Post by Happos on Nov 11, 2016 1:58:45 GMT
Prologue
Happos would stare through a pair of bushes, glaring at the man he had been watching a while. He had not exactly been stalking this person, but he had been copying what they were doing, and developing a sense of martial arts. But, when he did watch him, he watched him perform moves involving Ki. Happos had no understanding of what Ki actually was, or what effect it could have in combat, so he began trying to replicate what he was doing.
It kind of worked, he held his hands out and imagined a white ball forming between them. It took a while at first, but eventually, he was able to form a minor ball. But, this gave the man he was watching a strange feeling. As Happos’ Ki was developing, so were the man's suspicions of being watched. Eventually, as the man was training one day, and Happos was copying at it, he finally decided to take action against Happos.
So he did, he would turn quickly, and at lightning fast speed, rush Happos, and snatch him by the tail. Happos did not take kindly to this, and with his cat-like reflexes, he happened to grab the man back, having a death grip on his hand.
The two stood there in shock and glared at each other, wide-eyed. Happos was staring at him, in a frozen fear. The man was staring at him in a shock, surprised he, a master of martial arts, was grabbed by Happos.
From this moment, the man saw the potential of Happos, and the man wanted to help him get rid of his freezing up. It was difficult at first, however, when they had spared, Happos always had always happened to freeze up at the worst moments. But one thing the master noticed, was that when he failed, he did not give up. But he did grow angry, and when he did grow angry, he would let off a combo of attacks, and his mental barriers stopping him had been lifted for the moment.
The daily regime for Happos training was intense. It consisted of a very intensely structured program. Whenever he started his day, he had to do various forms of cardio. The forms of cardio were either swimming back and forth across a large lake 50 times or delivering goods and packages to rural locations that cars had trouble getting to. Sometimes, the deliveries could take upwards of 6 hours. But the hour count wasn’t as important, the training started at 5:00 AM, and ending at 8:00PM. So he had plenty of time to do these, and as his master had told him, the importance isn’t in how long it takes, but it lies in the fact that you get the job done, and Happos did exactly that.
After he completed his cardio warm up, he worked on the strength factor. He would push large boulders to certain locations, build large houses from the ground up, with no tools to help him except for basic things like nails and bolts, then he would also sometimes drag an entire sled of weights across the land, and come back.
Then, after the strength and cardio, it would be followed with exercising Happos spiritual nature. In this, he would learn how to use Ki in certain circumstances, how to properly manage your inner Ki so you don’t leave yourself open, and how to defend yourself with Ki. Most of the attacks he had learned came from his master, but constantly he would practice behind the scenes, away from his master, forming his own techniques.
Finally, at the end of the day, he would spar with his master for two hours straight. These spars gradually got more intense as Happos fighting skills improved. His master technique in these fights was for Happos to learn his moves without being taught them, and this worked extremely well. Eventually, Happos would be able to pick up what move his master would do, and punish him for it. Also with this, sometimes Happos again, would go behind the scenes and organize his own moves, and adjust certain moves into various combinations.
Once he had done followed this regime for a long time, his master eventually began to give him ratchet weights that he could temporarily use. These weights were just backpacks filled with rocks, and not anything special. Every month or so, his master would increase the amount of weight in the pack, until it eventually was 100 pounds. At this point, Happos had begun to have the capabilities to contest his master properly. The fights between them would sometimes last longer, and they would constantly switch off as victors.
After this training had gone on for long enough, his master had told him that he had finally graduated, and the master had left without a trace, leaving Happos clueless of where to push himself further than he was. Then, to his surprise, one day he discovered his master's location as he was looking at his old backpack, and noticed a strange bump in the front pocket. He realized it was an old tape when he fished it out, and after around five years of not seeing his master, he was ecstatic to recover some old memories.
Was this scenes of them training? Or, maybe it was something like all the fun times they had. However, he was curious, and he plugged it into a hologram reader. All the tape said, was to head for the three peaks. There was no signature on it, or any voice, it was a message stating he’d find himself at these peaks, alongside a hologram of what these peaks looked like.
Chapter 1
A pan would sizzle over a moderately high heat, occasionally popping its innards in a greasy manner, and throwing up small projectiles of overcooked food.
“This is becoming such a normality, these idiotic clients, pushing me around like a defective product, pressing any and everything possible to attempt to force it into its proper operating form.”
He would then proceed to swoop the pan in a downwards manner and flip the contents of what was inside. It would reveal to be a seasonal dish, filled with a high-class bounty of the local waters, all coated and fried in a delectable golden batter.
After he had completed this swoop, he then passed the pan back to his tail, and wrapped the tail around it, as it seemed his tail was an extension of his body, similar to his arm. From this, his tail was coordinated to this kind of work, as it seemed to replicate the motions the arm had completed almost seamlessly. With this, he proceeded to continue the sweeping act.
After this, he would proceed to rummage the spice cabinet with both of his hands, digging for exotic aromas that he was attuned to. Eventually, piece by piece, he would collect the various capsules labeled with the names of each seasoning, tucking them into his left elbow.
Eventually, with what would seem like 20 various spices, he would apply pressure to the tops of the capsules, then go forth to release them in a forward motion. Then, staged in front of him, was a large array of small rustic vials of many different types of spices, although most were spices of the common trade, there were quite a few that were unknowable to the untrained chef.
After he had completed this process of setting up his workstation, and with his tail still keeping the pan active, yet the contents beginning to cool slightly, he would rest the pan on the burner. After this, he would begin tossing and mixing and sifting all different kinds of spices. Popping lids off, flipping them into another, adding a little more, or a little less. For some, he would press his nose against them, and add a dash. For others, he would willingly grab it, and shake it enough so around half the entire vial was in.
From this, he worked with haste. He was lightning fast in the kitchen, his every move making a difference in the placement of the spices. He knew, one mistake could cost his entire dish, and destroy the entire process that led up to this.
Eventually, when he was finishing up the seasoning process, he accidently dropped a vial into the mixture. In a fret, his eyes glared over to this. This could destroy the entire dish!
“Stop it spice!” he would shout, letting off a small grunt, before his tail would autonomously whip about in reflex, knocking the pan out, but catching the spice.
Then after he caught the spice, yet another traumatic event occurred, for the pan was falling off of the burner.
“Don’t you even…!” he would bend his back over, and catch the hot pan in his right hand by the handle, carefully making sure that he doesn’t burn himself on the hot metal.
However, in this randomness, he would come to knock over the entire bowl of spices by his body flailing back.
“Now how come, this entire kitchen, can’t hold still,” he would lift up his left leg while the bowl was falling, and come to catch it on his left foot. In this awkward position, he would let out a small grunt, and proceed to scream out into the emptiness of the kitchen, eventually, people would start glaring at the tall metal doors from the outside.
“Hey can you keep it down in there!” an old, strident woman's voice would scream at him through the large kitchen doors.
“You sound like someone who would work at a circus! So why don’t you help me with this juggling act!” he’d bark back, annoyed by this woman's incompetence.
The woman would have gone silent, and soon, guards would approach the door, and stare at Happos in his dire situation.
Laughing at the man, the guards would state “You look like you are having a little trouble, need some help?”
Happos would not take kindly to this, but would take it as an insult “No! I just want you to know, I am the only reason you men won’t be eating gutter trash tonight!”
The men would have gone silent, and their eyes would water, as they would recall memories of eating trash out of a gutter. “Alright, we’re sorry, we will let you do your thing.” the guards would then scatter off and take their seats.
Soon enough, Happos would take his foot, and slide the bowl back onto his table, as well as take the pan, and apply it to the heat where it once was held. After that, he would take the small vial of spice from his tail, press it into his palm, and charge the Ki up in his hand, incinerating the container of spice.
After this, he would take the ramekin of spice, and toss it into the pan, before viciously swooping it to cover every piece of the delicacy. From this, a beautiful evolution would begin to occur.
The colors of the seafood being fried would transform into a delicate copper-like color. Over this process, the liquid would also begin to thicken, applying a caramelized candy-like coat over the seafood, making the insides of it soft, but the outsides of it crunchy and hard. This shelling would be as a wrapper to a delicious burst of flavor. As it would be like a child receiving a gift. The wrapping paper is nothing but a garnish to the true contents of the package.
After doing this, he would lift the seafood pieces out, and organize them depending on their flavor, from right to left. The ones rightmost being the less delicious ones, as he wanted his meal to end with a surprise. The reason he was doing this, was for the fact he assumed most people were right handed, so by default, they would have to follow his ideas unwillingly.
In his organization, he started by placing the albacore tuna to the farthest right, then proceeding with crab, shrimp, and finally a sea urchin. After spreading these out as the main course, he would proceed to make them more ornate, by pouring their own sauce over them, and placing small little herbs over them. The kind of herbs people see on food and think that it actually means something, but in reality, it is just a sign of false wealth.
After this process, he burst out of the kitchen where he was contained. Like a cat finally coming out of its cage. He glared at everyone, as everyone was glaring at him, and he held the plates high above his head, so the surprise was hidden. He then moved forth to the large oak table, decorated with royal designs, and looked to his guests.
It seemed his guests were a local ruler, the spouse of him, two guards, a child, and an old man. He had seen all of these people before, yet, the old man seemed to be new to the group. He took no notice of it first and began to set out the plates.
He passed one to each member of the family, starting in regards to the highest ranking of royalty, but he skipped the father, the ruler, supposedly the ‘king’ of this family.
The ruler then questioned him “Cook, where in the name of the green Earth is my food?”
“Oh, I forgot about you,” Happos stated this with an accent of trickery, before moving a hidden plate from behind his back out that was resting atop his tail, proceeding to rest it in front of the king, “Anything else you people need?” he’d ask.
“No, no. This is perfect, I appreciate your service” the ruler would state.
“Well, I must be off then. Next time you have to pay me. This is just a favor, remember.” he’d respond, before trotting out of the mansions large mahogany doors and close them with a slow creaking sound. At that point, the mansion had suddenly lost its fresh feeling, and Happos had been off on a journey that his master had told him about.
This quest that he had been told about was no simple matter, however. It held far more potential than one would ever think of. For this was the quest his master had given him long ago. A quest where his master had stated ‘The moment will come where you feel at a point where you can’t go any further, and when this moment occurs, go towards the mountains with the three peaks, for you shall find me there’. This quote has stuck with Happos indefinitely, it had done so much for him. Given him motivation to train, and ignited his inner flame, and his desire to be a proper combatant to any who contested his path towards his personal glory.
He wasn’t sure how long this journey would take, so because of that factor, he had pocketed a few capsules to take with him in case. The contents of these capsules were relatively similar. Five of them had contained large amounts of food, specifically picnic baskets meant to last a family of four an entire afternoon. He then had one capsule which held a sleeping bag, then another which held a small tarp.
These capsules which held housing items, however, were not just for this journey. For as long as he can remember, Happos had never actually gone to the extent to buy a house, as he was pleased by sleeping outside. The capsules which contained the food, he had curated himself. He did this by always making more food in his culinary jobs than necessary, and stashing it into the capsule.
It was sly, and he is completely aware of it. If he is making the food, he has a right to some of it. But that is beside the point, the matter is, he does not want to perish upon this journey, as he is not sure of what obstacles he could come across. But from here, on this lonely night, he shall begin his endeavor to discover himself. To discover something more than what he is, as he feels the time is right.
As he regarded his old master inside of his head, and he collected himself and checked off his content for surviving this, he began to search the dazzling night sky for the mountains. When he got a view of them, very slightly seeing the peaks over a hill, he leaped into the air and began to fly through the night sky towards these peaks.
Chapter 2
As he was flying, it was fairly smooth at first. The gentle breeze of the night sky caressed his face, refreshing him, and keeping him awake throughout the trip. Although he was tired, and he had just finished an exhausting day at work, he somehow managed to stay awake through the flight. He was not sure what gave him this motivation to do so. It possibly could have been the unending glow of the sky, and planets reflection out of the black abyss; Or it could’ve been something else, a personal will, his inner fire burning, and keeping him going, like a furnace, which can only run if fuel is dumped inside of it. However, he disregarded this thought, as all that mattered is if he made it to where he was destined to be.
Soon, as he kept going on, the sun started to come out. When the sun had come out, he realized, he was most likely over the fortune telling desert. But, he looked around as far as the horizon could go, and there were no towns to be located. He went up a bit higher, and still, nothing could be seen, and no signs of civilization had appeared. For he noticed, the land he was in was barren. If any mistakes were to happen, no one would find him, and no one would care enough to send a search this far out. He had to keep going, and he couldn’t give up.
Eventually, the sun was about to hit his peak, and Happos could feel it. He not only just felt the heat, but he could feel the stinging of the sun hit his skin, burning his flesh. It was not literally burning it, but his skin began to darken from the effects, and he could tell he was in a situation which he never anticipated.
He felt normal for around an hour, and he kept going, however, eventually his vision began to blur. When his vision blurred, he came to a sudden halt, realizing how deep he had gone in. As worried as he was, he proceeded to keep moving forth, and not stopping to complications such as these, as he could still see the mountain peaks, so he felt in no major danger.
Eventually, after another 30 or so minutes, he had lost his will to fly and had come crashing to the ground, unconscious. He woke up eventually, and by that time, it was still midday, yet he was not sure how long he was out. His situation, though, was not improving, for when he had attempted to fly, the heat had batted him back down to a walk. He accepted this and kept moving on towards the barely visible mountain range he saw.
Soon, though, he had begun to hear some voices, and when he looked over to the voice, he had seen none other than himself, floating in the air right next to him.
“Come on, you can do it, just like me!” his imitation would say this to himself, mocking him.
“You know damn well it is too hot, now shut up!” he would respond to himself.
His voice would keep going, pushing his annoyance further, and further, yet he ignored himself, as he had a more important goal. He kept trudging along, following the path he was sent on. But, eventually, the voice was driving him crazy.
“Why won’t you talk to me?” the voice would ask himself, laughing at him.
“You know damn well you are not real. Why would I talk to myself, I am no madman!” he would bark at the voice.
“Well, what if I am the real one, and you are the fake one?” he would say.
“We all know I am real. If you were real, you wouldn’t be able to fly right now.” he would respond.
“Well, could a fake voice do this?” the voice would then proceed to go and sock him in the jaw.
“You are bothering me!” he would go back and kick himself. But this would not be himself, it would be a large, sturdy, cactus.
After he would kick this cactus, he would suddenly realize the situation. He was in fact, hallucinating, and he was beginning to fall for it. This was not a matter of the body surviving, it was a matter of the mind. For you can train your body to do anything, but a feeble mind will fall apart at even the slightest of circumstances.
From this, he continued on. Ignoring the hallucinations, and ignoring the illusions that had confronted him. There were so many that were occurring too. At points, he would believe that he had seen an oasis full of beautiful water, and lush trees stuffed full of fruit. He knew however, this was his mind wanting a rest, and wanting a break from the intense heat. The mind bringing out the inner sloth. Then, he realized, the fact he confronted himself was not a matter of him being crazy, but his mind bringing out his inner pride.
Eventually, he would pick up more, and more of these ideas. He would see a large group of people having a party at an oasis, with many beautiful women all calling for him to come over. He was tempted at first until he realized they were calling him by his name, ‘Happos’. He noticed this was his mind becoming tempted by the fact there are many beautiful women, and wanting a piece of it, to see if he could really have it. But he knew yet again, this was an illusion. A false representation of what there really was. He knew, nothing came from relaxing, but everything came from hard work and training, and that was his mindset.
He noticed that the fact that hard work brings you things was a true piece of his life when he noticed that the mountains seemed closer than when he started. He knew not to pay much mind to this, as it could be an illusion, and it also is just how normal physics work. But deep down, he was ecstatic about this progress.
