The next day, the Ronin boys were sitting at the lunch table outside the cafeteria, waiting for the buses to come. They were talking energetically about all the boring classes that day.
"I absolutely hate chemistry!" said Kento. "It's the worst class here!"
"That's only because you fall asleep in class and don't understand the homework," said Rowen, pointing his pencil lazily at him. He was working on his analytical geometry homework.
"No, the worst class is advanced geometry," said Ryo. "I just don't see the point of geometry. I mean, when are you goin' to use that junk?"
"I don't really have a worst class. My favorite class has got to marine biology," said Cye.
"Go figure," was all Kento said.
Sage was about to say something, but he suddenly stiffened and looked around the grassy lawn where they were. In the distance, some ways away from them, were two objects that looked to be people hidden in the shadows of the school. He left his books on the table and headed in that direction. The others looked at one other in confusion, shrugged, and then followed. They neared the chain link fence that surrounded the school grounds. The two figures stepped forward from the shadows and the boys all gasped.
"Kayura!" said Ryo.
"Sekmet," said Cye.
It was true; Lady Kayura and Sekmet, the Warlord of Venom, were standing in front of them. They could've blended in with the high school crowd that flowed constantly around the grounds and school. Kayura wore black jeans, a purple off-the-shoulder shirt, and simply black and purple boots. Her hair was still pulled back into its usual high ponytail. Sekmet was wearing faded blue jeans, a dark green t-shirt with a lighter green and black jacket over it, and regular tennis shoes.
"What are you doing here?" asked Sage coolly.
"We came here to give you some information," explained Kayura.
"Information? About what?" said Rowen.
"That new armor that has appeared in your world," replied Sekmet.
"What can you tell us?" inquired Kento.
"It's very powerful. Look what it did last night to a section of downtown Tokyo," said Kayura. She waved her hand and that day's newspaper appeared in her hand. She handed it to them.
Ryo took it and looked at the front page; the others were crowded around his shoulders to see it. There was a large picture of a department store…with all the windows blow out. All the windows were gone, leaving only jagged pieces of glass sticking up from the edges. All the streetlights near the building were also blown out. Glass littered the sidewalk and curb. The headline above the picture read, "Mysterious Figure Reeks Havoc in Downtown."
"Awful…isn't it?" Sekmet said in a bored, unconcerned voice. Both Kayura and the Ronins glanced at him.
"For someone whose virtue is piety, you're not very piteous," remarked Kayura in dry humor. "Anyway, as you can see, this armor is very strong."
"We can shatter windows, too, you know," said Kento huffily.
"We know," muttered Sekmet under his breath, but only Kayura heard him. She gave a slight smile at his comment.
"Yes, but this force is different than the force you create. Look at the glass. What do you notice about it?"
The Ronins looked at the photo again. Rowen examined it closely for a few moments. "The glass on the ground…there's too little of it to come from both the store and the streetlights. In fact, it only looks like enough to come from the lights," said Rowen slowly, looking up.
Kayura gave him a small smile. "True. The amount of glass on the sidewalk is only enough to account for the streetlights. What do you think happened to the rest of the glass? It couldn't have just disappeared."
"Maybe it was blown inside the building," suggested Sage.
"Yeah, like a vacuum. The armor might've created a vacuum and instead of the glass being blow out, it was sucked in," said Rowen.
"Exactly. That's the conclusion we came up with," said Sekmet.
Rowen looked back at the black and white photo on the front page. For an armor to create a vacuum was amazing. That armor had to be very strong to do that. He looked at the glass on the sidewalk again. Wait a minute. The sidewalk. It had a jagged crack running right through all the squares in the picture.
"The sidewalk," he said, "it has a huge crack in it."
Kento snatched the newspaper from Rowen. "It sure does. Do you think that the armor did that?"
"It's certainly possible. I don't know what armor that could have done it," said Kayura.
"Could it be the Armor of Dragons?" recommended Cye.
Kayura and Sekmet looked shocked. Kayura looked even paler than usual.
"I sincerely hope that it is not that armor," said Kayura.
"Why?" asked Ryo. "How strong is it?"
"To put it in understandable terms, it would make the Ronin Armors look like common soldier armor," said Sekmet quietly. "Even the Armor of Inferno would look like a plaything next to its power."
"Yes," agreed Kayura, nodding, "the Armor of Dragons is not something to take lightly or joke around with."
"What can you tell us it?" asked Kento, crossing his arms.
"It's very old, older even than the Ronin Armors. It might even be older than even Talpa's armor, but I'm not too sure that," answered Kayura. A question sprang to her mind. "How do you know about the Armor of Dragons?"
"Well, that's a little bit of a story," muttered Rowen. "You see-"
"Rowen! Guys!"
They all turned around to see Sakura running towards them across the school grounds. She was waving something in her hand. Her white-blonde hair swung side to side behind her as she ran.
"Kayura, Sekmet, I think you'd better" – Rowen turned towards them and then smiled – "disappear." Kayura and Sekmet were already gone.
"Rowen, where have you been?" Sakura demanded when she came up to them a few seconds later. "I've lookin' for you everywhere."
"We were, ah…" Rowen trailed off, rapidly thinking what to say.
Ryo picked up where he left off. "We were just looking to see if the buses were coming." It was a very lame excuse, but he had had short notice.
"Uh-huh, sure." Sakura said. "Anyway, I came to find you guys. My dad told me some more info about the Dragons Armor."
"Really? What is it?" asked Rowen.
She brandished a sheet of paper at them. "Here. Read this."
