Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Three: Aftermath of Talpa's Battle

Well, this sucks, Kento thought miserably to himself. After awakening in a strange room he assumed was in the Dynasty (and NAKED none the less), he had been visited by Trulpa, which was humiliating to say the least considering his undesirable state of not being clothed. Shortly after he left he saw some temple robes folded neatly on a nearby dresser, which he quickly put on just in case someone else decided to walk in on him. But that hadn't happened.

Considering the lack of anything to do, the Warrior of Earth had decided to lay back on the bed in the strange, door-less room and try to get some rest. He didn't think the odds were in his favor that he'd get through this without a LOT of pain and some form of suffering, so he might as well enjoy the quiet while it lasted. Quiet, he had learned, was good. Quiet didn't always mean boring like he originally thought. Quiet meant he wasn't hearing himself and his friends screaming and begging for mercy as the hands of some unknown Dynasty torturer. Quiet meant he wasn't trying to avoid getting skewered by a Tin Soldier. Even though he'd learned it the hard way, Kento was beginning to see a different side of silence that he liked.

But of course it wasn't that easy. Kento couldn't help but worry about Sage and Cye, who he just KNEW were in the Dynasty somewhere. He wasn't sure about Ryo and Rowen, but he had a funny feeling they weren't there. But why just go after three of us? Why not get us all?

Why the long face, Hardrock?

Kento bolted upright- he didn't SEE her, but he could HEAR her. "TRULPA! SHOW YOURSELF YOU WITCH!" The young Ronin clenched his fists- he knew he had a temper problem, but in this situation he saw some good reasons to be mad as a hornet. Being kidnapped wasn't quite his idea of a good time.

I don't want to.

Kento rubbed his temples. This lady was irritating. "What do you want?"

Don't you care to know why I've taken the three of you into my home?

"Quite frankly, no- I'd rather get the hell out of here."

I'm afraid that's not an option. So, unless you want to know what your spleen looks like I would suggest you step into the mist that's about to show up in your room- it will bring you straight to my throne room. If all goes well your little nitwit friends will be there as well.

Although the thought of someone calling Sage a "nitwit" was amusing, Kento realized there was real danger here. He didn't have the slightest clue where his armor orbe was and he had a funny feeling that Cye and Sage didn't have theirs, either. Trulpa might be smarter than Talpa- even though he drained our powers we still had enough to do something! If she has our armor orbes we're sitting ducks!

A distant swirling sound came into the room. Kento saw a deep purple smoke forming in the corner of his room, obviously the mist that Trulpa had spoken off. The Warrior of Hardrock looked at the swirling, colored air. "What the hell? I've got nothing to loose at this point," he said aloud, stepping towards the mist. Taking a deep breath, he stepped in as a gloomy thought entered his heads.

I have nothing to loose because I have nothing.

~

Cye coughed and gagged as he finally felt the smog around his dissipate. He'd fallen to his hands and knees, trying to rid his lungs of the awful stuff. I think I've had an easier time breathing in a smoking lounge, Cye thought bitterly. Once his coughing fit ceased, he awkwardly got to his feet and nearly fell over, only to be caught by someone behind him. The youngest Ronin looked up to see that Sage and Kento had caught him.

"You all right, Cye buddy?" Kento asked, brushing off Cye's new apparel. Cye nodded absently, looking around the room they found themselves in with a sort of timid curiosity. His two friends soon joined in the wonder of this new environment, each trying to take it in.

The room was a sort of grand hall with an arched ceiling. The walls and ceiling were all black, but a lush red carpet laid underneath. Ominous candles lined the walls, emitting creepy green flames that flickered with a sort of primal dance. At the end of the hall they could see an extravagant golden throne with a figure sitting daintily on it.

"That must be our hostess now," Sage said dryly.

"What do we do?" asked Cye. By then the group had formed a loose huddle to discuss their latest predicament. "That woman's as mad as Trulpa- without our armor orbes we can't do very much to try and escape. Unless we can find them, SHE'S in control of this situation."

