This story takes place during the battle where Talpa is defeated the first time, when he is sent back to the Netherworld. And I owe a big thanks to Tonia M. Fultz for the dialogue in chapters 1a and b!

        Talpa laughed happily as he finally got his clutches on Ryo.

        "At last! I have you now Ryo of the Wildfire; your armor is mine!" exclaimed Talpa gleefully.

        "I’m so sorry guys; I’ve failed you." Ryo whispered.

        Just then they both heard a beautiful commanding, musical voice that seemed to ring throughout the area around them. It had a dangerous edge to it.

        "CELESTIAL BLAZING COMETS!" shouted the owner of the voice.

        A barrage of comets reigned down from the skies above and hit Talpa with full force. "What is THIS?!" cried Talpa, as his hold on Ryo was lost.

        As Ryo started falling, the owner of the lovely voice appeared. She jumped up and put his arm around her shoulder and her arm around his waste to catch him as he fell, himself being to weak to drop to the ground safely.

        As she guided him to the ground, Ryo turned his head around to see who it was that had rescued him; and was stunned by what he saw. Supporting him was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. From what he could see of her, she had long flowing wavy blond hair that shone like the golden rays of the sun and ran down to a few inches below her waist, and she had the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen. The most amazing part was that she was clad in full Ronin armor!

        "Who are you?" he asked weakly.

        "A friend, Ryo of the Wildfire." She flashed him a warm smile and suddenly he felt that everything would turn out all right. When they landed, she continued. "I am Lirin of the Cosmos, Warrior of the Cosmic Void of Space. I will protect you and hold off Talpa until you can regain your strength and your armor has healed you fully."

        "Another Ronin Warrior?!" shouted an incredulous Talpa. "How can this be?!"

        "Believe it Talpa." Lirin replied.

        "No matter, I will take you and your armor just like I did with the other Ronins. You are no match for me."

        "That’s what you think Talpa! I’m 3 times as strong as any normal Ronin! Only when the others are united are they stronger than I!" shot Lirin.

        "Is this true?" asked Ryo.

        "Yes." she answered him truthfully. "Now rest and I will fight Talpa and delay him until you are healed enough to fight yourself."

        "You mustn’t kill him! He has absorbed all the other Ronins along with their armors."

        "Shoot, then I have come to late. That means that I can’t use my strongest attack and you cannot join with the others to defeat him yet. That will make things harder."

        "Tell me about it."

        "Well, while you are healing, try to think of a way to get them out. I’ll distract him for you."

        "I can’t let you do that!" replied Ryo.

        "You’re in no position to argue, Ryo!"

        "Enough of this!" shouted Talpa. "Now I will have both of your armors!"

        "You’ll have to catch me first Talpa!" said Lirin, with a gleam in her silver-green eyes.

        "With pleasure!" replied Talpa through gritted teach. And with that he tried to hammer her into the ground with his fist.

        Lirin leapt clear of Talpa’s fist with speed and agility that surprised both Ryo and Talpa. "Missed me Talpa! Care to try again?" she taunted.

        "Why you little…!" Talpa angrily swat at her again, and again she dogged. This went on for sometime, and each time Talpa tried to pound her into the ground, Lirin dodged, being too quick and agile for Talpa. "I’ll have your armor yet!" he shouted, now thoroughly ticked off.

        "Not while I breathe Talpa!" retorted Lirin, who was starting to tire.

        "Then I’ll fix that!" Suddenly a transparent image of Kento of Hardrock’s face appeared above Talpa’s face. "IRON ROCK CRUSHER!" shouted Talpa with Kento’s voice in the background.

Lirin started running towards the edge of the roof when she saw the attack coming, running right past Ryo. "Not good, this is NOT good!" Ryo could hear her say as she ran past him.

        "Lirin!" Ryo groaned.

        When she got to the edge of the roof, she jumped, grabbed the edge and swung down and hung there until the attack had passed her.

