Chapter Nine: Reunion

  Amy, Lita, Selene, and Rose sat down on the ground after they powered down their armor, exhausted. Ryo looked at Rowen, who looked at Sage, who looked at Sai, who looked at Kento, who looked dumbfounded.

   "Man, what just happened?" asked Kento.

   "Beats me," said Sai.

  "It sounded like they had attributes," said Rowen.

   "But how? I thought only the Ronins had attributes," said Ryo.

  "Then they must be Ronins. Right Kayura?" asked Sage. Kayura walked over, rubbing her head.

  "That's right," said Kayura.

   "At least they're on our side," said Dais.

   "Now that's 14," said Kale as Sekhmet finished,

   "Against one giant woman."

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   Scarbna sat down on her throne and Talpa sat down on the one next to it.

  "It's great to be back. Tell me, are the Ronins back as well?" asked Talpa.

   "Yes dear. I'm afraid so and the warlords as well. To make matters worse, they have somehow turned my warlords good. I was thinking about possessing them with nether spirits but they won't listen to me anymore," summarized Scarbna.

  Talpa stood and walked out to the gate that he had come out of. Scarbna followed behind him.

  "Nether Spirits, come do my bidding!" said Talpa, his eyes glowing red. The gate opened and several spirits flew from the darkness inside. They played strange music on their flutes as they zoomed off into the distance. Talpa turned and looked at Scarbna. He said,

   "Do we have any energy left? I can bring four warlords back from the dead to help us," said Talpa. Scarbna nodded and handed Talpa the bag of energy. She added,

   "I can search out a wearer for Saber Strike's armor as well." Talpa nodded and left. Scarbna smiled as she thought about ruling the world at his side.

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   I opened my eyes to see 14 worried faces looking down on me.

   "What the? What happened?" I asked. I sat up slowly and shook my head. Amy, Selene, Rose, and Lita rolled their eyes as they recalled asking the same dumb question. They stood and walked over to sit down on a rock. The Ronins and the former warlords walked over to discuss the current situation. I got to my feet and walked over to the other girls.

  "So, it's over?" I asked.

  "Not quite. Scarbna and Talpa are both alive and well," said Selene.

  "But I think Mr. Hothead and the others are going to go ahead and storm the castle without us," said Lita.

   "They can't keep me out of a good fight," said Rose.

   "Please. They need us. They are now fighting two giant people and they are going to need our help, like it or not," said Amy.

   "Uh, guys," I said quietly. No one heard me.

  "Guys," I repeated a little louder.

  "What?" they retorted. I pointed to the horizon.

   "Who or what are they?" asked Rose.

   "They are nether spirits," said Amy. We rose slowly and inched backwards. The guys ignored us. The nether spirits stopped, just out of the Ronins view. We squatted to the ground, hopping not to be seen. But as luck would have it, we were. The leader motioned its head and they zoomed at us.

  "Run?" whispered Rose.

  "Run!" yelled Lita. We jumped up and darted into the woods. Sage saw us running off.

  "Where are they going?" he asked.

   "Girl stuff, probably," responded Kento.

  "Please," said Kayura, rolling her eyes. Rowen felt a breeze blow passed his head and looked at the forest. He glimpsed a slow nether spirit fly into the woods.

 "Nether Spirits!" yelled Rowen.

  "What?" yelled Sai.

  "The Dynasty's trying to possess them!" yelled Ryo, running into the woods. He was followed by Sage, Rowen, Sai, Kayura, Dais, Kale, Sekhmet, and Kento.

   "Let's hope we're not too late," said Dais.

  "Let's not hope and let's move it. It's not a fun experience, getting possessed. Trust me, I know," said Kayura.

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  "Selene, keep up!" yelled Rose, who was in front of her. Lita ran in front of Rose, following me who was following Amy, the track team member of the group.

   "I hate running," said Selene. She picked up her pace and caught up to us. Amy stopped as we entered a clearing. We were all out of breath.

  "Do you think we lost them?" asked Lita. We had our backs to the woods and didn't see the spirits closing in.

  "I think so," said Selene hopefully. I screamed as I turned to see five nether spirits floating behind us. Before we could move, They entered our bodies. One entered Amy's body. As it did, Amy's sky blue eyes turned to midnight blue. Her hair, which was straw blond, went silvery white. It also grew to about shoulder length. Another one entered Lita's body. Her black hair grew down to about shoulder length from its shorter cut. Her black-blue eyes went to turquoise in color. Another spirit possessed Selene. Her strawberry blond hair went golden in color and her sky blue eyes went sea blue. Rose's eyes went sky blue and her brown hair went from mid-back to shoulder length. The last spirit went in me after I had seen what had happened to the rest of my friends. I shivered as the spirit took over my body. My black hair thinned out and grew down from shoulder length to lower-back length. My blue-green eyes lost all traces of blue and went emerald green.

  We stopped shaking and waited. The Ronins ran into the clearing a moment later.

  "All man, we missed all the action," complained Kento after entering the clearing.

  "Look at them, they look different," said Ryo and Sai.

  "Are they possessed?" asked Sage.

  "I'm not sure," said Rowen. They turned on there heal as a branch snapping was heard by all. Ryo gasped as they saw who it was. Sun Devil, Saranbo, Dala, Gash, and Saber Strike walked into the clearing.

