The next morning at the Williams home, Roland made his way downstairs to the dining room of their suburban home, not too far up the street from the cul-de-sac Drew and Jo lived in. He was greeted by his parents, Aaron and Abbie Williams, having breakfast with his grandmother Nano.

“Morning Pops,” he said to his father–who was hiding behind the tablet he was using as a shield from his mother and wife’s conversation.

“Mmhm,” Aaron greeted back, knowing better than to remind them he was here.

“Nano, please, have you for a moment thought about your health and well-being? You’re almost 70.” Abbie said to her mother-in-law, who was cutting up a steak she was having with her eggs.

“I done told y’all enough. You are only as old as you feel and girl I am eternally 18.”

“Have you had your cholesterol checked? Your blood pressure? You’re at high risk…”

Nano huffed. “All of that’s fine. You know I run for five miles before any of you even thinkin’ of gettin’ out of bed.” She noticed Roland. “Mornin’ baby, come on over and grab you somethin’ to eat before you go out and do your karate.”

Roland nodded and sat at the table, he grabbed a tortilla, a steak, and began slicing the latter. “So, what’s good?”

Abbie looked from her son to Nano. “Your grandmother’s getting lax on her health.”

“Girl I have the strength of a bear with the strength of ten gorillas!”

Abbie elaborated to Roland. “She’s been skipping out on appointments with our new family physician.” She looked back at Nano. “Saying you’re going up there and then riding off on that motorcycle to do whatever.”

“I’m saving you the money! Hmph!”

Abbie turned to her husband. “Aaron, talk to your mother.”

Aaron wondered why he thought his tablet would protect him. It never worked before. “Mom, please go in for one checkup?”

“No,” Nano replied.

Aaron shrugged his shoulders. “Welp, I tried.”

Abbie’s glare could burn through Jara’s cloak. Roland scooped eggs onto his tortilla and added his sliced steak to it. “I think Nano’s doing fine.”

“Thanks, baby,” Nano cooed to her grandson.

Abbie let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine, Mom, you win. Do whatever you want, eat whatever you like. It’s not like you have to worry about what happens when it all catches up to you.”

“Nobody’s gotta worry about anything,” Nano said, quite satisfied with her victory.

Turning to her son, Abbie frowned when she saw all the steak and eggs he was going to roll up into that burrito. “You should start thinking about your diet too, young man.”

Roland pointed to himself. “Me?”

“He’s a growing boy. Besides, he’s got karate class today.” Nano gestured to him. “Don’t you?”

“That’s right,” Roland said as he threw on some salsa and carefully rolled his burrito up. “And on that note, I’m taking this to go. I want to get to the dojo early.”

Getting up, Roland gave his father a light punch on the shoulder, then a fist bump when Aaron raised his fist for him. He got up and went over to his mother, giving her a one-armed hug as he held his burrito out of her reach. “I’ll be back this evening.”

“Be safe, sweetie,” Abbie said with much more warmth after the hug.

“Remember, ‘wax on, wax off,’” Aaron advised.

“Hai, sensei,” Roland said with a quick bow.

Rather than let him come to her, Nano got up and strode over to him, the purple track suit-wearing older woman grabbing her grandson in a big across the shoulder hug. “I’ll walk you out. I gotta do my tai chi down at the park anyway.”

Abbie did a double take and saw that Nano had cleaned her plate. “Wait, when did you…?!”

The two were already out the door, and Aaron breathed a sigh of relief.

Out on the porch of Aaron and Abbie’s middle-class dream home, Roland chuckled. “Mom’s been on you a lot, lately, huh?”

Nano turned her nose up. “It’s how she loves, always worryin’ about everyone. It don’t bother me, none.” She smiled. “In fact, I might just sneak over to the doctor and get that checkup so she can sleep better.”

“She’ll appreciate that,” he replied before remembering. “Oh, by the way… when I went to the dojo, the Sensei said it was ‘an honor’ to meet me when he realized I was your grandson. Do you know him?”

She thought about it. “Huh, you’re going to that dojo over at Trank Plaza?” When he confirmed it with a nod, she laughed. “Brantley’s Dojo? Lord have mercy.”

“Brantley?” Roland repeated.

“I’m surprised that place is still open…” she murmured, before she smiled at Roland. “Well tell him ol’ Nano sends her love, and go easy on ‘im, kay baby?”

Roland threw a playful fake punch with his free hand. “No promises.”

