Ralph stared at the mysterious woman as she pulled back her lips and barred her teeth at the ninja. His eyes flickered to her exposed teeth to see her canine grow large and long. His heart skipped a beat as his mind filled in the tiny detail that his teacher left out - there were shifters living in the Gray District. He took a step back, wanting to keep as much space between himself and the shifter as possible.
His chest heaved. A cold sensation wrapped around his heart. He tried to remember what his teachers in basic training taught the class when they brought up the shifters. He blinked as he couldn’t remember if they taught about them or even if they did. He was sure they covered the topic of Shifters and the many different types. He hoped he just couldn’t remember.
‘This is bad,’ Ralph thought. He didn’t know what to do. He glanced back up at the shifter and his breath caught in his throat as he realized the shifter stared at him with a gleeful look in her eyes. ‘They can smell fear.’
He did remember the various stories he heard about the shifters told by the caretakers of the Orphanage, informing them about naughty children disappearing in the night by evil shifters, cruel Pirates, and hungry demons. One of the caretakers had given backed up those stories by claiming that a friend of his had been kidnapped by a group of cruel Pirates and never seen again. Another caretaker finished her tale by the same line of “A handsome knight managed to save me from the hungry demons and brought me back home.” That always got an eye roll from the older orphans who grew up on such tales. Those tales never made any sense since the Village was miles away from the coast where Pirate attacks were known to be at and it was a rare occurrence if Pirates sailed up the river to the edge of the village where the fishermen lived and Ninja scouting the boundary of village would have alerted the rest of the village and the police force to the pirate presences.
“Madam Luna,” Master Quill spoke, cutting through Ralph’s fearful thoughts, “I thought we had an agreement where you agreed to allow us to clean up your territory every changing of the seasons.” Master Quill’s voice was strong and calm. It was complete opposite to what Ralph was feeling. It broke through the fear he felt. A spark went through his head. He blinked and turned to look at Quill, surprise coloring his face. Quill knew the shifter? He glanced at the other team who stood by their master, shifting back and forth on their feet. He turned his attention onto his teammates and saw they were frighten by the shifter, but surprised by the same fact he was. Ralph reached up and stretched his cheek, wondering what was going on. He walked backwards, toward the other master, hoping he would be somewhat safer closer to the more experienced ninja then far away when the Shifter decided to attack.
“Madam Luna, is there something the matter?” Quill asked. There was a note of curiosity in his tone. ‘Madam Luna’ didn’t answer, but let out a loud growl, slowly bent her knees, her fingers curled into claws, and she reached down to the dirt, crunching.
Ralph froze. His back snapped straight. His eyes rested on the shifter. A hand slowly went to the pouch at his waist. He itched to pull out a kunai defend himself. He didn’t know if that would set Madam Luna off or not. He took a calming breath and took a step back. Madam Luna growled deeper as her hair grew, transforming into dark colored fur. Her face extended into a canine snout, giving the impression Ralph that Madam Luna was some sort of wolf.
“Ralph, Enzo, Lilian, don’t move,” Quill snapped. Ralph froze. The toes of his foot he used to step back touched the ground, but he didn’t place his heel on the ground. “One of you are causing her to react this way. I will tell you to move when I call your name. Don’t answer me.” There was a pause. “Padme, Anakin, Ben, get ready for a fight.”
“Yes, Master,” the trio replied.
“Lilian,” Quill called, “Start walking toward me. Padme, watch her to make sure she’s not the one pissing Madam Luna off and see if the reason is close by Lilian.”
“Yes, sir,” Padme spoke up. Ralph glanced over to Lilian and saw she was walking backward. His gaze darted over to Madam Luna. She didn’t react to Lilian moving away. Ralph frowned. He looked the ground around his feet. He didn’t see anything, at first. However, when he focused on the dirt near his left foot, he could have sworn there was a light brown lump that was slightly moving. His eyes widened and he gulped. He really hoped that lump wasn’t some sort of very young shifter.
