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[Steel Samurai]

As the Sensei grabbed Steel's wrist, Steel turned and twisted under the old man's arm and flipped him onto the ground. It had been one week since he had arrived here, and he was on the Fifth level of Tao, Jyuuken. There were twenty levels in all, but the Sensei said that Steel would only have time to learn 7. "Gooood, yesss. You have improved greatly even since you came here. A fast learner you are. Seen I never have one advance five levels of Tao in a week. Time it is for you to begn practicing your swordsmanship. Weaponless combat is well and good, but for real defense, a weapon you need. Now, your swords let me see." Steel went to his room and retrieved the two swords from under his bedding. He handed them to the Sensei. The old man took the Dai-Katana and hefted it in his hands, feeling the balance of the weapon. "Mmmm, a good weapon is this. Well balanced, and strong enough the enchantment is the mightiest of blows to withstand. What of the other sword?" Steel handed him the Dualist's Blade. A low murmur escaped the Sensei's throat as he saw the design on the hilt. "An old weapon is this, lost for centuries it was. Where find it you did?" Steel explained about the chest and the vision he had when touching the chest. "Yesss, yess, all of what you saw is truth. This is a powerful blade. Teach you to master it, I shall."

OOC: I'll be away for a week guys . . . hopefully they'll have internet where I'm going, but if not, just keep training I guess.

[Gabe Puratekuta]

Both Motoko and Gabriel have advanced far within a week. They each started with unarmed combat, although Gabriel had to wait until Motoko was stronger so that she could begin her lessons with her daughter in the Advanced level, then they moved to close combat with staves. Afterwards, they moved onto other close-quarters weapons, some of which Gabriel had to sit out also. Then to ranged atacks so that Motoko could get more experience with her bow.
At night, the three would talk and swap stories of their adventures. The two young women from a faroff mountain village had found that Mina is a harsh trainer, but a good person. They quickly became good friends, but knowing that they will be seperated soon, none of them had shared anything about their pasts or their home villages

[SL the Pyro]

The week was dull for Z; he spent the week mastering his newfound powers of creating things out of darkness and making a dark barrier. It was not long before he mastered them, so most of Z's time was spent sparring with Shinji and spying on the others during their training; should he have to fight them again, he didn't want any surprises. It was free time for Z now; Shinji had left on an errand a couple of hours ago.

Z them remembered when he helped the others out against the zombies. "Something is clearly amiss with this place... i'm sure by now that this dojo favours the skill of their students as much as they favour their well-being..." Z thought, going high up into the air with his spike chain to get a view of the area where they fought the zombies. Two or three were walking there now. "There is only one reason that this could be happening; someone has broken through the barrier and has been killing the students... but if not a master of the dojo, then who? ...Hmm... perhaps I'll find out."

[TheAvengerLever]

Button was a walking corpse. By now, the spirit had drained the body of it's energy, and he hadn't fed in days. He didn't need to. Yet. Besides, now, he had come to the halfway point of his adventure. He had climbed out upond a spot where the rest of the Tar Nar Mountain range could be seen. Waiting for him at this spot was a small withered tree. It looked like it had been alive at one point. It even had a face. But now it was dead and lifeless. Button was puzzled. He looked around the small dead tree to find nothing. Then, he dug around in the area around it. Finding nothing, he decided to desecrate the spot where the tree lay lifeless. He tore it out from it's roots, which he found suprisingly easy to do since it was so old, and peered inside. In the spot where the tree once lay lifeless, he found a small parchment rolled up. He took it from the ground and unrolled the parchment, and laid his eyes upon it's contents. It was...a map.

[SL the Pyro]

Z used his spike chain to walk around quick along the mountain range east of the dojo, striking his chain through the bodies of any zombies he came across. Despite the previous battle, there were still many. He then sensed someone's energy, closer to the base of the mountains. "Button... no. He's not capable of something like this." Z continued on.

Z struck his chain through another zombie's body and lifted it up to him. The zombie screeched a cry of anger at Z; this one seemed to have more vigor than the others. "I must be getting close to the source..." Z used his senses to scan the residual energy on the zombie, then scanned for other parts of the mountain range for the same energy.

It seemed to come from the region farther east of the dojo, but he was getting close; from what he could tell many powerful zombies were in the are in question, as well as a large energy spike. Z dropped the zombie, letting him perish and continued on.

Edited by Dark Link, 26 October 2006 - 06:56 PM.

[Ransom]

Perseus Challenged the voice through the mist.

