New Blood
by Saber Alexander McConnell
Rated PG13

CHAPTER 21: Battle Plans

Within the Nether Realm, Talpa sat on his simple throne, gazing coolly at the two young men who knelt before him. "Stand up. What have you two to report to me?"

Cade Taylor and Moral Sullivan did as they were bade, exchanging a very nervous glance; it was the first time either of them had reported to Master Talpa without one of their superiors with them, and both were terrified, though they wouldn't admit it. They had finished a weeks-long mission in the mortal realm.

"Do not keep me waiting."

Cade snapped his head back around to look at Talpa, wincing mentally. "Sorry, Master," he said quickly. He and Moral had decided beforehand that it would be better for Cade to do most of the talking; Moral had an unfortunate tendency to annoy Talpa, and so tried very hard to avoid contact with him. "First of all, Master Talpa, we've followed them to another city, San Francisco. It's north and west of Irwindale, and is the city they normally live in." When Master Talpa simply nodded as if telling him to go on, Cade was encouraged. "We know where all of them but one is living."

"Though we think she's staying with two of the others," Moral put in.

Cade nodded, taking a big breath. He and Moral, the only two Americans, had been sent on an information-gathering mission to the mortal realm. Kale, more furious at their failure than Dais had been (and after a ten minute long scolding that left most of the minor warlords staring at their feet in shame), had taken Moral and Cade aside. Master Talpa had decided to simply deal with the Ronin when they orchestrated their main attack, and had all of their forces in play. Moral and Cade were simply to find and follow the Ronin, and watch them.

"Torrent and Wildfire live in an apartment complex near the bay area," said Cade, though he wasn't quite sure if Talpa knew of things like apartments, or where the bay area was. It didn't matter; Cade knew where it was, and could direct him to it. "Another American lives with them, he with a newly created armor. Hardrock and Halo stay in an apartment about four miles away. The one we could not locate for certain, she who also bears a newly created armor, may live there as well."

"And she's a descendant of that Ryo guy," put in Moral. "Well, so she says."

"Interesting," murmured Talpa, turning around and pacing slightly back and forth. The two American boys exchanged a brief, relieved grin, before Cade continued.

"Strata lives in an apartment also, with the small boy, who is his legal ward. The child also has a new armor."

Talpa paused to peer at Cade, and Cade only barely kept from taking a step backwards. "I see," he murmured. "And I suppose it's too much to hope you've any information on these new armors?"

Cade's answer was calm, though he felt highly insulted; Talpa had that effect on him often. Moral's scowl spoke more clearly how he felt, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. "We have, Master," said Cade. "The child's armor associates with daytime, and gives him great speed. The boy who stays with Wildfire has armor associated with twilight, and can both conceal and shield. The night armor, the armor that Sanada Ryo's descendant bears, I don't know about that one. I don't think that she knows, for that matter. It lets her see in the dark, but that's all I could find out."

Moral added, "But they've all figured out how to summon the armor and use their weapons. They practice in a little spot near the beach. We've never got too close, though, because it'd be real easy to spot us."

"And we've found a few weaknesses you could use, my lord," said Cade, smiling a little as he watched Talpa turn to peer at him once more. He could tell the demon was very interested. "Hardrock and Halo—both of them speak English very poorly, and don't blend in well. More importantly, Hardrock is an albino—his skin is pale and does not protect well against sun. His eyesight is poor as well, as a result." Cade outright grinned, knowing he and Moral had done well. "The child who bears the daytime armor is nearly helpless in the dark, and I will assume the night armor does not do well in the daytime. Strata and Night have gotten the least amount of information about their armors and powers, and know only how to use the weaponry. Strata has only just recently discovered his element."

"The Halo girl, she needs to eat more often than the others," said Moral. "Some...hypo...sugar thing."

"Hypoglycemia," corrected Cade. "Low blood sugar. Most interesting, however, is Wildfire. He has a deathly fear of water, and he can't swim."

Talpa laughed then, setting the hairs on the back of Cade's neck on end. "Wonderful," said Talpa, his laughter tapering to a pleased chuckle. "I believe Sekhmet might enjoy toying with that one. You both have done well, and have earned my favor."

Moral and Cade both exchanged another grin, before bowing and making their manners. (Moral had learned the protocols quickly!)

"Is there anything else?" Talpa asked.

"We've got their names," said Cade, "and where they work, but nothing more."

