Changing Series Episode 3

Ryo’s Caller

Narrator:  The Ronin Warriors achieved their first near victory against Warlady Sarah.  Due to this, the plans have changed.  Sarah has been sent for constant training, and therefore will not attack, but it is not the end.

            Within the Dynasty Katie was sitting on a levitating chair inside of the castle.  Her red kimono had slid ever so slightly off of her shoulder, giving her the appearance of someone who is much too busy to care.  An armored person, standing about eight feet tall stood next to her, shrouded in shadows.  Through the sliding door Warlady Sarah entered.

            “Warlady Sarah, how is your training going?” the shadowed warrior asked, stepping into the light, it was Emperor Kubi.

            “It’s going fine,” Sarah said, annoyance leeching into her voice.  “Is that why I was called here?”

            “No, Emperor Kubi has a new plan to tell you about,” Katie responded nonchalantly.

            “Plan?” Sarah asked, raising her eyebrows.

            “Yes, I have chosen Katie to attack Ryo of the Wildfire.  She will lure Ryo away from the other Ronin Warriors by use of a clever disguise.  She will then attack and destroy them,” Kubi explained.

            “But I should be the one going out to battle.  I haven’t even finished testing them yet!” Sarah argued.

            “You don’t need to test them.  You both studied the Ronin Warriors by watching their past battles on record multiple times, there’s no need to test them,” Kubi laughed.

            “But you were the one who…” Sarah began.

            “Warlady Sarah!  I’ve changed my mind!” Kubi roared.  Katie and Sarah nodded and disappeared.

            The pair of Dynasty warriors reappeared in a Dynasty hut.  Katie was now wearing her armor.

            “Do you think it’ll work?” Sarah asked, sitting down to polish her staff.

            “Hmm?  The plan?  It’s a long shot.  We’re just depending on the Ronins acting very stupid.  It was Kubi’s idea, so if I fail it’s his fault.  He wouldn’t listen to my side of the argument,” Katie said.  Then her eyes set into a hard and determined look.  “But I don’t plan on going down without a fight!”

            It was eight o’clock at Mia’s house.  Sage, Sai, Rowen, and Ryo were all sitting on the couches in casual clothing.  Then the doorbell rang.

            “I’ll get it!” Mia shouted from the kitchen.  She ran into the room wearing a dark green cocktail dress with her hair up, and stopped abruptly before the door.  She paused to fix her hair, and took a deep breath.  Then she opened the door.

            “Hey!  What’s up Mia?” Kento asked looking into the house.

            “Oh it’s just you,” Mia responded, disappointed.  “Come on in.”  Mia walked out of the room.  Kento pushed the door all of the way open and stumbled into the house with duffel bags and his pillow. 

            “Hey!  What was that all about?” Kento asked, pausing to take off his blue coat and reveal the orange T-shirt underneath.

            “Oh, she’s just waiting for her date to show up.  He’s late,” Sage said while thumbing through a kendo magazine.

            “Oh, ok.  Woah!” Kento exclaimed as he almost tripped over one of his bags.

            “By the way Kento, what are you doing here?” Ryo asked.

            “Yeah, don’t you need to watch your brothers and sisters?” Rowen asked.

            “Oh, my parents got home early,” Kento replied.

            “That’s great Kento!” Ryo exclaimed.

            “Yeah, now we don’t have to worry about you being alone,” Sai said, relieved.  The doorbell rang and once again Mia dashed into the room, fixed her hair, breathed, and opened the door.

            “Oh you’re here!  I was getting worried!” Mia embraced the tall, red-headed man for a long while.  He stared back at her through his big blue-green eyes.  He was wearing a black suit.

            “Yeah, I’m sorry that I am late,” he replied as she released him.

            “Mia, don’t forget, your curfew is eleven,” Ryo said with his arms crossed and eyes closed as Kento sat down on the couch with Sai.

            “Ha, ha, ha!” Mia said, annoyed.

            “Oh, hi kids,” the date said.  “Ready to go hon?”

            “Uh-huh,” Mia replied lovingly.

            “I promise I won’t bring her home too late, ok boys?” he said with a large smile on his flawless face.

