Chapter 9: Tatakae, Nagano to Niigata no Ninja-tachi!
(Fight, Ninjas of Nagano and Niigata!)
(Disclaimer: Zoids Chaotic Century was originally authored by Michiro Ueyama. I merely borrowed Ueyama-sensei's characters.)
"Rosso-san, Viola-san, please release all the other prisoners here. Everyone impounded in this underground chambers are dissidents of his tyrannical regime!" Dan told the Kuroguma ninjas.
"Wakatta, Dan-sempai!" the carmine-haired jonin had replied to his senior.
"Minna, there seems to be company!" Viola had sounded to the other shinobi as some of Prozen's soldiers who had been stationed inside the dungeon of the political prisoners went to their site.
"It's been five years since the last time I was able to break other people's bones. Let's see if my skills have rusted." Karen muttered as Viola handed a small metal boomerang to her.
"Karen, just leave this to us! You must protect Atsushi-sama, Isami-sama and their child while they make their out of this prison." Dan had commanded to his wife.
"No, Dan. I'll remain here to help you just like I did seventeen years ago." the daimyo had responded to his friend as he intervened.
"But Atsushi-sama…you're pretty tattered." the ninja master had replied to his master.
"Dan, just consider this as my way of repaying your son." Atsushi answered to his subordinate.
"Wakatta." Dan had riposted. "Karen, lead Isami-sama and Fiona hime-sama to the hideout Rosso-san had told us about." he has reiterated to his partner as he returned his attention to her.
"Hai, but make sure you'll live to see our son get married!" Karen had responded.
The male jonin nodded in response as the battle between the ninjas and the soldiers has started.
"Dan-narachoh, please take this sword. Your father had crafted this and its partner for you and your son." Fiona said as she handed the ninja-ken she has been holding since she and Van started the assault in the underground prison.
"This nodachi and its katana partner had been crafted and named by my dad as Hikari Washi." Dan had remembered. "Hime-sama, does my son have Hikari Washi's katana-type ninja-ken?" the jonin asked the young lady.
"Hai." the princess had responded.
"Just as my father said that I have surpassed him, I could now say my son has already surpassed me." Dan thought as he felt proud of his successor.
Prozen's men then proceeded to attack the ninjas with their swords. Dan and his comrades countered with their weapons mostly made from household tools.
"Isami-sama, Fiona hime-sama, please head this way!" Karen called the attention of their masters and led them away from the ensuing battle.
Outside, Van has crippled Prozen's clan men and made sure they'll stay alive in order to prolong their suffering.
"You deserve a slow, excruciating torture for oppressing the people of the towns you have conquered." the Byakutaka master had thought as he took down one Iteza samurai after another.
A few moments later, Karen and their masters met the young jonin at the entrance of the underground prison.
"Mom, is that you?" Van asked Karen as he saw her.
"Son, I thought that me and your father would never see you again. Even in our absence you tried to keep our people and our masters safe. Me and your father are so proud of you!" the kunoichi has riposted to her child as she embraced him.
"Please, don't cry, Mom. I just did what is right for everyone." the seventeen year old had replied.
"Van-kun, we don't know how to thank you for protecting my daughter for these past five years." Isami told to his servant.
"You don't have to thank me, Isami-sama. I did it because I …I love Fiona-hime." the young jonin had responded to his masters.
"My husband and I already know that for a long time. The truth was that you and Fiona are already arranged to be married to each other once she is eighteen." Isami had mentioned to Van.
"Hontoh ni?" the ninja had asked to his master.
"Hai." Isami had answered.
"Itsu wa made?" Van asked again.
"Since you and our daughter were still infants." the daimyo's wife answered once more.
"I hate to interrupt but we still have a lot of asses to kick, Van-san!" Ruji said as he called the Byakutaka master's attention towards Siefers and Zairin.
"The general I want to crush right now is Horseface, but I guess Siefers will do for the moment." Van had said to Ruji as the two ninjas start to engage the two samurai generals. "Mom, please lead Atsushi-sama's family towards the outpost near the forest. Ruji-san and I will finish this in a while." the jonin added.
"Be careful, son!" the kunoichi had replied as she proceeded to lead their masters to safety.
"General Siefers, your unfair and merciless taxation of Atsushi-sama's people will end here today!" Van declared to one of Prozen's highest officers.
"You arrogant bastard! You are the one who had planned all of this, aren't we right?" the samurai has asked in return.
