The Armor of the Soul

By Dixxy

Chapter Twenty-Two: Captured in the North

(Sam)

"I can't believe he LIED to us!" exclaimed my best friend, Rona Santana. The two of us stormed out of Mike's house, pretty unpleased with the meeting that had just taken place. "We trusted him, and now he blows THIS onto us?!"

I snorted. "Aren't all men like that?"

"No, Sam, not all men keep skeletons THAT dark," said Rona, getting onto her motorcycle. Pulling her helmet on, she turned to me. "I have got to get away from that man for a few days. You with me?"

Before we go any further, I'd just like to quickly introduce myself, although you probably already know who I am. Just in case you're a complete idiot, my name is Samantha Thomas, Sam for short. I'm also known as Sam, Halo of the Senshi. You know about that. Tall big-mouth from Australia who hates men because her father killed her mom, blah, blah, blah. You should know this, so let's move on.

I laughed, getting on beside her and grabbing the spare helmet she kept. "You kidding? Take me away, far, far away!"

"To a galaxy far, far away!" Rona said with a snort. "How far? Do you want to leave Boston, or even Massachusetts all together?"

"Hmm," I said. Lately, I'd discovered that Aunt Sally, who's been taking care of my since the incident with my folks, had been more lenient on grounding me for some of my antics. Normally something like this would have scored me a good solid four months worth of being grounded, no allowance, and extra chores. Now a days, even if I got a detention for fighting in the halls (again), I got a verbal reprimanding. "Why not?"

Rona smiled. "Let's go up to New Hampshire. It's not that far away, and last time I was up there, I found some great stores."
"I like, I like, I like!" I said. "I love shopping!"

"Now if we get something for my dad and your aunt, we'll get in even LESS trouble!" said Rona. "How's that sound to you?"

"Awesome!" I said. "But I can't afford as much as you can."

"That's cause I have a job and you don't," said Rona. "So the 7-11 doesn't pay much, it's better than you make."

"Hey, twenty bucks a week isn't that bad," I said.

Rona laughed as she started her bike and sped off.

~

"Well, that was fun," said Rona as we walked out of a mall roughly three hours out of Boston. We hadn't bought much (a couple of nice ties for Rona's dad and a blouse for my aunt, plus miscellaneous clothing items for us) and found ourselves not yet ready to come back to Boston.

"How mad do you think the others are going to be?" I asked.

"I don't know, but we should think about heading back," said Rona. "If we're lucky we'll blow in around ten."

"Ouch," I said. "That's my curfew."

"Sally won't have your head. I've seen you slip out of trouble well past midnight," said the Latin Senshi of Song. She sighed heavily. "I just wish that he hadn't lied to us."

I didn't want to say anything. I was still pretty mad and if Rona was starting to cool off, I didn't want her to start taking a side.

"You're still steamed, I can tell, Sam," she said. "You've got to learn that not every man on this planet is like your dad. Who knows, maybe that Ronin Warrior of Halo will turn out to be a nice guy." Rona clicked her tongue and lightly elbowed my stomach. "Go get 'em, Tiger!"

I laughed. "In your dreams, Ro," I said. "You KNOW I'm not interested in dating. And no, I'M NOT GAY!"

"I never said you were," said Rona, blinking.

I sighed heavily, throwing my hands into the air. Sometimes, Rona was hopeless. Finally I turned to her to ask her the obvious question. "So, where to next? Home, or should we go somewhere else?"

"I don't want to go back to Boston yet," said Rona. "What do you say we go a little further north and find a nice place to think this through?"
"Works for me," I said.

~

We ended up going to a hillside that was about a ten minute walk from Rona's bike. We laid out on the ground and looked up at the sky, which was clear as crystal. My friend was getting lost in the stars, seemingly, while I was feeling a little insecure. The night wasn't known very well for light, and my element is light. Well, lightning and thunder to an extent, too, but there wasn't a storm anywhere near bye.

"It's so pretty," I said. "Maybe we could stay out here for a day or so?"

