Everyone was in position now, holding their breaths. Not a muscle twitched. Each of them kept on guard for wherever the attacker may come.. though they knew one or more of them would get hurt in this.

All was silent and still now, they could only hear their breath. Then suddenly Sage’s eyes narrowed. He thought he could sense something. He looked at Ryo and nodded his head, and Ryo gave him a look. Both prepared themselves and waited…and waited…and waited. Nothing happened.

False alarm, Sage thought to himself as he lowered his defenses slightly.

Ryo kept on watching though. There was no telling when the attacker would come. They had to be prepared and ready to carry out Rowen’s plan to the full extent.

Kento was getting a little impatient however. He wasn’t used to just waiting around for very long if he could help it. He wanted action and he wanted it soon. Yet, he forced himself to stay put.

And then suddenly something struck Rowen. He struggled and gagged, but the figure trying to suffocate him was not merciful. It had knocked him to the floor and held him there, one hand wrapped around his throat, the other, plugging his nose and covering his mouth. The Strata warrior struggled and kicked, but it had no effect on his attacker. Then to Rowen’s shock, an extra pair of arms suddenly appeared out of his attacker and pinned his arms and legs down. He soon discovered each hand was large enough to cover two of his arms. He wasn’t able to struggle for very long, and even though he couldn’t see his attacker, he could still sense he was there.

Ryo’s kanji flashed brightly on his head, followed by Kento’s, Sage’s, and Cye’s. What they didn’t know was that two kanjis had suddenly appeared in Star’s and Firestorm’s foreheads.

Firestorm had the kanji of honor burning in her forehead, and Star had the kanji of hope burning within her forehead. However no one seemed to notice this, not even the two girls, who only felt their foreheads were pulsating and thought it was just a muscle spasm.

However the Ronins were more trained, and knew what that ‘muscle spasm’ meant. Immediately, Sage and Ryo flipped on the light on the upstairs hallway they were on, Kento flipped on the light in the hallway, where he and Star stood, Cye flipped the light on in the kitchen where he and Mia were at, and Firestorm flipped the light on where she stood in the living room.

Immediately, the creature that had been attacking Rowen let go of him and shrank away into a corner, shielding its eyes, and hissing madly.

“Dang,” Kento said as he covered his ears. “Sounds like a dead cat hissing!”

“What is that thing?” Mia asked.

“Whatever it is, it’ll pay for harming Rowen!” Ryo growled as he drew his orb. Rowen had fallen unconscious and at the moment, Firestorm was now giving him CPR. Ryo summoned his subarmor, followed by Kento, then Sage, then Cye. Ryo and Sage jumped over the balcony, Kento and Star rushed in from the living room, and Cye and Mia came from the kitchen. The four Ronins surrounded the creature, while Mia and Star helped Firestorm to get Rowen breathing again.

“Who are you?!” Ryo demanded of the creature.

“None of your business!” the creature hissed.

“Oh yeah?” Kento challenged. He immediately grabbed a high voltage flashlight. Sage and Cye, seeing his idea, grabbed the creature and forced his head to turn as Kento shone the light on him. The creature hissed and struggled to turn its head to hide its eyes. But Cye and Sage wouldn’t let him do it so easily. The creature then tried to lash out with a long muscular arm, but Ryo caught it and held it firm, and the creature scratching at him with the other arm, had no effect on him, so he tried to use his legs to kick the Ronin leader, but then White Blaze came over quickly and actually laid on his legs, preventing him from using them the way he wanted to.

“You gonna talk?” Ryo demanded again.

The creature continued to struggle violently.

“You know, we could do this all day,” Kento said.

The creature glared at him.

“Or we could just have Sage transform into his full armor and he can fill you up with hot light,” Ryo spat.

The creature quickly looked at Sage. Immediately he knew that Sage was full of light, and if he did summon his armor…. He stopped struggling. “Fine,” he growled low in his breath. “I’ll talk.”

“Now who are you?” Ryo asked again.

“Yata.”

“Who sent you?”

“Someone!”

“Who’s that someone?” Cye asked.

The creature rolled his eyes. “I don’t know his name. And he refused to tell me. Though I call him many things.”

“Such as?” Sage asked.

“Master, my lord, my liege, take your pick,” the creature sneered.

