The Heart of a True Action Hero
The sun has been shining above Action Forest, the training grounds of action heroes. For many years, action heroes have been training to earn their highest honor, a pair of shades. However, Eagleator was the only student who hadn't earned this honor yet. Eagleator has been training at the dojo with his sensei for the past couple of months. One morning, the light of the sun shined in his room forcing him to wake up with a groan.
"Another day of training has gone by, and I'm still no closer to earning those shades." Eagleator muttered to himself.
Eagleator then glanced at the side of his bed to see a picture of himself along with his friend, Hawkodile. The picture has been taken a long time ago right before things changed. It was a time before Eagleator betrayed his bro. Ever since the day Hawkodile has been chosen to wear the shades, Eagleator has been obsessed with taking the shades for himself. He even went as far as kidnapping the princess of the Unikingdom to get what he wanted. Despite all the trouble he caused, everyone eventually forgave him in the end. This unexpected turn of events made Eagleator wonder if he even deserved to wear shades to begin with.
At that moment, Eagleator was startled out of his thoughts when he heard a knock on his door, followed by the voice of his sensei, Falcomodo.
"Rise and shine, Eagleator. I have new lessons to teach you." Falcomodo said from the other side of the door.
"I'll be there in a minute." Eagleator replied before he changed into his blue tank-top and black jeans.
It wasn't long before Eagleator met his sensei in the dojo's training room. Ever since Eagleator and Falcomodo returned to the dojo, they have been working to repair it to its former glory. The dojo was no longer the crumbling ruins it used to be. Instead, it was rebuilt with various planks of wood and tall pillars holding it up. The inside of the dojo contained punching bags hanging from the ceiling, and shelves containing a variety of weapons.
Once Eagleator approached his master, he gave a respectful bow. "I'm ready to begin today's training, Sensei!"
"Good, because your training will only get harder from this moment on. You have done well these past couple of months, but your skills will truly be put to the test." the wise falcon said before he grabbed his training staff.
Falcomodo began the training by teaching Eagleator a bunch of new action moves. Every training session Eagleator had made him feel stronger than ever. The training continued for several hours until Falcomodo led Eagleator to one of the punching bags.
"I think this would be a good exercise to end today's training." said Falcomodo. "Use all the moves I taught you right here and do your best."
"My best? This should be easy!" Eagleator smirked. He started to unleash his strength with as many punches as he can, and with one last punch, he knocked the bag to the floor. Once he was finished, Eagleator stood tall, patiently waiting for his teacher's response to his performance.
"You have done well, but you need to straighten your arm on that last punch. It will be more effective." Falcomodo lectured. "Let's try it again."
"Fine." Eagleator grumbled in a slightly frustrated tone.
Eagleator tried even harder to perfect his action moves, but it only made him feel even more stressed. It wasn't long before his frustration turned to anger. He began to remember the times when he was envious of Hawkodile. He started to feel his jealousy of Hawkodile return. At the last second, instead of punching forward, Eagleator rammed his fist into a nearby wall, leaving a bunch of tiny cracks in it.
Soon, Eagleator turned towards his master in rage. "I'm never going to be good enough for you am I? What did Hawkodile do to deserve the shades?"
Despite his student's outburst, Falcomodo remained calm as he replied, "Eagleator, you must understand that I had my reasons for giving Hawkodile the action hero's highest honor! You weren't ready for such a responsibility! After all, it is not the action hero who chooses the shades, but the shades that choose the action hero."
"Then when will I be ready? What do you know about the action hero's highest honor anyway?" Eagleator asked impatiently.
"Oh, I know plenty. These aren't even my original shades." Falcomodo explained as he gestured towards his sunglasses. "I had to find a replacement ever since you shattered my original pair."
Having heard enough of his sensei's lectures, Eagleator stormed out the training hall back to his room. This caused Falcomodo to let out a sigh. "Eagleator is a good student, but he still has a lot to learn." Falcomodo muttered to himself before he suddenly thought of an idea. "I wonder."
