"You guys! Cut it out! Now!" Sai yelled, once again, to no avail. "You're going to seriously hurt each other!"

Kento and Ryo continued to pummel each other mercilessly, taking out the frustrations more than continuing the argument.

"We don't need this right now, you guys!" Sai pleaded, trying to step between the two. He doubted they even remembered what had started the fight in the first place.

Kento was going insane from worry, and Ryo… Sai wasn't sure what was bothering him. But he would bet it had something to do with a certain blonde.

What happened outside? He is hiding something, but what is it? And why is it so important to him?

* * *

Huddled together in the darkness, the group waited anxiously for Kayura and Kale to return.

Dais, Anubis, and Sekhmet kept wary eyes outward into the darkness, their forms tensed for action at a moment's notice. Rowen and Sage also stood at the ready, though they were not as sure what to expect. Rachel and Katie stood in the center of the group, as the males had surrounded them, and hoped that their leaders would soon return with no news.

Crunch… Crunch… Crunch…

Rachel jumped. "Did anybody else hear that?!"

"Hear what?"

"More footsteps," she swallowed nervously.

"Maybe Kayura and Kale are finally on their way back," Anubis suggested, turning his attention for a moment from the pitch darkness towards the center of the group.

"No, they're coming from that way," she pointed in the direction they'd already come from.

"But," Sekhmet protested, "that doesn't make sense, there aren't any entrances to this corridor that way… Only dead ends and empty rooms! We would have to had to pass whatever it was…"

The group fell deathly quiet.

Crunch… Crunch… Crunch… Crunch…

"Another set," Rachel whispered.

Crunch… Crunch… Crunch…

Dais spun around. "And now I hear them from the other way too!"

"Where are they coming from?!" Sage hissed.

"Shh!" Anubis motioned with his hand, and they fell silent again.

The footsteps stopped.

* * *

"I don't see anything," Kayura sighed. "But I also sense something is not right."

"It feels like we're being watched…"

"Yet there is no one here…"

No one, Kale thought to himself. But maybe something

"Let's head back to the others, before they get too nervous."

Kale nodded silently, and they turned to go back, but he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to get a better view, but it was gone.

"What is it?" She stopped and looked back at him.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing." Hopefully, he thought. "Just the shadows moving."

"Ah." She seemed to grow slightly pale at that statement, though how he could tell in such poor lighting, he wasn't sure. "Well, then, it was probably your imagination." She continued walking, though at much brisker pace than she had started at.

He jogged up to her. "Are you sure? This is one of the darkest parts of the NetherRealm, and we both know what Talpa was capable of."

She said nothing, but seemed to speed up ever so much more, and he had to trot to keep up with her.

"Alright, now I know you're worried. What is it? You'd said before you knew something about what was down here."

"Rumored to be down here. It was a legend. A fable."

"And how did this happy fairy tale go?"

They continued along, and Kale was startled to realize just how far they'd strayed from the others.

"What I had heard, and this was hearsay, mind you," she emphasized.

"Understood."

"Talpa had found out an even better way to use the negative energies from the Mortal Realm. He collected them, and made them into his soldiers and servants, right?"

"We knew that, we fought with them against the Ronins. There were probably millions of them."

"Well, that was the old way. Those were made up solely of the feelings, just harvested and shoved into a suit of armor, we'll say, for simplicity's sake."

"Ok, I see that, but what else could he do with that? He couldn't handle such a raw form of negative energy on its own. That's why it evaporated when the suits were destroyed."

"Right. But what if he'd found a way to refine it? Make it so it didn't need a superficial shell to hold it together?"

Kale didn't answer.

"There are legends of Guardians, down here in these catacombs. They're said to be able to do what no others can. They're like… Nether Spirits, but instead of using the powers that spirits do, they fight like soldiers. Well, like demons, supposedly."

"A combination of Nether Spirits and Soldiers?"

"But more powerful than the two combined."

"Let's hope all that was just legend then…"

* * *

"I'm gonna kick your – "

"Watch out!" Sai dove to block the two combatants from hurtling each other into the still open portals. He caught Kento by the collar of the shirt and threw the two back, causing them to momentarily stop.

