Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has anything even remotely to do
with the Ronin Warriors, although I wish I did. Anything that is original,
like the girls, are mine. Blah.
Note: -* words* - means shared thoughts between the girls.
Chapter 2 By: Soulful Gray
"Robyn Elena March! This is not cool! This might be your obsessive fantasy come to life, but it is not ours!" Lin yelled as she reached over to hit the automatic door lock. One of the Ronins, Ryo, was walking up to the car with his katanas drawn and a wary look on his face. "Damnit! Make him go away!"
"Hell no! We are not going to kick our chance for adventure into the dirt!" Robyn was getting pissed now. Why did it always come to this when anything remotely Ronin-like popped up? "And do you really think locking the door is going to help?"
Robyn had put up with this criticism for as long as they had known of her love for the show. The past four years had been great, their sister bond as strong as anything, but this was the only really argument they had. And she was getting tired of it. Why couldn't they just accept that she like the Ronins and wasn't about to change her mind any time soon?
"Would you stop your bloody bitching and just live with it?! We're here, this place is real, now go with it!" Growling she unlocked her door and threw herself out of it.
Ryo went a little defensive at the abrupt appearance of the girl. He didn't know if he should trust her or what. After all, it wasn't exactly normal for a car to fly out of the middle of nowhere and crash into a field. Well, considering what his life was like, that was pretty mild, but it was still a surprising even nonetheless.
He and his group had been enjoying a nice picnic on a section of land that Mia owned. It was a lovely spot, with a few trees for shade and enough room to start a game of soccer. It had been nice and sunny, up and till a few moments ago when the sky had turned dark and the wind had started picking up.
Ryo had gotten a feeling on the back of his neck; the sudden changed of weather had been to abrupt, to unnatural, and he had made his feelings known to the other Ronins. The Warlords and Kayura had also felt the same ominous feeling. So, putting Mia and Yulie safely behind White Blaze, they had donned their armors and waited.
It had been a nice break after the short but grueling battle they had fought only a few months ago. The sudden appearance of a warrior who introduced himself as Kaiden, the Hunter, had interrupted what had been a time of peace since their war against Talpa. But the fight against Kaiden had been short-lived, last only a day or so, before Kaiden up and disappeared. But not before disarming one of the Ronins.
Kaiden's blade, a cruel sword edged with blackened poison, had pierced through Sage's armor, and for some reason, the Hunter had banished Sage's no-datchi from their world. Sage's recovery had been bad enough, but now the Ronin of Wisdom was only able to fight with a poor replacement sword, something he immensely disliked.
Ryo didn't know why Kaiden had taken away Sage's sword, or the reasons behind his sudden attack and disappearance, but he figured it had something to do with these girls that had popped up out of nowhere. He had a feeling that they would see Kaiden shortly.
The blonde that flew out of the car was tall and staring at him without fear of him or his katanas.
"Who are you?" He tried to sound threatening as he took another cautious step towards her. He could feel his friends closing in behind him, their weapons also drawn in suspicion.
"Hello! My name's Robyn, and the two whiners in the car are Lindsey and Katrin." She seemed oblivious to any threat they posed as she stepped up closer to them. "You might as well put your weapons away since I'm not connected to anything even remotely evil. Oh! Sage! You're missing your sword! What a coincidence since I have a present for you!" Without missing a beat she skipped over to the trunk of her car and the sudden movement surprised Rowen, who let loose an arrow.
She squeaked, an amusing sound, as the arrow pierced the metal of the car just in front of her. Her eyes widened and she shot an amazed look at the blue Ronin.
"You shot at me!" Her eyebrows drew together in a frown as she glared at him. "I can't believe you shot at me! You freakin' twinkie!" She eyed the arrow. "My car! You stupid cream filled puff!"
"How did you know my name?" Sage demanded as he stepped forward when she paused for air in her tirade. He had long since gone back to his sub armor and the white and green plates seemed to glow with his apparent anger.
"What?" Now off-track, she flipped her gaze to him.
"I said-"
"I know what you said, for crying out loud!" she cried as she turned to jerk the arrow out of her car. "It just caught me off guard! It amazes me that people find the need to repeat themselves after somebody says 'what' to them. Not everybody is hearing impaired!" She gripped tightly and put her foot against the bumper so she got some leverage, and then she pulled hard. The arrow came loose in a moment and she tossed it at Rowen.
"Then why don't you answer the question," he commanded coolly.
"Because." She pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the trunk. "And like a said, I have a present for you. But if you all are going to be this rude, I might not give it to you."
"You call this rude when you crashed our picnic?" Kentoe all but growled.
"I realize your stomach is a bottomless pit, but how was I to know that when I popped into this world I'd be wrecking your little party?" she said snidely.
"How in the world do you know about us, little girl?" came the next smooth question as Dais put away his weapon.
