Episode 1: The Shadow of Destiny - Part 2

Detention was the worst. Feeling disgruntled, Ethan tapped his pencil against his paper, annoyed. Once again, he had failed to get his paper revised as promised. Telling Mr. Randall that he was trying to riddle out a dream he had shared with Jess and Kaela all night, and therefore had not completed the assignment sounded like a bad idea.

So, here he was – blank paper in front of him, with nothing but the sound of crying students to entertain him.

Life was pain.

Correcting a paper about the animal kingdom was just so boring – especially when compared to the dream that they had the night before. He was eager to get home and ask Master Hamato about it, and of course, get his weapon in his hand again. Going over the details of the dream increased the nervous rapping sound that he made with his pencil against the paper.

Washington Square Park.

Orange, glowing triangular ships.

A big chrome ring.

What interested him most was the light that had beamed down on them. What on earth was that? Now that he thought about it, the amber color that came from the crafts was exactly identical to the amber color that had spotlighted them. Even more intriguing, when the three had spoken together, Jess and Kaela had the exact same memory of the dream.

Episodic dreams and repeated dreams Ethan could buy. But shared dreams?

That was something else.

Not realizing when he started drawing, he had doodled the triangular ships in the corner of his essay. Probably not the editing Mr. Randall was looking for. He looked up from the page. The two cubical walls fenced him in from seeing what other people were doing. The classic words: School Sux were scraped into one of the walls. This was the cubical he always chose if he got saddled here – not that it was a regular occurrence. Only in Mr. Randall's class, and only to fix papers.

The door opened and the Principal escorted an Asian boy into the detention center, a grim frown on his reddened face. This was a familiar face in detention. The Asian boy, Mako, was in a grade above him, with hair that had been dyed purple at the corners. Despite the principal's dark expression, Mako looked almost bored in spite of himself, a lazy smile on his face, hands in his pockets. He sported black skinny jeans and a rather daring jacket, sleeveless, with a long slithering serpent twisting around his torso, purple in color.

"Sup." Mako said as he passed Ethan, apparently realizing he was being stared at.

Ethan nodded in reply.

"Keep moving, Mr. Yamada." The principal prodded him forward. "Ethan, get back to your work please."

Obediently, Ethan turned back to his paper and traded his pencil for his red pen from his backpack. The sooner he got this done, the sooner he could go home with Jess and Kaela. Jess was likely running on the track – as per usual, and Kaela – in the after school dance club. "Balance your practice with other skills. A ninja learns to adapt many talents to enhance their fighting prowess." The words came readily back to mind from Master Hamato's lesson a few weeks ago.

Ethan rushed across the page. How will writing help me beat up Kraang? He thought rhetorically. Corrections came to him as he moved down the paper. He couldn't help but smile as he listened to the conversation the Principal was having with the supervising teacher. Mako had been stealing from vending machines again.

Finally finishing up his paper, Ethan stood and walked up to the desk and placed the paper on it gently. The supervising teacher, a stiff woman who had gotten used to Ethan, averted her attention from the Principal and Mako to gaze at his work. "Thank you." She said, tapping the paper. "You can go."

Without listening for another moment to the interesting argument between Mako and the Principal, Ethan turned and fast-walked his way to the door, passing a sobbing freshman in the corner. He was free again! Jess was leaning against the nearby wall, reading a book that she held in one of her hands, the other behind her back. She looked up from the volume and smiled. "'Bout time." she said.

Ethan shrugged, "I did my best."

"If you did your best the first time, you probably wouldn't be in detention as often as you are."

"Sounds boring."

The two walked down the mostly empty hallway of the school towards the auditorium where they could snatch Kaela from the dance club. All Ethan could think about was telling Master Hamato about the dream from last night. It was clear by Jess's unusual silence, that her thoughts hadn't completely managed to escape the dream either.

Wanting to overcome the silence, Ethan took a closer look at the book she had been reading which was now tucked tightly under her arm. The volume was black, with a hand holding a red rose. "Dawn?" Ethan read the title questioningly. "Isn't that the sappy demon romance book?"

Jess looked down at her book, "Oh, s-someone told me to read it and I was just finding it interesting is all – y'know the whole young adult m-movement and stuff."

