Chapter 286

Hiccups POV:

It's been a week since master Shen picked me up for the tournament to fight for the chance to become a Zodiac Master and since then every day has been filled with nothing but hard training under the dragon master to prepare for the coming challenges. I'm not going to lie and say it was easy because it was anything but easy being woken up at the crack of dawn and forced to run around the village ten times with a bag of rocks on my back before breakfast for the warmup. Besides that, I'd finally gotten the chance to get on talking terms with the other students, but it was mostly just small talk since we couldn't talk about our lives and risk exposing our identity which is also why we were only allowed to call each other by the names of the beast whose face we wore.

Now after a week of training, we were brought back to the temple and stood before the Buddha and the master's but now we were all on edge since this would be the first of the twelve challenges and there was a large golden gong in front of the door to the temple. This gong looked to be made of solid gold and circling the center was a jade ring with the yin yang symbol in the center while outside of this ring were coins holding images of the zodiac animals. We all stood at attention before our master's as the Buddha stepped forward and raised his arms before announcing.

"TODAY IS THE DAY THE CHALLENGES TO DECIDE WHO SHALL RECEIVE THE HONOR OF BECOMING A ZODIAC MASTER BEGINS BUT BEFORE THE FIRST CHALLENGE YOU SHALL EACH BE ALLOWED TO CHOOSE ONE WEAPON TO AIDE YOU IN THE COMING CHALLENGES!" He clapped his hands before the ground in front of us opened up to reveal a stone table covered in various weapons used for kung fu, rising up from the crack. "CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON WISELY AS IT SHALL BE WHAT YOU SHALL USE FOR THE REMAINDER OF YOUR TIME UNTIL THE END OF THE CHALLENGES!"

We all walked forward and began looking over the various weapons there were to choose from before my eyes landed on a weapon I'd often used while training under Master Shen. It was a wushu straight sword, also known as a dragon sword with a red tassel hanging from the pommel of it and a gold Shen Long dragon imprinted on the sheath of the blade. I knew that this was the weapon I should take and picked it up before removing the blade from its sheath and gave it a few experimental swings and it felt right, like an extension of my own arm. Knowing this was the weapon I should choose I took it and threw the harness over my shoulder, so the sword was resting on my back while the strap went over my shoulder and across my chest. With my weapon chosen, I took a moment to see what the other challengers had chosen for their weapons since I may have to go up against them in the future. Monkey chose a bo staff, Rabbit picked out tonfa, Rooster chose a pair of metal lined fans, Sheep went with a bow with a quiver of arrows, Tiger chose long metal claws that went on the fingers, Snake chose a pair of butterfly knives, Dog chose nun chucks, Rat chose throwing knives, Pig chose a smooth ball mace, Horse chose a pair of axes and Ox chose a meteor hammer.

Once we'd each chosen our weapons, we stood ready as the table sank back down into the ground as the Buddha smiled and raised his hands once more as he yelled.

"LET THE FIRST CHALLENGE BEGIN!" The gong rang and the yin yang symbol opened to reveal a spiral staircase leading down. "GO DOWN STUDENTS AND YOU SHALL FIND THE FIRST CHALLENGE AWAITING YOU!"

We began making our way down the spiral staircase one after another with me following horse and rat following me before we reached the bottom which was just an empty room. We all began looking around for something before there was a bright flash that forced us all to cover our eyes for the few seconds it was there and when it died, we were all shocked to see what had happened. No longer were we in the small circle shaped room but standing on a stone mountain with the sky being blocked branches and vines with the top of a bamboo forest in front of us. It was then the Monkey Master, Gokun swung down from one of the vines and landed in front of us, giving me the opportunity to examine him physically. He was wearing traditional kung fu gi which was orange in color and had a golden vest over it, a bronze circlet around his head, golden brown hair that was tied up in a tight bun, a beard with no moustache, big bushy eyebrows and in his hand was a bo staff so he greatly resembled his father. He smiled at all of us as he pointed at the end of the forest and said.

