Things were pretty much quiet now in the Koji mansion. Rowen was reading one of his quantum physics books, Sage was off somewhere meditating as usual, Cye was coloring a whale in the coloring book Kento had bought him for his birthday. Ryo and Kento were playing Rampage on the Sega Genesis. (note: I don't know if this game actually exists. It just seems good to use.) And Flash, Mia, and Yulie were outside, with Mia and Flash working in Mia's garden.

"Haha!" Kento bellowed loudly as he attacked the buttons on his controller, causing his big green lizard to punch its fists into a large building, demolishing it with each blow. "Take that, stupid Dynasty building!"

Ryo raised a brow. "Dynasty building?"

Kento nodded as he continued to play. "Yeah, that's right. This evil building is going down in the name of Kento of Hardrock!"

Rowen rolled his eyes. "Brother!" He got up and headed off for his room, hoping he could get some peace and quiet from Kento and his big mouth.

Cye just smiled as he continued to color that big whale. He daydreamed that he was actually swimming with this whale, that he could hear it talking to him. Now that would be weird, he thought.

Outside Flash was admiring a pretty rose while White Blaze and Blaze were playing with Yulie, and trying to keep him out of trouble at the same time. White Blaze had already told Blaze how many times he or Ryo, or one of the others had already saved the kid from danger because he didn't know how to stay out of it.

Flash sniffed the red rose. "This is beautiful," she said, breathing in the scent deeply. She loved the way the fragrance hit her nose. It reminded her of someone very special. Someone she had lost.

Mia chuckled. "I take it you like roses?" she said as she added some water to several flowers.

Flash nodded. "Ever since I was a little girl. I love roses most of all, my second to that would be the daffodils, then tulips, and finally snap dragons."

Mia nodded, and handed the watering pot over to the younger girl. "Would you mind running over to that spicket and getting more water? These flowers are pretty thirsty today."

Flash laughed. "Yeah, it's hot out.” She took the pot, and followed Mia's finger pointing to the spicket. As Mia tended to some young flowers, she placed it under the spicket and turned the water on, letting the pot fill up. And then she heard a sound behind her, and froze. She moved one ear back to pick up any further sounds, and waited. She heard the noise again, and dared to turn around. And then suddenly she screamed loudly. "SNAKE!!!"

Her foot suddenly shot out, and suddenly the snake was in the air, at least ten feet up and flying.

Inside Ryo, Kento, Cye, and Rowen had heard Flash scream and quickly dropped what they were doing to run outside.

Sage was just coming back from the woods where he had been meditating, when he heard Flash scream and took off running as fast as he could for the manor. As he ran, he saw something fly past him, something that reminded him of Sekhmet. He ran even faster and found Mia, Yuli, the other Ronins, White Blaze, and Blaze all surrounding a very shaken up Flash.

"Hey, are you OK?" he asked in concern as he got closer.

Flash did not look at him. She was trembling and could not stop. She had never expected to see a snake, even though she should have figured that one out. Gardens, lake, woods, snake, hello!

Ryo gently made the girl look at him. "Flash, tell us what's wrong, will ya? I mean we want to help you."

"Yeah," Cye added. "We can't if you don' let us know what's going on."

"S..snake!" Flash managed as best she could. She suddenly clung onto Sage who was very surprised and not to say, very happy about this. He smirked at the others, and held the beautiful young girl, stroking her soft brown hair. "Shh, it's OK. The snake's gone now. It's OK to be afraid of something. We're all afraid of something."

"Yeah," Kento said, wanting to help. "Cye's afraid of snakes too."

Cye rolled his eyes. "Geeze, Kento, why don't we just let the whole world know?"

Kento shrugged. "OK." He cupped his hands over his mouth. "HEY EVERYBODY!! CYE'S AFRAID....!"

Cye suddenly tackled Kento, knocking the big warrior to the ground in an instant. Mia took one look, and just let it out. Rowen saw it and burst out laughing, his pale face turning red, Ryo clutched his ribs, very sure they

would break if he didn't as he joined in the laughter. Sage had a smile on his face, keeping his laughter inside as he watched the two scuffle on the ground. Flash managed to pull herself together and saw what was going. She broke out into laughter, her laughs sounding like bells, at least to Sage anyway. Yulie soon joined in the laughter, even challenging to the two Ronins to keep at it.

