Again, same disclaimer as before, my friends: I don't own anything of the Onimusha series of fighting games; Capcom does. Nor do I own anything within DC (Detective Comics) or Young Justice, for that matter. Only my OCs belong to my mind. Enjoy.
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(''): Mental thoughts / [ ]: Native Tamaranean language
("CAPS"): Council thoughts
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Onimusha: The Return
5. Diplomatic Relations - Part One
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The outer rim of the Sol System, a week and a half after the Team's encounter with the Genma, and the 'Onimusha' Kyosuke Tenkai...
As the nine celestial objects continued their endless waltz around the massive yellow sun at the heart of their space system, as calm as the day they began their intimate dance with the young star, a medium-sized space-faring vessel suddenly warped into being just outside of Pluto's orbit. As it slowed down from its very abrupt exit from hyperspace, the alien crew inside began readjusting the ship's systems for normal space travel, and began attempting communications with the human race on Earth. On board the vessel, deep within its main living quarters, a single person was slowly reviewing status reports from the crew, while running a special brush through her exceptionally long, vibrant red hair. Her emerald eyes shone bright as she looked around the room after placing the reports down on her desk, then picked up a framed picture of her, standing among four other individuals. Her image was the easiest to identify, given her deep orange skin. It seemed like a lifetime ago to her, when she had last spent time with those wonderful friends of hers.
('Over five years... I hope that X'Hal has kept them safe.') The young woman thought to herself, stepping toward a nearby mirror to look at her reflection. The face staring back at her was none other than Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, better known on Earth as the former Teen Titan Starfire. After the Titans went their separate ways to strengthen their training and skills back then, Starfire had returned to her people, with only one difficult goal ahead of her: to reunite and restore the Tamaranean people. With their home world lost to the brutal actions of the Citadel so long ago, the same ones who tried to keep her in their sadistic clutches as a 'purchase', Starfire searched high and low throughout the vast star clusters for what she needed most to restore her people to a functioning civilization: her parents. Myand'r and Luand'r, the king and queen of Tamaran, long thought dead during the largest invasion of Tamaran, had survived by simply hiding in plain sight.
Thanks to recovered holographic technology from a crashed vessel, and the actions of their loyal bodyguard - Starfire's own childhood guardian, Galfore - they had remained hidden for some time. Starfire finally found them after a exhaustive search, following clues that only the Royal Family of Tamaran would know about and recognize, and after amazingly bumping into her older sister, Komand'r - aka Blackfire - herself. Knowing how a later invasion to their world had turned out, one that she herself had brought on due to the unwelcome treatment given to her own people - because she had been born on the day of that first invasion so long ago, - Blackfire had come to check on the status of her home world - not because she truly cared at the time, but because she wanted to see what remained of Tamaran after all that had happened. Once Starfire had found her parents, alive and strong enough to fight for their people again, Starfire helped her parents lead the charge to push back the remnants of the sadistic invaders who caused had tormented her people so.
To her surprise, Blackfire actually joined in with their efforts, wanting to have a good rumble to pass the time. To the amazement of all four Tamaraneans, as they rallied their people to victory after victory against their enemies, they found something that they thought they had lost many years ago: their sense of family, and their need to remember who they truly were.
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Myand'r and Luand'r took Blackfire aside first, profusely apologizing to her about not doing more to assure their people long ago about what had happened the day she was born: the first invasion of Tamaran. They blamed themselves for not being what they should have been: parents first, and the ruling family second. They should have told them all that what happened the day of her birth was not Blackfire's fault at all, and they should have made them realize their terrible treatment of a royal family member. Maybe then, they could have remained a stronger family, and the harsh times that had befallen them may not have come to pass. Starfire wept when she heard her parents beg Blackfire for forgiveness. Blackfire, for an instant, refused to believe it. After all, she had been banished from her home world in honorable combat by Starfire for her actions in trying to take over Tamaran. But, when she looked into her parents' eyes, all she saw was sadness and regret. There was not an ounce of hate or anger toward her in their eyes. To them, she was, and had always been, their firstborn daughter, and they had missed for her for so many long years.
