This is a story about a group of people forced to come together to continue the fight that their fathers started. Along the way they have to over come obstacles such as ill health, past mistakes, prejudice, pride, etc to do it. I mean no offense especially when it may come to some of the exchanges between Rachel and Takeo-none of those beliefs are my own they just make for good drama in the story. I didn't set out to stereotype anyone certain characters just evolved the way they are and I hope that no one will take offense from anything that I write.
Some minor editing took place in this chapter.
***Chapter 1***
June 5, 2029
If he believed in miracles Takeo Hashiba would think that is what got him here. Until just a month ago he had been the youngest scientist to ever work for NASA-now he is the youngest person ever to go into space. The guy originally slated for this mission had fallen ill and was removed from flight status. Only a few days later his back-up had discovered that she was pregnant and also removed. Many had said he was too young-to inexperienced, but as the developer for the highly sensitive equipment to be installed on the ISS and trainer of the other two to install it, he had been rushed through flight training rather than scrub the mission for a later date. Takeo takes in his surroundings-the teenager in him wants to hold the first wild party in outer space-but the genius in him demands otherwise. He turns his attention instead to the view as the Earth passes by below him. Right now its Japan that seems to float past on a sea of blue.
"Amazing isn't it?"
Takeo glances up at his EVA partner. "It reminds me of some stories that my father used to tell me."
"Looks like we're done here...and none too soon by the looks of things."
Takeo looks down as an aurora is just beginning to form.
"CAPCOM this is Jarvis."
"This is CAPCOM-Go Jarvis"
"We're ready to pack it up-but how about a little warning next time before keeping us in the danger zone."
"Did you say danger zone Jarvis?"
"We got Aurora up here CAPCOM."
"We show no activity from the sun recently that would cause that, but if you're seeing it get inside now."
"You heard 'em kid-lets go."
Takeo turns to his partner. "CAPCOM is right-this isn't anything that was caused by sun."
"No matter what caused it-if you want kids someday you better get back in."
He has never been one for sentiment but for some reason the mood strikes him as he finds himself transfixed by the sight before him. For one brief moment of perfect clarity he realizes that events have conspired to bring him to this very spot at this moment in time for a reason. "Darkness falls, a cold wind blows-familiar stars push their way into view. Tonight it seems will be uneventful-when suddenly dancing lights begin to appear. From the horizon a green glow grows-blossoming into red high overhead. Bright curtains of light sway across the sky-unveiling a stairway that leads up to heaven..." He stretches out his arms as he gazes out in the vastness of space.
Jarvis looks back as he reaches the airlock. Suddenly the Space Station begins to shudder around him as he enters. "CAPCOM I can't see the kid-what just happened?"
"Lock down the airlock and get back in the station."
"But the..." He looks to his left as he sees movement. Its Takeo flying away from the space station. "...kid."
"Get inside now-Jarvis. There is nothing you can do for him."
On the ground NASA scientists scramble to replay the down-linked video footage of the space walk to find out what just happened.
-1-
At the same time on Earth in Japan, Daisuke Sanada stands with one of his friends from school outside the closed Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Many are gathered there in curiosity. Mount Fuji has shown signs that after no warning whatsoever a major eruption is pending.
"Its hard to believe that Mount Fuji is a volcano."
Daisuke doesn't take his eyes off Mount Fuji as he speaks. "It would be a shame to see all that beautiful landscape destroyed."
"Yes...but it would be an awesome sight to see up close-if it didn't kill you. It has been silent since that trouble back in Japan long before we were born. Before that it last erupted in the 1700s."
He turns to his friend at the reference to the disturbances that happened here during the battles fought by his father and all his friends. He suddenly realizes why he has felt drawn here for sometime now. "I'm going up there."
Hiroshi turns to Daisuke and studies his friend for a few moments. "You're serious aren't you?"
"More than I've ever been in my life."
"How are you going to make it up there? The entire area has been closed off."
"I'll find a way. I can't explain why...I just know that I have to get up there."
"For some strange reason, I believe you."
Daisuke turns to look at all the guards patrolling the area. It isn't going to be easy for him to get passed them-down right impossible considering the string of ill luck he has seemed to have had all his life. "If you get a call from Nasuti looking for me-just tell her this is something I had to do-she will understand."
