Changing Episode 24

Redoak

Narrator: The Ronin Warriors have rescued Sarah from the iced cave, and learned of the existence of two more Ronin armors, therefore adding a new ronin to their group, Sarah of the Glacier.  Now the six are on a mission to find Katie and see if she will fight by their side and be a ronin warrior, or not.

     Sarah sat alone on the couch, her armor crystal in her hand.  She put her fingers against the kanji, and closed her eyes.  Kento walked in with some reheated pizza and sat down next to her.  He waited for her to open her eyes, and then handed her the plate.  "I thought you might be hungry," he said quietly.

    "Yeah, thanks."   She picked up a piece and bit into it, then put it back down.

    He touched her face gently.   "Are you okay?  With all this ronin stuff being thrown at you and everything?"

    "Yeah, it's a lot, but it's better than being a warlady right?"

   "I never would've thought that there were two more armors," he said.  "And I think you make a much prettier Ronin than Warlady."

    "I suppose if you like the metal spikes look.  Heh, thanks Kento."  She looked back down at her plate, and then the door bell rang.

    "I'll get it!" Kento said.  He walked over and pulled the door open.  Yuki stood in the doorway.  "Wow, I haven't seen you in a long time!" Kento exclaimed.   He motioned for Yuki to walk in.

    "AHH!!  What are YOU doing here!?" Yuki yelled when she saw Sarah.  Yuki held up her fists.

    "Yuki, it's okay, she's one of us now.  She's a good guy!" Kento exclaimed.  The girl slowly put her hands to her sides and moved closer to Kento.

    "Yuki?" Sage asked as he walked downstairs.  "How'd you know to come here?  Who dropped you off?"

    "I finally got Mindy to tell me, and I took the bus."

    "Your parents must be worried!  We should take you home!"

    "What, you let psycho lady stay here but not me?" she whined.

    "HEY!  I am NOT a Psycho!" Sarah yelled.  "And we need to find my sister, not babysit!"   Sage and Kento looked at Sarah, surprised.  "Sorry, I'm sorry."   Sarah got up and left the room.

    "Sarah's right Yuki, you have to go home," Sage said.  He ushered her out of the house and walked the long way to the subway station with her.

    "I was really happy when I found out that you weren't going out with Mindy anymore," Yuki said.   "You were way too nice for her.  Anyway, she's not like Lois Lane or Mary Jane, she doesn't deserve a superhero boyfriend."

    "I'm not a superhero exactly.  I just fight evil to save the world."

    "You're a superhero then.  So what's the scoop on Psycho Sarah?  Last time I saw her she wanted to kill you."

    "Well it turns out the Dynasty was controlling her, and she's actually a superhero like me."

    "I guess that's cool."  When they got to the station Sage bent down in his khakis and green shirt with a black jacket over it to talk to her, face to face.

    "Will you be okay going home from here?"

    "Yes.  I won't do anything stupid, I promise."

    "Alright then, goodbye."

    Sage walked back to the mansion thinking about the present situation.  Having two more Ronins sure will increase our chances of defeating Kubi, but is Katie going to be one of us?  Maybe this whole thing was just a ruse to release her armor.  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

   When he got back in, Sarah was on the couch talking to Kento again, and everyone else was still upstairs.   Then, he heard loud footsteps descending the stairs.

    "We think we found Katie!" Sai exclaimed.  "She's at the camphor forest."

    "Well at least she might be," Ryo added.

    "Legend has it that a redoak tree once grew there, of course they didn't call it that, but historians have come to believe that that's what it was, anyway the redoak tree hasn't been seen in one thousand years.  We're going to have one heck of a time finding it," Sai said as he scratched his forehead.

    "Well then let's get going," Ryo suggested.

   Sarah rode in Sage's car with Rowen, Sage, and Sai, while Mia, Ryo, and Kento went in the red Suzuki Samurai.

        When they arrived at the edge of the forest they parked the cars and got out.  The forest was huge, and the trees were all very tall.  The five guy ronins pulled out their armor crystals and held them out.  Sarah just looked at them for a moment and then pulled hers out too.  "Eh, nothing yet," Sai said.  They started to walk into the forest with Mia following behind.  There were no trails, and it was hard for them to get through some areas. 

    "Supposedly it was in the center of the forest," Mia said.  "They say a lighting bolt struck the forest and a tree appeared in its place."

    "That's pretty impressive," Ryo said. 

