Runeterra: The Long Journey

by CupcakeLover7

Benjamin Tennyson's life in Piltover has always felt limiting to him, especially with a strict woman like Caitlyn as his sister. But when he discovers a journal left behind by his dad, he finds the desire to trace his dad's footsteps and discover what the world of Runeterra can offer him, from monsters, to legendary champions to even unexpected things like... love and friendship!

3. Episode 3: Inner Demons

Author's Notes: I'm baaaaaaack! XD

I've been so excited to come back and write again! Thank you all for your support! It's been really inspiring and has made me want to continue further and further!

Honestly, I don't have much to say in this part because I'm just excited to show you guys the beginning of the Ionia arc!

Anyway, please, have a read and have fun!

---

Years ago...

Water. Cold. The inability to breathe.

It's terrifying.

And all of them, including fear, is what Ben could only feel as he finds himself dragged away by the torrent of water. The 9 year old had just fallen from the waterfall after he was swept away by the river, and he can feel his consciousness fading. It was getting harder and harder to stay up and out of the water to breathe as the river around him was too strong to fight against.

The poor, scared child was desperately trying to swim, but when that doesn't work, he tries to just feel something solid. Anything that can stop him from being dragged off into unknown territories.

The water was muffling all noise apart from itself, his vision was getting blurry and the water's chilling temperature was making it hard to feel anything.

But just as he thought he was going to fade...

...he felt like something, or someone, grab his hand. It felt cold. Colder than even the water itself. Ben uses whatever strength he has left in his body to pull himself up using whatever or whoever is holding his hand.

His head was the first to rise out of the water, allowing him to cough and breathe air at last. His eyes slowly clear up as he keeps pulling up, holding to any other solid thing around him to help himself further.

But as soon as he laid his eyes on what caught him...

...it was simply just some roots from a tree near the river. It wasn't even cold anymore. It was as warm as a tree usually gets, though it is a bit soggy. The water from the rushing river has likely soaked it over the years. As he coughs, the scared boy continues to pull himself up until he finally reaches solid land, lying down on it as he shivers, hugging himself into a fetal position in a vain attempt to warm himself.

"Dad!" Ben yells out, and as he looks around, he sees that his biggest fear during this predicament has happened: the river has taken him far from where the camping trip was. "Caitlyn? Aunt Cass? Uncle Tobi?" Ben desperately yells out, but there was no answer. All around him are dark trees, fog, soil and the river he just escaped from.

The young boy found the strength to stand up again, despite him shivering, as he backs away from the river. "Anyone?! I'm right here!" He keeps yelling, but there was still no response.

He continues moving backwards, stepping on fallen tree branches and leaves... and it was getting darker and colder. Almost unnaturally...

...And then Ben bumps into something behind him. The boy slowly turns around as he sees a shadow looming above him, and once he has fully turned...

...A dark hand reaches for his face!

"AH!" the young boy could only yell as he trips on himself, falling on his rear and landing on the wet soil beneath him, closing his eyes and preparing for whatever was coming...

...but it never came. Ben opens his eyes and sees that the "hand" that was going to grab him was in fact simply a falling tree branch. The coldness he's still feeling from the river and the dark forest he has found himself in is making him lucid. And worst of all, he's starting to feel... warm?

It wasn't the good kind of warm, though. In fact, it seems to be making him feel worse instead of fighting back the chill he's feeling.

While young, Ben could already tell what this uncomfortable heat was.

A fever is coming.

"DAD!" The scared boy tries to yell again, but no one could hear him, and so no one responds. All he can do now is shiver, sit and rest his back on the same tree he got scared of earlier as he sniffs, a tear falling from his eye, only hoping his father and the Kiramman family could find him.

As Ben clung to himself to keep his body warm, all he could whisper is, "Where are you...?"

---

"Over here!"

Ben snaps out of his trance as he hears Ester calling him.

The two of them had finally arrived in Ionia after a long travel from Mudtown by ship. Ben was taking in the sight of the beautiful, clear blue water of the beach, the wet sand underneath him staining his shoes as he watches several species of birds fly over the water and various, gorgeous marine animals swim across the water, all of them he has never seen before in Piltover or even Zaun. He even took the time to skim through his father's journal to try and see if some of them are drawn and written down with information, and he did indeed saw a couple of them in some of the pages.

Still, Ester calling him is more important. There will be time for sight seeing later. He was just really happy to finally arrive at his first destination of his journey, and with a new friend too!

"Coming!" Ben responds, yelling back to the Yordle gunner as he closes the journal, running towards his new friend. After he and Ester arrived a couple of minutes ago, Ester volunteered to ask around for a map they can use to travel Ionia while Ben helped the ship crew who helped them travel here get their stuff off the ship, which wasn't many.

As soon as he and Ester are near each other now, Ben tells her, "By the way, your friends said good luck. And something about oranges?"

"Did they, now?" Ester replies, tapping her chin, holding what appears to be a rolled up, thick piece of paper in her other hand. "Guess I'll have to check on something later."

"Is 'oranges' a pirate code for something?" The shapeshifting boy before the crackshot corsair asks, a sly smirk on his lips as he crosses his arms.

Ester, though, just waves her hand dismissively and giggles. "I'll tell you someday. Right now, I got us a map!" She then spins said map in her hand as if it were a baton before tossing it to Ben, who catches it.

"Sweet! How'd much was it?" Ben asks, unfurling the map in his hands, only to see how massive the map actually is. "Whoa!" was all he could say from seeing the paper eclipse his torso. Part of his surprise was because how casually Ester was holding the thing with her smaller hands compared to his own.

"Guy I talked to said it usually costs 10 Noxian coins, but they also do trade in Ionia, so I just traded him a spare dagger I have. He didn't know that knife's blade is rusty and was just painted with fake silver paint." Ester smugly proclaims, arms to her side.

"Whoa, wait, you're telling me you conned him? He was just making an honest living! You could have just told me he's asking for money. I have cash on me, Ester." Ben complains, folding the map to a more manageable size and limiting it to the beach area they're in and the village ahead of said beach for now, a frown present on his face as he looks at Ester.

The Yordle gunslinger, though, just shrugs. "It's cold being an opportunist. Or did you forget I'm from Bilgewater?" She tells him.

"There are places for that, and conning a guy who's just making a living is not one of them!" Ben scolds his new friend, crossing his arms. "If you're staying with me, then there's gonna be rules."

Ester rolls her eyes, a bit annoyed, but she did sign up for this. So she just gestures to Ben with a hand, basically asking him to tell her.

"Okay, rule number one!" Ben exclaims. "No conning innocent people."

"Hmmm... Just 'innocent' people?" Ester asks him back.

Ben nods. "Yes. The bad guys, though, fair game. They deserve it."

With a chuckle, Ester responds, "Alright. I'm down for that. Besides, it's not my money getting wasted. I have my own stash on me."

Ben was going to berate her and tell her that she had money this whole time and could have just paid the person she got the map from, but then he immediately realizes her answer will likely be along the lines of her saying she's from Bilgewater or spending her coins on something for herself, so he just sighs and facepalms.

"Ugh... Okay, rule number two!" Ben continues... then trails off, tapping his chin as he thinks.

His Yordle friend, though, just blinks, staring at Ben when he just stopped talking. "... Nooooo... killing?" Ester asks out of the blue.

"What?" says the young man, confused at Ester's sudden rule suggestion.

"Oh, I just thought you were against that whole thing. You got this whole 'good guy' routine thing you got going on. 'Sides, back in Jonah's cave, when the Captain lent you her pistol, you never shot at any of the 'bad guys' lethally, just to incapacitate them." Ester points out.

"Oh... Uhh, well... I mean..." Ben stammers, scratching the back of his head. "We'll... keep a pin on that for now. Just... I'll make up more rules as we go."

Ester scoffs comically, snickering afterwards as she watches Ben awkwardly shuffle in place. "You'll get there, buddy. Don't worry! I'll keep my word. No more conning innocents and I'll... try not to kill any of the 'bad guys'. Emphasis on 'try', though."

Ben just sighs, massaging his forehead to keep his stress from rising further. "Thanks. I'm gonna go pay the guy you got the map from. Your stuff over there by big tree." Ben says.

"Gotcha." The Yordle crackshot replies. "Oh! The, uh, shopkeep guy's the old man with the dark blue robes, over there in the small tent."

"Thanks. I'll wait for you at the road ahead." Ben tells her as Ester walks over to her baggage. The boy himself then takes Ester's direction, finding the old man in the tent as he walks over to him, the sound of sand crunching under his feet slowly changing to the soft, almost silent, sounds of soil and grass being stepped on as Ben reaches into much more solid ground.

Once he finally reaches the tent, he is greeted by, as per Ester's description, an old man in dark blue robes. His hair was mostly white, with only a few strands left that are black, he had blue eyes and a long beard hanging from his chin. His robes were wrapped around him on top of what appears to be a grey garment that reached down to just above his feet.

"Oh, hello! You don't look like you're from around here!" The old man cheerfully greets Ben. "I sell maps for visitors of Navori! I drew them all myself, including all the safest routes you can go to. Would you like to buy one? It's only 10 Noxian coins!"

Ben shakes his head, though, as he reaches for his own bag. "I already have a map, sir. In fact, my friend got it from you. She's the Yordle with the hat."

"Oh, you know her? Oh, she's a sweet little lady. Offered me her dagger. I don't know what I'll use it for. I'm too old to fight these days, but it looked so precious and the blade was gleaming and bright under the sun, so I traded her a map." The elderly shopkeep says, a smile forming on his wrinkly lips.

Ben, however, confesses and tells him, "I'm sorry to say, but she tricked you, sir. The blade is actually rusted and just painted with silver paint. I'll pay for the map." After reaching into his bag, he brings out the bag of coins Vi had given him days ago and takes out 10 Noxian coins before handing them over to the old man, who is delighted to see it.

"Oh, thank you, my boy! Bless your heart. Whatever you find in our lands, I hope the spirits guide you along the way." The elderly shopkeep says, clasping the coins in his hands. "And tell your friend she must never do that, lest others do that to her."

"I'll try and keep her humble." Ben nods before heading off, going to the road where he said he would meet Ester.

But as soon as the boy was finally far enough, the old man's smile... fades before shifting his face into a scowl and a glare from his eyes. He then taps on the wooden floor he has set his tent over and all of a sudden, one of the floor's panels opens up like a trap door, with someone coming peeking their head out of it, their hand holding this trap door open.

This new person is wearing a dark green cloak with a hood over his head. He was wearing a dark blue mask covering his mouth and nose, a white, wrinkly shirt underneath and green leather pants. His dark brown hair hangs a bit from under his hood and over his forehead as his dark grey eyes stare at the elderly shopkeep.

"We have another tourist coming. Keep the highwaymen on standby." The old man says to the new arrival, his tone much deeper and more sinister than the seemingly fake joyful one he was using earlier. "I saw the boy's bag of coins. Bound to be a lot we can take from him."

The hooded, masked figure nods to the old man before hiding back down the floor, closing the trap door on his way back into the hole.

"As the tree burns, so do we. End the enemy." The old man then suddenly whispers to himself, grabbing the knife Ester gave to him to con him, one hand on the handle and another on the blade, carefully. "Calm is the ocean before the storm..." He ends his strange mantra before suddenly snapping the rusty dagger in half, the scowl on his face remaining.

---

After meeting back up on the road, Ester and Ben finally head off together, using the map and following the safe route drawn by the shopkeep.

"So, what exactly are we looking for here, Ben?" Ester asks, carrying her own bag behind her back. It's slightly bigger than her own size, yet somehow she's carrying it like it's nothing, her slim figure seemingly hiding such strength.

Ben, though his eyes were on the map and the path ahead, was still listening to his Yordle companion, telling her, "I'm looking for clues about where my dad went. Somewhere in his travels, he met my mother, so I'm retracing his steps, hoping I can find her."

"So you're starting with Ionia? Or... I guess we are starting in Ionia." Ester clarifies.

"Yep!" Ben said, pulling out his father's journal, tucking the map under his arm so he can clip said journal open, heading straight for the first page of the Ionia section. "We're gonna ask around about the places and wildlife he encounters, then we see if we can find clues about him and my mom!"

"That... simultaneously makes sense but also has some flaws to it." Ester admits, causing the shapeshifting boy to finally look at her.

He asks the Yordle gunslinger, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'll say that your logic is sound. Retracing his steps and following where he went and the things he's seen can be a good trail of bread crumbs to follow. There's a chance we'll find people he's met, which may include your mom." Ester answers him. "But... there's also the question... What about the places and things or people he didn't write about?"

Ben blinks, Ester's words making sense to him almost immediately.

"I mean, you don't know if there were or were not gaps between his notes. We might accidentally skip over places he's been to because he either forgot to write it down, or just didn't bother." Ester adds, reaffirming Ben's thoughts.

"I... Well..." Ben stammers once more before sighing. "Let's just follow them for now. We can worry about that later."

Ester raises a brow, noticing Ben's behavior. "Hmmm..." She mutters to herself, allowing Ben to walk ahead of her for a few steps, observing him, before eventually tailing behind him.

And so they traveled through the path the map was leading them to. They stop by some smaller villages along the way, and most of the time, Ben just asks about the animals and locations his father drew on the journal and the kind villagers would point them to the right direction. Each time, Ben is at awe at the creatures they see. Even Ester admits she's surprised by a few of them. As someone who's been around oceans most of her life, land creatures were rare to her.

Currently, they find themselves following the trail of what the locals, and his father on the journal, call "Jeweled Protectors". From his father's drawing, they appear to be large, tiger-like feline creatures with two long tails, strange, almost crystalline growths on their backs like they were the spines of reptiles, a small, diamond shaped gem on it's forehead, and large, majestic, bird-like wings.

From his father's description of the creatures, Carlton heard that these creatures are hailed like mythological heroes with a significant meaning to their appearance, especially in times of conflict. According to villagers Carlton had asked around, a common saying he heard was, and as it is written in the journal, "In times of conflict, villagers sought the ancient guardians of Autumn Valley. Those who swayed their heart were granted blessings that could turn the tide of battle."

Ben was excited to see one and even Ester is curious of what they may potentially see.

After following the trail, that being several, tiger-like footprints on the soil. the two come across a cliff surrounded by trees. While they don't see the creature drawn on the journal, they did find something unexpected.

The trail seems to have led them to the creature's habitat, as there appears to be a lone cub, sleeping on a pile of leaves and a rock just near the cliff. The cub looks like a smaller version of the creature drawn by Carlton. It has flawless, white fur, a similar gem on it's forehead, but bigger than the ones on an adult's forehead, likely due to the cub's own smaller stature, and bluish green stripe patterns all over it's body. However, it lacks the wings of it's adult counterparts and it's two tails are shorter.

"Whoa. It's a cub." Ben expresses, bringing out the journal as he compares the art of the adult to the baby feline. "Dad must not have seen one. He didn't draw them." As he says so, he pulls out the pencil he got from Captain Fortune's crew and, using some empty space on the Jeweled Protector page, begins to draw the cub.

"I told you, he'd miss somethings." Ester points out. "And are you seriously trying to draw it right now?"

"Yeah, you're right. I can probably draw it later. I got pretty good memory." Ben boasts a little, tapping his forehead with his pencil, which just earns him a smirk from Ester.

With a chuckle, the Yordle gunslinger tells him, "Alright, city boy. Calm down. Let's just get out of here before the little guy's mama comes back and—"

Ester couldn't even finish her sentence when, to her and Ben's surprise, the cub was directly in front of and near them already. In the brief moment they distracted each other, it must've woken up and got curious of them.

The little cub tilts it's head, staring at Ben and Ester with it's adorable, pearl-like eyes. While Ester was wary, Ben was just as curious as the adorable creature before him, actually laying down on his chest and slowly crawl towards the small Protector. "Hey little guy! Did we wake you up? I'm sorry." Ben tries speaking to the cub.

"Are you seriously baby-talking the child of a spiritual tiger... bird thing?" Ester asks Ben in a bit of a panicked tone. "Come on. Let's just go..."

Ben, though, seems to ignore her as he reaches for his bag once more. He then pulls out something wrapped in a big leaf, unwrapping it to reveal it's contents to be a perfectly roasted piece of meat, something he and Ester got during one of their visits to one of Navori's many villages. "Here you go. This was going to be my snack but seems like you've been waiting for your mama to come back with food. You can have it as an extra!" Ben says, handing the cooked meat to the curious cub.

"I'm not giving you my piece after this." Ester comments, an unimpressed scowl on her lips.

The cub, though, sniffs the food being offered to it. It seems confused why it smells like it was burned, yet through the aroma of spices added to the food, it can still recognize it is indeed meat, so it opens it's mouth and chomps down, practically grabbing the snack with it's small but still sharp, toothy jaws as it chews through it. "There you go, buddy. Alright, enjoy your meal. We'll head out now." Ben continues to speak to the cub as he gets back up, dusting himself off and clearing any dirt and leaves stuck on his chest.

Before he and his Yordle companion could leave, though, the cub, having just finished nearly half of it's new meal already, suddenly runs over to Ben and nuzzles it's head on Ben's leg, purring. "Oh, buddy, you can't come with us. This is your home! And your mama's gonna look for you if you're gone. You wouldn't want to worry her, would you?"

"Great, now the little guy's attached to you." Ester complains, facepalming. "Maybe if we run, it won't be able to catch up."

"If we run, he'll just try to chase us, and if he falls behind, he'll get lost. Let's just... place him back on his... uhh... 'bed'. And keep the meat near him so he'll get distracted from eating." Ben comments as he walks towards the cub's habitat, with it following him as Ben grabs the meat he offered to use it to entice the little guy further.

Once near said home for the cub, he gently tosses the meat over to where it was sleeping, making the tiny beast chase it down and starts chewing on it again. "Alright, let's go." He tells Ester, with the cub busy eating it's meal.

"Whoa, hey, slow down."

A new voice, however, spoke up as the moment the young man and the Yordle turn back around, they are suddenly stopped by two men. One was taller than the other, and had a peculiar, mohawk-like hairstyle, while the other, while shorter than his companion, was more muscular and had a much fuller set of hair that looked rather messy, like it hasn't been combed for weeks. Both of them wore matching sleeveless armor underneath some cloth, though the taller one had his mouth hidden by a cloth scarf.

"What's the rush, you two? Leaving so soon?" The taller man asks as he and his partner approach Ben and Ester.

"Uh, yeah. We were just leaving. If this is about the cub, we didn't mean to disturb it." Ben explains, trying to smile to show some decency, though Ester was scowling, squinting her eyes at the two newcomers. Something doesn't feel right about them.

The two men then chuckle as the taller man crosses his arms while the bulkier one cracks his knuckles. Ben was beginning to feel the same thing as Ester as his smile slowly fades. "Oh, don't you worry about that. That's not what we're here for. See, we've been hearing around some of the villages we passed that two tourists waltzed around nearly a quarter of Navori, disturbing the peace." The tall man responds.

"We didn't disturb anyone." Ester bluntly tells them. "Who are you two supposed to be anyway?"

"We're the ones askin' the questions here!" The bulkier, shorter man suddenly blurts out in a deep yet 'slow' tone, like a stereotypical brute.

"Oh, so you don't know what you are then?" Ben chimes in and adds to Ester's question, teasing the brutish man, and causing his Yordle companion to giggle.

The dumb brute growls angrily at them, yelling, "Shut up! We're just a bunch'a... a... a bunch'a..."

