Reika awoke from a dream of blood and weapons with a gasp. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to remember how she’d gotten there. She remembered the fight with all those soldiers, Aunt Evey telling her that the children were safe, and then a voice commanding her to sleep. She thought she remembered her dad telling her he’d stay with her, but that part had to be a dream.
    Reika realized that she’d been tossing in her sleep; her sheets were tangled around her legs and lower body. They were soaked in sweat and…tears? She brushed her hand against her cheek and realized that she had been crying.  Her hands started to shake. Reika buried her face in them, taking deep breath. That dream. She had to open her eyes again; she could see it playing out again against her closed eyelids.
    It was Sonya’s dream again; the one she’d seen and banished, giving the infant some rest. I wish I could do the same for myself. Reika thought.
    But why would she be having that dream? It didn’t make sense, and where would Sonya have seen/heard something to give her nightmares like that?
    Unless…unless it wasn’t a dream! Reika sat up straight in shock. They didn’t know what Sonya’s ‘talent’ was. What if the baby was clairvoyant? What if she could see or predict the future?
    "I’ve got to tell the guys." She murmured to herself.
    Reika was pretty sure that she’d find them all in Seiji’s room, since it was the cleanest out of them all.
    Slipping out of bed, she realized she was still wearing the clothes she had been in the nursery, and they were in pretty bad shape. So she shucked them off and slipped into a clean nightshirt, tugging a robe on over it and belting that at her waist.
    Fortunately, the guys’ rooms were all adjacent to one another, and were just down the hall from hers. It was fairly easy to slip out of her room and down the hall without being spotted. Though she did notice that there were quite a few extra guards patrolling the hallways. She even had to duck into a doorway twice.
    I guess that attack on the nursery was enough to put everyone back on their toes.
    Reika drew up to the door of Seiji’s room, and pressed her ear against the smooth wood. Sure enough, she could make out four separate voices.
    "But why wouldn’t Sage help your dad heal Rei?" Touma was saying. "I don’t understand, it would have been a lot easier on your old man."
    "Sage told me it was because the Dynasty could have sensed two identical armors. That would have been a dead give away that they’re here. We can’t afford that. The past Ronins are our ace in the hole." Seiji explained patiently.
    "I guess that makes sense." Shin agreed.
    "What I want to know is how those trash cans got into the nursery!" Shu raged, sounding like he wanted to plant his fist in someone’s face. "Tannin, Kina, Graham and Sonya would have been killed if Reika hadn’t been there!"
    "Hmm," Shin’s voice came. "Why do you suppose she was? After all, Reika was called up to take care of Sonya’s nightmare, but isn’t that a little coincidental?"
    "I wanted to talk to you about that." Reika said quietly, opening the door and stepping in. She shut it behind her with a quiet click.
    "Rei?" Touma blinked.
    "You should be resting." Seiji chided her.
    "I’m fine, I had this nightmare, and it must have scared me awake." She confessed.
    "Aren’t you a little old to come running to us after nightmares?" Shu joked.
    Reika chuckled a little and took a seat on the floor, in front of the couch. She leaned back into it and closed her eyes for a second.
    "Maybe so, but there was something about this one that I thought you should know."
    "Oh really? And what’s that?"
    She opened her eyes again and surveyed them, wondering how they’d take her theory. Shu had a good point, she was kind of old to let nightmares scare her into looking to them for comfort. But Reika had been doing that since Shin had ‘adopted’ her as his sister. They’d always helped her laugh away those childish dreams. But this one was anything but, and if her notion was correct, then everyone needed to know.
    "When I was taking care of Sonya, I saw the dream she was having. It was terrible, full of blood and those soldier things." Reika paused for a second to shudder. "I banished the thing, but then, just now, I had the same dream, and I was thinking that maybe it’s something more that a dream."
    "You mean you think that Sonya can predict the future?" Seiji raised an eyebrow.
    Reika shrugged. "Why not? Clairvoyance isn’t an uncommon talent, it’s entirely possible that she can tell us things."
    "But we never would have been able to tell!" Touma exclaimed. "She’s so little, she won’t be able to talk for at least a half-year yet."
    "By tomorrow it won’t matter anyway." Shin reminded them. "They’ve all been locked up in the den plotting for hours now."
    "Plotting?" Reika giggled.
    "What else could you call it?"
    "All of the Ronins are leaving for the Dynasty." Shu mused. "I think they’re getting Aunt Kayura to open some sort of portal, but she and the Warlords are staying here in case those creeps try something while our dads are away."
    "Wow, your eavesdropping skills are improving." Shin chuckled.
    "I wasn’t eavesdropping." Shu said indignantly. "It’s just common sense."
    "Common sense huh?" Seiji bit back a laugh.
    "We should be ready too." Touma mused. "Just in case. After all, there’s only so much one of those armors can do, it’s easy to be overwhelmed."
    "Don’t I know." Reika said sardonically. The guys all grinned sheepishly.
    "Sorry, Rei." Shin began, "We-"
    "Ah, don’t worry about it, s’no big deal."
    "We’d better stick together ‘til this is over," Touma sounded serious. "And if you have anymore dreams, tell us Rei."
    "I guess I’d better make myself comfortable then." She replied. "It’s gonna be a loooooongg night."
    The ‘den’ was a scene of mass chaos. Everyone who had been in on the planning session was sprawled somewhere in the room; some in chairs, others with their heads down on the table, and a few on the floor. The Staff had been leaning against the wall, once again whole after Reika had returned the wing emblem to Kayura.
    Basically, after all those hours of trying to put together a feasible plan, the best either set of Ronins and the Warlords could come up with wasn’t much. Kayura would get them into the Dynasty (how, she wouldn’t say) and they’d all have to improvise from there.
    "That’s it?" Kitai had exclaimed. "That’s our plan! That’s the best we can do? That’s ridiculous!"
    "We don’t know what to expect when we get there." Ryo reminded her. "They could throw anything at us. The best we can do is try to expect everything."
    "Whoa, since when are you the one to actually think about a battle?" Rowen had gasped.
