***I don't own the Warriors or Mia.***

Sage yawned as he stared bleary-eyed at the blackboard in the front of the lecture hall. He tried to focus on his Geography teacher, but was finding it very difficult as he was only going on about four hours of sleep. Granted, during the days of Talpa, he was getting by on two hours-or sometimes none at all-but it was amazing how much they had all been going on sheer adrenaline. Nothing like being attacked to wake you up and keep you alert1

He rubbed his eyes and yawned again. His neighbor, a redheaded girl whose name Sage had forgotten, leaned over to him. "Are you all right? You've been yawning through the whole class."

Sage nodded and flashed a half-smile in her direction. "I didn't get much sleep," he said in his accented English. He didn't notice the girl blush as he smiled at her.

A blond Japanese guy with violet eyes-who knew? the girl thought.

Sage saw her out of the corner of his eye and he could see that she was still staring at him. He wasn't sure why today, since his eyes were so bloodshot and baggy that it looked like he had gone a few rounds in the boxing ring.

Sage's head drooped closer and closer to his desk as he was quickly beginning to lose the battle with his fatigue. He was pretty sure that he had actually started to doze when the door to the lecture hall opened and slammed shut, startling everyone. "Excuse me," the professor spoke up, as the new visitor interrupted his lecture. "Can I help you?"

"I have come for Halo," a voice hissed. Instantly, Sage was awake and twisting swiftly in his chair to see the newcomer. His face paled as he saw a large cloaked figure standing at the top of the stairs at the back of the hall. Tensing, he half-stood at his desk, ready for battle, but at the same time trying not to bring attention to himself. He could feel the redhead's eyes on his back, but he ignored her.

"Halo?" the professor asked, confused. "There's nobody here by that name. You have the wrong class."

Halo, a voice whispered in Sage's ear. His warrior senses completely alert now, he did a graceful back flip out of his chair just in time to avoid the cloaked figure as it flew towards him. He landed on the table one level up and crouched at the ready, facing the enemy. Chaos erupted as the other students in the class ran from the lecture hall, seeking freedom outside the building. Sage barely noticed them as his attention was on this new villain who was climbing the desks towards him slowly.

"Who are you?" Sage snarled, narrowing his eyes. "What do you want with me?"

"Halo," it repeated, in a menacing growl. Sage opened his mouth to speak, but the figure lunged at him with amazing speed and he barely had time to jump out of the way. As it rushed him again, it managed to catch his ankle. Sage crashed down against the chairs in front of him, his face slamming down on the table, cutting his lip. "Halo," it growled again.

"Stop saying that!" Sage shouted, kicking his leg free. He wiped the blood from his face and stood up on the table. He pulled his armor orb from his pocket, but before he could summon his subarmor, the creature threw itself at him, sending both of them tumbling down the stairs to the bottom of the lecture hall. "Dammit!" Sage shouted, shoving away from the creature and untangling his legs from the billowing robes. He was just able to call his subarmor when the creature charged him again. Sage responded quickly, throwing himself into a backwards handspring and bringing his leg up to kick it across the side of the head.

It roared and rushed at him, it's hand catching Sage at the throat and slamming him into the blackboard. He heard the blackboard crumble from the impact, as well as the cement wall behind it. Using all of his strength, Sage shoved his hands against the creature's shoulders and pushed, throwing it off balance. He jumped out of the way as it attacked him again, and called up his armor. "Armor of Halo, DAO CHI!" Sage yelled and was soon standing in the classroom wearing the familiar green armor. He drew his nodachi and faced the creature. "I said, what the hell do you want with me?" They stared at each other for a moment, and Sage was vaguely aware of his phone ringing from his jacket back at his seat.

"You will not interfere!" the creature screeched. Sage charged the thing, swinging his sword at it, relishing the power he felt rushing through him from his armor. It hopped out of the way and lashed out at Sage, fingernails raking across his cheek. Gritting his teeth at the stinging pain, he swung his sword again, catching the creature across the shoulder. It shrieked and bolted in the opposite direction. Sage was astonished at the speed at which it flew up the stairs.

"Aw crap!" Sage shouted as he realized that it was trying to escape the lecture hall. Not knowing who was still in the building prevented Sage from using his surekill, so he was forced to follow the creature out into the hallway of the Science Hall, fully covered in the Armor of Halo. He brought his facemask down, in hopes that no one would recognize him. He emerged in the middle of a group of students who screamed when they saw the armored figure with the huge sword. Avoiding them, he scanned the hallway for the menacing figure. He found it at the end of the hallway, gliding-gliding?-away at an alarming rate. And it was headed for the door to the outside yard.

