Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ No Namer #2 ❯ Chapter 8

PART 1.8 ONE WAY TO NET A FISH

Flying shrimp.

It wasn't all that odd a sight around Sai and Kento.

"Go long!" Sai called as he jumped on one of the kitchen chairs and hurled a freshly stir-fried morsel clear across the kitchen and living room, far into the hallway, where Kento made a spectacular leap to catch it in his mouth. He landed firmly on his feet and licked his lips with a grin, dark blue eyes sparkling gleefully.

"Seven of ten!" Nicole giggled, giving his current catch its rating.

"Seven!" Kento bawled in mock offense. "That was at least a nine!"

"No," Nicole shook a finger at him. "The somersault half twist was a nine. You'll have to really work for your points with me." She turned to Sai, who was ready with another shrimp. "Pull!"

"Right!" He pulled his arm back, one eyes closing, his tongue sticking out of one corner of his mouth. Nicole grinned and sat back to watch. The shrimp flew from Sai's fingertips as a little brownish pink blur…Kento leapt…and fell back, clutching his face.

"OW!! My eye!" he cried, plopping on his backside. Nicole, concerned, knelt beside him.

"Move your hand and let me see…come on now, let me see!"

"RARGH!" Kento grabbed her and tugged. Nicole went down with a squeal. Sai laughed and hopped down off the chair.

"Trickery isn't your style, Kento! I'm shocked!"

"Aw shaddap and gimmee a hand," he started tickling at the struggling Nicole's ribs. She was…extremely ticklish. One could wiggle a set of fingers at her from one room over and the girl would start laughing.

"Noooo!!" she squealed, flailing uselessly. "Sai Mouri, don't you dare!! I'll keep that special soup recipe all to myself if you lay a finger on me!"

"Oooh," Sai winced. "Sorry Kento, she's got a firm hold on my loyalty…I've been after her for a while for that soup!"

"Aww, you're no fun," Kento snorted and turned back to his victim.

"Hey, I didn't say I was staying out of it, I just said I couldn't help *you*!" And with that, he pounced the much bigger Fuan. Kento squawked, and the three of them went rolling across the living room, upsetting the coffee table and coat stand before they snatched up the throw pillows and squared off, Nicole and Sai on one side and Kento sticking it alone on the other.

"Nice odds!" Kento grinned. "Between the two of you, you still don't match up to me!"

"We'll see about that!" Sai replied challengingly, and the three converged, smacking away gracelessly with the pillows. Minutes later, it was raining feathers and cotton stuffing, and the combatants flopped tiredly against the couch, chortling,

A shadow fell over them, and they looked up in unison to find a rather unamused Sage glaring icily down at them, feathers and bits of fluff clinging to his hair and drifting about his shoulders.

"Sage!" Nicole jumped to her feet, blushing slightly.

"We can explain!" Kento stood as well, rubbing the back of his head and hiding the tattered and gutted pillow behind his back. Sage sniffed at the air and frowned.

"Is something burning?"

"The pan!" Sai cried, bolting towards the kitchen, followed closely by Kento. Sage groaned, then sank down onto the snowy looking couch, rubbing his temples. Nicole brushed away a clump of feathers from her shoulder and sat down beside him, worried eyes studying him a long moment before she curled her knees to her chest and snuggled into his side. He stiffened a moment, then sighed and shifted slightly to wrap his arms about her, chin resting atop her head.

"You're home early," she murmured quietly.

"Mother sent me home," he replied just as quietly. "I guess you were right…I really do need some real rest."

"You never listen to me," she poked his side lightly and smiled to herself.

"I know," he chuckled softly and gave her a little squeeze. "How did things go?"

"We have a lot to talk about," she sighed. "Rowen got hurt, but he's okay now…just a bump on the head…he's upstairs sleeping it off."

"Not anymore," came a voice from the doorway. The cousins looked up to see a cranky looking Rowen approaching. His head had been bandaged, wild tufts of azure hair poking out from between the strips.

"What, surely our little tussle didn't wake you," Nicole giggled. "A tank couldn't do the job."