"The goal of this challenge is to reach the other side using only the tops of the bamboo stalks or the vines and branches above to reach the other side so you must keep your balance." I smiled beneath my mask since this sounded pretty easy, especially with my ninja training. "Right now, some of you are most probably thinking, 'this will be easy' but there'll be a few obstacles in the way of your focus." He tapped the bottom of his staff against the ground and a large troop of monkeys swung down from the vines above and gripped onto the branches while screeching and crying. "My friends here will be making it very difficult for you to focus with their screeching and just to keep you all on your toes." He tapped his staff again and stones appeared in the hands of the monkeys. "They'll be pelting you with rocks from random directions and you may think that's not so bad, but those rocks have enough force behind the to make a wagon lean to the side with just one hit." We all nodded. "Now should you fall off one of the stalks and into the mist below, do not worry as you shall be sent back to the temple unharmed, but it means you will be taken out of the tournament and lose the chance to become a zodiac master." I saw some of the challengers looked a little uneasy at this. "Now the order in which you arrive at the end does not matter so don't be in a rush as rushing will lead to mistakes, remember this and you shall have an easier time reaching the end." He then leapt onto one of the bamboo stalks. "Any questions before I go?" Tiger stepped forward.

"Are we allowed to harm the monkeys or throw their stones back at them?" He turned to Tiger.

"Afraid not, you can use your weapons to block the stones or launch them at other challengers who are your opponents in these challenges." I could tell that those words just made this challenge a lot more difficult.

"The challenge shall begin at the sound of the gong."

He then began making his way across jumping from bamboo stalk to bamboo stalk and swinging on vines, leaving us behind to prepare in the form of stretching and getting a feel for our weapons. It was then the sound of a gong echoed through the area and we all took off on the bamboo stalks which was a lot easier for some of us than it was for others like Pig, Horse and Ox who were having a harder time maintaining their balance with their larger bodies. To make things more difficult the monkeys had pretty good aim when it came to throwing the stones, so I knew this challenge was not going to be as easy as I thought despite my ninja balance training. We all jumped from bamboo stalk to bamboo stalk with some of us grabbing onto the vines to swing a bit, but it wasn't easy getting back to a stalk and rebalancing since the landing needed to be perfect or you run the risk of falling off.

Now I was on one stalk and doing my best to dodge the stones thrown at me by the monkeys before I noticed Ox get hit by a stone and began losing his balance. Not thinking I grabbed onto a nearby vine and swung to him just as he fell but before he could fully fall off the stalk, I grabbed onto the one end of his meteor hammer and pulled him back up. We stared at each other for a few moments before a scream caught our attention and we turned just in time to see Horse falling down into the mist with a monkey's tail gripped in one hand with the rest of the monkey screeching as they disappeared into the white mist. It was easy to tell Horse was going for the vine but accidentally took the poor monkey's tail by mistake and fell with the monkey who couldn't support the weight.

I shook my head and quickly pulled out my sword before turning around and slicing a stone that was thrown at me, in two before I quickly continued running across the bamboo. The difference now though was that the other challengers had begun following my lead and were now using their own chosen weapons to block or redirect the stones away from them. I mostly ignored them though and kept running across the bamboo making it ahead of everyone thanks to the fact that I used to do this on a daily basis when I was training under The Ancient One to polish my ninja balance skills. When I was only a few feet from the end though a monkey dropped from the branches above and threw a rock at my head before I could react but before it could hit me a metal ball connected to a chain flew past my head and knocked it away. I turned to see it had come from Ox who simply looked at me before I gave him a nod of thanks and continued to the mountain where Master Gokun was waiting for us. Me and Monkey were the first ones to arrive shortly followed by the others with Gokun applauding us as he said.

"Excellent work to all of you for passing my challenge and making it to the next one which shall be held by the rabbit Mistress Aangmu in a week, in that time, I recommend you all train but for now, we shall all return to the temple to honor the one who failed the challenge and to show he has lost."

He tapped his staff to the ground and there was a blinding flash before we all found ourselves back in the same room with a spiral staircase that we were originally in, but Horse wasn't with us. We each took a breath and began making our way up the stairs and arrived at the surface where we found Horse standing before the masters who were once more on the top of the temple's steps. Once we were all in the courtyard the Buddha stepped forward and raised his arms as he said.

