Rowen lifted his head from the pillow.  The Dynasty, he could sense it.  Whatever, whoever, they were close by.  Wait a minute, two?  What’s the deal with that?  Tulpa hardly ever sent more than two ‘warlords’ or whoever to take them out, why did he start now?  Rowen shook his head, trying to loose the questions.  There were dynasty creeps here, they didn’t belong, and he had to go boot them out.  He grabbed his crystal armor orb, the kanji of life glowing slightly blue inside.  He transformed into his sub-armor and ran at top speed towards the battle.

 Cora and Kayura attacked.  Kayura first, charging at Ryo and Kento.
 "Huaaa!"  She cried as she attacked Ryo.  Ryo blocked her swords with his katanas.  Kayura then flipped over him.  Ryo turned swiftly, his swords slashing behind him to perhaps catch Kayura.  Kayura ducked underneath them both.  Kento sent his detached staff at Kayura, who let the chain wrap around her sword.
 "Hah!  Gotcha now Kayura!"  Kento yelled at her.
 "Or so you think Hardrock," she said sweetly.  Then she yanked her sword on which the chain was wrapped around hard, the chain pulled Kento along with it for the ride.  The warrior of Hardrock slammed into a nearby tree.
 Cora watched Kayura.  "Hmm, might as well join the fun," she mused to herself, eyeing Sage and Cye.  This is going to be loads of fun.
 Sage noticed her.  "Bring it on Cora!"
 Cora smiled.  "As you wish…Ha!"  Cora ran at him, swords extended, ready to fight.  Sage swung his no-datchi at Cora.  She dodged, then leaped up into the air and brought her swords crashing down at Sage.  He blocked it with his sword.  Cora then leapt back from him.
 "What’s the matter, Sage of Halo?  You don’t seem very eager to fight me.  Remember what happened to Strata when he didn’t fight?  He’s not here now is he?"  Cora taunted him.  She shortened the sword in her right hand, and threw it in a Frisbee-like fashion.  The sword spun until it was just a glowing blur of purple light.
 "Ahh!"  Sage exclaimed.
 "Sage!"  Cye yelled, as he ran to block of the attack.  Cye threw his trident-like staff at the spinning sword to cut it off.  Cora’s sword bounced off the staff and returned back to her.  She caught it.
 "That was a nice move Torrent, thank you for sending my sword back to me," Cora said snidely.
 Cye was in a desperate position.  He couldn’t reach his staff, and he didn’t know enough about how to handle a sword to use the one he had.
 "Cye!  Catch!"  Sage cried from behind Cora.  Sage threw Cye’s staff back to him.  Cye leapt up to catch it.
 "Thanks Sage!"  Cye called back to him.
 "Hmm…" Cora mused.  Then she charged at Cye.  He tried to ward her off; he thrust his staff at Cora, her swords getting caught between the spears.  Cye gave the mental commands for the blades to close around the swords, locking them in place.  Cora glared at him.  Cye then yanked the swords away from Cora; the swords flew up into the air.
 "You think you can get rid of my weapons that easily?"  She called out angrily.  Cora held up her hands and the swords came zooming back down to her.  She smiled wickedly at Cye, and then noticed Sage coming up behind her.
 "I don’t think so Halo," she said.  Sage slashed at her.  Cora ducked, then spun to fight him off.  She slashed at him with her swords, and Sage blocked her blows.  Then she brought her swords down, holding his sword with her own, she planted a powerful kick on him.  Sage went flying backward and hit the ground hard.
 "Aaahhh!" he cried.
 "Sage!"  Cye called to his friend.
 "Worry about yourself Torrent."  Cora jeered.  She and Cye fought, her swords clashing against the blades of his spear.  Cye was tiring; he couldn’t keep this up for very long.  And by the looks of it, Kento and Ryo couldn’t keep fighting Kayura either.  They needed Rowen.  Lost friend or not, they needed his help.  Then Cora cut off her attack and leapt back from him.
 "Are you tiring on me already Torrent?"  She asked tauntingly.
 Cye panted.  He knew that Cora was going to finish him off soon, it was coming, and he could feel it.
 "Too bad really."  Cora shortened her swords, then she crossed them in front of her, and yelled: "Spin my swords of Agony!"  Then she flung her swords, snapping her wrists so that they started spinning and glowing with a purple light.  The swords weaved in and out of each other, and then they hit Cye, sending shooting pains throughout his whole body.
