Having Master Hisashi come to the castle was a pleasant surprise for Joseph in more ways than one. Not only was it great to reunite with his old master, but having Master Hisashi helping everyone with their martial arts training took a significant amount of weight off of his shoulders. Now he could focus a lot more on his training for the triathlon without needing to worry about keeping everyone else caught up too. Although he insisted on continuing to instruct Cassandra with her sword lessons since he wanted to make sure that his girlfriend was comfortable with using such a dangerous weapon, something Master Hisashi understood.

It was a few days from the start of April, and right now the martial arts master was with Mandy and Daniela for a private training session, and he was impressed with the raven haired girl's spirit as she punched the pads he was wearing on his hands. Despite being a paraplegic, she didn't once let that stop her from working hard with her training, and she did it with a level of determination that Master Hisashi rarely saw in any of his students, let alone someone who was in a wheelchair. It was at that moment that he truly understood why Joseph always spoke highly of his sister.

Mandy was swift and focused with the combos of punches she threw, and both Master Hisashi and Daniela had huge smiles on their faces when she was done.

"That was excellent." Her teacher said. "At this rate, you will be more than ready when the time comes for you to go to California."

Mandy smiled back at the martial arts master's compliment and bowed her head.

"Thank you, Master Hisashi. I can't believe that this is actually happening. I thought my dreams of becoming an athlete were over after my accident. Yet here I am, training for just that, and it makes me so happy."

Daniela smiled and kissed Mandy on the cheek.

"I can tell, and seeing you happy makes me happy! Are you proud of yourself?"

The raven haired girl smiled back at her girlfriend and nodded.

"I am. Even if we don't win, I'm proud of not just myself, but my brother and the rest of my family for how far we have come."

Master Hisashi nodded in agreement.

"Absolutely, but don't let that mindset stop you from trying to win. I believe you absolutely can."

Mandy gave a surprised look.

"You really think so? Even though I'm…"

The martial arts master just smiled and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Your brother had a similar mindset about his ADHD when he first started training. He thought that it prevented him from truly rising up and achieving victory, but that is not true. A warrior needs only to be strong. It matters not where that strength comes from. If one draws strength in a way that's different from others, that makes them an even more challenging opponent, because they are different."

Mandy was in awe of Master Hisashi's words, because he was right. She may be different, but that didn't mean she couldn't win like the other competitors. She just had to focus her strength in a different way. She was just as capable of winning as anyone else.

She gave a warm smile at this.

"Thank you, Master Hisashi. That makes me feel a lot better, and it gives me more motivation to do this, to prove myself. I can't wait to see the looks on my parent's faces when I do."

Daniela giggled.

"That's the spirit, Mandy! We can take anyone who gets in the way of our dreams! Up top!"

The couple gave each other a high five, and seeing this made Master Hisashi smile warmly.

"That is a good attitude to have, and I agree that your parents will be surprised, whether it is the triathlon or when you confront them. They won't be expecting this from you, and that will be a terrible error on their part."

He then focused his attention on Daniela.

"Are you ready to begin?"

The redhead turned towards him and nodded, but it wasn't fully confident. Despite her lessons with Joseph to help control her more feral side, she still wasn't quite one hundred percent with it, and she always got nervous whenever she would try and practice because she was afraid that she might hurt someone.

Seeing this, Master Hisashi put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Joseph told me about the problems you are facing. I know you must be afraid, and that's okay. Fear is very normal for everyone. Remember though that fear is the same as your past. The only way to overcome it is to face it head on."

Mandy then took Daniela's hand in her own.

"He's right, Dani. You can do this. I know you can. You just need to be brave."

This made the redhead smile and she leaned in and kissed her girlfriend.

"Okay. I'll do my best."

She then turned to Master Hisashi and bowed.

"I'm ready."

Her instructor smiled and bowed back before getting into a fighting stance, and Daniela followed suit. She then proceeded to use the punches and kicks that Joseph had taught her, which Master Hisashi blacked and dodged.

Unlike Joseph however, he also followed up some of these blocks with small counter punches. Not enough to hurt the redhead, but he was clearly trying to irritate her to get her feral side to come out, and it was working.

Daniela quickly felt herself start feeling more angry and aggressive, and she began to get more wild with her swings, but just as she did, she remembered what Joseph had taught her, and instead of letting her anger get to her mind, she put it into her body instead and used it to enhance her attacks.

She completely changed at that point, turning from a wild animal to a focused fighter, and even her instructor had to step up his game to keep up with her.

When Master Hisashi said she could stop, she was able to do so. She stood there for a moment as she took deep breaths to calm herself down.

Master Hisashi looks very pleased with her performance.

"Excellent work, Daniela. You have proven that you are much stronger than you think you are."

The redhead had the biggest smile on her face

"I..I did it!"

Mandy beamed at her girlfriend and pulled her down to kiss her.

"I knew you could do it. I'm proud of you."

"Hehe."

Master Hisashi was smiling widely at the couple. He knew a strong, loving bond when he saw one. He saw it in Joseph and Cassandra, and now he was seeing it in Mandy and Daniela. The love they had for each other was undeniable, and seeing it made him happy.

After the couple parted, they turned to him.

"Sorry. I know displays of affection can make people uncomfortable." Daniela said.

The martial arts master laughed and waved his hand.

"No apologies needed. I'm just glad to see you two make each other so happy. In any case, why don't we call it a day and resume tomorrow?"

