Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War ❯ Growing Pains ( Chapter 3 )

Sitting in her special chambers, replaying the dramatic and sudden defeat of Anubis at the hands of one Suzaki Fawkes had Amaterasu worried.  How could someone manage to beat one of her Seishi, who had stood against Drakka and defeated him?  Even without actually using his Seishi powers, Anubis should have lasted longer than a few minutes.  But yet he went down in just that time.  Something was odd about this newcomer, and she had to find out what.

"You sent for me, Amaterasu?"  Navcase asked as he was let into her chambers.
"Yes Navcase.  How is Yuriko doing?"  she asked.
"Fine.  Emotional, and craving everything, but fine.  But I trust you did not call me here simply to discuss Yuriko's present situation." Navcase said.
"Precisely.  I trust you viewed the fight between Anubis and this Suzaki Fawkes person?"
"Indeed.  I find it very hard to believe myself that an accomplished warrior such as Anubis could be beaten by a mere mortal."  Navcase explained.
"As do I.  I want you to head down to Earth and assess this person.  Compared to Anubis and Ryo, you are much better at reading people's energy than they are."  Amaterasu explained.
"Consider it done."  Navcase explained, kneeling before her and then walking out towards the portal room.  It was not long before he picked up that he was being followed.  "What do you two want?"  he asked.
"You're going down to see the Ronin, right?"  Suiren asked, grabbing his arm.
"Perhaps..."  Navcase replied.
"Can we come with you?"  Yoko asked, grabbing his other arm.
"Let me guess, you want to see this new guy for yourselves, correct?"  Navcase asked.

The two girls nodded.

"Then I am sorry.  This mission is strictly business."  he answered, heading off down the hall, only to find them still on his heels.
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese?"  Yoko and Suiren said in unison.
"No!  This is a mission to assess him and see whether or not we should be worried about him, not to flirt with him!"  Navcase answered again, continuing to head down the hall with the two girls following behind him.
"I told you before, this is strictly business!  There is no way you can convince me to let me take you along."

A few minutes later...

"Accursed puppy dog pout."  Navcase mumbled as he found himself standing at the Ronin's front door with Yoko and Suiren.
"Works every time."  Suiren and Yoko said, giving each other a high five.

Suiren reached out and rang the doorbell, as various energy cannons, missile launchers, and whatnot came out of the ground, trained on the three, and began opening fire on them, fortunately Navcase was able to put up his shield fast enough with an additional barrier from Yoko and added help from Suiren.  Eventually the weapons either ran out of ammo or were disarmed.  The door swung open to reveal a very frightened Mia, as the barriers came down.

"I am so sorry!  ANUBIS!  YOU INSISTED YOU'D TURNED THAT ALARM OFF!"  Mia shouted in his direction, as massive amounts of dusting were continued.
"Oh!  Navcase!  To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"Your new house guest.  Amaterasu is concerned after how Anubis was beaten so easily."
"IT WAS A LUCKY SHOT!!!!"  Anubis shot back, clad in a French maid's uniform.
"We're here to see the Bishie!  So where is he?"  Suiren and Yoko asked in unison.
"I'm guessing you mean Suzaki."
"Did someone call my name?"  he asked as he descended the steps, to what seemed like to the girls, slow motion, with sparklies everywhere.
"Mia, you didn't tell me you were expecting company."  Mr. Fawkes said.
"I wasn't expecting any.  They just showed up."
"I see...tell me, where are you ladies from?"  Mr. Fawkes asked.
"Heaven..."  the two girls said dreamily.
"Er, they're a little out of it.  I believe the two of them are so captivated by you that they're at a loss for words.  We're from uptown.  WAAAAAY uptown."  Navcase explained, trying to cover Suiren and Yoko's fumble.
"Yeah, exactly."  Suiren replied, coming back to her senses.
"Then how do you know I was here?"
"We saw the video."  Yoko said.
"-Email!  Yes, email, that I sent them about you."  Mia cut in, glaring at Yoko for almost blowing their cover, again.
"I sense a very strong vibe from him no da."
"Then why aren't I feeling it too?"  Yoko said to herself.
"You're not as sensitive to these things.  It will come with time no da."

