Chapter Twenty-One: Farewell, My Friends. Will We Meet Again?

     Sage ran over and followed Ryo's voice. He found Ryo in his Wildfire Armor, desperately giving CPR to me, who was lying on the ground unconscious. Sage went to one knee and was filled in by Ryo as the others caught up. I was in my sub armor and lying on my back. Sage laid his sword on the ground and placed his hands above my body. They started glowing green and the glow spread over my body. It seeped into me, curing me inside and out. Everyone watched in fascination as the green light traced my scar on my face and erased it. Starlight trotted over and nudged her master. She neighed softly. White Blaze walked over and laid down by his master. Everyone jumped into the air in surprise as I meekly said,

     "Did we trash him?"

    "You bet, sis," said Ryo sympathetically.

     "Whoa, back up there, a second pal. Did you say sis?" asked Kento.

     "Yep," said Ryo.

     "You tell him, bro," I said as I smiled weakly with a happy look into it. I then saw that everyone was staring at me. I quickly covered my face.

    "What are you doing, Crystal?" asked Amy.

    "Can't you see it? It's huge!" I said, sitting up.

    "See what?" said Selene.

    "You can't see it?"

     "Are you seeing things Crystal?" asked Rose as she tried to keep a straight face. I brought my hands down from my face and looked at them. I stopped at Ryo. He pointed at Sage before he exploded with laughter. I looked at Sage. He held his sword out for me to see my reflection. I looked in it and saw my old self. I then realized what happened. I was torn between being extremely happy and angry. By now, everyone had powered down to their sub armor. I turned with fire blazing in my eyes.

    "Ryo, you better run," advised Sage and Rowen. Ryo turned to run, but was slammed to the ground by me.

    "What's wrong, Ryo? You can take down Talpa, but not your little sister. Pathetic," I said jokingly. He just tackled me back. After a few minutes of wrestling, I turned my attention to Sage. His one visible eye held mischief in it. I started to chase him.

    "Come back here, Halo! How dare you fix my face without telling me!" I shouted after him, my voice getting softer as I ran farther away.

    "She'll never learn," said Kayura.

    "I think Sage will never learn," said Dais. Kale and Sekhmet agreed. Kayura slammed her staff into the ground. Instantly, Sage and I appeared in midair and fell to the ground.

    "I almost had him," I said.

    "Now is not the time for games. Ronins, you must go back to your own time, back to 1999," said Kayura. The boys sighed unhappily as a portal opened up. They each walked through without looking back. What was the point, they wouldn't remember them anyway. After they had left, a sad, loneliness was felt.

    "Don't feel so bad, girls. You are going back as well." We all looked up with surprise.

    "You all are really from 1999, and were, one way or another, transported here. I'm going to send you all home."

    "Kayura, but if that happens, I'll lose my only family," I said with sadness.

    "Please, she's not that mean," said Kale.

     "Hope not," said Sekhmet. Dais snickered. Kayura looked at them and sighed.

     "You'll understand once you get there. But for clothes, I think I help there, so you'll fit in," said Kayura. She held the staff in front of her and the rings began to chime. Our sub armor disappeared. In its place, we all had on blue jeans and sneakers. Amy had on a dark blue long sleeve shirt and her white hair was completely down, pushed out of her eyes with dark blue clips. Lita had on a red tank and her jet black hair was in a half ponytail. Selene wore a light-blue sweater set. Her golden blond hair was in a French braid. Rose had on an orange leotard on, with the jeans for pants and a transparent orange short sleeve jacket. Her brown hair was back in a ponytail. I had on a purple tank with a grey sweatshirt jacket. My black hair was pulled back into a braid that traveled down to my mid back.

    "Thanks," we all said. In our pockets, we felt our kanji balls' reassuring presence. Kayura moved to the side. Everyone went through. I lingered behind and asked,

    "What about you?"

    "We'll stay here and protect this world. You don't need us and neither do the guys. You're seniors in high school now, you know."

     "Oh. What about the guys? Do they have a place to stay? Do we?" Kayura answered solemnly,

     "They did stay with a girl named Mia and a little boy named Yuli, but the day before we put ourselves in suspended animation, they were in a car crash and died instantly. As to where to stay, there is a large house, on the hill about a mile from the school. That's where you'll stay and invite the guys. It's big enough. Comes with a stable for Starlight and White Blaze." Kayura winked and I walked through the portal.

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     We stood and waited as five boys approached us. I told Starlight to hush and to stop prancing as the boys stopped. A tiger growled from amidst them. All of them wore black pants and white tee shirts. Over their shirts were long-sleeve, button-down, collar shirts. One wore red, another light blue, another dark blue, one was dressed in orange, and the last in green. Finally, they wore class jackets. The jackets were beige with a letter on the front in the color of the button-down, collar shirts they were wearing. The letters were R, S, S, R, and K. On the right shoulder of each boy was a number between one and five. I stepped foreword and asked them,

    "Excuse me. Do you boys go to Han'a High?"

    "Who wants to know?" asked the boy in red.

     "I'll take that as a yes."

    "So, what do you want?"

    "Well, first, we'll introduce ourselves."

    "I'm Amy Marné."

     "I'm Lita Robinson."

    "I'm Selene Redfern."

    "I'm Rose Cunningham."

     "I'm Crystal Kiel. You?"

    "I'm Kento Rei Fuan."

    "I'm Sai Mouri."

     "I'm Rowen Hashiba."

    "I'm Sage Date."

    "I'm Ryo Sanada. Now that we know each other, what do you want?"

     "I was just looking for my brother and I found him," I said.