Chapter 1 – New Mission

"Master Ryu, where has Master Hayate been? He's been away for a week and I haven't heard anything from him… Is everything okay?" Ayane asked and placed her hands onto her hips.

"I have yet to hear anything new young one, but I believe there is something waiting for you back home." Ryu instructed. Ayane heeded the warning, and beat a hasty retreat back to her village.

Once she entered the dojo, there was a small envelope addressed to her. It read:

"Come to The Island. There will be held the next Dead or Alive Tournament, and you may even get to see the ones that you have been searching for! P. S. – A tickent is enclosed for the ride to the island."

Ayane let out a small sigh, wondering if it was a trap of any sort. "Master Hayate might know of this and may have decided to train alone to prepare for this… I'll just go alone and see for myself…"

With this Ayane departed, swiftly and silently, only as she could, toward a ship.

On the roof of a 20 story tall building stood two figures, one male and the other female, at around midnight when the city below would be shining all forms of colored lights for all who visited to see. The male figure was a young man, around the age of twenty and he wore a white ninja Obi that bore blue lining near the sleeves and had two blades of different lengths on his back, and he wore his neck length hair in two parts to either side of his head. The female figure was around the same age, she was a few inches shy of six feet, very well developed and wore an all black business suit black heels and black thin rimmed glasses, and her hair was in a flared out ponytail.

"So, what brings a Mugen Tenshin Ninja to my organization?" The female asked, her arms were folded as she leaned on the door leading back into the building.

"I-it's… regarding a rather touchy topic, so I'll try to get to the main point." The young man stated as he started to glance over the bright lights of the city below.

"So who is involved and what do we need to do to them?" The woman stated and a less than interested tone, she had a history with the Mugen Tenshin that was less than stellar; after all she was one of their most talented ninja.

"I'm in need of assistance to track down a girl, Kasumi is her name and she has long flowing orange hair that she usually keeps in a loose ponytail." The young man stated with his head bowed in defeat.

"…And? What do you want done? An assassin job? Or maybe a capture?" The woman asked, still not caring about the man's troubles.

"N-no, just a simple rescue mission. I wish for you to find her and aid her in evading our ever hot on her trail ninja. She is very important to me and I realize that she risked her life to save me… That is all." The male stated trying to hide his sadness.

"…No…" The woman stated blankly and turned toward the door to return to the building.

"P-please, Ayame! I need to ensure her safety, but I can't do this myself… they'll kill both of us if they found out."

"…My name isn't Ayame… Not anymore. My name is Maria, and I'm not going to help you." Maria stated with her body facing the door.

"Please Aya – Maria… She's my sister…" The male was on one knee with his head bowed, and facing her.

Maria took a minute to think about the situation. Each passing second seemed to drag on forever as she considered all things. "He did try to help me when they tried to kill me, and even provided me with an escape route… Hmmm… Zell's gonna be happy about this one…" Maria sighed slowly and finally said, "Fine, but I'll need a lead or someone to contact for the information to find Kasumi."

Hayate stayed on his knee and simply replied, "Thank You, Ayame."

Maria rolled her eyes and led Hayate into her office, which was the room that led to the roof. It appeared just as any traditional western style big business office for a boss or CEO. There was a finely crafted wooden desk stretched across the middle of the office that was decorated with pictures of a girl who possessed an all black sleeveless Oubi that stopped before her stomach, revealing her fine sculpted belly, and fitted ninja pants that were tied down at the shin and black socks in thin black flip flop type sandals, and in the pictures was a younger Hayate as well. Hayate took a quick glance at the pictures as he passed by to get to the opposite side of the desk, once there he stood with both arms behind his back.

"So, it's your little sister. She's the one you wish to protect, but who knows the most about her location? How do we find this person and what have you been trying to do?" Maria asked as she sat attentively at her desk, revealing her almond brown eyes, which could melt almost any man's heart with just a quick glance.

"…Well, I have one kunoichi who is very hot on her trail, named Ayane. She has purple hair and pink eyes. She is the leader of the Haijin Mon Sect of the clan. She wears a purple Oubi with the mask of Genra on her hip. That is all I can entail." Hayate explained quickly but sternly.

"Very well… I shall deploy one of my best agents. Farewell." Maria stated finally as Hayate disappeared into a small whirlwind that brushed her bangs from over her face.

The next morning, Maria called a boy to her office. They boy was two inches away from being six feet, he was a fairly bronzed being with a slim build but had muscle tone as well as fiery red hair and eight bangs, four on both sides of his face and red eyes to match, on his neck was a jagged zero with arrows on the edges, a memento from his deceased grandmother. He was one of her subordinates, but the only one who she was particularly close to.

"What's the problem? S-superior?" The boy asked upon his entrance into Maria's office, surprised to see her in a ninja uniform; it was the same one from the pictures on her desk, only it was fixed to her taller figure.

