Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Ronin Warriors: Dragon's Wrath ❯ Free Agent of Death ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Rwdrw5


"TAKE COVER!!!" Rowen shouted as he and the other members of
the team dodged a lighting bolt that had just crashed down. Looking
over to the left, they spotted the sender.
"Very good Ronins, we've established that you can dodge my lightning
bolts. But how long, is still unknown!" Rakurai stated.
Pointing at the heroes again, the sky rumbled as yet another bolt of
lightning came crashing down on them. The remaining heroes scattered
as the bolt crashed very close to them.
"I don't like this guy..." Kale said.
"Neither do we. We've got to take him out, and fast before he
shocks us all." Rowen said.
"I'll see what I can do." Sage said.
Bringing out his sword of Halo, he proceeded to taunt the Draconai Elite
to fire on him.
"Oh Rakurai? Bet you can't hit me!" he shouted.
"Try this one, Halo." Rakurai said, sending a bolt flying directly
at him.
Sage quickly raised his sword to the sky, turning it into a lightning
rod, absorbing the attack.
"What the?..." Rakurai gasped.
"It worked for Miaka...it'll work for me!" he thought.
"Here's my thunder of Judgment!" Sage shouted, whipping the blade
downward, sending the electrical energy flying back at Rakurai. It
sent him reeling.
"Whoa...that's weird." Sage thought.
"How could you have..." Rakurai shouted. "DIE!!!!"
Raising his hands to the sky, he called down hundreds of lighting bolts
that crashed one after another. The Ronins desperately tried to avoid
them, or at least find something to protect themselves from the voltage.
"We've got to find a way to ground ourselves!" Sai shouted.
"No kidding. As far as we know, Sage is the only one who can
hurt him!" Sekhmet added.
Rakurai and Sage began to go at it, with Sage knocking every bolt of
lightning Rakurai fired back at him, hurting him again and again.
"I have had enough of this!" Rakurai shouted, charging at Sage,
going airborne and knocking him down with a jumpkick.
"Now to take care of your allies!" He shouted, pointing at Kale.
"Dear God, not again! Oh Amaterasu, Kaosu, demons, angels, Nether
Spirits, anyone who's listening, can you please put an end to this..."
Before Rakurai could finish his attack, he appeared to be punched backward,
slamming into a wall! A form seemed to appear, and then took shape
revealing itself to be...Anubis.
"DIE!!!!!" he shouted.
"Thank you..." Kale said, relieved it was not one of those episodes.
Charging at Rakurai, he opened up grabbing him by his arms and slamming
him into the side of a building. He then tossed him into the air
and rocketed up with an uppercut that sent him flying clear across the
street. As Rakurai began to get up Anubis lifted him up and suplexed
him over his shoulder, before backhanding him down as he got up.
He then flipped him over his shoulder and slammed him back first into the
ground, before once again hurling him down the street after twirling him
around. He opened his wings and charged at him, grabbing him by the
neck, taking him straight up and then choke slamming him into the ground.
Anubis landed blow after blow, slowly but surely wearing down the warrior.
"Um, Rowen, mind explaining what's going on here?" Sage asked.
"Anubis has completely lost his mind, and someone's gotta stop him."
Rowen said.
Rowen prepared once again to fire the Buster Rifle at Anubis to stop
him before things got worse. But once again, he could not.
Anubis, despite his current actions, was not like this. Glory in
battle was his style, not ripping off pro wrestling. But still he
trained his weapon on Anubis, hoping to every deity in existence he would
not have to do this.
Meanwhile, Anubis had taken the badly injured and weakened Rakurai,
and left him standing in one spot. He rocketed into the air, and
screaming a battle cry, unfolded his scythe and came crashing down...on
Navcase's sword!
"Anubis, this has to stop...NOW!!!" Navcase shouted, pushing Anubis
back.
"You should not interfere...they all must die!" Anubis roared,
swinging his scythe to the ground, forcing Navcase to dodge.
"Anubis, this isn't like you...you've got to get rid of that thing!"
Navcase shouted back.
"It gives me strength! Strength I never had! And they all
will perish. One by one." Anubis said.
