*Lei*

Wanikiya's ice dragon flew over to the Aziean who had knocked out the Toran girl. The draconic shaped spell stuck and froze the Aziean boy's back. But soon the ice was cut down by his fellow members. The young man turned around and removed his hood. He had short brown hair and pale blue eyes.

He grinned at his teammates. "Thanks, Asu, Oma," he said. He turned his eyes back toward Wanikiya. "For one who lost easily to the crown prince of Kyuu Seishin, your spell sure packs a punch. Or maybe that just shows how strong the fox prince is."

Wanikiya smiled as ice prana danced around his hand. "Well, not to sound as if I'm making excuses, but I was at an elemental disadvantage," the Wahkanian prince said, shrugging.

A pair of black angelic wings appeared out of the Azien boy's black. He flew into the air and summoned a white wand. He pointed the wand down at us. A dark purple energy gathered around the tip of the wand. The air around the forming sphere of darkness cracked.

Orion threw several of the needle-like knives into the air, hitting the sphere at several spots. The energy sphere crackled and absorbed the needles. He smiled and walked over to Nyima and me. "Sorry...I hope you don't mind me using your powers again."

I didn't like being treated as a shield or a source of magic to launch through time, but Orion had pulled through for us with the Toran girl.

"It's fine," I said, holding my hand out to him.

Nyima stopped healing me and prepared a water spell. "Just be sure not to get us nearly killed this time."

"I'll be more careful this time," Orion said, taking a hold of our hands. He closed his eyes. "Azie's members fight differently than that Toran girl."

Time slowed around us again. Water and electric dragons flew out of the black sphere and grabbed its caster.

"What?" the boy yelled. The Aziean boy struggled to stay afloat and fell like a stone. He shielded himself with darkness as he crashed into the forest.

Orion opened his eyes and looked at me as if impressed. "Wow, so this is your Fulgur Draco. Yuzuki did say that it was different from typical Fulgur Draco's. It's very powerful, especially when mixed with your Aqua Draco, Nyima."

I smiled. I was lucky that it hit. I was still trying to get my aim right.

Nyima patted his back. "So that's what you were up to with your weapons. That was a good strategy."

He looked at her as if puzzled. "You really do look like my mom."

"Huh?" Nyima said, giving him a confused look.

He looked away. "My big sis told me that during the break. You look like our mother, I hadn't noticed it but she was right. Though, perhaps it's to be expected as you're from the same clan as her."

"Wait, you're a Taiyang too?"

He nodded. He pushed Nyima out of the way and took a blow to the side. One of the boy's teammates had stabbed him with a spear.

The girl knocked him to the ground with the pole of the lance. "Give me the jewel!" she yelled.

Nyima nearly gave me away by turning to look at me, but she quickly glanced at the others.

"Asu," the other girl said. She was having trouble fighting off Zelde. Meanwhile, Wanikiya and Kun were fighting with the guy we had knocked down from the sky. "Hurry up and get the jewel from him!"

Asu surrounded herself in a barrier and checked to see if he had the jewel. Orion looked up and grabbed her arm. He grinned as he stabbed her with one of his needle like knives. To her surprise, the needle went through her barrier.

Asu coughed up blood and backed away from him. "Oma, Del, we have to retreat!"

Orion closed his eyes and smiled. He held a white jewel in his hands. "You've already lost."

"What?" Asu yelled. "How?"

"I knew one of you two had to have it, so I risked drawing one of you closer. Even if it meant... taking a hit," Orion responded, chuckling.

"No! We can't be defeated so easily," Del said, shaking his head.

Orion chuckled. "See... ya... in the... next... event."

Oma, Del, and Asu were surrounded by a green light and vanished.

Orion's arm went limp and the jewel rolled over to Wanikiya. He picked up the jewel and placed it away under his deer skin bag.

"Nice job, Orion," Wani said, smiling.

Nyima chuckled and squatted beside Orion. "That was crazy of him."

Orion, he truly was amazing. If only Ayawamat were here to have seen him in action. Then he would surely have regretted ever having called his one time buddy a weakling.

"That makes two jewels," Zelde said. "Should we head to the mountains, or head back to where we made camp last night?"

Nyima touched Orion's wounds. "I will heal him first, in the meantime decide where we go next."

"I think we should head back," Yen said.

"I agree," I said. No one was pursing us meaning that the others were likely still holding the rest of Tora at bay. "Let's head back and tilt the battle to our favor."

"Sounds good," Kun said.

