(SHIRO'S POV)

-THREE WEEKS LATER-

I was sitting outside with Isabel and Clyde watching Gabby training with Tazorac. The two of them clashed their swords together and with each strike, sparks flew out. Tazorac wasn't even trying while Gabby was practically exhausted.

"C'mon Gabby! Kick Taz's ass!" I shouted at her. Taz sent her a nasty kick to the gut, doubling her over.

"Ok Gabriella, that's enough for today." Tazorac said.

"No. I'm fine! I can still fight." She said.

"No! I said that was enough for today." Tazorac said more firmly.

Gabby lowered her head and went to go take a seat near me. I looked at her with a sympathetic smile. "Hey. You lasted longer than I did with Eliza."

She looked at me questioningly. "What do you mean. What happened in the woods?"

I shuddered at my vicious training. Dodging knives, arrows and tripwires...it sucked. "Nothing I wanna repeat."

"You two have it easy! I got burned all over my body after Xena was done with me." Clyde said scoffing.

"Whatever dude! Eliza is freaking everywhere. I can't hide from her no matter how hard I try." I said hysterically.

"That's how I felt about Tazorac when he first started to train me." Gabby said.

The three of us began to spark up a bunch of random conversations to pass the time. While we were talking I had noticed Isabel in the background sitting alone. I walked over to her while Clyde and Gabby had been engaged in a heated debate.

" What's up Izzy?" I asked her.

"Oh it's n-nothing Shiro. I'm just thinking about some things." She replied.

I sat down next to her and grinned. "Well, what's on your mind?" I asked.

"W-well...I uh...was just wondering…" She stuttered.

"Yeah..?"

"It's just... I feel so... insignificant sometimes. I want to be stronger than I am now. I want to fight and be tough like Gabby. I want to be smart like Clyde. I want to be bold and daring...like you. But I'm not. I'm just me...a weak little healer…" She said with tears in her eyes.

"Isabel... I don't know where you got that crap from, but you're probably the most important part of our little team. If it weren't for you, I would have probably died last week due to Eliza's ridiculous training!" I said.

"A-are you sure?" She asked

"Hell yeah I'm sure! Plus, it's not like you're the only one that needs work on things. Look at Clyde's lame ass, He sucks at ice magic!" I said hysterically.

She giggled at my words. "He's not that bad."

"Really?! He sucks!" I said louder, this time catching his attention. I saw him glare at me and I grinned back. "We all still got a long way to go... especially Clyde...So just perk up!" I said.

"Ok... I-I'll try my best." She said with a smile.

"GREAT! Now come watch me throw rocks at Clyde." I said grabbing her hand and pulling her back over to my hidden pile of hard rocks.

-LATER THAT DAY-

After being encased inside of an ice block, courtesy of Clyde, I decided to do a little sparring with Gabby. She kicked my ass, but I wasn't about to tell anyone that. We were currently chilling outside of the House of Mentors. We were talking about the life we used to live before the Red Death.

"You know, being locked up for so long really gave me time to think. I regret not spending more time with my little sister. She was everything to me...then I let her down. Every time I went away, she'd always be waiting for me. I spent so much time searching for different powers I didn't realize I was neglecting her and my father." I said sadly.

Gabby gave me a sympathetic look and the quick pat on the back. "To be honest I wouldn't really know how that felt. I never had a sibling."

"Yeah… Sometimes you really really hate them and other times you just can't help but love them. I miss those times, I really do." I took a deep sigh.

Just then Eliza came running up to us with a scroll in her hand. "Come on you two, we got important news."

Gabby and I were confused. "What is it Eliza?" I asked.

"You've got a distress message from the island of Wudai." She responded.

"Wait Wudai? Isn't that where the Ninjas and Samurai live?!" I asked

"Correct!" Eliza said a little too enthusiastically for my taste.

"Wait, so are we all going?" Gabby asked.

"Yep. This'll be a great learning experience for you rookies!" Eliza said.

"Are we actually getting to fight?" I asked.

"Nope. You and Isabel are going to go support the injured civilians and get them to Amora." Eliza said to me. She then turned to Gabby. "You and Clyde are going to run backup for Tazorac, Xena and myself. We're going to take down the cause of the attack on Wudai. A dark samurai named Shotokan."

"Who the hell is Shotokan?" I asked.

"A villainous master of dark Wudai martials arts. He was defeated by the legendary hero of Wudai, a master of ninjutsu and a high ranked shinobi. The man who saved the island of Wudai was none other than Haruka Blade. Otherwise known as the Blood Ninja." Eliza explained.

"Whoa. That guy sounds cool!" I said getting excited.

"Yep, and that same guy owes me five hundred gold coins!" Eliza said, looking up to the sky. "That damned asshole!"

I was confused but I decided not to question it. Eliza looked back at Gabby and I. "We need to get ready. We are heading south of town . We have to board a ship in order to get to the island."

-AN HOUR OF PREP LATER-

We were.at the docks. The ship we were getting on was... pretty ass. It was an old, beat up pirate ship.