Sage gave chase, leaping over cowed students huddled in the hallway, unsure of what they were really seeing. "Get back here, you bastard!" he shouted at the creature. Putting on more speed, he began gaining on it, as it was slowed going through the double doors to the yard. Sage burst through the doors out into the fog in time to grab the cloak and in one vicious yank, pulled the garment off. He gasped as the figure underneath was revealed. It looked like a human body that had been decomposing for several weeks with rotting flesh hanging off of a skeleton. It turned to snarl at him and Sage was stunned as he realized that it had no eyes, merely holes in a skull. He heard students screaming at the sight that greeted them in the courtyard as they burst out of the building.

Sage jumped at the beast, knocking it to the ground, and sending both of them sliding across the grass. He looked into the face of the creature and was disgusted by the sight and smell of it. It raised its head, trying to grab Sage's throat with its teeth. Halo pulled back, punching it across the face...or where the face would have been, had it not been a pulpy, disgusting mass. The creature brought it's legs underneat Sage's stomach and kicked, knocking him a few feet back. It jumped up and took off across the campus, the blond warrior immediately giving chase once again. He followed it through campus, while people ducked out the way in fear. Sage finally cornered it between two buildings and a huge clock tower. He held his sword up menacingly. "Who are you?" he asked quietly, teeth bared.

"I am not from your world," it answered.

Sage quirked an eyebrow. "That much I figured out, moron."

"You will find out soon enough." With that, the creature vanished. Breathing heavily from his sprint across campus, Sage sheathed his sword and approached the area where his enemy had suddenly disappeared. Touching the grass he found nothing-no evidence that anything had even been there.

"Hold it right there!" Sage was suddenly aware of the police sirens wailing behind him. Slowly he stood up and turned around, hands in the air. There were several cops with their guns trained on him. Realizing that there was probably no logical way out of this without either spending some time in jail or getting shot, Sage pushed off with his legs and jumped to the top of the English building, quickly running out of sight.

Leaping from building to building, he ran far enough where he felt comfortable to stop and remove his armor. Sucking air into his heaving chest, he wandered around the roof, trying to find a more normal way to get down from the building, rather than jumping down into a crowd of students. He spotted a fire escape and shimmied down. He emerged from the back of the building, trying to act completely nonchalant. He could see people staring as he walked by, and he grew paranoid as he thought they recognized him from his impromptu battle in the Science Hall. He finally made it back to his dorm room and walked in, noticing Timothy sitting on the couch watching television.

His roommate did a double take as he saw Sage enter the room. "Holy crap, man, what happened to you?" Sage glanced at himself in the mirror next to his bed and widened his eyes at the blood smeared all over his face. That explained why everybody had been staring at him.

Searching for an explanation, he responded lamely, "I - uh - tripped outside and fell against the stairs."

Timothy frowned at his bleeding roommate. "Seriously, dude, you are bizarre."

Sage headed for the bathroom to check on his injuries. Seeing that they weren't as serious as they looked, he decided to let them heal on their own, rather than summon his armor to heal them. He returned to his room and searched around for his cell phone. With a curse, he realized that it was still in his jacket pocket. Which was still at the Science Hall along with his backpack. He hated to ask, but since he didn't think it was in his best interests to walk back to the classroom, he turned to Timothy. "Do you mind if I borrow your cell phone?"

"To call Japan?" the brown-haired youth answered irritably. "Are you going to pay me back?"

"Of course," Sage snapped, and was instantly contrite. "I'm sorry, I have had a-uh-rough day, and I must -um-call my friend. Please, may I have your -um-phone?"

Timothy frowned as Sage's English faltered and he realized that his roommate had really had a terrible morning. Usually his English was impeccable. Better than mine, Timothy thought and handed Sage his phone.

Sage started to head outside, but figured that since the police were probably still roaming the campus, he would be better off in his dorm room. He would be speaking Japanese anyway, he reasoned, so Timothy wouldn't be able to understand. Dialing a familiar number, he waited impatiently for Rowen to pick up the phone.


Strata, a whispered voice hissed in his ear. Rowen's dark blue eyes snapped open into the darkness. He sat up quickly, looking around the bedroom. Seeing nothing, he pushed the covers away and stood, blue eagle eyes scanning the room. The moon filtered through the window, producing eerie shadows across the floor. Rowen shuddered as he felt a cold sensation flow through him. Strata, the voice hissed again. He whirled around, but still saw nothing.

"AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!" Rowen's eyes widened as he realized that the bloodcurdling scream was coming from Mia's bedroom.

"Mia!" he shouted, sprinting from his room. He ran into the master bedroom and stopped short as he saw a huge cloaked figure standing at the foot of Mia's bed. "Strata," it whispered.

"Rowen," Mia pleaded, bedcovers clutched under her chin.

The warrior barely glanced at the terrified girl on the bed as he turned his attention to this new intruder. "Who are you?" he demanded of the hovering figure.

It ignored his question and flew at him, knocking him backwards. "Rowen!" he heard Mia scream as it bowled him over, the solid weight lying on his chest preventing any movement. It grabbed at his throat and Rowen choked as he fought to break the hold.

"Mia!" he gasped out. "Get out of here!" He saw a flash of her fuzzy pants as she ran quickly through the hall and down the stairs. Relieved that she was at least out of harm's way, he managed to get a hand up and punched the creature across the face. He heaved himself into the air, away from the beast, landing gracefully at the end of the hallway.

The creature rushed him again, knocking him through the loft railing and onto the ground floor below. The wind left his lungs with a whoosh as he slammed through the coffee table and onto the hardwood floor. He yelled in pain as he heard the crack of several ribs as he landed. Wheezing painfully, Rowen tried to pull air back into his injured body. He looked up just in time to see the cloaked figure jump to the floor next to him. It reached for him again, but this time Rowen was ready. He rolled away, and sprung to his feet, ready to call his subarmor and immediately after, his full armor. "Armor of Strata, DAO INOCHI!" As soon as he was armed, the creature bolted outside. Rowen grinned, since he was hoping to get it out of the house. He didn't really want to use his Arrow Shock Wave in the middle of Mia's living room.

Rowen ran out onto the porch, following the creature. He was so focused on it that he didn't see another figure crash into him from the right. He flew through the air, landing hard against the porch railing. Pain radiated up his side and he clenched his teeth against the burning agony in his ribs. Angry now, he jumped over the railing, landing in the front yard. "Okay, you sorry sons-of-bitches, you're going to pay now!" He notched an arrow and aimed it at the creature closest to him. It shrieked and stormed towards him. "Arrow Shock Wave!" he cried, releasing the arrow.

His enemy screamed as Rowen's surekill disintegrated it where it stood. Strata's victory was short-lived however as the other being flew towards him. Before he could get his bow up to block it's attack, it knocked it away and threw itself against him, knocking him to the ground. It landed on top of him and Rowen gritted his teeth as his injured ribs were jostled around. It had Rowen's arms pinned beneath his own body and he was unable to move. It reached a rotting hand towards Rowen's throat, intent on the kill. Strata struggled, but unable to move, he closed his eyes and braced himself for whatever came next.

Suddenly the weight was thrown off of him and Rowen opened his eyes to see a flash of orange armor fly over him, looping an arm around the enemy and pulling it away from the injured Strata. "Great timing, Kento!" Rowen shouted, struggling to pull himself to his feet.

"Iron Rock Crusher!" Kento twirled his staff above his head in the familiar pattern. The creature squealed as it was vanquished from Mia's yard. Kento turned to his faltering friend. "Rowen!" He rushed to his side, pulling the dark blue arm around his orange clad shoulders. "Mia! Are you okay?"

Rowen's heart lifted when he saw the worried girl's face from the porch. She hurried down the steps to the injured warrior. "Are you okay?" Her large green eyes looked at his pale face.

"I think some ribs might be broken," he gasped. He allowed Kento and Mia to help him into the house where he removed his armor and collapsed onto the couch, clad only in the pair of boxers that he had fallen asleep in. Mia rushed to the bathroom to get bandages with which to bind Rowen's ribs. After her days helping them with Talpa, she had made sure to take as many community education classes on first aid as she could. She figured that it would eventually come in handy.

Kento, now wearing a pair of lounge pants and a t-shirt, sat on the couch next to Rowen. "What the hell was that thing?" he asked.

Strata shrugged, wincing at the pain that shot through him. "I don't know. But I'm guessing that it probably has something to do with those weird feelings we have been having." He glanced at his friend. "How did you know to come here?"

"Mia called me." Kento's face split into a wide grin. "She interrupted a great dream, too! I'll have to get her back for that one!"