    But that was the best they could do. The truly sad thing was that it had taken them four hours to come up with it. Now they were all feeling the aftershock of too much talking and too little sleep. Nothing short of an earthquake would have woken them up. And those earthquakes’ names were Tannin and Kina.
    "Come ON!" Kina squealed, shaking her father’s shoulder energetically. "You gotta get up! It’s today!" Closely following the children were Alera and their Aunts, as their mother was already in the den.
    "Ugh, whaz’ t’day?" Kento mumbled, awakened by her voice.
    "Today we leave, we take care of those creeps." Sage reminded him. He was always up with the sun, even when it was blocked by greenish clouds.
    "We should probably wake the boys." Lady Ashal smiled, helping her husband to his feet. "I’m sure they’ll want to see this."
    "You’re right, and I’m sure we should let Reika in on it as well." He agreed.
    Unseen by everyone else, Mia, Kayura, and both Rowens exchanged a glance and a smirk. They’d been holding their own little conference, and they thought they had a solution to the problem with the Wildfire armor.
    "Small problem there." Christa commented, scanning the room with a raised eyebrow. It looked as if a miniature hurricane had attacked. "Reika’s not in her room, I checked, she’s gone."
    "You don’t think there was another attack, do you?" Sai gasped.
    "She’s probably already awake." Kayura said. "She is an early riser, she’s more than likely just pacing around the grounds."
    "That’s not safe, not with that outside." Ryo made a face.
    "I’m sure she’s fine." Mia said. "We’d better go get Seiji, Shu, Shin and Touma, unless you want to have to explain to them why you left without saying goodbye."
    "We’re going, we’re going." The older Sage chuckled. He’d learned a long time ago not to mess with Mia.
    "If I know the boys, they’ll probably all be camping out in one of their rooms." Dais mused.
    "Seiji’s." Everyone else chorused.
    "Why’s that?" Rowen wanted to know.
    "Because everything else is a hazard zone." His counterpart chuckled.
    Kayura grabbed up the Staff of Ancients from its position against the wall. The Staff was the key to getting the Ronins to the Dynasty’s stronghold in the clouds.
    Fortunately, the rooms and the den were fairly close together. It seemed that part of the castle was officially roped off into living quarters for those who actually lived there, as opposed to the visiting emissaries.
    "Aw, now that’s cute!" Kento snickered at the scene behind the door to Seiji’s room.
    All five of the teens were curled up on various pieces of furniture. One the couch was Shin and Shu. The latter was hanging over one of the arms of the sofa, snoring, but not as loudly as his father was prone to. Shin was sleeping in a ball with his knees drawn up to his chest, face hidden in his arms. Touma was sprawled in a heap on the floor, hair flying every which way. Apparently, he tossed and turned as much as Rowen. Seiji was on the love seat, in a sitting up position, his chin to his chest. Reika was wrapped up in a blanket, her head in his lap.
    Alera sniffed disdainfully and stepped back into the hallway to wait, apparently not able to understand why her brother would allow her arch nemesis to use him as a pillow.
    "Well, at least now we know where she got to." Mia said.
    "Wakey wakey!" Kina giggled running in and bouncing up and down on her brother’s stomach.
    "Oof!" There was a rush of breath as the air was forcibly pushed from his lungs.
    "Kina, back off." Seiji grumbled from under the fall of his bangs.
    Still giggling, the little girl clambered off her brother and over to Shu, who she proceeded to shake awake.
    "Ugh, tarantula? What tarantula?" He mumbled, before sitting up straight. He blinked groggily at the stifled chuckles he heard.
    "Wha-? Whaddid I say?"
    Shin pushed himself up and grinned sleepily at his friend. "Remember the spider incident?" He asked.
    "I told you, it wasn’t me!" Shu waved his hands frantically.
    "Right." Came Reika’s muffled voice.
    "Come on you five." Cale entered the room. "We need to get moving before that break in the clouds is covered. We’re banking this whole thing on that rift."
    "Coming!" They all exclaimed, shooting out the door. Reika was still wearing her nightshirt and robe, and the other four were rubbing sleep from their eyes.
    "Told you they’d want to see you off." Ashal said smugly to her husband.
    The group made their way out into the courtyard. Sonya and Graham were the only one’s missing. Orion was there though, walking alongside White Blaze. Both of the tigers had mysteriously disappeared the night before. Reika, Tannin and Kina all rode Orion out. Kitai and Willa were perched on White Blaze, who didn’t seem to mind it at all.
    They walked until they stood under that one beam of watered down sunlight which lanced down from a break in the greenish clouds. A faint heat warmed their skin as everyone peered upward, shielding their eyes.
    "Kayura?" Seckhmet turned to the blue haired woman. She nodded grimly and tightened her grip on the Staff.
    "We should get into sub-armor, at least." Ryo reminded the others, donning his own. They all nodded and in a flash, Rowen, Sai, Kento and Sage (the ones from the past) stood ready as well.
    "You guys coming?" Rowen turned to their doubles. They exchanged a glance and then shook their heads.
    "No, as much as I hate to say it, we’re too old for this." Sage sighed, shaking his head.
    "Aww, c’mon, we need the help." Kento begged.
    "You will have it." Sai nodded. "But first…" He turned and beckoned to Shin. His son looked confused but stepped forward, the other three boys did too.
    "What is it father?" Shu asked his dad. The elder Kento grinned at his son.
    "I think that we’ve outlived out usefulness as Ronin Warriors, but you boys are almost as skilled as we are, and could be a whole lot more help."
    Seiji gaped. "You can’t mean...?"
    Sage merely nodded and, as one, the four older Ronins began to glow. The outlines of their armors appeared around them and the mixed colors of emerald, topaz, sapphire and turquoise grew so bright that everyone had to shield their eyes.
    Their voices rang out.
    "ARMOR OF HARDROCK, DAO GI!"
    "ARMOR OF TORRENT, DAO SHIN!"
    "ARMOR OF STRATA, DAO INOCHI!"
    "ARMOR OF HALO, DAO CHI!"
    A startled cry broke the air as everyone attempted to rub the purple spots out of their vision. Reika gasped in shock at her four friends.
    "My GOD! Y-you’re!" She couldn’t even say it, and everyone else was far too stunned to finish her sentence for her.
