Chapter Three
Upon entering the high school, James powered up into his sub armor, preparing for action.
"Okay," Ash glanced at the warrior, "what's with the armor like material?"
"You're about to find out that there is more to this armor like material than what you see," James declared.
"It's really cool that it's mystical," Pablo replied, "you know, you were able to gear up into it...magically."
"That's because it is a mystical armor," James explained, "there are ten others who have mystical armors like I do. They are called the Ronin Warriors and the Lady Ronin Guardians, and after we are done here, I'll call them up so they can meet you guys."
"That sounds like a plan," Ash nodded.
The five looked around the surroundings as they walked down the hall of the school.
"God, that smell," Ash stated, "this monkey farm hasn't changed in 20 years."
"She's not answering," Candace said worriedly.
"That can't be good," James replied.
"We need to keep an eye out," Twyla glanced around.
"You actually went to school?" Pablo asked Ash.
"We all did here," James spoke up.
"Yeah," Ash answered, "these halls have some sweet memories. Met my first Linda here."
Ash stopped the group upon spotting the shelf of trophies nearby, and he walked over to that spot, "Hey, give me a second."
"What are you doing?" Candace asked, annoyed.
"That's what I want to know," James stated, crossing his arms.
Candace glanced at the others before asking, "I'm sorry, I don't even know you guys, but did I make a mistake coming to Ash for help?"
"I just met the guy," James answered bluntly.
"As did I," Twyla added.
Pablo however had a different answer, "Ever since I hooked up with El Jefe, I've seen a lot of weird shit go down. He's always had my back. Well, almost always."
"What do you mean?" Twyla asked.
"There was this one time I got cut in half," Pablo answered.
"What?" Candace whispered in shock.
"My God," Twyla added.
"My thoughts exactly," James stated.
"Yeah," Pablo continued, "but Ash went back in time to save me. It was so cool, but also really weird, because when we got back, nothing seemed to have changed."
Ash chuckled as the group saw him holding a stick of weed, "Maui Wowie. It's my emergency stash."
He placed the weed in his pocket, "I'll just put this bad boy away for the appropriate time."
"Brandy?" Candace called for her daughter.
The group continued down the hall to look for the daughter until they came across the band room.
James proceeded to open the door.
"Whoever's out there, fuck off!" a voice shouted from inside the room.
"That was rude!" Twyla exclaimed.
Everyone entered the band room, and Candace turned on the light.
"Brandy?" she called for her daughter again.
Moments later, a blonde girl with pink streaks appeared from behind the piano.
"Wow," Ash noted, thinking this girl was his daughter.
"She's not yours, dumb ass," Candace told him.
Then, another girl, this time with brown hair arrived, appearing frantic, "Mom!"
"Honey," Candace sighed with relief as she hugged her daughter, "Thank God!"
"So, this must be the daughter Brandy," Twyla muttered.
"Pretty much so," James nodded, "and not Harley Quinn over there."
She chuckled over the reference about the blonde teen.
"Back off, Mama Bear!" Ash exclaimed as he pulled Candace from her daughter.
"Hey!" Ash's wife exclaimed, "What are you doing?!"
"The ink on my buddy went nuclear," Ash stated, "that means evil is just around the corner. So, your little peach could be a bowel sucking hell beast."
"Mom," Brandy asked, "what's the chainsaw geek doing here?"
"Oh, honey, uh, I don't know how to tell you this," Candace tried to answer, "but Ash, he's...he's ah...he's your..."
"What's she's trying to say is," Ash announced, "I'm your pop. Father Dearest. The old sperm shooter."
"What?!" Brandy exclaimed, shocked.
"We could have done without the last phrase," Twyla stated, annoyed.
"You can call me Dad," Ash glanced at his daughter, "unless you're a Deadite, then you can go fuck yourself."
Ash got out the chainsaw and prepared for attack, "So come on now, demon spawn. Show Daddy what you got!"
"Seriously?!" James and Twyla exclaimed in unison.
Suddenly, the lights went out, taking everyone by surprise.
"What the hell?!" James exclaimed in shock.
"Okay, nobody move," Ash told the group before looking at Brandy as the group remained still, "Alleged daughter, who else is in the room?"
"Um, you," Brandy answered, "the guy with the hair, my mom, the guy with the strange armor, the brunette lady, and..."
