During a practice fight . . .

“C’mon, Jiro, show me what you’ve got! I can take whatever you can dish out!” mocked Flik. Jiro raised the wooden sword above his head and said, “Okay, then take this!”

Jiro slashed, aiming for Flik’s head, but Flik raised his wooden sword and parried the slash. “Is that all you’ve . . .” said Flik, as Jiro thrust the tip of the wooden sword into his chest. “Argh, that hurt!” exclaimed Flik.

“Sorry, I thought you could take whatever I dished out, I suppose I’ll go easy on you now . . .” mocked Jiro. “Fine, you won’t get me this time,” stated Flik. The two young men then started again, dodging, parrying, ducking, slashing, and thrusting at each other.

A few moments later, Jiro brought back the blade of his wooden sword and slashed at Flik’s abdomen with all his might. Flik jumped up, above Jiro’s slash, and slashed down at Jiro’s right shoulder. The wooden sword smacked against Jiro’s shoulder muscle with a loud thud. “Urgh!!” screamed Jiro, in agony. “Ha! I gotcha that time!” exclaimed Flik with a big grin on his face. “I told you, that you wouldn’t get me this time,” gawked Flik.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, let’s go again then,” said Jiro with a smirk. “I gave you that one,” he said again with a grin.

“Hello, boys, mind if we have any valuables that you might just happen to have on you at the moment?” asked an unfamiliar voice. The two young men turned to the voice and saw five men, each of them unarmed.

“Okay,” said Jiro with a big smile.

Jiro threw the wooden sword at the man, he thought was the leader. The oak sword smacked across the man’s nose, and blood gushed from the man’s nostrils. “Heh, let’s take ‘em!” exclaimed Flik, as he ran for the men with his wood sword in hand. Flik ran for the leader and slashed down against the man’s collarbone, a loud snap echoed in the woods as the bone broke. The man screamed, but was silenced as Flik slammed the wood sword against his mouth. The man reeled back and spit out several teeth, mumbling something inaudible. “That’s us going easy on you guys, if you want us to be for real then keep on,” mocked Flik. Jiro smirked as he picked up his wood sword. “You see, I’m the nice guy, my friend Jiro is the one who can be very mean,” said Flik with a great smile.

“You two are crazy, we outnumber you five to two,” said one of the other men. “Wrong, you outnumber us four to two, or two to one, if you want to be specific,” mocked Jiro. “I sincerely doubt that your toothless friend is going to fight after having his teeth broken out, nose broken, and his collarbone broken,” added Flik.

The remaining four men looked at each other and began running away. Their leader wasn’t far behind.

“Like hell, they’re getting away!” exclaimed Jiro as he began to pursue the men. “Yeah, let’s get ‘em!” exclaimed Flik as he followed.

“Stop right there!!” ordered a familiar voice.

The two pupils stopped dead in their tracks, and turned to the voice; the voice of their teacher. “Uh, master, we were just . . .” began Flik. “Don’t even try it!” exclaimed Kenji. “You two have to understand that not all battles have to be fought, some are unnecessary; those men were running away,” stated Kenji. “It was my idea, Master Kenji, don’t blame Flik,” explained Jiro. “Do not make excuses, Jiro,” said Kenji.

“Master Kenji, we’re sorry, we just wanted to test out our abilities,” explained Flik. “You two are very good, however, you can’t go looking for fights all the time,” stated Kenji. “It won’t happen again, right?” asked Kenji.

“Yes, master Kenji!” exclaimed Flik and Jiro.

The two young men continued to learn under Kenji’s tutelage for a year and a half . . .