Disclaimer: I do not own the Ronin Warriors.
Chapter Two
Mia froze in the door way of her study. There before her was a million books scattered across her table and the five Ronin Warriors going through notes. Behind her computer was Rowen of Strata, basking in the glow of the screen with Cye standing over him.
"What is going on?" She asked in exasperation.
They five of them looked up at once from their work. They still dressed in their school uniforms and leafing through books. Rowen craned his neck around the computer. "Oh, good. Maybe you can help us."
Mia set her bag down on the cluttered table and blinked in surprise. "Help? With what? What are you doing?"
"Is there a chance there could be other armors like ours?" Cye asked.
Sage stood up. "Not just other armors, identical armors, worn by women."
Mia looked back and forth between the two, now utterly confused. "What? You are making no sense. Why would you want to know that?"
Cye sighed and stepped out from behind the desk. "I'm going to make dinner while they fill you in." He informed as he made his escape. Just as soon as he was gone, Ryo cleared his throat and pointed to Sage to being their explanation.
Mia set her tea cup down and sighed in exasperation. "You are sure this girl has an armor?"
"Very." Sage said, holding his cup in the palms of his hands in front of him. "She has an armor. I know it."
The red head sat back and touched her chin in thought. "There were rumblings a while ago that there was certainly more to the prophecy that predicted." She bit her lip as she tried to recall. "If I'm no mistaken, my grandfather was not the only man working on the legend of the Ronin Warriors. There were several opponents to my grandfather's theories…and those who dug deeper to find more relevant information."
"Would this be at the university?" Cye asked, being he and Rowen had unlimited access to the library's immense stores of information with their higher classes.
Mia nodded. "The university was the center of all this debate. We are fortunate that so much on ancient mythos and legend is at our beck and call. I'll go tomorrow and begin some research…"
"Mia," Ryo looked up. "Why didn't your grandfather decided to prosue the legend to it's fullest if there is the possibility of more Ronins?"
Mia smiled a little as she stared at her cup. "He was determined to quickly find the current Ronin Warriors as soon as possible to prevent Talpa from taking over the Mortal Realm. 'Time is of the essence', he would usually say when I asked him why we were so focused on this research." She rubbed one of her eyes and looked up at the Ronins gathered around her table. "My grandfather was the foremost expert on your history…so there may still be data left behind if it wasn't completely destroyed in his old office. It could be in storage."
"We'll help you with that tomorrow then." Rowen informed as he stood up. "I'm upstairs if anyone needs me." He said and left the table.
Cye and Kento both stood up and started to clear the table, just as Mia took her tea and returned to the study.
Ryo rubbed his temples as he yawned slightly. "I…need to get some sleep." He muttered, getting up with a groan. Sage looked up at him with the same exhausted expression.
"Not been sleeping well either?" Sage asked.
The Ronin leader shook his head as he wondered over to the stairs and leaned on the banister as they talked. "I don't know why I'm not get enough sleep. I could have sworn I was only up in the middle of the night for a few minutes."
"I was up for about 20…" Halo replied. "I couldn't get back to sleep."
Ryo nodded before starting up the stairs. "I've got homework to do…I'll see ya tomorrow."
"We've got gym tomorrow." Sage's voice called as Ryo reached the balcony. Wildfire stopped dead in confusion, trying to reason why that fact was so important.
"You'll see her tomorrow." Sage said after a moment to help the Ronin's thought process along.
Ryo blinked in surprise. "You're right!"
"Oh god…I'm so tired." Ryo yawned as he sat down on the bench with the team. Kedo nudged him in the side for good measure, muttering about staying up half the night.
"Come on man. I'm on three hours a sleep. You can pull through this."
Ryo shook his head. "I'm not going to be much use to you guys…" He muttered, rubbing his eyes. The sun seemed to have become twice its size in the middle of the day and was now beating down on them full force.
"Hey, did you see the new girl in Sage's class?" Kedo asked.
Ryo looked up. "No…Sage was suppose to come over and point her out."