"Yeah. Yeah. Sure." Ethan smiled, and looked away. He skipped an extra step forward to avoid the punch that Jess threw at him and opened the large black door to the auditorium. "Shall we?" he motioned his hand like a butler to the door. Jess walked into the darkness and Ethan followed close behind, the door automatically shutting behind them. Most of the dance club were already leaving, bags under their arms, but Kaela was absent from the crowds. Two were waiting with one another in the dark hallway, leaning against the nearby wall, talking in low voices. As one girl with long blonde hair passed them, Ethan piped up, "Hey, is Kaela in there?"

"She's still changing." The girl said politely and she passed by them.

"Guess we'll wait." Jess said.

"Yeah, you can read more of your teen-angst manual."

Jess slapped his shoulder with the book.

"Ow!"

She opened the volume and began to read, flipping the pages excitedly as she went. Ethan bobbed against the wall, anxious to get back home. Kaela usually took a bit longer, but this was the worst day for her to do it. He could hear the low whispers of the two girls now. "It doesn't make sense!" one of them was hissing. "April said she was going to help me with my math homework, and then the next day – she doesn't show up, and nobody knows where she is!"

Ethan leaned in further.

"It can't be a coincidence that Casey disappears at the same time! I think he kidnapped her."

"He's like, a kid though."

"Yeah, but I saw a mask once in his locker! It looked like a skull."

"That's . . . freaky."

Kaela turned the corner and the girls immediately hushed up. "Still hanging around?" Kaela asked the two girls. They muttered quick, polite responses and rushed out past Jess and Ethan. "Hey guys!" Kaela said enthusiastically, after pausing to stare after the girls. "Ready?"

As they walked home, Kaela turned to them. "Listen, I've been thinking – maybe the dream we all had together was a vision of our past."

Jess looked up from Dawn, shutting the book. "I'd thought about that too. It's hard to determine really. Washington Square Park looked like it always has, so there really isn't any context clues or anything."

"So," Ethan began, trying to put his thoughts together while equally dodging a businessman who ran by, the tails of his suit flying behind him. "Maybe it's our future?"

They turned the corner where the "Cowabunga" graffiti was, passing through the steam of nearby drains.

The conversation vanished away as they opened the large sliding door. A sense of reverent quietness hung in the air. Master Hamato was kneeling on the ground, his eyes remained closed as they came in. "Sensei?" Ethan quickly took his shoes off, looking at him cautiously.

He was still, like he had been in the garden the other day, but there was something else in his features. Master Hamato slowly opened his eyes. "Come." he motioned to the tatami mat in front of him. Without hesitation, Jess, Kaela and Ethan quickly crossed the threshold and knelt on the ground before Master Hamato. He looked at each of them, quietly for a few moments. His gaze ran over their features, his lips were in a solid line. It was like his emotions were seeking to break free from his stoicism. "My students – there is something that I wish to speak to you about. But first, it seems something is troubling your minds." he said.

The three looked at one another and then Ethan turned to look at Master Hamato. His concerned, kind eyes were like a father's. His demeanor, calming, but serious. His back was straight, his gaze, unblinking. "Yes." Ethan began. "A dream we had."

Master Hamato turned to look at the other two. They nodded. "A dream we shared." Jess added, "We . . . were in Washington Square and this weird giant ring was flown in by three glowing space ships." After hearing Jess say it out loud, Ethan cringed at the sound of it. Master Hamato, however, did not even blink. No mockery shown on his face – if anything, a shadow crossed it.

He nodded. "Interesting." He said, slowly standing, hands behind his back. The pale light outside managed to push through the skyscrapers and bustle of the town. It shone on Master Hamato and his whole frame seemed to glow with light. . "A shared dream?" He muttered under his breath, fingers on his chin, eyes closed as he paced before them. "This is significant – although, I do not now yet what it means." he turned to the others. "There is more."

Ethan felt his heart leap. Finally! He is going to tell us everything! He could hardly believe this was happening. "I have meditated deeply, and felt. . ." Kaela, Ethan and Jessica leaned in eagerly, "That there is little I should tell you, yet."

Ethan's face fell. Seriously? Anger welled up inside him, but he suppressed it.

"But," Master Hamato continued, "After much deliberation, it is time that you be allowed to protect this city. Until now, you have trained. For two years I have taught you all that I know from the ancient Hamato family, one of the oldest of Ninja clans. Tonight, you will do your first patrol of the city."

The anger and disappointment vanished into a poof of smoke and Ethan looked up again

"Really?

"Are you serious?"

"Thank you, Sensei!"

