R.A.Z.I. Ninjutsu Academy

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[Introduction]

This is the Land of Welt. This is a land similar to our own, a mirror land and alternate reality, a land where magic and not science has shaped the people and the cultures.

There is less than a quarter of Earth's population on Welt and countries are formed with a feudal system where espionage and assassination techniques and the strength of your ninja keep your country and people safe from harm.

Every country/kingdom/republic has its own Ninjutsu School. Students must pass a stringent entrance exam at a very young age to be accepted. School is tough; of the 200 new students every year, maybe 50 will become Ninja. But those that survive all the way through to graduation will become one of their homeland's most elite and valuable assets.

R.A.Z.I. Academy is the Ninjutsu School for the Republic of Greater North-East Asia, to include the countries of China, Japan, and Korea. Of course, students may be of any race or any country of origin, but graduates will work for the Republic. If they are not citizens of the Republic, they will be by graduation.

This campfire will involve students in their final year at the Academy two months before graduation, two weeks before the Inter-Ninjutsu School Challenge, and one week before the R.A.Z.I. Academy's Top Ten Competition and the revealing of the students' combat style.

If you would like to be a member of this school, you must apply through the "R.A.Z.I. Academy Entrance Exam"

. Invite requests via the campfire will be ignored. You may not choose a sect already in use in the campfire. As several may apply for the same one at the same time, I will choose one and ask everyone else to pick another.

I run a tight ship and I recommend either reading one of my other campfires or talking to someone who has written with me before, or both. If you can handle me, then press on!

~ R.A.Z.I. Academy ~

The quest to become ninja is not an easy one. Training takes 10 years and students are admitted at age 10 or 11. No one graduates early; however, if a student does not pass the final exam, he/she is allowed to repeat their final year, spending a total of 11 years at the academy. Failures and drop-outs are re-acclimated to 'normal' life. Magic is very common, and ninja training is very valuable, so even drop-outs and failures stand a high chance of leading very successful lives. Ninja training is very expensive. Training is free, provided you graduate, otherwise the tuition must be repaid.

R.A.Z.I. is located on a (fictional) island off the coast of Japan. The Academy occupies the entirety of the island. The main campus consists of dormitories for each of the sects, the teachers, and the staff, a cafeteria, library, hospital, halls/buildings/etc for lectures and classes, a general gym, track and field, etc, all the normal things you would expect to see in a boarding school.

Transportation to the island takes place via float-plane or boat and there are facilities for that purpose. There are no telephones, t.v.s radios or the like, no movie theatres or computers. It's the nose to the grindstone 6 days a week, with the 7th being a rest-day.

There is one special building/training dojo for each sect which you may design as you see fit, and that goes for the dormitories as well. You are free to describe your sect classmates and masters and may either be a 'typical' student of your sect or otherwise describe how you are different.

Being 60 days from graduation, there are many pressures being placed upon the potential graduates. The best students in each sect will be gearing up for the competition in which the #1 student of each sect will be sent to represent their school in the inter-Ninjutsu School Tournament.

Class information and character bios will be in the forum, found here: "Student Center"

Let's get this party started!

Sundays at Razi were always peaceful, especially in May. Birds once more flocked to the lakes and streams on their way to their Northern habitats for the summer. Ren lay on his back staring up into the the branches of some prickly bushes, and sighed quietly. He waited for the full cover of dark before he made his move, padding along stealthily and steadily towards the infirmary. The nurse at the desk would never let him in, but he had to see Hammer, to see for himself if he was okay. He circled around the building, set apart from the rest of campus and surveyed all the means of entry. There! An open window on the third floor. Hmm, tricky, with the bushes there.

He backed up under the cover of the deepening twilight, then ran straight at the wall. He leapt, let his feet come into a quick, silent contact with the wall before pushing off, leaping for the next windowsill up. He almost missed, the tender skin of his back pulling painfully, breaking his concentration. He hung onto the ledge, feet scrambling, and then, with just the strength in his arms, pulled his face up so that he could see inside. Ah! He was in luck, the room was empty. In a trice he was inside.

From there it was a simple matter to glide past the staff and find Hammer. He was in a bed in the critical ward and Ren had been there before. He had just reached the door when the rumble of voices made him halt.

His master, Master Aikido, was there: "How is he?"

"Still unconscious. It's better that way, to help with the pain." That was Master Physica, one of the doctors and of the Heart Sect.

Next Ren recognized Hammer's mentor, Master Cosmo. "How badly is he hurt? Will he wake up?"

Master Physica replied, "I don't know. He's suffered severe internal damage, and that's not including the broken bones or external lacerations."

"I can't believe you kept that boy in this school," growled Master Cosmo.

"We can't expell him, he's too dangerous," that was a new voice, one Ren had only heard on occassion, that of Master Maestro, the headmaster of all Razi.

"What about those monks who dumped him on us?" growled Master Cosmo.

There was a pause, perhaps someone shaking their head, then Master Aikido answered, "They won't have him back. He's our problem now."

"If he leaves here," added Master Physica, her voice sharp, "he does it drugged and in a straitjacket. There's only a few places would have him now."

Ren clapped a hand over his mouth to keep quiet, his eyes round with shock.

"It hasn't yet come to that, Physica," said Master Maestro soothingly. "Apparently placing Pandaren with his peers was a mistake, but we had figured the older students would be able to handle him."

"They shun him," said Master Aikido.

"Yes, unfortunate --"

"Well, just look at Hammer!" Master Cosmo interrupted. "He's not the first!"

A loud sigh from Master Maestro. "I am aware of that, Cosmo."

"Eavesdropping is more trouble than it's worth," said a quiet voice in Ren's ear. He jumped, banged his knee on the floor, and whirled around. An aged man with a cane stood there, watching him calmly.

"W-who are you?" stammered Ren. He didn't remember ever seeing this man before, and he thought he'd met all the masters.

"Stay here, then," said the old man, "and find out." He pushed past Ren and entered the bay.

Ren pressed his ear to the crack in the doors.

"Ah!" said Master Maestro, "Yoshi, it is good to see you, my old master."

There were some soft remarks that Ren couldn't make out, and then Master Yoshi asked, "I hear you have something of interest to me?"

"Here, Master," said Master Physica. "We don't know how this student was injured."

"A student did this?" Master Yoshi asked a minute later.

"Yes, one of my students."

"Yours, Aikido? Indeed ... Most interesting." There was the scrape of a chair. "Tell me more."

Ren listened as the masters spoke of the day he'd arrived at the school. He shivered involuntarily as he listened. The curse had come upon him when he was fourteen and by the time he'd turned sixteen he could not control himself even for simple things, like shaking hands or eating a simple meal. The monks had done the only thing they could think of, they'd drugged him into a stupor and brought him here.

"We couldn't direct whatever this is into magic," continued Master Maestro. "He has no affinity with it, nothing strong enough to direct it."

"But those priests were training him to be Shaolin," Master Aikido said, "almost a master himself in their ways. The boy can fight, that is true enough, so I took him on."

"He did well for a while," Master Maestro went on, "He seemed to get on just fine, and then, in a sparring exercise, he broke a boy's leg."

"Not just broke," Master Physica snorted. "Completely shattered. It had to be totally replaced."

"We thought it was just a fluke, but these things keep happening, and now Hammer here," said Master Aikido sadly. "He'll do well for a time and then ... well, as you can see."

"Anything significant happen just before any of these episodes?" asked Master Yoshi.

"Not that I can determine, Master," said Master Aikido. "The boy will not speak, and his instructors can shed no insight, either."

"Well, seems like a hopeless case," said Master Yoshi. "What do you expect me to do about it?"

"Master," said Master Maestro, "please, we do not want to send this boy to live inside padded walls for the rest of his life. Many times the young come here when their families can no longer deal with them. Seldom one so old, but then, the troublemakers were always your specialty. I should know, eh?"

There was an answering chuckle. "Very well, my student, I shall observe the boy and see what might be done. By the way, he's listening outside."

Ren bolted, but hadn't taken more than two steps when Master Aikido caught him by the neck in his vise-like grip. He stopped struggling at once, knowing he'd only end up with a massive bruise and headache if he didn't go just where Master Aikido pushed him. Now he was propelled right into the room where he'd wanted to go only minutes before, thrown to the floor encircled by the masters. He curled his feet under him in a half-kneeling, half-sitting position and bowed his head, his face red with embarassment.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Master Yoshi. Ren almost broke discipline and looked up, no one had ever questioned his master before!

"He is my student, Master," said Master Akido in a low voice.

"Aikido!" said Master Maestro in warning. He continued in his normal voice, "Pandaren, why are you here?"

"I -- I wanted ... t-to see Hammer, Master."

"Here to finish the job!" snapped Master Cosmo.

Ren bit his lip, hands curling to fists where they rested on his thighs. He stared down at the floor in silence.

"Leave us!" Master Yoshi requested unexpectedly. "I wish to speak to the boy alone."

"But -- " started Master Physica, but Master Maestro stopped her and Ren watched four pairs of feet walk past him, heard the door close and latch.

"So, Pandaren," said Master Yoshi. "You care for this student?"

"He -- he is my friend, Master."

"Oh do get up, boy! I can't hear you proper when you're muttering into the floor."

Ren sprang to his feet, turning to face the aged master, sitting on a chair. Ren fell into the warrior's stance, hands clasped behind his back, staring straight ahead. He was not tall, but he felt huge compared to this man.

"You may have killed your friend, Pandaren."

"I know."

"How does that make you feel?"

"I -- beg pardon, Master?" he dared to glance down. The little old man watched him impassively.

"How do you feel?"

"I -- but -- A samurai has no use for emotions, Master."

"Don't repeat that crap to me!" snapped Master Yoshi.

Ren took a half-step backwards from the power that buffeted him. Shaking, his gaze dropped again and he shifted, trying to regain some semblance of his equilibrium.

"You have lost your center," Master Yoshi observed quietly. He rubbed his jaw, eyes half-closed in thought. The boy hid his emotions well, but they roiled there just beneath the surface, plain to see if you only knew what to look for. He did seem well-disciplined, but so much fear, what could be causing that?

"Tell me what you do in the mornings, Pandaren. And," he added, as the boy opened his mouth, "I don't mean what you're supposed to be doing, I want to know what you really do."

"I -- I rise before dawn, Master," Ren answered. "I run, for an hour, then meditate, then train. I come back to bathe and then breakfast, and class."

"You keep the monastery schedule then, that is good. You are my student now, Pandaren. Your mornings belong to me now."

"But, Master --"

Master Yoshi raised an eyebrow. The boy dared speak back, a samurai questioning orders?

"Your masters will know that you are with me, Pandaren."

Ren bowed. "Yes, Master."

Master Yoshi rose with a groan and made his way towards the door. "Stay with your friend a minute if you wish, but I suggest you get some sleep."

"Yes, Master."

Ren watched the strange old man leave the room out of the corner of his eyes, astonished all over again that someone so decrepit could have sneaked up on him. Then he went to Hammer's side. He shifted from foot to foot, staring at the mass of tubes and wires and gadgets beeping and whirring and dripping at his friend's bedside. He seemed peaceful enough, other than the tube sticking out of his mouth. He touched the fingers where they emerged from the cast on his arm, but quickly drew his hand away again, afraid he'd inadvertently cause him even more pain, despite what the masters said.

Tears threatened again and he sucked in great lungfuls of air to stem the flood of emotion. He turned and ran from the room, but he didn't return to the small cubicle that served as a bedroom. He climbed to the top of the dormitories and went out onto the roof, perching on the edge.

How he longed for the peaceful days of the monastery! Everything was peaceful, like every day was a Sunday in May, everything in harmony with everything else. He'd never known any other way of life until he'd come here. The noise and commotion and everyday chaos that everyone else took in stride jangled on Ren's nerves. His only peace was in the early mornings, keeping to the traditions he'd grown up with. The monks there were in some ways far more mystical and magical than the masters here, even if most of them had taken vows of silence. Noise was not tolerated at all, it was the primary reason Ren was so quiet even now, he knew of no other way to be.

Exodeus was silent within the special training dojo. There were several others quietly at work, sparring, training themselves, and meditating. Quiet feet shifted and sprinted along the padded floor. Measured breaths could barely be heard as they practiced forms or did push-ups to maintain physical strength. Exodeus occupied a lone corner within the dojo and others did not draw near. It was one of the few times during the day he did not have others thronging about him chattering away about techniques, new abilities, homework, or what they felt were useless assignments. Also, his summon Vie, deterred many who might have approached him otherwise to join in the silent meditation.

Vie was an anaconda. Most students had never even seen hardly any kind of animals and knew just as little about many. The daunting size of the serpent which was larger than anyone at the school was the one thing about Exodeus that made him less desirable as a friend. If his snake was out, most kept their distance. It was much unlike its master, though it appeared calm on placid on the surface, those who drew near to stroke or caress it were met with a hostile hiss or a warning leap in their direction. Exodeus and Exodeus alone was allowed to touch her.

His meditation was also a method of his physical training. He was standing with arms spread out perfectly horizontal. The snake was wrapped around up around his body and draped its massive form along his arms weighing him down very heavily. He struggled to center his mind as well as keep himself standing without letting his arms drop.

Vie slithered lazily around him coiling most of herself by his feet. She could sense her master's weariness and did not want to burden him too much longer. The snake let go a wide mouthed yawn. Unlike most anaconda's Vie had pronounced fangs that carried within them a paralyzing poison that Exodeus was known for concocting. Even though the poison was not fatal, it was easy to tell the bite itself from a snake so large could very well be.

His first classes would be starting soon. Exodeus opened his eyes, breaking his meditative state. It took him a moment to focus as the trances were normally very deep he became disoriented a few seconds after coming out. Vie was now off of him completely and looked at him with cunning eyes, her tongue flitting in and out. Exodeus smiled with some measured amount of amusement at the anaconda. She was not as spectacular looking as other summons he had encountered from students. Yet she was every bit as powerful and since he had won all his battles...eventually, he would go as far as to say that she was more powerful.

"Come Vie...I think we should not linger too long, training and classes soon start." The snake hissed contently and seemed to vanish into nothing. His crystal glowed a gentle purple light before it went back to being a normal amethyst stone.

A samurai student did the same thing every day. Repetition, repetition, repetition! Until the action was mere reflex and the body moved without the mind having to think. A samurai always did what he was told and a samurai was never late; he was always exactly on time.

Except, thought Ren, jogging down the path, I always seem to be late!

The day had progressed as normal, with his morning exercises. He had gotten into the showers without incident and managed a decent breakfast but at that point things had slowly started to go wrong. He'd fallen in as normal before the Samurai training dojo, which unfortunately drew the attention of one of the instructors. Master O had pulled him out of line and started scolding him, in front of everyone and that had drawn Master Aikido's attention.

Ren sighed and picked up the pace. He had detention at lunchtime and he didn't want to also anger Master Yoshi. He didn't know that master at all and wasn't sure what to expect. Why couldn't the master have told him where to meet him?

He followed the trail towards the harbor but turned off to climb up to the bluffs overlooking the bay. He found Master Yoshi sitting on a sun-warmed rock facing the ocean. Ren dropped to a similar cross-legged position, panting.

"You're late," said Master Yoshi evenly, not opening his eyes.

Ren bowed. "Humble apologies, Master." The master shifted, and Ren braced himself, but no blows came. Just more silence. He dared to look up, saw Master Yoshi watching him, it was so hard to tell what he was thinking from his face!

"Why are you late?"

Ren bit his lip, loathe to explain, sure that this master would not like it. "I ... uh, wasn't sure where to meet you, I --"

Master Yoshi's lips pressed into a thin line. "I see." There is a moment's pause and then he sighed. "Then let us delay no more. Tell me about this friend of yours. Hammer."

"Hammer's a Geomancer, Master. He can make the earth move, shake, manipulate it into objects, and sometimes he can make it grab the feet of his opponents."

"Does he have other friends?"

"Oh, yes, Master. Hammer says that ... that everyone deserves a chance."

"Wise. Go on."

"Yes, Master. Hammer calls my forms dancing. He says that if he could move like me, he'd quit this place, go out on the road, and pick up girls."

Master Yoshi chuckled. "How long have you known him?"

"I only met him this year. He ...."

"Yes?"

Ren stared down into the water. "He made them stop picking on me."

Master Yoshi surveyed his young pupil covertly. "You did not fight back."

"No, Master."

Why am I not surprised? "Because you did not want to or because you were afraid?"

"I -- I was afraid, Master. I don't know what I do, I never know when --"

"That is also wise, Pandaren. Restraint is its own kind of courage. Do you have any other friends?"

"No, Master."

"Hmmm. Show me what you were doing when Hammer was injured."

Ren blanched. "B-b-but, Master! I don't know! I swear I don't know!"

Well, he's certainly not going to be able to do anything in that state, thought Master Yoshi. He waved his hand. "Pandaren, you must calm yourself. Meditate with me now."

Ren closed his eyes obediantly, relieved not to be continuing that line of questioning, and listened to Master Yoshi's soft instructions. He sent himself to his safe place, in the hills above the monastery, sent his body through the forms, gathered the peace back upon himself. The clouds were calling now and he let himself go, drifting among them.

Master Yoshi watched Pandaren avidly, continuing in his persuasive tone. Hypnotising the boy had been far easier than he'd expected. Evidently, he was unaware of the technique, possibly due to having been raised in such a sheltered environment. Not magical at all, hypnotism had helped in many instances, and it would again. With his voice, Master Yoshi instructed Pandaren to return to the day before, to the morning, having him experience the day again. The body relaxed more, the fingers twitching in his dreams. He knew when Hammer popped up in Pandaren's mind, for the boy smiled gently, a true smile, such that Master Yoshi had yet to see on his face and his old heart ached a little to see it.

Now Master Yoshi sent the boy to his feet and watched as the scene unfolded before him. With himself playing the part of the injured Hammer, Master Yoshi prompted Pandaren through the acts of the day before.

"I'm ready, Hammer," said Ren, stretching.

Hammer yawned. "How do you stand getting up this early all the time?"

Ren laughed and bounced a little on his toes. "This isn't early!"

"I just need to wake up a little." He rubbed his eyes and yawned again. "Go do that thing you do. I'll just watch a bit."

"Okay. Hurry up."

Ren started into his nanquan form, a good exercise for limbering up. The form stayed mostly low to the ground, hand movements and postures, mostly, with a few kicks. He jumped, spun around in a circle, and landed on the same foot, dropping the other to leap over in a backflip. As he reached the top of the arc, the ground reached up and smacked him, bowling him over in mid-air. He caught himself and recovered quickly, giving Hammer a wolfish grin.

"Catch me if you can!"

Now Ren went back to the changquan form, full of its kicks, at times almost seeming to fly parallel to the ground. He laughed as he dodged one of Hammer's earth-tentacles, spinning around -- and ran straight into something goey, that wrapped itself around him. He shrieked in fear, forgetting form, struggling madly. Pulling his arms and legs in tight, he threw them outwards, shattering the clay cage and spinning out in an immediate counterattack. He landed in a crouch, facing a jagged, body-size hole in the wall directly where Hammer had been standing a moment ago.

"Hammer!"

Master Yoshi grunted, blasted over backwards into the grass.

Dropping out of his trance with a start, Ren stared about, uncertain, confused, seeing both the dojo and the meadow super-imposed upon each other until he wasn't sure what was real. Then he heard the master curse. "Master!" He ran towards him.

"Drat these old bones," wheezed Master Yoshi. He allowed Pandaren to help him up.

"I'm sorry, Master, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" babbled Ren.

Master Yoshi rubbed his chest with a grimace. Pandaren had been halfway across the meadow, no way he could have touched him, and yet, Master Yoshi felt like he'd just been kicked by a draft horse at close range. That was going to leave a mark. What was that? He'd never seen anything like it. And, if Hammer had caught the full force of that, well, it was a wonder he hadn't been killed outright.

"Pandaren. Pandaren!" He grabbed the boy's wrists, shaking him to get his attention. "Listen to me, Pandaren," he said, staring intently into his tear-streaked face. "This is not your fault, do you understand me?"

Ren shook his head, unable to stop the horrible flood of tears, or his own trembling. "No, Master!" He saw again Hammer's body lying on the ground, blood trickling from his mouth, eyes wide open in horror. "Oh, Master, I've killed him, I've killed him! I know it!"

He sank to the ground, sobbing, his wrists still capured in the deceptively strong grasp of old Master Yoshi. He had never just let himself cry like this before, for tears were a sign of weakness, beaten out of his classmates years ago, and something they would never cease tormenting him over if they ever found out. But now that he'd gotten started, he couldn't stop. He didn't know when Master Yoshi released his hands, but he could feel the old man patting him uncertainly on the shoulder. He fully expected the old man to just leave him, to wash his hands of the monster that he was and send him away to someone else, but Master Yoshi continued to speak softly.

Sitting on his knees, Ren hugged his arms to himself, hunched over, face pressed almost to the ground, gasping for breath and sobbing silent, wracking tears. As he cried, a knot inside of himself seemed to alternately tighten and loosen, generating more tears with all the pent-up fury and despair he'd held bottled up inside of himself for years. He cried for Hammer, but mostly he cried for himself, for the loss of everything he held dear, for the parents he'd never known, for the friends turned to strangers and enemies in the blink of a birthday. He was alone, so alone!

Master Yoshi patted Pandaren's shoulder awkwardly and frowned in concern. There was so much grief and pain pouring out, far more than he'd expected. Thinking upon what he'd seen, Master Yoshi pursed his lips in consideration. The mock combat had seemed to be going along just fine, just two boys testing their limits, playing, if one considered that one of the boys was a samurai. No sign of trouble at all until that ... thing, had grappled with Pandaren. What had that been? Seeing just Pandaren's actions was only half the puzzle. Hammer, he'd said, controlled earth, so perhaps mud? He grunted. A golem, then. Was Pandaren claustrophobic? It was an absurd notion, a serious handicap for a ninja, but that would explain why he'd gone into a panic.

When at last the wracking sobs eased, Ren hiccuped a few times, and then that, too, passed. He drew in a couple deep lungfuls of air and sat up, biting his lip in worry as he met the old master's eyes. He expected to see disgust or revulsion reflected there, not the sympathy he saw, and he paused, uncertain.

"How do you feel?" asked Master Yoshi quietly.

"Tired, Master," sighed Ren. He ached, mind and body, but he also felt lighter, strangely liberated. "But ... I don't hurt so much any more."

"Good. Anything else?"

"I'm ... angry."

"Why?"

"I -- I could have killed you, Master!" He curled his hands into fists in his lap. "And you let me do it!"

"Yes, I did."

"Why -- why are you so different?"

"I am old, Pandaren, I have seen many things, been a teacher of the ninja for more years than you've been alive, at least twice as long." He smiled. "But I have a, you might call it a knack, for drawing out my students' talent. You should be impressed; they called me out of retirement for you."

"Really?" Ren didn't know if he should be awed or grateful or horrified.

Master Yoshi chuckled. "That is probably a wise reaction. You see, we train our students in means passed down to us from our teachers going back hundreds of years. They are designed for the majority of our students. When occassionally one comes along that does not fit the standard, there is difficulty, for the masters, and for the student. You are one of those, Pandaren. You are strong, in here," he tapped his heart. "Not like the rest of the Samurai Sect."

"I don't understand."

"Don't worry, you will. Tell me something, Pandaren. Why do you stay here? Why do you want to become a ninja?"

Ren blurted out the first thing that came into his head. "There is nowhere else to go." He paused, thinking hard. "And ... I guess ... I have something to prove."

"Don't we all?" mused Master Yoshi. "Go now, it is late. Be on time tomorrow."

"Yes, Master."

Exodeus stood before one of his class partner's. His name was Varamance. The two were rather close, as Varamance had been the first to ever befriend him when he arrived at R.A.Z.I. Varamance was a disciple of Kant, his powers were quite immense as well being that they sect was one of the most powerful.

"To defy laws that all others are bound by is my greatest strength," Varamance said to Exodeus. Exodeus only shook his head with a smile.

"You know Vara...all of life is riddled with regulations and restrictions. I am of the opinion that Kant gives you the notion you can surpass them all." Exodeus walked slowly around the empty dojo. It was very late and no other students were present. Varamance hated drawing attention when he used his powers, but he loved more than anything to battle. He and Exodeus were nearly complete opposites. Varamance prided himself on being highly offensive while Exodeus maintained complete defense in his tactics with limited offensive abilities if he got an opening.

"I may sound arrogant but I am no fool, I do not underestimate others," Varamance smirked slightly, he held two swords in his grip. The air around him seemed to shimmer and shift slightly as if waves of heat were coming up from the dojo floor. He wore white robes that waved in a wind that blew for Varamance alone.

"Yet, you overestimate yourself," Exodeus had no creature out just yet. He was considering trying to summon a new one he had been practicing. Yet if he got it wrong it would be most difficult to battle Varamance and manage to summon another.

"Haha, let us see, go ahead...I will even allow you to summon without attacking you," Varamance halted their prowl for a moment. His eyes glinted a bit in the candlelight. They preferred lighting candles and lanterns as opposed to using the electric lights.

"If you wish it," Exodeus closed his eyes giving over his full concentration to the summoning. His amethyst light flooded the room with its radiance. The light was soft and warming as if the final rays of a sunset were coming through a cracked window and swirling into an otherwise dark place. Exodeus's lips moved swiftly as he recited the words of the summon aloud in words Varamance did not understand. Lines spread out from Exodeus and seemed to etch themselves into the dojo floor. These lines glowed the same soft amethyst that his crystal did. A pattern slowly came to fruition about Exodeus as he started to speak in words Varamance could again understand.

"The Silver Back Gorilla, Mammon, defend the one who summons you," Exodeus finished the summon. A large gorilla with dark fur all over save for its back which was a dazzling silver rose from the pattern out of the dojo floor at Exodeus's side. The pattern vanished instantly and the gorilla looked to Exodeus, then to Varamance whom he could tell was the one planning to battle his master.

"I'm impressed Exodeus, this is a new one, is it not? I expected Vie," Varamance looked the gorilla over, "Mammon is it?"

"No more talk, we finish this now," Exodeus raised his chin a bit and clenched his fists. Varamance felt as though Exodeus looked different, larger, more built. He looked to the gorilla and nodded.

Of course, he takes on aspects of what he has summoned...he must be a bit faster and much considerably stronger than normal, Varamance thought as he brought one sword behind him and the other in front. It will not save him.

Varamance cut loose his first attack, his sword swept before him in a horizontal fashion. The air rippled like a great wave of the ocean was traveling across the room towards Exodeus. It was a 'psychic wave' Varamance's fighting style was based on using solely spiritual energy to crush an opponent.

Mammon charged ahead of Exodeus acting as a shield and barreled headlong into the wave of spiritual force breaking it like so many ocean waves break along the shore harmlessly. The large gorilla charged ahead trying to get within range of Varamance.

Varamance stepped backwards bringing out his second sword from behind him and cutting it upwards in an arc as he executed another attack in a single word, "Backlash." Mammon was smacked in the face with a burst of spiritual energy which caused him to slow but not by much. Then again. Again. Again. Mammon fell skidding along the floor to rest at Varamance's feet. He looked up too late to see Exodeus had been just behind Mammon staying protected from any of the attack. He struck Varamance against the jaw. Varamance was jarred more than he had imagined he'd be. He flew back by Exodeus's newfound strength and slammed against the dojo floor, his swords flying out of his hands.

Exodeus was on top of him pinning Varamance's arms behind him firmly. Varamance looked up into Exodeus's eyes who were fierce, not the same as the eyes he was so accustomed to.

"I don't think you quite have control over this creature yet," Varamance whispered.

"You criticize me and yet I stand here victorious? With no weapon to focus your power through, you won't beat me." Exodeus looked at Varamance wondering if he had more to say or a point to make.

"Let's call it a night hm? You should practice more with that gorilla. You could get pretty strong with it." Varamanace tried to get up but Exodeus held him down.

"Why did you say I can't control it?" Exodeus demanded. Varamance sighed. Exodeus went soaring across the dojo. He had felt like he was uppercut by a huge fist. Exodeus bounced on the padded ground and rolled to a stop. A small bit of blood trickled from his nose and lip.

"As you can see, I could have vary well beat you Exodeus. This creature has more influence over you than you do on it," the gorilla was struggling to get to get up from the hits it took from the Backlash attack Varamance had unleashed. Exodeus sighed knowing he might very well be right. It was a two-way road. The summon was influenced by the Crystal user but the summon changed the user as well giving them a piece of the original master's personality. It was warned against using summons that were stronger than you because they could very well take over your body and in a way possess you.

"Thanks Varamance..." Exodeus muttered. Mammon vanished from sight in a flash of purple and white light.

Black color still dominates the sky. But orange glow can be seen in the far eastern sky although faint. Kagami stands in the middle of the track field facing the freshman. This week is his turn in taking care of the freshmen.

“Okay, you know the drills. Do some warm up and give me 100 laps. Then exercise your chakra for 10 minutes before cooling down. You all better finish at six or you won’t have time to prepare for breakfast.” Kagami gives order to the freshman. He picks one of the freshmen to lead them and went to the side of the track field.

He stands on the wall that bounds the track field. At the place where he is standing he can see the freshmen from the girl’s dormitory. They are led by a female senior. Their senior seems to give some instruction before walking towards Kagami.

“Hi Kagami. Are we late?”said the senior.

“Not at all, it’s just that we arrive earlier than expected.” He sees towards the source of the voice.

Aya, the name of the senior already stands beside him. She is the pride of Chakra. She is an oddity since none of the sect member aside from her is a beauty. Aside from the look, everyone know that she is the brightest female student on the sect. She is also friendly towards everyone. The freshmen are looking up to her and the guy awestruck by her including Kagami.

“Why don’t you accompany them? I didn’t see you in the field this morning.” She asked Kagami. Her eyes catch up with Kagami’s eyes simply since they’re about the same heights.

“Oh, I did my portion at the hill near the backyard. The sight is pretty good in the morning though it’s a bit dark.”replied Kagami. He tries to make the conversation as casual as possible since he can feel his heart flutter when he looks into her eyes.

“Really? Maybe I ought to join you sometimes”.said Aya. “Wait here for a moment” she left in a hurry before Kagami was able to respond as she looks her freshman called up to her.

(i)If you join me, I will die because my heart will beat five times faster than normal. Please have pity on me. But really, a student under the teaching of deception can’t lie to his own feeling? What a bad joke.(/i)

Kagami mumbles to himself. He sees Aya walking towards him once more.

“I’m sorry. What were we talking about?” she speaks to Kagami and realizes something. ”Wow, you even had begun training your chakra.”

Realizing what she mean Kagami responded to her “You mean the bone stretching? It is not training. I had to do this on regular basis, if not I won’t feel accustomed to the feeling since I am taller than most of my disguise.”

He pulls a needle from his back. His body slowly stretches returning into his normal height showing their differences in height since Aya’s head is only as high as his chin. He redoes his clothing since he can only manipulates his bodies, not his attire.

“Shall we exercise our chakra?” Aya asks him. Kagami nodded so both of them turn silent starting to concentrate their energy to their chakra.

The freshmen that are running in the track start paying attention to them. They haven’t received the chakra manipulation training so they’re interested in it.

They saw both Kagami’s and Aya’s skin gradually changes from one color to another. It turn brown chest nut at first, then turn into pale white before turn completely black. After the skin, it’s their hair color that change into red, brown, blond and white.

They keep on doing the exercise until they join the freshmen for meditation and cooling down before they disbanded them.

Bambi

Morning shadows danced at the edge of Nnena's vision as she jogged down the path, only illuminated by the rising sun. Her hair flew behind her as she picked up the pace, sprinting back to the dormatories. She quickly showered and dressed in a casual fitted robe, tucking her shrukien into her sleeves and preparing for the day ahead.

