To Be A Master: Dreams - Part Three

Without a hitch or a break, Aihami launched into a quick description of Neo-Rak and the Neo-Rakarr. They all looked taken aback when she had finished.

"So what does this have to do with us?" piped up Jitterbug at last.

Emlyn gave him an annoyed look. "It means we have to go and do something about them, silly. They're hurting other pets and we can't just sit by and watch them do that."

"Yes," Aihami agreed. "Yes, most definitely. Which is why we are going on a journey."

They all looked at her, startled.

"I have reason to believe," Aihami continued, "that there are other Neo-Kidoka elsewhere on Mystery Island. If we are to deal with the Neo-Rakarr we need all the help we can get. That is why we plan to search around the island, to find these others so that they can help us."

"How will we know where to look?" asked Keiko.

Aihami smiled. "Intuition, lifeforce energy and luck."

"Wait a bit, Aihami-Master," Shell spoke up. "You can't go on a trip around the island with so many. For one thing, a group that large is always hard to manage on a long journey, in terms of resources at least, and for another, you'd need someone to take care of the training hall, wouldn't you?"

"There is the risk of the Neo-Rakarr returning to this training hall," Kokyu said seriously. "And we aren't about to leave all of you - " he gestured, taking in all the white-belts, " - alone here by yourselves. Call us over-protective, but the Neo-Rakarr are not to be taken lightly."

"Then let me take care of them," the human girl responded, after some thought. "They aren't officially my pets, so they should be allowed to stay at our NeoHome for a time... I'm sure we can find room."

"Well, I want to go with Aihami-Master and Kokyu-Master," Aragon said boldly.

"Count me in too!" Jitterbug chimed in, waving his stubby arms.

"I'll follow Kokyu-Master," Shiho declared loyally.

"I...I don't know," Faille whispered hesitantly. "I wouldn't want to be trouble... I think I'd rather stay with Shell and the others."

"I would too," Raz the Kacheek spoke up. "It's true that Aihami-Master and Kokyu-Master won't be able to manage so many of us on this trip... it could take days, maybe even weeks. It's be good to lighten the responsibility."

"But we can't have too many of us at Shell's NeoHome, either," Aria the Chomby argued. "We'd be a drain on resources there, too. I'm going with Aragon and Jitterbug."

The students continued to dispute among themselves, between the two options. Eventually it was decided. Marko, along six Juniors: Aria, Aragon, Jitterbug, Mandrake, Emlyn and Shiho, would go along with Aihami and Kokyu. The rest, and all the Petpets, barring Didicus, who inevitably went everywhere Manny did, would stay with Shell and her four pets.

"It's going to be one huge pandemonium back home," Shell said with a rueful grin. "But it'll be worth it if you can get rid of Neo-Rak."

Aihami felt vitality and hope flooding her, and she smiled up at her human friend.

"I'll make sure we will."

She gave Nage a last pat and handed him to the girl. "Now you don't cause any trouble while we're gone."

"When are we leaving, Aihami-Master?" Aragon inquired, his tail wagging wildly.

"Now; that is, as soon as you're ready. But remember to tidy up!"

There was a mad scramble for the dormitories. Aihami laughed as she watched them, and then turned to Otau. "Are you sure you won't come with us, Otau?"

The Nimmo nodded, smiling wanly. "Yes, Aihami-Master. I don't think I'm quite ready to go tramping about the Island. I'd feel safer at the NeoHome."

Kokyu emerged from the hallway, carrying two identical cloth bags, each containing a sword, a staff and a dagger, all made of hard wood. "I think we'll be needing these."

"Good thinking," Aihami replied. "Are you Juniors quite ready?"

"Ready and waiting, Aihami-Master!" Jitterbug threw a salute.

Didicus barked, the fact that he was signaling his assent plain to everyone.

"Right then. Let's go!"

The little party set off into the jungle surrounding the training hall. Shell and the others solemnly watched them disappear into the verdure before going their separate way.

***

The dream was upon him again. It was always the same. Small, bright, hot spots of light swirling around him so fast and making loud roaring noises as they spun past him in swarms, hurting his ears so that he had to clap his paws over them, hurting his eyes so that he had to squeeze them shut... but worst of all, they made him feel ways he detested and loathed feeling. Confused. Disoriented.

Helpless.

Even in the darkness and silence of his blocked sensory pathways, he was not spared. For the luminescent, illusory lights that always follow when the eye is exposed to bright light, the colours of oil on water, burned onto the backs of his eyelids, glowed on. These lights did not whirl around him; instead they shifted, melted, changed, and forming strange and hypnotic patterns like blobs of Chaos, which served to make his headache even worse. Groaning, he sank to the floor, feeling spent...

