Shadows
Pt:3
The End.

“Even with my death, as long as humans exist, I will live on. For now my death has only released an evil far greater.” Lets out a hollow chuckle ” And you thought I was bad…” - Kuzima ‘Shadow’ Shirigoshi’s last words.


Chapter 1: A Startling Revelation

May 25th, 2007

Cody Lawler, the unknown hero of our last story, is now 17 and a senior in high school. He’s dating the love of his life, Samantha. Life could not be any better for him. Unfortunately this peace is about to be broken by an evil greater than Shadow’s.
“Shit! Where the hell is it?!” Cody yells, looking all over his living room looking for something. After ten minutes Cody pulls a necklace with a small pendent with a opal set into it out from between the couch cushions. “Finally…” Cody says holding it up so the stone is level with his eye.
Cody slips the necklace over his head and heads out to the pool house to grab his swords. He attaches the sheaths to his belt and on his way out he notices the mask he fashioned out of a bandage to cover his all of his face except the left eye and a blue-grey jesters hat, the limp tassels reaching past his shoulder blades, to cover the rest of his head. Cody stands there, his hand on the door knob, thinking of whether or not he should take it with him.
“Ah, what the hell…” He finally says to himself after a few moments of consideration. He picks it up and slips it on his head, last but not least he takes his red trench coat puts it on and heads out the door.
He steps outside and looks to the cloudless sky. He then looks around him to make sure no ones there. Excellent he thinks to himself as he closes his eyes and focuses all his energy into the circle on the back of the jacket. With a flash of light two large white wings appear on Cody’s back. “I love flying…” He says to himself as he jumps high into the air. Just as he reaches the peak of his jump he spreads his wings wide.
After a while he notices he’s soaring over the park that Sam and him would hang out at. He glides down and lands next to the chimney of a near-by house, his wings vanishing. He looks around to see who was all at the park and notices Sam sitting on one of the benches. “Maybe I should go say hey…of course I should. Why would I even think of not?” Cody shrugs and pulls off the mask and gets ready to drop from the roof, but just at that moment he notices Peter walking up to the bench. “What would Peter be doing here…?” He says to himself as he leans against the chimney watching to two of them.
When Samantha notices Peter approaching she gets off the bench and walks towards him. When they meet Samantha gives him a tight hug and a small kiss on the cheek. “That‘s all the proof you should need that she‘s cheating on you.” Ryu says appearing beside Cody.
“That‘s…No…” Cody stammers, trying to deny the obvious truth in Ryu’s words.
Peter and Samantha walk back to the bench she was sitting on hand in hand. The two of them begin to talk and Cody realizes he’s to far away to hear them. So he pulls a piece of chalk out of his pocket and adeptly draws an alchemic circle on the roof, as he activates it the wind picks up and he can hear their voices as if they were sitting right next to him.
“That‘s why I don‘t think we should tell him anytime soon.” says Samantha with a sound of slight worry in her voice.
“I see your point, but I think it would be better to tell him sometime soon. Like tomorrow soon.” Peter replies.
“How about Friday?” Samantha suggests. Peter gives a wordless nod. “So let‘s get it straight, Sunday I‘ll break up with him, then we‘ll tell him about us at my graduation on Friday…” Sam says looking at the ground, her hands folded on her lap.
Peter notices Samantha’s worry, and takes her hand in his, “Don‘t worry about Cody, he‘s a tough kid, he‘ll spring back.”
“I think we've heard enough…come one kid, let‘s go.” Ryu says to Cody.
“All this time…I thought I meant something to her…“ Cody says still knelled down watching the two of them, “but she cast me aside like an old rag doll form my best friend…” Cody says as he releases the energy in the circle and turns towards Ryu, his wings appearing on his back. Ryu gives a sympathetic nod and vanishes.
When Cody gets into his room, he takes off the mask and lays face down on his bead. After a couple of minutes Cody sits up and notices the picture of him and Samantha, sitting on the exact bench he saw her and Peter at, resting on the nightstand next to his bed. Both were smiling into the camera, looking truly happy. “What a fool I was…” Cody says to himself as he flips the picture face down, suddenly his cell phone rings, breaking the silence.
“Hello?” Cody answers, trying, rather unsuccessfully, the keep the sorrow out of his voice.
“Hey, how‘s it going Cody?” Samantha says on the other end of the call.
Cody’s heart leaps into his throat at the sound of her voice. Should I call her on it now? On the other hand, should I wait? He thinks to himself. “I‘m…decent enough, you?” he replies, deciding to wait.
“Um…I need to talk to you, is Sunday good for you?” she asks.
Cody senses something in her voice, Sorrow or possibly remorse? Does she feel bad for this? …Doubtful. “Yeah, it‘s good with me.” Cody says.
“Okay, I‘ll see you then. I gotta go now, my mom‘s yelling at me to get off the phone.” she tells him.
“Okay, I‘ll see you Sunday then. Hey…I love you.” Cody says, somewhat hesitantly.
“I…love you too…Bye…” Samantha replies as she hangs up, a hint of sorrow in her voice.
Cody hangs up. “Yep, she’s sad. Now the question is what is she sad about?” Cody says to no one in particular as he lays down. Soon, Cody falls into a restless sleep.
Ch. 2: A Fight Among Friends

