Training (Open to 1)

50 years ago
Ping finally reached the top of the mountain. It had been a long and arduous journey, but he was finally here.

The dojo was far removed from civilization, and the teacher was said to be very strict, but Ping was certain that this was where he was meant to be. Here, he would find his destiny.

The teacher was sitting cross-legged at the door to the dojo. Ping approached and bowed low. "My name is Ping. Master, please teach me the art of Kung Fu."

Before the master could speak, the loud voice of a child yelled out. "Hey, that's what I'm learning!"

Ping stiffened. That voice. Could it be? He looked up to see the little devil's yellow teeth grinning at him. "Shivering Jemmy? Master, what is she doing here?"

The master laughed. "Why, she's learning Kung Fu, just as you wish to."

Ping was furious. His fists were shaking. "Master, I was told that only the most dedicated and pure of heart may study with you. You even turned down someone from my town. Now you're allowing this monster to train under you? Do you know what destruction she has caused?"

The master looked to Shivering Jemmy, who was not paying attention to the conversation. Instead, she was chasing a butterfly and trying, unsuccessfully, to catch it in her hands. She looked like nothing more than an innocent child, and the master believed that this was her true personality. "Jemmy threatened to kill me if I did not teach her Kung Fu."

Ping was distraught. "Certainly, you don't fear her, Master. You are a great martial artist. How can your pride allow you to be bullied by her?"

The master looked at Ping, disappointed. "Ping, Kung Fu is not about defeating enemies or defending your pride. Kung Fu is living in peace with those around you. There is nothing to gain by fighting Jemmy, and there is no harm in teaching her something that she will not remember in a few days." Ping was still not satisfied, but the master smiled and bowed to him. "One day, you will understand. But for now, be content that I have chosen to train the both of you."


Present Day
Jemmy floated up to the top of the mountain. This is where the best dojo around was supposedly located. She saw the building, but she didn't see anybody waiting to greet her. "Hello?"

The door opened, and Master Ping walked out. He smiled, recognizing his old fellow pupil. "Shivering Jemmy, it is good to see you again."

Jemmy tilted her head. "Have we met?"

Master Ping laughed. "We have, but don't worry. I know it is difficult to remember every face you see. Let me guess, you are here to train?"

"Yeah," Jemmy flexed her unimpressive childish muscles. "I wanna be super strong, and do back flips, and kick people in the face and stuff. And if you don't teach me, I'll blow up your house."

Master Ping chuckled. Some things never did change, even with Chaos. "Then I guess I have no choice. Welcome to the dojo, Shivering Jemmy. Come, meet my other student."

"This is my student, Lee..."

The door burst open, and a masked man entered. He had his hands near holstered guns as he demanded that Ping train him how to fight. Ping sighed. Greed was obviously not a 'normal' person. Now he had two monsters to put up with.

But it was best to live at peace with one's neighbors.

"Lee, you are going on a jog. Go to the top of the mountain by the sea, practice, and then return. Our special guests need my attention, but they will not be here for long." Lee bowed to Master Ping and collected the few things he would need for his journey. Master Ping turned to Jemmy and Greed. "Meet me outside. I'm sure you are both eager to begin."

Outside, Master Ping formally introduced himself. With that done, he asked for both of their names, since it was likely that they did not know each other.

Jemmy stared at Greed. He seemed...familiar, somehow, but she couldn't place him. He seemed excited, but not really happy. She held out a polite hand to the man. "Hi, I'm Shivering Jemmy, the Lord of Chaos."

After the introductions, Ping had some news that he was sure neither of his new students wanted to hear. "If you wish to learn Kung-Fu, then you wish to master yourself. You are your own enemy, and it is always easier to defeat a weaker enemy. You must make yourselves weak."

Jemmy frowned. "Weak? What are you talking about? I came here to get strong." Master Lee kicked Shivering Jemmy in the face. She was sent flying backwards and landed hard on a rock, but got back up a second later as though nothing had happened. "Hey, what was that for?"

"You are relying on your powers to prevent yourself from getting hurt. You are hiding inside your own castle, because you are afraid. If you wish to learn Kung-Fu, then you must conquer your fear."

