Author's Note: Okay so this is up so quickly because originally it was part of chapter 28 but then I realized it was too long and moved things around.

Disclaimer: I don't own Winx Club or Ronin Warriors.

Warning: Violence.

Chapter 29) Panic and Fear before the red gates

The museum seemed to have been something that was a good idea for an outing even if they were on a mission, Flora believed. Seiji and Rajura were silently observing everything, and reading the information with each piece. Shin was enjoying the cowards of people and was sitting on a bench with Aisha, and Musa talking and had other people joining in with their conversation. Anubis, Jun, Kayura, and Nasuti were looking around like Seiji and Rajura but at a faster pace and clearly were talking about everything they saw. It was nice seeing everyone so relaxed but looking around Flora noticed Tecna wasn't with them.

Flora pushed some of her brown hair away from her face doing another sweep of the area but Tecna truly wasn't with them. Concern washed over her expression and she started to head back the way they'd come from. Flora made sure to swing close to Anubis's group and tapped the warlord on the shoulder.

"I don't see Tecna, so I'm going to go look for her." Flora explained and started to leave again.

"Do you wish company?" Anubis asked but Flora shook her head.

"I'll be fine. Enjoy your time here." Flora smiled as Anubis nodded and rejoined the conversation of his group. Flora took a deep breath as she walked down the halls with the big glass windows. The sun pouring in felt wonderful on her skin and made her feel more awake. It was around the bend in the hall that Flora saw Tecna looking over her phone.

"Hey Tecna." Flora greeted and Tecna looked up and smiled.

"Hello Flora." She greeted before she leaned against the wall and studied her phone some more.

"Is something wrong?" Flora knew her friend well enough to know the tight frown on her lips wasn't a good sign.

"Actually I don't know. Timmy messaged me. He stated he saw us heading out with the ronin, said that it's drawing a lot of negative attention and that he hopes that I will be okay." Tecna explained her voice was mostly neutral but Flora picked up the anger and confusion there as well. "I just don't get it. I want to tell him it's my business and I don't care what people think of the ronin, since they are my friends. But at the same time I don't care."

"Then don't respond." Musa chimed in and both Flora and Tecna looked over to see Musa standing there with a hand on her hip. "They don't deserve anything from us, they're not worth it any more." Tecna looked back at her phone as Musa joined them. Tecna watched as Musa reached over and shut off her phone for her. When she looked up Musa was smiling and soon Tecna found herself smiling and even laughing. Musa was right after all, she didn't have to do anything she didn't have to be nice or polite to someone who ripped her heart out. Even more she didn't need to explain herself to them either. The three of them had just started to head back when Shin turned the corner almost running.

"There you are, we have to go! There's trouble, and it's not good." Shin hastily explained before taking the lead with the three girls quickly following.

"What happen?" Tecna asked wanting to have a grip on the situation.

"We all can feel the presence of a gate to the dynasty." Shin said in a soft but stern voice. Such a statement was not only worrisome but confusing. Since as far as any of them knew the gates would only reach earth, or appear on earth so how could there be a gate here?! As the group reached the outside the streets were crowded with people just standing and staring at the forming red pillared gate. Among the Ronin and Warlords there was a shared look of fear and worry. It was clear they were all talking amongst themselves and the girls exchanged looks as well.

"We can't let it open. What happened on Earth can't happen here." Bloom stated and the girls nodded. They could ponder the why later, right now all that mattered was stopping the gate and whoever was summoning it. They began to weave through the coward running towards the large gate towering over the buildings and beginning to cast its shadow over the people.

"Will the people here be safe?" Nasuti asked unsure if the gate would pull them in or not. Would these innocent lives be used by Arago too?

"It's a question none of us have the answer too." Rajura stated as the group ran.

"Then let's not find it out today." Ryo ordered and the ronin and warlords nodded. As the group reached the point where the crowds had thinned to one or two people cowering they could clearly see all three of the trix. Dark magic poured off their hands charging the gate and slowly it began to open.

"To arms!"

"Let's go Girls!"

