Tamarah fell back to the floor, blood trickling down her mouth. A look of anger flashed in her eyes as she stared at the black cloaked assailant. With a small growl, she kicked jumped herself back to her feet. The daggers slid away when she fell so Tamarah reached for her long pole, and with a flick of the wrist, it snapped into place. She twirled her staff around, calling up the winds. The huge gusts did not even phase this guy. Was there nothing she could do to bring him down? It was quite foolish to come here alone, but he had to be stopped! Long, thin tendril like fingers taunted her to strike again. There was a lunge, a kick, a swift block that knocked her to the ground. A loud crack echoed as the pole hit her rib cage. How did he get that weapon? Curling up into a ball, there were several more whacks directed along her body. Tamarah gazed up, "Even if you kill me, more will come after you."

The man stood over his victim victorious. There was a low, evil chuckle, "Who said anything about killing you? There are more reasons to keep you alive. For now." A strong punch to the pretty jaw caused his play toy to lose consciousness. He slung the prize over a large shoulder and walked away. An envelope was slung to the ground with the names Spencer and Tyler written on it.

Spencer Hall sat heavily on the front steps of his house, sweat pouring down his torso. The two mile sprint along with the one mile walk after felt great. There was still some water left in his bottle, so he poured it over himself. He stood up to grab the towel set aside on the small porch. After a quick dry off, it was time to do some other training. He unlocked the front door that led into the kitchen and dining area. He went to his fridge to grab another bottle of water before going down the hall to the living room.

This was his favorite room. The walls were red, covered with paintings of Japanese dragons. He also had replicas of old Samurai swords in display cases. He walked to a small end table to light a stick of dragon's blood incense before sitting on a large black velvet cushion used for meditation. He placed his hands upon his knees with palms up. Deep slow breaths escaped from pursed lips as small flames appeared over his hands. With deeper focus, he caused them to dance. After a few moments, the flames dissipated before dying out completely. "Damn it!" Spencer stood, extinguishing the incense before grabbing the water bottle, chugging half of the contents down. While he was trying to figure out what went wrong, the phone began to ring. It was his friend, Tyler. "Hey, I'm in the middle of training."

Tyler placed his hand roughly through shaggy hair, "Spencer, I need to come see you. Now! I know that you're training but this is important!" The young man began to pace around anxiously, "Look, I'm on my way. I'll explain when I get there." Grabbing the motorcycle helmet, he made his way out of the apartment building. He was so upset that finding the motorcycle took longer than usual. Tyler slapped the handlebars before riding toward Spencer's house. It was a regular habit to stop at a convenience store to grab a soda and without thinking, that is what he did. It took a while to get to the destination since he had to travel from the middle of the city to get to the shoreline. Each moment gave more anxiety. The sky began to darken as a streak of lightning lit up the sky. Rain began to fall. "What the Hell!" It would take even longer to get to Spencer now. The bike pulled over as the rain became too heavy. Thank the gods it was a fast moving storm but Tyler now had to speed to catch up for lost time. Finally, the ocean side house came into view. He parked his bike, took off his helmet, then walked right into the house. "Spencer!"

A tea kettle began to chirp, Spencer filled a cup before turning to face his friend. A single eyebrow lifted as he gasped. It took every bit of self control not to burst out into laughter. Tyler stood before him with shaggy red hair sticking up, and the rest of him was dripping wet. "Maybe you should have driven a car?" His voice was calm, low, almost lulling. "Take your shoes off, I don't want mud tracked into my house any more than you have brought in. I will got get you some dry clothes and a towel." Spencer went to his bedroom closet.

"Spencer! Come on! What part of important do you not understand?" Tyler was about to walk after him but remembered that he had to take his shoes off, so he kicked them toward the door. Mud splashed as he did so. With a wince, he went to the counter to grab a roll of paper towels. He took large wads but instead of getting rid of the mud, it only smeared. "You know this can easily qualify as an emergency! We really don't have time to.." He turned to see Spencer holding an outfit and a towel while his mouth began to twitch.

Spencer handed Tyler the items. "Go change while I clean this up." He could see the frustration in the young man's face but turned back toward the sink to grab the bucket in the cupboard along with a sponge. He filled the bucket with hot water and cleaner. He scrubbed his way to the bathroom door to pick up the trail left by Tyler. He then went to a closet to grab a bag. A soft knock on the door before he cracked it open. "This is for your wet things."

Tyler quickly changed, when the door cracked open he roughly grabbed the bag, "Why are you dressing me up like a Japanese doll? Don't you own a pair of jeans or something?" He shoved the wet stuff into the bag, then placed the towel on the floor to pick up the water. He opened the door but Spencer was no where to be seen, so he went to the kitchen. "Seriously, look at me!"

Spencer was sitting at his table, sipping the chamomile tea. He glanced up, "For someone that is talking about an emergency, you still have time to complain about fashion." His eyes narrowed as he took another sip. "What is so urgent?"

