"So will I see Tigress?" asked my sister, her voice bursting with excitement.
"Yes."
"What about Viper?"
"Yes."
"What about Mantis? Won't he be hard to see, he's so small?"
"Yes—I mean no. Everyone will be there: Mantis, Viper, Tigress, even Master Shifu. Just settle down." I begged my sister, regretting my earlier choice of words.
"Really, Kuzan, I don't know how you did it. It took me so much effort to get invited the last time I came here."
"Oh, Aunt Elizabeth? You've been to Balin Temple before? Do you know everyone there?" I asked my aunt, surprised at her profound experience in life. Of course, if I had said that to her, I would have received a smack on the head hard enough to impress even Master Kaku.
"Come on now, sweetcake, every woman has her secrets." My aunt slyly responded to my question while winking at me, her face covered by a fan she had bought at a street stall the previous night "to experience the local culture."
We traveled up the mountain until we reached the end of the stone staircase. Master Ryuu welcomed my family personally as guests of the temple and invited them in. The same monk who I had talked to last night about my family's living arrangements took my family on a tour. Even my hyperactive sister, who was currently looking every which way trying to find Mantis and Tigress in person, was guided by the man with the patience of, well, a monk.
I, on the other hand, had my shoulder grabbed by Master Ryuu, who took me to the training rooms and arena at once. And thus, my life of hell and training at the temple began.
Running correctly, kicking correctly, punching correctly, Master Ryuu spared no effort in my training. Balancing on logs, fighting while blindfolded, fighting multiple opponents at once—I was surprised by the depth of everything that was being taught to me. It was the feeling of pure bliss.
4000 years of Chinese Kenpo, all being devoured by me at an only increasing pace. It got so bad that I ended up disrupting the training schedules of the other masters and disciples around me.
Master Ryuu had initially put me in the class with the rest of the disciples, at least respecting my skills enough to place me in the adults' class instead of the children's, but this only led to more problems. I would finish the lesson and learn the technique that was supposed to take weeks to learn, in under an hour.
After my third complaint, he finally complied and made a separate training schedule for me. Every day, different masters would be pulled out of their training schedules to train me and teach me their arts. Every time, they would come with the intention of literally "teaching me a lesson" as I had annoyed them by pulling them out of their routine.
The students were jealous that I had personally received praise from Master Kaku and Master Ryuu, while the old geezers thought that it was their duty to teach me some manners.
'I still remember the face of that old monk who was supposed to teach me those jumping techniques. He was really annoying at the start, but within half a day he was begging to be released from my chokehold.'
I swear, while happy at my progress, Master Ryuu wasn't too happy with me during my training. 'I guess it's his way of showing me that Chinese martial arts are no joke.'
I don't know where he got the idea that I thought the martial arts he was teaching me were a joke, but after a certain day, he decided to show me otherwise.
For a week, I was used as a training dummy for Master Ryuu without stopping. It wasn't training, far from it, it was pure malicious abuse.
While I was being trained in the way of the Dragon Warrior, my family was off enjoying the natural beauty of the mountains around the temple. Every day, they would visit a new scene, a flowing garden today, a waterfall the next, and a hot spring the day after that. All the while, I was being mercilessly beaten by whatever new training regime Master Ryuu had cooked up for me for the day, whether it be breaking stone slabs or carving rock with my bare hands and feet.
"Are you okay, Kuzan? Does it hurt anywhere?" asked my sister in a concerned voice, applying medicine to my back to ease my sores.
'Anywhere in particular, no, everywhere, yes. I'm loving it though,' I thought, but to not worry the child even more, I simply responded with a smile, "Nah, I'm just faking it to make sure Master Ryuu doesn't increase the harshness of my training again." while giving Melissa a little wink.
"It's our little secret, okay?" I said, extending my pinky.
"NO! I can't do that, brother." I was taken aback by her outburst, dreading what was going to come out of her mouth next.