Her heart, cold and empty for so long, filled Blackfire with pure warmth and longing for the first time in years, and she leaped into her parents' arms, hugging them for the first time for as long as she could remember. When Myand'r and Luand'r finally let go, Blackfire turned to Starfire, her eyes streaming with tears. Starfire only smiled, and held her arms wide apart as she looked at her sibling. "I've missed you, dear sister." was all she needed to say before the two sisters were hugging each other, falling to their knees in joy that they had not shared since their childhood years. Their parents joined in moments later. After that day, the Tamaran Royal Family's strength and presence grew even more, and anyone, even any of their own people, who badmouthed Blackfire was immediately set upon by the king with one phrase, and a glowing fist: "Speak ill of the daughter whom X'Hal herself has returned to my arms again, and I will strike you down where you stand."
After that, the Tamaranean people got the message, and put their full effort into the war against the invaders. Once they had finally driven off the invaders back into deep space, though, the Tamaraneans knew that their home world could no longer sustain them in its ravaged condition. A new world would have to be colonized, or the Tamaraneans would surely die out in the end. A plea went out to the Green Lantern Corps for aid in relocating them to a new world, and the Guardians gladly answered the call. With their timely aid, and the use of several of the undamaged enemy cruisers remaining in port on their ravaged world, the Tamaraneans began their exodus, while a number of the Lanterns rescued what they could of the intact infrastructure left behind to bring with them to the new world they found soon after, only fifty light-years from Earth itself. It was new and unsullied, and no other species had claimed it, so the Guardians allowed them to colonize it in earnest.
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By the time New Tamaran had been settled on and built up enough to be self-sustaining for their people, Blackfire and Starfire were accomplished diplomats in their own right, having garnered a strong ally in the Thanagarian military after Blackfire had personally apologized to them for being such a troublemaker, and promising to establish a solid diplomatic alliance with Earth. Blackfire would maintain their dialogue in space, while Starfire would return to Earth to set up their own intergalatic embassy. However, not even a standard galactic day out of orbit from New Tamaran, Starfire and her fellow shipmates discovered that they were now being followed, and by one of their hated foes... Gordanians. "We will not fail." Starfire told her crew, and they all nodded in agreement. With deft manuevering, and a perfect slingshot around a planet in their path, the Tamaranean craft gained a solid two days' lead on their pursuers, and now, they were only hours from Earth orbit. It was also agreed that once the cruiser reached the orbit of the Earth's moon, Starfire and her protectors would secretly exit the hangar in one of their new stealth dropships, and make for Earth with all due haste. Also, Starfire made use of her old Titans badge to quickly encode emergency messages to the members of the Justice League. Surely, her old friends would be members now, and she and her crew would need their help to survive this latest attempt to extinguish the line of the Tamaraean throne.
('I just hope we have enough time.') Starfire mused to herself, before collecting all of her status reports and securing them in her diplomatic satchels. ('Allying ourselves with Earth, and the League, will surely convince our enemies to finally leave us alone. Please hear me, my friends; I need your help.') She thought as she checked her wrist bracer's latest data-stream. They were now only an hour from the moon's orbit, and the Gordanians had been steadily gaining on them. Presently, her intercom buzzed at her, and Starfire answered it in her native tongue.
[Koriand'r here. Go ahead.] She replied.
[My Lady Diplomat, we are now only twenty minutes away from executing our discussed manuever to confuse the Gordanians.] The voice of one of her crew spoke to her over the room's communicator. [You must get to the dropship and get strapped in with your fellow squadmates. You can wait no longer.] Starfire nodded.
[Understood.] She answered. [Thank you for all your hard work, Captain. May X'Hal protect you on your way home.]
[As long as you reach your allies on Earth, my Lady, my duty in this matter will have been fulfilled, and X'Hal will welcome me home.] The Captain replied. [Good journey, and may X'Hal watch over you, my Lady.]
[May X'Hal watch over us all.] Starfire replied as she and the Captain quickly ended their conversation. Starfire gathered up her belongings, looked over her room one last time, then left and headed off to the hangar. Of course, being able to fly, that was quite a quick trip. As soon as she reached the hangar, Starfire was escorted by her shipmates aboard the stealth dropship, and found her seat as the vehicle primed its engines. As the cruiser and the dropship prepared to perform their planned diversion, Starfire closed her eyes, then activated her Titans comm badge, hoping that her friends would be ready to receive her call. Then, the pilot of the dropship radioed that he and the Captain were ready for the drop. Starfire nodded, giving them the all-clear with a single press of the intercom. As they got underway, Starfire gave a silent prayer to the heavens, hoping with all her heart that her friends would respond to her emergency hail, and rush to aid her and her crew against her pursuers.