The lump moved and unfolded to reveal it was a rather large squirrel. Ralph blinked and raised an eyebrow as the squirrel looked up at him and tittered before it ran away. He watched it go before he turned his attention to Madam Luna and saw she still stared at him.
“Enzo, your turn,” Quill called out, “Ben, cover him.”
Ralph waited, thinking. There has to be a good reason why Madam Luna was freaking out. She didn’t come out until the other team was in the process of destroying the other tents. Could there be something over there causing her to freak out like she was? Maybe they were getting close to her Den or something equally precious to Madam Luna.
“Ralph, get ready to move,” Quill announced, “Anakin, you and I will cover him. I don’t know why Madam Luna will be going after him, but there is a good chance she will be.”
Ralph muttered a soft curse under his breath. He really wished Raizen would have had the time to teach him some jutsus in his elemental affinities. He would eventually get lessons over the elemental affinities, but there was a chance that he wasn’t ready yet. He couldn’t remember the jutsu scroll he had borrowed from the library. He turned his attention onto Madam Luna. She had fully transformed into a large wolf. Ralph’s eyes widened. The wolf was double the size of a normal wolf. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that wolf could cover the distance between where Madam Luna was standing and Ralph’s location in a single leap. A chill went up his spine. Madam Luna shook her head, causing the black fur fluff out. It shined in the sunlight.
“Are you ready, Ralph,” Quill asked.
‘No,’ Ralph replied, silently, but he voiced, “I think so.” His voice came out a lot stronger and brave then he actually felt.
“Alright,” Quill started, “Ralph, run toward us, NOW!”
Ralph twisted around to face Quill and pushed off the ground. He soared. There was a loud howl and he heard the deep thump. He didn’t know if Madam Luna did leap or not, however, the thump, thump, thump rhythmic beating give away the fact Madam Luna was chasing after him. He stared ahead of him. He landed on his feet and ran as fast as he could.
Quill darted toward him with Anakin a few feet behind him. His hands raised in front of his chest and moved through a series of hand signs before he came to a stop and knelt to the ground, slamming his hands against the ground. The ground rumbled and groaned as it shifted.
Anakin came a stop. He reached over his shoulder to the sword he had resting on his back. He stared at the approaching wolf, waiting. A determined look was on his face. He didn’t look at Ralph as he slid to a stop, sliding past Quill and Anakin.
Ralph didn’t know how much he would be able to do, but he needed to do something to be helpful. He pulled out his kunai and slid into a defensive position, holding it up in front of him. He waited for anything to happen as he watched Madam Luna approached, but she was stopped by a rocky cage, sliding up from the ground. She slammed into the side and let out a howl of anger. She stepped back, shaking her head. She tried again and got the same result. She didn’t try for a third time as she paced back and forth in the rocky cage.
Ralph’s heart thundered in his chest as he stared at the she-wolf. His chest heaved. His mind race. For some odd reason she went after him. He didn’t know why or if he really wanted to know the answer to it. He slowly became aware his hands hurt. He glanced down at them to see white knuckles curled around the handle of the kunai. He forced himself to take a deep and calming breath. It didn’t help. A hand landed on his shoulder causing him to jump.
“Hey, Ralph,” Anakin’s voice reached his ears, “it’s alright. Take a deep breath. It’s over.”
“For now,” Ralph muttered, loud enough for the two of them to hear the comment.
“Yes, for now,” Anakin admitted, “But you managed to pull through and made the wise decision to retreat instead of facing an enemy a lot stronger then you are.”
Ralph looked upward at Anakin. He felt his limbs tremble with adrenalin and lingering fear. He never had to face down a wolf like that before. He blinked. Perhaps he shouldn’t have ran from Madam Luna. He glanced at Quill as he walked over to the rocky cage and crunch in front of it, becoming eye level with Madam Luna, staying a few feet away in case she managed to break through the rock cage. She paced back and forth, growling before she tried to break through a rocky bar with her mouth opened wide.
