Monday…
Tori ran from the classroom, the only thing stopping the door from slamming was that the person behind her had caught it. She shouted a quick apology over her shoulder but kept moving.

She was running the dance routine through her head, making sure it was committed to memory so she could practice later. Not that she had a lot of time to practice. She barely had time to tryout for the dance team. What made her think she’d have time for the dance team if she actually made it?

She’d cut one of her college classes just to go to the meeting. Now she had to rush off or she’d be late for her Academy classes. As it was she might have to streak to get there in time.

The dance team meeting had been today. They had been shown the routine, and had practiced it several times with the returning team members and the instructors. Tomorrow would be the actual tryout. She had to remember the routine and some how find time to practice it tonight, if she even hoped to have a shot of making the team.

Tori made it across campus faster than she had expected to. Maybe everyone just got out of her way when they saw she’d mow them down rather than stop. Either way she made it back to her dorm quicker than usual. She only had thirty minutes till her class though. She was definitely going to have to streak.

Just as she reached for the doorknob, her dorm room door flew open. On the other side was Tally, in a hurry but not looking half as frazzled as Tori.

“Hey!” her roommate called as she stepped aside.

“Hey,” Tori repeated as she ran into the room and threw her dance bag on her bed. If she streaked to the Academy, she’d have time for a brief, way brief, shower before she left. And after the practice she needed it.

“How did it go?” Tally was dawdling in the doorway, calmly watching Tori grab her bath things.

“It was okay. They showed us the routine, and the actual tryout is tomorrow,” she paused. “Shoot, I had wanted to call Shane. Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll be on campus.” She grabbed her towel and headed back to the door and Tally.

“Hey, do you have time to practice with me later?” she stopped long enough to ask.

“Sure,” Tally answered. “I still get to come to this super top secret tryout of yours, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Tori laughed. Tally knew she was nervous about having people at the tryout. Dustin and Tally were coming. They had been working with her and supporting her as she had gone through everything. From petitioning to test out of the beginning dance class, to work at the Academy. They’d been beside her through it all.

That Tori hadn’t had support from her other friends was her own fault. It was because she hadn’t told them. She hadn’t even told Blake. He had enough to worry about with his moto tour, that she didn’t want to worry him about her adding even more to her already packed schedule.

So she hadn’t told anyone about trying out for the dance team. After mentioning the possibility of testing out of the dance class at Wick’s one night, she had just dropped the subject. She had been unsure if she wanted to try. She had too much to do already. It took a pep talk from Dustin to get her moving.

Tally of course knew because she was her roommate. And it would have been hard to hide it from her, what with her being gone from the dorm and Academy even more than normal.

So she had started practicing and had successfully tested out of the elementary class. All the while Dustin had helped her at the Academy, covering her classes when need be. Tally had helped keep her sane, making sure she slept and scheduling study time with her during her massively busy schedule.

All in preparation for the spring dance team tryouts. Which were here. She thought she was ready. But she was still too nervous to have the whole gang there. If she made it she could tell them later. And if she didn’t, well, then they never had to find out.

But Dustin and Tally, they were different. They already knew. And having someone there for moral support was better than having no one there at all. Dustin and Tally could come. She would tell the others later. Maybe.

“Good,” Tally answered. “I’ll see you later then.” She headed down the hall, letting the door close behind her.

Tori checked her watch as she caught the door. Twenty minutes till class. She was so cutting it close.

Tuesday…
The quiet of Ninja Ops was interrupted by beeping. And not a beeping that usually occurred there. That it was unusual made this sound stand out of course. And Kapri did what she could to quiet it.

She’d had her PAM in Ninja Ops off and on for the last few months. It was distinctly different in function from Lothor’s PAM, since it lacked things like “make my monster grow” mode. But it did serve as an excellent cellphone/PDA/blackberry kinda thing, only well, in a distinctly alien way. Marah and she both had them. And Kapri had been bringing hers to Ops for Cam.

He had wanted to study the technology. With Lothor’s whereabouts unknown, he felt it was best to be as prepared as possible. And studying technology that Lothor may or may not have at his disposal sounded like a good idea. Privately Kapri just thought Cam was having geeky fun studying the PAM.

