In the castle in the cliffs chaos was erupting. Soldiers were returning from their missing injured and some even dead. Men were calling out for help, for healers who could do very little against the wounds of their allies. Their general strode through the halls that had been lined with the wounded a clear crystal sphere in his hand. He made his way to the throne room and past the wooden door. The queen still sat at her table fretting over the maps and the news that was pouring in from every corner of her realm. When she saw the general she stood and leaned over the table in hopes that he at least had good news.

 

           The general kneeled on his left knee before the queen and bowed his head, “I have failed my queen.”

 

            “What? But how?” She took a step back knocking over the chair she had been using. She walked around the table and stood in front of her top general in disbelief.

 

            “The world we choose is being protected. There are six warriors that use magic to fight.”

 

            “Magic, so we were right. There is still magic in that world.”

 

            “Yes, but it will take some time to defeat them.”

 

            “You think you can though?” The queen straightened up and began to pace before him, her long cream silk gown dragging on the floor before him.

 

            “They have much power, but have been weakened by our efforts in that world. In addition they seem to have an aversion to fighting living things.”

 

            “They what? And they call themselves protectors?”

 

            “My guess is that they have only fought against demons. As soon as they realized they were killing people they stopped and instead entrapped them forcing us to retreat.”

 

            “I see. And this interruption in our plans…”

 

            “It is causing some uncontrollable side effects. However, I think we can use these to our advantage.”

 

            “Yes, we must rid ourselves of these protectors so we can continue with the plan, and you must hurry.”

 

---------

 

            “I can’t believe it took us this long just to run into town and get some pads,” Magma complained as she hopped out of the jeep carrying the paper bag with their purchases.

 

            “Well, Katie is a bit particular about what she likes, and we have to be a bit more discreet with the guys around.”

 

            “I suppose, but I could have sworn she just finished with her…” Magma mused as they walked into the house, “Oh well, I’m just glad the weather decided to clear up. It was looking really nasty out.”

 

            “Yes, and the temperature has gone down a little too.”

 

            “Does that mean we’ll have to go to school tomorrow?” Magma whined.

 

            “We’ll have to see,” Nasuti smiled and handed her another bag, “Can you take these up to your room, please? I’m going to… check… on the others.” Magma nodded taking the bag and headed up stairs. She did not go into their room but hid behind a corner on the balcony overlooking the dinning room. She watched as Nasuti made her way into the living room and closed the door. Leaving the bag behind she made her way back downstairs and leaned up against the door to listen.

 

            “I take it things didn’t go so well.”

 

            “The weather is making us weak, Nasuti. We were barely able to force them to retreat,” Touma explained. Magma could hear the creaking of the furniture as someone moved around.

 

            “Not only that, but the enemy is human.”

 

            “Human?” Nasuti gasped, “But why?”

 

            “Who knows? They’re not from our earth though, some invading force from another dimension or something?” Shu suggested.

 

            “Regardless of where they are from, we can’t fight them,” Ryo croaked. Magma could tell he was crying and she ached to give him a hug and comfort him.

 

            “We can’t just let them do as they wish. That guy was messing with the environment, and he said that once he started he couldn’t just stop,” Seiji reminded them.

 

            “But he did, I mean he went back,” Katie argued.

 

            “For how long?” Seiji asked, “I doubt he will stop there. Anyways, I’m sure you have felt it more than us, Katie. The balance of the elements is worse than it was before.”

 

            “I think by forcing a stop to his actions we may have worsened the situation rather than helping it,” Touma added in.

 

            “What good is it now? What is done is done, and there is nothing we can do until they show up again,” Shin voiced in. Magma could tell he was holding back some emotion but she wasn’t sure if it was grief like Ryo or anger like Shu.

 

            “For now, you should all rest. What energy you have left you need to maintain it. Magma should be up in your room putting away your things,” Magma could hear Nasuti come closer to the door. She dashed to the stairs and up them, making her way into their room just as the door to the living room opened. She kept the door cracked open. “We need to be careful about what we say around her. I know she knows that something is up, but hopefully we can keep her out of the thick of it.”

 

            “Why did you guys bring her anyways?” Shu asked as they filed out of the living room.