"Just promise me one thing."
"What's that?"
"When you come back tell me everything about what happened up there."
"Don't you mean if?"
"You'll make it...I don't know how-but I just know you will."
Daisuke nods to his friend before he turns to the barricades set up to hold everyone back. Shrieks of surprise and cries that he crazy ring out as he jumps the barrier. He tunes them all out even-the officers yelling for him to come back. He just has to get up Mount Fuji. Daisuke dares to look back-not believing just how much ground he has gained over the pursuing officers. He realizes now that his speed, agility, and reflexes are greater than ever before. He looks up as a helicopter flies overhead. He concentrates on running even faster before they can drop forces to block his path. The scenery around him seems to pass by in a blur and before he knows it he has reached the peak of the great volcano. He stands there on the edge letting the rumbling of the earth coarse through him as looks down into the broiling caldera. Its down there that he needs to be. He looks up as the helicopter hovers overhead. Daisuke looks back as ground forces it must have dropped make their way toward him. They're too close he realizes-he has to make his move now while there is still time for them to get away. He turns around facing those that would stop him and holds his arms parallel to his body as he looks up toward the sky then lets himself fall backward into the volcano.
-1-
At that moment in Naruto-Rachel Mouri stands on the bridge overlooking the swirling whirlpools in the ocean below. This place was in the stories that her Papa used to tell her when she was little-after her surfing accident. She remembers now that he had even claimed to swim those currents when he was the age that she is now.
"Mouri Rachel?"
She starts to turn around and tell the person that its the other way around-but then she remembers in this country the family names come first. She's loath to even acknowledge the person at all. Even in another country she gets recognized as the only female surfing champion in the big Aussie contest everywhere she goes. A title that had cost her much more than it was worth. Finally she turns around to face what has grown into a small crowd. "G'day mates." The good natured greeting always seems to amuse everyone she comes in contact with outside of Australia. It comes out much more heart felt than she feels right now.
"That is her!"
"You are an inspiration to young girls everywhere."
Rachel has to fight back a wave of tears that threaten to spill from her eyes-she wonders how many would stay say that if they knew what happened afterward.
"Can I get an autograph?"
"Me too."
"I want one."
She signs as many as she can-but she has been penned in by the growing crowd and she begins to panic. In an effort to calm down she turns her attention back to the swirling whirlpools below.
"Do you think you could surf those currents?"
Rachel doesn't even look back as she speaks. "My dad swam it when he was a teenager."
"That's impossible-he would have drown."
"You are here so obviously he didn't."
Good natured laughter makes his way through the crowd at the guy's comment but all she can hear is that blotto bloke's mocking laughter. "You can't fight the currents-you have to swim with them." The laughter of the crowd dies down as Rachel climbs up on the railing-just standing there staring down at the ocean with her arms out-stretched. She wants an escape from the laughter that haunts her and the water seems to be calling her.
A hush falls over the crowd as they watch her stand there. As a tremor suddenly strikes-shaking the bridge no one can be sure if it made her fall or if she if she jumped just before it began.
As she strikes the surface of the water she realizes that a fall from that height should have killed her-or at the very least injured her. It hasn't-or maybe if it has she isn't in any state of mind to register pain. She doesn't try to fight the currents that carry her body deeper underwater-even when she can no longer hold her breath. She thinks that it is best this way-no one can ever hurt her again-no more constant reminders of it. As her consciousness begins to fade she could swear that the ocean seems to be fighting some force she suddenly feels within her. She just closes her eyes and lets whatever will-happen as she comes to rest on the ocean floor.
-1-
That very time at the Caves of Autumn in Akiyoshido-Luigi Date slips away from the tour group as the guide rambles on about how stalactites and stalagmites form. He didn't skip out on the biggest race of his young career and with his brand new team and sponsors to listen to that all day. Exactly what drew him here-he can't be sure but he does remember this place mentioned in stories he heard from his father. One of the lost warriors was found here. "Nimbus-the warrior of light."
"Nimbus-the warrior of light...Nimbus-the warrior of light...Nimbus-the warrior of light...Nimbus-the warrior of light...Nimbus-the warrior of light..."
