A/N: I don't own Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero or anything else mentioned. Also, this is a fan-fic adaptation of the comic Wolverine: Enemy of the State, which is an excellent story you should all check out. In any case, I hope you all enjoy this story!
Chapter One: The Black Sky
"You know, when you said that you wanted to hang out my house, this wasn't what I had in mind" Penn noted as he took his stance
Sashi only confidently smirked back at that remark as she too got into her own fighting stance. They had been sparring for nearly an hour in the garage of Penn's house for about an hour now, and from the bruises on the former part-time hero's body, it was clear that he was losing to his sidekick turned girlfriend. While Pen as an adapt fighter in his own right, his lover simply outclassed him every aspect. Well the redhead enjoyed these little matches between them, though honestly, he'd prefer a simple movie date every now and again like a normal couple would do. but he knew that Sashi Kobayashi wasn't a normal girl and he wouldn't change a thing about her.
After six straight losses in a row to his girlfriend, Penn was looking for at least on victory over her, besides, it was getting a tad emasculating to him. The two stood in silence as they faced off with one another for what seemed like a moment trapped in time itself. The flaw the last few times beforehand was that Penn made the first move and thus gave Sashi the opportunity to use his own strength against him and thereby claim another victory over her boyfriend. The former part-time sidekick remained still like a statue, her muscles taunt and rigid, ready for whatever move her redheaded lover was going throw at her. after so many sparring matches with Penn, she had pretty much figured out which attack he was going to make—too bad he didn't learn any of her moves at this point.
While Penn had originally intended to wait for the right moment to strike, his pride got the better of him and he instead ended up making the first move like so many times before. He rushed toward her before leaping in mid-air in order to deliver a flying kick, but the former part-time sidekick was more than prepared for this. First, she sidestepped the oncoming kick before taking his leg that was now flying past her and fling her lover's entire body across the garage. Fortunately, Penn corrected himself in mid-air and landed feet first back on the ground, the only problem was that he now had his back turned to her. Just as Penn had turned around, he saw an oncoming karate chop headed straight toward his neck that he had barley any time to block.
The part-time hero then attempted to whirl around and punch his girlfriend in the ribs to shake her up, but she easily spun to the left sent a high-kick into his kidneys that made him fall to his knees where Sashi delivered another spin-kick across her the ginger's face that sent him collapsing to the ground. Whenever they spared with one another, the two lovers didn't pull any punches when they had their little matches—it was probably the reason why they had so few arguments between them. before Penn could get back to his feet, Sashi suddenly straddled the redhead's hips as she placed herself atop his waist and looked down at him with a lustful grin on her face.
"And now, to claim my prize" she proclaimed with a hunger laced in her voice
When the newly form couple weren't sparring or trying to have a normal date, they were usually giving into more primal urges more often than not. It was a strange mix of love and lust when they got like this—and usually after they finished their matches no less. Penn only smirked back up his girlfriend as she brought her head downward until their lips met and allowed them to begin their make-out session. Penn was a gently lover, but Sashi was anything but gentle whenever they made love, it was just another quirk that made the boy love her so much. They were like fire and ice, opposites that should not for all intents and purposes work, but yet somehow, they were in a fully functioning relationship. Perhaps it was because in a strange they both completed one another, Sashi depended on Penn to keep her in emotional state check while Penn relied on his lover to keep him from going insane. Even with their jobs as part-time heroes over, they still needed each other to go their daily lives of normalcy.
"For a hero, you're a really bad girl" the former hero noted before her lips captured his once again
"You haven't seen me be bad yet, Zero" she informed him as her kisses began to trail down to his neck "Let me show you how— "
"Who wants lemonade!"
The sound of his mother's voice as she burst into the garage with a tray of lemonade made Penn and his lover scramble off of one another in a frenzied panic and jump back to their feet as if nothing had transpired between.
