Disclaimer: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers is the property of Sunrise. Ronin Warriors is the property of Bandai Entertainment.
Author's Note: I don't really have anything witty to say here. No new characters introduced in this chapter, though you will see the Ronins interact with Kayura and the Warlords for the first time. Oh, and Rochelle will use her attack for the first time.
Enjoy the chapter (sorry about the cliffhanger) and please review!
The Wicked Knights
by Jake the Fearless Leader
Chapter Six
"Revelation"
The War Room wasn't used often during Talpa's reign. During his first attempt to conquer the Mortal Realm, the demon didn't have a body of his own, and so it was impossible for him to appear in the room. After regaining his form, Talpa would make use of it once in a while, but only to talk to privately to Badamon, the leader of the Nether Spirits. Otherwise, the demon emperor was content to make plans with his Dark Warlords and Kayura in the throne room. The Warlords had speculated that was due to his love of asserting his authority over his servants.
In the center of the War Room was was an ornate, dark wooden table with thirteen matching chairs. Kayura had taken the chair that sat at the end of the rectangular table. The Warlords were seated in three of the six chairs on her left while the Ronin Warriors filled three of the other six chairs on her right. White Blaze lay quietly by Ryo's feet. The Ronins had launched into their story as soon as Kayura asked them to, and as she sat listening, she tried to use the Ancient's Staff to locate the Torrent and Halo Armors, but it was no use. It appeared as though their signals were being blocked somehow.
"It definitely sounds like your friends were kidnapped," Kale concluded once the teenagers had finished telling them what happened. "But who would have that kind of power? Capturing two Ronin Warriors is no small feat."
"Maybe we were right in assuming that our new neighbors were involved," said Sekhmet, glancing over at Kayura pointedly.
"What are you talking about?" asked Ryo, instantly alert.
"We've been picking up some strange energy readings for a few weeks now. It seems as if a new power is rising in the Western Lands, but that's about all we know at the moment," Dais explained.
"And this new power just… appeared? Out of no where?" wondered Kento aloud.
"You said you started noticing it a few weeks ago. Do you know exactly when that was?" Rowen asked.
"I would say around mid-April," Kayura answered him.
"So not long after we fought Goruda…" Rowen trailed off, his brow furrowing.
"What is it, Rowen?" questioned Ryo. He knew Strata well enough to know when he was working on a theory.
"The timing of this attack… It could just be a coincidence, but… what if it's not?" Rowen glanced up at the group. "Sage and Cye were taken right at the start of our vacation. What if whoever's behind this has been spying on us, watching our every move? What if they knew that we were gonna be separated?"
"So, you're saying this was a deliberate strike. They wanted Torrent and Halo," said Dais, catching on.
"We need to know more about this new power. Who they are, what they're doing here, what they're capable of," said Kayura. "The last thing we want to do is walk right into a trap."
"Well, we better figure it out quickly. Torrent and Halo's lives could depend on it," Sekhmet reminded them.
"All the more reason to hurry," Kento urged.
"Patience, Hardrock. We need to plan this out carefully, especially if this new power is hostile," Dais cautioned.
"What if we don't have the time? You heard what Sekhmet said! Our friends are probably being tortured right now!" exclaimed the Ronin leader.
"Ryo, he's right. We can't assume anything right now. We don't even know if they took Sage and Cye," argued Rowen.
"I think our best bet is to organize a scouting mission, see what we can dig up," Kale said.
"The Nether Spirits may know something. If we combine our skills, we should be able to force it out of them," Sekhment suggested.
"Fine, then we'll split up," said Kayura. "Dais, Kale, Sekhmet, you three go and see what you can get out of the Nether Spirits, but be careful. Our enemy could have already recruited them. Ronins, you're with me. We'll take a look around the perimeter of the Western Lands."
They all agreed and headed out to accomplish their individual tasks. Before leaving her seat, Kayura checked to make sure she had the Ogre Armor orb, just in case they ended up having to fight. The Ronins and White Blaze followed the last of the Ancient's clan as she lead the way out of the castle. Ryo turned his gaze to the west as soon as they were outside, his thoughts solely focused on his missing friends.
Sage, Cye, hang on a little longer, guys. We'll find a way to save you.
Sage reached the entrance hall and looked around. Once he saw that the coast was clear, he ran up the stairs and down the corridor. He skidded to a stop in front of the door Aviva and Clara had dragged Cye through. The Lightning Rod was supposed to be at the top of a tower. This had to be the way up. He opened the door and slipped inside. Another corridor lay before him, at the end of which was a spiral staircase. Smirking, Sage made his way quickly down the hall and took the stairs two at a time. It was a long climb, but eventually, he could see large double doors looming ahead of him. At the top of the stairs, Sage kicked the doors open and broke them clean off the hinges.
Cye quickly turned his head towards the door at the sound of the crash, having been struggling to free himself from the torture device. He was expecting to see one of the Sinister Fae, maybe even all four of them. His sea green eyes showed his surprise when he realized that he was wrong.
"Sage."
"Ready to bust out of here?" asked the blonde as he approached the metal slab Cye was shackled to. Sage made quick work of the locks. "Get a move on. If you're too weak to keep up, I'm just gonna leave you behind."
"Not in my vocabulary," Cye quipped back as he pushed himself to his feet.
Without another word, the two made their way towards the door and down the spiral stairs. Luck was still on their side, it seemed, as the corridor was still empty.
