Star League 4 (2 page)

When Ben Beaumont first approached me and asked me to be a part of a secret crime-fighting team I thought it would be a piece of cake. After all, I've been in ninja-training since I was waddling around in black nappies.

I didn't realise that the hard part wouldn't be dealing with criminals. For me the hard part is never having any privacy. I thought training to be a ninja was tough, but movie stars definitely have it tougher!

As I step out of the film studio and into the parking lot, the sound of screaming fills my ears. At first I think somebody's in trouble. Then I realise the noise is coming from a bunch of fans at the studio fence.

‘Who is that? Is she somebody famous?' shrieks a lady.

‘She just came out of Beaumont Studios, so she must be!' shouts another guy. ‘Can we get your autograph?'

I put my head down and pretend not to notice their wild screaming until I turn a corner and duck safely back into the shadows. I'm not used to this much attention and it makes me nervous.

I finally reach my trailer and shut myself inside. Silence. I take a deep breath and start to relax. And then …

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I jump as somebody knocks at the door. I slip one of the sharp throwing stars called shuriken out of my belt, ready to use it if there's an enemy outside. Then I hear a voice that makes me relax.

‘Asuka, are you in there?' It's Jay. I put the shuriken away.

‘Yeah. Come in.'

The door bursts open and Jay enters, followed by Roger, Connor, Leigh and Sam. It takes all my effort not to groan out loud. It's not that I'm not happy to see them, but I never get any time to myself any more.

‘What's up, guys?' I ask, trying to smile.

‘Way to ditch filming!' says Roger. ‘You left me all alone out there!'

‘Yeah, sorry about that,' I say guiltily. ‘It just got a bit much for me.'

‘Don't worry, nobody could blame you for getting fed up with Roger,' says Connor.

‘Fed up with me?' asks Roger. ‘It's probably you she's fed up with, Dogbreath! I know I am!'

‘Guys, guys!' says Jay, trying to calm them down. Connor and Roger are always fighting over something. Jay can normally calm them down, but this time they're really riled up. They argue back and forth until Sam speaks up.

‘Maybe I can be of assistance,' he says in his
robotic voice. ‘My programming contains an anti-argument alarm, guaranteed to put an end to all verbal disputes.' Sam presses a button on his wrist. Sam's alarm stays silent, but Chu, Leigh's pet monkey, starts screeching loudly.

‘It's the alarm!' cries Leigh. ‘We can't hear it, but Chu can. Turn it off, it's hurting his ears!'

‘Oh, I must have the frequency wrong.' Sam fiddles with the control panel on his wrist. ‘If I just adjust the pitch …'

An extremely loud, extremely annoying beeping fills my trailer.

‘Turn it off!' I shout. ‘It's too loud!'

‘What?' asks Sam. ‘I can't hear you, it's too loud!'

‘I said … ARRGHH!' I strike at Sam's wrist, not hard enough to hurt him, but with enough power to shut down any programming in it for a while. The beeping fizzles out and we all breathe a sigh of relief.

‘Now that's what I call a slap on the wrist!' says Jay.

‘Well, at least it served its primary function,' says Sam, ‘which was to break up the argument.'

‘And it almost broke up our eardrums, too,' growls Connor.

‘Maybe that would have been a good thing,' says Roger. ‘Then I wouldn't have to listen to you talk all the time.'

Connor glares at Roger. ‘I'm going to …'

‘BE QUIET!' I yell. ‘I just want some peace and quiet! Is that too much to …'

I trail off as I notice a letter sitting on my desk that definitely wasn't there this morning.

Which means somebody has snuck into my trailer.

I snatch up the letter, sniffing it to check for traces of poison. The others stare at me as I carefully open the letter and read it.

‘Are you okay?' asks Leigh. ‘You look shocked.'

‘It's from my old ninja clan,' I say, re-reading the letter. ‘Grandmistress Reika, the head of the ninjas, has gone missing.'

‘Missing?' asks Connor. ‘Or was she kidnapped?'

‘They don't know. Apparently someone called Fuzen has stepped up to become acting Grandmaster. He's called a meeting for all the ninjas, so maybe he knows something.'

I think about old Grandmistress Reika, who has been in charge of the ninjas as long as I can
remember. She's strict but she was always kind to me. I hope she's okay.

‘The meeting starts tonight,' I say. ‘If I want to get there in time I have to leave now.'

‘This seems as though it will be a fantastic information-gathering opportunity,' says Sam. ‘Just give me an hour or so to run another update on my systems and we can get going.'

‘Is it going to be outside?' asks Roger. ‘Because if it is I've got to go buy some more bug repellent. There is no way I want to run out.'

