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        Deep inside Talpa's palace, Nathan and Natanya were discussing their battles and having a victory snack.
        "That was too easy.  I mean, I could've thrown cookies and they would've been beaten."
        "Yeah, and all I had to do was lift a simple sheild!  It certanly is good that Strata is so stupid."
        "But I thought he was supposed to be the smart one.  Isn't Kento the stupid one?"
        "Depends on how you look at him.  I acually think he's more gullable than the other's, but not stupider.  I think Cye sticks with him a lot, so he can't be that dumb."
        "I guess.  But no one is as dumb as Sailor Moon!  She didn't even transform!  I just had some soldiers throw her into a portal.  And all the others went down with one hit.  But... that Sailor Venus, something strange about her..."
        "Let's stop talking about them.  It's making me sick.  Hey, Natanya, what kind of sandwich do you want?"
        "Peanut butter & jelly.  I can't stop thinking about that weird force I felt."
        "What's that?"  Nathan stuffed some cookies in his mouth.
        "It was like their was something protecting them, Sailor Venus the most.  That's why I had to use physical force against her."
        "Mmmhhmmm..."  He chewed the cookies thoughtfully.  "Maybe there really is someone protecting them."  He looked up at the ceiling, then back at Natanya.  "We better go check on them."
        They ran out of the room, heading for the dungeon in which the Sailor Scouts and the Ronin Warriors were being held captive.

        "Somebody get me out of here!"  Kento pulled violently at his chains, but it did nothing.  "Man, when I get my hands on that purple freak...!"  He looked blankly at everyone else.  They did nothing but stare at the floor.  Rowen was unconcious.  "Aren't you guys even going to try and escape?!"
        Cye looked up.  "Why?  It's no use, Kento.  You've been trying for the last hour, and you're the strongest of any of us."  He looked back at the floor, which suddenly appeared much more interesting than Kento's complaining.
        Rowen slowly came came to with a moan.  "Heey giez... whoz zat?"  He looked over to where a ghostly figure walked toward them.  It appeared a much clearer to Rowen than to any of the others for some odd reason.  He then fully regained his conciousness.  "Can't you guys see that!"
        "Get a grip, Rowen!  You probably just got hurt worse and are seeing things because of the arrow that YOU shot!"  Ryo glared at him.  "How could you be so stupid?!"
        Rowen didn't care much about what Ryo was saying.  He was still staring at the figure as it became slightly more solid, becoming visible to the others.
        "Hey!  Rowen wasn't kidding!"  Sage had been the first to notice something beside Rowen's failure.  "Look!"  He pointed as the figure began to speak.
        "Hello, Ronin Warriors.  I am Tred, one of the Guardians."  He seemed to trail off for a moment, but quickly came back to reality as he saw everyone staring at him.  Tred settled in the middle of the room and prepared for all their confused questions.
        Kento pulled at his chains once more.  "Hey, GUARDIAN!  What are you going to do about freeing us?!"  He grew angrier as he glared at Tred and the look he got back was calm and a little bit annoyed.  "Hello!  What good are you if you can't even break chains?!"
        "I might ask the same of you, Hardrock."  Tred smirked as Kento quieted down.  "Moving on... I am mainly here to warn you of Talpa and Queen Beryl's plans as they form.  That way you will be more prepared for whatever they may throw at you.  To answer this young man's question, I cannot free you any more than you can free yourselves."  He heard a loud sigh emmitt from everyone in the room.  "Sorry, but I'm having trouble just staying visible.  I'll do everything I can."
        "So... Tred.  What plans are in store for us now?"
        "Well, Halo. I believe Talpa and Beryl are about to call a meeting with their top henchmen, Nathan and Natanya.  I'm going to go see what information I can get from that.  Try to stay conscious, you guys.  I'll be right back."  With that, he teleported away, leaving behind five very discouraged Ronin Warriors.
* * * * *
        Talpa's voice boomed throughout the hallways of the castle.  "Nathan!  Natanya!  Report to me at once!"
        "We better get going, brother.  Looks like Talpa's got a plan."
        "Yeah.  He could've picked a better time to tell us about it though."
        They quickely gathered energy and teleported to Talpa's throne room.  Upon their arrival, Queen Beryl looked up in disgust.  "Finally, you two are here.  It took you long enough... listen well!  You must go and retrieve the Sailor Scouts and the Ronin Warriors!  Bring them to Badamon's chamber so that we can carry out our plan!"
        "Please, my Queen.  Tell us of your plans."  Natanya glanced over at her brother, who looked just as curious as she did.
        "You will be told everything when the time comes.  Now go!"  Beryl's eyes flashed with anger as she got up and started to make her way out of the room.
        Nathan looked over at Natanya.  "We best be going.  Are you strong enough to teleport again?"
        "Of course, let's go."  They disapeared in a flash of light.  Their first destination would be the dungeon which held the Sailor Scouts.
* * * * *
        Mina was slowly reganing conciousness.  That little bit of energy Tred gave her had helped a lot.  She looked around the room and saw that the others were also coming to.
        Serena was the first to fully wake up.  She glanced at Mina as her vision came into focus.  "M... Mina?"  She suddenly perked up and glared at her surroundings.  "What happened?  Where are we?!"  She tried to move her hands but realized they were chained.  "What's this?  Chains!  No, that means we're being held captive by vicious monsters and they're going to suck our brains out!"
        Rei looked up.  "You're not reading any more of my comics, ever again."  A look of pain filled her eyes and she let out a soft moan.  "Ow... I feel like I've been hit with a building.  Ami?  Do you know where we are?"
        Ami's blue visor came over her eyes.  "My mini-computer doesn't know anything about it, except that we're in a different dimension..."
