Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Ronin Warriors: Hell Back on Earth ❯ The Sword of Hell ( Chapter 19 )

All was quiet at Houji's fortress as guards patrolled back and forth, all clad in body armor as Goliaths marched around, training their machinecannons and Wolverines waddled along. Elsewhere, Titans stomped along, training their cannons outside the base, while Jump Troops patrolled along catwalks at the top of the walls. Searchlights scanned the ground, as a figure slinked towards the facility, dodging a searchlight's path. Bringing out a pair of nekode, a ninja's special climbing claws, he proceeded to scale the wall carefully. His eyes glowed as he watched the whole thing from the sky above, through the eyes of his trusted falcon, Arataka. A group of guards moved away from his current position, and he began to head upwards once again.

Inside the veritable fortress, Karen, Shou, and Naru had gathered in Houji's Research bay, where he announced he had finished something for Karen. The other two had gone along to see what exactly this thing was. With the men looking away, Karen was enveloped in the Mobile Trace Ring, which Houji had done on her once without the other's knowledge. Naru recalled how tight the thing was, but she guessed there was some reason for it. It was skin tight, meaning the wearer had to be completely nude when suiting up. In a matter of moments the suiting up procedure was complete, and Karen stood in front of the group wearing a skin tight body suit.

"Whoa, I didn't think your breasts were THAT small." Shou commented. Enraged, Karen began to power up, sending a bolt of energy slamming into Shou, pinning him to the opposite wall.
"<Take it back Shou....>" Karen warned. "<Or I'll implode you into nonexistence.>"
"ItakeitbackItakeitback!" Shou pleaded.

Karen dissipated her energy bolt as Shou painstakingly made his way back across the room. Houji asked Karen to stand still with her arms out, as a series of robotic arms began quickly placing a maroon suit of Gundam armor around her body, leaving her head untouched.

"Ah! The stolen shell was correct! I've done it!" Houji exclaimed, as the other three looked at him with confusion. Houji cleared his throat and continued. "This suit of armor is one of my latest creations. I based it on the Master Gundam from G Gundam. All of its special attacks are intact, it's perfect!" Houji said happily.
"<One question, why does it seem that you made this thing especially for me? It fits perfectly.>" Karen asked.

Before Houji could answer, an alarm sounded, forcing him to rush to a monitor.

"Someone's trying to break in! All units, report to Sector 12 immediately!" Houji shouted, frantically typing in the keystrokes to disconnect the armor from Karen as the others fled to safety.

Outside, there was a great amount of noise as armored units in the sector swarmed towards Kazuhiko as he took down a guard on the wall with a stealth kill. However, as he had done that, the guard had managed to hit a panic button on his armor, setting off a silent alarm that resounded within the base, scrambling everything they could. Guards fired upwards towards the wall, as he blocked with his two swords before leaping down from the wall, falling quickly and then leaping out of the way of their hail of bullets. Using his katana to shield himself from the bullets to a degree, he swiped forwards with his wakizashi, sending a bolt of energy flying across the ground, slamming into the soldiers and knocking them down. He began to concentrate, clouding the minds of his attackers, making him seem to be invisible, allowing him to slip by.
The effects faded as the Titans rotated their bodies around to aim their cannons at him, firing, leaving a dent in the ground and sending him flying a short distance. He landed like a cat, turned and sent an energy bolt screaming at the cockpit, the pilot barely leaping to safety as the upper torso blew up. More guards took aim with their guns as they fired towards him, as he skillfully leaped into the air with little effort, raining more energy bolts down on them, sending them packing. He landed, launching forward in a charge attack, not quite as fast as Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu's famed Kuzu Ryu Sen, slamming into one of the guards before arcing upward in a sword uppercut. With a sword in both hands, he cut down guard after guard as he headed for the front entrance, as Houji deployed his Cyborgs. He dashed, slicing cleanly through these warriors at will, with not a scratch on his blades, as he reached the front entrance. Analyzing the warriors movements, Houji had fled to the front door, with an entourage of guards to kill him, as the warrior carefully opened the front door, sheathed his swords, and bowed.

