Ryo and the others walked outside to face Broadway. Ryo's heart lurched when he saw Sakura, flying with them.

"Let's end this once and for all!" Broadway shouted. "Attack!" Meliara, Joren and Sakura all charged at the Ronins. The ronins transformed into their armors as the tow forces clashed in mid air. For a while the Ronins tried to avoid any direct attacks on Sakura, but soon lost the will when she sent Cye hurtling to the ground. Thankfully Cye wasn't hurt as the battle waged on. Ryo couldn't bring himself to fight against Sakura so he fought with Broadway instead. This suited Broadway just fine and Sakura focused her attention on the others. Even without Alecie and Rowen the Ronins still greatly outnumbered Broadway and his little gang, but with the added use of Meliara, Sakura and Broadway's magic the two sides were fairly evenly matched.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Rowen and Alecie ran through the halls of the palace, looking for the entrance to the lower levels of the castle.

"Do you know where the star is hidden?" Rowen asked.

"I have an idea, but specifically no. All I know is how to get to the lower levels. After that I'm as lost as you are." She answered. Rowen nodded in understanding as Alecie led them to a trap door on the floor. Alecie lifted the huge rug covering it as they opened the door and descended the stairs.  The two continued down the stairs until they reached the bottom. At the bottom was a large room that had tunnels leading in every direction imaginable.

"Now where?" Rowen asked. Alecie looked helplessly around at the tunnels.

"I don't know. I've only been in a few of them and I never went that far for fear of getting lost." She said. The two stood there for a moment, trying to decide which tunnel to take when Rowen saw a small flash of light out of the corner of his eye.

"What was that?" he said stepping closer to the tunnel he had seen the flash in.

"what was what?" Alecie asked looking around.

"I saw something." Rowen said. "It came from that tunnel over there." He said. Alecie looked at the tunnel he was pointing too as she shook her head.

"There isn't anything down that tunnel." She said offhandedly turning her attention away. "I've been down that one and I never saw anything."

"But I could have sworn I saw something…" Rowen protested. "And besides weren't you the one that said that you hadn't looked very far down these?"

"well…yes…" Alecie said. "But…"

"Then come on, lets look." He said as he entered the tunnel.

"Rowen" Alecie said as she followed him. "We don't have a lot of time."

"I know, but I could have sworn that I saw something." He said moving farther in the tunnel. Alecie looked at him with a pout as she followed, keeping her eyes open for anything. They continued along the tunnel until they came to a fork in the path.

"Now where?" She asked somewhat self righteously. Rowen looked at the three different branches when he once again saw the tiny flash of light.

"This way." He said leading them down the left tunnel.

"I still haven't seen anything." Alecie said as she followed.

"But I do, lets just keep going." He said. Alecie sighed.

'might as well.' She thought. 'I don't have any better ideas. I wonder how the others are doing.'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Broadway and Ryo continued to clash swords as they fought. Broadway was glaring at Ryo as Ryo seethed with anger.

'If I'm going to get rid of Ryo, now is my chance to do it. But how? I can't beat him this way.' Then he saw it. Broadway got an evil glint in his eyes as he made a stab for Ryo's right arm. Ryo expertly dodged the attack as Broadway quickly reached out with a hidden dagger and cut the pouch holding Ryo's soaring stone. Ryo gave a gasp of shock as his wings disappeared. Broadway gave a smirk of victory as Ryo fell fast to the ground. Sakura, who was fighting Cye and Sage at the moment, saw him falling out of the corner of her eye. Without thinking her instinct kicked in as she abandoned the fight with Cye and Sage to rush to her husband's aid. Cye and Sage watched with shock as she sped past them, Sakura reached out and grabbed Ryo's hand. Ryo looked up at her at first with surprise then his face turned into a smile.

'I knew it.' He thought, Sakura looked down at him, and saw his smile. She glared as she dropped him a safe distance to the ground and sped off. Sakura flew past Broadway who was seething.

"We're leaving." She ordered as she left without waiting to see if her orders were followed. Broadway was so angry that she had saved him that he followed her so that he could find out what in the world she was thinking. Meliara and Joren saw the two of them leave and followed. The Ronins prepared to go after them when Ryo's voice stopped them.

"No, let 'em go."