Changing Episode 28

The Ancient's Sanctuary

Narrator: The Ronin Warriors have entered the Nether Realm anticipating a victorious battle against Emperor Kubi.  However, Kubi has summoned an army of soldiers and warlords to get rid of the warriors.

   Kento knocked down the last soldier.  "Phew, that sure took long enough," he sighed.

    "I've seen worse," Rowen said.

    Seckmet walked over to the ronins, and then Kale, and Dais appeared behind him.  "It is time for your true demise, Ronin runts!" Dais yelled.

    "WEB OF DECEPTION!"  The ronins jumped out of the way, but Kento, and Ryo were caught, and pulled back to the ground. 

    "Black Lightning Slash!" The black lightning latched onto the web and Ryo, Sai and Kento began to scream.  Sage ran at Kale and the two began a swordfight.

    "ARROW SHOCK WAVE!" Rowen's arrow flew at Seckhmet who was preparing to attack Ryo, Sai and Kento.   Sarah ran over and hacked at the web with her scythe.  Dais saw and threw more webbing, catching Sarah along with covering Kento, Sai and Ryo more.  Katie charged Dais.  He laughed and backed up as she slashed her dagger at him.  It appeared too short, but the blade extended and cut across his chest. 

    Seckhmet jumped at Rowen and venom spread over his swords.  He slashed at Rowen and hit him twice.   "SNAKE FANG STRIKE!"  Rowen jumped sideways as Sage pushed Kale, so the attack hit Kale.  Katie knocked Dais down and then stood over him.

    "SPIRAL LEAF SHINE!"  Dais yelled as the attack hit him.  Then Katie freed Sarah, Sai, Kento, and Ryo.  The seven warriors stood together and the three warlords stood together, then as if on cue a new army of soldiers appeared.  Rowen jumped up and showered arrows over the battlefield. 

    Then, walls began to appear to separate the ronins.  Sage jumped over to Rowen as a wall blocked them in.   Sai and Katie were stuck together, and Ryo, Kento, and Sarah were together.   Seckhmet jumped into the box with Sai and Katie, Dais joined Kento's group, and Kale joined Rowen and Sage.  Red light appeared in the air and showered down on the warriors.  The warlords seemed to draw power from it and even became physically larger, the ronins however, were knocked down by the power.  They grapped at their helmets as their heads began to pound.

    Kale smiled as Rowen and Sage fell to the ground.  "Black Lightning Slash!"  The two screamed as the attack bounced off of the walls and kept hitting them again and again.   Seckhmet filled the box with slimy venom that kept getting higher and higher.   Sai and Katie tried to stand as the venom began to burn their armor.  Dais sent his web around the room at the three warriors. 

    "No, not again!" Kento exclaimed as the web tacked him to the wall.  Ryo and Sarah rolled out of the way as it tried to stick to them too.  Ryo's ankle got stuck and also stuck to the wall.  Followed by his other ankle, and his wrists.  Sarah backed up against the wall, and spun her scythe.

    "Ice Frost..."   The web stuck onto the scythe and Dais pulled it out of her hands.  Sarah jumped and the web caught onto the top of the box and her wrist.  She pulled her foot up onto the top of the wall, and Dais, noticing his mistake caught webbing around her ankle and tried to pull her back down, but the web on her hand wouldn't budge, so Dais pulled harder and then suddenly was flipped into the air from the force of the web's attraction to Sarah's wrist.  When Dais flipped the web wrapped around him and he was stuck to the wall too.  "Good job," Sarah laughed at him.  Then more red light came down on them and Sarah screamed as her head started pounding again.   Even with the power descending to him Dais was caught, so finally he disappeared and so did the web.  Sarah fell back down to the floor of the box.

    Rowen began to pull himself up.  "Arrow Shock Wave!"  The attack was absorbed by the red power before it came close to hitting Kale.  "What're we going to do," he asked Sage.  Sage pushed his sword into the ground and struggled to get up as Kale prepared another Black Lightning Slash.

    "Sai!" Katie yelled as the venom came up to her waist.  "This hurts.... a lot!"

