Chapter Fifteen:
Elayne and Yuli laughed as they made their way back to his house. The two were currently talking about things that had to do with everyday life. Tossing around stories about what foolish things teachers had done while they were in school and other things like that.
It was almost amusing that they were talking about such things, when before they had been on the topic of mystical armors, and evil demons.
Yet, one could not always spend their time talking about the Ronin Warriors, even though the two of them were more than capable of pulling that off.
They were most likely half-way back before Yuli brought up something that had been bothering him.
"Hey, Elayne?" He slowed down on his skateboarding to look at her.
The girl came to a halt, and tilted her head, "Ya?"
"I know you said they were gone, and most likely in a lot of trouble," the teenager paused, before asking, "But how bad off are they? You keep wincing, and I know it's not because you are the one in pain."
She touched a finger to the jewel around her neck, "I have no way of telling for certain. I just know it isn't going as well as they hoped, because they've been gone for too long."
"How long?" the teen asked.
She let out a sigh through her nose, "A week and a half."
"Seriously?" He nearly fell off his skateboard, and made a face. "Man, I wonder what Ryo-tachi are doing? They have been gone way too long. They were not even gone to the Nether Realm for that long before we showed up."
"I have no idea what they are doing, or what they were thinking," the girl grumbled out, pinching at the bridge of her nose. "They shouldn't have gone."
"I'm sure they'll be all right, Layne," Yuli commented understanding she was worried about them, "Those girls, whatcha call 'em…Ah Senshi, right. Anyway, Ryo-tachi are capable of pulling things off, and I'm sure the Senshi can take care of themselves."
"Ya, as long as the Ronin don't call Inferno," she moodily grumbled, a scowl framing her face.
The teen made another face, "I hope it doesn't get that ugly, I'd hate to see that armor now…If the guys' newer armors are as strong as you've said, man…"
"It's not the armors Yul, it's them," Elayne gave a shake of her head at his dumbfounded expression. "The armors are simply channeling the power the guys already have, and lending a bit of their own when necessary. But Inferno will take their power and the armor's power too."
"How do you know of all this?" he asked her in bewilderment.
The girl gave a wry grin, "Oh, I have ways of finding things out. Especially things I am not supposed to know. Also have this habit of seeing things I shouldn't."
"Ah," the teen suddenly shivered. "Man the temperature is really starting to drop."
Elayne froze in place, her eyes widening as she could clearly detect the presence of rather familiar negative energy. "Yuli! Get yourself back home, now."
"What? Why?" he studied her with confusion on his face.
"I've been followed," Elayne cast a glance over her shoulder; the energy was coming from that way and approaching far too quickly for her tastes. "They haven't bothered with me in ages, so they definitely want something."
"Hey you want some help?" Yuli eagerly offered.
The girl gave a grin, "No thanks, Mr. Kendo-Champ...Sage, Junior." It faded though, "Sorry Yuli, but they can't find out you're connected to the guys too. Or your parents'll be in danger and I don't think we want to take that risk."
"No, you're right," the teenager admitted. "Putting myself and my folks in danger is a bad idea. I'll catcha later, An-chan. Be safe!"
"Will do," Elayne took off at a sprint now, going the opposite way he was….She could not risk him becoming involved in this too, Ryo-tachi would strangle her.
It had only been a matter of time before the Raikken came after her again. She was a rather large loose-end that certainly needed tying up. Akemliek did not leave loose ends for he was very cautious when it came to such things.
Well, she planned to do everything within her power to prevent them from being "tied up" but there was only so much she could do. If Elayne did too much she would give away the worst secret she had been keeping…The real truth behind her existence.
Elayne checked to make sure there were no people around, before quickly ducking into an alley. Sure, it did not sound like a very sane idea, perhaps exceedingly foolish, but just like she couldn't risk Yuli's safety she couldn't risk a stranger's either.
Besides, while she might not have been anything special, she did know how to fight. Growing up with the Ronin Warriors and around the Sailor Senshi most certainly did have its advantages.
She got half-way down the alley, and drew to a halt. The girl then cautiously slid into a defensive stance her hazel-violet eyes scanning the area around her.
They were close, exceedingly so, and now they had paused in their advance…Obviously they had not been prepared for her to figure them out. She took in a breath, and then slowly let it out.
"Come out and face me," her voice was cool and calm. She had been dealing with Raikken far too long now to not know how to act when fighting with them. If anything had changed in all this time, it was the fact that they had been sent to kill her on orders.
Low chuckling reached her ears, and she steeled herself as three Raikken crawled out of the shadows.
'Let the game begin,' she grimly thought.
