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It is late on a cool, crisp, winter night, and out in a small training is a single young man, who is sparring with his shadow it seems. His punches and kicks were far from lightning fast as most the legendary martial artist, but his resolve was something else...beyond that of most humans. Even in the cold winter air, his sweat would trickle down his face and body while he did his shadow boxing. In his concentration, the young man didn't sense his Master approach behind him, "Ryu pay attention to your surroundings!" With that being the only warning the older man blasts Ryu off his feet with a telekinetic blast, "Your a dedicated pupil, but you must keep your mind about you. Never expect a single one on one fight. Keep your mind open, and remember to keep your surrounding in mind." The older man walks over and offers a hand to his student, who accepts it and finds himself being flipped. Ryu lays on the ground trying to catch his breath as his master stood over him, "You trust too easily. An opponent will take advantage of such trust." The student nods before leaping to his feet and brushing the dirt and sweat off him, "I understand, Master. I need to keep my mind focus on the task, yet open to the world." The young man bows to his master, "Thank you, Master Tien." Tien laughs softly and strikes a fighting pose, "In this case, I would like to start teaching you how to manipulating your Ki. I have taught you most the martial arts that didn't require Ki, but seeing you out here every night, even when the others rest, I think that you are ready." The student bows and strike the same stance as his master, "I won't disappoint you, Master Tien." Without much warning, Tien kicks off the ground and kicks out with his right leg. The attack would normally be strong enough to break through trees, as if to show off the potential of the human body. Though since it was a training lesson, the kick was weakened to a more human level of strength. Ryu Sanada block the kick with his fore arm, and pushes his Master's momentum away from his body. Tien smirks as a ball of blue energy form in his hand, "Your first Ki technique will be Ki Blast." He then trows the ball of Ki at his student as he leaps back and away form the him. The Master flips once and makes a sliding land on the ground, as Ryu uses his free arm to deflect the the ball of Ki. Duing this leaves a scorched mark on his arm, "Aahh...that hurt! That was a Ki Blast?" Tien nods and retakes the fighting stance, "It was. To form a Ki Blast, you must be able to focus your Ki into the palm of your hands." Tien holds his hands towards each other as a small ball of Ki forms between them, "In order to use this as an attack, you will have allow that Ki out while keeping it under your control. This practice is much harder than it sounds. Many people are only able to push out their Ki, but if you push out too much it can weaken you or worse, push out to much and you will die." With that Tien collapses his ball of Ki and walks back to the Dojo, "I expect you to sleep some time tonight. You still have training tomorrow, even if you spend all night on your Ki exercises." After his Master is out of sight, Ryu sits on a large rock with his hands facing each other. He closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath as he begins to focus his Ki between his hands, allowing a small ball of Ki to form as he focused. Of course, in a fight this would be useless, since he hardly had the time to sit down and focus his attack. Not only that but Ryu was still doing as Master Tien told him not too, and while focused was ignoring the world around him. To make this ability more combat ready, he would have to master controlling his Ki before moving on to focusing it into a attack. After several more hours of practice, Ryu leaps up and tosses the ball of Ki into a tree, causing it to snap and splinter from the power of the Ki. The young man stands there panting lightly though with a smirk on his face, "I...I think I have gathering Ki in check.." He lightly shakes his head and returns to the Dojo and barely makes it to his bunk before passing out on the bed, with no covers to help keep him warm. The next day came too soon for Ryu as he is merciless awaken from the few hours of sleep he has had, before the young man realizes it he is standing in a shower washing the exhaustion, dirt, and sweat from the day and night before. After getting cleaned and dressed, Ryu fixes his hair and ties a red headband around his head, this keeps his hair from his eyes as well as the sweat from the workouts and sparring. When Ryu leaves the Dojo, he sees Tien examining the broken tree before motioning Ryu over, "I see that you are able to use Ki Blast, I guess that means you have to still need combat training." Master Tien readies himself into a fighting pose as he watches the young man. Ryu without saying a word adopts the same pose as Tien once more, and with out much warning the master leaps up and delivers a series of short fast kicks. Not one to stick in one place, the young man rolled under the furious barrage of kicks. On the other side of Tien, Ryu lefts his hand and without much thought fires a Ki Blast from his palm. Of course it was defected as Tien spun and kicked the blast away, "Very good!" As a follow up the Master began firing a barrage of his own Ki Blasts, watching as Ryu dodged each one with graceful movements. Though he once again focused solely on Tien and his assault, Ryu would be caught off guard by a Ki Blast in to his back. The attack came from above him, in the tree, but who? Standing in the Tree was Tien, "You failed that once more Ryu. You need to keep your senses open your your surroundings. I'm going to have you go to the West City Academy. I hear they are very good at helping martial artist, so I trust you to live up to the Crane School name. Return to me after your training and I will gladly teach you more advanced techniques." Ryu bows to Tien then dusts himself off, "As you wish Master. I will bring honor to the Crane School, and I will try my best even while away." Tien nods and leaps out of the tree, "Very well, Ryu. Return safely." The Ryu gathers his things in the Dojo and heads out.

