Rowen and Cye stopped dead in their tracks as they felt incredible pain going through their bodies. Their kanjis flashed brilliantly upon their foreheads. They yelped loudly, both crashing to their knees in pain as they held their heads. Shades stared at them with horror. What was wrong with them? Why were they screaming in pain, and why were these strange symbols flashing upon their foreheads like that? What was going on?

“Are you guys ok?” she cried. “What’s the matter?!”

Rowen clenched his teeth together. The pain was intense, so horrifying, he believed he would die at any time right there, even if he wasn’t the one the pain was being given to in the first place. “R..Ry..Ryo….” he managed to get out.

Shades frowned even more. “Ryo?” She wanted to badly help them, but she had no idea what was going on or who or what this Ryo even was.

“He’s…he’s… a friend of ours…..” Cye gasped through pain. He let out a cry as the pain seemed to increase. Rowen felt it as well, and both Ronins knew something had happened to their friend.

“Ryo?” Shades repeated.. She decided to try something. Perhaps one of the other Warriors had met him already. She connected telepathically with Flash, figuring she would have the most answers. ‘Flash, you there?’

Flash answered back which was a good thing to Shades. ‘I’m here, Shades. You okay?’

Shades frowned at that. Flash seemed genuinely worried now, and Flash worried was not good. And neither was Flash angry good. If Flash had wanted to she could blow up the entire world. Thank goodness Flash was on the side of good, and cannot be controlled by evil or magical forces. ‘Flash, what’s going on here?’

Shades let out a sigh as the telepathic connection was broken. She stared down sadly at the two before her. “I know you’re sensing your friend’s pain right now, and I’m sorry about that.”

“H..how.. did you know about that?” Cye asked as fresh tears ran down his face.

“I talked to Flash telepathically. She told me all of what’s going on, and she’s going after your friend, Ryo.”

That was a relief for them both. They could only hope that Flash got to him in time.

Kento could also feel Ryo’s pain, but he held it in, wanting to go and save his friend. He thought about running off on his own, finding Ryo, and then saving him when he realized he had no idea how to get around this dark castle, and also the fact that he could possibly be killed or even captured. He had to use his head. He looked toward the two Warriors in hopes they would help him.

“Guys, wait, please!” he cried out.

Scorpio and Chilie both stopped in their tracks and turned to look at him. They could see that a kanji was flashing brilliantly upon his forehead, and that he looked like he was in pain, even if he was trying to hide it. That brought a lot of concern to them.

“Kento, what’s wrong?” Chilie asked with a frown.

“It’s… it’s my friend.. Ryo.. He’s in trouble.. I have to… I have to save him…”

The two Warriors gave each other a look, then nodded in agreement.

“Okay, Kento, we’ll go find your friend,” Scorpio said, still very worried about his own friends.

Kento managed to smile gratefully at them, then followed them to look for Ryo. He thought to himself that if anything happened to Ryo, he would make someone pay.

Thunder could only watch in horror as Sage screamed in pain for no apparent reason. The warrior was on his side, holding his head, and thrashing about. What was going on here? He had no idea, but he was going to find out, and if possible to help Sage. He shifted to Second Sight and stared in horror at the vision he saw. It was so horrifying, that it reminded him of his own horrible torture that he had gone through a long time ago. He couldn’t stand it anymore, the vision was too terrifying for him. He shifted back to regular sight, and felt that he was shaking. And he couldn’t stop shaking. Tears ran down his cheeks and he quickly brushed them away. He looked toward Sage who was still screaming in pain. He badly wanted to help him, but since it was not his own pain, but that of another’s that he felt, he couldn’t help him, and that made the Warrior feel terrible.

He heard footsteps and looked up to see who was coming. He glared as the Guardian came into view. “Suicide!” he hissed.

Suicide gave him a glare, then looked toward the screaming twin of Storm’s. As Thunder watched in horror, the Guardian opened the cell door to Sage’s and went inside. A swift kick to the head ended the blond warrior’s screaming. Suicide turned and left abruptly as the door to the cell slammed shut and locked.

Suicide gave Thunder a warning glare as he stormed past, but Thunder paid no attention to him. He stared sadly at the unconscious warrior lying on that cold miserable floor.

He moved forward, not caring what would happen to him if he helped Sage. He knew Sage needed his help, and he was going to do it, one way or another. He reached through the bars and tried to touch Sage so he could heal him. He was only able to touch Sage with the tip of his fingers, but it would do. He closed his eyes in concentration, and begin to heal the warrior as his aura glowed red around him, and that lightning bolt appeared in his forehead.

A few seconds later, Sage came to, and he immediately wished he hadn’t. The pain was still there. Thunder sensed this immediately, and quickly put Sage into a deep sleep. Now he wasn’t sure what to do.

