This chapter is shorter than the last one. I hope you enjoy it.
It was a sunny afternoon when Shin and Jun hiked up a small mountain. Shin had a bag with food for later and a few other things he thought that he would need for the quick lesson he was about to give. Neither of them spoke about the night before. It was mixed with a bit of embarrassment and politeness.
"Okay, this looks like a good spot." Shin said, as they found an opening with a small creek.
"Are you going to teach me the power attacks?" Jun asked a bit too excited for his own good.
Laughing, Shin said no, "You'll learn just the basics stuff while getting used to Suiko."
"Oh, yeah," Jun said, scratching his head, "I'm getting a bit ahead of myself."
Shin only gave the boy a smile, "Ryo said that he went over the orb and stuff, so go ahead and put it on."
Holding the orb, he moved his arms like he remembered when the warrior of water did them. He got nothing.
"It didn't work last night either."
"That's odd. Let me see." Shin said.
He too tried to call the armor, which ended in nothing happening.
"Don't do this to me now, Suiko." Shin said with a bit more anger in his voice.
He tried again, only to watch the armor knock Jun over into the creek. The now armored boy sat up, looking confused.
"Ow." He mumbled.
"Sorry. I wasn't expecting Suiko to do that." Shin said, trying to not laugh at the boy.
"Now I'm wet." Jun said, getting out of the creek.
Shin laughed even more, "You better get used to that feeling; you are bearing the armor of water."
"I thought the armor would be heavier." Jun sat, putting the trident down, "Why did it have to knock me over?"
"Don't know. It might have to do with passing the armor to the new bearer."
"Did it do that to you?"
Shin stopped to think about it, "No, because I was in the water already."
Going through the things he brought, Shin undid two wooden staffs and a wooden sword. He was borrowing them from the training base. Trading one of the staffs for the Suiko weapon, Shin started.
"The staff is more for distance than a sword." Shin started, "Unless you're Seiji then any distance is your friend."
Jun was busy going through a simple set of movement, swinging the staff around him. After the boy was moving faster, Shin broke with train of thought with the wooden sword. Not used to the smaller weapon, he quickly swung it towards Jun. Hitting it with the staff, Jun continued his moves, causing the sword to come back at Shin.
"What was that for?" Jun asked.
"Just checking your grip." Shin calmly said.
Jun then was shown some other moves before Shin began showing him how to spin the weapon.
"You need to spin it from in between your index and middle fingers, and then to your thumb before repeating it." Shin spoke when Jun was having problems.
Soon after, Jun was getting it quickly. Walking around him, Shin picked up a small stone.
"What's the spinning for?"
"A bit of offence and defense." Shin said, before standing in front of Jun, "And you can show off a bit to friends and family."
When Shin felt that the boy was spinning it fast enough, he threw the rock. The rock went through to hit Jun in the head.
"Hey." He said stopping.
"Sorry. I guess I threw it too hard." Shin smirked, "Lunch?"
"Yeah." Jun said, dropping the wooden staff and the helmet, "It doesn't get hot in the armor does it?"
"Not here by the water."
They both sat under a tree. Taking his jacket off, Shin rested against the tree as he went through his bag.
"We don't have much of a kitchen to use on base, so I hope sandwiches and crisps are alright." Shin said tossing them.
"That's okay. Any cooking of yours is great." Jun said, ripping the wrapping apart, "Are you scared going back to Africa?"
Shin swallowed his food, "Not as I was before. I guess I'm more worried about you and Suiko."
"We will be fine. Shu said he was going to show me a few things too, and Ryo was going to help as well."
"After lunch, we'll work with the actual weapon. It's heavier than wood, but I think you can handle it." Shin said, opening the potato crisps.
"Too bad it isn't the old weapon. That claw was cool."
"It was fun."
"What about the other claw and knife?"
"Oh, those." Shin laughed, "I never thought to use them. A great Suiko bearer never loses his weapon."
"Were you good then?"
"Good enough to forget about them."
They both laughed.
"How are your parents doing?" Shin finally asked.
"They're fine." Jun said nonchalantly, "My mom still works at home. Dad still works for the bank. Neither of them understands kendo. They show up to all the matches, but I can't talk about it like I can with Ryo or Seiji."
"When I told my mother I was joining the Maritime Agency, she was indifferent about it." Shin spoke softly, "But when I talked about it more, she decided that I wasn't making a mistake, well, until I was shot after trying to save someone. But sometimes you just have to let them know what you are doing and why you want to do it. They'll come around to be interested or they won't. You can't force it."
Standing up Shin stretched, "Which, this is a good time to compare that lesson to Suiko."
Shin started to take his boots off, and rolled his pant legs up. Grabbing one of the staffs, he tossed the trident to Jun. He grabbed the rest of his things, and headed into the water.
"Come on. Suiko's better in the water. I think there's a pond nearby."
Minutes later, Shin was finding himself being tossed around from Jun in the armor. He was outmatched in speed, and strength. The only thing he had going for him was experience, knowledge of the armor, and he could swim a whole lot better than Jun. The practice armor he had taken from base was beat up pretty good as well. As he found himself in another tree, Jun came up from the pond.
"Are you okay Shin?"
Untangling himself from the tree, Shin gave the boy a thumbs up.
"I think you'll be fine if something comes up." He coughed, "You just have to get used to fighting in the water. I recommend swimming every day and dragging Shu into the water with you."
"Shu hates swimming."
"Makes chasing him even more fun." Shin smiled as he got out of the tree, "Then you bribe him with surfing or food and he'll be happy again."
"One more question: how do you take the armor off?" Jun asked.
"Uh, just wish it off. That's what I've always done."
"What time is it?"
"Dinner time." Shin said looking at his watch, "I better get you back to Ryo so he can take you home."
The boy nodded. Both of them were feeling confident that Jun would be fine.