“Who are you?”

The voice spoke again, but this time from another direction.

“Do you fear me boy?”

He spun around toward the voice.

“Can I fear what I cannot see?” He said into the mist, “You could be nothing more than a child for all I know.”

The voice chuckled deeply from behind him. “But uncertainty is the essence of fear; you can be afraid with knowledge of your enemy, but can you be brave with none?”

Perseus finally began to sense another presence in the room as he concentrated. The entity was not all around him as he had first thought, it was just using quick movements to move around the room as silently as possible. He just needed it to keep talking.

“But surely you cannot be brave without first fearing, for courage is the strength to suppress fear.”

It took the bait.

“Ha! Courage is nothing but stupidity, its standing up to reason and defying it.”

Perseus knew that it was moving in a clockwise direction from the spot it had just been in, if he could pinpoint its speed exactly, he could dive at it.
He was growing more confident.

“But what is the value of reason? It in itself is just a defiance of risk, living in an area of security, where you cannot possibly advance. To let fear take over cripples you.”

The voice began to speak, but Perseus was already in mid-air, diving towards the first sound of the voice.

“Ah, but you fail to realise the…”

*thudding noises*

The mist started to clear, and Perseus found himself, lying face-down, his hands being held behind his back by his opponents foot.
He looked behind him, only to see, not the terrifying Magician or great champion he had been expecting, but a girl clad in Ninja garb, evily down grinning at him.

“Heh. You’re too loud boy.” She snickered, “not that these huge pillows stuck to your back help.”

“How did you make your voice so deep?”

She snickered again, still grinning.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Birdy…”

“Who are you?”

She raised one eye-brow.

“I’m going to train you... For a little bird you’re pretty slow.”

[SL the Pyro]

Z continued along the mountain path in search of the evil energy. He was near ground zero; the zombies were very powerful here, but so long as Z remained in the air they couldn't reach him; he just batted them away with his arachnid-shaped chain. "This energy is familiar... another elemental sorcerer?... No, not one of them. But I've felt this energy before..." Z thought.

He then saw the area where they were coming from; a secluded cave in a canyon. It was well hidden from a distance and had many paths to the other areas of the Taj Nar mountains, so a normal person could search for months and never find it.

But Z wasn't a normal person.

He landed on his feet at the cave entrance and sent his chain into the cave, sweeping any zombies it came across into the cave wall. He coursed dark energy through the chain to finish the vile creations off. He repeated this strategy through the entire long cave until finally, he came upon the source. Something on a rock-formed pedestal. "I should've known..." he said to himself, loud enough to hear.

Z stood face to face with a strange-looking entity. Its normal body was circular and basic, the size of a big basketball, with brown boots and purple skin. Its mouth was big and had two fangs. Its white eyes with black irises were bugging out of its head. It wore a jester hat, red on one side and blue on the other, and it had golden arms with two purple fingers that served as claws. Its arms branched out more, acting as winglines; rainbow-shining shards seemed to fade in and out of existence where its main wing structure should be. The creature let out a high-pitched, psychotic laugh.

"Necroshade." Z spat. He had met with him twice in his journeys, and neither encounter was a friendly one.

"Oh, well isn't this intersting. What's the good word, Z?" Necroshade said back in a happier mood than he was letting on; Z and Necroshade were rival bounty hunters. They've always been at each other's throats. They glared at each other angrily; the tension could be cut with a knife...

[Gabe Puratekuta]

[Sorry. I can't RP for a while. DL14 wants me to get rid of a character]

[SL the Pyro]

(What!? Oh dear... I was beginning to like having both Gabriel and Motoko around... I honestly think this rule of only having one character is stupid...)

[Gabe Puratekuta]

[Same here. I'm more used to multi-char RPing, too]

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

On the sunset of the first day, Ken was still training. He was severely tired, but did not want to stop—he was not going to waste a second of his time here.

“Stop. You are too tired now.” Red stated simply.

“No, I can still go.” Ken insisted as he prepped himself for another swing.

The boy grunted and lifted the Wolfen, only to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

“As I said; you are too tired.” The teacher repeated.

Ken got up and tried to lift the Wolfen again. His entire body trembled as it tried to maintain standing. But his knees gave way, and he fell down. He breathed heavily.

“Damn… I don’t want to be weak…” he cursed himself.

Red regarded him with cold, analytical eyes as he had during the training.

“There is no point in working yourself to death. A warrior must realize his stamina.” He lectured.

