Realm Remix
Ch. 12
"The first option is to escape: Run first and ask questions later. The second option is to give in. If your attacker is only interested in robbing you, then give him or her what he or she wants. The third option is to hit and run. If your attacker is overconfident and has let down their guard, or if you think you can take them on, use a striking technique... and then run away. The fourth option is to 'go for the kill....'"
"Self Defense" From "Martial Arts for Women."
-----------------------------------------------
"All right. Priority number one is to get out of here," Kaye stated, kicking the door. "Priority number two, find the others."
"What's priority number three?" Sage asked her.
"Priority number three is not dying while doing so," Kaye smiled.
"Like I said, what an optimist," Cale muttered. Dais hit him upside the head.
"... Ow."
---------------------------------------------------
Tigermoon locked her fingers around Rowen's wrist. "All right, blue, where do you want to go? DisneyWorld? Walmart? Maybe stop by a restaurant and pick up something to eat?"
"Very funny." Rowen rolled his eyes. "Let's just try and find the others."
"All right," Tigermoon shrugged, "But it might take a while. I don't know exactly where they are. Oh... and you might want to close your eyes."
"Why --- Aaaah!" Rowen yelped as they were jerked away from the cell.
Spaceshifting with Tigermoon was very different from teleporting with the Ronins. She slipped between the leylines of energy like they were physical beings. Rowen opened his eyes once to see rooms and cells flash past, but oddly enough, they were all two-dimensional, like photographs. It was a sickening feeling, and he shut his eyes quickly. Then suddenly his guide slowed down, looked from side to side, and dove forward.
"I think there's someone in here," Tigermoon announced, dragging him to a halt in a small room filled with steam. "I can sense some power."
"Would it be coming from him?" Rowen asked, pointing to a head of bright red hair in what appeared to be a bathtub.
"What the hell?" an enraged voice screamed. Doste poked his head up from a pile of suds, where he was taking a bath.
"Oops, my mistake, that's a bad guy. Don't mind us," Tigermoon said soothingly, grabbing Rowen by his wrist and leaping off again.
----------------------------------------------------
Cye and Ryo tensed into defensive positions as their attacker walked forward. Siren seemed to be enjoying the whole thing and was in no apparent hurry,strolling towards them like a cat approaching an already wounded bird.
Ryo narrowed his eyes as he tried to think of a way out of this. How do you fight something that can phase into gas and avoid your blow? "Hey Cye?" he asked suddenly.
"What?" Cye asked, keeping his focus on Siren.
"Were you ever paying attention in chemistry class?"
"More than you were, that's for sure," Cye rolled his eyes.
Ryo decided to ignore that. "Did they ever tell us how to fight gas?"
"With Tums?"
"Cye, if you hadn't noticed, our lives are kind of at stake here," Ryo growled as the two of them started backing away.
"Sorry."
"If you're done arguing, Ronins, I haven't got all day," Siren called out. Before they could react, he lunged forward. His movements were faster than the eye could see, but next thing Ryo knew, Cye was six feet away from him on the ground. Siren put one knee on Torrent's back and pulled off his helmet.
Siren looked over at Ryo. "Want to see him die quickly or slowly? Doesn't really matter to me."
"Why are you doing this?" Ryo screamed.
"We've told you, Ronins. We want our home back. This is going to blow your mind, but..." Siren smiled. "You're the bad guys here."
------------------------------------------------------
"All right, that's it," Dais whispered as the last hinge on the door gave way. Kaye and Cale were holding the door so it wouldn't fall and cause a commotion.
Sage was keeping a lookout. "All clear," he told them. The four warriors picked up the door and pushed it carefully against the far wall. They stood in the hall and looked around warily. It was too dark to see much. Just a few dim shapes that could be anything at all.
"All right, now where do we go?" Cale asked.
Kaye sighed, "It would help if we could see," she reminded him.
"You forget, Cale and I can see in the dark," Sage spoke up. "There's another cell down there, maybe we should check it out."
------------------------------------------------------
"So if we're here in the buffer zone, and Kayura's stuck on Earth, who's protecting the Netherworld?" Kento asked as he pushed against the door.
Sekhmet looked up from where he was kicking the wall pointlessly. "No one. It's defenseless for now. But I don't think they're interested in the Netherworld, they only want to fix their own realm."
"Makes you think, doesn't it. Maybe we'd be doing the same thing."
