I looked around me to find my surroundings, a whole bunch of trees that stuck in the ground like tall guardians, the sun set high in the sky like a holy sphere of hope from God, and a lake just ahead, the blue green waters swaying slowly with the wind.
I walked forward, pacing slowly, my feet dragging across the floor. I stared deep into the water, staring at my reflection that glared back with a shivering manner, like he was cold. The brown eyes beckoned meanly at me, the brown hair swaying slowly with the soft, cool wind. "Some training," I muttered under my breath.
"Is that so? It's only a matter if you're ready," Tsukansu's voice rang in, appearing behind me. "What do you think, Walter-san?"
I sighed. "Hmph," I muttered. "And how exactly do we-," I was cut off as I tried to turn around to face Tsukansu in the eye. My sentence was interrupted by a huge punch to my cheek as I turned to face the Water Council.
The huge hit sent me flying and got my jaw feeling weak, catching me by surprise and sending a wave of fear and shock to my emotions. My body flew through the air smoothly and quickly, riding on the water of the lake and landing all the way to the other end of the blue green waters. Above, the sun shone brightly down on me as almost all my body was consumed by the water of the lake. I stared towards Tsukansu's direction all the way across the lake, still wondering why he had chosen to go berserk on me all of a sudden.
Tsukansu and I traded mean looks, until I finally asked, "What're you doing…?" I choked out with water spilling from my throat. I guess I swallowed some when I was in the air. Heh, this guy really is strong if he can punch like that.
"Training, of course," Tsukansu said seriously, the look in his eyes not joking around. His robes seemed to sway in every direction with the wind, his big thing of hair in front of his face swimming in the air as well, his dark brown eyes beaming in the growing sunlight.
"How is trying to beat me up a type of training?" I asked angrily, feeling the water completely soak my clothes and wet my whole entire body except my torso up. As I waited for the reply, the lake of blue green seemed to crash into me with powerless currents, trying to pull me down into the black waters below.
"Don't stress about it," Tsukansu said, still standing in his place at the other end of the lake. "You're not the only one. Every other Minor is with their Council counterpart doing the same thing."
"What am I supposed to do?" I asked, still confused about how this would help me get better and gain more power, the power that I needed to take down Void Core, the organization that killed my mother.
"Me coming after you with all my power should force you to use your own powers. Just so you know though, your regular power that you used back in the Outer World won't be enough. You're going to have to try harder than that. Much harder," Tsukansu explained, shifting his weight in the dirt ground surrounding the lake like a border, dust rising from the shifting of feet.
"How am I supposed to beat someone who has my power increased by more than over million-fold?" I asked, still angry that he had decided this so suddenly. I guess there's no rest when it comes to being someone like me, I thought, trying to lift myself back into the dirt ground where I could dry off, my clothes all dark and soggy, heavy with the dark water of the lake.
"That's for you to figure out," he said, not answering my question. Damn it, I thought. This is going to be hard. "Come!" he insisted, his position shifting and his appearance disappearing.
He ran across the lake with lightning speed as I still tried to get back to dry land. "Marine Lotus!" I heard him cry. Oh, crap. What's he got for me now? I turned around as I took my right foot out of the water, staring hard into the lake and the rushing image of Tsukansu coming towards me. I knew I should be somewhat panicky and whatnot, but for some reason, I wasn't. I really didn't care what happened, I guess.
As the rushing image of brown, blue, and white came closer, the water behind him began to twist and turn into some kind of growing twister, shaping the top into a kind of lotus form, the whole thing spinning wildly, looking like a newly blossomed real-life lotus in the spring. It spun crazily behind Tsukansu and followed him like a dog. It passed by him and attacked me headfirst.
The friction it was causing with the air was at such a high rate, my clothes even began fluttering, even though they were soaked with water all ready. Nothing was heard but the rushing of water coming towards me, the gigantic blue lotus spinning at me, threatening me with its aquatic petals, spinning like an electric fan during the summer.
As it inched closer, two feet by the second, I decided to jump away to a nearby tree branch, the water crashing into the ground and barely missing me, making a humungous hole at least five feet deep. What am I supposed to do with techniques like that? Damn it… what now? What?
"Don't waste time!" I heard Tsukansu shout from somewhere. I looked around but couldn't find any sign of him, and was even more surprised when I turned around to find an arm made of water with a huge hand like I had made before, the Aqua Reacher taking me by the back, my realization of it too slow. It grabbed me by the shoulders, back, and hips and thrust me into the lake water below, my body now sinking in the blue green waters.
