Well, didn't think I'd be coming back to this so soon, but I've done about as much studying as me brain can handle, and I need to do something to wake up again.
Creativity: No kidding. Plus, revelling in having completed season 1 of Before: KH hasn't died down.
Author: Word.
Creativity: So, since we've got all this extra revelry, you think we could…
Author: No.
Creativity: Oh, come on!
Author: No one cares about your campfire story aspirations.
Creativity: People care! Remember the one I smuggled into Limit Breaker? That one went over well!
Author: Okay, fair point. Still, where exactly would we put them?
Creativity: Ah… oh… There's… Fine, you win this one.
Author: Thank you. Now then, what were we going to do before the chapter started proper?
Creativity: possible mistakes.
Author: Right! So, one reader mentioned that Etheria had eleven moons, not seven. I haven't been able to verify that so far, as I don't want to backtrack through the entire show for it and online sources have been virtually non-existent, save for one image of Etheria, in which I was able to count seven moons. If someone can provide me a source that confirms whatever the number of moons is, PLEASE DO!
Creativity: And… That's about it! Do we want to go into more detail on the Oozaru thing?
Author: Might as well. So, for those curious about why I chose to have a combination of three of Etheria's moons be the trigger for the Oozaru form, the answer is because Etheria has lots of moons and no sun. So, if I wanted the Oozaru form to be present in this story at all (and I do), that meant changing the rules a bit. Plus, having the characters worry about city destroying were-kong is better than worrying about it every night, or none at all.
Well, that's enough of that! Time for the chapter proper! *ahem*… We now proudly present chapter 3 of Fist of the Sky!
"RAH! GYAH!"
"Better! Much better! However, your landing is still a bit off-balance."
Charra watched as Ferah drilled through a series of spinning and leaping kicks, each repetition showing visible improvement, no matter how minute. If this current pace kept up, she'd be learning some of the more… advanced techniques of the Sora no Ken in no time!
Ferah was ten years old now, though you wouldn't necessarily know that by looking at her, given that her peculiar growth spurts seemed to have slowed down in the last two years, leaving her around 4' 1''. Still, she was very much a ten year old in behaviour, if not in body.
Despite her constant complaining about it, her schooling had gone quite well, managing to keep pace with other children her age in terms of basic education. Charra hadn't told her about the scrolls yet, though she suspected that she would be doing just that later this week, considering she was running out of material to teach her in terms of martial arts. There was some small part of Charra that was a bit envious of Ferah's natural talent, but that tiny part was always stamped down by how much pride she had in Ferah for her dedication to learning the art of combat.
That didn't mean she won when they sparred though. Despite the gap in their strength having widened in Ferah's favor, Charra still had experience and decades more training than Ferah, which regularly led to Charra's victories when they sparred.
Ferah huffed as she got herself set up for another attempt. She stepped forward, leaning sideways as she spun her heel around in a vertical arc before she quickly switched to the other leg for a follow-up kick of the same variety before leaping into the air and swinging one leg around before switching to the other during a second spin, then she landed solidly on both feet with a slight bounce in her step. Charra was grinning ear to ear while resisting the urge to start hopping from foot to foot like an excited schoolgirl.
"That was it! That was perfect!" Charra exclaimed excitedly as Ferah's face lit up with excitement and pride.
"What's next?" Ferah asked, only for Charra to tut her.
"What's the first rule of mastering martial arts?" Charra asked the ten-year old.
"Don't practice until you get it right. Practice until you never get it wrong." Ferah recited before taking up the same position as before and waited a moment longer before launching into the set again, whirling through the air like a deadly pinwheel of pain. After a few more repetitions, Charra decided enough was enough. Ferah wasn't going to perfect that combination any more today. Oh, it was more than certain she'd improve, but there was a cap that would be reached when you were ten years old.
Still, as time was wearing on, Charra realized that introducing the scrolls to Ferah was probably a bad idea. While she was undoubtedly ready (or at least close to ready) to learn the more advanced techniques, Ferah's curiosity and desire to learn more about martial arts would almost certainly get the better of her if she learned about what Charra kept locked in that chest under her bed. And while Ferah could most certainly learn plenty from the scrolls and books, Charra also knew that a good number of those techniques were ones that were years beyond Ferah right now, and that attempting them would likely end with broken bones, or far, far worse.
