Knowledge of Power - Quest

Reo smashed his fist into the dummy. It bent backwards slightly and came swinging forward. The momentum of the blow smashed into Reo’s face, sending him hurtling backwards. Blood sprouted from his nose as he lay on the ground. Face red, Reo used his hands and pushed himself to his feet. Even in his rage, Reo used the tactical standing tactic taught to him by his parents. This technique involved placing both hands on the ground and swinging one foot forward as you get up in order to kick anyone approaching in the knee caps. It would be ineffective against an experienced taijutsu user but it would be more than enough against someone who managed to knock him down and wanted to take advantage of his weakened state.

[Post 1: 128 Words]

“Honey?” A voice said as Reo stood there with his breath coming in large gasps. His mother’s face was peeking through the door. “I didn’t want to intrude but you were in the training room instead of your bedroom, so I thought it would be okay to peek in and check on you….ar-are you okay? You seem to be bleeding and – honestly – I don’t see anything in this room that should be able to injure you like that.”

Mother. So nice yet so bothersome. How did she manage to both make him feel loved and infuriated at the exact same time? It was a gift. Truly.

[Post 2: Words 106]

Reo didn’t say anything immediately. He didn’t know what to say. How could he explain to his mother why he was feeling as angry as he was. She never got angry. There was no way she would understand what he was going through.

“It’s nothing..I…I don’t know.” Reo said slumping against the wall. The wall was comfortably cold. That was one of the side effects of living in a desert. Hot days but cold nights. It was a comfort when one was working out, but it was even more comfortable when one was feeling upset.

The door creaked open further as his mother walked into the room.


[Post 3: 107 Words]

She placed her back against the wall in the spot next to Reo’s. Then, they sat there for far longer than Reo liked to admit. He just didn’t know what to say because he shouldn’t feel this way. He was supposed to be a force of balance. A force that protects the world. Yet, he was getting upset over something so minor. It was ridiculous.

“Well, if you want to talk you should know that I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me to.” Reo’s mother said calmly and cheerily…almost…she almost sounded chipper. Reo was slightly angry that she sounded so happy.

[Post 4: 102 Words]

It defied logic, except that it didn’t. She had nothing to be upset about. A flash of red hot anger flared through Reo’s mind as he thought about it, though. Irrational as it was, Reo couldn’t help but have the emotions flare up.

“I don’t want to talk! Well, I do, but how am I supposed to talk to you? You…you’re perfect! You never get upset and this is so little. Like, what? Am I supposed to just tell you that I’m upset because I lost a sparring match today? You’ll laugh at me!” Reo screamed and immediately felt ashamed when he saw her reaction. His mother recoiled, and her eyes widened. A small tear could be seen glistening in the corner of her eye where it had recently formed.


[Post 5: 130 Words]

Reo had never screamed at his mother before. No wonder she would be so upset that he did. Reo’s face began to heat up as he watched her.

“Son. You think I will laugh at you? It’s natural to be upset. I don’t know why you think I am perfect but, I assure you, I am not. I get upset all the time. It’s completely natural to be upset when you lose a spar. It sounds like this spar was the first one you’ve lost in a while?” His mother said, changing the tone immediately. She was upset that he thought she would have laughed at his problems, not that he had yelled. If it was possible for Reo to feel even more mortified, this is what caused it.

[Post 6: 134 Words]

“Yes. It’s the first spar I’ve lost since I transitioned to focusing on Taijutsu. Everything seemed to be going great – you know? I was facing off against armed opponents with my bare hands. It was something that I had never even heard of before at the Academy level and I had been doing it…I guess I got too cocky and messed up or…I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. The other person was clearly just better than me. He didn’t use a weapon, either. It was Taijutsu versus taijutsu.” Reo slumped further against the wall to the point where his mother wouldn’t be able to get a good look at his face. He didn’t want her to see him right now.

[Post 7: 120 Words]

“Okay, so tell me what happened and why it upsets you so much.” His mother said gently as she rested a hand on Reo’s shoulder. Her presence and touch were far more comforting than Reo had anticipated and, so, he began to talk.

“Okay, so it was earlier today in the Academy – obviously. I hadn’t lost a spar in a long time, though some were close. Ever since I’ve gotten this Jade Ring, none of the fights were even close. I completely dominated and continually received praise from the instructor for my Taijutsu skills. Well, I guess I should start off by saying that I was already upset that day. It turns out, the Graduation Exam covers all aspects of Ninja Arts and they won’t let you pass if you aren’t at least decent in every area. I haven’t practiced any of the other areas so I got pretty upset. Then, we went into sparring and today was a Taijutsu day. This is normally my forte, but one of my classmates challenged me to a spar today. That’s unusual, but it does happen. It is one of the students that I don’t interact with very much, so I don’t know much besides the fact that his name is Indra. Well, Indra approached me and challenged me to a spar. I said okay, but that didn’t stop him from beginning to make fun of me for being bald, and a monk, and other unmentionable things. So, I went into the fight ready to do my best to uh… train properly, except this Indra was far tougher than I had expected him to be. He ended up being able to dodge almost everything I threw at him and landed blows that I saw coming but was too slow to react to. I was completely destroyed in the spar and utterly humiliated in front of the whole Academy.” Reo took a deep breath as he finished.

[Post 8: 323 Words]

He hadn’t spoken all of that since it had happened. “After the Academy, I came back here to train.”

“Son, none of that explains this injury. That blood is far too fresh to be from a spar you had earlier in the day while you were at the Academy.” His mother said, laughing slightly. Reo managed to push a smile onto his face for her.

“Well, you see….uh…so…I’ve been training in here since I left the Academy and it wasn’t going well. All of this led to me getting even more frustrated until I caused our Training Dummy to fly onto the ground and bounce off – hitting me in the face on its way up.” Reo stuttered the last part. It wasn’t really related to the problem that he needed help dealing with. It was more of a….side problem. Tangential. That was the word.

[Post 9: 144 Words]

His mother burst into laughter. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I know I acted like I wouldn’t laugh but I want you to know that I’m not laughing at you but I am laughing with you. It’s just…you received a bloody nose from the Trainee Dummy? That’s hilarious. Anyway, why do you think you lost so badly. It sounds to me like you got upset and lost your cool. Whenever an opponent is able to make you that mad, then they have the advantage. You let your emotions decide your decisions and your opponent will have a much easier time reading your movements.”

[Post 10: 103 Words]