In a dark room, a mysterious female Asian mage kunoichi was sitting on the floor in some form of meditation. She was a tall and slender woman with flawless skin, long black hair set in a traditional Japanese princess hairstyle, and green eyes. She wore a dark red Chinese sleeveless qipao dress with a slit on the left side that is high to the waist, black rose lace tights, and dark red ankle-strap combat boots. Her face was completely covered by a black metallic mask made of steel.
Suddenly, three Shadow Clan ninjas quietly appeared out of the shadows and walked slowly toward the meditating ninja. With her amazing mystical martial arts skills, the masked kunoichi defeated all three of them easily. Then, a female Korean mage kunoichi appeared behind the masked mage kunoichi. She was a very slim figure with fair skin, short hair with black on the left side and grey on the right, and blue eyes. She wore a black sleeveless jumpsuit with dark grey leather attachments and a zipper going down from the neck to the stomach, long dark grey gloves with black elbow and hand protectors, and a pair of black combat boots.
But unfortunately, she wasn't alone. The sound of sliding doors alerted the masked mage kunoichi and immediately knelt down with respect when a familiar person entered the room.
"Lady Shade." The masked mage kunoichi greeted.
"I'm surprise that you're using your time very wisely." Lady Shade said.
"Yes, mistress. I've already assembled an army of mage ninjas and kunoichis from around the world." The masked mage kunoichi stated. "The Shadow Clan are now at your command."
"Excellent." Lady Shade said. "Because I've also discovered that my old enemy is here in New York. Shiroibara Sage."
"Shiroibara Sage is alive?" The masked mage kunoichi questioned in surprise.
"And she's training her own children as ninjas as well. I want all of them destroyed." Lady Shade ordered.
"I won't let you down, mistress." The masked mage kunoichi vowed with a nod.
"I know." Lady Shade informed. "Because you will work together with Sapphire."
"I don't need any help." The masked mage kunoichi refused as she stood up and glared hard at Sapphire. "Especially from this crazed woman."
"Are you sure, princess?" Sapphire asked tauntingly. "I doubt you'll be needing a lot of help."
"Enough of your pathetic rivalry." Lady Shade said firmly. "Sapphire has experienced with the dark side of the city ever since I've recruited her. You two will work together."
"Don't worry, Lady Shade. We'll find them and wiped them out." The masked mage kunoichi said with a nod.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, the K-5 raced each other across the rooftops for fun while performing various flips as they jumped from one building to another to pull off the best tricks.
"Hey, guys! Check this move out!" Ariana yelled.
Ariana ran past Kirana to jump off the roof with a swift flip and landed on the rooftop of the next building to slid around to face her sisters. Talia smiled as she flipped high in the air and breakdanced onto the building that her older sister was standing on. Ariana applauded to her youngest sister's stunning performance politely.
"Oh yeah, baby!" Talia cheered. "I'm on the roll!"
Ezra smirked as he flipped five times in the air and landed perfectly on the rooftop with his two older sisters. Ariana and Talia applaud for their younger brother.
Kirana and Camilla skidded to a stop at the end of building as they stared at the space between two buildings.
"Top that, ladies!" Ezra said with a grin, making Talia chuckle.
Ariana smirked as she gestured her hand for her older sisters to take to the challenge.
"Alright then." Kirana said, taking a few steps back. "Check this move out!"
Kirana ran forward and launched herself off the roof to perform a couple swift flips in the air before landing on her feet in front of her younger siblings with a final cartwheel.
"Wicked!" Talia said in awe.
"Whoo!" Ezra said.
"Sweet moves, Kirana!" Ariana grinned.
Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked back at Camilla, who was cracking her neck and suddenly darted forward at her sisters like a fast rocket. All Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra can do is scream as Camilla crashed into them as a dogpile on the ground. Camilla laughed as her siblings got up.
"Camilla, what the heck was that?" Ariana snapped. "You didn't even do any impressive moves."
"My bad." Camilla grinned with a shameless shrug.
