Ryo dropped a folded newspaper in front of the others. Rowen reached for it and opened it to the front page. There was a large black and white blurry photo on the front page. Despite the blurriness, they could still make out some of the picture. It was of an armored being holding a sword in one hand and a long scythe in the other. The armor looked much like their own. They couldn't see the face at all; the blurriness was worst in that area of the photograph. It was hard to tell if the figure was female or male. The headline over the picture and article read "Mysterious Being Terrified Tokyo."
"Is that weird or what?" said Ryo, sitting down.
"No kidding," answered Kento.
"What's this person doing in armor?" asked Cye.
"I think that a more important question is how they got it," said Sage.
"It answer Cye's question, all the article says is that this armored person is just terrorizing people, nothing bad," replied Rowen, scanning the article quickly. "I must agree with Sage here. How they got the armor is definitely vital. Maybe Mia will know something."
"Maybe," said Ryo. The school bell rang, signaling them to return to class. "Let's meet after school. See ya' guys later."
They partedand went totheir classes. Rowen couldn't get that article out of his mind. A mysterious being terrorizing Tokyo? It sounded like Talpa was back, but he and the other Ronins had destroyed Talpa almosta yearago. Everything had become quiet; they didn't have to fight any more battles and didn't have to worry about mystical armors anymore. It was almost as if life had returned to normal, before Talpa had ever appeared.
After school, the five boys regrouped by the bus stop. They talked as they waited for the bus that would take them to Mia's house.
"I was thinking about that article," said Rowen.
"Why doesn't that surprise us, Rowen?" asked Sage, rolling his eyes at his blue-haired friend. He was always thinking about something.
Rowen ignored his comment. "Don't you think that it's weird that this person's only terrorizing people?"
"What do ya' mean?" asked Ryo as they climbing onto the bus and sat down.
"Well, the last person that terrorized Tokyo was Talpa"
"Are you sure that you can call Talpa a person?" interjected Cye.
Rowen continued where Cye interrupted. "And at first he only terrorized but then he trapped the whole city before finally beginning to trap people, remember?"
"Who could possibly forget," muttered Ryo.
"So you're worried that this person could turn out to be like Talpa?" asked Sage.
"Yeah," agreed Rowen.
"You worry too much," said Kento.
"Humph," said Rowen, crossing his arms and looking out the window.
They rode the bus for almost an hour before getting off and trekking to Mia's house. They walked into and they dropped their backpacks on the dining room table. White Blaze was sleeping in the doorway to the kitchen, but woke up when Yulie raced down the stairs to see the boys.
"Hi guys!" said Yulie excitedly.
"Hi Yulie," they answered in unison.
"Mia's in the kitchen making dinner. Ryo, can I borrow white Blaze until dinnertime?" asked Yulie.
"Sure," answered Ryo, pulling his history textbook from his backpack.
Cye wandered into the kitchen to see what Mia was cooking for dinner. Ryo and the others sat at the dining room table and did their homework. After that and dinner, everyone was in the living room except for Cye and Mia, who in the kitchen cleaning up from dinner. Rowen still had that article on his mind. It was driving him insane.
"Hey Mia," said Rowen when she walked into the room, "take a look at this."
He handed her the newspaper that Ryo had showed them earlier. She looked at the picture and swiftly read the accompanying article. She looked at Rowen and said, "What do you want me to look up?"
Rowen smiled as did the other Ronins in the room.
"He wants you to try to find that armor in the picture," explained Sage.
"I can try. The photo's so blurry that it'll be hard. I haven't anything to do so I'll start now. I'll be upstairs if you need anything."
Mia headed up the stairs. They boys sat in the living room watching TV for a while before Mia walked back downstairs. She had discontent and frustration written on her face. Rowen's feeling that questions would be answered quickly vanished.
"Nothing?" he asked.
"Sorry, Rowen, but I couldn't find it anywhere in my grandfather's notes," said Mia, handing the paper back. "I can ask around at the university if you want."
"No, that's okay. Thanks for trying. Someone else I know might be able to help us with this," said Rowen.
"Really? Who's that?" asked Ryo.
"An old friend of mine. If she can't find the answer to this, then there's no answer," answered Rowen, standing and heading to the phone.