"Get him, Cye!" he yelled as Cye managed to get the better of Kento, and kept him pinned underneath. Kento was struggling to get up while Cye smirked down at him. "Sorry, Hardrock, this is one fight you can't win!"

"Oh, yeah, says you!" Kento shouted.

Mia finally managed to stop laughing when she remembered Flash. The poor girl had been so white. She herself wanted to know why Flash was afraid of snakes. Sure everyone was afraid of something, but there was always a reason why. She whistled, getting everyone's attention, including two wrestling teenagers.

Mia looked back at Flash who seemed more relaxed. "Um, Flash, can you explain what happened just a bit ago?"

Flash smirked. "Yeah, sure, Kento was going to tell the whole world about Cye's fear, and Cye tackled him."

Mia stopped. She wasn't expecting that. She saw all six teens with equal grins, and Yulie just looking at everyone as if he were trying to figure something out.

"I meant when you screamed," Mia said.

"Oh. Why didn't you say so?" Flash said, still wearing that smirk. It quickly went away though as she remembered that ugly dark green snake coming near her. How she hated those things!

"When I was a little girl, about six years old, in fact, a boy, threw a snake at me. And yes, I panicked. I mean, who wouldn't? No one I know would just go, ahh, a snake!

Stop it!" Everyone cracked a smile when she did that. She went on. "And ever since then I've had this terrifying fear of snakes. I can't stand them! They're too leathery, too ugly, and definitely not natural. I mean they can move but they got no legs. That ain't right. It's the devil in disguise. Read the Bible."

"Why didn't you just burn him?" Yulie asked.

Flash laughed weakly. "Gee, I'd would have liked to, but he's my cousin."

"Oh." Yulie's face fell, but then he beamed up at Ryo.

"I bet Ryo would have!"

Ryo turned red. "Let's not say we go there, K?"

"Actually," Flash said, brightening, as she let go of Sage, "I got back at him."

"How did you do that?" Rowen wanted to know.

"Well, he had this pet white rat, and so I took some nontoxic rainbow hair dye, and sprayed him with it. Boy, was my cousin frantic! He thought that poor Flakes would never be the same again."

"You were only six and you pulled that off?!" Rowen was very surprised.

Flash shrugged. "Hey, my dad taught me a lot about the physical world, while my mother taught the spiritual world. I knew a lot about what chemicals were safe and what chemicals were hazardous." She stopped talking as her eyes caught something lying on the ground. She bent down and picked up the watering pot and placed it under the running water, refilling it. "I can't believe I forgot about this," she muttered.

Ryo changed the subject. "Well, everything's OK now, we can all get back to what we were doing."

"Yeah," Kento said as he started back for the manor. "Like me kicking your butt!"

Ryo paused for a second, then chased after the Chinese boy. "Oh, no, you don't Kento! I'm winning and that's that!"

Rowen watched the two enter the house, and followed behind, determined that he would finish that book even if it took him all night long.

Cye followed behind, wanting to get back to his

coloring. Sage stayed a few minutes just to make sure that Flash really was OK. She seemed to be. She and Mia were both watering and tending to loose flowers as they talked and laugh. He turned and headed for the manor, going inside.

Mia was laughing at a joke that Flash had just told, when she noticed that Flash had gone very quiet and still. Flash turned her head and looked behind her. "Hey, who's white car is that?" she asked.

Mia looked. "Oh, the Yamatoes are here." She stood up and looked around for Yulie. "Yulie, your parents are here!"

Yulie came running up with White Blaze and Blaze. He saw his dad climbing out of the car, and quickly hugged White Blaze good-bye, and said good-bye to Flash and her wolf, then to Mia, making her promise that she would tell the Ronins good-bye for him.

Flash watched as Mr. Yamatoe put his son in the front seat, bowed respectively to Mia, and even to the unknown girl beside her, and drove off immediately.

Sage stepped out of the shower, feeling completely renewed. He stepped upto the mirror and gazed at his reflection. "Halo, you are so handsome!" he said as he admired himself in the mirror. He grabbed his toothbrush and the toothpaste and began brushing his teeth.

A knock sounded at the door, a loud knock. "Hey, Sage! You about done in there?"

Sage spit out some toothpaste so he could talk better. "Almost, Ryo!"

"Well, hurry up!"

"Alright! Alright!"

