7^th Changing Series Episode

Inferno’s End

Narrator: Sai may have defeated the Warlord of Ice, but has the Dynasty really given up?

            At the Date dojo Sage and Ryo were clothed in kimonos and were barefoot.  Sage’s kimono was light purple while his hakama pants were green.  Ryo ensemble was white.  They both were wearing black wristbands.  Sage had one sword and Ryo two and they were practicing fighting techniques.  In a quick slash Sage knocked one of Ryo’s blades out of his hand.  They continued to fight.  Ryo brought the sword down but Sage ducked out of the way, slid around behind Ryo, and put the sword to his neck.

            “Ryo, you have to anticipate my moves better,” Sage said, removing his sword from Ryo’s neck.  Sage walked to a closet, put the sword inside and then pulled two rolled towels off of the shelf.  “Here,” Sage said, tossing a towel to Ryo.  They both began to wipe the sweat from their faces and necks.

            “I did figure out your move, a little too late though,” Ryo said.

            “Ryo, do you really think that the Dynasty is gone?” Sage asked.

            “Of course they are.  Sai crushed their last good Warlord!  Don’t worry though, if they’re not gone, we’ll crush them with Inferno!” Ryo said, his left hand in a fist.  Sage half-smiled.

            “You mean you’ll crush them with Inferno,” Sage said, smiling as he put away Ryo’s swords.

            “Oh, come on!” Ryo protested.

            “What, it’s true!  You do need our powers to pull it off, but once you have put on Inferno we’re useless.  We just stand back and watch, we can’t do a thing,” Sage said, not looking directly at Ryo.

            “What are you talking about?” Ryo demanded.

            “I know everyone else feels the same way, but they would never admit it,” Sage added.

            “Hmm…” Ryo began.  Then they were interrupted by the entrance of Sage’s grandfather.

            “Sage, phone,” he said.

            “Oh, Ryo, excuse me for a minute?” Sage asked.

            “Yeah, sure,” Ryo said.  As soon as Sage left the dojo he said, “That guy’s a little too proper sometimes.”

            Sage walked back in after a moment.  “That was Rowen, he said to meet him at Mia’s, and to bring luggage.”

            Ryo’s eyes widened with excitement.  “You’re moving back in!”

            At Mia’s expansive house, Rowen, Sai, and Kento were sitting in the living room.  Rowen was wearing his blue shirt with the green collar with dark jeans.  Sai wore a light blue t-shirt with white jeans, and Kento an orange hooded sweatshirt and light blue jeans.  Sage and Ryo walked in, still wearing their kimono and hakama, but now wearing tabi socks and sandals as well.

            “Great, you’re here,” Rowen said upon their arrival.

            “What’s this all about?” Ryo asked, taking a seat next to Sai.

            “Sage proposed to me last night that maybe we should move back in together, due to the last Dynasty encounter.  I told him it was unnecessary, but it’s not anymore,” Rowen responded.

            “What changed your mind?” Ryo asked.

            “I felt like I was being watched this morning,” Sai began.  “When I turned around, I heard a noise, like they were trying to hide, but I didn’t see anyone.  I was in the middle of a field, so there was no way someone could have hid.”

            “Unless of course they were a Dynasty flunky.  They could have just beamed themselves somewhere else,” Rowen added.  “You were right Sage, the Dynasty’s getting smarter.”

            “Well he could be wrong, couldn’t he?” Ryo asked.

            “What’s always a possibility, but it’s better to be safe,” Rowen said.  Sai and Kento nodded in agreement.

            In the Dynasty castle, Katie was standing fully armored.  Her eyes were closed, and she appeared serene as she reviewed Yoja’s defeat at Sai’s hands.  Katie opened her eyes, which were blazing with fury.  “Yoja lost, Sai got stronger, the Ronin Warriors moved back into Mia Koji’s house, WHAT ELSE COULD GO WRONG!?!  That’s the LAST time I rely on other people!  I had a PERFECT PLAN!”  Katie closed her eyes and calmed herself down.  When she opened them again she was smiling evilly.

            “It obviously wasn’t that perfect,” Warlady Sarah said as she entered, flanked by two lower level warlords.  Katie shrugged.

            “That’s okay, the plan has changed,” Katie responded.

            “Well then, what’s this new plan?” Sarah inquired.

