Hi there! It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, even though this break was kind of long, I did do extremely well on my final exams so there's that to be happy about. It was hard for me to get back into writing after the two weeks break, so I hope this chapter turned out okay.
Chapter Fourteen: Practice Makes Perfect
The sun was high in the sky, beating down astringently upon the orange ninja. Every pore on her body oozed perspiration and she ripped the mask from her face for a brief second, feeling the slightly cooler air on her sticky skin. A few strands of red hair had tumbled loose from her ponytail, sticking to the back of her neck. Both she and Lloyd had been training outside for about two hours now, virtually no progress being made. "Come on, try again!" the green ninja called out, his lightly narrowed eyes the only visible feature from behind his own mask. "You can't give up now, Laurie. Just try one more time!"
Breathing labored, the teenager quickly used the left sleeve of her gi to wipe sweat from her brow before replacing her mask. "I've been trying all day, Lloyd!" the girl yelled, obviously frustrated. The noon sun was unforgiving and Laurie had only managed to conjure up a weak breeze that had barely cooled Lloyd off in the heat. That had been a little over an hour ago. Frustration was building up inside of her. Here was this newly found ability of hers, the power to channel her element without a golden weapon, and she could not even manage to accomplish it on a whim. Maybe it was all just a fluke, just a parlor trick Laurie could perform on the occasion. Concentrating hard, she held her hands out in front of her, imagining a strong gust of wind pushing Lloyd backwards. Minutes passed as she stood there, attempting to make her vision a reality. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort happened.
"I'm done," the girl huffed, turning her back on her training partner and heading towards the door that led to the interior of the dojo. She could hear Lloyd protesting behind her, telling her that she just needed to keep trying. "It's not working and I'd like to take a break to just train with a weapon," Laurie shot back, pushing open the door that lay just ahead of her. Lloyd's hurried footsteps were quickly approaching, but Laurie did not look back.
The chilled, still air of Dareth's dojo was sweet relief. With one swift motion, the orange ninja removed her mask once more, tucking it into the dark orange sash tied around her waist. Everyone around Laurie was training as her footsteps made padded softly across a tatami mat. Both Jay and Cole were sparring with one another, their grunts of effort filling the room with each parry and dodge. On the opposite side of the room sat Zane, his eyes closed in concentration as he meditated. Nya was conversing with Kai as he took out his frustration on a lazily hanging punching bag. Glancing warily around as everyone carried on, Laurie made her way carefully towards the doorway that lead towards the back of the dojo.
"Laurie, wait!" Lloyd called out as he burst through the front door of the building. His slightly labored breathing caught everyone's attention. The orange ninja turned on her heel, facing her brother and blushing deeply as silence fell upon every individual. "You can't just give up, sis! You just need to train a little bit more! It'll take a little practice, but we can get it."
A small smile crept upon Laurie's lips and she approached Lloyd, placing a gentle hand on his right shoulder. "I'm not giving up, Lloyd," she sighed, feeling the slight anger and frustration that had been building up within her dissipate. Why was she getting upset over something like this anyways? Of course she would not be able to master this without practice. It was foolish of her to even think that she possibly could. "No, I'm not quitting. I had said I just wanted to get a weapon and take a short break." She ruffled his sweaty, blonde hair and turned back in the direction she had previously been walking in. "You should take a break too. You've been working really hard."
Lloyd gave an approving nod, turning towards Zane who had resumed his meditation. The small, green ninja sat down next to him, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. Laurie gave let a light chuckle escape her lips. Well, it was not the most effective way to "meditate", but perhaps her brother could use a little bit of a nap. "Now, I think Dareth keeps the spare weapons in the back." The orange ninja pushed her way through the flimsy beads that hung from the doorway that lead to the rest of the building, a few of the strands catching on the hair that had come loose from her ponytail. "Ow," Laurie complained lightly, detangling herself from the décor. The room around her was dimly lit, the few fluorescent bulbs on the ceiling flickering on and off. "Now, if I were a cabinet full of spare weapons, where would I be?"
There was the soft sound of movement off to Laurie's right and she tensed up, ice blue eyes darting over towards the corner of the room. Rhea was sitting on the floor, twirling the ends of her light blue hair around fingers and repositioning herself to sit on her knees. "You scared me," Laurie breathed, willing her rapidly beating heart to slow down. "Why are you back here by yourself anyways?" The young girl just shrugged her shoulders in response, her attention fixated on her own hair.
