Chapter 9

Wake Up Call

It was day five.

Tyler tied his gi on with his whole body aching as he moved as it had been for all that week. He had been at Ryozanpaku with Master Ma every single day this week from the time school let out to about ten at night, With . He was training everything that had a muscle and then some. Every day it was the same thing, but deep down he knew that the repetition had meaning to it and the benefits would be sweet.

So for the fifth day in a row, he tied his belt on an pulled his blonde locks behind his ears before he bucked up and went out into the yard for some training.

Kenichi was crossing his path as soon as he stepped out of the main dwelling. The shorter teen looked over at him and smiled, oblivious as ever. "Oh, hey Tyler." We waved in a friendly manner.

"What's up?" He nodded at him.

"Nothing, just wondering how you were liking everything, so far?" Kenichi smiled. He couldn't help but smile, but after a few seconds of awkward silence of Tyler just looking at him the smile just looked plastered on.

The American sucked in a deep breath and looked around at the yard. The place was beautiful. The buildings, trees, equipment, hell even the people were beautiful. He couldn't lie. He hummed to himself before looking back at Kenichi with a shrug. "It's great." He replied briefly. "I've never been to a place like this before."

"Yeah, I don't think anybody has. It's kinda unique." Kenichi chuckled lightly before the awkward silence quickly fell over them again. Tyler didn't want to talk to him too much. He knew if he got too close to him then he'd end up starting even more shit with Ragnarok, but of course the kid kept talking. "So I was just wondering, um. Why?... Why train here?" Tyler simply smirked at him with a slight peer. "I don't mean to butt into your personal life, I just mean that I see you painting all the time. I honestly don't see why a guy like you would need a place like this."

Tyler gave a big shrug before shaking his head. "Same reason why a dude from the freaking gardening club goes here."

"So to protect people?" The other disciple guessed with a hopeful smile.

Tyler sucked in a breath before nodding. "Of-course" He lied with a small forced grin. "Just a skill I figured I should have."

"Yeah I know exactly what you mean and believe me, this wasn't my original plan." Kenichi chuckled as he started taking a few steps in the other direction with a wave. "Well we'd better get to it."

"You're damn right." He replied, trying not to grumble.


Tyler's shoulders ached more than the rest of his body for some reason and had him rotating each shoulder as he walking down the nearly empty hallway after school. For a whole week of training he was just waiting for that special time when his body would get used to such treatment. That point where the only pain he felt was during the actual training.

Apparently Kenichi had long since reached that point, which had him kinda jealous.

As soon as he heard the double doors shut behind him Tyler immediately reached into his pocket and plucked in his earbuds. He turned the volume all the way up to drown out all the extra noise from his peers getting picked up around him.

It was one of the first times in a while when he used the front entrance of the school, but only because it was in the direction of the dojo. He whistled to the tune of DLZ by Tv on the Radio and nodded at one of his female classmates who waved at him bashfully.

He had a bit of a walk until he got to Ryozanpaku, which he was glad about. Plenty of time to drown out his soreness with his music.

What he didn't notice were the few males trailing behind him who weren't in school uniforms of any sort. They did well at keeping their distance because Tyler would never have noticed them if not for them getting hasty once he stepped into an alley way for a short cut. By that point they all sprinted to catch up and quickly started speed walking toward him.

"Achilles!" One of them announced themselves.

Tyler didn't even hear him.

Two of the thugs shared a look and a few grins formed on their faces as they noticed his music blaring in his ear. They sped up their walking once more until they were just far enough back for him not to notice their shadows. Then the five of them drew batons and flicked them to their full length and shared a look.

With one final nod they each sprang at Tyler. The first one struck him across the back of the head, followed by a kick to the back of his knees. Before the blonde had time to fight back, all five of them surrounded him, striking him repeatedly anywhere that looked painful. His earbuds fell out and made to punch one of them, but the attackers quickly overwhelmed him and had him on his stomach covering the back of his head as he thought for the quickest way back to his feet.

Suddenly he put his feet underneath him, the rest of him still hunched over, taking heavy strikes to his head and back. He lifted his arms over his head as the strikes started landing on his ribs along with heavy kicks from steel-toed boots. He looked forward and saw one of the men standing right in front of him. He immediately made the connection in his mind and landed a punch on the man's groin before he sprung to his feet with a heavy uppercut to the man's lower jaw.

He swung both of his arms back and connected with the chests of two more of the attackers before two more baton strikes hit the back of his knees and once again sent him down to his knees. He pivoted around and blocked two more swings then once he turned around he kicked the left thug in the stomach and once he planted his foot he turned and landed a left hook to the other.

