It took the three of us a week to prepare for our departure. Jason had to get his finances situated with his parents. The thing was, he had credit cards but he didn’t have a bank account.  I know what you might be thinking.  He was old enough to do it himself.  That would be true if he were still in our world, but here, he was still 16.  I don’t know what world you’re from, but in my world, you still needed to at least be 18 to open a bank account.

Before we left, his parents set one up so they could deposit money if he ever ran out. I didn’t really see that as a strong possibility considering they put $100,000 in the account. It’s not like we were going on a family vacation or staying in five-star hotels in the French Riviera. I didn’t think they even had a French Riviera here. I’m sure there was an equivalent somewhere out there though.

Sora and I repacked the bike that we originally traveled on.   Jason figured it would be faster for our travels than the camper would have been. I couldn’t disagree with that at all.

When we left, it was a very teary farewell, mostly from Betti. She wasn’t just sad at her brother leaving, but she was also sad that Sora and I were leaving so soon. I reassured her that we would see her again, but to be honest, I was a little sad myself.

Yukon and Alistair stayed behind because Yukon wanted to return to school. Though he didn’t say this out loud, the other reason he stayed was to continue his relationship with Betti. I couldn’t really blame him; I would have done the same thing if Jason wasn’t coming with us.

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I suggested that we head east and then south. Sauza and Todrick said Master Chow once lived in the middle of a rainforest, so going to the southeast region seemed to be the most logical destination.

In my time at the Coates’ mansion, I studied the geography of this version of Earth. I learned that there were more continents and that they were more separate than what I was used to. Unlike on my Earth where there were seven continents and hundreds of countries, this place had fourteen continents and those same continents were also countries. They did have provinces and counties and cities of course, but that was the extent of segregation on this planet.

Sauza and Todrick’s home was in the northern part of the nation we were presently in. Jason’s family and Coates, Inc. were in the western side, and the master should have been on the southeast portion.

It took us a few weeks to find him, but we eventually did. Though, we didn’t find him at home. It was the oddest of situations.

So, from my understanding of things, there were eight monarchs and six presidents that governed the nations. Each of the countries had parliaments or a form of congress but all real authority came from the head honchos of each nation. The fourteen rulers plus their number two’s also formed a central government. I believe that was why this world didn’t seem mired in petty squabbles. Of course they still had many problems, but still far superior to most planets that I’d been to. It took them awhile to get to that point, but they got there and that’s all that mattered.

The name of the country we were in was called Paredia and they had a king. The capitol city’s name was New Pandria. The three of us, Jason, Sora and I, had arrived in New Pandria the night before. We woke up to a cacophony of sirens and screams. We all got dressed and made our way outside the hotel to find out what all of the commotion was.

When we got outside, I was nearly run over by an ambulance that was driving on the sidewalk. There were several ambulances going by followed by a cadre of police cars and fire trucks. They were all headed in the direction of the castle. The castle could be seen from where we were even though it was a mile away. It was at the top of a hill in the middle of the city. We could also see what all of the fuss was. The castle was ablaze. Before any of us could even comment on the situation, Sora was running off towards the castle and the blaze. “Sora, where are going?”

Sora turned around but didn’t stop running. “I’m going to help; you should too.” And then, he was off like a shot. He passed a police car that had to be going at least sixty miles per hour.

“Bastard; I never said I wouldn’t help,” it’s just that Sora left before we could formulate a plan. Not that it took me a long time to come up with one; I just liked to be prepared. “Jason, using all of your strength, how fast can you run?”

Jason put a hand to his chin and got that look again. He then said, “I’m not completely sure. The last time I checked, I could go about 50mph. That was just last year, so I doubt it’s much faster.”

“That was about my top speed too.”

“Why can’t you just turn into a dragon and fly us there?”

“That could be more trouble than it’s worth. I don’t want to have to explain what I am and create more panic when there is already a crisis. Let’s just run. At our top speed, we should arrive just after Sora.” So we started up the hill towards the burning castle.

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It took all I had to keep up with Jason. He had to be going at least 65 and I was just pushing 60 and that was hard to maintain. At times he would slow down to keep pace with me, but eventually I just sent him ahead.

I arrived on the scene a few seconds after he did, completely out of breath. Admittedly, I couldn’t have done this a few months ago. I think my top speed then was probably 35. I really had gotten stronger, but it was time to focus on the matter at hand.

I saw Sora standing by a fireman who was trying to move him out of the way. I walked up to them and asked the fireman if there were still people inside and he said there were. I brought Jason over to tell him what needed to be done. We needed to get those people out of there as soon as possible.

I sent Jason to the east side of the castle and Sora to the west. I ran inside first and as I did, I could hear many protests from the fire and policemen. We went ahead anyway because it’s not like we could leave them like that.