Ryo screamed loudly as this monster, this tyrant sucked the very essence of his being from him. Somehow Tutock was sucking out his armor from him by holding Ryo up to his face and pressing his lips against Ryo’s mouth as if giving him resuscitation. His eyes were wide with horror and filled with pain as he wished he could somehow fight against this monster.

Tutock could feel the power flowing into him. He was getting stronger. Soon he would be able to defeat Flash of the Firestarter and be rid of her once and for all.

Ryo screamed in agony as he felt the rest of his armor slip away from him. His eyes closed, and he went limp like a dead man.

Tutock pulled his head back to watch the young boy’s head fall against his chest. An evil grin came to his face. At last the power of this boy was his! Laughter rang throughout the entire castle.

Flash heard the evil laughter and she clenched her fists angrily. T-boz was frowning beside her. Something must have happened to make Tutock so pleased, but what? And now Flash was throwing off heat waves. This wasn’t good.

“Flash…”

Flash was shaking with anger but she managed to control it. “I’m killing Tutock once and for all.” Without further explanation she managed to summon Blaze to her. Thankfully Snow was with them, and was all right.

“Flash! T-boz!” he said, happy to see them. He sensed Flash’s anger and knew that something was wrong as they could hear Tutock’s laughter. He dared not to speak, but quietly awaited orders.

Finally Flash spoke. “Blaze, heal my ankle, then stay with T-boz, Snow, and White Blaze. Search for the other Warriors and Ronins and round them up together, then get them out of this castle and faraway. This ends tonight.”

The way Flash had said “ends” was enough the put a chill down all of their spines, including White Blaze’s. Blaze healed her with his crystal, and she took off, unable to be seen because she moved so fast.

“We better get going then,” T-boz said softly. Snow nodded in agreement, and the two Warriors followed behind Blaze and his companion.

“Snow, one question.” T-boz said quietly as they moved on.

“Yes?”

“Where did that beautiful white tiger come from?”

“I don’t know. He was with Blaze when I woke up.”

“Oh.” T-boz said no more, and figured out that the tiger came with Flash’s other friends. The tiger seemed tensed and agitated, but somehow Blaze kept him back. Of course that was no quandary for the wolf. He was bigger than White Blaze and had a lot of power to him. Luckily for them all he was on their side.

Flash continued to run through the castle halls, defeating any soldierknight or Tophetian spirit that came near her. She was highly pissed off, and not in the mood to be messed with. Tutock and this whole castle was coming down once and for all.

Flash was moving quickly down the hall, her eyes were flashing brightly as she was beyond pissed. She was going to make Tutock suffer before she finished him off. Make him suffer like he had made her friends suffer, like he had made Ryo suffer. He would die slowly and painfully under her hand.

Flash knew she was normally not like that but when someone drove her to the edge she was extremely dangerous. She had battled many before, and Tutock was one of them. Time again and again she constantly was fighting. She didn’t mind fighting. That came with the job of being a Warrior, sworn to protect, destined to fight all her life. Yes, it was hard, but she had the faith to carry on, and with that faith she could not be defeated by any.

She moved on, speeding up a bit. She was heading directly for the throne room, and there she and Tutock would battle it out once and for all. She could hear his evil laughter from where she was and it angered her even more. She was allowing her anger to build, but kept calm at the same time. Before, years ago, she had had a very bad temper, and the results had been disastrous. Thanks to Chinook’s training, she had learned to harness her power and anger. She used that training now, becoming even more dangerous than ever before.

She arrived at the double doors, and with a blast of power, blew the doors into oblivion. She stood there straight as a post, unmoving, her eyes narrowed, fists clenched tightly, jaw set, body tensed and ready as she glared right at Tutock as they stood to face to face.

Neither moved as they studied one another. Each could remember the times of battles they had fought, both were very sure of themselves as they prepared for the fight of the century.

White Blaze was agitated as he sniffed his way to his master. He tore down soldierknights who attacked him, and avoided the Tophetian spirits the best he could. He could sense Ryo wasn’t far away so he continued to run, hoping to get to him in time.

Blaze quickly begin to gather up the Warriors and the Ronins. He used his power to transport all of them out of the castle and about 100 miles from it, much to the Ronins’ surprise and anger. They didn’t understand the necessity of having been forced out the castle like that.

“Why were we thrown out like that?!” Kento demanded. “Ryo’s still in there!”

“Kento, try to calm down and listen,” T-boz tried.

Kento glared angrily at her, and she frowned deeply. She was worried they would all end up fighting over this, and she couldn’t blame them for being upset. But only if they would let them elucidate the situation to them!

Rowen was by Sage’s side watching over the unconscious boy. For the past several minutes all of the Ronins had felt empty, like a piece of them was missing, and they all knew what it was. They had to get Ryo back, and his armor. He looked up miserably and angrily. “Why? Why were we kicked out like that, and Ryo left there to suffer and die?”

