Sage sat in the woods, meditating as usual. He had been coming here more and more frequently since the attacks had started. He was trying to find a connection between their new enemies and the terrorist attacks that have been happening over the past two months. Sage pictured in his mind the enemies they have faced.

     First, Fox came into his head. His shaggy aqua hair and plum eyes made him look innocent when in reality he wasn't. In fact, they had learned the hard way about his speed. He wasn't very strong, but he made up for that in speed and in brains. Only Rowen had ever landed a hit on him unassisted by studying his moves as he fought the others, but the word unassisted popped into his brain. Sage figured that the reason was the only other person that made a hit was Ryo, who had made severe damage to Fox a month ago with the help of a falcon.

     Then, he saw Ardour in his mind as Fox's image morphed into hers. She looked incredibly light, happy and childlike, with long fiery red hair and bright magenta eyes. She was tall and slender as well, which made them all hesitant to attack. From what Kento had said about their fight a month ago, was true. She was incredibly stupid, an IQ of about 10. They hadn't seen her attack in the past month, but Sage sensed that she wasn't involved with the new evil for her brains. She had tossed Kento and nearly broken his arm in a lock-down.

      So, what was the connection? Sage's brow creased slightly as he concentrated hard on what the answer had to be. The scientists that had been captured, as Rowen had found out, each specialized in specific areas of mechanics. Hydro-electronics, engineering, chemistry and physics. Plus, there was the missing titanium. So, the enemy was building something. Sage breathed in deeply as the big question ran through his brain. Why? What reason would this evil have to attack the world in such a strange way. And why did Fox come to their house?

     They had remembered the blue light that came from the guest room where Zell was sleeping. She had said that she remembered nothing and was asleep the entire night, but what did that mean? Is she lying or covering up for something? She's been quite different since that night. She's been constantly happy and she's full of new life, it seemed. Her skills, he noticed, had increased dramatically when they fought at the dojo. She was pivoting a lot faster and her punches were harder and more accurate. Her strength had increased and she . . . Sage stopped his thought as a twig snapped behind him.

      He didn't change his body position. His ears became his eyes; whatever was coming was approaching from behind. The animal was big and it moved roughly, like it was injured. The crackling and movement of the leaves and the bushes told him that. He opened his eyes slowly and took a deep breath before quickly jumping up and turning around, landing in a fighting stance. He looked down. In front of him was an injured grey wolf. Its blue eyes were fixed on Sage's lunch bag. Sage nearly laughed.

     "Hey, its okay. I'm not going to hurt you," he said as he slowly moved down toward the wolf. The wolf laid down and Sage felt his leg, which seemed to be the problem. He noticed some scratches on his side and a scar under his left eye.

     "Now hold still. I'm just going to fix your leg," Sage said firmly as his hand hovered inches above the wolf's leg. The wolf was soon glowing with a greenish light and all the scars but the one on his face disappeared. He licked Sage's face in gratitude. Sage pushed him away playfully.

     "I'm going to guess that you're a hungry fellow and I'll even bet you will like Sai's cooking. I think he made roast beef sandwiches today. Here you go," said Sage, removing the tin foil from the sandwich and placing the food on the ground. The wolf started eating large chunks at once.

     "Slow down, or you'll choke yourself!" said Sage, munching on a sandwich himself. The wolf looked at him and then resumed eating. Sage looked at the scar again, wondering why it hadn't healed.  

     That scar looks kinda familiar, but where have I seen it before? thought Sage, swallowing and looking at the wolf once more.

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

     Sai removed the turkey from the oven. He looked over his latest creation. It was cooked to a golden brown and was juicy and tender. He picked it up and placed it on a serving plate. He sniffed the air and the lovely aroma filled his nostrils. He heard foot steps above.

     "One, two. . ." he said as he walked over and washed his hands, "three, four, five. . ."

      "What smells scrumptious?" asked the forever hungry Kento.

      "Dinner. And if you want to help, then pick those vegetables up and hand them to me." Sai had said the magic word. Kento cringed at the ‘v' word and decided to watch Sai do it instead. Sai could only shake his head.

    "How's your arm, mate?"

    "Better. But I can't believe she beat me. I mean, come on, Hardrock armor is supposed to be the strongest armor of them all and a girl beat me in strength," he said, slamming his fist on the table. "Man, it makes me so mad!"

     "What, that a girl beat you?" asked Zell as she grabbed her coat off the table.

     "Hey," said Sai and Kento together.

     "Where are you going?" asked Sai.

     "I have to return these books and Rowen needs to get more research material. He has a hunch and won't let me help him."

     "Dude, the library?" asked Kento.

     "Yes, it's where all us girls go to power up and cream you. Just remember that," said Zell with a wink. Kento smiled back and turned his head as Zell closed the door.

     "Rowen will find the answer and then we'll kick butt!" said Kento with a big smile. Sai looked at his friend. Normally he would agree, but he felt that this time it wouldn't be so easy as researching and then ‘kicking butt' as Kento put it.

     "Did you see the Buffy finale last night?" asked Sai, placing the potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables into a blender.

     "Yeah. Dude, they killed Buffy. Man, that was so harsh. I mean, come on, Buffy is like, invincible and. . ." the rest of his sentence was lost over the sound of the blender.

     "Huh? I missed that," apologized Sai.

     "Nevermind."

     "Yeah. But do you see how they researched, prepared and she still had to die even though Glory was killed. Dawn wasn't human, and Buffy sacrificed herself. To save Dawn."

     "I know that, Sai. I saw the episode too, ya know."

     "Will you ever le. . . Hey! Hands off the bird!" yelled Sai as he caught Kento trying to pull the leg off the turkey. Kento smiled sheepishly.

