Talpa was furious that Kayura had failed to catch that girl. He was even more furious when he learned that girl had been insulting him. She would pay once he captured her, even if he had to do it himself. He sat there in his throne, fuming angrily, while tapping his armored fingers against the arms of his thrones, and glaring off into space.

His Warlords were silent, and a bit fearful. When Talpa was like this, it was just best to say quiet, unless you wanted to be sore for next month and half. So they did not speak, and neither did Talpa.

Sekhmet sighed impatiently. I wish someone would say something! This is driving me crazy just standing around all day, doing absolutely nothing! I could be fighting with the Ronins, even torturing that Torrent brat!

A wicked smile lit up his face as a memory came to him. It was the time when he had sent his creation Red Torrent after Cye of the Torrent. It was amusing to see that young boy's face when he had learned that there was a duplicate of him. And even more fun when he had dragged an unconscious Torrent into the Netherrealm, and presented him to his master. Oh, Talpa had been pleased. Very pleased.

There was an angry grumble, and he looked up. Talpa's eyes were glowing red. All of them gulped.

"There has to be a way to get that girl!" Talpa fumed, as he finally spoke. "Her power is incredible, and I want it for myself!"

Dais dared to open his mouth. "Master Talpa, why don't you just send us after the girl again, this time with nether spirits? If the nether spirits can keep the Ronins from transforming, I'm sure they can keep the girl from transforming as well. And they might be able to aid us into capturing her for you."

Talpa smiled wickedly. "Yes, I like that idea. Very well, Warlords. But this time we will wait. Let's make them think we've backed off a little. We'll attack tomorrow afternoon, and that girl will be mine!"

Flash and the Ronins were in the mall, and the Ronins could not keep the smiles off their faces as the young teenaged girl checked out everything in the store. She was highly curious and wanted to explore the entire Toyoma mall.

Sage did not mind. He loved to shop, and he was beginning to think that maybe he and Flash had something in common. To him she was beautiful, more beautiful than the girls he saw at school everyday. Today she was wearing blue jeans, a light blue sleeveless turtleneck sweater, gold bracelets on her upper arms, she wore a gold necklace with a cross and a robe wrapped around it, and blue and white sneakers.

"So how much did Mia give you?" Kento asked Flash as they walked through the mall. Some of the girls were smiling at Sage, and he winked back which caused them to giggle.

"140,000 yen," Flash answered.

"Wow!" Ryo exclaimed. "She sure gave you a lot!"

"Ryo, you know that girls' uniforms are much more expensive than boys' uniforms," Cye said.

"And I still haven't found a uniform I like," Flash muttered.

Rowen looked at her. "What did you have in mind?" he asked, trying to be helpful."

"Well, for starters, I need to find a pair of gym shorts to go under the skirt. I always wear shorts under my skirts, so that when I'm fighting no one will see my underwear." She ignored their blushing, and went on. "Not to mention, is there a certain color I have to have?"

"Well, the uniforms can either be blue and white, or black and white," Ryo said.

"Good. I like blue and white. Matches me."

They all knew she meant her armor, but there were people here, and no needed to know there were six teenagers who wore mystical armors walking through Toyoma Mall.

Flash finally found a store where they sold girl uniforms. After checking the sizes, she finally chose on a pale blue skirt, a white blouse that buttoned up, and had one pocket near the chest on the left side, and a pair of light blue gym shorts.

"OK," Sage said after they had checked out. "You have your school uniform, now you're going to need shoes, and school supplies."

"Rowen knows where the school supplies are," Ryo said.

Rowen shrugged carelessly. "It's my favorite place in the mall."

"You mean it's the only place in the mall you go to," Kento interjected.

"You mean like you and the arcade?"

Kento shut up, not daring to say anything to the Strata bearer.

"OK," Flash said. "Shoes first, then school stuff."

They walked on, finally coming to LeeSeis' Shoes Corner. They went inside. Flash looked around, her mouth open silently. "Geeze, I thought San Francisco’s mall's shoe store was big!"

Cye smiled at her. "They have about three hundred shoes in here," he explained.

"What?!"

Ryo laughed. "Come on, let's get your shoes. Stick close though. You don't want to get lost."

"Don't worry. I won't!"

They walked through the store, being careful they wouldn't bump into other shoppers. Flash looked carefully at all the shoes. Sage walked beside her.

"You're going to need some flats," he explained. "and they have to be either black or brown."

"Where would the flats be?"

"This way." He took her by the hand and guided her over to a large selection of flat shoes. She looked at each one, looking for her size. She finally saw a pair she liked. They were black flats with a gold braided stripe going across the toes. "Will this be OK?" she asked.

Ryo nodded. "Yeah, that will be fine. I see a lot of girls who have hearts and stars stickers on their shoes."

