The Armor of the Soul

By Dixxy

Chapter Fifty-Four: The Long Wait

(Sara)

It hadn't taken long after I was hurt and Sam stopped to help me that the Tin Cans captured us both. There was hardly a struggle. We were just put in a prisoner's cell, where we waited (and Sam healed my leg) for something to happen. It wasn't even an hour later that they threw a hysterical Keisha into our dark prisoner's cell. We traded stories about what happened and knew that the next few days were going to be a living Hell for all three of us.

Our Hell was a tall, cylindrical room with about two or three stories worth of steps leading to the door at the top. If it weren't for Sam's light ball we would have been in pitch black darkness. The walls were wet and occasionally we heard an eerie dripping in the background. It could have been water, but it could have been anything else, too. Slime, pee, blood, poisons, you know, that kind of pleasant stuff.

Keisha seemed the most hurtful. There wasn't a doubt in any of our minds that she and Kento had feelings for each other and this just proved it. Especially after she told us about what happened after they met up when she went to scout ahead for her group. It burned me to know that this was what got the two of them to admit their feeling for each other, knowing that they might not live to get to say it another time. Even when Keisha told us about the prophecy we still weren't convinced our chances had gone up very much. What if it was a prophecy that wasn't due to come true within the next few days? What if it was due in the next hundred years? That wouldn't help us in the least bit. Because of the uncertainty she held, she didn't speak. It was an eerie quiet.

Sam looked worried, too, but not nearly as much as Keisha was. Yeah, she definitely had at least a crush on Sage, but she was probably confused at the feeling. Sam had never let a man get close to her like this, and now it looked like she could all of a sudden trust one. Sam kept on coming up with some very cryptic and at times disturbing observations that I was definitely not in the mood to hear.

Me? I still wasn't sure how I felt about Cye. Yes, he was cute. Yes, he was sweet. But did I have the same feelings my fellow captives seemed to be feeling? I wasn't sure. I didn't know him that well, he was the son of another of my friends, and we didn't exactly get off to a great start. Okay, it was a horrible start, but still, I was probably more confused than Sam. Was he a friend or more than that?

The three of us were left with a painfully long wait. Trulpa still needed a few more days to fully activate whatever it was that she was going to use to kill off the boys. Out of all my time as a Senshi, those were the longest days of my life. So long that I can't remember how long we were in there. I was later told it was about two days, but at that point in time we were so. . . distressed, seconds lasted for hours, but a day could have passed in a blink of an eye. That was how badly our sense of time had been messed up.

"You know that Trulpa's probably gonna have Kaze kill us, too, you know," said Sam from her seat at the bottom of the steps. This caught the attention of both Keisha and I, but Keisha remained quiet from her position on a stone bench (For those who care, I was sitting on the floor with my back up against the wall).

"Why are you being so cryptic?" I retorted. "Look, we have to have some sort of faith!" I said, standing up. "Anubis, Cara, Ria, Rona, and Tiger Lily are all out there! There's still a chance that we could pull this off!"

"But Trulpa has the Jewel of Death. We don't know how she got it, but she has it, and she's going to use it to kill the boys," said Sam. She lowered her head. "It's over. We fought hard. The Ancient chose the wrong ones. Again."

"Well," said Keisha, finally speaking up, "Celeste told me and Kento that because Cye is the Child of Destiny, then we're in something called the Age of Legends. We ALL have something extra special about us. We just don't know what eight of those special things are, since Cye is the obvious one and Kento is a seer. Even if Trulpa kills the boys and us, there's still Rowen and Ryo. Maybe they've got something really strong up their sleeves and they can kill Trulpa."

Sam's eyes brightened. "You're right," she said. "Maybe, maybe be some miracle the mix of the boys' extra things will cause whatever it is to backfire or cease to work." She stood up, laughing. "Keisha, you're a genius!"

"Yes!" I said, jumping up. "That's the spirit! We still have a chance!"

"Yeah!" said Keisha. "Maybe Kento's prophecy will come true. Maybe, maybe Rowen and Ryo- those are their names, right?- are going to figure out that there's still a chance they're alive and bust into the Dynasty!"

"Or maybe Trulpa or Brenamon will screw up and it'll end up blowing THEM sky high!" said Sam excitedly. She laughed. "Heh, I would PAY to see Trulpa and her lackeys get blown sky high- especially Cale."

