In the Shadow Clan HQ, Lady Shade gazed her face straight at the glass window as Scarlett and Sapphire bowed down to their leader.
"How could my enemy's children managed to defeat you?" Lady Shade questioned. "They are mages just like us."
"But they are advanced mages unlike the rest of us." Scarlett informed.
"Which is why you should have let me finish them when I have the chance." Sapphire said with a snarl.
"Silence!" Lady Shade said. She walked down the stairs and halted in front of Scarlett with a threatening glare. "I really expected much more from you, Scarlett."
"Please, mistress." Scarlett begged fearfully. "Give me one more chance and I won't fail you again."
"No, you won't get another chance." Lady Shade said. She turned her eyes to Sapphire. "Sapphire, will be in charge of this mission."
Sapphire nodded her head and glanced at Scarlett with a sideway grin.
"I won't take any orders from this street mage trash." Scarlett snarled.
"Is that so?" Lady Shade asked threateningly.
Lady Shade's right hand engulfed in blazing black energy claws and pointed it down at Scarlett, whose eyes widened wide open in complete fear.
"Unless you want me to, mistress." Scarlett said quickly.
"I've already sent out few ninjas to spy on the K-5." Sapphire explained. "And when I find them, I will drop them on your feet."
"Very well. Proceed to your objective." Lady Shade said.
As Lady Shade walked back to her throne, Sapphire grinned proudly at Scarlett and got up to exit the throne room. Scarlett hissed under her breath before following Sapphire out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Outside, the K-5 and Norbit are walking behind Casey through the streets. But the K-5 were wearing their causal outfits. Kirana wore a blue asymmetrical one-shoulder shirt over a long white strappy tank top, black jeans, and blue caty wedges. Camilla wore a sleeveless red tank top under a black leather biker jacket, black ripped jeans, red high-top sneakers, and two rhinestone spiked bracelets on each wrist. Ariana wore a light grey cross back tank top under a purple cardigan sweater, black skinny jeans, and purple sneakers. Talia wore an orange tank top under a white leather biker jacket, black skinny jeans, and orange high top sneakers. And Ezra wore a teal sleeveless shirt under a grey hooded jacket, blue jeans, and dark teal tennis shoes.
"Uh, Casey, where exactly are you taking us?" Ariana asked.
"Yeah, we can't handle the surprise anymore." Talia said with a smile.
"I know, but tonight you guys are gonna do something besides hitting people." Casey said with a smirk.
"Oh, come on. That's no fun." Camilla groaned in disappointment.
"So, I'm taking you to this noodle place I've found." Casey added.
"A noodle shop?" Kirana repeated with surprise eyes.
"And this place is friendly?" Ezra asked.
"Oh yeah." Casey replied with a nod. "Mr. Murakami owns the place and he's completely blind."
"But Mr. Murakami is very skilled at cooking with his others senses." Norbit said.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Talia declared with a grin.
As Casey, Norbit, and the K-5 arrived at the noodle shop, they spotted familiar female twins wrecking the restaurant and beating up the blind owner through the window.
"Who are those crazy twins?" Ezra asked.
"The Wuju Twins." Casey said grimly. "Those chicks are up to no good again."
"So much for not hitting people tonight." Kirana said with a firm look.
"Let's do this!" Camilla shrugged with a wide grin.
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra casted their magic to change into their mage kunoichi and mage ninja attire. Casey puts on his mask and took out his baseball bat. Together, they rushed into the restaurant in offensive stances.
"Let the man go now." Kirana ordered.
"Or else." Camilla said threateningly.
The Wuju Twins spun around to glare at the K-5 and Casey Jones.
"Oh, great." Juni groaned. "You guys again! Juli, looks like we're up for round 2."
"Indeed, Juni." Juli agreed. "Let's do this."
The Wuju Twins charged forward to fight against the K-5. Juni ran across the counter towards Ariana with a swift punch, but Ariana dodged out of the way as Talia leapt over the purple mage kunoichi's shoulders and delivered a few strong air kicks that sent Juni flying into the wall. Juni got up and grabbed a knife as he was heading towards Ezra with an evil smirk. Ezra gasped and moved his hand up.
"Get away from me!" Ezra warned.
