Rekino opened her eyes to find herself back in the hotel suite, along with the two royal families. Bianca was blinking, and then looking around the place curiously. Her parents were bewildered, and King Thaitus was ready to start asking questions. However Rekino put a stop to it.

“Sorry, but I have things to do. Listen, you’ll be safe here as long as you don’t leave. I have to go save your country, and my friend.” With that, she left in a hurry, leaving them to be confused.

“Now what?” Lila asked.

“Perhaps, they would not care if we searched for some food?” Annelise suggested.

All of them were hungry, and though they didn’t like to take other people’s foods, they decided to search for some anyhow. Curiosity got the better of the king and he went snooping around the two suites.. He soon came to a room where he could tell some boys slept. He went to one bed and began looking around. He soon found a journal.. Immediately getting suspicious, he opened it and began to read.

‘December 4^th, 2001. Well, today went rather well.. Thunder and I went sledding at the largest hill we could find in Missoula, Montana. We had only been here for about two days, and those hills were just calling our names. I’ve never seen Thunder so happier before. It was actually good to hear him laughing.. Grandma had the right idea to let us all come here. It’s amazing what they’ll do for him.’

Thaitus skipped forward several pages and read another excerpt. ‘June 6^th, 2002. School’s officially over! I am so happy. Now I get to go surfing and horseback riding more often now. Speaking of horses Thunder’s getting good with them. I’ve been teaching him how to ride, and he’s catching on quickly.. Oh well, I can’t write long.. Thunder’s got a doctor’s appointment and I have to help Grandma and Grandpa get him in the car.. Gee, what fun.. I hope he doesn’t throw me onto the tree tops again..’

Thaitus blinked. Was this person a son of the people who took care of his son? He didn’t know.. He was bout to read more when Lila spoke from behind him. “Dear, what are you doing?”

“Checking to see if anyone is plotting against us.”

“Dear, forgive me, but why would they bring us to safety if they were going to kill us?”

Thaitus shrugged and flipped forward through several more pages. He finally came to the last page. February 8^th 2003. Well, today’s the day. We’re finally going to see if we can get Thunder back. I miss him so much. I haven’t been able to sleep well or even eat. I’ve never met anyone so kinder and generous. If it wasn’t for him I would have lived on the streets, or even been murdered. He saved my life.. We shared everything together. Our dreams, our fears. I told him how I used to be afraid of the dark when I was younger, and he told me he was afraid of losing his friends more than anything. Now I can see that revelation had come to pass ever since we found out he was the missing son of the royal family. Though one thing bothers me.. Rekino’s and Mia’s History books give them different names than their real names. I wonder why. Perhaps it’s not my knowledge to know. I only pray they will let Thunder come back with us. I know deep inside he wants to go home.’

Thaitus slammed the journal shut and tossed it on the bed. He stormed out of the room, leaving a startled Lila to follow quickly after him.. She followed him to the kitchen where Bianca was eating some pasta with her parents, and watched as he sat down heavily.

“Dear, are you okay?”

Thaitus held his face in his hands, his emotions running over him. For once he could not answer her.

Rowen, Shades, Scorpio, and Ryo had fought their way through several Roman soldiers. They had called upon their surekills plenty of time to wipe most of them out, and were slowly advancing their way through to the main room where Borya was.

Flash was about to go to Alina’s castle, but ended up staying because of more Roman soldiers attacking.. Rekino, who had arrived there shortly later, was also wanting to go and rescue Thunder.. She didn’t see how that was possible.. It was then that Blaze appeared before her with a black wolf as big as he was. She noticed right away there was a scar on his right eye, and for a moment she was reminded of Cale.

“Blaze, what’s going on?”

“Guardian of the Wildfire, this is Hawk, one of my most trusted allies. He will guide you to Thunder.. Follow him swiftly, and watch carefully as his appearance will change suddenly.’

“What do you mean?” Rekino asked, becoming more bewildered.

“You’ll soon see,” Blaze replied, and then left quickly, leaving a silent black wolf alone with her.. She stared at the wolf, and he stared back. This wolf looked strong, and as powerful as Blaze. For a moment she shuddered. She didn’t know why, but the wolf made her nervous. Perhaps it was because of the scar?

The wolf moved past her, and she quickly followed it.. They went through several spaces between buildings and through several fighting soldiers. She took down a few Roman soldiers, and to her surprise watched Hawk rip more directly in half. It was extremely gruesome and she fought hard not to throw up.

