Téa took a deep breath and waited until Dais was nearly upon her before
leaping out of the way of his attack. Standing up, she realized that Cale
and Sekhmet had decided to join the fight as well. The two attacked
simultaneously, robbing Téa of any chance she may have had to move out of
the way. Suddenly the cry of two sure kills rang out in the air.
"Super Wave Smasher!"
"Thunder Bolt Cut!"
Téa breathed in a sigh of both excitement and relief as Cale and Sekhmet were knocked away from their intended target…her. I'll have to thank the warlords for helping me find the other five Ronin Warriors, she thought as she stood up, :But first, it's time to introduce myself.: She pulled out her armor orb. "Armor of Angelfire! DAO JINKEI!" she cried. A ball of silver blue flame flared up around her. In an instant the flames were gone, leaving Téa standing in full armor.
She flashed a brilliant smile at both the warlords and the Ronin Warriors. "You know, Dais, Cale, Sekhmet, I must congratulate you. Not only did you find the other Ronins for me and my sisters, you brought us together as well. Talpa's gonna love you for that!" she said to the warlords, her voice dripping with sarcastic sweetness. Turning to the Ronins, who stood gaping at her, "I assure you, all will be explained. But first, we fight." She moved into a fighting stance, pulling out her twin rapiers. The other five seemed to decide that she was on their side and followed her lead.
"I hope you're ready to die," Dais said in a dangerously quiet voice, "Because I intend to kill you all." He called up an army of Dynasty soldiers, "But first, I'll let my soldiers play with you."
:Calypso!: Téa called, using the mind link that she and the other girls shared, :I don't know if you're interested,: she blocked the attack of two soldiers and relieved both of their heads, :but I happen to be in down the street fighting alongside the other five Ronins and having one helluva party!:
Calypso's excitement was evident in her reply, :Save something for me, I'll be there in a minute!:
:You better hurry!: was all Téa said in reply. Calypso appeared a few minutes later, arriving through one of her portals. "Took you long enough," Téa said with sarcasm.
"How nice!" Calypso replied, using her broadsword to slice through three of the Dynasty soldiers at once. "Shall we blast these goons?" she asked.
Téa nodded and the girls got ready to use their sure kills. "Rage of Angels!" she cried. Hundreds of silver blue rings erupted from her crossed rapiers, surrounding the girls and destroying all the Dynasty soldiers in their path. She leaned against Calypso, momentarily tired out. She didn't rest for long before she was moving again. This time to leap towards the young man bearing the Armor of Torrent and knock him to the ground. Seconds later, Cale's sure kill passed over them both.
Turning to the warlords, Calypso cried "Ravana's Chaos!" Enveloped in darkness, with only her silhouette visible, the blood star and the crescent moon on her stomach glowed brightly. Silver wings took form, closing around her and brightening until they blinded the warlords. When the light cleared, all three warlords stood in their subarmors, a confused look on their faces.
"You will live to regret this girls," Dais threatened as he and the other two warlords faded from view.
Téa laughed breathlessly from where she was still laying next to Torrent, who was looking up at her in surprise. She smiled, looking into his eyes. What she saw made her gasp, "Sai?!? You're a Ronin?!"
He nodded, but otherwise didn't move. A shadow fell across them both. "Okay," a familiar voice said humorously, "Sai, you're about to make Sage jealous."
Téa leaped up. "Kento!" she exclaimed, hugging him. Then she looked at him somewhat seriously. "What do you mean I'm going to make Sage jealous?"
"He's been sprung on you since you brushed him off this morning in Chemistry," Kento replied, then added as an afterthought, "Then again, he's been sprung on all of you because none of you will give him the time of day."
Everyone laughed and Téa smiled at Sage and Sai. "Thank you for helping me," she said, then to Sage, "I'm sorry that I haven't melted at your feet from your charm, but if you really want to know, keep working on Elisa. You two would make an adorable couple."
Sage looked away, with a slight blush and mumbled something incoherent.
"Why, I do believe he's embarrassed!" Rowen exclaimed. Sage shot him a dirty look.
"I hate to break up the fun, but I don't think this is the best place for a friendly conversation. We should get moving," said Ryo.
Téa turned to Ryo, "I s'pose you're right. We have a few things to take care of."
"Why don't you guys come to our house?" Calypso asked, "It's closer."
