”Are we there yet?”

”No.”

….............

”How about now?”

”It's been five seconds since the last time you asked. What do you think?”

”....... No?”

”Exactly.”, I said. Elie had started asking that same question for a while now and it was slowly getting under my skin. I am a patient man but I do have my limits.

It had been about an hour since we got moving and we still were in the Everfree.

…...........

Yeah, we are kind of lost.

”We are lost, aren't we?”, Elie groaned. That's what I said!

”You try to navigate without any landmarks to guide you. Plus, this map is really vague.” I remarked. ”I don't even think the scale is right. This has got to be the worst map I have ever seen.”

”Yeah, right. You are just making excuses because you can't read a map.”, Elie countered.

”Not true. I've read maps dozens of times. This map is just badly made.”

Through the entire time Eve had been silent. She and Elie are quite the contrasts. Elie loves to talk her mouth off when she feels like it and Eve likes to keep silent. I find that somewhat amusing. I don't know why.

”I bet I could get us out of this forest, no biggie.”, Elie said proudly. She soon had the map shoved in her hands. She had a hard time holding it, what with no fingers or thumbs.

”Knock yourself out.”; I said and stopped. ”Let's take a little break.”

Elie sat under a tree and looked at the map. Challenge accepted, I see. I myself walked to Eve.

”You said you wanted to be stronger.”, I said. I knew what I heard, but I wanted to hear it once more.

Eve nodded. ”Yes. Me want to be stronger.” I unsheathed one of my blades and threw it to her. She caught in a little bit shakily and looked at it. ”What-”

She didn't get to answer as I drew my other blade and swinged. She moved the blade to block the attack, but it was too weak. I easily knocked the sword out of her hand and, in the same movement, put the tip of my blade on her neck.

”And like so, you are dead.” I said. ”The defense was weak, but most of all, you were unprepared. I was expecting as much.” I moved my blade away from her throat. ”An enemy will not wait for you to get ready to fight. You must always be prepared for battle.”

She looked thoughtful. ”Me understand.”, She said meekly. Her ears drooped. ”Me weak after all.”

”Yes. Yes, you are.”, I deadpanned. She looked at me with shocked and sad eyes. ”But that can be changed.” This took the sadness from her eyes. ”Weakness is something that can be mended with proper training. One born strong is always weaker than one who trained to earn it.”

She seemed to get it. She took the sword in her hands again. ”Me ready now.” There it was again. That fire in her eyes.

I smiled at her determination. ”Very well.”, I took a defensive stance and gestured her to attack. ”Ladies first.”

She charged at me.. For every attack she sent my way, I deflected or dodged it. I played defensive to analyze her form. I could clearly see I had my work cut out for me. Her form had many holes that a skilled opponent could exploit. Her attacks were rather weak and they left her wide open for an counter attack. Basically: At the level she is in right now, she is little more than cannonfodder.

Well. Not if I have anything to say about that.

In one swift move, I knocked the blade from her hand high into the air. As it fell down, I took the scabbard in my hand and let the blade fall in. I then repositioned the it on it's spot behind my lower back. I also sheathed the other blade.

”That is quite enough for now.” I said. ”I have evaluated your base abilities with a sword and now know which areas to improve.” Many, many explicit areas.

…......

.........

'That sounded so wrong.'

Shut up, perverted Brain!

I shake the thought out of my head.

”You, Eve, lack physical strength. This much is obvious to me.”

What I said seemed to lower her confidense somewhat. Damn, I hate doing that.

”But I see some promise. Your speed was admirable. So is your agility. With some training, you might become a battler whose forte is speed. I myself use a combination of speed and strength.” I moved to face the tree nearest to me. ”I also don't use just swords.”, I said and then struck my palm into the tree's bark. A swirling spiral shape engraved itself on the bark. ”Spiral Shot.”

Eve looked at the mark left in the bark and then at me. I could believe her eyes would have left their sockets. ”What..... How Hollow do that?”

”I simply used one of my self made techniques. It's called Spiral Shot.”, I told her. ”With a strong force concentrated in the middle of my palm, I can cause an devastating shockwave. What I did there was remove some of the impact and sent it scattering around.” She seemed impressed and awestruck. ”I did that by simply moving my wrist a little at the exactly right time. This, of course, took me long to learn. Most of the time I would just break something I tried this on. But I didn't give up. I trained and trained, untill I couldn't even stand. But finally, I perfected it.” I turned to face her once more. ”Do you see where I'm going with this?”

She seemed to ponder my question for a few seconds. Then she finally got it. ”Me can be strong if me train hard.”