From that drive, seeing it was working, he began to walk faster. His vision coming back to him slightly, knowing that he actually was getting there. Then, as his vision began to clear, and he began to see his progress, he noticed, far off in the distance, a new piece of land occurring. He wasn’t sure if this was an illusion or not, but it seemed to look like the desert was shifting into a wetland. But as of now, this was far off, so he continued to focus on the path he was on.
Eventually, he had gotten extremely thirsty, and he presumed if he was this close to a wetland, and the climate had begun to get cooler than the cacti must contain a liquid. So, in thinking so, he went up to a cactus and chopped at it with his hand. He, however, had still not recovered well from the hallucinating and landing his hand right into a needle.
“Ah, you stupid green plant! I am going to destroy you!” he screeched at the cactus.
He then used his foot, and remarkably, and precisely kicked all the needles out of the cactus, allowing it to be harvested to drink. After doing so, he grasped the cactus with his Ki, formed it into a ball, held it above his mouth, and had begun to squeeze it onto itself into his mouth. The cactus releasing a delicious, sweet, lime green juice, which was almost tasteless, yet held an outlandish kick to it.
“Ah, so much, bett-” he would say, before being cut off by himself. Realizing his legs were stuck in something, and this ‘something’ was quicksand.
From this, he began to squirm, which only made his situation worse. His mental barrier was restricting him from flying. He was unable to move, slowly sinking, realizing that he was not invincible.
“Damn you wet sand! Let me go!” he squirmed more, getting angered by this fact.
“I said, let me go!” he would release a final yelp, being waist deep in the sand, before that mental barrier holding him back would break, and he, out of the blue, would fly out of the sand remarkably, and into the air, then proceeding to fall back onto solid ground moments later.
“It would be best for me to watch to the ground now, I presume” he would state to himself, before moving along carefully, watching his exact foot placements, one by one.
He would keep doing this for a long time. Watching his feet, move on and on, before realizing how hungry and fatigued he actually is. He had been going on a whole day without eating, and just focusing on the path ahead, that just now, after he had refreshed his body and mind with the cactus juice, he realized how hungry he is. From this, he began to take out his capsules, and hold them between his fingers, tucking away the useless ones such as his tarp and sleeping bag capsules.
“Let’s see here. Seafood mix, meat pot roast, vegetarian broth, tempura vegetables, udon noodles,” he would toss all of them high into the air, “Eenie, meenie, miney, mo,” he then would snatch a random one out of the air with his right hand, and then catch the rest with his left, tucking them back into his pocket. “Let’s see here. ‘Tempura Vegetables’. Sounds alright.” he then would throw the capsule onto the ground, and a beautiful array of tempura vegetables would present itself in front of Happos. The aroma that it had a few nights before had still maintained, and Happos mouth had begun to water.
Soon enough, he would snatch a piece of tempura eggplant, which was still lukewarm and dip it into a delectable spicy ponzu sauce, before tossing it into his mouth. The flavor was of a delicious crunchy outside, but a soft and mushy inside, which rested itself upon your upper mouth. The sauce that had coated it only made it better. It was rich, and creamy, yet light and airy, and finally, it had a kick to it, like a bullwhip coming down with a quick crackle.
On the side of this, there was a small bowl of a special miso soup. This soup contained a sweet onion broth, and somehow with its lid on, it had contained the head throughout the days. When he took this out and opened the lid, he was blasted with a scent of spices and vegetables. All vegetables in this blend were able to be tasted separately, and you could tell what was in it, but somehow, all the flavors worked in unison.
From this meal, he devoured everything in it. He completely skipped over the fact that there was a large flask of green tea included, and at the end, when he was almost completely stuffed, he took down four cups of green tea and clocked out for the day. It was a good idea on his part to end the day like this, as the sun was beginning to set. If he was to follow his plan correctly, he should be able to fly to the wetlands by the morning when the sun isn’t completely out. Then, on that note, he threw down the capsules he needed to sleep, and had set up his tarp in a triangle form, and threw his sleeping bag in the center. The tarp had been a little tight, but it did not matter to him, he was comfortable, and it had been a long day.
At this note he ended his day, staring into the never ending desert sky, watching the final clouds shift out of view, opening a rift for the gleaming stars to pierce the darkness. At that point, he just glared onwards, forgetting everything throughout the day, and living in that moment. After doing this for around an hour, he finally began to fall asleep, and so he did, resting peacefully among the squares of sand dunes connecting the desert as a blanket.
All was well during this sleep for the main portion of it, but halfway through it, when the sun was still sunk under the horizon, something approached the tarp. Not something, specifically, but more, a group of these ‘things’. There was a large crushing sound of sand breaking under the pressure of these people, and it seemed as the group was attempted to approach quietly, but with Happos large ears, they ultimately failed at that. When Happos looked out with his cat-like eyes, he could make them out in the dark, as Happos had the ability to see in the dark. But the thing was, these people looked him right back in the eyes, as he wasn’t the only cat in the desert.
The people he had discovered, were people who seemed of leopard descendants. They had the features, and build of a leopard, but the body of a normal human being. They were very similar to Happos, except for the fact they had fur, and shorter, more pressed back ears.
When these people saw Happos, they did not speak, however, they made a low, and deep growl, and began to charge towards him at an alarming rate. In this moment, Happos picked up the people charging at him almost instantly and had seen the oncoming danger.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” he’d say viciously before charging back at them in the same way, then proceeding to grasp one by the neck. However, when this happened, he wasn’t exactly sure of what to do, so he stood there, frozen by this action.
The leopard men instantly took advantage of this and jabbed him in the leg with a spear while his guard was down. Then, in this moment, his barrier had released itself. His pain and his anger compiled into power. This part of him had lost his standards, for he was furious, and was unrelenting. He then grabbed that spear out of his leg and snapped it in half with nothing but a single hand, then he began to play the offensive.
Happos was furious with this, and in his first moment, he socked the life out of one of the Leopard men causing him to run off into the dunes out of sight. The next moment he got, he whipped one of the men in the face with his tail as a little game of ‘Cat and Mouse’. Infuriating the man, but pleasing Happos for the moment. But then, with lightning speed, Happos whips his leg back in a blind rage, and connects his heel to the man's jaw, cracking it. He then pushes back to assess the situation, there are two men left who have yet to be handled.
He then proceeds to leap in the air, and while in the air, he charges his hands together, before releasing a quick volley of Ki blasts among the men. With his energy drained out, he looks down to see the smoke beginning to rise. When he looks down, it is blurry at first, but it seems he dealt with one of the people, so there is just a single man left.
It is revealed, however, when he comes down, that this man seems to be the alpha leopard man. He has two red tribal markings under his stunning jade eyes. His hair is a brighter, more golden color than the others. Then his muscles are massive, making him far larger than Happos.
They approach each other and inspect one another. The leopard chief would begin to mock the small Happos “Tiny kitty. Want me to pet you?” he’d state.
“Could you repeat that I’m having trouble hearing right now.” he’d say before pressing a finger to his ear and fishing out what normally would be earwax. But he wasn’t using this moment to actually pick earwax out of his ear, but rather use it as a ploy for his next attack.
“Heh. Tiny kitty. Want m-” he’d say, before getting cut off with a hard uppercut from Happos, creating a large snapping noise.
“Now then, are you going to keep saying jokes, or fight me!” Happos would bark at the leopard chief in an angry manner. Happos personally, didn’t like having his time wasted by the man, but if Happos wanted to make some jokes, he could, because he had a sense of humor.
The man would then get up, and charge at Happos with a blind haymaker, but while doing this, Happos would send him a paralyzing glare, causing him to freeze in place.
“Fine, I’ll make this easier for you.” he’d say, proceeding to wrap his hands behind his back.
In an anger of this mockery, the leopard chief would shake this glare off and begin running at Happos in a frenzy with another haymaker. In doing so, Happos would duck under it, and leap up, kneeing him in the gut, ultimately sending him in the air. After this, Happos would take the leg he kneed him with, and having it in a flexed position, extend it into a powerful side kick hitting the chief’s neck and sending him flying leftwards into the dunes. After this, all Happos saw of the man was him running off into the dunes, with the sun barely peeking over the horizon.
“Looks like the suns just on time.” Happos would state, before going over to his tent and sleeping bag, and restore them into capsule form. Then, he would tuck them into his shallow pocket, leap into the air, and resume the flight towards the peaks.
Chapter 3
As he continued flying, eventually the landscape would drastically change. It would fade from a sand dune form, into a soft and mushy ground. He’d pick this up, and he’d be extremely happy he wasn’t just seeing things. One thing he noticed, however, was that when he was arriving, a thick fog covered the upper skylines. Then, as he gradually got closer, he noticed a major change in humidity.
When he arrived in the fog, it eventually became too hard to see. Then, as he got deeper in, the fog only got thicker. Eventually, the humidity would also put a burden on him, forcing him yet again to become grounded. Then he realized something, the only way you can actually see out of the wetlands, and to go forward is to walk. If you were to fly, he knew that you would most likely get lost, and the journey would just be far longer than anticipated.
So, when he plopped down, his feet stuck into the wet ground, forcing his movement to slow.
“What is thi-” he’d pause “Agh, nevermind, nevermind. I can deal with a little ‘mud’” he would say in frustration.
Then he would continue on his path, walking towards the mountain range in the masses of wetland. Through the fog, however, from the ground, you could barely see the mountains. Anything within a close proximity, however, was hardly visible. But Happos did not fear for this fact, as there was most likely nothing nearby. It was just wetlands, right?
“This mud, it doesn’t stop getting stuck to my feet!” he’d shout like he was talking to a wall.
The mud in the marsh was thick, yet very easy to manipulate. With each step he took, it seemed the mud was just getting harder to walk in. In the beginning, it was as a jog, but now, he is barely able to drag his feet behind him. With each step, he lets out a breath and has to take a breath in, in order to keep going.
After continuing with this process for a seemingly long time, he eventually had to find a nearby log, and rest upon it as he could not continue any further. This was one of the hardest things he has ever faced. It required him to constantly forget how to think about doing it, and rather just do it and push through because he must. If he was to stop, he may be stuck here for the rest of his life. He had no choice in this, yet again, it was do or die.
Happos however, was kind of happy with this scenario. At least he wasn’t go crazy from this, nor was he scorching under a flaming sun. “Guess I am kind of lucky,” he’d laugh at himself. But then realize he was sitting still, making no progress except for sitting around. So then he stood back up on his feet, stretched his legs a bit, and proceeded to walk.
From this, it didn’t get any easier. It seemed like resting helped a bit, but it all flopped back to how it was before after a few minutes. From this, yet another barrier was blocking him. Another barrier to slow his progress and break his potential. He wasn’t exactly aware of this, but rather raging about.
“You mud, bastard! Come on, let me walk, get off!” he’d shout at the ground.
He kept trudging along however, he knew resting wouldn’t make it any easier, and if he was to rest, the minutes he’d gain from it would be less than the amount of time he had rested. He had to think of a new strategy, so he sat down on a rock and began to think about what to do.
“Well, I could-,” he’d try to think “Ah! Jumping! Why didn’t I think of that!” he’d then take his shoes off, one at a time, and wipe the mud off onto a nearby rock. After doing so, he’d pull the shoes onto his feet, and tighten the laces.
Then, he would shoot off the rock, causing it to shatter, and begin to jump off of them onto another tree nearby in the direction of the peaks. Each tree he hit would cause it to become slightly unrooted and further tilted, while also leaving an indent of where his feet hit.
With his cat-like agility, he was able to do this fairly easily, however eventually he shot out of a tree into a large clearing, where he would completely faceplant into a large field of mud. From this, he would push himself up painfully and look around at his surroundings.
“What the hell is this?” he’d ask, before proceeding to investigate a large object trapped inside of the mud.
He then would move towards it and notice it gave off a matte glare in the blurred sunlight coming through the fog. It seemed to be a gigantic machine of some sort. But as he got closer, he noticed it was not only a machine but a massive robot.
“Heh. Anybody home?” he’d knock on the robots thick metal head before it ticking on and beginning a bootup process. “What in th-” he was cut off, as the robot’s eyes started to give off a red tint.
“Kaizoku Robo . . . Booting up” it would say in a dark voice.
“No, no, shut off!” Happos would shout back.
The robot would then begin to push itself out of the mud, pulling it’s large legs out of the mud. When it would stand up fully, it would be a matte green robot with what appeared as a long skull shaped design on its head. It would have a bulky design, and a bit seem slow at first, as it is large and caked in mud.
“Kaizoku Robo - Mission - Eradicate all mortals.” the robot would state.
“Eradicate all mortals? What are you!” Happos would command at the robot.
“Kaizoku Robo. Servant to the Red Ribbon Army” the robot would reply.
“You want to destroy mortals? Is that it?” Happos would bark.
“That is my mission. I must destroy you now” the robot would begin to unlock a compartment on his arm.
“Wait, what if I want to help you with your mission!” Happos would yell.
“If you promise your loyalty to the Red Ribbon Army, you may join the fight” the robot would say, pausing the operation on its arm.
“Heh,” he’d pause before squatting down, preparing a jump. “Just kidding.” he’d say, before launching forth to the robot and extending his leg out to side kick the head.
However, when the impact hit, almost instantly Happos felt as if he had fractured something. The robots material seemed to be too strong to be dealt with in a physical manner, rather, Happos would have to fight spiritually.
“Threat detected! Entering combat mode.” the robot would then finish the operation, revealing a blaster, and on his other arm, a sword would be brought forth.
In this moment, Happos would land back down, and realize that leap had drained most of his energy. So rather, he took some steps back, and stood atop a log, then proceeding to leap through the trees, each tree he hit and pressed his feet against, he would fire a small Ki blast towards the robot, and each time he leapt off the tree, it would be destroyed by the robot firing a blast out of his gun.
This would go on and on, but eventually, the number of trees would become thin. The robot also had seemed to be hardly damaged by the blast Happos were sending, and damage on the robot was barely visible. Happos however, had realized there were only 3 left. He put all his effort into these blasts, but they ultimately did as little as before.
After the trees had been destroyed, the robot rushed Happos. Happos saw this coming and dashed under the robots legs in the last second. The robot noticed this, and swiped behind him with his sword, cutting Happos shirt open, and drawing blood.
“You cut me! You bastard!” he’d shout at the robot.
After this, the robots slow movement would be powerful but slow, and with each swipe, he’d weave and hit the robot with a blast. Unfortunately, however, every five or so hits, the robot would get a cut in. What made this scenario even worse, was that the robot was hitting him more and more, as the mud was just tiring him out.
Happos eventually noticed how bad this was, as he was extremely cut up, and had excruciating exhaustion. He knew he had to try something extreme in order to beat this robot, so he plotted. The robot, however, kept beating down on him, cutting him worse and worse, but Happos was using this as a time to recover. The sacrifice for this recovery in stamina, however, was exchanged for the pain he was enduring.
Eventually, after he gained barely enough stamina, he pushed his feet off the ground and flipped over the robot. When he did this, the robot struck upwards. If Happos had any less stamina, he would be skewered atop the sword now, but he barely missed it. Rather, he stared wide-eyed at the sword barely cutting down the center of his shirt.
Now that he was over the robot, he had a feeling what would happen next. He was roughly 15 feet away, and with this, the robot swiveled around and shot off a blast. In this, Happos saw it coming, and let off a slight grin. He waited until it was a couple feet away from his face, then got into a stance.
As soon as the sphere was about to hit him, he tucked out of the way, and hit it with a light energy blast, causing a thick smoke to begin to appear. Through the smoke, he rolled his shoulder blades back, letting off a strong yet subtle pop. In this stance, he charged his Ki up to a high point, hold a finger above his head, and begin charging up a gigantic energy ball above his head that would appear similar in appearance to a blood moon. This sphere would glow an intense head, and soon enough, it was just about ready to be released.
When he did this, he felt what this robot really was. One of these shots could destroy any normal human. So he knew he had to destroy this robot, as if this thing was active, it could destroy a small village.