The next morning, Eagleator returned to the training hall only to find his sensei standing outside the dojo. Falcomodo looked as though he were at peace as he got a good view of Action Forest.
"Sensei? What are you doing out here?"
"I just thought I'd take in the sights. Action Forest may seem like a dangerous place, but watching it from here makes me feel calm." Falcomodo smiled. "I think you could use a little fresh air as well."
"Why are you telling me all this? Aren't we supposed to be training?" Eagleator asked.
"Yes, but we are going to be training somewhere else for today! Come with me." Falcomodo ordered as he stood up and walked down the dojo's steps.
Eagleator had no clue on what his teacher was planning, but he knew that his training had to continue. He has been following Falcomodo through Action Forest for what felt like hours and started to get curious to where he was being taken to. "Are you going to be training me anytime soon? It feels like we were walking through this forest forever!"
"Relax, Eagleator! We are already here!" the falcon calmly replied as he came to a halt.
The action hero in training took a look at his surroundings, confused. The area where he was standing looked no different from the rest of the forest. "Is this some kind of joke? Why did you just drag me in the middle of nowhere?"
"You see, this is the area where I trained Hawkodile's friends, and this is going to be the spot where I train you." Falcomodo explained. "Today I will train you in ways that I have never taught others, which brings us to the lesson. I want you to get that apple from the tree." Falcomodo gestured with his staff.
At that moment, Eagleator looked up to find a lone apple on the tree. He attempted to climb, but ended up sliding back to the ground. "It's no use!" he grumbled. "I can't climb this tree!"
"You are giving up too easily." stated Falcomodo. "There are other ways to climb the tree. You just have to look harder."
Once again, Eagleator looked at the tree and quickly noticed branches that led to the top. This gave Eagleator an idea, so he jumped on the branches and eventually reached the top. He swiped the fruit and jumped back down.
"Well done, Eagleator! Persistence is a major trait for action heroes!" said Falcomodo.
"That was too easy!" Eagleator bragged. "Let's move on to the next lesson!"
"Patience, my student! We will have to go somewhere else for our next lesson! Come with me!" the sensei ordered.
For the next lesson, Falcomodo led his student to a nearby river. There was a smooth flowing sound coming from the water that was enough to make Eagleator feel calm. He was so relaxed, he was caught off guard when his sensei handed him a fishing rod. "What is this for?"
"We are going to be catching fish for our next lesson." Falcomodo explained, much to Eagleator's confusion.
"Since when was fishing a part of action hero training?" Eagleator asked.
"Since right now!" retorted Falcomodo as he grabbed onto a fishing rod of his own. The falcon proceeded to cast his fishing rod into the water. He soon felt something tugging on the pole. He pulled back on it and managed to catch a fish. "Now it's your turn!"
Eagleator soon cast his fishing rod as well, but quickly got bored with the lesson. Every passing minute caused Eagleator to become more impatient. After a few minutes of waiting. Eagleator felt one of the fish biting on his fishing rod. He got excited and yanked the rod out of the water. Much to Eagleator's surprise, he didn't find the fish on the end of the line.
"It didn't work! This rod must be broken!" Eagleator complained as he angrily threw the rod to the ground.
"You were too impatient and scared the fish away. If you had more patience then you could have caught a bunch of fish like I have!" Falcomodo explained as he showed Eagleator a basket filled with dozens of fish.
This left Eagleator shocked. He couldn't believe that his sensei was able to catch so many fish in a short amount of time. "Okay! Now you're just showing off!"
Falcomodo merely chuckled. "Perhaps if you were more patient, you would be as good as I am. Try again!"
With a grumble, Eagleator cast his line into the water again. This time when he felt a nibbling, he waited a few more seconds and pulled back on his rod. Unlike last time, Eagleator found a fish at the end of his line.
"I-I caught it!" Eagleator exclaimed out of disbelief.
