It's Complicated

Chapter 11: Future Royalty

Climbing up a steep cliff was not something a royal does every day, unlike Cole who's a ninja and probably does it in his everyday life. For obvious reasons, Cole made it to the top of the cliff first before he helped Vania climb up. Though she insisted that she could use the training, he still helped her get up with his elemental powers. He simply commanded the earth and in less than a second, Vania was up.

After a small, not-so-serious argument while walking through the rocky hills, they found a small, almost unnoticeable, trail/path.

"I know that I'm a queen and that I need to be protected, but that doesn't mean that you have to help me with everything I do, Cole. I'm just as capable as you are. Sure, I don't do a lot of cardio like you. And sure, I'm not used to going on adventures all the time. But just because of all that, doesn't mean I can't do anything on my own. I mean, I took on a bunch of resurrected skeleton guys with nothing but my naginata weapon, my wings, and my raw fighting skills."

The Queen of Shintaro rambled on and on about her natural fighting talent and her capability. Though all the blabbering didn't annoy the Elemental Master of Earth at all. It actually amused him and it distracted him from the whole demon invasion problem.

All the talking and words that came out of Vania's mouth didn't annoy him but it was starting to get loud and it might start attracting creatures, such as the oni, so he had to make her be quiet. Well, as quiet as the optimistic Shintarian Queen can be.

He chuckled, "Vania. You know that you don't have to say everything over and over again. Because you know that I know you have an amazing, raw, natural talent in fighting. Nothing can convince me otherwise. Heck, you fight even better than Kai when he first trained to be a ninja."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and shock from that, "Really? No way, Cole. You're pulling my leg." She beamed.

"I'm not! Seriously, I ain't kidding, Vany," He snorted, "Ha! You should've seen Kai's failed attempts in Sensei Wu's old Monastery. There was also that one time when he accidentally activated a pressure plate, spring thingy that was underneath a pillar. So the thing was, he was on top of the pillar and the thing sprung him into the sky and he landed on the pole that's in the middle of the courtyard. It was hilarious to watch from afar."

"That sounds ridiculous!" Vania laughed, "And I can't even imagine how that would look like. Kai's a professional warrior now, I don't think I ever would've thought of that happening."

Cole scoffed, "'Professional warrior'? Kai? Hah! Don't make me laugh. He may be good at fighting and have great ninja skills, but he's no professional. Trust me. A professional is what you would call a Ninja Master, like Master Wu. Now he's what you call a professional." He said, smiling.

"Master Wu is an amazing sensei!" She praised, "Even if I've only been on one adventure with him at Rock Bottom, I can still tell that he's amazing. Gotta admit, I wish he was here on the adventure with us. He'd most likely know what to do back when we were, um, stuck." She chuckled nervously.

Placing a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder, he shrugged, "Even Ninja Masters have their limits. Wu's wise and all that, but even he doesn't know everything. Back when the oni first invaded years ago, a few before I met you, he was stuck on what to do. Lloyd was the one who figured out the Tornado of Creation could defeat the oni. But now, we know that even the Tornado of Creation didn't truly defeat them."

Vania gave him a reassuring smile, "I'm sure we'll figure out what to do when the time's right. I'm sure that you guys just did a small error last time. I think we'll really defeat them this time."

"Confidence," Cole nodded, "I like that. But, why's that? What makes you think we'll win?"

"Because this time, you guys got back up," She smiled slyly and Cole laughed, "Us, girls, will help you truly win."