Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War ❯ Adversaries from the Twilight ( Chapter 5 )

"What am I to do with you, Platoon Leader Jata?  Not only have you disobeyed orders to stay put and guard the base, but you also failed to capture the target while you were AWOL. Had you managed to accomplish something of importance during your disappearance, perhaps we would have been more lenient.  But you have not, and per Lord Ramito's suggestion, you will be thrown in the brig until further notice and your platoon placed under my personal command.  For your sake, I hope to Asterra that your forces are not as corrupted as you are."

Jata felt a shock through his system as the psychic soldier on hand struck him with bio-manipulation, paralyzing his limbs as a collar was placed on him to dampen his psychic abilities.  More troops dragged him off with the aid of telekinesis as Lord Ramito and Niru saluted the form of High Lord Ayosuf.

"How are things proceeding on Earth, Lord Ramito?"
"We are currently on schedule High Lord, despite problems with Platoon Leader Jata.  He has been dealt with.  At the moment, we are still attempting to locate the target.  Platoon Leader Jata almost had him, but he managed to get away, with help from beings on this planet."
"Are these orders too complex for you, Lord Ramito?  Or should I assign another battallion commander to this task?"
"No High Lord.  I am confident the soldiers under my command can handle it.  Humans are a primitive species at best.  Their technology is limited, and their mystical capabilities are null.  I doubt they can perform a simple cantrip."
"Correct me if I was wrong Lord Ramito, but was this not what you said before your battalion was deployed on Suanapolla?"
"I assure you sir, the circumstances are different this time."  Ramito answered.
"They had better be, Lord Ramito.  They had better be."  High Lord Ayosuf answered.
 

"So, let me get this straight.  You're not some wandering guy looking for a place to stay, and you're really an alien being trying to escape capture from some other aliens that apparently want you so they can make their leader live longer.  That about cover it?"  Rowen asked.
"Yes, that's the gist of it."  Rajei explained.
"So, what can we do to help?"  Rowen asked.
"Help me to stop the Miraju.  We must not allow them to get their hands on me or your planet.  Your world should not have to face the same fate as Suanapolla."  Rajei said.
"Suanapolla?"  Anubis asked
"Yes, the Hoen homeworld.  The planet was earmarked by the Miraju for my people's longevity, but were unable to learn anything from experimentation on us.  Once they discovered the legends about me, Asterra concluded that the secrets must lie within me."
"Stupid question time, who or what is Asterra and why does he want whatever you have?"  Kento asked.
"Asterra is a powerful biowizard construct developed by the Miraju as a means to protect their heads of state.  Unfortunately for their sake, he organized a coup against the very people he was sworn to protect, and now rules over them with an iron fist."
"Perhaps it would be in our best interest Rajei, for you to explain what else these Miraju as you call them, could quite possibly throw our way."  Dais asked.
"In addition to their standard infantry, which you have already faced, with their rifles capable of firing either strong mind bolts or paralysis blasts, are further equipped with psi enhancing body armor."
"Lovely.  Not only are they psychotic, they're psionic as well."  Sai added.
"Aside from their infantry, there are also several races that serve them, most notably the Demetarians, Space Elves, and Uranari."
"And these people would be?"  Kento asked, being stupid yet at the same time picking apart Rajei's way of talking about these things as if Kento and the others knew exactly what he was talking about.
"The Demetarians are a race of plant people that the Miraju managed to recruit, both for their supreme powers and terraforming skills.  The Space Elves, for lack of a more accurate term, are tree dwellers, with unsurpassed archery skills.  Finally, the Uranari are  physically weak people, who saw an alliance with the Miraju would make them stronger, through both bio-wizardry and bionic enhancement.  But by far the nastiest of the Miraju's soldiers are their Heavy Borgs, four legged monstrosities equipped with gatlings, missile launchers, a particle cannon and a mortar cannon.  Very tough to bring down.  Even with my own Rei Iru, it was still a difficult fight."
"Here he goes again with things we don't understand."  Kento said.
"In ancient times, the Hoen were masters of elemental magic centered around the energy of their souls.  It was their belief that every being was born with a a particular element ingrained into their Rei energy that they could call upon.  However, since my sealing away in a temple, the Hoen have lost their magic and have grown into a technological empire."
"I don't think you've really told us who the Hoen are.  You've told us much about them, but haven't really defined them, so to speak."  Anubis said.
"At the very basic level, the Hoen are an alien race descendant from a phoenix.  This has granted them exceptional healing capabilities and an immunity to fire and heat.  The race also goes through an unusual life cycle; as they reach certain points in their life they spontaneously combust and reassemble themselves in a new, older form.  I was created by their god and placed in a temple, only to be released in their hour of need.  I spent eons in there, training, waiting for the day I was needed to defend my people.  At last, that day came, and I fought the Miraju with a very different Hoen people, however, deep within them, their phoenix souls still burned bright."
"So, now what?"  Kento asked.
"Well, at the moment, the Miraju don't know where Rajei is, but on the other edge of the blade, we don't know where their base is."  Rowen commented.
"I know where their base is."  Rajei answered.
"All right, I stand corrected.  We do know where their base is.  But it's probably a bad idea to go blasting our way in there, since they're probably well established and it would not be pretty, even with the other Seishi backing us up along with the rest of our firepower."
"What about the Kusanagi?"  Ryo asked.
"Kinjiro's people are still getting it ready.  Besides, I think that would be more firepower than we need." Rowen answered.
"What is this Kusanagi you speak of?"  Rajei asked.
"It's a large battleship we captured a while back.  Our only real problem with it is we have no crew for it.  Until we can fix that problem and find someone who's either really qualified or really adventurous to captain it, we're at an impasse."  Rowen replied.
"That ship might be of use in the future, but for now we must figure out what to do about the Miraju threat."  Rajei answered.

