Chapter One: Sorbetes

“This place is pretty boring.”

A young boy said as he walks into the street of Cebu. The boy is named Juno. He is a Japanese kid who moved to Philippines because of family issues. He has a brown hair, which matches his eyes and beige colored skin.

The city is huge and there are lots of tall buildings located there but the city still remains spacious. Cebu is located near a sea so the atmosphere there is pretty neat. The sun is pretty strong at that time since it was a summer noon and heat is pretty strong.

“It’s so hot in this god forsaken country.” Said Juno as he wipes some sweat from his forehead. Something caught Juno’s attention as he saw something from afar.

It was an ice cream vendor. Juno approached the ice cream vendor and asked for a cone. The ice cream vendor scooped up a nice chocolate ice cream and hand it over to Juno. Juno was opening up his wallet remembered something shocking.

Unfortunately for Juno, he still hasn’t changed some of his yen to peso.

“Here…” A guy paid the ice cream vendor some peso for Juno’s cone. The guy has a black hair, which is similar to the color of his eyes. His skin color is slightly darker than Juno’s which is almost tan.

“Arigato…” said Juno to the guy as he smiled quite embarrassed.

The guy was dumbfounded because he can’t understand what Juno was talking about.

“Miguel.” Said the guy as he offered a handshake to Juno.

“Juno.” He replied as he slightly bowed his head.

“Hahaha…” laughed Miguel as turns around to leave.

When Miguel was quite far from Juno, he noticed the clothes that Miguel was wearing were similar to the clothes they wear in Kendo. Juno thought that practicing Kendo might help him pass the time here in the Philippines.

“Matte Kudasai!” said Juno, which instantly grabbed Miguel’s attention.

“I’m sorry for being rude but where can I practice Kendo here in the Philippines?” asked Juno in a quite desperate manner.

“Sori. But I don’t practice Kendo at all. You must have mistaken because of this uniform.”

“This uniform is used when I practice Kali Eskrima.” Answered Miguel as he slightly tugs his uniform.

“Nani?” Juno blotted out with a confused looked on his face.

“You know… Eskrima, the one where you use Arnis to beat the crap out of each other.” Miguel explains further which only further confuses Juno.

“It is said that the warriors in the island of Mactan used against the fire arms of the invader Magellan in the past.” Again, more explaining and more confusion.

“Its mostly called stick fighting in other countries.”

“Hey… you want me to take you to the dojo.” Miguel offered.

“Where is that?”

Miguel pointed at Juno.

“Don’t give me that in your own heart crap!”

“Asshole! I was pointing at your ice cream!”

Juno looked and found that the ice cream was melting in his hands.

“Hahaha…” Miguel laughed as he walked.

Juno quickly followed Miguel.

The two walked together while eating their ice creams.

“By the way thank you for ice creams again.” Said Juno to Miguel.

“Don’t worry about it. I figured your wallet was loaded but unfortunately with a different currency. So in exchange you can treat me into something delicious next time.” Miguel replied as he swallowed his the rest of his ice cream whole.

“Right… Anyway, how far is…”

“…We’re here!!!” Miguel interrupted.

“This is the dojo where I practice Kali Eskrima.” Said Miguel as he gladly opened the main door to the lounge of the dojo.

“Come in Juno.” Invited Miguel with a smile in his face.

Just as Juno stepped both feet inside the room Miguel grabbed his ice cream and throws it outside.

“What the f…”

“…No foods allowed!” Miguel interrupted.

“Bastard! You could have told me earlier!” Juno said in a loud voice.

“Quit crying… lets go inside the dojo.”

They both walked into a small hallway into the dojo.

Sounds of wooden sticks clashing together can already be heard. The sound was very solid and very furious. As if a rain of wooden sticks are falling into the ground. Echoes from Eskrimadors howl runs through the whole dojo.

As they both reached the dojo, Juno was amazed on what he saw. People face to face are fighting with sticks with extreme speeds but still beautiful to look at. Almost as if they are dancing using their stick weapons. Even though the exchanges are very furious, reactions to each attack are still perfect. Trying to land an attack while constantly trying to parry the opponents, the method is pure genius.

“Juno…” called Miguel to Juno who’s somewhat speechless in everything he seeing at the moment.

“Want to try?” Miguel offered as he hands a pair of Arnis to Juno.

Juno grasped the sticks and grips it tightly in his hands. The stick was harder that he thought and it was heavier to. No doubt, without their protective gear this weapon is very lethal.

“How can they fight so fearlessly?”

“How can they even react to a barrage like that?”

“I want to learn…” Juno said to his self as he clenches the wooden sticks tighter.

End of Chapter 1

This is the end of Chapter 1 if your done reading it please let me know how did I do. Your reviews will be greatly appreciated.

Authors Note:

- Cebu is one of the most beautiful cities here in the Philippines unfortunately I don’t live there. (Not even close ;)

- Sorbetes, which is the name of the first chapter means ice cream here in the Philippines.

- Arnis is the name of the stick, which is used in Eskrima.

- Peso is the currency here in the Philippines.