SailorStar9: Figured you guys wanted this chapter out and I'm making up for lost time. So here it is. This is Chapter 8. Read and review.
Disclaimers: Nothing here are mine, well, except the plot.
Chapter 8: Friend or Foe
Back in the Sailor Moon world, Tsukino Usagi seethed in anger when she realized that not even the Ginzuishou knew the whereabouts of the Senshi of Mercury. She was so close, so close to getting what she desired.
Why should she stop at just being the Queen of Earth?
Once Athena was killed, not only will the Divine Cloth belong to her, but also the Victory Goddess and the Shield of Athena will be hers. Once she had the Victory Goddess, Nike, which can guarantee all triumphs and the Shield of Athena which can deflect any attacks, she, the Moon Princess, will be able to overthrow the ruler of the Skies, Zeus, the God of the Seas, Poseidon and the Lord of the Underworld, Hades. Once all three Gods were overruled, she would be the new mistress of the world!
Yes. Usagi smiled. The world will know that a new order has arrived. Once she became the new mistress of the world, she will continue on to conquer the other dimensions, until all the other worlds succumb to her rule. The legends will be rewritten and she will be ruler of all!
Back in Talpa's castle, the evil lord was very displeased with his Warlords' failures.
"After having been scattered across the land by the Dynasty's power, four of the five annoying pests have already been revived." the evil Lord boomed.
"This just shows that Anubis, Sekhmet and Cale are failures." Dais remarked.
"Shut up, Dais!" Anubis rebuked. "All you've done is sit around and do nothing."
"The failure was that we underestimated those pests." Sekhmet added. "But because the fact that I've fought them, I've known how strong they are."
"Shut up! You're a failure, just admit it." Dais mocked.
"Dais, you accuse the others of failure." Talpa interrupted. "I assume you've devised a plan of attack?"
"Yes, my great Master Talpa." Dais bowed. "Of the five, the one of the Strata is the most clever and dangerous. We will suffer a disadvantage if the fifth is revived. With your permission, I wish to use my special weapon against them."
"So, you want to use that weapon." Talpa mused.
"Dais, the Warlord of Illusion will not fail." Dais proclaimed.
"Dais, you must prevent the rising of Strata at all costs." Talpa told him.
"Yes Master, as you wish." Dais nodded.
Back with the Ronins and company, after having revived Cye, Ryo's group was heading to Kyoto to meet up with Mia's group.
"Drinking strength from immortal fire led to Ryo." Mia commented as she drove. "Churning beneath a swirl of salt led to Cye."
"Darkest prison sheds the light gave us Sage. She added. "Burning within a throne of rock gave us Kento."
"Floating amongst the eyes of ages, unmoored in the stream of the sky..." she mused. "Unmoored in the stream of the sky. I think that's the key. But the computer gave no matching places on Earth."
"Once we met up with Ryo and the others in Kyoto, we can put our heads together on this." Sage suggested.
"I just feel like charging into Talpa's castle, even on my own." Kento retorted.
"Relax, you'll get your chance." Sage consoled him.
"You're no fun." Kento pouted.
"Listen Kento, we can't rush this." Mia told him. "Without Rowen, I don't really think we have a chance of defeating Talpa."
Kento was silent for a while before he shouted, "Rowen!"
"Hey, isn't there a restaurant or something around here?" he asked.
"Again?" Mia inquired.
"I had nothing to eat while I was trapped in that rock." Kento explained.
Dais' shadow loomed over them.
"This temple represents the security of our nation." Yuli read from the bulletin board in front of the deserted temple the two Ronins had chosen. "This should give us some good ideas on putting up a good fight."
"From the sounds of Mia's message, finding Rowen's not going to be easy." Cye remarked as Ryo drank from the water wall.
"He's the only one left now." Ryo pointed out.
"Those are eternal candles." Cye told Yuli as the humans entered the main hall of the temple.
"Have those really been burning since long ago?" Yuli blinked. "All those candles... amazing..."
"Unmoored in the stream of the sky huh?" Cye mused aloud as he and Ryo rested against pillars of the temple.
"Maybe it's just me, but I feel Rowen's nearby." Ryo remarked.
"You think he's trapped in a Buddha?" Cye inquired.
