Training & Injuries

Nasha continued giving Kiba & Akamaru the tour. When they arrived to the room with the waterfall, Kiba was shocked by what he saw. The room was extremely big, there was a waterfall flowing into a small lake, and there were all different tunnels leading to it. "Is this like the center of the cave or something?"

"That's what Crystal and I think. We don't want to look around all around the tunnels, though. We're afraid that it might lead to something that we don't want to know about. Such as village people, or dip stick."

Kiba also noticed that there was some bare ground in the shape of a huge rectangle. "What's that bare rectangle, thing?"

"Oh that? It's where Crystal and I train. When we found this tunnel, that rectangular area was already bare. If you want a better look, then come on."

"Exactly how is there this much space, and how can there be so many rooms?"

"Crystal and I have many theories. Two of our most favorites are that these caves, tunnels, and rooms were once a place where the villagers used as a mining place, but abandoned it because they couldn't find anything or someone got hurt or killed while on the job. The other one is that Mother Nature did it."

Arf arf, arf. 'So, you guys have absolutely no idea.'

"No clue whatsoever."

"Well that's educational."

"Thank you, Kiba. I just love to teach those who want to tour Crystal and my cave new things each day."

When the 3 of them were up close to the training field, Kiba saw that there were claw marks, scratch marks, broken wooden, and smashed rocks everywhere. "What the heck happened here?"

"Well, Crystal and I always wanted to hurt dip stick. So, we train our attacks and secret attacks in case the sweet day ever came."

Woof, woof? 'Secret attacks?'

"Crystal thinks that if we attack with more than the ones we already use when against villagers, then more of them will try to come and get us. We're strong, but not that strong."

"What are your secret attacks exactly?"

"Well, I am also able to enlarge my claws to help climb tall and rocky walls or cliffs, I am able to talk to whoever I chose telepathically. Crystal is also able to grow her fingernails and use them like claws and use them like me. Although unlike me, she is able to shoot them like mini darts."

"Is that all?"

"Well, there is one more thing that I can do. But I don't like to practice or use it that much because Crystal has had a bad experiences with whips."

"What do whips have to do with it?"

"I am able grow to shrink my tail. I use it to grab things out of reach or to make it harder for villagers to grab me. But the growing my tail is sort of the thing related to whips. I can hit people with it and it's so hard it makes it feel like they got whipped by, well, a whip. Crystal keeps telling me that she doesn't mind, but I will only use it in desperate times."

"You care for her a lot, don't ya?"

"Of course. She's like an older sister to me. We do like to make fun of each other at times, but that's just for fun."

Nasha's ears perked up and so did Akamaru's. "Do you hear that?"

Arf, arf. 'I do. How about you Kiba?'

Kiba turned his head to the tunnel that he came through and did hear faint footsteps. "Yeah. Do ya think it's Crystal?"

"Probably. Let me use telepathy." She closed her eyes and the crystal she was wearing started glowing. A sec later she opened her eyes and the glowing stopped. "Don't worry. It is just Crystal. She'll be here in 5, 4, 3, 2…"

"Hey guys."

"AH!" Kiba, startled, fell on the ground. Crystal started to crack up.

"Laughing Sorry Kiba. Did I scare ya?"

"What? No."

"Then why did ya decide to scream and go on the ground?"

Kiba scrambled to get up, "Shut up. How did you do that anyway?"

"Do what?"

"Get here so quickly! It took me years to go that fast!"

"Well, the teachings of Nasha combined with the speed I was born are probably the reasons why."

"Oh… that explains it." He glanced at the training field and then back at Crystal. "This might sound sudden, but hows about we have a little fight? Akamaru and me and you guys will need to train if we are to get rid of dip stick."

"Hmm. It sounds like a good idea. How does that sound to you, Nasha?"

"Sounds like fun."

"Alright. Since we both agree, let's fight."

Crystal and Nasha were on the right side of the field; Kiba and Akamaru on the left. "I think that there should be some rules."

"Such as?"

"What weapons do ya have?"

"A couple of shuriken and a few kunai."

"Ya can use the kunai, but not the shuriken. I won't use by bow and arrow, just my grapplers. Nasha, ya can use your secret attacks minus the claws. Ya can use your tail whip."

"My turn to be bossy. You guys can use Wolf's Bite but not too soon. And don't paralyze us with Wolf's Song too early in the fight. You guys can use them both after the first 3 min. Alright?"

"Okay." Crystal crouched down and whispered very quietly into Nasha's ear, "To make it even, I want ya to mostly fight Akamaru. Let me handle Kiba. And ya know the codeword. Right?"

"Of course I do. You can count on me."

Crystal stood up and got into position. "Ready?"

Kiba smirked, "Ready."

At the same time, they both called out, "GO!"

They all charged at each other. After about 4 min, they all jumped back panting. "Your good, I'll *pant pant* give ya that."

"Thanks. Your *pant* not too bad yourself."

"But, I think that this fight has gone long enough." Crystal ran to a tree and used it as a spring to jump above Kiba & Akamaru and landed right behind them. "Nasha! Spin!"

"What th-" Kiba didn't have time to finish. He saw 2 speeding blurs in front of him going around in circles. 'Uh oh, Dust Spinner!'

Kiba grabbed Akamaru so that he would be safer. Kiba heard feet and paws skidding to a stop. He felt himself being thrown out and hitting the wall hard. He blacked out after that.

"Hello? Kiba? Ya alright?"

Kiba heard a faint voice talking to him. He opened his eyes slightly. He saw (and in his words) a beautiful angel looking down at him. "Are you an angel?" He asked dazed.

"Giggle Not exactly, big guy."

Kiba's eyes fully adjusted and he saw Crystal looking down at him. Realizing what he asked, he blushed. "Oh, its you. I, uh, thought it was someone else."

"Who? An angel?"

"Sort of." He sat up but there was a slight pain in the back of his head. "Ow. What happened?"

"When I threw ya out of the Dust Spinner, ya banged your head pretty hard."

"How long have I been out?"

"Just about 20 min."

"What about Akamaru?"

"He's fine. He didn't get as banged as ya did; just a bruise. By the way I got breakfast. Want some eggs?"

"Sure!"

"Woah. That was one fast recovery."

"Whatever. By the way, when will it rain?"

"Somewhere around 5 or 6. It will last all night."

"How are you, I mean we, gonna get dinner?"

"Ya did bring your own food right? I could smell it on ya the first time I saw ya."

"Oh yeah I did. I have _ (I'll let you guys come up with it)."

"Awesome. Never really got to eat that stuff. Plus there are fish from the lake here that we could eat."

"Raw?"

"What? No! I have some matches that I, uh, found lying around the village."

"Let me guess, ya found them on a porch on one of the villager's house."

"What? No. Maybe. Fine yes. But I was 9 alright!"

"Is that the only thing that you actually stole for yourself?"

"Yes. The clothes that I own are from materials that the tailor in the shop doesn't need. He puts them in a pile. He doesn't want them, therefore not stealing."

"How about the bowl for the rain catcher?"

"Made it out of tree bark."

"Your very smart, aren't you."

She blushed, "Thanks. Its mostly street smarts. Since I was just 8 when I came here, I don't know much about other things that have nothing to do with survival. Now come on. I'm hungry so lets eat!"