Mandy nodded.

"Definitely, because I need a bath. My body stinks right now. Plus, I'm itching to play some piano"

….

Cassandra groaned as she got out of the tub to dry herself off, her legs sore from her day's training. With the weather getting warmer, she was finally given the okay to start training outside, and it was perfect timing too as Heisenberg had just made a sports bike for her using the metal from the discarded equipment in the castle's basement, and she was eager to try it out.

But the brunette quickly realized that this was a step up from the bike machine she had been using so far. This sports bike handled differently than the bikes she had ridden in the past, and the terrain of the forest paths she rode were much more bumpy and harder to pedal on. While it didn't take long for her to adapt and get comfortable with her new training conditions, she knew she would need to practice more on it so she could be truly ready for the triathlon.

As she made her way out of the bathroom to get dressed, she saw Joseph lying in bed, having gotten out a few minutes before her, and was reading a book. Despite the protest from her legs, she quickly threw her pajamas on and joined him as there was nothing she wanted more right now than to be off her feet.

She groaned again as she laid down, which made Joseph turn to her.

"You okay?"

"Mostly. That path really beat the crap out of me. I can barely stand right now."

Her boyfriend nodded.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I was pretty much the same when I started running on that path. Here, let me help."

He quickly sat up and moved over towards the edge of the bed where he placed one of his girlfriend's legs in his lap. At first she was confused as to what he was doing, but then he started giving her legs a gentle massage, which got a delighted hum out of her.

What did I ever do to deserve this guy? She thought.

As Joseph continued to massage her legs and ease her muscles, he spoke up.

"Your Uncle Moreau called me today. He was wondering if after Mandy's first training session in the water, we would be interested in going fishing at one of the lakes."

This made the brunette look up. She had never actually gone fishing before, despite her love of hunting, but she was eager to try it as it sounded like something she could enjoy.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun!" She said. "It would also be a great way for everyone to relax and take their minds off everything."

"That's what I was thinking. Hell, we should have everyone come with us. We haven't seen much of the other lords since we started training."

Cassandra nodded.

"Definitely. Maybe we can get them to fish too."

"I already asked them, and they said they'd love to. So I ordered a variety of fishing rods from Duke to make sure we have all our baselines covered. Mandy's first day of water training isn't for another week so they should get here in time, and your Uncle Karl said he'd make some hooks for us as well as a variety of other things."

This got a chuckle out of the brunette.

"He's really having a field day with all of that discarded stuff from the basement. I think it's only a matter of time before he makes a robot or something."

Now Joseph chuckled.

"Knowing him, I wouldn't be surprised."

When he was finished massaging Cassandra's legs, he made his way back to his side of the bed and got under the covers as his girlfriend snuggled up next to him.

"Thank you." She said. "I really needed that."

He smiled and kissed her forehead.

"Anything for you, babe."

They laid there for a moment of silence before Joseph spoke up.

"Can I ask you something?"

The brunette turned to him.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Why are you doing this triathlon?"

The brunette gave a confused look at this.

"I told you already. I wanted to do something that would make my family proud."

Joseph shook his head.

"That's not what I meant. I know you want to do this for your family. My question is, are you also doing this for you, because if you're not, there's no point in doing this race."

Cassandra gave a surprised look

"What? Why?"

Joseph took a breath before continuing.

"Because if you did, you'd be making my mistake, selling yourself short and putting others before you even when you don't have to. Don't get me wrong, part of the reason I'm doing this is for Mandy, but I am also doing this for myself, and it's the same reason as Mandy's. My parents always thought that I would never make it in life because of my disability. This is my chance to prove them wrong and win at something despite what I have, to prove that my disability doesn't matter. If you're going to compete in this Cassie, you need to have that personal motivation too."

Cassandra was silent. She hadn't really thought of that before, but her boyfriend was right. While it was important that she was doing this for her family, it was more important that she did this for herself. This was her race, her challenge to overcome, and she couldn't do that by doing it for someone else. If she did, she wouldn't be truly accomplishing anything.

She wasn't sure at first how to answer Joseph at first, but after a minute of thinking, she nodded her head.

"I want to do this for myself. I'm done being afraid of going out and being judged for my past. I'm done hearing people say I don't deserve to be happy. I'm done with all of it. I don't care what people say or think anymore, because fuck them. I didn't ask for their opinion nor do I give a shit about it. This is my life, and they don't get to decide what my life is going to be. Only I can do that, and I say I'm going to go out there and win this race to show that, like you and Mandy, my past doesn't matter, and that I can accomplish anything I want to do."

She took a deep breath, a little surprised at the little rant she gave, but Joseph had a huge smile on his face.

"Now that's the determination I wanted to hear. You keep thinking like that, we can't possibly lose."

Just then there was a knock at the door. When Joseph answered it, Olivia was standing on the other side, smiling.

"Hello, Joseph. I'm sorry to interrupt. We were going to put on Godzilla Minus One since a lot of us haven't watched it yet. We were wondering if you wanted to join us."

Joseph smiled back.

"Absolutely! I would never turn down watching a Godzilla film."

"Count me in too!" Cassandra said as she quickly got out of bed. "You won't be disappointed, Olivia. Trust me."

"So I've been told. Shall we go?"

The couple both nodded.

Cassandra's prediction turned out to be spot on as Godzilla Minus One had gained several more fans by the end of the day, and the group needed a steady supply of tissues for the tears involved.