-=Shadow’s Latest Training Begins=-

{In the village of darkness, an hour after Shadow’s departure}

At the village hidden in darkness, within the solitary school that stood amongst old wreckage, the five elders took up space in one of the instructors’ rooms, which were larger than those that the students used. Originally, the room was furnished with a single bed, a dressing closet, a large workdesk once used to plan iteneraries, a wall clock hanging above the desk, and even a floor mat used to practice martial arts. Upon moving in, the elders had four more beds added, as well as five small sitting pads and a pentagon-shaped piece of carpet.

Hakkera, Asuma, Ebisu, Iruka, and Mizuki, the five elders that assumed shared leadership of the village, sat around the pentagonal floorpiece on their sitting pads, each elder positioned at one of the five endpoints. Hakkera, the oldest and wisest of the quintet, was sitting comfortably, polishing a small red orb with a hankerchief. The other four were as relaxed as him, though they were deep in thought about Shadow’s quest to destroy the evil that came from the maple world.

The contemplative silence that resided with the elders was all at once broken when someone knocked on their door. “Master…Master Hakkera!” a voice said through the door. “I heard..I heard you needed…to see me!”

“Ah, yes, young Lord Scorpion,” Hakkera acknowledged in return. “Please, come in.”

The door opened. Scorpion narrowly lost his balance stepping in the room. He quickly grasped one of the doorway arches, coughing and gasping from loss of breath. “Sorry I’m…I’m late,” he apologized, glancing at the wall clock. “We were…busy working on getting….the wreakage cleared from…the village as….as you had asked…and one of our defenders was….was trapped by some of it as we worked! I helped….get him out before…before I came.”

“Easy, young defender,” Hakkera said kindly. “I’m certain all of you have been working very hard. Here, sit among us, and relax a moment. I’ll only be a moment to discuss something important with you.” The elder beckoned the former student to take a place in the gathering.

Scorpion nodded, sitting between Iruka and Mizuki, curious as to what he’d been called for.

{Maple Island, present}

Shadow Viper regarded the woman who called herself Mai with a vague interest at first, with his ultimate goal still heavy on his mind, like an anvil. However, hearing an opportunity for her training brought his intrigue closer to the light, as he realized that if he wanted any hope to survive in this new world, he’d need whatever help he could even hope to have. He quickly took up on her handshake offer as he began explaining himself. “The snails were nothing, not even the blue-shelled one,” he said, “though I’m very grateful you would offer your training service to me. My name….is Shadow Viper. I’m new here if you haven’t already guessed.”

Mai giggled at this. *Wow,* she thought. *For this guy to have handled those snails with such ease, I never expected him to have such a friendly nature. Usually all I get are people who are so full of themselves, and yet can’t handle the tiniest greenshell without tripping over them.* With this thought in her mind, she took a few moments to think of how to train this unusually strong person, knowing her usual routine probably wouldn’t be worth his time.

Shadow easily noticed that it was taking a while for Mai to offer him her service in training. *I hope she isn’t having second thoughts about recommending me,” he thought, trying not to let even the smallest bad feeling hold him down. He was certain he’d had more than enough of those. He decided to relax his thoughts by giving his possible instructor a once-over, in order to be certain she really was a good trainer. His examining revealed a fairly short female dressed in a sort of female warrior’s red qi pao, with long brown hair arranged in curved, flowing pigtails dangling behind her ears. Her left arm was decorated with a rather large golden bracelet. Her right hand held a broad scimitar steady at her side. Her face held a young, earnest, and serious expression, or in this case, one filled with humor, complete with beaming red eyes.

From what he saw, two conclusions came to Shadow’s mind: *Well, she’s very pretty anyway, and at least she has a good sword. I guess the only way I can really tell is if she ever shows off her fighting skills.*

Mai finally had what she wanted to say mentally put together when she noticed Shadow’s eyes hovering around her scimitar. The look of concern on his face accompanying this told her that he was probably skeptical of her abilities. To her, his was another chance to show how experienced she was in her trade, and thus acted upon it quickly and eagerly. She began by lifting her sword up, spinning the hilt around her hand. She noticed a blue-shelled snail a small distance behind them as she finished. *Perfect timing,* she thought happily.

Not wasting a moment, Mai sprung into the air far above Shadow’s head. As she flew, she brought her sword into position, holding it high above her head. She let her momentum carry her with grace until right before she was over the snail. At that point, she charged up her mana quickly, pushing her strength into her sword. Then, she brought herself and her power down on the snali at breakneck speed. The sword met the snail before her feet hit the ground.

A thunderclap of noise ensued from the strike.

The snail was instantly vaporized from the attack, along with the shell.

Shadow saw it happen with eyes open so wide he was sure his mind took it all in without hesitation. Even so, he could never believe what he had witness. “S…such…p-p-POWER!” he exclaimed, mightily impressed by the display. It amazed him to no end; not even the five elders combined held power that high.

Mai twirled her sword around a bit more, grinning. “I’m glad you like it,” she said. “Y’know, you should feel honored; you’re the first person ever to see me use that such strength.” She giggled again, amused at Shadow’s constant gaze of disbelief. “Alright, c’mon,” she soon said following her laughter. “I know the perfect spots to get you excellent training.