"YOU ALL PERFORMED WELL IN THIS CHALLENGE AND CAN BE PROUD OF YOURSELVES FOR BRINGING GREAT HONOR TO BOTH YOUR FAMILIES AND YOUR MASTER INCLUDING THOSE OF YOU WHO FAILED!" I could tell Horse was down about this before the Buddha walked down the steps. "HORSE, PLEASE COME FORWARD." Horse did as the Buddha requested and kneeled before him. "You did well in this challenge, and it is unfortunate that you shall not be able to take part in the coming challenges as anything other than an observer." Horse nodded as the Buddha held out his hands. "Please give me your helmet." Horse took off the helmet to reveal the face of a young Chinese man whose black hair had been pulled back in a tight ponytail before he handed the helmet to the Buddha. "You have brought great honor to your master and your family young warrior." The Buddha then walked up to the gong and pressed the helmet against the coin with the horse on it and watched as it was pulled into the coin that turned from gold to jade before the Buddha turned to us. "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE TAKEN OUT OF THE CHALLENGES, YOUR HELMET IS ADDED TO THE GONG TO SHOW THE STUDENTS WHO ARE OUT OF THE RUNNING BUT THIS DOES NOT MEAN THEY DO NOT DESERVE YOUR RESPECT AS WARRIORS!" We all nodded in agreement. "NOW RETURN TO YOUR HOUSE AND GET SOME REST AS TOMMOROW IT SHALL BE BACK TO TRAINING!" He then returned to the temple with the master's and we all took off back to the house we were all staying in except for Horse who stayed behind by order of his master.

Nightfall

We were all sat down at the table with a wide variety of Chinese food spread out on it to celebrate the ending of the first challenge, but it was as we were about to dig in, the doors opened to reveal Horse. He walked in and took his usual seat before filling up his plate while a dense silence fell on us with the only sound being the sound of Horse putting his plate down. Before he began eating, he looked up at us and said.

"There's no reason to feel bad for me, my master told me I had brought him great honor despite my loss and that means more to me than the title of Zodiac Master." We all nodded as he smiled. "There are also a few advantages to being out of the challenges like how now I can tell you all my story on how I met my master and my actual name." We all smiled before he told us his name was Lín and began the tale on how he came to be a student under the horse master Miracu which is something I believe we were all curious about.

2 hours later

It's been two hours since Lín joined us and since then we'd all enjoyed our meal while he told us the story of how he was chosen to study under master Miracu. Apparently, he was from a farming village that was attacked by bandits but fortunately Miracu was passing by on her travels and easily defeated the bandits as he and the other villagers watched, but unlike the other villages who enjoyed the violence being brought on the bandits, he found himself absorbed by the masters' movements. Once the bandits were vanquished a large banquet was held to thank master Miracu which is when Lín asked her about the way she fought and when she was done, he begged her to take him as a pupil. She wasn't sure at first until she asked him why he wished to become her student, he didn't tell us what he answered with, but the answer got him the position and from then on, he'd been trained in horse style kung fu. It was an interesting thing to discuss and made me wonder how the others got to know their own masters, but I knew that would happen eventually when each of us lose a challenge. Now though I was content to lay down in bed and rest since I had the feeling that tomorrow was going to bring training methods that were going to leave me aching.

1 week later

It's been a week since the last challenge and since then not much has happened outside of training under our respective masters to prepare for the next challenge that belongs to Mistress Aangmu, the rabbit master. This brings us to now, with me and the other challengers who were still in the tournament standing in the same room beneath the temple where we were originally taken to begin the test. Like last time we were all blinded before we found ourselves standing in front of a giant pit with a mist filled bottom with multiple stone platforms floating above the mist and each had a ball on top of them. Standing in front of this pit was Mistress Aangmu who was wearing a long flowing purple robe that spilt at the waist making the skirt look more like a loincloth with white baggy pants beneath it and a wide belt wrapping around her waist above the split. Her hair however was tied up into two tight braids that went up at the root and then fell down her back and seemed to bristle and lift on their own like rabbit ears. She smiled at all of us and raised her arms as she said.

"Welcome to your next challenge!" She lowered her arms and gestured to the pit behind her. "As you can all see there are multiple platforms which you will need to use to get to the other side and although it may sound easy, there's a catch!" She pointed at a ball on the nearest platform. "Those balls need to be launched through the rings that will appear when you reach the platform and if you fail to do so the ball shall reappear but if you try to jump onto another platform before doing this than the platform shall disappear and you shall fall into the mist and stay on one for more than thirty seconds than that to shall disapear, both ways shall take you out of the challenge." She then looked at all of us. "Any questions?" We all shook our heads before she smiled and turned to the pit. "I shall be waiting for you all on the other side, the challenge starts at the sound of the gong and wish you all good luck!"