        Ryo, thinking she had been thrown off the roof and hurled to her death on the ground below, struggled to stand. Then he challenged Talpa. "You’ll pay for that Talpa!! I won’t let her death go unavenged!" And with that, he drew his twin katana blades, the Swords of Wildfire.

        Lirin gracefully swung herself back up on the roof and saw Ryo taking out his swords. "Ryo you idiot! You’re not strong enough to fight Talpa yet!" she hissed under her breath. "Ryo lookout!" she cried, but her warning came too late and only distracted Ryo. She watched with horror, she saw Talpa swat Ryo off the edge of the roof.

        "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!"

        "Ryo! Crap!" she ran full tilt to grab his hand. But, even with her incredible speed, by the time she got there he had already fallen too far for her to grab his hand, but she could reach the blade of one of his swords. Without a second thought she grabbed it, feeling it slice through her hand, making a deep, long gash into it. She winced and cried out, but held on tight, knowing that if she let go, Ryo would most certainly fall to his doom. "Ryo, grab my wrist!" she ordered. He did, and she moved her hands away from the sword to clasp his wrist firmly and then pulled him up to safety. "What in the name of the stars did you think you were doing?!" she yelled at him.

        "I thought you had fallen of the roof to your death and was going to avenge it."

        "Not a good way to avenge my death by dying yourself!" she replied hotly.

        "I grow weary of this!" shouted Talpa. With that he lashed the full force of all his 8 armors out at the two remaining Ronins.

        Lirin quickly stepped in front of Ryo to shield him from the attack and drew her two Cosmic Star Swords, which sparkled with starlight. "CELESTIAL BLAZING COMETS" she cried, hoping to neutralize the attack, but knowing it was futile, since her armor only had the power of 3 armors, and Talpa had the power of 8. Still, she held her own as best she could and for a few seconds it was a draw, but then her own power began to be overtaken by Talpa’s.

        "LIRIN!" cried Ryo as Talpa began to absorb her along with her armor.

        "It’s up to you now Ryo!" she told him.

        "Ha! He is not match for me now!" exclaimed Talpa. "Ah, you fight me Lady of Cosmos, but soon you will give in to me just like the others. Ryo of Wildfire, I believe that it is now time for you to join your friends’ fate!" and he unleashed the same power he used to take Lirin at Ryo.

        In his current state, there was no way that Ryo could have ever blocked the attack, and Ryo knew this. He let the attack come. "I tried, I couldn’t stop him. I saw all my friends fall trying to stop him." he said with despair.

        "Before the attack hits him though, Ryo hears the jingling of rings from the Ancient’s staff. "Ancient?" he asks. "I’m sorry. I guess I let you down most of all." The light from the Ancient’s staff engulfs him. When the light dies down, he looks around to see many dead warriors from feudal Japan. "What is this? What are you showing me?"

        "This cycle of evil began before you joined the battle. Long ago it descended upon the earth, and in it’s wake everything decayed. It incinerated all hope and humanity. This most monstrous of all things entered into the mortal world. This is the same one that threatens today."

        Ryo looks up to see Talpa riding an evil looking black horse on top of a Dynasty gate. He sees the ancient warriors shoot many arrows at Talpa, but Talpa just laughs at them and burns their arrows.         "You puny mortals!" Talpa snickers. "Face Talpa, master of the evil Dynasty. You ask for a further demonstration of my powers?" He urges his horse down to the ground, himself yelling all the way. He uses the powers of wind, water, and earth and kills many of the ancient warriors.

        Suddenly, the Ancient appears, in full armor, with a massive white Tiger (gee, he looks familiar) at his side.

        "Who dare’s challenge me?!" Talpa demands.

        "I will no allow you to claim this world for your own, you demon!" The ancient pulls out his golden sword, the hilt of which looks just like the head of the Ancient Staff. "Fight me!"