"Well, there goes that idea of getting her more interested in reading." Charra muttered under her breath as Ferah finished yet another set of kicks.
"Alright, I think that's enough for now. At this rate, I'm going to run out of things to teach you before you're sixteen!" Charra said with performative exasperation. Ferah rubbed the back of her head as a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.
"But I'm not out of things to teach you yet. Let's do a bit of sparring, then it's probably time for us to take a trip to the river." Charra suggested. Ferah nodded excitedly and took up her standard fighting stance, one leg extended forward, one arm bent in front of her, the other arm held in front of her chest with both hands held open. Charra's stance was similar, but with one arm held up over her head instead of across her front like Ferah. Additionally, her hands were clenched into fists.
"Begin!" Charra declared, already prepared for Ferah's opening attack. Ferah had a habit of always taking the first attack, and it was often a low or high kick. And today was no different, as Ferah opened with the same combination that she'd been practicing. Charra easily blocked or otherwise redirected the attacks before skipping back and watching as Ferah came in with a palm heel strike. Charra knocked it aside and grabbed Ferah's gi and spun her around before pinning her to the ground. Ferah groaned as Charra helped her up, chuckling.
"Why can't I ever win?" She complained as she dusted herself off.
"Well, I can see you coming, for one. You always open with a high or low kick, remember?" Charra pointed out.
"I was hoping you'd think I was gonna try something different this time…" Ferah muttered. Charra ruffled Ferah's hair and took up her stance again. Ferah moved back to her own starting position and assumed ready position.
"Begin!" Charra declared again. This time, Ferah shuffled forward carefully. Charra eyed her student carefully. If she really was trying to shake things up this time, it would do to stay on guard. Ferah edged a bit closer, doing a few feinting lunges to try and prompt a response from Charra. When she didn't get one, she suddenly lunged forward with a straight punch that Charra blocked before going for a leg sweep. Ferah jumped back and rushed forward again, this time going for another palm heel strike to the abdomen. Charra saw this coming though and caught Ferah's arm before twisting her arm behind her back and pinning her again.
"Aww, I thought I had you that time!" Ferah complained again as she got to her feet before dusting herself off again. Charra laughed again.
"Sorry, kiddo. You're still at least a decade out from beating me." Charra prodded. Needless to say, Ferah took that as a challenge as sparring continued. They kept going for another hour before Charra finally decided that they were covered in enough sweat and dirt that it was time to call it for the day. And Ferah still hadn't gotten a win in yet. She'd come closer than before, but still not enough to make Charra think that she was actually going to lose.
After collecting everything they needed for bathing, master and student walked down the pathway through the forest until they reached the stream. After climbing out of the dirty and sweat-soaked clothes, they quickly got into the water and took a moment to appreciate the sensation of clean that came with it before they got to work on scrubbing off the remaining dirt and sweat before hurrying out of the mountain water to towel off and change into clean clothes. Then it was time to head home.
"Ma?" Ferah suddenly said.
"Hm?" Charra replied as an invitation to continue.
"When we were in town a couple of days ago, I heard a couple of the adults talking about something called "the Horde" and "the Rebellion." They seemed angry and scared." Ferah shared, the curiosity in her voice intermixed with tones that indicated Ferah felt unsure about asking about this. Charra's mind raced, trying to think of a way to explain all this to Ferah, before she decided it was better to just bite the bullet and explain it. But not out here.
"I'll explain it when we get back to the cabin, okay? It's kind of… complicated" Charra told Ferah, who didn't look reassured. The rest of the walk back was silent, and a bit awkward until they got home, whereupon Charra locked the door behind them. She wasn't even sure why she would do that, considering they lived about as out of the way as one could get. Still, the subject of the war between the Horde and the Rebellion was one best left behind closed doors, especially out here, where people generally didn't engage with the war if they could help it.