His partner groans at this display as he raises one hand to gesture his brutish companion to stay back, as he adds, "My friend and I are toll collectors."

"Yeah! What he said!" The short man tries to act like he knew all along, but both Ben and Ester knew he's just trying to save face at this point.

"We just took a short break from our post and when we came back, some of the kind and concerned citizens of Navori who saw you walking around reported you to us." The taller, and clearly smarter, "toll collector" explains to Ben and Ester. "So we're just asking you to pay up and we'll be on our way. We don't want aaaany trouble, now."

Ben is finally as skeptical as Ester, who crosses her arms, as the boy clings onto his bag to keep it safe and close. "None of the villages we passed through told us about any tolls." Ben points out.

"Oh, why would they? They're busy minding their own lives and assume the best in folks, believing anyone that passes through these roads are responsible folk who have paid the toll. Do you really think so low of our people here?" The taller man says.

This does actually sting Ben a little. A part of him is still skeptical, yet the other part feels bad. If these men are indeed telling the truth, then he and Ester have likely just broken a rule, and neither of them are from around here. They should respect the ways of Ionia.

Ester, however, has not doubted her instincts this whole time. Every fiber of her being could tell these two men are shady. So, before Ben could say anything, she stops him, pulling him back by his pants and moves towards the two men, glaring her eyes at them like piercing daggers before telling them, "Sorry. We don't have much cash on us right now. We spent it all on a map, food and water."

"Ester, we—" Ben tries to speak, but Ester just gives him a side glance and a nod, which seems like her silent way of telling Ben to let her handle this. Ben wanted to speak up, but his heart tells him to have faith in Ester's plan. She's been at this conning game for a longer time. So, instead, he continues and says, "—really shouldn't have spent it all on those sweet buns and dumplings. I told you it was a bad idea."

Ester smiles, recognizing how fast Ben played along, so she responds with, "Hey, I was hungry, and we've eaten nothing but fish for the entire trip across the sea."

"Oh, I'm sure you got something in your pockets. They look heavy." The taller toll collector says, raising a brow.

"We told you, we don't have any. I mean, we're willing to work for it, though. I'm sure if you just take us with you and let us talk about this peacefully, we'll work something out." Ester snarks back. "I mean, we got time. Our next ship won't arrive for another month or two."

The brutish collector, though, seems to be getting annoyed at Ester, as he finally chimes back in, a bit angry, and yells, "No! The payment's supposed to be now! We know you got the coin!"

"Rhom!" The taller collector suddenly shouts, trying to calm down his partner, apparently named Rhom.

"Oh yeah? How do you know we still got coins left?" Ester finally asks.

"Because the old man saw you have a bunch'a coins in a bag!" Rhom yells out.

Ester, finally making the brute admit it out loud, smirks as she crosses her arms. "Bingo." She smugly proclaims before Ben offers her a fist bump, which she reciprocates, both of them sharing the same smug smile. "I'm gonna pay that old man a visit later." She adds, cracking her knuckles.

Rhom, realizing what he had just done, blinks to himself as the taller collector can only facepalm in sheer disappointment.

"You really should just let me do all the talking, Rhom..." The taller collector just mutters.

"I'm sorry, Tagon..." Rhom just says, drooping his shoulders out of embarrassment as Tagon, the taller one's name, just shakes his head.

Tagon then says, as he suddenly pulls out a long bladed dagger from behind his belt, "Well, cat's out of the bag. We're just going to rob you now. Svasa! Anar!"

Before either Ben or Ester could react to Tagon speaking what seems to be an Ionian dialect, suddenly, multiple other, masked people appear from the trees, the bushes and the shadows, all of them wielding blades of all kinds, with some having bows and arrows, prompting Ester to finally pull out both of her pistols and Ben to hover his right hand over the watch on his left wrist.

"This doesn't have to get ugly. We're all just fighting for our people here. We look after our own. So hand over everything valuable you own and we can use it for the people of Navori." Tagon says as he twirls the dagger in his hand while Rhom just cracks his knuckles. The rest of their masked brothers and sisters all slowly approach Ben and Ester as well.

"You haven't exactly given us a good reason to comply." Ben points out, eyeing all these armed... bandits? Thieves? Whatever they are, they're all dangerous. Ben usually needs to spin the dial on his watch to pick the right form for the job, but he may not have the time to do that when multiple arrows are aimed at him and Ester, so he can only hope when he just slams down the dial, the first transformation the watch opens up is something useful.

Ester was feeling just as tense, her trigger fingers steady as she slowly aims at every possible ambusher around them, trying to size them all up and see who she can hit fast enough and who she should dodge. This isn't her first stand-off, even if this time around, the guns are replaced by simple bows. Unlike Ben's cautious face, Ester is smirking, confident in her chances. She can tell by the way some of the archers are twitching, the way some of the ones with bladed weapons are shaking, and the way some are clearly just showing off by twirling their weapons around, trying to look intimidating, that this entire group is comprised entirely of amateurs.

"I don't think kids like you should be toting those arrows around. Lower them and there won't be a problem." Ester taunts all the archers aiming at her and Ben.

"We outnumber you, 4 to 1!" One of the archers boasts, but the nervousness and shakiness in his tone can be noticed really easily.

With a smirk, Ester simply grips her pistols harder, staring directly into that archer's eyes, and boasts back, "I like those odds."

"Enough! Take 'em!" Tagon commands the rest of his goons as Rhom himself chuckles rather smugly, approaching Ben.

"I'm gonna beat ya 'til you're seeing stars!" Rhom exclaims, though Ben was not fazed.

If anything, he's smiling from ear to ear. "I'm surprised you know what stars are, big guy. You didn't even know you guys were, quote unquote, 'toll collectors'!" said Ben, slowly reaching for his watch as to not make the men and women surrounding them suspicious, keeping their attention on his lips by constantly taunting them.

"Why you...!" Rhom yells in rage, rearing back his fist and going for a punch towards Ben. Ben, though, was prepared. Training with Vi has taught him a punch thrown with rage and no thought will always hit hard but telegraphed, enough time to dodge it entirely. Ben was keeping his smirk, prepared to evade the fist coming at him...

...but before Rhom could even throw his punch, the cub from earlier suddenly pounces on the big guy, biting him on the leg, seemingly defending Ben, much to everyone's surprise. "AGH!" Rhom shouts in pain as the Protector cub, living up to it's name, defends Ben, keeping it's small jaws sunk into Rhom's pants and leg. "Damn cat!" Rhom exclaims before kicking the cub off his own leg, parts of this pants and flesh being torn from as the cub is sent flying, the little beast squealing in pain in the process.

This, though, enrages Ben. Bad enough these goons try to rob them, but now one of them just hurt an innocent cub. Gritting his teeth and glaring daggers at Rhom, Ben puts his hand away from his watch entirely and runs up to Rhom, delivering a swift and surprisingly powerful punch of his own, striking Rhom directly in the face. His punch was fueled with much rage, it knocked out two of Rhom's teeth and made his nose bleed, though Ben himself had to reel back and clutch his fist in pain as it hurt to strike a big guy like him.

Still though, while it was rather hypocrital of him to strike with rage, especially after what he was mentally telling himself earlier, it felt good to punch a bastard like Rhom using his own human fist for once. Seems Vi's influence is still strong with him.

Ben's punch was enough to cause Rhom to take a few steps back, caress the cheek Ben punched and look at his now fallen teeth on the ground. "Wh— Y—" Rhom can only stammer as blood seeped through the holes where his two teeth used to be as he suddenly just bursts into tears and runs away, shocking everyone in the group, even Ben and Ester, but especially Tagon.

"Rhom! Damn it! Ugh. Never should have taken him with me. Was always all talk!" Tagon cursed his partner before glaring back at the shapeshifting boy and Yordle gunslinger. "Alright, enough of this! Take 'em out! We'll pick their coins from their corpses!"

Taking their leader's command, the ones with blades begin to charge towards Ben and Ester, while the archers take aim at Ester, believing her to be the bigger threat thanks to her firearms. But Ester was faster on the draw, and thanks to her superior weapon, fires her shots faster, tearing through the bows of the archers without hitting them directly. Normally, she'd go for the kill, but she did promise to play along with Ben for now, so she won't shoot them dead.

However, the bladed bandits were faster than Ben, moving in faster than he can reach for his watch, with one of them getting closer to him than the rest. Ben still reached for his watch anyway, hoping he can bring up the dial in time.

But as the mook gets closer, blade in hand, Ben could only reach for the button on the side as the bandit was nearing...

...It seems too late...

But then...

BAM!

Everyone can only be surprised when something, or rather, someone, dropped onto the goon that got near Ben, slamming the man into the ground using their entire weight.

Ben blinks as dirt and leaves erupt from where the goon was slammed into. Before he could say a thing, though, the person who dropped onto the bladed bandit rises and looks at Ben, eye to eye.

The person turns out to be a girl, about Ben's age. She is a slender but muscular woman with light skin and red-brown eyes. She has thick black hair, tussled and tied back in a large, messy bun which flares in every direction. She also has a tattoo of a pale blue dragon among white clouds swirling around her arms and across the backs of her shoulders. Her attire consists of baggy pants, a crop top, tabi, some pou hes and a cloth mask that covers her lower face, all in various shades of green with brown leather highlights.

Ben and this girl looked at each other eye to eye, staring directly into each other's souls. It's as if time itself slowed down from their perspective, both of them lost into each other's gaze.

They eventually snapped out of it, though, as the masked girl's eyes widen a little as she says, "Duck."

Ben, without a thought, immediately did what she said as he ducks before the masked girl punches a goon that tried to sneak up on Ben from behind, knocking the bandint out in an instant.

This new mysterious girl then turns back around and pulls out a bunch of kunais from her pouches and throws them all at the bladed bandits, striking them in their legs and causing them to fall over. She then grabs what appears to be a small, scythe like weapon from her back, attached to a rope, as she whips it around, striking more of the bandits coming her ways, giving them cuts and slices that spill some of their blood all over the floor, before she retracts her weapon back to her hand.

"Get out of here." The mysterious girl tells Ben before dashing towards another group.

Ben stands still, though, in awe at the new ninja girl's moves as she cut, punched and kicked her way through all her enemies, each strike even causing some leaves to be kicked up, as if to emphasize her grace and slight brutality. "Whoa." was all Ben mutters as he watches her work.

However, his thoughts are derailed when the sound of gunfire ring out and catches his attention, making him look behind him and see Ester firing her pistols at the archers and dodging the rain of arrows heading her way.

"Ester!" Ben yells, worried about her as he runs towards his friend, but he couldn't even take more than 3 steps as Tagon tackles him and pushes him against a tree, gabbing him by his neck and choking him.

"You're going to pay for this, outsider!" Tagon angrily yells at the Piltovan boy. "You should have just played along!"

"You're the ones trying to rob us for doing harmless things!" Ben retorts, though. He's run out of jokes, and is simply just speaking his mind now. "If you had just left us alone, we wouldn't have hurt any of your friends!"

"Shut up!" Tagon yells, keeping one hand around Ben's neck before using his other to pull out his dagger, ready to stab Ben.

This time, though, Ben's prepared and much faster, as during their argument, he has already brought up the dial on his watch. As Tagon tries to stab him, thrusting the dagger towards his chest, Ben slams down the dial and bathes himself in emerald light and forcing Tagon to close his eyes.

Once the light vanishes, Tagon opens his eyes and sees that his dagger has been broken on contact and now, in Ben's place...

...is Diamondhead.

Everyone who saw this, including the new mysterious girl, are all in shock at Ben transforming into something they have never seen before.

Ester, though, notices all of then staring at Ben and it just makes her smirk. "Ohhhh, you guys are in trouble now." She boasts for her friend.

Tagon is still in shock as he looks at Diamondhead's towering presence and at his dagger that was snapped in half just by making contact on the crystalline hero's body. Without as much of a warning, Diamondhead slaps away Tagon's hand that was still on his neck before punching him in the face, taking advantage of his shock, as the bandit leader is knocked out on the floor, blood from his mouth.

Ben made sure he didn't hit Tagon too hard, as Diamondhead's hardened body might break a regular human's skull if he's not careful with his strength. Still, not quite as satisfying as hitting Rhom after what he did, but he's glad to shut up Tagon at last.

"Alright, who's next?" Diamondhead boasts, making a 'bring it' motion with his hands towards some of the remaining bandits. Some of them take the bait, running at Diamondhead with their blades despite what happened.

With each swing of their swords and daggers, their weapons shattered on contact with his crystal skin. The crystalline hero then smirks at his foes as he punches, kicks and even headbutts them away. Unlike with Tagon, he held back further, to the point all they got were bruises and were still conscious, as he noticed a majority of them look like they're several years younger than him. As if Ben couldn't get more disgusted, whoever Tagon is working for is not above drafting children, it seems.

He's hoping him breaking their weapons and non lethal attacks would scare them off. And it works, though not for all of them. While the younger bandits seem to run away from terror, the much older ones remained as they continue their assault.

Diamondhead then shapes his hands into crystal blades as the mysterious ninja girl from before backflips towards him and stand with him, back to back. "I don't know what you are, but you have a lot of explaining to do." The girl says, twirling her scythe-like weapon in one hand and bringing out a kunai on the other.

"I'll cooperate... after we beat these guys up!" Diamondhead tells her back as their foes charge at them.

---

Meanwhile, nearby, Ester has managed to split apart each bow her enemy archers had, forcing them to face her in close quarters, but she also makes sure to keep her distance, jumping away from every attacker while shooting back at them in non vital parts, like their legs, feet, arms and hands.

Still, though, she underestimated their agility, as some of them have managed to dodge her shots the moment they started running on the ground rather than staying in the trees.

More and more of them are getting closer, and as the distance between Ester and her foes keep closing, her confidence from earlier is slowly starting to fade, but she can't let it bother her. She needs to focus.

This time, she stopped just firing her shots like a barrage of lead and gunpowder. Instead, she starts reading their patterns. By using her first pistol to herd them and her second to predict and fire at where she wants them to go, she'll take them down in no time.

With a careful shot, she fires at one of the agile assailants and, as she predicted, forced her foe to dodge to the right, allowing her to fire her second pistol shot at his leg, incapacitating him. She repeats this for the next foe, who dodges to the left this time, and she, of course, responds and reacts quickly, shooting her enemy's leg again.

Then she repeats this for the next. And the next, and the next until she effectively incapacitates all of them, the bandits all on the ground as they shriek in pain.

With a smug smile and a twirl of her pistols, the crackshot corsair blows away the smoke from both of her firearms, satisfied at her handiwork. "I've shot the wings off of bilge wasps. You guys need to be less predictable." She taunts her fallen foes.

"How about this then?!"

Ester hears a voice behind her and as she turns around, another one of the bandits actually got close to her, this time, her foe is wielding a giant, makeshift axe, which he swings down at Ester.

Luckily, the gunslinger dodges in time, doing a flip backwards to dodge the axe swing as the force it creates was enough to kick up a lot of dirt and dust and embed itself into the ground, causing it to get stuck.

"Alright, I didn't predict that, I'll give you that." Ester admits condescendingly, her smirk still on her lips before training both pistols at her foe, aiming at his legs. But once she pulls the triggers...

CLICK!

"Uh oh." Ester mutters, realizing her pistol are out of ammo. And unfortunately, her problems did not stop there as her axe wielding foe finally got his weapon off the ground, ready to swing it again.

All Ester can do now is just dodge then run away to reload, which isn't too bad of a strategy...

But then the same, fallen bandits she shot grabs a hold of her legs and arm, keeping her in place. "Hey! Let me— Agh!" Ester could only yell as she struggles to wiggle off the enemies grabbing her.

The sound of grunting in front of her catches her attention as the axe wielding bandit was coming for her, his gigantic weapon at the ready...

...Before the clap of thunder echoes and a bolt of lightning strikes the axe maniac, electrocuting him and knocking him out, his hair burning a little and his body singed as he falls on the ground, unconscious but barely alive.

This sudden attack shocks the Yordle corsair and her captors, though not literally, as they have no idea what had just happened. As if things weren't more confusing, several shurikens suddenly erupt from the trees and strike the bandits holding onto Ester, embedding into their arms as they reel in pain and are forced to let her go, allowing Ester to jump away from them.

"Okay, what the heck is going on here?!" Ester exclaims, but then the same clap of thunder roars and, without warning, a much smaller bolt of lightning strikes the ground in front of her. When the flash dies and the smoke clears, someone entirely new emerges from where the bolt struck.

It seems to be another Yordle, like Ester herself, but he's slightly taller, maybe an inch or two. He's wearing a purple, hooded ninja outfit, with black undergarments beneath. There are two holes on his hood for his cat-like ears, a mask concealing his mouth and nose, leaving only his striking, purple eyes visible and typical ninja tabi on his feet. He seems to be wielding a single shuriken that's too big for his hands, with said shuriken resembling the ones used on Ester's captors.

Small sparks of electricity were emanating from his body, indicating he is responsible for this attack.

Ester blinks for a second, a little bit in awe but also confused at the sudden arrival, who still has his back turned against her. "Uh... Thanks?" She says.

Her words finally caught the other Yordle's attention as he turns around to face her, his eyes gazing into her own. With a nod and a fist on his open palm, he replies, "You are welcome, but you should not be here."

"Tell that to my friend." Ester replies, gesturing elsewhere.

The lightning Yordle turns to look at where the Yordle gunslinger is pointing and sees the fighting occuring on the other side.

---

Diamondhead punches away some more of the bandits as the ninja girl kicks the other ones away.

When more of them arrive with bigger weapons, a majority of which are axes and spears, the duo only smirk as they charge towards their foes. Diamondhead shapes his hands into crystal blades once more as he approaches the ones with axes. The first of them tried to swing at the shapeshifter, but the crystalline hero simply swipes his bladed hand at his opponent's weapon, cutting off the top half of the axe, separating the blade from it's handle, disarming the bandit completely.

Diamondhead then follows this up with a headbutt that knocks out his foe before shifting his hands into several spikes and aims them at more the axe wielders. With impressive precision, Diamondhead fires several shards from his spiked hands, tearing their axes apart and pinning the assailants into the trees by firing shards through his enemies' clothes without harming them, keeping them in place.

While this was happening, the ninja girl dodges and ducks under the attack of the spearmen trying to attack her. Once she slides under the last one, she took the time to actually kick him in his family jewels, causing the man an extreme amount of pain as he is forced to let go of his spear and fall on the ground to his knees.

She wasn't done, though, as the jade shinobi then uses her foot to kick the fallen spear upwards for her to catch it before throwing a smoke bomb in the middle of the crowd of spearmen. When it detonates, it unleashes a big cloud of smoke that causes the bandits to cough and have their vision obscured, unable to see even two feet in front of them.

Taking advantage of this, the girl jumps into the middle of the smoke and, using the blunt end of the spear in her hand, whacks and smacks each and every one of the now debilitated men in their heads, knocking them out. However, one of them managed to power through the smoke and tries to swipe at the emerald ninja. She manages to dodge at the last second, but the tip of the blade of her foe's spear still manages to connect, giving her a small cut on her right arm, leaking a small amount of blood.

This did not make her happy at all as she glares at her new wound and back at the bandit that dared tried to cut her. The final spearman was not ready as the ninja girl angrily rushes towards him, hitting his gut with the blunt end of her spear, knocking the wind out of him, before twirling the spear around and striking him in the head with the middle of the spear's handle like a bat.

Her strike was so strong and so filled with rage, the spear snaps in half, splintering apart as the man is struck in the head and knocked out, a large amount of his teeth spewing from his mouth in the process.