            “You’ll see.”

            Kento sat at Mia’s table, surrounded by food.  He was consuming potato chips, a sandwich, milk, chocolate bars, pickles, and cereal.  Sai sat across the table from him, his head on the table, sleeping. 

            In the living room, Rowen was on the sofa reading.  Ryo was sitting on the floor, leaning against the sofa and writing something.  Ryo had changed into a red T-shirt and blue jeans.

            “Where’s Mia?” Ryo asked, looking up from his notebook at his blue-haired friend.

            “Shopping,” Rowen responded gruffly without looking up.

            “Oh,” Ryo said, turning his attention back to his work.

            Sage walked into the room wearing a light blue T-shirt and blue jeans.  He was carrying a plate of cookies which he placed on the table in front of Rowen and Ryo.

            “Here, I saved these from Kento,” he said. 

            “Thanks,” Rowen responded.  He picked up a cookie without looking up from his book. 

            “Hey Ro, I was hoping that we could talk,” Sage said, looking down on Rowen, who refused to meet his gaze.  Ryo slowly looked up from his notebook.

            “About what?” Rowen asked, still not looking up.

            “About what’s been going on with you lately,” Sage responded. 

            Rowen put down his book with an exasperated sigh.  “There’s nothing ‘going on’ Sage, so there’s nothing to talk about,” he said harshly, putting the book in front of his face again.  Sage looked as if he was about to say something, but decided against it.

            Sage sighed and walked over to the window.  Suddenly, the window shattered as blue fire pushed into it and into the room.  The fire slammed into Sage.  He was pushed back from the force of it.  The fire caused his shirt to shred and catch fire.  Glass swirled around the room, caught in the momentum caused by the fire.  Sage hit the wall and cracked the sheetrock.  He slid down to the floor in a heap.

            Kento and Sai raced into the room, confused.  Ryo and Rowen were both frozen where they were, staring at Sage and shaking.  Sage groaned and moved slightly to reveal the myriad of cuts across his arms and chest, including one rather large incision.  Blood trickled down his fair skin and stained the floor.

            “Oh man, what happened?” Kento demanded.  Ryo and Rowen were still wide-eyed and dumbstruck, Rowen’s mouth was moving, but no sound was emitted.  Then blue fire struck another window, missing Kento by a few feet.

            Kento turned quickly to look outside.  “Man!  The DYNASTY!” he shouted.

            The four warriors nodded and donned their undergear.  Sai and Kento raced out the door, and Ryo jumped through the blasted window, while Rowen kneeled beside Sage. 

            Blue fire bashed Kento, Sai, and Ryo into the house.  More came through the window and shoved Rowen into the wall next to Sage.  Empress Katie walked through the front yard, seeming angry and confused.  White Blaze lunged at her, his claws extended, but she quickly dodged the feline and lunged at Ryo.  Ryo ducked and Katie’s sword slammed into the house.  Ryo began to run down the street, Katie following him.  Katie’s superior speed was revealed as she jumped over the Warrior of Fire and landed in front of him.  He barely prevented himself from sliding into her.  Katie kicked him and he fell back to the place he had run from.

            Katie proved she had enough power to overtake all of the Ronin Warriors as she aimed new attacks at Kento and Sai.  “Rowen!  We need you out here, NOW!” Kento shouted as Katie threw him into the house to prevent him from calling his armor.

            Rowen looked up from his task of waking Sage and saw the devastation in the yard.  Katie was attacking Ryo again.  Sage was torn between staying with Sage, and helping the others.

            “Man, she is juiced-” Ryo barely finished his sentence before being hit with her fire.  Ryo put his arms out before him as the sword slashed in his direction.  He fell and rolled out of the way when she sent another ball of fire at him. 

            Kento ran towards Katie.  Katie turned to him, and his expression hardened.  She leapt at him, throwing her swords down.  He attempted to get out of the way, but did not move far enough over.  She grabbed onto his arm and threw him over her head.  He landed hard on the balcony.

            Sai dove at Katie, but she ducked and he flipped over her head.  Rowen tried to kick her in the back of her knees, but she flipped over his head.  Ryo stood up and jumped at her.

            Meanwhile, Sage still lay motionless in Mia’s home.