    "I know, if I could only attack...  My spear is under the venom, and so are my hands!"

    Kento, Ryo, and Sarah watched as Rowen's attack was absorbed by the red light.  Sarah stood up and dusted of her armor furiously.  "What're we going to do?!"  As she brushed off her left arm a small rectangular compact with the symbol of Glacier on it fell into her hand.  "What's this?"

    Kale stepped on Sage's head.   "Not so gallant now, Sage of the Halo!"

    The venom reached Sai's shoulder, and the two's vision started getting blurry, and they fell unconscious on each other.

    Sarah opened the compact and saw a bunch of keys on one side and then a screen on the part that opened.  "A computer?"  She hit the purple button and the screen displayed the symbol, and so did her visor.  The small computer had a cord that attached it to her armor.  

    "What're you doing?" Ryo asked as he held onto his head.

    "Analyzing the red light, looking for a weak point," Sarah responded as her fingers moved like lightning across the small keyboard.  "There it is!  Ryo, Right as the red power descends attack right into it."  Ryo watched, and when another power shaft came down on them he picked up his swords.

    "FLARE UP NOW!"   Ryo's power hit the red power, and the red power turned black, and then seemed to disintegrate. 

   Sage pushed Kale's foot off of his head as the pain in his head subsided, and then picked up his sword.  Rowen jumped up next to him.  "THUNDER BOLT CUT!"

    "What's going on?!" Kale exclaimed.

    "ARROW SHOCK WAVE!"  The powers hit Kale at the same time, and he screamed and disappeared.   Sage and Rowen jumped up over the wall, and then jumped onto the ledge of the venom filled one.

    "Arrow shock wave!"

    "Thunder Bolt Cut!" Seckhmet screamed and disappeared, along with his venom.  Sai and Katie woke up, and they all jumped out of the box.  Sarah, Kento, and Ryo jumped out of theirs, and the ronins all ran up to each other.  Sarah was still using her computer when Sage asked, "What happened to that red light?"

    "Dude, Sarah found a computer in her armor, found its weak point, and had Ryo bash it," Kento responded.   Sage approached Sarah.

    "A computer?   What're you doing with it now?"

    "It has a map of the Dynasty in it.  There's a section of the Dynasty that displays with a gold color over it, everything else is black."

    "Where is it?" Sai asked.

    "Not that far away," she responded.

    "Then why don't we check it out?" Ryo suggested.  The others nodded, and followed as Sarah led them up to a hill where a Japanese style building sat far away from everything else, with a wall around it.  They climbed the hill, and then walked up to the doorway.   "This is it?" Ryo asked.

    "This is it," Sarah confirmed. 

    "But why is this building so far away from everything, and set aside like this?" Kento asked.   The others shrugged and walked into the walled in area.  A large piece of land was set aside, adjacent to the two buildings.  They walked into the larger of the two and discovered a room filled with seven beds, lined up.  It also had cabinets.   In the room next to it there was a table with seven chairs, a sink, a stove, and more cabinets.

    Sage opened a large pantry in the kitchen and found that it was full with bags of rice.  Another cabinet had bowls, another had tea, and teacups, while the drawer had chopsticks.  "What is this place?  A Dynasty resort?" Rowen asked.  Sarah slid open another door that revealed a bathroom with a large wooden bathtub in it.  Kento went into the bedroom and opened up a cabinet that was filled with plain pants style kimonos.  The pants were all white, but their were varying colors for tops.  Katie opened a cabinet in the bathroom that was full of bandages and other first-aid items.  Rowen opened up a drawer and saw that it was filled with his type of blue headbands, and it contained a note.  He opened it, and sat down to read it outloud.

    Dear Ronin Warriors,

    I suppose, if one of you are reading this note it means the evil Dynasty has attacked again, and you are preparing to fight.  In recent times I haven't felt like myself anymore, so I decided to do something for you Ronin Warriors before I became mad.  This walled in area is a sanctuary, the Ancient's Sanctuary.  It has been sanctioned off for the use of the good.  No one evil will be able to enter this area.  I hope the seven of you Wildfire, Halo, Torrent, Hardrock, Redoak, Glacier and Strata are happy with what I have left for you here.  Yes, I do know of the two other armors.  As a descendant of the Ancient's Clan the knowledge was given to me when I acquired the staff.  I hope you defeat whoever is running the Dynasty right now, even if it's me.