"Considering I'm not all that little, I find that the how of it is quite simple. But I have no reason to explain myself. I'm here for a purpose, and if you all would shut up, lighten up, and put up your weapons I'd be more than happy to be more accommodating to your requests for answers!"
On a silent mutual agreement, the Ronins and Warlords all went back to their sub armors and stood in a sort of half-circle around the back of her car.
"Could you get those other two out here?" Ryo asked calmly. "We don't know that they aren't planning anything."
"Sure. They're harmless though, really." With that, she unlocked and jerked open Lin and Katrin's car doors, just as Mia and Yulie had cautiously come up behind the guard of White Blaze.
"No! I am not leaving this car!" Katrin squealed as she hung onto the seat for dear life. "I will not be open to Ronin spores! I don't want this place to rub off!"
"Quit being a baby, Katrin, for crying out loud! Nothing's going to happen to you!" Sighing, Robyn stepped back and then spotted White Blaze. "Hey! The big kitty's here!"
Katrin's struggling ceased as she looked over at White Blaze, her eyes widening as she looked over him in awe.
Cackling with glee, Robyn seized the moment to grabbed the fascinated girl and haul her ass out of the backseat. She slammed the door shut and locked it and then turned to go to work on the redhead.
Lin had already, grudgingly extracted herself from the car and Robyn smiled. "Good to see you in such a good mood, my little friend." She slammed Lin's door and locked it like she had Katrin's.
The Ronins, meanwhile, were staring with mild surprise at the two new faces.
"See, nothing to worry about them," Robyn said as she skipped back to the trunk and opened it.
The luggage was stored closer to her and she began pulling and tossing it onto the ground.
"Hey! Be careful with that stuff!" Katrin cried, pissed at Robyn's disregard of her possessions. "That suitcase is pure Italian leather!"
"Snob's showing!" Robyn called in a sing-songy voice as she pulled out the case the sword was stored in. Slamming the trunk closed, she placed the case on the lid and opened it.
"Sage, this is yours, now get your ass over here." She moved over and lifted herself up onto the trunk of the car, a sunny smile lighting up her features as she patted the tissue paper inside the case.
Slowly, as if he were afraid she might attack him, Sage moved forward and parted the layers of paper and silk. His visible and beautiful violet eyes widened as he revealed the blade of his sword to the dim light of the darkened day. An astonished cry tore from his lips as he gripped it tightly and lifted it from its packaged and swung it in a full arc into the air.
"It's Sage's sword!" Rowen gasped out and Robyn slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Oh my! Doctor Obvious of the Twinkie Brigade! You've just made a startling discovery!" She leaned forward as though eager. "Have you any more awesomely amazing deductions to share with us all, or have all your light bulbs burned out?"
His dirty look succeeded in further brightening in her disposition- if that's truly possible- and she sat back with a smug and triumphant look on her face. Lin had moved around the car so she was leaning against it close to where Robyn was sitting.
"I thought you liked these people, Birdie," Lin grumbled.
"I do!" Robyn gritted her teeth at the mention of their nickname for her. She hated "Birdie."
"Then why do you insist on annoying the hell out of them constantly!"
Robyn turned on her point blank gray eyes onto the annoyed redhead. "Let's put it this way, honey. I like you and Katrin and I insist on annoying the hell out of the both of you! Why should I treat them any differently? Sense a pattern?" Her voice was full of mock innocence.
Lin had nothing to say, but Katrin sure as boo did, but on a different subject.
"Can we just go now?" she complained, rubbing her temples. "We've delivered the sword so we can go now, right?"
Before Robyn could reply with one of her oh-so-awesomely witty remarks, Kayura stepped forward to drill them.
"How did you come into possession of Halo's sword?" the midnight haired young woman asked and Robyn faced her. "And the girl said 'delivered.' Who charged you to deliver the sword?" Her hand was in a white-knuckled grip on the Ancient's staff, and she was obviously not in the mood for any more of Robyn's constant sense of humor.
"Well, Miss Ancient's Heir Lady, Katrin and Lin pointed the sword out in a shop window, I begged to go in, we got the sword and *POOF!*, here we are!"
"Long winded as she is, she summarizes," Katrin mumbled as she came around to stand next to Lin. "You ever notice how she makes everything else seem so exciting, but when she tells stories, they're always flops?"
"Yup." Lin absent-mindedly drummed her fingers against the car.
"And who charged you?" Kayura repeated.
"I wouldn't say it was a 'who' really. More of a 'what.'" Robyn turned to Sage, she was running his hands along the blade to check and make sure it was still perfect. "Are you aware that your sword has a soul? In case you didn't know, it does. It asked me to bring the sword to you!"
Robyn's cherubic demeanor seemed to be really getting on people's nerves, and the blonde, sensing the annoyance, decided to change... a little. Her gray eyes darkened in their seriousness and her brows drew together in a frown as she appeared to be pondering something.
"Katrin, Lin, something just occurred to me."
