Shadows of Light: Chapter 8
Ryo soon picked up his swords and smiled as he felt the ninja's very low power and found that he was now drawn to it like a moth to a flame. ~hmm this should be easy but if that spirit is as good as Anubis implied then I am going to have trouble with her even if she is not as strong as the rest of us.~
Suddenly he found himself out by the lake near Mia's mansion. Looking around he did not see any one but he knew from his prior training and learning about the marital arts that the Ninja were far better at the hide and defeat game than the samurai were. The training that they went through was what made them such efficiant killers.
~I wonder what she had in mind for training when she brought me here. I mean this is Cye's turf not mine.~ As he looked out on to the water he heard Yulie hollering from out in the middle of the lake in a boat.
"Ryo Help!" Yulie looked scared and rather nervous about his perdicament out in the middle of the lake. When Ryo hit the shores of the lake he noticed that Yulie had been put out there without the aide of oars or motor. His senses alerted he looked around carefully to see if there was anything else that was out of place there other than Yulie in a boat in the middle of the lake with no oars or motor.
Ryo looked around for another way to get out to the boat in the middle of the lake knowing that he could probably swim pretty well with his armor on, he would also stand the chance of getting attacked in the water and that would reduce his abilities considerably. Still Yulie needed to be brought to shore and he needed to get to Mia and finish his training. Changing into his sub armor for better movement he stepped into the water.
About half way out to the boat the Boat dissappeared and Yulie with it. Ryo was not overly surprised as he had origionally thought that this might be a part of his training with Mia. ~Ryo of the Wildfire. Even under the oceans flames can still sprout. Yours is to question how.~
As the voice left his mind he found that he was sitting at the bottom of the lake in his full armor with his Twin Datchi's in his hands. ~I should be at the least having trouble breathing down here but I am not having any trouble at all. My Armor must be protecting me. Now what.~
Suddenly he noticed a now familiar looking hooded head staring at him. Smiling to himself he noticed that she was not wearing her full armor. He was soon not smiling as he found out that she was almost a better fighter than he was under the water. It was not good especially since the light that filtered down to the bottom of the lake provided many shadows for the ninja to hide in.
~ok, so what are you up to now Mia. I know that you are up to something but I would love to know what shadow you crawled out of.~ Grinning to himself he felt her beind him and let her think that he did not notice her. After going up for more Air he sank himself back to the bottom of the lake. He tried to ignite his flame and discovered that under the water his armor allowed him to flame and warm and light the area around him. The shadows in his immediate area shrunk away and he found that this helped him to have time to react to what ever attack would come at him. soon after the fight had started up again he found that he could feel the currents of lava underneith the lake floor.. ~So that is where my armor is getting it's power. The Lava underneith the lake is the fire under the water.~ Grinning to himself he threw himself into the battle with a renewed sense of purpose.
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Mia was having fun with all of the battles she was in. The guys still have not tapped the one singular ability that made them exceptional fighters and this made her grin. The one thing that made them all exceptional fighters usually came out when they were in the most trouble.
As she watched each of the battles she knew that sooner or later one of them was going to figure out that most of the trouble that was known as Ninja was in the mind. Ninja were people just that they were trained in extrodinary ways. It was this psychological advantage that made people wary of the shadows and the Ronin's look to them as her and the Ninja's source of power.
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Rowen was sitting up in a Tree watching and feeling the winds before he hopped to the next branch. He knew that Ninja and Shadow Walkers had weaknesses it was just a matter of time to find them. As they both used darkness to shelter their wearabouts he also knew that some of the Ninja practiced some of the higher arts of illusion. A Grandmaster of a Clan was said to be almost equal to Dais and his abilities to manipulate what his enemy saw. It was these abilities that he watched for and hoped that he would be facing Mia on his own ground.
Five minutes later a suriken glanced off his helmet and imbedded itself in the tree behind him. Looking around he closed his eyes and remembered some of what he read about ninja and the clans. However he was not able to find much on the Silver Raven clan as her's had been the most secretive over the years almost to the point where it was not close to non existant except for in the ancient legends. As he searched with all of his senses he heard a soft muffled noise behind him and as he turned he saw Mia/Silver Raven hanging by her knees on a branch just above and behind him. Her eyes twinkled in challange and as he grabbed for her she vanished leaving him with a handful of old cloth and sticks.
"Very clever Mia. I was fooled once, Can you fool me again after the fact??" Mia, havign hidden amongst the trees no far away heard the challenge and decided to agree to face the Ronin of Strata on his own challenge.
~Strata, The winds are not easily fooled but can it be the the very air is but an illusion??~ Mia answered in his mind she knew she had his attention and had planted the very seed that would ultimately test him by the end of the day. Silver Raven sent Mia a warning to not push the Ronin to far and Mia answered the Spirit of the armor with the fact that she had known what the Ronin had gone through thus far and now it was time for them to grow in another direction. They needed to learn about themselves and the shadows of their own minds so that the Ninja that would attack their realm would not overwelm them in the future.
Mia hopped about the trees setting up her gambit and then dropped for the ground and setup there for a gambit that would hopefully push his own limits and his trust in his armor to the very limits. Rowen was not an easy person to beat on the mental games but if one planned carefully it is possible.