Chapter 6: Match Met

After the incident at the old town, Mike and Leeway continue on their journey to meet the spiritual man Sensei Dai had told them about. They manage to avoid many fights and obstacles thanks to the identities they chose to take back at the village. But they take down anyone who stands in their way if they must. They're finally closer to their destination; they just have to make it through this big city, Shadow City, and the spiritual man should not be too far away.

Master Rai: "You're telling me Duke figured out that boy is the damn monk from long ago, the other boy half-android. They whooped you and made it out of the forest, and no one spotted them since?"

Ōkami: "No sir, they were spotted afterward by some bounty hunters, but they lost them in this small town."

Master Rai: "I'm not liking what I'm hearing, Ōkami." (He says with anger boiling in his voice)

Ōkami: "They did go back, sir, but they were stopped by these ninjas."

Master Rai: "What ninjas?"

Ōkami: "At the village, there were these ninjas in black and a ninja in brown. One of the men stationed there took this picture." (Master Rai grabs and stares at the picture, daring not to miss any details.)

Master Rai: "Look there at the black ninja. He has the same sword as that damn Monk; those aren't legends; they're hoaxes, frauds; when is the last time those fake legends were spotted?"

Ōkami: "I don't know if those ninjas are really just the dojo boys; they should have reached Shadow Town by now, depending on where they're headed."

Master Rai: "Is that so? I have one of my elites stationed there on a mission. I'll give them a call."

Master Rai walks over to the dark corner of his chambers, and there is a man hanging; their chains connecting to his wrists and feet.

Master Rai: "You hear that, Dai? Your students have become legends, and now they're gonna die like one."

Back at Shadow City, Mike and Leeway try to make their way through but get lost because the city is overwhelming.

Mike: "I can't believe we got lost."

Leeway: "I can. This whole place is like a maze." (Leeway senses something) "Hold on, Mike, something's not right."

Mike: "What do you mean?"

Leeway: "It feels like we're being watched."

Mike: "Use your presence sense or something."

Leeway: "What do you think I'm doing? Let's go put on our hoods."

Leeway and Mike change into their ninja outfits in the darkened alleyway and emerge ready to engage in combat if they must.

Leeway: "We need to get off the streets."

Mike: "You see how tall these buildings are? We aren't real ninjas; now that's impossible."

Leeway spots someone on the roof looking at them like they knew who they were.

Leeway: "Mike, look up behind you."

As Mike turns around, the person was gone.

Mike: "What are you on about, Leeway?"

Leeway: "Wait, what? There was a person just there; I sensed and saw them."

Mike: "Okay, and where are they now?"

Leeway: "I don't know. We need to hurry up and get out of this city."

(Leeway senses something behind him and jumps back to Mike.)

Leeway: "What the! How long were you standing there, ma'am?"

Mike and Leeway stare at this little woman, her skin white as snow, blood-red clothes, long black hair, and a long spear.

Mysterious woman: "Oh my, it's the two legendary ninjas I heard so much about. I heard how you saved that town from those bandits and been taking out a lot of Conqueror Rai's men; y'all are awesome."

Mike: "Well, thanks, ma'am; we try." (says with a smile.)

Mysterious woman: "Too bad this is where y'all adventure ends." (says mockingly)

Leeway: "This doesn't seem right at all."

Mysterious woman: "Oh, it shouldn't, Leeway."

Leeway: "How does she know my name?" (he thinks to himself)

Mike: "What's a Leeway?"

Mysterious woman: "Don't play dumb with me, android one."

Mike: "How does she know I'm half-android?" (Mike says to himself in fear)

Mysterious woman: "If you haven't guessed already, I was sent after you two bozos from Master Rai himself. I'm one of his three main elite warriors; my name is Loca, and I'm gonna be the one to kill you two."

Leeway: "You can try." (he says as he pulls out his sikei)

Mike: "Yeah, just because you're a girl doesn't mean I'm going easy on you."

Loca: "Wouldn't want you to."

Leeway: "Come on, Mike, it's a two vs. one; we got this."

Mike: "Yeah."

Loca: "Hah ha ha haaaa ha; y'all are funny even when facing your killer."

Leeway: "I'm done chatting."

Leeway and Mike both rush Loca, but she's quick even when she's holding onto a big spear. She moves like water, dodging every punch, kick, and sword slash they throw at her.

Loca: "Y'all really aren't trained that well."

Loca notices our two heroes are getting slower, so she takes that advantage to split them apart. Using her spear, she twirls it around at great speeds, causing Mike and Leeway to jump back on opposite sides. Using a knife she had in her sleeve, she threw it at Mike, impaling his hand into the brick wall.

Leeway: "Mike, you okay?"

Mike: "Yes, it's my metal hand; go ahead."

Leeway darts at the girl with sikei by his side, coming into contact with her spear. Leeway blocks the swing with his weapon, jumping up trying to kick Loca; she dodges that and sweeps Leeway's leg, causing him to hit the ground hard. He twirls and kicks up another move Loca easily dodged.

Leeway: "You're quick."

Loca: "Didn't I say no more talking."

She throws her spear at Leeway; he reflects but didn't notice she got close enough to stab him. She goes for it, but Mike got free and throws the knife that was in his hand at her, making her drop the second knife she had. She catches her fallen spear and knocks Leeway back with it. Leeway and Mike can barely keep up with her; she's outclassing them.

Mike: "We have to retreat, Leeway."

Leeway: "No, I'm sick of running."

Leeway activates his presence sense. He returns to combat with this crazy female; she's still faster than him, but he's dodging more attacks and coming close to actually tagging her.

Loca: "So you activated your senses so you can read my moves, huh? Smart, but that little trick won't help you win, boy."