Suddenly, a small sound drew the four girls' attention. Kirana darted forward and leaned against the wall with her siblings close behind. She conjured up a large water shuriken very slowly as her siblings drew their elemental magic powers. The mages jumped out from behind the wall and moved forward to face off against a...small puppy, who looked up at them and barked.
"Keep your head up, Kirana." Camilla mocked, putting a hand on Kirana's right shoulder. "You might actually win this challenge."
Kirana glared at her younger sister and elbowed Camilla's stomach to shut her up.
"How cute!" Talia beamed, holding her hands out to pick up the puppy. "It's a puppy!"
Then, immediately, Talia turned around to hear a female teenager calling out for her pet's name. She quickly got up and walked forward to deliver the puppy to its rightful owner. But unfortunately, her older sisters and younger brother were trying to stop her.
"What are you doing?" Ariana whispered.
"Hey!" Kirana hissed.
"Talia, wait!" Camilla cried.
"Stop!" Ezra whispered.
"What?" Talia said, turning to look at her older sisters. "I'm just returning this puppy to its owner."
"Are you an idiot?" Camilla snapped. She paused for a second. "Let me rephrase that. You're an idiot!"
"You can't show yourself to a human, Talia!" Ezra said.
"Why not?" Talia asked. "I mean, we look like humans."
Ariana opened her mouth for a second and realized that Talia has a point on that one.
"Okay, you got me there." Ariana said. "But you can't show your powers to them, they'll freak the heck out!"
"And I won't. I don't see what your problem is." Talia said confidently.
"You're a short mage kunoichi with magic powers." Camilla pointed out.
"Look, that girl is gonna see that I'm just a normal teenage girl." Talia explained optimistically. "Now, I'll be right back."
"No! Talia! Wait! Don't!" Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, and Camilla hissed as they tried to stop their orange mage sister.
But it was too late. Talia jumped off the roof with the puppy on her arms and landed onto the fire escape stairs. Kirana, Ariana, Ezra, and Camilla leaned over the roof ledge to only watch the whole thing. The girl was still calling for her puppy when Talia landed in front of her.
"Hi!" Talia said brightly as she held out the puppy. "I got your puppy."
"Oh thank you!" The girl said with a relieved smile. "You found my puppy!"
Talia smiled back before she jumped off the fire escape and landed into the ally below. Her siblings couldn't believe their eyes on what just happened and then jumped down from the roof. Even in her kunoichi outfit, Talia still makes an impression. But it was still best to not interact with a human in a true disguise too long.
"Anyone saw that coming?" Talia asked with a grin.
"No." Ariana, Kirana, Ezra, and Camilla replied with deadpan looks on their faces.
"But let's face it." Camilla said cynically. "No human, besides Casey, in this city will never understand you. Obviously, even we don't."
"Yeah." Talia sighed sadly.
Talia knew it has been days since they have battled the Kraang and mutants, but she wondered if she can make one mutant friend for a change. She has this certain of optimism that gives her the full strength to never give up hope. She just secretly wished there's a mutant out there who understood that, a mutant she can talk to, a mutant...more like her. But her plans for a mutant friend will have to wait when she gazed up at the billboard from above.
"But I bet that woman would." Talia said with a grin.
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra looked up to see a billboard on the rooftop above.
"Scarlett von Lake." Kirana said skeptically. "The martial arts superstar. Why?"
"Because she's a martial artist just like me." Talia smiled.
"And?" Ezra said.
"And she's in town for a martial arts expo today!" Talia continued as she pointed back at the billboard. "She can show me her secret move: The Ink Tempest! And I'll show her my secret move: The Hurricane Twist!"
"Catchy name." Ariana said dryly.
"Look, Talia, face the facts." Camilla said, as she stepped forward towards Talia. "Scarlett von Lake is the last person on earth who would be friends with you. Plus, there's no way anyone out there will be ever friends with a mage girl like you."
Talia glared. It never changed the fact that Camilla could show a little respect for her bright optimism. Most of the time, she feels like that Camilla was never trying to support or make her feel better.
