Paine walked into the woods at a faster pace than she intended to. Not because she was running but because...well...ok...maybe she was running slightly...even as much as she did love Rikku...Rikku could be a bitch at times...and back there...that was one of the times.. About halfway into the woods she stopped by her cabin, and opened the door, closing it behind her, before she heard a faint sound of footsteps that were seemingly very, very close behind her...almost as if in the cabin with her... On instinct she retrieved a tiny razor blade from one of her gloves, readying herself for the intruder to strike. As soon as she felt the timing was right she pivoted quickly on her left foot, striking quickly at the unwanted visitor, sinking her blade deeply in...air? She blinked quickly and looked for a moment. "What the hell? I could have sworn..." She shook her head and sighed slightly "..Paine...you're losing it...get your act together.." As she turned back around to face her bed, she felt her windpipe being cut off with deft ease, yet with a gentle hand. She would have gasped, if she could, but seeing as a hand was firmly, yet gently around her throat she could not. Paine looked to the intruder and blinked a few times...a woman...? The woman before her was around 5'7 and weighed maybe...oh...135 pounds at the most. Somewhere around her same body structure, yet the woman had blue hair with silver streaks in it, silver eyes and a cosume that Paine had only seen in the movies...looking amazing similiar to a Ninja outfit. Black and form fitting, complete with the mask that covered the woman's mouth and nose. The girl was wearing a pair of, seemingly heavy, yet made very little sound, combat boots. To the untrained ear, they would have never heard her. The woman placed a finger to Paine's lips and spoke gently, with a firm yet soft whisper. "It is very dangerous here...no longer are there weak Coyotes around...there are powerful Mages and Golems inhabiting this place..I can help you out of here...if you'd like...or...you could die on your own...what will it be...?" Paine narrowed her eyes at the woman and tried to thrust her off of her, but to no avail. Despite her size, the girl felt like she weighed...well...as much as a sack of bricks (No offense to any BBW reading this) The girl grabbed Paine by the back of her hair and shoved her to the nearby window. "Look.." After Paine stumbled towards the window, nearly falling face first into it, she glared at the girl, who looked very disinterested in the look that Paine gave her...which would have frozen the blood of the largest man, this side of Spira. Placing her hands solidly on the frame of the window, she looked out, the sight before her sending goosebumps up and down her spine: Powerful spellcasters were obliterating several acres of land and trees with a measely fire spell. Golems were pushing down yards of trees as easily as she opened and closed a door, and Coyotes giving off a deep redish glow and began decimating trees with their teeth and claws in a matter of seconds. If there was only one moment in her life that Paine was obviously scared...this was one of them.. She heard a slight screeching sound and nearly jumped out of her skin before turning to look at the girl, dragging her bed away from the floor, revealing a large, and seemingly deep hole, that she had no idea where it led to. The ninja crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the nearby wall. "Have you seen enough...or do you need to see more to convince you...? Either way..." She walked over to the hole and jumped in, without a moment's hesitation. Paine gritted her teeth and sighed. "Let's just hope I don't meet another Venagun reincarnate..." She grabbed her sword and her bag and took a deep breath, jumped in behind the girl. As Paine fell and fell, it seemed like she would not stop falling. The worse thing was...she could not see the bottom. "Oh jeez...what have I gotten myself int..!" Before she could finish her sentence she landed heavily into the arms of the ninja girl, who sat her down quietly then slide slowly along one of the walls, peeking around the corner then pulled a shruiken from her breast pocket and threw it, quickly into one of the walls down the hall. As she did a rockwall infront of her opened up and she reached for Paine's hand, and dashed off to the wall opening, all but dragging Paine behind her. After they got inside the girl spoke again. "The opening is only open for a matter of seconds...if you don't make it in time, the wall will crush you.." "Either that or you have to wait another month to trigger it open again.." A voice sounded behind them. Paine peered over the female ninja's shoulder to see another person, shrouded in the same outfit. The girl ran up to her and hugged her tightly "Sister..Sorry I'm late..I ran into some complications along the way and I had to save her from some stuff." The sister smiled and hugged back. "It's alright..now attend to your duties..." She smacked her sister firmly on the butt, leaving a hand print on the black outfit. As she watched her sister walk off, she turned her gaze to Paine and crossed her arms. "I am the leader of my group. You will refer to me as only that...nothing more...nothing less...do you understand?" Paine glared at the girl and raised her voice to a harsh whisper. "Listen here..she saved me from some massacre out there...I did not intend to be drug into some stupid cult of wanna-be ninjas. Show me the way out and I will be on my way!" The leader of the group shook her head. "My sister never misjudges a person with talent.." She clapped her hands loudly 4 times in rapid succession, as Paine watched, then saw the girl that had saved her, clear miles and miles of dirt, rock, gravel and large cliffs in a matter of seconds before she stopped by her sister's side. "Yes, Leader?" The girl spoke. "Perhaps you misjudged this one?" She said, nodding towards Paine. Amy, the ninja girl looked Paine up and down quickly, then spoke. "Perhaps I did...if she wants to leave..." Lucinile, the leader of the group, shook her head then cracked her neck softly. "I'll show her the way out." She walked up to Paine and looked at her for a moment. "You did not misjudge her potential...she just has yet to allow it to be released.." With that she tossed a smoke bomb onto the ground, and within a matter of seconds Paine was opening her eyes and looked around, almost as if scared...children playing...someone kicking a blitzball around...ships...the ocean...? "...Luca?" Paine gasped out softly. Lucinile nodded slowly and spoke "You need to allow yourself to reach your full potential...only then will you be able to conquer everything..." Slowly, water began to rise up from the ocean and seemingly mold itself to the girl as she seemed to disintegrate. Just before she completely disappeared she said one final thing. "When the time is right...you will return to us.." And then she was gone. Paine saw the water rise from the ocean, though the pier was completely sawdust dry now. Paine looked around for a few seconds then spoke "How the.,..?"
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