Disclaimer: See initial chapter

The Gathering

-0-

They moved like the wind. No, that wasn't right. More like shadows. They moved like shadows; silently and swiftly. But then again, that is what they were training to become; shadows that brought death to whomever they were sent to.

And it was her job to watch. Watch and learn and absorb data.

The two shadows continued to move about, striking at each other, yet never making contact. It was as though they were actually dancing with each other, but with techniques of the most lethal kind. But they were of no danger to themselves. They had done this for who know how long. Their moves interlocked with each other over and over, like a constantly changing puzzle that kept coming together. And this intricate dance was being fed as data to her mind, which would in turn use it to go stronger, to become the ultimate zoanthrope, one with the skill and power to dominate all at will.

The Chimera…

-0-

With a start, Uriko's eyes snapped open and she almost sat up, only to have her body protest in pain and soreness, forcing her to settle back. It was still dark outside, but the first glimmers of daylight were beginning to show. Normally, she would have another hour or so before rising up to go to school, but her mother had already intended to inform the school that she wouldn't be able to make it, giving her time to recover from her injuries.

As well as start on her punishment…

The girl winced at the thought of that. After Yugo brought her home and she was seen to be okay, her mother went on a full-on lecture spree, scolding her for what she had done. If that wasn't bad enough, Alice was there and scolding her almost as much. Her ears were ringing for quite a bit after they were done. But while Uriko didn't like the idea of disappointing them, she had no regrets about her actions Heck, both she and Kenji had almost gotten through to Shinn before that explosion came out of nowhere.

'Kenji…'

Maybe there was regret or two. Not only was Shinn gone again, but now it looks like both he and Kenji had been abducted. And from what she could remember, it looked like it was by another ninja like them. 'How many of them are there, anyway?' In any case, there wasn't much she could do right now. Aside from Alice and her mother making it very clear that she was to stay out of trouble, Yugo was already on the case per say. And she wouldn't have the first idea of where to start looking for them anyway.

Except perhaps….in her dreams…

Next Day

It was like looking into a mirror.

A bent-up, distorted mirror.

Seated at a table in a not-so tidy bar, Long glanced simply at his companion, who bore the same facial features as he did, only his bangs and hair were wildly loose on his head as opposed Long's neatly tied braid. Also, the eyes that gazed back were a different color, a bright crimson that gazed back fiercely despite being somewhat inebriated by the drink he was holding.

"You must have some kind of screw-loose to come looking for me. Or a death wish."

Long's reply was simple. "I need your help."

With a snort, Shenlong took the drink to his mouth and took a considerable gulp of it. Long let it pass, knowing that considering their history, he shouldn't expect anything less. Not too long ago, Shenlong, who was the leader of the Beast Liberation Front, had wanted to kill him, but ended up trying to take his own life when he discovered his true identity as Long's clone. But he was unsuccessful in the attempt and instead now lives the life of a barroom brawler (if that could be considered a life)

"Word of the organization has come up." Long continued. "Too much to be ignored."

"I'm waiting for the part that says I should care. Or that I should help you of all people" Shenlong added with a glare.

Shutting his eyes briefly, Long suppressed a sigh and replied. "You're right. There's nothing that says you should help me."

Silently, Long stood up from his seat and began to turn, completely missing Shenlong's surprised expression. He didn't, however, miss the half-growl that came from Shenlong when he spoke.

"You came a long way to waste your time. Why?"

"I'm not sure. Just…I guess I was just hoping to mend bridges."

With that, Long continued out of the bar and into the streets. To be honest, he hadn't expected for Shenlong to help him; he had taken a chance here. Perhaps it was the last image he remembered seeing of him, a tortured soul that discovered he wasn't what he thought he was trying to kill himself on the belief that he was a fake. But Long never saw him that way, and over time considered Shenlong to be a brother.

Of course, that may have been sentimentality talking there, probably the same feeling that prompted him to try to ask the man for aid. But realistically speaking, he had to have known Shenlong wouldn't take kindly to him. If nothing else, Long should have expected for his twin to attack him just because. So it was a surprise that he caught Shenlong's scent and glanced behind to see the man stride up beside him.

"I'm bored." he drawled. "Don't look into it any more than that."

"As you wish."

'Damn smoke…'

With a scowl, Yugo slowly strode across the rooftop, pausing briefly to sniff an area, only to scowl again. Despite the flames from the night before having been completely doused, the nose of the wolf zoanthrope could still pick of the scent of the smoke strongly, which was proving in making his current task a bit difficult. Finding out who took Kenji as well as Shinn required that he track them down. The problem was that the still lingering smoke smell was greatly obscuring the other scents. He could barely pick up and hold Kenji's scent.