“But, I want to be strong. I want to be strong enough to carry my family’s honor all by myself…”

Ken tried getting up again, but fell on his back, huffing and puffing. Red walked over to the boy and crouched over his spent body.

“There is more to honor than being strong by yourself. You must share your strength with others, whither it is to family, to friends, or a stranger. That is the only way you become honorable.”

There was silence between the two as Ken thought the phrase over.

“I will go get some rice for you.” Red stated, walking back.

“Wait…!” Ken exclaimed, straining himself.

“What?”

“The markings on your face… Are you related in anyway to my great-grandfather?” the boy asked.

“… Perhaps.” Red answered cryptically.

* * *

In the week since then, Ken had never left the area near the shrine. Red would appear in the morning with breakfast, and disappear momentarily to fetch dinner. Ken’s skills had increased, many thanks to Red’s tutelage.

[Chukchi Husky]

Everyone was training, except for Husky. The training was taking a long time, so Husky went back to what she normally would do, travelling the wilderness. She never went far from the pagoda, always returning everyday, and taking back anything she hunts for everyone else to eat. The wilderness made her feel happier, living by her instincts, and it helped her adjust to her new body.

[TheAvengerLever]

Button had looked over and over the map again and again, and was astonished at some of the things he saw.

This was what the map looked like.

It was an old, yellowed parchment, crinkled. It wasn't a conventional map, with a start and an end and an X marking the spot. There was no arrows pointing which way to go, no simple pictures, but nearly a whole map of the Taj Nar Mountains spanning to the Western Sea and beyond. Near the mainlands was a small island, and that was his destination.

He had also noticed the small inscription in the down right corner, and the words...

"In the Garden grow the souls"

YES!

[~Light Goddess~]

(OC: Sorry I haven't been on for a while, my computer was taken away from me. )

As the others were taken with other "teachers", Lena thought it would be best to go off and wait for hers. She came upon a clearing, and sat under a tree, where a bunch of wildflowers grew. She sat down around them, and entered her mind, searching for the spiritual growth, that made her train even harder. In the warm sunlight, this was the best time for her to train like this.

"Ah, my child, have you returned to me again?"A soft voice filled into her thoughts.

She did not know who it was, but she felt as if she had met her before."Yes, I have come for you to train me, this time more in combat."

There she stood, on what seemed to be like water, but glowed like a soft amber. Ripples came from in front of her, and as she looked up, a enigmatic woman no younger than she came before her. She had long elf ears and her hair was braided near the bottom, and many bracelets and rings were on her hands and arms. In both hands she held Lena's staff.

""I suppose you now know that it was luck that you took this from that tree?" The woman spoke to her again, and handed her the staff. Lena grasped the woven handles that she had put on the staff, which tightened her grip.

"Now, this is a spiritual stick," the woman continued talking. "But it will also be available to you in combat, just as long as you have enough energy left. Break the staff apart, Lena."

Lena stood there, confused. The woman wanted her to break her new staff? She didn't want to, but the warmth in her voice gave her the strength to do it. She closed her eyed, and focused her strength into drawing the stick apart in the middle. Instead of hearing a loud snap, the staff glowed, and in front of her layed two side blades, made from the same material, with the cloth to tie them to each arm. After she put them on, she was able to draw the blades a little longer, and she gasped as she saw the metal.

"You expect me to use man's metal to kill?" The young voice laughed at her, and then she came very close, and put a hand to her cheek.

"Like I said earlier, you can use it if you have the right ammount of energy. Now, instead of talking, you said you wanted to train. Now lets get to this."

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken woke up earlier than usual, just before dawn, pushing himself up to see Red overlooking the sunrise.

He quietly put on the garments he had taken off the night before, then walked over to his trainer.

"Tell me, do you know who you are?" Red asked without turning.

Ken stopped in place confused.

"Do you know what you want? Do you know where you must go?"

There was a long pause.

"You don't understand do you?" Red asked.

"No, I don't..." Ken confirmed.

Red sighed.

"You will understand your reasons for being once you realize the answers to those questions."

"... How?" Ken asked.

"To live your life knowing only who you really are is a torturous existence, one of complete ambiguity. You exist only as another body. Just the same, it dangerous to assume that you know what you want without knowing who you are. When you do, you spend your life chasing a meaningless goal."

"And the last one...?"

"To know where you must go is utterly important. To know only who you are and what you want becomes theon of the most painful ways. Only once you know where must go for what you want, that is when your entire life falls into place. But..."

"But...?"