Navcase fired an emerald blast, knocking the former Warlord back.
"If you will not go down nicely...THEN I'LL HAVE TO KILL YOU!!!!"
Navcase roared.
His eyes glowed white and punched Anubis, sending him flying.
Both these monstrous fighters clashed again and again as their weapons
clanged against each other. They locked again, and Navcase pushed
with all his might to keep the scythe away from him. Anubis took
a glance from the corner of his eye, only to notice that Rakurai had begun
to fly away.
"DAMN YOU RUROUNI!!!! YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!" Anubis shouted.
Navcase noticed a flash of energy, and for a second, Anubis looked not
like he was wearing his new armor, but an ugly demon. He tried to
shake it away, but the next thing he knew, Anubis had rocketed skyward,
screaming angrily in pursuit of Rakurai.
"Well, that was interesting. Thanks again Navcase." Rowen
said.
"No problem. He's more trouble than I thought..."
Suddenly a great pain came over Navcase, causing him to fall to the
ground!
"Are you all right?" Rowen shouted.
"I'll be fine..." Navcase said. But he knew what was happening,
so it was not good.
Navcase managed to get to his feet and fly off in the opposite direction,
leaving the Ronins confused.
"Let's go get Kento. We've got to find Kinjiro." Rowen said.



(OP: SURREAL BY AYUMI HAMASAKI)
Ronin Warriors: Dragon's Wrath
Chapter 5: Free Agent of Death



The Ronins landed before a large building that loomed over them like
a tower. Clearly written on the side in large letters were the words,
"Osaki Industries."
"This has to be the place." Rowen said.
"Let's go inside." Kento said, his armor still badly damaged
from the battle with Koureha.
He was angry. Very angry. Because of the extensive damage
to his armor Rowen had ruled that Kento stay with Mia until they got back.
He hoped that Kinjiro could work a miracle and fix his armor.
As they approached the building they were stopped by a guard.
"Sorry, with the recent Draconai problem, no one gets in without Mr.
Osaki's authorization."
"We're the Ronin Warriors. We're here to see him." Rowen
explained.
"Yes, he's been expecting you. If you would please follow me."
The guard opened the gate and the remaining heroes followed.
Ryo's loss had been extremely tragic to the group. The fact that
Anubis had gone completely insane left them even more distraught and vulnerable.
Rowen hoped that he could be as good a leader as Ryo, but that was a great
deal to live up to. In the time that they were not out taking down
the Draconai, Dais was instructing him in the fine art of intrigue, but
still, Rowen wanted the job as much as Anubis did; and now he was off on
his own, as a one-man angel of death. The others had dealt with it
quite well; perhaps their years of experience. But everyone agreed
that things would be different with Ryo and Anubis.
"Greetings Ronins. What can I do for you?" Kinjiro said.
"You can start by fixing my armor..." Kento said rudely.
"Kento! As you know, we've been having trouble with the Draconai.
Is there any way you can help?" Rowen asked.
"As you know I was the one who designed the Mecha Armors' mechanical
systems. But everything else was Amaterasu's work. I'm not
fully sure on how it works, but she said something about the armors improving
themselves in times of great need." he explained.
"Well, this is as good a time as any. SO WHY AREN'T THEY UPGRADING!!!!?"
Kento shouted.
"It's hard to say..." Kinjiro explained.
"We're never going to defeat those things if our armors aren't upgraded,
we've already lost Ryo, my armor's practically totaled, I guess I'll be
next on the list..." Kento said.
Just as Kento said the last words, his armor began to glow slightly.
His beam glaive did as well. When it stopped glowing, it apparently
had become a double edged staff! Next, the badly damaged shoulder
guards were restructured, and the shield attached itself there! Next,
a strange structure seemed to appear on his back, which appeared to be
a pair of cannons on his backpack! His forearms glowed next, and
expanded themselves, giving him, not one, but two dragon fangs! The
torso armor also was repaired. The armor was now more green than
it was before, but still retained the brown paint scheme.
"You were saying, Kento?" Sai asked.
"Now, THIS is what I'm talking about." Kento said.