And his was the one he was most familiar with…

Deciding to take a moment from his efforts, Yugo looked over the side of the roof in thought. Who would want to capture Kenji and Shinn in the first place? Tylon was gone and the ZLF was as well. It could have been possible for a third entity to arise, but he wouldn't have any clue as to what. When he formed the WOC, one of the reasons was to keep his ear to the ground for any zoanthrope activities. But the organization was still admittedly in its fledgling stages, so for him to not hear about anything wouldn't be too much of a surprise.

His attention was soon interrupted when he heard the sound of footsteps coming up from the stairs behind him. Normally, that wouldn't alert him, but the steps were quiet, as though someone was sneaking up the stairs. Quietly, Yugo backed from the edge and toward the side of the roof entrance. No sooner than he reach the wall did the door open and a figure, still on stealthy steps, walk out onto the roof. Hastily, Yugo grabbed the intruder's shoulder, recognizing it as a well-muscled female.

"What are you-?"

That question was never finished as said figure swiftly grabbed hold of Yugo's hand and arm and lurch it (and the rest of his body) over her shoulder, sending him flying. Hitting the ground hard, Yugo forced himself to roll forward and rise back up to his feet before his assailant could capitalize. And true enough, his opponent was rushing at him, a fist set to strike. On instinct, Yugo lifted his arms and set to jab at the person with a strike of his own. But it wasn't until his fist came close to connecting that he soon recognized his opponent.

"Shina?"

The blond woman paused in her attack as well; her own fist a mere few inches away from his face as his was just as close to her ribs. Her face gave way to a light scowl as she slowly began to back away.

"What the hell are you thinking, grabbing someone from behind like that?" she snarled. "You could have gotten yourself hurt."

Yugo gave a growl of his own. "You should talk, with the way you were sneaking up here.".

"Well, I heard what happened and I didn't want to take any chances." Her voice then softened (just slightly) "How are you holding up?"

"Someone took my brother and I don't know who." The wolf zoanthrope returned, still growling. "How do you think?"

Shina's eyes narrowed, but her voice didn't change. "No need to be snippy. I was just asking.

Finally seeing her attempt to be reassuring, Yugo took a short breath and calmly reply. "Sorry about that. I'm just feeling…snippy."

Nodding, Shina moved over to the side of the roof. "I had planned on coming down to the WOC to find you, but I guess this works out too."

"For me?"

"I was on my way here anyway, but I ran into Jenny on the way." Her face darkened into a light frown. "She wanted you to get a message and apparently felt I should be the messenger.

"She involved in this too?" Yugo frowned as well. Although Jenny worked with him as an ally, there was just something about her that rubbed him the wrong way. Perhaps it was her whole mysterious, cloak-and-dagger persona, or perhaps it was that she always seemed to know more about what was going on and seemingly enjoying the fact that he didn't and reminding him as such through vague messages.

"And here I thought things were bad enough."

"Tell me about it." She replied, gratified that she wasn't the only one the bat zoanthrope annoyed. Nevertheless, she had given her information to pass along. "She mentioned something about a manufacturing company called the Yun Chi."

His eyes narrowed in thought as he took a thoughtful hand to his chin. "Yun Chi... It sounds familiar, but I'm not sure from where."

"Unfortunately, word of Tylon has popped up, which is why I decided to get involved." She didn't have to look at him to know that Yugo's face had frozen up, likely in rage. That company had taken his father away and sent him on a warpath against Tylon. Needless to say, there were no pleasant thoughts there. She let a moment of silence pass for him to calm down before turning to the stair entrance.

"I'm going to do some more checking on my own. I'll let you know if I have any other extra information."

Yugo turned to her and almost considered asking her to just stay with him and work as a team. But he stopped himself short of that quickly enough. Both their beast natures required them to work solo. Not that they couldn't work in teams; just that they were at their best on their own. But before she left completely…

"Just out of curiosity, is there anyone else involved in this that I should know about?"

Pausing at the steps, the leopard zoanthrope merely turned her head and gave him a slight (if feral) grin. "Oh you know. Just the usual."

"Right. The usual."

"Are you certain it's him?"

"Yes. The profile is an exact match."

"To think we could retrieve both of them at once. With him here, we can finish the project quicker now"

"But is this wise? We had only planned for the target. We may not have the resources for him. And this one is associated with the wolf."

"We will have to advance our plans then. We should be able to do the project online in time for any…unwanted arrivals."