22nd Changing Series Episode

Two Mysterious Armors

Narrator:  Sarah showed a mysterious power against Juru at the skating rink.  Will the Ronin Warriors be able to assist her in finding out the secret behind this power?

   Sage walked into the kitchen and smelled something delicious.  "What's cooking?" he asked.

    "Lasagna," Sarah responded.

    "Sarah's been teaching me how to make it right," Sai added.  The kitchen counters were covered with cheese, sauce, and lasagna noodles.

   "We've been cooking the sauce for three days, I'm surprised you didn't notice it," Sarah said.

    "I've been a little preoccupied," Sage answered as he walked out.

 Upstairs, Katie laid on her bed with one arm hanging off the edge as she stared up at the white ceiling.  Hollographic images apeared from the white.  Ice broke.  Glowing letters of another language floated in and out of sight.  A leaf fell and a tree glowed with cherry blossom petals floating from no where.  Then the image cracked to pieces.  Katie was still laying the same and her eyes narrowed.

Meanwhile:

At the dinner table:

    "Sarah, we haven't really talked much about what happened at the skating rink," Mia said.

    "Yeah, how were you able to stand against Juru?" Rowen asked.

    "I don't know.  It's like something inside of me just told me to stay put, and before I knew it I was still there and everyone else was in the tornado."

    "Maybe something you learned in the Dynasty?" Sage suggested.

    "No, it wasn't anything evil, it was just strong and reassuring.  I can't really explain it."

    Sarah and Mia started clearing the table while the ronins considered what she said.

    Sage and Rowen sat on their beds facing each other. 

    "I just don't know what to think," Sage sighed.  "Everything that's happening now is just so confusing.  I mean, what if they are still evil?"

    "I believed Sarah when she said it wasn't something evil.  Besides, she was going AGAINST Juru, she wasn't helping him.  Also, when he saw her stopping him, he just left."

    "ROWEN!  Telephone!" Mia yelled up to him.

    Rowen leaned over and grabbed the phone.  "Hello?"

    "Where have you been all week!?" A man's voice yelled at him. 

    Rowen pulled the phone away from his ear, and then pulled it back to his mouth to talk.  "Oh, Dad.  I left a message on your voice mail that I was going to be here for a while."

    "Well I didn't get it, you must not have sent it."

    "Why did you wait a whole week before wondering where I was anyway?  And I did send it.  I also left you a note."

    "What note?"

    "The one on your dresser.  You obviously got the phone number from somewhere."

    "It was in the living room."

    "Well, now you know where I am.  I have to go.  Bye."  Rowen hung it up.  "Typical of him.  He waited a week to call me," Rowen sighed to Sage.

    "If I'm gone for five minutes my whole house has to know where I am," Sage laughed.  "I say you got the better deal."

    "Oh well, anyway, back to Sarah."

    Sage looked around the room.  His side was covered with posters of Akina Nakamori and Sailor V, and various Kendo posters and paraphenalia.  He had a family picture (without his father in it) on his bedside table.  Rowen's side was starker with a few science posters, a baseball poster, and a lot of things laying on the floor, all in organized stacks, but on the floor nonetheless.

    "I guess what you said about Sarah before was true.  It's just there's so much mystery."

    "Welcome to the world of mystical armor," Rowen replied.  "When do you think we should attack the Dynasty directly?"

    "I don't know, I just think we should wait a little while.  Ryo needed help with his math homework by the way.  I'm going to go talk to Sarah."  Sage got up and walked down the hall to Sarah's room.  He knocked on the closed door.

    "Come in," she said.

    Sage walked in.  She was on the bed reading Damia by Anne McCaffrey.  "Good book?" Sage asked.

    "I've read it a million times, it was all I had with me.  But yeah, it's good.  Mia offered to buy me some books when we were out getting some clothes yesterday, but I don't know, I felt like I was taking advantage of her as it was."

    "Did Katie go with you?"

    "No, but I got some things for her."   She paused, then said, "Do you need something?"

    "I just wanted to talk to you, see how you're doing with all this," he said nonchalantly.  She sat up, and patted the bed and he sat down next to her.

    "Sage," she started, she paused and then said, "sometimes I feel like I'm someone else.  I haven't told this to anyone else, because I was embarrassed, but I do."

    "Like when?"

    "Like at the skating rink when I stood against Juru, and some other times when I'm around you guys, especially around Rowen."

    "Rowen?"

    "Yeah, it's like someone else takes over me and then I feel like I know him from somewhere, then it passes."  She hugged the pillow.  "It's weird I know.  I just knew I could tell you without you getting weird about it or telling anyone else."

