"Come on, we have to get out of here." Rowen said as he was looking around at the destroyed room. "Who knows what's going to happen when Tento comes back with Maguyser."

"What?! Rowen, there's no way that I'm going to leave Kaye here in her condition!" Kento bellowed out angrily.

"Kento, we don't have a choice. We have to go." Sage replied as he glanced over to him.

"No! I said that I'm not going to leave her!" Kento shot back.

"Kento..." Cye replied as he put a supporting hand onto his shoulder. "None of us are exactly thrilled about leaving Kaye here either. But we have to regroup and figure things out. Besides, the only one that knows how to get Kaye back is Maguyser, and we know that he's not going to even consider doing it."

Kento growled angrily, and then yelled, "Damn it!" Cye pulled his hand back, in case he's forced forward from Kento's momentum.

Kento slowly walked over to Kaye. He lifted his hand and caressed her cheek. "We'll be together again. I'll find a way, I promise." he said as he had one final look and then took off with the others.

"Kento..." Ryo said as they were heading back to the hidden room where Reann showed them the first time.

"Just leave me alone, Ryo," Kento replied in a quiet anger. Ryo and Sage glanced over at each other. They all knew how hard it was for him to leave her behind like that, but unfortunately, it was the only option that they had. As soon as they got back, Ryo laid Katie down onto a couch, and Reann onto the other one that was across from it.

Kento kept himself away from the others; he didn't want anyone to talk to him at all. "Since Ryo and Sage have their armors back, and that we have possibly two more on our side, then I would say that we have a better chance of winning," Rowen said as he analyzed the situation.

"That may be true, Rowen, but we need a plan first before we do anything else," Sage replied as he was healing Katie and Reann.

Cye looked over to Kento, he hated seeing his best friend being so torn up inside. He wanted to go over to him and tell him that everything will be alright. That everything will work out, but deep down, Cye wasn't even sure about it himself. 'Come on, get it together. Your kanji is trust, you can't lose faith now or it's all over,' Cye thought as he scolded himself.

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

Inside of Kaye's mind..."Dream Walker, why don't you stop fighting? You know that it's useless to continue." Maguyser taunted.

"I'll never stop fighting...My friends..." Kaye replied.

"Your friends have deserted you." Maguyser said as he cut her off.

"No! They haven't, they wouldn't!" Kaye replied angrily.

"But they did, why do you think that you're still here with me? Even your love has abandoned you. They knew that it was hopeless to get you back, so now you're with me forever." Maguyser taunted with a laugh.

"No! Kento would never..." Kaye shot back.

"If he didn't abandon you, then why are you still here?" Maguyser asked. "Well..?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

Kaye looked up toward him with a glare and a glint of strong determination in her eyes. "He'll come for me, and so will the others. You'll see."

"How do you know this for sure? How do you know that they won't just give up and go back without you?" Maguyser taunted.

"Because, deep down I know that they won't give up on me, and they know that I won't ever give up on them," Kaye replied unwavering, as her kanji of determination flared up, making Maguyser fall back from her a bit.

"Believe in what you will, but know this, in the end it will make no difference!" Maguyser seethed as he vanished, leaving Kaye alone to continue with the endless dream of tortures.

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

In Katie's dream..."Hello, Katie of the Crystal, welcome back. We've missed you," a voice said. Katie whirled around to see who was talking to her.

"Elders!" Katie replied in a happy voice. "It's good to be back."

"Unfortunately, this is a short visit. We're here to inform you that if you and the others don't hurry to set free the Dream Walker from her endless dream of tortures, then Maguyser would win, and pitch the entire world into an endless darkness," the first elder warned.

"But how? I thought that only Maguyser knew how to break his hold over Kaye. Is there another way that you're not telling me?" Katie asked.

The Elders looked around at each other. "Yes there is another way, but it involves you, your brother and a new armor that the two of you shall share," the second elder replied.

"What do you mean...A new armor?" Katie asked in curiosity.

"It's called the Armor of the Phoenix. It's very powerful, but only two people that are of blood relation can use it," the third elder replied.

"That explains why you said that it involves me and Ryo," Katie said as she was starting to understand.

"Yes, but it will only respond if the two of you work together, otherwise..." the first elder replied.

"Otherwise...Otherwise what?" Katie asked as she was starting to get annoyed.

"Otherwise, the armor will disappear and be rendered useless, and further more, if you two don't, then there's the possibility that the Dream Walker will never be freed," the second elder replied.

“No, I won’t allow that to happen!” Katie said angrily.

