"How long have they been gone?" asked an impatient Cye.
"About 3 hours. You need to stop worrying Cye, they'll be fine."
"I know Rowen, but I can't help but wonder why they've been gone for so long."
Just then the front door slammed. Ryo walked in with Sage following close behind.
"Thanks for not trusting me guys." he said with anger clearly presented in his voice.
"I tried to reason with him." Shrugged Sage.
"Well we need to have a team meeting. Meet me in the kitchen in ten minutes." He walked up the stairs to his room.
"Sage what is he talking bout?" asked Kento.
"I think Ryo should tell ya." he answered setting his orb on the kitchen table and then going to sit on the couch.
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"What's this bout Ryo?" asked Kento.
"We have to fight again. My dream is coming true. The lady within it is our new enemy."
"She attacked me and Ryo in the clearing. She even knew who we already were."
"What's her name? Why is she here? Why now?" asked Rowen.
"We don't know why she's here but we know that her name is Kishu of the Dream Realm. She said she needed the energy from the purest of dreams." Ryo answered flatly.
"And she said something about keys that she needs to complete her plan. I don't think she can beat us right now. Sure she's as strong as Talpa, maybe even stronger, but I don't think she has the power or the energy to defeat us." Sage said with his well known wisdom in his voice.
"Well whatever she wants here gives me a feeling we shouldn't go anywhere alone. I mean she could get us when we're not able to defend ourselves, like Talpa tried to do." said Cye.
"Then when we go somewhere we now have to go in pairs. It's settled."
"Tomorrow we start to train again." Ryo set down the remaining 2 orbs on the table. Their owners picked them up, and they all headed to bed.
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~*~The Next Morning~*~
"Rise and shine sleepy heads." yelled Sage as he tried to wake Kento and Cye. Cye awoke easily.
"Don't think he's gonna wake up that easily. This is how his mom used to do it." Cye then whipped off Kento's blanket, knocking him on the floor. He stirred then looked angrily at his awaker.
"You didn't have to do that. I heard Sage just fine."
Cye smiled. "At least you didn't have to wake up Rowen. If he still sleeps like he used to then Ryo's got his hands full." laughed Cye remembering the numerous times he had to awake Rowen with cold water being dumped on his head.
Ryo slowly opened the door to Rowen's room. ~Great! Here goes nothing.~ He peered into the room but to his surprise Rowen was already up.
"Rowen?!"
"Oh hi Ryo. I was just catching up on my studies."
"Well at least I don't have to wake you up. When did you started getting up early?"
"I've gotten up early for the past year. I was up at 4:30. No big deal."
"Well are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
They all met down stair and out the kitchen door.
"Time to fight." Ryo said while the others put on their subs. Everyone except Ryo. They all figured he already had his on under his clothes. "Alright. Sage you and Kento go at it, and Cye, Rowen and me will fight. Lets go two against one. See how much stronger I've gotten." he said with a grin.
They all started to fight. Ryo went against Rowen first and then Cye joined in the beating. They didn't even lay a punch one him. His speed was incredible faster than when they all battled Talpa. On the other hand, Sage and Kento were pulverizing each other. Kento hit Sage with a kick flip and Sage got him back with an underkick knocking him off balance. He fell to the ground and Sage pinned him there. Finally the pair stopped.
"I'm gonna go get some water."
"Alright Kento, I'll stay here and watch them." The trio battled for quite some time. Kento came back out and watched them fight. Ryo didn't even get a scratch on him. Rowen and Cye had gotten hit a couple of times by Ryo, but not much damage was done.
"What the...." Sage started as his eyes wandered upward and saw a golden, glittery mist forming a cloud above where the trio was fighting. "RYO, CYE, ROWEN!!!!!!!!! LOOK OUT!!!" he yelled as Kishu appeared above them.
"Great! ARMOR OF WILDFIRE DAO JIN!!!!!" he yelled putting on his armor. ~He's just now putting on his armor? I thought he already had it on!! Jeez Ryo's strong~ thought Cye.
The others followed Ryo's lead. "No you guys won't fight!! She's too strong for you. Stay back!!"
"No Ryo, we can't!! We won't let you do this!!!"
"Sage you will if you know what's good for you. Remember the vow all of you took."
"So Ryo, I didn't know you were so willing to die." she said with a laugh.
"Well obviously you don't know that I was the one that beat Talpa and the Dynasty do you. I am even stronger now. You will not hurt anyone on this planet!! FLARE UP NOW!!!!"
Kishu reached out her hand at the blast and turned the attack back at him with a huge energy blast. The flame hit Ryo and shot him back into a tree. He wasn't down for long. He returned fire again.
"FLARE UP NOW!!!!" This time she shot out an energy blast at the flare.
The two blasts hit each other canceling each other out but the energy from Kishu's attack increased. Sage and Cye jumped in and tried to help against Ryo's will. They shot energy beams at Kishu to try to lessen the attack aimed at Ryo.
