"I hope to the Goddess that Lucas doesn't sue me for this…" - ShadowWing (AKA Rebecca Abram) during the writing of 'Warrior Daughter' and Mariko's creation

"Um Mariko?" Yelled Shade over the loud and festive music as he tried to move through the crowds of people. "Where are we going again?"

"To find my teacher so you can learn not to blow things up!" Replied Mariko, walking through the crowds with more ease than her companion, "That includes your self!"

"Don't remind me." Grumbled Shade. He winced just thinking on how close he came to losing his temper and taking out 'General Grayson' plus about half of Alpha Base when he found out what he had done to his girlfriend Beatrice Gray. Luckily Boomer's friend, Michael Angel was close by and risked his shell to cool him off and get him outside before any damage was done to Shade, the building, others, maybe the planet…

When Mariko heard was almost happened she knew he was beyond her help, she had taught him as much as she could but he was beyond her skills as a teacher now. Mariko grabbed Shade by the scruff and practically dragged him to the hanger bays on the New Atlantis. Several hours by hyper drive soon found the pair on a distant planet in the middle of what Shade could only describe as the biggest party in the universe. The room was huge and practically packed with people. Shade was wondering what shocked him more, the size of the room or the fact it was only one room in this entire place.

"Your teacher is a party animal?" Asked Shade. Mariko frowned.

"No, he's not. He most likely got roped into coming by one of the Jedi… um… I think he's over there…" Mariko continued through the crowd. Shade followed and almost plowed onto Mariko when she stopped suddenly. Shade looked over her shoulder to see what had happened.

"Good Day Master." Stated Mariko, to what Shade could only describe as… a… well, a gnome or maybe a troll… Yes, it was definitely a troll. He, or it, couldn't be any taller than about two feet, the creature had green skin and large pointed ears sticking out from the sides of his head, tufts of gray to white hair covered the top of his head between the ears. He was dressed in light and dark brown robes and carried a walking stick suitable to his small size. The small creature had large, dark, expressive eyes that looked at the pair for a few seconds before replying to Mariko's greeting.

"Lady Mariko, good day to you to. Here, what brings you?" His voice was gravely and almost comical. Shade was still confused and had a brief horrifying thought that this might be Mariko's teacher; he wasn't too sure about taking orders from something that barely reached his knee. As if reading his mind the little guy smiled in an almost evil fashion at Shade. Shade really got nervous.

Mariko rolled her eyes, "Please don't scare him Master. He's new at this, I'm looking for Arion?"

The troll pointed with his walking stick, "Over there he is, good luck I wish you." Then he toddled off into the crowd, parting it before him. After he was safely out of earshot Shade asked.

"Who, or what was that?" He muttered.

"That was a Jedi Master." Replied Mariko, "Don't let his looks fool you with a glance he could turn you into knots, literally."

"Uh huh." Replied Shade, "Now where is your Teacher again?" Mariko looked about spotted something, or someone, and yanked Shade along. He was currently staring at a very attractive and very female blue alien of some species Mariko didn't even know.

"Come on! You got into enough trouble with Fara, do you really want to be in fear of your life and limbs whenever you're with Boomer?" Asked Mariko. Shade kept his eyes to himself after that. Soon they finally reached a small group of robed figures. Two of them appeared humanoid and were dressed in robes that were the same shades of brown as the little guy Shade had seen earlier. He assumed they were the 'Jedi' Mariko had talked about earlier. The last member of the group was an older rabbit with dark green eyes dressed in dark green and dark gray robes. He had a red tattoo, identical to the one Mariko had, over his right eye, a saber hung from his belt. He smiled when he saw her. The two humanoids gave the rabbit a nod then left. "Hello Teacher." Stated Mariko.

The rabbit smiled. "Long time no see my dear I had hoped you would keep in touch more. Imagine my surprise when I discovered one of my students reeking havoc in the Lylat System."

Mariko grinned sheepishly. "Sorry Arion. But you know how it goes."

Arion cocked and eyebrow, Shade saw where Mari picked that habit up from, "Indeed and who is your friend whose jaw looks like it's about to hit the floor?"

Shade quickly stood up straighter, and gave a short bow to the older rabbit. "Shade Monroe sir." Arion cocked his head as he looked at Shade. The action made Shade uneasy it almost seemed like Arion was looking inside him.

"And what brings the two of you so far from Lylat?" Arion continued.

"He." Stated Mariko, pointing at Shade, "Needs training. Badly."

"Then come with me, both of you, I need to test you Shade, but not out here. Mariko you may need to help me." Arion quickly walked off toward an exit.

Mariko sighed and Shade shrugged his shoulders as they followed Arion out of the room.

Ten minutes later:

"Well." Chuckled Mariko, looking at the two men. "That was interesting." Shade was on one side of the room rubbing his head while Arion was the other side of the room rubbing his head.

"What happened?" Groaned Shade.

"You are going to one of the most powerful Knights known, or the most dangerous." Muttered Arion getting to his feet. "As to what happened I tried to test your powers and they objected to my intrusion and in essence, 'Told me off.'"

"They have a mind of their own?" Gaped Shade, as he also got to his feet, "Joyful."

"I take it you can't train him Teacher?" Muttered Mariko with regret.

"My dear I'll be blunt." Sighed Arion; "I am highly surprised you got as far as you did teaching him without getting yourself killed. I think the only reason for that is that you have more control and experience than he does at the moment."

"So now what?" Replied Mariko and Shade in synch.

"We find a teacher who can handle a Novice with such power." Replied Arion.

"The only one I know with that kind of power is a Jedi Master, not a Knight Teacher." Sighed Mariko.

"I ain't taking orders from that… troll." Shade snapped.

Mariko grinned, "How'd you know I was referring to him?"

"Lucky guess." Muttered Shade.

"Actually," Arion stated, "there is one Teacher among the Knights who could handle him, but I'll warn you now Monroe, it won't be easy."

"I don't have a choice, I need the help." Stated Shade. "Where do I find this Teacher?"

Arion smiled and gave Shade a set of coordinates, "It's a small moon, mostly heavy rainforest, pack light clothing you'll need it. As for you my dear," The older rabbit continued turning his gaze toward Mariko, " you are staying put for now, your role here is finished."

"I better get going." Muttered Shade. "Now which way was out?" He continued his mumbling as he walked back through the main room and back to the hangers. Once he was out of earshot Mariko sighed.

"He's already had a Teacher hasn't he?" She whispered.

"The tattoos were a dead giveaway, and I haven't seen that particular type in many years, I thought that branch of the Knights died out years ago. Evidently one teacher survived to past on the power to the next generation." Arion smiled, "Tayna will have a field day training him."

Mariko's eyes grew wide, "Tayna? Not the same Tayna who trained you and has been the holy terror of the Knights for generations?"

Arion continued to grin. "Yes that Tayna."

"May the Gods have mercy on you Shade because if half the stuff I've heard about her is true, Tayna will show you none." Muttered Mariko. Arion continued to chuckle.

Hours later:

"I love this engine design." Sighed Shade as he approached the small moon that shone like a bright green jewel from orbit. The normally 8 to 9 hour hyper drive trip was cut in half by the Iriah's engine design.

The Iriah snorted in disgust, {I've been doing all the flying while you have been napping…Master.} The ship giggled at his facial expression.

{Iriah…} He began, {What have I told you about calling me that?}

{Not to call you master…Master.} Iriah continued to giggle.

{THEN WHY DO YOU KEEP CALLING ME THAT?}Shade yelled.

{Because it annoys you…. Master.} Replied the Iriah in a matter of fact tone.

Shade groaned, {Just scan that planet for any sign of a place I can land, or where that teacher Arion told me about might be hiding.} After several minutes of nothing Shade asked again, {Anything?}

{When I land down there it'll hurt like heck; I cannot find a clear spot to land at all period!} Snapped the ship.

{Okay, Okay, get down to the treetops and I'll jump out and see how thick the canopy is.} He sighed, as soon as the Iriah got down far enough Shade carefully climbed out of the jet and gingerly put his feet on the carpet of leaves. They held his weight, as he took a few careful steps he groaned. {We may have to cut an opening for you to get through Iriah.. AAUUGGHH!!} Shade's sentence was abruptly cut off as he fell through a weak spot in the canopy and vanished into the forest below.

The Iriah gave out the computer equivalent of a shriek and dove through the weak spot after him. {Shade?!} It yelled, well as best as an onboard computer could yell.

{I'm all right Iriah, thank god for feline reflexes and our natural skills for climbing trees.} Shade was clinging to a branch for dear life, as he scrambled on top of the branch he paused to catch his breath and took note of his surroundings. He must have been at least a half of a mile up from the ground; the thick canopy of leaves and branches blocked almost all of the sunlight from above and the other tree branches interlaced into an intricate maze around him with only spots of dense foliage. Small unidentifiable creatures darted about the trees, as well as more types of plants and vines than Shade had even seen clung to the massive trees. "Oh wow." Muttered Shade, then another thought came to him, "How do I get down?" The Iriah again giggled.

{I'd come and get you, honest but I think I'd loose a wing in the process.}

{Well, get down to the ground as best as you can Iriah, I'll figure something out.} He spotted a thick vine on a nearby branch and pulled down on it thinking to use it as either a swing or a rope for reaching the ground. Until the 'vine' pulled back, Shade looked up to see a snake's head about the size of his own head looking at him, and it looked rather peeved. Evidently the 'vine' was the snake's tail. "Uh." Muttered Shade, "Would it help if I said I was sorry?" The snake lunged fangs first.

Out of reflex Shade jerked back away from the attack, forgetting he was on a rather narrow tree branch very high off the ground. "Oh no! Not again!" He yelled as he lost his balance and fell, again. This time he wasn't as lucky as before and hit several branches on the way down before he was able to grab one to stop his fall. "Oh man." He groaned, holding his now cracked ribs, "Note to self next time a Knight tells me to go some where, get a better description of the destination." A hiss behind him caught his attention; Shade looked over his shoulder to see the snake coming after him. "Hey!" He yelled, "I said I was sorry!" Keeping an eye on where his feet went this time he jumped from branch to branch trying to keep away from the lunging snake. Due to his injuries from the second fall he wasn't quite quick enough as he felt the snake's fangs sink into his shoulder from behind. With a roar of pain he pulled away from the creature and fell the rest of the way to the ground.

After he hit the ground hard, Shade could already feel his arm and shoulder going numb, weather it was from the snake's bite or the fall he couldn't tell. To his regret he could hear the snake still coming after him before he passed completely out.

Just before the reptile could deliver the final blow a large staff whipped out and knocked the snake upside the head. The snake decided to give up the chase and retreat back to the trees. As the figure with the staff paused to watch the serpent it finally caught sight of the half-dead feline on the ground. "Well," the figure mused, "what do we have here?"

