Changing Series: A New Foe
By: Ada C. Eliana
Part IV: Circle of Seven
Chapter 8: The Real Emperor Kubi
Katie and Sarah had constructed a small hideout, Katie spun vines from her fingers and Sarah put an ice roof on it, then the two covered the structure in sand and stayed in it with the other five Ronin Warriors. They had taken the helmets off of the five warriors and now sat watch over them. Kento woke up first and looked up at Katie. "Where are we?" Kento asked.
"In a fortress Sarah and I built. How do you feel?" Katie responded.
"I'm fine, just a little tired." Then Ryo woke up and sat up. He blinked and then he and Kento shed their full armor.
"Eh, that was a close call," Ryo sighed. He looked over at Rowen, Sage, and Sai who were still unconscious, and their bloodied armor. "Oh jeez, what happened to them?" Ryo exclaimed.
Sarah shook her head. "I can't do much for them until they take off their armor either," she sighed.
"You two," Katie said to Kento and Ryo. "were coughing up a lot of water, what happened?"
"Near drowning experience," Kento said.
"Same here," Ryo responded. Then Rowen opened his eyes and blinked a few times. He lifted his right arm and then screamed when he saw two arrows stuck in it. He quickly shed his full armor and then pulled the arrows out of his skin through his undergear. "Ew!" Ryo exclaimed as Rowen plucked the bloody arrows out of him. "How can you just pull them out like that?"
"Would you rather have me leave them in, and be porcupine boy?" he asked sarcastically and then started coughing. He coughed up sand and then pulled out the last arrow. Sai sat up and looked over at Rowen who was inspecting one of the black arrows.
"Looks like we all had a rough day," Sai said.
"Yeah, and we're all waiting on Sage, so we can discuss what to do," Ryo said. Everyone turned and looked at Sage. Sage's lips curled into a smile and it was apparent that he was dreaming. Rowen shook him and he sat up quickly, awake. "Finally," Ryo laughed. "How ya feeling?"
"Wonderful," Sage said sarcastically as he took off his Halo armor. Then the undergear all glowed in unison and healed Ryo, Kento, Sage, Sai, and Rowen's wounds. "Ok, now I'm actually feeling good," Sage said.
"That was weird," Sai said. "But I'm not complaining. So, who saved me from Three?" Sai asked, glancing at Katie and Sarah.
"Don't look at me," Sarah said. "I was covered in lava. Katie saved us." The five original Ronins looked at Katie in surprise.
"How?" Ryo asked.
"Some weird power, I don't know how I did it though," Katie said.
"Oh," Kento said, standing up. "We should probably head out now."
"Yeah," the others agreed. They walked out of the hut and Sarah pushed some of the sand off of the roof and then laid her hand on it. The ice was absorbed back into her hand. Katie did the same thing with the vines.
The seven walked in relative silence until they neared the castle. "Do we have anything that resembles a plan?" Sage asked.
"No, we're just playing it as it lies," Kento laughed.
"We don't know what we'll find in there," Katie said.
"Let's just hope all seven of us fight together," Rowen said, glaring at Katie.
"I'm just going to ignore that," Katie responded.
"Let's all get along," Sai said.
"There's the castle," Sarah said. "Looks like they've already repaired it from before."
Kubi stood in his castle staring down at the seven Ronin Warriors. "I can't believe this, they should have never gotten this far!" he roared. "Even the seven demons couldn't defeat them! What is it about them that makes them so strong? Either way I will defeat them!"
"Alright guys, let's go," Sage said. The even nodded together. "Armor of Halo! Tou-Chi!"
"Armor of Wildfire! Tou-Jin!"
"Armor of Torrent! Tou-Shin!"
"Armor of Strata! Tou-Inochi!"
"Armor of Hardrock! Tou-Gi!"
"Armor of Redoak! Tou-Yuuki!"
"Armor of Glacier! Tou-Ketsui!"
The seven brave warriors donned their battle armor and then lined up facing the castle. The seven jumped and Ryo held out his swords. "Flare up now!" The attack blasted through the castle walls, creating an entryway for the Ronin Warriors. The seven stood in the empty throne room and looked around. "He's not here," Ryo said, needing to state the obvious. The seven wandered abit, looking around. Then Sarah and Sage looked up and saw a strange light.
"Everybody, get out of here!" Sage yelled as the light came bearing down on them. They all jumped out of the window and landed on a ledge just in time. They jumped back up to the throne room which was still intact, but emptied of furniture. Kubi jumped down into their midsts. The seven prepared themselves in defensive positions.
"Well I never did believe you Ronin Warriors would make it this far, you are very powerful, but this will be the last room any of you see," Kubi said. He looked at Sarah and Katie and then said, "Warlady, Empress, I will give you one more chance to rejoin me. You don't need to be slaughtered as well." He waited a moment and then added angrily, "Well then you'll be the first to die!" The five men stepped in front of Sarah and Katie. "So the five of you think you can protect them!? HAH!"