Anakin continued to speak to Ralph, but Ralph only half listened to the slightly older ninja. What just happened pushed its way to the forefront of his mind. He couldn’t believe he was nearly attacked. This was different from his previous mission and his training. He just became aware how different the missions were from each other. The basic training was a kiddie pool, with the teachers given out warnings before they came at them. This was just the beginning of his ninja career. This was his first brush with death and he had turned and fled, instead of facing it like a true ninja. It didn’t sit right with him.
“Ralph?” He heard his name. He blinked and turned to face his teammates and Anakin. It was Lilian who spoke, “Ralph? Are you alright?”
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“Yeah,” Ralph’s voice sounded strange to his ears. He didn’t know how to describe the way it sounded other then it was the same tone one of the caretakers at the Orphanage used when they were teaching about the Village’s history as they droned on about a certain event. “I’m alright.”
The feeling in Ralph’s gut hardened as he thought how much of a coward he was. His conflict must have showed on his face because Anakin placed a hand on his right shoulder. Ralph looked up at him. Anakin gave him a grin, “Hey, it’s alright. You were taken by surprise and don’t have training to handle an shifter’s attack.” He rubbed the back of his head, “Hell, I’m not sure if I could be able to on my second mission.” He looked sheepish, “Of course, Master Quill didn’t take us out for a mission until we finished our first month of training with him. Master Raizen is different so I can’t say anything about his teaching style then he thought this was a safe mission.”
Ralph looked at the ground, thinking about Anakin’s words for a long moment before he looked up at Anakin, again.
“If it helps, the seasonal clean up mission is usually one of the safest missions because the Luna Shifter pack takes care of the trouble makers for us before we get started,” Anakin went on, “So, I have no idea why Madam Luna is being aggressive this year. It’s like she is under a jutsu or a spell.” His eyes widened in realization.
“Master!” Anakin started to yell when the rocky cage fell apart and Madam Luna lunched herself at Master Quill.
Master Quill leaped backwards, trying to increase the distance between himself and Madam Luna. He landed on his right foot then he pushed off, bouncing back before he repeated with his left foot. The wolf form of Madam Luna followed.
Quill’s arm flew to his waist and he pulled out a short blade. It cut the air in a wide arc as Quill put it into a defense position. He widened his stance. He bent his knees. He waited for an attack. However, the she-wolf had other plans.
Madam Luna paused before she paced back and forth, shaking her large head, causing her fur to fly out. Then her forelegs pushed off the ground, forcing her wolfish body to stand on her hind legs. The fur slowly faded, back into her skin, except for a wide band covering her breasts and her hips. She flexed her hands, but her face didn’t fully transform back to a human looking face. She kept the elongated snout and the sharp teeth. A loud cracking echoed in the stun silence.
“What just happened?” Lilian asked. Fear colored her voice as she tried to understand what was going on.
“Shit,” Anakin muttered loud enough for Ralph to hear. Anakin’s voice held some venom.
“That is a shifter hybrid form,” Padme explained, “They are able to pick and chose which characteristics they keep when they transformed into this version. In this case, it looks like Madam Luna decided to keep her claws and teeth.” Her voice didn’t hold any emotion as she stared at Madam Luna.
“Well, then,” Enzo commented, “That’s interesting. Can all shifters to that?”
“Not all,” Ben answered, “Just the non cursed shifters who are related to creatures called demons.”
Ralph blinked as he took a step back. Did Ben just say demons? There was no way Ben did say that. Demons were just fables told by the highly religious folks over the big church to keep the children in. He was aware they went around informing all of the humans about the Teifings, claiming they were hell spawn demons that needed to killed. Usually, the crap they talked about the Tiefings was ignored, but not the demonic part. However, it didn’t discount the various stories Ralph had heard while he was working in the restaurant business with ninja tellings stories about the Dead End Forest and how strong creatures lived there. Some of the creatures they had talked about were called Demons.
