• Suichi, Leiko, Kouji, Kinoko, Meicho, Sota, Yuki and their Spirit Guides stood outside of Mr. Hiro’s house staring up at the bland grey color of his house

    “Has this old man not heard of color?” Yuki asked looking around at his porch as they walked up and Suichi rang the doorbell.

    Mr. Hiro cracked the door to look and see who it is and ushered them in quickly

    “Hurry, we don’t want the Darkness to see you here…” Mr. Hiro exclaimed as he slammed the door behind Sota as the seven of them sat in his living room that smelt like mothballs and robitussin, Yuki made a face as if she smelt something gross and she pinched her nose shut as she sat down on one of Mr. Hiro’s couches

    “Alright…We’re all here like you asked Mr. Hiro, now will you tell us why you are active during the Darkness?” Suichi asked, Mr. Hiro nodded

    “A long time ago, I was enlightened also…I had a Spirit guide and her name was Willy, she was a large steed; back then there were eleven of us that worked side by side with Suijin the water dragon, then Amaterasu showed her face and locked up the Dark master…but during the final battle our spirit guides were destroyed…” Mr. Hiro looked down sadly, Yuki chimed in

    “But when someone loses their spirit guide aren’t they cursed with blindness, deafness or they become mute?” Mr. Hiro shook his head

    “That is only the enlightened that have been touched by the darkness, because the eleven of us fought for good we weren’t cursed…we just lost our Spirit Guides and our best friends” Mr. Hiro sat down across from them and took a sip of the tea that he had laid out for them all.

    “Is this why you brought us here? To reminisce?” Meicho scoffed, Mr. Hiro looked as him sternly

    “No, I brought you all here…to train, speaking to you all during the full moon is when the Darkness is at it’s weakest…this is the best time to begin your training, when the Darkness can’t attack us” Mr. Hiro smiled at them all

    “Wait…you’re going to train us? To do what?” Leiko asked as she glanced at Kinoko who shrugged unknowingly.

    “to turn your Spirit Guides into Armor, as well as better weapons and teach you to use stronger magic without passing out” Mr. Hiro looked over his thick glasses at Suichi, who blushed.

    Mr. Hiro ushered them all into his back yard which he had transformed into a large training ground over the few weeks since he discovered the new enlightened ones.

    Suichi and Kiera looked around at the training ground, Kiera looked up at Mr. Hiro

    “You have got to be kidding me…” Kiera said raising a furry eyebrow, Mr. Hiro smiled down on her and nodded

    “This is where you will all train, you will all report here once a week” Mr. Hiro smiled widely showing them all his one tooth again, the seven of them looked at each other oddly

    “Now, let’s get to it” Mr. Hiro clapped his hands together and ushered them all into the sandy fighting ring that he had set up.

    “Suichi and Kiera VS Leiko and Biru” Mr. Hiro smiled as Leiko and Biru stepped into the ring with Suichi and Kiera, Leiko looked at Suichi embarrassed as they both transformed their Spirit guides into their weapons.

    “I want to see you both use magic first…” Mr. Hiro stated as Suichi pointed his sword into the air as Leiko fired off her own spell

    “Phoenix Fire!” Leiko called

    “Freezing Rain!” Suichi exclaimed as the fire flew at him but was stopped by a large group of icicles flying into it and putting it out by melting.

    “Pathetic…how can Amaterasu even think that the seven of you could defeat a Shadow Demon…” Mr. Hiro exclaimed as he pointed at Kinoko

    “You and Sota next” Mr. Hiro said disappointedly, Kinoko shook her head

    “I don’t even have my Spirit Guide yet” Kinoko said sadly, Mr. Hiro looked at her amazed

    “Are you joking?” Mr. Hiro asked, everyone was silent and the only sound was a snowy owl hooting from a tree in the corner of Mr. Hiro’s back yard.

    After hours of training Mr. Hiro finally sent the seven of them home and they planned to come and train every Wednesday night, as the seven of them trudged on their way home beaten and bruised with every muscle in their body’s aching with pain

    “I don’t know if I can handle another training session like that one…” Leiko said as her eyes drooped from tiredness.

    “Hey Leiko…Can I talk to you real quick?” Suichi asked as he rubbed his sore shoulder, Leiko nodded as she managed to sit down on his porch next to him

    “Uhm…do you think you and I can have a one-on-one study session tomorrow night?” Suichi smiled weakly, Leiko nodded

    “Yes of course, are your grades still slipping?” Leiko asked concerned, Suichi shook his head

    “Not yet, but I think that because of this new training regiment…my grades probably will…” Suichi hung his head defeated, Leiko patted him in the shoulder and smiled

    “of course I’ll help you” Leiko nodded and set off for home.

    The next morning Suichi overslept and woke up almost an hour late for school

    “Oh no…” Suichi exclaimed as he jumped up and threw on his uniform and grabbed his backpack as he was running out the front door towards school; As Suichi entered his class and slid into his seat after a long lecture on punctuality from Miss Kagamesh, Kouji passed him a note

    “What happened?” Suichi read the note and quickly scrawled down a reply

    “I over slept” Kouji read the note and covered his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud.

    For the rest of the day the seven of them walked around school like zombies, they could hardly pay attention from being so tired, Kouji and Suichi skipped Swim practice saying that they had a lot of homework to tend to and since their coach was very hard on them all when it came to academics she sent them on their way to do their homework.

    Suichi showed up at Leiko’s house later that night for their study session and Suichi first had her help him with science

    “Leiko…are you sure we’re doing the right thing trusting Mr. Hiro…he seems to know a lot” Suichi said as he scribbled down the answer to one of his questions, Leiko looked at him confused

    “Well, his story seemed very heart felt…” Leiko thought about it for a second

    “Yea…but I get a weird feeling from him” Suichi looked away, Leiko smiled

    “Well…as long as the seven of us work together I don’t think there will be a problem” Leiko smiled at him, Suichi attempted to smile back

    “Leiko…” Suichi smirked as he pulled off her glasses and folded them up next to him

    “Why do you hide your pretty face behind such big glasses?” Suichi asked, Leiko’s cheeks turned a lovely cherry color and she shrugged

    “I jus…” Leiko started but was cut off by Suichi placing his lips against hers and his palm behind her soft neck.

    “What have you learned?” said a figure standing in the shadows to another figure kneeling on the ground before the Dark master

    “I have learned that not all of them have their Spirit Guides, as well as they are not advanced enough to create armor with their Spirit Guides yet” the kneeling figure smiled and a singular browning tooth shimmered in the dim light of the torches against the wall

    “keep a close eye on them, they are going to become a pain in my back side…” replied the shadow figure as it vanished in a flash of dark energy

    “Yes master” replied the kneeling figure as it stood up and walked down the dark corridor as his boots made loud tapping noises that echoed the hallway as he walked away.