Tenma of the Flaming Spear ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Miki & Natsuna's Apartment, Forbidden Tokyo A brand new morning had hit Forbidden Tokyo. Which meant a brand new day for the illustrious (or at least they seemed to be) Silver Valkyries. Out of all six of the girl (if you included Princess Umi) none of them really knew how to cook straight off the bat. Keiya was a dab hand when prompted but she was sick right now. And the others weren't much better either. But there was one of the group that had been taking a shine to cooking. One that was actually improving her cooking skills. That was Miki. The woman was from another world, the world of Juukumei. But since she had been drawn into the reality of Forbidden Tokyo, she had been smitten to the cultures of this strange but wondrous world. Thus she devoted herself to mastering most aspects of it. Which meant learning to cook their foods. Miki stood in the kitchen of her apartment, fully dressed and humming a petite folk song to herself. In her hands was a frying pan. Sizzling in that frying pan were four hot-cooking eggs. On the other side of the hob was a kettle, one that would soon reach the boil. And that was fine. The others would be turning up soon enough. It was common for the group to eat breakfast and lunch at Miki & Natsuna's apartment more often than not. Which was one of the reasons why Miki wanted to get better at cooking this sort of thing. And bang on time, the other girls poured into the kitchen and gathered around the dining table. Rinako, Umi, Esperanza, Keiya (who was still in her nightgown thanks to her cold) and Natsuna all stomped into the kitchen amid chatter and laughter, then took seat around the table for breakfast. It had already been loaded with everything that Miki had prepared so far. The usual stuff. Bacon, eggs, toast, fried tomatoes, coffee for Esperanza and Natsuna, orange juice for Keiya, spring water for Rinako and warm tea for Umi. It all looked great. Especially to Esperanza's American eyes. The teenage staff-wielder smiled with glee, grabbed a plate and started to dig in, fetching for herself whatever looked good. "Oh yeah! Just like a slice of home, baby! Miki, you've outdone yourself! Who would have ever thought that an alien like you could fry a breakfast this good?" Miki sweat dropped with a smile. "Why thank you, Esperanza. I think..." "Ugh," Rinako scowled at Esperanza, "What is it with you westerners and your weirdo hankerings for this kind of fatty, calorie-infested foods?" Esperanza nodded Rinako off, nibbling on a piece of buttered toast. "Oh, stop fussing. You know, you Japanese are always so prim and proper. Come on, live a little! In my world you'd have to slit you grandpa's throat to get a breakfast like this. You should appreciate your good fortune." Umi sipped her tea before replying. "...Well, it's not the most elegant meal I've ever seen. But Miki is a wonder in the kitchen when she puts her mind to it." At that point in time, Miki switched off the gas to the hob. Then she poured some of the boiling water into a cup with a teabag of green leaves. The hot water mixed with the contents of the paper satchel and created a nice little cup of green tea. The one beverage in this reality that tasted like something from her own. She then took a spatula to the eggs she had been frying and slotted them onto a new plate. Miki grabbed her cup of green tea and the plate of eggs then took a seat at the table, next to Natsuna. By now everyone was eating their fair share of the food that Miki had prepared. All aside from Keiya. The Star Soldier sat at the table with an empty plate, only sipping a little orange juice on occasion and throwing pining glances at Esperanza. Miki smiled softly. Keiya wasn't just down with a cold. She was love sick. "...Are you still feeling poorly, Keiya?" The girl blinked and looked up when she realized she was being spoken to. "Huh?" "You haven't eaten anything," Miki answered, pointing at Keiya's plate, "I know that when you feel sickly you don't tend to eat much. But you should try to have something. It will keep your strength up." The shy Keiya tightened up and looked downwards. "...I'm sorry. I just don't feel like I'm up to eating anything heavy right now. Maybe I'll try to a little later on." At that moment, Esperanza stopped munching and took the time to look at the unwell girl sitting next to her. The American teen exhaled and put on the most comfortable smile she could arrange. "Hey. Don't start forcing yourself now. You will start feeling better soon, I promise. But until then just try to take it easy. Okay?" It was entirely predictable what Keiya's reaction to that would be. The girl smiled generously, sporting a deep crimson blush on those already flustered cheeks of hers. Keiya