"My name is Kazuhiko Yagyu." He began, before holding out his left hand to reveal the glowing kanji on it. "And I am Ji no Mi, the Sword of Hell."

Houji picked up the phone that was nearby, and announced to his guards that the problem was solved, their intruder was another Seishi. He then told them to notify Tenma.

Later...

Kazuhiko waited in Houji's office, accompanied by his wolf and falcon. At last, he had managed to locate his group of Seishi. He hoped that they would be worth the effort he went through to seek them out.

Houji and Tenma headed towards Houji's office to meet with this newcomer. Tenma was quite eager to meet this gentleman, as he had single-handedly managed to break into Houji's extremely tight security. Here was a true warrior, who did not have to be brainwashed or sent into berserk furies first to do his bidding. Once Houji could construct an armor for this warrior, Tenma could finally enact part of his plans.

"I hope you're right about this guy, boss. He's already laid waste to one of my Titan robots! Do you have any idea how much it costs to build one? And look at all the troops he beat up!"
"Funds that you will easily make back, I assume?" Tenma added.
"Yes, but that's not the point! This guy has broken into my facilities TWICE!!!"
"Surely a misunderstanding." Tenma replied as they opened the door to the office, where Kazuhiko was seated wearing his traditional garb. Tenma sat down in a chair next to him while Houji took a seat at his desk.

"I was studying your associate's desk while I was waiting here. He seems to have an extensive collection of...toys."
"They're models you ingrate! If you came all this way to insult my company, I'll have my guards on you so fast you'll..."
"Houji, calm down. I understand that your family name is Yagyu. Are you by chance related to the Yagyu I'm thinking of?"
"The very same." Kazuhiko replied.
"Interesting..." Tenma thought to himself. "So, how did you locate us?"
"I found a young girl that was apparently fighting in some sort of strange armor, that resembled the toys on Mr. Otoantou's desk. I kept tabs on her and through Arataka's aid, realized that she was one of the Drakka Seishi, so I made a point to show up here."
"I see." Tenma said. "And what exactly is your special Seishi ability?"
"I can shoot blasts of energy from my hands or swords." Kazuhiko explained. "The legend speaks of a Priestess. Have you managed to locate her yet?"
"We have been searching relentlessly to locate a girl with the qualities Mr. Furukiayu desires. However, we have come up short." Houji explained.
"Then not relentlessly enough, it seems." Kazuhiko answered.
"Why you vile little..." Houji said angrily, going for a weapon before he found Kazuhiko's sword at his throat.
"I show respect to those who deserve it, true warriors, not to little ingrates that fight their battles with miscellaneous battle toys. Only those with the courage to fight for themselves join me, GOT IT?" Kazuhiko explained.
"That's enough, both of you. Mr. Yagyu, if I could show you to your room."

Kazuhiko sheathed his sword as Houji cast a look of disdain at the newcomer as Tenma and he headed off. Houji activated his intercom and patched himself through to the facility where the Gundam armors were being constructed.

"Step up production of the VR Raiden armor. I think we may need to use it soon. I think I may have found a candidate." Houji replied.

Down in the secret basement where the Seishi were currently living, the elevator arrived on the floor as Tenma led him down the hall.

"My other associates are in these rooms here. My daughter is staying in here and Mr. Nagaihidaka's son is in here..."

Kazuhiko's wolf suddenly perked up as he caught a scent, and ran over and sat beside Naru's door.

"That room over there is where Ms. Yashuhara is staying." Tenma explained.
"Could I possibly see her?" Kazuhiko asked.
"I suppose so, since you seem to have some fascination with young girls." Tenma said.
"I simply value her safety."

Tenma swiped a card and the door opened into darkness, where Naru lay fast asleep.

"It is her..." Kazuhiko thought to himself. Nodding to his wolf, Saitou trotted into the room, hopped up on Naru's bed, and laid down.
"Are you sure your dog will not hurt her?" Tenma asked.
"Wolf, actually. Saitou only hurts those that threaten him or me." he answered.
"Good." Tenma said, closing the door behind them, leading them down the hallway.
"Here is your room. Goodnight, Mr. Yagyu."
"Oyasumi." Kazuhiko replied, closing the door to his room.