He jumps startled not realizing that he had spoken out loud as his voice echoes back to him. He looks around for any sign of the tour guides coming back for him before he slips into a corded off area and enters a cavernous room that overlooks what seems to be a bottomless abyss. Is it just his imagination he wonders or is some scene from the past really playing out before him as he seems to see the ghost of a red armored teen and a large white tiger. "Wildfire and White Blaze?"
"Wildfire and White Blaze?...Wildfire and White Blaze?...Wildfire and White Blaze?...Wildfire and White Blaze?...Wildfire and White Blaze?..."
The ghosts pay his resounding echoes no mind. He is sure that he barely spoke that above a whisper-but the echoes sound deafening. He looks around sure that some else is going to hear and come looking for him. His attention turns back to the ghostly images in front of him. This must have been when Wildfire-blinded by the Warlord's venom-escaped to go in search of Nimbus. He never quite got the hang of Japanese but he could swear he even hears the armored teen tell the tiger that he is going to look for... "...Seiji?"
"Seiji?...Seiji?...Seiji?...Seiji?...Seiji?..."
He was never told any names of the armored warriors. He knows he just heard that one has his father's name. "Were all the stories real?"
"All the stories were real...All the stories were real...All the stories were real...All the stories were real...All the stories were real..."
Luigi looks around in confusion-he knows that last echo didn't come back as what he said. He steps over the barrier and looks over the edge as the ghost of Wildfire walks off the cliff. "Is someone there?" At first he sees nothing but then a faint greenish glow begins to build far down in the darkness.
"Light blossoms when in the darkest prison...Light blossoms when in the darkest prison...Light blossoms when in the darkest prison...Light blossoms when in the darkest prison...Light blossoms when in the darkest prison..."
"A cave is talking to me...this is crazy."
"Come Nimbus...Come Nimbus...Come Nimbus...Come Nimbus...Come Nimbus"
"Who me? I'm not Nimbus. You must have me confused with-"
"-You will be Nimbus the new warrior of light...You will be Nimbus the new warrior of light...You will be Nimbus the new warrior of light...You will be Nimbus the new warrior of light...You will be Nimbus the new warrior of light..."
"I don't think so. I've got a race to get back to before its too late." He quickly turns back to the barrier but stops before he can cross it to safety. He holds his arms out from his sides as if answering an unspoken command as an earthquake strikes and the ground beneath his feet gives way sending him tumbling into that sea of darkness.
-1-
At that same instant at Mount Daisetu in Hokkaido-Seamus Shu stands in the Garden of the Gods-on the very spot where the rock known as the Throne of the Gods used to stand. He looks around in awe. He has seen many wonders in his native Ireland-but he has to admit that this place might just have them beat. It almost feels like he is coming home after all the stories his dad told him about this place. In all his father's travels-this had been his favorite place. He wanders over to an old man telling a story to a group of people.
"On a clear late winter day the sky suddenly became dark. Bitter freezing winds brought a great blizzard and turned the waterfall into ice. It was a battle ground set by the demon of darkness in his fight against the angel of light. They fought fiercely-neither side giving in. Their fight was so violent that they awakened the god who lay sleeping within the throne who put an end the battle by summoning a mighty earthquake. Many months later new demons returned to the mountain. They had to power to turn everything they touched into brittle stone. They tricked the god into unleashing his powers-creating a barren wasteland of sand with his mighty powers. It is said that the god retreated in shame over what he had done and was never seen again."
Seamus lingers behind as all the other people walk away. "That sounds a lot like some of the yarns me dad used to spin when I was wee lad."
"It is no story young one. Look around for yourself and you will see that it really happened."
He does look around-but there is nothing to indicate stories were anything more than just that.
"You still do not believe."
"I don't see any angels or demons parading about." Seamus turns around and starts to walk away.
"You will come to believe soon enough young Stone."
Seamus turns back around only to find that old man seems to have vanished into thin air. He looks around but there is no sign of the old man anywhere. Stone was the name of the armor in the stories that his dad used to tell-but he doesn't understand how the old man could have known that. He is about to ask someone where the old man went when an earthquake rocks the mountain. He pushes one woman out of the way as rocks tumble down from the higher cliffs and rushes over to a small child left behind in the confusion as people panic all around him. He thinks he picked a pretty good time to sober up-although he swears the first thing he is going to do when he gets out of here is find something to drink. He picks up the screaming child and carries her to safety-but there is still the old man-he never saw him rush away with all the other people. Seamus hurries back but again the old man is no where to be found. He looks up at one large rounded boulder that is headed right for him. He just stares at it transfixed as he wonders if that is what the original throne of the gods the old man spoke of looked like. Before it reaches him Seamus suddenly feels very tired-like he has just woken up from a long night of drinking. He holds his arms out-stretched as he succumbs to the sleepy feeling that tries to drag him down as the violent earthquake finally comes to an end.