Loca backs off Leeway and throws smoke balls everywhere; Leeway tries to jump up so he can see, but she knocks him down every time. She's fast enough to keep slashing at Leeway in the smoke; he's barely avoiding these attacks. Leeway drops his guard for one second and almost costs him his life as Loca was going for his neck with her spear; before she could reach it, Mike catches her off guard and kicks her away from Leeway.

Mike: "Forgot about me already."

Leeway: "About time you stepped back in."

Loca: "Ugh, you dumb, stupid wanna-be ninjas."

Mike: "Someone's angry."

Loca dashes toward them both, elbowing Leeway and grabbing her spear and slashing it at Mike. He catches it with his metal hand but was quickly hit in his pressure point, causing him to fall down. Leeway recovers and gets right to trying to take down Loca. With each attack, she relentlessly pushes them back, exploiting their weaknesses and leaving them with few options for defense.

Leeway, fueled by frustration and determination, continues to press on, using everything his Sensei taught him. Leeway realizes nothing is going to hit; he decides to start using techniques that he hasn't learned yet. He backs away, making distance from Loca, who is getting tired of this fight and wants to end it quickly. She goes straight for Leeway, but he just stands there, focusing and calming his mind. He thinks about why he's fighting and who he's fighting for, then something happens.

Loca: "Yeah, just stand there and die." (says viciously)

Leeway: "You won't win this; I won't die here."

Mike: "Leeway, get out of the way." (tries to stand up)

As soon as Loca reaches Leeway, his sikei glows, a mark appears on Leeway's cheek; a triangle glowing bright blue. Loca goes for a strike on Leeway, but he dodges, then hits her with a counter.

Loca (shocked) goes in for another try at her fastest speed; Leeway once again counters, this time dazzling her, leaving her vulnerable. Leeway puts his hand out and blasts her with some type of wind energy; knocking her down as she looks up at Leeway, she's scared, and as Leeway seems like he's charging up another move to finish her off, he dodges again; it seems someone has thrown three knives at him. Leeway turns around and sees a man walking up, covered head to toe in sharp knives and daggers.

Leeway: "And you are?" (asks with a straight look)

Sherps: "So this is the power of those monks."

Loca: "About time, brother."

Sherps: "I thought you could handle it."

Leeway: "Here to lose as well?"

Loca picks up her spear and jumps away from Leeway while he stares at Sherps.

Loca: "Come on, brother, get him."

Sherps: "No problem."

Sherps grabs two blades off of himself and heads towards Leeway, slashing at him. Leeway, still in that state, dodges everything, but he couldn't really hit him. He didn't notice Loca throw her spear at him, not hitting him but knocking his sword off his waist, leaving room for Sherps to stab him.

Leeway: "Ahh ah!"

Mike: "Oh no, I need to get up."

Loca: "Okay, let's do spider web, Sherps."

Sherps: "I get tired doing that."

Loca: "Fastest way to take him down before he gets back to that damn sword."

Sherps: "Fine!"

Mike: "Leeway, get out of there, move!"

Leeway, snapping out of his calm state, avoids more attacks from Sherps by a hair and darts towards his sikei as soon as he could but was stopped by Loca. That's when Sherps gets up close and punches Leeway, stunning him. That's when Loca grabs a knife off of Sherps, slashing Leeway, and that's when the spider web starts. While Sherps, up close, boxing with Leeway, Loca jumps wall to wall, grabbing knives off her brother's armory and slashing at Leeway. He can't even keep up, and he's about to fall.

Mike: "This is pathetic. They hit me with one move and I'm down like that. Leeway's gonna die if I don't do something quick."

Mike pulls back his arm, revealing his cannon, and points it at the ground. He uses a little bit of his blast power to blast himself in the air like he's flying. While he's airborne, he points his cannon at his opponents while they're still attacking Leeway. Then, he uses the rest of his blast power to shoot toward them but misses both Sherps and Loca. He falls back to the ground and lands in a trash can.

Loca: "Ah haa haa haaa. You missed, you pathetic excuse for a ninja."

Sherps: "Hurry up, Loca. We'll worry about him later. Let's finish the monk off."

Leeway: "Why do you keep calling me a monk?" (Leeway says while trying to catch his breath.)

Loca: "Don't worry about it. You'll die before you can find out."

That's when Sherps hits Leeway with one more punch before Loca jumps off the same building, slashing Leeway, and she jumps on one more to deliver the final blow. But the building crumbles as soon as she landed on its wall, crushing her underneath the rubble.

Sherps, shocked: "What the? No way, how did he-" He must have noticed she was jumping from the same building and blasted it to weaken its structure, that bastard."

Leeway: "Way to go, Mike. Haa ha."

Sherps: "SHUT UP! That's my SISTER!"

Sherps kicks Leeway, who is already battered, beat, and tired, to the ground. Leeway can barely move, and his vision is getting blurry, so he can't locate his sikei.

Sherps: "If my sister dies here, so do you two bastards."

Leeway: "MIKE!" cough cough

Sherps: "He can't hear you. He used all his energy on that blast. He's out, and after I kill you two, he's next."

Leeway: "We were so close to meeting the spiritual man. I can't die yet."

Sherps then takes a blade and goes for Leeway's heart. As soon as Leeway thinks his adventure is over, Sherps gets blasted back by who knows what.

Sherps: "What was that?" looks around

Sherps then spots someone walking toward him.

Sherps: "What did you just do?"

The person then hits Sherps again without even touching him, leaving him on the ground.

Person: "I've seen enough. I'll be taking these two with me. You can fight me if you want, but your sister has seconds before she suffocates under that rubble."

Sherps is resentful but does run to get his sister from underneath, and when he is done, he turns around, and Leeway, Mike, and the mystery person are gone.