"Looks like you two worked up quite a sweat" Vonnie mentioned
"You have no idea, Mrs. Zero" Sashi replied, inwardly laughing at her little innuendo as she and Penn each took a glass of the liquid
"Well, I hope all that sparring made you both hungry" the retired hero said "I just finished making bacon casserole for dinner tonight. You're more than welcome to stay and eat with us, Sashi"
When Penn told his parents about his about his relationship with his former sidekick, they couldn't be happier for their son. After all, Vonnie was a part-time sidekick before Sashi took her place, and that was how she met her husband, so in an odd way, history had repeated itself.
"Thank you, ma'am, but I should be getting back to home before it gets any later" the violent girl answered politely, "My parents may have accepted that I'm more than capable of looking out for myself, they still tend to worry"
"Come on Sash, I'll walk you out" her boyfriend offered
Being the gentleman that he was, Penn wanted to at least walk his lover to front door of his house, though granted he could've simply opened the garage door, but he wanted to make his time with the former part-time sidekick last as long as he possible could. He would've walked her all the way home if he could, but Sashi hated feeling like she needed an escort home. Soon enough, they reached the front door where stood at the front porch for several moments, merely enjoying one another's company.
"You sure you can't stay any longer?" Penn inquired
"I wish I could, but you know how my parents get" his girlfriend replied
"Then until tomorrow, my lady" the former part-time hero said with a smile
With that, Penn bid farewell to his love with a deep, passionate kiss that she returned with just as much intensity. After several seconds of drawing out the kiss as long they could before there were finally forced to part lips. Sashi then took a few steps away from her boyfriend before turning around with a troubled look on her face.
"Can I ask you something?" she began in an unsure tone "do you ever miss being a hero?"
"What makes you say that, Sashi?" her boyfriend asked in concern "Do you miss it?"
"Honestly? Sometimes" she confessed "I mean, how are we supposed to have normal lives after seeing and doing everything we've done for the multiverse?"
"We'll just have to make the most of it, I guess" Penn reasoned "But hey, at we got each other, right?"
"I guess so" his lover answered in slightly disheartened tone before asking "You still haven't my question"
Penn paused for moment, as if he wasn't mentally prepared for that question and was struggling for a proper answer.
"I…don't" he finally said to her "The reason why I became a hero in the first place was to get my parents back, and now that I have them again, I just want to live a normal life"
Sashi turned away for a moment in an attempt to hide her look of disappointment on her face, but Penn more than got a good look at her let down facial expression.
"I'm sorry Sash, but that's just how I feel" he furthered "You're not upset with that, are you?"
"No, I understand where you're coming from, PZ" Sashi agreed, putting on a clearly forced smile as she did "And look at this way, if none of this ever happened then we would've never met"
"I thought looking on the bright side of things was my job" the former hero said with a chuckle
"Maybe your rubbing off on me" his girlfriend surmised with a grin before leaning in for another kiss
This kiss felt slightly different this time, like she trying to throw off her disappointment with his confession to her. before he could speak any further on the subject, the former part-time sidekick had already turned away, giving him a smile back and a wave as she departed from the Zero's home. Penn returned her gesture with one of his own, but while he kept a bright smile on his face, on the inside however, he felt like a sack of stones had just landed in his stomach for lying right to the love of his life's face.
In all honesty, Penn missed it, he missed the whole thing. While it was true that he initially took on the job as a guardian of the multiverse in order to rescue his mother and farther, but in due time, he became enthralled—almost addicted even—to being a hero. He wasn't a thrill seeker by nature, but when that rush came from being in the middle of a firefight for the fate of the multiverse, it was his version of heaven. Now here he was, having everything he ever wanted and yet still wanting a challenge in his life. It wasn't just him, but he also saw that his parents were feeling the drawbacks of being heroes, true they were happy being a family again, but they needed something in their now mundane lives to fulfill them after spending months in a place that tried to kill them every five seconds. It wasn't just that he had lied to Sashi, but he was also trying to lie to himself that he didn't need that part of his life anymore, for if he did admit it, then he would be truly miserable—not to mention making Sashi feel equally horrible in wanting their heroic lives back.