 

            “If you can convince her to go home, by all means,” Seiji replied. Their conversations multiplied and divided as they split to go to the various parts of the house. The guys seemed to be making their way to their rooms to rest and Magma moved father back into the room and sat down on her bed. Yet another evil has invaded the earth and is wreaking havoc on it. She could feel it herself, the turmoil in the lava that flows beneath the earths crust was making her skin prickle. She couldn’t let them know that she knew about them, if she did she would just be another person they would have to protect, and that could hurt them in the end. She had to keep up appearances so that they would not suffer more than they had to. However, she was not going to go meekly back to Tokyo or even Sendai for that purpose. If worse came to worse she could help them, and would, but not unless it was the only thing she could do.

 

            Katie walked into the room a minute later and flopped down on her bed, rolling over to one side.

 

            “We got your things for you,” Magma nodded at the paper bag on the floor.

 

            “Huh? Oh! Thanks,” She looked quickly in the bag and I could see a bit of shock on her face, “I, uh, completely forgot to put some in my bag…” She rolled back over and stared at the wall.

 

            “Is everything okay? It’s cooled down outside…”

 

            “Yeah, I’m just tired… from the heat,” Katie replied.

 

            “Well, if the temperature is down, we’ll probably have school tomorrow. You want to study a bit later?”

 

            “Sure.” Magma wasn’t sure if she was even paying attention and decided to just let her be. They had fought, she knew that, though Katie didn’t seem quite a worn out as the others. Regardless she let Katie sleep and crept from the room to see what Nasuti was up to.   

 

 

            “Yes, I understand, however when you accepted them you agreed that I would have to take them out of school on occasion for research purposes. Yes… yes… I know her situation is unique, but she has insight that the rest of us don’t so her views are really helpful. Yes… Yes… I understand that, and we will make sure they all study. Yes… yes… I understand, yes… yes… thank you,” Nasuti sighed as she hung up the phone and rested her head in her hands.

 

            “Is everything okay?” Magma had slid in through Nasuti’s study door and stood leaning up against it.

 

            “Yes, I occasionally ask the guys for some help with my research. Touma is especially helpful, but the others often have good ideas themselves. I wasn’t planning on taking them out of school this early in the year, but since you were all here… I just hate having to talk to the school about it. They always agree to it, but when it comes down to actually doing it they always have to argue,” Nasuti felt a little bad about giving Magma the same excuse she gave the schools, but right now there wasn’t much else she could tell the young lady, “I got you out of school as well, thought you might want to help too.”

 

            “Sure, that should be fun!” Magma tried her best to put on an enthusiastic smile but wasn’t sure how successful she was, “What are you researching?”

 

            Nasuti paused for a moment wondering if she could give Magma some busy work to keep her from accidently stumbling upon the knowledge of the armors, but decided against it. She was sure Magma would find out eventually, but the longer they kept her in the dark the better, “I have been looking into some old legends found around the ancient villages surrounding Mt. Fuji. Seeing what their connections to each other are and how they may have come about.” Nasuti of course left out the part of how these stories could be connected to the armors, Rekka specifically, but showed Magma some of the stories she had already translated and put her to work.

 

            They worked the rest of the day in her study, letting Katie and the guys be. Magma went back up to their room late into the night. She had enjoyed reading the old stories about herself and had to try and not reveal too much to Nasuti. Katie was still in her bed, covered up this time, but Magma could tell that she had tossed and turned quite a bit. She let her be and got into her own bed, but could not fall right asleep. She lay staring at the ceiling unable to turn her own brain off.

 

            The next morning Magma woke up late and drug herself downstairs. She had expected at least some left over breakfast, but when she went into the kitchen it looked as if it hadn’t even been touched yet. She opened the refrigerator but other than the normal fair, nothing. She frowned; she had really been looking forward to one of Shin’s breakfasts. She poured herself a cup of orange juice and went looking for the others. Katie wasn’t in her bed when she had gotten up and Magma found her in the living room watching TV.

 

            “Did you guys eat everything Shin made?” She asked, half joking.

 

            “Ah, morning,” Katie mumbled, “Shin didn’t make breakfast, Nasuti did. Regardless Shu ate it all.”

