I walked down to the shuttle station, but before I could look at the schedule I heard a voice close behind me.

“Kazai! Where do you think you’re going?”

I turned around and it was Master Kim Lee.

“You should be on your way to the training grounds! Where do you think you are going? You know what, don’t answer that! Just come with me, and I’ll forget this ever happened.”

I looked at the map then at Master Kim Lee and followed him to the training grounds.

That day I decided to actually try his methods, which didn’t work. The entire time we trained I was thinking about leaving to go to Zircon City: the capital of the Hikari Tribe. I thought about what the princess may do if she found out that I left, but it didn’t matter. I wanted to know who my real father is, and it didn’t matter what the penalty was: I had already made up my mind.

I thought to myself: ‘I’ll leave as soon as my training with Master Kim Lee is over. All I need is a full week, and I’ll come back, I’ll face the consequences when I return.”’I didn’t care that I didn’t have a change of clothes, or that I didn’t have much money on me: all I knew was that I wanted to know what I was capable of, and no one in the Umi Tribe could show me that.

As soon as my training with Master Kim Lee was over, I began to walk to the gate that leads outside of the town walls. I figured that if I tried to take the shuttle again, someone would try to stop me. So, I decided to walk to the nearest town and hop on the shuttle from there. Before I reached the gate, I heard a voice call out.

“Kazai! Where do you think you’re going?” It was Master Kim Lee again.

I turned around and shouted, “Like I said before, I really respect you as a person, but it’s impossible for you to train me. I’m going to find someone who can really train me.”

The master’s posture changed as if he was preparing for something.

“Kazai, I ignored you trying to leave this morning, but I cannot ignore you anymore! It is my duty to make sure you stay in the Umi Tribe!”

I thought about what how he said my duty, so I asked: “What do you mean it’s your duty to make sure that I stay? Is that why you’re so-called training me? So that you can keep an eye on me and make sure I don’t leave?”

Master Kim Lee just stared at me. His silence confirmed my suspicions. So, I walked away, and before I could take a third step forward, I heard “Shōkan!” Immediately, a high wall of water appeared in front of me rushing from the ground like a geyser.

“Turn around and go home NOW, or I will report this to the princess!”

I tried to push through the wall of water, but it was too thick and powerful.

“The only way you leave this tribe is through me.” Master Lee said with a dead serious look on his face. 

I took a deep breath and said, “Okay then.”

I threw three paralyzing needles at him simultaneously and Master Lee caught them all. The wall of water that was behind me dissipated, but, before I knew it, the ground beneath my feet began to break. Instantly, I was completely surrounded by a formidable wall of rushing water. I was trapped.

I tried to push through but as soon as I touched it, large shards of salt began to attach to my hands. I fell back and the water behind me pushed me forward leaving shards of salt on my shoulder and my sword--not that I could use it with my hand immobilized by salt crystals.

After Master Lee realized that I had been immobilized, he dispelled the walls of water and said: “Do you have anymore fight in you?”

I was pretty ticked with his arrogance, so I quickly ran toward him and tried to drop kick the old man. But, before I could, he transformed his body into water, causing me to go straight through him and landing in the dirt on my side.

Finally he stabbed me with one of my own paralyzing needles and put me on his shoulders and carried me back into town. The next thing I knew, I was unconscious.

Next Chapter: LOCK-DOWN