They continued to move along, traveling endlessly over a period of three miles. It was amazing that Rekino wasn’t the least bit tired.. Although she was quite relieved to see to Alina’s castle directly before her.

Hawk took out the main guards at the entrance, and Rekino was now wondering how to get into it since all the doors could be trapped. It was then she noticed that Hawk was gone..

“Hey! Where’d you go, Hawk?” she whispered, looking around anxiously. This went on for several minutes, before she heard a tapping noise above her and off to the right. She looked up and saw a hawk there, tapping its beak against a window. She stared, blinking, and then her eyes widen as the bird of prey turned its gaze on her. It had a scar on his right eye just like the black wolf did. So was this what Blaze had meant? She knew it had to be.. With Hawk’s help, she managed to get inside the castle through that window. Once inside, Hawk turned back to his normal wolf self.

“Okay, Hawk.. help me find Thunder,” she whispered. She didn’t need to have any guards hearing her.

The wolf stared at her, and she stared back, waiting for it to turn and start sniffing along the floor. Instead, she was given something else.. A vision suddenly appeared in Hawk’s yellow eyes. In it she saw Thunder curled up on a cot inside a small dusty room. Her eyes widen with anger and pity, and she immediately set off down the hall, with Hawk running beside her.

The Lady Guardian of Wildfire kept running until she came across three hallways, each leading in a different direction. She scratched her head and looked down at Hawk, "Okay, this is your job."

Hawk nodded and started to sniff by each of the doors. After his second time around, he stopped at the middle door and scratched it with his claws. Rekino smiled, walked over, and petted Hawk on the head, "Good wolf. Remind me to give you a treat when we get somewhere with food."

The team walked silently down the stretch of halls. Rekino had wanted to transform in her armor, but didn't see the need since there wasn't any trouble. Hawk stopped, which made her stop, and growled. In front of them were three Roman soldiers, guarding a door. She made scowling face and remembered something: Ryo wasn't here to tell her how to fight. All right, it's time to do things my way! She thought to herself.

Rekino took in a deep breath and continued to walk down the hall with Hawk at her side. The Romans didn't notice her until she was three feet away from them. The got in a fighting stance and pointed their weapons at the intruder.

"Halt!" The first Roman said, "Or you will be killed."

Rekino stopped and slipped into a fighting stance while Hawk was beside her growling fiercely, "Okay dudes, there's three of you, one of me, and a very pissed off wolf. Who do you thinks gonna win?"

"Us!" The second soldier charged Rekino.

The youngest Sanada smiled and flipped backwards, kicking the soldier in the head. She landed and flew at him and punched him in the gut. The soldier fell to the ground and Rekino picked up his weapon and stabbed him through the head. She pulled the weapon out and threw it at another one. The soldier didn't have time to move before the weapon went through stomach and he was pinned to the wall, blood coming out his mouth.

The last Roman glared at the intruder. He was ready to charge her but was hit from behind by the wolf. He had time to scream for help before Hawk ripped him to shreds.

Hawk howled at his kill and looked at Rekino. She was at the door.

"Hey, is it safe to open this door? I mean, I'm not gonna be swarmed by Romans, am I?" She saw Hawk nod that the room was safe to go in, "If you're lying to me, I swear…you're grounded!" She opened to door carefully and stepped in. The room was dark; not a smidge of light could be seen. She heard movement and slipped into another fighting stance, "Hello?"

A voice answered her back, "Who's there?"

Rekino could recognize that voice from a mile away. She felt on the wall for a light switch and found it. She turned on the lights and saw Thunder sitting up on the cot. His face was stained with tears. She became enraged with anger and hatred. Someone was going to pay for hurting her friend. She just hoped that she could clean Thunder up before Flash, Scorpio, and Hana saw him.

Thunder blinked at the image before him. It was Rekino in her subarmor. He finally thought he was saved until his fear overtook him again. Maybe Alina was creating this image to play a cruel, practical joke on him. He pulled his knees up to his chest and started to shake with fear.

Rekino advanced towards her friend, "Thunder! Thank God it's you! Come on, we have to get out of here before the morons show up again!" She went to reach for his hand put her pulled back from her quickly, "Thunder?"

"Stay away from me!"