The next morning, the complex was awakened by the loud, deafening scream coming from Naru's room, which caused Karen to bolt out of bed, fly out of her room, and was on her way to Naru's room when she heard a loud crash outside Shou's room. She opened the door to find Shou planted against where the door was, before he crashed face down on the floor.

"<Shou! Are you okay?>" Karen asked.
"Son of a...I heard Naru screamin', so I was rushin' ova ta her room, when I forgot ta open the door!" Shou replied as Naru screamed again. "I'm commin' Naru!" he shouted, dashing off again.
"<Shou! Wait! Let me open the..." Karen cringed as she heard the sound of yet another crash. "door first..."

Helping the semiconscious Osakan to his feet, the two opened the door to find Naru in her Rimururu pajamas sitting up in bed, terrified out of her wits by the large wolf on her bed.

"What the hell is a wolf doing on my bed!!!?" Naru screamed.
"Um, Karen, you got any ideas?" Shou asked.
"<Nope, what about you?>" Karen asked.
"Nah, that's why I asked you!" Shou shot back.
"<Well, you can run pretty fast, can't you just fly in there and grab Naru?>" Karen asked.
"I could, but I'm not gettin' near that thing!" Shou replied.
"<You know Shou...I could make it worth your while...>" Karen suggested.

At the sound of this, Shou perked up and spit in his hands.

"Don't worry Naru! Shou's a comin'!" Shou said, preparing to charge, before a shout came from behind him of, "Saitou!" Instantly the wolf's ears perked up and it leaped off the bed and trotted over to Kazuhiko, as Naru's dad came running.

"I heard you screaming! Is everything all right Naru?" he asked.
"I'm fine now." Naru asked.

A very curious yet slightly terrified Shou and Karen turned around to find the gentleman standing behind them with the wolf sitting at his side.

"This creature is...yours?" the two asked.
"Yes." Kazuhiko replied.
"And you are..." they asked again.
"I am Kazuhiko Yagyu, the sixth Seishi of Drakka." he replied.
"Ohhhh." The two answered.
"So, you're another one of the people my dad gathered." Karen said.
"Actually, I was drawn to this location." Kazuhiko explained.
"So, how many more o' ya weirdoes are goin' ta be showin' up here?" Shou asked the older man.
"<Shou! Weren't you listening!?>" Karen said, whacking the rude speed demon upside the head. "<Dad said we need two more, this guy says he's the sixth, that means we need one more! Geez, can't you add?! And they say Japan's educational system is better.>" Karen answered. "<How the heck did you ever get into college, did you cheat on the entrance exam or something?>"
"NO!!!! What gave ya an idea like that?" Shou shot back.
"<Well, if you can't even count, I don't know how you even got into one!>" Karen retorted.
"Ya wanna take 'dis outside?" Shou asked.
"<GLADLY!!!!!>" Karen replied, storming off with Shou.
"Does this always happen?" Kazuhiko asked, bending down to Naru's level.
"Pretty much." Naru replied as the two continued to bicker and argue on their way down the hall. "So, these animals are yours?"
"Yes. This is Saitou." he replied, pointing to the wolf. "And this is Arataka." he replied, pointing to the falcon who had taken a perch on his shoulder. "I have a special bond with them. They are familiars."
"Ohhh. Cool!" Naru exclaimed, before yawning. "Well, now that this little situation is taken care of, I'm going back to bed." Naru said, heading back inside her room.
"Sleep well." Kazuhiko replied, before heading off elsewhere in the facility.

With his animals by his side, he wandered through the place, eventually running into Tenma, who seemed to be headed off somewhere.