*1*
The Tigers crouch on a hill not far away from where Nasuti Yagyu lives. A shrine in a small clearing over looks the lake. Several people who have clearly dyed their hair red parade around in some sort of ceremony. The tigers soon realize that they are not alone as they spot Arago's new Warlord of Illusion hidden in the forest. Black Blaze growls low at the warlord but White Blaze shushes him with a paw across the nose. This cult is dabbling in forces that are clearly beyond them. The question is why? They watch as one young man pulls back a dark cloth that rests beneath a revered staff baring the visage of a crescent moon riding atop seemingly cosmic waves with dangling star charms and billowing streamers dancing in the breeze. Both tigers look on in shock as the shattered remains of both the swords and the boomerang from the inferno armors are revealed. Black Blaze huffs in frustration any hopes of recovering the staff are lost. They must keep the warlord away from the remains of the inferno weapons and get them out of here. The tigers nod at each other before silently creeping away. As the cult work their magic the tigers flank the new warlord.
Drake soon realizes that he is not alone. He doesn't see anything but he can feel that he is being watched. He is only in sub-armor but he figures that there is no point in hiding any longer.
Before the warlord can call on his armor the tigers spring into action leaping at him. All three of them tumble down the hill side into the forest.
As Drake stands up he finds himself face to face with two tigers. One so black it is almost impossible to see in this dim forest with the fading light in the quickly approaching twilight. Only its white armor gives away its location.
Sensing the warlord's thoughts Black Blaze knows he will have the advantage by shedding the armor that he has long worn as guardian of the swords of Fervor.
White Blaze moves away from Black Blaze drawing the warlord's attention.
"I assume that you are no ordinary tigers. I knew this was too easy. Do you protect the cult or merely the weapon?"
Black Blaze sheds the armor and stalks quietly among the trees...waiting for an opening in which he can ambush the warlord.
White Blaze cocks his head as if to question why the warlord mentioned only a weapon. He had assumed that the warlord was sent after the remains of the inferno weapons. If that is not the case then Arago must also realize just who Torrent once was and it is the staff he wants. But to what end he wonders.
Drake looks around for the now missing black tiger. "Here kitty kitty. Time to come out and play."
Black Blaze holds his ground. This one he decides is either very bold or very stupid. He should have armored up the moment they tumbled down the hill. Perhaps he reasons it is merely that unwisely Arago no longer considers either White Blaze or himself to be threats and thus failed to warn his new warlords just what they are dealing with.
Before the warlord can summon his armor White Blaze takes a flying leap at him.
Black Blaze spots perhaps the only chance they have at getting out of here with all the weapons without the interference of the warlord. He rushes at the warlord's legs bowling him over.
When White Blaze makes contact with the warlord he bounds against a tree then comes to rest on the forest floor.
Black Blaze watches as the warlord tumbles farther down the hill. He nods at White Blaze and the two of them break into a run up the hill.
Drake gets up dusting himself off. "Blasted creatures-they will pay for that." Drake summons his armor and sets out after the tigers.
The tigers bound up the hill-stopped only by a blinding flash of light. What they continue on to find are restored weapons for the inferno armors. They pause listening to one of the cult members.
"We have waited many long years and finally the time has arrived-our goddess is of age. For over a thousand years we have awaited her return...and now with these new weapons made whole by our scared magics she will be unstoppable."
No not their magics Black Blaze thinks but only misused power that they've been able to tap into from the staff over the years. Which is more dangerous in their hands he wonders the staff or the inferno weapons...and just how did they get their hands on them? He looks over at White Blaze as much as he wants to grab the staff duty to his departed long time Master Kenbukyo requires that he spirit away the restored swords.
Before the tigers can rush in Drake in full battle armor lands into their way.
This time the cult takes notice of the intruders. Normally they would view Drake as a threat but they recognize his armor as that rumored to have been granted to the goddess' one time lover.