"Nasuti this way." Jun said as the fairies and warriors transformed. He pulled the older woman over to a child and their mother who looked terrified as they hide behind a tree planted next to the sidewalk. "Hey follow us. We'll get you to safety." Jun smiled as he reached out his hand.

"That's right, if we move away from here we'll be safe." Nasuti added and the mother nodded as she lifted her little boy into her arms. "Jun I'll go with them. Round up the other people, that way the ronin don't have to worry about holding back."

"You got it." Jun gave her a thumbs up before moving along. He would always do what he could to help out the ronin and warlord, but he didn't want to leave them. He wanted to be able to help more, and stand at their sides.

Meanwhile the winx who were there took to the skies and the warriors plus lady Kayura had surrounded the witches. The three sisters had stopped charging the gate, but it was open enough to let through several of the soulless soldiers. Touma knocked an arrow and gave a slight nod to Ryo, signally he had a plan to make the battle more manageable. The witches were starting to approach the group the foul corruption of the dynasty starting to affect the plants on the streets and window.

"Everyone scatter now." Ryo called and the group quickly parted to the sides and edges of the street. Touma who'd stayed released his arrow straight up to the sky and within the blink of an eye thousands of golden arrows were raining down like falling stars. Most of the soulless soldiers looked up and as the golden arrows pierced through the armor the green smoke started to raise and their bodies crumpled to the ground.

"Ugh, they're useless!" Stormy griped as lightning crackled around her protecting her from Strata's volley of arrows. Yet with her gaze on the soldiers Musa and Kayura charged forth. A second later everyone else followed. The few soldiers left were treated like stepping stones by Kayura as she used jumped from their shoulders and helmets to go after the witch with Aisha flying to the right of her. With the girls before Stormy Rajura and Anubis flanked the witch from the sides. Seiji, Flora, Touma and Bloom had surrounded Icy but kept their guards up as it seemed anything close to the witch was quickly freezing. Leaving Darcy to the hands of Musa, Tecna, Shin and Ryo all were guarded as they were aware that Darcy would most likely use a trick or two.

Icy grinned as she saw Bloom in the group choosing to face off with her. This time she would get that fairy, and no one would stop her. The wind crack and hissed around Icy as the air swiftly dropped in temperature to the point the ground below her was crackling and ice was quickly coating the pavement. This was something that Seiji and Touma noted and kept their guard up. If they could manage to keep Kayura busy back when they were sixteen then they could handle the witch for the winx club.

"Well then let's get things started sisters! Corruption Blizzard!" Icy called her cape whipping in the wind as dark energy snapped around her and soon black ice and dark winds rushed towards Seiji, Touma, Flora and Bloom.

The four of them scattered flying and leaping out of the way of the dark ice. Bloom and Flora were able to nimbly dodge the ice but every attack that missed them left them cold and worst yet ice was forming on their wings. Icy was laughing as she saw that clearly she now had the upper hand in strength. Her mirth wasn't enough to distract her from Halo's lung and she easily floated backward.

"Ah!" Icy yelped in pain and clapped a hand over her upper arm. Whirling around she growled as she saw Strata smirking. "You little bastard, I'm going to enjoy killing- Ahh!" Fire blasted against her back and vines were quickly wrapping around her legs.

"You're not going to hurt anyone Icy!" Bloom call out. Sure Icy was far stronger, but they were going to win. Not alone but with the ronin. Bloom felt confident and assured of herself as Touma knocked another arrow and Seiji was poised to strike from the ground. Flora was focused on concentrating, creating more and more vines to take the place of the ones snapping or freeze over with ice before they broke.

"Well at least this will be a little bit of a challenge." Icy snarled as she froze the rest of the vines and broke free barely missing another attack from Halo and Strata. Yet for what seemed to be an equal match Icy couldn't help but grin as the fairies were shivering from her cold wind and ice was starting to build up on Halo and Strata's armor. Sparing a glance at her sisters, Icy could see that the new power of the dynasty and the ring of Solaria was indeed strengthening them. They would grow even stronger if they could trap even more people in the nether realm to feed its power.

"She's freezing everything." Flora stated as she moved closer to Seiji. He nodded before breaking more ice off his armor.