"Oh the Power to be Strong, And the Wisdom to be Wise, All these things will come to you in time…" Excerpt from "Son of Man" Disney's Tarzan Soundtrack

Shade slowly came back to reality. He hurt like hell, his shoulder throbbed and his ribs ached, but he felt like he should be grateful, after all, he was alive. He opened one eye carefully and looked around. He was on a semi-comfortable futon styled bed, though his kimono was gone, a quick check under the sheets assured him that his hakuma was, thankfully, still there. It seemed he was in a single room house of some type, nice, but not the lap of luxury. A cooking area in one corner, sleeping area in another, rest of the room was multi-functional with a few pieces of simple furniture. He sat up and tried to figure out what happened, the last memories he had were of hard landings and angry snakes. As he slowly pieced things together a large explosion outside quickly reminded him of another detail that had slipped his mind. "Iriah!" He yelled and jumped out of the bed ran to the door and quickly hit the breaks. He was in a tree house and the ground was a good seventy-five feet below him. "Yow!" After regaining his balance and again thanking the gods for feline reflexes he looked for the source of the explosion.

{WHERE IS HE!} The transformed Iriah thundered at the small cloaked figure at its feet.

The figure looked at the fair sized smoking hole in the ground nearby and sighed. {He's quite all right my dear, now if you could please calm down I can explain things.} In response Iriah's saber-styled weapon came out. {If you do not calm down, I will do it for you!} The figure thumped its staff on the ground to make the point. {You are a Guardian Soul in a modern jet fighter, I can easily get you out of that hunk of junk and show you some manners. Now CALM DOWN!}

{Iriah. Stand Down, I'm okay.} Called Shade from his vantage-point, he couldn't understand all of the conversation, but he figured that he'd better calm his jet down before somebody got hurt.

{Master Shade! Thank goodness.} The large robot quickly transformed back into a jet and breathed a sigh of relief. The figure sighed and was back up into the tree house in a few seconds. Shade was standing there dumbfounded. How'd he do that? He thought.

The small figure pulled off its hood and revealed itself as a white female ferret. "Now," She stated to Shade, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Shade blinked a few times before answering, the ferret was about four and a half feet tall, and looked no older than 16. Actually she was kind of cute, snow-white fur, bright black eyes, light blond hair, almost dainty looking. He smiled his most charming smile and replied, "Shade Monroe and I'm looking for somebody."

She cocked and eyebrow, "Who are you looking for and who sent you here? This place don't get too many visitors."

"A Knight Teacher named Tayna, I was sent by Arion." Shade continued to pour on the charm…

"YOW!" Yelped Shade as he rubbed his head, he assumed that she had hit him in the head with her staff but he never saw it coming. The ferret was snickering at him.

"Don't you use that charm on me young man, I was declining offers from men like yourself when you were still in diapers! I see my former student still has his rather evil sense of humor, not telling you what I looked like before he sent you here." She snickered some more. "Now why are you here exactly?"

"You're Tayna?" Shade gasped.

"OW!" Yelped Shade again. "Will you stop that?" He gave an evil glare at her tall dark staff, decorated with a big purple crystal at the top. She had a damn good swing for such a little thing.

"When you stop saying stupid things I'll stop hitting you." Replied Tayna blandly. "Now please answer the question, not state the obvious facts before you."

Shade gave his sore head another rub before answering. "According to Arion I need training and you're the only Teacher who can help me."

Tayna paused thoughtfully and carefully walked around Shade taking note of the kanji on his bandana, the backs of both of his paws, over his right eye and the back of his neck. "Hum." She mused, "I can see why he sent you to me. Can you control your element powers?"

Shade smiled sheepishly, "Depends. How do you define control?"

Tayna rolled her eyes. "The Gods must have a sick sense of humor to have let you go this long without training, it's a miracle you haven't been noticed before. When did you first gain knowledge of your full powers?"

"Uh." Shade thought a few minutes and mentally counted. "About two months ago."

Tayna's eyes bugged out, powers like these normally emerge in infancy, puberty at the absolute latest. A repression to protect him? Possibility, the reasons for such a step were many. He had Elemental Tattoos, so he did have a teacher, most likely a parent, and that person submerged his powers and the knowledge of those powers for an unknown reason. Training him at his age would be a challenge, but the ferret always relished those. She gave an evil smile. Shade was really wary now.

"Well you've wasted enough time, boy." Chuckled Tayna. "We'll start first thing in the morning."

"We will?" Shade asked.

"Rule number one." She stated, "Think first, speak later." Shade was rubbing his head, again without realizing it he shot a stream of flame at the ferret, his main goal was not to harm Tayna, but to reduce that blasted staff to ash. He failed on both accounts. The Knight Teacher was slightly singed and slightly amused, while her staff was in one piece. He had a temper, good.

"Oh boy, I'm really sorry about that Teacher, sometimes I just can't…" Stuttered Shade.

"Control yourself?" Finished Tayna, Shade nodded. "Thank Goodness for mental shielding then, now your clothes are over there." She motioned with her staff to a chair. "Get yourself cleaned up a bit and we'll find a place to keep your ship. I have a feeling you are going to be here for awhile…"

Yeah, right. Shade thought has he picked up his kimono.

"Rule number two." Grumbled Tayna, "I can hear what you think as well, either get better mental shields so I cannot hear what you think or watch it!" Shade was holding his head with both hands now.

"That's it!" He yelled and lunged for the staff. "No way is some two-bit runt gonna keep knocking me upside the head!" Tayna easily dodged the attack and calmly knocked his arcane stave toward him.

As Shade picked the weapon up and activated the double-ended weapon to it's full ten-foot length Tayna smiled. "You have both a temper and a rather large opinion of yourself, Shade Monroe. Let's see what I can do about knocking that ego of yours down a bit." Before Shade could blink she was lunging in attack and with a swift jump kick had knocked him into a wall.

"Ooph!" He grumbled and used his powers to toss her into the other wall. He allowed himself a small smile as she growled at the hard landing. He went from the defensive to the offensive and hoped that even if she kicked his butt, he'd at least get rid of that staff. Hoping to take advantage of her while she was still dazed, Shade lunged for the small ferret, the white blades of his stave going straight for that staff.

Tanya was no fool, and had only pretended to be dazed. She used her small size to her advantage and ducked under the stave attack and gave Monroe a sharp rap on his bandaged shoulder with the staff. Her efforts were rewarded by a yowl from Shade followed by a roundhouse kick from him to the small of her back; she rolled with her momentum and quickly got to her feet. "Your quick, boy I'll give you that!"

Shade just growled rubbing his shoulder with his free hand, and lunged at her again.

Again Tayna went low and used her staff to take out the back of his knees, there were advantages to being four and a half feet tall when your opponent was over six feet. Shade went down like a cut tree and hit the ground hard, he may have been dazed but not enough to let his stave go and deactivate it. He quickly deactivated one side of the stave brought it straight up in front of him for defense for the coming attack. His instincts were correct. When he finally cleared his head, the first thing in his line of vision was the large purple crystal that was the top of the staff. In return he had the blade of his stave pointed at her head. Looks like they were evenly matched for now. "Stalemate." He muttered looking the ferret in the eye.

"Not quite Monroe. Rule number three: Never underestimate your opponent." Muttered Tayna standing above him. She then gave his cracked ribs a slight kick causing him to drop the stave with a gasp it clattered to the floor the single blade deactivating as it fell. A quick glance from her sent it skittering out of Shade's line of sight under a piece of furniture, if he couldn't see it he couldn't bring it back to his hand. His skills weren't quite sharp enough to do that yet. "I believe that is now 'Checkmate' Monroe."

"Not yet it's not." Shade growled, while silently hoping that he had enough control to pull this off. "Time for you to heed your own advice!" On perfect cue a good gust of wind ripped through the tree house knocking Tayna off her feet as her staff clattered away. Shade jumped up to his feet and began to pounce; weather he was going for the staff or the ferret was never clear. Before he could get very far, Tayna knocked him back with a blast of her power that knocked the cat off his feet and sent him flying out of the house's door. Once again Shade silently thanked the gods for feline reflexes and dumb luck as he hung on to the doorframe for dear life. His injured shoulder screamed in protest as he attempted to climb back into the house, and his ribs were not giving him an easy ride either. "I really, really, have got to stop relying on my blind luck…" He grumbled while trying to climb up.

Tayna stuck he head out of the door and gazed at Shade dangling there. "Have you learned you lesson yet?" She asked casually.

"What lesson is that?" Groaned Shade as he still was trying to hoist himself up by one good arm. "You've already given me one through three…"

"Mess with me, no matter how much power you may have, and I'll squish you like a bug." Replied Tayna grinning like a mad woman.

"Can I consider that 'Rule Number Four'?" He asked politely.

"Yes you may." Snickered Tayna.

"You're going to pay for this if you decide to keep training me." Muttered Shade.

"I know, that's the only reason why I'm gonna keep training you." Tayna's grin got bigger, "I love a challenge."

"I noticed." Hissed Shade, "Now could you please get out of the way so I can get back inside before I loose my grip and fall?"

Tayna cooperated and stepped away from the door to allow Shade to climb back in. It wasn't very graceful; much to Shade's disgust and Tayna's amusement. She decided to ignore the glare she received from him. "Now." She stated, "As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, your clothes are over there get cleaned up and we'll find a safe place for your jet. We'll start your training in the morning."

This time Shade kept his comments and opinions, both mental and verbal, to himself. But he did make a silent note of ripping Arion a new one when he met up with Mariko's Teacher again. Evil sense of humor was an understatement, more like a sadistic sense of humor.

Since his thoughts did not center on her, she smiled evilly. "Good." Stated Tayna, "You're learning. Now hurry up! There is only one easy and safe way down from here and I'm only going to show you once how to do it."

"Coming!" Shade snapped, "Kimonos are not easy to put on with an injured shoulder! Keep your fur on!"

"Not again!" Yelled Shade, rubbing his very sore head. "What did I do this time!"

"Show some respect boy! I'm old enough to be your great-great-great-grandmother." Replied Tayna.

Shade was about to open his mouth to comment and wisely decided not to. Getting hit six times in the head in about two hours was more than enough thank you very much. One thing Shade did know about women was discussing their ages is very dangerous territory to say the least. Though he was curious on how old she was, Tayna looked no older than 16-17, Arion was at least 40-50, and if Tayna taught Arion that would make her at least 80-90 years old! He silently thought, I know about a dozen women who would kill to know how you keep looking like that if you are as old as I think you are…

If Tayna heard that comment, she didn't bonk him over the head for it, much to Shade's relief.

"My time with Tayna was the best and the worst thing that ever happened to me…" – Shade Monroe, Freelance Knight, Several years after his training

The next morning…

Shade was woken up at some ungodly hour of the morning, thankfully Tayna had an extra futon in the tree house so Shade had a place to sleep. He also counted his blessings that his wake up call was not a bonk on the head with the staff, it was however a bucket of cold water..

"GAH!" Sputtered Shade sitting up, his furious gaze turned to see Tayna standing there with an empty bucket and a huge grin on her face.

"Good morning!" Smirked the ferret. "Now times a wasting, first we have a quick bite to eat then some tests to see how much you already know, then breakfast. Ready?"

Shade blinked a few times and yawned. "You mean I have a choice?"

"No." Replied Tayna.

Shade scowled, "Then why did you ask?"

"To annoy you." Amid several growls, Shade slowly got dressed as Tayna tapped her foot. "You better get used to the early mornings Monroe, it shall be a way of life while you are here." Shade replied by saying something under his breath, and hoped that Tayna couldn't hear…

He was wrong, as he rubbed his head he made a mental note: Rule Five; Tayna has excellent hearing so watch what you say even at low volumes… As he followed the ferret out of the tree house.