   "That's not Saber Strike," said Sai. Ryo looked closely. He stared into the blue eyes of Saber Strike. His eyes widened as recalled fighting Saber Strike before and looking into his blazing red eyes.

   "You're right," said Ryo.

  "Ryo, I think we're in trouble here," said Dais, nodding toward us. We advanced slowly toward the Ronins.

  "At least we know their weaknesses," said Kale.

   "I think we have bigger problems," said Sekhmet as he looked toward the sky. Kayura followed his gaze.

  "Talpa," she said angrily. Talpa stood behind his warriors and laughed.

   "Hello, puny mortals. I've been dying to meet you," said Talpa. He glanced over across the field. Scarbna stood behind us. The Ronins turned and faced her as she said,

   "Ronins, welcome to our little reunion. To start things off, my girls would like to kill you. Attack!" said Scarbna. We turned our heads and looked at her. She nodded and we faced the Ronins.

  "Warriors, attack!" said Talpa. Kayura, Dais, Kale, and Sekhmet fought with the reborn warriors as Sage, Rowen, Ryo, Sai, and Kento waited for us to make a move. We didn't move. Kento, who was getting antsy, said,

   "Man, why don't they fight! I can't take it!" Kento ran toward us, but Sai grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

   "Kento, look. They are fighting," said Sai. Kento looked at Sai with a raised eyebrow. Then he sighed and looked at us closely.

  "They're fighting themselves," said Rowen.

  "It's a mental battle. They're trying to get rid of the spirit inside them," said Sage.

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   "Get out of my head!" I yelled to the spirit in my head. The void surrounding me was black. The spirit's eyes glowed pink and it pulled out a flute. I stared questionably as it started to play a haunting melody. Putting my hands over my ears to block out the sound, I closed my eyes and concentrated. How do you get rid of a spirit? You can't fight it physically, but what can I do? The haunting melody ringed in my ears.

   "Leave me alone!" I yelled out angrily. A purple glow radiated from my forehead. I opened my eyes. This was my favorite story. I know it inside and out. How did the Ronins beat the spirits?

  "I know this. Think, Crystal, think!" I yelled at myself. The spirit kept playing, unmoved by my outburst. It came to me. The Ronins were saved by Mia and the ancient's staff.

  "Kayura!" I yelled.

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  Amy stared at the spirit as it played its melody on its flute. Amy went down to her knees and covered her ears.

   "What a terrible sound! Learn Beethoven, you idiot!" she yelled at the spirit. The spirit didn't cease to stop playing its haunting song. A dark blue symbol glowed from Amy's head.

  "Think, Amy. Ancient legends was your favorite class. What did the teacher say about nether spirits? Ancient! That was it, the Ancient! Ancient!" yelled Amy, hoping that somehow her cry would reach someone's ears.

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  Lita turned her back on the flute playing spirit.

  "I'm not listening," she said, hoping it would stop. But it was to no avail. Lita closed her eyes and counted to ten as a red glow appeared on her forehead.

   "I've got to think. How can I beat this ghost? It's not real. But then, I thought the Ancient and the Ronins weren't real either. That's it. Hey spirit head, count down your last minutes. The Ancient's going to get you!" said Lita happily.

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  Selene pushed her hair out of her face as she pondered on what to do. The music didn't bother her. She liked scary movies. It was how to get out of this situation that bothered her.

  "It's like being between a rock and a hard place," said Selene to herself. A light blue glow appeared on her forehead as she realized the answer.

   "Kayura, help me!" she yelled.

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  Rose swung her fists wildly at the spirit, not landing a punch. Each time she missed, her anger increased. As an orange light glowed on her forehead, she realized fighting a ghost doesn't work.

  "Drat, now what am I supposed to do? I'll be ancient before I get free. Duh! How dumb am I? It's the Ancient who can save us!" said Rose.

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   Kayura ducked under Sun Devil's punch. Standing up, she heard five tiny voices yelling her name. She turned her head and looked at us. Feeling stupid, she yelled out,

  "I need a sub, here!"

   Kento turned on his heels, and before anyone could say anything he was in his armor and fighting Sun Devil.

  "Leave it to me, guys," he said. Sai rolled his eyes. Kayura phased into the Ancient's dress and carried the staff over to us. She stuck it in front of her and the ball on top began to glow.

  "Be gone, nether spirits!" yelled Kayura, her voice steady. Each of our bodies began to tense up as the spirits left our bodies and disintegrated. I rubbed my head, and looked around.

  "It worked!" I shouted. I high-fived my friends.

  "Nice work, you went along just as I thought. Now I will take back what is mine," said Scarbna. Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared at her. She stuck out her hand palm down. Amy, Lita, Rose, Selene, and I were surrounded by yellow energy as we floated off the ground.

   "Hey!" yelled the guys. The outfits we were wearing phased out and formed a Kanji ball in front of our eyes. We returned to the outfits we were wearing before Scarbna took us away. We watched as the five Kanji balls went together and shot out into five different directions. The yellow energy left our bodies and we fell into a nearby lake. Talpa, Scarbna, Sun Devil, Saranbo, Dala, Gash, and Saber Strike disappeared.