Chapter Eighteen
Kento brought down his staff on several Raikken, his mind was completely focused on the task at hand. It was just a matter of getting through this, it seemed to him it had always been a matter of surviving.
But, even this was different. No one had really had it out for them before, sure the Warlords had tried to kill them...However, Talpa had wanted them alive. Even the deranged Suzunagi had needed them alive. It had always been about the armors and the armors powers.
This time it was about them, about their power and their lives.
Akemliek, for whatever reason, wanted them dead and if anyone could kill them they were more than welcome to it. Hence his reason for focusing so much on the fighting before him, one slip up and it could get him injured and put his friends in jeopardy.
For if he got into trouble they would be quick to help him out. He wasn't going to do anything to put them in harm's way, Kento just wouldn't take that chance.
His blue eyes swerved around the battlefield, he took note that they had all become separated, and were quite far apart. He could barely see Cye, and he couldn't see his leader at all. That worried him a lot.
Kento had seen it earlier, Ryo was slowly, but steadily, falling in on himself. The Warrior of Strength feared that Wildfire's bearer was just going to collapse if the fighting got any worse. And, Kento knew it was soon to get worse, he could feel it.
Over half the cavern away, Ryo brought up his katana managing to block one strike, though he was hit with another that nearly knocked him over. He gritted his teeth together in annoyance, he was tired, sore, and the Inferno armor was pushing at him, demanding to come through.
Within the past few weeks he had become used to it's pull as it tried, vainly, to reassert itself. He wasn't going to let it though, not until he called for it.
The Wildfire Ronin knew he couldn't take much more of this, for his body was starting to show signs of the strain he was currently under. He bit down a yelp as pain lanced throughout his body, and he crumpled to the ground.
White Blaze came around the corner, Elayne at his heels. His brown eyes took in the surroundings with much disdain and worry; he could not see Ryo at all. Elayne let out a hiss of annoyance grasping her arm again, her own eyes moved rapidly across the cavern.
"Found him," she moved forward tossing over her shoulder. "Watch my back boy!"
'Right,' the tiger followed discreetly behind her, lunging at any Raikken that dared to stray too close.
"Ryo?" Elayne called out, side-stepping two Raikken causing them to spear each other instead of her.
The girl kneeled down next to the Ronin of Wildfire, reaching out a hand and placing on his cheek, she quickly recoiled feeling the pain shoot up her arm.
Now that knot in her stomach hardened, "Ryo?"
"Huh?" the Ronin Leader jerked his head up, startled his eyes blinked a little, "Elayne? What are you doing here!"
"I'll tell you later," the girl murmured eyeing the white tiger he was currently keeping the Raikken off of them. "Can you stand?"
"Maybe," Wildfire's bearer sucked in a breath, and pulled himself together slowly starting to get up. "You shouldn't be here. Its-"
Elayne gently pushed him out of the way of an attack with the back of her hand, using the other to make a fist and ramming it up underneath the Raikken's helmet, it fell backwards and slammed against the floor then dispersed into ash. "That one was compliments of Kento."
"Right now you're in a hell of a lot more danger than I am," She told the Ronin Leader, turning her attention back to him her eyes widened, "Ry, what did they do to you?!"
Even though the push had been gentle, he had fallen over backwards anyway. He was just too worn out, and that was becoming painfully apparent with each moment that passed.
"N-nothing," Ryo hauled himself back to his feet, "Its Wildfire, there's something wrong with it. And me, my power just keeps fading."
Elayne did not reply to this, she simply scowled and took up a defensive stance. Even though White Blaze had been tearing down Raikken, there was enough of them, that they had now circled around her and the Wildfire Ronin.
Ryo tried to move in front of her and she shook her head no, right now he was the one in need of protecting not her.
Her hazel-violet eyes tried to pick through the Raikken and her senses tried to filter past the negative energy as she tried to locate the nearest Ronin. It took her a few minutes but she finally located one of the others.
'Sage!' the girl now went into a more aggressive stance, the Raikken had strayed far closer than before, and were within striking distance.
The blond swordsman almost completely lost his concentration, not having been prepared for the sudden interruption. He was quick to deal with the Raikken that had ganged up on him, responding tentatively with, 'Imouto? Where are you?'
