First Challenge: River Guardian
I walked to the field were the old woman was working. "Excuse me." I said to her.
"Go away!" She called back. She threw a turnip at me with amazing speed and power. Although I was surprised by the act, I did easily catch the plant as it came toward me.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but I've come to train with the True Master." I said, still holding the turnip.
"Of coarse you are. The only people who come to this village want to train with the True Master." She stood up and started walking toward me. "But the True Master will not train you."
"I have to train with him, my future in my culture depends on it." I said.
"If you are so serious about making it up this mountain, then come with me." She said. She lead me back to a small hut and handed me a white karate-like robe. "The True Master will not train you in your new world clothes, you must ware the outfit of our culture."
I took the robe and went into a different room. I unfolded the robe and looked down on it. White belt. I far surpassed white belt. I'm higher skilled than the most skilled black belt. I thought as I changed into it. I came back out and found the old woman going through my stuff! "Hey, what are you doing?" I asked.
"I will keep hold of these until you come back down from the mountain. Since the True Master will not train you with your weapons." She said.
I snorted a little. "Fine." I said.
"Come, I will show you where the path begins." She went out the door and across her field to the edge of a bridge. "To reach the True Master, you must make it to the top of the mountain before the sun sets." She said, and started walking away. "Good luck."
I stepped on the bridge and walked till I came to the place where the bridge fell away into the river. I knew I had no grapple hook or any thing along the lines, which meant I would have to swim across. But as I was about to step into the water, I heard a deep voice behind me. "Are you sure you wish to do that? The current is strong and the water cold." I looked behind me and saw a large brown bear wearing chest armor tied around him with a red belt and the symbol of the river engraved on it.
"Did you just talk?" I asked.
"There is no one else here. Doesn't that mean I was the one who spoke?" The bear said. "I am the Guardian of the River. If you wish to cross and proceed to find the True Master, you must defeat me."
I smirked. "I will defeat you." I said. I charged at the bear, jumped and delivered a powerful kick to the chest. But the bear easily blocked and with a swipe of his arm, knocked me into the wooden railing of the bridge. The wood gave as if it were made of toothpicks.
"Are you so certain?" He said. He swung his arm down toward me, but I jumped to the left and dodged his claws. I punched him hard in the side, but he hardly seemed to notice. He backhanded me in the face and I was thrown back. Just as I was getting back on my feet, he put his claws together and charged at me. "Claws of the Iron Bear!" He cried and struck me dead in the chest.
Getting hit like that was like getting hit by a train. I was tossed back like a rag doll. Once I hit the ground I didn't move for a while. I crawled back to my feet and stared at the bear. "I will not be defeated so easily and so early in my quest. I will make it up that mountain." I said. I raced toward the bear and when I got close enough, I jumped over the great bear and struck him in the back of the head with my foot.
He turned to attack me, but I once again jumped over him. Once behind him, I placed my hands together the same way he did and thrust them forward, "Claws of the Iron Bear!" I cried as I hit him in the small of his back.
The power of that attack was amazing. From that one hit, the bear was thrown over the length of the bridge and into the river. Keep in mind that the river was close to thirty feet away from where we stood.
The bear stood up out of the water and said, "You may proceed. But I warn you, once you cross the river you cannot return." He then swam away. A bridge suddenly raised from the river link the two shorelines.
"Remember my name. Slade, Masked warrior. Soon to be the best Masked ever." I called after the bear. I then crossed the river.