The Dragonlands is a truly unique place; it's a land of many forests, plains, rivers and streams. Many tremendous sights; untouched by the industries of civilization. Great mountains and dormant volcanoes break through the landscape – the tips hidden by blankets of mist.
One mountain stands alone within the Dragonlands; accompanied only by the surrounding tall, yellow grass and a small lake connected to the mountain's river system. 'Rurouni-no-Yama'. The Mountain without a Master. If one were to travel up through the bamboo forests of this great mountain, they would find a hidden village. This is an Acrodon Village.
It's kept fairly traditional in style; architecture made up of the surrounding materials. Houses of bamboo or of cherry tree wood, statues of dragons, sea serpents and chameleon ninjas carved artistically from stone guarding their gardens and front doors, red lanterns hanging from porches and great, wooden arches cascading themselves through the village, up the mountain at regular intervals. A dark red was their color – accompanied by a deep orange lantern hanging from underneath. Despite this style however, modern Mobian technology had made its way into the Acrodon lifestyle. Shops with neon lighting, home security systems and many other examples.
It was early morning. The sun hauled itself into view. The land below the mountain glistened in the sun's red hue. The village saw little activity besides the occasional villager leaving their home to gather their morning meal. There was one that did not continue in slumber at this time however.
Inside a small bamboo dojo, sat a brown middle-aged Chameleon. His crest was lined with small, bumpy spines. The scratches on his scales revealed a past that saw much battle.
He sat cross-legged at the center of the dojo within a spot of light shimmering through the roof. His eyes were closed – calm air about him. Slowly, he took a deep breath in, and then out again. Pitch darkness carpeted the room around him.
In his arms was a shamisen; a guitar-like instrument from Dragonland culture. His eyes still shut; he began plucking the strings in a slow, soothing melody. Each strike of the strings resonated through the seemingly empty room.
To his left; a chain rattled and dropped. But he continued to play his instrument without pause or jerk. A floorboard creaked to his right. Again, he ignored the sound. Another creak. More rattling, followed by some heavy breathing from ahead, yet he resumed with his song.
The Shamisen abruptly strummed out of tune, shadowed by a faint gasp from ahead. His eyes opened sharply, yet to no direction, instead he attended to his instrument.
Further creaking of floorboards accompanied his retuning of the Shamisen. Then silence finally befell the room. He closed his eyes once again and readied his pick over the strings. All was still.
The stillness was suddenly ended by an explosion that was a trio of silhouettes leaping out of the darkness – surrounding the Chameleon from every angle. To him though, time had slowed down. His eyes flashed open.
Rolling backwards from the attack of one ninja in front of him, he simultaneously swung his arm, wielding the instrument, stiffly into a second attacker – a young, blue, male chameleon.
He then motioned one eye, independently, to his left as he watched yet another attacker darting towards him. He spun around again – knocking both the first attacker and the new one back into the shadows.
This chameleon crouched motionless. His eyes open wide, yet staring straight ahead with no motion.
The blue chameleon snarled and flung an onslaught of shuriken stars at his enemy, who in turn leapt onto the ceiling – darting behind his attacker and knocking him to the floor in a sweeping kick.
The other two chameleons, one violet male and a pink female, leapt back from out of the shadows once again. The violet one was spun off-balance by the brown one's tail who then also whipped the kunoichi down to the floor. She recovered quickly and promptly retreated to the shadows – waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike her foe down when he's distracted by the other two.
The violet chameleon dashed in a circle around his target; creating a gust of cyclone-like wind as he increased his speed to over 1. The brown chameleon stood his ground – blankly staring ahead of him as a violet wind circled him.
The dashing chameleon's sudden cease in movement projected a powerful blast of wind towards him; quickly vanquished by an opposing thrust force from its intended target. As the dust cleared, he saw the violet chameleon rushing towards him – drawing his weapon out of its sheath.
In a blur, the brown chameleon shifted his shamisen horizontally into the sword of his attacker. The sharp blade of his katana slowly began to slice through the wooden instrument.
"YAAARGH!" The blue one came rushing from behind and went to thrust his blade forward.
The brown one then used his prehensile tail to flick his pick, revealing it to be a large shuriken star, before flinging it at the oncoming attacker. He attempted to dodge, but the shuriken star still gave him a slice on the arm and he fell to the floor.
