Ronin Strike

Chapter 2: An Elephant's Epilogue

Previously on Ronin Strike...

Once he found the bathroom, he finishes up and exits in a relieved state. "Phew! Alright now to find Hanako and Ayaka." *BOOM*... an explosion came from the festival's distance. "Oh no... HANAKO! AYAKA!"
to be continued.

The man rushed over to see people running in his opposite direction. the town-folk who were once buying food for their families, now ridden in fear. the children who were once playing at the festival, now being held by their fretful parents dashing for dear life. the store clerks who were once setting up their banners, now screaming "RUN AWAY!". The whole city was in a panic as the former night sky was now brightened by raging fires. "HANAKO, AYAKA!" The man screams as he's running through the burning festival. The man then stops to look around and in the blurry distance, he sees two people who have the silhouettes of his wife and daughter, being kidnapped by shadowy figures riding on horses into the Yami Territory. "HANAKO, AYAKA!" The man is in panic and chases after them, "LET MY FAMILY GOOOOO!" he shouts at the top of his lungs while tears flow through his eyes as he runs.

He enters Yami territory and is shocked to see Hikari and Yami Soldiers fighting out a full-fledged war on Yami grounds. "w-w-what's happening" he muttered to himself in a dreadful tone as he sees a continuous genocide of both clans. Hikari soldiers slicing down Yami soldiers, Yami fighters cutting up Hikari soldiers. The man in panic then remembers why he was running, "Hanako, Ayaka!". He blindly runs into the Yami territory and sees Yami civilians being massacred. "no...no...please...STOP!" he hears a voice from the distance and turns to see a Hikari soldier strike down a Yami man across his chest. The man panting heavily then runs even farther into the enemy village, only to hear even more disaster. A young boy holding a toy alligator in his hand, whimpering and shouting at a burning building screaming "ICHIRO!!!". As the man slowly walked behind the kid he spoke out loud, "Hey kid it's not safe here". at the moment the man almost grabbed the kid's shoulder, the child tried making his way into the flaming building. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??! ARE YOU INSANE?!" the man shouted as he grabbed the kid's arm. "MY BROTHER IS IN THERE, LET GO OF ME!" he said trying to forcefully let go of the man. "YOU'LL DIE! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" the man said in a struggling voice. "I DONT CARE!!! MY BROTHER IS IN THERE I NEED TO SAVE HIM". he cried out while leaning his arm towards his pointing to the burning house. "ITS ONE OF THE HIKARI!" a voice shouted from the distance. The man's eyes widened in shock to see five Yami military soldiers and one Commander, all on black horses marching towards him. "KILL HIM!!!" the leading officer of the group called out while pointing his katana in his forward direction. The soldiers then whipped the horses' reins and the dark horses started to rush quickly to the man. In his last defense the man grabbed the child, "it's not safe here kid" he said as he threw him over his shoulder and ran as far as he could. The kid then started to repeatedly hit him on the back and proceeded to flay around in the man's shoulder. "PUT ME DOWN YOU DAMN OLD FART!" he said in a shouting tone. "Afraid my conscious won't allow me to live on with myself if I let you die now would it?" the man said while getting ready to run. The man soon proceeded to run as fast as he could with the kid in his arms while being chased by the Dark army. "ICHIRO!!!" the young boy shouted as he was being dragged away from his burning home. While the man was running with the young boy, he looked around, even more, to see twice as many corpses, rubble, and fire. The man's head started to ache and throb in confusion. as he dropped the boy in pain, he fell to his knees also grabbing his head while closing his eyes; and in his mind, he began to shout "WHAT IS GOING ON!".

"Get up old friend it's not safe here" the man heard through his blacked vision. he then opened his eyes and in his teary; blurry sight... he saw a hand reach out to him. "Where's the comrade I once knew who I still call my brother in arms today", the man in white and gold traditional armor said in a calming voice. "T-T-Takeshi???" the weeping man said as he slowly took his hands from his head. "What are you doing here" he spoke with a stutter. "We're at an unexpected war right now my friend," Takeshi said in a stern tone. "W-Why?" "What's going on," the man said. "We got intel from an anonymous source in the morning claiming to be one of the Yami, who wrote down that the festival would soon be attacked in a bombing execution". "I'm afraid that details in the letter weren't too clear as to which area of the festival the bombing would take place". "we sent our soldiers all around the festival and couldn't find a single suspicious person insight," he said as he lowered his head down in shame. "I was sent out here to lead the reinforcement squadron to back up the fleet of soldiers who were ordered under Commander Seiji, to fire against the Yami militia," said Takeshi. "What are you doing out here? and who's that kid with you," he said. "I was trying to get him to safety away from all the fire and damage going on around his house". "there's one problem though, we were being chased by-". "DIE YOU HIKARI SCUM" A stray Yami soldier from behind Takeshi shouted with his sword in the air ready to strike at Takeshi. once the Yami soldier was about to lash his sword, Takeshi quickly drew his kusarigama and turned around. "Sikon: Badger Code: Grave Digger!", he swung the weapon around the enemy and cut down the levitating Yami soldier into pieces mid-air. "enough of that, get on my horse; we'll head for the entrance of the forest and into the woods to throw them off their guard," he said after shaking off the slain soldier's blood off of his kusarigama. All three of them got on the horse and quickly headed towards the forest. "You guys find shelter or try to get away, while I throw them off," said Takeshi. "Why can't we find shelter in the village" the young boy questioned. "I'm afraid no place is safe over there small one". "There isn't a single house to run to, no corner to hide in...Yami territory has become a full-blown warzone". once they finally reached a certain point in the forest they stopped, and the man and kid got off the horse.  "You guys need to get as far away as possible from this point on". "I can't leave just yet Takeshi, Hanako and Ayaka are still out there somewhere," the man said. "I'll do my best to look for both of them, Hanako is like a sister to me and Ayaka is like a daughter to me, I won't let them be harmed," he said strongly. "I promise to come back for you both as well once we win the battle" Takeshi uttered. a slow whistling noise begins to start echoing and getting louder in the forest.