I was facing upward; my body inching down below to the blackness that covered the whole aquatic arena Tsukansu and I were fighting in. I looked up to find the sunlight pouring in from the waters, the shimmering light shaking like a snake pattern on the fanning waters. My body felt even more soaked and heavier than ever, my arms slowed by the surrounding cold waters, the oxygen from my mouth coming out in bubbles that floated up, trying to reach the sky, their dreams and stars but failing to even get out of the water. My eyes were half open now, and the dark water filled my ears. I heard nothing but bubbling and water rushing in, my eyes and hair completely sopped as I took a last look as I sunk back into the darkness.
Crap… what am I supposed to do now…? This can't be the end…
Above the water, Tsukansu was placed on the lake in the middle, his feet still on the water and swaying with the unsteady waters below. He looked down into the water to search for any sign of Walter. Come on, kid. I know you can do this, Tsukansu thought as he stared, disliking the darkness he saw. I know you have the motivation in you. You have it in your eyes. Just like I had once, as well…
PoVS
Darkness surrounded me everywhere, the cool air that went along with it dropping the temperature constantly. Where am I? I thought. I heard the dripping of water around me against the hard floor I stood on, my eyes moving back and forth, trying to see anything, trying to get adjusted to the darkness. But they couldn't. All I saw was pitch-blackness. Nothing more.
My heart grew still as I breathed heavily, becoming more and more scared by the second as to my location. Suddenly, I was knocked back in the chest to a wall that supported me, the rough, rocky surface of it providing no comfort. The smell of cool, gray water filled the air. What was that? I thought. Is there someone else here? I kept my hands by my side on the wall for support. I coughed out cold air and dust. The dirty air was beginning to fill my lungs. I couldn't survive long like this, I thought as the dripping of water droplets rang in my ears.
I heard someone's voice call out to me all of a sudden. I turned to my sides, trying to sense a presence, but found nothing. Then the voice called out to me again, repeating my name. "W-What?" I asked, confused and completely baffled. "Hibiyomi?" I recognized. "Where are we?" I asked, wanting answers. How did I get from a grassy, sunny plain to a dark, stony place like this?
"We're…training," he said, barely answer my question. His voice seemed to come from every direction, the stony walls around us making the sound waves bounce everywhere. His voice was a bit weak but low, the kind that would belong to a mysterious person.
"What? Training?" I asked. "How?" I questioned, still trying to find any other sign as to the location of Hibiyomi, my senses of sight completely useless at the moment. The cold air continued to wrap around me, creating a dark and lonely scene.
"Derek…" he called my name once more. "You're supposed to come after me the best you can. I will grade you accordingly," the words bouncing everywhere.
"But…how can I do that? It's too dark here, I can't see a thing," I told him, wanting the thing that seemed to be infinite darkness to be over. The rough surface of the wall supporting my back began to get old as I drained all the sense of security from it.
"That's just it. You're the Shadow Minor," he reminded me in his low voice. "You should be able to use 'Sight', the ability that lets you sense and see in the dark better. Even in pitch-darkness."
"How do I use it though? I'm too confused," I told him, wanting more information out of him.
"That, I can't tell you. You're going to have to figure it out for yourself," he said. Thanks a lot, I thought. "From now on, there's no joking around!" he declared louder this time, his voice booming off the walls like a million people talking at once, confusing the indistinctive conversation in the are of limited space that didn't seem to have a limit.
I took a sharp breath, sensing something coming towards me, unlike before. I ducked before that thing reached me, only a few seconds later hearing a small crash above me and felt rocks coming down onto my back and neck, dusting my straight black spiky hair with dirt. I covered my head with my hands for cover, and began to breathe hard, feeling a presence right in front of me, but too afraid to look up. What was the use? I couldn't see anything, anyway.
"Good," Hibiyomi's voice closer now. "Looks like its starting to work a little. But if you want to use it to your full extent, then you would've sensed that attack a second right after I decided to use it," he said, talking more than he would usually. This thing was really serious. They're really coming after us with the intention of death. Can I survive this? If I almost got killed by someone like Eruption, wouldn't I die even easily by the Shadow Council? Damn it, I thought. Why does this have to happen now?
PoVS
I was sent through the blue light to some kind of sandy, rocky plains. It reminded me of Jagrock, kind of. With all that dust and dirt, it's going to remind anyone of Jagrock. I stood in the hot, sandy air as I waited for something I didn't know was coming.
I stared into Kanadou, the Earth Council's eyes. I thought this might actually be kind of fun, fighting against a Council Member. I was pretty excited. He hid behind that half black, half white mask with two narrow and slanted eyeholes that seemed to glow an evil stare. A bush of brown spiky hair seemed to cover his whole head, even at the sides. His spiky hair wasn't like Hanabikai's or Derek's. Unlike them, Kanadou had his spiky hair covering all around, like a disheveled form.