"What about the rest of us?" Sekhmet asked.
"I'm not sure...I may be able to repair you, but it's up to your armors
if they wish to improve upon themselves." Kinjiro explained.
"Hopefully we'll be fine...for now." Rowen said.
"I feel much better! Now let's test this new bad boy out on those
things!" Kento exclaimed, dashing out of the facility.
"Kento! Wait up!" Sage shouted, with the others not far
behind.
Shortly after the Ronins and former Warlords left, Navcase came stumbling
in, very weak.
"What happened?" Kinjiro asked, worried.
"It's the curse..." Navcase said weakly. "It's starting
to take full effect..."
He opened his shirt to show that more of his chest had become scaled.
"As much as I enjoy having a natural suit of armor...I have to find
a way to stop this." Navcase explained.
"What if you were to kill Ceiphied?" Kinjiro asked.
"It might work, but trust me, I've fought him before...it'll take more
than an updated Ryuujin to stop him. Plus, he's protected by hundreds
upon thousands of minions..." Navcase said.
"I had Ayame look into things about the Draconai, there doesn't seem
to be any records of Ceiphied ever putting a delay on a curse like yours.
What I can't seem to figure out is how you've resisted for so long."
Kinjiro said.
"If I knew that, then I'd be doing everything I could to enhance it."
Meanwhile...
"I can't wait to test out this new and improved armor." Kento
said as the group flew away from Kinjiro's lab.
Suddenly, a loud angry roar was heard.
"Wonder what that could be." Sai wondered.
"RAKURAI!!!!!!!! I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!!!!" came a voice.
"Anubis." They all said in unison, and took off for that location.
Upon their arrival, they found Anubis still trying to kill Rakurai when
a group of 20 soldiers showed up to reinforce him.
"We came as soon as you summoned us." one of the soldiers replied.
"Interesting. It seems that these soldiers have the same accents
to their clothing as Rakurai does..." Dais said.
"Only one way to find out." Sage said. "THUNDER...BOLT...CUT!!!"
he shouted, sending an energy bolt slamming into one of them. He
screamed in pain, and then fell down.
"Let's take these guys out!" Kento shouted, bringing up his new
dual cannon, firing his cannon and taking down a Draconai with it.
When two tried to surround him, he aimed his arms outward and extended
his dragon fangs, impaling them before burning them to a crisp. As
he brought his weapons back another came after him. Extending his
staff, he slashed with one end, then the other, slicing another Draconai
in half.
"This new armor rocks!" Kento exclaimed.
"Kento look out!" Sai shouted.
A Draconai was attempting a jumpkick. Kento rammed his staff into
his chest and slammed him into the ground, before pulling the blade out
and decapitating him with the other end. Suddenly a lightning bolt
hit him and he was knocked back!
"I'm not finished with you yet..." Rakurai said.
"NOR AM I FINISHED WITH YOU!!!!" Anubis shouted.
Using a twirling uppercut with his scythe on one Draconai, driving another
into the wall with his buster shield, and cutting still more down with
his vulcan cannons, and slicing cleanly through still others, the hell-bent
Anubis slowly cleared a path towards Rakurai. Rakurai raised his
hand to the sky and aimed then at Anubis, shocking him with his best lightning
bolt, but that only made Anubis angrier.
"Guys, doesn't Anubis look a little weird?" Rowen said, pointing
to their former ally.
Indeed, it had happened again. Anubis looked more like a demon
than his former alter ego. He roared in anger as he once again power
punched Rakurai, sending him flying into a wall.
"Guys, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't now the time when Navcase
shows up and stops Anubis?" Kento asked.
Rowen brought out the buster rifle and trained it on Anubis, once again
hoping it would not come to that, while Anubis continued to toss Rakurai
around like a rag doll.
"It is time for this to end!" Anubis shouted, bringing back his
buster shield arm, igniting the blade and then ramming it into Rakurai,
before pulling it out, ramming his scythe through his chest and out through
his head, killing him. Anubis then proceeded to go for the 4 remaining
Draconai, who coordinated their attacks and used their combined Chi blasts
to slam Anubis into the wall long enough to recover Rakurai's armor from
his dead body and fly off.
