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"Where exactly are you taking us?" Sage asked as he walked beside her. Mira looked up at him and had an urge to hit him for that question.
"We're trying to find where they took Kayura and Mia, right?" She shook her head to clear it. "The first step to finding them would be to find how they got here in the first place."
"Oh."
Kala looked at Reva and shared a knowing look. The second girl only nodded and smiled. Cye was compelled to ask what that was all about.
"Come on Cye," Reva answered him as she nudged him a little. "Mira looks the youngest in this group when in fact she's older than all of you combined. She is just a year younger than I am and Halo treats her like she's younger than she looks."
"Maybe because she reminds him of his sister."
"Sister?"
"He's got a sister about a couple of years younger than he is. Come to think of it, Mira does sound a lot like Sara right then."
"Uh, oh."
"What?"
"He better watch who he's getting near to."
"Don't tell me. Royda could get mad at this, right?"
"She's getting predictable, isn't she?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"But you have to understand that she doesn't know him well enough to trust him with her sister."
"But you trusted me."
"You saved my life. It's sort of required to trust you."
"Okay, we're way off topic now. What were we talking about?"
"Just our ages. Nothing big."
"I'll take that as an answer for right now but later, I want the whole story." She nodded, the whole thing already forgotten.
"Kind of sickening, isn't it?" Kala asked Kishin. When the other girl didn't answer, she elbowed her out of her daze.
"What?" Kishin rubbed where she got hit.
"You're getting caught up in this too, aren't you?" Kala gave her an accusing look.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Puh-lease! First there was Reva but then again you expect that from her. Then Royda but then again she could be just having a homicidal episode. You've got Mira over there practically flirting with Halo. Now it comes down to you. You don't usually act like this."
"What makes you an expert on how I act?"
"Because I've known you for over 400 years. And you've been acting really strange since you had that talk with Strata."
"What would you know about that?"
"Let's just say that I'm more observant than others. Considering that everybody's been distracted by one thing or another, I'm not at all surprised that I'm the only one that notices."
"Kala, I don't understand you at all. What are you talking about?"
"Fine with me if you deny it. It doesn't affect me right now so no biggy. Just keep up the charade then." She clapped Kishin's shoulder before going over to Reva.
***
"Hmm..." Tyra leisurely walked in front of her two "guests."
"What's wrong Tyra?" Kayura asked. "Getting nervous?"
"Hardly." She turned to them. "They are getting closer to the opening between my world and my father's. Royda's a little distracted. I may have to eliminate Hardrock to really get her attention. The rest of them are on their own. Both of your Warlord guardians aren't doing so well either. I really should send out my sprites but they're not ready yet. I'll sent out my soldiers instead.
Tyra turned away from them and called out to a guard. Both women shrugged and wondered why she had told them that. She was plainly telling them her plans, bit by bit.
"Do you remember her being this psychotic?" Mia asked Kayura.
"I don't know really. She does sound like there is no plan."
"Somehow, I don't feel any better. She is so much more complex than Talpa."
"That's because her agenda is so much more broader than his." The Ancient's descendant walked up to the barrier that held them and reached out to touch it. A bolt of purple lightning jumped from the invisible barrier to her extended arm and shocked her.
"Kayura!" Mia went over to the woman's side as Kayura sank to the ground. "Why did you do that for?"
"Just testing," she answered just above a whisper.
"Well, don't try it again. I need you to be here." Mia was about to pick her up when Tyra came back. The armored woman laughed at the sight and guessed what must have happened.
"I should have told you about that. And don't worry about your friends. They're coming along fine. My soldiers are going to take care of them."
***
"We're here," Mira announced.
"I don't see anything," Ryo said. Everybody looked around and saw their surroundings as much the same as before.
A lot of them would have sat down but the ground was covered with water. They broke up into their little groups while Mira continued to walk around. There was something here but where was it?
She stopped suddenly and half the people there thought she had found the opening while the other half just thought she was loosing her mind. When she slowly turned around, a worried look was on her face and her eyes searched over their heads. A dark presence was coming and even she didn't know where it was coming from.
"Something's up," Royda said as she passed Kishin on her way to her sister. The other girl looked around them before following her leader.
Reva and Kala noticed them move and started to follow. Cye tagged along with them even though he didn't know the reason why. The rest was just curious as to what they were talking about. Suddenly, a low hum came from somewhere and everybody was looking around. The air was thick with a dark magic that even those least sensitive to it was feeling it.
"What's going on?" Dais asked. A wind started to pick up and they all shielded their eyes.
"Looks like deja-vu, doesn't it Rowen?" Ryo asked his friend. The other boy nodded, remembering that little episode right after they first got there.
"Yeah. Spirits should be next." They watched but nothing came.
"Tyra's spirits don't do trivial things like assault her enemies," Kala told them. "They're at her place as the last line of defense. I'm betting more on her soldiers."
"If they're anything like Talpa's goons, there's no problem then," Kento answered.
"I think you'll find, Hardrock, that these soldiers are very skilled," Sekhmet told the Ronin, still scanning around them. "How do you think they bested us?"
Before he could answer, a sea of red started to move from the horizon. As it got closer, everybody could see that it was a sea of Dynasty soldiers all painted in red. Each one of them came barreling at the group with amazing speed, and within a few minutes, they were all surrounded. All but the girls put their subarmors on and quickly realized that they needed something heavier. Their armors were quickly called on but it didn't make a difference.
The girls fought as best they can without the benefit of an armor and was keeping up with everybody more or less. The army came in droves at them. It seemed that when anybody struck down one soldier, three would take its place. You can only imagine the multiplying rate when Rowen shot the army with an Arrow Shock Wave and wiped out a couple of hundreds of them. They were all getting tired quick and there didn't seem to be an end to the long line of soldiers. They all needed help.
"Why can't we change?" Reva asked. "They need all the help they can get and we're here."
"And don't say it's because of keeping secrets either," Kishin warned Royda.
"Why would I need to say that when I practically had a demonstration with Hardrock?" Royda punched a soldier and it went up in smoke.
"Then why can't we?" Kala asked.
"Because Red's not here!" Mira shouted as she jump-kicked a soldier.
The other girls almost stopped their fights but quickly recovered. The most essential part of their armors and they left it behind. The soldiers were getting overwhelming and everybody was getting worried about staying up. Most of them were getting sloppy with their fighting, turning away from a soldier without making sure they were gone. It put an even bigger burden on the others that had to watch their backs.
Mira turned away from a soldier that she thought was gone. Somehow, it still came after her from behind while she was busy with another. It raised its hands and was about to strike when a red blur crossed in front of it. Scratches were on its chest as it fell down. The girl turned around and found a red tiger.
"Red!!" She bend down and hugged the tiger.
"Mira! Keep your guard up!" Royda shouted.
The girl quickly stood up and got read to fight again. She looked around and also found the white tiger. He was over there helping the guys deal with this problem. Mira turned to her sister, an expectant look on her face. The others turned to her, too.
"What are you guys doing?!" asked Kento. Everybody else turned to the girls.
"When have you asked me to change before?" Royda shouted back. She punched one last soldier before turning to them. "What are you waiting for?! Get going?!"
Mira smiled and looked down at Red. The tiger nodded and closed her eyes. She glowed and started to disappear. The girls too closed their eyes and called on their subarmors. Most everybody stopped and turned when a bright light flashed behind them. They all say the girls, now in their subarmors and hair up.
"Alright!!" Reva and
Kala shouted together. "Let's rock and roll!!"