"I wanted to wake up, believe me," Rowen replied with a shudder. Ugh, the nightmares he'd had!

"Now that you're awake, would you mind telling me why you wandered off like that, and why Kento found you out like you were?" Nicole asked.

"Eh," Rowen yawned and flopped into the armchair, long legs hanging over the arm. "Get everyone in here and I'll gladly tell you, though even I'm not quite sure what happened."

Sage folded his hands and closed his eyes, leaning forward as Rowen and Kento finished saying their piece.

"From what Rowen has said, it sounds almost as though this directly involves us. It may have been directed at us since the beginning. Are you sure it was Ryo?"

"Very sure," Rowen nodded carefully, his head still throbbing. "I mean, it was like a kid-Ryo, but it looked just like him. Maybe he had a kid and never told us or something…but I still say it was Ryo himself, though I'm not sure how that's possible."

"Under these circumstances, we can't let any possibilities be dismissed." Sage said. Kento crossed his arms and glared out the window into the unwelcoming night.

"Well if it's the Dynasty, we've kicked their butts before and we can do it again," he growled.

"I dunno," Rowen replied. "This isn't really their style, though I wouldn't put it entirely past them."

"As I said," Sage murmured. "Let's not discount anything yet."

"At any rate, I think we're onto something here," Sai said. "So far we've had two incidents in the same place. There's no reason to believe they won't be there a third time. Maybe we should go back to the park and see if we can't coax these monsters out where we can fight them?"

"Yeah!" Kento turned around, liking that idea. "We can go right now! These guys are supposed to come out at night, and it's night now, so we'd have more chance of finding them and clobbering them!"

"It's dangerous, but if we are to stop them, I suppose that isn't a bad suggestion," Sage stood, brushing the feathers from the pillowfight off his back.

"I'm definitely going!" Kento grinned.

"Me too!" Sai hopped to his feet.

"I think I'm up to it," Rowen started pulling the bandages away from his head, shaking free now extremely cowlicked hair. Nicole quietly handed him back his headband.

"Sage, you should stay here," Nicole tugged his arm lightly. "If a real fight does break out, your exhaustion may prove dangerous…you could get hurt." Sage shook his head.

"We have more of a chance of just ending this whole affair if we do what we can now," he argued gently. Nicole grimaced.

"Fine, then I'm going too," she announced. Both Sage and Kento winced a bit.

"Very well then, let's get this over with," Sage nodded as he followed an eager Kento out the door.

The great splash of celestial light that had spread across the heavens remained as unchanged as when it had appeared a week ago. It seemed to watch the little group as they wended their way through nearly deserted streets in Sai's little blue car. The trip itself was uneventful, and the park seemed quiet enough upon arrival, much to Kento's disappointment. The summer night air was warm and humid, the trees rustling ever so slightly. The swings squeaked faintly as they drifted lazily in the light, tugging breezes. The street lights were drowned out behind the leaves, leaving the park very dim indeed.

Rowen tried to retrace his steps, but gave up after a few tries. It was simply too dark, and everything looked different in the moonlight. Kento wandered off, disappointed and frustrated. He wanted a fight…but more than that, he wanted to clobber this thing so his sister would be safe. He wanted it and its kind gone so he could tell her with confidence once more that there was no such thing as monsters.

His foot came down in a puddle…and it kept going. Surprised, Kento lost his balance and fell. Water closed in swiftly over his head before he could shout, and he found himself sinking swiftly through dark, boundless liquid, the little splotch of moonlight, his only way out, shrinking away. He realized something had a hold on his foot, and he kicked at it, his lungs already burning for air. This was impossible! Puddles weren't endless, and they certainly didn't have…well, whatever it was…living in them. He felt something cold and slimy brush his wrist, coiling about it, and he jerked it away before it could get a good grip. That tiny spot of brightness above was getting further and further away. Kento curled his body in the water, fingers frantically tearing at the laces of his sneaker. A final kick, and Kento shot up towards freedom, and more importantly, air, leaving the thing with his shoe. It could have the damn thing!

