Empress opened her clawed had, as if to brace for impact, and the flames erupted without any hesitation. Empress was moved back about two inches and her trench-coat-like outfit flew out behind her, the backlash of the wind blowing away everything around her.

Blake punched the ground. "Dang."

Hunter stood up after the smoke cleared and touched the top of Blake's head. "Hey, check it."

Blake looked up.

Tori had saved herself at the last second. There was a thin icewall between her and Empress. But the icewall wasn't receding, it was actually getting larger, as if the flames were taking out the heat in the air, making Empress have to retreat. Tori was still a Ranger, but she was breathing hard. She stumbled to her feet and was able to stumble away, but she couldn't keep her balance well and fell before Shane and Dustin, who had gotten to their feet.

Empress twisted around and was going to take down Blake when she suddenly retreated.

Tori gasped for air and turned around, using her ninja blade as a projectile and speared Empress in the foot, causing her to topple over and fall into Hunter, who didn't bother being nice about catching her.

That was when Tori showed signs of anguishing pain.

Blake rushed to her side and put an arm around her. "Tori, let me see."

Hunter didn't waste time and raised his hand. The Thunder Staff came crashing down on Empress.

She managed to twist upwards and away to the left. Her helmet cracked and fell away, revealing her face. The purple bangs swung before her eyes. She was blinded for that instant and they took the advantage.

Hunter struck her hard in the back with the Thunder Staff as Blake came from the front with his own staff. When she was winded, they both took hold of her arms and held her still while Shane unleashed a whirlwind from his palm. They released her and Dustin came from below and cut her down with his Ninja Blade.

She went spinning away, head over feet, and finally skidded to a landing a long distance away.

Empress coughed and they could hear liquid in her lungs. She didn't stop and got right back up. She was showing no signs of defeat, in fact, she was showing signs of rage and triumph as she stood tall.

Cam shot out from behind her, sliding on his left foot before curving back to right in front of her. He sped towards the others and raised his blade. His Samurai Sword landed a hit, square on Tori's shoulder, cutting across to her lower hip. She was down, permanently.

Cam twisted to block Blake, but was shocked to be grabbed from below. Dustin sucked him down, so his waist was buried. He growled at Dustin, who just smiled triumphantly.

"Now that is funny."

Empress charged, a streak of smoke behind her, and grabbed Dustin by the neck, throwing him against Shane. She knocked the duo down and turned to finish off Tori. Her black hair swung around and they saw a fear in Empress' eyes. She wasn't feeling the rage to kill.

Fire sprung up, around her arms. She clasped her hands together and was going to do a double-fisted pound on Tori when Blake swiped her away. Empress smirked and raised her body onto her knuckles and brought her feet down, hard. She made a wide circle of fire around her and Cam.

The duo was gone when the smoke and flame cleared away.

Shane scratched the back of his head. "Am I the only one thinking there's more to this?"

Blake whacked him on the arm. "Never mind that, Tori needs to get back to Ninja OPs, and fast."