- Kayura

   "Wow," Sage said.  "So Kayura made this place for us?  Wow."

    "There're two more letters," Rowen said carefully.  "One is to Glacier and the other to Redoak."  He held out the letters and the two took them.  Sarah opened hers and cleared her throat to read it outloud.

Bearer of the Armor or Glacier,

The Armor of Glacier is a highly advanced armor.  As time goes by it aquires more knowledge to update its technology.   It's sometimes called "the armor of the future" as it becomes more and more modern.  It's power level is directly connected to the emotions of its wearer, so beware of the consequences of losing your head.  The clan of the Mountain Shima were entrusted with this armor due to certain "abilities" they had.  Those abilities are probably lost by now, but may return, through the memory of the armor.

-Kayura

   "Abilities?" Sarah said, puzzled.  "What abilities?"

    "Well she said they were gone by now," Ryo said.

    "The memory of the armor?" Sage said, confused.

    "The 'armor of the future' eh?  Cool," Kento said.

    Everyone turned to Katie, waiting for her to read her letter. 

    "Aren't you going to read it?" Rowen asked.

    "She addressed it to me, not the rest of you, it's mine," Katie said, her voice lined with distaste.   She turned and walked away angrily. 

    "Come back here!" Sarah called.  "We have to discuss battle plans!"  She took off after Katie.

    "Personally I would like to sleep," Kento said.  He took all of his armor off and stretched out on one of the beds.  "Or maybe I should eat first?"

    "Hey Rowen, looks like you can take off that headband that has the hole in it now," Sage said, eyeing the drawer of headbands. 

    "It's just freaky that she would put these in here you know.  I wonder if they're poisoned..."

    "I don't think so.   But I do think we should all get some rest, and form a plan later."   Rowen and Sage unarmored and laid down on the beds next to Kento.

    "So, what does your letter say?" Sarah asked Katie.  Both were in their undergear on the lawn.

    "Is says:"

Bearer of Redoak,

The Redoak armor is a highly advanced armor.  It's dagger has many abilities, some known, and some yet to be determined.   The armor of Redoak was entrusted to the Forest Shima Clan due to some special abilities they had, ones that differed from their sister clan of Mountain Shima, but were crucial to the longevity of the armor.

In a note to the others, the power was not divided evenly when Talpa's armor was separated, which is part of the reason why the armors of Glacier, Redoak, Strata, and Halo will always have a special connection.

-Kayura

   "Wow, a special connection huh?" Sarah said.

    "It's all garbage, like Rowen and I could get along, let alone have a special connection.  Besides, we both know how crazy Kayura was, like we could believe anything she said."

    "But still...."

    "So what's going on with you and Rowen?" Katie asked.

    "What... what do you mean," Sarah asked as her face began to turn red.

    "I saw what you two were doing while you were floating.  You were kissing weren't you?"

    "Well yeah, he'd just saved me and I...  Why are you acting like this is terrible?  You know that I have feelings for Rowen."

    "Having 'feelings' for and acting upon those feelings are completely different.  You shouldn't trust him.   Besides, after we defeat Kubi, we're going back to Boston, and we're not going to see them again."

    "Why do you sound like you're trying to convince yourself of that?  Do you... do you like Sage?" she asked, lowering her voice.  Katie's face turned red.

    "Of course not."   She flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder.  "Let's go to bed."

    "Always changing the subject," Sarah whispered so Katie couldn't hear her.

    Sage woke up and looked around the room.  Everyone else was asleep, but Rowen's bed was empty.  He got up and walked into the kitchen.  Rowen was at the table drinking tea.   "What're you doing up?" Sage asked.

    "Couldn't sleep."

    "That's odd for you.   What're you thinking about?"

    "Sarah," Rowen said, his eyes closed.

    "What about her?"

    "Sage, I kissed her.   Right before you and Katie showed up."

    "I know."