"Ah. Yagyu-sama. What can I do for you?" Tenma asked.
"I wish to know about the Sword of Heaven." Kazuhiko answered.
"I see..." Tenma replied.
"He said his name was Navcase. I would like to know more about him." Kazuhiko replied.
"Houji has gathered all sorts of file footage on all the Amaterasu Seishi. If you wish to view it then you may." Tenma answered. "It's on the second floor."
"Thank you." Kazuhiko said, heading off for the elevator, as Tenma headed for a limo outside.
"Hmm...this one seems to have an interest in Navcase...none of us certainly stands a chance of beating him at his own game...we've gotten lucky." Tenma thought to himself as he headed outside.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Kazuhiko shuttled through frame after frame of footage taken of Navcase, attempting to discern some sort of a kink in his sword. Everything has its antithesis, he thought, so even the Sword of Heaven, as celestial as his name sounded, had to have some weakness, after all, he was mortal. One thing he could say about Houji was that he was quite through in keeping his enemies closer, as he had managed to record every single fight Navcase had in the time he had appeared. From his initial observations, Navcase seemed to be quite the unbeatable warrior. Somehow he knew Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, a style known for its attention to detail, the speed of its wielders, and its ability to almost assure victory to anyone who used it. That seemed to be part of his inability to be defeated by any of Tenma's minions; as far as Kazuhiko was concerned, the last people to be known to be able to perform the style were long dead, another was banished. The last known official master of the style was known to be living near Kyoto back in the Meiji Era, records seemed to show that the style had been passed down to another but he refused to take the official title of its master. But he had supposedly died of tuberculosis shortly after the Sino-Japanese War, at least that was what some records seemed to show. Some kenjutsu scholars said he fathered a son before that time, but there was no records showing he passed the style down, or if the other two people claiming to know of the style passed any part of it on. As far as anyone knew, only one person other than Seijuro Hiko the 13th knew the full style.

But this was impossible. If no one had passed the technique down past the late 1860's, how could this young man know it? The file footage seemed to demonstrate that he knew the entire style, they had clear evidence of him performing the two succession techniques. Even stranger, he also seemed to know of Mizoguchi Haiitou Ryuu, but there was no way he could know that technique either, the only one who did was long dead, reports varied as to whether he died of a hernia or of lung cancer. But there was still no way this Navcase could know what he knew, unless he channeled dead swordsmen via his Seishi power. Still, there was work to be done. There had to be some weakness he could exploit. Some lag time after performing a move he could take advantage of, a blind spot in some technique, anything...

"What are you doing in here?" came Naru's voice, surprising Kazuhiko and snapping him out of his deep thought.
"Studying the Sword of Heaven's moves." he explained.
"Ohhh...this guy?" Naru said. "What's so special about him?"
"For one thing he knows styles he couldn't possibly have learned." Kazuhiko continued.
"I see." Naru said, sort of listening intently.
"He knows two styles of fighting that are long forgotten, making him very difficult to defeat. I know of them, but I've never seen them myself."
"Uh huh." Naru answered, half listening, half watching the monitors.
"What's worse, there's no telling how many styles he could know that he's not showing. He could just be channeling other techniques, I'm not sure. However, I have some tricks of my own. We'll see who's better." Kazuhiko said, but heard no reply from Naru. Looking over, he found her staring at Navcase's image on screen, sighing. Realizing that he was watching her, Naru snapped out of it.

"Hey, I might be a tomboy, but I'm still a girl! I can't help it, he's cute!" Naru said in her defense. Kazuhiko only smiled and laughed a little.
"What's so funny?"
"You remind me of my daughter, always checking out cute boys out of the corner of her eye." Kazuhiko replied.
"You have a daughter?" Naru asked. The swordsman nodded.
"Her name is Nakoruru. She's seventeen, and both a gift and a burden at that age. So pretty, yet so rebellious."
"Like the Ainu girl in Samurai Spirits?" Naru asked.
"To a degree, yes. Her friends jokingly call her 'Nako-chan'. Her friends in Japan anyway. She spends most of her time in America with her mother."
"Why?" Naru asked curiously.
"It's a long story." Kazuhiko explained.
"Oh, okay." Naru said, observing that he was trying to get off the subject. "See you later then." Naru said, heading off.
"Bye now." Kazuhiko replied, getting back to his work.

