Fearsome Iron (Stubbing when SCS stubs.)

Victor sighed as he watched the rest of the chi users beat on each other with foam clubs. He wasn't sure if they were using the technique or just using their ears as they ran around with blindfolds on and wacked each other. He was starting to miss Suneya all the more as the group relied on him to teach them. He wasn't sure he was qualified to teach any of this.

He turned off the hose and looked at the little blue pool he had filled with water from the faucet. He remembered Suneya talking about running on water after he got the movement technique down to a certain level and he wanted to start trying for that. Jane had taken off her blindfold and looked at Victor with trepidation, “so you're just going to run into it?”

He gave a nod in reply, "that's the plan. It shouldn't be too hard to learn. I can already run one or two steps on a wall.”

“That and this seem like two different things to me.”

Victor waved her off and started getting some distance from the pool, “I normally learn things after Sensei has beaten me up all day. Learning this fresh should be a whole lot easier.”

Victor leaned forward and set his hands on his knees while staring at the pool. He spun up his movement technique and got ready to move forward. He felt like he was missing something but he dismissed it. Victor had never been one to doubt himself.

He took a step with the technique and it pushed him halfway to the pool. His second step was into the water of the pool. He felt the water flex under his foot and started to take another step. He was almost through the step when he felt the water below his foot give away. It stopped his forward momentum cold and he fell forward into a belly flop. Water shot up his nose and he planted his hands on the bottom of the pool and pushed himself to his hands and knees.

Victor coughed and spit out the water and took deep breaths. Jane stepped up to the pool and looked down at his soaked form, “So what went wrong with that attempt.”

Victor leaned back and started pulling himself out of the pool. Him falling into it looked like it emptied half the water he put in the pool. “I almost had it. A few more tries and I will learn it.”

Jane shook her head at his reaction, “The pool will run out of water before you get the technique down.”

Victor grabbed the front of his shirt and twisted, ringing the water out of it. “Thats fine. It just means I can take breaks when it's refilling.”

The people running around with blindfolds had stopped and pulled them off at the splash of water. Victor stopped wringing his shirt off and turned to walk back to his starting point. He turned back to the pool and knew he would get maybe two or three more tired before he had to refill the pool. He leaned forward and got ready to try taking the steps again when Jacob stuck his head out of the back of the dojo, “Victor! Get your ass in here! You got some letters.”

Victor slumped and let out a sigh. He straightened up and waved to the rest of the chi users, “Just.. keep doing what you're doing. I will be right back.”

He headed for the back door of the dojo. Jerking it open he stepped inside and headed for the office. Jacob was sitting behind his desk, the block of wood Suneya had given him sitting on his desk. Victor stepped close to the desk, ignoring the chairs. He didn't want to get the chairs wet, “You said something about a letter?”

Jacob leaned back in his office chair and stared at Victor, “I still don't understand why you shaved your head.”

Victor crossed his arms so he didn't reach up and touch his now bald head. That would let Jacob know being bald bugged Victor, “I like it. It helps me cool down easier.”

Jacob huffed then pointed to two letters sitting on his desk, “Showed up with the mail.”

Victor reached forward and grabbed them. One of them was a black envelope and the other was white with a fancy border. The white one was official looking and had a waxed seal. He put the black one on the desk near him and broke the seal of the white one. He pulled out the letter inside and started reading it, “Damn..”

“What's up?” Jacob asked, leaning forward.

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“I got selected.”

“Oh shit really?”

Victor nodded. It was an invitation to teach at the college Anne went to. He wouldn't be teaching in a classroom like a professor. He would be going underground and teaching the enhanced people that were selected to fight. Being selected was a big thing, it was like getting a notification you were going to be training special forces.

If he went to the program he would be teaching students in four year blocks. They would go to college in the day then late at night they would have combat training under him. Victor knew the only reason he was being selected was because he was a chi user. He looked to his brother, “I am surprised you haven't got selected yet.”

Jacob shrugged and leaned back, “I wouldn’t take the job anyways. You might want to let Sensei know. She might have opinions on you going to teach things.”

“I can teach fine!”

Jacob waved at the back door of the dojo, “Have they learned anything? I'm not sure I trust your judgement. I think you need to take a step back and reflect on what Suneya has taught you.”

Victor nodded at that, “Something to ask Sensei when she gets back then.”

“If she gets back.” Jacob pointed out.

Victor rolled his eyes, “Just because she is a wandering monk doesn't mean she is going to just leave us.”