('Oh, mighty X'Hal, I beseech you in my hour of need: guide and protect me and my people here in this endeavor. Guide my old friends to us. Please; we must succeed, for the future of all my people. We must complete our mission.')
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Fifteen minutes earlier, at the United Nations Building in New York City...
The day was turning out to be a momentous one for the United Nations, as well as for the members of the Justice League. A lull in criminal activity and global problems had finally allowed a newly recognized nation and its delegation to be added to the U.N charter: the island country of Themyscria, home of the mythical Amazons of Greek lore, and their champion and Princess, Wonder Woman. Despite many fervant attempts by several unfriendly nations and very unscrupulous organizations to prevent this from happening, the long-overdue recognition of Themyscria passed with a strong majority, and now, their delegation was arriving in New York to present their own requests for deliberation, as well as to select a location to build an embassy building for the representatives who would remain in the U.S. for U.N. meetings.
Foremost in these proceedings would be the world's first glimpse of Queen Hippoltya herself, the legendary Amazon Queen who had encountered Hercules himself during his Twelve Labors, as well as her younger daughter Donna, and the Captain of her Royal Guard, the fiery Artemis. Wonder Woman and Hawkwoman were chosen to be her escorts, so to not give the arriving Amazons any notions to continue their lower views of Man's World after so many centuries. Only Batman was allowed to consult with them on anything of major importance, seeing as he had been the League member to recommend the construction of their embassy building in New York, rather than any place else. Also, Queen Hippolyta had noticed just how much faith her oldest child put in the stoic Dark Knight, as well as how much rigid self-discipline he possessed when Artemis tried to intimidate him with insults of Man's World and all their evils. The soulless white eyes of his black cowl only narrowed in response as he replied in kind.
"I'll introduce you to Poison Ivy later, Captain. Then, you can judge the rest of our world as to whether or not all women are better than all men." The Dark Knight responded without any emotion before turning on his heel and heading toward the tables set up outside the U.N. buillding to verify security parameters. Artemis was seething that Batman had done that to her, but Queen Hippoltya quickly quashed any of her thoughts on attempting to throttle the defender of Gotham by turning toward the Captain of her Royal Guard with a look of contempt in her eyes.
"We are now guests here, Artemis, and you will conduct yourself accordingly." The stern command came from the Queen of Themyscria. "I'll not have you damage the start of our relations with the rest of the planet just because one man spoke truth to you, and you did not like his tone. Am I understood, Captain?" The last word had been spoken with the same tone that Hippolyta had used when chastising Donna on their voyage here to New York, and Artemis knew better than challenge her Queen. The outcome would only end badly for Artemis on all fronts. She quickly bowed her head and respectfully replied to her, "Of course. As you command, my Queen."
Wonder Woman stifled a chuckle, while Donna turned away to hide her blush and smile at Artemis being scolded by her Queen. A moment later, Hawkwoman landed nearby and welcomed the Amazons to the U.N. compound. Respectfully bowing to the Queen, the Thanagarian motioned for them to follow them to their provided seating inside, to await the end of the current session and for them to present their requests for deliberation per the U.N. guidelines. Even as Artemis grumbled under her breath, "Bureaucrats...", the Queen nodded, and the quartet headed inside. At the same time, a pair of Japanese delegates were having a brief discussion inside the U.N. building over types of new technology. One of them was Hiro Okamura, a brilliant prodigy who saw himself as a new incarnation of the Toyman, but one who strove to prove his youth and his intelligence could truly benefit the world instead of threatening its people as the last Toyman had. With a 210 I.Q., Hiro was quickly becoming a very strong ally to many people, including the League. The man he was having a discussion with was a relatively new delegate named Obari Akechi, and he was holding his own in the debate with Hiro, despite the young genius' higher I.Q.
Little did anyone truly suspect that 'Obari Akechi' was the same, well-crafted cover identity for the newest combatant against crime and apathy on Earth... Kyosuke Tenkai, the 'Onimusha.' Kyosuke had decided to attend the U.N. in secret, not just because of the Amazons finally becoming charter members, but because the Gauntlet of the Oni had spoken to him in his dreams. Something was going to happen around the time of the final proceedings, and he needed to be there to stop anything bad from happening.
