"Grandpa, it hurts!" Yuki complained. Her entire body was sore from the intense training she was being given.
"You'll get used to it." He replied. "Let's go. Just a few more laps."
She continued to run around a dirt track. She carried a small backpack filled with rocks. "Huff! Huff!" She breathed heavily as she finally ran the final lap. She collapsed on the ground with her arms and legs spread wide as she panted from exhaustion.
"Good job. Take an hour break and then we'll move to your evening training."
Evening arrived, and she entered a dojo while wearing a white kungfu outfit. She copied her grandfather's motions as he taught her the basics of martial arts. He focused on proper breathing exercises and proper form, so the workout wasn't that intense.
"That's enough for today. We've been doing this for a few months now and you've finally turned five years old. We can begin the next step of your training. He pulled a small booklet out from his sleeves. "You'll begin training with this. All members of our sect start with this book before choosing one more suited for them after they awaken."
She looked at the book. It was called the Mortal Dragon Technique. She sat down and read through the entire book carefully. Then she read it again. "Grandpa... I don't understand. Isn't this just a bunch of make-believe stuff?"
"Nonsense! Just let grandpa guide you!" He sat down next to her and placed his hands on her back. He guided the mana along the proper paths for a moment before frowning. "This... is troublesome."
"What is it? What's wrong?" She questioned.
"Nothing for you to worry about." He sighed. "I'll have a talk with your father once he returns."
Years quickly passed. Soon, she was ten years old. Her grandfather had assigned her private tutors for the last five years. Her education was already at the level of a high schooler. He had also personally taught her martial arts. Her kungfu outfit was now black instead of white. She had continued her strength training this entire time while also perfecting her martial arts.
"Ha!" She yelled as she threw a strong kick towards her opponent. The man dodged to the side and returned a punch of his own. He was much larger and had longer reach, giving him the advantage. She rolled backwards to avoid it, then kicked off the ground to charge the man. The man tried to chop down on her neck, but he was just a little too slow and hit her back instead. Her fist slammed into his stomach, causing him to kneel on the ground in pain.
"I give! I give!" He yelled while laughing.
"Humph." Yuki snorted proudly. She sat next to the man and leaned against his arm. "Uncle Fang. Why are we so different from everyone else in the sect?"
"Yuki..." He rubbed her head to comfort her. "I told you before. I didn't inherit the ability to become a cultivator. You should have the talent for it. I'm not sure of the reason why the training doesn't work for you. I'm sure we'll find out once my brother returns."
"When my father returns..." She sighed. "Does he even care about me anymore? I haven't seen him once since mom died."
"Of course he does! He's just been busy looking for the esper that caused your mom's death. Also, he's a world-renowned hunter. He saves people all over the world and participates in almost every nightmare attack. So, he's a busy man."
"Tell me more stories about my dad." She requested selfishly while she continued hugging his shoulder.
"Sure." He smiled. "There was that one time where we..." He continued to tell various stories of the past while Yuki happily listened. A slight blush covered her face as she enjoyed the peaceful moment that broke up the monotonous routine of her daily training.
Some footsteps rang out down the hall. She looked up and saw a man wearing a bright jumpsuit walking towards their training room. "Dad?!" She yelled in surprise.
"Mm." He nodded. "I'm back."
"How are you doing, big bro" Fang smiled.
Mr. Sai frowned while sighing. "I failed. I've spent almost all my time hunting that damned zombie, but he always slips away. It's like hunting for a straw of hay in a pile of needles."
"I don't think that's quite how the saying goes..." Fang commented.
"I know what I meant. You ever try finding something when literally everything in the continent wants to kill you? That esper has turned most of Africa into a living hell. The nightmares are practically doing those people a favor when they attack and free them from their misery."
"Is that so..."
"Anyways." Mr. Sai looked at his daughter. "Why hasn't she awakened yet? I thought I left the training in grandfather's hands. To waste so much valuable training time..."
Yuki looked down in depression at the comment. Fang whispered into his brother's ears, explaining what had happened.
"I see." He nodded. "Come, Yuki. Let's go see your grandfather." The two headed for the throne room where the old man sat. He didn't look a day older than the last time Mr. Sai had seen him.
"Look who's finally back. To abandon such a cute child for so many years. Have you no heart, my son? Where did I go wrong raising you?" He looked forlorn over the situation his precious granddaughter had gone through. Losing her mother so young. Then her father disappears for half a decade. What cruelty.
"Do you of all people have any right to question me on that?" Mr. Sai frowned. "You didn't raise me. You abandoned me. I didn't even meet you until I was already a teenager."
"No, no, no!" Grandfather shook his head while denying the accusations. "It's completely different. For one, you weren't a cute child! Therefore, I was perfectly justified in abandoning you! Haha!"
Mr. Sai's eyes started to turn slightly red as he clenched his fist in anger.
"Relax!" Grandfather yelled. "It was just a joke, sheesh. Your mother didn't tell me about you. You found me on your own when you were a teenager. I can hardly be blamed for this. Besides, we still had phones when you were born, you know. She had no excuse in not calling and informing me!"
"Whatever." He shook his head. "Let's get to the main topic. What's up with Yuki?"
"She has a yin constitution."
"What does that mean?" OP Baldy questioned. "I don't understand these things. I trained the natural way after all."
"Simply put, she has a cold and negative energy type. Likely a mix of the water element and dark element, but at much more extreme levels than is considered normal. She cannot train in the Mortal Dragon Technique. Our ancestors had specialized techniques for rare bodies such as hers, but they have been lost over time. I've asked the other sects and none have such a technique or none were willing to admit to having such a technique."
"What should we do then?" He frowned.