"Shrewd observation, Hardrock. If I didn't know better--" Sekhmet cut himself off, counted to ten, and reminded himself that they weren't enemies anymore.
"What?" Kento demanded, annoyed. "Finish the insult."
"Never mind, it wasn't a particularly good insult anyway." Sekhmet kicked the door. He was very surprised when it opened.
"Hey guys," Kaye said cheerfully, poking her head in. "Ready to go?"
"How did you get here?" Sekhmet asked, but Kaye wasn't paying attention, she was busy with Kento.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, are you all right?"
"You're hurt!"
"I'm all right, what about you?"
Sage, Cale, Dais and Sekhmet looked at each other and sighed.
-------------------------------------------------------
Shiree stood in the main hall with the energy of the realm crackling around her. "All available Guardians, come to me," she intoned dramatically.
Doste appeared in a towel, looking disgruntled. "Give me a minute, okay?" he yelled, vanishing again.
With more dignity, Cosa appeared. An instant later, a young-looking woman solidified, leaning on a naginata. She had flame-colored hair and seething green eyes, and was wearing a long yellow yukata. A man blurred into existence at her side, standing with catlike grace, holding a long katana in each hand. He looked about sixteen, with tanned skin, unruly black hair and burning blue eyes, dressed in a pure white karate gi. Finally, Doste appeared wearing an ancient-style kimono and with soapsuds in his hair.
Shiree looked at them and sighed. "Siren's still out fighting? He must be getting soft." She prowled down the line of Guardians with a thoughtful look.
"You," she said suddenly as she turned to the young man with fiery blue eyes.
"Go stand guard at the entrance."
He nodded politely and vanished again.
"Shiree, with all due respect," the woman in yellow spoke up. "Why did you send Hariel away? We need him."
"Because of who he is. I believe Hariel will do what it takes to save his world. But I don't know if we can turn him against the armor bearers," Shiree replied, looking at the place where he had been with narrowed eyes. "You will not mention them in Hariel's prescence, do you understand? He can't know what's going on."
The others nodded.
"Cosa, did you get the Tiger armor?" Shiree asked him next. For answer he held up the silvery orb. "Good. As soon as Siren is finished with Torrent and Wildfire, we can kill the bearers off. We won't need them if we have Hariel."
"What about me, what can I do?" the woman in yellow demanded angrily. "I will not be left out! It's my world too!"
Doste looked at her with scorn, "Get used to it, Ikari. I'm left out all the time."
"That's because you're a little--"
"Enough," Cosa interrupted them. "Ikari, if you want to do something, go pick on the Ancient down on Earth."
"All right," Ikari replied, disappearing instantly.
"Why'd you tell her to do that?" Doste demanded. "We don't need the staff any more."
"If it keeps that minx out of our hair, I really don't care," Cosa replied, walking away.
"Why don't you go yell at the prisoners, Doste," Shiree said soothingly, as the boy was starting to look furious.
"All right," Doste perked up, leaving as well.
"Let's just hope he doesn't mess things up," Cosa told Shiree when they were alone.
She laughed. "If it keeps that brat out of our hair, I really don't care," she smirked, putting her arm around his shoulder. They vanished together.
--------------------------------------
Kayura gasped as a woman in yellow materialized in front of her. Instantly she put her hand out for the Ancient's staff and got into an attack position. "Get out," she gritted.
The woman smiled. "Hello, Kayura. It's been a long time."
"Not long enough," Kayura hissed. "Get out of here, Ikari. I never want to see you again."
"Oh, but you will." Ikari responded. "You'll be seeing a lot of us when the Lost realm comes back." She held up her naginata and countered Kayura's blow with the staff.
Kayura gritted her teeth and tried to fight off the blows, but Ikari was skilled with the naginata and Kayura only had a few year's practice with the staff. Kayura made a split second decision. She struck back savagely at Ikari and then took several steps back. She held out her hands and closed her eyes. With a flash of purple light, her jitte appeared in her hands.
"Now you will hear the cries of the stars..." Kayura growled, holding up the swords. "Star... Sword... SCREAM!"
Ikari flipped to the ground and held up her own weapon. A shield of golden orange energy sprung up, deflecting the attack. Kayura watched in horror as the surekill shot into the sky, enlarging the hole between the worlds.
"Oops," she whispered.
"Yeah, oops," Ikari smirked, getting back to her feet. She bowed formally, almost mockingly, to Kayura. The Ancient returned the bow politely. The two women circled for a moment, eyeing each other up and down. Then they clashed together.