"Good. You may leave. And tell Kale that I have decided to attack their city. I cannot avoid those wretched Ronin brats no matter where I choose to strike, and so I will strike their home town."

"Yes, master," said Cade, bowing low, and leaving the room, Moral right at his heels.

Once outside, the two boys exchanged high-fives, grinning from ear to ear. They couldn't have asked for a better result from their first solo mission!

As they headed outside towards the training slab, where the others were in the middle of their daily exercises, Kale looked up and raised a brow. Moral and Cade had not been in the mortal world continuously, but they had been there for days at a time, but they seemed now to be finished with their mission. "Can I assume you have done well?" he asked the youths.

Cade grinned. "Yeah! We found out a lot of things. Master Talpa was pleased."

"We rocked!" Moral added with a laugh. Both of them were far more comfortable away from Talpa's imposing, intimidating presence.

Kale gazed on the boys sternly for a moment, then simply shook his head and smiled faintly. They'd earned the right to a little cockiness. "Well done."

"Mater Talpa says his first attack will be their city."

"I am not surprised," said Kale with a knowing little nod. "Well then, get into training. You'll not be excused from practice."

Moral and Taylor agreeably enough jumped into the spars that raged across the concrete slab, eager for a little action after so much reconnaissance. Cade jumped uninvited into a brawl between Haazita and Shuang (they welcomed him by dogpiling him), and Moral challenged Jin Tanaka to a duel.

-

"This could be trouble," said Dais quietly a few moments later as they watched the fighting practice. Kale looked around, following Dais's gaze to Jin Tanaka and Moral Sullivan. Though Jin had not bonded with any of the other warlords, she at least did not openly quarrel with them...except for Moral. They'd not gotten along since the first day Moral had joined them, and it had gotten no better. To Jin, honor was everything, and to Moral, it meant very little. The two seemed to clash every other day.

Kale snarled. "They'd better not screw up. Not now, this close to our attack." For the time being, however, he did not intervene, only watched the confrontation, hoping they'd decide not to be stupid.

Jin looked coolly at the youth as he challenged her, looking down her nose at the honorless boy from America. "You are not worthy to fight me," said she, turning her back on the youth, a blatant insult. Kale wondered why Moral had chosen her to spar with, though he had to admit that the youth had done nothing wrong. Moral said nothing, only narrowed his eyes in surprised fury, and silently armored up. As Moral drew the vulgar laser pistol he favored as a weapon, Kale stepped forward, intending to intervene, but Sekhmet shot his hand out to catch his arm.

"Wait," said Sekhmet quickly, looking thoughtfully at the pair. "Let them be for now."

Kale frowned as Sekhmet let go of his arm, wondering why in the blazes Sekhmet would risk the wrath of their master in order to enjoy a duel among the lower warlords, but Sekhmet only grinned and nodded towards the two combatants. Waiting for the moment, Kale looked, and listened. Perhaps Sekhmet was right—Jin's standoffishness had created a subtle, but potentially crippling rift in the group in general, and was something that needed to be changed. Kale had been subtle about it, praising the others for working together, encouraging them to spend time outside of practice getting to know their brothers in arms, and excluding Jin from his commendation. But the woman, if she noticed, had given no sign.

Moral's voice rang out clearly: "Turn around and face me, you bitch!"

Kale felt his own eyes widen, as all went still on the training slab. Even Haazita, Shuang, and Cade, in the midst of a fierce melee, stopped at this ringing offense, Haazita still pinning Shuang down on the rock. Moral was not normally so nervy, and had not so blatantly disrespected his seniors before. Jin had been there far longer than he, and though technically they held no rank, Jin was still his superior. The boy must have finally had enough.

The woman stopped dead and spun around, also armoring up, looking startled for only a moment that Moral was in full armor and holding his weapon on her. "Kaoyogoshi," she hissed, drawing the katana she bore on her back. The word meant "dishonor".

"Yeah, so you've said about a million times," snarled Moral. "So what's that make you, you goddamned snob? It ain't just me, either, though you hate me worst, just because my skills are thieving and winning no matter what. You killed unarmed people as an assassin, how's that any better than what I do? All you were was some Japanese gangster!"

Jin's narrowed eyes looked black, her pupils dilated with hatred, the hand that gripped her sword shaking. Kale noticed several of the other lessers glancing up at him, Dais, and Sekhmet, but the two combatants had not so much as glanced up. Jin hissed a furious curse in Japanese, lunging for Moral, who dodged out of the way. He fired his laser, only just missing Jin as she leapt lithely into the air.