"No it's no…" Ryo began. He yelped in surprise as one of Calypso's portals opened beneath them and dropped them into the girls' living room.
Calypso grinned wickedly, "Yeah it is." Three girls came rushing in from the kitchen.
"What's going on?" Elisa asked.
"A party," Téa replied, "Surprise!"
"Wait a minute, hold up here," Ryo's voice rang out, "Who are you?"
"We'll tell you whatever you want to know on one condition," Calypso interrupted as she and Téa banished their armors, "Get out of your armors."
"Good enough," Ryo replied. The five warriors banished their armors and everyone took a seat in the living room.
"Now," Téa started from her perch on the arm of one of the overstuffed chairs, "Where do we start?"
Sai looked up at her from where he was sitting in the same chair, "Who are you?"
"To start at the beginning, there are fourteen armors," Nahla said from where she and Rowen were sitting on the love seat.
"Fourteen?" Rowen asked, "We thought there were only nine."
"You thought wrong," Calypso replied, "Before we continue, I would like to introduce everyone to Nina." She gestured to a strawberry blond girl that none of the guys recognized. "I met her today in the marketplace, she's one of us."
"How do you know that?" Nahla asked.
Here we go again, Téa groaned, Not another fight! Especially when we're trying to have a civilized discussion.
"Don't start mates," Nina said sternly with an Australian accent, "I've seen enough of your fighting today. We have things to discuss and I am not about to stay up all night because you two feel the need to fight."
Both girls gave her a dirty look but shut up. "Don't worry Nina," Téa said wryly, "You'll start ignoring their fights in no time and you won't even care when they're going on."
Two cats walked into the room. One, the huge red panther that Rowen, from earlier in the evening, recognized as Chaos. The other was a white Bengal tiger. "Hey, who's the tiger?" he asked curiously, "He looks like White Blaze."
"Oh, that's Angel," Nahla said off-handedly, "Who's White Blaze?"
"That's my tiger," Ryo answered, "Rowen's right, they do look a lot alike. What about the panther?"
"That's my Chaos," Calypso replied, scratching the big cat behind the ears.
"Well, back to the subject," Sai said, "What are your armors?"
"Mine is the Armor of Angelfire," Téa said, "Nahla's is the Armor of Sunfire, Elisa's is the Armor of Lust, Calypso's the Armor of Chaos, and…"
"I bear the Armor of Dark Soul," Nina finished for her.
"To answer your earlier question Nahla," Calypso said, "I know she's one of us the same way we know about each other. For one, she has a blood star, and for another, she has the birthmark."
Sage broke eye contact with Elisa long enough to look at Calypso questioningly, "Birthmark?"
"Yeah. Each of us girls has a star-shaped birthmark," Téa explained. She pulled up the sleeve covering her right arm revealing a dark blue star, "This is mine."
Calypso turned and pulled up the back of her shirt. A dark red and silver star was exposed on the small of her back. "Here's mine."
"Mine is here," Nina said, lifting her shirt to reveal a black and gold star over her belly button.
Nahla didn't show hers. "Where's yours Nahla?" Rowen asked curiously.
She smiled at him, "So far up on my thigh that showing it to you would be indecent. It's light blue."
"And apparently Elisa's is over her belly button as well," Sage finished, noting the pink star revealed below the hem of her short shirt.
"Okay, so that explains the birthmark, what about the blood star?" Ryo asked. Each of the girls pulled out a piece of jewelry. Somewhere on each piece was a teardrop-shaped ruby with a black star inside.
"Each of us had one of these when we first met. Cali was the only one who actually knew about the armors, but the rest of us learned about them quickly enough when Talpa sent his warlords after us," Téa said. She looked at Nina, "It seems that you also know about the armors. How did you find out about them?"
Nina shrugged, "Those that follow the old ways are a lot more knowledgeable about magic and the like. I spent a lot of time with the Aborigine tribes in Australia. They knew the location of the orb of the Armor of Dark Soul and they sensed that I was the one the armor was being saved for. They taught me how to use the armor and told me to come here to Japan. They said I was needed to help in the fight against Talpa, so I came. I ran into Cali in the market today and she brought me here."
"Oh," Téa replied.
"Well, how did the rest of you meet?" Kento asked.
"We all ended up transferring to the same high school in Washington," Cali said, "I was the last person to transfer and Téa was the first person I met. Mainly because we got into a huge fight."