She skipped breakfast. Nnena's stomache was in knots. Like every night, she had a dream that menacing shadows ripped from her control, attacking her feriously. She shook her head and got to her sect training class.

She was the first one there. No surprise. The soft colors of the dojo relaxed her tense muscles and fed her eyes diverse tones, full of detail. Master Kurokwa was meditating on the floor by the temple of the Wise One.

"Nightmares again, Nnena?" Her soft voice rumble through the empty space between the two.

"Yes, Master." She bowed her head, shuffling over to the aging ninja.

"But you must eat, my dear. You'll never have the stamina you need to get through the day."

"Yes Master, but I'm fine, I assure you. It's just the jitters, I guess." Nnena took her position beside her master.

The silence between them burned through the young ninja's bones. She stood suddenly, turning to pray to the Wise One, kneeling and placing her hands together.

The silence was inturpeted by Nnena's best friend, Saya Kuraboshi. She had burst through the doors, gabbing on about somthing that happened at the breakfast table that morning. Master Kurokwa sent her a glare and returned to her meditation.

"Saya! Be quiet!" Nnena scolded in a hushed tone, sending a sidwards glance at her.

Her deep midnight black hair swung in a low ponytail, shimmering in the low lighs of the dojo.

"Sorry. Do you want to warm up?" Though she had been around many cultures, her Asian accent remained.

Nnena nodded and hopped up from her rather uncomfotable position. Luckily, Saya was in her group of 4, along with two other girls.

The two stood across from each other, hands clasped at their sides, preparing for the first move. The dead air between them was enough to make the asian girl giggle, her dark brown eyes in closed in an act to keep them from watering. Nnena found her chance. She summoned the shadows that rode along the edge of the dojo, sending them flying at the amused girl. She shrieked, thumping hard on the ground as they rippled past her.

"Hey! Not fair!" she squealed as she prepared for a counter attack.

A few other students came in, chatting on about their problems and such.

"Okay, ladies. Let's begin to assemble our groups, shall we?" Master Kurokwa's normally soft voice was rough and demanding.

"Ah, man." Saya muttered as she joined Nnena in a circle.

The class waited in silence as the final heaps of people sauntered through the door. Mady and DeLilah, the rest of the Saya and Nnena's group, joined them, placing their hands behind their backs.

"Okay, everyone. Spar with your groups, working conrtoling multiple shadows at once." The old woman's voice rang out into the air, followed by slight groans and mumbles.

"This is elementary stuff!" Nnena whispered to DeLilah, while preparing to summon the shadows.

Mady, the clever girl from Hungary, was the guinea pig for today. She stood still, her grey eyes closed into cresents, anticipating the blows she was about to receive.

An easy lesson that went by fast, even if time did not. Once the traing ws over, Nnena and DeLilah headed to Stealth. Ah, stealth. Her favorite elective. Her favorite teacher too. Master Ghana. He smiled warmly as the students filled his classroom.

"I'm so ready for a break." DeLilah said, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Nnena said with a twinkle in her blue eyes,"Me too."

Ren skidded to a halt outside the stadium, out of breath from his long run. He saw right away that he wasn't alone in his tardiness. Exodeus and Varamance were also running late. They all almost collided with each other at the entrance. They separated awkwardly and edged inside, earning a glare from Master Moone, their instructor for Capstone Class.

"See me after class, boys!" she said as they took their seats.

The master cast her eyes over the 47 students, mentally counting to make sure they were all there. They clustered on the bottom few bleachers looking out onto the stadium floor. Thick plexiglass formed a wall all the way to the ceiling, and the floor was uncovered dirt. Master Moone stood right in front of one of the doors leading out onto the inner part of the stadium, the combat zone. Master Moone liked having class here, because it helped to remind the students of what they were preparing for, and also to decrease the awe this place generated. All the students had witnessed, many, many times in the past, the battles in this stadium.

Each year, close to the end of term, Razi Academy hosted its Top Ten Competition. This competition would yield the #1 student in each sect that would then be representing their school at the Inter-School Competition. Not only that, but the top ten would also battle each other to determine Razi's best. That student would have the chance to meet many of the top dignitaries at the competition, including their World Sect-Leader. They also received VIP treatment and a buy if there was an uneven number of competitors. Such rests, few as they were, could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

"Listen up, class," began Master Moone, drawing everyone's attention and halting any remaining chatter. "There are only a few days left before the competition. There will be no classes on Friday so that all may view the contests.

"Sages will gather in the Great Hall for the start of your exams. Everyone else will be here for the opening ceremonies. Varamance, the headmaster has decided that Iolani will be your opponent. She may be a year younger, but he is confident that she will give you a good match and he does not want to make this too easy for you."

She paused to allow the snickers to die away, and then continued, "Today, we will see how much you absorbed from your studies last week of the other sects." She reached down and picked up a small foam ball about ten inches in diameter. "We will be playing dodgeball today. The objective is to strike your opponents with the ball while protecting your teammates. Last team on the field wins. Any part of the stadium is fair game, there are no safe spots, no time-outs, unless you hear my whistle. There is dye in this ball. If you are called out, come back here to the sidelines immediately.

"Your homework will be an essay. Your topic is the strategy inacted by the winning team. What worked for them and what didn't. Three pages. The winning team, of course, is exempt."

Master Moone pointed to three of the Sages. "You three are the captains. Pick your teams. You may have the first 30 minutes to discuss strategy. Begin."

Pandaren sighed and settled back in his seat. As usual, he'd be the last person picked.

Special abilities were permissible, of course, this was all a part of the learning the strengths and weaknesses of the other sects to help prepare the students for the competition. Being the top student in the school was a very high honor. There were two teams of 16 and one of 15; that team started with possession.

As they took the field, Ren's team captain stopped him. "You," he said darkly, "are to get out as soon as possible. You'll help us best by sitting on the sidelines. Don't know why she's letting you play anyway."

Ren could hardly contain his shock and hurt. This game sounded like something he'd be insanely good at, the dodging part, anyway. For one of the sages to be so obtuse was disturbing ... and Ren clenched his jaw against the answering surge of anger. He took his place to the side of his teammates and dropped into a ready stance. He'd show them!

There were three colors of jerseys on the field, red, green, and yellow; the dye in the ball was blue. Ren's team wore yellow. Red team began with possession. Straightaway, Varamance ran up the side of the wall, catching his teammate's pass, and tagging out a member of the green team. The ball then dodged between one person and another and slowly the teams began to be whittled down.

Ren stayed off to the side, observing and staying out of the way, but neither was he inclined to be a sacrificial lamb. He easily dodged the few attempts to tag him, once with a sideways backflip and another time just by ducking, and he made no attempt himself to grab the ball or lob it after anyone. Yellow Team was not doing well.

Umbra disciples used their shadows to mimic the ball's path relatively successfully in the beginning of the game, causing their targets to duck, expecting to be hit, and often dodging right into the path of the ball, thrown from somewhere else. The two other samurai on Yellow Team went out quickly, their strict mind-set not adapting to the ebb and flow of the game as the carefully constructed strategy fell apart. Their one Khu deciple lasted slightly longer, shooting out fireworks from his wand to dazzle the ball-thrower, but was taken out by a combined attack between a summoned bird and its Crystal Sect summoner from Red Team. The two geomancers and the Chakra student on Yellow Team were worked the hardest, pushing up walls to deflect strikes and projecting false images of team members.

Their team captain was taken out in a triple attack on the remaining heart and sage disciples and suddenly Ren found himself the only Yellow Team member left, facing a field of a Chakra-Umbra-Geomancy trio from Green Team and the Kant-Crystal duo on Red Team. They didn't seem to notice him, though, focusing on each other. The geomancer blocked a throw from the kant student, but the wall was not stable enough and collapsed, the geomancer too tired to continue. The bird dived on the ball, but the chakra student, projecting an image of herself elsewhere, snagged it first, throwing it at the bird, hitting, eliciting cheers from the watching students. The summoner yelled in frustration as he dismissed his summons and this time Varamance could not protect his teammate when the ball came swooping in that direction.

The chakra and umbra students looked at each other and then at Varamance, suspended on the ceiling. The ball rolled to a stop at Ren's feet and suddenly the eyes of all the seniors were on him. He picked it up, sweating with nervous tension. The chakra student shimmered, Varamance started running along the ceiling towards him, and the shadows gathered at the hands of the umbra student. Ren stood still uncertainly, not sure what he should do.

But Varamance was almost to him, and so Ren ran, at angles to the advancing kant student, aiming for the wall, jumping into the corner, touching both sides, throwing, and doing a couple flips back to the floor, ducking and rolling.

Varamance hit the floor with a thump, his thigh coated with blue dye. Ren flattened as the ball flew over his head, jumping to his feet and running in the other direction. He ducked a few more strikes and then the ball was loose once more, rolling free in the center of the stadium. The chakra student was gone, presumably out from exhaustion, and Ren raced for the ball. He wanted to win, wanted, desperately, to do something good, to earn no homework for one night, maybe a little esteem from his classmates.

But the umbra student wasn't to let it go so easy! She sent a cloud of shadows at Ren, caging him in. He dodged the blow, sliding sideways and instinctively lashing out at his unseen attacker. There was a gasp, a scream, and an odd crinkling sound like broken glass. Ren, crouched on the ground, uncovered his face slowly and looked around. The boistrous stadium was eerily quiet. Master Moone knelt beside the umbra student, the girl cradling her wrist and crying. One of the healers darted out onto the floor and over to them. Shortly after, the girl's sobs quietened.

Ren finally located the ball, lodged half-through the plexiglass beyond which huddled the rest of the seniors, some having ducked or dodged away from the direction of impact. A large divot in the floor of the stadium marked the bounce point, where the ball, having hit the ground, rebounded and hit the wall.

His sweat turning frigid cold, Ren stood slowly and approached Master Moone. Having finished with the other student, the master stood, regarding him in an angry stare.

"Yellow Team wins," she said stiffly, loud enough to carry. "Class dismissed. You," she pointed at Ren, "stay right there."

A limping Varamance and an exhausted Exodeus approached the master as she answered questions about the homework and let out the other students. After a short conversation, they left and Master Moone came towards Ren. She was shaking with anger, her face flushed, teeth grinding. Ren had drawn her unwelcome attention before, but she'd never been so angry. He bit his lip in worry, unconsciously hunching his shoulders. Wordlessly, he hauled off the jersey and handed it to her. She accepted with equal silence.

"Report. To. Master. Aikido," she snarled, spun around on her heel, and left.

Master Aikido! Ren had completely forgotten about his detention. He covered his face in his hands, briefly. He was really in for it now.

"It's not fair!" he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and shivering. "I won. I really did ... and now ...?" He shook his head, staring down at the ground and biting his lip against the sudden ache behind his eyes. But he could not delay. He must go to his master at once.

Exodeus had been one of the first out. He had tried to take on two of the people throwing balls using his summons but had fallen for the illusion of the ball and been struck on the head by the actual one. The blue dye wasn't quite ready to come out yet even as he rubbed at it in irritation. Yet, the sour feeling quickly diminished when he witnessed what happened to the poor girl who was left after Varamance was bested by Pandaren.

Everything seemed to move very slowly for him then. He could not take his eyes off of Pandaren, the boy had never caught his attention before, he only knew that most people did not like him. He had never had any reason to approach Pandaren really, he always kept to himself. Exodeus wondered what he would even do if he had made another friend anyway, he had more than he could manage already.

He was not sure how long he was standing beside Varamance and Pandaren as they waited for everyone to leave, but he felt like he had waited another ten years in the school for the instructor to come to them. His heart stilled to almost nothing as she approached, he knew they were in trouble but compounded with Pandaren's bungle and he thought for a moment it wasn't far from the realm of possibility that he'd be sent to Aidido for discipline. As Moone opened her mouth to deliver what would be nothing short of a deathblow, at least Exodeus thought so, he wondered how he could have thrown everything away by simply being late.

"Report. To. Master. Aidido." Exodeus felt a small piece of himself die, until he realized she spoke only to Pandaren. Exodeus and Varamance exchanged partially confused, partially relieved glances that she had all but forgotten them and their tardiness. She turned away without acknowledging them at all.

"It's not fair!" Pandaren said just loud enough for the other two boys to hear but not Moone. Exodeus wanted to say something. Anything. He felt obligated to comfort Pandaren somehow, but nothing came. Varamance was just as silent, yet Exodeus could see he also wanted to voice his support. Pandaren turned to leave then with one more hesitant movement he stalked off swiftly.

"You know..." Exodeus croaked out suddenly, surprising even himself, "It wasn't your fault..." Pandaren stopped a moment, but said nothing. Exodeus wondered what was going on in the disciple's mind, but he would never know. Pandaren resumed his walk which turned into a run carrying Pandaren out of sight. Varamance looked at Exodeus hard before talking.

"Not his fault? Whose fault was it then?" Varamance said accusingly. Exodeus sighed a bit.

"You know what I mean...he did not want to hurt her on purpose," Exodeus said.

"Yeah...guess not, but still. A ninja who is just as dangerous to his allies as he is his enemies is no ninja at all." Varamance's words seemed to strike a cord with Exodeus. He could not very well say no to that.

"I got lucky huh?" Exodeus sighed finally. Varamance tilted his head wondering what his friend meant,"I don't have to go up against you now to get to the top 10." Varamance laughed good and hard over that.

"Yeah, I guess you did get lucky," Varamance smirked,"It makes more sense anyway since it is top 10 of our own disciplines." Exodeus nodded at that.

"Glad I don't have to go against him," Exodeus cast a dark look in the direction of the door Pandaren exited. Varamance pursed his lips.

"I do not believe him to be so powerful..." Varamance said.

"You put a lot of stock in your skill, hm? You saw what he did without even trying?" Exodeus scoffed. Varamance shook his head.

"You misunderstand me. That indeed was strong, but like you said...he did it unintentionally. Seems like he holds himself back. Have you ever noticed him keeping to himself always, even during the game I watched him...always evading and avoiding. He hardly even tried to defend himself, only when he had no choice did he go offensive and see what is the result?" Varamance was silent giving Exodeus time to work through what he said.

"So...it's like a dam then? Holding back the flow of the river...but sometimes the dam may break and a torrent of power will flow through?" Exodeus thought the analogy very clever. Varamance nodded his agreement.

"It seems like this. I wonder if he were allowing the river to run its course would it be much of an ability? Besides...since he can't use it so readily, I think in a battle against most would have a large advantage especially if they could avoid his sudden surge of power," Varamance thought aloud. Exodeus watched him a bit with a bemused look in his eye.

"Sounds like you're actually planning to battle him," Exodeus laughed. Varamance shrugged.

"Why not? I am mentally prepared to fight anyone in this school, I watch them and study them so that I know them well." Exodeus could not help but have some admiration for the guy's dedication.

"I never stood a chance..." Exodeus grinned and clapped Varamance on the back, "Let's go to class, I bet we have a minute before we're late, AGAIN!"

Kagami enters the dojo. The dojo is filled with seniors and juniors. Few spars in combat, the others are meditating and training their magic whether by altering their appearance or simply filling the room with projection.

Kagami walks towards the meditation area. He picks a place near the corner and sits in there. He frequently meditates in this place when his mind is occupied by something. As for now, that something is related to the events at capstone. He closes his eyes and let his mind wanders to the past.

The students are playing dodge ball at capstone and they are divided into three teams: red, blue, and yellow. Kagami didn’t hold much role in the game as he was the first person to go to the side of the field. He managed to throws dozen projections and dodges some throws aiming at him. Unfortunately, an Umbra manages to use his shadow magic to lock in Kagami’s movement. Unable to free himself in time, a blue color stained his yellow jersey from the back. Afterward, he watches the flow of the game from the side while cursing himself for falling to such trick.

From the side, he saw Samurais used their pure strength; Crystals and their summons; Umbras with their shadow magic as well as other students of each sect using their special ability. He also saw students from each team left the field one after another. It was the last minutes of the game that really caught his attention when he saw Pandaren bested the Umbra senior.

His mind shifted from the game towards Pandaren. Kagami knew that Pandaren is trained in the way of Samurai and hear from rumors that he is some sort of a troublemaker in his Sect. He never took attention about Pandaren nor his’ sect since Kagami is not really in a good term with everybody from there.

His thought is interrupted by a light smack in his shoulder. He opens his eyes and see Kaito from his class.

“Master Yama calls all the seniors.”said Kaito in a small voice so other who meditated won’t be disturbed.

Without answering, Kagami stood and walks with him leaving the dojo. Kagami’s mind is still full with Pandaren. The moment he take the first step outside the dojo he asks Kaito.

“What do you think about Pandaren?”

“Pandaren? You mean the last man standing in the dodge ball game? Not much. He is a Samurai, an outcast if I should say. A troublemaker. Not to mention powerful. What about you?” Kaito throws the question back at Kagami.

"The same, but somehow, I feel that he is struggling inside."

"Struggling? For power? All samurai hunger for power, it’s nothing new. Here we are." Kaito stopped at the door to the hall.

Not power, it’s more like he is struggling for a home. A place where he belongs.

That was Kagami’s last thought before he entered the hall.

Bambi

Nnena walked into the dojo, searching for Saya. She was sitting in the corner, holding her healed wrist as though it still hurt. She saw Nnena approching and plastered a smile on her face.

"I'm fine." She said, as if trying to convince herself. She was obviously tramatized by the dodgeball game, shifting her hand nervously every now and then.

Nnena sat down and placed her head against the wall, inhaling sharply and glancing at Saya.

"Did he break it?", her voice was less sympathetic than it should have been.

"Yes." Said the asian girl coldly.

"I'm sorry I'm not being very apathetic, but you need to be stronger."

Saya eyed her and stood, walking swiftly out of the dojo. Nnena watched her go, a frown emerging on her lips.

Mady walked through the door.

"Nnena, Master Kurokwa would like to see you. She's in the hall."

Nnena stood, walking silently through the dojo, hopping over meditating bodies and dodging lost punches of the many students that sparred with eachother.

The harsh light of the afternoon sun beat relentlessly on her, sending trickles of sweat down her cheek. She wiped them away, and sheilded her delicate icey eyes from the harmful UV rays. She entered the hall, looking around for her master.

Ren dashed off to his master's office with Exodeus' words echoing in his head. Wasn't it his fault, though? He may not have directly hurt that girl, but he had caused her to be hurt. Exodeus had looked sincere. The summoner's power fascinated Ren. He would love to be able to summon friends out of thin air. But Exodeus was one of the, if not the, most popular kid in school. What reason would he have to be nice to him? He shook his head. Maybe it was just pity; Ren preferred plain antagonism, it was easier to understand, easier to ignore.

When he entered the administrative complex, Ren slowed his pace to a more appropriate quick walk, wanting now to get this interview over with as soon as possible. He was sure that the news of what had happened in class had already made its way to the teachers. He fretted wondering if he'd get the rod, the lash, or the switch. He rather hoped it was the latter because his back was still only partly healed from the beating he'd received following -- his mind winced away from facing that again that day. Unbidden, the memory of Hammer lying so helpless in the infirmary crossed his mind and Ren clenced his jaw, breathing deeply through his nose to push through the pain and fear that gnawed at him.

He arrived at Master Aikido's door, raised his hand to knock, and paused.

"You're the miracle-worker, you tell me!" snapped the voice of Ren's master. He sounded frustrated and irritated and Ren could picture the crease that formed between his brows when faced with a particularly nasty problem, like when he dealt with Ren.

Ren leaned in closer to hear Master Yoshi's response: "Stop interfering, Aikido! This morning was an egregious breach of discipline, even for a non-samurai. I won't have you punishing Pandaren for that."

"Master Yoshi --"

"He will be ready, I will see to it, but I will brook no further meddling with my methods. No more resistance, Aikido."

The door slid open abruptly and Ren hastily backpedalled, blushing a dark red to be, once again, caught evesdropping. Master Yoshi scowled. Ren bowed.

"Your pardon, Master."

The ancient master sighed. "No detention, Pandaren. Come with me."

Ren dared a glance past Master Yoshi, but Master Aikido was studiously ignoring them. "But, but Master Moone sent me?"

"What happened?" Master Yoshi's question did draw Master Aikido's attention now.

"Uh," Ren shifted nervously. "I, uh, well ...."

Master Yoshi sighed. He stepped back inside the office, beckoning for Ren to follow. Swallowing, Ren entered, to stand nervously in front of his master's desk, glancing from Master Aikido to Master Yoshi, who closed the door, and then back again.

"Spit it out!" snapped Master Aikido.

Ren clasped his hands behind his back to steady their trembling. "M-master Moone sent me, Master. She, uh -- I mean, I, uh -- we played dodgeball and -- and I w -- well, I hit the ball too hard."

Behind Pandaren and off to the side, Master Yoshi's eyebrows rose on his forehead. Master Aikido closed his eyes momentarily, struggling for his inner calm as he so often had to do when dealing with this particular student.

"Was anyone hurt?"

"Y-yes, Master," Ren answered quietly.

"It can't be that serious, if --" began Master Yoshi.

Master Aikido interrupted with a raised hand, eyes flashing at the older man, his temper only barely in check. "Master! This is my matter. Pandaren must be punished. You can take him for training after. This is a separate affair."

He turned the force of his stare on Pandaren. The boy was now biting his lip, a habit he had when nervous, a patent advertisement of his emotional state, and another detail about this one student that tested Master Aikido's own strict discipline.

"I will be at the stadium, then," said Master Yoshi. "Pandaren, you will come there when you are finished."

Ren didn't dare look away from Master Aikido. "Yes, M-master," he murmured, wishing he wasn't trembling so hard, that he could display the cool, impenetrable exterior that his classmates had. He locked his knees to keep them from knocking together.

The sound of the door closing behind Master Yoshi sounded like a clap of thunder on an otherwise quiet day. Ren flinched, his heart jumping into his throat and he tightened his clasping hands, sweating again, his teeth chattering.

Master Aikido turned around in his chair, putting his back to Pandaren. He was already aggravated by his argument with Master Yoshi. He had to calm down so that the anger did not manifest itself in his punishment of the boy. He could hear Pandaren's rasping breath and only felt more depressed. Pandaren's lack of discipline rankled like an open wound. He wanted the boy graduated and out of his hair, but he also couldn't face the humiliation that would ensue if he let Pandaren graduate when he wasn't ready. Aikido rather doubted that he'd ever be ready.

Ren chewed his lip ragged, struggling to hold back the panicky desire to simply throw himself down on his knees and beg for forgiveness, to plead for mercy. Such an act, he knew, would only increase Master Aikido's ire, doubling the fierceness of the impending punishment. His heart beat madly, his nose flaring with the force of his breathing, a fight against tears.

Just do it! he thought in desperation. Why does he torment me so?

"Pandaren."

He jumped, blinking as Master Aikido turned around and rose. He picked up a piece of bamboo, as thin and supple as a shoestring, tapping the switch against his leg

"Hold out your hands."

Ren extended his hands, palms facing up, clamping his chattering teeth on his lower lip. Ren knew he was tensing up, knew he should be able to distance himself from the pain, but the sting would not be blocked out. He had never been able to do that. His classmates could walk on hot coals and fight with injuries debilitating to normal people, but Ren could not. He bit harder into his lip to keep back the whimpers, averting his gaze from his hands.

"Pain is nothing to a samurai, Pandaren," said the master, lowering the switch. "You must learn."

"Yes, Master."

"Samurai fight to be seen and felt, to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies. We cannot be affected by the agonies of battle, we must let nothing come between us and our mission. If you do not master your own emotions, if you cannot separate yourself from your own weaknesses, you will never become a ninja."

"Yes, Master."

"You may go."

Ren bowed. "Thank you, M-master." He hurried from the office and, when safely outside, dared to glance at his reddened palms. New, thin lines of blood mixed with the old scars, red and white running together against the calloused, tanned skin. Shoving one hand gingerly into his pocket, Ren withdrew a stained handkerchief that he used to blot the blood, speeding up his pace to a jog. He wondered what Master Yoshi had planned for him now.

Master Yoshi stood within the combat center of the stadium, staring up at the ball still lodged in the plastic. His gaze shifted to Pandaren as he came down the steps and he frowned, exceedingly puzzled. This boy was not an impressive physical specimen like most of his sect, but he did have some kind of a strange, psychic boost. Now if he could only figure it out he could help Pandaren harness the power.

Ren stopped before the master and bowed, waiting for instructions.

Master Yoshi pointed with his cane at the ball. "Get it down."

Ren's mouth dropped open in astonishment. "Get it down?" he echoed, hastily schooling his features. "How?"

"The same way you got it up there," said Master Yoshi.

"But I don't -- I don't know how!"

"So you were acting rashly."

Ren stiffened, that was a dreadful insult. He shook his head, shedding the anger with effort. "I don't know, Master," he replied, adding, "Maybe." He looked back up. "I -- there were shadows coming at me ... I ... swatted them, I think, or, I guess I meant to ... maybe."

"Do that now."

"But, Master --"

"Do it!" growled Master Yoshi, making Pandaren jump. He smiled to himself and pointed outside, towards the bleachers. "I'll stay in here, you go out there. Hit the ball in to me."

Ren backed away and went up in the bleachers a few levels to get approximately even with the ball. He felt totally at a loss. Just how was he supposed to do this?

"Picture what happened before," he heard Master Yoshi call. "Try to recreate the moment."

Trying to relax, Ren let his hands fall to his sides, trying not to move them too much, but otherwise not letting any of his discomfort show. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, reviewing the class in his head, step by step. As he got to the exact time when he'd struck out at the shadows, Ren realized that he'd put out his arms to block, a block that, when done correctly, could break an attacker's arm, but he'd been in the middle of a 360-jump-kick, and that's what must have happened. He'd blocked the shadows and simultaneously kicked the ball.

Before he could doubt himself, Ren jumped into action, trying to do both those moves again. He landed off, not pulling off the move quite correctly, tripping on the back of a bench and thumping down onto the bleachers with a bang. He groaned, wheezing for breath, a couple levels down from where he'd started. His head hurt, his back hurt, and he must've knocked his breath out because it hurt just to breathe.

"Pandaren?"

Ren struggled upright at Master Yoshi's call, putting a hand to his head when the room spun. He licked his lips, calling back, "I'm okay, Master," and needing only two attempts to make his voice carry.

"It didn't work," said Master Yoshi. "Try again."

This time Ren concentrated more on his form, but though he landed correctly that time, there was no answering crash on the plexiglass; the ball remained. Again and again he tried, with Master Yoshi calling up suggestions, until Ren was panting and trembling with exhaustion. The morning had been tiring enough, he hadn't drank enough water for the amount of sweating he'd been doing, and the master's continuing encouragement only made Ren more aware of his failure. He fought the anger building, knowing that he was only tired and hungry and frustrated, but the surge in energy levels was helpful.

Finally, going up in the spin-kick and not even bothering with the block, Ren pretended that he was jumping at the wall, that his foot would actually connect with the ball, pouring all his anger at that piece of crap-plastic, willing himself to do the impossible. So intent was he on his target that the resulting TWHACK! took him by surprise and again he tumbled onto the bleachers. He lay there on the cement between the seats, feeling bruised all over, momentarily too dazed and too weak to even move. He did, however, hear Master Yoshi whoop in delight, a cheer that was far too young for such an old man.

The next thing he knew, Master Yoshi was leaning over him, looking very concerned. He pressed on Ren's chest to keep him prone and held up his hand.

"How many fingers?"

Ren squinted. "Uh, four?"

Master Yoshi sighed in relief. "Good. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been hit by a truck, Master," groaned Ren. "I hurt all over."

"You took a nasty tumble. No, don't get up, stay there a minute. What did you do different this time?"

"Besides fall, Master? I messed up --"

Master Yoshi poked Pandaren in the forehead. "Manners, boy. What you did looked different. What did you do?"

"I ... well, I imagined that I could actually kick that ball, pictured myself doing it."

"Why did you do that?"

"I don't know, Master. I've never done that before, I don't think."

"Well if you can do it again, we'll call it quits for the night."

Ren bit back his groan and slowly levered himself to his feet. He followed Master Yoshi down onto the floor of the combat zone and indulged in a quick glare at the horrible little foam ball that was the cause of his misery. It sat, unrepentant, in the dirt three-fourths of the distance across the ground.

"Do everything the same, as just now," Master Yoshi instructed and Ren heard the quiver of excitement in his voice. He resisted the urge to sigh and did his best.

Nothing.

"Are you sure you're doing everything the same?" asked Master Yoshi after about the dozenth attempt.

Ren nodded silently, swaying a little in fatigue. His legs felt like rubber and he felt almost uncomfortably warm.

"One more time," said Master Yoshi, "and really try this time."

"I am!" Ren snapped. "Master," he said quickly when Master Yoshi turned on him. The spurt of anger vanished as he realized he'd just spoken back to one of the masters. His face whitened and he dropped a quick, shallow bow, as much as he could manage without ending up on his face. "I apologize, Master! I should not have spoken in that way."

"No, you shouldn't have," Master Yoshi agreed quietly, but he did not seem upset. Instead, his gaze seemed more calculating. He rubbed the stubble on his chin and asked. "What were you feeling, back there, when you kicked the ball?"

"Um ...."

"Be honest with me, Pandaren," said Master Yoshi, putting as much threat as he could behind those words.

Ren blushed. "I was -- was angry, Master. I don't -- I mean I didn't -- it seemed so hopeless! I'm hopeless!"

Master Yoshi ignored him. "Emotion," he mused, staring at the ball again for a moment and then looking abruptly back at Pandaren, who moved a couple steps backward. "What were you feeling during the game?"

"Um, Master?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Pandaren."

"Well, she, she sent shadows at me, I hate those! They ..." he dropped his voice. "They scare me."

"Fear and then anger," murmured Master Yoshi. He pointed his cane at the ball. "Hit it," he said. "Focus your anger and hit the ball."

Ren sighed and faced his target again.

"Concentrate!" barked Master Yoshi.

Rolling his eyes, safe to do with his back to the old master, Ren dropped into a ready stance, pushing aside muscle fatigue and once again attempting to kick the ball. Yet again, he failed.

"Do you want to be here all night?" Master Yoshi demanded, shaking his cane. "You are the most ungrateful, disagreeable boy! Maybe your master is right about you, Pandaren! You can't even do what you're told? What kind of a Samurai are you? Do it, Pandaren! Or would you rather be a failure?"

For an instant, Ren stared at the transformed Master Yoshi, the gentle old man seemingly morphed into a monster, yelling all the things he'd been yelled at ever since coming here. He was a failure, dangerous, he'd never amount to anything, worthless, useless, a disgrace!

"No!" he shouted back, too tired to examine what he was doing rationally, to censor his words into the correct patterns. "No!"

"Then prove it!" screamed Master Yoshi.

Ren whirled around, aiming a kick at the ball, watched it soar across the stadium, hit the plexiglass on the far side, and bounce back to a stop. He sank to the ground, feeling nauseous, with the stadium spinning all around him. Vaguely, he felt someone slapping his cheeks and that small annoyance made him blink his eyes open again. He was suddenly cold and shivered.

"Stay awake, Pandaren," said Master Yoshi sternly, wondering if maybe he'd pushed the boy too far. He looked gray, he was so exhausted. He shook Pandaren's shoulder. "Come on, now, get up. Get up!"

"I just want to sleep, Master," groaned Ren, startling awake with more slaps.

"Not now, you can sleep later. Get up."

Ren was too tired to argue and staggered first to his knees and then to his feet. He put out a hand to steady himself and lurched, for the wall he'd thought he ws leaning against was only air. Then Master Yoshi had him by the shoulder again and they staggered their way off the floor, up the stairs and outside.

The cool air revived Ren somewhat and he noticed that the hour was late, almost seven o'clock. He breathed in the night air, hearing Master Yoshi's chuckle when both their stomachs grumbled. He gave the master a tentative smile and followed him back up the main road to the rest of campus. He sat where directed, wearily lifting his spoon with trembling arms. The soup seemed so heavy! So tired was he that the usual noise of the hall and the chatting of students and masters just seemed like a distant, background rumble. He propped his chin on his hand, ignoring proper maners, prodded awake by Master Yoshi at intervals to eat.