So with all his might, he put the maximum power he could into the blast. He knew that he had to fire it soon, because if not the robot may realize what was happening. So he made sure to rush his energy into it, as fast as he possibly could.
The robot, however, did not see this coming. An event like this wasn’t written into the robot's programming. Then, the smoke had covered his view, causing him to not be prepared for what would happen next.
“Now take this!” Happos would shout towards the robot, before flicking his finger downwards, sending the ball towards the robot's body. It would proceed at a moderate pace, but due to the fact the robot did not see it coming, it would hit, and the robot would almost instantly disintegrate in the powerful blast.
After this, Happos had gone towards the robot to inspect what it was. When he looked at it, not much was left but a pile of ashes and few parts that withstood the blast. It is too bad that he didn’t take more precaution because this robot could have really meant something in modern science. He didn’t care, though, he wasn’t a scientist, and this robot was trying to kill him.
After that, he blew the robot’s ashes into the mud and looked around him for the peaks. Once he noticed them, he proceeded to walk towards them until he reached yet another forest. When he got there, he repeated the same process of bouncing off of them towards the mountains. Yet in this moment, the indents were larger, and the trees got knocked over, as he was overcome with an intense feeling of pride.
Eventually, through his leaping, he would begin to notice the lessening of fog, and at this point, he thought it would be a good time to begin chowing down. For this meal, he wanted something heavier, as he felt strong and mighty, so he went with the ‘Meat Mix’ capsule, and threw it onto a rock that was large, and relatively flat.
When the capsule went down, a large puff of smoke went out, and it smelt of a finely organized smoked roast. When it was all arranged, it held a variety of items fit for a ruler, and since this was part of a local rulers meal, I guess it is safe to say Happos was going to eat like the king he was. The king of combat, and destroying leopard men and robots. He then looked at the array, as this meal had been made around a week ago. The meat, however, had stayed warm, and perfectly seasoned. When he looked over it, it was an all meat meal. There were no soups, or vegetables to accompany this feast, and Happos was content with this.
With this, there was an array of not just beef, but poultry, and fish. To begin, there was a delish horseradish roast beef, as well as a battered, and stuffed fried chicken, a large chunk of smoked pork, a slab of flank steak pot roast, and finally, some crusted salmon. In this meal, it didn’t matter what he ate first or last, but rather, he just dug in, eating every single piece of meat done to the bones. On the side, he had a large jug of a tropical juice, and yet again, since he was so hungry, he did not drink to the end of the meal.
After this meal, Happos realized he was yet again in another clearing and was about to shift over to a colder, more viscous environment. Of course, he was slightly worried about this, as he did not like the cold at all, but he knew it would be best to ponder over this the next day. So he took out his sleeping capsules, tossed them on the ground, and due to the fact he had done two fights with no rest, he essentially collapsed over what he had thrown down without doing much of a set up on it.
Chapter 4
As soon as the sun had pierced the sky, Happos had propped up. He had a good sleep, of course, it felt good to sleep after such a long journey. However, he knew he had much further to go before he was finished. This factor filled him with a determination, knowing he was so close, and that all he had to do was push on.
So he did this, he got up on his feet, and stepped on the marsh floor. This time, however, he noticed a shift in temperature. It was drastically colder than before, and the ground had been hidden by a layer of thick frost. Of course, this worried him, as when he started his journey, he had not planned for it to be cold. He only knew of the desert, which was, of course, hot. So as of now, he was only wearing a cut up vest, and a pair of sliced sweatpants. The fact that the robot had cut into them only made the temperature worse, as the cold was seeping through the seams, and piercing his bare, open wounds.
To solve this issue, he had thought of a basic idea that would most likely benefit him. He went over to his sleeping bag and begun to tear it into pieces. With these pieces of cotton fluff and fabric, he would stuff them into the cracks, and into the main parts of his vest, in order to maintain his core body temperature. He thought this was cunning until he realized the fact that he could not take another rest period, as the sleeping bag was gone, and in the journey ahead, it would not get any warmer.
So with his newly stuffed clothing, he stepped out of his tarp, before receiving it back in the capsule form. After he did that, he stuffed it into his pocket, then realizing it had slipped out, as his pocket had a cut in it. After this, he noticed all of his food capsules were missing, and they were nowhere to be found around the camping area.
In a desperate scramble, he retraced his steps and had tried to find these missing food items. If he could not find them, he would be stuck without shelter, and without food to eat. This food could be the matter of life and death on the upcoming treacherous mountain range. So he looked left and right, and in an enragement, he shot small Ki blasts throughout the field. Then, he smelt something burning, and then came to the sudden shock that he just had destroyed the capsules with his blasts.
To him, the emotion felt as if he had accidently killed someone. He began to feel that he may not survive, but then he shouted “I didn’t need food anyway! I am a warrior, bred to survive these elements!”
He then went back to where he was, picked up the tarp capsule he dropped, and then had stormed off towards the mountains. As he was walking up, the heat coming off of his feet had thawed a majority of frost, as the rage caused him to feel a bit tempered.
After a while of this sudden burst of anger, he began to cool down, and the chilliness had eventually made his teeth chatter, and his body shake. This loss of body heat, and shivering, only drained his energy further, as he was essentially wasting all of the energy that the food the night before had given him.
Of course, he would notice this happen, and attempt to seize the shivering, which would only force the shivering into his legs. As this happened he pinched the bridge of his nose and began kicking the ground. He did this for around 5 minutes, before continuing his walk through the frosty fields.
When he was walking through these frosty fields, the sun that had come out had eventually begun to melt what was frozen dew. In this melting, it soaked Happos shoes and caused his feet to become half numbed. It felt strange walking like this. With feet that you couldn’t feel, as you couldn’t know what ground you had taken a step on, nor what your foot would touch. If you were to hit a rock with your toe, you wouldn’t feel it, but the injury would be there. It was a strange idea to him, and although that event had not happened yet, he pondered what would happen if he was to get hurt.
He continued through this walking, and he was almost at the base of the mountains. As of now, he was climbing the hills that came before it, and soon, after coming over the first couple few, he noticed how large this mountain actually was. From the desert, it seemed to be achievable, to fly up this, but the climate throughout every landscape had been restricting that. In the heat, it dragged him down and drained all his energy. In the wetlands, the view was too blurry and the moisture added too much weight. In the cold, his Ki would lessen, and the temperature would stiffen his muscles.
From this, he realized that this may be part of the journey itself. The complications that surrounded him. From these things, it had been teaching him not to be as reliant on Ki, but more reliant to endure what was happening. If he were to fly, it would be too easy, and he knew, that his master wouldn’t give him such an easy challenge. A challenge that if possible, he could’ve most likely completed in a day's time.
Thinking of his master at this time distracted him away from the cold. Away from the harsh quest that he was following. He had learned how to fight from this master, how to feel his inner power, and had given him the mentality to never fall short of your opponent. The things his master taught him have always stuck with him. It wasn’t like any old martial arts teacher who spoke nonsense you make a quick dollar, it was someone who had taught from experience, genuinely wanting to support him.
As he trudged on with these thoughts, his strides became longer, and his steps faster, pushing him to get over hills after hills, until finally, he would stare up at the excruciating steep slope of this mountain. It was so large, and on it were large patches of loose snow and pits of slick ice. These features would make it an insanely difficult climb up, and there was no possible way he could fly up, because if he did, he would just grow tired and fall back down.
From here, he had a few options of how to do this. He could either attempt to climb the face of the mountain, and jump up piece by piece by pressing his feet into the rock forcing himself upwards, or he could attempt to find a trail for it. He then proceeded to think to himself, that he might as well attempt the hardest one first, and if that doesn’t work, he could just find a trail.
As this idea went through his head, he burst quickly at the mountain, his steps quaking the rocks, loosening them. Then, he would push himself up, then gain traction on a higher landing point, and then forcing himself further up. Doing this seemed to work at first, and it was going really well until he put too much force into it, and a large chunk of snow chipped off the peak of a cliff, forcing him down.
From this, he came flying down, and as he was falling, he eventually hit the ground, severely hurting himself. As of now, he was unconscious, his body succumbing to the cold of the mound of snow atop of him. In this position, he almost fell into the coffin of ice that was forced upon him, but in slow recovery, he eventually forced himself out. He was freezing cold, and almost completely numb. But he knew, he was so close, so he began to walk around the mountain in an attempt to find a trail.
After he was around halfway around the mountain, the temperature wasn’t getting any better. In fact, he was just getting colder. His core temperature would drop to a really low level. At this time, he would also find a trail. He knew this was the right trail up the mountain, because there was a balancing of rocks, marking someone had used it prior to this. Who knew, it could have even been his master from before or someone he had never seen before. However, the balancing of rocks was almost buried in snow, so it seemed no one had cared to keep it clean for a while.
From this point, he would go towards the rocks, and dust them off, only to see they were engraved with a strange symbol he had never seen before. He didn’t care about the symbol, however. Every martial arts school has it’s own symbols, so it didn’t matter that he found one upon the rocks. He then began to force himself up the incline, shivering, and cold.
Chapter 5
Happos began to go up the trail, and it was going pretty well. The trail was flat, and easy to walk up, and did not have too many obstacles to it. This made Happos happy, as he finally had begun to warm up, and the inside of his makeshift jacket had started to insulate his body heat, and trap it inside, ultimately warming up his core. Happos knew the common knowledge of keeping your core safe, as the core was a powerhouse, and if the core happens to face an error, your whole body follows along with it.
As he was trudging along, with every crunch the ice made, a little piece of his endurance broke off. This went on for a while, he was chipping away at himself, with nothing to show for it. It had been such a long time since he had seen his master, and what if, his master was nowhere to be found? This was his only hope of recovering a piece of him, and a piece of his past.
If he hadn’t taken this challenge, and had not thought of this idea, who knows where he would be. He would most likely be wasting his life away, cooking for unimportant people, making minimal pay. That was a life he no longer wanted to follow. His master saw a potential in him, and he saw that same potential also. Something greater than a normal worker. A greater being than the typical human. It was his inner fire to become this, greater than all.
However, the mountain had begun to test his strength. The wind would blow hard, throwing razor sharp pieces of white power at him, scratching his face and creating a wind burn. This wind also was almost knocking him off of his feet. If he was to accidently slip, or get blown off the edge, who knows if he’d survive. It is a long drop down, and a cold one too, and this is something that he did not want to experience, so he carefully continued to tread along.
“Wind! Let me be!” he’d shout into the air, yet again, making sense to no one.
Soon enough, he came across something, a red shrine it seemed. The snow on it made it hard to make out, but it appeared to be a red Torii gate. This is the first Torii he’d seen on the journey and was confused as to why one was up here. The shrines heading simply read ‘The Body is as Strong as the Mind’. He was confused to this, but then he had suddenly remembered the desert, and how his mind had stayed on a straight path, and how the heat was causing him to see things, testing his mental capability. In seeing this, he suddenly had that spark hit him, and it felt as his mental barrier was lifted, beginning to let the waters flow.
After resting at the shrine for around an hour, Happos had got back on his feet, determined to reach whatever it was he was going for. For the first two hours or so after that, he was basically jogging up the hill. As tiring as it was, he kept going. The only reason he kept going after this, is because he had noticed that first shrine, and if something like that could appear, it forced him into thinking that there could be more riddled among the masses of snow.
As he went up further, walls seemed to appear. Large stone behemoths surrounding him, tightening the space he had to move freely. Eventually, through this, he had to twist his body sideways in order to fit through a crevice. Then he proceeded to keep going, the walls seeming to just get tighter and tighter around him. It got pitch black all of a sudden, and eventually, he was wandering through the dark just trying to find a light source, which thankfully, after a while he found. As he saw the end of this walled situation, he finally squeezed out, forcing himself out with all of his might.
From this, yet another Torii was presented in front of him. The shrine would be a bit smaller than before, seeming to represent the suffering he had just gone through. However, with this one, he saw no writing, as it must’ve been covered by a large amount of snow. So he jumped up and swept the snow off of the top. The Torii then read ‘If one can not persevere through with endurance, the body will fall along with it’. This all of a sudden had made sense to him, the wetlands he crossed forced him into a scenario where the mud had slowed his combat ability, and if he had not taken time to recover and force a miracle with his endurance, he most likely would’ve succumbed to the robot's mission of killing him.
From this moment, he had realized yet another thing holding him back had been lifted. It was the barrier of personal endurance and perseverance. As soon as this gate opened for him, it felt as all the puzzle pieces were coming together. But like a puzzle, he felt as if he was missing the final piece to connect all this together. The piece to let the river run free, and connect his body as one. He felt strong now, but he knew he still had potential to go further, and finally uncover the boundaries that had been keeping him at this level
After having this experience, he wasn’t sure what exactly he could actually expect anymore. He felt there may be a chance of one more shrine due to the fact he was in a cold, harsh, snow related environment. He did not know if after he pushed through it if it would all be worth it. He could not think of what possibly to do and continued to trudge along the path anyway. From this new found motivation, however, and a realization that he was forcing himself into something new, he felt as if his hard work wasn’t all for nothing, and the spiritual payload for this could be massive.
He then continued his jog up the hill. This run was turning into not a run of strength, or a run of hope, but a run of anger and pride. An anger, that he was so close to reaching the top. He could see the final peak, the tallest summit. The pride he held was that of knowing he could get better, but he wasn’t pushing hard enough. From this, his feet would press into the cold snow, indenting it, and causing it to melt as he pressed into it. The wind that once burnt his face, and had felt like razors against his skin, was dissolving as it got close, leaving nothing but a cool liquid that dripped down his face.
As he kept pressing in the snow and forcing himself up the hill, eventually he would come to a cliff, where he would settle and rest. He would settle here, dreaming about the food that he could have. Because, as of now, the sun was beginning to set on the horizon. Right now, it was sleep, and become hungry, or continue on in the dark. He knew, if he slept, his hunger would just push him further away from his goals. So he propped up, twisted his back around, popping it, then proceeding to continue to the summit.
Chapter 6
Although the summit was in sight, that was about it. The wind had masked mostly everything at night, except for things that were directly in front of him, like rocks or places where there were pits and holes he could trip on. The moonlight from above had given a glare to the snow near him, making it reflect into his eyes a bit, straining his vision even further. His body was almost quaking, and he was completely numb. This numbness wasn’t good, but it wasn’t exactly bad either. Having been number, he was able to keep pushing himself to the peak without stopping due to the sheer coldness and pain that was being brought forth.
As stated, he didn’t exactly enjoy this, but he knew he must do it. If he was to fail now, this whole quest would be worth nothing. He absolutely could not die on this mountain.
“I will not die to you! I will not give up you stupid mountain! You can not control me!” he’d shout into the cold winds, his voice echoing through the empty peaks.
His shouts were feeble, however, as the wind had been howling wildly, to the point where he could barely even hear himself.
“Damn you! Don’t howl over me!” he’d shout yet again, but his voice would fail to do anything except for tire him out.
This shouting gave him a little energy and made the trip more enjoyable. But overall, he knew the trip was miserable, and he hated it. He hated how long it was taking, and how cold it was, and that he had no food to feed him even though he was beginning to get extremely hungry. He hated his makeshift coat itching against his bare skin, and his shoes being soaked by the snow that had become mushy from his aura.
Soon, however, as he was distracted with his thoughts of discomfort, he would discover the last, and final Torii shrine. This shrine would be large and made of a thicker wood than it’s predecessors. This shrine, however, had somehow remained in a flawless condition, and atop of it, it read ‘By succumbing to pain, you distract your mind’. This final piece to the puzzle had opened the final gate to his mind, and his mind had now functioned as one, as he realized, all the discomfort caused by this hike, and only been controlling his mind, and since his body had become numb, ignoring the pain, he was no longer distracted by it. He now had his mental river flowing in full effect, and the last piece of his puzzle connected. For he had reached the summit.
