Well, here I am again...
This one is a bit less on action than any of the other Ronin Summers I've
cranked out over the past little while. Rest assured, things WILL and DO
pick up rather quickly! ^_^ As always, I eagerly accept any and all C&C,
MST, praise, questions, and etc. (please no flames, though!)
And AWAAAAY we go!
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
OBLIGATORY LEGAL DISCLAIMER : None of these guys are mine. The Sailor
Senshi belong to DIC and Kodansha, while the Yoroiden are owned by
Sunrise and Graz Entertainment. Okay? So don't bother suing me.
RONIN SUMMER 2 : HOMECOMINGS
A Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cross-over
by Morgan Hudson (dataraven_659@excite.com)
Part 1 : Stealing the Light
The train station was filled, as usual, with dozens of people,
all of whom were very busy going from one place to another place. This
was a common affair for people during the summer, and as such was
something few people paid attention to. Bells rang, trains hissed, and
great clouds of steam blasted out onto the walkway, where one person
in particular yelled in surprise and fell over, losing his precarious
grip on more luggage than one person could expect to carry.
Seiji Date groaned and tried to clear his head. Sometimes, he
reflected, having the reflexes of a cat weren't good, especially when
a mountain of bags were making you top-heavy. "Stupid train," he said,
and sat up. His grey slacks were coated with grime, and his olive
green blazer wasn't much better off.
"Need a hand, Seiji?" Minako Aino leaned over, her long blond
hair practically forming a curtain around them as she smiled at the
downed man. "I can carry my own bags, you know. I'm not helpless..."
"Minako, if ANYBODY knows how helpless you aren't, it's me."
Seiji wasn't kidding : three weeks ago, they had been battling the
forces of evil as Sailor Venus and Seiji no Korin, respectively. As if
seeing her blast her way through youma hadn't been enough, he still
had some interesting bruises from the soccer game they had held later
to remind him of how tough she was.
Minako shrugged and laughed cheerily. She was stunning, he
decided, decked out in a lovely red skirt and white blouse with a
string of pearls around her neck. He just hoped she looked good
enough... his family didn't impress easily.
**********
Seiji sighed and folded his blazer up on the seat beside him.
Fortunately, he could get it cleaned when he got home. If any had
gotten on the black silk shirt his mother had given him, though...
well, seppuku wasn't such a bad way to go. Drumming his fingers on
one knee, he began to fiddle with the necklace he wore. It was a
simple affair ; a silver chain with a gleaming emerald orb hanging on
it. The kanji for "Wisdom" seemed to glow from the depths of the
gem, but most observers assumed it was an optical illusion.
"Seiji, it's your family we're going to be meeting! I don't
think you'll need the Korin." Minako reached over and gently patted
his undrummed knee. "They're not youma, right?"
Seiji looked uncomforetable and mumbled something under his
breath.
**********
Back in Tokyo, Usagi Tsukino was in heaven. The rumours had
been true! A new ice cream parlour had just opened its doors for
business, and on the hottest, driest day of the entire year! Needless
to say, a mass of the hungriest, hottest, and most sweet-toothed teens
and children in all of Japan were mobbing the place, and Usagi was
one of them.
"Hey, out of the way! Coming through! Pardon me, ma'am!" Usagi
moved through the milling crowd with the deftness and surety of
someone who, as Sailor Moon, had spent her fair share of time pushing
through crowds of much larger, meaner things than mere hungry
schoolchildren.
"Usagi! Over here!" The speaker was a tall, handsome boy
with jagged blue hair and elfin features. He was wearing a white dress
shirt with the collar open and a pair of blue jeans. More importantly
to Usagi, he was carrying two VERY well-stacked ice cream cones.
"Touma Hashiba! What are you doing here?"
The Yoroiden Samurai Trooper of Tenku looked at her strangely.
"Uhm... I'm getting ice cream, Usagi. Want a cone?" He offered her one
of his, and watched in stunned amazement as it rapidly disappeared
from his hand into the blond girl's mouth. Smiling at the unspoken
challenge, he managed to finish his nearly as quickly.
"MMMM! Thanks for the treat, Touma!" Usagi grinned at him. "So,
how have you and the guys been lately?" She looked thirstily at the
cans of pop under his arm. Touma chuckled and pointed at an empty
table. Once they sat, he gave her one of the cans.
"Well, Seiji's going home to Sendai to visit with his family
for a while..."
