Ayami, Jounishi and Mink ran into a fork in the road.

-“Which way now Ayami?” Jounishi asked.

-“We go…..left” Ayami replied while examining the map Saneatsu had so kindly given them.   

            The three of them wandered around for about a half an hour while Ayami directed them. Soon they found themselves entering a very eerie area. It was pretty dark because the sun was hidden behind a huge cliff. All the trees were dead and there wasn’t a single creature roaming around.

-“Were the hell are you taking us Ayami!!” Jounishi shouted.

-“Meow! Ya!”

-“To the next town” she said with a smile on her face.

-“Let me see that!” he said while marching towards her.” Baka!!!!!! You’re holding it upside-down!!!!!!!”

-“Oops! I guess that’s why we’re in this spooky place, huh?” she said, still smiling.

            Jounishi and Mink both fell to the ground, feet in the air. Suddenly there was a gust of wind, which sent the map flying out of Ayami’s hand. Mink jumped to her feet and began to chase it. The others soon followed. Mink had almost caught up to it when it flew into a dark cave. They all came to a stop.

-“Meow. Should we go in?”

-“I don’t think we have much of a choice, we’re as lost as ever thanks to Ayami and without the map, we’ll never get to the next town.”

            They entered the cave and tried to find it but unfortunately, it was too dark to see anything.

-“Use your magic silly!” Ayami said while skipping into the mysterious cave.

-“Right!” Jounishi exclaimed as he placed his too hands in front of him. Seconds later, a huge ball of light appeared in front of him. He placed it above them and used it as a flashlight. As Jounishi walked, the ball of light followed him.

-“Yay! The cave isn’t dark anymore! Yippee!” Ayami cheered.

-“What is wrong with you today?”

-“Meow! You’re super hyper!”

- “Well…..before leaving Saneatsu’s house, I had some candies! He had a bunch in his kitchen and they looked so good so I took some^-^!”

            Huge sweat drops appeared on Jounishi and Mink’s head. Mink began to search for the map again and soon after, she found it on the floor.

-“We can go now, meow!”

 Suddenly, Ayami and Jounishi’s eyes widened in shock. The two of them looked at each other.

-“You felt that too, didn’t you?” they both asked.

            They each nodded and began to run deeper into the cave. Mink, confused by the whole situation, just followed. The three of them came to a stop when the reached a mysterious shrine. On it was a symbol that looked a lot like Ayami’s necklace.  The all stared at Ayami’s necklace, then back at the shrine.

-“Should I…try to open it?” Ayami pondered.

-“Lets try.” Jounishi replied.

            They both approached the strange shrine. The moment their hands touched it, it glowed a heavenly white and began to open. In it was a long staff with a pink gem on the top and a shiny blue stone with a gold outline. In the middle was an old letter. Ayami picked up the letter and read:

            Dear Ayami and Jounishi,

                                                      If you are reading this letter that means that our plan to bring you back worked perfectly. Hopefully, we will be able to see you again. From the moment you turned a year old, we knew you two would be the protectors of this world. We are so proud of you two and we know that you will make us proud. These two objects are gifts for you in case we don’t get the chance to give them to you in person. We hope they will come in handy. You two are in our hearts always.

                                                                                Love always,

                                                                                                      Your parents

            Tears poured down Ayami’s cheeks and on to the letter that she held in her hands while Jounishi struggled to keep his tears in. Mink was silent. She felt sad and did not know what to say to help her friends feel better.

-“We didn’t even….” Ayami mumbled. “get to met them….we can’t even thank them.”

-“I….know…”Jounishi managed to say.

            It was then that the staff and the stone began to levitate. The staff stopped right in front of Ayami and the blue stone stopped at Jounishi. Jounishi’s sword began to glow and flew up towards the stone. They both joined together so that the stone was now placed at the handle of his sword. 

-“I guess my sword will be stronger now.”

-“And now I have a staff to help me use spells.”

            The two of them were still sad about their parents’ faith. Mink walked up to Ayami and placed her hand on her shoulder.

-“ It’ll be alright, meow. They wouldn’t want you two to go on being sad.” She said.