I nodded. ”Exactly. But remember this. Even with training, making yourself perfect is impossible. Even I have my flaws and weaknesses.”

She nodded. Glad that she understood.

….......

I wonder what Shade is doing? Hopefully he isn't tormenting some locals.

-Same time, Trottingham prison-

”-and that is why I was never welcome there again. Shame. Really good folk and all, but sooooooo uptight.”, Shade finished his story about *Content too graphic for mortal eyes*.

”Please, by Celestia's sake, make it stop!”, The guard screeched in fear and banged at the locked metal door, desperatly trying to get out.

”And then there was that one time with those no good angry birds. That was super fun. I'll tell you about it.”

”No! No more! NO! GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

The metal door opened and the guard sprinted out, screaming all the way.

The door was immidietly closed afterwards.

”That was the seventh guard, commader.” A mare unicorn guard said.

Green Shield sighed. ”Just what is going on here? That thing has already made so many guards total wrecks. They are afraid of their own shadows. And it is still inside the cell.”

The unicorn guard looked in to the cell where Shade was. ”Ummm.... Commader.”

”Yes, lieutenant?”

”This might sound impossible and all, but....” She took a small pause. ”The prisoner is gone.”

Green Shield's eyes widened. ”WHAT?” He ran to look at the cell, only to see it empty. The cell door wide open.

Then both of them turned when they heard an loud bang. The metal door was closed. On the other side, laughter could be heard.

”Remember this: this was the time you almost permanently caught Shade Me-”

”A PRISONER HAS ESCAPED”, A yell came from the hall.

”Will someone let me finish my name?”, Shade groaned. ”Well, nothing is better than a prison break. Except happy time. Happy time is fun.”

He ran in the halls that made the Trottingham prison. He stopped in front of a wooden door.

”Were am I going?”

”There, I heard a voice!”, a guards voice came from one end of the hall. Shade also heard the sound of hooves in the other direction. He was cornered.

The guards ran in on both sides. Only to collide with each other. Shade was nowhere to be seen.

Shade sat behind the wooden door, quietly as a mouse and listening to the conversation between two of the guards.

”Where did it go? I heard it from here.”

”Maybe it went in there.” Shade voiced a quiet, ”Dammit!”.

”No way. No one is stupid enough to go there. Keep looking. It has to be somewhere here.”

The voice soon departed and left Shade into the silence.

”Hehehe. Suckers.”, He said and reached for his pocket. ”Now where is that match that I swiped from one of those ponies...... Emmmm..... Aha! There ya little buggers are!” He lit the match by using the moist wall as a source of friction. ”I love physical impossibilities.”, Shade said and quided the small light around to see what was around him.

-Back at Hollow and co-

I just sigh.

Maybe it won't be that bad. Maybe I'm just overthinking this. I should give Shade the benefit of a doubt. I mean, sure he is still undeniably insane. But then again, I haven't seen him for over twelve years. Maybe he has changed.

”Okay, let me tell you some pointers that you can use in a fight.”, I told Eve, who already was listening earnestly.

I totally shouldn't worry about Shade right now. I have other things that need my attention. Things that ate actually important. I mean, it's not like he'll destroy anything.

-Shade in ???-

Right in front of him was a large stack of barrels. There was some kind of label on them, so Shade brought the flame closer.

”Let's see.......” After a moment of silence. ”Damn small script!” He went even closer to try to read the words. His face was mere inches away from the letters.

”Higly explos.......” He heard a sizzling noise and looked up. He saw a thin burning string of fabric.

He looked straight at the readers.

”Fucking bananas, eh?.”

*BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!*

Accompanied by many simultaneous gigantic explosion, Shade flew high into the sky.

”OOOOOOOOOOOON THEEE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!”

He looked down at the city that was becoming ever so distant.

”Well, you know how this goes. Reference time!”, He said and took a deep breath before yelling, ”Team Shade blasting off again!!”

And so he disappeared into the sky. A star blinked into view for a couple of seconds.

Shade had just completely obliterated Trottingham's black powder storage.

…......

And totally stolen Team Rocket's running gag.

And like that, we get some banter and teaching in Hollows end. And Shade seems to experince the more interesting side of the adventure spectrum. Well, tune in next time for another part of The Shade Files..... That guy is so screwed.

You know, it's so funny that Hollow is supposed to be the main protagonist, yet it's Shade who steals the show. Go figure. Writing Shade is so fun. The jokes just write themselves.

So, school is keeping me pretty occupied. That combined with my naturally fragile attention span and messed up sleep cycle will most likely slow these chapters down. I will try my best though!

Giving some a good laugh,

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