Suddenly, a teal whiff of magic knocked Juni back and knocked her to the wall again. Ezra widened his eyes in shock and looked at his hands. He quickly snapped out of it and summoned his lightning magic to continue fighting. Norbit managed to get Murakami out of the restaurant, safely. Kirana charged forward towards Juli and jumped over to kick her in the back that sent Juli straight at Casey, who swung his baseball bat a couple times until Juli fell on the floor unconsciously. As the Wuju Twins swiftly got back up on their feet, Kirana was left against them. The blue mage kunoichi delivered the twins with several powerful punches and kicks until her left boot pushed Juni to the floor and her right boot pushed Juli against the wall by the neck. As Kirana was ready to deliver a final blow with her fist, she saw Juli clenching his eyes tight for her doom. Kirana became hesitated for a moment and then released Juli from her boot.
"Leave now." Kirana warned. "Or there's plenty more beating coming at your way."
Juli stared at Kirana in surprise and went to help Juni on her feet.
"C'mon! We're outta here!" Juli said to Juni. She turned back to the K-5 and pointed her index finger at Kirana. "This isn't over!"
Then, the Wuju Twins exited the restaurant.
"What the heck was that? You just let her go?" Camilla shouted as she walked over to Kirana.
"They weren't exactly a threat, Camilla." Kirana said with a stern face. "And for your information, they had enough."
"And in case you haven't noticed, they were beating up a blind guy!" Camilla yelled. "Now, they'll think we're chumps with no strength to finish what we've started!"
Kirana glanced away from Camilla with a firm look on her face. Ezra looked at his hands curiously but he looked away.
"Wow!" Casey cheered as he and Norbit was helping Mr. Murakami off the floor. "We totally kicked their butts!"
"Yeah, we did!" Ariana said with a smile.
"Thank you for helping me. As a token of my gratitude, allow me to make you a free meal." Mr. Murakami offered.
"We can live with that." Ezra said.
"What is your favorite dish?" Mr. Murakami asked.
"Pizza, please!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia and Ezra answered together with excitement.
The K-5, Norbit, and Caset sat together at the counter as they watched Mr. Murakami was using his amazing cooking skills that surprised them in awe.
"Murakami-San, that was incredible!" Ariana exclaimed.
"You're like a food ninja like me!" Talia beamed. "I got to learn a few tricks from you."
Finally, Mr. Murakami set six long plates in front of the teenagers, who gazed down to see the plate held only ten dumplings.
"Pizza Gyoza!" Mr. Murakami said.
"Let's try it." Casey said to his mage friends.
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Casey picked up a dumpling with their chopsticks as they ate them at the same time. Then, they quickly froze at the delicious taste of the food as their eyes widened wide in surprise.
"This is delicious." Ezra said before he ate another dumpling.
"Wow!" Casey said as he ate another dumpling. "I'm definitely taking this home to my dad and sister!"
"This is unbelievable, Murakami!" Ariana said.
"So, Murakami-San, what did the Wuju Twins want from you?" Kirana asked with concern.
"They want protection money from me like the Purple Dragons, but I refuse to pay." Mr. Murakami explained with a sigh. "The five mutant turtle-san save me from those evil Purple Dragons criminals, but now the twins will return once again for me."
"Yeah, thanks to someone who wimp out from the fight." Camilla said as she was glaring at Kirana.
Kirana ignored her hotheaded sister and continued to eat her dumplings. Ezra noticed his hand was slightly glowing and he quickly hid his hand under a napkin before Ariana looked at his hand.
"What is that?" Ariana asked.
"Uh, it's my K-Phone. I got a notification from a game." Ezra lied, nervously.
"Ok." Ariana said as she continued eating.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the Crete Fortress, Ezra began to set up a practice dummy made of lightning energy in the dojo. He took a deep breath and aimed his hand at the dummy but nothing was happening.
"Why...doesn't it...work?" Ezra groaned, frustratingly.
Sage heard her son's frustration and entered the dojo.
"Ezra, what troubles you, my son?" Sage asked.
"Mother, I have something to tell you and it's gonna sound crazy." Ezra responded.
"Alright, tell me this crazy story." Sage said.
"Um...look at this." Ezra said.
Ezra made his hand glow and the teal magic attacked the dummy until it vanished into nothingness.
"It happened at the noodle shop. It wasn't my lightning powers, this was something else I've never had before." Ezra explained. "I don't know what this kind of magic is or what's happening to my powers."
"Hmm. This is perhaps another form of magic inside you." Sage said. "This could be another form of magic and you must control it."
"But I won't be the same as you and my sisters." Ezra said.
"My son, we are not all the same and we are a family no matter what we may have that is unique." Sage told him.
"Thanks. But I'll need a key to help me on my new powers." Ezra said.
"I can give one advice that might help." Sage said before she pointed to Ezra's heart. "A powerful magic can be controlled in your heart."
