Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ The New Game ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter
Five

A little before hand comment
from the author-- Yep, it's me again. *Waves*
What's up? Anyway, this should be about the end to my
four-chapter long attack. Chapter six will be out soon. Okay?
Read on!

**********

<Kasina&g t;

**********

<We shall see, Halo, we shall
see.> The words repeated themselves in my head.

What do I do? I wondered.

<Try playing on his honor. He seems
to have some sense of the word.> There was a
slight edge of disgust to the thought.

Raising my head, I stared towards where The
voice-- Orian?-- had last come from. Speaking aloud, I called,
"Surely you wouldn't fight a girl so severely handicapped.
Are you that weak?" Maybe I shouldn't have added that last
part. But then again, whatever.

There was silence. Then, "Brave.
Foolishly so. Strangely like the one before you. Yet, you are
right, in this darkness and you without your armor, I do have an
immense advantage."

<Halo,> came that small
voice.

Yes? I asked.

<Listen to me, alright? You need
your power to fight him.>

My what? I demanded.

I could have sworn there was a muffled
exclamation. <Why must you all be so stubborn?> It
was so faint I wasn't even sure I heard it. <Your
armor.>

What that guy-- I mean, Orian, I guess,
keeps talking about?

<That's it exactly.>

"Halo?" Orian called.

I froze. The voice was so close. His
voice was the only, the only sound I heard.

"Why do you call me that?" The
question was to both of them. Silence from inside my mind, and a
laugh from ahead, oh, too close ahead. . .

"Maybe, if you live, which I seriously
am beginning to doubt, you will learn the reason." I heard
a. . . felt a. . . oh, I couldn't describe it, yet suddenly I
knew there was a quick flash of movement ahead. Jerking out of my
position, I threw myself down and rolled. A sharp whistle of air
streaked past my ear. What the He-

<Call your power, Halo!>
Shouted the voice inside my head.

"Very good dodging. Unfortunately,
that was only a test."

How?! Tell me how to! A test?

I jumped up. Never be in the same place
your enemy knew you last to be. I jumped forward, not away, but
towards my attacker, and punched. I felt my hand connect with a
strange sort of metal. Wincing, I pulled my hand back and started
backing away.

Again that annoying laugh came. "Like
I said," Orian began, more then a hint of amusement in his
words, "you are foolishly brave."

<Call your name.> Before I
could ask what the heck it meant, it broke in, <Your
power's name! Call it!>

Call Hal-? My thought was caught
off as something hit my side, hard. Groaning, I feel to the
ground, clutching at the wound. There was a sticky wetness there.

Okay, instead of feeling scared, here's
what really may seem crazy-- I got mad. More angry then I had
felt before. As I pulled my hand away, I felt something burning
into my palm. I opened my hand. A light, brighter then the
darkness, so bright that it should have-- Should have--
hurt to look at it, but I knew what it was. The orb. My orb. It
lit up the space around me, illuminating everything near in a
bright, greenish light.

You wanna fight? I thought. Okay,
let's fight.

"HALO!" I called out, and felt an
immense power flow through me. It filled me, overwhelmed my
senses. The light seemed to. . . harden, like it suddenly
solidified around the edges and enclosed me, bathing me in the
brightness, the light, the pure. . . Life.

Then it was gone. The power was still
there, just. . . still, now, not moving, waiting. The light
stayed to, and expanded. The greenish tint fell away as the small
bubble grew, until I could see the outlines of buildings and
streets and lights. It grew until the darkness fell away
completely.

I felt something surrounding my body.
Looking over myself, I found a strange bodysuit covering me. It
was green and white, like the colors of the light that seemed to
have saved me. Incredible! What was it? It held power, that power
I had felt, but was it mine? How had it gotten there? Surely I
wasn't meant to keep this power. . .

I looked around, expecting to find the
person who had been challenging me, and found nothing. I was
tense, slowly turning, yet still. . . no one jumped out at me.

Where did he go? I wondered.

<He left. You passed the test.>
The voice whispered.

Huh? I asked, confused. What
do you mean, what test? Is he gone for good?

<Unfortunately, no, he isn't. He
will fight you again. But I will be there, as well, I will help
you fight, Halo.>

Halo. Is that the name of this. . .
this thing?

<Armor. Sub-armor. And yes, Halo is
what it is normally called. You are it's bearer.>

Me?! Why me?! Who are you? Did you give
me this? How can I be the bearer? I don't even understand it!

