Fourth today! Thanks to Max Waspace for the story suggestion. and as usual thanks to Mr. CBear56 for proofreading.

"Congratulations Marshall, you have earned your brown belt!" Sensei Yumi announced. The pups cheered and congratulated him.

"Thank you, Sensei." Marshall said. They bowed to each other.

"So, have you thought of taking on a student of your own?" Sensei Yumi asked.

"Not really, I mean, who would I teach?" Marshall asked.

"Silvia might be interested." Sensei Yumi suggested.

"Um, no." Sylvia suddenly said. Everyone whipped around to see Sylvia watching from outside. "There is obviously a better choice. I'd say it, but I think everyone wants you to figure it out yourself."

"Sylvia!" Chase yelled.

"I rest my case." Sylvia replied before leaving.

"I see... well... Let's see. Oh! It's obvious! Everest!" Marshall yelled. He bowed once more and took off.

"Unless there is an emergency, I doubt we will see him again today." Chase mused.

"Don't tell him this, but his skill is of a black belt. I want him to train a bit more before I put him through the final tests, if only to see if he can go above and beyond." Sensei Yumi told the pups. Suddenly Marshall came back in.

"Um... I don't have a dojo of my own..." Marshall murmured.

"Oh! Just bring her here. You can use this dojo for now." Sensei Yumi told him.

Later, Everest and Marshall were at the dojo. Sensei Yumi stood off to the side in case Marshall needed help.

"Welcome pupil," Marshall said before bowing. Everest gave him a look before bowing as well.

"So when does sparring start?" Everest asked. Marshall gave a short laugh.

"Exercises first, then stances. I would do what Sensei Yumi did our first time but I am the only other one here and I would rather not hurt you." Marshall replied.

"I know you know restraint, Marshall." Sensei Yumi replied.

"I was actually talking about hurt pride." Marshall told her.

"Wow! Well too late for that." Everest muttered. Marshall blushed.

"Are you saying you want try sparring with me? At least for warm-up?" Marshall asked.

"Sure, why not? I've beaten you before." Everest said before taking a swipe at him. He dodged effortlessly. She blinked in surprise.

"I wasn't in the zone then. I doubt you will even touch me I'm afraid." Marshall replied. Everest tried couple more swipes, to no success.

"How are you moving so fast?" Everest questioned. She began flailing, desparately trying to land a hit.

"Okay, Chase could have dodged those. Calm down. Flailing isn't going to help you; it will just tire you out." Marshall said. Everest continued flailing. Marshall sighed. He carefully put a paw out and stopped Everest in her tracks. Everest's eyes widened.

"What?" She asked weakly.

"Ready for the lesson?" Marshall asked.

"I... yeah. I guess." Everest replied. She calmed down. "Sorry about that."

"No, I had a feeling that would happen. Lesson one is breathing exercises." Marshall told her. "Breathe slowly, control your breathing, relax." Everest did so.

"Oh wow, that feels much better." Everest admitted.

"Staying calm is extremely important. You must stay focused and breathing helps one focus." Marshall explained. "We probably won't get to the actual martial arts today."

"That's fine... but then what are we going to do?" Everest asked.

"Reaction time. Sensei, do you have that buzzer light thing?" Sensei Yumi smiled.

"Good idea Marshall, I'll go get it." She said.

"While she gets that, you need to keep practicing your breathing." Marshall said. Everest did so, and soon Sensei Yumi returned with an odd device. "Okay Everest, when the light turns green, hit the button. If you take too long, a buzzer will go off. It is currently set to..."

"3 seconds." Sensei Yumi said.

"A bit of a lenient start but we have to start somewhere." Marshall said. Everest began doing as she was told and lasted until the one and a half second mark.

"Darn it!" Everest yelled.

"Not bad." Marshall said.

"What was your first time?" Everest asked.

"No idea. We never used this during our lessons." Marshall replied. "Our first day was just breathing exercises. We have more time to work so I added the reaction time test." Marshall said.

"Oh... Starting out definately takes a while, then." Everest quipped. "Do we have time still? I would like to give this a few more tries." Marshall looked at Sensei Yumi, who nodded.

"Yeah, we've got time." Marshall replied. "We'll start it at 1.75 seconds." Everest tried and was surprised to hear the buzzer again." What? I did that one three times, no problem!"

"Remember to breathe, if you don't relax you won't have as good of times." Marshall reminded her. "Focus... relax." Everest did so. The light turned green and Everest paw shot out, hitting the button in less than a second. Both Marshall and Sensei Yumi's eyes widened.

"Yes! I got it!" Everest yelled.

"Ok, I'm going to turn it down some now." Marshall said before moving the timer to half a second. "Please do that again. Remember, breathe, focus." Marshall continued before holding his own breath. Once again, she beat the buzzer.

"Yes! I improved!" Everest yelled. Marshall let out a sigh of relief.

"I'll say. That was set to half a second. Your reaction time improved by a whole second. At this rate, you might catch up to the others pretty quickly.

"Hah! I might even beat you." Everest said somewhat jokingly.

"I'm afraid that can't happen." Sensei Yumi told her. "As his student, he doesn't have the right to raise your rank above his."

"That's fine. So Sensei Marshall, are we going to move on?" Everest asked. Marshall blushed at the title.

"Actually. I think that'll do it for today. Remember to keep practicing. We'll have another lesson next week, as long as it is okay with my sensei. It is her dojo after all. Marshall said.

"You are always welcome." Sensei Yumi said before bowing. Marshall bowed to her before turning to Everest.

"One more thing. We always bow at the beginning and end of lessons." Marshall said before bowing. Everest did the same.

"Thank you Marshall. That was suprisingly fun!" Everest said.

"Glad you enjoyed it. You know, I don't know if I've actually said this in awhile, but I love you Everest." Marshall said.

"Love ya too, Marshall." Everest replied.

Well, this should cover for awhile. Glad to have gotten these out of the way. four more stories to make up for a six month absence. I hope you enjoy.