nodded to her friend and secret love. And the oblivious Esperanza nodded back, resuming her post at her feast of a breakfast. Their rapport was foreseeable; lock, stock and barrel. But Miki just hoped that Esperanza could see the truth before Keiya's pining grew into a sadness. She had known herself just how destructive unrequited or misunderstood love could be for the person whom had been carrying the brunt of it. Miki decided to turn the focus of the conversation away from Keiya and towards a lighter ground. "So... does anyone feeling like training today?" Rinako, Natsuna and Esperanza all released collective groans. Training. But only Rinako spoke about it. "Training? Again? Look I know that I took a punch from that Oniko yesterday but that was a one off. I think I'm at the peak of my performance." Miki sipped her green tea. "No one is ever at the peak of their performance, Rinako. That's the point. And I'm sure that the Jikininki will send more powerful warriors than the few dozen Oniko we've had to kill so far." "Even so," Natsuna offered, "We could stand to relax a bit more. Running around this city to chase down demons isn't exactly the kind of job I'd admire back home. And your endless training regimes don't help much, Miki." Esperanza frowned at the lot of them. "Would all please stop talking about demons while I'm eating my food? God, you'd think a group of single women like ourselves would have better things to discuss..." Umi in turn frowned at Esperanza, locking arms with Rinako. "I'm not single!" "...Yes you are, Princess," Rinako said haltingly, unwinding her thin arm from Princess Umi's own, "Yes you are." Umi pouted while Esperanza and Miki couldn't help but giggle a little at that little scene. But as light-hearted as things were at that table at that time, Keiya wasn't really feeling it. But for a different reason than the cold she had. Just as the Japanese girl was about to sip some more of her orange juice, her body froze. A brutal vision passed through her brain in that very second. It was so vivid and striking that she couldn't misplace it at all. She could see flashes of stone, fire... and a spear. What could that mean? This time Natsuna picked up on Keiya's distraction. "...Don't tell me you're feeling worse?" "No," Keiya shook her head, "That's not it. I'm sensing an attack..." Rinako's eyes widened. "...Again? We just had to fend off that Oniko yesterday? Do the Jikininki ever rest?" However Miki simply ignored that issue and focused on the more important ones. "Keiya. What did you see and where did you see it?" "I saw fire," The Star Soldier offered, "And stone. Like a large courtyard full of flagstones. And the guy attacking was wielding a spear. I think that was the weapon that was producing all the flames." All eyes turned to Princess Umi as she thought about that. She was the only one there who had an in-depth knowledge of the layout of Forbidden Tokyo. So they needed her guidance to get to whichever place they needed to, to avert an attack from the Jikininki. "Hm," Umi picked her brain on the issue, "...Courtyards full of flagstones are everywhere. That really isn't much to go by. But I have a hunch that it's the Aizu Temple. It was built by the previous ruler of Forbidden Tokyo about twenty eight years ago. But it was abandoned when the Jikininki began attacking it." Miki nodded. "I remember you telling me about that before. I know the way there." "Okay then," Rinako said, standing up from the table, "Lets get moving!" The others all nodded to her and began running for the doorway. Esperanza was the last to rise, turning back to Keiya and Princess Umi. There was no way Keiya could fight as the Star Soldier Waterstar in her condition. The staff-wielder smiled softly to her and spoke, "You sit tight, Keiya. Me and the others will have this guy whipped and re-whipped before you can say Bob's-you're-uncle." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Aizu Temple, Forbidden Tokyo The sound of heavy metal clashed against the worn flagstones of the Aizu Temple. The stone structure that had been built by the previous ruler of Forbidden Tokyo was now under attack by someone who wanted to undo his work. Or at least it appeared that way. Tenma smiled to himself while he pulled up his spear to attack. No enemy. Just the shrine itself. The man in the futuristic armour raised the spear to a horizontal position between both of his hands. Then began twirling and twirling the spear repeatedly. While he span his pole-arm, secret words were spoken from the mouthpiece of Tenma's armour. Once he was done; his spear began to exude a deep orange glow while it span. A slow but rather huge chain of flame burst from the spinning weapon and surged outwards towards one of the pillars that held up the ceiling. There