 "Aaahh!" he cried in agony.  After the attack, he collapsed, no energy left, he couldn’t move anything, every inch of him ached.
 Cora silently called her swords back to her, catching them.  She walked over to Cye and knelt down by him.
 "I’m sorry Torrent, you really did put up a good fight, but Kayura and I were sent here to take care of you Ronins."
 Kento noticed his fallen friend.
 "Cye!  No!  Cora!  I’m gonna get you for this!"  He yelled at her angrily.
 Cora laughed.  "Oh please, go ahead Hardrock."
 Kento was about to attack her when Ryo held him back.  "Kento, we can’t!"
 He stopped.  Ryo was right.  But she nearly killed Cye!  How could they let her get away with that?
 Cora turned her attention back to Cye.  Then she felt the cold edge of a blade against her shoulder.
 "Don’t even think about it Cora," Sage’s voice rang with ice.
 "Well now Halo, you came back rather well," Cora said back to him.
 "Don’t you dare touch him again," Sage said seriously.
 Ryo knocked off Kayura’s attack.  "Sage!"
 "Really Halo, you don’t know me that well now do you?"  Cora jaunted.  She knocked his sword away and jumped around to face him.  "I guess you’re begging for a beating as well," Cora growled at Sage.
 Sage glared back at her.
 "Swords of Agony Spin!"  She screamed as she shortened her swords, crossed them in front of her, and flung them at Sage.  The swords spun with a purple light, and released their energy at Sage.  Sage blocked the attack as best he could, but he could do nothing against it.  If he used his Thunder-Bolt Cut, he might hurt Cora, and he couldn’t do that, they had to make her good again, break Tulpa’s hold on her.  That would take sacrifices.
 Pain stung him, he lost all feeling, his energy was zapped down to zero.  Nothing left, Sage slunk to the ground.
 Cora grinned at her handy work.  Two Ronins down, three if you count Strata, but he probably wasn’t down for long, he could be joining any second.  She knelt down by Sage.
 "I told you you were begging for a beating."  She said to him.
 Sage could only glare at her.  He hoped that someone would be able to hold Cora off from killing him.
 "I’ll finish you off now, and put you out of your misery, then I’ll take care of Torrent."
 Suddenly, Cora heard running behind her.  But it was not in a human running pattern.  This creature had 4 legs.  Then she felt an animal ram into her, shoving her away from Sage.  Cora fell hard, but she picked herself up just the same.  A white tiger stood between Sage, Cye, and Cora, blocking her from them.  The tiger charged her.  Cora moved to block it with her swords, but was surprised when no impact came.  Standing in front of her, with it’s back to her, was a silvery-gray wolf.  Cora stood confused.  Why would a wolf want to protect her?
 White Blaze roared, the wolf growled, and barked a couple times.  White Blaze stopped growling all together, but did not move from his spot.  Then the wolf turned to look at Cora.  His eyes flashed a green light, which reflected in Cora’s eyes, blinding her for a minute.
 "Ah!" she gasped, covering her eyes with one arm.
 "Cora!  Stop fooling around and finish those two off!"  Kayura called to her, still battling with Ryo, who was tiring.
 Cora nodded.  White Blaze roared.  The wolf jumped at Cora, knocking her over.  He grabbed the amulet in his teeth, yanking at it to try to get it to come off.
 "Off beast!"  Cora yelled at it, and shoved it away from her.  She jumped to her feet, and prepared to finish off Sage and Cye, when two arrows came from out of nowhere.  One landed at her feet, Cora moved slightly and the second one cut into her arm, grazing it.  A line of blood began to trickle down her right arm.  Cora grabbed her arm, and looked for the person who shot the arrows.
 "Ha!" Kayura cried as she delivered another blow to Ryo.
 "Show yourself Ronin!"  Cora cried angrily.
 Rowen jumped from his hiding place in the trees and landed in front of Cora, an arrow strung in his bow.
 "Leave now Cora and Kayura, I’m warning you."  Rowen said forcefully.
 "Rowen!"  Ryo called.
 "Well look who finally decided to show up," Kayura said in that annoying-sweet voice of hers.
 "I was hoping you would come Strata, I hope the last time we fought didn’t hurt you too much."  Cora said, equally malicious.
 "Cora, you hurt my friends again, you’ll pay, I’m warning you," Rowen continued, ignoring the fact that he was screaming at himself inside.
