Boredom
Part two of Gaining Respect is giving me some trouble, so I'm just gonna move on to the another story until that one is ready. I hope you enjoy.
Suffering from boredom and having no more bad guys to fight, Tigress, Kiro, and Dai join Sato in Japan and get caught up in a conspiracy to assassinate the new Emperor, but as they quickly find out, not everything is as it seems.
"I'm so bored!" Kiro exclaimed, lying on the Training Hall floor. "I need bad guys to fight."
"It has gotten a bit boring around here lately," Tigress said sitting against the Adversary, picking at her claws
"I kinda like it," Dai added pausing as he was about to throw his kunai across the room at a croc dummy. "It's peaceful."
"It's annoying!" Kiro said standing up just as Dai threw the knife, it barely passed over Kiro's head slicing some of the fur off his skull, making him fall, to Dai and Tigress, it looked like Dai had hit Kiro.
"Kiro!" The both yelled rushing to the tiger lying on the floor.
"Man, that was a close one," Kiro said rubbing the top of his head. "Am I bleeding?" He asked looking at his hand.
"You're fine," Dai said.
"I'm still bored," Kiro said.
"Well, what do you suggest, then?" Dai asked.
"I have no clue," Kiro said. "Oh! We could…"
Kiro was interrupted by the Training Hall Doors opening.
"SATO!" Kiro exclaimed seeing the tiger and rushing forward, tackling him to the ground.
"What's going on bro? I thought you were still in Japan? What are you doing in China?" Kiro asked.
"Shh," Sato hissed. "It's a secret!"
Kiro's face lit up the moment he heard Sato say that.
"Are you on a secret mission for the Emperor?" He asked excitedly, practically bouncing up and down. "Take us with you!" Kiro begged getting down on his knees.
"Things have been kinda slow around here," Dai explained when Sato looked at him.
"I'm not on a mission," Sato told making Kiro's face drop. "The truth is, things have been kinda slow in Japan since Emperor Jow was killed."
"You're welcome," Dai said.
"Did they pick a new Emperor yet?" Kiro asked standing back up.
"They have, that's why I'm here. Being the highest ranking official, they chose your Father, Takashi." Sato said looking at Dai.
"What?" Dai asked. "My Father?"
"Yes, he requests you return to Japan as soon as possible," Sato said.
Behind him, Kiro whistled.
"Wow, first The Dragon Warrior, now the son of The Emperor of Japan!" He said slapping Dai on the back. "You're really moving up in the world buddy!"
"What'd ya think Ti? You wanna go to Japan, see the sights?" Dai asked Tigress. "Besides, you've not met my parents yet, have you?"
"A vacation would be nice," Tigress said smiling slightly.
"That's the spirit!" Sato said.
"Whoo! We're going on a vacation!" Kiro cheered.
"How are are we going to get there?" Tigress asked.
"Well, I arrived by boat," Sato said. "We'll just take the same one back to Japan."
The trio took Kiro's rocket cart to the docks to save a bit of time when they landed Kiro saw the 'boat.'
"Sato, that's not a boat, that's an Imperial Warship," He said in awe of the large vessel.
"I, know, it's all the new Emperor could scare up, in short notice," Sato said walking up the ramp.
"How long will it take us to reach Japan?" Dai asked.
"A couple of days," Sato answered. "Provided we don't run into any Pirates."
"Is that a real danger?" Tigress asked.
"Nothing, the four of us, can't handle," Sato said patting his swords.
They set off a few minutes later, a few hours into the journey Tigress walked up next to Dai who was standing at the stern of the ship, leaning on the railing.
"How long has it been since you've been to Japan?" She asked.
"About twenty years, I have this vague memory of when I was about five or six," Dai said. "I was born in Japan, remember?"
Tigress had in fact forgotten Dai had been born in Japan but lived most of his life in China.
The pair was interrupted by the sound of Kiro throwing up over the side of the ship.
"I hate boats," He said wiping his mouth off making Dai chuckle.
"Next time we'll take the rocket cart, I promise," he said.
After another day of sailing, the coastline of Japan came into view, a couple of hours after that, they docked.
"LAND!" Kiro yelled practically leaping off the ship, onto the dock, kissing the ground.
Dai, Tigress, and Sato calmly walked down the ramp behind him, laughing at Kiro's display.
"Your father is gonna want to see you as soon as possible," Sato said. "Kiro, we're gonna need your rocket cart now."
"Finally, I get to do something useful on this trip," Kiro said whipping out his staffs, summoning his rocket cart, they all piled on, and Kiro pulled the string.
The flight to the capital was short; Kiro landed them just outside the walls per Sato's instructions.
As they walked through the gate, Dai hesitated suddenly unsure.
"What's wrong?" Tigress asked stopping as well.