The purple chameleon rapidly struck down a second time onto the instrument, snapping it in half. A smile crept up onto his face – it was over. The brown chameleon remained emotionless and stern. He swiftly pulled out two hidden short swords from the shattered instrument – two Wakizashis, shorter versions of his enemy's katanas.
The purple chameleon's eyes widened with shock and fear as the brown chameleon shunted him, with his swords, back into the shadows. He heard a creak from within the shadows. In accordance he ducked and three shuriken stars flew above his head. He darted his head towards their place of origin, only to see the pink female coming at him with her three-pronged weapons at hand.
What the smaller Wakizashis lacked in power compared to the katanas, they easily made up for in speed and so the chameleon charged her fiercely, swinging his swords at her like a buzz-blade. She stopped in her tracks. Fear left her motionless as he then stopped his sword a hair's distance from her face before kicking her down to the floor.
With one eye focused on the kunoichi, the older chameleon shifted his other eye to see the Blue chameleon readying an attack with his kusarigama weapon. He swung the steel ball end of his weapon, but the older chameleon was quick to evade, instead having the kunoichi struck as she stood back up.
"GAH!" She cried out as she was sent tumbling through the air – landing flat on her face.
The violet one, distracted by his fallen comrade was then brought to the floor with a kick to his face as the older one ran along the wall towards the blue individual. He span like a cyclone towards his target – decimating the kusarigama weapon and launching its wielder rearward.
The brown chameleon turned his attention back to the shadows as the purple one launched himself, again, towards him. He rushed like a gale for him in return, their swords sparking as they clashed against each other.
The purple one jumped backward, landing aside the recovering pink chameleon. They both breathed heavily. The brown chameleon took his defensive stance from the opposite side of the light. He continued to stare at them coldly. The two younger chameleons glanced at each other, both with wicked smiles on their faces. The older chameleon remained motionless in his stance.
The two young chameleons darted forward at breakneck speeds; thrusting their weapons forward. They were stopped suddenly, as the older one knocked their weapons away at twice their dispatch, before holding his swords inches from their faces. His eyes were still opened widely – focused directly ahead of him and not even glancing at his two opponents. They stood almost motionless, apart from their nervous quivering and sweating.
The blue member regained his katana and charged his target with a shriek – swinging his sword aggressively. The older one didn't even blink and remained motionless, leaving his third attacker standing in a nervous state also as he holds a hidden blade to his throat through his prehensile tail. He remained silent as the three attackers shivered and sweated profusely.
"Moo-ii!" He yelled out. His voice was firm and with great authority.
The young chameleons dropped their weapons and rushed into a line, side by side. They closed their eyes and bowed to the level of their waists, keeping their position.
The Brown Chameleon tossed his weapons to the floor and dusted off his robes slowly. Pulling a nearby string from the ceiling, he revealed the morning sun through the roof of the dojo before walking back into the presence of the young ones – his cold expression not lost.
He looked towards them with his eyes partly closed and he folded his arms behind him. "Your task was to ambush your target and land a single hit whilst using natural stealth. No invisibility." He glanced at each one of them, his eyes only half-way opened. "This was your fifth attempt. So I ask you my students; what did you think of your performance?"
Their eyes opened quickly, still bowed in front of him. They said nothing, instead quickly glancing at one another. A look of disapproval darkened his face.
The master continued to gaze at them, rubbing the tiny spikes that gave a beard-like appearance on his chin. He pointed towards the violet chameleon in the middle "Espio." He called.
The violet chameleon winced in reaction.
"Stand." The master said. "Present to us your self-evaluation."
The young ninja rose slowly, but he kept his head tilted downwards slightly – his arms remained stiffly by his sides.
"I…." He gulped. "I did…well?" He looked for any signs of feedback within his master's face. None, he thus continued "Well, as the task had said…I didn't once use my invisibility, and I was silent – making good use of my training? Er…my combat was…" He was then able to muster up some more confidence and lifted his head a little higher. "…great – terrific even! My method of attack involving a cyclone spin was quite effective. If I practice on it a little more, I'll be able to perfect it and claim a victory on our sixth attempt…hopefully."
The master looked to the side of Espio; focusing on the blue chameleon to his left. "Shiro." He called out.
The blue chameleon rose up faster than his fellow student Espio. He responded loudly, showing a greater degree of confidence "Hai Sensei!" Although the slight crack in his voice, proved this not to be the case.
"Share with us now, your presentation." His master told him.
