An old Memory

A few years ago...

“Urgh...” You groan, collapsing on your back. Arms and legs spread out as the soft ground underneath made an excellent cushion. “Damn it.”

The sound of laughter reaches your ears, causing you to growl angrily. Lifting your head and glaring forward, you look at the source. Sitting cross-legged on top of a boulder, chuckling and holding a gourd in their right hand was the cause of your frustration. Clad in a tunic, baggy pants, and pauldron on their right soldier was a beastfolk, more specifically a simisim as evident by the monkey tail swaying behind them.

“You know, you’re not helping the whole stereotype that simisims are nothing but mischievous tricksters and jokesters.” You bluntly say.

The monkey person chuckled again. “Come on, Alder. What’s a laugh or two between friends?”

You manage to sit up, your muscles still feeling a bit sore. Jumping off the boulder, the simisim makes their way over to you. Reaching you, they offer the gourd in their hand.

“Here, take a swig.” They swirl the bottle, liquid sloshing inside it. “This will perk you right up!”

Eyeing the gourd, you reach out and take it. Popping the cork, you take a small swig only to devolve into a coughing fit.

“J-jesus!” You sputter as you hand the gourd back. “What the hell is that stuff?!”

“My own special brew! Puts some pep in your step, makes you good as new!” They reply, laughing at their own rhyme before taking a long drink of their own.

‘I’m honestly surprised he isn’t drunk all the time.’ Though you do feel the soreness fade away. Sighing, you finally stand up, brushing the dirt off your pants before looking at your traveling companion.

“Tundrus, I don’t think this is working.” The monkey man tilts his head. “No offense, you’re great company and everything. But you offered to teach me some of your tricks and all I’ve done are push-ups with you on my back, Running between trees and doing jumping jacks with added weights for the past week.”

Tundrus raises an eyebrow. “To learn tricks, one must be trained first.”

“I get that. But I at least figured you teach me something with what I already have.” You respond, gesturing to the short shield strapped to your left arm and the short sword on your hip.

The simisim taps his chin in thought as he looks up. After a minute of thinking, he looks back at you with a smile.

“Tricks with weapons are advanced, take too long to teach. You’ve been good friend, so give you a show, capiche?”

You get confused as Tundrus turns around and walks back to the boulder. Standing in front of it, he squats down, brings his right arm back, balls his fist and coils his tail inward.

“First, one must be prepared. Weak body or spirit, break all your bones.” Tundrus takes a deep breath and slowly releases it. You watch as he slightly shifts his body in place and brings his left hand in front of his fight fist. “Second, look deep inside yourself. Tap into your well of power, harness it, let it come to you.”

You had to blink, you swear you saw Tundrus’ fist begin glowing.

“Ki is the will of all things, both breathing and non-living. One doesn’t simply use it, they must learn to work with it. It is a living **** that should never be tampered with.”

This was different from the usual fun-loving and joking simisim you’ve got to know this past week. The glowing energy has gotten brighter. If you listened carefully, you could hear him chanting something.

“Third, focus all your power to one spot and prepare to strike.” Tundrus leans forward. “And fourth…”

He throws his glowing fist towards the boulder.

“MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO!”

It sounded like a large crack of thunder when his fist hit the stone. For a moment, nothing happened and the large rock was undamaged. Then, golden cracks began forming from the impact. Rapidly, the cracks began spider webbing all over the boulder before completely covering it. It glowed brightly before exploding.

You shielded yourself as chunks and pieces of the rock flew out in every direction. Tundrus stood there, unmoving from the boulder’s destruction. Once the shower of rocks was over, you lower your arms and stare in shock, mouth agape at the display of power. The simisim stood up straight and slowly turned around to look at you. For a moment, you just stare at each other, no words said.

A second later, Tundrus’ face breaks out into a massive grin, chuckles and snaps his fingers.

“Say a catchy line to finish it off!” He uses his tail to pick up his gourd, takes a long drink, sighs and looks at your face with a smile.