Chapt.15. Into the Dynasty.

Anubis and the Ronins stood a few feet away from Mia's mansion. The Ronins were all tensed, and in their full armor. Their minds were on Cye, and they were all wanting to get this done as soon as possible. Mia stood on the porch and watched them. She knew all of them were more than eager to get Rowen's plan underway.

"Stand in a circle around me, Ronins," Anubis instructed.

All of them obeyed, and Anubis held the Staff outward. "Staff of the Ancients, hear me! Create now a double of the four Ronin Warriors here before me!"

The rings on the Staff began clanging noisily. Light shot out from the Staff and engulfed each Ronin Warrior. Ryo, Sage, Kento, and Rowen began glowing their respective colors. The lights joined together with the light of the Staff, creating one bright light. The light soon disappeared, and the decoys appeared.

"Whoa!" Sage exclaimed, staring at his double, which was dressed in a Halo armor.

"This is cool!" Ryo said, grinning at his double. "I always wanted a twin!"

Rowen was just smiling as he stared at his double. He was quite pleased, and could hardly keep from holding still. This defies all Scientific Propranganda that says there's no such things as look alike decoys unless they're identical twins.. Humph! Shows how much they know!

Kento stared at his double with a surprised look on his face. He was shocked. "I... I didn't think it would work at first," he admitted.

Anubis chuckled. "Like I said, the Staff is capable of many things. Now, you must prepare to rescue your friend!"

With that said, Anubis turned and raised the Staff high above his head, pointing it toward an open area. The Staff began to glow once again, and the Ronins and White Blaze tensed with readiness as the air around them began to pick up.

And then, there it stood, about fifty feet above them. A Dynasty gate. All of their hearts were pounding against their chests with anticipation. White Blaze roared, eager to go.

Anubis turned around. "There. It is done. Just remember, Ronins. The Dynasty must be distracted by the decoys. Hardrock, you must create an underground tunnel in which you and the others will travel through, while the decoys go on through the Gate along with White Blaze so there is no suspicion. Your armors will lead you to Cye. Be careful and good luck!"

"OK," Ryo said as he rubbed his hands. "Let's get this started."

Kento blasted away the ground with his Iron Rock Crusher. A nice tunnel was made, but it was only big enough for them to be in a single line and on their knees.

"Geeze, Kento," Sage complained. "Couldn't you have at least made this a little bigger?"

"Oh, quit complaining, Cassonova," Kento retorted. "It's the best I can do."

Sage sighed, knowing Hardrock was right.

Rowen shook his head at the two, then noticed Ryo was already crawling forward at an incredible pace! "Hey, Ryo! Slow down! We have to wait until the decoys get through. When we hear the battling, then we can go *faster*!"

Ryo stopped and looked back, a little disappointed. "I guess you're right, Rowen. I just want to save Cye."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Kento said as he crawled along.

Sage followed behind Rowen with Kento behind him. I feel like a baby, he thought bitterly. If I didn't care so much for Cye, I wouldn't be doing this!

Rowen was silent now, and his ears were listening for any sounds. And finally they heard the Gates being opened, the familiar sound of the Twister ride, and the sounds of their own voices screaming, before it suddenly got still and quiet.

"Well, they're in," Rowen said as he crawled along. "Now all we have to do is wait."

The wait wasn't long. They all heard. "Ronin Warriors! Soldiers, attack!"

Ryo's order was quick and sharp. "Let's move!"

And all four crawled faster than an ant would.

Chapt.16. Torture.

Cye could barely breathe, nor could he move. He was bound tightly with silver bindings that had suddenly appeared on him, and they were sending electrical shocks into him about every five seconds.

Cye screamed loudly, begging for this to stop. Huge tears ran down his cheeks as his body was engulfed with burning pain.

"Join Lord Talpa, and you will be free of this pain you now face," Badamon promised.

Cye glared at him through red, wet eyes. "I'd rather be killed by Sekhmet!" he growled through clenched teeth.

Sekhmet stepped forward. "An honorable idea, Torrent! I shall oblige..."