    "Well it's not weird.  Talpa must've targeted you for a reason.  I'm sure once we figure that out everything else will fall into place."  He rested his hand over hers for reassurance, and she nodded.

      Rowen, Ryo, and Kento sat on the couches in the living room.  Ryo and Kento were listening to Rowen attentively, but they were still confused.

    "Wait... so the parentheses mean you multiply?" Kento asked, scratching his head. 

    "Yes," Rowen answered.

    "But aren't they supposed to mean extra information that isn't necessarily part of what you're doing?"

    "Not in math," Rowen answered with a twinge of annoyance.

    "And that funky little symbol means pie?   Like pie you eat pie?  But aren't some pies smaller than others?" Ryo asked.

    "It means pi as in P-I 3.14 etc.  It means pi not pie!" Rowen yelled.

    "Wait... which is it?" Kento asked.   Rowen got up and stormed out of the room.  Kento and Ryo smiled at each other and gave each other a thumbs-up.

    Kubi smashed his fist against the arm rest of his chair.  On the screen in front of him he saw Sarah standing up against Juru's attack.  "I must do something now, before THAT happens..."

   "Hey guys..." Ryo whispered as the five walked into the room he shared with Kento and Sai.  "Check this out."  Ryo was in his undergear, and flames came out of his fingertips. 

    "Cool," Kento said.  "How do you do it?" 

    "It's like this.."

A little while later:  All five were in their undergear, and Sai was watching, fascinated as water shot out of his fingers, Kento was looking disgusted at the little stones coming out of his fingers, and Sage and Rowen were still trying to get theirs to work.  Suddenly, light came out of Sage's fingers.  "Hey look," Rowen laughed.  "Instant flashlight!"

    "Yeah I guess so," Sage said, amazed.   Then everyone turned to Rowen.

    "Does yours work yet?" Ryo asked.

    "I don't know..." he started, and then went to brush his hair back with his hand and his hair started blowing.  Rowen looked at his fingers.  "Yeah, it does work... it's just wind though."

    "I wonder if we could get just our power to work like this too?" Sage asked.

    "You could try," Ryo responded.

    "How'd you learn this anyway?" Rowen asked, still examining his fingers.

    "Uh... Kati.... I mean I figured it out."

    Rowen's eyes narrowed in anger.  "KATIE TAUGHT YOU THIS?!" Rowen demanded.

    "Yes," Ryo said sheepishly.

    Rowen hadn't stopped projecting power out of his hands, and he stood up angrily.  Then his power intensified and things started blowing around the room, as air came out of both of his hands.  "YOU THOUGHT I WOULD WANT TO LEARN SOMETHING SHE TAUGHT YOU!!??!  SOMETHING THE EVIL EMPRESS TAUGHT YOU!!??!"

    Ryo back up as Rowen approached him, then Rowen noticed the things blowing, looked disgusted, then stopped the power from coming out of his hands.  Everything fell back down, and Rowen stormed out.

    "You know, he's right, I can't believe you," Sage said, and he followed Rowen out.  The others nodded and left Ryo alone.

    "I was just trying to help," Ryo whispered to himself.

    Sage walked into his bedroom and saw Rowen on his bed reading a book.  "I'm gonna go down to my house to get some more clothes, want to come?" Sage asked.

    "Sure, better than staying here with the evil empress," Rowen said nonchalantly.  He put the book on one of the many piles and grabbed his coat out of the closet.

    Outside the Date dojo Sage parked his car.  "So this is the great Date Dojo eh?" Rowen asked.

    "The one and only.   Let's go inside," Sage said.  He led the way to the house and they walked into the kitchen.  A woman with dark hair was standing at the sink.  She turned around when they came in.

    "Hello Sage, isn't this a surprise!" she said.  She dried her hands and set the towel down. 

    "Hi mom, I can't stay too long, I just came to pick up a few things," Sage said.

    "Well who's your friend here?" she asked.  Before Sage could answer Sage's Grandfather walked in.

    "Ah Sage's here good, the dojo needs to be cleaned," his grandfather said.

    "I'm not staying long.   Anyway, Mom, Grandfather, this is my friend Rowen Hashiba," Sage said.

    "Nice to meet you both," Rowen said.

    "Hashiba?" his grandfather said.  "Why does that sound so familiar?  Wait a minute... Genichirou Hashiba... are you related to that crazy scientist?" he asked accusingly with a harsh tone.

    "Umm... yes... he's my father," Rowen choked.  Sage noticed how nervous Rowen was getting and thought quickly.