One ninja had told him when he had asked what was the different between a shifter, a non-human, and a demon; Demons had the canny ability to look human, have unholy strength, and have unique powers to their kind. It was rumored demons lived in another world, linked to Avalon, but none of the ninja Ralph had talked to on the subject have been there. A non-cursed shifter was the result of a relationship of a demon and a human or non-human, depending how many years ago the relationship took place and an event caused awakening of the demon blood.
An Animal looking non-human, the ninja went on, came from a blessing or a power from the Gods that allow them to encounter with the humankind, but the other non-humans like Elves, Fae, Dwarves, and others chose to encounter with the humanity due to the some of arrangement they had in ancient past. Of course, the ninja had explained a few other things that went over Ralph’s head at the time.
Ralph stared at Madam Luna. She somehow awakened her demon blood and was able to transform into this hybrid looking creature. He couldn’t believe it. He always thought Demons living nearby was just a story, one that didn’t have any truth behind it.
“Back up, now!” Quill shouted.
“Yes, sir,” Ralph found himself replying with the others, turned and hurried several more feet away. His heart thundered in his chest. His breath caught in his throat. The blood pounded in his ears. He couldn’t believe how a boring cleaning up mission turned into this. An arm extend forward as his fist hit something. That was the only warning he got before he ran into something hard. He bounced backwards and landed on his rear end. He winced. Pain rippled out from where he landed. He glanced over at the others. Enzo and Lilian landed on their rear ends as well, but the more experience team landed in some forms of a crunch.
Ralph got to his feet and stared at the area in front of him. It was clear. There was nothing there to prevent him from running forward again and trying to get out of the range of Quill’s attacks. He blinked and reached up to touch it. He watched a ripple flowed outward from where he had touch the random space, inches away from his face. He heard Anakin utter a curse word and he felt surprise dart through him as his respect for the other ninja rose. He would have remember that phase. It would be interesting to use sometime.
“She has allies!” Ben called out, “They raised a barrier, Master Quill!”
“They must have done it when we weren’t pay attention,” Anakin added. Ralph glanced up at him and saw the annoyed look on his face.
“What’s a barrier?” Ralph asked. He had heard the terminology before when he was working in the restaurant and Ninja would come in and complain about a barrier and how it made the mission a lot harder. However, it was never brought up in Basic Training. Maybe Ralph should have had asked about them while he was in training so he could have had a better idea on what they were and how to counteract them.
Anakin glanced over at him and explained, “A barrier is some type of forcefield created to protect or prevent someone in a certain area. They are hard to break through and usually, there is a mage nearby acting like the conductor for the barrier.”
“So, we just have to find the mage and break their contraction,” Ralph said.
“If it is going to be that easy,” Anakin stated, “Yes, it will do the trick.” He paused. His eyes scanned the nearby debris hills. “If the mage is interrupted during their spell casting, they would experience a magic backlash.” He directed his gaze to the ground, going on, “Unless they are using a rune of some kind as a middle man.” Ralph went to open his mouth to ask what Anakin meant by that when he explained, “Some magi use runes as a middleman or a conductor. It’s design to prevent a magic backlash. Instead of the magi taking the hit, the rune does and it simply blows up. Nothing like one of our bombing seals, but it still take off your foot or arm if you are not careful.”
Ralph bleached at that. An explosive rune that had enough power to take off a foot or arm. That had some power to it. It was no wonder why the Basic Training instructors never talked about it. He could name at least three of his former classmates who would have loved to try to create a barrier using a rune to just see for themselves what it did and how it would have worked.
“Defend yourselves!” Quill barked, a sharp note in his voice.
“That won’t work,” Madam Luna spoke. Her voice had a sign song note it. “Those silly pups aren’t strong enough to take on my elite team and survive.” Ralph could have swore his heart skipped a beat as he heard her voice as it changed. It was a mixture of the shrill tone she had used when she first appeared and a growl. It was unsettlingly. “Attack them, Yukina, Nas, Douglas!”
