Frozen in Time

By Pathfinder

Episode One: So It Begins

As you all know, Talpa was defeated at the hands of the Ronin Warriors, the Warlords, Anubis, and Lady Kayura, with some help from Yuli and the Jewel of Life. But what happened afterwards? This is the story created to answer that question. Anubis has been brought back to life, and a new evil has threatened the Earth. But this time, the Ronins might not be able to help defend it. . .

The evil force walked through what was left of the evil Dynasty. "Talpa was such a petty fool! He should have known better than to underestimate those children, the Ronin Warriors. But that leaves me eligible to take over in his place," he said to himself. "But first, Kayura and the ex-Warlords must be dealt with."

He peered at the space that was Talpa’s castle. The Ronins had destroyed it, and there was very little left. No bother. He could very easily regenerate it to his liking. Then, the bearers of the Nine Mystical Armors would pay very, very dearly.

"Kayura, are you sure this will work?" asked Cale. He looked unsure as the four of them stood before the altar at the Temple of Resurrection. Dais was looking awkwardly at the altar as Sehkment and his favorite pet snake, Mr. Bigglesworth, coiled around his waist and part of his neck.

"Of course I’m sure it’ll work! It’ll make things around here, especially with cleaning things up and my ability to control the staff," said Kayura. She sighed and placed the Staff before the altar. "Altar of Resurrection, bring back the previous bearer of this Magic Staff! Anubis, ARISE!" she cried. The temple was filled with light, which Dais shielded Cale from, knowing that the light would harm his comrade turned friend. Sehkment squinted to see a human body form the altar, but was it really Anubis? And if so, was he really alive?

The light died and Kayura turned away, knowing that if it worked, Anubis wasn’t dressed for the occasion. Sehkment walked over to the altar to see his former leaders’ solemn expression on his face. Long, silky auburn hair fell at his shoulders. But was he alive. Sehkment placed a hand over his nose. Dais and Cale held their breaths. Sehkment smiled.

"He’s breathing," he said. "I can feel his breath." Cale and Dais breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is he gonna wake up or what?" asked Dais.

Anubis’ eyes twitched slightly. "Mmm," he said, shifting positions slightly. His blue eyes fluttered open and sat up, looking around. "Wh, where am I?" he asked. ‘The last thing I remember is falling off the bridge, but how’d I get here?"

"You died and Kayura resurrected you," said Cale. "Are you okay? Would you like some clothes?"

That was when Anubis realized what his current, clothing, situation was. "Armor orbe, Kayura?" asked Dais. Kayura tossed over the armor orbe and Anubis happily transformed into his subarmor. He flexed his arms in the familiar smoky-blue subarmor.

"But, why?" asked Anubis. "Why did you-"

"We missed you, Kayura’s not good at making us behave, and we need the help in cleaning up the Nether Realm. The Ronins blew it to pieces when they defeated Talpa, but they still have a chance at living life normally, so we’re going to do it. Besides, we deserve it," said Sehkment. "We’ve killed, kidnapped, tortured, stolen, ,arson, assault and battery, assault WITH a battery, j-walked, and committed other crimes throughout our four hundred years in the Dynasty."

"Well, I suppose so," said Anubis. "Kayura, I am clothed, now."

"Thank you for telling me, Anubis," said Kayura, turning around. She smiled to see the man who had saved her from Badamon’s possession and gave him a hug. Anubis blinked in surprise, but returned the hug. Sehkment promptly stuck his finger down his throat and began to make gagging sounds as Dais snapped a picture, handed the camera off to Cale, who in return ran as fast as his two feet would carry him, Kayura and Anubis hot on his tail.

After wrenching the camera from Cale’s possession, the five former Warlords began to. . . um, gee, who do five bored Warlords do in their spare time?

"I’m bored, I’m bored, I’m bored," Dais said repeatedly. Cale was throwing a baseball into the air and catching it, Sehkment was playing with Mr. Bigglesworth, Anubis was meditating, and Kayura was taking various pictures of the Warlords being bored.

"I got it!" said Cale suddenly, causing everyone to jump. "Why don’t’ we go and bother the Ronins?"

"But they’re our friends now," said Sehkment. "Even that little excuse for a fish-"

"SEHKMENT! We all agreed that we would not make fun of our adversaries. Even Kento," said Dais. Sehkment stuck his tongue out and began to day dream about humiliating the youngest of the Ronins.

"Friends are supposed to tease each other! I’m seen Torrent and Hardrock go at it a few times myself," said Cale. "So let’s go and say hi. Besides, they’d probably be glad to see Anubis, anyways."

Anubis looked up. "Huh? Oh, right, I died."

"Fine, I’d like to say hi to Rowen anyways," said Kayura.

Sehkment smirked. "Only because you like-like him," he teased.

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"All right, all right!" said Kayura. "I really do like him. My sketch book is full of pictures of him, okay? But if ANY of you even breath a word about it to him than see this Magic Staff?" she said, pointing to the Staff of the Ancients. The Warlords nodded. "I bet it would be interesting to see how far up your butts it could possibly go."

