Spectronium

 

There was a very old planned storyline where the Ronin first met Sarah Ann Goode while recovering a cache of artifacts from the Roswell crash site, namely fragments of a metal she cheekily called "Roswellium" that was demonstrated to be light almost like cloth but impervious to damage such as being poked with a knife. The metal was actually created by a hostile alien race called the Moholjok and the government tried to cover up their existence, tracking down Goode while she tried to contact Ryo and Sage. They return to her van to find it swarming with agents and Ryo and Sage chase them off, warning them she's under their protection. This has been discarded as a future plotline and elements folded into other storylines and concepts.

During the War of Rage, Kento is mind-controlled by the Baltokor and the other Ronin are forced to fight him. This is the first time the Ronin learn their new Armors are quite vulnerable to each other.   When General Toshido unleashes a guided missile that practically shatters Tanya's Spectronin Armor of Typhoon straight off of her body, the Ronin learn that the Thunthen led by Myr Chedryn have been selling weapons to the military, including spectronium manufactured using alloys containing iridium. Myr Chedryn explains to Gen. Toshido that Thuruk has no asteroid belt because of Thuruk 2 igniting, and the second sun effectively "hoovers up" any stray celestial bodies such as asteroids and comets. Gen. Toshido manages to procure enough of a supply under the pretense of research to craft a single missile tipped with spectronium.   They face a serious challenge against Kyle Levin-Ashgzra's servant and Ronin impostor-when the Dynasty sorceress transports him to Planet Thunthen and throws him inside the Spectra Pits. Thanks to the Dark Power infused in the false-Armor of Nobility, Kyle survives spectralization but is left catastrophically insane and engages Ryo in devastating combat.

"We've never been able to mass-produce it successfully! All the foundries on the homeworld operating at full output could at most produce a tiny sample!" Bak explained and made a pinching gesture with his long claws. "Sur Daggur dreamed of creating a vast new arsenal of spectronium weapons, but the energy required proved too much to sustain and the project was abandoned by his son!"   "There's a reason spectronium's so rare...Planet Thunthen isn't the only place molten spectra can be found..." the Ronin glanced towards the entrance tunnel, surprised when they heard the voice. Captain Caroline Wendell sauntered inside the cavern and drew her kopesh-like sword, holding the blade up and tilting it from side to side, cocking her head as she approached. "You wouldn't know it by looking at it, but this is spectronium. Gage had it made as a wedding present. He got sick of me going through so many blades during practice...Goldwing is made of spectronium too..." Danae threw a startled glance over her shoulder at her father's sword where it rest in its scabbard. "Not even Eyurodin could unravel its secret...she respected Ander too much to mess around with his sword for the sake of research," Caroline said as she sheathed her sword.   Ryo watched calmly as Caroline strode over to Dais and placed her hands on his shoulders. She bowed her head and chewed her lower lip, not saying anything right away. She inhaled deeply through her nostrils, apparently choking down a sob, before leaning forward and hugging Dais briefly. She patted his back a few times then leaned away, nodding shakily and rapping her fingertips against his shoulders. Apparently she didn't want to embarrass him by making an emotional scene and had to fight to maintain composure. Dais said nothing in response and remained quiet as Caroline stepped away and paced off to the side.   "Gage knew one of the few people alive who knows how to properly forge spectronium. Don't ask me his name: guy's a notorious hermit, and only Gage knew how to find him." Caroline came to a stop a few feet from the group. "I can count on one hand how many spectronium weapons I've ever heard of in all of High Space...full suits of spectronium armor? Now no one's heard of that..."   "For centuries, we've only been able to dream of what fabulous properties spectronium might possess! The minuscule amount we managed to produce underwent rigorous tests, and we were able to determine that not only did it possess a greater molecular density than dererium, it was far lighter and vastly more durable. It is practically impervious to extreme heat and impacts! Observe!" Bak turned to the side and without warning thwacked Sage in the chest with his tail club hard enough to toss him up into the air briefly before he landed on his backside, skidding several feet. Ryo's jaw dropped at the sight, it had come so out of left field. The other Ronin looked alarmed but Caroline's eyes danced with laughter.   Sage sat up on the floor and braced his palms against the granite, blinking several times in stunned silence. "...I didn't feel that..." Sage muttered and stood up slowly, running his palms over his chest and patting himself several times while looking down at his sides. "...I didn't feel that! C'mon! Hit me again!" he crowed and held his arms out wide. Bak smirked wryly and raised his tail club slightly. "Not the face!" Sage recoiled and held up his arms to shield himself.