"Zell, this is my old ninja uniform." Maria smiled as she removed the glasses from her face as she turned to face Zell.

"That's great, but what did you call me for?" Zell asked, only half attracted to Maria's new look.

"I have a mission stack for you." Maria replied with a smirk.

"Good, now I can test out some of my new gear. I was in the lab all day for a week trying to make these properly." Zell gestured toward his shoes, which flickered with neon red lights at the heels.

"Glad to see you're excited. Now here are the four missions: Reconnaissance - Go to a place called Zack Island and see if the owner of the place has any information on DoATEC or Donovan; Search and Rescue – There's a girl, a kunoichi, to be precise, who is being hunted. Her name is Kasumi, and by an anonymous lead you may have to track down another kunoichi whose name is Ayane, to find her. But you must remain in undercover mode, but do all you'll need to do to gather information. Search and Destroy – Other intelligence has informed me of a new project that DoA TEC may be working on. You'll need to enter the next Dead or Alive Tournament and Destroy the Alpha-152; however, there may be more than one, up to seven models of this menace. It is believed that this thing can level an entire city single-handedly. Finally, the last and most important mission – Assassination – Kill Helena and Donovan, but make sure you kill her after Donovan is killed, and destroy DoATEC's headquarters as well." Maria stated firmly.

"So this mission will start a Zack Island, then go on to find Kasumi, with the help of Ayane; then enter the next Dead or Alive tournament to destroy the Alpha-152s and kill Donovan and Helena. But what am I trying to save this… Kasumi chick from exactly?" Zell mapped the entire mission out by plan – It wasn't going to fail.

"She's being hunted by ninja. Also, Donovan won't be easy to kill. He has a group of children that have been altered like you have been, except they all have different animals that seem to have something to do with the zodiac." Maria stated, a warning was to be taken from this.

"…Okay, I got it; Zell, moving out." Zell replied and saluted to The Superior, she returned his salute and he departed to his laboratory to retrieve a gunblade, a sword, a katana, a gunkatana, and a hover board.

Zell retrieved the coordinates for Zack Island from The Superior, Maria, then rode his hover board toward an Island that was a Resort Island, but was never placed on any mapwhich seemed strange to him.

At Zack Island, Zell was accompanied by a woman who looked to be about 21 years old and was a darker tone than he was, and she had brown hair and a very outgoing personality. The two of them were in an office and standing before a very dark skinned man who bore sunglasses and a blonde Mohawk, and beside him was a girl who was slightly lighter in skin tone and had platinum blonde hair.

"So you two are going to be the tour guides, as well as vacationers, eh?" The man asked and placed a finger on his chin in a thoughtful manner.

"Yes sir!" Both Zell and the other woman replied simultaneously.

"So, Niki, do you think they are it?" The man asked the girl perched onto his lap.

"Ooh, Yes Zackie-poo! Especially him! He's definitely going to attract some company!" The platinum blonde, Niki, responded.

"Then you two grab a suit from here…" The bald man, Zack stated then a giant wardrobe of suits came slowly toward the room. "Feel free to mix pieces too."

"Good." Zell stated darkly, and then entered the new room, and the other applicant followed him in.

Zell grabbed a pair of black pressed pants that had a clear crease in them, and then he found a vest that was black and a shirt that was red, and a red fedora hat with a black strap. The female applicant found a normal black suit and chose to wear that.

"Now you two, go examine the Island. Tomorrow is when the others will arrive." Zack instructed then departed with Niki in his arms.

"So, what's your name guy?" The woman asked as she walked beside Zell toward a pair of cottages that lie in between the forests and beaches.

"Name's Zell." Zell replied nonchalantly, not even paying attention to the girl to his left.

"I'm Lisa! Nice to meet ya!" The girl introduced herself with a big smile.

"…Likewise… I guess." Zell stated with a shrug then entered a cottage, and Lisa entered the other.

"…I'll probably enjoy this…" Zell sighed as he lay upon the soft be of the cottage and stared up at the celing.

After a few moments, Zell sat up and made his way toward the dresser in the cottage and changed into a fitted short sleeved T-shirt, ad a pair of tong swimming trunks that were black with the symbol of the jagged zero that he wore around his neck. Just as he began to check to make sure everything was in place someone knocked on the door. It was Lisa.

"Hiya Zell! You wanna check out the Island with me? We'll have all day together!" Lisa hopped for a second then grabbed Zell's arm and dragged him along.

"Where are you taking me? C'mon, let go!" Zell grumbles and frees himself from Lisa's grip.

"Aw, don't be such a worry wart! We won't get into trouble! We have to get ready for tomorrow any how! So let's go!" Lisa demanded.

"I'm not worrying. I just wanna do this on my own time." Zell sighed, rubbed his forehead and started toward the beach.

"Well, I-I'll be doing the same!" Lisa called out and chased after Zell toward the sunset, and began to gather information for their individual shifts for the day to come.