Super Ninjas [1]: Birth of the Super Ninjas
Title: Super Ninjas 1: Birth of the Super Ninjas
Rating: G
Summary: Two children discover incredible powers.
Notes:
Warning(s):
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Not intended to represent any real persons, places, events, or things. This story is copyright Dawn Kelley and all rights to these characters belong to me.
Despite all the training he had received these past couple weeks, Michael got nervous when he saw Stevie the bully approaching. The eleven year old boy prepared himself for Stevie. He had taken advantage of him too long. A sumo sized thirteen-year-old eighth-grader, he teased and taunted every kid smaller then himself. He had a face like a bulldog that scared you even when his size didn’t. Neither scared Michael today. Today was much different from their last meeting. Today he had what his friend had taught him. Kim, his Asian guardian angel. He met her because of Stevie.
It was only a few weeks ago, but it seemed like a lifetime. The last time he’d faced Stevie was clearly drawn out in his mind. He was adjusting his thin-framed glasses on his face when Stevie and his gang surrounded him. Stevie had sent him home millions of times with a black eye and empty pockets. His skinny brown body still held scars from previous attacks. "Stand up to him and he’ll back down," his mother had said. "Yeah right", Michael thought dejectedly.
"Hey Mikey, what you got there?" Stevie asked, taunting him.
"I’m going to the store for my mom," Mike announced.
"Awe, shopping for his mommy. Isn’t that cute boys," Stevie teased.
"Leave him alone," a voice said in the background.
They turned around and saw an eleven year old girl standing behind them.
"And what are you gonna do, little girl?" Stevie asked.
She smiled at the butch bully and he laughed, turning his back her. She tapped him on the shoulder. He turned toward her. She took a fighting stance, fist up. Stevie laughed and she threw a punch; he ducked just in time. He fist quickly prepared his fist for a counter attack. Skilled in boxing, Stevie attempted repeated attacks with his fist, but she was too quick for him. Blocking and ducking every punch, she quicklygot Stevie frustrated. His movements became sloopy. When he tired, she gave him a firm kick to the nose.
Michael heard the bone in Stevie’s nose snap as blood began gushing from it. Shocked at the blood, he departed saying, "This isn’t over little girl."
"Thanks," Mike said to the nameless Asian girl.
She smiled and walked away. He watched her, enchanted. He wished he could do that. Unfortunately his small frame prevented it. He would never be a fighter. The girl wasn’t a total mystery. He knew her face; she was the daughter of the Korean man who owned the corner store near his home. Beautiful and lethal, he thought as he headed for the store.
"She was amazing," Michael said as he finished telling the tale to his friend, Billy, that evening.
"Doesn’t it embarrass you that a girl saved you?" Billy asked.
"I don’t know, I never thought about it."
"You need to come to my karate class. Learn how to stand up for yourself."
"What good would I be at martial art. I’m the size of a string bean."
"That’s the great thing about Karate, size doesn’t matter." Billy said hitting him roughly on the chest. Michael gasped from the impact.
"Ok," Michael said. "I’ll check it out."
Later, at dinner, Michael debated the issue with his reluctant mother. Despite her strong objections, Micheal knew non-violent protest wouldn’t work against Stevie. He was determined to take that class.
"I don’t see how learning to break slats of wood is going to help with this bully. Besides, I don’t want you hurt," His mother objected.
"Mom, I’m hurt already. He beats me up every chance he gets. And standing up to him isn’t doing anything. I need something to stand up to him with."
"Fine, I’ll let you take the introductory class and if we like it, you can continue."
"Thanks mom," Michael said jumping out of the chair to give his mother a hug. While hugging him, she glanced at the mysterious tattoo he had since he was a baby. It was a diamond with a sword stuck through it. She wished she knew what it meant and where it had come from.
That weekend Michael walked into the Dojo dressed in a white Karate uniform. His mother sat off to the side smiling at him. He wished she wasn’t there. Michael walked among the other students as they did their warm-ups. Billy was the only person other than himself doing nothing.
"Hey Billy," Michael said.
"Hey Mike, you made it."
The doors swung open and a female student walked in wearing a green belt.
"Hey Billy, that’s her," Michael said excited, "the girl who beat up Stevie." .
"Figures, that’s Kim. "
"Kim?"
"Yea, she’s got a black belt in Tai Kwon Do. When she joined Zack’s he said she needed to relearn the heart and forget the skill. She was kind of cocky."