A little further along, however, was a trail to what looked like the monastery. From far away, it was hard to tell who or what was in the monastery, because it was blurred by the constant blizzard of snow. But, from what he could tell, he was about there.
“I did it! I finally made it to this stupid monastery!” he’d say, as he’d bend over on the ground, tears swelling in his eyes which would come to instantly freeze.
He then would leap in the air, and pump up a fist. Before proceeding to run down to what he saw as the monastery. However, as soon as he would come close to arriving, he would notice something. There was a large, old, wooden bridge between two cliffs. He took no mind of this at first until he saw something standing in the center of the bridge.
The thing that was standing in the middle bridge appeared to be something of an outer world. An alien, or demon to be specific. This alien seemed to stand roughly at seven feet tall, and his skin would be of a crimson pigment. He would be equipped with standard battle armor, and not typical clothing. As Happos would approach closer, he would notice that this man also had two small horns sticking out of his head. As of now, Happos had no idea what this creature was.
“So… What exactly-are you?” he’d ask in a cocky manner.
“I am Mammon of Hell. Guardian of this bridge. I can not let you pass!” he’d shout back with a voice that sounded like it consisted of multiple beings.
“If you will not let me past, then I must make you! This is more important to me than you can ever imagine!” he’d bark, as he’d rush towards the demon.
As soon as Happos yelled, the demon had the upper hand in speed. As Happos drew near, the demon would see it coming, and clock him directly in the jaw, causing him to fly back, the boards of the bridge shatter as he was whipped back among them. He then grasped onto the rope of the bridge and pulling himself up.
At this point, he knew he had the lower hand, and this ticked him off. Then, in anger, he shot a volley of small Ki blasts at the demon. As these blasts whizzed through the air, it seemed to have no effect on the demon, but it drastically damaged the bridge, almost leaving it in shambles.
Then, as the demon was distracted, Happos rushed towards him, using his flight as an edge, and landing a perfect, square hit right on the demon's cheek. This knocked the demon back, but it only enraged him further.
The demon, enraged as he is, proceeded to come right back even harder, giving Happos yet another solid blow to the cheek. The same spot where Happos had hit the demon. But when the fist hit, Happos head had begun to flail back, but he regained control, and in an amazing feat, he pushed the fist back, forcing the demon to become wide-eyed at this show of power. Then, as Happos put this demon's fist back where it came from, he flexed his leg and jumped as hard, and as powerfully as his Ki would allow him, kneeing the man in the gut. When this would happen, the man would cough out some blood, and his eyes would go white in pain.
After that, while the two were in the air, he contracted his leg yet again, and gave off a mighty side kick, sending him flying off of the bridge. But then, as the demon was falling, he shot off a final volley of energy blasts, and the bridge had started to fall from one side. As it was falling, it would hit against the cliff, and the demon would grasp onto the hanging rope, in a desperate attempt.
While this would happen, Happos would also be hanging off of it, and then, in his last remarks, the demon would jump up, grab Happos leg, and shoot the final parts of the bridge off, pulling Happos down an infinitely spiral of cliffs. In doing this, Happos would feel the edging of death, and his opponent gaining the upper hand, and as he and the demon would land in a mound of snow on a cliff, the snow would suddenly melt into water. For Happos now, was extremely ticked off. So with this, he instantly shot back up in a flight, the demon still holding his leg. He then used his free leg, and kicked downwards as hard as possible, breaking the demons skull, causing him to lose his grip, and fall into the snowy pit. From here, Happos would have trouble flying but would grasp onto the edge of a cliff near the monastery, his hands freezing, as he was holding onto the snow. After that, he would pull himself up and slowly tread over to the temple.
Chapter 7
As he stepped over to the monastery, he first noticed it’s large, decorated stone walls. He figured he should try jumping them, but as he got into position, he felt a sharp pain in his face, so he decided it’d be best to take it easy. From this point, he’d jaunt around the building, and eventually come across the temple's shrine, which also doubled as it’s entrance.
The shrine read, ‘The Trinity Monastery’. From here, he entered the gates, and as soon as he did, he noticed one thing. The entire monastery was empty. He checked every building in the monastery, and couldn’t find anything.
He did notice however, each room had a switch in it. There was no furniture or decoration. It was a dusty, empty room with a single switch. There were 3 rooms which held these. So, he did what any curious person would do, and flipped the first switch.
Outside, a stone scraping noise could be heard, and when he peeked his head out, he saw what looked like a very thin man, whom also had a large head. This man just stood there and did not do anything, until Happos had come within a few feet.
“I am the first of many you will face in combat. For I am the mind of this monastery.” he’d say, in a low echoing voice.
“Why do I need to face you? What does this have to do with training?” he’d shout, but Mind would give no attention to this, and instead he would just stand there.
After the mind did this, Happos went into a fit and attempted to punch mind. When this happened, the mind instantly moved out of the way and did not hit him back. For Mind, this was like a game. A game to see how long it’d take to be hit.
Happos then went into a full fury, flailing haymakers left and right, trying every move in his book, but could not land a single punch. It was at this moment, that Happos knew that he had to get a little more creative, and think more in this fight. So, for the next attack, he rushed him with a left hook, but then paused it midair, and then threw a right hook as Mind was moving out of the way.
This nailed mind right in the jaw and left a small cut on his face. As mind put his finger up and felt this, he knew what had been done. He had lost in the defense, and now it was his turn to put up an offensive maneuver. Unexpectedly, mind stood still for a moment, allowing Happos to savor his pride. It was in this second, while Happos was most distracted, that mind began to charge up his head, filling it with Ki.
After Happos felt what was going on, it was too late. Mind had sent his head, filled with Ki, flying at Happos. As soon as it made contact, small purple shocks went through Happos, and he flew back into one of the monastery’s thick walls, paralyzing himself for a few moments, and completely knocking the air out of him.
As this happened, Mind would hover towards him, and while he was down, kick him over into one of the monastery buildings, shattering a wall.
“Now look what you’ve done,” Mind would say, “Now I will have to destroy you.” he’d finish, before rushing Happos.
Then, Happos would crawl out of the door, leaving Mind unsure of where he went. It was at this moment that Happos knew he would have to do something wild to take out Mind. If he was to beat Mind, then Mind would only become stronger. But if he was weaker, he was only toyed with. He would have to be equal to him.
As he was outside, the anger that rushed him came all of a sudden, and he flew up in the air. “Mind come out and play!” he’d shout towards the monastery.
As he’d say this, Mind would fly straight through the roof, and into the sky. Happos then would proceed to charge up his Raging Sphere. Mind had instantly picked up what Happos was doing and began to charge up his head again. This time, however, it let off a strong golden hue.
With Happos having a large sphere above his head, he then flicked it down with all of his power, sending it flying towards Mind. Then, as it hit, Mind shot off a wave from his head and began to overpower Happos. During this clash, Happos had powered up two smaller raging spheres in both of his hands. These were around a quarter of the size of the main blast.
In doing so, he shot them towards his original sphere, and he began to overpower Mind. Mind let this happen, however, and as it did, it all came down on him. He caught the sphere then, but at that moment it was severely draining his power.
Happos then took his trump card and had stared mind directly in his wide eyes, sending off a paralyzing gaze. When this happened, it had stunned Mind and caused him to lose focus. At that moment, the Ki clash had crushed him and destroyed Mind.
Happos let out a slight hoot for his victory and then took a seat next to the wall resting. He assumed that the next switches would most likely have something similar, so he took some time to recover. Happos was hungry, tired, and hurting. He didn’t have much to offer in a fight right now, and the only fuel he had was his inner anger and will to stay in the fight.
Figuring he had nothing better to do after resting, he decided he might as well flip another switch. Up here, it was going to be die of hunger, or die to an enemy, and dying of hunger had shown little honor to him. So he stood up and stretched his small legs out.
After this, he walked over to the second switch, and pulled the large handle down, hearing the same stone scraping noise, and then walking out stretching his back out. He’d go out, and see a man outside. His form literally shaking in a static manner, with a wind quaking speed.
“So which one ar-” he’d say, before the man with lightning speed dashing right behind him, and delivering a back breaking punch, causing severe pain in Happos back.
“It’s Endura” he’d say, before kneeing Happos in the back of his leg, causing Happos to fall down onto his knees.
Happos just sat there on his knees, wide-eyed in a fit of pain. He then stood up, and as Endura attempted to throw another punch, Happos turned around and grabbed his hand, squeezing it, and crushing his fingers.
“Why don’t you slow down a bit!” he’d say, as he’d pull Endura towards him, sending his knee right into Endura’s gut.
This didn’t seem to affect Endura much, because right after, Endura sent out a strong wind, cracking the air, and the wind breaking the speed of sound. He then shot both his legs up and grabbed Happos arm, drop kicking him, and fracturing some of his ribs. Then, he would slam Happos into the ground by his arm and proceeded to send a flurry of supersonic punches into Happos chest.
During this, Happos would lay there in pain, and reach in his pocket for a capsule. Endura wouldn’t realize this, as he was just hammering Happos ribs, almost killing him. Happos then would throw the capsule at Endura, the smoke bursting in his face, and after this in one final rush, Happos would send a punch as hard as he could directly at Endura’s heart.
His fist would pierce the skin, go through the ribs, and eventually rip Endura’s heart in half. In the adrenaline rush, Happos would whip his leg upwards and kick Endura into the sky, before leaping up and sending an axe handle attack down on his head, sending him through the center of the monastery.
After this, Happos wouldn’t recover, he would rush the next switch, and turn it on, hearing the same scraping noise. After this, however, when he peeked outside the door, it was like nothing he had ever seen before.
This man seemed to stand at eight feet tall and had a very similar skin color to the demon on the bridge, yet this demon’s horns were larger, and his muscles even bigger.
“How did you get past my son!” he’d shout, sending the wind echoing with his statement.
“That ugly thing on the bridge was your son?” he’d say, in a half breath of pain and mockery.
The demon would then stick his hand out and grab Happos neck, squeezing it. “No one talks about my family like that.” he’d say, before slamming him down onto the monastery’s stone flooring.
Happos would then prop himself back up, sending a fist flying towards the demon, hitting him as hard as he could. The impact, however, felt like it broke Happos fist. The demon’s skin was like metal, and his punch did basically nothing to him.
“You’re weaker than the one who came here before!” he’d say, before grabbing his torso, and slamming him up and down into the stone, shattering it a few feet deep before throwing him down extremely hard, shattering the stone floor, creating a small crater.
Happos wouldn’t be able to do anything but take this beating. He had no energy left, and couldn’t fight back. The demon would then jump ten feet in the air and would come straight down stomping Happos even further into the ground.
In a sudden burst of anger, however, Happos would grab the demons foot, trying to push it up. “So we're actually fighting?” the demon would shout, before pushing his foot down harder, crushing Happos.
The demon would then grab Happos, throw him straight in the air, and then jump up along with him, before hammer fisting him back down into the crater. As he was falling again, he’d stomp Happos yet again, crushing him into the dirt formed by the crater.
“Let’s have a little fun!” the demon would say, grabbing Happos by the legs, and dragging him into the far right monastery building. He then would whip him through every single buildings walls, Happos body becoming splintered by each wall breaking. He then would hit the final stone wall, but at this point, he’d get no rest.
The demon would come with his fist flying, and send him through the monastery wall. “This is the last time a joke like that monkey will ever come through here!” he’d shout, Happos flying through the stone, becoming severely injured.
As he was falling through the howling blizzard, his eyes would slowly close. Memories would rush his head. All the people he had served, and all the things he said to them. He was sorry for it, regretting he didn’t treat the people around him better.
Thoughts of his young life would come by as well, helping those far away who needed to be transported large goods. The moments he would sneak small pieces of food to those on the street who were struggling. All the times he helped those, it felt so good. He loved being seen as a hero, as someone who saved those who needed it.
Then, thoughts of his master came through, all the training he had done to work to this point, only to lose it all. The days he worked hard to finally be able to compete with his master. His thoughts were finally invaded by the demon who was about to kill him, staring at him from the top of the monastery. ‘Monkey’ ‘Came through here’. It all made sense to him now. His master was unable to beat these men, and Happos wasn’t about to suffer the same death.
At this moment, his muscles opened, and large amounts of blood and adrenaline rushed his body, his Ki in a suddenly elevated state. His eyes then shot open, and he propelled himself back up to the monastery, moving faster than he ever had before. A speed that he never knew that he was capable of, and boy, did it feel good.
He rocketed towards the demon. The demon opened his eyes in shock, staring down the oncoming enemy. His shock however then turned to a smile, thinking he could take on Happos a second time, but he also stood in caution, as he could sense that Happos was full of power.
Happos then rushed him, in this full speed, and the demon had attempted to punch him in the jaw. He then took his forearm, and threw the demons punch out of the way, before sending his knee to the demons gut, sending him flying through the monastery’s walls, hitting the stone wall at the other side, just like Happos had.
The demon instantly sprung up, however, and Happos had begun to rush him. The demon followed suit, and they met in the middle of the holes in the wall, their fists connecting, letting an earth shattering wind out, knocking the buildings walls down. Happos then sent a kick up, blocked by the demon, the demon then sending a punch over, Happos blocking it.
Happos then took advantage of this situation, sending a heavy headbutt at the demon, knocking him back. Then, Happos would rush towards him, grab his leg, and swing him into the stone wall, causing it to shatter.
The demon would just be pushed into a further state of anger. He would get up, and as Happos was rushing towards him, twist out of his attack, then proceed to grab his tail. As he grabbed his tail, he swung Happos into another wall, causing it to break, and as this was happening, Happos grabbed the demon's arm, throwing him into the stones again.
Eventually, most of the walls in the monastery were broken, and there wasn’t much left to shatter. This demon seemed to be invincible to attacks, he kept getting up, over and over again. So Happos took his arm in a final bout and swung him into the temple's shrine.
As this happened, and the impact connected, causing the shrine to shatter. As this happened, the demon seemed to have lost his barriers. His power seemed to ultimately drain. It was like the shrine gave him his power. From this moment, Happos grabbed his wrist and jumped as high in the air as he could. After doing so, he threw him down into the crater the demon had once formed with Happos body. Then, as the demon was flying through the air, Happos went down with him, punching the chest of the demon as he was falling, then finishing it off with one powerful jab.
After this, the demon had smashed into the hard flooring and had destroyed the entire monastery. The demon had perished to Happos, in Happos sudden feat of power. This was the hardest fight even given to Happos, and one he did not expect. It was at this point he knew he had surpassed his limits, and went further than his master ever could go. This journey was never intended to be a meeting of master and student, but a test of true strength.
Epilogue
In these final moments, Happos knew that his journey had been completed. He wasn’t sure of what to do until a strange group of travelers had appeared at the monastery. This group of travelers was unknown to him, and he stood his guard.
“We are not here to harm you, Happos.” a man would say in the group, appearing to be the leader.
“How do you know my name!” he’d shout back.
“We have been sent here, to search for you. People in our village are missing your cooking.” he’d respond back to the man.
“I am over tha-” he’d pause “Do you happen to have any food?” he’d respond.
“If you promise to cook one final time for us, we will give you what we have.” he’d say in response to Happos gesture.
“Fine, fine.” he’d say, letting out a laugh.
It felt good to know people had cared about him. He felt that he may never make it back to the village, and because of these people, he finally had a chance to continue his legacy, and push his inner fire to new heights.
As Happos took down the stale bread and cold meats like they were a gourmet food, he would explain to them all he has gone through, and what he had learned about himself. He explained the shrines, and how what they went through was related to it.
They all nodded in agreement, astounded with the feats he gave. Then, soon they all packed their bags and put away the items they carried with them, and all went back to the village with a fire in their hearts, knowing such an amazing event had occurred that day.
