Ryo was a bit worried though. He could see that the plane was getting closer to the ground. He quickly put out an emergency signal to the nearest tower, but all he got was static. "This is just great! There’s no frequency!"

"Calm down," Flash said. She was working at the controls. He watched as she pulled the throttle back, checked the pressure fuel, switched the fuel injector from mechanical to automatic, and then pulled the steering wheel back towards her. The plane bounced, shifted, and then it began to pull up.

Ryo stared in amazement. He watched as the ground went further and further away. Flash wasn’t done yet though. She took the throttle again and eased it up, leveling the plane out so that it was even.

"How did you learn how to do that?" Ryo asked.

I traveled with my dad to Siberia once, and we sat up in the cockpit with the pilot. I watched everything the pilot did."

"So you learned how to fly just by watching him?"

"Yep."

"Wow."

Flash continued to fly the plane as Ryo tried in vain to get through to the Tower. He sighed in frustration, then looked down under the console. He gasped. "No wonder we can’t through!

"Nani?"

"They cut the wires!" Ryo fumed. "I’m going to get Rowen. He can fix this."

Flash merely nodded as Ryo left the cockpit. As he walked through the cabins, he could see that the people were more calm now, just a bit shaky. He found Rowen in the third cabin, talking gently to a woman with two children. The woman smiled and nodded at something Rowen was saying, and Rowen smiled back as he straightened up.

"Rowen!" Ryo said as he came up to him. Rowen turned around and Ryo took him off to the side, and quickly explained things as quietly as he could without alarming the passengers. Rowen’s eyes widened, and he followed Ryo back toward the cockpit. Sage, Kento, and Cye stared curiously. "I’ll explain in a few minutes," Ryo promised them as he disappeared through the curtain.

"What was that all about?" Cye wondered.

"I don’t know," Sage replied. "But whatever it is, it can’t be good."

Flash looked up and smiled as Ryo and Rowen entered. "Good afternoon, boys, I am your captain for today. Our destination will be the ground just as soon as we get permission from the Tower to land."

Rowen smiled as Ryo laughed. "Well, captain, I’m here to fix your problem," Rowen said as Ryo showed the cut out wires. Rowen wrinkled his nose and got right to work. The next few minutes were spent in silence. And then suddenly a loud BOOM was heard. The passengers screamed in terror, and Ryo looked out the side door window. His eyes widened. Several small attack planes, ones he had never seen before were heading right for them, and firing at them.

Flash reached for the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are under attack by psychotic pilots. If you’ve never been on a rollercoaster before you are about to experience it. Fasten your seatbelts tightly and make sure all compartments are sealed tightly. Thank you."

Kento raised his eyebrows in surprise. He knew they were being shot at, so he, Sage, and Cye had all ordered the people to lean forward in their seats and cover their heads and children if they had any. The people obeyed immediately. It seemed these teenagers with the mysterious subarmor were a lot more calm than they all were.

Cye looked out the window and gasped. A horde of planes were heading right for them, firing rapidly. Just as he thought they were about to hit, the plane suddenly lurched forward into a nose dive. Cye lost his balance stumbling into Sage who crashed against a passenger’s seat. Sage gritted his teeth, and struggled not to fall onto the elderly gentleman, and not to loose his grip on Cye. And Cye held on.

Ryo’s eyes were wide. The plan was traveling in a straight line on its nose, going at least 5000 mph. Rowen seemed quite relaxed as he worked on the wires, then again, being the bearer of Strata, it seemed perfectly natural. He looked out the window and saw in the mirror that the attacking planes were following them. He looked down and saw that they were above the ocean.

"Uh, Flash, isn’t a bad time to go swimming?" he asked nervously.

"No," she replied. "I know what I’m doing."

Ryo nodded and held on. He would trust her.

They came closer to the water, and closer, and closer, and then suddenly Flash pulled back on the steering wheel, and the plane suddenly went up, which caused Rowen to fly back and hit the cockpit door. He shook his head, clearing it. They heard several splashes and crashes, and Ryo looked out the window to see that two planes had crashed into the ocean, and four planes had crashed in together. He let out a sigh as Flash flew the plane up. Rowen had returned to the wires and was working on them again. And then Ryo laughed in relief.

"You did it!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, but it’s not over yet," Flash warned. "We still have to land this thing."

Ryo nodded and Rowen cried out triumphantly. "They’re fixed!" Ryo grinned at Flash who grinned back as Ryo grabbed the microphone. "Mayday, mayday! Flight 777 seeking help from Tower if available. Come in Tower.

Static, and then "We read you loud and clear, Flight 777. This is Tower ORC. What is the problem?"