"Indeed, you have! This is what happens when you go with the flow. Pun intended." Falcomodo chuckled at his own joke.
Once Eagleator and Falcomodo were finished with their fishing lesson, Falcomodo led his student back to the training grounds of the forest. "You have been making great progress, Eagleator. Now for this lesson I'm going to teach you something that I have taught Hawkodile a long time ago. You are not only going to learn to work hard, but play hard as well!"
"Play hard?" Eagleator asked confused. "I'm not really the type of guy who likes to play around!"
Falcomodo nodded. "Yes, I'm well aware of that, but sometimes even action heroes need to have fun every once in a while. This brings us to our next lesson! Do you see that particular berry bush in the distance?" the sensei asked.
Eagleator squinted his eyes and found the bush his sensei was referring too. It was so far that it was so tiny from his perspective.
"What you have to do is to collect the berries, but before you start, let's make this more interesting!" Falcomodo said with a grin. "How about we have a race? The first one to swipe the berries wins!"
"Alright. I'll try to go easy on you!" Eagleator said as he got ready to run.
"Oh, don't underestimate my speed! I may be old, but I'm still pretty fast for my age!"
After taking their positions, Falcomodo began to run at lightning speed with Eagleator giving chase. Eagleator did the best he could to catch up with his master. About halfway through the race, Eagleator grabbed a nearby branch and swung to the tree tops, while his sensei was continuing the race on the ground. At that point, they were both closing in on the bush. Soon, Eagleator jumped down from the trees to grab the berries, but Falcomodo swooped in and grabbed them at the last second.
When the race was over, both Eagleator and Falcomodo were exhausted. "I've never ran this fast before. You were pretty good, Eagleator." Falcomodo panted.
Normally, Eagleator would be angry at the thought of losing, but he didn't feel the anger this time. Instead, he actually had fun so he gave a smile. "You weren't so bad yourself, Sensei!"
"Thank you, my student. It has been fun, but I think we both earned a lunch break." Falcomodo then placed a picnic blanket on the ground and set out the food that has been collected throughout the training.
Once everything was set out, Eagleator began to eat with his sensei. After a few minutes of eating, Falcomodo decided to break the silence.
"So, Eagleator there is something that I've been meaning to ask you." stated Falcomodo.
"What is that, Sensei?"
"You have been going through a lot of trouble just for the shades. Why are they so important to you?" the falcon asked curious.
The question caught Eagleator off guard. It was a question that he's been dodging for many years. "To be honest, it was never really about the shades." he explained which made Falcomodo raise his eyebrow in confusion. "The day you gave the shades to Hawkodile, I felt so inferior to him. I guess I just wanted you to be proud of me."
Eagleator lowered his head before he heard his sensei say, "I already am proud of you."
"You are?"
Falcomodo nodded. "It's true that you've made mistakes in the past, but you are willing to learn from them and become a better person! That shows that you have the heart of a true action hero!"
"Thanks, sensei!" Eagleator smiled in appreciation.
It wasn't long before Eagleator and Falcomodo finally finished their food and decided to return to the dojo. It got dark when they came back, and Eagleator was ready to go to bed. However, Falcomodo had one more lesson he planned to teach his student.
"You have gone so far since these past couple of months!" praised Falcomodo. "There is one more lesson I would like to teach you today. I want you to fight me to show me everything you have learned."
His sensei's words left Eagleator in shock. After all of the training exercises he had, he never would have thought that he would have to fight his teacher.
"But, Sensei are you sure?" Eagleator asked.
"Don't worry about me. I went easy on you the last time we fought each other, but I'm not going to hold anything back this time! This is the only way for you to become a true action hero!"
Although he was feeling a little hesitant, Eagleator knew that this was the only way. "I understand. I'm not holding anything back either." Eagleator said as he raised his fists.