"Some big sister you are, Camilla." Talia thought.
The sound of footstep suddenly alerted the K-5 to danger as they found themselves surround by a group of Shadow Ninjas.
"What the? Mages in New York?" Ariana questioned in surprise. "I thought we're the only ones."
The four mage kunoichis and mage ninja eyed every mysterious Shadow Ninjas, who started charging forward to attack the girls. Camilla delivered a barrage of flaming spinning kicks at the incoming Shadow Ninjas, Talia delivered a series of four high-damage wind somersaults to the next group of Shadow Ninjas, Ezra delivered a whole bunch of lightning bolts at a group of Shadow Ninjas, Ariana stomped her feet to the ground to send a hail of boulders rising up on every incoming Shadow Ninjas, and Kirana channeled her water around herself out of thin air and fired the water power as a giant wave forward washing away each Shadow Ninja coming in her way on impact. After all of the Shadow Ninjas are defeated, the masked mage kunoichi from the dojo jumped down into the alley and faced the K-5. She charged forward towards the siblings and delivered several powerful blows on Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra. But Talia swung her swift kick at the masked mage kunoichi, who caught the leg and pulled Talia towards her face.
"How many mages are you?" The masked mage kunoichi asked.
Talia didn't respond and quickly released her leg from the masked mage kunoichi's hand. She spun around and fired a massive beam of wind energy from her palms that send the masked mage kunoichi crashing to the wall. The masked mage kunoichi got up and glared at the siblings, who were getting into defensive positions.
Suddenly, the sound of approaching police sirens interrupted the battle. The Shadow Ninjas, the masked mage kunoichi, and the K-5 quickly retreated just before the police arrived in the empty alley on the scene.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the Crete Fortress, Kirana stood in the kitchen and told Sage everything that had happened in the alley as she wasn't happy about the loss in battle.
"That mysterious kunoichi leader was amazingly good." Kirana reported. "But for all I know is that it wasn't a fair fight."
"A fair fight?" Sage questioned.
"You know, mother, where either side can win." Kirana replied.
"So, you don't want to assure your victory?" Sage asked.
Kirana nodded, not knowing that her words have conflicted Sage's pragmatic thoughts about battles. Sage tackled the blue mage kunoichi to the ground and her white energized fist pressed against Kirana's throat.
"Was that fair?" Sage asked.
"No." Kirana answered with a groan.
"Did I win?" Sage asked again.
"Yup, I see your point." Kirana admitted with a sigh.
Sage helped her daughter up from the floor to her feet.
"Always seek victory, not fairness." Sage said wisely.
"Hai, mother." Kirana said with a bow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the living room; four mages, one robot, and one human are having a relaxing night. Casey was reading the latest articles in the newspaper, Camilla was doing push-ups with bricks near the entrance of the fortress, Ariana was doing some research on her laptop, Ezra was playing a game console on the couch, Norbit was watching Ezra play his game, and Talia was reading over a magazine that had a picture of Scarlett von Lake on the cover.
"Oh, I wish me and Scarlett von Lake were friends!" Talia gushed as she kicked back in the air and laughed excitedly.
"Talia, you already have a friend." Casey pointed out with a smug smile. "The one and only Casey Jones."
"I know, but I mean like a friend that acts like me in every way." Talia said, turning back to her magazine.
"Yeah, too bad there aren't any of them who can tell how weird and annoying you both really are." Camilla commented.
Talia rolled her eyes in annoyance and gazed back at her magazine.
"Or she could check the internet." Casey said. "Yo, Ariana, can I borrow your laptop real quick?"
"Oh sure, just a sec." Ariana said nervously.
Ariana quickly changed the screensaver of Casey chilling on the coach into the wallpaper of purple blooming flowers. She got up from the floor and walked over to Casey as she handed her laptop to Casey and sat next to him.
"Check this out." Casey said, tapping on the keyboard as he was unaware to Ariana's shyness. "It's this website where you can make friends with anyone online."
