A New World [Open]

"What....? Where am I? How did I get here?", Aella muttered to herself as she looked around at all of the buildings, and saw all of the traffic - both cars and otherwise. She had never seen buildings so tall, taller than trees themselves, including the big one back home in Niwa. Outside of a few horse drawn carts she had never seen cars either, or knew what they were for that matter. She did know well enough not to get in front of something moving that fast; and therefore she stayed exactly where everyone else was walking: on the sidewalk. If it was a safe place for them then it was bound to be a safe place for her.

She looked around with light green colored eyes; slightly petrified looking as she took in the sight of everything around her. She had never seen a place like this, and she had no idea how it was she had got here in the first place, so the whole thing was rather unnerving. She wanted to run, to find some place to hide until all of the emotions swirling in her mind calmed down enough for her to focus clearly, but she knew what a foolish idea that would be: she would never find help that way and who knew what lurked down the dark alleyways she could see from her vantage point across the street from them. So no, it was a much better idea to stay put than to hide.

Of course, she didn't know what sort of help she was going to find just by staying put either. But, she could hear Lil' Bai in her mind telling her to do just that, and she knew Lil' Bai wasn't one for giving wrong advice. She folded her arms close to herself, pulling the black cloak she was wearing tighter so that it didn't get snagged on anything or anyone passing by. Her mask, something she normally wore, hung at her hip meaning that her face could clearly be seen.

"This... is turning into a nightmare.", she said softly, no one passing by paying any attention to her at all outside of random looks due to the old black cloak she was wearing. "This place is... different." Of course, had she caught eye of her reflection she would have noticed that her surroundings weren't the only thing that was different: she too had changed. While she still looked like she always had she was somewhat older; as if she had grown from the seven year old little girl she had been back in Niwa to the eleven year old she looked like now: and for all she would know she would continue to grow; though her facial features and everything about her including the black and white panda aura would be more than enough for someone to recognize her.

Jr had been in his father's – now his – office enough times to know how to work the computer and cameras and security systems. He knew about the hidden rooms, compartments and secret passages, which were very similar to Dark Tower in Makkura. But this Boss thing was something he was going to have to get used to. Sure, he'd been Kage of Makkura, but this was different. Boss of Edge, this big ass city. The announcements had already been sent out, and whoever was still a member of The Company would know that he had taken over.

Jr was sitting in the office in the big leather chair behind the high tech computerized desk. There was no Company business for now, so he casually and lazily looked around the city through many cameras on the holographic screen above the desk, his halo glowing dimly above his head. He had to go back a few screens and zoom in when he thought he saw someone familiar. A girl with a black cloak, a mask at her hip. Was that...?

”Isn't that your niece, Aella?” asked Hi No.

”Yeah... how did she get here? Maybe she followed us when dad warped Makkura here...”

”She must be afraid and confused. You should go get her before something bad happens.”

”My thoughts exactly...” Jr stood up and opened the window his father and sister Destiny often used to jump out of back in the day, to jump out of it himself. He no longer needed Hi No Seishin's aura to stay airborne since his wings were back, and spread them to quickly descend 1,000 stories and down several streets until he reached where Aella was standing. He slowed his velocity as he got near so that he could grab her, then gain altitude and begin flying above the buildings and streets.

Hi No Seishin's aura appeared even if he didn't want it to. ”Hello, Aella. It's good to see you, so you found your way to this world too? I'm glad you're not hurt...”

”Hey, niece. I know I might look a little different, with the halo and the wings and all, but it's still me, uncle Junior. This is how I really look is all,” Jr said as he began to turn and head back toward Darkman Tower. ”You're not hurt or anything are you? Did anyone else come here with you?”

Aella had been about to take a step down the street to try and figure out where she was when suddenly she was scooped in and going into the air. A short scream escaped her before she realized, upon seeing the all too familiar aura of Hi No, that the person who had snatched her up was none other than Junior. Her heart still racing she glanced down at the ground, noticing that they had gained a great deal of height. She then heard Hi No's voice followed by Junior talking to her as well.