As Yoko had a conversation with her ancestor, Navcase had begun to read Mr. Fawkes' energy.  At first, it did not seem to be that much, nothing to worry about, until he dug a little deeper, and found the mother lode.  The energy sent a chill up his spine and nearly knocked him off his feet, it was so powerful.  Stronger than he had ever felt off of anyone.  Whoever this Mr. Fawkes was, he gave off a vibe as if he had been fighting forever.  His Kenki was enormous, his Rei was off the charts.

"Navcase, are you okay?"  Mia asked as the Sword of Heaven nearly collapsed in her living room.  "Come on, let's go to the kitchen and get you some water."

Mia led the warrior to the kitchen as Suiren and Yoko stood and continued to drool over Mia's new house guest.

"Are you all right Navcase?"  Mia asked as she poured him a glass of water.
"Yes, I'll be fine in a little while."
"What happened?"  Mia asked.
"I tried to read his energy and it hit me like a ton of bricks.  There's something very fishy about that man, aside from Yoko and Suiren drooling over him."
"AH!  So you agree!"  Anubis said as he came into the kitchen to clean it.
"He didn't say that, he simply said there's something fishy about him."
"Of course there is!  He's bought out all the Ronin and Mia, and got to the Warlords through their stomachs.  He must go!"
"That's not what I was speaking of.  You tell me you haven't felt that strong energy vibe he's giving off?  It nearly knocked me to the floor when I tried to read him!"  Navcase replied.
"No, can't say I have.  I just have a bad feeling about him, but I haven't tried to sense his energy."
"Your inability to sense must have something to do with your armor.  Now that you no longer have your old armor, your other abilities have been slow to develop.  Your bad vibe about him must be your energy reacting with his."
"Hey Navcase, what are you doing here?"  Ryo asked as he walked into the kitchen.
"Amaterasu sent me.  She's concerned about how quickly Anubis was beaten by Mr. Fawkes."
"I keep telling you, it was a lucky shot!"  Anubis protested.
"Then again, as Yuri put it, you had 'more openings on him than a 7-11 and were still shut down'."  Navcase explained.
"Anubis is just being paranoid.  He's a really nice guy."  Ryo explained.
"So you haven't felt anything from him either?"  Navcase asked.
"No, not really."  Ryo answered.
"I don't understand.  His aura was right there, screaming out at me.  It's like a big neon sign sticking up from the needle in the haystack."
"OH THE HORROR!!!!"  Sage came shouting from upstairs.
"I suppose we should go check it out."  Ryo said as the group rushed upstairs.
"Sage!  What is it?"  Mia asked.
"It's Suiren!  She's been won over by him!  Yoko too!"

The guys peeked into Mr. Fawkes' room to find Suiren giving him a massage, as Yoko waited on him hand and foot.

"Do you get it yet?  The man is evil!"  Anubis exclaimed.
"Anubis, don't you have more CLEANING to do?"  Mia asked.

Anubis grabbed his feather duster and walked off grumbling as Kento barged in and asked what was for dinner.

"Actually, I'm not sure.  I can't think of anything.  How about we go out?  My treat."  Mr. Fawkes answered.
"Cool!  Hey everyone!  We're going out and Mr. Fawkes is paying!"  Kento shouted.

The group raced downstairs, and climbed into either Mia's Jeep or Suiren's Aston Martin convertible, and took off for food.  In the back seat, Anubis was once again hatching a plan.

"Now, for this to work, I need the three of you to help me."  Anubis explained.
"Anubis, what are you doing this time..."  Dais asked.
"We're going to challenge Mr. Fawkes again."  Anubis continued to explain.
"Need we remind you of what happened last time you did that?"  Sekhmet asked.
"I'm not going to challenge him to a duel.  I'm going to challenge him to a DRINKING CONTEST!"  Anubis declared, causing the other Warlords to sweatdrop.  "And I need the three of you to help me."

Kale, Sekhmet, and Dais reluctantly agreed.

Soon after they arrived, Anubis declared his challenge to Mr. Fawkes, causing the others to wish they were not at the same table.  Suiren and Yoko were too busy swooning to care.

"I see.  So, the four of you vs. me.  You win, I leave, I win, your punishment gets extended.  Fair enough.  Waiter, bring on the first round!"

Several rounds later...

