Gauntlet

San finally got the break she needed, spending the rest of the day stuffing her face. Hyde never stayed long, only bringing arm fulls of edible fruits, vegetables, nuts, and mushrooms for San to roast over a fire Hyde hesitantly allowed—only because the tree they cut down was already dead, and the ash would make great fertilizer, otherwise, he warned, harming the trees would not be allowed.

With her stomach plump from the day’s feast, San made sure to do the instructed stretches as she lazed on the foraged sticks and branches covered by more of the large leaves that had made her door, now making a suitable nest.

♮

A feeling of pure euphoria emanated from San that entire day as the falling sun made Hyde stop his delivery service. San’s camp had more than enough supplies to last the week. After the first week, they agreed San would come foraging with him to learn the ways of the forest.

Unknowingly, San had actually begun her training that day, “Eating copious amounts of food and stretching were only one part of his three-part plan to conquer the growing gauntlet,” Hyde said, preparing to devour his own meal. “You must be able to maintain your muscles as you build them to carry that heavy load,” he instructed while chunks of food flew out of his mouth. “So, make sure you never go days without food ever again or you will be at a large disadvantage.”

Swallowing the food he stored in his cheeks while he talked, he chased his mouthfull with his own leaf full of water before continuing. “You also must maintain your flexibility. Stretching a muscle is maintaining a muscle, tremendously helping with recovery and injury prevention in the first place.”

“Don’t even get me started on stress release. If you’re stressed, your body will be far from top performance, but our third challenge will touch on that,” Hyde stated as his massive form lay with his hands behind his head staring through a patch of the branches to see the stars speckling the sky.

Taking note of his teachings in her bloated state, San mimicked his actions, lying back on her nest as the gauntlet hung over the side as her pile of branches would never support it as well as they supported her sleeping, bloated body.

♮

The baking sun shone through her closed eyelids as her consciousness woke to red, which was better than being blinded San soon found out after opening her eyes to the bright lights of morning.

Hyde sat on the edge of her camp, a stone under the small patch of fabric he had left from when he lived in a village torn into shorts that rested just above his knee. Approaching him from behind, she tapped his shoulder with her left hand. She couldn’t budge him, and he barely seemed to notice her touch.

Giving up on making physical contact, San just tried speaking to the numb nanny. “Good morning!” she yelled, completely catching Hyde off guard as he jumped to his feet, dropping the rope he was trying to weave.

Losing most of his morning’s work, she could hear the disappointment in his voice, “Morning…”

“What’s the rope for?” San asked noticing his wasted effort.

“Your training,” he said, passing her an enormous log that was trimmed down and refined except for a single thick branch sticking out the side.

Accepting the heavy load with both hands, San looked up at him with worried eyes “So, what am I supposed to do with it?”

“Just hold it,” Hyde stated, smiling at her as he walked away.

“Oh, that’s easy, this challenge will be a walk in the park.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Hyde sneered “now to do this properly, I’d like you to take the log in your left hand and hold them both out like this,” he demonstrated as he took the position of a diver, both arms outstretched far from his body and knees bent.

Barely being able to fit her fingers around the stump’s branch handle, San was distressed, to say the least. Doing her best to hide her emotions from her new teacher to try to appear strong, she couldn’t help her trembling arms after only one minute of the exercise.

“How long do I need to do this?” San asked as her knees started to shake as well.

“For as long as you can,” Hyde said, smiling at the beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

“I could do this way longer without this log,” San whined as her shoulders would soon give in to exhaustion.

“The point of this exercise isn’t to see how long you can do it, it’s to train your body equally, you can barely lift your right arm as long as it’s encased in that metal shell, but with time and practice, you will be just as mobile as you were before. And by the time the gauntlet grows to your left hand, you shouldn’t have any difficulty using it to its full potential.”

Halfway through his explanation, her arms dropped as she let out a heavy sigh, the log thudding as gravity finally had its way.

“Pick that back up,” Hyde commanded.

As she shot him a dirty look, San wrapped a sweaty hand around the branch handle and squatted to pick it up without hurting her back. She paused till she caught her breath before reluctantly resuming her pose.

“Even if you’re not doing complicated maneuvers, having the weight hang off of you is still tremendously hard for your body, that’s what this is for,” Hyde said, coming back over with the finished rope made from vine fibers and tying it around her wrist, looping over the log twice before finishing around her forearm.