"Oh, I'm so glad I found you two; your rather that you found me. I had no idea how I ended up here, or where here is really." She continued to look around while Junior flew towards a giant tower she could see in the distance; it reminded her a lot of Makkura and its rather familiar tower. "I'm not hurt.. not that I know of. I feel weird though, like I just woke up from a nap and ate a bunch of that super fruit my Granny Amaya kept around for when I was sick. It makes you really hyper. It's kind of how I feel when I change fully into my bijuu's form, only I'm not all fuzzy right now."

At Junior's last question she thought back carefully to where she was and what had been going on when she had suddenly just... vanished. "I'm... not one hundred percent sure. It's very possible that Amara and Gemma came with me, or that they'll at least show up soon. I was in Kumo visiting them when... well, I'm not sure exactly how to describe it. It's like something just yanked me away. Everything went dark after that, at least until I ended up here." She then shook her head, suddenly remembering exactly why she had been in Kumo. "What happened to Makkura? To everyone else? I went to come visit you guys and everyone, the village, heck the whole country was just gone. I went to Kumo thinking that Gemma and her mom might know something, but they were just as clueless as I was. Is everyone okay?"

”Well, I don't know if dad ever told you, but me, dad, your aunt Dez, this is where we're from. This is our world,” Jr said, continuing to gain altitude as he got nearer to Darkman Tower. ”You feel strange like that because your powers and strength isn't like it used to be back where you come from. Back there, you were limited in what you could do before you started to feel strained, winded. But here, there are no limits. Here you're way stronger, so try and be careful...”

Once they were so high up, Jr pointed off into the horizon where the sky was dark and eerie looking. ”There's Makkura,” he said. “Dad warped the whole country and everybody in it back here. Him and everybody are still there, just like they were back in your world. He didn't want to stay there anymore, you know. Cause of all the shit talk and nobody doing anything, and how that Hiro dude and that Kenta dog man kept trying to act tough. He didn't want to leave Makkura behind after everything we did to build it back up, so he brought the whole place with him. I donno how he pulled it off exactly, you'll have to ask him about that yourself whenever you see him.”

Jr flew with Aella up 1,000 floors and back into his office window. Back inside of the plush office he put Aella down and closed the window, folding up his wings behind him. ”You probably see why my dad likes that tower in Makkura so much now. This is my grandad's building, it's called Darkman Tower. He left it to my dad when he retired. Now dad's left it to me. He has something here similar to The Dark, except here we're not bad guys; it's called The Company. I'm the Boss now, i'm gonna be running things. It should be dad, but he doesn't wanna leave Makkura, said it's grown on him.”

Jr sat back in the big comfortable leather chair. ”So what's up, niece? You gonna stick around in our world, or you just here to visit and gonna go back over there with those weaklings who wouldn't even come after you after you got kidnapped?”

She felt weird, different, because she was stronger here than she had been in the other world? It made a lot of sense, and it explained why she didn't feel tired, or feel as if there was only so much she could do before she did start feeling tired. The fact that there were no limits in this world intrigued Aella greatly; it meant that, while she had felt like she had reached her full potential back home, that wasn't so here: there was much more left for her to do, to learn, and to train. A whole new world to explore, and likely plenty of adventures to go on.

She looked off in the direction that Junior pointed in; towards the dark and eerie looking sky. It reminded her of Makkura just as it had been back home; where the sun didn't shine and darkness prevailed. It brought a smile to her face to know that the village and especially everyone in it, her family and otherwise, were okay. She listened as Junior went on to explain why they had left the other world; how all of the shit talking, barking, and empty threats had driven them away. She couldn't say she blamed them, not at all. She wouldn't have wanted to stick around a place like that, having to deal with all of that, on top of dealing with the fact that each and every person from this world would've known that their powers were stunted, surpressed.

