Martial Artist Meets a Barrel

𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 fist 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵! --Unknown Cultivator

"Hua!" "Hua!" "Hua!"

Cries fill the air around Cain as he trained with his fellow diciples. They were all members of Matsuda Dojo; a decently sized place ran by multiple masters that each specialized in different Martial Arts.

"Enough!" A cry was heard from Grandmaster Phet, the de facto head of Matsuda Dojo, as well as Cains teacher. Cain turned towards his teacher of 10 years. Grandmaster Phet was an immigrant from Thailand and towered over everyone in the Dojo. His specialty was Muay Thai, art of the eight limbs, and he was frighteningly proficient with it.

"Today some of you will be leaving my tutelage, the 3 of you have learned everything I have to teach you!" A large smile was on his face as he said this, but there was sadness in his eyes. After all, those who would be leaving are his most senior diciples and as such had close relationships with him.

"Cain, Dante, Gina, step forward!"

Cain and his martial brother and sister calmly walked up to their master.

"You three are some of the most gifted students I have had the pleasure of imparting my knowledge to! Leave this Dojo today knowing this."

The three of us simultaneously responded with "YES MASTER!" Emotion threatening to break free at any moment.

"Good! We won't stand on ceremony then. You all are dismissed for the day, tomorrow the rest of you will come in and work yourselves to the bone! It's not easy to escape my training!"

Phet turned his attention back to the rest of his students, almost as if to distract himself. The three former diciples look towards each other and exit the place they had trained in for the past ten years.

"I'm getting a little emotional, never thought I would miss that old bastards training!" Dante stared at the entrance wistfully for a moment before continuing, "You two still okay with celebrating with dinner tonight?"

"Of course!" Gina's responds enthusiastically. "Wouldn't miss it for anything, how about you Cain?"

Cain shakes his head slightly "I'm sorry you two, I have to run a few errands tonight. Let me know next time we go out though."

Both of them look at Cain with visible disappointment, "Oh well, more for the two of us I guess," Dante shrugs, a sigh escaping from his lips.

"Cmon guys, it's not like I'm going anywhere! Tell you what, I'll make it up to you both tomorrow," Cain hurries away without waiting for a response. He really did have something to do today, it was getting harder for him to pay for university, so he lined up a job interview for after his training. Timing was a little rough, so he had to rush, and the only thing he had was his old bike. He hopped on and started the engine, throwing on his helmet. The engine sputtered awake and he made his way back to his apartment.

Cain rushed through the door and threw on his clothes that came closest to "professional" and rushed back out. While rushing back to his bike he noticed a guy in all back knelt down next to a car doing 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. As Cain approached the man was startled and turned around, a metallic object pointed at him. Cain barely heard a bang before everything faded to black.

𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴? 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘵. 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵! 𝘐'𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨! 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵! 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 . . . 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴?

All the sudden light flashes before Cain, and he can see again. He is lying down in a place that smells earthy, a ceiling made of wood above him. An old man sits next to him surprise coloring his face as he stares at Cain with an intense gaze.

"LILA COME QUICK! HE'S AWAKE!" The old man shouts towards a door at the corner of the room. He was in some kind of. . . infirmary? There were beds at spaced intervals throughout, and tables with various herbs on them. Different pastes were lying about near a mortar and pestle that sat at the other side of the room, along with some kind of cauldron. 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬. A high-pitched squeal is let out from the door as a dirty, but undeniably pretty woman, rushes into the building. The woman, Lila it seems, widens her eyes as she spots Cain observing her.

"Oh, thank the gods! My boy is okay!" Lila throws her arms around Cain, pulling his small frame closer to hers, earning a grunt in response.

"Mother? What are yo-" Cain was cut off by the old man hastily reprimanding Lila.

"Lila the patient could still be injured! Leave him be for the moment!" Lila eventually gives into the fussing old man, whom she referred to as Old Luo, and leaves the building.

"You should get some rest boy, that blow to your head could have killed you. Your lucky to still be breathing I say!" Old Luo was looking at Cain like some kind of mythic beast.

"Alright." Cain responds simply, confusion evident on his face. Old Luo walks out muttering something about a miracle. With the coast clear Cain gets up out of bed surprised by his unfamiliar body. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭? Cain searches the room and eventually finds a barrel of water in which he observes his reflection. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭! He seemed to have the face of a child. Long black hair was tied up on his head, and clear blue eyes stared back at him. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? Cain sat back down on his bed and assessed his situation.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦? 𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 pull my 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴! 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸.

Cain laid back down and decided to deal with this mess tomorrow, it was a bit much to take in all at once. This body seemed to be pretty messed up anyway. He sat awake for a while thinking of his plight before sleep finally claimed his distressed mind.