"Nothing, I'm fine," Dai said shaking off the feeling.
As they walked through the city to the Palace, predictably Kiro got distracted, so Dai had to go back a couple of times and drag him away from whatever he was trying to buy.
Eventually, the four Heroes arrived at the Palace, and Sato led them to the Throne room.
"Well, here we are," Sato said, pushing the large doors to the throne room open.
Dai's father sat on the throne, on each side of him sat his different advisors.
He saw Dai and stood up from the throne.
"Dai?"
"Hi…Dad," Dai said.
"It's great to see you again son," Takashi said walking over to and hugging Dai.
"It's great to see you again too," Dai said.
"I feel ridiculous," Dai said tugging at the silk robes he was wearing.
"You look nice," Tigress said
"This fancy clothing just isn't me," Dai said.
Dai was wearing formal dark blue robes with the golden Imperial crest on the back; Tigress wore a red silk dress with the same pattern on it.
"Come on. We shouldn't keep your father waiting," Tigress said.
"I still feel exposed without my swords or staffs,"
"It'll be okay," Tigress said revealing the small knife strapped to her thigh.
"Alright," Dai said, quickly grabbing his Kunai, tucking it into his belt.
"There you two are," Dai's father said greeting them.
"You two look great," He said looking at the two Tigers.
"But I feel ridiculous Dad," Dai said. "Can't I just roll the sleeves up?"
"It's just for this Banquet, I promise," Dai's father said. "Afterward, you can change back."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce my son and Dragon Warrior, Dai Nakamura and his girlfriend, Tigress!" Takashi shouted.
The Banquet was pleasant enough, but being the youngest people there Dai, Kiro, and Tigress all felt a little out of place and would answer the odd question or two directed to them.
A few hours into the Banquet, however, a messenger burst into the hall.
"What is it?" Dai's father asked the panic-stricken messenger.
"It's Zina! She's escaped from the Asylum!" He said.
Dai, Tigress, Kiro, and Sato all stood up at the same time.
"I knew I should have killed her when I had the chance," Dai growled.
"Go," Takashi said, and the four young heroes ran out of the Palace.
"So where exactly is this Asylum that Zina broke out of?" Kiro asked once they were outside.
"There," Sato said pointing at Mt. Fuji in the distance. "The Emperor, the old Emperor used to use it to house political prisoners."
"That explains why no one ever spoke out against him," Kiro said. "They did, and they'd end up in the funny farm."
"Kiro, we're gonna need your rocket cart for this bit," Sato said.
"Wait," Dai said. "Maybe one of us should stay here, in case Zina shows up. What I mean is, isn't this what she's expecting, us to race off to try and stop her?"
"That's a good point," Sato said. "Fine Tigress and I will stay here to guard the Emperor, while you and Kiro try to stop Zina."
"This time, I'm gonna make sure I kill her," Dai growled as Kiro summoned his rocket cart
"Whoa, wait…" Sato said. "You can't just kill her."
"Yeah I can, I'm The Dragon Warrior, I should have killed her last time," Dai said.
"Normally, I'd agree with Dai, but can't there be another way?" Kiro asked.
"If we imprison her, she could just escape again," Dai pointed out. "We can't risk it."
"Dai has a point," Tigress said.
"Alright, fine," Sato conceded. "Capture her if you can, kill her if you can't."
"Deal," Dai said climbing onto Kiro's rocket cart.
The flight to the Asylum was faster than Dai thought it would be, they landed right outside the main doors.
"This place reminds me of Chorh-Gom already," Dai commented looking up at the large doors.
Inside it was indeed built very similar to Chorh-Gom prison back in China.
The Warden came up to the two heroes and bowed deeply to Dai.
"We heard you had a prisoner escape," Dai said. "Zina Takimuro is her name."
"Yes, sir, the guards discovered her cell empty this morning," The Warden said.
"Take us there," Dai ordered.
"Y…yes sir," The Warden said. "Follow me."
"How exactly did she escape?" Kiro asked as they examined her empty cell.
"We don't know," The Warden said.
"Can we to speak to the guard on duty that night?" Dai asked.
"You think she had help from one on the guards?" Kiro asked reading Dai's mind.
"None of my guards would willingly assist an escape," The Warden protested. "They are all loyal."
"Loyalty can be bought and sold quickly as anything else," Dai said.
"None of my guards are traitors!" The Warden yelled.
"We'll be the ones who decide that," Dai said remaining calm.
-After the investigation-
"This stinks to high heaven," Dai said as they left the Asylum. "Someone paid that guard off. I can sense it."
"But who?" Kiro asked.
"Likely someone from the old regime," Dai said scratching his chin. "We'll get back to the Palace and talk to Sato, maybe he knows."