Elayne had managed to work it down so that she had only one Raikken left to contend with, and then another one popped up. She gritted her teeth together in aggravation as it happened to be a higher ranking one too boot.
There was something else too, something that was nagging at the back of her mind. Suddenly she felt as though someone had kicked her against the ribs, and she reacted as such…But neither Raikken had been near her.
The girl shook herself, letting out a slight yelp as she narrowly avoided being speared to death. She dropped down, and struck out with her right leg knocking the Raikken backwards.
She quickly followed through by taking up the dagger she kept hidden in her boot, and ramming it up under its helmet. She moved back from her felled opponent, looking for the other one, but she was just too slow.
Elayne's legs were ripped out from underneath of her, and she used her hands to brace herself, losing her weapon in the process. She rolled to the side managing to disentangle herself from the chains, and then popped back to her feet before it could do anything else.
That was when she noticed the temperature had dropped considerably, and the Raikken dropped back.
"Kali?" Elayne's eyes widened and then narrowed as she took up a defensive stance again.
The ice demoness let out a low chuckle in amusement, "Well, I see you still are capable of handling yourself. That's impressive." She turned her eyes to the Raikken, "Leave, I shall take care of this."
It vanished as she had commanded, and Elayne tensed her muscles so that she was ready to move at a moment's notice.
"What do you want?" the girl demanded, her face was a mask of calm, but on the inside she was anything but.
"Hm," Kali let out a chuckle; jovially crossed her arms in front of her chest, "I wonder." She was going to taunt the girl, she felt entitled to it…Especially after having been shown up by the brat the last time. "I warned you when we first met that you were a person of interest. I implied we'd get to you eventually. Let's just say it's time to take care of you."
Elayne started to laugh, it was low at first but got louder…Yet, it was cold and also mirthless. Kali quirked an eyebrow, an annoyed look on her face, she failed to see what was so funny.
The girl quieted and a smile splayed across her lips, "So, they are giving you more of a fight than you counted on, eh? Serves you right for underestimating them. But, I get why you're here," the girl's eyes hardened. "And there is no way I am letting you use me as leverage. I'll die first."
Kali curled her lips back in a snarl, "Trust me, I can easily arrange that."
"Be my guest then," Elayne spat, "I've got nothing I'd lament losing!"
The ice demoness took that moment to spring forward, and Elayne struck out with a fist not really intending to hit her, just throw her aim off. It worked and the girl skidded to the side, eyes searching for the dagger she had dropped…
She spotted it and then quickly returned her eyes to the ice demoness; she could not afford to spend too much time trying to make it obvious she was going after it.
The girl had no choice but to let Kali get in a few hits, it was the only way she could think of to get out of the situation…Let her think she had won, and then strike back at the last minute.
Kali had tired of this, and finally she knocked the girl down with a blast of energy…Elayne hit the ground face first, and her fingers reached the dagger and clenched around it, not willing to let it go. Luckily, Kali was not paying attention to that.
The ice demoness let out a snort, "Pathetic, you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble and pain. But, perhaps, it is just as well. They might bend more willingly if they see you have been harmed, in addition to being a prisoner."
Kali paused for a moment in her approach, and then stepped directly next to the girl, "Now, time to go."
"For you!" Elayne rolled to her side, and then sprang up thrusting her dagger into Kali's arm.
She gave a hiss in surprise and pain, before going to strike the girl down for good…She just did not get the chance. A loud roar sounded, and in seconds the tiger had taken Kali to the ground. Just as he was prepared to put his teeth into her throat she teleported off.
Elayne coughed a little, her eyes drooping…She tried to fight and stay awake but her vision was already out of control. Her body had taken too much, and her mind just could not cope.
She heard talking, and that is what started to bring her out of her unconscious state. The first thing she noticed was that her wrist was actually in pain, meaning if she could feel that, it was most likely broken.
Her entire body ached, but that had been going on for the past several days…She also felt exhausted, that was not anything new either. But who was talking and what were they saying?
'Don't blame this on me,' the voice protested. 'It isn't my fault you are too lazy.'
'Lazy?' White Blaze snarled out enraged.
Elayne finally let out a low moan, opening her eyes, "Ugh. Blaze, what the-" She had rolled around so that she was lying flat on her stomach, and took pause noticing whom was directly in front of her. "Kouken-Oh?"
The black tiger stopped staring down White Blaze to turn his full attention to the girl. He walked closer to her and gently butted his head to hers, squeezing his eyes shut, 'Hello, hime. You're lucky I was here to save you.'