"Oh yeah, I remember that," Téa laughed, "But now that I think of it, what were we fighting about?"
Calypso thought for a moment. "I don't really remember. Then again, how often do we remember what we fight about?"
"Good point. I don't think we ever really fight about anything, we just start yelling at each other for the hell of it." Téa looked at Nahla, "On the other hand…"
Nahla smiled at the guys, all of whom had a blank look on their faces, "Let me try to explain. Téa and Cali love to fight, to the point of starting a fight with each other just to have something to do. Cali and I also fight…almost constantly. We simply do not get along. But we do all stick together because of our common goal…to get rid of Talpa. Well, that and the fact that we are good friends, regardless of our fighting."
Téa looked at the guys, "Any more questions?" Each of them shook their head except for Kento.
"Do you have anything to eat?" he asked hopefully.
Téa laughed, "Yes Kento. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to run upstairs and get out of this damn school uniform. I'll bring some food out on my way back." She jumped off of the arm of the chair and ran up the stairs taking three at a time.
Cali stood up as well and went over to the stereo. She popped in a random CD and hit the play button. "Sorry," she said to the guys, "I like music."
About fifteen minutes later, Téa reappeared, carrying a tray of food and singing to the song on the CD player. "It's just, a little crush. Not like I faint, every time we touch…" She smiled sweetly and sat the tray on the table where Kento immediately began to eat, "Cali likes to listen to music, I like to sing to it." She was now dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a pair of tank tops, one silver and one gold. She did a little pirouette, sat back down on the arm of Sai's chair and grinned, "I like to dance, too."
"Hey Kento," Cali said with a smile, "Before you eat everything, could you toss me a peach?" Kento didn't answer but tossed her one in reply.
"That sounds really good," Téa agreed, she went back to where she had set the tray and grabbed one for herself. She turned to Sai, "Want something?"
Sai shook his head, blushing slightly. "No thanks."
The new group of friends continued to talk for the next few hours. Finally at about 11:00 Ryo stood up, "Well, it's been great talking to you all but we should be going. We do have school tomorrow if you recall."
"He's right," Sage agreed, "Especially if we want to get Rowen up in time for school tomorrow."
"You too?" Téa asked Rowen, she turned to the other girls, "See! I'm not the only one who likes to sleep." Everyone laughed as the guys headed towards the door.
"See you tomorrow," they said as they left.
"Bye!"
"Super Wave Smasher!"
"Thunder Bolt Cut!"
Téa breathed in a sigh of both excitement and relief as Cale and Sekhmet were knocked away from their intended target…her. I'll have to thank the warlords for helping me find the other five Ronin Warriors, she thought as she stood up, :But first, it's time to introduce myself.: She pulled out her armor orb. "Armor of Angelfire! DAO JINKEI!" she cried. A ball of silver blue flame flared up around her. In an instant the flames were gone, leaving Téa standing in full armor.
She flashed a brilliant smile at both the warlords and the Ronin Warriors. "You know, Dais, Cale, Sekhmet, I must congratulate you. Not only did you find the other Ronins for me and my sisters, you brought us together as well. Talpa's gonna love you for that!" she said to the warlords, her voice dripping with sarcastic sweetness. Turning to the Ronins, who stood gaping at her, "I assure you, all will be explained. But first, we fight." She moved into a fighting stance, pulling out her twin rapiers. The other five seemed to decide that she was on their side and followed her lead.
"I hope you're ready to die," Dais said in a dangerously quiet voice, "Because I intend to kill you all." He called up an army of Dynasty soldiers, "But first, I'll let my soldiers play with you."
:Calypso!: Téa called, using the mind link that she and the other girls shared, :I don't know if you're interested,: she blocked the attack of two soldiers and relieved both of their heads, :but I happen to be in down the street fighting alongside the other five Ronins and having one helluva party!:
Calypso's excitement was evident in her reply, :Save something for me, I'll be there in a minute!:
:You better hurry!: was all Téa said in reply. Calypso appeared a few minutes later, arriving through one of her portals. "Took you long enough," Téa said with sarcasm.
"How nice!" Calypso replied, using her broadsword to slice through three of the Dynasty soldiers at once. "Shall we blast these goons?" she asked.
