I am alive everyone. Sorry for the extended hiatus, I had to finish my last semester of college, help with my family's business, start a new job and deal with six month long relationship that went no where but the ground. Hopefully I manage to provide a great chapter that continues where I left off.
Chapter 3
A few days had passed since Ry'ven Vonto had ended up in the company of the Akuma clan as they made their way to the Daimyo Inazuma Yari, the Akuma sibling's uncle. As of now, the group is resting in a village that was a day's travel from their destination.
When Ry'ven and his group arrived at said village, his Jedi robes and boots were shredded and beyond repair. Thankfully, they were able to pay for a new set of clothing that would be ready by the next day. His lightsaber wasn't working either after taking a swim through the river. Hopefully when they find Master Jeth, he could use the workbench on their ship to repair his saber.
While he was waiting for his master to find him, he busied himself learning about his hosts, a species that called themselves Oni.
Kashikoi Mura, who Ry'ven found out was the Akuma Clan's kenzou, an aide-de-camp to nobility, was a big help with him trying the language of the Oni.
Thankfully, Ry'ven found that using a Force ability known as Comprehend Speech helped him learn said language.
Now awake from his slumber, the Jedi Padawan got up and put on the new set of robes and went outside. It was still nighttime and the air was cool and crisp.
Sitting on the porch, the Human Padawan observed the planet's two moon as it orbited. Tonight, the closest moon was a lustrous yellow color and the farthest moon was greyish-white.
"Gorudo and Gin," a voice stated, "both are visible tonight, omens are unclear."
Ry'ven turned to face the speaker and found that it was Kashikoi, dressed in a white sleeping robe and looking like he just woke up.
"Couldn't sleep very well," the young Jedi answered, "Meditating under moonlight helps."
"More of your mystical 'Force' powers?" the old being asked as he sat down.
"Something like that."
When Ry'ven had met his traveling companions, he told them about the Jedi Order and the Force while explaining his mission. Kashikoi was fairly interested in the young Jedi's Force abilities, but not without skepticism.
This mindset somewhat intrigued the young Jedi and it was also might have explained the almost familiar feeling he had about the old Oni.
"May I ask you a question Kashikoi?" Ry'ven asked.
"You already asked a question," the old man jokingly replied, "But sure go ahead. What is your question?"
"Why are you so interested in me?" the Jedi padawan asked.
"Apart from it being part of my duties as a kenzou," the old man stated, "I've been thinking about certain events that have happened in my life."
"What sort of events?" the Jedi asked.
"There were times I knew what was going to happen before it did, have unnatural levels of judgement when dealing with other people and as well as understand people who speak different tongues such as yourself," Kashikoi replied, "With how you described some of these Force abilities, I think I might have them."
"It's possible," Ry'ven stated.
"It is?" Kashikoi mused with a raised eyebrow.
"It isn't unheard of beings, even ones not known to the rest of the galaxy to be known as 'Force Sensitive'," the Padawan explained.
"What happens to these Force Sensitive people?" the elderly Oni asked.
"If they are discovered as children and are strong enough in the Force, they become part of the Jedi Order," Ry'ven explained, "The ones who are discovered as adolescents and older tend to be ignored and lead normal lives."
"Seems like a weird thing to do."
"I've mentioned this some of the senior Jedi as well as my Master. Some people in the galaxy to see us as 'baby snatchers' and other less savory terms," the young man sighed, "At the same time, the life of a Jedi requires a lot of discipline so it's best started at a young age."
"So, this means that I can't be trained as one of these Jedi?"
"Even if you were young enough, you don't have a strong enough in the Force," Ry'ven explained, "You can use certain abilities that can be passively used, but your connection isn't strong enough do use abilities that require lots of focus I'm afraid."
"I see," Kashikoi replied, "I'd probably wouldn't join the Jedi, if offered given the hindsight."
"I probably wouldn't blame you," Ry'ven answered.
The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Kashikoi stood up.
"You should get some rest. We have a busy day tomorrow."
"I will," Ry'ven answered. Kashikoi gave a knowing nod as the Jedi Padawan got up from his meditation and promptly returned to his bed.
Yoshi Tatsuo felt something was off. He didn't know how or why he knew that but he just did. This caused the three-year-old Oni looked around him like a small rodent looking out for predators.
This seemed to make his young mother a little nervous as she cooked breakfast for them.
"What is it Yoshi?" she asked wearily.
"I think we're in trouble," the toddler spoke, "We should tell the samurai."
The mother sighed as she stirred the pot that contained their breakfast.