"Seriously Spencer, this is not the time for your logic mambo jumbo. After I made my last pizza delivery, I went to Tam's place. I was going to ask if we were still on for training tonight. She wasn't home! I tried calling her phone and she didn't answer! We HAVE to do something!" When he noticed that Spencer didn't move, he called out, "Come on! What are you waiting for?"

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Spencer placed his cup gently onto the holder. "Sensei Tamara is most likely food shopping, or running errands. She probably did not hear the phone. Why don't you try calling again, later?"

Tyler grabbed his face roughly with both hands, "Why can't you take this more seriously? Tam hardly ever leaves her house! I know something is wrong!" He began bouncing around irritated that there was no reaction from his fellow student.

"Unfortunately, Tyler we do not have any other information to go on at this moment. You can not be absolutely sure that there is something wrong. Even if she were in trouble, which I doubt, we have no idea where to look. Sit down and wait." Spencer took another sip and watched as Tyler took a seat at the table with him. "Calm yourself, I am sure everything is fine."

"Why can't you just..." The cell phone began to ring, the number that was on the screen belonged to Tamarah. "Hey! It's Tam!" He ignored the eye roll that Spencer gave as he answered the phone, "Hey gorgeous, you had me....what?" Tyler placed the phone on speaker before laying it on the table. Suddenly a dark, sinister voice spoke.

"It brings me great pleasure to inform you both that Miss Tamarah will be unavailable for... oh I don't know how long. I guess that will depend on the two of you." There was a purposeful pause to raise the tension bar a bit. "This poor, pathetic excuse of a woman thought she could stop me. It is very rude to be stalked, you know? I was followed around all morning. Your precious little Sensei had the nerve to come after me at Coral Crystal Cavern. The fight she put up was quite amusing. I didn't even break a sweat."

Tyler couldn't stand it any longer, "What did you do with her you son of a..." Laughter broke out through the speaker, "You won't be laughing when I start kicking your ass!"

The laughter died, "Oh Tyler, I am sure that Tamarah is DYING to see you try. Stop on by. I'll be waiting." There was a click. 'Call ended' showed on the screen.

Tyler forcefully stood as the chair fell over. "I'm going to get that sick psychopathic scumbag!" A hand grabbed his shoulder while a kick brought the chair back up. Tyler gasped as he stared into the ice cold eyes of Spencer while he was placed back onto the chair.

The clam voice of Spencer was replaced by a cold hissing, "Stop and think! What good will it do for our Sensei to just storm into that cavern without weapons? Do you even know who that man is? We have nothing! Now, sit down while we discuss a plan." Spencer fixed his shirt while he returned to his own seat. The ice in his eyes disappeared, the sky blue hue returned. His voice returned to it's usual tone. "Whoever this man is knows that even though we are not fully trained, we will go to that cavern."

Tyler's body shook from a rush of adrenaline, "So, now what? I mean we can't just sit here while Tam is in danger. You just said that we are going to the cavern. Why are we waiting?" The table started shaking, causing the tea cup to rattle.

"There is a trunk in the attic containing some weapons, go fetch it. Just be careful, it is heavy." There was a wry smile while Tyler went to do as he was told. After the last sip of tea, he made his way into the living room.

Tyler waved his hands around to get rid of the cobwebs. For someone that needed a tidy house, this place was in real need of cleaning. He spotted the chest in the corner and wrinkled his nose at the sight of a large layer of dust that covered the old wooden box. He placed his hands on the side handles, yanking but the chest didn't move. "Huh?" He tugged, he pulled, and even tried dragging it. Nothing. He decided to just take whatever weapons he could out and bring them down. When he opened it, he saw bolts holding the chest in place, along with a yellowish paper with, 'Look Before You Leap' written on it. "Ha! Ha! Very funny!" He went down the stairs to see Spencer with a long thin sword hanging from a belt in a sheath. He was then handed a sword, along with a dagger.

"The cavern is a five minute walk from here. If we run, we can be there within a minute. He opened the door, beginning his sprint.

Tyler finished strapping on his weapons, "The bike would be quicker." He sighed as he went down to the motorcycle. It purred to life, the kickstand went up and he began speeding toward the sand. After a few feet on the beach, the engine roared loudly as the wheels refused to turn. "This just isn't my day!" Tyler threw his bike onto it's side before sprinting, trying to catch up. Spencer was just standing at the entrance, staring into the darkness when Tyler arrived.

"It took you long enough." Spencer made no move to enter the cave. "Use your senses, what do they tell you?"

Tyler looked at Spencer before looking into the cavern. "Well, let's see. It's dark." There was no amusement on his friend's face so he sighed heavily as he began to focus. He closed his eyes for a few moments. "I don't sense anything."

Spencer nodded, "Exactly, I think we're too late." His hands clenched into tight fists at his sides. "Why would we get a call to come over here if he is already gone? This doesn't add up."

Tyler growled, "Maybe he left because you were too busy drinking your damned tea! I swear if anything happened to Tam..." He did not wait for a reply, he ran as hard as he could into the darkness. "Tam! Where are you?" He called out again, "Tam!"

Spencer sighed heavily. A trap was waiting for them, he could feel it. He drew his sword in one hand, dagger in the other as he ran after Tyler.