"Then why the hell are we standing around here talking about it? If we find our armor orbes and bust outta here then we can make her pay!" Kento said, slamming his fist into an open palm. "I'd like to Iron Rock Crush this castle if you don't mind. And even if my idea doesn't work Ryo and Rowen are probably on their way already, right?"
"While I HIGHLY disagree with Kento's idea to try and-"

"MOVE IT!!!"

All three Ronins jumped from surprise at the sound of the shout. They could feel the anger boiling up inside the demon woman, and, not wanting to upset her, rushed over towards the golden throne. They stopped a few yards away from her, where she was smiling in a meek yet sadistic manner.

"Good- I was wondering what was taking you three twits so long," she said.

Silently, Kento and Cye volunteered Sage to speak. Halo cleared his throat and glared at Trulpa with determined violet eyes. The demon woman looked on in amused interest. "All right Trulpa, enough with your games. What do you want with us and why are we here?" he asked.

Trulpa changed her position, lounging across the throne with her knees crossed. "Hmm. So, the monk never told you about me?" she said. The Ronin Warriors shook their heads. "I overheard Lady Kayura speak of me to the three of you before I brought them here. But, I don't think you know a lot about me. Let me educate you. But first. . . to your knees."

Sage snarled. "I'd sooner kiss a rat!"

"What makes you think we'll bow down to you!?" Cye countered.

Kento turned his nose up. "No way in HELL am I gonna bow down to a bimbo!"

Trulpa scowled and raised her hand. A bright flash of energy later saw all three Ronin Warriors kneeling before her throne. None of them looked happy with her cheap parlor trick, but none of them could move from the position no matter how hard they struggled. Her expression calmed and she retreated back to her relaxed position. "Ah, thank you. Now, where was I? Oh yes. As Kayura informed you, I was Talpa's sister."

Gee, you'd think we haven't figured that out by now, Cye thought bitterly.

"My brother and I were alike in some ways," she said, standing up from her throne as she began to walk and talk, idly reminiscing about the past. "We were normal demon children- Talpa had the nerve to leave puppies and kitties in my room and I set him up on blind dates with beautiful women- I'm sure you three must know what I'm talking about between siblings. But. . . we BOTH had an armor."

Kento's eyes widened. "You're not talking about THAT armor, are you?"

"The very same," said Trulpa, sitting back down in her throne. She looked over each boy through scarlet red eyes. "Yes, the armor that my brother wore when he attacked the Mortal Realm and lost to the old monk. Yes, the armor that your armors come from. That is the armor I speak of." She leaned back and crossed her legs. "I had an armor like that as well."

The boys stopped to think about this.

"Like my brother, I tried and failed to take over your pathetic realm. I, however, was able to escape with my body intact, as you can all see- Talpa wasn't as lucky, but you knew that," she said. Her face twisted into an angry scowl. "The Ancient had my armor, and do you know what he did with it?"

The Ronins had a feeling the universal answer was, "I don't know."

"He did EXACTLY what he did the last time- he made nine armors."

THAT got the three Ronin Warriors interested. "More armors?!" asked Sage.

"That's incredible!"

"But why would he do that?" asked Kento.

"Well, he didn't want me to regain the armor with ease, and splitting it into nine pieces is a good way of making sure of that," Trulpa said thoughtfully. "The interesting thing about these armors is that they are, in essence, carbon copies of your armors. Two Wildfires, two Venoms, two of each of the nine armors."

By now Trulpa had their full attention. Evil as she was, this was interesting.

"There are two major differences between the two sets of armors. One difference is that the armors from my armor can only be worn for an extended amount of time by females, unlike like your armors, which can only be worn for an extended amount of time by males," said Trulpa. "The other difference pertains to the magic they can use. You three are familiar with using attack magic. The female armors use a magic more akin to what you'd call sorcery- it's true name is elemental magic. And THAT is why you three are here."