"I like that. We'll call my dad and Sally sometime tomorrow and tell them we're mad at Anubis and need some time to blow off some steam," said Rona, propping up on her elbows. Her pink braid was flipped over her shoulder, which she automatically picked up and began to chew. She does that all the time. It gets annoying, but we all live with it.

I sat up myself and we started talking. While Rona was telling me about this weird voice she heard singing a duet with her after the Kaze incident, I was about to make a wise crack that she and Keisha go to a counselor together when I heard something. "What was that?"

"I don't know," said Rona, standing up. She placed her hand over her pocket, as I did.

We were eventually greeted by the regular goon squad. "Armor up!" said Rona. "Strata of the Senshi, Tao INOCHI!"

"Halo of the Senshi, Tao CHI!" I said, following her lead. "Let's take care of these losers, then we might want to head back to Boston, even if it DOES mean talking with Anubis."

"I agree," said Rona, kicking out and letting her leg connect with one of the soldiers while another soldier had a nice conversation with her fist.

I was flipping Tin Cans over my shoulder and crashing them into each other. It sounded like a bad drum player was practicing on a bunch of trash cans, but I didn't care about the noise. Who was gonna see us out here at that hour of the night?

Soon, the Tin Cans stopped attacking. The two of us looked around, confused. Then, Rona whooped and laughed. "Guess we showed them, huh, Sam?" she said. "Those stupid Trash Cans. . . uh oh."

I looked up and saw what Rona was referring to. Standing on a tree top was my adversary, Cara. She leapt down to our level, looming evilly above us. But she looked. . . different. First off, I could see her eyes for the first time. And she was taller, and bigger. But sure enough, the Darkness Warlady stood before me.

Or was it?

"What do you want, Cara? You know I'll give you trouble," I said, my hands on my hips.

"Why, hello, Samantha, Halo of the Senshi," said the owner of the armor.

"Uh, oh," said Rona. "Sam, that's not Cara. I think it's one of those Dark Warlords Anubis was talking about."

The man laughed. "Correct. I am Cale, Dark Warlord of Darkness, Corruption, and Decay. I am here on behalf of my Mistress, Lady Trulpa, and if you cooperate, harm will not come to either of your pretty little faces. Yet."

"Didn't you change sides?" I asked, still holding my fighting position.

"The Dynasty is too good of an offer to pass off for long. Anubis has his chance, but no, he had to stay with his stupid little Staff and stupid little Ancient," said Cale. He snorted. "His loss."

"If I'm not mistaken the Ancient created your armor," said Rona. "Well looks like something's up, and you've got trouble Mr. Warlord. We might not be what you're used to, but we can give you enough trouble to last a while!"

"My business does not concern you, Strata slut."

Rona got mad and charged Cale. In return, Cale drew a REALLY big sword. "Eiyp." said Rona, skidding to a stop. Her nose was just an inch away from the tip of the blade, a cold sweat pouring down the sides of her face. "That's huge."

"Hey! Let her go!" I said. I reached into the air, readying my ultimate armor up. The Big Bad Warlord was going to have a Big Bad Thunderbolt Cut up his Big Bad Butt. "Halo of the Senshi, DAO CHI!"

Flying silk, cheery blossom, armor, da-da.

I held my sword out in front of me, pointing it at the Warlord. "Leave her alone," I said.

"Oh, so you want to fight, little girl?" he said. He raised his own sword into the air. "Then let's fight!"

Rona, seeing that she was probably out of her league due to lack of a sure-kill, stepped back. "Kick his ass for me, Sam!" she said.

"Not a problem!" I said. I readied a charge, only to watch as black energy began to explode from the sword. I screamed as the energy began to surround me, the dark energy causing very negative affects to my own light energy. The force of the attack drew me out of my armor, leaving me vulnerable in my subarmor.

"Ha, ha, ha!" cried Cale, lowering his sword. I was still too weak to move and didn't fight as he lifted me off the ground. "We have an appointment with my mistress."

"No!" cried Rona, trying to run over to me. Cale laughed, sending a dark energy zap at her. Rona cried out before fainting, her body laying motionless on the ground as Cale took me into the Dynasty.