The Armor of the Soul

By Dixxy

Chapter Forty-Eight: Winged Savior

(Keisha)

Our small group wasn't having much luck.

"You know, logic should have told us that if Cara was BLIND for the past four hundred years, then her chance of having a good sense of direction isn't that good," said Rona. "Face it, we're LOST."

Cara sent Rona a hurtful look. "I'm trying REALLY hard," she said.

"We've been lead down three dead ends in the past hour," said Sam. She put a sympathetic hand on the former Warlady's shoulder. "Cara, look, we know you're really trying real hard, but you probably haven't ever navigated this city on your own before, am I right?"

Cara shook her head. "Well, yes."

"Let us TRY and help you," I said. "If we can figure out a map of Boston, we can easily figure out this place. And besides, Cara. We've been lucky that we've only encounter passed out drunks and that one funny smelling cat. We could run into worse at our next wrong turn."

Cara smiled at me. "All right Keisha, you girls can try," she said, handing me the map. I looked it over. First off, I noticed she'd been holding the map sideways, but I decided I wouldn't mention it to her since Sam and Rona had been mean enough to her already. Course, ever since Kaze they had proved to be a BIT of a problem as far as discipline went, what with running off to New Hampshire after Anubis revealed his darker past.

"This has got to be one of the simplest maps I've ever seen in my life!" I breathed under my breath. This was true. There were about six horizontal streets and three vertical streets GRAND TOTAL. "There are so few streets here."

Sam looked over my shoulder. "Oh yeah, this'll be a snap," she said. "Okay, looks like we're on the intersection between Darkness Drive and Bloodthirst Road. Oh, we can get to the Thicket of Misery easily, mates!"

"The city's bigger than the map makes it look though. These buildings are huge," said Rona, extending a hand out towards a very, very large building. "Think about it. The roads are about a half a mile across. Try to put that to scale with how big the map is."

"So, it'll take us a day or two," said Sam. She groaned in frustration. "Perfect."

"Okay, I know this is probably going to be a bad idea, but, couldn't we just send Keisha ahead to see what we're up against?" said Rona. "You know, kind of like a scout to make sure the coast is clear?"

"What?" asked Cara. She looked worried.

"She can run really, really fast, she could easily get to the other end in a fraction of what it'll take the rest of us," said Rona. She grinned. "How about it, Keisha? Sound like a plan to you?"

I smiled. "I'll do it."

"But she'll be alone!" said Cara, placing two firms fists on her hips. "You all know how bad this city is, do you really want Keisha to be on her own out there? If something happens to her we'll have no way of even knowing something's gone wrong until it's too late!"

"Oh, I'll run down to there, check it out, and meet you guys wherever we run into each other again. We're talking five, ten minutes," I said. "And I'm FAST. I won't get myself into a fight- I'll just run away."

"Are you sure?" said Sam. "I mean, this place is DANGEROUS like my Aunt Ella's baked beans." Her eyebrows were raised (though, couldn't see one of them) and she looked like she was between surprised and quizzical.

I nodded. "Yes," I said (though I kind of LIKED Ella's baked beans. . . they had just the right amount of bacon and just the right amount of sauce). I took a starting position. "See you guys in a flash!" With that, I took off at my full Senshi speed.

Papers scattered across the road as a dust cloud a mile high rose off of the streets.

~

Once I reached the other end of the city, I looked around. I saw the outside of Trulpa's castle, two HUGE guard houses, and a view of Magna Wretch. I gaped at Magna Wretch. It was an absolutely HUGE building. It was about as tall as the Prudential Building, but had equal proportions to the White House. I whistled at it. I have yet to feel that small in comparison to anything since then.

My attention was distracted by the sound of a familiar voice calling out my name. I turned my head and saw someone running towards me. I froze. Who was it? Who would know me here in the Dynasty? I placed one foot behind me, then saw a better outline of who it was. My eyes brightened in excitement as I finally recognized the person.

"Kento!" I cried out, running towards my friend. He'd gotten out! He'd escaped!

