The Hellhound's Secret

Samurai's Journey, Part I

"No way, dude. There's no way he does it," Hunter scoffed, shaking his head.

"I don't, dude. He's pretty strong for a little guy," said Dustin, glancing up and then back down.

"Quiet," Shane scolded. "A little respect for the Master."

Kali cocked her head to the side and glanced at Tori, grinning as she met the blonde's gaze and then folded her arms across her stomach as she returned her attention to the centre of their circle. Sensei stood on a stone brick, with another solid one before him. His lesson today was about inner strength.

"Now watch closely, Rangers," Sensei said, mustering up all his strength. He jumped into the air, flipped over and landed on the second block, shattering it in half.

Shane, Dustin, Hunter, and Blake laughed in impressive amusement.

"See, now that..." Shane started.

"... was radical!" Blake finished.

Tori glanced at Hunter. "You were saying?" she asked.

"I stand corrected. But how?" Hunter asked.

"The power comes not from the body, but from the mind," Tori explained.

"Correct, Tori," Sensei nodded.

Hunter grinned and rubbed his hands together. "All right, I'm up," he said, eager to prove his abilities.

"You sure you want to go there, bro?" Blake asked.

"Look, if he can do it... uh, I'm going to give it my best shot," said Hunter, backpedaling slightly.

Kali scoffed as Shane set another stone in front of Hunter. "This should be interesting," she muttered to Tori.

Tori grinned.

Hunter smirked, confidently, and knelt beside the stone slab. He took a deep breath and elevated his hand above the rock before drawing it down with a smack. The brick, did not break, but the look on Hunter's face was enough to make Kali burst out laughing.

"Looks like rodent - 1, Thunder Ninja - zip," Kali teased.

"You think you can do it?" Hunter asked.

"Oh, I know I can't," said Kali. "But, at least I'm big enough to admit that."

Hunter stood up and towered over Kali. "So, what you're saying is, without magic, you can't even do basic ninja training?" he challenged.

The laughter and amusement at Hunter's fail faded from Kali's face, and her eyes narrowed. "I've done my inner strength training, Bradley," she said.

"Yeah? Prove it," said Hunter, placing a new brick on the ground. He stepped aside and motioned for Kali to take his place.

Kali looked from Hunter to the brick and back again. She'd never backed down from a challenge before, but Sensei had agreed that she needn't not take part in this exercise given she had already mastered it with the Mystic's, but she also refused to let Hunter feel like he had one up on her.

Stepping around the stone slab, Kali knelt before it and stared at the smooth, marble surface. Her hand clenched into a fist and she felt the muscles in her arm pull tighter. She could've been the bigger person and walked away, but she also knew that meant giving Hunter the right to tease her endlessly.

Flexing her fist, Kali raised her hand above the stone slab and took a deep, calming breath. She closed her eyes and focused her energy, imagining the slab breaking after touching it.

"Son of a -" Kali cried as her hand hit the marble. The pain radiated from her hand, up her arm, and stopped at her shoulder. But the others gasped, and when she looked down she noticed a crack running the width of the marble slab. It had stopped meters from the bottom, so the stone hadn't completely broken, but she had still managed to one-up Hunter.