"This is so awesome!"

"Heck yes!"

Master Hamato smiled. He turned and walked over to the cabinet. After carefully opening the doors, he removed a wooden box. Ornate gold designs ran up its sides and bordered the clasp. Depictions of bamboo forests and Japanese sunsets by Mount Fuji decorated it. As he approached them again, on the front, Ethan could see the symbol of the Hamato Clan. It was the same ones on the shurikans they practiced with. Carefully, and reverently, caressing the box, Master Hamato lifted it's lid. For several moments he looked into the box deeply, back turned to them. Finally, he pulled from it's bottom, a long white bandana with two holes in it. Master Hamato stepped forward and paused in front of Ethan. "Ethan, you have trained diligently. Your keen focus has made you strong – and capable. Your dedication to your friends and to your training has given you skills few martial artists can achieve. In Japan, the color white symbolizes purity, strength, and devotion. You have great skill in leadership and in seeing your own, and the destines of others fulfilled." He placed the bandana in his hands. "I give this to you, to wear always as a symbol of this."

"Thank you, Sensei."

He nodded his approval and then returned to the box. "Jessica," he said, taking out a bandana the color of evergreen trees. "You're color was rather difficult to find. You have a wide display of many prominent features. Green is the symbol of life. Your vast array of skills culminates to your ultimate ability – breathing life into this team. Wear this with honor and continue to be the blood that runs through our team."

Jess took the bandana from his hands and gazed at it in awe and then closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Thank you."

Master Hamato returned to the box and when he turned again, he had a deep yellow bandana in his hands. "Kaela." He paused in front of her and she looked eagerly at the token that he held. "Yellow is the color of courage and energy." he reached and she took it with both hands. "You step up to challenges and give the needed momentum to encourage those around you. This will be a skill that will save this team more than once."

"Master . . . thank you."

Ethan looked down at his white bandana and then back up as Master Hamato closed the lid of his box and then he smiled back at them. "Put them on."

His hands trembling, Ethan pulled the bandana over his eyes and tied it behind his head. The white ends fell over his shoulders and he felt warm inside. A deep sense of humility and quietness had distilled over the dojo, unlike anything he had felt before – even in meditation. "Now that you have received your identities, we are no longer just a team." he said. "We are a family." He motioned to the cedar cabinet. "Take your weapons."

The three stood up and Ethan grabbed his naginata firmly, twirling it in one fluid stroke around him with a familiarity he had not felt until this moment.

A twirl of blue color and Kaela's ribbon dart intertwined around her arm, poised and in a more solid stance that Ethan had ever seen her in before.

Jess swung each Kama around her, expertly, balancing on one foot.

Master Hamato's smile vanished and he nodded solemnly. "You are ready to patrol tonight. But, there is something you must know." A sudden fire ignited in his eyes. Flame that looked familiar to Ethan, but one he could not recall. "The Kraang are undoubtedly a threat to this world. That is the very reason I came to New York in the first place – but there is something much darker, much worse than an inter-dimensional war. New York has been infested with a ninja army known as the Foot Clan." His voice trembled with passion as he spoke, but Master Hamato did not look away nor blink. It was almost frightening. "The Foot Clan has been the Hamato Clan's deadliest enemy for centuries. Your destiny is not only to defeat the Kraang, but to destroy the Foot Clan."

Ethan felt his blood begin to boil with excitement. Other Ninja's? In New York?

"But," Master Hamato closed his eyes again and grimaced, as if the concentration he was going through was painful. "Although it is something I have yet to understand . . . you cannot defeat the clan alone. Your destinies are threaded through the lives of others. Others you have yet to meet." He closed his eyes again and breathed in deeply. The anger in his face evaporated and the shadows under his eyes seemed to shrink away. "Prepare yourself, my children. You leave when the light of the first stars begin to shine."

"I cannot believe that this is happening!" Ethan hollered to the air. His naginata had been strapped to his back. New brown belts ran long his middle and over his chest, attached with silver buckles. Crammed into the belt were several shurikans, marked with the Hamato symbol. His white bandana blew in the cooler night breeze. The lights of all of New York looked up on them as the three stood on top of the building that's first floor contained their home. Master Hamato had let them go for the night with the instruction that they were to return by midnight. It was a school night.

School was the last thing in Ethan's mind.

