A Whateley Academy Tale
Quoth The Ninja, Nevermore!
by Maggie Finson, Bek D Corbin, Babs
Yerunkle, and Starwolf
Whateley: September 6, 2006
Having been kicked out of the sunroom, five girls and one
guy squeezed into a tiny two-person bedroom. To help make room, one of the
girls was standing upside down on the ceiling. Even if she hadn’t been, Tennyo
would have drawn a double-take. With spiky blue hair that defied gravity (even
when she was right-side up), amber cat-slitted eyes, and small fangs that
protruded when she smiled, the cocky girl didn’t quite look human. Cute and
sexy, yes. But not exactly human – even if you ignored the tail that sometimes
swished behind her.
A more subtle brand of non-human came from the girl with
flame-red hair sitting cross-legged on one bed. Her eyes were a little too
large, a little too slanted. A common reaction was simultaneous attraction and
dread. It was as if regular people had an instinctive recognition of her kind;
as if they still remembered the terrible beauty and power of the elder race
that had once cultivated this garden world. Looking at her, so aptly named
“Fey,” the eye blinked and the illusion vanished like a popping soap bubble. She
was no more than a lost child, young and insecure. Even so, her beauty grabbed
you around the throat and clenched.
Currently pacing the inadequate floor space was a slender
young girl with a tight cap of black hair. She was alternately pulling that
hair out in spikes or slamming her fist into her palm. With each slam, there
was a sound like a pile driver hitting a post – a crack of displaced air as
fist met palm.
“They threatened my FAMILY!” she ranted, “I’m going to
hurt them so bad!” She turned sharply, stressing her painted-on jeans far past
their design goals. “They’ll learn not to mess with a Goodkind! I was
learning how to deal with blackmailers and parasites back in second grade! You
hear me? Second grade!”
Her rant was somewhat spoiled as her tiny scoopnet T-shirt
once again slipped off her shoulder, exposing a bit too much of her lacy bra
strap.
The child of the group said, “Well don’t worry. Jinn’s
watching everything. We’ll know as soon as they make a move, so calm down. We
have hours.”
From the ceiling, Tennyo asked, “Did you put Jinn into old
Edgar’s head?”
“No,” the young Japanese girl said. “The ransom note was
so clear about us slipping our answer under the bust that I thought they might
have it bugged or something. But do you remember the opposite side of the
foyer?”
The others shook their heads.
“Come ON! It’s got a niche, too. Big book. Giant
stuffed raven perched over the book. Does any of that ring a bell?”
“I was always looking at the bust,” Tennyo admitted.
The slender (and flat-chested) Japanese girl glared at her
better-endowed roommate. “Remember those words, Tennyo. Remember them.”
“I love you too, Jade.”
*****
Down in the lobby, an autonomous cloud of mental energy
was anchored to a stuffed Raven. It seemed to look through the raven’s eyes,
feel with the raven’s taloned feet, move with wings instead of arms. Except…
“This thing is stiff as a board,” Jinn thought. “Even if
I *could* move a wing, it would probably snap off.”
She grumbled, but kept her “eyes” on the statue opposite:
the bronze head of Edgar Allen Poe.
*****
“So,” Toni asked, terrified of more hours of just
waiting. “Anyone up for darts?”
“Do you WANT to ruin our walls?” “Against _you_? Are you
nuts?” “Where did you find room in here for a dartboard?”
The black girl proudly held up her darts and board. The
darts were little larger than toothpicks. And while the board had all the
conventional fields on it, it was no larger than a half-dollar. “It’s not that
bad, guys. If I put it on the far wall, I sometimes miss.”
The others looked at her in suspicion. “Well, I mean,
they aren’t bullseyes. Not exactly.”
The only boy spread his large hands. “Thanks, but no
thanks. You know how clumsy you sometimes feel after a growth spurt? I’m kind
of feeling that way, all over.”
“Don’t worry, Hank,” Tony reassured. “The ‘big lug’ style
is popular right about now.”
“Yeah, I wished I believed that,” the tall boy said. He
cast a quick glance over at the exotic Fey, sitting crossed-legged on her bed.
“But sometimes I just feel so out of place.”
*****
A lonely robin called from its perch. The huge oak
overhung a steep drop, overlooking a wide stretch of protected New Hampshire
forest. With barely a whisper, a wiry, black-garbed figure seemed to
materialize on the tree’s bough. Even its head was covered in a tight black
wrap – only a rectangle of grey mesh indicating where the eyes might be. Long black
sleeves and tight gloves covered the arms. Looser pants tucked into short
boots with padded soles. Again, all black. It was immediately apparent that a
… foreign … element had entered the forest.
The robin spread its wings to take flight, alarmed at the
unexpected intrusion. Before it could even cry out its alarm though, a disk of
jagged metal sliced into it – silencing it, and killing it instantly.
The black garbed figure crouched to retrieve the shuriken,
cleaning the throwing star by wiping it against the feathers of the dead bird.
“What was the point of that?” The new figure was nearly
identical to the first, but something in his stance spoke of a more noble
bearing. He also wore a glass medallion around his neck.
“It was good practice. And we must be as silent as the
wind. Why are you even talking now?”
“Calm down, Mikoshi. We have miles to go, yet. For now
we eat and rest, preparing ourselves for the task to come.” The noble,
medallion-bearing figure suddenly sat, cross-legged. He pulled off his hood to
reveal the classically good looks of a long-suffering samurai.
“Of course. If *you* say so, Matoi.” Following the
sarcastic reply, he kicked the dead bird off the branch, then dropped to his
knees, sitting seiza. “Oh, and you might as well tell the rest of them to come
out. They aren’t fooling anyone.”
With a blur of motion, three more black clad figures
appeared, distinctive even in their black garb. One easily out-massed the
first two together. He pulled off his hood to reveal dark, suspicious eyes set
into a lumpy round face. “About time,” Gissha Gyudon said.