As Penn tried to come to grips with his self-denial, he suddenly noticed someone walking down across the street just as Sashi had already disappeared from his line of sight. The stranger was a tall man with a bushy red handle-bar mustache that grew out into muttonchops. He wore a white and green button up shirt with blue jean shorts with brown boots and a brown cowboy hat. Penn was sociable person by nature, but he had never seen this man before whenever he was in town, then again, there was a good chance that he was new to Middleburg. The newcomer noticed that the teen was looking at him and tipped his hat to him before continuing on his way down the street.
With that one seemingly polite gesture, a chill ran up Penn's spine. It was like some sixth sense was to warn of this man, thus making him tense up in anticipation for an attack he knew wasn't going to come. The stranger simply walked away as Penn keep his eyes on him until he was out of view. Once the stranger was gone, he went back inside his home to eat with his parents, all the way trying to shake off this feeling of dread that now sat in the pit of his stomach.
However, once the man knew that the boy had stopped looking at him he quickly hid behind a nearby house before pulling out his cellphone and make a call. As per his master's orders, he had been tailing the three teens for weeks and now to it was time to strike.
"Master" he began "the girl is returning to her home now"
"Excellent" came a deep, cold voice on the other end of the line "I will see to it that she receives a welcome she will not soon forget. In the meantime, inform the doctor that we are on schedule and that his device had better be prepared by the time I return"
"Your word is law, Master Shredder" the man obeyed
Breath in.
Breath out.
Those were the only words that ran through Randy's mind as he sat cross legend besides a koi pound that the Nomicon had constructed along with a garden that now surrounded him all in order to help him in focusing solely in his meditation. Randy had been at this for nearly an hour and half now and while he felt like a total shoob when he began this training exercise, once he got into a groove, he began to feel this sense of peace form within him that he had never experienced before. with each breath, he could almost feel that his other senses were expanding with every passing second. With everything that had transpired recently, he could use a moment like to look back at his past victories as well prepare himself for whatever laid before him in his future.
In one glorious moment, the young hero had defeated both Julian's dark side and his long nemesis, the Sorcerer—though technically it was more luck with the latter of the two wins, but the freshman took it regardless. However, even with his greatest enemy defeated, there was still the matter of dealing with Mcfist's robots every now and again. At first, Randy had assumed that the billionaire would cease his war on the Ninja since the Sorcerer was no more, hence their deal was obviously. But now Mcfist's quest to destroy the Ninja had become one of a personal vendetta for running his chance to gain superpowers from the dark wizard. While the threat of the billionaire's machines still loomed over him, Randy could felt as though that there was an even greater evil somewhere out there just waiting for the right moment to rear its head.
It seemed as though that the Nomicon shared his fears, considering that it had decided to step up his training recently. However, it wasn't so much as training him in new abilities, but rather as a way of expanding his mind. Randy was of course reluctant at first to this new method of teaching from the ancient book, but soon he began to accept it and within a matter of days, Randy had begun to feel stronger both physically and spiritually and was ready for whatever unknown dangers would come his way in the future.
Breath in.
Breath out.
As Randy continued his breathing exercises, a figure slowly crept up behind him, drawing a dagger as he did. Randy remained still as he sat in his meditating position, his eyes still shut and seemingly unaware of the danger that was slowly approaching from behind him. The assailant brought his blade down upon the teen's back, but just as his knife was about to touch his skin, randy whirl around at an almost blinding speed and grabbed hold of his attacker's wrist and twist before tripping his would be-assassin with a sweeping kick that took his legs out from under. With his opponent down, Randy jumped to his feet and took a stance to prepare for whatever else the assailant would throw at him.