"I know!" Kaela replied. Her yellow bandana, like starlight in the dark. All three of them had almost child-like glee spread on their face. Her weapon, the blue ribbon dart, had been curled up into her own belt, the end of the cloth sticking out for her to grab quickly if needed.

Jess smiled, "So, where do we start? Where do you think the Kraang are?"

Ethan thought back, trying to remember a time that they had seen them. "Wasn't there a base they had on Huston street back when they invaded?" he recalled.

Kaela shrugged her shoulders, "Sounds familiar."

Jess nodded her agreement.

"Let's go."

The three burst forward along the rooftop. Ethan had wanted to do this his whole life – just like a ninja. Although it had only been two years of training, his feet felt like they knew what they needed to do. The feeling of the wind on his face felt natural – the way things should be. He lifted his arms behind him, as if trying to reproduce memory and he burst forward quicker.

This was what life was meant to be.

The weight of his weapon on his back, the ruffling of his clothes around him. His surroundings had changed a bit – the city's smell of sulfur and cigarettes and the sound of cars rushing floors beneath him, but this was right.

As if the three had been training all of their lives, they flipped over the gaps in between buildings. Jess was one of the quickest, weaving in out of air coolers and satellites. Huston street wasn't too far. Dodging the people on the street below made it quicker. The cars below vanished away into a darker part of the city as they drew further away from the busy commuting streets.

"Here."

They skidded to a halt and Ethan looked down eagerly.

Darkness.

Nothing moved in the alleyway. The sound of a nearby hissing cat could be heard, but little else.

"Danget." Kaela said looking down, "I hope our patrol's don't just end up being us running around the city, hoping to see something." She had vocalized what Ethan had feared most, but had not given thought to. Maybe being a ninja would mean very little in the end.

"Wait." Jess hissed and she crouched down, squinting.

Ethan followed her actions and gazed deeper into the darkness of the alley. At first, he saw nothing. Then he heard the sound of a can being kicked. He squinted harder, and then he saw them. A crowd of individuals, garbed in black clothes that were woven tight to their body. Katana's were strapped to their backs and black cloth covered their faces. Tiny half-orbs took the place where their eyes were – likely some sort of material they could peer out from. "Who are they?" Jess asked quietly.

Ethan gazed closer. "Ninja. They must be Foot Clan." Kaela said grabbing at her weapon that was tucked by her side. "Looks like we are going to get to do something after all."

Oddly, Ethan felt an unexpected flood of nervousness. They had never fought another person before in their life – let alone a ninja. What kind of training did these guys go through? The darkness dispersed as several more Foot Ninja came out of a nearby warehouse. The same one that Ethan remembered the Kraang hanging out at nearly a year ago. They were holding glass canisters that filled the entire alleyway with strange light – whether green or blue, Ethan could not discern, but he recognized it. "That stuff!" He hissed to the others, "That's totally the same ooze that the Kraang were spraying on people when they invaded!" He could hardly believe that all of this was happening so quickly. Half of him wanted to cheer, the other half wanted to throw up on the heads of the Foot Clan. Deciding that the second option would be terrible, he turned to Jess and Kaela who looked back at him with the same excitement that he felt in their eyes. "I don't think Sensei knows – but the Foot Clan is either teamed up with the Kraang or are stealing from them! That's gotta be important, right?"

"Yeah!" Jess agreed. "So . . . what are we going to do?"

"Attack." Kaela offered. "I think I'm ready to do something for once."

Ethan nodded excitedly, "Yeah . . . yeah, let's do it. But – we need a plan first."

"Okay, so what's the plan then, Ethan?" Kaela asked.

He looked back down into the glowing alleyway at the Foot Clan. They were filling the back of a van with the green ooze-filled canisters. "Kaela, you have a long range weapon." He began, "You can go to the balcony a few floors below us. Jess and I will pick off as many as we can with the shurikans. When they are distracted, take out as many as you can and try not to be spotted. Before they get the chance to notice you, Jess and I will jump down and take the rest of them." Ethan felt proud of himself. This is so awesome!

Kaela nodded with a smile and ran her fingers down her yellow bandana. "Cool. Got it."

Jess grinned at Ethan, "Let's do this."

Ethan led the way, Jess running behind him. They moved as silently as possible and Ethan kept his ear keen from fear that he was going to hear Kaela climbing down, but he heard nothing but the quiet movement of the Foot Clan below. As they rounded the building, Ethan and Jess each tugged out from their belts a handful of shurikans. Jess nodded at Ethan and without a moment of hesitation, she let one fly.