The group heard the piano playing. As the lights turned on, they saw the blonde teen playing the piano.
"Rachel?" Brandy identified the teen, her best friend.
The piano playing continued as Ash and Pablo armed themselves, ready for action.
Rachel spoke in a distorted voice, almost in a taunting song, "Ashy Slashy was a real stinker, took an axe to his sister's thinker!"
She played the piano out of tune during the last line and after finishing.
"Hey, Brandy's friend," Ash addressed the young lady, "You wanna keep it down?"
The group looked on in shock to see Rachel's arms bloodied.
"Is she always this crazy?!" Twyla asked in shock.
"Not always!" Candace answered, "Not to this extent!"
"Oh my God, Rachel," Brandy asked in panic, "what have you done?!"
Rachel turned around, revealing to have become a Deadite before the lights turned out again.
"Time to armor up, James!" Twyla told her husband. James nodded before preparing for action.
"Armor of the Eliminator! Dao Chin!"
James completely armored up.
"So, that's a mystical armor!" Ash exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeap," James prepared for action, "and that Deadite is going down!"
The group heard drums and turned to see Deadite Rachel playing on the drums. Ash tried shooting at the Deadite but to no avail as she lunged at the group before vanishing. Candace was protecting her daughter while James stood close by to protect Twyla.
"What are you doing?!" Brandy yelled.
The Deadite Rachel was now playing a cello out of tune before tossing the bow at Ash's boomstick, causing the gun to hit the ceiling.
"Why won't you stay still?!" James demanded as the cello dropped to the floor. Ash reloaded the shotgun.
"Rachel!" Brandy called for her friend.
Suddenly, a horn was playing loudly, caused by Deadite Rachel, causing the group to fall to the ground, despite Ash trying to fire at her.
Suddenly, all of the instruments played at the same time, as if the room was haunted. A guitar tried going after Pablo, but he ducked.
"No more mister nice guy!" James exclaimed as the guitar was coming towards him, "Power sword strike!"
The guitar was destroyed to bits instantly and the remains fell to the floor.
Ash was being taunted by some drumsticks and a trumpet. He knocked down the sticks and fired at the trumpet, "Blow."
The group looked as the Deadite Rachel was now clashing two cymbals loudly. Ash tried firing at her, but she only used the cymbals as a shield.
"No!" Brandy shouted.
Deadite Rachel looked at her target before saying, "I love you, Brandy."
She threw one of the cymbals which aimed for both Brandy and Twyla.
"Look out!" James shouted. He managed to get Twlya out of the way and Pablo managed to get Brandy out of the way. Candace was not so lucky as the cymbal hit her in the neck as well as her fingers.
James looked in shock, seeing the outcome of the attack, "Oh no."
"My God," Twyla gasped as she saw the sight herself. Brandy and Pablo gasped in shock upon the seeing the sight themselves.
"Candy," Ash stated in disbelief.
Moments later, Candace's head fell off from her body. James' eyes widened in shock. Pablo groaned in shock. Brandy gasped in horror before screaming, "Mom!"
James clutched his fist in anguish. Twyla muttered, "How cruel."
The group looked to see Rachel seemingly back to normal and playing the harp.
"Is she...back to normal?" Twyla asked.
"Back to normal my ass!" Ash exclaimed before lunging towards "Rachel" in a fury as she played the harp out of tune, "Why you..."
Ash kicked down the harp, Deadite Rachel and all.
"No!" Brandy screamed.
Ash jumped on top of the harp, but the Deadite had one last thing to say, "Ashy Slashy, soon there'll be nothing left of you. We'll destroy your seed and your whore daughter too."
"Sorry, jailbait," Ash replied, "my dance card is a little full. I'll have to squeeze you in!"
"Brandy!" Rachel shouted in her normal voice before Ash jumped harder on the harp, causing Rachel's face to slice to pieces.
James, Twyla, Brandy and Pablo all exclaimed in shock at the sight.
"Suck on that, Harpo," Ash stated.
James helped up Twyla while Pablo helped up Brandy as Ash faced them, especially his daughter.
"What?" Brandy asked, voice cracking, "What?"
"I know," Ash spoke softly, "It sucks. I remember my first taste of evil."