"But that’s disrespect to the staff!" said Anubis.

Kayura looked thoughtful. "Okay, instead, I’ll hang you on a flag pole by your boxers."

"Okay, we’ll behave," they said in unison, their fingers crossed behind their backs. They were REALLY good at this, considering how many times they’d done it to the big floating head.

"Nice pad," said Sehkment as they walked up to Mia’s mansion. "Very nice." All five wore "civvies" (Anubis- white T-shirt, jeans, and black open vest. Cale- black T-shirt with a picture of Storm from X-Men, black leather jacket, black jeans, for those who care, no black nail polish. Sehkment- green turtleneck and jeans. Dais- white T-shirt with Spider-man on under denim overalls. Kayura- pink baby-doll T-shirt and hip-hugging bellbottom jeans.). The five walked up to the door to see the door and a strange little black button next to the door.

"What’s this?" asked Cale, pressing the button.

Nothing happened.

"Maybe you have to press it again," said Dais. Cale began to repeatedly press the button as the other Warlords watched in awe, except for Anubis, who knew it was a doorbell, but no one listened to him. They were too busy playing with the doorbell.

"Um, you can stop pressing the doorbell- Warlords?!" The warlords turned to see Ryo standing in the frame of the door wearing a white-shirt with a red symbol on it and a pair of plaid shorts.

"Oh, hello, Wildfire, what is this little button?" asked Cale.

"It’s a doorbell, you idiot," said Anubis. "You press it once and a tone is heard inside the house so someone can go and answer the door."

"Oh, so THAT’S why it didn’t do anything!" said Sehkment.

"Why are you guys here- wait, didn’t you die or something?" asked Ryo.

"We resurrected him out of boredom and the need of a helping hand," said Kayura. "Any ways, we’re still bored, so we thought we’d stop buy and say hello."

Ryo shrugged. "Come on in. Kento and Rowen are still asleep, but Kento will be up soon. Rowen, well, if you want to see him plan on staying until well past noon," said Ryo sheepishly.

"Ryo, who’s at the door?" came the voice of the woman that the Warlords knew as "bait". Or, Mia Koji. The young woman came to the door. "Anubis. . .is. . . alive. . .(thud)".

"Ah! Anubis, you’ve killed her!" said Cale, slapping Anubis across the face.

"Nah, she’s just fainted," said Ryo. Just then, Cye came over to see what was going on.

"Anubis, you’re alive? But you. . . died. . .(thud)".

"Yay!" said Sehkment.

"That was mean!" said Kayura, and kneed Sehkment you-know-where.

"AHH!" Sehkment screamed, grabbing himself and falling to the ground, eyes crossed and mouth open.

Dais knelt down next to the fallen Torrent. "Is he okay?"

"He just fainted like Mia did. Cye’s our sensitive one," Ryo said.

"Hey, cool, the Warlords used the Staff to Bring Anubis back to life!" The Warlords looked up to see, surprisingly enough, Kento.

Cale blinked. "You actually figured that out?"

"Well, you guys wouldn’t bring a ghost here unless you were still mad at us for all those times we kicked your butts," said Kento, shrugging. "So you’re all bored or something?"

"Did he suddenly get smarter?" asked Dais, not understanding how his old adversary had suddenly gotten so much more intelligent than the stupid muscle-head he used to pick his fights with.

Kento frowned. "No, I’m only cocky and bull-headed when there’s trouble, or, if there’s food to be fought over."

"Why am I not surprised?" said Kayura, rolling her eyes as she helped revive Mia. Mia opened her eyes.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You and Torrent fainted when you found out that I was alive," said Anubis, helping Mia to her feet. She looked over at the suffering Sehkment. "He made a rude comment when Torrent fainted and Kayura kneed him."

"Ouch," said Kento. He picked up Cye and slung him over his shoulder just as Cye was waking up.

"Wha," asked Cye rather sleepily.

"First, I’m going to drop you in a tub of cold water, then you’re gonna have to make more breakfast since we have an additional five mouths to feed," said Kento, hauling his best friend outside to the carp pond.

"KENTO! PUT ME DOWN! NO, THAT’S OKAY, I’M AWAKE-"

SPLASH!

"Looks like someone got a rude awakening," said a chuckling voice. Sage stood casually in the doorframe, arms crossed and hair flopping into his eye. The Warriors of Darkness and Light shot each other dirty looks. Kayura then shot them killer looks, getting a gulp from each of them.

"You know, I’m sure we could all learn to actually LIKE our adversaries," said Dais. "So Kento called me Pinky for a while, he appears to have a good sense of humor."

A very wet and very angry looking Cye came back into the room. "What would you like?" he asked, trying to be cheerful.

"I thought you liked the water," said Kayura.

"I do," said Cye, "I just don’t like getting thrown into it. So, is there anything you’d like? Waffles, pancakes, omelets-"

"Donuts?" asked Sehkment hopefully as he stood back up.