The girl takes a deep breathe, looking at her handiwork and her now broken, stolen weapon, before tossing snapped spear handle away. "Bastard." The girl venomously taunts her unconscious foe.

"Dang. He really ticked you off, huh?" Diamondhead comments as he approaches the girl...

...only for her to pull out her small scythe once more, swinging towards Diamondhead's neck... and stops before she makes contact. Despite knowing how durable he is, for a moment, Diamondhead felt like the weapon might have actually done some damage. Unlikely, yet Ben felt an amount of bloodlust from that swing. He hasn't felt anything like that since—

"Who are you?" The girl finally asks. "How did you transform into this... thing?"

"Uhhh, well, if you put down your scythe, I'll—" Diamondhead tells her.

"It's a kama." The girl corrects Ben, keeping her eye on the crystalline creature before him.

Diamondhead nods. "Right. Kama. Uhh, if you put it down, we can talk like civilized people. Unlike these guys..." He responds, gesturing to the now all unconscious, incapacitated and pinned foes around them.

The emerald ninja is still looking at him rather tensely, as Ester and the other Yordle approaches them. "Master Kennen. What do you think?" The girl says, looking towards the purple clad Yordle before staring back at Diamondhead.

Kennen, as his name was revealed, looks back and forth between Ester and Diamondhead. Tapping his chin, Kennen replies, "Let him go, Akali. We've observed them for a while. They don't seem to intend any harm."

Akali, the girl clad in green, nods, lowering her weapon before placing it behind her once more. Diamondhead though, widens his eyes in surprise. "Wait, you guys have been following us?" He asks as Ester joins his side.

"Not initially. We've been tracking these Navori Brotherhood members for a while now. Then we spotted some of them trying to tail you and managed to corner you here. We had to interfere." Akali explains, crossing her arms.

"I'll report back to Shen. Akali, can you keep an eye on them?" Kennen asks the emerald ninja, who nods to her master. Taking his leave, Kennen then becomes a ball of electricity and zaps away, surprising Diamondhead and Ester.

"Whoa! That was cool!" Diamondhead chirps before the hourglass symbol on him blinks red and, with a similar crimson flash, turns back to Ben. Ester is already used to it, but Akali still seems perplexed.

The jade shinobi comments, "How exactly do you do that?"

"Well, I—" Ben was almost excited to explain as he brings up his watch, but then the Protector cub from before suddenly runs up to him nuzzles against his leg. "Oh hey, little guy! Are you okay? I hope that mean guy didn't hurt you too much?"

Akali blinks, staring at Ben petting the cub as Ester crosses her arms and shakes her head, though she does still have a smile on her face. "Wait, what're you doing? That's a Jeweled Protector cub, not a pet!" Akali exclaims.

"I didn't say he's my pet. I'm just being nice to him." Ben explains as he continues to pat the cub in the head, which itself continues to nuzzle it's head against Ben's hand.

"If it's mother sees you, it will—" Akali tries to warn him...

...but a loud roar and the thunderous flapping of wings can be heard nearby, which made all three of them freeze in fear. "—not be happy..." Akali continues her words.

Confirming her fears, a powerful gust of wind erupts from above and clears the trees as a bigger, adult Jeweled Protector arrives from the sky. It is much closer to the drawings of Ben's father on the journal, complete with it's white fur and greenish blue stripes, akin to it's child, as it lands on the ground on all four legs, growling as it approaches Ben, Akali and Ester.

"What do we do?" Ben whispers to Akali, as they all slowly walk backwards.

"Whatever you do, do NOT attack it. It will just make it angry..." Akali warns them as the Jeweled Protector approaches, it's growl growing louder.

The gigantic beast itself glares at the trio, approaching slowly as each step it took dug into the soil beneath their feet, it's fangs glistening in the sunlight and it's eyes intense and terrifying. It's growl was still getting louder as it approaches them, almost like it's ready to pounce and attack at any second...

...but then it's cub walks in front of it, halting it's advance. For a moment, the mother looks confused as it's cub was basically meowing at it rather loudly. But then it moves towards Ben, to both his and the mother's surprise, and nuzzle against his leg once more. This causes the mother Protector to tilt it's head, curious.

"What's... going on?" Ester asks as she watches the cub remain with Ben.

The Jeweled Protector, though, surprises the trio when she chuffs towards her cub, who mews adorably as it moves back towards it's mother. Then, the mother itself moves towards Ben, who stands very still as both Akali and Ester back away from them both. Sweat runs down Ben's forehead, nervous at what the giant, winged feline before him is about to do...

...But to the astonishment of the trio, the Jeweled Protector's eyes glow as she stares at Ben... and suddenly licks Ben on his cheek lightly, drenching part of his face in drool. "O-Oh... Uhh... No problem?" Ben sheepishly tries to talk to the feline mother before him, but it just responds with another chuff before gently holding it's cub by the back of it's neck with it's mouth, gently carrying it as she spreads her wings and flies away, unleashing a gust of wind and kicking up dirt in the process, forcing the trio to shield their eyes.

"That... was weird..." Ester comments and points out, walking over to Ben to pat him on his leg. She'd pat his back but, she's too short to reach it. "You okay?"

Ben, for his part, just shakes his head, trying to get rid of the drool on his face. He almost reached for his scarf, but remembers it's a gift from Caitlyn, so he decided not to use it to clean his face. "Yeah... Just soaking wet in drool..." Ben replies. "Hey, Akali, right? Is there a river nearby we can use? I need to wash this drool awa—"

He spoke as he turns around to look at Akali, but then he halts himself when he notices that the ninja girl is now staring at him, eyes widened a little, unsure of what to do with her hands. "A-Akali?" Ben just mutters.

"You... earned it's blessing..." Akali finally speaks, walking closer to Ben, who blinks in confusion.

"All I did was be nice to it's cub." Ben replies, scratching the back of his head.

However, the jade shinobi approaching him shakes her head. "Most Ionian's take good care of the land and the creatures around them. What you did isn't unique. This? This is something else. It saw something in you." Akali corrects him, standing close to Ben now.

"What do you mean? Is it a rare occurrence?" Ester asks on behalf of the boy, crossing her arms.

"It is. I don't know the entire meaning of it, but... I think I know someone who can." Akali nods as she offers a hand to Ben. "If you're willing to trust me."

Ben, though, blinks once more, still confused, as he points out, "You changed your tone fast. Do you trust us already?"

Akali chuckles a little at this. "Not yet, but... a guardian from the Autumn Valley did, and I trust their judgement." She replies.

"I dunno..." Ester chimes in. "Appreciate the help and all, but we really should get going. My friend and I are still—"

"I'm in!" Ben suddenly, and rather excitedly, exclaims, surprising Ester.

Once again, Ester is beginning to see a pattern to Ben's behavior, as she squints her eyes at him. She's waiting for something in particular before she starts talking to Ben about this, but for now, she'll play along. She can only hope he knows what he's doing.

Akali nods as Ben finally takes her hand. "You already know my name. What's yours?"

"Ben." The shapeshifting boy replies. He then gestures to his Yordle companion. "This is my friend, Ester. I'm Piltover, she's from Bilgewater."

"Long away from home." Akali points out as she and Ben finally let go of each other's hands. She then gestures with her head to follow her as she starts walking off to somewhere, with Ben and Ester following her. "You still haven't told me how you transformed into that... big, crystal guy-thing."

"If you tell me about this 'Navori Brotherhood' people that tried to rob us?" Ben asks.

"Hah. Do you have a couple of hours to listen?" Akali retorts.

While they head off, they are unable to notice a dark figure from up above the trees, hidden in the darkness of the shadows made by the leaves. The figure growls, it's glowing red eyes glaring directly at Ben himself, hatred and bloodlust seeping through it's dark aura.

"Goooood..." growls the mysterious being, making a grave and deep chuckle from it's throat before vanishing into the darkness behind it...

---

"Are you sure, Kennen?"

"I'm sure. The Navori Brotherhood have never been this bold."

From atop some mountains within the valley of Navori, lies a large temple, built with various tiles of marble, pristine white wood, perfectly grey stones and many more materials. The trees around it seem to growing into and all over it, as nature itself create the temple, and it might as well have.

In front of it was a large and wide courtyard, filled with various ninjas, training together, tending to the gardens or fishing in the river that lead to the temple itself like an aquatic path.

Truly, a sight to behold as the Sun shines above it, as if to emphasize the temple, shining over it like a spotlight.

As beautiful, blossoming pink petals are carried by the wind and scatter around the temple, within it's halls was of course Kennen, arms behind his back as he speaks to another person before him.

Towering over Kennen was a human man, clad in dark, almost bluish, light armor on top of the typical, black ninja outfit underneath. He appears to have a full helmet and mask, covering all but his eyes, which were a soothing dark blue. On his back appears to be two blades, yet with entirely different handles from one another. One is straight, with it's crossguard being a big circle. The other sword's handle is curved. The former is kept in it's sheathe, wrapped in brown leather, while the other was shorter and did not have anything covering it.

This man must be Shen, the one Kennen spoke of and told Akali he'd talk to, and he stood tall, as he and his Yordle friend converse.

"They went after two outsiders too." Kennen continues his report. "One of them looks life from Bilgewater. She even carried firearms. But the other... He was... peculiar..."

"What do you mean, old friend?" Shen asks, to which said friend places a hand on his own chin, pondering.

Kennen replies, "Well, he seemed normal enough when Akali and I tailed him, his friend and the Navori Brotherhood hunting them down. But in the midst of combat he... transformed."

This catches Shen's attention, tilting his head slightly and raises a brow. "Transformed? Is he a Vastaya?" Shen asks.

"He didn't seem to be. As far as I could tell, he's human. I don't even sense any kind of magic within. If he does, it's very little to be significant." says the lightning Yordle. "He and his companion did not seem to mean any harm and merely defended themselves. We didn't interfere until one of the Brotherhood struck a Protector cub." He adds.

Shen gives him a nod. "Good. An act like that would disrupt our land's balance. And what of the boy and his friend?"

"I left them with Akali. I am confident she can handle it, and even then, I am also confident no harm will come to her. The outsiders have done no harm to any of the villagers and animals they came across during us tailing them." Kennen replies.

"I trust your decision. Still, as you said, the Navori Brotherhood have not been so bold to send an entire group after just two people. they usually send a highwayman or two to handle unwitting outsiders and lone villagers. Something must've have happened..." Shen begins to ponder, sharing his thoughts out loud. "Prepare to send some scouts. We need to know—"

Shen and Kennen, however, are interrupted when Akali walks up the stairs within view of Shen, leading to the hallway they're in as she brings Ben and Ester with her. "Akali? You have returned. And... Are they...?" Shen asks as he walks over to the girl clad in green, Kennen following him as they approach the trio.

"The outsiders I'm sure master Kennen has told you about." Akali finishes his words for him. She then gestures to the newcomers with her. "The Yordle's Ester. And this guy..."

When she gestures to Ben, he simply waves sheepishly to Shen and Kennen. "This one's Ben. The Piltovan shapeshifter." Akali finishes.

"Hello!" Ben chirps before taking a respectful bow.

Shen is a bit surprised, but is nonetheless pleased at Ben's respectful tone and manners, so he bows to Ben too to reciprocate his own. "A pleasure, Ben. Though forgive my tone, but, Akali, why do you bring outsiders to our temple?"

"I thought we helped people, master?" Akali replies, a hand on her hip as she looks at Shen, revealing her relationship with him as her teacher. "Besides, Ben and Ester here actually took the time to respect our people and our lands. They protected a Protector cub out of their own free will."

"Hmmm..." Shen hums from his lips. "I appreciate you doing that, Ben. Not many outsiders would actually do that and respect the balance of life in our lands. But our temple is no place for outsiders not interested in becoming a part of our order." Shen begins to talk to Ben directly. "Do not fret, however. I will personally send some of our members to guide you to a nearby inn or lodge somewhere to help you settle, one that would welcome outsiders."

"Master..." Akali interrupts Shen, causing him to face her. "This 'outsider' earned the blessing of a the cub's mother."

After merely finishing her sentence, Akali manages to widen the eyes of Shen, Kennen and even some of this temple's other members that happened to be nearby. As Shen turns back his gaze towards Ben, he suddenly makes hand signs that Ben's never seen before clasping his hands together... and Shen's eyes glows pure white.

Ben watches Shen just stare at him for a couple of seconds, which was honestly creeping him out. The glowing eyes don't help, and the fact that he can't see what Shen is seeing is also making him a bit curious.

"You speak no lies..." Shen finally says something after that moment of silent staring, his eyes finally dimming back to normal as he turns around and cusps his chin in thought. "This is unprecedented..." He adds.

"Okay, can I respectfully ask something?" Ester speaks up, though she didn't even wait for anyone to tell her to proceed. "What does being blessed by the Jeweled Protector even mean? Is Ben invincible now? Is he gonna turn into one of those things? Or does he have magic powers all of a sudden?"

Kennen takes this cue to answer her, saying, "To be blessed by a guardian of the Autumn Valley is a rare occurrence, but of the times this happened, a few things were consistent. One, the beast that blessed someone will always answer to that person's call as a sign of mutual respect, and will fight for them. Two, the person would grow strong in particular aspects of their life. This is not just referring to physical strength, but strength in bonds, willpower and even wisdom. This is not random, and it varies on each person. One could be blessed with wisdom, while the other becomes strong physically. And finally, three..."

Kennen suddenly trails off, keeping Ben, Ester and Akali in suspense, as he takes a deep breath. "Three... The beast can see an inner struggle, and if you break from that struggle, the aforementioned two will be granted."

"That third one's not a blessing. That's the prerequisite for the actual blessings." Akali points out.

"Regardless, the Protector clearly saw something." Shen adds as he turns back around to look at Ben. "To earn the favor of a powerful spirit in physical form is already rare, but to happen to an outsider... There must be something to you, Ben."

Ben blinks and was sweating a little. This did not escape Ester's notice. What particularly caught her attention was Kennen mentioning that this Jeweled Protector saw an "inner struggle" within Ben. Her suspicions grow bigger the more she observes the boy.

"Uhh, well, I'm nothing special, Shen, sir. Mister Shen, sir." Ben stammers and trips all over his own words before clearing his throat. "Ahem. Sorry. Um, what exactly do I do now with this... blessing?"

Shen nods to him. "Perhaps your arrival here is no coincidence. If the spirits claim an outsider such as yourself is worthy to be blessed by a sacred guardian, then I see no reason not to help you discover your full potential and see what this means for the balance of our land. Only if you are willing to stay, however. You are not our prisoner. If there are things you wish to attend to first, then you may do so. But know that I have changed my mind: You are now welcome in our temple to stay. I am sure we can find a room for the both of you." Shen reassures Ben and Ester.

"Oh! Of course!" Ben eagerly replies. Ester squints her eyes at him, incredibly wary of his behavior. "We won't cause any problems! I'd like to see what you can teach me, too. And who am I to not respect your offer, Shen, sir. Or is it Master Shen now?" He sheepishly asks.

Shen takes a small chuckle to this as he pats Ben on his shoulder. "Shen will do, Ben. You are a guest in need, not a member of our order." The man reassures Ben once more. "Rest. I'm sure it has been a long day. Your battle with the Navori Brotherhood must have been exhausting. Akali, show them around, but we will speak later. Kennen, we still need to discuss what happened today."

Ben respectfully nods as he watches Shen and Kennen head out, Akali and Ester beside him, the former of which pats Ben on his back. "Alright, come on, you two. I know some vacant rooms around. You can put your stuff there." She tells the duo as she leads them down further into the hall, leading them both to an exit. "Oh, by the way, Ester."

Akali stops for a moment as she looks to the Yordle gunner this time and... points at the pistols on her side. "No guns." Akali tells her, which just earns her a scowl from Ester, who just clings to her guns tighter.

"Whoa! Hey! You don't just tell a crackshot to get rid of her guns! I made these myself! Took care of 'em like my own kids." Ester retorts, glaring at the ninja girl.

"Look, I don't have a problem with them, I don't really care, but rules are rules. Around here in the Kinkou Order, and a majority of Ionia, they don't like guns. I'll give them back to you when you leave the temple." The jade shinobi explains, opening her hand for Ester's guns.

The Yordle gunslinger was still scowling, not content with Akali's answer but Ben crouches down to her level and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Ester. Just for the day." He asks of her.

"You know what..." Ester suddenly speaks up and shakes her head. "No. No, you're not taking my guns. I'm leaving. I'm gonna ask around for the nearest inn." The Yordle exclaims, turning around and heading back to where they came from.

"Ester! Wait! Come on!" Ben pleads, chasing after his friend, but then she turns around, glaring at Ben, eye to eye.

"You! Something's going on with you, and I can already tell what it is. If you want to talk to me about it instead of hiding it behind that smile, you can meet me where we beat up those thugs, tomorrow. Until then, I'm keeping my guns. I feel safer with them." Ester scolds the shapeshifting hero before turning back again to leave.

Ben wanted to say something, anything, opening his mouth, but no words escape from it as Akali walks to his side. "What did she mean by that? Is this the... inner struggle the Protector saw?" Akali asks him.

Ben looks down for a moment, thinking to himself, before sighing and shaking his head. "No. I-I don't know what she's talking about. Can you just... take me to a room? I need to rest." The Piltovan boy asks of the Ionian girl.

"... Alright." Akali took a moment to reply as she pats Ben's back. "Come on. It's this way."

Akali couldn't help but feel bad for what had just transpired. She was simply following the rules established by their order. Ben has been respectful of them so far, though it seems she was mistaken in assuming Ester would be the same. She just sighs to herself, hoping Ben and Ester can make up tomorrow, and perhaps Akali herself could find a way to apologize to Ester.

Until then, she'll be taking Ben to his room, for now.

And she already knows just the place.

---

Elsewhere, deeper into the forest of Navori was the old man from earlier, waiting in a tent, much darker than the one he had at the beaches earlier. He appears to be surrounded by multiple more Navori Brotherhood members, all wielding swords, spears, daggers, bows and arrows, and various other kinds of weapons as they gather around a campfire. Some were keeping watch. Others were conversing with one another as they sharpen their weapons with whetstone.

"What's taking them so long?" The deceptive old man complains, annoyance in his tone as he writes and draws on a piece of paper before handing it to one of his men.

This minion of his rolls up the paper given to him and passes it to a girl carrying several other rolls of paper, before he replies to the old man, "We haven't heard from them for some time. The scouts we sent to find them are—"

Their conversation is derailed, though, when the sounds of murmurs and gasps of shock can be heard from the others in the camp as they all go different directions to make way... for the arrival of Tagon, bleeding from the bruise on his forehead, likely the aftermath of Diamondhead's punch from earlier.

"Boss... Boss!" Tagon yells out in between deep, tired breathes and struggling to walk straight. "They... they outsmarted us!"

"That's not hard to do. You and brother are dumber than Noxian bricks." The old man taunts Tagon, who just fell to his knees in front of the former. Everyone around them began to laugh at Tagon and at the old man's mean spirited joke, but Tagon didn't really care. He's too tired to tell them to stop.

The injured highwayman just shakes his head as he points in the direction he came from. "Th-They... I... I don't know what that guy was, but he wasn't human. He... He transformed into some kind of... crystal rock golem!"

This turns the laughter from the crowd of fellow Navori Brotherhood members into murmurs of confusion and doubt, the latter of which was much more present in the old man's thoughts. "You're talking nonsense, boy. Or is the concussion they gave you making you lucid?" The old man continues to berate the tall young man before him.

