Rowen was very tensed, his fingers were practically trembling against the drawstring of his bow. This was not good. Was he scared? No.. nervous? Perhaps. Who was he kidding? He was scared to death. The sound of the footsteps were getting closer and closer and sweat was practically pouring down his face. Was his fingers shaking? He thought they were still, but now he couldn’t be so sure.

The footsteps got closer and closer. Shades raised her boomerangs up slightly preparing to throw them. They could now see a shadow coming around the corner. She crouched down, getting ready to attack, not daring to take any chances.

Rowen’s grip released slightly on the drawstring as he lowered his bow and arrow. He recognized that shadow anywhere… Now he just had to tell Shades who it was.

“YAH!!” Shades let out a battle cry and charged.

Rowen looked up in horror. “Shades, no! That’s my friend!!”

Shades heard that, and quickly twisted her body in midair, then landed on her feet, standing just before a shocked boy in a light blue armor. She peered closely at him, and opened her mouth to apologize, but the boy stepped back and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.

Well, this was a surprise, she thought. I nearly clobbered him and he’s apologizing to me?

Rowen stepped forward. “Cye, are you all right?”

Cye nodded, a bit shakily. “Yes, I’m fine. This place just gives me the creeps. I haven’t been able to find any of the Warriors.” He looked toward Shades. “I see you have one though.”

Rowen nodded. “Yes, I did.

“The name’s Shades, now let’s go.”

The two boys just gave each other a look, then followed her, their weapons were kept firmly in their hands as they moved on, awaiting for any danger that could lurk nearby.

Ryo was in shock. Before him sat the hugest man he had ever seen in his entire life. This guy had to be at least eight feet tall. He wore a black robe, his eyes pure red with a bright red tiny light for pupils. Power seemed to surround him, and Ryo, for the first time in his life felt afraid. Of course not being able to move either didn’t help. Damn it! What were these things tying him down like this? He hated having no control over his own body. Then a thought came to him. Hey, at least my mind’s still free. I just hope they don’t try to control me or worse.

Tutock stared down at the three boys, a grin spread across his face. “Very good, Guardians.” The five Guardians bowed with grins of evil on their faces as they looked toward their captured prizes.

Thunder was struggling wildly to get free, and it was all Sin and Suicide could do to keep a good grip on him. He bucked and fought like a wild animal, desperate to get free.

Ryo watched him, hoping he could get free, then all hope died when Tutock spoke, his evil voice practically shattering his ear drums.

“ENOUGH!!” A blast of black power came out and struck Thunder in the torso, causing the Warrior to scream in pain as he fell backward onto his bound wrists. Sweat poured down his face and his body trembled with pain. The pain was unbearable and tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Stand him up!” Tutock commanded.

It was done. Thunder stood there trembling from the immense pain he felt, and Ryo could only look up at him helplessly. I wish I could help him, he thought quietly. But I can’t get free and every time I try I get more tired. What are we going to do? It all seemed hopeless for them.

“Now,” Tutock said as he lowered his hand down to the arm of his throne. “I have brought Storm here for one reason.” He looked toward Ryo. “And I have brought you and your friend here for another reason.”

“And what reason is that?” Ryo spat, his eyes flaming. Even though he felt weakened, he was not going to give up fighting. No, he was a Ronin Warrior, and a Ronin Warrior fights for humanity until death if necessary.

Tutock gave a malevolent smirk. “I have learned that you, my boy, have fire powers like Firestarter has. I am highly interested in that.”

Ryo rolled his eyes. “Look, I don’t have pyrokinesis okay! So you might as well let the three of us go.”

Tutock was not the least daunted. “I am well aware that you do not carry that power, boy. But you have an armor that does. And I intend to use that armor to destroy Flash of the Firestarter once and for all.”

Ryo glared at him with hatred. He barely knew this monster and already he wanted nothing more than to blast him away with the Inferno. But he couldn’t call the Inferno. What was he going to do? And where Flash and the other Ronin Warriors?

“As for your friend there,” Tutock continued, looking down at Sage. “He’ll be Storm’s replacement when Storm is unconscious or too weak to heal or bring my servants back to life should they be killed by the Warriors or those other friends of yours.”

Thunder glared at him. “I’ll never serve you!”

Tutock looked toward him, eyes flashing. “You will serve me, Storm, or you will feel pain. And we all know how terrible it is for you to feel pain.”

Thunder’s glare increased and he angrily looked away. How he despised this tyrant! He was a Warrior, not some common slave! And now Flash’s new friends were in danger. Why did this have to happen?!

