The Mysterious Masks
Author's Note: Hi there! This is Kate and this is my new version of my story "The Mysterious Masks". Basically I've edited and made changes to the old version and written a newer version. The reason for this is because I wrote the old version ages ago when I was not so good at structuring and writing stories and I also wanted to add some new things in. Just so you know I don't own any of the 3 Ninja's (although I wish I did) and I did make up other characters that are not in the movies. If there is any similarities between the characters and real life people it was unintentional and I apologise.
Also some basic Japanese is used. I apologise if I have misspelt or used incorrect Japanese terms. Please forgive me because I'm only learning. I have also included their definitions for Japanese terms in brackets straight after the term has been used.
Hopefully this will be better! So please read and review! ENJOY!
Chapter 1: Three Ninja's, Three Masks
"AI-YAH!" came a voice from a young ninja, wearing a dark green gi (gi is a ninja uniform or suit) who appeared out of nowhere, thrusting his wooden bow forward aimed as his opponent who until that moment had been walking stealthily in the shadows of a thick foliaged forest. Standing alone, now vulnerable and exposed in the open the black ninja heard the green ninja's presence and in defence blocked the incoming bow, with his own bow.
Immediately the green ninja made another attempt, but was unsuccessful as the black ninja's bow thrust the bow out of the green ninja's grip and then was aimed at the green ninja's legs, making him trip up and then land on the ground with a soft thud.
As the green ninja fell to the ground, defeated, a blue ninja appeared in his place. In each of his hands he held two silver ninja stars. With speed and precision the blue ninja threw the ninjas stars, one by one, immediately after releasing the one before it, but failed to make it past the wooden bow that the black ninja used to thrust the stars aside, like worthless, light pieces of scrap metal. Yelling out from his failed attempts the blue ninja with sudden, unpredictable movement, thrust forward with his strong body, throwing wild and uncontrollable kicks and punches at the black ninja.
A smaller yellow ninja came out from behind a nearby tree to assist the blue ninja in his attempt to defeat the black ninja with body combat. Throwing kicks and punching in every direction of the black ninja they fought fearlessly but was unable to overcome the skill of the black ninja who opposed them alone and also blocked all strikes thrown in his direction, what seemed effortlessly.
After blocking a high blow to the head, the black ninja threw a small unrecognisable object to the ground, then smiled behind his mask as thick grey smoke appeared around him and in the commotion he disappeared from sight.
The three boys yelled in disappointment once the smoke dispersed, revealing the missing and undefeated black ninja.
The blue ninja, furiously ripped off his mask and revealed his frowning face. "Oh man he beat us again!" Colt exclaimed, angrily.
"It's not fair! We should have beaten him. There was three of us and only one of him." Tum Tum agreed, with his older brother.
"That's exactly why we should have beaten him, we had outnumbered him" the eldest boy, the green ninja, Rocky said. "But let's face it he's better than us!" he said shrugging it off.
The three, young but handsome teenage brother's spent every summer at their grandpa's cabin, training to the best of their ability to become skilled ninjas. Although their real names were Samuel, Jeffrey and Michael Douglas, It was their hard work and enthusiasm that earnt their coloured gi's and their ninja names Rocky, Colt and Tum Tum given to them by their grandpa, Mori Shintaro, a great ninja and Sensei (sensei means teacher).
Rocky, formally known as Samuel Douglas was 15 years old and the eldest son of the Douglas family. He had light brown hair with deep green eyes and was given the name Rocky because he is strong and solid (like a rock lol). His position as eldest of the family has made him responsible and he also has a lot of patience even in bad situations and likes to be in control.
Colt who was named Jeffrey is the second eldest son of the Douglas family at the age of 14. He had dark brown hair and hazel eyes that seemed to reflect his wild and impatient nature. It was his impatience, speed and wildness that his ninja name Colt, meaning wild young horse was given to him and it was his nature that seemed to get him into trouble at times and his fighting and patience sometimes uncontrollable.
Tum Tum also named Michael is the youngest of the Douglas family at the age of 12. He too like his older brother's but a darker colour brown hair and hazel eyes. Tum Tum's ninja name was given to him as his whole world including his energy for his ninja skills revolves around his stomach, as he is always preoccupied about feeding his bottomless tummy.
Disappointed, the three made their way back to the cabin. It seemed the no matter how hard they trained, or how long they trained the fought against their grandpa the outcome was always the same. Their grandpa remained undefeated.
