One day, five rogue samurai of the same army were looking for the secret of the elements. They had been searching for years now, and had had no luck so far. But today, one of them spotted a distant temple to their left. At the moment they were hiking through an endless desert, so the building was hidden by a large dune of sand. "Good a place to look as any", one of them said. So they started hiking in that direction.
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2 hours later, the men realized that the dune of sand that they thought was blocking just their vision, was also burying the temple. From where they stood, on the dune, they could now see that the worn down palace had many columns separated by about 5 meters. Beyond them was a seemingly infinite staircase leading down, although they soon realized that it was just the darkness. One of the men pulled out the torches and lit them as they reached the bottom, and what they saw was simply awe-inspiring. The room was huge, as large as a- well, no building they had ever seen matched it. At the very back was a Huge, copper statue of a tree, and at the bottom, in a grove, where five scrolls.
As the men walked toward the grove, they could start to make out what was on them. Each had a symbol, and a massive chunk of text- one had a wave, another a flame, the third a chunk of earth, the fourth a gust of wind, and the fifth, a shard of ice. All five men knew what they meant, and without hesitation, lunged for their favorite element, nearly tearing the precious pieces of paper apart. Miraculously, each ended up with one. They all fled the temple in opposite directions, looking to master their new powers.

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Hundreds of years later, a young child from the Ice clan is about to start weapons training. Every boy in this tribe is required to be tested on all weapons by the dojo masters to see if they should become a crystal warrior. His father had become a master swordsman- he was very nervous to see if he would be also. He had been waiting outside the dojo for a while now as another boy he didn't know was being tested. "Masaru!" That was the master calling. The young boy reluctantly walked inside.
"Hello, future warrior". It was the master speaking. Masaru smiled shakily as he walked toward the center. Once directly in front of his teacher, he went on his knees and bowed as he knew he should."You are about to be tested in all of the warrior class weapons to see if you will follow your father. He was a great warrior... Even with.. what happened". Memories of his fathers death flashed through his mind. He remembered the Fire clan warrior that sliced through his heart with a powerful lava blade. He would never forget his eyes as he menacingly went on and killed two others."Okay! First I will teach you the basics of sword-fighting". The words snapped him out of his trance. "O-o-okay". He fumbled over his words. "So. Grip it like this.. dominant hand over the other. Yes... like that".
After an hour of training, the master was ready to do the official testing. "Okay. This is a real blade now, so be very careful. I want you to slice that straw dummy, right on the marked target."
Masaru set his eyes on the dummy. The boy lifted up the sword, and with all his might, sliced at the target. The blade went halfway through. Masaru look expectantly at the master, but he was busily making some calculations with chalk. "How did I do?" In response, the man looked up."Hmm? Oh! yes! your score was 56! the average is 50. You where about exactly average!" The child's eyes fell. "Oh". He was expecting a great score, maybe even a 90; the top was 100."Oh, don't get sad now! there is still 3 more weapons to go!"
Next up was archery. After an hour of training, he fired three shots from 10, 20 and 30 yards. "hmm hmm.. Okay! your score was... 46." Masaru sighed. He had been expecting that, but it was still a disappointment.
The third weapon was daggers, and the final result was a staggeringly low 26. Masaru was starting to get discouraged. There was only one weapon left and that was... The spear? Well, if he didn't get above a 75 on any weapon, he would never become a warrior, so he had to try. The master handed him a spear. Somehow, when the master got him to hold it right, he felt a surge of power that the boy didn't feel with any of the others. Was this his destiny?
After the long hour of training was up, Masaru's spirit was high again. It felt so awesome to bust through the enemy with this weapon, and he even got to learn a little bit on throwing the spear! It was finally time to be judged. "Alright, son. This is it. Engage the dummy exactly on the target running from 10 meters away". Masaru stepped back until the man asked him to stop.
"All right. On my mark. GO!!!" Instantly, he rushed forward with a sense of extreme energy. A second later, the spear hit the target almost exactly in the center. He stepped back, amazed at the power he felt. "Oh my gosh... wow.. your score.. unheard of..." He heard the man mumbling about something being amazing. "What's my score?", he said eagerly."It-its unimaginable... my child... your score... it is 97." He burst out, obviously shocked." What??!!? 97? You're joking, right??" The score was incredibly high. The only one that had ever come close was his fathers; 94, and that was with a sword! "Assistant!" A man came rushing in from outside. "Tell the chief to begin training this child immediately."