Anubis then plunged his hand into Rakurai's chest, ripping out his energist.
"They will all die!" he shouted, crushing the object in his hand.
"Anubis, you've got to get rid of that armor." Rowen said.
"Yeah, it's making you crazy." Kento added.
"Please Anubis, remove it before it's too late." Dais pleaded.
Anubis began to laugh a little. He then began to laugh evilly
and loudly.
"Get rid of this armor? When it makes me strong enough to do what
you fools cannot? Is that a joke?" Anubis asked.
"Anubis, that armor is obviously corrupting you! Please, we implore
you!" Kale added.
"NEVER!!!" Anubis shouted, charging at his former comrades.
Dais fired his claw beams out at Anubis, but he simply lifted him up
and hurled him. Dais used them to get a grip on the ground, pull
himself back, and get to his feet. He brought out his beam saber
and charged at Anubis with it, but he blocked with his scythe blade.
Dais tried to push him back, but Anubis was just too strong for him in
his current state.
"Give it up...you can't win!" Anubis said, pushing so hard that
Dais fell over. Next Sekhmet charged at him and leapt on his back,
desperately trying to take him down. Anubis reached over his shoulder
and hurled Sekhmet at Kale, who was also preparing to attack, knocking
them both out. Sai lunged at him with his weapon, but Anubis sidestepped
before backhanding him to the ground. Kento also lunged at him with
his staff, but when he swung the other end at him he blocked with his scythe.
Kento withdrew slightly and fired his cannons, slightly damaging the heavy
armor protecting his chest. Anubis reached back and punched Kento
in the face, smashing his helmet and sending him flying and unconscious
as well. Dais managed to get up and headed over to Rowen.
"Rowen, we have no choice. Let him have it!" Dais shouted.
Dais opened up his triple megasonic gun while Rowen aimed the buster
rifle and the two let Anubis have it, managing to destroy two of the wing
shields, the ones that protected his chest. Rowen tried to fire again,
but he was out of power. He brought out his cannon and fired that
instead, hitting Anubis squarely in the chest plate.
"AAAAAH!!!!" Anubis screamed in pain.
Guarding the damage, he then blasted off in the opposite direction.
Rowen breathed a sigh of relief as Anubis retreated.
"Let's get Hariel. We're going to need his help." Dais said.
"What are we going to do about him?" Rowen asked.
"Anubis took care of him, so he's destroyed. But we should probably
bring him to Kinjiro to see what he can discover." Dais said.
"Right. Let's get going." Rowen said.
At Ceiphied's, there was great celebration as the new Rakurai was sworn
in as a member of the Elite.
"Congratulations. Perhaps you will be able to defeat those foolish
Ronins where your predecessor failed. But you must get used to the
new honor first. Gentassai!" Ceiphied said.
A warrior who wore an armor that looked like stone stepped forward.

"Yes Master Ceiphied."
"You will challenge the Ronins next." Ceiphied said.
Gentassai kowtowed to his master.
"Thank you, my lord. I will not fail you." Gentassai vowed.
"See that you do not."
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city...
"What is wrong with me? The Ronins are my friends, why did I attack
them? What is wrong with me? Dais is correct, something is
not right about this armor, but what?
Suddenly, the damage Rowen had done when he blasted his chest plate
closed up as if it was never there. Then the wing plates regrew exactly,
returning his armor to 100% status.
"What am I becoming?" Anubis wondered.
Up in the Heavens...
"Too...many...damn...stairs..." Ryo said as he continued to climb
the accursed staircase.
For what seemed like an eternity, Ryo had been ascending this stairway
to heaven. He hoped it was worth it. After all, Sakura was
the at the end of this thing, he hoped. But would she remember him
as vividly as he remembered her? Had she given up on the long distance
relationship and fallen for some guy more her type, perhaps some pyromaniac
who'd died hundreds of years ago.
At last Ryo saw something up ahead. The gates! To his surprise
they opened easily. Someone was expecting him. Ryo pulled out
his swords and slowly stepped through the courtyard. As he looked
around to examine his surroundings, he found them in a word, breathtaking.