"Well done, Randy" the first Ninja congratulated as his student help off the ground "your skills haven truly sharped over these past few weeks"
"Thank you, sensei" Randy replied with a bow in respect
In the recent weeks of Randy's new level of training, the first Ninja, Nosu, had been appearing to his successor in a physical form to help teach the boy some of his techniques and fighting styles in order to better combat both Mcfist's machines and whatever else would come his way. Admittedly, Nosu was a hard teacher to learn from—Randy had the bruises to prove that. But he was also a fair master and allowed his student to rest when he needed to do so and nothing but respect and pride for the boy as he watched him train. Rather than let his arrogance blind him, the freshman had become more than willing now to become someone truly worthy of the title of the Ninja of Norrisville—though granted, he still had a tendency to misread the Nomicon's wisdom and make matter worse, but he was still a work in progress.
"With your new skills, you will be able to challenge your future enemies" Nosu said
"Yeah about that" the current Ninja mentioned "Who exactly is this 'new enemy' you and the Nomicon keep going about? I thought the Sorcerer was our major enemy and now that he's gone, who else is there?"
The first Ninja paused for a moment. Randy could tell from his eyes that he was unsure if should tell the teen anything, but finally after several seconds of silence, he spoke.
"Very well then" he conceded "It's high time you knew about who true enemy is, as well as our ties to it"
Nosu then gestured toward the koi pound, to which Randy looked at. Within seconds, the clear blue water turned blood red as the koi fish began to float belly-up toward the surface before they began to rot and decay away in a matter of seconds. The young hero let out a gasp in horror at this. the Nomicon had created images before in order to illustrate its point in the past, but never to this graphic extent before. suddenly, the images began to twist and form within the bloody water until it created images of ancient Japan in a state of war.
"Centuries ago, mighty shoguns and generals tore the land asunder with their armies of Samurai" Nosu began "It was from this chaos that an organization of Ninjas was formed to carry out secret missions such as espionage, sabotage and assassination"
The images of way shifted into a single image of what looked like a single foot.
"The Foot Clan" the first Ninja explained before continuing with his story "When the wars in Japan had ended, the leaders of the Foot Clan turned their attention toward their own desires for conquest. But they did not seek to rule in person, they instead sought to rule as the power behind the counts and thrones of the Kingdome. To achieve this goal, they committed the most dishonorable of deeds to attain what they wanted"
The pound then began to show Randy flashes images of men, women and even children being butchered by the ninja clan. Up until this very moment, Randy thought he seen true evil while facing off with the likes of Mcfist and the Sorcerer, but as he continued to gaze upon the atrocities that the Foot committed to achieve their plans, it made the teen rethink his views beforehand.
"It was because of these horrors the clan had done that several of its members chose to break away from the Foot's influence" Nosu furthered before his tone became heavy with guilt "I was among these few"
Randy's mind suddenly stopped all of its thoughts upon hearing those words. He turned to look at his sensei with dumbstruck confusion written all over his face. Nosu's eyes only held shame, knowing that his student's opinion of him would change the moment he spoke those words.
"You were a member of the Foot?!" he said in shock
"Only until I realized that the clan I once served was truly evil" Nosu answered before going back to his history "we knew we could not fight the clan, so we instead took a ship headed for the west where we bought a plot of empty land and formed a new town"
"Wait, hold up a sec" Randy stopped in order to understand what he had just heard "Your telling me that you helped to found Norrisville?"
"We wanted to call it something closer to our native homeland, but our American investor, Charles Norris, insisted that we name the town after him as our way of showing him gratitude" his sensei said, "but our peace was soon threated when the leaders of the Foot Clan summoned a beast from the neither world to destroy us and our new home"
"The Tengu" Randy realized, to which his teacher nodded as a sign to show that he was correct "They summoned it?"
"They did" Nosu confirmed solemnly "We defeated the demon…but at a high cost. When the battle was over, the Foot took our clan's depleted numbers as a victory and ceased to trouble us ever again, after that, we assumed that our lives would be forever left alone in the peace we had fought so long for"
"Then the Sorcerer showed up" Randy gathered
His gave another slow nod as way to say yes.