He turned again and saw one of the other thugs and jabbed his nose before grabbing him by the collar. He looked back and kicked the inside of another thug's knee before he pushed his victim forward against the wall. His fist connected with the man's face and sent the back of his head against the wall and brought him to the ground.

"Not this time, Achilles!" Shouted one of his attackers from behind him as Tyler turned around.

A baton connected with his stomach and doubled him over, only for the slippery Achilles to jab the man in the groin and tackle him to the ground. Once the man was on the ground, Tyler stood back up and kicked the downed man in the face before he turned dodged another baton, only for him to lean back into another one that connected with his head.

Tyler went down and caught himself by his hand as he guarded his dizzy head, taking blow after blow to the back from the remaining three thugs. Then suddenly he reached as quick as he could for one of the discarded batons and whacked it against one of the thugs' ankles, then another. Then he stood up and turned around, cracking it across one of their faces.

He reached to the left and stopped one of them from swinging, before he hit the man on the side of the face three times, once when the man was already down. The final thug came up from behind him, crying out with frustration, but Achilles had already turned around with his heart racing. Driven by fear and anger, Tyler charged forward and pushed the final attacker back several feet before the man went down.

Blood dripped over Tyler's right eye from his cut eyebrow as he sat on top of the man's chest, punching into the man's eyes as blood dripped from his own eyebrow into his enemy's face. His fist even started to hurt as his attacker's own cuts started to open.

Tyler eventually stopped, panting on top of the final attacker's chest as his fist bled more than his face did. Then he shot up and grabbed his fallen bag and music, and he quickly rushed out of there. He didn't even take the time to dramatically look at the scene, he left his enemy's baton on the ground and limped as fast as he could. His knees shook violently, but not even close to how violently his fists shook as he went as fast as his body would let him.

He went straight to Akisame's clinic instead of the dojo or home. He didn't want his dad or the masters to see him all bloody and bruised and at least Akisame was a doctor.

Before he went inside he stepped to the side of the door and pulled out his wallet. Stuffing all of his cash into his book bag before he went inside and limped over to the desk lady who merely glanced up at first then her jaw dropped and she shot to her feet while Tyler tried to play it off like he was perfectly fine.

"I." He panted, holding up his arm as she rushed to his side. "Is the doctor in?"

"Ssh, don't say anything! Oh my gosh!" The desk woman shrieked, taking his arm over her shoulder.

"I'm fine." He chuckled as she rushed him into a wheelchair. He didn't sit down and instead spun around and waved it off. "It's okay. I can walk."

"Yeah now you can." She replied, waving her finger at him. "But the more you stand the worse your condition will be. You're light headed, aren't you?" Tyler hesitated before giving a slight nod. "Yeah that's what I thought." The nurse nodded, pushing him back onto the chair with a flop. "You haven't lost too much blood, it seems, but I'll have to take a closer look at you."

"Seriously." He blinked back at her as she took to steering his chair down the hallway to the nearest room. "You don't need to push me. I just need to know if I have a concussion is all."

The woman opened the door in front of him before stepping around to his front with her hands on her hips. "Why? Were you in a fight?"

Tyler rolled his eyes with a sigh before he nodded and threw up his arms. "Okay, yes! I was in a fight, but I'm still standing, okay?"

"So yes, standing isn't the best thing for you right now." She explained as she wheeled him into the room and spun him around with his back to the bed.

She was being rather forceful. She didn't even take the time to ask him to lift up her shirt, she just stuck the stethoscope right in there. After taking his general vitals Akisame poked his head in the room with a knock and caused the nurse to beam and turn around immediately.

"You called? Is he bad?" The master said as soon as he entered the room.

"Yes." The woman nodded and took a step back from Tyler. "Everything seems normal, good sign there. He did mention that he felt a little light headed, could be signs of blood loss, possible head injury."

Akisame took a brief look at Tyler who awkwardly waved at him with his lips pursed. "Yeah I'd think so." Then he turned to the nurse again and nodded. "Thank you, I can take it from here."

The woman nodded and quickly left the room with the door quietly shutting behind her. Tyler shook his head with a slight grin. "She was kinda pushy." The master didn't respond and instead went over to the counter to read the nurse's notes. "Seriously I walked all the way over here. I feel fine." Still nothing and the only response the doctor gave was a silent turn of the page. "I've taken hits like this before."

"All I want to know is if this is going to be a reoccurring event." Akisame replied without looking back at him. "You coming to train already covered in blood and bruises."

"Maybe." He shrugged, letting himself lean back in the wheelchair.

"Were these the same people as when we met?"

"No." He replied, wiping some blood from the tip of his nose. "These were just some cheap punks. Nothing special, they just caught me with my music playing."

