Issue 2 - Stick
Krilla was running through the woods.
Terra: Miss Los! We have to go back! The village! It's-
Krilla grabbed Terra's book and scrolled through the pages.
Krilla: You have to rest.
Terra: No I don't. Listen to me! People are going to die!
Krilla: I wasn't asking. Sleap minos duinos.
Terra fell into a deep sleep. Krilla sighed.
Krilla: I have to do something…
- - - - - - - -
Terra awoke inside of a dojo. She sat up and looked around. No Krilla in sight.
Terra: What is this place?
Terra looked up. And realized an old man was standing above him. He had white hair. And his eyes were completely white. With pupils still obviously being there. But they were barley visible. He had a black shirt under a dark green long coat. He had long, light black pants on. Along with steel toe boots.
???: Shut up and get up. Come over here.
Terra got up hesitantly. She was annoyed by his demands. She walked over to the blind man, who was standing in the corridor.
???: Come on.
Terra followed him into a room that was lined with chairs. There was nobody there however.
???: Sit down.
Terra sat down on one of the chairs.
Terra: Who are you?
???: I'm your sensei. Stick. Here, have some food. Eat it and shut up.
Terra took the food. It was a small plate with a sandwich on it. She did as Stick told her. Stick sat next to her
Stick: Well, let's get started. So here's the thing I tell all of my students. Nobody feels sorry for you and nobody ever will. The world is full of fakers.
Terra: That's dumb.
Stick: What did I say?
Terra: To be quiet…
Stick: Don't get pouty. So tell me your story.
Terra: My town! It was attacked by a bunch of men on motorcycles! You have to help me! We have to go back and see if-
Stick: Like I said. Nobody feels sorry for you. Including me. I don't give a shit about your town. There's much bigger threats that could destroy cities. And have.
Terra: I watched my grandparents be killed!
Stick: Oh boo hoo. Your grandparents were killed. You are a survivor, and if you wanna continue to be one then you're gonna need some training.
Terra: That's harsh! I'm telling you something! And how did I get here?!
Stick stood up and kicked Terra in the stomach. She clutched it in pain.
Stick: You have quite the mouth on you kid. Krilla dropped your sorry ass off here. She has better things to do. So I want you to stop overreacting and hit me.
Terra: ….You know what?
Terra put all of her power behind one punch to Stick's stomach. Stick didn't even flinch.
Stick: Wow, pitiful.
Terra screamed and threw a bunch of sloppy punches at Stick. Who easily dodged them with his hands behind his back. He caught her punch and twisted her hand.
Terra: Ow! Stop!
Stick stopped and sat back down.
Stick: Wow, that was shit. You've got a long way to go. Here, take all the shit out of your bag.
Terra: Uhm, ok.
Terra grabbed her bag and brought it to Stick. She took out the Artemis book.
Stick: What is this shit?
Terra: A book that I got from my grandfather. It's one of the last things he gave me as a gift. I think it actually has spells in it!
Stick: Reading spells off of a fucking page isn't real skill.
Terra: I'm skilled enough! I have my spear.
Stick: And what if you didn't have it? Like now? A three year old could punch harder than you.
Terra: Hey!
Stick led Terra into a new room.
Stick: Here, meet one of my newest pupil, Fenix.
Fenix was practicing very precise strikes on a dummy.
Stick: Well, enjoy.
Stick pushed Terra into a sparring ring with Fenix.
Fenix: A new one?
Stick: Yup, I want you to kick her ass.
Terra: Seriously?
Stick: Fights can happen at any time. You have to always be prepared.
Fenix: Guard up.
Terra got into a very bad fighting stance. Fenix ran up and kicked her in the side. Terra ran towards Fenix and threw an overhand punch. Fenix dodged and punched Terra right in the face.
Fenix: Hands up.
Terra's anger was growing. She threw a punch at Fenix's stomach. Which was delivered with a punch to the face.
Fenix: Hands up.
Terra threw a punch at Fenix's face. She dodged and quickly pressed down on a point on Terra's arm. Her arm went limp.
Fenix: Hands up.
Terra: I swear to god…
At this point Terra stopped being offensive and started being defensive. So she stopped attacking. Fenix approached her. Terra threw a sloppy punch with her working hand. Fenix ducked under and pressed on a pressure point on Terra's torso. Terra convulsed and felt her stomach in pain. She fell to the ground.
Stick: That's enough.
Fenix walked out of the sparring ring. Terra stood up painfully.
Stick: Well, you have got a long way to go.
