Prologue: Marvelous Ninjers

The warm, Gamindustri sun peered through the bedroom dorm of a bright, orange haired girl. Getting up out of bed, she combed the tangles out of her hair all except for a natural cowlick which curled into a letter M on the top of her head. Picking out her favorite, off white and black school uniform from the closet, Marvelous AQL, or Marvy as most called her, squeezed the outfit around her top-heavy balloons.

"Oh, why must you always be such a pain?" buttoning one button, it just barely exposed her stomach and jiggle physics before leading down to her black skirt. "There we go." Marvy smiled as she began to put on the rest of her academy clothes, including her long shoes and a pair of cuffs to match her outfit.

"Now where did I put my ribbon?" Marvy then began to scour her room, searching for the red ribbon she always wore around her neck, partially to keep her shirt in check. "Oh. I swear I always keep my ribbon on my desk! Where could I have put it?" Opening the drawer of her nightstand, Marvy noticed the familiar red ribbon inside.

"Oh! There you are, you naughty goose! Now what were you doing in there?" Marvy said picking it up, almost ready to put it around her neck when her eyes caught a glimpse of a notebook which the ribbon had sat on. Picking the book up slowly, her bright music-noted eyes beginning to turn a shade of sadness as she read the cover. "Sen Kag. By; Marvelous AQL, Tamsoft, X-Sha, Cri, Honey. A Takaki Academy production." The names Tamsoft and Cri crossed out.

Marvy's eyes then drifted to her two blades on the wall. While she carried them almost daily, the swords did not originally belong to Marvy, as they were once the blades of her fallen comrades. the girls whose names had been crossed on the notebook out now pierced her heart harder than the swords she carried thousands of times. "Never… stop smiling…" Marvy looked down as those words rang in her ear.

A sudden knock at her door broke her trance as the adorable loli-like voice of Honey, one of her fellow students called out, "Marvy! Marvy! We have an emergency!"

Quickly putting the notebook back in her nightstand, Marvy walked up and opened the door to a short but rather voluptuous girl with a purple ponytail. "Honey! What's wrong!?"

"Come on! We gotta hurry. The Maker Sphere has been stolen!" Honey frantically exclaimed. Shortly thereafter, Marvy quickly followed her classmate Honey into the main ninja room, which was decorated with shurikens, kunai, and yoroi attire among other things. At a miniature sushi bar sat a tall girl with flowing, long red hair and a figure possibly more enhanced than Marvy or even Lady Green Heart.

"How did it happen, X-Sha?! Who stole it!?" Marvy cried

"Whoa, slow down there. Let's take it one at a time." X-Sha said through gentle, white eyes. One of Marvy's oldest friends, X-Sha was cool and collected, a seasoned shinobi even compared to Marvy. "Now. I'm almost positive I know who did it. A short, blonde girl came late last night, simply asking for shelter. Honey, of course decided to let her in and even share a late-night meal with her."

"I'm sorry!" Honey dropped her head, pouting. Walking over, X-Sha rubbed her shoulder, consoling her. Marvy then asked what happened, Honey picking up from where X left off. "She… seemed harmless enough. Like she just wanted to get out of the rain. I felt pity on her. So, I heated us both up some soup since I was on night duty and needed some energy. After that I slowly got drowsy and the next thing I know… I wake up to a messy table to find X-Sha scolding me."

"It seems the girl slipped some Sunflowery Powder into Honey's soup while she wasn't looking." X-Sha continued. "Somehow she managed to sneak past our security system. Or rather, I woke up to find that it had been disabled by a hacker of sorts."

"You're sure!?" Marvy's eyes widened.

"That's the only explanation we could link it to, as the intel shinobi tell me that the systems had all gone haywire when they awoke. But scouts say that the girl left from town about 1a.m. (1) heading in the direction slightly east-northeast. And there can only be two areas in that direction she could have gone." X-Sha said.

Marvy nodded, "Mm! the Atari Marsh and Donkong Ruins. But something's bothering me… What would anyone want with the Maker Sphere? We don't even know what it does since we haven't talked about it since… since the… incident." Marvy choked on her words, her voice cracking as she thought back to her long-fallen comrades.

Honey and X-Sha exchanged somber glances before X leaned back smiling sympathetically at Marvelous. "Hey. You did the best you could, Marvy. They knew what had to be done. All we can do is keep smiling for them."