        "How foolish!" Talpa admonishes. He starts to charge the Ancient with his horse, but the Ancient jumps out of the way easily. Talpa stops his mount and the Tiger lunges at the horse, ramming it. Talpa is knocked off his mount.

        Talpa laughs. "A fair move. But, I’m not so easily bested."

The Ancient points sword at Talpa. "There where darker days when your kind roamed the earth. But, you where banished to another realm long ago. An age of enlightenment has begun, and you have no place in it! I was the one chosen to protect this order from the chaos you spawned."

        Talpa laughs at him. "Then you are a fool! I wield the forces of the dark world by the mite of this armor, and the Dynasty of evil was formed. I used its power to open the gates and get into this realm I will conquer!

        The Ancient and Talpa charge towards each other, swords in hand.

        "You will die!" Talpa cries. But this is not so, for the Ancient brings his golden sword down upon Talpa.

        "I would know who has vanquished me." Asks Talpa calmly.

        "I am, and always will be, the guardian of this world!" The Ancient answers him.

        "Someday, I will gain entry into this world again. If it takes a thousand years!" Talpa promises him, and falls to the ground.

        "I’ll be waiting Talpa, but until then you will dwell in exile!" He raises his sword and plunges it into Talpa’s chest. Talpa’s soul leaves the armor and disappears into the Dynasty gate. When it has disappeared, the massive gate closes, and vanishes.

        "Strange." remarks the Ancient. "His soulless armor still remains in this world. And, as long as it is whole, Talpa will have a way to keep his vow and return here." He wills his golden sword to become the Ancient’s Staff that we are so familiar with, and his armor becomes the monk’s robes.

        Ryo then sees Talpa’s armor in a massive furnace. The ancient is chanting and motioning with his hands as he begins to separate the armor. Suddenly he stops, calls out the kanji of the armor. "Virtue. Justice. Trust. Life. Wisdom. Loyalty. Piety. Obedience. Serenity." With each word, the respective kanji symbol is seen. Then he calls out three more that would be one armor. "Purity, Honor, and Courage." When he has finished, he looks up and many screens open to reveal the ten mystical armors.

        "The warlord and Ronin armors!" Ryo exclaims. As he looks at them he names them. "Anubis, Dais, Sehkmet, Cale, Cosmos, Strata, Halo, Torrent, Hardrock—"

        "and Wildfire!" the Ancient finishes.

        "Ancient!" Ryo calls out.

        "Yes, Ryo of Wildfire, before you accept this fate, you must understand this past. Although I defeated Talpa, I could not destroy his most destructive weapon. Instead, I defused its power and created ten mystical armors. The ten armors are part of a whole, and therefore all connected; but not necessarily to Talpa’s evil. The six Ronin armors derive their power from the purest parts of the human spirit. They were the strongest links forged in the chain I created. Though the essence of humanity flows like a current within the other four as well. But, in a turbulent age of greed and distrust, these spirits were more easily corrupted and swayed to the side of evil. Talpa called them back to him and the ways of his dynasty. They revived his dark presence in this world. As you have learned the ten armors have various ability, but it is the wearer’s soul that awakens these powers—"

        Talpa interrupts him. "to either good or evil. And, when all of them are back to my dark power, I will reign out destruction to your world!" His attack finally reaches Ryo and encases him. "Yours is the last I need Ryo of the Wildfire!"

        "I have failed you ancient one. It’s too late, there’s nothing I can do now. My friends, forgive me." And, Talpa absorbs him and his armor.

        "I will be made whole again!" Talpa says gleefully, laughing.

        "Ryo!" Mia calls out.

        "No! Let him go!" Yuli yells at Talpa.

        "I have the power once more." Talpa laughs evilly as he starts to destroy everything around him. "Now I will have the revenge I waited a thousands years for! I will sponge the meager life from this earth and make it my own!"

        "Ryo’s gone, and he was our last hope!" Mia announced.

        "He can’t be!" Yuli said. "Ryo would never give up like that! NO RYOOOOO!"

