Yorodien Samurai Troopers:
Another Story

Opening their eyes, the Chibi Troopers shouted happily, "YAKU-CHAN!"

Chibi Rekka threw his arms around Byakuen's waist and screamed, "You saved us!"

Byakuen gave him a tiny smile. "We're not out of the woods yet, Ryo-kun. Stay behind me and don't move, okay?"

"Hai."

Chibi Rekka went back to his friends and helped them get to their feet. Sniffling, Chibi Suiko mumbled, "My cheek hurts. I don't like this fighting game anymore."

"Don't cry, Suiko-chan," Chibi Kongo said softly. He hugged Chibi Suiko and gave him a reassuring smile. "Yaku-chan'll kick these guys' butts and then we'll all go back to Nasuti-san's house. Does that sound all right?"

"Uh-huh. Thanks, Kongo-chan. You're my best friend."

The two little boys hugged but the moment ended when a dark shadow fell over them and the other three Chibi Troopers. Gazing upward, they found another man standing before them, with his back facing them.

"It's Kokuen-Oh," Chibi Tenku whispered, his blue eyes staring at the other man-tiger.

Kokuen-Oh held up his fists and without facing them, he said, "Don't go running off, otherwise these creatures aren't the only things you have to worry about."

The Chibi Troopers didn't respond to this. Instead, they watched Byakuen in admiration, especially Chibi Rekka no Ryo.

The Shadowlings had regained their composers and were now on the attack. A couple of them unleashed their razor sharp blades at Byakuen. However, Byakuen held out his arm to the side and allowed the chains to wrap around him. He then yanked back and sent the shadow creatures flying off. Kokuen-Oh was more up close with his opponents. A few Shadowlings threw fists and punches at him but was able to block each and every one of them. Finally growing tired, Kokuen-Oh leapt into the air and quickly slammed two of the shadows into the ground. From there, he threw his body against another shadow and sent it crashing into a nearby boulder.

As that happened, Anubis, Naza, and Rajura appeared. The Chibi Troopers started jumping up and down in excitement. "Masho! Masho!" they cheered. "Go get 'em!"

From out of the shadows of the forest, more Shadowlings lunged out, catching the Masho off guard. One of them wrapped its fingers around Anubis' neck as they slid across the ground. Anubis tried to remove it but found its grasp extremely strong.

If only I had my armor! he thought as he struggled to fight off the darkness. No, I will not be defeated. I AM the Demon of Darkness! I should be able to control these things! With all of his might, Anubis reached up with his hands and placed them on the Shadowlings' face. Concentrating, he unleashed a powerful black lightning attack that had the Shadowling remove its fingers and scream out in pain. With that, Anubis grabbed it by the shoulders and threw it over his head. The creature fell onto the ground a few feet away and then vanished.

"Where did that come from?" Anubis whispered in awe. He stared down at his hands and felt a tingling sensation in them. "Amazing... I didn't even have my armor..."

Nearby, Rajura had created a web-like substance and was able to trap a couple of Shadowlings. Then Naza helped out by eliminating them using a powerful blast of venom that made them dissolve in no time. Afterwards, they too looked as stunned.

"What happened?" Naza asked in a shaky breath.

Rajura shook his head as he stared down at his hands like Anubis had. "That power... it was so intense..." He then lifted his head and exclaimed, "The Troopers!"

"Are safe now," Kokuen-Oh announced as he, Byakuen, and the Chibi Troopers approached them. He brushed a strand of black hair from his forehead and regarded the Masho. "How did you fare against the Shadowlings? Poorly? Well, it's a good thing that Byaku and I had taken--"

"We did just fine," Naza interrupted, his voice filled with acid. "We were able to destroy them on our own WITHOUT your help, Kokuen-Oh."

"Don't be so smug about all of this fighting business," Rajura added in the same tone of voice.

Chibi Rekka tugged on Byakuen's hand. "Can we go home now?"

Byakuen nodded. "Of course, Ryo-kun. We need to fix you up right away."

Just then, Nasuti arrived in her jeep. Stepping out, she sighed in relief as she discovered her friends all gathered together in one piece. "Oh thank goodness you're all safe!" she cried.

"Nasuti-san!" The five Chibi Troopers all ran over to Nasuti and hugged her. They then started telling her of what had happened to them in shrilled voices and showing her their cuts and bruises. Nasuti smiled at them and told them that she'd patch them up and fix them something to eat when they returned to the house.

"Interesting," Anubis mused quietly. "The Troopers see Nasuti as a mother figure or an older sister type, ne?"

"That's true," said Byakuen, who had folded his arms across his chest. He gazed upward into the night skies and sighed, glad that the fighting was over for now. He had never expected to do as well; rather, his legs would give way and he'd end up falling on his face. Although that didn't seem to be the case as he was getting used to walking on his hind legs.

