By midday the following day, the eight companions had set out towards downtown Toyama. What they may find there, they did not know. The buildings grew taller around them as the group marched onwards. Soon enough, they could barely see the clouded sky through the skyscrapers.
Cye's gaze ran through every street they passed, not sure on what direction they were heading in. He turned to Kento, who was walking besides him, and noticed he was quite fidgety. "What's wrong Kento? Bored?" he teased.
“This is so friggin BORING. Tell me, why did we decide to WALK downtown?" Kento said to no one in particular.
Ryo was about to tell Kento to keep his trap shut, but Sage interjected. "We've got a better chance on foot. If we brought the van, there's no way we could get through the streets," he said while pointing to the empty cars around them, still stationed in traffic when their owners vanished.
Amariie and Rain walked in the rear with White Blaze by order of Ryo. He wanted him and the others to walk in front just in case they strolled right into a mess load of soldiers.
Amariie flipped her long hair over her shoulder and huffed. "Bleh. All this walking is doing a number on my feet. I probably have a blister now."
Rain snorted with amusement. "Whiner."
Amariie whipped her head around and glared daggers at her friend. "What?!"
"Nothing," Rain said quickly while staring off into the distance, not wanting to get into a fight at the moment. Her mind was stuck on the look Anubis gave her the day before. It was full of some emotion. Disbelief that Rowen hit him? Confusion? Or maybe hope?
Rain was pulled back to reality by Rowen's voice. "Why aren't there any soldiers out here?"
Sage nodded, agreeing. "I know. It's like they don't care we're here. What if Talpa’s organizing them to attack?”
Rowen glanced at Sage then at the top of a tall building. "Maybe. We can probably see something from up there. If there are any trashcans around.”
Kento stopped and put his hands on his hips. "As long as we use the frickin' elevator, then I'm alright with that."
Ryo rolled his eyes and made his way inside the building. Amariie and Rain followed suit but he grabbed Rain's arm. "You two stay down here with White Blaze," he said firmly, having a feeling that him and the guys would need some privacy. Amariie crossed her arms. "Like hell we are."
"Amariie..." said Rain softly. "We can stay here with White Blaze. The boys need to talk."
Ryo gave her a look of appreciation, then followed the remaining four towards the elevator.

Reaching the roof, Kento walked out towards the edge and looked over. "Hey, There's Rain! I wonder if I can spit on her from here!"
Ryo gave him a stern look and began looking around for any signs of soldiers.
It didn't take the skittles boys long to find something. Sticking out like an elderly, wrinkly lady on the cover of Playboy, was a monstrous, Japanese style, red gate standing about a mile away. It was much taller than any buildings around. They then realized that there were more gates making a circular formation around the downtown area of the city.
Cye's eyes grew wide at the sight of them. "What’d you think they're guarding?"
Sage leaned forward and gripped the ledge. There was a circular shadow covering downtown. He raised his eyes and gasped. "Um...guys...look up."
The other four immediately gazed towards the sky and what they saw scared the piss out of them (no, not literally. Although how could they in their armor? Is there like an automatic flusher inside?). Floating above the clouds was a very large, very dark castle. They couldn't see it while on the ground from the blockage of the large grey thought-to-be rain clouds.
"That's an eye opener," Kento whispered in amazement.
Ryo began towards the elevator. "Come on, let's go to that gate."
"Wait, Ryo," began a worried Sage. "What about the girls? We can't take them inside."
Cye detached his eyes from the castle. "They'll get killed."
"And they're a liability to us. We have to focus on defeating Talpa, not protecting them all the time," finished Sage.
Ryo lowered his head. "We can't take them with us and we can't leave them here alone. We'll leave Blaze here to watch them."
Kento laughed. "Amariie and Rain won't like this one bit."
Sage scoffed. "This is serious, Kento! This whole thing is serious! Who knows if how long we’ll be gone. Leaving them here is like telling them that we’re going to finish this entire thing on our own and we don’t need them," he said quickly, then made his way down the building.