"Sensei." He replied. "I struck with great power, speed, and accuracy. My strength was my greatest weapon, but I realize now, that I now need to work on my speed too." He paused, attempting to create a dramatic effect. "Once I master that – victory will be mine!"
Shiro's fellow students looked at him with disturbed expressions.
Shiro in turn shook his head and rephrased his last sentence "Er….ours. Ours, I mean…"
The master, yet to have shown any sort of reaction, continued to his last student. The pink Chameleon.
She was obviously nervous – her body shuddered and her tail kept curling up and out repeatedly.
"Mariko." Master said to her.
"Sensei…" She said with an air of pessimism. She rose slowly with her eyes closed and her head tilted down still.
The master still showed no emotion in his cold face. "Mariko." He repeated. "Share with us now, your thoughts."
She hesitated at first, but soon spoke softly. "Sensei – I feel I could've done far better. I struck quickly, but I could've gone faster. I crept silently, but I could've done so quieter. I-I just need to train harder master." She then returned to her bowing position.
Espio and Shiro glanced back at their master, before quickly following Mariko's example; returning to a bowed state.
The older chameleon turned away from them and walked towards the window overlooking a marvelous rock garden.
"I believe you to be too hard upon yourself young Mariko. You are the most modest of my students…but perhaps your modesty was truer of your actual performances…" Mariko winced as the master then stood quietly for a moment; his students staying in their bowed state. "Whilst you did not use invisibility, your goal was to defeat me…"
"Hai sensei!" They shouted in reply.
"…and yet you did not leave even a single scratch!"
"Hai sensei!"
"What is it that I had gotten through to you three from my training?" He exclaimed in anger. His threatening glare returned to their sights as he whipped himself around to them.
They in return quickly dropped to their knees. Their pigmentations paled out of fear.
"Firstly;" He began. "You are ninjas. You are meant to be silent – quieter than the Wind! A ninja that loses his element of surprise is dead! I could hear every one of you and where you were. From the beginning I was already winning!"
Their master went on to point out their individual flaws. "Shiro; your arrogance will be your downfall. A ninja knows both his strengths and his weaknesses and then uses them together to become truly powerful. Your strength and relentless attacks are to be admired, but they are useless to you if you continue to ignore the fact that your enemies have strengths too – if you don't even attempt to size him up, the surprise he'll give you, will be your last one."
"H-Hai Sensei." Shiro responded.
"Your relentless attacks are also unbalanced." Master continued. "If you took more frequent breaks, short ones, you'd still be able to overwhelm your foe without succumbing to your own fatigue – hence why you were unable to evade my shuriken attack effectively."
Shiro nodded.
"Finally, you fail to acknowledge your surroundings still. This time it caused harm to one of your team-mates! You are supposed to be working together – not treating each other as collateral damage!"
"Hai Sensei." Shiro replied, before glancing at Mariko, whose head injury from his kusarigama's steel ball was now quite visible.
Master turned to his next pupil "Espio; your overconfidence in your skills blind you – your reactions are too slow to what is plainly obvious to you! You possess great skill and your secrecy is most admirable, but do not let that cloud your judgement by making early celebrations."
"Hai Sensei" Espio answered.
"You were actually the closest to completing the task Espio, but this weakness of yours has, again, caused your downfall."
Espio remained silent. Shutting his eyes in response instead.
"Your desire to be perfect Mariko is what faults you. You attempt to do everything to attain perfection, yet you forsake improvement in your already developed skills. You try to be perfect in your battles that you fail to think!"
"Hai sensei." She replied.
"Know this; the only perfect battles, are the ones you walk away from and go on to fight another day."
"Hai!" She repeated.
"As your self-evaluation had also alluded to, you are too hesitant in battle. Hesitations result in slower movements, giving your enemy more time to react – increasing their chances of a successful strike!"
Mariko turned her head, her eyes closed, and began rubbing her arm like a kid who was being yelled at by their parents.
"I have seen your aggression before Mariko. But then, you forget to think or react to your enemy's movements. You must find the balance between these two states young one."
"Hai sensei." She said.
Master stepped back. "You are all aware that my method of battle was primarily defensive?"
"Hai Sensei!" They said together.
"Your enemies will not be waiting for you to attack as I have. Nor will they attack as lightly as I have. We must quickly excel through this task, so that we can move onto the offensive battle task."
"Hai Sensei!"
"You all have MUCH to work on. I expect that once you have completed your chores for today, that you will spend the rest of your time training before this evening's session." Master concluded. "Train your bodies and your minds."