 "Well, you Ronin Warriors just don’t learn from examples now do you?  Take a good look at Halo and Torrent, Strata, is that how you want to end up?"  Cora challenged.
 Rowen closed his eyes, and let go of the arrow.  It flew toward Cora.  She jumped out of the way; the arrow struck the tree behind her.
 "You are a fool, Strata, you know that you cannot win against me, we will finish you off!  This is the last day the Ronin Warriors stand together!"  Cora screamed at him.
 "Rowen!  Watch it!"  Ryo yelled to him.
 Cora crossed her swords in front of her, as she did when she had taken out Sage and Cye.  "Swords of Agony Spin!"
 The glowing swords spun towards Rowen.  He jumped out of their line of fire, and landed next to White Blaze.  Cora called her swords and attacked him again.  Her swords came for Rowen.  He blocked them with his bow, trying to keep her at bay.  He couldn’t keep this up for long.  He should have come sooner, when he would have had help from the others.  Attack after attack, all that Rowen could do was block Cora’s blows.  He wouldn’t let himself fight her.
 "I am getting tired of this Strata, you’re starting to bore me."  Cora said, annoyed at him.
 "Tell me about it," Rowen said back to her.
 Cora came at him again with her swords.  And again he blocked them with his bow.  Cora smiled wickedly down at him.  Rowen looked into her jade green eyes.  He remembered how they used to glitter with friendliness.  Now, all that there was was a bitter sting of evil.  But somewhere, he could sense a part of her crying out to herself, begging herself to stop.  Somewhere she recognized him.
 Cora flipped over him and landed behind him.  Now her attention was focused on Ryo.
 "Really Kayura, I wouldn’t have thought that it would have taken you this long to take out Wildfire."
 "Your job isn’t finished, Cora, you still have to kill the other two."  Kayura retorted.
 "If we take out these two, killing the other three will be easy."  Cora said.
 Kayura smiled evilly back at Cora.  The two stood side-by-side, facing Ryo and Rowen.
 "Winds of Darkness!  We call you!"  The Sisters of Darkness cried in unison.  Furious winds came forth and swirled around Ryo and Rowen, striking at them, causing pain.
 "Aaaah!" they gasped.
 "Star Sword Scream!"  Kayura called.
 "Spin, Swords of Agony!"  Cora commanded.
 The two attacks sped toward Ryo and Rowen.  They hit full force; neither of them could do a thing to block it.  They came, the pain, make the attack stop please!  They cried out in agony.
 When the winds died down, Wildfire and Strata lay paralyzed on the ground.  Cora and Kayura.  Looked over them.  Suddenly, a voice rang in Cora’s head.

What have you done Jaded One?
 What?  What is this voice?  What do you mean, Jaded One?
 Cora, Jaded One, why are you doing this?  What have you done to Rowen?  Your best friend whom you loved and cared for?

Suddenly, the small part of Cora, the part that still remembered, fought for control.  It screamed inside of her.  Battling for control.

Wha-What have I done?!  Rowen! No!  No!  I did this?!  No!  I couldn’t have!  I-I-I must be going crazy, what is going on?  What happened?  Rowen!
 You nearly killed him.  Why?  Why did you do that Jaded One?

 Cora clasped her hands over her ears, trying to shut out the voice.
 I-I don’t know, I don’t know!  Please! Just leave me alone!  Rowen!
 Why?  Why did you nearly kill him Jaded One?  Why?!  The voice commanded, refusing to leave.
 "I don’t know!  Please!  Stop!"  Cora cried out to the sky.
 Kayura looked at her strangely.  She’s going insane.  She thought.  Kayura also thought that this would be the best time to leave, and so she disappeared, leaving Cora.
 Cora sunk to the ground and wept.  The battle for control still going on inside of her.  The amulet glowed fiercely, but the jade pendant would not give up.
 A ways away, Cye started to stir.  He weakly picked himself up, and looked around.  The other Ronin Warriors had fallen.  And he was surprised to see Cora down on one knee covering her eyes with her arms.  For the time being, he ignored her, and checked up on the others.  They were all very weak; this battle had taken a great token of their strength.  Sage would be coming around soon.  Kento, he was out like a lightbulb.  Ryo and Rowen?  Who knew?
 The wolf that Cora had encountered earlier came up to her.  He spoke to her through her mind.
 ^Cora^
 Cora looked up into the wolf’s eyes.  She got a strange, yet familiar feeling.