“Why were you attacking Rowen?” Kento demanded.

“I was ordered to,” the creature said.

“For what reason?” Ryo asked.

“Because my master wants his soul!”

They heard coughing just then. The CPR that had been given to Rowen had finally helped him to come around. He was breathing again. His kanji was glowing weakly, but he would be all right in a little while. The young woman, and the two teenaged girls stayed with him.

“And it looks like I failed again,” the creature growled. “Master will be furious with me!”

“Isn’t that too bad?” Sage said sarcastically. He wasn’t too happy. In fact he was quite angry and it was never good to make Sage that way. He was about to summon his full armor, but the creature suddenly sent out waves of dark energy which threw the Warrior of Light off him.

“Sage!” Ryo cried out. Another wave of energy which felt like water struck him and threw him across the room, a wave of what felt like fire struck Cye and threw him across the room.

Kento growled low and held the flashlight steady, the light shining in the creature’s eyes. “You’ll pay for that!”

White Blaze growled in agreement as he raised a giant paw to claw the creature.

The creature only stuck his tongue out, and another dark energy wave struck the tiger, sending him flying back.

The creature hissed again at Kento, keeping his eyes covered. “You should have never stopped Yata from filling his master’s command.” Then suddenly he vanished from the room, leaving Kento standing there in the corner.

Ryo struggled to his feet, followed by the other three. “Damnit,” he said as he rubbed his head.

“I can’t believe he got away!” Sage said angrily.

“Don’t blame me!” Kento protested.

“No one’s blaming you, Kento,” Cye told him gently.

“Sage, Rowen needs some help!” Mia cried out suddenly.

Sage turned and hurried over by Rowen who was still laying on the floor. Though he was breathing, he was still unconscious, and there was a good chance he could stop breathing again. He summoned his armor and knelt down by his friend, and placed his hands on him. He concentrated on sending his healing power into his friend. There was a moment of silence as everyone waited, then finally Rowen’s eyes fluttered open, letting everyone breathe more easier.

“Sage,” Rowen said weakly.

“Welcome back, Rowen,” Sage said with a small smile.

Rowen smiled back slightly, then closed his eyes again and became still.

“ROWEN!” Star cried out.

“Relax,” Ryo said. “He just fell asleep.”

“Oh.” Star let out a huge sigh of relief as she watched Sage disarmor, then pick Rowen up. The Ronin of Halo carried his friend upstairs and into their room to let Rowen get some much needed rest.

“Are you guys okay?” Firestorm asked the other Ronins.

“Just a bit sore,” Cye said. “But we’ll heal.”

Firestorm nodded, but bit her lip as she kept quiet. She rubbed her forehead wondering about the strange impulse sensation she had felt earlier. It was no longer there, but still she could remember it. What had it been?

If Star hadn’t been so concerned with Rowen, she, too, would have been thinking about the impulse sensation feeling she had earlier. However, she was not. At the moment, Kento asked a question.

“Hey, guys, one thing is bothering me. Why didn’t that creature attack me, like he did you guys?”

Ryo and Cye and looked at each other. Even Mia was wondering that, and the two friends glanced at each other. That was a very good question. Finally, they turned back to Kento who was staring at them awaiting their answer.

Ryo shook his head. “We don’t know, Kento,” he said.

Kento sighed and nodded, running a hand through his thick ash blue hair. “Okay, so now what?”

“That’s a good question,” Cye said as he sat down. “Right now I think we should take turns guarding Rowen. There’s got to be a reason why it was sent to kill him.”

Mia nodded in agreement, Star was awfully silent, Firestorm just sat there, not sure what to make

of anything, Kento looked murderous, and it was difficult to tell how Ryo seemed..

Finally the leader of the Ronins looked up, his eyes narrowed. “Whatever reason it had, it will not kill Rowen, and we will destroy it, and the master it serves.” And his eyes flashed with fire.

Rowen’s eyes were fluttering as he began to awake. He shifted slightly in his bed and when he heard a soft whisper of his name he awoke to find a violet eye peering at him with concern. Sage. How long had he been there?

“Rowen, how do you feel?” Sage asked him.