Naru headed out of the video room, walking off to see if there was anything else to do there. From what she had already discovered, there was not. Secondly, there were various areas of the facility which were totally off limits to her and the others, despite the almost godlike honor they were treated with around the place. Flipping over her wrist, she checked her watch and headed down to her room again to get her skating stuff. Within a matter of minutes she had managed to snap on her skates and was off from the facility, before anyone could tell her no. The wind blew through her short hair as she flew down the sidewalks, carefully maneuvering around pedestrians as she headed over to the park. Toyama was not half as nice as Tokyo was, but it was much quieter. All around her, people were enjoying picnics or reading as she stepped off the sidewalk and carefully walked over to a shady tree, removing her pads, helmet, and skates along with her socks as she let her bare feet get tickled by the cool breeze. Opening up her bag, she pulled out some pencils and her drawing pad and began to sketch for a while. Her heart seemed to have taken control of her pencil as she began to sketch Navcase locked in combat with Kazuhiko. She had not seen the warrior fight, but she had spotted the daisho the warrior wore. Besides, she had played Samurai Spirits enough as Jubei to know how he would probably fight. She had managed to get through most of the drawing and was about to pull out a pen to ink it when she began to yawn a bit. She had slept for a few more hours after awakening to the wolf sleeping on top of her covers with her, but the cool breeze and the sun shining down from above, along with the peaceful atmosphere had caused her to fall under its spell. Putting her drawing things away, she tucked her bag behind her head a bit as she stretched her legs away from the tree, scooting down so that she could use her as a makeshift pillow and backrest. Placing her earbuds into her ears and turning her mini-disc player way down so she could barely hear it, she tucked her glasses into her shirt before pulling her hat over her eyes, and letting her hands rest on her stomach, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, letting her surroundings and the faint sounds of Uematsu's score lull her into a steady doze. It seemed like only seconds had passed when she felt someone tapping on her shoulder. Opening her eyes into a blur, she put on her glasses to find Ayako standing over her.

"Come on sleepyhead, wake up!" Ayako said happily.
"I thought you'd never show up." Naru said, stretching out after being in the same position for almost an hour.
"Well, I could have called you, but I don't have your number." Ayako said as Naru yawned to clear the rest of the sleepiness out of her.
"Didn't get enough sleep last night?" Ayako asked.
"Nah, I've just been bored out of my mind lately. There's nothing to do where I'm staying."
"Where are you staying?" Ayako asked.
"I'm staying with some friend of my Dad's. It's like going to your grandmother's house, only worse. There's nothing to do, besides, my Dad's always off somewhere at some meeting. I miss Tokyo."
"You're from Tokyo?" Ayako asked.
"Yep. Great place. Always someplace to hang with the guys." Naru explained.
"Most of your friends are guys?" Ayako asked.
"Something wrong with that?" Naru asked.
"No, not at all. I just think it's interesting that a bunch of my friends are boys too. Not many, most of them are friends of my girl friends anyway. I think most boys are scared of me because I know more about anime than they do. Then again there's my cousin."
"Oh. Cool! Not because of your cousin, because you're into anime. I'm only into it a little. I'm more of a gamer."
"Oh! There aren't many girls who play video games I know of."
"Yep! I've creamed lots of boys. There's this one weirdo who keeps challenging me to a rematch..." Naru said, looking around frantically to make sure that the insane gaijin had not followed her to the park. "I keep beating him though. So what's wrong with your cousin?"
"Let's put it this way, take a kogyaru, cross it with an American Valley Girl..." Ayako began.
"Yikes! That bad, huh."
"You have no idea. My brother's not as bad, but he can get on my nerves. Every girl I've ever been friends with lately he's tried to hit on, saying that her beauty has captivated him..."
"And he's dying to know if she's his type." Naru finished.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Too much Final Fantasy Anthologies with Yuuji." Naru explained.
"Is he your boyfriend?" Ayako asked.
"No..." Naru replied carefully, however the red in her face sort of gave it away.
"Would you like him to be?" Ayako asked.
"Um, maybe..." she replied hesitantly, blushing even more.
"It's okay, I shouldn't have asked." Ayako apologized.
"It's okay." Naru replied.

