Authors Note:

"" = Speech

<(B)> = Techniques

(Author note: Hello, how y'all doing?)

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The metallic colors coming from the rocks stood out against the grey wall as they glowed mysteriously collecting them into a leather bag I found nearby. After gathering up anything of value, including the weird rocks, with a heavy sack in my hand I went to where I had last seen Master Hikaru. When I finally reached him, he was standing still and unresponsive.

"Master Hikaru, are you ready to go?" I asked, slightly bored.

He didn't answer for a while before suddenly emerging from his trance.

"Yes, I'm ready. Let's go," He replied dazedly.

I grabbed his hand and jumped onto his back while slinging the bulky bag on my own. As he leapt up with vigorous energy, the clinking of metal and grinding of rocks echoed through the space.

slinging the bulky bag on my own. As he leapt up with vigorous energy, the clinking of metal and grinding of rocks echoed through the space.

"So, what interesting things did you find?" He asked as his enhanced fingers dug into the rocky ceiling.

"Just some jewelry and colorful minerals," I responded absentmindedly, squinting against the cold air blowing past us.

He stopped in mid-climb. "Were the minerals dense and almost foggy?"

"Yeah, they were quite dense and compacted," I answered.

"Good" He answered, "I'll tell you what those help with later"

...

Tchrrch! The ground crackled as we stepped onto the opposite side of the cavernous, towering cave. I glanced back confusedly towards the underground city I had spotted during Master Hikaru's battle with the high knight. When Master Hikaru noticed my perplexed expression, he nodded upwards to imply that he would explain everything once we reached the surface.

We entered a large room filled with stench-ridden corpses; it reminded me of being taken hostage by the bloodstained and odorous person whom Master Hikaru was fighting earlier in the forest. As he bound me up and brought me into the depths of the earth, he murmured curses about how his master would execute master Hikaru. Armed with this knowledge, I had to tell Master Hikaru - perhaps then he'd help me unlock all of my hidden energy? At present, when I activate it all that appears is a very faint mix of blue-white light around me, which at first seemed to have caught Master Hikaru's attention in the mountains and thus has drawn mine too.

Then, as we had left the foul smelling room Master Hikaru released his own inner energy and in rapid succession had enabled us to dodge any odd or unexpected traps that crossed our path. Upon arriving at this large room full of manifold tunnels leading elsewhere, Master Hikaru stopped abruptly, then laid down for a few minutes before rising again.

"Are you tired Master Hikaru?" I questioned.

"Yes, and hungry too," he uttered with exhaustion. "I had to leave food in baskets outside the caves; hopefully they are still edible."

"Yeah, hopefully" I replied.

Beckoning me to hop on his back, he started to run. As the tunnel became darker, we began to hear voices up ahead.

"Where is he?" shouted one voice.

"I don't know," replied another anxiously, "Young Master didn't tell us anything about him, he only said that he was taking another boy with him off somewhere to be healed."

"Ahhrrgh," whimpered the voice in despair, "The second in command will have our heads for sure."

Master Hikaru then silently put me down and grabbed his sword. He told me sternly, "Stay here."

I nodded my head in understanding as he vanished into the darkness.

There was a sharp sound of metal hitting metal twice, then Master Hikaru suddenly reappeared in front of me and sheathed his sword, bloodied from battle. After the minor inconvenience he was running again through the cold and damp cave until we reached the opening that showed the starry night sky outside.

"That was close," Master Hikaru spoke while taking off his purple Oni mask.

"Underground is not a place I want to go ever again," I replied.

"Stay here" He spoke "I have to go search for the food baskets I hid away"

"Okay," I responded, "I'll stay put."

Then, without losing a second, Master Hikaru came back with the two big baskets full of supplies we had bought earlier.

"I'll carry these and you can carry the bag with the minerals and jewelry," he suggested. "If it's too much for you, just let me know and I'll take all of them."

"Ok," I said hesitantly. "Will we keep going through the night?"

"No," he answered tiredly. "I'm too hungry and exhausted right now. We need to set up camp and get some rest. You can eat some of those peaches I bought if you're hungry; just don't eat them all!"

"Of course," I agreed, I would like to save some for later after all.

...

We had set up a camp for the night when Master Hikaru took a look at my stolen jewels and trinkets. He nodded approval at some while muttering something about their importance, then fell asleep under the glimmering stars in the sky. I, however, was hungry and not tired, so I ate a peach someone had left me. While leaning against a tree, I pondered many questions: would I be able to get revenge on my parents? Was there any point in following Master Hikaru if not to become strong enough to protect others? Then my mind drifted to something I had never asked him, what was his true goal??

Before long, my head began to ache, as if someone were

hitting me in the skull every four seconds. When I looked

up, I saw that it was already midday.

"Master Hikaru!" shouted a voice in panic, "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah," I replied groggily. "Just the sun creeping into my eyes again."

"Then we should get going," he proposed.

"Huh? Why?" I asked.

"It's almost midday and you've been out asleep for quite a while," he explained.

"Ah right," I said before scrambling to pack everything away. "So what did you do while I was napping?"

"Not much... Well I did do something cool," he said excitedly.

"Like what?" I asked with some interest.

"I managed to slightly enhance my inner power!" He declared with pride.

"That's a nice development," I said. "Once we reach the mountain, I'll give you more training. I don't want you to be in so much peril again; it's wiser if you can fight or escape from a situation better."

"Thank you, Master Hikaru," he exclaimed once more.

"No problem," I answered. "On that note, I decided that you shouldn't call me 'Master Hikaru' anymore—I think

of you as a younger brother, so just call me Hikaru."

"Of course," Darius replied in surprise.

"Well, now let's hike up the mountain with all this gear. It will take some time," I said. "It's advisable to get going if we want to get there before dusk."

Darius nodded his head in agreement. "Let's go!"

...

The thick trees were swaying gently in the light breeze, panting was heard nearby as someone wearing grey clothes and a blade hurriedly made their way toward a large town. He quickly ran past the guards protecting the gates and after passing numerous shops he stopped at the entrance of the palace.

"Halt!" One of the guard commanded. "State your business."

Gasping for air, the grey robed figure looked up. "I-I am h-here to t-tell the c-c-comander that his p-pupil has

b-been k-k-killed!"

Upon hearing such news, they allowed him to pass without any further ado. As he rushed through corridors and passed many guards standing still, he knocked on a huge door.

"Enter," came a crisp voice from within.

Opening the door and bowing down onto the silver carpet, he heard an unfamiliar voice command: "What has brought you here?"

The grey robed figure stammered, "We have found that your pupil Hagane has been killed in his sleep, and we're trying to determine who the killer was but they left no trace.

"Did the murderer take anything with them?" demanded the stern voice.

"All of the gifts you gave your pupil," replied the figure meekly.

"I see," replied the seething voice, suppressing its rage. "You may leave now. Tell the others at the underground village that they must rejoin my army immediately."

It was too much! Both of the disciple brothers had been killed mysteriously. The first one went out to spy on who he thought the emperor's were after—soon afterward, he vanished. The second one fled from a person wanted by the emperor after kidnapping a child he was traveling with. It could only mean one thing: the person with the now 500-dollar bounty had killed them—and he would pay with his life; this man would not allow his name, Kabuto Fujita to be tarnished!

"Guards! Prepare the army! We'll set out on a search tonight!" he roared.