The Training

"Okay, you can go," called Saul over the crashing waves. Michael looked up and squinted against the bright light. The darkness was still all around him and he was lucky that he heard Saul shouting over the rushing waves. He could barely hear anything aside from the waves smashing against the walls as well as the waves rushing around his metal legs. He wondered for a second if the water was cold. If that was part of the test, but he couldn't feel anything due to his golem body. He lowered his body down and dipped his fingers into the water as if thinking that he could feel it with his fingers. He couldn't of course. He couldn't tell if the water was cold or boiling hot…or even if it was wet. He rubbed his two fingers together as if testing out the water.

Then again his challenge had nothing to do with the water. It had to do with getting out of this place. He looked upwards and towards the darkened hole that laid before him. He took a tentative step forward and made his way through the darkness. He was a bit worried as he tried to feel his way through. He pressed his arms against the solid cave walls around him and pressed to make sure they were sturdy. He was a bit wobbly on his own two feet, the ground was slick and slippery. If he hurried too much he would probably slip and fall on his butt. Nonetheless he kept trudging forward through this dark cave. The water was steadily getting higher and higher. As he tried to lift his feet up he could feel the water's resist and try to pull him back down. Nonetheless Michael kept his head low and tried to push on through. He wasn't going to let a little water stop him.

He lifted his head and wit his Soul Perception he managed to catch a glimpse of his faithful partner's soul once more. He realized that never before has it ever seemed so warm and inviting to him. He shrugged it off. Saul said this would take him about a week to complete if he managed to do it without getting distracted too much, Michael was fairly certain if he let his mind wander in here too much it would take even longer. He walked forward one hand outstretched in front of him to make sure he didn't run into any jutting rocks and another pressed against the wall on his left side. He had heard once that you could escape any maze as long as you kept one hand pressed against the same side of the wall throughout the entire walk. He was just making sure he didn't get lost. He trained his eyes forward and looked on. But looked on into what? The only thing he could see was a massive swirling darkness in all corners of his vision. A completely dark cave was swallowing him up and he had no option in the matter. He blinked once as if trying to concentrate and then focused forward. He caught sight of May's soul once more and let out a heavy sigh. He felt a little bit more at peace just by looking at it. He stumbled forward for a brief second, but he quickly rebound from that and kept up a steady pace. He paused as he slowly trudged through the maze-like caverns taking a brief respite as he came upon a wall right in his way. He reached forward and tried to reach around it, but quickly found that while both of his hands could go to either side of it…he couldn't go all the way around. This was a partition. He was faced with the choice of going left or going right. He looked back over to May, hoping that this was just a test and that she knew the answer. However, he realized that he had no idea if she knew the answer and was broadcasting it to him. She didn't seem to be bothered…as if she didn't even notice that Michael was worried all the way in here…than again how could she?

Michael moaned and tried to step forward and through the dark caves. He felt the cave walls, but he couldn't tell anything. Did they reconnect later on? Did they stay separated? Was this a part of the test. Michael could feel his stress building as he tried to take a small step forward and through the water, once more he felt the horrible sucking power of the water trying to keep his foot planted as if warning him he was going down the wrong path. However, he knew that wasn't it. The water was a sentient being, it was just his nerves eating away at him as he made another slight step forward to get out. He paused and hesitated again and again at this spot. He realized the more time he spent here the more time he was wasting, completing this trial in a week was quickly becoming a pipe dream.

(-End of Day 1-)

May was just stretching out, an unmatchable boredom was just starting to overcome her. She looked around and saw her small tent and other modest commodities. She yawned and got up. She looked up to the dark sky and saw the brilliant white moon descending. She was about to call Rochelle and ask for a helicopter to come by and pick her up and take her home…but she realized that she couldn't do that. She turned around and stared back at the cavernous abyss in front of her. Michael was still in there if she moved from this spot then he'd lose track of his goal and get lost in there….May frowned as she looked at the pitch-black cave in front of her. Her partner was stuck in there.

She moved back over to her tent and opened it up. It was a modest set-up honestly she had next to nothing out here, a few changes of clothes, a little cot to rest in, and the similar items. There was nothing here that she was particularly fond of. She realized that she was being selfish after all Michael was trapped in a cavern with no light or hope, only her own soul to guide him out of there, but still…this set-up was definitely quite a few step downs from her original place.