A short time later…

"You want me to do what?!" Gaped Shade.

Tayna was on the other side of a good-sized chasm, the 'bridge' across was nothing more than a complex web of tree branches, vines, leaves and snakes. Shade was just recovering from exactly how the little ferret had gotten across the chasm in about 60 seconds, when her order came for him to duplicate the feat.

"Come over here." Repeated Tayna. "Don't tell me you are afraid of heights." The ferret snickered.

"No, I'm afraid of becoming a black furred mark on the bottom of the chasm!" Snapped Shade. "I'm still recovering from my last encounter with trees and snakes!"

The ferret gave a tortured sigh, and raised her eyes heaven ward. "Looks like you need motivation."

"Why do I not like the sound of that?" Muttered Shade. Then he heard a hiss behind him. "Oh no, not again…" Shade looked over his shoulder to see the all too familiar snake-head. By the time the snake struck Shade was already in the trees, as he fought to get across with his injured shoulder, it seemed like the snake was heading him off at every turn.

As Tayna watched she shook her head and thought, His powers must have been repressed very early in his training, or his teacher focused on his elemental powers instead of the basics. Given the nature of those powers that was a good move, but now that he needs the basics, it will be that much tougher to teach him them, he's almost too old to learn…

"Trust me lizard breath!" Yelled Shade ducking under a branch, "You do not want to eat me! I'll give you indigestion! I'll make sure of it!" The last snap of the snake's jaw just barely missed his tail. He finally got above the snake and pounced down ready to plant his heel on to the snake's skull. But the second his foot was about to connect with the creature's skull the snake faded from sight. "What the..?"

Tayna looked up to see Shade falling straight toward her, she carefully sidestepped and Shade fell into a heap beside her. "See?" Commented Tayna; "All you needed was the proper motivation."

Shade slowly got to his feet. "You did that didn't you?"

Tayna looked completely innocent. "Did what?"

Shade scowled but by some miracle refrained from attempting to attack Tayna. "Made me see the snake. It was all some illusion you cooked up to get me across that chasm!"

Tayna smirked, "No Monroe, that was all you. I willed some motivation for you and your sub conscious did the rest for me."

"What?" Snapped Shade, "Are you saying that I made that snake appear?"

Tayna sighed, "Not exactly, I made the actual image appear, as to the form it took, you chose that. Which brings me to a very important point! If you can be fooled that easily by a simple mind illusion, what will happen if you ran into a Rogue Knight who may have less physical power than you, but more mental power and skills? Hum?"

Shade swallowed, the words sinking in. "That Rogue Knight could make me see whatever they wanted."

Tayna nodded, "That my dear Novice, is only the tip of the iceberg. A Rogue could make themselves appear as whoever you most wanted to see at that time, a parent, a lover, a trusted friend. Whoever you chose, and thusly make you to their dirty work, tempt you to become a Rogue or even kill yourself."

"But Vixen tried that with me and I stopped it, I saw through the illusion!" Answered Shade.

Tayna's face remained impassive, "What was the illusion?"

"An old memory," Swallowed Shade, "Part of my wing unit died while under my command, I was blamed officially, though I was not directly responsible, I still blamed myself for their deaths."

Tayna nodded before continuing. "Where you angry at the time Vixen created the illusion?" Shade nodded, Tayna continued, "Have you put the majority of your guilt over this incident in the past?" After his answers in the affirmative, Tayna nodded. "Then Vixen made a poor choice of memories. You had already put the event in the past more or less, therefore its impact when she again brought it to the surface was minimal, anybody with an equally strong will could have broken through that illusion."

"So me breaking that hold she had on me had nothing to do with me being a Knight?" Sighed Shade.

"Not completely." Assured Tayna, "But it didn't hurt. Do not sell yourself or Vixen short, you both have a great deal of power, and she is a cunning adversary. She underestimated you once; she will not do so again." Tayna grinned. "Now lets get back to the other side and have some breakfast shall we?" Before Shade could blink Tayna was already in the trees scrambling across to the other side.

"Here I go again. I'd like to break her ribs and see how fast she is then…" Muttered Shade.

Shade simply sighed and rubbed his head, he didn't even bother to look up and see the smirking ferret with her staff in the tree branches. He silently made plans to someday use that staff as a fire starter as he climbed up into the branches and made his was across.

A few hours later…

"A Knight must always be aware of his or her surroundings, of every living creature of every object or every friend or foe in the immediate area." Lectured Tayna. It was early afternoon and Shade was silently wondering what was worse, Tayna's staff or her lectures.

"Nobody can be aware of everything." Sighed Shade.

Tayna paused for a second and looked at Shade directly, "Depends Novice, define 'everything'."

Shade blinked a bit before answering, "Everything is, well everything! The universe itself, the stars, the powers we control…"

Tayna interrupted, "You see the world around you as a whole, a very good view, I commend you on that. Too many people see the world around them through a very limited window. The problem is you need to also see things on a slightly narrower scale. For example if you walk into a crowded room you should be able to sense and evaluate the mood and the motives of most of the beings there, as well as their movements and make your own movements accordingly."

Shade nodded, "How accurate should I be on reading them?"

"It depends on the situation, if you know an enemy is close by you should know exactly whose side everybody else in on. In this environment…" Tayna paused to motion around the tree house, "you should know where everything is, and where every creature is, from the birds outside, to that nice big spider climbing up your leg."

Shade sighed, "I'm not falling for that trick a second time." Then he did detect a slight movement on his leg; he stole a look and spotted a large furry spider carefully crawling up his right leg. He remained calm and looked back at Tayna. "Is it poisonous?"

Tayna grinned. "Very, and it is a he."

"Well can you get rid of him then? Or do you have a large can of bug spray?" Quipped Shade, by now the spider in question had stopped at Shade's knee and seemed to be evaluating him on what to do next.

"I hope you don't want to kill him, as long as you don't piss him off he will not hurt you, he's just curious that's all…" Tayna knelt down and held out her paw, with careful steps the spider crawled off of Shade's knee and into her outstretched paw. "See? He's a nice one, keeps the really annoying insects in line for me, now wave to Shade my little friend, he's going to be here for a bit."

The spider carefully looked at Shade with all eight unblinking eyes and deliberately lifted one of his front most legs and moved the tip of it up and down in the spider equivalent of a wave. Shade's jaw dropped, after he recovered a bit he muttered, "So he's your pet?"

Tayna shook her head, "No not really, he just stays here because there are many small insects for him to hunt and eat. Now how many people would have just killed this creature out of fear and misunderstanding?"

"Lots." Muttered Shade.

"Which brings be back to being aware of your surroundings, by using only a few seconds and once you are more in tune with your powers you could easily see the intents of those around you. Including this little one." Tayna bent down and let the spider crawl off her paw and onto the floor. The spider quickly spotted a rather nasty looking beetle and gave chase. As the two insects scurried off Tayna continued. "That's the first thing I have to teach you Novice, you are only aware when you feel like you need it the most, I will teach you to be at least partially aware of your surroundings all of the time."

"I sense on coming bonks." Muttered Shade.

Tayna only grinned in response, "Let's go outside for your first real lesson."

Shade sputtered, "First lesson?! Then what would you call that chasm thing this morning?"

"Practice." Snickered Tayna.

"Oy vey." Groaned Shade as he followed Tayna out of the tree house, "My shoulder is never going to heal at this rate."

A short time later Shade found himself standing in a somewhat flat clearing Tayna was a short distance away and several dozen sharp sticks and stones were scattered about them both. Tayna then produced a strip of black cloth and walked to Shade.

"Your going to blindfold me aren't you." Muttered Shade.

Tayna nodded, as she tied the cloth securely about his eyes she explained, "To increase your minds awareness you will attempt to dodge my attacks using only your powers, and I don't mean your elemental powers, so no fire, ice, wind or anything else like that. And you will be defensive only, you will not be allowed to attack me."

"Oh make this difficult why don't you?" Quipped Shade.

"Monroe." Snickered Tayna, "I've only just begun."

Shade took a deep breath, Okay; this shouldn't be too tough, I can still hear right? I can smell, I can dodge whatever she tosses at me… "Okay Tayna! Let me have it!"

Overconfident feline. Thought Tayna as a large rock flew through the air and straight for Shade's chest. He easily dodged, however he did not sense the rock doing a U-turn and smack him in the back of the head. Tayna winced as Shade was knocked out cold. This will take me longer than I thought…

"I have trained many Knights in my day…but I can safely say that Shade Monroe was unique among them all." Tanya, Knight Teacher

Over the next month Tayna had been throwing anything she could wrap her paws around at Shade, pots, pans, rocks, the spider… So by the time he was able to get to the Iriah to check on it's condition he wasn't in the greatest of shape.

{Master Shade! Are you all right?} The Iriah asked the rather battered looking feline.

{I'll live.} Replied Shade. {Have you gotten any messages from the New Atlantis?} He asked hopefully. Due to the distance between him and the New Atlantis the only messages that could be sent were text messages bounced between various relay stations. Also Shade had to check on his ship every week or lose it to the rapid growth of the jungle. So far he had been on this moon for about a month, and his training was going so-so, at least according to him, Tayna stated that he was doing better than she hoped, that REALLY scared Shade.

{Yes, you have. Showing text message now…} The Iriah's screen came to life and Shade quickly read the message as he predicted, it was from Beatrice.

Hi Shade!

By the time you read this it'll about a week or two after the fact, I wish you were in a more traveled area of space so we could at least swap verbal messages, but hey, at least we can write…more or less.

Overall things are okay, we are getting a good rep as a mercenary team and jobs are coming in on a regular basis, between Wolf and Ariel we have enough underworld contacts to keep us working for the next year and beyond. As for the personal front things are good and not so good.

Believe it or not Wolf is mellowing out, no joke he's almost livable these days. And Ariel has an almost constant grin on her face these days…I wonder why? (Sarcastic grin) The bad side is Mariko, (sigh) she's been depressed, I mean really depressed. Hell Wolf's taunts can barely get a reaction out of her these days, she did brighten up when I told her how your training was going, and when she FINALLY stopped snickering she promised to hold Arion down while you ripped him a new one.

No news period from Lylat, I mean nothing, nada, zip and zero. Not even a peep. Per Ariel, Peppy does know how to get a message to us, and both Bill and Katt know how to reach you if not the New Atlantis. If you get news before we do send it our way please? I'm on pins and needles to see what mayhem dad caused after we all left. What news tidbits we have been able to glean out is that StarFox is still working for the CMF, and Bill still has his post, so far so good.

Well looks like Wolf and Ariel are about to blow up again so I better finish this message and get it on its way to you. Write soon and don't let that ferret get you down too much.

Love,
Beatrice

Shade sighed and wished he was there, but if he abandoned his training now he might do more harm than good, he did smirk a bit when he re-read that part on Mariko's promise to hold Arion down for him. He was a bit worried about her though, especially after the news she was getting depressed, ah well the sooner they got their names cleared in Lylat the sooner both Mariko and Boomer could get their lives back to normal. {Any other messages Iriah?} He asked.