            “Whatever,” Ryo responded as the door shut behind the couple.  “I HATE that guy!” Ryo exclaimed.  “He acts like he’s so much older than me!  Well I’m sick of it.  He’s twenty years old, that’s only one year older than Mia and three years older than ME.  He has NO right to call me a KID!” Ryo yelled.

            “Ooohhh sounds like someone’s jealous!” Kento teased.

            “Hah, of what?  There’s nothing to be jealous of,” Ryo said.

            “He didn’t seem like he meant to be mean by calling us “boys”,” Sai said, attempting to quell Ryo’s temper.

            “Yeah, that’s what he wants you to think!  I don’t know why he hates me, but he does,” Ryo explained.

            “Maybe he knows that you went on a date with Mia, you think?” Sage asked.

            “You call THAT a date?  Ha!  All she did was listen to the crazy people at the table next to ours!”

            On Mia and Ryo’s date they went to a restaurant.  The table next to them was occupied by four people.  A very tall blonde girl with light bluish-purplish eyes, a brunette girl, a very tall guy with slicked back black hair, and a short muscular guy with slicked back hair.

            “Uh, Sag – uh I mean Serena,” the tall guy said, slipping back and forth from a Brooklyn to an Italian accent.

            “Yes, Ro – Sal?” the blonde asked in a girlish voice.

            “Would you care to dance?”

            “No!  I just want to eat my DINNER!” Serena shouted back.  The blonde leaned over the table and whispered angrily to Sal.

            “That poor guy, his date has been yelling at him all night,” Mia sighed, eavesdropping on them.

            “Hey, S – Sweetie?” the short guy said.

            “Yes, Akira?” the brunette responded in an unnatural high-pitched, Australian-accented voice.

            “Are you having a good time?”

            “Shh!  Ryo and Mia are finally talking, I don’t want to miss anything,” the brunette hissed in Sai’s voice.

            “Yeah, they sure were crazy.  Uhh from what you’ve told us before.  Yeah!” Kento said.  Everyone except Ryo flushed to a deep red.

            Sage placed a hand on Ryo’s shoulder.  “Don’t worry Ryo, dating isn’t everything and you’ll find someone, when the time is right,” Sage said caringly.

            “Sage, you have NO idea how stupid that sounds coming from you!” Ryo said seriously, then began to laugh.

            “Yeah, the King of DATING!” Sai said, causing the whole room to burst into hysterical laughter, Sage was the only one who kept a straight face.

            “So, how many girlfriends are you up to now?!  Huh Sage?!” Rowen said between laughs.

            Sage grabbed Kento’s pillow and threw it at Rowen.  “Ha, ha ha,” Sage said sarcastically.

            “No, but seriously, even if I did find someone, she would probably like Sage anyway,” Ryo said.  Everyone nodded sympathetically toward Ryo except Sage who just seemed confused.

            “What?  Why do you think that she would probably like me?”  After a second all of the other Ronins began to laugh hysterically.

            “Oh Sage, you had me there for a minute!” Sai laughed.

            “Yeah, you couldn’t be THAT thick,” Kento added.  Then Kento, Sai, and Ryo began dragging Kento’s luggage up the stairs.

            Sage still looked puzzled.  “What-?”

            “Oh, never mind Sage.  Just forget it,” Rowen said, turning his full attention to his book.  Then the doorbell rang.  Kento bounded down the stairs. 

            “I’ll get it!” Kento shouted as he opened the door.  “Oh!  Um, I’ll get Sage,” Kento said.

            Two blue eyes stared back at him.  “Um, I’m not here to see Sage.  I’m here to see Ryo Sanada.  He is here, isn’t he?”

            “Um yeah, hang on,” Kento said as he turned around.  Sai and Ryo were standing on the stairs.

            “Who is it?” Sai asked.

            “Um, a girl who wants to see Ryo,” Kento said.

            “Huh?  For me?”  Ryo walked to the door and opened it all of the way.  Sage and Rowen immediately stood up.  Sai walked over toward everyone else for a better view.

            A tall girl with blonde hair down to her waist and big blue eyes was standing in the doorway.  Her hair was half up in a big ribbon, and she was wearing a short pink skirt, a white tank top, and pink platform shoes.  Sai, Kento, Sage, and Rowen stood behind Ryo, shocked.  Ryo was shocked as well, and it was a full minute before he nervously spoke.  “Umm, can I help you?” he asked, his voice squeaking more than usual.

