This is where Lazarus exposes his second day anxiety.

Chapter 5: Second Day Jitters

The next day comes around and all of the kids got to the courtyard waiting for Master Shifu and the others to arrive and Kenji was looking forward to what the second day brings in and he looks up at Lazarus and he's scratching the back on his head and he recognized his nervous gesture and he asked, "Lazzie?"

Lazarus looks up at Kenji for a second and he asked, "What?"

"You got a tick on you or something?" asked Kenji.

Lazarus groans heavily as he tries to get rid of this itch that's driving him crazy and Kenji could immediately get the sense that the itch means he's got crazy anxious levels and he asked, "You're nervous, aren't ya?"

Lazarus lets out a deep moan as his scratching intensifies and he turns to Kenji and said, "Kenji...I'm just freaking out because the first day was nerve-wracking and you know I scratch like crazy when I'm nervous."

Kenji looks up and he sees the masters coming in the courtyard and he quickly whispers in Lazarus' ear and said, "Hope you won't show it to the masters because they're coming in."

Lazarus suddenly stops himself and tries to remain still despite having his itch rising up again and he lets out some quiet whimpers as he keeps himself calm while being in front of the masters and Shifu looks up at the kids and said, "Good morning, children."

"Good morning, Master Shifu." the children responded.

"We had a pretty successful first day yesterday and let's hope we do the same today and in the weeks to come. This time, we're gonna switch it up a notch. Each of them will work with one kung-fu master for a one-on-one training session." Shifu said.

Lazarus' itch slowly faded away after hearing that and it was replaced to anxiety because he's afraid that someone would see his prostetic arm and get rejected in the process. Kenji looks up at Lazarus and he asked, "You hear that? We get to work with one master. I'm hoping it's Tigress. She is a smokin' hot tiger."

Kenji chuckled softly as he looked at her and imagined him and her together fighting crime and also bouncing in the flowers together and Lazarus looked at him and said, "Dude, she's like too old for you."

Kenji scoffed at this and said, "Like you would know."

Shifu then said, "One person gets to work with each of the kung-fu masters of their choice while the rest of you spend your time with the Dragon Warrior."

Most of the kids were enthusiastic about being able to train with Po and it also excited him too and just then, some of the kids chose one master of their own choice and Kenji gets himself up and goes towards Tigress and said, "I would personally love to train with the honor of the most fiercest tiger such as yourself."

Tigress did not know what to make of Kenji's comments and she responded, "Thank you?"

Kenji smiles at him and lets out a sly chuckle and said, "So...what are you doing after we train?"

Tigress releases her grip from Kenji and replied, "More training."

Lazarus comes towards Kenji and he shakes his head like Kenji's gonna say or do something that'll put him in hot water and he tells her, "Make sure Kenji doesn't get on your nerves because he's got a mad crush on you."

Kenji chuckled nervously at this and started blushing and he said, "Laz...don't blow this up. I just want to make my move."

"Yeah, to the hospital. I'll be working with Musaki." Lazarus added.

Tigress stops him for a second and she was surprised that he'd work with Musaki and she asked, "Why Musaki?"

"I like to give new people or mentors a chance and after yesterday, I think he'd be the perfect fit for me as my master." Lazarus answered.

"But wouldn't you want someone with plenty of experience?" asked Tigress.

Lazarus looks at Musaki for a second and then he said, "That's okay. You've got Kenji."

Tigress stood there, looking confused and dumbfounded that Lazarus would pick Musaki as his one-on-one trainer and she's stuck with Kenji and she said, "Guess I'm stuck with you."

"You're so hot." Kenji suddenly said.

That didn't sit well with Tigress and Kenji had no idea what he just said and couldn't believe he said it in front of her and he chuckled nervously and said, "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did." Tigress said, annoyed.

"Oops."

Meanwhile, Lazarus walks in front of Musaki and he stood there in silence, didn't know what he was gonna say and Musaki looked up at him and he asked, "You want to work with me?"

Lazarus responded with nodding his head and Musaki could tell that he's really quiet and reserved and he immediately understood that he's really shy and all Musaki could do is smile and said, "You're shy, aren't you?"

"Mm-hmm." Lazarus said, nervously.

"I've been there before. There's no need to be shy about anything, Lazarus." Musaki said.

Lazarus wasn't sure if someone like Musaki could relate to him, but he could see that he's willing to learn something from him and that maybe he could be someone that he'd be more likely to trust during this process of this experience. He looked at him and asked, "Think you can teach me a few things?"