    Seiji, Shu, Touma, and Shin were sprawled on the cobblestones, each of them holding their heads dazedly. Seiji blinked rapidly to clear away the fog that seemed to be filling his head and then looked down at himself.
    "HOLY!" He shouted, leaping to his feet. For instead of the simple green tunic he’d been wearing, he instead was clad in the emerald and white sub-armor of the Halo armor!
    "Oh my…" Shin said in a small voice, holding his armored hands out in front of his face, staring in shock at them.
    "But Dad!’ Touma stared in shock at his father. "Without the armor, you’ll…you’ll!"
    "Age?" Rowen suggested mildly. At his son’s sudden nod he just chuckled. "We’ve been alive for thousands of years kiddo, and we’ve been exposed to the nuclear radiation, remember? We’re not going anywhere for another four hundred years, easily!"
    Sai sighed tiredly. "Pity though, it’d just be like taking a long nap." He made a face. "It feels so strange, without the armor, almost empty."
    Kento nodded and squeezed his friend’s shoulder. "I know what you mean. I feel so strange."
    "So we’re going with you then?" Shu asked Ryo and the others.
    "It appears that way." The past Sage nodded.
    Reika looked sternly at her four friends. She hugged each of them tight and then glared at them.
    "I swear, if you don’t come back in one piece, I’ll have Aunt Kayura resurrect you just so I can kill you myself!" But her harsh words didn’t fool anyone. They could all see the shine in her eyes betraying tears.
    "You’ll have a chance to keep an eye on them yourself." Kayura said in an amused tone. She, Mia and each Rowen smirked a little.
    "Why?" The elder Kento asked suspiciously. "What do you mean? What are you four hiding?"
    "We were discussing Rowen’s theory on why Reika can’t use the armor." Mia began to explain. "We think we may have an idea as to why that is." She gestured for Rowen to continue.
    The warrior of Strata just shrugged. "I thought it might have been because of her mixed blood. She’s related to the bearers of both the armor of Hardrock and the armor of Torrent."
    "But that’s not the reason." Kayura interjected. "If anything, that would just enhance her powers."
    "So then I remembered that vision we saw, the one where Ryo…" He paused for a moment and then cleared his throat and continued. "The thing said that Reika would never be able to use the armor because it was meant for men only."
    "Do you have to remind me?" Reika asked in a pained tone.
    "Sorry." He winced.
    "But I know for a fact that the armor of Wildfire can be used by women." Kayura said smugly. "There are ancient records confirming the fact."
    "They must be really ancient now." Kento muttered.
    Rowen rolled his eyes. "The point is-"
    "I was wondering if there was one." Kento grumbled. Sage reached over and whacked him upside the head, effectively shutting him up.
    "Anyway, the point is that if it wasn’t either of those things, it must have been something we hadn’t considered." Mia continued.
    "Right, so then we recalled how that demon almost seemed to chant when he was telling Reika she couldn’t use the armor."
    "Yes, and then I remembered sensing a large amount of power at the same time." The future Rowen spoke up. "So we decided that…"
    "You think that it put a spell on me?" Reika blinked in surprise.
    "Yes, exactly." Kayura nodded.
    "So what do we do about it?" Kitai asked skeptically. "If the spell was in place that long why didn’t we sense it before, huh?"
    "Always the optimist Kitai." Willa murmured.
    "The reason is because this thing was very crafty when placing this spell." Kayura said seriously. "He used Reika’s grief and guilt over her father’s death to tie it into her mind and convince her that she couldn’t use the armor."
    "And as we all know, if you don’t believe in your armor, you can’t use it." Mia reminded them.
    "Yeah, tell me something I don’t know." Kento snorted.
    "So I really can use the Wildfire?" Reika asked quietly.
    "Exactly." Kayura nodded.
    "But how do we restore the armor to her?" Shin mused.
    "Leave that" Kayura said smugly. "To me."
    She crossed over to Reika and pressed the emblem on the staff against the girl’s forehead. Reika’s eyes went blank, and her eyelids sagged down. Virtue flashed on her forehead, and she began to glow a bright red.
    "Reika, concentrate." Kayura said softly. "Go into you mind, to the very deepest part. You should sense some kind of barrier."
    Reika blinked and realized she was standing in a dark chamber, facing a wall of flames. Figures, she thought. It was literally a wall of flames; the bricks were made of condensed fire.
    "You must put out the flames, break down the barrier, you’ll find the armor." Kayura’s voice came.
    Reika stared at it for a moment, cocking her head to one side. But how? My element is fire, how can I destroy it? She hesitantly reached over and touched the bricks, and pulled her hand back as quick as thought.
    "OWCH!" She hissed, holding her burnt hand in her uninjured one. "I didn’t think I could be burned!"
    Everyone watched worriedly as Reika went into a trance and sank to her knees. Her body was absolutely still, but expressions flickered across her face. Breath hissed out from between clenched teeth, a gasp of pain.
    "How long must we wait?" Dais asked curiously. Kayura shrugged.
    "That all depend on how strong Reika’s mental will is. The sooner she breaks down the barrier, the sooner you can go."
    Reika threw her whole body against the wall. She rebounded off it to land with a crunch on the stone floor of the dark cavern. Her clothes and hair were singed.
    "Arrr! How am I supposed to do this! I’m not strong enough to crush it, and I just burn myself every time I try!" She threw her head back and shouted, "Kayura! What do I do? There’s no way to break through this thing! I’m not Shin or Sai, I don’t have any water magics!"
    A collective gasp went up from twenty-four throats as Reika’s mental sending broke through to them all.
    Kayura clutched at her staff with hands gone white. "You must Rei," She whispered under her breath. "The armor of Wildfire must be recovered!"
    A grim look appeared on Seiji’s face. He knelt next to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder.
    "Listen to me Raven." He said seriously. "It’s your mind, you can do whatever you want!" He insisted. "Come on! We need you, now!" As he said this, the beam of sunlight began to wane, and Seckmett glanced nervously upward.
    "She’d better hurry." He said anxiously. "I think our bridge is collapsing."