-“I guess you’re right.” They both said.

            The three of them returned to the beginning of the cave, but as soon as the reached it, a guy in a brown costume with green spiky hair appeared in front of them.

-“Where do you think you’re going?” the stranger said.

-“We’re going to the next town so move aside!” Jounishi yelled in frustration.

-“I don’t think so, allow me to introduce myself. I am Eisaku, the Earth Warrior.”

-“Meow! Not another Oni Ryuu Senshi!”

-“That’s right!” he started. “Treacherous Earthquake!”

            The ground suddenly began to shake, sending the three of them backwards into the cave. Huge boulders came tumbling down the cliff and blocked the only way out.

-“I’ll just make sure you never get out of there.” Eisaku placed his hands on the boulders and transformed them into metal. “Lets see you get out of this!” he laughed.

            What they heard next sent chills down their spines.

-“I summon…Waotaki! Destroy them!” he shouted.

            Suddenly, a huge earth worm-like monster emerged from the ground beneath them.

-“WAHHH!!!!!” Ayami yelled. “It’s freaky looking!”

-“Hahaha! Enjoy!” Eisaku laughed and with that he was off.

            Waotaki was coming closer to them so Jounishi pulled out his sword and prepared for battle.

-“I’ve had enough of these stupid monsters!” Jounishi yelled as he charged towards it.

            He was ready to slice the worm into two and then electricity surrounded the sword, making it more powerful. He swung the sword with all his might and sliced its body in half.

-“Well that was easy.”

            Jounishi walked towards the two girls when he heard cracking noises behind him. He slowly turned his head only to find that each half of the worm had become a new one. A sweat drop appeared on his head as he stared in shock. Each of the monsters charged towards him so he began to run.

-“Oh shit! Don’t tell me this is really happening!” He shouted.

-“I’ll try!” Ayami said.

            She placed her two hands together and as she separated them a ball of fire formed in between her hands. She sent it towards the two creatures but they went right threw it.

-“Oh no!” she cried.

-“Meow! I have an idea!”

            Mink pointed her finger at the two monsters and a icy blue light covered her finger.

-“Now freeze! Meow!” she said while touching both worm creatures.

            Nothing happened. Mink’s eyes grew big in disappointment.

-“I guess I haven’t mastered that one yet!” She said with her hand behind her head.

-“Don’t worry. What was your plan?” Jounishi asked.

-“Meow. We’ve got to freeze them. Once turned to ice, the slightest damage would shatter them.”

-“Good idea!” Jounishi said while repeating the same procedure as Mink.

            He ran to each monster and as he touched them, they turned to solid ice. Jounishi had a smirk on his face.

-“It’s never a good idea to mess with me!” he laughed.

            Ayami ran up to the monsters. She smiled and then blew on them. They both fell to the ground and shattered into millions of pieces. Ayami giggled.

-“That was fun!” she exclaimed.

            They turned to the exit and tried to figure out a way to get out. Ayami realized that she could heat the metal up with a fire blast and then have Mink break through it with her shuriken. Ayami formed fireballs and blasted them towards the metal. After a few minutes, the metal was melting and grew softer. Mink took out her shuriken, forced it into the melting metal and dragged it in order to make a passageway.

-“Yay! It’s good to be out of that dark cave!” Ayami cheered. “ Now lets get to the next town she said while taking the map from Mink.

-“Oh No you don’t!” Jounishi yelled while snatching the map out of Ayami’s hand. “You’ll only get us lost again you baka!”

-“Fine…” Ayami sighed.

            Mink just laughed. The three of them were soon back on the right track thanks to Jounishi. They had now met two of the Oni Ryuu Senshi and had seen what kind of monsters they could summon. This scared the three of them a bit but Ayami and Jounishi knew that their new weapons would not let them down. After reading the letter from their parents, it only strengthened their will to go on. They would never give up and they would make their parents proud.

-“Will their new weapons help them defeat the Oni Ryuu Senshis? Will the other members of the Oni Ryuu Senshis be as strong as Mitsuko and Eisaku?

                                                                                                  To Be Continued…