"Get back here you damned, dirty ape!" Ryan yelled at the monkey, sprinting as fast as he could after it. The monkey that held his stun baton laughed at him and started to climb up the branches on the inside of the tree. Ryan watched it ascend up the tree, where it joined its brethren at the platform near the top. He noticed that another monkey had his backpack and was taunting him by waving it in the air at him.
"When I get up there, YOU ARE ALL DEAD!" he roared in rage, jumping onto the first branch. The monkeys above jeered at him as he slowly made his way up to them, branch by branch. He was probably a third of the way there when a monkey dropped down onto the branch in front of him. It watched him struggle to remain standing on the branch, before laughing at him like the rest.
"Think I'm funny, do you? We'll see how well you laugh with a busted face," he growled, jumping towards the next branch. What happened next caught Ryan completely off guard. The monkey lashed out with an open palm that connected with Ryan in mid jump and the force of the impact launched him back to the previous branch. He landed on his stomach and managed to wrap his arms around the branch to keep from falling, but both his chest and his pride had been injured.
"What in the hell...?" he asked in disbelief to himself. Then he examined the monkey a little closer and realized that it wasn't just standing on a branch, it was in a stance. These freakin' monkeys knew martial arts! Ryan's rage grew even greater when he realized that Zecora had probably known that as well.
"So is this what you meant by training me Zecora? Letting a bunch of damn monkeys steal my stuff and embarrass me?" Ryan pulled himself back up onto the branch and eyed the monkey cautiously. He wasn't much of a martial artist, but if he had to guess, he figured it was fighting using the 'monkey style'.
'A monkey using the monkey style. Why not, first thing that makes some sense since I got here.' He carefully watched the monkey’s movements, trying to figure out a pattern to them. Much to his surprise, the monkey stopped moving and started to leap up the branches back to the top. Actually, all the monkeys headed up to the platform, leaving him a clear path to the top.
"That's odd..." Ryan began climbing again, but this time he wasn't interrupted by any monkey attacks. Branch after branch he made his way higher and higher up. While was climbing (or leaping) he noticed that the air up here felt...different. He could feel an odd sort of energy, similar to the energy Zecora gave off. After another five minutes of leaping, Ryan finally reached what he assumed to be the top. With one last jump, he landed face first on the platform. He was pretty much exhausted, but he had to get his stuff back. So Ryan lifted his head and allowed his jaw to drop to the floor from what he saw.
In front of him were at least one hundred monkeys, each of them sitting on branches and watching him curiously. He saw the two that had taken his stun baton and his backpack, but those two were minor now. What caught his eye was a magnificent fountain of wood, with the purest water he had ever seen flowing down it. The fountain was formed inside the very tree and looked to be connected to all parts of the giant oak.
'That must be the water Zecora wanted," Ryan mused, standing up slowly. He started to carefully walk forward, keeping his eyes on the monkeys. None of them bothered to stop him, but instead continued to watch with curious eyes. When he had almost reached the water, he turned and jumped back when he found another monkey standing in front of him. This one was much different than the other ones. He was definitely older, as most of his fur was silver and it had a slight hunch in its back. It held an oddly carved staff in its right hand and wore some sort of orange monk robes. Wait...a monkey wearing monk robes. Monk robes. Monkey. Monk-ey.
"Oh, good God," he sighed to himself, not BELIEVING the pun that he had created. The elder monkey was examining him curiously, just like all the others. After a moment of examining him, the monkey gently placed its staff on the floor and placed both hands behind its back. Ryan wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Um, do you mind if I take some of that water behind you?" he asked awkwardly. The monkey said nothing, but continued to examine him in interest. He wasn't sure what to do, so he tried to walk around it as quickly as he could.
WHAM!
Ryan was sent sprawling across the platform, landing ten feet away in a mess. He clutched where the monkey had struck him, his stomach, and tried his best not to throw up. He managed to fight his way to his knees before the pain overtook him again and doubled him over. The monkeys were all jeering and applauding now, getting ready for the fight. Ryan managed to get to his feet, glaring at the elder in rage. The elder smiled and simply retook his stance.
"You want a fight, old man? I’ll give you a fight!" Ryan roared, sprinting over to the elder. Ryan brought his fist back and punched the monkey straight in his chest. Ryan smiled for half a second, until he was hit with a force five times as hard. As he was once again doubled over, Ryan couldn't believe it. This elder withstood his strike, only to deliver a much stronger hit. This wasn't ending well. Ryan got to his feet as fast as he could and delivered a strong kick to the monkey’s stomach that would've felled a normal human. But instead of the monkey feeling pain, Ryan felt a spike of agony shoot up his leg. He could barely even register what had just happened when the monkey sent a kick of its own right into his gut, once again knocking him back. As Ryan struggled to get up, he tried to make sense of what had happened.