 

            “I thought Shin always fixed the meals when you guys came here?” Magma asked sitting down next to Katie. She looked over at her friend and thought that she looked a little strange. She had a bottle of water in her hand and was sipping on it, but had a blank look on her face and her eyes seemed a little glazed over. “Do you feel okay? You looked a little flushed.”

 

            “I’m fine. That heat just kicked my ass is all. Just tired,” Katie sighed and stood up, but had to take a moment to gain her balance.

 

            “Are you sure?” Magma asked as she reached out to help her.

 

            “I’m fine.” Katie repeated and then left the room brushing past Shu.

 

            “Oh, you’re up late,” Shu smiled as he tried to jump over the back of the couch but caught his foot on the back and did a face plant on the floor.

 

            “And you are a bit more clumsy than usual,” Magma smiled looking down at him as he struggled to get into an upright position.

 

            “Yeah, something is definitely not right. This weird weather is playing havoc with everyone.”

 

            “What do you mean?” Magma patted the couch next to her and Shu sat down.

 

            “Well, everyone has been complaining of sinus issues of one form or another. I know my ears have been bothering me,” Shu pulled at his ear as he said this, “I think I may be getting an ear infection or something.”

 

            “What about Shin? Katie said that he didn’t even make breakfast this morning.”

 

            “I know, said he wasn’t feeling good. Went back up to his room and has been there since.” Magma frowned. While the temperature had dropped things were still not right with the Earth though she couldn’t quite pin point the problem right off. She left Shu in front of the TV and made her way up to Shin’s room. She tiptoed across the room to the one bed that still had an occupant. She leaned over the figure and noticed a sheen of sweat on his face in the dim light that snuck around the edges of the curtains. She reached down and brushed the hair from his face feeling his forehead. He was burning hot and sweating. She pulled the curtains open and could see the sheets sticking to him. She reached down and shook him calling his name, but he only moaned a little.

 

            “Nasuti!” She had run down the hall into Nasuti’s study where she and Touma had been talking about something.

 

            “Magma, what’s wrong?” Nasuti asked sensing Magma’s worry.

 

            “Shin, he’s burning hot and I can’t get him to wake up.” Nasuti nodded and followed Magma back down the hall to the room. She too stood by the bed and fell Shin’s forehead and shook him a bit.

 

            “Touma, go get the thermometer from the Kitchen. Magma go find Shu we may need to get Shin into the bath to cool him down.” Magma followed Touma down the stairs and they parted ways to follow their tasks. Magma went into the living room to find Shu but he had left. She went back into the dining room and caught a glimpse of Touma on his way back upstairs, but he had stopped at the bottom of the stairs as if he were pausing to catch his breath. It was only for a second but it was enough to make Magma worry. She found Shu standing just outside the doors in one of the archways that decorated the front of the house.  She watched as he made his way back inside slightly off kilter as if his balance really had been messed with somehow. Instead of going to see how Shin was she went back into the living room to check something out. On the couch this time was Seiji. He sat with his arms and legs crossed and his eyes closed looking very much liked a store mannequin. He was listening to the news report on TV but did not move a hair when Magma had entered the room, but knew she had.

 

            “Things are getting worse again,” He commented quietly, “The humidity has dropped dramatically and there have been reports of various geologic disturbances around the globe.”

 

            “Earthquakes?”

 

            “Earthquakes, volcanoes erupting… there are some places that have suddenly become so dry that wild fires have started.”

 

            “What do you think is causing this?”

 

            “I don’t know,” He stood and although his movements were as fluid as usual Magma still noticed some slight oddities in his movements. He reached out toward the wall as he rounded the end of the couch and seemed to follow the wall to the door. “I will be outside thinking.”

 

            “Wait, did you hear about Shin?”

 

            “I did. You best go see if there is anything you can do to help.” Magma nodded and watched as her cousin left the room.