“We thought that you would say something like that,” the third elder replied. “Here, take this, it’s the orb to the Phoenix armor.” The orb floated down in front of Katie, she grabbed it and then looked towards the Elders.

“Good luck, Katie of the Crystal,” the first elder said as they vanished from her dream.

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

“Come on, Katie, wake up already,” Ryo said as he was squeezing her hand. Just as he said that, Katie’s eyes shot open. “Katie?”

“Ryo?” Katie asked with a frown as she finally sat up.

“Katie, are you all right? You had us worried sick!” Sage asked as he hurried over to the couch.

“I’m all right,” Katie replied as she looked over towards her closed hand. Katie slowly opened it and there inside was the orb to the Phoenix armor.

“What is that?” Sage asked as he got everyone’s attention.

“I guess that it wasn’t only a dream,” Katie replied quietly.

“What are you talking about?” Cye asked in slight confusion.

“This, the Elders came to me in my dream and told me about this. It’s the orb to the Phoenix armor,” Katie replied as she was showing them.

“Whoa, whoa wait a minute there’s another armor?” Rowen asked with a frown.

“Seems like it, but I don’t see why we should be surprised.” Sage replied as he sat down next to her.

“What did the Elders say, Katie?” Cye asked as he decided to get the ball rolling. Katie took a deep breath and started to explain everything that took place in her dream.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?!” Ryo asked as he looked over to his sister.

“I’m not, Ryo, if we don’t pull together, the armor won’t work, Maguyser will pitch the world into total darkness forever, and Kaye won’t ever be freed. So what do you say, Ryo, are you willing to give it a shot?” Katie explained as she looked over towards her brother.

Ryo looked around at everyone, and then his sights landed onto Kento. He could see the pleading look in Kento’s eyes. Then he looked back towards Katie. “Yeah, I’m in.” Ryo replied as he stood up, walked over to Kento, and placed a reassuring hand onto his shoulder. “Don’t worry Kento, we’ll get Kaye back. Trust me.”

Kento gave a small relieved smile. “I do trust you, Ryo.”

“Well it’s about time that we got some news. I was starting to get bored just laying here.” Reann said as she stood up. “What? Don’t look so surprised. I want to kick Maguyser’s sorry ass just as much as the rest of you. So then what are we waiting for, an invitation?”

Tento scrambled into the throne room where he found Maguyser sitting happily upon his throne. Talking out loud to himself about what he was going to do when the world was finally his. He looked up at Tento when he noticed him standing in the doorway, breathing heavily and looking like he had just been in a very bad dog fight. "What happened? Where is my warrior?" he queried him, his voice rising in agitation.

"She's," Tento wheezed out, "back with the Ronins, my Lord."

Maguyser curled his fists into tight balls and his eyes glowed red. Now he was beyond the point of being mad, he was just enraged. Everything he had worked so hard to obtain was now threatened of being destroyed. He had lost his best warrior again to them and to make matters worse --- Reann had joined the Ronins side as well. "How did you let this happen?!" he yelled in

outrage at him.

Tento winced at his voice, backing down slightly from him. "Master, there was nothing I could have done. They did something, somehow she got her armor orb back. There was nothing I could do." He desperately tried to excuse his mishaps.

Maguyser laughed bitterly to himself. "Those Elders, when will they ever learn to stop meddling?" He growled out, "I should have known they wouldn't sit back and let me just take her and win."

"We can still win," Tento spoke up suddenly. "She's weakened greatly, I mean when she had been released she fainted on the spot and those Ronins will be no problem to take care of."

Maguyser looked at Tento with nothing short of curiosity at his words. "Yes, it would make sense that she would be and you're right, the Ronins will be no problem, but they have that traitor Reann now," he replied.

"But we have someone they want."

Maguyser smiled brightly at his words. He was right, they still had the Dream Walker and as long as they had her they still held the upper hand. None of them would take the chance on hurting her and without a mind reading ability they couldn't free her. Well, almost none of them. He thought

bitterly. Katie had the mind reading ability that was needed to break his hold on Kaye, but with her significantly weakened at the moment she should be no threat. "Are they still here?" he asked.

Tento nodded slowly, afraid that he might enrage him. "Yes, they are. They had to regroup and rest up," He responded slowly.

Maguyser smiled as the beginnings of an evil plot started to unfold in his mind. What do I really have to fear from those fools? They don't even stand a chance against me with the way things are going for them. So what if they have got her back again. She's of no help to them now. As for Reann, he laughed to himself, traitors always get their fair pay back in the end.