“What’s that noise?” Cam asked, sounding half-curious, half-annoyed.

“Nothing, Cam,” Kapri called from where she was working across the room.

She opened the cover on her PAM and began pressing buttons in specific sequences. First to silence it. Next to discover the reason for the signal.

Oh no.

This was bad. Really bad.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard your PAM make that sound before.”

“Oh, it’s okay. It’s just an auto textpage about tonight’s “American Idol”,” she lied.

Cam rolled his eyes. Which was good. She didn’t want him to know what was really going on.

She left as soon as she could. Away from Ninja Ops and away from Cam’s curious glances.

She didn’t need to leave the Academy grounds. She just needed to be anywhere that wasn’t Ops. Anywhere there wasn’t people.

Kapri quickly made her way down one of the lesser-used trails. There were places in the woods that people only went to for deep meditation. And if anyone came upon you there, they left you alone. She was banking on that as her chance at privacy.

She pulled the PAM from her pocket and began rapidly pressing buttons. She knew that signal. And she needed to track it back to its source.

Her parents. They hadn’t seen them in years. Kapri doubted Marah even remembered them much. At a very young age the sisters had been sent off, away, out of sight. Boarding school, band camp, summer camp. All places with “evil space ninja” tacked on the beginning of the name. Anywhere but home, with family.

She figured that was more than half the reason they’d always been so eager to please Uncle Lothor. Though he hadn’t been very happy about taking them in, at least he had taken them in. He was the first family member who had wanted anything to do with them. They had been shuttled from place to place most of their lives. Evil space ninjas didn’t like children underfoot. Even their own.

Fortunately as the years had passed, no one had taken the time to notice that they weren’t children anymore.

And unfortunately it appeared that someone had finally taken that time. Someone had noticed.

Because this signal… Kapri knew her parents’ signal. They were tracking them, trying to find them. And she couldn’t let that happen.

What they wanted, she didn’t know. Their daughters back to join their evil army? Or their heirs ‘out of the picture’ permanent-like. Among the evil space ninja clans, it wasn’t uncommon for children to take command through less than honorable means. Maybe their parents wanted to prevent their own potential assassinations by committing a couple murders of their own.

Kapri didn’t know. And she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to take the chance to find out. Their parents were not going to find them if she had anything to say about it.

And she did have something to say about it.

The power flickered around her hand. It moved from finger to finger as for just a moment she hesitated.

Then she let go. The energy leapt from her hand, and the PAM exploded in an impressive shower of sparks. When the smoke cleared, the PAM lay in pieces on the scorched earth. She buried the pieces in a shallow hole, then stood.

Kapri looked around, but the woods were still empty. Good thing. She didn’t have time to answer questions. She had to act fast. She hoped the shielding of the Academy had confused their parents’ systems long enough that they hadn’t been able to get a lock. And now that her PAM was gone, they couldn’t track her. But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t find them.

Because Marah still had her PAM. And as long as it was on, they could track them.

She had to find her sister. She had to get her PAM and destroy it without her knowing. No need to worry her if she could help it.

Kapri had spent most of her life trying to protect Marah from their family. After Lothor was gone, she thought they were safe.

But it looked like her job wasn’t over yet.

Marah looked at her PAM again before shoving it in the back pocket of her shorts. It wasn’t chiming anymore, but the tracking light was still blinking. Only she wasn’t tracking anyone. So she must be the one being tracked.

This was such a not good.

She needed to talk to Dustin.

Marah wasn’t positive where the signal was from, but it wasn’t hard to guess who it was from. She knew her family’s symbol. And if anyone from their family was out to get them – other than Uncle that is – it was their parents.

And she didn’t know how she felt about that.

She had just finished a shift at Storm Chargers. It wasn’t much of a shift really. She had just spent an hour or so with Kelly, learning about how she handled inventory. Now that she was done, she ducked into the alleyway behind the store. From there she teleported to the beach.

There was a secluded section of beach very close to the Wind Academy. It was like the off campus hangout for the Wind Ninja students. The beach was technically on Academy property, as in it was owned by Sensei Watanabe, but it was not protected by being hidden behind the holographic entryway like the rest of the Academy. But since it was so secluded, the occasional use of ninja powers was tolerated, if not exactly endorsed.