"I'm sorry, brother, but Master Ryuu already made me promise that whatever you said about the training in the future I would tell back to him! He even made me promise on frozen yogurt and gave me a room full of candy." confessed my sister while crying, reminiscent of a murder suspect not being able to take the secret any longer and revealing that she was the killer.
"What?! When did you guys have that discussion?"
"About a week ago, he came up to me and gave me a lollipop. Then he asked me if I knew how you felt about the training under him."
"And what did you say?" I asked Melissa, hoping that my deduction was wrong, the pieces finally falling together.
"I said what you told me, that you were having so much fun like you were playing a game and weren't hurt at all!"
I was shocked, befuddled, bamboozled. I had been backstabbed by my own sister. 'My God, I had only said those things to not make her worry, but to think my words were being used against me all this time. Wait—'
"Melissa, I'm gonna ask this question once, so please answer truthfully, how many times since then have you told Master Ryuu about how I felt about the training?" afraid of the answer I would receive.
"Every night," cried out my sister, shocking me to my core once more, screaming as if she was the one who had been hurt by keeping in the truth.
My soul shattered from the revelation, my eyes rose, my heart dropped, and I fell backwards from the shock of the reveal.
"Are you sure that you are okay, Kuzan? Does the training actually hurt?" asked my sister while diving into my arms, crying out, looking for forgiveness for her betrayal.
"No, no, I'm fine, see. A little old bald man is not nearly enough to hurt me." Despite my annoyance, my heart finally melted at the sight of her crying in front of me.
"Just don't tell Master Ryuu about it in the future, okay?"
"Okay, Kuzan, I'll promise you, but you still haven't kept your last promise that I would see Tigress and Mantis at the temple."
I had known that this day would come, so I had prepared in advance and had already ordered life-size Tigress and Mantis costumes for myself to satisfy the brat's wishes.
I had also already completely mastered the Tiger Form Fist and the Praying Mantis Fist, and was due to master the rest of the five fist forms in the next couple of days. 'It's gonna be quite a show,' I thought to myself, wondering if I was going too far to fulfill the child's wishes. 'I guess I shouldn't make such careless promises in the future.'
"Okay, goodnight, Kuzan!" replied my sister, while shaking her head up and down in acknowledgment.
"Goodnight."
The next day, much to my shock, I was once again beaten up more severely than the day before by the old man. 'Master Ryuu appeared more pissed than ever with me today. What the hell!'
I carried my injured and sore body, while trying to deduce the cause of my suffering, I made my way over to Melissa and placed my hand on her hair, making sure the little girl wouldn't be able to escape my questioning.
"Huh?" the little girl was surprised by my actions, masking on an expression of pure innocence. 'Really, Melissa, I'm sure even Hollywood actors can learn from you. If you don't win the Oscars this year, the whole academy is rigged.'
"Melissa..." I sang out with the sweetest voice I could muster, "...did you tell Master Ryuu about our conversation last night?"
"Of course not, Kuzan!" she responded, as if mad by my accusation of her character. "I never break my promises, humph."
While I was stumped by her stellar acting, a thought crossed my mind, sending shivers up my spine.
"Okay, okay, sorry for the accusation. But did you happen to tell anyone else about our conversation from last night?" I asked the young girl, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery.
"Hmmm...I did tell Master Shifu, but I don't think he would have told Grandpa Ryuu anything. I had told him that you made me promise not to reveal it to Master Ryuu and I even made Master Shifu promise that he won't tell Grandpa Ryuu. Remember, you told me that he was very nice and kind in the story. I don't think he would break his promise to me."
'Master Shifu? What?' I was still confused by her statements, but my fighting senses picked up great danger from the mystery that I was about to deduce. My [Willful Eye] skill activated, and instead of Melissa, all I saw was four black men carrying a coffin away while festive music played in the background.
"And what did he look like, Melissa?" I was barely able to squeak out my question, hanging on to my last straw of hope.
"A bit different from how you described him. He was wrinkly, short, and old. Oh, and he had very long white hair too..."
'Fuck.'