Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2016 21:59:57 GMT
3 Months Ago
The forest truly was a nice place. The trees were green, the birds were singing, it was quite peaceful. Sunlight barely leaked through the leaves on the tree tops so there was plenty of shade which was a plus. Especially since it was summer. Not that Ryce needed to be cool though! He was never bothered by the heat in the first place...but it did feel quite nice. Just then, a soft breeze made it's in Ryce's direction and with it, the sound of rustling leaves in the tree tops. Then he saw it.
The tower that extended beyond the reach of the trees yet failed to touch the sky. It was black and white in color, not to mention a hint of gray. Actually, it kind of reminded him of his father's gi. Wait...Ryce's eyebrows dropped like a rock in disappointment. This wasn't some unknown Martial Arts tower! This was his dad's dojo! What a drag...and here he had thought this was going to be some kind of new experience like the mysterious note he found that lead him here said it would be...which must've also been his dad. And this must be some final test, even though his dad said that he had taken his final test already. Letting out a heavy sigh, Ryce casually walked to the front of the tower and entered.
This was a dojo? But it looked so professional. Like the lobby of an office building. There was a reception desk directly in front of Ryce and two long hallways to the left and right of the desk. A hallway that was abnormally empty. Now that he thought about it, the whole place was pretty empty. There wasn't even someone at the reception desk. This just wouldn't do. So like any rational human being, the boy decided to yell out at the top of his lungs and see if anyone would respond to his call. "Hello!? Is anyone here!? HELLO!? HELLOOOO--", suddenly he was cut off by the voice of a woman.
When he looked to see where the voice was coming from it turned out to be a professional-looking blonde haired woman with emerald green eyes and glasses sitting at the reception desk. "Hey, hey. You don't need to raise your voice.", she had said as she slowly shook her head. "Oh, uh, sorry.", the boy responded, as he gave an awkward chuckle. "It's fine...", the woman said as she took a sip from her coffee mug. Ryce watched as she drank and immediately noticed something. It had the Yin Yang sign on it. Yep, this place definitely had something to do with his father's Dojo, "The Dojo of Balance" which was highly surrounded by Yin and Yang and the appreciation of Nature. Ryce even had the sign on his Gi. Naturally. He was trained in their ways, after all.
When she finished drinking, she softly placed the mug down and then folded her fingers, clasping her hands together as if she were the CEO of some incredibly popular company. "So, who are you and what can I help you with?", she asked the boy, her eyes locked onto his. "Heh! Listen up lady! Because you're gonna hear this name everywhere soon enough! I am the infamous Ryce Li of the Dojo of Balance! A prodigy student, son of the best in the dojo, and an aspiring martial artist," he said with unshakable confidence. "and someday, I will be one of the greatest heroes ever known to man!" The chocolate-colored youth then flexed his muscles, his eyes closed, as an overwhelmingly huge grin over took his face as if he were already a legend.
The woman, however, realized him as anything but as she responded with a blank stare, a light cough, lifted her glasses and turned to a binder which she opened and began to write. "Alright, I'm going to have to log you in. As she wrote though, she paused when she was about to write his last name. "Wait...you said Li, right? As in Li spelled with an I rather than two e's?" The boy nodded. "OH! Oh, so you're Jack's son! Well then head up to the third floor! Your father should be up there waiting for you." Ryce sighed as he received this answer. 'Jeez, dad does not know how to make things a mystery, does he?', he thought. "And I'm guessing there's no special way of getting up there?", he asked, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Nope!", the woman responded gleefully. "Just take the elevator on up!"
At this point, all hints of excitement completely vanished from Ryce's face. "Right..." He then bowed out of respect and headed towards the elevator closest to the beginning of the hallway in a slow, disappointed fashion. When the elevator arrived, he entered and pressed the third floor button without looking at the button panel and the doors slowly began to close. When they had finally closed, the machine rose and soon enough stopped on the third floor.
Though things had been a bit of a disappointment up to this point, a smirk still emerged on the boy's face as the elevator doors opened. At least he was about to fight someone. Fighting was something he always loved to do.
Exiting the elevator, the boy surveyed his surroundings.Now THIS was a dojo. The boy began to move inward, away from the shut steel doors of the elevator, his head rotating from left to right endlessly in pure awe. This place was amazing...it really captured the spirit of a true dojo from the sliding doors and combat mat to the various weapons on the wall directly in front of Ryce and the lamps that rested in all four corners of the room, illuminating it. Ryce most definitely approved.
However, the boy didn't have a lot of time to observe the scenery as suddenly, three figures just dropped from the ceiling, all of them wearing fox masks. They were all dressed in a traditional Gi however, and not that of his Father's dojo which was strange since the masked person in the middle who was the only grown up of the trio was most likely his father. Though, Ryce had to admit, he was a bit...scrawny to be his dad. Something was definitely off this time.