Kedo pointed across the field to the opposite side of the track. Beyond the group of guys practicing their batting, the girls were doing some warm up laps.
"The one towards the front, with the black hair."
"Kedo…we're in Japan. All the girls here have black hair."
Sage wondered up with a bat over his shoulder and a thick batter's hat rammed onto his head. "The assistance coach wants the soccer team at the end of the field. I think the girls are playing against you guys today."
"Sweet!" Kedo pumped a fist in the air. "You know Sage, all the pretty girls are in your class."
Sage rolled his eyes as he dropped the bat to his side and sat down next to Ryo. "Okay. She's over there, next to Amiga. The really long haired one with it pulled back into a pony tail."
Ryo looked up, blinking the sleep from his eyes and spotting the girl in question. Lea was indeed in class the following day and keeping a hell of a lot of distance between herself and Sage.
"Isn't she just sweet?" Kedo asked.
"Dude, you need to get a life." Ryo informed, getting up as the coach waved at them. The rest of the guys got up and wondered over to the field, leaving Sage and several other baseball players to their own game.
"I can't believe we're playing against the soccer team." Amiga muttered.
Lea looked from where she was sitting on the ground, stretching. "Why are we doing that?" she asked.
"Because the coaches have nothing better to do than to see us girls get our asses kicked by the boys…" Amiga growled as she sat down and started to stretch as well. "With our coach out sick, we're subject to what ever the guy's coach want to do."
Lea frowned. "That is kinda brutal."
"You're American right?" Amiga asked. "Do you play soccer over there?"
She nodded. "Yeah. But not against the school's soccer team."
Amiga sighed a little as she nodded her head towards the on coming guys team. "You see the tall one there? He's got shoulder length hair? That's Ryo Sanada. He'll kill us all."
Lea stood up and put her hands on her hips. "What? Why?"
"Because he is the captain of the team." Someone behind them informed. "If he gets the ball and starts to kick, get the hell out of his way."
Amiga stood up and pulled back her air into a pony tail. "He has put people into the nurse's office. I'll be surprised if we get out of this one with only three girls down."
Lea looked over the team as the guys moved into position on the field an started doing practice kicks. "If we work together and try to not be scared, we could through this together."
Amiga blinked at the American student for a moment before whistling. "HUDDLE UP!" She screamed.
Lea balked as she was sudden shoved into a circle of girls.
"All right, yank. You've got two minutes to tell us how to take them down."
"Uh…"
Sage snatched the ball out of the air as it came flying from the sky. He didn't even hear the coach call the out as he pitched it back into the game from the outfield. Due to his skills as a Ronin Warrior, he was very good at baseball. As a batter, he had a record setting series of homeruns in one game…and was the suburb outfielder for long distance running.
He turned to the sound of the coach's whistle in the distance.
Ryo wasn't hard to pick out among the other players. He was equally as fast and always had a center position in the field. After surveying the area, Sage found Lea down on defense.
She won't talk to me. Sage thought as he recalled this morning when he said hi and got a cold muttered hello. Apparently finding out he had an armor had tore a gap between the two of them.
Sage turned back to his game, snatching a ball out of the air at it suddenly came into his line of site.
"Dear god," Amiga gasped as she keeled over. "We're gonna die." She muttered.
Lea wipe the sweat off her brow and shook her head. "Nobody has been hurt yet though." She said, sitting down and then falling over in the grass. She sighed and closed her eyes. They had been pulled for the substitutes to play for a short while.
"You're doing pretty good. Kedo is Ryo's right wing. You managed to stop him at every pass."
Lea smiled a little bit as she felt the warm sun beat down on them. The warm weather was nice, a decent change from a cool New York. She rolled onto her side and breathed in the fresh cut grass.
"So much nicer than concrete." She whispered.
"Hey."
"Oh, hi Ryo." Amiga said as Lea opened her eyes and looked up at him. Ryo was standing over her, looking down with a cool expression. As if he was expecting her to come at him with a snide remark.
"So you're the new student?" He asked.
Lea sat up and dusted grass off her clothes and nodded. "Yeah. I'm Lea."
