Well, Sage eventually gets a chance to at least btry to simmer his anger issues down and face them head on, but it is proven to be a lot harder than it seems due to something in his head.
Chapter 14: Solve or Not to Solve
The following day, Musaki and Arizona were waiting for Sage to appear so they can start getting into the heart of the matter of Sage's anger issue and Arizona looks up at Musaki for a while and he said, "Should be here in a while."
"You sure about this, Arizona? Of all the times that we've known Sage, he always blows his top whenever he doesn't get his way." Musaki replied.
"Of course we're sure. We know Sage is a tough nut to crack, but we're gonna do all we can to change all of that." Arizona answered.
Musaki believed in every word Arizona just told him and he knew that there was gonna be no hesitation to get the job done and he said, "Yeah, what have we got to lose?"
Soon enough, Kaizer comes in with Max around his back and Arizona looks over and sees the two together and he asked, "Having fun with Kaizer, Max?"
"Tons. He said he's gonna teach me how to block punches." Max replied.
Kaizer lets out a small chuckle and he tells Max, "We're just gonna work on your self-defense moves to see if they're in pretty good use."
"Okay. Sounds pretty cool." Max replied.
Musaki could notice a little transition in Kaizer because usually he's tough and somewhat of a fighter, but when he's around Max, it's like he's gentle, but not too soft and he asked, "Can I ask you something, Kaizer? You've been different lately and I just wanted to know...have you changed?"
"Uh, no. I'm still the same guy." Kaizer replied.
Musaki then clears his throat and glared at him and said, "Dude, my eyes tell me that you're turning into a softie."
Kaizer had every mind to punch him straight in the face to prove his point and he said, "Watch it. I'll only say this...I'm not a full-on softie. Get the point?"
"Whatever you say." Musaki replied.
He knew that starting a fight in front of Max wouldn't look right and he looks at Max and said, "Come on, we're heading to the courtyard."
Max continued to hang onto Kaizer's back and the two tigers walked outside and Max only said, "See ya later, Arizona."
"Later, Max." Arizona replied.
After they left, Sage came in the training hall, just wearing some baggy shorts with parts of his underwear showing, but he could care less of how he appears and Arizona said, "You're late."
"So? Don't blame me for being not on time." Sage said, irritated.
The last thing all three of them wants is to kick off some drama between this and Musaki said, "Okay...now that you're here, let's get started. We'll start off with doing some kung-fu."
"You're kidding, right?" Sage asked.
"Nope." Arizona replied.
Musaki then asked him, "How good are you fighting skills?"
Sage looked at him as if he seriously asked him that question because he knows he's a streetfighter and said, "I fight in the streets. They're obviously good."
"Let's put that to the test." Arizona added.
Sage wasn't really sure if it'll be put to the test, but Arizona and Musaki knew they need to give him the extra push he need to get to the root of his anger and with that, they gave him a few basic training; punching a dummy and through the first couple of tries, Sage got frustrated and wanted to just bust that dummy hard, but Arizona became patient to help him out and once given the chance, Sage finally got it right...and got hit back by the dummy.
The next one is how to gain composure when something sets him off and both Musaki and Arizona know that the little things can immediately get him mad very easily because Sage has a very quick temper and becomes unstoppable and they decided to put that to the test when both of them came up with different ways to set Sage off and once they achieved it, they taught him how to calm himself down so that he wouldn't get too violent.
For Sage, it was proving that trying not to stay mad would be hard for him because he always releases it by fighting and stuff, not knowing that it'll cause him to do things that would nearly get him in trouble. But Arizona and Musaki continued to go on with it and Sage eventually got the hang of it.
And then, all three of them participated in some meditating and Sage wasn't quite sure about this whole meditating because he thinks things like that are boring and are made for old people, but Arizona convinced him to participate and as soon as Sage sat down on the ground, crossed his legs and placed his paws on his side, Musaki told him, "Close your eyes and think deep, peaceful thoughts."
Sage reluctantly closed his eyes and took a deep breath and lets his mind be cleared up and for some reason...it actually worked.
Until...a little flashback from his past triggered him to distract him from gaining some peace in himself and it was him as a little pup and a certain big white wolf comes towards him growling at him and suddenly...
"AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"
Sage opened his eyes and groans frustratedly at this and said, "Why can't this go away?!"
Arizona opened his eyes and sees that Sage is looking completely upset and he said, "What's wrong?"
"Yeah, you were doing great." Musaki added, in concern.
Sage stood up and looks up at them and said, "Look, it's hard to change me, all right?! Everyonbe has tried to do so, but I push them away because they don't really understand what I've been through! Not even you guys!"
"Sage..."
"Just get away from me! I don't want anything else to do with this! I...am...done!" Sage shouted, before running out of the training hall.
Both Musaki and Arizona had no idea what's going on with him and Musaki had a little feeling about why he reacted the way he did and Arizona asked, "What's with him?"
"I looked into his eyes. It's like...he knows something we don't...from his past." Musaki replied.
Does Sage has something in his past that we don't know? You're gonna see the side of Sage you've never seen before coming up? And what did you guys think of Sage's saggy outfit? I thought I would make it more street-ish because he doesn't really care that much about appearances because he's from the streets.