"Ferah, sit down. Explaining all this could take a while." Charra told Ferah, who looked a little afraid, but did what she was told and sat down on one of the dinner table's chairs. Charra grabbed on of the other chairs and dragged it around so that she could sit facing Ferah. After taking said seat, Ferah took a deep breath.
"Somehow, I thought that I could avoid telling you about all this until you were old enough, but I don't think I ever had an idea of what old enough meant." Charra muttered with a humorless laugh before she decided to try again.
"Ferah, I need you to understand that what I'm going to try and explain is that while this is, in a way, about fighting, it's not the kind of fighting I'm teaching you. It's not about self defence or even a way of life. It's different and it's something I wanted to keep you out of if I could." Charra began. Ferah looked more unsure, but she made no move to try and stop Charra.
"Right now, there's a war being waged across all of Etheria between the Horde and the Rebellion. The Horde is attempting to take over the whole world and the Rebellion is trying to stop them. Many not already under the Horde's control and even some within it call it 'The Evil Horde', and make no mistake, they are evil. They trample across the land, raze it for resources and leave devastation and pollution in their wake." Charra continued. She saw Ferah's tail begin to curl around her waste. She did that instinctively when she was scared or uncomfortable.
"But if they're so bad, why aren't people stopping them?" Ferah asked. Charra sighed sadly.
"There are people trying. Lots of people, in fact. The problem is that the Horde is relentless and has several advantages already. Plus, it just doesn't change the fact that this war has been going on for so long that many people are tired of it and just want the fighting to end. They feel that the Horde's too much to stop now. There just isn't the same spirit for it anymore." Charra answered. Ferah's head drooped a bit.
"But… Things would be bad if the Horde won, right? Don't people want to stop that?" Ferah asked again. Charra rubbed her brow.
"Even if people know that the Horde winning is bad, they've given up hope that the Horde can be stopped." Charra tried again. Ferah frowned.
"We could help, couldn't we? I'm so strong and you're even stronger!" Ferah said, but Charra shook her head.
"You are far too young to be fighting the Horde, young lady. I can't stop you once you're old enough, but it will be a cold day in… sigh… I just don't want to lose you to them too…" Charra reprimanded before the brief fire went out. However, it seemed Ferah picked up on that last sentence more much more than Charra realized.
"Did the Horde hurt someone you know?" Ferah asked, though she sounded like she was expecting a scolding from the question.
"I… Yes… When I was younger I lost someone very important to me because of the Horde. I was so angry for so long, fighting the Horde at every chance I could get… I got hurt a lot and I hurt other people too. Then I tried to fight one of the Horde's commanders and I got hurt really badly. When I got better, I came here to train and get stronger so that I could… Eventually I realized that the revenge I wanted wouldn't bring me peace, and that I was only hurting myself more by pursuing it." Charra shared, shame evident in her voice at points in the story.
"But, if you didn't want revenge, why didn't you go back to help people?" Ferah asked. Charra smiled a bit sadly at Ferah.
"Because if I was to go back and start fighting the Horde again, revenge would just creep back in. I can't go after the Horde anymore without that desire rising up again and I could lose myself to it." Charra explained. She suspected that Ferah wouldn't understand what she meant quite yet, but it she felt that the words were important to say, regardless.
"What about the Rebellion? You didn't talk much about them." Ferah asked suddenly, snapping Charra out her thoughts. Ferah was right, she hadn't talked about them yet.
"Well, it was originally founded by the princesses of the nations of Etheria as an Alliance, but during a critical battle, things went bad… really bad… Things weren't the same after that. Many of the kingdoms withdrew from the alliance and have stuck to defending their own borders ever since. Like I said, the war's taken its toll on everyone…" Charra explained. Ferah frowned, clearly not liking that the fact that the rulers had given up like that. Charra understood the sentiment. Even after a defeat like that, breaking the alliance off had only disheartened the people and emboldened the Horde. It was a show of weakness to all of Etheria, to allies and enemies alike. In war, you never showed weakness or disunity among the ranks when facing down the enemy. And yet, that's exactly what the Alliance had done.
"This sounds all sad…" Ferah muttered, downcast.
"It is… But, I have faith that eventually there will be enough people with the strength of heart to stand up and inspire Etheria to push back the Horde." Charra stated.