WC:15266, (Hope you enjoyed the story!)
Happos would stare through a pair of bushes, glaring at the man he had been watching a while. He had not exactly been stalking this person, but he had been copying what they were doing, and developing a sense of martial arts. But, when he did watch him, he watched him perform moves involving Ki. Happos had no understanding of what Ki actually was, or what effect it could have in combat, so he began trying to replicate what he was doing.
It kind of worked, he held his hands out and imagined a white ball forming between them. It took a while at first, but eventually, he was able to form a minor ball. But, this gave the man he was watching a strange feeling. As Happos’ Ki was developing, so were the man's suspicions of being watched. Eventually, as the man was training one day, and Happos was copying at it, he finally decided to take action against Happos.
So he did, he would turn quickly, and at lightning fast speed, rush Happos, and snatch him by the tail. Happos did not take kindly to this, and with his cat-like reflexes, he happened to grab the man back, having a death grip on his hand.
The two stood there in shock and glared at each other, wide-eyed. Happos was staring at him, in a frozen fear. The man was staring at him in a shock, surprised he, a master of martial arts, was grabbed by Happos.
From this moment, the man saw the potential of Happos, and the man wanted to help him get rid of his freezing up. It was difficult at first, however, when they had spared, Happos always had always happened to freeze up at the worst moments. But one thing the master noticed, was that when he failed, he did not give up. But he did grow angry, and when he did grow angry, he would let off a combo of attacks, and his mental barriers stopping him had been lifted for the moment.
The daily regime for Happos training was intense. It consisted of a very intensely structured program. Whenever he started his day, he had to do various forms of cardio. The forms of cardio were either swimming back and forth across a large lake 50 times or delivering goods and packages to rural locations that cars had trouble getting to. Sometimes, the deliveries could take upwards of 6 hours. But the hour count wasn’t as important, the training started at 5:00 AM, and ending at 8:00PM. So he had plenty of time to do these, and as his master had told him, the importance isn’t in how long it takes, but it lies in the fact that you get the job done, and Happos did exactly that.
After he completed his cardio warm up, he worked on the strength factor. He would push large boulders to certain locations, build large houses from the ground up, with no tools to help him except for basic things like nails and bolts, then he would also sometimes drag an entire sled of weights across the land, and come back.
Then, after the strength and cardio, it would be followed with exercising Happos spiritual nature. In this, he would learn how to use Ki in certain circumstances, how to properly manage your inner Ki so you don’t leave yourself open, and how to defend yourself with Ki. Most of the attacks he had learned came from his master, but constantly he would practice behind the scenes, away from his master, forming his own techniques.
Finally, at the end of the day, he would spar with his master for two hours straight. These spars gradually got more intense as Happos fighting skills improved. His master technique in these fights was for Happos to learn his moves without being taught them, and this worked extremely well. Eventually, Happos would be able to pick up what move his master would do, and punish him for it. Also with this, sometimes Happos again, would go behind the scenes and organize his own moves, and adjust certain moves into various combinations.
Once he had done followed this regime for a long time, his master eventually began to give him ratchet weights that he could temporarily use. These weights were just backpacks filled with rocks, and not anything special. Every month or so, his master would increase the amount of weight in the pack, until it eventually was 100 pounds. At this point, Happos had begun to have the capabilities to contest his master properly. The fights between them would sometimes last longer, and they would constantly switch off as victors.
After this training had gone on for long enough, his master had told him that he had finally graduated, and the master had left without a trace, leaving Happos clueless of where to push himself further than he was. Then, to his surprise, one day he discovered his master's location as he was looking at his old backpack, and noticed a strange bump in the front pocket. He realized it was an old tape when he fished it out, and after around five years of not seeing his master, he was ecstatic to recover some old memories.
Was this scenes of them training? Or, maybe it was something like all the fun times they had. However, he was curious, and he plugged it into a hologram reader. All the tape said, was to head for the three peaks. There was no signature on it, or any voice, it was a message stating he’d find himself at these peaks, alongside a hologram of what these peaks looked like.
Chapter 1
A pan would sizzle over a moderately high heat, occasionally popping its innards in a greasy manner, and throwing up small projectiles of overcooked food.
“This is becoming such a normality, these idiotic clients, pushing me around like a defective product, pressing any and everything possible to attempt to force it into its proper operating form.”
He would then proceed to swoop the pan in a downwards manner and flip the contents of what was inside. It would reveal to be a seasonal dish, filled with a high-class bounty of the local waters, all coated and fried in a delectable golden batter.
After he had completed this swoop, he then passed the pan back to his tail, and wrapped the tail around it, as it seemed his tail was an extension of his body, similar to his arm. From this, his tail was coordinated to this kind of work, as it seemed to replicate the motions the arm had completed almost seamlessly. With this, he proceeded to continue the sweeping act.
After this, he would proceed to rummage the spice cabinet with both of his hands, digging for exotic aromas that he was attuned to. Eventually, piece by piece, he would collect the various capsules labeled with the names of each seasoning, tucking them into his left elbow.
Eventually, with what would seem like 20 various spices, he would apply pressure to the tops of the capsules, then go forth to release them in a forward motion. Then, staged in front of him, was a large array of small rustic vials of many different types of spices, although most were spices of the common trade, there were quite a few that were unknowable to the untrained chef.
After he had completed this process of setting up his workstation, and with his tail still keeping the pan active, yet the contents beginning to cool slightly, he would rest the pan on the burner. After this, he would begin tossing and mixing and sifting all different kinds of spices. Popping lids off, flipping them into another, adding a little more, or a little less. For some, he would press his nose against them, and add a dash. For others, he would willingly grab it, and shake it enough so around half the entire vial was in.
From this, he worked with haste. He was lightning fast in the kitchen, his every move making a difference in the placement of the spices. He knew, one mistake could cost his entire dish, and destroy the entire process that led up to this.
Eventually, when he was finishing up the seasoning process, he accidently dropped a vial into the mixture. In a fret, his eyes glared over to this. This could destroy the entire dish!
“Stop it spice!” he would shout, letting off a small grunt, before his tail would autonomously whip about in reflex, knocking the pan out, but catching the spice.
Then after he caught the spice, yet another traumatic event occurred, for the pan was falling off of the burner.
“Don’t you even…!” he would bend his back over, and catch the hot pan in his right hand by the handle, carefully making sure that he doesn’t burn himself on the hot metal.
However, in this randomness, he would come to knock over the entire bowl of spices by his body flailing back.
“Now how come, this entire kitchen, can’t hold still,” he would lift up his left leg while the bowl was falling, and come to catch it on his left foot. In this awkward position, he would let out a small grunt, and proceed to scream out into the emptiness of the kitchen, eventually, people would start glaring at the tall metal doors from the outside.
“Hey can you keep it down in there!” an old, strident woman's voice would scream at him through the large kitchen doors.
“You sound like someone who would work at a circus! So why don’t you help me with this juggling act!” he’d bark back, annoyed by this woman's incompetence.
The woman would have gone silent, and soon, guards would approach the door, and stare at Happos in his dire situation.
Laughing at the man, the guards would state “You look like you are having a little trouble, need some help?”
Happos would not take kindly to this, but would take it as an insult “No! I just want you to know, I am the only reason you men won’t be eating gutter trash tonight!”
The men would have gone silent, and their eyes would water, as they would recall memories of eating trash out of a gutter. “Alright, we’re sorry, we will let you do your thing.” the guards would then scatter off and take their seats.
Soon enough, Happos would take his foot, and slide the bowl back onto his table, as well as take the pan, and apply it to the heat where it once was held. After that, he would take the small vial of spice from his tail, press it into his palm, and charge the Ki up in his hand, incinerating the container of spice.
After this, he would take the ramekin of spice, and toss it into the pan, before viciously swooping it to cover every piece of the delicacy. From this, a beautiful evolution would begin to occur.
The colors of the seafood being fried would transform into a delicate copper-like color. Over this process, the liquid would also begin to thicken, applying a caramelized candy-like coat over the seafood, making the insides of it soft, but the outsides of it crunchy and hard. This shelling would be as a wrapper to a delicious burst of flavor. As it would be like a child receiving a gift. The wrapping paper is nothing but a garnish to the true contents of the package.
After doing this, he would lift the seafood pieces out, and organize them depending on their flavor, from right to left. The ones rightmost being the less delicious ones, as he wanted his meal to end with a surprise. The reason he was doing this, was for the fact he assumed most people were right handed, so by default, they would have to follow his ideas unwillingly.
In his organization, he started by placing the albacore tuna to the farthest right, then proceeding with crab, shrimp, and finally a sea urchin. After spreading these out as the main course, he would proceed to make them more ornate, by pouring their own sauce over them, and placing small little herbs over them. The kind of herbs people see on food and think that it actually means something, but in reality, it is just a sign of false wealth.
After this process, he burst out of the kitchen where he was contained. Like a cat finally coming out of its cage. He glared at everyone, as everyone was glaring at him, and he held the plates high above his head, so the surprise was hidden. He then moved forth to the large oak table, decorated with royal designs, and looked to his guests.
It seemed his guests were a local ruler, the spouse of him, two guards, a child, and an old man. He had seen all of these people before, yet, the old man seemed to be new to the group. He took no notice of it first and began to set out the plates.
He passed one to each member of the family, starting in regards to the highest ranking of royalty, but he skipped the father, the ruler, supposedly the ‘king’ of this family.
The ruler then questioned him “Cook, where in the name of the green Earth is my food?”
“Oh, I forgot about you,” Happos stated this with an accent of trickery, before moving a hidden plate from behind his back out that was resting atop his tail, proceeding to rest it in front of the king, “Anything else you people need?” he’d ask.
“No, no. This is perfect, I appreciate your service” the ruler would state.
“Well, I must be off then. Next time you have to pay me. This is just a favor, remember.” he’d respond, before trotting out of the mansions large mahogany doors and close them with a slow creaking sound. At that point, the mansion had suddenly lost its fresh feeling, and Happos had been off on a journey that his master had told him about.
This quest that he had been told about was no simple matter, however. It held far more potential than one would ever think of. For this was the quest his master had given him long ago. A quest where his master had stated ‘The moment will come where you feel at a point where you can’t go any further, and when this moment occurs, go towards the mountains with the three peaks, for you shall find me there’. This quote has stuck with Happos indefinitely, it had done so much for him. Given him motivation to train, and ignited his inner flame, and his desire to be a proper combatant to any who contested his path towards his personal glory.
He wasn’t sure how long this journey would take, so because of that factor, he had pocketed a few capsules to take with him in case. The contents of these capsules were relatively similar. Five of them had contained large amounts of food, specifically picnic baskets meant to last a family of four an entire afternoon. He then had one capsule which held a sleeping bag, then another which held a small tarp.
These capsules which held housing items, however, were not just for this journey. For as long as he can remember, Happos had never actually gone to the extent to buy a house, as he was pleased by sleeping outside. The capsules which contained the food, he had curated himself. He did this by always making more food in his culinary jobs than necessary, and stashing it into the capsule.
It was sly, and he is completely aware of it. If he is making the food, he has a right to some of it. But that is beside the point, the matter is, he does not want to perish upon this journey, as he is not sure of what obstacles he could come across. But from here, on this lonely night, he shall begin his endeavor to discover himself. To discover something more than what he is, as he feels the time is right.
As he regarded his old master inside of his head, and he collected himself and checked off his content for surviving this, he began to search the dazzling night sky for the mountains. When he got a view of them, very slightly seeing the peaks over a hill, he leaped into the air and began to fly through the night sky towards these peaks.
Chapter 2
As he was flying, it was fairly smooth at first. The gentle breeze of the night sky caressed his face, refreshing him, and keeping him awake throughout the trip. Although he was tired, and he had just finished an exhausting day at work, he somehow managed to stay awake through the flight. He was not sure what gave him this motivation to do so. It possibly could have been the unending glow of the sky, and planets reflection out of the black abyss; Or it could’ve been something else, a personal will, his inner fire burning, and keeping him going, like a furnace, which can only run if fuel is dumped inside of it. However, he disregarded this thought, as all that mattered is if he made it to where he was destined to be.
Soon, as he kept going on, the sun started to come out. When the sun had come out, he realized, he was most likely over the fortune telling desert. But, he looked around as far as the horizon could go, and there were no towns to be located. He went up a bit higher, and still, nothing could be seen, and no signs of civilization had appeared. For he noticed, the land he was in was barren. If any mistakes were to happen, no one would find him, and no one would care enough to send a search this far out. He had to keep going, and he couldn’t give up.
Eventually, the sun was about to hit his peak, and Happos could feel it. He not only just felt the heat, but he could feel the stinging of the sun hit his skin, burning his flesh. It was not literally burning it, but his skin began to darken from the effects, and he could tell he was in a situation which he never anticipated.
He felt normal for around an hour, and he kept going, however, eventually his vision began to blur. When his vision blurred, he came to a sudden halt, realizing how deep he had gone in. As worried as he was, he proceeded to keep moving forth, and not stopping to complications such as these, as he could still see the mountain peaks, so he felt in no major danger.
Eventually, after another 30 or so minutes, he had lost his will to fly and had come crashing to the ground, unconscious. He woke up eventually, and by that time, it was still midday, yet he was not sure how long he was out. His situation, though, was not improving, for when he had attempted to fly, the heat had batted him back down to a walk. He accepted this and kept moving on towards the barely visible mountain range he saw.
Soon, though, he had begun to hear some voices, and when he looked over to the voice, he had seen none other than himself, floating in the air right next to him.
“Come on, you can do it, just like me!” his imitation would say this to himself, mocking him.
“You know damn well it is too hot, now shut up!” he would respond to himself.
His voice would keep going, pushing his annoyance further, and further, yet he ignored himself, as he had a more important goal. He kept trudging along, following the path he was sent on. But, eventually, the voice was driving him crazy.
“Why won’t you talk to me?” the voice would ask himself, laughing at him.
“You know damn well you are not real. Why would I talk to myself, I am no madman!” he would bark at the voice.
“Well, what if I am the real one, and you are the fake one?” he would say.
“We all know I am real. If you were real, you wouldn’t be able to fly right now.” he would respond.
“Well, could a fake voice do this?” the voice would then proceed to go and sock him in the jaw.
“You are bothering me!” he would go back and kick himself. But this would not be himself, it would be a large, sturdy, cactus.
After he would kick this cactus, he would suddenly realize the situation. He was in fact, hallucinating, and he was beginning to fall for it. This was not a matter of the body surviving, it was a matter of the mind. For you can train your body to do anything, but a feeble mind will fall apart at even the slightest of circumstances.
From this, he continued on. Ignoring the hallucinations, and ignoring the illusions that had confronted him. There were so many that were occurring too. At points, he would believe that he had seen an oasis full of beautiful water, and lush trees stuffed full of fruit. He knew however, this was his mind wanting a rest, and wanting a break from the intense heat. The mind bringing out the inner sloth. Then, he realized, the fact he confronted himself was not a matter of him being crazy, but his mind bringing out his inner pride.
Eventually, he would pick up more, and more of these ideas. He would see a large group of people having a party at an oasis, with many beautiful women all calling for him to come over. He was tempted at first until he realized they were calling him by his name, ‘Happos’. He noticed this was his mind becoming tempted by the fact there are many beautiful women, and wanting a piece of it, to see if he could really have it. But he knew yet again, this was an illusion. A false representation of what there really was. He knew, nothing came from relaxing, but everything came from hard work and training, and that was his mindset.
He noticed that the fact that hard work brings you things was a true piece of his life when he noticed that the mountains seemed closer than when he started. He knew not to pay much mind to this, as it could be an illusion, and it also is just how normal physics work. But deep down, he was ecstatic about this progress.
