AUTHOR NOTE 1: Action begins here. If you get queasy at the mention of pain, why are you here? Leave! Don't stay any longer! PAIN AHEAD! For those who love the stuff, proceed.

AUTHOR NOTE 2: Remember the time difference between each section. Ryo's is happening in late morning, while the guys are in the afternoon (12-5) hours. Please understand and don't get confused. Sorry if you do. I tried…

AUTHOR NOTE 3: Please ignore the symbol system that was mentioned in the first chapter. won't let the symbols show. I've tried every trick that I know and I can't get it to work. Gomen.

xyxyxyxy

The Test of Strength

Chapter 2: Capture

cccccrrrrreeeeeaaaaakkkkk…. BANG

Kento shut off the engine and looked over at the boy who was clinging to his safety belt. He ruffled the boy's hair gently while shaking his head. "It wasn't that bad, was it?"

Yuli looked up at the bearer of Justice. "Um, why did it sound like that? Is it sick?"

"Nani? No way! She's always like that. Come on, let's go see what the others are up to, shall we?"

"Yeah!"

Once he stepped out of the vehicle, Kento smelled food. Good food…. Suddenly, his stomach growled, causing his legs to take action. Yuli was nearly knocked over by the older boy running to the house. With a laugh the boy gave chase, racing after his friend. When they got inside, Yuli threw his bags down in the hall, and went to see what Sage and Rowen were up to, while Kento ran to the kitchen.

"One more time!" Sage demanded looking very frustrated.

Rowen laughed and set the board up for another round.

"Where's Ryo?"

Rowen and Sage looked at each other, and then turned to the small boy who'd asked the question.

"He'll be he'ah soon, Yuli," Rowen answered.

CRASH

The three sitting at the table turned their attention to the kitchen door.

"GET OUT!" They heard Sai yell from the other room.

A second later Kento stumbled out the door, nearly falling on his face. He stood up, whipped imaginary dirt off his shirt, and tried to look innocent. The others weren't buying any of it.

"Wha'd ya do this time, Buddy?" Rowen asked him.

"I just wanted a carrot stick," Kento whined.

At the expression he gave, the other three burst into laughter. Kento shrugged and walked over to the TV. He pulled out his Play Station and began a game. Yuli left the two at the chessboard to sit by Kento and watch him play.

stststst

Ryo felt a rush of pain coursed through his body. He clenched his teeth to hold back a scream. Once the pain subsided, he looked up to see a figure dressed in blood-red armor with black fog over it, making it look like marble stone.

"What do you want?" Ryo asked, as he stood up straighter.

It gave him a wicked smile for a moment; its eyes gleaming of pure evil. It titled it head to the left and whispered, "You."

When it took a step forward, Ryo tried to call upon his sub armor, but it refused to respond. The boy looked up in utter shock. He felt someone behind him and began to turn. A fist hit him in his back, knocking him to the ground. He recovered quickly, rolling to a standing position before any further damage could be delivered.

Whiteblaze ran to Ryo's side and took a defensive position next to him. He could sense something was wrong with Ryo and wasn't about to leave him in their hands just to go get help.

The new figure had armor like the first, only it was a dark army-green color. Without a moment's hesitation, it went after the tiger, while the red figure went after the boy. The red one seemed to be laughing at Ryo's efforts to get away. The boy dodged and blocked the blows it was delivering, but it knew the boy couldn't last forever without his armor. Ryo wasn't a threat to it, or was he? It wanted to find out.

Ryo was thrown into a tree, after a kick to his side, and he slid down to lie limply in the grass at the base. Whiteblaze growled and ran over to him. The two figures watched silently as the tiger nuzzled Ryo's hair, silently asking him to wake up. The boy's eyes fluttered open and he sat up. When he saw his friend was covered with scratches, rage flared within him. Nobody did this and got away with it. Nobody.

Ryo stood and resumed a fighting stance; Whiteblaze joined him. All four fighters charged at the same time. At the last second, Whiteblaze jumped over Ryo, while Ryo slid under Whiteblaze. The tiger tackled the red figure, while the boy did the same to the figure in green.