Back at the castle, Flash and Hana were fighting with Ryo, Scorpio, Shades, and Rowen. They had been bombarded with soldiers when they reached the door to the throne room. Everyone had been so caught up in the fighting that they had forgotten about Rekino. The fighting had been so intense that no one noticed that the Guardian of Wildfire had been missing.

Rowen was flying above the soldiers. He was tired of this. He drew back and arrow and released his ultimate weapon, "Arrow Shock Wave!" The sure kill went on for miles, destroying the rest of the soldiers. He landed and joined the others before going into the throne room.

"Hey guys," Flash spoke up, "Where's Rekino?"

Taking note to Flash's statement, they all looked around. She was right; Rekino was nowhere in sight. Ryo let his head fall, "She's probably God knows where doing God knows what with God knows who!"

Shades raised and eyebrow, "Is that a bad thing?"

Ryo looked at his friend, "Yes, it is. When Rekino's involved doing something on her own, the sparks will fly," Ryo dropped to his knees, "Ancient One, please give Rekino, where she is, the knowledge to know what's right and give me the strength not to beat the hell out of her when I see her again."

"What do you mean, stay away?" Rekino asked, "I'm here to get you out! Now, we have to go!"

Thunder looked at Rekino with questionable eyes, "How do I know that you're not an illusion created by Alina?"

Rekino made a face like she was completely disgusted. She felt a nudge on her leg and looked down to see Hawk nodding his head towards the door. Okay, I've got to get Thunder outta here. She walked back towards her friend and grabbed him by the arm. She felt him struggling under her grip, "Listen to me, Storm, we have to get out of here. Flash and the others are at the castle and for all we know they could be fighting Borya right now and needing our help! Now you can either come with me willingly or I'll just have to carry you out!"

"He's not going anywhere!"

Rekino turned around to see Alina standing in the doorway with a horde of Roman soldiers behind her. She let go of Thunder and stood in front of him defensively, "Like you have a say so in it. He's going with me and you can't do a damn thing about it or my name isn't Rekino Sanada!"

Alina smirked and raised her staff above her head, "We'll see about that. Soldiers, attack!"

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" Rekino smirked, "Hey Hawk, hold em off while I change, will ya?" She saw Hawk jump on top of a soldier and start attacking the others. Rekino got in her summoning position, "Symbol of Virtue, shine forth and envelop me in the Lady Ronin Armor of Wildfire, JIN!" Fire swirls surrounded Rekino and in seconds she was in her full battle armor. She unhooked her Wildfire Sword from her scabbards on her sides and charged the Romans head on.

Thunder watched as Rekino and Hawk fought with Romans. In the back of his mind, he knew that Rekino wasn't an enemy; in fact, she was fighting for his freedom right now. He felt sorry for not believing her earlier. He turned around when he felt someone take his arm. He punched the soldier with his left hand into the wall. I didn't know I had such a good left hook.

It didn't take long before Rekino and Hawk finished off the soldiers. Now, Rekino was ready to fight with Alina. She had a score to settle with the queen. Before the Guardian could make a move, Alina revealed a secret.

"I'm sure you would love to know what he's been doing here?" Alina asked. She noted that her enemy's eyes grew a darker shade of purple, "He's been fulfilling my needs," This time, the Wildfire guardian raised an eyebrow. The queen sighed, "He's been my personal slave, if you get what I mean."

"WHAT?!" Rekino screamed. She looked back at Thunder and noted the look on his face. She knew that Thunder would never do anything like that with a woman unless he really cared for her, and to note his shyness and insecurity around women. She could only come to one conclusion, "You raped him?"

Alina smirked, "Took you long enough to figure out," She raised her staff above her head, "And I intend for him to stay with me."

Rekino's blood was boiling inside of her. She wanted to knock the living daylights out of the woman, but she knew it was impossible. Alina was extremely strong, and for once, she had to let her pride go, "I'm sorry, but I have a different agenda," Without thinking, Rekino took both of her swords, positioned them right, and threw them right at Alina. They whizzed through the air and went straight through the queen's arms, pinning her against the wall.

Hawk was growling at the two humans. He quickly changed to his bird form and flew out the window. Rekino turned around quickly, grabbed Thunder by the arm, and jumped out the window, following Hawk to safety. She could her Alina screaming from the window and decided to run faster. Once in the alley, Rekino let go of Thunder and slumped against the wall.

