The guys were back to shore and into their civilian wear
when Dais met them. They almost
didn't recognize him due to the fact that he was not in his sub armor;
instead, he was in a suit and tie. Almost
as if he were a businessman waiting for a meeting when they arrived.
They nodded and Dais opened the portal to the Dynasty for
them to enter. They transferred
realms and found themselves in the same place Mia and Yulie had started from. They knew the Dynasty almost as well as Mia did and they too wondered why
Mia and Yulie had been brought to this side of things when Dais did something
different and stayed in his civilian wear.
Wondering what was going on they followed him silently on
the same half hour hike that had taken Mia and Yulie to the small shrine in the
woods. They all wondered what was
going on and they had realized that the warrior of illusion had not asked where
his one time nemesis was.
This was getting stranger and stranger as Ryo was starting
to get itchy for some action. What
ever had caused the warlords and the last of the ancients to go into hiding; it
was bad enough to call for all of them.
This trial of death was going to be interesting for them
all and not knowing what Kento was going through at the moment was going to
cause them trouble. He had been
captured and at the moment none of the warriors that bore an armor were able to
feel him.
Mia met them all at the entrance to the Shrine hugging each
of them letting them know in her own way that she was again with them through
the end of this. Yulie looked at
the others and nodded as he looked back to Sekhmet and thus continued his
conversation about fighting tactics.
This caught the guys completely by surprise but Mia gave
them a look that told them that he had been acting strangely this whole time. Looking about and noticing that all were gathered with the exception of
Kento they decided to get down to business and get talking about what was going
on and how best to get their friend back.
Before they had touched back to land those of the team that
were married had gotten in touch with their spouses and explained that they
would be away for a few days and out of touch but not to worry. Most accepted the explanation as they had accepted them going away
before. But Tara had been as
quarrelsome as ever about Sage's duties and it took Sensei Date to quiet her
enough for Sage to speak with the other family members.
Sage had worried about that until he was reminded of the
need that hit a little too close to him for his liking. That was the need to get Kento back from where ever he was taken. He had been captured and wherever he was, they could not feel him.
Explanations began, this time in full as they all sat
around the table with Mia at her computer and as they all listened, Kayura got a
thoughtful look on her face. Mia
was busy recording everything they were saying and in doing so was also cross
referencing it to everything she had learned thus far in the records she had
gained access to.
It wasn't much but from what they could all tell was that
the Bearer of the Hardrock armor was taken to yet another dimension where they
would not be able to get into contact with him as readily. It was possible that he was trying to fight his way out of
where ever he was, but the possibility that this new power that was being sent
to test them all was going to be too powerful for him to fight and that he would
lose his battle before they could get to him.
This drove the ronins to distraction as Mia conferred with
Kayura as to the best way to find Kento amongst the many dimensions that were
out there. Yulie was thoughtful for
quite some time before he spoke up. "Why
not have the eight armors focus on the Hardrock armor and then when they link in
what ever way they can, have the Staff of the ancients open a doorway for the
guys to go through?"
Rowen looked at Yulie proudly as the others gaped. They hadn't thought that he had absorbed so much about the way the
armors worked and how the multiverse would work. He had proved them wrong, and Rowen right in the fact that the kid was
bright.
"I think that would actually work. However, How would they get back here if they are actually in
another dimension?" Mia voiced
her thoughts as she sometimes did.
"That wouldn't be too hard. The Dynasty is kind of like limbo isn't it? The energies here aren't really good or evil unless they
are charged in that direction. That
would mean that the plane of existence here is also in limbo, accounting for the
long life spans here. So why not
use this place as the jump point instead of the Mortal realm?" Yulie was thinking as he spoke, reviewing his tentative idea
for flaws and problems that would make it impossible to use.
Kayura listened to Yulie's speculations and nodded. "It should work, Yulie is right about the Dynasty being in limbo. Theoretically his plan should work."
"But we don't know what we're up against." Sage interrupted. He hated to say it, but he was having some reservations about
jumping in unprepared for what they might find. The others looked the same way, but Ryo, Sekhmet, Dais, and
Cale all looked ready to jump in and go kicking some ass to find their friend. The only problem with that mix was that if they were to need the armor of
inferno at any point in time, they were going to need White Blaze and one more
armor bearer. Kayura was needed
here to protect Mia and serve as the gatekeeper for them all.
Looking to Rowen and Cye, Sage shook his head, they knew
what he was worried about and were worried about the same thing. Rowen finally stood up. "I'll
go. We need to have something here
going for us as we go in to the lions den."
