Author's Note: I noticed today that multiple people were following my story, so I wrote Chapter 2. Then I thought "what the hell, I've got time." Chapter 3. I finished glancing over Chapter 3 and realized I ended it on a baby cliffhanger, and so went on to write Chapter 4.

Also, I'm sort of trying to write around a chapter a day, so I suppose I was making up for missed days. Anyhow. . . Enjoy!

Vas was third in line, so he had the luxury of understanding that he was about to receive a beating.

The two men in front of him had attacked Sun and been quickly punched in the gut or thrown the ground.

Vas had no experience with martial arts. He had grown up on a family-owned orchard, but he had always been somewhere in the white middle-class of the United States.

However, Vas had always enjoyed the idea of being a martial artist, or practicing to use some sort of weapon. He had always had an extra amount of anger, which he had channeled through sports and other activities. He’d always thought he could win a fight if he had to.

He was well over a head taller than Sun, but was nearly as well fit.

When Sun signaled that it was time for Vas to attack, Vas slouched his shoulders and leaned forward. He looked at Sun, and smiled. He was getting excited now.

Sun was measuring Vas. Tall, with stretched out muscles. Appears skinny, but is far stronger than he looks. No martial arts training. Weak stance. Will be easily imbalanced and thrown or tripped.

Then Vas slouched forward. Sun thought the first step was coming, then realized that it was some sort of self-made stance. A strange, hunch-backed stance. Then Vas smiled at Sun.

Sun took a step back and set into a stance. This young man was dangerous.

Vas lurched forward and threw a punch, and Sun used the momentum to pull Vas off balance.

It worked, but Vas threw another punch with his other arm. Sun was surprised when the punch had the heaviness of a punch thrown with good balance, and barely deflected it.

Then he felt it.

Vas had distracted him with the second punch and thrown a back kick at Sun’s leg in the same breath.

Sun went down to the ground, and quickly used his momentum to bring Vas to the ground. He used the extended left arm and pulled it into an arm-lock.

Vas roared with rage, which surprised Sun. The monster of a man actually lifted Sun off the ground and slammed him back down. With one arm.

“ENOUGH!” Sun yelled. Instantly, Vas stopped his efforts. This impressed Sun even more.

Vas ceased his efforts at Sun’s command. He was frustrated with himself for getting his arm locked so quickly and knew that Sun could have broken his arm at any moment.

He felt weak and powerless, which only made him angrier.

Sun let go of his arm and stood up, offering a hand to Vas. Vas took it reluctantly, without saying a word.

“That was remarkable.”

Sun looked at the rest of the group, “We’ll stop the evaluation here, I think.”

Vas bowed his head, “I’m sorry.”

“For what? Now I can’t wait to see you with a weapon. What was your name again?”

“Vas.”

“Vas. I’ll remember that name.”

Sun gave a sharp whistle, and five senior recruits walked into the room holding undergarments.

“These will be your training garments. Each of you will get two pairs and switch each day. We will wash them for you every day. Put those on, then follow me to the armory.”

After they had all happily complied and followed Sun to a different room in the warehouse, they found the “armory”, which was essentially a large room with a dozen types of training weapons.

They ranged from axes to katanas to broadswords to crossbows to nunchaku to daggers to spears and halberds. There was even a flail.

“Now, do any of these weapons appeal to you? Is there any weapon you are looking for? I believe that every person should be able to live and die with a weapon they connect with.”

Jade raised her hand, “what is that long axe?”

Sun grabbed a halberd from the wall and tossed it to Jade, who almost dropped the weapon from the sudden weight. “Heavy, isn’t it? That is a polearm called a halberd.”

Jade stepped back and swung the weapon. It was slow and difficult for her. She scraped the ground as she loosened her grip.

“Vas?” Sun asked with a raised eyebrow. All eyes turned to Vas.

“Do you have any nodachi?” Sun smiled and shook his head, “Full of surprises. No, but we have katanas.”

Vas didn’t respond, and Sun picked up on his body language, “How about a bastard sword? Giant, two-handed, similar concept.”

Sun waited another moment, then clapped his hands together. “I’ve got it. Have you ever used a miaodao?”

Sun didn’t wait for a response, instead prancing over to the wall and grabbing a curved two-handed sword.

He handed the sword to Vas, who grabbed and unsheathed it.

It felt very similar to his father’s nodachi.

“Chinese, not Japanese. Similar dimensions though. We were lucky to get one of these. I would give you a nodachi, but they’re all in use.”

Vas shook his head, staring at the sword. He liked that it was different yet similar.

“I’ll take this.”

There was a glint of appreciation in Sun’s eyes, and then he moved to the next recruit.

Vas laid his weapon across his back. He’d grown accustomed to his own style of swinging large weapons by using large sticks in his family’s orchard daily.

He contorted his body and swung the dulled training weapon straight through a training dummy.

Someone applauded from behind him.

It was Jade. She gave him a smile.

“You are stronger than you look.”

Most people didn’t get straight to the point with him, so he appreciated her honest words.

Even though they hurt a little.

“I don’t mean that in a bad way.” She said quickly. Quickly like a person trying to reassure a child with an injured pride.

Vas looked at her with a sidelong glance. She was tall for an Asian.

“What ethnicity are you?” He was curious, since he’d been a fan of anime and was familiar with multiple Asian cultures before the Risen appeared.

“I’m Native American.”

Well, that showed him for making assumptions. Vas went back to slicing at his training dummy. This time he kept his motions fluid, following his cuts and continuing the momentum of his sword.

He was careful to go slow as Sun had demanded, but he made sure his weapon stayed in motion. He wanted to fight again.

He wanted to win the next time.

At the dummy to his side, Jade started maneuvering her halberd around in a similar attack pattern, except she was adding stabs into her attacks.

Vas observed this and added stabs to his own motions.

He wouldn’t lose to anyone.