Ryo was confused though. Pain was terrible for anyone, how could it be any different for Thunder?

“Take Storm and his twin away to their rooms,” Tutock ordered. “I will keep the other boy here. It’s time I learned how powerful he really is.”

The Guardians bowed and disappeared with Sage and Thunder, as Ryo watched in horror. “SAGE!! THUNDER!!” He bit his lip worriedly, then turned to glare once more at Tutock. He did not like that smile on Tutock’s face.

Flash continued on her way down the hall. She was getting agitated like something bad had happened again and it was all she could do not to scream. Still she knew she had to keep her cool, otherwise if she lost all control it would be disastrous. She ran down a flight of stairs, tripped suddenly and tumbled head first down then. She kept her body relaxed, and covered her head. The fall hurt her, but it didn’t hurt as bad as it would have had she been all stiffed. She landed on the floor what seemed like hours later, but in fact only minutes had passed. She rolled once, then quickly got to her feet, not wanting to give an enemy the chance of finding her off-guard.

Pain shot through her left ankle, and she bit down on her lip. She looked down at it, and grimaced. Terrific. Sprained ankle. Just what I needed.

But there was no time to worry about pain now. She had to save her friends. She moved onward, limping, but heading down the hall fast. She could sense one of her friends was very close by, and she begin to move a bit faster. She came to a locked door and used her good foot to kick it in.

The huge dragon stood in the center of the room, a white jewel embedded into its forehead. Flash looked toward the mouth of the dragon and her eyes beheld T-boz. She was relieved for finding her. Now she just had to get her out of here.

“Flash?” came a weak voice.

Flash limped into the room and nodded. “Yes, T-boz, it’s me. I’m going to get you out of here.”

The girl smiled weakly. “I knew you’d come.”

Flash’s power went into action as she focused all of her power on that one jewel. There was an increase in temperature and the jewel suddenly exploded. The chains released

T-boz and she tumbled out of the mouth of the dragon as Flash’s power died down. Flash dove forward and caught the girl in time before she hit the floor. Once again pain shot through her ankle, and she did her best to ignore it. She looked worriedly at T-boz, checking for any injury.

“Flash, I’m fine.. Just sore. From all that shock,” T-boz assured her as Flash gently set her down. Right away T-boz’s sharp eyes caught the look of pain on Flash’s face even if Flash was hiding it. “You’re hurt.”

“Just a sprained ankle. I’ll be fine. We need to get moving.”

T-boz looked at the ankle worriedly, but knew Flash was right. She armored up, feeling strengthened, and followed Flash out.

Sage’s eyes were fluttering rapidly as he began to come to. He was aware of his face pressing against something cold and his eyes slowly opened to take in his surroundings. He was in a cell of some sort with a hard floor and two walls made out of stone. He sat up, blinking, a bit confused, then realized he had been captured.

“Sage?” came a familiar voice from his left. He turned to his left and saw more bars blocking his way from freedom. He felt as if he were in jail, but this was worse. Much worse.

“Thunder,” he said softly. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked in concerned.

Thunder shook his head sadly, eyes lowered to the floor. His body trembled and he looked scared almost. For what reason? True it was alright to be afraid of what was happening, but why was he afraid? Sage didn’t ask that. “Hey, try to cheer up. We’ll get out of here. I bet the others are looking for us right now.”

“I know they are,” Thunder said quietly. “I um.. healed your wound by the way. You had a nasty bump on your forehead and a broken nose.”

Sage felt his face. He remembered being thrown first face into the wall, and feeling pain before he had lost consciousness. His face felt fine, as if nothing had even happened to him. He looked back at Thunder. “How long have I been out?”

“About forty-five minutes actually. I couldn’t heal you until the Guardians left us alone.” Thunder was leaning up against the wall, staring down at the dusty floor.

Sage stared at him for a few moments. He wondered why he was locked up. He already knew why Thunder was locked up, but why him? What did this Tutock want with him? Sage didn’t know, but he did know that he wanted some answers and soon.

Blaze sped down the hall with White Blaze right behind him. The crystal around the wolf’s neck had been glowing more strongly now, and the wolf seemed more than eager to follow it as it led them. They passed several soldierknights who tried their best to stop the two large animals, but with a fierce attack, they were nothing more than pieces of scrap metal, and the Tophetian spirits who had been controlling the soldierknights were immediately destroyed by the crystal around Blaze’s neck. The two animals continued on, running down a flight of stairs, then turning around a corner and running down the hall. Eventually they came to a locked door.

