Episode 16: Japanese Jolts Part 3 – The Pagoda of Power
The Z-Team were back in good spirits now that their leader was cured and alright after being knocked unconscious and then poisoned by a venomous centipede. With a good night's rest in the house of Master Raito from all the danger and worry, the Z-Team were ready for some training. This training would be beneficial in the fight against the forces of darkness.
Master Raito led the group down to another area he owned, a small monastery with several monks in attendance, and a large amount of field with an obstacle course for training those who seek martial arts training. He was first greeted by his fellow monks, and then welcomed the Z-Team over to the training area. Everyone was eager to gain some valuable skills from all of this, not knowing what to expect.
"Your battle against the Dark Master and his followers won't be an easy one, even with your magic spells, you must learn to focus your body and mind into one in order to ace difficult obstacles..." Master Raito instructed. "Though the bamboo forest is dense, water flows through it without much effort as you will understand of this training, a calm mind can guide you, any anger you may have can be channeled into something positive when you know how to control it well." He then taught them some basic Japanese phrases that were crucial to the training for them to speak and understand such as "Onagae shi matsu (please teach me), hajime (begin), mate (stop)," and counting to 10 as well.
Master Raito took them to the first part of the obstacle course, a series of vertical logs that increased in size forming a path all the way up to a wooden platform that can be dropped down. It looked daunting to many as the ever growing height would make any trainee shake with nervousness, though there were some cushions around to save the trainee should he/she fall. Zack was called first to lead by example, and without much effort or even a shred of fear, Zack aced the challenge hopping over each log like it was nothing. Aladdin and Jasmine smiled, and aced this one as well with no trouble, the former being a daring thief and the latter a fast learner not afraid to jump into things. Mickey decided to take his time on this one since he was smaller than the majority of the others, occasionally slipping a bit, but made it. Minnie had more trouble and if not for her man at the end she wouldn't have succeeded. Raito was proud of this that a man would help his lady. Moana and Mulan on the other hand aced it as well as the first 3. Donald almost fell near the end as he was afraid of heights, but eventually jumped the last two. Pluto, being four-legged looked reluctant to do the training as the log space was narrow. How on earth would he maintain his balance? But after taking several jumps he found it quite easy, making it all the way to the end platform, with Mickey and Minnie encouraging him. Simba was even more reluctant to do this one as he was much larger and heavier than the majority of the others, it took some encouragement from Raito with these words, "Balance is in everything Simba-san, what you might lack in grace, you might make up for in another category". With these words Simba found a way to advance to the platform on the logs, rather than jump like Pluto did, he managed to sprint across, one paw at a time and made it, with Nala and Rajah following the same idea. Only Donald and Goofy fell, yet Raito taught them, "We all fall, yet there is always a lesson behind it" and the two tried again and succeeded.
After completing the first course the group headed over to an area with some big bags on rope, suspended by some wooden beams. Monks were on standby to swing the bags when the time was right. The purpose of this part was to either block or dodge the swinging bags without sight, everyone was allowed to use the blindfolds given to them by the goddess Athena a while ago when they faced Medusa. Raito reminded them that sight can be deceitful so they would have to trust their ability to sense when something is closeby, even reminding them with another proverb, "The cat never alerts the mice". For many like Zack, Mulan, Aladdin, Jasmine, Simba, Nala, and Elsa, this was no problem, but the others struggled a bit before they could find their rhythm in blocking or dodging the bags.
The third course was a somewhat deep pond, Raito instructed the Z-Team to use a small, hollow shoot of bamboo to use as an air tube while under water. Some were against this such as Simba, Nala, Mulan, and Jasmine as they didn't know how long they could stand being under water. Raito calmly taught them, "in the case that the warrior finds himself without a path to elude evil, the water might be a wiser road than the plain road." With these words, everyone got in and managed to move around in the water gracefully with their ancient breathing apparatus from one area to another, although it took some getting used to.
The fourth course was a series of high up rings to cross over and then onto the platform to the final part of the course. Everyone, including the quadrupeds succeeded in this part of the course. There was one more area to master before Raito had something for everyone.
The fifth and final part of the course was a training dummy for martial arts made of strong wood to initiate offense and defense simultaneously. When an arm or leg of the dummy moved the chosen member had to first block and then strike the cushioned areas the body or the head for some successive chains of command. Just like the last exercise, it was a complete success and everyone was a fast learner.
Once that was all done, Master Raito called for a meditative session to clear the minds for one more test just up ahead, everyone including the sidekicks and animals were asked to join in the session. Afterwards, the Z-Team was allowed a meal of Shashimi (fish) with avocado and bamboo shoots complete with chopsticks to replenish their strengths. Once the Z-Team had finished their food, Master Raito stood up.