Ryo punched the figure in the head repeatedly, but because he didn't have his armor-and he was hitting armor-his knuckles quickly began to bleed, so he jumped away from it. It stood up, and with a mischievous smile, it whipped the blood off its mouth. Something grabbed both of Ryo's arms, jerking them behind his back. It took both of his wrists in one hand, and then hit the back of his head hard enough to send his face to the left. Ryo's eyes rolled back in his head as they slid closed, and the rest of his body went limp.

Whiteblaze roared and ran to help, but the red figure shot a small ball of lightning at him, sending electricity throughout the animal's body. The tiger fell to the ground with a growl of pain. He watched helplessly as the three figures came together. The one in red took Ryo from the new figure, which wore the same armor only it was a dark bluish-gray color with the black fog. The green armor was holding a video camera. The red armor removed Ryo's jacket and threw it towards Whiteblaze. With fear for his charge and friend, Whiteblaze pushed himself to his feet and ran for the armors, but they vanished before he was able to reach them, taking Ryo with them.

The tiger gave a roar of anger and fear then took off for the mansion. It grabbed Ryo's jacket as it ran by. Whiteblaze had to get the others; there was no way he could save Ryo on his own.

stststst

The guys gathered at the table for their late lunch. Ryo still wasn't there and it was getting harder to keep Kento out of the kitchen.

"I still say we should wait for Ryo," Sage said.

"Hey, it's not our fault he's not here," Kento disagreed. "I say 'you snooze, you loose'. And besides, I'm starving and I'll die if I wait any longer."

"Fine," Sage mumbled. He didn't like the fact that Ryo wasn't there yet. Ryo would have a least called if he were going to be late. The raven-haired boy was impetuous and did things on impulse, but if he changed his plans in the slightest he would have let them know. Something was wrong; he could feel it deep down in his gut.

"Yeah. Okay, Kento. But ya'll have t' deal wif Ryo's temp'ah when he gets he'ah," Rowen warned.

"I'll have eaten by then. I'll be able to handle him," Kento laughed.

The others watched as Kento stuffed his face as fast as he could, and got a good laugh when he began to choke on a biscuit. An hour later, they had cleared the table and washed the dishes. They now sat in the living room, watching some comedy movie. They were all worried about Ryo, though.

'He shoulda been he'ah by now,' Rowen thought.

stststst

In the center of a dark room, a light showered down upon a figure that limply hung three feet off the ground. Its legs were spread wide, arms were pulled out and up from its body, and chains were locked around its wrists and ankles. The chains were tight, making it impossible for the spread-eagled figure to move in the slightest bit.

Ryo's eyes slowly opened, his vision was fuzzy. "Blaze…" he called softly. Instead of his tiger, the blood-red armor appeared in front of the Ronin of Wildfire. As his vision cleared, Ryo held his head high, glaring at the figure before him. "What do you want?" he asked again.

The armor raised its hand and slapped Ryo's face repeatedly for a couple of minutes. Then it just stood there, listening to the deep breathing of its prisoner. After a second of gathering his wits, Ryo turned his face back to the armor.

"You are alone, Wildfire. No one will save you," it smiled. When the boy didn't say anything, just continued to glare, the armor punched Ryo's stomach and face. Ryo tried to pull into himself, to stop the pain, but it didn't work. He looked up to glare at the figure, but what he saw made his eyes widen, his breath caught in his throat, and his whole body began to shake.

His mother, Satishui Sanada, stood there before him. She was just as he remembered her: long, tamed, black hair which reached down to her waist; pregnant, otherwise thin; but her eyes were different. They were still the same shade of brown, but now they held anger; nothing else, no life, love, or sadness; just anger.

Satishui walked up to Ryo and laid a hand on his chest. She smiled when she felt it beating rapidly. He was scared and shocked. "Look at what you did, Ryo," she said sadly; though her eyes were still filled with anger. "You killed your sister. You killed me."