"...Well shit…" I said.

Clyde looked back at me with a grin. "You afraid of boats now?"

I flipped him off as I climbed onto the large pirate ship. He smirked and I just rolled my eyes.

"How long is it gonna take for us to get to Wudai?" I asked.

"Only thirty seven hours." Tazorac said.

"Damn!" I shouted.

We had finally set sail and the S.S. Bullshit was off to it's destination. This was gonna be a long ride…

-BORING HOURS LATER-

As time went on, I became more and more bored. Messing with Clyde was fun but I didn't feel like catching hypothermia again so I left him to his whack ass books. Isabel was meditating with Amora and Gabby was taking a nap.

"God this is terrible!" I yelled.

"Why don't you go ahead and jump overboard then?" Clyde said, scoffing.

"Screw you Clyde!" I snapped back.

"Sitting there complaining isn't gonna make the journey any shorter." Clyde said.

"And breathing down my neck with your annoying ass comments isn't gonna make me not wanna punch your freaking teeth in." I told him.

Clyde shook his head. "Ya know, you could at least give reading a try."

"I could also try spin kicking your ass."

"You are hopeless..." Clyde muttered walking away. "It's no wonder your mana essence is so pathetic."

"My what?!" I asked confused.

"Forget it." He said.

"...Freaking bitch…" I muttered.

I stared out at the vast ocean. I had noticed that there was a ship in the distance.

"What the hell?" I said confused.

I kept staring at the ship, only to see the ship disappear within an ominous mist. I decided to just forget the damn thing and walked over to where Isabel and Amora were meditating.

"Uh...you two mind if I...join you?" I asked.

"Do as you wish. Given the dwindling level of mana essence." Amora said.

"What the the hell is MANA ESSENCE?!?!" I asked frantically.

"Your mana essence is the strength and magnitude of your spiritual energy. This is the energy that is used to cast spells and use any degree of magic. Your mana essence is so unbelievably pathetic, that you couldn't even cast a basic level one flame spell."

"Wow... that's a little...harsh-"

"Your mana essence is so absolutely terrible, that your mana flame is smaller than my pinky." Amora continued.

"Yeah... I uh... I get it-"

"I mean, just looking into your soul, I can see the tiniest little mana flame. Even Gabby has a larger mana flame than you! And she hates the idea of using magic! You mana is just so-"

"ALRIGHT! I GET IT!" I said to her. "How do I enhanced my flame?"

"Well...with the sad and weak flame that you possess, I'd say four hundred years of isolated meditation." Amora said to me.

"...Yeah I think I'll just stick with my knives…" I walked away from the two healers. I walked over to Eliza who was perched up on top of the sail. I had questions and I wanted answers. "Yo Eliza! Are we almost there?" I asked.

"No. We're here!" She shouted down at me.

"Really?! It's about time!" I said with joy. Tazorac had docked the ship. We had all stepped off. I practically dived off of the damn thing. I looked around the unfamiliar place with excitement. "So...where are we."

"We're in The town of Hizashi. It's the place that holds the annual martial arts tournament." Tazorac said.

"That sounds awesome. When is it?" I asked.

"We're not here for games! We need to head north until we reach the town of Shizume." Xena said firmly.

"...Kill joy…" I said under my breath.

We headed through Hizashi and all the way up to Shizume. The walk was long and tiring but we finally made it.

"Geez! Can we please stop and take a break?!" I asked desperately.

"No. Now is the time for action. Clyde, Gabby, you two with me Xena and Eliza. We will head to the heart of the town and confront Shotokan." Tazorac said.

"Isabel and Shiro will gather up all of the injured civilians and bring them to the outskirts of town, where I will heal them." Amora said.

"Okay we all have our assignments, so let's get to it!" Eliza spoke with determination. We split up and went our separate ways.

-Deep Within The Town Of Shizume-

Izzy and I were running through the dense town in search for any hurt civilians. The only problem was...the damned town was freaking empty!

"W-where is everyone?" She asked as she looked around.

"Uh...not sure…" I said. Something whizzed past me and caught me off guard. I fell back on my ass with a harsh thud.

"Y-you alright Shiro?!" She asked with worry. She lifted me up to my feet.

"Yeah, I'm good." I said, brushing myself off. "What the hell was that?!" I asked.

"What was what?" Isabel asked with confusion. Just then, she was snatched up by a mysterious, hooded figure. The figure landed on the roof with Isabel under his arm.

"Hey! What the hell man?!" I shouted at Isabel's captor.

"Let me go, please!" Izzy said as she squirmed and struggled within the hooded figures grip. The mystery man's face was hidden within the shadow of his red cowl.

"You want her back, right?" He asked with a bored tone.

"Damn straight. Hand her over or else I'll come up there and kick your ass!" I threatened.

The figure chuckled. "Good…" He turned around. "Then come and get her…" He leapt up into the air, hopping from rooftop to rooftop.

"God damnit!" I said sprinting throughout the silent town of Shizume. Just hold on Isabel!