The trio of ninja students took to their feet to bow, but was interrupted by their master's warning.
"Shiro and Espio – do not be late this time, or you will find this next session to be far less forgiving than I have been this morning."
"Understood Sensei." They replied before being joined by Mariko as they bid farewell to their master with a bow, before running out of the dojo.
They stepped out into the garden – the sun was much higher in the sky; showcasing its golden glory over the lands.
Shiro stretched out his arms in a yawn, folding them behind his head as the trio walked down the path. "I'm going back to bed." He yawned.
"Gosh. Espio – I think we've got a sloth disguised as a chameleon here!" Mariko teased. "You are so lazy!"
"I have a right to be!" He burst out in frustration. "He has us training at five in the morning till eight and then yells at us for not being at our best! Like so-RRY!"
"Keep it down Shiro – master could still hear us here." Espio laughed.
Shiro ignored him. "In fact Mariko – he seemed to be a lot harsher with Espio and me than with you. Isn't there some law or something against favoritism in the ninja master handbook of waking us up at five in the morning?"
"If it's favoritism that I get for arriving on time and always doing my homework, then he must hate you." She chuckled in reply.
Shiro snarled at her, his scales altering into a shade of red as Mariko covered her face in laughter.
"Hey, Mariko – how's your head?" Espio asked her.
"Huh?" She stopped laughing. "Oh! I'm fine now, thanks."
"It's quite the mark though, won't your par-"
"Don't worry about it Espio. I go home with cuts, scratches, bruises all the time! All the 'perks' about being a ninja. My parents don't seem to mind all that much."
"Heh-heh." Shiro chuckled. "Yeah, your head…heh…sorry about that."
Mariko shut her eyes in agitation. "You should watch where you're aiming that thing Shiro – that really hurt y'know."
"C'MON!" Shiro exclaimed. "I had him in range – I could've taken him Mar!"
"Except for the part where you didn't!" Espio interrupted.
"And stop calling me 'Mar'…." Mariko hissed.
Espio glanced up at the sky; analyzing the sun's positioning to find the time.
"We better start our chores soon." He concluded. "If we're going to have any time to fit in extra practice before tonight's…"
"Shimatta!" Mariko exclaimed. "Quick – what time-?" She darted her face towards the sun, forgetting to shield her eyes. "OW!" She winced and shook her head in pain.
"The sun'll do that Mar." Shiro snickered. "You know there's a sundial over there – or you could buy a watch."
"Urr…" She growled in discomfort and agitation. "I've gotta run. I'm supposed to take my sister to school today – my parents aren't back from their trip yet and my grandmother is out in the rice fields." And she quickly dashed off.
"Speaking of rice…" Shiro stepped in. "How about we get ourselves a second breakfast?"
"Will we have time to do that and then carry all those sacks from the lower fields?" Espio questioned him.
"Sure we will!" He replied as he pushed Espio towards his house. "We can always eat it on the way down anyway."
Now the village came to be filled with life – a much different place compared to what was seen during the earlier hours. It was bustling with people; parents with young children, school kids, elderly couples, other young ninjas – all sorts of colorful characters.
Mariko, after getting her younger sister to the school yards a little late, went on to rush down to the rice fields with many of the other young chameleon women. At sixteen, she was one of the younger individuals there but her cheerful attitude made sure that she was no less appreciated company despite this.
The rice field was in one of the lower parts of the mountain. It was a piece of open land, surrounded by the lower mountain forests and often covered by the dawn's mist as it rose up the mountain – continuing to hide the existence of their village.
Espio and Shiro, along with the other young chameleon men, went on to carry sacks of rice as well as some other materials & substances up the mountain to some of the main store-houses for the village.
It was not too long after midday that Mariko had completed her chores for the day. She had to work a shift at the local restaurant later on in the evening, but she took this time that she had to meditate.
It was one of her favorite spots to meditate peacefully on the entire mountain. In front of the Acrodon Court house, there was a large pond leading into a stream off the mountain. There was a narrow, wooden red bridge that crossed over the pond. Inside the pond were several vibrantly colored koi fish. They varied greatly in size; some only a few inches in length, whilst others grew to be in size greater than many of the villagers!
She sat cross-legged peacefully by the cherry-blossom tree that looked over into the pond. Glancing around her, she made certain that she was alone. The two bamboo buildings on either side of the main court building appeared empty.