The fight was stylized, like a dance, in the fashion of duels fought hundreds of years ago.
"You'll make a mistake soon, Kayura," Ikari said casually, blocking Kayura's right sword as it slashed close to her neck. "You always make a mistake."
Kayura stepped back and half-turned, the naginata blade stabbing past her. She caught it by the shaft and pushed it back before Ikari twisted it free. "I've changed since you saw me last," she replied, blocking a high sweep with one sword and piercing Ikari's shoulder with the other.
Ikari didn't seem to notice her wound. She caught the jitte blades on her naginata and pushed them away, holding them immobile against the smaller woman's side. She leaned close and whispered, "You killed Anubis, didn't you?"
Kayura faltered, as if the words had physically stabbed her through the heart. "No!"
"We were watching," Ikari continued, a triumphant gleam in her hard green eyes.
"You killed him."
"No!" Kayura yelled, stumbling back. The naginata flashed twice, one blow to the side and the other to the head. Kayura dropped to the ground.
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Cye cried out as Siren pressed a hand against his mouth. Cye's eyes went wide as he began to choke. His symbol phased briefly on his forehead before he passed out.
Ryo cried out in rage as his own kanji lit up. Without thinking, he charged at Siren.
----------------------------------------------------
"Here!" Tigermoon shouted, yanking Rowen along urgently. He opened his eyes to see that they had landed in a cell full of people. Kento, Sage, Cale, Sekhmet and Dais were all clustered around Kaye, who seemed to be having some kind of seizure.
"Kaye! Is she all right?" Rowen jumped in behind Sage. As he did, his kanji also lit up.
"It's Cye," Kento told him. "We can't get much out of her, except that he's hurt."
Seeing that Dais, Sekhmet, Tigermoon, and Cale were looking confused, he added, "Cye and Kaye are brother and sister."
"Blood bonding," Dais nodded. "Well, I guess that means Torrent's out."
"Who's left to fight?" Rowen demanded.
"Ryo. Kayura, but she probably can't get back here. Apparently the Warlords have powers out of armor. And there's her." Sage pointed at Tigermoon.
Tigermoon looked around, as if she thought he was pointing at someone else. "...What?"
Ch. 12
"The first option is to escape: Run first and ask questions later. The second option is to give in. If your attacker is only interested in robbing you, then give him or her what he or she wants. The third option is to hit and run. If your attacker is overconfident and has let down their guard, or if you think you can take them on, use a striking technique... and then run away. The fourth option is to 'go for the kill....'"
"Self Defense" From "Martial Arts for Women."
-----------------------------------------------
"All right. Priority number one is to get out of here," Kaye stated, kicking the door. "Priority number two, find the others."
"What's priority number three?" Sage asked her.
"Priority number three is not dying while doing so," Kaye smiled.
"Like I said, what an optimist," Cale muttered. Dais hit him upside the head.
"... Ow."
---------------------------------------------------
Tigermoon locked her fingers around Rowen's wrist. "All right, blue, where do you want to go? DisneyWorld? Walmart? Maybe stop by a restaurant and pick up something to eat?"
"Very funny." Rowen rolled his eyes. "Let's just try and find the others."
"All right," Tigermoon shrugged, "But it might take a while. I don't know exactly where they are. Oh... and you might want to close your eyes."
"Why --- Aaaah!" Rowen yelped as they were jerked away from the cell.
Spaceshifting with Tigermoon was very different from teleporting with the Ronins. She slipped between the leylines of energy like they were physical beings. Rowen opened his eyes once to see rooms and cells flash past, but oddly enough, they were all two-dimensional, like photographs. It was a sickening feeling, and he shut his eyes quickly. Then suddenly his guide slowed down, looked from side to side, and dove forward.
"I think there's someone in here," Tigermoon announced, dragging him to a halt in a small room filled with steam. "I can sense some power."
"Would it be coming from him?" Rowen asked, pointing to a head of bright red hair in what appeared to be a bathtub.
"What the hell?" an enraged voice screamed. Doste poked his head up from a pile of suds, where he was taking a bath.
"Oops, my mistake, that's a bad guy. Don't mind us," Tigermoon said soothingly, grabbing Rowen by his wrist and leaping off again.
----------------------------------------------------
Cye and Ryo tensed into defensive positions as their attacker walked forward. Siren seemed to be enjoying the whole thing and was in no apparent hurry,strolling towards them like a cat approaching an already wounded bird.