He picked up the receiver and dialed the number for his friend.
The next day Rowen and the others met outside the school to catch the bus. They got on a different bus than the previous day. This one went to the rich part of the city – Heighten View Terrence. People with a lot of money lived in penthouses in tall high-rise buildings. Apparently, Rowen's friend had money. They walked to a high-rise building and walked in. Rowen walked to the man at a counter off the lobby and briefly spoke to him. Rowen gestured for his friends to follow him and he led them to an elevator. They got inside and Rowen in the button for the tenth floor, the highest floor in the building.
They exited the elevator and walked down a long corridor that stopped at a shiny wooden door. It had a bright nameplate on the door that read 'S. N. Xiazylong.' Rowen knocked and canine sounds could be heard from the opposite side of the door. A second later, the prettiest girl any of them had ever seen opened the door.
She was tall, probably 5'5", and had a breath-taking figure that was perfectly proportioned. She had bright, intelligent green eyes and very long platinum blonde hair that was plaited in a tight braid that fell to the very small of her back. Blonde wisps of hair fell in her face. Her skin was a pale, creamy color that looked even more pallid by the black long sleeve off-shoulder shirt she wore. She also wore dark blue pants and black socks that disappeared under her pant-legs. She was holding back a large black dog by the collar.
She leaned against the door and said, "Rowen, long time no see. Come in, please." She gestured from them to enter.
As soon as they entered, they could tell that an artist lived here. A canvas stood on an easel in front of an open window that allowed sunlight to stream in. It was painted black with little wisps of colour here and there across its surface. Paints of every colour imaginable lined four shelves along a wall. A container of many types of paintbrushes sat next to it. Other art supplies orderly littered other shelves on the wall; these included watercolor paints, pastels, chalk, crayons, markers, paper, and molding clay. Painter's cloth lay on the floor under the canvas to prevent paint from dripping on the wooden floor.
A number of rooms led off this one great room. They could see a kitchen, an office, a spare bedroom, and a living room along with three rooms that had their doors closed. Everything in all the rooms that they could see were very neatly organized. The furniture was nice yet comfortable. All the floors were of polished wood and didn't look to have a speck of dirt on them. On that note, nothing looked to be dirty or dusty from what any of them could tell.
"So, since Rowen has completely forgotten his manners, I'll introduce myself. I'm Sakura Xiazylong," said the girl.
"Ryo Sanada."
"Sage Date."
"Cye Mouri."
"Kento Layfang."
"Nice to meet all of you," answered Sakura, smiling slightly and surveying the four friends of Rowen.
Two of them were cute. What were their names? Oh, yes. Ryo and Sage. The other two, Cye and Kento, she could group in the 'friend' category whereas they other two were put in the 'possible boyfriend' category. Now Rowen was a hard one to place in any of her many categories. He was definitely her friend; they had grown-up together. He also definitely fell into the 'possible boyfriend' category, too, because he liked her…a lot. He never let her forget that he liked her either.
"So, what is it that you wanted me to analyze?" asked Sakura turning to face Rowen.
Rowen handed her the newspaper. "This picture. What can you tell us about that armor?"
Sakura looked over it with a look of intense concentration and scrutiny on her face. She sat in one of the large armchairs in the room and gestured for them to take a seat. After a few minutes she spoke.
"Well the figure's holding a sword in one hand and a scythe in the other. And he's wearing armor of the ancient Japanese sort. Interesting. But you probably have already figured this much out. The armor is probable from the 11th, no, 12th century, judging by the looks of it. Yes, 12th century. I'm almost positive. This armor…I've seen it before." She paused, looking more intensely at the weapons. "This sword, I've seen it before, too. Very familiar, it is. Hmmm."
Sakura got up and went to the office. She sat down at the computer. They all looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed her. The office was neat and orderly. Dozens of books lined bookshelves that lined the left and right walls. The wall that was opposite the far wall had perhaps three dozen plaques and medals on it that Sakura had won. She typed something and hit 'enter' on the keyboard for the computer to search for it. She turned to them.
"So, when did this paper come out?" she asked, reading the article.
"Yesterday, I think. Right, Ryo?" Rowen shot at Ryo.
"Yup," confirmed Ryo.