"Wait, your not thinking Sato is responsible, are you?" Kiro asked.
"What? No, of course not," Dai said.
-Back at the Palace-
"You two find anything at the Asylum?" Tigress asked when they landed back at the Palace.
"Only that someone paid off the guards to let Zina escape," Dai said.
"Who would do that?" Sato asked.
"No idea," Dai said. "We were hoping you might know."
"Where do I start?" Sato asked. "Your father's appointment angered a lot of people, all most all of them have the means to break Zina out of prison."
"Oh, that's real helpful, Sato," Kiro said sarcastically "That narrows it down to just about everyone."
"I suggest we remain in the Palace until Zina shows herself," Tigress said.
"Agreed," Dai said.
"Well, this has been fun and all, but I got somewhere to be, we should really do it again sometime," Zina said throwing four throwing stars at Dai.
Dai easily dodged the weapons, but Kiro who was standing behind him wasn't so lucky, all four throwing stars hit him on the chest, the white tiger gasped and fell to the ground.
"HA!" Zina laughed and ran off.
Dai moved to chase after her but was stopped by Tigress grabbing his arm.
"I got her; you two stay with Kiro!" Sato said chasing after the assassin.
Dai kneeled down next to his friend.
"Guess…I shoulda…ducked or some…thin…huh…" Kiro gasped, gritting his teeth in pain.
"Yeah," Dai said. "Just hang on Kiro."
"Not…sure I…have…a choice," Kiro said gasping and coughing.
"Don't try to talk," Tigress said. "Where's Sato?!"
"Screw this!" Dai growled taking Kiro's staffs.
"Hey…what…are you…?" Kiro asked.
Dai summoned a rocket cart and set Kiro on it.
-Skip-
The doors to the throne room crashed open, and an infuriated Dai, Tigress, and Sato stormed into the throne room
"Dai? What are you doing here?" His father asked, and Dai tossed Kiro's bloodied staffs onto the floor in front of the throne.
"My friend is in the Hospital, he could die, because you have a traitor in your ranks, someone told Zina we were coming, and Kiro paid the price!" Dai yelled.
"Whoa, Dai calm down!" Sato said putting a hand on Dai's shoulder "We shouldn't jump to conclusions like that."
"I will not calm down!" Dai said shaking Sato off.
"Sato is right. We should let calmer heads prevail," Takashi stated.
"Fine," Dai growled, leaving the throne room.
Tigress found him on the training grounds a few hours later, taking his frustrations out on a punching bag.
"The punching bag, is not a worthy opponent," she said, this made Dai stop and smile a little.
"No, I suppose not, but Sato wouldn't let me use him as one, so…" Dai joked.
Tigress chuckled a little at Dai's joke.
"How's Kiro?" Dai asked.
"Doctors say He'll live, but he's gonna of out of action for awhile," Tigress said
"That's good," Dai said.
"What are we going to do about Zina?" Tigress asked as Dai resumed hitting the punching bag.
"I have no idea," Dai said truthfully. "I don't think she'll try anything at the Palace again; my Dad is too well protected."
"What does Sato say?"
"Sato disagrees, he says she'll try again," Dai said.
-The Next day-
Takashi was walking the Palace grounds with his son in the early morning, Dai took a deep breath, it had rained heavily last night, he could smell it.
"Why did you run away like you did? Your Mother and I were worried sick," He asked after awhile.
It was a question Dai had been avoiding answering since they'd been reunited in China almost a year ago.
Dai exhaled sharply
"You've heard the stories," Dai said trying to dodge the question.
"Yes, but I want to hear it from you,"
"In truth, I panicked," Dai said, "I'd just killed three Imperial Guards, I didn't know what to do, so I ran,"
"Three? The story mentions only one," Takashi said.
"Yeah well, that wouldn't be the first thing they got wrong, now would it?" Dai said vehemently.
A glint caught Dai's attention, making him stop and turn towards it.
"What is it?" Takashi asked.
"Down!" Dai yelled tackling his father, as a crossbow bolt flew over them.
"Where'd that come from?" Takashi asked.
"Zina," Dai seethed.
"Guards!" Dai shouted, seconds later the grounds were swarming with Palace guards.
"Zina just tried to assassinate my father, protect him," Dai ordered and ran off after the assassin.
"Crap!" Zina thought quickly loading another bolt into her crossbow, firing at Dai, who kicked it aside.
She reloaded and fired another bolt, missing again, jumping down from her hiding spot in the trees she sprinted off, throwing a couple of Kunai at Dai as she went.
Dai dodged the weapons effortlessly and kept chasing after Zina, pulling out his own Kunai, his paused for a second and threw it at the fleeing assassin, he was rewarded with a cry of pain and saw Zina stumble and fall, sliding to a stop on the muddy ground.