The next figure was obviously female. Her black garb
accentuated her contours, rather than hiding them. Using one of the many
techniques that each ninja must master, her hands flashed like speeding arrows,
darting into the folds and pockets of her outfit to retrieve whatever weapon or
tool the moment demanded.
“Does everyone want rice balls, or should we have the
bentos? See? I made a box for each of you!”
While the others made their attacks on the bento boxes,
the last figure stood alone. Sarumawashi Unagi’s scrawny frame was neither
heroic nor intimidating, even in his black garb. His situation was made more
comical by a bulky backpack and a network of pockets sewn over his outfit, and
the small silvery device his hands quickly assembled from those pockets. When
he was done, he held a small hand-held unit with a rotating parabolic dish that
‘ping’ed amusingly. His thoughts were a different matter, though.
*Those idiots shouldn’t be allowed to sneak into a
supermarket! Now, where is it?* In moments, the comical device in his hands
had located the nearest sensor platform – an outlying security device of the
Whateley Academy. A few rapid clicks on his hand-held and Sarumawashi had
opened a “hole” for them, inserting them into the system as a “security and
training exercise.” He estimated the sensor network at being able to detect
any living creature over 40 kilograms entering the area. He could easily think
of a dozen ways to defeat it, this had the advantage of being easiest, and
least likely to be messed up by his useless companions. *Once this is done,*
he promised himself again, *once I have proven myself, then I go solo. Until
then, may the kami grant me the strength not to slay these fools who surround
me.*
Satisfied for the moment, he reached for his bento. “What
--?”
“You weren’t eating it!” the large Gissha said, spraying
rice as he spoke. “Anyway, I got more muscle than you! I need extra fuel!”
Unagi gritted his teeth in frustration, and masterfully
refrained from unleashing the deadly ‘Thousand Needles of Death’ technique.
*****
As they began to droop, one-by-one the girls quietly prepared
for bed.
Fey was picking through her nightwear deciding which one
of her new nightgowns to wear while thinking it had been a long, but
interesting day.
“Hey, Nikki!” Toni bounced into the room squeaky clean and
wearing a short red satin sleeping shift. “The bathroom’s free now. If you
run, you could probably get there before all the hot water is gone.”
“That sounds good.” Fey grinned tiredly while wondering
if her roommate ever slowed down to a pace others had a chance of
matching. Finally choosing a long, flowing white silk gown, with matching
panties she padded barefoot into the hallway on her way to the bathroom and
wonderfully inviting idea of hot water, and her scented soap, followed with
badly needed sleep.
Rolling her violet eyes at the delicately spicy scent of
the soap her mother had chosen for her, she started the water and made sure it
was at just the right temperature. The first time she had taken a shower after
her change the fast, hard stream that she had always liked as Nick nearly had
her fainting from shock. Discovering that her skin had become so
sensitive to such stuff had just about put her into hysterics. Again.
“Ahh, Just right.” The warmth and force of the water were
perfect, and without a lot of fiddling, fussing, and abortive forays into the
steaming flow to make adjustments. Lathering up with the gel soap and gently
washing still uncomfortably unfamiliar body parts, she mulled over how her life
had changed so much in such a short time.
Washing her bright, flame red hair served to remind her
again about the differences in her circumstances, as if being at Whateley
wasn’t enough. Once her hair had been rinsed, and conditioned -- something
both her mother and Jessica had been insistent about to the point of nagging --
she carefully worked a comb through it to make sure all the tangles were out.
With a sigh, she reached lightly for a few of the lines she always saw, shut
the shower off, and simply sent the water still on her body and in her hair to
the shower floor where it went down the drain.
Her introspection didn’t last long, as Tennyo wandered in
and started another of the showers. At least I’m not dealing with a
period. Yet. She thought in relief as she stepped out of her own cubicle
and gave the other a friendly smile.
“That’s a handy trick to have.” Tennyo had noticed her
drying technique and gave her a quick grin while saying so. “Bet you never
need to take an umbrella with you either, huh?”
“Only when I don’t want to attract attention.” Fey agreed,
then gave her lithe, not entirely human reflection a rueful look with a laugh.
“Ok, make that any more attention than usual.”
“Know what you mean.” The Asian-looking girl nodded with a
shrug while patting herself dry following her own shower. “I guess we’ll get
used to the stares -- eventually.”
“Oh, probably.” Fey agreed as she applied her after-bath
lotion, then powder. “But I don’t think it’s going to be any time soon for me.
This is going to take a lot of getting used to, if you know what I mean.”
“You seem to have adjusted pretty well.”
“Like I have a choice?” The redhead shrugged while getting
into her panties and nightgown. Seeing the expression on the other’s face, she
instantly went contrite. “Oh, I’m sorry. I know none of us do, and I need to
quit moaning about it.”
“Moan all you like.” Tennyo shrugged. “I plan to, once I
get the time to do it.”
“Well feel free to do it at me whenever you do.” Fey
smiled tentatively. “I won’t yell at you to stop it or anything. I’ll just let
you get it out of your system, then moan and groan back at you.”
“Sounds good to me.” The almost Blue hair on the
Asian-looking girl’s head had gone stubbornly back into the spiky look it had
been in earlier as she let out a yawn. “But what I need now is some sleep.”
“Me too.” yawning herself, Fey gathered her things and
waved. “Later.”
“Nite, Nikki.” Tennyo called back as she headed down the
hall to her own room.
“Nice!” Toni complimented as Fey returned to their room.
“What?” Fey sleepily questioned.
“That nightgown.” The black girl answered while indicating
the flowing white silk garment her roomie was wearing. “It’s beautiful!”
“Thanks.” Fey answered with another yawn. “My mom got it
for me. Yours is cute, too.”
“Thank you.” Toni beamed, then bounced towards the light
switch. “Big day tomorrow, so I guess we’d better try and get some sleep, huh?”
“Umm hmmm.” Fey mumbled into her pillow before letting out
a soft snore.