“Like I got hit by a bus,” Rowen muttered as he closed his eyes. Sage thinking he was going back to sleep began to lean back and relax a bit, knowing his friend was all right. Then when Rowen opened his eyes again and looked at Sage, the Warrior of Wisdom leaned forward. “Sage, what happened?”

Sage blinked. “You don’t remember?”

Rowen sighed. “I remember planning something, and then it got all dark… other than that, I can’t remember anything.”

Sage frowned. He wasn’t sure if this was good or not. Rowen seemed so tired and frail. His skin was more pale than normal, he had dark circles underneath his eyes, and he could barely lift his head past an inch. The Ronin of Halo had healed him the best he could, but it was up to Rowen now.

“Well, maybe you’ll remember later,” Sage told him. “Right now you need your rest. Are you hungry?”

Rowen shook his head.

“Thirsty?”

“A little.”

Sage stood up with a nod. “I’ll get you some water then.”

Rowen watched him leave, and let his head rest into the pillow as he closed his eyes.

Sage came down the stairs slowly as if depressed, and perhaps he was. The others looked up at him as he stepped into the room. Ryo stood up. “How is he?” he asked, concern showing in his tiger blue eyes.

Sage stepped down off the last step and shook his head. “He doesn’t remember anything other than planning on defeating that creature, and it getting all dark after that,” he informed them.

This news shocked them, and they stared at Sage as if he had something growing out of his head.

“I don’t get it,” Firestorm said. “Why would he not remember any of this?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense,” Cye said with a nod of his head.

“Do you think that creature could have made him forget?” Kento asked.

“That could be,” Mia said.

“Well, he does remember us, right?” Star asked.

Sage nodded his head. “Yes, he does.” He sighed deeply and sat down on the couch, rubbing his face. He felt so tired, so drained, and yet he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep at all. They had to take turns watching out for Rowen. And he planned to take the first watch. Then he remembered he was to get Rowen some water and stood up. “Excuse me,” he said, and headed off for the kitchen, leaving the others to talk. He grabbed a glass from the left cupboard and held it under the faucet as he turned it on, letting cold water flow into it. When it was halfway to the brim, he shut the water off, and left the kitchen, carefully carrying the glass.

The others watched him go upstairs, then turned to discuss matters at hand.

“YOU FOOL, YOU HAVE FAILED ME AGAIN!!” the dark entity’s eyes were glowing with an unearthly color, muscles vibrated with much force, and the walls of the cavern shook with the power of his angered voice. The creature in his fist trembled with fear; he could feel his master’s crushing grip tightening against his throat and wondered how long it would be before his head was popped off his shoulders.

“Forgive me, my liege! I tried my best!” Yata tried to defend himself.

“There is no excuse for that!”

Yata trembled again. He knew he would soon endure horrible punishment, that he would be subjected to terrible pain beyond human comprehension. But then he was suddenly dropped to the floor, landing rather heavily, and injuring his side. He glanced up at his master in fear and shock as he rose up from his throne.

“Perhaps it is time I paid these Ronins a visit. Rowen of the Strata will be mine, and the rest of the Ronins shall die, and all those who should try and help them.”

Before Yata could say anything, his master had vanished in a cloud of fiery smoke, leaving him alone on the hard floor.

Meanwhile the dark figure had appeared outside, staring into the window of the living room from where he stood about twelve feet away. He could see the tall girl there known as Mia Koji, and next to her sat a white haired girl, and on her side sat Ryo of the Wildfire. From across those three, were Cye of the Torrent, some brown haired girl, and Kento of Hardrock. He did not see his prey nor Sage of the Halo. A cold grin spread across his lips. That would work out to his advantage. He would find Rowen in that house, kill Sage of the Halo, then force the others to come up against him, by using Rowen as bait, trapping them in his own realm, before finally finishing them off. Then he would suck out Rowen’s soul through his body, destroy it, and then finally destroy his body. Or perhaps he would use his body as a vessel as his own, or perhaps he would destroy the body, but torture the spirit. So many choices. But he would decide what to do later. He wanted the boy to suffer immensely.

He let his dark powers surround him once again as vanished from his spot.

Sage watched as Rowen’s chest rose and fell with each breath he took. The Ronin was asleep which was good, since he needed it more than anything. Sage stayed close by, watching him, and keeping alert for anything that may happen. He sighed and rubbed his face. ‘How had this happened?’ he wondered. ‘Only days before Rowen had finally started to relax, enjoying living with his mother. And now this had to happen. Why couldn’t he be left alone? He suffered enough.’