As soon as the battle began, Eagleator rushed towards his sensei and threw a dozen punches at him. However, Falcomodo was able to dodge ever single punch thanks to his fast reflexes. He soon countered his student's attacks by throwing a punch of his own. The impact of the punch sent Eagleator stumbling backwards.
"You're not giving up already, are you?" taunted Falcomodo.
"I'm just getting started!" Eagleator smirked as he attempted to punch Falcomodo once more.
This time, Falcomodo grabbed his training staff and used it to block his student's attacks. That didn't stop Eagleator as he tried to punch even faster. Eagleator's punches got faster and faster every second until he was finally able to knock the staff out of his master's hands. This gave Eagleator an opening, so he hit Falcomodo with a powerful punch. Shocked by the impact, the falcon stumbled back, feeling exhausted. He could barely stand at all.
"Excellent! Now finish me off!" Falcomodo wheezed. Eagleator took a couple of steps towards his master, but suddenly stopped. He was so close to getting what he wanted, but something didn't feel right. "Why do you hesitate? You have to finish me before I get back up."
After a couple of moments of pondering, Eagleator finally made his decision. "No! I won't do it!"
"You do realize that this could be your only chance to earn the action hero's highest honor don't you?" Falcomodo asked.
"I don't care!" yelled Eagleator. "Being an action hero is not about beating people up just to get what you want! It's about doing what's right! If being an action hero is about getting what you want by any means, then I don't want the shades anymore!"
The dojo became suddenly quiet as Falcomodo gazed at his student for a couple of seconds. The sensei soon smiled and slowly got back up. "I have taught you well! Congratulations, Eagleator! You have passed the test!"
"Test?" Eagleator was left in shock. "You mean you've planned this?"
Falcomodo nodded before he said, "Indeed, I have. This shows that you are on your way to becoming a great action hero. I couldn't be anymore proud!"
"Thank you, sensei!" Eagleator gave a bow towards his master.
"I think that is enough training for today! I will see you tomorrow morning!" Falcomodo announced as he walked back to his room.
Soon, Eagleator returned to his room as well. For the first time in months, Eagleator felt that he was well on his way to earning those shades.
The next morning, Eagleator made his way back to the training room only to find the room empty. His sensei was nowhere to be found. This surprised Eagleator because his sensei was never late to train him. A couple of minutes passed and Falcomodo still didn't come. Eagleator started to get concerned, so he decided to visit Falcomodo's room. He opened the door to find his teacher still in bed.
"Sensei? Is everything alright?" Eagleator asked concerned.
Sensing his student's presence, Falcomodo weakly turned his head. "Eagleator, come closer. There is something I need to tell you."
Eagleator to a few hesitant steps towards Falcomodo. "What's going on, Sensei? Is this another test?"
The falcon merely shook his head. "This is not a test. In fact, I have nothing more to teach you. My time has finally come, and I will ascend into the spirit world."
At first, Eagleator had no idea what Falcomodo was saying, but he soon figured it out. "It can't be! You're not going to die are you?" he asked in shock.
"That's one way to put it, but yes." Falcomodo calmly replied.
Eagleator couldn't believe what he was hearing. After all this time, he would have to say goodbye to the one person who guided and helped him his whole life. He didn't know whether to be angry or upset about this. Eagleator soon glared at his sensei with a mixture of disappointment and anger.
"So, that's it! You're just going to leave me?" Eagleator did the best he could to fight back his tears.
"Eagleator, please listen!" Falcomodo tried to explain only to be interrupted.
"No! You think you can just offer to help me only to abandon me in the end? It can't just end like this! I can't let you die! I just won't!"
Falcomodo put his hand on Eagleator's shoulder in an effort to comfort him. "You don't have to be sad. Even after death, I will always be there to watch over you and Hawkodile."
It was at this point when Eagleator didn't even bother with hiding his tears. Deep down, he knew that there was nothing he could do to help his sensei.