            “Yes, um, well I heard that you’re really good at history, so I was wondering if you could help me with a project,” she replied.

            “Uh, ok.  What kind of project are you doing?” Ryo asked as he went outside with the girl and shut the door behind him.

            “Well that was weird,” Kento said.

            “Yeah I agree,” Sai added.

            “So Sage, surprised that she wasn’t here to see you?” Rowen asked, teasingly.

            “Actually, NO.  Why would I be?”

            “OH, come ON man!  Only because you’re the most popular guy in school!” Kento said.

            “Oh, you jealous Kento?” Rowen teased.

            “No, why would I want to be that popular!  I mean, it’s just crazy how popular SAGE is!”

            “Yeah, I agree,” Rowen responded.  Rowen, Sai, and Kento began to laugh.  Sage shook his head and turned away from the three.

            ‘Something isn’t quite right.  Who was that girl?’ Sage thought.

            Ryo and the girl walked through the woods on a pathway, talking.  “…and then, they dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki,” Ryo said.

            “Um, that’s very interesting, but I have a confession to make.  I don’t care about your history, just the Dynasty’s!”

            “What?!”

            “Huuht!”  She jumped into the air and did a back-flip.  When she landed she was wearing Dynasty armor.  She remained floating about six inches from the ground.  “My name is Empress Katie, Empress of the Evil Dynasty.  And you are Ryo of the Wildfire, aren’t you!?”

            “Oh how very observant!  I’m warning you, I show no mercy!”  Ryo leapt into the air and donned his undergear.  “ARMOR OF WILDFIRE! TOU JIN!”  Ryo was clothed in his full armor.  He pulled out his swords.

            “Who don’t you make the first move hmm?” Katie asked while taking out her two swords.  Suddenly the swords were surrounded by blue flames.

            ‘Huh?  Her power is fire?  That shouldn’t hurt me too bad, my armor gets stronger from fire,’ Ryo thought with a grin.

            “What are you waiting for?!”  Katie grew impatient and jumped at him, as she did their swords hit.  They pushed against each other.

            “So what’s the Dynasty want with this world?” Ryo asked.

            “We want to conquer it, to prove our strength!”

            “What?!” Ryo asked, confused and angry.

            “Talpa made fools out of us by losing TWICE!  We won’t be humiliated again!”  They jumped back from each other.

            “Well, all you’re going to get is more humiliation, once I’m done with you!” Ryo leapt into the air.  “FLARE UP NOW!”

            His surekill slammed into Katie’s, causing a column of fire to shoot up into the sky.  Katie’s swords flew out of the column.  After a moment, the column of power dissipated, and Katie stood in its wake, untouched.

            “That was a nice try Ryo of Wildfire,” she put her hands in the air and her swords flew back to her.  “…but it was not good enough to save you!”  She morphed her two swords into one and lunged at him.

            In Mia’s living room, the remaining Ronin Warriors had once again taken up residence on the couches.  Kento idly flipped channels on the TV, while Sai and Rowen read.  Kento turned off the TV and stared at Sage who appeared to be sleeping.

            “Sage, we’ve go to talk,” Kento said seriously.

            “Hmm?” Sage opened his eyes and turned toward Kento.  “About what?” he asked, disinterested.

            “I was planning to ask you in school Monday, but since I’m here..” Kento paused and took a deep breath. 

            “What are you trying to get at?” Sage asked, suddenly becoming interested. 

            “Well, why were you yelling about your honor yesterday at my house?”  Sai and Rowen silently turned their attention to the conversation between Kento and Sage.

            “Why do you care?”

            “Uhh?  Because you’re my friend… and because I’m curious.”

            “Well, um, you see, I-“ Sage was cut off by the distant sound of Ryo’s scream.  “Ryo!”

            “That doesn’t sound good!” Sai said as they all hurried to the door.

            Ryo was pulling himself up off of the ground.  He stood up and faced Katie.  She opened her fist and a singly blue flame ignited just above her palm.  She stepped back and blew into the flame.  It extended and shot into Ryo’s face.  He was thrown back into a tree, and painfully fell on his side.  Katie turned her back to him.