"Why?" asked Sage. "How does any of that-"

Trulpa laughed. "You haven't figured it out yet!?" she said. She composed herself and cleared her throat. "These armors are linked, you see- Torrent to Torrent, Halo to Halo, Hardrock to Hardrock, ect. Linked so that partnered armors can't hurt each other and so that the bearers would feel some sort of a connection so they could work together more easily. In addition, the source of these armors is the same, but thanks to a barrier you can only use the magic allowed to the armor."

Cye's eyes widened. "And if something happened to that barrier. . ."

"The armors linked to that source would be able to use all of the magic," Sage finished.

"But how could that happen?" asked Kento.

"Do you boys remember this?" Trulpa asked, snapping her fingers. Before the Ronins realized anything had happened, they found themselves in exceptional pain. All three lost more of their composure to grab their now throbbing heads and scream in agony. Trulpa laughed in delight as she watched them. Once she felt they'd had enough, she snapped her fingers again and the boys breathed easier. "Bring back any memories?"

Sage looked up at Trulpa with wide, wild eyes. "Talpa's torture. . ."

"Yes- the barriers have broken."

"Then. . . does that mean. . . we can use magic?" Cye asked.

Trulpa nodded. "But of course you'll be using this magic for MY purposes."

"In your dreams," Kento spat bitterly.

"Oh, that's what YOU think, Hardrock," she said. "The only reason I haven't brainwashed you three is because it's easier to learn magic in your normal state of mind. And you WILL learn magic. You will progress your skills with magic and learn to become masters."

"Why would you even care!?" said Kento, looking VERY aggravated with the whole situation. "If anything you shouldn't have even told us that much! Telling the enemy they have an extra power isn't exactly what I'd call a smart move ya dumb bitch! What do you want us to do? Fry you!?"

"You're thinking much too small- I'm not stupid like you are, boy," Trulpa said. Kento growled, leaving Sage and Cye to told him back before he did something they'd all regret later. "You won't be able to, as you put it, fry me. Remember, I have your armor orbes and that will GREATLY hinder your ability to harm me. And with my Dark Warladies keeping watch on you I don't think you'll get much of a chance to get away with that."

"Oh yeah? Well what about Ryo and Rowen?" asked Cye.

Trulpa looked at Cye as if he'd just told her candy tasted like worms. Then, she began to laugh hysterically. "Oh, you don't actually think I'd overlook something like THAT, do you? I surrounded this entire castle with a force field that won't let them sense you. In fact, they can't even sense you now. For all they know, the three of you are dead."

"What!? You're actually making Ryo and Rowen think we've DIED!?" Sage said.

The demon empress nodded. "Well, yes, I have. I can't have them interfering."

"You. . . you. . ." Cye said through gritted teeth.

"The Warlords and Kayura!" Sage interjected.

Trulpa snorted. "I've had them brainwashed. They're completely under my control."

"What!?" Kento said. "How could you do that!? They just gained their freedom!"

"Do I look like I CARE!?" said Trulpa. "They're all well trained- the barriers of the Seasonal armors have been broken for hundreds of years! I don't need to worry about training any of them- they were ripe for the picking, and now they're mine. Is that too hard for you to comprehend?"

"Speaking of control, I find it hard to believe that Talpa will let you gain control over armors that he thinks belong to him, sister or not," said Sage. "If Talpa makes a fuss over it then Ryo and Rowen will be sure to notice something is going on. How do you plan to counter THAT, Trulpa?"

Trulpa rolled her eyes. "I found what was left of Talpa and drained the rest of his powers- he's gone. And now I control his half of the Dynasty as well as my own half- in fact, the whole Dynasty is mine now!" She laughed, kicking her legs like a school girl. Then she calmed and sighed. "It's good to be in charge."

"You killed your own BROTHER!?" said Kento, his eyes wide with shock. Cye and Sage looked at him in shock. Kento sighed. "Yeah, I hated him as much as you did but that's his SISTER. Family. How disgusting do you have to be to want to kill your own family for that kind of a reason? Don't you guys get it?! At the rate she's going with these revelations it's a miracle we're even ALIVE!"

