"Dinner is served!" Grandpa loudly announces as he repeatedly bangs a mallet against a hand gong in order to capture the boys' attention, who were currently outside.
Two blades repeatedly clash against each other before the impact from the collision pushes the metallic objects away from each other and toward their respective owners.
"I guess the battle...ends in a draw." Max ultimately renders his opinion about the final outcome of the match between Takao and Kai.
Kai straightens up to his normal height, slides his prize Dranzer in to his blade pocket holder and mentions, "It seems as if your form is finally starting to come around."
Takao mimics his slate haired captain's action and eases his Dragoon inside of his arm blade holder.
The blonde then peers over at the young man for a verbal response yet not even a single peep emits from the blue haired boy, which causes him to worry about him.
'He has been more focused on beybattling since the other day.' He judges before he considers, 'I still don't think he has finally made a comeback from Hiromi's departure.'
"There's food in the kitchen." Rei dutifully relays Grandpa's message to his teammates since he just emerges from inside of the dojo and house.
The group closely watch as Takao once again fails to remark about finally being able to eat after a very long day of practice.
He sharply rotates his body, leisurely strolls up to the side of the house, casually steps up on the platform and obediently heads to the kitchen.
The scene that just occurred seem to have carved itself within his teammates' minds at just how Hiromi's absence managed to greatly disrupt the World's Greatest Beyblading Champion mindset about the game.
"If he keeps this up, I don't think he will keep all of his sanity." Max gravely expresses his fear for the worse of Takao's sake.
Rei removes his eyes from his blue haired friend's back, directs his golden gaze on to his other two teammates, and asserts, "We can't have the same mindset as Takao."
"If we do…then the Bladebreakers will surely suffer a defeat before we even gain entrance in to any stadium."
"I already told you that I will not allow that to happen to this team. We have been training too long for the next series of battles that lie ahead of us." Kai calmly asserts before he eventually ventures inside of the residency.
The blonde casts his sights toward Kai and then on to Rei when he voices, "I have complete faith that Takao will come around before the tournament starts. If not…"
His pause prompts Rei to peer over in his direction when he listens to Max claim, "We both know all too well that Kai will not allow dead weight to exist on the team."
"Yeah, I know." He solemnly consents to the idea.
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Archimedes obediently followed her teacher, Akane, inside what appeared to be a target range equipped with the necessary items for Archery.
She presently stands on a wooden floor that has a high ceiling and in the distance were a row of targets along with sliding doors that happen to be close.
'Is she going to teach me how to fire an arrow?' The raven haired girl inquisitively wonders.
The powdery white haired woman suddenly faces her with the same expression on her face from earlier.
'I guess she doesn't show any of her emotions.' The obisidan eyed teen assumes from the little interaction between the two when she watches her open her mouth to speak.
"Lift your arms outward and make a 'T' shape with your body." The scarlet red eyed woman instructs her, which leads her to retort, 'I don't see how does this applies to seeking my truth.'
Akane carefully studies her pupil's body while she mentally sizes her arms in order to gauge which bow will perfectly fit the span of her body.
"You can drop them." She orders her as she ambles over to a set of barrels that contains various size bows when she asks, "Do you know anything about kyῡdo, or the way of the bow?"
Archimedes shakes her head "no" at the unfamiliar term that her instructor uses in her vernacular as she searches through a pile of bows.
"The goal of kyῡdo is to achieve a state of shin-zen-bi, or truth-goodness-beauty. Whenever an archer is able to correctly shoot with a righteous spirit along with an outlook about living things that relate to kyῡdo then the shooting becomes naturally beautiful." She technically explains to the raven haired girl once she finally locates the bow that she tediously searches for.
The powdery white haired woman faces her pupil and continues her spiel, "Kyῡdo develops the ideas that are moral and spiritual."
"The goal is "correct shooting is correct hitting" or seisha seichῡ. To be able to achieve a blend of spirit and shooting you have to be able to utilize, munen musō or "no thought, no illusions"."