Alarms sound in the base as a series of explosions rock the base from its very foundations. As it was an old lab from the late Doctor was still in use and hidden below the base. There was a very hush-hush kinda project in that lab, and now some of the soldiers were running about and cursing their luck as another blast rumbles below them. Over the loud speakers was a warning about a malfunctioning machine, and about that time a large beam blasts from the ground and rips apart several aircraft and the hangar they where in. From the aftermath was a naked dark skinned woman, from her middle and index finger there was a sword of pure ki. The woman was panting as if catching her breath, while the ground under the base began to raise up then quickly sink into a hole. The cause of this new sink hole was a powerful explosion from the main computer and other systems being damaged, and mixed with the jet fuel from the broken machines in the hanger. The falling debris killed many of the people in the area while it sank. She shook her head as the swords fades away and she grabs her head, "Uuggg...So loud...Wait, where am I?" The Saiyan girl glances about at the wrecked base before pulling the remaining needles from her body, one was held down by a metal band. On the band was a single name 'Sayla', where had she picked it up? It doesn't matter for some reason that name stuck with her, "I'm Sayla? I guess so..I wonder what happened to me. My head feels like its splitting, and why was I here?" Sayla shakes her head again as she gets to talking to the nearest town, even while totally in the nude. As she walked, the young Saiyan woman had run into a small band of mercenaries, which didn't plan on letting her walk away. At first she wouldn't fight them off, but as it got more physical she found herself exploding with rage once more and slayed the whole band of them with her bare hands. For some reason unknown to her she realized she needed clothes right then, so she raided the now empty camp for a outfit she liked. To top it all off, she wrapped her tail around her waist to hide it off as a belt. She then return on her trip to the nearest city, West City. For the most part the rest of Sayla's trip is uneventful, though she does pass other humans on her way their none really stop or ask her questions. Once in the city, the young Saiyan woman seemed lost, seeing as it was her first time in the city, and ended up in front the academy. A young man near about dragged her in and examined her, "Did anyone tell you that you could be a Martial Artist?" Sayla shakes her head, "I can't pay you though." The man laughed and handed her some training clothes, "Silly girl. Mr. Satan opened the West City Academy fro anyone wishing to learn to fight, or defend themselves." Sayla blinks and nods as she awkwardly steps into the academy while looking over everyone. She hadn't been in a crowd this big since she awaken. The Saiyan woman then goes to one of the machines and begins to work out on a few weights, around 150 lbs worth. While it was a lot of weight, Sayla was lifting it without a single issue. Sayla stops her workout and watches everyone around her.