"What?" they asked in unison, in fear of what the answer would be.
"It never really occurred to me that this place was real. The fact that in our world this place is little more than a kick-ass TV series never really hit me until this point. Hmmm." She turned herself bodily to her two friends. "Do you think something totally evil is going on?"
As one- and they constantly seem to do things as one- the redhead and the brunette klunked their heads back against the car, expressions of utter grief crossing their features.
"I never really though about that," the blonde continued, musing.
"Under normal circumstances, Robyn 'not' thinking would have been funny," Katrin muttered.
"But considering they're not normal, her thoughtlessness is neither funny nor hilarious," Lin followed up.
"I wouldn't call it thoughtlessness," Robyn supplied for them. "I'd simply consider it as ignoring reality."
"And you call this reality?" Lin snipped.
"Enough already!" a feminine voice cried out and the three heads turned to see Mia stride forward.
"Is it possible that the three of you could stop getting off the subject at hand and concentrate on our questions?" Folding her arms over her chest, Mia radiated calm and straight-forwardness.
"It's possible, but hardly probable." When Mia looked like she was going to say something more, Robyn twisted her body so she was facing the Ronin group again and held up a hand for silence. "I only said hardly; I didn't said it was entirely improbable. I'll go for the little snippet of probability that exists." She folded her legs Indian-style, propped her elbows on her knees and propped her chin in her hands. "Go on."
While Mia stepped aside to allow Kayura to continued with her polite form of drilling, Robyn reviewed all she had said and done, and winced mentally. She deduced that she had come off as a happy-go-lucky ditz with no real concept of reality and certainly a lack of any good sense, not to mention claiming more than a bit of a smart-ass attitude. Perfect. She focused on Kayura.
"How much do you know about us?" the Ancient asked calmly.
"Quite a bit, really," Robyn said, in a normal tone. "At least I do. Lin and Katrin couldn't care less. Like I said, your world is nothing more than a TV series in my world." Robyn had shed her cherubic skin and was acting a little more sensible. "The battles with Talpa and all those bad guys. Yeah." She shrugged her shoulders as if it were nothing really important.
"And for some reason you have managed to come into possession of Sage's sword and have been transported to our world?" The hissing voice could belong to none other than the scaly Sekhmet, and it was laden with incredulity.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. Would you like to contest my claims, Squeezy?" For some reason, though Robyn liked all the Ronins and Warlords, she just had to associate them with a ridiculous nickname. And Sekhmet's eyes had always reminded her of a bulbous squeak-toy her dog once chewed to death. In the case of Rowen, she thought he was quite brilliant, as all respectable Twinkies are.
"After all, you did just see my car fly out of thin air to wreck your little picnic. Where else could I be from but another world?" She would have said more, but a particularly strong gust of wind (Yeah! Remember! It's all nice and stormy lookin' now!) blew by and threw some of her long blond locks into her mouth, which she proceeded to choke on.
"Yick! Furball!" She spat her hair out and glanced at the sky. "Oooh! Pretty as the weather might be at the moment, and as much as I'd love to throw a wet t-shirt contest for y'all, I don't think this is honestly the place for discussion." A crack of thunder sounded to prove her point and lightning split the sky off in the distance.
"Though I hate to admit it, she's right," Kale muttered, speaking out for the first time. It occurred to Robyn that few of them had spoken to her. My they were a silent lot face-to-face. "Maybe we should further this elsewhere."
"Right." Mia strode back to their trashed picnic and began gathering stuff. "Let's pack up and we'll go to my place. Then we can talk."
Letting out one of her triumphant little giggles, Robyn scooted from the trunk and opened it again so she could re-toss Lin and Katrin's luggage back into its now slightly roomier confines.
Ryo, since he was the leader and all, followed the girls, tagging them with his ever so-suspicious tiger eyes. "I'm going with you to make sure you don't try anything."
"No problem!" She unlocked all the doors and when she saw that her heroes were all ready to go, she clambered in and buckled up. Ryo was slow to fit himself inside; he had donned his civvies now, and he was quite on edge. His temper looked like it was about to snap, and Robyn figured it was probably her doing that got him on edge. She gave herself a mental pat on the back; like them, she did, but she couldn't resist pissing people off.
As she started the car- she hadn't remembered shutting it off- a sudden loud screech went of in her ears and she winced as Lin and Katrin began clamoring to use their connection at the same time. They were still new to it, thought it had been several years, and they were quite loud in their thoughts. Her one-way telepathy was slowly becoming two-way, and this was the first time the two younger girls had ever initiated any sort of conversation outside of lessons, which is why she always considered it one- way.
-*Robyn!*- Lin screeched loudly. -*You had sure as hell better know a way to get us out of here!*-
-*Unfortunately, little sister, I don't. Sit back and relax. And turn the waves down. You'll make my zone echo later.*-
-*It's all fine and dandy to you,*- Katrin raved, -*but we're not exactly wanting to be here!*-
-*Come on, chiquitas! Where's your sense of adventure!*- Miffed, Robyn pulled behind Mia's red jeep, and a white van followed behind her. They drove along a dirt road for a while till they came to a paved road.