"Now does it start to make sense as to how it applies to what you want to achieve while you are here?" The scarlet red eyed woman stoically poses to her pupil after she promptly registers the expression of shock on the girl's face.
Archimedes once again nods her head to show that she understands why the woman in front of her was chosen as her teacher.
"I don't have that much time to train you, so you better keep up or get left behind." She solemnly advises before she instructs her to, "Go ahead and take your first shot."
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Audrey wipes the side of her lips with a spare napkin as Lanying asks if she is finish, which she responses with an "Uhm yeah."
She then grabs the plate, piles hers on top of the one in her hand, stacks the bowls in each other and picks up the bowls.
"Clinks" came from the plates, water being run in a sink and a small grunt was heard when she overheard her teacher posed, "Are you ready to go?"
The dirty blonde scoots out from underneath the table, rises to her feet, and provides a simple verbal answer, "Yes".
The purple haired woman leads the teenage girl out of her home and rounds to the backside of the home where a canoe rests against the side of the building. "Can you tote the other end?"
The duo then ventures back down to the water, which prompts Audrey to inquire, "Is there any particular reason as to why you made me swim this route?"
"On three, we will put the boat down." The older woman instructs before she provides the count and executes the command.
The women then steps inside of the boat as Lanying reaches against the inside side panel of the canoe, hands her pupil an oar and keeps one for herself.
"It was a simple test of courage." The dirty blonde listens to the reason as to why her mentor instructs her to swim from one end and back.
"A test of courage huh?" The teen hastily mutters to herself after they fall in to a steady rhythm to power the boat forward.
Audrey asks another question, "So exactly where are we going?"
The purple haired woman cracked a smile before they paddled the boat up on to the sandy shores of the little island she made her pupil swim to earlier.
They slowly heave the canoe further inland so the tide would not aimlessly drag their sole means of transportation back in to the open water.
"This place is really awesome at nighttime when there's a full moon out." The charcoal grey eyed woman suddenly speaks up as she eagerly waves for her disciple to follow her, "Come on".
The dirty blonde simply shrugs her shoulders as a way to convey "Why not?" and closely trails behind her very ecstatic teacher.
'Wait a minute...are those sea turtles?' Lanying briefly questioned to herself since she was momentarily distracted by the rare sights of sea turtles in these kinds of waters.
She then peers over her shoulder to check on her student, which prompts her to assume, 'Whether or not she believe this but she brings good fortune to those around her.'
The purple haired woman then focuses on being able to recall the correct path to the secret spot before she halts once she reaches the location.
The teenage girl soon realized that her teacher stopped out of nowhere and was about to gripe until she tracked her teacher's eyes.
"Whoa…" Audrey breathlessly utters at the sight in front of her, which prompts the charcoal grey eyed woman to mention, "I know. Doesn't it just take your breath away?"
'You don't get to see these kinds of lights when you are in the city.' She astonishingly concludes.
The dirty blonde leisurely spins around the barely lit cave, except for the ominous blue lights that brightly dazzle the inside of the cave.
"And you get to see this every time there's a full moon out?" The green eyed teen curiously needles while she eagerly marvels at the sight that surrounds her.
"Its one of the few perks that I still have in this life." Lanying solemnly mutters more to herself rather than to her student.
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"Are you hungry?" Meifeng dutifully inquires to Hiromi, who casually studies her new surroundings with her eyes.
A simple nod of her head causes her teacher to signal for some food.
Two of the priestesses that were currently present in the shrine eventually delivers trays that contains some food to eat. They politely thank the ladies for the meals.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question, Hiromi-san?" She inquisitively prompts and patiently waits for either her consent or dissent, which presents itself in the form of a nod of the head.
"I know you came to China because you wanted to find your purpose but what I don't understand is why here?"
