-The Ninja is here!

Randy and Howard stopped in their tracks when they heard the blonde girl crying out, in the lockers corridor. They looked at each other, confused. More and more teenagers began to follow the blonde, and they followed. There was no monster drill this day, no one was being stanked, and there were no McFist´s robots in sight.

All of them run to the backyard, and yes, in the flagpole was the Ninja.

He grabbed the flagpole with one hand, and his both legs were bent, against the pole, with his green scarf floating in the wind. He looked at the crowd and waved, not saying a word, and Tengu knew there was something very, very wrong.

-He has no substance- he said to Randy, after pulling his sleeve until his ear was at the same level with his mouth.

-Substance? Is he a ghost?- the taller teenager asked.

-No, he is solid… but he is not made like the original one. This is more… hollow. It feels like if inside the suit was nothing more substantial than mist.

"Or tea steam" Randy tough.

The Ninja did little more than observe the crowd before jump to the roof with some somersaults and disappear. And that´s confirmed Howard-Tengu´s suspicions: these moves did not have the Norrisville Ninja´s signature. It was not "another suit copy", but "something copying the suit".

-No- Tengu grabbed Randy´s arm, before he could go to his locker, to his mask –It´s an evident trap.

-He envies me.

-And if he did reach this level, what will stop him to do more?

.-.

-It felt really great!- the boy said, excited –Even my eyesight get better with the mask, even without my glasses. My agility has improved, and I could see people and objects moving slower, but I know they are not moving slower!

-Mm-hm- Viceroy said, writing everything –Do or did you feel tired, or discomfort, or inconveniences?

-No, I haven´t even sweated. And I´m not exactly the best in P. E. This prototype is marvellous!

The teenager´s joy was a big contrast with Voceroy´s laboratory (the most adequate place for the public, at least), and in special, with what the scientist was deducing. The boy´s skin was not changing yet, but the exam he did proved the effects were accumulative. And he did not know how permanent they were. Based in what his robolizards could film, the Ninja has not shown in this occasion.

-In a few days we could start with another test- the scientist smiled to him.

-Could it be sooner?- asked the boy, anxious.

-Oh, no, it will not be safe to use it more than twice a week, but abusing it could break it. And it´s the only one in existence.

-Oh- he was silent for a few seconds –Then, this could be a good point to improve. So it can be used more often.

-Oh, yes, it will be a very good idea- Viceroy wrote something more, and dismissed him.

.-.

-Then, if he is an enemy, why do not confront him, Nomicon?- asked Randy in the middle of a snow pine wood –He hasn´t done nothing bad until now, but if he could and we don´t stop him now…

"A friend will not take away something you obtained for good"

The boy stayed still, mouth wide open and the hand half raised.

-Oh, well, you are right in this- some doodles showed surprised ninjas surrounding him –Hey! I can grow up! I´m not always going to be as ignorant and prideful and all that you said I am sometimes.

The doodles ninjas laughed and disappeared.

-But the new ninja is weird. Even Tengu said it, something about being hollow and full of mist. Or tea steam. Is anyone inside there? Like a McFist robot? Or maybe it is a ninja suit operating of its own, or by remote control.

The Nomicon send Randy back to his body, drooling in his bed.

-Or a former Ninja spirit? I mean, I do not believe being the ninja can give you immortality. Or a ghost wishing he was the Ninja when he has alive?- he rubbed his chin, intrigued –Or maybe is a girl in cosplay… with superpowers. And what if he is a magical being, like the Tengu?

.-.

The second time the ghost Ninja appeared was during Bucky´s weekly stank. The Ninja could stop the monster with ease, and then he looked directly towards the being he noted seconds before putting his mask on. In the gym, when he finally de-stanked Bucky, the crowd began to cheer the real Ninja, and then they turned to see what his hero was looking at. They were surprised immediately.

-Smoke bomb!

The Ninja appeared a few feet away from the ghost Ninja. Hearing the near explosion, the being turned, open a little his mouth and showing the tatter in his mask. When the smoke dissipated, they looked at each other.

-Hi- said Randy, cautious.

The other smiled, not saying a word, and turned his body to him.

-I think we haven´t being presented- the blue eyed-teen continued.

The ghost Ninja jumped to him, and Randy jumped back, keeping the distance, from window to window and from cornice to cornice. The Ninja observed the other seemed to be waiting for something, not showing himself, by the moment, aggressive. He gasped, moving the tattered cloth in his mouth in and out his mouth.

-Hey, if you are going to keep appearing like this, you should at least say to me how you want to be called. I do not think you are called ghost Ninja, right?

The other shook his head and smiled.

The Ninja tilted his head, curious.

-It may not be a good idea to you to appear like this- he continued –If you do not know what you can face, you could be hurt by robots or stanked students.

More gasps.

-Sorry, I didn´t understand.

The ghost Ninja gasped with certain rhythm, like trying to talk, but the words did not come out of his mouth.

The Ninja arched a brow.

The other looked over his shoulder, like hearing something at the distance, and jumped from the window to the ground. He ran towards the woods, under Randy´s watchful eyes, who decided to follow him. With all the stealth he could use, he followed the black and green being. They crossed the woods, and Randy observed the other was using camouflage. He did the same immediately.

He would not have noted it, If not for his increased senses.

Three robolizards appeared and began to run at the ghost Ninja side, and the boy jump and rode one of them, turning almost invisible. Almost, because Randy was not a normal person, and he keep following them undetected to the site he knew, now by sure, they were going. What surprised him a little was the fact they entered for a lateral door, not for the ventilation ducts or the service door. Like any other employee.

Really.

Keeping his camouflage, the Ninja slipped between the roboapes guarding the door, noting dozens of robolizards inside the giant pyramid. The ghost Ninja went through a door hidden behind a picture, with the robotic tide, and Randy almost followed.

He saw himself going through the door, behind the other, and being captured immediately with a paralyzing ray. Then, the ghost Ninja walked towards him, and tried to took the mask off Randy, but he did not succeed. And then, the Ninja was tossed inside a laser-bar cell.

He snapped back to reality, like waking of a dream.

Judging for the robolizard flow, not a half second has passed in the daydream-like state.

However, he was not going to take the risk. He turned around and exited through a window, a couple of floors above, in an office full of McFist employees. His camouflage worked all the way with his image, but did not help with his weight or the sound he emitted. He passed several desks and saw some familiar faces, taking special care in not revealing himself.

Once outside, he ran towards school, invisible.

.-.

-You were right, Tengu- he said after school –This suit have things the last did not have.

-Is that all?- the demon bird asked, puffing his chest, not showing feathers but with red eyes.

-The other Ninja was created by McFist, or so it seems. And now they raised the level.

-With the abilities you have now, if you polish and dominate them, you could defeat them- Tengu did not stop walking during all the conversation –The Sorcerer is not going to sit down and commit the same mistakes over and over, looking how you get better. And now the one who grow up a level is you.

-And by the way, did you dominate the super jumps?- Howard asked, with his light brown eyes.

.-.

The Sorcerer waited.

Not like before, of course, since he had glimpsed, for first time in centuries, a real possibility of freedom. And then the Tengu snatched it away. With a cold fury, bigger than any other in his years of imprisonment, he calculated his next steps.

Viceroy was capable, very capable, to achieving it.

It was time to test the boy.

.-.

.-.

Should I include a new mythical creature or not?

Oh, my, I really want to put the Tengu in a situation with Randy, including cuddles and kisses… and Randy accepting it. In the other hand, Yaoi exist even for inanimate objects, and the fanfic "Unique desires" was so hot, I don´t think I could do it better, at least, not now.

Nakokun