"Realizing all of those, every single one of those... But never being allowed to attain your purpose..."

Red looked to the ground.

"One might as well die of thousand cuts a thousand times."

The sun advanced over the horizon, and Red turned to Ken, his eyes extremely intense.

"Before I advance any further Ken, I want ask you something. Will you live in ignorance, never knowing those answers in bliss? Or will you go beyond."

"I - I will go beyond that."

"Then promise me this: Realize it all. Realize the answers to all of those questions and live your purpose. Promise me you will die happy, knowing and doing what your very spirit was born into this world to do."

Ken paused for a long time, but nodded his head.

"Yes, that I will."

It was then that the corners of Red's mouth twitched and formed into a smile.

"I will hold you to that; Ken Miyamasa, great-grandson of Ken Miyamasa."

Red then turned and walked away.

"I will go get your rice. Once you finish breakfast, you will learn the art of fighting as your natural side--as a wolf."

Edited by Ken the Wandering Soul, 29 October 2006 - 09:30 PM.

[SL the Pyro]

Z and Necrosahde were fighting hard. Necroshade let out an assault of blue blades, which Z jumped. He tried to retaliate with a kick, which Necroshade dodged and instead he shattered the stone pedestal where he once was. Necroshade dropped some green seeds onto the ground, which quickly grew into spiked vines and launched at Z. He took out his spike chain and quickly stopped the vines. "Still using the same old tricks, Necroshade? You're even more of a weakling then I remember..."

Necroshade's body tilted; since the centre of his body was essentially his head, that was all he could do. He just smiled back and said, "Speak for yourself, tall dark and ugly; you're not doing anything different either."

Now it was Z's turn to smirk. "Oh, really?" It was time to put what he learned to good use. Z drew power from the shadows around him and created a bunch of little black diamonds around him. He made them sharp, and then pointed his palms at Necroshade; the diamonds fired at him. This caught Necroshade by surprise; he quickly blocked the attack with his wings. He spread his wings out again, and was even more surprised when he saw Z's fist about to collide with his face. Necroshade was sent flying across the room and into the pathway that lead to the cave's exit.

Z quickly rushed him, grasping his claws so that he couldn't escape, and used his spike chain like a spider again to propel himself as he pushed Necroshade along the ground; chunks or earth were flying around as Necroshade was being taken for a ride. Eventually he kicked Z off of him, and they started trading physical kicks and punches. They quickly and unknowingly headed towards the sensei's pagoda building, Necroshade flying and Z spider-walking, eventually crashing through a wall and zooming past Ken. Z shouted, "I'll explain later!" as he and Necroshade whisked by him.

Edited by Dark Link, 30 October 2006 - 08:20 AM.

[Gabe Puratekuta]

[I just have to do this XD]


Both Motoko and Mina ran out of their training hall and saw Z fighting against a winged creature.
Something about that sparked something in Motoko. "Stop!!!" she screamed. A white mist of energy started swirling around her and a transparent pair of wings were seen behind her. Her choengsam became a flowing white robe and her hair turned as white as the clouds. She then blinked away from Mina's side and right in between Z and his opponent. Two katanas appeared in her hands and she held them at their throats. "Stop this!! Now!!!" Even through such a scowl and demand, Motokos voice was more angelic than normal

[SL the Pyro]

"Why must you always meddle in my affairs, Z!?" Necroshade shouted before recieving a punch to his face.

"Because it's fun, I suppose! Plus it means more bounties for me!" Z replied, avoiding a slash by Necroshade's hand. They stopped moving entirely upon havng Motoko appear in between them, holding her swords up to their throats (I don't know is Necroshade has a throat). "What the!? Who--!?"

"Stop this!! Now!!!" Motoko shouted at them both.

"That energy... this is Motoko! She can transform now..." Z thought, bewildered. He calmed down, knowing that a single movement would result in him being beheaded. "You don't have the courage to slay me, Motoko... you're not strong enough..." Z said to her, smiling. Z conjured a plank out of darkness, cutting him off from Motoko's sword and quickly jumped away. Necroshade was still at her mercy. "But if you want to slay him, then be my guest. Necroshade there is the source of the zombies, just so you know." he explained.

[Gabe Puratekuta]

"You, winged one, leave this place and never return!!!" she commanded. As Necroshade did as he was told, Motoko returned to normal and, in doing so, lost consciousness

[TheAvengerLever]

Button sensed a flutter of emotion far off. Something was happening to the others.

Very good.