"Bl...Bl...Blame belongs to no one for Deres' death. He expired long before the flame embraced his body..." Everyone gathered turned startled gazes towards the tunnel, stunned to see the Four Queens approach from seemingly nowhere. "G...G...Greetings, Ronin Warriors...we are pleased to see you all alive and well..." Eyurodin intoned.   "I...I...I take it you've had ample time to break in the new duds and found them to your liking?" Witheren teased. Ryo glanced over his shoulder at the others before turning back to look at her and narrowed his eyes, scowling.   "You knew this would happen?" The goddesses exchanged glances and Ritho tucked her hands under the sleeves of her robe.   "There is one of Greytorata's prophecies you neglected to take into consideration..." she stated and flicked a glance at Cye. Roth closed her eyes and tilted her head back and straightened her shoulders before opening her eyes to gaze at them all.   "'Foes great malice flares aglow...i...i...into burning pools they go...stronger, different, not as before...Ronin Armors are no more...' Long have we pondered the meaning behind this fragment, for it is the only prophecy thus far that explicitly mentions you by name..." Roth explained.   "'Burning pools' could only mean the Spectra Pits, a...a...and 'foes great malice' obviously referred to Mal Daggur and his seething hatred towards you all, but the second half of the fragment presented its own puzzle..." Ritho commented.   "D...D...Deres expended his life's last strength trying to coax the secret out of the Malicious Metal. He theorized a specific resonance was necessary in order to facilitate full spectralization, but neither Thunthen nor Thangien could ever find it. He even went so far as to call it magic..." Eyurodin explained.

"Ryo, can I talk to you? There's something you need to see..." Cye whispered and nodded in the direction of the comm. room. Ryo nodded and took his leave of the others and followed after him. Miz had returned to his seat and called up images of tiny balls connected by thin sticks. Ryo frowned and glanced between the images.   "What's all this about? What am I looking at?" Ryo asked.   "Metallurgical analysis done on your Armors..." Miz replied timidly. Cye bit his lip and glanced at Miz before back at Ryo.   "Our Armors were starting to deteriorate!" he replied and Ryo noticed one of the images blinking red as the sticks connecting the balls fractured and crumbled. "I don't think the Armors for Tanya and the Warlords were affected, but the ones we wear were showing signs of growing molecular stress, likely to do with their physical forms being destroyed then remade. I first got suspicious when Suzunagi tried to warn me. She said she 'didn't do a good enough job', and it took me awhile to figure out what she meant. I had noticed other warning signs like when Sage's sword got broken and when Rowen almost cooked me alive by accident...   "Think about it: the only reason she created the second generation Armors was to reform Inferno! It was supposed to be her closing act, her magnum opus, her last hurrah to end the world. She never intended them to last long! I think the only reason we didn't notice it right away was because we actually haven't been using our Armors as much as we used to. We had the others join the team, friends and allies to help us in battle, the AnimArmors, Shannon's Ronin Cross. We've come to rely less on our Armors for every situation and focus more on teamwork, depending on each other and working together. All that helped ease the strain, but sooner or later the Armors would have failed us. I'm honestly surprised they lasted as long as they did..."   "I'll admit that last little 'prophecy' of Roth's kind of flew over my head, but I'm starting to understand why things unfolded the way that they did...Suzunagi gave our old Armors form...spectralization gave them substance," Cye finished explaining. Ryo glanced from him to the screen and a comparison between the previous Armors and the new Spectronin suits.