"I'm telling you the truth!" Tagon yells. Even the elderly boss before him flinches at his sudden outburst.

Before he could process that, though, the sound of screams in pain suddenly echo from the distance. The old man rises from his seat as Tagon and the rest of the Brotherhood all turn to see where the sounds are coming from. It didn't even take a few seconds before the sound of swords clashing and more screams can be heard from where their encampment's entrance would be.

"We're under attack!" One of their members from the very front yells out before something grabs him and pulls him into the shadows, the poor warrior screaming all the way before being silenced.

"You lead them to us?!" The old man yells at Tagon, but the young man just shakes his head rapidly.

"N-No! I swear! They were gone before I came here!" Tagon replies, fear present in his tone.

"Then what the hell is—" The elderly boss tries to ask, but is interrupted when one of their members was suddenly throw their direction, forcing the old man to duck as the human projectile strikes the tent behind him, destroying it and immobilizing the thrown person at the same time. "Damn it! Make yourself useful, Tagon! Go to the nearest Navori cell and ask for reinforcements! The rest of you, kill whoever is attacking us!"

Tagon does as he is told, panting and sweating as he runs off, all while the rest of his brothers and sisters charger towards the danger heading for them.

But as Tagon leaves, he is unable to see the slaughter he leaves behind as whatever is attacking this encampment of Navori Brotherhood, it was strong and fast, tearing them all apart while only looking like a blur to the naked eye.

As the blood and limbs of his men start spewing everywhere like fountains of gore and viscera, the old man is ultimately the last one standing, and he didn't catch a sight of the intruder even once. As he holds his walking stick like an impromptu weapon, he looks at his fallen soldiers, or what's left of them, as he swings his stick wildly, as if trying to strike the air itself.

"Come on, you bastard! You think you scare me?! I've seen poros more terrifying than you!" The old man boasts, despite the futility of his situation and the despair in his heart...

...until he notices a shadow slowly rising behind him, looming over him until he is fully enveloped by darkness. The lone elder can only turn around slowly, confusion in his face. Then as he looks up and stares at the being before him, his confusion is replaced by fear and horror as he subconsciously let's go of the stick in his hand.

"...Oh."

That was his final word as the being before him pounces.

And all the old man can do is scream.

---

"GAH!"

Ben yells, jolting up and sitting up on his bed as he wakes from another nightmare. He is sweaty and shaking as he clutches his head.

He's currently in a new room that Akali lead him to. It was spacious enough, with a single, legless bed on one corner and a table surrounded by a few floor cushions on another. There's a lamp on each corner of the room, with light shining from within. When Ben was first introduced to the room, he really thought the lamps were torches, but apparently it's something similar to Hextech lamps back in Piltover, just much more naturally made, according to Akali. Ben didn't know what she meant nor did he bother asking.

It was a nice enough room, but Ben slept off for a majority of the day. The trip around Navori was tiring enough, but then the fight with the Brotherhood exhausted him further, physically and mentally. He couldn't even bother to properly undress, and simply just took off his scarf, jacket and shirt then lied down on the bed shirtless, which was so relaxing, too, that Ben just dozed off in mere seconds.

Still, that nightmare he had interrupted his great sleep. "Way to ruin my beauty sleep. Stupid nightmares." Ben comically groans before stretching.

"HEY!"

Ben yelps a little in surprise as Akali suddenly opens the door to his room. She's still dressed in her earlier attire, but this time, her mask is off, revealing her beautiful face, her hair is untied, letting all her unkempt and messy hair down, and she has a dark blue kimono over her entire outfit, though it's open, rather than closed, so she looks like she's wearing the kimono like a makeshift jacket.

"You slept off the entire afternoon. We're having dinner." Akali announces to Ben, leaning on the doorframe rather casually. She then notices that Ben is shirtless... and actually looks at him from his abdomen to his chest. She's actually surprised how physically fit Ben is, even having abs. Less visible compared to her own six pack, but they're still there. "Hm. I actually thought you'd be scrawny underneath. Not bad."

"Yeah, well, I have my sister and her partner to thank for that. Always telling me to workout and keep myself healthy and all that. Mostly her partner, though." Ben sheepishly admits.

Akali nods, her lips still pursed in a positive way as she is still staring at Ben. "You'll get there. Keep it up, you'll be in good shape." She comments before finally pointing behind her with her thumb. "Wanna eat? Masa's cooking us some dumplings and ramen." Akali offers.

"Sure! I've never had ramen before." Ben excitedly replies, rising from his bed as he grabs his shirt and his scarf, leaving his jacket behind as he puts his shirt back on.

"Really? Man, must be sad in Piltover." The jade shinobi teases Ben, who just rolls his eyes as he puts his scarf around his waist like a belt.

"Very funny." Ben responds dryly before heading to the door. As soon as he does, Akali steps away to lead Ben to the dining area of the temple. The Piltovan boy follows her, jogging up next to her, excitement in his face. "So when do you think my training will begin?"

"Knowing the old man? Probably tomorrow. He's always eager like that. Don't be surprised when he starts giving you his lengthy lessons first thing in the morning." Akali tells Ben, the two of them walking down the path leading to the dining hall. Akali places hands behind her head while Ben keeps his behind his back as they do so.

"Ah, I'll get used to it. My sister wakes me up early every morning for private lessons with a friend of ours." Ben shares. "I'm sure this'll be no different."

The jade shinobi raises a brow, glancing at Ben for a moment before looking back straight ahead, asking, "So you mentioned you're from Piltover. Why'd you come here? If you say you're taking a vacation, I might just punch you."

"Whoa, harsh." Ben replies.

"Don't take it personally. Never really cared for outsiders, and I hate tourists even more. They treat our sacred lands like it's a day in the beach." Akali tells him, closing her eyes in slight frustration.

"Okay, but to be fair, so far, Ionia is beautiful. The clear waters, the exotic creatures, the friendly people, the awe inspiring forests? So cool! We barely have those back home, and—" Ben says, his eyes practically shining in awe, but when he takes a second to look back to Akali, she's squinting at him, clearly not amused by him. Ben has to frantically wave his hands at her and says, "I swear! Not a tourist. I just genuinely think your region's really cool. But to answer your question... I'm just... looking for my mom."

Akali's expression went from an unamused and annoyed one into one that resembles confusion mixed with... sorrow? Perhaps it might be, given her lips forming into a frown, but she did not utter another word, looking at Ben. "Oh." escapes her mouth, placing her hands back to his side.

"Y-Yeah." Ben replies, nodding to her. "She's... well, I never met her. My dad never really mentioned her to me before and after he's gone, I just... wanted to know where she could be. So far, my plan is to just retrace my dad's footsteps. He must've met her during his travels because I was told that my dad just came back to Piltover one day with me when I was 1 year old, so clearly, whoever my mom was, she might be out there still."

"That's... quite the adventure you've planned." Akali comments, crossing her arms as the two of them continue their walk together. "No disrespect, of course, but, what would you do if she's... you know..."

Ben blinks for a moment, confused at Akali, especially since she just trails off. But then he immediately recognizes what she's asking, so his eyes widen before he cups his chin in thought. "I... I don't want to think that way... But... if she is... I... I'll at least pay my respects... and pray I never find out why she didn't go with dad."

Akali stares at Ben for a moment, her frown still present and her brow softening into a melancholic expression. Her thoughts swirl in her head as she processes Ben's entire story. It's as if it's a story she's heard before...

"Ben..." Akali softly speaks up, raising one of her hands for a moment, ready to reach Ben's shoulder. "I—"

"There you two are!"

Before Akali could do so, however, a voice speaks up and catches both of their attentions as they look back in front of them to see they made it to the mess hall. And not just that, but they are greeted by another Yordle. This one is much taller than either Kennen or Ester. He is shirtless, showing off his golden brown fur, and from the waist down, he is wearing blue shorts of some kind with bronze trims and a big, rope-like belt, around his waist. He was also slightly muscular, though not by much. Even Ben still looks brawnier compared to him, perhaps due to their natural size difference.

"We've been waiting for you! The meals have been prepared!" The bulky Yordle exclaims.

"Alright, no need to be dramatic, 'Crashing Thunder'." Akali teases the Yordle before them. "Ben, this is Masa. Masa, this is Ben."

Masa, the brawny Yordle in front of the duo, places his fist on his palm before taking a bow, which Ben reciprocates by doing the same thing as a show of respect. "A pleasure, young warrior. We have heard tales of you from Master Kennen!"

"Wow. I'm popular already." Ben jokes, making Akali's eyes roll which just made Ben smile smugly.

"Mostly for how undisciplined your fighting technique is, how you struck with emotion and did not temper your blows with your mind, as well as your tendency to crack jokes in the middle of combat." Masa adds.

Akali snickers at this while Ben goes from smiling to comically frowning in seconds upon hearing Masa's words.

However, Masa continues with, "But he also told us of you willing to let your assailants walk away and only struck back when they attacked a defenseless cub. To me, that earns you merits as a true warrior with great power and even greater heart." Masa then bows before gesturing to the mess hall. "Please! Come sit with us and eat."

Ben's face relaxes after that comment, a smile slowly forming. It's not a smile born out of pride like seconds ago, though. But one of real joy as he nods to Masa. "Thanks."

Akali, too, can't help but smile. In fact, she let's out a small chuckle at this. She pats Ben on his back, perhaps a little too hard that he almost falls over and grunts, before walking ahead of him, towards the mess hall. "If you don't hurry, I'll finish most of the ramen before you get a chance to try!" She teases.

"Hey! No fair!" Ben yells back at her, chasing her as Masa follows behind them.

---

After the brief chase, Ben and Akali finally find a table as they are joined by Masa and a couple other people among them. There new Yordles with them and one human.

One of the Yordles was about Ester's height, with greyish, light blue fur, part of it so long, she tied it into a ponytail. She has several golden patterns over her cheeks and forehead and her eyes are constantly glowing with a golden light. She's also wearing a dark grey kimono with gold trims. She is introduced by Masa simply as "Wind."

The other Yordle looks like his entire fur is made of fire, with how fiery his glowing fur looks, to the point that it actually looks like fire. And with his outfit resembling a straw hat turned into a helmet for his head and his clothes looking like they resemble a kimono made of dried leaves, Ben even wonders how he has not set his entire attire on fire already. Masa introduced him as "Ember."

And finally, the human with them is a young boy, possibly between 10 to 14, with fair skin, a hair tied to a braided ponytail, and pine green training clothes. He is rather scrawny, and, perhaps due to his young age, is short enough that Wind and Ember can reach his chest. Masa was going to introduce him by his name, but the boy interrupted him to introduce himself as "Sight" because—

"I observe my allies and opponents and learn their moves in an instant!" The boy who claims to be 'Sight' boasts rather proudly, twirling the chopsticks in his fingers.

"Or because you like showing off when people are around to see you?" Akali teases the boy though before taking her chopsticks to pull some of the noodles in her big bowl of ramen to put into her mouth before gulping down a handful of it.

"I-I do not!" Sight stammers, causing the rest of the people on the table to chuckle. Apart from Ember, who remains silent, but still smiles underneath his headgear.

Ben, though, points to him with his own chopsticks, and tells him, "Hey, kid, it's cool. I like showing off sometimes, too. Feels inspiring when you have an audience." The shapeshifting boy then tries out his ramen as well, slurping up some of the noodles before picking what appears to be a piece of beef on the side. It was pure heaven in his mouth as he has never had anything good like this before in his entire life. "Oh man... I could get used to this..."

"How DO you do what you do, Ben?" Wind asks, clasping both of her hands together. "Master Kennen told us of your ability to change shape. We've only ever heard of such abilities from certain Yordles and Vastaya. Do you have Vastayan ancestry?" She adds.

"Well, I already explained to Akali, but I guess I can tell you guys." Ben replies, placing his chopsticks on the side before showing off the watch on his left wrist to everyone. "This is what allows me to transform."

The Yordles and the young boy all gaze at the device he shows them, all curious and at awe. "What is it?" Sight asks.

"I never really had a name for it." Ben replies. "My mentor, Jayce, called it a lot of names, like the Ultimate-Hex, the Proto Tool, and his personal favorite, the Omnigenetic Hex-Matrix. None of them really caught on, so we just stopped giving it a name and call it a 'watch'. It can basically turn me into 10 different creatures, all with varying abilities. With a press of a button, my entire form changes. We don't actually know how it works, though. No one in Piltover could figure it out."

"Really? I had thought that this device would be a strange, Piltovan invention." Masa comments.

"Most of the public did. My family and their closest friends, including Jayce and Professor Heimerdinger, all agreed to tell the public it's just another Piltover device, but to us, it's... well, just so alien to our perception." Ben explains, holding his wrist and, by extension, his watch. "To this day, they're still studying it. To be honest, though. I never really cared where it came from. It let's me help people. And that's all that matters."

Ember, finally, speaks up, as he nods solemnly towards Ben. "Admirable, Benjamin. Though one must be careful, for even good deeds done with good intentions can be disastrous if the methods are not fully understood."

"What do you mean?" Ben asks, looking towards Ember.

"Hmm... A lesson for another time." Ember replies, nodding to Ben before he too scarfs down on his noodles. "For now, we feast, for tomorrow, your training begins."

Akali continues to feed on her ramen as she slurps up the last of the noodles before placing the bowl near her lips to basically drink the soup left behind. As she clears her bowl, she lets out a satisfied breath. "We're gonna whip you into shape and figure out how to, uhh... What's word?" Akali takes her turn to speak. "I guess 'unleash' the blessing of the Jeweled Protector."

"I cannot wait!" Wind excitedly says. "To be able to watch a Protector-blessed person is a rare opportunity. I will be honored to watch your progress!"

Masa then suddenly clashes both of his fists into each other and nods. "Indeed! Consider this a great honor as well, Ben! For you shall the first outsider trained under the Kinkou Order!"

"Man! I wish I get to watch, but I got other training to deal with tomorrow!" Sight complains, frowning. "But hey, I wish ya luck, Ben!"

Ben gulps a little. Seems so far, there's a lot of people that have eyes on him, awaiting his progress. A small, cold sweat drips from his forehead as he lets out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah. I, uhh, I look forward to it!"

"By the way, is your friend not with you? Master Kennen mentioned you were traveling with a Yordle." Masa suddenly brings up...

...which made Ben flinch a little before looking down, staring at his bowl of ramen, his face reflecting on the soup. He clenches both of his hands as he sighs. Every single action he just did didn't escape Akali's notice, and she knew exactly why. She too sighs, crossing her arms as she looks towards Masa to tell him, in Ben's stead, "She... left the temple to go sleep in an inn elsewhere. Told us she had something else to do."

"Ah, I see. Well, I hope we get to meet her as well at some point!" Masa replies before scarfing down on his ramen and dumplings.

While he does, Ben takes a deep breath, fixes his hair and shakes his head. "I, uhh, need some fresh air. I'll be back in a moment!" says Ben, smiling to his new friends before standing up to leave the dining area, heading back to where he and Akali came from.

While the Yordles and "Sight" just nods to him, Akali alone knew that smile was fake, and his excuse was a lie. Without even uttering a word to everyone else on the table, she just stands up and goes after Ben, astonishing Masa, Wind and "Sight, while Ember just remains silent and stoic.

Once she leaves the mess hall, she looks around, seeing only a few of the other members of the Order walking around under the moonlight, with no Ben in sight. She sighs and just runs towards the nearest wall she could before running up it in blinding speed, reaching the rooftop in seconds. She then leaps over to the next rooftop and walks over to the edge, still looking around for Ben.

After eyeing everything in her sight for a solid half minute, she finally spots him alone in one of the temple's gardens, sitting on the ground and staring at the pool of water in the middle of that area.

The jade shinobi jumps over to the next roof closest to the garden before leaping off of it, landing perfectly on both feet and without even making a noise, only the gust of wind from her descent. She then approaches Ben, still staring at the water as the moon above reflects onto it, before she herself sits next to him, arms over her knees as she stares forward. She's not really looking at anything in particular in front of her, simply just staring blankly while her attention was towards Ben.

"I'd ask if you're okay, but..." Akali says, then kept silent.

The moment between was silent. No words, barely any movement apart from the occasional shuffling on the floor, and simply the sound of the water rippling on occasion as the fishes in the pool move around.

As the breeze blows between them, it was Ben who finally breaks the silence and says, "It's my fault she stormed off."

"Ben, I was the one who tried to take her stuff. Don't blame yourself for—" Akali speaks, but Ben cuts her off.

He shakes his head and tells her, "No. I... She knows something. She can tell something's wrong and I'm... I'm not admitting it."

"So... you do have an inner struggle." Akali points out, though she says so in a gentle tone, as to not make it sound like she's mocking Ben. "... Look, I won't... I won't force you or anything like that. But if you're willing to tell me, I'm willing to listen."

Ben looks back to her. "I... I just..." He tries to tell her...

But...

"Akali."

The two of them hear that familiar voice and turn to see Shen, standing at the garden entrance. "We still need to talk." He asks of his student.

Akali stammers under her breath, looking back to Ben, then to Shen, then back Ben again. Ben was about to tell her what he's been going through, but now, of all times, she is being called by her master. "Master, I just need a moment to—"

"I need to speak with you, Akali. Allow Ben to rest and prepare for tomorrow." Shen tells her. "Come. I have matters to discuss with you."

Shen then clasps his hands together, with his left pointing and middle finger up while his right pointing and pinky finger are also raised, before he finally vanishes in a small flash of white and light blue light.

"Ben... I..." Akali tries to explain, but Ben shakes his head.

"No. Go. Whatever Master Shen needs to tell you should be your priority." Ben reassures her. "I was going to go sleep anyway." He adds, smiling towards her.

Akali, once again, is not fooled by Ben's facade. She can clearly see something's wrong. His smile tells a lie, while his eyes tell the truth. A struggle buried by his joyful nature. She wanted to stay, but...

She just sighs, before finally standing up, walking off, likely to wherever Shen disappeared to.

As she does, Ben stares back at the pool of water once more...

...and his smile fades back into a frown as he closes his eyes, sitting in the garden.

Alone.

---

Akali slides the door to a room, opening and sees inside is Shen, alone.

The room is more like a balcony, actually, with a good view to the entirety of the temple and several of Ionia's villages in the horizon, visible only by the lights each village provides. There is a single, circular, legless table on the floor and 2 floor cushions on each side, parallel to each other. On the table itself is a simple pot of tea, with steam seeping through the pot's spout, and two small and empty cups next to each other.

Shen is staring out towards the horizon as Akali enters the room, sliding the door behind her into closing.

"You wanted to talk to me, master?" Akali asks, standing at attention and keeping her arms behind her back in a formal manner.

"Yes. Kennen told me you lost control again." Shen replies, still staring over to the horizon.

Akali sighs at this. Yeah, she's not surprised this was going to be the discussion. "Yes, master. I humbly apologize."

"This has become a pattern, Akali." Shen tells her and finally turns around to face her, walking over to the table to sit on his cushion before gesturing to the other for Akali, who sits down as well. As he pours tea into both cups present, he place teapot back down and grasps one cup for himself. "I understand that in the heat of the moment, our emotions can get the better of us. It is what we are. It is a basic part of our instincts as living beings."

Akali takes her own cup, carefully holding it as it is still warm, as her master pulls down his mask to reveal his slightly thick lips and chiseled jaw. He then takes a sip of his tea as Akali does the same, blowing on her tea to momentarily keep it cool enough for her to sip.