The sound of tires screeching was heard outside the house as Kento rushed to the window to see what it was.

"Um, Rajei, I think you have a more immediate threat than those Miraju."
"What makes you say that?"  Rajei asked.
"Suiren and Yoko just got here."  Kento answered.
"Oh no.  They haven't seen my in my true form.  Their reaction to my disguise was somewhat off the charts, I can't even begin to fathom how they'll react to my true self.  Quick, hide me!"

Efforts were made to attempt to make the Hoen champion scarce as in burst Suiren and Yoko.

"WHERE'S THE BISHOUNEN!?"  the two shouted in unison.
"I have no idea what you're talking about Suiren."  Kento replied.
"You can't deny it, there is a super bishounen or biseinen in this house right now!"  Suiren insisted.
"Suiren, the only pretty boy or pretty man in this house right now is Mr. Fawkes and you already met him."  Sage answered.
"No, no!  This guy knocks Mr. Fawkes out of the stratosphere!"  Yoko chimed in.
"I didn't even think there were bishounen or biseien like that."  Sai answered.  "But like we said the only on here is Mr. Fawkes and you already know him."
"Okay...but we'll still be suspicious!"  Suiren replied, mostly taking the hint and leaving with Yoko.

"That was a close one."  Ryo answered, bringing Rajei out of hiding, at least for the time being.

"We've got to hide him somewhere else, where he's safe from the Miraju AND those two."  Sage concluded.
"Does such a place exist?"  Sai asked.
"Maybe we could hide him at Kinjiro's." Kale suggested.
"Kale!  That's brilliant!"  Anubis exclaimed.
"It is?"  Kale asked.
"Yes!  It's secure enough to keep Rajei safe from the Miraju and it's the last place Suiren and Yoko would think to go to look for him."  Anubis explained.
"Odd, because my backup idea was to hide him in a mall."  Kale answered, forcing the group to facefault or contemplate wringing Kale's neck.

Under the cover of sunlight(Rajei suggested that dealing with actual day and night would force the Miraju to be nocturnal unfortunately that would also be when they were most powerful.) the heroes clambered into Mia's jeep and drove Rajei over to Osaki Defensive Technologies.  They asked to speak with Ms. Jishou once they got in.

"So you need me to hide this guy?  I can see why.  Not only is he a supreme security issue, he's also a major hunk.  I would be happy to keep him here until we can figure out what to do about these Miraju people."  Ms. Jishou replied.
"I would be glad to fill you in on the Miraju's capabilities, so perhaps effective countermeasures can be developed to stop them."

Back at the Miraju camp, plans were being made to attack once again.  This time around, things would be up to Mage Officer Sura.  Under his command were solely Minion races under the Miraju Empire, one platoon of Demetarians, the powerful plant people, a platoon comprised of Space Elves, one of Light Uranari Borgs, and one of Uranari Bio-Borgs.  Sura's company of spryess, ugliness, shrubbery and clanking metal emerged from their respective buildings and fell in before Sura.

"All right, to most, you are merely second class soldiers, meant to be cannon fodder more than decorated heroes.  But to me, you are the finest troops I have ever been honored with the privilege to command.  Together, we will find the target and make a name for ourselves.  Our names will echo through the annals of Miraju lore.  Now, let's move out!"  Sura commanded, as his troops marched off to battle.

"This fortress is amazing!"  Rajei said as he was taken on a semi-guided tour of Osaki's facilities.
"We prefer the term factory, actually.  If you want to see a fortress we can take you over to Otoantou."
 "Otoantou?"  Rajei asked.
"Sort of our rival.  Builds everything including the kitchen sink and is researching the bathtub.  However, he's pretty much out of his mind, and by some bizarre twist of fate, out of this world at the moment, so they won't be bothering us at the moment.  But hopefully here we have enough defensive tech to keep the Miraju out."  Ms. Jishou answered.