As the two girls chitchatted, Ayako called attention to Naru's bag, which was peeking out from behind her back.

"Oh yeah, I don't know how I got any sleep with this thing behind my back." Naru said, pulling it out from behind her.
"What's in there?" Ayako asked.
"Not much, cell phone, mini-discs, strategy guides, artbooks, my sketchpad..." Naru said.
"Can I see, please?" Ayako asked, trying to hide her enthusiasm while still being polite.
"Um, okay." Naru said, pulling out her sketchbook and handing it to Ayako, who began perusing it. At first glance, for a girl who had great problems with admitting her feelings for boys out loud, she had no problem expressing them on paper. Page after page of boys dressed up as video game characters, one model in particular seemed to be used over and over again, perhaps this was the Yuuji person Naru mentioned and then immediately dodged the question as quickly as she could. Turning the page to Naru's latest work in progress, which appeared to be some sort of samurai wearing rainwear made from reeds with a pair of swords that could very well be the man Navcase had mentioned, fighting someone who looked EXACTLY like Navcase!"
"THAT GUY LOOKS JUST LIKE SOMEONE I KNOW...my cousin would throw herself at." Ayako said, catching herself and glancing at Naru to see if she picked up on her cover. "Did you draw them from memory or did you make them up?" Ayako asked, hoping with this question to figure out how Naru could draw Navcase perfectly.
"I based them on people I know." Naru answered. It was partially true, she did know Kazuhiko, and she did draw her friends from time to time. She looked at Ayako, trying to hide her nervousness as her heart beat faster, praying her new friend would buy her answer.
"Oh, okay. Think you could make me a copy after you finish it?" Ayako asked as Naru breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yeah sure." Naru replied.

Although it seemed that things were all right, an element of suspiciousness had entered their friendship without warning. Naru found Ayako's reaction strange when she saw the picture, and then had such interest in getting a copy for herself. She could feel something emanating from Ayako, but she could not put her finger on it. Even so, Ayako was a nice person, and a nice girl at that. They seemed to get along pretty well; there was no use breaking the friendship over a little outburst.

Ayako too, felt something was strange about Naru. If she did not know what Navcase looked like, how could she have drawn him so perfectly? Naru had seemed so nervous after she had asked her where she got the idea for the picture, for no apparent reason. If Naru was that secretive about where she got her ideas from, okay, but it seemed that she was surprised at her own reaction when she saw the picture. But Naru was a very talented girl, who cared where she got her ideas from. Ayako was a bit suspicious, and definitely wanted to show Navcase a copy of the drawing when Naru was done.

The girls' attention was drawn to the sky, as dark clouds began to form above the park, when previously there had been none. Fearing for rain, many parkgoers began to clear out.

"Aw damn, it was such a nice day too." Naru said, disgusted as she hurriedly began to put her skates on.
"Yeah." Ayako said. "I'll see you later, okay?"
"Wait a sec, let me give you my cell phone number." Naru said, ripping off a small piece of paper and hurriedly scribbling it down. "Call me, okay?"
"No problem, see ya!" Ayako said, starting to run away before the heavens could open and soak both of them.

Ayako began to run slightly, but then slowed down and stopped, waiting for the rain to fall, instead being in the sun's rays again. She held out her hand to feel for raindrops, but there were none. She then looked up at the sky, only to find the cloud was directly over the park, but the rest of the sky was clear! She was nearly knocked to the ground and covered her eyes to shield them from the blinding blue blast of light that shot out of the clouds and into the park, before fading back into the clouds as the clouds themselves vanished as quickly as they appeared, as she stood puzzled at what had just happened. Just then her cell phone rang, bringing her back to reality.

"Ayako, it's Ayame. We just picked up some large energy spike near you, are you okay?" came Ayame's voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine. What was that?" Ayako asked.
"Kinjiro picked it up too, we're trying to figure out what it is as we speak. We think it could be some sort of space-time anomaly--"

Just then, Ayako heard a girl's scream and call for help.

