19 19-Martial Arts Basics (2) & I-ISLAND

I woke up around noon the next day. I brushed my teeth, and went downstairs, I saw mom in the kitchen.

"Good morning Aska, or should I say good afternoon. You slept like a log. Your dad tried to wake you up earlier, but I stopped him. I told him that you must be tired so we let you sleep in. It's summer break after all…" -mom

'Wow, she really must've missed me' thought Aska as he walked closer to his mom, who was still talking about a bunch of random topics.

"I'm ok mom, you don't have to be so worried. Anyway, something smells good, I'm hungry" -Aska said as he sat on the kitchen table.

Mom just got close to me, and hugged me, "I know you're ok, you've always been strong and mature, more than kids your age. But still, I worried sick when I knew you had to spend a month alone somewhere"

Mom let go of me and then she looked at me straight in the eyes before she continued,

"You've always wanted to be stronger, But Aska, you will be stronger, you have a great quirk, and you're smart, all you need to do is to wait until you grow up" -mom

"Sorry if I worried you mom" -Aska said to his mom, she hugged him again.

After she let go, she started to prepare a plate for Aska.

'To me she is just another woman, who will take care of me until I get older, but to her, I'm her son, someone she values more than anything else, I should consider her feelings more' Aska thought to himself realizing he's so fixated on training he never realized how worried his parents got.

Aska then remembered the scene of the beautiful blue water under the sunlight on the beast island.

'I need to slow down for a bit, I'm moving too fast. Mom's right I'll naturally get stronger the older I get' After Aska thought that, a flashback of last night. 'Maybe I don't need to slow down too much'

After he ate breakfast Aska went back to his room.

He saw the notebooks Yujiro gave him last night.

He looked at the martial arts basics one, and ignored it. He was more interested in the muscles stimulating technique.

Aska went through the notebook, basically he would sent electric shocks towards the muscle he wants to train, it mentions that it's painful, but with some endurance, it will help in building muscles.

It wasn't too hard for Aska to use this, the issue is the pain.

'No pain, no gain I guess' Aska started to read and understand the technique better, after an hour or so of studying it, he was finally able to understand it enough to start using it.

'I'll focus on my right forearm first' Aska decided to go somewhere easy to start with.

Aska started to do it, he felt a tingling feeling 'so far there is only the numbing feeling, but I guess the pain comes after' Just as Aksa thought that he felt the most excruciating pain he ever felt coming from his forearm.

He was going to scream, but he remembered his mother downstairs, he started to roll around the ground while enduring the pain.

He felt like his muscles were getting pulled out of his body, but just as they were about to get ripped out of his arm, it gets pushed back to its place, and then it repeats.

'I stopped the electric flow long ago, why is still hurting?!' Aska who was still rolling on the ground almost screamed out loud. To him it felt like an hour of pain, but in reality, it was ten seconds

A minute later the pain went away. 'What was that?!?!' Aska took in a hurried deep breath. 'No wonder no one uses this way of training, thank god I didn't try it on my whole body'

Aska sat down on his bed catching his breath.

'This exhausted me more than I thought' Aska wasn't physically exhausted, but mentally. He decided to not do anything more for the day.

————————

Aska spent a few days with his mom, doing nothing, but hanging out. They went shopping, he got some new outfits, mom got herself a few things too.

Dad also took a few days off, he took us to an amusement park once. Another day was the aquarium. Lastly was the movie theater.

It was a fun week all around.

Aska noticed that his parents kept a close eye on him through all of it.

'I guess they want to make sure I don't need to get checked again or anything'

Aska was currently in his room, he was reading the martial arts basics.

'The ogre is crazy, having me run 10 miles (16 kilometers) every day, do 100 push-ups, 100 squats, 100 sit-ups, and then stretches to get my body flexible after I wake up, I don't mind it, but it's too much to start with. At least he included some drawings for me to follow'

"Well it's too late now" -Aska decided to follow the crazy regimen anyway.

Next day early in the morning.

Aska started to do some warm ups like instructed in the notebook.

After he followed the steps, his heart rate has already increased.

Aska went down stairs, mom was sending dad off to work "mom, I'm going for a run!"

"It's too early, where are you going?" -mom

"I'll run around the neighborhood for a little bit"

"Why?" - mom

"I need to keep myself in shape" - is the only excuse he came up with on the spot

"What ten year-old, needs to worry about their shape?" -mom said, more to herself than to Aska

"Alright I'm heading out!" - Aska

"Ok, but be carful!" - mom

Aska was running around the neighborhood he lived in.

'I have to do HIIT, so I need to start slow, and speed up gradually'

Aska did as instructed by the notebook, he was thirty minutes in, and he was already exhausted.

'What is this?! Why am I getting tired so quickly?'

Taking some more time to catch his breath Aska continued his running.

—————————

It's been a month since Aska started to do his endurance training. He hasn't touched the muscle stimulating technique though.

He built up so much endurance, but the training never got any better.

Every time he would feel like the training is easier, the next section in the notebook would get harder.

"Aska, are you ready to go" -mom called Aska from down stairs.

"Yes, coming!" Aska yelled back

Today is the day they go to I-ISLAND. Aska ran downstairs, his parents were waiting by the door, there was a taxi waiting in front of the house.

They got to the airport, boarded the plane with no issues, and the flight took off.

'Lenox, said he will be there this year, I look forward to see how strong he has gotten' Aska had a smile on hiss face, when he remembered the email exchange he had with Lenox a week ago.

He was looking forward to seeing his friend.

The flight was alright, nothing too great. They checked into their hotel, and got settled in.

Aska got a notification on his phone, After he checked it, it was Lenox, checking on him, to see if he made safe.

A few more email exchanges, Aska and Lenox agreed to meet.

Aska went to his parents' room to tell them that he will head out to meet his friend, mom was taking a shower, Aska told his dad, who gave him some pocket money, and told him to get back before they head out for dinner.

Aska was currently standing on the sidelines of a course that relied on both, speed and power. It was a new course opened two years ago. It's one of the courses with higher difficulty compared to the rest.

Aska was looking at the start line, there was a boy with black hair, waiting for the countdown.

———————

Hello everyone. I hope you like the chapter.

I know I used I-ISLAND before. But this time it's not as detailed. It's just a convenient place for Aska and Lenox to meet.

Feel free to leave any suggestions for future chapters.