-*If this was actually a show I liked, I'd probably be acting just like you,*- Lin growled. She was getting louder, and Robyn knew the three of them were going to get horrible headaches from their sudden use of their private airwaves.
-*That's the problem. Why can't you guys accept things as they are?*-
-*Why should we?*- Katrin asked snobbishly. -*Why should we always go along with everything you say? Just because you're the wise one who has to teach us everything? Why can't you accept the fact that we can't stand this anime... this place!*-
That one hurt, and Robyn's eyes widened a bit, before cooling to a molten silver. -*And why should I put up with the criticism you throw at me for liking this show?*- she asked softly. -*Listen, guys, I know you don't like Ronin Warriors, and I know you want to go back. If it were in my power, I would send you back at your request, but I don't know how.*-
There was a mental sigh, and she glanced in the rear-view mirror to see what her sisters looked like. They both looked petulant and pissed, an expression she didn't like seeing on them. When anything else but Ronin Warriors was concerned, they could be as sunny as she. Katrin would be smiling, and she wouldn't act like a snob. Lin would be scheming and plotting for their next escapade. Her friends were so out of character now, she was beginning to feel the effects.
-*When I find out how, you can count on me to send you back. But until then, would you please just sit tight? You might find out it's not so bad after all.*- After that thought, she did something she'd never had to do before concerning her best friends.
She put up a wall. The mason had been playing hooky and had come back after a guilt trip. She'd never had to use a wall because they'd never had an actual conversation with her, and this conversation was really wearing her thin.
They drove on for a while, a heavy silence weighing over them and slowly gaining more pounds. Ryo's intense tiger-gaze was fraying Robyn's nerves, and it didn't help that Katrin looked like she wanted to pull a sledgehammer from her bag and Lin looked like she was about to throw a bad charm on her.
So she kept her eyes plastered to the bumper ahead of her and tried to cool her thoughts.
For once, the rightness of her bond with Lin and Katrin was beginning to feel not so right. She couldn't understand it. The first time they had met, the feeling promised forever friendships, and now it looked like it was about to turn into a regular friendship any normal person might experience in their life, one that faded with time. And her entrance into this world had fueled the sudden feeling. She wondered if this was a test. Maybe she had to go through a trial that would keep her sister-bond together.
A brief, bitter smile crossed her lips as she contemplated this being a test. It was just like the sisters before her. Put to the test, only to fail, pathetically.
She followed Mia's jeep in turning onto another dirt road, the driveway to Mia's mansion, she remembered
This world felt so right to her, so how could it be anything less to Lin and Katrin? Of course, that had to be part of the test: acceptance. She accepted that they couldn't stand the Ronins, but she knew that their minds could eventually change. Their acceptance might just be slow in coming.
In Mia's Vehicle...
Sage was still holding onto his dear no-datchi, thought he had long since returned to his civvies. He couldn't put the sword down, he was so glad to have it back in his hands.
He was puzzled though, by the way of its return. He was aware that his sword had a soul, much like his armor, but that it had spoken to someone other than him was what bewildered him.
The sword wasn't a fake, he had known that the instant he felt the weight of it in his hand, felt the flash of light and warmth its presence sent through him. It was his no-datchi and none other. But why had it chosen this girl to return it to him?
His grip on the hilt tightened as he closed his eyes and let in the soul of the sword.
Centuries literally passed before his eyes, and not the time of his world, but of this Robyn character's. The sword fell into the hands of an old warrior, spoke to him, told him to seek the one to return the blade to its master. And so it went, from generation to generation through the warrior's family, until it came to the display window of his descendant's shop. And in walked Robyn and her crew and the sword's feeling flared brightly.
He opened his eyes again just as they pulled up in front of Mia's mansion. Even without the knowing truth of Cye's judgment (Hey, he's the Ronin of Truth, ain't he?) or the power of Kayura's staff, he knew without a doubt that the girl was telling the truth. That he could trust her. Through his connection with his comrades, he relayed as much. It seemed as thought there was a sudden release of tension amongst his fellows, and as Sage and the others removed themselves from their vehicles, he could see the lack of tension in their visages.
*Okay, okay, I will admit, that while I'm writing this, I have no real idea as to where I'm going. But, that's the joy of it! I'm going to love finding out where this will head! Dun dun dun! What did Robyn mean by the sisters before her? Oooh? Does she know more than she's telling us? And is her friendship with Lin and Katrin really what it was made out to be? Find out next time as we fly by the seats of our pants! See! My pantsesss have wings! MOOSE TURNIPS!
Oh, and I will try to update as much as possible, but don't count on seeing something new every day or every week or every month. I write till I run dry, and sometimes it takes a while for the rains to come again. You've been forewarned of my sporadic writing skills.