Turning around, Byakuen found Kokuen-Oh leaning against a tree far away from the group. He called out to him, "Kokuen-Oh! I think we need to talk."

Pushing himself away from the tree, Kokuen-Oh shrugged. "About what?"

"How much do you know about these Shadowlings?" Byakuen asked curiously. "I'm not too sure if we were as one when we journeyed into that Time Paradox or Demons Gate or whatever it's called, but you seem to know a lot more than you're letting on."

"Ah, we start to think like a human and look what's its done to you," said Kokuen-Oh coyly. "It actually made you smarter. I'm impressed. And to think I figured I was the brains of the two."

Byakuen started snarling, but then Nasuti interrupted the two. "Let's just go back to the house before anything else happens."

"We can't all get a ride back," Naza noted aloud.

"Hey! I know a way!" Chibi Touma announced waving his hand in the air as if he were in school. "We can all pile into the car like those clowns in the circus! It'll be fun!"

Nasuti giggled. "No, Touma-kun, I don't think we should. Nice try, though." She patted Chibi Tenku on the head and then turned to the others. "Do you guys mind if... you know..."

"No problem at all, Nasuti-san," Byakuen spoke out for the others. "We don't mind walking. I think I need the most practice out of all of us, am I right?"

The group chuckled at this. The Chibi Troopers didn't entirely understand what was so funny. Instead, they raced over to the jeep and started fighting over who got to sit in the front seat.

"Okay then, once we get home, Kokuen-Oh can tell us more about these Shadowlings," Nasuti concluded softly.

***

High above, a pair of eyes watched as the group split up to head back to the house. "This cannot be happening," Kaijin whispered to himself. "The Troopers... their power... it wasn't supposed to be this way... argh!"

Kaijin moved away from the mirror that stood floating in front of him. He walked over to the throne where Sachiriku was. He found her sitting upside with her long legs dangling in the air and her hair spilling from her silver helmet. Sachiriku giggled and waved to Kaijin.

"Ohayo, Kaijin-san! This is making me dizzy...!" Suddenly, her legs fell back and Sachiriku tumbled off of the throne and onto the marble floor. She quickly stood up and brushed the imaginary dirt off of her armor. "Didn't mean to do THAT," she mumbled. "Shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't... must set an example for Arago. Show him I am NOT weak. I'll kill him when he's not looking--WHAM!" She swung her fist and nobody in particular and yelled, "Got you now, Arago! Bwahahaha!"

Sachiriku gasped as she found Kaijin staring at her, his golden mask showing her reflection. "Oooh, pretty..." the amazon drawled. Moments later she shook her head and her face grew serious. "The armors... did you get them? Please say you did, Kaijin. Don't tell me you didn't. I... do not want to get angry..."

Kaijin struggled with what he wanted to say. Taking a deep breath, he said to her, "I... have found them... and I ALMOST got them..."

Sachiriku raised her brows in question. "And...?"

Before Kaijin could respond, a blast of energy sent him flying backwards and crashing into the mirror. Broken shards of glass flew out as Kaijin fell to the ground like a ragged doll. Slowly, he got to his feet and gazed over at Sachiriku, who had her arms lowered to her sides once more, her hands fizzling with raw power. "Get me those armors!" she commanded, her voice so loud, the windows high above seemed to vibrate. She turned around and started walking back to her throne. "Kaijin-san, when you see Arago, tell him that his armors will be mine and that he shall become my slave. Tell him that, won't you? Pretty please?"

"H-Hai... Sachiriku-sama... I will..." Kaijin gasped as he got to his knees. Lifting his head, he watched as Sachiriku settled into her seat and closed her eyes. She started singing quietly to herself, a forgotten melody from long ago, perhaps. He didn't pay much attention to that. His main motive was to get the armors from those Troopers. But how?

Rising to his feet, Kaijin pointed a finger at the broken glass which laid scattered all over the ground. Slowly, the glass levitated off of the ground and glued themselves back into a mirror once more. It now stood before him, his reflection standing boldly. Kaijin snarled and quickly turned away. First things first. He had to find out where those Troopers were.

Strange, he thought. That woman from the Paradox... had a profound effect on my tracking abilities. It seems as though every time I want to locate the Troopers, my magic seems to fail and I cannot even teleport to where they are. Those idiot Shadowlings are my only means of retrieving the yorois. There must be another way. Perhaps in the meantime, I shall let them all be.

A cool wind blew by and Kaijin's long red cape flowed roughly past. Within a blink of an eye, the mysterious masked figure vanished.

***

Everyone was seated in the living room, wearing tired expressions on their faces. The grandfather clock chimed twice. The coffee table had been replaced with another that was stored up in the attic.