It took us maybe twenty minutes to get everyone out, but the place was falling down all around us.

After we were done, we began a head count. I asked, “Is this everyone, or are we missing more people?”

All of the servants and guards looked around and one of the cooks asked, “Where is the princess?”

Another servant remarked, “She left to get help from Master Chow Panushi.”

Master Chow was coming here? Well that was convenient.

One of the guards was still looking through the crowd. “Where’s the king? He was still in the throne room when the fire started.”

Sora had been in the throne room. It was on the west side of the castle. “I didn’t see anyone or hear anyone. I only saw a pile of fallen pillars and debris. I hope I didn’t miss him.”

None of us had super-hearing so it would be easy to miss someone in a loud blaze like this unless they were screaming. I decided to scan the castle with my mind instead. At first there wasn’t anything, but then I heard him. Is this how….it ends for…me? My master…would be so upset…with me. This…should…be…nothing. His thoughts trailed off. He must have passed out from smoke inhalation.

I ran inside and made my way to the throne room. I saw the debris Sora spoke of and tried my best to move everything out of the way. I wished I were flame retardant at that moment. It was so unbelievably hot.

There wasn’t anyone underneath however. So Sora didn’t leave him after all, because he wasn’t there. I was about to give up when I noticed a hole in the floor beneath where the debris had been. I looked inside and there was a very large man on the floor below. He was trapped underneath support beams and pillars and other assortments of furniture. It was no wonder he couldn’t move.

I jumped down and started to move things off of him. Luckily the fire hadn’t reached this room, but it was filling with smoke and I was having difficulty breathing. I had taken the final piece of crap from on top of the king when I became extremely light-headed. I started to fall over and pass out, but just before I hit the floor, I was caught. I managed to turn my head and saw Jason holding me up. He put an oxygen mask over my face and I took in a deep breath. Sora was putting one on the king. He began to cough after the mask was on for a couple of seconds. Good, he was still alive.

It only took a minute, but I was back to normal again. We were about to jump out of the hole when it collapsed. There were no other doors in the room; at least none that could take us outside. The fire had made its way down and the only door was now on fire.

The king rested on Sora’s shoulders but he was barely conscious. We weren’t gonna get any help from there, well, not willingly. I started to search his memories for a way out. I noticed something interesting in his thoughts. He was actually headed this way when the fire broke out, but the floor collapsed on him and he got trapped. There was a secret tunnel that came from this room. I had Jason start looking while I kept probing the king for an exact location. Just as I extracted what I needed, the king lifted his arm with great effort and pointed to a wall on the left side of the room. The wall was a grey brick and totally uniform except for one brick that was sort of sticking out.

I walked to the wall and pushed the brick in. A portion of the wall moved back and then moved to the right. It opened into a dimly lit passage that seemed to have been spared of the fire.

We gathered the king and walked inside. I closed the door behind us and we made our way through the passage.

As soon as the four of us got outside, I yanked my oxygen mask off and took in as much air as my lungs could take. The king had done the same thing. We made our way to where the rest of the denizens of the castle had gathered. It seemed that all of the people were there, but I counted two new bodies. They were vaguely recognizable.

The king had regained some of his strength, but when he saw the newcomers, he fell to the ground. I thought he was falling over from exhaustion, but he held out his arms and the younger one of the strangers came running and hugged the king fiercely. It was a little girl no older than Sora or I. Now that I could get a closer look at her face, I saw similarities with the king. She must have been the princess. After hugging her father, she came over to introduce herself.

“Hello; my name is Cecilia Avasha Cecily, princess of Paredia. I wanted to thank you all for saving my father the king. The castle attendants told me what you did. I had hoped to arrive in time with the master, but I guess it didn’t matter. But our castle….” She trailed off.

The older gentleman, who looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties, walked in front of us and went in the direction of the castle. One of the firefighters tried to stop him, but he just raised a hand to silence the guy. The old guy was walking with his hands behind his back and was hunched over. When he got within about 100 feet of the castle, he stopped and then straightened up. When he straightened up, I suddenly sensed immense strength. I shouldn’t have been able to sense anything, but I could. I looked around and noticed how everyone else reacted to him and it was the same look all around. They must have sensed it too.

He raised his hands above his head and the fire rose higher. He spread his arms wide and the fire spread as well. Without warning, he brought his hands together sharply and the fire winked out of existence. His hands began to glow a bright green and he slowly separated them. He wiggled a few fingers and the castle started to repair itself. When the castle was back to normal, the guy hunched over again and put his hands behind his back.

As the man walked back towards us, there was a burst of applause from all of the bystanders and residents of the castle. Jason was also among the throng of happy clappers.

Before he made it back to us, I realized why he looked so familiar. There could be no mistaking it. It was him.