"Hey, I like my new armor! Check this out!" Cale wiggled the claws on his gauntlet and turned to the side, holding up one arm. He closed his fingers together, holding them straight and level. The foremost part of the gauntlet hissed and shot out, a thick black cable stretching from the jettisoned section to the rest of the gauntlet. The claws clamped onto a ventilation pipe and Cale swung his arm up, the claws tearing the pipe loose and the cable swinging into the air before the claws released it. Cale held his fingers straight again and the cable whirred as it retracted, the loops slipping back onto his fingers smoothly.   He raised his arm higher, aiming his knuckles at the pipe spinning through the air, and clenched his fist. The spikes protruding from the mechanism over his hand clicked and extended slightly before launching into the air with the hiss of exhaust. Three spike-shaped projectiles arced up towards the pipe, striking simultaneously and sending fragments of metal showering towards the ground. Cale lowered his arm and clenched his fists close to his chest, grinning like a little kid. "I can shoot missiles now! It's like fate's making up for us getting left behind the last time!" he gloated and wiggled the claw blades again.   "I imagine getting tossed in the drink alongside the rest of us sort of 'carried you forward'," Cye chuckled. "...Say Sehkmet, you're looking pretty buff there. What's your weapon do?" Sehkmet blinked and raised his arm, looking at the sort of globe-like structure adorning each shoulder. He rolled his right shoulder to and fro and what looked like bright pinkish liquid sloshed about inside. Tubes ran along the surface of his arm all the way down to a mechanism on the back of his wrist nestled between the two curved blades on the top of the arm.   Sehkmet examined the mechanism and scratched the side of his cheek with a claw plate before holding out his arm and aiming at an empty spot on the roof. He clenched his hand and tilted his fist down and twin streams of bright pinkish fluid sprayed from the barrels of the mechanism, landing in a puddle on the roof. The other Ronin voiced their approval, congratulating Sehkmet. Sehkmet grimaced when the roof began bubbling and hissing and sagging inward, peeling apart until a large hole opened up in the roof. Through the opening the Ronin could see surprised office workers peering up at the steaming, dripping hole.   "Whoops...guess we gotta find somewhere else to practice..." Ryo winced.

"I'm home! Work never stops, even with the fate of the world hanging in the balance," Mia grumbled as she entered the living room, shrugging her bag from her shoulder and setting it on the dining table while pocketing her car keys.   "Heya Mia!" Mia jumped in place upon hearing Ryo's voice and whirled around, not seeing him anywhere. "Did I scare you?" Mia raised an eyebrow, looking about the room once more and even going as far as to peek under the table cover.   "...where are you?"   "Wouldn't you like to know!" Ryo's voice teased. "Bet you can't find me..." Mia frowned and paced alongside the table. "Getting warmer..." Mia peered into adjacent rooms but still couldn't see him. She rounded the corner on the side facing the fireplace. "There! Right there! You're burning hot!"   "Ryo, this isn't funny," Mia fumed and braced her knuckles against her hips.   "Pfft, yes it is!"   "No it's not! Unless you somehow turned invisible or phased out of reality I don't see where you could be hiding-" Mia threw up one hand in frustration and turned around in place before tilting her head up towards the second floor rails. Her gaze strayed to the ceiling. "OH!" she gasped and raised her hands over her mouth, shocked to see Ryo standing ON the ceiling staring "up" at her. His bangs hung away from his forehead and he grinned at her. "H-how did you-?" Mia stepped to the side as Ryo flipped and dropped down, landing nimbly on the floor.   "Pretty cool, huh? I can't exactly leap tall buildings in a single bound, but I can come close," Ryo boasted and wiggled his fingers. "These Spectra Armors are something else! They're super light, I barely feel like I'm wearing anything!"   "Ryo, please, that's not an image I need in my mind right now," Mia wrinkled her face in an exasperated grimace and shook her head before placing her fingertips against her brow.   "Oh c'mon..." Ryo comforted and placed his hands on her shoulders. Mia bit her lip and gently placed her hands on his wrists.   "You know, I thought I'd lost you for real this time..." she whispered softly.   "I know, but we're the good guys, right? We're prophesized to save the world and all that," Ryo teased.   "You're also prophesized to die...and every day that goes by is a day that moves closer to that day...and there won't be a last minute miracle...and you'll be gone for real...and there'll be no coming back..." Mia sniffled and bowed her head. Ryo gently placed his knuckle under her chin and tilted her head up until their eyes met.   "But until then, I'll be here...and we'll make the most of each and every one of those days," Ryo assured. The two looked down upon hearing some burbling and saw little Ryu tottering out from under the table and patting the spectronium plating on Ryo's shin. "Hey there tiger!" Ryo stooped down and scooped Ryu up in one arm, gently tapping the front of his overalls embroidered with a cartoonish tiger face with the tip of the spectronium claw plate covering the top of his finger. "You been looking out for your mom?" Ryu nodded energetically in reply. "That's good to hear...because you still got a long way to grow before this'll fit you," Ryo teased and gently bumped his forehead against Ryu's. Ryu giggled merrily and reached up, patting Ryo's cheek. Mia stood close by smiling, praying many more years would pass before that fateful day arrived...