Shadow followed her eagerly, full of certainty that he would get a lot from his lessons. *Geez, all that power,* Shadow thought as he walked along with Mai. *To think I’m the first one to see it. Too bad Ryu didn’t get to. I bet he’d have enjoyed it as well.*

The two of them took a ladder down from a floating platform they were on to the floor of the island before continuing on. As they moved farther through the island, Shadow could see less and less of the small, green-shelled snails and more of the bigger, blue-shelled ones, as well as some red-shelled snails that were bigger still. There were small living mushrooms as well, running around in a mad hurry. Rounding out the lively collection were adventurers engaging the snails and shrooms in combat. Shadow looked all around the area with amazement. “Just how many people live here?!” he wondered aloud.

“Actually, none of these adventurers live here,” Mai explained in response. “They all came from other places. That isn’t to say don’t live in the Maple World. They just don’t live on this island. See, this place is simply a temporary establishment for those wishing to take the first steps in becoming an adventurer, like you. As for where they live, well, a lot of them come from Victoria Island, others come from Ossyria, and the rest come from other places around the universe. We get a lot of different faces here. It’s quite a melting pot, you might say!”

Shadow simply nodded as he kept following his trainer. At the moment, he was more interested in how his training would go. He imagined all of the monsters he’d have to face in his head, wondering how they would test his mettle. *As long as I don’t have to face any pigs, or those one-eyed things,* he thought uneasily.

Suddenly, Mai stopped. Shadow stopped as well, looking around for any sign of trouble. Mai redirected Shadow’s attention to a small grove well off of the path, filled with many of the small mushrooms that ran at high speed. Shadow quickly saw that this may have something to do with training, and reverted his gaze to Mai, waiting for orders.

Mai’s expression quickly became serious. Continuing to look at the mushrooms, she began speaking her mind. “Before we begin,” she said, “I just want you to know that you are the most experienced combatant ever to set foot on this island in a year and a half ago. When I saw how you fought the snails, I felt certain that you’ve had prior training somewhere else, which has brought you to a level of skill far above anyone here right now. Basically, my training sessions are really meant for true beginners. In this case, however, I know my usual routines will not be worth your efforts, so I intend to modify them to give you the greatest challenge possible. In any case, I’m still uncertain that these modifications will really test you. I only hope that I succeed in my efforts to train you….” She tried to go on, but her voice was choked by fear. She never wanted anyone seeking her guidance to be displeased from what she gave them.

So far, it only happened once. She remembered this. A tear fell from her eye as she lowered her head.

Shadow turned to her. “Whatever training you can give me will be appreciated to the fullest extent,” he said calmly. “I’ve been under tutelage for my fighting style for the last three years. I became one of the top members of my class not long ago. And even with all of that, a real-life battle nearly killed me. I know I have much to learn from it, and I’m ready to face whatever I need to accomplish that.

“Besides,” he continued, putting himself in front of her eyes so she would pay attention to his missing arm. “If I can only fight with one arm, I imagine it won’t be too easy.”

After hearing this, Mai managed a smile. “Twenty of those shrooms,” she said, returning to Shadow’s task. “Bring back twenty of their spores as proof.” She then gave him a small bag to carry the spores.

Shadow headed to the grove without hesitation. A dozen of the small shrooms saw his fast approach. They quickly grouped up and ran toward him. During the head-on clash, a snail appeared, crossing between the enemies. This gave Shadow an idea. He quickened his pace, running fast enough to meet the snail first. As he got closer, he threw his dagger at the snail, killing it in one shot with a precise hit to a side of it’s flesh. The snail disappeared, leaving behind its shell. Shadow soon reached the dagger and glove in time to scoop them up. He looked ahead for a split second. The shrooms were getting very close to him. He quickly took action, jumping in the air, his new snail shell ready to throw. As he was in the air, he saw a mound of dirt just ahead of the fungal horde. With a plan in mind, he threw the snail shell towards the dirt mound as hard as he could.

The momentum from Shadow’s arm was just enough for the shell to kick up a cloud of dust upon impact. The dust cloud stopped the shrooms momentarily, confusing them.

*C’mon, c’mon, I’m still up here!*

As the shrooms looked around for their foe, the one at the forefront of the group caught sight of Shadow in the air. Making a noise that seemed to be a war cry, it jumped in the air, with the others following suit.

*Okay, shrooms, welcome to my trap!*

Shadow gathered all the energy he needed in him to force himself into a mid-air rapid spin while holding out his arm with dagger in hand. Soon, he was able to garner enough speed in his spin to practiaclly become a whirlwind. The shrooms met the whirlwind’s blade in midair.

After counting twelve sliced shrooms, Shadow landed on the ground. He then held his bag out and open, catching the dozen spores that slowly wafted down towards land. *Twelve down,* he confirmed mentally.

Mai had seen this from afar, yet was having a world of trouble believing it. “He’s….he’s simply unbelieveable,” she said to herself, feeling total awe. “He’s…almost as good as….the other.”

————————————————————————————————————-

So he’s finally begun his new training, getting the hang of combat! Who was the “other” that Mai mentioned? How will she continue to test Shadow? What will Scorpion’s discussion with the elders yield? Find out next time!

Heh, a teser. Never thought I’d use one of those. *Leaves behind 75 24-packs of Mountain Dew*

Previous installments:

link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link