"You got a nerve, calling somebody cocky," Michael said. "Introduce me,"
The two boys walked toward Kim, who had just begun her warm ups. She rolled her eyes when she saw Billy approaching.
"What you want pretty boy?" Kim said annoyed.
"My friend Michael wants to thank you for yesterday."
Kim turned towards Michael. "He’s your friend? You should keep better company. And you already said thanks." Kim turned and walked away.
"Kim," Michael called running after her.
Halting, she turned toward him. "Don’t tell me your going to be as pushy as Billy."
"Uh, sorry, it’s just, that kick, it was amazing. I wanna learn how to do that. And the blocking, it’s amazing how you calculated his movements."
"He was to predictable. I’ve seen all of his combinations before. As for you, just pay attention to Zack, you’ll learn the basics."
"Are the basics gonna help me with Stevie the bulldog?"
Kim smiled. "It depends."
"On what, I mean, I’m not exactly Mr. Strong Man."
"Don’t matter, it’s not about strength. It’s about heart. Without heart, skill cannot be truly mastered. Zack will teach you all this."
"Do you not like me?"
"What?" Kim asked. "I don’t even know you."
"I know, but you helped me-and–and now we’re both here and-well your kinda–well I was just hoping we could be friends," Michael mumbled.
"Friends? I guess." Kim smiled at Michael. "And maybe I could help you out with your moves and stuff after." Kim grabbed his arm, pulling him to the mats. "Zack should be in here in a minute, why don’t we go get a place."
They stood side by side on the mat with the rest of the students awaiting Zack’s entrance. A young haired blond man with a long ponytail entered the room. The name Zack was printed on his back. Kim’s eyes were drawn to him as he walked through the room. She more than listened when he began to instruct the class; she watched the words fall from his lips so attentively it was obvious that she was star struck. Michael giggled to himself. The toughest girl he had ever met had a crush on her SenSay. He could have argued that she was a dedicated student, but the admiration in the intense looks gave away more than a thirst for knowledge.
He felt connected to Kim on some mystical level, as if he had known her in some past place or far away life. He knew they were connected, but he didn’t know how?
The next day Michael and Kim stood in his yard practicing fighting stances. Michael was an attentive student, observing and imitating her moves with near accuracy. He wanted to defeat Stevie so badly; he forgot the one thing he had been told repeatedly.
"Michael, you’re concentrating too hard, " Kim reminded him.
"How can I concentrate to hard?"
"Cause the skill is nothing without-"
"Without the heart. I hear you, but what is the heart?"
"You’re thinking about Stevie. Well let’s say you learn enough to defeat Stevie, then what, you quit?" Kim asked.
"No way, I like it to much."
"Then don’t think about Stevie, think about the art. Zack says that the center of martial arts is art. And art is meant to be appreciated, not used for superficial gain."
Michael sighed. How could he think of anything but Stevie? It was why he had taken Zack’s class in the first place.
"Man, it’s getting hot," Kim said as she took off her jacket. Underneath, She wore only a tank top. That’s when Michael saw it, a tattoo identical to his on her shoulder.
"Where’d you get that tattoo??" Michael asked.
"I don’t know. Why?"
"Cause I got one too. Look," Michael said rolling up his sleeve. Kim eyes bugged when she saw the marking identical to hers.
"Where’d you get that?" Kim shouted.
"I don’t know."
"This is too weird," Kim said grabbing her jacket. She ran off. Her speed was normal at first, but something change; suddenly she was traveling faster then light. She stopped realizing she had just traveled a mile in a few seconds. "What’s happening?" she asked herself. "Felt like Sonic for a second there."
Meanwhile Michael stood pacing in his yard. "Oh Kim," he said stomping. In a flash he had warped from his present spot to the exact spot where Kim had stopped.
"How’d you get here?" Kim asked.
"I don’t know," Michael said. "It was like I was zapped from one place to the other. How’d you get this far so fast?"
"I don’t know either. I started running and next thing I know I’m moving faster than light. I think I have super speed."
"And me?"
"Who knows? Whatever it is, I guess we’re suppose to do it together," Kim said, presenting her hand. "Shake?"
As they shook hands, a cloud of smoke surrounded them. "It’s time," a ghostly female voice whispered in the background. A bright light shined and when the smoke cleared they were on a tropical island.
"This is getting weirder by the minute,." Kim said looking around.
"I know."
A bright shinning sword appeared before them and pointed forward. The two kids looked at each other. Each had a glimmer of fear in their eyes.
"Should we go?" Michael asked.