"How appropriate." Ryo commented. "A Buddha and the straight-edged Rowen."
Back in the main hall, Yuli was pacing in front of the lighted candles as Athena knelt on the wooden floor and prayed.
A flash suddenly came over her mind as Athena's eyes snapped open. The candles then started going off one by one.
"Yuli, get out of here." Athena warned the younger boy.
Yuli nodded and scamped out.
"Ryo, Cye!" Yuli came running towards the two boys.
"Yuli." Ryo turned to the young boy.
"Athena... Athena's in trouble!" Yuli panted out.
"What?" the two Ronins chorused as they turned their attention to the temple.
Back in the main hall, Dais, like Sekhmet before him, felt his movements being restricted by Athena's mighty aura.
He was so stunned by her powerful Cosmo that he had not noticed that the Goddess was gone.
"That girl..." Dais hissed, feeling the restriction removed. "Master Talpa was right about her."
"Athena!" the two Ronins rushed towards the entrance of the temple.
"I'm fine." Athena assured them.
"That's enough playing around." Dais declared as he leapt up form the main hall, breaking through the roof.
"Whiteblaze, take care of them." Ryo instructed the white tiger as both he and Cye jumped before the Warlord of Illusion.
"You're not getting away." Cye hissed.
Dais chuckled as he swung his nunchaku by its chain.
"Writhe in pain! Suffer!" he laughed as his nunchaku gained enough momentum and he struck the numerous illusions of the nunchaku's ends at the two Ronins.
Ryo rolled down the roof and barely pulling himself up, he dug his fingers into the roof, dislodging the tiles.
"Know the power of doom!" Dais laughed. Cye was pretty much beaten up.
"Ryo, look out!" Yuli shouted a warning as Dais' kamas extended to look up a spider's web.
Ryo tossed the broken tiles at the Warlord who easily deflected them.
The blades of his kamas sliced through the roof, the impact blowing Ryo and Cye to the ground.
"Do you like to play games?" the Warlord laughed, his kamas growing larger once again.
Tossing his morning star to a branch, Dais hung himself upside down on a tree.
"Web of Deception!" Dais called forth his attack.
The eight spikes of his kamas anchored themselves around the group, emitting numerous strands of sticky spider threads.
"As thanks for playing, I'll share my secret with you." Dais offered mockingly as the group was trapped within his spider web.
"What was that?" Ryo demanded.
"There's no point in finding Strata. He's in my hands. I have Rowen of the Strata." Dais declared. "If you want him, you'll have to come to Amanohashidate. Unmoored in the stream of the sky..."
"What?" Ryo retorted as Dais kept his kamas. The spider threads disappearing in the process.
"I'll be waiting." Dais declared and took off.
"Damn, how dare he play with us." Ryo cursed.
Some time later, the two Ronins arrives in Amanohashidate.
"Could this be the 'sky' in the poem?" Cye inquired.
"There's no mistake. Rowen's here." Ryo replied.
Meanwhile, back in Kyoto, Mia and her group had finally arrived.
"What?" Mia asked when Yuli told them what Dais said.
Yuli nodded, "He said Rowen's there."
"So they went to Amanohashidate?" Mia questioned.
"Damn they beat us to him." Kento cursed.
"Well, let's get going." Sage urged the group.
What's that damage? The Warrior of Light wondered as he ran pass a tree damaged by Dais' kamas.
In Amanohashidate, the two Ronins were jumping from tree to tree, trying to find their missing comrade.
"What's that?" Cye inquired, seeing Rowen's bow hanging from a branch and the Strata's arrows littered everywhere. Further away, was an armored Rowen caught in the demon soldiers' chains.
"Rowen!" Ryo called out to his comrade.
The two Ronins came to the captured warrior's rescue, easily dispatching the surrounding soldiers.
"How dare you do this to him!" Ryo demanded.
"We'll give you a taste of our armor now." Cye added.
"Armor of Wildfire, Tao Jin!"
"Armor of Torrent, Tao Shin!"
The two Ronins droned on their armors.
Drawing their weapons, the two quickly dispatched the remaining soldiers.
"That's strange. They're going down too easily." Cye remarked.