 

 

Chapter 1b

 

Inside Talpa…

 

        Ryo floats along inside Talpa with cherry blossom petals. "Wow. Where am I? Oh, it’s beautiful! This is paradise!" He looks down to see the other Ronins, lying down, asleep. All have peaceful expressions on their faces, except Lirin, who has a pained look, for she is still fighting.

        "Wha? Hey? Rowen, Sage, Sai, Kento, Lirin! At least we’ll share the same eternity of peace. We will be together forever." He floats down to sit in the middle of them.

        Ryo hears the Ancient’s staff again. "Let me sleep! Please, I don’t have the strength to fight Talpa anymore." But, the staff keeps ringing.

        "Ronin warriors, you have done well." the Ancient tells them. "The battle between Talpa and I is destiny, but I was mistaken to involve you in it. The armors sought you out because of your strength and courage. The battle was inevitable, but not this end."

        "Huh, what?" Ryo asks.

        "As long as feelings of despair and hopelessness exist in this world, I cannot win."

        "No Ancient! Please, you can’t just let it end like this! We fought so hard! You can’t give up now!" Ryo looks to see the ancient going to each Ronin. "Huh?" he asks.

        "Forgive me, all of you." the Ancient says to the Ronins. "I had no right to sacrifice your lives; you fight is over."

        "No Ancient One!" Ryo pleads.

        "This battle is destiny and it will last forever. As long as the human heart is filled with hatred, as long as there are wars fought, innocents will be sacrificed. For, darker emotions rule and breed within the realm of the dynasty." the Ancient’s voice started blending with Talpa’s, "As long as mortals feed their fears, it will always exist.

        "Your battle was lost before it started!" Talpa told him.

        "Talpa." Ryo said bitterly.

        Talpa laughed at him. "How pitiful! You have sacrificed everything you cared for: your companions, yourself, and your world, and for what? If you were searching for forgiveness, you will not find it here. You have found nothing!"

        "No way!" Ryo yelled.

        "Look, your five friends are here." Talpa held up the other Ronin Warriors in a ball of energy. "They are wasting away—"

        "No!"

        "—because the hope they had for you was lost. Only their hatred remains for you; surging into me becoming part of my world!"

        "Oh no! It can’t be! I was thinking of them, I swear it I was!"

Laughing, Talpa says to him, "Then you’ve made a grave error, didn’t you Ryo of Wildfire? And that you will join them now with your feelings of betrayal and despair seems most fitting."

        "Ryo, fight Talpa!" Sage tells him.

        "Don’t give up!" adds Sai.

        "Don’t worry about us!" says Rowen.

        "Yah, destroy that maggot, Ryo!" continues Kento.

        "You must not give in to him." Lirin voices.

        "I can’t give in! I can’t give up! It’s just what Talpa wants, but I have to fight for the Ronin Warriors! I gotta do it for them now! Ancient!" Ryo calls. "Please help me! Help me to fight Talpa again!"

        "Truly said." laughed Talpa. "How regretful that your mentor has given up as well. Give into your desperation, your darkest thoughts, make my armor even stronger!"

        "I can’t do that. If I give into him, I’ll just be betraying my friends all over again. I won’t do that!" The sign of virtue glows brightly on his forehead. "I’m still a Ronin Warrior!" He stands up in the middle of the Ronin’s and his armor burns brightly. The armor of the other Ronins are glowing as well. "Rowen, Sage, Sai, Kento, Lirin, please, I need your help again my friends! We can’t let it end like this, fight it!" The kanji symbols of each warrior appear on their foreheads. "To win we must have trust, and wisdom, and justice merged with life force. Our hearts must be pure and we must have honor and courage. Then I will have the power!" Ryo shoots upward in a red haze and breaks free of Talpa.

        "Ah, you still live?" asked Talpa a bit surprised. "Good, I will have the greatest pleasure of killing you again!"