"Regroup and rest did they? Well let them rest and then come," He drawled out, setting back upon his throne with a sinister smile.

"Let them come?" Tento repeated as if he hadn't heard him right.

"Yes, let the poor fools come. They can't stop me." Maguyser answered, "All they'll be doing is saving me the trouble of having to find them."

"But sir, are you sure that is a smart idea?"

"Are you questioning me, Tento?" His eyes glowed red and Tento backed down, lowering his head in shame. "Make sure that they don't get any where near that Dream Walker. In fact, bring here so that we can make sure they don't get to her."

"Yes, my Lord." Tento replied, turning to follow out his orders.

________________________________________________________________________

Katie walked away from the others over to a quiet area of the room they were in. Her mind was racing with all the things she had done or been doing over the past month. She sighed with nothing less than disgust at herself for being so weak as to let Maguyser use her like that again. To think that she had become his little puppet again and almost killed the very people she

loved and swore to protect made her sick to her stomach. How could I have ever brought myself to call him master again? She physically shuddered at the thought.

A soft hand gently touched her shoulder, startling her from her thoughts. Turning around to see who had brought her back to reality she smiled when she saw who it was.

Sage stood in front of her in his sub-armor, seeming to have been frowning slightly at her. "Are you ok?" he asked her gently.

She nodded her head with a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking," she replied.

Sage smiled softly at her, glad to have her back and know that she was ok. "You had me really worried about you, you know that?" he said in slight joking, bringing her into his embrace.

She sighed softly and wrapped her arms around his middle. It was strange to hug him while he was in sub-armor. "I know, and I'm sorry. I never meant to cause you or Ryo any kind of stress."

Sage chuckled humorously at her, lifting her chin so that he could look at her. "Don't apologize to me, you have no reason to," he said to her calmly.

"I know," she replied quietly, "but I can't help but feel horrible about what all you two went through."

"I'm not going to lie to you and say that I wasn't worried, because I was. But," he said, looking directly into her eyes, "I was more worried that I was never going to see you again. More worried that I would never get another chance to hold you in my arms. I was afraid that I had lost you."

Katie smiled softly at him, lovingly smoothing his hair from his face. "Mi amor, you will never lose me. No matter what happens I will always find my way back to you. Nothing or anyone will ever come between us," she said quietly to him, her eyes never leaving his.

Sage smiled, gently taking her face in-between his hands and kissed her softly. "I know," he replied in hushed tones, "but just like you can't help but feel sorry about what Ryo and me went through, I can't help but feel like I almost lost you forever."

She looked up at him through her eye lashes, and at that moment nothing else in the world mattered but him and that moment. She didn't care if Maguyser himself came through the door and declared war on all of them. For a month she had been away from him and now all she wanted to do was have him hold her close and tell her everything was going to be alright. But in reality everything wasn't ok and no matter how many times he told her that, it would

never be. Kaye was still missing and in danger ---not to mention that Maguyser was still alive and roaming. Now that she was free she had the added pressure of killing Maguyser once and for all and saving Kaye.

But how she was going to do all that she had no clue. She knew that Ryo and she had to somehow get this new armor to work ---but how were they going to do that? On top of all that she was still spinning from the loss of power she had suffered. Not being up to speed, like she usually was, could prove to be potentially deadly. What if she didn't have enough strength to call upon the new armor with Ryo? What if she couldn't stop Maguyser? No, I have to stop thinking negative. Positive thoughts here, Katie, positive thoughts. "Quierdo," she softly spoke to him, placing a soft hand on his cheek. "You'll never really lose me because I'll always be right here," she said and softly touched his sub-armor where his heart would be. "Always and

forever."

Sage smiled lovingly at her and gathered her into his arms. Kissing her lingeringly as he held her tight. Afraid that if he let her go he might lose her again somehow and once was enough. Ryo came walking around the corner to find Katie, stopping when he saw the two. He smiled ruefully to himself at the sight before him, coughing loudly to gain the attention of the two.

"Ahem, well sorry to interrupt, but I think we should get moving now, Kate." he spoke with slight amusement as the two broke apart.

"Yeah," Katie replied. "I guess its now or never, right?"

"Are you sure its safe to go now?" Sage asked with slight alarm.

Ryo shrugged his shoulders lightly in a not sure way. "I don't know, Sage but if we don't at least go and try to then Kento is going to kill us all."

"Alrighty then, I guess we'd better go and kick some demon booty," Katie said and walked away from the two, leaving them to stare after her in wonderment.

