Ryo lay motionless on the hospital bed; Rowen sat next to him watching
his chest rise and fall. At the moment, he was the only one there with Ryo.
His mind kept going back to those few weeks where they all seemed to hate Ryo;
even now when he looked back he couldn't see why they were so mean to him.
They should have seen something was wrong with him. They should have known Ryo
wouldn't just blow them off like that.

Ryo moaned a little in his sleep, and Rowen jumped up. He hoped against
hope that Ryo would wake up. He watched him closely, and soon Ryo's eyes
started to flicker open. Rowen sighed in relief. "Hey..."

"Wh... where am I?" Ryo asked, his voice shaky and strained. He looked
around a little, trying to get his eyes to focus something, anything.

"The hospital..." Rowen told him gently, and pressed the button for the
nurse.

"Why?"

"Alen... found you..." he told Ryo in a soft voice.

Ryo nodded a little and looked around again. "Where is everyone?"

"Out... they'll be here soon though... really soon, when they found out
you've woken up..."

Ryo nodded again, and soon slipped back into dreamless sleep.

* * * * *

Two days later

Kento sat in his history class, tapping his pencil on the desk. He
really hadn't been listening to anything that had been said; he wanted to go
home. Ryo had the possibility of being released today, and he wanted to be
there when they found out. He had been doing much better; he was starting to
be able to stay awake for longer than five minutes now.

Kento sighed and looked at his watch again: twelve thirty-two; he still
had ten minutes to go, and then he had to go to lunch, and after lunch he only
had three more periods, then he could go home, do his chores and go see Ryo.
He looked over at the long-haired girl, Chessica; she had started school
today, and she seemed to be as popular with the boys as Sage was with the
girls.

"Mr. Rei Fuan?" the female teacher suddenly said. Kento looked up at
her. "Will you please continue the reading?"

Kento looked down blankly at his book. "Umm, where are we?"

"Miss Aida, will you please show Mr. Rei Fuan where we are?" the teacher
asked the girl; the girl was the same that Kento had seen staring at him in
the lunchroom.

The girl jumped a little and blushed at Kento, her short black hair
framing her face. She leaned over and turned a couple of pages on Kento's
book, then pointed to a spot.

"Thanks..." Kento mumbled at her, feeling a little stupid for spacing
out like that.

"You may start now, Mr. Rei Fuan!" The teacher's eyes showed anger and
frustration.

Nodding, Kento started to read, once in a while looking over at the
short-haired girl. After class, Kento quickly grabbed his books and headed for
the door, not even noticing a piece of paper he had dropped.

Kento walked into the lunch room and found Rowen talking on Sage's cell
phone. "Any news?"

Rowen waved at him with his hand, then plugged his ear. "Uhh-huh...
yes... no... died... when he was little... yes... of course... actually, me
and my dad.... umm-hm... of course... Yeah, I understand.... not at all...
okay, then... bye." He hung the phone up and set it on the table.

"What the heck was all that about?" Kento asked. "And where is everyone
else?"

"Getting their food... like you usually do... that was the hospital;
they're going to release Ryo today but I need to have my dad go over there
after school and pick him up. I guess he's been awake most of the day."

"That's good... right?" Kento looked around, wondering what was taking
the others so long.

Rowen laughed a little. "Yes, Kento, that's a good thing... people
shouldn't sleep forever... Go get your food, Kento... the lines are starting
to get long!"

Kento nodded and turned to go up to the lunch lines, then stopped. "Hey,
Ro... we ever find anything out about those Dynasty soldiers that attacked
you?"

"No... they just came and left... for no reason that I can see... maybe
they're just playing with us... maybe I imagined it all... I dunno..." Rowen
said, and sighed heavily; that was actually bugging him, and he wasn't sure
what it meant.

Kento nodded again and walked up to the lunch lines at the same time
that the others walked to the table.

Sage tossed a bag of chips at Rowen and sat down, holding his own bag of
chips and a cookie. Cye sat down with a thing of fries and a slice of
cheesecake.

"Hey, Ro... so, what's the news?" Sage said, opening his bag of chips
and eating one.

"He's being released..." Rowen said, smiling.

"Ohh, thank goodness..." Cye sighed in relief; he really didn't like the
hospital and was glad to see Ryo leaving

"Ohh, not again..." Rowen gestured over to a wall where a big kid all
dressed in black was holding a smaller boy against the wall.

"That Drake... again?" Sage asked, already standing up.

"Yes, it is..." Cye also stood up, but before they could intervene
Chessica walked up to the guy first. Sage immediately went closer to hear.

"And who are you to tell me to put this kid down? I need to eat too...
why does he get to eat before I do? Are you saying he's better than me?" Drake
yelled at her.

Chessica calmly brushed her hair back. "Yes, he is better than you...
but that's not the point; the point is, it's his money and you will not be
taking it! So, if you could please let him go, it would be much
appreciated..."

