(A/N: Yes I skipped a week of posting, I'm really sorry about making you all wait on a cliffhanger, but it was a long weekend, and I couldn't help but take advantage of it. To make it up to you I'm going to upload another chapter tonight and one on monday in addition to the regular friday one. Hope you forgive me! Enjoy the chapter!)

Chapter 10: The Journey is Half the Fun

It took about another thirty seconds for the dust to clear enough so that Rio could see what was going on. He saw that he had created a small crater where Naga was standing, but there was no sign of her. His immediate reaction was that she had gotten away, but there was nothing he could do about it right now, not with his friend injured. Running over to Ichiro, Rio also noticed that their battle wasn't a total loss since Shryke seemed to be knocked out cold.

"You ok Ichiro?" he asked urgently.

"Urgh...I'll live," the blonde grunted. Rio slipped his body under his friend's arm, supporting him.

"Hey Ger, you still there?" Rio called over the com link as they walked toward the outskirts of town.

"Yeah, I've been patiently waiting here the whole time! What happened?"

"Well the lady got away, but Shryke seems like he's unconcious, so the authorities will be able to pick him up. Ichiro's leg got injured in his fall, so he'll need to be treated. We're heading back right now." The red head summed it all up. Rio heard people exiting their houses behind them and knew it would be disasterous if someone recognized them. Grabbing both of Ichiro's arms he slung them over his own shoulders, bounding away.

"No one saw you guys right?" Gina's voice came over the speaker.

"Not unless they could see us through the dust." The injured boy responded.

"Just get back as quick as you can." Her twin told them abruptly.

"Roger that."

...

Rio smiled a little at his friend as he dozed. Ichiro had always been like this, easy to fall asleep even after the most exciting things had happened. But here he was, out like a light as soon as he hit the makeshift cot in the old barn the twins had set up. They had removed his armor, dressed his leg (which fortunately was just a bad sprain and not a break), and as soon as his head hit pillow he was out. He certainly deserved it though, sword fighting like that took a lot more effort than shooting a blaster. There was light tap at the doorway that caused him to spin around, seeing it was Gina.

"Come on in." He motioned, slipping off the last of his armor, the helmet. She was carrying the same small first aid kit she had when she was helping his sleeping friend.

"Sorry I couldn't get to you sooner, I had to run home and get refills for the salve," she explained.

"No prob," the boy waved it off as he sat on a nearby bale of hay. She came right over, opening the box and applying the cream to his cuts. Gina, who would have normally been talking nonstop, was unusually silent, her head bowed and focused on her work.

"You ok?" her patient wondered, concerned.

"Fine..."

"Don't lie to me Gina," he said a bit sternly. Suddenly she looked up to him with wet eyes, tears slowly traveling down her cheeks.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this. The suits were supposed to help, you shouldn't have gotten hurt..." Her arm came up to wipe her face, trying to stop the water works.

"Hey hey, it's ok. We both came back alive, and the town leaders will definitely get some info about what happened from Shryke. We'll find Naga and beat her, and it'll all be over," Rio tried to reassure her.

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy Rio," Gerry walked into the barn.

"What do you mean?"

"While you guys were fighting I noticed that Shryke and Naga had come up on my radar. And soon about six other dots appeared, although they sent a signal they were outside my range. There are a lot of other people who have suits like you guys do, who knows what they want? This isn't going to be a walk in the park."

"What do we do?" Gina sniffled.

"We find them before they find us," Rio answered, serious. "We make the first move."