Domo Arigato Gozimasu Minna-san. (Author bows numerous times to her readers.) Thank you so very much, I can't believe it, you like it. You really like it. Thank you Mirror and Image and emeraldteardrops for your kind reviews. (Bows to the three ladies mentioned just now. Thanks ladies.) I only hope you and everyone else who likes this story aren't at any time disappointed. As a side note: I hope everyone doesn't mind me putting my own characters in my story. Disclaimers: I don't own Samurai Troopers. I only own Soo-Yung, Yui, Sakura, Mara and Kasumi. Once again, I thank Mirror and Image for giving me permission to use a few of their ideas, I am very grateful. And give them full credit for their wonderful ideas and plot lines. Thanks. Oh and one final thing, there is a reason for me giving info for some of the different races. When Seiji, Touma, and Ryo team up, they will come into contact with the different creatures and those creatures will give some more info on their behaviors and histories.
The Magical Realm
Chapter 2 Search and Rescue Mission
Touma was furious, and Seiji, being his best friend for over 2,250 years, could tell when he was furious. Touma was very close to breaking the skin on his palms where his fingernails were tightly clamped. If his grip was any tighter, he would have four little cuts where his nails had been balled up. Seiji knew to stay a safe distance from Touma when he was about to explode, and the fact he could temperarily control wind always made Touma even more dangerous. So Seiji knew he would leave him to fume for a few minutes, than he would talk to him.
Oh well, so much for that plan. Yui came running up to the two of them, and bowed. Touma instantly relaxed the his fists and calmed down at her mere presence and Seiji silently thanked Yui. After all that time, Touma still loved her. She, Soo-Yung, and himself were the only ones who could calm Touma down when he was angry. The calm was short lived, however when she lifted her head to speak.
"The 'High and Wise Leader' wishes to speak with the two of you, immediately. It sounded very urgent." 'Damn. This can't be good. It's at least 11:56 at night. This bodes badly.' Seiji thinks to himself. Yui leads the two back to the room of the leader. Soo-Yung is there and she has her head hung in sadness. Seiji sighs and thinks,' It's going to be a long night.'
It been three hours since they were called to see the leader. She closed the door behind them and waited patiently outside for them. She sighs as she hears Touma raise his voice yet again. Soo-yung had gotten scolded earlier that morning, but strangely, the leader had only told her that she was forgiven, and she was only to enter that room and/or read anything in that room if she had permission. She wasn't punished, only discouraged. The whole meeting had taken five minutes, at most. And for the next twelve hours, she was free to do whatever she wanted. Than at 11:50 she was called back to the leaders room. Then Touma and Seiji had been called there and apparently Soo-Yung had forgotten her eldest brother was away for the day and had only just returned that night when she was summoned. The leader told Touma and that was when drama started.
"You know better than to enter into any room without permission. You may be the youngest of our clan, but you aren't stupid. Dammit, what were you thinking, Soo-Yung?" Touma yelled. And Yui couldn't help but think, 'Poor Soo-Yung.' However, it seemed that she was tired of getting yelled at when the leader had let her off the hook, which he had said several times since telling Touma. He didn't want to tell Touma, but as the leader, he had to tell certain members of the clan, when any thing had happened to their family members. Well, she would only take so much, and her eldest brother had pushed her too far.
"Will you just shut up, for ONE minute and give someone else a chance to talk? I now you're furious, but I don't care any more." Silence fell over the four in the room. Yui almost fell of the edge of the balcony walkway outside when Soo-Yung had snapped. Yui stood by the door and just stared at it with a dumbfounded look on her face. 'So much for poor Soo-Yung. That was definately unexpected.' It took a few seconds for Soo-Yung to realize what she had done. She immediately turned a deep red and bowed her head in embarassment.
"Sorry about that. Anyway, the reason I yelled like that so I could get your attention. The leader gave me my punishment earlier. And, the reason I went in there in the first place was, well, because I, uh, I felt something calling to me. I went in there and I felt something drawing me to it. I'm very sorry, but the leader told me, he knew it was just a matter of time before someone went in there to investagate. And I just happened to be the one who went in there, so, just hush." Soo-Yung said as she raised her head to look at Touma. The leader was smiling at her bravery for standing up to her brother, Seiji had his eyes closed and looked content with what had just happened, Touma looked stunned, and Yui was angered. Not at the outburst, but because someone had the brass to try and interupt the meeting that was taking place.