<That is my fault.> It
sounded sad. <You should have been trained a long time
ago. Until next time, Halo.>

Wait! You can't. . . But I knew
the voice was gone.

**********

<Unknown>

**********

I slumped against a random tree, exhausted.
Communicating with the them, for so long and to so many different
minds, had drained me. But they had fought well, at least. Pren's
attack would be met by an equal force, if I had to go
out there and fight myself.

The long golden staff weighted down my
hand. Sinking into a cross-legged position, I brought it in front
of me. It seemed so much more heavy then it should have been.
Never before had the responsibility of carrying the staff, or
everything holding it meant, been so heavy on my shoulders. The
rings on it's end were still, now, fortunately. The four who had
been attacked today would have been killed with out my help, I
was sure.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I rammed the
end of the staff into the ground and stood up. Damn you,
Pren! My mind cried. Damn these rules. . . even if they
are the only thing keeping the world safe right now.

I wanted to speak with them. Face-to-face,
to explain, to train them! What I had done today, even, bordered
on the edge of breaking our agreement. I couldn't go to
them directly, no matter how much I wanted to.

For what had to be the millionth time, I
scolded myself for not acting more quickly. The guilt was so
immense, I wondered if I'd ever stop feeling it, short of death.
How could I have been so stupid?! All this time I could
have been helping them, training them, yet because I hadn't
watched the signs. . . hadn't wanted to read the signs.
. . the world was at stake because of my weakness.

Why did the Dynasty have to rise again?
Damn Taulpa. . . If he hadn't have known he would lose, hadn't
planned this. . . Damn it!

I felt a sharp pain in my hands. Wincing, I
let go of the staff with one hand and brought it into my sight.
There was a small purple bruise growing there from gripping the
metal too hard.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath.

I will help you fight, Ronins. I will
make up for my mistake. No matter what the cost.

**********

<Tysoni>
< br>

**********

Throwing my pack on the hall floor, I
walked inside my house. Silence greeting me, much to my relief.
If Karen or my mother had been waiting for me when I walked in. .
. Well, how in the world could I explain why I was about two
hours late?

After one last glance at my pack, I started
to my room. I had had no idea how I had found that thing after. .
. after what happened. Had it even really happened? The voice,
the attack, the sub-whatever thing? It seemed like some crazy
dream only very insane people would believe. Yet I, with all my
heart, did believe it had happened.

I actually thought I was safe, walking
through the house. It just goes to show you how out of it I was,
forgetting about. . . him.

I heard the light clicking on the tiles to
late. Tried to dodge, too late. I saw the white blur come at me
with amazing speed, saw it fly into the air. . . And then I was
on my back, being attacked by the savage beast.

I turned my head from side to side, trying
to get out from under him, but of course he had me pinned.

"White Blaze!" I managed to choke
out from under his tongue, "Off! Off!" Every time of
every day I came into the house, he always, always pinned
me. The huge tiger could be extremely annoying sometimes, even if
it was just his way of saying hello. His black-and-white striped
tail swished back and forth playfully, his front paws on my
shoulders and his back paws holding me down on my thighs, claws
retracted, thankfully.

Finally satisfied, he back off, sitting on
his hind legs and studying me. I sat up and wiped my mouth with
the back of my hand, glaring at him. He only stared back at me
with that kind of tiger grin.

Shaking my head, I started to stand up,
but... suddenly White Blaze was in my face again, not playful
this time, somehow very serious. He put his paw on my chest,
gently, but to keep me down all the same. His almond-shaped gaze
met mine, studying again, yet. . . if he had been human I would
have sworn I saw realization in the blue stare. I stared back,
startled at his strange behavior.

Very suddenly, he backed off, turning away
and lumbering off. Right before he left the hallway, he gaze me
one last stare.

I picked myself up and walked to my room.
That tiger was just too. . . human, sometimes. Deciding to worry
about that problem later, my thoughts went back to my
other big problem.

I still didn't remember exactly how I had
called upon that power, or what had happened to that woman. She
had just disappeared, and soon after, my armor as well. I could
try to deny that it had ever happened, keep trying to ignore it,
but somehow I could never just believe it had never
happened.

Now, I guessed, I would have to find the
"others." Great. Shouldn't be too hard; after all, I
only had the entire world to search, with a midnight curfew.

**********

<Teren>

**********

"Mom? Dad?" I called as I stepped
in the door. I heard the TV on in the living room. Someone was
watching "Sailor Moon". I was guessing my brother.

