Ronin Warriors: The Second War
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“The Battle for New York”
Hariel, Sekhel, and the ten warriors arrived in New York on a warn, sunny day through a portal of Sekhel’s making. They looked all around trying to locate the exact source of the trouble. To the dismay of Rowen, who was familiar with the area, the center of the problem was Times Square. After making their way to the Square, the warriors found a tall, slender woman whose body was perfect, with curves in exactly the right places, standing in the center, drawing energy from a vortex high in the sky. Many creatures, all of which looked exactly like the warriors used to (with the exception that these armors were completely black), were standing in a tight, five-ringed circle surrounding the woman. All were kneeling, admiring her superior power.
“Go, my minions of darkness! Fight the Ronin Warriors and the Dark Warlords! Destroy them and bring their armors to me!” screamed the woman, her lips not moving.
All eleven warriors looked in amazement as the woman screamed this, as they had never before seen a flesh-and-blood creature talk without moving its lips. But, they knew they had to focus and destroy the creatures charging them.
These soldiers knew the powers of the Ronin and Warlord armors well, and were each equal in strength to the warriors at present. Realizing this, each warrior, except Hariel and Kayura, gathered their matches into a group and called upon their special powers.
“Flare Up Now!”
“Super Wave Smasher!”
“Quake With Fear!”
“Web of Deception!”
“Snake Fang Strike!”
“Thunderbolt Cut!”
“Black Lightning Slash!”
“Iron Rock Crusher!”
“Arrow Shock Wave!”
The warriors were successful at destroying many of the soldiers opposing them, however, each still faced twenty soldiers. Kayura, realizing that there was more the Ronin and Warlords could do, called out, “Form the Inferno! Warlords, come here!”
“Right!” all answered in agreement.
The Ronin combined their powers, causing the Armor of Wildfire to splinter. The Inferno Armor formed around Ryo, and the Soul Swords appeared in his hands, as White Blaze remained in Japan with Mia and Yuli. Ryo positioned himself at the best possible angle, then juimped up and called for his massive power.
“Rage of Inferno!”
All the soldiers were destroyed in the balst, along with a sizeable chunk of the eastern side of New York City. Before Ryo could even look in amazement, the woman called for more troops. This time there were literally thousands of soldiers, all approaching the Ronins from the destroyed section of the city.
Meanwhile, Kayura talked with the Warlords.
“If all four of you give me your power, I can form a new Armor. It is the Armor of Time, and only one who can wield the Ancients’ Staff can wield the power. Trust me, please.”
The Warlords nodded in agreement. Kayura drew the staff and prepared to receive the powers of the Warlords. Much to Kayura’s dismay, the Armor of Cruelty left Anubis for her, and Anubis claimed the Armor of Time, which simply appeared around him in a flash. The Warlords and Kayura all looked at Anubis in amazement as he felt the power flowing through him. Suddenly, a kusair gama appeared in Anubis’ hand, and he tore off for the Ronin Warriors.
Ryo, still in his Inferno Armor, attacked five soldiers at once. The other Warriors took two each, surprised that they still had their full power even though Ryo was wearing the Inferno. The soldiers backed the Warriors up against each other in the center of the destruction caused by the Armor of Inferno. Just as the Warriors thought there was nothing they could do, they all heard a scream from a familiar voice.
“Quake With Fear!”
Anubis threw the weighted end of the kusari gama at the soldiers; it splintered into hundreds of chains, each of which imapled a soldier or two. Each soldier hit with a chain instantaneously disappeared, leaving behind only a puff of smoke. Anubis brandished the kusari gama at the other soldiers, who froze in fear. The Ronins ran toward Anubis, realizing he was on their side. Ryo turned around as soon as he was beside Anubis, the jumped up into the sky, moving his swords in a familiar pattern.
“Rage of Inferno!”
A wall of flames erupted from his swords, wiping out only a quarter of the soldiers. Anubis then jumped into the air, waving the kusari gama around wildly. He threw the weighted end down, screaming, “Armor of Time! Temporal Shock Wave!” All the remaining soldiers vanished before the end of the kusari gama hit the ground. Anubis immediately retracted the kusari gama, realizing that it might cause more damage to the city if he didn’t.
Anubis landed. Ryo and the others approacehd him.
Ryo asked, “Anubis, we have two questions. First, how did you get back in our physical plane? Second, What Armor are you wearing?”
Anubis looked with surprise then realized that the Ronins had no clue what had happened. He looked Ryo in the eye and said, “Lord Sekhel brought me back to this plane and restored my Armor of Cruelty to me. The Armor I’m wearing now is the Armor of Time, created exclusively from the Warlord Armors and the Ancient’s Staff. I believe that it rivals Hariel’s new Armor in power, but he is still far superior in speed.”
“So, your Armor is more powerful than mine, huh?”
“Yes, Ryo. By leaps and bounds, obviously. It’s a good thing that Hariel and Sekhel used the Circle of Light to increase your powers, or you might not have survived this long, and the Armor of Time would not be as powerful as it is now. Now, come quickly! We must attack Lady Lial before she can retaliate!”
With that, the Ronin and Anubis headed for the woman. She still stood in the center of Times Square, still keeping the gate open, allowing the Dynasty’s evil energy to flood the Earth. Anubis and the Ronins approached; when within ten yeards, the woman said, “Greetings, Wildfire, Strata, Halo, Hardrock, Torrent, and Cruelty. I am Lady Lial. It’s been quite a long time since I have seen you, Anubis. I’ve missed you dearly.”
