CH:26 A New Form Of Training

When I woke up, I found myself being spooned with one large arm draped over me and his hand in twinned with mine. I lay there frozen for a moment as the first emotion to hit me was panic, but it faded away quickly as I started to enjoy the warmth of his body. As I listen to his soft snor, I tilt my head up, trying to not jab him with my horns, to only see a bit of red. 'Damn, they even sleep with those masks on? Now that's commitment.' I couldn't help think to myself as I muffle a chuckle.

With the need to use the bathroom creeping up on me, I try to get out of the bed just to have his arm squeeze me a bit. With a sigh I look down and notice that his arm is mostly resting on mine.

So for my second attempt to escape the bed I basically just gently shimmy my body out while trying to hold my arm as still as possible. 'It's a good thing I'm flexible.' Then once my body was free, I twisted my arm until he let go of my hand. With a sly smile I use my ninja skills to climb out of the bed without disturbing him.

Once my feet hit the floor I look at Raphael's back as he is still laying on his side and I notice that his foot long tail is hanging out of his shell. 'He must have been really relaxed sleeping next to me', the thought warms my heart a little. '...but I wonder why the turtles always hide their tails.' I ponder about it for a little bit as I walk over to Spike. I put a leaf on his pillow next to the opening of his shell since the little guy is still sleeping, before getting dressed. I just threw on the same outfit as yesterday so I didn't have to go through the bags and risk waking up the two turtles in the room.

When I walked out of the bedroom I noticed the whole lair is eerily quiet. I jumped down from the elevated platform with a flip to make my landing softer so I don't make much noise. 'Am I the first to get up? How early is it? This is kind of weird... I don't know if I like it...' I couldn't help but think to myself as the turtles are usually up before me.

I walk over to the couch after I was done in the bathroom and sure enough, there is a bruised up Donny sleeping on it. 'Well that explains Raph in my bed..' I glance around the area and notice there is a few empty pizza boxes and a bunch of empty plastic cups with milkshake residue in them. I shake my head at their party evidence and meander to the kitchen.

When I walk in there I find Master Splinter brewing some tea. I immediately take a very deep breath smelling the delicious delicate scent. Earning a small chuckle from Splinter. As my mouth salivates a bit I ask, "What is that flavor?"

He cracks a small smile, "It's Chamomile Apple Spice."

With another sniff I say, "Yup, even sounds delicious."

Sensei tilts his head slightly and asks, "Would you like to join me for a cup in the dojo before meditation? I find it helps clear the mind."

With a big smile I said, "I thought you would never ask" and together we went off to the dojo as I help Splinter carry everything we need for tea.

We quietly drink our tea together just enjoying the silence and each other's presence, almost like a ritual. Then we meditated for over an hour and with sensei's guidance I felt like I hit a breakthrough regarding my energy. While I was focussing on how it flows through my body I found where it pools. The pool of white energy is deep and large but the edges are quite shallow. According to Master Splinter this indicates it's recently grown.

Puzzled I ask, "Then how do I deepen the edges and, you know, increase it's size in general?"

With a knowing smile he answers, "By meditating of course. Essentially you must try to strengthen your pathways by stretching them so more energy can flow into the pool." I look at him slightly confused so he continues, "Heh, you stretch them by pushing more energy through the pathways during meditation and hold it for as long as you can. It will take practice to keep it steady but with your determination, you will have it in no time."

I nod my head in understanding and closed my eyes, focussing hard on what he told me. With my inner eye I could see the white energy's pathways all throughout my body as long as I supplied a little energy to every one of them. 'Kinda reminds me of that nervous system picture Don showed me...' I ponder as my thoughts start to wander.

With excitement creeping into his voice Sensei says, "Yes! Just like that! But you have to focus. Now try to apply a larger steady flow of energy through out your body."

I steady myself and after some time plus with a great amount of concentration and a bit of sweat accumulating on my brow, I did what he said and I could see the white pathways all grow in size. The longer I held the thick energy flow, the more I could feel a warmth grow deep inside my chest where the large pool of energy resides. At the same time I truly felt at peace with myself. 'What a wonderful feeling.'

With a glance, I could see how much energy I'm using as the great white lake inside me swirls with activity, 'Im hardly putting a dent in it! Definitely could have used that earlier... But it's my own damn fault for never taking meditation seriously before... To be fair, I thought I would spend my life completely alone. Instead, here I am! Fighting ninjas and squishy brain aliens in robots! Talk about my life taking a turn..' With my mini inner monologue, my energy flow gets a ripple and for some reason I fall on my ass, snapping me back to reality. I open my eyes and rub my butt as I mumble, "Wasn't I sitting?"

Master Splinter chuckles next to me and when I look at him I'm shocked to see wide eyed amazement on his fuzzy face. With a grin he says, "Once you started doing the meditation properly, your whole body started glowing and you lifted off the ground! Hovering at about 3 ft, perfectly still. You really are an interesting creature, Ying."

Completely shocked by his words, with huge eyes all I could stammer out is, "H-hov-vering?!"

Splinter nods his head at me, "I've never seen anything quiet like it and I've studied far and wide. You should practice the skill but in closed spaces though and only use it in a dire situation. I fear the higher you fly the more you will glow and the easier it will be to spot you." He strokes his beard tuff before continuing, "And that goes the same for your meditations, which you should try to do as often as you can."

This rubs me the wrong way, "Master, are you telling me to hide my abilities from the turtles?"

He sighs before answering, "You are advancing very quickly, Ying. I don't want them to be intimidated or fear you and have that disrupt the team's efficiency."

I stand up and my tail starts flicking around a bit as I'm getting a bit ticked off, "I would expect the guys would except me for who I am."

Splinter closes his eyes as he runs his hand over his beard again, "You are probably right." Then pauses for a moment as he shifts his eyes toward me, "...but what if you're wrong?"

It's my turn to squint my eyes, "Then they aren't the family I thought they are." And I storm out of the dojo leaving Splinter shaking his head.