    "You do?  And you didn't say anything?"

    "I was waiting for you to tell me.  So, are you two together now or what?" Sage asked.

    "I don't know.  We haven't talked about it."

    "Well there's something I have to tell you.  I think I like Katie."

    "Like like Katie?   Like a girlfriend?" Rowen gasped.  Sage nodded.  "Why?  I thought you were suspicious about her like I am.  What, do you like the evil type?"

    "It's not that.   She's just really great once you get to know her a little."  The two heard quiet footsteps and saw Sarah standing in the doorway.

    "Could you two please keep it down, I can hear you and you're keeping me up," she asked sweetly.

    "Sure," Sage said.   Sarah went back to bed.  Katie laid still on her bed, with her eyes open.

    Sage actually does like me?  But I can't like Sage.  The way he treated me when I first got here was awful, so why should I suddenly change my mind?  I shouldn't.  Katie thought to herself.

    Katie got up before everyone else and went outside.  She put her armor on quietly and then walked over to the lawn.  She held out her dagger and slashed the air with it.  Then she did it again, but extended it a little that time.  She practiced this over and over until her blade became longer than Sage's sword with every slash.  Ryo walked out with a tea cup in his hand.  "That's cool," he called to her.  She stopped slashing her dagger and looked over at him.

    "I didn't notice you there," she said.

    "I just got here.   I wanted some tea and to take a little walk around the grounds."

    "Once everyone's up we should probably discuss what to do next.  Make a plan about how to defeat Kubi."

    "Yeah... I guess, that stuff's just so boring though.  So did you figure out anything else about your armor?"

    "Not really.  I don't know if there's really that many secrets left though," she shrugged.

    "Hey, you never know," he said with a smile.  Then he walked past her.

Later:  The seven Ronin Warriors were sitting at the kitchen table for a strategy meeting.  "So you mean you actually blew a hole in the side of the castle?!" Ryo exclaimed.  Rowen nodded. 

    "Security wasn't that tight then, but it probably is now," Rowen said.

    "They probably didn't think you would be able to get that close to the castle anyway," Sage added.

    "So what do we do now?" Kento asked.

    "Katie, Sarah what do you two know about Kubi's attack strength and powers and all that?" Ryo inquired.

    "The vortex thing, and the red light from our last fight was his too," Sarah responded.

    "He's a lot stronger than he's shown us.  No one who's ever challenged him has survived to talk about it," Katie added.

    "Well we've always used Inferno before..." Kento started.  "But now...."  The guys looked down at the table.

    "Inferno isn't really destroyed," Katie said.

    "WHAT!?" Ryo exclaimed.

    "It's power protected it and pulled it away," Katie explained.  "You can get it back, I just don't know how."

    The five looked at her with interest, and Rowen clenched a fist under the table.  "Why didn't you say anything before?" Rowen asked with restraint.

    "I forgot," Katie said with an edge of sarcasm.

    "Well that information would've been helpful before we got to the Dynasty," Ryo said cautiously.   "What do you think Sage, how do we get Inferno back?"

    "How should I know?   The Ancient's probably the only one who does."

    "Think Anubis knows?" Sai asked.

    "Anubis isn't the most forthcoming with information," Sage responded.

    "But isn't he supposed to be there to help us?" Kento asked.

    "You can go ahead and try to call him, but I think we have to make a new plan of how to beat Kubi.  We can't depend on the Inferno to save us, not this time," Sage said grimly. 

    "Well we didn't really have a plan when we fought Talpa, but we still won.  It'll probably work out the same way this time," Kento said.

    "You've been pretty quiet today Sarah, what are you thinking?" Sai asked.

    She looked up from the table.  "I was just trying to figure out what we should do.  I'm coming up blank."  The others nodded.

    "Looks like we're going to have to wing it," Sage said somberly. 

    The seven warriors donned their undergear and prepared to leave the sanctuary.

Narrator: The seven warriors are stepping out of the safety of the sanctuary and back into the evil realm of the Dynasty.  Unaware of what dangers lie ahead, they have decided to defeat Kubi no matter what it takes.   But will they succeed?