May 26th, 2007

Cody wakes up to the sunrise. “Damn…I barely got any sleep…” he says to the empty room. Ryu appears next to Cody, “We should head over to Peters, see if we can‘t get anything out of him, you know, just to pass the time.” Ryu says.
“Sure, but we do it my way, stick to the shadows with as little noise as possible.” Cody says as he crawls out of bed and changes out of his nightclothes.
“Fine, fine. When though?” Ryu says his arms folded in front of him.
“Noon-ish, when I usually go over there. Keith should be there today.” Cody says while trying, unsuccessfully, to put on his pants and check his watch. The results of this leaves Cody tangled in his own pants, laying on the floor in a daze.
Ryu chuckles a bit, “There‘s no hope for you, is there kid?”
Later that day Cody is in the bushes across the street from Peter’s house. Both Peter and Keith are standing outside talking about stuff.
“So, when are you going to tell Cody about you two?” Keith asks Peter.
So even Keith knew before me? What a fool I was… Cody thinks to himself.
“At her graduation this coming Friday.” Peter replies to Keith.
“Do you think it‘s wise to wait?” Keith questions.
Peter let‘s out a small laugh “He‘s going to tear me to shreds anyways, so why not push it off for a little while?” Peter replies.
Got that right asshole… Cody says in his head.
“Officially it‘s been only a day, but I‘m sure she wanted me the first day she met me.” Peter says with a large smile on his face.
Cody looses it. The jewel around his neck starts to glow with a bright light, and his normally green eyes when this happens, are shining a fierce red. “YOU BASTARD! BINDING WINDS!” Cody says shooting out from behind the bushes. Peter aptly dodges the spell, but Keith is not as lucky and gets hit square in the chest by it. He’s knocked back by the force of it, lying on the ground Keith can only watch as Cody punches Peter across the face throwing him backwards into a wall. Peter corrects his fall and is soon back on his feet running at Cody, about to punch him back. Cody simply sidesteps the punch and grabs Peter by the wrist and throws him to the ground. Cody jumps back to put some space between the two of them.
“What the hell Cody?!” Peter yells as he gets up and wipes some blood from the corner from his mouth.
Cody just glares at Peter, panting. “You…fucking…asshole…” Cody finally says, shaking his head slightly.
Damn it, he knows! How though…? That was him on the roof?! Peter thinks to himself. He slips his hands inside of his pockets and pulls out a couple gloves with some alchemical circles on the back. He takes his fighting stance and the gloves begin to cackle with electricity. The sardonyx around his neck begins to glow in the same manner as Cody’s opal. In response, Cody gets into his signature fighting stance. “I‘m not going to hold back, Peter.” Cody says. “Good, ‘cause neither was I.” Peter replies.
Cody pulls his stance close to the ground and focuses as much energy as he can. Cody focuses so much that time seems at a stand still. Suddenly, Keith realizes what’s going on. “Swift Winds Barrage!” Cody yells as he rushes at Peter faster than Peter can keep up with. Cody’s first strike hits Peter square in the chin and continues kicking Peter, throwing him higher into the air with each strike. At the peak of this barrage, Cody appears above Peter. “Swift Winds Barrage! Final Strike!” Cody flips over and plants his heel into Peter’s stomach, sending him back at the ground at a blinding speed.
But before he hit’s the ground, a cushion of water stops his fall. Cody lands nearby and looks at the one who summoned the water.
“Sam…?” Cody says, his anger suddenly dissipating.