Dai smirked and walked up to the wounded Zina and pulled his Kunai out of her back.
"You really thought you could assassinate my father?" He asked prepared to finish her right there.
"I wasn't…tying to kill him…I was trying to lure you…to Japan," Zina gasped.
"What for? Why?" Dai asked grabbing Zina by the head hitting her head against the ground.
"Dai! Stop!"
Dai turned around and saw Tigress and Sato running towards him.
"We don't kill prisoners," Sato said.
"Fine, I have a few questions for her anyway," Dai said lifting Zina off the muddy ground and carried her bridal style.
Zina gasped at the motion, not expecting it.
"What?" Dai asked, seeing the looks he was getting from Tigress and Sato.
Dai carried Zina back to the Palace, to the Hospital, with Tigress and Sato following closely behind him the entire time. As he carried her, Dai could feel the blood on her back, and suddenly felt bad about it.
He quickly shook the thought from his head; she was a ruthless, cold-blooded assassin, nothing more.
Dai took Zina to the hospital and remained there until the doctors were finished with her, even then he refused to leave, standing against the wall, arms folded across his chest, Kunai in hand.
"Listen, you keep this up, people are gonna start talking," Zina finally spoke up after a couple of hours.
Dai only growled in response to her.
"You a prisoner, nothing more," He said coldly.
"So it does speak," Zina said to Dai, looking at the tiger guarding her.
"You could have left me out there in the mud, why didn't you?" Zina asked.
"Why do you care?" Dai asked walking over to her, pointing his Kunai at her.
"Just curious, I guess," Zina said.
"Tigress and Sato didn't seem to think it was a good idea to kill you," Dai said. "I, however, am still on the fence about it."
"How's it going in here?" Tigress asked entering the room.
"Fine," Dai said.
"Has she said anything yet?"
Dai had completely forgotten he was supposed to be questioning Zina.
"No, nothing yet," He said.
"You haven't asked me anything," Zina said.
"Okay, why do you want to kill my father?" Dai asked.
"I already told you, I don't want to, I was only hired to lure to Japan," Zina.
"So who's the target?" Dai asked.
"You are, all four of you," Zina said looking at both tigers.
"Who hired you?" Tigress demanded.
"I'm not the assassin, my job was only to get you here," Zina stated.
Dai's eyes widened.
"Sato! He's in danger!" He realized and fled the hospital.
Dai raced through the Palace looking for Sato, knocking the staff and different officials aside as he ran.
Meanwhile, Sato was leaving from the kitchen and headed for the training hall. On the way, he passed by a lizard he didn't recognize and paused, turning around, he felt a blade pierce his stomach.
Sato gasped in surprise as the knife was withdrawn, clutching his stomach, he fell to his knees.
"Long live Emperor Jow," The Lizard said.
"SATO!" Dai yelled dropping next to the wounded Tiger, putting his hand on Sato's stomach as the Lizard ran off.
"Come on, stay with me, Sato," Dai said as the Tiger coughed up some blood.
"I…think I need…a bandage or…something," Sato gasped, writhing in pain on the floor.
"I need help!" Dai yelled.
"Sorry buddy, this is gonna hurt," Dai said sparking one of his staffs, there wasn't time to wait for help.
"What…are you?"
Dai touched the tip of the staff to Sato's wound, he yelled in pain, Dai held in there for a few seconds, then removed it, the heat from the staff had cauterized the wound.
"Ow…" Sato gasped.
"I told you it'd hurt," Dai chuckled, lifting Sato to his feet, taking him back to the Palace Hospital for proper treatment.
"Zina is innocent!" Dai protested. "The attack on Sato proves that!"
"Never the less, she's still committed crimes, that she must be held accountable for," Takashi said.
"Agreed," Tigress said.
Dai growled and left the throne room.
-Midnight-
Two shadowy cloaked figures snuck out of the Palace. Expertly avoiding the guards. Clearly, the two didn't want to be noticed once at the gate, the larger of the two cloaked figures opened the gate to let the other, a female exit.
"You know, you could get in a lot of trouble for this," She said, pausing.
"I'll worry about that," The Male said. "You take care of yourself, Zina."
I hope you enjoyed the story, it was kind of a pain to write, being so long. This one will have a second part to it as well, so keep an eye out for that. Here's a small preview.
-Next Time-
"They found out I'm trying to change, they broke into my hotel room, they tried to kill me!" Zina said. "I need a place to stay, please!"
"There's no way we can trust her, not after everything she's done," Tigress said quietly to Dai, but Zina overheard.
"You owe me, Nakamura!" Zina shouted, making Dai pause.
"Dai, what is she talking about?" Tigress asked.
"Nothing," Dai said quickly.