“Sheesh.” Shaking her head Toni switched off the light and
moved back towards her own bed. “I didn’t think anyone could manage to sound pretty
while they snore.”
*****
The leader of the black-garbed figures rose up above the
ridge line and peered through high-power binoculars at the campus ahead of him.
“Exactly as intelligence reported,” he relayed to his
companions waiting beyond the ridge line. “When we hit them, we will prove the
superiority of the Yama Dojo. A disorganized rabble of western dilettantes is
no match for our discipline and training. They shall learn that we do not fear
to match our skills against theirs.”
Sarumawashi could be heard hissing to himself.
“You have a problem with the plan?”
“Yes, *esteemed leader*.” These last words plainly
had to be forced out. “We are _ninja_! We do not ‘match our skills!’ We
strike without warning, and vanish before detection.”
“Still, it’s so… dishonorable. This is a – how do they
put it? – a ‘target rich’ environment. Surely, we couldn’t be faulted for
testing our training just a bit.”
Sarumawashi hissed again.
“Very well,” the leader conceded. “Do not let it be said
that I ignore the advice of my inferiors.” He surveyed the campus again.
“There are three dorms closest to campus. Each sits atop a hill. I dislike
the high visibility. Likewise, there are three dorms farthest from campus.
Logically, they should be the easiest targets. I distrust them for that
reason. Lastly, there is one single dorm which lies in the mid-range.
Protected from campus view by an intervening hill. Located mid-way between two
others. That is where they will be most over confident. That is where we must
strike!”
Mikoshi sat, bored by all of this, and relieving his
frustration by pitching small daggers at a mouse he had caught. With each
flick of his wrist, the mouse jumped. The trick was to not end the game too
soon, but to use fright to steer the mouse into position for his final strike.
“Let’s hit one of the dorms with girls. That way, if we run into trouble it
won’t be anything too tough.”
“As practical as it is detestable,” the leader conceded.
“You have the map, Mikoshi. What does it say about the dorm I have chosen.”
Retrieving his daggers and wiping the blood off, Mikoshi
quickly consulted the map. “It’s called ‘Poe Cottage.’ Says it’s
‘co-educational.’” He paused to pull up his face mask, so that he could spit.
“Half fems. That should be easy enough.”
“Hey!” the girl, Mikan, protested. Everyone else ignored
her.
*****
Jade stumbled downstairs, peering at her watch with
drooping eyelids. *Midnight already? Jeez!*
Jinn had just “expired” and reappeared in her head. She
figured she’d give one more “charge” and watch the bust for another hour. Of
course, even if Jinn spotted something, once Jade fell asleep it wouldn’t do
much good. And that darned raven hadn’t been much fun.
*Why isn’t Ayla watching?* But the answer was obvious.
The message had been sent to Ayla – if the blackmailers were keeping an eye on
anyone, it would be Ayla. So someone else had to watch for her. Meaning Jade
– or Jinn. *Hey, if I go into the lion, I’d have a voice, and I could run
upstairs. That means I could wake myself up.* The question was – how
suspicious was it to have a stuffed toy lying around in the entry? As she
stumbled through the common room, she eyed the entry critically. There were
still a few suitcases piled haphazardly. Smiling, she charged her toy lion and
tossed it into the pile of luggage. She didn’t even wait to watch the lion
drift slowly downward.
*****
In the deepest black of night, five ebon figures pressed
against the side of the large barracks-like building. They spoke not a word,
but signaled to each other in well-practiced command gestures. Their eyes were
trained to pierce through the veil of the night’s darkness.
The friendly gaslights around the building helped, too.
The largest figure detached itself from the group and
seemed to melt right into the walls of the building. This was Gyudon, a brute
with the mutant ability to alter his very mass – turning either as hard as
stone and powerful as a golem, or as insubstantial as mist and able to pass
through solid objects. He chose not to pass through the front door –
suspecting alarms on an entry, but instead used the wall beside the door.
Once inside, he quickly verified the position of the bust
– their target of honor. Then, with professional speed he snapped open his kit
and began tracing and deactivating the security system – from the inside!
*****
On the point of turning upstairs, Jade paused and cast one
last glimpse toward the foyer.
Only to freeze in shock.
There was a figure like Jinn, wrapped entirely in a black
bodysuit and nothing more. Only this figure was very large and very male. And
it was stepping, ghostlike, *through* the walls!
Jade watched just long enough to see it run a covetous
hand over the bust. Unnoticed by the intruder, a small stuffed toy moved in
closer behind it. The toy turned to face her. For an instant, her eyes met a
stitched, fuzzy face.
Jade and Jinn both understood. One of them to watch and
follow, one to alert the others! She nodded to the toy, then moving as quietly
as possible, she made her way upstairs.
*****
“Hey! Wake up you two!” The room light came on and Jade
rushed into the room. “Stuff’s happening!”
“I didn’t know it stayed dark in the morning here.” Fey
mumbled while struggling to get untangled from her sheets.
“It isn’t morning!” The childlike freshman answered
impatiently. “The bust! Someone is taking the bust!”
“The bust?” Fey nodded with sleep still attempting to drag
her back into its at least quiet embrace.
“Poe’s bust?” Toni questioned, then nodded as she bounded
out of bed. “Of course it’s the bust of Edgar Allen. Give us the details.”
She paused to pull on a long kimono-style dressing gown.
“Big guy, black body suit, hood.” Jade announced as she
charged out of their room. “I need to wake some of the others up. I got Jinn
watching, but hurry!”
“Ninja.” Toni grumbled as she pulled Fey out into the
hallway. “Probably that clique here at school, and I’ll bet they’re looking to
score some points at our expense. And I can guarantee that there’s more than
one of them. They’re like mosquitoes, you always find a swarm of them.” She
grinned. “I think it’s time to slap some down, before they get any dumb
ideas.”
“A little late for that.” Fey responded grumpily, as she
slowly came awake.