She then took off, jumping from platform to platform as we all watched until she was gone before we all began preparing for the test in the form of stretching out. A few seconds later the gong rang, and the challenge began with all of us running and jumping onto the nearest stone platform right before large flaming rings appeared. It was easy to tell that these were the targets we had to hit, and I quickly kicked the leather ball at my feet through the ring of fire before it disappeared, and I leapt to the nearest platform. Things continued like this for a few minutes, allowing me to look at the other challengers and saw some of them had taken to using their weapons to get around. Monkey was using his bo staff to pole vault from platform to platform, Rooster was using the fans as wings to glide a bit and Tiger was using the claws to climb if the jump wasn't enough to get them onto the platform.

I had to admire their way of using their weapons to their advantage before I continued to make my own way towards the end which is when I heard a scream. I turned to the sound just in time to see Sheep falling into the fog below after a platforms edge crumbled just as Sheep landed and couldn't regain balance. I gave a quick bow of respect to my downed opponent before I continued my way, taking not of how Rabbit was having an easy time kicking the balls through the rings and an even easier time jumping from platform to platform. It was honestly expected of the student of the rabbit master as rabbit style focused mainly on speed and leg movement, both of which required strong legs and some of the rabbit style moves required a high jump to begin them. I shook my head and kept jumping from platform to platform while kicking or throwing the balls into the flaming rings and soon enough we all reached the end with Rabbit arriving first and me second. Master Aangmu smiled at all of us as she said.

"Excellent work all of you, like last time there is a week before you shall face the next challenge that shall be administered by Master Choa, the rooster."

She clapped her hands before there was a blinding flash and when it faded, we found ourselves back in the same room with a spiral staircase that we were originally in, but Sheep wasn't with us. We each took a breath and began making our way up the stairs and arrived at the surface where we found Sheep standing before the masters who were once more on the top of the temple's steps. Once we were all in the courtyard the Buddha stepped forward and raised his arms as he said.

"WELL, DONE TO ALL OF YOU FOR PASSING THE CHALLENGE AND MY APOLOGIES TO THOSE OF YOU WHO FAILED BUT KNOW THAT YOU EACH BROUGHT GREAT HONOR TO YOUR FAMILIES AND MASTERS!" He then turned to Sheep. "SHEEP, PLEASE COME FORWARD AND HAND IN YOUR HELMET!" Sheep walked up to the Budha and removed the helmet to reveal a Chinese woman with her hair cut at her shoulders before she handed the helmet to the Budha who then took it to the gong and placed it against the sheep which pulled it in and turned to jade like the horse did and then turned back to us. "RETURN TO YOUR HOUSE AND REST FOR THE CHALLENGES OF TOMMOROW!" We all nodded and left except for Sheep who stayed behind to face her master.

Nightfall

It's been hours since the end of the challenge and since then we've been reunited with Sheep and learnt that her name is Hua, and she was kind enough to tell us how she came to be under Mistress Lu Rang's care. Apparently, she grew up in a farming town that farmed chickens, cows and sheep with her family being a group of sheep farmers who lost a sheep that wondered off into the woods. She went looking for it with her younger brother, but they ended up running into a tiger that saw them as easy prey and went in to kill her brother first. She jumped in front of him and took him in her arms before pulling him into her body while closing her eyes waiting for the pain, but it never came. When she opened them up, she found Mistress Lu Rang standing in front of them to protect them before she took the tiger down as if it were nothing and chased it off. She then showed the kids the sheep that she found wondering the woods while she was walking by and was taking it back to the village for us before she escorted her and her brother home with the sheep. When they got back to the village a huge celebration was held due to the honor of Mistress Lu Rang honoring their village with her visit and saving two of their own people.

When the celebration ended, Hua walked up to Mistress Lu Rang and begged her to take her as a student since she wanted to be able to protect her brother and family from danger. Mistress Lu Rang accepted these reasons and accepted her as a pupil seeing the burning desire to defend her people and defense is one of the core bases of sheep style and defending others is what kung fu is meant to be used for. I sighed as I continued to stare at the ceiling of my room while I lay there in bed thinking of my family and how much I missed them but knew this was for the best since I'd be able to better protect them and train them to be better fighters. I took a breath knowing it would be a while before I could go back to them, at the very least a week and at most whatever amount of time for me to become a zodiac master but who knows since I might end up losing and be taken out of the tournament. With this in mind I drifted off into the realm of slumber and dreamed of being back home with those who I loved, cherished and wanted to protect.

