoo, I know this chapter was kinda short… but I wanted to post SOMETHING to let people know I'm still alive.
Anubis: Why didn't you just stay inactive? Why?!
City: Because I love you guys, that's why. Now stop complaining.
*In the background comes Ryo's voice: CYE! NOOOOOO! DON'T KILL HIM!)
Warlords: *sweatdrop*
City: Aaaaand that's all the time we have for today… see ya, folks!
*The Kitchen fades to black.*