Ryo tried to close his eyes, but he couldn't. He could only watch as the whole incident was shown through a portal twelve feet in front of his face.

zozozozo

Satishui was sitting in her chair in the living room. She rubbed her stomach gently thinking about the child inside. "I hope you're not like your brother, little one. I don't know if I can survive two of him," she smiled fondly. The thought of her little boy always brought a smile to her face. He was only four years old and was already talking good Japanese, getting into everything, and yet he behaved when he was told to do something.

It was only she and Chibi-Ryo at the cabin. Her husband, Aoi, was out of the country taking pictures of exotic animals in Europe. It was usually like that; he was out of the country working and Chibi-Ryo and her were at the cabin.

She could feel something was wrong with the baby; call it mother's intuition, but she was having pains that she'd never had with Ryo. It might have been the stress from being pregnant and already having a four year old to take care of. Chibi-Ryo was wearing her out. He was full of energy and curiosity; just like she was, so she understood and was very patient with him when he ran around the cabin nonstop.

Satishui was on the verge of sleep when she heard a scream and crash coming from Chibi-Ryo's room. She leaped up from her chair and ran down the hall. She threw the door open and began to panic from what she saw. Chibi-Ryo was on his back, and had blood running out of a cut on his forehead. The shelf set in his room was on the floor, along with all the toys on them. She kicked everything out of her way as she moved over to her son.

Chibi-Ryo's eyes were closed and his mouth was open but she saw the small rise and fall of his chest that told her he was still alive. But the cut on his head scared her; she needed him awake. She gently gathered him in her arms and shook him.

"Ryo-san? Ryo!" she shouted. Relief flooded through her when his tiger blue eyes opened and focused on her. "What happened?"

The boy looked confused for a second, looking around the room. It took a second to realize he was in pain; and once it hit him, tears leaked out of his eyes. "Ball…I-I tripped…H-hit shelf…I…"

"Shhhh it's okay, Ryo-san." She gathered the crying boy in her arms and began to stand. "AAAHHHH!" she screamed and fell back to the floor.

"Mama!" the four-year-old boy pulled out of her arms, tears stopping, and looked at her in fear.

"Help. Ryo," she gasped.

Chibi-Ryo ran into the living room and called for an ambulance. Satishui had told him how to just in case; quizzing him on their address repeatedly for the past few weeks. When he hung up the phone, he ran into the kitchen and got a wet rag for his mother. He had completely forgotten about the blood and cut on his head; including the pain. He was focused on his mother.

He ran back to his room, placed the wet rag on Satishui's forehead, and then noticed there was blood around her midsection. Chibi-Ryo grabbed his pillow off his bed and placed it under her head. After that he ran into the living room and grabbed a pillow off the couch, ran back to his room, and place that pillow under her knees. Once that was done, all he could do was sit down by her side and hold her hand.

After a several minutes, Chibi-Ryo heard the door open. He got up and ran into the living room. His cut had stopped bleeding, but the pain was still there. He ignored it.

"Ryo!" his father exclaimed when he saw his son. He had come home early and had planned on surprising his family. Aoi ran over to his son and knelt down to examine the cut.

Chibi-Ryo flinched at the touch, but it snapped him out of his shocked state. Tears rolled down his face, as he grabbed his father's hand and ran towards his bedroom.

Upon seeing his wife, Aoi jerked away from his son and ran over to her. "'Shui? Satishui?" he whispered in fear as he gently shook her. She opened her eyes and looked up at her husband.

"You-You're here,…Aoi," she smiled weakly.

"Hold on! I'm going to call for help."

"No," she said as she grabbed his arm. "R-Ryo-san has."

Aoi looked over his shoulder, but didn't see his son anywhere. He looked around the room and found him in a corner, sitting up with his knees to his chest. He motioned for the boy to come to him. Chibi-Ryo stood up, took a step towards his father, but heard footsteps coming to the front door. He ran out of the room and flew to the front door, throwing it open once he reached it. The paramedic looked at him in shock.