"I believe HorseFace is the one who figured that, cursed filth." the Byakutaka master had riposted as he drew his sword from its scabbard hanging on the back of his vest. "You will see in a few minutes time the reasons other ninjas refer to me as Senko and Ninroh!" the shinobi had added.
"So General Eric is right about his suspicions that Freiheit is the ninja who goes by the names Flash Tiger and Patient Wolf, respectively." Zairin had thought as his fellow samurai and Van engaged each other in a fight.
Zairin then drew his katana from its vessel to counter Ruji's incoming attack.
"You know General, it's been a long time since I last had a serious bout with a good samurai!" Ruji taunted to Prozen's personnel.
"Well, I don't appreciate your praises, ninja!" Zairin countered with a slash.
At another part of the town, Kotona and Hardin have engaged each other in a all-out battle.
"You know bitch, for a woman, you're pretty damn good samurai!" the green haired kunoichi insulted to Prozen's general.
"And you ninjas don't always fight head-on!" Hardin had answered as the women traded blows.
"Ninjas like us are trained to fight for our own survival and the safety of our masters, not to combat for ceremonies or leisure!" Kotona had responded.
Unknown to the kunoichi, some of Hardin's subordinated had aimed their firearms at her direction. A few seconds later, some gunshots headed towards Kotona.
"Damn, this bitch is starting to piss me!" Ruji's apprentice had thought as she tried to dodge the bullets.
As the female shinobi evaded a round of shots, another group of soldiers fired their rifles at her and one bullet managed to hit her on her shin, close to her knee.
"Damn it! Those bastards got me!" Kotona had thought as she thought of a way on how to take down her other enemies.
"What's the matter? I thought you ninjas were trained to take down several well-trained soldiers on your own." the general had mocked to the kunoichi.
"We are!" Kotona had responded as she threw some torinoko to the ground to make some smokescreen.
"Men, don't just stand there, shoot!" Hardin had commanded to her troops as the smoke began to confuse them.
Hardin's soldiers then wet to find a clearing. However, Kotona leapt towards them and began assaulting them.
"One of the things I hate is for rude folks like you to intervene!" the kunoichi muttered as she took them down one by one, using her pair of gardening scissors to club and slash at them, in addition to having her sheers cut the rifles in half.
Other soldiers then began to aim their firearms towards the female shinobi. Another bullet hit Kotona, this time on one of her shoulders.
"How many dozen soldiers does each one of Prozen's generals have under their division?" she had thought as she began to lose her temper.
Unbeknownst to the shinobi, a hidden sniper has been waiting for her to fall within his range. However, before the rifleman could fire his weapon, a bear suddenly came charging from his right side and started mauling him.
"Kotona-sempai, take it easy! We'll take care of these dickheads!" Bit told to his fellow captain as he released four more bears to attack Hardin's troops.
"God knows we ninjas take a very good care of nature, so He is letting us tame wild animals!" Michael noted to his superiors.
"How dare you intervene in our fight!" the samurai yelled at the two other ninjas.
"And how dare you use more men than necessary to defeat one shinobi." Bit had responded.
"Bit-san, don't get involved in this. I'll do it myself, just me against her." the green-haired female ninja had responded to him as she returned her attention to Hardin.
"Let's finish this, General!" the kunoichi taunted to the pink-haired samurai.
"Don't have to tell me! I'll kill you and that fellow ninja of yours!" Hardin had snarled as she charged at Kotona with her sword ready.
The female samurai's assault caused Kotona to sustain a slash at her lower left arm.
"Captain Kotona!" Michael yelled as he saw his superior being seriously injured.
"You're wrong if you think that I can no longer use my left arm just because of my injury!" the green-haired kunoichi told to everyone around her.
"I see. It's in your nature to be arrogant even in the face of defeat." Hardin told the ninja as she stabbed her.
"I must…I must not lose or else…your death will be in vain!" the kunoichi had thought about her twin sister as she tried to resist the pain and summoned her strength to counterattack.
"You know general, it's you and your clan's master who will lose tonight, not us!" Kotona had replied as she thrust her closed shears into the samurai's mouth. "This is what must happen not only to you, but most especially to that horse-faced general Eric!" she has added as she opened her pruning scissors to disembowel Hardin's jaws, killing her in the process before she herself collapsed in exhaustion and pain.
"Captain Kotona, we should get you to somewhere safe!" Michael yelled as he carried his superior on his back and sought immediate medical attention.