Sighing, Laurie moved more towards the center of the room where a wooden desk sat by its lonesome. A single piece of paper lay strewn across with messy handwriting scrawled on it. "'Went to lunch, be back soon. From, Grand Sensei Dareth,'" the teenager read out loud, pushing the paper across the surface of the polished wood. From the little she had seen of the dojo owner he seemed extremely unreliable. This was no exception. "I guess I'll just have to search until I find them," Laurie continued, crossing her arms over her chest. She heard Rhea shift once more in the corner and turned her gaze on the small girl. "Would you want to help me?" she asked tentatively.
Rhea nodded, getting to her feet and flipping her hair back over her shoulder. Her mind was wandering though, not necessarily on the task at hand, but on the limited time she now had to get rid of this teenage girl. The two moved through into another room that was pitch black. Rhea squinted her eyes as an overhead light sprung to life. It was much brighter in this room than the one adjacent to it. "Oh," she heard Laurie laugh, "I think this is what I've been looking for, right here!" It was a large, wooden cabinet that sat up against the wall on the opposite side of the room. The orange ninja approached it, throwing open the twin doors and quickly scurrying backwards as several different types of weapons fell forward, scattering across the floor. Well someone had been too lazy to properly stow the objects in a proper fashion.
"Hey, do you mind helping me pick this stuff up?" Laurie questioned, turning towards Rhea. The girl was gone though, nowhere to be found. "I'll just get it myself then," she muttered, bending over a moving several different types of swords out of the way, searching for a staff she could use to train with. There was something resembling a staff that Laurie quickly procured, but upon closer inspection she realized that it was just the end of a scythe. Sighing, she picked up the weapon and haphazardly shoved it back into the cabinet. One by one, the orange ninja picked up weapons that she did not know how to use and placed them back where they had come from. Several swords, a few scythes, nunchucks, and shurikens littered the interior of the cabinet. Feeling satisfied with her cleaning up, the girl turned back towards the floor.
A single staff lay near her right foot, next to a pair of oddly crafted daggers.
Curious, Laurie knelt on the ground next to the weapons. She had seen these before, but the proper name escaped her at this point in time. Cautiously, she picked one of them up by the handle. The main shaft of the weapon was much longer than the other two, which curved upwards slightly and appeared more symmetrical. The cabinet seemed to hold spare weapons for the ninja, judging by its lack of variety. If that was the case, than whom did these belong to? Laurie picked up the other weapon, holding them both in her hands. Perhaps Lloyd had tried training with them in the past and decided that they were not the weapon for him. Taking in a deep breath, the orange ninja stood and stowed the twin weapons back in the cabinet before closing the doors.
"Who's back here?" came a voice, startling Laurie. She dove for the staff on the ground, spun around on her knees and held one of the blunt ends of the weapon up against the throat of a scared looking man. Dareth held his hands up in defeat as Laurie let out a shaky breath. "You can take whatever you want! Let me just warn you though that my trophies are fake!" the dojo owner swallowed hard as Laurie lowered the weapon and stood up. Sudden realization came over the man and he laughed nervously. "Wait, you're not a burglar."
The slightest bit of irritation began to claw at the back of the orange ninja's mind. "No, I'm not a burglar," she stated plainly. "I just wanted to use a staff so I came back here to find one." Dareth just nodded, as if to say that it was fine to use the weapon, and turned to leave the room, flipping the lights off as he exited. Suddenly bathed in darkness, Laurie leaped forward, out of the room. "Hey, do you know who uses the sai's that are in the cabinet back there?" she found herself asking. Finally, she had remembered what they were called. It was honestly none of her business, but she was curious.
"Ah, some kid," Dareth replied, his back turned on Laurie. He took the note from his desk and crumpled it up into a tight ball before tossing it into a wire wastebasket. "He hasn't been around here in a while though, so I'm sure you could use them if you wanted to." Rhea stood up from the corner she had been favoring, startling the man who stumbled backwards into his desk, knocking a small trophy on to the floor. Laurie could hear the girl stifle a small laugh as she walked out to join the others in the larger room.