"If this really is the end, I just want you to know that I'm sorry for everything." Eagleator said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "You tried to help me become the best action hero I could be, but I betrayed you and the entire dojo. I'm sorry!"
"No. I'm sorry. I knew from the very beginning that you were envious of Hawkodile, but I've done nothing to help you. Despite all that's happened, you've fought to better yourself. I'm so proud of how far you've come." Using what little strength he had left, Falcomodo removed his shades, revealing his big, sharp eyes. "Here, take my shades!"
This turn of events surprised Eagleator. He raised a trembling hand towards the shades only to hesitant at the last second.
"I can't take them! They are your shades!"
"Not to worry! I'm sure I can find another pair in the afterlife! Just take them. You've earned them!" Falcomodo insisted.
After some consideration, Eagleator gathered his courage and grabbed onto the shades.
"You are going to be a great action hero!" Falcomodo smiled at his student one more time before he gave his final breath.
At that moment, Eagleator took a brief glance at the shades in his hand. He finally got what he wanted, but he wasn't able to enjoy it. He couldn't smile. He couldn't savor his victory. All he could do was mourn the loss of his sensei.
A couple of hours have passed when Eagleator buried Falcomodo just outside the dojo. He stared in silence at the tombstone he just set out. The tombstone read, 'Here lies Falcomodo. A great sensei and an amazing friend.' Eagleator continued to glance at the tombstone as he thought back to everything that's happened. Falcomodo trusted him to be the best action hero he could be, and he was not going to let his master down. With a heavy heart, Eagleator put on the shades, and accepted his destiny. However, there was one more place he planned to visit before he took his own path in life.
Back at the Unikingdom, Hawkodile was training in his tree house. He was hitting a punching bag with a bunch of powerful hits. It wasn't long before he ended his training with one last punch.
"You need to straighten your arm on that last punch. It will be more effective." Hawkodile heard a voice from behind him. He turned around and was surprised to find his bro wearing a pair of shades of his own.
"Eagleator? You finally got the shades!" Hawkodile was surprised by what he saw.
"Well, I did promise I would earn the shades the next time we met!" Eagleator reminded his bro with a smile.
"Congratulations, bro! I knew you could do it!" Hawkodile praised before he patted Eagleator on the back. "Sensei must be really proud of you!"
Just the mention of their sensei was enough for Eagleator's smile to fade. He didn't know how he would be able to tell his friend about the tragic news. "Hawkodile, there is something that you need to know." Eagleator then took out Falcomodo's training staff. "Sensei isn't with us anymore."
Right behind his shades, Hawkodile's eyes widened in shock. He took one look at the staff and knew what it meant. Eagleator could tell that Hawkodile was fighting the urge to cry, so Eagleator wrapped his arms around his friend to comfort him. Once the two action heroes stopped hugging, Hawkodile took the staff in his hands and placed it right next to a picture of his now deceased sensei.
"I miss him already." Hawkodile lamented.
"Me too, bro. But Sensei would want us to move on." Eagleator explained.
Deep down, Hawkodile knew that his friend was right. "Yes, he would." he sniffed. "So, now that you are a true action hero, how would you like to help me protect Unikitty and the others? We could use another bodyguard!"
"I appreciate the offer, but I'm going to choose my own path in life. It's what Sensei would have wanted." said Eagleator.
At first, Hawkodile was disappointed that he couldn't spend more time with his friend, but he chose to respect Eagleator's decision. "So, is this goodbye?"
Eagleator nodded in response. "It is, but I will be back to visit you and your friends. You can count on it!"
"Then I'll see you later, Eagleator!" Hawkodile waved.
"In a while, Hawkodile!" Eagleator said before giving a fist bump to his friend.
Eagleator waved goodbye to his friend before he used his wings to fly out of the tree house. Today was a new beginning for Eagleator. He was no longer the selfish jerk that he used to be. Instead, he has grown into what an action hero should be. Thanks to his sensei, Eagleator finally understood what it meant to be a true action hero.
The End