It was as big as Talpa's palace in the Nether World, maybe bigger.
The complex extended outward, with gorgeous spires, towers, everything.
The courtyard itself leading towards the main complex was carved from the
finest stone imaginable. There was a large fountain in the center,
which Ryo carefully walked by. The palace seemed to have elegantly
been repaired since it had been destroyed during the Dark War. He
did not have time to admire the view though. He headed up the steps
and opened the front doors.
It was even bigger inside. Ryo began to look around from any signs
of life. He heard noises coming from one of the rooms and quietly
and carefully stepped into the room. He found the noise was only
the TV. He sheathed his weapons and looked around. The TV was
over in a corner of the room, around it were several comfortable chairs.
Stretched out on the couch in front of it he found a young lady in overalls
with purple hair--Ran.
Her beautiful little head was resting gently atop a fluffy pillow, and
her hands were folded neatly on her chest. The beautiful lavender
eyes that had won Sai over were gently closed as she rested peacefully
and comfortably. Her chest rose and fell as she gently and deeply
exhaled. Ryo smiled and proceeded to give her a little kiss on the
cheek. He leaned over as she took another breath--and pressed his
lips to her cheek. Then, she grabbed him, pulling him to her chest
to cuddle him like a teddy bear.
"Sai..." she said softly in her sleep.
"Ran..." Ryo said, gasping for air. "Let go Ran..."
Ryo said, trying to pry himself free.
Ran started to snore gently, continuing to say Sai's name. Suddenly
someone tapped on Ryo's shoulder. He looked over to see that it was
Yuri.
"Shhh." Yuri said.
Gently getting a hold of Ran's hands, she gently pulled them apart,
allowing Ryo to carefully get free of her death grip. Yuri then placed
them down gently, and Ran rolled on to her side.
"Let's go somewhere so she can finish her nap." Yuri whispered.
Ryo nodded and the two headed out of the room.
"Is she always like that?" Ryo asked.
"Only when she's asleep." Yuri said. "She's taking her
afternoon nap."
"Isn't she a little old for naps?" Ryo asked.
"I take one too." Yuri said.
"There's nothing wrong with taking a nap..." Ryo said, trying
to prevent himself from dying in the afterlife.
Yuri smiled.
"It's all right. When she was little she used to take one with
me every afternoon. Although now she likes to take her naps on the
couch..." Yuri explained.
"That's because you snore loud enough to peel paint..." Ryo said
under his breath.
"For the last time, I DO NOT SNORE!" Yuri shouted.
"Okay, if you say so." Ryo said.
"Anyway, it must be having some effect because she's always in a good
mood. Besides, she's been practicing all morning. The poor
thing must be exhausted." Yuri said.
"Where are the others?" Ryo asked.
"Probably out by the pool." Ran said.
"Well, I see you're awake. Did you sleep well?" Yuri asked.
"As always." Ran said yawning a little. "Ryo!" Ran
exclaimed, hugging him to death.
"How are you doing? How's S...I mean, the other's doing."
Ran said, blushing a little.
"Sai's doing fine." Ryo said. "So are the other guys.
I hope they're doing okay without me."
"Does he...I mean they...miss me...I mean-us?" Ran said.
"Oh yeah. We've missed you girls. We still think you're
the best thing that happened to us, though Anubis would probably say otherwise."
Ryo said.
Ran blushed more than she had in this whole conversation. She
began to reminisce about her little unscheduled reappearance of her beloved...tucking
him in when he slept...sharing a bed with him...going shopping with him
when he was dressed as a girl...her first real kiss...
"Um, Earth to Ran...come in Ran." Ryo asked.
"Ooops, sorry." Ran said, blushing again.
"Well, let's see how the others are doing." Yuri said.
"How much do you wanna bet that Ayame's relaxing in the middle of the
pool?" Ran asked.
"You're probably right." Yuri said.
As the three stepped out back, Ryo found that there was a swimming pool
out back. In the middle of it, Ayame was once again sunbathing and
snoozing on her air mattress. Suiren was sitting pool side, also
enjoying the weather with a sun hat over her face.