Shirubā Hoippu


Shirubā could feel that more people had came into the dojo when he appeared. His eyes scanned the area and found some who weren't exactly human. He pulled sighed. "Looks like we'll be going to the back," he said. His nodded in agreement and they went outside. "Our next lesson will be on the ki blast," his father said. "Then we'll try out that technique you complained about." Shirubā scratched his head. "I'll demonstrate," his father said. "Yours won't have to be as strong," he said. His father suddenly formed a ball of energy in his hand. He then flew into the air, as not to destroy anything with his blast, and pushed his arm foward, creating a massive energy wave that shot for miles. Shirubā stared at it in awe. "Amazing," he thought. His father then landed back down when the wave finished. "Now you try," he said. Shirubā nodded put both his hands in front of him. "Don't worry about hurting me," his father said. "I'm stronger than you think." Shirubā nodded and concentrated. "I want this to be big," he thought. "Bigger than dads." He pushed his energy into his hands. However, all that came out was a puff of smoke. Shirubā stared in astonishment, gaping at this display. A drip of sweat ran down is face. "What," he thought, putting his arms down and staring at his hands. "How could that happen. I know I'm stronger than that. I'm supposed to be an all powerful Saiyan. I've got a tail to prove it." He looked to his flowing tail and back to his hands. "So why," he thought, his hands shaking. "Why can't I do this simple technique." He sighed and put his hands down. "The best I can do is keep trying," he thought. He turned his attention back to his father. "I think it's time," Shirubā said, taking out his katana, "For more rigorous training!" He said the last word as he lunched foward, catching his father off guard. Shirubā swung his blade, but his father was fast enough to jump out the way. Shirubā smiled and jumped into the air, attempting to hit him with an aerial spinning kick. His father blocked it and pushed Shirubā away, flying into the air. He stopped when he got in front of the sun. "Not this time," Shirubā said, flying toward his father. However, he knew that he wouldn't be fast enough to stop the motion. Shirubā then put his hands in front of him, as he did before, aimed at his father, who was making the motions. Shirubā pushed his ki into his hands, shutting his eyes. "Take this," his father said. "Solar Flare!" When he shouted that, not a second later, Shirubā fired off a ki blast. Shirubā was unaffected by the Solar Flare, but his father was hit by the small ki blast. When the smoke from the blast cleared, his father had disappeared. Shirubā saw that he was back on the ground. "Onto the last lesson!" he shouted from below.

(508 words)

ぷㄨ々Walking into the West Acamedy after traveling from the Ninja School, Yuna frowned as she glanced around. Everyone were busy for something, but she would use the time to scout out how exactly strong everyone were here. Many people were from different schools, obviously. 'Not many from the Ninja School. Hm.' Blinking her yellow and green eyes, she walked near the wall, keeping clear of those in training. She'd rather observe for now, but somehow figured she'll have to watch out for her friend Jizira, who was somewhere around here. And bound to get into trouble. 'Why does he even bother become a fighter again?' she wondered once more.

"Jalen Snower"

~I'll get stronger....

Jalen smiled a almost innocence shone from him. He walked up and watched most of the others. He was lazy for the most part always waiting for the last moment to do things. He always felt ready even though he wasn't. He knew alot, yet he knew nothing, and he wanted to learn something, yet he didnt. He sighed in defeat knowing he had to start sooner or later. He frowned though he probably was the only one who couldn't even sucessfully produce a Ki-blast. He sighed again, knowing that sooner or later his teacher would look for him, and he didn't wanna repeat last times incident. He took a step forward only to trip and land on his face. "Great" he snarled. He stood up and brushed himself off. "Why am i doing this again?" He asked knowing the answer already. He hated the fact that he wanted to do something and yet the more serious he tried to be the more childish he was. Of course fourteen was a young age, but he was determined. And he wouldn't be this far behind if his dad hadn't left. He was left with his mom at the most, who was scared of her own shadow, she wouldn't dare leave him doing something alone. For Kami's sake he didn't even have a door! He rolled his eyes and walked again. He needed to catch up, he was behind...by alot.

He sighed again, thoughts of his father came back and he didnt even know why he left, but he knew he made a promise and he was gonna keep it. He walked toward the training area only to get hit by a rock. Not even a rock but a pebble. "Ow the hell" he rubbed his head and picked up the small rock. "You late!" a voice said. He sighed. "I know but.." he was cut off and pelted by more. "No buts..you cant dodge!" He said. "Master" he rubbed his head again. It was gonna be a long day.



((Words: 240 + 100 = 340 -300 for "Flight" = 40))

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Standing up on his hind legs, Silva picked up the bucket and cleaning stuff with his front paws. A sway of his tail he suddenly picked up the scent of food nearby. "yymmmm, smells delicious!" he licked his lips. Carrying the bucket he followed his nose to a room with platters of different dishes set out. He slowed to a stop just outside the room door when his stomach gave a bit of a grumble. "Hey there kitty," a feminie voice spoke from behind. He peeked over his shoulder curiously to see a young girl with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail. "Are ya hungry? I don't think my teacher would mind if I offer you some of my lunch. It's not my favorite anyway." The feline watched as the girl slipped quietly into the room, got a small brown paper bag, and put a sample of each dish into it. Quickly she stepped out of the room and gently placed the bag into the bucket. "There you go kitty. Enjoy."

