It was peaceful here. Nothing but clear, blue water that was just the right temperature to cool one's overheated body. The fish that swam through these waters were harmless, eyeing those that enter their home lazily before returning to their daily functions. Pollution was nonexistent in the large pond so opening eyes underwater did not send the eyes of people into flaming infernos. Besides the occasional fisherman once every week, or a family hoping to find relief in the pond the small oasis stayed unbroken. Well, almost.

Unblinking dark brown eyes watched the surroundings intently. The surface light allowed the owner of the focused eyes to see every detail of this small underwater world. Dark brown strands of hair that had escaped from their ponytail flowed lazily around the girl's head, forcing her to pull them behind her ear in annoyance. The girl sat cross-legged on the sandy floor, unconcerned by her different from usual surroundings. A few strands of long seaweed were wrapped securely around her legs while still attached to the pond floor, anchoring her to her seat. A striped catfish waddled along, undeterred by the Lego human staring curiously at it. In fact, none of the underwater creatures did. Unlike the other humans who came around once or twice a month, this girl came every day and just sat there, leaving the ecosystem to its serenity and the marine life at ease.

It was time to go. The uncomfortable pressure from the lack of air had become fire in her lungs that was no longer bearable. She unwrapped the seaweed, careful not to break it into two pieces. That was one of the reasons why the fish and other wildlife around these parts didn't mind her: she didn't cause any damage to the environment. The water where she was at wasn't too deep, and it only took a few kicks before her head burst through the surface. Her lungs that had been screaming for air now took quick gasps that sent her into a small coughing fit. She didn't have time to recover before a voice rang out.

"Four minutes even, that's amazing! Seriously Mads, how do you do it?" She had been expecting the voice, but her lungs still spazzed out, sending her into another coughing fit while she tried nothing more than to keep more water from rushing into her mouth. Her hacking stopped almost immediately and she gave one testy cough to make sure all was well again. Satisfied, she trusted herself to speak. "Scyther you know as well as I do that I don't know!" she shouted, a wide smile on her face. She had broken her previous record by twelve seconds. Akali one, biology zero.

Swimming from the center of the lake would usually leave people at least with uneven breathing, but then again Akali was here testing herself every day. Her breaststroke was flawless and quick and she was on solid land in simple seconds. She shook her head violently, successfully sending droplets in every direction. The human in front of her seemed unaffected by his share of water, not that she had expected him to be. Scyther handed her her towel – not as fluffy as a brand new one but still able to dry exceptionally. Drying her drenched hair, she tried to put it back into a neater pony. It did not make much difference. Moving from her slightly neater hair to her black wetsuit she began the drying process. Wet suits did not exactly dry well, but she wasn't too wet on her own skin. Giving up, she finally acknowledged the boy. "So, I beat my record didn't I?" she already knew she did, but he always got excited about saying it – like Santa Claus was at his door asking him what he wanted for Christmas. The one time she hadn't asked, he had sulked through dinner, playing with his stopwatch with unnatural interest. Scyther's eyes brightened. "You did! By twelve seconds!" he said enthusiastically, ebony stopwatch waving in his hand.

Akali smiled widely. She never got tired of how happy and goofy he was. Don't get her wrong she could be happy too, but when things got serious so did she. That was one of the things that had always been different between them. Physical appearance was not one of them. Everyone around the village was used to them by now, but newcomers are usually taken around by their similarities. Same dark brown hair, same lightly tanned skin, same hazel eyes with Scyther's being a shade lighter, and even though Scyther was two years younger he was catching up in height. Personality-wise, the difference was more distinct. Scyther was more trusting, light-hearted about everything, talkative, and really just more fun to be around. Oh, Akali could be any of those sometimes but she didn't make it as much of a habit as her younger brother. She looked down at the ground, smiling as she found the bamboo wood. Oh, and there was that. Akali had crafted a staff from bamboo a few years back and it had become almost like a trusty companion. She had gotten out of several uncomfortable situations with it.