Some kid, huh? It was probably just an infrequent student who had moved away and left some weapons here. "No, I don't really know how to use them, but thanks for the offer," Laurie answered, watching as Dareth regained his composure and picked up the cheap, little trophy. She turned around, pushing the beads away once more, happy to make it through them without another struggle. Lloyd was up and moving, sparring with Kai who was easily blocking the young boy's attempts to knock him off of his feet. "Hey, Lloyd!" Laurie called out, smiling. "I'm ready to get back to it if you are." She held the bō staff in both hands now, holding it out in front of her.
The young boy took a step backwards, wiping the sweat from his brow before giving a deep nod. "Alright, let's go try it out with that now. Maybe you'll actually feel more confident in yourself now." Laurie raised an eyebrow as Lloyd gave Kai a departing wave and the two siblings made their way out of the front door and back out onto the hot street. Procuring his mask from his belt, the green ninja pulled it down over his face and smiled. "Now don't hold back or anything," Lloyd stated, clasping his gloved hands in front of him. "Neither of us are going to learn anything if we decide to go easy on each other." Already he could feel small beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Alright, let's go!"
Laurie had barely turned around after walking a few feet before Lloyd had advanced upon her. He threw a punch that hit square on her left arm and she sucked in a breath, bringing the staff around to knock his fist away. "Whoa, what are you doing?" she questioned, ducking as a sudden burst of energy shot over her head. The charge that still lingered caused the hair on the back of Laurie's neck to stand on end. Lloyd jumped into the air, bringing his foot down close to Laurie's head. She grunted, lifting the staff horizontally and catching her brother's foot. He pushed off, using the momentum to land in a crouch not too far away. "I'm not even ready yet!" the teenager complained, fumbling to pull her mask from the sash around her waist. Laurie pulled it down over her face quickly, feeling rushed and disheveled.
"An enemy isn't going to give you time to prepare in a real situation," Lloyd laughed, rushing forward once more. He kicked out at his sister's knee caps, but she jumped back quickly to his surprise. "Good, now stop defending yourself and try to attack me!" The green ninja put his palms together, building up an orb of energy. His emerald eyes locked onto Laurie as he prepared to unleash his attack, but she was running towards him now, planting the end of the staff on the ground and using it to jump over Lloyd's head. He turned around quickly, a smile playing at the edge of his lips, only to be greeted by a strong rush of air. It pushed him off of his feet and sent him skidding across the asphalt.
Breathing heavy, Laurie stared at her outstretched arm, the one she had somehow managed to conjure wind with. She had done it! She had actually managed to use her elemental abilities consciously and when she needed it. Grinning, the orange ninja gripped the staff with both hands now. Maybe Lloyd was right and she just needed to feel more confident in order to perform to her highest potential. She rested her gaze upon the small individual who was sitting up, dazed. "Oh my gosh," she breathed, dropping her weapon and running towards her brother.
Lloyd blinked as he managed to get into a sitting position. A shadow cast itself upon him and he looked up into the ice blue eyes of his sister. "Are you okay?" Laurie asked quickly, extending a gloved hand. "You're not hurt, are you? I didn't hurt you, right?" The green ninja accepted his sister's hand and got to his feet. Still slightly disoriented, he only nodded in response. Closing her eyes, Laurie took in a deep breath. At least Lloyd said he was okay. Then she was swept off of her own feet, feeling the pavement greet her back.
She opened her eyes to see Lloyd leaning over her. "Good job," the green ninja laughed, watching as Laurie sat up slowly. "You did it! See, I told you it would just take a little practice." The teenager got to her feet and looked around slowly before pulling her brother into a tight hug. "Maybe you should listen to me more often," Lloyd continued, feeling his self-confidence skyrocket.
"Maybe you shouldn't get so cocky," Laurie teased, breaking the embrace. She yanked the elastic from her red hair and hurriedly pulled it back into another sloppy ponytail. "This time I'm going to make sure you can't take advantage of me when I'm not paying attention." She walked back to the bō staff on the street and picked it back up. "Come on," she smiled. "Let's go again."
Okay, so I'm back now and you should expect another update next Friday. :3
Thanks for being patient and I hope you're still enjoying! :D