Caitlyn nearly fell down the ladder as she ran back inside the train. She couldn't afford Rakan keeping her occupied, not without knowing where the other, Xayah, was. Were they assassins sent by the shadowy organization on a mission to make sure that her investigation came to an abrupt and violent end? Or were they enemies of the ninja, completely unrelated to her mission?
Either way, she had to warn them. If Xayah was taking a stealthy approach, then they may not know she was even in the train until it was too late. Part of her thought that they would surely know if somebody was sneaking up on them, but then again, they were only human. And a yordle. They couldn't be vigilant all the time.
Her concerns were unwarranted, as soon as she burst into the ninjas' traincar to warn them, she had to duck as something very fast and very sharp flew in her direction. She popped up and looked behind her to see what looked like a feather shaped dagger, embedded in the wall of the adjacent car.
No further attacks came in her direction, as currently Xayah was being occupied by being attacked by all three ninja at once. She hurriedly checked to make sure her rifle was loaded and started firing.
Caitlyn was a very good shot, but even she couldn't strike a target that moved that fast, and in a confined space where the range of her weapon was nullified, it was almost pointless to fire. But she did anyway, because she didn't want to just sit and hope the ninja could contain her.
Xayah was a violet blur, darting from one side of the room to the other, each dash spawning razor sharp feathers that shredded clothing and drew blood.
Caitlyn was the only one who felt that the feathers were that sharp however, as the ninja dodged every single feather that came close to striking them. Caitlyn however wasn't as agile. After getting a couple of cuts, she was starting to get irritated.
Her rifle was loaded with tranquilizers because she didn't want to kill the creature, but question her. She needed to know if she and Rakan were connected to the Ionian elders, and if so, how much did they know about their secret mission.
Meanwhile she envied the ninja. Akali was a green blur of fury and blades, the closest one to match Xayah's speed, she chased her around the train. She twisted her body in midair, sidestepped, or simply blocked the feathers with her kama. Once she got close enough to cut a feather loose from the cape Xayah wore. But after that the vastaya seemed to redouble her efforts to stay just out of reach.
Kennen was faster than both Akali and Xayah, but clearly the bird woman was used to being outnumbered. Whenever Kennen would come in for an attack from one side, Xayah would maneuver herself between both ninja only to move at the last second. Causing Kennen's reckless attacks to often strike Akali instead.
Akali wasn't the only victim of Kennen's attacks however. Seats were destroyed, cushions were ripped into pieces, and lights shorted out.
Throughout this, Shen seemed to move little. Besides to move his sword an inch or two in any direction to deflect or slice feathers that approached him in half.
After analyzing Xayah's movements, Caitlyn lined up a perfect shot that would be sure to strike her.
Her breathing slowed, her focus became razor sharp. The cuts on her body no longer mattered, she didn't even feel them. Everything blurred save for the nimble vastaya.
Then Shen inadvertently moved in the way. But it was too late, Caitlyn had pulled the trigger.
Fortunately Shen's movement did not stop, and so he passed out of her line of sight just in time to avoid the shot. His movement however caused Xayah to dart in the other direction. Causing Caitlyn to miss completely. She cursed under her breath and looked in the sights once again. But instead of the railcar's magnified she saw Shen.
Despite the mask she could tell he was annoyed. "You almost shot me." The flippin' ninja said calmly.
"It was an accident!" Caitlyn protested.
"Caitlyn, you need to let us know when we're in the path of the shots you intend to fire. We are not a unified combat unit, you cannot expect us to know where and when you will shoot."
His tone was the kind of schoolteacher sternness that Caitlyn hoped she would never hear after getting out of middle school.
"Despite what the stories say about our prowess." He suddenly raised two fingers and caught a feather before it lodged itself in the back of his head, yet didn't stop talking. "We are not infallible or psychic. You cannot expect us to know when attacks are coming from unexpected directions."
Caitlyn just looked at him with disbelief. "How did you-"
"I am a ninja." Shen interrupted, before turning and rejoining the fray.
All of a sudden an orange streak joined the purple one, and Caitlyn immediately knew that Rakan had joined the fray. She started getting worried. If Xayah can take us on her own, She mused, then both of them together may get the upper hand. Rakan however didn't seem to be interested in attacking, at least not as much as Xayah. Instead he was more focused on protecting Xayah.
He created barriers, tossed out feathers that were more annoying than dangerous, and seemed to have entirely too much fun with what he was doing. Even over the sounds of combat, Caitlyn could hear Rakan's woops and various vocal sounds he added to all his actions. She guessed the intent was to add a dramatic flair.