{That was all Master Shade.} Again the ship laughed at his facial expression.

{I give up} Muttered Shade. He decided to send a reply to Beatrice while he was here, Tayna didn't expect him back for his next lesson for a few hours at least. He paused for a few minutes and began to type:

Beatrice,

Well, life here isn't the worst it could possibly be, but my entire body aches. I've been hit in the back, over the head, and in just about every place that could hurt someone. Certain parts have managed to go without wounds, but at this rate, I don't think I'll even be able walk after this "training" is over. I had to cross the jungle canopy within 1 minute, and she called that a warm-up. Later, she had her pet tarantula climb my leg and wave 'hi.' Very funny.

You mentioned Wolf becoming mellow... Ariel must be putting him on something to make that happen. Either that or she's one of those enchantresses or something. Either way she's doing something to him. I'm glad you guys are getting a good rep, even if it is with the underground connections. At least that'll pull in good pay. If you ever feel a little guilty about your work, though, look for the search and rescue jobs. There are quite a few innocent people who get caught in underground deals and have family or friends taken hostage. Also, take those missions no matter how much they can afford to pay. You've got money enough; free, honorable service can quickly build one's rep with the law of the region.

I'm worried about Mariko. Although I couldn't stop laughing when you mentioned she was going to hold down Arion for me, I soon read the rest of the paragraph, and she needs something or someone, fast. Even if it's a brief reunion with any member of StarFox, I'm sure she'll greatly appreciate all the effort put into the meeting, however brief. But from what you tell me, I think it needs to be in person.

As for you, Bea, I think I've realized something that could link us together deeper in our past than either of us currently realize. I'm sure you went to the Academy, otherwise you wouldn't be a bomb specialist. Neither of us have the names that we had when we enrolled in the academy.

I was Shade Yoshi... And you were Bridget Grayson, if I recall what Mike told me after your arrest warrant was announced.

If this assumption is false, please correct me, but after all I have seen and heard, it will take much to convince me it is not the truth. I knew there was a reason I felt attracted to you when we met…

I'm sorry to end this letter on such a bad note, but both Tayna and Iriah are doing their best to mess me up. I'm almost at my limit. Tell Mariko hello for me, will you? Thanks.

With the deepest love,
Shade

After he sent the message off he climbed out of the jet. {I'll see you in a few days Iriah, I've got to get back to training.}

As he left the giggling ship behind he headed down the trail back to the tree house, he as he walked he admired the jungle around him, it was beautiful. The flowers, the various animals, among those who were not trying to eat him that is, the different trees, he slowly became aware of every detail of that particular area of the jungle. As he took in the atmosphere around him a small part of his mind began to nag at him, something was not right here. He cocked his head trying to figure out what was exactly wrong, what was disturbing the peace of this clearing? He continued walking along hoping that would help.

It did.

There was something stalking him.

It was directly behind him.

Pretending he did not notice he continued on, his mind on red alert. A voice in his head yelled JUMP! And allowing his body to follow his instincts he leapt straight up in the air and looked down to see his old friend the snake pass in what would have been a lethal strike directly underneath him. If Shade didn't jump when he did he would have been snake chow. Shade grinned, this time he was ready for the persistent reptile. "Time for a little payback you overgrown garden pest!" He landed on the snake's back and slid down the length of its body, as if he was on a surfboard. He could feel the creatures muscles flex under his feet as the now pissed off serpent turned around to attack again.

When Shade slid all the way down to the tail, he paused for a second and waited for the exact moment of the next attack, again his mind yelled NOW! And Shade vaulted up and grabbed a low branch, he flipped him self over the branch and got his feet firmly planted on it before he looked back at the snake. Shade almost died of laughter.

The snake had a priceless expression on it's face while it had it's own tail it it's mouth. The snake stopped biting it's tail and to Shade's dismay he did not see either blood or bite marks on the snake's tail.

"I guess it was a bit much to hope that you would pump yourself full of your own venom." He muttered as he took to the higher branches with a new plan forming in his mind. The snake paused on the jungle floor, not sure what to do next. His prey was more of a challenge now, and the reptile was contemplating if Shade was worth the hunt. Shade decided to give the snake some motive. Very deliberately he looked at the snake in the eye, stuck his tongue out and gave the snake a raspberry.

The snake lunged at the feline at light speed. Shade cackled, just as he had planned. He darted in and out of the surrounding branches, confident that his feet would always land on the branch they needed to. Always knowing exactly where the snake was going to strike before the snake could figure it out. Unlike the last time they had met Shade was in control of this encounter.

He was not just reacting. He was acting; he was in complete control of his actions, the snake's actions, and the environment around him. Finally Shade stopped on a tree branch, turned around to face the oncoming snake and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

That snake had a look on its face that promised a slow and painful death when he finally caught that cat. Shade had a calm smile on his face. The snake kept coming, Shade didn't move and didn't seem too worried at the impending attack. At about 10 inches shy of it's goal the snake stopped unable to go any further. Though it was not due to lack of trying on its part.

Shade looked beyond the really miffed snake's head to the rest of its body, nicely twisted and curled about so many branches that it was practically in knots. Shade snickered and whapped the snake across it's nose. "That should teach you not to mess with me!" After the irate series of hisses, Shade shook his finger at the reptile. "Watch that language! Or next time I'll be dining on some nice grilled snake steaks."

Defeated at last the snake turned its head away from Shade and began to untangle itself from the branches. Confident that this would be the last encounter with that creature, Shade began to find his own way down the tree when something else caught his attention. He looked about the canopy trying to find the source of this disturbance, when a slow steady clap above and behind him caused him to turn around.

Tayna was settled among the branches of a nearby tree, looking like she had been there for some time. She finally stopped her clapping and smiled at Shade. "Well done, it's about time you learned."

"What do you mean?" Gaped Shade, "How long have you been sitting there?"

Tayna rolled her eyes, and gave a great sigh. He still had much to learn. "Unlike the first time you met that serpent this time you were in control of the battle, you were acting, not reacting. Do you know why Novice?"

"I think so but I bet your are going to tell me anyway." Sighed Shade. Tayna frowned.

Shade held the back of his head and opened his eyes. Tayna had not moved an inch from her perch in the tree above him. How'd she do that?! After he recovered he sighed with the insanity of it all. Tayna grinned; Shade sensed a lecture coming on. He was right.

"You have learned and put into action your first major skill as a Knight. Awareness, for a brief moment you were completely aware of your surroundings, of everything that was going on around you and where you stood in the midst of it all. You have finally learned the skill, now you must put in constant practice or it will be useless."

Shade nodded, "Constant practice? Define 'constant practice'."

Tayna grinned fiendishly.

"Oh no." Whimpered Shade.

"Ow." Stated Shade blandly. He looked up, expecting to see a giggling ferret in the tree. Tayna was not there. In almost panic Shade looked around to see where the small creature had gone. Her voice echoed in the trees.

"Your next challenge my dear Novice is to stop me from bonking you. I'm always about watching and waiting for your guard to drop, therefore…" Her voice trailed off.

"I have to keep my guard up." Sighed Shade, then he grinned evilly, "Or to make sure you can't find me!" He too vanished into the trees.

Tayna sighed as she came out of her hiding place. "I hate it when my Novices think they know what they are doing…"

A short time later the sound of a staff hitting a head could be heard on regular intervals…

"Training can be the most grueling and difficult period time of a Knight's lifetime, but the lessons learned, about others…about yourself…are worth it." - Mariko; Member, Black Dolphins Team

Hello again Shay,

Sorry for the delay in notes but we have been so busy we have had barely time to think lately, I guess you could assume that business is doing really well. As you might expect lots of search and rescue missions, and a few 'recovery' missions. In case you're wondering the recoveries were Ariel's idea. All she said it that it was the kind of stuff she did prior to meeting James McCloud and StarFox. Fine by me. At least it's not the raid and capture missions that some of the other Merc groups do in the area, ugh… My morals couldn't take that for very long.

So you were Shade Yoshi back at the Academy? Yow, how times have changed! I'm sorry I didn't remember you from those days, but you have to remember that up until I became a legal adult my dad still had a hammer hold on my life. It took Mike and Don's prodding to get me a backbone and take my on life back.

As for the lives of my teammates (is it just me or does referring to Wolf O'Donnell as a 'teammate' seem weird?). You are right; Ariel is giving Wolf 'something' on a regular basis…I'm surprised you didn't figure it out sooner. Oh! That's right those two were actually behaving while you were on the New Atlantis, so you don't know about what is going on between Wolf and Ariel. Well Shade I hope you are sitting down, cuz this is a bombshell…

Wolf and Ariel are sleeping together. No joke, if you don't believe me I can get some evidence and send it to you, but I'll warn you they are rather…loud…to put it mildly. Anyway we are going on a series of missions soon, they take us to the Mino System, per Mariko it's close to the outskirts of the Imperial System, so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a bit.

Love Beatrice

Six more months had passed with little notice to Shade, slowly but surely his mind was gaining greater and greater control over his powers. His awareness alone had gotten to the point where he could stop Tayna's staff about ninety percent of the time. The other powers and skills were also coming along. His telekinesis for example was very powerful and he practiced it every chance he got, much to Tayna's disgust at the current moment.

Shade Monroe knew a moment of pure joy as he saw the small ferret fly through the air in a perfect arc and land none to gracefully in a huge mud pit. He began to search his clothing for the small camera he was now carrying with him at all times. To take pictures of the local flora and fauna for Beatrice, now he had an even better subject.

"You are going to pay for this Monroe! Do you understand me Novice!" Tayna yelled at the top of her lungs.

Shade was perched on a tree branch high above the mud pit where he had flung Tayna, staff and all, a minute earlier. To add insult to injury he was taking pictures for Arion's later amusement. The now mud covered ferret appeared ready to commit murder, but these precious few minutes of having an advantage over the Knight Teacher Shade was going to relish for as long as he could. "Hey your orders were to stop you from hitting me over the head. There was nothing said about NOT tossing you into a mud… AUGH!!!!!!"

Shade slowly climbed out of the mud pit, his camera and film safely floating above him, if he couldn't save himself he would at least save the evidence. Tayna was snickering at the mud-covered feline. "Now get yourself cleaned up, I want to continue with your training in a hour." With as much grace as a mud-coated ferret could muster she walked off.

"Yuck!" Snapped Shade after she was safely out of earshot. As he climbed out of the pit himself he realized that he'd have to go back to the Iriah to get a change of clothing, no way would his current attire be dry in time in the jungle's humid environment. As he approached his jet the Iriah shrieked.

{WHAT DID SHE DO TO YOU THIS TIME!!!}

{Revenge, nothing new.} Grumbled Shade as he used his now improving knack to 'float' a clean change of clothes behind him, as well as drop the camera into the pilot's seat. He passed his now laughing jet and made his way to a nearby quiet spot on a river's shoreline to clean most of the mud off of himself and his clothing.

Twenty minutes later Shade was drying himself off and getting dressed while his formerly muddy clothing was drying on some nearby rocks, he heard a soft chuckle behind him. He rolled his eyes. "Ha ha, really funny Teacher, you think you can sneak up behind me undetected while you are laughing at me." He silently moved to a group of bushes and looked behind them. Nothing. The laughter came again, and this time Shade realized it wasn't the laughter of the female ferret, it was from a male.