"And WHO is going to make me, little girl? You? HA! I could give you a
concussion by barely punching you!"

"So, what's stopping you? Or are you scared to fight someone who's about
the same size as you?"

Drake immediately let go of the boy and walked straight up to her. "You
saying I'm a chicken?"

Sage decided it was time to step in; even with the lessons he had been
giving Chessica, she was nowhere near ready to fight anyone yet. "Drake... you
go low enough to hit girls now?"

Drake whirled around and glared at Sage, but he had lost one too many
times to him. He growled and stomped down the hallway, looking for a new
victim.

* * * * *

Rowen sat by his computer, trying to find the Solar Whip again. He had
tried several different ways, but hadn't come up with anything. He started to
look in the Ronin Warriors sites about the ancient armors and myths about
their armors. Most of the tales were way off from the tale the Ancient had
told them, but that didn't matter, as that wasn't what he was looking for.

Rowen sighed and rubbed his eyes, frustrated and tired; he decided to
look into the Wildfire armor real quick because the person had updated on it,
and he wanted to see if anything was new. He gasped when he saw the Solar Whip
on there, and decided he had better read the whole paragraph and see if it was
anywhere else on it.

And though the Armor of the Wildfire and Inferno is indeed the
strongest, it seems to only reach it's peak when the Solar Whip is with it.
Threw every legend the bearer of the Wildfire armor and the Inferno armor has
always been contacted to the bearer or the Solar Whip. No one is quite sure
why this is, but the two magical forces are in some way drawn together.

In some tales the two were related as a sibling or a cousin or even a
parent. In others they have been lovers or just the best of friends. The Solar
whip if often a very large help to the Wildfire armor for the Wildfire armor
usually has a tough past, some times he or she may have been royalty (which
isn't at all easy) or had an abusive parent or parents. Or the bearer my have
seen a violent death of a family member in the past.

Rowen reread this passage for a few times, then printed it out and went
back; he had to see if the Solar Whip was 'connected' to anyone else. He
clicked on the Halo name and waited until the screen came up, then scrolled
down until running into the name.

The Halo armor is usually the one that well attract a person that is
self disciplined and can be calm and rational in fights. However the Halo armor
does seem to posses a short temper with the bearer of the Solar whip, in all
the stories it talks about the Halo and the Strata armor having the most
difficulties with the bearer. Though the Halo armor well never fight against
the Solar Whip bearer. No one is sure quite the reason just as no one was sure
for the other connection between the armors.

Rowen looked more on the page but found no more info; he printed that
out as well and went to the next name. Strata; he looked that one over and
soon discovered it said the same thing as the Halo one did and went to the
Hardrock one.

He scrolled down on this page and had to go to the second page; the
owner of this site really liked the Hardrock armor and had the most info on
it. He finally found what he wanted at the end of the second page and the
beginning of the third.

The Hardrock is usually a sibling to the bearer of the Solar whip, or
acts like an older sibling. The armor bearer usually can get over protective
or unrashinal when coming to the Solar Whip bearer. In certain tales these
feelings were mistaken for love, but they all ended quickly having neither the
Hardrock or Solar Whip bearer happy.

Hardrock has a tendency to fall in love with the enemy or a friend from
around his or her town that the bearer had never really known before hand, the
person may even be a new person that had just moved to his or her town. The
new person is usually has something to do with the Moon Spears, I myself do
not know or have ever heard of this weapon until now. And like all the other
armor bearers Hardrock well most likely live in his or her own town from birth
to death. Though he or she has been known to travel, and stay in another place
for a long period of time as a visit but not a home.

Rowen sighed and printed out what he had. The Solar Whip part wasn't
really that long; this person seemed to get off the subject a lot when
writing. He went back and clicked on the Torrent name. She didn't have much on
the Torrent armor, so it wouldn't be hard to find.

The Torrent bearer will usually be a passive person, but will usually
have a good temper when needed. The Torrent armor doesn't usually think much
of the bearer of the Solar whip just another fighter. However it is said the
that, if all the Armor bearers are female the Solar Whip carrier well be male
and if all the armor bearers are male than the Solar Whip carrier well be
Female. No one has been able to understand why this is but in every story it
has been the same. The Torrent bearer is never in the middle either, the
bearer is either the oldest of the group or the youngest. Just like the Strata
armor. The Torrent bearer well usually not want to fight as well.

Rowen stopped reading there and printed that out; the site owner jumped
around a little too much for his liking. But now he at least knew the carrier
was going to be female, and Kento was going to like her, and Sage and him
wouldn't, and Cye wouldn't care. Ryo would either be good friends with this
person or more, that is, unless he had a long-lost sister that none of them
knew about.

He smiled, looking over the page once more; it amazed him people would
have sites about their armors. He often wondered what would happen if they
found out the armors were not only real, but in use again.

He was about to call Sage when he looked at his watch and nearly cursed;
he was supposed to be at the hospital to pick Ryo up half an hour ago. He
quickly signed off the Internet and grabbed his coat and ran out the door.

