Chapter 9: The Training
The bright sun has risen for another peaceful day. The news about what has happened last night on Prison Island has not reached the peaceful city of Station Square. Not yet. To wake up the citizens of this metropolis, the palace raccoon have rang the bell which it was located in the arena of the Jade Tower. It was so loud that even towns nearby can hear it. It was also loud enough for a certain few to notice it.
In the hallway where the bedrooms are located, Master Espio has risen from his sleep earlier and was waiting at the end of the corridor for his student to do their early inspection. The second the bell rings, the Five bursts out of their room and stands outside of their door. They were all dressed and wide awake, ready for their day.
"Good morning, Master!" they all announce simultaneously. Only five students were accounted for. There was one person missing. Espio looks at the closed door across from Amy's room. For the Dragon Warrior, he sure is a heavy sleeper. Not what Espio really was expecting from the world's only hope.
"Hedgehog!" he called out. No reply. "Hedgehog!" Still no reply.
Couldn't wait any longer; Espio grumpily walks up to the closed door. "WAKE UP!" he cried out; swing it open. He took a second to observe the room to find out the room itself has been untouched. Espio chuckles at it. He can only come to one answer.
"He's quit."
With the weight on his shoulders gone & out of his life and has a little bit of more energy in his step, the satisfied chameleon leads his students to the training courtyard where they do their daily workout. As they approached the courtyard, Amy looks equally pleased with the result. Looks like her warning to the overweight hedgehog has made him skedaddle out of here. Kate, on the other hand, has one thing sparling on the top of her mind. Luckily, she was right behind her master to ask him.
"So, what do we do now, Master? With the blue hedgehog gone, who will be the Dragon Warrior?" she asked. Espio turns to face not only her but the others as well with a simply conclusion.
"Right now, all we do is to resume out training," he answered as they all approached the main door. "And hopefully in time, the true Dragon Warrior will finally be revealed."
He opens up the doors to witness the horror that has entered the grounds of his home.
The weight on his shoulders has returned. And he was struggling to practise with two training horses. The Five and the master were appalled by the visual of Sonic's butt facing towards them. Especially for the chameleon who nonetheless too pleased to see the hedgehog again on his grounds and Amy for who had her hope of being the Chosen One.
"What the HELL are you doing here?!" Espio barked.
With his legs spread apart, Sonic was startled by his presence. He looks over his shoulder to see not only Espio but the Five as well who are all staring at him.
"Hey! Oh,… hi. Good morning, Master!" he politely saluted to them and goes back to his stretching. "I just, you know, I'd warm up a little." He tries to lift his left leg up a bit but fails to do so.
Espio deadpanned. "You're stuck."
Oh great, he knows. Better cover it up. Sonic quickly puts on façade as they others entered the courtyard. "Stuck?! Nah. What do ya me? I'm not stuck. Pfft. Actually, this is one m—" but he slumps over; knowing Espio can see right through his game. "Yeah, I'm stuck."
Espio looks at Knuckles. "Help him."
The echidna can't help but be annoyed that he was forced to help the fat hedgehog. But he had to do it by his master's orders. "Oh boy," he mumbled.
Knuckles approached on one of Sonic's side and placed his gloved hand under his feet. "Ready on three. One, Two—"
But Knuckles beats him to it by lifting his hand and using his strength, he flips the hedgehog over to the other side and Sonic flops onto his back. "…three!" he squeaked. He quickly gets back up to his feet. He looks over to Knuckles who had his arms crossed over.
"Thank you," Sonic acknowledges him.
The echidna shrugs his shoulders. "Don't mention it."
But the hedgehog pressed on. "No really, I appreci—"
But the echidna puts his hand up and returns to the group. "Ever." The hedgehog falls silent but the quietness was replaced with Espio's mocking laugh.
"You actually thought you could learn to do a full spilt in one night?" he asked before taking two boards and flings them high in the air as Amy steps forward. "It takes years to develop one's flexibility!" Sonic watches the boards go up and look back to the others to witness Amy showcasing her talents. The hedgehog couldn't believe what he was going to see. He cannot miss one bit of this!
Espio pressed on. "And years longer…" as soon as he snaps his fingers, Amy leaps high with Sonic observing the moment. "…to apply it in combat!"
Amy does a high twirl jump in the air before executing a perfect spilt kick. Sonic was simply awestruck by this. Good thing he did not blink. A second later, Amy lands gracefully on the ground. She glares at Sonic and returns to Espio's side. The broken chunks of the board all rained down on the stunned hedgehog while he mouthed "wow". A larger piece bounces on his head and falls beside him. Without looking, Sonic sneakily bends his knees, picks up the splintered board and hides it behind his back. Unfortunately, Espio notices him taking it.
"Put that down!" the chameleon snaps at him before stepping forward. "The only souvenirs we collect here are bloody knuckles and broken bones."
Tossing away the stone away, Sonic was hoping to get those souvenirs. "Yeah!" he cheered before saluting again. "Excellent!
Espio cracks a smile. He knows that Sonic is not going to enjoy this one bit. "Let's get started." He snaps his fingers again. The Furious Five and Espio are all lined up in the courtyard. Kate offers to go first as she and Sonic face off against each other.
"Are you ready?" the Dradian asked; taking a fighting stance.