        "It’s Ryo!" Mia exclaimed.

        "I knew it!" said Yuli.

        "WHAT is THIS?" cried Talpa.

        Bursts of orange, green, light blue, dark blue and white light erupted from Talpa as the other Ronin Warriors broke free of Talpa. The light streamed towards Ryo as Sage of Halo, Sai of Torrent, Kento of Hardrock, and Rowen of Strata gave their essence to Ryo and he burst into flame. Ryo shed the Armor of Wildfire and donned Hariel’s White Armor of Inferno for the first time. The white stream of light materialized into Lirin, who came and stood next to Ryo. It was then, while Ryo had on the Inferno Armor, that he noticed how similar Lirin’s Armor of Cosmos looked compared to this new armor of his.

        "Treachery! You are mine!" Talpa yelled.

        "Look, Mia!" Yuli said. "It’s Ryo’s armor, he did it!"

        "The 5 armors have joined together." She told him. "But, I wonder why that girl wasn’t absorbed with the others."

        "Talpa, now you know that the human spirit is not so easy to defeat." Ryo told him.

        "You and your world are about to be torn asunder," Talpa shouted. "and Talpa will reign supreme! Feel my power! Before Talpa could do anything, Lirin cast a protective wall of white starlight fire around the four unconscious Ronins so they would not be hurt or absorbed by Talpa again.

Talpa aimed bolts of energy at Ryo and Lirin, but both of them dodge the attacks easily. "You can’t escape me!" In his rage Talpa brought down his huge sword on top of Ryo. Ryo blocked the sword above his head with his crisscrossed swords and then forced it back from him.

        "Huh? What?" Talpa questioned.

        Ryo and Lirin both began to build up enormous amounts of energy, beginning to form their special attacks. They were both encompassed in white fire, and Mia and Yuli looked on in awe.

        "FLAIR UP NOW!"

        "FURRY OF COSMOS!"

        Powerful energy from both Ronins’ attacks engulfed Talpa and he began to be transported back to the Netherworld. When Talpa realized this he decided to do what he could to exact his revenge on the

Ronins. "I will take my revenge on one of you!" he maliciously yelled.

        Talpa thought about who he would take his revenge on, knowing he only had enough power left to exact his revenge on only one Ronin Warrior. He could not take it out on either Sage, Sai, Kento, or Rowen, because of that blasted protective wall of starlight fire that Lirin had made. No, he could only take it out on either Ryo, who now had on Hariel’s White Armor of Inferno, or Lirin of the Cosmos. He knew that he could not contend with the unfathomable powers of the Inferno armor, so that left only Lirin.

        "I will take my revenge out on…YOU, Lady of Cosmos!" he shouted.

        Suddenly Lirin was swept up into a whirlwind of power. "Ryo!" she shrieked.

        "Lirin! NOOOOO!" Ryo called back.

        "He is going to launch me into the void of space!" she told him when she realized what was happening, for she had once had a vision of this happening. "If you search for me, then listen to me carefully! My name is Lirin Star and I am the Warrior of the Cosmos! To find me, look to my star and it’s two guardians!" Lirin held up her swords so he could see them. "Here!" she said as she threw him her awesome blades, "You will need my Cosmic Star Swords to guide you in your search for me! They are the keys to recovering me. When you find my location, all you need to do is…" she was suddenly cut off as she was shot off like a comet towards the depths of space.

        "NOOOOO!" Ryo shouted at the top of his lungs. "Lirin." he breathed. "We’ll find you. I swear it!"

 

 

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So how is it so far? PLEASE e-mail your C & C’s to me at LirinStar@aol.com. This is my first fic and I really need them! And no, I don’t mean for this to be a Ryo/Lirin love story. In fact, I plan on having her (who is kind of a representation of me with a few improvements =) ) get together with Rowen (who just happens to be my favorite!! He’s just sooo kawaii!! =D ) Mia will get Ryo.

 

 

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