Mission: Breaking a Sweat = Link

Word Count: 1295/600

Lee stood before a single man now. This man dressed in a yellow tracksuit and had a fine muscle tone from what one could see. He stood firm and ready, both Lee and the man that was his client. "So, you're the one to begin my training? You wont regret the results!" "Of that, I'm sure." "Okay, first, how do you do in taijutsu?" "It isn't unknown too me, I think that I'm pretty good at it." "Great, then you'll certainly benefit from this, now, lets start with some stretches." Lee bowed to the man "Yes sir."

With that, the man began to do the stretching of his own which looked a bit easy. The other man went at it like it was something he did on a daily basis which, by looking at him, was truth. Lee sat down on the ground and spread his legs apart from one another and began to stretch his arms out in front of him, slowly bouncing back to push himself forward once more. This went on for a good five minutes before the man pulled himself up and walked away, only to return a minute or so later and throw a rope to Lee in which he caught with little effort. "Ten minutes of rope-jumping." and then began to jump with the rope he had gotten for himself.

Lee pulled himself from the ground and removed his top so that it would not impede his work. He threw it to the ground and held an end to the rope in each hand and started slowly, not really aiming for it to go any faster than needed. The first few went by without fail but his attention then went to the trainer. He was a monster. The rope was barely visible and that was only due to the fact that the part in his hand had to remain stationary. It was fearsome to watch but it gave Lee a new found vigor. Because of this, Lee began to speed up his own jumping, not moving as fast but slowly catching up. In his speed, Lee started to miss timing a few times, almost falling to his face but instead, he simply stepped forward and continued jumping. The minutes went by fast and the trainer stopped suddenly "Okay, now we move on to pistol squats, two-hundred and fifty of them"

Lee paused for a moment, the number seemed pretty steep for training but the trainer then began to squat down with one leg and raise back up, over and over. Lee quickly began to follow pace, already starting late but wishing to catch up to the man. It was like an unspoken contest that only Lee had the knowledge of, he did not know this man before today but he felt as though he must keep up with him regardless.

The time was long and it too at least an hour to finish off the last twenty-five of the squats but they were done. "Well done, you impress. Now, for some pull-ups, another two-hundred and fifty." The man turned and walked to a bar that would serve the purpose and jumped up and took hold and Lee mimicked. It was nice because he was given a chance to get of his legs and let them rest whilst he used his arms. Again and again, he pulled himself up till his chin passed the bar and still, seemed to lack behind just a few pulls behind the trainer. It seemed so natural to him that it just worked. After two hours, Lee dropped to his feet shook his arms, the pull ups really working them tightly before he heard the sound of the trainer once more "Rest for a moment. We still have a bit more to go and this is the time you need to take to recover. Enjoy." The man tossed him a bottle of water which Lee couldn't open fast enough and drank half of it in what felt like a single gulp.

After a few breaths, he took it a bit slower, drinking a bit more and simply resting on the ground. This lasted a good twenty-minutes before he was told that push-ups were his next task, another 250 of them. He began them quickly, breathing in a well placed manner and finishing before the hour was done. "Now, diamond push ups." Lee had not left the position so he need only move his hands together and feel the burning of his muscles and the sweat dropping to the ground and he continued, each push feeling harder than the last.

When the two-hundred and fifty-th one, he let himself fall back onto his butt and taking on a deep breath. "On the home stretch, now, for the final task. Twenty thousand punches." Lee paused as he turned his attention to the man "Twenty thousand. What could possibly survive that much and on the time schedule we have?" "Find something, start with the sandbag and then work from there." And the man walked off.

Lee now stood before a sandbag and tightened his fists, he could feel the burn and it wasn't going to be getting any easier at this point and really needed to keep it up and hope it was the end of it and not some sort of ploy to get him to overdrive himself into exhaustion. He began punching the bag fifty-eight straight and quick punches met the bag and he could tense with the lasts of the strikes. He began to throw more and more there after, feeling that if he didn't put more power into the strike, that it would fall short. After he hit two-thousand mark, the area were he struck the most was obvious. But, before he could obtain the four thousand mark, the bag suddenly burst, sand pouring to the ground and Lee staring at it. He knew it was bound to happen, yet now he needed a replacement, something that would last longer.

He walked outside and was greeted with such a thing, a large tree that would otherwise not be inside the walls of the village had the trainer not gotten it himself, or so Lee would be lead to believe. The tree even shown signs of use as the bark seemed broken and faded at some points. He didn't have much time, at least not to finish his task. He began with out another thought, he would have to make sure not to focus on a single point and continue. The hours went by and the tree proved to be a fitting replacement, each strike hitting without fail and the sun starting to lower, seemingly faster and faster, so did his strikes, mentally counting off each strike.

Before the last of the sun had shined, the trainer walked from the building, looking now at a ruined sandbag. He then turned his attention elsewhere to find a now missing Lee. He was starting to get a bit disappointed as he walked outside and found Lee sitting in front of the tree, rubbing the backs of his hands and looking at the man "Twenty thousand, as asked and done though..." He turned back to the tree which had actually began to warp at its center, crooked to the eye but the trainer just simply laughed, clapping soon to follow it. "I will see it replaced and you rewarded. Thank you, you have shown that things are possible and not beyond my grasp." Lee simply gave a nod and pulled himself up, sleep was something that was going to be well earned tonight, of that, he was sure.