The Power

Everyone stared in shock and wonderment at the girl. A strange look had overcome her face. To their surprise it was starting to get warmer, and the heat quickly began to increase. Ryo immediately felt himself strengthening while Cye felt the opposite. He backed away toward the lake, getting strength from the cool water while he watched Flash in fascination.

She was sweating, breathing deeply, glaring at Sekhmet dangerously. A bright picture of a flame suddenly flared to life on her forehead, and the heat and energy cackled around her, causing her hair to blow freely. (note. I got this off of Steven King's Firestarter movie. Hope no one minds. I just thought it'd be cool.)

"What's going on?" Rowen wanted to know. He wiped his face, feeling the terrible heat.

Sage was incredibly hot. He dared to take off his helmet, and wiped his soaked hair. "Is she doing this?" he asked, fanning himself with one hand.

"Man, it's so hot!" Kento moaned. "Ryo, don't you feel it?"

"Yep, and it feels great!" Ryo beamed at him. The other four groaned, feeling the intense heat that kept building and building.

"What is she doing?" Sekhmet wondered. Is this the power that Talpa was talking about? "Foolish, girl! Your power cannot harm me!"

"Wanna bet?" she replied.

And then suddenly Sekhmet's arm was on fire. He screamed in surprise and pain, and desperately tried to put it out. But when he did, his knees caught on fire! He put that out, only to find his chest on fire!

"Whoa!" Kento exclaimed.

"So that's how she lit the stove," Sage said.

"She's got pyrokinesis," Rowen stated.

"Pyro what?" Ryo asked.

"Pyrokinesis," Rowen explained, "the ability to cause fires just by thinking about it. Ryo, I'm surprised *you* didn't know that."

Ryo sweatdropped.

"That's some awesome power she's got," Cye stated.

Sekhmet tried using his surekill. "Snake Fang Strike!"

The blast flew at her, but it bounced right off! Flash narrowed her eyes, and then suddenly a fireball appeared and flew right at Sekhmet, knocking him several feet backward. He rolled several times to get the flames off before finally struggling to his feet. He stared at her in shock, then looked at his fallen comrades who were whimpering.

"No more!" Sekhmet gasped as he helped the other two up. "We give up!" A Dynasty Gate appeared, and they went through it. The Gate closed and disappeared from view.

The Ronins were surprised. Never before had they seen the Warlords give up that easily. They shed their armors, and Flash returned to normal, as the heat faded away and everything went back to normal.

But there were still some questions, and Flash knew she would have to answer. But first they needed to get their homework done, and she needed to finish dinner. So all of them went into the house, quickly explained to Mia what had happened while Yulie cheered, and then got back to what they had all been doing before the battle.

"What do you mean you failed!" Talpa roared angrily.

The three warlords trembled as their master yelled at them. Talpa was ticked, very ticked, and it would only be a matter of time before something happened to one of them.

"Please, master, forgive us!" Cale quivered. "That girl is strong! She knocked me several feet away with just one blow!"

"Me too!" Dais moaned

Talpa looked disbelievingly at them. He eyed Dais. "Why are you holding yourself?"

"That demonspawn kicked me there!" Dais spat. "It hurts! And you're right. She does have power."

"Ha!" Talpa laughed. "I knew it! What can she do?"

"Make fire," Sekhmet answered, holding his burnt arm and moaning. Need burn cream and Advil, he thought.

"What do you mean make fire?" Talpa demanded. He sure was growing impatient. "Any human can make fire, you baka!"

"Yes, but usually they need some device to do so," Sekhmet retorted. "She just stares straight ahead, it starts getting really hot, a symbol of a flame appears on her forehead, her hair starts blowing even though there's no wind, and before you know it, a fire appears."

Talpa was amused. "So that is the girl's powers. Most impressive indeed. Very well, rest for today, Warlords. I will make a plan to capture that girl. We will turn her to the Evil Dynasty and against the Ronin Warriors. One way or another, that girl and her power will both be MINE!!"

Ryo, Sage, Rowen, Cye, Kento, Mia, Yulie, White Blaze, and Blaze were all sitting in the living room. This is how it went. Rowen, Sage, Flash, and Cye were sitting on the couch. Ryo, Kento, Mia, and Yulie were sitting on the sofa across from them. And White Blaze and Blaze were lying side by side on the floor. All of them were staring very curiously at Flash, and Flash knew she had to tell.

"I suppose I should start from the beginning," Flash said. Everyone nodded, but Mia and Yulie. Flash took a deep breath and released it. "About thirty five years ago, my grandmother found out that my mother had some kind of psychic power. She could make water freeze just by thinking about it. My mother was five years old at the time. Her power was out of control even if it was small. But as the years went by, and she got older she learned to harness it. By the time she was twenty two she married, gave birth a year later to my brother and year after that I was born."

Flash took a drink of her soda while everyone waited for her to go on. "At first I seemed normal and acted just like any other baby. But when I started teething, it started happening. Things would just begin to smoke, and then suddenly there'd be a fire. My parents were frantic of course, and my father wanted to know what was going on. My mother could tell that there was something special about me. I was fascinated with fire and could even play with it without getting burnt. My father was afraid and bought fire extinguishers and smoke alarms. As I got older the power grew inside of me, and it was out of control. If I too excited, or too angry, or even too depressed, a fire would appear. So by the time I was five, my mother started training me how to control it"

Mia stared at their guest as she went on. She had never heard anything like this before! And yet, it seemed to be the truth, because according to the Ronins she had whipped all three Warlords by herself.

Yulie was fascinated. He had only thought that Ryo could make a fire appear in Armor of Wildfire and Armor of Inferno. But this girl was saying she could do it without armors. Way cool!