Jemmy was indeed not happy to hear this. "But...I don't want to get hurt."

"Of course not, but that is how you learn Kung-Fu. Neither of you must use any powers, weapons, or items that make this easy. This will require dedication, and it will be difficult, but you will come out stronger because of it."

Jemmy thought about it for a moment. Nodding, she snapped her fingers, and the red sash around her stomach disappeared. She had dismissed her surrogate. For the rest of her training, she would only allow herself the abilities of a normal human. "I still wish I was taller."

Jemmy did not react when Greed identified himself. Had she ever met him before? She couldn't say. Probably. They were both beings that had been around as long as the universe, so it was likely (but not certain) that they had met. She did think that his introduction held some arrogance in it, but who was she to judge that?

Master Ping frowned. Anyone who called themselves a Sin, true or not, was not somebody he would wish to invite here. But it was less effort to actually give Greed what he wanted than to fight him. Ping had learned that lesson with Jemmy long ago.

Greed didn't seem to understand what Ping had been saying, so Ping took a few steps closer to him. He spoke with sincerity. "It's meaning is simple. If you want to learn to fight, then you will need to do what I say. It will be hard, and you will want to quit. You must not. The way to become strong is to keep training when your body feels weak and tired. So when I said you must defeat yourself, I meant that you must defeat your natural desires."

Jemmy seemed to be drinking in his words, and Ping smiled. Was the Lord of Chaos actually paying attention? There was hope for her yet. He continued speaking as he walked back to the steps of the dojo and sat cross-legged on the ground. "We begin. Do push ups. I will tell you when to stop."

Jemmy got down on the ground and started doing the best push-ups she could. They were not very impressive, and she could only do 10 before falling to the ground. She was breathing hard. Doing things without her powers was hard. "Am I done yet?"

Ping narrowed his eyes at her. "Did I say stop?"

"No, but I'm tired."

"You do not fight when you are full of energy. You fight when you are tired. Keep going."

Jemmy got back to it, doing more push-ups as best she could. She struggled, she fell, and she felt her arms hurt. Eventually, her arms were hurting so much that she couldn't do another push-up. She couldn't lift herself off the ground.

Master Ping watched Greed. He would not tell them to stop until Greed could not do any more push-ups.

Shivering Jemmy was still laying on the ground, like a beached fish. She accepted Greed's hand and allowed him to lift her to her feet. She smiled to thank him. When Greed said that he thought they had met before, Jemmy shrugged. "I wouldn't have any idea. You meet so many people over the years." She chose not to add that she couldn't remember anything beyond a month ago.

Master Ping frowned as Greed said 'good luck making me tired.' He was getting the impression that Greed wasn't all that smart. Of course, Jemmy was no genius either, but he expected that from someone who chose to remain a child. Jemmy chose not to understand many things, and Ping thought that might be some sort of defense mechanism.

But Greed was different. He simply seemed to have too little patience to think things out himself. Even after Ping had explained his words, and the purpose for the push-ups, Greed had still wished Ping luck at tiring the immortal out. But it wasn't for Ping's benefit that Greed would grow tired, nor would Ping be the one to do such. All Ping could do was teach. It was up to Greed to actually become stronger.

Both of his students were standing now, and Ping stood as well. "Shivering Jemmy, run to the bottom of this mountain, and then climb all the way back up."

Jemmy's eyes widened. Her body was already exhausted. Without her powers to provide her with infinite stamina, she wasn't sure if she would be able to do that. "I'm so tired though. Can't I get a water break?"

"Are you saying this is something the great Lord of Chaos cannot accomplish?"

Well, he had her there, didn't he? Jemmy threw him a salute and started running down the mountain path.

But Master Ping had different training in store for Greed. "Sit down, Greed." The master sat on the dirt, about 10 feet away from his student. "Cross your legs, and close your eyes." He demonstrated, and did not open his eyes as he spoke next. "If you want me to speak directly, then I shall do so, but do not allow your brother pride get in your way. You will not learn Kung-Fu unless you first learn patience. If you truly desire something, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that sometimes patience is the only way to get it. We are going to sit here, with our eyes closed, until Jemmy gets back. And, you may only ask me 1 question."