Meanwhile, people dodged for their lives as Sura's company made their way into Toyama, attempting to locate their target.

"Sir, how do you plan to locate the target?"  one of the Uranari light borgs asked.
"Quite simply, a being such as the Hoen champion gives off a tremendous amount of magical energy.  With this planet having such scarce energies magically, we should have no trouble locating the champion if he is nearby."

Sura reached under his robes and pulled out some sort of strange techno-wizard tracking device, almost like a magic compass.  The needle pointed straight towards the largest magical presence around it.

"This way!"  Sura shouted, pointing his hand as the other troops hurried after him.

Back at Osaki, the escorts had just about gotten Rajei settled in when a technician came running into the room.
"Ms. Jishou, we have a problem.  Possible enemy forces approaching the facility."
"All right.  Get the AI's ready to move out and energize the FireStorm wall.  That will hold them for a while."  Ms. Jishou ordered.

"They seem to have put up defenses sir."  One of the elves answered.
"Unfortunate, for them.  Demetarians, begin charging!  Uranari, open fire on that barrier!  They can't keep it up forever!"

Railgun slugs began spewing out of the Uranari weapons as the Demetarians began to glow golder and golder.  Sura did his own part by attacking with projectile-based spells.

"Ma'am, the wall is holding, but the power will be out soon!"  one of the technicians reported.

The FireStorm wall cut off as the AI bots were wiped out in a golden beam of destruction.  The bio-borgs and metal borgs made short work of the remaining units as they stormed their way in weapons blazing.

"We can't let them get Rajei.  Let's go!"  Rowen shouted, as he and the other Ronin donned their Mecha Armor and charged out to do battle.

"Okay guys, let's be careful.  We don't yet know what these guys are capable of."  Rowen said.

Kento, most likely ignoring Rowen's warning, went straight at a bio-borg, and was soon dodging attempts to be stung by their tails and thrusts from their knees and shoulders, which had spikes.  He drove his staff into its chest and flipped it over forward, dodging the flailing tail.

"Good work Kento."  Rowen called back as he blasted a Uranari Light Borg with his rifle.

Sura shouted to the elves to find spots to take the others out with arrows, as Osaki security forces made their way outside and returned fire.

"<Stop them!>"  Sura shouted to the Demetarians, who obliged by tossing seeds at the security force, many of whom were engulfed in weeds and passed out.

"Great.  Four different kinds of troops, lots of them, and their commander seems to know what he's doing as opposed to the last guy.  But we still can't let them get Rajei."  Rowen thought to himself.

Sai was suddenly knocked back as a few of the bio borgs let loose with a blast of flame from their mouths.

"Great, these guys breathe fire too!?"  Rowen shouted in disbelief.

Sage was entangled in some vines which shot out like wires from the Demetarians, as others proceeded to throw leaves at him, which quite unusually, cut gashes into his armor, but luckily some bad aim from some of them managed to cut him free.

"Time for a little payback."  Sage said, readying his sword.

"THUNDER...BOLT...CUT!!!!"  he shouted, sending a blast of white hot light screaming at the Demetarians, which they simply absorbed.

"Of course, light would help them out.  How are we supposed to stop these guys?"  Sage wondered.

"We're probably going to need some more help on this one."  Sai suggested as he sprayed several bio-borgs with shots from his weapon.

Rowen and the others backpedaled returning fire behind a pair of doors as plasma ejector blasts and railgun slugs slammed into it along with leaves and arrows.

"Sai may be right.  Even with all our mecha weaponry, these guys don't want to give up.  I don't think they're going to stop until Rajei's in their possession."  Rowen concluded.
"What about the cannons?"  Sage asked.
"Too dangerous to fire in such closed space."  Rowen explained.
"We're going to need the others."  Sage said.
"Ms. Jishou, can you call Mia's and tell Ryo, Anubis and the Warlords to hurry over?"  Rowen asked.
"Not a problem.  I'll get right on it."
"Okay guys, let's go get them."  Rowen replied.

The Ronin charged out again, unloading everything they could at the invading forces, who threw everything they could back at the heroes.  The Demetarians stopped their firing and held their arms skyward once again as they began to glow gold.

"Great Rowen.  They've got no problems hitting us with a death ray, so maybe we should try and counter it with our own."  Kento suggested.
"Fine."  Rowen answered, unfolding his heavier weapons.  "KAI..."

Suddenly, bolts of fire rained down on the charging Demetarians, causing them to burst into the flame and run around like decapitated chickens!

"How 'bout a little fire, plant boys?"  Ryo asked, sending more flame raining down on them.

"Got here just in time."  Rowen replied.

