DOJOLAND (Elementary)

Chapter 13 - The ruler from the East

Hei groaned and opened one eyelid tentatively. It was barely the crack of dawn but he forced himself out of bed and began his warm up.

Not long ago, he had gone through a rather rough experience which made him realize that he was a lot weaker than he imagined so he decided to up the intensity of his morning training and added even more weight to his regular clothes.

After he finished the intense training on the top of the mountain, he went down for a bath as he was drenched.

His mother greeted him with a broad smile and planted a loving kiss on the top of his head. Then she took some measurements of his shoulders.

"My, your father was right! you really are growing a lot faster! I'll have to broaden the shoulders of your shirts and make the sleeves longer!", Ai commented with a mix of surprise and glee.

Hei looked at his arms and legs. He tentatively punched and kicked the air once he was out of the dining room. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. His reach had stretched a good 5 centimeters since the start of the summer. He wondered how much his old classmates would have changed when they met again after the Summer Break ended. Then the realization struck him: he hadn't done his homework guide! He was no slouch at schoolwork but he had been too distracted elsewhere for the last week or so and it had slipped his mind. Another thought crossed his mind: His Best Friend Monky probably hadn't done it yet. Yet another, much more treacherous thought invaded his mind: His embarrassing acquaintance Monky would probably just steal his notebook on the first day and copy it right off. His eyebrow twitched. As a friend and a model student, he would just have to show that mushed-banana-for-brains brawler the right way of doing homework. He asked for a meal for 2 at the kitchen while he packed his books and explained he would take Monky to the library to work on the Summer study guides.

Quickly enough, he reached the temple where the head Monk, a Gorilla in priest clothing called Mr. Monk was, having a cup of coffee and hotcakes for breakfast. Hei had completely gotten used to the idea of this primate being a human in disguise so he greeted him politely and asked for the Resident Acolyte, Zha MongKee Bohee, nee Monky.

He found suspect #1 in the meditation chamber, holding a contortion that would have made sailor knots green with envy. Hei had wondered what kind of esoteric training would Mr Monk had Monky do and apparently Ascetic Yoga training was a part of it. Monky's half-open eyes and expressionless face, combined with utter immobility even as Hei stood right in front of him and waved a hand in front of his face told volumes of his level of concentration. Hei felt a little more respect for his friend.

"WHAM!", the chastisement paddle exploded on Monky's Forehead and made him roll around the floor rubbing his face in pain, grunting and whimpering.

"I totally wasn't asleep!", Monky complained.

"GRUNT!", was the reply. Then the Monk was pounding at his own chest and then poking an index finger at Monky's forehead.

"No! I wouldn't have been able to stop the paddle even if I had been awake!", Monky snapped, followed by a moment of thought as he rolled his eyes up and to the right. "...Which I totally was!", he added in an after thought.

"SNORT!", was the head priest's reply and he gripped Monky's head and looked at his pupil's eyes with narrowing ones.

Monky started sweating.

Hei 's respect for his friend dropped.

After a reprimand and a penitence of washing the last underwear load, Monky sat for his usual breakfast of Banana-and-green-tea Milkshake and asked Hei what was up.

Hei stayed mum and looked at Mr Monk, who frowned lightly and narrowed his eyes. Hei, still unmoving, simply glanced as low and to the right as he could, directing Mr. Monk's own gaze to Hei's backpack, half-open and full of books. Mr Monk's eyes widened at Hei and then reddened as he shifted his eyes to Monky.