Lanying swiftly breaks away from the eyepiece of the telescope once Audrey unexpectedly vanishes from within her visible sights.
She nimbly dashes toward the sandy shore of the river and critically searches the waters for her pupil.
'I know you can handle this…just give me a sign.' The purple haired woman inwardly prays when she suddenly hears someone desperately gasps for air nearby.
The charcoal eyed woman swiftly rotates her head left and right until she eventually spots the dirty blonde on her back with her arms and legs stretch outward.
Lanying carefully studies the scene in front of her as her pupil's chest repeatedly heaves up and down. The teen continuously attempts to catch her breath while the really heavy tire sits off to her right.
She quickly kneeled next to her pupil with concern present on her face while she examined her body to see if she acquired any injuries during her swim.
There were visible nicks and scratches across her knees, thighs, ankles, and feet. The purple haired woman assumed it was the result from when she physically dragged herself from out of the water.
"Did I do it?" A breathless dirty blonde hopefully inquires as she gingerly rotates her head toward her teacher to see a smile of satisfaction across her face.
"Congratulates Audrey, you've successfully completed the challenge!" The charcoal gray eyed woman cheerfully congratulates her with the same smile from earlier.
Lanying speedily yet gently unties the rope from around her waist.
A similar grin materializes on her face after she overhears the good news from her teacher when she mentions, "It was a piece of cake."
She idly returns to her original height, hastily wraps the rope around her elbow, and simply discloses to the dirty blonde, "Now here is where your real training begins."
The teen gradually raises her torso upward once she slowly regains her strength and clumsily props herself up with her hands.
"When do we start?" Audrey inquisitively poses to her mentor as she turns her sight on to her teacher.
'She's really eager to start.' The charcoal gray eyed woman mentally considers.
Lanying promptly develops the sense that the dirty blonde was really quite sincere with her speech.
"As soon as you regain your strength," She supplies an answer before she bends down, scoops up the tire with one arm, and heads over to her small house.
The green eyed teen promptly collapsed back on to the sandy shore since her strength abruptly failed her.
Audrey's thoughts soon turns to her companion and her progression to find her purpose in her life. 'I wonder has she successfully made it through her challenge yet.'
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Hiromi attempts to stifle a sneeze that tickles her nose as the wooden plank dangerously wobbles due to her sudden movement.
'Balance, balance, balance…it is all about balance Hiromi.' Her inner consciousness reminds her after it witnesses the abrupt movement from the plank.
The brunette deeply inhales as a mean to calm her nerves and to readjust her focus so that she can properly rebalance herself.
Meifeng eventually emerges from within the wooden shrine with a hand Tanto drum and a mallet in the other hand.
She promptly belts out a heavenly tone along with a rhythmically beat of the mallet against the surface of the drum.
Once again, the wooden plank starts to teeter from the distraction by her mentor.
The silver haired woman thrn purposely circles underneath the base of the tallest bamboo.
'Concentrate…concentrate,' Her consciousness once again adamantly reminds her when her body suddenly feels the change underneath her.
'I'm going to get pass this challenge so I can start my journey.' The ruby eyed teen firmly solidifies her resolve to fulfill the challenge requirements.
The grey eyed woman pops one eye open while she proceeds with her distractions to throw Hiromi's balance off so she would fail the challenge.
Meifeng watches as gusts of wind seems to whip around the brunette girl's body in her meditative position.
'I knew she would pass this simple test.' She mentally asserts her pupil's ability to rise to the task.
"You can come on down now." The silver haired woman voices as she adjusts the drum so that it rests off to the side of her waist. She then adds, "You pass the test with flying colors."
"Really?" The brunette was happily quipping prior to gravity finally working against her as she was quickly falling down toward the ground.
Meifeng nimbly reacts in order to catch the girl before she potentially collides against the ground.
"There we go." She softly utters once she physically erects the teen back on to her feet and steps out of her personal space.
"That was amazing!" Hiromi sincerely compliments the silver haired woman in front of her after she saves her skin.
"You are going to learn how to do that soon." The grey eyed woman reassures her pupil with a curt grin present on her face.
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'It seems as if everything is going according to plan.' Inoue happily affirms as she casually watches from her seat the dual image of Hiromi and Audrey with their respective mentors.
A knock at the door prompts the orange haired woman to break her concentration from the screen and on to the noise.
"Come in," She eventually granted the individual on the opposite entrance permission as the door slowly swung open to reveal a woman accompanied by a younger girl.
The older one was tall with an athletic built body as her skin tone was a slight tan hue due to her heritage. She is clad in a wool brown v-line midriff, forest green flaps in the front and back that reach mid-thigh, khaki cargo capris underneath the flaps, and wool brown straw sandals with a strap around her Achilles heel and the top portion of her foot. There were visible red tribal tattoos that grace her right arm. Her goldenrod blonde hair is in a spiky bob with green tips with emerald green eyes.
"My lady Matsumoto…" The goldenrod blonde starts to speak before she pauses to gesture to the girl off to her right, "I finally found her."