    "Well we really don't have much time.  Let's go up to my room Rowen," Sage said, he grabbed the sleeve of Rowen's blue coat and dragged him up the stairs.

    "Hah, Sage with Hashiba's son, now there's something humorous," Grandfather Date laughed.

    "You were so mean to that poor boy," Sage's mother said.  "It's good to see that Sage has some male friends, he used to always just hang around with girls, and that Rowen is very good looking too."

    "I wouldn't know about that, but I do know that Rowen is supposedly a genius.  I wonder why Sage is with him."

    "Phew, sorry about my Grandfather.  He's always rude and obnoxious," Sage said.

    "No, that's alright.   So this is your room huh?  What's with the sword on the wall?" Rowen asked.  Sage's room was as perfectly organized as it was at Mia's.  He had a few Kendo posters on the wall still and a sword was hanging on the wall above his windows.

    "Oh, that's my sword my Grandfather gave me after I won my first Kendo tournament."

    "How nice," Rowen said, still looking around as Sage packed his bag.  Then a girl of about thirteen poked her head in the room.

    "I thought I heard someone else's voice," the girl said.

    "Oh hi Satsuki," Sage said.  "Rowen, this is my sister Satsuki, Satsuki this is Rowen Hashiba."

    "Well hello," she said, staring up at him.  Wow is he hott or what? she thought.   "So Rowen, I love that name by the way, do you have a girlfriend by any chance?"

    "Um... no, why?" Rowen asked, confused.

    "Well that's great..." Satsuki started.

    "I'm done, let's go," Sage interrupted.  He grabbed Rowen's arm and pulled him out of the room.

    "No what was that all about?" Rowen asked as they got in the car.

    "My sister was flirting with you.  You should be happy that I saved you.  She's very aggressive with boys," Sage said.

    A while later back at the mansion:

    "I'm going on a pizza run!" Kento yelled.  "Anyone want some?"

    "It's eight o'clock at night and you're getting pizza NOW?" Sage exclaimed as he walked down the stairs.

    "What's wrong with that?" Kento asked.

    "No one wants pizza this late at night," Sage said matter-of factly.

    "Get me a small with cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, and anchovies!" Rowen yelled in from the kitchen.  He walked in slowly.

    "I'll take two slices of cheese!" Sarah said as she walked down the stairs toward the couch.

    Kento looked at Sage and laughed, then Kento grabbed Mia's keys, and walked out.

   Mia shrugged as Kento walked out and sat down.   "He ate all the leftovers for the week, and there were no snacks left," she said.

    Sai walked into the room with a plate of heated lasagna.  "Where'd you get that?!" Mia exclaimed.

    "I saved it in a secret hiding spot, so I'll eat it now while Kento's out.  Anyone want some?"  Mia, Sage, Sarah, Rowen, and Ryo all said yes, so they grabbed forks and sat at the table around the plate to eat it.

    "I thought no one wanted food at eight Sage," Rowen snickered.

    "I said pizza, not lasagna," he responded as he took a bite.  Katie walked in and surveyed the scene with a disgusted look on her face, and then she walked into the living room, and sat down on the small vacant couch and leafed through a magazine.

    After they finished eating, Sai washed the plate and the forks and put them away.  Then Kento walked in with three large pizzas.

    "I wanted a small," Rowen said. 

    "Yeah, but I figured you'd want some of mine if I only got you a small.  And Sarah, you can keep this whole one, reheat it for lunch tomorrow," Kento put the pizza boxes on the table, and Sarah and Rowen pulled theirs over to them and started eating it. 

    "She eats a lot for someone her size," Sai whispered to Sage about Sarah.  Sage just laughed, but Katie had heard them and glared at them.

    Kento got up and went into the kitchen for some milk.

   Dark clouds covered the sky and the windows in Mia's kitchen shattered.  The pieces of glass fell to Kento's feet.  "We got company!" Kento yelled.  "And I don't mean Sage's grandfather!"   The guys ran into the kitchen, Rowen finishing a slice of pizza, and all of them ran outside.

    "Why would you use my grandfather as an example?" Sage asked as he caught up with Kento.  Kento shrugged.  Sarah put her pizza down, and Katie got up from the living room couch.  They put their shoes on and ran outside too.   They stayed close to the house. 

    The ronins put their undergear on and bashed the soldiers that were standing in front of them.  More appeared, and Rowen did his side-kick-flip to knock four of them down, while Sage punched down the other two.  A blaze of blue fire appeared in front of them and then turned into a man Warlord.  He was wearing gold armor, and looked like a conquistador with a bucket helmet and red glowing eyes.  He was perfectly outlined against the night sky and Dynasty clouds.