“Morning, Nano!” Drew called as he and Jo rode up on their bikes.

“Hey Nano,” Jo said as she bunny-hopped her bike from the street to the curb. She looked at Roland. “You ready?”

“And rarin’.” Roland gave Nano another hug, then headed for his bike, chained up next to their house’s attached garage.

@@@@@

With Nano waving farewell, the three were on their way. The ride to Hill-Trank Plaza was just long enough for Roland to ride his bike with no hands and eat his burrito, and the morning was early enough that no cars had the opportunity to splatter him all over the pavement for his hubris. By the time they got there, Marco was already stepping out of another dimensional portal, and saying goodbye to Star for the day.

“Remember that if something happens, we’ll need you,” Marco reminded Star.

“Relax! I’ll have my ringer super loud. It’s not like I’m going anywhere I won’t hear it, just the Bounce Lounge.”

He smiled. “Have fun, okay?”

The faintest blush covered the tops of Star’s cheeks as she smiled back. “Yeah, fun! Later!”

She retreated into the portal, which closed to reveal Drew, Jo, and Roland chaining their bikes up to a rack.

“Hey Marco,” Drew said.

“‘What’s good, cuh?” Roland asked.

Marco nodded back to them. “Doing great, you guys ready to get some real training?”

“Born ready,” Jo said, Drew and Roland nodding with her.

Marco opened the door. “All right guys, today we’re going to get a lot done, but I need to talk to Sensei.”

He stepped through the doorway, the others following him to find Sensei sitting with his legs crossed and his hands on his knees. The school’s master was in silent meditation, his eyes shut but relaxed, breathing deeply through his nose, and exhaling through his mouth.

Jo looked around the room as Marco went over to the matts and sat seiza in front of Sensei on the very edge of them. No other students had arrived yet. “So the little imp isn’t here.”

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Drew looked at Roland. “So soon as Marco’s done, we can start asking questions.”

“Yeah, leave it to me,” Roland assured them.

Out on the mats Marco sat in silence, watching his teacher’s meditation with intense focus. Sensei continued his steady breathing for several moments, making no other movements, giving nothing away. After a few moments more, Marco wondered if he was meditating at all and not-

“Mr. Diaz.”

Oh, he’s awake. He thought.

“The time is eight-twenty seven and twenty-three seconds. Twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six…” Marco checked his watch, while Drew, Jo, and Roland went to their phones. He was right on the dot. “You have come early to the dojo. What is it that you seek?”

Marco answered. “I wish to advance, to take the next step on my journey. It’s time for me to level up and become a Red Belt.”

Sensei took a deep breath. “I see. Five years and you believe you are ready?”

“That’s right.” He clenched and unclenched his hands. “I want to move up so I can challenge myself further and achieve greater heights. I don’t think I can do that as a Green Belt anymore.”

Sensei nodded. “So you are finding yourself bored as a Green Belt then, Mr. Diaz?”

“Not bored… I just feel like I have learned everything there is at my level.”

Sensei’s eyes opened. “I see. Well then, I hope you are ready for a grueling process. The Red Belt is the deep red of sunset, the last bit of light before you venture into the uncertain dark of true mastery. I will push you to your every limit to see that you are ready to reach this level.”

Jo rolled her eyes. “How much anime does this guy watch?”

“Yes,” Roland answered.

“I dunno, this is kinda cool,” Drew admitted.

“Do you think you can handle it? This trial has broken many a student.” Sensei asked Marco.

Marco nodded. “Yes, Sensei.”

Sensei closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “Very well, stand!”

He shot to his feet, Marco springing to his in the same instant. “Bow to your sensei!”

Marco placed his hands together and bowed to Sensei. “Now prepare yourself! Your training begins… NOOOOOOOW!”

With his bellowing kiai Sensei crossed the mat at speed that caught not only Marco, but the Beetleborg kids completely off guard. Turning he lifted his right leg to bring his heel down on Marco in an axe kick.

“Whoa!” Marco raised his hands to block but Sensei was faster, his heel actually stopping short of his face. “… Huh?”

Sensei pointed his foot at Marco’s face. “Clip the toenail.”

Marco lowered his hands. “Huh?”

Drew, Jo, and Roland stared at the scene, expressions blank. “Huh?”

“Clip the toenail,” Sensei repeated, wiggling his toes for emphasis.

Marco looked at his toes, then back at his face. “… Seriously?”

