Ander found himself skidding along the dirt on his side. A few rocks here and there sticking into the more fleshy grey bits of his arms and legs. He caught a glimpse of his opponent from between his limbs that were in strained positions in front of him, the head trainer of his namekian tribe. He was only fourteen years old and being given the harshest treatment of any warrior in the past fifty years. It was only to make him stronger, and recently he had been feeling stronger than ever, but still, it was not enough. The elders had forseen a terrible threat coming to their village the day that Ander had been born and the amazing coincidence had been enough to volunteer him into the role of defeating this evil.
The head trainer was a burly old Namekian, short and built like a brick. Fourteen year old Ander was just a little bit shorter than he was, but the old one was much stronger and faster. There was no way he could win, but his past as the ‘chosen warrior’ had taught him to have determination, pain was only momentary, even the loss of a limb was short term. He found that out the hard way when he tried a particularly stupid move against an opponent armed with a sword.
That was all the time he had for his little trip down memory lane for the master had walked up to where he lay on the ground. Ander scrambled to his feet, narrowly dodging a kick aimed at where he was. The cold ruthless face of the old namekian looked down at Ander. “Focus, because if you don’t, i’ll kill you.” The next thing he knew, the flat part of his opponents fist was coming fast at his face. He felt his nose break and his vision blurred, fading to black and then he fell flat on the ground and unconscious.
The elder of the tribe leaned down to pick Ander up and took him back to his solitary hut, motioning for the healer to come and have a look at the kid. The elder turned to the head trainer and said,
“You may have been a bit harsh on him that time. Even though your mission is an urgent one, we must not try to rush his training. Have faith that he will be ready when the time comes.” Over the next few years Ander found himself becoming better than each of his trainers. Not only in technique, but faster, stronger and smarter. His tactics in battle became unrivalled and his muscles had finally started to adapt properly to his training and the grey bands had tightened over his bones.
The first time he beat a master he shocked even himself. Ander was just so used to losing his fights and walking away with a fresh set of bruises that for the first half of the battle he did not even realise that he was faster than his opponent. Realistically this was one of the weaker trainer’s in his tribe, but still, a win was a win. Ander started to realise how powerful he actually was, the idea of winning this fight spurred him on and he began almost toying with this fight. Allowing the master to think he had Ander cornered and then suddenly he would pull a fast move out of no where and gain the upper hand.
The elders all stood by observing, understanding that this was a big moment for the youngling but also knowing they needed to teach him to be humble in victory. The grand elder sent out an energy beam towards Ander, knocking him out of the fight.
Added (02.16.2010, 2:44 Am)
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Completely unable to comprehend what had just happened, Ander walked confidently over to the elders. His newfound confidence stemmed from the fight he had just ‘won’ and the knowledge that it would not be long before he could beat all of his masters and show them up. The elders took him aside and explained that being a hero required more than a mastery in the combat arts. It was a very rare occurrence that the elders ever took the time out for an individual so Ander listened intently.
From that day on, the elders never needed to take him aside again. They just watched from the sidelines as he took on and defeated one of his masters after another. The first one was the hand to hand master, Ander was younger, stronger and faster. This more than bridged the gap in the experience levels of the two and the young fighter took him down with confidence.
The second master took a little more time to over come. The weapons master had to be defeated more than once, in each style of weapon he was trained in. Ander had grown up with a sword in his hand, so that fight was the first he won. The bo staff and spear were the next notches to go into his belt and the chains followed soon after, but the axe seemed to be his downfall. He practised non stop for four days, pausing only to drink, until he passed out from sheer exhaustion. The elders sent the healer to work on him so he could go back to his training. It took a couple of months but finally the master deemed Ander to be his equal in the use of the axe.
The final test that faced Ander came to him when he was about eighteen years old and it was a purely mental task like nothing he had ever attempted before. He had to learn to control and use his own Ki for battle. The oldest member of the tribe came into Ander’s hut and set up a mat on the floor. The room was only just big enough for both of them to sit in without touching each other. The first step was for the warrior to learn to meditate and calm his mind, the Ki will flow by itself when he was ready. But they did not have much time left until the threat came to their village.
Added (02.16.2010, 3:39 Pm)
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The elder and Ander sat down to meditate.
ooc: meditation begins