"Hmmm. Well, it's out of date then. Avalanche!" Sakura loudly said the last word. A large white dog that looked awfully like a wolf plotted into the room. "Avalanche, go find me the paper will you? I've mislaid it, it seems."
"Mislaid? You mean lost?" corrected Rowen slyly.
"No, mislaid. Lost means that you can't find it at all. Mislaid means that you've just forgotten where you put it," said Sakura.
Rowen smiled and rolled his eyes. "What do you expect to find is today's paper?"
"A better picture, smarty pants," replied Sakura.
Avalanche came back with the newspaper in his mouth. He dropped it in his mistress's lap and sat next top the desk chair. Sakura scratched his ears with one hand and flipped through the paper with the other. A few moments later she exclaimed, "Aha! I thought so! I was right! What do you have to say now, genius?"
Rowen snatched the newspaper that Sakura was waving in front of him. The others looked over his shoulders. He looked at the front page. Sure enough, there was a better picture of the armored being. This one had a better view of the weapons. The sword looked almost like a katana, but the blade was different. It didn't look right, thought Sage. The handle of the sword was carved, but what it was, they couldn't tell. The scythe looked like a normal scythe – a long staff for the handle and a curved shiny blade.
"That sword that he's holding is over a thousand years old as is the armor. You'd think I'm crazy if I told you more about it," said Sakura.
"Try us," said Sage.
Sakura gave him a small smile. "Sit down. This may take a while." She took a deep breathe. "That armor is called the Armor of Dragons. It's one of ten mystical armors. The group of armors are called the Ronin Armors. They're the Armors of Wildfire, Strata, Halo, Torrent, Hardrock, Dragons, Venom, Cruelty, Illusion, and Darkness. Each one has a different elemental-type nature. Some are self-explanatory, like the Wildfire Armor is elemental fire and the Torrent Armor is elemental water. But others aren't as obvious, like the Dragons Armor is elemental ice and the Strata is elemental wind. The last four are very self-explanatory if you follow me. Each Armor works best in its own element, meaning that the Dragons Armor would be at an extreme disadvantage if it were fighting the Wildfire in a volcano or where there's a large heat source. All of these Armors, except the Dragons Armor, are based on an elemental power source."
"What do you mean? The Dragons Armor isn't based on an elemental power source?" asked Rowen. They had all found places to sit in the office and were listening to Sakura with interest. They didn't think that anyone besides Mia knew the Legend knew about the Armors.
"Well, the Dragons Armor's attack strength comes more from emotional energy than elemental energy. So even if it's fighting Wildfire in a volcano, Dragons can still win, though the possibility is fairly slim," explained Sakura. She was very good at explaining things.
"It would make sense than that the Armors would be stronger next to their power source. But what about the Venom, Cruelty, Illusion, and Darkness Armors?" asked Cye.
"The Darkness Armor would, of course, get its energy from any place where it's dark. The Illusion Armor gets its energy from places where there's lots of magical energy, such as a…temple. The Cruelty Armor can easily be reenergized on a battlefield because of the often cruel killings that took place there. Otherwise, the wearer could simply create its own power supply by being cruel. The Venom Armor is the hardest to reenergize because there's no known place where the wearer can go to get recharged."
"So you think that that armor in the photo is this Armor of Dragons?" asked Ryo.
"Yeah I do," answered Sakura.
"Why?" inquired Kento.
"Because the Dragons Armor has two weapons – a scythe and a reverse-bladed sword."
"What type of sword?" asked Sage. He had never heard of a reverse-bladed sword before. In fact, the idea of a sword with a reserved blade seemed impossible to him.
"A reserve-bladed sword. The sword's blade is reversed so that it is entirely incapable of killing. A normal bladed sword can easily kill but this one can merely seriously injure. This type of sword was once used in execution. It made rough cuts and stabs so that the unfortunate would bleed to death instead of dying quickly."
"How do you know all this stuff?" questioned Cye.
"You mean about the armors? I love legends and this one's my favorite. Besides that, my mum told me the legend as a kinda bedtime story every night. By the time I was five I had it memorized."
"Why are you so interested in the Armors?" asked Sage.
"Because I know that they are real, that they're out there somewhere."