Silva smiled gratefully for the snack and gave a small nod to the brown haired girl. "Thank you very much miss. I will." Brisk in his step he continued on his way down the halls and found a vacant room. "This should do for a quick snack break." A turn on his paws he ventured into the room and sat his things down. Then taking the paper bag with the delicious auroma teasing his senses, the feline sat down on the floor cross-legged and began to chow down. It didn't take long for the food to disappear.

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Brushing the crumbs off his whiskers he gave a satisfied sigh and patted his stomach with his paw. "Now that was appitizing. There's some good cooks in this place. Reminds me. I better get to work before I'm fired." Silva reached into the bucket to pull out a rag. In one swift motion he tied it over his ears and around his head like a bandana. Next he pushed himself back up onto his hind paws and took the stuff to find the closest water tap. It took only a few minutes to find some water, fill the bucket, add some soap, and dunk the sponge into the soapy substance.

The bucket was a bit awkward at first with it being mostly filled with water. Yet the feline managed to find his balance and carry it around with his front arms wrapped around it. "That guy said the west wing..." Paused in thought he got his barings and started heading over to the requested hallway. "That way. It can't be that bad... could it?" With each step his tail swayed casually from side to side. As he neared the next hallway he got a stinky scent up his nose. "Ugh. Guess he wasn't kidding. Well, if I don't clean this up then who will?"

At the end of the hall he was standing at, he placed the bucket down on the floor and got the sponge extra wet. Dripping water everywhere Silva placed it on the ground and put his front paws onto it to hold it to the floor. With a kick of his back paws he shimmied himself down the hallway and pushed the sponge across the floor at a quick pace. From one end of the hall to the other he started his duties by scrubbing the floor.

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No matter how quick Silva tried to get the hallway cleaned, it was like there was no end to the mess. “Gotta keep going… Gotta keep moving…” he kept repeating over and over again between breaths. This job definitely wasn’t as easy as he thought. However that wasn’t going to stop him from reaping the rewards. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, right? Scrubbing the floor wasn’t just a mental test, but also like an endurance run to the feline. It was like the hallway stretched out for an eternity as he went from one end to the other and back again. Every few laps he stopped at the bucket and dunked the sponge into the water to rinse it out. “I hope I got enough soap. This could take a few buckets full.”

Once the water got too dirty to clean with, the feline picked it up off the floor with a small grunt under his breath. “This water is.. heavy.” One step at a time he walked down the hallways to the nearest door leading outside. Finding a door he had to place the bucket down for a second and hover up off the floor to reach the door knob. A quick turn and flick of his paw the door swung open and he lowered himself back to the floor. With another grunt he hoisted the bucket up and took it out to dump the water.

Just as Silva opened the door and stepped outside, he thought he heard the laughter of an old man. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as he kicked the pail over to spill the watery contents across the ground. His jade gaze looked up to see the older man with lecturing a blue haired human boy (Jalen). Only catching the last bit of the conversation between the two, it was all he needed to hear to give a low growl and narrowed his eyes in a stern gaze. Why would Jalen’s teacher say such things? Being worth nothing and all that? Sure, his former teacher (Sensei Fukuro) had referred to him as 'pipsqueak' and 'weak kitty cat', but not being worthless. It puzzled the feline as to why teachers said such things. Reverse psychology?

A heafty sight under his breath Silva reached back to untie the rag from around his head. Letting his ears perk upright and stretch he dried his front paws off with the rag and then brought his front paw up to brush tiny sweat droplets from his eyebrows. Flicking the tip of his tail he remained standing there outside to see what would happen next between Jalen and the older man.

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Silva couldn't believe his eyes! Watching as Jalen went on the offense he didn't expect to see such a sudden turn around. First the old man was standing there laughing at the blue haired boy to suddenly being the one getting a thumping. Only a fool would want to get in the middle of that cat fight. Past experience told him that sometimes it's for the best not to interfer. Still, it ticked him off to hear what the old man called Jalen. Worthless. A word he heard too much on the streets.