Suddenly, claws crashed through the window and grabbed Ash, taking him out of the room.
They saw Ash trying to use the chainsaw to take down a possessed cougar looking mascot.
"Ash!" Pablo exclaimed before hurrying out to help his friend.
James prepared to follow, "Twyla, stay with Brandy!"
Twyla nodded before her husband took off to help his new friends.
Pablo stuck the axe in the mascot's back. It released Ash, but didn't do much damage otherwise. The mascot tossed Pablo across the room.
"Energy Claws Deploy!" James unleashed his attack to try to subdue the opponent, if not take it out.
The cougar mascot got severely cut, but it wasn't destroyed. It then knocked James to a nearby wall.
Then the mascot pinned down Ash, "Death to the Prophesied One! To the destruction of the universe!"
"Just like Ruby was planning," James muttered.
Suddenly, the mascot was hit in the mouth with a canister. Ash turned around as the mascot stood back up.
"Howdy fucking ho, boys," a female's voice chimed in, "miss me?"
A young woman with dark hair arrived at the scene with Dalton in tow. She fired her gun at the canister where moments later his head blew off.
Then, Ash looked over at the young lady, "Well, looky who's back, and seriously rocking the leather."
The young lady and Pablo eyed each other, as if they had feelings for each other.
"Who's the boy toy?" Ash proceeded to ask.
"Kelly was right," Dalton eyed the young lady before facing Ash, "you are the Prophesied One."
He proceeded to kneel before Ash.
"This is Dalton," Kelly introduced the young man, "He's with the Knights of Sumeria."
"The who with the huh?"
"It's an honor to meet you," Dalton told Ash, "I've been waiting for the chance to battle this ancient evil my entire life."
"Yeah," Kelly stated, "he's kind of a fan."
She noticed as Twyla and Brandy arrived at the hallway where the others were.
"Who's the kid," Kelly asked, "and the other knight and the lady?"
"My name is James Ferino," James introduced himself, "armor bearer of the Eliminator, and this is my wife Twyla."
"Nice to meet you," Twyla waved with a smile.
"And as for the kid," Ash introduced Brandy to Kelly, "believe it or not, that's my daughter."
Pablo nodded, confirming the statement.
"Sandy," Ash incorrectly said her name, "Ah, Mandy."
"Brandy," Brandy spoke up in between sobs, "and fuck you."
"We're still getting to know each other," Ash told the group before motioning Dalton to rise, "Okay, team, it looks like evil's back, and Elk Grove is Ground Zero. Kelly, Pablo, armor guy, other guy, are you up for this?"
"One for all," Dalton armed his gun, "and one for all."
"Uh, cute, but no," Ash replied, "Pablo, say it like you mean it."
"Ghost Beaters are back!" Pablo declared, raising a fist mid air.
"Fucking A right we are," Ash replied, touching fists with Pablo. Kelly joined with the guys.
"With help from the Ronin Warriors and Lady Ronin Guardians," James added, "they will soon be here once I summon them from Toyama."
"You do that," Ash nodded before declaring, "we'll be glad to meet them, the rest of your group."
"Ronin Warriors," Dalton muttered quietly, as if he recognized the name before, "Lady Ronin Guardians."
"And evil," Ash declared, "oh, we're coming for you."
He got out his Maui Wowie stick, "I think now is the appropriate time Pablo."
He placed the stick in his mouth and Pablo lit it up for him before Ash proceeded to smoke it.
"Sandy?" Ash offered the stick to his daughter.
James and Twyla stepped away from the others to talk privately.
"What do you think?" Twyla asked, "Do you think we are biting off more than we can chew?"
"Nah," James answered, "he's harmless. Reckless albeit, but he has good friends and he will have us along with the Ronin Warriors and Lady Ronin Guardians. As long as Ash doesn't do anything stupid, he will be just fine and so will the universe."
"What about our nephew Hariel?" Twyla asked.
"What about him?"
"Well," Twyla answered, "Mia and Ryo's son is just a baby, and I highly doubt they will be willing to place him in danger so soon."
"Hopefully, Kayura will be able to keep him safe with her in the Dynasty."
"You could suggest that to them if they ask."
"That I shall," James stated, "when we get home, I'll call the Ronins and Guardians, and let them know what is going on."