Author's Note: You know how in horror movies the worse thing you can do is split up? Our boys obviously don't watch a lot of horror movies, do they?
Split Up?
"All right, guys, very funny. Come on out. This is the perfect time to scare me, I'm all alone. Promise I'll scream, just come out. This is dumb." Ryo called as he methodically opened each door on the main level one by one. And did he ever want to scream when he found what he was looking for, but it had nothing to do with his promise.-----
Kento and Sage ascended the occasionally broken stairs with about as much stealth as Jacob Marly, since with every step, Sage's costume clinked and Kento's clanked.
"You know, I really prefer our armors." Kento called down cheerfully before a metal hand clamped over his mouth in a vise like grip.
"Are you crazy! How about we not find out how much people remember about us the hard way! I doubt they'd be too receptive to real super heroes." Sage hissed in Kento's ear. Then, just in case people were listening, he added much louder "Yeah, Kento, those costumes were nice. But don't you find it boring going as a Samurai every year? The rest of us sure do!"
After a few nervous laughs and exchanged glares, an uncomfortable silence fell between them until they'd reached the landing.
"Man, those guys did a really good job with this place, huh Sage?" Kento asked as he moved down the hallway and noted the even creepier upstairs. "Sage?" He asked again to thin air. He turned quickly, looking for the blond. He spotted Sage a few feet behind him, rooted in place before an old, full length mirror.
"Oh, come on. You're suit isn't that bad." Kento teased, coming back to stand beside his friend. If only he'd guessed what was really wrong.
-----
Rowen and Cye descended their stairs without incident, deciding it best to split up once they'd reached the bottom. Cye was now dutifully checking every door as if awaiting an executioner's ax. It wasn't the cheap effects. The downstairs, like the main level, had been lit with fake candles and a few fake torches. Basically, the decor was hardly worth batting an eye at, much less enough to inspire dread in one who'd withstood Tulpa's dungeon. 'Something is off here.' He thought, nervously checking behind him. Even with this revelation, he was still quite surprised when his whole vision went black, like someone had turned off his eyes! He tried to ready himself for an attack and even thought of calling his armor, but he heard a small girl's laughter and hesitated. Yet, as he listened, the pitch shifted, taking on a more sinister, almost ethereal tone. The laughter continued growing louder and shifting deeper, becoming less like a child and more like a woman.
"What?!" He wondered aloud as his sub-armor appeared around him. However, any further quandary was arrested as blue-white light blinded him and he slipped into utter darkness.
-----
Ryo had rounded yet another corner when he noticed an alcove with a well-disguised, black door. "Ah ha! I see where your hiding now!" He called out mischievously as he put his weight against the ebony surface. After a few unsuccessful pushes, everything happened at once. The cobwebbed corridor had been lit with flickering fake candles. But, if they were fake, then how did the lights blow out as one, along with the music, without the howling wind sound effects going off, too? Dazed by the sudden darkness, although the previous lighting was hardly bright, Ryo hesitated a moment. He wasn't given a chance to recover before the door gave way and he felt as if he'd been pushed through it from behind! He tried to turn back, but was faced with a smooth, metallic bluish-grey wall that was cold to the touch, almost like ice. Realizing the futility of that route, he turned from it and stopped dead.
-----
Sage, after his little run-in with Kento's hard head, had only been half concentrating on Kento's back. He hadn't had time to really figure it out, but most of his attention was paid to the strange sense of unease in the back of his mind. 'What is it about this place that has me so. . . on edge? I've never been bothered by the dark, so that couldn't be it. The decorations are good for high schoolers, but it stops there. So, what is it? The place itself? Or something in it?! It almost feels like. . . but that couldn't be.' He shook off his musings as they had reached the top and looked straight ahead. . . at something glinting in the half-light. It was a tall mirror, capturing his own reflection. But something wasn't right. . . it wasn't just his nerves that made him jump. He'd always had startling eyes, concealing them was the method behind the madness of his trademark bangs. He had unnerved people when he was a child, since purple is the color of demons, but he'd never noticed the violet orbs could be so incandescent. They almost seemed to glow! But as he stared, they shifted in hue, from their usual steely violet-blue to a purple-tinged off-white. Everything about him became almost sinister. 'Something is definitely wrong with this mirror.' He thought as he tried calling for Kento and found his voice gone! Before he realized it, he'd moved towards the mirror. 'Why can't I look away? What is it that this thing is showing me?' The questions reverberated through his mind, loud with horror. All too soon he was sorry he'd asked.
-----
Rowen was cautiously opening yet another door when he realized how quiet it had gotten. The music had stopped and the sound effects had swelled for a time, but now it was quiet again. Really quiet. He'd thought the lights had flickered for a second, too.
"This old house is playing tricks on me. Hello, more stairs! Is there a sub-basement?" His remarks had been made under his breath, so he shut the door quietly and ran back for Cye, not wanting to alert those no doubt waiting at the bottom that he'd found their hiding place. The armored boy was just around the corner of the hallway.
"Cye, come quick but be quiet. I found some stairs."
"More stairs? This place is endless! But we have them now! Let's see if we can turn the joke on them before we grab the others."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I suppose there's no sense dragging them all the way downstairs for no reason."
"Exactly. Let's go!"
Cye and Rowen silently raced back to the door, Rowen barely leading. He opened it once more and started down the stairs. Cye followed, his green eyes glinting mischievously. But Rowen, genius though he was, never even considered questioning it. It was harmless fun, right? Even a know-it-all can't know everything.
"Ahh!" Before he could even dream to know what was happening, Rowen pitched violently down the stairs head first. Maybe he'd been pulled or maybe he'd lost his footing, he couldn't tell. Maybe he'd even been pushed! He heard a rushing in his ears, and his head was pounding. 'Why can't I regain my balance? How many stairs are there? Why hasn't Cye. . .'
Just then his fall and thoughts were arrested as he slammed hard into a solid object, which he guessed to be a black wall from what little of it he could see. He looked up dazedly from a heap of black fabric as Cye stood above him, but the silver suit was gone, replaced by pale blue sub-armor! The water ronin's Yari was poised and his eyes glowed a sinister, ice blue. Yari?! How did. . .
"Cye, what are you. . ."
Rowen never got to finish his sentence.
-----
"Hello! Anybody here? O.K., guys, nice job, really, I'm impressed. Now where are you and how'd ya do this?! And why do I get the feeling I'm not in Toyama anymore?" Ryo's last question was muttered to himself as he stared across the frozen wasteland he'd stumbled into. "I REALLY hate the cold." He whined miserably. It always seemed to zap all the energy out of him. He'd spent about a minute frozen with surprise before doing his best to break down the door that had sent him here. After he'd determined A) the door wasn't budging, B) this wasn't a bad dream and C) it was definitely way too cold here to be an illusion, he'd started walking hoping to get some answers or clues or at the very least, some circulation! But walking soon wasn't enough to keep his fingers from turning blue, a color he was quickly deciding he hated (no offense intended to Rowen or Cye), so he caved and armored up. As obvious as it was that this wasn't the work of his peers, he had still hoped. "Just once, I would like to be able to go somewhere without needing my armor." He pouted as the power of Wildfire surged through him, bringing glorious heat, but it was weakened by his surroundings.
"Well, maybe whoever's behind this is friendly." He prayed, knowing how naive it sounded, but he also knew that he wasn't in much shape to fight. "I hope the others are having a better time than I am."
His tune soon changed as a low growl issued from an unknown source behind him. "And Maybe I should worry more about myself, first. . ."
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Yes, it's a corny cliffhanger, but it's not like you have to wait very long.