"Michael-kun, find Catherine-taichoh as soon as you can!" Bit had ordered to the younger ninja as he prepared to engage Prozen's reinforcement troops from the neighboring town of Ishihebi.
"But Cloud-taichoh!" the genin asked him.
"Please try to ignore me. Just follow my orders!" the blond-haired chuunin told his subordinate.
The genin then left to search for the orange-haired medic chuunin while Bit tackled the incoming troops.
Bit then hurled some shuriken towards the soldiers to distract them, but to his surprise another ninja hurled tetsubishi along the Iteza warriors' path to disorganize their charge.
"Are you trying to get yourself almost killed just like what happen to Kotona-taichoh?" Naomi asked her fellow captain-rank chuunin.
"No, but how did you know what I'm about to face?" Bit had retorted.
"I met Michael-kun a while ago. He told me that a reinforcement troupe is coming along your way, so I hurried here to help you." she had responded.
"If Prozen is summoning his clan's troops from their hometown of Ishihebi, then that means he is now very desperate to stop us." the blond told her.
"We have to make a stand and beat these guys if we're to liberate all the towns that fell under this clan of beasts." Bit had said to Naomi as their returned their focus on Prozen's men.
"Geez, you folks look like you came all the way from your clan's hometown." the kunoichi had provoked to the Iteza clan's soldiers.
Bit then took out his kusari-gama set and started to slash the Iteza men with the pair of sickles from a relatively safe distance. At the same time, Naomi repeatedly hit them with a kusarifundo which have iron ball weights at both ends, effectively clubbing them before they got close.
"After all this time you're still imitating me?" Bit joked to his fellow chuunin.
"This is my own style. I never adopted your method of slashing your opponents from a distance. I prefer smashing their bones from afar." she had answered.
For several minutes, the two ninjas tried to keep the soldiers in check but Prozen's men have kept on coming wave after wave.
"Damn, how many dozens of them are left?" the blond chuunin asked in irritation.
"I don't know but they're starting to piss me off!" and equally exhausted Naomi had replied.
Gunshots then came from the Iteza ranks as Prozen's gunmen arrived and two bullets had hit Bit's left shoulder.
"Bit-san!" Naomi shouted before she too had been shot at her thigh.
The frontline soldiers of the reinforcement army then started to clear the way free of caltrops. The two ninjas tried their best not to let them advance further but their injuries prevented them from fighting effectively against the troops.
Just as the soldiers had completely cleared the path of any caltrops, a counter squad composed of Seijuro and his rifle specialist chuunins arrived to help them.
"Bit-san, Naomi-san, let Catherine-san tend to your injuries for the moment. Me and my gunmen will take over from here." the ash-haired ninja master had commanded to the two chuunins.
"But Seijuro-sama, how about Kotona-taichoh? She needs immediate medical attention?" Bit asked to his superior.
"Don't worry. Michael-kun had met Fiona hime-sama along the way. Apparently, Maria-san had taught the princess how to treat life-threatening injuries as she knew how to exactly address Kotona's medical needs." Seijuro had replied.
Back to where Karen and her masters were, the she and Fiona have been trying to reach the ninjas' first hideout as fast as they could in order to properly treat Kotona's wounds. As they made their way to meet Irvine at the said house, General Hannah and General Stinger had spotted them.
"This is not good!" Karen had muttered to Fiona, Isami and Kotona as she saw the samurai and her men charging towards them. She then prepared herself to fight off Prozen's general when suddenly, another familiar ninja appeared before the kunoichi.
"Mom, please continue where you are heading. You're still too weak to properly fight this level of opponent." Maria had requested to her mother.
"Maria…I'm so glad to see that you and your brother are alive and safe." the older kunoich had mentioned to Maria as tears of joy began to fell from her eyes.
"Mom, there is a proper time for bonding. Right now, I still have an opponent to take down." Maria had replied politely to her as she faced the female samurai. "If you want to chase them, you have to kill me first." the kunoichi has provoked to the general.
"Maria-san, let me help you handle them!" Hotaro requested to Van's sister.
"But Hotaro..."Isami tried to protest to her eldest child.
"Don't worry. I've fully recovered from my injuries. I could now beat these samurai." the prince has replied to his mother.
"Alright, but please be careful." Isami had retorted in turn.
The black-haired kunoichi immediately granted her master's request.
"That should be easy." Hannah had answered.
"Easier said than done!" Maria had responded as she hurled her blade-edged boomerang to the samurai.