“Clip the toenail, Mr. Diaz!” Sensei bellowed, and without fail Marco pulled out a pair of toenail clippers and snipped the edge off Sensei’s big toenail.

“Ack! It got in my eye!”

Drew and Roland winced, while Jo’s brow furrowed. “Okay, this is dumb.”

Marco wildly brushed at his eyes, then looked up at his Sensei. “What the heck?!”

Sensei narrowed his eyes. “If you are not ready for grueling minutiae, then how can I be sure you are prepared to wear the burden of the red belt, nay, the burden of being an instructor? A master? The arts are not merely chopping wooden planks and kicking butts, it is patience, diligence, and focus! To better yourself not physically, but mentally, and metaphysically–straight down to the soul!”

Comprehension lit up Marco’s face. “Oh, I see…!”

“Well then, continue to clip the toenail, Mr. Diaz, and prepare yourself. This is only the beginning of your Red Belt Trial.”

The fire already lit in Marco blazed hotter. He was not going to let his sensei down. “Yes, Sensei!”

He clipped another toenail. “Ow! Again?!”

Sensei was correct, this was only the beginning. After clipping his toenails, Marco mopped then waxed the floors, plunged the toilets, scrubbed the showers, itemized the school’s budget and washed the windows. All while Drew, Jo, and Roland watched from the bleachers as students filtered in and out, finding no classes to be taught while Sensei ran Marco through his Belt Trial.

“This is so dumb…” Jo groaned. “We’ve been here literally all morning watching Marco do chores.”

Drew was reading comics off his phone. “I’m with Jo on this one, we should’ve gone with Dipper and Janna, if this was what we’re gonna be doing all morning.”

Jo gave him the side-eye. “Oh, what happened to this being kinda cool?”

Drew checked his phone’s time. “Three hours and ten minutes elapsed.”

Sensei was standing at the base of a ladder, watching Marco scrub the rafters of the dojo. “Those cross-beams need to be shining, Diaz!”

“Yes sensei!” Marco shouted before some soapy, dirty water fell into his eye. “AHHH!”

Roland hummed in agreement. “If y’all guys wanna sneak out ahead, you’re good. I’ll hang around here.”

Drew got up and looked back at his best friend. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I still need to talk to Sensei, after all,” Roland said.

Jo let out a huff. “Good luck getting a word in edgewise.”

She looked at her phone. “Janna says they’re at the scrapyard, let’s go.”

The two jogged down the bleachers and headed for the door. Drew looked up at Marco. “Hey, Marco! Me and Jo are going to let you finish your trial, later!”

Looking down, Marco was surprised. “Wait, you’re leaving?”

Jo was already at the door. “We’ve been here for hours. We’re going to meet up with Dipper.”

She left, Drew behind her. “Yeah, sorry,” he called as he followed his sister out.

Marco swore under his breath. “W-wait…!”

“Mr. Diaz, you still have scrubbing to do!” Sensei reminded him.

Groaning, Marco went back to scrubbing. “Can’t believe I wasted the whole morning…” Another droplet of soapy water landed in his eyes. “Dang it!”

“Is your failure at hand, Mr. Diaz?”

“No, Sensei!”

Sensei nodded. “Good. After this, we’re going to close up shop and take your trial to the streets. There is still much you have to endure.”

“Yes, Sensei!”

Roland waved his hand. “Hey Sensei, can we talk for a sec?”

Sensei looked over to Roland. “Of course!”

He turned back to Marco. “Keep up the scrubbing!”

“Yes, Sensei!” Marco called back.

Roland got up and walked down the bleachers, gesturing for Sensei to come over a little further away from Marco. Following him, Sensei folded his arms and nodded. “Is something the matter, Mr. Williams?”

“Nah, we good,” Roland glanced at Marco, then back to Sensei. “Yesterday you said you knew my Grandmoms. What’s up with that?”

Sensei lit up. “Your Grandmother, yes. Look around this dojo, Roland. Without a chance encounter with Nano many years ago… none of this would exist.”

Roland stared at him, surprised. “Deadass?”

Sensei nodded. “Many years ago–but not too many–I was like your age, I was a young thug going down the wrong path. Gangs, violence, drugs, I grew up surrounded by it… and for much of my teen years, I thought that was all my life was going to be.”