"Cool!" Talia beamed, snatching the laptop from Casey and quickly tapped the key buttons into the search box. "Oh, Scarlett von Lake's on here! She'll be my first friend!"
Talia clicked the friend button and leaned towards the screen as she intently waited to see if Scarlett will accept her as her friend and...she did.
"Wow, that was fast." Casey said surprisingly.
"Yes! Scarlett has accepted my friendship!" Talia said with a smile. She quickly hugged Casey happily and unaware of the horror and surprise coming from Ariana's face. "Thanks, Casey!"
Talia tossed the laptop into the air in seconds and ran off the couch. Ariana darted forward to catch her laptop from hitting the floor and looked up to watch her younger sister running towards the fortress exit.
"And where are you going?" Ezra asked.
"To hang out with my friend, duh." Talia replied casually.
"But this woman's famous, Talia." Casey said. "She could have hundreds of friends!"
"So could be the great opportunity to study some of her moves." Talia said with a shrug. "Later!"
With that, Talia exited out the Crete Fortress.
"There goes Talia." Norbit said.
"Well, this ought to be good." Casey said.
"Should we go after her?" Ariana asked worryingly.
"Nah, she's gotta learn the hard way." Camilla responded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Talia was strolling on the streets as a normal person. Instead of wearing her mage kunoichi outfit, she wore a light green long-sleeved top with an orange cropped top over it, light green denim jean-shorts with light brown leggings under them, and orange low-heeled boots. She was enjoying the stroll and bright lights of the city until she suddenly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she watched as a large green humanoid mutant turtle ran along the rooftop.
"Who is that?" Talia wondered. "I've got to check it out. This could be my chance to make friends with a mutant."
Talia ran quickly into a nearby alley and twirled her index finger around to turn her clothes into her mage kunoichi outfit without her metallic mask. Going into stealth mode, Talia climbed up to the rooftop and followed the mutant. It looked as if he was headed somewhere. The mutant stopped his feet and Talia quickly hid behind the doorway. The mutant was searching around the rooftop as if he could tell that someone was following him.
"Whew!" Talia thought as she took a deep breath. "I wasn't spotted."
Then, Talia looked down to see a long chain wrapped around her waist. Before she can react, she was suddenly pulled away from her hiding spot as she stumbled into the mutant's arms. The mutant turtle himself has light green skin with freckles, orange mask with shorter tails, and a pair of nunchucks on his strap belt. He also has the same height and eye color as the orange mage kunoichi. Talia and the mutant turtle made eye contact and they felt a magical attraction as if they instantly felt something for one another. Their gaze was more focused than any gaze should be. Innocent baby blue eyes—the exact same color that the ocean had carried. Their eyes were sparkled with joy, innocence, and curiosity behind their masks. They could feel a new kind of heat glowing through them. Everything that made them who they are—their love for their family, their home, their wild side, their name, themselves—disconnected from them in that second and floated up into space. They could see that now—how the universe swirled around them as they felt the gravity no longer tied them to their position. It was the mutant ninja turtle and the mage kunoichi that held them here now.
"Hi." The mutant turtle greeted charmingly.
"Hi." Talia greeted back dreamily.
"Oh, sorry." The mutant turtle chuckled sheepishly as he knew that he's still holding Talia in his arms and released her from his nunchuck chain. "I don't believe I've met a dudette before."
"Oh, yeah." Talia said. "I just can't believe that you're a mutant."
"Wait, you're not afraid of me?" The mutant turtle asked in confusion.
"No, and why would I?" Talia replied. "I'm a mage. I'm used to all mystical creatures around the world. Besides, I think it's cool to meet a friendly mutant."
"What's a mage?" The mutant turtle asked again.
"A sub-race of naturally magic-wielding humans." Talia explained. "We have a natural gift to channel magical energies. So, yeah."
"Well, the name's Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey." The mutant turtle introduced with a flirty smile.
"And my name is Talia." Talia giggled.
"Talia? That's a pretty neat name." Mikey smiled.
