Coach Shu in the Snake Pit

Chapter 3

The next day, Gold Eye went to check on Red Eye. The kid was awake, which he should be considering it was past 8AM, and was once again sitting on the ground, stretching. Would he make a habit out of it?

"Red Eye, how are you feeling?", Gold Eye asked the kid.

"Better", he smiled and stood up. "My head still hurts and my muscles are all sore, but I'm fine."

"Do you still have a fever?"

"I didn't check", the kid admitted. Gold Eye sighed.

"There should be a thermometer in the bathroom. Do you want me to look?"

Red Eye nodded. Of course, he wouldn't remember where it was, so even if he went to take a look, he wouldn't know where to start.

Gold Eye found it easily and took Red Eye's temperature. He was glad to see that Red Eye's fever was gone. They were both relieved.

"Still", Gold Eye said. "You should take it easy, at least today. We don't want it to come back."

Red Eye nodded. "Sure, but I'm allowed to at least minimally participate in training, right?"

Gold Eye raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, if you want. Did you have something particular in mind?"

Red Eye's smile was almost dangerous. His eyes flashed with something powerful, reckless and it made Gold Eye shiver. Red Eye had always had something in his eyes that was difficult to place, though yesterday and today it seemed stronger, but also more subtle, controlled and it did not make it any less scary.

"I just have to ask Silver Eye", Red Eye said, voice leveled but also subtly exited. What was the kid planning?

"Fine, but Ashram wants me to train with you today", Gold Eye said. "So whatever you're doing, you'll have to deal with me, too."

Red Eye smiled once more, happily it seemed. "That's the idea."

After that, they went and searched for Silver Eye. He was easy enough to find and Shu immediately asked him something. Silver Eye nodded.

"Yeah, I managed to find four of them, actually. I didn't know we had these kinds of things. What do you want to do with them?"

"We're going to train with them", Red Eye said, as if it was obvious. According to Silver Eye's look, however, it was not.

"How?"

"You'll see", Red Eye said. "First, we have to get everything set up, though. Do we have a bigger training room somewhere?"

Gold Eye nodded, curious about whatever training method Red Eye had come up with this time.

"I'll show you."

"Good. Then, let's get started."

They carried the boxes that Silver Eye had found to the bigger training room, one where people would actually be able to watch them if they wanted. Gold Eye was not that happy with the arrangement, but it would do. Next, they put up the things. 'Slack Line' Red Eye called them. Gold Eye wondered what he wanted with them.

"Okay, Shu, I'm ready", Silver Eye called. Red Eye smiled.

"I'm fine over here, too", he answered. "Gold Eye?"

"Yeah", he said. He was still caught up on Silver Eye calling Red Eye 'Shu'. That was not how it worked. This definitely wasn't how it was supposed to be. Gold Eye wanted to sink into a hole and never come out. At least there, he would not have to deal with all of this confusing stuff.

They had put up two Slack Lines parallelly, though far away from each other, so that no one would actually bother the other person. Red Eye jumped onto one of them and perfectly held his balance, even though the Slack Line seemed rather unstable. He smiled at them.