“Not if we can stop them and get Eddie’s head back!” Toni
answered gleefully. “This is a matter of honor for Poe Cottage! We can’t just
let them get away with stealing our namesake’s bust right out from under our
noses, now can we?”
“I think they came for the letter.” Jade interrupted as
Hank, a scowling Ayla, and a grumbling Tennyo gathered in the hallway still
wearing their nightwear.
“Nah, it’s just those Nin-jerk wannabes trying to prove
something at our expense.” Toni waved off the notion that the blackmail letter
had anything to do with this. “Let’s go show ‘em what it means to mess with
Poe Cottage!”
“Like this?” Fey indicated her own nightgown then the
other’s sleepwear.
“No time to get dressed now!” Toni urged them all towards
the stairs, wearing a V-necked red satin shirt that only came down to
mid-thigh. “We need to catch them and get that bust back!”
They thundered down the stairs, barely noticing that Ayla
was actually fully dressed, even wearing a trench coat and boots.
“I put Jinn in my stuffed lion.” Jade informed them as
they reached the commons room on the first floor to find no one there, and the
front door standing slightly open. “She must have followed them outside.”
“Ok, let’s split into pairs and track ‘em down.” Toni told
them. “Jade, you with me. Hank and Fey. Ayla and Tennyo. That way we all
have someone who can move fast, and someone to give them trouble from a
distance once we get close enough.”
Outside, the group took in the situation and headed in
different directions almost at once. Hank wearing a pair of boxers and nothing
else looked around. “No tracks to follow.”
“They’re Ninjas!” Toni called back in near exasperation.
“They wouldn’t leave tracks, now would they? Fey! See if you can track them
with your magic while Hank flies you to wherever they are.”
“I’m already checking.” Fey half absently returned while
examining the lines and finding five unfamiliar ones that were brighter --
which meant newer -- and pointed the direction out to Hank. “That way.”
*****
Jinn kept after them, creeping and leaping like a small
animal. A small animal that could leap a dozen feet and didn’t actually have
to breath or touch the ground, so she could move very stealthily indeed.
But apparently not subtly enough. One more leap brought
her to a tree branch overlooking the five black figures. And a second later, a
thrown dagger punctured her abdomen and pinned her to the branch. It didn’t
hurt, of course, but it kept her from following them. She struggled to move,
but there was no get a grip on the dagger with her stuffed toy arms.
“Mikoshi!” a girl’s voice called, sounding irritated. “Did
you just kill that poor animal?”
“Be *silent!* Besides, it was following us!”
“Oh, I’m sure!”
Jinn watched as they pulled away from her. Were they
heading for Kane Hall?
*****
When the boy grasped her waist to hoist her up, Fey felt
an unfamiliar tingling and caught her breath. I am NOT getting excited and
all breathless about him just grabbing me by the waist. I am not doing that. She
thought with a shiver having nothing at all to do with the chill night air
whipping around her as they flew in the way she had indicated.
“You smell really nice.” Hank added fuel to that fire
innocently enough.
“Thanks, but…” Fey’s eyes got even wider as she stopped
the intended retort and nearly screamed. “WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!”
A stomach churning swerve and dip managed to avoid that.
Barely. “Uh, sorry.”
“Well watch where we’re going instead of watching me!”
Fey retorted with a bit of embarrassment as her loose breasts jiggled, and she realized
just where Hank’s eyes had been.
“I can’t see in the dark so well.”
“Oh, right.” Fey noted that he seemed to have no trouble
watching her breasts and bottom even if things were kind of dark. “Head to your
right now.”
“Hey, isn’t that the observatory at Kane Hall ahead of
us?”
“Yeah.” Fey pointed at five dark figures climbing the
‘chimney’ that supported the observatory dome. “More to the point, look at
what’s crawling up its walls.”
“The ninjas?”
“You know of anyone else who might just decide for a
relaxing climb up a wall at this time of night?” She retorted.
“Around here, you never know.” Hank pointed out as he
peered at the lighted tower. “But there are five of them, all in black, with
hoods and masks.”
“Yeah, and the bottom one looks to be carrying something
that’s about the size of Edgar’s head. So I think we can pretty well say those
are our targets, right?” Fey pointed to the ground with a clearing of her
throat. “Now could you please set us down so I can do something
interesting to them?”
“My pleasure, lovely lady.” Hank did that, gently, with a
wide grin on his face. “How’s that?”
“Great, thanks. Umm, you can let go of me now, you know.
Since we’re back on the ground and all.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Fey felt a small, okay more than small, but still
ignorable twinge of loss when his strong hands did release her waist. Shaking
that off, and wondering if every guy who touched her was going to cause that
kind of problem she turned her attention back to the five people who had now
reached the top of the tower.
*****
Daikon had Kyuri take point in climbing the observation
tower, leaving a line for the others to use while they climbed. Kyuri was the
only one who wouldn’t be pulling double duty later, so he was given the hardest
position going up. Gyudon was carrying Mikan, who would have the hardest job
later, and needed to conserve strength. Unagi would also be helping out with
the escape, so he was second. And Daikon relegated the task of carrying the 30
pound plus solid bronze bust to himself.
Kyuri made good time to the top of the tower, calling on
the Tiger kami that resided within him to literally claw his way up. It
was small consolation, this minor concession to the power of the Tiger,
considering that, except for the bird and the mouse, he hadn’t got to kill
anything on this mission.
Once they were all at the top, the highest point on the
campus, they assumed the ‘Raven Ascends the Night Sky’ formation- Gyudon was
the center of the mass, Unagi hopped on top of him, and Kyuri and Daikon took a
firm hold of either hand. Then Gyudon jumped on Mikan’s shoulders, as she used
her gravity warping powers to make them all as light a goosedown. Unagi’s hands
swiftly began to assemble his Modular Component Harness into its Jetpack
configuration. This was the slowest part of the ‘Ascending Raven’ technique and
its most vulnerable moment. Daikon thought for a moment about working with
Unagi to whittle down the time, but realized that he would only impugn the
smaller man’s honor to assume that he wasn’t already working on the problem.