Inoue critically scopes out the younger girl and notes that she was a shade lighter than her companion. She has forest green eyes with shoulder length messy brown hair in a waterfall braid to the middle left side of her hair. She is clad in a green Chinese style top with a Jonquil yellow trim at the neck with dark khaki shorts and Sepia brown hiking boots.
"I see you already met your teacher Lin and even completed the first part of your mission Wenling." She verbalizes as a gentle smile graces her face when she speaks.
Wenling graciously accepts the compliment at the success of her mission, "It was much easier than I thought it was, Lady Matsumoto."
"My dear, you do know that you have the proper status to call me Matsumoto." She kindly reminds the young woman of her nobility lineage.
The goldenrod blonde slightly watches her pupil physically twitches after she hears the reminder from Lady Matsumoto, which prompts her to silently assume, 'I guess she doesn't like it when someone reminds her of her familial ties.'
"If you could Lady Matsumoto…" The brunette abruptly speaks up to address the orange haired woman, "...please treat me as if you would treat the other girls."
Inoue quirks an eyebrow at the rather odd request from the forest green eyed teen, which sparks a sense of curiosity. "I have one simple question before I permit you to return to your training."
"When one is blessed to be in a position of power to make changes why should they forgo their rights and accept a simple meager position?"
Wenling briefly ponders over it before she eventually renders her opinion to the older woman, "It is not that I deny my position, but rather I want to acquire knowledge about the world. I want to be like the lotus flower that buds and blooms above muddy water."
"That's quite an analogy for a girl of your age." Inoue earnestly remarks since it was a rather wise statement from the teenage girl.
She graciously accepts her praise about her wise nature before she politely thanks her, "Why thank you Lady Matsumoto."
"I am more than confident that Lin will help you in your journey." The orange haired woman conveys high regards about the skills of the goldenrod blonde.
Lin proudly accepts her duties as a sensei with a bow at the waist with one of her arms across her chest as she speaks.
"Oh and one more thing Wenling," She quickly speaks up as she halts the pair before they could leave just to forewarn her, "When the time calls for it, you all will join together as one unit."
A simple nod of her head signaled to Inoue that she was already aware that the other girls were destined to link up together.
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Takao once again surfaces from his personal bedroom with a half empty plate of food in his grasps as he maneuvers toward the kitchen.
"Did you enjoy the food?" Grandpa curiously inquires as he scrubs the grim off of the surface of the dirty white plate.
He quietly scraps his plate in the wastebasket, lazily ambles over to the sink, and patiently waits until his grandfather removes the plate from his clutches.
"I know that Hiromi sudden departure caused you to distance yourself from the guys," He claims as he places the clean plate on the rack and rotates to face his grandson.
Grandpa gently jabs his index finger against Takao's chest before he expresses his concern for him "…but now is not the time to lose sight of a goal that is nearest and dearest to your heart."
The bluenette leisurely peers down at his grandfather's finger pushes against his chest that houses his life support system.
He releases a sigh of frustration when he admits, "I just really wished she would've told me why she just up and left."
Grandpa quietly rejoiced at the fact that the young man finally emerged from his visible depression and honestly admitted his feelings.
"I feel the same way but you know she wouldn't want you to dwell on her absence for too long. She would want the team to continue on." He firmly assumes what Hiromi would say to get him back on track.
Takao sharply nods his head forward as a physical signal that he completely comprehends what his grandfather tries to convey to him.
"Thanks Grandpa," He suddenly thanks his grandfather for the inspiration as he hands off the plate and dashes inside of the living room.
"What are we doing just sitting around?!" The blunette loudly shrieks, which promptly startles the other members of the Bladebreakers.
The trio exchanged confused stares on their face before they shrugged their shoulders and proceed to jump to their feet and head outside.
'I'm glad he is back to normal.' Grandpa eagerly concludes as he happily returns his focus on to his house duties.
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A linear jet landed on a private runway strip as a well-tailored female Flight Attendant emerged from the front of the plane.
The lone passenger silently stared out of the small oval shape window at the scenery until the Flight Attendant gently tapped on their shoulder.
"We have arrived at the destination, ma'am." She politely addressed the young passenger, who simply ignored the message.
The Flight Attendant eventually returned to the front of the jet only to be met by a fellow attendant, who just cleaned up the lavatory area.
"A tad bit rude, isn't she?" The one, who approached the other, questioned as a frown materialized on her face.
She then peered over at her coworker as she shook her head left and right before she disclosed, "I don't think it's that either."
"Her name is Archimedes Von Braun, the daughter of the infamous Russel Von Braun. Apparently their family have strong ties to the black markets and underground life in Russia." The female flight attendant divulged about the girl's identity.
"So why did she fly to Beijing, China all by herself if she's from a seedy family?" The other flight attendant inquisitively poses.
The older female simply shrugs her shoulder up and down only to reveal, "I don't know the answer to that either."
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Author's Note:
07.29.15 Major editing revisions
04.27.17 Minor editing revisions