"However..." Shen adds. "Your masters have all noticed that you tend to let it get to you more often than other students. And we all noticed it seems to happen a lot whenever you are struck, wounded or grazed by your foes, whether in training or in direct combat."

"It is nothing, master." Akali replies, before sipping again. "Like you said, sometimes my emotions just get the better of me."

"This is something else, Akali. It is normal to be injured, no matter how slight or major, in combat, but why is it you seem to be so offended at being injured, you become furious?" Shen points out, looking at her student eye to eye. When Akali does not respond, and just stares at her cup in her hands, it was Shen's turn to sigh. "... Is it because of your new title?"

Akali tenses up at this, gripping her cup tighter. From simply staring at her cup blankly to outright glaring at it, the jade shinobi grunts. Her body language alone, despite her not responding at all, was enough for Shen to know he's right.

"Akali, there is no shame in a few scars and a few losses. There is no such thing as perfection. Only what we do bes—" Shen tries to tell his student, but then Akali grips her cup tighter, the squeaking of her fingers on the porcelain of the cup audible enough to interrupt her master.

"The Fist of Shadow cannot be seen as weak." Akali finally talks again. "You and mother gave me this title. This job. This position. Any injury I claim can be seen as a weakness, and will reflect back onto our order. I cannot fail."

Shen sighs. "Akali, whatever the enemies of Ionia may believe should not be what you care most about."

"This isn't about our enemies. It's about how our own people could view us." Akali says back, closing her eyes in thought. "We should be out there, helping them. So if they us, they can see hope. If we appear injured, maimed, or worse, then they will view their protectors, us, as capable of failure, and as the Fist of Shadow, I cannot fail our people."

"You know well that that is not, and should not be, the truth. And your role as the Fist of Shadow is to 'prune the tree'. Those who threaten the balance of our world and the spirits' are those that must be cut down. Random thugs should not be our concern." Shen tells her, which made Akali's brow twitch, her eyes still closed and her grip on her cup still tight. "Beings who abuse the dark powers of the shadows, people who harm our land's very nature, those are the ones who should be your priority. You are forgiven for this one time because Ben is an exception. Our people need not see your work, only to feel the subtle completion of each of your missions. This is..."

Shen kept talking and talking, in between sips of his tea, and the longer he went, the less and less Akali listens, to the point that her master's voice slowly became barely audible, like it was muffled in her ears and mind. Her brow kept twitching in annoyance and rage, as with each sentence, Shen was practically just saying that it is not Akali's place to stop small time crime happening in her home, and prioritize "keeping the balance".

She was reaching her limit. Her patience, tested. And the more Shen speaks, the harder the twitch on her eyebrow and the tighter her grip on her cup gets...

...until finally...

CRACK!

Akali felt a wet feeling in both her hands, as well as pain and several pieces of porcelain inside her clasped hands. She opens her eyes and sees that she has broken the cup in her hand entirely, and her tea spilled onto her hands, dripping down and through the spaces between her fingers. Thankfully, the tea wasn't as hot anymore, but it was still warm and wet.

The emerald ninja is so shocked by her own actions that she even failed to notice that Shen stopped talking about what happened and has been yelling her name.

"Akali? Akali!"

Akali snaps out of her confused and astonished trance, looking back to her master as she drops the pieces of the cup onto the table before wiping her tea soaked hands onto her pants. Shaking her head, she tells her master, "I'm... I'm sorry, master. I'll clean this up."

"No. No, it's alright. Just... It seems you're not in the right head space to listen." Shen reassures her, placing his own cup on the table. "You may take your leave and rest. I'll clean up here. But... If and when your mind has cleared, we must speak about this again."

Akali nods, sighing before standing up and bowing to Shen, before leaving, sliding the door open before closing it behind her. She didn't quite leave yet, though, as she rests her back against the door, before slowly sliding down to the floor, sitting down as she looks at her still slightly wet hands, before grasping them into fists.

All she could do is sigh once more, in disbelief of what she just did.

Could her masters be right?

Is she truly losing control of her own anger?

"Damn it..." She whispers to herself.

---

The next day, the sun slowly rises over the horizon as the sounds of roosters' crowing echo across the land. It was incredibly early in the morning, but Ester did not care. She jumps from her bed, wearing only a white tank top and her black pants, before putting on her boots, her coat, her signature hat, and her holsters carrying her pistols.

She said she'd meet Ben where they fought those Navori Brotherhood members and she will do that. If he doesn't show up, then she's going back to the temple and drag him out of there if that's what it will take to talk to him. She's not letting him use that Kinkou Order place as a distraction to what they came for here.

Still, it is pretty early and Ben is probably still asleep. So Ester thought she'd pay that old man that gave them the map that lead to their ambush a visit. See how clever he is when he gets a bullet to the face. She'd promise she won't kill anyone in Ben's presence, but she'll make an exception for this one. She needs to vent her frustrations and that old man needs to pay.

Grabbing a quick meal of dumplings from the inn she stayed in, she leaves to go back to the beach where they met that elderly bastard. After a long trek of retracing the path Akali took them thorugh, then the trail they followed through the fake map, Ester stops by where she and Ben fought the Navori thugs, at the very least checking out if Ben is somehow here already.

The crackshot corsair walks around the spot, looking around. Seems that the people they took down are gone. Maybe other members of the Navori Brotherhood found them? Ester didn't really care. She just yells out, "Ben! You here?"

There was no response. "Figures." Ester scoffs, arms crossed as she rolls her eyes. "This is not what I signed up for..."

Just then, a shadow looms over her, slowing hiding her under darkness, which she did not fail to see, so she quickly turns around, pulls out her pistols to aim at her new foe behind her...

...and it's the old man she was looking for...

...Only it seems like somebody already got to him. He is heavily injured, wounds all over her body, blood dripping from nearly everywhere on his being, and he appears to have lost his right arm.

The elder on death's door falls over, forcing Ester to quickly step to the side as she dodges the dying old man, falling to flat on his face. "Hm. Looks like someone already got to you." Ester coldly tells him, her guns still aimed at the old bastard as she slowly walks over to him. "I was planning on shooting you, but right now, that would be a mercy."

The Yordle gunslinger then just kicks the elderly man on his side before walking away.

Before she leaves, though...

"Az... Aza..."

Ester hears the old man mumble, her ears twitching from his voice as he struggles to speak. The Yordle turns around slowly, looking at the old man. "What did you say?"

"Az... Aaaa... Az..." The Navori elder tries to keep talking as Ester walks back over to him.

"Hm. Typical. Calling me an 'ass' to your last breath. Though I guess I'd do that to the people I don't like in my final moments... If that ever happens." Ester speaks her mind, shrugging to herself.

However, the old man ignores her rambling, struggling to even lift his left arm, seeming towards Ester herself. "Aaaa... Aza... kana..." He mumbles his final breath, and finally uses her left hand... to point above Ester, before dropping dead, his eyes wide open.

Ester blinks, confused... but she does still look up to where the old bastard pointed...

... and her eyes widen in horror before she jumps away as a shadowy figure lands from the trees, trying to strike her. After landing on both feet, she aims both her weapons at this new figure as the light from the sun finally unhides it from the darkness of the shadows.

This entity is incredibly tall and huge, almost 10 feet tall. It has bluish skin, an incredibly muscular figure and has clawed hands, with one of them holding a gigantic spear, fitting for the creature's size. It's also wearing dark green pants, torn, bandage-like cloth wrapped around it's wrists and lower legs, as well as a strange, dark purple cloth around it's waist, like a belt.

It's most noticeable feature, though, is it's almost mask-like face, if that even is it's face, with gigantic, and sharp teeth, with even one on each side of it's mouth growing large enough to be mistaken as tusks. It's eyes were glowing blue, with the strange, oblong shaped crystal on it's forehead sharing a similar glow, emphasized only by it's two gigantic horns sprouting from it's forehead.

This beast growls and makes a noise almost similar to laughter as it cracks it's neck before staring at Ester. "I thought your friend would be here, but I could always use you as bait." The beast speaks, to Ester's surprise, as it slowly approaches her, twirling the spear in it's hand.

The Yordle didn't care much for it's threat, though the first thing it said puzzled her a little as she aims her firearms at her new foe. "My friend? You after Ben?" She questions the mysterious monster before her.

"Why yes I am, but it looks like he's not here right now. Keep me entertained before he gets here, will you?" The beast snarls at her then maniacally laughs again...

...before suddenly charging at Ester in blinding speed. Ester barely had time to react as she dives forward under the beast, just in time for it to almost strike her with a swing of it's weapon.

Ester slides under her colossal foe before firing her weapons, aiming for the back of the beast's head. For a moment, it looks like she didn't miss as her shots were heading straight for the head...

...but then her bullets crack upon contact of it's head, exploding into shrapnel that don't even pierce the monster's skin. All it did just makes it laugh as it twists and contorts it's body disturbingly to turn it's entire upper torso around to face the Yordle, while it's bottom half remained facing away. "Tsk tsk tsk. That's not very polite, but I respect your effort." The monsters taunts her before twisting it's bottom half around to snap it back in place, fully facing the gunslinger.

"Are you kidding me?!" Ester expresses her disbelief before the monster swings it's spear down so hard, it creates a shockwave that knocks Ester away and smacks her back into a tree, accidentally letting go of her guns in the process. "Ugh... sometimes, I do wish I learned magic for situations like these..." Ester mutters to herself, reaching for her guns...

...but then the foot of the beast comes down and steps on her weapons, completely breaking them from it's sheer strength alone as it grins at Ester, growling at her.

"... I despise you." was all Ester could say, in disbelief of losing her guns before the monster finally catches her, grabbing her with it's hand, which shows the clear gap in their strength and size difference that the monster is keeping almost the entirety of Ester's whole body apart from everything above her shoulder, including her head, and she is unable to break herself free.

The horned creature just laughs as he squeezes hard, crushing Ester in it's hands as the poor Yordle screams in pain. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not killing you. I still need you as bait for your friend." The beast taunts her more as it starts walking away, heading for some place else. Specifically, towards the nearby cliff where Ester and Ben met the cub yesterday.

"What... do you want with him?!" The crackshot corsair manages to squeak out, despite the hard grip the monster has on her entire body.

"Sorry, little Yordle, but that's our secret. Though I suspect you already know why, you just can't tell my connection to him yet." The maniacal monster mocks the Yordle hostage in his hand, walking over to the nearby cliff, before jumping off and landing on the forest below, creating a crater from it's sheer size and weight, even clearing some of the trees around. "In the mean time, you and I will get to know each other a little bit. Like your favorite food, how you practice with your weapons..."

The horned creature then brings up Ester to his face as she glares at him, gritting her teeth. "...And how hard you can scream!" The monsster finishes as she squeezes Ester once more in it's hands.

She tries to hold it in, gritting her teeth through the pain, but eventually, her captor squeezes her hard enough that she let's out another loud and ear piercing yell, echoing across the valley.

---

An hour later at the Kinkou Order temple, Ben has woken up early. He got a good enough sleep, but for some reason, his body just wanted to wake up all of a sudden. It was even silent outside his room as he sat on the floor cushion, resting his arms on the table in front of him as he sighs.

Today is the day the Kinkou Order would teach him about this "blessing" he supposedly received, but today is also when Ester told him to meet her and talk to her if he's actually ready to talk.

...And he's not ready for either.

The young man just clutches his head, groaning in frustration of himself. He really needs to spit out what's been eating him up, but he also doesn't want to just up and leave to go meet Ester, which would be rude to the people who have taken him in and offered to help him. Yet at the same time, it would also be rude to keep Ester waiting, someone who joined him purely because she wanted to. Someone he considers a friend.

"Ugh... This is not my day..." Ben mutters.

"Why not?"

Ben yelps as he is once again caught off guard by Akali at his door, resting her side on the doorway with crossed arms, looking at Ben. "Today is literally focused on you." Akali continues.

"Please stop sneaking up on me like that..." Ben tells her, looking upward as he stretches his back, groaning. "I'm not really in the mood..."

"Yeah. I can tell." Akali replies, though a lot more serious than her casual tone earlier as she enters Ben's room fully, sitting on the cushion next to him, finally getting to pat his shoulder. "Last night, we didn't get to finish our talk... You, uhh... You ready to tell me?" She asks him, her expression softening.

Ben sighs, looking back at his now empty doorway... then finally towards Akali. He let's out yet again another sigh before looking downward and placing a hand over his face. "I've... I've been having some doubts of myself." He finally speaks, as the jade shinobi next to him listens. "I thought I was ready for this... this 'adventure'. I was so determined to find my mom, for questions I need answers for, that I just up and decided to leave my home to travel. But when I finally got here, to Ionia, which is just the first place in dad's journal, I felt overwhelmed. I... genuinely didn't think I'd get this far."

Akali asks, "What do you mean? You seemed really capable."

Ben shakes his head. "The thought of my self made mission just emotionally and mentally overwhelmed me the more I traveled across Navori. It was... naive of me to think this would be a walk in the park, but Ester pointed out... It's not that easy. There could be gaps in between the steps my father made that I'm trying to follow. Places he could have been to, people he met. And I'm still in just the first location of his clues. I have to travel several other regions after Ionia, and Ionia itself is massive. Imagine the next couple of places. I... I set myself up for a trip I was NOT ready for."

Ben suddenly stands up, accidentally knocking Akali's hand away as he walks towards his doorway, looking outside to see that the temple is still empty, as it is still early in the morning. Akali watches him just stand there, waiting.

"I'm not like my dad. I'm not some genius researcher and adventurer like him. I can't do what he can do. I'm just..." Ben continues, leaning on the nearby wall as he looks down. "...Ester was right. I've been just distracting myself. Telling myself I should just keep going through this trip, then suddenly derail it by coming here."

"Ben, you're not—" Akali tries to speak as she stands up as well, approaching Ben. "I mean... It's okay. The Kinkou is just trying to help you."

"And I still don't know why." Ben replies, turning around to face the shinobi. "I don't know why that Jeweled Protector 'chose' me. I'm just some guy. I'd just be wasting everyone's time... I'm a failure..."

Ben turns back to his doorway and sat down on the floor, sighing. Akali just stood behind him, staring at his back as his words stung her. It was like looking at a mirror.

She takes a deep breath and walks up next to him, once again, sitting beside her new friend. The two of them stare outside the empty halls and gardens of the Kinkou as, like last night, only silence emanated around them.

This time though...

...it is Akali's turn to break that silence. "... Did you know that there are three different titles among three special members of the Kinkou, with different roles?" She says, all of a sudden. Ben did not speak, but was still listening. "There's the 'Eye of Twilight', a role filled by master Shen, the 'Heart of the Tempest', which is Master Kennen, and... the 'Fist of Shadow'... Me."

Ben perks up a little, but was still not facing Akali, which she notices, so she continues. "And... before me... The 'Fist of Shadow' title and role belongs to a different person. Before that title was passed onto me, the 'Fist of Shadow' beforehand... was my mother."

The last part of her words finally catches Ben's attention, as the shapeshifting boy turns his head to look at the emerald ninja beside him, who just gives him a knowing smile and a nod that basically just says 'Yep. That's right.'

"I was... not really prepared for that when she passed the title to me. No one was. Not even my mother." Akali continues, looking back out to the outside of the room. "And since then, she just... disappears one day, to who knows where, and I'm left with the job she used to do. I've worked my hardest, trying to live up to that title, doing my job with nothing but my skills. But it gets frustrating, because at the back of my head, I tell myself... It's not enough."

Finally, the Ionian girl looks at the Piltovan boy, eye to eye once more, telling him, "So... I get it. I understand where you're coming from. About being overwhelmed. About living up to a legacy you think you don't deserve. But people like us... We just have to keep going. Because we will never achieve anything, even just a small fraction of the legacy we're upholding, if we sit around being sorry for ourselves. We save that pity for the people that needs us, that we help. Isn't that why you're here? Because you think you can help more people if you knew what your 'blessing' is?"

Ben... is astonished with Akali's words. Like the girl before him, it was indeed like looking at a mirror. Akali knows exactly what he's going through. Still, a part of him feels bad still. Akali's legacy is noble and a much bigger hardship. He's just traveling around in search of his mother, and he's gotten insecure about going through with it already, especially when just arrived in his first destination. "I don't know..." He speaks up. "I... I just..."

"Azakana!"

Ben and Akali get interrupted once more as they hear someone shout. It appears to be another male Kinkou member, running across the spacious walls arounnd the rooms as he stops and pants, hands on his knees as he takes deep and rapid breaths. "Azakana!" He manages to shout as Ben and Akali rise from their position and run up to the new arrival, just in time for some of the other members in different rooms to come out, awoken by the yelling person's screams. Among them were some of the people Ben and Akali talked to last night at dinner, namely, Masa, Ember, Wind and "Sight".

"You spotted an Azakana?" Akali asks as Ben stands next to her. The man before them nods.

"What's an Azakana?" Ben asks.

Akali quickly explains, telling Ben, "Parasitic low level demon. They're not usually a problem, but the more they feed on a specific emotion, the stronger they grow. Feed enough, and they become full demons."

"This one seems stronger than most..." The man in front of the duo chimes in, in between his heavy breathing as more of the Kinkou members approach. "I was scouting around near the outer regions of our temple when I came across members of the Navori Brotherhood, all of them slaughtered and torn apart."

"What?" Ben mutters in disbelief. He didn't like those Brotherhood thugs attacking him and Ester, but even he thinks they don't deserve such gruesome deaths.

The reporting man continues, "I followed a trail of blood in that encampment to what I hoped would be a survivor. Sadly, when I reached the place, the person is dead... But then I heard screaming, nearby... And I saw the beast. It was large, taller than most of the trees around it, and it captured someone, painfully crushing them in it's hand. She appeared to be a Yordle."

"A Yordle?" Akali asks, and the mention of that made Ben a bit pale in fear. "Wait, you said you found the beast just outside our temple's borders?" The new arrival nods, which just makes Akali tense up. "Ben... He could've spotted the Azakana where you and Ester were supposed to meet... Could the Yordle he's talking about be..."

"I'm heading out there!" Ben announces almost immediately, running off as he activates his watch.

"Ben! Wait!" Akali chases after him, grabbing onto his jacket to stop him. "You can't hurt an Azakana with regular attacks. They're minor demons, but they're still demons. You need spiritual or magical weapons to even harm them. We'll gather a rescue party and—"

Ben interrupts her though, yelling, "And while you're gathering, Ester could get hurt more, or worse? No thanks. You guys do what you have to, but I need to go to my friend! I'll save her and buy you guys some time to arrive."

"Ben..." Akali wants to say something, but the boy before her shakes his head.

"I'm not arguing, Akali. I'm saving my friend. You're the one who told me. I can't just sit around when people need me." Ben reflects her own words back at her as the two of them look into each other's eyes. "I'll be okay. I trust you guys to arrive in time."

Ben then gently puts Akali's hand, the one that was still holding onto his jacket, away before giving her a nod. He then brings up the dial on his watch, twists it to choose a form, before finally slamming it down, engulfing him in a bright emerald light.

After forcing most of the present Kinkou members, Akali included, to shield their eyes from the light, they look to see that in Ben's place is an insectoid with four crab-like legs, a tail with a gigantic, almost blade-like stinger, and two arms with three-clawed hands underneath what looks like black gloves of sorts. He has four small eyes on long prehensile stalks connected to his large head. On his back are two light greenish-yellow dragon-like wings with veins running through them, and his limbs are a brown-greenish color. On his chest, he is wearing a white sleeveless jumpsuit with black lining which covered most of his body including his head, which houses the same logo all his other forms have, directly on his face.