Rowen took it and read aloud, "The Dragons Armor was originally worn by a priestess that was the medium between the emperor and the dragon gods. However, the name of the emperor is unclear, although it was thought to be Talpa. The Emperor often included this priestess on important matters much to disapproval of his other advisors. However, her predictions were continually correct, which the advisors didn't like because the Emperor started to ask only her opinion and not theirs. The Emperor was told secretly by the priestess that his other advisors were disgruntled that he was only asking her for opinions and not them. The Emperor was, of course, angry with his other advisors for not telling him that they were dissatisfied with the way he was doing his business. He had them executed later that day."
"She was certainly mean, wasn't she?" interjected Cye, and Sakura nodded.
Rowen continued. "The priestess was said to be the real ruler of everything the Emperor had claimed as his own. It is said that the Emperor and the priestess had had a daughter, but no evidence could be found to support this theory. The priestess was sent to the battlefield with the Emperor and there, she found along side him, wearing her mystical armor. It was said to have the strength and the power of the gods. She often killed more than the soldiers of her Emperor.
"At one battle, however, the priestess was killed by a lone soldier simply known as the Ancient One." Rowen stopped here for a moment and glanced up at them. He returned to reading. "According to legend, the priestess sealed her spirit in her armor before she completely died. The armor is thought to be cursed because of her spirit, which is said to be unquestionably evil."
Rowen stopped reciting and looked at them. This was the prelude to the Ancient's battle with Talpa. It must have happened after he killed this priestess. This priestess appeared to be a very powerful person. Moreover, if she and this Emperor (Rowen didn't seriously believe that it was Talpa) had had a daughter, then that meant that she could be versed in the priestess' ways and practices. He mentally shivered; Talpa was hard enough to beat. He didn't feel like diving into battle so soon.
"Of course, you must keep in mind that all this is just supposedly true. It hasn't been proven…yet. I'm sure that my dad will find something on it eventually," said Sakura, interrupting all of the boys' ponderings.
"Your dad? What does he do?" asked Ryo.
"He's an archeologist that specializes in the defenses of ancient civilizations. You know: swords, armors, and the like. He's been trying to find evidence of this for years," explained Sakura. "I know he's goin' to find some soon. I can almost taste it."
"Well, that was interesting, but I still don't think that that armor is this Armor of Dragons, Sakura," said Sage. "Sorry, but I need more convincing."
Sakura just shrugged. "Suit yourself, Sage. I know that it's out there somewhere. And I can't wait to find it." She looked over Cye's shoulder. "Oh crap! Here come the buses. Ciao, boys!"
She ran towards the edge of the school building, stopped, waved at them, and then rounded the corner, disappearing from view. The boys waited until she was out of earshot to talk about the information.
"This cannot be good," said Sage.
"Tell me about it," agreed Kento. "An evil spirit inhabiting armor? That's crazy."
They all rolled their eyes at him and headed back toward the picnic table to grab their books.
"This is serious, Kento," said Ryo. "We can't take this lightly. We might have another fight on our hands. I think that with these facts and Sekmet and Kayura's-"
Kento snorted. "Don't tell me that you're actually goin' to believe that crone – Ouch! That hurt!"
He quickly put his hands to the back of his head and turned around. Kayura was standing there, throwing a rock in the air and catching it with one hand. She looked somewhat ticked off.
"I suggest you watch what you say, Hardrock," she said threateningly.
"That really hurt! You didn't have to hit me," argued Kento. He looked at his hand. "It's not bleeding, is it?"
"You're fine," answered Cye. "With a head as hard as yours, I'm surprised you even felt it."
"Ha ha, very funny, Cye," muttered Kento as the other Ronins laughed.
"Did you want to tell us something else?" asked Sage.
"Yes, actually there is." Kayura stopped throwing the rock and held it in her hand. "The girl with the blonde hair, what's her name?"
"Oh, that's Sakura. She's an old friend of mine," explained Rowen.
"Is that where you heard about the Armor of Dragons?"
"Yeah."
"You listened to her?" It was half-question, half-disbelief.
"Yes, I did. I trust what she says," said Rowen evenly. "You must have heard what I read from that sheet of paper she handed me."
"I did. You are discouraging her from looking for the armors, right?"
"Of course, we did," snapped Kento.
"She's convinced that they exist. She said that when she finds the wearers, she going to ask 'em a few questions about the armors," said Sage.
"Did she now?" said Kayura thoughtfully. "I suggest that you watch her carefully. She might be trouble."
"Trouble?" repeated Rowen with a laugh. "The only trouble she'll cause is with her teammates."
"All the same, keep an eye on her when you can," insisted Kayura. She turned to Sage. "And Halo, next time you see her, check out her aura. I thought that it was a little too strong for a normal human."
And with that, Lady Kayura disappeared.
"Like I really needed that order," muttered Sage, turning and walking toward the buses, the others following him.
"Does having a strong aura mean anything, Sage?" asked Ryo.
"Not really. We have brighter auras than normal people but that's because we wear the Armors." Sage shrugged. "Some people just have bright auras. If they're really athletic or are constantly happy then more they do."
"Well, Sakura's definitely athletic. In fact," Rowen looked at his watch, "I have to go. I told her that I'd watch her practice today."
"I thought that you have basketball practice," asked Cye.
"No. Couch Morimoto is sick today, so practice was canceled. See you guys later!" Rowen waved at them and then started down the street, leaving them to get on their respective buses home.
A/N: Alrighty then! How was that? Okay? No? Please R&R! Flames are welcomed, but not appreciated. Thank you!