Drake looks around as the cult members start to murmur the name Rajura amongst themselves. He recognizes that as the name of the man who possessed this armor before him. He wonders just how long he can trick them into thinking that he is this Rajura? All he needs is to make it long enough to grab the staff. He looks around at the diversity of all the people around him. Most appear to be from Japan but many of them are clearly from other countries. Drake watches as an elderly man steps forward-the only one among them that appears to have naturally red hair which long since has began to fade a dull pinkish with age.
"Rajura? Could it possibly be after all this time?"
He finds himself taken aback by the man's British accent. The real Rajura would have spoken Japanese. He has faked many accents on his travels around the world tricking old ladies out of their money-but never has he found reason to try a Japanese one. For this old man he takes a stab at it. "I come to warn you of danger."
"From the other realm we know of the dark one's plans...but if anyone can save this world it is our Goddess Yuriko."
Drake looks around as the rest of the cult members break out in praise of their goddess. "The danger I warn of are the bearers of the Samurai Trooper armor. The goddess is the only offspring of Torrent. The other's will try to corrupt her for their own purposes."
"Long have we feared this, but we needed the power of the Torrent armor combined with her own. Our hope is that Heavens will join us."
"Not if these meddlesome tigers have a say. I tracked them here after I got word that Wildfire sent them after the staff." Drake turns to find that once again the black tiger is no where in sight.
White Blaze roars menacingly at Drake but if anyone understands that he is calling the warlord on his lies they do not acknowledge it.
Black Blaze takes a flying leap from the tree that he is perched in and grabs the Fervor swords in his mouth. Many try to make a grab for him but he manages to avoid them all as he breaks for the cover of the forest.
Several of the cult members rush after him.
"We have no reason to fear the theft of the staff. Only the Goddess can free it."
This is a piece of information that Drake was clearly not expecting. He turns to look at the mound of Earth that it seems to be stuck upright in. He didn't count on a sword in the stone type of trap.
One of the remaining cult members steps up to the staff and tries to pull it from the ground but it refuses to move. With another harder attempt it shocks him sending him flying across the clearing.
White Blaze uses that momentary distraction to leap over the remaining cult members and grab the black inferno armor boomerang.
Those who did not give chase after Black Blaze now follow White Blaze into the forest.
The elder turns to the staff. "The weapons are of little consequence...it is only their power we were after. The restoration was only a side effect of the staff absorbing that power. They are little more than decorative items now."
Drake now understands why Master Arago must want the staff. The more power it absorbs the more powerful its wielder will be.
The elder turns back to Drake. "You did not answer my question earlier." The old man continues. "Perhaps a better one is something that would be known only to Yuriko's former lover. She had a single mark on her otherwise flawless body. Can you tell me what that was in the shape of and where it is?"
Drake looks at the staff if he cannot free it from the ground then he will take the ground with him to fulfill his mission. With the rest of the cult away chasing the tigers that only leaves him with the old man to contend with.
Little does Drake know that the cult wants him to take the staff to the Nether Realm so it will be waiting for their goddess to claim it and defeat the ancient evil spirit. To keep up his guise the old man digs in his heels and prepares to make the warlord think he is going to defend the staff with his magics. "Your silence reveals you have no idea what I am talking about. Rajura may not have answered but he certainly wouldn't have hesitated to punish anyone daring to speak of the Goddess in such a manor."
He drops the fake accent. "I've no more time for you foolish old man. I come for the staff now stand aside." Drake draws the mace from his armor and strikes out at the old man with it. No mortal magic is a match for the might of his mystical armor. As the old man is sent flying he draws the multi-scythed weapon from his back and uses it to dig into the ground around the staff.
By the time the other cult members return from chasing after the tigers Drake is gone with a huge crater sized chunk of ground that the staff was buried in. Many of them stand there looking into the deep crater left behind. The old man looks up at the ones who help him up from the ground. "It is done-the staff will be waiting in the Nether Realm when it is needed. Let us now seek out the Goddess so that we may guide her in the destruction of this ancient evil."
*1*
Several hours later Jun goes to check on his long time friend Nasuti after the earthquake that rocked the whole of Japan.
Nasuti looks up as Jun enters the room. "Jun, good to see you."