The next thing Shade knew he was flying head over tails back into the river. He came up sputtering to the surface and looked around while trying to mentally lock onto whoever or whatever had attacked him. Again he saw nothing, and couldn't lock onto anyone in the area. Before he could regain his bearings Shade found himself being pushed under the water's surface again. With a surge of TK power Shade forced himself to the surface and to the shore where he lay gasping for a few seconds.

He opened his eyes and saw a pair of feet in front of him, he looked up from the feet to see another male Lylatian Cat, and the resemblance between himself and the other feline stopped there.

The stranger had blood red fur, and pure black eyes. He grinned down at Shade showing off long wicked teeth, he also wore a bandana like Shade did, but instead of the Imperial character for 'Akune' or 'Fire', the stranger wore the character for 'Shi' or 'Death' on his bandana. Something told Shade that the next few minutes were not going to be enjoyable for him.

He was right. The stranger whipped out his paws and showed off incredibly long and lethal looking claws aimed straight for Shade's face. Reflexes took over and Shade rolled out of the way, he heard a snarl of frustration as his opponent's claws sank into the ground below. Not wanting to give this guy a chance to recover Shade rolled to his feet close by to where his clothing was drying on the rocks, he put his stave with them while he was cleaning the mud off. He looked down at where he and placed in a few minutes earlier, and was shocked to find it missing. Another low chuckle echoed behind him. Wincing and the cold and creepy tone of the laugh, Shade looked behind him dreading and knowing what he would find there.

"Looking for this?" Hissed the stranger, as he had feared Shade saw his arcane stave in the stranger's paw.

"Yes." Muttered Shade, "I would also like it back please."

The stranger pretended to contemplate the request for a minute, then snarled. "No, I am rather fond of this weapon, I think I'll keep it." Very deliberately he activated the stave and the two pure white blades shot out of either end. The stranger frowned. "Some changes will be needed though…"

Shade's mind was in overdrive. Who the hell is this guy? How'd he get past Tayna? How am I going to get out of this mess? "If you think I'm gonna just stand here and let you play with my stave you are insane!"

The stranger grinned again, "You are quite correct Hikage Sheedo, I am rather insane. Yes you will stand there and watch me do this!" An odd glow came from the paw in which he held the stave, before Shade's horrified eyes the sleek metal that formed the main portion of the weapon transformed into a bone like substance. For all Shade knew it could be bone, and like some sort of infection the glow traveled up the blades and turned them from pure white to a hideous black red. Shade swallowed and prepared to defend himself as he realized this stranger was going to try and kill him with his own weapon.

Meanwhile Tayna was stalking down the trail looking for her Novice. "First he dumps me into a mud puddle, then he's late for his lesson, I'm going to knock some sense into that boy even if it kills him!" Tayna was still muttering to herself as she stalked by the Iriah. It's chuckling at the ferret's rants was quickly silenced with a single look from the aforementioned ferret.

{Master Shade went down to the river about an hour ago Tayna, he should still be there.} Offered the jet helpfully.

{Thank you.} Replied Tayna. {You wouldn't happen to know if he took his camera with him do you?} She asked.

{Nope. He locked it up in me before he went down to the river.} The Iriah couldn't resist a giggle at Tayna's expression.

{That boy is getting smarter; I have to give him that much.} Tayna pivoted and continued down the trail, she soon spotted the jungle thinning out ahead and knew she was close by the river. She finally got to the shoreline and spotted a small pile of clothing drying in the sun, but no Shade. "Monroe?" Tayna called. There was no answer.

"Shade Monroe! Where are you hiding?" Again there was no answer. She gave a great sigh and closed her eyes to get a fix on her wayward Novice.

As the ferret focused below a shadow lurked in a nearby tree, it smiled sinisterly. Once she was out of the way nothing would be able to stop his complete return, Sheedo was at this stage still too weak to fight off his influence completely, and he intended to keep it that way. He shifted slightly and readied himself for the attack…

All of a sudden Tayna's eyes popped open and she felt a darkness approach that she hadn't felt in decades. She spun staff in hand and it's purple crystal deflected a dark red saber blade barely. If that blade had connected, Tayna would have lost her head, literally. When she beheld the weapon she saw it was a double bladed stave with a handle of bone, then she saw who held the weapon. Tayna felt the blood drain from her face, "No…" She whispered, "I destroyed you! How could you have returned!!" He voice was now raised to a scream.

The figure grinned showing off his razor like teeth, while blood red fur glistened in the sun. "You only destroyed my body, dear Teacher." He spat, "Even you cannot destroy a soul…" He lunged again in attack each time Tayna was barely keeping the blows at bay, he had gotten much stronger since the last time they had clashed.

"You," Growled Tayna, "you possessed someone? What fool Knight would have let you in?"

The dark feline grinned again, "Hard to keep me out when I have been a part of him since conception…" As his voice trailed off Tayna spotted a small opening in his mental armor, and what she saw sickened her to the core. There under the hideous mental patterns of the Rogue in front of her were the distinctive mental patterns of her most recent Novice Shade Monroe.

"By the Gods…" Breathed Tayna. "Release him monster! He has no part of our conflict!"

"But he has power," Her enemy savored the word, "So much power, when the opening came for me to take his soul for my own do you think I'd let it slip away?"

"No." Replied Tayna, "But I would think that at least you'd have remembered some of the lessons I taught you…" She slipped behind the red furred feline and readied her staff…

"ARGH!!!!!" Roared the feline and while reaching for his head he let the double ended stave drop from his paw. Before it hit the ground the blades flashed back to their original white for a split second before retracting and the handle turned from bone back to its original sleek metal shape. Tayna gave a smug smile.

Shade was fighting for his life, whoever this guy was seemed to know what Shade would do before Shade himself knew it! Badly beaten and almost ready to give up the red furred monster suddenly winced and grabbed his head in agony. Shade was about to find out what to do next when he heard Tayna.

~ Monroe! Can you hear me? ~

It took the dazed feline a few seconds to figure out Tayna was speaking to him mentally. ~ Yes I'm here. What is going on? Where are you? ~

~ It's not where I am it's where you are Monroe, you are trapped in your own mind, you have to break free…~

"My mind?" Whispered Shade, suddenly the lush jungle landscape around him faded from sight, once his mind realized that it was only an illusion did it show where he really was. The landscape was plain, and seemed to be a myriad of colors with no real substance to it at all.

~ Remember Novice! You are inside your own mind. Regardless of what that monster tells you, you are still in control! ~

"Yes your mind Sheedo," Spat his now recovered enemy, "but the realization of my illusion still will not save you!" With that the other feline lunged claws out to rip Shade to shreds.

"No!" Roared Shade holding his arms in front of him to block the onslaught of the incoming attack. The whole reality seemed to shift and twist and that was the last vivid thought he had before blackness overtook him…

"Heaven help us all if he ever returns…" Tayna in reference to Shadow, after his death

Several hours later…

Tayna was still shaking, she carefully held a cup of tea in her paws and forced herself to try and relax while drinking it. How can I relax!? One of the most evil and cruel creatures ever to walk this part of the galaxy has returned and there is nothing I can do about it. Well there is something, but I do not want to murder an innocent to destroy him… Destroying his body didn't work last time anyway…

Tayna sighed and placed her half-full cup on a table and looked at the second futon, Shade was still out cold from his battle earlier. From what she could pick up Shade was fighting for all he was worth on the astral planes, but it wouldn't have been enough her Novice didn't have that type of mental discipline yet. Tayna had no choice but to literally reach into Shade's mind and yank that monster away to shut him back into whatever dark corner of her Novice's mind he had been trapped in. The drawback was that the action had rendered Shade Monroe unconscious, the plus was the blood red feline was restored to Shade's normal appearance. It had taken her an hour to get herself and Shade back to the tree house, and while he was still out cold Tayna did some hard thinking. On her actions in the past and what to with Shade now where uppermost in her mind.

Very slowly Shade came back to reality, the last thing he remembered was that creature about to rip his face off and enjoy every second or it. Shade snapped back to reality real quick after that… "Wha.." She gasped sitting up. A quick glance around soon sent a sense of relief through him. He was back in the tree house in his own bed. Was it all a bad dream? He thought.

"I only wish it was a bad dream Novice." Came Tayna's subdued voice, "But unfortunately for you and I it's an all too real reality."

Shade looked around and saw that darkness had already fallen, in the far distance he heard the thunder rumblings of an oncoming storm. Not uncommon on this jungle moon, only a few lights were on inside the tree house. "What the hell happened?" Muttered Shade as he struggled to sit up.

"Good question." Muttered Tayna, "And I fear neither of us has the answers we want."

"What's that suppose to mean? Who was that guy?" Shade winced as he slowly climbed out of the bed. He hurt all over, for a battle that was fought in his mind he sure felt like he was in a real one.

Tayna sighed and replied. "His name is Shadow, and he is one of the darkest Rogue's ever to travel the galaxy that I know of. His deeds make what Vixen does look like child's play. Whole cities have been destroyed due to his actions and manipulations alone, lives mean nothing to him, he revels in destruction and devastation. His greatest joy is bringing death in the most brutal and cruel way possible."

Shade swallowed, "Why was he attacking me?"

Tayna bit her lip, "Shadow was killed before you were born, just before the Knight Wars began his body destroyed and burnt to ashes. Evidently his soul survived and he now wants to come back…"

"He want's to possess me!" Roared Shade in shock and pure horror.

Shade saw a hint of sadness in Tayna's dark eyes, "It's too late Monroe, he already has."

"What? No!" Snapped Shade, before Tayna could say another word the feline was out of the tree house and had vanished into the darkening jungle. She looked out the window and spied a bolt of lighting lance across the sky. She knew the sheets of rain would soon follow, she donned a heavier cloak and prepared to go after him.

Normally Shade was rather careful when he journeyed into the jungle, he rarely left the house after dark and or during a thunderstorm. The dangers were far too great. However the danger that now lurked inside his own soul made the natural dangers that surrounded him pale in comparison. HOW! His mind roared. How could have this have happened? I KNOW I would have never let something so evil into my self or anybody else for that matter, I would have killed myself first…

By now Shade was in a full sprint, he had no clue on where he was going or what he was going to do next. He briefly considered killing himself, then realized that would be foolish. Evidently this Shadow had been killed before, and was now returned… His death would just allow Shadow to possess somebody else, and Shade wouldn't wish this monster on anybody, even Andross didn't deserve this hell. At last the skies above opened and the expected rain came pouring down. It forced it's way through the layers of leaves and branches above and soon Shade was soaked down to his skin.

The only plus to the whole mess was the fact that the rain was somewhat warm. One of the few benefits to living on a tropical moon…cold weather was not in the forecast at all. He finally reached a small outcropping; he sometimes came to this point while on break for his lessons. The jungle came to an abrupt halt as the ground gave way to a severe drop, at least a few hundred feet below. And the view was normally incredible, however without the canopy of leaves above him to defuse the onslaught of rain; Shade truly felt the full effects of the fury of the storm.