Later on, he awoke in the middle of the night, shocked to find himself in bed, and even more surprised to find a food tray on the table beside his mat. Suddenly famished, he devoured the food quickly, and settled back again to sleep, more contented than he had felt in ages.

Exodeus couldn't sleep. It seemed like everytime he closed his eyes all he could think about was more battle. He had tried to fall asleep while meditating, but that did not help either. His mind would not go blank, in fact, he could see the world it felt like. All was bathed in Amethyst and various hues of red and pink accents. It was a bizarre place his meditation's took him, but things all looked so familiar.

Vie nudged his hand and slid beneath it her large body was entangled across the bed, beneath it, and around its legs. He still marveled at how incredibly large she was. She represented something about him, but what he could not imagine. He was not particularly large or stealthy. He was not even as powerful as Vie seemed to be. Exodeus patted her with a fond expression on his face. He did not understand his own summon, he wondered if it were such a bad thing.

"You know Vie...I never told you," he whispered a bit as to not wake his roommate, "I always said you represented my potential. You know? What I could be. Striking as fast as a serpent, large, powerful, feared...yet, somehow I never really felt that is what you were." The snake hissed gently as if singing some strange lullaby to get him to fall silent and sleep.

He stared into Vie's eyes wondering why he felt so compelled to continue to gaze at her. He could not turn away. His thoughts slipped through his mind like water through his hands. He could not grasp onto anything and before long there was nothing left, only darkness. Exodeus snored softly as he slept a dreamless sleep. His amethyst necklace glinting slightly in the darkness, Vie's eyes also seemed to reflect the light though all other light absorbed into the obsidian pools from which she saw. Her face was close to Exodeus's her tongue flicked in and out rapidly a few times along his cheek, kissing him good night.

Vie placed her head protectively along his chest, despite her weight Exodeus did not stir, he had grown accustomed to her on him, but Vie would make certain nothing disturbed her master's sleep until it was time for his meditations in the morn.

Kagami sits on his bed, staring at the window. He watches the sky and see the cloud dancing around, hiding the sparkle of the star. His hand reaches his pocket. He pulls out a white envelope that is given to him this afternoon.

Master Yama gathers all Chakra seniors during the individual study to gave the envelopes to each of them. He told them that the envelopes contains the name of their future opponents for the Top Ten. He also gave an order to honor the fight and reminding them to play every trick directly on the stage without any precaution.

Kagami lied down on his bed, still grabbing the envelope. He stared into the envelope. It hasn't been opened yet. The light from the windows make the envelope transparent. He could see that the paper inside were folded.

Kagami minds wandering who will be his opponents. Images appears in his mind from Kaito, Aya, and the rest of his class. Then it moves to the other sect, wandering the possibility if he ends up fighting a strong foe such as Varamance.

Minutes later, Kagami fall asleep still grabbing the envelope in his chest. The envelope itself remains unopened.

Bambi

((Sorry, I can be unaware at times))
_________________________________________________

"Nnena, my dear." Master Kurokwa beckoned her over, patting a seat on the floor for her to sit.

"You asked to see me, Master?"

"Why, yes I did. I must discuss your position in our sect." She looked at the student straight in the eye, forcing Nnena to look away, her gaze too understanding for a soul like her's.

"Okay." A blunt answer came from her, and shifted nervously through the air.

"I believe you are the top of the sect, and I want you to be prepared for what is to come."

"Yes ma'am."

"That is all." She shooed Nnena away.

Nnena walked down the halls, waving to her many friends from different sects. She wasn't sure if they really liked her, or if they were just intimidated by her. She hated the feeling.

She saw DeLilah round the corner and wave slightly.

"Hey, want to go to the bay?" She asked, with a monotone voice.

"Uh...sure. I'm tired of this place anyway."

Tuesday was more of the same torture for Ren. Master Yoshi had him trying to strike leaves off of trees and knocking stones off of walls or fences, or pushing that damnable foam ball around. Master Moone organized a set of challenges at Capstone and had all the students in small groups to try and solve them. Then it was back with Master Yoshi for more of the same. Wednesday morning Ren felt achy tired all over. He overslept, so he didn't get his workout, which made him grumpy, he got knocked about in the showers and lost his soap, and then was late to breakfast which meant that all the choice tidbits were gone by the time he got there. He trudged to an empty table and sat down, rubbing at dry, itchy, tired eyes, still feeling groggy. He wasn't really hungry, but he forced himself to eat anyway, drinking all four glasses of water in quick succession.

A tray thumped down on the table and Ren looked up, fork, forgotten, held in mid-air. Exodeus sat down with a small smile.

"You look like crap," he said.

Ren's eyes darted around the hall, sure that this had to be some kind of joke or prank, but nobody seemed to be watching. He glanced back at the summoner. "What do you want?"

Exodeus cocked an eyebrow at the harsh tone, digging into his food. "Just thought you might like some company. You fell asleep in class yesterday, I was wondering what was going on. Everything okay?"

Ren stared, then looked around again, saw Varamance coming towards them and sank a little lower in his seat. Here it comes, he thought. But the kant student sat down beside Exodeus with a cheery good morning, gave Ren a wary smile and started to eat. Ren was dumbfounded. He dropped his stiff hands into his lap and stared down at his plate, uncertain and suddenly feeling lost.

"Hey." They all three looked up as another student, Kagami, slid into the seat next to Ren. He set a muffin on the table, pushing it towards the silent samurai. "Saved you one. Want it?"

Ren looked from the muffin to the chakra student and back again. Hesitantly, he reached out and took the proffered muffin, slowly at first, sure that any one of them would drag it back out of his reach any minute, pulling it down into his lap, fumbling with the paper, and darting glances at the other three. Varamance ignored him, Exodeus and Kagami got into a discussion about one of the challenges of the day before. No one was watching Ren.

"Th-thank you," he said quietly, breaking off a piece of muffin and shoving it in his mouth. He rather wished he hadn't drank all his water now.

"Here, take mine," said Varamance suddenly, splashing a little as he plopped a glass next to Ren's tray.

Ren tried a smile, the expression being so foreign he didn't know what one felt like anymore, but Master Yoshi was so insistent that he re-learn how to focus his emotions. He saw the surprise on the others' faces and dropped his gaze quickly, taking a quick sip in case Varamance changed his mind. He didn't want them to see how these little kindnesses unnerved him, and so quickly. He kept sliding glances to the busy room around them, but there was no whispering, no pointing in their direction and Ren was confused. Was this for real?

"So, Ren --"

He jumped, looking up guiltily at Exodeus.

"No one's seen you all week. What's up?"

"Yeah," said Varamance, "who's that old master you been sitting with at dinner?"

"Oh, w-well, I ...."

"Master Moone'll blow a gasket," said Exodeus, "you fall asleep in class again."

Ren winced. She wasn't the only one.

"So what gives?"

"It -- I didn't mean to!" blurted Ren. "M-master Yoshi, he ... he ... uh, well..." He dropped his gaze again, picking at the muffin in his lap. "I have so much to learn," he said quietly. "And not much time."

Exodeus grimaced. "Extra tutoring, hmm?" Ren nodded a little. "That sucks."

"N-no," protested Ren, "It's really, um, good -- for me. I -I'm learning so much. Look."

Focusing on one of the empty glasses, Ren flicked at it with a couple of fingers. The full glass on Varamance's tray spun and tipped over, as if knocked by an invisible hand. Varamance jumped back, the water sloshing over his thankfully-empty plate and spilling over onto the floor. Hastily, Ren tried to reach over and grab things, in his embarassment and haste knocking over more.

"No, stop!" snapped Varamance, scowling and brushing at the water on his clothes.

"Sorry," Ren murmured, staring down at the table again.

Exodeus laughed, helping Varamance mop up.

Kagami gave Ren an intense look which the other was unaware of. "That looks like something only kant students can do, move things without touching them, isn't that Iolani's specialty?"

Varamance nodded, also giving Ren a quizzical look. "Yeah."

All three were staring at Ren again. He flushed, not looking up. "W-well, I -- I don't know. I just -- it's --"

The bells rang, signaling the end of breakfast and the sounds of raised voices, chairs scraping on the floor, and the clattering of dishes drowned out any further conversation. Still carrying the remains of his muffin, Ren fled, down the path to the cliff where he worked with Master Yoshi in the mornings. He was concerned and more than a little surprised that he'd talked so much, that he'd even attempted that little trick and he was also worried about what the others might have thought.

He hastily finger-combed his still-damp hair and dropped into a seated position before Master Yoshi, cramming the last of the muffin in his mouth. Chewing hastily, he bowed in greetings.

"Good morning, Master."

"We are going to meditate," said the master, opening his eyes to smile at Pandaren. "Tell me what anger is."

"An emotion, Master."

"What does anger feel like?"

"Um ... Hot? And fast, like -- like something out of control."

"Not bad," said Master Yoshi. "Meditate now, focus on a time when you felt anger. Capture that feeling, get to know it. Be comfortable with it ...."

The morning sped by for Ren. When released for lunch, he had the most pounding headache he'd ever had in his life. Master Yoshi picked his brain through all the main emotions, like anger and fear and joy, and many of the harder to define emotions, like contentment and peace, and finally some of the physical ones, like pain and hunger and fatigue.

Now Ren trudged along the path to the main hall, head pounding, arms and legs feeling like lead weights. He appreciated being allowed to drop the strict discipline of the samurai, more than he knew how to express, but it was very hard, harder than he would have anticipated. He wondered if he dared talk to Master O about how to reconcile the two, how to be samurai but also have his emotions. Master O normally was as unreadable as any other samurai, but in pyro class, his childish delight was plain to see. he was the only other samurai that Ren knew of who smiled and, occassionally, laughed. He was Ren's favorite teacher and he only wished he had more skill so he could have taken pyro as one of his electives this term. Not that he'd be there right now anyway, but still.

He sighed and paused on the edge of the trees, watching the other students filing into the hall for lunch. He suddenly felt reluctant to go in there. He didn't know how to take Exodeus and Varamance and Kagami's behavior that morning, half-hoping they'd include him again, terrified that they wouldn't. That little taste of companionship made him only miss Hammer all the more. His gaze slid over to the hospital. Hammer would know what to do ....

Exodeus was already sitting down with Varamance at the lunch table, several other students whom they were friends with had already joined them and everyone chatted away with many interruptions of laughter and little shows of techniques. It was a light-hearted moment between students of various disciplines who broke down their barriers and enjoyed all the personalities. Even a few Samurai students were with them, though they did not laugh or seem as excitedly engaged as the others, they did give the rare smile or piece of advice which was to the others a huge show of their emotion. Mostly the samurai were content to sit on the sidelines and stay silent and observant.

"It's Pandaren," Exodeus voiced quietly to Varamance shifting his gaze to the entrance of the lunchroom. Varamance turned to look and as he did all others joined in wondering what could draw the attention of their favorite kant disciple away from them.

"Ew," a girl sneered a bit turning back. The other samurai seemed to grow even stonier than normal, the air all around had a tension that was not present seconds before. Kagami was not particularly close with Exodeus or Varamance but he knew of them and a few of those they were with, he came over to join in one of the last few spots available.

"Don't look now, but a disaster on legs is coming towards us," an arrogant sounding geomancer warned Kagami. He threw a glance towards Pandaren who had spotted them and seemed to slowly be making his way over, aware of the others who were also sitting at the table.

Varamance and Exodeus locked gazes, both knowing this wouldn't go anywhere good. The geomancer had known Hammer quite well, they had to endure many talks about the troublemaker Pandaren was in his eyes, with much headnodding from the samurai who sat with them as well.

"We shouldn't be so unkind, he's pitiful, look at him..." said a younger heart disciple. Exodeus was surprised at how heart students always had a double-edged sword when they spoke. They gave a compliment that was meant to cut you down at the same time, or in this case defending someone because they were not worth the time to scorn. Often heart was misconceived to be more kind, peaceful, and diplomatic. Their words were far more deadly and sinister than Exodeus had ever seen in any other discipline. He thought their greatest feat was lulling people of other schools and disciplines within their own to believe this was a "harmless" discipline of healing. Though healing was what they focused on, Exodeus would not want to ever face one of their best who could spin a web of doubt around some of the best fighters and break them mentally.

"Are you paying attention to this Exodeus?" Varamance hissed breaking his train of thought. Exodeus looked up to see Ren being faced off by the geomancer who had spoken before.

"They're gonna fight!" Exodeus exclaimed, there had never been a fight before outside of simple training. Certainly many had wanted to fight and settled on covering it up as training to settle disputes, but this was no such time. Varamance and he once again looked at each other.

"Pandaren will be expelled," Varamance stated in definite tones.

"Not if we stop it," Kagami objected. Varamance shook his head, he wasn't going to risk expulsion as well.

"Varamance is right you know. Whether we had good intentions or not, stepping into a fight like this will land us in only one place," Exodeus admittedly decidedly.

"We can still stop them before anything happens," Nnena was the one speaking this time, none had noticed her appearance, so rapt they were with their own problems and thoughts. The ground beneath them gave an angry lurch.

"Too late," Varamance sipped at some hot tea now fully disengaged from the ordeal. It was clear he felt it out of their control now. The geomancer facing Pandaren was Dux Mann, a Russian who had come to the school from a wealthy family and who was also the strongest in his class when it came to Geomancy.

"He could bring down the school if he wanted to..." Exodeus sucked on his teeth a bit, Dux's voice rose in anger as he got more in Pandaren's face who stared down at the floor as best he could avoiding the angry look.

"If Pandaren explodes, I'm not sure what will be more dangerous, him or Dux," Kagami seemed to analyze them as an interesting experiment where the outcome would be wondrous either way.

"The Master's will not be here soon enough..." Nnena seemed terrified this was even happening. Varamance put his tea down.

"Then are you ready to accept the consequences?" Varamance questioned. Kagami, Exodeus, and Nnena looked at him and then at each other in turn.

"Meaning?" Exodeus said first.

"We can stop Dux if we all work together, he's a skilled geomancer, he'd probably try to kill Pandaren in one move. If he has to split his attention to us, it'll give him a chance to come to his senses," Varamance's plan was simple and the others could see nothing wrong.

"Yeah...he wouldn't want to hurt us being his friends Varamance..." Exodeus agreed.

"Plus, he'd think twice about taking on the best student from Kant," Kagami mused over the thought.

"If it stops this from going any further, let's fight to keep Pandaren alive and not having him land anyone else in the medical ward," Nnena agreed.

“Well, I agree to stop the fight, but …”Kagami cut off his sentence as he sees the three students already left, rushed towards Dux and Pandaren.

But, it doesn’t mean that I will help you fight him. Aww… crap. Why won’t they listen first? Kagami immediately follow Varamance, Exodeus, and Nnena and finally arrive behind the latest. All of them surround Dux and Pandaren with Varamance and Kagami being the closest to Dux and the rest behind Pandaren.

Apparently, all the eyes in the cafeteria watching the six students as they questioned what could interests the best Kant students at school. Pandaren and Dux notice the commotion. Pandaren returns his gaze to the floor unable to face all the eyes that were looking at them. On the other hand, Dux stopped whatever he was doing at the moment upon seeing Varamance and finally turn his back on Pandaren.

Nobody actually understands what happens next, as it happens too fast. Dux turns his back all of a sudden to unleash his move but stopped by Varamance and Kagami who are the closest to him. Varamance catches one of Dux’s arms from the side while Kagami hold the other one and shut his mouth from the back. Exodeus is holding one of his crystals. Nnena trembles and looks terrified seeing what just happened while Pandaren slowly lifts his head unaware that his life could be gone seconds ago.

“Stop what you’re doing; this is not the time or place to fight!” Varamance scolded.

I don’t think he listens to you. Kagami sees the dirt on the floor swirling around while its controller still struggling trying to break free from his captors. Let’s try a different approach.

Kagami moves his mouth closer to Dux’s ear and speak quietly in a rather sinister tone “Calm down. He is right. Now is not the time to fight him and the odds are against you. Wait within two weeks, there will be a chance when you can challenge him to fight you without the disturbance of the master. I guarantee that.” Then Kagami release both of his hand from Dux.

Dux shakes of Varamance head and look at Pandaren, Kagami, and Varamance respectively. He points at Kagami “Fine, I’ll wait. If you break your words, I will hunt you first.” Dux leaves in disgust.

Kagami only responds smiling wryly. Crap. I just make a powerful enemy. How troublesome. At least he’s gone. For now.

The crowds look disappointed and they gradually returns to their tables continuing their lunch. Nnena joins her classmates while Kagami, Exodeus, and Varamance back to their own seat. Pandaren joined them and took the vacant seat beside Kagami.

“With such attitude, that Dux will surely return to challenge you within a week. You better prepared to face him.” Kagami talked to Pandaren who seemingly looks down “Cheer up. You can win (probably). You are strong but weak in here.” He touch his fist to Pandaren chest. “To make it strong, you have to be confident and face your fear. That way, you can defeat him with your own power.”

Kagami stands up from his chair “C’mon, we’ll be late for capstone if we don’t hurry”

Bambi

Nnena returned to her table, scooting her plate of oatmeal-looking slop away from her and infront of Lou, who was busy scarffing down the rest of the Umbra sect's lunches. Everyone stared in her in awe, wondering how a girl her size could eat so much.

"What happened?" asked Saya, staring at Lou, although the question was directed at Nnena, shaking her head in utter disgust.

"Nothing. It's not important." Nnena replied, gazing at nothing in particular.

"Do you want my--" Lewis was cut off from his offer as Lou grabbed the grub from his hands and busily started to inhale it.

DeLilah covered her mouth and faked a gag.

"Uh...Lou," said Nnena,"you should hurry or we'll all be late for Capstone class."

The lunch table was filled with students of various sects, every one of them chatting: some of them laughing, others lamenting over something unimportant and third just listening and observing. Osore was not like any of them. He was sitting next to Garett and a few other students who were laughing about something. He was not paying any attention to what they were talking. He was thinking deeply, about Hammer. Two nights ago he had visited him. He had entered the hospital, patiently waited for the right moment and when the nurse had her back at him, he had put in the soporific in her cup. Not long after she had fallen asleep on her desk. It would leave him no more than an hour before she wakes up. He had been at the room lying exactly as Tommy had told him. He was asleep, covered to suffocation with the plastic tentacles of the massive machinery by Hammer’s bedside. He did not look in pain. He was asleep for a long time. Too much in Osore’s opinion. He had sat down beside him and taken hold of the clothes on his right. They were put close to Hammer, as if someone had expected him to just awake, take out the tubes out of his mouth, stand up and put the clothes on like nothing had happened. On the top of the folded clothes was a piece of black clothing with edelweiss sprouting from the ground. The edelweiss was one of the symbols of the Geomancy sect. It was Hammer’s favorite headband. If Osore was not afraid of harming his friend, he would have put the headband back on his forehead. Osore had taken it and wrapped it around his right hand. Then he had taken out his violin out and played it as he had never played it before. After thirty minutes he had stopped, because by then the Masters’ meeting had ended and Master Physica was supposedly on his way to the hospital. He had to leave soon. The simple rhythm of the machine had changed, but Osore did not know if it had been for the better or worse. Then he had left.

“Do you Khu really use the coseis for that?” someone asked behind him. Osore turned around. Lucracia Marthe-a ninth year Kant, was standing next to him looking at his plate. Beside her was Tommy Mimocron- a sixth year Chakra student with a note pad in his hands that never left his sight. He was one of the greatest rumors’ collector and if someone needed to know something he would be the person for the job. Osore had learned about his chance to meet Hammer through Tommy. Osore looked at his plate and realized that in his absent-mindedness he had picked up his coseis instead of the fork, and was now stirring his Mou-du soup with his coseis. Lucracia gave a loud snicker, pushing away the two students that were sitting beside him. Lucracia sat on his right and Tommy on his left, surrounding him as if they were about to interrogate him.

“So, you saw Varamance, Exodeus and Kagami back this morning?” asked Tommy.

“No.” said Osore with a dull voice.

“Well, Varamance…” said Tommy, but Osore lifted his hand to tell him to be silent. Pandaren had entered and was nearing a table, when all of a sudden a student rose against him. Dux Mann was that student. “Oh, this is officially a fight!” said Tommy with his hands writing on the note pad. Osore was not that sure. He would have called it slaughter more likely, but was not able to say who would be the slaughtered one. The tension between the two of them grew as Dux drew his face closer to Pandaren’s. Then Varamance, Exodeus, Kagami and Nnena came to stop the fight. “Let’s go help Dux!” said Tommy rising up. He was not that much of a friend of Hammer, as he was a fan. He really hated Pandaren for what he had done to Hammer, but could not do anything, because he was not powerful enough to beat him. Osore took him by the shoulder and pulled him back to the table.

“Sit down! That does not concern us.” Osore said with a firm voice. At first Dux had turned around as if he had given up on the whole thing. Then he had tried to start it, but was stopped by Varamance and Kagami. Osore was trained to see in situations that were happening too fast for most students to even understand what had happened. Dux turned around and left. On his way out he passed Osore, stopped beside him and said:”What kind of a friend are you? You did not even have the guts to face that low-life weakling.”

“Oh, I have guts alright, but I don’t let my feelings guide me. I also don’t hide behind friendship to justify my basic barbarian whims.” Osore said keeping his back on Dux.

“Why you arrogant…” Dux said raising his hand to hit him.

“I also don’t stab people from behind, like some coward.” Osore said, still not turning. Dux stopped, his hand still in the air, shaking in uncontrollable hatred. “Pandaren is suffering even without you picking on him. He is trying to redeem himself, by trying to take control over his powers. If I were you I would train even harder this week for the upcoming challenge, because you will need all the strength you can get.” Osore continued. Dux’s hand fell, hanging freely on his shoulder; he turned around and started walking towards the door. “Oh, and what kind of a friend are YOU to have not even once visited Hammer?” Osore said raising his right hand and showing Hammer’s headband. Dux swore in Russian and left.

After a minute Osore saw Pandarena leave with the others and rose from his seat. While they were passing by, Osore got in the way of Pandaren.

“Hey, Samurai!” Osore said with an ominous voice. Pandaren’s eyes buried their gaze in the floor the second he saw Osore’s red eye. Varamance, Kagami and Exodeus surrounded Osore, Exodeus taking a step towards him, but he turned around facing them. “Don’t worry, gentlemen, if I wanted him dead, he would be incinerated by now.” They stopped at their places, understanding that he did not meant any harm. “I have a few things I to tell you:” said Osore, facing Pandaren to such extent that his half mask almost touched Pandaren’s face. The Samurai’s gaze was still on the ground. Osore forcefully pulled his head up so their eyes would meet. “To defeate your fear, you must face it.”

“I…” Pandaren started, but he could not even continue.

“You see, your fear is a bit like me. You face it and shiver even when it had hidden its true power under a mask. You must learn to not be afraid of its power. You must learn not to fear your power. Unleash it, and don’t let it devour you. You…must…devour it!” Osore said, taking off the half mask. Pandaren looked more surprised than horrified. He took a step back, but Osore took a step forward to him. “You must learn to take a step forward, rather than back! That’s all!” Osore said, turned around, putting his half mask on, and left.

Ren had a headache and he was hungry and thirsty. He sat in his accustomed seat in Capstone, in the very back row behind everyone else. He thought about the disaster at lunch. Getting beat up was certainly nothing new; having it happen in front of the whole school ... well ... he ran his fingers through his hair. It would have been humiliating -- still was -- but who was to say he didn't deserve it? He almost wished Dux had struck him ...

"Pandaren!"

He jerked, looking up. Some of the other students snickered.

"Where's your homework?"

More snickering and Ren blushed. "I'm sorry, Master, but I don't --"

"See me after class. Now," she continued, ignoring his murmered acknowledgement and tucking the stack of papers she had into a bag. "Break up, you lot, pop quiz today!"

There was an almost universal groan from the class as they obediantly spaced out. Master Moone handed out sheafs of paper and pencils and then there was silence, but for the hasty scratching of pencil on paper.

Ren curled his aching hand around his pencil and looked at the first question: "List the Ninjutsu Sects by order of inception, include dates." He scowled. What was this? History class?

His stomach growled again and Ren shifted in his seat, looking up, staring at the still un-mended hole in the stadium wall. One more day. He squirmed uncomfortably. You must learn not to fear your power, Osore had said. Ren shuddered. But he did! This curse had brought him nothing but trouble, ripped him away from everything he knew and treasured and sent him down a path that would only lead to death. He didn't want to kill anyone, and he didn't want to die!

Of a sudden, he stood up and ran out, dropping pencil and paper and just fleeing, heedless of the stares and whispers of his classmates or of Master Moone's shout. He ran outside, blind to where he was going, just desperate to get away. There was a wall. He crouched down beside it, resting his back against the stone and brick, shaking. He could have been killed today! He put his head on his knees and shivered, rocking a little, Osore's words going round and around in his head until he just wanted to scream in frustration.

His muscles were all a-quiver, his head throbbed, and his stomach felt empty and hollow. Physically, he was having trouble catching his breath and he ached all over, worn out from the near-constant training, in a way he never had been before. His thoughts went round and round in circles, nerves telling him he wasn't ready, his heart wishing he didn't have to fight, his tired mind struggling to sort out anything that made any sense, and when he closed his eyes he saw again that horror-stricken look on Hammer's face, heard Dux's low voice in his ears.

"Pandaren?"

Seeing the mass of friendly wrinkles that was Master Yoshi, Ren uncurled with a sob and threw his arms around the old master. He could have been ten years old the way he was acting, but he was beyond caring.

Master Yoshi was too stunned at first to react, he had not expected Pandaren to fall apart like this. There were no tears, but Pandaren pressed his head into Yoshi's shoulder, hands curled into fists, shaking as if he were fit to come apart, and Yoshi cursed inwardly. Why hadn't Maestro summoned him years ago? When he'd first realized Pandaren was different? So much grief could have been avoided. For everyone.

He shifted his old bones uncomfortably, Pandaren curled up in his lap like someone much younger, and Yoshi patted the boy's back soothingly. For Pandaren's sake, Yoshi hoped that the boy would pull himself together soon. He was pretty sure this was brought about by stress and the last thing he needed right now was more gossip and teasing.

But the shaking did not abate with the passing minutes, if anything, growing stronger, and Yoshi began seriously to grow worried. He saw his chance and took it when the large shadow of O walked by. Yoshi hailed the younger master, disentangling himself from Pandaren with effort. O's eyebrows bunched together in concern, but he silently lifted Pandaren and followed Yoshi towards the hospital.

"He's overworked and over-stressed," Master Physica told Yoshi and O as the nurses settled Pandaren into a bed. She frowned at Yoshi, wondering, as they all did, what the old master had been putting this student through. "He needs rest, a lot of it."

"He doesn't have that kind of time," rumbled Master O, surprising them both. But then he shrugged and walked away.

"At least until the morning, Master," pleaded Physica, pressing his arm. Yoshi nodded solemnly in acceptance, and she relaxed suddenly, as if she'd expected more resistance. "Thank you."

Drawing a syringe out of the pocket of her coat, she squeezed the tube into the IV hanging beside the bed. Within seconds Pandaren's muscles relaxed, though he stayed curled up on his side. Physica adjusted the sheet and pushed a lock of hair out of his face. She sighed and turned away.

"He'll sleep a while, Master, we should go."

Yoshi nodded unhappily and let himself be escorted from the room, glad at least that he'd managed to talk Physica into letting Pandaren have the empty bed beside Hammer. When the boy woke up, perhaps that would be a comfort to him.

Ren came to himself with a start, moisture on his cheeks, his heart pounding. For a few, heart-pounding seconds, he wasn't sure where he was. He rubbed his eyes and the IV in his hand pulled. Rolling over onto his back, he sat up, pulling out the tiny needles and staring around. There was a steady beeping nearby, loud in the silent hush of the bay. Moonlight strayed in through the window, and a welcome breeze raised goosebumps on his skin. He was tired, so tired! But he felt wide awake.

Hesitantly, he swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood. He meant only to walk out of the hall and to his own room, but he stopped as he saw who was on the other side of that curtain. Hammer! There was a wheeled stool beside the bed and Ren settled on it, his fingers curling around his friend's. He laid his head down, just for a minute ....

Ren blinked, waking up again as he realized there was answering pressure around his fingers. He looked up. His eyes cloudy from either drugs or pain or both, the geomancer smiled crookedly around the tube in his mouth, squeezing Ren's fingers lightly, as much pressure as he could make.

"Hammer," whispered Ren, tears springing to his eyes. Hands curled around the geomancer's fingers, Ren set his head back down, face averted, and silently wept.

He woke for the third time to the morning bells and sat up, rubbing an aching neck. Hammer still slept and Ren had to wonder if he'd only dreamed that he'd woken up. He disentangled his hands and rubbed at his achy eyes before rising. He stared down at Hammer a while longer, wanting to do something, but what? He thought for a moment, then moved to the clipboard hanging from the foot of the bed and tore off a small piece of paper from the bottom, scrawling a quick note that he pressed into Hammer's hand, hoping and wishing that he really had seen Hammer wake up, and that he would read his note and be able to understand just how sorry he was.

A quick shower and a change of clothes later, Ren sidled into the hall for breakfast, his stomach loudly declaring that it had been far too long since his last meal. He ate alone, and quickly, glancing up several times to look for Master Moone among the teachers' tables. She wasn't there, so when he was finished, Ren trotted out to her office and knocked.

"Enter."

Ren slid open the door and went in, bowed to the master and stood before her desk. She looked at him and set her pen down, heaps of papers on all sides. She did not look particularly pleased, but she didn't look angry, either.

"Yes?"

Ren bowed again, deeper. "I ... I want to apologize, Master," he said, letting his air out in a rush.

She picked up her pencil again, tapping the edge mindlessly as she considered him. After a minute or so, she nodded shortly. "Apology accepted. Pandaren," she paused to lean towards him, elbows on her desk, shaking her pencil at him, "You are dangerously close to failing this class."

He stared at the floor. "I know, Master."

She sighed and Ren looked back up. "You may take the test during lunch."

Ren tried to smile; he was very, very relieved, but then she said, "You still owe me an essay."

"Yes, Master."

"There will be no homework today. Turn your paper in first thing tomorrow, before the competition. Understand?"

"Yes, Master."

"I will penalize you for being late, so make sure you do a good job."

He bowed again, recognizing her dismissal, and left, heading back to the cliffs to meet with Master Yoshi. He still felt kind of tired, but lighter somehow. Things were looking up.

Later that day, trudging back up the hill at lunchtime, Ren wasn't so sure. Master Yoshi wanted him to bring back a sparring partner for the afternoon's session in the stadium. He wanted to ask Varamance, he admired the other student, he was likely poised as the best student of the year, but he was too intimidating to talk to. Getting a student who was competent in unarmed combat would be best, but there wasn't anyone left in the senior class, besides himself. He wished, oh how he wished! that Hammer could take part in this, he'd be so excited for him. There was no way that Ren would approach another geomancer ... maybe an occamist? Certainly not a samurai, but occamists were skilled with their weapons, that might be good, but who, then? Who could he trust to not just laugh in his face? Three of them used only ranged weapons, then there was Masazane, but Ren discarded him quickly, maybe Rune?

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

Ren halted abruptly and backpedalled quickly from Zelda's imperious stare. Towering over them, Sierra scowled, and Ren hastily muttered an apology before speeding his steps elsewhere. He darted into Master Moone's office with something resembling relief, dropping into a desk in the corner and starting on the exam she had set out. He scribbled away madly, wanting to finish in time to grab something to eat before class. There were questions on each of the other sects, their abilities and famous ninja, and questions regarding several real-time situations where he had to write a few paragraphs about what he would do, singly, and as a member of a team. A couple of ethics questions followed those, and then, at the bottom of the last page, the final question was about his signature move and combat style.