"While my clan was utterly wiped out, the Foot's numbers only grew as the years rolled by" the first Ninja continued "But another Ninja clan, the Yoshi Clan, rose up and stopped them before they grew to powerful. Sadly however, this was only temporary, as their clan's heir, Oroku Saki, reformed the Foot years later and took on the mantle of the Shredder. Now the Foot Clan's poison infects all corners of the globe. Wherever there is power, the Foot pull their strings like puppets"
"So, here's a question" the new Ninja piped up "Why hasn't the Ninja ever tried to stop these guys?"
"Because if this was a war, then they have already won it" Nosu answered "and soon, I sense that they shall soon have the mightiest power ever known under their control"
"What, like a nuke or something?" Randy wondered
"The Foot have no need for such things" his sensei denied "the weapon the seek while give them dominance they seek over all who attempt to crush them: The Black Sky"
"What the juice is a Black Sky?" the teen questioned
"The ultimate weapon" Nosu replied "If they manage to attain the Black Sky, then no force on earth will be able to stop them"
"Then why are we just standing around her for? Let's go get this Black Sky thingy before the Foot do!" Randy demanded
"Your training is not yet complete, Randy" his teacher reminded him "If you face the Foot Clan now, then you will surely die, and the legacy of the Ninja will die with you. The reason you are begin trained now is because I want you to be ready for the day they should ever come to take the Nomicon for their own purposes"
"I don't care!" Randy snapped back "if what you're saying about this thing being able to kill a ton of people is true, then we can't let it fall into the Foot's feet—I mean hands!"
"But— "
"But nothing, Nosu!" the current Ninja cut his teacher off angrily "You made the Ninja to protect the innocent from all evil's, and if I have to take on an evil organization of ninjas then that's what I'm gonna do! Now the only question I have for you is: are you going to help me or not?"
Nosu remained silent for several moments before finally giving his answer.
"I will" he said
"Where do I find the Black Sky?" Randy asked, "Come to think of it, what does this 'ultimate weapon' look like anyway?"
"I do not know what the Black Sky looks like" Nosu admitted "But I know it currently resides in the town of Middleburg"
"Then that's where I need to go" the young hero affirmed "I'm gonna need a schlomp outta here"
"I really wish you didn't call it that" his sensei groaned before clearing his voice "in any case, be safe, my student"
"I will, sensei" Randy replied
And with that, a bright light over took Randy as his subconscious was thrown back into his body, which was still in a vegetative state. The moment her returned to his body, Randy's eyes snapped open to see a sight he was not expecting. Standing before him with an open marker was his best friend, Howard, who was currently trying to suppress a fit of laughter. Even though it was a Saturday, Randy decided to continue his training a bit more instead of playing Grave Punchers seven, which was probably the reason as to why his heavy-set friend was here now.
"Howard, what the juice are you doing in my room?!" he demanded
"Y-Your mom let me in" the portly boy snickered before noticing that his friend was in distress "Are you ok, dude?"
"I need to get to Middleburg right now!" Randy nearly shouted in a panic
"Middleburg?" Howard repeated in confusion "That's like a five-and-a-half-hour drive from here. Why do you even need to go there in the first place?"
"I'll explain on the way there" his friend answered "I'm going to tell my mom I'm staying at your house for the weekend. While I'm doing that, I want you to call your cousin Sebastian and tell him to come pick us up and take us there. He still owes you that favor, right?"
"Yeah, but you might wanna— "Howard attempted to say
"There's no time!" Randy exclaimed "I'm gonna go tell my mom now—just get Sebastian over here now!"
"Alright, but you might wanna go wash of your face before you talk to your mom first" Howard suggested in a nonchalant tone
Randy stopped dead in his tracks before slowly turning around to have his now snickering friend with a cold grimace on his face. he then remembered the marker and quickly dashed to the bathroom, where he found Howard's handiwork scribbled across his cheek.