Rain leaned against a light post while Amariie was checking her feet for blisters. White Blaze, who was lying down, lifted his head when Ryo came walking out of the building. Rain smiled at him, but he did not return it.
"Let's go," he said shortly.
Thirty minutes later, and after explaining the gates to the girls, they reached the large red doorway. Amariie looked straight up to examine the gates, occasionally loosing her balance while Ryo stood in front of it, gazing into the darkened downtown area with a sour look on his face. The other Ronins stood, waiting for Ryo to break it to their girls that they couldn't join them anymore. They didn't know if they'd even return or if Rain and Amariie would be safe while the war took place.
Rain took a side glance at a silent Ryo. "Ryo?" she began.
He looked up at her and tried to smile but failed miserably. "We need to go in."
"So we're going to finally make our way into Talpa's castle," she sighed, wondering how long they've been waiting for this moment.
"Not we," Ryo said quietly. He hated telling people bad news, especially now.
Rain raised an eyebrow and Amariie joined her side. "What do you mean?" she asked, but secretly knowing what he meant.
"Um..you and Amariie are to stay here...with White Blaze. The guys and I will continue into Talpa's castle and defeat him."
Amariie blinked, confused. "You mean you're ditching us?"
Sage entered in. "We're not dit-"
"And you're going to finish this whole thing without US?" she said, her anger beginning to rise. "Is that it?!"
Ryo tried to keep his calm, but he could feel it slipping. "We have no other choice. If you two come with us, then we have to worry about protecting you when we should be--"
"You did NOT just say that," the blonde said loudly. "You did not just tell us that we are fucking extra BAGGAGE."
Rain watched the scene unfold before her eyes, trying not to get angry herself.
"We are not going to SIT here on our ASSES and WAIT for you to COME back days maybe WEEKS later, if you COME BACK AT ALL!!"
Rowen was taken aback by Amariie's yelling spree. "Amarii-"
"Let me finish, Rowen," she said quickly but not bothering to look at him. Her eyes were fixed on Ryo. "You all could DIE out there! If you do then we're SCREWED back here! I don't care what you say, Flambe' Boy, but I am going with yo-"
:SMACK:
Rain widened her eyes. Rowen's face grew red. Kento, Cye, and Sage gasped simultaneously. Amariie was on the ground, holding a light red cheek. Ryo stared at the ground.
Rain growled once she realized what he did. "Why the FUCK did you do that, Ryo? HUH? Why did you feel the need to hit her?" she said deadly as she walked up to him and shoved him in the chest. "Well?" She stole a quick glance to Amariie. "Amariie, you ok?"
She laid there, silently. Her eyes began to fill with tears. With one quick look to Rowen, as if wanting him to do something, she stood up and ran off into the darkness.
Rain turned her sharp eyes to Ryo, who was still looking at the ground, obviously ashamed of what he did. "Look at me, Ryo." His blue eyes met hers.
:SMACK:
Ryo fell backwards into Cye's arms, his left cheek bleeding. Rain kept her eyes on his as she clenched her white fists. "Don't you EVER do that again."
Kento growled loudly and charged Rain, smacking her in the face, hard. She barely flinched as she felt the hot pain along her nose. Sage's face turned to anger and he smacked Kento hard in the back of the head. Kento whipped around and shoved Sage into Rowen. Cye then gave Kento a good whap on his back and had to duck when Kento tried to retaliate.
Rowen, who’s quiet rage was about to erupt, yelled, "GUYS! We have a duty to do here! Stop this!"
Immediately, the fighting stopped. Rain still stared at Ryo.
"You have lost my respect," she said lowly, then turned and walked away to find Amariie.
Ryo watched her back until he couldn't see her anymore. He was pushed sharply to the side as Rowen walked swiftly towards the gate, not bothering to saying anything to Ryo. The black haired man ran his metal fingers through his hair and sighed. "Come on, we have to go now."
Sage, now calmed down some and out of character said nervously, "Will we ever see them again?"
Ryo turned around to face them and put a hand on Sage's shoulder. After a moment’s pause, he said, "Don't worry, I'm sure we will. Besides, nothing can hold them back long." Ryo turned to White Blaze, who was standing obediently out of the way. "Go on, boy."
With a quick, loving look to his friends, White Blaze bounded off into the alleys to find Rain and Amariie.
Then the five brothers walked into the shadowland with not much to fight for in their hearts.

Amariie just kept running, hot tears flooding out of her eyes. It didn't even hurt that much, but the fact that he actually HIT her hurt. 'We're supposed to be comrades. I thought we were anyways... ' she thought miserably, finally flinging herself on the ground to finish bawling.
It was then Rain and White Blaze came upon their friend. "'Ariie, you ok?" she asked softly, kneeling down.
Her crying dwindled down to ragged breathing and the occasional sniffle. "Rain... I thought we were a team. But, we were useless, we just got in their way," she whimpered, keeping her eyes downcast. "We weren't any help at all."
White Blaze nudged the small blonde's shoulder is disagreement. Rain pondered upon her words. 'Is she right? Are we out of our league?' Placing a hand on her shoulder, she began, "Amariie..."
Amariie stood up with a defiant look in her eyes. "We should just go home, Rainey."

Standing high above the two young women, an ageless man looked down, slight frown hidden beneath his spacious head-gear. 'They must let go of these doubts. It's the only way to beat Talpa... and save the Ronin Warriors...'