Ren chewed at his pencil and stared up at the clock. Only a few minutes left. What was he going to write? 'I hit things from a distance?' What could he call that? There had been Kant Ninjas in the past who could move things by thought alone, but they didn't physically have to be doing anything to make that happen. There was even one, long ago, that could throw up some kind of invisible shield like a bubble to block attacks, and another that could levitate, but the names of their styles didn't seem appropriate. Master Yoshi hadn't said anything, so what, then? He thought for a minute or so longer, and then scrawled an answer. Standing up and stretching, he handed his papers to Master Moone and skedaddled for the hall.

He got there in time to wolf down some salad and fruit and then it was off to Capstone. Where was this day going? The more he seemed to dread Friday, the quicker it seemed to arrive!

"Class," said Master Moone after they were all seated. "Today we have a visitor. I think most of you remember him. He's our Top Ten student from '02, of the Occamy Sect, Master Hokkaido."

The man who moved to Master Moone's side was tall and slim, with short black hair and a ragged moustache. His black eyes glittered with good humor and he smiled at them. This was the student who had broken Khu's three-year winning streak as the top Razi student in the Top Ten five years ago. He was now one of the Prince's personal bodyguards.

He bowed to them in greetings. "Hello, class. Master Moone has graciously allowed me to address you this year regarding the school competition. I shall be the head judge and evaluator. Also joining me are Master Issaru for the Crystal Sect, Master Blackbird for the Umbra Sect, and Master Lotis, proctoring the exams for the Sage Sect.

"The competition will begin with the opening ceremonies at ten o'clock. Samurai will face off first, then Crystal, then Chakra, then Umbra, then Khu, then the rest of the sects, with Sage last, giving them time to rest following their exams. There will be no breaks, but there will be food and water for you in the waiting area by the locker rooms. You may leave or come up here to watch, but you must be ready when your turn is called, else you will forfeit."

He brandished a set of papers. "This is the tentative schedule. Matches will last until one of the combatants cannot continue, or until the max time of 30 minutes is reached. These matches will not be to the death. The other masters and I will step in if either combatant looks to break this rule." He frowned at them. "I advise you not to try. Now, before we get into the details of the rules, does anyone have any questions for me?"

A number of hands shot up, one of the occamy students asking, "Will you show us Jaffa?" being the first question.

Master Hokkaido laughed and pulled what looked to be metal tube out of his pocket, whipping it slightly. The weapon telescoped out to its full length, equaling the master in height, and just wide enough to be comfortable in his grip. He twirled it in a whirlwind of motion, tossed it up in the air, caught it, and bowed. The students, especially the other occamy students, all cheered.

"Show us something else!"

He shook his head and collapsed the staff. "Your instructor and I have arranged a little exhibition for you following class, so let's get back on the subject. Are there any questions regarding the competition?"

Hokkaido answered all their questions, explaining that the combatants would start in the center of the arena, giving a formal bow when they and their combat style were introduced. They would then bow to their partners and the masters would tell them they could begin. Any part of the stadium (within the inner walls) were permissible to use, and students should not be afraid of hitting any of the judges, they should concentrate on their opponent and let the judges fend for themselves.

"Of course," said Master Hokkaido, with a sly grin, "if you purposely target me, I will retaliate, as will the other masters."

Moves would be graded by the judges, with points assigned for how well the move was carried out, accuracy, speed, relevance, and style. In the event of a draw, the time limit being reached, the combatant with the highest score would be declared winner. Winning the match would advance the student to the next round, the points would be tallied overall to match up the best 10 for the final round. The first round combatants have all been selected randomly, with the winners moving on to battle each other in the subsequent rounds based on points. The one with the highest points would get the buy, if there was one.

For example, there were six umbra students, which meant 3 matches in the first round and two in the second. The student with the highest points from the first round would sit out the second round and advance straight to the finals.

Students were allowed to incapacitate their opponents, but were not allowed to kill. If a student won but was too injured to continue, then their opponent would instead take their place in the next round. Healers would, of course, be standing by, and, where possible, would allow for other matches to take place while injuries were tended.

"You have trained long and hard to become Ninja," Hokkaido said. "Do not throw away your future by acting rashly during the competition. You've still a ways to go until your final exams and graduation. Stay focused on what the goal is. Some of our best and most famous Ninjas never made it into the Top 10. Now, are there any other questions?"

Exodeus was beside himself with excitement, he had heard so much of Master Issaru. His summon was one of the best there was. Everything was going by in a daze. Yet, suddenly he came to his senses with a jolt. He was not looking forward to the Top 10.

I don't have what it takes... Exodeus thought mournfully to himself. He was not anywhere near the best of the Crystal students, he was terribly mediocre in fact. He was a fast learner and loved to study his opponents moves, but when it came to blatant power or raw talent, he lacked the resources to draw upon that other students had. His summon was a formidable one yes, but Vie did not posses the magical abilities that other summons had, she was just a big snake.

Exodeus could not help himself but glance at Varamance who looked confident as ever. His face unreadable, only a cool and collected surface shown. Exodeus knew he would be in the top 10, he lamented for his opponent. Exodeus's eyes roved to Dux, who wore a haughty expression, his well-muscled arms were crossed as he bore holes into none other than Pandaren who stood across the way. Exodeus glanced again suddenly unsure as to just who Dux was glaring at, Kagami also stood pretty much beside Pandaren, not acknowledging the existence of Dux or Pandaren. He wondered briefly if Pandaren stood a chance at all, he seemed to lack so much control, but he did have that explosion of power if he lost what little hold he had over himself. Exodeus figured if anything, he would get pinned in a corner and blast his partner to bits. Exodeus quickly turned away when his imaginings placed him on the receiving end of one of Pandaren's episodes.

"Are you even paying attention? I swear..." Nnena whispered a bit to him. He blinked surprised, she never really spoke much to him. In fact he had hardly noticed her all the years he had been here, she didn't have much of a personality in Exodeus's opinion. Perhaps that was because he was used to people trying to get his attention and hanging out with Varamance didn't help him any with noticing people who didn't stick out like a celebrity.

"Yeah..." he mumbled half-heartedly in response. He then noticed the boy who had spoken to Pandaren and the rest of them the other day. He wasn't certain what his name was still...Isore...Usore...Ashore...the list went on. He decided that whoever the boy was, he did not like him much...

If he wanted him dead he could have incinerated Pandaren? Exodeus snorted quietly, but not quietly enough. Nnena gave him a none too gentle shove in the ribs with her elbow. Who does he think he is? Exodeus finished his thoughts.

Exodeus pursed his lips impatiently. The fights would be starting soon, Samurai first. He wondered if Pandaren would be one of the ones to start or not. Exodeus cracked his neck a bit wondering how he would deal with humiliation of defeat should it come. He wondered if Vie was big enough to eat him, it would be less painful than losing.

J… Jaffa? What so special about that thing? Kagami looks at the so called weapon. He didn’t think that such weapon is special. He always believed that the ability of the weapon relies on the person who used it. He shakes his thought and continues listening since the Master has moved on explaining.

After the Master explains about rules for the competition, Kagami then looks around the hall.

He enjoys watching the different expression in the students’ face. Some looks excited, some looks happy. He saw Exodeus standing far from him looks worried though he is not the only one. Then Kagami saw Nnena gives an elbow to Exodeus. Different from Exodeus, Nnena seems confident just like Exodeus best friends Varamance who is standing not far from them though Varamance keeps his cool attitude.

Finish looking the students’ expression, Kagami feels excited himself. Top ten competition, eh? Looking forward to it. Kagami intends to fully enjoy the competition whether as a contestant or a spectators since he know he won’t do very well at combat.

At the very least, don’t lose in the first match.

Bambi

"Are you even paying attention? I swear..."

Nnena nudged Exodeus, as he was gazing off into space, his eyes first held joy, then, they held sorrow.

He mumbled a response, returning to his thoughts. Nnena sighed and gazed off into her own oblivion, holding her hands neatly in her lap and twiddling her thumbs. She eyed the Geomancy student Coast, knowing she would go up against her. Her mind doubted herself, playing out the endless ways she could fail, leaving the Umbra sect with shame, not pride.

Geomancy,huh?

The seniors were abuzz with excitement, even while Master Hokkaido talked. There was the obligatory lecture on the history and importance of the competition, guidelines for dress and behavior, a list of visiting dignitaries, and a few stories of past, famous matches. He also told them the rules and what to expect and then he and Master Moone faced off for their exhibition match. The students clustered around the bottom row and Ren climbed up on a bench to see over the heads of everyone else.

Master Hokkaido extended his staff, Jaffa, and settled in a ready position. Across the stadium stood Master Moone, her bow, Luciana, held ready, more arrows at her back. They bowed to each other. Then both attacked at the same time.

Hokkaido twirled his staff into a spinning shield and flung Jaffa at Moone, who had launched an arrow towards him. Hokkaido ran behind his staff, obviously trying to close the distance while Moone backed away and pulled another arrow from her quiver.

When the first arrow hit the staff, there was a SLAM of light and sound, spreading around Hokkaido like a rock parts a stream. The master had his arms up guarding his face and eyes, still pressing behind the staff, but both moving slower now. Moone used the time to dance around sideways out of their direct line of sight and fired another arrow. Hokkaido must have seen it coming, for he leaped at Jaffa, grabbed the staff and tumbled forward ahead of the arrow, rolling to a stop and holding the staff level at Moone.

The loose arrow hit the dirt in another burst of light and lightning erupted from the end of Jaffa, shooting in a jagged arc for Master Moone. She ducked and the energy shot up against the plexiglass walls, making the students back away in surprised excitement. They cheered their favorite master, about evenly distributed, as the battle went back and forth, first one and then the other seemingly having the upper hand.

Ren figured that if Master Hokkaido could just last until Master Moone ran out of arrows, then he should win. He fought mainly defensively, using Jaffa as a shield against Luciana's attacks, but he just could not seem to get into close combat. If he could, then Jaffa would easily overpower Master Moone's distance weapon; this she obviously knew, for she fought to keep him off balance and as far away as possible. Then Master Hokkaido unleashed his signature move. The occamy students whispered excitedly at each other as he prepared, extending the staff even further into a long pole.

"Look, look!" they cried.

Master Moone had one arrow left in her hand. Hokkaido ran towards her. Moone took her arrow and shot straight up in the air. The arrow exploded into ... darkness. The stadium was suddenly inky black. The students pressed up against the glass, striving to see. They heard a soft thud, the pole hitting the ground, and then a sound that made them all wince in sympathy: a body collided with the stadium wall.

The unnatural darkness faded back under the lights. Hokkaido lay sprawled half on his side by the wall, but it was obvious from the shaking of his shoulders that he was laughing. Master Moone stood, hands on hips, in the center of the stadium, also laughing. The masters approached each other and bowed, turning those grins on the students and bowing once more to them.

Master Hokkaido had Jaffa back in hand as he went towards the students. His imperial uniform was wet with sweat, but he was smiling.

"So, students," he said, "I see that the master has not lost her touch!"

There was some laughing and good-natured ribbing amongst the occamy students.

"I hope you have learned something today. I wish you all good fortune on the morrow." He bowed.

"Class dismissed," added Master Moone. She bowed to them, the class bowed back politely, and then she took her own exit.

Most of the students clustered around Master Hokkaido, asking questions and chattering excitedly. Spirits were high, the excitement of the next day's competion spreading like wildfire now that the time was almost at hand.

Ren lost Rune in the crowd of students milling around him and he felt a surge of anxiety. He had no wish to disappoint --

"Master Yoshi!" cried Hokkaido, grinning and bowing to the older ninja who had (However does he do that? thought Ren crossly) somehow made his way to the floor of the stadium unnoticed by anyone.

Master Yoshi bowed, and then hugged the taller man. "It is good to see you, Hokkaido."

"It's been a long time, Master. Are you here for the competition?"

Master Yoshi nodded an affirmative. Ren looked up as Exodeus and Varamance stepped up beside him.

"That's the guy you been doing all that extra training with, isn't it?" asked Exodeus.

Ren nodded.

"Introduce us!" hissed Varamance.

Exodeus shrugged. "Class is out early, we've got time. Look, everyone else's leaving."

Ren jumped up on a bench, but he didn't see Rune. The two masters had drawn off to the side, talking, and the rest of the class had taken that as the signal it was and left, chattering excitedly about the next day and the competition and rehashing parts of the exhibition match.

"Who you looking for?" asked Exodeus, glancing at Ren curiously.

"Oh, well I --"

"Pandaren!" called Master Yoshi, beckoning. "Come here."

Ren hopped down from the bench and trotted down the last few steps to the stadium, flanked by the other two students. He bowed to Master Yoshi, shooting a nervous side-long glance at the other master.

Master Yoshi set a hand on Pandaren's shoulder, making the boy jump slightly, blushing, and half-turned, half-pushed him at Hokkaido. "This is my current student, Pandaren, of Samurai."

"I see," said Master Hokkaido, bowing formally. "Good day to you."

Flustered, Ren bowed, glancing at Master Yoshi.

Master Hokkaido smiled kindly. "Master Yoshi was my master for a time, young Pandaren. That must be, what, twelve years ago? I was one of your last students, wasn't I, Master?"

"Yes," said Master Yoshi, "I retired shortly after that. You were more of a trial than I had anticipated."

Master Hokkaido laughed at that jab. "You mean I was stubborn, Master, and with no good sense! Now, who're your friends, here?"

"Um," gulped Ren.

"I'm Exodeus, of Crystal, and my friend Varamance, of Kant," said Exodeus quickly. They bowed. "It's an honor to meet you, Master Hokkaido."

"Are these your sparring partners, Pandaren?" asked Master Yoshi.

"W-well, I don't -- I mean, I ..." Ren swallowed, staring at the ground.

"Yes, Master," answered Varamance, with a slight bow. "That is, I am, Exodeus is just waiting for me."

Master Yoshi smiled at them and patted Pandaren on the back. "Good choice. Now, Hokkaido, I would like for you to watch this ...." He drew the other master to the side, talking to him quietly.

"What, are you crazy!" hissed Exodeus to Varamance. "Aren't you taking a big risk?"

"Do you want to meet Master Isaaru or not?" countered Varamance.

Exodeus glowered.

"Besides, I only have the one match tomorrow, I need this chance to impress him. And this Master Yoshi seems to know a lot of people himself. Calm down, I'll be fine."

"Pandaren," said Master Yoshi coming back to them, "go warm up. Hold on a minute, Varamance."

Master Hokkaido wiped his forehead with a rag from his pocket, looking intrigued, if a little concerned. "Come, Exodeus, we'll wait outside. Why don't you tell me about your summons?"

Master Yoshi drew Varamance aside. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked quietly.

Varamance nodded, giving the master a quizzical look. "Yes, Master. Is there some reason you think I shouldn't?"

The master shook his head. "No, but this is risky. I have to determine from this if Pandaren will be allowed into the competition tomorrow."

"Oh." Varamance spared a glance for the solitary Ren, working his way through one of his lesser forms to loosen tight muscles. "Is it that undetermined, Master?"

"Yes." Master Yoshi looked cross. "That is why Master Hokkaido is here, to judge. I want you to push Pandaren hard, as hard as you can. Will you do that?"

"Yes, Master, but ... well, I don't think that's really fair to him."

Master Yoshi smiled a little, amused. "Don't be too confident, Varamance, you are not Valedictorian yet."

"What if he ... does that ... whatever it is?"

"I can cushion the blow, if it should happen," replied the master, though he looked not a little worried at the prospect. "I don't know how much, mind, I can't always judge, and my reflexes are not what they used to be."

"I understand, Master."

Master Yoshi patted him on the arm. "Very well. Go ahead and warm up. Let me know when you're ready."

Varamance unsheathed his swords and quickly pulled off belt and outer robe, tossing them to the benches outside. Then he walked towards the center and started running through a few exercises himself to warm up. He noticed Ren look at him a time or two and smiled to himself. Ren's fears and uncertainty would work against him.

At the completion of his warm-up, Ren walked into the center. Varamance was not far behind. Already the air hummed with the kant student's power, the heat billowing around him and rustling his white robes. The blades of his swords glowed slightly and Ren swallowed. He was not looking forward to this. Ren only came up to Varamance's chin and he was smaller in breadth of shoulder and arm reach. He would have to somehow make his way inside Varamance's reach, passing through the area sure to be guarded by the swords, in order to get in any attacks. As the exhibition match had shown, that was not likely to be easy, but it was either that or trust to the strange power he'd been struggling with all week.

But, then again, if Varamance chose to use his distance attacks primarily, then he'd have no choice. Ren could dodge, he was confident of that, but one didn't win with defense, and Ren wanted to win, to wipe that smug and condescending look off of Varamance's face.

"Are you ready?" called Master Yoshi.

With another glance at each other, both students nodded. They bowed to each other and, without warning, Varamance lashed out with one of his swords, battering Ren with a blast of heated air. Ren tumbled backwards, caught off guard, managing to recover into a roll and regain his feet. When he looked again, Varamance was gone. He tensed and looked up. Varamance had run to the wall and darted up, running now back toward Ren, but along the ceiling. This time, Ren didn't have a ball to knock him down with. He readied himself for the attack he felt sure was coming.

Sure enough, Varamance unleashed another wind-burst, quickly followed by a handful more, and Ren dodged them all, some easier than others. But Varamance stayed out of his reach and Ren felt frustration swelling up in him. He pushed it back, but Varamance saw him scowl, and laughed, battering him with an even swifter series of attacks. Ren fell back, letting Varamance herd him into a corner. When he judged they were close enough, Ren rolled through another dodge, jumped to his feet, and made a flying leap up and into the corner, touching off both walls and launching himself at Varamance.

They grappled for a moment on the ceiling and then, hands on his wrists, Ren felt Varamance slip and let go, falling gracefully back to the ground. Varamance did not look happy when he picked himself up, and Ren quickly went on the offensive, darting in to block swords between cupped palms, duck ferocious wind attacks, and -- finally! -- get in a blow, knocking Varamance backwards. Ren tripped him, kicking again to knock one of the swords out of his hands. The blade went spinning across the stadium.

Varamance gave Ren a horrible look, and they closed once more. Ren jumped and rolled and dodged aside from that sweeping blade, feeling the heat prickle against his sweaty skin, letting Varamance wear himself out with his anger.

Then Varamance slashed and Ren turned to deflect the blow and instead caught a second one he hadn't anticipated. Varamance had tricked him! He'd gotten Ren to back up right where he'd wanted, had used the wind to sweep his lost blade back into his grip and sliced with it, biting deep into Ren's arm.

He cried out and stumbled, falling, landing heavily and gasping. His instinctual flip to bring himself back to his feet failed with the weakness and pain in his arm. The blood made his grip slippery and he fell a second time, barely rolling away in time to avoid the follow-through strike. Tears of pain blinded him and he backed up as quickly as he could, trying for distance that Varamance was not letting him have.

Ren was tired and he was scared and growing light-headed. Varamance kept advancing. What to do? What to do? He didn't dare get up close again, one hand against two swords was vastly out-matched, which only left one option. Varamance must have seen something in his face of that decision, for he stopped suddenly and swept both blades before him, either trying to end things quickly to head off that attack, or trying to block it.

For his part, Ren threw himself forward, rolling and tumbling directly into Varamance's path, gasping in pain as he ground his injured arm into the dirt. He came back up in a jumping spin, kicking at Varamance. He missed, but it was just a feint, and Ren pushed out with his good hand, picturing his palm against Varamance's chest, struggling against his power, against the unrelenting agony in his arm to push, but not crush, willing what he wanted to happen and no more, oblivious to his own motion.

Varamance flew backward, spinning, and landed hard, his swords flying from nerveless fingers. He shook his head, dazed, blinking against a pounding head and double-vision.

Master Yoshi, quickly followed by Master Hokkaido and Exodeus, raced towards them across the stadium. "Hold!" he shouted. "Pandaren! Varamance! Hold!"

He reached Varamance first, the kant student struggling up on an elbow to look around, dizzy. There was a reddened impression of a hand smack in the middle of his chest, but he didn't otherwise seem hurt. He blinked, squinting at Master Yoshi, then at the other master.

"I lost my sword," he muttered.

"I got 'em," called Exodeus, hurrying over. "Are you okay?"

"Dizzy," replied Varamance. He touched his chest gingerly and hissed. "That's going to bruise."

"It's certainly going to be colorful," agreed Master Hokkaido. "Don't try to get up just yet, let your head clear. Master," he said, nodding at the other still figure across the way.

Master Yoshi trotted over to Pandaren, lying still on the hard-packed dirt. The shoulder wound was a deep slice and he would need a healer, but overall it wasn't bad. The worst of it came from the shock of losing so much blood. Master Yoshi wrapped a length of his robe tightly around the wound, pressing hard to stem the bleeding. Pandaren stirred at that, moaning.

Ren's eyes fluttered open and he struggled weakly. "Master! Master ... Varamance! Where is he? Is he ...?"

"He's fine, Pandaren. He'll be just fine. You did very well, very well." He blinked back sudden tears. "You did it, Pandaren. You guided your power, you made it do what you wanted. I'm very proud of you."

Ren sighed and smiled and closed his eyes.

He was back in the infirmary when he woke up next, with one of the healers clucking over his arm. Another leaned over Varamance, his hand glowing white as he touched the darkening bruise. Exodeus looked up from the other side of Varamance and gave Ren an indecipherable look. He turned away, looking up at the tall healer who tended him.

"Can I fight?" he asked worriedly.

The healer smiled. "Of course! This isn't serious." He helped Ren sit up. "You did lose a lot of blood, so be sure you get lots of fluids tonight. And be careful. There's no wound now, but the body remembers."

"Oh. Okay, thanks. Are -- are you new?"

The healer smiled again. "Yes. Not all of us visitors are here for fun. Some of us are here to work." He sighed and gave Ren's shoulder a squeeze. "I hope I won't be seeing you tomorrow, samurai."

"Me, too!" Ren agreed.

"They left," said Exodeus, seeing Ren look around.

"I'm ... sorry," said Ren next, to Varamance, who was now struggling up to a sitting position. The bruise was entirely gone, though he grimaced as if it still pained him a little.

Varamance shook his head. "It was a good battle." He frowned. "Why did you not do that earlier? You could have ended that fight much sooner."

"Well, I, it's not ..." Ren trailed off and looked away, shrugging.

"Look," said Varamance seriously, throwing his legs over the side of the bed, so close to Ren their knees almost touched. "Pandaren. Ren, listen to me. You keep going on like you are and someone really is going to get killed."

Ren darted a glance up, but the kant student seemed completely serious. Ren chewed his lip. "What do you mean?"

Varamance sighed. "I don't know, exactly, but you have magic. And either you use it or it uses you. If you use that whatever-it-is only when you're tired or hurt or weak, then chances are it'll control you rather than the other way around. Didn't any of the masters ever tell you that?"

Ren shook his head.

"Then I'm telling you now," said Varamance with a frown. "Your magic is a part of you. You go on like it's not there and eventually it'll break free, and not on your terms. Accept it, learn not to fear it, and," he shrugged, "so much more will open up for you." He stood. "Good luck, Ren."

"Thanks," Ren replied softly. He watched the two of them leave and considered. Kagami, Osore, and now Varamance had all told him the same thing, not to be afraid of himself or his powers. He ran his fingers through his hair. Just how was he supposed to do that? What he could do, unintentionally, scared the crap out of him. But ... he smiled a little. He had managed to knock Varamance down, even if he didn't win the fight, he'd still managed something he'd never done before, using his powers without -- well, without too much harm. Maybe there was hope for him.

But for now he had an afternoon free and an essay to write.

"You got hit!" Exodeus teased as he bounced around Varamance. He could not help but poke fun at Varamance whose pride was probably more bruised than his chest was.

"Everyone gets hit!" Varamance sounded sullen, he knew it was true but at the same time he was thinking what Exodeus was about to say...

"But YOU never get, at least not by a student," Exodeus couldn't help but laugh again,"Ren has some potential huh?"

"A Samurai with spiritual capability that's on par with at the very least a mediocre kant student? I'd say it's more than potential." Varamance was getting to be thoughtful again as he often was, but Exodeus was not going to let him slip off into some silence he could not be brought out of.

"Well, this is just great! Ren is getting more control over his abilities...you're damn near perfect, but that was something!" Exodeus was not being completely serious as he did not want Varamance know just how deeply it disturbed him.

"You know Exodeus, you're not so different from Ren," Varamance said as they walked. Exodeus blinked unsure how he meant that.

"I'm not afraid of anything," Exodeus knew it was a lie, but compared to Ren he did feel rather fearless. Varamance shook his head.

"You both don't want to come out of your comfort zones. You each have the potential to be stronger than you are, if you're just willing to work a bit more at it. Maybe now you have a chance before tomorrow's competition to learn where your strength truly lies..." Varamance's words struck a cord with Exodeus. He stood rooted to the spot as Varamance continued to walk onward, not looking back. Exodeus stared after him wondering how someone like Varamance would not be more arrogant.

He really is something. Exodeus felt the all too familiar twinge of jealousy creep into his heart. They had become fast friends, connecting on a deep level, but he was all too aware of the gap in their power and it saddened him. He could not be Varamance's equal in battle, Ren even proved he had a better chance of that than most.

Exodeus sighed realizing he was alone. Varamance knew he had to think about what he was going to do. Exodeus wished he had an idea about what he could possibly achieve. It was up to him now to find a way to make it through the competition.

"Oh I wish I had someone like Ren's new Master showing me what had to be done..." Exodeus leaned against a wall not too far from the Infirmary.

"What if I'm just not good enough? What if Varamance's right and there's more to this summoning stuff? Do I still have time?" Exodeus spoke to himself once more. He got to his feet and slowly trudged off to seek the answers he so desperately needed.

Kagami didn’t waste a time. After capstone session, he rushed to the meditation room. At times like these, none of the students are interested in doing their study; leaving the meditation room at his convenience.

Kagami moves into the middle of the room and sit on the floor. He focused his mind.

Chakra is the path of deception. Its’ magic affects body or mind and driven with spiritual energy to deceive either friends or foes.

Infusing certain chakra at the body makes one able to manipulate physical attributes.
(Which means it’s pretty much useless in combat aside from the capability to immobilize people)

Broadcast spiritual energy to influence the enemy’s chakra such as hypnosis and illusion.
(Useful but occasionally useless against a disciplined mind)

“Well, that’s the basis but it’s not enough. I need to be able to use the third implementation: The Real Illusion.”

It can bring forth what’s on our mind into reality (that’s the theory). But in actuality, such technique will consume a lot of spiritual energy hence it’s only possible to bring a small portion of it in a shape of a clone of its caster. The result is a real moving body projected by mind which is why this technique also called ‘the Projection’.

“The person I know that able to use this is Aya and Master Kai. But it’s really not a good time to get a private lesson from both of them. But it should be possible to achieve this by combining all the techniques that I’ve learnt.”

Kagami empty his mind. He let his energy flow into every chakra point in his body starting from his head to toe. After he feels he has accumulated enough energy, he focused his energy in front of him trying to shape up a body. Few minutes later, he can see a translucent shape in the form of a person.

Creak… The door of the meditation room is being opened.

Its’ sound shattered Kagami’s concentration. He can feel his energy dispersed into thin air and the humanoid object in front of him is disappearing as well. Suddenly, he feels his throat is dry and he can’t breath. He quivers; he can hear his heart rapidly beating. He feels something that he hasn’t feels for the last few years, that is pain.

“Argh…” Kagami screams, but no sounds could be heard. On desperation, he finally rolls down on the floor trying to escape the unbearable pain. Finally, his sight is fading away. He stays conscious but all of his senses are ripped from him.

Kagami doesn’t know how long he is black-out. When his senses return, he can see Kira is sitting besides him, looks uneasy. Kagami immediately wake up in sitting position. “How long has I’ve been unconscious?”

Kira replied “About ten minutes. Are you okay?”

Kagami faintly nodded, he feels weary. “Yeah, thanks for taking care of me. I was sure I’m gonna die. You’re alone? I thought you’d call someone.”

“You’re practicing, right? That’s why you used the meditation room at this time. I thought you don’t want anyone to know so I called no one.” Kira replied. “Should I call someone?”

“No, thanks.” Kagami refused.

I guess practicing it overnight is not possible. Both of them turn silent.

“You’re training projection right? I helped Aya before. If you want, I can help you with your training.” Kira broke the silence.

“No kidding. You’re sure? Let’s get on with it. We don’t have much time.”

The afternoon had turned out to be quite interesting. The former student of this school, Master Hokkaido, had fought his former teacher Master Moone. As Osore had predicted Master Moone had won, but the students’ sparings is not like the real thing. It looked to him like they were performing a synchronized dance, but then he had remembered master Hellfire had told him once: “When two opponents with excellent fighting abilities face each other, they are not struggling, but more like striving to show their best performance, their greatest techniques which in most of the time synchronize to such extent that victory can be achieved only through the simplest mistakes and the slightest sign of weakness”. In addition to this Osore believed that such battles between combatants without the presence of any personal feelings to each other can turn into a game.

After the fight everyone went to greet the Masters. Osore stayed. Beside him was Garett whose face was full of excitement. It was not because of the fight, but because his family was coming for the competition. Although he did not believe he would get in the Top 10, he was overwhelmed by the idea that he will see his family for the first time in ten years. Osore had heard him talk about his parents and his sister for over seven years, when they first became friends. His father, Ronald Gryffith, was a big-time businessman, with mansions in Madrid, New York, and Paris. His mother, Valentine, was a lady- whatever that meant. Truth was that Osore’s father, who was a police inspector, had had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. Gryffith before two years so their families knew each other too. His sister, Margo looked beautiful from the pictures Garett received through the letters that his family sent, and even though she was deaf, she was one of the smartest girls he knew, because she was accepted in a dozen of the most prestigious Academies in Europe.

After Master Moone dismissed all the students and almost everyone left, there was another sparring, but this time between Pandaren and Varamance. What Osore saw surprised him much more than the previous fight did. The sparring session of Pandaren and Varamance had a different outcome. Osore had not anticipated that Pandaren would take control over his power so soon. Surprising Osore was a difficult job for most students. The scene of Pandaren carefully measured attack was the thing that actually got his attention and at that moment a thought ran over Osore’s mind: “I hope we don’t fight in the competition, because if we do… I will loose!” Everyone had left and now he and Garett were alone.

“Let’s go! I can’t wait to introduce you! Especially to Margo! She’s been dying to see the infamous Osore!” he said and started pulling Osore to stand up. The half-masked student stood up and followed him without showing much excitement. Garett did not turn it over in his mind, because Osore was usually lacking in ability to show joy. In truth Osore was not feeling joy, but anger. It had been three days that he had received the letter from his father, stating he could not come for the competition. This had angered him. For nearly seven years he had been studying night and day under the guidance of Master Hellfire, had gone through the limits of both the inner and outer pain, for the one day that he will show his step-father his devotion to him. He had acted so harsh on Mei’Mei in their fight the other day mainly because of that. Although he knew this was wrong, he did not feel bad about it.

Garett was supposed to meet his parents in front of the dorms. They were nearing the dorms, Garett’s walking was quickly turning into running. Apparently, Garett’s excitement was taking control over him. Osore felt annoyed, but even so started running with his friend. When they arrived, there was no one. Apparently, they had come too early. Suddenly, from the front door of the dorms they came: Mr. Gryffith- not very tall, stalwart man, with tanned skin and black beard, Mrs. Gryffith- beautiful, aristocratic-looking and arrogant, and Ms. Gryffith- who was very beautiful, but shy- and nervous-looking. After them followed came another three people. The first one was fairly tall, white, straight haired man- Master Suitengu. The second man was a lot taller than him, thin and very bald- Inspector Alber Dorliaque. Osore’s eye trembled. His face froze in surprise and his mouth fell half way. Alber’s thin arms were put behind his back, his pace was slow, his huge, blue eyes were glued to Osore’s red one and a warm smile was imprinted on his face. Osore took a step back as Alber came down through the steps. He could not believe his father was here. He was supposed to be in Paris, solving some mystery or something. That is what he stated in his letter.