Ryo narrowed his eyes as he tried to think of a way out of this. How do you fight something that can phase into gas and avoid your blow? "Hey Cye?" he asked suddenly.
"What?" Cye asked, keeping his focus on Siren.
"Were you ever paying attention in chemistry class?"
"More than you were, that's for sure," Cye rolled his eyes.
Ryo decided to ignore that. "Did they ever tell us how to fight gas?"
"With Tums?"
"Cye, if you hadn't noticed, our lives are kind of at stake here," Ryo growled as the two of them started backing away.
"Sorry."
"If you're done arguing, Ronins, I haven't got all day," Siren called out. Before they could react, he lunged forward. His movements were faster than the eye could see, but next thing Ryo knew, Cye was six feet away from him on the ground. Siren put one knee on Torrent's back and pulled off his helmet.
Siren looked over at Ryo. "Want to see him die quickly or slowly? Doesn't really matter to me."
"Why are you doing this?" Ryo screamed.
"We've told you, Ronins. We want our home back. This is going to blow your mind, but..." Siren smiled. "You're the bad guys here."
------------------------------------------------------
"All right, that's it," Dais whispered as the last hinge on the door gave way. Kaye and Cale were holding the door so it wouldn't fall and cause a commotion.
Sage was keeping a lookout. "All clear," he told them. The four warriors picked up the door and pushed it carefully against the far wall. They stood in the hall and looked around warily. It was too dark to see much. Just a few dim shapes that could be anything at all.
"All right, now where do we go?" Cale asked.
Kaye sighed, "It would help if we could see," she reminded him.
"You forget, Cale and I can see in the dark," Sage spoke up. "There's another cell down there, maybe we should check it out."
------------------------------------------------------
"So if we're here in the buffer zone, and Kayura's stuck on Earth, who's protecting the Netherworld?" Kento asked as he pushed against the door.
Sekhmet looked up from where he was kicking the wall pointlessly. "No one. It's defenseless for now. But I don't think they're interested in the Netherworld, they only want to fix their own realm."
"Makes you think, doesn't it. Maybe we'd be doing the same thing."
"Shrewd observation, Hardrock. If I didn't know better--" Sekhmet cut himself off, counted to ten, and reminded himself that they weren't enemies anymore.
"What?" Kento demanded, annoyed. "Finish the insult."
"Never mind, it wasn't a particularly good insult anyway." Sekhmet kicked the door. He was very surprised when it opened.
"Hey guys," Kaye said cheerfully, poking her head in. "Ready to go?"
"How did you get here?" Sekhmet asked, but Kaye wasn't paying attention, she was busy with Kento.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, are you all right?"
"You're hurt!"
"I'm all right, what about you?"
Sage, Cale, Dais and Sekhmet looked at each other and sighed.
-------------------------------------------------------
Shiree stood in the main hall with the energy of the realm crackling around her. "All available Guardians, come to me," she intoned dramatically.
Doste appeared in a towel, looking disgruntled. "Give me a minute, okay?" he yelled, vanishing again.
With more dignity, Cosa appeared. An instant later, a young-looking woman solidified, leaning on a naginata. She had flame-colored hair and seething green eyes, and was wearing a long yellow yukata. A man blurred into existence at her side, standing with catlike grace, holding a long katana in each hand. He looked about sixteen, with tanned skin, unruly black hair and burning blue eyes, dressed in a pure white karate gi. Finally, Doste appeared wearing an ancient-style kimono and with soapsuds in his hair.
Shiree looked at them and sighed. "Siren's still out fighting? He must be getting soft." She prowled down the line of Guardians with a thoughtful look.
"You," she said suddenly as she turned to the young man with fiery blue eyes.
"Go stand guard at the entrance."
He nodded politely and vanished again.
"Shiree, with all due respect," the woman in yellow spoke up. "Why did you send Hariel away? We need him."
"Because of who he is. I believe Hariel will do what it takes to save his world. But I don't know if we can turn him against the armor bearers," Shiree replied, looking at the place where he had been with narrowed eyes. "You will not mention them in Hariel's prescence, do you understand? He can't know what's going on."
The others nodded.
"Cosa, did you get the Tiger armor?" Shiree asked him next. For answer he held up the silvery orb. "Good. As soon as Siren is finished with Torrent and Wildfire, we can kill the bearers off. We won't need them if we have Hariel."