A few tantalizing inches from the surface, he felt the persistent grip of his attacker once more. Kento gave a desperate kick, and found that it was just enough to propel himself out for a few priceless seconds. He took a much needed breath and clawed uselessly at the edges of the puddle, the soft ground giving way under his efforts.

"HE-"

He was jerked back under before the cry quite left his lips, and he found himself ensnared in those cold, strong arms. The octopus from hell, Kento thought as his mind began to fade into a darkness as black as the water around him.

Lucidity hadn't quite dulled away when he felt something else tugging at him, pulling him in the opposite direction. Something flashed silver in the near darkness, and the arms about him convulsed and loosened, drifting away. He felt more than heard some kind of roar, a low, profound vibration in the water that nonetheless set his ears to aching. Barely conscious, he just let himself be towed back towards the pale light slanting through the little opening above. Silhouetted against that weak light was a familiar form…the streamlined helmet of Torrent.

Sai jerked backwards abruptly and gave Kento a hard shove towards the light as he found himself being hauled down into the depths instead.

Kento gasped and coughed as he broke the surface once more, and he was vaguely aware of hands dragging him out onto firm ground. He coughed again, a large splash of cold, foul tasting water falling from his mouth to the blessedly solid ground below. Awareness rushed back at him and he looked up. Sage, Nicole, and Rowen were staring at him.

"Kento, what-" Nicole began, but was cut off as Kento leapt for the water he'd just been pulled from…only to find it was a shallow, ordinary puddle once more.

"SAI!!" he screamed and dropped to his knees, clawing at the mud with a vengeance, as though he could perhaps dig his way to him, dirty water and flecks of mud spattering his already soaked shirt. "No!! Give him back! Let me back in, you bastard!"

"Kento!" Nicole cried and knelt beside him. Kento looked up, unfallen tears shimmering in his eyes.

"I'm not crazy," he told her. "I was just in there! It…it was a helluva lot more than just a puddle two seconds ago! Sai went in there to save me…he's still there!"

"Kento, I know," she soothed, thumbing a splatter of mud from his cheek. "We heard Sai armor up and came as fast as we could…besides, we couldn't have pulled you out from a two inch deep puddle like we just did. I believe you…"

Rowen snapped a switch off of a nearby tree and probed at the water, frowning.

"Well, it's not very deep…not now, anyway…how do we get to him? We just can't leave him in there…"

"Of course not," Sage shook his head." But I think he'll be alright for now…his armor allows him to breathe underwater, after all. That should buy us some time. I don't think digging it up will do any good, however…"

Someone started laughing. Sage, Nicole, and Rowen paused, listening, trying to figure out where it was coming from. Kento wasn't terribly surprised, and he shot to his feet, yelling angrily into the night.

"YOU!! What did you do to my friend, you creepy little twerp?!"

The shrill, piercing laughter died off, and a scratchy voice answered gleefully.

"Yer friend has come to play with us, he has!" the voice cackled. "A pity ye should miss out on it, lad, seein' it was ye we were invitin', an' not him, but ye jus' haaaaad t' be difficult! Yer loss, sez me!"

Come to play? Rowen shivered. That was what the child-Ryo had said.

"Why don't you get out here and fight!" Kento demanded, stepping towards the vague direction of the voice.

"Such a temper!" Deonus tsked, then began to laugh that nerve grating, high pitched cackle again. "But if ye insist!" And…there was silence. Kento slowly relaxed, scowling.

"Damned coward. Knew he wasn't gonna do it." Kento snarled and turned, walking back towards the puddle.