"So a sneak attack then?" He nodded as he pulled a chair beside him and brushed some of Tyler's blonde hair from his face to see the bruises. "It certainly did the trick. Does that hurt?" He asked pushing down on his bruised temple.

"Gah! Yes!" He snapped, slapping the master's hand away.

"There's a lot of swelling already, but you were able to walk over here just fine." Akisame nodded with a calm smile. "No concussion at least. I'd say drink a lot of water and take it easy for today. You should be okay to train again tomorrow."

"No. I'll go today." Tyler argued, waving his hand. Akisame frowned with confusion as the new disciple leaned forward in his chair. "Look, I know this looks bad and all, but this is exactly why I came to train at your dojo." He explained. "So I'm training as much as a can as long as I can stand."

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Yes, plus," He sat up in the chair. "I'll be training in this state would be harder." The master nodded at that. "So that means the results will be greater, right?"

"Um. Maybe." Akisame nodded and stood up. "It'll definitely help your endurance. If you want to train today, then I don't have a problem with it. Just know your limits, okay?"

"Definitely." Tyler nodded as he stood up from the wheelchair.

"Alright well let's get Kensei up here so he can treat those cuts." He nodded, poking Tyler's forhead as he stood up from his chair. The suddenly stopped and grabbed a little foam cup from the wall and filled it with water, handing it to his new disciple. "Just keep drinking that and filling it back up, you've probably lost more fluids than you'll need to train."

"Yeah I wouldn't doubt it." He sighed, taking a sip of the cup as the jujitsu master left him alone in the room.

The blonde turned back the little cup of water with one big gulp before he went to the sink for more. He started sipping his cup, bobbing his head in the awkward silence before his eyes locked on the mirror right above the sink. He was seeing himself for the first time since the attack. There was a small gash above his left eyebrow, a bruise covering his entire right cheek, and blood all over his forehead.

He really hadn't seen what those thugs left him looking like until now and the sight made him speechless. His jaw hung open as he leaned forward and looked closer at himself. He reached his hand up and felt the back of his head where he took several blows, only to cringe upon contact with the now highly sensitive area.

This was what they did to him. All for breaking the rules. This was how they held their order.

"I really hope you've been hydrating, Ty." Kensei said as he swiftly entered the room, carrying bandages and a small tub of ointment with Chinese characters on them.

"Uh." He looked at his cup which was still filled and started drinking it again. "Yep."

"Good boy. Now sit over here for me if you please." The master motioned to the doctor's bed and Tyler quickly obeyed as the short man uncapped the tub and took a small dab of it on his finger, rubbing it into Tyler's open gash on his forehead. "So how are you feeling?"

"Uh." He blinked and shook his head. "Still a bit light headed, but I'm feeling better."

"Good." Kensei nodded, getting more of the ointment. "I was hoping you weren't foolishly pushing yourself out of anger. Then again you did win, so I suppose it could've gone worse."

"Yeah no shit." He chuckled and rubbed his eyes. "It doesn't feel like I won. I still got my skull beaten with sticks."

"Well all the more reason to keep training, right?"

Tyler looked at him with an open mouth stare as he slowly nodded. "Oh yeah. Definitely."

"Just remember not to go looking for trouble." Kensei said as he wiped some of the excess ointment from Tyler's head. "That's how a victim becomes the bad guy."

"Trust me, being the good guy is the last thing I'm worried about." He chuckled as Kensei placed a bandage over his gash.

"Suit yourself. It'd probably behoove you to take it easy for a few days. If you go looking for trouble you can make your injuries worse." The chinese master nodded as he backed away from his disciple. "There, now you just need to keep that head on ice for a bit and let it heal. Why don't you sleep over at the dojo tonight?"

"You sure that's okay?" He replied as he was handed a blue ice pack and he lifted it up to the top of his head.

"Oh yes, yes. Of course." Kensei waved it off as he and Tyler left the room and started down the hallway. "Our Kenichi is already staying with us permanently to get more time to train, and who knows. Maybe some day you'll be allowed to do this."


Training that day was the same as ever, only he had to worry about his aching head the whole time. However, it eventually got to the point where he hardly noticed it and he got distracted by the burning sensation that his Sifu's trading left him with.

He still had yet to actually learn any moves which before he didn't quite mind, but right about now he really wishes he had been learning at least something. It wasn't like he wasn't going to get attacked again since he successfully fended off the last guys that were sent for him.

It wasn't until late that night when he was in the middle of hanging leg raises that he brought it up. "Sifu." He strained as he brought his legs straight out to waist level.

"Higher, Ty." The master stayed without looking up from the pink magazine in front of his face which Tyler only guessed to be porn.

"Yes Sifu." He said through his groans. "Um sifu I know all these exercises are meant to make me stronger but have you by any chances planned when I'm gonna be practicing any moves yet?"