Rain was speechless. Was she really considering this? 'No, Amariie was wrong. She had to be!' She gave Amariie a glare and retorted," We're not going anywhere! I don't give a shit what that red-bikini wearing sissy says, they need us and by-god we are NOT gonna be shoved aside like last-year's boy band! If we leave all that was green and good in this world will be gone! There won't BE a shire, Pippin!"
":ahem: wrong movie..."
"oh...:throws away script in hand and pulls out another: anyways...your line."
Amariie backed off, "Whoa, have you been taking estrogen pills?"
Rain snarled and grabbed her by the elbow, dragging her back to where she so unelegantly fled prior to this event. White Blaze, of he had lips, would have smiled, but since he doesn't, one did for him.
Rain and Amariie stormed through the streets, jaws set, when something whizzed by there heads, neatly sniping off a few loose strands of hair from each, and landed smack dab in the middle of the street. It was that staff! Amariie snatched it up and danced around. "I'm gonna be the hero-girl now! Ye-ah!"
With a light struggle, Rain pryed the golden rod from the blonde's fingers and was seriously contemplating giving her a good stiff whack with it. "This *she pointed to herself* Rain. This *she pointed to the staff* not to be played with. This *she raised her palm* smack on head."
And did so.
"OOhhhh!!! I wanna play..." our pink-clad female whimpered, trailing behind Rain.

"Don't worry Ryo, it'll be better off this way," Cye attempted to make his voice sound cheery, but failed horribly.
Ryo kept his eyes ahead and a sad yet determined look etched on his face. The five boys journeyed deeper into the city, dark mists thickening around them. Suddenly, an all-to-familiar laugh floated through the streets. Not feeling like messing around, the boys automatically got into their transformation positions.
"ARMOUR OF HARDROCK!"
"..STRATA!"
"..TORRENT!"
"..HALO!"
"..WILDFIRE!"
The echoes of their voices died down, and much to their surprise, they found themselves staring at sub-armoured palms.
"What the f-" Kento gasped, only to be cut off by more laughter.
"What's wrong Ronins? Too scared to fight this time?"
Dais. That shithead.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!" Ryo bellowed, feeling the full forced of unbridled rage seeping into his limbs.
The spider-lord dove down from an aloft position to greet the five livid faces. "I did nothing. It's what I'm going to do that you should fear!"
A loud, high-pitched whistling noise erupted through the air. The boys shot their heads to the sky, hands over their ears, and saw what appeared to be a large dome towering over them. Wind came from nowhere yet everywhere all at once. Quickly dashing across the dome were figures holding musical instruments. The horrid tunes resembled old Japanese funeral music. Then again, no one probably cares.
Kento was now officially pissed. "What the hell, spidey?! Too afraid to take us on with our armors, EH?!"
Dais smiled as his opponent's brashness. "It would be stupid of me to allow you to access your armors so freely. Badamon's little friends will make sure of that."
Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Badamon? What, is that a pokemon or someth--"
Yet the leader was cut off by an increase in loudness from the winds, apparently the source of their armor’s power being shut down. Breaths of dark air began encircling the troop, causing their vision to become blocked. Ryo tried to feel around for his friends, his eyes no longer useful in the clouded mist. His hand felt armor and tried to grab hold of it, but a small 'yelp' was heard and the owner of the armor was gone. Ryo frantically felt for the others, but one by one, each vanished into thin air once he would find one. A gleeful laughter sounded when Ryo realized he was the only one left.
"Dais, you girly-man! Why don't you come out and face me?" Ryo yelled into nothingness.
The purr of the warlord's voice echoed through Ryo's ears. "Fine then. Here I AM!"
Without any given warning, Ryo's arms were tied to his side and he began flying straight upwards into the air. He landed with a bouncy yet tight feeling. Opening his eyes, he realized he was now probably a hundred feet in the air, suspended in a web like a moth.
"What the FRUIT?! Dais you FLUFFER! I oughta shove a banana in your eye!" Ryo yelled.
Kento, who hung upside down nearby, mentioned to Ryo, "Um Ryo, this isn't Cartoon Network. You can cuss on here."
Ryo blinked. "Oh. Well then. WHATTHEFUCKDAISYOUFUCKER!"
Feeling the need to visit his friend, Dais lowered himself next to an POed Ryo. "What were you saying about a banana?" he said, hiding his laughter.
"I oughta rape you with a CACTUS," Ryo said threateningly.
Dais pretend winced. "Ooo that would suck."