A spherical object the size of a large beach ball bounced into the moonlit little clearing, landing to rest right in the middle of the group. Everyone shied away, not sure what to make of it for the moment. It was still for one tense moment, then unfolded with a sickening crackling sound. A dark, slimy skinned little figure squatted in the mud, leering up at them with an impossibly wide grin filled with thin, needle-like, blackened teeth. One bulging eye rolled sluggishly about with no rhyme or reason, and was large and round, the iris and pupil filmed over with sickly grey-white. The other eye was narrow and sharp, a tiny, piercing red dot against a field of jaundiced yellow. The nose, if one could call it that, was skeletal at best, appearing as two mismatched, vertical slits that opened and closed as the ugly thing snuffled at the air. On its head was something greatly resembling a jester's cap…but on closer inspection, appeared to actually be growing from the little monster's scalp. The filthy, frill-collared suit he wore heightened the impression. Spidery, disproportionately long fingers flexed and wiggled as he sat up. The thing remained hunched over, craning his neck to peer up at them with that permanent, ear-to-ear grin.

"Gyeh," Rowen took a step back, grimacing. "So you're Deonus? A crispy critter if I ever saw one…the hell kind of rock did you crawl out from?" Rowen found Deonus' speech odd. It didn't quite fit into any given time frame…it was more like a combination of several periods, which just didn't make sense.

Kento eyed the hunchbacked little daemon. He was gross, but despite the teeth and claws, he didn't look very strong. Those thin little arms that he kept curled so close to his chest looked slender enough to break without much effort, and those squatty legs surely couldn't carry him that fast. This couldn't be the same thing that had attacked him earlier…could it? Deonus cackled and made a mock bow.

"That be me," he rolled his good eye to train it squarely on Nicole, who tensed and moved a bit closer to her cousin. "Th' others I know quite well by now," he mused aloud, tapping at his teeth with one sharp-looking finger. "Th' pretty lady be'z new…a good sign, me hopes, a good omen indeed."

Sage narrowed his eyes and stepped right in front of Nicole, blocking the monster's view of her.

"What do you mean, you know us?" he demanded. "We've never seen you before in our lives!" Deonus gave pause, tapping those haphazardly angled teeth again.

"Aye," he reflected, his grin growing wider, a feat one would not have thought possible. "I suppose ye haven't at that..oh but I have seen ye…"

"You better start making sense!" Kento barked. "Where did you take Sai?!"

"Oh don't ye worry," Deonus waved a lenghty hand at Kento dismissively. "Ye'll join him soon, ye will!" He canted his head to one side, his body shaking with impending laughter. "And how be ye sister, eh?"

If that last bit was aimed at angering the ash haired boy, it worked. Kento charged at the thing, intending to kick him clear back into the treeline. Deonus cackled and…disappeared. Pain tore across Kento's shoulders and he stumbled, falling to his knees. Warmth spread slowly across his shirt, and he knew he was bleeding. Deonus giggled madly and rolled into a ball, launching himself at Sage, who grabbed Nicole and got out of the way.

"I think Sai had the right idea!" Rowen cried as he kicked out at the gibbering thing as it bounced past. "Let's just armor up an' cream `im! Armor of Strata! Tao Inochi!"

Since they received the armor crafted by Suzunagi, the transformations had changed slightly to reflect each warrior's element. In Rowen's case glittering blue wind, almost like shattered glass, mingled with sakura petals to encase him in the still slightly unfamiliar silver and blue-violet armor. The odd golden crest on his helmet and stylized arrow emblem on his shoulder gleamed faintly, catching light from each other as well as his bow and quiver.

"Armor of Hardrock! Tao Gi!"

As Kento called for his armor he was surrounded in stone evidently summoned from the surrounding terrain as well as the familiar sakura, the earth quickly crumbling away to reveal Hardrock's silver, brown, and orange, with long, curving horns and the asymetrical helmet emblem arranged on his helmet. The heavy iron staff shone a bit less brightly than the other weapons, though the intricate carvings at either end glittered harshly as they caught the moonlight.

"Armor of Halo! Tao Chi!"

Sage's transformation was a bit more spectacular, with the ever-present sakura dancing wildly around thick white lightning bolts that converged on him to melt into silver and green metal. The entire armor as well as the immense silver nodachi glowed gently in the dim atmosphere, the soft aura hardening slightly around the gold crest and lightning emblem decorating his helmet.

Nicole was last to go, having considerably less practice than the guys.

"Armor of Seraph! Tao Wa!"

