'I am soooo late,' the boy thought as he rushed through his house. This didn't happen often, but when Sano Matsura's usually tight schedule was thrown off course, everything crashes and burns. He had stayed up late the night before to try and carve another pole for training.
In the course of Sano's usual daily blitzball practice, he also spent a few hours sparring with the other village boys or with his brother, Wes. This was usually done with either fists or long poles and staffs that he would carve on his own. Because most of these sticks were really just sticks that were hastily carved and smoothed, they broke every month or so. It just so happened that Sano finally decided to find real wood from the forest to seriously make a weapon with the night before.
"Wes! Weeees!" cried the boy as he slipped into his vest. No reply came, and Sano grunted in frustration. "He was supposed to make sure I woke up. Whatever. The guys better not be mad." After swiping his ball and spare staff (for the new one was still in progress), Sano ran out the door to meet his friends.
A little ways off from the port village was a sandy beach. Here, Sano greeted the annoyed glares of his nine "team mates."
"Where have you been? We've been waiting for the you and the ball for an hour, moron!" scolded the largest boy there.
"Sorry Dammy. Wes didn't wake me," Sano replied with a wide grin, thinking if he shrugged it off, so would everyone else. Damion never stayed mad at his best friend anyway, so there was nothing to really worry about.
"Yeah, whatever man. Lets just get some practice in before noon."
A few minutes of set up and everyone was split up in two teams of five in the water. The kids played somewhat seriously, but no one could compare to the two eldest boys. Sano and Damion were never on the same team. Both were forwards, and good ones at that, so being on opposing sides was the best way for them to really push themselves. This scrimmage lasted for two hours before everyone decided to take a rest and meet again the next day.
At the break, Sano left the group saying "See you guys tomorrow! I'm heading back to the temple."
This visit was also another daily habit that the boy would never miss. The trip through the forest was always quick enough if he decided to follow the trail, but that would never serve as proper training. Cutting straight through the forest, ignoring the trails, was definitely not the fastest route, but it ensured at least on encounter of some fiend or beast daily. Today was no different. Halfway through the forest and Sano found himself face to face with two killer bees.
"Hello friends! Shall we do battle?" Sano asked cheerily before rushing forward with this staff, making a quick downward swing that hit the nearest bee. This pole was as long as the boy was tall, so he swung it around with relative ease.
The first bee seemed to be surprised by this attack and lost its altitude, falling nearly to the ground before buzzing back up to Sano's head level. During this time, the second bee had moved forward and jabbed its stinger at Sano's arm, leaving a cut.
"OW!" he yelled as he turned his torso to hit the bee with an elbow. 'You wanna piece of me, you can have it.' In the momentum of the turn, he held out the staff with his other arm and swung in a circle, aiming to hit the other bee from behind. The hit connected, smashing it against the mossy trunk of a tree.
"Oh yeah! Score 402 to 5, with the charming Matsura in the lead. The beasts will never catch up." Monologuing in the midst of these brawls was another habit that Sano had taken up from playing blitball with his friends everyday. He turned to face the other bee and screamed, "You wanna fight me?"
The boy didn't care to wait to see if perhaps this monster, unlike all the rest, would answer and instead hurled his staff at it like a javelin. The throw missed, and the bee came back to take another jab at him. He was tried to dodge by jumping back, but forgot that when an attack is coming straight at you at a fast speed, it's most likely that it will continue in the same direction. This led to another, deeper cut on Sano's forearm, which he had used to shield himself. In reaction, the boy used his other fist to take a sideways swing at the bee. This hit and caused the monster to fall. Sano kicked it against another tree trunk a few times to make sure it would at least stay down until he could get to the temple before moving on.
After retrieving his staff, Sano made his way to the Kilika temple, winding through the forest.
OOC: I'll finish later or make another post.
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