"There are two options." Grandpa held up two fingers. "One, she can live the rest of her life as an ordinary girl. This is what I'd recommend. Two, she can naturally awaken her powers like you did. In other words, you'll have to put her through large amounts of trauma to induce a natural awakening."
"That..." He looked at his daughter while hesitating. Then he thought back on his defenseless daughter and wife who couldn't protect themselves back then. His eyes sharpened with resolve. "We'll have her awaken no matter the cost!" He grabbed her by the collar and disappeared from the throne room, not even giving the old man a chance to protest.
One month later. A monster towered over a city. Water slid down from its body. It looked like a mix of fish and blob. The entire city was rapidly flooding from its monstrous attacks. Buildings were lifted off their foundations as they flowed off towards the ocean. People were trapped on top of the floating buildings as they screamed for help.
"Save as many as you can." Mr. Sai said. "I'll keep an eye on you while I fight the nightmare." He flew off and slammed a punch into the fish-like nightmare. A geyser of water exploded backwards from the Water Nightmare's body, but it healed in less than a second. The water diffused the force, making it so that he hadn't even managed to push the nightmare back a step.
"What do I do?!" Yuki looked around nervously. She had trained for years, but she was still only an ordinary child. She spotted a small rowboat nearby. The small house she stood atop of started to float away. She quickly jumped into the rowboat while sighing in relief.
"AHH!" She screamed in horror as she realized the debris of a large building was heading towards her small boat. She quickly rowed away, but soon realized she had little to no control of the boat. The raging waters carried the boat wherever it flowed strongest. She could barely affect the direction.
A loud crashing noise rang out as the small boat slammed into a large tree that was also flowing down the water. The boat got stuck and started to take on water. The tree had punctured a hole on the boat. The debris from earlier was still heading for her. She hesitated for a moment before choosing to dive into the water. The currents quickly carried her away.
"Hah!!" She gasped desperately for air whenever her head appeared above water. The currents constantly pulled her down under. She had almost passed out several times. She looked around in fear for her father, who had promised to keep an eye on her. She was shocked to see that the nightmare and her father were very far away. She was going to die at this rate!
She desperately looked for something to latch onto. Something that could buy her some time. Suddenly, she spotted a fin in the water. She managed to keep her eyes open the next time she was dunked underwater. To her horror, hundreds of red eyes stared back at her. She was completely surrounded by water mutants. Most were fish-like and several sharks were amongst them. There were also some that looked like squids and other strange creatures.
"AGHHH!!!" She screamed as she felt a tentacle wrapped around her leg. She was quickly pulled under water. A black shark revealed its ugly yellow teeth as it opened its mouth. Black miasma leaked from its body and scared the other mutants away. It bit down towards the trapped girl. She waved her arms desperately to get away. Then, a white light covered the entire area. All of the mutants froze in fear. She felt herself being lifted up from the waters.
"Didn't work." Mr. Sai sighed. I figured we'd go with water first since that's related to your yin constitution. We'll try the dark nightmare next."
Yuki relived the horror of the nightmares. She faced the Water Nightmare and Dark Nightmare the most. She faced the earth, fire, wind, and lightning nightmares several times each. She faced the Light Nightmare only once and she almost lost her life. Even her father had almost failed to save her.
Soon, she was fifteen years old. She had adapted to the nightmare attacks. She often saved lives through her actions. It was even more impressive when considering her father wouldn't let her use any tools to do so. Still, she could never awaken her powers. The odds only became more unlikely as time went on. She was no longer affected much by the nightmare attacks. Anyone would become numb to such a thing eventually. Especially after seeing so many people die in front of her during the attacks.
Today, she and her father headed for Reef City. They weren't here for a nightmare attack. Instead, they were taking their first vacation ever.
OP Baldy looked at his daughter with concern visible in his eyes. "I think we'll stop the nightmare training." He sighed while rubbing her head. "I've put you through enough. It's clear that it just wasn't meant to be."
Yuki normally had dull and numb eyes, but when her father spoke to her they would light up. "No! I'll become strong too! Even if I don't awaken, I can still help people. Just look at how many I've saved!"
"Only because I was there to save you when you needed it." He shook his head while sighing. "How do you like Florida? I was debating between moving to here or New York."
"I don't know..." She pouted.
"Well, let's try to have some fun." He dragged her to the beach and bought her a new purple swimsuit. At her own insistence, it was a rather conservative one-piece suit. He tried to get her to play in the water or enjoy some volleyball, but she refused and sat in the shade of an umbrella.
'Stupid dad.' She hugged her knees as she pouted. 'I want to be as strong as you are. That's the only way we ever spend time together. And why did you take me to the beach? It's so damn hot! I like the cold!'
The day passed, and they stayed overnight in a hotel. Early the next morning. "I'm going to go meet with your grandfather today. I'll ask one last time. Maybe he has another way to help you awaken your powers."
"I'll come too! I haven't seen Uncle Fang in forever!" She yelled excitedly.
"No." He shook his head. "Fang isn't at home anymore. Also, I don't want you getting upset over whatever the old man tells me. You stay here and have fun."
"Stay here?" She frowned. "What if someone tries to attack me?"
"Pfft!" He laughed. "You'd probably kick their ass unless they were a powerful esper. You should be fine. No one here knows you're my daughter. Just don't go anywhere sketchy." He turned and disappeared from the room, giving her no chance to protest. He hadn't informed her, but he did ask an esper he knew to keep an eye on her while he was gone.
She left the room and headed for a nearby convenience store to get some breakfast. As she was walking back, she saw a boy kneeling over a scooter. "Damn thing! Why'd it have to go and break at a time like this? I'm already running late!"