1 week later

It's been a week since the last challenge and since then we've been training under our respective masters to prepare for the next challenge belonging to Mistress Chi Metsu who I'd met when I was given leadership over the snake guardians. Now, me and the other challengers who were still in the tournament were standing in the room beneath the temple where we were sent to begin the test. Like the times before, we were all blinded and then found ourselves standing in a large cavern filled with stalagmites and stalactites with the only light coming from a small candle in the center with Mistress Chi Metsu standing next to it. She bowed to us and said.

"Welcome to the latest challenge under me." We all bowed to her before she explained. "One of the key parts that make up snake style is stealth and part of stealth is being able to detect others and avoid them which is the key to making it through this challenge." We all nodded. "You must not rely on your sight and instead open your other senses and extend them around you to avoid the snakes and find your way out of this cave." She then looked at us with a smile.

"Do any of you have questions?" Rat then asked.

"Would it be a problem if we harm the snakes?" She shook her head.

"Don't worry about killing the snakes, they are not real but a solid illusion, but should they be able to sink their fangs into your body than you shall be removed from the challenge." We all nodded. "No more questions?" We all nodded as she reached for the candle. "The challenge begins at the sound of the gong, and I wish you all good luck."

She then closed her fingers around the candles flame, extinguishing it and leaving all of us in complete darkness but I wasn't the least bit worried thanks to my ninja training allowing me to focus my senses and basically see without my eyes. Knowing my eyes would be of no use to me I closed them to better focus my hearing, nose and body senses to feel things and quickly turned around grabbing a snake that had lunged at me with my prosthetic. I tossed it aside and brought out my sword to take on any more snakes and quickly turned around, slashing one that tried to get at my throat while using my senses to paint an image in my mind of what was going on around me. Most of my fellow challengers had run off into the cave to find the way out of this cave while the others were finding their center before they took off while crushing some snakes that went for them.

Knowing I needed to find my way out I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm my nerves but when I did, I was able to feel a slight breeze against my skin and get the faintest smell of fresh air. I knew this was the way to the exit since while studying under the Ancient One, he had me do something similar except in his test I had to dodge arrows and the stalagmites and stalactites that would pop up at random places. Compared to that training, this would be a walk in the great plains of Ireland, but I knew I shouldn't be overconfident as that would only lead to my defeat. Now though, I have an idea of where to go which gave me an advantage against this challenge and made my down the tunnel that would lead out with my sword held out in front of me to be used as a stick to check for obstacles like boulders and stalagmites.

I continued like this for a few minutes, occasionally encountering one of the other challengers but they were mostly just focusing on finding their own way out or dealing with the snakes. It was then two screams echoed through the cave and I quickly rushed towards them just in time to find Rooster and Tiger in the tight coils of two very large snakes right before Rooster vanished meaning Rooster was out of the contest, but Tiger was still in it. I couldn't leave Tiger to perish, I ran towards the snakes which is when the one who took Rooster out of the tournament took notice of me and lunged at me. I quickly sidestepped and as soon as its body was next to me, I stabbed my sword into its side and ran down, dragging the blade through the body as the snake roared in pain and then faded out of existence but I ignored it and charged towards the one strangling Tiger.

The serpent looked away from Tiger and towards me just as I reached it and jumped towards its head, thrusting my sword up towards the bottom of its head stabbing the blade right into it and going right through the bottom and through the top of the head. The serpent faded from existence and Tiger fell to the ground before I rushed over to make sure my fellow challenger was alright and found Tiger breathing heavily while kneeling down and grasping their chest. I kneeled next to Tiger and asked.

"Are you alright?" Tiger nodded.

"I'll be fine, thanks for the help." Tiger then looked up at me. "But why help me when I'm a competitor and from what I've been told, you did the same in the first challenge and helped Ox as well?" I shook my head.

"I don't care if you guys are my competition, I can never just stand by and watch when someone needs help." I then stood up and offered a hand to Tiger. "Now come on, the exit to this cave is nearby." Tiger nodded and we took off towards where we believed the caves exit could be found and found the way out in minutes where Mistress Chi Metsu was waiting for us alongside Snake and Dog, we took our places next to them and waited for the remaining challengers.