Ryo walked away from the bathroom door. He knew that Sage's almost would probably be three hours from now. He passed Cye's and Kento's room. The door was slightly opened and curiosity got the better of him. He peeked in, and saw Cye asleep on his bed, with the covers half way off him, his arm clutching a stuffed orca whale he named Suiko.

A smile crept to Ryo's face as he walked into the room. Judging from the quiet breathing, he could tell that Cye was fast asleep and probably dreaming about the ocean.

He gently pulled the pale blue covers up on the young Torrent bearer. He stoked Cye's hair in a fatherly like manner. Cye mumbled in his sleep and turned over. Ryo backed away. He did not want to wake Cye up. For one thing Cye had worn himself out today, he deserved the sleep, and second Cye could be very grouchy when someone woke him up too early, and Cye grouchy is not a good thing.

Ryo wisely left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him. He turned and walked down the hall, heading for his own room. He hoped that Sage would be out of the bathroom by the time he got his nightclothes. If not, then he was going to drag Halo out by his hair, or threaten to cut it all off if he didn't.

Sage came out of the bathroom, dressed in his green pajamas. He saw Flash and Blaze coming up the stairs. Flash had that smirk on her face. "Boy, you must really love yourself, Halo." He blinked in confusion at her as she came to the top of the stairs. She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Halo, you are so handsome!" She snickered.

Sage's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened with shock. "You heard me?!"

"Of course. My ears are supersensitive. It was pretty funny actually. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you're in love with yourself."

He watched as she trotted off for her room. Blaze followed behind, but the wolf looked back at Sage and seemed to shake his head at him. Sage stared, a bit puzzled. That wolf seemed too intelligent to be a real wolf.

The night went on as everyone prepared for bed. Ryo finally got his shower, Kento had his bedtime snack, or in everyone's case, a gourmet meal, Mia headed off for bed, and Sage managed to get Rowen to stop reading for the night. One by one, the lights all went out.

Flash was sleeping already, the jet lag finally having caught up with her. She had been tired earlier, yes, but not too bad. She had learned long ago, how to train herself to control the jetlag in case anything should happen, like an attack. It took her four years to master that technique.

She slept peacefully against Blaze who had crawled into the bed beside her. Thankfully his weight didn't break it. He too was asleep and dreaming about something. Surprisingly Flash was able to sleep right through all the little noises he was making.

Just a few doors down, White Blaze couldn't sleep. The big tiger tossed constantly and grumbled a little. His eyes opened, and he glanced at his master, or in other cases, his main charge. Ryo was sleeping, breathing deeply, his chest rising and falling with each breath. For once he wasn't dreaming, which was a good thing. Ryo usually lost sleep when he dreamt, and his dreams were usually nightmares.

White Blaze stood up and stretched a little. He heard some whining and growling noises. Blaze must be dreaming, he thought. Well, I better go make my rounds. He walked over to the door, and pulled it open, and walked out. The first door he came to was Mia's. He gently pushed it open and peered inside. Mia was asleep, safe in her bed. Next came Cye’s and Kento's room. Kento was snoring loudly, and White Blaze wondered how Cye could sleep so easily with that freight train in there. He turned and went to the next door.

Inside the room, Blaze awoke, and let out a soft growl, the hairs on his back rising. He saw the door open softly, and his growl deepened.

‘Relax, White Blaze told him. It's just me!’

‘What are you doing here?’ Blaze asked as he relaxed.

‘I’m making my nightly rounds,’ the tiger answered. ‘Sorry if I disturbed you. I'll leave you now. Good-night.’

White Blaze left the room, and the wolf hopped down from the bed. He gently closed the door and turned around when he heard Flash moan. She was only turning over in her sleep. He quickly rejoined her, and fell asleep almost instantly.

Morning came and almost everyone awoke to the smell of pancakes, sausages, and biscuits. Kento threw back his covers and quickly got dressed. He brushed his hair and adjusted his yellow headband, and bolted out the door, ready for Cye's great cooking. He bolted for the stairs.

A white, blue, and brown blur flew past him, and he staggered in surprise as it continued down the stairs without missing a step. "Whoa!" he exclaimed.

Ryo appeared beside him. "Fast ain't she?"

Kento nodded, dumbfounded. The scent of delicious food cooking caught his nose once again, and he hurried down the stairs, determined to get a good helping of breakfast.

Ryo followed close behind. He was going to make sure he got something to eat as well, hopefully before Kento ate everything.