“No hug?” he asked his smile still on his face as he stretched his arms towards Osore. But his son stood by, still bedazzled by the situation.

“But you said that…” Osore started, his voice as calm as he could make it.

“Well, that was Katherina’s idea. If we told you we would come, it would not have been a surprise, would it?” he said. “Mom is here, too?” thought Osore, as he saw a short, black haired woman come from behind Alber and hugging him. “Well, you know that family can come too, so your Mom staying in France was out of the question.” he continued.

Osore was overwhelmed. Before a few seconds he was ready to charm his father for what he had made him go through these last three days, but the emotions that were trying to burst open were too powerful and before he knew it, he had already hugged his father as strong as he could.

“Hey, Garlon, Garlon, I’m not as strong as I look. Let your old man breathe in for a second, OK?” Dorliaque said gasping for breath. “My God, you’re stronger than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m nothing, father, you should see the senior Samurais. They’re the real deal.” Osore said his face as stone cold as ever, but his voice-a little quivery. Osore looked around and saw two of his friends- Tommy Mimocron and Lucracia Marth. They looked as if they had seen a ghost. The half-masked ninja broke the hug with his father. Garett looked charmed as well. He was speaking with his little sister through the finger alphabet.

“Father, Mother. Let me introduce you to a few of my friends here! This is Lucracia Marth!” Osore said. Lucracia extended her hand and shook theirs’.

“Pleased to meet you!” she said.

“Pleased to meet you! I am Alber Dorliaque, and this is my wife, Katherina. We’ve “heard” a lot about you.” Alber said.

“Really, ‘cause we have not heard anything about you! Are you…” started Tommy but Osore continued on.

“And this is Tommy Mimocron. You should excuse him, it’s not his fault. He is Chakra! They usually like to poke their noses in other people’s business.” Osore said grabbing Tommy by the shoulder and squeezing it as hard as he could. A stumpy Asian popped up from nowhere. He looked rugged, as if he had done hard work all his life. There was a very slight smell of fish coming from him. “He must be working with fish sort of speak” thought Osore.

“I just came to tell you that everything was carried to the storage room, Mrs. Dorliaque!” the Asian said on Korean. Katherina nodded and said:
]
“Oh, Garlon, let me introduce you to Mr. Chang Myon! He is from Korea and is here to see his son too.”

“Really, what’s his son’s ninja name?” Osore asked. Katherina asked Mr. Chang the same on Korean.

“Hammer.” Myon said. Osore was surprised for the third time today. Tommy, Lucracia and Garett looked astonished by this casual encounter. Mr. Chang bowed. The four ninjas bowed back.

“Let’s leave Garlon with his friends. We’ll talk tomorrow afternoon after the matches. Besides, I’m sure he has a lot to do. Especially since tomorrow is that Top 10 thing.” she said and took Alber by the hand pulling him towards the path that led to the hospital.

FRIDAY!

Visitors arrived at Razi throughout all of Thursday and by supper the hall was packed to overflowing. By Friday morning, tables and chairs had to be set up outside the great hall to handle the influx of people. The good part about it was that there was plenty of food for everyone.

Ren tried to treat the day as no different than any other. He went for his morning run, sat for his meditation, and then a short work-out. Pleased with himself and even beginning to get excited, he returned to his room to grab a change of clothes for the showers. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't see the dark shape sitting on his bed until it moved. Ren yelped a little in surprise and jumped back, at the door, which was now filled with Gunnar, the biggest kid in school. He backed up slowly, turning to face Eitan, who sat like a king and the low bed was his throne.

"I hear you beat Varamance in some kind of fight yesterday."

"N-no!" Ren protested. "It was a-a draw, I think, I'm not sure."

"They're letting you fight today." Not a question, a statement.

Ren nodded. He recoiled as Eitan leaped to his feet, towering over him.

"I'm going to tell you what to do, and you're going to do it!" he snarled. "Do you understand me?"

Back against the wall, Ren bit his lip, clasping his hands together to keep them from shaking. "W-why?" he asked.

Eitan leaned in closer, until their noses were practically touching. "Because otherwise I'll kill you. I'll kill you, Pandaren, I don't care what that judge said. They can't watch everything. And accidents do happen." He stepped back a little, pleased with the effects of his threats.

Hands braced behind him, Ren stared up at the older, larger boy, feeling sick inside. He knew he shouldn't let Eitan intimidate him so bad, but, dammit, he remembered too many occassions where he'd gone under those huge fists and he wasn't inclined to do that again any time soon. They were waiting for him to say something.

"W-what do you w-want me to d-do?"

"You're going to lose!" Eitan said darkly. "You're going to get out of this competition any way you can."

That brought a startled protest out of Ren. "No!"

As quick as a thought, Eitan back-handed his classmate, slamming him backwards, bouncing him off the wall, against the chest, and then onto the floor where he crouched, one hand on his skinned cheek, mouth and eyes opened wide with fright.

Eitan nodded in satisfaction, turning to go.

Ren watched them leave, trying to steady his breathing and still his racing heart. His shaking hand probed at his cheek. He'd lost some skin and it would swell, but nothing was broken. He'd knocked elbows and knees, but they were fine. He closed his eyes and steadied his nerves against the adrenaline rush that brought tears to his eyes.

The strange and wonderful knot of tension and excitement kindled earlier vanished, swallowed into a hard pit of dread, sinking in his stomach, a stomach that roiled and heaved, forgetting it was empty. Ren crouched there in a corner of his room, hand on his cheek and staring at nothing, fighting for some semblance of control, for his discipline back. His arm hurt again, as the healers had said it might, for the body remembered that there should be an injury there, even though the mind said there wasn't.

"Pandaren?"

Startled, Ren jumped, coming to his feet to face the person now standing in his doorway. It was the mask-wearing khu student, Osore.

"W-what?"

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing!" he replied, turning sideways to hide both his darkening cheek and the embarassed flush that crept over his face. "What do you want?"

"Hammer woke up. He wanted me to wish you luck."

"He did?"

"Yeah, so good luck."

Still Ren did not look at him. "Th-thank you." Hammer was going to be okay! Now he fought tears of a different sort, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes.

"I only saw him briefly," continued Osore quietly, from the doorway. "He wants to see you."

Ren nodded to show he'd heard, but said nothing. He'd gone by the night before after dropping off his essay, but there'd been so many people milling around he'd been uneasy and had gone away again.

"His parents are here."

"O-okay," Ren managed.

"So, see you later?"

"Yeah."

The rest of the morning passed in a fog. He had to fight his way through the throngs of people for breakfast, grabbing only a small muffin to nibble at outside on the grass. There were students and visitors everywhere. Ren watched a family group for some time, envious, before tossing the remains of his muffin and going down to the stadium. He quickened his pace a little when he saw Master Yoshi and Master Hokkaido talking with two other masters just to one side of the entrance and the throngs of people going in and out the large doors.

One of the masters was a gentle-looking, unassuming man, with black hair braided into numerous strands that hung half-way down his back. He had a sword buckled to his hip. The other was a black woman, taller than the other two and very thin. She had only a cap of hair, but numerous earrings that jingled when she moved her head. She wore a belt of black ninja stars. Those two and Master Hokkaido all wore uniforms of red and gold and Ren came to the conclusion that the two he didn't know were the other two judges.

Ren walked straight up to the group and bowed. "Good morning, masters."

They each gave him a small bow in return and, on looking up, Ren saw that the woman's eyes were so light a brown they seemed gold, and she smiled at him, showing dazzlingly white teeth.

"This is my student Pandaren," said Master Yoshi by way of introduction.

The three judges exchanged looks.

"This is Master Issaru," the man with the braids nodded, "and Master Blackbird," the woman smiled again, but there was less friendliness than there'd been before. Master Yoshi leaned closer to Ren, to whisper, "You'd better get some ice on that before it gets any bigger."

Ren bowed his farewells to the masters and hurried off.

Opening Ceremonies began with all the seniors filing into the stadium together. The three judges then followed, with introductions to the rest of the school. There was the National Song of the Republic, followed by a few speeches and an overview of the rules, and then the competitors were dismissed, except for the opening match, between Gunnar and Sierra of Samurai. Most of the seniors went up into the stands to watch, the rest went back towards the locker rooms. The samurai students all went to the rooms reserved for the competitors, to warm up and finish preparing themselves for their matches, except Ren. He waited with the rest of the seniors, watching, knowing that his turn would not be for a while and wanting to know who he would be facing.

Both Gunnar and Sierra chose pole arms, which was unusual for them, and they battered away at each other unmercifully throughout the entire match. When time was called, Sierra was named the winner. Eitan and Zelda went next, a quick battle, and then it was to Konotori and Cleon. Skill against skill, they were evenly matched, but Cleon chose weapons to maximize Konotori's weaknesses and soon revealed himself the winner. In the second round, Eitan easily bested Sierra and soon Pandaren found himself in the ring beside Cleon.

"For this Match," said Master Moone, serving as the announcer, "we have Cleon with his Swift River Fighting Style against Pandaren with his Qi Fighting Style."

They bowed to the judges and then to each other. Ren waited. Cleon had chosen a staff for his weapon for this match, evidently wanting to keep Ren at a distance. He waited also and, after a few tense seconds, laughter rippled around the stands. Ren blushed. Cleon was as impassive as ever.

"Gentlemen," called one of the judges, after another period of tense waiting.

There were catcalls now and booing and still Cleon waited, while Ren fretted. He shifted weight on his feet, his gaze flicking uneasily from his opponent to the stands, to the judges ... and fell, jumping to avoid the blow to his legs, alerted by some small flicker of motion as Cleon made his lightning fast move. Ren didn't quite jump high enough and the staff clipped one ankle, sending him tumbling.

Cleon was on him in a flash and Ren took several more blows before he regained his balance and started fighting back. With the impetus lost, Cleon continued to lose ground when faced with this new confidence and strength. He'd expected Ren to fall apart in confusion, and that hadn't happened. Minutes later, Ren grabbed the staff, Cleon threw him back over his head, and Ren kicked him as he went over. Cleon lost his grip and tumbled. He didn't get the chance to rise again.

Breathless with victory, Ren couldn't help a grin as he bowed to Cleon. The other samurai gave him a nod and strode away. That grin vanished abruptly as Eitan came back into the stadium and fixed Ren with his cold black eyes. Ren shivered. His hand went instinctively to his cheek again and he dropped it hastily when he realized what he'd done. Eitan's lips curved upwards slightly at the corners. He made only the barest of bows for the introductions, going immediately on the offensive.

Ren fell back beneath Eitan's unrelenting assault, the moves that should have been instinct vanishing in his terror. Eitan was the best at armed combat, the best samurai student of their year. He had long hated Ren and had made his life hell for a very long time. With those knives, Eitan was like a whirlwind of sharp edges, an unstoppable tornado.

"I'm going to kill you, Pandaren!" he whispered as he drove Ren across the floor.

His daggers flashed whenever they closed together and Ren bled from a dozen small wounds, fear only emphasizing the pain and making him sloppy. Then Eitan tripped Ren during another up-close, quick scuffle. They fell together and Eitan pinned the smaller samurai down beneath his greater weight. They grappled, one dagger inches from Ren's stomach, the other curving downward towards his shoulder. With Eitan kneeling partially on one thigh, Ren had his other leg free and he kicked, but it was awkward and Eitan scarcely seemed to even feel the blows. Ren couldn't maintain his focus on three fronts and the daggers inched closer. His arms trembled and shook with the effort to hold off the power in Eitan's dual strike.

Perhaps then the judges realized that there was more going on than they had realized. Never too far away from the samurai duels, they came closer still, their own weapons held easily in their hands.

Eitan spit, Ren flinched, and Eitan rammed one of the daggers home. Ren screamed in pain and stared up at Eitan through a foggy haze. The other samurai smiled where only Ren could see.

They grappled still, Ren trying to keep the one dagger from digging any deeper and trying to push Eitan's other hand up and away. Ren thrashed.

"No," he gasped. Eitan only smiled. When he turned his head, Ren could see the masters' feet.

No! he thought. He bent his knee as far as he was able and kicked! Pounding his foot into Eitan's hip, Ren heaved and rolled as the heavy weight lifted. He came up on one knee, looking for Eitan, one hand pressed tightly against his bleeding side.

Staggering, he came to his feet as Eitan did the same. Ren glared, but only for a second, he need the energy, the strength of his anger, to concentrate on what he meant to do. Slowly, he settled into a fighting crouch, watching Eitan approaching. He drew on that fear, too, brought up both hands before him, and jumped into a kick.

An invisible force knocked Eitan off his feet and backwards across the stadium floor. Ren waited for him to rise and kicked him again but then the pain was overloading his senses and he slumped to his knees, pressing his hand back to his side, blood roaring in his ears over the noise of the spectators. He watched Eitan rise once more. This time, instead of approaching, Eitan hefted one of the daggers in his hand and let fly.

Hardly thinking what he did, Ren threw up his other arm as if to shield himself, knocking the dagger askew, to bury itself up to the hilt in the ground. He slouched forward, going to hands and knees, drew a deep breath, and found the will to stand. Eitan did not throw his other weapon, but closed rapidly, sensing his opponent's weakness and striving to use that to his advantage.

Ren came to his feet just in time to meet that new attack and they battled again hand to hand and hand to dagger. A concentrated strike sent the remaining weapon skittering free and Eitan lunged, to wrap his hands around Ren's throat, bearing him once more to the ground. This time, Ren brought his knees up as he fell, getting his feet braced against Eitan's chest and pushing with everything he had left.

Head spinning, he managed to turn over onto his stomach, one hand going to his injury, knowing that he needed to stand, needed to show the judges that he could still fight, but unable at first to do so. He managed only to rise on one shaky arm, to toss sweat-soaked hair from his face, and look about.

There was one judge standing nearby, watching his struggles impassively. Across from them, Master Blackbird and Master Hokkaido knelt next to the still form of Eitan. After a moment, Master Hokkaido lifted an arm in a gesture.

"Can you stand?" asked Master Issaru, with his soft voice. "Your opponent is down," he continued, a little louder, as the noise escalated around them with the shouting and cheering and booing of the audience. "If you cannot, this will be a draw."

Ren drew his legs painfully underneath him, leaning forward. He took a deep breath and lurched to his feet to stand, swaying, beside the master.

"Ladies and gentleman," announced Master Moone. "We have our first Top Ten Finalist, Pandaren of Samurai!"

Master Issaru grabbed Ren by the elbow to steady him while healers came out to the floor. Ren leaned against him gratefully, going with the healers with no objections. They half-carried, half-dragged him from the stadium. Ren managed a small smile to Exodeus as they passed, wishing him luck since he had no breath to talk. The healers took him into the showers to hose him off and clean his wounds. He cried out once and then, mercifully, passed out.

Exodeus tried to smile back but Pandaren quickly disappeared as he was carried off the field. He sighed quietly as he realized that he would be the next to fight. It was going to test everything he had. Vie was at his side, hissing softly, her tones reassuring and her great weight anchoring him down so he would not be lost in the torrent of doubt he suddenly felt. He only had one fight he needed to win to make it to the top ten. Only one fight he needed to lose to never have a place amongst them.

Ren did it...he never seems to want to quit, especially now. Exodeus had to smile to himself. He had many friends, many supporters, but he felt alone sometimes apart from Vie. When it came to a battle, you could only fight it alone. This competition made that even more pronounced in his mind. Radacia was already taking to the center of the fighting arena which had seen its first bit of blood shed. He came to the center as well, ready to will himself to fight.

Exodeus's breath was still. To him there was nothing else there. He stood on the edge of an abyss. That abyss had a name to it, Radacia. She could very well swallow him whole. Vie pressed her comforting weight against him once more. It brought him back to his senses. There was Radacia, the only person he would have to beat in his senior class. He tried to smile but failed, turning it to a grimace. Was he truly so insecure? The masters stood about them on the edge of the circle they were to battle in. It was large, plenty of room for movement. The faces of the crowd seemed to be blurred together apart from the Masters. He could not pick out any face from another, friend and foe were indistinguishable. He thought it would be comforting to know someone who supported him was there nearby. Vie seemed to be his only friend now and the only one whom he could depend on as well.

"This match," Master Moone announced, "is for the Top Ten Finalist from Crystal Sect. We have Exodeus with his Assimilation Fighting Style against Radacia and her Sword-Dance Fighting Style."

"Begin." one of the masters' commanded and Exodeus bowed to his adversary. Radacia inclined her head slightly; she bowed to no man, especially one she thought less of. Her sabertooth's tail twitched in agitation as it looked at the large anaconda.

"I'll make this swift," Radacia nodded solemnly. She was not being cocky, she genuinely wanted to not prolong Exodeus's humiliation. Somehow that stung him deeply, that she did view him as so much less than herself when he had given all of himself to the Crystal Techniques. He had striven so hard to be strong. He may not have studied but he deserved to be here just as much as she did. The slight pang in his heart subsided, he was not going to let his ego be torn down by some stuck up princess.

"Please do," Exodeus said to her. Vie hissed warningly at her now that she sensed her master was ready.

"Fighting with Summons and Summons alone?" she questioned. Exodeus nodded his agreement, "Do you know all five of your standard summons?" He felt a fleeting feeling of panic, five?

"Vie is all I depend on," Exodeus which was true enough. He had rarely practiced with his other summons comparatively. Which had its drawbacks if he reached a situation where Vie was more or less useless. It was also the reason he had never learned his fifth summon, he actually only mastered three. The fourth he could produce, but Varamance had smashed that summon up pretty good and now he was slow to call on it again. The fifth summon had been an independent study, to see if the student had the drive and willpower to call on it.

"Pathetic," she pointed at Vie. Her sabertooth sped into action it's fangs bared. Vie coiled tightly waiting to strike. The sabertooth easily closed the distance between them once it was in striking range Vie lashed out, her body slithering beneath the sabertooth and then her maw opening wide to bite deeply into the sabertooth's neck. The large cat gave a ferocious roar that caused several to cover their ears or leap in alarm. The monstrous anaconda wrapped her body with shocking speed around the entire body of the Sabertooth, constricting its movements. The sabertooth gasped for air, panicking tying to claw at Vie or sink its teeth into any part that got too close to its mouth. Yet Vie's hard scales did not get hardly any damage.

"And that is Restrict," Exodeus laughed. He was pleased with the results. The sabertooth had taken a moment to succumb to the paralyzing venom, but it now lie uselessly on its side. Vie did not relax her grip until the Radacia's summon exploded into a thousand bits of sparkling and wispy blue lights as if a mini-firework had been set off. She placed her hands together.

"That was just my first summon, you will deal with my second summon...Trist," she her crystal around her neck glowed a vibrant blue, it was sapphire. A similar silver back gorilla appeared like the one that Exodeus had summoned while fighting Varamance. Vie leaped forward this time taking the offensive. The gorilla pounded its chest, bits of light pulsating with each punch to its well-muscled frame. It then charged at Vie too, as she reached the gorilla she rose to her full height pushing her head upwards so that she can strike the unprotected eyes of the gorilla. The gorilla did not give Vie the chance however, grabbing hold of her like a piece of rope he gripped the snake painfully and slammed the snake to the ground. Vie's head crunched audibly from the force of the slam. Exodeus shivered filling the pain briefly that she must have. The gorilla loosened its grip and ran up to the head of the anaconda ready to deliver the final blow that would make it return to Exodeus's crystal. Vie twisted without warning, springing to life, she clamped down furiously with all her might upon the neck of the gorilla. Her body was writhing and rolling around trying to bring down the hulking beast to its knees. The gorilla could not even cry out as its windpipe was already crushed and the paralyzing venom taking hold.

"Damnable snake..." Radacia swore. She waved her hand in dismissal of the gorilla so it would not suffer anymore, "I think I will resort to my final summon then. It seems I've underestimated the snake's cunning. Good thing she is not as stupid as yourself." Exodeus had a vile retort on the edge of his lips but it died there as his eyes opened in awe at what was happening before him.

A man stood beside Radacia. His eyes burned with the fire of war. Untold numbers of battles had been seen by those eyes, and he had lived through them all. His body was well armored, plates of steel along his shoulders and across his chest would keep glancing blows from swords from hurting his sword arm or piercing his heart and lungs. His rippling abs and biceps were exposed, but Exodeus had the feeling that a sword would break before piercing those. He was larger than any man he saw, he could have very well been over seven feet and he wielded a wickedly curved two-handed sword that was nearly of the same height, forged of obsidian. A deep blue fire seemed to surround the warrior, it was the aura of Radacia's sapphire crystal that imbued him with strength.

"This is the fifth summon we were to learn. No more animals Exodeus, now we may call guardian spirits. Mine is Ochono the War-Bringer," Radacia said calmly. Sweat trickled down the entire length of her body, Exodeus could only imagine the amount of will-power and spiritual energy it was taking to maintain this summon. Animals did not drain spiritual power by being manifested normally, only things with auras did as they had vast amounts more power than summons without them.

"Vie be careful," he whispered to his snake which was only a few yards ahead of him. She did not seem to acknowledge him, but he knew she heard. She was focused solely on the enemy now. Exodeus was thankful he had a few more summons left but if Vie failed he was not sure if they could save him. Vie waited in anticipation for the attack, she would stay defensive this time.

Ochono brought up his sword with both hands into the air. The aura slowly flowed into the obsidian sword. It went from the twisting deep blues to being completely black. With what sounded like a clap of thunder the sword struck the ground and wave of spiritual energy moving faster than Exodeus could follow, streaked directly towards Vie. She barely had time to react before it hit her full on. Exodeus screamed painfully, his chest searing like fire. The crystal around his neck was blazing into his skin, even his school uniform caught ablaze from the sudden flaring heat. Exodeus clawed at his neck trying to rip it off, the amethyst light danced madly as the crystal was pulled out from under its usual resting place in his clothes. Exodeus was dizzy, white lights exploded in his vision, the Masters were rushing in. He couldn't even tell what happened. Many firm hands came around him, pulling off the crystal, and patting out the flames. Exodeus felt immediate relief as the crystal was removed. He swallowed back the vomit that was threatening to come out if given the chance. He could hardly speak, his throat was raw, he was amazed his screams had been powerful enough to do that so quickly.

"The Match is over, Exodeus is declared the winner," Master Hokkaido announced. There was a cry of outrage from those who supported Radacia and saw she clearly rendered her opponent unable to battle, "He is declared winner on the grounds of killing her opponent. We had clearly stated in the beginning that this would not be tolerated and she used a summon to attack on the spiritual level for instant death." Exodeus was confused, he was alive...wasn't he? He won. So he had to be alive.

"Vie?" he suddenly whispered hoarsely. He sat up to see the snake lying there..or part of her. Exodeus looked to Master Issaru for an explanation.

"You must not pay attention in class, hm?" Issaru sighed, "You should know...theoretically, summons are not real creatures....they are manifestations of ourselves and thus cannot die. Yet, they are spiritual entities, intelligent, that feel, and think. So, it is suffice to say that they are indeed alive and all things that live must be able to die. If something attacks not the physical but the spiritual, it is said a summon can be killed. In essence, killing a part of the summoner as well which is why your crystal burned you so in reaction to her death...it nearly killed you as well." Exodeus was silent. He could tell he was going to cry. He didn't bother to stop it. He looked to Master Physica trying to voice the question but being unable to. Thankfully, she seemed to understand.

"Yes, Vie is dead. She cannot be summoned again." Master Physica dabbed at his head and eyes a bit with a wet cloth.

"You'll be fine," she told him, "Just a bit of trauma. I think he can handle sitting with the rest of the students for the duration if he wishes." Exodeus wiped a bit more at the tears but they would not stop coming. He smiled a bit at her and nodded, he wasn't going to break down into sobs, but the tears screamed his anguish well enough.

"At least I won..." Exodeus tried to laugh and instead coughed a bit. Someone handed him his crystal, but he could not tell who as the tears blinded him momentarily. All was silent in the arena, but he knew he could not sit there long, others needed to fight. He felt a terrible pang of shame however, he was certainly the weaker of the two combatants and Master Issaru had seen it all. He was nothing.

Exodeus took his place amongst the spectators and a few patted him comfortingly and a few whispered congratulations. Exodeus looked up involuntarily when he felt a particularly firm hand clap his shoulder. Varamance was going to the arena now, he smiled.

"I see you practiced after all," Varamance said. Exodeus wondered if he was just being nice, but it didn't matter.

"Maybe I'll see you in the top ten then?" Exodeus said feeling a bit better. He would rather not be sad now. Vie he had known all his years at Razi and one thing she had always wanted was to make him happy, as much as a snake could anyway. He was not going to lament her doing her best, he had to do his best now.

"Oh, I'll be there." Varamance walked away, full of confidence as usual. Exodeus just shook his head as he watched, even after the fight with Ren not going as Varamance would have wished, he was not shaken. He had his goal, to be the best. Exodeus was suddenly excited about this battle. Kant was one of the most powerful sects, arguably nearly as disciplined as samurai but not as emotionally detached unless by choice. Even a student who was not a senior would be a formidable opponent.

"Lolani, isn't that her name?" Exodeus heard someone whispered, some were standing on tip toes to get a look at the raven haired beauty who took to the center along with Varamance. Exodeus licked his lips. If the headmaster had placed her in to fight Varamance, she must be remarkable. The other students were also murmuring about the battle, she was the youngest person to ever be able to compete for a position on the Top 10 and a chance at being the Valedictorian of the school, more so than that, it would be of a class ahead of herself! She would very well hold the position twice if she was able to beat Varamance. Now all was still as the masters allowed the battle to commence.

Varamance stood before Lolani, each looking at one another and knowing what was to come. Exodeus looked from the girl and then to the boy. She was stony, he could see the fear behind the mask of determination, but she would not crack under pressure. He could tell that too. She did not get here by being sloppy. Varamance was calm, cool, collected as always. Victory was within his reach but two people blocked the way. One was Lolani, and the other he could not yet see. Exodeus could see they were looking at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Exodeus blinked.

The crowd was bunching up trying to get a better view, gasps and rapid talking began. Exodeus was bewildered as to what he had missed in that second. He craned his neck until he was sure he'd pull something and was able to see Lolani cradling her left arm with her right hand. Varamance was now in the air, both swords drawn. He had suspended the laws of gravity, that familiar wind that blew for him and him alone stirred at his clothes and hair. The fabric of her long sleeves had been ripped on her left arm that she was holding, whatever attack had been made by Varamance had ripped the clothes to shreds and bruised her arm badly. It must have been a glancing blow Exodeus figured, if he knew anything about Varamance he knew each strike made was to bring the opponent down in one move.

Varamance pointed one of his swords at Lolani. Movement caught Exodeus's eye but he could not follow it. Varamance was even faster than he remembered from his duel earlier in the week. A mini-crater had formed where Lolani once stood. She had dodged the attack. Yet, that was all she could do, in the air Varamance had a huge advantage. Lolani swept her good arm in a wide arc above her head towards Varamance. Apparently Varamance had not expected her to go offensive and was caught completely off-guard by the attack. He dodged the attack and went into a set of flips landing easily on the ground. His advantage was lost, Varamance did not seem bothered much by the change however. Lolani seemed to be less pained by her arm injury now as well.

"Now I've got you," Lolani claimed as she drew out what looked to be six short-swords. Varamance tilted his head and watched for any signs of danger. She thrust the blades forward and they sailed through the air, glinting in the light. Varamance readied an attack that would easily deflect them all in one sweep. Yet the blades each moved of their own accord changing direction and position. Varamance realized too late what she had done.

"A new attack?" Varamance questioned betraying his uncertainty of his opponent. Lolani was quite pleased with herself to have surprised him. The blades were spinning dangerously at six different points. He was surrounded. Varamance dared not to make a movement. One was placed before him, between him and Lolani. One was behind him, and one was at his left and right side. The other two were above in case he tried to take to the air to escape.

"Never seen my signature move before?" Lolani was reveling in her smugness now, "Dance of Blades!" She let loose the blades from the whirling state caught in the wind of her spiritual energy. They now closed in from all directions to pierce Varamance into the arena ground. The attack could not be dodged, there was no escape.

Exodeus held his breath unconsciously as he watched. Several others had now as well, watching with rapt fascination as to how one would get out of such a corner. It was looking like they were indeed going to have the youngest valedictorian ever. Exodeus was not sure what happened next, but later he would explain it as if everything was moving so fast that it actually seemed to come to a near standstill, with seconds seeming to last minutes. Varamance let go of his swords, they hung as if suspended by time slowly falling to the ground as Varamance and the deadly blades moved at speeds Exodeus had not witnessed before. Yet, he was able to keep up as it was all within a short distance. Varamance clapped his hands together firmly, his elbows were down up to the height of his shoulders and were now parallel with the ground.

Exodeus felt himself lean in forward, at first he did not notice but then he caught himself as he nearly fell over. His necklace was being pulled out from beneath his shirt and it now stuck out directly pointing towards Varamance. Exodeus suddenly realized he was not the only one this was happening to, the entire crowd looked as if it was being sucked into a miniature black hole, like all the world now centered its gravity right where Varamance stood.

"He's gathering power..." Exodeus mouthed the words, as now all sound had seemed to no longer exist. Even the singing of the blades as they continued the painful inching towards their target could no longer be heard. Although this all happened within the span of three seconds, Exodeus could have been standing there for an hour and he would have felt it had been the same amount of time. Yet, the moment passed and all hell broke loose.

An explosion of spiritual energy ripped through the fighting arena. Only the masters had managed to hardly budge from their spot, but many of the students in the crowd were sent into the arms of stronger students who only took an involuntary step backwards. Exodeus caught a younger girl who had been on her tip toes hardly keeping balance to see what was happening.

"A sonic boom," Dux Mann said beside Exodeus. He looked to the boy who had been slightly cooler to him since the confrontation with Ren, but now that all seemed forgotten.

"That's what that was?" Exodeus reflected back upon the few seconds. The lost of sound, the pulling in, the explosion, he wasn't certain. He couldn't say yes but he couldn't say no either.

"Whatever it was...I don't think there's another student who could pull off something like that to say the least," it was Osore, whom Exodeus had not noticed until then mentioned. Exodeus only turned to see what was left of the arena. It seemed relatively intact, just many cracks and some missing chunks along the edges. Issaru had summoned a dazzling bird which burned as brightly as the sun and it had moved faster than Exodeus could have seen as it caught every single sword in its beak during the explosion of the Varamance's attack.

"Issaru...he must think I'm such a screw up. I only won by default!" Exodeus whined. The bird, which Exodeus could only describe as a phoenix dropped the weapons at Issaru's feet and vanished into a dazzling set of sparks and flames. Lolani was being carried, visibly shaken by the attack. She was completely pale and didn't speak but seemed unharmed in any way apart from her arm. A few masters were speaking to Varamance on the side, and Exodeus found himself desperately jealous. He got so much attention!

"You're looking kind of green there," Kagami joked. Exodeus gave him a nasty look, but he had to admit, he probably did seem envious and belligerent right then.

"It's just not fair..." Exodeus voiced deciding he should not take out his anger on someone for being observant, "The master's haven't even declared him winner, they are so busy probably telling him how he's gotten so strong and someone probably will offer advanced training outside the school when this is all over. He'll go off and become some damned legend." Kagami was silent. Exodeus suddenly realized how he sounded. He should be happy for his now best friend, but he was only feeling sorry for himself. Vie was dead. He was going into the next round of the top ten and would probably face off against someone he could not beat as he only had a few summons he had hardly practiced with.