While the two female warriors engaged each other in an all-out battle, Hotaro and Stinger faced-off against each other.
"I never expected such a young man be able to face my elegance." Stinger taunted Atsushi's son.
"Can we please get this on?" Hotaro fearlessly replied to Prozen's henchman.
Hotaro and Stinger then started to clash swords with each other. Even though Hotaro was heavily beaten some days before, his body recovered well enough for him to be able to match and sometimes even outdo Stinger's moves.
Karen and the feudal family then left the area and continued on their way.
"Minna, hayaku!" Maria had yelled to then as she caught her boomerang after it slashed four of the general's men.
"Just sit down and watch, morons!" the kunoichi had taunted to the samurai. "Sorry about that, but I just want our fight between you and me only." she continued.
"Fine by me." Hannah had answered as she ordered her troops to take care of the commoners' rebellion.
"General, I highly doubt if your clan master will still be the daimyo of Hoshikagami and all the towns you have invaded by sunrise." Maria had again provoked to the samurai as she hurled a weighted boomerang to the leaving soldiers to break their legs.
"I thought you want this fight just between the two of us." Hannah questioned to the kunoichi as she saw the Iteza men fall on their way.
"That's precisely why I'm breaking their bones to prevent them from walking away so that they won't be able to call reinforcements." the ninja has responded to the samurai.
While Maria and Hannah started to battle, Van and Ruji continued to fight General Siefers and Zairin to prevent them from executing Prozen's orders to crush the town people's dissent.
"Your clan has a lot to answer for persecuting the people of Hoshikagami, Urawa, Ageo and all of the other towns you have invaded!" Van had mentioned in an enraged yet calm tone to Siefers.
"And you have a lot to answer to Prozen-sama once we brought this under control!" the samurai had answered to the ninja.
"The only one whom I answer to is Atsuhi-sama and his family." the jonin had responded as he slashed the general's wrist with his sword, forcing Siefers to drop his katana.
"We ninjas also have the craftsmanship for making swords as durable as those of you samurai." Van had provoked to the samurai as the later was trying to stop the bleeding caused by the injury.
"Damn you!" Siefers yelled as his left hand pulled the wakizashi from its scabbard and tried to slash the shinobi.
"Muda yo!*" the Byakutaka ninja calmly muttered as his chokuto hit the opening between the armor plates covering the samurai's legs, effectively slashing his limbs and rendering him unable to battle.
"I won't kill you but expect me to show you no mercy!" Van had said to the samurai. "Jiku, Ceasar, come here!" he called his wolf and tiger to his side.
"Now you'll be food for my pets." the Byakutaka master mentioned to the defeated samurai.
"No, please, don't do this!" Siefers had yelled in desperation as the other wolves, tigers, and bears followed the cue from the white eagle and its two companions.
"My, My! I never imagined Van-san's wrath for the Iteza clan to be that powerful he would not even hesitate to feed Prozen's men to our animals." Ruji said as he saw the other general being dragged and mauled by their animals.
"That Siefers is a fool! An extortionist and rapist like him deserve that kind of death." Zairin had muttered to Ruji.
"Now that's cold of you, General Zairin." Ruji had told the samurai.
"I'm in a completely different league from Eric, Marx, Siefers and Stinger, so don't compare me to them." Zairin had responded to his opponent.
"Can't fool me with those, general!" the Aoiroh master had answered as he delivered a powerful strike.
"I only joined his ranks in order to free my parents from him someday. Truthfully, I loathe him all since my youth!" the samurai had answered in return.
"If that's so, you should join us in our campaign." Ruji had responded to him.
"But my father and my mother…Prozen will…" Zairin had retorted.
"Don't worry. I'm sure my fellow ninja masters had released all Prozen's prisoners." the jonin had riposted.
For a few minutes, the general carefully weighed the ninjas' offer. Then he made his decision.
"Wakatta. I'll join you but make sure I'll see them and my son alive." the disillusioned samurai had replied.
"General Zairin, I can't believe you'll betray Prozen after all his generosity towards you!" Siefers had cursed to his fellow samurai.
"Prozen Gunther never showed any generosity towards my family!" Zairin had replied as he stabbed the other general in his lung, ending Siefer's life. "That bastard is just a curse to us." he continued.
"My, my! You and Van-san are more alike than what I had initially thought." Ruji muttered to the samurai.
Unexpectedly, a man in his early to mid fifties approached them as they turned towards his direction.