*****
Fey watched as the ninjas scrambled into an odd formation
that ended with the large one jumping on top of the one that he’d just been
carrying. The one on the very top extruded some kind of pipe-ish looking wings
and a couple of small fires lit at the ends of them. “They’re going to try and
fly off from there.”
“You sure of that?”
“Duh!”
Waving him to the side Fey started checking out the lines
on and around the tower, then wove a tightly meshed net above the group.
Meanwhile, the ninjas atop the tower had finished their strange human pyramid
and looked nearly ready. The large one in the center held each of the others,
while the small one on the top fiddled with the tube-lattice and rocket
assembly. A moment later, three rockets lit with a bright but quiet flame, and
the strange structure began to rise from the top of the tower.
“See for yourself. Now keep quiet a second, I need to
concentrate.”
“They’re all hanging on to one another… Sorry, I know,
you need to concentrate.” Hank stared at the ungainly arrangement, temporarily
forgetting that he himself could fly.
*****
Jade stiffened in Toni’s arms. “Jinn is back with me. The
ninjas! They’re climbing the tower on Kane Hall!”
“Okay, kicking the afterburners!” Even though she was
carrying the smaller girl, Toni sprinted forward, going from a ‘crusing speed’
of roughly 35 MPH to nearly 50 MPH.
When Toni and Jade burst into the Quad, they could just see
the cluster of ninjas as they started to rise up. “Shit!” Toni muttered. No way
to get to them. Except---
Toni let Jade down, closed her eyes and took a deep
breath. She drew energy up from deep in the Earth and let it form in a ball of
power inside her lungs. She took another deep breath and filled the air in her
lungs with the power that she’d drawn up from the Earth. Then she opened her
eyes, spotted the flying group of ninjas and fixed them squarely with her gaze.
Aiming her ki at the ninjas she let out a windows rattling, ear-shattering ‘KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-
AI!’
*****
The sound of the ‘kiai’ shout resounded through the
campus, set off numerous car alarms and woke up several sleeping members of the
faculty. The force of the kiai shout hit the ninjas squarely in the middle of
their mass. Gyudon reacted as he always did when he was attacked unawares – he
reflexively went desolid. Unfortunately for the rest of the ninjas, if he
wasn’t solid, he couldn’t carry them. Daikon and Kyuri immediate slipped from
his intangible hands.
Nor was Gyudon the only one affected. The secondary force
of the kiai shout completely shattered both Mikan and Unagi’s concentration.
Mikan was startled and let her gravity powers lapse. Looking down, she was
suddenly all too aware of the fact that she was a good hundred feet above the
ground, falling fast.
Unagi *almost* lost control of his MCH Jetpack when the
balances of stress that he’d been carrying suddenly changed. He watched
dispassionately as the other members of his team fell silently to the ground.
Like the cold professional he was, Unagi quickly reviewed his options- truly,
the Way of the Ninja is to seize any and all advantages in order to ensure
victory. Or, in this case, to minimize utter defeat. If he dropped and tried to
assist his teammates, the odds of their successfully completing the mission
were paltry, going on ridiculous. The chances of their being captured were
significant. If he allowed himself to be captured, he would also allow the Amerikajin
to capture the Modular Component Harness, and its Variable Interface
technology. The senseis had made it clear that they regarded it as his Giri
to safeguard the Variable Interface technology at all costs. Clearly, his
foremost priority was to escape with the MCH. Of course, the fact that Daikon,
Kyuri, Gyudon and Mikan would all be disgraced by allowing themselves to be
captured, thus relieving him of the onerous burden of picking up the slack for
that pack of incompetents, never entered Unagi’s mind.
Unagi immediately began calculating contingency plans.
Daikon and Kyuri could be trusted to keep silent, but the same could not be
said of Gyudon or Mikan. Perhaps he would be part of the team sent to silence
them. He smiled to himself. Such is the Way of the Ninja.
*****
Fey and Hank’s eardrums were almost shattered by the
piercing cry.
Ears weren’t the only thing that shattered. Fey’s
concentration went flying away as the impact on her own powers stunned her for
a moment. The net she had so carefully woven overhead glowed bright blue for
an instant, collapsed, then condensed into scores of small objects which rained
down on the ninjas below.
“Wow.” Hank observed almost nonchalantly. “They all
managed to land on their feet. But one of them sank into the ground when he
landed.”
“Great.” Massaging her still-throbbing temples, Fey
finally noticed the small objects moving around the observatory tower. “Oops.”
“What do you mean ‘Oops’? I don’t like it when you say
things in that tone of voice.” Hank looked at her warily. “Whatever you did
brought them down, right?”
“Not exactly,” Fey began to hear sharp clicking sounds in
the distance and her expression grew even more worried. “I really meant Oops!”
“Umm, say,” the boy questioned with just a tinge of
uncertainty in his voice. “What are all those little things swarming the
ninjas?”
“You mean those teeth with little feet?”
Fey winced as she saw the walking dentures began biting
ankles, feet, and started crawling all over the unfortunate ninjas frantically
dancing and striking out at their strange assailants. A half-dozen sets of
teeth had even rained down on the skinny ninja who was still aloft. They began
to swarm over his backpack and lattice, biting and chewing at the bits of
exposed wiring.
“Yeah, those.”
“Hobgoblins.”
“Like the squirrels you told us about at your old school?”
“Yeah, kinda.”
“You know.” Hank let out a sigh. “I really think I’m
going to learn to hate it whenever I hear you say ‘Oops’ in the future.
“Tell me about it.” The redhead snorted.
*****
Unagi was again busy adjusting his infinitely versatile
Modular Component Harness. One more component snapped into place, and the
reaction units would achieve full power, to rocket him free. He was gleefully
consigning two of his comrades to disgrace and the others to death, when he
felt something on the struts of his jetpack. Something that was definitely not
a standard component of the MCH.