Nightfall

Everyone had made it out of the cave with the exception of Rooster half an hour after me and Tiger had made it out before we were all taken out of the testing area and back to the temple. There we watched Rooster walk up to the Buddha to give the helmet up. Rooster removed the helmet to reveal the face of a young Chinese woman whose hair was tied up in a thin bun before she handed the helmet to the Buddha who once again placed the helmet against the gong and allowed it to turn the part it was pressed up against into jade. The Buddha gave his speech about how she had brought honor to her master and her family before we were all dismissed to go home to rest for the remainder of the day. At dinner, Rooster revealed her name to be Yan and had become Master Choa's student when she ran into him when she was running from her abusive father. Master Choa didn't take how her father was treating her too well, especially after he tried to hit her in public and he made that clear to him in the form of cutting him off mid strike and forcing him away from his daughter. Yan's father than left before Master Choa comforted her and asked if he always treated her like that and she went on to tell him about all she'd been forced to do by her father, including petty theft. After that her father was arrested and master Choa took her in as a student and trained her so she wouldn't have to fear abuse from others anymore. Now I was laying down in bed while going over all this and knew the rest would be needed since Master Shen told me he wanted to see me bright and early for tomorrow's training. I took a breath and drifted off to sleep while thoughts of my own father filled my head.

1 week later

It's been a week since the last challenge and now it was time for the latest test, set by the Ox master, Beng Chu and if the training Master Shen put me through, it was not going to be an easy test. Now I was with the other challengers in the latest challenge area which was in front of a tall mountain that with master Beng Chu standing in front of us. He looked at each of us with his arms crossed as he said.

"Alright challengers, your new challenge is to climb to the top of the mountain!" We all knew there was more to it than what he was telling, and this was proven right when he continued. "As you climb higher and higher the gravity will become stronger while the air shall become thinner, making you feel heavier and making it harder to breath so you will have a harder time climbing and if you fall off the mountain you shall be taken out of the tournament, but should you get your grip back, you shall not be taken out of the tournament and shall be allowed to continue the climb." He then jumped onto the mountain. "Any questions?" We all shook our heads. "Then begin at the sound of the gong and i shall be waiting for you all at the top of the mountain." He then jumped onto the ledge and then threw himself straight up to the top of the mountain and we began our stretching before the gong rang and we all began climbing.

1 hour later

It's been an hour since we began climbing and although a climb would normally be easy for any one of us, but now I could understand why climbing would be a challenge since we had reached the half-way point it felt like I had a boulder on my back, and something was wrapped around my neck to cut off my oxygen. Fortunately, I learnt how to control my breathing while training under the Ancient One so the breathing, so I was able to at least make breathing a little easier to deal with while under the influence. I have to admit, I understand why this was the challenge since Ox style focuses on power, strength & determination and completing this challenge required all of them, especially determination since if you lose determination, you lose your drive. If that happens than you won't be able to become a Zodiac master since I'm sure the training is a lot harder since you'll be learning all twelve forms of zodiac kung fu. It was then I heard screaming and turned to see Rat falling from above and reached out for him, but he was out of my reach and all I could do was watch him fall but when he hit the ground, he vanished meaning he was out of the tournament. Knowing there was nothing I could do for him I continued to climb since I was not going to give up no matter what and that determination was not something I was going to lose as long as I had a family I wanted to protect.

Sunset

I pulled myself up over the edge of the mountain top and gasped for breath while using my arms to hold myself up and I wasn't the only one as everyone else was doing the same when they reached the top. As soon as the last of us reached the top there was the sound of clapping and we all looked up to see Master Beng Chu clapping as he walked up to us and said.

"Well done to you all, I applaud your determination to complete this challenge and don't worry about Rat, he's fine but now waiting for you all at the temple."

He then clapped his hands once more and we were all blinded by light and found ourselves back in the same room where we go to in order to go to the challenges. We all took a breath and stood back up now that things were back to normal and began climbing the stairs so we could go through the motions of Rat sadly being officially taken out of the tournament.