I frown. I hadn't expected the rest of the team would want to come too. After all, I thought I'd made it pretty clear it was a meeting of ninjas, and I'm the only ninja here. But they all look so excited, and I don't know how to tell them without hurting their feelings.

Thankfully, Jay notices my reaction and steps in. ‘Uh, I think this might be an invitation-only sort of thing, guys.'

‘Yeah, and we've got an invitation,' says Connor, pointing to the piece of paper. ‘So what's the problem?'

‘No, Asuka has an invitation,' says Jay. ‘We don't.' The others finally begin to understand.

‘Sorry, Asuka, we didn't mean to intrude,' says Leigh.

‘It's okay. I wish you could come,' I say, but only part of me means that. Even though the Star League are my friends, it will be good to get away for a while and spend time with other ninjas, who understand the value of some peace and quiet.

We leave my trailer to go tell Ben that I'll be taking some holiday time. After I tell him about the letter, he looks thoughtful and nods. ‘That's okay, we can pick up the filming of
Attack of the Night Assassins
when you get back. Sometimes a bit of downtime is more important than getting a job done.'

‘Thanks, Ben,' I say, grateful that he understands.

‘But I want you to take something.'

I groan, wondering what he wants me to take. A film script? Video footage of my latest performance so I can review it for mistakes?

Ben holds out a palm-sized gadget with a silver star on the front of it.

‘I'm guessing there won't be any phone reception out where you're heading so use this communicator if you need to keep in touch. Sam and I have been working on it to project crystal-clear video anywhere in the world.'

I take the communicator and press the star. It flips up to reveal a screen with a camera in it. I close the screen and slip it into my pocket. I know Ben means well, but since I'm trying to get away from it all I won't exactly feel like checking in every five minutes.

I turn to the others to say my goodbyes.

‘Be careful,' warns Jay. ‘You never know what kind of criminals are out there.'

‘Don't worry,' I say with a grin. ‘There are going to be hundreds of ninjas there. I couldn't think of a safer place in the world.'

I sit next to the driver of one of the studio cars and read him the directions in the letter. After about an hour we've left the city and are driving along thin, winding roads overgrown with tall trees. Finally we come to a dead end and the driver pulls over.

‘Are you sure you're reading that map right, Miss Kuro?'

‘Positive, but I think I have to go on foot from here.'

The driver looks at me in disbelief but shrugs his shoulders. ‘You're the boss.'

I get out of the car and stare ahead at the thick wall of trees. The driver turns around to leave and soon all I can hear are the sounds of the forest. No
noisy people asking too many questions, no fans shouting for my autograph. I'm all alone. I take a deep breath and smile.

After a few minutes I check my map again and then I'm off into the forest, silently sprinting over the carpet of leaf litter. From time to time I climb a tree to check my location, noticing that the sun is sinking closer to the horizon. I should hurry if I'm going to reach the meeting place before dark.

As I'm climbing down from a tree I hear footsteps. I freeze instantly and pull myself into a better hiding position. I wait but the footsteps don't come again, so I decide to risk a look.

I peer out from the branches and watch the forest. At first all I can see are the trees, but then –

A quick flash of movement almost makes me gasp out loud, but I keep my mouth shut before I can give myself away. Somebody is following me – probably another ninja, and if they're trying to hide then I'm willing to bet he or she is up to no good.
Even though I thought this would be a meeting of friends, there are always a few ninjas out there who try to pick fights.

I climb down from the tree and land silently on my feet. Normally I wouldn't have any trouble fighting my hunter, but the problem with ninjas is that you never know how many more are hiding in the shadows.

I sprint as fast as I can without making a sound, ducking from tree to tree. I don't have time to check my map, so I just have to hope I'm going in the right direction.

Behind me I can hear the other ninja giving chase. Whoever it is is fast but not as quiet as me, which makes me think that he or she is bigger than me, too. I lower my head and put on an extra burst of speed.

Then something whizzes past my ear and hits a tree to my right. I duck and take cover. My attacker is using some kind of projectile weapon – maybe
darts or shuriken. They mean business.

Another object flies past me and hits a tree. That's when I notice what it is, and I freeze. I reach out with a trembling hand and pick up the item, examining it closely. I know who's following me.

‘Gotcha,' I mutter, then I burst from my hiding place.

I leap over a tree root and sprint in the direction of the other ninja. As I get closer, a black shape looms out from behind a tree and rises towards me. In that split second I realise how much taller and stronger this other ninja is. But that doesn't stop me.

I launch myself at the other ninja as hard as I can.