Changing Series Episode 5

Sphere of Destruction

Narrator: Empress Katie and Warlady Sarah told the Ronin Warriors to meet them in Yokohama for the continuation of their battle.  What do they have planned?

            On Mia’s front lawn, the five Ronin Warriors continue to battle the pliable red soldiers.

            “SUPER WAVE SMASHER!”  Sai’s attack smashed through the soldiers, who turned to smoke and disappeared.

            “Sai, nice hit!” Sage praised, helmet in hand as he wiped sweat from his pale forehead.

            “Yeah, I never thought that water was the only way to defeat those guys!” Rowen said as they Sai blasted the last soldier away

            “Yeah, good think you figured it out!” Ryo added gratefully.

             “Umm, GUYS!” Mia yelled from within her house.  “WE have to talk to you.”

            Sage’s eye widened.  “Oh no, I forgot that Yayoi was here!”

            Yayoi stomped angrily out of the house.  When she stepped outside the Ronins had banished their armor.  “SAGE!  What’s going on?!” Yayoi demanded.

            “What do you mean?” Sage asked innocently.

            “One second, I’m having a nice conversation with you, and then I wake up on the floor with a killer headache and you’re OUTSIDE!” Yayoi complained.

            Ryo nudged Sage and pointed to his wrist.  “Listen Yayoi, I have to go.  I’ll explain later,” Sage said, turning away.

            “I don’t think so!” Yayoi yelled, rounding on him.  Mia walked outside as Kento passed her going in.  “You are going to explain.”

            “You fell and hit your head on the coffee table,” Rowen said with his eyes closed and hands palms up.

            “Oh, well where do you have to go?” she asked, buying Rowen’s lie.

            “Um… well… out,” Sage said, clearly at a loss.

            “You’re not leaving yet!  I’ve barely seen you lately!” Yayoi whined.

            “Well Sage, there’s only one thing to do.  Stay!  We’ll see you later,” Rowen said, clearly eager to get to Yokohama before the Dynasty warriors decided to wreak havoc and destruction.

            “Wait!” Sage said.

            “Come on Kento!  Bye Sage,” Rowen said.  Kento ran out of the house with a sandwich and a bag of chips.  He caught up to Rowen, Ryo, and Sai who were walking away down the street.  They were almost out of sight when they began to run.

            Kento turned to Sai and spoke to him.  The only word that was clear in between bites of food was “Yokohama.”  Kento swallowed and continued.  “What about Sage?”

            “Yayoi, you can see me tomorrow, okay!”

            “No, it’s NOT okay!  OKAY?!”

            “Mia, can I borrow the Jeep?” Sage asked, clearly ignoring his sister.

            “Sure,” Mia said, tossing him the keys.  Sage ran to the Jeep, got in, and drove away while White Blaze followed.

            “Hm, he’s hiding something.  Come on Miyu!” Yayoi shouted.

            “Mia,” Mia corrected.

            “Whatever.  We’re following them in my car!  Kento, thanks for saying where to go, Yokohama,” Yayoi said, a devilish light in her eyes.

            Sage drove up alongside his fellow Ronins.  “Get in,” he said through the open window.  They obeyed, and as the last door closed Sage drove off again.  “Hey Rowen,” Sage began, looking sideways at his blue haired companion.  “that coffee table excuse was good.”

            “Well, it wasn’t mine.  Kento made a joke, so I used it… well half of it.”

            “Proof!  I must be a genius if Rowen needed my help!” Kento exclaimed.

            “That’s a good one!” Ryo said, laughing at Kento.

            “Sage,” Sai said softly.  “You didn’t tell your family about your armor?”

            “What, you did?” Rowen asked.  Everyone looked at Sai with surprise.

            “Well, yeah!  I told my mum that I had it, though I didn’t tell her I was using it…”

            “I didn’t,” Kento said.  “I think my mom would tell me I was hallucinating and hand me more food if I did.”

            “I didn’t tell anyone,” Sage said.

            “Neither did I,” Ryo added.

            “Me either,” Rowen said.

            In Yokohama, a large metallic sphere was floating in the middle of a deserted street.  Katie and Sarah sat upon it lazily beneath a sky of dark clouds.  The Jeep pulled up, obviously speeding, and the Ronin Warriors exited wearing their undergear.  Sage noticed his sister’s car parked nearby.  His eyes widened with fear.  “What did you do to her?!” Sage shouted.

            “Huh?” Ryo asked, him and the other Ronins oblivious to the presence of the car. 