Unagi looked up in alarm to see what appeared to be
American joke ‘Chattering Teeth’ swarming over his jetpack, gnawing at the
wires and delicate control cables. Before Unagi could completely wrap his head
around this absurdity, several of the ‘teeth’ bit into the power leads from the
jetpack, sending a furious backlash of energy through the MCH. The fact that
the teeth were also vaporized seemed small compensation, as Unagi felt himself
suddenly drop.
*****
A squad of security guards, rushing to the scene in answer
to the flood of alarms and frantic phone calls, stopped short as the night was
filled with a deafening shout and then a flare of violet light.
At the base of the observatory tower, a company of
black-garbed ninjas were wildly beating at their clothes. They appeared to be
using martial arts to fight off a small army of chattering teeth joke toys, and
their clothing was showing the rips and tears inflicted by those
not-so-innocent toys.
Franklin Delarose, Chief of night security at Whateley,
simply sighed and settled back to monitor the show. Were these ninjas one of
the weird campus clubs? A group of outside intruders? Hollywood extras caught
in the wrong place at the wrong time? He’d seen it all. In the meantime, he’d
learned to settle back and let the chaos settle out, before trying to wade into
an unknown situation. And the other side in the conflict certainly *did* seem
to be Whateley students. A handful of negligee-clad early-adolescent girls was
unlikely to be wandering the wilds of New Hampshire alone.
Delarose reached for his hip flask (actually a thermos
that he regularly topped off with black coffee) and sat back to watch.
Predictably enough, one of the new recruits jostled his elbow (figuratively
speaking).
“Hey Chief, you want us to step in and stop this?”
“Not just yet, boys. Fools rush in, and all that. Best
to survey the situation first. Let’s call this your first big exercise. What
do you see out there?”
The new recruits (with some pointed questions) quickly
identified the probable students, also spotting the boxers-clad boy that Frank
had missed. No one had any guesses about the ninjas until Tom (the second most
senior man) pointed out, “Look at that big ninja. What’s he holding? Looks
kind of like a stone head.”
“Good call, Tom,” Frank agreed. “Lesson one, boys. No
property damage, no one getting hurt? Then it’s often wise to stand back a bit
and let these things sort themselves out. Besides, those girls seem to have it
well in hand.”
“Are those thing *dentures*?”
“Damned Magic Users,” Tom swore. “The teeth, or whatever
they are, are starting to scatter. Those things are going to be all over
campus.”
“Lesson two. You get to do things here that you won’t
find in any other job in the world.” He smiled as he pocketed his flask.
“It’s time to take out the teeth, boys.”
*****
The ninjas were pulling themselves together from the
combined shock of Toni’s Kiai shout and the fall. But Toni had absolutely no
intention of letting them find the dropped bust and getting away into the
darkness. She shucked her long pale gray kimono dressing gown and did a high
arcing leap with a flip to a spot in front of where the ninjas were standing
and assumed a stance. When she was absolutely sure that the ninjas were looking
at her, she grinned insolently and did the ‘come and get it’ gesture that is in
almost every Kung Fu movie ever shot.
One of the ninjas – Toni could only tell them apart
because this one was wearing some kind of medallion – stepped forward, standing
tall, his shoulders square. “Stand back, girl! You face the supreme pinnacle of
the Yama Dojo, sent here to ensure your humiliation and defeat! We will –“ He
stopped abruptly as the girl ninja cuffed him on the side of the head.
“Baka! [Translation: You idiot!]” she
hissed. “We’re ninjas! We don’t stop to explain ourselves!”
The larger man hissed back at her, then turned to face
Toni. “I regret that you shall have to suffer, for witnessing my shame.” He
assumed a stance. “Prepare for your immanent defeat!” He lashed forward with
a spear hand aimed for her throat.
Toni spun to the side, almost crying out in joy. A
martial arts duel! How could she possibly get so lucky? Focusing her ki, she
sped up, matching him move-for-move. With a huge grin on her face, she began
to move a little faster.
*****
Fey watched her roommate. Seeing the slim black girl
dancing around the much larger man, Fey’s concern wasn’t so much that Toni
would get hurt, instead she wondered whether Toni would let out another one of
those insane yells. For the moment, that didn’t seem to be much of a danger.
Reassured, Fey decided to take another chance with her magic. She reached out
to grip the lines of wind and gravity she could see. Pulling on them and
redirecting them allowed her to levitate.
A wind sprang up from nowhere whipping wildly against her
white silk nightgown, and the eldritch-looking girl rose into the air like a
force of nature.
*****
Matoi Daikon’s frustration had definitely peaked. He was
their leader! But somehow, unpredictable disasters kept striking. The sonic
weapon used against them moments after they took flight, the teeth (his mind
shied away from the insanity of that incident). And now, this small black girl
was dancing around his most focused strikes! She had dodged that kick with a
*backflip*! Did she think this was some preposterous MOVIE? And now, his
punch, she did a forward roll over it! Was she trying to make him look the
fool?
It was too much to bear.
Knowing that this was overkill, he nevertheless vowed to
impress upon these stupid gaijin exactly who they had dared to oppose.
“You leave me no choice.” He spoke in low, deadly tones.
“Your continued annoyance has forced me to use the ultimate strike against
you. Cringe in terror as you witness a technique whose legend is passed on in
hushed whispers.”
As he spoke, his hands began to move in the intricate
pattern required to build and focus his chi. A pattern that gathered his own
energies, while simultaneously entrancing his enemy and preparing them to
accept the blow. And indeed, the Amerikajin’s eyes were riveted on his hands,
helplessly focused on his intricate movements.
“This technique is over one thousand years old, passed in
secret from master to pupil and used only in deepest need to eliminate all who
stand in our way,” the pattern fulfilled, he yelled the final words to stun his
foe for the brief moment necessary to strike, “COILING VIPER FANG STRIKE!”