Jacob shrugged, “she did pick up an apartment in the city. I think she will turn up sometime in the next few weeks.”

Victor shrugged and grabbed the second envelope. This one wasn't as fancy as the one from the college. It was just a plain black envelope. Victor stuck his thumb under the lip and tore it open. Pulling the letter out from inside it he opened it and black dust fell from inside it. It got all over his hands and his shirt, some of it fell onto Jacobs desk but the majority of it fell to the floor, “What the hell!”

Victor took a step back as Jacob stood up, “What is that shit?”

Victor rubbed his fingers that were coated in the dust together, “I think it's some kind of wood ash.”

Jacob sighed, “This is going to be a pain. I can already tell.” He reached over and brushed the ash off his desk with a frown, “Go get the vacuum and clean this up.”

Victor nodded then turned the letter to the side and gave it a flick, knocking the rest of the ash off. He set the letter on the desk and went to a nearby closet for the vacuum. When the ash was cleaned up he picked up the letter and started reading, “It’s from those ninja guys. There's another tournament at Pirest.”

Jacob sighed from his office chair. He had taken his seat and was back to doing paperwork while Victor had cleaned up, “What the hell do those assholes want?”

“Another tournament. It's in two weeks. This one is different though, it's written in a very flowery prose with rhymes and things.”

Victor held the letter out to Jacob. Jacob took it and started reading, “Your right this is some flower stuff. It's worded more formally than that old guy showing up and slapping you too.”

Victor reached out and snatched the letter from Jacob, “It's my invitation and not yours.”

Jacob shrugged, “I am probably going to have to go too. We are not really rogue chi user anymore are we? Suneya stole a whole lot of prospective students from that group didnt she?”

Victor sighed and looked down at the ash on his hands, “I think I ran into one of them the other night too. One of their leaders. I don't think that whole group is in a good place.”

“How did that work out? Did you fight them?”

Victor nodded, “Yea, after they tried to cut my head off with a sword.”

Jacob tilted his head and focused on Victor intently, “They seriously tried to cut your head off?”

“Hell yea. I got a free sword out of it after I smacked them around.”

“And a hair cut I bet.” Jacob said with a chuckle.

“I shaved my head because it lets me cool off faster. It's summer.”

Jacob leaned back and picked up a pen from his desk, “Whatever helps you sleep at night. I’ll tell mom about it later. You'll get head wax for a birthday present this year.”

Victor snatched the letter from the college off Jacobs desk, “I am going to go back outside and train. You have fun doing paperwork.”

“You're going to have a whole lot of paperwork when you take that job at the college.”

Victor didn't reply to Jacobs' parting shot. He went over to his gym bag and stuffed the letters in the side opening. Zipping it shut he stepped out the back of the dojo. Jane and the rest of the chi practitioners were running around in the back, still wearing blindfolds and going after each other. He really hoped what he was trying was working.

He looked to the pool then walked over and grabbed the hose and started refilling it. Jane stopped beating on the guy in front of her and pulled off her blindfold. She looked him up and down when she got closer, “What is on your hands and shirt?”

“A letter came from the chi practitioners of Pinrest. It was an invitation to another one of their tournaments. The thing was filled with wood ash.”

Victor stopped filling the pool when he saw how pale Jane had gotten. The rest of the practitioners had stopped their training and started pulling off their blindfolds. Victor was suddenly the center of attention of twenty of such chi users. While he had gotten used to them looking to him for instruction, this felt different and it made him straighten up.

Jane stepped forward and grabbed his wrist, bringing his ash covered hand up to her nose. Her nostrils flared as she took in the scent of the ash. She let go of his wrist and took a step back, frowning, “Ash.”

“No shit it's ash.” Victor rolled his eyes at her.

She violently shook her head, “Not ash. Ash wood. From the tree. They sent you ash from an Ash tree.”

Victor looked at the dark stain on his hand before bringing them to his nose and smelling them. To Victor it just smelled like ash from a fire pit. He shrugged, “whats with that reaction? I am guessing each type of ash has some special meaning or something?.”

Jane gave a slow nod and the other practitioners stepped closer as she explained, “Ash from an Ash tree has a really simple meaning. When you show up for the tournament they are going to test you. Whether you pass or fail will have different outcomes. If you pass you are allowed to join them, but if you fail you are probably already dead and they are going to burn your dojo to the ground along with all of your students.”

Victor sighed and brought his hand up to rub his forehead before stopping. He would get ash everywhere. He turned and looked at the back entrance of the dojo, he was going to have to go inside and tell Jacob he was right. That was always the worst.