"For WHAT!? Getting some kind of weird, circular gem that we virtually know nothing about was worth losing our friends?! LET THAT THEIF RUN OFF WITH IT FOR ALL I CARE!" Marvy's eyes watered.

Honey gasped before nearly shedding a few tears herself. "M-marvy!"

Marvy then began crying into X-Sha's bosom. "I miss them, X-Sha!"

X-Sha hugged Marvy gently, "We all do, Marvy. We all do. Sometimes I think the same, wanting to throw that stupid sphere into the furnace. But… maybe this whole thing is our fault. For we should have-…"

A sudden knock at the door came before a masked, female ninja of a lower class approached. X-Sha turned around, glaring at the shinobi. "I thought the sign said 'do not disturb until further notice'. Now, I don't smell smoke and I don't hear screams of death, so get out."

"A-a-actually, miss X-Sha, I bring a message! You weren't answering the communicator, so I came up in person." the shinobi timidly backed away.

"Because we're busy. Tell them they'll have to wait. We're in the middle of something important!" X-Sha snapped.

"UH! Th-that would be a… terrible idea, miss X-Sha!" the shinobi began sweatdropping through her mask.

"Who is so damn important that they've the nerve to interrupt the elites of Takaki Academy? Lady White Heart?!" X-Sha's hands were now on her hips.

"A-actually miss X-Sha… Yes. Our divine Lady of Lowee." The ninja responded.

"Lady Blanc?" Marvy mumbled.

X-Sha's eyes grew exponentially before sweatdropping. "Well, that changes everything. Um, good job, shinobi. Sorry for bein' difficult."

"Oh, don't worry, miss X-Sha. We're used to your mood swings by now." The shinobi girl said, X-Sha now forming an annoyed frown. "I mean-… um… hehe. Lady White Heart is on Line 1!"

As the grunt ran off, X-Sha, Marvy, and Honey quickly ran over to pick up the video receiver to see Blanc on the other end. "Lady Blanc." Marvy closed her hands together, bowing briefly before X-Sha and Honey did the same.

"Marvy. It's been a while. And to you too, X-Sha, Honey." Blanc said at the other end.

"To what honor has our Lady White Heart contacted us?" X-Sha asked.

"I am calling upon the services of Takaki Academy for espionage. A situation has arisen and I want to request Marvy to check it out." Blanc stated.

"What kind of situation?" Honey asked.

"An old friend of mine dropped in for an unexpected visit, chasing some criminals. Not long after her arrival, rumors have reported strange lights going off around Donkong Ruins. Flashes of red, green, and yellow. Unfortunately, I've been too busy myself to verify such rumors myself, and until I can get a confirmation, I've more important things to attend to now. Besides, Marvy's one of the best in her field." Blanc smiled.

Marvy nodded, "With honor and happiness, my Lady. It is Takaki Academy's duty to serve Lowee."

"So, you'll do it, then?" Blanc asked.

"Absolutely." X-Sha replied. "How could we turn our Lady down?"

"Wonderful. As expected of Takaki Academy. Can you leave within the next few hours?"

"Certainly, Lady Blanc!" Marvy perked up, smiling. "I'll get ready as soon as we're off the phone with you." After a little more back and forth, Blanc hung up, leaving the three elites to continue their conversation.

"Well, this couldn't have turned out better if I planned it." X-Sha said.

"Do you think there's a correlation between what's happening at the ruins and the thief who took the Maker Sphere?" Marvy asked.

"It's possible" X-Sha said.

"Actually. I think it's quite probable." Honey added. "With the dress that girl was wearing, I don't think she'd wanna go through the swampy Atari Marshes. Plus, the place is crawling with monsters. At Donkong Ruins, she'd be able to hide better though."

"Yes. And the Marshlands would leave her more vulnerable!" Marvy sent her fist into her hand. "It makes perfect sense."

"I'm kinda jealous that Lady White Heart requested you like that, Marvy. You're so lucky." Honey smiled.

"Well… I do it all for Lowee." Marvy grinned back.

"Marvy. Honey." X-Sha turned to her teammates. "I owe you both an apology. The incident traumatized us so that we just locked away any traces of it. When we should have been looking into what this Maker Sphere actually does. I have failed you both as your senior and your friend."

"No, X. We're all guilty of that." Honey protested.

"Right. Me especially. In fact, just today I discovered one of our old projects. Do you remember the book we were writing together, X-Sha? Honey?" Marvy tried to grin.