"This is what you five do when we're not around?" Ryo asked.
Ran giggled.
"No, just Ayame. When Suiren isn't working on her tan she's racking
up our phone bill..." Yuri explained.
Suddenly a blur came out of nowhere and tackled Ryo to the ground!
"RYO!!!" a voice exclaimed. "It's so good to see you!
I thought I'd never see you again!"
"I-It's good to see you too, Sakura. Can you get off me now?"
Ryo asked.
"Oh, sorry about that. I'm just so excited that you're going
to be staying with us for a while." Sakura said.
Just then Amaterasu and Kaosu walked in.
"Ah Ryo, welcome. I trust your trip here was comfortable."
Amaterasu said.
"Well, you need to do something about the stairs..." Ryo said.
"You must be hungry. Come on everyone, let's get something to
eat." Kaosu said.
Sakura grabbed Ryo and dragged him back into the palace, following the
rest of her family.
The group headed into the dining room, where Kaosu brought Ryo up to
speed on everything that had happened since the girls went back to the
palace. The food of course, was worthy of a god, or the child of
one...even though Yuri ate most of it. Sakura of course insisted
that Ryo sit next to her.
"Have the armors been working well?" Amaterasu asked Ryo.
"Well, as far as I know they are. Though mine was kind of damaged
just before I got here..." Ryo explained.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." Ayame said.
"Oh sure, you can fix his armor, yet when there's something wrong with
ours you won't lift a finger." Sakura said.
"If you mean the Chi Amplifiers, for your information I didn't know
how. And I thought that we'd put that argument to rest." Ayame
said.
"Oh sure you didn't..." Sakura said.
"Yes I did, and last time I checked, that circuitry was fixed by Kinjiro,
so there's no more problems, thank you very much." Ayame shot back.
"And I do keep ours in working order, along with your baby, WHICH I REMIND
YOU, I BUILT."
"What are they fighting about?" Ryo asked Ran, who was sitting
next to him.
"Oh, you'll see later on." Ran whispered back.
"Girls, not at the dinner table..." Kaosu said sternly.
"She started it!" Ayame shot back.
"Did not!" Sakura shouted back at her.
"Did so!" Ayame fired back.
"Did not Did not did not!" Sakura fired back.
"Did too did too did too!" Ayame retaliated.
"You wanna take this outside?" Sakura said, getting up from the
table and heading out the door.
"Gladly." Ayame said, rudely getting up from the table and stomping
after her.
"Not again..." Yuri said, heading out after them.
"Excuse us." Amaterasu said, getting up from the table and following
Kaosu outside.
"Um Ran...question. Can I sleep in your room tonight?"
Ryo asked.
"Um, if it's okay with my parents." Ran said.
"Good." Ryo said. "Does this happen often?"
"Only when Sakura pisses Ayame off..." Suiren said.
"Suiren, don't you have some I don't know, business to discuss with
Ms. Hongo?" Ran said.
"Oh yeah, DAMN!!! I was supposed to tell her how to impress that
rich guy!" Suiren said, running off.
"Um Ryo, we might want to go hide somewhere..." Ran said.
"Why?" Ryo asked.
"Because after those two get grounded--again--Sakura might take it
out on you." Ran said.
Ryo was still confused.
"Come on! We can watch from my room." Ran said, running
upstairs.
Meanwhile, Sakura and Ayame had squared off on some sort of battle area.
Both had looks of determination on.
"Let's do it." Sakura said.
Both of them began glowing with energy as their armors formed around
them. Sakura pulled out her swords while Ayame took a fighting stance.
In a split second screaming Ayame charged at Sakura, but she sidestepped
and kicked Ayame down. Ayame fired her mini-missiles at her, but
Sakura elegantly backflipped over her sister's head and slashed her from
behind with Gokou Juuji. As Sakura slashed again, Ayame stopped it
with her swords before leg throwing her over her Ryu-style. Sakura
somersaulted back to her feet before flipping over again, twirling through
the air and knocking Ayame down.
"Face it. You'll never beat me." Sakura said.