Nightfall

I was once again looking at my rooms ceiling while going over today's events after today's incredibly difficult task in which Rat took off his helmet to reveal a Chinese man with the top of his head being shaved and the back of his hair being tied in a tight upwards bun. After that we were all allowed to go back to the house where we were all staying and given a large meal while Rat told us his story on how he came to be under Master Nugeru's care. First his real name is Jùn Jié and he was an orphan who came from a poor family, with his father dying before he was born and his mother following when he was five years old. After that he was forced to dig through the garbage and wonder the streets for food which is when Master Nugeru found him and took him under his wing remembering how tough life was when he himself was a simple street rat and saw potential in him. I sighed having met multiple people like him on my travels and now I needed to get some rest since tomorrow I'd be training again so I'd be in tip top condition for facing the next challenge and drifted off to sleep.

1 week later

It's been a week since we took on Master Beng Chu's challenge and now, we were standing at the beginning of a long valley entrance with Mistress Miracu, the horse standing before us. She was a tall muscular woman wearing the same outfit as Mistress Aangmu except her outfit was in red with a horse on the back of it, with her hair tied back in a tight braid that went down her back to just below her waist. She smiled at us and said.

"For this challenge you shall need to make your way to the end of this valley while running non-stop and striking targets that pop up, but you must only strike the targets with the image of your masters beast form on them, strike any other or miss one and you shall fail the challenge, any questions?" Monkey stepped forward.

"What happens when we stop running, strike the wrong target or miss it?"

"A pit shall open beneath you, and you shall be pulled into it and be taken out of the challenge." We all nodded. "Any more questions?" We all shook our heads. "Then wait till the sound of the gong and then begin running."

She then made her way into the valley and disappeared into it while we all began stretching to prepare and not a minute later, the gong rang, and we took off with our weapons at the ready. Twenty feet into the Valley the targets began appearing and we all began quickly slashing and hitting them, but I took a second to examine the targets and saw they were clay targets with the images of our masters beast forms on them. I shook my head knowing I needed to focus, but I mentally thanked the Ancient One for his speed training in which I had to run while having weights tied to my arms, legs and body to increase my speed and his constant pelting me with stones while I ran to enhance my reflexes and observation. It was then another target flew up and I immediately swung my blade towards it, but I stopped midway when I saw it had a dog on instead of a dragon so I ignored it and continued running, slashing every target with a dragon along the way and eventually reaching the end alongside Rabbit where Mistress Aangmu was waiting for us. We waited a few minutes and the others soon arrived with Pig being the last but as we waited for him, Mistress Aangmu clapped her hands gaining our attention before she said.

"I'm afraid your friend Pig struck the wrong target and failed the challenge." We all sighed before there was a bright flash and we were back in the room where we would wait to be taken to where the challenges would begin and began making our way up the stairs to go through the ritual in which Pig would be taken out of the tournament.

Nightfall

I was back in my room going over what I learned at dinner about my friend Pig who I now knew to really be named Hào Rán and now knew to be Chinese and have a shaved head with a bit of a chubby face. The way his journey under the Pig Master, Po is a pretty sad one in which he grew up in a small village, but he'd always been a bit chubbier than the other kids and his family was rather poor which made him a good target for bullies. He would often spend his days being insulted, looked down upon and occasionally pelted with rocks or being beaten until his bullies got bored of it. His parents couldn't do anything about it as the parents of the ones who bullied him were the leaders of the village who saw nothing wrong with trying to toughen up a child, so he didn't become a burden on the home.

One day though, Master Po came to the village looking for a new student and many children and adult volunteered for the position and the honor that came with it except for Hào Rán who hid in an alleyway and watched not believing himself worthy of being near the master. Master Po noticed him hiding though and went to see why he was hiding which is when he noticed the bruises covering Hào Rán and asked what had happened to him to put him in such bad shape. He tried to lie but when standing before a master as a child, it feels impossible so he poured his heart out about the bullying and how nobody would stand up for him because of the village leaders protecting the bullies and their actions. He claimed he'd never seen anyone look so disgusted before in his life and then Master Po asked him what he would do if he could fight back to which Hào Rán replied that he'd fight to protect those who were being abused which is when Master Po offered to train him. A day later they left the village, but a few years when Hào Rán returned he learnt from his parents that Master Po had given the leaders a stern scolding for their children's behavior and given the village chief a strong strike for allowing it to go on. Now Hào Rán lives in the village most of the year as its protector and also training students of his own to defend the village themselves. I smiled at the memory of the look of pride on his face and remembered how much I wanted to protect my own home and fell asleep while remembering Berk.