This form is one Ben appropriately calls STINKFLY!

"I'll meet you guys there!" Stinkly tells them all before flapping his wings so fast, they almost look invisible, before finally taking to the skies and flying off, heading towards where Ben was going to meet Ester.

As he leaves behind gusts of wind from his ascent, Masa, Ember and Wind all join Akali's side as they watch Ben leave. "Reckless and his emotions getting the better of him... but still does it to protect others. Exactly as Master Kennen claimed." Masa points out before slamming his fists into each other again. "Each moment, my respect for him asa warrior of heart grows!"

"We should gather a team to apprehend this Azakana." Wind says as her other Yordle companions nod, all the while Akali was still staring at where Ben went.

After being silent for a while, she suddenly says...

"I'm heading out."

"Huh?" Wind utters as she, Masa and Ember all look at him.

"I'm going to head out and go help Ben fight that Azakana. And you three are going with me." Akali says, turning around to face the Yordles. "You wanted to gather a team? We're all here already."

The three Yordle members all look at each other for a moment... then nod and face Akali as they place their fists on their palms. "We are with you, Fist of Shadow!" Ember says, yelling for the first time since how stoic he was last night.

Akali responds with her own gesture, placing her own fist on her palm as she looks at her comrades. "Gather your weapons. And the rest of you..." Akali says as she faces the other Kinkou members present. "Inform Masters Shen and Kennen of what has transpired and send reinforcements just in case. If this Azakana is indeed powerful, there is chance it will evolve into a full demon... and a possibility we will not return from combat once it does."

"I am ready to die to protect our homes and our friends!" Masa proclaims, standing strong.

"As do I!" Wind says... but then adds, "However, remaining alive is a good outcome as well."

"Let us go. Ben had a headstart. We should make haste!" Ember says, with Akali nodding.

The Fist of Shadow herself looks back to where Ben went as the three Yordles with her head off to grab their respective weaponry. Akali squints, determination on her face, as she whispers to herself, "Hang on, you two. We're coming."

---

Thanks to how fast he is in the air, especially with such clear skies that even his old home of Piltover barely has anymore with it's skyscrappers and buildings towering over everyone, Stinkfly got to the location quick, managing to find a place to land where he, Ester, Akali and Kennen all fought the Navori Brotherhood.

After he does, he takes a few steps forward, he immediately spots the broken pieces of Ester's guns. The sight of it rang so many alarms in Ben's head and made him nervous, as he can only hope she's alright. Still, he tries his best to suppress his emotions, clenching his fists hard, his hands starts shaking.

Moving near the cliff to get a good view of the land, Stinkfly starts using his eyes on his stalks, which he can actually move in individual directions, as strange as it is to look at, he scans the area, to look for more clues of Ester and this "Azakana" he just heard about. He's never fought demons before, so this is going to be a new experience. And if it's as dangerous as they say it is, it's going to be a painful one too.

"Maybe I should just look from the air..." Stinkfly mumbles to himself, but before he could, from the distance, suddenly, a giant spear flies towards him with the speed of a bullet. "Gahk!" The insectoid hero screams as he aims all four of his eyes and opens his mouth...

...and suddenly fires a huge spray of gunk-like liquid from his ocular and oral body parts, firing them like a hose as he shoots it all towards the incoming spear, just in time for it to reach near the trees he's surrounded by. Thanks to this, he is able to splatter his strange slime onto the spear enough that the liquid split off into different directions, attaching to nearby trees, creating a web-like formation that traps the spear in the middle of it all, stopping it completely.

"Whew. That was close. But where did this thing come from?" Stinkfly asks himself as he steps away from his slimy web trap and jumps off the cliff before flying once more, eyes looking back towards the spear.

Unfortunately, because of this, he was too distracted to see that the Azakana, the horned creature that caught Ester, jump from the distance, and in a single bound, reach Stinkfly in the sky and tackle him out of the air, causing both of them to crash down to the ground, kicking up an explosion of dirt and dust in the process.

When the dust clears, Stinkfly finds himself struggling in the hands of this Azakana, as it has managed to grab him by the throat and is now choking from said grapple. The beast before him even chuckles sinisterly. "You're rather early, Ben. I was going to set up an elaborate way to bait you here, but I'm glad you actually decided to be a good friend and show up to meet her." The Azakana mocks the insectoid hero, who is still trying to escape the monster's grasp, even flapping his wings rapidly trying to fly away, but to no avail.

"Where is Ester?!" Stinkfly yells out in between his gasping before finally firing more of his slime from his four eyes, covering the Azakana's own two and blinding it, forcing the monster to let go of Stinkfly as it tries to tear off the gunk covering it's vision. "And how do you know my name?!" Stinkfly continues as he flies away from his monstrous opponent.

The Azakana, though, just chuckles maliciously as he finally tears off the gunk on his eyes, facing the insectoid hero. "I am the monster that haunts every corner of your mind. Your nightmares manifest!" The creature boasts before jumping at Stinkfly in blinding speed, with enough force that it creates a crater from where it jumped from.

However, Stinkfly sees this coming this time as he then does a spinning move that allows him to swing his stinger tail, swiping it like a sword as the insectoid hero slashes the Azakana away from him, creating a cut on it's chest and getting knocked to the side. Seems Stinkfly was a lot stronger than his thin frame would suggest.

Still, he knew this was not enough, so the flying bug jets towards the Azakana while it was still knocked down and, opening his mouth and aiming his eyes, Stinkfly fires more of his slime from his orifices. He shoots the gunk all over the creature's arms, legs and neck, then lastly on it's face once more, keeping the beast trapped by sticking all the parts of it's body he shot with slime pinned to the ground.

"So much for being a living nightmare." Stinkfly mocks his fallen foe.

However, the Azakana just chuckles again, as if nothing Ben does dissuades it. "You're positively clueless, are you? Did no one tell you what I am?"

"You're an Azakana. Some kind of demon thing that feeds on emotions and stuff. Some folks told me." Stinkfly indulges his foe for a second, though he made sure to leave out Akali and the Kinkou Order, in case this beast somehow tracks them down. But when he laid his eyes on the beast's chest, where he though he slashed it with his stinger blade, the insectoid hero is in disbelief to see that the "cut" he though he made didn't really do much. In fact, it's barely visible. It feels more like he just drew a line across it's chest and accidentally clear some dust or dirt on it that made it look like a cut.

Akali was right. I can't hurt it at all.

Ben mentally takes note of this. Seeing that it's pointless to fight the Azakana, Stinkfly then clenches his fist as he has his eyes look all over his surroundings, still looking for Ester. "Stick around for a bit. I'm gonna go look for my friend." Stinkfly still takes the time to make his pun before flying off deeper into the forest.

This did not stop the monster he trapped from still maintaining it's toothy, sinister smile as it starts forcing itself off the ground, using all it's strength to tear the very soil beneath it, even with all the slime trapping it's limbs.

Meanwhile, Stinkfly flew into more of trees ahead, dodging each and everyone as he yells out, "Ester! Where are you?"

"Ben? Is that you?!"

Stinkfly hears that familiar voice as he turns a corner and sees Ester, all tied up to a boulder with vines and rope. "Ester!" Stinkfly yells out, relief washing over his body as he jets towards his friend.

Upon seeing the symbol on Stinkfly's face, Ester also feels a bit better, recognizing this flying, giant bug approaching her is indeed Ben. Although the closer he approached, the more Ester could smell something really awful, and it seems to be Ben in this form. "Ugh... Not that I don't appreciate you coming here, but did you have to pick a form that smells like rotten fish mixed with sewage?" Ester quips, all while Stinkfly starts tearing off the ropes and vines keeping her in place.

The insectoid hero just laughs it off as he uses his claws to rip and tear through Ester's restraints, finally freeing her. "Stinkfly's my only flyer, and I needed to get to you, but the forests are pretty thick and I still don't have the path memorized." He explains as Ester shakes her body from the fatigue of staying tied up for a long time.

However, to her surprise, Stinkfly — nay — Ben suddenly hugs her. The Yordle gunner yelps a little, and Stinkfly's smell was even worse up close, but as she just let's it happen, she feels the warmth of this hug, physical and emotional. She could practically feel Ben's worry just from this single act alone, so Ester just sighs with a smile, hugging Ben back.

"I'm... sorry..." Stinkfly says, gently letting Ester go. "... There's a lot we need to talk about..."

Ester gives him a giggle, patting one of his legs. "Yeah. But can we do that after we leave? You smell really bad and I can't take your nasally voice seriously in that form... Plus, I'm pretty sure there's a demon still after us."

"Fair enough. Hop on. And, uhh, cover your nose." says Stinkfly as Ester follows his instructions, hopping on his back and pulling up part of her shirt to cover her nose. The warm hug their shared helped mitigate the smell, but now, really up close, Ester is botherd by Stinkfly's extremely terrible odor.

Once she's on, the insectoid hero flaps his wings rapidly and flies up, gusts of wind in their wake, before Stinkfly heads towards the Kinkou temple.

As they fly over the forest and cliffside, though, Stinkfly notices that the place where he stuck the Azakana to... is empty.

"Oh no..." Stinkfly mutters and, in a panic, moves his eye stalks in every direction possible, looking for where the demonic entity could be. He looked left, right, around and down. The Azakana was no in sight...

...but then a shadow begins to loom over him and Ester, so he and the Yordle both look up...

...and find that the Azakana is plummeting at them from above!

Stinkfly was not fast enough to react this time as the Azakana lands on him and Ester, crashing all three of them down to the ground. But the monster wasn't done, as Stinkfly and Ester cough, face down on the floor, the Azakana grabs Stinkfly by his tail and pulls him away, running off elsewhere with Ben in hand, with Ester helpless as she watches the beast grab her friend.

"Ben!" Ester can only yell out as she forces herself to stand back up, despite how much pain she's in all over her body, and runs to chase the Azakana.

"Ester, wait!"

The Yordle crackshot hears behind her, causing her to turn around see who called her name...

And her despair turns into hope as she smiles.

---

As they rush through deeper and deeper into the forest, the Azakana was smashing Stinkfly against every tree that gets in their way, with the past several minute and half has been nothing but pain on the insectoid hero's body.

And it only gets worse as the two of them reach a rushing river of clear water, to which the Azakana decides to throw Stinkfly into. The river was incredibly shallow and is filled with rocks, so the water did nothing to cushion Stinkfly's crash as he smacks into the river's floor, spewing water and rocks everywhere. The water soaks his wings as well, rendering them limp, soggy and unable to let him fly.

It didn't matter though, because as soon as Stinkfly, filled with bruises and wounds and a few tears in his now soaked wings, finds the strength to push himself up from the floor and the rushing water around him, the symbol on his face starts beeping before finally flashing red, turning Stinkfly back into Ben, who unfortunately inherited his transformation's injuries as his entire body and face is now full of them.

And as he lifts his head from the water, only he can see is the Azakana before him, walking over from the dry land and on the water with him, each step heavy as it approaches. "You're still puzzled, aren't you? How I'm so determined to keep hunting you. And that question is still lingering in your head: How do I know your name?"

"Stop with the ominous words! Just tell me! It's getting annoying!" Ben manages to yell out through the pain he's feeling, find the strength to fully stand up, even as the shallow but rushing water flows against his feet.

The Azakana laughs at Ben's frustration as it continues it's approach, with each of it's step crushing the rocks beneath it's feet and the water splashing everywhere. "Not so fun when you are on the other end of jokes and taunts now." It continues it's threatening speech. "You're right about me as a demon feeding on emotions, but that's not the full picture. Perhaps in your rush to get here, you didn't get the full explanation."

"What do you mean?" Ben asks, slowly stepping backwards and away from the monster before him. He looks towards his watch and it is still in the red, so now he has no way to defend himself.

The creature then explains some more, relaying to Ben, "Azakana like me are born directly from very specific emotions... and we hunt down those who unintentionally created us. If someone's negative emotion was strong enough, we... 'manifest'."

Ben raises a brow at this. If it wasn't for the fact that it's a dangerous, demonic entity talking to him right now, he'd be enjoying this lesson on Azakana and writing it down on the journal, which he thankfully left behind in the Kinkou temple or it could have been shredded for the whole fight. "So those dead Navori Brotherhood people... They... manifested you? And that's why you killed them?!" Ben angrily fires at the beast before him.

But this only makes the Azakana laugh maniacally and finally stops walking, stomping it's last step into the ground harder than it's previous steps as it does so. "No. They were essentially just a warm up. A way to test myself... Because I am so much stronger than most regular Azakana! And it's all thanks... to you."

This... catches Ben's full attention as his eyes widen. A part of him doesn't want to believe it yet, but...

"W-What do you mean?" Ben asks, but his tone was of despair, and he almost sounds exhausted and out air, despite still having enough strength to stand up.

And this despair alone was making the Azakana before him grin even harder as it snarls towards Ben. "I feed on the specific emotion... of 'doubt of one's self'... And YOU have PLENTY of it! I manifested when you began to doubt everything. Your goals, your mission, your confidence... In other words..."

Ben was slowly beginning to understand what the beast is saying... but it's next statement seals the deal...

"You.

Made.

Me."

The boy's eyes widen. Shock, despair and sorrow overrides every feeling he has of his body, to the point that he collapses down to his knees, pure disbelief on his face as he hears the Azakana's words. Those people slaughtered by this monster... This monster he unintentionally created, just because he never thought of himself worthy of the mission he gave himself, of the doubts he has on finding the answers he's looking for.

Ben couldn't handle it, his hands falling to the river's floor as well as he all he can do is look down at his reflection on the water. He can't even utter another word anymore.

"You doubted yourself so much, it fueled me the instant I came to be in this world. Most Azakana have to get close, hunt the source of their creation, and then kill them to become a full demon. But you? Those insecurities you keep deep inside, hidden beneath your jokes and your smiles... It fueled me even from afar. And that's why I decided to attack the Navori Brotherhood. I wanted to see just how much stronger you made me, and none of them could stop me!" The Azakana continues to boast, knowing full well that the only thing Ben can do right now is listen.

The Azakana then just grabs Ben by his throat, lifting him up to look at him eye to eye. "But don't worry. I won't kill you. You fuel my power. And as long as you do, I will keep growing and growing. So I'll just make sure to capture you, trap you where no one will find. And when you've lost your usefulness, I will kill you and become a full demon, much stronger than any other Azakana can hope to become, because of the head start you've given me." It taunts him, gripping Ben's neck a bit harder to the point that Ben can only choke, attempting to render him unconscious.

And it's working, as Ben, after the revelation, doesn't even have the strength to resist anymore. The air meant to go into his lungs is slowly being cut off, and he's not in the right head space to think clearly, as he is still in shock of what has been revealed to him. He tries to grab the giant fingers encircling his throat, trying to pull them away, but he was to weak to do so.

As his sight becomes blurry, his mind was slowly turning blank as his eyes begin to close...

---

"Ben!"

The young, 10 year old Ben gasps in shock as he hears a familiar voice call out to him. He finds himself in the darkness of the forest still, but it seems to have become night as the sky has become black and the only light available is the moon, shining above.

The poor, shivering and fever ridden boy is still resting against the tree he decided to use as a shade hours ago, as he tries to look around for wherever that voice came from.

"Ben! Where are you?!"

Ben breathes in and out as the voice keeps getting louder and louder, and it's becoming increasingly clear...

It's his father's voice.

The boy has been scared, alone and sick for several hours now. He doesn't know if he can even give an answer to call his father.

But it's precisely because he is scared, alone and sick that he needs to yell out to Carlton. He wants to go home, and doesn't want his father to keep worrying.

So, with a deep, dry breath and clenching his fist, the young Ben finally screams, at the top of his lungs, "DAD!"

The boy's voice echoes in the thick, dark forest, and it was enough for it to be heard. Suddenly, through the dark fog, Carlton comes out, rushing to where the sound of his son's voice came from, alongside what appears to be Piltover officers with flashlights in their hands, as well as Tobias Kiramman.

Perhaps it was a rush of adrenaline. Perhaps it was simply worry of his child.

Whatever is fueling him right now, Carlton was much faster than the officers around him, as he runs up to Ben, finally finding the poor boy and giving him a hug. Ben reciprocates this immediately, hugging his father as tight as he can as he begins to cry, tears running down from his closed eyes.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I messed up..." The shivering boy mumbles to his father as he cries into Carlton's shoulders, who simply massages his son's back and hugs him closer.

Carlton shakes his head as the officers and Tobias finally rejoin them. "It's not your fault. You didn't know that was going to happen."

"I made you worry..." Ben speaks in between his shivers and chittering teeth. "I messed up. I caused you a problem..."

Ben's father, however, disagrees still, shaking his head as he gently pushes Ben from the hug they're sharing and places a hand on each of Ben's shoulder as they look at one another, eye to eye. "It was not your fault, Ben. And you didn't cause me any problems. You're my son, and I love you. No matter what could happen to you, I will be there. I want you to be safe, and I want you to be happy."

The Tennyson patriarch then wipes away Ben's tears with his thumbs, and tells his poor son, "No amount of fear can ever make me back away from keeping you safe."

Despite what his father did, Ben still tears up and hugs his father again, crying into his shoulder as Carlton returns the affection.

---

BAM!

Ben snaps back into consciousness as he feels the Azakana suddenly let him go, and it was because said parasitic demon is struck on it's side with what appears to be... a giant, bronze fist?

Ben could not process things fast enough as he suddenly finds himself falling on his rear, landing back on the river floor, breathing in and out rapidly to literally catch his breath. He couldn't believe he was almost suffocated into unconsciousness.

"Ben!"

The shapeshifting boy's attention is then called to as he looks back in front of him and sees that Akali, Ester, Masa, Wind and Ember have arrived!

While everyone else is practically unchanged in appearance, apart from Masa who seems to have put on a strange, bronze mask with black horns and a permanent angry face on it, all of them appear to be wielding weapons.

Akali has her kunai and kama, Ester appears to have been given a crossbow, Masa is the one wielding the giant, bronze fist tied to two ropes, each wrapped around his arms, Wind is wielding several shuriken on her belt and one on each of her hands, and Ember has three pronged metal claws on each of his hands as well.

"Kinkou Warriors, tempest school! Together we form...!" Ember begins to chant as he clinks his claws together before suddenly igniting them both, turning them into flaming metal claws. The blazing Yordle then uses his agility to jump up and land on Masa's giant bronze fist.

"The heralds of lament!" Masa finishes Ember's chant as he then holds on tight to his ropes connected to his massive weapon, before he then spins in place, and with great strength, spins the fist with him.

In mere seconds, Masa launches Ember at the Azakan, who is just beginning to stand back up, and Ember uses this to then spin in the air and turn himself into a living torpedo, becoming a flaming projectile, striking the Azakana in the chest with all 6 of his claws, as well as scorching the beast's chest.

Ben watches in awe at that combination attack as he finally breathed enough air to recover and process what's happening. He could also see that Ember actually manages to injure the lesser demon, meaning whatever Ember is wielding, it must be some kind of magical or spiritual weapon, enough to finally give the Azakana it's first injury.

This does enrage the creature as it tries to reach for Ember, only for the blazing Yordle to push himself off of the Azakana, it's blood gushing out from the burning wound Ember left behind. But this wasn't the end of it as when Ember lands on his feet, Masa jumps up from behind him and with a mighty pull, swings his bronze fist downward and strike the Azakana in the head, slamming it and his weapon into the floor.