    "I wonder if she's really here?" Mia said.  "There was the poem for everyone else, but I couldn't find anything about these two."

    "They were secretive clans," Sarah said.  Everyone turned to look at her.  "At least that's what my dad says.  Supposedly the Mountain Shima has a hidden village that no one could get into."

    "Yeah... we found that," Sage said.

    "What?  Where?"

    "Under the ledge next to where your armor was."

    "Oh.  Well then the Mountain Shima DID have a hidden village."

    "So then, who was Katie descended from?  The Mountain Shima too?" Kento asked.

    "Well I guess she's from the Forest Shima.  The other sect of the Shima clan.  Each had an armor.  I just never thought it was true."  She shook her head.

    "Yeah, I know the feeling," Ryo said.  Sarah smiled and then her crystal started glowing.

    "Hey, her armor's picking something up!" Kento said, excited.  The crystal emitted a line of light straight ahead of them.  Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Sai, and Kento let Sarah lead.  Finally, they came to a small clearing.  A giant tree stood in the middle of the clearing.  A branch hung loose in front of them.

    "Redoak," Mia whispered as she looked at the leaves.  Rowen lifted the branch up with his arm, and jumped with a start. 

    "Look, there she is," Rowen said.  Katie was fully armored inside the tree.  "How're we supposed to get her out?"

    "Chop down the tree?" Kento suggested.

    "We can't do that, this is a nature preserve," Sage said. 

    "I see you've found the tree!" two girls exclaimed.  The Ronins turned around and saw two identical girls in pink armor that was typical for the girl warriors.  They were very short, and not very human like.  The ronins all jumped at once to put their undergear on.  When Sarah put on her undergear her glasses were gone and a visor appeared over her eyes.

    "Who're they?" Rowen asked Sarah.  Sarah looked at them with wide eyes and shook her head. 

    "We're the death twins," they laughed.

    "I'm Le!" said one.

    "And I'm La!" said the other.

    They charged the ronins.  Rowen and Sage tried to punch them, but they were too fast and small to hit.  La punched Sai in the back of the neck while Le ran circles around Ryo and Kento.  La came up behind Rowen and kicked him in the head.  "Why you!" he yelled.  He spun around and punched La as hard as he could.  She fell down. 

    Le gasped and stopped running around Ryo and Kento.  Le ran to La and then pink clouds began forming around them.  The lifted up into the air together with two pieces of wood with metal bands on them.   "Twins of Death!  Death attack!" they screamed.  Pink power shot at the ronins.  Sarah and Ryo jumped out of the way but the other four got hit.   Rowen got up angry.

    "I feel like I'm in a bad episode of Sailor Moon!" he yelled.  "Armor of Strata!  Tou-Inochi!"   He armored and then pulled out an arrow.  "Arrow Shock WAVE!" he yelled. 

    The attack went towards the twins, they crossed their sticks and absorbed the power. and the arrow.  They smiled maliciously.   Their sticks turned into bows and arrows appeared on their backs.  They both simultaneously pulled out an arrow and then yelled, "Arrow Shock Wave!"

   "What?" Rowen exclaimed.  The attack smashed into him and he fell down. 

    "You were the only one to ever hit La!" Le exclaimed to Rowen.   "For that you will pay!"  They held out their bows and Rowen's power drained out of his armor, and his Strata armor disappeared.  Just then a horde of soldiers appeared and began attacking the ronins.   The Ronins stood back and armored up.

   "Armor of Halo!  Tou-Chi!"

    "Armor of Wildfire! Tou-Jin!"

    "Armor of Torrent!  Tou-Shin!"

    "Armor of Hardrock!  Tou-Gi!"

    "Armor of Glacier!  Tou-Ketsui!"

    Rowen jumped out of the way as Le and La shot arrows at him.   He hid behind Katie's tree.

    "Thunder Bolt Cut!" Sage threw the ball of power at them and they dodged it.

    "Arrow Shock Wave!" they yelled and shot the arrow at Kento.  He dodged and then jumped at them.  They hopped out of the way.   Then they started charging people at lightning speed.  They knocked Sage, and Sai down and then headed for Ryo.  Ryo punched the soldier in front of him and jumped out of the twins way.