    Reika clearly heard Seiji’s voice. She blinked for a moment as she considered his words, and then her lips stretched into a feral grin.
    "That’s right!" She exclaimed. "My head, my rules." She turned her attention back to the wall and regarded it intensely. Suddenly, she heard, clear as church bells, the voice of the thing that had killed her father.
    "Why would I lie? The girl is useless now, a failure. How truly sad that she will not be able to fulfill her father’s dying wish."
    She gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists.
    I won’t let his sacrifice be for nothing! She thought heatedly. He could have used the armor to heal himself, but he didn’t because he wanted me to destroy that monster. Well I’m not going to let some rotting corpse dictate whether or not I’m going to make something of myself!
    At that moment, Reika felt something inside her snap. All the guilt she’d been feeling over the past months had revealed itself to be nothing more than a mental geas placed on her by that demon. She knew it was really that thing’s fault, she knew her father wouldn’t want to mope around for the rest of her life, and she knew that the armor of Wildfire was hers by right. She’d trained long and hard for at least twelve years to earn the title of warrior, and she was not going to let it all go to waste.
    The flame of the brick wall was echoed in her far-too-blue eyes. Screaming a war-cry at the top of her lungs, Reika lunged into the wall, felt the flames consume her, felt her whole body go up in a raging inferno…
    And then the pain was gone; something crumbled away, the wall? Perhaps. Everything went dark, except for a single pinpoint of red light. Reika reached out her hand to touch it, and it floated gently down into her palm. The small flicker grew in size, and condensed into what Reika recognized as a kanji orb. The kanji Virtue flashed briefly across its surface, and then was gone. Suddenly the orb vanished as well, and Reika’s body was consumed by flames once more; flames which solidified into the ruby red Armor of Wildfire…
    Seiji reached over and tried to hold Reika steady as she began to writhe on the stones, moaning in pain. Her breath came in short gasps and then, just as suddenly as it had started, the seizure ceased, and she laid still, an expression of complete and utter peace and contentment on her face.
    "Is it over?" Shin asked in a quiet voice. Seiji stood and shrugged.
    "I dunno, it’s anyone’s guess."
    "AHHHHH!" Alera’s shriek grabbed everyone’s attention and they all whirled around. Where Reika had been, was now a blazing column of flames.
    Ryo felt his eyes go wide. There was no way she could have survived that; not without the armor! But then he remembered how a similar thing had happened right before she’d transported them all to the future. This was just a power surge.
    The flames flickered and died, revealing a familiar figure. Reika was still sitting, her hands on her knees, breathing hard. She looked up at them all in surprise, and then leapt to her feet.
    Twenty-four sets of eyes stared in astonishment at the girl. But no one was more surprised that Reika herself.
She blinked down at her body, and rubbed at her eyes with armored hands, almost as if expecting the sub-armor she was wearing to vanish.
    "You did it Rei." Touma said in a hushed tone.
    To the surprise of all, Reika began to giggle. Rowen and Sage exchanged a glance, wondering if perhaps she’d gone over the deep end. The laughter was slightly hysterical.
    Reika whirled and threw her arms around a stunned Ryo’s neck.
    "I can’t believe it!" She cried. "I did it! I actually did it! The armor was never gone, I just thought it was!"
More than a little stupefied, Ryo hugged her back, caught up in the girl’s exhilaration. Reika stepped back and blushed a little, apparently embarrassed at such a display.
    Shu came up behind her and pulled her into a huge bear hug. "Never doubted you for a sec Rei." He chuckled warmly.
    "So, does this mean she can use the Wildfire now?" Sai asked.
    Rowen snorted in amusement. "That’s what sub-armor usually means." Sai blushed a little, but didn’t reply.
White Blaze walked over to Ryo and nuzzled his master’s hand with his cold, wet nose, effectively getting the boy’s attention, even through the sub-armor.
    "Huh? Blaze?" Ryo blinked at the tiger. Those brown eyes seemed to be telling him that he’d better hurry. With every passing second, their chances of entering the Dynasty grew slimmer and slimmer.
    "Kayura, we’d better go." He said, turning to the former Demon Priestess.
    "What about Orion?" Shu spoke up. "We all know the stories, the tiger carries the Soul Swords of Ferver."
    "We think." Seiji reminded him. "We don’t know for sure whether or not Orion inherited the armor of Black Blaze when White Blaze died."
    Reika knelt down and looked straight into her tiger friend’s eyes. "Listen to me Orion." She said seriously. The two pairs of blue eyes locked on, an unspoken understanding passing between them. "You have to stay here, I can manage without you for a while. If I have to use the armor of Inferno, I’m sure the swords of Wildfire can handle the power surge just this once."
    The blue-eyed tiger growled in concern. He obviously didn’t like it. Kina ran up and wrapped her arms around the tiger’s leg.
    "Please Orion! Who’s gonna keep us safe if you go?" She begged.
    The tiger looked back and forth between his mistress and the little girl glued to his foreleg. He reluctantly sank to the ground, Kina snuggling up to his side. The look he gave Reika said plainly as anything: I’ll do it, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna like it!
    "Good boy." Reika patted his head. "Just stay here, I’ll see you soon."
    "Ready?" Kayura asked.
    At Reika’s nod, Kayura raised the staff and studied to the winged globe intensely.
    "So, what exactly is your plan?" Cale raised an eyebrow. "You never really specified that fact."
    Kayura grinned at him. "I’m going to do exactly what my ancestor, the Ancient, did when getting the Ronins to Talpa’s stronghold in the first place."
    "NO!" Ryo gasped. "He died doing that!"
    Kayura chuckled a little. "You forget, that at this point, I am much older and much more experienced the ways of the Staff than the Ancient was when he sacrificed himself for you." She reminded him. Both he and her husband visibly relaxed.
    She brought the butt of the Staff down to crash on the pavement. A pillar of intense blue light, a shade brighter than Reika’s eyes, sprang up from the ground itself, piercing the clouds at the break through which weak sunlight still filtered. Spirals of silver intersected the pillar at regular intervals. It was similar in every way to the one the Ancient himself had created.