From that drive, seeing it was working, he began to walk faster. His vision coming back to him slightly, knowing that he actually was getting there. Then, as his vision began to clear, and he began to see his progress, he noticed, far off in the distance, a new piece of land occurring. He wasn’t sure if this was an illusion or not, but it seemed to look like the desert was shifting into a wetland. But as of now, this was far off, so he continued to focus on the path he was on.
Eventually, he had gotten extremely thirsty, and he presumed if he was this close to a wetland, and the climate had begun to get cooler than the cacti must contain a liquid. So, in thinking so, he went up to a cactus and chopped at it with his hand. He, however, had still not recovered well from the hallucinating and landing his hand right into a needle.
“Ah, you stupid green plant! I am going to destroy you!” he screeched at the cactus.
He then used his foot, and remarkably, and precisely kicked all the needles out of the cactus, allowing it to be harvested to drink. After doing so, he grasped the cactus with his Ki, formed it into a ball, held it above his mouth, and had begun to squeeze it onto itself into his mouth. The cactus releasing a delicious, sweet, lime green juice, which was almost tasteless, yet held an outlandish kick to it.
“Ah, so much, bett-” he would say, before being cut off by himself. Realizing his legs were stuck in something, and this ‘something’ was quicksand.
From this, he began to squirm, which only made his situation worse. His mental barrier was restricting him from flying. He was unable to move, slowly sinking, realizing that he was not invincible.
“Damn you wet sand! Let me go!” he squirmed more, getting angered by this fact.
“I said, let me go!” he would release a final yelp, being waist deep in the sand, before that mental barrier holding him back would break, and he, out of the blue, would fly out of the sand remarkably, and into the air, then proceeding to fall back onto solid ground moments later.
“It would be best for me to watch to the ground now, I presume” he would state to himself, before moving along carefully, watching his exact foot placements, one by one.
He would keep doing this for a long time. Watching his feet, move on and on, before realizing how hungry and fatigued he actually is. He had been going on a whole day without eating, and just focusing on the path ahead, that just now, after he had refreshed his body and mind with the cactus juice, he realized how hungry he is. From this, he began to take out his capsules, and hold them between his fingers, tucking away the useless ones such as his tarp and sleeping bag capsules.
“Let’s see here. Seafood mix, meat pot roast, vegetarian broth, tempura vegetables, udon noodles,” he would toss all of them high into the air, “Eenie, meenie, miney, mo,” he then would snatch a random one out of the air with his right hand, and then catch the rest with his left, tucking them back into his pocket. “Let’s see here. ‘Tempura Vegetables’. Sounds alright.” he then would throw the capsule onto the ground, and a beautiful array of tempura vegetables would present itself in front of Happos. The aroma that it had a few nights before had still maintained, and Happos mouth had begun to water.
Soon enough, he would snatch a piece of tempura eggplant, which was still lukewarm and dip it into a delectable spicy ponzu sauce, before tossing it into his mouth. The flavor was of a delicious crunchy outside, but a soft and mushy inside, which rested itself upon your upper mouth. The sauce that had coated it only made it better. It was rich, and creamy, yet light and airy, and finally, it had a kick to it, like a bullwhip coming down with a quick crackle.
On the side of this, there was a small bowl of a special miso soup. This soup contained a sweet onion broth, and somehow with its lid on, it had contained the head throughout the days. When he took this out and opened the lid, he was blasted with a scent of spices and vegetables. All vegetables in this blend were able to be tasted separately, and you could tell what was in it, but somehow, all the flavors worked in unison.
From this meal, he devoured everything in it. He completely skipped over the fact that there was a large flask of green tea included, and at the end, when he was almost completely stuffed, he took down four cups of green tea and clocked out for the day. It was a good idea on his part to end the day like this, as the sun was beginning to set. If he was to follow his plan correctly, he should be able to fly to the wetlands by the morning when the sun isn’t completely out. Then, on that note, he threw down the capsules he needed to sleep, and had set up his tarp in a triangle form, and threw his sleeping bag in the center. The tarp had been a little tight, but it did not matter to him, he was comfortable, and it had been a long day.
At this note he ended his day, staring into the never ending desert sky, watching the final clouds shift out of view, opening a rift for the gleaming stars to pierce the darkness. At that point, he just glared onwards, forgetting everything throughout the day, and living in that moment. After doing this for around an hour, he finally began to fall asleep, and so he did, resting peacefully among the squares of sand dunes connecting the desert as a blanket.
All was well during this sleep for the main portion of it, but halfway through it, when the sun was still sunk under the horizon, something approached the tarp. Not something, specifically, but more, a group of these ‘things’. There was a large crushing sound of sand breaking under the pressure of these people, and it seemed as the group was attempted to approach quietly, but with Happos large ears, they ultimately failed at that. When Happos looked out with his cat-like eyes, he could make them out in the dark, as Happos had the ability to see in the dark. But the thing was, these people looked him right back in the eyes, as he wasn’t the only cat in the desert.
The people he had discovered, were people who seemed of leopard descendants. They had the features, and build of a leopard, but the body of a normal human being. They were very similar to Happos, except for the fact they had fur, and shorter, more pressed back ears.
When these people saw Happos, they did not speak, however, they made a low, and deep growl, and began to charge towards him at an alarming rate. In this moment, Happos picked up the people charging at him almost instantly and had seen the oncoming danger.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” he’d say viciously before charging back at them in the same way, then proceeding to grasp one by the neck. However, when this happened, he wasn’t exactly sure of what to do, so he stood there, frozen by this action.
The leopard men instantly took advantage of this and jabbed him in the leg with a spear while his guard was down. Then, in this moment, his barrier had released itself. His pain and his anger compiled into power. This part of him had lost his standards, for he was furious, and was unrelenting. He then grabbed that spear out of his leg and snapped it in half with nothing but a single hand, then he began to play the offensive.
Happos was furious with this, and in his first moment, he socked the life out of one of the Leopard men causing him to run off into the dunes out of sight. The next moment he got, he whipped one of the men in the face with his tail as a little game of ‘Cat and Mouse’. Infuriating the man, but pleasing Happos for the moment. But then, with lightning speed, Happos whips his leg back in a blind rage, and connects his heel to the man's jaw, cracking it. He then pushes back to assess the situation, there are two men left who have yet to be handled.
He then proceeds to leap in the air, and while in the air, he charges his hands together, before releasing a quick volley of Ki blasts among the men. With his energy drained out, he looks down to see the smoke beginning to rise. When he looks down, it is blurry at first, but it seems he dealt with one of the people, so there is just a single man left.
It is revealed, however, when he comes down, that this man seems to be the alpha leopard man. He has two red tribal markings under his stunning jade eyes. His hair is a brighter, more golden color than the others. Then his muscles are massive, making him far larger than Happos.
They approach each other and inspect one another. The leopard chief would begin to mock the small Happos “Tiny kitty. Want me to pet you?” he’d state.
“Could you repeat that I’m having trouble hearing right now.” he’d say before pressing a finger to his ear and fishing out what normally would be earwax. But he wasn’t using this moment to actually pick earwax out of his ear, but rather use it as a ploy for his next attack.
“Heh. Tiny kitty. Want m-” he’d say, before getting cut off with a hard uppercut from Happos, creating a large snapping noise.
“Now then, are you going to keep saying jokes, or fight me!” Happos would bark at the leopard chief in an angry manner. Happos personally, didn’t like having his time wasted by the man, but if Happos wanted to make some jokes, he could, because he had a sense of humor.
The man would then get up, and charge at Happos with a blind haymaker, but while doing this, Happos would send him a paralyzing glare, causing him to freeze in place.
“Fine, I’ll make this easier for you.” he’d say, proceeding to wrap his hands behind his back.
In an anger of this mockery, the leopard chief would shake this glare off and begin running at Happos in a frenzy with another haymaker. In doing so, Happos would duck under it, and leap up, kneeing him in the gut, ultimately sending him in the air. After this, Happos would take the leg he kneed him with, and having it in a flexed position, extend it into a powerful side kick hitting the chief’s neck and sending him flying leftwards into the dunes. After this, all Happos saw of the man was him running off into the dunes, with the sun barely peeking over the horizon.
“Looks like the suns just on time.” Happos would state, before going over to his tent and sleeping bag, and restore them into capsule form. Then, he would tuck them into his shallow pocket, leap into the air, and resume the flight towards the peaks.
Chapter 3
As he continued flying, eventually the landscape would drastically change. It would fade from a sand dune form, into a soft and mushy ground. He’d pick this up, and he’d be extremely happy he wasn’t just seeing things. One thing he noticed, however, was that when he was arriving, a thick fog covered the upper skylines. Then, as he gradually got closer, he noticed a major change in humidity.
When he arrived in the fog, it eventually became too hard to see. Then, as he got deeper in, the fog only got thicker. Eventually, the humidity would also put a burden on him, forcing him yet again to become grounded. Then he realized something, the only way you can actually see out of the wetlands, and to go forward is to walk. If you were to fly, he knew that you would most likely get lost, and the journey would just be far longer than anticipated.
So, when he plopped down, his feet stuck into the wet ground, forcing his movement to slow.
“What is thi-” he’d pause “Agh, nevermind, nevermind. I can deal with a little ‘mud’” he would say in frustration.
Then he would continue on his path, walking towards the mountain range in the masses of wetland. Through the fog, however, from the ground, you could barely see the mountains. Anything within a close proximity, however, was hardly visible. But Happos did not fear for this fact, as there was most likely nothing nearby. It was just wetlands, right?
“This mud, it doesn’t stop getting stuck to my feet!” he’d shout like he was talking to a wall.
The mud in the marsh was thick, yet very easy to manipulate. With each step he took, it seemed the mud was just getting harder to walk in. In the beginning, it was as a jog, but now, he is barely able to drag his feet behind him. With each step, he lets out a breath and has to take a breath in, in order to keep going.
After continuing with this process for a seemingly long time, he eventually had to find a nearby log, and rest upon it as he could not continue any further. This was one of the hardest things he has ever faced. It required him to constantly forget how to think about doing it, and rather just do it and push through because he must. If he was to stop, he may be stuck here for the rest of his life. He had no choice in this, yet again, it was do or die.
Happos however, was kind of happy with this scenario. At least he wasn’t go crazy from this, nor was he scorching under a flaming sun. “Guess I am kind of lucky,” he’d laugh at himself. But then realize he was sitting still, making no progress except for sitting around. So then he stood back up on his feet, stretched his legs a bit, and proceeded to walk.
From this, it didn’t get any easier. It seemed like resting helped a bit, but it all flopped back to how it was before after a few minutes. From this, yet another barrier was blocking him. Another barrier to slow his progress and break his potential. He wasn’t exactly aware of this, but rather raging about.
“You mud, bastard! Come on, let me walk, get off!” he’d shout at the ground.
He kept trudging along however, he knew resting wouldn’t make it any easier, and if he was to rest, the minutes he’d gain from it would be less than the amount of time he had rested. He had to think of a new strategy, so he sat down on a rock and began to think about what to do.
“Well, I could-,” he’d try to think “Ah! Jumping! Why didn’t I think of that!” he’d then take his shoes off, one at a time, and wipe the mud off onto a nearby rock. After doing so, he’d pull the shoes onto his feet, and tighten the laces.
Then, he would shoot off the rock, causing it to shatter, and begin to jump off of them onto another tree nearby in the direction of the peaks. Each tree he hit would cause it to become slightly unrooted and further tilted, while also leaving an indent of where his feet hit.
With his cat-like agility, he was able to do this fairly easily, however eventually he shot out of a tree into a large clearing, where he would completely faceplant into a large field of mud. From this, he would push himself up painfully and look around at his surroundings.
“What the hell is this?” he’d ask, before proceeding to investigate a large object trapped inside of the mud.
He then would move towards it and notice it gave off a matte glare in the blurred sunlight coming through the fog. It seemed to be a gigantic machine of some sort. But as he got closer, he noticed it was not only a machine but a massive robot.
“Heh. Anybody home?” he’d knock on the robots thick metal head before it ticking on and beginning a bootup process. “What in th-” he was cut off, as the robot’s eyes started to give off a red tint.
“Kaizoku Robo . . . Booting up” it would say in a dark voice.
“No, no, shut off!” Happos would shout back.
The robot would then begin to push itself out of the mud, pulling it’s large legs out of the mud. When it would stand up fully, it would be a matte green robot with what appeared as a long skull shaped design on its head. It would have a bulky design, and a bit seem slow at first, as it is large and caked in mud.
“Kaizoku Robo - Mission - Eradicate all mortals.” the robot would state.
“Eradicate all mortals? What are you!” Happos would command at the robot.
“Kaizoku Robo. Servant to the Red Ribbon Army” the robot would reply.
“You want to destroy mortals? Is that it?” Happos would bark.
“That is my mission. I must destroy you now” the robot would begin to unlock a compartment on his arm.
“Wait, what if I want to help you with your mission!” Happos would yell.
“If you promise your loyalty to the Red Ribbon Army, you may join the fight” the robot would say, pausing the operation on its arm.
“Heh,” he’d pause before squatting down, preparing a jump. “Just kidding.” he’d say, before launching forth to the robot and extending his leg out to side kick the head.
However, when the impact hit, almost instantly Happos felt as if he had fractured something. The robots material seemed to be too strong to be dealt with in a physical manner, rather, Happos would have to fight spiritually.
“Threat detected! Entering combat mode.” the robot would then finish the operation, revealing a blaster, and on his other arm, a sword would be brought forth.
In this moment, Happos would land back down, and realize that leap had drained most of his energy. So rather, he took some steps back, and stood atop a log, then proceeding to leap through the trees, each tree he hit and pressed his feet against, he would fire a small Ki blast towards the robot, and each time he leapt off the tree, it would be destroyed by the robot firing a blast out of his gun.
This would go on and on, but eventually, the number of trees would become thin. The robot also had seemed to be hardly damaged by the blast Happos were sending, and damage on the robot was barely visible. Happos however, had realized there were only 3 left. He put all his effort into these blasts, but they ultimately did as little as before.
After the trees had been destroyed, the robot rushed Happos. Happos saw this coming and dashed under the robots legs in the last second. The robot noticed this, and swiped behind him with his sword, cutting Happos shirt open, and drawing blood.
“You cut me! You bastard!” he’d shout at the robot.
After this, the robots slow movement would be powerful but slow, and with each swipe, he’d weave and hit the robot with a blast. Unfortunately, however, every five or so hits, the robot would get a cut in. What made this scenario even worse, was that the robot was hitting him more and more, as the mud was just tiring him out.
Happos eventually noticed how bad this was, as he was extremely cut up, and had excruciating exhaustion. He knew he had to try something extreme in order to beat this robot, so he plotted. The robot, however, kept beating down on him, cutting him worse and worse, but Happos was using this as a time to recover. The sacrifice for this recovery in stamina, however, was exchanged for the pain he was enduring.
Eventually, after he gained barely enough stamina, he pushed his feet off the ground and flipped over the robot. When he did this, the robot struck upwards. If Happos had any less stamina, he would be skewered atop the sword now, but he barely missed it. Rather, he stared wide-eyed at the sword barely cutting down the center of his shirt.
Now that he was over the robot, he had a feeling what would happen next. He was roughly 15 feet away, and with this, the robot swiveled around and shot off a blast. In this, Happos saw it coming, and let off a slight grin. He waited until it was a couple feet away from his face, then got into a stance.
As soon as the sphere was about to hit him, he tucked out of the way, and hit it with a light energy blast, causing a thick smoke to begin to appear. Through the smoke, he rolled his shoulder blades back, letting off a strong yet subtle pop. In this stance, he charged his Ki up to a high point, hold a finger above his head, and begin charging up a gigantic energy ball above his head that would appear similar in appearance to a blood moon. This sphere would glow an intense head, and soon enough, it was just about ready to be released.
When he did this, he felt what this robot really was. One of these shots could destroy any normal human. So he knew he had to destroy this robot, as if this thing was active, it could destroy a small village.