Téa nodded and the girls got ready to use their sure kills. "Rage of Angels!" she cried. Hundreds of silver blue rings erupted from her crossed rapiers, surrounding the girls and destroying all the Dynasty soldiers in their path. She leaned against Calypso, momentarily tired out. She didn't rest for long before she was moving again. This time to leap towards the young man bearing the Armor of Torrent and knock him to the ground. Seconds later, Cale's sure kill passed over them both.
Turning to the warlords, Calypso cried "Ravana's Chaos!" Enveloped in darkness, with only her silhouette visible, the blood star and the crescent moon on her stomach glowed brightly. Silver wings took form, closing around her and brightening until they blinded the warlords. When the light cleared, all three warlords stood in their subarmors, a confused look on their faces.
"You will live to regret this girls," Dais threatened as he and the other two warlords faded from view.
Téa laughed breathlessly from where she was still laying next to Torrent, who was looking up at her in surprise. She smiled, looking into his eyes. What she saw made her gasp, "Sai?!? You're a Ronin?!"
He nodded, but otherwise didn't move. A shadow fell across them both. "Okay," a familiar voice said humorously, "Sai, you're about to make Sage jealous."
Téa leaped up. "Kento!" she exclaimed, hugging him. Then she looked at him somewhat seriously. "What do you mean I'm going to make Sage jealous?"
"He's been sprung on you since you brushed him off this morning in Chemistry," Kento replied, then added as an afterthought, "Then again, he's been sprung on all of you because none of you will give him the time of day."
Everyone laughed and Téa smiled at Sage and Sai. "Thank you for helping me," she said, then to Sage, "I'm sorry that I haven't melted at your feet from your charm, but if you really want to know, keep working on Elisa. You two would make an adorable couple."
Sage looked away, with a slight blush and mumbled something incoherent.
"Why, I do believe he's embarrassed!" Rowen exclaimed. Sage shot him a dirty look.
"I hate to break up the fun, but I don't think this is the best place for a friendly conversation. We should get moving," said Ryo.
Téa turned to Ryo, "I s'pose you're right. We have a few things to take care of."
"Why don't you guys come to our house?" Calypso asked, "It's closer."
"No it's no…" Ryo began. He yelped in surprise as one of Calypso's portals opened beneath them and dropped them into the girls' living room.
Calypso grinned wickedly, "Yeah it is." Three girls came rushing in from the kitchen.
"What's going on?" Elisa asked.
"A party," Téa replied, "Surprise!"
"Wait a minute, hold up here," Ryo's voice rang out, "Who are you?"
"We'll tell you whatever you want to know on one condition," Calypso interrupted as she and Téa banished their armors, "Get out of your armors."
"Good enough," Ryo replied. The five warriors banished their armors and everyone took a seat in the living room.
"Now," Téa started from her perch on the arm of one of the overstuffed chairs, "Where do we start?"
Sai looked up at her from where he was sitting in the same chair, "Who are you?"
"To start at the beginning, there are fourteen armors," Nahla said from where she and Rowen were sitting on the love seat.
"Fourteen?" Rowen asked, "We thought there were only nine."
"You thought wrong," Calypso replied, "Before we continue, I would like to introduce everyone to Nina." She gestured to a strawberry blond girl that none of the guys recognized. "I met her today in the marketplace, she's one of us."
"How do you know that?" Nahla asked.
Here we go again, Téa groaned, Not another fight! Especially when we're trying to have a civilized discussion.
"Don't start mates," Nina said sternly with an Australian accent, "I've seen enough of your fighting today. We have things to discuss and I am not about to stay up all night because you two feel the need to fight."
Both girls gave her a dirty look but shut up. "Don't worry Nina," Téa said wryly, "You'll start ignoring their fights in no time and you won't even care when they're going on."
Two cats walked into the room. One, the huge red panther that Rowen, from earlier in the evening, recognized as Chaos. The other was a white Bengal tiger. "Hey, who's the tiger?" he asked curiously, "He looks like White Blaze."
"Oh, that's Angel," Nahla said off-handedly, "Who's White Blaze?"
"That's my tiger," Ryo answered, "Rowen's right, they do look a lot alike. What about the panther?"
"That's my Chaos," Calypso replied, scratching the big cat behind the ears.
"Well, back to the subject," Sai said, "What are your armors?"
"Mine is the Armor of Angelfire," Téa said, "Nahla's is the Armor of Sunfire, Elisa's is the Armor of Lust, Calypso's the Armor of Chaos, and…"
"I bear the Armor of Dark Soul," Nina finished for her.