At the moment Soo-Yung was trying to apologize to Touma, three other elves quickly strode up to the door, which Yui was guarding. They said to move out of the way, and that was why Yui was mad. She told them that they would have to wait, but they didn't listen. Her bow sang loudly a few seconds later, as she fired a warning shot.
"If you're going to be this rude, than at least wait for me to announce you." she says as she turns toward the door to slowly open it. She sticks her head in to see Soo-Yung was hugging her brother. Yui slimed before saying, "Pardon me leader, but there are three very rude elves, asking to speak with you right now." She waits for him to acknowledge her statement. He looks to Soo-Yung, Touma, and Seiji, who turn to leave. But the leader tells them,
"Wait you three. I have a feeling you will need to be present for this, you to Yui. Tell them to come in." Yui bows and motions for the three to enter. After everyone has been situated in the room, Yui closes the door behind all of them. The first of the eleves begins to talk.
"'High and Wise Leader', we have just received word of a vampire attack upon a human village, some 50 miles north of here. And from what we've heard, there appear to be quite a few vampires among the numbers. And there is a good chance there could be numerous lost lives." That got everybody's attention, but the leader, suddenly looked quite pale.
"'Human village, some 50 miles north of here', you say? Oh, no, this is bad. Are three of you absolutely certain of this?" He said as he looked to the three. They all nodded, and Yui thought she could see, was it panic, in his eyes? 'This can't be good.' she thought to herself. "Alright, Seiji, I want you and Touma to go to this village and investigate. You will leave in an hour, so that you arrive there at dawn. Look for survivors, as many as you can." Touma became angry again, and Seiji felt his own blood boil as well. 'Humans? He has got to be kidding. Why even bother trying to rescue them? They're weak anyway, and stupid if they aren't smart enough to stay away from the borders of the vampire domain.' He was bought of his thoughts as a small yet strong hand made a fast connection with his face. He looked up to see Soo-Yung was glaring at him, oops, he had forgotten she could read minds.
"How dare you think like that, just because they live shorter lives than us, they're insignifigent (Did I spell that right?) creatures. And besides that, you were told to do something, and you were rude enough to question it. You should be ashamed of your self, Seiji. Warrior of Light." Oooohhhh, that wasn't good. Once he heard his name spoken like that, a way he almost never went by nowadays, he bowed his head in shame. 'Damn, she's right. I really should be ashamed of what I thought. I was given a task. And I will complete it. She really knows how it make someone realize what they've done wrong. I only wish I hadn't told her my old title.' He looked up to see Soo-Yung grinning at him evilly, and he could only sweatdrop.
An hour later, Seiji and Touma were saddled and ready to leave. The only way for him to be able to remove his self appointed shame was to follow orders and to help any survivors. As they left, Soo-Yung and Yui are over standing above them, standing on the bridge between her room and her father's den. Soo-Yung looks over to see the leader standing there at the door of her father's room. And she could hear his thoughts, of fear for a certain young man. 'I only hope he is alright. If he dies, or has died because of this, we are all lost.' He looks up to see her looking at him and places a mental wall around him and leaves. Having thrown a mental wall around himself, Soo-Yung can't read his mind. She sighs and silently prays her brother can help some of the survivors.
It doesn't take long for the two of them to reach the village, and even a short distance away, they can smell the blood. Once at the village, they realize they had underestimated the humans. There were human bodies all over the streets, but there were vampire bodies, or what was left of their bodies, lying everywhere. They dismounted and began their search. It's almost dawn and the skies are getting lighter, yet they can feel the presence of a few vampires left. They have their weapons drawn and ready for a fight, if need be. They look through houses, in attics, in root cellars, other buildings, and there are no survivors to be found. Only one place left to be searched, the stable. So they decide to approach cautiously.
Then, less than 20 yards away, the doors swing open and at least eight vampires fly backwards away from the stable. Seiji and Touma can see they have not caught the attention of their opponants yet, and can only smell burned hair. A fire has started inside and a few vampires weren't fortunate enough to get away. They can see someone slowly walking out to attack the vampires. They can both see that they are afraid of the person coming out to face them. Then they can see a young man, about 20 years old, holding twin swords walking outside. They gasp, loudly, when they can clearly see that the young man has numerous cuts and wounds across his chest and arms. Blood is rolling down his face, into his eye, and down his neck. He's panting and grunting as he tries to stay on his feet. There's silence for a few seconds before the vampires charge at the human.