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Before going undercover as Akechi at the summit, Kyosuke had privately shared his forebodings with Cyborg via a secured mystical computer link, telling him to pass the warning on to the League and the 'Team,' just to be safe. On matters such as these, the Gauntlet's impressions were never wrong. Cyborg acknowledged the message, hence the reason that he, Superman, Hawkman, and the 'Team' - including Nightwing, the former Boy Wonder and the first Robin under Batman - had joined with Batman and Wonder Woman to defend the summit from any and all situations. Batman had wanted to coordinate with the Onimusha, but Kyosuke had told him that he needed to be invisible in this instance until something happened. If he began make overt actions right now, the Genma would no doubt try to join in on the fight. For now, Kyosuke remained patient, enjoying his conversation with Hiro even as the assembly was called to order to finish the old business at hand, and begin discussions with the new national delegation in their midst.
Five minutes into the Secretary-General's welcoming speech to Queen Hippolyta and the Amazon delegation, Nightwing - high above the proceedings in the rafters - felt an old, but familiar hum from his back hip. ('Is this for real?') He thought. Quickly checking it while keeping his eyes peeled for trouble, Nightwing confirmed his intuition: it was his old Titans comm badge. It only took him seconds to reroute the feed to Cyborg, since answering it would require him to reveal his position above the assembly. Cyborg then quickly deciphered it, and sent the alert to Batman, who answered it through his cowl-radio. Stepping discreetly away from Wonder Woman for the moment, Batman whispered out his response to the 'Team', who were waiting on standby in Miss Martian's Bio-Ship.
"Robin. We have a situation." Batman's deep reply greeted his second protege's ears. "An old Teen Titans emergency alert was just received by Nightwing and Cyborg. You and the Team will proceed immediately to the coordinates I'm sending you, and will render aid to the diplomatic vessel en route there. An old ally is coming for a visit, and there are enemies on their heels. Move out."
"Message received, Batman. En route." Robin replied, before looking at Miss Martian, who nodded and commanded the organic alien vessel to head out. As she did, Batman returned to his position by the delegation, but his detection skills easily picked out a young Japanese man heading out of the assembly area... and away from his seat next to Hiro Okamura. ('Who's your new friend, Hiro?') Batman wondered for a moment before his mental question was instantly answered by the new scanning device in his gauntlet. ('He is here.') Batman mused, now knowing that the Japanese delegate who was leaving was really the Onimusha in disguise. ('Does he also know about the incoming diplomat from outer space?') Batman could not answer that right now, as Queen Hippolyta was respectfully called upon to present her requests to the assembly. Wonder Woman went with her, escorting her mother to the podium. Batman could not leave to get answers, but he did send out an alert to the Watchtower to send whatever flight-capable members they could to assist.
The audio reply he received from the Martian Manhunter told him that Green Lantern John Stewart and Icon were en route. Batman nodded to himself. ('They should be able to handle this. These proceedings must be finished.') The Dark Knight thought as his eyes kept looking over the U.N delegates, while the Queen began her speech. ('After this, I'm quite sure we'll be looking at yet another new request for recognition here.')
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As the Bio-Ship headed to the rendezvous point, the 'Team' reviewed the intel they had received from Batman, Cyborg, and Nightwing. The diplomatic vessel coming into Earth's atmosphere was crewed by Tamaraneans, and they were likely being pursued by another alien race that did not want them allying themselves with Earth. With that in mind, Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Tigress, Miss Martian, Superboy, Beast Boy, Bumblebee, Blue Beetle, and Wonder Girl prepared themselves for a fight, even as Miss Martian received a League alert that Green Lantern Stewart and Icon had been sent to aid them. "Robin, I have a visual on the ship." Miss Martian chimed in, waving her hand and pulling up the main holo-screen to show the alien vessel as it was just beginning to enter the upper limits of the atmosphere. "I'm showing another vessel inbound to their position, and by what she's telling me... they're Gordanian bio-signs aboard." Robin scowled; if Hawkman or Hawkwoman had been here, and overheard that, a bloody melee would have occured without a doubt.