"I doubt it'll be easy to get out of here. They probably have guards outside every entrance," Cye said.
"Then we'll just have to make our own exit," said Sage, his lavender eyes scanning the wall. There were no exterior windows here, which was unfortunate. "Come on. Let's keep going."
The two ran down the corridor and through the door leading back to the entrance hall. There weren't any windows here, either, but there were a few other doors. Two sets of double doors were located at either end of the hall. One led to the throne room, and the other had to be the main entrance, but they couldn't risk using it. They were going to have to find another way out.
Sage pointed to a door directly across from them. Cye nodded and threw it open to reveal a larger corridor. Unlike the others, however, this one was not abandoned. There were at least a dozen soldiers clad in mauve armor.
"Bucket heads. Seriously?" Cye snorted. "It's almost not even worth the effort."
It was over before it even started. Of course, it helped that the teens had accidentally caught the soldiers completely off guard. Still, they went down without putting up any sort of fight.
"Well, that was boring. What, did Zankoku have trouble finding decent minions?"
"Maybe he only relies on the Fae. I mean, they did manage to take us down," said Sage, glancing around. "We better go. Someone may have heard that."
The two ran down the corridor, following it to the end and swerving to the right at the first turn they came across. It was a dead end, though, and they were forced to find an alternative route. Each new corridor they found was filled with soldiers, but none of them were any match for the Halo and Torrent Armors, especially once the two summoned their full armors.
"THERE THEY ARE!"
Cye glanced over his shoulder and cringed. "Crap, it's the Fae."
"They won't catch us this time," said Sage as they continued to make their way towards the next hall, where stained glass windows framed the exterior wall.
"Savage Scourge!"
The teens were knocked to the ground by the force of the copper energy blast that hit them. It felt like they had been hit by a thousand white-hot knives. Groaning and unable to move, they felt themselves being forced to their feet and dragged off down the corridors. They were brought before a pair of familiar double doors. Two soldiers were quick to push them open while the Fae kept hold of their prisoners, preventing the two from making another attempt at freedom. The four dragged the boys into the room and roughly released them in front of the throne.
"Got them. They were trying to escape through the east wing," said Rochelle.
"They really kicked the crap out of some of the soldiers, too," Aviva added.
Lord Zankoku looked down at the two warriors before him and sighed. "You know, I probably should have warned you that it would be impossible for you to escape. Our technology is... well, it's highly advanced. No one gets past my security without my knowing."
"Go to Hell, you bastard!" growled Sage as he raised his sword. "Lightning Strike!"
"Wave Crusher!" shouted Cye, aiming his spear directly at the demon.
The combined force of the Halo and Torrent Armors crashed into Zankoku. Sage and Cye started to smirk, but their expressions quickly changed to shock. Zankoku had surrounded himself with a dark aura. It must have been some kind of force field because he was completely unharmed by the attacks.
"Clever, boys, trying to catch me off guard like that. Impressive, even. I almost didn't get my shield up in time," said Kozuko.
"Yeah, that was pretty ruthless," commented Clara, appreciatively.
Melaina giggled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were the bad guys."
Zankoku analyzed his two prisoners curiously as Rochelle and Aviva questioned the younger Fae's intelligence. The two Ronins had changed quite a bit since their last encounter. Their eyes were cold and devoid of the hope he'd observed in them earlier, their faces fixed in vile grimaces. It suddenly dawned on him what must have happened. Zankoku chuckled, drawing the gaze of his Fae and the two teenagers.
"Oh! Isn't this quite the fortunate turn of events?" he said, delightedly.
"What is it?" asked Clara, her tone full of curiosity.
"Their abilities have awakened," Zankoku replied.
The four Sinister Fae looked at each other, not getting what made the demon so happy.
"My lord, I mean no disrespect, but… why are you celebrating? Isn't that supposed to be a bad thing?" Rochelle pointed out.
"Yes. If we were in the Mortal Realm, it would be the most disastrous thing that could happen to us. But we're not in the Mortal Realm, are we? No, we're in the Nether Realm," explained Zankoku patiently. "For centuries, the only emotions and thoughts that have existed here tend towards the negative end of the scale, consuming all with despair, fear, bitterness, and hatred. It is this negativity that fills them, eliminating the goodness from their minds and hearts." He sat back on his throne, a look of elation brightening his features. "Don't you see, girls? The very atmosphere of the Nether Realm has corrupted these two Ronin Warriors."
Suddenly, a deafening siren sounded throughout the throne room. There was a flicker on the wall to the right of the throne as four large monitors came to life. The seven people in the room turned to look at them, all wondering what the security system had picked up this time. The two screens on the left showed the three Warlords and a couple Nether Spirits, while the two screens on the right showed the remaining Ronins, Kayura, and their overgrown pet cat approaching the edge of their territory.
"Hmm. It appears we have a bit of a problem," Zankoku commented.
"We'll take care of it, Lord Zankoku," said Melaina.
"Alright, since you're so anxious to volunteer, I suppose you ladies can go meet with the Ronins and Lady Kayura. Tell them who sent you, but don't let them know too much. We don't want to give away our advantage."
"What about the Warlords?" asked Aviva. "Those Nether Spirits aren't very reliable. They could squeal."
"Oh, I have a special surprise for those three." Zankoku grinned slyly at the two teenagers before him. "How would the two of you like to be… knighted?"