'Okay, I just got my ass handed to me be an ancient monkey. That happened. But what was that with my leg? It was like I kicked something made of stone,' he thought, keeping his distance from the elder. 'Wait, I remember something about a style of fighting called 'Stone Monkey'. Is that what I'm fighting? The Stone Monkey style? Only one way to find out!'
Ryan raised his fist to protect his face and rushed back into the fight. He began with a feint to the right and went downstairs with a knee to the lower area. But just like before, the elder monkey didn't even flinch. Ryan knew that the monkey would retaliate and managed to get clear of the counter-attack. He didn't like the way this fight was going. He was already tired from the climb up and the monkey using his face to clean the floor wasn't helping. Also, the monkey didn't seem to feel any of the blows he was delivering, whereas the elder’s moves devastated him. This was a fight he couldn't win, but his pride refused to let him give in.
Ryan picked himself up and rushed the elder one last time. He went in for a punch to the face, putting all his remaining strength into the punch. He got destroyed. The elder blocked his punch and delivered five devastating shots to his chest and stomach area. The final blow connected square in the chest, resulting in Ryan coughing up blood. He collapsed to the ground, barely able to move. He pushed himself away from the elder as fast as he could (which wasn't that fast) and shakily rose to his knees. He looked at the elder, who was still eyeing him curiously, and made the sign to bring it on.
"I know I can't win, but I'm not going to give in. Bring it," he coughed out, barely able to stand. 'Not like I care if they finish me.' He had expected the elder to finish him off, to end him. Instead, he heard applause, applause coming from all the monkeys. Ryan looked at them with confusion, wondering what was going on. The elder smiled and picked up its staff, then walked over to him.
"What's going on?" Ryan asked slowly, still looking around the room. The elder smiled at him again.
"We are congratulating you," he responded in a wise voice. After Ryan got over the initial shock of the elder being able to talk, he stared at him in confusion.
"What do you mean, congratulating me?"
"You are the first in many years to take such a terrible beating and still find the strength to stand. The first to not cower before an unbeatable foe. The drive to never give up. That is the first step to becoming a true fighter." The elder held out his hand, which Ryan took after a second.
"So this was a test, huh?" Ryan asked. The elder nodded.
"Our previous pupil came by a day ago and told us to set up this test for you. She seemed confident that you would pass."
"Zecora," Ryan growled to himself. That zebra had gone ahead and set up a test for him without bothering to tell him. The elder clapped his hands and a door near the end of the platform opened, revealing a hidden courtyard. The elder and Ryan both walked outside, the latter looking around in amazement. It was a training courtyard, with practice dummies, rope climbs and a sparring circle. In the center were stone monkeys that were each in a different pose.
"So, what do I get for passing the test?" Ryan asked.
"You get to train."
"Can I have my stuff back?"
"No."
Ryan scowled and walked to the edge of the courtyard. He was surprised to see that the courtyard was actually a flattened part of a ginormous branch of the massive oak, which spiraled down into the forest. He also realized that the leaves on this tree acted as a camouflage, making the top of this tree look like a bunch of little trees. These monkeys must really like their privacy.
"Ryan," the elder called out, signaling for Ryan to join him by the stone monkeys. Ryan raised an eyebrow and walked over. So they knew his name, huh. Damn that zebra.
"So," he began, once had joined the elder, "what kind of training will I start with?"
"In order to deliver a blow, our style teaches that you must learn to take one first," the elder answered.
"So I get to be beaten on some more. What a valuable learning experience this has turned out to be."
"Did you come here to learn or crack jokes?" the elder asked in an annoyed tone.
"Meh, fifty-fifty."
The elder took up a stance in the center of the courtyard and signaled for Ryan to do the same. Once Ryan had taken the pose, the elder began to teach.
"The secret to this style is learning how to redirect pain and how to hit even harder than your advisory. How to take their strongest blow and then to retaliate with an even mightier one."
"So, take a hit to score a hit?"
"Exactly. Follow my motions, I will teach you how to feel your Ki." The elder began to perform a series of stances and arm movements, which Ryan followed to the best of his ability. Much to Ryan's surprise, when he tried the movements for himself he felt an odd energy begin to flow through him. The elder also noticed this and gave Ryan an intrigued look.