He stopped in front of the king and looked him up and down. The king hung his head in shame. “That was unacceptable Ozzy. Why was I called here? You could have done that yourself.”

“I’m sorry Master Chow, but I haven’t kept up with my studies. The only power I have left now is super strength. I might have some magic hidden deep inside, but I haven’t been able to pull it out since before CeCe was born,” His Majesty said.

“If you still have strength, why did these three boys have to save you?” Master Chow didn’t look upset, but his words still stung like a bee sting. His Majesty must have been a pupil of the master.

With his head still hung low, the king said, “Again, I ask for your forgiveness master. And to you my fine lads; my name is Ozymandias Cecily, King of Paredia. I also would like to thank you for saving me and my citizens.” He bowed before us.

“There is no need to thank us Your Majesty. We were happy to help.” Jason and Sora blushed, but I bowed my head in turn.

Sora couldn’t take his eyes off the princess and she too seemed to be lost in Sora’s eyes. The princess snapped out of her daze and said, “Yes, I wanted to thank you all again. If there is ever anything we could do for you, don’t hesitate to ask.”

The three of us stared at one another and Jason and Sora nodded. I said, “Well, there is one thing you could do for us Your Highness.”

“What is that young sir; did you already have something in mind?”

“Yes, Your Highness, we do. Is that Master Chow Panushi?”

Princess Cecilia was taken aback and Master Chow looked at me. “Why, yes it is Master Chow; why do you ask?”

“Did you need something from me child?”

I walked up to him and got down on my hands and knees and bowed. “Will you train the three of us?”

Master Chow rested his hand on my shoulders and said, “Get up child. There is no reason to bow. But to answer your question, no, I will not train you all. I no longer take students.”

Jason and Sora were about to raise a fuss. I heard it in their minds. I raised a hand in front of them and said, “Don’t do anything rash Sora. Jason, I can handle this so calm down.”

The master’s hand clamped down on my shoulder with surprising force. I winced. “Did you say that his name was Sora?” he said while pointing at my brother.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Is your name James?”

Now it was my turn to be surprised and I grabbed the hand he had on my shoulders and squeezed unintentionally. “How do you know my name?!”

“Your fathers, Sauza and Todrick, have been writing to me. They told me about the two of you and how much promise you’ve shown in your martial arts training. They also said you might come looking for me one day if they didn’t survive.”

“You knew our dads?” Sora asked.

“Don’t you remember Sora? They used to talk about their master to us when we were younger.”

“I don’t remember that.”

Master Chow waited patiently for us to finish our small conversation. “I’m sorry sir; you were saying?”

“I haven’t heard from your fathers in a while. Since the two of you are here, does that mean they didn’t make it?”

Sora went rigid and I lowered my head and tried not to cry.

“From your silence, I can guess the answer. I’m so sorry boys. They were good men with tremendous talent. And the love they shared, was palpable,” Master Chow said. “There’s just one thing I need to check first.”

I asked, “And what would that---?” I barely saw him raise his hand before he was shooting a lightning bolt at me. I raised my left arm and put up a psy-shield. It shattered upon contact of the bolt hitting it.

“Bravo James, bravo! That is just what I expected from one of the boys of Todrick and Sauza.”

Jason came up behind me and started shouting. “What are you trying to do old man?! You could have killed him!”

I gently pushed Jason back and tried to calm him down. “Jason, stop it! He was testing me. He was seeing if I have what it takes to train under him.” I turned around and faced the master. “Am I right Master Chow?”

He smiled. “Yes my boy, you are correct, and you passed. Now, however, I need to fight you to know for sure.”

“Of course you do; that’s how these things work.”

“What are you talking about?” The master asked.

“Nothing; let’s begin, shall we?”

Master Chow nodded. He stood straight up and then assumed a fighting stance. I followed suit. I studied his form and I couldn’t find a single opening. He wasn’t given the title of ‘Master’ for nothing. And this would be very difficult, but not entirely impossible. I just had to stay on my guard. And speaking of being on guard, the master had begun his attack. He was in front of me in an instant and then he pushed me back. I managed to stop myself after three steps, but he was on top of me in mere moments. He punched and I dodged. I punched and he dodged. He kicked and I blocked and vice versa. He was obviously still testing me, because we were evenly matched.

I knew the test was over when Master Chow punched me and I didn’t even see it coming. I flew back about twenty feet before I righted myself and got back on my feet. I looked for him, but he wasn’t in front of me. I turned around and he wasn’t there either.

Sora screamed, “James, look up!”

I looked up, and there he was. Master Chow was there, and he had a fireball in both hands. He threw the one in his right hand first and I put up another psy-shield. The ball collided with the shield with such force that I was summarily pushed back. He threw the other one, but when it collided, I managed to stand my ground.