"Are you kidding? I was born ready—"
But Sonic didn't have to finish when Kate does a sweep kick; causing Sonic to spin a foot off the ground, and kicks him up high in the air. She then does a high forward flip and axe kicks the hedgehog down; causing him to land on his head. Sonic hisses out a few painful groans as Kate lands elegantly afterwards and kneels down to face the hedgehog.
"I'm sorry, my brother," she apologize. "But I thought you said you were ready."
While in pain, the hedgehog had one thing to say. "That…was…AWESOME!" he said. "Let's go again."
He salutes for third time. Surprised that he's pressing on, Kate looks over to her master and boy, does he looked mad. Espio snaps his fingers again and this time, it was Knuckles' turn. Using his pole, he twirls it around. He lunges at Sonic who has a staff as well. Knuckles does a few hits and swings at the hedgehog; each whacking the hedgehog in different parts of his body. Except for one which hits only his staff.
"Whoa…" he gasped; finally able to block an attack which it was followed by a hit on the head. The hedgehog falls down due to the impact.
Round 3 was in the training arena with Tails on the Turtle Shell. Before even of them face off, Sonic loses his balance and falls in the bowl. Tails manages to fly off the shell before Sonic was tossed around like a sack of soup. Tails looks at his master who was more irritated than before. He snaps his fingers for the third time and the next match was in the courtyard as the sun sets. This time, Sonic finds himself getting knock around by an invisible opponent who is hammering his face every time he meets the ground.
Sonic's opponent turns out to be Chip who lands the finishing blow before he wins the match. Flat on his back, the hedgehog was down. Espio smiles at this outcome as Chip returns to the others. Although he is beaten up, Sonic stilled had the strength to lift his arms up… and salute. He was not finish yet. This has made Espio up to his limit.
"I've been taking it easy on you, hedgehog. But no more!" he sneered. He then puts on smile. "Your next opponent…will be me."
Sonic sits up straight; ready for another challenge. Against the master. "Alright! Yeah, bring it!"
The Furious Five excerpt for Amy all exchanged worried look as Sonic and Espio faces off. They know this is not going to end well.
Espio approaches the hedgehog. "Step forth."
Just before Sonic did what he was told, Espio beats him to it as he whirls him around with no effort. "The true path to victory is to find your opponent's weakness," he ends up throwing Sonic to the ground, grabbed his left arm and pins it behind him. He also made it more painful by grabbing Sonic's right ear and pulling it back, "and make him suffer for it."
The hedgehog was both delighted but in agony to get beaten up by his master. Not to mention being lectured as well. "Oh ho, yeah!" he said, tapping his free hand.
"To take his strength," Espio throws him around, "and use it against him." He throws Sonic onto his feet before delivering a multiple of kicks in the chin and round kick him to the floor. "Until he finally falls," Espio grab his foot and throws him again on the floor. He climbs on his back and grabs Sonic by the nose and pulls him up, "or quits."
During the brawl, Sonic was totally inspired by all this despite getting more bruises than before. "But a real warrior never quits," he nasally said. "Don't worry, Master, I will NEVER QUIT!"
This actually brings Espio to his breaking point. He flings the stubborn hedgehog into the air. Just before Sonic meets the floor again, Espio leaps at him and does a flying kick. This sends Sonic crashing through the gates and ends up tumbling down the stairs. A few seconds later, the Five walked outside to witness his fall.
Amy was the first to break the silence. "If he has any brains, he won't come back up those steps."
Knuckles had his arm crossed over. He turned to face Amy. "But he will."
The pink hedgehog scoffs as she walks back inside. The others stayed behind. They all feel bad for Sonic. They all know that no matter how hard Espio throws at him, he will always come back up.
"He's not going to quit, is he?" Kate wonders.
"Well, he's not gonna quit bouncin', I'll tell ya that," Chip pointed out before he started to laugh. But Kate lifted her hand up; silencing the little creature. He has already suffered at the hands of the Dradian, he does not want to do it again. Sonic's yells were still loud in the distance as he continues to tumble down the stairs. It wouldn't be too long until he has hit rock bottom.
Author's Notes: Hey. Another week gone, another chapter done. We are nearly after way there in this FanFic and sometimes I wish I was almost done :(
First off, I was going to do Espio's origins in this chapter but due to my grandparents down here for the week, I didn't have time. But I did manage to get a start on it. If you guys look at my profile, you would know when the next chapter will be uploaded.
Next piece of news, the announcement of the new show Sonic Boom and the game based on the show. I'm sure you guys have already seen what our heroes are gonna look like in the show. Let's just hope that it doesn't change the game series but I'm sure it doesn't. Other than that, it looks really interesting.
Also, the internet has been out for a few days which kinda halted my way of getting inspirations for my FanFics. Also, I feel like I was going to miss another episode of TMNT 2012. I head this week's episode is a good one. Can't wait!
Alright, you guys know what to do. Review it, comment it, favourite it, flame it (DON'T flame it!) and PM me! I hope you guys like the new instalment of KFH!
Until we meet again,
TheDragonLord2912
I do not own any Kung Fu Panda or Sonic related characters. They are property of Dreamworks and Sega. Other character who appeared in this FanFic belong to me.