"The winner is Varamance," now the decision came and all clapped loudly in applause. Varamance made his way over to where Exodeus now stood a bit more towards the back. Exodeus had wanted to get away from the others so he could cope with the fact he'll never be the best or close to it.

"I see why you admire Master Issaru so much, he's easily the most intriguing I've met out of the masters. And he offered to introduce me to the right people once I leave the school, they'd have further training for me and maybe even a job with the government who are looking for an elite squad of ninjas!" Varamance told Exodeus excitedly. He looked genuinely elated.

"Never would've guessed," Exodeus said, he knew he sounded sulky and took in a sharp breath before going on,"Sorry. You were just amazing out there...what was that? I've never seen you do that move." Varamance just winked.

"I hope we'll keep in touch Exodeus when this is all over...you're really my favorite person here at school. I know it sounds strange, but I admire you...you know?" Exodeus blinked at Varamance as he spoke, wondering what provoked this.

"Admire...me?" Exodeus was confused.

"I think people like you and Pandaren have so much in store for you in the future. If you just keep pushing, I bet you'll be better than you'd ever know," Varamance assured him. Exodeus gave a bitter smile.

"But not as strong as someone like you?" He knew he was trying to help. Varamance just laughed some, nothing was bringing down the feeling of victory and though it was obviously a private conversation many people were trying to listen waiting for Varamance to be done so they could swarm him.

"Looks like I better go before they crush you too, should only be one casualty here," Varamance went off to join his other friends and those who wanted to hear what he had been thinking during the fight. Yet the next fight would be starting soon. It was all a matter of time before all were silent waiting for the next big thing.

You've got a good friend Exodeus. Kagami leaves the spectators quarter. He has a fight to attend.

Kagami walks towards the lockers. He double checks his weaponry: his all-sized needles hidden under the cloth in his torso, his crossbow inside a pouch hanging on his waist. He then picks a seat waiting to be called. Feeling uneasy, he could swear his heart beats like a tambourine. As soon as he heard his name, he inhales a deep breath, calms his nerves and headed for the arena.

"The first match from Chakra," said the announcer, "we have Kagami with his Void Fighting Style against Satsuki with his Iron Fist Fighting Style."

Kagami smiled wryly listening to the announcement of his style. His fighting style only consists of dodging and attacking only when the enemy shows their blank spot or from a distance. A style that won't favor him in this competition.

"Begin." Both contestants bow to judges and finally to each other. They make a distance between them, staring at each other, waiting for the first move.

Satsuki take the initiative, doesn't want to risk falling into Kagami's ploy. He swiftly takes few steps to be right in front of Kagami and release unrelenting attacks. Kagami responded by showing his reflexes, dodging all of Satsuki's mortal blows. Being cornered, Kagami quickly roll aside, taking a few steps back recreating their distance. Satsuki rushed his legs erasing their distance and repeating their rhythm.

This is getting nowhere. As soon as Kagami able to escape from the merciless assault, he quickly create a distance further than the previous one. Satsuki immediately approach Kagami.

I have to be quick. Kagami is standing with both his palm near each other in front of his chest, concentrating his energy and finally clapping them.

A dazzling light fills the arena in a flash. Kagami managed to create a projection of him behind Satsuki. Not knowing, Satsuki keeps charging at Kagami. Kagami immediately order his projection.

His projection kicks Satsuki from behind. "What the…" Satsuki faced the clone, surprised by the sudden attack. Kagami quickly pulls out three of his needles and both he and his projection seal Satsuki's movement much like when he and Varamance stop Dux. He swiftly put his needles on Satsuki's back on three chakra points along the spine to completely stop him right about the time just before his clone disappear. He let Satsuki's body fell then pulls his longest needles, about as long as knitting needle and slowly moves it to Satsuki's head in a stabbing position as a sign that he is the victor.

"The winner is Kagami of the Void Fighting Style" Master Moone's voice fills the stadium announcing his victory. Kagami grinned, feeling content. He releases Satsuki from his uncomfortable position and both of them bowed to the judges before leaving the arena.

Kagami and Satsuki enjoy the remaining matches. They watch Kaito bested Kira. On the next match, they witness Kaito's second battle. The healer's refreshments revitalize Kaito. Kaito manages to gives trouble for Aya but finally get beaten by her and her projection.

Kagami drag himself back to the arena when his name is called. He faces his next opponents. They both bow to the judges and to each other the moment the sign for beginning the next battle is sounded.

Euw, I never get used to that. Kagami sees Aya struggle. She’s about to split herself into two, initiating her signature moves: the Doppelganger.

Kagami strikes first, trying to cancel Aya’s technique so he can get an upper hand. His fist is only able to hit an empty air. Aya dodge Kagami’s blow and finishing her technique. Now Kagami is surrounded by two Aya. “Crap…”

Both Aya quickly attacks Kagami. They swiped their sword gracefully, much like dancing. Their swift moves and deadly blades give Kagami no chance to concentrate. Even his reflexes couldn’t save his hide, Kagami eventually has to taste the cold blades tearing up his skin.

After a moment, the continuous attacks stopped, Kagami’s attacker seems to need time to catch her breath. Kagami holds his left shoulder, his cloth is torn and blood is dripping from his wound. Knowing he wouldn’t have another chance, Kagami quickly concentrate. He closes his eyes.

Aya took this opportunity to take Kagami down. She and her projection charge forward and slash Kagami. Kagami didn’t budge, he took those attacks. A large wound open up in his chest. Suddenly, his eye lids open and one word could be heard. “Done.”

“Creak, creak, creak.”

A cracking noise echoes in the stadium. Cracking lines come into sight on Kagami’s face appears like a broken mirror. The cracks finally went all over his body, and shattered into pieces. The broken fragments spread into the arena, from each fragments emerges a reflection of Kagami.

Staggered, Aya unconsciously released her projection and starts hacking those reflections that come into surface. Each reflection disappears with each slash, but after a moment they reemerge again. She frantically attacks those reflections and finally lose her breath.

Kagami’s voice echoes in the stadium. “You must be tired. Now, I will let you go to sleep.”

The illusion is fading away. People see Aya’s body fell into the floor, catch by Kagami who looks unwounded before it actually touch the ground. “Our top ten combatants from chakra, Kagami.” The announcer voices his victory.

Mirrors’ fragments. A mass hypnosis that creates a large scale illusion. Flashy, but effective. And tiring. Kagami carries Aya’s body to the healer.

Now, he could only wait for the next fight.

Bambi

"I'm not nervous, I'm not nervous...I'm...okay, so I'm nervous." Nnena eyed herself in the mirror, arching her brow and rubbing at her pores. She tufted about her hair, awaiting the announcer to begin her battle. Her nerves were welling up inside of her, almost spilling out with every exasperated sigh. She started stretching her muscles, reaching down to her toes, then raising her arms above her head, listening to her joints pop against the strain.

"I'm gonna win. I know it." Nnena said to herself in the mirror, trying to convince herself.

"Uh...who are you talking to?"

She whirled around, facing a snobby-faced DeLilah with her hand on her hip.

Nnena shifted nervously."No-one..uh..obviously."

She smiled to reassure the Scandinavian. She only scoffed and walked away. Nnena sneered at her back, patting her face down with water and sweeping herself out the bathroom.

She shuddered as soon as she entered the holding room.

"-ena with her combat style of Creeping Darkness versus Coast of Geomancy with her Muddy Sea techniques," was all she heard.

A sinking feeling fell into her bowls. She felt as if she were rocking on a boat, the waves seeping into her very consiousness. She loosened her shoulders, stepping out onto the "battlefeild". Coast, her opponent, was standing opposite of her.

"Begin." Nnena must of looked crazy. Her knees started shaking as she bowed to the judges, and then to Coast. They made they're way apart again, a she felt as if she would faint. It's only one battle. At least you're not against Hammer or Dux Mann." She shrugged at her thought and waited for Coast to begin. If only she knew sooner, that she had already begun. The senior's eyes were dialated, as if the power of Earth itself was running through her. Nnena realized this too late. She was up to her ankles in mud. The area around her had been turning into a deep mud puddle, the air creating bubbles as she created more and more.

"Damn!" She squealed as she attempted to raise her leg.

She tried jumping, running, hopping, floating, scooting, stomping, and she even tried flipping, all the time, the mud was rising, higher and higher.

"Okay. If you're gonna submerge me in mud, you're going to have to do it in the dark!"

Nnena summoned as many shadows as she could and blanketed the arena in soft, silky blackness. Coast must've painced, because the mud that was getting squishy between the Italian's toes, lost pressure, only for a split second, but long enough for Nnena to free her foot. Which, coincedentally, led to her stepping in more mud.

"Dammit!" She shouted, the regreted doing so as a foot filed towards her stomache. Adrenaline pumped through her veins and she tore free from her earthy prison.

"Sucess!" Although her smile faded to gray as she could not seem to pick up on Coast's air currents again, a technique learned by many at the Academy. Then she heard it. The tiniest sound possible. It sounded even smaller in the looming darkness. But it was there, a little 'squish' nearby. Nnena concentrated, and suddenly, pushed a shrukien through the shadows. There was a shriek, a high pitched obviously Aisan yelp that echoed off the brimstone walls.

"Dare I lift the veil?" Nnena asked herself with a quiet giggle and a hearty grin, searching through the darkness with curious eyes. As she whispered, a small wall of earth smashed into the side of her head, knocking her into the giant puddle of gooey earth. A sharp noise rang through her brain, the product of such a hit.

"Cheap shot." She muttered as she stood, shooing away the darkness with a cursed wave of her hand.

Coast was right in front of her, and in surprise, Nnena took a key kick right in the stomache. The girl flew across the room, and landed just shy of the wall. The wound in which she had recived a shrukien to her arm was bleeding, and when she didn't stand, Nnena bowed in acceptance for her win.

"Now...I wonder how the others will goif I barely won this one..." She sighed and walked into the holding room.

Osore was out on the arena for the second time. He could not believe how quick the Khu battles were ending. Perhaps it was the great difference in experience and power of the opponents? What ever it was, it was different than the fights until now. The fight of Pandaren with Eitan was something spectacular. Osore had expected Pandaren to be spooked by Eitan. After all he had seen Eitan and his lackey exiting Pandaren’s dorm room. He had decided and went in just to find Pandaren on the ground. It had come as a good idea to tell him about Hammer, and in a way Osore believed now, that this had helped Pandaren quite a lot. The fight of Exodeus against the “fair” princess Radacia had turned out to be a disappointment. He had hoped that Exodeus would put twice the fight he had. Well, it could not be helped. What had really surprised Osore, was Varamance’s signature move. He could not completely read the energy, but he could agree with Dux Mann, when he had said that it was a sonic boom.

Osore’s first fight-with Mei’Mei, was not very interesting. He gave her a kiss and completely enraged her. Her concentration was lost and after that he took her down with a few “damn” spells. Sikko had beaten Orihimaue through his perversion. Garett had lost against Asakira. Asakira had used a “drown” spell, which hurled a stream of water from the tip of the coseis at the opponent’s head. The stream would then surround the head in water, forming a floating bubble and won’t allow the opponent to breathe. It was over the second Garett got hit with that spell. Poor Garett! He had been waiting to show his abilities, but was beaten in minutes. Now three steps in front of Osore, stood Asakira. The center of the arena had already changed its color, as the ground was still wet from the water spells that Asakira used a few minutes ago against Sikko. Osore intended to dry it in a matter of minutes. ”This match is for the Top Ten Finalist from the Khu sect. We have Asakira with his Marids’ lord Style and Osore and his Sorogedius Style!” Master Moone spoke.

The two students turned around to face the judges, bowed, then turned around to face each other, putting their coseis in front of their faces and slashing the air in a perpendicular line. They turned their backs to each other, took five steps forward and turned around, facing each other. Every one had seen the Khu fighting mixed until now- using both Khai and physical combat abilities. Osore had planned to make this one a true battle of Khai might. He took out his sword slowly and then threw it away. Asakira did not wait for any other suggestions. He threw down his sword and started his spell.

“Kaladu- Mei’kiu… Sahtua!” he shouted out. All the Khu students were cheering. Asakira was popular not only amongst his alumni but the lower grades as well. His drown spell (which he had invented himself) was legendary and until now everyone hit from it was defeated. Osore stayed still without casting a spell. He was waiting for the right moment. Most of the people watching started whispering, some wondering whether Osore was mad not to take his chance to attack Asakira when he was still concocting this difficult spell, others were wondering why was Asakira even bothering to cast such a complex spell on such a minor nobody, because most of them had never even bother to ask who he was. Finally the moment came as Asakira was near completing his spell.

Osore held a scorpion’s attack position, with his coseis acting as the sting, and started his spell: “Cannon Fodder!!!” a huge smile formed on Asakira’s face and he shouted: “Drown!!!” The water stream gushed out of the coseis and flew towards Osore’s face. Just as the stream was about to reach his face a basketball-sized fire ball got in the way and stopped the stream completely. This fire ball was the nearly completed “Damn” spell. The stream was cooling the ball. Osore released more Khai inside it, to make sure that the fire did not went out, and soon the fire ball was a little bigger than usual. “DAMN!!!!” shouted out Osore and the ball flew directly at Asakira, dispursing the stream coming from the water Khu student’s coseis. He was not fast enough and at the time that he had jumped off the ball had already exploded hurling him fifteen steps away. He got up, holding his left hand which was slightly burnt.

“Hey, Asakira, what da’ya say we end this thing already? I need to preserve my powers for someone who deserves my attention.” Osore snickered, coming closer and closer to his opponent.

“Why, you arrogant cur!!!” shouted out Asakira. Osore had accomplished his goal. Asakira was getting madder and madder. He was as close to Asakira as could be.

“Just one think I like to know. When she kisses you, does she put her tongue in your mouth too or did she did that now especially for me?” Osore whispered. Asakira shouted out in unprecedented anger lowering his coseis towards the ground.

“Canh…Soduoh….Caney… Mido!!!” he shouted out fearsomely. Osore knew what that spell was. The “Tidal Wave” spell was one of the most powerful water spell ever known. Most outstanding Khu student had to have either created a unique fatal spell or learned such, from their teacher. Most students nowadays usually learned one from their masters, but Master Hellfire had gone through the trouble of teaching him a way to make himself one on his own. Now was the time to show everyone what he had accomplished. He ran as far away from Asakira as he could and turned to face him.

“Sadarih-Hudis… Sedo-kiiiiil!” Osore shouted as he pointed his coseis towards the sky. A fire ball formed on the tip of the ebony stick. It looked just like the one from the “Damn” spell, but soon it started growing and changing colors. From darkly red, it slowly started brightening, until it turned orange, then yellow. The brighter the colors got, brighter the light the gigantic sphere of fire radiated. After five minutes the whole arena was filled with light and the now gigantic amounts of water that were gathering on the ground were illuminating it.

“Great Marid- lord of the oceans, gather your power and strike those who oppose you!!!!” shouted out Asakira raising his coseis. The water on the ground lifted itself, forming a whirlpool over Asakira’s head.

“Oh, you who are imprisoned. Arise and break your chains. Become destruction itself and invite hell to this World!!!” Osore roared. The sphere over his head broke its form as a huge fiery demon head appeared out of it. It opened its mouth and a loud noise echoed in the arena, which did not resemble anything that anyone had heard before. Asakira was shocked, but seconds after that recovered and continued on.

“Tidal… Wave!!!” Asakira shouted and the whirlpool burst out a powerful gigantic whirl stream. The judges who were near both of the students had long gone as far away as possible.

“Ifrit’s… Wrath!” the giant sphere grew no smaller than a basketball ball and flew at the approaching whirl stream. The second it hit the stream a huge explosion sounded off, stopping the stream in its advance towards the masked student. Splashes of water soaker the Plexiglas and cooled it down from the heat that the giant sphere had produced. After a few seconds, the water’s outflow on the Plexiglas stopped and everyone was amazed by the scene. Osore was standing still by his side. Asakira was lying down, facing the ground on the opposite end of the arena, his clothes- half-burned. The judges had gathered around Asakira.
“Amazing! He is only unconscious. The heat blast must have been to powerful for him to endure it.” Said Master Lotis.

“ But the burst should have turned him to dust!” Master Blackbird said. “A lot of concentration and experience is needed to control this burst to the fullest! You are an extraordinary Khu! No wonder Hellfire chose you!”

“Thank you!” Osore said, bowing down. The second he did that, a pain raped around his lungs and he covered his mouth with his hand.

“Are you alright?” two of the judges surrounded him. He coughed a few times and removed his hand. From his mouth ran a thin line of blood. The palm of his hand was painted in crimson.

“An after effect from the last spell. Nothing irregular.” said Osore and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Steam was coming out of his head. Probably the only reason he had not burned to ashes was the Khai he had used to cover his whole body. It protected him, but was in so huge amounts that led to him vomiting blood. The vomiting had stopped, but he needed time to rest.

“Alright, now go get some rest. You’re gonna need it.” Master Lotis said. Osore bowed to the judges, thanking them again and left.

(Friday - Part 2: Final Battles & PARTY!)

Ren woke after only a few minutes as the pain in his side receded to nothing. A familiar face stopped him when he struggled upright.

"Hey now, not so fast." It was Master Enzyme, the healer who had helped him the previous day. He smiled. "So, we see each other again after all."

"Guess so," murmured Ren. "Oh, you're hurt!"

Enzyme was bare to the chest, with a red-stained bandage over his ribs and several colorful bruises in various places. He laughed. "Ah, it is of no matter, better me than you. Nasty. You should be good to go in a little while, just rest now."

"Eitan, Master? Where is he?"

There were few folks in the make-shift clinic. The master gestured vaguely outside. "Not here. You only knocked him out, no real damage."

"Oh."

"There, see," said the master, misinterpreting Ren's concern. "Nothing to worry about." He pressed a glass of orange-colored liquid into Ren's hand. "Here, drink."

Ren grimaced at the gritty taste but, under Enzyme's watchful eye, downed the entire contents. "Ye-uck, what is that stuff?"

"Special concoction just to make you ask silly questions," laughed the healer. "Stay put. I'll let you know when you can go."

In truth, Ren was in no hurry to leave the clinic. He knew that Eitan was out there somewhere, and he could not be happy at all with the outcome of their match. He delayed for another couple of hours, then quickly darted out and into the stands, to sit with the rest of the seniors where Eitan couldn't touch him. He knew he was being watched; the hateful glares at his back quite took away any enjoyment he otherwise might have taken in the competition.

Eventually, though, he had to go back down and get ready for the final part of the competition, where the Top Ten finalists faced off against each other to determine Razi's best student. The judges called for an hour-long break to discuss and arrange the final matches. Ren was not alone in crowding around when the first round names were posted. He gaped. Varamance! He had to fight the kant student? He'd missed that battle, but everyone continued to talk about the sonic boom. The only other battle getting as much attention was the Khu battle, where a demon appeared and blasted the water khu into steam with its fire.

"Tough luck," said someone. Ren nodded and returned to the locker room, dazed. He and Varamance had the first match. He went to the sink to splash his face with water, gathering his thoughts, thinking about their previous match, their attacks, his mistakes, and what Varamance had told him after. When he turned around, he ran right into a fist, swinging at him from the other direction. The punch spun him around and he fell, cracking his chin open on the edge of the sink. He blinked blearily up at a crowd of faces from his half-prone position between the sinks. Alarm quickly cleared his head.

Eitan stood at the front of a pack of other students, some seniors, some 8th and 9th years. Ren recognized some. There was Gunnar to Eitan's left as always, Zelda, Dux the geomancer, and several more. Perched on one of the lockers was the little gossip-mongering chakra student, Tommy. Over the speakers could be heard Master Moone announcing the start of the face-off in only a few minutes, telling the finalists to report to their places. Her voice went on to describe the importance of such an event and to give a short intro regarding the Inter-School Competition, to be held in America this year.

Ren shook his head and tried to get to his feet. Eitan kicked him, sliding Ren back under the row of sinks. He dabbed at the blood still dripping from his jaw and stared up at the other samurai, understanding now what he meant to do. If Ren didn't show, he would forfeit. Eitan had threatened to kill him. If Ren tried to force his way free, he would end up too physically beat to fight and it was possible that Eitan would be named his replacement. He could also get expelled, what with all these other students to bear witness against him. Or Eitan might actually carry through with his threat. Whatever he chose to do, Ren knew he would not win, and from the gloating look on Eitan's face, he knew it, had calculated precisely for just such circumstances.

He trembled, scared to death, but luckily he still lay mostly concealed and in shadows. His mouth seemed to move of its own accord, "What, you didn't get enough of a beating earlier?"

Before Ren could mentally castigate himself or even be shocked that he'd said that, Eitan struck. He moved fast! Grabbing an ankle, the larger boy threw Ren hard against a row of lockers, the others darting aside. Their excited chatter masked Ren's sharp cry. He stared up at Eitan and crawled backwards away from him, one hand slippery in blood from a gash along his forearm. Eitan paced slowly after. There was no disguising his fear now, no getting away from this fight or the others watching. Over the loudspeakers, Master Moone was calling for him to report to the stadium. Ren's gaze flicked upwards in desperation.

The cold tile of a wall halted his slow progress. To his right was the empty space of the showers, to his left, more lockers and a corner around which was the exit. A mass of people stood between him and that dubious safety. He turned his gaze to Eitan, staring down at him, his face hard and still like a rock, his mouth the barest show of a thin line.

"D-don't do this, Eitan!" Ren said.

Others in the room took up that cry, mimicking the words, adding and taking away empahsis so that it became mockery. Tears sprang up in Ren's eyes and he resolutely blinked them away.

"Get up," said Eitan. "At least try to act like a samurai."

More laughter, especially now as Ren's tears were plain to see to those in front and they spread the word to the rest. Ren bit his lip and pressed a bloody streak into the wall as he stood, legs shaking, to face Eitan. The samurai held up his hands.

"I d-don't want to hurt you!" Ren cried.

Eitan answered by punching him in the stomach. Ren crumpled, but was held up, to take several more punches before Eitan threw him again. Dazed, Ren landed on his back over the lip of the showers and cracked his head on the floor. He could only gasp, the pain was so great, staring through his tears as Eitan approached once more. He really did mean to kill him!

Master Moone paged him again.

Ren took in several shuddering breaths and swung his leg in a kick. Eitan lurched sideways; his fellows pushed him back upright. Ren backed up again. Although Eitan's face had not changed overly much, he looked absolutely delighted that Ren had at last struck back, that he was choosing to fight. Ren swallowed. This was far worse than the scene in the lunchroom, but this was no time to debate the pros and cons.

There was nowhere to go but into the showers, wet as they were. He gained some distance and stood up on trembling legs. Drawing back an arm, Ren concentrated as he had with Varamance and jabbed his palm toward his attacker. Eitan staggered under the blow, but he kept advancing. He was almost within reach now. Ren had time for one more attack. Eitan might be unskilled at hand-to-hand, but with his superior strength and size he would quickly overpower Ren in these close quarters. Ren's head spun and he didn't trust any of his more complicated moves, so he settled for another punch.

Eitan closed the distance in a rush, his hand engulfing Ren's and twisting viciously. The bone broke with a snap and Ren screamed for the agony, cut off as Eitan grabbed him by the collar and shook him. Feet dangling, Ren kicked, knocking Eitan's knees out from under him. They dropped and Ren blacked out for a scary few seconds. He woke just as suddenly, gasping, scrambling, with Eitan's hands around his throat. He was picked up and slammed repeatedly against the wall. With one hand Eitan pinned him there and punched Ren again, against the very spot he'd been stabbed earlier. Ren would have screamed except he suddenly couldn't breathe. He coughed instead, spattering Eitan with blood. He stared down into those maddened eyes and whimpered.

Master Moone's voice came over the loudspeakers again, with Varamance's victory by forfeit and starting the next match between Exodeus and Convex.

Eitan grinned. Ren reacted, half-maddened himself with pain and fear. He swung wildly with his uninjured hand, snarling in a rural Chinese dialect, his face contorted with a desperate rage. The blow never landed, but there was a crunch and they both dropped with identical splats to the tiled floor. Hunched over and cradling his broken arm in his lap, Ren dragged himself away, to be desperately, violently ill in a corner.

"Here now, what's all this?"

That authoritative voice scattered the gathering, but there were more masters and they herded the students together in a tight group. Master Yoshi shoved his way through the throng, going to Pandaren's side. The boy pulled away, tried to lash out at him, but the old master evaded the attack with care. Then Master Aikido was also there, weathering the confused chaos of blows to subdue the boy until healers could stick him with a tranquilizer.

Master Aikido looked at Master Yoshi. As one they turned towards Eitan. Master Physica shook her head. "His neck is broken."

Aikido lifted his lip in a snarl, as much of a show of temper as he'd given in many, many years. "Get him out of here. And them!" He waved his arm at the dozen or so students, "Bring them. And somebody fetch Master Maestro."

"We should get back to the competition," said one of the masters. "Forestall any awkward questions."

"Not so fast," said Master Yoshi, catching the young Tommy by the collar as he tried to sneak away again. "You stay with me."

Yoshi wended his way up to the box where Master Maestro sat with a few of their more important dignitaries and a handful of other masters. All progressed as normal. No one even suspected that anything had gone amiss. Kagami and Dante took the floor as Yoshi leaned forward to whisper into Maestro's ear.

"What?" Maestro whispered, shooting to his feet. Yoshi cleared his throat, glancing significantly at the others in the box.

Maestro bowed. "My apologies, Ladies, Gentlemen, but something has just come to my attention and I must deal with it at once. Master Tyro," he gestured at his seat. "Please see to it that our guests have everything they need."

The sage sect leader stood and bowed his acceptance.

Maestro followed Yoshi from the stadium and into the administrative complex. Yoshi prodded Tommy to tell the headmaster what had happened. Master Maestro's face grew sterner and more forbidding with every step. At last, on the steps of the main building, he stopped, scowling at Yoshi.

"This is all your fault, Master! He should never have fought. Damn you for going over my authority."

Master Yoshi shrugged, not at all affected by his once-student's ire. "It needed to be done. How was I to foresee this as the result?"

"You should have!" Maestro snapped "And you should have respected my decision!" With a hand on Tommy's arm, Maestro propelled him inside. After speaking with each of the conspirators separately, Maestro gave orders for them all to be contained in their rooms, seeing to it that all their masters were notified. Maestro would be writing them all reprimands to go in their records. Further punishment would come from each of their masters. Then, steeling himself, he went over to the infirmary.

Pandaren was in the main clinic, everywhere else being temporarily occupied by guests, and watched over by two masters. They hadn't touched the boy; he sat on the edge of a bed, holding his arm, his face white with pain, but otherwise bereft of any expression at all. Master Physica had returned to the stadium, but Master Enzyme waited there, rolling out supplies onto the counter to one side and looking anxious. From time to time, Ren coughed, his breath rattling in his lungs.

"Master Maestro!" Enzyme started, as he saw the master, but halted as the headmaster whipped up a hand.

"Pandaren," said Maestro. The boy's eyes lifted to his own, and there was only a defeated acceptance there. Maestro groaned inwardly, but he kept his voice hard and firm. "Speak, Pandaren. Tell me what happened."

Ren opened his mouth, paused, and closed it again. He shrugged with one shoulder and returned to staring at nothing.

"If you cannot speak on your behalf," said Maestro coldly, "then your actions must speak for themselves." He waited, but there was no change. He glanced at Yoshi. The old master looked alarmed.

"Eitan started it!" piped Tommy. "He was going to kill him! I," he shook his head. "I didn't know, Master, that that's what he intended, or I wouldn't have been there. I swear!"

Maestro had kept his eyes on Pandaren, but the boy stayed silent. Despite his anger, Maestro felt pity stir inside him. He sighed.

Turning to Master Aikido, he said, "We must have a discussion with the other leaders in my office once the festivities are fully under way."

Aikido nodded.

"Do not waste your skills," Maestro told Enzyme, shaking his head as the healer started to object. "Once we've decided what's to be done, then perhaps. Later. Now I must get back. Stay with him, Enzyme, the rest of you, we have duties yet." Aikido looked like he might object, but Maestro waved him off. "Tommy," he added, "you shall breathe a word of this to no one, understood? You and I will discuss this with your master tomorrow."

Enzyme didn't wait for the masters to all leave before he started on Pandaren. The boy barely moved as he cleaned and stitched and wrapped bandages over the gash on his forearm. He flinched only slightly as Enzyme set and splinted the arm. He seemed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, moving only when the healer moved him and staring through everything with a blank expression that sent shivers up Enzyme's spine. He stitched and bandaged the cut on Pandaren's jaw and cleaned up several other smaller wounds that did not need tending, before he wound tight wrappings around the broken ribs and bid the boy to sit back against the raised bed, practically biting his fingernails to keep from doing more.

* * *

The closing ceremonies were spectacular. The nine Top Ten Finalists were all brought out to the floor and draped with their heavy golden medallions. Varamance received a standing ovation as he received the winner's cup. All nine students looked worn and tired in various ways, but excitement and pride was on all their faces. They were going to America!

Outside, all the tables and chairs from the great hall had been moved out beneath the stars and their were fireworks and loud music, dancing and games, food and food, and more food! There were a great number of entertainers hired for the evening and the party spilled out over the whole of the campus, the one night of the year when training was set aside. Saturday would be a quiet day for families and visitors, but Friday night was a party! and would only end in the hours after midnight when everyone was at last exhausted. Even the youngest students had no curfew this night.

The finalists had a table in the center and everyone pressed around them all night long congratulating them. Most of those injured in the day's events were also out enjoying the celebrations and the others of their sects took great pains to describe and pantomine the great battles. The judges, too, were swarmed with attention, both from the visiting dignitaries, and the students.

There were more obligatory speeches, of course, to start everything off, and a parade led by Chinese Dragon Dancers up to the feasting area. There they sat and ate and had more speeches and watched the massive fireworks display and Master Maestro kicked up his heels on the dance floor with Master Physica, starting off a playful dance competition between some of the students and even a few masters.

With so much going on, the fun and the excitement and noise, very few recognized a slight tension in the air. The tenth finalist's absence had never been explained, but even fewer realized that, there was just too much going on! Slowly over the course of the night, the crowd thinned, the older folk leaving the late-night revelry to the younger ones, who would more easily recover on little sleep, and even the debris was left until the following day, to be cleaned up before a late breakfast.

But there was a smaller subset of people who had business to attend to. Master Maestro and all his sect leaders, plus Master Yoshi and Master Hokkaido, Master Enzyme and the student Pandaren, retired to the headmaster's office for a long discussion.

Pandaren stood in the warrior's stance between Master Yoshi and the healer, Master Enzyme, to the right of Master Maestro's desk. Maestro leaned on the front of his desk, rather than sit behind it, and the other masters sat in a circle around him, crowded into the small room. They argued. They shouted. Maestro listened. He did not speak until all the others had all voiced their opinions and his voice was dull and tired.

"Master Aikido," he said formally, "Pandaren is your student, what say you?"

The Sect-Leader for Samurai stood. He found this hard to say. "Master, the evidence against Pandaren is exhaustive. Perhaps he provoked that fight, but the worst of the fault lies with my other student, and with me, for not instilling better discipline within my sect. That such as this could --" he shook his head in mute apology. "I shall step down at once."

"No," replied Maestro. "We are all to blame, perhaps, but me most of all. See to your students, Aikido. I would not have you go. What say you about the competition?"

"I do not wish for Pandaren to represent my sect, my school ... that should be his punishment."

"Fair. Who would you send in his place?"

Here Aikido hesitated. "Cleon perhaps," he murmured. Of the rest of his seniors, only Cleon and Konotori had not been swept up in the madness.

Master Hokkaido stirred, though he had been silent until now.

"Yes?" asked Master Maestro. "Master Hokkaido, as Head Judge, you would speak in this matter?"