She unknowingly hesitated with her answer but once again she mysteriously developed this sense that she could ultimately trust this woman with some of her deep and darkest secrets.
"I've always fit in to some category whether it was a Manager, a Cheerleader, a Training Coordinator, a Cook or whatever was needed of me."
"I just wanted to see if I had more value than those positions required of me."
"So are you happy with the results that have come about from your decision?" The silver haired woman curiously wonders how her pupil feels about her choice to find her purpose here in China.
"Actually…" The brunette slightly pauses, gently drops her hand on her knee, and honestly states, "I feel absolutely horrible about my choice."
"This is quite the change from the warrior spirit I felt from you earlier when you were up on the bamboo shoots." The grey eyed woman dramatically claims after she hungrily chews on a piece of tuna.
"These kind of decisions are often big and once in a lifetime opportunity that you probably won't be able to have again."
"I know that but…"
"You still haven't told me what your problem is yet Hiromi?" Meifeng hastily interrupts when she finally realizes that the ruby eyed teen constantly avoids the truth in her responses.
"I don't really have a problem. I just want some answers…is that too much to ask for?" Hiromi earnestly suggests while she dramatically jeers at her ever so compose sensei.
"Yes, yes it can be when it continues to plague your thoughts whenever you make a decision that only produces regret." Her teacher honestly declares.
'I wonder if she has ever been in love.' She irritably withholds her next statement as she angrily jabs at the fish in front of her with the chopsticks.
"This meal is delicious."
'I guess I went in to uncharted waters since she just changed the subject.' The silver haired woman assumes before she naturally reads the sudden change of air around her student from her comment.
'I wonder what it is that has her this upset? Her aura is all over the place.' The grey eyed woman curiously wonders.
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Lin constantly peeks down at the stopwatch that dangles around her neck for the time when she shouts to her student, "Wenling, you're beginning to fall behind!"
"How about you run these obstacle courses instead?" Wenling irritably snaps at her teacher before she hastily hops over to the next wooden platform.
'Man, this is like the third course I did in a single day.'
'When am I going to learn anything important?'
"If you don't pick up the pace somebody might not get any dinner." She purposely threatens her student with the punishment of not being able to eat even after all of her hard work.
Her stomach immediately growls at the possibility of that statement being truthful, which only serves to quicken the brunette's pace.
'I'm really starting to hate this place!'
"Luckily for you…you made it in the nick of time, Wenling." The goldenrod blonde dramatically reveals that she just barely pass the mark for not being able to have dinner.
'I would've never made it if it wasn't for that extra kick my stomach gave me to get across the finish line.'
"You will catch a cold if you stay there." The dirty blonde overhears her teacher's advice about her being on the ground over a long period of time.
'Now all I need is a little bit of energy to get up and move around.'
A pair of green eyes tediously watch as her pupil desperately struggles to make it to her feet.
Her determination prompts Lin to provide aid since she did a really good job at today's course, "Here you go,"
'Why is she this strong?' Wenling ponders to herself once she feels her body across her rather broad shoulders.
"You might be thinking that there's no point in doing the obstacle course." The goldenrod blonde speaks up, which earns her statement of 'Exactly'.
"I was born and raised in a tribe of strong women. You could even call it by its well known name Amazonian," The older woman discloses before she continues on with her spiel "...but anyway, I had to undergo the exact same training that you are doing now."
"At first, I was extremely opposed to the idea until the Grand Elder explained to me that it not only built physical strength but it also built your mentality and will."
"In order to have a strong body, you must have a sound mind." Lin recites from verbatim the answer Grand Elder would always provide to her whenever she complains.
She then gently props Wenling against the smooth end of a boulder.
"I had the ideal drilled into my head day in and day out but it did help me become the woman that I am today."
"I think I understand a little bit more." She honestly discloses after she eagerly processes her teacher's reason behind the courses.
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Author's Note:
07.29.15 Major Revision
04.28.17 Minor editing revision