Anubis, Naza, and Nasuti sat together on one of the couches. Chibi Touma and Chibi Shin were sleeping on top of Nasuti's lap and Nasuti had her hand resting on top of Shin's head. Sitting across from them was Rajura and Byakuen, with Chibi Ryo sleeping soundly in Byakuen's arms. Kokuen-Oh was sitting over by the window sill, the moon's glow illuminating his darkly handsome features. Chibi Shu and Chibi Seiji were sprawled on top of the coffee table, snoring away. It was amazing how fast they had fallen asleep--once they made it back to the house, the boys all scrambled into the living room and were out like a light in seconds.

"All right, Kokuen-Oh," Anubis spoke. Oddly enough, his voice did not awake any of the boys. "So tell us: what do you know so far? About Sachiriku or that man in the mask? Or anything about those Shadowlings?"

Kokuen-Oh answered his questions without turning to face him. "I don't know much about this Sachiriku character but I do know Kaijin and the Shadowlings from way back. When Kenboukyou-sama and I used to make our rounds about the Youjakai, we'd once in a while come across Kaijin and his cronies. Kaijin was once a follower of Badamon until he discovered a greater power lying somewhere else. Don't remember him wearing a mask... Anyway, abandoning his sensei, Kaijin followed the source of the power which was radiating from the Goretsu Ken -- the ones Rekka no Ryo had stolen from my master long ago."

Byakuen noticed how Kokuen-Oh emphasized on the word "stolen". Nevertheless, he did not interrupt him with a comment on that. "Ano, what about the Shadowlings?"

"Those Shadowlings are creatures that, I guess you can say 'recycled' from the youja-soldiers."

"What do you mean?" Nasuti asked.

Kokuen-Oh snorted, "I mean, that... do you guys remember those soldiers you all fought a while back? Well, you noticed smoke coming out from their wounds and ripped armors? Those are the souls slipping away. They are then twisted into a creature from the shadows -- Shadowlings. They are twice as strong as their former bodies were and can meld in and out of shadows. Badamon had been using these things for quite some time but never really told Arago about them." Kokuen-Oh shrugged. "Why give away all of your secrets?"

A moment of silence fell upon the group. Sighing wearily, Nasuti brushed some strands of hair from her face and announced, "I think we should all go to bed now. It's awful late."

Byakuen nodded. "I agree. And I doubt those things will want to attack again and so soon."

"Don't be so sure," Kokuen-Oh objected. He pushed himself away from the wall and stared at his counter-part. "You and I will stand guard tonight -- let the others get their sleep."

Byakuen was surprised at Kokuen-Oh's action as were the others. Nevertheless, he gave him a single nod. "Very well." He stood up but then almost forgot that he had Chibi Ryo. Carefully handing him over to Rajura, who awkwardly took him, Byakuen followed Kokuen-Oh out to the back balcony. Everyone else stood up to stretch their legs.

"Now what?" Naza asked after stifling a yawn.

Nasuti turned to him and smiled faintly. "Now we sleep. You guys are welcome to use the Troopers' old rooms. I'm going to put these little munchkins in my grandfather's old room..."

Naza winced as he heard her mention her grandfather. He remembered exactly how he died and still felt guilty about it to this day. Bending down, Nasuti gathered Chibi Seiji and headed off towards the staircase. Naza bit his lower lip as he stared down at Chibi Shin. His hands were tucked under his cheek, his mouth slightly opened as he breathed.

Dammit, they are cute, Naza admitted to himself. Especially this one. *sigh* Can't believe I actually said that... He quickly scooped the sleeping child into his arms and followed Nasuti. Anubis took hold of Chibi Touma with one hand while hoisting Chibi Shu over his shoulder. He and Rajura (who still had Chibi Ryo) went upstairs, glad to be able to finally get some rest.

"You're not tired?"

Kokuen-Oh shook his head. "No. I prefer to sleep during the day. Either that or train."

Byakuen raised a brow in question. "You trained? How? By watching Kenboukyou?"

"You... could say that. Also I'd race along the mountain trails to build up speed and endurance." Kokuen-Oh sighed as he stared out at the lake. It's surface shimmered along the moonlight which shined down upon it. It reminded him of the Youjakai and its beautiful lands. That and its multiple moons which was scattered across the golden skies.

"Do you miss him?" Byakuen asked softly, his voice cutting in through his thoughts.

The other shook his head and blinked at him. "What?"

"Do you miss Kenboukyou?"

Kokuen-Oh snorted. "Why do you care?"

"Well, I... um, never mind." Byakuen sighed and said, "None of my business, huh?"

"That's right. Besides, we've got another matter to discuss."

Byakuen turned to him and gazed at him curiously. "Which is...?"

Running his hand through his black hair, Kokuen-Oh replied somberly, "Our fighting abilities. Or should I say, YOUR fighting abilities."