    "This guy looks ridiculous," Kento laughed.

    "They're actually using him?" Sarah asked, stunned.  "He's uncontrollable.  All he wants to do is kill people, and he doesn't follow orders well.  He doesn't think when he fights, he just goes in for the kill.  Kubi must be desperate."

    Sage heard Sarah and looked over at her.   "I think we should armor up guys!" he yelled.

    "Armor of Halo!"

    "Armor of Torrent!"

    "Armor of Strata!"

    "Armor of Hardrock!"

    "Armor of Wildfire!"

    "TOU-JIN!"

    The Warlord laughed.  He held out his sword, flames danced on the edge.  Rowen stared at him, and then the flames shot at Rowen and knocked him to the ground. 

    "Rowen!  How'd he do that?" Sage looked from Rowen to the Warlord.  Then, the flames knocked Sage on top of Rowen.   Sai went over to them.  Sage got off of Rowen, but Rowen looked paralyzed.   Sage pulled out his sword and reflected the light, fire was surrounding Rowen.   Then the Warlord hit Sage with the fire again, and he became just like Rowen.   Ryo dove at the Warlord and the flames shot into him.  He fell into the fire too. 

    Kento looked angry and then he yelled, "Iron Rock Crusher!"  The Warlord smiled and reflected the power back at him, along with some fire.  Sai got nervous, and didn't know what to do.  Then he felt a hand grasp his shoulder.  He looked over and saw Rowen clutching to him.  The Warlord's eyes widened and he shoved Sai into the house.  He punched Sai who tried to punch back.  The Warlord caught his fist and he held it tight and crumpled Sai's hand.  In Sai's moment of shock he covered him with the fire too.  Sai collapsed and the Warlord walked back outside.  

    Rowen was on the ground again, and the Warlord walked over to him and Sage.  He pulled another sword out, and aimed them at Sage and Rowen.  The flames started bouncing off the sword, and then turned into red power, the red power slammed into Sage and Rowen and broke through their armor.  They reeled back and started bleeding heavily.  The Warlord held out his hand and a black light formed in it.  He threw the light at the Ronins and it caused a large explosion.   By this time the five had all collapsed on the ground, and were barely able to move.  They were easy prey for the Warlord.  He stood over Rowen and Sage with his swords out.  He pointed them at the two and the swords started to glow red and black.  He pulled back his arms and prepared to stab them.  The two were stuck in laying down positions and were still bleeding.  They couldn't move out of the way.   Rowen tried to reach for his bow but it had been thrown about ten feet from him, and Sage's sword was with it.  The Warlord's swords became larger and he prepared to strike.

    Sarah gasped and Katie screamed, and then they started to glow.  The Ronins strained to look over at them, and the Warlord's concentration was interrupted as he looked over too.  Sarah started to glow purple, and Katie glowed green.  Ice appeared out of the sky and spun around Sarah, she held her arms straight up and the ice wrapped around her body, and cherry blossom petals fell from the sky.  Then the ice disappeared as Ronin Warrior style armor appeared on her.   The armor was still glowing, and flecs of purple light were still spinning around her.  Wood appeared and surrounded Katie.  She held her arms straight out from her body.  Tree branches wrapped around her and then disappeared as Ronin Warrior style armor appeared on Katie.  It was glowing green and green leaves fell to the ground around her.  Both armors were translucent and ghostlike, but the undergear was definitely real.  The sun caught the armors and they shined brightly, as if they were brand new.  Sarah held out her arm and a transparent scythe (Grim Reaper) appeared in her hand.  Katie pulled her arm back and a long transparent dagger appeared in her hand.

    "Ice Frost Barrier!" Sarah yelled as she spun her scythe from ground level and then up in front of her face.

    "Spiral Leaf Shine!" Katie screamed as she pointed the dagger at the Warlord.   The two powers, Sarah's light purple with dark purple flecs of energy, and Katie's dark green with flecs of light green hit the Warlord.  He screamed in pain and then disappeared.  The Ronins pulled themselves up and rushed as fast as they could over to the girls.  The girls began to look as if all of their energy was disappearing, they started to fall, and then Katie and Sarah disappeared.

    "Where'd they go?" Ryo gasped.

    "They had armor..?." Kento said quietly.

    "Oh my!" Mia said, she had arrived just as they disappeared, with Ulie.

Narrator: Katie and Sarah saved the Ronin Warriors using two mysterious armors, but now they've disappeared.  Will the Ronin Warriors be able to discover the secrets of these armors?  And will they be beneficial against the Dynasty?