The Trinity Sitch - Book 4: Heart of the Fury
Chapter 15: The Golden Warrior and the Silver Knight
"I still can't believe you did that." Ron said as they picked their way through the rainforest/jungle of Troxxite. The muted gold color of his metallic boots was lost beneath a thick, sticky coating of mud and other decomposed matter. In fact, all three of them were similarly covered. Kim, at least, had some degree of comfort considering the more advanced internal climate controls Wade had built into her suit. Of course, that didn't do anything about the rainbow of smells coming from the putrefied vegetation (and other assorted muck.)
"What else was I supposed to think? I was right, wasn't I?" she asked, wiping her sweat streaked hair from her face once more.
"Well, sorta, but not really. It wasn't Yori that brought you here, after all, so I don't think it was the real Yori who kidnapped me either. I'm just saying, flying all the way to Japan based on a tiny scrap of clothe? I hate to sound like Wade, but man, you're really jumping to conclusions there, KP."
"I was not jumping to conclusions, I was following the evidence I had. Like I said, I'm here right now, aren't I?" for the hundredth or so time she pushed a long lock of hair from her eyes. She was so going to get it all cut back to its old length when she got back home.
Except that was the problem. How exactly were they going to get back home? She had no idea how to get back to her point of arrival and even if she did was it even possible to return that way? What had become of the girl who had been magically posing as Yori? She had been in a near panic when she had flown to Ron's rescue and hadn't even looked where she was going or where she had been, though to her eyes the whole jungle was just one big homogenous blob of unholy wet green.
Their predicament still didn't keep her from taking mental notes about things like the fact her small feet were sinking quite easily in the muck, making their progress difficult, well, at least hers. The huge bottoms of the oversized armored boots the two men were wearing were actually far more appropriate for the conditions. Maybe Wade could juice the morphing technology to create a wider, knobbier tread for conditions like this.
Ron took her hand, twining his fingers with hers, a process made a little more difficult by the segmented gauntlet he was wearing. He had to be delicate with her small fingers, but she appreciated the gesture anyway. Her own gloves kept the metal edges from digging in. "I'm glad you're here, KP. I just worry that you're reading more into Yori than you need to. The last time I saw her she barely had two words to speak to me, and now you tell me Sensei thinks she's betrayed them."
"I'm not so sure about that, Ron. He said he had been talking to an old woman about you and me…"
"Oh, Master Lunch Lady? She's harmless, though if you ever want a really effective diet program…"
"No, Ron. It wasn't somebody from his school he was talking about, I'm sure it was the Blessed Mother. Somehow I think Sensei is involved in all of this and perhaps what he told me about Yori was part of a bigger plan. All I know right now is that part of her clothing was in our home, a fact which has been confirmed both by Wade and by Sensei, she's missing and so is the Lotus Blade."
"That makes sense, I think. She's supposed to be the "Keeper of the Blade" or something, maybe she grabbed it to keep it safe from someone. For all we know Monkey Fist could be back in the game. After all, I did return his Monkey Kung-Fu powers."
"I thought of that, but Wade seemed to think he was still holed up in DNAmy's gorilla fortress."
"Don't tell me he has him chipped too."
"Actually, MI6 did that when he was in the London hospital. They put a chip into him that would send out a special signal if he ever found it and removed it, so he's pretty confident that he's still there. But no, I'm not freaked out about Yori any more when it comes to you."
"But you still dropped everything and flew all the way to Japan."
"Since when has that been an issue for us? I've got the Tweebs and Joss pulled in on this, I was following up the one lead I had. I was going to confront her and find out what I could, if that was a dead end I would have gone home and followed up on whatever the rest of the team turned up. It makes perfect sense to me."
"I guess you're right. Just kind of bugs me is all. Plus something the fake Yori said to me has really been bugging me."
"What?"
"Well, she repeated something to me that only Yori, Rufus and me know about."
"Oh, really?" She said, keen interest suddenly apparent in her expression.
Ron caught the look. "Nothing personal, it's just when I was freaking out over that cafeteria ghost thing that turned out to be Sensei, she popped up in my house, right after I barred the door and blocked it with heavy furniture."
"And you screamed." She said as if it was a guaranteed fact.
"No…yes." He said, a little to defensively. "I told her I was practicing my 'screams of courage.'"
"Let me guess, the fake surprised you and you screamed again?"
"Well, yeah. Then she asked me if I was still practicing. I thought at first it really was her. KP, I've never even told you about that. It was just…embarrassing. If it wasn't for Rufus…"
"…Kim? Where's Rufus?"
"Ron, I…I don't know. He wasn't in the house. We all figured he might have been with you, hiding until he got the chance to help somehow."
He stopped and leaned on a tree for support. All of the joy and hope that had been on his face since Kim arrived seemed to be gone.
"Is something wrong?" Sagan asked in Arkonian, catching up to the couple. Despite his inability to understand a word of their conversation, he had been keeping a respectful distance, basically keeping an eye on them lest some hidden danger miss their apparently good senses.