"Oh, YEAH! He's taking Minako... she told me all about it."
Touma shook his head and ignored her interruption. "Ryo is
still going through that remedial computers class with Ami Mizuno,
which is pretty brave of them considering how the last class turned
out, Shin's around here somewhere, and Shuu is still helping out at
his family's Chinese restaurant."
Usagi finished her drink and looked over at the young man in
concern. "But that's it, right? No monsters or demons, or youma or
ghosts or anything?"
Touma smiled and opened his can. "No, it's been pretty quiet
ever since we took out that Dark One..."
**********
Elsewhere in Tokyo, things were preparing to get a lot less
quiet. In the secluded penthouse office of a very high-placed
corporation, a well-dressed man sat behind his desk and watched some
jittery camera footage on the giant wallscreen in front of him.
A figure in black armour with a large scythe swung at a man
in a tuxedo, who struck back with his walking stick. Then, another
man in armour leapt forward and struck the other figure with what
looked like a bow. The footage stopped, then rewound and started again.
The massive oak doors opened, and a man with a beard and a lab
coat entered the office. "You summoned me, Mr. Xavier?"
"Yes... look at this footage, doctor. What do you see?"
The scientist lifted his glasses and squinted. "Well, the
angle is bad, but I would assume it to be some sort of movie being
filmed."
"Actually, it's not." The well-dressed man leaned back in his
massive leather chair. "That... is how my business dinner at the
Golden Dragon ended last month. Those gentlemen are not actors, and
this footage was shot by one of my own men." Rings sparkled in the
lamplight as he gestured towards a massive pile of books, scrolls,
and other musty smelling scraps of cloth and paper. "I've been
researching these men, doctor : they intrigue me. Their armour matches
no design ever used in recorded history, and yet it can't possibly have
been constructed today. They were a mystery, and I enjoy such things."
"And have you solved this mystery, sir?" The scientist tugged
self-consciously at his beard. He really couldn't see how he fit into
this... he was beginning to wish he had never accepted the job as this
nut's head of R&D.
"I believe I have. Are you familiar with the legend of Arago
and the yoroi?"
**********
Seiji barely made it off of the platform before the horror
began.
"Welcome home, brother. It's been so... BORING without you
here." His older sister Yayoi laughed wickedly and rested her bokken
on one shoulder. "Of course, now that you're back, we'll have SO much
fun... yes..."
Seiji tried to force a weak smile. "Yayoi! I had no idea you
were coming home, too, dear sister!" If he had known, he added
silently, he would have hopped the first plane to Canada. "How is
medical school?"
"Distressingly easy, baby brother, distressingly easy. I'm
just going out of my mind with boredom."
Probably because they won't let you cut people open, you
sadistic bitch, Seiji thought to himself. I hate you. "How awful for
you," he answered her.
Minako got off the train and looked over at the older woman
dressed in an expensive business suit and carrying a wooden sword for
some reason. "Hello! I'm Minako Aino..."
"Well! It seems my baby brother has some taste after all."
Yayoi snickered and circled around Minako, looking at her apprasingly.
"Hmmm... not bad, Seiji, not bad. A bit flat-chested perhaps, but I'm
sure she'll fill out nicely, eh?"
Minako flushed and Seiji made a noise like a strangled
squirrel. He was in hell, he decided, that had to be it. He was in
hell.
**********
The drive home was even worse. Yayoi had obviously decided
to make up for lost time, and so had regaled Minako with every
embarassing story she could remember from Seiji's youth. She probably
had a list somewhere, the young man thought. Not that she needed one :
she had been personally responsible for most of those stories.
For her part, Minako was trying not to look too stunned. She
had known that Seiji was a bit well off, but the fact they had been
picked up in a Rolls Royce put "well off" into a whole new category.
So did the rather large estate they were pulling into, complete with
personal training dojo, swimming pools, rock gardens, and apparently
servants, all of whom were smiling and waving at "The Young Master".
After the driver pulled up in front of the house, a young girl
of about twelve raced down the stairs from the front porch. Seiji had
barely opened the door when she hit him like a ballastic missile in
a frilly pink dress. "NI-CHAN! NI-CHAN!"
"Hey, Satsuki!" Seiji swept the giggling girl up into a giant
hug, laughing cheerfully. "How's my favorite little sister?"