His jaw falling slightly, Byakuen said, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, if we are to be trapped in these horrid human bodies," Kokuen-Oh began, "then we must train ourselves so that we can coordinate properly. Wouldn't you agree?"

Byakuen frowned in response. He turned around and said, "I don't know what you're talking abou--aaahhh!" The white-haired man tripped over his foot and fell flat on his face.

Kokuen-Oh slapped a hand onto his forehead. "Oi! Byaku no baka."

"All right, all right," Byakuen grumbled as he slowly got off of the ground and onto his knees. He rubbed his sore nose before turning his head to find Kokuen-Oh with a hand over his mouth, snickering. "Are you laughing at me?"

"Hehehe--ur, no. Of course not." Kokuen-Oh flipped his hair out of his face and sneered. "I've got a lot more dignity then that, you know. So are you in or out?"

"In? Out?"

"For training!"

"Oh! Yes, I'm in."

"Good."

Reluctantly, Kokuen-Oh helped Byakuen to stand once more. "Better start by learning how to walk properly then, ne?"

***

Inside a large bedroom, five little boys slept in one giant bed. Each of them were still wearing their clothes but they didn't mind. On one side of the bed was Chibi Touma, lying on his back and snoring softly with his mouth open. Next to him was Chibi Seiji, then in the middle was Chibi Ryo, next to him was Chibi Shu, and on the other side was Chibi Shin. They were all sleeping soundly with a warm blanket to cover them all. The window was slightly open to allow the cool, refreshing air to come inside. Crickets chirped in harmony outside; a rather peaceful sound to sleep to. Yes, everything seemed just fine until...

"Mmm... nikuman... shabu-shabu... oh, yum...! Arigato..."

Chibi Shin started grinding his teeth. He could hear Chibi Shu talking in his sleep. Suddenly, he felt something wet drip onto his ear. "EEEWWW!"

Bolting straight up from bed, Chibi Shin glared down at Chibi Shu, who had rolled over into his spot. His mouth was open and hints of drool could be detected. Shin wiped his ear dry with the back of his sleeve before reaching over, grabbing his pillow, and hitting Shu over the head. "Hey!"

Chibi Shu was now awake and staring at Chibi Shin. "What'd ya do that for?!"

"You was talking in your sleep!" Chibi Shin remarked. "And you drooled on my ear!"

"Was not!" Chibi Shu turned around and quickly wiped his mouth clean. Whirling around to the other boy, he said, "Uh-uh. See. I'm not doing any of that stuff. Liar!!

"That's 'cuz your awake," a voice mumbled.

Chibi Ryo was sitting up and staring crudely at the two. "Be quite, you guys. I'm trying to sleep."

This didn't stop Shu or Shin though. The two of them continued on bickering. Chibi Ryo just sighed and closed his eyes. He laid his head onto his pillow but suddenly found his nose being tickled by a mass of hair.

"Ack! Plah!" Chibi Ryo suddenly sat up once more and made a face. Seconds later, Chibi Seiji was sitting up and rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"What's the matter, Ryo?"

Chibi Ryo made a face at Chibi Seiji and answered, "Your stupid hair got in the way! Why's it so poofy, anyway? It looks like a mop!"

"Does not!" Chibi Seiji glared at him and folded his arms across his chest. "Anyway, your hair's pretty dumb too! It's so long, I bet people think you're a girl!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Uh-huh! Girl!"

"Mop head!

"Girl!"

"Mop head!"

"GIRL!"

"MOP HEAD!"

"Odango Atama!

Ryo and Seiji turned to stare at Shu, who had apparently joined in on the conversation. He glanced at them before shrugging and telling them, "That's what Tuxedo Kamen calls Usagi!"

Chibi Ryo growled, "We're not talking about Sailor Moon, you big... you big... sissy!"

Chibi Shu gasped. "Sissy?!"

"Yeah, that's right, sissy!" Chibi Seiji added with a laugh. "Only sissies watch bishoujo shows!"

Just then, Chibi Shin bounced in and shouted, "Don't call him a sissy, you poofy head brain!"

"Okay, hold it!" Chibi Shu, Chibi Shin, and Chibi Seiji turned to Chibi Ryo, who had apparently taken charge. He cleared his throat and said to them, "The only way we can find out who the winner is... PILLOW FIGHT!"

With that, he swiped his pillow and bashed Chibi Shin over the head. Chibi Shu yanked his pillow from underneath Ryo and swung at Chibi Seiji. Soon, the four of them were hitting and giggling aloud. Feathers went flying from the pillows and soon the angry tension vanished, only to be replaced with happiness and pure enjoyment.

Unbeknownst to the others, Chibi Touma had fallen out of bed but was still snoring away on the floor, undisturbed. His pillow had fallen off and was resting on top of the boy's rear end, which was sticking up in the air.

All in all, the household would be kept awake for quite some time.

***end of chapter four

Chapter Five