Mech slayers part 4
Tada hitori [Alone]

	Dan looked as the swords pointed at him moved towards slowly. One
of the men stepped forward leaving enough room. Dan rolled as the men
stabbed at the ground where he had been moments before. Dan broke into a
run and dashed into a nearby clearing. "Great genius now what? You can't
hide out here." he thought desperately he turned to face his persuers
only to find that he was alone. "Wha?" he said looking around. He wasn't
even near the forest any more it looked about a quarter of a mile away.
"What the hell?" he said dumbly. 

	In the forest several terrified soldiers looked at the ground
where the boy had been only moments before. "He was a sorcerer!" cried
one of them as they formed a defensive ring.
	"He'll not get us." said one of the men.

	Dan walked along the road he had stumbled upon after a few
moments of wandering. He looked ahead and saw a town in the distance.
"Where am I?" he wondered as he walked on. He looked at the sky as the
sun set in the distance behind the city in the distance. He almost choked
in suprise, there were two moons. He rubbed his temples and sat down in
the road. "Where am I?" he thought desperately. He looked around at the
unfamiliar plants. A small strange insect passed by his hand and he
backed away. "Another world?" he thought. He stood and looked at the
strange alien sky again. None of the stars seemed familiar. He couldn't
find any constellations or navigational stars. He fell to his knees again
as a realization hit him. "That weird machine." he said aloud. 

	He walked along the road towards the town not knowing what else
to do. He stopped as a group emerged from around him. "I don't have any
money." he said to them. 
	One of them grinned and pointed at the bokken resting on the boys
shoulder. He was a large old battle scarred man with a large knife at his
side. "We�ll take that as payment for your passage." he said.
	Dan looked at him oddly. "Its just a stick but if you want it..."
he said offering the bokken. 
	"If its just a stick we don't want it." said a feminine voice
from behind him. He turned his head slightly to see a small girl dressed
in ninja garb without a mask. She had a small blond tuff of hair in the
front that covered her eyes and the rest was very short red hair, she
smiled darkly, and held a short sword threateningly at him from a few
meters away. 
	"I don't have anything else." said Dan to them.
	"Then you can't pass." said the tall arrogant looking swordsman
that completed the Trio. He leveled his gaze on Dan. 
	Dan turned and began to walk away. "Fine." he said and began
walking in the other direction.
	"Don't walk away from us." yelled the girl.
	Dan looked at her and waited for more. She stood looking angrily
at him. After a moment he spoke. "What is it? I don�t have any thing of
value and I don't want to waste your time." he said to her calmly.
	"I'm afraid it's not that simple." said the old man as he
unsheathed his knife. The three closed in on Dan blocking all his escape
routes. 
	Dan sighed inside the circle of bandits. "The perfect end to the
perfect day." he said aloud. The girl smiled at this and The swordsman
rushed Dan. Dan fell back to avoid the man�s blow. He rolled on the
ground as the angry man swung and stabbed at the ground where he fell.
The older man with the Knife slashed at him and Dan punched the ground to
stop his momentum and avoid the slash. He was not expecting what
happened. 
	His fist hit the ground with a deafening roar and the earth split
in a two foot wide crack that stretched for about twenty yards. The knife
wielder jumped away and held the knife defensively across his chest. Dan
rolled  away from the hole and the swordsman. and stood holding his
bokken in a defensive stance. "What the hell?!" he thought.
	The swordsman noticed the surprised look on Dan's face and
smiled. "So it wasn't you." he thought confidently. He resumed his
attack.
	Dan moved easily around the swordsman and Knife wielder�s blows.
"They're so slow." he thought to himself. He turned to face the two men
who were breathing hard and looking tired in front of him. Dan hadn't
even broken a sweat yet. "The girl." he thought remembering the third
member. "Where?" 
	As if in answer a battle cry erupted from a nearby tree and the
little ninja lept from the tree with her sword raised over her head.
Without realizing his error he reflexively defended with his bokken.
"No." he thought as the two connected. The bokken stopped the sword.
"What?" said Dan looking at it dumbly. A large branch from the tree above
groaned and fell from the clean cut the girl had given it. Dan looked at
the girl as she stared him down angrily. There was no way the bokken
could have stopped the sword.
 Dan tossed the girl into the grasses nearby easily with a small shove,
he had only meant to break the connection between the swords.
	 The men stared at him and warily circled. Dan was slowly
beginning to realize something and advanced on the men.
	"It seems we've underestimated you stranger." said the old man.
The Swordsman rushed at Dan again and swung at him with all his strength.
	Dan saw him coming, "If I'm wrong about this I die." he thought
readying himself. He blocked the blow easily with his bokken and kicked
the man in the chest. He flew into a rock and slumped down unconscious.
Dan smiled as the older man cried out in anger and slashed at Dan. Dan
easily dodged for a moment and watched the much slower man swing at him
desperately. He side stepped the mans wild slashes and hook kicked him in
the back of the head sending him sprawling on the ground and skidding for
several yards. Dan smiled again as the man rose to his feet and looked at
him with pure rage.
	The man looked at Dan and smiled evilly with rage in his eyes. He
raised his hands and began chanting something. Dan watched as a jeweled
bracelet on his wrist began to glow. The man looked at Dan with hate
filled eyes once again and shouted "Fire ball!" a huge ball of flames
shot from the mans hand flew towards the dumbfounded Dan.
	"What the hell?!" yelled Dan as he dodged the flames barely
escaping being singed. The man cursed and aimed again. Dan rushed him and
was on him before the man could utter the first word. He punched the man
dead in the face knocking him out cold.
	 He looked at his handy work and smiled. "I like this place
already he said flexing his arm and looking at his hands curiously. He
walked towards the city with a light step. "They were slow, the girl was
pretty good though, still there is no way I should be so strong." he
mused as he walked along. He looked at the robes he had rolled up under
his arm and realized that he had been holding them the whole fight. "May
as well change. These should fit in better here from what I've seen
around here so far." He mused thinking back to the way the soldiers and
bandits were dressed. They had all been wearing robes or simple clothes
not modern clothes like a T-shirt and blue jeans. He found a quiet spot
took a rest.

	An hour after the battle the girl ninja rose from her place in
the grass. She looked at her companions and frowned. They had not yet
awoken from their battle. "From the looks of things they were all beaten
easily." she mused with her frown deepening. She looked at the trail left
by the man and smiled darkly. "I'll find you." she said and began to walk
away from her two companions. "I don't need these two incompetent fools."
she said sneering at the unconscious bandits. Her eyes glowed with an
unnatural light. as she smiled and walked towards the city.
TbC....




_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]