Chapter 21: Training Overload
Six days of intense hand to hand combat training followed by sword and bow training by the earth General left Princess Yona feeling a little more or less like jello. Her arms hurt and her legs felt like they wouldn't move ever again, but she felt invigorated and loved every minute of the training. Hak and Zeno both would enter into her lesson with Geun-tae, sometimes Hak would forget that it was only a training session and would end up fully sparring against the general, which always made both enjoy themselves. Today was one of those days. As Hak ran at Geun-tae, Yona plopped down onto the dirty ground. Sweat dripping down her neck and into her training kasode. Her hair was slick and her muscles were screaming at her to slow down. She suddenly felt something cool be dumped over her head and gasped out in shock. Looking up she found Zeno smiling down at her.
"Miss looked overheated, so Zeno thought he'd cool her down." He said as he placed the cup back into the bucket and sat the bucket down next to her.
"Thanks Zeno." She said with a laugh. Looking out at the two she couldn't help but smile.
"Mister and Earth General are having lots of fun today." Zeno noted as he sat down next to Yona who hummed in agreement. "Zeno wonders when brother Jae-ha will return." He looked up into the clouds sadly.
"Jae-ha will return when he's able to." She said. "He writes monthly. He says that the problem is taking longer to get rid of than he originally thought. He also says that the bad person that's causing the problem is a person of high social standing, so that's causing more problems." She touched her chin before looking at Zeno. "Ouryuu," she saw Zeno freeze at her usage of his title before looking at her with wide eyes. "I want you to go help him."
Zeno's eyes widened even further. "Y-You have a mission for Zeno?" His eyes glistened. He always wanted to do something for her. He thought helping in her training was all he'd be able to do for now, but if she wanted him to help Jae-ha... "I'll do it." He said with a smile.
Yona giggled as she saw the excitement enter Zeno's eyes. He is so excited that he forgot to use his name in that sentence! She waved at him to settle down. "It won't be until after General Geun-tae leaves." She said. "I'd like you to learn a few things from him." She sighed as she saw Hak win again as the earth Generals sword went flying away. Hak needs to learn to cool down. This is suppose to be my training time, not his! She felt herself get annoyed by her best friends antics.
Zeno suddenly heard a noise and grabbed Yona's wrist and quickly hid with her in the weapons shack. "Ah General Lee Geun-tae, this is where you are!" Zeno quickly covered Yona's mouth with his hand when she gasped after stubbing her toe.
Yona felt her heart thud hard in her chest as she recognized the voice in the above balcony to be Su-won, which meant General Ju-do was nearby. Her breath came out heavily. She didn't want her cousin to know about this. She wanted it to be a big surprise when she showed him after she turn eighteen!
"Calm down Miss." Zeno whispered into her ear. She nodded as he pulled his hand away. "Zeno will help keep your secret safe." He looked around the shack and found the door that would lead to a back way of getting her away from the training arena.
Hak sighed in relief as he watched Zeno disappear with Yona into the weapons shack. If he remembered right there was a secret passage that the servants used that would lead back to the sleeping corridors. He just hoped that King Il wasn't awake just yet. Zeno will keep her safe. He thought as he heard his name called out by Su-won. "Yo!" He waved back. "When did you get back?"
Su-won smiled. "Just now." He looked down and saw a wet spot by a bucket of water and smiled. "Working hard as always Hak?"
"Yep." He looked to his side and saw Geun-tae taking off and chuckled. "Still haven't found anybody to keep up with me."
Su-won laughed. "That's why you're the Thunder Beast, Kouka's strongest fighter."
"Yeah, yeah." He brushed that off. "Surprised you haven't gone to visit Princess Yona yet." He said this as he jumped onto a barrel and climbed up to the balcony. Su-won held out a hand to help Hak up. Hak sat on the stone rail and looked beyond Su-won to find Ju-do there. "Yo old man."
Su-won laughed quietly at Ju-do's annoyed look. "Punk." Ju-do approached but was stopped by a look from Su-won.
"Actually I was already at Yona's corridors but she must still be asleep because she didn't answer." Su-won stated sadly. "Perhaps she'll be up by now." He suddenly clapped his hands together. "I know! We'll both go check up on her." He took Hak's hand and began pulling him behind.
"Oi, Oi!" Hak protested as he was pulled behind the young lord.
Can't be helped I suppose. He thought. Su-won's always been the kind to do this sort of thing. He smiled as he pulled his hand away from Su-won and began running passed him. "Then let's make it a fair race." He winked at Su-won before running off causing the young man beside him to laugh as they rushed off.