Tum Tum was the first to arrive and opened the wooden door to the cabin. "Grandpa how did you get here so fast?" Tum Tum exclaimed, surprised to see his grandpa was standing inside, waiting for his grandson's, holding a large wooden chests, with beautiful Japanese carvings engraved in the sides.
"Their called legs Tum Tum!" Colt remarked, rolling his eyes. Rocky, nudged his brother warningly.
" Hey Grandpa what's in the chest?" Rocky asked, eyeing the chest their grandpa was cradling carefully in his steady arms before his younger brothers began to argue.
"Ah come here and I will show you" his grandpa replied, smiling, then placing the chest, with caution on the dinning room table.
Curious to find out what was inside the chest, the three brothers gathered around their old grandpa wondering and waiting, to look inside the chest, which had never been revealed to them before.
Slowly their grandpa opened the chest lid. It creaked open, indicating it's lack of usage and old age. The interior of the chest was aligned with soft black velvet and at the very bottom lay three very beautiful Japanese Ninja masks. Each mask was distinctly painted with different colours and design in great detail.
"Hey cool ninja masks!" Colt exclaimed and excitedly. Tum Tum's and Rocky's faces lit up into smiles.
"These Masks are very old and have been in our family for generations. They belonged to my grandfather" Grandpa Shintaro told his grandsons, who looked admiringly at the masks. "And I think it is about time I passed them down to you boys" he said, softly.
He picked up one of the masks and held it up into the sunlight, filtered through the window. It was white, with different shades of green painted in detailed patterns. "Rocky this is for you" He said, presenting the masks over to his eldest grandson, who could bot take his eyes off the mask.
"Wow thanks grandpa" Rocky, said, receiving his gift and studying it in awe.
Grandpa Shintaro then picked out another mask from inside the chest. It was also white but instead of green, blue paint was used to decorate it.
"Colt, this mask is for you" Grandpa Shintaro said, holding out the mask to his second eldest grandson.
"This is really cool" Colt said, taking the mask, "Thanks grandpa!".
Finally the last mask was taken from the chest. "This mask is for you Tum Tum!"
Tum Tum gratefully received the mask, covered with yellow designs painted on it. "Thanks grandpa these are almost as good as jellybeans" he said, but it came out muffled because of the gummy bear he was chewing on.
"You can't eat it!" Colt muttered.
Their grandpa smiled. "I'm glad you boys like them and I'm sure you all will be very carefully with them," he said, trustingly.
"Don't worry grandpa, we'll look after them" Rocky said reassuringly.
"Hey check it out!" Tum Tum said, putting his mask on. Tum Tum made a fierce growl. "How does it look?"
"It looks awesome" Rocky replied.
"Ah!" Colt said shielding his eyes. "It's hideous! Leave it on!" he joked when Tum Tum took the mask off. Rocky laughed and grandpa Shintaro chuckled.
"Hey!" Tum Tum exclaimed, not appreciating his brother's comment. "Come here and I'll karate (Karate is a Japanese martial art form. Although Ninjitsu is a Japanese martial arts form performed by ninjas I thought karate sounded better) kick your ass!" he said, threateningly.
"Hey no one's going to be karate kicking anyone's ass" Rocky said, grabbing his little brother's arm before he leaped of his seat after Colt. His brother's looked at him. "For now" he added. When at Rocky's request the two younger brother's did as they were told. Usually.
Rocky and Tum Tum went back to studying their masks when Colt was distracted by something lying at the bottom of the chest in the corner of his eye.
"Hey what's this?" Colt asked curiously, picking up the eye catching, paper like object from the chest. He held it out for everyone to see.
It was an old, black and white photo, of two boys looking at the camera. One of the boys was wearing a mask and did not reveal any glimpses of the face behind the mask. The other figure belonged to a young, Japanese boy of similar body height and structure, holding two other masks, one in each of his hands. Each of the masks had been detailed and painted exactly the same as the masks the three brother's had just been given.
"Wow those masks in the photo are exactly the same as the ones we have" Tum Tum pointed out.
"Gee your quick" Colt said sarcastically.
"Your right Tum Tum" Rocky acknowledged while glancing at the photo. "Hey grandpa do you know who these people are?" Rocky asked, handing the photo to the old man sitting at the end of the table.
Their grandpa sat back in his chair, staring at the photo for a moment in odd, awkward silence. Although his face portrayed no emotion he seemed sad and hesitant to say anything.
So who are the boys in the photo? Do the masks recently been given to the 3 ninjas have anything to do with the photo? Why isn't Grandpa Shintaro saying anything?
First rewritten and edited chapter finished! What do you think? Better? Worse? No difference? Well please review in response. I'd love to know what you think.