Author's Note: Hi all. It's been a while and I'm really sorry about that. The last 4 months have not been the easiest.
Not only with work/life consuming so much of my time but also because I was seriously considering whether I wanted to continue this series. I got a bit depressed by the direction Riot seems to be taking the current lore and even whether anyone really wants to read about a world that is so officially non-cannon now. It didn't help I had a lot of writer's block with the start of this story either.
However, after some time off, some major thinking and some perseverance I have decided to stick with this. No matter how much this becomes non-cannon or how many people read it, the truth of the matter is, I still adore the world I created and want to see it through for myself alone.
I'm in a much better place now both mentally and emotionally so I'm confident that you can expect pretty regular updates again of 2-3 weeks.
I hope you enjoy :).
Kennen smiled at the girl behind the counter, "Hi, can I order the candied pork soup, the Tonkotsu ramen, the Shao Long Bao dumplings and, if it's not too much trouble, a side order of your gorgeous smile."
The ninja winked, causing the mouse-brown yordle to blush.
"That'll be 200 obol. The smile will cost you extra."
"I'd expect nothing less." She laughed as he handed the money over to her.
"So what brings you to Kashuri?" she asked, genuinely curious.
The purple-clad yordle shrugged, "Honestly, not much. We're just passing through. Wish we were staying longer. I'd love to spend some time at the hanging gardens and see the Tevasa performers. Not to mention the markets here are incredible. Then there's the Overhang, the Tranquil Temple, the Whispering Brook…"
He was cut off by another giggle. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I tend to ramble when I get excited."
The tan female just shook her head, "No, it's alright. This place is beautiful."
"Not as beautiful as you."
She blushed again at his compliment before rerailing the conversation. "But I'll be honest, this place isn't what it used to be. We took a hard hit during the war and since then we haven't seen all that many tourists, so business is pretty slow. For the most part life here has just been about trying to rebuild. It's a little boring."
His eyes softened, "Boring's not so bad. It beats the alternative trust me. A lot has changed since the start of the war – a lot of it for the worse. So, it's nice to see somewhere that's doing a little better."
"I guess that's true," she conceded. "Ah, your food's here."
He grinned again. "Thank you. And thanks for the company. It was a pleasure."
Balancing the assortment of meals with practised ease, the ninja gave the girl another wink before racing off to where Shen and Akali were sitting at a corner table.
Passing the food off to their respective owners, the yordle turned to his companions with a serious expression. "Nothing out of place here. The region seems to be stabilising."
Shen nodded. "That seems to be consistent with what we overheard. Did you find out anything of interest?"
Kennen shook his head. "Tourism and trade are down but that's to be expected."
Akali paused from where she'd been eating her ramen. "Looks like we'll be able to move on tomorrow. Good. I'm looking forward to getting back to the Kinkou."
Kennen agreed wholeheartedly and even Shen gave a brief nod of concession.
Life had been tough for their clan recently. It had been four years since the war with Noxus had started, one since Ionia had joined the Institute of War and halted their progress. Not all were happy with that result, but then again, a lot had changed in the island nation over the course of those three years.
For the Kinkou, however, the end of the war had heralded a much greater threat. Not even a month after Noxus had been forced to put an end to their assault, Zed had appeared at their monastery, many of his acolytes in tow. The resulting slaughter had ended with Lord Kushio dead, half of their number killed and the rest homeless. In the end, they'd settled themselves in the northern providence of Navori where they began to rebuild. So far it had been incrementally successful but rough none-the-less. Particularly for the triumvirate. With reduced numbers, the trio had been forced to provide the majority of their own reconnaissance. And after the unusually long mission they'd just completed down south, all three were looking forward to returning to their new home.
They ate their meal in companionable peace; keeping up an ambient level of light conversation (even as they continued to keep their ears open for any useful information) before retiring early.
The next day they left just as the dawn began to peek out from behind the mountain, painting the outskirts of the town a striking black and gold.
Kennen always felt revitalised walking through the breath-taking scenery of Ionia. The wild magic throughout the entire land surging through his blood and the morning breeze making him feel alive with renewed energy. There was truly nothing like this place anywhere else on the continent.
They kept up a constant pace right up until around mid-morning when Akali pulled back from the corner she'd started rounding, stopping her two companions in the process. The green ninja glared the hillside, as if she could still see what was behind it. "There are five men blocking the road round this hill."
"How likely is it that they don't mean trouble?" Kennen asked, head tilted and ears twitching to see if he could pick up any noise from the men.
"With the way they were just standing around, unlikely," the deadly female shifted uneasily, hand straying towards her weapons. "This is really suspicious. This isn't a main road and the countryside may be hilly but it still doesn't lend itself well to an ambush."
The two shorter ninjas turned to Shen as he spoke. "With so little information, it's unreasonable to assume we are their targets. However, wisdom would dictate we head back and find another way around. We don't have time to waste on this group nor do we want to walk straight into a trap on the off chance they are looking for us specifically."
"A bit late for that I'm afraid."
The three ninjas turned as one, weapons sliding easily into hand to confront the voice behind them.
A group of about two dozen armed humans surrounded them (the men down the road an obvious distraction to catch them out in the open). However, the ninjas had no plans on letting them keep the upper hand.
As soon as the threat was realised, Kennen was off like a shot, weaving in between the humans towards the open space behind them. The thugs tried to block his movement with their weapons but the purple ninja was too fast for them; leaving a trail of electricity and bullets in his wake. As he rushed past the gang members, his quick hands disarmed weapons and pushed pressure points, neutralising the enemies behind him.