"Yeah!  Take that!  Nobody messes with the Dark Warlords of the Dynasty!  We don't need our armor to kick your asses!  I Anubis, the Dark Warlord of Cruelty, request another round!"

The shot glasses were placed before the group, as they took the next shot.

"Yeah!  Take that!  Yeah!  Who's the champ?  Who's the Champ!"  Anubis asked before passing out, landing on the floor where Kale, Sekhmet, and Dais were already passed out.

The Next Morning...

A loud scream erupted from the kitchen as the Ronin rushed past the Warlords on their way to the bathroom to find Kento in the kitchen.

"What's up Kento?"  Sai asked.
"ALL THE FOOD'S GONE!!!!"  he shouted, causing the others to facefault.
"Come on Kento, it can't be all gone.  Mia went food shopping yesterday."  Ryo answered.

The five heroes began to scavenge through the kitchen, but sure enough, the cupboards were bare.  Their frantic searching had caused the others' stomachs to grumble as Sai spotted a small box of cereal over in the corner, just about the same time as the others did.

"I SAW IT FIRST!!!"  Kento shouted, diving for the box, as the others attempted to tackle him to keep him away from it.  Sai got his hands on it, only to be tripped by Rowen, who grabbed it, only to be tackled by Sage, which knocked it out of his hands as Kento intercepted and forced Ryo out of the way, making a beeline for the living room, only to have the door suddenly opened by Navcase, causing the box to fly out of his hands and back the other way, and somehow open, causing flakes to fall everywhere around the kitchen.

"May I ask what is going on?"  Navcase wondered.
"All the Food's gone!"  Kento exclaimed.
"I may have an answer for your question Kento.  Follow me."

The starving Ronin followed Navcase upstairs to Mr. Fawkes' room, where their mouths stood agape at the gigantic breakfast in bead feast Mia, Yoko, and Suiren had whipped up for him.

"MY FOOD!!!!!"  Kento exclaimed.
"Your food?  It's ours too!"  Ryo shouted.
"Come on guys, I'm sure Suiren, Yoko, and Mia have a good explanation for this."  Sage answered.
"We decided to make him breakfast in bed!"  the girls said innocently.

The group facefaulted.

"It's all right.  I couldn't possibly finish all of this.  Help yourselves."  Mr. Fawkes answered as Kento immediately dove for a plate of bacon which Yoko tried to pry away from him.  Unfortunately Yoko won, forcing Kento to sulk out, as she stood guard over the rest of the food.

"'Come on guys, we'll go out for breakfast."  Rowen said, trying to defuse the situation.
"Maybe we should ask Anubis and the others if they'd like to join us."  Sai said.

As if in answer, more throwing up was heard coming from the bathroom.

"But I think they still need more time to recover from their hangovers."

The five heroes, along with Navcase, headed out to a nearby breakfast place, seeing that all the food in the house was gone thanks to Mia.

"Anubis is right, he needs to go!"  Kento declared.
"Yes, he has taken our food, and our women!"  Sage added in.
"He's not that bad!"  Rowen protested.
"I beg to differ.  I felt a strong power emanating from him.  It nearly knocked me to the floor.  Something is up with him."
"See, even Navcase agrees with us!"  Kento added.
"I told Anubis the same thing.  I am sure.  He is not."

A morning talk show was suddenly interrupted by live pictures from elsewhere in Toyama.

"We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin.  Approximately fifteen minutes ago an odd portal with an orange globe and green pixelated center appeared downtown.  A hulking figure emerged from it, which one of our interns has identified as Nemesis from Biohazard*, has appeared from it and has begun to open fire.  At least fifteen officers thus far have been killed or injured, and the property damage is rising."
"I'll go and see what I can do.  You five catch up."  Navcase said, getting up abruptly.  "Kento, you can have what's left of mine."

Navcase rushed outside and quickly changed into his Seishi gear.

"Hmm, no energy signature.  I probably shouldn't take any chances."

Calling out to the heavens, he shouted, "ARMOR OF HOPE!!!!  TAO KIBOU!!!!!"

Double X formed around him as he blasted off for downtown, where Nemesis was on a rampage.  Navcase came crashing down with his beam saber, cutting into the monstrosities' arm as it roared in pain and began opening fire with its chaincannon as Navcase ducked behind his shield and attempted to return cover fire.  However, his clip ran out quickly.