Dustin was supposed to be there helping Shane train his fire powers Skyla had left him. Cam had brought back some scrolls from the Fire Academy for him. Shane was studying them to see if he could apply Fire Ninja teachings to a non-ninja power. The results so far had been interesting.

Marah found Dustin a little ways down the beach. Shane was working nearby as Dustin sat on a log near the makeshift firepit.

Some nights students and teachers from the Academy would gather around that firepit. Impromptu beach parties kinda. It was a popular hangout for the Academy’s couples too. Tori and Blake had been spotted there when he was in town. Other nights it was Dustin and Marah. She had to smile as she saw him sitting there. It was where they’d first kissed.

Her light of teleportation was a sure clue of her arrival. Or maybe he just knew she was there. Dustin did that sometimes, and it always made her wonder.

But he turned and seeing her, waved enthusiastically. Ninja had been harassing Shane, but left him to run to her. She clapped and called to her dog. He dodged one way, then the other, then circled her before running after her as she ran to Dustin’s side.

He moved over to make room for her on the log. She sat beside him, and leaned into him as she wrapped her arms around his. It was cold. Colder than it should have been, even for the beach in March.

It was the wind of course. A point that became more obvious as a blast of cold air came their way, followed by tongues of fire. Dustin offered her his jacket, which she accepted with a smile of thanks. She put it on, and his arm slipped naturally around her shoulders. It would have been warmer if the firepit was lit. But it wasn’t. Shane’s wind and Shane’s fire was all that flew across the beach.

“How’s he doing?” she nodded at Shane. Another blast of cold hit them as fire flew.

Dustin shrugged. “Kinda hard to tell. I mean, I’m not sure exactly what he’s trying to do. But he doesn’t look too happy.”

She watched as a ripple of earth flowed from them toward a flicker of fire that had gotten away. Dustin, on firefighter duty, was getting practice too. Not just by using his Earth Ninja powers to smother the flames. But how he was doing it.

It was natural to use your hands to affect things. Palm against the Earth, creating a connection to your element. Beginners learned that way, she knew. But it wasn’t necessary. And sometimes it wasn’t possible. So Dustin had long been studying beyond the need for touch. Your element was a part of you. Concentrate, and the Earth would hear your wishes.

The ripple of earth reached the flame and smothered it. Marah smiled, knowing someday she could reach this level too.

“So how did things go at Storm Chargers? I thought you were going to be there longer,” Dustin asked as they both turned their faces away from a sudden force of air.

“It was good. I had to leave quick though. My PAM kept going off.”

Dustin looked at her quizzically, so she went on. “Well, it’s not exactly the easiest piece of technology to explain away.”

Dustin’s face didn’t change however. He might not know what was going on, but he knew her well enough to know she was uncomfortable. And hiding something.

Darn. She’d always dreamed of falling in love and having someone in her life. And now that he was here, she couldn’t even lie to him convincingly. She learned something new about relationships everyday.

But he let her sit there quietly for several minutes. He didn’t push her. But she knew that he knew that she’d tell him what was up soon enough.

After a short time Kapri appeared and headed their direction. Only to be called away by Shane. She didn’t look happy, but agreed to help him practice. Marah noticed the suspicious glances her sister kept sending her way. She had a feeling she knew what they were about. But Dustin deserved an explanation either way.

Reluctantly she pulled her PAM from her back pocket. She flipped open the sides and the screen was displayed. She hit the blinking light, and the tracking screen came up. Dustin’s eyes widened as he saw the symbol she knew he recognized.

“I’ve seen that sign before. In your room.”

She nodded. “It’s our ninja clan’s crest. Our family’s actually.”

This time the flames landed closer to them. Dustin took his arm from her shoulders so he could lean down and place his palm on the ground; the earth smothered the flames. It was obvious his concentration had shifted. Too distracted to practice the mental connection now. The physical connection to the Earth made using his powers easier since all his attention had now shifted to her.

“Marah,” he didn’t finish. But didn’t have to either. She knew what he wanted to ask.

“It’s our parents. I think they’re coming for us.”