"Seriously dude?! You drew a giant dick on my face!" he shouted furiously as Howard let out a haughty belly laugh
"Just in time for dinner" Sashi thought to herself as she stepped out of the elevator
After leaving the Zero's home, the former part-time sidekick had returned the apartment complex where her family was no doubt waiting for her to return so they could sit down at the dinner table and enjoy whatever George had cooked up for supper. Even though her parents had come to accept that she was more than capable of taking care of herself, they still had a tendency to worry about her safety. She didn't play them, she knew that they were only looking out for her as any parent would. No doubt when she got home she would receive a warm welcome from her mother and farther as they sat down together and ate dinner. her mother would tease Sashi about Penn while her farther would make some remark about how he would make that boy cry if he ever hurt her—a claim he would not be able to back up, but it still made Sashi happy in a way that her farther cared enough about to say such a thing.
However, the violent girl's thoughts where not fully on her family, but more on her boyfriend. Penn's lack of wanting his heroic lifestyle back was both surprising and frustrating to her. Though she could understand why he wanted to have a normal life after being robbed of one for so long, but for Sashi, it was a life that defined who she was. She loved her family dearly, but she felt as though she was being denied of her true potential. She never felt more alive than she did was she slaughtering her way through hordes of whatever cannon fodder Rippin threw at them. But those days were gone forever, and now she had to find a way to adjust to living without saving the multiverse from falling into chaos. What surprised her about Penn's response, however, was how felt it almost felt, it was as if he was trying to deny missing his heroic life to both her and himself. It wasn't in her boyfriend's nature to lie to anyone—let alone her of all people, so for whatever reason he had, he must be at war with himself over what he truly wanted in his life.
A hypnotical thought crossed the girl's mind: could she and Penn's romance last without being part-time heroes. True, they confessed their love for one another after everything was said and done and they had gotten along just fine since then, but Sashi always had this nagging fear in the back of her skull that their love might a fleeting one if they didn't have something to fight against together as a couple and instead turn on one another in due time. Sashi was the first to admit that she was no day at the beach to be with for long periods of time, and while Penn had the patience of a saint, even had his limits, and it made the former sidekick question if his patience for her would ever run out. What if it all it took for their love to go down in flames was one bad argument? Through all the dates, dinners together and passionate sex, was it all so fragile that it could break with so little effort?
"But that wouldn't happen" she mused to herself "Right?"
As Sashi was still wrestling with her thoughts as she walked down the hallway, she was completely unaware of the sounds from the other apartments, or better put, the lack thereof. Normally, one could hear the cacophony of muffled voices coming from each apartment, but only silence came from each of the rooms were supposedly full of families. By this point, the former sidekick would pick up on the lack of sounds from the other rooms and would be on guard, but her thoughts of what could happen between her and her boyfriend overwhelmed her sense of danger as she past the silent rooms toward her home. It wasn't until she finally reached her family's apartment that she finally picked up on the fact that that something was amiss. The door was slightly ajar, and if she knew anything about her farther, he wouldn't allow something like this to happen.
She cautiously stepped toward the door, her muscles tensing up for a fight with every step as she did. She knew that this wasn't the work of Rippin considering that he now resided within the Most Dangerous World Imaginable for the rest of his days alongside Larry and others who had joined him ruling over it, but that didn't mean that the world wasn't without its own dangers such as thieves and muggers. However, if these idiots were still raiding her home and holding her family hostage, then they were in a rude awaking that not everyone in the Kobayashi family wasn't going to just lie down accept being a captive. She gently, yet carefully pushed the door open and stepped into her home, ready to crush the bones of whoever dared to harm her family into dust.