“Because Strata, had you and the other Ronins and Warriors have been left in the castle along with Wildfire and Firestarter you would have all perished, excluding Storm who can’t be killed through violence.”

All conscious Ronins gaped in shock at the overgrown wolf. Had he really just talked like a human? It was totally unbelievable. Rowen was wondering how it was possible, Kento thought he was just imagining things, and Cye was sure he was dreaming.

“I know what you are all thinking,” Blaze said in response to them. “You wonder how is that I am able to talk to you like this. I have been able to speak since finding the Power Element Crystal.”

“Power Element Crystal?” Rowen asked, bewildered.

“Yes. It started over a year and a half ago. At that time I was living with Flash, her father, stepmother, and half twin brother and sister Sammy and Cammy who were three then, in San Francisco, California. I was already then an abnormal wolf because of my height. But I could not speak nor use my powers since they had to be activated. I am part of the Warriors, not exactly like them, but I hold them together and keep them from being separated for very long. I found the Power Element Crystal one night in the woods of the city. I was chosen to bear it, and I only I can control it. The crystal cannot be corrupted, cloned, or destroyed in any shape or form. Nothing can prevail against it. It holds all the major elements and virtues and controls all of them, except for one’s own power.”

“And who would that be?” Cye asked in wonder.

“Flash.”

“Why can’t it?” Kento asked.

“Because Flash’s virtue is faith. You can break someone’s virtue of power, love, hatred, determination, will, and others, but it’s very hard to break faith. And Flash has a lot of faith. I’m not saying her virtue can be broken, it’s just that she cannot be controlled nor can her power, even if you are a fire elemental or having psychic power. No magic anywhere can control her, and all fires obey her whether started by her or not.”

The Ronins were stunned and they looked at the other Warriors who all nodded firmly. This was all hard to believe and they really didn’t quite understand it. They had much to learn about these Warriors with these mystical armors.

“But what about them?” Rowen asked the wolf, gesturing to the other Warriors.

“Each of the Warriors are connected to one another much like you Ronins are connected. However their armors were not made from their enemy.”

“Thank goodness,” Ice muttered. He was glad to be free finally, having been suddenly rescued when Blaze summoned all of them together at Flash’s command.

Blaze continued without missing a beat. “Their armors are made from either elements or magical properties. Scorpio’s armor is made from pure water, and he can control water and create water, but only when he is in armor. His virtue is forgiveness and he can forgive anybody anything. And Torrent, you and he have a lot in common, regarding sea creatures.”

Cye and Scorpio shared a knowing grin at one another.

“Ice’s armor is made from the earth, and like you, Hardrock, he can control the earth, but only in armor. His virtue is equity. Snow’s armor is made from pure ice water. He controls all winter precipitation when he’s in armor, and can produce it. His virtue is alliance. Shade’s armor is made from magical properties, or rather confusion to be exact. Shades armor cannot be very well explained I’m afraid. When she is in armor she can cause the enemy to see illusions and she cannot be fooled by illusions herself. Her virtue is mercy.

“T-boz’s armor is also made out of magical properties. When in armor she can become invisible like a ghost, but to the untrained she cannot be detected. Her virtue is hope. Chilie’s armor is made from pure love. With her armor on she can talk to any animal there is and gain their help no matter how vicious and wild they can be. Her virtue is love.

“Thunder’s armor is made from pure lightning. He can control all forms of electricity while in armor. He has many abilities which include Second Sight, the ability to see things hidden such as auras and powers and abilities, amongst other things. Example, he could look at a glass of water and tell if it’s been poisoned or not but only if he uses the Second Sight. You already know that he can heal any wound, and that he can raise those slain, and cannot be killed himself. He can see through illusions and he cannot be controlled or polluted, nor possessed or brainwashed. His virtue is knowledge. Flash’s armor is made out of fire. She can cause fire to appear with or without her armor which you already know about, as she does have pyrokinesis, which enables her to use her power more efficiently.

“And the Firestarter armor is made from that itself, meaning that Flash’s own power created the armor, thus linking it to the other seven armors. You know she can run extremely fast, up to 6000 miles per hour and beyond. She is the fastest being in the universe, and she can run for hours without stopping or getting tired. She is a spirit slayer, meaning she kills evil spirits no matter what type and how powerful.

“The main ones she kills though are the Tophetian spirits here in Tophet. She cannot be controlled by magic nor can she be possessed by anything. Any spirit who tries to possess her without permission from her are instantly killed. As of now Flash’s powers are growing. “Each time she uses her power, it grows more and more in intensity.”

The Ronins continued to listen with shock and almost disbelief, but they knew that every word the wolf had spoken was true. They could feel it inside them. The next few minutes were spent in absolute silence as none of them were sure what to say now. Blaze himself had taken a pause to allow all of them to adjust to what he had just told them. It was very confusing to them all, but he sensed within time they would all understand it someday.