"I doubt he'll listen to a kid and his prostitute mother," she said gloomily before handing him a bowl of rice grains. The boy had heard his mother and other people use that word before and didn't know what it meant. He pondered the effects of that word on his own life as well as his mother's life as he ate.
While other people didn't treat him and his mother with cruelty, they didn't really treat them like other people in their village. People seemed to ignore him and his mother when they asked for help during hard times and the other children seemed to not acknowledge his existence.
Not a terrible existence, but sure was a lonely one.
After finishing their breakfast, the family got their stuff ready to be on the trip to the nearest Daimyo's castle.
Samurai Kensei Edo was troubled. His group of soldiers, samurai and refugees have been on the road for a week or so, ever since the Akuma Clan's castle was hit by raiders and the Daimyo was killed. The heirs of the family made it away from the carnage while many fled from the fighting.
Of the castle's defenders, only Kensei, three other samurai, his and the other samurai's retainers, and a skirmisher company of the castle guard. All were on their way to the safety of the Inazuma Clan's castle.
This made protecting the two hundred fifty refugees a bit of a of a problem with so few soldiers.
'Hopefully,' Kensei thought as he had breakfast that his aide prepared, 'by making camp under a forest cover, we can defend against an ambush.'
After have his breakfast, the samurai began to discuss the group's course while their retainers took down camp and got their red elk ready for travel.
As Kensei, the other samurai and their aides were getting ready to climb in their saddles, an explosion was heard coming from the area the soldiers had setup a barricade, follow scream and the roar of something.
Acting quickly, the group of samurai got on his steed and rode toward the noise.
Meanwhile at the site of the firefight, the company of soldiers were making a valiant stand. The one hundred and fifty men were holed up behind barricades made of downed trees and brush.
The attackers had apparently tried using their strange devises to attack the barricade. Scorched metal and burns littered the ground in front of the left flank's barricade, having fell to the soldier's volley fire.
It wasn't going to hold for long however. The raiders were starting to lob some sort of bomb over the barricades and the soldiers were started to take casualties and give ground.
When Kensei and the samurai arrived at the site, six of the metal devices were riding away from the soldier's fortifications.
With haste, the samurai leveled their naginatas and spurred their red elk into a charge, with Kensei in the lead. While the polearm's blade didn't cut through the raider's armor, the two-handed strike from Kensei did knock the raider off of his strange contraption and against a tree. The samurai following Kensei swiped the raider in the unarmored stomach before the three samurai rode away.
The retainers following their samurai masters were armed with bows began firing at the raider that now brought up the rear of the formation. The raider didn't make it through the volley and ended up crashed into a tree. The mounted warriors rode back behind the barricades.
"Where's Captain Kenshin?" the lead samurai asked a nearby sergeant.
"He's over with the center rank," the solider replied, pointing at a barricade about ten meters away.
Kensei and the rest of the mounted soldiers spurred his elk toward the direction of the company's commander and rose off to him. After arriving and getting the samurai's mounts to take cover.
"What's the status captain?" Kensei asked.
"We're managing to hold them back for now," the infantry officer reported, "We can't keep this up for long if they keep using those things."
Glancing over the top of the cover, the samurai and infantry officer watched as the remaining raiders began making another charge. With nowhere to go, the soldiers braced themselves for the upcoming assault.
An assault that never came.
A tracer bolt of red light then struck the lead raider in the side of the chest, causing him to lurch off the left side of the strange machine. This caused the mount to veer to the left and raider into to one another raider. Another bolt hit the flank of another raider's mechanical beast, causing an explosion.
Then out of the trees, another one of the strange machines appeared with a rider wielding a weapon that glowed orange slashed at the last remaining raider. Said raider yelled before spinning out of control and crashing into a tree.
All of the Akuma soldiers gazed in awe at their rescuer. A strange looking man with pale skin, white pupilless eyes and short hair that was white as snow sat on one of the strange contraptions the raiders used. This stranger also wore a dark brown cloak, light tan pants and tall brown boots. In a clawed, four-digit hand was an orange blade of light.
Another contraption with another figure appeared next to the first one. Like the first figure also appeared to be man with pale skin and short hair, but that was where the similarities between the two ended. This man's hair was the color that of old paper and had a thick mustache and goatee, compared to the other's white hair and clean-shaven face. This figure also had different clothing as well, wearing a brown coat, blue pants and boots and a small blue hat perched on his head.
Both groups stared at each other with a look of curiosity of the other. No one said anything for a few minutes before the white-haired figure spoke. Though he knew he spoke a different togue, Kensei understood what the figure said completely.
"Hello, my name is Duran Jeth," the figure said, "Is it alright if my companion and I come over to talk?"