"What about me, what can I do?" the woman in yellow demanded angrily. "I will not be left out! It's my world too!"
Doste looked at her with scorn, "Get used to it, Ikari. I'm left out all the time."
"That's because you're a little--"
"Enough," Cosa interrupted them. "Ikari, if you want to do something, go pick on the Ancient down on Earth."
"All right," Ikari replied, disappearing instantly.
"Why'd you tell her to do that?" Doste demanded. "We don't need the staff any more."
"If it keeps that minx out of our hair, I really don't care," Cosa replied, walking away.
"Why don't you go yell at the prisoners, Doste," Shiree said soothingly, as the boy was starting to look furious.
"All right," Doste perked up, leaving as well.
"Let's just hope he doesn't mess things up," Cosa told Shiree when they were alone.
She laughed. "If it keeps that brat out of our hair, I really don't care," she smirked, putting her arm around his shoulder. They vanished together.
--------------------------------------
Kayura gasped as a woman in yellow materialized in front of her. Instantly she put her hand out for the Ancient's staff and got into an attack position. "Get out," she gritted.
The woman smiled. "Hello, Kayura. It's been a long time."
"Not long enough," Kayura hissed. "Get out of here, Ikari. I never want to see you again."
"Oh, but you will." Ikari responded. "You'll be seeing a lot of us when the Lost realm comes back." She held up her naginata and countered Kayura's blow with the staff.
Kayura gritted her teeth and tried to fight off the blows, but Ikari was skilled with the naginata and Kayura only had a few year's practice with the staff. Kayura made a split second decision. She struck back savagely at Ikari and then took several steps back. She held out her hands and closed her eyes. With a flash of purple light, her jitte appeared in her hands.
"Now you will hear the cries of the stars..." Kayura growled, holding up the swords. "Star... Sword... SCREAM!"
Ikari flipped to the ground and held up her own weapon. A shield of golden orange energy sprung up, deflecting the attack. Kayura watched in horror as the surekill shot into the sky, enlarging the hole between the worlds.
"Oops," she whispered.
"Yeah, oops," Ikari smirked, getting back to her feet. She bowed formally, almost mockingly, to Kayura. The Ancient returned the bow politely. The two women circled for a moment, eyeing each other up and down. Then they clashed together.
The fight was stylized, like a dance, in the fashion of duels fought hundreds of years ago.
"You'll make a mistake soon, Kayura," Ikari said casually, blocking Kayura's right sword as it slashed close to her neck. "You always make a mistake."
Kayura stepped back and half-turned, the naginata blade stabbing past her. She caught it by the shaft and pushed it back before Ikari twisted it free. "I've changed since you saw me last," she replied, blocking a high sweep with one sword and piercing Ikari's shoulder with the other.
Ikari didn't seem to notice her wound. She caught the jitte blades on her naginata and pushed them away, holding them immobile against the smaller woman's side. She leaned close and whispered, "You killed Anubis, didn't you?"
Kayura faltered, as if the words had physically stabbed her through the heart. "No!"
"We were watching," Ikari continued, a triumphant gleam in her hard green eyes.
"You killed him."
"No!" Kayura yelled, stumbling back. The naginata flashed twice, one blow to the side and the other to the head. Kayura dropped to the ground.
---------------------------------------------------
Cye cried out as Siren pressed a hand against his mouth. Cye's eyes went wide as he began to choke. His symbol phased briefly on his forehead before he passed out.
Ryo cried out in rage as his own kanji lit up. Without thinking, he charged at Siren.
----------------------------------------------------
"Here!" Tigermoon shouted, yanking Rowen along urgently. He opened his eyes to see that they had landed in a cell full of people. Kento, Sage, Cale, Sekhmet and Dais were all clustered around Kaye, who seemed to be having some kind of seizure.
"Kaye! Is she all right?" Rowen jumped in behind Sage. As he did, his kanji also lit up.
"It's Cye," Kento told him. "We can't get much out of her, except that he's hurt."
Seeing that Dais, Sekhmet, Tigermoon, and Cale were looking confused, he added, "Cye and Kaye are brother and sister."
"Blood bonding," Dais nodded. "Well, I guess that means Torrent's out."
"Who's left to fight?" Rowen demanded.
"Ryo. Kayura, but she probably can't get back here. Apparently the Warlords have powers out of armor. And there's her." Sage pointed at Tigermoon.
Tigermoon looked around, as if she thought he was pointing at someone else. "...What?"