"Or maybe Ria and the others will save us and Anubis will use the Golden Walking Stick for once!" I exclaimed. "C'mon, the guys have told us about the kind of things they've seen it do, maybe he'll do something neat with it."

Keisha laughed. "We can still get out of here!"

"I don't think so, Senshi sluts."

"You know, that term really doesn't apply to us since we haven't even slept around, unlike you probably have," said Sam, turning to Trulpa with a deep hatred in her eyes. The evil empress had entered out prison cell and was standing at the top of the steps leading down. In retort to Sam's comment, the evil empress just laughed.

"This seems oddly familiar. I do believe in my brother's second war with the Ronin Welts he had a Hardrock, a Torrent, and a Halo captive," said Trulpa. She held up her hand and suddenly the room was replaced with a huge hologram. We were all standing on the roof of a house, probably around the size of Mike's house, maybe a little smaller. There was a gorgeous view of a lake, which wasn't as gorgeous since it was reflecting an evil lightning storm.

Below us we heard the sound of a teenage boy shout something in Japanese. An echo of the voice of a girl responded and the sky was suddenly lit up with a hologram of the inside of a huge dungeon. In the center of the cell were Nether Spirits dressed in blue, all sitting in bubbles and chanting around a large structure consisting of three gargoyle faces with the mouths open. The teenager below us and a few other voices (a small child, a woman, and another teenager) were saying something else, but we couldn't make it out. I registered the word "Talpa", knowing it had to do with Trulpa's deceased brothers.

"Oh my Lord, the guys!" said Sam, pointing at the structure the Nether Spirits had swarmed. Inside each mouth were Kento, Sage, and Cye. The voices below us cried out their names, the smallest demanding something. Then, everything went haywire. A devastating surge of power began to flow through the boys, causing them to cry out in pain. Keisha looked ready to cry, Sam was speechless, and I felt like I was ready to hurl. I watched as Cye, Sage, and Kento all screamed in agony. Then, the image faded away, the hologram as well. All three of us were shaken by the experience.

"That, my pathetic little Senshi, is the day the barriers were broken. You do remember that pleasant experience, don't you?" said Trulpa.

Sam turned to Trulpa, a deep anger surging in her eyes. "Go rot in Hell," she said.

Trulpa shook her finger and made a clicking noise with her tongue. I decided to take my stand, getting very angry with our captor. "How can you do such a thing? Why are you showing us this!?"
"This, my ladies, is very similar to what you'll be witnessing in a few hours. A very similar structure is going to be used to revive Kaze and kill your friends. A Soul Turner. It'll suck out their souls and leave the lifeless shells to be shaped into my monster."

"No!" said Keisha.

Trulpa raised an eyebrow at Keisha. "You will be the one experiencing the most pain. You and Kento undoubtedly have a common bond in the fact you're soul mates- no doubt about that now- and you'll be the last one I'll have Kaze dispose of. It would have been better if you'd taken the time in the wagon to do something more than cry and kiss. If you know what I mean."

"You perverted bitch," said Sam, ready to take a swing at Trulpa. I held her back.

"I just have one more thing to ask before we leave," said Trulpa. She turned to Keisha, then started to advance on her, her eyes narrowed and arms folded. "What is the prophecy you were talking about?"

Keisha's eyes lit up. "You're afraid of it, aren't you?"

"No I'm not! Your little boyfriend isn't singing to me, so I thought maybe you'd like to say something about it," said Trulpa. "How's about it? Tell me about your little prophecy, Keisha."

Sam quickly got us into a huddle. "Should we tell her?"
"If it's a prophecy then she can't do anything about it, because it's already been set in stone, so to speak," said Keisha. She sighed heavily. "Still, why was Kento being so secretive about it?"
"Probably just taking one last chance to annoy her before she tries to kill him and the others, or maybe he's just stalling for time," I said. "I say we don't say anything about it and drive her nuts in the process."

"Why?" asked Keisha.

"I don't see what she can do to make us talk. This is our only ace and it's not like she can say she'll kill the guys if we don't talk, because she'll do it anyways," I said. "The best thing to do keep quiet or bluff it."

Meanwhile, Trulpa was getting impatient with us. "You know what, I don't care what the prophecy is anymore! You're all coming with me. GUARDS! The final countdown has begun. . ."