Suddenly an invisible force pushed against them, it was obviously coming from Kubi. Kubi's dark blue armor shined and he had a sword sheathed at his waist and a five point spear in his hand. The power pushed Sai, Kento, Katie, Sarah and Ryo to the wall and pushed Rowen and Sage out the hole in the wall. Rowen's bubble formed and he caught Sage but the force coming from Kubi was too strong, they couldn't get back into the throne room. The other five Ronins felt the wall behind them beginning to break, but they couldn't move forward. Finally, the wall broke and they were pushed out. Kubi increased the force of his attack and sent Rowen and Sage careening through the air as well as the five other. Sarah caught her scythe on a ledge and then pulled herself under the ledge, using the wall as protection. Sai did likewise next to her. "Let's try to sneak up on him," Sai said. Sarah nodded. They climbed onto the roof and tried to scale the castle but a hoard of soldiers appeared just below them and knocked them off the wall. Sai fell on the ledge but Sarah was knocked onto the ground below. On the ground were the other Ronins. They were preparing to jump back up.
"You coming?" Sage asked.
"In a minute, you guys go ahead," Sarah responded. The other five jumped up to where Sai was, took down the soldiers and jumped back into the throne room where Kubi had stopped his force attack. Sarah took out her computer and attempted to analyze Kubi from the ground. Then her computer went dead. Sarah jumped to the ledge to see what happened and then Kubi started his force attack again and the other six Ronin Warriors landed on the ledge with her. Sarah jumped up into the throne room and stood against his attack.
"How are you doing this?" Kubi asked. Sarah dropped her scythe and put her hands to her head. The triangle, overlapping five-point star and surrounding circle appeared in purple light in front of her and pushed against his attack. The other Ronins joined her in the throne room and stood strong against Kubi's weaking attack. The powers continued to push against each other until the symbol containing Sarah's power broke through Kubi's power and stopped it. Kubi didn't let is embarrass him, but stayed facing them. Sarah picked up her scythe and the seven Ronin Warriors lined up again.
"It doesn't matter what tricks you find," Kubi said with a laugh. "I will still defeat you." Then Kubi duplicated himself until seven Kubi's stood in front of them. Each Kubi attacked a Ronin. The Kubi's moved like lightning.
A Kubi rushed over to Sai and stabbed him in the leg before Sai had the chance to move. Another stabbed Rowen in the arm, while yet another stabbed Ryo in the stomach. Another Kubi plowed Kento into a wall and then slammed him on the head. A different Kubi knocked Sarah down. Katie jumped out of the throne room and a Kubi pursued her. Sage had considerable more skill in handling his Kubi than the others. He dodged Kubi's spear and then locked his sword against it. He pushed Kubi's spear over to the side and then struck Kubi's hand. Kubi let go of his spear and quickly pulled out his sword, knowing it was better to fight sword vs. sword than sword vs. spear.
Kubi pushed Rowen into the wall so he couldn't pull out an arrow and then hit him in the chest with his spear. Rowen managed to slide across the wall while Kubi hit him until he was standing in front of a black paned glass window. Rowen pushed back against the window and formed the bubble to fly out of the castle. He drew an arrow and held it out. Drat, I can't use my 'Arrow shock wave' or I might hit someone else inside. I'll have to lure him into the air, Rowen thought. He fired arrows at Kubi until Kubi catapulted into the air and grabbed onto the arrow pack on Rowen's back.
Kubi stabbed at Sai's head but Sai ducked and the spear caught in the wall. Sai pushed up on Kubi's spear with his spear horizontal and then kicked Kubi in the face. Kubi smalled Sai's shoulder with his spear and as Sai winced he brought it down on his other shoulder. Sai bashed his spear against Kubi's legs and then held it out. "Super Wave Smasher!" It hit Kubi but more of it sprayed to the side and hit the Kubi that was attacking Sarah. That distraction gave Sarah enough time to jump out of the castle. She caught hold of a smaller roof and then saw a spot to hold on underneath it. She pulled herself up under the roof so when Kubi jumped out of the castle he didn't see her. He went to search elsewhere for her and she climbed down and pulled out her computer again.
Ryo doubled over and Kubi hit him on the head. Ryo waited and then caught hold of the spear and dragged himself up on it. He pulled it away from Kubi and then hit him with it. "FLARE UP NOW!" The attack cut through Kubi and the floor. The floor under Ryo collapsed and he landed on the lower level, and much to Ryo's surprise, Kubi stood up, untouched.
Katie ran as fast as she could on the different rooves of the Dynasty castle until she jumped back up to the throne room again. Kubi followed close behind, and then she spun around and extended the blade of her sword into him. Kubi folded over onto the sword, and as she retracted the blade Kento picked up his Kubi and threw it into her's. The two Kubi's fell off of the castle.
"Come on, come on," Sarah whispered to her computer. "One more barrier to cross, one more." Then she analyzed the Kubis. When she got all of the information she was looking for she jumped back up to the throne room. "Those Kubis are fake!" Sarah announced.
"Well duh," Sage said as he knocked his down. Rowen flew over with a Kubi still clinging to his back to hear what she was saying.
"Which is the real one?" Kento asked.
"None, the real Kubi isn't here, he's..." Sarah started. Then a black armored figure walked out of the wall.
"Right here!" the figure yelled. He was wearing black and red armor, and when he appeared the other Kubi's turned into power and he absorbed them. "I am the one true Emperor Kubi. You couldn't possibly have thought that I was that weak apparition!"
"But I never saw you before," Katie said.
"That's right, this is the first time anyone, including Talpa has seen my true form!" Sarah started analyzing him with her computer and then a red string of light flew out of Kubi's hand and cut the cord to the computer. Then more strands of light stabbed into her. Kubi pulled the strands back into his hand and Sarah collapsed. The Ronins gasped.
"Like crushing a flower in my hand," Kubi laughed. "Say goodbye Ronin Warriors, for you will never defeat me!"
A/N: Just one more chapter to go!