Flash and Mia were already at the table, both eating strawberry pancakes and drinking orange juice. Cye was at the stove, making strawberry and blueberry pancakes. Kento quickly grabbed a plate and grabbed at least five servings of blueberry pancakes. He poured himself some juice and sat down at the table.

Ryo rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Kento. You left one pancake."

Kento looked up, his mouth already stuffed. He was going to say something, but a warning look from Mia shut him up.

Cye smiled. "Not to worry, Ryo. I'm making more. The next pancake is almost done."

Flash looked up from her plate. "Is there going to be more strawberry pancakes?" she asked.

Cye flipped the pancake into the air and nodded. "Yes, a lot more. Ryo likes strawberry pancakes, Kento can't eat them, and Rowen well, he'll just be eating lunch, so he's out, and if Sage Michael Date gets down here in time, he can have whatever."

Flash smiled happily. "Yum. Strawberry pancakes. Can't wait!"

Ryo took the now finished strawberry pancake and carried his plate over to the table and sat down. "I see we've got something in common."

"What?"

"Strawberry pancakes."

Flash nodded. "Besides pizza, it's my favorite."

Sage walked into the kitchen then, and everyone said good-morning. He gave his greeting back as he headed over to the counter. Hm, might as well have sausage and biscuit today. He took his food over to the table, then went to the fridge, poured himself a cold glass of milk, and sat down to eat.

Mia looked at him. "So, Sage, any plans today?"

Sage looked up at her with a blank expression, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking. "No, not today."

"That's a surprise!" Kento muttered. Sage shot him a look, and Kento looked at him innocently. Mia wisely cut in to keep the confrontation between the two away.

"Good, because you five are going to take Flash into the city. She needs to buy her school uniform and supplies."

"What school will I be going to anyway?" she asked.

"Hana High," Ryo answered. "That's where we go."

"You all in the same grade?"

"Well, Cye's in ninth grade," Sage answered. "The rest of are all tenth. What about you?"

"Tenth too." Flash ate more, then looked around. "Hey, where's Rowen?" she asked.

"Oh, Sleeping Beauty always sleeps in," Sage replied. "He'll be up by 1:00 P.M."

Flash smirked. "Wanna bet?"

The others just stared at her, wondering what she was going to do. Cye finished cooking, and got himself his own serving. As he sat down, he watched as Flash suddenly slid out of her seat and run up the stairs. He and everyone else gave each other looks. What was Flash going to do?

Flash made her way down the hall, and pushed open the door. She had found Sage's and Rowen's room easily. Good thing she had watched Sage walk into it last night. She looked around the room. Half the room was painted green with bright yellow thunderbolts on it. There was a bed with neatly made. Green sheets, matching pillow, comforter. On the other side, the room was painted blue and had a mural of stars, planets, the sun, and moon, and asteroids and comets here and there. Under the blue comforter was a lump.

Flash smiled wickedly. She yanked the comforter off, and stared at the unmoving blue haired teen. She rubbed her hands together. This is going to be fun! she thought. She lifted him up, and dragged him out of the room, and into the bathroom. Through it all he slept. She put him into the tub, closed the shower curtain, and then suddenly turned on the cold water.

Rowen woke with a start. "AUUUUGGGGHHHHH!"

Downstairs everyone looked at each other with a surprised look. "Rowen's up," Cye said, just as Flash came trotting down with a smile on her face.

Ryo gave her a look. "How did you do that?" he asked. "It takes us forever to wake him up!"

Flash sat down at the table. "I saw that he needed a shower."

Rowen came down several minutes later. He was dressed, which was a surprise, but his hair was messed up, and he clutched his purple headband tightly in one hand. It was soaking wet.

He gave them all a not very happy look. "Who thought it would be cool to throw me in the freaking cold shower?!"

Flash raised her hand. "Guilty!"

Rowen gave her a look. "You threw me in the shower?!"

"Yep. You five get to take me into the city today, and I wanted to get an early start."

Rowen sat down and nodded. He rubbed his eyes, then glanced down at his headband. "My headband!" he moaned.

Flash rolled her eyes. "Let me see it." Rowen handed it over, wondering what she was going to do. Her symbol lit up, and at first he thought she would set it on fire, but when he noticed that her hair was still, he knew better. Everyone watched as she concentrated. The heat wasn't as bad as it had been during that battle, they noted. It was like they were outside on a very hot summer day. In minutes the band was dry and warm. Rowen took it, very amazed. He thanked her, and let it cool just enough to put on around his head.

