A lot of Dialogue in this one, mainly to explain some background on the gems.

All copyright info in chapter 1

The 3 Shadows, Episode 4 - Hunters

Chapter 5 - Understanding the gems

Diamond awoke on a strange bed. She knew she was still in the Gem's Hideout, but it took her some time to work out where. Besides a few bruises and a sore stomach she was fine. She sat up and saw the 3 Shadows playing cards on a nearby table. She was in their special rest room.

"Hey you're awake. Wanna join us?" asked Joz. Diamond got out of the bed and sat down at the table.

"How long was I out for?" asked Diamond

"A few hours. You did take quite a beating after all", said Joz.

"Gin!" said Miles grinning. The other two shadows threw their cards on the table.

"Damn! Well you can't win them all. You in Diamond?" asked Joz.

"Sure", said Diamond. Joz dealt the four layers 7 cards each and they began another round of Gin.

"Did you go on to fight Emerald?" asked Diamond.

"Not yet. The initiation and the fight with you were pretty intense. I'll probably rest again after Emerald and Ruby", replied Joz.

"Taking it easy huh?" asked Diamond.

"Well, it's not been that long since we beat Gerald last. He usually takes a couple of weeks to recover and attack again", said Joz, "Might as well take my time"

"You know I never thought I'd be relaxing playing cards with someone I've more or less always hated", said Diamond.

"So what is the story behind the gems anyway?" asked Joz.

Emerald, Ruby and myself joined GASH at a very young age. We had lost our families, and the foster ones only upset us. We felt angry at the world and started lashing out. We robbed people and tested our limits everytime. Soon we found we had no moral limits. GASH saw this in each of us and sent Sapphire to collect us. To this date she has never told us her story, but she became out mentors. For years we trained under her, learning expert sword skills and enhancing our strength, speed and agility. We were being trained to kill, to be cold, ruthless and professional. We learned stealth and tracking skills. We were being trained to be the best Assassins, Spies and Bounty hunters this world has ever know. We've worked hard to be GASH graduates. When we passed all 3 of us begged to be Sapphire's apprentices. She accepted and soon we were a team. It was a lot of hard work and then we heard some nobody became the Master hunter overnight. We were really pissed, Sapphire more than any of us. She planned all of this and we accepted each dedicated to taking out this poser and bringing glory back to GASH and the Deadly Gems.

"Wow! I can see why you hate Joz so much", said Shadow, "I would hate some poser coming out of nowhere being labelled better than me"

"Your story is tragic but no to different from my own. If my parents had been killed at that age I might've been a menace too. I might've been a member of GASH. But then perhaps I wouldn't have went to REE, got my sixth sense and become as good as I am", said Joz.

"Perhaps. But I do apologise, I should've met you before I judged you", said Diamond, "From the info we gathered we saw more to you that we first thought. We noticed your tragic past being similar to our own. And when we heard about your gemcrazes we saw you overcome a tremendous burden"

"You know about my gemcrazes?" asked Joz.

"Yeah! But although you had shown some more creditible achievements we still thought you didn't deserve the title of Master. It was only a matter of time before we found you and lured you to this", said Diamond.

"Hey look guys we've been playing this game for ages now. Oh wait Gin!" said Miles.

"Not again!" said Joz; "I'm beginning to think you've been cheating".

The four laughed and played cards for the rest of the night. After a good nights rest it was on with the tournament.