"To answer your earlier question Nahla," Calypso said, "I know she's one of us the same way we know about each other. For one, she has a blood star, and for another, she has the birthmark."
Sage broke eye contact with Elisa long enough to look at Calypso questioningly, "Birthmark?"
"Yeah. Each of us girls has a star-shaped birthmark," Téa explained. She pulled up the sleeve covering her right arm revealing a dark blue star, "This is mine."
Calypso turned and pulled up the back of her shirt. A dark red and silver star was exposed on the small of her back. "Here's mine."
"Mine is here," Nina said, lifting her shirt to reveal a black and gold star over her belly button.
Nahla didn't show hers. "Where's yours Nahla?" Rowen asked curiously.
She smiled at him, "So far up on my thigh that showing it to you would be indecent. It's light blue."
"And apparently Elisa's is over her belly button as well," Sage finished, noting the pink star revealed below the hem of her short shirt.
"Okay, so that explains the birthmark, what about the blood star?" Ryo asked. Each of the girls pulled out a piece of jewelry. Somewhere on each piece was a teardrop-shaped ruby with a black star inside.
"Each of us had one of these when we first met. Cali was the only one who actually knew about the armors, but the rest of us learned about them quickly enough when Talpa sent his warlords after us," Téa said. She looked at Nina, "It seems that you also know about the armors. How did you find out about them?"
Nina shrugged, "Those that follow the old ways are a lot more knowledgeable about magic and the like. I spent a lot of time with the Aborigine tribes in Australia. They knew the location of the orb of the Armor of Dark Soul and they sensed that I was the one the armor was being saved for. They taught me how to use the armor and told me to come here to Japan. They said I was needed to help in the fight against Talpa, so I came. I ran into Cali in the market today and she brought me here."
"Oh," Téa replied.
"Well, how did the rest of you meet?" Kento asked.
"We all ended up transferring to the same high school in Washington," Cali said, "I was the last person to transfer and Téa was the first person I met. Mainly because we got into a huge fight."
"Oh yeah, I remember that," Téa laughed, "But now that I think of it, what were we fighting about?"
Calypso thought for a moment. "I don't really remember. Then again, how often do we remember what we fight about?"
"Good point. I don't think we ever really fight about anything, we just start yelling at each other for the hell of it." Téa looked at Nahla, "On the other hand…"
Nahla smiled at the guys, all of whom had a blank look on their faces, "Let me try to explain. Téa and Cali love to fight, to the point of starting a fight with each other just to have something to do. Cali and I also fight…almost constantly. We simply do not get along. But we do all stick together because of our common goal…to get rid of Talpa. Well, that and the fact that we are good friends, regardless of our fighting."
Téa looked at the guys, "Any more questions?" Each of them shook their head except for Kento.
"Do you have anything to eat?" he asked hopefully.
Téa laughed, "Yes Kento. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to run upstairs and get out of this damn school uniform. I'll bring some food out on my way back." She jumped off of the arm of the chair and ran up the stairs taking three at a time.
Cali stood up as well and went over to the stereo. She popped in a random CD and hit the play button. "Sorry," she said to the guys, "I like music."
About fifteen minutes later, Téa reappeared, carrying a tray of food and singing to the song on the CD player. "It's just, a little crush. Not like I faint, every time we touch…" She smiled sweetly and sat the tray on the table where Kento immediately began to eat, "Cali likes to listen to music, I like to sing to it." She was now dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a pair of tank tops, one silver and one gold. She did a little pirouette, sat back down on the arm of Sai's chair and grinned, "I like to dance, too."
"Hey Kento," Cali said with a smile, "Before you eat everything, could you toss me a peach?" Kento didn't answer but tossed her one in reply.
"That sounds really good," Téa agreed, she went back to where she had set the tray and grabbed one for herself. She turned to Sai, "Want something?"
Sai shook his head, blushing slightly. "No thanks."
The new group of friends continued to talk for the next few hours. Finally at about 11:00 Ryo stood up, "Well, it's been great talking to you all but we should be going. We do have school tomorrow if you recall."
"He's right," Sage agreed, "Especially if we want to get Rowen up in time for school tomorrow."
"You too?" Téa asked Rowen, she turned to the other girls, "See! I'm not the only one who likes to sleep." Everyone laughed as the guys headed towards the door.
"See you tomorrow," they said as they left.
"Bye!"