"Damn.  Out of ammo.  It's too hard to hit him at close range, and it's too dangerous to fire the satellite cannons.  What am I going to do?"

As if in answer, a powerful shell sailed through the air, slamming into Nemesis, and knocking it over.  A heavy roar of thrusters was heard as windows shattered, as the familiar orange form of Yuri landed in front of Navcase, who had taken cover behind a car.

"Stay back."  Yuri answered as her pylons locked into the pavement, as she let Nemesis have it again with her dober gun.  "I've always wanted to fight him this way.  You're not so tough when all your opponent's got is a bunch of dinky pistols!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"  Yuri shouted, disengaging her pylons, placing her cannon on her back and charging towards the monstrosity with her Knuckle Bomber charging, firing several railgun shots into the monster as well, as she punched with her unpowered gauntlet, planting an S-mine, and then knocking herself back in the other direction with a blow from her Knuckle Bomber.  The thing somehow got to its feet, and was rocked by another explosion as the bomb went off.

"Take that!"  Yuri shouted back, quite proud of herself, before Nemesis got a bead on her and opened fire with its rocket launcher, as Navcase knocked her out of the way, taking the brunt of the attack.

"Navcase!"  Yuri shouted.  "Why you..."  she said angrily as she began reaching for the Mega Smashers on her chest.
"IRON ROCK CRUSHER!!!!!"  came Kento's voice as the attack ripped into the monster.  The others laid down cover fire with their vulcans and cannons as Rowen rushed forward to extract Navcase.

"Are you all right?"  Rowen asked.
"I'll be fine.  Luckily, it was only the armor."

A badly damaged Navcase stood up and attempted to deploy the cannons to try and finish off Nemesis, but they would not deploy.  Damage reports told him that the mechanisms were damaged.  The damage was so severe, that it would shut down in a matter of minutes, as his display flashed between static and Nemesis leveling his launcher at Navcase for a final blow.  He would be unable to move, as the power was basically out.  The display went black just as the missile was fired.

"Yuriko...I'm sorry I couldn't be there...for you...and our child..."  he began to say to himself.

The missile streaked towards Navcase as the others rushed to knock him out of the way, as Ryo tried to get a bead on it.

"YURIKO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Navcase shouted, as there was a brilliant flash of light erupting from his armor, as it began to restructure itself into a new form:  an upgraded Red Astray.  Energy also flew towards Rowen, as his armor became Double X.  The missile was split down the middle by Navcase's sword.

"Ah.  This is more appropriate.  Armor of Crimson Hope!"  Navcase declared.  "This armor is not as cumbersome, and furthermore, it allows me to perform my special techniques as they were meant to be done!"  Navcase declared.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu!  KUZU RYU SEN!!!!!"  Navcase declared as he streaked towards Nemesis, knocking it back through the portal, which closed behind them.  Navcase sheathed his sword.

"I should return to the Heavens now and report in.  Tell Yoko and Suiren I've gone back, that is if you can pry them off of Mr. Fawkes."  Navcase replied as a portal opened and Yuri and he stepped through it.

Later...

"As you can see Amaterasu, the something is definitely up with this Suzaki Fawkes.  He has managed to charm every girl that sees him, and far worse, he has a dangerous concentration of both fighting spirit and Rei energy.  What should we do about the situation?"  Navcase asked.
"I'm not sure.  But we definitely must keep a close eye on him.  Something is not right with him."  Amaterasu said as she watched a screen with him sitting on the windowsill playing the flute and the three girls asleep on the floor in front of him.
 

Next Episode

SUIREN:  Wohoo!  We're all going to a Halloween party!

SUZAKI:  What's a Halloween Party?

YOKO:  It's like so much fun!  You get all dressed up and costumes and do all sorts of fun stuff?

SUZAKI:  Then I am going too?

MIA:  Of course!  They invited all of us!

KALE:  Anubis, are you behind this?

ANUBIS:  No!  Someone beat me to it!  But now we must find costumes!

DAIS:  Next time on Ronin Warriors:  Illusionary War;  A Vampire's Masquerade.  Don't miss it.

*The Japanese name for Resident Evil, if you haven't figured it out yet.