Silence filled the air before Thunder spoke, "Thanks for saving me."

"You better be thanking me," Rekino spoke harshly, "I had to give up my swords for you! Do know how pissed Ryo's gonna be at me?"

"I didn't mean for you to do that," Thunder said softly, lowering his head.

Rekino felt sorry for yelling at him the way she did, "Hey, it's okay. I can always get them back. Besides, we're alive and safe. That's all that really matters, right?"

Thunder shuddered at his memories, "If this is what you call being safe, then I guess you’re right."

At that comment, Rekino frowned. She stood from the wall and went to hug her friend. She felt him tense up a bit but leaned into the hug and put his head on her shoulder, "I'm sorry she did that to you, Thunder. But I promise you she'll pay dearly," She pulled away to look into her friends blue eyes, "I mean, I talk about raping Rowen all the time, but I never mean it. To think that the slut, whore, bitch…"

Thunder laughed, "I get the picture."

Rekino smiled, "Good. Now, let's get out of here before we're caught. Ryo's probably mad at me already. I just hope he doesn't flip out when I told him I lost my swords," Rekino let go of Thunder and the two teens followed Hawk back to the safety of Germany and their friends.

Rekino and Thunder finally arrived on the scene after what seemed like an eternity. And just as Rekino knew, Ryo yelled at her for going off on her own.

“REKINO SANADA, ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU KNOW YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSE TO GO OFF ON YOUR OWN!!”

This surprised everyone who stared in horror and yet awe at the two siblings.. Rekino’s head went down and she heaved a huge sigh. Any other time she would yell back, and they’d be calling each other names again.. But right now, she didn’t want to go through that.. Not after what had been happening lately.

“Look, I’m sorry.. Blaze sent me to get him, okay, Ryo? Take it up with him.”

Ryo blinked. He was about to say something again, when she beat him to it. “And besides, he sent one of his most trusted wolves along with me.”

“Who?” Scorpio asked.

“Hawk. He’s an actually nice wolf. ”

Flash’s, Shades‘, and Scorpio’s mouths dropped open as they stared in shock. Rekino stared at them, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

“That’s incredible,” Scorpio said.. “No one’s ever been able to get close to Hawk.. Not even Flash.”

“Yeah, it’s surprising,” Flash said with a nod of her head.

“Well, I guess I did,” Rekino said with a shrug.

"Now that we’re all here, can we go now?" Ryo asked. Everyone agreed to that, except for his sister, "What's wrong, Rekino?"

"Well," Rekino said wringing her hands, "I kinda have a problem."

"I'm still listening," Ryo said.

Rekino took in a deep breath, "I kinda lost my swords."

"YOU WHAT?!" The Wildfire bearer screamed infuriated.

Rekino's eyes were pleading, "It was for a good cause. I swear!"

Ryo rubbed his temples, trying not to let his temper take over him.. He took deep breaths in and out. Finally after what seemed forever, he looked at her. “Okay, tell me how you lost them.”

Rekino was about to comply when suddenly they heard a laughing voice, which made them all quickly get on guard.

“Well!” Borya said . “So nice of you all to be together, and his young royal highness, how splendid of you to return!”

Thunder glared at him heatedly. And then he noticed Sage standing beside him..

“There’s Sage!” Hana cried.

Sage smirked. “Nice to see you alive, Hana. Though I dare say, I don’t enjoy seeing it.”

Hana frowned.. “What happened to you, Sage? You were never like this..”

Sage smirked as he drew his weapon. Flash quickly noticed the staff Borya held. It too held a gem, much like the staff Alina had held earlier that day. She looked toward Thunder. “Thunder, use your eye to destroy that gem!”

“Huh?” was Ryo’s, Rowen’s, Rekino’s, and Hana’s confusion as they looked over at them.

Thunder nodded and stepped forward.. The other three Warriors covered their eyes as tightly as they could, and seeing them do this caused the Ronins and Lady Ronins to do the same.

Thunder uncovered his left eye, the eye he always hid behind a wall of blond hair.. The eye was so intense, so bright blue, that when Sage and Borya looked directly at it, they screamed in pain, becoming blind suddenly.. And then suddenly there was a loud cracking sound before an outburst came.. When Borya regained his sight a few minutes later, he was horrified to see that his gem had broken..

“NOOOOOO!!”