"BLACK...LIGHTNING...SLASH!!!!!"  Kale shouted, sending lighting bolts screaming into Uranari Light Borgs, blowing them sky high.

Sekhmet touched down, and quickly unsheathed his swords, placing them in front of him, and sent his bladed whip snapping into the bio-borgs, slicing several cleanly in half.  Anubis charged towards Sura, scythe at the ready, as he cut down all in his path, left and right as he made his way for their leader.  Sura went for his pistol and fired lightning bolts back at him, but Anubis dodged and got close enough to knock it away, forcing him to go for his sword and parry like crazy as Anubis attacked relentlessly with swipes from his blade.

The Ronin and other Warlords continued to keep Sura's troops busy as Anubis continued to wail on Sura himself.  Anubis got in a good hit, which knocked Sura's sword away, as Dais took the opportunity to wrap him up in his chains.

"Now talk!"  Anubis answered.  "Where's the rest of your force?  How large is it?  How many of your kind are part of this invasion force?"  Anubis fired off questions as fast as he could think of them, but it was nothing more than mumbo jumbo to Sura.

"Anubis, maybe it would be a good idea to have Rajei interrogate him."  Rowen suggested.  "Just a thought."

Rajei came out from within the compound and proceeded to ask the same questions.

"So?  What did you find out?"  Rowen asked.
"He is called Mage Officer Sura, and explained in a few choice words that he's not talking."
"Great.  Now what do we do?"  Kento asked.
"We could torture him."  Sekhmet suggested.
"We could put a tracer on him and hope he leads us back to his camp."  Sai suggested.
"Highly unlikely."  Anubis said.
"So then what do we do with this guy?" Sage asked.
"We could lock him up here."  Kale suggested.
"His buddies would track him to our location and bust him out."  Ryo said.
"So then what are we supposed to do then?"  Sai asked.
"Well, we could hold him and his guys and hope their friends come to rescue them.  With any luck we could end up with a bigger prize than him."  Ryo suggested.

So it was settled.  Sura and his remaining troops were secured elsewhere in the facility, and preparations were made for the inevitable jailbreak the Miraju were going to make.

Back at the Miraju camp, word spread fast that Sura and his company were now prisoners of the enemy.

"This assault is not going as planned, High Lord.  Jata has already disobeyed orders and is being redisciplined, and Sura and the remainder of his forces are now in enemy custody.  Furthermore, the very being we seek to capture for Asterra is also in the same location, most likely briefing those fools as we speak!  We will need a full fledged miracle if we hope to stop them in their tracks!"
"Worry not, Ramito. These puny humans will not trouble you for long.  I will contact the Supreme Lord himself and request the aid of the Dark Rounin to acquire the target."  High Lord Ayosuf replied.
"The Dark Rounin?!"  Ramito gasped in disbelief.  "Are you sure THEY are needed?  With all due respect sir, they must be halfway across the universe right now!"  Ramito said.
"They are closer than you think, aboard Asterra's own flagship.  It will not take them long to reach Earth."
"What shall I do until they arrive?"  Ramito asked.
"Prepare your shock troops for immediate departure.  Your shock troopers will keep the humans distracted while the Dark Rounin break into the facility on their own and grab the target."
"I understand, High Lord Ayosuf."
"Good.  I will leave you to your preparations.  Good luck."

Somewhere in the asteroid belt, the imposing sight of Asterra's own flagship was hidden well behind the M field it generated.  Announcements were made throughout the ship that the Dark Rounin should prepare for launch.

Support personnel rushed through the corridors to the hangar, going over a jet black shuttle ship with finer and finer teethed combs as a last six individuals slowly entered the hangar.  They were rendered courtesies as they climbed aboard their ship.

"Are we ready to launch Illandere?"  one said, who seemed to be in charge.
"All systems go.  Everybody hang on tight."

The hangar doors opened out of the nothingness of space, as their ship slowly floated out of the hangar, fired up its engines, and headed for Earth.
 

NEXT EPISODE:

RYO:  Dark Rounin?  How can these guys be ronin if they have a master?

RAJEI:  The word "ronin" has a different connotation in the Miraju language.  My sources inform me that it refers to a vicious creature that inhabits their homeworld that stalks the darkest areas of Sirajadeen and plagued them for years until they had advanced enough to wipe the majority out.

ROWEN:  Not to violate the fourth wall or anything, but shouldn't we not know about the Dark Rounin coming in the next episode?

RAJEI:  True, but this is an episode preview.  It doesn't count.

::two men in black suits walk in on the Ronin, zap them with a red light, and leave::

RYO:  What just happened?  Rajei, were you talking about something?

RAJEI:  Yes, I was about to give the next episode title.  Ronin Warriors:  Ilusionary War;  Infiltration of Osaki.  Do not miss it.