Strength in All Forms:
It was cold in the Underworld.
The frigid air, sprinkled with the fine balck sand of the earth floated in a dense, hazy fog. Time didn't seem to pass down here, though it'd felt like they'd been out for hours. Jay kicked the sand with his soft boots, watching it float down through the chilly, thick air like tiny feathers. He dragged his feet, watching his brothers get farther and farther ahead, before turning back to look at Master Wu's bone palace. It was massive and ornate, built from the bones of giants and dragons. Tiny blue specks of flame danced through eye socket windows and ribcage towers. They looked like snowy stars, far off and out of reach. Jay turned back around, pondering his time in the Underworld.
It wasn't bad at all. Jay was wearing a warm Ninja Gi made from the woolly fur of an underground creature, and it kept him cosy in the chill. He had a bedroom down here, which he shared with Kai, Cole, and Zane, but there were warm blankets and fluffy pillows for them to sleep on, not to mention a few private shelves and chests to keep personal items in (he hadn't thought Master Wu would be a sentimental man, but he tolerated it quite well). It was great placd to live, but…
Jay's eyes darted to his brothers, a few meters in front of him. Cole was walking in the front, with Kai right next to him and Zane on his other side. They were all shivering slightly (except Zane, for some reason). Jay shivered as well as he looked over his brothers. He was the shortest of the bunch, Cole was the tallest, and Kai and Zane were in the middle. Just as he took another step forward, however, Jay looked down and froze. One of his feet, the left one, was placed delicately inside of Cole's footprint. Cole's shoe-print dwarfed Jay's. He'd never noticed that before. Obviously, Cole was heavier and taller than Jay, so of course his footprint would be wider and stronger. Jay looked down at his own foot and winced. It… kind of looked like a girl's foot. He shook it off, but the thought remained. How come his feet were not that powerful? How come he wasn't as heavy as Cole. He could fight just the same! He was still… kind of… good… ish…
Jay sighed, and ran after his brothers before they disappeared into the haze.
Jay was looking through their box of clothes, trying to find his gloves. This was a box of winter clothes, and Master Wu had said something about going somewhere cold, so Jay was looking for his gloves so he'd be ready. He dug out a pair. All of their gloves were black as night, with leathery tips and grippy pads so they could grab stuff. He tried to pull them on, but the goves slipped on way too easily and were way too big. They were roomy around his little fingers and went up to far on his short arms. Jay frowned, then yanked them off, catching sight of a name tag with 'Zane' written on it in Zane's neat handwriting. He tossed them back in the box, then looked at his hands for a moment. He'd never really thought about his hands.
They served their purpose, grabbing things and writing and fighting and all that, but… they didn't look like Zane's hands. Zane had elegant hands that started at his slim wrists. He had perfectly curved palms and slender fingers. His fingers always bent perfectly and precisely.
Jay's wrists were skinny and lumpy, his palms were weird and dough-y and his fingers looked like stout little breakfast sausages. His hands were chimplike and snatch-ish, and not to mention, his thumb was gross and double jointed.
Jay slammed the box shut and stared at his hands some more. A gross, icky feeling began to rise in his stomach, and he shut his eyes, taking a deep breath. The world would be so much better if he could just have hands like Zane's!
Jay was lazing on his top bunk bed while he watched Cole and Kai arm wrestle for the fifth time. Wu had given them some extra time to rest before they went home, and Kai and Cole were busily testing their strength against each other. Kai was still trying to beat Cole, the undisputed king of arm wrestling, and had already failed two times.
Jay watched Kai's muscles ripple as the Ninja strained against Cole. Unconsciously, Jay felt his own arm, almost expecting to feel rippling muscle. He gasped slightly when he felt his skin. His arm was like a noodle! A limp noodle! It wasn't like Kai's arm at all! It was… small… and unassuming. The gross, icky feeling began to rise in his stomach, which made Jay look at his hands and feet. Then he looked at the rest of his body, the icky-ness growing.
His chest was all puffy and his ribs stuck out. He'd never noticed how unappealing his skin was, stretched across him. His thighs were small and weak, his kneecaps stuck out, and his hips were like great, bony mountains on his flesh. His toenails were weirdly shaped and his shoulders were too wide and he didn't have abs and there was a freckle on his double-jointed thumb and he wasn't as tall as everyone else and his hair was frizzy and he had a chicken pox scar next to his eye and his ears were too big and- and- and….
Jay shook, closing his eyes and grabbing a blanket, the fur of a striped purple animal. He squeezed his eyes tighter. Maybe if he wished hard enough his body would be much better than it was now. He'd have tight muscles and elegant hands and large feet and he wouldn't be so… him anymore. He rubbed his eyes with his pudgy hands and tried not to cry.
There was a knock at the door.
Zane pulled it open to see Master Wu standing there, imposing as ever. Jay peeked out from under his blanket, and shivered slightly. Even if he was their master, Wu kind of gave him chills sometimes.