"Keisha!" he said, giving me a hug as we collided. My much larger partner in arms stood before me in soot-covered subarmor, yet his eyes remained large, blue, and ever-so-happy to see me. "What are you DOING here?"

"Kento, are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but, what WHY are you here? This place is dangerous!" he said.

"Anubis and Cara couldn't think of another way to get in aside from the Under City," I said, looking up at him. Then, I pulled away from him, narrowing my eyes. "How do I know you're the REAL Kento?"

"Yeah," he said, raising an eyebrow and scratching his chin. Kento proceeded to walk in circles around me, never taking his off of me. "How do I know that you're the real Keisha, hmm?" I looked at him briefly. He gently reached out and touched my forehead. I felt my forehead begin to glow with the symbol of "Justice". "Yup, you're Keisha all right," he said.

I touched his forehead and saw the same symbol light up. "And you're definitely Kento," I said, smiling. Then, I raised my eyebrows quizzically. "How the heck did you get out? And where are the other two?"

"Back in Trulpa's castle. I shape shifted into a rat and went out through the insides of the castle walls," said Kento. "Not exactly the most glamorous escape, but it worked, and it bought us some more time."

"Time?"

"Trulpa wants to bring back Kaze," he said, frowning. My eyes widened. She can't make them go through that again! That's just beyond cruel! "It gets worse. This time, it's going to kill us."

I froze. "K, kill you?"

Kento nodded gravely, his normally cheerful face very sullen and somber. "She's not going to let anything get past her this time," he said. "That's why we have to make sure that whatever happens, Kaze isn't resurrected."

"We wouldn't let that happen!" I said.

Kento frowned. "Keisha, you know that Trulpa's been juiced. She's reached a height of power that most Dynasty overlords would never even DREAM of reaching. It's not like you can just so casually say you can defeat her, because it's not going to be as easy as you girls seem to think."

I nodded. "I understand, but-"

Before I could finish, I heard several echoing battle cries. Kento stepped behind me, a subarmored hand on my shoulder as he looked around with wide, panic-stricken eyes. "Oh no!" I cried. "We're under attack!
"Keisha! Armor up and help me fight these things off!" said Kento. He stepped away from me to start summoning a spell to fight the Tin Cans that were starting to come out into the open.

"Hardrock of the Senshi, Tao GI!" I cried, jumping up into my subarmor. Once I was in subarmor, I whipped out my nunchaku and began to swat at the offending soldiers. Kento had joined me, but he was using some advanced magic I didn't know yet. So I continued bashing the Tin Cans senseless.

"Keisha, where are the others?!" Kento asked. The two of us stood back to back, blasting spells and using our weapons to try and defend ourselves against the growing army of Tin Cans.

"I ran ahead to scout out what we were up against!" I said. I whimpered in despair. "They won't be able to get here in time! If we can't fight them off, we're doomed! Trulpa's going to kill and you and I don't know what she'd do to me!"

"Damn!" said Kento. I heard him cry out as an earthquake erupted over the battlefield. None of the soldiers seemed to be terribly affected by the attack, much to Kento's displeasure. "Fight harder!"

The Tin Cans were swarming around us in numbers I hadn't ever seen before, the shells of evil spirits formed a sea of soul-less minions. "Kento, there's just so many of them! I'm scared!"

"Don't stop fighting!" Kento said. He cried out as he released another earthquake. Still no affect. "We can't hold out much longer, but don't ever stop fighting!" I heard the sound of metal crashing and knew he'd gone back to physical attacks.

"I won't!" I said. But we were both getting tired. I found myself getting punched and kicked a little more than I would have liked to have been. The Tin Cans weren't letting up. Kento and I were doomed. I turned to him, tears in my eyes. "I, I, oh GOD!" I said, embracing him. I had to tell him how I felt. Now. Not later. NOW.

"Keisha?" he asked.

"I, I love you!" I blurted. "I, I'm sorry I never told you earlier!"

"Keisha-" Kento started before we suddenly heard something overheard. We both looked up to see something was flying overhead. "What IS that?!" Before anyone could figure out what it was, the battlefield was enveloped in a brilliant white light. . .