"In that case you should have come out earlier," Elayne dryly told him, slowly pulling herself into a sitting position…Wincing as she did so. She did not want to stand right away, wanted to give her body time to wake up first.
'I want to know,' White Blaze gritted out, just barely keeping his temper in check. 'What you are doing here.'
Black Blaze was fully prepared to make some biting retort, but Elayne cut him off, "Oh no you two don't. I almost got my head smashed in; I am not listening to two jealous cats bicker. Got me?"
Both tigers quieted at hearing that, waiting for her to get to her feet before saying anything more. Elayne was careful to move slowly, but the minute she got to her feet she fell back against the building, her breathing horribly uneven.
"Crystal's been taking forever to heal," she mumbled out to the concerned looks she was getting.
In a few minutes she was able to stand without having to use the building for support, but she was still having trouble with walking. So she opted to stand still for a little bit.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Elayne queried with a frown, "I thought you were-"
'Dead,' White Blaze finished ears almost flat against his head.
"No," the girl threw him a look, and he backed off. "Guarding the swords."
'I was,' the black tiger admitted with a nod of his head. 'After that incident and the armors were destroyed the swords returned to their original resting place, and I as their protector went with them. I have returned because-'
"The link to Inferno has been reestablished, thus waking you up?" She gave pause, "You can teleport, what took you so long in getting here?"
'I was awake but there was no reason for me to show up,' Black Blaze explained. 'However, there is to be soon. I can sense when the swords are needed, and they will be very shortly.'
'That is it,' White Blaze announced, saying to Elayne, 'I was ready to go before Kali attacked you; that was the final straw. This information only conveys the fact it is urgent we go.'
"Agreed," Elayne conceded with a nod, "Just let me get changed first, and grab a few things. Then we can go." She was referring to the fact her clothes were ripped and bloody, there was no way she was going to the warriors looking like that. The last thing she needed was another lecture.
The tigers nodded their understanding, and then left the girl to make her way back. They had to worry about getting out of the city without being seen, Black Blaze might have been able to teleport but it was pointless to waste the energy.
Akemliek's Domain
Kali let out a hiss of annoyance as she finished going through the painstaking task of healing the wound in her arm. Finally, the cut closed over and she let out a low growl before kicking at the table in her room sending the contents flying.
Thanos poked his head in, "I take it she put up more of a fight than we thought she would?"
"Oh no she put up the fight we thought she would," Kali gritted out, trying vainly to get her temper back under control. "She just did something unexpected at the last minute, and then a tiger jumped in."
"Of course, the cat would be there to protect her," he commented, frowning when she shook her head, "What do you mean, 'no'?"
Kali gave a low snarl, "The one that attacked me was completely black, it was impossible to see the striping on him, but it was there." Her eyes narrowed, "He would have given me an impossible wound to maneuver around."
"Ah," Thanos remarked, watching as his sister stalked from the room, heading towards Akemliek's chambers…He discreetly followed after casting a last glance over her room which looked like a tornado had hit it.
"Master," Kali announced herself. "I know you said the girl was now "on limits," but she seems to have more strength than what we first assumed her to have. I could not capture her she fought back at the last minute, and she was aided by a black tiger."
"Ah good, the bearer of the swords for Inferno has arrived then," Akemliek mused, before saying, "Do not worry about it, Kali. I thought it might be beneficial to have her as a captive, because she is more than an innocent…But, if you could not get her, then the plan was a poor one."
Thanos frowned, "Why the sudden change?"
"I had a hunch, and was merely playing it out," Akemliek commented, sitting down in his chair with a thud. "For her to be able to resist capture with a desperate act is not surprising, but for Kouken-Oh to help her is; that tiger aides no one but the person who bears the swords. At any rate, how goes all else?"
"Very well," Thanos said in a calm tone. "The final act is soon to begin, we are prepared."
"Then I shall leave you to your business, I shall be joining you soon," Akemliek chuckled in amusement after the two said their goodbyes and left. So the girl had put up quite the fight, and then the tiger had bailed her out…Well, that just proved his hunch correct and made this all the more entertaining.
He let out a sigh, pushed his hair back with a hand, and then tapped it against the chair's arm. It would not be too much longer now, and he was definitely looking forward to getting out of this seal Universe had shoved him into. He was tired of looking at these same pathetic walls, of course after a thousand years, who could blame him?
A/N: "Hime" is an honorific and it's equivalent in English is 'princess.' The tiger gave the human a 'pet' name, what can I say?
These two chapters were a break from the "action" occuring in Akemliek's Domain, I figured I had to give you a slight break from all of that. Plus, the Truth or Dare scene last chapter was so much fun to write xD See you next time!
LG