"Oh, thanks." Talia said with a pink blush on her cheeks. "And I think your name's pretty cool. It's so awesome that you're a mutant."
"Really? Cool!" Mikey grinned dreamily.
As Mikey and Talia stepped closer and gazed into each other's eyes, they both realized that they have something else to do.
"Oh my gosh! I love to stay and chat, but I have to meet someone." Talia said.
"Oh, really? So do I." Mikey said. "If I see you again, we can hang out."
"Sounds good." Talia replied with a wink.
With that, Mikey and Talia went separate ways to meet their friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Talia raced across the rooftops in supersonic speed, she finally made her way to the dojo from the edge of the rooftop and spotted Scarlett von Lake walking out of her dojo to lock the doors below.
"There's Scarlett von Lake! Just like on the Internet!" Talia squealed.
Talia quickly jumped down from the rooftop and landed on the ground in the alley as she quietly stood behind Scarlett, who immediately turned around to face her with a confused look on her face.
"Um, who are you?" Scarlett asked.
"Oh, I'm Talia." Talia introduced happily. "You accept me online as friends, so I came by to see you."
"Oh, that's right. Nice to meet you." Scarlett said calmly. "Please, come in."
Scarlett unlocked the doors and Talia walked inside, but she began to feel something familiar about the happy teenager and she'll keep a close eye on her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later on, the K-5 stood on the rooftop on a lookout for the mysterious masked kunoichi that they fought last night above the same alley they were earlier. Kirana was intent on finding out who exactly is that master masked kunoichi the other night. Also, she was trying to get a successful strategy to battle them again.
"They could have been watching us from here above." Kirana said to Ariana. "This would be the perfect time for coming up a perfect ambush on them."
"But don't you think that's not even fair?" Ariana asked.
"It's about victory and nothing more." Kirana replied firmly.
"I see your point." Ariana said.
"Same here but we've gotta mute the chit chat back there." Ezra said.
Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra turned around to glance Talia, who was talking to Camilla about her meeting with the famous Scarlett von Lake as Camilla was clearly not listening to her youngest sister. She had been talking nonstop about Scarlett for hours, almost giving Camilla a massive headache by hearing all of that.
"Enough already!" Camilla snapped. "You've been going on about Scarlett for three hours!"
"Oh, looks like someone's jealous." Talia said as she moved close into her older sister's face. "You just can't admit that you are wrong, can't you?"
"Oh please, me and wrong don't go in the same sentence." Camilla scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Oh, yeah? I'm pretty sure my two other sisters and my favorite brother who would love to hear about my encounter with Scarlett." Talia said as she put her arms around Kirana and Ariana and gave a ruffled Ezra's hair.
"Not really." Kirana said.
"The silent talk will be much better." Ariana commented.
"Sorry Talia, but we've gotta beat that masked woman who took us down the other night." Ezra stated.
"Fine." Talia said, glaring at Kirana and Ariana. "I got better place to talk to someone rather than you girls anyway."
Then, Talia leapt off the roof and disappeared into the alley.
"I know she did not just ditch us." Kirana said sassily as she narrowed her eyes.
"Now you all did it." Ezra glared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a building rooftop somewhere near the ocean, Talia had summoned three dummies made of solid air on the edge of the rooftop and took a perfect aim to shot several air-based shuriken in a row. Something she must to keep her mind off about her so-called sisters. At least her brother wasn't a total jerk to her.
"Nice aim." A familiar voice called behind Talia.
Talia startled for a moment, but she released a relaxed smile when she spun around to meet the mutant turtle standing behind her.
"Thanks." Talia said with a wink. "I've figured you would find me here."
Just then, a mumbling noise came and Talia looked at her stomach.
"I guess I'm hungry." Talia laughed.
"Let's eat pizza!" Mikey smiled. "Do you like pizza?"
"Yeah!" Talia smiled back. "Pizza is awesome!"
"We have so much in common." Mikey and Talia beamed happily.
