The Dragon Empire: looking for recruits

James walked with Osamu towards the training room. He continued to think openly, hoping Osamu could hear him. [Maybe Kristen is better off staying here... How would we be able to look after her and care for her when we are both going to be working...? Trying to rebuild our forces?] He gazed out the window as a flock of birds flew by. He looked at Osamu. "Should Kristen stay with them...?"

Zane lead the two assasins to the training area, where the rest of Zane's warriors where preparing for training, Spade and Erik were stretching while Stephan and Doug were making sure their weapons were in good condition. The warlock cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, making the warriors hurry to get in a line as he approached them. "Any suggestions on what type of training we should do today?" The dragon asked, Spade nodded "We should do one on one spars" she said, but Stephan shook his head "Why don't we do the obstacle course?", Stephan and Spade have each other short glared before looking back at the leader to settle the decision. Zane thought for a moment and then looked at Osamu and James with a small grin "What do you two think, would you rather see their fighting skills, or their speed and reaction skills?".

"Talk to her first, then say such things." That was Osamu's only reply to James. In that moment the ninja was thinking very coldly. He was more focused on the area and what was going on around them than on thinking about letting Kristen stay with Zane and Chloe. However, the thought that Kristen would be under Chloe's care, made him feel safe. Especially after she helped him save a few children from the kishin eggs a few months earlier.

The young lord's question was interrupted by a patter of marching soldiers led by Chloe. The soldiers were matching in a perfect row with a pefect rythm and a perfect synchronization.
Six people. All dressed in the same military uniforms.

Uniforms:

.
On the pack of the uniforms and on the soulders they had this symbol:

Symbols:

Chloe herself didn't wear her coat anymore. She had the military uniform that every general would be proud of.

Her uniform:

James nodded at Osamu then watched as the soldiers marched by returning his attention to Zane. "Hmm... how about both. It shouldn't be to hard. Plus you must be able to fight at high speeds." He said looking at the men in the training area.

Kristen heard the marching of the troops and got scared so she stayed in her room.

Zane watched as Chloe's soldiers marched into the training area, the dragon took note on how they moved and their uniforms and thought to himself, Huh, they move almost like robots... As the soldiers and Chloe came into the room, Zane heard someone, most likely Spade, in his ranks that grumbled.

Zane nodded at James as he said that the soldiers should do both, "That sounds like a plan" he said to the assassin, he then looked at Chloe who was wearing her general outfit "Are your soldiers ready for training, Chloe?"He asked.

Chloe looked at her soldiers and pointed at her face, giving them a sign to take off their masks.
The soldiers of course obeyed the order. They were quite young. The youngest person in her squad would be 25 years old, the older one would be 32 years old.

The witch looked at Spade and the rest of her comrades giving her a look that would mean as much as: It's not my fault, they want me to be proud of them.
She finally looked at Zane and nodded. "Yes, my lord. They are" The witch said.

Osamu looked at the soldiers and put on his emotional mask. He remembered escaping from those guys, it was the most difficult thing he probably had ever done in his whole life.
The ninja looked at James. "How about: I go and talk to Kristen. You stay here and watch the training? Of course, I need to ask our dear "lord Zane" for the permission to do that, but..What's your opinion about that?" Osamu said

James nodded to Osamu. "Go ahead and ask Zane if you may speak with her. I'll stay here to watch the training." He looked back to Zane and walked to him standing by his side. "Every soldier should be able to kill on the move. Swiftly and most efficiently." He said with a modest tone.

Zane nodded at what James said, gazing out at his warriors and Chloe's soldiers, "Indeed" he said to the assassin, before looking at Chloe "I believe that we should do the obstacle course before the sparring" the dragon said aloud, Having them do the obstacle course will help them become more focus and physically ready for a spar, the warlock thought to himself.

