Toby was asleep on one of the sofas in the living room of the YogHouse, dreaming of destroying the Kingdom of the Saplings, when suddenly, someone slapped him repeatedly in the face.
"Come on, you moron! You call yourself a real ninja?"
Toby grumbled and tried to go back to sleep, but the person kept slapping him.
The person who was slapping Toby was his ninja buddy, Martyn.
"Dreamtime is over already, you mindless hammer freak!"
"All right, all right!" shouted Toby. "I'm awake! Quit slapping me!"
"Well, it's about time," smiled the Nature Ninja. "Come! Let's get a move on."
Then he grabbed Toby by the arm and ran to the Nature Ninja training base.
"Welcome to Ninja Training!" said Martyn. "Are you ready to be a real ninja?"
"Put me down, and then we'll talk," replied Toby.
Martyn let go of Toby and asked, "You've always wanted to become a professional ninja like me, right?"
"Uh…yeah," Toby replied.
"I thought so! Welcome to Intensive Ninja Training, Toby! I'm going to help you whip into shape."
"Wait, so…let me get this straight. I've always wanted to become a ninja, so you're going to help me become one?" asked Toby.
"That's right!" declared the Nature Ninja as he brought his sidekick into the main area of the training base.
"Let's get started! Let's start with some air punches!"
"Air punches?" asked Toby.
"Step One on becoming an expert ninja is to practice your moves," explained Martyn.
Toby watched Martyn as he demonstrated air punching. He began to practice air punching himself.
"That's right, Toby! You're doing great! Pick up the pace!"
After about twenty-five air punches, Toby had enough.
"Ouch!" he muttered, holding his cramping arm. "I am SO sore! All that punching made my arm almost fall off! Martyn, are you sure that I'm ready to become a real ninja?"
Martyn sighed and shook his head.
"The road ahead is long and hard," he thought to himself.
This wasn't going to be easy as he thought.