1 week later

A week has passed since we went through the challenge of Mistress Aangmu, the horse and now it was time for the latest challenge created by Master Nugeru, the rat. I knew his challenge wouldn't be easy since his style focuses on stealth, deception and agility so there was no telling what we could expect from his mind. This brings us to now, with me and the other challengers who were still in the tournament standing in the same room beneath the temple where we are taken to begin the test. Like always we were all blinded before we found ourselves standing in a different place which in this case was in front of a giant pit with a mist filled bottom and standing in front of the pit was Master Nugeru and I took this opportunity to examine him. He was a short man about a head taller than Gothi with a bald head that had hair on the sides that was tied back in a tight bun, ears that were a little folded back and buckteeth and thin moustache. He was wearing dirt brown robes with a black rat on the back and wooden geta shoes that he was gently rocking on as he smiled at us before he held out his arms and said.

"Welcome to my challenge." He gestured to the pit behind him and clapped his hands before a chain net rose up, covering the entire pit except for some stone pillars that were sticking out. "To complete it you just have to make it across the pit and can take breaks on the stone pillars." He then gave a smile that reminded me of the twins when they were watching a prank about to be pulled off. "Be careful though as some of those pillars are illusions and should you fall through the net than you will be out of the challenge, so you just need to keep balancing on the chains and be careful of the trick pillars and do your best to avoid these." He clapped his hands and multiple round stones the size of a catastrophic quaken came rolling down from the mountains and began hitting each other with loud clacks making us all gulp. "Don't worry, you will be sent out of the challenge area before your crushed, but you'll be taken out of the tournamant!" he then bowed. "good luck and begin at the sound of the gong."

He then took off onto the chains while dodging the boulders while we waited for the sound of the gong and a few seconds later the gong was rung, and we took off. A few seconds on the chains, I could not have been more grateful to the Ancient One for the balance training since the chains were not easy to balance on with the boulders constantly shaking them, making it a lot more difficult to stay on the chains. We all kept running while trying to keep our balance on the chains and I could tell a lot of the others were having a hard time staying on the chains except for Monkey who was surprisingly not on top of the chains but instead dangling from them and swinging from them to avoid the boulders and I had to admit, it was pretty smart of him.

I was brought out of my observation when three boulders came right at me from three separate ways and I decided to take a page out of Monkey's book and jumped between the gap, grabbing the chains as I fell just as the boulders struck each other. I was able to avoid the boulders that then went on their way in other directions while I quickly pulled myself back up onto the chains and quickly running towards the nearest pillar. When I reached it though I decided to make sure it was real and took off my sword, tapping it against the top of the pillar and found it was the right move when the sword went right through it. I quickly took off to the next pillar to take a short breather and this time, I knew it was a real pillar this time since when I tapped my sword against the pillar, it was solid. As I took a short breather, I saw Ox didn't think ahead like I did and jumped onto one of the trap pillars and fell into the fog below. I sighed and shook my head before I took off on the chains while dodging the boulders until I reached the end with the others with Master Nugeru waiting for us. The Rat master smiled and said.

"GOOD WORK TO ALL OF YOU!" He then clapped his hands and there was a bright flash before we were back in the room that we were always in before being sent to the location where the challenges were, and we all headed up stairs to watch Ox hand in his helmet.

Nightfall

I lay there in bed while remembering Ox handing in his helmet, exposing a Chinese man with a shaved head and a short beard before we were all sent home where he told us his name was Qiáng along with his story over dinner. Apparently, he used to be a weakling who got picked on a lot until Master Beng Chu found him tied to a tree by some of his bullies and offered to make him strong in return for his undying determination and the promise never to abuse what he's taught. Qiáng accepted these terms before Master Beng Chu untied him and took him back to his village to inform his family and then the next day they left to begin his journey. Hearing his story reminded me of how weak I was back when I was young and made me realize how far I've come and it was these thoughts that filled my mind as I drifted off to sleep.

AN: The next chapter shall contain the final six challenges and yeah, I know these challenges weren't detailed and were rather short but they're hard to describe and would take too long so sorry. Anyway, please remember to review kindly as I did work hard on this chapter and have a nice day.