Ayame placed both her feet on Sakura's chest and kicked, knocking her
backwards.
"Add-on Hasshin!" Ayame shouted, summoning her Add-on and interfacing
with it. Reaching under her shoulder guards, she pulled out her kama
and prepared for even more fighting. As Sakura swung, she blocked
with the weapons, before slashing her with the other one. She then
roundhoused her away using the leg bombers.
"You do know Ayame, you're going to have to fix ever ounce of damage
you do to my suit." Sakura said.
Up in Ran's windows, Ryo watched confused.
"The Neo-Knight Sabers were you five?" Ryo exclaimed.
"Yeah...sorry...we were going to tell you when you got here but we
didn't get a chance..." Ran said.
"So, I'm guessing when Sai went to check on that message at the hotel,
it was you guys, right?" Ryo said.
Ran blushed.
"I might have had something to do with that...I-i-i-it was just that
you guys were so close...and I really wanted to see Sai again..."
Ran said, about to cry.
"It's okay. We would have done the same thing." Ryo said.
"You're not mad?" Ran asked.
"You're still young. It was an honest mistake." Ryo said.
Ran slapped him.
"What was that for?" Ryo asked.
"I'm not that young. I'm 15." Ran said.
"Right." Ryo said.
Ayame got in blow after blow, furious at Sakura. Sakura had never
stopped leaving her alone. She went and slept in her room and by
the pool so she would not have to listen to her nag about how she was their
weakest link. Years of rage set in as she slashed at her sister.
"That's it." Sakura said. "I'm ending this right now."
Ran gasped in horror as Sakura flipped her katana over.
"What's wrong?" Ryo asked.
"She's going to use the ougi..." Ran said, scared for Ayame.
"What?" Ryo asked.
"She's going to use Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren...it's the strongest attack
in the style she uses." Ran said.
Sakura set up for the move. She began to weave slowly towards
Ayame in the delicate sword dance. Soon it would be over.
"ONEESAN!" Ran exclaimed suddenly.
Before Sakura could reach Ayame, Yuri got between them and let Sakura
have it, nailing her with a punch that knocked her back. Yuri ran
over and ripped Sakura's helmet off after quickly disarming her.
"Listen up you stuck-up Devil bitch in training...you stop this RIGHT
NOW!" Yuri shouted. "Not only is she your sister, she's your
TWIN sister, even though you're supposed to be identical I guess that's
only in looks. You've got one hell of an ego trip and an attitude
to match."
"Get out of my way...I've got to teach her a lesson." Sakura
said.
"Forgive me." Yuri said, reaching her hand back.
Suddenly Amaterasu came up and slapped Sakura across the face!
"SAKURA KAMINO, I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU..." Amaterasu screamed.
"How many times have I told you not to fight with your sister? Too
many! And on top of that, you made fools out of yourselves at the
dinner table, and in front of our honored guest Ryo. And I would
have thought that you'd want to make a good impression in front of your
boyfriend. Instead, you've embarrassed yourself, not to mention made
the rest of us look like bad hosts. You are grounded for ONE WEEK,
young lady. No TV, no music, and with the exception of during training
sessions, NO RYO. I'm pretty sure that young man's given up on you
after he's seen how immature you can be. Now get to your room."
Sakura shed her armor and stomped up to her room.
"It's your fault." she said to Ayame as she stormed off.
Ayame started to cry. Kaosu hurried over to comfort her.
"Make that TWO WEEKS." Amaterasu added.
"Never...never will I ever be good enough for her..." Ayame cried.
"She's right...I'm weak..."
"Ayame stop that, NOW. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have
the Add-ons, the Hardsuits would never work, and she wouldn't have her
precious baby. You're very smart, be proud of that." Yuri said.
"Yes honey...You should be proud of what you've accomplished."
Kaosu said.
"But it'll never be good enough for SAKURA..." Ayame said angrily.
"She won't stop until I beat her in a duel."
"Come on honey...you need to rest...sleep this off..." Kaosu
said.
Meanwhile, up in Ran's room, Ryo and Ran were trying to figure out what
was going on.