So with all his might, he put the maximum power he could into the blast. He knew that he had to fire it soon, because if not the robot may realize what was happening. So he made sure to rush his energy into it, as fast as he possibly could.
The robot, however, did not see this coming. An event like this wasn’t written into the robot's programming. Then, the smoke had covered his view, causing him to not be prepared for what would happen next.
“Now take this!” Happos would shout towards the robot, before flicking his finger downwards, sending the ball towards the robot's body. It would proceed at a moderate pace, but due to the fact the robot did not see it coming, it would hit, and the robot would almost instantly disintegrate in the powerful blast.
After this, Happos had gone towards the robot to inspect what it was. When he looked at it, not much was left but a pile of ashes and few parts that withstood the blast. It is too bad that he didn’t take more precaution because this robot could have really meant something in modern science. He didn’t care, though, he wasn’t a scientist, and this robot was trying to kill him.
After that, he blew the robot’s ashes into the mud and looked around him for the peaks. Once he noticed them, he proceeded to walk towards them until he reached yet another forest. When he got there, he repeated the same process of bouncing off of them towards the mountains. Yet in this moment, the indents were larger, and the trees got knocked over, as he was overcome with an intense feeling of pride.
Eventually, through his leaping, he would begin to notice the lessening of fog, and at this point, he thought it would be a good time to begin chowing down. For this meal, he wanted something heavier, as he felt strong and mighty, so he went with the ‘Meat Mix’ capsule, and threw it onto a rock that was large, and relatively flat.
When the capsule went down, a large puff of smoke went out, and it smelt of a finely organized smoked roast. When it was all arranged, it held a variety of items fit for a ruler, and since this was part of a local rulers meal, I guess it is safe to say Happos was going to eat like the king he was. The king of combat, and destroying leopard men and robots. He then looked at the array, as this meal had been made around a week ago. The meat, however, had stayed warm, and perfectly seasoned. When he looked over it, it was an all meat meal. There were no soups, or vegetables to accompany this feast, and Happos was content with this.
With this, there was an array of not just beef, but poultry, and fish. To begin, there was a delish horseradish roast beef, as well as a battered, and stuffed fried chicken, a large chunk of smoked pork, a slab of flank steak pot roast, and finally, some crusted salmon. In this meal, it didn’t matter what he ate first or last, but rather, he just dug in, eating every single piece of meat done to the bones. On the side, he had a large jug of a tropical juice, and yet again, since he was so hungry, he did not drink to the end of the meal.
After this meal, Happos realized he was yet again in another clearing and was about to shift over to a colder, more viscous environment. Of course, he was slightly worried about this, as he did not like the cold at all, but he knew it would be best to ponder over this the next day. So he took out his sleeping capsules, tossed them on the ground, and due to the fact he had done two fights with no rest, he essentially collapsed over what he had thrown down without doing much of a set up on it.
Chapter 4
As soon as the sun had pierced the sky, Happos had propped up. He had a good sleep, of course, it felt good to sleep after such a long journey. However, he knew he had much further to go before he was finished. This factor filled him with a determination, knowing he was so close, and that all he had to do was push on.
So he did this, he got up on his feet, and stepped on the marsh floor. This time, however, he noticed a shift in temperature. It was drastically colder than before, and the ground had been hidden by a layer of thick frost. Of course, this worried him, as when he started his journey, he had not planned for it to be cold. He only knew of the desert, which was, of course, hot. So as of now, he was only wearing a cut up vest, and a pair of sliced sweatpants. The fact that the robot had cut into them only made the temperature worse, as the cold was seeping through the seams, and piercing his bare, open wounds.
To solve this issue, he had thought of a basic idea that would most likely benefit him. He went over to his sleeping bag and begun to tear it into pieces. With these pieces of cotton fluff and fabric, he would stuff them into the cracks, and into the main parts of his vest, in order to maintain his core body temperature. He thought this was cunning until he realized the fact that he could not take another rest period, as the sleeping bag was gone, and in the journey ahead, it would not get any warmer.
So with his newly stuffed clothing, he stepped out of his tarp, before receiving it back in the capsule form. After he did that, he stuffed it into his pocket, then realizing it had slipped out, as his pocket had a cut in it. After this, he noticed all of his food capsules were missing, and they were nowhere to be found around the camping area.
In a desperate scramble, he retraced his steps and had tried to find these missing food items. If he could not find them, he would be stuck without shelter, and without food to eat. This food could be the matter of life and death on the upcoming treacherous mountain range. So he looked left and right, and in an enragement, he shot small Ki blasts throughout the field. Then, he smelt something burning, and then came to the sudden shock that he just had destroyed the capsules with his blasts.
To him, the emotion felt as if he had accidently killed someone. He began to feel that he may not survive, but then he shouted “I didn’t need food anyway! I am a warrior, bred to survive these elements!”
He then went back to where he was, picked up the tarp capsule he dropped, and then had stormed off towards the mountains. As he was walking up, the heat coming off of his feet had thawed a majority of frost, as the rage caused him to feel a bit tempered.
After a while of this sudden burst of anger, he began to cool down, and the chilliness had eventually made his teeth chatter, and his body shake. This loss of body heat, and shivering, only drained his energy further, as he was essentially wasting all of the energy that the food the night before had given him.
Of course, he would notice this happen, and attempt to seize the shivering, which would only force the shivering into his legs. As this happened he pinched the bridge of his nose and began kicking the ground. He did this for around 5 minutes, before continuing his walk through the frosty fields.
When he was walking through these frosty fields, the sun that had come out had eventually begun to melt what was frozen dew. In this melting, it soaked Happos shoes and caused his feet to become half numbed. It felt strange walking like this. With feet that you couldn’t feel, as you couldn’t know what ground you had taken a step on, nor what your foot would touch. If you were to hit a rock with your toe, you wouldn’t feel it, but the injury would be there. It was a strange idea to him, and although that event had not happened yet, he pondered what would happen if he was to get hurt.
He continued through this walking, and he was almost at the base of the mountains. As of now, he was climbing the hills that came before it, and soon, after coming over the first couple few, he noticed how large this mountain actually was. From the desert, it seemed to be achievable, to fly up this, but the climate throughout every landscape had been restricting that. In the heat, it dragged him down and drained all his energy. In the wetlands, the view was too blurry and the moisture added too much weight. In the cold, his Ki would lessen, and the temperature would stiffen his muscles.
From this, he realized that this may be part of the journey itself. The complications that surrounded him. From these things, it had been teaching him not to be as reliant on Ki, but more reliant to endure what was happening. If he were to fly, it would be too easy, and he knew, that his master wouldn’t give him such an easy challenge. A challenge that if possible, he could’ve most likely completed in a day's time.
Thinking of his master at this time distracted him away from the cold. Away from the harsh quest that he was following. He had learned how to fight from this master, how to feel his inner power, and had given him the mentality to never fall short of your opponent. The things his master taught him have always stuck with him. It wasn’t like any old martial arts teacher who spoke nonsense you make a quick dollar, it was someone who had taught from experience, genuinely wanting to support him.
As he trudged on with these thoughts, his strides became longer, and his steps faster, pushing him to get over hills after hills, until finally, he would stare up at the excruciating steep slope of this mountain. It was so large, and on it were large patches of loose snow and pits of slick ice. These features would make it an insanely difficult climb up, and there was no possible way he could fly up, because if he did, he would just grow tired and fall back down.
From here, he had a few options of how to do this. He could either attempt to climb the face of the mountain, and jump up piece by piece by pressing his feet into the rock forcing himself upwards, or he could attempt to find a trail for it. He then proceeded to think to himself, that he might as well attempt the hardest one first, and if that doesn’t work, he could just find a trail.
As this idea went through his head, he burst quickly at the mountain, his steps quaking the rocks, loosening them. Then, he would push himself up, then gain traction on a higher landing point, and then forcing himself further up. Doing this seemed to work at first, and it was going really well until he put too much force into it, and a large chunk of snow chipped off the peak of a cliff, forcing him down.
From this, he came flying down, and as he was falling, he eventually hit the ground, severely hurting himself. As of now, he was unconscious, his body succumbing to the cold of the mound of snow atop of him. In this position, he almost fell into the coffin of ice that was forced upon him, but in slow recovery, he eventually forced himself out. He was freezing cold, and almost completely numb. But he knew, he was so close, so he began to walk around the mountain in an attempt to find a trail.
After he was around halfway around the mountain, the temperature wasn’t getting any better. In fact, he was just getting colder. His core temperature would drop to a really low level. At this time, he would also find a trail. He knew this was the right trail up the mountain, because there was a balancing of rocks, marking someone had used it prior to this. Who knew, it could have even been his master from before or someone he had never seen before. However, the balancing of rocks was almost buried in snow, so it seemed no one had cared to keep it clean for a while.
From this point, he would go towards the rocks, and dust them off, only to see they were engraved with a strange symbol he had never seen before. He didn’t care about the symbol, however. Every martial arts school has it’s own symbols, so it didn’t matter that he found one upon the rocks. He then began to force himself up the incline, shivering, and cold.
Chapter 5
Happos began to go up the trail, and it was going pretty well. The trail was flat, and easy to walk up, and did not have too many obstacles to it. This made Happos happy, as he finally had begun to warm up, and the inside of his makeshift jacket had started to insulate his body heat, and trap it inside, ultimately warming up his core. Happos knew the common knowledge of keeping your core safe, as the core was a powerhouse, and if the core happens to face an error, your whole body follows along with it.
As he was trudging along, with every crunch the ice made, a little piece of his endurance broke off. This went on for a while, he was chipping away at himself, with nothing to show for it. It had been such a long time since he had seen his master, and what if, his master was nowhere to be found? This was his only hope of recovering a piece of him, and a piece of his past.
If he hadn’t taken this challenge, and had not thought of this idea, who knows where he would be. He would most likely be wasting his life away, cooking for unimportant people, making minimal pay. That was a life he no longer wanted to follow. His master saw a potential in him, and he saw that same potential also. Something greater than a normal worker. A greater being than the typical human. It was his inner fire to become this, greater than all.
However, the mountain had begun to test his strength. The wind would blow hard, throwing razor sharp pieces of white power at him, scratching his face and creating a wind burn. This wind also was almost knocking him off of his feet. If he was to accidently slip, or get blown off the edge, who knows if he’d survive. It is a long drop down, and a cold one too, and this is something that he did not want to experience, so he carefully continued to tread along.
“Wind! Let me be!” he’d shout into the air, yet again, making sense to no one.
Soon enough, he came across something, a red shrine it seemed. The snow on it made it hard to make out, but it appeared to be a red Torii gate. This is the first Torii he’d seen on the journey and was confused as to why one was up here. The shrines heading simply read ‘The Body is as Strong as the Mind’. He was confused to this, but then he had suddenly remembered the desert, and how his mind had stayed on a straight path, and how the heat was causing him to see things, testing his mental capability. In seeing this, he suddenly had that spark hit him, and it felt as his mental barrier was lifted, beginning to let the waters flow.
After resting at the shrine for around an hour, Happos had got back on his feet, determined to reach whatever it was he was going for. For the first two hours or so after that, he was basically jogging up the hill. As tiring as it was, he kept going. The only reason he kept going after this, is because he had noticed that first shrine, and if something like that could appear, it forced him into thinking that there could be more riddled among the masses of snow.
As he went up further, walls seemed to appear. Large stone behemoths surrounding him, tightening the space he had to move freely. Eventually, through this, he had to twist his body sideways in order to fit through a crevice. Then he proceeded to keep going, the walls seeming to just get tighter and tighter around him. It got pitch black all of a sudden, and eventually, he was wandering through the dark just trying to find a light source, which thankfully, after a while he found. As he saw the end of this walled situation, he finally squeezed out, forcing himself out with all of his might.
From this, yet another Torii was presented in front of him. The shrine would be a bit smaller than before, seeming to represent the suffering he had just gone through. However, with this one, he saw no writing, as it must’ve been covered by a large amount of snow. So he jumped up and swept the snow off of the top. The Torii then read ‘If one can not persevere through with endurance, the body will fall along with it’. This all of a sudden had made sense to him, the wetlands he crossed forced him into a scenario where the mud had slowed his combat ability, and if he had not taken time to recover and force a miracle with his endurance, he most likely would’ve succumbed to the robot's mission of killing him.
From this moment, he had realized yet another thing holding him back had been lifted. It was the barrier of personal endurance and perseverance. As soon as this gate opened for him, it felt as all the puzzle pieces were coming together. But like a puzzle, he felt as if he was missing the final piece to connect all this together. The piece to let the river run free, and connect his body as one. He felt strong now, but he knew he still had potential to go further, and finally uncover the boundaries that had been keeping him at this level
After having this experience, he wasn’t sure what exactly he could actually expect anymore. He felt there may be a chance of one more shrine due to the fact he was in a cold, harsh, snow related environment. He did not know if after he pushed through it if it would all be worth it. He could not think of what possibly to do and continued to trudge along the path anyway. From this new found motivation, however, and a realization that he was forcing himself into something new, he felt as if his hard work wasn’t all for nothing, and the spiritual payload for this could be massive.
He then continued his jog up the hill. This run was turning into not a run of strength, or a run of hope, but a run of anger and pride. An anger, that he was so close to reaching the top. He could see the final peak, the tallest summit. The pride he held was that of knowing he could get better, but he wasn’t pushing hard enough. From this, his feet would press into the cold snow, indenting it, and causing it to melt as he pressed into it. The wind that once burnt his face, and had felt like razors against his skin, was dissolving as it got close, leaving nothing but a cool liquid that dripped down his face.
As he kept pressing in the snow and forcing himself up the hill, eventually he would come to a cliff, where he would settle and rest. He would settle here, dreaming about the food that he could have. Because, as of now, the sun was beginning to set on the horizon. Right now, it was sleep, and become hungry, or continue on in the dark. He knew, if he slept, his hunger would just push him further away from his goals. So he propped up, twisted his back around, popping it, then proceeding to continue to the summit.
Chapter 6
Although the summit was in sight, that was about it. The wind had masked mostly everything at night, except for things that were directly in front of him, like rocks or places where there were pits and holes he could trip on. The moonlight from above had given a glare to the snow near him, making it reflect into his eyes a bit, straining his vision even further. His body was almost quaking, and he was completely numb. This numbness wasn’t good, but it wasn’t exactly bad either. Having been number, he was able to keep pushing himself to the peak without stopping due to the sheer coldness and pain that was being brought forth.
As stated, he didn’t exactly enjoy this, but he knew he must do it. If he was to fail now, this whole quest would be worth nothing. He absolutely could not die on this mountain.
“I will not die to you! I will not give up you stupid mountain! You can not control me!” he’d shout into the cold winds, his voice echoing through the empty peaks.
His shouts were feeble, however, as the wind had been howling wildly, to the point where he could barely even hear himself.
“Damn you! Don’t howl over me!” he’d shout yet again, but his voice would fail to do anything except for tire him out.
This shouting gave him a little energy and made the trip more enjoyable. But overall, he knew the trip was miserable, and he hated it. He hated how long it was taking, and how cold it was, and that he had no food to feed him even though he was beginning to get extremely hungry. He hated his makeshift coat itching against his bare skin, and his shoes being soaked by the snow that had become mushy from his aura.
Soon, however, as he was distracted with his thoughts of discomfort, he would discover the last, and final Torii shrine. This shrine would be large and made of a thicker wood than it’s predecessors. This shrine, however, had somehow remained in a flawless condition, and atop of it, it read ‘By succumbing to pain, you distract your mind’. This final piece to the puzzle had opened the final gate to his mind, and his mind had now functioned as one, as he realized, all the discomfort caused by this hike, and only been controlling his mind, and since his body had become numb, ignoring the pain, he was no longer distracted by it. He now had his mental river flowing in full effect, and the last piece of his puzzle connected. For he had reached the summit.