All of them walked into the previous room. Everyone sat down. However someone was looking at Terra's spell book.
Stick: Mina get the hell out!
Terra: Hey!
Terra took the book from Mina. Mina had a bottle of beer in her hand.
Mina: Hey, what the hell!? I was enjoying that reading.
Fenix: Ugh, drunks.
Stick: Mina. Join us and show Terra how to truly fight. You and Fenix are going to do a bit of sparring.
Mina: Okay.
Fenix: Can't wait.
Mina chugged down her bottle of beer. Fenix rolled her eyes.
Stick: Alright, in the cage.
Mina got into a very drunken stance. She crossed her feet and tripped over herself a bit. Fenix got into a very defined stance. Ready for whatever Mina had. Mina approached drunkenly and threw a few high punches, which were blocked by Fenix. Fenix moved her feet backwards and Mina lunged her body into her with a shoulder and a very lazy kick. Fenix threw a front kick to send Mina back a bit. However she approached again and kept the pressure. Mina tripped on herself and came flying into Fenix. She moved out of the way and did a powerful chop to the back of Mina's neck followed with some punches to the stomach. Mina grabbed one of Fenix's arms and threw it to the side, throwing Fenix off. Mina ran in and swung both of her arms into her following with a lazy headbutt and a couple punches. Fenix threw a high kick and Mina ducked under and punched her and threw her leg behind her and threw that leg into Fenix. Fenix hit Mina with a kick to the chest and followed through with some chops to the neck and a punch to the face. Mina ran up and threw a kick to the face. Fenix got hit and fell to the ground. Mina walked closer but Fenix tripped Mina with a leg sweep from the ground. Fenix got up and grabbed Mina's arm and locked it in between both of her legs and pushed up with her hips. Almost breaking Mina's arm.
Stick: Enough! That is some almost passable fighting. Now, let's get started.
Terra: O-okay.
Terra had to train with both Mina and Fenix for the rest of the day.
- - - - - - - -
1 year later, Terra is in her first test for her first belt.
Stick: Alright, we are all going to start with jumping jacks. The key to getting bouncy and ready to fight. Fenix, Mina, Terra, and Sae. You will each do 2,000 jumping jacks. That's 8,000 jumping jacks. For you ALL to do. If you stop you are all shocked. Like seriously.
They all started doing their jumping jacks together. Starting with Fenix. Terra got shocked at least 20 times and was knocked to her feet once. Stick yelled at her a lot as well
Stick: Alright, onto the second part. You will all do sparring for 4 hours straight.
Sae and Fenix were matched up and Mina and Terra were matched up. Terra was pretty much beat to shit by Mina. But she did win about 1 round for every 5. By the end of this everyone was exhausted and in pain. Mina even more from her excessive drinking.
Terra: God, I can't do this anymore.
Stick: What was that Terra?!
Mina: Oh shit.
Stick took out Terra's spell book.
Stick: Etem Illuio ghios!
Terra was flung into an unconscious state. She was reliving her village burning. She looked around. Seeing people getting killed and slaughtered. Buildings falling on helpless individuals. Terra tried to move, but she couldn't, A figure walked up to her. Beck.
. Beck: Look at what you walked away from.
She was hit by falling debris. Terra awoke, crying.
Stick: Do you want to be like these people?! Dead? That is what happened to your village! This is why you must separate yourself from your emotions. Your body is doing the work. Not your fucking brain!
Everyone was looking at Stick.
Stick: Why the fuck did you all stop? Let's all get back to testing. Terra, up.
Terra stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes and got back to testing.
Stick: Alright, time for a 10k run!
It was the end of the testing day. Terra did receive her first belt. Just barley.
Stick: You all are a part of something greater. You are all part of the Chaste!
Everyone cheered. Terra did as well. She felt it was the right thing to do.
She pretty much slept right after. Too tired to even ask what the Chaste was. But she was disturbed by Stick's alarm in the morning. It was time for more training. In the morning Terra came up to Stick.
Terra: Sensei, what really is the Chaste?
Stick: An organization. This isn't an ordinary dojo. The Chaste is a cause. A cause to stop the fuckers out to get you from the shadows.
Terra: Who?
Stick: The Hand.
Terra: The Hand? What is that?
Stick: No more questions. They're the people you are fighting to kill.
- - - - - - - -
The next 5 years of training were nothing close to easy. All of the students would train every other day for the entire day. Everyone was expected to hunt their own food when they were hungry and keep up their training on off days. Over the years more and more students were trained by Stick and the class started to fill up even more.