    Sarah and Kento stood back to back and spun their weapons.  Le and La dove at Sarah's weapon and hit against it hard.  As soon as they fell she yelled, "Ice Frost Barrier!"  The purple light smashed into them.  Le and La screamed, and then fell to opposite sides.  Le dropped her bow and arrows.  Rowen laughed and then ran over and picked up the bow and arrows.  Le and La got up and chased him as he ran towards the tree.  He jumped up above the tall tree with Le and La at his heels.  He aimed the small arrow straight into the tree and yelled, "Arrow Shock Wave!"  The arrow filled with his power that Le and La had stored, and fired down into the tree.  The arrow touched the top of Katie's helmet, and then she opened her eyes.  She walked through the tree and stood beside the ronins on the other side, holding the golden arrow in her hand.  Soldiers immediately attacked Katie, and Seckhmet appeared to help them.

    Seckhmet pulled out his swords and aimed an attack at Katie and Ryo who was standing next to her.  Sarah, Sage, Kento, and Sai were all fighting off the swarms of soldiers, and trying not to hurt the trees.  "Snake Fang Strike!"  Katie and Ryo dodged and three trees were burned away by the venom.   Katie looked back at Seckhmet angrily.

    Meanwhile, Rowen started to fall, and Le and La smiled.  La turned her bow into a sword, and started stabbing at Rowen.  He evaded some of them and then fell onto a branch of the tree.  La stabbed his arm and then cut the branch off.  He fell onto his back and La landed on top of him, and was about to stab her sword into his stomach when he rolled to the side and pinned her down.  Then Le jumped on him and stabbed his shoulder with the bow she'd just turned into a sword.

    Katie glared at Seckhmet and yelled, "HOW DARE YOU DESTROY MY TREES!"  She dove at him with her dagger.  Seckhmet, who was caught off guard tried to jump out of the way but Ryo punched him from behind, pushing him closer to Katie.  Katie knocked the swords out of his hand while Ryo punched and kicked him from behind and then stepped back.  "ARMOR OF REDOAK!!  SPIRAL LEAF SHINE!"  The green attack hit Seckhmet and knocked him back, Katie kept the attack going until Seckhmet disappeared.  Then Ryo and Katie ran over to fight off the soldiers.

    Sage stabbed the soldier through and then looked around.   All that could be seen in the distance was more soldiers.  "There's just no end to this," Sage sighed.  A soldier attacked him from behind with a spear.   Kento knocked down the soldier.

    "I know what you mean, this is wack," Kento said.   Sage knocked down four soldiers with his sword and then stepped back. 

   "Thunder Bolt Cut!" He threw the attack off of his sword and downed a group of soldiers.

    Le was still hitting Rowen with her sword.  Rowen yelled, and Sai ran over.  La freed herself by kicking Rowen in the face.  Le jumped up with her.

    "Spiral Leaf Shine!" Katie yelled.  The dark green power struck the twins by surprise.  They screamed and then disappeared.  Rowen got up and dusted himself off.  A few oak leaves were stuck in his hair, but no one told him. 

    "Let's finish these soldier," Sai said. 

    "I agree.  Armor of Strata!  Tao Inochi!" Rowen yelled.

    The seven in a circle facing out.  "Be careful of the trees," Katie warned.

    "Spiral Leaf Shine!"

    "Arrow Shock Wave!"

    "Iron Rock Crusher!"

    "Super Wave Smasher!"

    "Thunder Bolt Cut!"

    "Ice Frost Barrier!"

    "Flare Up NOW!"  The soldiers were decimated, and only a few trees fell, but Ryo had set a lot of the forest on fire.  Katie glared at him, and the others laughed.

    "I'll save the forest," Sai said.  He shot water out of his spear at the burning trees until all of the fires were out.

    The seven unarmored down to their undergear and Mia who had run away during the battle came back over to them.

    "That was the most pain in the neck rescue I've ever made," Rowen said.

    "Really?  I could've sworn that would've been when you rescued Sage, Kento, and I," Sai said.

    "I meant during the fights against Kubi's Dynasty," he retorted.  He turned and started walking towards the edge of the forest.  Everyone else shrugged and followed.  Sage caught up with Rowen whose hand was over his injured shoulder.  Sage walked silently behind Rowen as they got back to the cars. 

    "Uh, why don't you ride with us in the Jeep Katie?" Ryo suggested, watching Rowen's expressionless face carefully. 

    "Alright Ryo," Katie said and nodded.  Then the seven Ronin Warriors and Mia headed back to the Koji mansion.

Narrator: Now that Katie of Redoak has been freed from her tree prison will the warriors regret it?  Or will Katie prove to be an ally like her sister Sarah of Glacier?  The tension between the Ronin Warriors increases as they search for these unclear answers.