"GET DOWN!" shouts Takeshi. A bladed sickle flew in their direction aiming at the man yet was blocked off by Takeshi's kusarigama and the sickle returned to its owner's hand. "long time no see...Takeshi Hayashi" a grim voice said. "you as well...Commander Kono". The two warriors turned and faced each other "I haven't seen your ass since the riots a couple of years ago, how's the family doing?" "oh wait..." he said in an obnoxious tone and smirk on his face. "you son of a bitch, keep their names out of your damn mouth". "temper, temper" he said while clicking his tongue. his vision panels to the distance to see the man and the young boy. "You know you shouldn't swear in front of CHILDREN" he grunted as he drew a kunai from his back and threw it at the kid. "GO, RUN, NOW!" Takeshi shouted while holding his guard up. "DON'T LET THE GEEZER AND BRAT ESCAPE, SEIZE THEM RIGHT NOW!" he cried out. "I don't think SO!" he said as he teleported in front of the soldiers on horses. "Sikon: Badger Code: Rapid Razor!" he yelled as he spun around with his Kusarigama, killing four out of the six Yami soldiers with his attack. "Sikon: Badger Code: Aggressive AMB-" he almost called out while attacking the remaining two soldiers, but was stopped by Kono's sickle. "Those two will die by my men's hands painfully...just like your wife and kid did", Kono said while standing over him pointing his weapon at his head. "YOU BASTARD!" Takeshi screams as he sweeps Kono's legs making Kono fall on his back. Takeshi then jumps backward to cover the distance between them. He then looks behind him to see the man and boy have disappeared, yet turns his head to see the two soldiers have gone missing as well. Takeshi bit down on his teeth as Kono slowly got upholding on his knee "Those to will die...AND SO WILL YOU!" he shouts as he charges at him. The man is dashing through the forest with the boy on his shoulder and can hear the laughs of the two Yami soldiers chasing them. "GET BACK HERE!" one of them shouts. "YEAH, ACCEPT YOUR FATES AND COME HERE SO WE CAN KILL YOU!" the other one said with a cackle in his tone. "Not until I find them," the man says while darting through the forest as he remembers his wife and daughter.

"Sikon! Aggressive AMBUSH!" yelled Takeshi. "too slow you bastard," Kono says as he dodges his attack. "Sikon: Lynx Code: Silent Skirmish" whispered Kono as he threw his fast whistling sickles at Takeshi. "I won't fail you my friend, now... "Badger Code: Burrowing Blitz!". Takeshi threw his kusarigama at the floor. it started to dig underground and rip right out the forest floor, scratching Kono's eyelid. "AHHHHH MY EYE!" "MY EYE!!!" "MY EYE!!!" "YOU BASTARD! AGH!" "SON OF A BITCH AH!" Commander Kono screamed as he writhed in pain on the floor. "We're just getting started." Takeshi muttered under his breath. "Commander!" a voice from the distance shouted. "We did it!" one of the two soldiers cried out. "We killed them!". Kono held his bloody eye as a conniving smile began to grow on his face. Kono begins to slowly let out a chuckle and turns towards Takeshi. "You hear that you bastard?" "I TOLD YOU SO, JUST LIKE YOUR WIFE AND KID". "EVERYONE AROUND YOU DIES!". "YOU'RE A CURSE TAKESHI, A CURSE!". "YOU MAY BE FROM THE WRETCHED HIKARI BUT YOU ARE ITS GREATEST BURDEN!". Kono proceeds to laugh as Takeshi's eyes widen in terror and he drops to his knees along with his weapon. Takeshi then begins to start gripping the grass and tearing up."no... I don't believe you... you're lying... YOU'RE LYING!". he then closes his eyes and screams at the night sky.

to be continued.