Index and middle finger bound together into a deadly-hard
“fang”, Daikon struck directly for the nerve nexus on the girl’s collarbone,
the joining of chi flows and acupuncture meridians that controlled her
muscles. She would be frozen, as stiff as stone itself –
It took a moment for Daikon to register that he had not
actually touched the girl’s shoulder. The impact he had felt had been *her* hand
slicing across in a block. He was so stunned that it took a moment to realize
that his fingers were dislocated, perhaps broken.
“Whoa! Too cool! Okay, okay, let’s see if I’ve got it!”
What was she doing? Daikon watched in puzzlement as the
girl’s hands wove in an intricate dance. Wait! Wasn’t that the --?
“Something something STRIKE!” Her fingers lashed out to
jab just under his shoulder. Daikon felt himself grow stiff. He was wide
awake, but it was impossible to move! Helplessly, he toppled over.
“Oh, a paralyzing nerve strike! Kewl! Thanks! I’ve been
trying to figure that out forever!”
*****
Life at Whateley taught many lessons not on the official
curriculum. Chief among these was, of course, “don’t forget to duck.”
Slightly lower on the unofficial list came “don’t miss the show,” (it was just
after, “don’t be seen near massive property damage” and just before the rather
inaccurate “if they’re already an enemy, there’s no harm in REALLY pissing them
off”). Because of this, a crowd of curious students began to gather, shortly
after the car alarms went off.
“Who are these kids?” one of the upperclassmen asked.
Another older boy shrugged. “Must be freshmen.” He gave
a sudden cheer as Daikon froze and toppled over. “Hey, the chick with the
moves ain’t half bad!”
“I recognize the guys in black – they’re that stupid ninja
clique.”
“Hey!” came an aggravated voice from the back. “We aren’t
stupid!” He suddenly found the eyes of the crowd on him. “Uh, I mean, I’m
sure those guys aren’t any of *our* ninjas. They must be imports.”
There was a combination of grumbling and muttering at this
until the crowd noticed a figure rising into the air – a white-clad apparition
with flame red hair. Although the evening air was still and calm, the figure
seemed to be rising under the influence of a powerful wind.
“Hey, that floating chick is hot!”
“Sure is.”
Not only was the girl clad only in a sheer silk nightgown,
but the buffeting winds were showing off her figure in embarrassingly stark
detail.
“Have to look her up later on.”
“Good luck, I think she’s a magic user,” another told
him. “She’s the one who brought the bad guys down out of the air, I’m sure of
it.”
“Won’t hurt to try.”
“Like I said.”
*****
With their leader frozen at Toni’s feet in a statue-stiff
pose, three of the remaining ninjas converged on the slim black girl.
“Heh, I’ll take you all on!” But it was obvious that the
challenge was more bravado than genuine confidence.
The girl bodily rushed Toni who did a leap-frog hop over
her, only to face the oversized mass of Gissha Gyudon, who tried to grapple her
in a bear hug. Obviously, the ninjas had trained for team maneuvers. Toni
rolled back, dropping onto her back and thrusting her legs into Gissha’s gut to
power-flip the large man onto his smaller comrade.
Totally wrapped up in the fight, Toni didn’t realize that
her acrobatic style of combat made for an overly revealing display, when
combined with a sheer nightshirt that only came to mid-thigh in the best of
circumstances. Nor did she realize the high contrast afforded by her
cream-white panties, against chocolate-dark skin. All she knew was that she
would occasionally hear cheers from a distant crowd as she’d flip away from a
strike or give a high kick. But as she somersaulted forward to quickly regain
her feet, the style of combat suddenly changed.
The cruel figure of Mikoshi Kyuri stepped forward,
withdrawing something from a sheath on his back. As he faced her, he held a
long and deadly ninjato in his hands. It was clearly razor sharp. Mikoshi
called upon the Tiger kami. The Tiger spirit responded – not that it
really had a choice – and he became quicker and stronger. The ninjto glowed with
the subdued feline might of the great cat. Mikoshi slid forward in a graceful
motion the proclaimed him an expert with his chosen weapon.
“If you look for honor or mercy from a ninja,” he told
her, in a deadly flat calm, “you will find only death.”
*****
Tennyo and Ayla had the advantage that both could fly,
although Ayla tended to float rather than speedily flying as Tennyo could do.
They’d tried having Tennyo hold her hand to pull her, but when Ayla was
intangible enough to float she simply passed through solid matter. So the
compromise had been for Tennyo to hold the solid Ayla, then fly up high enough
to get a good view overhead.
Unfortunately, they’d headed off in the exact wrong
direction. Fortunately, a loud shout had fixed their directional problems. And
while they were making good headway, they were still a ways away, even as they
saw a deadly ninja draw a crackling sword and advance on Toni.
“Can I drop you?” Tennyo asked in a frenzy.
“What? Oh, of course!” Ayla quickly figured it out. “I
can float down on my own.”
Dropping the other girl from two hundred feet up, Tennyo
angled into a dive. She still hadn’t practiced this, and she was afraid every
time she tried that she was inching that much closer to burnout. But the
situation below her was grim. Slapping her hands together, Tennyo focused that
special energy into existence between her palms. Drawing her hands
dramatically apart, the energy stretched into a line, then a rod which glowed
electric blue. And brandishing it like a sword, Tennyo plunged out of the sky
wielding a three-foot-long rod of pure energy.
*****
Ayla was still angry over the threat to her family. She’d
seen the glances from the other girls, as they wondered why she’d bothered to
take time to dress (particularly in the cap and trenchcoat). She hadn’t felt
like admitting that she’d never UNdressed that evening. She’d been waiting all
night to give someone a serious pounding. And even if these were the wrong
targets, they would serve well enough for stress relief.
Standing upright in mid-air, she descended as if she were
inside an invisible elevator. The immediate threats seemed to be the loon with
a sword, and the really big guy sneaking up behind Toni. Ayla pulled off her
cap and flicked at the largest ninja, to gain his attention.