"Mama!" Chibi-Ryo shouted and pointed to the hall. "Help, Mama!" He stepped back as they ran to down the hall and into his bedroom. He followed close behind, wanting to know what was happening. He watched as they loaded her onto a stretcher and pushed her out to the ambulance. Then Aoi picked him up and climbed into the ambulance. Chibi-Ryo stayed silent all the way to the hospital.

Once there, Chibi-Ryo was separated from his family. The doctor cleaned his cut and bandaged it. It wasn't deep enough to need stitches, but it would leave a faint scar. When he was finished, the doctor took him to his father. Aoi didn't say anything to his son; just held him in his arms until Satishui's doctor came to give them the news. She had had a miscarriage, and was very weak. She might not make it.

Chibi-Ryo and Aoi sat with Satishui for 21 hours. The last thing she did was touch Chibi-Ryo's face and smile. Then she was gone. Gone forever.

ozozozoz

Ryo held tears back; refusing to cry and give the image of his mother what she wanted. Finally able to control his head, he turned away from her. He didn't need to see that; to relive it again. Now it was stronger than ever. His heart hurt from guilt and pain. He didn't mean for it to happen. But it did. And it was his fault…

'Satishui' placed her hand on his face and made him look at her. Her face was cold; no emotion whatsoever, and her eyes were lifeless.

"You killed us, Ryo-san. I loved you so much. You were my pride and joy, and you KILLED ME!" she screamed then proceeded to slap him.

Ryo lowered his head in shame, and listened as she walked away into the darkness. He hung there, not really feeling the pain from the slap or from the chains restraining him. He felt a new presence in the room, and searched the darkness around him. His body tensed when he saw a movement off to his right.

"Who's th-" he began but was cut off by a harsh voice.

"You know who," Aoi said as he stepped out from the shadows.

"Da-"

"Don't! You killed my family. She was all I had left! Do you not understand that? It was just her and me! Neither of us have any other family! Now she's gone. And all because of YOU!" Aoi shouted. His fist came out of nowhere, landing on Ryo's already bruised cheek.

"Ah!" Ryo yelled, clenching his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut.

"And you wonder why I never come around. Why should I? You're lucky I send money, call, or write those letters. You aren't worth the time or the effort."

Ryo's head snapped up at the words. They might as well have been blows to his body. But they weren't, and they hurt more than any punch he had ever received. His eyes were pulled back to the portal, showing him proof of his 'father's' words.

zozozozo

A five-year-old boy ran as fast as he could to his home in the woods. His father was supposed to be there when he got home. The little boy couldn't wait. He ran to the cabin, jerked the door open, and continued to run inside, searching for his father. The child looked everywhere but found no signs of his father. He went outside and searched all the places his father used to take him to when he was younger. Again, no sign of the older Sanada.

For four days, Chibi-Ryo worried about his father. Then he received a letter in the mail. His mother had started to teach him how to read when she was alive and he was beginning to learn in school, so he knew how to pronounce the words. It was just slow going.

Aoi had written, saying he couldn't make it this time; that he was going to South America. He would try to make it home once he got what he went after. He was sorry he was going to miss Chibi-Ryo's birthday, but he couldn't afford to not take the job.

As much as Chibi-Ryo wanted to believe his father, he was upset that he was going to miss his birthday. Chibi-Ryo couldn't remember any of his birthdays, except for his fourth, and his father wasn't there for that one. He had to take pictures of some rare lizard in France or something. Chibi-Ryo had hoped to spend the whole day with his dad. He hadn't seen the man in a month and a half. And the boy was all alone in the forest.

stststst

The next vision shown in the portal was of Ryo when he was nine. He was sitting under a tree, watching the birds in a tree a few yards away. They were beautiful colors: bright green, with a sky blue, and a little bit of yellow thrown in. He was also listening to the man who stood by a truck a couple feet away.