"Tower ORC, we have been attacked by an unknown airforce. The pilot and his copilot are deceased. Request for emergency landing."

"Request permitted. Tell me Flight 777 do you need help in landing the plane?" Flash shook her head, and Ryo said, "No, Tower. My friend is handling it all."

"Well, tell your friend they are doing a fine job in flying. We got you on our radar. The plane is flying smooth and even."

"Thank you, sir!" Flash said with a beam.

"Now, veer off to a degree of about 45 angels north. You’ll see a long gray strip right before. We have emergency cruisers on their way now, and they will meet you there. Over and out."

"Over and out. Arigatou, Tower ORC," Ryo said as he disconnected. He leaned back in his seat. Flash followed the directions of the tower and saw the strip that tower was talking about. She pulled up on the throttle, pushed the steering wheel forward, titled it to the left, so they flew over the landing strip, then back to the right so they were directly above it. She maneuvered the controls, and then the plane began to descend nice and easy. As they came closer to the ground, she pulled back a bit on the throttle, and pulled the steering wheel back up a bit. The plane landed on the runway, and bounced once, then continued down the runway. Flash pulled up all the throttles, switched the fuel injector back to mechanic, lowered the pressure gauge, and applied pressure to the brakes. The plane finally came to a stop, just as emergency cruisers came out to meet them.

The passengers all exited the plane, some shaky, some excited, and some as pale as ghosts. Those that were in shock were taken to the hospital for treatment. Ryo held onto White Blaze’s cage, and Flash stood next to Blaze’s cage. The animals were silent, watching the intense activity through their doors.

"Can you believe all this?" Sage said in wonderment, as the passengers were checked carefully. Mechanics checked the plane from nose to tail, checking for damage.

"Actually, I can believe all of this," Flash said quietly. "It’s the just the thing, Tutock would do."

Cye turned to look at her. "You mean those planes attacking us, were his?"

"No. Tutock had the planes under control. There were no pilots in those planes."

"Yeah, I noticed that," Ryo said. Flash nodded in reply.

"I am not giving up this fight," Flash said with intensity. "I’ve sworn to crush the Tophetian Master."

Ryo was a bit surprise. He had spoken almost the exact words when he had first started out.

"Uh, guys?" Rowen said. "We have company coming." All of them looked up to see a team of news reporters heading their way. Flash and Ryo quickly let their animals out, and the eight of them vanished into the crowds.

T-boz frowned. She and the other Warriors had been out for three hours straight searching for Thunder, with no sign of him. They had called out his named, and checked with the local neighbors, but no one had seen him.

"Where could he be?" Chilie wondered anxiously. Her green eyes peered up the street, checking out every blond haired guy that came by. None of them were Thunder.

T-boz pursed her lips tightly. "Let’s split up into teams of two. Ice and Shades will take the south, Scorpio and Snow will take the north, Chilie and I will take the west."

"What of the east side?" Scorpio asked.

"We’ll work our way around there," T-boz said. "Meet back here in three hours."

The Warriors nodded and headed off, searching for Thunder.

Thunder was shaking, badly. He had been shaking ever since the Dragon had stopped electrocuting him, which had been about an hour ago. His hair was damp and matted to his forehead from his sweat. His body burned and smelled like sulfur. His shoulders and arms had major cramps, and the cuffs were cutting into his wrists, causing the blood to run down his arms.

He let out a long sigh. "This is not my day," he told himself. He shifted the best he could, and looked down. Gee, the floor looks interesting today, he thought sarcastically. Truth to be told he was scared. Scared his friends would end up like he was. One good thing about being the bearer of the Storm armor was that he had the power to heal and raise the dead, as long as they did not die of natural causes brought on by themselves. It would have to be battle related. And Thunder could bring back anyone who had been killed in battle. But he would not being able to bring his friends back to life, if he could not get near them to place his hands on them. He wanted to get out of here. He hoped his friends would be able to rescue him soon, without being caught themselves. This worried him much. He let out another long sigh and shifted uncomfortably. "Guys, where are you?"

"Any sign of him?" Chilie asked Shades after checking very store, every backyard, every hiding place.

"No," Shades replied a little testily. She wasn’t snapping at her friend. The Warrior of Ataxia was just worried. She was in a foul mood because they had been searching nonstop for Thunder and hadn’t seen a sign of him. It was like he had vanished into thin air!

"We have to find him!" Chilie said, turning to look up an alleyway. All she saw was a black cat. No time to say hello. Got to find Thunder.

And then they felt a presence and whirled around, their symbols lighting upon their foreheads. Shades bore a question mark on her forehead, and Chilie bore a heart on hers. The two Warriors glared at the figure before them.

