Arashi walked into the workroom. Her crocodile earrings moved, constantly swaying. She turned to face the eight scientists that had been locked up here for the past day.

     "Why are we here? What right do you have to lock us up like this?" asked one of the braver men. Arashi looked at all of them with her grey eyes and spoke slowly.

     "You have been gathered here to build a machine for me. You will be sub-divided and placed into groups to build specific parts of the machine. No harm will come to you while you work, unless you try and escape." The same man that spoke before, stood.

     "What are we building? I think we deserve the right to know what kind of device you want us to build so you can destroy the earth!" Arashi shook her head and laughed.

     "Do you really think I plan to destroy this planet?"

     "What kind of an answer is that? First you take us from our families, and then you force us to build a machine. We deserve to know what we're building! Tell us!" Arashi raised one hand.

     "Makaze," she said simply, and a black wind of energy fired at the man, consuming him. When it dispersed, all that was left were ashes. "Anymore questions? Good, then get to work." She left the room and locked the door.  "They will all pay for what they have done."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Saffron sat there with Fox, discussing strategy. Ardour brushed her hair, counting strokes.

     "Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three. . ."

     "Will you please shut up?" asked Fox, aggravated. Ardour didn't look up from her hair.

     "I like counting."

      "Then do it in your head," he said, going back to his diagram.

     "But then I get confused!" complained Ardour, putting her brush down. "And I'm bored."

      "Then help us figure out how to get what we need."

      "But thinking makes my head hurt. Why don't you just blow the wall open, get it, and go. It's a lot simpler that way," she said, looking at their complex plans.

      "She does have a point," said Saffron, obviously bored as well. Fox considered this. He rolled up the map and placed it in his pocket. He smiled.

     "I guess we can try that. Anyway, it's time we had some fun."

     "Fun? Like going shopping and petting the cute little animals at the petting zoo?" asked Ardour, jumping up and down.

     "Of course. We can't go blowing everything up everyday," he said, opening a warp point. Each of them quickly changed into more normal attire and left. Arashi walked into the courtyard.

      "Simpletons. Let them have their fun and games. Their time is nearly complete." She dipped her hand into the Dark Water of the fountain. It ran like rivers over her hands. She stood and walked over to the worker's quarters. With a wave of her hand, she opened a one-way window that showed her the current phase of her powerful machine. Only two more objects would be required once the machine was operational. She closed the window and made her way back to her chambers. She threw off her cape and sat at her dresser. There, a yearbook lay opened to the first page of the senior section, were the photographs of her entire senior class. All of them, of course, had died over four hundred years ago. She looked at one of the pictures, which was circled in green ink. This man, unsmiling, looked straight ahead, almost like he was looking into your eyes. She closed her eyes, remembering his smiling stormy blue eyes. His black hair, no matter how much he tried to tame it, always had a black piece fall between his eyes.

     "They took you away from me, but they'll pay, all of them," she said, turning the page. On this one, a picture of a very classy lady was crossed out in red. She remembered her as well. Her blond hair was pulled up into a tight bun, as this was the fashion of the time. Her blue eyes smiled meticulously in her memory.  On the very next page was another picture, squared in blue. Arashi remembered him as well. He was that girl's former courter, but she left him for another. This boy was dressed in creased clothes. She remembered his smiling pale blue eyes and his brown hair, that was always in a small wave over his right eye.

     "These three- Thomas, Mary, and Lincoln- you have escaped my wrath only through death. Yet I cannot escape your torment because I do not die." She slammed the yearbook shut and sat there, deep in thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     It had been nearly three weeks since Mia had died and the scientists had gone missing. Zell had transferred to the college up north where the Ronins went. She hadn't done well in her first few days there, because of her lack of social skills. So each of the guys decided to help her along; Sage gave her free self-defense lessons after hours at the dojo to boost her self-confidence; Sai was teaching her to cook, to give her some class and moral; Rowen helped her in coping with what her dad had done and with the work load from school; Ryo was teaching her about different sports so she could be included in conversations; Kento was helping her to have more fun; today they were heading out for a new lesson.

     "Ready to go?" he asked, grabbing his coat.

     "Sure," said Zell, smiling. The guys had been helping out for the past week or so, and she was seeing results. She jumped into the car and soon they arrived at the bowling alley. Kento paid for their shoes and lanes. Once prepared, they walked onto the hardwood floors.

     "Now, look. Just hold the ball like this and use a solid motion.  Follow through by bringing your thumb up towards the center pin and then back to you, like this. Now watch," explained Kento. Zell watched attentively as Kento knocked down all ten pins.

     "So, that's a strike and it's a spare if you get them all down in two tries?" said Zell slowly.

     "Yeah. Your turn." Zell stood up and copied Kento's movements. She knocked down one pin before her ball fell into the gutter. On her second ball, she knocked the another pin on the other side of the lane.

     "I tried," she said, shrugging.

     "Hey, at least you didn't get a gutter ball," said Kento in encouragement.

     Zell smiled. He had a point. She watched the girl next to them. She was doing poorly, and kept yelling. Finally, she marched over to the counter.

     "My lane is rigged," she said flatly.