"Nice to meet you." Ryo bowed his head.
Amiga's eyes widen in surprise. "Wow. So formal. You planning on asking her out?"
Lea jerked up as Ryo balked. Amiga smirked in amusement and wondered away join the gossip mongers. The two were left at the side lines, watching the game. It was a long and quiet moment before Ryo cleared his throat and looked down again. "I'm Ryo Sanada by the way."
"Nice to meet you." Lea said, hugging her knees loosely to her chest. "So you are in homeroom B?"
Ryo nodded as he kneeled down and took a seat next to her. "Yep. Been there for a while now." He leaned back and scratched at his head. He pulled the rubber ban from his hair and let it fall down to his shoulders. "So what brings you here?"
"Change in life style." Lea murmured. "I wanted to get away from New York."
"It won't be too long before some of the students start asking you to help with their English homework." Ryo said, flicking some grass off his shorts. "You speak very nice Japanese."
Lea smiled a little, but not at him. "Thank you."
Ryo cast a fleeting glance to the baseball game. Sage was standing out in the field, his hair drawn back with a ball cap, watching them. He turned away when the coach called the team in for the next inning.
"SANADA!" The coach yelled. "I've been yelling at you and Yotomia for the last two minutes! GET IN THE FIELD!"
Ryo got up; realizing Lea had already gotten up and taken off in the direction of the center position. He spirited to catch up with her. "So, Yotomia. Where did that name come from?" He asked.
Lea slowed down as they neared the coach and ball. "Old family name. Originated in Japan. It's suppose to be my real last name, but my grandmother remarried and we took on the American Jackson name before I was born."
Ryo took his place in front of the ball, staring down the raven haired young woman as she lowered down into a stance. When the whistle blew Lea darted forward, taking him head on. The ball was gone as his foot came down for a punishing kick.
He whipped around as she went charging through the field, between the guys' defense and kicked the ball into the net. There was a moment of silence as the girls' offense began to jog back to their side.
Kedo hit Ryo over the head as he walked by. "I know she's cute and all, but you're not suppose to let that happen damn it!" He barked.
The Ronin leader shook it off as he moved back into place and Lea took her stance again. Ryo smirked a little. "That was pretty good."
"It took me a while to figure out your pattern." Lea said just before the whistle blew.
Ryo stepped forward and kicked back, taking the ball away before Lea could make off with it. She darted pass him like a cat after a mouse.
"GET THE BALL RYO!" Kedo screamed from behind him
Ryo sprinted up, getting along side Lea as the ball rolled across the field back towards the defense line. Kimishema and Himisho were moving in to cut them off. As they neared, the two grazed shoulders.
Lea lunged back, spinning around and tripping the Ronin Warrior to the ground. As Ryo went down, he grabbed her arm to stop his fall…but with the speed they had been moving at the two went to the ground, rolling and stumbling to a stop in the middle of the guys' field.
The whistle blew from the coach.
As the teams started to collect around them, Ryo sat up, spitting finely cut grass from his mouth and shaking it from his hair. His left knee was black with fresh sod and grass from when he had struck the ground and went down. He winced and cast a fleeting glance at Lea who was just getting up, elbows and knees also as black as his.
"Uh…you alright?" He staggered up and offered his hand to her.
Lea's head whipped around in a deathly glare.
"Don't touch me." She panted, getting up on her own.
Ryo balked as she got up and dusted herself off. The coach pushed his way into the group and surveyed the damage. "At least you didn't break something." He sighed in relief. "Sanada, Yotomia…go hit the showers." He ordered. "You're done for today."
Lea turned and walked out of the circle for the exit, followed quickly by Ryo. In the distance, Sage was sitting in the dugout, having seen the two go down and get back up.
He could already read it in the way Lea walked that something bad had happened.
Ryo…what did you do?
Nothing! We collided on the field and went for a tumble. The reply came back.
You touched her?
Yeah. That happens when you collide with someone Sage. Ryo thought snidely. I think she might have picked up my armor's power…because I felt my power jump when I hit her.
