"Amber?…Amber?…Hello-oooooo?" Ryo called, sweeping his hand in front of my blank, depressed face. He looked back to the guys and shrugged. Cye went upstairs, head down. I sighed and continued my blank stare. Yulie popped up in front of me and stared into my un-seeing eyes. "What is wrong with her Ryo?" he asked and waved his hands in front of my face. "I don't know Yulie. I don't know," he said worriedly. Sage sat down beside me and tried to enter my mind to find out. I was so depressed and tired that I was not able to keep him from it. He stood and whispered to Ryo what Cye had told me. He looked to the stairs where Cye had gone a moment before and then sympathetically to me. He sat down and looked at me with unsure eyes. I breathed heavily, fighting the tears, bottling my emotions. He stood and went to consult with Mia about the dreams they have been having.
Later that day they formed a meeting in the living room. I listened as they said that they were going to separate and go find their inner spirits or something. They looked at me to see if, maybe, I would do the same. I continued to stare blankly, eyes teary now from not being able to contain myself anymore. They stood and said their quiet good-byes and all was quiet. For the first couple of days I mostly just sat and stared. I moved to the bathroom, shower and to lie down to sleep. Mia brought me food every now and then to try to get me to eat, but I wouldn't.
Finally one day I heard something outside. Being the only one who could fight, I felt I should do something to protect Mia. I called my sub-armor and weakly made my way outside. There stood Ryo and Rowen, glancing worriedly at me and then down the road. I looked to the road and there came a figure that looked like the Ancient One. I made my way down to where the guys were, lost my balance, and fell. The guys helped me up and saw how skinny I had become.
"Before we leave, we are going to force-feed you!" Ryo said, frowning. Rowen nodded in agreement and they both turned their attention to the figure. As it got closer, I saw long red hair coming from under the hat. "Anubis" I whispered, smiling. I walked up to him and hugged him. He smiled and returned the hug. "Sister, it is good to see you, but you have gotten way too thin." he said, keeping his face as serious as he could and looking at me worriedly. He turned his attention to Ryo and Rowen. "Your three friends are prisoners of Talpa right now. Beware of him and his assistants." he said grimly. "What?!?" Ryo and Rowen said in unison. They armed themselves and prepared to leave when they glanced at me again. "Mia!" Ryo shouted. She came out cautiously just in case it was something bad. She glanced up to Ryo and said "Whatcha need?" "Fix some food, please. We are going to force-feed this girl! If she is going to be of any use to us, she needs her strength!" he said, chuckling.
Rowen helped me into the back of the car and sat beside me, awaiting the food. Ryo hopped in, handed Rowen the food, and started the car. Mia hopped into the driver's side and Yulie and Anubis got on White blaze. We all sped off to Tokyo.
By the time we arrived at the newly made gates, Rowen had forced me to eat most of the food. My stomach rumbled and did not want to accept the food, but I hate throwing up so I forced it to stay down. We stepped out of the car and stared at the gates. My eyes focused on the character in the center. "He is so stupid. He doesn't think we know where this gate came from. He has to plaster his name all over the gates." I said with a bitter look. Anubis glanced at me and then concentrated and threw his staff. A portal appeared in front of us. We glanced at each other, nodded, and transformed into our armors. Anubis bid us farewell and we entered the portal.
I awoke to a shock of a cold and wet feeling. I was in a lake of some kind. Water lilies surrounded me. I stood and looked around. I was alone. "Ryo? Rowen?" I shouted. I turned in a whole circle calling their names. All of a sudden, Talpa's castle appeared in front of me. I started towards it, still looking for the guys. The gate was open, so I guessed they were all ready inside. I stepped through the gate and found myself in a war scene. I dodged a few soldiers and searched for the guys. I could see them. Ryo was unconscious, lying across White Blaze's back and Rowen was fighting soldiers off. I could see that both were visibly injured. I searched around for a secret opening that I remembered. I found it and entered the castle. Spirits floated by in robes similar to the mages of King Arthur's time. I grabbed a robe and threw it on. I walked to the different cells, looking in them. I finally found the one where Kento, Cye and Sage would have been held. I picked the lock and entered the cell. I saw Rowen unconscious on the floor. I ran to him and shook him to awaken him. He opened an eye, shook his head, and sat up. I looked up and noticed three statues on a rock. "What are those? They look like Cye, Sage, and Kento's armors." I said glancing at Rowen's face for an answer. He nodded and pointed. I saw an arrow jutting from each armor also. I watched the arrows for a while and noticed that they were slowly beginning to glow brighter and brighter, so bright that pretty soon we were not able to see. We closed our eyes tight to try and shut out the light, but we saw it even through closed eyes. We felt the light begin to die down and we opened our eyes.
Three figures emerged from the light, walking very majestically towards us. I hopped up and clapped my hands from the extreme amount of happiness that flooded my body when I saw who it was. "Guys! You are alive! I am so happy!" I said, hopping up and down. They chuckled and glanced around us. "How do we get out of here?" they asked. I looked around and quickly found that the door I had entered through had vanished "There is no way out!" I said. "So glad you came to join us Amber. Now I will have five pieces in my collection." Sekhmet boomed and emerged from the shadows. "I will have fun with you first!" he shouted and lunged at me. I leapt out of the way and onto the trio formation that was behind the rock the guys had been on when they were statues. "Bye!" he shouted as a hole appeared and I fell into it.
