Ryo started intently at the glowing ruby in his hands. He frowned deeply as he felt the pulsations throughout his entire body. He could feel something within it that was drawing him into it's power.
"Ryo?" Sage asked, lifting his brow with an inquisitive look. When he got no answer, Sage could see that something was seriously wrong. "Ryo, snap out of it!"
"Sage…?" Ryo asked back somewhat dazed from the effects of the Dragon's Fire.
The green ronin frowned in concern at his friend. "Ryo, what's going on with you?"
"Sorry Sage, I guess this thing somehow drew me into it." Ryo replied as he was finally coming back to himself.
"Don't worry about it, we'll figure the why later. Right now, we have bigger problems." Sage reminded him as he motioned up to the circling dragons.
"Sage, for some reason, I think that the Dragon's Fire is really that dragon's missing eye." Ryo reasoned, gripping the ruby tightly.
"You're not, no way…Ryo, don't even think it." Sage warned looking at him sternly.
"I have to at least try something, if we don't, then we might end up like them." Ryo explained motioning to two skeletons that were hanging on separate posts facing each other. "I for one, don't plan on staying around here any longer than I have to. What about you?"
"Now that you mention it, no." Sage replied as he shook his head. "Alright, what would you like me to do Ryo?"
The red ronin smirked as he looked at him. "I'm going to catch a flight."
Sage groaned inwardly as he caught what Ryo was talking about. He gave a slight nod in compliance and laced his fingers together. Ryo took a deep breath and then quickly sprinted towards him. Sage got a good hold onto the bottom of Ryo's foot and launched him high into the air.
Ryo somersaulted forward and then reached out and as luck would have it, he grabbed onto the dragon that was missing its eye. In celebration, Ryo almost dropped the Dragon's Fire. He quickly grasped onto it and breathed a sigh in relief. The dragon bucked and rolled in the air trying to get Ryo off, while he hung on for the ride of his life. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As soon as Dark Harpy slammed the door shut, Kento sighed in a mix of relief and exhaustion.
Kaye looked over towards him in concern. "Kento, are you..?"
He looked over towards her with a tired smile, "Yea, I'm all right. I guess the magic took more out of me than I expected."
"Good, you know how concerned I get about you." Kaye replied with a small smile of her own.
Kento nodded, "I know you do, but I feel guilty that you were drawn into this mess."
Kaye's eyes became soft, "Kento, don't...Please, this isn't your fault. If anyone is to blame, it's Dark Harpy and her hunters, not you."
"How can you be so sure? I mean, it all started centuries ago with my family and the Tsungs. Our feud with each other shouldn't even have started in the first place. Just now, when those things were playing with our minds and making us feel the pain that we tried to forget. I couldn't take it, it was too much I couldn't bear it any more. I had to do something." Kento started to explain with somewhat of a guilt feeling lingering in his heart.
"And you did, you destroyed those things. Kento, I understand that you never asked for the magic from your family's line, but it did save us from them." Kaye replied as she tried to reason with him.
"When I used the magic, I felt the same power that I went through the first time it happened at Aunt Meih's house. I felt like I was losing myself and the magic was turning me into something that I don't want to be." Kento said in a sad tone.
"Kento, I know that you're stronger than that, I believe in you, and I believe the others will find a way to bring us back." Kaye told him with a determined look in her eyes, and then they grew soft. "I remember, when we first met on how secretly terrified I was about what was going on. It was the first time that my abilities were awakening, and my armor being rejuvenated. But somehow, you helped me to overcome my fears. You showed me how to break through my own doubt about myself and you also showed me that I'll never be alone. So now, I'm going to help you in turn. I'm always going to be by your side, and I'll help you any way that I can."
Kento gazed softly at her when the memory of the day of their wedding came back to him. He started to recall the tale end of their vows, "We are stronger together, than we were apart. Through everything that was thrown at us. We have proven time and time again that we will always belong together…." Kaye joined in, "The unity we share will always be strong. We are bonded together not by words, but by our hearts and our souls. You and I are one, now and forever…." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What should we do Rowen?" Cye asked as they were looking towards the creature that came through the portal. "We can't leave Kento's and Kaye's bodies defenseless."
Rowen frowned deeply in thought as he kept his gaze on the creature. "I know Cye, but we can't let that thing whatever it is find them either."
The auburn haired ronin sighed, he knew that his friend was right and that Ryo and Sage weren't back yet. "Alright then, let's just do this." Cye and Rowen called forth their full armors and made their way towards it. "Hey ugly! You looking for something?"
The creature whipped around and faced them. The two ronins stepped back a couple steps when they got a full view. It was a giant scorpion, blood red in color, with a golden tipped tail, and black claws. It towered at least six feet above them, hissing in anger. "Good job getting its attention Cye." Rowen commended in a slight sarcastic tone.
"Yea well, I didn't hear you come up with anything. So now that we have its attention, what do we do?"
Rowen was about to reply, but the scorpion spoke instead. "You'll wish that you didn't anger me when I'm done with the two of you." The scorpion started to slowly change into a different form. It started to revert back to what passed for a human female. Long black hair fell to the middle of her back. A black samurai suit clothed her as well as a red short sleeved vest with a scorpion that was etched upon the back of it. A short golden sword was tucked away into her black velvet belt. her face was snow white except for the sides of her face were blood red in color. Onyx colored eyes danced dangerously as she glared at them.
"Who or what are you?" Rowen asked in awe as he kept his grip on the bow.
"My name is Nubia, and I can assume you know why I came." Nubia saw them give a slight nod and became a bit more defensive.
"You're not even going to get close to them! We'll make sure of it!" Cye stated boldly as he held his yari tightly.
Nubia smiled a little, "You're more than welcome to try and stop me. But I'll let you in on something."
"Oh yea, and what's that?" Rowen asked when he saw Nubia quickly draw her short sword and was already up in the air.
"I always retrieve my bounty, by whatever way that I can." Nubia replied as she was coming down upon them.