It pinged off the nearby wall.

Ethan's eyes widened – that wasn't the best way to start the plan.

The Foot Soldiers turned, one of them clasping the green ooze close to their chest and they looked up at them. It had taken them less than a few seconds to locate the two. Crap. Ethan flung a shurikan down at them, but they had dodged expertly and made a sound similar to that of a shrieking electronic. They burst forward with unnatural speed and began to snatch at the holds in the wall, climbing towards Jess and Ethan like spiders.

"WHY DID YOU MISS?" Ethan grabbed Jess's shoulders and shook her.

"Ummm..." He heard Kaela call loudly.

Jessica swapped Ethan away, "Now what?" She cried.

The Foot Ninja were nearly to them.

"Stab things!"

Ethan flung his weapon from his back and gave it a quick spin, nearly dropping it in his haste. With that same strange electronic noise, three Foot Soldiers rocketed, landing almost too expertly in crouched tiger stances, blades flashing from the holsters they had drawn them from.

Ethan ducked an attack and skirted out of the way of another blow from a second Foot Ninja. Their eyes glowed as if someone had stuck LED lights into their mask. He felt one of them slip behind him and hit his upper back hard with something metal. Air vanished from his lungs, but he recovered quickly and thrust the blade of his naginata out. With a blast of Kraang-violet electricity and an digital scream, the Foot Ninja hit the ground. "What in the—." Ethan gasped.

A series of electronics stuck out of it's chest – colored wires and silvery metal. "Robots?"

He didn't have much more time to think about it as a blade slashed his shoulder. Wet blood soaked his shirt and he gasped in pain. His first battle wound. Yet – the hot, sticky feeling and the pain felt just as natural as the wind had been on his face a few moments ago.

He whipped the sturdy wooden side of his naginata across the Foot bots face and it fell backward, landing almost comically on it's back before it's limbs twisted impossibly to straighten itself again.

Before it could charge for a second attempt, Jess flipped through the air, swinging both of her Kama's like an 'X' across the bot's back and electricity flew in every which direction as it's torso disconnected from it's hips and it landed in a pile of false body parts.

"Kaela." Ethan panted, "We need to get down there and stop them from doing . . . uh . . . whatever it is they are doing!"

"Right."

Ignoring the warm blood on his shoulder, the two descended, flipping and landing on balcony banisters until they had reached the ground level. Kaela was standing atop the van, the ribbon dancing in the light so quickly that it was difficult to see. Foot bots were falling around her as the dart smashed them, but she was being quickly overwhelmed. The numbers weren't unreasonable though – they could still win. "Guys! Help!" She called. "I could really use backup right about now!"

Ethan took only a single step forward – before he was flying in the air. He slammed into the wall next to him and collapsed over a pile of trashcans that crashed around him, a cat fleeing from the scene. "Ugh . . ." Rubbing his skull, Ethan tried to get up, but his vision danced. Pain collided through all of his body parts. He looked up.

Coming from the warehouse was something . . . something huge.

A growl split the air and for a few confusing seconds Ethan tried to understand what he was looking at.

A Tiger?

A Man?

Something of both.

"Well, well. Looks like we have a few cubs that took the wrong alley."

Ethan would have been concerned with the fact that this Tiger man was twice his size – but, was much more preoccupied with the fact that now the Tiger was talking in English. He wore a blue collared shirt, long bullet filled belts crossing his broad chest. A gun was in his hand and he pointed it at Ethan's face. Still feeling dizzy, Ethan closed his eyes to prevent himself from being sick, but could still hear the Tiger man. He had an Asian tone in his voice. "Drop your weapons, or the cub dies." The sound of something charging rang through the air.

The clatter of metal on concrete.

Ethan opened his eyes again as he felt himself get lifted by his shoulder belt from the ground. He was starting to get his barrings, but his naginata now lay glimmering on the ground. Fear exploded inside him, filling his whole body as he looked into the large yellow eyes of the tiger. He grinned at him, the black stripes on his face made him look all the more like he was leering. He licked his long, dagger like teeth.

Well, I never would have thought I was going to get eaten by a tiger on my first patrol. His personal sarcasm didn't make him feel any less afraid. "I know someone who will want to meet you three." The tiger said. He brought his fist above him and then drove it down onto Ethan's skull and everything went black.