"My heart." Ezra thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the Crete Fortress, Kirana was pounding her fists at the training dummy through her frustration.
"Whoa there, Kirana." Camilla grinned as she came behind the training dummy. "This guy had enough. Maybe you should let him go."
"Zip it." Kirana snapped irritatedly. "You're just making fun of me about our fight with the Wuju Twins."
"Yes, I am." Camilla said honestly. "Because you showed weakness."
"And I'm listening to you about that because?" Kirana said with a glare.
"Because we can't go soft on those twin punks." Camilla said.
"Showing mercy is not the sign of weakness, Camilla." Sage said as she walked into the living room. "But it is a sign of true strength."
"But they are criminals, mother!" Camilla said. "This is war!"
"In our culture, mages never forget the possibility of war in times of peace." Sage said firmly. "But in times of war, we never forget compassion."
"I'm guessing those mages lost a lot of brutal wars in their sad times." Camilla commented.
Sage's eyes narrowed coldly that made Camilla gasp when the palm of her mother nearly punched her face.
"So close." Talia muttered with a giggle.
"You see?" Sage said. "Mercy."
"But the Wuju Twins are not going to leave Murakami alone." Ezra said. "What's the plan?"
"So, we'll track down the twins and make sure they got the message." Kirana said.
"But how we gonna track someone down?" Ariana asked.
"Don't worry, ladies! Casey Jones knows just where to track them!" Casey grinned proudly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, the K-5 followed Casey to the seemingly abandoned tattoo shop. They saw Juli exiting out of the place down on the sidewalk. The heroes quietly followed the black-haired twin from the rooftops and found her heading to an unfamiliar building.
Together, the heroes crashed through the building's window and faced the Wuju Twins in offensive stances. But they realized that they're interrupting a meeting between the Wuju Twins and two Shadow Clan warriors.
"Now we finally can have some fight." Sapphire said with a deadly smirk.
"It's Scarlett von Lake!" Talia said. "But who's the other woman?"
"The name is Sapphire." Sapphire said. She engulfed her hands in blazing magenta plasma energy. "So, let's get this fight started."
The Wuju Twins, Scarlett, and Sapphire charged forward to attack the heroes at once. Casey and Ezra fought against Juni, Ariana and Talia fought against Scarlett, Camilla fought against Sapphire, and Kirana fought against Juli once again. She easily had the criminal in her grasp with her water tentacle and pointed another water tentacle into her face, but she was beginning to feel regret through her core that made her release Juli away from her.
But then, the walls exploded with several Shadow Ninjas that made the heroes back away slowly.
"Perfect. Now what?" Ezra asked.
"Guys, retreat!" Kirana ordered.
"What? You got to be kidding me! We're giving up again?" Camilla shouted.
"Just shut up and move!" Kirana snapped.
Kirana made her way to the opening window with Casey, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra following behind as they jumped out the broken window after avoiding the barrage of shuriken coming from the Shadow Ninjas.
"Once a coward, always a coward!" Sapphire shouted from the window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Crete Fortress, the living room was completely quiet with the presence of depression. Talia and Ariana sat on the couch, Kirana and Ezra sat on the floor, and Camilla sat near the training dummy. Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra noticed that Camilla was extremely furious about their retreat.
"I couldn't believe it!" Camilla spoke furiously. "Can this day get any worse?"
"Look, it's called fighting smart, Camilla." Kirana sighed. "Besides, the Wuju Twins have Sapphire and Scarlett on their side now because last time we barely beat those women. We hardly stand a chance against them."
"That's because they know how to fight to the finish!" Camilla snapped to Kirana. "The only way to beat them is to be just as ruthless as they are!"
"Camilla." Sage said as she walked in the living room with a firm face. "Being ruthless will make any mage dangerously destructive, but it does not make them strong to their potential."
"But Sapphire wins fights with her guts and skills!" Camilla explained. "And she never shows anyone mercy."
Hearing the word "mercy" made Kirana look away to the ground. Ezra frowned and looked at his hand.
Suddenly, the K-5 got a serious text from Casey that said "Meet me outside of Mr. Murakami's noodle shop". The mages quickly exited the fortress to the destination.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Casey was pacing back and forth in front of the noodle shop, the K-5 arrived inside and walked towards their vigilante friend and robot friend.
"Guys, I'm so glad you're here." Casey said.
"We've got your message. What's the matter?" Ezra said.
"It is Murakami." Norbit replied. "The Shadow Clan took him away and left with this note."
