Disclaimer: Ok. I'm getting sick of the lack of indentation … oh well. Guess I'll have to live with it huh. Well so will you! Ha! Uhm yeah anyhow. Raimei Shimofuri's mine … and the tights are Track tights … not stockings!
The Quest
" Your journey will begin here. Follow this brook" he pointed up stream. " Find my temple. If you succeed, then we will begin your training. And answer those various questions that float about freely in your youthful mind." When he finished, he turned and walked away while she stared at the water, unable to pull herself from its flow. When she finally was able to look away, about a second or two after he passed her, she spun around, her mouth open and ready to talk.
" But!" nothing, he was gone and once more she was alone in a new place. She sighed and looked at the water again, debating whether or not she should try and find this temple. She looked up at the midnight sky, the woods where practically jet-black; the only light about was that of the large, bright, full moon. She hadn't noticed the darkness since all her life she had been in darkness, from the moment of birth till now. Even in the temple it was relatively dim, the only light being that of large clay statues holding lit coals or torches. She snorted and decided she had nothing better to do and ran along the brook side. The path she was running on getting shallower and shallower until she found herself actually running in the brook which by now had grown into a waist deep, rapid-less river. Because of the direction Sub-Zero had told her to go in, she was fighting against the strong water, her speed lowered to a painful haul. The river shrank back down into a calm brook now holding a fork. She sighed, still standing in the water. Her jeans where soaked but thankfully her shirt remained, for the most part, dry. She examined both ways, one way leading calmly to the east then slowly angling south and probably veering another direction later on. The other was straight north but she'd be fighting more harsh water, she could feel its power already. And something told her it was cold. Her mind told her east, to the warm calm water, but instead she followed that little voice in her that dragged her into all of this in the first place, and went north.
She was very right about stronger rapids and colder water, but she hadn't expected to see large rocks in the water, nor the water's temperature to be so cold, it was ridiculous. She fought her way up to a rock that looked stable enough and started to climb up it but then she stopped and stood hushed against the rapids, that tiny voice in her speaking up again. She decided not to rest, this time her mind agreed. Getting out and warming up would mean jumping back in and getting used to the water again. She trucked against the small rapids, her main concern not the powerful water, but the various rocks that aligned the bottom and sides of the river. She finally came across a calm area and stood to regain her energy, sapped away by the water. To her shock, she didn't see fish floating up in the water. Her power based on electricity, she was very similar to Raiden, but she had several other gifts as well. She shrugged it off as another question to be answered later if she got there, no, when she got there. She continued through the water, her legs starting to go numb, her feet where no longer there. This was the first time she had ever gone numb to cold, always being able to withstand extreme cold in any circumstance. As she was walking to the temple earlier, there was snow collecting. The concrete was pretty cold but she hadn't realized it. She finally came to a snow covered, yet barren field. It seemed odd, she felt as though she was in the arctic. She pulled herself out of the water and walked forward, feeling like she was at the right area. She looked around for a moment before running off, using all of the energy she had to bend her cold knees and joints, lift up her numb legs, and push off using her frozen muscles, then repeating. She ran relatively fast even though she couldn't feel her legs. The snow suddenly went from an ankles height to knee deep. Unbeknownst to her, lying dormant below the ice covered snow, rested several traps, awaiting their target, their prey.
One step forward then another one, then one to the side to avoid a tiny bush, then the sound of air being sliced in two caught her ears. She turned to see a large spring trap, like one for a mouse only for a human instead and with metal thorns aligning the trap, snapping down towards her. She quickly stopped in her tracks, her legs stretching forward to kick herself backward into the trap. She stood dead still as the clasp slammed down in front of her and onto a stick she had been standing over earlier. It normally would have took her a second to recollect herself, but this time she simply growled and leapt gracefully over the trap running forward again. Now taking leaps in order to get around, the snow having grown from knee deep to thigh deep. She heard the sound of sliced air once more and dove forward but her timing was off this time, it nabbed her the thorns digging deep into her jeans but only scratching her calf muscle. She struggled to free her pants from the trap but to no avail. Her jeans where made to last and that trap wasn't going to give them up at all. She had been through at least a mile of frigid rapids, fighting against them, running in snow and dodging traps. She had no plan of just giving up now because of some indestructible pants. She snarled and unzipped them, pulling them off in a sweep, exposing her black speedo tights underneath. She then bounded off again, leaving her warm pants in the snow. Now with at least a good five pounds of wet jeans off of her, she bounded through the snow more freely and easily, bouncing here and there, avoiding any place that looked like there might have been a trap there. The moon's light reflecting off of the snow and lighting the night up. She continued bounding, though now another obstacle stood in her way.
A small cliff stood in front of her. She was no climbing expert but she knew there was no other way around. She grasped a hold of a rock and pulled herself up but then realized that would take too long, so she let go and walked away. About a hundred meters away she stopped and turned back for the cliff, the snow evenly half way up her calf, apparently there was an incline leading up to the cliff but the snow hid that. She took a moment to take a deep breath and gathered herself then in a flash she was running at her top speed at her current, weakened condition. When she came up to the cliff, she leapt as high as she possibly could and grappled on to where ever she landed. Her other arm extending up and grasping a rock, sturdy or not. Her feet clasped to the rocks and helped to push herself upwards, the souls of her feet molding to fit the matching shape of the rock for grip and support. Things seemed to get worse the higher she got. Snow and wind began to attack her. She struggled hard to keep a hold of the rocks she held. Her feet slipping several times due to the snow and her body beginning to numb due to the cold, harsh wind. Blinded by the snow, she failed to notice the top of the cliff was about an arms reach away, reaching up after having grasped the top, she flailed, having grasped only air. In a mid panic, she pulled herself over the edge and rolled away from it to catch her breath.
She looked to her left at the drop of earth, surprised that she had made it up that cliff, then to the right at the temple. Indeed it was within her grasp, just a quick sprint and she's be home free, but her body couldn't see what her mind knew. She whined as she tried to move herself, trying to lift one body part at a time. She managed to pick her arms up then got the blood moving to strengthen her shoulder and arm muscles. She rolled over onto her stomach and began crawling for the temple. She was so close, she refused to allow some snow to stop her. She felt her energy coming back, but even stronger. Bolts of electricity flared about her body, re energizing her stiff muscles enough to allow her to stumble up to the temple. She fell into the door her body giving out then and there. She felt herself collapse. The vision of a man opening the door and kneeling over her was the last thing she saw before falling into a black sleep.