The occamy master nodded. "There is no doubt in my mind that Pandaren should represent this school for the Samurai. He acquitted himself well this morning. I have never seen anything like it before. Even from what I have heard of the other fight he did well, and struck only as has been taught, to end the matter, life over death. That should be rewarded, in my mind."

Maestro grimaced. "You would have me ignore murder?"

"It was self-defense," Hokkaido replied. "I thought that had been agreed upon. Our skills are meant to kill, that is what we are for, is it not?"

The headmaster ignored that mild rebuke. "I should rather send no one at all!" he snapped. He turned, including both Heart Sect healers in his question, "Master Physica, Master Yoshi, what say you?"

Physica shrugged. "He can be healed well enough to travel. Our wounds today were not grevious, there is enough to spare. I think he should go."

"I do not," argued Master Yoshi, casting a worried glance at the silent and still samurai student. "He needs a different kind of healing that cannot take place under the strain of this competition."

"Pandaren," said Maestro lastly, "have you anything to say?"

The words seemed to come from far away. "No, Master."

Maestro frowned, his head pounding in time to the drums outside. He drummed his fingers against his folded arms as he thought. "We are," he said slowly, "decided that this matter does not rate expulsion, but we are equally agreed that this cannot be left unpunished. Unfortunately," he scowled, "I am of a mind with Master Hokkaido. Pandaren goes. But," he added quickly, "whatever the result, he shall not return." He shook his head. "I cannot in good faith award Pandaren a master's belt, even should he pass. Let me speak with my counterparts in these coming weeks and see if I can find a place for him. This is highly unprecedented, but I think we can all agree that this matter shall not be spoken of again."

Heads nodded all around the room.

"Good." He tapped his fingers some more. "Masters, our trouble with the Ronin grow. You know this. We must stand strong together." He frowned as he cast a look at Pandaren, who still stared blindly into the distance. Master Maestro's voice dropped in volume, but retained its strength. "I trust I do not need to say what a danger Pandaren could be to us, should he fall into the wrong hands." He stared hard at Master Yoshi. "Master, come with us. Please. Keep him out of trouble, Master, I beg you."

Then he stood. "The airship comes for us on Sunday. Let us put this mess aside and not let our guests or students know that anything is amiss. Speak of this to no one. Tyro, the school shall be in your capable hands until I return. That is all."

Kagami answers to the call. He walks off to the arena. He had no interest in advancing the competition but he didn’t have a heart to abandon the fight since his sect mates enthusiastically cheer for him. Satsuki even gave him a set of his arm protector. “It may prove useful in the top 10”, he said.

When both he and his opponents steps into the arena, Master Maestro suddenly excuse himself from the crowd. “What could possibly happen till he has to take care the matter personally?” Kagami notes that in his mind. He glances to Kaito who seems to understand his signal and reply with a nod.

“… and Dante with his Vicious Hound combat style.” announce Master Moone. Both fighters bow to the judge and to the each other.

I hate being on the offense. Kagami pulls his needles put them between his fingers as he swiftly dash towards Dante. Dante casually pulls his guns; he blocks Kagami attacks using the gun’s handle. His vacant arm triggers a point blank shot aim at Kagami’s. Kagami’s block the bullet using his new acquired arm guard but the recoil droves him further from Dante. Dante kicks Kagami in the chest and shoot another bullet. Kagami accepts the kick and use its force to dodge the bullet by a hair breadth.

Knowing he won’t have another chance at close combat, Kagami put some distance. He pulls his’ crossbow and a moment later the arena becomes a range battle. Bolts vs. bullets. Kagami shoots off a bolt and received a rain of bullets. Kagami run all over the arena jumping vigorously to dodge those bullets while trying to get closer to Dante and reload his’ crossbow. Eventually, a bullet is nesting in Kagami’s crossbow jamming the device. Unable to use it, he frantically running, dodging the bullets from Dante’s revolver.

Dante’s seems impatient, his aims is less accurate then before. Probably because Kagami’s efforts to constantly dodges his bullets. Suddenly, he stops after reloading his bullets. His brown eyes look like a wild beast ready to seize its prey. “You have become a bothersome prey. Run all you want. But now, you won’t be able to hide.”

Kagami’s mind recognize this is a good opportunity to strike. But the sudden change of his enemy makes him doubt his thought. He prepared his stance, preparing for something that is unknown to him. Dante aim for Kagami and let off a bullet from his left gun. Kagami dodge the bullet easily but cold shivers through his neck. He watches Dante who seems to be concentrating and suddenly Kagami realizes something.

You won’t be able to hide? Could it be? He quickly looks behind, the bullet is ready to smack him. He dodges the bullet, but the bullet still gives him a scratch before it hits the floor. Before Kagami’s able to reason what happened, Dante shot another bullet. This time is from the right gun. Unable to doge, Kagami put his arm guarding his body blocking the bullet. After the impact, a scent of hot iron spread in the air. The bullet is burning, it even melts the iron of that compose his arm protector.

“Ow, shit. And I just got this” Kagami commented on his arm guard.

“Your next”. Said Dante.

“Maybe not.” Kagami rushed towards Dante. Dante use normal shot to keeps Kagami away. It’s heaven or hell. Kagami clapped his palm, creating the same light when he fought Satsuki. After the lights faded, Dante can see Kagami; his palms still stick together looks confused. “Failed, eh?” he said.

“Guess again.” Kagami’s voice comes from behind Dante. Before Dante react, he received a blow to the neck and he fell to the ground.

“You’re maybe a wild lion. But I’m still the most cunning fox in here.” Said Kagami. He took one of Dante’s revolvers. “Nice gun, perhaps I should ask you to make me one.”

***

Kagami sits with Kaito who were able to make Tommy spills the secret. As an informant, he is a more reliable source than Tommy. They were discussing the incident secretly. But now, they have forgotten about everything what happened today and enjoy the night like every other student.

Matt le Couteau

Night was pushing forwards, creeping down and pushing down the day. The sky was a palette of blue and black and red… White chiffon clouds simmered to a dusky blue as the sun collapsed into its bloody red miasma of light behind the silhouetted mountains. The stars were peering out from behind the speckled cirrus, squinting as they woke up for their nocturnal reign. Above the peaks of the mountain range, the moon was faithfully reflecting the sun’s rays across the city, turning the buildings into black obelisks beneath its eerie glow. The horizon still glowed an electric pink as the twilight settled completely. Ansuz looked up from the bloodied body on the tarmac ground and let a warm gust of city air swirl about him. Sun down was always a suitable time to die, or kill, as the case would be. There was something poetic in it, a romantic justice… A cliché.

With a frown he turned his eyes back to the carnage splattered over the narrow alleyway. The man had been from Samurai, the belt around his waist told him. Not a very strong one, admittedly which aggravated him… There was so very little satisfaction in killing a traitor if he was weak. The muscle of the left arm was sliced open as it lay twisted and unmoving at the dead man's side, the pale skin bright against the dark ooze of blood that drizzled from the gash. Similar marks were gauged into the rest of the well toned body. Such hard work… such little skill… The Samurai had been slaughtered like a screaming pig on the way to its doom. Crouching down, he pushed against the cold shoulder and let the body roll over so he could see his slack face. His cheek was ruptured open and the eye was shot red. Slowly he closed those eyes, noting the dull green of them and used the blood to make up the ritual of passing on. He didn't much care to linger where he had fought but he would honour the dead. He always honoured the dead.

Tugging on his hair, he freed it from its loose braid and let it tumbled down cross his neck and the long fringe fall over his face like a mourning veil, he stood. The falling stars were soothing the world about him to sleep and the humid night had taken over from a blazing day. Los Angeles was sighing as the busier metropolitan area along Long Beach and Santa Ana grew in the darkness. Lights burst on and sounds cascade down… Only a thrum on the air where he stood. El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula The city of angels was readying itself for the tournament of the year… This was the time to see the best of the best, the young ninjas with the greatest potential, at their finest. Ansuz turned his back on the dead man, pulled his black suit jacket back on and headed for the buzz of life that quivered in the distance. There was no point in remaining here.

Empty coke cans were crushed into the side of the pavement as he walked, the dark stains of gum on the cement slabs seemed to being spelling out a Morse code message, his eyes were lowered, best not to attract attention. The walls were slick with spray painted graffiti and boasted profanities across the perfectly smiling portraits of models and idols. Strange scents wafted, sweet tangs of rotten fruit from within green bins and sour flavors from pasteurized foods, the remains of a Chinese takeout spilled over the edge of its disposal container. He grimaced, each pungent odor crept through his nose and squeezed his sinuses and ran over his tongue and rubbed raw the back of his throat. A waif woman blew past him in a short skirt and skinny polo, she didn't pay much notice, though he couldn't help but chuckle at her. The disguise was good; a sage no doubt, probably looking for the man he had just killed… but not even alert enough to detect the blood spatters on his collar or the long staff in his hand. Then again with everything in so much confusion as they prepared for the tournament… it was hardly surprising that they had begun to lose their touch.

The stadium and the hotels being used were fairly central to downtown, so that was where he was headed. He needed to some how become part of security in order to be close enough to the students taking part and assess them. He already knew of some to look out for, namely Varamance of RAZI academy, there had been rumors about him for months now. But he was just one, there had been a couple from his old college, Haileybury, though he was fairly certain that most of that was purely British nationalistic pride. Afterall, the people who actually tended to do well from Haileybury, were the under dogs, not those who were signed up immediately and died within their first year. There were the twins. Two girls who worked as the perfect double team. A little stab of jealousy coursed through him at that. Apparently they were the most dangerous in their school, he'd heard some of their co-students debating over whether or not it was fair to allow two people to fight as one. He'd been angry at that too…

He sighed and glanced at the sky, turning green over the city, the clouds almost a stagnant shade of orange in the burn of the street lamps. He was staying in the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, had been for about three weeks now and was booked in for another few, apparently 'on business' for a new trade company that wished to invest a new sect within the city. His disguise was working so far. The finely tailored suits he donned everyday, though not necessarily as practical as he may have liked, were apt enough at creating the general air of a business associate. His secreted sword, hidden in his deliberately designed sheath, he leant on as a walking stick, stride lumbered by a limp an expert would have recognised as the result of apparent osteomyelitis, perhaps that had gone untreated for a long period of time in his youth. In this guise, there was no sign he had ever been a ninja. Or at least, he didn't scream out like that girl had done back there. He looked the part of a self-made man. Well dressed though slightly rough around the edges. In other words, striking enough to catch attention, but not enough to maintain it. At least he was sleeping well.

The hotel was rising out of its amber eyed sidewalk as he approached. He took up his limp, heaving one leg over the other carefully in the precise way of the practised. Feoh would have been proud of him, having never thought him subtle. Then again both had bantered over who was better of the two of them, though secretly they had known they were equal. He wondered what the girl twins would be like. As the hotel mounted to full height over him, he closed his eyes and felt the cool lick of the thermals warming itself across his skin and he sighed. What would be different now? A purple coach was drawing up, the first few students climbing down from the warm interior and shivering in the evening air, some looked wary, others interested, others perceptive, others withdrawn. The corners of his lips twitched ever so slightly downwards as he sighed and pulled up the collar of the jacket to hide the blood on his shirt. Soon some would have to learn that life, not war, was the hardest obstacle to hurdle… And only some would be victorious.

(This is Virgo's add)

“Riko.”

Wordlessly, Riko moved to her sister’s side and pulled her blades from their sheaths at her sides and raised them against Nanami’s dagger-like weapons.

They shifted in tandem and struck one another with the same force, like two swans they danced, forwards and backing up, parrying one another’s blows like a finely tuned instrument, they were in beautiful harmony. Blow for blow they matched one another, dodge for dodge they moved so it was hard to tell them apart, but for the weapons they carried. Nanami’s sai’s and Riko’s wakizashi swords, and neither could touch the other, for they tired at the same pace and they knew each other’s moves so well.

It was Nanami who called a halt to their warm-up, though from an outsider’s perspective it seemed as if they stopped and sheathed their weapons as one. Riko couldn’t help but follow her sister’s idea, they had a lot to do in the coming weeks, for now, they were on airship duty with a couple other’s from their school. They were supposed to greet the airships upon arrival (though none had arrived, nor would arrive at five in the morning) and show the fighters to their rooms. Much to Nanami’s displeasure, though Riko disagreed, she liked seeing her competition up close, make a few jibes and throw maybe a barb if she particularly didn’t like whoever waltzed her way. Nana wasn’t in the competition, so of course she had no reason to see what she was up against, she’d be in the hospital, tending to the wounded when they came to her ... if she felt like. Nana was funny sometimes and refused to tend a patient, for various reasons, but usually for ulterior motives, that ‘healer’s sense’ that Nana had gotten, but Riko had ignored. She sighed quietly, a tightly controlled excitement tingling in her fingers, she was in the competition, Nanami having chosen to remain out of it, because of her ‘delicate nature’, psh, whatever, Nana wasn’t delicate, she had the nastiest bite of the pair of them, Riko was just louder and often said what was on her twins mind.

A tug on her hair and she glanced round to Nana’s blank face, “What’s up, Nana?” She said.

Nanami glanced around curiously, “Weren’t we supposed to have a partner?” She murmured, flicking on the landing strip lights and moving to take a seat.

“Yeah. Her name is Kitty.” Riko murmured.

“Ah yes, the clumsy little Sageling.” Nana said disdainfully, looking to the sky.

“Hm.” Riko said, sitting next to her sister, silent communication passing between the pair with subtle glances and movements. The wind was starting to pick up and whip their hair about, Riko’s eye’s squinting, “Rain.” She murmured.

“How unlucky.” Nana replied.

“Mm.” Riko agreed, turning to face the new presence that had appeared in her range, “You’re,”

“Late.” Nana said, glancing at the girl that nearly tripped as she ran up to the twins.

“M’sorry, there were some brambles and my pants and we should never have met.” Kitty said, looking down.

“See that,”

“It doesn’t happen again.” Nana leaned against Riko, giving a cold look to the apparently offensive sight of the other girl.

Kitty shrunk back, “I said I was sorry ...” She grumbled, following after the twins.

Riko kind of felt bad for trying to intimidate the girl, really, but she could never apologise for her sister's actions, it wasn’t her nature, so she continued to walk the field, check things for problems, make sure the landing fields were free of debris while Nanami moved back to the main room to check the schedule. She handed Kitty a broom and instructed her to start sweeping the dirt from the hangar, as the wind had blown in some excess of annoying ... stuff, that would be a pain if the airships got it in the wrong place. She took up her own and began helping sweep, digging out a dustpan and sweeping the offending material into the trash.

Nanami watched her sister, a careful, but aloof eye watching the scene with muted interest. In truth, she found little that her narrow world allowed her to find some measure of emotion towards, other than her sister, but it was a distinct loyalty and deep-rooted affection for her younger sibling that kept her from going completely insane. Everyone around her was just so ... inferior, and it drove her crazy, knowing all the ways that she could just ... use her ability, sever an artery with just a touch and they’d die in less than five minutes for certain, from bleeding out. It would be simply too easy. Like this girl for instance, this Kitty, which had gotten her on this idea in the first place. This clumsy, useless ninja, (gods weren’t they all?), it would be so easy for that girl if she just died, and didn’t interfere with anything ...

Nanami looked up sharply, Riko was watching her, her eyes concerned as she set aside her broom coming over, “Hey.” Those thoughts again, “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” They keep invading, “Why do you ask?”

“You had a face.” Do you need to talk?

“My face is the same as it always is.” No. Nanami pinched her forehead, just like when they were little, when they had played with Amille, their dog and Nanami had wondered what it would be like, Riko had made her give pause and return to reason, “I’m all right.” Thank you.

“All right.” Love you. Riko played with the ends of her older sister’s hair.

Nanami gave a rare smile and graced her sister with a brush of her lips against the forehead, Love you too. “Come on then.” She checked the schedule, “Someone’s coming in about noon, we need to clear up the space and make sure there’s room.”

Kitty ran from her room toward the airship landing zone. She couldn't imagine why Claretta hadn't woken her as promised, but what did Claretta care if she was later. That was definitely strategic blunder one for the day, depending on the girls sense of morals and fair play. It hadn't occurred to Kitty she'd still be sore about loosing to Kitty the week before in the competition.

Her school uniform had been dirty, and the clean one was missing from her closet somehow, so she'd thrown on a pair of brown slacks with a matching top. As she ran she tried to braid her hair. It was going fairly well really, if only she'd used the pathways instead of trying to forge her own to get their more quickly.

She was just starting on her second braid when her pants snagged on a huge patch of brambles. How could something like that happen to her? She tugged at the pants, but it became very clear, very quickly that her pants would rip if she kept that up. There was really no choice in the matter. She had to slow down and carefully untangled herself from the mass of sharp edged plant life. By the time she was done her fingers were covered with painful little abrasions.

"I'm so late, what will I tell them?" she asked the brambles, which unsurprisingly gave no reply. Again Kitty began running, finishing her braid just in time. Nanami and Riko were sitting near the switch for the landing strip lights as she hurried over. The landing lights were on, but she had a feeling there was plenty left to do.

The twins fascinated her with their easy communication which seemed to go far beyond the words they spoke, or even body language. She felt she could study them for hours without pause, but doubted they would tolerate such open curiosity. She had settled for watching them whenever convenient, careful not to keep them under her gaze too long.

Riko seemed much more straightforward than Nanami, although occasionally, like when they told her she was late they seemed like a single person divided into two bodies.

“M’sorry," Kitty said, having hoped to explain before they got upset, "there were some brambles and my pants and we should never have met.” Kitty looking down, reappraising the damage. The pants were snagged, she could only hope no one would notice. If they did notice she hoped they wouldn't comment, and wouldn't think she'd meant any disrespect greeting them in such a state.

“See that,”

“It doesn’t happen again.” The two said and Kitty shrunk back from them. Why did people constantly use that tone on her? She hadn't meant to be late, and besides they hadn't been stuck doing that much without her.

“I said I was sorry ...” she grumbled, following the two and feeling very inferior for some reason. Normally she would direct and plan things. As a Sage senior she'd been charged with doing so to test her abilities of analyzing the needs in situations and properly directing others. For some reason, however, when someone else was willing Kitty felt the need to allow them the lead. Therefore she found herself being directed to sweep, and she didn't object. It seemed like a good thing to get done at any rate, so why cause ripples.

She stole frequent glances at the twins. In all honesty she'd been pleased to be assigned the same duty as them. They were so fun to watch, and now she had all the excuse she needed to do so. All she had to do was work at the same time. Just after noon the three of them were standing to greet the incoming ship. Kitty shifted a bit uncomfortably as she watched the airship land.

If only that uniform had been in her closet where she'd left it. At least none of her books had gone missing. She sighed, knowing that no matter what happened all she could do now was go with whatever happened and try to make the best of it.

(Sat/Sun/Mon)

Saturday morning dawned chill and quiet. Guests and students alike rose late in the morning, the night's activities already swept away. Families spent the day together in long walks and conversation and the harbor stayed busy all day as guests began to depart. Behind closed doors the school bustled with activity as preparations were made for the finalists to journey to America. There were uniforms to fit, passports to arrange, and supplies to gather. Each school was required to provide additional judges and healers, for with the hundreds of students participating in the competion, the preliminary rounds would all take place concurrently in different locations.

Opening ceremonies, Master Maestro noted as he reviewed the schedule, would take place Tuesday afternoon, and the first matches would begin Wednesday. He and his students would arrive Monday, so they should have plenty of time to adapt to the hot, dry environment, and the difference in time zones. Of course he knew that Master Hokkaido had already sent ahead the list of finalists and the size and names of the rest of the team, but Master Maestro still stared at the list.

Varamance, the best student he'd had in many a year, would certainly do well, he had high hopes for that one. Exodeus was a cause for concern, being that the lad was likely to be humiliated in the tough competition he would be facing. Still, Maestro could not fault the judges for their decision. There was Osore, and Maestro smiled a little. Khu had very nearly stolen the day again, and Master Suitengu was well-pleased, if a little disappointed. He was going to have to give the man another raise. Nnena and Kagami had been anticipated, Convex and Quack were something of a surprise, and Dante had proven once again that his choice of weapons was not a fluke. Coast was an acceptable substitute for Hammer, though Maestro still hoped he'd pass his final at the end of the year. And then there was Pandaren.

Master Maestro scowled. He'd brought in his old master specifically to work with the boy, because he could get results, but his presence was not an easy thing. He knew from his own experience that Yoshi was an unpredictable old ninja, and this fiasco was yet one more reason why Maestro had greeted the old man's retirement with such relief. Oh, for sure the students he tutored prospered, but Yoshi's methods were bizzare at best, and Maestro was often left cleaning up after his messes. He had a report to write to his superiors now and, while it would have been bad to admit to an uncontrollable trainee, now he had a death.

Deaths in a ninja academy were not wholly unexpected or unacceptable, but the circumstances of this one would not make for a comfortable interview. Maestro had argued to accept the boy when the monks had applied to the Republic for assistance; now he would have to construct a report that justified his position once more. Giving a ninja, even a half-trained one, to another nation was borderline treason. He would have to first speak to the Samurai World Sect-Leader. If he could get the ninja master on his side, then the battle would be half-won, but convincing the master was going to be difficult, and Maestro did not have much time.

* * *

In his bed in the hospital, Ren stared, unseeing, at the ceiling, oblivious to everything except for the pain in his body and the numbness in his heart, a great gaping nothingness that had swallowed him up. Everything hurt, his back, his head, his arm. Just breathing hurt. Master Physica could give him little for the pain, as the doctors for the competition were even more strict than those of the Olympic Commitee, and the healers could only apply their talents in small stages to keep from exhausting themselves, or him. Healing could sometimes be as or even more painful than the injury itself.

For Ren, Saturday passed almost unbearably slowly. He didn't want to see anyone; he didn't want to talk to anyone, but the healers would not let him alone. There was constantly someone in the room with him, checking readings, writing on the chart, poking and prodding him, asking questions, and the all-important bits of healing. Master Yoshi was there with him, which wouldn't have been so bad if the old master would just have been quiet, but he insisted on talking. He alternated between chivying Ren to eat or drink more or to get up and walk a little, and pestering him to meditate, to ease the healing, to ease his broken heart. As much as Ren wanted to tell him to go to hell, to just leave him be, he could not. Yoshi was still a master and Ren was still a samurai. The best he could do was to sleep as much as he could.

* * *

The airship taking the students to America arrived well before dawn on Sunday morning. The great dirigible was too large to land, but there was a great lift that reached down out of the belly of the craft to accept its passengers. The students, drowsy and inclined to be grumpy, bunched together in their new uniforms. They had identical bags slung over their shoulders, with more uniforms, standard fare for their sect but in Razi's colors of red and gold, plus a few additional necessities for the few formal occassions and times when the students would have free time.

Ten students would be boarding, accompanied by a coterie of healers, their Headmaster, Master Moone, Master Yoshi, and the four judges. Master O transfered the limp form of Pandaren into Master Maestro's arms as the lift settled and the passengers started to climb on board. The headmaster gave his deputy, Master Tyro, a few more last-minute instructions, and then he, too, entered the lift.

The living quarters of the airship hung below the giant gas balloon in a boxy contraption with two levels. The top section was the working area, for the pilot and crew. The bottom section was for passengers. Forward was an open space, with windows to all sides, lots of comfortable seating, and a small bar and snack station. In the middle, next to the ladder to the working section, was the actual dining room and restrooms. Further back, the airship was sectioned off into small, 2-bunk compartments. The rest of the ship was for cargo and supplies and the huge engines.

They placed Pandaren in the last compartment and let the other students stow their gear, and then the airship lifted once more and headed east, over the sea. Within an hour they passed over the islands of Japan and then they were out over open water. Master Yoshi took up his watch in the bunk next to Pandaren's, produced a book from his bags, and settled in for the long trip. From time to time one of the healers would poke his or her nose in to check on them, but would go away again directly.

Master Physica and her assistants had placed Ren in a deep slumber the evening before to work on mending the crack in his skull, a delicate process that needed the full concentration of the healers, and was a very taxing endeavor. Those healers were not accompanying the Razi delegation.

Ren did not stir until early afternoon. He turned his head and looked at Master Yoshi. "Where are we?"

"Aboard the airship, on our way to America."

"Oh." He digested that information.

When Master Physica brought them lunch, she checked Pandaren to see how well he was healing, and then said that she wanted him to get up and stretch his legs a bit. When he tired, they would do some more work, and then he would have to rest again. Ren surprised himself with his eagerness to look around. He'd trained in air craft for his equipment class, but he'd only learned some hovercraft and the few float planes that Razi owned. He'd never even seen a dirigible before. They were high above the clouds now, there was really not much to see, but he wanted to look anyway. He really wanted to see into the pilot's seat, but Master Physica forbade any climbing of the ladders.

Just the short walk to the forward viewing lounge was tiring. He paused, suddenly uncertain and nervous. The other masters were mostly in their quarters, but there were many other passengers, and the students were all present in the lounge, sitting apart or talking to each other or staring out the huge windows. They all turned to stare at him as he came in, though most looked away again just as quickly.

Osore, Kagami, and the umbra student, Nnena, sat around a low table playing cards. Master Yoshi moved towards the bar, and Ren stood at the door a minute longer, feeling like an intruder. A sudden swoop of the airship decided him; he made his unsteady way over to one of the window seats. He stretched his legs over the seat and leaned back against a bulkhead, shifting the sling around his splinted arm awkwardly. He dozed for a bit, leaning his bandaged head against the window. Another swoop of the airship woke him as he bumped his still sore head and he sat up, to look out. There wasn't much to see, just clouds and the ocean far below.

"Hey."

He blinked up at Varamance. The kant student sank down opposite Ren, by his feet. He handed Ren a glass of water, nodding his head at Master Yoshi. Ren sighed and drank.

"Missed our battle Friday," said Varamance, looking out the window.

"Yeah."

"It would have been something." Ren shrugged, but Varamance continued, "Maybe we'll see each other in the finals this time."

Ren didn't answer, staring out the window and taking a sip of water.

"That's going to be quite the scar."

Ren looked at him. Varamance had his finger along his chin. Ren ducked his head, shrugged a little, and took another gulp.

"Who won?" he asked weakly.

"Me." Varamance smiled, a bit of pride, perhaps, but otherwise perfectly straightforward. "Osore came in second."

"You're the first Kant in --"

"Close to twenty years, I know."

"Congrats."

"Thank you. I'm looking forward to competing against the other schools." He looked over the other students. "We're a good team. We will do well this year."

"Pandaren." Master Yoshi beckoned. Master Physica stood beside him.

Varamance quickly moved aside as Ren laboriously stood and left the lounge. He returned to Exodeus, shaking his head.

"What did he say?" asked the crystal student.

"Not much," sighed Varamance.

"He seems even quieter than normal," Exodeus observed.

"Yes," Varamance agreed with a frown. "He's lost something."

* * *

The place chosen to hold the Ninjutsu International Competition was a collection of fields and buildings that had hosted the Olympics some years before. One of the track and field stadiums was converted into a landing field for airships and a collection of battery-operated vehicles stood by when the party from Razi disembarked from their blimp. Traffic was heavy, the air heavier still.

The heart of the city, Los Angeles, California, had temperatures in the low nineties, even in May, and little breeze, a far cry from the ocean-sprayed island of Razi. The welcome party consisted of a translator, the headmaster of the host academy, the Head Judge for the event, and the official Competition Physician.

Master Maestro didn't need the translator, he spoke English very well, and greeted his old friend with a deep bow and smile of greetings. They shook hands warmly.

One of the assistants handed Maestro a thick packet and they directed the group towards the main buildings for check-in.

"Although," said the healer, "since you have wounded, perhaps you should go directly to the hospital and do all your work-ups first."

"Thank you," replied Maestro. "We will do that."

"My students," said the American Headmaster, pointing to the golf carts, "will take you there. It is good to see you, we shall have to talk over dinner."

"Indeed."

The delegation from Razi settled into the carts and were taken, as promised, to the hospital. There, each contestant had to undergo a thorough medical screening. A shorter one would be done before each battle, to make sure that no one tried to fight with illegal augmentation. The healers clucked over Pandaren's still mending bones, but they agreed with Master Physica in that he would be fit to fight on Wednesday, when the competition was set to begin.

"He will rest," Master Physica assured them, when the healers wanted to keep Pandaren at the hospital. "We will tend to his injuries ourselves, thank you."

From there the group walked to check-in, situated in a vast, echoing building toward which seemingly hordes of people walked in every minute. There the judges left to go to their own quarters and follow their own check-in procedures; and all the healers, except for Master Enzyme and Master Physica, went to theirs. The students and their team received their packets gratefully and signed all their forms before being directed to their quarters. They had a section within a collection of adobe-style buildings with red tile roofs for their stay, sharing with the delegation from a school in Germany who had not yet arrived, and a school in the pacific islands who were busily settling in.

Master Maestro gathered his students and masters together in their main rooms.

"You may now all wander the grounds, but stay within the campus," he told them. "Stay in groups and make sure that you have someone with you, at all times, who can speak English. Be polite and behaved. Wear your school jackets, and carry a map. The time is now two o'clock local time, they're several hours ahead of us. I want everyone back here at five o'clock to change for dinner." He smiled. "This is an exciting time for you, my students, but take care that you stay out of trouble." He held up a hand before they could all run off. "One last thing. Keep your passport and your competition ID," he held up the square badge with its picture in its plastic case, "on you at all times. Do not lose them. This is not the Republic. The rules are different here. Keep that in mind. Now, off with you then!"

The students all nodded obediantly, chattering excitedly as they tossed bags on beds and settled in or changed, or gathered in groups to go explore. The girls took one room to themselves and the boys divided up equally in the other rooms. Ren ignored the chatter and sank down onto a bed, exhausted.

Master Yoshi followed a short time later, the house falling silent around them. "Are you asleep?"

Ren suppressed a sigh. Why couldn't the master leave him alone? He shook his head slightly without opening his eyes. "No, Master."

"Good, then we shall meditate."

This time Ren did sigh. "You always want to meditate, Master."

"It's good for you. Stop arguing."

The strength of his dislike surprised Ren. He turned his head towards the wall to hide his expression. Master Yoshi had done so much for him, he should be grateful, but he felt angry instead, resentful.

Master Yoshi pulled up a chair to Pandaren's side. He reached over and placed one palm over Ren's forehead. Ren winced, groaning and twisting weakly under the master's grip.

"Easy now."

"I'm going to be sick," Ren murmured, opening then swiftly closing his eyes again.

"It'll pass," replied Master Yoshi. "Faster if you quit fighting me."

"I'm not fighting, Master."

Master Yoshi smiled and laughed quietly. He would probably never get accustomed to a samurai arguing with him. "Relax."

"I ... don't ...."

"Shh." He spoke softly, drawing the boy into his meditations, setting him into his trance. Yes, so easy. Pandaren had no mental defenses to speak of and now he could get some actual work done. The only true difficulty would be in hiding his ministrations from the competition healers, but Yoshi was confident in his abilities. He'd been one of them for many years, after all, he'd designed the tests, wrote the manual on illicit augmentation. He knew all the tricks, and Yoshi was still the best.

This is Anton's add:

Kagami walks around aimlessly in the lounge of the airship. There isn’t a real necessity to put on formal attire in the airship, so he wears his straw sandals. This airship is kick-ass, but it’s been bothering him for this few minutes. He will spend hours just to sit around, talking nonsense and sightseeing. C’mon, the academy is better than this. There is always something going on in that place. His eyes catch an unused deck of cards. It’s better than nothing. Minutes later, he already drag Osore and Nnena to table.

The game is going around Kagami’s pace. His two adversaries are not pretty good at this, so it’s kind of a let down for him. The door suddenly opens and Pandaren comes in. All the students paused and gaze at him for a while then return to their previous activity. From his seat he saw Pandaren take a seat and being approached by Varamance. They both talked for a while before Pandaren is being called by an old man who seems to be a master, accompanied by Master Physica. The three of them then left the lounge.