Su-won... Ju-do groaned as he watched the two practically grown young men run off. Why must things be this way? It'll only be harder when it occurs. He sighed as he slowly made his way towards the direction the two had gone in.
Yona sighed as she finished scrubbing her arms and legs with the cool water that Zeno had drawn up for her. She no longer felt sticky with sweat, instead she felt rejuvenated and ready for the day. Walking over to her wardrobe she began to decide what she was going to wear when she heard the giggles of her maidservants. The women entered the room and quickly began ushering her around. From picking out a blue and pink kimono to the jewelry she should wear around her neck. She gave a shake of her head at one thing or another. She really didn't feel like wearing any jewelry; instead she opted for pulling her hair up on to the top of her head and used a clip to keep it in place. I really hate my hair. She thought dryly as she watched the girls figure out what the best way to keep the hair up was. Once they were done she placed a golden decorative pin in her hair that Zeno and Hak had given her for her last birthday. It was blue flowers with a tiny golden dragon on it. She loved it because it was something precious from her friends. Turning towards the doors to her room that led into the main room she slipped on her slippers and walked out just as Hak and Su-won rushed into the room.
"Huh?" She questioned as she noticed that they were out of breath. Looking at Zeno she saw that he held a smile on his face.
"Mister and Young Lord had a race this morning." He explained causing Yona to roll her eyes at their antics. "Looked like fun too!" Zeno laughed as both young men smiled.
"Yona." Su-won spoke her name with an air of love and respect. "Allow us to escort you to breakfast."
"Yes, do let us." Hak said with a teasing tone.
Giggling at Hak's attempt to begin teasing her Yona nodded. "Alright." She said as Su-won held out a hand and took hers in his own and led her away with Hak and Zeno following behind.
"That was a close call." Hak said quietly to Zeno when he saw Su-won strike up a conversation with Princess Yona. Zeno gave a nod. "Good job at getting her back here without nobody seeing her." Hak frowned. "That's two close calls in the last two weeks. I think after The Earth General leaves we should do her training in intervals."
"Huh?" Zeno questioned not quite understanding.
"I mean we should take turns in training and keeping watch. Also I think it would be a good idea to not do it every day." He looked back towards the two ahead of them. "She's exhausted. I can tell that these new training techniques are making her very tired. She needs to take a day off in between training days."
Zeno nodded. "It's true, the Miss has been exhibiting some tiredness during the day and even now I can see she's tired." Zeno sighed. "Zeno will be going on a trip soon, so you'll have to be in charge of her training from now on."
Hak's eyes widened as he turned his head towards Zeno. "What?" He questioned. "Where are you going?"
"To find brother Jae-ha and see if Zeno can help him with whatever his problem is." Zeno touched his chin. "Last time we saw him was two years ago. He said he was helping a village in the earth tribe, but he never returned. Miss needs him near her and I know she'd never force him to return but Zeno thinks she's worried about him and that's why she's sending Zeno to go help him."
Hak stayed quiet for a moment as he continued to walk behind the two royals and smirked. That sounds like her. He thought. Worried about somebody else. "Then I wish you luck Zeno." He smiled a catshire smile. "I'll make sure that by the time you return, she'll be stronger." His eyes shined with pride. "She's already surpassed what I thought she was capable of. I can't wait to see what other surprises I can bring out of her."
Zeno smiled at Hak's enthusiasm. "Yes. The Miss certainly has been a surprise." He gave a nod as they entered the dinning area and found their breakfast already spread out on the table ready for them.
Green hair blew in the breeze as it was teased by the wind. Jae-ha scanned the surrounding area where their ship was docked. Men were running around placing boxes on the ship, while others were training near the caves. He was up in the crows nest keeping watch, he sat on the rail that wrapped around the crows nest easily keeping his balance. Below him he saw his wonderfully fearless captain, her silvery locks being teased by the sea breeze. She was as deadly as she was fearless, a wonderful combination in his eyes. Kinda made him wish she was his master instead of that child Princess he'd left in Kuuto. He shook his head as an image of Yona appeared in his mind. She'd been twelve years old when he saw he last and couldn't imagine her having changed much in two years.
Sighing, he decided to do his rounds. So silently standing up he jumped high into the sky and headed towards the nearby sea village of Awa. As he passed trees and cliffs his eyes came to rest upon the town below him. It looked beautiful and it should. The suns rays spread across the horizon etched out a spataculer image of the village with the sea green color of the ocean meshing with the reds, orange and golden colors that were sprayed across the homes and businesses; however hidden behind the beauty was a darkness that was strangling out the life and souls of the people here and this was the reason he had come. Yang Kum-ji was a minor lord and because of that had a very small area that he was allowed to rule over; however, as Jae-ha had found out, the entire area that he ruled was covered in corruption, kidknappings, murders, and drug smugglers. He a joined the locals in their fight against the man. The pirates were nothing more than local fisherman who had gotten tired of the corruption, had family members go missing or had been victims of the drug smugglers.