“Hey ugly,” she called. “Think you can handle little ol’
me?”
She pulled off her bone-white trench coat, displaying her
deceptively thin figure.
*****
“And that, boys and girls, is what we call an entrance,”
one of the upperclassmen stated, with a certain degree of satisfaction.
“Which? The screaming nose-dive, or the arrogant float
down?”
“Either. Both.”
“Ew, make me sick,” said a girl from one side, as the
floating figure removed her trench coat. “That girl is practically anorexic.
Do they think that boys like that look?”
The boys in question weren’t answering. They were
wondering how anyone could wear jeans *that* tight, or a top *that* small.
“Too bad *she’s* not in a nightgown,” one said.
“Yeah, but the dive-bomber is.”
Heads turned to watch. “Oooo!”
*****
Toni was burning ki like mad, moving faster and faster to
keep ahead of her three assailants. Block the girl at her side, spin, kick the
sword away, jump and roll to avoid the grapple. And then it happened.
Suddenly she was moving faster than she herself could follow. Legs flashing,
arms flailing, body spinning, like a dervish that had suddenly gone completely
berserk, or perhaps a top that had suddenly broken down. With a double-kick,
back-flip, side-twist under-spin, she landed flat on her back. Still
twitching, helpless and uncontrollable, she muttered, “Awww, Man!
I hate it when that happens.”
*****
Her powers now firmly under control, the hovering angel
that was Fey descended back toward Hank.
“I think Toni just lost her Ki! I need you to throw me to
a spot behind them, then get in there and help her!”
“Throw you?” The boy questioned almost incredulously.
“I can’t move fast enough to get there in time!” She
thumped him on the shoulder. “Now get a grip on me and throw!”
Facing her, Hank gripped her firmly around the rib cage.
It wasn’t his fault that his thumbs circled so nicely under her breasts, was
it?
Fey thumped him again, this time on the head. “My waist
you idiot! Grab me by the waist and throw me!”
*****
Finally arriving at the scene, Jade could tell that Toni
was in desperate need of help. She pulled out the gloves (she *always* carried
a pair of gloves), but then spotted something to add to the package. A white
leather trench coat and cap! She recognized them as Ayla’s (it’s hard to
forget a white leather trench coat). The clothes were pretty close to the
combat zone, but surely she could sneak in for one quick touch!
Gloves clutched firmly in one hand, she crept forward as
quietly as she could, until she could touch both coat and cap, charging them
with the gloves. But it was too close. A human sized figure shot toward her
like a rocket!
Jade had practiced Aikido for years, but only as a normal
human student. Still, it was that training that saved her now. Countless
years of “meeting the mat”, endless hours of rolling to distribute the impact.
It saved her, but it didn’t stop her from screaming like a little girl as a
body slammed past her.
*****
Gissha was tired of this stupid black jumping girl. He
wanted something he could HIT. And now, this slip of a girl came floating down
toward him, taunting him. Was she going to just stand there? Alright then.
He’d show them just how hard he could hit.
The girl had no way of knowing that he had mutant
abilities that made him a literal superhuman. Summoning his will, Gissha
increased his density a hundredfold. Like this, he could lift small cars.
Preparing himself, he strode toward the descending girl, then launched a
lightning strike directly into her face! A blow like that would affect her
exactly the same way a sledge hammer affects a watermelon!
*****
Ayla was really looking forward to giving this clown his
comeuppance. As she reached the ground, she suddenly increased her density a
hundredfold. This ninja idiot had no way of knowing that punching her would be
like punching into a granite boulder! She didn’t even bother to dodge.
A moment later, as she hurled backward and shook her head
to clear it, she decided that next time, maybe she *would* dodge.
She barely noticed as she clipped a small figure, or as
the scream rang out.
*****
Gissha laughed, long and hard. Maybe he hadn’t splatted
the idiot girl, but she wouldn’t be getting up from that one! And she’d
screamed like a little girl, right before her head had exploded against that
brick building.
But then things went sour. The girl was dead, obviously,
her head crushed against the wall of a large building. But her discarded hat
and coat – they were suddenly stirring as if filled by her vengeful spirit.
It was his greatest fear. That one day, someone he killed
would not go easily into the dark shadows of the afterlife. That instead, they
would linger to pursue him, their killer. There was no way to defend yourself
against the angry dead!
The pale white coat rose into the air, filled by some invisible
spirit. Disembodied gloves slowly inflated, setting a cap firmly in place atop
a non-existent head. It had no eyes, so it was impossible to tell where the
spirit was glaring, but it began to move directly toward HIM! The lower edge
of the coat rippled and billowed in the wind of its unholy motion. The arms
stretched toward him, reaching to pull him down into the grave with it. It
approached ever closer with its hideous, haunting embrace!
“Y-y-yureeeeeiiiiiiii!” [Translation; ‘G-g-Ghoooooost!]
Gissha screamed like a little girl, and fled as fast as he could.
*****
Mikoshi raised his sword high. The young black girl had
shown some good moves, but she was helpless now. That’s exactly how he loved
them. Unfortunately, before he could perform the finishing move, a blazing
comet plunged out of the sky to block his blow.
“Oh no you don’t!” the girl yelled. “Try fighting someone
who can fight back, you slug!”
In the heat of battle and the glow of her strange sword,
she almost looked like the devil-woman Ryoko, from the Tenchi Muyo! TV
series. But Mikoshi wasn’t going to let curiosity cloud his blood-lust.
Whipping his sword back, he swung and gave a full strength overhand strike
against the flying girl!
As his ninjato met the glowing blue rod of energy, the two
swords locked for a moment. The Tiger spirit warred for a moment with the pure
unearthly energy of the devil-girl’s powersword, which put too much strain on
the cheap, mass produced ninjato. The sword shattered, exploding in a shower of
sparks. The blast flung him a dozen feet backwards.