-Gray
Note: -* words* - means shared thoughts between the girls.
Chapter 2 By: Soulful Gray
"Robyn Elena March! This is not cool! This might be your obsessive fantasy come to life, but it is not ours!" Lin yelled as she reached over to hit the automatic door lock. One of the Ronins, Ryo, was walking up to the car with his katanas drawn and a wary look on his face. "Damnit! Make him go away!"
"Hell no! We are not going to kick our chance for adventure into the dirt!" Robyn was getting pissed now. Why did it always come to this when anything remotely Ronin-like popped up? "And do you really think locking the door is going to help?"
Robyn had put up with this criticism for as long as they had known of her love for the show. The past four years had been great, their sister bond as strong as anything, but this was the only really argument they had. And she was getting tired of it. Why couldn't they just accept that she like the Ronins and wasn't about to change her mind any time soon?
"Would you stop your bloody bitching and just live with it?! We're here, this place is real, now go with it!" Growling she unlocked her door and threw herself out of it.
Ryo went a little defensive at the abrupt appearance of the girl. He didn't know if he should trust her or what. After all, it wasn't exactly normal for a car to fly out of the middle of nowhere and crash into a field. Well, considering what his life was like, that was pretty mild, but it was still a surprising even nonetheless.
He and his group had been enjoying a nice picnic on a section of land that Mia owned. It was a lovely spot, with a few trees for shade and enough room to start a game of soccer. It had been nice and sunny, up and till a few moments ago when the sky had turned dark and the wind had started picking up.
Ryo had gotten a feeling on the back of his neck; the sudden changed of weather had been to abrupt, to unnatural, and he had made his feelings known to the other Ronins. The Warlords and Kayura had also felt the same ominous feeling. So, putting Mia and Yulie safely behind White Blaze, they had donned their armors and waited.
It had been a nice break after the short but grueling battle they had fought only a few months ago. The sudden appearance of a warrior who introduced himself as Kaiden, the Hunter, had interrupted what had been a time of peace since their war against Talpa. But the fight against Kaiden had been short-lived, last only a day or so, before Kaiden up and disappeared. But not before disarming one of the Ronins.
Kaiden's blade, a cruel sword edged with blackened poison, had pierced through Sage's armor, and for some reason, the Hunter had banished Sage's no-datchi from their world. Sage's recovery had been bad enough, but now the Ronin of Wisdom was only able to fight with a poor replacement sword, something he immensely disliked.
Ryo didn't know why Kaiden had taken away Sage's sword, or the reasons behind his sudden attack and disappearance, but he figured it had something to do with these girls that had popped up out of nowhere. He had a feeling that they would see Kaiden shortly.
The blonde that flew out of the car was tall and staring at him without fear of him or his katanas.
"Who are you?" He tried to sound threatening as he took another cautious step towards her. He could feel his friends closing in behind him, their weapons also drawn in suspicion.
"Hello! My name's Robyn, and the two whiners in the car are Lindsey and Katrin." She seemed oblivious to any threat they posed as she stepped up closer to them. "You might as well put your weapons away since I'm not connected to anything even remotely evil. Oh! Sage! You're missing your sword! What a coincidence since I have a present for you!" Without missing a beat she skipped over to the trunk of her car and the sudden movement surprised Rowen, who let loose an arrow.
She squeaked, an amusing sound, as the arrow pierced the metal of the car just in front of her. Her eyes widened and she shot an amazed look at the blue Ronin.
"You shot at me!" Her eyebrows drew together in a frown as she glared at him. "I can't believe you shot at me! You freakin' twinkie!" She eyed the arrow. "My car! You stupid cream filled puff!"
"How did you know my name?" Sage demanded as he stepped forward when she paused for air in her tirade. He had long since gone back to his sub armor and the white and green plates seemed to glow with his apparent anger.
"What?" Now off-track, she flipped her gaze to him.
"I said-"
"I know what you said, for crying out loud!" she cried as she turned to jerk the arrow out of her car. "It just caught me off guard! It amazes me that people find the need to repeat themselves after somebody says 'what' to them. Not everybody is hearing impaired!" She gripped tightly and put her foot against the bumper so she got some leverage, and then she pulled hard. The arrow came loose in a moment and she tossed it at Rowen.
"Then why don't you answer the question," he commanded coolly.
"Because." She pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the trunk. "And like a said, I have a present for you. But if you all are going to be this rude, I might not give it to you."
"You call this rude when you crashed our picnic?" Kentoe all but growled.
"I realize your stomach is a bottomless pit, but how was I to know that when I popped into this world I'd be wrecking your little party?" she said snidely.
"How in the world do you know about us, little girl?" came the next smooth question as Dais put away his weapon.
"Considering I'm not all that little, I find that the how of it is quite simple. But I have no reason to explain myself. I'm here for a purpose, and if you all would shut up, lighten up, and put up your weapons I'd be more than happy to be more accommodating to your requests for answers!"