"I guess. All this has to mean something. I mean, haven’t you always wondered what that symbol really meant?"
"Yea, but I never expected a little tattoo to lead to all this."
They shrugged and followed the pointing sword. Traveling further and further into the green depths of the forest, they began to doubt themselves. The natural animal sounds shook them a bit, but they remained focused. A monkey screech from the sky attracted Michael’s attention. He looked up and to his surprise, it was flying. He froze when he saw the monkey with the wing span of an Eagle. Ten times bigger than both animals, it had long claw like hands and feet perfect for grabbing its prey in a swooping attack.
"Kim, look," Michael said as he pointed to the sky.
"A flying monkey," Kim said. "What is this, the wizard of OZ?"
The flying monkey stopped short and stared at the kids. He bared teeth never before seen on a Mammal. His eyes glowed with rage. He swooped down toward them.
"Run," Kim said as she sped off at super speed. Camouflaged behind a tree, she looked back and realized Michael was still standing there. "Zap yourself outta there."
"I can’t," Michael said, frozen with fear. Kim grunted, ready to rescue him, but the monkey beat her to it. He swooped down, grabbed Michael, and took off at lightning speed. Kim looked around for some way to rescue him.
Finding a tree that was safe to climb, she began to scale it. To her surprise, she could use her super speed for more than running. She reached the top of the tree in seconds. Ducking in the green; she waited for the monkey to turn her way. When it came close, she prepared to pounce on it. Swoosh, it flew past the tree and Kim leaped onto his back.
"Hold on, Mike," Kim announced as the angry monkey turned it’s head and snapped at her. She pulled a yo-yo from her pocket and wrapped it around the Monkey’s neck. It let out horrifying screeches as she choked him with it. Then he slowly began to drift to the ground.
"Mike forget your enemy, concentrate on your power. The fear is probably keeping you from using it."
"Concentrate," Michael told himself. He closed his eyes and tried to center himself the way Kim had taught him during meditation. Then he thought of the ground below him. When he opened his eyes, he was on the ground. Kim was about five feet above, still choking the monkey with her yo-yo. The monkey crash-landed in front of Michael. Kim jumped off.
"You saved me," Michael said.
"I had to," Kim said. "What was that thing?"
"I don’t know," Mike said. "But there’s a lot of weird animals in this place. When the flying monkey had me, I saw this lion/tiger thing and a hippo with the head of an elephant and an alligator with frog’s legs and this was the weirdest, a rat with the wings of a parrot."
The sword again appeared in front of them and dropped to the ground. "A lot of help this was," Kim said as she lifted the sword. Zap! They were again transported to a new place on the island. They stood outside a castle with a symbol identical to their tattoos etched in the door. The building shone bright green as if it had been built with emeralds. From the top of the castle a flag swung with the letters SN written on it. The door had an indentation of a sword on it, which seemed to match the sword Kim held. She placed the sword in the space and it disappeared. Then the gigantic doors opened. A light as bright as the sun blinded them at first. A dwarf-sized woman then walked out to greet them.
"Ah, you’re hear. Michael, Kim, I am Lisa McMiss, Guardian of the power sword. I have been waiting for you."
"Power Sword?" the kids asked simultaneously.
"Come with me, all will be explained"
They followed the dwarf inside the castle. It was like a space ship filled with colorful flashing buttons, various types of computers, half-finished space age weapons, and the ancient weapons of mankind. "This is the power base," Lisa began. "The source of your power. The powers of the power sword were given to us by mystical beings far away. They chose you two to come to power at the exact moment Dr. Craze would."
"Who’s Craze?"
"Technically, my brother. Unfortunately, he’s also the most evil and sinister scientist who’s ever existed. You see, my father had a son named James who was born retarded. My father, having been a child genius, couldn’t stand the fact his son was dumb. He gave James two extra brains in order to increase his intelligence. Unfortunately, instead of being teased for his lack of intelligence, he was then teased for the size of his head. James and his father and mother came to this island where James’s father began to experiment in genetics, first with the animals, who have continued to breed on this island, and then with children. James believed he was perfection. He was angry that his father was trying to improve on that perfection and he turned against him. He allied himself with his father’s humanoid creations. I was one of these creations, the only one besides James who was genetically bound to our father. The difference was I wasn’t a random chromosomal play. He used the best of he and his wife’s genes. James, however, was a genetic flop. He got the mix of the worse. Even two extra brains couldn’t fix that. He killed his father and began calling himself Dr. Craze."
"Where is he now?" Michael asked.