 

            Magma stood there for a moment thinking. Each of the troopers seemed to be suffering from the changes in the weather; even Shin’s illness might be in response to the lowering humidity in the air. She wondered too if Ryo was suffering as well, and realized that she had yet to see him. She decided that she was going to go look for him, but first she was going to check on Katie. She had a connection to all of the elements, so if each of the boys were suffering Katie surely was too. She headed up the stairs and glanced toward Shin’s room and saw Shu carrying Shin down the hall. She slipped into her room and crossed over to Katie’s bed to find it empty. She looked around the room and noticed that her pajamas were in a pile on the floor. A little bit of worry eased, she apparently wasn’t as bad off as Magma had feared, but she would feel a lot better once she had found her and seen for herself. She crossed to the door and stepped out onto the balcony. Katie had told her that this had once been Ryo’s bedroom, but he had given it up to her when she had first arrived. Magma leaned on the railing thinking that it was things like that that made her like him so much.

 

            She was just watching the birds fly over the water in the distance when she caught something out of the corner of her eye. It looked like a flash of red in the trees near the house, but it was gone before she could focus in on it. She waited for a bit, but when it didn’t happen again she shook her head and turned to go inside. She hadn’t even reached the door when she heard a crash like lightning and spun in a full circle to see what had caused it. In the middle of the yard lay a fully armored figure in red. It was Ryo in Rekka seemingly out cold in a crater of his own making.

 

            Magma froze in shock, he had been fighting that much was clear. She turned her gaze toward the trees he had come just in time to see another figure fly from the trees and land not far from Ryo though instead of a crater the figure rolled and tumbled across the grass. It was Katie in her own armor, and she noticed that she was holding her leg and as she turned over Magma saw that something was sticking out of it. She needed to tell the others, but she couldn’t just run in and announce that the two had armored up so she did the next best thing, she screamed.

 

            Touma, Seiji, and Shu appeared on the balcony below her and did not hesitate to jump off of it, transforming instantly into their under gear. They ran over to their friends and check to see if they were okay. They were to Magma’s relief and were being helped to their feet by the others. She could see Shu lean down in front of Katie and pull at the item that was stuck in her leg and heard her cry of pain as he did it. They all turned suddenly toward the trees and Magma followed suit. On the edge of the forest stood a soldier wearing European style armor with a large broad sword in one hand. He had dark hair that was pulled back into a pony tale at the base of his neck and magma couldn’t help but notice that he was pretty good looking. She shook her head of the though and turned back to her friends. Ryo was standing on his own now and they had formed a bit of a formation putting the two injured troopers to the back.

 

            “What is it you want with this world?” Touma called out to the mysterious soldier.

 

            “Do not think us completely evil, we only wish to save our own world, and unfortunately that means destroying yours.” Magma noticed that the soldier didn’t smile, but was upset by his words as much as the troopers were.

 

            “Let us help you, maybe there is something we can do to save your world.”

 

            “It is too late, the only thing left is to take yours!” The soldier attacked again but was not allowed to get close to any of them before Katie jumped above them and released her attack.

 

            “Ji You Zan!” Magma had never seen her attack before, but even she could tell that something was wrong. From what she understood of the armor it was a combination of all five elements, that should mean that her attack would be a balanced combination of them as well, but this attack was not balanced. The solider used his sword to easily block the attack and Katie was soon struggling to keep it under her control. Magma was forced to duck as the remainder of the attack was sent her way and shingles from the roof rained down from above.

 

            Katie struggled to stand after attempting to release her attack and Shu was forced to support her from behind so she wouldn't fall.

 

            “We can’t fight him like this, we have to armor up,” Shu argued as he stepped back to give himself some room.

 

            “No, you can’t!” Katie tried to warn them but even Touma and Seiji had already started armoring up and did not hear her cry. As soon as the three remaining troopers had armored up they collapsed to their knees in pain. “Idiots!!” She cried, “You can’t wear your armors!!” The soldier took this opportunity to attack the closest of the troopers. Seiji had his face covered as he tried to fight the pain that wracked his body. Katie saw him and tried to make her way to them but her injured leg kept her from moving too fast. She reached Seiji at the same time as the soldier but was not able to do anything but fall in the way of the attack. The solider brushed her aside and raised his sword for another attempt. Katie struggled to stand again and stop the attack but knew that she would not make it. She tried to yell for Seiji to move but the trooper was frozen in pain and could not move at all.