"We should watch carefully," said Sekhmet quietly, "so they don't hurt each other. Too badly. But...this might just do some good with that one." He nodded at Jin, who lunged again at Moral, missing the boy a second time.

"Perhaps so," said Kale quietly, watching the battle. Moral had been hopeless in combat before arriving in the Nether World, but had improved a hundred-fold since then. Kale watched the boy, surprised at the skill and physical grace that he showed. Such an improvement—Kale was proud of him. He also admired his nerve in standing up to the Warlord of Cruelty, though disapproved of how he'd gone about it.

Jin, who held the boy in the utmost contempt, seemed surprised at his skill. Those she disdained, she tended to underestimate as well, and she'd not exactly paid the other warlords much attention before.

The others had taken cover from Moral's laser weapon, but stayed close enough to watch. Cade and Heath looked astonished, while Haazita and Shuang seemed to be enjoying the fight, even quietly cheering Moral's fighting. Vittorio only watched as if he thought the fighters had lost their minds.

Moral cried out in pain as Jin's katana finally scored along his back, and he rolled away from the attack, kicking out a foot at her hand. He connected, but did not disarm her, and they both paused for a moment, panting. "Dais works with illusion and deception too," Moral hissed. "You gonna call him kaoyogoshi, too?"

Kale glanced at Dais, whose blue eye had narrowed. "That was out of line," said Kale quietly. "I'll speak to him later."

"How dare you?" demanded Jin.

"I dare easy! Face it, you just want an excuse to dump on me! I'm not stupid, I'm not skill-less, and I'm a part of this damned group—which is more than I can say for you!"

Jin's eyes widened, and her arms twitched, as though about to strike, but there was a strange look on her face. Despite wanting to slice him to ribbons, his words had obviously had an effect. "You care to explain, boy, or are you just flapping your ever-moving lips?"

Moral actually laughed. "You're so wrapped up in convincing yourself you're all that and a bag of chips--" Kale blinked, vowing to ask Cade later about that one, "—that you don't even see! You're only a part of this group in the most—shallow friggin' way possible! But you think you're so much better than us, you join us only when you have to, and don't talk to any of us unless it's business! Do you know what I like to do when I'm not training? Do you know my middle name? Hell, do you even know my first name?" It wasn't just a rhetorical question, Kale decided; Jin had never spoken the boy's name that he could remember. "All you do is train with us. You're not really one of us."

Jin had never been confronted outright about her standoffishness before, and it was clear she didn't know how to react. Knowing something of how she worked, Kale suspected that her sense of outrage at the boy's disrespect was conflicting with the honorable part of her that might be telling her the kid had a point.

Moral stood up straight, stepping back and sheathing his laser gun. He banished his armor, looking at the woman with disgust. "I'm sick of how you treat me. You want so bad to be by yourself, then go be by yourself. I could care less." The young man walked away then, feigning carelessness, but Kale could see he was shaking. Moral walked to the cliff face that bordered the slab and leaned against it, glaring at Jin and crossing his arms.

Jin Tanaka stood still for several moments, her expression blank, before sheathing her own weapon and armoring down. Only then did she seem to realize that everyone was watching them, her face coloring slightly. She did not blush often, so Kale knew she was feeling very uncomfortable.

"We are finished for the day!" Kale called out in Japanese, deciding it was time to intervene. "Moral! Come here!"

As the rest of them dispersed, Moral approached the elder warlords, his furious mask melting into an expression of wariness. 'He expects to be punished,' Kale thought suddenly, hiding his wry amusement at the realization. "You're not to be disciplined," said Kale as he neared, and watched the young man visibly relax. "But your mention of Dais was inappropriate. You showed him disrespect by using him in your argument."

Moral blinked, obviously not having thought of it that way. He was deceitful and rarely fought fair, but at least he knew when he was out of line and knew how to respond. Moral bowed low to Dais. "Sorry, Dais-san," he said, the phrase made strange by the foreign accent. "Wasn't thinking of that. I was just too pissed."

With a slight smile, Dais inclined his head, accepting the apology.

"I'm not gonna get nailed for fighting, am I?" Moral asked, looking more anxious now. He clearly remembered the last time he'd been punished for fighting with the others.

"No," said Kale. "Not this time. We three felt it best to allow this altercation to happen. But remember this will not be tolerated normally."