KaZap! Sekhmet suddenly flew backward. Talpa glared at him angrily. "Fool! I want Torrent kept alive!"

"Ooooookaaay," Sekhmet groaned. He weakly stood up.

Delia stared at Torrent, feeling no pity whatsoever. Her arms were folded against her chest. She was growing impatient for whatever they were all waiting to see.

Kania felt differently though. Each time Torrent screamed out in pain, she sympathized. She wished they would finish doing whatever they were planning so he wouldn't have to feel this pain.

Cye screamed again, loudly this time. The pain was intense! He felt like all of insides were going to come out, piece by piece. The Warlords and Warladies covered their ears.

"I never knew Torrent could have such a high voice!" Cale complained.

"Can we gag him?" Dais begged.

"No," Talpa said. "I want to hear him scream in agony."

All three Warlords groaned.

Badamon released another shock into Cye. His body jerked violently, and the silver bindings tightened against his skin, burning him through his clothes. If only the others were here, he thought before he suddenly passed out from the immense pain.

Kania approached Torrent cautiously, and placed her hand on his neck. His pulse was still beating and he was still breathing. "He's unconscious," she said, hiding her relief.

"Yes," Talpa said with a wicked smile. "And I know all of you are eager to learn what this torture session is about."

"The thought did enter our minds, Master Talpa," Dais replied.

Talpa laughed wickedly. "I have two kinds of plans for Torrent, an original, and another one as a backup plan. The first plan will be to weaken Torrent's defense shield. Once that happens, and the Ronin Warriors show up, we will kill all of them right before his eyes, adding more to his pain. And the I will force him to work for us, adding more to his misery before he finally crumbles and dies himself."

"And the second plan?" Delia wanted to know.

"If the Ronin Warriors do somehow manage to free Torrent, he will be plagued by memories of this. He'll soon begin to feel useless and unwanted, and he'll begin to distrust his own friends. Without Torrent, the Ronin Warriors will fall, since Torrent will no longer be able to hold them together."

"And what of that does not work?" Cale demanded. "Won't he remember what we did to him?"

Talpa smiled evilly as Badamon stepped forward. "If the Ronin Warriors manage to rescue their young friend, I will pay Torrent a visit, and cause him to lose all memory of us torturing him. He will remember the torture of course, but he will not remember that we were the ones who caused it, and he will slowly lose control over himself."

"Sounds good," Dais said, nodding his head.

There was a soft moan, and all of them turned to look at Torrent.

Cye slowly opened his eyes, wondering what had happened to him. His focus sharpened, and he suddenly realized where he was. I'm still in Talpa's throne room. What did they do to me? I hurt so much!

"He's awake," Sekhmet said with a grumble. Boy, did Cye want to flip him off, something he had never done before in his entire life. What was wrong with him? He felt very weird, almost cocky. And he felt weak.

"Badamon, release him. I want him back in his cell. Dais and Sekhmet can take him back."

"No cell," Cye said sluggishly. "Home."

Talpa laughed. "This will be your home, Torrent!"

"No. Home at Mia's. Home now!"

Talpa smirked and rolled his eyes. The boy was absolutely hopeless, he thought as he watched Badamon take the silver bindings away from Torrent.

Cye still couldn't move. The silverbindings were gone, but his body was just too sore. He watched as Dais came near him, and groaned when he was lifted up and over the Warlord's shoulder.

Cye glanced up at Sekhmet. "Phew! You smell, snake-breath! When's the last time you took a shower?"

Sekhmet glared down at Cye, ready to rip him to pieces for that insult. Cye wasn't done yet.

"You know, they have stuff to take care of the smell under your arm pits. It's called deodorant."

"I'm going to kill him!!" Sekhmet screamed before Cale grabbed him.

"What is wrong with Torrent?" Delia asked, moving over to help Cale hold the angry Warlord. Talpa himsef was staring at Cye, a little surprised himself. As if he could tell that, Cye suddenly looked up at the evil Dynasty Master.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you look like an old lady? I mean come on! White hair is so outta style now! You should dye it. Black would look good on you."

Talpa glared at him, then looked at Badamon for an explanation.