You would think that someone who looked like him in that creepy mask would actually be mean and heartless, but if you heard his friendly, kind-hearted voice, you'd change all that. You'd probably call yourself an idiot, too, for thinking something like that. I did.
We continued to stare at each other for another thirty seconds straight, both of us the only people that seemed to be in the whole arena of sandy and dusty air. "So?" I asked. "Are you going to come after me or not?" I provoked, wanting to get started.
He said nothing in reply and zoomed out of position. He sped towards me from behind, I knew. I turned around to block his punch with my sleeveless forearm, giving him a knowing smirk as the impact effect shook, unstable. "Too predictable. I maybe a Minor compared to your powers, but I'm a master at the Tai arts and physical strength fighting," I told him, feeling proud of the title I had earned in my hometown.
After deciding I was becoming too showy, I ducked and let his attack fly by, and decided to sweep kick him down on the floor. He sped out of the way, his figure seeming to suddenly disappear, and at the same time, the ground below began to crack and rise indistinctively and randomly, protruding from the ground with a normal speed.
I jumped from lower elevation to lower elevation, the ground beneath my feet cracking and breaking, all the while rising to the challenge. The shifting of stones was the only thing that was heard in the hot plains, and until I got to flat ground, I wouldn't give up.
Once I landed back down, I found Kanadou right ahead, only a few feet between us. "You don't understand," he stated bluntly. "I'm also a master at both Earth Free Spirit powers and physical strength!" he boasted, his figure speeding away again.
He skipped the two feet between us and launched a regular punch at me. I ducked it off and he tried to sweep kick me down just like I had done to him, but I dodged that too, back-flipping a few more feet away from him. I can dodge these attacks easily, I thought. This guy's really no challenge at all, is he? I got into position, shifting my weight. Then I went after him, launching my own punch at Kanadou. He ducked the punch away as well, and tried for a punch to my head. I backed away from it, the attack only a few centimeters away from the tip of my nose.
I saw the chance and took his arm in the grip of my right hand, and pulled him closer. He forcefully came, and I took his other arm, jumping to place my feet on his chest. We stayed in that position, his body bound to break off with no arms any moment with my inhuman strength.
As we stayed stationary in the position for at least a minute more, his eyes beneath the white and black mask looked like they were about to pop out, and I could tell that he couldn't breath thanks to me stepping into it. "Die!" I declared, smiling.
Soon, the color seemed to drain from his eyes, his mask, his hair, and even his clothes, which was abnormal. A sort of cracking was heard, and the skin I felt under his robe sleeves began to solidify, as if he were turning into ice.
The color completely drained out and now he was like a statue with a frozen expression on his face. The cracking continued to grow louder and louder until finally, the body completely broke, losing its arms in my hold. The torso broke off completely and the legs were torn up, bits and pieces of the stone lying on the floor, the head on the floor staring up to me like an accusing stare. I dropped the two arms that were still in my hand to the sandy floor, freaking out on the inside.
"W-What happened? You're made of stone?" I asked, my voice choking and my eyes staring at the head that wouldn't answer me at all since it was made of stone, and stone only.
"No," I heard Kanadou's voice ring behind me. I was actually thankful and relieved that I heard his voice as I turned around to face his unfriendly stare but kindhearted voice facing back at me. "Lesson One: Stone Form. A good way to begin a fight is making a stone replica to fool the enemy," he stated, sounding smart and superior to me, which he really was but I didn't like to accept that.
He ran towards me with a high speed, trying an uppercut with his fist on me. I moved backward, dodging his attack, thinking again that I was superior to him. His fist was high in the air, and he had swung it a little too hard. I was about to scoff at him until- just then, the circle of ground I had been stepping on roared and cracked, rising up into the air a foot a second.
Soon, I got a head rush and felt nothing beneath me that held me up as I stared down to the clouds below me, the hot sun in my face even more, blinding me. I couldn't move my feet, I realized. Otherwise, I'll fall. I'll fall all the way back from the top of the clouds to the top of the sand-dirty surface. Oh god, I thought. I'm in deep crap.
"Lesson Two," I heard his voice echo from the depths of below, my stomach feeling light and my head light headed. "It's good to have skills in physical strength and combat, but make sure you don't forget about mixing a little of your earth control powers in it too."
I scoffed at his mocking me as I tried to stare back down, the holes in the clouds providing little sight for the surface below. But I had a feeling I didn't want to see the ground. Otherwise, I just might throw up and fall off. "Come on, kid. Where's your creativity?" he laughed. I muttered a string of curses under my breath as I wondered. How the hell am I going to get off of this? I thought as I brushed off a bead of sweat away from my forehead with my hot, tanned forearm.