* * * * *

Ryo sat in a wheelchair, tapping his fingers on the armrest; they had
taken him down to the lobby to wait for Rowen and he still hadn't shown up. It
wasn't like Rowen to be late (unless for school), and he was starting to get
worried.

Rowen burst through the doors and sighed in relief when he saw Ryo
sitting there. "I'm so sorry! I lost track of time..."

"What are those?" Ryo gestured to the papers Rowen held in his hand.

Rowen looked down; he had completely forgot he even still had these, he
had run from the house so fast. "Info on that Solar Whip thing." Rowen smiled
a cocky grin at him. "Sounds like you may fall in LOVE!"

Ryo snatched the papers away with his good arm and started to thumb
through them. "Nah, you got these from that site that is obsessed with me,
didn't you?"

"On the contrary, I got these on the site that loves the Hardrock armor;
I didn't even go to the Wildfire website... maybe I should, though." Ryo set a
small glare at him, and Rowen laughed. "Let's get you home..."

"How come your dad couldn't pick me up?" Ryo asked, looking up.

"Well, when I called him he said he was sorry, he had forgotten and had
meetings all day..." Rowen looked down at the wheelchair and sighed. "I guess
you get a ride, and I get to push!"

Ryo yawned and looks at him. "So, start pushing!" And Rowen did, though
a little too fast for Ryo.

* * * * *

Cye grabbed another pot and sets it on the burner, then took another one
out and placed it in front of his mother, along with three others. "Hey, Mom,
don't you think you've MADE enough pots today... perhaps you should start
painting them now?"

"Just one more, dear; I haven't done this in so LONG. Can you get me
that block of clay?" She knew he would, of course; he would do any thing to
make her happy. "And than perhaps you can go play with your friends? How is
Ryo doing? Okay?"

Cye went over and grabbed the clay and set it on the spinning
wheel. "Ryo's doing much better; he's leaving the hospital today and is going
to Rowen's. He'll be staying there for a while."

"Ohh, Rowen's such a sweetie, I'm sure Ryo will be in good hands... is
Rowen's father going to be there more to help take care of Ryo?"

"Not likely; Rowen will do it himself, with our help..." Cye told her,
watching and waiting.

His mom smiled a little. "Ohh, of course, but it really is too bad that
his father doesn't spend much time with him... he's missing time he'll never
be able to get back." She was about to go on when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it... and don't lift anything!" Cye said as he hurried up the
stairs; he opened the door to find Tina standing there, smiling.

"Hi, Cye... I was in town... I thought I... may stop by... how are you?"
she said in an uncertain voice as Cye stood there shocked.

He quickly got a hold of himself, though. "I... I'm good, and you?"

"I'm good!" she said quickly and looked down.

Cye jumped and stepped aside quickly. "Come in... come in."

Tina did and smiled at him. "You have a beautiful house..." Cye blushed
bright red and nodded.

Both of them stayed quiet for a few minutes, then Cye straightened
up. "Come on down, you can meet my mom... she's really nice..." He then headed
back downstairs with Tina right behind him. "Mom?"

"Who was at the door, honey?" came his mom's response.

"An old friend, I want you to meet her..." Cye smiled at his mom, who
was already half-finished with her pot.

"Her? Well, bring her in, Cye!" his mom said with a huge smile on her
face.

He stepped aside and Tina stepped in; she bowed as she came in. "I am
honored, Mrs. Mouri."

"Well, she's just like your friend, Sage... there's no need for stuff
like that around here... do you live around here?"

"No, ma'am, I live pretty far away, actually..."

"And where are you staying?" Mrs. Mouri looked back down at her pot and
started shaping it a little differently than before.

"I... I dunno, yet... I think the hotel in town," Tina said, turning
slightly pink in the cheeks.

Mrs. Mouri looked up at her. "You don't know where you're staying...
well, you, dear child, you can stay here... we have the room... and I won't
take no for an answer!"

Tina blushed more and nodded. "But I have a puppy..."

"Ohh, what kind? I personally would love to have a dog... but I just
couldn't take care of it..." came his mom's reply.

"Ohh, he's a troublemaker, that's for sure..." Tina laughed a
little. "But I'll take care of him, and I'll pay for my way..."

"OHH, nonsense you will not be PAYING me anything... your payment can be
to let my play with your puppy!"

Cye blushed a little, watching the two talk. This is going to be
interesting, was the only thing he could think of. He knew his mom would offer
her house to anyone, she was so trusting and willing to give, even if she
couldn't give. But he could always use the extra help, especially now that his
sister was always out and about somewhere.

"Cye... CYE?" his mom said, looking at him.

Cye jumped. "Yeah?"

Mrs. Mouri laughed. "Go help your friend bring her stuff in!"

He looked around and realized she wasn't there anymore and hurried up
the stairs.

* * * * *