Chapter 5: Grief and release

Chapter 5: Grief and release.

Ring ring ring SLAP. New morning. Gao gets out of his bed. It's 5:30. Perfect. Gao pulled his punching bag from its compartment on the ceiling and started. 1000 straights, 1000 liver shots,500 round houses,500 hooks,500 crosses,500 crescent kicks(his favourite overall),500 axe kicks,50 push ups, fifty normal kicks and running round the outside of the 50 times. By the end of it, he had truly become water, but had also been completely refreshed. 6:15, right on time. Walking up the stairs, he grabbed his phone, and put it on charge in the kitchen. He proceeded to make breakfast. He takes a large gulp of water from the tap, then takes out the cereal. For some reason, it was a quirk of his to have it dry.

After destroying his breakfast, he was feeling kinda bored. It was Saturday, so normally he'd go outside and take a walk. But just as he had finished his morning exercise, rain had started falling. Sooooo. Hmm. Gao decided to browse on Cooltube, and see if there was anything he found interesting.

3 hours later.

After spending time on cooltube watching loads of random engineering stuff, he went to pick up his phone. On it, he sees a message from his teacher.

"Meet me at the dojo today,"The message said. "I have some things to inform you about. By 6:00 pls."

Finally. An objective. Something to do. But the thing was....it was only 12:00.

Well, if his Sensei wanted to call him over for something important, Gao assumed it would be about the fighter league.Thus Gao wanted to be prepared for anything. Sooooo.., he pulled down his punching bag from the roof, and started his exercise routine again.

(You could tell this guy was bored)

Well back to the routine. This time he'd do his endurance training, not technique. 30 minutes straight running outside, one hundred push ups, 200 squats and 2000 jabs. After completing that, he decided to go to the kitchen. His mom was there, cooking up lunch. It was, SPAGHETTI STIR FRY, HIS FAVOURITE!

"Thank You mom!"

"You're welcome Gao, but why are you covered in sweat?" She questioned.

"Because, like the hard-working ant searching for food, I am diligent in collecting and obtaining the food that is strength."

What a lunch. Well, Gao decided to go out. It was still raining heavily, but it didn't matter. He had an obligation to do this.

His mother looked at him with a sympathetic look in her eyes.

Gao jogged down the street, took a left, ran on for a minute or two, then turned right. He had arrived at the cemetery.

( Gao has held Aichi's loss close to his heart for a good 4 years now. Aichi was the closest that Gao had to an older brother(but without the pain of constantly living with them.) He was always there to mentor and guide Gao, a counter balance to his rambunctious nature. Losing him, felt as though Gao had lost a part of himself, and he developed trauma because of it.)

Gao arrived at Aichi's tombstone. The rain poured incessantly, unrelentingly, but it didn't matter to him. He started to speak.

"Hi Aichi, how is it, wherever you are. Hope you're doing well. I've had a very good two days. Guess what! I passed the Endless Gym's graduation test! If only you were here with me, us.."

Gao's eyes started to tear up. "Man why did you have to go," He cried out. "Where ARE you man?! All, because of me..." The atmosphere replied with nothing, and his heart ached.

…..

He stood up and walked out the cemetery, wiped his tears, and went to the shop nearby.

The shopkeeper, Andre, said "The usual Gao?"

"Yeah."

He got back home with a crisp packet in his hand.

"Gao,"His mum said,"It's time to head out"

"Ok," He said, a grey look in his eyes.

His mother threw him a big bag. "You're gonna need this."

Gao pondered why his mom had given him this but stayed silent.

He caught the bus round the corner and listened to an audiobook on the bus about how to speak spanish.

He arrived at the Endless Dojo and opened the door to find a surprising sight.

He saw Yue and Roshi getting pestered by 4 boys. He felt as though they were familiar. OH YES. It's those guys from the Crystal rock dojo, there dojo's rivals.

The leader of the group said "I bet you two had to bribe your teacher to get a passing grade.

Gao had a lot of pent up emotions inside of him, boiling up and down, turning round and round. This volcano had to blow.

He walked up to the boy, and axe kicked him in the head.

Ah sweet release.