"May I see Jay?" Wu asked, glancing around the room. Jay considered hiding, but that was a terrible idea for a lot of reasons, so he slowly climbed off his bed and walked towards their master, head hung low. He'd done something wrong. He just knew it.
"Follow me," Master Wu said cooly, turning towards the door. He led Jay out into the room they always trained in, then he opened a side door and led Jay through a corridor into a room filled with all kinds of things. Mostly bones of massive creatures. A Cyclops skull sat in the very front, the empty eye socket staring at them both.
Master Wu took a seat on a massive rib, and invited Jay to sit on a large femur from some long-deceased animal. Jay sat down on the bleached white bone and looked up at his master, his eyes and heart clouded with worry. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked, quietly.
"Your performance during training has severely decreased," Master Wu answered, his red eyes boring into Jay. "I would like to see why."
"You... would?" Jay was confused. Master Wu hardly cared about anybody. He allowed Cole and Kai to beat each other up? What did he want with Jay?
"Injuries and heartache are of no use to me here," Wu answered, matter-of-factly. "Do what I say, and I will assess you afterwards."
Jay nodded.
"Lift that bone," Master Wu pointed to the vertebrae of a large animal.
Jay scampered over to it, but no matter how hard he tried, the vertebrae wouldn't budge. He sighed, but kept trying, even if it was hopeless. He simply wasn't strong enough.
Master Wu raised an eyebrow. "That's enough. Climb the ribcage over there." He gestured again to a massive bone pile.
Jay scrambled up it easily, looking down from the top with a curious expression. What was Master Wu doing? "What next?"
"Bring me that pile of Feet bones," Master Wu pointed, and Jay picked them up gracefully, careful not to squash his fingers. He laid them on the rib next to Master Wu.
Wu nodded. "For your last task, Jay, climb through the eye of the cyclops."
"The…" Jay turned around and swallowed. That was… eerie, but he couldn't disobey Wu. He took a deep breath, then scrambled over the bone, and, placing his foot in the skull's nose, flattened his body as tight as he could and squeezed through into the cranial cavity. He had fit, just perfectly! The inside of the skull was worn down, making it easy for Jay to scramble down the side of the porus skull and out through the missing jawbone hole, back to Master Wu.
In the meantime, a Skeletal warrior had brought Master Wu some tea, and a glass of cool water for Jay, which he gladly accepted, being quite out of breath.
"I see now, what is wrong," Master Wu answered. He took a deep breath. "Every man and woman draws strength differently. Cole may draw it from the Earth, and Zane from the winter, but you do not."
"If it isn't too much to ask, Master," Jay looked up nervously. "What was the point of the exercises?"
Master Wu smiled slightly, an action the boys rarely saw him perform. "You have needed to observe your own strengths. Comparing yourself to Kai, Cole, and Zane will never get you anywhere." He pointed to Jay's feet. "Your feet are slim and lightweight. You move like a light bird over dense, unstable terrain. Had Cole tried to scale the ribcage, he would have fallen and been buried by the unstable pile." He pointed to Jay's hands. Your hands are not elegant like Zane's, but your small fingers make it easier for you to handle many sharp bones. Zane's elegant fingers would have been caught and crushed between these ribs." He pointed to Jay's arms. "Your arms are indeed small. Cole or Kai would have been able to lift the vertebrae."
Jay hung his head.
"But," Master Wu continued. "You do not need to lift or push when Cole or Kai is with you. Cole's large frame and Kai's power prevent them from being smaller than they need to. You were able to fit into a small space, a talent that is not shared among your brothers. You have a talent for hiding and sneaking, not fighting and lifting."
Jay perked up at the praise, the icky feeling before being replaced by a warm, comfortable feeling. He felt… good! He looked down at his wiry fingers and slim feet. He observed his small arms in a new light. "Thank you, master." He breathed.
Master Wu nodded, then continued to explain. His thighs may be small on top, but they provided bursts of speed if Jay needed it. His kneecaps were strong, not ugly, and could withstand blows. His hips created a cavity that allowed Jay to tuck himself into a ball, when he needed to explore and crawl through tight fits. His toenails were not weirdly shaped, and his shoulders were not too wide, he just thought they were. He did have abs, they just weren't visible, and everyone had freckles. It was good to be short and small, and no one noticed the chicken-pox scar and his hair could be tamed with brushing and his ears were like radar dishes, giving him an acceptable sense of hearing.
When Jay left that evening, he looked over his entire body with a new set of eyes. He wasn't handsome like Cole or hot like Kai, not to mention he certainly wasn't elegant like Zane. He was small, but that made him something else. Something his brother's weren't.
Jay was cute.
His snub nose and big eyes and ears made him look unassuming. No one would expect that a little guy with a cute face could be so fierce. Maybe his appearance didn't command respect or fear, but as Master Wu's proverb's said, Actions speak louder than words.
And strength is often found in the most unlikeliest of places.
A/n: So I've had this idea in me for almost a year, when I first read The Dark Side Of Destiny by RebelFanja. It's a great story, and This was particularly fun to write. Jay is a great character, someone who I enjoy writing. Anyways, happy boxing day everyone!