He had been walking for a long time, and had just now decided to take a rest. By now he was decending the slopes of the Taj Nar Mountains and well past his halfway point. Soon he would have solace, and a weapon in which to shake The Alliance.

[SL the Pyro]

Z caught the falling Motoko. "Whoa... what ever the Kami-Dao just did, she's used up all of her stamina doing it... Kitsune's not going to be happy..."

Z just carried Motoko to an empty bed and left on his way again. He decided to use his spare time getting rid of what remained of Necroshade's zombies.

[Steel Samurai]

OOC: Wheee! Internet Cafe!

*THUD*
Steel's fist connected with the Sensei's chest. Finally. The Sensei took it on the full and grabbed Steel's wrist, twisting his arm. Steel flipped over his own arm and broke the hold, then feinted a kick. The Sensei did not move to dodge the foot coming at him, and so Steel carried through with his motion. His foot thudded into the old man's side, sending him flying. The Sensei flipped in mid air and landed. He cackled. "good, goood. Learned the Ryu offense you have. The seventh level of Tao you have mastered. Time it is to focus entirely upon blade work."
The sensei tossed Steel a bokken from a chest nearby, and then got int position himself.

[Ransom]

“Get up Birdy,” the strange girl said, “and maybe we can get started before my hair turns grey.”

She smirked at him with the evil grin, waiting for him. Perseus stood up bedragglingly, rubbing his head.
His head being clearer, he glanced at his teacher. She was certainly a ninja, her lithe figure reflecting the skill and stealth of many years training and hard work. She was dressed head to toe in black and grey clothe, which was wrapped in various patterns in an appropriate fashion. She had two long knives strapped to her back, one facing downwards and one upwards, so she could draw them comfortably. Her hair was an almost greenish black, and it shimmered down, straight as an arrow, to the middle of her back. Here eyes were piercing and mischievous, going perfectly with her evil grin.

“So… uh, what exactly are you gonna teach me? Cos I don’t remember Angels ever needing ninja skills…”

She looked frustrated at him already.

“First of all, you ARE NOT an angel. You can certainly become one. But right now you are like… a cheap imitation. Second: just because you have wings doesn’t make you any extra special in the combat world, sure you might be able to pull off a few tricks now and then… like… running away. But in a real battle that will probably not be an option. For example, try and fly away from me.”

Perseus protested just as The girl started to make a hand seal.

“Huh? Fly away? Were insi…”

Suddenly the world started to spin rapidly around them before instantly slowing down in a new place. They were in a large grassy field, with a beautiful mountain range, towering in the distance.
Perseus looked around confused.

“How’d you do that?”

She looked sideways, bored of his question.

“You gonna fly away or what?”

Perseus launched swiftly off the ground aiming at the opposite direction of where she was, only to find himself slowly losing altitude, she was hanging onto his feet.
He looked down and saw her, immediately increasing his wing stroke to accommodate for the new weight. They started to climb again, as he struggled against the wind to catch enough draft.
Suddenly his wings buckled inwards and he was falling.
She had climbed up his back and latched onto his wings so that he couldn’t move. They were dead. She grinned impishly as she jumped off of him, right before he hit the ground.

He opened his eyes back in the room, he looked down at himself. There was no damage doneat all, none.

“What the? What is that place?”

She was sitting on the floor her eyes closed.

“The training arena of course, it can be anything from a giant colosseum to the grassy field you just saw. Just be careful to remember that it is not real. If you believe in it too much you will reallyget hurt.”

Perseus stood there for a few minutes, musing.

“Oh… by the way… what is your name, what should I call you?”

“Lynx.” She grinned, looking up at him, “But little birdies call me ‘Sensei’.”

[SL the Pyro]

Z was now even more bored than before. The zombies were so weak without Necroshade's presence, that a simple rabbit punch could knock them out. "This is pathetic. I have better things to do..."

Z quickly ran back to the pogada and wrote a note...

Dear Shinji.
I must leave now. Not to nag at you, but I have better things to do then wait around. Besides, I'd rather not be with the others; I have had a bad pasttime with them. I prefer to work alone, but no hard feelings.
P.S.: I cleaned up your zombie problem; the only ones remaining are weaker than worms.
-Z

He moved around to Shinji's room and put the note on his bed. He used his spike chain to travel across the light-laden grounds around the pogada, until he was out of the barrier. He immediately sensed someone's energy. [/i]"Button... I wonder what he is doing here? Perhaps I'll pay the bloodthirsty pirate a visit."[/i]

Z made leaps and bounds with the spike chain, until he saw Button sitting on the ground below. He deliberately landed with his eight spike chain "legs" surrounding Button. "What's the good word, Button?"