Sage kept watching as Ryo jogged up to Lea just as they disappeared into the hall towards the locker rooms.
Ryo reached out and grabbed her arm.
Lea whipped around, catching his wrist as her touched her and twisted his hand away. In the same instance Ryo lashed out, pulling her around and into a quick chokehold. Lea ducked and kicked him in the shin, just under his bruised knee. Ryo staggered back and caught her fist as it flew into his face.
They stood there, glaring at each other.
There are more of you! Lea's thought hit him.
Surprised? We travel in packs. Ryo replied.
I knew there couldn't be one of you. She growled at him. "Let go."
"Make me." Ryo said through gritted teeth.
Lea's eyes harden as she glared at him. In an instant Ryo felt the onslaught of a massive headache hit him. He winced.
"I said let go!" Lea snapped.
Ryo held his grip in place, regardless of the pain. "Not until you tell me who you are."
"What more do you need to know warlord?" Lea hissed.
The Ronin leader was taken aback. What the hell—
"Ryo!" Sage called.
In his moment of shock, Lea managed to twist her hand free and take off. She darted into the girls' locker room.
Sage rushed in, stunned. "Were you just fighting?" He demanded.
Ryo came out of his daze. "She called me a warlord." He informed.
Halo's eyes narrowed in his own curious surprise as the term hit him. "A warlord?" He whispered.
"Sage, she thinks we're warlords…" Wildfire hissed.
The warrior of light grabbed his leader's arm and dragged him into the men's locker room and locked the door. The two stood there in silence before continuing.
"Warlords? Like Cale and the others?" He said.
Ryo nodded. "Clearly. She must know something about the Dynasty too if she could label us by a warlord title like that. She must not be aware of our armor's intentions and virtues."
Sage stared at him hard for a second. "Ryo…your power levels have spiked."
The Ronin leader looked away for a second, searching within himself before looking back. "I feel like I'm sitting in Fuji." He said. "I haven't felt this great in a while."
"She thinks we're warlords and you had an energy transfer." Sage whispered.
Ryo rubbed his forehead. "Yeah…and she knows how to make your head hurt."
Sage started to say something when there was a knock at the door. Someone else had been let go from the field and was outside waiting to be let in. He unlocked the door and got out of the way as Ryo wondered down the line of benches and lockers to the showers.
Sage felt something spur in the back of his mind. He whipped his head around to the girls' locker room, feeling the urge to call his armor. In an instant, that moment was gone.
He stood there, sighing in annoyance and turning back into the room.
Lea peaked out around the edge of the door's alcove, looking down at the boys' locker room. She pulled back and relaxed the fist against her chest, revealing a small red orb in her hand glowing with the virtue for righteousness.
Ryo opened his eyes to the warm gust of wind that blew through his hair. He found himself standing in the middle of a forest clearing. He blinked in confusion, wondering why he was there when he looked down at his hands and found himself covered in Wildfire sub armor.
Again? It's happening again? Ryo thought as he examined his hands. He felt the urge to pinch himself when a twig snapped next to him.
The figure beyond the brush took off running when he spotted them.
"Wait!" He called, running after them. He thought for a moment he could over take the onlooker with his normal speed. As they darted through the brush and trees, the stranger was pulling away from him.
Ryo unleashed his armor's power and took off, cutting through the hedges and taking a round about way to get ahead of his chase. He lunged forward, going down into a ditch as he ran, making it look like he was no longer following.
He got back up and cut into the runner's path.
He was met head on with a swinging fist.
Ryo snatched it out of the air, twisting and rolling the attacker to the ground. A foot came up in time as the blur of red and white balanced on one hand and spun, hitting him in the head.
How the hell had anything move so fast with such action?
Ryo went down, wincing as the attacker flipped up again and looked down at him for a moment.
For a second in time, Ryo thought he was looking at himself...or his sister if ever had one.
Lea glared down at him, at if daring him to pull the same stunt again.
She took off, pouncing into the trees and was gone.