"Check out time then!" Flash cried happily.

After they left the shoe store, Rowen led them all to the school supplies store which was all the way in the back of the mall. He led Flash over to the school book section, and then began to place several school books into the cart they had grabbed on their way in. "You're going to need this, and this, this, and this. He placed a Japanese history book into the cart, followed by health, science, English, literature, math book, and a regular history book.

"Damn, these books are thick!" Flash said in surprise.

Cye glanced at her. "That was the third time I heard you swear," he said.

"Oh, sorry. I usually swear when I'm surprised about something, or when if someone really ticks me off."

Cye nodded. He could remember the few rare times when he had cursed. Not a pretty sight.

"Now you're going to need notebooks, pens, pencils, a calculator, plus a ruler, and a compass."

Flash smirked at Rowen. "You mean that little thing that points out north when you get lost?"

Rowen shook his head. "No, I mean..." He suddenly stopped when he saw that look on her face. "You know what I'm talking about!"

"You're right! I just wanted to say what you'd do," she said with a grin.

Rowen smiled a little, but led everyone over to the next aisle where Flash got her seven notebooks, each with 1000 sheets of papers, her calculator, a ruler, and a compass.

They headed for the checkout counter.

"Are we done shopping now?" Kento asked. "I'm so hungry!"

"Why am I not surprised?" Cye said as he rolled his eyes.

"Now that you mentioned it," Ryo said. "I'm hungry too."

"Ha! See, Cye?"

"Yeah, he's right here!" Flash joked. All of them laughed at Kento's look. Kento frowned and just rolled his eyes. But he had to admit, it was a little funny.

They checked out, and headed out of the mall, Flash's shopping now done. Sage and Cye offered to carry some of the bags which she gratefully accepted as she carried the other two. They headed down into the city, talking about everything that came to their minds.

Kento took everyone to his parents’ restaurant. Flash was awed by the place. Mama Faun was kind and surprised Flash by giving her a hug. She then stepped back and looked the girl over. "You are going to get a good meal, child. You're are so thin, like Fish!"

"Fish?" Flash raised an eyebrow.

Cye cleared his throat. "That's my nickname."

Flash merely nodded. They were led to the table, and Mama had Kento go and get the menus from the back. He returned minutes later and passed them out as he sat down.

Everyone glanced at their menus. A waiter came to take drink orders. Ryo chose a Pepsi, Sage chose Sprite, Cye chose an orange, Kento chose a Root Beer, Rowen chose a Dr. Pepper, and Flash chose a Mountain Dew.

When the waiter left, Ryo looked at Flash. "I thought you drank coca cola," he said.

Flash shrugged. "I like other stuff too."

Sage opened his menu to the food section and peered closely at it. He checked each selection carefully, trying to make up his mind. Everyone else was reading their menus too, except for Kento. He was waiting for the waiter to come back so they could order their food.

By the time the waiter did come, they were all ready to order. Ryo chose a steak with mashed potatoes, and corn, Sage chose chicken bourbon, with french-fries, and rice, Rowen chose a hamburger and fries, Cye chose a small chicken, rice, and fries, Kento chose a three max burgers complete with lettuce, onions, pickles, tomato, and cheese with a large helping of french-fries, while Flash had a regular size cheeseburger and onion rings. (Ok, no more saying what they're eating. I'm starting to get hungry!)

The Waiter took their orders down and went away to fulfill them. Flash took a sip of her drink and looked at Kento. "Your mom's nice," she stated.

"Yeah, she is," Kento said with a smile. "And believe me she'll make you eat every time you come in here.

"Well, gaining weight might be a problem," Flash said.

"Why's that?" Ryo asked.

Flash shrugged. "I never stay still most of the time. Every time I eat, I always get up and do something."

"So you increase your bodily movements, and turn that food into energy so you can do what you want physically? Rowen said.

Kento had a look on his face that said, Translation, please?

Flash shrugged. "Basically. I don't eat that much though. I keep a level diet most of the time. I learned once that too much food on your stomach can slow you down. So I eat small helpings at least three times a day, plus a snack. Now pizza is another story. I could eat that all day!"

Cye was playing with the straw in his glass. He was worried about something, but was afraid to bring it up. Maybe he could ask later.

Their meals were brought and the teenagers dug in. Once their meals were finished, they said good-bye to Mama Faun, and the Ronins led Flash through the city. They went to see movie, then to the arcade, over to Cye's favorite place, Aqua World where he introduced her to some of his sea-friends, to the zoo. Flash fell in love with the wolves, and they seemed to like her. The zookeepers were puzzled at this. The Ronins thought it was funny. Rowen convinced them all to visit the library, and Flash ended up getting a card.