"Thanks," he said as he adjusted it.

"No prob."

Talpa watched on his viewing screen as the Ronin Warriors and that girl made their way down Toyoma. They were talking and laughing as they carefully made their way through the thick crowds.

Talpa's eyes glowed red as a thought came to him. It was time to send someone after that girl, someone that not even the Ronins could beat. He laughed wickedly. Soon he would have that girl and her power!

Flash was telling jokes to her new friends, and all of them were laughing, including Sage who usually kept his laughter hidden. One thing they had learned was that Flash was a comedian. And very good at it too.

"OK, there's this burglar," Flash was saying. "And he's robbing this house late at night. As he going through the house, searching for valuables, he hears a voice coming from somewhere in the darkness. Jesus is watching you. He freezes. He's a little afraid, and so he waits to see if the voice will come again. It doesn't, and he moves on, getting more valuables. The voice comes again. Jesus is watching you. He froze again, a bit more afraid. Nothing happens, so he again, moves on. The voice calls again. Jesus is watching you! Now this time he's very terrified, and he stays motionless for a good twenty minutes. Finally he had enough and flipped on the light as he turned around. There in a cage is a white cockatiel. The cockatiel speaks. Jesus is watching you! The burglar sighs in relief. It's just a Cocky! he says. The cocky gives him a look and said, I might be a cocky, but Jesus is a huge German Shepherd!"

The Ronins burst out laughing. They had never heard that joke before, and hoped she would have more. It sure felt good to be laughing and having fun, rather than fighting the Dynasty, even though Kento considered that

fun.

"Well, isn't this entertaining!"

The Ronins and Flash all looked up on the roof of a twelve foot grocery store building.

"Kayura!" Ryo hissed.

"Oh, great, Lady Evil's come to play!" Rowen said with a sneer.

"Who the heck is that?" Flash asked as she stared up at the strange blue black haired girl.

"That's Talpa's best warrior," Cye explained. "Lady Kayura. She's very cunning and dangerous. Not to mention a great fighter. It's just too bad she's on the wrong side."

Kayura laughed as she leapt down and landed safely on the ground. "You think so little of me, Cye of the Torrent! Well, I must say your friend is quite pretty. I'm almost jealous."

"Thank you!" Flash said with a beam.

"Now, girl, are you going to come with me, or not?"

"Where are we going?"

"To Master Talpa."

Flash pounded her fist into her other palm. "Oh, darn! I forgot I made other plans. You'll have to tell *Master Talpa* that I'll see him on the eve of *NEVER*!"

"Then I'll have to beat you into submission!" Kayura suddenly charged for the girl just as Ryo gave the order to armor up. Ryo, Sage, Cye, Kento, and Rowen all armored up, and were ready to help Flash. They had fought Kayura before, and it was no easy task. But surprisingly Flash seemed to have no trouble at all. She easily dodged Kayura's attacks, and blocked others. the whole time she was teasing her.

"Is that all you got, girl? Come on! Throw some muscle into it!"

Kayura hissed angrily. "Hold still, girl! How dare you move this quickly!"

"Gee, I'm sorry. NOT!" Flash suddenly kicked her in the torso, sending her flying into the air. Kayura flipped into the air and landed on the hood of a vacant car. "You'll pay for that! Feel the sting of my Starlight Swords! Starlight Swords Scream!"

The attack came quickly, and Flash stared at her, in a bored like manner. She yawned, and at the last moment, moved out of the way. A building behind her was destroyed, and Rowen and Sage leapt out of the way to keep from getting buried.

"I hope the owners had a insurance on that place," Flash muttered.

"Look out!" Cye cried.

Flash's arm shot out, and Kayura smacked right into it. Flash just shook her head. "I don't get it. Why do you work for someone that's so evil?" she asked. Before Kayura could answer, she went on. "Judging from the Warlords I fought yesterday, Talpa must be pretty ugly. "He's probably so ugly when he was born, the nursemaid slapped his mother!"

Sage's mouth dropped open with shock, Ryo burst out laughing, Cye covered his mouth, Kento smiled proudly, and Rowen just stared. Boy, did Flash have a mouth on her!

Kayura glared at the girl. "No one talks that way about my master!"