Cye closed his eyes. "Nope. Sorry. I can get you bagels-"

"What are bagels?" asked Sehkment.

"They look like donuts but they don’t taste-"

"Bagels!"

"Sehkment would you please-"

"Can I have a bagel?"

"Are you interrupting me on-"

"Yes."

"No bagel."

"Fine! I’ll shut up," said Sehkment, looking defeated. Cye smiled cutely as he went into the kitchen, but before he did he peeled off his wet shirt.

Sometime around noon, Kayura decided to go exploring in the house. She found the living room, dinning room, kitchen, den, and basement not terribly appealing. So, she went upstairs.

The first room she looked into consisted of a neat bed, green carpeting, and several martial arts trophies. A bed with green sheets was neatly made. A bookshelf was in the corner with a few reference books, novels, and several little black books with strange combinations of numbers and girl’s names. "Sage’s room," said Kayura, noting that his room was just as neat and almost identical in setup to Cale’s room.

The next room was a pale blue in color with several marine life posters and another shelf. This one consisted of books with strange text she didn’t understand and several cookbooks. A stuffed whale sat on the pale blue bed. "Cye’s room," she said. The bearer of Torrent was less obsessive with the animals that went with his element that Sehkment, whose room was crawling with poisonous animals.

The third room was fairly plain with soccer posters, a LARGE cat bed, very large and destroyed looking chew toys, and a few sports trophies. "Ryo’s room," said Kayura. Who else would have chew toys in their room or a large cat bed? White Blaze obviously shared with his master.

The following room was a disaster area. Empty food containers and video games lay strewn along the floor. "Kento, you are a pig." She decided it would be safer to stay as far away as humanly possible from that room. How could he LIVE in that dump? It smelled funny.

The next room had a smaller bed. A few electronic cars were lined up neatly along the sides of the hardwood floor, their remotes close by. A box of action figures lay in the corner next to the bed, which was covered by Dragon Ball GT sheets. "Yuli," said Kayura. It looked a lot like Dais’ room, only his sheets were of Spiderman.

The sixth room she visited had pink walls and floral bedding. A computer was in one corner, the Jewel of Life hanging on a plaque next to it. Its string had been repaired and it looked fairly nice. "Mia’s room," she said.

The next room she visited consisted of a toilet, a sink, and a shower. "The bathroom."

The last room she peeked into was her favorite. The walls were a deep blue in color, but the ceiling was painted black with glow in the dark stars pasted the ceiling. An entire wall was filled with books on several sciences that she had never heard off. A telescope stood next to the window, looking like it had been well used. But what puzzled her was the moving lump in the bed. Kayura cautiously walked over to it. What is this strange thing? She wondered. Kayura poked the mass.

"Mmm. . . go away."

"It talked!" hissed Kayura. Her heart was beating faster than it had ever had before. She was SCARED. The mass readjusted itself, then continued its soft and steady rising and falling.

She poked it again. Nothing happened. Poked it again. Nothing. Pulled the mass off the bed. "AHHHH!"

"AHHHH!" screamed Kayura. She transformed into the Ancient’s robes and smacked the lump with her Staff.

"Ow! Ow! Who’s doing that! I’m up, I’m up!" Suddenly, Kayura recognized the voice.

"Rowen?" she asked.

A familiar blue-haired head poked out of the covers. "Kayura?! What are you doing in my room!"

"Um, I was investigating," she said.

"Why?"

"Because I got bored and the Warlords are becoming addicted to Playstation," she said. "Kento showed them that monstrosity."

"That doesn’t mean you snoop around and give peaceful sleepers heart attacks," he said, looking up at the clock. "Noon? Ah well. Now’s as a good as ever a time to get up."

"Oh, do you want me to leave so you can get dressed?" asked Kayura.

"Nah, I’ve got a pair of shorts on if you want to talk," said Rowen, sitting up. He patted down on the sheets next to him. Kayura sat down. "So, what’s new?"

"Anubis was resurrected from the dead and has his old armor back," said Kayura.

"Really? He’s alive again? I didn’t know you could do that," said Rowen.

"We got bored and needed help," said Kayura. It felt awkward speaking to her crush this way, but she did want to talk with him. "So, what’s new with you?"

"Nothin’ much," said Rowen. "So you guys just pop over for a visit?"

"Basically," said Kayura.

"Uh, Kayura?"

"Yes, Rowen?"

"You’re rubbing my thigh."

"Oh!" said Kayura, suddenly becoming aware of the subconscious action. She blushed and turned away. "I’m terribly sorry, I should leave."

Rowen stood up. "You don’t have to leave," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Kayura turned around, smiled, and kissed him.

"Hey, Kento?" asked Dais as they watched Cye and Sehkment battle it off as Scorpion and Sub Zero in Mortal Kombat.

"Yeah, Dais?"

"Two questions. First of all, where is Lady Kayura, and does why does Rowen always sleep so late?"

"I don’t know and low blood pressure," said Kento. "He’ll be downstairs shortly. I think."