Laughing in relief, Moral nodded quickly. "I'll remember," he said. "But jeez, me and Cade just finished doing good on this mission, and we were gonna spar people, and she just...sneers at me and says I'm not worthy. I'm so sick of her!"

"Understandable," said Dais. "Perhaps next time you will think of a different way to bring up your complaint?"

After spending a couple of moments decided that Dais was not angry, Moral shrugged a little sheepishly. "Yeah...maybe I will. Maybe not. My hard head, you know."

Kale could not help a chuckle. "We know all too well. Dismissed then." Kale watched the youth run off, then turned to the others. "Good thinking, Sekhmet. I think that was necessary. I don't think anyone of them have out and out told Jin she was being arrogant until now."

"This one incident won't change her," said Sekhmet, looking pleased, "but I've been noticing the others shunning her now for a while. Maybe now she'll begin noticing it. No one likes being shunned, anyway."

Kale nodded. "Yes, and I have made sure to praise others for their camaraderie, excluding her when I did. She's stubborn and proud, but not stupid."

"I only hope it won't go the other way and turn her completely against all of us," said Dais. "If she'd only crack once, do something that shows she cares of her comrades live or die!"

"Only time will tell," said Kale.

And time did tell. Sekhmet was right in that the one incident certainly didn't turn the woman around, but it had been the hammer-strike necessary to get her attention. After a week of icy tolerance from the others (and outright ignoring by Moral), Jin had finally made a formal apology to them all. Her peers had seemed shocked, but Kale wasn't surprised. Whatever she did, she did with ceremony and formality. If she could just relax that a little sometimes, it wouldn't be nearly so hard to integrate into the group!

From that point on, slowly, she began to get a little more involved with the others. All three elder warlords noticed how much better the group worked together, the lack of tension, the invisible barrier that kept them from being a complete team weakened. Kale had expected Moral to be the last to truly join the group, but it had been Jin instead, and by the time September had passed in the mortal world, the team was truly a team.

"Not completely," he said to himself once. It had taken years for the others to form their bonds. "But the arrogant barrier is down." He grinned, suddenly remembering Sekhmet quite hastily explaining to Talpa why he had allowed the fight, and then remembered Sekhmet's proud grin when Talpa admitted he had done right, and commended him for his action. "Miserable snake was smug for three days, too," Kale muttered, not without some amusement.

Autumn was well begun when Talpa called the warlords into his throne chamber. Kale, Dais, and Sekhmet arrived first, kneeling, then standing aside. The lesser ranks arrived afterwards to give their respects, and the ten of them stood quietly to hear their master's wishes.

"We are ready to attack," said Talpa quietly. "You have been told what will happen. We will attack the city, destroy the buildings and the streets, and capture who you can. They will be imprisoned here, in my realm, where their fear will empower me."

"And the Ronin, master?" asked Sekhmet.

For a moment, Talpa didn't answer, and seemed to be considering the question. Finally, he answered, "Alive. Capture them alive. I have not yet given up hope in reuniting the nine armors. However even if I cannot use the armors, I will gain pleasure in seeing them suffer here, and the realms will remain separate. But their pain will empower me as well."

Sekhmet's grin widened. "Understood, Master Talpa," he said. "We won't worry too much about their comfort in bringing them to you!" Autumn was the season his armor was most attuned with, and it invigorated him, making him eager for a fight. He looked forward to the coming battle.

"See that you don't," agreed Talpa. "Kale. I will be watching. When you find the Ronin, signal me. I will be waiting to strike with my power. We will separate them, as happened once before, but this time I will control where they go, and will not make the mistake of sending them where they can gain power from their own elements —I cannot yet reach through the barrier to bring them here directly. I will split them apart, and attack them one at a time; this will take much of my energy. When they are weakened, strike. Bring them here."

Kale bowed briefly, saluting with his fist across his chest. "We will be ready, master."

"My Dynasty soldiers are numerous, and the Nether Spirits are ready. While you deal with the Ronin brats, I will be strengthening my hold on the mortal world. The mortals will fall, and I will reign both worlds!" Voices raised in savage cheers, fists raised in anticipatory victory, as Talpa's eager laughter echoed in the chamber. "Go, then!" cried Talpa.

The ten warriors saluted, departing the chamber and calling for their armors. Talpa strode out after them, watching them disappear through the gates he had created to lead into the mortal realm. He remained where he was for the time being; he would appear once the mortals had gotten a taste of his power.