"Young warriors, there is one more part to your training, you must apply it where the danger is quite strong. A while ago, a huge monster trapped our unearthed pagoda, the same one where your leader Zack, found his spiritual mentor Sakura. Should you defeat this monster and liberate the pagoda, the leader and his lieutenant shall be granted a special power, a power worthy of leaders only, for your battle against darkness is going to get even tougher than what you have already experienced." The Z-Team's eyes widened at this prospect.
Without any haste, Master Raito led the Z-Team down a pathway from the monastery to another mountain, not as high as Mount Atago, nor as challenging. The pathway lead through a small forest upwards, partway there, there was a large red Japanese gate, at the top there was something furry on top, yet Zack's Threat Detector didn't go off. Upon getting closer the large wad of black fur stirred revealing a clawed paw and a blue face with nasty teeth and tusks coming out of its mouth.
"So that's the monster!" shouted Zack, and everyone attempted to grab their weapons, but Master Raito raised his arm to stop them.
"You have no danger from this being, the Otoroshi, it guards the pagoda from those with evil in their hearts, do not worry it can sense it in you." Hearing this, the team relaxed and carried on with their trek as the Otoroshi just watched over, allowing the group to pass through the gate. The pagoda was just a few miles away.
Once they got to the pagoda, which was sticking right out of the Earth in the side of the mountain, they realized it was covered in gigantic spider webs, they wondered what kind of spider would get that big. Suddenly Zack's Threat Detector went off, using it to guide him, it pointed over to the right where there were thick trees, and out came an enormous spider making a horrible screeching sound.
"Wah Sugoi! (I don't believe it!) A Tsuchigumo! Be careful everyone, don't underestimate this foe!" Everyone drew their weapons and charged at the enormous spider. First it was everyone using their weapons on it, bashing, slashing, biting, and scratching, but all that did little good as the Tsuchigumo just knocked them away with its legs. It then approached its closest victims, the two mice, seizing them and starting webbing them up together, when the rest came to, Simba recovered first and readied his spell with a roar of "Rock Shot!" slamming his two front paws down sending a big rock at the arachnid, stunning it for a bit while a few others came forward and rescued the two partially trapped mice. Aladdin, Mulan, Elsa, and Zack stepped forward three of them had their swords drawn out and charged at it, while Elsa unleashed her ice magic trapping many of the spider's legs in their place. Aladdin and Mulan kept the spider busy while Zack ignited his sword with a shout of "Flame Blade!" and then slid underneath and delivered one quick slash to the monstrous spider, setting it ablaze in a matter of seconds and then it collapsed, still burning. He then came over to the partially webbed up mice and held his burning sword over them, which melted the webbing, allowing the two to get up.
"Well done everyone!" shouted Zack to his group who cheered raising their weapons and paws in the air at their victory. "Now that that's all taken care of….." he reached into the vest of his suit and pulled out a spirit flask and then immediately opened it up, releasing his spirit mentor Sakura.
"Congratulations Z-Team, you have liberated my pagoda and have earned yourselves a fabulous reward!" she floated over to the edge of the pagoda where the entrance to it was, then uttered some Japanese words, as if by some spiritual power two very small doors above the entrance opened up revealing on each side two crystals one red, one blue and Sakura mystically called them over to her hands and then brought them over to the Z-Team, she handed the red one to Zack, and the blue one to Elsa. As soon as the two began to hold them, they received some hallucinations as though they were seeing spirits. Zack saw a vision of a dragon while Elsa saw a vision of a bipedal turtle.
"What's so special about these crystals Sakura?" asked Elsa.
"The crystals you are holding contain the spirits of my guardians who guarded the pagoda and Japan for centuries until a landslide buried my pagoda. In the red crystal is the dragon Charmahut, guardian of fire, while in the blue crystal is the turtle Shivoise, the guardian of water. You can become the guardian by holding the crystal aloft and shouting "Power of Fire/Water….morph!" and to change back to your normal selves you must say "morph back"". The two smiled at each other with their newfound gifts, but that happiness was short-lived, as a wave of cries was heard in the distance.
Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the commotion and saw something horrible going on. A nearby city was being attacked by three gigantic monsters: an enormous centipede, a jet black giant with yellow eyes, and a gigantic serpent with eight heads. Master Raito was horrified with what he was seeing.
"It can't be! The city of Tokyo is under siege by three giants! An Omukade, an Umibozu, and the Yamata-no-Orochi! This is terrible!" he said in grief.
"Fear no master!" assured Zack. "We'll stop them!"
"Yes we'll do whatever it takes to stop them in their tracks!" added Elsa. With that Zack created a shadow portal which everyone immediately jumped in.
"Good luck my students!" Master Raito bowed with hope.
To Be Continued…...