The match was over. It had been a grueling battle against a Cho'Gath in the top lane, but his team had been victorious. But it didn't matter to Shen, he had bigger fish to fry than a some crazy monster straight out of a child's nightmare. Shen roamed through the halls of the institute searching for the summoner that had promised him the information he needed about Zed's whereabouts. He found the summoner sitting in the institute's library with Akali and Kennen already there.

"Alright summoner I've done what you asked of me, now it's your turn to hold up your end of the bargain."

"So pushy Shen, I thought you're job was to preserve balance. You cannot preserve the balance if you yourself cannot keep your frustration in check," the summoner said all of this while he was getting a lot of papers out and placing them on the desk.

Shen fumed a little, and was glad for about the millionth time in his life that his mask helped conceal his emotions from everyone. Taking a deep breath he calmed himself and turned back to the summoner.

"Alright summoner, tell me the information that I seek about Zed," the summoner smiled at that, although it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"That's more like the Shen I know, and please Spike will be fine, I'm not as formal as the other summoners. He looked down at the papers he had set in-front of the three of them. "Tell me, do any of you know what these are?"

"They look like an application to the League," Spike jumped a little as Akali's voice came from behind him. Sometimes it was nerve racking to work with the Kinkou ninjas.

"Yes, I'm afraid you're right," Spike started looking back to Shen, "these are an application to the League."

"So? So? What does it mean? Huh? What is it?"Kennen was literally bouncing off the walls with his excitement. Shen on the other hand had sat down suddenly at the table right across from Spike.

"Shen? What's going on?" Akali had noticed and a note of panic was slipping into her voice.

"It can't be," Shen started the usual glint in his eyes dimming.

"I'm afraid it is," Spike stated, "For some reason, unknown to me, the League has interviewed Zed and has found him worthy of holding a spot as a champion on the Fields of Justice."

…...

Shen had slumped over in his seat, the usual strength that surrounded him gone. He had only looked like this once before and that was the night they had escaped after Zed has killed his father. It was unsettling to see him this way, and it didn't calm Akali's nerves in the slightest.

"Summoner, surely you're joking? I thought the League had very specific rules against bringing in champions that pose a threat to anyone inside of the Institute." The panic in Akali's voice was very clear and she had taken a step back from the table as if Zed was going to step out of the shadows behind Spike.

"Akali, I'm afraid that if the League actually took that rule seriously their wouldn't be any champions at all. All the major disputes between Demacia and Noxus are decided here. Same with Ionia and Noxus. Zaun and Piltover, you name the rivalry and we have had some fight here because of it." Spike looked a little defeated after he finished his statement, as if the weight of what he had said just hit him.

"According to the rules of the institute, champions are not allowed to fight each other outside of matches, and anyone who murders a fellow champion faces the death penalty themselves," Spike looked at all of them one by one, "Even with these rules in place I would advise you to all to take extreme caution," Spike didn't expect the ninjas to be less than ready for anything that might happen, he was just covering his butt, and the ninjas new it. They thanked him and left the library quickly. They headed down to the mess hall to grab something before they all met up again in Shen's quarters. Although saying the met up again is a little bit of a stretch, because they were never more than a few feet away from each other at any given time.

Shen looked around the room at his comrades, and friends, wondering what they could do this time. He was a good strategist, but nowhere near level of Jarven, Swain, and above all his father. Shen felt the familiar emptiness in his gut as he thought of his father even for a brief moment. The empty feeling turned to dread as the thought stuck him that Zed would probably be living in the same area as them sense he was technically from Ionia.

Shen looked at his friends again, noticing how the electricity from Kennen was now shooting off a little bit more randomly than normal, and how Akali had her hands resting on her Kama's, as if she expected to fight someone at any second. An Uneasiness came over Shen ,

"This place is not in balance with the rest of the world,"

"Of course it isn't Shen. Even I can see that and I'm not the Eyes of Twilight"

Shen felt the heat rising to his cheeks. For the second time that day he was glad that his mask covered his facial expressions. He hadn't realized that he had spoken out loud, but thankfully Kennen's big mouth had prevented Shen from saying something that might have truly been embarrassing.

"I am sorry Kennen, I didn't realize that I was thinking out loud. Please forgive my carelessness."

"Yeah, I forgive you Shen. Now can we please come up with some sort of plan before I blow a fuse over here?" To emphasize his point Kennen let loose a few static charges through his fingers into the ground.

"If there is one thing that we know, it is that new champions are not immediately let into the Institute. That means we have a little time to get ready before Zed shows up. We need to ask the summoners to give us full access to the training areas until then so we can ready ourselves. Try not to get into to many matches between now and then."

Shen could see that this relaxed the other two a little bit. Having even the smallest of plans helped calm the nerves on all of them.

"As of right now I suggest that we get some sleep, for tomorrow we will start training to fight shadows instead of using them."

Kennen nodded about five times and shot out the door before Shen could even say anything else to him. Shen had already gotten up and was moving to clean and sharpen his swords when he noticed that Akali was still there.

"Fist of Shadow?" Akali snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Shen, expecting some sort of reprimand for loosing focus.

"I know you use the shadows as a tool and a great weapon, but there is a reason Zed is called the master of shadows. Please do not get yourself hurt when you think you are safe in the shadows."

"Yes Eyes of Twilight," Akali bowed and left the room. She was glad that Shen had given her advice, even though she had already thought of it herself. But one thing stuck out more than anything else. Shen had said please to her, and he never said that to anyone.