"We need to let Ryo and Bloom handle her…!" Seiji stopped a fearful look of worry making his eyes go wide and Flora quickly raised a stone shield around them. It wasn't just Seiji who missed a beat either from the couple of cries of pain and rage.

"Seiji what's wrong?!" Flora asked groaning as something pounded against her shield threatening to break it.

"Shu… We… The link to Shu, Naaza and Stella. It's gone! We can't reach them!" Seiji stated and Flora gasped.

Rage, and concerned flooded through Anubis, Rajura and Kayura. If Naaza was lost to them they… They didn't know what they would do. The dynasty had already stolen one brother from Rajura he would not let it claim a second. It was time to stop playing and end this so they could find what happened to Naaza, Shu, Lady Stella and Lady Roxy.

~Pull back… I am through entertaining these wretches.~ Rajura growled through the net. His eye flashed before the pavement started to crack under his armor. His stature started to swiftly grow, and while it was an illusion if Shu was here he could have attested that it shouldn't be taken lightly.

"Musa, Aisha step back." Shin called out as he nimbly jumped away from Darcy. Her attention was on Tecna and Ryo at the moment so with black energy cascading towards them.

"Time to let the warlords take control." Touma said to Flora and Bloom who quickly followed him in retreating with the other.

"Get back here Bloom we're not done yet."

"Mind if I cut in!" Anubis snarled swinging his sword and nearly catching Icy. The blade tore through the witches cape and Icy scoffed at the warlord. He held his sword straight out to the side and the blizzard Icy created was drawn towards his blade swirling around it and purifying the corruption she'd created.

Darcy and Stormy had began to chase the Ronin and Winx as they pulled back but the giant shadow caught both witches attention. Darcy's eyes widened as she saw the illusion behind them. It was massive and it wasn't even a spell!

"How are they doing this?" Flora asked as Ryo focused on melting the ice without getting close to the fairies.

"He's the warlord of Illusions, and the warlord's have always fought better alone." Nasuti said as her and Jun joined the group. The fairies blinked at Nasuti surprised by the strength now being displayed. They knew the warlord's were strong but truly seeing Anubis and Rajura take control alongside Kayura was different.

"We can't take to long or they'll notice what we are planning." Seiji reminded people as he broke some ice off his armor.

"I think I've got an idea…" Tecna said looking around the area and the group. They couldn't allow the witches to escape their attack but she had some ideas.

Kayura had ditched the staff of the Ancient in favor of her twin sais, and was standing on Rajura's shoulder. Next to him she looked so small as did the witches, and if knocked to the ground he could easily crush them with his foot.

"We have somewhere to go and you're in our way." Kayura announced as she lunged off Rajura towards Stormy. With ease Stormy flew out of the way and Kayura smirked as the rabbit foot and wire off the end of her sais grew. Twisting around in the air Kayura threw out the wire and grinned as she caught Stormy's arm. The witch yelped as she pulled her down with her. "I will not see the people I love in pain!" Kayura stated with a fierce tone. Her knee slamming into Stormy's stomach as they landed on the ground. The which barely noticed the soft glow from the ancient girl as her breath left her body and pain howled through her abdomen.

"Well to bad." Stormy yelled calling lightning around her fist to strike Kayura but Kayura ducked out of the way and tripped the witch with glee. They were going to teach them a lesson now.

Rajura's giant illusion was handling Darcy and keeping her on the run as she avoided him. The attacks she was making not even making the warlord flinch. Even more frustrating for Darcy was that there was a single gap in the illusion, no ripples or signs that she could exploit. She was so focused on finding a way to take down the large illusion she nearly had been caught in his hand. His size didn't slow the warlord down either, which was another annoyance.

While the witches were so focused on Kayura and the warlords Touma and Flora had moved to the sides boxing in the battle and preparing to lift a combined barrier. The goal was to protect the city but also deny the witches any escape. The remaining winx girls had joined hands and let their energy collect around them. As their strength gathered the ronin also readied their weapons allowing the armors power to channel through them.

"Kayura Now!" Touma yelled the dark blue aura of his armor extending up high, as his kanji flared up and started to glow. At the same time Flora raised her own defensive spell her face scrunching up as she focused on pouring as much strength as she could into it. Kayura and Anubis lept out of the way while Rajura's illusion vanished and he reappeared behind the winx girls.