"No, we're just stronger than ever." Ryo objected.
After the two finished off the rest of the soldiers, Ryo retrieved the Torrent Spear.
"Cye, it's just as you said." the Warrior of Fire agreed.
"In which case, how did Rowen get caught by these wimps?" Cye inquired.
The 'Rowen' just laughed and revealed his true self as the Warlord of Illusion himself.
"Have you ever considered that we could be walking into a trap?" Sage asked as Mia drove.
"We'll worry about that when we get there. We can't mess around here." Kento retorted.
"So it was an illusion. Cye be careful!" Ryo turned to face his friend, only to see Dais in Cye's place.
"Why you!" Cye pointed his Spear at Ryo who had because of Dais' illusion, took the form of the Warlord.
The two Ronins then fought each other unknowingly and wasted no time in blasting each other with their techs. They only discovered their folly after getting hit by the other's attack.
"Cye, was that you?" Ryo muttered before fainting on the ground.
Aside, Dais laughed, "I'll put you out of your misery." he was about to deal the final blow when Yuli came into the scene, riding on Whiteblaze.
"Here come the rest of the pests." Dais remarked, as the rest of the group appeared. Then, the Warlord melted into the rock behind him.
"We're too late." Kento cursed.
"They're badly hurt." Mia remarked, examining Cye's injuries. "This must've been a trap after all."
"How did this happen?" Sage inquired.
"Hey Sage." Kento turned to the Warrior of Light. "I bet the enemy's still around here. Let's go."
"They have each other's marks on them." Athena informed the other two Ronins. "Be careful."
Sage nodded and he and Kento took off.
Athena knelt beside Ryo and pressed her hand on his chest plate, transferring her healing Cosmo to him. After healing Ryo, she repeated the process on Cye.
"What is this fog?" Sage asked as the two entered the fogged up forest.
The two Ronins had also fallen unknowingly to Dais' illusion.
Both Ronin immediately droned on their armors.
"That wound..." Sage realized, noting the mark on ground Kento had made. "They weren't caused by the enemy. This could be a trap set with an illusion. Athena was right. The two had each other's marks on them."
Raising his sword, Sage reflected the light into the blade and revealed that he was actually facing off with Kento.
"We've got to avoid hitting each other." Sage realized. Dropping his sword, the Warrior of Light willed his armor to protect him.
Kento went on to hammer Sage with his weapon and after the final strike, Dais' illusion wore off, revealing to Kento that he had actually attacked his friend.
"Was that you Sage?" Kento gasped at his fallen friend.
"Stay back. The enemy's near." Sage warned.
"Fools falling into the same trap." Dais laughed as he hung upside down form a branch behind the two Ronins.
"How dare you trick us." Kento hissed.
"Now I'll destroy all four of you" Dais declared, casting his 'Web of Deception' at Kento.
"How low of him to trick us into striking each other." Kento retorted angrily, his aura flaring a bright orange. "I can't forgive him."
Turning to face the real Dais, Kento unleashed his 'Iron Rock Crusher' on the Warlord, blasting the oldest of the four Warlords back to Talpa.
"What? Dais failed?" Talpa questioned as the viewing globe cracked.
"Sage of Halo..." Kento remarked, carrying the unconscious Ronin back in his arms. "It seems I own you one."
Night had finally fallen and Sage awoke.
"Sage's waking up, Kento!" Yuli beamed.
"Great." Kento smiled.
The other two Ronins had recovered from their ordeal and Cye was resting in the lake, his back floating on the water.
"If Sage hadn't figured out Dais' trap, that might've been the end" the Warrior of Water remarked.
"Why did you let me hit you?" Kento asked.
"Because I looked like Dais. You won't have believed me." Sage replied.
"Yeah, I guess I'm just some idiot to you." Kento pouted.
"Unmoored in the stream of the sky..." Ryo mused aloud on the bank of the lake.
Then he gasped in realization as he looked up at the sky, "Could Rowen be up there?"
"That's right." Mia agreed. "The sky could be space."
"That's definitely it. 'Unmoored in the stream of the sky' means Rowen's out in space." Ryo noted.
SailroStar9: The guys finally figured out where Rowen is. Now the big question, how do they rescue him?