Norbit held out a note in his hand. Ezra took the note from Norbit and read it aloud.
"No more running. If you want the old man so bad, meet us out on the roof of the abandoned factory." Ezra said.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Camilla said. "Let's go!"
"Not so fast, Camilla." Kirana said firmly. "We have to think first."
"That's one thing Camilla can't do." Ariana commented with a smile to Talia.
"This is obviously a trap from us to walk on." Kirana continued.
"Well, do you have other ideas?" Camilla said. "Because I'm all ears!"
"We need to think more like Sapphire." Kirana said with narrow eyes. "I know what mother said before, but Sapphire crossed the line and dragged Murakami into this. We gotta show her we can cross the line too."
"Finally!" Camilla grinned. "And I think I know just the way to do it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the rooftop near the Tattoo Company, the K-5 stood up and waited for their target on the rooftop ledge.
"Ok, everybody know the plan?" Kirana whispered.
Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Camilla nodded their heads. The siblings quietly watched their target exiting out of her dojo. It was Scarlett von Lake! As she walked through the streets, Camilla landed right behind her with a grin. Scarlett immediately sensed the red mage kunoichi and turned to her with an ink whip-like blade on her right arm. Talia came in with the chains and quickly tied Scarlett tightly. Kirana placed Scarlett in a trash can and chained it shut. And Ariana locked it with a padlock.
"Ladies and gentleman." Kirana announced with a smile. "Welcome to the other side of the line."
"Oh yeah." Talia said happily.
Camilla and Talia carried the trash can in her hands, but the heavy weight allowed them to drop it that crash into a building. They could hear Scarlett groaning in pain inside.
"Oops." Talia and Camilla grinned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Few minutes later, the K-5 rolled the trash can and then peeked around the corner of the exact location that Sapphire wrote on the note.
"Uh oh, look." Ezra said.
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia followed Ezra's finger that was pointing to Mr. Murakami hanging helplessly outside the building tied up. They could see Sapphire was grinning in delight and satisfaction.
"Man, Sapphire's cruel to the core." Talia said.
"Let's go." Kirana said.
The K-5 sprang high in the air and landed onto the building roof, where their enemies were waiting for them.
"We're here, Sapphire!" Kirana called. "Now let's the old man go!"
"I would love to." Sapphire smirked. "But unfortunately, there has been a change of plans."
Suddenly, the Shadow Ninjas jumped onto the rooftop with their weapons ready.
"Actually, there's been another change of plans." Kirana countered with a grin.
Camilla melted the chains with her flaming hand and Talia opened the trash can to reveal a tied-up Scarlett as Ariana held her still when she summoned two rocky hands from the ground.
"I just love it when a change of plan comes together." Ariana said with a smile.
"You let our friend go and we'll let your friend go!" Kirana said.
"That's too bad. Because she's not my friend!" Sapphire grinned.
The K-5 glanced at Scarlett in deep confusion. They know that Scarlett and Sapphire are always together as a team. Is Sapphire saying that to distract them or does she really mean it? They looked back at the plasma mage, who was walking over the wooden plank with a sly grin on her face. Ariana motioned her hands to release the ink mage kunoichi from the rocky hands and Camilla quickly lifted Scarlett to the edge of the building. Something snapped in Ezra and he had an idea.
"We're not kidding, Sapphire. So stop kidding around or we'll toss her out of the sky." Kirana said.
"Go ahead, it'll save me the trouble." Sapphire smirked.
Ezra looked at his sisters and gave them a smirk while showing them his glowing hand, that surprised them.
"What?" Ariana said.
Ezra glared at his enemies and blasted teal magic at Sapphire that knocked her back and farther away from Murakami.
"You should've listened." Ezra said with a glare. "Now give us back our friend before you get more of what's coming to you!"
"Ezra has other powers?" Talia said.
"You made a mistake, little boy. I'll have to teach you a death lesson!" Sapphire said, angrily.
"Worst punch line ever, but you'll have to fight me first!" Ezra said.
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia went to Ezra's side.
"And us too!" Kirana added.
"You mess with our brother, you mess with all of us!" Camilla said.
Ezra smiled at his sisters and the K-5 summoned their magic.
"Fine." Sapphire growled. "Attack!"
The Shadow Ninjas attacked the K-5 at Sapphire's command. Kirana jumped up in the air with her feet engulfed in water and then twirled her upside-down body to attack the first group of Shadow Ninjas with her legs like helicopter blades. Camilla quickly unleashed a sudden barrage of flaming bolts at the four incoming Shadow Ninjas in low and high direction. Ariana performed a diagonal down-forward one-legged driving earth kick with deadly force at each Shadow Ninja coming in her way. Talia delivered a series of high-damage wind somersaults to each Shadow Ninja coming in her way. And Ezra quickly spun around to deliver lighting bolts at Shadow Ninjas coming at him.
