-Chapter Two-
Sunlight shone through the windows of Sam's room, the radiating warmth from the sun tickling Sam's forehead as she stirred from her evening of restful sleep. She stretched her arms, yawning as she slowly awoke from her dreams, and pausing to lie still for a few more minutes. Sam continued to lie silently for a moment, and then bolted up out of bed, realizing her mistake.
"Oh, crap!" She exclaimed as she raced to get dressed for the day's events. She quickly threw on her flak vest and cargo pants, hurriedly latching her blade holster onto her belt and belt loops. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" Sam continued to fuss, slipping on her shoes and gloves as she stumbled out of her room and into the hallway.
"Gah, carraaaap!" Sam yelled, panting as she raced out the door. She finally reached the courtyard, where she was to meet with Koharu, for the next lesson, but he was nowhere to be seen. Sam frantically looked around, worried that she missed the designated time at which she was supposed to meet up with her teacher. After ten whole minutes, a voice sounded from behind her.
"You're early, Samantha." It said. Sam turned around to see who the voice had come from, a tall man clad in in a long, collared tan shroud, with long, jet black hair and a uniquely designed sword attached to his back. In his hand was a large-brimmed, feathered fedora of the same color. He smiled with kind, albeit piercing black eyes. Sam, excited, ran toward the man and gave him a big hug, wrapping her arms around his tall, slender frame.
"Kyo! It's you!" She happily laughed happily, and then looked up at his face, "What are you doing here today, and where's Koharu?" Kyo slipped his arm out from her embrace and patted Sam on her head.
"Koharu called us in, actually." He said, turning to his right, looking to where another man with slicked-back brown hair and a dark green leather jacket was leaning against the wall. Sam turned to match his gaze.
"Rokku! You're here too?!" she exclaimed excitedly. Sam knew that if these two old friends of Koharu and Riku were here, then something big was about to happen. Rokku leaned off of the wall and walked over to Kyo and Sam, an unlit cigarette held between his lips.
"Yeah, I'm here too, Kid." He said, a slight roughness to his voice. He appeared younger than how he sounded, but then Sam remembered that both Kyo and Rokku, like their older brother, were biosynthetic humanoids created by the former leader of the New Organization long ago.
"Gotta say, you grew a little taller." Rokku snarkilly laughed. Sam grinned and swatted his hand from her head.
"Yeah, almost as tall as you, short-stuff," Sam retorted. Rokku's face soured for a moment, and then returned to a calm state. "Almost forgot you had a mouth on you, Sam. That's good, don't ever lose your edge, Kid." Rokku smiled, his canines poking out of his mouth.
"Welcome to the Oshima residence, boys." Riku's voice sounded from the entryway. The three turned to see both Koharu and Riku waiting. With genuine excitement, Sam ran toward them, wondering what business was to unfold ahead. With pleasantries exchanged, the group moved inside, through the residence and down into Koharu's hidden headquarters.
The room was dimly lit, illuminated by a soft lighting system and a command table in the center. The table was large, square and contained an advanced holographic display that glowed with a deep blue light. Bolted along the walls were monitors, images, maps, and documents containing information collected from Koharu and Riku's adventures throughout the worlds. On the northern wall hung another, larger group of monitors displaying known worlds and their respective locations on in the universe. On that same map, many other shrouded worlds sat hidden behind protective veils, used to keep trouble out of untouched and undiscovered places. Sam noted many familiar worlds listed in the system, most notably Hallow Bastion, the Shinobi Nations, Gaia IV, Elicoor II, and Twilight Town near the center. Koharu and the others huddled around the main console, and Sam joined them. Riku touched the holographic display, which responded with a soft hum.
"Rokku, any news on the worlds beyond the Veil?" Koharu asked, looking through data and information that scrolled across the corner of the screen. Rokku stretched his hand out to locate the coordinates of four locations. With each tap of his fingers, holographic spheres, clouded by protective barriers rose up from the map.
"After a bit of recon and digging around, Kyo and I have ID'd possible locations as to where Tazune's caches of weapons are hidden." Rokku said, scanning one of the holographic spheres in his hand.
"It's odd that these worlds still have their shrouds up, given the traces of Tazune we've picked up." Kyo responded, "the shrouds should be down, and the worlds exposed, but yet here they remain." Rokku released the holographic planetoid, and it returned to its elevated position on the display.
"Untouched." Sam said, analyzing the information. She crossed her arms, wondering what steps to take ahead. Koharu recognized what she was trying to do, and grinned.
"Sam, I know you want to go ahead and investigate, but this can be very dangerous. We don't know what Tazune could have hidden on these worlds." Sam looked at him with puppy dog eyes.
"Come on, Koharu! I can do this! You know I'm more than capable of a simple investigation job." Rokku and Riku stood up from their analysis, and Kyo turned to Koharu.
"Sam can come with me. We should be able to get passed the shroud by using the DTD, and slip through undetected." Kyo brought up a separate display depicting his theory, in which he and Sam would utilize the Door to Darkness to enter and exit the world. "We will systematically perform this for each world, and locate what we can."
Koharu thought for a moment, and then looked back at Sam and Kyo, now standing beside her. "Alright, rendezvous with Lea and Ienzo back on Hallow Bastion, and go from there. Whatever Tazune has hidden on those worlds, be careful in handling the situations." Riku tapped Koharu on the shoulder, who then nodded, stood up and pulled out a small box from a hidden compartment, and turned to Sam again.
"Before you head on out, I thought you should have this, Sam." He said, handing his protégée the wooden case. "You've come far in your training and studies, and I gotta say you definitely earned these. You're an official apprentice now." Sam opened the small box, which held two keychains, one personalized with a snowflake shaped charm and the other a flame-like charm. She pulled them out, setting the box on the console to her left, starstruck.
"These are…" She muttered, trailing off into thought. Riku walked over to her and gave her a hug.
"Yep, those used to belong to us, hon." She smiled, closing Sam's hands, who then looked up at her mentors. "And they belong to you now." Sam, still shaken and surprised, looked up toward Koharu and Riku, and hugged them both.
"Thank you, guys… really." Sam began to choke, tears starting to trickle down her cheek.
Koharu placed his hand on Sam's shoulder and looked her in the eyes, "Remember, you respect the weapon in your hands as you would a close friend, and it will take care of you when you need them most. Their names will come to you in time." Sam nodded, and placed her newly acquired items in her knapsack. She looked around the room, and then back to Koharu and Riku.
"I'll bring them back in one peace, I promise." She said, Kyo placing his hand on her shoulder as they began to walk out of the command room. Sam and Kyo stroded onto the courtyard, and the paused.
"Did you want to do something before we depart, Samantha?" Kyo asked her. Sam nodded, and looked around her surroundings one more time, taking in the scenery and environment before turning back to Kyo. Kyo nodded and brought his left hand up, and suddenly a shadowy and dark energy appeared out of the ground, twisting and turning as it became corporeal, forming a portal into the void.
Sam, putting aside her fears and misconceptions, looked up toward the portal and smiled with a brave, toothy grin, before finally dashing through it with Kyo behind her, ready to explore the world beyond its threshold.