Rowen smiled, trying his hardest not to chuckle. Clutching at his ribs, he leaned against the back of the couch. A thought hit him suddenly and he bolted upright, crying out at the sudden movement. Kento grabbed at his shoulder, in case the blue-haired warrior passed out. "What is it man?"

"Sage," Rowen panted, grabbing himself around the middle. "He felt the same thing. Those things could be after him! Kento, do you have your phone?"

"Sorry, man." Kento shrugged helplessly. "These pants don't have any pockets."

"Mia!" Rowen shouted, immediately regretting it.

Kento frowned with worry at his friend. "Mia! Can you bring Rowen's phone down for him?"

"Sure," the girl responded and bounded down the stairs a short time later, phone in hand. Rowen grabbed it from her and dialed Sage's number. After a few rings, he hung it up worriedly.

"I hope he's okay," Mia fretted as she began wrapping Rowen's ribs. She clucked her tongue as she looked at the black and purple splotches already beginning to form on his pale skin. She pressed his solid abdomen, reassuring herself that there was no internal bleeding.

They all sat quietly for a moment, Rowen wincing as his broken bones were bound tightly.

Hardrock, Kento jumped to his feet, whirling around.

"What's wrong?" Rowen asked, startled by his friend's sudden movements.

"Did you hear something?" Kento ran into the kitchen, looking for the source of the voice. "I heard somebody say something. A voice."

Mia and Rowen looked at each other. "I didn't hear anything," Strata answered slowly. "What did it say?"

"It just said 'Hardrock', and that's it."

Rowen rolled his eyes. "Son-of-a-bi-" He was cut off as the picture window in the front of Mia's living room exploded. Rowen threw himself on top of Mia to protect her from the flying glass, his body screaming in protest. Kento's arm shot up in front of his face, preventing any serious damage from flying glass, but creating several small slices up and down his forearm.

"To Arms!" He and Rowen were immediately in their subarmor. Four menacing cloaked figures floated through the broken window, settling themselves in the living room.

"Hardrock," they all shrieked, pointing at Kento.

"Geez, who are these guys?" Kento shouted. "What do you want from us?"

"Kento, arm yourself now!" Rowen called up his armor, cringing as the weight pressed him down. "Watch them, man. They're crazy fast." Rowen notched an arrow, ready to fire at the closest enemy. It advanced on him slowly, cloak covering it's face. The minute Rowen aimed and released the arrow, the creature in his sights vanished. "What the-" He didn't finish as two very solid feet hit him across the chest plate, sending him through the wall of Mia's living room and into the den behind it.

"Rowen!' Kento watched as his friend was shoved into another room through the wall. He turned to face the other three enemies, making sure to watch all of them at once. They advanced on him slowly, weaving as they walked. Looking down, Kento was shocked to see that they weren't really walking. It was more of a glide. In fact, it didn't appear that their feet were even touching the ground. "Who are these guys?"

"Hardrock!" a creature hissed. "You will not interfere!"

"What does that mean?" Kento pleaded, trying to figure out what all of these enemies wanted from them. The enemy on the left lunged at him, reaching for his neck. Easily knocking its hand away, Kento shoved his staff in front of him. "That's it! I'm getting real tired of you jerks!"

"Kento, be careful," Mia was crouched on the right side of the couch, opposite Hardrock. As if noticing her for the first time, the creature on Kento's right began inching slowly towards Mia.

"You won't touch her!" he shouted, swinging his staff at the creature. It shrieked as it was thrown backwards. Kento approached it, momentarily forgetting the other two. They reminded him of their presence quickly enough, grabbing him around the shoulders and throwing him to the ground. His staff flew several feet away, out of his reach. "Dammit!" he seethed.

In the den, the fourth creature straddled Rowen, hand to the warrior's throat. "Wh-what d-do you want from us?" Rowen choked out, finding himself in the same position as he had only moments before. He was starting to get pretty tired of everything going after his neck!

"You will not interfere!" it spat at him, hand closing tighter. Rowen was able to pull an arm free to reach to his quiver. Feeling the arrow shoot out into his hand, he clenched it tightly and swung it around, piercing the creature through the temple. A dark cloud of smoke puffed out of the cloak as the Strata arrow was shoved into the being.