            Outside, realizing their attempts were not working, the four Ronin Warriors had armored.  “FLARE UP NOW!”  Ryo threw the attack at Katie.  She quickly jumped out of the way.  Rowen began shooting a myriad of arrows at super speed.  Katie dodged them all, except for the last one, which she caught and threw back at him.  He easily dodged it. 

            Within Mia’s house Sage was lying with his eyes half-open, his head against the floor.  “Ronins…” he whispered weakly.  Then his kanji appeared on his forehead in brilliant green light.  “Wisdom.”

            Outside, Ryo was on the ground.  One of his swords were stuck straight in the ground, the other still in his hand.  Kento was next to him, also on the ground.  White Blaze was standing next to Rowen.  Rowen’s armor was mangled from attacks, and his face was covered with sweat, a small cut on his head trickled blood down his face.  Sai looked better than Rowen, but his armor has several marks on it from the abuse, and he was breathing heavily.  “What are we going to do?” Rowen asked.

            “I don’t know Rowen, it looks bad.  Huh, what’s this?!” Sai exclaimed.  The four armors began to glow.  “Trust!”

            “What?  Life!”

            “Justice.”

            “What’s happening?  I’m being healed!  Virtue.”

            On the balcony, Sage was standing with his back to the battle.  He had donned his undergear and was holding his Halo no-dachi in his hand.  The sword was glowing.  He turned his head toward Katie, and the other Ronins stood up.

            “Did he do that!?  How?  He shouldn’t even be fighting!” Katie muttered angrily.

            Sage turned completely around.  His sword disappeared, and he called his armor.  “Armor of Halo!  TOU CHI!”  Once the armor had appeared, he jumped down to the others.  He then lunged at Katie.  Their swords locked and he flipped over her.  A green ball of energy formed around him.

            “It’s Inferno time!” Rowen shouted, releasing his power.  “It’s the only way!  She’s too strong!”

            Everyone’s energy channeled into Ryo.  “ARMOR OF INFERNO!”  White blaze transformed into Black Blaze and Ryo pulled out his Swords of Fervor.  “It’s over Katie!” Ryo said.  Katie smiled evilly.  “RAGE OF INFERNO!”

            “FIERY SCREAM OF DEATH!” Katie countered.  Their powers smashed together.  The force was so strong that her tiara flew off of her head, and the ribbon was pulled out of her hair.  Katie and Ryo both pushed their powers to their limits.  Then Katie screamed and her power went through Ryo’s.  The attack hit Ryo and the Inferno Armor was blasted to bits, leaving Ryo in the Wildfire Armor.  Ryo’s eyes were wide in terror as he surveyed the broken pieces of his once undefeated armor.

            “What?!  Why, how?!!  No!” Ryo yelled.  He fell to his knees and picked up a piece of the helmet. 

            The other Ronins were wide eyed.  Katie fell to her knees, breathing hard.  The Ronins’ powers returned to them from the bits of Inferno.  “She destroyed the armor?” Sage asked.

            “Yeah, there’s no doubt about it,” Rowen replied dismally, dropping to his knees in the field out of exhaustion.  Sage gripped his sword hard in his hand.  Behind him the pieces of the Armor of Inferno disappeared.

            Sage gave a yell of frustration and then lunged at Katie.  She looked up and held her breath.  He brought his sword up above his head.  As he was about to bring it down on her, he stopped.  Katie’s eyes were filled with fright.  The sight of them sent memories into Sage’s mind.

            In the Date dojo Sage handed Katie a bamboo sword.  She looked at it as if it were the coolest thing she has ever seen.  She says something.

            Katie and Sage were sparring in the Date dojo.  Sage was going easy on her.  He laughed as she attempted to attack him.

            Sage was five in the United States, in Albany, NY.  He was holding his mother’s hand as she spoke to someone, who was holding the hand of a four year old girl.  The girl was Katie.

            Sage stood up straight and lowered his sword to his side.  He was confused, yet sure at the same time.  Katie fell on her side and passed out.  Then a pink light surrounded her and she disappeared.

            “Sage, why’d you stop!?” Kento demanded.

            “I remember her,” Sage replied, his eyes wide.

            “Yeah, we’ve fought her before, remember!  Are you going CRAZY?!” Kento shouted.

Narrator:  More questions left unanswered.  Were Sage’s memories real?  What will become of the Ronin Warriors without the Armor of Inferno?