He found out quickly that land attacks were so much easier than the attacks and battles they had on the water. The first few water battles he had overshot his target and ended up in the water. Of course he'd been laughed and made a joke to make things seem better than they were but brushing things like that off was annoying and he made sure to do it better the next time. Captain Gigan was very patient with him but even she had a level at which her patience could run out and it had with him, several times. He hated that every time he'd do something stupid he'd have a dozen daggers to dodge away from. She knew where to hit him too and seemed to always throw her weapons towards his dragon leg. It was annoying, thrilling and made his blood rush. An exhilarating feeling that he liked to feel, but knew better than to test his beloved captains patience.
Landing on a darkened rooftop, he slunk down into the alley and began his recognizance within the village. Knowing exactly where to go for information he made a beeline for the red district buildings. The tea house that he usually went to for information was buzzing with customers. Off duty officers and Awa officials talking loudly, groping the women inside and getting drunk on something other than tea. Smirking he walked inside just as the sun final set of the day bringing complete darkness to Port Awa.
Yona groaned as she fell back onto her butt and once again had the pointed end of a spear in her face. The green haired man Shuten was chuckling at her failed attempt at keeping his weapon at bay. On the sidelines both Abi and Guen were sitting next to a still sleeping Zeno. She had asked before beginning her training regimen why Zeno wasn't ever awake when she was training with them they'd just laughed and stated it was because he still hadn't seen them yet. "Until he dies, he can't see us." Abi explained. It was kind of sad because Zeno being immortal meant he'd never die which meant he'd never see his brothers. It made Yona sad, but that sadness was bittersweet because at the same time she never wanted Zeno to leave her side.
Standing back up Yona picked up her short spear and went back into position. Hak never taught her how to use a spear in her training sessions with him, instead he focused on swords and bows for her. Shuten said that that was good and all but sometimes during an intense battle she could loose her weapon and what if the only thing that was closest to her was a spear and she had no idea how to block with it or throw it or use it as she would use a sword? What would happen then? She shivered to think.
The first generation Ryokuryuu smiled as he watched the beaten and bruised fourteen year old girl stand up once again. Her legs at first seemed unsteady before she steeled herself and prepared her weapon. He looked over at his brothers who were now smiling as they saw what he'd only just spotted. Her eyes. They were glowing with balls of fire in them, just like Hiryuu's had just before a battle. Truly, she was his reincarnation.
Turning to face her, he charged at full speed. She dodged. Her feet slid across the dirt. He then jumped into the air and brought down his spear to slice her. She dodged again causing his spear to imbed itself into the stone and dirt ground. Giving out a war cry he pulled his weapon out and was about to charge again when his feet were knock out from under him, his weapon flew off to the side as his head hit the ground hard. Yona slammed her spear next to his face causing Shiten to flinch before his eyes widen as those fiery eyes stared down at him. He felt his breath being stolen as her ruby red hair blew around her. She was...breathtaking.
Shuten then smiled. "I think this is just starting to get interesting." He stated as heard footsteps quickening towards them. "Let's up this and see how you'll do against two."
Yona turned her head and spotted Abi jumping towards her with his sword drawn. Grabbing her imbedded spear from the ground she jumped to the side and dodged his attack as Shuten dusted himself off and made a grab for his weapon. Having seen what the green haired man was going for before he'd even made the first steps to run for it, Yona dashed ahead of him and grabbed the fallen spear that had a look more towards Hak's quandao glaive only shorter. She figured fighting with two spears couldn't be any different than fighting with two swords, but she was a bit wrong in her assumption, but she learned quickly how the maneuver with both weapons and how to dodge Shuten's kicks and Abi's sword thrusts. When Abi brought his sword down, she stopped the attack with one spear blade and thrust the other out at him, he barely dodged it. As he dodged, Shuten went to kick her. She bent her back backwards and brought weapon up causing him to kick the pole and snap it in half. Luckily she had the blade end in her hand still, unfortunately he had the pole now in his and even without a blade it could still be used as a weapon.
Yona panted as she suddenly felt weakness being pushed into her being. She lost her grip into her weapons and fell to the ground as her legs gave out.
"YONA!" All three men cried out from their positions and ran towards the fallen Princess.
M-Angel: Another cliffhanger has occurred. LoL! Hmm...guess she's overdoing it. I missed Jae-ha, that's why he made an appearance in it.