Chapter Twelve: Coming Together

(Ryo)

I darted down the hallways with White Blaze at my heels. Every time a Tin Can came around, we kicked its butt. Simple as that. But after a while it got repetitive and boring. I slowly started to get tired. Concentration got harder. But why?

Face it, Ryo old boy. You're getting older. You're getting past your prime. Eventually, your armor will move on to the next bearer, I thought to myself. I was right. It was bound to happen. I couldn't keep fighting forever. Maybe that's why Talpa made the Warlords and Kayura immortal at such young ages.

Suddenly, White Blaze and I were jumped. White Blaze roared and began to tear at a Tin Can, then grabbed its spear and began to impale everything in sight. I was having difficulty with the Tin Cans.

WHACK!

"Need any help, Ryo?"

"Rowen!" I said. The last of the Tin Cans was down. "Why am I getting so tired?"
"The armors must react stronger to younger wearers. I'd fading, too," he said.

"This is bad," I said. Rowen just nodded. "How did you escape?"

"Tricked the Tin Cans coming in to see us. I told Robyn to run from the cell we were being held in. She obeyed," said Rowen. "C'mon, we gotta go find the others."

"Right," I said. We started off down the hallway, the promptly crashed into someone.

"ACK!"
"AHHH!"

"Don't scare us like that, Anubis!" I said, finally realizing who is was. Anubis and Rowen were a tangled mess of limbs on the floor as both fought to get to their feet. I finally pulled the two apart. "C'mon, we'd better go and find Talpa."

(Sage)

Kento and I stood back to back, both of us in armor. My sword was held in front of me, Kento twirling his staff around like a maniac. We were surrounded by at least two dozen soldiers. "Any ideas?" asked Kento.

"Working on it," I said. "But I'm coming up dry."

"SNOW STORM BLAST!"

"Kojiro!" I yelled, jumping up into the rafter. Kento followed suit. We watched as the Dynasty goons below us were encased in ice, then cracked into tiny crystal shards. Kojiro looked up at us sheepishly.

"Uh, sorry, I didn't see you guys," he said.

I sighed heavily as we jumped down. "See anything important, like Robyn or Rowen?"

"Nope," said Kojiro. "But I'm looking for them. You guys seem anything important yet?"

"Not a thing," said Kento.

Kojiro closed his eyes. "Well, we should probably head off towards the Pit or something."

"I hate the Pit," I said.

"So do I," agreed Kojiro. "But we usually have pretty good luck with finding everyone down there."

"You got captured and tortured by Kioko," said Kento.

Kojiro frowned. "Shut up, let's just get going!"

"Yeah, yeah, Kojiro," I said. Kojiro turned towards me, frowned, and we went on our way.

(Robyn)

I held Cye. Slowly, he was loosing consciousness, but he was going to be all right. I couldn't believe what he said. "I'm glad to know the woman I love saved my life." Did he really mean that? Or was it just ramblings from being hit on the head a little too hard?

I stopped by a small stream and knelt down, placing my staff beside me. I looked at his peacefully sleeping face. He looked so serene, so calm. It appeared as if he felt, something he probably hadn't felt for many, many years. He was still so young, yet he'd experienced so much pain and suffering. He'd been a Ronin Warrior at fifteen years old. According to Ryo, he'd once been captured along with Kento and Sage, then tortured. And everything about Sheila and the rapes. Not to mention I could only imagine what he and Kojiro went through while trying to raise little Ariel on two paychecks from waiting tables at a restaurant. I smiled to see him look so happy.

I grabbed my staff, stuck it into my back through the belt, and started to walk again. Slowly, he started to stir. Once he was starting to wake up again, I helped him to his feet. He looked at me. "Thank you for saving me," he said.

"Anytime," I said. "You needed a break. Look, we'd better go and find your friends, then get rid of Talpa once and for all."

"I'll go with that!" said Cye. He closed his eyes. "That way."

"How do you know?"
"We can sense each other. The armors are all connected. Even the Warlords and the Magical Armors," said Cye. "Weird, isn't it?"
"Maybe," I said. We started off at a slow jog. "Hey, Cye?"

"Mmm?"

"What you said earlier, after I saved you from Sheila, was that, true?" I asked.

Cye stopped short and gave me a curious look. "Huh?"
"You know, about being saved by the woman you loved?" I asked. "Is, is that true?"

Cye blinked. "Did I say that?" he said. I secretly felt my heart sink. "Well, I, I don't know. I'm not really sure how I feel about you, but I know you're not just a friend to me. Maybe I was so groggy I jumped to conclusions or something, because I can't really say yes or no right now."

"Oh," I said. "That makes sense."

Cye laughed. "I'm sure I'll let you know." He grinned slyly. "Eventually."

"Oh you!" I said. Cye laughed as we took off again. "So, uh, what do I expect?"

"Well, Ryo has a big White Armor- the Inferno, but you already know about that, right?"
"A little. That's the one that uses four other armor powers?" I asked.

"Right," said Cye. "Last time Ryo took powers from Kento, Rowen, Sage, and Kojiro. I expected my armor to be taken, but it wasn't. Instead I awakened to some huge power I'm not sure even my father understands."

"Maybe we'll figure it out today," I said. "Do you think Yuli will fight?"
"I don't think so," said Cye. "Anubis doesn't have Ariel and Mia to worry about, plus, there's six Ronins and you. He's probably in the Chronos cheering us on though. Sad to say he has to sit on the bench most of the time. He did come to us earlier to tell us about you and Rowen, though."

I smiled. I liked Yuli. Sad to know he was on such a severe punishment.

BANG!
"The battle! It's begun!" said Cye.