    A resounding BOOM crashed down through the clouds. Forks of black lightning licked down to crash into the pillar. Kayura screamed and fell to her knees, still gripping the Staff’s smooth metal. The bridge she’d created began to flicker and fade…
    "No they don’t!" Dais said grimly. He covered the hand Kayura had on the Staff with one of his own, adding the power of his Armor to hers. Following his example, the other two Warlords each placed a hand on one of Kayura’s shoulders. Their kanjis began to glow on their foreheads, and the silver rings circling the pillar flickered from orange-red, to purple, to pinkish, whirling through the normal sparkling azure.
    "GO NOW!" Cale gasped. "This isn’t easy, we can’t hold the gateway open forever!"
    "But Mother!" Touma hesitated a moment, obviously concerned about Kayura.
    "I’ll be fine, just come back safely, all of you." She gasped. The new Strata paused a moment to drop a kiss on her forehead, and then turned back to the other Ronins.
    "Wait a second!" Rowen crossed to his son and tugged off his sweatband. He handed it to Touma, who looked a little stunned.
    "It won’t keep your hair out of your face, but it might bring you luck." He smiled.
    "Ready Touma?" Seiji asked. At his nod, the group of ten teens, and a tiger, turned as one and stepped into the glowing blue ‘bridge’.
    Mia watched them go, feeling the cold grip of anxiety in her gut. Once again, she would wait behind, and pray for their safety. Once more, she’d hope that they’d come back in one piece, without any injuries, mental or physical. Now she had the additional burden of the safety of the newest Ronins to weigh on her mind.
    Tears threatened to spill out of the corners of her eyes. She bit her lip as they disappeared into the brilliant blue light.
    "Come back to me guys." She whispered. "Please, just this last time."
    She felt someone tugging at her jeans. She looked down and saw Tannin, a sincere look in his wide blue eyes.
    "They’ll be okay." He said confidently. "Reika and my brother can take on anything."
    She knelt down and hugged him close. The little boy hugged her back, obviously just as worried, but trying to be brave about it.
    "I’m sure they will be." She whispered fiercely into his ear. "They always are."
(Authoress’ note: Things are going to be much easier from here on out, because I won’t have to specify which Ronin is speaking. Ex: The older Rowen said…See, no more hassle!)
    Reika stifled a shriek of alarm as she and her friends rose slowly off the ground and into the air.
    "Oh man oh man oh man." She muttered over and over.
    "What’ wrong Rei?" Shu had an evil grin on his face. "This isn’t the first time you’ve levitated."
    "I know that, but having Touma float us around in the air is much different from this!"
    "Huh?" Ryo frowned.
    "That’s Touma’s talent." Seiji explained, watching nervously as the distance between his feet and the ground steadily increased. "Levitation, without the armor of Strata."
    "Uh, don’t we have more important things to worry about?" Shin pointed out.
    "Good point." Rowen muttered.
    "Last stop, top floor, Women’s shoes, household appliances." Kento chuckled as they reached the lip of the cloud.
    "You do realize that the only reason I haven’t hit you for that terrible joke is because you’re out of range, don’t you?" Sai frowned at him.
    "What do you think I’m doing all the way over here?" His friend grinned.
    "You two are irrepressible." Sage sighed.
    "Head’s up guys!" Touma called. They’d floated a good five feet above the cloud level, and were now just hovering in mid air.
    "This is our stop then, I guess." Reika said.
    It really wasn’t that difficult to exit the glowing pillar; all one had to do was to step out of it. The problem was getting over to the edge. Using motions almost like swimming, the sub-armored teens floated over to the side of the blue light and pushed their way through.
    "Yah!" Shu yelped as he plunked down those last five feet.
    "Hmm, that’s strange." Seiji commented. He glanced curiously down at his feet, sunk up to the ankles in the strange ‘ground’. "I thought we’d fall right through the clouds."
    "They aren’t clouds Seiji." Ryo said grimly. "Real clouds wash away filth, these clouds bring it with them."
    "I had no idea you were so adamant about this." Shin said quietly.
    "We’re just tired of cleaning up after the rest of the mortal world." Rowen sighed. "The only reason the Dynasty can get through is because people carry evil and hatred in their hearts. They bring this down upon themselves."
    "Yeah, and we take out the trash." Sage added, a slightly-less-than-thrilled look in his eyes. "I don’t know how our counterparts could put up with it for three thousand years."
    "Practice." Touma grinned, breaking the depressing mood that had settled down on them. "That and sniping at each other. I think it keeps them sane."
    "Some things never change." Sai shook his head.
    "Besides, things don’t grow on clouds." Shu pointed out.
    They all looked around, realizing that he had a point. All around them were old, gnarled oak trees, their limbs warped and twisted with age and eons spent defying the elements. Perhaps at some other time, they were lush, and filled with greenery, but now, it seemed as though winter had descended upon this part of the cloudscape. Skeletal branches reached imploringly towards the sky, as if begging to be freed from the evil surrounding them. Brittle, dry leaves littered the cloud ground, crunching with every step they took, and in sub-armor, the Ronins were capable of walking in total silence.
    "Come on, while we’re sitting here chatting, the Dynasty could be slaughtering thousands of innocents." Reika reminded them.
    "Oi, I’ll bet that leadership quality runs in the family." Shu raised an eyebrow at his cousin, who was already heading towards the castle ahead. She turned around and winked at him.
    "It’s in my job description."
    "Yeah." Ryo grinned. "It comes with the armor."
    From this distance, the Dynasty stronghold looked like one of those little toy lego castles kids play with. If they made Japanese-style lego castles.
    "It’s so far away." Shin said. "How will we ever get there in time?"
    "You won’t get there at all." A ghostly voice hissed. Violent wind whipped up around the teens, snatching up the leaves with it. A brutal whirlwind raged around them, the edges of the leaves feeling razor sharp, digging into skin and slicing into their faces, the only exposed flesh. They threw their hands up in helpless attempts to ward off the dangerous foliage, batting away at the leaves as they whistled through the air.
    "What the hell?" Ryo shouted, his voice barely audible above the wind’s high keening. He squinted against the onslaught, eyes tearing over. White Blaze growled menacingly in the general direction of the castle.