Despite Greed's words, he sat quietly and seemed peaceful enough. Ping guessed that the man did not often do this. Most people didn't. There were many who feared silence and inactivity, for it left them with the one person they understood the least: one's self.

Appropriately, Greed chose to use his one question to ask who Ping was. Ping chuckled. "I am Ping," he said. It was the answer to the question, though not the one Greed wanted to hear. They sat there in silence for about an hour before Ping spoke again. "There is nothing that makes a person ordinary or extra-ordinary. We exist, and there is little else to it. We meet people and we define each other. In meeting Shivering Jemmy, I learned about her, and I learned who I was to her. But calling yourself a king does not make it so. I am one who exists, and that is who I am, and that is enough. Long ago, I was a young man filled with anger. I sought vengeance for my village. It was destroyed by a being known as Shivering Jemmy. I came here to learn to fight, so that I could meet Jemmy again and destroy her. By the time I arrived, Jemmy was already here, learning Kung-Fu under the man who would become my master."

Ping smiled. Though their eyes were still closed, Greed would hear a joyful voice as Ping retold his past. "You can imagine my anger, not getting what I wanted. I had good reason to wish Jemmy dead. But as I learned Kung-Fu, I learned how to use it. Any weapon is less than useless if you don't know when to use it. My village was dead, but I was alive. Fighting Jemmy would not bring my family or my friends back, but it could have easily cost my life. In learning to fight, I thought I would be free to do so whenever I wanted. Eventually, though, I found that what I really wanted was peace."

They sat in silence for another hour. Jemmy was taking a long time. "Now I will ask one question of you, Greed, one that you only need to answer if you wish. I know who you said you are, but greed is not content. Who is it that you wish to be?"

Master Ping did not answer. He was not interested in where Greed had come from, only in where he was going. They sat in silence for a long time. It was, as Greed had discovered, a challenging but rewarding task. Greed was getting to know himself better.

Jemmy finally came crawling up the mountain trail. Her hair was stuck to her face with heavy sweat. She did not say anything, which was unusual for her. A Lord of Chaos was not often tired, but now she collapsed at Master Ping's feet.

Ping stood up and opened his eyes. He headed for the dojo. "Greed, it is time for your next lesson. Stretch until Jemmy stands, then both of you meet me inside."

Jemmy took half an hour to stand back up, and she was shaky when she did. "Do we get to punch stuff now?" she asked as they entered the dojo.

"Yes." Ping was standing between two bags filled with sand, hanging from the ceiling. He showed them the technique for a simple, forward kick, and demonstrated it on the bag. "Simplicity is often the best tactic. You must train your bodies to act perfectly out of reflex. The less thinking you have to do, the more likely your attack will connect." Ping watched them kick at the bags of sand. They switched legs when they got tired. To Jemmy, it seemed like it was taking forever.

"Shouldn't I have a smaller bag, since I'm half his size?"

"Will your opponents be half his size?"

"...No."

"Then keep kicking."

After another ten minutes, Ping told them to take a half-hour break. Jemmy flopped to the ground, sighing in relief. She smiled at Greed. "I think my kicks were getting better. I mean, they were faster and stronger. I thought I was going to be learning to do back flips and stuff, but I guess that wouldn't be very easy to use during a fight. Say, who do you want to fight? Someone call you a mean name?"

Jemmy raised her eyebrows when Greed suggested he was training to beat her up. "In that case, good luck, because I'm going to kick your butt with my awesome Kung-Fu skills." Jemmy laid on her back and did a "good day" stretch. Basically, she looked like she was sleeping with her arms and legs stretched out. Greed called her cute, and said that she seemed almost innocent. She giggled. "So you aren't fooled? You'd be surprised by how many people are tricked by this body. You're right. I am not a child. This is just the form I choose to take. People are often nicer to you if you're a kid. They'll assume you aren't powerful or important, and that can be useful."