Shadow silently approached the dragon warlock. Barely forcing himself to speak. "Lord Zane, I would like to speak with Kristen. My companion would stay here. If you want, you can send someone to keep an eye on me, however, I believe, there is no need to do it" The ninja said, carefully choosing the words

The witch, approached Her and Zane's soldiers. "Alright. The first part of the training will be interesting. Question to you.." She looked at Zane's people. "...Would you like me to do this training with you? Or, perhaps you want me to get off your sight?" The witch was acting really warmly.
Her behavior surprised her soldiers thou, because they weren't used to see their leader in such situation

James laughed a bit whenever Zane said how they were going to train. "My apologies, when I said both. I meant at the same time. Unless your troops aren't skilled enough for agile combat" he said looking over at Zane and Osamu.

When the witch asked his warriors if she should leave, it looked as if Spade was about to say something, but fearing it was something possibly rude, Stephan interrupted "You can join the training if you want, miss Chloe, it's your choice" he axe wielding man said, though it felt weird to  him that he called someone possibly younger than him "miss". Spade gave Stephan a short glare, but said  nothing, but was obviously offended about being interrupted.

Zane was about to say something when James spoke, the dragon narrowed his eyes at the assasins about the statement about the troops, He should know better than to taunt..., he thought to himself before saying "I'm positive that both me and Chloe's warriors are capable of doing so, James...". In his ranks, Spade murmured something to her weapon  partner on her hand, but said it in Japanese, but if anyone could understand or even heard her murmur, they'd hear her say, "Huh, what gives this guy the right to judge us? He isn't even training, he should just keep his trap shut.....".

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[Osamu.exe has stopped responding]

Chloe looked at Spade, giving her a sad stare.
"Thanks Stephen. But..don't call me miss. I don't think I deserve it right now" Chloe said and looked at Spade. "Please say what you wanted to tell me..us.." The witch asked quietly.
"Oh and also...Don't worry Spade the assassin is just testing us. He wants to know what we're capable of. We just have to show him that we're a real danger to him" The witch said in Japanese.

He chuckled and somewhat felt insulted. "Nothing scares me anymore... If you went through what I have went through you would understand." Taking his cloak off and revealing his gear, with his swords mounted on his back. Wearing his light armor made from finest lightweight steel he could find. Walking to the soldiers who were preparing to train. "I apologize if I insulted any of you, but what I said is the truth. Yes strength and morale is a important aspect when it comes to fighting, but imagine if you could amplify your fighting technique with agility. You could achieve things that you have only dreamt about. Observe..." He noticed there was a target against the wall and without giving notice to the others picked another target in the room. He drew two knives from his pouch and stood a good distance away from the target, he didn't want to do any unathorized actions; so he looked at Zane. "May I continue my Lord?" He said standing there waiting for his response.

Both Spade and Zane were surprised by the fact that both the witch and James knew Japanese, though it surprised Zane in a more fascinated way while Spade was surprised in a more shocked and slightly annoyed that the assasin heard her way. Zane and his warriors listened to the assassin speak, though Spade was looking as if she wasn't expecting much. When James asked Zane for permission, the dragon was quiet for a bit, looking at his warriors, before looking back at James and giving a nod of confirmation.

Osamu disappeared. He went to find little Kristen. Nobody even noticed that he went somewhere. Even the so called lord ignored him. Good for him, the ninja had the whole castle for himself. He just needed to be quiet and use his sneaking techniques. And finding Kristen would be easy like cutting a butter, thanks to his soul perception.

Chloe's soldiers took away their rifles and pulled out the black swords. Chloe herself pulled out her knife from the boot. She was ready to show James that she's not a weak bookworm. Chloe taught herself Japanese because she was bored. It took her a few weeks but she was able to communicate with people

James pushed up his mask covering his mouth and looking at the target. He began to block out all white noise and fixed his eyes on the target. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He tossed a knife in the air before him running at it performing a corkscrew kick. Kicking the knife and propelling it towards the target and at the top of his corkscrew, he let loose the knife at a swing target swinging from the ceiling. Landing his corkscrew and wisping his feet letting the dust slide from under them. Taking a few more knifes out and throwing one in a awkward location, then throwing another one at it, bouncing off of it and redirecting it at another target. Making the two additional knifes it their own swing targets. He then repositioned himself recovering from is his corkscrew and looking at the warriors. "You see when you are as agile as a assassin many things can happen. To sum it all up. Being a agile warrior is very good in the midst of combat." He said looking at Zane and bowing.