was a large echoing boom as soon as the fire blast made contact with that pillar. A new orange glow of fire filled the normally dark innards of Aizu Temple and Tenma laughed demonically at the sight. "Aha, ha, ha, ha!" He chortled, "Burn! Burn! Burn it all!" But there were those who were not so eager to see destruction. Tenma stopped laughing and froze. Then took one look back as soon as he heard footsteps. Just as Shinryu had predicted, the sentinels of Princess Umi had come. Rinako, Miki, Natsuna and Esperanza stood off on the other side of the Temple and faced the Spirit Soldier with no fear whatsoever. Rinako was the first to speak. "I don't know what your aim is, pal, but it's over now. This city is under the protection of the Silver Valkyries. Go back home and tell that to your Jikininki friends or it'll be the end of you." Tenma laughed behind his red armour. "Ah. The Silver Valkyries. You were quicker than I expected. No matter. You four shall BURN along with the temple!" "Oh, great!" Esperanza smirked at Tenma. "A pyromaniac! I can't believe I skipped Miki's breakfast for this!" Natsuna scowled. "Could you save the bitching for after you kick this guy's ass?" And to that Esperanza smirked. "Natsuna! You're one rude dude! But Esperanza's Golden Rule states, never leave a woman unhappy. So I'm more than happy to... oblige!" In that very second, the woman from the ruined reality rushed forwards towards Tenma of the flaming spear. Esperanza scowled in stride and then swung her long metal staff (Ghost Dancer) straight at him. Tenma snorted from behind the metal of his helmet and parried the blow with his spear. Esperanza blinked as she was blown backwards by the force conjured between the two of them. But not one to be outdone, Esperanza came back at him seconds later. Tenma twirled his spear around his body and deflected Esperanza's second attack. But while the two of them battled it out with their respective pole arms, Miki ran around the two of them and got herself into position. Behind Tenma. With her faithful sword Kotetsuseiken at her side, she gripped the hilt of the blade. A second later she literally ripped the weapon from its sheath and slashed around in a horizontal arc motion. Tenma grunted hard as he felt that something had hit him from behind. Miki's Air Wave Stroke attack. But the one most surprised was Miki; when she realized that... "...It has no effect...?" Tenma forced Esperanza away with another parry of their weapons and turned to glimpse at the stunned Miki Soujumah. "Stupid woman! What did you think would happen?! Weapons cannot cut through the hide of one of the Five Sacred Spirit Soldiers!" Miki blinked. "...Sacred... Spirit Soldiers...?" "That's right," Tenma added, "We of the Jikininki are not all mindless drones. We are forces of power that transcend any other! And we will sweep away all those who dare to challenge our great leader Shi-ooff!" Tenma's steel covered head jerked backwards as Rinako kicked him from above in a descending strike. The teen Japanese landed and Tenma stepped back slightly, adjusting to the new addition to his fight. Rinako smirked at him and then rushed inwards. Tenma got his bearings back enough to see this fresh attack coming and slashed in a downwards direction. Rinako dashed to one side of the slash and then rebounded forwards again. She thrust out her leg and rammed into Tenma, who skidded back from the force of the shot. "Loudmouths are all the same," Rinako put forth, smiling, "They never pay attention to anything that goes on around them while they're ranting." "...Silly girl. I am the master of Fire. What can your martial arts do to stop me?!" Tenma soon backed up his point as he began twirling his spear again. While the pole arm span around and around again; until it began giving off a bright orange glow. Far stronger than the one that had been conjured before. Rinako stood and watched this with some curiosity. After all she'd never seen someone conjure up fire from nothing more than a twirling rod of steel. But the look on Miki's face was a bit more urgent than that. "Rinako!" The older woman shouted, "Get out of his way!" Too late. Before Rinako even realized it, Tenma was screaming out loud and the glow of the spinning spear became a new stream of flames and ash. The schoolgirl blinked at the vast wave of fire about to descend on her. Until a pale gold energy swiftly blocked the fire stream from roasting her into cinders. Natsuna was the one behind it. She held firm and gripped her wrist with one hand; thus producing a defensive non-magical energy from her fist. The shield of power held off the flames of Tenma's attack. But it wouldn't do so forever. "...R-Rinako!" Natsuna called out, irritably, "Wanna try listening to your elders every once in a while?!" Taking