     "There is no such thing," said the attendant, trying to get to the next person. The girl refused to hear it and wanted a refund.

     "I really don't think I'll be back here again. Now give me my money!"

     "If you would just read the sign, miss, it says no refunds," said the attendant, worried about causing a scene.

     "So, now you're going to cheat me out of my money. Well, then. I guess you should check my lane out!" With that, she grabbed the man by the collar and flung him straight down the lane and into the pins. She instantly changed from the not-so-calm girl to the angry Ardour.

     "Um, Kento, I believe we have a problem," said Zell, looking behind her.  He wasn't there. She turned around and saw him, in sub armor, facing Ardour.

     "Are you the manager?" she asked courtly, crossing her arms.

     "Dude, no. I'm Kento of Hardrock and you're in for a big surprise."

     "Oh. You're one of those stupid Ronins, right? My master was very upset that you attack Fox like that. It nearly killed him."

     "Whatever. Let's get it on!"

      "Get what on?"

      "Huh?" said Kento in shock, standing in his fighting pose. Ardour looked at him in his stance for about a minute before realizing what he meant.

     "Oh," she said in understanding. "You want to fight? Okay. Prepare to die!"

     "Armor of Hardrock, Tao Gi!" In a flash of wallpaper and cherry blossom petals, Kento appeared in his armor.

    "Does it always do that?" asked Ardour, pulling out her whip. Kento spun his staff waiting for her to attack. She jumped up and tried to entangle him with her whip. Instead, she sliced the cash register and that whole counter in half.

     "Kento, you might want to take this outside!" yelled Zell cautiously from her hiding place. She didn't feel like being the hostage again.

     "Who said that? Huh?" said Ardour. She spotted Zell crouching behind the bench and noticed a blue stone dangling from her neck. Before Ardour could react, Kento had tapped her on the shoulder.

      "What?"

      "You're it!" he said, running out the doors. He didn't expect it to work, but she seemed dumb enough. Ardour felt her anger rising. She ran after Kento, and seemed to be gaining. As soon as the two rounded the corner, Zell threw a twenty on the broken counter before running to her black Mountaineer and driving after Kento. She came to a stop at the edge of the woods. She turned off the engine and looked around.

     "I wonder what kind of magic their side is using?" Hearing an explosion, she ran into the heart of the woods.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Fox and Saffron stepped out of a portal only to land in a dark and dry place.

     "I guess the Dynasty has really suffered since the fall of Talpa," he said, looking at all the gloom. Saffron had to agree. The only landmark for miles around was a tall, grey castle with four towers.

     "Is that where they're hiding?" asked Saffron, pointing to the castle.

     "Must be. Master Arashi wouldn't have sent us here if it wasn't."

      "True, mother's never wrong," said Saffron, hanging his head.

      "Yeah, let's get this over with," said Fox, starting the walk up the hill that led to the castle. Saffron ran to catch up with him.

     "They're on their way," said Kayura, turning off the viewing screen. She returned to the table were the other three warlords sat.

     "We should fight them to the death," said Sekhmet, slamming his fist on the table.

     "No, they may look weak, but they are strong," said Dais.

     "Even stronger than us?" asked Kale.

     "Yes. I fear that they are after our armor," said Kayura, looking towards a glass case with four armor orbs resting inside.

     "I doubt that. I've seen them fight and it semms they wouldn't need any extra power," said Kale.

      "It's true. They don't even wear armor and they are amazingly quicker than the Ronins themselves. Not to mention stronger," said Dais, crossing his arms. Kayura stood and walked to the window.

     "They're nearly here. I'm afraid we have no choice."

     "Is that our only option?" asked Sekhmet, looking as though this was a really bad thing.

     "Hold on. How do you know all this, Dais?" asked Kale curiously.

     "I was watching Hardrock and the girl fight. She easily bested him in speed and in strength. Their weapons were locked and she pulled him off the ground and slammed him into a tree before disappearing. All she was wearing were pants and a t-shirt. By the way, Mia dyed her hair purple."

     "Huh?" asked the other three.

     "I saw her run out to Kento and help him into her new car," said Dais, looking as though everyone should have known this. Kayura nearly burst out laughing.

     "What's so funny?" asked Dais, annoyed.

     "Well, it's not really funny, but Mia died three weeks ago. That must be their new friend," said Kayura, still thinking this to be amusing.

     "Could we hurry up with the ritual, they are breaking down our doors as we speak," said Kale, looking out the window. Kayura opened the glass case and handed each one of them their armor orbs. All four of them transformed into their sub armor. Kayura raised the Ancient's staff into the air. A yellow light formed inside it. It exploded into a yellow light that filled the room.  Fox and Saffron broke down the door only to see four animals jumping out of a window. Saffron ran to the window.

     "They've transformed into their familiars," he said.

     "Really? I thought that magic was long lost," he said as he joined Saffron by the window to see three shadows retreat by land and one by the sky.

     "Anyway, there goes our information. Master Arashi will not be pleased. Let's get going." Fox opened a portal and stepped through. Saffron looked at the fleeing figures and barely smiled before he jumped through the closing portal.