He was dressed in a red and green armor and carried a large nodatchi. The shoulder guards of his armor were upraised, each with two long wide spikes protruding from both guards. The breastplate had four spikes pointing outwards, the arm guards were pretty thick, yet light, his gloved fingers had brass knuckles on them. The hip guards were narrowed, covering his hips and groin area quite well, and the boots he wore, were heavy and steeled toed with a single spike protruding from the big toe area. And the helmet was in a V shaped with two large horns going left and right on either side of it.

"Savage, Guardian of Hatred," Chilie stated, eyeing their enemy up and down.

"Hello, Warriors!" Savage hissed coldly. "Nice to see you still around!" He smirked. "Then again, how disgusting it is to see you still around!"

"Oh yeah?" Shades retorted. "Look who’s calling who disgusting! You look like you just crawled out from under a pile of trash! Oh, wait, forgot. YOU ARE TRASH!!!"

Savage glared at her. "It doesn’t matter what you think of me, you little bitch. Master Tutock wants you brought to him, and I intend to do it."

"Well, you’re gonna get a hard time from us," Chilie stated. "And it’ll be our pleasure!" She suddenly threw up her arm and tilted her face to the sky as a bright purple light emanated from her as she shouted, "Armor of the Warrior! Now come!" The light intensified, but she could hear Shades repeating the same words, knowing her Russian friend was glowing in her own green light. When the light faded, she was dressed in a purple armor. The top of the helmet was upraised, like several blocks stacked side by side, the shoulder guards were rounded, the arm guards were smooth and upraised at the shoulders, but near the forearms they were down raised. The breastplate was shaped outward, and then as it was went down, it was shaped inward, and there were several different sets of small spikes coming from it. The knee guards poked out some, each with two thin spikes protruding from them, one right under the other. Her hip guards curled inwards, each lined with five spikes going outwards. Her visor appeared over her eyes, and a pair of slingshot daggers (combo of a dagger and a slingshot put together) appeared in either hand.

Shades armor was green. The breastplate was wide and smooth, her shoulder guards were puffy and wide, each with two large spikes sticking out on either side of her arms. The knee guards were shaped into a V going downward, with three spikes on either side of both legs. Her helmet was rounded and the top was pretty bumpy. Her visor appeared down over her eyes, and two large boomerangs appeared in her hands.

The lights faded from the two girls, and they stood ready.

"Ready to get your ass kicked?" Shades snarled, holding up her boomerangs.

Savage smirked. "We’ll see who gets their ass kicked, Ataxia."

Shades looked ready to curse him out, but Savage raises his sword and began twirling it around his head as yellow and black energy lights began to spark. "Sabotage Strike!" he cried, and swept his sword downward into a wide sweeping arc.

"Scatter!" Chilie cried. The two girls leapt in opposite directions, going as high as twenty feet in the air. Shades somersaulted, then turned back and did a flying leap kick, scoring a hit right in Savage’s face.

The Guardian went flying back, stunned from the blow, but he recovered quickly and charged for Shades. He brought his sword down upon her, and she used her weapons to block each blow. The fight was intense as they battled one another. He laid a punch to her neck. She returned the favor by punching him in his stomach. Arms and legs flew through the air in battle formation, sometimes connecting with flesh, and other times missing. Finally Savage made a fake strike, and when Shades had missed, he used his foot to send her flying several feet backward, where she slammed against a tall oak tree and went crashing to the ground.

"SHADES!!!" Chilie cried in horror for her friend. She suddenly leapt into the air and tackled Savage with both feet as well as her elbow. Savage grimaced in pain, but hid it well. He tried to grab her, but she was too quick. She grabbed him by his wrist and upper arm and threw him over her shoulder very fast and hard. The impact on the ground shook him some, but he got to his feet and charged for her. Weapons crashed against weapons. The metal sound of it echoed through out the deserted parking lot of the local post office where it was all taking place.

Chilie cast a worried glance at her unmoving friend as she fought to protect both their lives. Savage saw this as an opportunity and struck quickly. "Sabotage Strike!"

The pain gripped Chilie like a thousand daggers stabbing her at once. She screamed loudly in pain as she went flying back. She hit the ground, rolled twice, then came to rest on her right side. She was still.

Savage let a cruel smile come to his face as he sheathed his sword. He walked casually over to Chilie and grabbed her by one ankle and dragged her over to Shades where he grabbed Shades as well. A swirling black hole appeared and he went inside, dragging the two unconscious girls with him, as a cold smile came on his face. Two more Warriors had been captured.