His dark eyes drew off to his right, narrowing as he recalled himself on the mean streets of East LA, a young man who wore a hoodie and a skull-cap in 95 degree heat, throwing up gang signs, spray-painting tags, robbing drug dealers, and running from the cops. “I was so young, and already on a downward spiral–it was only a matter of time before I was dead or in jail.”

He raised a clenched fist. “Then one day, I was at the end of my rope. I was cornered by a rival set, right on the banks of the LA river, nothing but hot concrete between myself and a certain death at the hands of the eight biggest, baddest bangers East LA ever knew.”

Roland hummed, imagining the young Sensei faced off against eight men armed with everything from baseball bats to handguns, surrounding him.

“Then, I heard the rev of an engine, and in a flash my life was saved.”

The young Sensei had only an instant to react, before a motorcycle straight from the fantasies of every Motorcycle aficionado roared through the air over his head and landed in a long sideways slide, bowling over the gangbangers as its rider threw her foot down and carved a trench in the concrete to stop it.

The young Sensei looked up, in shock of the carnage, and then in awe at Nano–one hand on the handlebars of her motorcycle, and the other extended out to him.

“‘Come with me, if you want to live’, she said, like straight out of Terminator 2 or something. It was so awesome,” Sensei continued.

Roland thought about it. “Yeah, Nano loves that movie. She’d definitely do something like that.”

“From that day forward, she took me under her wing, training me in the path of not just the honorable warrior, but the path of a man. From her I learned not to fight, but how to live, and I have been proud to show others that path since.”

That also sounded like his grandmother. “Nano had a big impact on you, huh, Sensei?”

“I owe her everything. She is my most revered Master.” Sensei placed his fist in his palm. “That is why it is an honor to train her grandson. Don’t think that this means you’ll get any preferential treatment, though. I am a strict teacher, and I cut no slack for anyone.”

Roland hummed. “Yeah, about that. Why did you let Jeremy get away with running his mouth-?”

Sensei held up his hand up to silence him. “Hold that thought, Mr. Williams.”

He turned and headed over towards Marco, who was climbing down from the ladder. “Excellent work Mr. Diaz! I can almost see my reflection in the rafters. Which is pretty impressive, since wood isn’t like reflective, and junk.”

“Thank you, Sensei!” Marco said as he made his way down the ladder.

“It’s almost noon,” Sensei continued. “So I will lock up the shop and we’ll be on our way.”

Stepping off the ladder, Marco set the bucket on the floor. “So what’s next? How are we taking things to the streets?”

“There is much to be done, Mr. Diaz. First, let’s grab some tacos over at Britta’s, then we’ll head to the next training ground.”

“Sounds good to me,” Marco said before Roland walked over and held up his phone. “Uh?”

Roland nodded to the door. “I don’t think we can do that, cuh. We were going to roll with the crew after class, remember?”

Marco winced. “I know, but…”

Sensei looked from Roland to Marco. “If you want to go hang out with your friends, you may. We can resume your trial in the morning tomorrow. You look like you need a break–and maybe get your eyes looked at.”

Roland agreed, they were looking pretty red from all the stuff that kept getting into them.

Marco looked half-ready to agree but stopped himself. “Hang on. If I complete your trial today, can I get certified for the Red Belt tomorrow?”

Sensei recoiled at the request. “Oh no, Mr. Diaz, there’s no way that you can complete this trial in one day. There is much to be done, far too much.”

Come on, Marco. Roland thought. “You can come back tomorrow man, we might be needed, you know?”

Marco looked down, then at Roland. “The faster this is out of the way, the faster I can become a red belt and teach you properly. It’ll all be worth it, but if you need me… just call my phone. I’ll have my ringer super loud.”

Roland wore a slight frown. “Serious?”

“It’s fine,” Marco said before resting a hand on Roland’s shoulder. “Right now, I need to do this.”

Roland flicked his gaze to Sensei then back. Closing his eyes, he nodded. “You do you, man. But if we need you, you gotta pick up.”

“I will drop everything and head right over.” Marco said. “I promise.”

Nodding, Roland bowed to both. “Good luck on the training, I guess.”

Both Marco and Sensei placed their hands together and bowed to Roland. Heading out to his bike, he unlocked it while looking back at the dojo.

Kind of reminds me of Drew, when he gets locked in on something.

Something was bothering Marco, and the Red Belt sounded like the answer to his problems. Remembering what happened at the dojo yesterday, he realized.

Gonna have to talk to him about that.