"Understood; be ready to deploy, team." Robin replied, and the ten heroes put on their game faces. Moments later, the Bio-Ship sighted Green Lantern Stewart and Icon, and the living ship adjusted its course to match as they approached the arrival point. Just then, they saw a shimmering effect on the ship vanish, revealing itself to be merely a decoy beacon, which promptly fired off a burst transmission before self-destructing. The 'Team' were surprised for only a moment before Green Lantern's comm came up.
"That may have been a decoy, team, but it was one that had the real rendezvous point hidden within it." The Lantern called out, prompting him to look at his humming power ring. "Message translated. Sending coordinates now. Follow us; looks like this is really going to be a serious fight." The Bio-Ship acknowledged the reception, and took off after the two League members, but also not noticing that there was another, cloaked vessel following after them all. Onboard that newly-launched vessel, a certain mystical warrior rubbed his chin in contemplation at the actions of his fellow heroes.
('Smart move.') Kyosuke thought as he watched the alien bio-ship redirect its flight path toward the new landing zone through an auxillary screen. ('The Tamaraneans will indeed make powerful allies to Earth and to the League; we just have to make sure they arrive alive.') Turning to look toward his left, Kyosuke spied Red Ghost arriving on the bridge of the craft designed and built by the Oni, under the direction of Kyosuke's own mother. "What's the game plan, Kyo, my man?" Kyo's ally asked before finishing off the spicy burrito in his hands.
"We follow, and support them, West." Kyosuke replied, moving his hand over a console with humming mystical control crystals. Like quicksilver, the cloaked vessel they were on obeyed the commands of its master, and the two heroes waited patiently as they sped after the Bio-Ship. "I'll program the Myst Dragon to support us from the sky, while we move in on the ground and make sure that the Tamaraneans survive to present their case to the League, and the U.N." West nodded.
"Works for me..." West replied. "... and yeah, man, I'll keep my mask on. I know it's still not time for me to let Artemis know I survived." Kyosuke smiled at his friend, knowing that he really wanted to be holding his heart's treasure once again.
"Soon, my friend. Soon." Kyosuke replied, right as the Myst Dragon picked up the incoming Tamaranean craft, and four smaller Gordanian ships in close pursuit of it as well. "Get ready, Red Ghost. Time to teach these bullies a lesson."
"I'm game, Kyo." West replied as he pulled his mask and goggles onto his face, while Kyosuke programmed his ship's attack pattern with a quick command, even as the diplomatic vessel came under heavy fire from the Gordanians.
"Myst Dragon: Attack and Support Pattern, Zan One! Engage auto-pilot and initiate program after we teleport down!" The humming console responded with a smooth chime that acknowledged the command, while Kyosuke and West quickly moved over to the glowing teleport glyph. Watching the screen on their approach, Kyosuke waited until the Tamaranean vessel had made an emergency crash landing, and the 'Team' had swarmed out of the Martian Bio-Ship as the Gordanian ships began to discharge shock troopers before making his move.
"Teleport us down now!" As Kyosuke and West vanished from the bridge of the Myst Dragon, the Onimusha felt his intense bond with the Oni Gauntlet hum to him with fervor. ('Someone here will be of great importance to me? This day just keeps getting better and better.')
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The battle had been joined before the Team even hit the ground. Icon and GL Stewart had quickly engaged the Gordanians using short range flight harness units, either knocking them out of the sky or forcing them into severe crash landings. By that time, Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Tigress, Miss Martian, Superboy, Beast Boy, Bumblebee, Blue Beetle, and Wonder Girl were already in the thick of it as soon as they deployed out of the Bio-Ship. Alien weapons flashed and sounded out all around the young heroes as they fought their way through the Gordanian troops. That left safeguarding the twelve-member group of Tamaraneans, - and their Princess, Starfire - to whomever could get closest fastest. Normally, that would have been Kid Flash, but before even he could zip over and began shielding them, a lightning-quick, black blur darted right past him and quickly let loose with a pair of medium-strength wind vortexes at the alien attackers! "Hey!" Bart Allen shouted out from behind his mask as he smacked two Gordanians with super speed backhands! "What gives!? Since when did we get another speedster on the team, and nobody felt the need to tell me!?"