She made a light smile before slowly closing her eyes. Fallen leaves swirled around her with light puffs of wind. The chirping of the birds in the nearby forests, the splashing of the koi in the pond – they were the only sounds that she heard. Accompanying those sounds, was the elegant melody of a koto an elderly chameleon played further up the mountain. His slow, soothing song from the beautiful stringed instrument upon his lap resonated into the air around them.
"Perfect." Mariko uttered in awe of the wondrous melody of these tranquil sounds. She took a slow, deep breath in.
A hawk's shriek rebounded through the environment. A koi made a light splash upon the surface of the water. She twitched slightly. Exhaling.
But like a window shattering upon stone, her serene state was shattered by the distant sounds of laughing and cheering children. She closed back her eyes in trying to ignore it.
"WOW!" Someone squealed. "WOAH!" Another cried out.
Somewhat agitated, Mariko opened one eye in the direction of the noise. Coming up the hill was Espio carrying a few large stalks of bamboo on his back. Some of the village children were with him; laughing, cheering, screaming – the sort of noise that children bring everywhere. She smiled before returning to her meditative state.
"Mr Espio?" One young child patted Espio's side. She looked somewhat like Mariko, but sported six downward-pointing spines from the back of her crest. "Are you finished bringing up all the bamboo now?"
Espio smiled down at her as he continued to walk up the hill.
"Unfortunately not. Shiro and I still have some more to carry up here."
A boy leapt in front of him and began walking backwards as Espio continued his trek. "Hey Espio – aren't you gonna show us some more?"
Before he could reply, another boy jumped in "Of course he is! Espio's the best ninja around."
The girl stepped up again. "Espio's cool, but my sister's the best!"
Mariko, still within the shade of the Sakura tree, placed her hand upon her chest whilst mouthing the word "Awww." Her eyes even began to well up, but was quick to hold it back.
Espio laughed as the children began bickering on who was the better ninja. He quickly attempted to halt the fight "Hey, Hey…." He said softly.
"Mr Espio." Another girl approached him, shyly. "Can you show us another trick please?"
Espio looked upwards in thought as the children gathered around him in a tight cluster. Their eyes widened.
"PLEEEAAASE!" They mewed.
Espio grinned. "Well, these bamboo stalks do have to be chopped up in smaller sizes."
Mariko smiled, rolling her eyes at Espio's flamboyant attitude.
Espio threw his set of stalks high into the air and with a great bound; he joined them in the air within the blink of an eye! The children were left astounded as Espio swung his sword as if he were painting – slicing the stalks into quarter pieces. He then let them drop into a neat pile as he landed on a branch of Mariko's Sakura tree. He sprung off the branch; the force of which caused the blossoms to dance around Mariko as they glided from the tree.
"That was amazing!"
"Wow – too cool!"
"Do it again!"
The children chanted as they swarmed back over to a grinning Espio.
"I hope I can be as fast as you one day Mr Espio!"
"Too cool! Too cool!"
They continued to sing his praises and dance in rings around him excitedly.
"I wish my sister Mariko was here to see this." The young pink chameleon from before said. "Do you think you can show us another one Mr Espio?"
Espio didn't have a chance to answer as he heard a voice call out from behind them. "No, no Liz."
He turned around slowly. All was a blur to him; a feminine figure stood before him, but the light they radiated nearly blinded him. Cherry blossoms fluttered past his eyes as he just stared blankly at her. Her elegant body, dainty tail, those emerald green eyes and that radiant smile. Who wouldn't be struck numb by her presence he thought.
Mariko giggled lightly "I think 'Mr' Espio has shown off quite enough today." She walked over to greet them, Espio quickly freeing himself of his daze.
Mariko rubbed the crest of her adorable little sister with a beaming smile. "Besides, he should probably get back to his chores."
The children all sighed out in disappointment.
"I'm not a show-off." Espio chuckled almost nervously.
Mariko quickly took on a more serious tone as she knelt towards her sister. "Liz, what're you doing so far from home? Mother will be worried when she gets home and doesn't see you there."
"Granny told me that I could watch Espio do his chores."
"Hm. Looking for a performance were ya?" She then turned a frisky grin towards Espio.
"I am not a show-off." Espio repeated as he too confronted her playfully.
"Suuure you're not." She stood up and chuckled lightly.
"They wanted a show, so I gave them a show."
"Yeah? What's the key word in 'Show'-off, huh?"