Darkness was the first thing that greeted her as she stepped inside her family's apartment, but the fading light of the sun still shined through the closed curtains, giving her some light. Sashi tried to flip on the light switch, but as she suspected, the power had been cut and left her almost blinded by the blankness she was now submerged in. Luckily, she had enough training in the dark to prepare for an occasion such as this and was more than adept for this type of situation. The former sidekick had to move swiftly and silently so that she would not alarm the ones who had broken into home to her presence. She didn't see either her parents or George in the dark, making her assume, or rather, hope, that they were ok. As she moved through the darkened apartment, she felt a sudden wetness on the carpet. She looked down and touched the liquid and held it up to the ever-fading light within apartment to see what it was. She gasped in horror when she discovered that the liquid was in fact blood. No doubt the blood that had been spilt from one of her family members. This discovery made Sashi looked down and see that she was standing a large puddle of blood and several feet away from the puddle was a large mass laying only a foot away from her from where the puddle had originated from.
The mass was her farther, laying cold and dead in a pool of his own blood. The holes where his eyes once where stared blankly back at his now horrified daughter she covered her mouth to hold back a scream of both terror and dismay. She then noticed the outline of her mother strung out on the living room chair with her stomach sliced open and most of her organs strewn out all over lap. Her arms and legs and been severed and been tossed into a small pile beside he corpse. In the lounge chair Sashi saw George's body and almost casually wonders where his head his. She then looked over to her mother's china cabinet and saw George's head staring back at her from it. Blood stains where splattered all over the apartment like a macabre painting, surrounding Sashi in a sort of portrait of death and dismay.
"Oh god…" was all she could say at the massacre that was now all around her
In one moment, Sashi's entire world was completely destroyed. Her family, the people whom she cared for most in the entire multiverse had been slaughtered, and she wasn't there to save them. If she had decided to stay home instead going out and spending the entire day at Penn's house then perhaps she could've been able to stop this from ever happening. Her little brother and parents, who had come to finally accept who she was had been brutally murdered and the killers or killers had probably already long departed. Sashi fell to her knees hand began to weep as her farther's blood stained her clothing. A flurry of emotions spiraled around in her mind like a raging storm. All she could feel was sadness, guilt and above all else, anger. The former sidekick's rage only strengthened her other emotions as the rage toward herself and toward whoever did this spread throughout her body like wildfire. She swore that no matter how long it took or how many bodies she'd leave, she was going to find the ones who had destroyed her life and would make them pay for taking her family away from her.
While her anger and grief consumed her, Sashi failed to notice the figure that slowly crept up behind her until he was mere inches from her. In a moment of blind fury, the violent girl let out a rage-filled cry as she whirled and launched herself at whoever had come up behind her. Judging by the shape of the stranger's body, it was a possibly a man, but his attire made it hard to tell if that was true or not. From what Sashi could see in the fading sunlight, the man was dressed head to toe in a suit of armor that was covered in bloodstained blades. The armored assailant blocked her oncoming punch before kicking her in the stomach, knocking her back in the process. He then kept up his assault by charging forward and delivering a spin-kick that sent Sashi flying in the dinner table, knocking it over made she made contact with it.
The violent teen didn't ask for a motive, right now she didn't care if this man had one or not, all she cared about right now was seeing this man dead. With another scream of rage, Sashi jumped back to her feet and rushed toward the stranger again. She had no plan, no desire to call for help, no other thought in her head other than kill. Sashi unleashed series of ballistic kicks and punches, but all where either skillfully blocked or evaded by her adversary. Whoever she was fighting was well trained—possibly even better than herself, though judging by how quick he had block her attacks, it was evident that he was having to work overtime in order to keep with her. Her opponent suddenly sent a devastating punch that made her stumble backward before her uppercut that flung her upward into the air and finish with a mid-air kick that sent her flying backwards into the kitchen where she collided with the one of the cupboards and broke it on impact before falling to the ground.
The armored assailant lunged forward and attempted to stomp on the girl's skull, only for Sashi to roll out of the way at the last second and leap back up with a powerful heel-kick that caused him to lose his balance for a moment, which gave the former sidekick enough time to deliver several punches, but her strikes did little damage due to the man's armor, but it was enough to throw him off his balance just long enough for her kick him to the ground, but just before he hit the ground, he managed to catch himself with one hand and sent an upward kick to Sashi's chest that knocked her on her back, but she instantly recovered and jumped back into the kitchen where she grabbed a nearby knife before launching herself toward her enemy once again. With her weapon in her hand, she let a furious scream as she swiped slashed and stabbed in a blind rage at the stranger, who quickly blocked her attacks with several well-timed guards, before seeing his chance to knock the knife out of her hand and grabbed onto her arm and twist it behind her back.