'Behind you by no more than twenty feet,' she easily responded, quickly adding. 'Look, we both know what you're going to say next. So lecture me later, I need help...Actually, Ryo does. He's bad off, Nii-chan. And while I might be capable of dealing with Raikken, I know my limits.'
The Ronin of Halo made no return comment, side-stepping a blow and ramming his no-datchi through a Raikken, before making his way over to where they were. Oh, he'd be sure to lecture her later all right. Well, not really lecture, more like ask if she had completely lost her grip on sanity. What was she doing down here?
The girl proceeded to kick out a Raikken's legs, slipping down she grabbed her dagger and sprung back up, embedding the blade where the armor did not protect the demon. It instantly burst into ash, and she pulled back going back to her stance directly beside the Wildfire Ronin.
Ryo had struck out at two before pulling back, at this point he was grateful for whatever help he could get. He really wasn't sure how much longer he was going to last if he just kept on fighting without a break.
Elayne moved through two more in a similar way, making sure to get the blade in deep enough to kill them before pulling back and covering Ryo. White Blaze quickly lunged forward taking out a Raikken that would have struck his cub.
"You losers need to back off," her whole body was tense and the agitation she felt was growing with each passing moment.
Sage had seen Elayne make work of the Raikken, and instantly surprise washed over him. Oh he knew she could fight, he had taught her how to defend herself just like the other Ronin had, but the way she was fighting now reminded him of someone else.
He was quick to push the thoughts from his mind, he didn't have time to worry about that right now, he was far more concerned about what she was doing here, and the condition of his leader.
"I leave you alone for not even five minutes," Sage commented with a grin, as he moved through the Raikken cutting down as many as he could before walking into the middle of the circle. "And you're already in trouble?"
Ryo let out a chuckle, and then winced his stance faltering slightly. It was so small, hardly noticeable but more than enough to alarm the blond swordsman.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know," Ryo breathed out, his brows furrowed as he tried to force himself to breathe normally.
"Imouto," Sage cast a side-ways glance at her, "Right now I don't care how you got here. What I want to know is if you can reach the others like you did with me."
"They're blocking your mental communication?" the girl asked blinking slightly. "Wow, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised, if they were desperate enough to do one thing, why wouldn't they do another?"
The Ronin of Halo frowned not quite sure if he wanted to understand the meaning behind her words.
"I guess I might," Elayne finally admitted, "I was able to reach you because you and I have always communicated differently; we've never needed a mental line to speak to each other's thoughts."
"And you need that for the rest of us?" Ryo queried, and frowned when the girl shook her head no.
"No, I'm just lazy, it's easier for me to communicate that way," she said with a wry grin. "It's harder to talk to others by speaking directly to their thoughts, requires more concentration. Just make sure one of those goons doesn't kill me."
Sage and Ryo both exchanged looks before nodding in agreement.
'Is there anything specific you want me to tell them?' the girl queried.
'Yes, we need to re-group and now,' the swordsman responded.
Elayne shrugged her shoulders, teasingly commenting, 'Okay dokey, I'll rally your troops for you.'
'Hello Ronin Warriors, this is your friendly tag-a-long paging you at the request of Sage.'
"Mei mei?" Kento blurted aloud, and then thought about hitting himself over his head with something for that. 'Mei mei, what are you talking about?'
'Sage is calling for a regroup,' the girl answered, making sure Rowen and Cye got that message as well. 'Ryo isn't faring so well, I mean he can barely stand up.'
'You're here?' Rowen cried out at her, eyes swerving to where he sensed his leader. Yup, she was definitely there.
Elayne snorted out loud, and tossed her dagger over her shoulder, it embedded into the throat of a Raikken that had been going to knock out Sage.
Both he and Ryo both looked at her in surprise, she had been still for quite sometime, and the sudden movement had caught them at unawares. Not to mention how accurate her aim was.
Again that thought crossed Sage's mind, but he had to push it away just as he quickly, now was night the time to ponder such things.
'Captain Obvious,' Elayne finally retorted to him. 'Honestly you guys where else would I be that I could speak to you like this?'
'Dunno, but Ro has mentioned that you and Sage have this strong 'twin-like' connection,' Cye told her.
"He's a blabbermouth," she moodily complained to herself, before rolling her eyes.
Sage saw this action and quickly queried, "Are they coming? Or are they too busy arguing with you?"