After Talia got the pizza from Antonio's and went back to the rooftop, Mikey joined her and the two began to eat pizza together.
"Um, I was wondering how long have you been practicing your powers?" Mikey asked.
"Ever since I was five." Talia answered. "As kids, male mages began having their powers at age six while female mages began having their powers at age five. Ever since I was six, I gained the power of controlling air at my will."
"Wow, that's so wicked awesome!" Mikey grinned with excitement. His grin slowly turned into a frown. "Are you sure it's okay for me being your friend?"
"Of course, Mikey." Talia said with a warm smile. "Why wouldn't you be?"
"It's just my brother Raph thinks I can't be friends with a human or a mage such as yourself." Mikey said.
"Same here. My sister Camilla thinks making friends with a mutant is impossible." Talia scoffed. "But you are my friend and we have to promise to keep our friendship a secret from your siblings and my siblings."
Mikey put his hand on his heart and his other hand in the air.
"I promise." Mikey said with a smile.
Talia smiled and took another bite of pizza.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia arrived back at Scarlett von Lake's dojo and walked inside in her different outfit once more. She began to notice that the Scarlett kept asking suspicious questions about her siblings and her mother as if Scarlett wants her to share secret information with her, but she must maintain a small amount of secrecy from Scarlett at all cost.
"Hey, Scarlett!" Talia greeted enthusiastically.
"Hello, Talia." Scarlett greeted back. "But before we can get to know each other, I need to know about you. Tell me about...your siblings."
Talia's eyes widened a bit, but she quietly kept her cool in her mind.
"Oh, they're really good gals and a great gentlemen." Talia replied with an innocent smile. She looked down to the floor with a frown. "But only if my sisters can respect me more, other than my brother."
Scarlett was beginning to grow frustrated because Talia kept refusing to give out any information that she need, so she eventually decided to try a new approach.
"Okay, I'll tell you what." Scarlett said. "I will teach you my secret move: The Ink Tempest."
"Ready? Awesome!" Talia exclaimed.
"But you must swear that you must not show to anyone." Scarlett said. "Because it's a symbol of our friendship. Got it?"
"I promise." Talia promised with a nod.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the Crete Fortress, Talia quickly demonstrated the proper movement of the Ink Tempest to her siblings, even though she was promised not to tell anyone about Scarlett's secret move. She did the swift motions with graceful precision that got only Kirana, Ariana, and Ezra interested with impressed looks on their faces. Well, except for Camilla, who was leaning against the large crystalline tree with her bored face and both of her arms crossed over her chest to watch her younger sister ending the move with a proud smile.
"And that's how you do the Ink Tempest." Talia smiled dramatically.
"That was incredible!" Kirana cheered excitedly.
"Yeah, it's both gracefully effective and complex!" Ariana agreed.
"It's a perfect surprise move." Ezra added with a nod.
"And surprisingly, Talia learn exactly how to do it." Camilla remarked dryly.
"Hey! At least, Mikey said I did it perfect!" Talia snapped.
The word "Mikey" surprised Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra real fast.
"You met a boy?" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra said quickly as they moved closer to Talia's face with happy smiles. "Spill!"
Talia gulped and decided to create a lie about Mikey being just a regular person instead of a mutant.
"Oh, well, okay." Talia said with a smile. "His name is Mikey and we have so much in common! We both are super agile, love eating pizza, playing video games, and plus he's super cute!"
"So when can we meet this Mikey?" Ezra asked.
"Oh, I would love for you four to meet him, but Scarlett wants me to meet her old friend." Talia replied quickly.
"You're going now?" Kirana asked.
"Sorry, guys!" Talia said. "You know how it is. I won't be long."
Talia walked out of the dojo and left her older sisters and younger brother alone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since that Ink Tempest had inspired the three mage kunoichis and mage ninja, they decided to try and master the secret move for fun. Ariana and Ezra stood aside as Kirana and Camilla took turns on mastering the Ink Tempest.
Sage stepped in the dojo from her room and stopped to witness Kirana succeeding on completing the Ink Tempest move on Camilla with her water-based power, causing her eyes to widen wide in shock.