On a silent mutual agreement, the Ronins and Warlords all went back to their sub armors and stood in a sort of half-circle around the back of her car.
"Could you get those other two out here?" Ryo asked calmly. "We don't know that they aren't planning anything."
"Sure. They're harmless though, really." With that, she unlocked and jerked open Lin and Katrin's car doors, just as Mia and Yulie had cautiously come up behind the guard of White Blaze.
"No! I am not leaving this car!" Katrin squealed as she hung onto the seat for dear life. "I will not be open to Ronin spores! I don't want this place to rub off!"
"Quit being a baby, Katrin, for crying out loud! Nothing's going to happen to you!" Sighing, Robyn stepped back and then spotted White Blaze. "Hey! The big kitty's here!"
Katrin's struggling ceased as she looked over at White Blaze, her eyes widening as she looked over him in awe.
Cackling with glee, Robyn seized the moment to grabbed the fascinated girl and haul her ass out of the backseat. She slammed the door shut and locked it and then turned to go to work on the redhead.
Lin had already, grudgingly extracted herself from the car and Robyn smiled. "Good to see you in such a good mood, my little friend." She slammed Lin's door and locked it like she had Katrin's.
The Ronins, meanwhile, were staring with mild surprise at the two new faces.
"See, nothing to worry about them," Robyn said as she skipped back to the trunk and opened it.
The luggage was stored closer to her and she began pulling and tossing it onto the ground.
"Hey! Be careful with that stuff!" Katrin cried, pissed at Robyn's disregard of her possessions. "That suitcase is pure Italian leather!"
"Snob's showing!" Robyn called in a sing-songy voice as she pulled out the case the sword was stored in. Slamming the trunk closed, she placed the case on the lid and opened it.
"Sage, this is yours, now get your ass over here." She moved over and lifted herself up onto the trunk of the car, a sunny smile lighting up her features as she patted the tissue paper inside the case.
Slowly, as if he were afraid she might attack him, Sage moved forward and parted the layers of paper and silk. His visible and beautiful violet eyes widened as he revealed the blade of his sword to the dim light of the darkened day. An astonished cry tore from his lips as he gripped it tightly and lifted it from its packaged and swung it in a full arc into the air.
"It's Sage's sword!" Rowen gasped out and Robyn slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Oh my! Doctor Obvious of the Twinkie Brigade! You've just made a startling discovery!" She leaned forward as though eager. "Have you any more awesomely amazing deductions to share with us all, or have all your light bulbs burned out?"
His dirty look succeeded in further brightening in her disposition- if that's truly possible- and she sat back with a smug and triumphant look on her face. Lin had moved around the car so she was leaning against it close to where Robyn was sitting.
"I thought you liked these people, Birdie," Lin grumbled.
"I do!" Robyn gritted her teeth at the mention of their nickname for her. She hated "Birdie."
"Then why do you insist on annoying the hell out of them constantly!"
Robyn turned on her point blank gray eyes onto the annoyed redhead. "Let's put it this way, honey. I like you and Katrin and I insist on annoying the hell out of the both of you! Why should I treat them any differently? Sense a pattern?" Her voice was full of mock innocence.
Lin had nothing to say, but Katrin sure as boo did, but on a different subject.
"Can we just go now?" she complained, rubbing her temples. "We've delivered the sword so we can go now, right?"
Before Robyn could reply with one of her oh-so-awesomely witty remarks, Kayura stepped forward to drill them.
"How did you come into possession of Halo's sword?" the midnight haired young woman asked and Robyn faced her. "And the girl said 'delivered.' Who charged you to deliver the sword?" Her hand was in a white-knuckled grip on the Ancient's staff, and she was obviously not in the mood for any more of Robyn's constant sense of humor.
"Well, Miss Ancient's Heir Lady, Katrin and Lin pointed the sword out in a shop window, I begged to go in, we got the sword and *POOF!*, here we are!"
"Long winded as she is, she summarizes," Katrin mumbled as she came around to stand next to Lin. "You ever notice how she makes everything else seem so exciting, but when she tells stories, they're always flops?"
"Yup." Lin absent-mindedly drummed her fingers against the car.
"And who charged you?" Kayura repeated.
"I wouldn't say it was a 'who' really. More of a 'what.'" Robyn turned to Sage, she was running his hands along the blade to check and make sure it was still perfect. "Are you aware that your sword has a soul? In case you didn't know, it does. It asked me to bring the sword to you!"
Robyn's cherubic demeanor seemed to be really getting on people's nerves, and the blonde, sensing the annoyance, decided to change... a little. Her gray eyes darkened in their seriousness and her brows drew together in a frown as she appeared to be pondering something.
"Katrin, Lin, something just occurred to me."
"What?" they asked in unison, in fear of what the answer would be.