"Otoh-san, is that you?" the samurai had asked the man.
"Zairin, it's me, son!" his father had replied.
"I'm glad you're safe, but where's Okah-san?" Zairin had told him as the two reunited after a decade and a half of separation.
"Don't worry, jii-san. You're wife is now safe." Melissa had answered as she carried the woman on her back. "But you need to hurry out of here. Some 250 Iteza clan's men have arrived here and are taking the northeast street over there." the genin had warned.
"If you want to disable them, you should lure them here. It won't be a problem trapping them here since there are only two streets which lead in this part of the town and once we sealed their passages, they'll fall." Ruji had suggested.
"Melissa-chan, bring General Zairin's parents to where my mom and Hime are. Also, tell sensei to send some members of the rifle squad here." Van added.
"Hai!" the genin complied as she and the general's parents left the scene.
"Ruji-san, do you still have oil bottles left with you?" the Byakutaka master had asked his friend.
"Only ten." the Aoiroh master had answered.
"That will do." Van had responded.
"What are you planning, Van-san?" Zairin had asked the other ninja.
"Anata ni sugo misete kure." the Byakutaka leader had retorded.
A few minutes later, fifty of Krueger and Irvine's riflemen and archer ninjas joined the three of them after their squads had suppressed Prozen's men from their respective fields.
"Van-sama, what are we going to do now?" one of the riflemen asked him.
"People, while I lure those bastards here, set some bombs and trap nets underneath the passages of the incoming troops. Once they're below, set-off the explosives simultaneously and trigger the nets to entangle them. Shoot those who will attempt to either rescue their fellow Iteza men or retaliate for the ambush." the ninja master had answered to the sub captain-rank chuunins.
"Let me plant those explosives. I know where the irrigation ditches underneath the said passages are hidden." Zairin had told the ninjas.
"Then let's get moving. They won't waste a second to kill us." Ruji had answered as he and their comrades started to plant the landmines.
Van meanwhile started to lure the Iteza soldiers to the predetermined course.
"That's it. Just keep on following me!" the jonin had thought, carefully avoiding the bullets and arrows being shot at him. A bullet then flew near his right arm but only managed to tear a portion of his sleeves, but his left shoulder and right knee were cut quite deeply by an arrow's blade.
"They got me!" Van thought as he ate the petals of the sidon bush's flowers that he had brought along with him. At the same time he signaled to his hiding comrades that their adversaries have walked into their trap.
As soon as all the Iteza warriors had been lured to the sniper's area, some of the ninjas blew up the explosives planted in the underground ditches, sealing their opponents' escape route while. At the same time, their comrade shinobi began triggered the trap nets to entangle the Iteza clan's men and shot those who tried to counter and release their trapped fellows.
"Van-san, You did quite a horrifying move considering you have to ensure that you won't get hit by any of those bullets and arrows!" Zairin had said to him.
Some of them got me, but nothing serious about those. The sidon bush's flowes did came in handy here." Van has replied to their new comrade.
"It's all a part of the ninjas' lives." Ruji had intervened.
"what van-sama wanted to show you is he could take care of them!" Melissa had responded.
The ambush worked but a good portion of Van and Ruji's men had been seriously shot by the Iteza men who have avoided being captured by the traps in their attempt to counter the ambush. Krueger and Irvine then took care of the injured riflemen while Van and Ruji disabled the remaining untrapped Iteza warriors. Then, the Byakutaka and the Aoiroh masters saw a lieutenant of Eric who managed to evade the bullets and arrows being shot by Van's riflemen and archers and making his way to his general while the rest of the troops were neutralized.
"You won't get away unhurt!" Van had thought as he hurled a lighted black powder canister at the soldier, setting his armor in flames.
"That a little brutal, Van-sama!" Melissa had mentioned to her master.
"No! I would not kill my enemies, they'll only receive a lifetime torment." the Byakutaka master had riposted to his protégé.
"Van-san is right. That samurai should be able to recover from those burns unless his general will kill him first." Ruji had added.
"Considering General Eric's demeanor, I'm sure that is what will happen." Zairin had complimented to Ruji.
"Even if we leave him unharmed, he's already finished." Van had complimented to Zairin.
At Eric's site, Zairin's prediction has been proven correct as the general slashed and stabbed the lower ranking samurai after receiving his report.
"You deserve that for letting the ninjas deceive and capture members of your group!" the samurai general had thought.
XOXOXOXOXO
(Note: * literally means "no good", "no use")