Musaki puts his hand on Lazarus' shoulder and said, "I'll show you everything I know."

Lazarus lets out a small sigh as he went behind Musaki on the way to the training hall, totally unsure about what will happen if Musaki finds out about his prostectic arm eventually, but decided to push that thought to the side and just focus on training with him. As they got inside, Musaki looks over at him and he said, "Show me what ya got."

Lazarus was definitely nervous about showing a few kung-fu moves in front of Musaki and he tries to warm up before he gets ready and after that, he does a basic stance and does a side kick and multiple rounds of moves he could do one-armed. That intrigued Musaki to see his moves and he was completely surprised to see that he got some and he said, "How'd you learn how to do those moves?"

"Hard to say, actually. But I've been practicing for like 5 years, so..." Lazarus replied.

"Cool. All righty, here are some basic tips; don't think about anything else, keep your focus steady and always...and I do mean always...believe in yourself." Musaki said.

The latter part seemed to be the one he's most skeptical about because he had a fear about what would happen if someone would comment on the fact that he's got one arm while doing kung-fu. He clears his throat and he said, "Okay, I'll...I'll try."

"Don't fill your mind with self-doubt because it makes it harder for you to succeed in your training."

Musaki shows him a few moves that he made and Lazarus watched what he does in hopes of emulating it, but with only one arm. After only a few minutes, Lazarus was ready to tackle in his moves and break them in on his own and when he did a certain frontflip, he held onto his good arm for a second while spreading his legs far apart.

Lazarus could not believe what he had just did and he chuckled softly at this and said, "I can't believe I did that."

Musaki was impressed as well that he got it down to a science and he said, "Like I said, anything's possible if you believe in yourself and your ability."

"Yeah, you're right."

At that point, Lazarus definitely knew he made the right choice in choosing Musaki as his personal trainer and he sees it as his stepping stone in achieving kung-fu...with one arm. But Musaki has yet to know about Lazarus' prostectic arm just yet and as the day goes on, Musaki continues helping Lazarus build him efforts on his stances and moves and each time he corrects Lazarus on something, he does it with a sense of patience and compassion to go along with it, which made Lazarus want to rely on Musaki even more.

Lazarus brought in more moves and he emulated whatever moves Musaki taught him and made it his own and that seemed to impress Musaki more and more and he looks at him and said, "That was awesome, Laz! I am so proud of you!"

Lazarus has never heard those words before, except when it comes to being alive or other things but this is definitely the first time someone's actually proud of his process and he said, "Really?"

"Does an egg roll taste good?"

Lazarus couldn't help but let out a chuckle at that and with that comment, it basically means a yes. He looks at him and said, "Thanks."

Both of them left the training hall to get some air and when they see Kenji come up, his fur looked a little messed up and Lazarus looked at him and said, "Kenji...what happened to you?"

Kenji clears his throat and said, "Let's just say...Tigress couldn't resist my charm."

Musaki looks up at Kenji's nose and sees a little bump on it and he asked, "Is this Tigress' work?"

"Pretty much. I tried to do her version of the tiger stance, but I accidently stomped on her tail and she kinda slammed me down." Kenji added.

"Ouch. Sorry about that."

Kenji chuckled and said, "Are you kidding me? I've always wanted to be taken down by her. I gotta say, whoever raised a good-looking person like her...we'd be mates in a second."

Musaki tilted his head in confusion on what Kenji said and he said, "She's like...a million and a half years older than you, Ken. I don't think that will be a possible chance."

"Did you get parts of her teaching skills well?" asked Lazarus.

Kenji scratched the back of his fur and replied, "You could say that."

Musaki walks over to see how everyone else is doing and he gives Lazarus a thumbs-up as he kept walking and Kenji asked, "So...how did it go with Musaki?"

"It was actually pretty good. I've never done anything like this before as I used to before I lost my arm."

Kenji chuckled softly and he said, "It's a good thing Tigress didn't see my prostetic legs yet."

Lazarus was a little concerned to see how he can handle the next couple of weeks without anyone else knowing about his prostectic arm because of how they'll react, but if he can keep this silent until he gets to know them well enough, everything will go smoothly. He lets out a heavy sigh and said, "Kenji...I think I may have a huge challenge ahead of me."

"What's that, Lazi?" asked Kenji.

"Letting the kung-fu masters find out about us...our prostetic limbs."

How do you think the entire camp will go for them? Find out next! I'm gonna be M.I.A. for a couple of days, so I'll post the next chapter when I get back on Saturday! Laterz!