Masa still wasn't done, unfortunately for the creature, as Masa then chants, "Thunder Palm: Iron Fist!"

All of a sudden, a lightning bolt from the sky strikes his weapon, while it's still on top of the Azakana, and with the conductive element of Masa's weapon's metal, the bolt shocks the fist and by extension, the demon, harming it further as all the beast can do is roar in pain.

Ben had never seen such powers and technique before apart from his own, and even then, he's pretty sure he doesn't have an electric transformation. That combination attack was a sight to behold.

He barely has time to enjoy the sight, though, as Akali and Ester both approach him before helping him up, assisting him to walk off the river. "We're glad you're alright. Looks like you bought us enough time." Akali says to Ben, carrying one of his arms over her shoulder.

"Just barely..." Ben responds in a gasping tone, his throat a little sore and dry after his previous predicament. "Akali, Ester... I..."

"Save your breath, Ben." Ester interrupts him. "You'll need it after what that thing did to you. Come on. Let's get you out of here."

Akali nods in agreement with the Yordle as they continue to help Ben off the water, finally reaching dry soil and kept moving. "Ester and I will help handle the Azakana. You need to hide." Akali tells Ben, who looks at her with a frown.

"I can fight! Just give me time to recharge." Ben pleads, only for the Fist of Shadow to shake her head.

"You held the line long enough, but you don't have anything that can hurt that thing." Akali tells him.

Ben, though, tries to retort by gesturing towards Ester. "But Ester gets to go with you?"

"They lent me a crossbow with some spiritually blessed bolts, or something." Ester smugly tells him, twirling said crossbow in her fingers.

Ben grumbles, looking at his watch that's still in the red, then back to Akali. With a defeated sigh, Ben finally nods and tells them both, "Fine. Just... be careful."

When Ben finally found the strength to walk on his own, he moves over to the tallest tree that he can find and hides behind it as Akali and Ester turn back around... only to be met by Ember being thrown in their direction. Ester catches Ember in her arms, but the force and speed at which he was thrown causes both of them to get knocked on the ground.

Akali looks back at the battle and can see that the Azakana is somehow still standing. Seems it's strength was not exaggerated by the scout earlier. Akali brings out her kama and runs over to the battle, while Ember and Ester stand back up, dizzy.

Back to the battle itself, the Azanaka roars in rage as it tries to swipe at Masa, only for a barrage of shurikens to fly at it, sticking into the beast's body as it is forced to back away from Masa and block the projectiles with it's arms.

Once it got a good look at what's attacking it, the Azakana is only confused as it spots a small tornado in view where all the shurikens are flying from, firing rapidly at the beast. But being distracted by this left it wide open as Masa finally pulls onto his giant bronze fist once again and swings it around to quite literally punch the Azakana, forcing it back as it is struck on the face, launching it back to the river and creating a huge splash in the process.

"Kinkou Warriors, tempest school! Together we form...!" Masa takes his turn to chant this as the mini tornado from earlier suddenly... "jumps" over to Masa and finally disperses, revealing that inside the tornado, it was Wind all along, landing on Masa's back.

"Monsoon lightning!" Wind finishes the chant and, after performing several hand signs in a row, creates a tornado around her and Masa. Then, Wind commands the tornado to lift both of them up and move towards the Azakana, and thanks to Masa still holding onto the ropes attached to his giant fist, the tornado lifts the fist as well, creating what can only be described as a whirlwind wrecking ball.

The Azakana just recovered from being dazed and is greeted with the sight of the tornado, spinning the fist around and striking it's face multiple times, with each strike causing it to stagger backwards.

But it seems it's had enough, as it's eyes glow in rage.

With the next strike from the bronze fist coming, the demoni parasite finally catches the fist in it's bare hands and drags it towards itself, forcibly pulling Masa and Wind out of the tornado, which in turn causes it to vanish as the two Yordles yelp from being pulled. Once out of the whirlwind, the Azakana then uses that same fist it grabbed to swing it and wack Masa and Wind away, knocking them both out as they fall on the ground.

The monster then lifts the giant fist over it's head, ready to use it to crush the unconscious Yordles... but then several crossbow bolts strike it in it's chest before detonating, creating small explosions that burn it's chest even further and knock it back, forcing it to drop the fist on the ground, leaving Masa and Wind relatively unharmed.

The bolts came from none other than Ester, joined by Ember and Akali, the latter leading the charge towards the Azakana as they sprint forward. The Yordle gunsligner looks at the weapon lent to her in her hand, seeing the current bolt loaded into it has it's tip glowing a bright hot orange. "Oh I love this weapon already." Ester comments.

"That is a spare weapon in my arsenal." Ember tells her, claws at the ready as they keep running toward the battle. "You may keep it."

Ester smiles at his offer, before telling Ember, "Well, I've never had a guy gift me a weapon before. Thanks."

"Flirt later, fight now." Akali interrupts the two's conversation as she grabs a small pellet from one of her pouches and throws it towards the ground beneath the Azakana's feet, which then explodes into a big cloud of dust that obscures it's vision.

Unable to see it's targets, the beast tries swiping in front of it with it's claws, but hits nothing but air. And as if to mock it's misfortune, Akali emerges from the smoke directly in front of the Azakana before hopping on the same arm it used to swipe forward, runs up quick and slashes her kama at the monster, creating a cut on it's mask-like face as she then dives between the space of the beast's two horns and lands on the ground, rolling into a crouching position.

The Azakana snarls in rage as it turns around to face Akali, but the Fist of Shadow smirks under her mask. Distracting the enemy with her presence, combined with the smokey shroud around them both, was enough for the demonic parasite to not notice that Ember takes his turn to emerge from the smoke, and with the Azakana distracted, it allows him to slash it's claws at the beast's back, creating a big X mark on it as it roars in pain.

When Ember lands on the ground, the Azakana tries to stomp on him, lifting it's foot and swiftly brings it down, but the fiery Yordle simply dodges it, diving forward and running under it's larger foe being sinking back into the smoke as Akali gives him cover, pulling out 6 kunai, 3 on each of hand, and throw them all at the monster, striking it's wounded chest and causing it to take a few steps back from the pain of the weapons sticking into it's skin.

It tries to attack Akali again, only for the jade shinobi to backflip and dodge the punch, it's fist hitting the ground instead as the Fist of Shadow sinks into the smoke as well. The creature growls. The pain was slowly fading and all that's left in it is rage and annoyance as it slams the ground, causing a shockwave that finally blows away all the smoke around it...

...only for more spiritually blessed crossbow bolts to strike it's back before they detonate, knocking it flat on it's face. The explosions were enough to further open the X shaped wounds Ember gave it and make it bleed.

The Azakana growls, getting louder and louder as it slams one of it's fist into the ground in pure rage before getting back up and turning around to face, of course, Ester, the cause of it's recent explosive wounds.

The crackshot corsair is practically smiling smugly from ear to ear as she twirls her weapon around. "Look at that! I can hurt you now." Ester taunts her foe as Akali and Ember rejoin her, appearing from the nearby trees. Masa and Wind awaken from getting knocked out as well, and are almost immediately ready again as they both take fighting stances. "Whaddya say, big guy? Round two?" Ester adds.

This did not please the Azakana as it roars loudly at the Yordle gunslinger, who responds with a smirk as she fires another spiritual bolt at her foe.

---

In the middle of all this action, Ben feels helpless, watching the chaos unfold before him from behind cover. He grips the bark of the tall tree he's hiding behind, angry at himself. "Damn it... I wanna help them... but..." He starts mumbling to himself.

When he tries to take a step forward, in an attempt to force himself forward and go to the fight, he immediately finds himself unable to move another inch. The words and revelation of the Azakan ring in his head again.

I manifested when you began to doubt everything. Your goals, your mission, your confidence... In other words... You. Made. Me.

It stung Ben, and it's only getting more painful as he stands idly, unable to fight, all while his friends continue on without him. He wishes he could just turn off his doubts in a whim, at the very least to deprive the Azakana of power, but it's not that easy. It lingers in his head, in his heart, in his soul. Doubting himself got him into this situation, and he is afraid he'll just make things worse.

"Should I just run? No..." Ben mutters. "He said he can still siphon off my doubts from afar..."

The young man can only grunt in anger as he clenches his fists. He then cocks back and jabs forward and towards the tree in front of him...

...but he stops.

He doesn't even have the strength to lash out.

"Dad..."

The Piltovan boy whispers to the wind.

"...Why am I so afraid?"

He thought to himself, feeling his legs going weak from the despair. He's expecting to just fall to his knees any time soon...

"AGH!"

That yell. It came from the battle. It was Akali! It was enough to snap Ben out of his trance as he raises his head and looks back to the ongoing fight...

And he is horrified to see that the Azakana is slowly winning again. It managed to punch Masa so hard, it broke his mask, with the burly Yordle now lying face down in the ground. He can also see it lifting Ember by his head, with said fiery Yordle unconscious, before throwing him to the side as Ester catches him again, though this time, the speed and force at which Ember was thrown is much faster and harder than last time, as Ember's unconscious body strikes Ester so hard, it knocks her out too.

Ben can also see that Wind is trying her best to hurl a barrage of shurikens at the Azakana, using her tornado move again to shoot them out rapidly, but this time, the Azakan is just powering through them, ignoring each shuriken that gets stuck into it's body as it charges towards Wind before finally straight up just kicking her like a ball, striking her and launching her into a tree that knocks her out on impact.

Finally, all that's left is Akali, who is just getting back up after being knocked into the river nearby, soaked by water and sweat. She clutches her right arm in pain as her mask is now so torn apart, it just falls off her face, revealing the rageful expression she has, gritting her teeth.

Ben's eyes are practically wide open, witnessing his friends, old and new, get knocked around and hurt. Did his moment of doubt just now empower the Azakana enough to turn the tide against his friends.

This...

This was enough.

Something snaps in Ben. As he looks at the unconscious bodies of Ester, Ember, Masa and Wind, as well as Akali now just standing alone, in pain, Ben gets angrier at himself.

What am I doing?! Why am I just letting myself drown in my own despair?!

Ben mentally scolds himself, gripping the tree he's hiding behind harder.

I can't think about that now! My friends are in trouble! And I'm not gonna let them get hurt further!

Ben, face transforming from despair, fear and doubt into pure determination and rage, finally sprints back into action. And just in time too as he hears the sweet and cathartic sound of his watch beeping and turning from red into that emerald glow he loves to see.

As keeps running, Ben activates his watch, brings up the dial and scrolls through his transformation list. When he finds the one he needs, he slams down the watch, bathing in that familiar green light as he transforms.

The green flash did not escape the attention of the Azakana and Akali, as they notice it flash from behind the latter, making her look in that direction. However, this did distract her enough for the Azakana to take advantage of this as it ignores the emerald light and tries to attack the Fist of Shadow, who turns back to her foe a little too late as it got near her...

...But then the beast stops in it's tracks as an invisible force suddenly strikes it in the face, causing it to go backwards. It wasn't injured, but whatever hit it was enough to knock it back a few steps back. It's embarrassment does not end there, as it accidentally trips on a boulder behind it, causing it to fall over.

Akali is confused at first, wondering what's going on with the monster...

...until something appears out of thin air in between her and the Azakana, and what she sees surprises her.

Floating above her resembles an apparition of sorts, a ghostly figure with ashen grey "skin", with several cracks all over it's body with a big green eye in between the crack on it's "head". It has very sharp, clawed fingers, metallic green braces on it's wrist and a whispy, ghost-like "tail" instead of feet. And in the crack on it's chest, it bears the same symbol as Ben's indicating this is indeed him.

With presence so chilling and dark, this form is appropriately named by Ben as GHOSTFREAK!

Akali is tense, holding her weapon tight as she glares at this sudden appearance. It made her even more uncomfortable when Ghostfreak suddenly moves the location of his eye, making it travel across the cracks on his body and suddenly appearing on his back to look at Akali.

"Hey, Akali. Sorry I'm late. Needed to rethink my whole life." Ghostfreak tells her in a raspy and chilling voice.

Despite that, as well as it's overall ghastly appearance, Akali immediately loosens up and feels a sense of reassurance from Ghostfreak's response. The casual way he's talking... It's Ben, alright. Once she realizes this, Akali chuckles, looking at the ghostly hero before her, eye to eye. Or rather, eyes to eye. "You doing okay?" Akali asks her friend.

"Not quite yet... But..." Ghostfreak replies. "I couldn't just stand around and let you guys get hurt."

"Yeah, well... We're already hurt pretty bad. You can make it up to us by helping us beat that thing up." Akali retorts, trying to lighten the mood as she gives a sweet smile.

As if on cue, the sound of the Azakan groaning as it gets back up catches their attention, with Ghostfreak bringing back his eye to his face as he and Akali stare at their foe. "Alright. I got plan. You guys said I can't hurt him since demons like him are only weak to spiritual or magical stuff. But he can't hurt me in this form, either. Typical ghost powers. So here's the plan. I'll keep him occupied, distracted and annoyed. You and the others will have to do the real damage." Ghostfreak relays the plan for Akali, with her nodding after it's done.

"I'll wake up who I can then. Keep him distracted, then we fight back!" The Fist of Shadow says as she heads off, running towards Masa first, as he's their current heaviest hitter. Ghostfreak takes this chance to fly over to the demonic parasite that's been haunting him.

The Azakan, itself, finally rises from it's position, growling before spotting Ghostfreak approach it. It's anger turns into smug confidence upon seeing him as it grins. "Ah, there you are. I was wondering where you went. I thought you got so afraid, you ran away! Come to see you friends die up close instead of from afar? Or did you actually want to try to fight me and—"

WHACK!

The Azakana couldn't even finish it's taunting as Ghostfreak suddenly punches it in the face again, enough to make it spin as it steps backwards a few feet. "Wh-What?!" says the astonished creature, clutching it's nose in pain. It doesn't even know if it's actually feeling pain or it just thinks it does, because Ben still has no way to injure it by himself, yet somehow, it's hurting the Azakana. Or is that pain just in it's head?

"Just shut UP!" Ghostfreak venomously yells at the Azakana, his rage clear in his tone. "I've had enough of your yapping and you hurting my friends! You've spout nothing but one annoying taunt, over and over! You just word it differently every time! I just can't believe how stupid it was of me to let it all get to my head!"

The ghostly hero follows his words up with another punch to the Azakana's face and, like before, it actually knocks it back. The beast is slowly figuring out what's happening, it's eyes wide in pure shock and disbelief. "Is he...?" It mutters to itself as Ghostfreak faces the demonic parasite down.

"You've been calling me scared and doubtful of myself this entire time. I'll give you this, you're probably right. I'm scared of what the future holds for me for this journey. But now is not the time for doubt!" Ghostfreak tells his demonic parasite. "Because right now, thanks to you, I've figured out there's something I'm more afraid of than all of that!"

After he says that, Ghostfreak balls up his hand into a fist and, for the third time, punches the Azakana again, this time, with a swift and rage fueled uppercut to the chin, knocking the Azakana slightly into the air before falling down on it's back.

"Losing my loved ones to some edgy, emotional demon! In other words..." The ghostly hero tells the beast haunting him as he goes a for a fourth punch. "You're going down!"

However, when his fist gets near his foe, the Azakana actually manages to catch his fist this time, stopping the strike cold as it snarls at Ghostfreak. "So that's why your strikes hurt... I'm actually weakening... And since my power comes from you, you getting this confident all of a sudden is making me lose my strength, and that is what's hurting me, not your punches..."

Then, the Azakana grabs Ghostfreak by his torso and slams him into the ground, creating a small explosion of dust in the process. "Still, I have enough power remaining I got from you to kill you and evolve into a real demon!" The beast boasts as it then tries to punch Ghostfreak...

...Who simply because intangible before the punch connects, his body becoming both transparent and inverses the colors of his cracks and his skin. The fist of the Azakana, as a result, simply passed through his body. Ghostfreak then takes the time taunt his foe as he gives a mocking goodbye wave before phasing and sinking into the ground.

The taunt and the confusion of not being able to kill his primary target distracts the Azakana, and it allows even more crossbow bolts to hit it in the face. As usual, they explode again, and this time, it actually cracks the parasite's mask-like face as it backs away.

Turning to look where the bolts came from, at this point, the Azakana is not surprised they came from Ester, though it does still anger it.

And with Ester are all the newly awakened Masa, Ember and Wind, together with Akali leading the charge as Ghostfreak emerges from the ground before becoming tangible again. "Kinkou Warriors, collaboration! Together we form...! Akali finally gets her take on the chant as she spins her weapons in her hands, glaring at their foe.

"THE KINKOU ORDER!" Masa, Ember and Wind all yell in unison as they enter battle poses.

Ester smirks as she gives Ghostfreak a glance. She already figured out it's Ben. She's a bit annoyed the watch symbol is on a different part of Ben's body every time, but she's getting used to his forms. "Do we have our own battle cry like that?" She asks her friend.

Ghostfreak simply cracks his knuckles at this. "We do. IT'S HERO TIME!" Ghostfreak chants on his own as he and the whole team all charge forward, the Azakana retaliating by charging at them as well.

While his friends run as he floats above them, Ghostfreak turns invisible and flies ahead of them. With his position unable to be spotted, this gives him the opportunity to punch the Azakana again. It still did not damage, and it seems that the monster is feeling less pain than his previous strikes, but it still hurt the Azakana, even if a little, and was enough to distract it, allowing Ember to jump and slash at the beast. In one strike, the blazing Yordle slices off the horns of the monster.

"Empty fist form!" Ember announces as he follows up his attack by putting his claws away and, with both of his open palms at once, strikes the Azakana in the face, unleashing a shockwave of fire that knocks it backwards.

Then, Wind takes advantage of the monster's dazed state with her own move. Making hand signs, she then slams the ground with both of her palms. "Tempest style: Wind form!" She yells out her attack name and unleashes a powerful torrent of wind from beneath the Azakana, with enough force that it gets launched into the air and keeps it there for a bit.

This leaves it wide open for Masa, who has jumped up into hair much higher than their foe as he lifts his giant bronze fist into the air before swinging it down and hard towards the helpless Azakana. "Tempest style: Thunder hand form!" Masa yells with all his might as his giant weapon, while still in the air, is then struck by lightning, electrifying the fist before Masa fully pounds the demonic parasite, creating a powerful shockwave of wind, steel and lightning that was powerful enough to cause the Azakana to crash back down in the ground, soil and dust bursting forth from the ground as the beast forms a crater shaped like it's form.

"Oh we're not done, you glorified clown!" Ester, running up to where the Azakana-shaped crater is, taunts her foe. Once she reaches the beast, who just gets back up, she fires her crossbow bolts at it.

The Azakana was about to try and dodge the incoming projectiles, but then Ghostfreak reappears behind it, emerging from being invisible, and suddenly, multiple, black and white striped tentacles emerge from the crack in his chest and he uses them to bind the creature's legs and arms, keeping it in place. This allows Ester's bolts to hit it in it's chest again, exploding on contact as it burns through the skin of the monster.

Enraged, the Azakana uses it's strength to pull Ghostfreak using his own tentacles, forcing the ghostly hero to get launched towards the monster as it tries to swipe it's claws at him. Thankfully, Ghostfreak reacts in time as he becomes intangible, letting the momentum of being pulled drag him off and towards Ester as he phases through her safely.

Momentarily caught off guard by it's attack missing leaves the parasitic demon vulnerable as Ester fires one last bolt at it's face, only this time, aimed at it's right eye. The bolt succeeds, flying into the eye of the monster and exploding, leaving a burning, smoking hole where the monster's eye should as it screeches in pain, clutching the right side of it's head.