White Blaze stood there, watching as Blaze closed his eyes as if he were concentrating. The crystal glowed brighter, and a spark shot out of the crystal hitting the door, forcing it to open. Blaze ran into the room. The tiger followed, and stared up at the humongous black and orange dragon that stood before them. It’s head was held high, the mouth wide open. There was a figure hanging limply within the jaws. It looked dead. White Blaze was suddenly reminded of the time when his charges, Ryo and Rowen had gone into the Dynasty alone with him to save their captured friends. It had been a terrible experience for them all. He stood back, watching as the wolf stood there quietly as the crystal begin to glow once more, more brilliantly this time. The light flared up and suddenly struck the jewel piece embedded into the dragon’s forehead. This action caused the chains to release their prisoner. The boy fell forward, only to be caught in the nick of time by Blaze. He laid limply on the wolf’s back.

The tiger didn’t need to be told twice.

Chilie gritted her teeth as she slammed another soldierknight into the wall. Things were not going well for her, Scorpio, nor Kento. They were outnumbered badly, and she wasn’t sure how much longer it would be before they all ended up captured. Next to her Scorpio was swinging his spearstaff around catching soldierknights off guard, and finishing them off with a maneuver to the neck.

“Scorpio, this isn’t good!” Chilie said almost fearfully.

“I know!” he replied. “But we have to keep fighting! We don’t have a choice!”

The battle continued on as Chilie knew that Scorpio was right, but just how long could they keep this up? Time and time again, their surekills were called, but it didn’t seem to matter how many soldierknights had been taken out. More took their place.

Kento finally snapped out of his daze and saw what was happening. A low growl emitted from within his throat and his eyes flashed. He could see the trouble the two Warriors were having and knew they needed his help. He got up and let out a war cry and attacked. His bo swung against a soldierknight knocking it several feet backward, and his fist punched right through the faceplate of another.

Chilie and Scorpio were very much relieved to see that Kento was all right. And the way he was enjoying himself during the fight reminded them both of Ice.

“And one for you! And one for you!” Kento shouted each time he struck a soldierknight. He suddenly begin to twirl his weapon around his head, gathering up energy for his attack. “Now it’s time to bury all of you losers! Iron Rock Crusher!”

The attack went out and the floor shook beneath them. The two Warriors watches, astounded as the floor split open before their very eyes. He had an attack just like Ice. What was going on here?

As they watched the soldierknights were soon buried beneath them, and Kento was twirling his weapon about triumphantly. “I love a good burial place,” he said.

“Come on!” Scorpio cried as he turned and raced down the hall again.

Chilie followed behind him and soon caught up. Kento caught up as well, and could only wonder what happened to his friends.

T-boz and Flash were walking down the hall somewhere deep under the castle, but not on the lowest floor. Flash was actually limping as her ankle had swollen up and was pretty badly bruised. It hurt awful, but she had had worse pain than this before. She had to keep going for the Warriors’ sake. Little did she know there was even more people to rescue, but she kept having a nagging suspicion that someone else was in danger at the moment, and the thought of it worried her.
“Are you sure you’re all right, Flash?” T-boz asked with concerned.

“I’m fine, T-boz. I can’t let a wounded ankle get me down. I have to continue this, and find the others!”

T-boz nodded, but frowned in concern. “Hopefully once we find Thunder he can heal you.”

“Yeah, and if he can’t I know Sage can.”

T-boz continued to follow her, but with a confused look on her face. Sage? she wondered. Who or what could that be?

Ryo continued to glare at this Tophetian master who seemed to have been meditating for awhile now. He still couldn’t struggle and decided that any more time he used to struggle against these binds was wasting more of his energy. He had to save what strength he had so that when he was freed he could help fight against this tyrant. He wondered how Sage was, and was worried about him. He thought of Flash and hoped she was okay, and hoped his other friends, and her friends were all right as well. He had no way of reaching them as he had suddenly been blocked off from them somehow. It had to have been these binds on him. What else could it have been? He felt Tutock shift on his throne, and glanced upward at him, then frowned with extreme worry and even slight fear as the evil emperor rose to his feet.

“Now boy, it’s time to make you show me just how powerful you are!” He pointed at Ryo, and black energy shot out of his index finger and struck Ryo, covering him completely. The force of the power lifted Ryo high into the air and he began to glow brilliantly as the power from Tutock’s hand literally struck him alive with much pain. And Ryo screamed.