            “They are right here Sage,” Katie said.  She gestured with her hands and Mia and Yayoi’s bodies partially came out of the orb.  Both were unconscious.  They Ronins exchanged looks of fear.  “What’s the matter hmm?”  You look so scared.”  She paused.  “This thing I’m sitting on is a black energy orb.  It’s powered by hatred and vengeful feelings.”

            “So in other words,” Sarah began maliciously.  “You’re feeding it power right now.  A Sphere of Destruction such as this has the power to destroy half of Asia.  And with your power…”

            “Okay, we get the point!  Just let them go!”

            “Bo, fight us!  If you win, you may save them.  Of course, we can’t guarantee that,” Sarah said.

            “We’ll see about that!  ARMOR OF WILDFIRE!”

            “HALO!”

            “TORRENT!”

            “HARDROCK!”

            “STRATA!”

            Without preamble, Ryo hooked his swords together and shouted, “FLARE UP NOW!” Ryo threw the beam of energy off of his swords and at the pair of Dynasty warriors.  It was deflected and bounced back at him.  The Ronin Warriors saw it coming and just barely dodged it.  Ryo however, did not move from his original location and was slammed with dark energy that was emitted from the orb.  He fell to the ground on his head, but then the rest of him smashed down and he ended up lying on his back.  Sage jumped at Katie who was still on the orb.  Katie moved out of the way just in time, and Sage was hit with dark energy.  He was flung into the air, and fell hard against the ground.

            Katie floated into the air.  Rowen followed her ascent and shot a shower of arrows at her.  She dodged them almost lazily and then caught one and threw it back at him.  Rowen was stunned.  He fired an arrow at the one careening toward him and both arrows blew up.

            Kento split his bo into the different pieces and was spinning them as he jumped at Sarah to attack.  She gracefully moved out of the way.  He landed on the orb.  Sai held his weapon out before him and leapt at Sarah, trying to grab her neck with the spear.  Sarah slipped out of the way and punched Sai on the cheek.  Then she kicked Kento off the orb.   

            Ryo slowly stood up.  Rowen turned to him with an odd grin and said, “Ryo, I think it’s one of those days!”

            “Inferno?” Ryo said, though it was not really a question.

            “You bet,” Kento sat, rising from the ground.

            “Let’s do it!” Sage yelled.  Sage and Rowen stood back and released their power to Ryo.  Then Kento and Sai gave Ryo their power.

            “ARMOR OF INFERNO!  TOU JIN!” Ryo shouted, donning the Inferno armor.  Whiteblaze armored as well, leaping over Ryo.  Ryo pulled the swords of Fervor from Whiteblaze’s armor. 

            “RAGE OF INFERNO!” He shouted.  His attacked slammed into the orb.  Katie and Sarah quickly abandoned it.

            Sage turned to Ryo with anger.  “NO!  You’ll KILL them!”  Ryo heeded his warning and ended his attack.  Sage raced toward Yayoi in the orb.  He attempted to dig his sword into it but it did not help.  He continued slashing at it anyway.  Rowen fired an arrow at the orb, but it bounced off.  The orb began to glow purple.  Ryo ran to the orb.  He slammed one of his swords into it, and cut a slice near Yayoi.  The orb began to spray pink fluid from the gash.  Ryo flipped over to where Mia was and cut a slice next to her.  More pink liquid shot out of it.  Then the ground began to shake.  The piece of the orb that Ryo cut blew up.  Sage, Ryo, and Rowen were in the middle of the blast.  Rowen managed to run out of it, the explosion erupting behind him.

            “Rowen!” Sai shouted as he and Kento watched the blast.  Rowen turned and stared at it open-mouthed as well.  The blast ended and the smoke cleared to reveal the other Ronins.  Sage was lying on top of Yayoi to shield her, and Ryo was holding Mia and leaning over her.

Ryo stood up and carried Mia over toward the Jeep.  Sage sat up and then fell on his side, unconscious.  Sai and Kento ran to Sage while Rowen went over to Ryo.  Ryo laid Mia down on the ground.  “Is she alright?” Rowen asked.

“SAGE!  Wake up!” Sai shouted, shaking the warrior of light.

“Ahh… Sai?” Sage said, slowly opening his eyes.  “Yayoi… is she?”

“She’s going to be okay,” Kento assured Sage.  “Don’t worry.”

Katie and Sarah floated in the air above the scene.  “Sarah, they’re ignoring us,” Katie said spitefully.