"Now!" Ester yells out as Akali runs past her, her kama ready as she dashes in blinding speed.

"Ben!" Ember calls towards Ghostfreak as he tosses both of his claws to the ghostly hero, who catches them in his hands as he too flies forward, keeping up with Akali.

The two of them then get close as the Azakana is still in pain. It finally spots them nearing, despite it's newfound lack of depth perception, but it was too little, too late as the Piltovan boy and the Ionian girl gets up close to their foe.

And in one, combined motion...

SCHWING!

...The two of them reappear behind the Azakana, both of them posed like they had just swung their weapons.

It was silent for a few seconds as the Azakana, Ghostfreak and Akali remain motionless...

...And the demon's hands are cut off, falling off the stumps that used to be it it's wrist as it's blood gushes out like fountains, making the beast scream, the pain it's feeling excruciating as it falls to it's knees.

And after that, it seemingly begins to shrink slowly before eventually, it was only a foot and a half taller than Akali, the power it has accumulated from Ben's despair slowly fading from it's body.

The Yordles surround the weakened Azakana as Ghostfreak and Akali rejoin their team, with the former handing the weapons he borrowed back to Ember, just in time for the symbol on his chest to flash and engulf Ghostfreak, turning him back into Ben.

As the Azakana is still panting and growling, bleeding all over the floor from the whole on it's face, the wounds on it's chest and back and now it's bleeding stumps where it's hands used to be, Ben walks up to the beast. "Normally I'd feel bad about hurting someone a bit too much, even bad guys I beat up, but you're a straight up monster. One I made unintentionally. And after everything you've done, I'd say you deserve everything that just happened." Ben speaks his mind, crossing his arms while looking down on the monster on it's knees.

"You... You will never stop being afraid. Never stop doubting... You will never succeed..." The Azakana still tries to taunt Ben, but from the scowl on his face and the glare in his eyes, he's not amused. "And when you fail, I will be there!"

"Well..." Ben retorts. "To be afraid is... human. It's something every person has experienced, especially the fear of being unable to do what we think is right... But a friend of mine once told me... We will never achieve anything if we sit around being sorry for ourselves. People need us."

Akali smiles and gives Ben a knowing glance. Slightly proud of that she is now being quoted.

Ben continues as he moves closer to the Azakana, crouching down low enough to look at it's face directly. "And my dad has taught me that no amount of fear or doubt will ever be enough to make me stop protecting the people I love. So tell me, 'living nightmare'..."

The parasite itself slowly moves it's head up, staring at Ben, deep into his eyes, as he speaks...

"Do I look afraid right now?"

The Azakana's only remaining eye widens as it keeps looking at Ben. And it sensed not even a hint of doubt and fear in his heart.

His eyes were full of fire. His mere presence seems to bring ease to his companions as they feel relaxed enough to stand casually while still surrounding the monster.

Ben smirks as he stands back up. "I thought so." He tells his fallen foe. "Akali?"

The Fist of Shadow nods at his signal, with her moving towards the monster afterwards as she raises his kama, reading to cut the demon's head off. But as she does so, for a moment, the Azakana raises it's head to look at it's executioner...

...and then it's dim eyes suddenly glow again as it looks at Akali, it's scared frown becoming a grin again.

Before Akali could swing down, the Azakana suddenly gets back up and roars, forcing everyone surrounding it back as it grows again, though only for a few feet rather than the gigantic size it had earlier. It's stumps then grow back into hands, it's wounds heal and the horns on it's head regrew, though it appears it's exploded eye does not regrow. The beast laughs maniacally as it faces it's foes, who are all currently tired and hurt from all the fighting earlier while it looks like the beast just revitalized itself.

"Oh, I see no fear anymore, Ben... But only in you. And it looks like I found myself a new target!" The Azakana explains as it keeps it's grin. Without warning, the demonic parasite then leaps at Akali, who readies herself to fight again as she brings out her weapons...

...Only for the a mysterious, spectral blade appears in front of her as a glowing, blue, dome barrier forms out of nowhere to protect her, causing the Azakana to strike the barrier instead, keeping Akali safe.

Ben sighs in relief that Akali is unharmed, though when he takes a look at the blade, he begins to recognize it. The handle of the sword seems solid, and actually resembles the handle of one of the swords on Shen's back. It's blade, though, as mentioned, is spectral and looks like it's made of some kind of energy, likely the same kind of energy whatever the barrier protecting Akali is made off.

Does that blade belong to...?

Before Ben finishes his thoughts, the appearance of Shen himself, teleporting inside the barrier Akali is in out of nowhere, confirms his suspicions.

The Eye of Twilight's appearance is not the end of the surprises as a lightning bolt, much bigger than the ones Masa has been summoning for the past several minutes, strikes the Azakana itself, electrocuting it and rendering it immobile. It didn't even take a second before Kennen arrives in a flash of lightning.

"Master!" Masa, Ember and Wind all say in unison before placing their fist on their palm and bowing respectfully to the Heart of the Tempest.

Shen then takes advantage of the opportunity Kennen set up for by grabbing the spectral blade near Akali and approaches the stunned monster. "You will scar these lands no longer, demonic aberration!" Shen yells towards the beast before finally using his blade to stab it in the heart, causing the beast to screech in pain as it begins to glow in the same blue hue as the spectral blade it is being stabbed by before eventually exploding into light.

When the light dies down, the Azakana is gone, with no trace left of it but the blood on the ground that spilled from it's own body before it rejuvenated itself somehow. Shen then lets go of his weapon as it vanishes on it's own before facing Ben, Akali, Ester and the rest of the Yordle Kinkou members. Kennen walks to his side and glances at his own students as well.

"Are you all alright?" Shen asks.

Akali nods and answers for everyone. "We are. Thank you for help, master."

"I'm sure you could have handled the Azakana on your own. I just wanted to make sure." The Eye of Twilight replies.

"We are sorry we are not in our posts, master." Ember speaks, bowing to Kennen and keeps his head down.

Masa does the same, and tells his master, "We only wished to assist our allies."

"If you wish to punish us, we humbly accept and are willing to do anything you tell of us." Wind ends their speech, with her bowing as well.

Kennen, though, simply shakes his head, crossing his arms. "There is no need for any harsh punishments. You simply came to protect our home and help our friends. That Azakana could have been a big problem, and you all handled it spectacularly. The only punishment I give you is a few extra studies for the next two weeks, for leaving without my permission."

Masa, Wind and Ember then all yell in unison, "We accept!"

"Alright then. Let's head back." says Shen before turning around to head to the direction of the Kinkou Order. Kennen follows suit, and so does his followers. Akali, Ben and Ester trail behind them as the latter twirls the crossbow in her hands.

"I never really liked crossbows before, but this one's grown on me." Ester speaks her mind.

Akali smiles as she, Ben and Ester all walk close to each other. "Now that you got a weapon designed by and belongs to the Kinkou, will you finally stay with us?" Akali asks.

"Actually..." Ben replies, with both girls looking at him. "She and I need to talk about something."

Ester looks at Ben for a moment. For the past two days, she has looked at him with worry and suspicion. But ever since he hugged her earlier, she's glad she's looking at her friend in a much more positive light again. She smiles to herself, proud of Ben, though she won't say it out loud.

Akali gives Ben a nod. "Alright. I'll let you two talk." The Fist of Shadow tells him before jogging ahead of the two, joining Kennen's students as they start talking amongst themselves, leaving just the Piltovan boy and Bilgewater Yordle with each other.

"Heh. Look at you, being a magnet for trouble... and new friends." Ester comments, wtih Ben smiling at this as he scratches the back of his head, the two of them still following the Kinkou members in front of them.

"I'm surprised too. But yeah..." Ben says, him and the crackshot corsair sharing a laugh. "...So, do we need to discuss me finally realizing I've been getting off track? Or...?"

Ester shakes her head. "Nah. I can tell. You've learned your lesson. I'm just wondering what we're going to talk about now."

"Well, I'm taking your advice. Dad probably didn't write down everything and I need to stop rushing through what he wrote down. We take it slow, and... we get to know more of the places he's been to. We'll find a clue eventually." Ben replies to his Yordle companion, who gives him an approving nod.

"Good... But... You should make time for your friends here, too." Ester adds. "Focusing on what we came here for doesn't mean we gotta sacrifice those bonds, right?"

Ben nods. "I know. And I'm happy we met them. But... I gotta talk to Shen about something first."

"Wow. Fighting a demon has made you chattier." Ester jokes, making Ben roll his eyes. "We should fight monsters more often."

Ben scoffs before he and Ester share another laugh, the two of them following Shen, Kennen, Akali and the three other Yordles.

While they head off, however, they are unable to notice a dark figure from up above the trees, hidden in the darkness of the shadows made by the leaves. It seems to be a male Vastaya, with long, furry ears in place of human ears. His face is obscured by a mask, keeping only his nose and mouth exposed, with his eyes glowing white through eye holes of his mask. He has a short red scarf around his neck, on top of a dark, brown top and greyish blue pants. He also appears to have a single, spiky shoulder pad on his left shoulder and spiky gauntlets on each arm, all of them in greyish blue hues. His feet resemble that of a wolf's, emphasized by his wolf-like tail coming out from behind his rear.

He seems to be hanging on the tree branches using hooked blades, with one of them sunk onto the branches as he hangs onto it. He also appears to be emanating shadowy energies around his body. He makes a creepy laugh as he mutters to himself in a raspy, nearly high pitched voice, "Master Zed will be pleased..." as he watches our heroes head back to the temple.

---

A few hours later, Ben finds himself sliding open the door to the same room Akali talked to Shen in last night, only this time, it's morning, nearly the afternoon, and the sun outside the window to the room is the beautiful view of Ionia in the morning.

Ben is greeted by Shen, sitting by himself on his floor cushion and having tea on the table. "Hey, Mister Shen." Ben says as he enters the room before sliding the door close behind him.

Shen give the boy a nod as he gestures to the cushion parallel to his own. "Glad to see you Ben. Have a seat. You said you wished to talk to me?" Shen tells Ben, who indeed sits down on the other cushion.

"Yeah. I just wanted to tell you something. But... first... Is it okay to ask for you to do the whole, uh, glowy eyes thing? Where you looked at me to check the Protector's blessing?" says Ben.

"Of course. I'm sure you're curious. I was told by Akali you conquered that Azakana that was directly connected to you, so you must want to know if you've 'unlocked' the blessing by fighting it. It did, after all, represented your inner conflict, correct?" Shen asks the Piltovan boy.

Ben gives the master a nod. So, Shen obliges as he clasps his hands, performs various hand signs once more, and his eyes glow as he takes a look at Ben. For a moment, Shen furrows his eyebrows, confusion on his face. Then he squints as he keeps staring at Ben, who is getting a bit nervous from it. After a few more seconds, Shen closes his eyes and once they're open, they're back to normal.

"Hm... This is peculiar. The blessing remains 'locked' for you, so to speak." Shen reveals, nodding solemnly.

What he did not expect, though, was Ben to scratch the back of his head and chuckle. "Yeah. I figured as much. I... I still got some doubts. Some fears of what tomorrow may bring but..." He trails off for a moment.

Shen continues for him and says, "But it's no longer an overpowering a feeling."

"Yeah... And... that's what I actually wanted to talk to you about." says Ben. "I wanted to say... I'm leaving the temple and just join Ester in the inn she's staying in. This whole 'inner conflict' thing... It's been pretty vague. Maybe it wasn't my doubts after all. Maybe it's something else that I haven't realized yet. And while I appreciate the Kinkou Order for helping me out... I'd like to discover this by myself. It's an 'inner' conflict for a reason, so maybe, it's something I gotta learn about in my travels, where my questions will hopefully get answered."

Shen nods to this as he gives Ben a pat on his shoulder. "You are free to walk this path as you wish. I only offered a place to stay and people who could help you. But as I said, you are no prisoner here. And after what you did, defending members of our order, consider us your family too."

"I would never forget you guys." Ben nods, smiling. "Ester and I will still be around Ionia for a while, traveling around, meeting people and discovering your beautiful nation. So, if you guys need our help, we won't hesitate to come to your aid."

"Likewise, Ben. It has been a pleasure to have met you." Shen ends, offering his hand for a shake.

Ben reciprocates this, shaking Shen's hand before leaving the room.

Once he's out though, closing the door behind him again...

"Hey."

"Agh!" Ben yelps as he jumps slightly from Akali's voice. The jade shinobi is standing by, leaning on a nearby wall with her arms crossed and eyes at Ben. "Akali! I said stop sneaking up on me!"

"Hmmm... Nah." Akali teases. "It's funny when you get surprised."

Ben rolls his eyes at her response before moving next to her, leaning on the wall as well. "Well, hopefully you won't get to that anymore, since I'm moving with Ester to the inn she stayed in last night."

"I heard." says the Fist of Shadow. "You guys will still be around, right? 'Cause Ember's gonna be sad his new friend and his gunslinging crush if you guys leave Ionia."

"We'll be around. I just hope we get to run into you guys a lot during our stay." Ben replies, smiling towards Akali, who smiles back with a small chuckle.

Akali replies, "Same here. I was really getting used to you guys."

"Heh. We'll be there when you ask, Akali." Ben nods. He was about to head off, pushing himself against the wall, when all of a sudden, he says to the jade shinobi to his side. "By the way, what do you think did that Azakana meant when it said it 'found a new target'?"

This question makes Akali suddenly drop her smile and turn it into a frown as she looks away. She closes her eyes for a moment... before replying, with another grin on her face, "Does it matter? At least it's gone now, right? Can't terrorize anyone anymore."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Ben comments as he yawns and stretches.

During this though, with his back turned against her, Ben did not see Akali frown again, looking down.

Was I that thing's...?

The Fist of Shadow questions herself, sighing afterwards.

While Akali was thinking, Ben continues what he was going to say, as his yawn interrupted him, saying "Least now, I hope no more monsters can come hunting me down..."

---

Meanwhile, within the borders of Bilgewater, very deep under the water appears to be sunken ship. Normally, most sunken ships would look like wrecks, like they've been torn apart, filled with holes, and with clear indications how they even sunk in the first place...

...And yet this particular one looks completely intact. No major damage, so holes and the inside even seems to be glowing. In fact, the boat is so good condition, one might assume it's just a cruise ship that could submerge into the water.

And from the outside are several of shark people, like the ones that attacked Ben and Ester in Mudtown days ago, with two of them heading inside the ship revealing that, inside, is somehow intact as well, from the luxurious gambling and diner area to the cockpit of the boat to even some working lights. Like the outside, the inside of the ship has several shark and fish people, all of them having quite the party, drinking around and having a brawl.

It doesn't end there as much deeper into this miraculous sunken ship is a boxing area, with a small ring in the middle and an audience surrounding it. Currently, the match appears to be an octopus, with a boxing glove on each tentacle end, fighting a dog sized scorpion with it's pincers and stinger also replaced with boxing gloves.

And while the audience was numerous, only one person stands on the top. Or rather, sits.

In a much more elevated room overlooking the boxing ring is a shark man, sitting on a throne. However, his head looks less like a shark head and more like a human head with big, toothy shark teeth sticking out his mouth, with a big, bushy beard across his face and his chin. He appears to be wearing a tophat, a black, short sleeved jacket with no shirt underneath to show off his tattoos. He has black leather pants and shoes and his eyes an ominous, terrifying red glow.

This terrifying and muscular shark man is watching the fight unfurl, as the "Boxtopus" finally wins by hitting his crusty arachnoid opponent with all his tentacles that had boxing gloves.

The big shark man on his throne laughs while the audience cheers for his victory. "I knew ye could do it, Pablo! Haha!" He yells out in a rough but somehow jovial tone. As the audience celebrates the victory of the octopus, apparently named 'Pablo', the two shark men that came from the outside approach the shark man on the throne.

"Boss." One of them said, with the man on the throne giving him a thumbs up. "We found Jonah and his crew. Only a few of them survived."

"And Jonah?" The shark boss asks, though his eyes are still set on the ring as a new matchup arrives.

The other shark man replies, "Well, the bad news is, boss, Jonah's dead, and we lost the Krakken."

This finally caught the shark boss' attention, as he looks towards the two scouts to the side of his throne. "...And the good news?"

"One of the survivors of his crew told us the one responsible for Jonah getting himself killed... headed for Ionia." One of them said.

"Eh... I got no use for Ionia. Whatever. Get Jonah's crew here and give 'em new jobs. I'll get Bull's crew to handle Jonah's old job. No more airships this time, though. Exclusively just naval ships." The shark boss replies he pops his neck.

The two scouts look at each other for a moment before staring back at their boss as one of them says, "Well, there's one more thing, sir."

The shark boss asks, "What?"

"Well, in our investigations in trying to track down the person that got Jonah killed, we heard rumors of a... fighting pit in Ionia, and our scouts confirmed it to be true. We thought you'd be interested..." One of the scouts responds.

The shark boss slouches on his throne after hearing this, a hand on his chin as he ponders his next decision. As a smaller shark man comes in from the side to deliver him a plate full of raw meat, which the boss grabs and tears through the first one with his bare teeth, he stands up and yells out, "Lock the doors! We're going to Ionia!"

The audience, and even the new contestants in the ring, all cheer for their boss as he chuckles. "They say they got an arena there! Sounds like opportunity knocking for me! Let's show 'em that in any ring, Jack is the Winner!" The boss, proclaiming himself as Jack, boasts as his crew cheers for him again.

"And when I'm done with 'em, they ain't gonna forget my name... 'Less they die trying." Jack adds, chuckling to himself in a sinister way, his eyes glowing red.

---

ENDING NOTES: And Jack has arrived! Or will arrive... to Ionia!

Gotta say, I enjoyed writing this chapter a lot, especially since Ben and Akali are the two characters I've been waiting to interact for this entire storyline. Their relationship will blossom as they grow close as friends... and perhaps something more~

So, as usual, I have to say that we're taking some more creative liberties again, but also hoping we don't sacrifice some canon info and simply take inspiration from it. This time around, it's with demons. I think it's been noted somewhere that demons cannot be harmed by regular means and can only be harmed by magic or other special material, like Petricite, which we have not encountered yet in this story. I wanted to make it clear at least that Ben, despite his power, still has limitations in this universe.

And, if you guys couldn't tell by the climax of the fight with Ben's Azakana, this entire chapter is essentially the "Last Laugh" from the OG series, but with major alterations and recontextualization. Instead of Ben's fear of clowns, this time around, it's his insecurities, doubts and fears, and him realizing how overwhelming the task he gave himself is, only to find that losing his loved ones is something he's more scared off, and I wanted to parallel that with his dad finally finding him when he got lost during his childhood. I wanted to recontextualize the lesson from "Last Laugh" while still carrying the spirit of that episode while giving it our own spin.

You may also have caught some easter eggs here and there, like Rhom and Tagon are just shortened names of Rhomboid and Octagon, aka the Vreedle brothers. Sadly, no clone machine for them in this universe!

Now that the Ionia arc has began, we'll soon discover more and more of Ben's journey, meeting more iconic champions and developing relationships between our characters!

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always, if you can, leave a review to let me know what you think. Criticisms are valid so long as you stay civil so that you can help me learn from mistakes and keep doing what you think I nailed well!

Shout out to CaptainRex75 and JustQ, my two friends who are major inspirations for my stories and help me write them. Go check out their pages and their stories!

Anyway, that's it for me. Have a pleasant day!