Ryo sat up, getting dizzily to his feet and tried to follow after her. He could just see her through the dancing limbs of branches in his path. Beyond the canopy of trees, the sunlight was blinding…and in a split second, Lea had vanished in front of him…and the trees went with her.
He over pounced and started falling through the air into a ravine.
"Damn it!" Ryo yelped as he fell. He was too high to land safely. He plumped through the air and tried in vain as he neared the tops of the trees to grab a branch. At the last second he latched onto a limb.
But gravity pulled him down with speed, and the Ronin Warrior was snatched away and thrown to the ground with a violent smash. The world went completely back and Ryo felt the air leave his lungs.
His vision began to return as the dust cleared. The blinding sunlight lingered through the leaves of the trees above. He lay there, catching his second wind and staring up at the sky.
Something scuffed the ground.
Ryo winced as he rolled his head and looked. Lea was standing there, completely unharmed. She lifted her head in a defiant way, the same cold expression. Her eyes dared him to get up and keep following her. Beyond her was a black cave just hidden by the bushes.
Ryo winced as he started to get up. Lea balked.
"Uh…Wait! Please!" He begged. "Just hold on! I want to talk to you!"
Lea clenched her fist and stared at him with intent, she was itching to run by her posture into the cave.
"I'm not…a warlord…please…" Ryo said as he staggered up. Lea flinched away from him as he got up to his feet, trying to get his left arm to move again. He faultered over to her, which only served to make her back off deeper into the cave.
"I would be careful. You dance dangerously close to an open flame."
Ryo whipped around, looking behind him to see a man with silver hair and dressed in blue and white robes. His face was hidden behind a woven hat that circled his head. He picked up his staff and gave it a cautious tap on the ground, making it sing it's sweet song of protection.
Lea found herself compelled to move away from the cave, just as an arm reached out tried to grab her. She backed off, coming towards Ryo without realizing it. She looked back at the monk standing in front of them.
"Ancient?" Ryo whispered in surprise. He looked at Lea, at her sub armor. It was identical to his. "What…is the meaning of this?"
The Ancient was silent for a moment. "It was only a matter of time before you would cross paths. Though it has been several generations since a Guardian and a Warrior met, it was destine to happen again before too long." The wind picked up and made the trees hum with their natural music of russelling leaves and creeking branches.
"She is wary of you." The Ancient said, making Ryo look back to still see Lea keeping her distance and that ferocious stare. "I've never seen one so cautious of others. There is a great deal of trouble behind those eyes. I believe there has been a conflict to result in her mistrust of the Ronin Warriors."
"Is she really here?" Ryo demanded. "Am I just dreaming her here or is she really here?"
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" The Ancient mused.
Lea just glared at Ryo. He found it hard to believe either idea.
"I can't stay for much longer, but you have to try talking to each other. We can not have conflict between the Guardians and the Warriors. It's imperative that you understand the situation that has fallen before us." The monk went on to explain. "The trails that lie ahead are going to destroy the Ronin Warriors if you do not make an alley of the Guardians."
Ryo straightened up, confused. "Who are the Guardians?" He asked.
"I'm sorry that those questions are for you to answer, Ryo of Wildfire. But you must make them your alley." The Ancient walked over to him and looked the Ronin leader boldly in the eyes. "The mistrust must be bridged. This will make your advances difficult if you do not reason with the only remaining Guardian. You both need each other to confront this trail. Become allies and we shall see a benefit from your actions."
The Ancient turned and started to walk into the forest. "There is only so much the armors will allow you to communicate. If indeed you must take this action, lay down your arms and confront each other as people and not warriors. The Guardian holds the key to your salvation…and you possess the means of saving them from annilalation…and together, each other from a greater threat."
Ryo stood there, watching at the Ancient vanished into the shadows of the forest.
He sighed a little in frustration. He hated it when people talked in riddles. The Ronin leader wished Rowen or Sage was there to help him make sense of all this.
"Why should I alley myself to you." Lea's voice suddenly demanded.
Ryo whipped around to see her glaring at him with her hands on her hips. She didn't look all that impressed.
She really was there in his dream.