"No, I'm spending time with Ryo," Aoi was saying. "Yes, I know that… That's not it…No. I just haven't been around for along time…Okay, look. Ryo's twisted his wrist. I had to come home…He had to go to the hospital…No, he insists he's fine…Yeah, I guess I can do that…Africa? Why?…A white leopard, uh…I'm sure I can have my things ready to go tomorrow. How long will do you think this will take… That long, uh?…No, Ryo will be fine. The kid is good at taking care of himself…Yeah, see you soon."

"Ryo?" Aoi said as he approached the boy.

Ryo looked up and gave a soft smile. "Yeah, Dad?" he asked. He was slightly confused when he seen a grimace cross his father's face.

"I'm going to head for Africa tomorrow. There's a white leopard with my name on it. Are you going to be okay by yourself?"

"How long?"

"A month or so. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah. It's just a sprain, Dad. Nothing to fuss over." As Aoi began to walk away, Ryo asked, "Do you need a hand getting ready?" He had already begun to rise to show the older man that he wanted to help.

"No. I think I can handle it."

Ryo sat back down and went back to watching the birds, singing happily with each other.

ozozozoz

As the portal faded, Ryo shut his eyes and tried to hold back the tears that wanted to fall. He was so angry that all of this was being forced onto him. He'd already lived through this once; why did they feel he needed to live through it again? He heard evil laughter and looked up. It belonged to the blood-red armor. The laughter stopped and the armor looked Ryo in the eye. Its dark red eyes shimmered with evil and it raised its hand into the air. A ball of electricity surged forward and hit Ryo on his left, lower abdomen, causing a wound to open and blood to run down his side.

"AHHHHH!" Ryo released a scream of pain. He clenched his teeth and pulled into himself to stop the pain. "Why?" he weakly asked the figure; it was all he could manage.

The armor's answer was another ball of electricity to his right shoulder. Ryo's head flew back and he tried to hold in a scream by grabbing hold of the chains. It didn't work, though, and he screamed louder as more blood flowed from the new wound.

When his head fell back into place, the armor said, "I want to see how strong the Wearer of the Wildfire and Inferno is. Let's just say it's a test." The figure paused and looked thoughtful. "I want to know why you were chosen to bare the strongest armor of every dimension. You've only begun to scratch the surface of its power. You have no idea what it's truly capable of. And I want to know if you're as strong as you want to believe you are."

Before Ryo could say anything, another figure appeared next to the blood-red armor. It was the dark green one that had hurt Whiteblaze. Ryo could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness, but was snapped out of it when he felt something stab into his left side. He tried to hold back a cry of pain, causing it to sound more like a gasp. He saw the green armor pull an ice-pick out of his side.

"Wha-AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed as the armor stabbed him in the same place. It smiled as Ryo screamed in agony.

The blood-red armor vanished from the room, leaving the other to play with the prisoner. It appeared in another room and took a seat by the bluish-gray armor. They smiled at each other as Ryo's cries of pain filled the building.

stststst

Four male teenagers, an older female teenager, and an eight-year-old boy, all sat in the living room waiting for their friend to show up. The blue-haired boy was trying to read a book while the others watched the television. For the first time it seemed he wasn't able to concentrate on the book in his hands. And he knew the reason for that.

"Guys, Ah'm really startin' t' worry he'ah. It's three-thirty. He should'a been he'ah hou'ahs ago," he announced.

The others nodded in agreement. The Ronins had a really bad feeling about all this. It just wasn't like Ryo to be this late without calling them.

"Ah think we should go an' look fo'ah 'im," Rowen suggested.

"And what if we miss him?" Sai asked.

"We can't just sit here, can we?" Sage answered.

"I'm all for going, but-" Kento started.

"RRROOOOAAAAARRRRRR!"

They all jumped out of their seats and ran for the door. Sage was the first one to it and nearly jerked the door off its hinges in his haste. Whiteblaze stood outside, eight feet from the door. They quickly noticed the cuts in the tiger's fur. Sage moved forward to heal them, but the tiger growled when he as a foot away and threw down Ryo's jacket. He looked around to see confusion on everyone's faces.