"It never really occurred to me that this place was real. The fact that in our world this place is little more than a kick-ass TV series never really hit me until this point. Hmmm." She turned herself bodily to her two friends. "Do you think something totally evil is going on?"
As one- and they constantly seem to do things as one- the redhead and the brunette klunked their heads back against the car, expressions of utter grief crossing their features.
"I never really though about that," the blonde continued, musing.
"Under normal circumstances, Robyn 'not' thinking would have been funny," Katrin muttered.
"But considering they're not normal, her thoughtlessness is neither funny nor hilarious," Lin followed up.
"I wouldn't call it thoughtlessness," Robyn supplied for them. "I'd simply consider it as ignoring reality."
"And you call this reality?" Lin snipped.
"Enough already!" a feminine voice cried out and the three heads turned to see Mia stride forward.
"Is it possible that the three of you could stop getting off the subject at hand and concentrate on our questions?" Folding her arms over her chest, Mia radiated calm and straight-forwardness.
"It's possible, but hardly probable." When Mia looked like she was going to say something more, Robyn twisted her body so she was facing the Ronin group again and held up a hand for silence. "I only said hardly; I didn't said it was entirely improbable. I'll go for the little snippet of probability that exists." She folded her legs Indian-style, propped her elbows on her knees and propped her chin in her hands. "Go on."
While Mia stepped aside to allow Kayura to continued with her polite form of drilling, Robyn reviewed all she had said and done, and winced mentally. She deduced that she had come off as a happy-go-lucky ditz with no real concept of reality and certainly a lack of any good sense, not to mention claiming more than a bit of a smart-ass attitude. Perfect. She focused on Kayura.
"How much do you know about us?" the Ancient asked calmly.
"Quite a bit, really," Robyn said, in a normal tone. "At least I do. Lin and Katrin couldn't care less. Like I said, your world is nothing more than a TV series in my world." Robyn had shed her cherubic skin and was acting a little more sensible. "The battles with Talpa and all those bad guys. Yeah." She shrugged her shoulders as if it were nothing really important.
"And for some reason you have managed to come into possession of Sage's sword and have been transported to our world?" The hissing voice could belong to none other than the scaly Sekhmet, and it was laden with incredulity.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. Would you like to contest my claims, Squeezy?" For some reason, though Robyn liked all the Ronins and Warlords, she just had to associate them with a ridiculous nickname. And Sekhmet's eyes had always reminded her of a bulbous squeak-toy her dog once chewed to death. In the case of Rowen, she thought he was quite brilliant, as all respectable Twinkies are.
"After all, you did just see my car fly out of thin air to wreck your little picnic. Where else could I be from but another world?" She would have said more, but a particularly strong gust of wind (Yeah! Remember! It's all nice and stormy lookin' now!) blew by and threw some of her long blond locks into her mouth, which she proceeded to choke on.
"Yick! Furball!" She spat her hair out and glanced at the sky. "Oooh! Pretty as the weather might be at the moment, and as much as I'd love to throw a wet t-shirt contest for y'all, I don't think this is honestly the place for discussion." A crack of thunder sounded to prove her point and lightning split the sky off in the distance.
"Though I hate to admit it, she's right," Kale muttered, speaking out for the first time. It occurred to Robyn that few of them had spoken to her. My they were a silent lot face-to-face. "Maybe we should further this elsewhere."
"Right." Mia strode back to their trashed picnic and began gathering stuff. "Let's pack up and we'll go to my place. Then we can talk."
Letting out one of her triumphant little giggles, Robyn scooted from the trunk and opened it again so she could re-toss Lin and Katrin's luggage back into its now slightly roomier confines.
Ryo, since he was the leader and all, followed the girls, tagging them with his ever so-suspicious tiger eyes. "I'm going with you to make sure you don't try anything."
"No problem!" She unlocked all the doors and when she saw that her heroes were all ready to go, she clambered in and buckled up. Ryo was slow to fit himself inside; he had donned his civvies now, and he was quite on edge. His temper looked like it was about to snap, and Robyn figured it was probably her doing that got him on edge. She gave herself a mental pat on the back; like them, she did, but she couldn't resist pissing people off.
As she started the car- she hadn't remembered shutting it off- a sudden loud screech went of in her ears and she winced as Lin and Katrin began clamoring to use their connection at the same time. They were still new to it, thought it had been several years, and they were quite loud in their thoughts. Her one-way telepathy was slowly becoming two-way, and this was the first time the two younger girls had ever initiated any sort of conversation outside of lessons, which is why she always considered it one- way.
-*Robyn!*- Lin screeched loudly. -*You had sure as hell better know a way to get us out of here!*-
-*Unfortunately, little sister, I don't. Sit back and relax. And turn the waves down. You'll make my zone echo later.*-
-*It's all fine and dandy to you,*- Katrin raved, -*but we're not exactly wanting to be here!*-
-*Come on, chiquitas! Where's your sense of adventure!*- Miffed, Robyn pulled behind Mia's red jeep, and a white van followed behind her. They drove along a dirt road for a while till they came to a paved road.