I slid down a big, rocky tunnel and fell on someone. I saw a flash of red and recognized the voice. "Ryo?" I said, picking myself off of him. "Yep," he grunted. I sat for a moment, trying to figure out what just happened and where I was. Then, from the same tunnel I fell down, I heard screams. I looked up into the tunnel to see what it was. Just then, Kento crashed into me, knocking me to the ground. Sage, Cye, and Rowen fell on him. "Help!" I screamed. "They are CRUSHING ME!" Ryo helped them off of me and then helped me up. "Where are we?" Sage asked, still a little dazed. "I think it is a water pit. Ryo, how did you get down here?" I blurted out all at once. Rowen paced around, inspecting the room. "I was battling the soldiers when Dais came behind me and shoved me into that tunnel over there," he said, pointing to a tunnel that was on the other side of the room from the one we had come through. "Shhhh." Sage hissed. He stood motionless, listening. I could hear something that sounded familiar. "You said this was a water pit, right?" asked Sage worriedly. "Yes…" I trailed off. "Well…HERE COMES THE WATER!" he shouted.
In an instant, water began pouring into the room and in less than a second it was to our knees. A whirl, looking like and about as strong as a tornado, formed in the center. We were being forced in circles by the water. I flailed and kicked to try and stay above the water. A hand grabbed me, but couldn't keep a grip and around I went again. The hand grabbed me again, and this time kept a grip. Rowen pulled me above the water. He was holding on to the bars on the ceiling. So were the others. "I am going down to see if I can get us out of here." Cye shouted and dove under. Not too long after that we felt a shudder and the water started draining. We let go and were pulled into another tunnel. When we came out we ran into this tree-like thing. It was not planted, but instead had its roots dangling in the air. Below it was a black, bottomless-looking pit.
To keep from falling, we thrust our weapons into it and hung on. I called forth two daggers so I would be able to climb easier. Rowen and Cye were not able to thrust their weapons into the thing, so they fell. They were able to grab onto the roots and hang on. I looked down and all I could see was Cye. "Rowen? You all right?" I shouted. "Yeah" he shouted back. I started down the thing to give him and Cye each a pair of daggers when I heard a god-awful war cry followed by two more. Dais, Sekhmet, and Cale came from somewhere above the tree and landed on Kento, Sage, and Cye. They fell into the abyss. Sekhmet appeared behind me and said, "You don't think we will let you off the hook that easily, do you?" He grabbed me and threw me down. I screamed and screamed. I felt a hand grab me and hold me, still screaming. "Keep screaming. He will think you fell all the way," Rowen whispered. I did as he said and trailed it off. Sekhmet laughed and was gone.
I grabbed onto Rowen's waist and pulled myself up to a root and took hold of the root. Using that, I did an ally-oop to the trunk and dug my daggers in again. I handed a pair down to Rowen and he did the same. We made our way laboriously up the tree, straining and sweating and crying out in pain as our muscles almost gave out. We reached a ceiling and moved to where the tree had made cracks in it. We hoisted ourselves through the cracks and stepped out onto the flag ground. We collapsed, exhausted from the climb. When I caught my breath and was able to relax, I moved to Rowen, who was carefully bending and massaging his arms. I took over and massaged for him. He sighed and leaned against the wall. I smiled and kissed his upper arm muscle. "There, does that feel better?" I asked. He smiled and pointed at his shoulders. I gave him an 'are you sure' look and massaged his shoulders. He gave another sigh and relaxed to rest. I planted a kiss on each shoulder. "There, I kissed it and made it better. How do you feel now?" I asked him with a smirk. He smiled and closed his eyes. "Well you sure are a man of few words!" I exclaimed and stretched, glancing back to the tree.
I was studying how it continued up through the ceiling when Rowen tackled me. He pinned me down and started tickling me. I called 'uncle' when I could barely breath and he let up, but still held me pinned. I looked into his eyes, breathless. "What was that for?" I panted. He smiled and said, "I don't know, just because I can." I sneered and shouted "You little snob!" Before I would say more he whipped his hand over my mouth and said 'shhh'. I listened for a minute and heard nothing. He grinned and let me go. "That is the last time I kiss your boo-boos to make you feel better" I smiled and leaned on his shoulder. "Are you still mad at Cye?" he asked. I giggled uncomfortably. "That is the most you have said today." I said, avoiding the question and he could tell. He put his hand under my chin and raised my head up so I was looking him in the eyes. "Are you?" he asked. "Yes. And I am also mad at myself for being mad at him. He was right and I just cant take the truth," I said and turned my head away. I felt the tears well up and run down my face. I hunched my back and balled up and cried. For the first time in a long time I cried. Loud, wracking sobs.