A little further along, however, was a trail to what looked like the monastery. From far away, it was hard to tell who or what was in the monastery, because it was blurred by the constant blizzard of snow. But, from what he could tell, he was about there.
“I did it! I finally made it to this stupid monastery!” he’d say, as he’d bend over on the ground, tears swelling in his eyes which would come to instantly freeze.
He then would leap in the air, and pump up a fist. Before proceeding to run down to what he saw as the monastery. However, as soon as he would come close to arriving, he would notice something. There was a large, old, wooden bridge between two cliffs. He took no mind of this at first until he saw something standing in the center of the bridge.
The thing that was standing in the middle bridge appeared to be something of an outer world. An alien, or demon to be specific. This alien seemed to stand roughly at seven feet tall, and his skin would be of a crimson pigment. He would be equipped with standard battle armor, and not typical clothing. As Happos would approach closer, he would notice that this man also had two small horns sticking out of his head. As of now, Happos had no idea what this creature was.
“So… What exactly-are you?” he’d ask in a cocky manner.
“I am Mammon of Hell. Guardian of this bridge. I can not let you pass!” he’d shout back with a voice that sounded like it consisted of multiple beings.
“If you will not let me past, then I must make you! This is more important to me than you can ever imagine!” he’d bark, as he’d rush towards the demon.
As soon as Happos yelled, the demon had the upper hand in speed. As Happos drew near, the demon would see it coming, and clock him directly in the jaw, causing him to fly back, the boards of the bridge shatter as he was whipped back among them. He then grasped onto the rope of the bridge and pulling himself up.
At this point, he knew he had the lower hand, and this ticked him off. Then, in anger, he shot a volley of small Ki blasts at the demon. As these blasts whizzed through the air, it seemed to have no effect on the demon, but it drastically damaged the bridge, almost leaving it in shambles.
Then, as the demon was distracted, Happos rushed towards him, using his flight as an edge, and landing a perfect, square hit right on the demon's cheek. This knocked the demon back, but it only enraged him further.
The demon, enraged as he is, proceeded to come right back even harder, giving Happos yet another solid blow to the cheek. The same spot where Happos had hit the demon. But when the fist hit, Happos head had begun to flail back, but he regained control, and in an amazing feat, he pushed the fist back, forcing the demon to become wide-eyed at this show of power. Then, as Happos put this demon's fist back where it came from, he flexed his leg and jumped as hard, and as powerfully as his Ki would allow him, kneeing the man in the gut. When this would happen, the man would cough out some blood, and his eyes would go white in pain.
After that, while the two were in the air, he contracted his leg yet again, and gave off a mighty side kick, sending him flying off of the bridge. But then, as the demon was falling, he shot off a final volley of energy blasts, and the bridge had started to fall from one side. As it was falling, it would hit against the cliff, and the demon would grasp onto the hanging rope, in a desperate attempt.
While this would happen, Happos would also be hanging off of it, and then, in his last remarks, the demon would jump up, grab Happos leg, and shoot the final parts of the bridge off, pulling Happos down an infinitely spiral of cliffs. In doing this, Happos would feel the edging of death, and his opponent gaining the upper hand, and as he and the demon would land in a mound of snow on a cliff, the snow would suddenly melt into water. For Happos now, was extremely ticked off. So with this, he instantly shot back up in a flight, the demon still holding his leg. He then used his free leg, and kicked downwards as hard as possible, breaking the demons skull, causing him to lose his grip, and fall into the snowy pit. From here, Happos would have trouble flying but would grasp onto the edge of a cliff near the monastery, his hands freezing, as he was holding onto the snow. After that, he would pull himself up and slowly tread over to the temple.
Chapter 7
As he stepped over to the monastery, he first noticed it’s large, decorated stone walls. He figured he should try jumping them, but as he got into position, he felt a sharp pain in his face, so he decided it’d be best to take it easy. From this point, he’d jaunt around the building, and eventually come across the temple's shrine, which also doubled as it’s entrance.
The shrine read, ‘The Trinity Monastery’. From here, he entered the gates, and as soon as he did, he noticed one thing. The entire monastery was empty. He checked every building in the monastery, and couldn’t find anything.
He did notice however, each room had a switch in it. There was no furniture or decoration. It was a dusty, empty room with a single switch. There were 3 rooms which held these. So, he did what any curious person would do, and flipped the first switch.
Outside, a stone scraping noise could be heard, and when he peeked his head out, he saw what looked like a very thin man, whom also had a large head. This man just stood there and did not do anything, until Happos had come within a few feet.
“I am the first of many you will face in combat. For I am the mind of this monastery.” he’d say, in a low echoing voice.
“Why do I need to face you? What does this have to do with training?” he’d shout, but Mind would give no attention to this, and instead he would just stand there.
After the mind did this, Happos went into a fit and attempted to punch mind. When this happened, the mind instantly moved out of the way and did not hit him back. For Mind, this was like a game. A game to see how long it’d take to be hit.
Happos then went into a full fury, flailing haymakers left and right, trying every move in his book, but could not land a single punch. It was at this moment, that Happos knew that he had to get a little more creative, and think more in this fight. So, for the next attack, he rushed him with a left hook, but then paused it midair, and then threw a right hook as Mind was moving out of the way.
This nailed mind right in the jaw and left a small cut on his face. As mind put his finger up and felt this, he knew what had been done. He had lost in the defense, and now it was his turn to put up an offensive maneuver. Unexpectedly, mind stood still for a moment, allowing Happos to savor his pride. It was in this second, while Happos was most distracted, that mind began to charge up his head, filling it with Ki.
After Happos felt what was going on, it was too late. Mind had sent his head, filled with Ki, flying at Happos. As soon as it made contact, small purple shocks went through Happos, and he flew back into one of the monastery’s thick walls, paralyzing himself for a few moments, and completely knocking the air out of him.
As this happened, Mind would hover towards him, and while he was down, kick him over into one of the monastery buildings, shattering a wall.
“Now look what you’ve done,” Mind would say, “Now I will have to destroy you.” he’d finish, before rushing Happos.
Then, Happos would crawl out of the door, leaving Mind unsure of where he went. It was at this moment that Happos knew he would have to do something wild to take out Mind. If he was to beat Mind, then Mind would only become stronger. But if he was weaker, he was only toyed with. He would have to be equal to him.
As he was outside, the anger that rushed him came all of a sudden, and he flew up in the air. “Mind come out and play!” he’d shout towards the monastery.
As he’d say this, Mind would fly straight through the roof, and into the sky. Happos then would proceed to charge up his Raging Sphere. Mind had instantly picked up what Happos was doing and began to charge up his head again. This time, however, it let off a strong golden hue.
With Happos having a large sphere above his head, he then flicked it down with all of his power, sending it flying towards Mind. Then, as it hit, Mind shot off a wave from his head and began to overpower Happos. During this clash, Happos had powered up two smaller raging spheres in both of his hands. These were around a quarter of the size of the main blast.
In doing so, he shot them towards his original sphere, and he began to overpower Mind. Mind let this happen, however, and as it did, it all came down on him. He caught the sphere then, but at that moment it was severely draining his power.
Happos then took his trump card and had stared mind directly in his wide eyes, sending off a paralyzing gaze. When this happened, it had stunned Mind and caused him to lose focus. At that moment, the Ki clash had crushed him and destroyed Mind.
Happos let out a slight hoot for his victory and then took a seat next to the wall resting. He assumed that the next switches would most likely have something similar, so he took some time to recover. Happos was hungry, tired, and hurting. He didn’t have much to offer in a fight right now, and the only fuel he had was his inner anger and will to stay in the fight.
Figuring he had nothing better to do after resting, he decided he might as well flip another switch. Up here, it was going to be die of hunger, or die to an enemy, and dying of hunger had shown little honor to him. So he stood up and stretched his small legs out.
After this, he walked over to the second switch, and pulled the large handle down, hearing the same stone scraping noise, and then walking out stretching his back out. He’d go out, and see a man outside. His form literally shaking in a static manner, with a wind quaking speed.
“So which one ar-” he’d say, before the man with lightning speed dashing right behind him, and delivering a back breaking punch, causing severe pain in Happos back.
“It’s Endura” he’d say, before kneeing Happos in the back of his leg, causing Happos to fall down onto his knees.
Happos just sat there on his knees, wide-eyed in a fit of pain. He then stood up, and as Endura attempted to throw another punch, Happos turned around and grabbed his hand, squeezing it, and crushing his fingers.
“Why don’t you slow down a bit!” he’d say, as he’d pull Endura towards him, sending his knee right into Endura’s gut.
This didn’t seem to affect Endura much, because right after, Endura sent out a strong wind, cracking the air, and the wind breaking the speed of sound. He then shot both his legs up and grabbed Happos arm, drop kicking him, and fracturing some of his ribs. Then, he would slam Happos into the ground by his arm and proceeded to send a flurry of supersonic punches into Happos chest.
During this, Happos would lay there in pain, and reach in his pocket for a capsule. Endura wouldn’t realize this, as he was just hammering Happos ribs, almost killing him. Happos then would throw the capsule at Endura, the smoke bursting in his face, and after this in one final rush, Happos would send a punch as hard as he could directly at Endura’s heart.
His fist would pierce the skin, go through the ribs, and eventually rip Endura’s heart in half. In the adrenaline rush, Happos would whip his leg upwards and kick Endura into the sky, before leaping up and sending an axe handle attack down on his head, sending him through the center of the monastery.
After this, Happos wouldn’t recover, he would rush the next switch, and turn it on, hearing the same scraping noise. After this, however, when he peeked outside the door, it was like nothing he had ever seen before.
This man seemed to stand at eight feet tall and had a very similar skin color to the demon on the bridge, yet this demon’s horns were larger, and his muscles even bigger.
“How did you get past my son!” he’d shout, sending the wind echoing with his statement.
“That ugly thing on the bridge was your son?” he’d say, in a half breath of pain and mockery.
The demon would then stick his hand out and grab Happos neck, squeezing it. “No one talks about my family like that.” he’d say, before slamming him down onto the monastery’s stone flooring.
Happos would then prop himself back up, sending a fist flying towards the demon, hitting him as hard as he could. The impact, however, felt like it broke Happos fist. The demon’s skin was like metal, and his punch did basically nothing to him.
“You’re weaker than the one who came here before!” he’d say, before grabbing his torso, and slamming him up and down into the stone, shattering it a few feet deep before throwing him down extremely hard, shattering the stone floor, creating a small crater.
Happos wouldn’t be able to do anything but take this beating. He had no energy left, and couldn’t fight back. The demon would then jump ten feet in the air and would come straight down stomping Happos even further into the ground.
In a sudden burst of anger, however, Happos would grab the demons foot, trying to push it up. “So we're actually fighting?” the demon would shout, before pushing his foot down harder, crushing Happos.
The demon would then grab Happos, throw him straight in the air, and then jump up along with him, before hammer fisting him back down into the crater. As he was falling again, he’d stomp Happos yet again, crushing him into the dirt formed by the crater.
“Let’s have a little fun!” the demon would say, grabbing Happos by the legs, and dragging him into the far right monastery building. He then would whip him through every single buildings walls, Happos body becoming splintered by each wall breaking. He then would hit the final stone wall, but at this point, he’d get no rest.
The demon would come with his fist flying, and send him through the monastery wall. “This is the last time a joke like that monkey will ever come through here!” he’d shout, Happos flying through the stone, becoming severely injured.
As he was falling through the howling blizzard, his eyes would slowly close. Memories would rush his head. All the people he had served, and all the things he said to them. He was sorry for it, regretting he didn’t treat the people around him better.
Thoughts of his young life would come by as well, helping those far away who needed to be transported large goods. The moments he would sneak small pieces of food to those on the street who were struggling. All the times he helped those, it felt so good. He loved being seen as a hero, as someone who saved those who needed it.
Then, thoughts of his master came through, all the training he had done to work to this point, only to lose it all. The days he worked hard to finally be able to compete with his master. His thoughts were finally invaded by the demon who was about to kill him, staring at him from the top of the monastery. ‘Monkey’ ‘Came through here’. It all made sense to him now. His master was unable to beat these men, and Happos wasn’t about to suffer the same death.
At this moment, his muscles opened, and large amounts of blood and adrenaline rushed his body, his Ki in a suddenly elevated state. His eyes then shot open, and he propelled himself back up to the monastery, moving faster than he ever had before. A speed that he never knew that he was capable of, and boy, did it feel good.
He rocketed towards the demon. The demon opened his eyes in shock, staring down the oncoming enemy. His shock however then turned to a smile, thinking he could take on Happos a second time, but he also stood in caution, as he could sense that Happos was full of power.
Happos then rushed him, in this full speed, and the demon had attempted to punch him in the jaw. He then took his forearm, and threw the demons punch out of the way, before sending his knee to the demons gut, sending him flying through the monastery’s walls, hitting the stone wall at the other side, just like Happos had.
The demon instantly sprung up, however, and Happos had begun to rush him. The demon followed suit, and they met in the middle of the holes in the wall, their fists connecting, letting an earth shattering wind out, knocking the buildings walls down. Happos then sent a kick up, blocked by the demon, the demon then sending a punch over, Happos blocking it.
Happos then took advantage of this situation, sending a heavy headbutt at the demon, knocking him back. Then, Happos would rush towards him, grab his leg, and swing him into the stone wall, causing it to shatter.
The demon would just be pushed into a further state of anger. He would get up, and as Happos was rushing towards him, twist out of his attack, then proceed to grab his tail. As he grabbed his tail, he swung Happos into another wall, causing it to break, and as this was happening, Happos grabbed the demon's arm, throwing him into the stones again.
Eventually, most of the walls in the monastery were broken, and there wasn’t much left to shatter. This demon seemed to be invincible to attacks, he kept getting up, over and over again. So Happos took his arm in a final bout and swung him into the temple's shrine.
As this happened, and the impact connected, causing the shrine to shatter. As this happened, the demon seemed to have lost his barriers. His power seemed to ultimately drain. It was like the shrine gave him his power. From this moment, Happos grabbed his wrist and jumped as high in the air as he could. After doing so, he threw him down into the crater the demon had once formed with Happos body. Then, as the demon was flying through the air, Happos went down with him, punching the chest of the demon as he was falling, then finishing it off with one powerful jab.
After this, the demon had smashed into the hard flooring and had destroyed the entire monastery. The demon had perished to Happos, in Happos sudden feat of power. This was the hardest fight even given to Happos, and one he did not expect. It was at this point he knew he had surpassed his limits, and went further than his master ever could go. This journey was never intended to be a meeting of master and student, but a test of true strength.
Epilogue
In these final moments, Happos knew that his journey had been completed. He wasn’t sure of what to do until a strange group of travelers had appeared at the monastery. This group of travelers was unknown to him, and he stood his guard.
“We are not here to harm you, Happos.” a man would say in the group, appearing to be the leader.
“How do you know my name!” he’d shout back.
“We have been sent here, to search for you. People in our village are missing your cooking.” he’d respond back to the man.
“I am over tha-” he’d pause “Do you happen to have any food?” he’d respond.
“If you promise to cook one final time for us, we will give you what we have.” he’d say in response to Happos gesture.
“Fine, fine.” he’d say, letting out a laugh.
It felt good to know people had cared about him. He felt that he may never make it back to the village, and because of these people, he finally had a chance to continue his legacy, and push his inner fire to new heights.
As Happos took down the stale bread and cold meats like they were a gourmet food, he would explain to them all he has gone through, and what he had learned about himself. He explained the shrines, and how what they went through was related to it.
They all nodded in agreement, astounded with the feats he gave. Then, soon they all packed their bags and put away the items they carried with them, and all went back to the village with a fire in their hearts, knowing such an amazing event had occurred that day.
WC:15266, (Hope you enjoyed the story!)