“Only because you wanted me to rule the Dynasty by your side after your father died.”
“You still can.”
“I would sooner die again!”
“That can be arranged, foolish Anubis. Cry of the Stars!”
A massive wave of energy flew from the vortex and hit Anubis in his breastplate. He flew back several hundred feet, and could not move when he landed.
“Rage of Inferno!”
“Thunderbolt Cut!”
“Arrow Shock Wave!”
“Super Wave Smasher!”
“Iron Rock Crusher!”
All five Special attacks hit Lial, knocking her back no more than a yard or two.
“Cry of the Stars!”
Just before the energy oculd come through the vortex, Hariel stepped in front of the Ronins.
“Flashpoint!”
Hariel held his swords crossed in an offensive stance. Where the swords crossed, a small ball of white light formed. As energy came through the gate, the ball of light on Hariel’s swords multiplied its size by at least twenty times. The energy ball acted as a shield as Lial’s energy hit Hariel, blocking all of the power.
“How could you block my power?!?”
“It is simple, Lial. I know how to use my power. You may be 1200 years old, but I am far more experienced in the ways of fighting with special powers. You can never defeat experience with sheer power alone. Nice try, though.”
“You will pay for your insolence! Wave of Death!”
Just as Lial screamed that, Hariel put his swords together. In a flash, they became a no datchi. He took a few steps back, cautioning the Ronins to get out of the way.
“Thunderbolt Cut! Flare Up Now!”
As Hariel screamed these words, his no datchi glowed with energy. He swung the sword and unleashed the energy at the gate above the Square. The energy hit the gate just as Lial’s power came out. The two blasts nullified each other. Hariel was quick to react.
“Thunderbolt Cut! Flare Up Now!”
Another wave of energy hit the vortex. Instead of the intended effect, the vortex just destabilized silghtly. Hariel loked up in amazement.
“Not enough power, huh? Well, I can fix that. Solar Flare!”
The no datchi shined furiously with energy. Hariel focused it intently, causing a column of light to form around him and the sword. Soon, that energy was absorbed completely into the sowrd. He released the energy, hoping to once and for all destroy this portal. Upon impact, the energy destroyed the vortex.
“NO!!!!! YOU WILL PAY, HARIEL!!!!! YOU WILL FEEL WHAT IT IS LIKE TO EXPERIENCE THE WRATH OF THE DYNASTY!!!!!”
“Whenever you’re ready, my dear Lial.”
As if Lial wasn’t already angry enough, that made her even angrier.
“YOU’VE WON THIS BATTLE, BUT YOU WILL NOT WIN THE WAR, I GUARANTEE YOU OF THAT, WARRIORS!” Lial shouted, then jumped up and disappeared into a flash of light.
“Lord Sekhel, get us back to Mia’s house. We have to plan a preemptive strike into the Dynasty.”
Sekhel came out of his hiding place far into the sky and hovered in front of Hariel.
“Lord Hariel, might I suggest that we use our powers to restore this city to its previous state so that the humans have no knowledge of this event?”
Ryo chimed in, “It’s a good idea. It’d probably be better for world to think that there is no need for armored warriors any more, not that they knew in the first place. . . .” His voice trailed as he looked toward the Warlords. “Kayura! Kayura! What’s wrong!?”
All the warriors, except Hariel, ran to Kayura, who stood crying softly in front of Anubis.
Ryo walked up to her, powering down to his subarmor and placing his right hand on her left shoulder.
“What’s wrong, Kayura?”
Kayura turned around and buried her face into Ryo’s shoulder. She could barely get her words out when she said, “Anubis is dead, again! I’d already lost him once; I didn’t want to lose him again! I can’t believe he’s gone again!”
“What? You were in love with him?” Ryo asked sympathetically.
“We were to be married and be the heirs to the Dynasty throne after Lial died, but she wanted Anubis, so it could never be permitted. We met in secret and fell in love with each other. Our affair lasted a hundred years. Talpa never knew of it. That’s why Anubis and I were so evenly matched when we fouhgt the first few times. We knew each other very well. I missed him so much, and now it only hurts more!”
All the while, Hariel had been using his powers to return the city to its previous state. All of the city had been repaired (this process would have gone significantly faster had Sekhel helped, but he was more concerned with getting a stable protal back to Japan open), and Hariel was ready to return to Japan. Ryo and Rowen carried Anubis’s body and Sage guided Kayura into the portal sympathetically.
Notes from the Author:
I hope the direction of the story is starting to become a little more clear and that I have cleared up some of the confusion. This is only chapter four, but I have already written in a major battle. Maybe I should have postponed it a little? Anyway, it'll be hard to get this story beyond fifteen chapters now, so it'll probably end at ten or eleven, depending on how much mu idea pool grows.
The Armor of Time will be a major component in the rest of the story as well. I'm still not sure how I'll write its part since I've killed off Anubis again, but, hey, what good's a story if there's no surprises in it, right? Also, Kayura's Starlight Swords will be a mojor sticking point because of the nature of their powers.
So, enough about that, right? How did you like the chapter? Lemme know! I'm open to all questions, comments, and suggestions, but flames that serve no purpose will be ignored. Thanks. Stay tuned for more. . . .
John