It's didn't even bother him.

He had no idea of how long he stood there in the rain, letting the sheets of pouring water beat on him worse than Tayna's staff ever did. Somehow he felt like he deserved it, that he should receive some punishment for harboring something so corrupt and evil…

~ Are you through beating yourself up? ~

Tayna. Or her mental voice to be precise. ~ Go away Teacher. ~ Snapped Shade back, ~I want to be alone… ~

She sighed, ~ Despite what you think, it's not your fault… ~

~ How can it NOT be my fault! I brought him back! ~ Shade could sense Tayna was practically behind him, the rain was letting up a little. Most tropical thunderstorms usually didn't last long.

~ Shadow told me one thing when he had your body under his control…he stated that he possessed you from the moment of conception. You had know way of stopping him then, it's not your fault Monroe… If anybody is to blame for your predicament now it should be me… ~

Shade spun around, "You? How could you be responsible for Shadow?"

The small ferret was slightly damp and seemed to appear slightly deflated, "How about I tell you the whole sordid tale back at the tree house. You may like to stand about in the rain soaked to the core…I however do not…" Tayna turned about and began to walk back in the direction of her home.

Shade sighed and followed.

Later, Shade was wrapped in a blanket as his clothes dried and sitting on one of the chairs in the main area. Tayna was hanging up the drenched cloak she had worn when she followed him into the jungle. After she was done and poured them both some tea she began her tale.

"Too many years than I'm willing to admit ago, the Knights were still an honored force to reckoned with yes there were Rogues, but they were part of the whole scheme of things. I have trained many Knights in my day, but Shadow was different from the start. I took him as my Novice when he was about 16-17 years old, a few years older than normal. Most become Novices at ages 12-13, when the majority of their powers emerge, Shadow was found on a small out of the way world. A Knight was among the exploration party and almost immediately sensed who and what Shadow was, he was brought to me and I began to train him." Tayna paused.

"It was a huge mistake. He was a rebel from a start, I had a sick feeling that his might go Rogue, but I hand no idea what would happen when he did finally did so. We believed that the Rogues among our ranks were needed. There cannot be good without evil, light without darkness. The Cosmos needs balance, therefore we allowed Rogues in those days free rein, unless they started harming innocents, then we stepped in and took necessary action. Never before, in retrospect… Maybe we should have…" Again Tayna paused to take a sip from her tea.

"Shadow had almost completed his training when it happened. Just before he was due to complete his final trials he vanished, one morning I awoke and he was simply gone, all of his belongings were still in place, but himself and his weapon, were gone. I wanted a search done immediately, my fellow Teachers felt I was overreacting, Shadow was almost a full Knight, and he could take care of himself. I had deep regrets about following their advice on leaving Shadow to follow his own path. He surfaced about two months after that, though we did not know it at the time." Again Tayna paused, and seemed to be reluctant to continue…she finally found the words and continued.

"During the years of Shadow's training, we were all hunting for a particular Rogue, the absolute worst of them all, called Nekoshi she was an Imperial born Knight. Both herself and her twin sister entered into training together, their Teacher's name has been lost to history, when they completed training Nekoshi went Rogue. She reveled in destroying lives, and not through murder either, using mind games and tricks she was able to manipulate various officials to began wars that resulted in countless lives, she was quiet for some years after that until Shadow vanished. Somehow she had convinced him to join her band, as her Novice, Shadow's powers increased at least hundred fold. And the reign of terror began…"

"Do I want to know what they did?" Muttered Shade.

Tayna shook her head, "No you do not. After two years of hunting and tracking I had finally found my wayward Novice on a small moon and not in the company of Nekoshi at the time. The moon barren was practically barren, and the final battle was fought there. It took almost all of my strength but I finally killed him…I burned his body on the spot, I thought that was the end of him, my saber was destroyed in the battle and have never used one up since. Evidently he had enough power to keep his soul intact and was searching for a suitable host… Now he has found one."

"Me." Muttered Shade miserably.

She nodded, "He must have possessed one of your parents for a time, and at the second of conception took you as his own…he's been waiting for your powers to come to surface ever since." Sighed Tayna.

"And now he has them…" Sighed Shade.

Tayna's eyes hardened, "Not yet he doesn't, I don't know if we can get rid of him completely, but I'm quite sure we can discipline your mind to control him!"

Shade's eyes widened, "What?"

"If we expel him from you now, he'll just find another host. But his will was not strong enough to eclipse your own, when you first came here it appeared that your powers were repressed, I believe this was a way to keep Shadow's will from taking over your own until you were strong enough to fight him. Evidently, whomever you had for a teacher had great foresight, now let's hope it doesn't go to waste." Snapped Tayna.

Shade nodded, "Fine by me! Wait a second…Shadow kept calling me Hikage Sheedo… Why would he do that?"

Tayna paused, "I'm wondering how much was repressed in your mind, memories as well as powers can be locked away for protection or punishment. I know some of the older Knight Bloodlines quite well, I'll see if I can find anything under the name Hikage, maybe we can find other reasons why Shadow is fixated on you…"

Shade yawned, and Tayna sighed, "You better get some more rest Novice, if you thought the training you have been through before was tough, it's going to triple if we are to keep Shadow on a mental leash…" Shade nodded and crawled back into his futon. In a matter of moments he was fast asleep.

As he slept Tayna went to a small bookcase and pulled out several old volumes, she carefully flipped through the pages until she reached the proper area. There were four major classes of Knights, Warrior, Wisdom, Healer and Elemental. All marked by distinctive tattoos across the right eye, Shade was a member of the Elemental class and his powers were carried through direct blood relation. Therefore if his true name is Hikage then it should be mentioned somewhere in the old texts. Many records were lost during the War after Shadow's death; she was lucky to have kept these few volumes.

After a few hours, she finally found something, the Hikage Family were carriers of the Elemental powers, currently it was believed that what few members of the family that had survived the war were either killed in the mad hunt for Knights, or in deep hiding. Tayna looked over the names of the Family trying to find a likely candidate for Shade's parents or ancestor when she spotted a name that made her blood run cold.

Hikage Nekoshi.

She smacked herself in the head for not seeing it sooner, if the rumors she heard while tracking Shadow were true, he and Nekoshi were lovers. It would make sense that she would ensure his survival in the most powerful form she could find. Some how Tayna doubted that she was Shade's direct ancestor, but Nekoshi did have a twin sister, and they despised each other. Due to the family's power, Tayna also doubted that Shadow could have possessed any member of that bloodline for any length of time. But what of the other side of his family tree? If that side was not part of the Knights… It would have been very easy for Shadow to slip in without notice…

Tayna's finger ran across the page to the name of Nekoshi's sister. Hikage Obakeneko.

When morning came, Tayna promised herself to have a nice long talk with her Novice on who he really was…

"After the first war much knowledge of who…and what…we are was destroyed by the Knight Hunters. They claimed it was for the greater good, whose? Theirs or ours?" - Mariko; Member, Black Dolphins Team

Another month had passed, marking the eight-month mark since his arrival here. Shade was currently in deep meditation; he and Tayna had been trying to uncover more of his memories from early childhood. Shade's current memory only went back to his entrance into the Academy, with only vague memories before that. Both were convinced that the key to defeating Shadow was locked in those memories, or at least how he was able to possess Shade in the first place.

All was quiet, until Shade suddenly grabbed his head and yowled in pain. Tayna was at his side in a second. "You found another block?" She asked.

"What was your first clue?" Gasped Shade.

"Don't let up," Instructed Tayna. "Focus yourself, try and break through…"

Shade nodded and focused his powers for a few more seconds, he yelped again and shook his head to clear it. "What did my former teacher use to put that block up?" He rasped, "Duristeel?"

Tayna sighed, "Maybe we are going at this from the wrong direction, some memories came back when you first gained, or re-gained as the case may be, your powers. Shadow appeared as your powers and the usage of those powers increased. Maybe instead of trying to breach those blocks now, we should continue with your training and hope the barriers fall down with time."

Shade nodded, "Anything will be better than giving myself migraines." He got to his feet.

Tayna's mouth twisted into a wry smile; "Yes it's my job to give you headaches. Her staff made a subtle move to his head; Shade blocked it with his paw without even looking.

"Will you ever stop?" He groaned.

"No." She honestly replied.

He shook his head and made his way out of the tree house and to the Iriah, it had been over a month since Shadow made his first appearance, and not so much as a peep from him since. It made both Shade and Tayna rather nervous, it was as if he was waiting for someone or something… Shade shook his head again to clear it from the dark thoughts, he finally reached his jet, and climbed into the seat. {Any word Iraih?} He asked.

{Just one message…}

{Don't… You… Dare…} Hissed Shade glaring at the jet.

(Shade.} The Iriah finished with a giggle as a letter from Beatrice popped onto the screen.

Dear Shade,

I'm assuming that since I haven't heard from you in awhile that Tayna must really be putting you through hoops. I hope your okay, be sure to tell Tayna that I want you back in one piece (smiles). Things are doing okay, I finally got some reliable news from Lylat, and it's not at all good.

Bill has tried twice to get a formal investigation launched against General Grayson; both times his efforts have been stonewalled. He's pissed, and that's putting it mildly, he finally gave up on the formal route and doing his own investigation in private in hopes of gathering enough information to the point where the CMF cannot ignore the need for a formal inquiry, I hope that he's careful. Now he has to worry about Pepper finding out about his activities as well as our father. Oy! At least Mike is helping him, as well as most of Alpha Base; most of my old unit knew what my father did to me BEFORE I changed my name back, so they are doing the work Bill couldn't do himself. Heh!

As to where the Dolphins are currently? Some small moon called Bangkok in the Mino System, this place unbelievable. I mean I have seen some pretty liberal places in my time, but this place might even make Katt blush! Yow! Oh, and guess who gave us the info from Lylat? StarFox, and yes Katt is with them, evidently she's taken Mariko's role on keeping them all somewhat sane.

It was Peppy who sent a message from Bill to us. The message was mainly for me, but there was a note from Peppy to Ariel as well, she told him our location, in the hopes that he can convince Fox to take a few jobs in our neck of the woods. According to Peppy, Fox is about as depressed, as Mari is these days. That and since the end of the war jobs are pretty thin in Lylat. Ariel's got a few jobs lined up for us here, so looks like we are staying put for now. Make sure you get your fingers healed soon you can write back!

Love Beatrice

Shade grinned at the possibility that the New Atlantis and the Great Fox would be at the same port, which meant that Mariko was likely to have a much-needed reunion with Fox in the foreseeable future. At least things were looking up for both Mariko and Beatrice… He wished her could say the same, with the threat of Shadow hanging over his head. He sighed and began to type a response.

Dear Beatrice

Life, it seems, is getting better for you all. Sadly, I cannot truly share the turn of good events. I have found something far more dangerous than before... I would have been better off never coming back to Lylat until you and the rest of the Black Dolphins took out Andross. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was only a roguish mercenary flying solo or team missions, being just a normal person. Now, with all of these powers surfacing, something even worse has come with it.

I wish that I could say there is no threat to me, but I'm afraid my time here has extended drastically. If you ever have the time to visit, it would mean more to me than anything right now.