"Where did you four learn that?" Sage demanded.
Sage's sudden voice made her children turn around and faced their mother immediately.
"Talia learn it from this new friend of hers." Kirana answered.
"Unfortunately, that move comes from Lady Shade." Sage said grimly.
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra looked at each other in shock and disbelief.
"Lady Shade?" Ariana said.
"So you're saying that Scarlett was one of her students?" Ezra asked.
"I'm certain of it." Sage said. "It's the only way she could know that secret move."
"And Scarlett is just pretending to be Talia's friend to get to you." Kirana concluded.
"It all makes sense now!" Camilla exclaimed. "Talia's in trouble!"
Three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja rushed out of the Crete Fortress to rescue their sister.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Talia went back to the dojo and looked around in the dark room. She was trying to find Scarlett, but she was nowhere in sight.
"That's weird." Talia thought in confusion.
Talia immediately spun around and gasped in fright to see the same masked mage kunoichi that she fought before and an unfamiliar mage fighter at her side. She tried to put up a decent fight on them both, but she was eventually overwhelmed by their amazing combined fighting skills as two mage women stood over the orange mage kunoichi.
"Who are you and what have you done with Scarlett?" Talia demanded.
"What do you mean?" The masked kunoichi said with a giggle. "We already met face to face."
"No, it can't be...!" Talia gasped with wide eyes. "Scarlett?!"
"Good guess." Scarlett smiled as she removed her black metallic mask off her face. "When we first met, I already started to sense a familiar mystic blood rushing within you. And now, you are nothing but bait to my plan."
Sapphire grinned sinisterly and tied Talia up with a dark white plasma energy rope to hang her onto the wall before she and Scarlett walked away out of the dojo. But Talia was shocked as she finally realized that Scarlett and Sapphire are just using her as bait to lure out her siblings and Sage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Few minutes later, the three mage sisters and mage brother had sped their way at Scarlett's dojo and landed swiftly on top of the dojo skylight as they're going into their stealth mode in order to jump in to save their sister. Ariana casted a spell in her mind and her two fingers began to glow in bright purple, using her index and middle fingers together to cut a hole in the glass without a fail. As Ariana reached in the hole to unlock the window, the four K-5 peered through the glass. They saw Talia was tied up on the wall looking very sad and depressed while she was being surrounded and guarded by Shadow Ninjas. The siblings silently entered the dojo and attacked the guarding ninjas with their swift ninja moves.
"Thanks, guys." Talia whispered with a grin.
"Don't worry, we're getting you out of there." Ariana said.
Kirana gazed at the dark white plasma energy rope that tied Talia up and slowly created a small water shuriken star to throw it forward like a Frisbee, cutting the dark white plasma energy rope and released Talia, who landed safety in front of her siblings.
"We gotta go." Talia said. "I'll explain everything along the way."
The K-5 jumped out of the dojo and ran across the rooftops into the streets as they were unaware that they are watched by Scarlett through the night vision binoculars with Sapphire standing next to her and the Shadow Ninjas stood right behind them. Their plan all along was to let Talia be rescued by her siblings in order to follow them home.
"Excellent." Scarlett said.
"Now, we got 'em." Sapphire said with sly smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Scarlett and Sapphire followed the K-5 into the empty building with the Shadow Ninjas, they walked forward to track the siblings down. Now, all the five siblings had to do was wait as they are crouching quietly in the shadows. One by one, the Shadow Ninjas were silently yanked into the dark shadows by Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra. Scarlett and Sapphire looked around for anything unusual, but they found the Shadow Ninjas are completely gone. Now all alone, Sapphire lit out a flare to look up to watch their Shadow ninjas hanging unconsciously in ropes from the ceiling of the building main room.
"Show yourselves!" Sapphire called out.
Out of nowhere, Kirana and Camilla came out of the shadows in front of the two mage women with Ariana and Talia coming out of the shadows from behind. Ezra stepped on the right side of the women. All five mage siblings clenched their fists with their elemental magic energies engulfing on their hands in their offensive stances.