Rowen put one arm around me and with the other hand he lifted my face up to his again. I stared, still teary, into his deep blue eyes and felt a knot in my throat. He smiled knowingly. "It is ok," he whispered. "I know how you feel. I had a girlfriend when I was younger. During the relationship, my grades started dropping. I panicked and decided to pour everything into school. I didn't have the time for her anymore, my reputation fell and I was called a nerd and being picked on. My girlfriend left me for a more popular person and it hurt. Don't cry, please." He soothed. My crying let up. We locked eyes and I felt like I did with Cye, only stronger. Our faces drew closer and we kissed. My heart skipped a few beats. When we moved away, he was wide eyed. "Wow," he said, still wide eyed. I smiled. "I should take a picture of you. You are so cute, all wide-eyed like that." I said, grinning. He blushed and grinned. "I have never…um…" he said, closing his eyes. He put his hand to his head and messed with his hair. I moved up and planted a kiss on his forehead, below his headband. He opened his eyes and looked into mine. I hugged him and said "thank you" over and over. "You helped me so much. I don't feel depressed anymore."
I stood and pulled him to his feet. We surveyed the scene and found that there was a door. Rowen stooped down and picked up his helmet and put it on. I instinctively brushed the dirt off of my backside. We moved to the door, moving with reluctance. I muttered "Ai" and some robes appeared around us. I muttered "Jin" to the door and the lock turned and the door opened. Rowen looked at me in confusion. "When I was working for Talpa, the elders, spirits, and even some of the prisoners taught me magic. I love to use it." I said, grinning. He nodded. "What do those words mean?" he asked. I looked at him in surprise. "You don't know Ryo's soul? Virtue? JIN! It means virtue. All good things come through virtue. 'Ai' is my soul, love." I smiled and led him through the door. We were in a part that I strongly recognized. It was very near my chamber room. I pulled him to it and we ducked inside just as two patrol soldiers walked by. I muttered 'Jin…Ai…Jin…' and repeated it for a while. Then the words of the ancients. A yellow field appeared around the room preventing any entrance into the room.
I hopped onto my bed and stretched out. I grinned even more and patted the bed beside me. He sat down, surprised at the softness of the bed. Our relaxation was short lived, because the whole room began to shake. The force field around my room shattered. I cringed as a sliver of glass flew past my face, leaving a thin red trail on my cheek. My eye caught a flash of blue and I saw what the goal of this intrusion was. "You will not have him!!!" I shouted, leaping into the air and grasping for Rowen's foot as they tried to take him. A force knocked me back onto my bed and held me there. "Fancy meeting you here, beautiful woman." A deep, sinister voice said. I glanced over, laboriously to see where he was. Sekhmet entered the room in some civvies for once instead of his sub-armor or armor. He strolled over to the bed where I was still being held down. "Tsk tsk. We really should do something about that dirty armor." He cackled, snapping his fingers. My armor vanished and I was in my baby-tee and short shorts. I cringed as he lay a hand on my bare knee, not liking the feeling of his cold hands. He stared me in the eyes, grinning madly as he slid the hand up further. I flinched and tried my hardest to kick, or do something to prevent what he was doing. "Sekhmet you snake. Leave me alone, now!" I spat through clenched teeth. He shook his head and continued upward. He positioned himself between my legs and removed his shirt. Moving closer, he leaned over me and began kissing my stomach, working his way up. I began to unknowingly pool my power as I watched him do this…this…horrible act to me! Yuck!
I finally had enough power to use and I called on my attack, even though I was not in armor. "White lightning attack!" I shouted. He was knocked back against the wall and I was set free. I called straight for my armor instead of calling my sub-armor first and bolted out the door. I ran and ran and ran and ran… and then I ran some more! I felt dirty from what he had done to me and I wanted to run until it was all gone. Instead, I found a small pool of water and hopped into it. I lay there, soaking for the moment, trying to calm down and sense where the guys were. They were near. I hopped up and ran to where they were. I was shocked at what I saw. There stood nine sarcophaguses in a circle. Eight all ready had bodies in them. I shuddered and moved around to each. I stopped at Rowen's. "I am sorry Rowen. Please forgive me." I whispered. I slowly walked to the center of the circle and sat down. I began to chant until I felt the Ronins' powers return. "Go get him, guys." I said. The coffins exploded. A piece of one hit me and I blacked out. When I awoke, I saw the Ronins beneath me on the ground and I was in the air. Rowen jumped up and tried to grab me, but he was thrown down. I looked over and saw Sekhmet's evil face grinning at me. I struggled to get out of his grasp, but my efforts were futile. With my last breath before entering the dark, decayed-looking portal I shouted a "Noooooooooooooooooo!" that was perfectly in unison with Rowen's.
When I emerged from the darkness I was in shackles and Sekhmet was right in front of me. "You have two options, Amber of Lightning. You can marry me and we can take over earth together or you can stay in this rank dungeon for the rest of your life." He cackled. I looked up at him with every ounce of hatred I could muster. "I would rather die in this dungeon than become united with the lowest of the low. What kind of whore do you take me for, you evil snake?!? When I escape, I will make sure you are beheaded, so you shall never haunt anyone ever again." I spat at him. I felt the sharp sting of a familiar cat-'o-nine tails before I blacked out again, for the fifty-millionth time.