"Wait, shouldn't we instead stay here," Wanikiya said as he glanced over at the unconscious Toran girl. "We have secured our jewel and gained another, the least we can do is keep them safe by staying out of harms way."

"If you want, you can stay here," Yen said. "Lei, Kun, and I can go on ahead and check. Even if we lose, we still have the jewel we won."

Zelde walked over and leaned against a tree. "I guess that's fine, just don't take too long. Honestly, none of us four are in the state for another battle like that. Not even me."

Nyima sighed. "Indeed. I'm running low on prana after those battles. Had Orion not out smarted that Aziean girl and taken her jewel, the battle could've resulted in our loss."

Wanikiya looked down. "I see... well if things get bad I'll just have to use my hidden power."

"No," Zelde said, sitting up. "It's too dangerous. You still can't control it."

"She has a point. If you use it, it'll be as much a risk to us as to our rivals," Nyima said, glancing over at them.

Wanikiya clenched his hands together. "I don't want to be useless."

"You aren't. In many ways you've done more than I have so far," Kun said, chuckling.

"Wani, don't forget that you froze that Toran girl's hands and the Aziean boy's back. Both those moments helped us change the match to our favor. In fact, the latter helped draw his teammates out. They likely had a sneak attack planned before that," I said, grinning.

Yen nodded. "Kun and Lei are right. You've been a big help. If you get attacked, just battle them off using your usual magic. Don't go to the extremes for a game. It's not worth risking your life and those of your allies."

"Well, we better get going now," Kun said. His smile gradually vanished. "I sense that Hika and the others might be in need of our assistance right about now."

Yen gasped. "Really?"

Kun chuckled. "Worried, eh?"

Our sister puffed her cheeks and kicked Kun in the back of his right leg. "Don't joke around about that."

I laughed. "Now, don't worry, you guys. We shouldn't take too long. We'll be back with our third jewel in no time, so just stay here and hold on."

Wanikiya smiled and nodded.

"You better," Nyima said, glaring at me.

I put my hand over my heart. "You got my word."

She chuckled. "You and your confidence. I can't tell if it's foolhardy or inspiring."

I rubbed my head. "Ha, well I sure hope it's the latter."

"Good luck you three," Zelde said. "Remember to keep your guard up. We'll be sure to do the same here."

The three of us nodded before sprinting in the direction of last night's camp.

***

Yen, Kun, and I returned to the camp only to find it completely destroyed. Hikaru and Ayawamat were fending off a brown haired guy with golden eyes. Meanwhile, Stella was holding off their leader, the blond girl with the bird familiar.

Sirius, Yuzuki, and the others stood next to their fallen enemies. The two seemed exhausted.

"Lei, Kun, Yen," Yuzuki said, looking over. She warped over to us. "Did something happen?"

"A lot did," Yen said. She glanced at the remaining two Torans. "I'll tell you the full details later. What I can tell you is that Orion was hurt."

Yuzuki formed a portal in her hands. "Tell me where he is."

"He's alright now. Nyima is healing him," Yen said. "But if you really want to know, Lei can show you?"

"Huh?" I asked. I was fine with showing Yuzuki where Orion was, though admiringly, I was somewhat jealous to see how worried she was about him.

Yen took a step forward and summoned her wand. "Meanwhile, I'm going to help out Hikaru." She charged at the browned haired boy, only be slowed down.

"Get away," Hikaru said as he clashed swords with the boy.

The white haired girl warped over to my sister and stabbed her with her space shuriken. "Hand over your jewel!" she yelled.

"Yen!" I yelled. I ran over at lightning speed but was slowed down to a speed as fast as my normal running pace. I summoned my wand and transformed it into its dual sword form.

The hole with the pink, glass like film glowed and suddenly my speed increased. I tried to get the girl, but she warped away. I stopped and glanced over to my sister. I could feel her pain. I tried to not think about it as I picked her up.

"So, you have the jewel," the white haired girl said, reappearing behind me. She stabbed my back with a shuriken causing me to drop Yen and fall to the ground. Damn, Nyima was right, I kept getting hurt.

"Lei! Yen!" Kun yelled, rushing over.

He swung at the blond girl with his broad sword but she ducked and delivered a punch to his gut, sending him flying into Yuzuki.

I grunted as the pain intensified. It was no wonder that she had managed to last this long against our team even while her teammates fell one after the other. Though, I had to do something.

"Lei, run!" Yuzuki yelled.

I chuckled and held my sword in front of me. Wind swirled around me. "Since when have you known me to run, Yuzu? You know me, I face things head on!"

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :3. Thoughts? Theories as to what might come next?**