        Just then, footsteps sounded, and the door began to open.  It creaked as it opened farther and farther.  Two purple figures stepped in.
        "It's Natanya!"
        "What do you want?!"
        "It's not important what I want. We have orders to take you somewhere and you are coming.  I don't beleive you have any other choice in the matter."  Natanya's eyes glowed a bright yellow, as she connected all their chains together with powers.  "Come on, Nathan, pull them behind us through the portal.  We'll take them, and then we'll come back for the Ronin Warriors."
        "Right."  Nathan tried as hard as he could to get them through the portal Natanya was creating, but they were fully concious now and struggled with all thier might.
        Natanya grew tired of this, so she walked behind the Sailor Scouts and used a blast of energy to push them through the portal.  "Take that, you stubborn brats."  She walked through the portal and to Badamon's place.
* * * * *
        Tred appeared back in the dungeon that held the Ronin Warriors.  He was doing a very bad job of covering up his worry.  "Ronins..."
        "Hey!  That weird ghostly guy is back!  Maybe he has found a way to get us out of here!"  Kento grew more excited, but stopped when Tred stepped into the little light there was and they saw his face.
        "What's going on, Tred?"  Cye asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice.  "What are they planning?"
        "You may not want to know."
        Five impatient voices boomed throughout the room.  "Tell us!"
        "All right."  Tred began to pace.  "I first kept an eye on Talpa.  He was talking to Badamon about draining the power from you and the Sailor Scouts.  He will combine these powers and use them for evil.  With them, he and Beryl could easily take over the world and everything else."  He looked over at Rowen.  "Then I over heard Queen Beryl.  She has ordered Nathan and Natanya, her top henchme... uh, henchpeople, to deliver you and the Scouts to Badamon."
        Sage glanced at the door.  "So why aren't they here yet?  They can teleport and stuff, so they should have been through here by now."
        "Their powers are new to them, so they aren't as fast as you would think.  Also, they went for the Sailor Scouts first, but you'll be next.  So, they should be here soon
        Ryo grew angry.  "So, what good are you!  You can't even help us out of this mess!  Your just some creepy ghost guy who likes to come and give us a bunch of cryptic messages!"  It seemed that a fire raged within him, as he grew angrier and more impatient.  "Why don't you just go away!  I think we would be better off not knowing what they're about to put us through!"
        "Shhh!  Ryo, I hear something!"  Rowen sensed an evil force coming towards the room.  The footsteps he was hearing grew louder as it came nearer.
        Tred made himself invisible and stood to one side of the door.  Ryo's words flashed over and over in his mind.  "What good are you, what good are you..."  He had thought their was a purpose for him being there.  "I will do something, Wildfire."  He whispered to himself as he teleported from the room.
        The door was flung open, and in came Nathan and Natanya.  "Well Nathan, since you couldn't handle the Sailor Scouts, we'll knock them out first this time."
        "Yeah..."  Nathan gathered energy.  In a blast of black light, the all ready weakened Ronin Warriors were unconsious once more.  They moaned in pain, as they were dragged through the portal.
* * * * *
        "We have brought the Ronin Warriors as you wished, Master Talpa."  Nathan and Natanya smirked as they dragged them further into the room.         "Well done.  Now chain them up over there!"  Talpa called for Badamon, as Queen Beryl entered the room.
        "Excellent!  Now our plan can be put into action!"  She looked over at the Sailor Scouts and laughed.  "Too bad this won't kill them."
        "We don't want them dead!  If they were, we would no longer be able to steal their energy and powers!"
        "Right, my mistake.  Geez, looks like it's someone's time of the month."  Beryl took a seat next to Talpa in order to enjoy the show.
        The Ronin Warriors were chained on a wall that faced the Sailor Scouts.  A small bolt of electricity was sent through them, and they jumped back to conciousness as the shock went into them.
        Natanya's eyes lit up.  "Great, now they'll be able to feel the pain!  Come on, let's get this show on the road!"  She didn't catch the strange glance Nathan gave her.  He wasn't quite as excited as she was.  He would much rather be doing anything else than standing here watching some stupid energy transfer take place.
        Just then, Badamon floated into the room.  "Patience, Natanya.  We are starting right now." He floated in front of a space where five different colored dots appeared on the floor.  The whole room glowed as he used his magic, and the two groups screamed in pain.
        Rowen looked over st Sage.  "This is it, buddy!  Tred wasn't kidding!  I can feel all of my power and skill being drained out of me!"
        "I know what you mean!  I feel it, too!"  Sage looked across at the Sailor Scouts.  He was facing Ami.  Rowen faced Mina, Cye faced Rei, Ryo was across from Lita, and Kento faced Serena.  "Pretty odd match-ups they got here, don't you think?"  Even though he yelled, his voice could not be heard over the screams of pain.  A green light came from him and merged with a blue light which came from Ami.  When the two came together, it formed a small gem.  The gem floated over to one of the colored spots and rested there.  "That must be our powers!"  Sage felt his strength leaving him, and he slipped into a troubled sleep.
        Tred looked on.  He was standing next to the dark blue beam of power coming from Rowen.  "I know what I can do to help!  I'll enter one of the gems, and guide all the others from there!  That way, even though I can't stop them from being created, I can give them to the side of good!  I'll find a group of people to take these powers and use them to save the Ronin Warriors and the Sailor Scouts!"  Tred had made up his mind.  Even though he had been against confinment ever since the incident with the frisbee, he knew this had to be done.  "I'll be back soon, my friends..."  Tred jumped into Rowen's beam, and his scream joined the others' as he was pulled into the crystal.

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