Despite the pain she was in as she felt the tight pressure build up in her arm, Sashi slammed the elbow of her free arm into the side of her captor's ribs several times until he loosened his grip just enough for her to break free of his clutches. She then whirled around with a round-house kick, but her enemy caught her leg preceded to hurl through the wall and land in the bathroom. Sashi's vision was blurry, her head pounded with pain and she could taste her own blood in her mouth. The violent girl had faced off with many opponents in her life as a hero, but she had never encountered someone with such fighting prowess.
"You show great skill, child" the man in the bladed armor said as he entered the bathroom through the hole "But only I can unlock your true potential"
Sashi didn't respond to that. Instead, she let out an almost animalistic war cry as she leapt at her family's killer, but her kneed her in the gut before grabbing the back of her head and slamming it into the side of the sink before punching her in the stomach with a strong enough force to make her mouth erupt a huge spat of blood from it. He delivered several more devastating punches to her stomach before kicking her backwards and causing her to stumble backwards into the tub. Sashi forced herself to stand back up, only to be smacked back into it with a strong backhand from her adversary. He then picked her back up by her neck and tossed out of the bathroom through the hole she made and back into the living room. Sashi struggled to get back to her feet, but was kicked in side and knocked back to the floor.
"You fight like a true warrior with nothing held back" her enemy noted as he circled her like a vulture "But it is time to end this little game"
Sashi forced herself to stand back up and throw another punch her opponent with wild shout as sshe did, only to have her arm twisted to the point of snapping like a twig. The teen let out a scream of agony as she looked upon her now broken appendage. Before she could even react, her armored enemy kicked her directly in the kneecap, snapping it two in one painful strike that forced her to collapse onto the ground. The stranger stood over Sashi as she began to try to pull herself away from her opponent. For the first time in the teen's life, she was frightened. She was scared of sharing her family's fate, as well as feel truly guilty that she had failed them.
"P-Please…" she begged with tears in her eyes "D-don't kill me"
She could hardly believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. How could she go from being a feared sidekick to this sniveling coward that now begged for her life? it was disgraceful to both her and the family she had just lost that she had become this failure. Her opponent only looked down at her with disgust in his eyes, sharing the same disdain for her groveling as she did.
"Do not worry yourself with such begging" he told her in a cold, yet almost assuring tone "soon you shall become the ultimate warrior"
The pain that Sashi felt coursing throughout her back made her unable to speak any further. The next thing she knew, she was hoisted into the air by the throat by the bladed man. his gauntlet then shot out a pair of blades from it, still covered in the blood of her family that he had taken away from her.
"But first…" he continued darkly "you must die!"
With that, the blades were impaled through her chest. Sashi gasped out her final breath as she felt her life slip away from her body. The final thought that came to her mind wasn't a memory of her family, but of her first kiss with Penn.
"Goodbye, Penn…" she thought as her body began to grow cold "I love you…"
With one last, shallow breath, Sashi Kobayashi's body went limp as her now still body hung from her killer's blades. Underneath his helmet, her enemy almost felt like grinning that now hung from his blades. After so long of searching, he had finally found the one who would crush his clan's enemies and assure the Foot's rule over not just New York, but on a global scale. But first, he had to awaken the true warrior within this now lifeless husk before him. He could only hope that the good doctor wasn't selling him lies about his machine—for his sake, that is. But for this moment, he wanted to savor his victory and the other victories that would be sure to come in the near future. For now he, Oroku Saki, the Shredder, had given the Foot Clan's its ultimate weapon: The Black Sky.