"Pining for her long gone big brother." One of the most
beautiful women Minako had ever seen stepped regally down the front
steps of the dojo. She wore a formal silk kimono, and had her hair
pinned up in the classical style. "Give your mother a kiss, dear."
Seiji dutifully set down his little sister, who immediately
latched herself onto his waist, and gave his mother a quick peck on
the cheek. "I'm sorry I took so long, mother. Yoroiden duty, and all."
Minako blinked. Seiji's family knew he was a Yoroiden Samurai
Trooper? As if in answer, his mother nodded sadly.
"Yes, the demands of Korin must be heeded, regardless of one's
own desires. I shall assume that since the world is still turning that
I should be proud of my son?"
Seiji blushed sheepishly. "Well... we did okay, I guess..."
"MY GRANDSON!" A tall and muscular man strode down to greet
Seiji next. His grey hair was the only hint that he might be a day
over forty as he stretched his arms wide. "Truly, thou hast made this
a great day indeed! The entire family shall honour your return, Seiji
no Korin, Warrior of Halo, Destroyer of Demons!" Pausing, the hearty
old man winked. "So, who is the fair young maiden, grandson? Save her
from some monsters or something?"
"Hai. I am Minako Aino, sir, and..."
"Say no more!" Grandpa Date clapped his hands together, and
two servants appeared. "Kintaro, Hiroshi, arrangements must be made
immediately for our guest! Place her next to Seiji's old room..."
**********
Seiji had roughly five seconds to change, and he knew it.
Every time he came home, it was the same affair. Racing to his
room, he changed quickly into his gi jacket and hakama, and retrieved
his bokken from the oaken chest in his room. Pausing in front of a
hall mirror to check his appearance ("True samurai must be meticulous
in appearance as well as style, Seiji. I will have no sloppy
grandsons!"), he adjusted his jacket and entered the dojo.
"You have been gone too long, my grandson. Your bonzai trees
are in desperate need of your touch." The old man was still dressed in
the hakama and gi he had worn earlier, and also carried a bokken.
"The fate of the realm was also in desperate need of my touch,
oh sensei." Seiji brought his feet together and bowed deeply.
"And did you bring honour to your ancestors, Date? To your
mother and myself, and to Masamune Date, the great One-Eyed Dragon
of legend?"
Seiji nodded. "Hai, sensei. The battle was fierce, but my
friends and I prevailed." He knew better than to go further ("A true
samurai boasts not of his accomplishments, grandson! I will raise no
braggarts!"), but felt something more needed to be said. "The forces
which threatened our realm have been defeated."
"Really?" Seiji's grandfather smiled and shifted his weight
slightly. "Show me how!" And the fight was on.
Seiji was actually surprised he managed to block the first
strike. His bokken swung around as if it had a mind of its own, and
there was a nostalgic *crack* of wood on wood.
"Impressive," conceded his grandfather, "MOST impressive. Tell
me, grandson, what does Sun Tzu say about attacking?" He swung again
and Seiji blocked, precisely matching his stroke with another.
"To ensure you take what you attack, attack what the enemy
does not defend!" Seiji winced as his grandfather's bokken managed
to strike his knuckles. Only years of training kept him from losing
his grip on his sword.
"And... ?" Another strike, which Seiji just barely parried.
"Uhm... If your enemy's force is lesser than yours, attack!"
Seiji ducked under a slashing blade, then tumbled left and raised his
bokken to block an overhead strike.
"And what if his force is equal or greater than yours?" The
old man tried not to smile as he pressed the attack. Seiji was even
better than when he had left! It made an old sensei proud to see his
student reach such pinnacles of the Art.
"If his force is equal, outmaneuver him! If it is greater,
avoid him and attack another day!" Seiji struck again, and his sword
broke as it came into contact with the mat where his sensei used to be
standing. A blow from behind struck him in the back of the head, and
brought tears to his eyes.
"You have shown much improvement, my student. Your skills
are admirable." Grandfather Date paused for a second. "However, your
strikes are wild, your recovery slow, and your parries weak. Come.
One more time!"
**********
Minako smiled at the younger girl. "So, Satsuke, you really
like your brother?" She had never had any siblings, and Usagi's little
brother NEVER treated her the way Satsuke treated Seiji.
"Yup! My brother Seiji is a hero who helped save the whole
world from demons!" Satsuke beamed triumphantly. "He's cooler than
anyone but Sailor V!"
"Sailor V?" Minako felt her smile stretch an extra inch.