Rain jogged towards the red gate, conveniently opened by Kento. Amariie followed behind her with White Blaze, out of breath from the nice jog.
The silver haired gripped the staff as she suddenly felt dizzy. Looking straight to the top of a building nearby as if in a trance, she saw a small figure staring at her. 'Use the staff's power, Rain.'
'Who are you?' Rain questioned in her head.
'You will see in time. Check ya later.' Then the voice vanished.
Rain was shaken out of her trance by Amariie. "Dude, we kinda gotta hurry. If you would direct your eyes thataway, you will see our dummy little friends in a bind...literally..."
Rain blinked and looked towards what Amariie was pointing at. There was a rather large spider web strung out between several buildings, and six small dots positioned around it. "Oh good god, not him again," Rain groaned.
Amariie smirked. "Let's go kick his ass."
"K."
The three made their way over to the gate and Amariie stepped through, then well she was attacked by a huge gust of wind, and fell ungracefully on her bum. Rain muffled laughter when she saw Amariie's goddess-like hair all around her in matts.
Amariie growled. "That is SO not funny, Rain! That hurt! OH DEAR GOD MY HAIR!" she screamed as she felt her locks.
Rain rolled her eyes. "Too bad we don't have your 32 different hair products here."
:WHACK:
The blonde stood all too happy as Rain clenched her head, a nice bump forming on it from Amariie's ultimate attack weapon: her purse.
"What the hell do you have in there?! A WALRUS?!"
Amariie blinked innocently. "Just makeup."
After a few minutes of recovering, Rain held up the staff and lead the way through the gate. The staff blocked all the winds from the three as they jogged towards the massive web.
Dais had detached Ryo from the web and was now playing yo-yo with him--Ryo being the yo-yo. Dais hummed happily as he did the Walk the Ryo trick. Movement to his left caught his attention. Spinning around, he frowned when he saw the two girls and White Blaze.
"So decided to join us then?" he asked fluidly.
Ryo lifted his pounding head. "AMARIIE! RAIN! GET OUT OF HERE!" he screamed desperately.
Dais left Ryo in his nice impression in the cement and began walking towards the girls menacingly. White Blaze trotted off without being seen towards the large web. Grabbing it with his teeth, he began chewing away the strings of the web.
Rain shifted her grip on the staff and stationed herself in an attack stance. Dais laughed with amusement at the sight of this weak girl threatening HIM of all people. Sure he could imagine her doing it to Cale or Anubis, but not him. He was just too perfect and strong for that. Dais suddenly ran towards her, attempting to break her neck. Amariie threw herself back as Dais approached quickly.
:THWHACK:
Dais gripped his cheek before he knew what happened. Rain was now the one smiling after she delivered a nice smack to pretty boy's head.
"Ye gods, girl! Watch the face!" Dais yelled sulkingly.
While he was down, she pulled the bottom of the staff to connect with Daisy's crotch. He whimpered slightly and fell to the ground. He could already hear the hysterical laughter from the guys and Talpa. Amariie grinned widely as her and Rain ran over to Ryo.
Rain leaned on the staff as she leaned over him. "Yo Ryo. Get up."
Ryo gave her a weird look and then promptly passed out as he always does from getting his ass kicked EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Dais tried to stand up, but everything below his waist hurt like the dickens. So he settled on taking a nunchuku and throwing it at the evil girl who nearly destroyed his manhood and any hope for future children.
As it was in mid-air, Amariie whirled around and hit the deck, yelling for Rain to do the same. Yet Rain spun around and held up the staff in reflex. The in-air weapon stopped in the air and disintegrated. A powerful yellow light began radiating from the staff. Dais suddenly recognized what it was and began praying for his life. The light seeped into everything around it for a brief second, then grew dull.
The loud whistling noises were completely gone and Amariie saw a few scattered spirits in the air flying for the life. The winded dome was now gone. White Blaze, who had a knack for timing, had chewed through the last strands of the web, causing the four warriors to drop down.
Taking a gander around, Rowen yelled, "WOOT! We can call our armor!"
Being way to happy for their own good, they called their armor without any interruption.
A grin spread across a resurrected Ryo's lips as the last flowered toilet paper strand fluttered out of existence. "Hey cheese-dick, it's PAYBACK TIME! FLARE UP NOW!"
Dais' eye widened to unnatural proportion as a red wave of flame connected with what was left of his body. Big ouchie.

"..and then I racked that suck-ah in the nuts and freed you all," Rain ended proudly, retelling their epic tale while the five flavours listened.
Ryo lowered his head, once again, in guilt. "I'm sorry I said that," he turned to Amariie, who was frantically brushing out the nether spirit-induced tangles, "and I'm reeeeally sorry for hitting you..."
She shrugged. "Meh, it's all good. Besides, you slap like a girl."
"WHAT?!?!"
"Kidding!"
Sage chuckled and nudged his hot-headed friend. Ryo blushed. Amariie caught Sage's glance and smirked.
"Now, now Ryo, you've apologized to me, now its time for Rainey. Kiss and make up," her grin spread further as began to make kissy noises.
Ryo's face matched his armour and Rain sent a death glare to Amariie.
"DIE BITCH!" she hollered and took off after her, prepared to batter her with the staff.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkk!"