"Other side of this Island. He was after me once, cause I swore to stop him. Then I found the power sword. It protected me from him. I was told of two children being reared to stop Craze’s evil. I was given the power base to observe your growth and await your arrival."
"Lisa we’re kids!" Kim interrupted. "This is a great story and all, but how are we supposed to save the world from this guy?"
"The same way you killed that monster with a yo-yo."
Like you were saying before Kim. Skill is nothing without heart. We were born for this, but it’s the heart that’s gonna help us succeed." Michael said. He was full of excitement. He had never been a part of something so important. He continued, "You were meant to be great. We were meant to be great. We were meant to be the," Michael stopped and turned toward Lisa. "What are we?"
"The Super Ninjas." Lisa smiled and tapped a button on a nearby switchboard. A golden dust surrounded the two kids and disappeared, leaving them dressed in gold colored Ninja outfits with the Letters SN stitched on the front. On the back of Michael’s uniform was a number one and Kim’ a number two.
"Super Ninja One and Super Ninja Two," Lisa began. "A new life begins for you today that will require strength and perseverance. One that will bring your life as you know it to a close. One that will change the world. Whenever you need the power base, or these uniforms, or me, simply call on the power of the power sword and it shall be yours. For now, my Super Ninjas, sleep. You will have much to review in the morning." She turned toward a glass display case where the power sword now sat. "Power sword, send them home." The sword began to glow and a bright flash of light blasted in front of their eyes.
The next morning, Michael awoke in his bed, thinking it had all been a dream; the island, the power base, the power sword, Lisa, the Super Ninjas. How could he be a hero? He couldn’t even defeat Stevie. He rubbed his eyes and saw a folder lying beside his glasses. On top it said SUPER NINJA ONE. Michael picked it up and opened it. Inside were descriptions of Dr. Craze and his various minions.
"Whoa," Michael said. "It wasn’t a dream."
"Michael phone," his mom called from downstairs. He picked up the phone next to his bed. "Got it," he called downstairs.
"Mike," Kim said on the phone. "Do you have a Super Ninja folder or something?"
"Yeah,"
"Then it wasn’t a dream. We’re super heroes."
"Yup, my folder says I can do more than teleport myself from place to place, I can go invisible. I gotta try that."
"Well mine says I’m the leader."
"Is this the coolest, or what?"
"Yea, it is, but not cause we got the powers," Kim began, "but because I got you. I don’t have many friends."
"Neither do I," Mike said. "I’m glad you my partner."
"Leader," Kim interjected.
"Whatever you say boss"
It had been a week since the day they’d discovered their powers. Kim and Mike were sitting on the steps resting after an intense practice session. They did more than karate together. They hung out, watched TV, played baseball, and traveled to the Super Ninja Power Base to visit Lisa McMiss. They were fine-tuning their powers, waiting for the first battle with Dr. Craze. Until he saw him, Michael had forgotten about the bully who caused him to meet Kim in the first place. When the bully looked at them with burning eyes, Michael knew he hadn’t forgotten them.
Stevie walked toward them with an evil scowl on his face, He now wore a bandage over his broken nose. When Michael first saw him, his former fear returned for a second. Then he remembered the flying monkey Kim had defeated with a yo-yo. Stevie didn’t seem half as scary then.
"Hey Mikey," Stevie shouted. "You wuss, you need your little girlfriend to fight all your battles. Or you gonna answer for my nose."
"Don’t stoop to his level," Kim whispered.
"I won’t. But if I’m gonna save the world, I can save myself from this bully." Michael turned to Stevie. "Stevie, I don’t like you calling me Mikey, and Kim’s my best friend, not my girlfriend."
"I don’t care what she is, Mikey. I want you to answer for this." Stevie pointed to his nose.
"Then take me, dog-face, if you ain’t got nothing better to do than throw your size around like a weapon, beat me up again."
"You called me dog-face?" Stevie said shocked. Looking into Michael’s eyes he saw a new confidence.
"You called me wuss"
"I don’t like you any more," Stevie said, and ran away from the two friends.
Michael and Kim laughed. They returned to their former conversation.
"So Kim," Michael said. "How long have you had a crush on Zack?"
"I don’t have a crush on Zack."
"Yes you do," Michael teased. The two began to playfully argue.
Meanwhile, Dr. Craze stood in his lab charging up the first of his world dominating warriors. The chamber that held the chosen subject glowed bright red, like his eyes. "This will be the beginning of the world under my rule," he said with a creepy laugh.