 

            Magma had been watching from the safety of the balcony and had stood up at Katie’s scream to Seiji. She closed her eyes knowing she would not be able to hide any longer. She flexed her shoulders and jumped from the balcony, large white wings erupted from her back and took her high over the battle. Just in the short time it had taken her to take flight Byakuen had erupted from the forest, dark red blood matting his white fur, and had knocked the soldier back away from his charges. However, Ryo had not seen this and had already locked his blades together and was calling out his own attack. Magma vaguely wondered how he was able to withstand the pain that was keeping the others bound to the ground, but then realized that his attack was aimed right at the solider, and between them stood Byakuen. Magma realized then that Ryo was blinded by the pain and did not know what he was aiming at. Katie must have known for she was already running for the tiger. Magma could see that neither of them would be able to escape the magnitude of attack that Ryo would produce and flew down as fast as she could. She only had seconds and used her speed to push both Katie and Byakuen as far as she could before Ryo’s attack hit and blew them all away. She didn’t see where Katie and Byakuen had landed for she had been knocked clear to the other side of the house by the blast.

 

            She shook her head to clear it and stood, willing her wings away, and ran around the side of the house to check on the battle. The soldier was just getting up, having only had caught a glancing blow from the attack.

 

            “You are growing weaker. Even I can see that. You will not be able to protect your world for much longer,” The soldier looked even more grim than before, Magma had the feeling that even he did not want to be doing what he was doing. He disappeared soon after and Magma ran out to check on her friends.

 

            Ryo, Touma, Seiji, and Shu were still on their knees and she had to urge them to get rid of their armors, but eventually they did and collapsed onto the ground. Magma looked up and found Byakuen dragging Katie toward the group. He stopped right before Magma and looked at her in a very knowing way.

 

            “You knew the entire time didn’t you?” Magma sighed and lightly headbutted the big cat. Byakuen licked her on the cheek and then turned to lick and nudge his charges until they started to come around. Magma found her way to Ryo who was sitting up with is face in his hands.

 

            “Ryo, Ryo, are you ok?” She asked sitting next to him. His head popped up and he looked at her his eyes wide.

 

            “Magma… you saw…”

 

            “I did.” She whispered and pulled him to her in a hug, “I saw everything, and I don’t think that soldier wants to destroy you.” He pushed her back and looked down at her.

 

            “What do you mean?”         

 

            “The way he looked, he looked just as sad as you do now.”

 

            “If he was telling the truth about his world it would make sense,” Touma stood next to them and reached down offering his hand to them. They took it and he pulled them to their feet, “I think he is going to keep beating us up until we give up.”

 

            “That is something we will never do!” Shu growled as he lifted Katie into his arms.

 

            “How are we going to fight him when we can’t even wear our armors, Shu?” Touma asked turning to face him.

 

            “We can’t just give up!”

 

            “Nor would it be prudent to just rush in and get yourself killed!” Touma yelled back.

 

            “Stop it, both of you!” Seiji intervened stepping between the two, “Bickering like this will get us nowhere.”

 

            “Seiji’s right. We need to figure out just how we are being affected by the change in the atmosphere. Once we do, maybe we can counter it somehow,” Ryo absently patted Byakuen’s head as he spoke, “I was able to move around a bit more than you guys were, and Katie had full movement and power.”

 

            “She didn’t have full power,” Magma added pointing to the house, “I was about smashed by whatever attack she tried to use and lost control of.”

 

            “Magma, I am so sorry to have dragged you into this. It was the last thing I wanted. I don’t know why Seiji let you come.”

 

            “I told you, if you could get her to go home by all means,” Seiji smiled a little walking over to ruffle Magma’s hair, “Now she is probably never going to leave.”

 

            “Most definitely not.”

 

            “And now there is one more we have to protect,” Ryo sighed.

 

            “I can protect myself,” Magma smiled but the others just looked at her in confusion, “What? You didn’t see…”

 

            “See what?”

 

            “The…uhhh… the awesome way I evaded the falling roof. If you look I don’t have a scratch on me.”

 

            “Then why is your shirt torn in the back?” Touma asked walking up and tugging on the torn ends where her wings had burst out.

 

            “Well, I had one close call I guess.” Magma was a little shocked, they hadn’t seen her at all, so she figured her secret was still safe. However how much longer would it be a secret if they couldn’t fight and she still could?