Haley

The next morning went pretty much the same as the day before. Except it was Saturday and Ashley didn't have school. So, it was my job to make sure she and Allie woke up on time for their training during the weekend. I woke up really early, as in before the sun rose, and got dressed. Today was my first day training with Sakaki, so I had to get ready for it. Before I left the dojo last night, he told me to be there 7 at the latest. This meant that I had to wake Allie and Ashley up and make everyone's breakfast and be at a dojo that was about 1 hour away by 7.

Needless to say, my alarm clock's buzzer woke me up at 5:30 and I was tempted to hit the snooze button. I almost did too, but when I brought my fist down to hit it, I hit the nightstand it stood on. And I didn't punch it lightly either.

"Ow!" I yelled, sitting up and holding my hand close to me. I turned my head to see Allie and Ashley standing there. Ashley was holding my alarm clock, smirking at me.

"You won't need this from now on," Ashley said. She handed it to Allie who walked out the room. She returned a minute later.

"What did you do with my alarm clock?" Haley asked. "What's going on?"

"We're going to help you find your way to the dojo," Allie said. "You know cuz you suck at directions." Ashley laughed.

"Yeah, so hurry up and get dressed. We leave in 10 minutes!" Ashley said. She and Allie walked out of my room.

"Hey!" I yelled. Ashley turned around.
"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"What am I supposed to wear?" I asked. She sighed.

"Whatever you feel you can move around easy in," she simply said. Then she turned around and closed the door behind her. "You've got 9 minutes!" she yelled through the door. I jumped out of bed and ran to my closet. The doors were opened and I stared at my clothes.

"Let's see. Oh! I know!" I said. I grabbed a pair of my orange sweatpants and a black tank top. Then I grabbed a pair of my black and orange tennis shoes and tied my long hair back. I turned around to look at my clock….but it wasn't there. I sighed. "Oh yeah, they took my clock." I walked to the door and opened it to see Ashley and Allie standing on either side of it, looking like guards at a private party. They both turned and looked to see that I was ready.

"Okay, let's go. With you slowing us down, it'll take us twice as long to get to the dojo than normal so we'll want to get a heads start," Ashley said.

"What? What do you mean me slowing you down?" I asked, very offended.

"You're slow."

"Ashley! You could be nicer about it!" Allie said. Ashley just shrugged.

"Whatever. You two know I don't give a shit this early in the morning. The master's told you and me to get back here by 7:30 and it'll take us about an hour and a half to get there with Haley going with us. So let's hurry up," Ashley said.

"Are you done insulting me?" I asked. Ashley thought about it, then nodded.

"Yeah, for now," she said. I sighed. A sleepy and morning Ashley is a mean Ashley. Well, usually anyway. Sometimes she can be nice. We left the dojo sooner than planned and it wasn't long before I started to complain about my feet hurting.

"Ashley," I complained. "My feet hurt!"

"I don't want to hear it! So quit your complaining and move it!" Ashley yelled. She and Allie were walking in front of me, trying to slow down so that I could keep up.

"But my feet hurt! And I'm tired!" I moaned. I saw her trembling in front of me. Then she turned around and gave me the evil eye, making me shiver in fear.

"If you don't shut up, I'm gonna start running and leave your sorry ass behind! Now either shut up and keep walking or keep complaining and start running!" Ashley whispered. She turned really scary when she whispered. More so than when she was loud and violent. That's when you knew you were getting on her last nerve, when she started to talk quietly and had a forced smile on her lips. Also, her trembling with anger wasn't a very good sign either. I gulped.

"Okay," I said. "I'll stop complaining." She sighed then turned back around and started to walk forward again. By now, it was 6:00.

"Alright Haley. Once we are past this town coming up, it's a straight shot to the town Sakaki's dojo is in. We'll be running that part. Try to keep up!" Allie said, warning me of more movement up ahead. I sighed.

"So I have to run anyway?"

"Would you rather just sleep at that dojo? It's a much shorter distance but you'll probably have to go through harder training," Ashley said. I shook my head violently.

"Nooo thank you!" I said. Ashley and Allie laughed.

"We thought so!" they said. We passed the town about 20 minutes later.

"And now we run," Ashley said. They started to pick up their pace, then the walk turned into a run. I had a little difficulty keeping up. After about 2 minutes I yelled at them that I had to stop. They reluctantly stopped and let me catch my breath, meanwhile they didn't need to. They didn't even break a sweat yet.

"Come on Haley. What do you think he's going to make you do during your training?" Allie asked. I groaned.

"You mean there's more after this?" I asked. They nodded.

"A lot more," Ashley said. I groaned again. They let me rest for one more minute, then we started running again. I had to stop every 2 minutes to catch my breath and each time they reminded me of how hard my training will be if I can't even handle a 30 minute run. We eventually got there at 7:15. I saw Sakaki standing at the front gate with his huge arms crossed against his chest. I gulped. Ashley and Allie patted me on the back.

"Good luck," they said. When I turned around, they weren't there.

"Hey!" I yelled.

"Up here!" they yelled. I looked up and saw them on the roof of a neighboring house. "We'll be back to get you for dinner! Have fun!" they yelled. They then turned and ran off quicker than I could keep up with.

"I wonder if I'll be able to run as fast as them someday," I muttered.

"Who knows? But it sure as hell doesn't help when you're 15 minutes late to your first karate lesson, now does it?" Sakaki said, suddenly appearing behind me. I jumped.

"Ah! When did you get there?" I asked. He smirked but didn't answer. Instead he just grabbed my collar and dragged me inside.

"It's time to start your training," he said. I cried mentally.

Why Ashley? What have I done to deserve this? I asked Ashley mentally. Somehow I could imagine her smirking at me while laughing about how I brought this on myself somehow. As Sakaki dragged me through the house, a light bulb went on in my head.

"Uh, Sakaki?" I said. He stopped walking and glanced down at me.

"Sup?"

"I can walk you know? I don't need you to drag me," I said. He started walking again, not letting go of me.

"You're too slow right now. When you can at least keep pace with me walking is when I will let you walk by yourself," he said.

"What? That doesn't make any sense!" I yelled. He chuckled.

"Doesn't have to make sense to be right," he said. I held my head. This guy wasn't making any sense and he knew it was driving me crazy. "Okay! We're here!" He lifted me off the ground then threw me into a room.

"Huh? Where are we?" I asked. I stood up and looked around. I saw a punching thing that pro boxers usually use when practicing and a futon. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Suddenly I had something white flung at my face and it stayed there before I took it off. I looked at it. Then I looked back at Sakaki who was closing the door in front of him.

"Change into that! It's the same kind of uniform Kenichi has to wear when training with me! It's a typical karate uniform," Sakaki explained through the door. I nodded.

"Alright, I guess," I said. I put it on then opened the door a few minutes later. He nodded when he saw me.

"'Kay. Let's get this training started. First, we'll test to see how powerful your punches and kicks are. Then we'll go from there. To do that, we'll go into the yard. Follow me," he said. I followed him through the hallways and noticed that there wasn't anyone else there.

"Um, where is everyone?" I asked. I began to wonder if we were the only two people in the entire building. I sure hoped not.