Trulpa sneered. "I wouldn't complain if I were you. You've all seen your rooms- they're very nice rooms. Some of the best in the entire Nether Realm- only the rooms that belong to me and my top ranking officials are nicer. You'll find everything you could need or want there. I will even give you very generous range of my palace- but say too much against me and I'll be sure to make sure your stays are MUCH worse. Even though I know it will hinder your learning processes, I WILL brainwash you and have you kill your friends and families. I think the choice is obvious."

None of the three captives could say anything.

Trulpa went on as if nothing had happened. She snapped her fingers and a goblet appeared in her hand. She slowly sipped a pale blue liquid. "In your rooms you'll find spell books that pertain to your armors. I'd suggest you learn how to teleport around the Dynasty before you learn anything else. That is, after all, the easiest way to get around. I imagine you'll find it easy- teleporting isn't difficult and it'll be a good start."

Trulpa snapped her fingers once more and the Ronins were surrounded by smoke. All three had a distinct look of panic in their eyes as the black swirled around them and swallowed them up, taking them all away to their different rooms. Trulpa sighed and sat back up in her throne, a catty grin on her face.

~

I can't think of any real good notes here aside from the fact that this ENTIRE chapter was basically scrapped and re-written, which is one reason why it took so damn long to update. Yay.

If you're going to leave an unsigned review, please put your name in the actual review. For some reason almost all of my unsigned reviews- or what I think are my unsigned reviews- are now listed as signed reviews by Xing, the web master here at FF.Net. I don't know WHY, but that's what it seems to be. Signed reviews should be okay, but I'd put your names in as well.

I looked around FictionPress.Net. It's nice. It's basically the same site without fanfics and a more professional layout.

Firestorm: Yeah. The first version had some strong points, but where as it's over two years old now (I think. . . yeah, about that) it just needed to be changed. I've grown as a writer and I wanted to add in improvements.

Marlene: That's the whole idea. Humor is very difficult to write. Knowing when to throw in a joke and when not to. . . that's hard to do. My recommendation is to either read a LOT of comedy stories, or, try writing something more on the "serious" side. I'm not saying write the saddest tragedy of all time, but just a general fic. That way you can practice adding in a sprinkling of humor a little bit at a time.

Harry: That's okay- it happens.

Yin-Yang: I don't think you QUITE need to be as rich as Bill Gates- this is a guy who could buy himself any fancy sports car he wants and to him it would be like one of us buying a pack of gum at the store. Still, you would need a LOT of cash, or some animators willing to work for peanuts. Well, we know what happens to them up to a year and a half later, but yeah, more is to come. By now, Ryo and Rowen have kind of figured it out. If not. . . then they have some other problems that should be dealt with first.

Ginzai: Yeah. . . I love the bird watcher scene. I've noticed the Gaiden thing, too. The only other times I saw it in fanfiction was once in one of Lena Ban Obsidian's fanfics (she had them all mentally bonded to the point where they were talking at the same time and finishing each other's sentences). The other. . . I couldn't tell you the fic because it was basically just a quick "let's not talk about that" kind of deal. Maybe Sage gets so much attention because he's the one who got hit with torture twice. Yeah, I know it's been done a million times- as you can see I threw in some chick Ronins as well. But as the series progresses I think you'll be pleased to see that I have thrown in some very unusual and different flavors. The Seiji being full Japanese thing doesn't seem right. I am almost 99% sure I've seen somewhere that at least one of his parents isn't Japanese. If I find it again I'll leave a link, but quite frankly that's irrelevant to this storyline (you'll understand why in the later stories of this series). Yup, I knew about the historical factors. All of the Troopers come from distinct families in Japanese history- Shu I'm not quite sure on.

Kar-chan: Eventually, because it's come up so much, Rowen's going to be in a dress. And it could happen in the Ria/Rona focus. Yes, that's right- Rowen and Ryo are in the Rona/Ria focus story. Because of the nature of the story Rowen's going to get knocked around a little and the dress would fit in nicely. Movies aren't a bad thing. Personally, I watch a lot of sitcom reruns and SNL. Yeah. Kind of. I want to add in some more scenes (I might have the boys sense some of their forthcoming abilities a little).

~Dixxy