He moved in her direction, resulting in her continuing to back off. "Don't you dare come near me!" She barked.
"Listen…I'm not a warlord." Ryo said sternly. "I'm Ryo Sanada, I'm a Ronin Warrior." He opened a hand to her. "Are you the Guardian the Ancient was talking about?"
Lea looked at his head and then back at him. For some reason the woman's expression had softened into surprise. She stepped back and started to turn to walk away.
"You're going to have to do a lot more than just tell me you're not a warlord." She said in a cold tone and started walking away into the forest. Ryo sighed in frustration as he watched her suddenly disappear like the Ancient had.
With a growl Ryo dropped his hand and looked around. He wasn't awaking up yet. He examined the clearing that he stood in, taking in the sights and the sounds before realizing that this was very much like Mount. Fuji. If he hadn't been in a panic while falling, Ryo determined that he might have seen the volcano. Or maybe he was falling down from it.
Ryo looked over to the cave, still dark and wary. He was curious to know why Lea was drawn in that direction the first time…why the Ancient had been determined to pull her away from there…and why he suddenly felt like going into the cave himself.
Ryo walked over and looked inside. It didn't look to be much more than a shallow hollow in the rock wall. He took another few steps in to just about where Lea had been standing before getting away.
"Hello?" Ryo called.
A hand reached out and grabbed him by the throat, dragging the Ronin leader down into the darkness of the cave. He yelped and lashed back out with his feet while his hands kept him from choking. His eyes adjusted towards the light as the ground gave out from under him and he was lifted up to face his attacker.
"I shall have the armors!" Talpa roared, his eyes glow a violent red.
Ryo felt all feeling leave his body as his neck was snapped…and then air stop.
Then everything went black again.
"Aaah!" Ryo shoot up, startling Whiteblaze.
There were sounds of the others stirring as well. Before Ryo could take a calming breath, Sage and Rowen came stumbling from their room through the bathroom door.
"You felt it too?" Sage demanded.
Ryo nodded as Cye and Kento came barreling into the room a moment later, ragged and panicked.
"I saw Talpa!" Cye whispered in horror. "I swear to god I saw him!"
"Saw him?" Ryo said. "He choked me to death."
Rowen's head whipped around to the point Ryo thought it might snap off. "I'm gonna assume we all saw Talpa and it was within out natural power sources…but the Ancient as well?"
"Yeah. I saw him." Kento mumbled, flopping over the extra bed in Ryo's room. "He said something about making alley's of a 'Guardian'."
Ryo blurted out, "Lea."
A curious look scattered across their faces as they looked over at their leader.
"Lea was there." He said. "She was in my dream. She was really there!" He ran a hand through his hair, unsure of what more to say. "It was her. I didn't just dream her being there."
"Lea is the Guardian?" Cye asked.
Ryo shook his head in confusion. "I don't know. I tried talking to her." He sighed a little and rubbed the side of his chin that she had kicked in the dream. "I swear to god it was really her because she demanded to know 'Why should I alley myself to you?'."
Sage blinked in surprise. "Did you tell her we're not warlords?"
Wildfire nodded. "She said it was going to take a lot more the just telling her to prove that we're not warlords."
"The Ancient must have meant her because she is the one with a serious issue of mistrust." Rowen muttered.
Ryo sighed as he tried to make sense of all this. He wasn't having much luck.
"Somebody write down what the Ancient said to them…it sees he told us the same thing."
AN: Here is Chapter Two. There is a lot that has changed with the story line. The original was so bland compared to this and the Ancient makes a much better appearance. I personally like the scene were Ryo lunges out of the trees and goes into the fall. That would look sweet as a manga or an anime. I'm thinking that once I get the story done and some other ones, I'll draw up chapter covers and mini doujinshi and make the fanfiction into a PDF on CD so people can read this with all it's art work and completely illustrated. If I do that, I might get a table over in a conventions' artist alley. I don't know. Lol. Would be nice. Check out DeviantART for concept art (link is on profile page)
Thanks for reading a reviewing.
-Stargazer86