Master Shujinko led Yukan out of the city and up to the top of a mountain for his next training. It took them half a day before reaching their destination. Once they arrived, the sun parrot immediately sat down on a rock and panted, removing his jacket to get some air. "Why did we have to get so far, Master? Couldn't we have done this into the basement training room or something?"
"The training I have planned for you is a special one where you will have to avoid any form of distraction," the old frog explained as he opened his backpack and started taking out the equipment to prepare some tea. "It would be a bit hard to do in a place like a city. This is why we've come here in the mountains. You know that monks usually come and even live in here to find calm and tranquility?"
"... Yeah, I guess it makes sense," Yukan admitted. "So? Can we start this training?"
"Sure... but before, let's have a cup of tea."
Yukan fell on his face. Of course, he should have figured his master would want to drink tea before doing anything else. He went to kneel down before the old frog and took the cup of tea he offered him, taking a good sip from it. It was good. Oolong tea. After taking his first two sips, Shujinko started talking again.
"Have you ever heard about the main elements and the secondary elements attached to them?"
"Well, I did have a friend who had fire powers like me. However, he possessed a secondary element called combustion. That's the only secondary element that I know of."
"So you don't know about the other secondary elements of fire?"
"Well, fire and pretty much all the other elements. Except ice."
"I see," Shujinko said with nodding before finishing his cup of tea and started filling it again. "Fire is the element of power: the fire users have a thirst for power and the ambition to achieve their goals. They are fueled by will and anger. Water is the element of adaptation: water users can go along with the flow of life with little to no problem and have a strong sense of unity."
"Earth is the element of substance: the earth users are strong, enduring and diversified. And finally, air is the element of freedom: air users have a free spirit and open mind. They learn to not get attached to material bonds and follow their own path without minding the outside world."
Yukan could not exactly understand where his master was going with all of this. "Why are you telling me all this, Master?"
"A wise man once said that it is important to take inspiration from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it ends up becoming rigid and stale. As a matter a fact, most secondary elements were created by taking inspiration from the other three elements. And today, I'll try to make you learn a secondary fire element."
"Really?" Yukan asked with a sudden expression of interest. "What is it?"
"Lightning."
Yukan's emerald eyes widened. "L-Lightning?"
Shujinko nodded. "Lightning is the closest energy to fire in terms of similarities. It is precise and deadly, but is not fueled by anger or will the way fire is. If you want to use lightning, you must have a peaceful mind and a great focus."
Yukan nodded. "If that's the case, I think I'll have another cup of tea." The old frog smiled at this and gladly served his student again.
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After they were done with their tea, Yukan and Shujinko walked to the edge of the mountain to start practicing. "As I said, fire and lightning are similar but different energies. Only a few fire users can differentiate them." The old frog then rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "I wish I could tell you more, but unfortunately, I am no fire user."
"So you cannot tell me anything else that could be useful?" Yukan asked.
"Well, I can tell you this: try to close your eyes and picture a white energy and a black energy, like Yin and Yang. Try giving one of these energies to your fire and the other to lightning... and release this last one with your wings. Understood?"
"I... think." Taking a deep breath, Yukan turned toward the empty air. He closed his emerald eyes and focused. Picturing a black and white energy. Like Yin and Yang. He decided to give the white energy to his fire and focused on the black energy. He pictured this black energy moving from his chest up to his wing and... shot!
But nothing came out of his wing.
"Looks like you'll need some practice, my student," Shujinko said. "Keep practicing; I'm gonna make us some dinner."
Three hours later, the sun started setting down at the horizon and Yukan had done nothing but practicing during all that time. However, no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't manage to produce lightning with his wings.
"God dammit!" the sun parrot swore, finally getting tired and throwing his wings in the air. "Why it doesn't work?! Why can't I produce the slightest bit of lightning?!"
"Maybe it is because your mind is not in a peaceful state," Shujinko remarked from the rock on the sidelines. "Is there something troubling you, Yukan?"
The sun parrot looked at his master for a moment. Could he... No, he shouldn't mention it. This would only cause him trouble and he promised to leave this behind. "N-No, I'm perfectly fine, Master."
The old frog sighed sadly and pulled his tea cup down to go walk over to his student. "Then maybe we need to try a different secondary element. This one is not as strong, but is just as useful. Acid."
"You can teach me to master acid?"
Shujinko nodded. "If you let the flow of energy inside your body flow down into your stomach and mix with your fire energy, it is possible to give it a liquid shape and spit it out by your mouth."
"Really?"
"Yes. Your stomach is a vast ocean of energy." Shujinko then smiled. "Except that in my case, it's more like a vast ocean of tea." He laughed at his joke.
"Alright. I'll try it. Acid." Yukan closed his eyes and tried to focus on his fire energy, redirecting it toward his stomach. Once it was done, he pulled it up and spat... saliva. He started feeling anger taking over his heart because of this new failure.
Why did he fail? He couldn't allow himself to lose a single day with failures! The third phase was in two weeks! He needed to win new techniques and IMMEDIATELY! If he lost any time, he would never-
Yukan shot his eyes open and started breathing faster. No. Not that feeling again. He couldn't let it take over and cause harm again. The sun parrot looked at his right wing and it shook a bit.
"What's wrong, Yukan?" Yukan looked up to see Shujinko staring at him with concern.
"... We... We shouldn't have done this, Master. Let's go back to the Dojo before it gets dark."
The old frog was surprised to hear his student saying this. "You wanna leave? But we barely started your training. Don't you want a chance to win the tournament?"
"I'll try to make it with what I know. Let's go now."
Author's note: This training chapter was inspired by the episode "Bitter Work" from Avatar The Last Airbender. The quote: "It is important to take inspiration from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it ends up becoming rigid and stale," is from Uncle Iroh. So much wisdom :)
I'm sorry if you guys were expecting a Dragon Ball or Naruto-styled training arc before the next phase, but it won't happen. Even after so many chapters, we still don't know that much about Yukan's backstory, but I can assure you he has his reasons.
Keep sending reviews on how I can get better as it keeps me motivated. As always, may the gods watch over you all.