"But you're strong, right?" Ferah said, admiration evident in her voice.
"In body perhaps, but that doesn't mean I have strength of heart." Charra answered, Ferah cocked her head with a frown on her face.
"I don't get it." She muttered. Charra just smiled and ruffled Ferah's fair.
"You will, one day. For now, you've got work to do, remember?" Charra reminded Ferah, who's face scrunched up like she'd eaten something sour.
"Can't I skip it today? Pleeeease?" Ferah begged, but Charra would not be persuaded.
"It's important to know how to read and write. Actually, on that note, I think it's about time that you start on one of the traditional aspects of a practitioner of the Sora no Ken." Charra informed Ferah, who suddenly looked very excited. Did this mean she was going to start learning new techniques? Was it some secret to getting stronger? Instead, she got really confused when Charra opened her bedside drawer and withdrew a book of some kind from within. It looked pretty new, with cover made from wood and light gray cloth, with a blue ribbon sticking out from within the pages.
"It's tradition for each practitioner of the Sora no Ken to keep a journal once they reach a certain level of training. Since you've reached it, it's time for you to keep your own journal." Charra explained as she handed the book to Ferah, who looked a bit deflated. Charra patted her shoulder encouragingly.
"I had the same reaction. Don't worry, it's not that boring." Charra assured Ferah before they got started on todays academic studies. They went well enough. Ferah could solve simple equations with relative ease now, and while her penmanship wasn't terrific, she almost always had the proper spelling and punctuation.
Once a few hours of studies had passed, Charra got started on dinner after the table had been cleared. As she kept an eye on the simmering stew, she glanced over her shoulder and was pleasantly surprised to see Ferah had actually kept an ink pot and quill out to begin writing in her journal. She didn't bother walking over to see what she was writing. That was for Ferah to know. Still, it was encouraging to see that Ferah was actively seeking to write now, instead of simply waiting to be told to by Charra.
Dinner was fairly uneventful that night. There was idle chatter in between mouthfuls of stew and bread before eventually all of the food had been consumed and the pair got started on doing the dishes. After they were finished, Ferah sat down on her bed and looked out the window to see the beautiful sunset. Charra took the time to write in her own journal before she realized how heavy her eyelids felt. This was compounded by the sound of Ferah letting out a huge yawn, signalling to both of them that it was time for bed. After taking care of their evening ablutions, Charra made sure Ferah was tucked in and gave her a kiss on the head before climbing into bed herself. A new day was coming, and Charra could feel a gentle breeze of changing coming their way.
Four years later…
"Deep breaths, it's going to be fine. Doesn't matter that she's only fourteen, she's more than ready for it. She's better at this now than I was when I was eighteen! She'll be great at it! So why am I so nervous about it?!"
Charra had been going through this same song and dance all morning, as well as a bunch of the evening. Having run out of other things to drill Ferah on and having reached the peak of how much perfection could be had from a fourteen year old, Charra had decided that it was time to start teaching Ferah the secret arts of the Sora no Ken. However, that didn't make her any less nervous about it. She'd have to be careful about how she went about instructing Ferah in them, since they posed risk to the practitioner just as much as the target, perhaps even more so if not performed correctly. The fractures she suffered in her left arm ten years ago during a botched attempt at a Tempest Strike were a testament to that. And that was one of the basic strikes (relatively speaking, of course).
"I'm ready, ma!"
Charra turned to see Ferah had finished getting ready for the day. There'd been a couple of changes to her wardrobe in the four years, those being a green sash tied around her waist, as well as a character in an old language stitched into her gi. The character was read as 'iron'. She also grown in the last four years, now standing five feet even.
"Alright, let's get outside. We're gonna start the next phase of your training today." Charra informed her pupil, who's eyes went wide with excitement. Charra had a brief moment of panic when the front door let out quite the squeak from the speed at which Ferah threw it open. After stepping outside, Charra walked to the training ground, where Ferah was practically vibrating in place from excitement.
"What am I gonna learn?" Ferah asked eagerly.