Espio couldn't muster out a reply to that one.
"You men are all the same in that regard." Mariko chuckled.
Liz then walked in-between the pair and began tapping on Espio's scales again.
"Mr Espio? Are you going to marry my sister?"
Both Espio and Mariko froze in embarrassment – their eyes opened widely and their pigments began to blush.
"They're changing pink! It must be true!" One child called out.
They all laughed and began singing "Espio and Mariko, sitting in the tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
Mariko knelt back down to her, nervously replying "N-No-hoh. No – Espio and I are just…friends. W-We train together and that's it really. We're, we're not going to-"
Liz was quick to interrupt "But you both are-"
Mariko, now returning to her usual colors, covered Liz's mouth before she could say another word. "Yes, yes. It may look that way sweetie; but you'll understand it better when you're older." Her eyes were closed with frustration as she attempted to shoo off the pesky child. She stood back up, her expression not withdrawn.
"Wow – there's so much to learn when I'm sixteen." Liz exclaimed.
"W-What el-" Espio attempted to ask Mariko, but she turned her head away from him saying "Don't ask." Her attention back to the young chameleons.
"Now all of you run along home now."
Espio, meanwhile, spotted some bo staffs leaning against a nearby shed and ran over to retrieve them.
"E-Espio? What are you doing?" Mariko questioned him – obviously feeling a little irritated after the previous discussion.
"Well we're training partners aren't we? Let's show them how we train."
The children in turn, jumped for joy and cheered out in glee. Mariko placed her hand on her face and laughed.
"Bakka! You're an idiot – you're ridiculous." She laughed. "You're still trying to show off to them! What did I just tell you?"
"Just one sparring match then."
"Espio…"
"You said you were going to be training right about now."
She just looked at him in disbelief.
"C'mon. We just stand on the bridge over there and the first one to get a hit wins." He pointed towards the beautiful red bridge that crossed over the koi pond. "Simple."
"Don't you have some more chores to do? You can't keep Shiro carrying all that stuff up here on his own you know."
"Loser has to do the winner's chores for a week?"
Mariko dropped her head in amusement. "You're an idiot!" She giggled. "Fine. Fine – you're on!" And she grabbed a staff and ran with him onto the bridge.
The children cheered and gathered to the edge of the pond.
"Not too close to the edge Liz!" Mariko called out.
"Maybe you should focus more on me, if you don't want to lose." Espio teased before taking his stance.
"Please. You're the one showing off to your 'loyal fans'."
"Not gonna let that go are you?"
"Nope."
The children split into two groups; those cheering for Espio and those for Mariko – it was generally gender orientated however.
"Ready?" He said with a grin.
"Ready for you to do my chores? Yeah!" She too replied with a wicked grin.
Their staffs collided – the strike echoing throughout the mountains. The light shuffling at the beginning of the spar soon escalated to more elaborate tricks and displays of intense speed and agility.
As the battle ensued, the children continued to swap loyalties over who they thought would be the winner – scrambling over one another, not taking their eyes away from the scene, as they didn't want to miss a moment of the battle.
"This is gonna have to stop at some time Espio." Mariko said as she ducked underneath one strike. "We've been at it for a while now."
Espio performed a back-flip as he evaded a sweep attack. "Only if you beat me. Or if I beat you!" He leapt into the air, striking downwards. "HA!" He exclaimed.
Mariko rolled out-of-the-way, but before Espio could do a second attack, she vaulted herself over him with her staff. Everyone, including Espio, simply looked on in astonishment. She landed on the other side, spinning her head around to Espio.
"We're done here." She gave a malevolent smile as Espio's eyes widened with fear.
Her staff swung hard into Espio's legs; hurling him in a spinning motion into the pond. The children laughed and cheered as Espio reappeared at the surface of the pond. He glanced up to a see Mariko failing in trying to hide her hysterical laughter.
"HA! I totally got you!" She could barely speak due to her frantic laughter. "Master…haha…..said that you…..heheh…..celebrate too early!" She cleared her throat – endeavoring to dismiss her laughter. "Wait-wait-wait, let me guess. Was the sun in your eyes?!" A burst of laughter erupted from her as Espio waded shamefully in the pond. The koi seemed to be mocking him too as they splashed around him.
"OY!" A voice yelled out behind them.
All laughter quickly ceased as they all turned around to see who it was that had called out.