"Ah, good old Sen Kag. The one about those super sexy ninjers and their nauseating knockers? How could I forget." X-Sha smirked, walking up to Marvy as she lightly groped her friend's coconuts from underneath.

"Ah! X! it's no wonder we made the busty blonde after you!" Marvy smirked.

"Well maybe if you didn't dress so naughty, I could resist more." X replied.

"I-it's just cooler and easier to move in. We're at the southern border of Lowee ya know." Marvy pouted.

"Uh huuuuhhh. Suuuuure." X-Sha grinned as Marvy pushed her off.

"Yikes. X-Sha, more like XXX-Sha." Honey's eyes whitened nervously.

X-Sha let out a sigh. "You and Tammy were always so cute when you acted out like that. So, what happened to it? The story…"

"We… never finished. After we lost Tammy and Cri… it just… fell to the sidelines." Marvy's eyes began to drift before she turned back to her classmates. "But X is right. The best we can do is move forward and keep smiling. And… hopefully learn from our mistakes."

"That's right, Marvy." Honey said.

"Better get going then, Marvy." X-Sha said, "You've a goddess to impress." Marvy nodded, preparing to head out on her mission for her lady, her land, her friends, and herself.

Rain battered the balcony of Hanzo National Academy. Just inside, Ikaruga sat in silence, her eyes staring coldly at the table, drained of any life. Katsuragi, Murakumo, and Yomi stood beside her, with the rest of the team, Asuka, Yagyu, and Hibari, being close by. Yomi gently placed a hand over her friend's shoulder, saying "Even if they don't understand, I am sure a one-day delay shall not be a huge issue. It is only human for us to need time to mourn."

"Really, Yomi. I am fine. I'll be ready in ten." Ikaruga stood up slowly, beginning to walk towards the balcony door, but Yomi's hand still gripped onto her shoulder with pleading eyes.

"Just please. Don't be afraid to be open with us. We want to help as best we can." Yomi said. Ikaruga gave a light smile and nod, Yomi then letting her hand limply slide off Ikaruga's shoulder as the latter headed towards the balcony.

"I don't know how she does it. Losing her father and being handed responsibility of the family business only a year after her douchebag brother runs away?" Katsuragi commented.

"Katsu-ne!" Asuka folded her arms.

"What? From what I heard, the guy always had a grudge against Ikaruga just cause he wasn't a good shinobi." Katsuragi shrugged, "Still, to go through all of that and keep her cool. It's impressive. She's one of the most marvelous ninjas I've ever known."

"She's dealt with loss. And now has the pressure of losing even more now that the business has passed down to her. She has to keep her cool." Came the deep voice of Murakumo from under her mask.

"Ooh, but it's not good for her!" Yomi sent her fist into her palm, "I swear, us Japanese don't know how to be more expressive and it's not good for us!"

"You're just outgoing, Yomi." Murakumo commented. But as Murakumo and Yomi began a back and forth debate which got the attention of the other Hanzo girls, Hibari slipped past them all, onto the balcony where Ikaruga's arms leaned onto the handrail.

Without even exchanging eye contact, Hibari joined Ikaruga, looking outwards to the misty haze of rain which reflected the Asakusa district of Tokyo. After a moment of silence, Ikaruga spoke the words, "I just wish I had spent more time with him."

Still not making eye contact, Hibari continued the conversation with her eyes fixed on the rainy Japanese city. "I felt the same way about a year ago. When they told me, my littlest brother took his own life." Ikaruga inquired more, saying that she thought Hibari was the youngest. Hibari shook her head, "The family never really recognized Suraku much, because unlike me, he didn't want to be a shinobi so much that he often refused. He tried pleasing the family in other ways, but they always turned him down. Since I inherited Kagan and my training intensified, I barely saw him anymore. I regret that I didn't."

"I guess it's the price we pay as shinobi." Ikaruga muttered.

Hibari then turned to look at her senior, "Shinobi or not, we all experience loss sometime. We just have to stay strong… For those we lose and those we still have." Ikaruga turned to look at Hibari, who continued. "And you're very strong, Ikaruga. Not just in body, but also mind. I know you'll do great things with Yomi and Murakumo at the redevelopment project."

Ikaruga gave a light smile, "I'll certainly try my best." Ikaruga then felt a strange pulse within her heart, as she made brief eye contact with a stranger below, who's cloaked hood revealed only brown bangs and orange-gold eyes.

"What is it?" Hibari asked, but Ikaruga shrugged it off, saying she was probably imagining things.