And then from out of the formlessness of the afterglow would appear the phosphorescent head of a Kougra, eyes blazing amber in the blurred outlines of the head. And then all he could see were those amber eyes, boring into his, with such terrible reproach and white hot anger... and yet, simultaneously, such deep, painful sadness...

It was then that he always awoke. Blinking his orange eyes in the darkness, he sat up, feeling very frustrated. Such a thing, it could not affect him, not like this. It was no more than a dream, a patchwork of thoughts acquired over time and stored in the brain, only to be set free in the night like pale shadows to wander where they would. They were nothing but figments of his subconscious.

And he? He was Taruuk, undisputed Head Champion of the Neo-Rakarr, the magnificent Eyrie crafted of steely sinew and muscle, the one called the Shadow Blade by his subordinates, for his colour and his great and famed prowess in fighting. It was through his great strength and cunning that he had overthrown the previous Head Champion. Taruuk snorted as he thought of the Techo Horak. Incompetent old fool. He had been too wrapped up in his hatred, too absorbed in his own desire for revenge that he had not seen the danger that had lain behind the Eyrie's façade of obedience, until it was too late.

Scimitar and Redclaw, the other two Champions, those who had had the same rank as him before he usurped the title of Head Champion, were none too pleased at the change of authority. Clearly, they had had their eyes set on Horak's position themselves. But they had left it too late, and now it belonged to Taruuk. He had been keeping a careful eye on the two since his return to the castle on that fateful day. Unlike Horak, he was acutely aware of the threat that Scimitar and Redclaw posed towards him, and he had taken pains to ensure that they would not succeed in overthrowing him.

Yes, it was so. For such a being as himself, Taruuk, the Shadow Blade, dreams should be dismissed as trivial things, things that melted away like mist with the coming of the morning. He would not let such things rule over him.

Easing himself up from his hard bed, Taruuk paced magnificently over the deep red stone floor to the window. One of the best things about being Head Champion had to be the living quarters. It had the largest bed, and was one of the only rooms with a window in the entire castle. And he had it all to himself. There was no need to share with Redclaw and Scimitar anymore. Smirking, he gazed out of the aperture.

The sky was just beginning to pale over the vast stretches of the Forgotten Mountains, the colours of the dawn sky soft as a watercolour painting. Soon, it would be time to begin training. But still, there was something that niggled at the back of the Head Champion's mind; for all that he tried to dismiss it as after effects of the dream.

There were still Neo-Kidoka in the jungle. He remembered one of his Champions-in-Training saying it. "Two Aishas and a young one." They had gotten rid of one Aisha, but there were others...and there was a whole training hall full of them, he remembered them saying that too. So there were still students of Neo-Kido out there...

The Eyrie remembered how Horak had told the Champions-in-Training of Neo-Kido. How he had boasted, and swaggered, and belittled the art, displaying in contemptuous, mocking words how weak and helpless Neo-Kidoka were, how Neo-Rakarr could defeat them easily. He himself, he said, had defeated several Neo-Kidoka at once, long ago when he was younger. Obviously the old Techo had not succeeded in wiping out the Neo-Kidoka.

Taruuk knew that the Neo-Kidoka were not as strong as the Neo-Rakarr. And he had in fact written them off as less than threatening to his power. But being overconfident did have its consequences, as Horak had discovered... and as he thought this, he remembered the steady, dark-eyed gaze of the red Aisha the old Head Champion had called Karei, the gaze he had not been able to hold or break, even with his piercing orange glare that sent his subordinates trembling to their knees in a flash...

Taruuk raised himself to his full height, blotting out the weakness from his mind. Later on, that very day, he would ensure something was done. He would send three of his best Champions-in-Training to...take care of the remaining Neo-Kidoka. Scimitar and Redclaw were admittedly more skilled, but he didn't trust them. They would take any opportunity available to turn on him. The Champions-in-Training were skilled, subservient, and they were deeply afraid of him. They would carry out his orders. That was another sign of his being greater than Horak. The Neo-Rakarr he chose to train as his Champions were not simply strong in fighting, but also weak-willed, obedient to his every command. Horak had chosen them based on skill, and look how that had resulted.

The Shadow Blade smirked as he thought of all this. Oh, he was worthy of the title he bore, to be sure.

***

Several days later, when the Neo-Rakarr arrived at the training hall, it was to find an empty building. The place had been swept clean and tidied, and there was no dust anywhere. But as the place was thoroughly combed for any form of life, there was none to be found.

The Neo-Kidoka had disappeared.

The End