"Young ninjas; this is a place of order, law and tranquility – not a playground. Please stop disturbing the peace and the koi here. I find it to be very disrespectful and I must ask you all to depart from here promptly." The voice hissed to them.
Mariko stood, facing the location of the voice. "Forgive us Chancellor Katsumi." She bowed.
Chancellor Katsumi was a lean-built chameleon. His grey scales were thick and appeared rubbery; showing a long life of political standing and not the rough hands of battle. His most notable features was his very tall, spiky crest that sported a set of three horns; one on his nose and two devil-like horns upon his brows. Quite an intimidating creäture – even to most of the adults; this enhanced his natural arrogance as he often looked down upon most of the other members of the clan.
Mariko turned in the direction of the children. "Liz. You and your friends must return home now, whilst we finish our chores." She called out.
"Aaaawwww." The children all sighed out before saying their goodbyes.
Espio attempted to swim out of the pond. He wasn't getting very far.
"You need some help there?" She chuckled, stretching out her hand.
"No thanks. I can reach the land by my own means." He replied.
"Oh-ho. Mr Pwoud twying to keep hold of what little pwide he has weft?" She mocked.
"Ha, Ha, Ha. So funny." Espio replied. "Urgh. The fish keep nibbling on me!"
She walked alongside the pond towards him. "Watch out for Hiroto." She said to him with an ominous leer.
"Hir-Hiroto?" Espio inquired worriedly.
"Yeah, Hiroto. The BIG Koi. He gets pretty hungry around this time…"
Espio blinked once in reply, before slowly looking down in to the water. Before they knew it Espio had leaped out of the pond at over fifteen feet in the air before landing flat on his face next to Mariko.
He slowly stood up to face her. She in turn, swayed from side to side with a look of amusement upon her face.
Espio sighed. "Fine, you won. I'm a ninja of my word and honor."
Mariko gasped sarcastically. "What else did master say to you this morning? Are you even the REAL Espio?" She giggled lightly, prodding him playfully. "Heh - Trying to be so modest and honorab-".
They paused for a moment; staring into each other's eyes. Time around them had slowed to a standstill. What was happening? Did it matter? It just felt so right they thought – nothing else mattered. They continued to stare, unknowingly moving closer, their scales beginning to flush to a pinker color. A dash of the mountain's cold air rushed gently past them, fluttering a shower of cherry blossoms around them. They moved closer. Closer. Closer…
THUMP! The two ninjas jolted their heads in the direction of the store house as Shiro emerged from dropping a sack of rice in the building.
"Hey Espio!" He yelled out with agitation before stomping over to the pair. "Oh. So this is what you were doing eh?"
The pair quickly darted to the side blushing again. Espio rubbing the back of his crest and Mariko twirling her tail with her finger.
"What-What are you talking about Shiro?" Mariko covered up.
"Oh. Hi Shiro. I-I forgot about you…" Espio followed.
"So I noticed..." Shiro sneered, unimpressed. "What were you two just doing here? Did I interrupt some sort of-"
"Nothing happened, Shiro." Mariko snarled, aggressively leaning forward towards him. "We were just talking before he went back to his chores…" She went back to twirling her tail, looking down to the ground.
Shiro shifted his eyes between the two of them. "O-kay then…" He replied. "C'mon Espio – we still got chores to finish off. If I can't slack off – you're definitely not going to!" He said, dragging Espio down the path.
Mariko lifted her head over to them as they walked away.
Espio attempts to bow a farewell to her as he's dragged away by his tail. "So I'll see you later?" He said.
"Of course. You can't be late to training again!" She yelled back. "Oh, and I'm working tonight just before, so you guys can meet me there!"
He sustained a love-struck smile as he was dragged away into the forest. Mariko returned a bow to them.
Shiro at the same time rambled on to Espio. "Left me on my own to carry rice bags?! I thought we were pals – brothers man! You do realize those things are heavy right and not just regular heavy neither!"
Espio, realizing that his lower body was becoming sore from all the dragging attempted to interrupt his friend's rant "Er, Shiro? I can walk now, you know?" But it was to no avail as Shiro continued on ignoring Espio's pleas.
"Guys before gals as well pal – well of course that can't always be so. I mean a guy's gotta get with the ladies every once in a while, but don't think that's got you off the hook buddy. No-No. I'm gonna make sure you suffer for this man, I really am. I mean that stuff nearly broke my back man!"
Chancellor Katsumi continued to watch the ninjas from the mouth of the court building. Disapproval glued to his face.