Well, I've told you all of the bad, so I might as well throw in some good news. I've got the basics of my mental powers down, and Tayna has to put some effort into sneaking up on me now. Her little spider has also taken a liking to my kimono, and I have to fish him out regularly. Don't be surprised if I come back with a stowaway upon my return. I've also identified my lineage and family history on my mother's side, Mariko might be interested in this. I come from the family Hikage, two of my ancestors are sisters called Hikage Obakeneko, and Hikage Nekoshi. They're twins, and if Mariko knows half of what I think she does, she'll know all about Nekoshi.

If I ever find a way to contact you telepathically or something so that we can communicate 'face to face,' I'll probably do it, so I'll probably see you in your dreams or something. Who knows, maybe we can form some sort of mind link at this distance to share thoughts and feelings? Wouldn't hurt to try (I hope).

With fervent love,
Shade Monroe - "Hikage Sheedo"

After he had sent it off to the New Atlantis, he sighed. Iriah, picking up on his mood asked. {Master Shade? Are you all right?}

For once Shade didn't correct his jet on calling him 'Master' he was that preoccupied, {Depends Iraih… How do you define 'all right'…} He finally answered.

{Is Tayna hurting you?} Muttered the jet in an accusatory tone.

{No, Iraih, it's not her it's me… I'm not sure if I should continue my training anymore, I've found out some things that may pose a greater threat if I continue.} Sighed Shade.

{Well,} The Iraih offered helpfully, {what would happen if you don't finish training?}

After a few minutes of thought Shade winced, according to Tayna, his physical skills were almost perfected, this included his telekinesis, using his stave, battle awareness, and the majority of his elemental powers. The root of Shade's problem was his mental discipline, most Knights of his age had already at least five to eight years of experience in that field, it was among the very first skills taught to Novices, and was almost reflex by the time training was complete.

However according to Tayna he had his powers repressed early on in his training, along with a few crucial memories. It also appeared that whomever trained him had started with the elemental powers instead of the mental skills. They had both poured over the old texts Tayna had to answer this one. It appeared that the Elemental Classes preferred to teach control over the elemental powers before the mental because of the high risk to others, the odd fire ball, or lightning blast wouldn't be much fun to innocent bystanders.

The rest of the story could only be assumed, once Shade had full control over his elemental powers; Shadow must have surfaced for the first time. Now it would have been easy for an Elemental Teacher to keep Shadow at bay until Shade's defenses could be brought up. Why the repression? Something else must have happened before any action could be taken against Shadow, leaving the only two choices, one was to let Shadow take over, or two a repression until he could receive the training he needed.

He finally answered his ship's question, {Now that I think of it Iriah, it could be worse if I don't finish training. Much worse.} Now that his physical skills were at their peak while his mental skills were suffering the threat to himself and others if Shadow took him over completely had increased by a hundred fold. He had to finish his training, no ands, ifs or buts about it. Now matter how painful it would be, and he wasn't just referring to Shadow either, he sighed and placed his paw above him stopping the purple crystal in its tracks.

{How'd she get there!?} Gasped Iriah as Tayna stood over the cockpit with a small frown on her face. Shade rolled his eyes and grinned.

{She climbed up like I did of course.} Shade quipped as Tayna nodded in agreement.

{Now if you two are through, somebody needs to start learning about the astral plane.} She gently tapped on Shade's head with the staff to make her point.

Shade shrugged and climbed out of the jet, part of him was not looking forward to this next phase of training.

Two hours later…

"You have to relax Monroe." Grumbled Tayna, both were seated on the floor of the tree house.

Shade was reaching into the back of his kimono, "Sorry about that Teacher, but (irk) I sort of (growl) have a problem in here."

Tayna's voice was dead pan, "What's wrong, do you have fleas?"

Shade glared at her, as he finally seemed to get a hold of whatever was bothering him. "No I do not have fleas, I do have a spider though…" Shade pulled his paw out and in it was the furry spider that seemed to like hanging around him lately. The spider looked at Shade as if to say 'Sorry' while Tayna snickered.

"This could be a good omen." She muttered.

"How so?" Quipped Shade, as he set his 'friend' on the floor. "I may like spiders, but not crawling in my kimono."

"Shadow hates spiders, and they couldn't stand him. If they like you, then Shadow's influence must still be low." Explained Tayna, "Now are you ready to try again?"

Shade nodded and he closed his eyes using the meditation techniques Tayna had taught him he slowly disconnected himself from the 'real' world. After what he assumed to be about 5 minutes he heard Tayna's voice again. "Open your eyes Novice."

Shade carefully opened his eyes and spotted Tayna in front of him, it looked like they were still in the tree house. "I didn't get it right again." Muttered Shade.

Tayna cocked an eyebrow; "You think so? Look down."

Shade did as she asked and yelled in surprise. He was about two feet off the ground and looking at his body still seated on the floor! "Whoo boy." He muttered.

"Welcome to astral projection, Novice, this is where you'll find yourself if Shadow takes you over. You need to learn what you can and cannot do in this state of mind."

Shade was 'walking' through the tree house in wonder, everything looked the same, yet different. The really eerie thing was that the spider was following his astral form yet leaving his physical body alone. "Hey! Can you see me little guy?" He asked looking at the spider 'waved' at him. "Cool." Muttered Shade.

"Yes, most Knights and creatures like this spider can see and hear you in this form. But other than that you will be invisible. This can be very frustrating, so prepare your self. There are other ways to gain attention, think of yourself as a ghost for example." Explained Tayna, who was also in astral form.

"I can 'haunt' people?" He asked looking at his body from the outside was defiantly different, that's for sure.

She nodded, "But I think this is enough for now, you are still new at this."

"So, uh… how do I get back in?" Shade motioned to his sitting body.

"The same way you got out." Sighed Tayna, "close your eyes and focus…" After a few seconds Shade felt a jolt, as if he was just forced to carry a ton of lead. He opened his eyes and felt really woozy. "The first major drawback of astral projection." Explained Tayna, "It's very draining, you'll be able to do it for longer periods of time as you grow stronger mentally."

Shade nodded… Maybe this mental stuff wouldn't be as bad as he thought…

"I really, really, really miss Beatrice…" Shade Monroe, before going to sleep one night…

"I cannot believe you could have done something so stupid!" Yelled Tayna, thankfully Shade was sheepish enough to take his bonks with little resistance.

"She's my girlfriend." Offered Shade lamely, "I miss her that's all." Preparing himself for another onslaught of hits with the staff.

"It's just an abuse of your power! The very thing Rogues revel in!" Ranted Tayna.

"It was only a little dream walking." Replied Shade, the second he said it he knew what the reaction would be, and barely blocked the staff as it rushed for his head, he also kept a hold of it, he wanted to keep the bonks to a minimum.

"If that's all you did I wouldn't be so mad." Spat Tayna, "Do you have any self control what so ever!"

"Around Beatrice, when I haven't seen her in nine months? Not much I guess..." Shade's eyes then narrowed, "You didn't have to watch!"

"You two were rather difficult to ignore!" Retorted Tayna.

"It's not like she could get pregnant…can she?" Squeaked Shade.

"No she cannot." Assured Tayna, "But if that girl is who I think she is you just led Shadow straight to her!"

Shade paled, "You mean since Shadow's in my mind, he can get to her without me knowing about it?"

"It is a possibility Novice." Scowled Tayna. "Abet a slim one, but the threat is there, we can only hope that I buried Shadow deep enough so that he didn't notice all the 'details' of your activities."

Shade had the decency to blush. "Now what do I do?" He muttered.

"We continue and hope for the best, what's done is done, and nothing we can do will change it." Finished Tayna, "Since it appears you have mastered most of nuisances of astral projection, we should move on…"

Shade nodded, "What's next?"

Tayna got a fiendish grin, "Mental shielding…"

"Oh no…" Whimpered Shade. He had a really, really bad feeling about this. "What are you going to do throw rocks at me in the astral plane?"

"No." Snickered Tayna as she headed for the door of the house.

"Beat me over the head with your staff?" He whimpered as he followed her out of the tree house.

"You have a good grip on that shielding." Chirped Tayna, "And that has more to do with your thick skull than your defensive skills"

"Hey!" Yelled Shade, a tad offended by the remark.

After a long walk they reached a small cavern, Shade had never seen it before, but it gave him the creeps. As if there was something in there that was better off left alone. As if sensing his thoughts Tayna gave a great sigh. "No this place is not haunted, but for some reason it's very conductive to the type of discipline that you need practice in."

"How so?" Muttered Shade, more curious by the second.

"Not really sure about that, it could be hidden pockets of unknown gases, or the very mineral that the cave is made from, whatever the reason it's your next step." Stated Tayna.

"What do you mean? What to I have to do in there?" Shade's natural sense of curiosity was getting the better of him.

"You will stay here for at least two weeks Novice. Alone. With no outside contact. To build the defense you need you must first look within and discover your weaknesses. Then you must shore up those points and protect them." Tayna motioned for him to step inside the cave.

"How will I survive here for two weeks!" Snapped Shade.

"I have taught you those skills, you are a survivor Shade Monroe, or are you more worried on how survive with in your mind?" Inquired Tayna.

Shade sighed and wondered if Mariko went through something like this, he made a few notes to ask her about her training when this was all over. With a brief nod to Tayna he carefully walked into the cave and into the unknown.

After he vanished into the darkness Tayna gave a great sigh, she had carefully laid the foundations for Shade, now all she could do was hope that he, not Shadow came out in two weeks time.

After exploring the cave for about an hour Shade found both clear water, and several open aired portions where the roof had fallen in, allowing plants and animals inside. Therefore survival was now assured from his point of view. The whole atmosphere of the cave seemed to urge him to sit down and think, or meditate. Following his instincts he found a small crevice and sat down and closed his eyes.

Time seemed to go a little weird after that…

… Many images came to Shade during that time, two identical female black cats, yet inside both were different. One followed the light the other the darkness. A great war erupted and the sisters fought. The dark one vanished.

Time passed, the Light believed that her sister had died and began a family. She bore twins, a son and a daughter. But the Dark Sister returned, and killed her sister's daughter. The Light barely saved her son and fled, she trained her son in the Power before passing on to the next world.

He changed his name and began a family, and bore twin sons, and again the Dark Sister returned and attacked. This time both himself and his family survived and his children grew up in peace. The Knight hunters later killed one of his sons. The other grew up and began a family before his father passed on to the next world. He bore a single daughter and named her after the Light Sister from so long ago. Again the Dark attacked killing all but the daughter.

That daughter swore an oath that no more innocents would die at the Dark One's hands, she honed her then small powers into ones that would rival her namesake's legendary power. She left her home and the graves of her family behind and began her quest…

Shade snapped out of his trace with a start. He wondered how long he had been meditating. He silently wished that he had brought a PADD with him so he could record his visions before he forgot the details. It was weird, could the two sisters in his dream be his two ancestors Obakeneko and Nekoshi? He made a note to look into the history of those two after he completed his training. On another note how would those visions help him with his mental defenses? Could they be part of the repressed memories? A warning of what was to come?

"Well Shade there's only one way to find out!" He muttered to himself, "Keep meditating…" Before he could get back into his trace his stomach grumbled. "After I eat that is."