"No worries, the rest of the Moron Unit are coming," she reassured him, now going back to fighting, making her way and retrieving the dagger she had thrown.
She was quick to forgo fighting and just rush back to the center of the circle, sure she could be reckless and do as much fighting as she wanted...She just didn't want to listen to certain Ronins and Senshi lecturing her on the evils and dangers of fighting such foes.
Gah, sometimes she wondered if they thought she was stupid and helpless. Then she would nearly hit herself in the head, telling herself "no duh."
The Ronin of Wildfire gave a chuckle, he was starting to hold his own again. His strength had stopped fading once more, enabling him a bit more strength to fight with. It was not a whole lot, but for now it was enough. Inferno had stopped pressing him as well, it had gone quiet for the moment. He just hoped things would stay this way for just a bit longer.
"We went from the Eyecandy Brigade to a unit of morons?" there was amusement in Ryo's voice, which slightly masked the pain he was in.
"Whoever said you went from one to the other?" Elayne quipped, slyly grinning. "You guys happen to be both."
White Blaze chortled at the looks on the two Ronin's faces, saying to the girl, 'You hand out such wonderful compliments!'
Elayne looked up to see that some arrows were heading their way, she quickly shoved the Raikken she had engaged directly into the path of the one, saying when it exploded, "Nice shot, Ro!"
The archer merely shook his head at her, and Cye, who had come up right next to him, gave the girl a look. It clearly stated his question, what was she doing here?
Elayne was wise and ignored it, dropping back to the middle as Kento approached and took up where she had been standing,
The girl grabbed Ryo's wrist, and gave a forceful tug pulling him back with her.
"HEY!"
"Shut up," the girl's tone spoke that there was no room for argument. "Lot of good you're going to do them, if a Raikken rams a sword through you. Just give me five minutes."
"For what?" Confusion was present in Ryo's face, as he sheathed his swords.
The girl placed her hands on his shoulders and then slid them up to his neck, where the armor did not cover. She tried not to grin at the lost look on his face. She then queried in a soft tone, "What? Suddenly lost your faith in me?"
She was quick to become serious and get to the point, "I can channel energy and pain, normally in limited amounts. Either way I have to try, because you need it off of you."
'This is risky.'
'Be quiet Simoria, you're not supposed to be awake as it is, don't push my temper and your luck,' Elayne told the woman, quickly turning her attention back to the task that lay before her.
Really, channeling the way she did? It was not anything more than taking the pain, filtering it, and returning it as energy to the person. She had been doing such things for the Elementals since she was twelve, and she was more than capable of doing it now.
The only difference was the Ronin were a lot stronger than the Senshi, and currently Ryo was in a lot more pain than what she was used to channeling. But at this point, her taking on more pain wasn't going to bother her that much. Also, if her hunch was correct if she took it, it'd alleviate the pressure on the other four.
Elayne finally pulled back, and let out a breath she had been holding, "Okay, I lied, three minutes."
"Thanks," Ryo offered her a smile, most of the color had returned to his face, and he could definitely move easier than before.
There was also a change in the other four, they were no longer as weighed down...True, the five young men were exhausted, but the added strain was now gone.
"No problem," the girl told him, blinking in surprise after he kissed her forehead. She snorted, "Suck up."
"I was-I mean…Bah forget it," the Ronin of Wildfire told her rolling his eyes, stepping to the side and withdrawing his swords.
The girl permitted herself a snigger, before moving back a bit, eyeing the exit.
"Where are you going?" Kento had turned around to notice that she had moved rather far away from them.
"Making myself scarce," Elayne replied with a grin. "No worries, I've only been doing that since I was eleven, you can ask Nova-tachi about it sometime. One less thing for you guys to worry about it." She did not wait for them to acknowledge her comments, nor offer up protests of it.
She slipped back into the tunnel, and then hauled herself up onto a ledge she had noticed was there earlier.
Elayne would sit up here and wait until something happened that she could get involved in, and not to her surprise someone was already there, "You're lazy Kouken-Oh."
The tiger gave a soft snort, 'I am simply waiting until I am needed.'
"Ya, ya. Whatever," the girl waved him off. She wasn't buying that excuse.
A/N: Originally I was only going to give you one chapter this month, but in light of the fact the next chapter ends on a much better cliffhanger, you get two.
Enjoy!
LG