Sage was blinking in confusion, not understanding what was going on.. He looked at his friends, then at Borya, then back at his friends.. “Guys, what’s going on?”

Rowen noticed that Borya was glowing a strange color as he was getting enraged.. He shook his head. “Never mind that! We’ve got to get out of here!”

“Blaze!” Flash called.

The wolf did not need to be told what to do.. He quickly teleported the Ronins, the Lady Ronins, and the four Warriors out of the castle before Borya could strike them down.

Back in Japan, Josephine left and went the doctor for her checkup appointment. Mia had come to the conclusion to never leave Hiroshi in the Lady Hardrock's care again after walking in on her singing a dirty song to her child. She insisted on leaving him in Kento's care while she went grocery shopping with Amaya. So, at that moment in the Koji household, Kento was sitting on the couch watching a football game while Cye was in the computer room checking the stock market for the day.

Hiroshi looked up at Kento and stretched out his arms. The Hardrock warrior was glued to the TV. The little Sanada made a mental note to, as soon as he could talk, tell his mom that he didn't like hanging with Kento. He finally cried and that got the Hardrock's attention.

"Hey little dude, what's wrong?" Kento picked up Hiroshi and sat him on his knee, "Are you hungry?"

Hiroshi only cried louder. Kento started to panic. He didn't want Cye to run in there and tell him how to watch a kid. He remembered when his little brothers and sisters only cried louder when they wanted attention, "You want me to teach you how to play football?"

Hiroshi stopped crying when Kento sat him on the ground and went upstairs to get his football. Hiroshi looked around. He wasn't use to being left alone in a big room. Curiosity got the best of him and he crawled over to the stereo. He grabbed a hold of the table it was on and supported himself on it. He started hitting buttons until the radio started blasting tunes.

"This is a song for the ladies, but fellas, listen closely. You don't always have to fuck her hard, in fact sometimes that's not right to do. Sometimes you've got to make some love and fuckin give her some smoochies too. Sometimes you've got so squeeze. Sometimes you've got to say please. Sometimes you've got to say hey, I'm gonna fuck you, softly. I'm gonna screw you, gently. I'm gonna hump you, sweetly."

Hiroshi was bouncing up and down while the song played. At the same time, Kento came down from his room, Cye walked out of the computer room, Mia and Amaya came in through the front door, and a pale looking Josephine came in from the kitchen. All of them noted the song that was playing and Hiroshi by the stereo, bouncing up and down, giggling with excitement.

Mia's eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of her head. Josephine was laughing as loud as Hiroshi. Cye's face turned as pale as powered while Kento was at the top of the stairs looking worried Mia was going to kill him. Amaya quickly ran and turned off the radio. She picked up Hiroshi and took him over to Mia.

"That was complete and utter filth on the radio!" Amaya said. She looked up at Kento, "I thought that you were watching him!"

"I was! He was crying so I was going to teach him how to play football. I went upstairs to get my ball and the next thing I know I'm being yelled at by an angry, overly critical, religious French woman!" Kento's face paled when he realized what he had just said. The look on his girlfriend's face could make flower's wilt, "Amaya, I'm sorry."

"No," The Lady Torrent backed up against the door. She turned around and ran out of the house. Everyone heard the car crank and pull out of the driveway.

Josephine looked up at his cousin, "Great going, Casanova!"

Kento looked like he was about to cry. He looked down at Mia and saw her holding Hiroshi and giving him her famous "look-of-death", "I didn't mean to say that."

"Action's speak louder than words, Kento," Mia said as she walked into the kitchen to get Hiroshi something to eat. She came back into the living room, sat on the couch, and proceeded to feed her son.

Cye stood in the doorframe, stunned at the actions of his comrades. He saw Josephine emerge from the kitchen and stare up at Kento angrily, "Is anyone going after her?"

Josephine's granite eyes were staring hard at her cousin. She reached inside her pants pocket and pulled out the keys to her new Blue Ford F-150, "I will," She took another glance at her cousin before she went out the door. She came back in when she remembered something, "Oh, before you guys ask, the doctor said I was pregnant," And with that, she ran to her trunk, revved the engine, and went out of the driveway like a mad woman.

Inside, Kento's mouth fell at least ten miles. Mia dropped Hiroshi's bottle on the floor while the baby looked at the door with an eyebrow raised. Cye just took in a deep breath and fainted.