that as a sign, Rinako jumped out of the path of the flame attack and the shield that was holding it back. Once the Japanese martial artist was out of the way, Natsuna then relinquished the force of her shield and its energies melted away like they had never been there before. The column of fire shot ahead again with the new freedom and travelled all the way over to the other side of the temple. One of those many stone pillars were wrapped with new fire as the attack burned into it. Tenma groaned under his breath and ended the spinning of his spear. These fighters were a little more skilled than what he first believed. No wonder Shinryu had summoned him to stop them. And yet they were a fighter short. Tenma could only see four of the Silver Valkyries. Tenma looked around the precinct of the shrine. "...Where is your fifth member? Did she see sense and run from me and my power? Or is she too cowardly to show her face?!" Esperanza blinked angrily. "...What did he just say about my girl?! Oh, you're really cruisin' for a bruisin' now, buddy!" Natsuna sighed at that. "Don't be ridiculous. Neither your staff nor Miki's sword can cut or break that armour. And it would probably take more energy than Rinako has for her to beat him down on her own. We need more. We need magic." "But Keiya isn't here," Esperanza replied, "We'll just have to make do with what we have! If I can survive a battle with Aarin Highland I can survive against this loser!" A growl escaped Esperanza's throat when she jumped into the air and straight over towards the armed Tenma. But by now he knew that Esperanza couldn't so much as touch him. The titan of metal stood firm and simply let Esperanza descend on him. The Ghost Dancer soon crashed against Tenma's Flame Spirit Armour. It bounced off of the armour and Esperanza was thrown back from the strength waves of the clash. She collapsed to the ground and sucked in air from her loss of breath as her back slapped against the stone of the shrine. Tenma walked up to the downed Valkyrie and pointed the business end of his long spear at her throat menacingly. Tenma laughed behind his visor. "Heh, heh, heh. That was pathetic." "...Not a bad line you spun there," Esperanza retorted, amazingly defiant, "For an extra twenty bucks can you thrown in a jig, too?" And then Tenma's laugh devolved into a snarl. "You've got a lot of front for a girl with such little life left ahead of her to enjoy. So give the Devil my regards! He'll be the one that you're mouthing off to next!" "Crystal Frozen Fraction!" The Aizu Temple, which was burning from the flames of Tenma's spear, was suddenly illuminated from the bright blue glow of a fresh new attack. The Silver Valkyries and then Tenma himself turned to see a beautiful sphere of magical energy shoot through the hot air towards its target. The Flame Spirit Soldier himself. Tenma cried out loudly as he was thrown off his feet and sent sailing backwards when the sphere of watery energy collided with him and his red armour. Tenma didn't stop moving throughout the air until he collided with one of the pillars. He fell to the ground with a slump. And the remains of that battered column began to crumble on top of him. The girls looked from Tenma back to the one who had cast the attack. No one was more surprised than Esperanza was when she saw Waterstar standing over the way, her hands outstretched and burning with light blue spiritual power. Her form of lesser magic. "Keiya!" Esperanza yelled out, "Y-You're sick! What the hell are you doing out here!?" "...Y-You're supposed to c-call me... Waterstar in this form..." Though that was intended as a joke, it did nothing to calm Esperanza. And her worry increased when she saw Waterstar wobble at the knees. Miki and Natsuna could see that Waterstar was still feeling ill. She should have been in bed now. Just then, Tenma roared and burst from the rocks of the pillar that had piled up on him. But his armour was now damaged. The right armour plate had been busted off. It revealed all the hidden under circuits and wires. Though his weapon had magical influence, his armour certainly did not. It was then that Rinako made a leader-like decision. "Natsuna! Protect Keiya! Esperanza and Miki, follow me!" The Cross Blade Lancer then rushed back into the Frey without any fears or doubts. With his armour weakened, his advantages were bound to be nullified. Miki ran after the younger girl and Esperanza followed the two of them; while Natsuna jogged up to the ailing Waterstar. Tenma readied his spear as Rinako came for him. But this time she was through playing around. The second that the Spirit Soldier swung his elongated spear at her she dodged to one side of the swipe with bullet-like speed. Rinako then cried out a powerful battle shout and kicked at the