The Art Of Sword

Later in the training room.

Yama: Ok. Let’s get ready to train. First, did you bring any gym clothes?

Sunz wip out his black windbreak from out of nowhere and said “Am I allowed to train with this? If I already fighting with this on, then might as well wear it while training…”

Yama: Well, that is ok if it is what you want. I'm just afraid that your body might get a heatstroke.

Sunz: Oh don’t worry heat I can deal with. But cold! That is another reason why I need this windbreaker.

Yama: But your next opponent is from the “Ice clan”. Seem like the result is already decided.

Sunz: That depends, I live in Canada for all my life so I know how to deal with the cold.

Yama scoffs: Do you cover yourself head to toe even when it is slightly cold?

Sunz: Maybe… You know what! Stop messing around and tell me what is my first task!

Yama: Ok then “Lizard boy”, your first task is stamina check. Run on that treadmill at max speed and see how long can you run for.

Sunz (I hate running) gets on the treadmill, brace himself for the task, and starts running on the treadmill at max speed. After 5 minutes his body already reaching its limits, and during those 5 minutes of running, he sometimes forgot to breathe.

Yama walks up to Sunz and asks: So how is your body feeling? Is it reaching its limit?

Sunz: Oh it did! My body is slowly breaking down just from running alone.

Yama “Well that's good to hear” and presses a button that stops the treadmill from working.

Sunz was surprised by Yama’s action, but he was able to stop himself from falling off the treadmill.

Yama: Ok…That is strange! How did you not fall off the treadmill? With the amount of speed you were building up, you should have lost balance and fallen off.

Sunz grabs Yama by the shoulder with both of his arms and tells him “Drag me away now! I can’t feel my legs!”

Yama slowly walked away from the treadmill with Sunz’s arm grabbing on his shoulder, luckily he help Sunz get off the treadmill, but the sweat from training makes Sunz loses his grip on Yama’s shoulder and his body nearly hit the floor.

Yama catches both of Sunz's arms right after they slip off his shoulder, then he gently places Sunz on the floor (Face first). Sunz thanks Yama for his help and rolls 180 degrees looking at the ceiling.

Sunz catching his breath: So… What result… do you get from this?

Yama: One you have bad stamina…

Sun cut him off: Yeah I know that buddy any other results that aren’t obvious?

Yama: Well, you have like very good legs.

Sunz: Please explain the meaning of “good legs”!

Yama: There are two types of “good legs” the Strong and the Agile. The Strong ones can stand their ground against a tornado, but the Agile can walk on the tornado and they can feel the air surrounding their feet.

Sunz: So what leg am I! Agile or Strong? Also, toss me my water bottle.

Yama tosses Sunz the water bottle and explains his theory: Hmm because you stop yourself on the treadmill without leaving a hole in it. I would say you are more on the Agile side.

Sunz listens to Yama’s theory and drinks his water while still lying on the floor.

Sunz chokes on water intensely: *COUGH* *COUGH*

Yama: Hey you ok there?

Sunz sits up to explain himself “Yeah I’m fine just being an idiot again.” Then take another gulp from the water bottle. (Hmm water tastes strange and it makes me feel full of energy again. Weird!)

Yama: So from all of that we now know that you have bad stamina and very fast.

Sunz: Does that mean I don’t need to do yoga anymore?

Yama laugh: No! That means your body is perfect for yoga.

Sunz sounds unenthusiastic: Yay, let’s just get it over with.

Yama: You sound like you don’t want to do it! Any reason why?

Sunz: Soo I’m very cautious about my body because I know that it is weak so I don’t want to injure it too much.

Yama: You know that you are in a tournament where losing an arm doesn’t mean losing the battle right!

Sunz: I see! Well, I did ask for your help so I shouldn’t be complaining. But what are some of the benefits that I’ll obtain after yoga?

Yama: Different people obtain different skills after this, but one skill in common is your choice of movements will be plenty.

Sunz: Ok then let’s get started!

Yama and Sunz both sit down on the floor and cross their leg with their hands on their knees.

Yama: Listen carefully to what I tell you to do!

Sunz: Ok!

Yama: When I ask “How are you feeling” tell me your body condition, what surrounding you, and what you see. When there is any sudden change in your body report immediately. When you feel like your eyes need to be open. Tell me first before opening them. This is the most important part!

Sunz: Ok I’m ready!

Yama: Close your eyes then take a deep breath and release it. While filling your mind with thoughts or stop thinking and relying on your feeling. After that, you just wait for “Them”.

Sunz: “Them?”, Are they human?

Yama: I’m not the one seeing “Them” but you are. Now start!

Sunz closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and fills his mind with thoughts. (Why am I here),(What would have happened if I started sooner),(and where is Sword haven’t seen him in a while).

Minutes after closing his eyes Sunz's body feels both cold and hot air travel through his body. He then hears someone's footsteps walking around him. He then asks “Yama are you walking around the room?”

Yama is in shock and thinks to himself (this is strange not in a good way). He sees mist around Sunz that is restricting his body movement. Sunz’s lip is moving but there is no sound coming out of it. Yama sees that something is not right and tries to intervene. But when he try to get closer his body start to get random cut, even though it was one second and only his hand reach inside the aura.

More than a dozen deep cuts appear throughout his body making him retract his hand. Blood starts to soak onto Yama’s clothes while dripping onto the floor. Horrified of what was happening Yama turn off the light, and run straight to Jun asking for help all the while of having blood dripping off of his body.

Sunz didn’t hear any of the rustles that Yama made when he rushed out of the room. It was like his mind has been separated from reality. The footstep starts to get louder and stop.

Sunz then feels another person's back leaning against his. The sound around him becomes dead silent, then he hears a sniffle from behind him. That sniffle soon became uncontrollable bawling that have a tone and sound like it come from a woman. In between her cries, Sunz can hear that the woman is blaming herself for something.

The woman cries (Why didn’t you go with them!),(It’s all your fault!),(You don’t deserve to live anymore!), (That’s right! It’s all my fault! The five of us grow up together, but now with four of you gone. It’s best for all of us to be reunited!)

After that last sentence, the cry slowly disappears and Sunz feels something cold start dripping from his arm down to his elbow. His body now feel nothing so he thought the training is over and start to open his eyes.

As he opens his eyes, the darkness around him turns into a storm that starts pouring down on him and everything he sees in sight. Sunz doesn’t know where he is standing on, just an unfamiliar plot of land. When he turned around, he is shocked to see a small graveyard with four no-name tombstones.

After that shocking moment, he starts to think (Why am I seeing and hearing all of this) and when he looks down he sees a deep cut from his wrist to his palm. “Wait what! Where did this cut come from? And why am I not feeling any pain! Is this all in my mind?”

Then Sunz hears a familiar voice “You might need this to cover yourself from the rain!”. He turns around and sees that it was Sword covering himself from the rain with a rice hat while the other hand is holding an open umbrella toward Sunz.

Sword: It’s been a long time since our last conversation!