Before Robin or any of the others could answer Bart, though, that same black blur sped back over to him, and yanked him down by his chest armor, right as an energy bolt zipped right through where his head had been. "Quip the enemy after you've put them out of the fight, kid! You might just keep your head on your shoulders longer!" With that, and before Bart could answer back, the black-garbed speedster darted off again, spiraling around the defensive Tamaraneans once more and creating enough sheer air pressure with his rapid movements to actually deflect away any unwanted energy blasts or melee attacks on their person! Only Superboy, Robin, and Wonder Girl had the presence of mind to notice how the black-clad speedster did not go very far away from the huddled position of the Tamaraneans, even as Starfire called out to her friends as they fought the Gordanians. "Bee! Beast Boy! Help us!" Even though the Gordanians kept pushing harder and harder to get to Starfire and her diplomatic envoy, the Team, Icon, and GL Stewart kept pushing right back. Now, though, with their aerial support out of commission thanks to Icon and GL Stewart, - and the unnoticed assistance from the cloaked Myst Dragon - the Gordanians were slowly, but surely, losing ground in the battle to stop their hated foes from garnering more aid. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Onimusha finally made his appearance, leaping off one of the downed Gordanian shuttles toward the alien enemies below him, and with a dark metallic brown war-hammer raised above his head! "Be gone, foul invaders! Dokoutsui!"
The Onimusha's landing in the midst of the Gordanians was accompanied by him striking the ground with his 'Earth Barren Hammer,' causing a powerful wave of multiple earth mounds to shoot away from his impact and smash right into the Gordanians approaching the Tamaraneans! As the shocked aliens tumbled aside, the visage of the Onimusha from behind his mask grew cold and furious; enough was enough. Raising up his right hand that still was holding the mystical war-hammer, the Onimusha shouted out, "Koen! Enryuu!" In a flash of powerful flames, the earth-wielding hammer vanished, and in its place, gripped by both hands of the champion of the Oni Council, was the mighty 'Flame Dragon Sword,' itself the same Western-styled broadsword once wielded by the first Onimusha to defeat Fortinbras many centuries ago. Seeing a large number of the stunned Gordanians now right before him, the Onimusha quickly hefted the Enryuu to his shoulder, and with a cry of "Burn!", the champion of the Oni launched a massive, searing wall of mystical flame at them! The shocked Gordanians had no time to scream or run from the powerful attack; all they did was become enveloped by the magical bonfire, and suffer in deserved agony.
Pausing in his actions to check on the others fighting alongside him, the Onimusha saw that the Team and the two Justice League members had the majority of their attackers well in hand. As for Red Ghost, he was easily dodging away from any Gordanian attack or energy blast that came his way, and quickly returned fire with his special offensive technique that he had honed to a razor's edge under his Oni teachers and fellow warriors. With his hands rapidly vibrating as Red Ghost sped around his enemies, shimmering spheres composed of pure vibrational energy spheres came into being in his grip, deadly weaponized spheres that acted as miniature, but powerful seismic shockwave blasts upon impact with their targets! The Gordanians never had a chance to get clear when Red Ghost let loose again and again with his limitless skill, the energies of the Speed Force within him granting him such reserves in tune with his need. Nodding to himself, the Onimusha kept his senses sharp, looking for any more attackers to come forth in the battle as he continued to eliminate any remaining Gordanians. When he did notice anything new, though, the Oni Gauntlet on his arm loudly vibrated at him to draw in his attention! ('Danger!') The Onimusha knew what the mystical artifact meant: it was not danger towards him, but towards the Tamaraneans, and most likely, Starfire herself! Knowing he would only have an instant to react, the Onimusha leapt forward, his augmented physiology hurling him several feet up and over the barricade protecting the Tamaraneans, and quickly switched out the Enryuu for a much faster, and more precise weapon. "Shiden! Raizan!" The power of the Thunder Orb within the Oni Gauntlet summoned forth the deadly 'Thunder Slash Blade' to the hands of the Onimusha a second later, and right as the sharp senses of the Onimusha detected movement above and to the left of them!