-*If this was actually a show I liked, I'd probably be acting just like you,*- Lin growled. She was getting louder, and Robyn knew the three of them were going to get horrible headaches from their sudden use of their private airwaves.
-*That's the problem. Why can't you guys accept things as they are?*-
-*Why should we?*- Katrin asked snobbishly. -*Why should we always go along with everything you say? Just because you're the wise one who has to teach us everything? Why can't you accept the fact that we can't stand this anime... this place!*-
That one hurt, and Robyn's eyes widened a bit, before cooling to a molten silver. -*And why should I put up with the criticism you throw at me for liking this show?*- she asked softly. -*Listen, guys, I know you don't like Ronin Warriors, and I know you want to go back. If it were in my power, I would send you back at your request, but I don't know how.*-
There was a mental sigh, and she glanced in the rear-view mirror to see what her sisters looked like. They both looked petulant and pissed, an expression she didn't like seeing on them. When anything else but Ronin Warriors was concerned, they could be as sunny as she. Katrin would be smiling, and she wouldn't act like a snob. Lin would be scheming and plotting for their next escapade. Her friends were so out of character now, she was beginning to feel the effects.
-*When I find out how, you can count on me to send you back. But until then, would you please just sit tight? You might find out it's not so bad after all.*- After that thought, she did something she'd never had to do before concerning her best friends.
She put up a wall. The mason had been playing hooky and had come back after a guilt trip. She'd never had to use a wall because they'd never had an actual conversation with her, and this conversation was really wearing her thin.
They drove on for a while, a heavy silence weighing over them and slowly gaining more pounds. Ryo's intense tiger-gaze was fraying Robyn's nerves, and it didn't help that Katrin looked like she wanted to pull a sledgehammer from her bag and Lin looked like she was about to throw a bad charm on her.
So she kept her eyes plastered to the bumper ahead of her and tried to cool her thoughts.
For once, the rightness of her bond with Lin and Katrin was beginning to feel not so right. She couldn't understand it. The first time they had met, the feeling promised forever friendships, and now it looked like it was about to turn into a regular friendship any normal person might experience in their life, one that faded with time. And her entrance into this world had fueled the sudden feeling. She wondered if this was a test. Maybe she had to go through a trial that would keep her sister-bond together.
A brief, bitter smile crossed her lips as she contemplated this being a test. It was just like the sisters before her. Put to the test, only to fail, pathetically.
She followed Mia's jeep in turning onto another dirt road, the driveway to Mia's mansion, she remembered
This world felt so right to her, so how could it be anything less to Lin and Katrin? Of course, that had to be part of the test: acceptance. She accepted that they couldn't stand the Ronins, but she knew that their minds could eventually change. Their acceptance might just be slow in coming.
In Mia's Vehicle...
Sage was still holding onto his dear no-datchi, thought he had long since returned to his civvies. He couldn't put the sword down, he was so glad to have it back in his hands.
He was puzzled though, by the way of its return. He was aware that his sword had a soul, much like his armor, but that it had spoken to someone other than him was what bewildered him.
The sword wasn't a fake, he had known that the instant he felt the weight of it in his hand, felt the flash of light and warmth its presence sent through him. It was his no-datchi and none other. But why had it chosen this girl to return it to him?
His grip on the hilt tightened as he closed his eyes and let in the soul of the sword.
Centuries literally passed before his eyes, and not the time of his world, but of this Robyn character's. The sword fell into the hands of an old warrior, spoke to him, told him to seek the one to return the blade to its master. And so it went, from generation to generation through the warrior's family, until it came to the display window of his descendant's shop. And in walked Robyn and her crew and the sword's feeling flared brightly.
He opened his eyes again just as they pulled up in front of Mia's mansion. Even without the knowing truth of Cye's judgment (Hey, he's the Ronin of Truth, ain't he?) or the power of Kayura's staff, he knew without a doubt that the girl was telling the truth. That he could trust her. Through his connection with his comrades, he relayed as much. It seemed as thought there was a sudden release of tension amongst his fellows, and as Sage and the others removed themselves from their vehicles, he could see the lack of tension in their visages.
*Okay, okay, I will admit, that while I'm writing this, I have no real idea as to where I'm going. But, that's the joy of it! I'm going to love finding out where this will head! Dun dun dun! What did Robyn mean by the sisters before her? Oooh? Does she know more than she's telling us? And is her friendship with Lin and Katrin really what it was made out to be? Find out next time as we fly by the seats of our pants! See! My pantsesss have wings! MOOSE TURNIPS!
Oh, and I will try to update as much as possible, but don't count on seeing something new every day or every week or every month. I write till I run dry, and sometimes it takes a while for the rains to come again. You've been forewarned of my sporadic writing skills.
-Gray