“Varamance, how is he?” Kagami ask Varamance when he and Exodeus passing their table.

Varamance only shakes his head.

Kagami stare at the exits of the lounge “Now, it’s really up to him to get back on his feet.”

“Maybe, but we can still support him.” Exodeus responded.

“Problem is, how much will it help?” said Kagami, shuffling the cards in his hand. “Anyway, no matter how eager we are to help him, I don’t think we can visit him in the near time.” He stops shuffling the card, and prepares to divide the card “So, are you up to a game?”

* * *

After a welcoming party and a long talking, the students are allowed to explore the campus ground. Kagami’s tingling all over with excitement wondering what he may found in this place. He looks around and spotted Dante, his former foe at the competition who is fluent at this country’s language. “Hey, cowboy. Let’s take a walk. With you around, we shouldn’t get into trouble.”

Matt le Couteau

Note: Matt is taking over Varamance's char.

The telephone had been ringing when he arrived, it's conical ear peice rattling on the hook as he shut the door carefully behind him. He frowned. Who would be calling him here? Now? Especially on something as unsound as a telephone. Slowly he picked up the reciever, held the mouth peice to his lips and spoke,

"Who is this?"

"Who else but I? Legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus."

"Damnant quodnon intelligunt. Aeneas, why are you phoning me?"

"We heard tell of another, Pandaren of RAZI." The sibilant voice sighed after each word, a rasp catching in the faraway throat, "Apparently he's a Samurai but he has skills which might be associated with Kant. They want you to watch for him. See if he's worth looking into."

"And you couldn't just write to me because...?" Ansuz was verging on angry as he listened to the younger man's rattling voice.

There was a silence, broken only by the heavy breathing before the line went dead. Ansuz scowled. The Authorities were losing their cool when it came to this tournement. Using a phone should have only been part of a last resort. Wires could be tapped, accidently come across, words overheard. There was greater risk when something invented by the new science was used as a means of communication.

He scowled, dropping the dead machine to the table with a clatter and moved towards the window. Outside he could see the last few blimps carrying their cargo of uninitiated Ninja cresting the horizon. He felt a nagging in his chest as he remembered his first journey to this same competition. His naivety then... He had thought it so glorious, his destiny to fight and kill and win wars for his country and his people but war had turned out only to be glamourous to those who had never known it...

Narrowing his eyes, he wondered what to do. The task had been accomplished. He had removed a traitor from their midsts. Perhaps he should go to the pool, relax for a little while, do some lengths, see if any of the new generation would turn up there. After all... if they did it would be all the easier to figure out who it was he was to be keeping an eye on later. Just how good a ninja was should be quite clear even in his or her free time, as long as one knew what to be looking out for. Which was why his job was to become all that much harder, with so many Master's about he would be at greater risk of discovery. But then again, it was the risk that made it worth while.

*

Varamance let the others about him talk, musing to himself, head on hand. Today had been an interesting day, revelatory in some ways and baffling in others. The spark of competition and aggression he'd seen in the eyes of the students he knew he would eventually be fighting had stirred his blood; perhaps some of them would give him a challenge. On the other hand, he could feel his mind sifting over, time and again, the lost look of desolation on Pandaren's face, the forlorn woe which had unmistakably taken over in his time of sickness. It was a shame that they had not fought before… It was a pity because Ren had been the one person he'd really felt testing recently. Of course, the people about him now: Exodeus, Kagami, Osore… They were all good sparring partners but he always knew, even when it felt he was falling behind, that he could still defeat them.

Sighing he stood, nodded to the others and excused himself to ready himself for dinner. He had wanted to go to the pool first and work out his travel tired limbs, but wondered if he'd now have time. Exodeus seemed as if he might follow for a second but then thought better of it when Nnena shook her head and called him back. It wasn't exactly what he'd expected of her, but then again he hadn't been paying much attention to them in the last few minutes and perhaps she had noticed. Walking swiftly now, he strode through the warm, red papered halls towards his room. They had about and hour and half before dinner, he'd go to the pool, see what was what and if any of the other competitors were there. It was useful to know a little of those you fought though he had often wondered if man would fight with man so easily if they were forced to know each person before the battle. It was infinitely easier to battle with a stranger than a companion, despite knowing the friend more intimately. For some reason that thought lead him back to Pandaren…

The boy was an entity. With gifts like his it was no surprise that he wasn't a superb samurai. It even surprised him that someone like him would have been selected for that Sect when it was so blatant that he did not belong there. It was impossible to mould someone's very nature into something it was not. So why had he been chosen? Why not another Sect? And why was this power only emerging with such ferocity now? His curiosity over the strange warrior had only increased since their battle, emphasised by the tragedy of his situation now. It would be very interesting to see how he did now.

Rounding the corner he saw a man in a suit coming along the same corridor, a distinctive limp making him wince slightly. For some reason it seemed overly burdensome for the character heading towards him, the otherwise proud stature suggesting importance, professionalism… The limp just made him seem like a veteran, as odd as it seemed. Yet at the same time, he knew something was off. Varamance felt the hairs on the back of his neck pulling up the skin on his neck a chill running down his spine at the dark haired stranger. Then they passed, their arms brushing and he knew he had to find his towel and release the ridiculous amount of tension within him before he started imagining even weirder things than he already was…

*

The pool wasn't exactly buzzing when Ansuz arrived, though he didn't much mind. The fact that it was nearly empty bar three or four others meant that he could swim around for a little while without feeling as if he had a job to do. The group was hardly being quiet in their discussions, excitement obviously overruling reason. Slowly he laid out his towel on one of the beds. Mild, muggy and heavy with the scent of chlorine, the pool was a peaceful, dancing miasma of cerulean blue light that glittered like jewels in the enclosed space, he almost regretted disturbing the unbroken surface as he waded in. It was like stepping into a piece of sparkling perfection, though he knew it wasn't. No one looked at him as he pushed off from the side and lounged out into the otherwise empty water. No one was too bothered by the business man with a limp. Perfect. Just keeping his ears above the water he began to stroke along the edges of the pool…

"What do you think the competition'll be like?" A girl with short, black, cropped hair was reclining on a bed to the side, talking to a pair of boys on either side of her.

"Dunno… I'm kinda nervous… I only just scraped through to getting here so…" The taller of the two boys responded, his large feet dangling over the edge of his lounge, "I'm worried I'll disappoint the Master's expectations of me."

"I'm not." She bit him off part way through his last word, scowling, "And you shouldn't be either. We got here. That's better than the others."

"But haven’t you heard about some of those other people!?" The gangly one was talking again, "There's some here who already have bloody fearsome reputations. Master -"

"That's enough!" The girl was almost snarling by this point and Ansuz smirked, she'd be an interesting one to watch. She certainly had guts.

"Senna…" for the first time, the thin faced boy spoke. His mouth seemed too big or his face, his eyes slightly shadowed by his low brow and heavy eyebrows. There was an ugliness to him that Ansuz couldn't place, his face just seemed to be made of an assortment of other people, not one inch looking natural to the skinny frame, "I'm not scared. But I still think we should remain cautious."

"Of course! Fear is for fools, caution for the wise. We have to make sure our inhibitions do not confound us."

Ansuz had heard enough and ducked his head under the water, opening his eyes to the stinging blue depths of a submarine world. It was as if, beneath the surface, you were imbued with a new internalised strength. A strength that was infinite. He pulled himself forward, meters taken in one drag of his arms. This was why he swam. The burning in his lungs that made him feel alive, the ease of pushing forwards and the force of pulling back. With one, final stroke, he burst up to the surface, throwing his head back and drawing air deep into his quaking chest. Then back o relax on the surface, contemplating what he knew… What he would need to know. How he would find out.

It was then that a cool rush of air swept across the water, the door opening a closing as the RAZI student from before stepped into the room. The group on the side stopped talking, fell into silence. It was no wonder really. He wondered if, like him, they could feel his reiatsu, the Kant energy that had fleetingly escaped him as he entered. Briefly, he found himself contemplating that something must have shocked the youth into that wave. But found himself distracted as he dumped his belongings on a bed and dived into the water without a second thought. Perhaps he could engage him in conversation? Perhaps he could enchange some 'friendly banter' about the competition whilst they were here. It wouldn't be too surprising. Would it?

Virgo

Nanami was looking around and, though it didn't show on her face, she was jumpy around all the new faces, all the people... She'd never liked people to being with, and now with all these new ones invading what she had labelled as 'hers' she was more on edge than ever.

"Nana." Riko murmured, "You're making me antsy, knock it off." Riko found it all fascinating, seeing all these people from other places... those people from R.A.Z.I. were more interesting than all of the rest. They seemed to know what they were doing more than those ones from the German academy. They just seemed like a bunch of muscle-heads determined to throw their weight around. Riko's nose wrinkled and she turned away from the group and led her sister off before some of them formed any funny ideas.

"Riko you're paranoid." Nana said softly, her eyes darting towards the RAZI group curiously, obviously she was intrigued by them as well. It was fortunate that they both had learned several of the languages spoken here by the various schools.

"Not paranoid. I just don't like smelly men." She whispered, looking over Nana's shoulder, "Who's that?" She asked, pointing to the limping man heading towards the pool, "I've seen him around, but..."

"You're paranoid Riko." Nanami replied, pushing Riko in front of her, "Stop seeing..."

"Conspiracy theories everywhere. Yeah I know." Riko mumbled irritably, falling into step with her sister as they moved towards their room, as their duties at the airstation had been completed. "But... what if there are?"

Nanami sighed impatiently, "Don't be silly, what could possibly go wrong here?"

Kitty watched with fascination as students descended from the RAZI blimp. She'd run a bit late getting back since she'd been discussing the competition rules with a short boy named Felsen, a German Geomancy student. He seemed so eager and wistful. She'd hated to leave.

Even more amazing than learning about German culture first hand had been speaking to a native in their own tongue. It was one thing to know a lot of languages and speak with the instructors and other students using them, but to speak with a person who'd never spoken anything but German! He'd understood her well too, even complimented her.

She blushed a bit as she rushed to join Nanami and Riko. They each had a golf cart now and had been transporting students from the landing area to their rooms. The twins both stared daggers at her as she pulled in behind them and she shrunk back uncomfortably. She was late again. Silently she cursed her luck. It was rare for her to be late, really and she seemed to be making enemies today with her unusual tendency.

"Sorry," she mouthed silently. Nanami looked away pointedly and Riko half rolled her eyes. Kitty sighed, knowing she was not forgiven. Her eyes drifted back to the RAZI students.

The Headmaster was speaking perfect English. She immediately admired the easy way he communicated. The German Headmaster had been hopeless, and the translators would have plenty of work with him alone. As Kitty peered at the gathering she sorted the attending Masters from the students, trying to determine their sects by the way they looked, acted and moved.

The injured boy was difficult to pin, the way he stared impassively made her think Samurai, but there was a depth of emotion in his every move that was most definitely not right for the sect. The elderly Master near him seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn't place him. Perhaps he'd made it into some history book or maybe he was active in politics?

Kitty shook her head and moved on, her eyes finding an olive skinned girl with silky black hair. She was athletically built and exuded confidence. Kitty thought she could be just about any sect but Samurai with such confidence. She discarded sects until she'd narrowed it to Khu and Umbra, unable to narrow further.

"...to the hospital and do all your work-ups first." Kitty was startled to hear, but it made sense with an injury to be treated. A moment later the RAZI students and Masters were approaching the carts. A slender boy with a crystal on a choker around his neck entered her cart.

Kitty blinked in surprise as she eyed the boy. He had to be of the Crystal sect, but where was his primary summon? Was it something small, hidden in his pockets or perched on his shoulder? She looked more closely, but didn't see it anywhere. These RAZI students were surprising, and confusing as well. She had a million questions bubbling up inside her.

"Welcome to America," Kitty said enthusiastically in Japanese.

"I was hoping I'd get to practice my English," a girl grumbled, and Kitty immediately identified her as Sage. She was a good Sage, nondescript as could be. The kind of girl who could easily blend in anywhere and Kitty felt an immediate surge of jealously, which she smothered with happy thoughts about her other skills. Inwardly she sighed. She'd gotten here by luck really, and it was only a matter of time before everyone figured that out. She was top of her class, but her competition had just all been having bad days that day.

"I'm sorry," Kitty replied softly in English "we can speak English if you wish."

"Oh, Convex, that's no fun. Now I don't understand her at all," the unusual Crystal student objected. Kitty flashed him a broad grin.

"Or we could speak Japanese, as you prefer," she continued mischievously in Japanese.

"No, it's okay, I won't stop Convex from her practice." The Crystal student replied. Kitty flashed him a smile and returned to English. Convex was amazing, though she was terribly moody, so much so that Kitty picked up on it during the short drive to the hospital. That moodiness could work to her advantage, she mused.

Already she was thinking of Convex as the competition, and trying to find holes in her abilities. One thing was certain, she knew more languages than Kitty. Language would be a poor battleground to choose. She'd come out looking useless if it came to that. Convex was skilled in her chosen focus.

Kitty sighed as she parked the golf cart and watched the twins departure. Now she had what remained of the afternoon to herself. She knew what she should do. She needed to locate her uniform and wash the others as well. She didn't have a huge closet of clothes, and hardly anything was presentable. No one had noticed the snag in her pants however, or at least they hadn't commented.

The thing was, there were all of these people here and she wanted to talk to them all. Even better might be to find a group and become part of it, then she could listen to them communicate with each other. The knowledge she could gather about them that way would be vast! On the other hand speaking one on one with them in their native languages could be great fun as well.

She supposed the pool might be a popular destination, so she started her walk in that direction but was quickly distracted by the Crystal boy she'd more recently transported to the hospital. She followed him for a bit, he seemed to be looking for something. Finally, she decided to speak.

-*-*-*-*-*- Stormy's Post -*-*-*-*-*-

Exodeus looked out the airship window, watching the clouds float by. He wanted to know what had happened to Pandaren exactly, but he knew if he asked, no answer would be forthcoming. He stared at the shapes the clouds made, and felt a shiver of sadness as one shape became a snake coiled and ready to strike. He missed the familiar weight of Vie, the way she always seemed to be there, ready to comfort him whenever he felt any kind of feelings of loneliness. She had always had this knack for knowing when he needed her, and she was always there. He shook his head, trying to wipe out the image of her body on the arena floor, the last he’d ever see of her.

A weight settled down next to him, and he looked up at Varamance, who looked out at the clouds as well. “Brooding?” he asked, and Exodeus shrugged.

“No, just thinking,” his voice was softer than he’d have liked, but he didn’t bother to try to make up for it. Varamance offered him a small smile.

“Brooding then. You’ve lost as well, will you let it stop you?” Exodeus turned away from Varamance, and looked out at the clouds again. The snake was now just a patch of fluffy white.

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Are you?” Exodeus shook his head.

“Yes,” Exodeus answered, and he turned to Varamance once more. “What is your point?” Varamance sighed.

“I’m not one for speeches Exodeus, but I have to say this.” He paused, as though to make sure Exodeus was listening. Of course, he was. “You aren’t weak. Get back up.” With that, Varamance squeezed his shoulder, and stood up, returning to the group and leaving Exodeus to wonder about his words. Exodeus looked out the window, remembering the feeling of Vie, remembering what she had given him.

If it hadn’t been for her sacrifice, he would either be dead, or simply not going at all to this competition. He wouldn’t have been part of the top 10. Vie had given him hope, Vie had given him a chance. Vie had always, always given him love. He stood up, feeling a slight surge in his spirit, Vie had loved him, and he wouldn’t allow her sacrifice to be in vain. He turned to the others, and smiled at them.

“Can I join the next round?”

*****

Exodeus knew he shouldn’t walk off without someone who spoke English, but honestly, he didn’t want to involve anyone with his problems. He took a look at the map and looked around. The practice areas were around here somewhere, he just needed to figure out where.

“Hello,” came a soft voice from behind him. He blinked, turning around. He had been so involved with finding the practice area that he hadn’t noticed someone a mere foot from him. It was a girl, bright eyes filled with a kind of pleasure he couldn’t understand. He bowed lightly, she was one of the girls who had driven the carts, therefore, she was an American student.

“Hello,” he said, lifting from his bow and looking right at her. Her emerald eyes seemed to be fascinated with him, and he found the direct stare she gave him somewhat disconcerting. “Can I help you?” She gave him a bright smile.

“Can I help you?” she returned the question to him, as she lightly bounced up on her tiptoes, returning to stand flatfooted. He watched the bounce, his brows knitting in uncertainty.

“Excuse me?” He knew she spoke Japanese, at least, somewhat. He wondered if her knowledge of the language was limited.

“Can I help you? You seem a bit lost.” No, Exodeus nearly nodded, she knew how to phrase the sentences, she was fluent. He almost sighed in relief. He wouldn’t have known what to do if she had only a passing knowledge of the language. He looked down at the map in his hand.

“I’m looking for the practice arena, any of them,” he pointed to the one closest to them. She looked over his shoulder, and one bright blond braid hit his arm gently. He was surprised by it’s thickness, she must have a lot of hair.

“Oh, you’re almost there, would you like me to guide you?” He nodded, and she started walking. Not so fast that they would reach their goal in a timely manner, but not so slowly they were crawling. Exodeus knew what was coming next. He was almost certain she was from Sage. “So, what is it like at R.A.Z.I.?” she asked. He tried not to groan, he was right. He wanted to get to training, but here he was, about to start a conversation with someone who probably wouldn’t want to let him do anything but flap his mouth for hours.

What is wrong? I don’t usually care if someone wants to talk to me. He looked down at her, at the way she was waiting, her whole body almost tingling with excitement for the answers he might give her. He gave her a small smile, what the hell.

“Well,” he started, looking around, “It’s not so hot?” She smiled, and turned her head to him.

“That’s your first impression of America?” she asked, and he nodded.

“I guess so. Actually, I don’t know much about this place, but it seems so much more…” he looked around himself, searching for the right word. “Open.” She looked around as well, her brow furrowed.

“Open? You think this is open?” She seemed to be trying to match the word with her surroundings.

“Well, there are more buildings, and,” he looked around as well, “but I’m more used to lots of tree’s. There don’t seem to be many trees.” She nodded.

“I can see that. You’re from Crystal, aren’t you?” He nodded, one hand lightly touching his amethyst. “Where is your summon?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but he could feel the curiosity oozing off of her in waves. He took a deep breath, this was always so difficult to explain.

“Well, Vie is…” he trailed off, took a breath, and shrugged, “gone.” She looked over at him. He didn’t want to give too much information to the enemy, so to speak, so he left it at that. She blinked a bit.

“Gone?” she asked softly. He wanted to trust her, the way she seemed so innocent and… he knew it was just her Sage abilities getting to him no doubt. This was the way they defeated their opponents, by talking them to death. Well, that and by digging out more information than they wanted to give. He nodded, a bit stiffly this time.

“Gone,” he said firmly. She turned and opened a door, holding it for him.

“The practice arena,” she said. He walked through and watched as she turned on the lights. Yes, this is what he needed, somewhere to work on the summons he couldn’t control completely.

“Thank you,” he said, trying to be polite, but also wanting her to leave.

“Do you mind if I watch?” she asked, and he looked at her. Did it matter? Yes, he decided, it did.

“I’d rather be alone for this.” She didn’t seem put out by his comment, but merely smiled.

“Alright, good luck,” she held out her hand, “I’m Kitty.” Exodeus looked down at the hand, and shook it.

“Exodeus,” he said. She grinned.

“I look forward to talking to you again,” she said, and Exodeus found, as he let go of her hand and she left, that he was looking forward to it too.

(Monday night)

The chatter and clatter of the returning students woke Pandaren. He rubbed his eyes. When had he fallen asleep? He sat up stiffly, seeing that Master Yoshi napped in his own chair. Ren yawned and swung his legs over the side. He woke the master with a light touch on his shoulder, then went to the bathroom for a quick wash. Master Enzyme was there, soaking in one of the hot tubs, and helped Ren with the bandages and splint, wrapping him back up again when he was finished.

The students all dressed in their semi-formal uniforms and gathered in the main hall as Master Maestro had requested. Ren couldn't stop yawning, and the new binding around his ribs felt uncomfortably constricting, but he was down to those and the splint on his arm, so he supposed he ought to be grateful for that. The clothing itched, straight black slacks, though some of the girls had skirts, sandals, and silk shirts, half red-half gold. They had jackets, too, mostly red, with gold accenting, and "RAZI Academy" written in big black letters across the back. Now that the sun was starting to go down, so, too, was the temperature dropping, surprising in the amount of difference from the heat of the day.

When the masters arrived, dressed similarly to the students, Master Maestro led them across the former-Olympic Village towards the vast dining hall. They joined the line through the buffet and the masters all hailed various other masters as they went. All, with the exception of Master Enzyme, had attended the competition many times in the past. Ren looked up as he took his tray to find Master Yoshi beside him again. The old master smiled even as Ren fought back a scowl.

Master Yoshi leaned forward, to whisper, "I'll be sticking to you like a leach, young Samurai." Louder, he said, "Let me help you with that, Pandaren."

The process was mostly unfamiliar to the Razi students, but they picked up the means from those who went before, pointing out the foods they wanted and accepting plates and bowls from the servers interestedly. In the buffet were foods from every country and Dante siezed upon several ears of roasted corn with a cry of glee that made the serving ladies laugh.

"Corn! Do you have popcorn?" asked the occamy student, in his mostly unaccented American English.

"For you," replied the lady, "we'll have some tomorrow!"

"Yes! Thank you!" He grinned at the other, rather perplexed, Razi students. "Popcorn! I haven't had popcorn since I left home!" He sighed.

Ren stayed quiet, pushing along his tray and trying not to pay attention to what Master Yoshi placed there. All the noise and crowding of the dining hall made him distinctly nervous. There was so much color, too, as all the competitors wore their school colors. The delegations were all different. Quite a few didn't even have the full complement of sects, perhaps they were too small, or more selective. Kant and Crystal were small sects, they numbered the fewest. Samurai, Khu, and Umbra were the largest and almost every school had a competitor for that sect. The Occamists were easy to pick out because of the way they guarded their weapons, eyeing each other jealously, and setting them apart from the Samurai who were very physical, bumping into each other and bristling like dogs looking for a fight. The others were harder to pick out, except possibly for the Sages, who for the most part looked too scholarly to ever hold their own in battle.

Master Maestro separated from the group and sat down with the other headmasters. Master Moone led the Razi students to a long table towards the far side of the room from the buffet. Ren ended up sitting with Master Yoshi on one side and a towering physical specimen on the left. The student would easily have made at least three of him. He had long, black hair tied back at the nape of his neck, bulging forearms under a sleeveless tunic of black and green, and a ferocious set of eyebrows.

"Uh, hello?" Ren stammered, as the student looked at him. He bowed his head politely and tried to remember the few words of English he'd been taught.

"Hello," said the stranger. "I am called Whale. Samurai. Samoa Islands."

Ren blanched as he figured out what that meant. This huge tower of a man was his Samurai competion from the Pacific Islander school that shared the courtyard with them. He didn't look to have a weapon, either.

The giant, Whale by name, reached over and patted Ren on the top of the head, saying something that had his mates laughing.

"He thinks you're cute," Convex translated, sitting across from Ren.

"What?"

Coast, on Convex's other side, snickered.

"They think we all are," Convex explained. "We're so small, to them." She looked over at Whale and said something rapidly in his language. The samurai blinked at her for a minute, then responded.

"He's a wrestler," said Convex. That did not make Ren feel any better, at all! The samurai could easily have made a fantastic sumo wrestler. If he had to face this student, he'd have to stay well out of his reach. If he ever got caught in those huge arms, it'd be all over.

Whale asked her a question, then stared at Ren when she answered before turning to his mates again. They all were approximately Whale's size and crowded around to stare.

"I told him you're a samurai, too," said Convex evenly. "He's surprised."

"No kidding," muttered Ren.

"He wants to know how you got hurt."

Ren shook his head, glancing at Master Yoshi. The Islander next to Convex ruffled her hair and grinned. She grinned back.

"They think we're all really small, but they've noticed that they're unusually large, compared to most of the folks here, though there's a couple from Iceland and Russia that could match them."

"Good grief!" said Ren. He poked at his food as Convex got into an animated conversation with the Islanders. There were only five of them, from Samurai, Khu, Heart, Geomancy, and Chakra. They all knew some halting English, but were overjoyed to speak to Convex in their own language. Master Yoshi effectively blocked Ren from the rest of the table conversation, so he slumped on the bench quietly and tried to eat, but he wasn't really hungry, still feeling that the time was far too early to be having dinner.

"There'll be exhibitions tomorrow," said Master Moone over the chatter, apparently in response to a question, "and video of last year's competion will be playing in the Auditorium tonight. You may go if you like, but we have an early practice time in the morning, so we have an early curfew."

Master Yoshi looked at Ren. "Eat."

He sighed, poking at his rice with his chopsticks. Under the master's eye, he forced down a few more bites.

"Oh, that's neat!" exclaimed Convex. She turned to the rest of them. "Niue School is going into the city tonight and are inviting us along!"

Master Moone looked over, sharing an inquiring glance with the Islanders' apparent chaperone. The ninja nodded.

"They're going to a 'circus'?" Convex puzzled over the unfamiliar word.

Master Moone nodded. "It's a show, with animals, acrobatics, comedic," she explained. "Very American."

"Actually, the circus originated in Europe," Dante said. "Can we go, Master? It'll be so much fun!"

"I will speak to Master Maestro," answered Master Moone. Then she smiled. "But I think it safe to say that, yes, you may go if you like."

Dante whooped. "Yeah! Come on, you guys! This'll be so cool!"

Talk of the impending excursion dominated the rest of the discussion. After Master Moone returned with the appropriate permissions, they rose as one big cluster and trooped out together. The Razi students split into two groups, some going with Master Moone and the Pacific Islanders, the rest going in a separate direction with Master Enzyme. Master Physica held Ren back.

"Not you," she said. "You need to rest."

Ren's shoulders sagged. "Please, Master?" he asked, eyeing the others with longing.

She shook her head. "No. But don't worry, there will be other opportunities to go out. You need your rest. Tomorrow we'll finish the job on those ribs and your arm, so you can pass your physical in the evening." She looked at Master Yoshi. "Take him back now, please, Master, and see that he sleeps."

Master Yoshi nodded and set his hand on Ren's shoulder. They turned away and Master Physica hurried to catch up with the larger group. They walked back alone towards their quarters.

"Pandaren."

"Yes, Master?" Ren didn't look up from contemplating his feet as they walked.

"Victory is the Way."

Pandaren froze. Straightened. His face went very carefully blank.

Yoshi smiled and turned towards the shadows of the building they walked next to. "Ansuz. Come out. We must speak."

The blue-eyed Occamy master stepped from the shadows. "Master Yoshi," he said. His eyes flicked towards the silent student.

Yoshi smiled. "He can do nothing without my permission. He won't even remember this meeting."

"Still at your old games, I see."

Yoshi's eyes flashed. "Do not question me, Ansuz! Walk with us a ways." He turned and continued down the sidewalk, the student following like a grim shadow.

Ansuz frowned, but fell in beside him. "I did not know you were coming, Master."

"Nor did I, but, as you can see," he gestured behind them, "it has been profitable." He turned cold eyes on the other man. "Tell me why you are watching Pandaren and not Varamance of Razi."

Ansuz flinched. "I received word today to --"

"From whom?"

"Aeneas."

Yoshi swore softly. "Damned fool. Find out who gave him that information. Kill them both. You take your orders direct from me, now. And, Ansuz," he held the other's gaze, "I am not accustomed to mistakes from you."

He bowed his head slightly. "No, Master."

"Varamance is your target. Try not to do too much damage."

"Yes, Master."

"I have other plans for Pandaren." He smiled. "You shall see. Varamance I want. The others are disposable."

"Yes, Master."

"Go. I have work to do."

As Ansuz faded away, Yoshi turned his attention back to Pandaren. The boy was starting to look confused. Apparently, his hypnosis had not taken as firmly as he'd thought. He would have to fix that.

"Pandaren," he said, "you will forget everything you have seen and heard since we left Master Physica. Understood?"

The boy shook his head, but answered in the affirmative, "Y-yes, Master."

"Discipline is strength."

Ren stumbled and fell to his knees. He felt Master Yoshi beside him, hand on his arm.

"Pandaren, are you alright?"

Blinking, Ren shook his head. "I ... yes, Master, just dizzy. I ... must have tripped."

"You're tired," was the master's response. "Come, we are not too far now."

When they reached the house, Master Yoshi insisted on another session of meditation, and then a series of gentle exercises before sending Ren to bed. He didn't wake when the others returned, but sometime in the early hours of the morning he stumbled to the bathroom, to be horribly sick. He sat on the cold tile with his back against a wall and closed his eyes, feeling absolutely miserable.

"Pandaren?" came a whisper from the dark.

Starting, Ren looked up, wiping his mouth. In the dim glow of the nightlight, Osore looked even more sinister than usual, especially as he wasn't wearing his mask. Ren looked away.

The khu student came towards him and sat down beside him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"You're not."

"Leave me alone."

"You know, Hammer was disappointed not to see you."

"It doesn't matter."

"Oh?"

"Just leave me alone!" Ren closed his eyes and looked away, biting his lip. He was feeling queasy again, but didn't want to throw up in front of Osore. He hadn't thought he'd eaten enough to be feeling this sick.

"Should I get Master Physica? Or Master Enzyme?"

"No. I'm fine!"

"That's not what it sounded like." He sighed, an irritated, grumpy sound. "I'm just trying to help."

"I don't want your help! I don't --"

With a half-sob, half-groan, Ren jumped to his feet and raced lurched into a stall. His stomach clenched and he doubled over, but there was nothing left to expell and he collapsed to the floor, eyes streaming, throat burning. Silently, Osore handed Ren a cup of water. He rinsed his mouth.

"Thanks."

Osore draped a towel around Ren's bare shoulders, for he was shivering, wearing only a pair of thin sleep-pants.

"I hate my life," said Ren quietly after a long moment.

"Why?"

"I'm cursed."

"You need to have a little more faith in yourself."

"Easy for you to say."

"You know nothing about me! Don't presume that my life has been easy!"

"I ... I'm sorry." He huddled closer under the towel.

Someone else entered the bathroom, yawning, and turned towards them. Stopped. Fumbled for the lightswitch. They all blinked at each other.

"What are you boys doing up?" asked Master Enzyme. He came towards them. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing, Master!" stammered Ren.

"He got sick," said Osore. Ren glared. "Well, you did."

Master Enyzme knelt beside them and felt Ren's forehead. "You do feel a little warm. What did you eat for dinner?"

Ren shrugged. "I wasn't hungry."

"Hmm, could be stress. Go down to the kitchen. I'll make us all some tea."

"But, Master, I --"

"The kitchen, Pandaren. Osore, put the kettle on, please. I'll be down in a minute."

Hauling a reluctant Ren with him, Osore did as requested. Ren sank down onto a chair at the table and pillowed his head in his arms. Master Enzyme wrapped a blanket around the samurai student and busied himself making the tea.

"Why don't you take that upstairs with you, Osore?" suggested the master.

Osore paused, then nodded and rose from his seat, carrying the cup.

"Pandaren," said Master Enzyme softly. "You can tell me what's bothering you, if you want."

"I'm fine."

"Drink your tea, it'll help settle your stomach."

Ren sat up a little and sipped obediantly.

"You've had a lot of healing in the last few days," continued Master Enzyme. "It's natural to be a little overwhelmed, especially with the contest looming."

Master Enzyme sat back in his seat, watching Ren over the top of his teacup. "You know, the Greeks held the competition my year. They made a big deal out of it, too. I did not do so well, but I learned a lot. Even if you lose your first match, Pandaren, you made it here, and that is a big accomplishment. You should have a little pride."

"I'm fine."

"Hmmm. Drink your tea."