"Really? How do you know about Sailor V?"
"My dad says she's a reckless vigilante who just makes life
harder for honest cops like him, but I know better. She's a hero like
Seiji, and she fights monsters in the name of love and justice!"
"Yeah, Sailor V sure is cool, I guess." Minako chuckled. "But
I don't know... I've heard the other Senshi are pretty neat too."
"Aw, please! Sailor Moon is a ditz, and Sailor Mercury is a
sissy, and Sailor Jupiter's a tomboy, and Sailor Mars isn't NEARLY
as cool as Sailor V! Sailor V is the BEST!"
Minako, or rather Sailor Venus, shrugged. Hey, the kid had
good taste...
**********
Genichirou Hashiba muttered to himself as he returned to his
lab, alternately tugging on his beard and pulling his hair. His lab
coat billowed as he stormed down the hallway and several of the more
experienced lab assistants began to head for the nearest door. Not
that he was a dangerous man ; just that the last time he was so
distracted some of them took weeks to grow back their eyebrows.
"Are the latest prototypes on the XR-71 Cyberdroid ready?"
"Yes, Doctor Hashiba. Synchronization began three minutes ago."
Genichirou grabbed the report from his nervous assistant and
threw it in the air, spilling papers everywhere. "Well forget it!
Forget it all! Our esteemed employer wants us to waste our time chasing
after fairy tales!" He began pacing the lab, coming dangerously close
to upsetting a number of dangerous chemicals and delicate equipment
with each frantic gesture. "We are trying to develop a machine that
will REVOLUTIONIZE law enforcement, and he wants us to put everything
on hold to go track down a suit of magic armour! I'm surprised he
doesn't want some magic beans to go with it!"
"Magic armour?" The assistant looked slightly puzzled, to say
the least.
"Yes, the fool has come up with a list of families who are
supposed to have had access to mystic armour once upon a time. He
wants us to track down these families and ROB them!" Suddenly,
Genichirou looked up from his tirade, an expression of shock on his
face. "OF COURSE! We can use this to test the XR-71! What better way
to program criminal profiles into a machine then to turn it into a
criminal? Ken!"
"Yes, Dr. Hashiba?"
"Power up the latest prototypes. They're going for a field
test in..." Genichirou checked the papers in his hand. "SENDAI!"
**********
Minako sighed as she lay down in the bed. It was about
the size of Usagi's entire bedroom, and there was even a fireplace
against the far wall. She blushed as she remembered Seiji's mother
demonstrating the secret passage behind that fireplace... the one
that led to Seiji's bedroom. 'Just in case', the woman had said, 'you
get... cold'. What kind of family WAS this?
Someone knocked on her fireplace, and Minako felt her
blood run cold. On the one hand, it might be Seiji, but on the
other hand... IT MIGHT BE SEIJI. Wrapping a housecoat over her
nightgown, she padded across the floor and pulled a candlabra on the
mantle. The entire fireplace suddenly turned in its axis and Seiji
Date poked his head into her room. He was still dressed in the gi and
hakama he had worn to dinner, and had a bokken propped against his
shoulder.
"Komban wa, Minako Aino. I just wished to ensure that my family
had left you in one piece." Seiji smiled weakly and brushed back his
hair. "My mother is a bit overinterested in my love life, and Yayoi...
well, I'm pretty sure she's the Devil."
Minako grinned back and shrugged. "No, I'm fine... but your
sister may want my autograph before we go back to Tokyo tomorrow.
She's a pretty big fan of Sailor Venus."
"Yeah, well she can hang your autograph next to mine." Seiji
finally let himself grin. "Satsuke is great, she really is." After a
long pause, he began to realise the situation they were in. "You know,
right about now would be a pretty bad time for one of my sisters to
drop by and say good-night. I'd better get out of here before I get
caught." Reaching over, he opened the window and let himself out of it.
"Sleep well, Minako Aino! I have some bonzai that need tending."
**********
Minako's next visitor was Seiji's mother, who smiled sweetly
and wished Minako a good night's rest. As she left, the woman looked
over her shoulder and smiled again.
"Minako? Could you please make sure my son gets his bokken
back? Father will be most upset if he loses it." Sure enough, Seiji
had accidently left the wooden sword in the corner, and Minako hadn't
noticed it. With a rather unladylike curse, the blond girl grabbed the
stick and jumped out the window.