    As suddenly as the winds sprang up, they died. The silence they left in their wake was ear ringing. In the absence of all sound, the chill in the atmosphere was noticeable.
    "You Ronins are persistent." That voice hissed. And it did not sound amused.
    "That voice!" Touma gasped. "It’s-"
    "The thing we saw in that vision of Dais’!" Ryo gasped.
    "SHOW yourself demon!" Shu shouted to the gray sky. "We know you’re here!"
    "Are you sure you want me to do that?" Now it sounded vaguely mocking. "It was that very same wish which eventually killed Wildfire."
    "Come out and fight us!" Rowen yelled. "Unless you’re afraid."
    A miniature whirlwind developed about twenty feet off to the group’s left. Everyone whirled to face it, awaiting the demon’s appearance. Those dead leaves were gathered at the center of the funnel, obscuring a figure inside. The winds stilled and the leaves fell back once again to the ‘ground’. The cloaked horror Dais had shown them through his illusions stood there, that scythe gripped in a fleshless hand. The differences were that it was missing a left eye, even as the right one flickered with balefire. A horrible wound was still slashed across its neck; the lips of the gash were faintly tinged with green
    "ARMOR UP!!" Ryo cried. A brief moment later, after the flashes of light, rolls of silk, and Sakura petals had vanished, ten armored figures defiantly faced the demon.
    "So, little Wildfire." It taunted. A jibe directed unmistakably at Reika. "I see you discovered my little trick." It heaved a mock sigh, bones scraping together nauseatingly. Ryo glance momentarily in Reika’s direction. To his surprise, there was neither rage, nor grief on her face, which had him slightly worried. Either emotion would have been preferable to lack thereof. Her face was expressionless as a sheet of marble, and about as cold.
    The voice dropped to glacier chill. "Even without the armor you’re still a thorn in our side. Fetching the Ronins from the past was something I should have anticipated."
    "You’ll find this particular thorn extremely hard to remove!" Reika growled, apparently coming out of her stupor. "I killed you once, I can do it again!"
    "How is it still alive anyway?" Shin wondered, frowning a little.
    A horrible wheezing laughter came from that rotting jaw. "I can only be killed by a mystical weapon."
    "But the Sword of Halo is a mystical weapon." Sage protested.
    "My destruction can only be brought about by a mystical weapon in the hands of its true wielder." It seemed to take great pleasure in informing them of that fact.
    "The swords of Wildfire should be able to rectify that mistake." Reika said coolly, sliding said weapons from their sheaths with a steely hiss.
    "You wish to try again, little girl?"
    She glared at him. "Sure thing, and there’s nothing little about me."
    "Reika, you can’t-" Seiji started to say. He was silenced as Touma laid a hand on his arm and shook his head. He seemed to be saying She’s got to do this on her own.
    "So then." The skeleton cocked his head to one side. "You and me, to the death, no help from your little friends. Have we…a deal?"
    A short nod from Reika signaled the beginning of the final battle between these two. The demons raised the hand bearing his scythe and made a sweeping motion. A glowing circle appeared, cutting Reika and her opponent off from the rest of the Ronins.
    "Just a little insurance." It gave a ghostly chuckle. The two enemies readied themselves, eyes locked on the other.
    "Man! There’s nothing we can do about this!" Shu balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth.
    "That thing must be confident that he’s going to win." Rowen mused. That circle will only vanish with its death or when it chooses.
    "Neither of them can get out, and we can’t get in." Sai summed it up pretty well.
    What is with this thing? Reika wondered. It’s just, standing there. She wasn’t about to attack first though; impatience could get her killed in this game. She wasn’t going to lay down her hand until she was good and ready.
Reika wasn’t sure what happened next. She thought she might have blinked, but suddenly, where the thing had been, it suddenly wasn’t. Now where-? Her eyes flickered around the cloudscape, searching frantically for any sign of her enemy.
    A sudden shift in the air at her back caused her to whirl around. BEHIND! Her mind screamed at her. She spun on her toe, but not fast enough. The butt of the scythe crashed into her cheek, and she heard more than felt her jaw and cheekbone shatter under the impact. The blow sent her sprawling to the ground, blood leaking from a split lip. Her helmet went rolling away, the metallic ringing noise it made as it struck the clouds echoing the clanging in her head.
I’ll have to do without it. She thought resolutely. Reika was just about to jump back to her feet when she caught sight of the wickedly gleaming point of the scythe headed in a downward stroke towards her heart.
    With a yelp of surprise, Reika rolled out of the way and spun to her feet. Once again, the demon had inexplicably vanished. The only clue to its whereabouts was the impact with the back of her head. It had collided the end of the scythe with her skull, maybe trying to crack it open. As it was, Reika fell forward, her forehead cracking against the suddenly hard clouds. She could feel the beginnings of a goose egg on her cranium, and a gash across the bridge of her nose.
    Before she could regain her feet, sudden blows began to rain down on her from the sky. The skeleton was hitting her again, clouting her over and over. She knew it was toying with her, pushing her over the edge until she either passed out from pain or exhaustion.
    Outside the barrier, the remaining Ronins were unable to help.
    "She’s getting creamed!" Shu gasped. "Totally slaughtered, and we can’t do anything about it!"
    Shin had dropped to his knees, clutching his face in his hands. His breath was coming in short, sharp gasps as he shared Reika’s pain.
    "Will you be okay?" Rowen crouched down next to him. In answer, Shin held out his left hand. The symbol scratched out on his skin was glowing a brilliant blood red. Even as they watched, the light flickered a little, dying out.
    "Is it that bad?" Sage asked in a hushed voice. "Is she that close to losing?"
    "Let’s see what we can do about that." Touma fitted a golden arrow to his bow and drew it back. He let it fly; zipping straight towards the outline of the circle the two combatants dueled within.
    ZAP!!
    "Somehow, I get this sinking feeling…" Sage gulped, eyes wide at the tiny pile of ash; all that remained of the arrow.
    "Reika, you’re on your own." Ryo murmured. "Please, don’t lose now."