     "Sorry. So we know that there are two of them. And they want some book, right?"

      "That's what Fox said yesterday."

     "What kind of book does he want to read? I'm sure if he needed to a book, he could just go to the library, like Zell."

     "He's not after that kind of book. This book has to contain some kind of magic or power," said Sai, removing his apron.

     "I guess that makes sense. Do we have a book with magic powers here?"

     "I'm not really sure."

     "Oh," said Kento, watching as Sai turned his back. He slowly moved his hand toward the turkey. Only a few more inches. . .

     "Kento!" yelled Sai without turning around.

     "Man!" said Kento, pouting. He didn't understand how Sai had caught him without looking behind him. Sai turned around and placed his hands on his hips.

      "Will you stop that?"

      "I'm just hungry."

     "Really?"

    "Yeah."

     "If you're so hungry, go find Sage and tell him dinner's ready."

     "But Sai. . ."

    "No buts. Go. Or you'll get no dinner tonight. And only vegetables for a week."

     "Anything but that!" said Kento, bolting for the door. Sai smiled and chuckled softly as he finished preparing dinner.

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

     Rowen sat there, pouring through all the books he could think of that might explain the power of the new enemies. He felt his eyes closing and his thoughts drifted back to the most recent battle. He was strolling for a walk when Fox surprised him with an attack. Ryo and Kento, who heard him fighting with Fox and came to his aid, fought Fox, giving him the opportunity he needed to strike. He opened his eyes with a start.  He looked at his watch. It was nearing ten. His stomach rumbled, even though he had just finished dinner two hours ago. He decided to go get a snack. As he stood, he knocked the book he was reading to the floor. He sighed and picked it up. He took one look at the title and sat right back down. The book had landed on the exact page that he was now looking at. He started reading and by midnight he had a theory all worked out.

     "I am staying up way too late. These books that Zell got helped out a lot. I'll tell the guys my findings tomorrow morning. Wait a minute....tomorrow's Monday! I hate getting up early!" Rowen turned off his light, slipped into bed and fell asleep.

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

     After school had ended the next day, everyone, minus Sage, who was at drama practice, met by the large oak tree in front of the campus. Ryo kept bouncing his soccer ball off different parts of his body.

     "Ryo, we're waiting," said Sai. Ryo looked over to him, obviously coming back from a deep thought. He didn't move till the soccer ball he had just kicked into the air landed on his head. The ball stopped at Zell's feet. She laughed and tossed it back to him.

       "Sorry I'm late, but my professor had to hold us behind till someone finished their exam," she explained, removing her jacket.

     "Hey, Zell, is that a new necklace? What happened to your old one?" asked Sai, noticing the change at once. Instead of the stone she normally wore, she was wearing a gold chain with a golden triforce. In the space between the triangles was a small white pearl.

     "Um, this old thing? Well, I bought this for like five bucks at a flea market and put my mom's necklace in a special place at home." She smiled sweetly and the conversation continued. Sai thought that this was strange and her hesitant answer bothered him. He was about to ask about it when a great gust of wind blew up and the dust from the dry earth flew into their faces.

     "Zell, get out of here. It's them!" yelled Ryo through the storm. Zell sneaked off and into the school. She watched from a nearby classroom window.

     After the storm died down, Ryo, Sai, Rowen, and Kento looked around for any sign of Fox or Ardour. All they saw was a small boy of about twelve. He was dressed in khakis and a plain, grey t-shirt. His short, spikey, golden hair glistened in the sun and his grey eyes looked at them with no emotion.

     "Kid, get out of here. There are some bad people coming," said Kento firmly.

     "But they're here already," said the boy.

      "Where?" asked Ryo as he and the other Ronins put on their sub armor.

      "Right here," said the boy, his voice tone unchanging.

      "What?" said Sai in shock.

     "My name is Saffron. Fox is still injured by your wound," he said, shifting his gaze for a second to Rowen, "and Ardour is herself."

     "Well, Saffron. We will fight you," said Ryo.

     "You have to be kidding. He's only a kid!" said Rowen in shock.

    "Kayura was barely older than him," said Ryo firmly. Rowen was about to explain the difference, but closed his mouth. Saffron pulled a silver bow from his back and it sprang into normal shape. He strung an arrow.

      "Child's Despair," he said simply. A massive blue energy gathered around the arrow and as it exploded with force when it hit the ground. A terrible explosion occurred. When the dust settled, the four Ronins struggled to rise. Saffron turned to go. He ran into someone and looked up. A silver mask hid the face of his opponent.

     "Sorry, but I'm afraid your game is over," she said. She pulled out her scythe and looked at him.

     "Who are you?" he asked in a bored tone.

      "That shouldn't matter, but since you've asked. . . I'm the Guardian of the Sky."

     "Well, Sky. I have to be going. . . What the-?" he said, his voice changing tone for the first time. He noticed the blue stones on her weapon.

     "Like them? Some foolish mortal had them, but now I do. And don't think that I'll give these babies up," she said with a smile.

     "My master commands that you give those stones to me."

      "Let me think. No."

     "You have no idea what damage those stones can do! Give them to me!" yelled Saffron, lunging for them.  He missed, slamming into the ground. Sky almost felt sorry for him. She returned the staff to its smaller side and attached it to her belt. She smiled at the boy, before disappearing.

     Saffron looked up from his position. He angrily picked up his bow and walked through the portal to report to Arashi.

    "Oh boy, did someone get the name of that truck?" asked Kento, rubbing his head.

    "No, we didn't," said Ryo.

     "My theory is confirmed!" said Rowen excitedly, but then cringed in pain.

     "Who was that?" asked Sai, frowning, because something was bothering him. And he couldn't quite put his finger on it.