“I’ll get their attention!” Sarah volunteered eagerly.

“Remember, don’t hurt them too much, it’ll ruin our plan.”

“Right, they have to-” Sarah began, becoming depressed, but Katie cut her off.

“Shh!  Never do that!  We can’t afford to let them know!” Katie said with mounting frustration.

Sage looked beyond Sai’s face, which was directly over him, and saw Sarah with a huge fireball in her hands.  “Sarah!” Sage attempted to yell, his voice hoarse.  He did not notice that Yayoi had been moved from his side.

“Huh?” Sai said as he and Kento turned around to find the fireball coming toward them.  They did not have time to move out of the way.  The fireball hit them and they were thrown through the air, screaming.  Sage hit the ground next to Rowen.  Sai nearly collided with Ryo, and Kento fell some thirty feet from everyone else.  Sage began to stand.

“Where’s Yayoi?” he demanded.

“It’s okay, she’s with me,” Rowen responded.  Yayoi was lying on the ground next to Rowen.  “She didn’t get hurt, but we’ve got more important things to worry about.”

“Sarah!  You overdid it!” Katie shouted.

“Whoops?” Sarah responded carelessly.  The pair floated to the ground.

“I’ll take you BOTH on!” Ryo shouted.  “RAGE OF INFERNO!”  Katie and Sarah nodded at each other.  The attack hit them head on, and then split and disappeared.

“Fiery Scream of Terror!” Katie shouted.  Blue fire engulfed Ryo, but barely affected him.

“You’re going to have to do better than that!” he shouted back at her.

“Here, have a little heat!”  Sarah shot fireballs from her hands at all five Ronin Warriors.  The successfully dodged the flaming spheres.  Sage jumped at her and they began to fight.  Sage managed to slam Sarah to the ground.

Ryo and Katie started to sword fight.  Ryo’s Swords of Fervor slammed into Katie’s swords.  She fell back and hit a tree, emitting a small moan.

“Ha!  How do you like it?” Ryo asked.

“Well done,” Katie responded and jumped at him.  He quickly moved out of the way.  Ryo swiped at her with his swords, she dodged, but a small bit of her hair was cut.

“You’re the one who needs a haircut!” Katie shouted, lunging at him.  He jumped out of the way.

“RAGE OF INFERNO!”  The attack hit into Katie.  She screamed.  His attack when through her, and then through Sarah who had been behind her.  They both turned into smoke.

            Later:  An ambulance arrived next to the Jeep and the paramedics loaded Yayoi into it.  Another ambulance left.  The Ronin Warriors unarmored and stared at the destruction their battle caused.

            Rowen walked up next to Sage, who was standing silently off to the side.  “Well?” he asked.

            “They’re both going to be fine.  They don’t remember how they got here though,” Sage said.

            “It’s probably for the best,” Ryo said.  The others nodded.

            Then Kento approached Ryo and placed a hand on his shoulder.  “Ryo, you were awesome, man!”

            “Yeah, you beat them real good,” Sai agreed, walking over to them.

            “I couldn’t have done it without all of you,” Ryo smiled.

            At Mia’s house, Sage and Kento were coming out the door holding duffle bags and pillows.  Rowen waited by the Jeep.

            “Come on!  Can’t you two go any faster?!” Sai said, exasperated and standing beside Rowen.

            “Not while carrying your stuff!  What do you have in here?” Sage asked, motioning to the largest duffle bag.

            “Just stuff,” Sai responded.

            “Yeah, right,” Sage responded.  Ryo exited the house and shut the door behind him.

            “Well, I’m going to miss living with you guys!” Ryo sighed.

            “That was the shortest visit to Mia’s house that I’ve ever had!” Kento said enthusiastically.  “Just a weekend!”

            “It’s not going to be the same without all of you,” Ryo lamented.

            “Relax, we’ll see you in school.  And don’t forget about the camping trip Sai, you and I are taking!” Sage said happily.  Sage, Sai, Kento, and Rowen got into the car, along with their luggage, Sage in the driver’s seat.

            “Sage, don’t forget to bring the car back,” Ryo said.  The four shouted ‘goodbye’, and left Ryo standing alone in front of Mia’s house, waving.

Narrator: It appears that Ryo’s Armor of Inferno has finally defeated Warlady Sarah and Empress Katie.  But did they really defeat them, or was it merely a trap?  Is this the end of the Dynasty’s assault on Japan?