"You think her being possessed did something to her brain?" Ryo asked jokingly, laughing some to himself.

Sage shook his head and chuckled some. "No, I think she's just fine," he replied and walked after her to rejoin the others with Ryo following behind him.

Reann stood silently by herself in one of the corners. She was distancing herself from the Ronins and she knew it, but she didn't know what else to do. Somehow she felt like an outsider here. The only person who really knew her was Katie and she was having problems right now of her own. Somehow she felt that she should just stay away from them all. She was the outsider in a

group of family and friends, what right did she have to just come charging in on that? Yeah, sure she had helped them get back Katie’s and Ryo ‘s and Sage's armor orbs, but did that really make her one of them? One of the good guys?

She smirked at the thought and shifted her weight to her right foot. Me, one of the good guys? Somehow that doesn't sound convincing to me. After all she was still a bad guy technically, a few rights doesn't make up for all the wrongs you've done. She turned her head when she noticed Katie walk back into to the room. She was still wearing the ninja outfit but she didn't look

as dangerous or unnatural as before. And to think only a few short hours ago I was fighting her, fighting to save my life and the life of others. She grinned when Katie looked over at her, knowing that she had heard her thoughts.

But she had to wonder just how much of her thoughts she had picked up on. Usually she would have whispered a response across her mind but this time she didn't. This concerned her, making her wonder just how weak she really was. I don't think she's letting on how bad she really is. Is it safe to let her fight him? Do any of them really understand how strong he's gotten? Well, doesn't matter to me, I will make sure he goes down one way or another.

Katie looked over at Reann, picking up muffled words from her. She sighed inwardly, knowing it was useless to try and pick up her thoughts ---she just didn't have the strength to. Standing in the middle of the room she cleared her throat and got everyone's attention. "Alright, everybody had better listen up. We're going to go now and find Maguyser and Kaye," She said loud enough for everybody to hear. Looking over in Kento's direction she continued, "I'm not sure what we're going to be getting ourselves into, but I know one thing ---we will be getting Kaye back. I don't care what it takes, she will be coming back home with us."

Everyone gave a nod or a clap to her words as she looked at each one. Her friends, family, the people who cared about her enough to have risked their lives for her and now she had one more friend that had risked her life for hers to save. "Ok, the real fun starts when we leave these doors. You all ready?" she asked and then waited for them all to give her a yeah before she smiled and walked over to Reann.

Reann straightened and uncrossed her arms when she walked over to her. Not sure as to why she was coming over to her she kept quiet. Katie shook her head at her. "Reann, I would just like to say," she started and looked up at her with sincere eyes, "thank you for saving my friends and family's lives. I owe you a lot, my friend."

Reann waved it off with a disheartened shrug. "Nah, don worry bout it. You would have done the same for me if the tables were turned," she replied.

Katie nodded her head slightly in acknowledgement to her words. "Yeah, you're right....I would do the same thing for you." She looked down at the ground and for a few silent moments and then back up at her. "Reann, I'm not going to ask you to fight with us. I'll understand if-"

"Quit with the bull shit, Kate." Reann said with a grin, cutting her off mid sentence. "We've been through enough together for you to know that I'm not going to cut and run when the going gets tough. I want to see him go down."

Katie blinked in slight baffled confusion at how much anger and malice her words held. She couldn't help but smile at seeing the old Reann she knew oh too well coming back full fledge. "You know," she started to gain her attention, "you don't have to act so distant to them. They’re not going to bite you."

Reann laughed some and shook her head at her. "You did hear my thoughts, didn't you?" she asked with slight humor.

"I heard some," she answered with a sly grin. "Besides, I see that you've taken quite a liking to my brother."

Reann opened and closed her mouth like a fish as no words could come out. She blinked and then a squeak escaped her. "I have not!" Katie only laughed more. "Ok ok, whatever you say." She said and held her hands up. "I don't have the time nor the energy to fight with you. I've got

a demon Lord's ass to kick." She said and turned to walk out the same door everyone else had.

Reann grabbed her hand to stop her. Katie turned her head to look at her with a confused expression. "Are you sure you're up to this, Kate?" Reann asked her, worry and concern could be seen on her face.

Katie smiled to reassure her. "When have I ever not be up to a fight, Re?" Was all she said and then walked out of the door to follow after her brother and the Ronins.

Reann stood for a few more minutes, contemplating her words. Laughing to herself she followed after them. I know I'm going to regret this, she thought and ran to catch up with the others. Now the only thing that stood between them and ending the battle once and for all were a few hallways and one very large door.