Edited by Dark Link, 31 October 2006 - 11:54 AM.

[TheAvengerLever]

"The good word is victory, stranger." said Button with a wink.

"I am on my way to retrieving a treasure that may shake the world."

Button was a little suprised to see Z randomly appear, but the feeling was immediately shaken off, and Button gave Z one of those always menacing smiles, ignoring the chains.

He folded up the map and put it in his pocket.

Edited by TheAvengerButton, 31 October 2006 - 04:29 PM.

[SL the Pyro]

"Cryptic... but interesting." Z replied. "I can't help but wonder what plan you have in that evil little mind of yours... though I don't care. If it 'shakes' Laz up a little, well, that'll be even better. Just a suggestion."

Z retracted his chain and landed next to Button. "What kind of treasure is it that you seek, anyway?" he asked. He didn't think Button would attack Z out of the blue once he got what he wanted, but it never hurt to make sure. He didn't want any surprises.

[TheAvengerLever]

Button gave Z a smirk.

"It's hard to understand exactly. It's a very unique Garden on an island in the Western Sea."

Button flashed the smile again.

"Once I gain this Garden, I could shake up the Laz, if I wanted. But I'm more or less after the unified Alliance. What do you have against the Laz?"

[SL the Pyro]

Z's tone grew serious. "It's a very long story, but I have time to tell it..." he began, sitting down.

----------

"I remember it all too clearly. There used to be a city in this region called Sinios. Outsiders believed it was a vacation spot, when really it was a placed for the damned to take shelter. Those damned were Laz agents; it was a hideout for them. And it was where I lived."

"When I was only 11 years old, my parents were suposedly murdered by bandits. Six of my friends suffered the same fate, and we were taken in by Laz. We were to be made into super soldiers that would lead them to their goal of world domination. We were each infused with different elemental energies: fire, water, wind, earth, light, darkness, and thunder. Obviously, I got darkness. We were given powerful magic weapons and trained in the most deadly arts. All seemed well..."

"...Until I discovered the diary of General Zao, the one who spearheaded the whole super soldier project. I read it, the first pages... I found out that it wasn't bandits that killed my parents and the parents of my friends. It was Laz agents. They were as enraged as me, and in retaliation we burned the city to the ground. Somehow, Zao escaped, but that is of little consequence to me."

----------

Z turned to face Button. "That's why I seek Laz's destruction. While they made me who I am, they destroyed my family."

[Gabe Puratekuta]

When Motoko awakened, she found herself in her own bed. She sat up and saw a note be her pillow.

It read:

Motoko-chan;

You have learned all that I have to teach you. Keep fighting. I know you don't like to, but you've also realized that it's sometimes necessary when there is no other option. I hope to see you again, Incarnate of the Kami-Dao

~Mina

There was something else below. Something that she couldn't understand, but did look familiar to her

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken had been confused by Z’s sudden appearance, but regained his composure when Red came back. A short breakfast and Ken was on his feet. He wanted to finish soon, but he did not miss any part of Red’s teaching.

“First part, turn yourself into a wolf.” Red stated.

Ken put his hands together and started to pray, but Red’s hand from slapped them apart.

“Turn yourself into a wolf. Don’t pray to the spirits for it.” He ordered.

“But I don’t how to do without prayer.” Ken replied.

Red sighed and turned around.

“You can not always rely on the blessings of others. You must use your inner spirit to help yourself.”

Ken looked down, once again feeling sheepish.

“Close your eyes.” Red commanded.

Ken did so.

“Envision yourself. Picture your entire being in your mind’s eye.”

Red turned back to Ken, seeing the boy concentrate.

“Now, picture yourself in the form of the wolf. Concentrate on changing what makes you human to what makes you wolf.”

Ken’s body was enveloped in light, and slowly changed shape.

“Open your eyes.”

Ken’s eyes opened upon a lupine face.

“That took you a little more than a minute, but practice and you will soon be able to do it instantaneously.”

The now Wolf Ken nodded.

“No then, I shall teach you how to fight fully as a wolf, both against human opponents, and wilder ones…"

* * *

The day was filled with rigorous training. Ken learned much about this wild style a of fighting. Red even turned himself into a red and black wolf, fighting Ken in an animalistic fashion. They had even gone into the next day, stopping only for short rests.