Sage came down the next morning to find Buka and Yami sound asleep on the couch with the TV on. Sage went over and shook Buka's shoulder, waking her up. Yami was also awaken when she moved.

"Morning already?" Buka said looking over at Sage.

"Yeah," Sage said. "The others should be up soon and we'll head back to the castle."

They followed Sage into the kitchen where they started breakfast. Upstairs, Kento tossed the covers back and stretched. He glanced over at Cye and found he was sound asleep, but as he moved over to the closet, Cye woke up and glanced over at him.

"You guys going back to the castle?" Cye asked as Kento got dressed and started to head for the door.

"Yeah," Kento said. "Mia's going to look after you while we're gone."

Cye fell asleep once again and Kento headed downstairs. In the tower, Rowen was awaken once again by the netherspirits. It seemed they were getting louder and louder and it was really getting annoying. He saw Ryou and Joey cringe at the noise.

"What in the world are those things?" Joey just about screamed over the noise.

"They're the netherspirits," Rowen said. "Talpa controls them."

In the throne room, Talpa looked up from his chair as the four Warlords entered the room.

"The Ronins will be coming back for their friends," Talpa said. "It's time to put our plan into action. Take the four in the tower to the designated places."

Ryo was starting to come around when the Warlords appeared. Anubis moved in front of Joey; Dais to Rowen; Cale to Ryou and Sekhmet to Ryo. They disappeared with them. When Joey looked up he was standing in some sort of maze with Anubis right beside him. Dais took Rowen to the dungeon. Cale dropped Ryou in a pit somewhere on the grounds of the castle. Ryo was taken straight to the throne room where he was once again chained to the wall. Back at the house, Yami tried to get Buka to stay there but she wouldn't have any of it and Yami couldn't change her mind.

They left about an hour later, heading for the castle once more. Mia meanwhile went upstairs to check on Cye and see if the bandages needed to be changed. Cye woke up as she opened the door.

"Did they leave?" he asked as she came over.

"Yeah," Mia said. "I'm going to look at the bandages on your back."

He nodded and she went over to the other side of the bed. He was still laying on his side because of the pain he felt every time he tried to put pressure on his back. She peeled away one of the bandages and saw no more blood and knew it was a very good sign. She checked the others and saw the same thing.

"Everything looks good," she told him as she sat down in the chair.

"Yeah, but it still hurts to lay on my back," Cye said.

"It'll be sore for awhile," Mia said. "They were pretty deep wounds."

At the castle, Ryo knew that Talpa wanted him in the throne room to torture him more. He had no idea where they had taken the others. He looked up as Talpa came over once again with the whip.

"You're friends might succeed in rescuing you, but you won't be in good shape," Talpa said to him.

"Where did you put the others Talpa?" Ryo demanded as Talpa came closer.

"You'll never find out Wildfire," Talpa said.

Ryo once again was facing the wall with Talpa unleashing the whip on his back causing the last cuts to reopen again and more to form. Talpa was enjoying it as Ryo's head jerked back from the pain and laughed in enjoyment. He didn't stop until Ryo slumped against the chains holding him. Kento, Sage, Sakura, Kiseki, Sugoshi, Shinju and Kirei once again entered the castle grounds and headed for the castle. They decided to split up. Sage, Sakura and Kiseki headed towards the maze and Sugoshi, Kento and Shinju headed for the castle. Buka, Yami and Kirei head in the other direction. Joey was stuckin the maze with vines around his wrists and ankles. He was suspended off the ground near the top of the maze wall. A dozen dynasty soldiers guarded him, standing around. He heard footsteps running towards his location and when he looked he saw Sage, Sakura and Kiseki as they camerunning around the corner of the maze, skidding to a stop as the warriors turned towards them, getting ready to fight.

"Watch out guys," Joey yelled.

They formed into their armor and faced up against the warriors. In five minutes, they were dust. Sakura cut Joey down from where he was being held.

"You okay Joey?" Sage asked.

"I'm fine," Joey said. "Where's the others?"

"They're looking for the others," Kiseki said. "Do you have any idea where the others are being held?"

Joey shook his head and they started into the maze once again. In the throne room, Marik entered and stood before Talpa.

"What do you want?" Talpa ordered.

"I want to take care of Yami myself," Marik said.

"You already had your chance," Talpa said. "Tell me one reason why I should give you another chance?

"I have a plan that won't fail," Marik said. "I'll tell you the plan and you decide whether or not you will go through with it."

--to be continued--