He sighed again, wishing there was some way to stop this evil. Suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up and felt a foreboding sense of danger. He stood up abruptly and reached into his pocket. His eyes widened with fear as it felt empty to him. He checked the other. Empty. Oh no!

“Looking for this?”

Sage looked toward the voice and saw a tall figure dressed in all black robes which trailed about two feet away from him on the floor. He was certain he had never seen this being before, but his countenance was all evil. He peered more closely at the upheld hand and gasped.

“My armor orb! Give it back!”

The figure laughed. “I should say not. Without your armor you can’t protect yourself. Or your friend.”

Sage glared at him. He had to protect Rowen. He did not care about himself as he believed his friend’s and loved ones’ lives were more important than his own. But how would he protect him when he was blocking his way? He tried to think of a solution, but he could think of nothing.

Then suddenly he heard pounding footsteps coming up the stairs. The dark figure growled low in his breath, and snapped his fingers. Immediately the door’s lock bolted tight, and soon they could hear banging and kicking from the other side.

“SAGE!!” That was Ryo.

“Open up!” Cye shouted.

“I CAN’T!” Sage called back to them, not keeping his eyes off the figure.

“What’s happening?!” Star called through the door. Her voice was filled with concern and anxiety as she and the others continued to try and force their way through.

“There’s an evil being in here!” Sage cried. “He’s trying to get to Rowen!”

“WHAT?” Ryo cried out in anger. He pounded against the door even more, kicking as hard as he could and ramming his shoulder into it.

The evil figure laughed as he turned to face Rowen. Now to get what I came for.”

“No!” Sage shouted as he lunged himself at him. The figure turned and growled and raised his arms up, and Sage went flying back where he hit his head against the back wall. He groaned in pain as he slid down the side of the wall and looked up through blurred eyes as he saw the figure turn back to Rowen again.

Once again, the figure raised his arms up, and this time Rowen levitated into the air. Sage’s eyes widened and he struggled to his feet. “Rowen!” he gasped. He had to save him, no matter what it cost. He began to move forward.

The figure paid no attention to him as he beckoned Rowen’s sleeping body toward him. Then suddenly there was an explosion of breaking glass. The figure and Sage both turned their heads just in time to see the large white tiger pouncing against the figure, knocking him backward into the door. Sage took this opportunity to grab Rowen and escape through the broken window.

“White Blaze!” he shouted.

The tiger roared as he pushed off the figure and followed after Sage.

The figure stood up, gasping a little. His eyes narrowed into angry slits as he stared out the broken window, watching as the blond escaped with his friend, the tiger following close behind. He turned and looked in the mirror, seeing his almost transparent reflection. He cursed angrily. He was running out of time.

Sage ran and ran as fast as he could until he came to the cabin on the other side of the lake. He rushed inside and put Rowen on the bed, breathing hard as he slumped on the floor beside it. White Blaze approached him and sat before him, staring at the teen with concerned brown eyes.

“Th..tha..thanks, White Blaze,” Sage stuttered through gasps. The tiger rumbled a little and butted his hands. Sage raised an eyebrow and the white tiger opened his mouth. Sage smiled and took the orb from him. No matter what the situation was, the tiger always seemed to come through for him. He glanced at Rowen who hadn’t woken through the whole episode. He let out a sigh. The others would need to know where he was and soon. He had a feeling that dark figure would be back soon.

He concentrated as hard as he could, and then finally managed to get through to them. ‘Guys?’

‘Sage, where are you?’ Ryo immediately asked.

‘You okay?’ Cye asked. ‘It’s all quiet in there.’

‘I’m fine, so is Rowen,’ Sage answered. ‘White Blaze helped us.’

‘Where are you now?’ Ryo asked. ‘We don’t hear anything in the room, and sense you’re not there anymore.’

‘Good. Stay there,’ Ryo told him. ‘We’ll be there soon.’

Sage opened his eyes and glanced back at Rowen and let a huge tired sigh out. He leaned his head against White Blaze. All he wanted right now was for Rowen to be safe, and rest for himself.