Kento leapt to his feet and grabbed Sai by the shirt and pulled his fist back, ready to hit his best friend in the face. Finally realizing what he was doing, he stopped, panting heavily, and his angry scowl softened a bit into surprise. He let go of Sai, and took a step back.

The two fighters stood opposite each other, breathing hard and sweating. They no longer looked angry, and Sai breathed a deep sigh of relief.

* * *

Crunch… Crunch… Crunch…

"We're being followed…"

"I hear," Kayura said quietly, clutching the Ancient's Staff tighter. "We need to find the others very soon."

* * *

"I don't like this…" Rowen growled, readying an arrow in his bow. "We can't tell where they are. It's too dark…"

"Yeah, that creepy Nether Torch isn't helping much, Anubis," Rachel commented.

Wordlessly, Sage held his sword out, and it began to give off a faint glow, shedding some light onto their surroundings.

"Let there be light," Katie muttered. "But only at Rachel's request of course."

Rachel elbowed her. "Shut up."

"Are you ever serious?" Sekhmet asked Katie dryly.

"Shh!" Anubis motioned again.

Crunch… Crunch… Crunch…

He turned his ear the other direction.

Crunch… Crunch… Crunch…

"They're on the move again."

"Whatever 'they' are," Sage growled. He repositioned himself by Rachel, and, though he didn't notice it, Dais did as well.

The footsteps from the direction Kale and Kayura had disappeared stopped again.

"It's like they're toying with our minds…"

"Then don't allow them to get to you," Sekhmet offered.

Furtive footsteps met their ears, and the turned to see a very pale Kayura and a tired, worried looking Kale coming towards them.

"Have you seen anything yet?" Kayura panted.

"No," Anubis shook his head, "but there has been much activity. Something has been walking around, both in front of us and behind us."

"Behind? But wouldn't we have seen them?"

"Well, if they were in front of us, then they were behind you when you two went off as well."

"Not to mention," Rowen said," that we heard them in your direction shortly before you returned."

"Could it be some sort of trick?" Sage suggested. "An echo or illusion meant to frighten away intruders?"

Kayura hesitated. "It could be."

"Or it could be what?" Rowen asked. "You know something we don't. What else is there?"

"The Guardians," Kale said.

"The what?!"

"That does not sound friendly."

Crunch… Crunch… Crunch…

"They sound like they're really close…"

"I'll explain later," Kayura nodded, assuming a defensive position. "We have other things to worry about right now, for something tells me this is no illusion."

The crunching footsteps stopped on both sides, and from the edge of the darkness came low, hungry growls.

"Bad sound."

"We still can't see them."

"They're avoiding the light."

"Try turning it off. Maybe they won't mind the torch, since its light is from here anyway…" Kayura suggested.

Sage complied and his blade returned to its normal steely finish. Sure enough, there were a few more heavy footsteps against the rough ground, but all they could see were the shadows seeming to dance out of turn with the flames.

Sage positioned his blade, ready for an attack from the dark, when a reflection in it caught his eye. Dark eyes, even darker than death itself, and the glint of knife-like teeth against a thick silhouette of ominous shadows.

He stifled a yell. "We've got a real problem here." He moved his blade around, trying to see what they were up against. Two, no, three of… whatever they were… Against nine of them. Yet somehow, he still felt horribly outnumbered.

"I see them too, Halo," Kale told him darkly. "And I agree, it doesn't look pretty."

AUTHOR:

Gaaaaaaaah! Gomen, gomen GOMEN! I thought I took forever on the last chapter…

But, in the last few hours of 2003, it is done, and I shall post ASAP!

I hope it was worth the wait, if anybody out there is still waiting, and please let me know your opinions! Good or bad! And please forgive my incredible slowness in chapter producage… (Yes, not a real word, but it works in my world.)

Writer's block, school, and working in a toy store at Christmas just don't seem to combine well. But, now that creativity, inspiration, and caffeine have struck all at once, I hope to get another chapter up very soon! (No promises, though. ^_^)

Anyway, thanks for your time! And a very happy new year!