"I told you to stay back!" he yelled. Still they continued to hit energy beams at Kishu. As they helped Kishu's attack weakened enough for Ryo to end the flare and get out of the path of the energy blast. He did so and jumped out of the way. He wasn't fast enough though and his sholder got hit by part of the beam.
"How dare you interfere." she said turning to the two "helpers" and hit them both with a ball of energy sending them flying into the stack of fire wood infront of the house.
"No! I won't let them get hurt! I'm the leader, I'm the strongest one here! I'm the only one that should get hurt!" he screamed. After his outburst Kishu attacked him head on with the sword from his dream. Ryo pulled out his swords and stopped the weapon targeted at his head. He retaliated and commenced in close range combat. The fight went on like this for about 10 minutes.
~I'm getting a strong energy reading. It's coming from one of them. But which one?~ thought Sage.
Then Ryo's armor started to change. As his armor changed the sky went dark. The only light was coming off of Ryo. The color of his armor deepened and deepened.
~What's going on~ the other four warriors thought simoteneously. They stared in awe as his armor turned completely black and a golden ball of light surrounded the warrior lifting him off the ground. Kishu was forced back from the energy and power coming from the blast.
"What's happening?!"
"I don't know Cye. I think it's his armor. It's getting more powerful."
Finally the light faded returning Ryo to the ground. He was no longer in his Wildfire Armor though. His armor was now black with yellow stars all over it. And he held two swords that were bonded at the handles.
"Ahh! My head!!" yelled Sage as his mind was overwhelmed with the energy this new armor gave off.
"Sage are you OK?" ask Kento as he knelt down next to him. He finally blacked out from the pain in Kento's arms. He set him down by the house.
"Could it be?! Yes it is." smiled Kishu as she formed the golden glittery mist behind her. "I will be back Ronins. And then you will pay. Hahahahahaha."
After she left Cye, Rowen and Kento just stared at Ryo. The armor began to fade and Ryo fell to the ground. Rowen ran to his side and to his surprise he was still awake.
"Ryo? What's wrong? Ryo stay with me. Talk to me, Ryo." he said
He stared off into the distance with no emotion shown in his eyes. "God stop this pain! Please get somebody to stop this pain!" he made out as he began shaking violently. "I can't move, it hurts to much." Rowen knew that Ryo could hold up under alot of pain, but he was being paralyzed from it. ~How could this be?~ he thought.
"We gotta get him inside." Rowen began to pick Ryo up when he gave out a yell.
"Ahhhh!!!! No!! Don't touch me!! Please!! Don't move me it hurts too much already!!!"
Sage who had been knocked out through all of this finally came to. The power from fighting the energy the armor gave off left him weak.
"What? Where's Kishu? What's going on?"
"Sage hurry!! Ryo needs you!!" Still confused Sage got up. Rowen helped him over to the others gathered around the fallen warrior.
"Sage... do you have enough energy to put him into subconsciousness or not?"
"Consider it done." He turned towards Ryo. "Ryo try to relax your mind as much as you can. This may feel a bit weird." He closed his eyes and their bodies turned a glowing green. Ryo's body slowly arose and went limp. When the process was finished his body fell to the ground and Sage passed out once more.
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Finally Ryo came to. His eyes slowly cleared and the pain set in.
"Thank God you're awake." came a concerned voice from the corner of the room. He turned and noticed it was Sage. "You've been asleep for a week now. We were getting pretty worried."
"I've really been like this for a week and I still have all of this pain."
"Yeah. Sorry man. What happened to you last week? It's like you found a new armor."
"I think I did. The ancient came to me in a dream while I was out of it and told me that my will is growing solid, but I must learn to harnest it. I don't know what it means, but I know it has something to do with that new armor."
"Man did you see Kishu's eyes when she saw it. They flew out of the sockets." he laughed. "I better go tell the others that you woke up."
"Oh Sage.......thanks." "No problem buddy. Now you stay in bed and rest." Sage then left the room.
~Like I'm gonna stay up here all day. Yeah right.~ Ryo then sat up. ~Oh my head. I hate new armors. I thought that I would never get one of these terrible headaches again.~ He went down stairs to find the guys coming up to greet him.
"Get back in bed!"
"Not so loud Cye. I've got one of those headaches. You know the ones I used to get when I got the Inferno." he held his head in pain. "And like I'm gonna stay upstairs. As soon as I get my strength back we spar. I need to get into shape or else I'll die the next time I wear that armor."
"You mean IF there's a next time."
"No Kento, I mean the next time. I'm gonna wear it again. I don't know how I got it, but I'm gonna figure out what triggered the transformation if it kills me."
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"Finally I found the Armor of Unity. But how did that puny boy get it. Well now that I found it and found the Ronins I can put my second plan into action."
A small boy came into the master chamber where Kishu sat upon her throne watching a crystal. "Master Kishu the two travelers are moving towards the city. Should we attack?"
"No. I have no concern for them at the moment. Let them go for the time being. We have bigger things to accomplish. I want you to watch the Ronins. Attack them when they don't expect you. I want you to bring me the ones they call Rowen and Ryo unharmed. It is now time to put my second plan into action."
Chapter 4
Chapter 6
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