When Sage bent down and picked up the jacket, Rowen asked, "Wh'ah's Ryo?"

The tiger gave a loud whine/roar and looked back the way he had come. It took him so long to get there; longer than it should've. He thought that he had a trace and tried to follow it, but it turned out to be a bad lead, and he had to find his way back through the forest. The tiger was angry with himself for getting distracted; he should've come straight here.

Whiteblaze turned back around to face the others. They were looking at the sky, which had darkened over when the tiger had cried out. Whiteblaze grabbed hold of Ryo's jacket and pulled Sage, who still had a hold of it, with him as he began to run.

"I think he wants us to follow him," Sage called to the others, letting go of the jacket.

"Come on then!" Rowen shouted and took off for Kento's van.

"Stay here, you guys. It might be dangerous," Sai said when Mia and Yuli tried to follow.

Yuli looked like he wanted to protest but Mia held him back. "Go and bring him back."

"If we find him, we will," the auburn haired teen assured her. Sai ran to the van and jumped in. The Ronins followed the tiger into the forest, then they had to go by foot when the road stopped. It didn't take long for them to get to the grave-sight.

"Satishui Sanada?" Sai read aloud.

"Ryo's mother?"

"I suppose so, Kento. But why two roses?" Sage asked, spotting the red flowers.

The others just shrugged. Ryo had never told them too much about his past.

"Well, whatev'ah wen' on, Ryo put up one helluva fight," Rowen announced, looking around the area.

They went back to the mansion when they couldn't find anything that would help them find their kidnapped friend. Sage healed Whiteblaze's wounds; receiving a lick for gratitude. The tiger then took Ryo's jacket to his charge's room and curled up on the bed. Yuli came in and sat next to him, but Whiteblaze didn't acknowledge the youth.

"He'll be okay, Whiteblaze. He'll be okay."

The tiger released a whine and looked out the window.

stststst

The bluish-gray armor circled Ryo, while looking the boy up and down. Ryo had been tortured for hours. His energy was leaving him, and they wouldn't allow him to go unconscious. He was silently begging for the release that was just beyond his reach. His body was covered with bruises and cuts that had dried blood around them. They had shocked him, punched him, and stabbed him all day and night.

The armor struck Ryo again across his face, then shocked him. It smiled at the scream of agony, then allowed Ryo to go unconscious. The body, held up by chains, went limp. The hands that had been holding the chains in a tight grip released their hold, and sweat filled hair fell into the boy's face as his head dropped onto his chest.

The armor walked over to the video camera that was hidden in the shadows of the room, picked it up, and circled the limp boy. Once it was finished, it turned off the device and vanished, leaving the Ronin alone in the dark. It appeared in the other room with the other two armors.

"Now what do we do with him?" it asked the blood-red one.

"Leave him…until he awakes."

"And then?"

"Then we put him through hell," it smiled.

"Tell us exactly what, Soylaberst," the green armor demanded.

"It's simple, Ky," he chuckled. "We have to kill the hope he still has left. We'll see how strong he is. Then we'll break him, and I'll savor every moment."

"Aren't you using up your power just to keep him from using his armor?" the bluish-gray armor questioned.

"Part of it, Zual. But as he begins to weaken, I don't have to use as much," Soylaberst replied with a bit of annoyance.

"So how much film is left?" Ky asked. They hadn't recorded everything; just the really good parts.

"Enough for the next phase of our plan," Zual answered with a smirk.

TBC

xyxyxyxy

And yet ANOTHER cliffhanger. Man, am I good or what? Also, I would like to point out that I do NOT like Mia paired with any of the boys. Anubis can have her. Gomen, but I'm a yaoi writer, and when I'm not writing that (like in this fic), the only relationship will be a friendship one (and sometimes very strong friendship, almost so that it's boarder line). So no, there will be no romance in this fic. Ryo will get all his lovin' from the 'guys' (meaning all his friends, so Mia is included).