Narrated by John
The training was going to be hard. I could tell that as soon as the clothes crushed me under their weight. Even though the weight was reduced, it was still pretty hard to move quickly in them. I'd get used to it soon, maybe, but for now, it was tough.
Mr. Benji said,"Let's get on with the training then! Now, since Alex and Gordon have the same strengths and weaknesses, I'll train them together. The same goes for John and Anne. Today, we'll train your weaknesses. With the exception of John, energy control seems to be a common weakness you lot share. So let's begin with that! John, I'd recommend you to join in as well, as you can improve your already-good control over your energy."
"Sure! I'll come too."
He nodded,"Alright. This exercise will improve your energy control, as well as your focus."
"What do we need to do?" Alex asked
"Sit."
"Sit?"
"Sit."
We sat down on the grass.
"Cross your legs"
We followed.
"Now, close your eyes."
We followed again.
"And, meditate."
"Meditate?" Alex asked. He was pretty impatient by nature, so it would be hard for him to meditate.
"Yes. Take deep breaths, and relax for a few minutes."
It was hard to focus on the meditation, but I somehow managed to keep myself steady for the next five minutes or so. Gradually, my inner focus increased, and I could easily sense my energy.
Mr. Benji's voice said,"Alright, now I need you to focus properly. By now, you must have sensed something running through your body. That's the energy moving throughout your body. That's what you need to focus on. Try to imagine the same surging feeling just outside your body. If you do it correctly, your energy will surround your body in the form of an aura."
It was easy for me. I'd done this too many times to get it wrong. I could feel the warmth outside my body, and I knew that I had aced it.
Mr. Benji said,"Good. You may open your eyes now."
I opened my eyes, and my body radiated red energy. But the sight of the others' energy left me speechless.
Alex had a purple colored aura, which synced with his purple and white outfit. He looked at himself and said,"Purple? Not bad at all! In fact, I think it's cool! Good thing I didn't change the colors of my outfit!"
A green aura surrounded Anne, but she didn't say anything, and just marveled at the feat she had just performed.
Gordon's aura was dark blue in color, and he just snorted,"Red hair and blue energy. Guess I might have to dye my hair back."
Mr. Benji said,"You all have got colors that actually suit you! That's very good! Now, get back to meditation."
Alex said,"What?! For how long are we supposed to do this?"
"I'd say, three hours."
"THREE HOURS?!"
"Yes. I know it might be tough, but the most efficient way is not always the easiest way. Now get back!"
Well, I didn't really have anything to say against him, so I sat down again, and began meditating.
12 hours seemed to pass, when Mr. Benji said,"Okay, we're done!"
I opened my eyes, and Anne opened hers too. Gordon and Alex didn't.
Mr. Benji sighed,"Their focus does need work."
I asked,"What happened?"
"They dozed off."
He woke them up, and then said,"Now, let's begin the strength and durability training. Alex, Gordon, you both can take some rest, while I give these two their task."
Mr. Benji led us to the base of the cliff. It was just a strip of sand, and then the Green Sea.
He said,"Okay, this exercise is gonna be tough. I want you to climb this cliff, and at the top, you'll find some rocks. You have to bring the rocks back, by jogging down the cliff through the way I showed you. You can only carry one rock at a time. It doesn't matter to me whether you cheat or not. If you cheat, it'll only hinder your progress, so I hope you do this fairly. I'll climb this cliff, and then you'll have an idea of what you have to do."
"Climb a cliff?" I asked.
"Yep. Any problems?"
"No... But isn't there a chance that we'd die?"
"Nope. Trust me, you won't die."
"I hope so." I still couldn't get myself to trust him.
"Okay, I'll climb up, and give Alex and Gordon their training. Come back to me when you're done!"
He went in front, and began the climb. The cliff wasn't very high, bht it certainly wasn't low either. However, Mr. Benji looked experienced, and quickly climbed to the top. Once he reached there, he gave us a thumbs up, and turned and went to give Gordon and Alex their share of the training.
I looked at the cliff. The climb was manageable, but with weighted clothes, I wasn't very sure about it.
I looked at Anne,"So, think you can do it?"
She shrugged,"Maybe."
"We might need to work together here. Up for it?"
"Sure."
At least she stopped blushing now everytime I talked to her, so I felt a lot less awkward while talking to her now.
I said,"Let's do one thing. I'll climb up once, and analyse a good route that we could follow every time we go up."
"Okay."
I walked to the wall of rock, and began the climb. It was actually easier than it looked, as I could find plenty of handholds and footholds. After three minutes, I was at the top.
Mr. Benji said some rocks. And in front of me, there were a ton of them. I could bet that there were easily more than a hundred of them. Each of them was nearly my size. How did Mr. Benji collect so many rocks?
I picked a rock up, and it was not as heavy as I expected it to be. I made my way down, and Anne was standing there, doing nothing. I went to her, and pit the rock down near her.
She asked me,"How was the climb? Was it easy?"
"Not very easy, but manageable. But that's not the problem. There's more than a hundred rocks up there, and climbing repeatedly would be the hard part."
"More than a hundred?"
"Yes."
"Oh, well..... I guess we can do it?"
"Of course we can! It'd just be time consuming. We could divide the rocks between us, so it would half the time."
"Okay!"
We started the work. At first, it was easy, but exhaustion started taking a toll on us. An hour later, my shoulders began aching a bit. After another hour, they actually ached a lot. One more hour, and my arms felt numb. There was still a lot of work left. Two long hours more, and finally, the work was done.
Anne and I smiled, and high fived. I extended my hand to her,"Friends?"
She hesitated a bit, but then shook my hand, and I could see a tint of red form in her cheeks. Then we went back to Mr. Benji.