Quickly picking up the empty bucket off the ground, the feline made a mental note to come back later and see if these two were still standing. Once the dust and fighting / training dies down then he'll see if anyone requires help. Almost forgetting his rag he swipped the fabric up with the tip of his tail and headed back into the school / dojo. As beings were coming and going he had to weave his way around everyone's feet and stayed close to the wall as possible. Silva was careful not to drop the bucket and ventured through the hallways back to the same water tap as before.

Filling up the bucket with fresh water he took a second to take his rag and tied it around his head once more. With a quick tug on the fabric he tied the knot tightly and then finished at the water tap with another bucket full. Back to the scrubbing. It wasn't as tricky as last time to carry the filled bucket now that the feline was getting used to it. Strolling down the hallways he soon came back to the one he was in the middle of cleaning and found his sponge where he left it. Repeating the process of mixing in a squirt of soap into the water and then dunking the sponge, it was time to get back to work. The hallway wasn't going to scrub itself clean.

Finally the floor was looking much better than before and there wasn't that stentch anymore. A few extra laps back and forth across the hall it was as clean as could be. Silva scampered back to the bucket and dropped the sponge with a sigh of triumph. Then he reached up to brush the back of his paw across his forehead and untie the rag from around his head. "If that ain't clean... I don't know what is." His duties done for now he took the bucket outside once more and dumped the water along the ground. Making sure there wasn't a drop left the feline turned about with the pail in his arms and went back inside again. Lost in thought for a second he didn't utter a word as he went back to the newly cleaned hallway and gave it one more look over. It would be a shame if his missed a spot after all that work. Now the walls seemed a bit on the dusty side. "Maybe they'll let me come back another day to clean."

On that thought Silva gathered the rags, sponge, and soap to put it all back into the empty bucket. A smile across his lips he felt good about a job well done. Picking up the bucket with his front paws he briskly walked through the hallways to return the supplies (not knowing where the broom closet is). Luck had it that he bumped into the same man as before and handed over the supplies. "Good. I was just on my way to find you," the young man took the supplies and offered the feline his pay in exchange. He gratefully accepted the zeni, taking it in his front paws and bowed to the man in respect. "Thank you for letting me work here. Perhaps you can call upon my services again?" The gesture was returned and they parted ways.

Silva stopped in his tracks for a moment to untie the green handkerchief that Fukuro gave him and placed the extra zeni in it. Then tieing it back up and around the fabric of his old bandana he got on all fours. Scampering off he hurried out of the school / dojo and dashed off to go find something to buy.


((@ Suicidal-Till-Death: see you tomorrow. :3))

The despised female that he had been glaring at, seemed to have noticed that he had fallen to notice her. As she stood angrily and stormed from the room, he could not help but let out a light chuckle. Humans and other such beings were all the same, pathetic and easily sent off. Not to mention weak minded as well. As she stormed out, he slowly shook his head and continued to work at his strength, although he really had no notice of when she was going to return, or even if she would, he really hoped she did not, for he had no liking for people like her. Nearly a minute or two after she had left, there was a large crash and debris flying passed the bench he had been working out on, the weapon she wielded would be cascading down upon him only a moment later, and to most this sudden attack would not be nearly enough time for someone to get away without a scratch. And yet as Sayla brought her blade down, Attor Haze was already in motion, his eyes casually to him, peered upwards and located the incoming attack, his entire body entering the movement with well trained precision as each muscle flexed and moved at the correct time in order to allow him to rise up from the bench. Even as he rises from the bench, his entire body would narrowly curve around the blade that had been swing down, with the time it would strike the table, Attor was moving into a counter attack, his over all speed making things appear to him as if such a reckless attack was moving in a sort of slow motion. Grinning behind his mask as his olive green eyes raise up to stare upon his attacker. It was that gal again, and it seemed that she was not here just to glare and huff about as she had before. Shaking his head slowly, he casually releases the toxin like ability that was his Ki Seal technique, sending it forwards in order to have it gather upon Sayla and seal away her Ki for the following three of her turns. Chuckling he then moves backwards to a slight degree before raising his left leg and attempting to kick her arm further into the bench where the sword had struck, his right hand lashing outwards with claws pointed as he attempts a clean slash of his claws across her face. With his heightened speed, he would appear as if he was moving in a blur a tact that seemed like it was taking full minutes to register and pull off to him, seemed like seconds or less when someone else would be watching upon it. Though he may not be all that strong, he sure was fast and that was something he knew made up for it all.
[481 + 411 = 892]