 ^Cora, you are not evil, break away from Tulpa.  Join the Ronin Warriors.^
 Cora gave the wolf a quizzical look.  A wolf?  Talking to her?  Impossible!  Crazy!
 ^No Cora, it is not impossible or crazy, I am a magic wolf.  The guide and aide of the Jaded One.  You, Cora, are the Jaded One.^
 "The Jaded One?" she asked confused.
 ^Do you remember your friend Rowen?^
 "Rowen!  Oh no!"  Cora gasped, standing up suddenly.  She looked around.  Halo and Torrent were standing.  She had taken those two out.  No way were they going to trust her.  She saw Rowen and Wildfire a little ways in front of her, but Torrent was close by.  Cora moved toward Rowen.  Cye saw her and moved to face her, standing in front of Rowen.
 Cora blinked through tear-dried eyes.  The wolf stood at her side.
 "I…I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to…" she started.
 Cye didn’t know what to say to her.  Could he trust her?  Sage heard Cora’s voice and came over.
 "Cora, what do you want?"  He asked her icily.
 She glanced mournfully at him, and wiped her eyes.  Then turned and started to leave, but she glanced back at them saying, "Just tell him, I’m sorry, and I miss him."
 Sage and Cye exchanged glances.  Should they let her stay?
 Behind them, Rowen stirred. He was trying to get up, but finding it very painful.
 "Ah!  Ow," he gasped in his attempt.  Ryo also started to wake up, and by then, Kento was already awake.
 "Rowen!  Ryo!  Are you okay?"  Sage asked them.
 "Yeah, I’m okay, a little weak and dizzy, but I’m okay other than that," Ryo answered.
 "Oh man, I don’t know, every inch of me aches like it’s been hit by 10 semi trucks."  Rowen responded in gasps.
 "Rowen, you should get rid of your armor, you’ll be able to move better if you do," Cye suggested.
 "We should all get rid of our armor if that’s the case," Ryo said.
 "I don’t know…" Sage said slowly, still thinking that Cora might be trying to trick them.  You never can be too cautious when the dynasty is concerned.
 "Sage, she’ll be all right," Cye reassured him.
 "She?"  Rowen asked, confused and dazed.
 Cye and Sage exchanged glances, Sage nodded.  They banished their armor and returned to their sub-armor.
 "What’s going on you guys?"  Ryo asked.
 The wolf came up to them.
 ^You know, the Jaded One will be easily turned if you can keep her here, before Tulpa calls her back again.^
 "Huh?"  Sage asked.
 ^I am Kariudo, the Guide to the Jaded One.  Cora is the Jaded One.^
 "Cora!"  Rowen said weakly, and tried to get up.  "Kariudo, where is she?  I must see her!  Please!"
 ^You Ronin Warriors are lucky that she has not left yet.  Although she is not evil for the moment, she would still return back to Tulpa, because that is all that she knows.  I will get her.^
 Kariudo trotted back to Cora.
 ^They want to speak to you Cora.^
 "What?"
 ^Rowen wants to see you.^
 "Rowen!  He’s okay?!"
 ^Yes.^
 Cora turned around to face the group.  She walked toward them.  I hope I have their trust, how can they forgive me for what I’ve done?  I’ve caused so much pain.
 "Ronins," she said to get their attention, "you wanted to talk to me?"
 "Cora, we understand that you didn’t choose to attack us by your own choice, we don’t hold that against you."  Ryo told her.
 "R-Rowen, I-is he okay?"  she asked.
 "He should be okay, after he recovers,"  Sage answered.
 "Cora…" Rowen tried to say.
 "Rowen…I-is it really you?"  Cora asked, trying to fight back tears.
 "Who else would it be?"  Rowen managed a weak smile.
 "Oh Rowen, I’ve missed you so much, forgive me, please," Cora sobbed, throwing her arms around him.
 "I forgive you Cora, I’ve missed you too."
 I promise, Cora, I won’t loose you again, and if I do, Tulpa will pay dearly.
 Then, the sky cracked with thunder, yet there were no clouds in the sky.
 "CORA!  I WILL NOT LET THOSE RONIN BRATS HAVE YOUR POWER!  COME BACK TO ME!"  Tulpa’s voice rang out through the sky.
 "What?!  No!"  Cora cried, as she shimmered, then disappeared.
 "Cora!"  Rowen called after her.
 "Tulpa!" Ryo screamed at the sky.
 "No!"  Rowen cried, "Cora!"