"We're still missing a member of our family." Kim told him, still amazed she could now speak and understand the language. Was that something that had been done to her when she was transported here? Ron could speak it now as well, did that indicate he was brought here by similar means?
Or was that part of their new powers?
That made her think again about what had become of her. Since changing back to normal she had not been able to recreate the conditions that caused her to change in the first place. She hoped it would not take such dire circumstances as it had the first time. The fight they were headed for would certainly benefit from a super-strong, seemingly invulnerable warrior.
Yet, there was a teensy bit of selfishness in her that would rather be stuck in her normal form than the other.
"If this family member is a tenth the warrior you and your mate are, then you should have little to worry about, and it they have met their end, it will have been with honor."
"Right now I don't care about honor. Rufus has been with me for ten years. He may be getting a little old now, but I don't want him to 'meet his end' I want him here with me, riding in my pocket." He turned away from them, adding, "If I even actually had pockets in this blasted thing." His head low, he started down the trail again, hopping from tree root to tree root to avoid the bog they were traversing.
"I meant no disrespect. I did not realize you were speaking of a beloved pet."
"Not pet, Sagan. Like Kim said, he's family, always has been." He said without turning his head, holding back a sob.
The large warrior spoke in a tone that surprised both humans. "This Ru'faas sounds much like my K'thra, Ch'ii'pae." Seeing their confusion he elaborated, "A K'thra is a kind of semi-sentient insect-like creature with segmented arms and legs but is shaped a little like a man. They are so big." He held his hands about two feet apart. "Ch'ii'pae was part of a program one of our scholars started, believing he could train them to fight like the Tai Sur. He eventually surrounded himself with those he was able to train in this manner, calling himself a K'thra Master, as he himself was skilled in the discipline.
"Some years ago he got a notion that he could not only train these creatures, he could also tap into a legendary mystical power associated with them. Most thought him crazy at first, until his real intentions became clear. I do not know whether any of his beliefs were true, but he amassed enough power to make a play for control of Tor El Ka. He was eventually defeated by a young pair of mated warriors. Once he was dealt with, most of his trained K'thra were destroyed, but I took Ch'ii'pae in and he lived with me for twenty years, living many years longer than his kind normally do. So, when I speak of such a creature as a beloved pet, it is with the utmost respect to the devotion of a bond-creature with it's person I speak of."
Both the young humans had stopped in their tracks, staring wide-eyed at the tall Torellian.
"It can't be." Ron whispered finally.
"What?" the alien asked.
"This Tai Sur discipline you mentioned, what is it?" Kim asked in return.
"It is one of the three disciplines of a warrior. There is the Tragda, the Tai and the Cor'zan. All warriors are trained as the Tragda, the way of the blade. We are raised from the time we can stand on our own to use a sword. Few warriors follow the other disciplines. Where the Tragda are the warriors of the sword, the Tai Sur are the warriors of the hand. They train their bodies to become weapons, though they certainly do not eschew the use of a blade or other hand-to-hand weapon."
"So, what you're saying, they are more heavily trained in unarmed combat?" Ron queried.
"Exactly. That, and the use of stealth. It is because of that most warriors think of it as an inferior discipline. The Tai Sur do not wear armor as a common warrior would. They believe it weighs them down, steals their ability to remain silent…Is there something wrong?"
"Only that we've just hit the mother-lode of freaky coincidences." Ron said, his look of bewilderment still evident on his face. He then launched into a condensed version of his knowledge of Ninjitsu, Tai Xing Pek Kwah, Lord Monkey Fist and his Monkey Ninjas.
"He even had one monkey named Chippie, which, for the life of me, is exactly what your sound like you're saying when you say your old friend's name. Next thing you'll tell me is that Cor…whatever that third thing you mentioned, means 'heart.'"
"That is precisely what it means. The Cor'zan Sur train their body and mind to tap into energies beyond the physical world. They are mostly mythical, no one has studied those arts this century."
Kim and Ron looked at each other, shaking their heads. The Sword, the Hand and the Heart, they were too much of a coincidence. They said as much to Sagan.
He took off his helmet, a gesture Ron now understood as one of utter and complete trust in the people he was speaking to. "Look upon me, humans. I have known that the Arkonians know many of the same things my people do. Now I find that your world, who, besides the two of you, are unaware of our people, have much the same again. That is indeed too much for mere coincidence. There is a connection. How else would you explain that all of us walk on two legs, hold our swords with two hands, look upon each other with two eyes. We are too much alike to have come into the world like this without somehow being related. You are so much like the Arkonians that beyond your speech, I cannot tell you from them. Ron Stoppable, I look at you and I see a man, just as I would call myself. We may not have been born under the same stars but we are indeed brothers. That is why I put my life on the line for the Vershaltians, that is why I aid you today to save them.
"I will also tell you, Ron Stoppable, take solace. If the bond you share with your animal is true, then he is well. You would know in your heart if he had truly come to harm. I knew the hour and the minute that Ch'ii'pae passed on, though I was on another world at the time." He put a great hand on Ron's shoulder. "I think you know this to be true of your Ru'faas."