The attempt at drying herself had proved less than fruitful, Akali residing to wrapping the cloth around her soldiers. She looked around absentmindedly. The small dirt path that led to the pond split three ways. One of them led to the pond itself, one going left took you out of Serent – the village in which Akali and Scyther lived. The final way to the right led you deeper into Serent where one would end up at Serent Square, location of all the shops and other services. A natural path that Akali and Scyther had created themselves curved off of the main path to Serent Square, leading directly to their front door. Akali started towards the right path with staff in hand, Scyther following automatically while his hands fiddled with his stopwatch. She heard a quick click which she guessed was the resetting of the stopwatch and her brother began speaking, as if out of a trance. "Mom is making shrimp with vegetable rice tonight." He said, left eyebrow raised as if expecting an outburst. He was disappointed, for instead of an angry string of words he received an irritated sigh. "I will run down to Serent Square then. Nanuk's is still open and I'll pick up a few things to make beef and vegetable stew." She said wearily. "But of all the days she chose to make seafood today? She knows I refuse to eat it." Scyther smiled. "Of course she does, but we can't not have fish for the rest of our lives missy! Besides, I need you to pick up some more rice cakes for me." From his pocket he produced a crisp twenty dollar bill. "This should be enough for everything, rice cakes and all." Akali half smiled. "I just bought you some two days ago!"

"It's not my fault! Dad is partially responsible."

"Partially?"

"He ate two of them!"

"You had sixteen yesterday morning."

"Well, I'd still have two more if Dad hadn't eaten them." Scyther scoffed, arms crossed over his chest. His bottom lip extended in a pout, and Akali couldn't contain a genuine smile. She plucked the money neatly from his hand. "Well, since you're paying I'll do it. Tell Mother where I am, I'll be gone for around half an hour." With a nod of his head, he started towards their own dirt path while Akali continued towards Serent. When she was far enough so that he could not catch up to her but still in earshot she turned and yelled, "Bye the way, those rice cakes – delicious." She could hear her brother's yell from where she stood and chuckled. She slid the twenty dollars up the left sleeve of her wetsuit with no worries about how dry the money would be. After all, it was Scyther's money.

Nanuk's Grocery was not crowded like she had expected. An average day left the store with customers hurry every which way in a frenzy in order to get to the register before the line began, usually failing in the end. The place too crowded for the girl's liking and she tried to avoid it as much as possible. Today, though, it was about deserted. Two other customers besides her walked among the store in no rush to hurry through their shopping lists. There was no reason – the register was open for a change, the red-head cashier sitting unusually straight with eyes darting left and right. Shrugging, the girl grabbed a small basket and began to look throughout the small shop. Let's see, she thought. I'll need some potatoes, onion, hopefully there will still be some beef for me to cube and some beef broth, mushrooms, and carrots. Yes, carrots would be lovely.

The shopping was quite easy considering the slow day, and Akali found herself enjoying the smells of the herbs and spices instead of gagging at the stench of sweat from too many bodies in too small a place. All she had left was the beef. Hurrying over to the refrigerated area of the shop she quickly scooped up a nice size of already cubed beef. As she turned to go to check out, she bumped into the back of a woman shopper. Usually, they would turn around and give her a lecture on watching where she was going but not today. The blonde squeaked in fright, dropping the loaf of bread in her hands. She whipped around, eyes wide with fright and then relief as she took in the normal girl's presence. Akali handed the girl her bread with a quick apology and watched with suspicion as the woman simply shuffled to the register and left without a word. Well, that was strange. Then again, people think I'm strange. Anyway, this wetsuit is starting to get cold, I need to get home. Shrugging the matter off she strolled up to the open register – no customers besides her left in the shop. The cashier seemed surprised at her presence and jumped. "I'd like to buy these." Akali stated simply, laying out her purchases with haste. The red-head cashier quickly rung up her items, bagging them and counting out change. Akali let her eyes wander and found the pastry section by the counter. "I'd also like twenty rice cakes please." Her apologetic smile seemed unregistered on the now irritated woman's face as she quickly bagged the rice cakes and recounted change all the while mumbling to herself discretely.