"It was hard at first, and sometimes I would get impatient as my mother tried to help me. But then one day, when I was about eleven, I had learned that my mother and brother had been kidnapped and killed. I found their dead bodies in a warehouse, and the killer was still there. I'll never forget that day. He told me that he was going to kill me and rape my dead body just like he had my mother's. That really got me mad. I set half of his face on fire, and even then I knew that I needed help. My father and I grieved over the loss of my mother and brother who always called me Firestarter, you know after that movie of Steven King's?" They all nodded, seeing the tears stream down her face. Apparently talking about her mother and brother was a very touchy subject.

"One day, when I was about fourteen, a year ago in fact, Blaze and I were traveling through the subway. I saw an elderly Japanese man and this other guy standing face to face, with a pistol aimed for the elderly man's throat. There were several guys out cold on the ground, and the last punk was going to shoot him. I set his hand on fire, and disappeared from the area. But the Japanese man saw me anyway. I heard him say Firestarter, and that struck me just a little odd. It wasn't until the next day that I found out who he was. His name was Chinook, and he had been searching for me, and seven others. He met with two others, calling them Storm and Fade. He met my father, and my father liked him. He came over a lot, and in private began training me. He trained me how to control my power and how to use it properly. He also told me, and the other two of our destinies. We were the Warriors, a group of teenagers destined to battle a great evil that was coming to America. Problem was, we couldn't fight until the other five had been found. Current, Shock, Hail, Heart, and Ataxia."

"Are all of those armor names?" Sage asked.

"Yes," Flash said with a nod. "There was a legend in America, about three months before I learned of my destiny. It goes like this. 'A great evil has come to the Land of Freedom. It has one thing in mind, to destroy the world and rule it with an iron fist. Eight Chosen Ones are all that stand in its way. Together they rise to defeat this evil, knowing they are greatly numbered. Their armors have chosen them, and they gain strength from the elements. They stand strong together to defeat this evil
and will triumph.' "

The Ronins were amazed by what they had learned so far. Mia's eyes grew wide. "I heard of that legend before! I was searching through my grandfather's files one day, and came across it by accident. I had no idea what it meant at first."

"The Legend of the Warriors. The eight of us gathered together to battle the evil, known as Tutock. He is a powerful sorcerer, and has power ten fold. At his command are nine warriors, called Guardians. They wear armors as well. There's also the soldierknights, huge things wearing armor with large spikes. They're a lot bigger and a whole lot more dangerous than those soldiers we were fighting against earlier."

Talpa was in deep thought. Obviously this girl had a lot of power, in order to take out three of his warlords. He knew he would have to watch her closely and wait until his warlords became stronger to fight against her and capture her.

Just moments ago, he had sent the Dark Warlords to the netherpits so they would gain more strength from the dark spirits.

"Yes!" Talpa said with a laugh. "This time the Ronin Warriors will not stop me! I will have that girl and turn her against them so that they will be destroyed, and the world will be mine!"

"So, what's you guys' story," Flash asked, putting her hands behind her head. "That was some funky looking armor you were all wearing."

"Hey, you had an armor too!" Kento accused, pointing at her.

"Relax, big guy," Flash said with a smile. "I already told you half of it. I tell you the rest later. Right now I want to hear your story."

Kento frowned, but Ryo was quick to answer. "It started over a year ago," he began. "A dark shadow covered Toyama, and strange things began to happen. An evil ruler, his name is Talpa, came into our world from his world, another dimension called the Netherrealm, or the Dynasty. He had the same thing in mind that your enemy had. Take over the world. He had four Warlords helping him. Three you saw today. Venom, who you set fire to. Pretty cool I might add. Corruption and Illusion. The fourth was known as Cruelty. His name was Anubis, but he turned good after our own mentor Kasou, or the Ancient as we refer to him, talked some sense into him. Anyway, we have our own legend. It goes like this. When the earth is covered by a wicked dark shadow, the Ronin Warriors will come to save it. And there's a poem with that too, referring to us. Torch of spirit sought through five, drinking strength from immortal fire, the darkest prison sheds the light, swirling beneath a sea of salt, burning within a throne of rock, floating amongst the eyes of ages, unmoored in the stream of the sky."

Flash's brows went up with fascination. She was quite intrigued by this. She knew they weren't lying, they had no reason to be lying. She had seen their powers, and wondered why she and the other Warriors hadn't learned about them. Did Chinook know about them?

"So what are your armors' names?" she asked.

"Wildfire," Ryo said.

"Halo," Sage answered, smiling sweetly at her.

"Hardrock," Kento said, stuffing some chips into his mouth.

"Torrent," Cye said, giving Kento a disgusted look.

"Strata," Rowen said calmly.

"OK, let me see if I got this straight. "Drinking strength from immortal fire refers to Ryo. The darkest prison sheds the light talks about Sage. Swirling beneath a sea of salt refers to Cye. Burning within a throne of rock is about Kento. And floating amongst the eyes of ages, unmoored in the stream of the sky is Rowen."

You got it, beautiful," Sage said, nodding his blond head.

"Wow, you're smart!" Cye marveled.

"Did you study ancient Japanese?" Mia asked.

"Actually I only studied the language and culture," Flash replied. "One of my friends, another Warrior, she's into reading and studying, so she can figure out a lot of poems. I picked that up from her."

The Ronins nodded their heads. They wondered who Flash's friends were, and she could sense that. She knew she would have to tell them sooner or later, and besides who knew? Maybe they could meet her friends. She smiled slightly as she saw their faces in her mind. Thunder of the Storm. Scorpio of the Current. T-boz of the Fade. Chilie of the Heart. Shades of the Ataxia. Ice of the Shock. And Snow of the Hail. She had no idea what the Ronin Warriors would think once she told them about her friends, but she could only try and see what happens. It was all she could do.