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"Masaru... My young soldier.. they have trained you well." The chief said this with a glint in his eyes. At the time, Masaru was 24. "You knew this moment would come eventually... as it does with all great warriors." The young but extremely well trained soldier knew what he spoke of. "It is time for the freezing. When the gods decide that the world needs you, you will thaw out." Marasu considered it a great honor to be chosen for the freezing. Only the very best of the warriors were picked. "Farewell", the chief said, a small tear forming in his eye. Marasu knew that it was time. he slowly walked into a huge cave to begin the process. as he stepped on a raised platform, he could feel ice enveloping his ankles. It went up through his chest and then to his neck. "Farewell", the brave warrior says as the ice begins to not only freeze his body, but his consciousness as well.

The year was 2020. The ice gods knew that the evil flame warriors were rising. 4 Years ago, Masaru had thawed out, and now was the time the good people thought he was needed. For all four of the years he was conscious again, The hero had been searching for Flame warrior hideouts. And now, he had confirmed one. A warehouse downtown. For the past month, he had been spying over there to be absolutely certain it was their hideout, and now he knew that he was. The next day he would strike. The next day all evil in this city would sink underground.

The next day. A Tuesday. Masaru was already there at a back door he had spotted. He knew that there where generally about 60 armed men in there, and also that there was plenty of clutter to hide behind. So he opened the door.

Immediately, he saw a sentry facing inward that he hadn't noticed before. He quickly brought up a shuriken to his neck and slit it, the crystal clear blade becoming dark red. He tosses the body outside and ducks behind a couch with someone sitting on the other side. He jabs through 2 men walking by, hiding them under the couch, then leaps up and strangles the man sitting on the other side, dragging him under also. The ice warrior took a moment to examine his surroundings. He was in a large, dimly lit warehouse with concrete walls and floors. He then rushes to under another table killing 2 others along the way, when he heard a commotion near the main entrance. All the flame warriors were heading over. Masaru looked over toward where they where going and saw a man heavily cloaked in red. From previous spying sessions, he knew that this was the chief.

After a few seconds, Masaru thought of an advantage this may have. Because they were so tightly packed together when greeting their master, He could kill more easily instead of having to keep moving around. Furthermore, he saw an open air duct he could throw the bodies in. So he rushed beneath another table behind the majority of the people. He started driving his spear through the bodies and used the tip as a hook to pull them back in. In this fashion, he easily executed up to 20 of them. But then, while he was driving the sharp point into another, one man turned around."Intruder!!!"

Masaru turned and ran towards the center of the warehouse. The men just stood for a moment, dumbfounded, and then charged. After throwing a few poisoned shurikens and dispatching another two of them, he did a quick head count; Only about 25 were left. But the horde was closing in, so he got ready with his spear.

The first three warriors he sliced through easily before the rest closed in. They closed a tight circle around him ,making it harder to attack. After a while, only 5 more where dead, and he was getting very tired, so Masaru quickly dodged one of their blows to the right and burst through the pack, heading for one corner. He hurt another man with his last shuriken and tried to make an ice bow only to discover that there was no water in the room. So when he was backed into a corner he still only had his spear as protection. For the longest time, he just batted off people with his spear, but they just kept coming back because his blows were getting weaker as he was getting more fatigued.

One of the men finally grabbed his spear, completely disarming him. There were only 10 left, but he couldn't fight them off with his bare hands. "Do you give up, Ice warrior?" he say with a sneer on his face. For the longest time, Masaru just sat with his eyes closed. "Well?" He asks again. The fallen warrior looks up and opens his eyes, some new energy blazing into his soul. Suddenly, a flash of light appears, blinding the thugs. "Gah!!!" one yells. when their eyes focus back in on the warrior, he is standing up, with his strength seemingly renewed. But there is no spear in his hand. Instead, is the fabled Divine Blade, in all it's light, known for slaying dragons. Without a second thought, the men turn and run.

"YAAAHH!!!!" In a flash of speed, four of the remaining ten men are dead. All six of the final goons are running headlong for the door; One trips, dead. Another is too slow, dead. 3 more just can't keep up, dead. the final man has reached the door, but fumbles with the knob. Dead. The warriors blade slowly dissipates in his hand. He just stands there, panting for a second. Then, he turns around to reclaim his spear, only to remember the Chief still standing there. He immediately leaves, the coward that he is, and Masaru gives chase.