Kristen had left her room and started walking around in the hall.

Everyone seemed not to notice Osamu, everyone except for the observant Lucus. The black tom had been wary about the newcomers, and though he wasn't there to greet the assassins, he saw them while on his way back from getting the warriors prepared for the mission earlier that day, and had been watching the two silently from the background and shadows. The black cat silently followed the assassin, wondering if he'd be noticed.


Zane  nodded towards James after he was done demonstrating his skills "excellent work, James" he said, looking over at Chloe and her soldiers who were taking out weapons, "Now, for the training, instead of battling on the obstacle course, there's an outside arena that was specially made for battles that require agility and skill" the dragon explained.

Osamu stopped in the hallway. He hid himself, in the shadows and closed his eyes. The ninja needed his great soul perception ability, to find a person that meant so much for him -and what's more important- to James.
Finding Kristen's soul was easy, but also he found one animal soul, that was following him. "I'm not going to kidnap our poor young friend...there's no need to get rid of the being, that decided to follow me" Shadow thought as he opened his white, eyes. The ninja went to meet the young witch



Chloe looked at Zane as she put her hands on her hips. The idea was good. "It's a great idea, my lord. We will test our warriors' great abilities" She said with a smile. Lord Zane only needed to lead them there. Chloe, who still didn't have the opportunity to see the whole castle, would easily get lost, if she were alone

James his knives from the target and lowered the others grabbing the rest. He continued to follow the rest of the warriors outside and walked beside Zane.

Kristen continued to walk through the halls. Becoming frightened because she is getting lost. "Miss Chloe...?" She said then called archy so she wouldn't alone. The phoenix erupted through the window and landed on her arm.

Lucus grumbled when the assassin merged into the shadows, but was still determined to follow him, He's probably going to take the girl, such a witch as her is invaluable, the cat thought, seeing Osamu and James as threats.


Zane lead the large group down a large tunnel that lead outside, and after a bit of walking, the feeling of cold mountain wind could be felt as a door was opened. Now in front of them was an arena made with stone obstacles. The arena outside looked almost like skateboarding park, only with more features including poles, two meter tall cone like spikes, a pit of icey water with square pads floating inside of it, and a rock wall. Zane looked back at everyone and grinned "Now, we must decide how our warriors will spar, groups or one on ones?" The dragon asked.

The ninja sighed with relief when he saw the little witch. He left the shadows and took off his hood.
That smile on his face, it was something awesome.
His long black hair were messy, but not scary.
"Chole..is doing exercises, my dear Kristen" Osamu said with a warm voice.

"In my opinion they should spare in teams. There is no such thing as one man army, because "Every soldier is weak, when the amount of enemies is big" Also I would bet that your and my warriors are the best when they fight as a team" Chloe said calculating things

James stood there next to Zane as he listened to Chloe talk to her warriors. He walked into the agility course looking at it. Walking through it and coming out the other side. He stood on the edge of the mountain side looking off into the distance.

Kristen heard Osamu's voice. She turned around and saw the ninja standing there. She got really happy and ran to hug him. "Osamu!"

Zane nodded "What you say is true, there is no one man army, however, there are times they're in circumstances where they have to fight one on one, or possibly a small group, I like my warriors to be their best when alone or when together, so I feel it's important to train them in one on one and in groups, but anyways, lets see how they are together in groups first" the dragon said.

Lucus continued to follow the scent of the ninja, but froze when he heard Kristen's voice around the corner. The black cat hissed, I knew it, the new comers shouldn't have been welcomed with open arms so quickly, the cat thought as he rushed towards the sounds ofthe voices, tail lashing angrily.

Osamu hugged Kristen and laughed happily. "I'm so happy to see you, little Kristen. Is Chloe nice to you? Oh, I know her, you know? She helped me twice.." Shadow said with a completely different tone. He was kind.

"So yeah..the teams should be..my people versus your people, Lord Zane." Choke said with a smile and her arms crossed

Kristen looked up at Osamu. "Yes, she is very kind." She said hugging Osamu. "Does that mean James is hear?" She said looking up at him

James stood there next to Zane. "That would be very entertaining to watch. See whose warriors are better trained" he said looking at Zane.