It's piercing shriek resounded through the house and its hold on Rowen's throat loosened. Collapsing on the floor, it gave one last pitiful squeal before lying quiet. Rowen sat up gingerly, holding his sore throat. He only spared the creature a momentary glance before stepping back through the hole he created, intent on helping Kento with the other three. Hardrock was grappling on the floor with two of the demons as Mia was brandishing a coffee table leg and swinging at the third. It grabbed the table leg and pulled it from the girl's grasp. Mia screamed as it came for her. She backed up, tripping over a piece of debris, falling against the couch.

"Mia!" Rowen rushed to help his friend. He lowered his shoulder, ramming into the creature, and sending them both sailing out of the picture window to the ground below. Rowen screamed as his ribs took the brunt of the impact and he struggled to get to his feet, gasping for breath. Turning to face the creature, he saw a flash of orange out of the corner of his eye as Kento was thrown through the front door, two creatures close behind him. "Kento! You all rig-" Rowen was cut off as the creature charged him, catching him squarely across his broken torso. The pain was finally too much for the warrior of Strata and as he landed several feet away, he finally let the darkness overtake him.

"Rowen!" Kento hollered as he saw his friend fly through the air. He was prepared to save his friend from the third creature when it turned its sights on Kento, ignoring the fallen Strata. He now faced three advancing cloaked enemies, staff in hand. "Iron Rock Crusher!" He performed his surekill, but almost as if anticipating the move, all three flew effortlessly into the air. They floated swiftly towards Kento, intent on the kill. Hardrock closed his eyes, bracing for impact. He could hear Mia's screams from her porch. Wouldn't be long now.

"Flare Up Now!" a new voice called from the driveway. Kento's eyes flew open as he saw a streak of fire shoot past him, vaporizing the enemy.

"Ryo!" Kento shouted in relief as he saw the red armored figure running up to the house.

"Are you okay?" Wildfire asked, looking at the destruction.

"I'm fine," Kento answered, never so glad to see his friend's face. "But that was a close one!" Remembering Rowen, he turned panicked eyes towards Strata. Rowen was thankfully conscious, sitting up while Mia fussed over a nasty cut on his forehead.

"Ryo, Kento," she called. "Help me get Rowen inside."

They were both immediately on either side of their injured comrade, lifting him as gently as possible. Rowen turned his damaged face to Ryo. "Glad you could make it," he rasped, his throat beginning to show bruises from his strangulation.

Ryo grinned. "Hey, I always have impeccable timing."

"Ow!" Rowen complained as they hauled him up the porch steps and laid him back on the couch in the destroyed living room.

"So what brings you here anyway?" Kento asked. "Aren't you supposed to be in India?"

Ryo shrugged. "Not sure. I just had the feeling that I needed to be here."

"Good thing you were." Rowen had removed his armor once again, letting Mia finish binding his ribs. He noticed that the girl hadn't even looked at Ryo since the warrior had shown up. Frowning, he caught Mia's eyes and looked at her questioningly. She merely blushed and focused on her task.

"I had it totally covered," Kento protested light-heartedly dabbing at the injuries to his arm.

"Yeah, I could see that!" Ryo rolled his eyes. He had been in a near panic when he heard all of the noise as he approached Mia's house. He had barely made it in time as he saw those three 'things' attacking Kento. He hadn't even seen Rowen until Kento had mentioned him.

Ryo joined Rowen on the couch. "So what were those things anyway?"

Rowen shook his head. "No idea. Two of them attacked Mia and me earlier, and then four of them went after Kento."

"How about Sage and Cye?" Ryo asked.

As if almost on cue, Rowen's phone rang loudly. Not recognizing the number, but knowing it was from the US, Rowen answered. "Sage!" he said brightly. He listened for a few moments, interjecting a few times with "Yeah, that's what we saw. But there were six of them." and "No, Ryo's here." Finally he hung up the phone and turned to Kento and Ryo.

"We need to get a hold of Cye."


Ultana watched the scene in horror as it unfolded in front of her. She had to get the warriors here before Lord Ostrum could kill them. First he had sent his soldiers after the green, then the dark blue, then the orange. If the red hadn't interfered, all would be lost. She figured out soon enough that he was using her summons to track the warriors. That he was able to send enemies back at all proved to her that his powers were indeed stronger than hers.

She didn't dare try and summon the red, as he was safe thus far from Lord Ostrum's black magic. No reason to draw attention to him. The light blue had yet to be found, but Ultana was hopeful that he would make his presence known soon. Lord Ostrum didn't realize that his attacks may have given the warriors the incentive they needed to get together, helping Ultana finish her spell.