broken chest plate of Tenma. The man grunted, as if he felt the pain of his armour, then Miki made her attack. She slashed at the broken chest place. Causing Tenma to bellow another scream. Then Esperanza came steamrolling in. This time for the last blow. She thrust her Ghost Dancer metal quarterstaff straight into the ‘wound' of the red armour. There was a loud crackle of electricity when Esperanza's staff burst through the right shoulder blade of the armour, sticking outwards awkwardly. "Not so tough now," Esperanza spat, "Your armour's kinda soft on the inside, isn't it, big fella? I bet you weren't too talkative about that little flaw..." She then pulled out her spear and Tenma collapsed to one knee. This was not going the way he had intended it. The Spirit Soldier looked up and stared at them. These girls... were actually stronger than him when they worked as a unit. Sending one Spirit Soldier at a time would not be enough to stop them. Did Shinryu realize this? But whether she did or she didn't, Tenma would not be able to tell them. He gave a dying breath and then fell to the ground completely. Dead and defeated. A dark energy encircled him just a few seconds later. And his body vanished into the dust of memory. When someone died in Forbidden Tokyo, their energy was sent to the barrier that protected it from the geological problems of the outside world. Rinako breathed a sigh with the defeat of Tenma. "Whew! That guy was tougher than usual. Not that we had to do much work anyway." "I'm curious about that," Miki added, "We thought that the Jikininki might be stepping up their game anytime now. And now it appears that they really are." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Keiya & Esperanza's Apartment, Forbidden Tokyo "...You're going to yell at me, aren't you, Esppie?" The Silver Valkyries had returned from the Aizu Temple and the battle with Tenma of the Flaming Spear. Miki instantly when to Princess Umi to report all the details. Natsuna and Rinako went to salvage what was left of Miki's breakfast. The only two people that didn't join them was Keiya and Esperanza. The American girl helped the Japanese one to her bed to get some more rest. But there was a very sour look on Esperanza's face. It was so different from the normal happy-go-lucky expression that she always had on her. Needless to say; that lack of a smile made Keiya a bit nervous. And worried. What could Esperanza be thinking about? The staff-wielder finally answered, sitting on the edge of Keiya's bed. "...I'm not gonna yell at you. Even though I AM kinda pissed off with you." Keiya hung her head. "...I-I'm sorry. When you guys left, I felt that Tenma was a bit stronger than usual. I knew that you couldn't have beaten him without my magic at your side. If I didn't come then you guys... could have been killed. I had to do it." It was arguments like that, that Esperanza could not argue with. "...Yeah. I understand. But you just gotta take care of yourself, alright? Like I said before... I want you to take it easy until you feel better. The last thing I wanna see if for you to get any worse, Keiya Shindou. I saw enough sickness and misery back home. No thanks to my Dad." And Keiya noted that Esperanza was the one amongst the ground who spoke the least her family and home of origin. "...W-What was he like?" For one second, Esperanza stood still for a second. Then burst into laughter. Keiya was sort of confused by that but the American girl couldn't help it. If someone had asked a question like that in HER reality, well, the same reaction would have come. What could Esperanza do to even begin to tell Keiya about Al Gul Jehed? "Ha, ha, ha! Well for starters, he was a super-powerful Arabic wizard with plans to take over the world... and he was the one who adopted me. Not the most caring man in the world... he hated normal human beings like Miki and Rinako... but not me. I had no magical lineage and he still adopted me. Sometimes I don't know if I love him or hate him. Strange, huh?" Keiya couldn't relate in that sense. But she cared enough about Esperanza to try. "...I'm sorry you feel that way. You don't talk much about your reality... but Princess Umi said that it was full of a lot of suffering." Esperanza nodded slowly. "Yeah. It was. It's why I don't like seeing people... sick. I've lost so many people I've cared about to sickness and the War. Once that was all over... I thought it would be the end. But it never is. It's why I want you to get better. I can't stand seeing you like this." It was comments like that, that made Keiya feel so strongly about Esperanza. The lilac-haired Star Soldier smiled softly and rested a hand upon her friend's shoulder. "...I'll take it easy from now on. I promise."
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