Part IV
Mai groaned as she heard a trumpet sound. She slowly got up. Man, what a dream, a talking dragon and that letter on an arr…. She opened her eyes to find herself face to face with Mushu.
"Mornin!" Mai groaned even more. She quickly brushed her hair and put her belt on. She slid on her shoes as she started walking out of her tent. Mushu jumped on her back.
"An where you think you're goin?" He said, sliding down her shirt to a spot nobody but her would be able to see him.
Mai walked out of her tent to see everybody in line. And that is where the training began.
Captain Zou looked at the young girl and grumbled to him self. Girls in war were ok; he knew that as a fact in seeing Mulan in action. But this girl, she was different. She wasn't weak, and she wasn't bad either, it was just that she was the only girl in the group, so that made it awkward. Nobody but her had joined that was a woman, or at least his unit. He had heard reports of about 50 women had joined altogether, 30 of them being medics and nurses. His eyes always softened around the girl, or at least when her back was turned. She was outspoken, reminding him of Mulan. After she and Shang left, it took time to mend the shock. Even then, the note she had left the gang of three startled him to this day.
He clapped his hands and motioned the group to all line up. As they did so, Zou smiled and shot an arrow at the top of a wooden post. Many people called him old fashioned for using this old trick that he had learned when he joined, but he would just smile and say, "If a woman can do it, so can you." It was a valuable lesson to learn. He motioned Mai over. Mushu almost jumped up and down, wanting to tell Mai how to get the arrow. Mai just blocked his mouth. She needed to find this out on her own.
"Retrieve the arrow, using these two medals. One represents discipline while the other represents strength, you will need to use both to hold the arrow. Everyone must pass this test to pass this course. The first one to pass it will earn my respect, seeing how they pretty much figured it out on their own, while everyone else copies them afterwards." Mai looked at the medals. It was going to be a long day.