"Um, call you back." Ayako said abruptly, cutting Ayame off. "That sounded like Naru's voice...Naru..." Ayako said, breaking into a run as she headed back the two blocks towards the park. As she got closer she could make out some sort of metal form which was slowly rising to its feet in the center of the charred pavement.
"Great, how am I going to explain this to Naru...Uh, hey, I heard you screaming and came running to try and save you because I'm some sort of heroine..." Ayako began to say to herself.
"Leave that to me, Ayako." Temia's voice resounded through her head.
"Ohh, believe me, you can handle whatever you want." Ayako replied as the ring began to glow. A glowing sheen of light began to travel outward from the ring, enveloping her hand in a set of gloves, and traveling up her arm and across her chest, down towards her legs, out over her other arm, creating armor spikes on her shoulders and a spiked helmet on her head, as two more spikes extended from her forearm gauntlets that formed, as two more shot up from shin guards and up to her knees. She began to rise from the pavement as she began to fly towards the scene at increasing speed.

Meanwhile, Naru tried to run away, but with her skates on she tripped on the grass, falling to the ground with a thud.

"Dammit..." she said as she tried to get to her feet as fast as she could, without her wheels causing her to slip again. Looking up behind her, she watched in horror as the metal figure began to stand up from its curled up ball position into a metal humanoid, which began to look around at its surroundings.

"I can't believe it, it worked." it said with a metal tinge to its voice. It then spotted Naru.

"Well Well well...what do we have here...?" it said as its scanners started to zoom in in a series of flashes on Naru's terrified face. "Prey." it said as it began to walk towards Naru, its metal feet clicking on the pavement as its mechanical joints moved.

Out of nowhere a white blast of light shot through the air, knocking whatever it was flying several feet backward, splitting a tree in half like a twig as its metal body slammed into it. It quickly righted itself, as its optics came back online, as some strange spiky female-looking humanoid had landed in front of the girl.

"You will not lay a hand on this girl!" Temia's voice boomed. "Or else you will deal with me."
"Well, whaddya know. A two for one deal." the machine said.

Opening up some sort of panel on its forearm, it began keying in some sort of information. Seconds later, some sort of device detached itself from its back, floated above its head and bathed it in a strange light, which seemed to make its left forearm glow and have some strange shape form over its arm, as some sort of backpack appeared on the machine as well. As the light faded, a strange shield was attached to its forearm, as it detached a large sword from its backpack, and brandished it in front of it.

"You wanna fight, you've got one. I'm gonna enjoy this." the machine said.

Temia took a fighting stance, ready with her spikes. Ayako had willingly gave up some of her energy in order to let her transform, but she had no clue how long she would be able to last before her form faded out and she turned back into Ayako. She had to hope that Ayako's cutting off her conversation had caused the other Seishi to scramble to her last or current location. It would be too hard to fight with Naru watching, let alone with Naru there in the first place. She hoped that any help, would arrive soon...

Next Episode:

NARU: AAAAAHH!!!! What's going on!? First I wake up with a wolf in my bed, now some weird machine's trying to kill me! And who's this strange spiky person! And why are all these people dressed up like the models on Houji's desk? This just gets weirder and weirder...

KAREN: Tell me about it. My dad comes back with this whiny, stuck-up, spoiled-beyond-belief-with-a-forest-of-money-trees megabitch to come and live with us! And worse, she's got her eye on MY Shou!

SHOU: Hey, waitaminute! Since when did I become "your Shou?"

KAREN: What, you thought that I slept on you in the car for nothing?

NARU: You slept on him in the car?

KAREN: Anyway, my Dad says she's the Priestess of Drakka...he's sure caught up in this legend of his. And if things aren't getting any stranger, this sadistic lunatic comes to stay with us! Where does my Dad find these guys?

NARU: Karen-sempai, we're running out of time. Can you stop whining and tell them the episode title?

KAREN: Oh, all right. It's the next episode of Ronin Warriors: Hell Back on Earth; Sadistic Seishi, Bitchy Priestess. I just hope things can't get any weirder...