3 Onto the Road of Improvement

„Why don't we have a family name mother?" A young looking Yuudai asked. He was around 4 years old now and acclimated himself into his new world during these last years.

"That's a good question. As you might have noticed, most Yokai don't have an actual last name. We don't have big numbers like humans do and can still identify each other, so there is no necessity. But the most important reason is our culture." His mother answered with a smile.

"How so?" He inquired curiously.

She let out a short giggle at his concentrated face before replying: "We Yokai give our children meaningful names when they are born. As far as that goes it is nothing outstanding, but if someone wants to earn a more unique name or something to be remembered by, it is about titles. If you manage to do something outstanding or become someone great, you will be remembered by many different names. A good example would be Sun Wukong. He is known as 'The Great Victorious Fighting Buddha' or the 'Great Sage equalling Heaven'"

She had to try hard to keep herself from laughing. It seems Yuudai wasn't very impressed by these ridiculous titles and she was right. He'd rather have a normal name or be referred by his future position he might hold. Why would he want to be called something like 'The Great Oni Warrior triumphing over the Peak and beyond'? It's just embarrassing. He quickly shook his head and changed the topic.

"When will you start my training?" He asked her eagerly. At first, he enjoyed his down time after a life that knew not much else than training, but after a while he had this craving to improve himself again. His last years weren't wasted however, because he learned the language and got educated by his mother. At least she told him about the world and the different factions and their important people. After she noticed that he could already understand her, she took the chance and was surprised that he could follow her. He made sure to remember the information as it was crucial to know as much as possible.

In his downtime he played around with his abilities that came with the boon he received. He managed to further the radius of his sensing ability through meditation. There was not much else to do as a new-born lying around, even if he fell asleep more often than not. His rewards were exceptional since he could now register everything that happened in Kyoto when he concentrated.

Tamiko was thinking for a moment before coming to a decision: "I guess we can start with light training for now. You were never a fragile child."

He rolled his eyes at that, though it looked more cute than anything else. Of course, he was not fragile. Even now he probably had a stronger body than every other Yokai. How did he know that his body was exceptionally strong? While other children would hurt themselves in small accidents, he never had such problems. While helping his mother in the kitchen, instead of cutting himself, the knife got dull. He fell from a chair and the back of his head cracked the ground. Aside from that he tried to lift a big boulder in their garden and while his stubby arms weren't exactly useful, he didn't feel the slightest resistance when shoving the big mass of stone around.

"Let's start with the basics, I will be your opponent." Tamiko said while taking a lax stance.

"Are you sure that you want me to attack you?" Yuudai answered a little unsure. He liked his mother and he knew she wasn't a fragile piece of glass, but him attacking her? Did she forget his abnormal physique?

"Don't worry and come at me." She said while smiling.

He gave her a short nod of acknowledgement and took his own stance as good as possible. He still had some difficulties moving properly while being so small. Observing his opponent, he spotted several small openings, but considering his mothers age which he didn't know the exact number of, he knew a good amount of them were nothing but attempts to lure him into her pace. He might be overthinking it, since he was only 4 years old with no experience to speak of in her view, but he knew better than to underestimate an opponent. Even a simple spar had to be treated seriously to gain the maximum benefit from it.

He slowly walked in circles around her until he had the sun in his back. Just as she blinked from the sudden light, he moved and aimed at her leg, trying to make her lose her footing. Just before he arrived, his mother moved with her eyes still closed and the same foot he wanted to strike managed to hit the side of his head, throwing him a few metres to the side.

It didn't hurt him, but he was surprised. Tamiko was fast! And she did all that without opening her eyes. But then it hit him. The moment he took a stance he forgot his new abilities and just fought like he would have in his former world. His mother however could sense him without even opening her eyes and managed to catch him off guard.

"A good attempt Yuu, sometimes I wonder how you can be so smart already. But regardless, you are far too early to best your mother, even if you are special." She said with a smirk at the end.

Yuudai stood up and wiped the dirt off his face. He smiled as well, he really missed this. Not the part of getting thrown into the dirt but having a challenge again and improving himself. He took his stance again, but this time he tried to feel his mother's every move, to react fast enough. While he was strong, the body was still far from being completely developed and it was not surprising that his mother's movements were far more refined.

He still had a few ideas on how to get into her guard. It was time for round two.

It was only hours later that he gave up. For now, that is. Their little training session was fruitful nonetheless as he learned a lot. The biggest lesson was that he should try to use everything at his disposal. The second thing he learned was that his mother was probably one of the strongest existences in Kyoto and he could learn a lot more from her vast experience.

While he was lost in his reflection, his mother had her own thoughts. She confirmed that her decision to ask for multiple trainers was the right one. The pace at which her son was learning and growing was even faster than expected. She made a mental note to write a few messages before going to sleep tonight.

-o-

"Ha, she wants me to train her brat." An old monkey-looking man said before putting his pipe onto his lips.

"She can dream on Sun, we just got back from our last assignment." A long dragon stated while lazing around on the side.

"Actually, I think I will accept, Yu-Long." Sun Wukong answered while blowing rings of smoke into the air before forming a small monkey of smoke that swung around the rings.

"But why, we worked a lot the last few weeks." The dragon whined and Sun Wukong shook his head. He often relaxed, but his partner was something else entirely.

"Well for one I owe her. And secondly, I think it would be a nice change of pace. But I will have to get Indra to agree first." He stroked his long brown beard in thought.

"But-" Yu-Long started, but was interrupted again.

"I will let you eat the specialities in Kyoto, all on me." Sun Wukong suggested.

"Of course, we will go, I am the liveliest dragon after all." Yu-Long shamelessly stated. If he didn't stick around Sun, he would be just as lazy as Midgardsomr.

"Still, that she wanted to use the favour to train her child, he must be important to her. I'm looking forward to meeting him." He mused before getting up.

"Let's go tell Indra that we are on vacation for a while. Maybe we can even visit some other people on the way while we are at it. You didn't meet the other Dragon Kings for a while and I still need to look after that dumb descendant of mine." Sun proposed.

"Let's just go meet that descendant of yours before going to Kyoto. I'd really prefer tasting some of those specialities instead of meeting the other Dragon Kings with their weird quirks." Yu-Long exclaimed righteously.

Sun Wukong just shook his head at his shameless dragon companion. Contrary to his words, he mostly cared for his sleep and eating delicious food.