But, before he could even address this thought directly, the man spoke. "Welcome, Ryce Li, to your Ultimate Trial. How do you like the place? Pretty nice isn't it? I'd hope so.", the man then smirked cockily. "It was made to look like the Dojo you had been trained in after all. That way, you could end your journey where it started, in a sense. Even though, your journey to be a 'hero' hasn't even started yet, has it?" The boy raised a brow as he placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head to the side. "No, it hasn't. But what do you mean you're going to end it? Because it doesn't sound like you mean train me again, Dad." The masked man burst into a hysterical laugh when Ryce's words reached his ear. "Your father?", the man continued to laugh. "Please. This will be harder than any thing your father put you through, boy."
The man in the mask then sat down and snapped his fingers as a pot full of tea, a tea cup, and a small mat appeared directly in front of him. "Well then. Let's begin, shall we?"
The man snapped once more and immediately one of the children next to him lunged straight at Ryce, sword in hand. It did not take the dark-skinned boy much time to react however as he quickly whipped out his own sword and parried the opposing child's attack, his sword in a horizontal position as the masked child's was in a vertical one. He then attempted to follow up with a quick slash to the child's torso but the masked child was too fast as he dodged swiftly with three fierce backflips.
"Woah! You guys are better than I thought!" Ryce exclaimed. But there was no reply from the 'swordschild'. He simply charged at Ryce once more, this time with a mid-air downward thrust. Ryce barely dodged the thrust as the sword removed some hair from the tips of the spikes in his hair. As the blade dug into the mat, Ryce took this as an opportunity and attempted to hit the child with a spinning slash as he lunged back and then spun forward ferociously, twirling in the air, his sword cutting anything in it's path.
It was obvious that the masked boy was beginning to become more cautious and worried about the situation as he used what seemed like all his strength to rip the sword from the mat and parry the dark-skinned boy's spinning slash with so much countering force that it actually sent Ryce spinning the other direction. His eyes shot open in awe as his opponent moved with such equal strength and speed. He had never encountered something like this before. Within the mere moments that Ryce stayed in the air spinning, the child took the opportunity to kick Ryce in his back and onto his hands and knees.
A loud thump echoed throughout the room as Ryce his the ground and his sword soared through the air eventually landing right next to him. 'That strength just now...what the heck was that?', he thought. Thoughts like these continuously bounced around in his mind. He had never been overwhelmed like this before especially not by someone his own age. "Hey. It isn't bed time yet boy.", the man said eerily as he snapped once more and the second child was on the attack. "Bed time? I hate bed time! Guess I better go all out before it is bed time, then!"
Leaping into the air, the child spun like a ball and attempted to come straight down on Ryce's back. But the boy had had enough with this impostor and his merrymen. Using his ability to sense Ki, the boy watched his opponent surge downward through the air without even turning his head and at the last second, vanished to the side and when the second child's foot dug into the ground, keeping him stuck, Ryce shot his crimson eye beams at the boy, hitting him square in the chest, sending him flying off the mat and into a pillar. The hit knocked him out.
The first child, however, took advantage of this encounter and picked up Ryce's sword, dual wielding it with his own as he let out a mighty roar as he charged toward Ryce. Swiftly, Ryce turned around to face the angry boy and whipped out his nunchuck from his left leg holster, flicking it as it hit the masked child square in the chin. Hard. The child fell to the ground, unconscious, dropping both swords in the process. As he hit the ground, Ryce's face returned from that of a serious one to a joyful one. "Wow!", he said, turning to the masked man as he picked up his sword, and sheathed it calmly. "That was fun! Though it wasn't much of a challenge but the idea of it was fun!"
Ryce then got into a fighting stance, looking at the masked man. "Alright then, you gonna fight me too?" The man got up and chuckled. Slowly he removed his mask and tossed it aside. Ryce gasped in awe. "No thanks, I just wanted to test you is all." It was...his mom!? "Mom!? But-- Why-- How-- You-- Huh!?!?" His mother gave a warm smile, as always. "Don't worry, I was just worried is all." Her smile then transformed into a frown. "It's a scary world out there, you know. And you want to be the hero regardless. It's an honorable goal of course, but dangerous. It worried me so much. So much where I just had to test your strength myself."
She smiled once more "You did wonderful by the way! You might even be stronger than your father soon enough!", she said as she chuckled softly. Walking over to the boy she ruffled his hair, bringing a smile to his face. "Now, don't forget, times will get tough. You'll get stepped on, beat up, probably even beaten near death. But I want you to never forget. You are going to be a hero. Our hero." She then moved her hand to his cheek and gave it a soft pat. "My hero. Let that fuel you to be the best hero you can be, and save all of us from whatever trouble may come." The woman removed her hand from Ryce's cheek and looked upon him once more before stepping aside and allowing him to enter the elevator to the lobby. "Now go on. Be a hero. And make sure you visit your father and I from time to time on Mt. Poazu!"
"Don't worry mom! I'll never forget to do that.", he said as he entered the elevator. He then gave a great big smile and a passionate smile. This was goodbye for now!