Lost Valley Series: The Quest

Chapter 3: The Test

       The training room had a small platform, where Ninja and Lark were standing. The rest of the room was normal ground that you would see outside. There was several punching bags, and training equipment lying everywhere. Lark had the urge to hit one of them, but resisted. Just like Kat said, there was a man standing in the training room. The man was 6ft or at least around that. His skin was light red-brown, with a buzz cut. His eyes were almost as brown as the wood next to Ninja. What he was wearing couldn't exactly be considered as "underwater fortress wear" but, then again no one in the fortress looked like they lived underwater. Ninja secretly hoped at least one or two people would have fish gills or tails.

"How did the fortress even get underwater anyways?" Ninja jumped down from the metal platform onto the wooden floor. "Wait before you answer, let me guess. This place used to be an island, but then some idiot messed up and it sunk." Ninja guessed. The man stood there in silence, not even flinching at Ninja's question and guess. Ninja walked up to the man. "Hello? Anybody in there?" Ninja waved his hand in front of the tall man's face. "I guess not...." Ninja watched as Lark tumbled down from the platform.

       "Owww.." Lark rubbed his head. "I tried to flip off of it, and I slipped." Lark stuttered his words, so Ninja barely understood him.

Ninja walked up to Lark and offered him his hand.

       "Thanks," Lark grabbed it, and pulled himself up. "Kat told us to follow him to our testing rooms, but how do we follow a statue?" Lark stared at the statue-like man.

"Who knows? There's a possibility that he's only a statue. There is only one way to figure out whether he is or not; let's punch it in the face as hard as we can!" Ninja rolled up his sleeves. "Should I take the first hit, or do you want the honors?" Ninja clutched his fists.

       Lark looked at Ninja in amusement. "I think you should go first, you look more prepared." Lark watched as Ninja prepared to strike the man. Ninja threw his fist directly in front of his face, barely stopping in front of the man; who Ninja saw flinch slightly. "Well I guess that settles it. Can you take us to our testing rooms now that we've shown you our power?" Lark stared at the floor, wondering how they placed wood over all the sand without some leaking inside.

"Very well, I shall take you two to the training rooms. The one who tried to punch me, goes to the first one on the left," The man pointed at a set of doors. "And the other one follows me. Oh sorry for the late introduction, I'm Kishen." Kishen put out his hand.

       Lark and Ninja introduced themselves and shook hands.

"So, are we going to be separated in the test or are we going in together?" Lark glanced at the two doors with interest.

       Kishen moved slightly. "No, Ninja will be entering the obstacle course. Lark, you will be following me into the right door." Kishen walked to the door, motioning Lark to follow.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye for now. Don't screw up on your test!" Lark dashed into the door behind Kishen. Ninja opened the door to his testing room, and trudged in.

       The inside of the door was an obstacle course, just as Kishen suggested there would be. As soon as Ninja stepped through on the floor, he saw an arrow wiz past the front of his face. A ocean of relief and confusion washed over him. He was glad to not get hit by the arrow, but why would they have him take a test like this? Maybe they didn't know his elemental type. "Whatever the case, I'll just have to finish this quickly and get a side show of Lark's test." Ninja unzipped his jacket and tossed it out the door. His jacket made a very audible thud against the ground. Ninja's jacket had been raised to 50 lbs to help increase his strength. Every other piece of clothing had already been raised to 50, so it had little effect on him. Except when he took it off, which made his speed increase dramatically. Ninja never knew if it was because it was off the decrease in weight or if it was because he was trained to be more alert when he had less clothes on. (It was an ancient Greek warrior method he learned from his uncle.) Lark on the other hand, wore 100 lb clothing.