Once the yordle had pulled the gang's attention, Akali leapt into action. Throwing down a smoke screen to obscure the area, the lethal female leapt at the exposed backs of those distracted. Kama in one hand and dagger in the other (her second Kama had been destroyed in the battle against Zed's Order), the green-clad ninja deftly dashed between two of the men before ducking under the pair of blades that came at her sudden appearance. The butt of her own blade found the stomach of one even as the flat of her Kama knocked the other unconscious. As the two collapsed, the ninja was already lunging for the next opponent.
In comparison to his two companions Shen remained where he was, drawing the focus of a large majority of the gang. With skilful ease, he deflected the attacks aimed at his person with minimal effort as his keen eyes surveyed the skirmish.
It only took him a couple of seconds to identify the group attacking them. The curled symbol on their clothes quickly identifying them as the Bladewood gang. Normally, a gang like this would be too insignificant to interest the Kinkou, however, they had run into them during the war. Somehow the group had come into the possession of some very powerful, magical artefacts and were attempting to sell them to the Noxians. Had that happened, there could have been irreversible damage done to the island nation, and that the Kinkou could not allow. Their presence here was most likely a petty revenge scheme for that earlier altercation. Regrettable, but predictable.
Unfortunately for the Bladewood gang, the trio of ninjas were making short work of their members; leaving a swath of injured and groaning figures in their wake. All three were taking care not to kill any of the attackers, slowing them down somewhat. However, the extra time taken to non-lethally fight them was much shorter than the extra time it would take to ensure the balance in this region was not disturbed by their deaths. Time they could ill afford to use.
Still, with the ease that they were cutting through the gang, it seemed like their slight limitation was not inhibiting their upper-hand. Right up until everything changed.
Soji Rida watched as the ninja trio effortlessly took down his men, waiting for the best moment to strike. Finally, the yordle made it in range and the Bladewood leader pulled out their trump card.
Kennen had been in the middle of a series of lightning fast jabs when the fatigue struck him. The electricity dwindled from his fingers and he backed off, suddenly aware of how sluggish his limbs felt. Normally, the power from his natural magic raced beneath his skin, giving him seemingly boundless energy. Right now, however, it felt like it was deserting him, leaving the yordle with an unnatural exhaustion unlike anything he'd ever felt before.
Slowly, he turned his head, trying to find the source that was feeding on his magic. He spotted the gang leader nearby holding up a pure-white rock, pulsing with magic. The purple-clad ninja turned sluggishly towards the man, but before he could make it more than a couple of steps he collapsed to his knees.
All around him the world spun as the edges of his vision blurred. Desperately he fought to stay awake. Fought to get up off his hands and knees, knowing how precarious of a position he was in. But his body would no longer listen to him. Nearby the pulsing stone grew brighter as it absorbed more and more of the unlucky yordle's energy until finally his world faded to black.
Shen spotted his teammate's fall from across the combatants and immediately called out to Akali.
The green-clad female turned, caught sight of the thug picking up their downed companion and leapt towards them, even as Shen tried to make his way closer to their position.
Neither made it there.
One of the gang members pulled out a rocket launcher – modified with what appeared to be Zaunite Hextech – that launched a sphere of condensed magic. Before they could react, the orb exploded, knocking both ninja unconscious.
"Sorry," said Rida briefly to the comatose forms of their enemies. "But you're not the ones we're interested in."
Shen and Akali awoke well after the sun had begun its trek back down towards the reaching horizon. With a groan, the green-clad female rolled into a crouch as she held her head. "You know, sometimes I hate magic" she spat out. Then she amended. "And technology."
"We underestimated them," Shen agreed as he sat up. He rolled his shoulders, trying to get the feeling back into them as he scanned their surroundings. There was no sign of the gang that had ambushed them nor their furry teammate – something that made a trail of unease stir within the blue ninja.
It seemed their losses from the war had affected them more than he'd anticipated. Being short staffed had made them sloppy; taking risks they otherwise wouldn't had and allowing them to be caught by such an obvious trap.
Briefly he wondered what his father would do in this situation before shaking the thought off. His father's own actions had not been perfect and it was his own mistakes that had contributed to their current predicament. He couldn't allow himself to be stuck in the past when his attention was required in the present.
Akali was already up and scouring the ground for evidence. The deadly ninja intently studied the tracks as they left the area; her sharp eyes locked on the turbulent dirt as she carefully stepped over the imprints. After following the trail a little way away from their position, she came back to the Eye of Twilight.
"There are tracks leading south, back in the direction that we came from but they're fake. I found a well-hidden set heading east. They're most likely heading for the harbour town of Zhyunia. If we leave now we should be able to catch them in a day and a half."
The Fist of Shadow secured her weapons, already willing to get started but Shen hesitated. If they chased after their companion now they would miss their portal back to the Kinkou headquarters. And if that happened, it could take them weeks to make the same journey by foot.
It was a difficult decision, but in the end there was only one choice. With a heavy heart he stopped the green-clad ninja.
"We cannot," he said simply. "The information we carry is too important to the Kinkou to delay it. Even for one of our own."
Akali could see the sense in what her teammate was saying but that didn't mean she had to like it – a sentiment that clearly showed on her face even through the mask. "So we just leave Kennen to face whatever comes on his own?"
Shen closed his eyes. Due to the age difference between them, it was easy to forget that the yordle was just as capable and just as deadly as his older companions. He was more than equipped to handle any situation on his own. "For now. Kennen is stronger than he looks. I have no doubt he can handle himself until we return."
He didn't mention his doubts as the two ninjas reluctantly continued on their original path. Not because what he said was wrong. But because he can't shake the image of the smaller ninja collapsing without taking a single hit, the pulsing stone the gang leader had possessed casting an eerie glow over the downed yordle. Not for the first time (nor the last, he's sure), Shen hoped he was making the right decision.