Master Chow kept throwing ball after ball and my shield began to crack. He threw one final large fireball and the shield splintered and broke. I was thrown backwards.

As I got back on my feet, I started to feel an intense amount of heat and I began sweating profusely. I looked up and saw the master building a really big fireball. That one looked like it would really hurt.

He launched the colossal ball of fire. The speed at which the ball came prevented me from putting up a shield in time. I caught the boulder sized fireball with both hands. When it hit me, the force of the blow caused me to fall to one knee. The odd thing about catching the ball, well other than the fact that I was even in this kind of fight to begin with, was the fact that it wasn’t hot at all. I could no longer feel the balls heat. It was barely a warm summer’s breeze.

I managed to get back on my feet and with all of my strength, I sent the ball back to Master Chow. He clapped his hands together and the fire disappeared. I fell to the ground completely spent. It took me a minute to catch my breath. When I got up again, I noticed that my hands were on fire. It didn’t hurt, but also, they wouldn’t go out. I tried blowing on my hands and waving them around to put out the tiny blaze. Nothing seemed to work. There wasn’t any water around so I couldn’t try that. I tried something else. I had a thought. I clenched my fists and the fire burned brighter. I raised my left arm and chopped downward. An arc of fire shot out and headed for the master. He was so surprised that he didn’t have a lot of time to block it, but he managed to anyway.

I thought as much. It seemed that I had my fire power back; literally with no pun intended. I began to laugh…hysterically. “Ha, Ha, Ha… Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!”

Sora and Jason were thinking that I had totally lost it. Master Chow didn’t know what to think, but he was still hovering in mid-air, waiting for my attack. I was more than willing to oblige.

I willed the fire in my hand to dissipate and it did. I looked up and stared at the master and I had a big grin on my face. I stood up and fire formed under my feet. The air started to get hotter and hotter. It was so hot that there was a shimmer in the air. I shot into the air propelled by the fire. I was able to fly again, though I didn’t have any wings. This was the next best thing.

I gave no warning. I immediately launched a volley of fireballs. The master deflected them all, but didn’t destroy any. I kept up the attack sending hundreds of fireballs from all directions. If I wasn’t so exhausted from his earlier attacks I could have done so much more, but I still had a plan.

He deflected every single ball that came his way. He was really good. A different approach would be needed. I flew up close to him and began a new assault. I covered my fists in intense flames. He had to keep his distance because I could tell the fire was hurting him.

Even though I knew how to use fire, I was still tired from the beginning of the fight and it was starting to show. Master Chow took advantage of a momentary gap in my defense and he punched me with all of his might. I flew into the ground and left a sizeable crater. Needless to say, it fucking hurt!

As I got back up, the master formed giant ice crystals overhead. He began to launch them at me. I melted them all before they could hit me but I was losing power…fast. It was time.

With one hand I repelled his ice attacks, with the other; I put that hand behind my back and summoned a ball of fire behind the master where he couldn’t see it. He sensed it, just like I knew he would. He stopped his attack, turned around and deflected the large fireball. Things were going according to plan. He was doing exactly what I needed him to do.

I shot one more fireball straight up into the air to join every other fireball the master had deflected. They had combined to form a globule more than twice the size of the capitol city. I raised my arms up and then brought them down. The spheroid began its rapid descent.

Everyone began running around in a panic. Sora and Jason were yelling at me to stop it, but I didn’t pay them any mind. I had no intention of destroying the city or hurting its’ citizens. Even as weak as I was at that moment, I could easily destroy the glowing sphere headed for the ground. I just wanted to see what Master Chow would do. I got my answer within seconds. Master Chow came back down to the ground and then he clapped his hands together and started to say an incantation. I’d never heard the language before, but it was a little guttural and lilting all at the same time. He finished the spell and opened his eyes. The eyes were aglow with a fierce whiteness. His body also began glowing and he was getting larger and more muscular. When he was done growing, he came to a stop at about 20 feet. He was super tall now.

Master Chow stood up straight and then looked at the really close fireball. He then looked down at me. He shook his head. The master bent his knees and then jumped into the air. The earth shook. Within moments, he was next to the gargantuan orb of fire. He made a fist and cocked back his arm. He punched with all of his might and knocked the ball out of the park. It was a total homerun. It flew higher and higher and eventually it could no longer be seen.

Master Chow landed softly, despite his immense size. He waved his giant hand over his head and he began to shrink. I fell to the ground completely spent, yet I was satisfied. I knew I had been defeated, but I also knew that I had done really well despite my lack of strength.

I fell all the way to the ground. I wasn’t able to keep my balance any longer. I had never used so much energy in my entire life on this planet. I was also having trouble keeping my eyes open. The last thing I remembered before passing out was the master walking up to me and Sora and Jason screaming my name.

Next Chapter: Will You Train Us?