"He's delirious," Badamon said. "Do not fear. It will wear off soon when he passes out again."

Cye looked toward him now. "If you were greener and uglier, you'd be a gremlin," he said before he suddenly passed out.

"See?" Badamon said with a pleased smile.

Talpa nodded his head. So it wasn't Torrent acting on his own. That must have been strong energy Badamon sent into Torrent. It was funny how humans always reacted to something that entered their bodies. Take Strata for example:

Talpa remembered it well. He had sent Cale up against the Ronins a few months ago to capture them when Cale had shown up completely embarrassed. Strata as it seemed had eaten a tube of soft candy known as taffy. Strata had become very hypered indeed. Talpa wasn't sure what happened exactly, but he knew that Cale had left because Strata had suddenly flung mud into his eyes, and pulled down his pants right in public, leaving all the Ronins and passerbys to laugh at him.

Talpa narrowed his eyes and looked toward Dais and Sekhmet. "Take him back now, before he wakes up again."

The two bowed and teleported from the room.

Chapt.17. Trouble.

There was a huge battle going on above the crawling Ronins. They could all hear their surekills being cried out, and just knew that so far Rowen's plan was working. Now all they had to do was get into Talpa's castle, find Cye, and get out of there as soon as possible.

Kento was agitated though. Why couldn't they have just blasted right on through? This was taking far too long! They could have already been into the castle by now. Cye could be suffering for all they knew, while they were taking the slowest way!

Ryo felt as if they were closer to Talpa's dungeon. They would bust through the ceiling and hopefully be in the dungeon room. They would get Cye and bust out of there. One thing bothered him though. Why did Talpa capture Cye? It didn't make any sense. Cye was the weakest of them, and didn't have much power. So what could the evil demon be planning? Or did it have something to do with the way Cye had been acting yesterday?

Ryo didn't know. He only knew that they had to find Cye and rescue him before it was too late.

And then they heard it.

"These aren't the Ronin Warriors!"

"Uh, oh!" Rowen exclaimed.

"They're onto us!" Sage cried.

"Oh, man!" Kento wailed.

"Move it!" Ryo ordered.

They crawled as fast as they could, their muscles aching because of the crampness. They heard someone shout for them to be found and to inform Talpa that they were somehow sneaking into the castle. Ryo could see a wall up ahead. Almost there. Hang on, Cye.

They crawled and crawled, hardly breathing. They could hear the Dynasty searching for them, and knew it was highly possible for them to be found. None of them cared though. They had come to rescue Cye, and were going to succeed now matter how hard it would be.

"I'll be so glad when we get Cye and get out of here," Sage said in a whisper.

"Yeah, me too," Rowen said.

"Don't worry, guys. I see a wall up ahead," Ryo informed them.

"When we get home, I am having a snack."

"A snack? Sage said as he raised one brow. "Or a gourmet meal?"

Kento blushed.

They came to the wall at last. "So, how do we get through?" Kento asked.

"We push it, how else?" Rowen stated matter of factly.

"Wait, we can't all push it at the same time," Sage said. "It's too narrow in here."

"Kento could do it. If he wasn't in the back," Rowen said.

"Well, it ain't my fault you all jumped in first."

"We were afraid you'd get stuck."

"Shut up, Rowen!"

"Come on, you guys" Ryo chided. He was getting a little irritated and wanted this whole thing to be over. One thing for sure, if he found Cye badly hurt or even dead, he was going to strangle Talpa and make him wished he had never been born, or that he hadn't become immortal. Ryo sat on his rear, and pressed both feet against the wall. He pushed with all his might, and the wall did not give. He kept on trying though.

Sage suddenly glanced behind him as all of them felt the presence of evil. "Hurry, Ryo! They're coming in here!"

Ryo suddenly kicked his feet against the wall. It still didn't move. Kento finally lost his patience, crawled over everyone, nearly crushing them, and laid over Ryo as he put his fist into the wall, making a good size hole. Ryo kicked the wall away, and all of them bolted through and out of the tunnel. They ran for a good three blocks when they were suddenly surrounded.