Ronins on the Hellmouth

By

Harry M VanHoudnos

A/N Welcome to the sequel to Armour of the Eliminator, my Ronin Warrior story. This story takes place about 2 years after Eliminator, and is set in the Wandererverse. The premise of this universe, which can be found a www dot Wandererverse dot com, is that when Buffy died at the hands of the Master at the end of Season 1, it was NOT Xander's CPR that brought her back. Instead, she came back as a Highlander style immortal. Jenny Calendar and Kendra did not die in this universe, and Faith stayed good. Joyce did not die from the brain tumor either. Also, you have two FBI agents involved that are immortal as well: Mulder and Scully of the X-Files. They are married in this universe, so if you have a problem with them as a couple, you MIGHT not want to read this universe!

As far as the characters in this story, the only ones I can claim that I own are James Ferino and Twyla Koji. The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the property of Josh Weldon, and used without permission. The character of Steven St. Wolf was created by the late Steve Pantovich, and I did receive permission to use this character before he passed away. The character of Shaw Hunter was created by the late Tim Knight, and again, is used with his permission. Another Wanderererverse character, Robin Goodfellow, was created by Mike Meyers, who can be reached at SWERJ321 at MSN dot com. The Ronin Lady Guardians are the property of Winter Yu of Fan Fiction dot Net, and you can contact her there. You will also see a large number of references in this story to both The Legendary Adventures of Hercules and to Xena Warrior Princess. This is due to the fact that in the Wandererverse, the Greek Gods are VERY ACTIVE!

Chapter 1

CRACK came the sound of the wooden training sword of James against his opponent. And what a foe it was, for it was none other than Ares, the God of War. The two went at it for some time before Ares stopped the training session. "That's enough for today James. You are really getting good in these sessions" the War God stated, as he threw his mortal foe/training partner a towel. James accepted the towel willingly. Over the years, it had become something of a habit for the two of them to spend time in mock battles as a form of training. And for Ares, this was something he looked forward to very much. It was not often that he got a chance to fight against a mortal, especially one such as James. The more that they fought, the better James got. In fact, lately Ares had been forced to tap into a very small portion of his godly powers to keep the edge against this mortal. And the more that he trained with James, the more impressed he was with this mystic armor bearer. James was coming along nicely and with the training he was getting from Ares, he had the potential to be as good as a low level immortal!

As they finished up the physical training, another one the Greek Gods, Athena, showed up. "James, are you ready to work on your energy use with your blade?" she asked. The bearer of the Eliminator Armour nodded his head. "Allow me to grab my kanji ball and I will be ready to summon both the armour and the sword" he stated, as he reached into a nearby desk and pulled out a small marble. With that, he was teleported by Athena to an area outside of Sunnydale that was the remnant of a quarry. "Time for your energy training" the goddess stated, looking on at James with respect and admiration that she had come to feel about him as much as her brother Ares had. James had come along very nicely since she and Ares had met him three years ago. James had quickly mastered the ability to view things in the form of energy, which allowed him to find out about Mia and the Lady Guardians. Now, she was working with him on using his blade in a new manner: Instead of just energy blasts, he could energize the blade, so that the strike could cause a disruption without draining him as much as using the twin blades together would.

"Are you ready James?" Athena asked. James nodded his head and brought his wrists together in a motion that was familiar to him, crossing them in a manner that the formed a small T. "Armour of the Eliminator, DAO CHIN!" he called out, summoning his armor and the sword that went with it. With that cry, the silver grey armor formed around him, with the Power Sword strapped to his back in a diagonal angle. James then called out "POWER SWORD, TO MY HAND!" And with that, the sword went from its scarab right into James hand. "POWER SWORD STRIKE" he called out as the blade glowed with energy, as he unleashed it against the first of several figures that were designed for practice with the blade.

As the practice continued, no one realized that the workout was being watched by one of Glory's minions. This minion knew that seeing a Greek God working with a mortal was not good news and needed to be reported to Glory as soon as possible! He quickly left, to find a way to contact the Glorious One. As he did leave, he did not see that two others were watching as well. In a small Ford Mustang were Shaw Hunter and her cousin Amy Madison., These two members of Section 7 and members of the Slayerettes, had been driving around, looking for any place that Glory might be using as a staging place, to report back to their boss Steven St. Wolf, known to many in both the mystical and intelligence field as the Wanderer. When they had seen James working with Athena, it had caused them to stop.

"Any idea who that is?" asked Amy, nicknamed Sabrina by her fellow Slayerettes. The blonde haired witch, who worshipped Artemis, but called upon Hecate for her spells, knew that her cousin, a half elf Ranger/Cleric, had better vision than she did, but was not as powerful as Amy was when it came to spell casting.

The Half Elven Cleric/Ranger shook her head. "I have no idea who he is, but I do recognize the Goddess working with him. I have seen pictures of her. That is Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom" Shaw replied to her cousin. Shaw was from Toril, the world of Forgotten Realms, and it had taken her some time to get used to life on Earth.

As the two Slayerettes were talking amongst themselves, a call was made to a certain hotel, where the Hell Goddess Glorificus also known as Glory, made her base of operations at while on the Mortal plane. The Hell Goddess was hoping to find her Key, to allow her to make her way back to her home dimension. And, if it meant destroying every dimension between the two, then so be it! "Oh Glorious One, your servant has news for you" he reported over the phone. This minion knew that it was best to be careful in what was reported in case Glory got upset. When that happened, pain was the usual result! But what he saw was enough to risk it.

"Mistress, I was out today, trying to find your key, when I saw something that would cause you some worry. I saw a mortal today, training with energy, under the guidance of one of the Greek Gods" he reported to his mistress. The news did not go over well with Glorificus. The minion had to pull the phone back to avoid loosing his hearing. "Yes, oh Great and Magnificent Mistress of the dimensions, oh mighty Glorificus. Yes, oh mighty Mistress. I shall return to the hotel immediately" he said.

As James finished up his work with Athena, he powered down, and was teleported

back to the Dojo that he worked out of. James headed toward a small shower that

was nearby, that was set up for those who wanted to get cleaned up after working out

at the Dojo. "So, brother, how is he doing?" asked Athena to Ares. "He is good.

VERY good! He is getting to the point that I'm having to tap into my own Godly

powers to keep up with him" he told his godly sister.

While the discussion was going on between the two Greek gods, things were not

going so well at the hotel that Glory was using as her base. In her goddess from, she

appeared to those that saw her, as a busty blonde, wearing a long flowing gown, but with a temper that would flair at times. "Well, what did you find out?" Glory half yelled, half snarled at her minion.

"I was unable to find out who the Greek Goddess was that was training him, oh most Glorious one. But, I was able to find out that he is a Ronin Warrior" he told his mistress. This news caused Glory to sit down and think. Dealing with Greek Gods would be something of a problem. Dealing with a Ronin Warrior being TRAINED by one was something that would require some specific help in dealing with. Once she decided on the course of action, she turned to her servants. "I want you to bring me the book of Evil Ones that have passed on. I need to find one with experience dealing with the Ronin Warriors" she declared.