When Junior flew her into the office window and put her down she looked around the office with a great deal of curiosity. At least, until he asked her the question that she herself had been thinking back. Focusing her green colored gaze back on her uncle seated in the leather chair a thoughtful expression crossed her face. "I don't think I will return back home. Back home, even though I was only seven, I felt like I had got as far as I was going to be able to. Like I had reached my full potential and there was nothing left to do. I knew each of the villages like the back of my hand because I had visited them so much, I knew all of the abilities and things I had to learn. Here... I don't feel like that. I feel like I can continue on growing for a long time; and there's a lot I have to learn about this world." She then sighed softly, finally willing to admit something she hadn't been before. "And you're right... returning there would be foolish. No one came after me when I was kidnapped... what would happen to me if that happened again? If Ranmaru showed up and grabbed me up? He's full of bijuu; I wouldn't be able to fight against him by myself. I would die. Especially because all of you are here now."

Her arms folded across her chest as she thought over what she had just spoken out loud; it had been fear she hadn't bothered to acknowledge until now. So, as she fell silent, she wandered over to the giant window and looked out of it at the city, all while wondering what Junior's response was going to be.

”Alright, well here. You're gonna need this,” Jr said, opening the drawer on his right side and taking out a necklace. A pendant was connected to it in the shape of a “C”. He slid it across the computerized desk toward her. ”There's some powerful people around who're able to manipulate time and reality; people who can just think about something happening to you and it'll happen. This world is way different than yours. So to make things safe for everybody, my dad and my grand dad made something called the “Dead Zone.” A full blooded Kane can do whatever they want freely, but anyone else will die if they try certain things in city limits like teleporting, causing widescale damage or messing with time and reality. If you wear this you can do what you want without worrying about getting killed. People usually have to go through a long test to get one of these, but you're family, and you already proved yourself over in ninja world. I'll let you have one for free.”

Company Pendant:

”Also... if you were to learn how to teleport yourself, NEVER try to teleport yourself into this building, ok? Even if you have that on, you'll still die. Use the front door on the ground, the door on the roof, or this window right here.”

Aella said she was staying here. This is what made Jr grin himself. She didn't belong over in that place anymore, and while he doubted that crazy man Ranmaru was so crazy that he'd attack Makkura while it was there, he didn't doubt that he'd attack one of their people now that they were gone and could no longer do anything to stop him.

”Glad to hear you're staying here... i'll keep my eyes open for Gemma and Amara too, if they show up somewhere. Are you going to live here in Edge, or Makkura, since you'd be more familiar with it than this big weird place with the metal boxes rolling around on rubber circles?” Those were Hi No's words when she'd first laid eyes on Jr's homeworld. Since then she'd began to learn and understand about technology, and Aella would soon as well...

Aella watched as Junior pulled something out of a drawer and then slid it across the desk to her. She picked it up and looked at it curiously before putting the necklace on; the necklace laying over top the dragon pendant one she wore all of the time that connected her to Gemma. She listened carefully as he explained about how his dad and grandfather created something they called the Dead Zone, and how a full blooded Kane could do whatever they wanted freely, but that anyone attempting certain things like teleporting, causing widescale damage, or messing with time and reality without one of these pendants would die. It caused her to instantly think of Gemma; and the fact that both girls had necklaces that connected them to each other, a way for them to teleport back and forth whenever they wanted to see each other - at least that was how it worked in the other world. She then listened as he went on to explain that even though she had the pendant she should never try teleporting into the tower; to always use the front door, roof access, or the window that Junior had brought her through.

She thought about Junior's question, and what might happen to Gemma if she were to try teleporting to her while she was in Edge. "I'm not sure... I'm worried about Gemma. Her and I have necklaces that at least in the other world allowed us to teleport to each other. I'm worried about her trying to use it. I suppose I should go to Makkura though and let everyone know I'm here and I'm not going back to the other world." She looked back out the window, interested and intrigued about everything she was seeing. "I think though, when I'm sure my friend is safe and so is her mother, that I'll go back and forth between here and Makkura... this place interests me, and I have a lot to learn. What better way to do that then by experiencing things myself? Books can only teach so much."