Then, the K-5 came together when the Shadow Ninjas surrounded around them in a circle. Scarlett was free from the ropes and she stood forward next to Sapphire.
"Alright, let's finish this!" Scarlett snarled.
"Hey, we're the ones who didn't throw you off the roof, remember that?" Ariana snapped.
Scarlett, Sapphire, and the Shadow Ninjas charged forward at the K-5. In few minutes of punching and kicking, Ariana and Talia were down and out by Scarlett while Camilla was knocked out by Sapphire. Kirana and Ezra were now the last ones standing against Scarlett and Sapphire. Sapphire ran forward and released a swarm of six magenta plasma energy bombs from behind while Scarlett delivered a series of black ink ripple-like waves at the blue mage kunoichi and teal mage ninja that sent them landing towards their sisters.
"Now that's how you catch five mages." Sapphire said as she walked ominously over the K-5 and lifted her magenta plasma engulfed hand towards her face. "And now I'll show you how to finish them off."
"No way! You'd never have caught them without my help and you know it!" Scarlett snapped.
"Says the woman trapped inside the trash can!" Sapphire grinned mockingly.
As Scarlett and Sapphire started gloating over their plans, Kirana looked up to see Juli was tilting her head to the right that made her stare at the water tower from behind. Kirana looked back to watch Juli nodding her head before escaping along with her twin, which made the blue mage kunoichi smile slightly.
"Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to destroy these mystics once and for all." Sapphire said.
"I don't think so!" Kirana said as she got up to her feet and pointed her finger at Sapphire.
Kirana jumped on top of the water tower and motioned her hands in the air, summoning the sound of huge water roaming inside the tower. As the stream of water burst out of the tower, Kirana fired a powerful water energy beam that washed Sapphire, Scarlett, and the Shadow Ninjas off the rooftop.
Immediately, Ezra darted forward and caught the rope that Mr. Murakami was tied into as he pulled him up on the rooftop.
"Don't worry Murakami-San, I got you." Ezra said.
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Talia broke the chain that freed Mr. Murakami in the process.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the noodle shop, Mr. Murakami rewarded the K-5 with a package of the Pizza Gyoza.
"Cool!" Talia grinned as she held out the box of Pizza Gyoza. "Thanks Murakami-San!"
"You five earned the token of my gratitude." Mr. Murakami smiled. "And you're welcome, Kunoichi-Chan and Ninja-San."
The sisters bowed with respect and kindness, but they realized something over what Murakami just said. Ezra was shocked when Murakami called them really fast.
"Wait. How do you know we were?" Ariana asked.
"I do have my amazing sense, despite myself being blind." Mr. Murakami replied. "Only smell and touch."
"You don't care if we're mages?" Ezra asked.
"Of course not." Mr. Murakami smiled. "You saved my life and you're welcome here any time."
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra smiled excitingly as Talia hugged Mr. Murakami.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Crete Fortress, everyone were sitting in the living room while eating their plate of pizza gyoza. Especially Casey, who was eating his plate of pizza gyoza. Ariana gasped but giggled with a smile.
"So, Ezra. How come you've never told us that you had another form of magic?" Camilla asked her younger brother.
"Wish I knew, I was just as shocked as you all are." Ezra responded. "I need to figure out this mystery but that's gonna take a while."
"You five showed your strength today." Sage said. "Even though you almost got beaten, your strength was mercy. That's why the Wuju Twins helped you."
"Well? Go on. Say it." Kirana smiled smugly to Camilla's face.
"Alright. You were right." Camilla sighed as she rolled her eyes. She formed a smug grin across her face. "But that proves that your wimpiness wasn't completely useless after all."
"Oh, you ask for it!" Kirana grinned.
Kirana playfully tackled Camilla as Ezra, Talia, Ariana, and Casey laughed out loud while Sage grinned slightly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Shadow Clan HQ, Lady Shade was deeply displeased with Sapphire and Scarlett's repeated failures.
"This is completely unacceptable!" Shade berated furiously.
"My apologizes, Mistress Shade." Scarlett apologized quickly.
"I swear." Sapphire promised. "Next time, we..."
"Enough!" Lady Shade interrupted harshly. She got up from her throne and walked down the stairs. "We shall deal with those mages...myself!"