She stared at the plastic in her hands. "These things look so different from San Francisco library cards," she said. It was a small card that had the Japanese symbol for reading, her name, age, and her thumbprint.

"Yeah," Rowen said, "they scan your thumb, then your thumbprint, and if the two match, you take your books."

"Sweet."

Kento looked at her funny. "What's sweet?"

"Oh, that's just an expression we Americans have. It means the same as cool."

Kento nodded, and Ryo checked his watch. "OK, it's almost 5:00. We have one more place we could go."

"Let's take her to the dojo," Sage suggested.

Flash's face lit up. "Dojo?"

They went to the Date Dojo, which was really behind Sage's house, located in a three car garage. Mrs. Date welcomed Sage's friends, and greeted Flash warmly. Sage's father was at work, and his sisters, much to his relief, were out with their boyfriends.

After a little chitchat with Mrs. Date, who Flash also learned was a doctor, Sage led everyone to the dojo.

"You'll like Grandpa Date," Ryo said to Flash as they went into the dojo. "He's very cool.

Flash smiled as Sage looked around. "Grandpa?"

A tall, elderly man came out from a room. He noticed Sage and his friends, and the beautiful girl standing with them.

"Ah, Seiji," he said with a bow. They bowed back, including Flash. "You have returned, and who is this young swan you brought here?"

Flash smiled and held out her hand. "Flash Michaels, sir. It's a pleasure."

Grandpa Date smiled at her. "Likewise."

She looked around. "This is a cool place you got here."

He chuckled. "You like martial arts?"

"Like? I'm a black belt in several areas."

Grandpa Date raised a brow. "Oh, and what areas are those?"

Flash counted them off her fingers. "Karate, Aikido, Judo, Twaekwondo, Kendo, Kung Fu, and Jiu-Jitsu, not to mention kickboxing."

The Ronins all had their mouths hanging open with shock. No wonder why she was able to beat Cale and Dais and Kayura!

Grandpa Date was equally impressed. "I would like to test you, Flash. Would that be acceptable?"

"Hai," she answered. "I didn't bring a gi with me though. Gomen."

"Seiji can show you where the extras are. I'm sure we have one in your size. You may borrow it while you are here."

"Arigatou!"

Sage led Flash to the back room where the martial arts supplies were kept. Flash raised an eyebrow. "Seiji?"

He grimaced. "That's my Japanese name. He's the only one who is allowed to call me that. Everyone else regrets it when they call me *that*."

Flash nodded in understanding. She looked at all the uniforms, and checked each one for its size. She finally saw something in her size, a black gi, with red trim and belt.

Sage pointed toward the bathroom. "You can dress in there," he said. "I'll wait out here for you."

"Arigatou," Flash said and disappeared into the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Ryo, Sage, Kento, Rowen, and Cye all sat on the bleachers, watching as Grandpa Date and Flash prepared to fight.

"This should be interesting," Kento said.

Cye chuckled. "Kento, if it's fighting or eating, it's interesting to you."

Rowen looked over. "Hey, Cye, you forgot to mention videos and video games!"

"Hey!" Kento protested as the others laughed.

Grandpa Date and Flash were eyeing each other carefully. He noticed that whenever his eyes moved on a certain attack spot, her eyes would follow his. Ah, she had been trained well. He launched an attack. A sharp uppercut to the head. Flash's arm was there immediately, blocking it. She then stealthily slid her foot between his ankles, tripping him. He moved one leg back, and pressed his palms flat on the floor as he fell.

Sage's eyes widened with surprise. That was the first time he had ever seen his grandpa thrown to the floor that fast before. *She* was good.

Flash moved back a little, her eyes never leaving Grandpa Date. He was on his feet again. They moved across the floor, throwing attacks and blocking them. A few times Flash found herself on the floor, but somehow she was always able to bring Grandpa Date to the floor with her. Ryo was impressed.

Finally after an hour of combat practice, Grandpa Date smiled at Flash. "You are an excellent fighter, Flash. Who taught you?"

"Master Chinook. He came from Tokyo, Japan, and moved to San Francisco several years ago."

Grandpa Date's eyes lit up with recognition. "Would he be about 5'5, with pale blue eyes, no hair, a graying beard and mustache?"

Flash's eyes got big. "Yes, that's him! How do you know him?"

"Chinook and I have been friends for years before Sage's father was born. When you see him or talk to him, tell him that Lei Date says hello."

Flash smiled. "Will do, sir." She bowed in respect to him, and headed off to the bathroom to change. When she returned, she saw that her new friends were talking with Grandpa Date. She waited patiently. Finally Rowen looked at his watch. "We better go before Mia worries," he said.

"Time to go, then," Ryo said. They all said good-bye to Grandpa Date, then to Sage's mother, and left, heading back for the Koji mansion. As they walked along, Flash was sure she would not forget this night.