Chereads / Ninjago: Path of the Realms / Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: Momentum

Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: Momentum

Xavier sighed, rubbing his temples as he went over various maps and documents. Over the last few days, Kai and him had continually made their attempt on the obstacle course that Wu had set up for them to learn Spinjitzu with. The two of them were both making progress, with their reactions getting sharper each time and their instincts being honed with every try: Xavier in particular had reached a level of agility he didn't know was possible for humans, though evidently within this world, it was possible to reach much higher heights. However, the fact of the matter was, they would only get one attempt per day, meaning that finding other ways to practice was up to them: Wu seemed to prefer a hands off teaching approach, and so Kai and Xavier were left to their own devices for the majority of the day. Kai spent a lot of his time redoing the obstacle course on his own, but Xavier spent a bit of time studying whatever texts he could get his hands on. The way he saw it, so long as Kai achieved Spinjitzu, the story would probably continue on unimpeded, since Xavier wasn't part of it originally, and so he wasn't as concerned with achieving it as Kai was. That said, there was a lot of time in the day, and Xavier wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to learn a powerful method of self defense: if he wanted to survive, he'd need to learn practical skills in addition to theoretical skills.

Unfortunately for Xavier however, as it turned out, the selection of reading material was fairly limited, at least in terms of secrets, techniques, or anything else which could help him out. Most of it was simple history of the area, the monastery, or other minor trivia like that. Xavier wondered if Wu had more materials he was simply hiding, but that wasn't something he could confirm, so he ultimately returned to the obstacle course training, and he and Kai had swapped notes on the techniques by which they had found the most success. This routine continued on for a few days, until Xavier and Kai were both confident they had strategies that would work for them, and the following day afterwards, Kai and Xavier entered the courtyard confidently.

As his two students walked in, Wu was already in the middle of setting up what would be the tea spread that would define the time limit for the challenge. Looking up from his preparation, Wu took stock of his students and their expressions.

"It seems you feel ready for today's test. I am proud that you have reached this stage, but confidence is not enough on its own: you must keep your mind balanced just as much as your body."

Kai seemed to find this advice amusing, and gave his teacher a knowing smirk.

"Is that so? Well, don't worry, I have enough balance to get through it just fine. Today is going to be the day where I kick this obstacle course's butt."

Wu raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything, and Kai took it as his cue to start his training, pulling his trusty wooden sword and running through the first stage of the course. Kai moved through the course with incredible precision, striking down the cutouts quickly before jumping through the various platforms, somersaulting through spinning blades, and jumping off of wooden poles. Then, quick as a flash and without warning, Kai threw his training sword right at Master Wu's tea, causing the cup to fall over and spill, in a display of precision that even Xavier had to command as an archer. From there, it was easy enough to get through the final obstacle, and Kai jumped off from the platform triumphantly.

"Looks like I proved my point, huh?"

Wu raised an eyebrow at this show of zeal, but didn't respond to Kai. Instead, he merely looked toward Xavier, who had been waiting patiently through the affair.

"It's now your turn Xavier. I must apologize for doubting you so far, and I now see that you have the potential to complete this training. Whether or not that happens today is a different matter however, so I look forward to seeing how you approach this challenge."

Xavier was a bit annoyed with the apology, which he felt could have been a bit more sincere, but he decided it enough for now. He bowed respectfully toward his master.

"Regardless of how you've thought of me so far, I'm glad you were willing to let me train here in the first place. I will do my best to meet your expectations and surpass them."

Wu nodded, and Xavier took that as his cue to begin, grabbing the same bo staff he had been using thus far and jumped into the first platform, being filled with an agility that he had never experienced before. This was the result of his training and the power that humans could reach in this world, and as his body surged with adrenaline, he admitted he felt somewhat thankful to have ended up here for the first time. With that, Xavier's bo staff slammed down all the cutouts with immense precision, before he jumped off into the spinning blades platform. Placing his bo staff between the blades, he used their momentum to propel himself with enough force to jump off from the platform and slide under the spinning rods to go directly to the next platform.

As Xavier was completing the course, he began to instinctively understand what the point of this course was: it was about mastering momentum and redirection of that force, along with precision and balance, to slip through and counter ever changing obstacles. Jumping through the height shifting pillars into another weapons platform, Xavier jumped over the ax as it fell down and slipped through the other weapons by dodging to the side, before passing through the swinging wooden rods meant to trip him up. Xavier jumped off, slipping through the swinging weapons with his footwork, before finally landing where he had begun.

"So, that work for you, Sensei?"

Wu sipped his tea, which had just been finished now. Thinking for a moment, the old master nodded.

"You have exceeded my expectations indeed. You have now learned Spinjitzu: it is time for you to get some rest."

With that, Wu took his leave, exiting the courtyard. Kai looked around, a bit confused by the sudden departure of their teacher right as their challenge was completed.

"Wait, what did he mean? We've already learned Spinjitzu? But all we did was complete an obstacle course, I don't see any spinning, wind, nothing! Are we sure drinking all that tea hasn't boiled his brain too?"

Xavier wasn't worried however, he had had enough experience with anime, manga, and movies to know that old masters like these were almost never straightforward.

"I think I get it… we've learned the principle behind the technique, how to apply it in combat, and gained the dexterity to do so. I think now we've trained to use that momentum for ourselves, he's saying it'll come out when we need it most, when we're in a dangerous situation. That's just my guess anyway."

Kai rubbed his chin thoughtfully, taking a moment to process what Xav was saying.

"So… we have to get real experience to learn it? Well, if this mission is as dangerous as he says, that shouldn't be an issue. You understand this more than me, huh Xav? Well, I hope you know what you're talking about, for both our sake's at least."

Xavier couldn't have agreed more.