In the bushes, Yayoi Date grinned wickedly. So! The little
minx was chasing after Seiji in a nightgown? And with a bokken, too...
she was glad she had put fresh film in her camera...
**********
Seiji was minding his own business when everything went
straight to hell. This, however, was usually the way his life worked,
so at least he wasn't surprised. One second he had been carefully
pruning the miniature bonzai tree his grandfather had planted for him
years ago, and the next, he was flying backwards with shards of
flaming kindling around him.
Fortunately, this was not the first time he had been in such
a predicament. In mid-air, he grabbed at his clothes and tore them off,
revealing a covering of green and grey armour that hadn't been there a
second ago. Somersauting, he landed on his feet and lifted his hands
to defend himself.
"Okay, what is it? Arago, or Anubis? The Dark One?" His
opponent merely glared at him with glowing yellow eyes. Seiji shrugged.
"Did I spit in your coffee? Give me SOMETHING to work with, here!"
The creature in question moved forward and swiped at him. It
was too clumsy to be a youja, he decided as he jumped over its arm,
and too fast to be a youma. Some kind of robot? That didn't make
sense...
"BUSSO, KORIN!"
**********
"Fascinating!" Dr. Hashiba leaned over the controls and
stared intently at a series of monitors. "The boy is actually
generating some form of energy from his own body! His biorythms are
like nothing I've ever seen! Perhaps there really IS some form of
power to these Yoroiden... we MUST bring him in for further study..."
**********
Seiji no Korin, Ronin of Halo and bearer of the Korin Ken,
spun his massive six foot long blade and disarmed the machine :
literally. It flopped onto the ground and spat some kind of steel
cable around him, which he also cut through. The device was really
rather pathetic, he decided. He'd fought youma a thousand times
tougher and stronger then this piece of tin!
With surprising silence, two more of the silver monsters
leapt over the bushes and fired some kind of arm cannons at him.
Foolish, considering that his armour gained power from light. He let
the waves of energy wash over him and smiled as he turned to
face his new opponents.
**********
"How did he generate armour from thin air? Perhaps some form
of dimensional rift, or teleportation effect?" Doctor Hashiba
began to get a glazed look in his eyes as he started cataloguing the
possibilities. "If we could find some way to simulate this effect,
imagine the possibilities! Check the scanners, Ken! Where is that
energy field originating from?"
"Somewhere in the chest region, doctor. And doctor?"
"What IS it, Ken? I'm busy here..."
"Well, we found the frequency of his energy signature, doctor."
"EXCELLENT! Ken, I want you to jam that frequency with an
inverse sine wave... cancel it out! Let's see what effect that has on
our young subject..."
**********
Seiji Date easily blocked one blow and beheaded the offending
creature with his return swing. Just once, he thought, it would be
nice for someone to TELL him why he was being attacked by
Kami-only-knew what! Sometimes, it felt like things like this ALWAYS
happened to him...
The armless robot from earlier began to emit an odd subsonic
hum. At first it was simply annoying, but suddenly the hum changed its
frequency, and Seiji screamed as someone drove flaming steel drills
through his head. Or at least, that was what it felt like... every
pore of his body howled in agony as he fell to his knees. Korin!
Somehow, they were trying to seperate him from Korin!
The last thing Seiji Date felt as the darkness claimed him was
a set of cold metal fingers grabbing the gem around his neck and
snapping the chain that held it in place. For a moment, he thought he
was going to die. For a second, he almost hoped he would.
*********
Minako leapt over a hedge as if it wasn't even there, her wand
sliding easily into her hands. "VENUS STAR POWER!"
Sailor Venus soared forward, kicking back the metal monstrosity
that had been holding Seiji by the neck. As soon as she arrived, the
mechanoid left in a flaring blast of jet exhaust. She fired a Crescent
Beam, but missed. For some strange reason, Seiji hadn't moved, simply
moaning softly on the grass. Minako cursed and knelt by him.
He looked like hell. There was a green mark on his head,
glowing feebly and pouring smoke into the cool night air. Smoke or
mist of some kind was pouring from his body as well, and it curled
around her as she lifted his listless body into her arms.
"S-sailor V..." Seiji was barely even able to whisper, his
eyes staring blearily into the distance. "You have to warn them...
warn the Yoroi... someone... stole Korin. They... they TOOK Korin
from me, Sailor V... Someone has to warn... warn the others..."
Sailor V didn't know what to say.
TO BE CONTINUED...