"Everyone now!" Bloom yelled.

"Winx Mythic convergence!" The four girls called out. Their power swirling together towards the three witches. Ryo and Shin were the first to call out their surekill power attacks adding a blazing flame and swirling torrent of water to the spell the winx had cast. As Anubis landed he lifted his sword and Seiji mirrored him.

"Black lightning Slash!'

"Thunder bolt Cut!" The two swordsmen called out and black and yellow lightning struck their blades and lept into the air angling their attacks down onto the witches refusing to let them dodge or flee.

Darcy could feel the power of the nether spirit she'd absorp crackle through her but she didn't dare lift a shield it was too soon to let the enemy know her new power. No they had to find the jewel of lift before she revealed her hand in this game. Darcy inhaled sharply trying to brace herself for the pain of the attack but it wasn't enough. Both her and Icy screamed out, while Stormy used power that Arago had given her to shield herself. While Icy fell to one knee her lip split and many gashes on her body, Darcy and completely collapsed lacking her sister's physical endurance.

"Damn you Bloom." Icy snarled starting to raise herself up shocking the whole group. That should have taken out all three of them but it hadn't. The trix were getting stronger.

"Icy. We're pulling back." Stormy snapped as she lifted Darcy up. She'd slung one of her sister's arms around her shoulder.

"Take this as a warning Bloom next time we'll find the jewel of life and end you." Icy growled, a cold energy wafting off her body. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on summoning three ice spears behind the group, a dark blue energy swirling in them with her frozen curse. She clenched her teeth to keep from smiling as she finished forming them. "Bye bye Losers!" Icy sneered pulling the ice spears towards her and towards the Ronin and Winx.

"Ryo look out!" Nasuti yelled when she saw the spears of ice move. "Jun!"

Jun ran towards the group as fast as he could. The three spears holding the attention of everyone as the witches slipped back through the gate. Aisha barely called forth her shield before tackling Shin to the ground the ice spear breaking and pressing against the morphix shield as it flew by. Tecna tried to get in front of Ryo and call her own shield, but the spear broke through and pierced both of them, Tecna in the side and Ryo it impaled in his abdomen. The last one was aimed missed most of the group but Flora was dead center in its path. Jun lept forward and pushed Flora down the spear tearing through his shirt and shattered against his skin.

"Jun!"

"Tecna! Ryo!" Voice chorused. Seiji and Touma were first over to Jun and Flora, with Nasuti, Aisha and Anubis swiftly behind them. Shin, Musa, Bloom, and Rajura had hurried over to Tecna and Ryo. Ryo let his armor disperse so that the fairies could heal him as well as Tecna while Seiji checked over Jun and Flora. Even with their fairy dust Bloom noticed the large bruise that remained on Ryo's skin and it worried her. It was like there powers were weakened just by the presence of the witches and the dynasty. This wasn't a good sign.

"Tecna are you okay?" Ryo asked as he touched the tender bruise.

"I'll be fine… I should have gotten a better shield up." Tecna sighed looking at her hand in disappointment.

"Jun what were you thinking!" Nasuti exclaimed as Seiji healed the small wound then let Flora's fairy dust lift the freezing curse. The wound had been so small. Unnaturally so and it left him, Touma, and Kayura wondering if it was because Jun had been so close to the jewel of life for so long or was something else happening here.

"I wanted to help! I don't want to see my friends get hurt, and I want to help somehow." Jun argued and Flora felt sympathy for his plight.

"As much fun as debating this could be. We must go." Kayura cut in and all the warriors nodded.

"I've got the last place location they were at from Stella's and Roxy's cell phone." Tenca wincing a little as the wound from the spear healed up thanks to Musa's fairy dust. She materialized her phone and quickly pulled up a digital map as everyone gathered around.

"Nasuti, Jun… I don't think we can bring you this time. It's too much ground to cover." Ryo said, and Jun sighed in aggravation while Nasuti nodded.

"We understand Ryo… Now go get everyone and bring them back safe and sound." Nasuti said and everyone nodded to Jun and Nasuti.