"It seems you have a good connection with your Ki. Now I want you to use that energy you feel to block out all feeling in your body. Let it flow throughout your body, until it has reached everywhere." Ryan did as he was instructed, allowing the energy he felt to numb his body. He was too busy concentrating to notice it when the elder delivered a powerful palm strike to his stomach. Ryan opened his eyes as he felt the pain and quickly backed away from the elder.
"What the hell was that for?" he growled. The elder gave him another smile.
"That blow I just gave you leveled you when we fought mere minutes ago. But now that you can access your Ki, you still stand strong." Ryan looked down at where the elder had struck him, realizing that what he said was true. He still felt the pain, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been a few minutes ago.
"Now we will test your striking power," the elder said, walking over to the stone statues. Ryan followed, now taking a deeper interest in what the elder was telling him.
"Channel your Ki through your hands and unleash the energy into this statue." Ryan concentrated once again until he felt the energy build up in his hands. He took the stance he had been shown and drove his fist into the rock.
CRACK!
Ryan howled in agony as his fist crumpled against the stone. He clutched it close to his chest, swearing up a storm. The elder looked from him back to the statue, evidently confused. He ordered for the other monkeys to bring Zecora's healing supplies from his bag to them. After ten minutes of care, Ryan's hand felt better.
"I do not understand. With your level of Ki control that you showed, you should have been able to crack that rock with ease..." the elder mused out loud. Ryan used that new Ki-numb technique on his hand.
"Well, I sure as heck didn't break the statue, but I'm happy to announce that with your training, I managed to fracture my hand." The elder smacked Ryan in the back of his head with his staff. While Ryan spat out some more curses, the elder had an experiment to try.
"Ryan, I want you to use all your Ki that you can on your stomach area. Can you do that?" Once Ryan had set his Ki in place, the elder delivered a much more powerful punch to Ryan's stomach.
"How did that feel?"
"Barely felt a thing."
"Curious. It seems you have talent for numbing pain and avoiding injury, but none what so ever for offensive purposes. This will make for some interesting training."
"So where do we go from here?" Ryan asked in mock interest. After giving Ryan another smack in the head, the elder brought the cursing Ryan over to the sparring circle, where a multitude of monkeys awaited.
"You will practice sparring against these warriors. Do not let their looks deceive you; they are each a powerful opponent that will test you mentally and physically."
"I'll take your word for it," Ryan muttered as he entered into the arena. A monkey from the side stepped into the arena as well and took its place in front of him. The elder signaled for the match to start, to which the monkey across from him bowed. Ryan awkwardly returned the bow and immediately received a kick in the jaw that knocked him over.
"What the hell was that!?" Ryan yelled, trying to numb the pain in his jaw. The elder chuckled at his frustration.
"I had begun the match. You must pay close attention to your adversary and remain alert. Being crafty in a fight is just as important as being skilled. If you can out think your opponent, then victory is already yours." Ryan stood up and got back to his place. The elder again signaled for the match to start and the monkey bowed again. Ryan didn't fall for it and he went for a kick to the head. However, that was also a trap that he had fallen for. The next thing he knew, he was once again lying on his back. He sat up to see the elder laughing at him.
"You see what I mean? Your opponent knew that you would not fall for the trick a second time, so he bowed again to set up a trap. One that you fell for gloriously." As much as the elder was getting on his nerves, Ryan did begin to see what the elder was implying. He was trying to show Ryan that fighting was as much a mental game as it was a physical one. Ryan got back up and faced his opponent once more.
"Alright, I think I'm beginning to see what you're getting at. Let me try one more round." The elder looked at the other monkey, who nodded in agreement and began the match again. This time, when the monkey started to bow, Ryan took his jacket off and tossed it over the monkey. In that brief moment of confusion, Ryan managed to get in and deliver a good shot to the monkey's face. However, the monkey had also been trained in the same style and was a much better practitioner. And it was angry.
"...And cease!" the elder called out. The monkey got off of Ryan, who was lying beaten on the floor, and joined its brethren on the sidelines. Ryan gingerly got to his feet, trying to block out as much of the pain as he could.
"I must admit, you have quite a remarkable pain tolerance, and you seem to be able to mentally block out most of the physical pain you endure. It's almost like you're experienced at it." Ryan thought back to the pain he had to block out before he had met the monkey. The all-consuming fire, the screams of those dying in the streets, the destruction of those that--
"Yes, I have blocked out pain before," Ryan answered, shoving those kinds of thoughts aside. The elder gave him a curious glance.
"Well then, I would recommend that you stay with us a while longer. Unless you have anything else to do?" Ryan pretended to think about it for a moment.