White and silver feathers fluttered along with the sakura, spiraling around her to harden into silver and white armor bearing winglike etchings along shin guards, arm guards and her helmet, where her long hair was now hidden aside from a few curls appearing above her eyes and at the nape of her neck. Gleaming white wings arched back from slightly above her ears, with her armor's six-wing emblem centered on her forehead in the same fashion as Kento and Sage. Seraph's silver and white was brighter than even Halo, nearly dazzling in the darkness as it caught and amplified the moonlight on gilded contours.

Deonus giggled madly and bounced off into the dark.

"Not now, precious ones! Not now! But I shall leave ye with some wondrous toys indeed!"

"That was abrupt," Kento complained. "I'm gonna go after him! He's not gonna get away that easily!"

"Kento stop!" Rowen cried. Instinct told him something didn't feel right here. Kento was suddenly thrown back as a pillar blasted violently out of the ground, leaves and earth spraying every which way. Seven more pillars appeared, surrounding the small group. Kento scrambled backwards towards the tightening knot of warriors, eyes wide as he watched the wetly glittering, black columns, each thicker than his shoulders were broad, bend inwards towards them. Bent like that, they weren't quite tall enough to break over the treetops. The ends were smooth teardrop shapes, reminding one of some enormous plant bud.

That was, in fact, more or less what they were.

The buds cracked, faintly glowing seams snaking down their length, and they began to open, sepals peeling away with a soft hissing sound, larger, dusky petals opening and spreading in smooth succession. Four of the buds opened to reveal an empty, dark center that appeared endless. The other four were more startling, the thick petals parting to reveal gargantuan skulls of some unidentifiable animal with long muzzles filled with rows of sharp teeth. Thick cords of twisted vines threaded along the bone and through bits of clinging, uncomfortably fresh looking meat, acting as artificial tendons that made the jaws snap and gape threateningly.

The four plants with empty centers bowed down in unison, touching their petals to the ground…and when they lifted back up, they left behind squirming, slimy looking packages that broke open to reveal…people? They had once been, perhaps. The glassy expressions and gaping wounds through which little tendrils and leaves wove through suggested fresh kills, animated by the moving flora.

"What is this, Night of the Living Dead?" Kento cried, watching the shambling figures approach. Nicole felt weak in the knees, her stomach a cold, nauseous knot. She hated zombies. She could never sit and finish any of those horrible B movies no matter how much the boys had prodded her to.

"Those people aren't so much undead as just being puppeteered by those vines," Rowen replied grimly. "I'm guessing that if we get rid of the plants, the people will just fall."

"At least we don't have to worry about hurting anyone," Sage said, armored fingers tightening about the hilt of his nodatchi. "They're already dead."

"Yeah, and who ever felt bad about pulling up weeds, right?" Kento grinned. "This should be easy!"

"Don't start getting cocky," Sage cautioned.

"I wish you'd stop telling me that!"

"I wish you'd start actually listening!"

"Heads up!" Rowen interrupted, loosing a volley of arrows into one of the skull-plants that had suddenly snapped for them. It pulled back, shaking itself back and forth, dislodging most of the golden arrows…they simply had nothing to catch in. A second one lunged for Sage, and he leapt forth to meet it, driving the sword into the thing's skull with a ghastly cracking sound. It keened sharply and thrashed, making Sage rather hard pressed to hang on, feet planting firmly against bone as he tried to retrieve the blade.

Kento picked his own fight with another skull, cracking the bo down on its muzzle as it tried to scoop him up. The armor enhanced force of it sent little cracks starbursting across the bone. He went to jump away, but too late…it caught him in its mouth, trying to impale him on gnashing teeth.

Nicole dodged away from the last skull, her attention on the other plants...the ones steadily producing those puppets. The boys were so busy with the other kind that they hadn't noticed the small army that was building right under their noses. Her armor weapon, smaller than Sage's nodatchi but longer than Ryo's katana, rose before her. Her surekill was unique among the other Ronin's. Unlike theirs, it would not harm an ally even if it struck them head-on. With this advantage, she could use her special attack more freely than the others, for she did not have to worry about her friends being caught in the blast.