"What are you, his dog?" Flash whistled several times. "Here, Kayura! Come here, Kayura! Here, girl!"

More laughter. They finally realized that Flash was making Kayura angry so she would make a mistake and mess up. It was one of her weapons.

"ARRRRGGGHHH!"

"Aw, the poor dog's getting all angry!"

Kayura attacked, and Flash leapt out of her way. She went down on the ground, and swept her leg under Kayura's, causing her to lose her balance and fall.

"Whoa!" Ryo exclaimed.

"She's awesome!" Sage said.

"Kayura doesn't seem to stand a chance against Flash!" Cye said.

"She's not even wearing her armor!" Rowen noticed.

"What I want to know, is where she learned how to fight like that," Kento said.

Flash was flipping backwards, avoiding Kayura's deadly Starlight Swords. The Ronins were starting to feel pretty useless, that is until they were suddenly surrounded by Dynasty Soldiers.

Ryo attacked with his Wildfire Blades, gutting them as they came at him. He hollered over at Flash just as he punched a soldier into the middle of next week. "You better armor up, Flash!"

"Right!" Flash kicked Kayura away again, and titled her face to the sky and raised an arm. "Armor of the Warrior! Now come!"

Everyone, except for Sage covered their eyes, as the bright blue and white light covered her, making her completely invisible. When the light faded, she was in her

blue and white armor, and gripping her sword firmly.

"So, you have an armor as well," Kayura said carelessly. "Well, it won't help you! Star Swords Scream!"

Flash held the large blade up, and the blade reflected the attack. Kayura dodged out of the way, just barely avoiding being struck.

Rowen's arrows flew through the air, at times he punched a soldier out of his way, and struck others with his bow. He eventually did his famous flying kick, knocking down another soldier, while Sage charged through, swinging his nodatchi left and right, taking down soldiers as he went through.

Kento was laughing as he punched several soldiers into oblivion, and took out even more with his naginata. He drew his weapon back and suddenly sent another soldier flying into the air, where it knocked down several other soldiers.

"Surekill time!" Ryo called. He put his swords together, and twirled them around as he leapt high into the air. "Flare Up Now!"

Several soldiers were incinerated by the sudden heat. Rowen joined in next. "Arrow Shock Wave!" Light appeared at the tip of the arrow, as he drew it back. It increased and he let the arrow lose. The arrow traveled in a straight line, the light following behind. It struck several soldiers, wiping them out completely.

Cye leveled his Yari out in front of him. "Super Wave Smasher!" The force of the water, knocked down the soldiers, and they were swept away. Kento knew it was a good time to bury them.

"Iron Rock Crusher!" he shouted. The ground shook, and it suddenly opened up. The soldiers fell in, and the ground buried them. Kento laughed. "Slam Bay!" he said.

Sage raised his sword high above his head, gaining energy. "Thunder Bolt Cut!" he cried. Lightning shot out from the tip of the sword, and he leapt into the air, and brought the sword out in front of him, sweeping it across his chest. The lightning from the sword, struck several soldiers, causing them to explode.

Ryo looked around. That was the last of the soldiers. "Where's Flash?"

They all looked around. There she was battling Kayura. Their swords locked against each other, and it appeared as if they were fencing. That was far from the truth.

But what surprised them was that Kayura seemed to be losing her control. Usually she was always so calm, and cunning. Today, she almost looked like she needed help.

"Is that all you got?" Flash taunted as she easily blocked Kayura's blows. "Dang, an armless person could do so much better!"

"You bitch!"

"A bitch has four legs. I've got two. A bitch says ruff ruff, I say, fuck you!"

Kayura screamed angrily. She brought her weapons together. "Star Swords Scream!"

Flash's power suddenly went into action. This time they could not see her hair flying behind her, since it was covered by her helmet. They could however see that flame on her forehead.

Kayura suddenly screamed as a fireball came at her. She had no time to avoid it. It struck her head on, and sent her flying several miles away.

Flash was waving gaily. "Bye! Don't forget to write!" She paused. "On second thought, please do forget to write!"

The boys joined her. Ryo placed one hand on her shoulder. "Are you OK?" he asked.

She smirked. "Why wouldn't I be? I have to admit. She wasn't too bad of a fighter. Just a little messed up in the head.

"You got that right," Rowen said.

Flash armored down, and the boys did too. She rubbed her hands together and smiled sweetly at them. "So, gentlemen, about this tour."