"Today, I'm going to begin teaching you how to perform the Tempest Strike." Charra informed the fourteen year old, who somehow looked even more excited than before, though Charra was quick to temper that enthusiasm.
"As excited as you are, we are going to proceed with this training very carefully. The Tempest Strike and other techniques like it are dangerous to both the user and the target and I don't want you to get hurt because you were unprepared for the technique. I want to make this very clear; you are not under any circumstances to practice any of these techniques without my permission or observation until I say otherwise. Are we clear?" Charra stated, her voice incredibly stern. Recognizing that Charra wasn't fooling around, Ferah nodded sharply. Having received that acknowledgement, Charra began instructing her.
"The Sora no Ken was developed under the belief that there was no limit that couldn't be surpassed, that people could reach the sky and beyond. The true form of the art shows us how to surpass the limits of the body to perform feats that are otherwise impossible. For example…" Charra lectured before walking over to a thick log she had set up on the ground the previous evening before taking up a ready position. Unlike her usual one, this one had her left arm forward and open handed while her right arm was pulled tight to her body, her fist resting just below her ribcage. There was a few moments before Ferah noticed faint hints of almost completely translucent energy around Charra's right fist before she threw a straight right punch, causing the log to crack in two, a spray of splinters erupting from the back of the log where she had just struck! Ferah was gobsmacked. She was stronger than Charra, she knew that much. But even she couldn't break a tree like that in one hit, let alone without heaving bloody knuckles by the end of it. She couldn't even see so much as a bruise, let alone a scrape on Charra's hand!
"What was that?! That was amazing!" Ferah exclaimed as Charra smirked a little bit.
"To use the Tempest Strike, the user channels the body's natural energy into their fist, increasing the limb's striking power and reinforcing it against blunt trauma, such as striking a tree with one's bare fists." Charra explained. Ferah's jaw dropped almost comically before she started hopping from foot to foot with child-like glee.
"Show me show me show me!" Ferah exclaimed excitedly. Charra held up a hand, causing Ferah to pause.
"Before we get to that, you first need to learn how to draw out the energy I mentioned before. Even with your impressive track record so far, it won't be easy. I'd say it'll take a week at least, considering how quickly you've picked everything else up." Charra estimated. Ferah slammed a fist into an open hand with a determined grin on her face.
"Alright, where do we start?" She asked. Charra grinned in a way that had Ferah suddenly uneasy.
"I'm so glad you asked. We meditate. A lot." Charra answered. Ferah fell backwards onto her back with a loud groan.
"Of course, we do." She grumbled. Charra laughed as she sat cross-legged on the ground.
"Well, shall we begin? You want to learn how to perform the Tempest Strike, don't you?" Charra baited, knowing Ferah wouldn't be beaten by a little thing like meditation.
"If it means I get to bring down trees with my bare hands, let's do this." Ferah replied before sitting in a mirror posture to her master.
"Now then, let's begin. Close your eyes and empty your mind… Search deep within yourself for a river of power…" Charra began. It would be a long process, but she knew that Ferah was up to it.
Within the next few years, there would be a new master of the Sora no Ken martial arts. Charra could feel it.
And that's where we'll leave it for now! Next chapter, well… You'll see.
Creativity: While we're at it, a big thanks to SuperSaiyanFever for helping us find the actual number of Etheria's moons (it's eleven). We've gone back and corrected it.
Author: Yeah, thanks on that.
But back to the finished chapter, Ferah's begun the big step in her training! She's going to be learning all the really cool stuff about the punchy thing she loves so much! So, for this story, I really suggest you all temper your expectations for Saiyan strength, and don't even bother asking me about power levels. At all. I am not going into that because as far as I'm concerned, even bringing in power levels in any capacity has negatively impacted discussion regarding my other DBZ crossover story, Limit Breaker.
Creativity: You wanna get back to the story, boss?
Author: Yeah, sorry about that.
So, just for reference, I based the stances that Ferah and Charra use when sparring off of Akuma and Oni from Street Fighter 4, mainly because I just like the stances.
Anything else…? Nothing springs to mind right now. I guess we're done! So, on that note, thank you for reading, please review and we'll see you next time!