There was no answer from my parents, thank
God, so I shut the door and slowly tip-toed past the living room,
wincing at the pain in my chest. In reality, I probably could
have stomped past the room without my little brother noticing.
There was just something about that show that always put him into
a trance, which was all the better for me.

Somehow, luckily, the wound had stopped
bleeding, but it still throbbed like hell. The bruise that was
sure to appear in my side by next morning was no help, either.

I got into the bathroom and shut the door.
Pulling my shirt off, I checked the cut in the mirror. It wasn't
deep, in fact, almost miraculously, it had become almost
completely healed-- I stared at it in wonderment.

Is it possible this earth power has
healing capabilities? I didn't know. The only person who
might have known was the Voice. I suddenly wished I could speak
to it again, if only to know what I was getting myself into.

**********

<Seidi>

**********

My dad was waiting for me when I got home.
In the doorway. My thoughts were to dazed to really think
properly, though. I still didn't know what had happened. That
voice had ordered me to-- No, really more like begged-- call on
Torrent. I had done it, called that thing, and. . . Everything
had happened. The other person had just disappeared, that guy
with the bow. It had taken me almost an hour to figure out that
somehow, with that-- What had the voice called it? Oh, yeah--
Subarmor, I had increased strength, and could somehow break the
chains that had held me. Without knowing really what else to do,
after I got down, I simply walked home. The subarmor had
disappeared shortly after, without any real explanation as to
why, leaving a very freaked out and scared girl in it's wake. It
was enough that for some reason, I was given this power. It was
more then enough to know that somehow, I had to learn to fight
with it. But it was to much, even for me, the know the my power
was Torrent. As in water. As in, the very thing that
took away almost everything I loved.

And now I had to deal with dad.

"You're late." He said simply,
moving aside to let me pass and go inside.

I winced. He almost never used that tone--
then again, I almost never was late. My mind was still whirling,
and not only could I not even begin to think of a good excuse, I
hated the idea of lying to my father.

"I know." I said hesitantly,
biting my lip and looking at him. His sea-blue gaze was firm--
Was everything going to remind me of the sea now?-- And I
probably looked pretty guilty.

Maybe he saw something in my eyes. Or maybe
it was God deciding to give me a break. Or maybe it was that
strange power that somehow, I knew, would change my life.

In any case, his gaze softened slightly.
"We'll talk about it in the morning." He said.

**********

<Kasina >

**********

I was so confused. Everything seemed to be
flying by so fast. How could I possibly keep up? Why was this
happening to me?

The doorknob seemed to turn under my hand
without me consciously knowing. My feet walked without my
consent. My backpack seemed to weigh literally a ton; was
surprised I could hold it up.

And, as expected, my parents were waiting
for me.

Both of them were is the living room. By
the looks one their faces, I could tell they had probably
carefully planned out everything they were going to say and
punish me with. My dad, in his infamous
crossed-arms-leaning-against-the-wall pose, with his "I am
not happy" look. Though my mother's face matched my father's
almost exactly, she sat on the couch with her hands fold calmly
in my lap.

To make a long story short, I didn't have a
chance.

So I walked in, sat down, and waited to be
lectured. I didn't really listen, it wasn't anything I hadn't
heard before. My thoughts were too jumbled about everything that
had happened anyway. Even if I had tried to defend myself in any
way, I knew my parents wouldn't have listened to a word I said.
They both were always convinced they were right, I mean, about
everything. Me objecting over something they had said only seemed
to prove my ignorance to them. There was no talking to them; I
had grown up with that, and I knew it wasn't going to change
anytime soon.

I was grounded. Whatever. Maybe the time
away from everybody would give me time to think over the little
green power/orb/subarmor/thingamajig.

I got up when my parents did, left the room
when my parents did. Nothing else would be satisfactory for them.

I walked up to my room, then threw my
things on the floor. I sank into my bed. Either my life would
soon become a mess, or. . . it already was. This Halo thing
wasn't going to make my life any easier-- but then again, how
could it be any harder?

Oh boy, was I ever gonna find out the
answer to that . . .

**********

Author's note:
This one was kinda short, but I figured that what I had
in mind to happen next would fit best in a different chapter.
Chapter six may take a while to come out because I am at a slight
writer's block right now--as I mentioned before. In another
words, (That is the proper way to say the phrase, don't
cha know,) I know about the main thing that I want to happen
next, I just don't know how to get to that point. Oh, and please
excuse any small errors on my part. I wrote all this pretty
quick. So. . . *looks up hopefully* Comments?

And . . . I guess that's about it. I'm off
to my uneventful real life now.