    Reika had since regained her footing, but no matter which way she turned, she was always facing the gleaming edge of that Gods-be-Damned-Scythe. Occasionally, she was able to bring her swords up to block an attack, but all her attempts at retaliating were thwarted.
    He’s moving too fast! I can’t see it, let alone hit it! She choked back a scream of pain as the blunt end of the enemy’s weapon slammed into her chest. Already, her armor was rent and sliced in a dozen places.
    Something her father used to say came back to her with startling clarity. If you can’t see your enemy, sense your enemy. She remembered watching him and her Uncle Seckmett dueling one day, and her Uncle had made a comment about things being much more challenging if one’s opponent could see. She’d asked what he meant and her father had explained how he’d once been blinded by Seckmett’s venom. He’d told her that the only way to survive a battle like that was to feel out where the adversary was. It was then that he started to teach her the shadow-spar technique, although she couldn’t have been more than five at the time.
    That’s it! Excitement flooded through her, giving her new energy. The Shadow-Spar! It’s actually good for something in a real battle!
    She straightened up, and let her swords drop down, closing her eyes and gathering herself together, forcing her mind to block out the pain. She needed a calm moment to pull her mind into complete concentration; just enough to summon her strength, to let her breathing and heart beat return to normal. If only he’ll leave me alone for just one second, just one…
    "What is she doing?" Kento blinked. Reika had lowered her weapons; it almost looked as if she was giving up, acknowledging her defeat. Her eyes were shut, as if she was awaiting the final impact.
    "I-I dunno." Seiji shook his head. "But she can’t be quitting now."
    "She’s not." Shin’s voice rasped to their ears. His face had gone deathly white and his pupils were dilated in pain. "Just w-watch."
    "Giving up so soon?" The demon mocked, raising its scythe for a killing blow. "Very well, I accept your surrender." The curved blade whistled downward through the air, aiming for he neck.
    A sharp, metallic clang echoed through the air. Reika’s swords had snapped up almost to quickly for the eye to follow, effectively parrying the strike, though her lids were still sealed shut over her eyes.
    "What the-?" A gasp of stunned surprise issued from the monster’s mouth.
    "You should have figured it out by now," Reika panted, "We Sanadas are notoriously hard to kill. I’m not out of the game yet!"
    The battle was renewed with furious frenzy. This time however, Reika was scoring on the demon at least as many times as it managed to connect with her. Her eyes remained closed the entire time.
    At this point, Reika was using every sense available to her in the battle. Her senses of touch, hearing, smell and even taste were put into effect. Especially smell, considering the rotting stench of the demon. Last but not least was that little sixth sense which warned her of an enemy’s presence. It was erratic, and very hard to control, but always seemed to appear when she forfeited her sense of sight, filling in for it. That was one of the reasons she was so successful in Shadow Spars.
    "Whoo hoo! All right Rei!" Shu shouted, cheering his cousin on. Her comeback had surprised them all.
"She’s using that shadow fighting technique you showed us." Sage said, quiet admiration in his voice. "See? Her eyes are closed."
    "You’re right!" Rowen blinked in surprise. "She must have decided that her sight wasn’t doing her much good anyway."
    Almost like that battle with Seckmett so long ago. Ryo mused, vision still locked on the two furiously dueling combatants.
    "I just hope she can keep it up long enough." Shin said grimly. "I can feel her strength fading even now. Those wounds are serious, especially that blow to the face." His fingers came up reflexively to brush his own cheek.
    "If there was only some way to break down that barrier." Sai muttered, frowning thoughtfully at the glowing red circle that marked the boundaries of the battle.
    "Even if there was, she’d never forgive us for butting in." Touma said cheerfully, though how he could be so optimistic was beyond the others. "This is her fight, she’s got to lay these demons to rest permanently. Pardon the pun."
    "COME ON REIKA!" Kento shouted, "WE’VE GOT BIGGER FISH TO FRY!" He visibly flinched away from the dark glares Sai and Shin shot him.
    From the inside of the circle, all sound from the outside was inaudible. In fact, everything beyond the perimeter was practically non-existent. She couldn’t see any of her friends, it was as if she had been blocked off from them, which was frightening, in a way.
    But she had other things to be frightened about. Her arms were slowly wearing out. By all rights, the demon should have been showing signs of fatigue as well, but it seemed to be drawing its strength from some otherworldly source. Her injuries were taxing on her reserves of energy, and each of her blows was weaker than the last.
    But I can’t lose! She thought desperately, dodging another strike that would have split her skull like a melon, the absence of her helmet was quite a handicap. If I fail now, it could hurt the others, possibly even kill them, and then who would free all those captured people? Who would avenge my father? There’s no way I’m letting it win!
    Something deep inside of her snapped, much as it had when she’d finally realized that she still had possession of the armor. This was the thing that had nearly destroyed her life, had almost wrecked the lives of her uncles, had caused such great concern among her friends, and had caused her to go back in time and rip the Ronins away from their world. A flood of fiery rage ignited her veins. The Swords of Wildfire went up in twin columns of flames, ‘till it appeared she was holding weapons forged from fire.
    Reika brought the swords down in an overhand arc designed to take out the demon’s head. It brought up the staff of the scythe to block both katanas. For a moment, they stood there, in a deadlock, she was pushing downward, and the thing was attempting to push her off.
    "You can’t win, little girl." Foul breath blasted into her face.
    "Watch me if you can, and brush your teeth while you’re at it." She choked out around the barrage of stench.
    In the end, its superior strength would have won out, had Reika not jumped off and turned away, only to spin back low, her fiery sword licking out to slash at its unprotected shins. She jerked upward at the last second, slicing cleanly through the demon’s left wrist. As it stared in shock at the stump, jaw hanging open, Reika stopped to catch her breath.
    "That," She said, ignoring the lancing pain in her jaw as she spoke, "Is for my Uncles, and all the pain you caused them!"
    She dashed back in, not giving her opponent any time to recover. It just barely brought its own weapon up to block her strike, handicapped as it was. And still, her eyes were closed. She threw herself against the bag of bones, tangling one of her swords and the scythe in the rotting leather cloak it wore, setting it aflame with her katana. She scraped the other one up against the ribcage, cutting away what little flesh was left on those bones. She distinctly heard the hiss of pain it breathed into her ear. Reika pulled away as quickly as possible, not willing to be in such close contact with such an overpowering stench for to long.