It didn't come soon enough when the girl got away from Nanuk's, and the fresh air allowed her to relieve the tension in her body with a deep breath. "Okay, now I just need to get home and –"

"Well, well what do we have here?" Surprised, Akali whipped around. Her heart rate accelerated as a skeleton melted from the shadows of the store. A large crack ran from his right eye socket down to his lower left jaw, the remnants of what the girl guessed was a sword. Two of his ribs were missing but he either hadn't noticed or didn't care. Staff in hand, she dug her heels into the ground. The skeleton turned towards her bag, and smiled wickedly. "Looks like you have some goodies. Care to share?" Her grip on the staff tightened, her knuckles white from her grip. "No." she answered simply, voice as calm and cool as water. She could see the mockery in its eyes. "Very well. I'm a bit hungry for – ooh are those rice cakes? Yes, those will do wonderfully. Well, I guess me – Bone and my friend Klub will have to get them for free another way." Another skeleton came from the shadows, but this one was much larger. It towered over Akali, it's grunt of acknowledgement not the most welcoming. She placed her bag of groceries on the ground and pulled her staff in front of it as an attempt to protect it. "We'll be taking your food now." The ghastly giant – Klub? - uttered. Akali gritted her teeth. "You and what army?"

"Funny you should ask doll face." From the shadows produced twelve more skeletons, eye sockets showing their hunger for a good fight. Bone cackled. "Whatcha gonna do sweetheart? Whack me with a stick?" Klub and the other skeletons chuckled amongst themselves at Bone's joke. Now, the girl's surprise had formed into rage. The smile on her face was not meant to be pleasant. "Hm, something like that." Before he could analyze her words, Akali had swept her staff through the air. Bone's head was knocked clean off his shoulders while the band of skeletons followed their leader's head in shock as it landed in an empty barrel. It tipped over spewing both skull and apples onto the ground. The headless body ran frantically around in search of its head, tripping on an apple and collapsing into a heap of bones. His attacker spun her staff in front of the army, all but Klub flinching, before resting it at her right side. "Okay, who's next?" confidence radiated in her voice as she smirked at the slightly less eager skeletons. "Klub, ATTACK!" came from somewhere behind her. "ATTACK!" it roared, not moving a muscle as the dozen skeletons behind him charged. The smirk on his face sent Akali into a fit of rage.

The first two skeletons charged at her with wooden clubs, war cries coming from their skulls. Akali jabbed her staff at them, pushing them back into one another and taking down one of their charging comrades with them. A fourth charged at her with an axe. It barely dodged her jabbing staff, slicing at the air where her head would've been had she not dodged as well. She sliced her staff horizontally through the air, axe skeleton sent flying into a wall where he immediately collapsed. Two more charged at her from opposite sides, begging for the classic knockout. With a yawn, the girl lazily moved back, the two skeletons careening into each other at running speed. With identical screams they collided, their limbs inside each others' ribcages and one of their skulls on the groaning on the ground. Akali allowed a cold laugh to escape her lips. "Is that all you g –"

"Ninja – GO!"

"What?" the girl stopped at the interruption, searching her surroundings as she tried to locate the source of the cry. She was not disappointed. Zooming past her came a blue tornado and she watched in utter surprise and confusion as it simply sucked in an incoming skeleton. Bones were flung out a second later to land at her feet. "Hey! What are you –" A red one moved swiftly passed her, a black and then white following close behind. Akali watched in disbelief as they picked off her opponents one by one. She should've felt relief that she wouldn't have to fight them, but all she felt was more anger. How dare they steal her fights! "Hey! Get back here before I –" she was cut off as and bony hand seized her around her waist in an iron grip. "Before you what sweetheart?" Klub's tone put out his anger, which at this moment seemed out of control. "You think you can take out my army? With a stick?" The grip tightened, and she could barely squeeze out her answer. "It seemed to be working, now hadn't it?" With a roar the grip impossibly tightened more. "You actually thought you could beat me?" she would have answered, but there was no more air in her lungs, no way to get anymore in.

"I'm going to enjoy this." The force of his squeeze was beyond painful. Her staff sat worthlessly at Klub's feet, about ten inches under her own. A sharp pain sprang from her chest, and she would've cried out if it had been possible. Klub was trying to squeeze the life out of her… and it was working. Klub's maniacal laughter echoed in her ears, his hot and vile smelling breath against her neck and tickling her nose. Well, what better way to die than to be crushed by a dead bag of bones. Great job Akali. Black dots began to cover her vision, and she hoped she would pass out before she died. The pain would go away. Come on already! End this! She was not disappointed. One second she was in a death grip, the next second she was flying in the air. Still slow from her near death, she just closed her eyes and waited for the painful impact of ground and face. Instead, she landed with a lighter "oomph!" against some solid. Cracking an eyelid she gasped. Pain surged through her, and she simply clenched her fist as she took in the sight before her. Instead of on the ground, she was in the arms of a boy. A boy with snowy white hair.