After finding some food and eating it Shade once again sat under that same tree, and again, time sort of got wonky…

… Shade could have sworn he was back on the New Atlantis, there were red warning lights flashing everywhere. He ran down the hall, he turned a corner and almost vomited.

It was Ariel, or more accurate, what was left of the New Atlantis' Commander. It appeared that someone or something had ripped out half of her torso and various parts were strewn about. Shade ducked back around the corner and attempted to regain his senses.

'It's only a vision, it's not real.' He kept thinking to himself. 'But what could it mean?' Suddenly he heard an ear piercing scream, and he felt the blood in his veins grow cold. 'Goddess no!' He silently screamed, 'Beatrice!' Shade was practically flying down the halls toward the source of the cry. Has drew closer he heard a dark laughter punctuated by what seemed to be sounds of Beatrice fighting for all she was worth.

Shade recognized the laughter; it still haunted his nightmares…

Shadow.

Or to be more specific Shadow using his body…

… Using it to hurt the one person he loved above all others…

Her screams cut through him again…

If the vision was going to continue, Shade never knew he forced himself out of the nightmarish scene and back into the real world. After a few minutes of regaining his internal balance he bent over and vomited behind the tree. After he emptied the contents of his stomach Shade barely picked himself up and moved toward the small pool of clear water to clean out his mouth and splash some water on his face.

"It was only a vision." He muttered to himself, "That will never happen…I'll kill myself before I let that monster near Beatrice." He opened his eyes and looked into the almost mirror like surface of the pool. As he gazed into his own reflection the image seemed to twist and shift and turn before his very eyes…

Oh no…no no no! Not again! Shade thought desperately, he was powerless to turn away from the clear surface of the pool as his own reflection turned into that of Shadow himself. He focused for all he was worth…the next thing he was aware of was the feeling of being shoved outside his own body…

Shadow opened his eyes and was happy with what he saw. That little trauma he triggered in the fool Sheedo's mind weakened the walls he was locked behind just enough for him to take over again. He cackled with dark humor. He really must thank his former Teacher; she did a superb job of training this form. He knew exactly what give to give her and what prize to present to his love when he found her.

Tayna's head on a platter and the crystal from her broken staff would do nicely, Shadow thought to himself. The red furred feline walked briskly toward the cave's entrance he believed there were none to oppose him in his dark quest…

He was wrong as something…or someone knocked him back into the main part of the cavern. Shadow blinked and looked around. There was no one else here. He knew that fool Tayna would not be around, who could even conceive of the power to oppose him? He started to get to his feet again, when once again he was knocked down. It slowly dawned on Shadow what was happening.

"SHEEDO!" He roared, "Do no presume that you little astral tricks can stop me!"

Shadow heard no response but got one anyway, as he was knocked back into the pool and shoved under the water a few times. As the red feline sputtered for air, he thundered again. "So be it! You wish a battle of the minds, then I shall give you what you crave!"

The body of Shadow slumped to the ground.

Shade was taking careful breaths as he witnessed his body, under the control of Shadow collapse. He was lucky so far and he knew it…Tayna shared one small piece of vital information with Shade as she was training him these last few weeks. The Astral plane was Shadow's greatest weakness.

However it turned out that Shade had a natural knack for the skills needed to traverse these realms of the mind. Once Tayna showed him the basics he learned the skills quickly, much to the surprise of both student and teacher. He'd never be Tayna's caliber, but he was more adept than Shadow was at his training. Now his only hope rested on weather or not Shadow had shored up his weakness. Since Shade easily tossed him back from the Astral Plane, he assumed so.

Shade slowly turned around as the furious Shadow appeared before him. ~ Bout time you got here monster. ~ Snapped Shade, ~ What took you so long? Out of practice? ~

If it was physically possible, Shadow got even madder. ~ You will regret opposing me whelp! I will have you with or without your cooperation! ~

~ I'll die before I let you loose into the world again. ~ Stated Shade flatly.

A dark smile crept across Shadow's features ~ So be it…~

"The greatest challenge a Knight can face does not come in any physical battle, but with in our own minds. They hold the ultimate key to one's survival or destruction." - Excerpt from Surviving Knight Texts, Author Unknown

By the time Shadow struck his first blow Shade wasn't even there, he was halfway back into his body. ~ Wha… ~ Snapped Shadow.

Shade felt his mind and body come back together with a jolt, lordy did it hurt this time, before he could recover from the sudden feeling of being back in the real world he felt something else enter him…

"Get out of my head!" He thundered.

~ No! My return was predicted by destiny! You and your pitiful Teacher cannot stop destiny! ~ Mocked Shadows voice from within his mind.

"Watch me." Growled Shade has he spotted a small fracture in a part of his mind's defenses. Quick as can be he sealed it up tight. He heard a snarl of frustration from Shadow and grinned.

Suddenly Shade saw a way to use the creature in a positive way. Shadow instinctively lunged at the weakest parts of his mind's defenses. It was a simple matter to use his awareness to predict where he would strike and shore up that weak spot. Shade had to laugh at the irony.

Shadow was helping Shade built his own prison. As Shadow's frustration and anger increased, so did Shade's inner calm and control increase. And insured that Shadow would never escape again.

How long Shade remained in mental combat he never knew or could tell. Almost ten months of pain and sweat came into play in this single decisive battle. A every skill every lesson every bit of advise that he had absorbed had to be used here and now. If Shade lost this battle he would lose everything.

Against Shadow's raw anger, came calm control. Wisdom helped him see that attacking Shadow would be useless, by defending only he allowed Shadow to expend precious energy and gave Shade the greater advantage. The awareness gave Shade insight of every single nook and cranny in his mind. Bit by bitter bit Shade forced the demon back, by careful planning and manipulation he maneuvered Shadow exactly where he wanted him to be…

Too late did Shadow realize what was going on, far far too late. He silently thought that if he killed Sheedo now, they would both lose and while he still had a way to survive, Sheedo would be no more. He was preparing what little power he had left to destroy Sheedo's mind from with in when he heard a faint message, a small voice.

Shadow smiled darkly, seems like someone else heard him has well. He decided that he could wait a bit longer for his return. With a great show he decided to give Sheedo a victory…for now…

With a final effort Shade had Shadow backed into a corner, as the spitting fury made a desperate final attempt to attack Shade the final door came crashing down. With no more than a slight whimper the red feline was sealed away into the deepest recesses of his mind.

With great effort Shade opened his eyes in the real world, he saw the faint light streaming from cracks in the cavern above and thought that there wasn't a more beautiful sight in the whole damn galaxy.

Okay there was ONE more that would have been more beautiful… but Beatrice wasn't here at the moment.

He sighed with contentment and closed his eyes in rest; the worst it seemed was over.

Morning came and went on the fifteenth day of Shade's seclusion. With careful steps Tayna made her way back to the cavern. She silently dreaded what she would find there. She was confident in her skills as a Teacher, but she was still very unsure about Shade himself.

He was so much older than any other Novice that she had taught in her long lifetime was. Add to that the additional factor of Shadow, and her Novice had an uphill battle from the very start. She stood at the entrance to the cave and paused before it. Many Novices had walked in; Knights and Rogues had come out. Again the Teacher paused, waiting and hoping for a signal or a sign to what had transpired within during the past two weeks.

At first there was none. And this scared Tayna worse than the thought of Shadow walking the world again. That her Novice had given his life to keep others safe from that evil, as Tayna gathered the courage to enter that cave and find her student a cocky voice echoed directly behind her.

"Looking for me?"

Before Tayna could blink she felt her staff whisked from her paw and thankfully she was able to block a blow before it nailed her in the head. He pivoted on her heel and snatched the staff from the smirking Shade Monroe. She scowled.

"I am very happy to say that you have passed with flying colors Monroe, Farewell." She muttered has she stalked off. Leaving Shade a bit stunned and confused in the middle of the jungle.

"What do you mean I passed?" He yelled after her.

"You have passed, done, complete, through, graduated… Need I say more?" Muttered Tayna.

"Hold on a second!" Yelled Shade he swiftly moved through the trees and dropped ahead of her. "You mean I'm done? My training is complete?!?!?!"

Shade held his head and muttered, "Think first speak later." After a few thoughtful rubs he sighed. "That was my final test? I thought it was a new lesson or skill…"

"Yes it was Monroe, it was both a lesson and a final test. The lesson and the final are one it the same, you must face your worst fears and succeed over them. How you succeed depends on weather you pass as a Rogue or a Knight."

"If I defeated Shadow using his own methods I would be Rogue, but since I didn't lower myself to his methods I became a Knight." Shade stated.

"Correct Monroe, but your training is far from over. You can ask your friend Mariko when you see her again; we never stop learning, which is why we never consider ourselves 'Masters'. You cannot 'master' something that is so profound as the forces that we can tap into, if you believe you can than beware. The powers that be will not hesitate to smack you down with a few harsh lessons."

"Is that why the Knights are they way they are now?" Asked Shade. "They got to cocky with the power?"

Tayna cocked her head a bit and muttered, "It was one of many reasons, but most believe that it was time for that era to end and a new to begin. The pieces are falling into place Shade Monroe and believe it or not both you and your friends play critical roles in what is to come."

"You mean Mariko and Arion?"

"I mean all of them, Monroe. Even those you have not yet seen will play a part, remember you still have much to learn about yourself and when the time is right all will be clear. Now I think you must be going now…" Tayna was about to walk off when Shade stepped in her way.

"What does that mean?" He muttered.

"You have the skills Monroe." Tayna walked by him. "Find out for yourself…"

With those words Tayna simply vanished into the Jungle. After staring at where she went for a few minutes Shade started to jog lightly toward the Iriah. Tayna was right, with a bit a focus Shade could feel that something was not quite right with this whole picture.

After he climbed into the cockpit he sighed. {Any messages Iriah?}

{Two actually… The last one was marked High Priority…it was dated about a week ago…}

{Show them in order Iriah} Sighed Shade. He had a bad feeling about this, a really bad feeling about this…

Shade,

Dear God I hope that Tayna can give you a leave from your training because something horrible has happened. I mean terrible!

Well all was going well here, even StarFox was able to reach us, and everything was great…until Vixen showed up… Then everything went sour.

Fox vanished, then there were rumors that Mariko's twin brother, Usagi, was also missing. Mariko went berserk, to put it mildly. Shade I have seen many nerve wracking sights in my day, but nothing scared me more than Mari at that moment. She left the New Atlantis that night; we haven't seen her, Fox, her brother, or a trace of Vixen since.

Frankly we are all scared, yes, even Wolf is nervous about this mess.

So if you can get here as soon as you can!

Boomer

Shade felt the blood drain from his face as he read Vixen's name again. His blood grew cold at the rest of the message. Goddess, if Wolf was spooked is must be bad. He was about to lock in the coordinates for the planet Beatrice had mentioned, Bangkok, and hoped he could pick up the New Atlantis's trial from there.

Before he did he remembered the second message. With a trembling paw he brought it up on the screen.

Shade

We found Mariko, it's bad, really bad and…she's pregnant…

Get here soon

Beatrice

The stars themselves ate his dust as the Iriah blasted off into space.

End.

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