"I thought I would stop by to see how you were after the earthquake."
"I am fine. The news says that it rocked all of Japan."
"So where is Daisuke? I haven't seen him or White Blaze today for that matter."
Nasuti merely turns up the volume on the TV.
"We have been able to verify that the tremors today have claimed the life of a third young man that broke through the barricade set up to keep visitor away from Mount Fuji-where the tremor originated. Witnesses say the teen jumped the barrier and was able to evade capture and make it all the way up to the volcano's summit. Where-"
"-They're talking about Daisuke?" Jun turns to Nasuti as he collapses on the nearby sofa arm in shock. "Mount Fuji was-"
-Nasuti holds her hand up and points back to the TV.
"At this time search efforts are still underway for the other missing teens. Rising racing star Date Luigi was recognized with a tour group at the Caverns of Autumn in Yamaguchi Prefecture. He did not make it safely out of the cave with the rest of the tour group. The passport of one missing teen was found at Mount Daisetu. We now have confirmation that the name on the passport is Shu Seamus. Witnesses say that he was helping many get away from the rock slides that took place there. He apparently went back into the danger zone to look for more people and never came back. Japanese-Australian surfing champion Mouri Rachel was seen today on the bridge over looking the Naruto Straits. Many got her autograph before she reportedly jumped from the bridge at the time of the earthquake.
"Date, Shu, Mouri...Nasuti what's happening?"
Nasuti looks over at Jun. "NASA lost its youngest ever astronaut on a space walk today as well."
"That was all over the news before that launch. His name was Hashiba right?"
"Hashiba Takeo. Yes-I believe that he is Touma's son."
"Is it armor coming back again? I just took a friend from work to the museum where that armor that Suzanagi spirit woman gave the guys is kept after what happened to them. I don't think it would have been there if-"
"-The new armor was never a part of the fight between the Samurai Troopers and the Evil Empire of Doom."
"You think they're coming back?"
"I think they are back. We haven't heard from anyone in the Nether realm since Kayura brought Daisuke to Ryo. I think she broke it off with him to spare the others what was about to come."
"They all had just started families back around that time. I remember when Shin's wife died in childbirth. That little girl was his whole life after that...wait Nasuti-didn't the news say a girl named Mouri jumped from the bridge in Naruto?"
"Sanada-Mouri-Date-Shu-Hashiba...it can't be a coincidence."
"Should we try to go find them like we did the guys?"
"The one thing we didn't have back then was media coverage getting in the way. I think we would only be putting them in danger if we tried it now."
"Then what do we do? Daisuke knows about the Nether Realm and the stuff that happened there-but what about the others?" Jun gets up at the sound of tigers roaring outside.
"White Blaze?"
"It sounded like more than one tiger to me."
Nasuti gets up and follows Jun to the front door. There they find not only their friend White Blaze-but the armored Black Blaze as well. "They have the-"
"-weapons to the inferno armors!"
"But those were destroyed in the fight between Ryo and Mukala."
"I think we better help them find somewhere to hide these. If the weapons are here then it is possible the inferno armors could also be called up on as well. The Evil Empire may not be able to get their hands on the White armor but if the armor is back like the weapon and they got the Black inferno armor..." Jun looks over at Nasuti. "...Stay here-just in case you hear from Daisuke or any of the others. I will go with the tigers."
Nasuti watches as Jun walks away with the tigers.
Chapter 1 Play List:
Rachel: Suicide is Painless (Vocal Version)-Johnny Mandel
Daisuke: Volcano-Seven for a Dollar
Luigi: Black Hole Sun-Soundgarden
Seamus: Dust in the Wind-Kansas
Takeo: Space Oddity-David Bowie
About Seamus last name. I have been over and over my DVDs in the Japanese audio track. When the Troopers introduce themselves Shu gives his name as Shu Lei/Rei Fan. I know in the Gaiden episodes English Audio Track Kento gives his name as Kento Rei/Lei Fan. Going by the tradition of family names coming first in the Japanese culture I have to believe that Shu is the family name. Why Shu went by it in the Japanese Audio version I don't know but I have Shu as Seamus family name in my tale.
Also that poem "Northern Lights" I had Takeo recite was written by me in college and first appeared in another fan fic story many years ago under the pen name of Cassandra.