She concentrated on the growing number of animated corpses before her, silver light coalescing around the blade of her weapon, growing, intensifying…her hand snapped down, the blade leveling, releasing the accumulated, focused power in a brilliant, feather-laced spiral of rushing silver. The light engulfed the figures, who began to shriek shrilly before dissolving in that silver storm. The nearest plant was also caught in it, and the thing began to writhe and shrivel. Nicole stumbled, hands to her knees. Her Holy attacks seemed highly effective…but it would be a few minutes before she had the energy to do that again.

In the meantime, Kento had managed to avoid being chewed, but couldn't escape the jaws. He was strong enough to keep them from closing, but he couldn't keep those teeth from crashing down if he tried to make a break for it. Rowen was getting nowhere with his opponent. The skull just had no weak point, and the stem was tough and impervious to his arrows. He couldn't use his special attack in this chaos…his friends kept falling in and out of his striking range.

Come on, Hashiba, think. It's what you're good at.

His eyes fell to Kento's struggle.

"Kento!" he cried. "Hold that thing's mouth open for me, will ya?"

"Huh?" Kento grimaced and did as asked anyway, arms above his head, hands planted firmly against the roof of the mouth, body stoutly rigid. Rowen stepped up and took careful aim. Sage and Nicole's positions were always changing. He knew exactly where Kento's was.

"Don't move," he said calmly, azure glitterings falling upon the drawn arrow.

"HEY!" Kento cried in alarm. "What are you doing?"

"Just stay still!" Rowen snapped. "Trust me!" The arrow flew forth with a scream of tearing air. Kento tensed, his eyes going wide, but kept his position. He felt the wind and a nearly electric kind of tingle from the charged projectile as it sailed through the space between his cheek and upraised arm. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the skull-plant's stem bulged grotesquely, the distension running up its length until it struck just behind the head, where blue rays of light slashed out in starbursts…and exploded with a rain of damp vegetable flesh and shattered bone. Kento flew forward from the force and hit the ground rolling, bowling right over a pair of plant zombies and slamming into the stem of the skull-plant that Sage was battling. Rowen trotted over and peered at him critically. Kento blinked drunkenly up at his blue-armored comrade and grinned.

"Hell yeah, let's do that again!" he cried. Rowen chuckled.

"Knew you'd be able to take it. Hey!" he used his bow to fend off three more of those puppets. "Get up and fight, there's still plenty more of those things!"

Sage had managed to free his sword, and drove it into a different place, higher up, where he knew the joints of bone should be. The skull shook wildly, trying to get him off. He let his feet slide off, using his weight and the creature's own thrashing to lever the great sword back and forth…sure enough, a large crack began to appear. The thing squealed and reared back, but Sage hooked his feet under the lower jaw and pulled as hard as he could. The crack was wedged open further, and the top of the skull split in two with a wet, crunching sound. To his surprise, the cracking continued…and the skull fell apart. Bereft of support, he had no choice but to drop back to the ground and watch as the ruined creature writhed and finally withered.

Kento had gotten back to his feet and was kicking away the puppets, which, while unarmed and generally easy to defeat, were just growing too many in number to deal with. Rowen had begun shooting more charged arrows into the puppet-plants…after all, they had no mouths to close…and by now there was only one left. A second blast from Nicole's sword cleared the field of most of the puppets, much to Kento's relief.

The Ronins were definitely gaining the upper hand in this battle when suddenly, the one remaining skull-plant screamed and bent backwards…and the ground began to tremble.

"I…don't like this" Rowen grimaced, feeling the vibrations right through his armor.

"The way is clear, let's run for it!" Nicole cried, but too late.

Dead white roots, some as thick as the plants themselves, erupted from the ground, splitting and cracking it. The four warriors tried to keep their footing, but the ground would heave and dissolve beneath them, revealing a gaping, endless pit that surely had not been there before. There was nothing to grab on to, nothing to stop their fall. No way out. They fell into the unknown embrace of the velvet darkness below.

9