"They trapped us!" Sapphire said in realization.
"Let's take them down!" Scarlett shouted.
The battle quickly took on between the K-5 and the Shadow mystics. Scarlett charged forward towards Kirana and Camilla, leaving Sapphire to face Ariana, Talia, and Ezra. Camilla was lying on the floor by a blast of black ink that Scarlett send out. Scarlett was about to approach towards the fire mage kunoichi threateningly. That's when Scarlett begins to notice Kirana was right behind her and grabbed the water mage kunoichi firmly to kick her away into Camilla. Sapphire avoided Ariana's earth energy blasts and then swung a wave of dark white plasma energy at Ariana that threw the purple mage kunoichi flying into Talia, sending the two mage kunoichis falling on the ground. Sapphire smirked as Ariana and Talia got up from the ground but Ezra ran in and attacked Sapphire with his lightning energy. But the fight was just getting started for the K-5. Kirana and Camilla got up and resumed their fight with Scarlett while Ariana and Talia went to help Ezra to resume their fight with Sapphire. Their battle was almost over once the five mage siblings stood their way towards the two evil mage ninjas, who were unaware that the opening hole that has several water pipes was right behind them.
"You five knew that we're hunting you!" Scarlett said in realization.
"That's right." Talia said with a sly smile. "And now it's over."
With that, Talia jumped slightly and delivered several air-based blows to Scarlett with her own kata, kicking her back and knocked her down over Sapphire.
"Hit it, Kirana." Talia called to her oldest sister.
With a nod, Kirana's eyes glowed in bright blue and concentrated on the water pipes from the opening hole. A powerful jet of sewer water began to wash its way to Scarlett and Sapphire, causing them to be swept away in a wave of huge water out of the building with loud screams. After they were gone, Ariana and Kirana walked over to Camilla, Talia, and Ezra with giggles.
"Well, that didn't seem very fair." Camilla smirked.
"I couldn't agree more." Kirana said. "Let's go home."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Crete Fortress, the three mage kunoichis and mage ninja celebrated their victory with a pizza party and grabbed two slices of pizza as they sat on the coach in the living room. But they noticed that Sage was looking very worried, becoming concerned about their mother's silence.
"Um, mother, aren't you hungry?" Ariana asked, after taking a bite out of her pizza.
"I feel that Lady Shade knows our existence too well." Sage replied wryly. "But worse, she knows about all of you. Our struggle had only just begun."
"And we'll be ready for her." Kirana said firmly.
Ariana and Kirana both nodded in agreement, making Sage smile for her children's confidence. Camilla and Ezra looked over to see Talia sitting on the floor with her crossed legs as she noticed that their sister was still hurting over Scarlett's deception. Ezra looked over to Camilla and gave her pleading eyes.
"Ok, I'll cheer her up." Camilla whispered.
"That's it, Camilla." Ezra whispered.
Camilla stood up and walked over to Talia.
"Hey, Talia." Camilla said, sitting down next to her younger sister. "You okay?"
"No, I'm not." Talia answered with a said sigh. "This is all my fault. I should have known you can never make friends with someone who can endanger us. I know that now."
"Look, don't be so hard on yourself. And besides, you're an awesome gal and you deserve to have better friends like that boy Mikey. After all, he's lucky to have a friend like you." Camilla advised. Then, her voice became deeply serious. "And if you tell the others about this conservation, I'm coming after you."
"Thanks, Camilla." Talia smiled, feeling better from her older sister's words.
"Anytime, sis." Camilla smiled back as she patted her younger sister on the head and walked away back to the others.
Encouraged by Camilla's words, Talia conjured up Ariana's laptop with a snap of her finger and clicked something to unfriended Scarlett von Lake with a triumph grin. The only friend she has now is Mikey. Despite having a mutant as her friend, Talia has so much to learn from him. But sooner or later, she has to tell her siblings about him...someday.