• “Hey Suichi are you going to Swim practice this afternoon, the season is about to start…so we had better be in great condition” Kouji exclaimed as he caught up with Suichi, Leiko and Kinoko as they walked to school

    “Oh, I almost forgot…sorry guys I’ve got to run home and grab my duffel bag” Suichi bowed and ran off with Kiera to gather his things.

    Suichi arrived late to class to find Sota standing at the front of the classroom

    “Suichi, you’re late” Sota said sternly, he was substituting

    “Yes, Sorry Sensei” Suichi bowed as he ran off to his seat towards the middle of the classroom

    “As I was saying, I’m Mr. Yamamoto and I’m going to be your substitute teacher for the next week, Miss Kagamesh is going to be out sick” Sota smiled at the class as he wrote his name on the chalkboard

    “Leiko…you didn’t tell us that your brother was a substitute teacher” Kouji whispered in Leiko’s ear, she sat in front of him

    “He just got the job, now hush” Leiko whispered back as she turned to focus on the lesson plan.

    Suichi and Kouji went to the first swim practice of the season, the coach was Miss Yamaguchi; Akira Yamaguchi was also the art teacher, she was kind hearted and sweet, until she set foot on the pool deck where she transformed into a ruthless and driven coach, Kouji had convinced Kinoko and Leiko to stay behind and watch the first practice of the season

    “Look at Suichi go, no shirt…in those skimpy swim suits” Kinoko pointed at the lane that Suichi was currently swimming his laps in, Leiko blushed and hit Kinoko in the arm

    “STOP IT” Leiko exclaimed, Miss Yamaguchi glanced at Leiko and silently told her to keep quiet.

    After practice Suichi and Kouji walked with the girls heading home so that they could take a shower and start doing their homework for the night

    “Are you girls still coming over?” Suichi asked as they turned onto the culdisac, Mr. Hiro was outside planting purple flowers along the sidewalk leading up to his porch

    “Of course, do you want us to wait while you two shower?” Leiko asked as she blushed a little, Suichi shook his head

    “No, Kouji is just going to shower at my house and we won’t be that long, you both can come in” Suichi smiled as the blue sky turned pitch black

    “Here we go” Biru exclaimed as he jumped out of Leiko’s backpack into her shoulder, Kouji unzipped his backpack and Chip bolted out of the opening

    “Yaywegettohavesomefunwherearetheyiwannahitsomethingooohlookattthatoldmanovertherehelookskindascared!” Chip exclaimed pointing at Mr. Hiro who was staring up at the sky with a shocked look on his face

    “Mr. Hiro is active during the Darkness?!” Kinoko exclaimed staring at the old man who had walked into the middle of the street

    “We don’t have time for that…look” Suichi exclaimed as three very large gargoyles appeared in a wave of darkness, the gargoyles had snarling faces and they were drooling from their jagged toothed faces, their glowing yellow eyes sent shivers up Kinoko’s spine, their leathery wings beat against the wind as Kouji, Leiko and Suichi transformed their Spirit guides into their various weapons

    “Kouji, use your wind attack” Suichi exclaimed as Kouji held out his hand at one of the gargoyles

    “Deadly Gale!” Kouji screamed as a gust of wind slammed into the gargoyle the blades cutting into the gargoyle but the gargoyle didn’t seem to notice

    “It looks like they have skin of rock…my attack isn’t working” Kouji exclaimed as he blocked one of the gargoyle’s claw attacks, Leiko threw her shuriken at one of the gargoyles hitting it in the shoulder, but the shuriken bounced off the gargoyle and flew back to Leiko, the gargoyle looked at it’s chipped shoulder and bared it’s fangs angrily, the gargoyle dove down to attack Leiko but she blocked it and knocked the gargoyle back

    “weapons aren’t working either, well if their rock…would water work?” Leiko asked looking at Suichi, Suichi shrugged

    “but I can only use Freezing Rain, I don’t know if I have any other magic” Suichi exclaimed as he blocked a slash from the third gargoyle

    “You do…” exclaimed an older raspy voice, Mr. Hiro had snuck up and was standing next to Suichi holding his rake out as if it were a sword, he made a swipe for one of the gargoyles but missed.