She just needed to rest here. Michael had the hard part. She just needed to lie her head down and sleep, stay here and help Michael find his way out.

(-Day 2-)

May yawned and shook herself awake. The morning sun had just set in. Her stomach just grumbled from a slight hunger that was common in the morning especially after a stressful day…however, May looked over the small campsite and soon moaned in annoyance. There was no food around here. There was no electricity, so no refrigerator…and nothing else of that kind. She shook her head and forced herself to look at things from Michael's perspective. Michael was stuck in that cave. She reached in and took out her cell phone. She'd just call Melody up and ask her to bring food out. Surely she'd make the run…if May could get a hold of her. No cell phone reception out here. May angrily threw her cell phone down to the ground and moped back to her bed. Is this just another part of the test to see how long she can go without food…cause if it was that was just twisted. Maybe Rochelle or Saul would realize their mistake and come back?

(-With Michael-)

Michael trudged through the dark waters, which seemed to have been steadily growing higher. It was no up to mid-thigh as he moved through it sluggishly. It seemed no matter how hard he carried on. His legs kept getting heavier with every step until he was prone just to shuffle them through the water. As he took another step he felt his leg get sucked into the muddy ground beneath him, disappearing beneath the surface. The sudden change made him lose his balance and sent him tumbling forward briefly. His arms stretched out and managed, through sheer luck, to grab a hold of a large rock and stay above water. "Crap…" he said wiping his brow clear and looking on into the darkness. He realized that doing so only made his heart sink deeper than his foot. There was no light. He didn't even know why he bothered to look. His eyes were slowly starting to adjust to the lack of light, but even then there was nothing for him to really see. The cave was carved out like a tunnel, no cave paintings on the wall, no crystals glittering, not even a root from a tree bursting out. It was a mind-numbingly boring sight.

"Heh heh."

Michael turned around and almost out of instinct drew an imaginary arrow from an imaginary bow. He paused for a second and despite not having a weapon in his hand, he didn't lower it. He kept his hands in that position and slowly looked around him as if he could scare his opponents off with an invisible (and non-existent) weapon. It took him a few seconds to calm down. He lowered the imaginary bow and grabbed his head. "I'm starting to hear things down here…great. Maybe after countless battles to the death against monsters I'm finally losing it."

This was a test of both the mind and body. If the body is too weak you'd collapse and die in this tunnel. If the mind is too weak you'd come out a changed man. That was what Saul had warned him about. Apparently being alone in the dark after battling countless evil Kishins your mind just kind of broke down. Michael shook his head and tried to think happier thoughts than those that kept telling him he was screwed. He tried to trudge on further into the cave, but the wet mud beneath his feet kept letting loose hideously, wet, slopping sounds with every step. He looked up and saw May's warm, inviting soul in front of him. He smiled and kept walking forward. He was thankful that his partner hadn't abandoned him yet. He walked a little further, trying to find his way out.

"Heh heh!"

(-end of Day 2-)

Michael slugged against the wall and sat down. He opened up one of the small repair kits and ran over his body, doing a short and brief inspection of his body. He trusted his mind. His mind hadn't changed on him, but for some reason despite all the trouble this body had been through with him. Michael still didn't trust it. He still felt like it was a foreign intruder in his world. Like something else had crept up on him and stole his real body leaving him with his piece of crap. He felt almost cheated…he felt angry that it had happened to him. He knew it was to save his life, but…but still why wasn't he just allowed to go down! Go down like a human rather than live like…like…like a freak! He picked up a nearby rock and lifted it into the air, originally intending to smash his own leg, but he paused before he even lowered the rock. He shook his head. Things like this were normal for him…he had gotten used to the urge to smash this infernal body. Normally when that happened he would call up May or Canary the nurse who had attended to his body when he first got it, but that was gone now. His lifeline was gone…

No…it wasn't. Michael looked up and saw his lifeline. May's glowing soul, still radiating for him at the end of this cave. He couldn't quit just yet. As long as she was there he would trudge on. He would make it out of here in one piece. May was his partner before he had become a golem and she was still his partner. She was the reason he was holding on. That soul at the end of the tunnel was the reason he managed to drop the rock off to the side and walk forward again.

I stated before that this is an unnecessarily long piece of the story line and I'm sticking with it...but it was for me to write and hopefully fun for you guys (or is it just one guy now?) to read.