            “Alright, he’s finished,” she said.  ‘I wonder why his friends didn’t show up.  Poor guy,’ Katie thought, looking a bit upset.  She turned back around and raised her hand in the air.  A soldier appeared in a burst of lighting, kneeling before her.  “Finish him,” she ordered.

            “Yes Empress,” the soldier said.  He raised his weapon to decapitate Ryo.

            “Katie, you do it!” Ryo shouted painfully.  Katie raised her hand to stop the soldier.

            “What?”

            “I’d rather be finished off by you than some bystander in the fight!”

            “Alright then,” Katie responded, raising her sword.  She began to bring her sword down, but stopped and started looking around.

            “THUNDER BOLD CUT!”  Katie leapt out of the way of the attack.  “You okay Ryo?” Sage shouted, running next to Ryo in his full armor.

            “ARROW SHOCK WAVE!” Rowen shouted from the opposite side of Sage.  Katie barely dodged the vacuum surekill.

            Kento and Sai jumped out of different parts of the forest.

            “IRON ROCK CRUSHER!”

            “SUPER WAVE SMASHER!”

            Katie crouched down and held her swords out, one behind and one in front.  The two attacks hit her, but once the debris and energy cleared she was still there, breathing hard and smirking.  She stood up and began to laugh.

            “What is she laughing about?” Sage asked Ryo who was next to him, beginning to sit up while gasping for air.

            “You’re not as smart as I though.  You were almost too late,” Katie said.  The Ronins moved into fighting stances.  “Alright Kubi, I’ll leave, but I have to do something first,” she said with her eyes closed.  She opened her eyes and raised her swords.  She began to spin around in quick circles, she moved her swords to a ninety degree angle and a blue fire encircled her body.  “FIERY SCREAM OF DEATH!” she shouted.  The flames shout out at each of the Ronins as she stopped spinning.  The fire wrapped around the warriors’ waists and they all screamed in pain.  Then, Katie and the fire disappeared, leaving the Ronin Warriors panting on the ground.

            Katie appeared in a Dynasty building, smirking.  Sarah appeared behind her wearing an orange kimono decorated with flames.  “Katie, why didn’t you finish them?” Sarah asked.

            “Kubi told me not to continue,” Katie responded flatly.

            “But why did you listen?” Sage asked skeptically.

            “Sarah, sister, there’s still so much you don’t understand.  He thinks that he can run the show on his own.  I’m just proving him wrong.”

            “One other thing, you didn’t use your full power right?” Sarah asked with a curiously evil look in her eyes.  Katie laughed.

            “What a silly question.  Well, I’m sure that Kubi wants to use his own ideas, so I’d better go help him come up with a good one.  What are you up to tonight?”

            “I have a meeting with the upper power Warlords,” Sarah responded.

            “I don’t see why you waste your time with those idiots,” Katie said as she disappeared.

            “Because they are how this war is going to be won,” Sarah said to the darkness.

            The five Ronin Warriors all went upstairs to sleep.  In his great sleepiness Kento had stumbled into Sage’s bed, leaving Sage with nowhere to sleep except Kento’s bed, which he grudgingly got into.  From through the wall Sage and Ryo who were both still awake, could hear Kento snoring, and Rowen mumbling something about Africa and air in his sleep.  Inside their room, Sai was making an odd whistling sound.  Sage pulled his blankets up to his neck and stared at Ryo who had a small light on next to his bed.  Ryo lay on his back, talking to himself, and unaware that Sage was awake.

            “She almost killed me, but she didn’t seem like she wanted to.  Why not?  She’s supposed to be evil, so why?  Oh!  It doesn’t make any sense.  Finally a girl shows some interest in me, but it was just an act!  I wish I were Sage.  He has a perfect life, nothing ever goes wrong for him, nothing!” Ryo murmured.  Sage rolled over so that he was not facing Ryo anymore.  “Sage, Sage are you awake?”

            Sage did not respond, but stayed on his side, shaking and crying.

Narrator:  Why did Katie seem upset about defeating Ryo, and why did she not destroy him.  Furthermore, what is Sage’s secret?