    “Mr. Hiro…what are you doing here?” Kouji exclaimed as the three of them blocked the gargoyles as they made another air strike

    “I’ll explain later, now focus youngun…you can do it” Mr. Hiro exclaimed as he slammed the sharp rake into the gargoyles ribs sending it flying back, Suichi closed his eyes and focused for a few seconds; Kiera appeared in his mind and Suichi held out his palm in the direction of one of the gargoyles

    “Tidal Clash!” Suichi exclaimed as a wave of water errupted from his outstretched hand and slammed into the gargoyle, immediately the gargoyle started to drip and turn into mud

    “It worked!” Leiko exclaimed as Suichi stood next to her panting

    “Yea…but it took a lot of energy” Suichi bent down with his hands on his knees gasping for air, he felt like he had just ran a marathon.

    “Suichi are you ok?” Kouji and Leiko screamed together as they fought off the final two gargoyles, Suichi nodded as he forced himself to stand upright

    “It’s alright, that was a powerful attack…the first time you use one like that is always the hardest” Mr. Hiro smiled at Suichi, his mouth was empty except for one last tooth at the front of his mouth

    “I can do this…” Suichi exclaimed as he held out his palm again, aiming for another gargoyle, the gargoyle swooped at Suichi

    “Tidal Clash!” Suichi called again erupting the wave of water from his hand again and slamming straight into the gargoyles face, forcing him to melt into a puddle of mud like the first, Suichi fell to his knees looking up at the third gargoyle baring it’s teeth angry at them.

    “I can’t…”Suichi started as he fainted into Leiko’s wide stretched arms

    “Suichi!” Leiko exclaimed as she shook him, without Suichi’s power to sustain it Suichi’s sword transformed back into Kiera

    “Careful, we still have another gargoyle to defeat” Kiera exclaimed as she stood in front of a collapsed Suichi growling up at the gargoyle, Kinoko pulled Suichi back behind Leiko, Kouji, Mr. Hiro and Kiera as they stood ready to fight the gargoyle

    “What about a fire attack?” Kouji asked looking at Leiko, she shook her head

    “He’s rock, fire will only make him harder…” Leiko glared up at the gargoyle.

    The gargoyle swooped down readying for another attack

    “Monochrome Massacre!” called a voice as shards of metal rose out of the ground and flew into the gargoyles back, the gargoyle flew back up to see who had hit him; Sota stood a few feet away from Leiko and Kouji

    “The sky turned black on my drive home, I thought that you could use a hand” Sota smiled as he waved a clenched fist which was covered by a spiked glove which they guessed was Gloria transformed.

    The gargoyle roared as he flew down to attack Sota for revenge, Sota waited until the gargoyle was within a foot from him

    “Got ya!” Sota screamed as he drove his fist into the gargoyle’s ugly face sending it flying back, Sota placed his hands on the ground and moved them in a rising action

    “Monochrome Massacre!” Sota screamed drawing more metal shards out of the ground and driving them into the gargoyle, who died in a wave of dark energy.

    “Wow” Kouji exclaimed as the Darkness vanished from the sky and the Spirit Guides all transformed back into their animal forms

    “Thanks Sota, if you hadn’t come who knows what would have happened” Leiko smiled, Sota nodded as he headed off for his car

    “Well, I AM part of the team” Sota winked as he drove off towards school, Leiko and Kouji looked down at Suichi’s unconscious body

    “We had better take him home” Leiko sighed

    “Why didn’t we ask for a ride from Sota?” Kinoko asked lifting a part of Suichi’s body

    “WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN A RIDE FROM HIM?!” Kouji exclaimed accidentally dropping Suichi’s legs, Leiko nodded sadly

    “Damn…” Kouji complained as a white bird flew overhead.