Quickly stabbing his mystical weapon to his right, the Onimusha quickly blocked the incoming flight path of a large bladed orb, keeping it from impacting right into Starfire's chest! Before the orb even hit the ground, the enraged champion surged forward, his speed quickly augmented by the Oni Gauntlet, and drove the crackling length of his deadly weapon into the chest of an invisible foe, who gurgled out in shocked response to how he had been discovered! The Onimusha growled at his foe as he twisted his mystical blade deep into the enemy. "Fall, foul beast!" Not waiting to see just who or what the concealed enemy was, the Onimusha once more called upon the magic of his enchanted weapon, this time being... the power of lightning. Stroke after rapid stroke of his blade, the Onimusha swiftly delivered the forceful electrically-charged punishment upon his foe, culminating in a full flip forward that drove the crackling Raizan down and through the enemy, slicing him in half vertically! As soon as the concealed enemy had fallen, however, the Onimusha rushed back toward Starfire, leaping over the other Tamaraneans and body-tackling the Princess clear of the downed orb, even as it suddenly sprayed a deadly acid out from its resting place! The fluid missed the others in the diplomatic envoy, but Starfire's right arm took a glancing spritz, and she screamed out in pain! At that, the Onimusha pointed his weapon at the orb, blasting it to smithereens with a single thin bolt of lightning, then dispelled the Raizan away as he clamped his armored right hand on the injured bicep of Starfire's infected limb! "Ghost!" The Onimusha bellowed as he summoned up the divine power of his mystical heritage and immediately began to channel it into the wounded Starfire, forcing back whatever the poison was with the sheer force of his will. "Medic! Prep for evac, NOW!" Red Ghost wasted no time and sped off to call down the Myst Dragon to pick them up, even as the Team and the Justice League members hustled over to lend whatever aid they could now that the Gordanians had been routed and put down.
As the Oni Gauntlet's divine power slowly pushed back the infectious agent in Starfire's wound and held it at bay, its single 'eye' blinked and flashed its power at its wielder, prompting Kyosuke to nod his armored head in response. The Tamaranean princess was important to Kyosuke's future; there was no doubt, and she would not be the only one to share in his destiny. ('By Kami, just what I needed to know now.') The Onimusha mentally groused as Red Ghost suddenly returned to his location, the Myst Dragon and the Bio-Ship flying low to pick them all up. "The Tamaraneans will ride with me, Starfire, and Red Ghost!" Kyosuke bellowed as he quickly picked Starfire up in a bridal carry, his glowing Gauntlet still holding her wounded arm. "Robin, have Miss Martian radio for Batman and Nightwing to meet up with us in route to your closest base for triage! I can hold off the poison's progression until then, but I'll need to call in certified help to purge it from her system!" Robin nodded, but pointed at Superboy and Wonder Girl with a firm voice. "They ride with you to keep in contact with us." The Boy Wonder gruffly stated. Kyosuke nodded in response before Red Ghost tapped his own forearm computer and quickly summoned down a wide transport sled from the Myst Dragon to carry them back into the ship above them. All of the Tamaraneans rapidly flew up toward the floating arcane vessel to wait for Red Ghost, Superboy, Wonder Girl, the Onimusha, and Starfire to join them.
Moments later, with the transport sled docked, and everyone safely aboard, Kyosuke headed for the infirmary with Starfire in his arms, while yelled out to his ship's sentient core. "Myst Dragon! Coordinate with the Martian Bio-Ship for travel back to their secure location, and with all due haste!" The mystically-constructed vessel sounded out a tone of acknowledgement that the Oni Gauntlet understood, and seconds later, with Starfire secure and comfortable as could be, the Myst Dragon and the Bio-Ship sped off to rendezvous at Mount Justice and to care for the wounded Princess. All the while, Kyosuke remained with her, keeping the wound from getting worse, and contemplating what the mystical Gauntlet on his arm knew of his future. All he could truly be sure of was that before too long, the legendary power of the Black Oni himself would make itself known, and the enemies of the planet Earth would know his fury, while his loved ones would be protected and cared for with the same level of power and strength that the past Onimusha warriors had shown as well. ('Rest, Princess; you're going to be just fine.') Kyosuke mentally thought to the fitfully-sleeping Tamaranean woman in the infirmary bed before him. ('So swears the Onimusha.')
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My apologies to one and all that it took so long for me to finally post a new chapter to any of my stories. As I've heard that Young Justice may very likely be having a second season, where I go from here - from the end of Season Two - is an adventure that I hope will bear great fruit. Best wishes, one and all!