-=Finding Inner Strength=-

The morning sun began it’s great ascent over the village hidden in darkness. Though the village was shrouded in dark mist, the eyes of the villagers were able to pierce the darkness, allowing them to see the sun and sky as though darkness weren’t there. In reality, the darkness was there, serving as the village’s optimal source of protection.

The first rays of the sun began shining on the school of rogues and ninjas. Making it’s way into his room, the first morning light slowly roused Shadow Viper from his rest. As he became more aware of himself and his surroundings, he found himself becoming angry and bitter.

He then remembered: just yesterday, he read Ryu Hayabusa II’s final letter to the village. The thought of Ryu falling in battle to an acolyte of evil, taking on the form of the Maple World’s greatest ninja, ate away at him with ease. Unable to take the situation that he had read about, he dashed out of the town hall.

Scorpion and Yuka followed him. They were intent on helping Shadow recover from his dire stress, but they were also weighed down by the emotion that came with the letter.

For the rest of the day, the trio was only able to reflect on the words written on that paper. Each of them wondered how this could happen, and what could possibly be in store for the future.

All of this in mind only intensified Shadow’s current anger, as he threw his bedsheets on the floor. He walked over to his closet, changed into his rogue outfit, gathered his twin daggers from his footlocker in front of his bed, then headed out towards the school’s training arena. The entire way, he continued feeling infuriated from yesterday’s events.

Shadow arrived at the arena, which was completely empty. He checked the clock. 4:30 a.m. Early as usual. He proceeded towards the arena center, focusing himself as best as he could to practice his fighting styles.

As he walked in, however, Shadow suddenly heard something very faint behind him. ‘Footsteps,’ he thought. ‘I wonder who that could be.’ The sounds ended as quickly as they began, though, and Shadow brushed them off. ‘Perhaps someone going to the bathroom,’ he surmised. He was about to keep walking when he suddenly heard a soft scuttling noise. He looked down.

A small scorpion walked around in front of him, then stopped, rearing it’s tail up as though about to strike.

One second passed after Shadow caught sight of the scorpion, upon which he instantly did a backflip into the air. Shadow’s sudden maneuver couldn’t have come too soon; two pairs of shuriken sailed right underneath him, just barely missing his ankles.

Shadow twisted in the air to land in the direction opposite to where he originally was. In front of him was a ninja, dressed in all black, with a mask hiding all but his eyes.

Shadow wasted no time in charging forward, his daggers drawn to mee the enemy with him. ‘Perhaps I woke up later than I thought!’ he mused.

The unknown ninja quickly sent out another two pairs of shuriken at Shadow. However, Shadow was one step ahead. Catching the ninja’s arm movements at just the right time, he threw his twin daggers at each pair of shuriken. The daggers hit their mark, stopping the deadly stars in midair. Shadow continued running forward at such a speed that he reclaimed his daggers out of the air before gravity even caught hold of them.

Unfortunately, the ninja thought ahead as well. As Shadow was retrieving his daggers, the ninja quickly sent out his fifth and sixth pair of shuriken at him, this time in a vertical formation, with one group aiming at his head, the other headed towards his knees.

However, Shadow’s eyes were faster than his feet. Catching the quick move just in time, Shadow dove through the pairs of stars, threading the needle without touching a side. Landing in a roll, Shadow rushed towards his opponent, daggers ready to strike.

In the end, Shadow froze in a crouched position, his daggers aimed at the ninja’s neck, while the ninja held himself in a stance with two more pairs of shuriken held above his head in a throwing position.

Shadow then lowered his daggers to the ground, letting out a sigh. “Honestly, Scorpion,” he said to the ninja, “that trick of yours is getting so old.”

Lord Scorpion removed his mask and returned his stars to their respective packs. “What can I say?” he replied. “You gotta love the classics!”

Both students burst into laughter and hugged eachother. Afterwards, Shadow said with a smile, “One thing about it, though: you sure know how to work stress out of me.”

Scorpion smiled. “I had a feeling that letter would be the only thing on your mind,” he said. “I figured I’d help you feel better, and knew a little exercise would do the trick.”

“Well, you fixed me on the outside,” Shadow said, falling out of his momentary happiness. “But let’s face it: that news will never be erased from my mind. I just can’t believe it; enemy forces at work to cause destruction, and Ryu had to be caught in the middle. I was fearful he’d lose his life after the attack on our village, but I never thought it’d happen the way it did. Evil using the form of Dark Lord, using his abilities to take Ryu down.”

Scorpion’s smile faded. He put a hand on Shadow’s shoulder. “It was a terrible way for Ryu to fall,” he explained. “But it isn’t uncommon for evil forces to use deception and trickery to combat the forces of good. It’s even more common for evil to cripple good by destroying certain people who are not only strong advocates of good, but also mean so much to others.”

Scorpion went on, feeling slightly depressed. “It makes me wonder how we can continue to go on like this, to train and improve ourselves, even with what we lost, with what we no longer have, and with what terrible things lie in wait.”

Just then, the two rogues noticed Yuka walk in, holding a tray of breakfast for each of them. As she observed what was going on, she began to smile, nociting that they had continued to train themselves through the tragedy that happend.

Shadow turned back to Scorpion and said, “I guess…it’s all about finding inner strength. A strength you never knew you had.”

Scorpion nodded. The two students then shook hands and headed towards Yuka, whatever feelings they had earlier replaced with the hunger of fresh eggs and bacon.

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Tninja here! Wow, two blogs in one day! Guess it didn’t take me long to find an idea! Anyway, we have our first bit of action in what appears to be mostly story and dialogue. I apologize with the knowledge that this story is no doubt boring, but there isn’t a lot of actiony ideas that I can fit in with how I’m explaining the story right now. Fear not, for eventually there will be much more action to come, especially since I have a good feeling that I can move this to Maple Island in a few weeks(earlier if I post enough). Anyway, until the next chapter! *Rolls bottles of Mountain Dew down the stairs towards you*