"I don't get it...Sakura was fine until you got here...unless she's
trying to keep you away from Ayame..." Ran said.
"You mean she thinks that Ayame's going to steal me from her?"
Ryo said.
"Maybe..."
There was a knock at Ran's door.
"Come in!" Ran said.
"Oh, there you are Ryo." Amaterasu said.
"It's safe to come out now, Sakura's in her room pissed off at the
world." Yuri said.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to turn this house upside down. I'll
leave if you want." Ryo said.
"No, it's not your fault. They've always been like that, even
when they were little. Sakura just needs to cool off." Amaterasu
said.
"I'm tired...where am I staying?" Ryo asked.
"Can Ryo stay in my room?" Ran asked sweetly.
"That's up to him if he wants to." Kaosu said.
"Actually Ran, after this afternoon, I think I might be safer in my
own room..." Ryo said.
"Oh, sorry about that..." Ran said, blushing a little.
"It's okay. I can stay with you until you fall asleep..."
Ryo offered.
"Okay." Ran said.
"Mom, I'll show Ryo to the guest room after Ran falls asleep."
Yuri said.
"All right. Good night." Amaterasu said.
"Good night Mommy." Ran said.
"Good night." Ryo added.
Ryo quickly stepped out of the room so that Ran could change for bed.
Then he entered when they let him back in.
"Yuri, Ryo, can you tell me a bedtime story?" Ran asked.
"And you said she's 15?" Ryo whispered to Yuri.
"She's the baby of the family..blame me." Yuri whispered back.
"Okay, but when it's over or you fall asleep, no more, okay?"
Yuri said.
"Deal." Ran said.
"Any preference?" Ryo asked.
"The Seishi story." Ran said.
"Ohh, that story. Once upon a time, there were two girls in high
school. One day, they found a strange book in the library's Important
Documents room, and found themselves transported to a strange world resembling
Ancient China..." Yuri began. "In time, one of the girls found
that she had to gather Seven Seishi...one was an excellent fighter obsessed
with money, there was the narcissist emperor swordsman, the cross dressing
man with super strength, the extremely cheerful mage with the quaint way
of speaking, the fiery bandit, the gentle doctor, and the smart little
boy..."
"Actually, that boy who's SO CUTE is 13..." Ran said, blushing
a little. "And I meant the other Seishi story."
"Ohh, the Legend of the Seven Seishi." Yuri said. "According
to legend, in a time of great strife, seven noble warriors will appear
to save the world. They will seek out the Priestess of Amaterasu
and use her power to summon mom to Earth to grant three Wishes. Their
appearance will be heralded by the appearance of flaming wings appearing
from the back of the first Seishi. The second will come a short time
after that, and be known as the wings of darkness. The third is said
to be a swordsman of the greatest caliber, noble in all respects...The
fourth will be a mage able to wield the power of the weather...
"Um Yuri...look." Ryo said.
The two looked over, and saw that Ran was fast asleep. Yuri shut
off the lights and the two tiptoed out of her room.
"About that story...is it real?" Ryo asked.
"Well, the first one is, otherwise Suiren wouldn't be on the phone
all the time. As for the Legend, it's only a prophesy so far, but
we're still waiting for it to happen." Yuri said.
"You mean with the Draconai and all." Ryo said.
"Yeah. That's why Mom's got us training so hard, so we'll be
ready." Yuri said.
"Is there a copy of this anywhere in here?" Ryo asked.
"Yeah, in the library. But it's getting late. Get some
rest, you'll need it." Yuri said, stopping at the room that was to
be Ryo's.
"See you in the morning." Yuri said.
"Good night." Ryo said.

To Be Continued...

Next Episode
RAN: Hey everyone! In our next chapter, Ryo's training begins
as we get him ready to fight the Draconai! Sakura doesn't hold back
on him though...Meanwhile, back on Earth, the remaining Ronins fight another
member of the Elite, but can Navcase stop Anubis in time before his transformation
is complete?
YURI'S VOICE: Ran, go to sleep...
RAN: Gotta go! It's the next episode of Ronin Warriors:
Dragon's Wrath, The Training Begins. Night everyone! See you
next time!