"It's just a legend," said Rowen quickly, and the other boys all threw him swift glances. "Legends aren't real."
"Says you, Rowen. I know that this legend is true, that it's not just a fairytale. I went to the places where the Armors rest and none of them were there. That means that the wearers must have been found. I'm going to find those wearers and asked 'em a few questions. I want to find out more about these Armors," said Sakura.
Ryo was about to say something in reply when there was a shout from the main room.
"Naomi! I'm back!"
Sakura groaned. "Sorry. It's just my brother. I'll be right back. Excuse me."
She got up and left the office. The boys quietly talked among themselves while she was absent.
"She thinks that the Armors are real," said Rowen.
"Yeah, so?" said Kento.
"We can't let her think that," said Sage. "She might start to ask questions we can't explain."
"Who knows when she'll find out that we're the ones who are wearing them," said Cye.
"What'll we do?" asked Ryo.
"Discourage her. Tell her that the Armors don't exist. Tell her that they're just a legend," answered Rowen.
"I hope that you weren't talking interesting without me," said Sakura. She had walked back into the room with boy about twenty years old behind her. "Everyone, this is my brother, Yamato. Yamato, this is everyone. He's in town this weekend and decided to stop by for a bit. I hope that's alright."
"That's fine," said Cye.
"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Kento, pointing at her. Everyone looked at him. "You're Naomi Xiazylong?"
Sakura, Yamato, and Rowen exchanged looks. Sakura sighed and let her shoulders sag a little. Her brother burst out laughing. Rowen ducked his head, not looking at his childhood friend.
"You didn't tell 'em!" Yamato said, slamming her over the back.
"No, I didn't," replied Sakura, rubbing her shoulder.
"What are you goin' on about?" asked Cye.
"Naomi Xiazylong is only the best female gymnast and the best ice skater in the whole world. She won a whole bunch of medals in the Olympics," said Kento as if Cye should have known.
"Yeah, and she's one of the best fencers and is the reigning female kendo champ," amended Sage.
Their respect for her suddenly grew.
"Can we get back to the reason why we came?" interrupted Rowen.
"Oh, right, sorry…" muttered Kento.
Yamato was still silently laughing behind Sakura.
Sakura nudged him in the ribs before sitting down in the office chair. "Quit, Yamato. Hey, the search finished. Let's see here." She scanned the information that had popped up. "The Armor of Dragons rested in the glacier on Kita Dake – Japan's second highest mountain. Its elemental power is ice; I already told you that. Its weapons are a scythe and reversed bladed sword. This is the two stage of an armor called the Armor of Storms. The Armor of Storms is an ice elemental also, but it can handle heat a little better than the Dragons Armor. The Storms Armor is the second "layer" of the Armor."
"What does that mean?" asked Rowen.
"The layering works like this: the under gear, the Armor of Storms, and finally the Armor of Dragons. The Armor of Dragon is the most powerful level. Understand?"
"That makes sense," said Rowen, nodding in understanding.
"Okay then. That's all really," said Sakura, still scanning the article. "If I find anything else, I'll let you know."
"Thanks a million, Sakura," said Rowen. He got up. "We really have to go now."
"Alright. I'm glad I could be of help." She walked them to the door and opened it for them. "If you find anything, do let me know will you?"
"Be glad to," answered Ryo.
"Cool. Right then, I'll see you at school. Ciao, boys!"
Sakura shut the door after them. They walked down the hall, heading toward the elevator.
"She certainly does know a lot about the Armors," remarked Sage.
"She sure does," agreed Cye.
"She goes to our school?" said Ryo.
"Yeah, she's in almost every one of my classes," explained Rowen.
"You mean all the AP Advanced Placement classes," said Kento.
"Just because she's a blonde, doesn't mean that she's an idiot."
"Obviously," said Cye.
"In fact, she's the only person that's ever beaten me at anything academic," added Rowen, thoughtfully.
"Whoa," said Kento.
They all knew how smart Rowen was. That was why his virtue was wisdom. If anyone could outscore Rowen at anything, especially academically, then that person sure was intelligent.
A/N: Okay, okay, the first chapter ending could use some work, but give a break, will you? I'm just a beginning author. Please read and review. Flames are welcomed, but not appreciated. Thanks!