He nodded, looking in the elder warriors pale eyes, knowing he spoke the truth. "You're right. I just can't help but worry about him. He's done so much for us, he's even saved our lives on countless occasions."
"Then let us honor him and his valor this day. I will stand with you as Ru'faas would and you shall stand with me as Ch'ii'pae once did." He held his free hand up to Ron, his fist open. Ron put his hand in Sagan's.
"I've got your back." He said.
"And I've got your back too." Kim said, putting her hand with theirs.
"The rest of those Bucket-heads won't know what hit them." Ron said with a smirk. "No offense, Sagan."
"None taken." He laughed heartily, Bucket-head being an Arkonian's favorite taunt directed at his people.
They resumed their trek through the swampy terrain, though now Ron seemed to have a great deal more spring in his step.
Sagan regarded the young warrior. At least now he had a better understanding of the man. What he had seen in that arena surprised him beyond all meaning, and he was not thinking of his mate's arrival as some sort of Silver Knight from the skies. He had never seen a human wield a Torellian battle sword with such skill. The fact the boy had once been exposed to warrior magic did go some way to explaining it, though he was not sure how.
He marveled at the boy…no, he must not think of him as a boy. It is not his age that made him think so, it was only his size. He was not a boy among his people, he was a man, and had been for some time though his people might not have seen it. Speaking with him, both before the Arena and afterward he came to respect him. He had become a great, brave warrior among his people, yet he seemed to retain a sort of childlike wonder. He could not explain how the young man could have struck such a balance, but it was something his warrior heart longed for.
He was also astounding by what they were attempting to do. He attempted to explain what Den Taag's forces would do once the deadline had passed. If they were facing other Torellians, an army would march there on foot, the first wave armed only with their ceremonial swords. It was only when the first battle was over that more modern weapons would be brought to bear. There was much pomp and ceremony in battle between like foes.
Since the colony was human, they would be offered no such honor. Sagan knew the governor and knew him well. He would likely try to do as much insult to his enemy as he possibly could. That meant, at least to the old general, he would likely send a mechanized force rather than foot troops.
It was late the previous day they discovered he was right.
Marching through the jungle was an army of Torellian Combat Droids, or, as the Arkonians called the, Torelloids. They were the same battle-robots that had come for them in the arena, only this time there were hundreds of them. Two hundred or so humans armed only with light weapons meant mainly for hunting would not stand a chance.
Yet, somehow, the fact they were facing an army of fifteen foot tall, armor plated killing machines seemed to brighten the mood of the pair.
"They even look a little like Drakken's Destructo-Bots." Ron said, though Sagan had no idea what a Drakken was.
"How are they controlled?" Kim asked.
"They begin a battle under the central direction of a control craft, but they are capable of independent combat decisions once the battle is joined, so long as it is in keeping with their programmed orders."
"So we take out the controller, they can still carry the fight on." She stated.
"Yes. In fact, it would likely be more dangerous to do that. These robots have no remorse, no fear. They will fight until the very last one is destroyed unless they are ordered to stop."
"That give me an idea." Kim said.
"Unfortunately, simply defeating the robot army will not be a permanent solution. Den Taag is proceeding this way because he does not expect any kind of resistance. He has the entire Troxxite garrison at his disposal, and since he carries the seal of the Emperor, he can call on more troops if he has to in order to 'enforce the Emperor's will.' That means if his Torelloids fail, he will send in regular troops. We cannot hope to stop such a force, no matter how much skill three warriors possess. Even if that were to fail, he would simply have a battle cruiser obliterate the colony from orbit. With no real defenses, Vershaltia is eventually doomed."
They trudged in silence for a while, mulling that thought. Kim and Ron switched back to English, falling behind their guide as they considered their options.
"We have to win this the first time out." She said. "I can deal with wiping out an army of robots, but I don't want to be in a position where we have to start fighting real people. I'm not going to kill anyone, it's that simple."
"What if it means saving those people's lives."
"I just don't want it to come to that. We have to take out the robots, then we have to do something about the colony so they don't have to worry about and army marching here."
"How are we going to do that, KP? Fly everyone right out of here?"
She looked at him, amazed. It really was that simple. She called up to Sagan. "Is there any way we can find transportation for these people?"
He stopped and waited for them to catch up to him. "Am I to understand you wish to spirit them away?"
"That's the only solution I can think of. I know these people might not want to give up their homes, but if this is the only way to save them…"
"Yes, I think this idea has merit, but to do this, I will have to take my leave of you."
"You have something in mind?" Ron asked.
"I believe so, but I will have to hurry."
"Okay, do what you have to."
"Good luck, Golden Warrior and Silver Knight!" Sagan saluted them, and sprinted off into the dusky gloom.
Ron watched as the hulking warrior disappeared from view. "Did he just call us what I think he did?"
"I think so." She said, remembering the characters from Ron's cartoon show.
They trudged on, Ron wearing a goofy grin as Kim explained her plan.