Jemmy sat up and reached for her toes. "Right now, I'm the only Lord of Chaos left. I don't know what happened to the rest. They just kinda went 'poof.' I figured that I should be as prepared as I can to defend the realm of Chaos." A wide grin spread over her face. "Plus, I just saw a movie where Jacky Chan was doing flips and kicking people in the face and stuff like that. I decided that I wanted to learn Kung-Fu, so I could do that stuff. It may seem like we're doing the boring stuff now, but it's all part of the movie...I mean, process. Soon, all the things we've been taught will surprise us by actually being useful." She frowned. "Although, we haven't practiced sweeping the floor or taking our jackets off yet. Maybe that's more advanced."

When their break was finished, Master Ping showed them defensive stances and how to react to different attacks. "When they punch at you with their right arm, bring your left arm over to the side. You'll knock their arm off course, deflecting the attack. At the same time, punch straight out with your right arm. This way, you'll parry their attack and counter with the same smooth motion. If they punch with their left arm, you will mirror this motion. This will only work effectively if you can perform it as a reaction, without thinking. You will now practice this with each other." Ping provided training body armor, and told them to wear it. "We don't want you breaking any bones over this. That comes later." He grinned, jokingly.

Jemmy donned her armor and took the defensive stance that she had been shown. With this armor and helmet on, she felt invincible...again. Jemmy and Greed took turns punching at each other, and countering. Greed's counter punches had enough power to knock Jemmy back a few feet, but she simply ran back up to him to resume. They continued this for quite a while. It had to become second nature.

"You will not master this in a day," Ping said, when they had stopped for another break. "Training will take time, depending on what level you would like to achieve. If you truly wish to master Kung-Fu, it will take years."

"Years?" Jemmy asked, surprised. She had almost spit out the water she was drinking. "I thought it would only take a few days."

"In a few days, you can improve, but there will always be others who are better than you. Mastery requires commitment. As a Lord of Chaos, commitment does not come easy to you, Shivering Jemmy." The master finished preparing the fish for dinner and served it to his two students. "It is up to you how long you want to train."

Jemmy was unsure. Maybe she could teleport in every few days to continue lessons, but that seemed like it would require more effort than she was willing to give. She looked at Greed. "What about you? How far do you want to go? Are you going to stay here for years?"

OOC: The site won't let me access any of the code, so I can't color Jemmy's text. My apologies.

BIC:
Master Ping chuckled at his student’s reactions. This was about what he had expected. By the time Lee got back, these two would probably both be gone.

“What’s a few years?” Jemmy repeated. “It’s forever. I can’t stay here that long.” Jemmy usually did things on a whim. While she could spend hundreds of years planning a single escapade, she also grew bored of doing the same thing over and over. It seemed like training would be a lot of repetition.

“Still, if you’re staying, at least for a while, then I guess I could stick around for a few more days.”

They spent the next three days training before Jemmy decided it was time to go home. They had learned a lot; kicks, pressure points, grapples, punches, and counters to all of these. Of course, learning them in theory and being able to consistently pull them off were different matters. Still, Jemmy felt that she had definitely improved. This was the first time in memory that she had actually learned how to do something new through determination and hard work. It felt nice.

Jemmy bowed to Master Ping out of respect. “Thank you very much for teaching me, Mister Ping. Maybe I will come back someday to learn some more.” Master Ping bowed back. Jemmy grinned in Greed’s direction. “So do we have a final fight now to see who is better? He may have strength and reach, but I’m a smaller target.”

Master Ping put a hand on Jemmy’s shoulder. “If there is one lesson I want you to learn from me, Jemmy, it is to choose your battles. That, too, is an important part of Kung-Fu. If you waste your energy on unimportant fights, you will be too tired for the fights that really matter. The sharpest blades are never drawn.” He looked at Greed, who disliked metaphors. “That’s an old saying. It means that the less you fight, the fewer injuries you will receive, and the more dangerous you remain. Choose the right moment, Jemmy, and you will not lose.” He locked eyes with the Lord of Chaos. “Is this that fight?”

Jemmy thought about it. Proving that she was better at Kung-Fu than Greed really wasn’t all that important to her. On the other hand, she would probably be upset if she lost. “I guess not,” she said. She bowed to Greed, too. “I hope we don’t ever have to fight in the future, but if we do, I will not be holding back. Good luck with life and stuff.”

Jemmy waited to hear Greed’s farewell.