San agreed that this was a smart method of training, but definitely harder for her than finding the bullseye with her blade. Resuming the position, she got an approving smile from her teacher as he promised, “Another key to proper training is not wearing yourself out every day because then you can’t train the next day! So, don’t worry, we will only do this for another hour or so before we begin with faze two.”

An hour! San thought as she rolled her eyes to herself, not wanting to seem ungrateful for the torture… training, she meant training.

♮

She resembled a gorilla more than a warrior, as she walked on her massive fist, letting the ground bear the weight for her exhausted arms as they approached the roaring waterfall. The sight through the frame of leaves was breathtaking. Following Hyde to the small pool that gathered before forming the main river that flowed through the forest, he pointed out to where the water was crashing down.

“This exercise also relates to recovery. In life, there is always a balance, a push and pull, for any concept you can imagine, there are two sides—sweet and salty, hot and cold, training and rest. Believe it or not, sitting under this waterfall will make you ten times the warrior you ever could have been. It might also help control the actions that come from you but might not be your own.”

Hyde and his riddles left San unsure of how sitting underwater was going to do anything but give her brain freeze, but San tried to trust her teacher and his questionable ways.

“There are two parts to this task, the ice-cold water from above will not only massage your tender mussels as it pelts you, but the cold will aid in recovery, like a giant ice pack. But to stay under there long enough to complete the task, you must learn to meditate. Have you ever meditated before?” Hyde asked.

“Yes, but it’s been years, and I didn’t really think it did much.”

“Start by removing your disbelief, if you think something won’t work, it never will.” walking closer to the deafening sound of the crashing water, Hyde needed to yell to finish his lesson.

“Meditating can not only reduce the amount of pain you feel, but the lack of stress in your body will also boost your healing after battles and reflexes. Just like the last task, this training will not be able to be finished today, it will be something you must work on and perfect over time, so only stay in there for as long as you can.”

As San was about to step into the water and sit on the smoothed stone before her, Hyde grabbed her hand for a final tip. “Cup your nose with your hand so you can breathe,” mimicking the action as he smiled, he sat down outside the falls, waiting for her to finish.

Stepping into the falls was like stepping onto another planet, the gravity the water forced down on her was more than three times the weight she felt outside, that and the pockets of air between the rushing water was few and far between. She quickly found it necessary to follow Hydes instruction, holding her arm to her mouth to make her own space for air to hide was mandatory.

Sitting cross-legged with her wood mounted arm resting on her knee she left her hand over her mouth as any heat that remained in her body from the summer sun was washed away. Now beginning to shiver on the cold surface of the smoothed stone, San tried her best to block the pelting water and cold out, only focusing on her breathing—or what little of it she could do.

The barrage was unbearable as her shivering was becoming full-body shakes, she couldn’t possibly relax, being forced to tense every muscle just to stop the uncontrolled movement.

But after a few minutes, the impact of the water was softened and what felt like a little flame had formed in her chest, slowly warming her tiny frame. Her eyes still closed, she smiled, thinking she had finally gotten the hang of it when she was interrupted by a familiar booming voice.

“How are you making out?” Hyde yelled down at her as his massive body had actually been absorbing the impact for her. Feeling the sting of her false victory, she scowled up at her teacher. “I’m getting there,” San lied as she was truly moments away from quitting.

“I think you’ve had enough for today, come on out,” he bellowed, as he left his bent body like an umbrella, walking over her so she didn’t have to feel the cold splash of the water again. Hobbling out of the shadow of the waterfall and into the comforting, sunlit, grassy field along the water’s bank, San collapsed.

Hyde, seemingly unaware of his size, fell backward next to her as a gust of displaced wind and loud smack of his body hitting the earth seemed to leave him unfazed, but couldn’t have unnerved San more. Seeing her expression, he burst out laughing unapologetically for his actions.

“So, what did you think of your first day?”

“Difficult,” San mumbled, her chattering jaw still trying to shake warmth into her face.

“Well the hard part is done for today, when you warm up, we can walk back to camp and rest, I think I’ve put you through enough.”

Spreading her arms and legs like a starfish to soak up the most sun, she agreed. “For today.”