    "That was for my friends, for making them worry about me so much." She muttered before spinning away in a blur of fluid movement.
    The tide had turned; she was the cat and her enemy the mouse. But such rage can only be sustained for a short time before burning out. At least, that is the case with most people, but the temper of Wildfire was legendary, and there was a lot of pent-up hatred sizzling in the air. One would have to be deaf, blind and dumb not to realize that.
    "You will not triumph so easily girl." It clacked. The scythe swung in a slash that gouged through the stomach plate, and scratched the surface of her sub-armor.
    Ooh, that was close. The hair on the back of her neck stood up at such a close shave. While it was recovering from that swing, and totally open, she sliced across its right eye, totally blinding it, and leaving it clutching at its now-flaming face.
    "That was for my father, and I hope it hurt like hell." She hissed, rage building to a breaking point. While the demon howled in anguish, skeletal hands covering its now sightless eyes, she lunged in, and with a quick stabbing motion, drove her sword home into the dark heart hidden behind a few flaps of decaying skin.
    "And that," She felt the flames grow to engulf both herself and the grim reaper, "Is for me, you heartless, soulless bastard!"
    "Dear God." Sai whispered, watching in horror as the Wildfire swords went up in flames, "What is going on?"
    "I couldn’t tell you." Ryo stared, totally caught up in the fight. "‘Cuz I don’t know either."
    They went quiet for a moment more; the only sound the harsh rasping of Shin’s breathing. The cloaked skeleton was slowly being beaten into a pulp.
    "Sh-she’s playing with the stupid thing!" Shu stammered.
    "Thank you mister obvious." Rowen muttered under his breath.
    The silence descended once more, this time shocked and stunned as Reika calmly tore the thing limb from limp, first avulsing its left hand, followed by most of the skin on the ribs, and the right eye. For a brief moment, everything stood stock-still as she plunged the right-hand sword deep into the monstrosity’s heart.
    Then the world went up in flames.
    Everything inside the boundaries went up in a blazing inferno, as if several nuclear bombs had gone off inside a confined area.
    "HIT THE DIRT!!" Sage cried, throwing himself to the ground and dragging Sai, who was nearest to him, down as well. The others followed suit and covered their heads with their hands as wave after wave of broiling heat rolled over them.
    "Owch." Touma muttered. His skin felt brittle and sunburned.
    "Ditto." Ryo moaned. The heat had been intense, even to him.
    "What happened?" Sai asked groggily, trying to push himself up. The blast had been particularly damaging to himself and Shin, as their armors were water-based.
    "It’s over!" Shu jumped to his feet. "The battle’s finished! Reika won!"
    "Yeah, if she wasn’t fried." Rowen reminded him.
    "No, she’s okay." Shin’s voice came. "Look."
    Slowly, the remaining Ronins regained their feet, and turned to look in the direction the circle had been in. Everything inside it was charred and burned to ash. The few withered trees that had been inside were now smoking blackened stumps.
    And standing off to the right side of the ring of destruction, was Reika, calmly cleaning her katanas with the remains of the monster’s cloak.
    "Demon’s blood." She spat as they drew closer to her. "It corrodes like acid." She held up the blade of one of her swords, inspecting it with a critical eye, then slid them home into their sheaths on her back.
    "Reika, what happened?" Touma asked. "What was with your swords?" She turned mild eyes on him, and smiled.
    "I dunno, I think it was a physical representation of the rage inside me." She placed her hand over her heart, running her finger over a gash in the metal of her armor.
    Shu let out an incredulous whistle and used his toe to prod the small pile of ashes and charred bone that was all that remained of the thing.
    "Man Rei, you sure pulled a job on this guy." He commented.
    "I’d say he pulled one on me." She said ruefully, trying to ignore the lancing pain in her jaw.
Seiji reached over and took her chin in his hands. He gently turned her head to get a better look at her crushed cheek.
    "How bad is it?" She asked. He swallowed hard. In reality, it was one of the worst injuries he’d ever seen. It looked as if her whole cheek had been caved in. It was a terrible bluish-black color, tinged with yellow. Not pretty.
Reika must have seen the look of horror flicker across his face, for she turned wide eyes on him.
    "It’s disfiguring, isn’t it?" She inquired in a hushed voice.
    "Not if I have anything to do about it." He replied grimly. Reika winced away from his cool armored hand. He held her face between both his hands and forced her to look into his eyes. She felt herself falling into a trace-like state, and realized he was hypnotizing her, so he could use his healing powers without her interference.
    There was an audible pop as her cheek went back to its normal form. Her eyes went wide at the noise, even though it didn’t hurt. But it was definitely a strange sensation feeling her bones knit back together.
    "Creepy." Shin remarked, pulling his hand away from where it had been on his own cheek. "Definitely creepy."
Reika pushed Seiji away from her, thwarting his attempts to finish healing her. "Save your strength buddy, I’ll live.  The rest of these injuries aren’t too bad, just some bumps and bruises."
    "I think this is yours." Ryo smiled, passing her her helmet, which was miraculously unaffected by the flames. In fact, it was the only part of her armor not suffering from dents and gouges.
    "Thank you." She slipped it back over her head, confining her hair.
    "So now what?" Shin asked, skirting the pile of ash with a look of disgust on his face. "I mean, we don’t know what we’re up against. Reika just fried the one enemy we actually know about, and it had to be working for somebody." Leave it to Shin to point out the practical side of their dangers. "So do we head to the palace now, or what?"
    "We have no choice." Shu said firmly. "We’ve started this, and now we’ll see it through to the end."
Every head nodded in agreement. Looks of determination spread over ten faces as they steeled themselves for the dangers ahead.
    As they turned to begin the long trek to the distant palace, Reika paused and turned back, her eyes sweeping the charred battlefield.
    "Rest now father." She murmured, feeling the hot, dry air ruffle the wisps of hair that had escaped her helmet. "We’ll take care of this, and then things will be back to normal again."