He's prepared for this attack and raises his swords and slashes two of the vampires. Unfortunately, the attack only wounds them, and has caused the human to lose some of his energy. That's when Seiji and Touma come to his rescue. Touma draws an arrow and lets loose, killing two vampires in one shot. Well, they should have known better than to attack one behind the other. Seiji is by the humans side and takes down one of the vampires that were injured. That only leaves five. They back up and wait for their prey to make a move. Touma, who just happens to be standing ten feet away from the human, can smell the blood. He knows, it won't be much longer til, the young man, dies from blood loss. Seiji, who is standing next to the young man, sees him stagger and pitch forward. He grabs him by the arm and hauls him back to his feet. It's only then that he notices the blood on the right side of his neck is from a bite. 'That's not good. I can only wonder how many times he was bitten.' he thinks to himself.
Vampires aren't known for their patience and since it was only a very short time before the sun came up, they began to panic. They lunged again. The human, who was barely still consious, stabbed the vampire that charged at him. And he vampire destagraded after being stabbed in the heart. Touma ran to the other side of the human And let loose another arrow, this one however, missed both of the vampires he had aimed for. Then a thought occured to him, as he called upon his ability to control wind. This managed to knock two of the four remaining vampires back. They were back in an instant though. That's when the human dropped both his swords and passed out. Touma catches him as he falls and can feel the young man feels much warmer than he should. It seems that some of the wounds are infected, that coupled with his cold sweat and shivering leads Touma to think that he won't survive the trip back to their clan. It's at that very second that Seiji calls upon his ability to control light. This makes the vampires to hold their arms over their faces and scream loudly in pain, because they are being burned.They almost jump back away from him.
"Only a few more minutes and the sun will be coming up over the horizon. Will you give up on this human, or will you fight and be killed by us and the sunlight?" Seiji says to them, almost daring them to stay and fight. They don't even have to think about the answer as a female answers for the group.
"Oh don't worry, elf, we'll let you have the human. We have no need to decrease our ranks any further. But know this, he won't survive. So, what's the point of even trying to help him. He will die just like everyone else in this village. And we will meet again, so, until next time." And with that, they transform into bat-like creatures and fly away. Seiji turns to see Touma has picked the young man up. Touma looks at him and motions towards the horses. Seiji nods and watches as Touma heads back to the horses. Seiji looks back and sees the dropped swords. He sheathes his own no-datchi and picks the twin katana up. Less than a minute later, they are both on their horses, with the young man sitting in front of Touma. He has to wrap one of this arms around him so he won't fall off. As then take off in a dead run, the young man stirs, and Touma, being ever curious, asks if he's can hold on til they arrive back at their forest. The young man turns to face him and he can see his tiger blue eyes look glassy. His long black hair, which has been pulled back in to a ponytail that's resting over his left shoulder, is matted with blood. His voice is weak as he simply says,
"I, I th-think s-s-so. Yeah, I think I can hang on a little longer. Th-Thank you a-and your f-f-friend." and with that, he passes out again. As impossible as it sounds, less than 20 minutes later, they arrive back within the safety of their forest. Seiji dismounts and walks over to Touma and pulls the human off the horse. By now, Yui, Soo-Yung, and the leader, have reached the ground and are quickly moving towards them. Touma dismounts as the leader stops before them.
"Don't tell me this young man was the only survivor out of the entire village." Seiji nods and the leader looks at the young man. He lifts an eyelid and sees a blue eye. "Well, don't just hold him all day. Seiji, Touma, take him up stairs to the recovery room. Soo-Yung, Yui, find the head healer and have her brought to the recovery room. This boy needs to live. So he can tell us what happened to his fellow villagers." All four nod, run back up the stair and bridges, and do as they're told. But as Soo-Yung turns to follow Yui, she hears a stray thought coming from the leader's head. 'That boy needs to survive. Not just to tell us what happened, but also to fight against Arago. I recognize those eyes, they belong to Sanada Ryo. This generations fire child.' Soo-Yung gasps silently and almost runs in to a wall. She looks up to see Yui is staring at her with a look of curiosity, before they continue on their way.
That chapter was long. Sorry all Ryo fans, I didn't want to anger you, but I had to, how else is he supposed to get stronger. Don't worry, he will be just fine. Please review, but not hatefully please. Sorry for the sucky fight scene, that is what I need the most help writing. And I update some time this weekend. Once again, I would like to give full credit to Mirror and Image for their wonderful ideas. And for giving me permission to use some of those ideas to write this story. Thanks you two. Till next time, Ja Na.