Pai Mei had let Nikoda sleep in, something that Nikoda thought would never happen. He didn’t think the old Chinese master was capable of showing decency, mercy, or human sympathy on any level but Nikoda began to rethink this initial assumption. Maybe Pai Mei and him had simply gotten off on the wrong foot, after all it wasn’t by any means a secret that Pai Mei hated Japanese people and Nikoda had problems with authority-half the time because he was more intelligent than those authority figures. With a new outlook on his new tutor, Nikoda had started the day off with a smile and was ready to start over with the infamous White Lotus. He wanted to give the white hair, bearded, and moustached old fart a second chance at forming a friendship at most and at least something resembling a teacher/student relationship. But that had been during the late morning, now it was already the afternoon and Nikoda had been utterly and completely wrong about Pai Mei. Nikoda was sure that if he hadn’t slept those extra hours, he would have died already during that day’s training.

Nikoda took a pause at the top platform of the stairs that lead down and away from Pai Mei’s white shrine. How many times had Nikoda ran up and down those stairs already? He had lost count fairly early, due to the strain being placed on his body. Normally he wouldn’t have a problem climbing and descending the three hundred stairs at a jogging pace but there were circumstances that Pai Mei had placed on his travel of the stairs. Pai Mei had strapped him with weights on his legs, arms, chest, waist and one around his neck. Nikoda had been ready to go after he was strapped down but Pai Mei scoffed and told him he wasn’t a cockroach dog anymore, he was a dog, and that even dogs could help with the chores around the shrine. Nikoda felt his teeth clench at the mention of the old nickname that he loathed. Pai Mei sat a wooden plank across Nikoda’s shoulders, and then placed wooden buckets on both ends.

“Go get some water, Japo Dog. Don’t put the pole down until you’re done.”

Nikoda took back all the kind things he had thought about his master, he hated him just as much and he had during his Zanjutsu training. He wanted to punch the old man but he knew even if the weights weren’t weighting him down, he would never in a thousand years land a punch on the old man. Pai Mei stroked his beard, and then left Nikoda to the task. Nikoda had run down to a nearby river, filled the buckets with water and then brought them back to the shrine. Trudging up the hundreds of stairs, weighted down with a heavy burden and having the sun slowly roast his face, Nikoda continued. He noticed that each time he ran down the stairs he hadn’t had much of a problem, his weight adding to his momentum giving him a natural speed boost. The nightmare of this training exercise was running up the stairs, or at least trying to, without all the water in the buckets splashing out over the sides as they jingled on the edge of the wooden pole on his shoulders.

Nikoda took a pause at the top platform; he could feel his calves burning as if he had run for miles. His thighs were starting to cramp up as well, the extra weight constantly compacting the muscles. He couldn’t even swipe the thick layer of sweat from his brow with the wooden plank running across his shoulders, as he remembered Pai Mei’s order not to put down the bucket holder. Taking a break wasn’t as refreshing as Nikoda had hoped; it only served to let his mind survey the aches and pains that were shooting through his body. He noticed a new pain as he finally began to catch his breath; his arms were becoming sore as they helped his shoulders hold up the plank.

BAM! Nikoda felt a wooden stick smash against the back of his head; he ducked out of instinct and held his head as a new ache filled his head. He turned as he was crouched to find Pai Mei holding his now slightly bloodied walking stick.

“Just like a dog to give up, maybe you need more disciplining.” Pai Mei scolded him.

Nikoda was thinking about hitting the old man out of anger but he wasn’t even given the chance as Pai Mei whacked him in the head again. Nikoda instinctually began jogging down the stairs to escape the solid blows from the dense wooden stick. He didn’t care about the weights or the stability of the plank, he just keep running.

“Run, Dog, Run.”

Pai Mei yelled as he chased after the bloody and worn down shinigami student, waving his staff wildly. After reaching the river and quickly loading water into the buckets, Nikoda jogged back to the stairs and began his ascension. He tried to calm his nerves as he felt the burning glance of Pai Mei watching and waiting for one mistake, that’s all it took to justify hitting him in the head. Nikoda had learned from his sword training that focusing his spiritual energy could help him in quite a few different ways so he decided to try that strategy with climbing the stairs whilst not dropping the water from the buckets. He focused on his inner flame and then moved the fire he felt, which he knew to be his energy, into his legs. Almost instantly, he found it easier to keep his footing and he was able to keep his jogging pace with the new wind his legs felt. He reached the top of the stairs without incident and without being hit in the head, he finally felt like he was getting somewhere with his speed training. All the running he had performed the entire day had paid off, maybe Master Pai Mei wasn’t such a bad teacher after all.

Just as Nikoda had enough time to feel victorious, he felt a hard thump against the back of his right knee. Immediately he lost his balance at the top of the stairs, and as he tried to regain his footing away from the edge of the stairs, but he felt that the plank was making him top heavy. He couldn’t regain his balance in time and Nikoda toppled over the edge of the stairs and fell down the entire length of all three hundred stairs, plank and all. Even as he fell down the stairs he knew his aches were becoming bruises and that he needed to protect his already throbbing head. The water from the buckets splashed them as he fell to his doom, sharpening his mind, which only served to make the fear of falling more potent. As he hit the bottom of the stairway, in a broken heap with the plank over his motionless body, Nikoda slipped out of consciousness. Damn Pai Mei, he thought, if I live through this I’m going to kill him…I’ll find a way.

Hilarious!
+2 to Speed.