"You want to start technique training already?" Kensei peeked over the top of his magazine at the blonde make. "You're hardly ready for that, Try. You probably wouldn't survive."

"Heh, sure." He grinned as he forced his legs up higher. "It's just that I don't know when I'll be attacked next so maybe it would be good for me to be more ready. You know?"

"Oh I don't know if you're ready, Ty." Kensei grinned from behind his magazine. "Considering who you're affiliated with, I don't think teaching you to fight better would be a good idea for me. You may abuse it."

"Abuse it?!" He grunted and paused for a moment before the master waved his hand and Tyler continued with his exercise. "Those guys attacked me. What makes you think I'd ever agree to be their bitch again? Never gonna happen, but I'm no where near strong enough to stand up to them for very long."

"Well that's why you're here." The master smirked at him before he waved his hand and the disciple dropped from the bar. Kensei then pointed across the yard at Kenichi who was currently working with Apachai on the punching pads, before getting kicked into oblivion across the yard. "Look at Kenichi over there."

"Again?! Holy fuck!" The blonde shouted with wide eyes.

Kensei stopped him before he could rush over to help him. "He'll pull through as always, but listen. Kenichi started off as one of the weakest young people I've ever seen, but once he started training here he gained a determination unlike anything I see from kids nowadays. Now he's much stronger thanks to his determination, and he never once thought about taking his knowledge and going out to look for trouble."

"Yeah well I'm a little more trapped than he is, alright?" Tyler waved it off and folded his arms.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm saying that if I stick with them they'll force me to do something I don't want to do. And since that won't fly with me I'll get my ass kicked." He explained. "But if I quit now to avoid it, then they'll still come for me. It's a trap, so I need to be ready enough to make that choice."

"What would that choice be, exactly?"

Tyler threw up his hand and shook his head. "I don't know. I guess I'd have to fight them off until they leave me alone."

"And once they have, then what? They'd still be out there, stupid boy." Kensei shook his finger. "Still doing those things that you would never condescend to do yourself. Nothing will have changed after that."

The American looked at him and stared off into space as he quickly realized that Ma Sifu was right. Quitting would stop it for him, but they wouldn't ever stop just because one of their members left.

"Then I guess I wouldn't quit." He nodded at his master who simply raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I'd train to be a better fighter, but I won't quit the gang. I'll be the voice of reason as I should be, because apparently nobody else will." He shrugged.

"Now that." The master smiled and tipped his hat at him. "Makes a hell of a lot of sense to me."

Tyler smirked at him and nodded. "Ya think so?"

Kensei nodded before looking across the yard at Miu trying to wake Kenichi up with a bucket of water only to have the other disciple jolt awake and knock the entire bucket all over her.

The master waved his hand at Tyler. "If you'll excuse me." He said before he disappeared and reappeared by Miu, snapping pictures as fast as his finger would let him while dodging the girl's embarrassed attacks.

The American smirked and stepped up to Sakaki's side while he to smiled and watched with amusement. "Jeez." Tyler chuckled as Miu threw the bucket at the chinese master and chased him away. "He's like me, but with more balls."

Sakaki belted out laughing at that one and clapped him on the shoulder. "Yep, that's a regular thing around here. You'll see a lot more of that."

"Yeah I bet." He smirked as Miu chased Kensei back around in front of the others.

The man held his hand down as Miu swatted at him with a broom, then he looked over at Tyler. "Well I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment, Ty. But tomorrow we'll start your Technique training! Have a good rest of the night!"

"Shit, a break and technique training, sweet deal."

Sakaki laughed again and squeezed his shoulder, Tyler looked back to see a sinister smile on his face. "Not so fast kid, it's still about half an hour till dinner time. Plenty of time to teach you a thing or two."

Tyler immediately gulped as the Karate teacher pulled him away from Kenichi's recovery and before long the master had Tyler working on brand new knowledge that Tyler was both parts excited and terrified to learn.


Alright finally got another chapter done. Hope you like it.

One more thing I should probably add. Tyler is the hero of the story, yes. He is a stoner and smokes a shit ton of weed, yes. He enjoys it a lot, yes. But do not take this as inspiration to start smoking pot yourself. I mean for fucks sake he's a story character. For real though I just don't wanna get blamed for somebody starting that. That's all I honestly give a shit about, I won't lie to you. I've even done it myself. It was a raging good time.

But then again I don't really expect any of my readers to be stupid enough to be influenced by my story so much that it makes them start smoking pot like Tyler. Oh and if you do get influenced by the story like that, then, well, you're stupid, congratulations.

For real though, don't get me in trouble.

Thanks a bunch. ;)