However the duo couldn't keep up the fight for long, at this pace Caitlyn was certain they would tire. Apparently, they realized this as well, so they tried a different tactic. Xayah stopped short, and prepped whole handfuls of feathers to launch at her foes. Rakan stopped right in front of her, raising a shield to protect her for the moment she needed to unleash her deadly assault.
The ninja were waiting for this moment. Kennen launched himself at the barrier. Rakan smirked at this seemingly foolhardy action, until Kennen enveloped himself in mystic lightning, almost immediately disintegrating the barrier on contact. Rakan only had time to yelp in surprise as Akali dive tackled him. Shen was immediately on the move, and within two seconds had Xayah in his custody, her arm twisted behind her back to force her into submission.
Caitlyn walked up to Xayah, who she assumed was the one in charge. "Why did you attack us?" She asked. "We bear no will towards the vastaya."
"That's not the point." Xayah growled between clenched teeth. "We know you're harboring mana crystals on this train."
Surprised, Caitlyn stole a glance to Shen. Shen replied coolly, "There is no magic of any sorts on this train. You are mistaken."
"Impossible!" Xayah exclaimed. "My source is never wrong."
"You have a source?" Rakan asked, muffled from beneath Akali.
"Not now Rakan."
"Who is this source?" Caitlyn pressed, "One of the elders?"
"I don't take my intel from humans." Xayah spat.
"But what about that one human you asked for directions?" Rakan piped in again, still muffled. "Or that human in the elder's robe that told you about this train?"
"I said not now Rakan."
"Elder's robe? One of the elders set you up for this?" Caitlyn asked.
"I have nothing to do with Ionia's government." Xayah insisted.
"But what about that one time—" Rakan began.
"Say another word and you're losing that compact mirror." Xayah snapped, interrupting him.
A distressed squeak was the last sound that came from beneath Akali.
"If you want to search the train," Shen said, "then by all means, we have nothing to hide." He let her go with that, letting her massage her injured wrist.
Xayah stared at her captives for a bit longer, then said, "Okay, I'll take you up on that—" She broke off as her arm whipped up towards Caitlyn's face, only to be stopped cold by Shen's grip. "Alright, fine. You're the first humans to not fall for that trick, I'll give you that." She looked down at Akali, who still on Rakan twisting his arm backwards. "You can let him go, we're leaving."
"Without checking the train?" Caitlyn asked, curious.
"Why would I waste my time checking a train you're letting me see, when it's clear that you don't have the items we are looking for." Xayah asked, though her tone made it sound like a statement. "Humans are terrible liars, if you had the mana crystals stashed you would have given it away by now. Come on Rakan." With that she turned and went to the window.
Akali stepped off Rakan, who hopped onto his feet. "Well it's been fun but gotta run." He said as he sauntered towards the window, but not before winking at Akali. "By the way, I don't blame you for wanting to be on me, all the ladies do." Akali's answer was a brandishing of her kama, and Rakan hurried after Xayah.
Caitlyn reached out to stop Rakan, clutching at his golden feathered cape. "Wait! Rakan!"
Rakan turned suddenly to face Caitlyn, jerking his cape out of reach. "Hey hey hey, nobody touches the cape but Xayah."
"About the man who told you about this train, what did he look like?"
"Rakan, don't tell her." Xayah said, already outside the window and holding onto the side of the train.
Rakan shrugged. "You heard the lady."
"But..." Caitlyn racked her brain to come up with a way to get him to talk. "But this man lied to you, made a fool out of you. Don't you want to get back at him?"
Xayah glared at Piltover's Sheriff. "I get even on my own terms."
"But why bother yourself with the details when you can simply have us do it for you?" Akali piped in, understanding Caitlyn's plan. "We are professionals, and you know of the Fist of Shadow's reputation, and of the Kinkou. His actions have thrown Ionia out of balance and he must be stopped."
"You mean what's left of the Kinkuo?" Xayah scoffed. After a second however she relented. "He was wearing a heavy robe, but he wore a metal clasp on his robe that had a very distinct pattern."
"Can you draw it?" Caitlyn asked, getting excited at a breakthrough.
Xayah sighed impatiently but gestured offhandedly at Rakan. "You might as well."
With a flurioush, Rakan summoned a golden feather and started etching a design in the wall, the feather leaving behind a sparkling trail as if it was a pen.
Shen was silent as the design came into view, but Caitlyn couldn't resist a small gasp of discovery and dread.
It was the emblem of Elder Rovar.
He had somehow had found out about their investigation, and Vi was in grave danger.