“Yes, ma’am,” three voices rang out. It sounded like there was a female among the three from the higher tone while the remaining two held a deeper throaty note.
Ralph snapped his head to the right to see an older looking woman, possible in her mid-twenties, jumped down from a debris pile. She wore a pair of dark color pants with a tight sleeveless tunic, showing off her dark mocha, muscular arms. Her braided brunette hair hung over her shoulder. She stared at them with a pair of eager yellow brown eyes. Her feet were bare. He heard a cracking sound as she flexed her hands and her nails elongated into claws. If he had to take a wild guess, that would Yukina.
Ralph turned his head to look at the shifter approaching Enzo and Ben with cocky stride. He was a tall man with a broad shoulders, a short board and hair style to match, but he didn’t wear a shirt, showing off his muscular chest and sun kissed skin. He wore some sort of slippers on his feet. He rolled his shoulders back and cracked his neck.
The remaining shifter wore a tight tunic that outlined his chest, but his pants were loose. This shifter was some sort of a fighter. He held himself different then other two as he leaped down from the top of the debris pile. He landed in a crunch and slowly stood up. He stalked toward the girls.
“Ben,” Anakin’s voice held a note of warning. Ralph glanced over at him to see he was staring at the shifter approaching the girls.
“I know,” Ben replied, moving forward already.
Ralph turned his attention to Lilian and Padme. Lilian looked confused. Padme, on the other hand, stood there with a wide eyes and fear colored her expression. Her hands were curled into fists and they shook. Her lips parted and her chest heaved.
“I will be your opponent, Douglas,” Ben announced. The Tiefling held his shoulders back as he moved to block Douglas’ path toward Padme.
“I don’t think so, Benny-boy,” the fighter looking shifter stated, “I would like to have another round with Padme.” Douglas allowed a grin to cross his face. It sent shivers down Ralph’s spine and a flicker of worry through his gut for Lilian. “She was very sweet the last time we fought.” Douglas paused. “Of course, I could take the other girl as well. I’m sure she hasn’t been broke in yet.”
The other male shifter, Nas, laughed, loudly before he grinned, “If you don’t mind sharing, Douggie, I could help breaking the innocent one in as well.”
Ralph narrowed his eyes. He didn’t like how this Nas fella was talking about the girls. He glanced at the girls to see Lilian look at the male shifters in disgust as understanding dawned on Enzo’s face.
“That’s disgusting,” Enzo announced, “And you call yourself men? More like immature little boys who take what they want when they don’t get their way.” The insult made Nas to fall silent and Douglas to send a glare at Enzo. The son of the local blacksmith to go on, “You are pathetic bullies. No way why your parents didn’t love you when you were younger and were so eager to cast you aside like yesterdays trash.”
Ralph hummed, wondering if Enzo actually knew them or not. In the end, it didn’t matter. What Enzo did was working. He hoped Enzo knew what he was doing since his teammate had earned the ire of Douglas.
“You know what,” Douglas started, but Enzo cut him off, “I know a lot of things. What do you want to know, Dougie-boy?”
Douglas let out a growl, “I changed my mind. Ben and your bitch-boy are going down.” He charged at Ben.
“I think I will help you, Doug,” Nas announced and darted at Enzo with a fist held up to his shoulder, but Anakin stepped in his path, cupping the fist.
“Na,” Anakin said, “How about you fight me, puppy?” Nas growled, but he threw a punch at the blonde’s face. Anakin moved his head out of the way.
Ralph glanced at Enzo, but his teammate moved to back up Ben. He shrugged and followed Anakin’s lead. He did peak at Lilian. She stood beside Padme, trying to get some sort of reaction of the other female ninja until she noticed the last of the trio, Yukina, walk toward her. She slid into a defensive stance, waiting. Padme didn’t move as fights broke out.