“Alright! Everyone ready to head out? It is a hefty 300 mile long drive from the airport to the temple, so be sure to go to the bathroom right now if needed.” said our taekwondo leader, Mark.  I couldn’t believe this was actually happening. Me, 8th grader Grant, was going to a real temple to practice taekwondo with my school group and best friend, Sean.  As a student attending middle school,  this field trip was going to be like none other.  

Ever since I’ve been old enough, taekwondo has been my life.  Every morning it is wake up at five to practice, then go on a quick run, next attend school, then go to taekwondo practice, and, lastly, practice some more afterward all in hope of reaching 2nd degree black belt.  In the end, this field trip was going to be the highlight of my teen years and another great chance for me and Sean, who badly needs help, to get some taekwondo practice.  You see, Sean is one of those kids who just can’t seem to get the hang of physical activities.

 Weighing in at 270lbs and being 6’1’’, he was a huge kid, and you’d think he would be if anything good at football, however, he wasn’t, and the day he joined taekwondo, even I, his life long friend, couldn’t help joining in on the laughter.  

Without his determination, I don’t believe he could do any physical sport, but even so he is probably the only person I know who enjoys taekwondo as much as me.  “Whaya! Lets get this show on the road!”, Sean exclaimed as he half stumbled half air kicked.

“Whoa, don’t hurt your self now, ” I said. as we bustled out to the bus stop with the rest of the group.  

“Aw man I’m just having a little fun.” Sean said.  “I know, I know, just wanted to be sure you didn’t wear yourself out before you even get on the bus.” “Oh don’t play with me, you know I could go all day,” he said as a cranky ol’ bus of a thing pulled up with a puff of smoke just as we got to the bus stop.

“Alright everyone lets hop on, and remember to sit with your buddy.” said Mark, causing a few grumbles to be heard.  “Woo Hoo, I cant wait to get there!” yelled Sean as he jumped up the stairs and headed pass the alert looking bus driver to the back seats of the bus.  

As always, the bus slowly filled starting in the back until reaching the middle section, for nobody wants to be up front with Mark. I even saw four people sitting together just so none of them had to move up. To be honest I never really saw why all the kids despised him.  In general, he seemed to be a nice guy and supportive when it came to our practicing.  But I guess he was always kind of cheesy and acted like were little kindergartners.  He was always telling us to be careful and reminding us to keep our “buddy” with us all the time.  

But, no matter where you sat the bus ride was still chaos and mayhem.  Kids were practically bouncing off the walls with energy for the whole ride.  Yipping and hollering were heard all through out the bus as kids had arm wrestling and mercy matches.  Snack food, such as Lay’s potato chips and Doritos were exchanged between hands, littering the floor and seats with crumbs.

 Plus, to add to all of this, one section of the road we were driving on seemed to be a sea of potholes, causing people to be thrown all around.  Heck, one of the last potholes even got Sean to be lifted of the seat for a few glory seconds, a task almost impossible.  Upon that same pothole the smallest kid, Nick, managed to fly over the top of his seat and land in the one in front of him causing many laughs.  Finally after driving 300 long but exciting miles from the airport we reached our destination, the temple.  
Almost as quick as a bullet the atmosphere changed, and so did we.  Instantly all craziness hushed to just a whisper as we pushed our faces against the bus windows causing them to fog around our mouths.  As one stared into the distance, they could see a mossy stone temple temple rising into the heavens, grounded by roots and vines creeping in crevasses with the very top of the temple blurred by a wisp of cloud.  Behind one saw a beautiful scene consisting of a foresty valley with small boulders poking out here and there.  Though beautiful, something to me seemed out of place, I could somehow feel that this wasn’t really going to be the field trip we thought it was.
As the class hopped down the bus steps into the padded luscious grass, the bus driver looked anxious to high tail it out of there.  Looking at his face, one saw the hue slightly off and beads of sweat rolling down his brow.  His eyes flicked back and fourth like that of a startled animal and almost before Sean was off the last stair he hit the pedal to the metal and sped away.  “Shoot man that was close what was up with that dude” said Sean  
“I cant really say, but he sure did look nervous” I replied.  Huh, weird I thought to myself, I know we were crazy passengers but to get that worked up over a middle school fun was unusual.  Shrugging it off, we began to walk towards the temple with Mark trotting backwards in the front of the group giving a quick review on the buddy system and the dreaded speech of look but don’t touch.  Reaching the end of the path we were bursting with excitement, running up the steps we were greeted by a straight yet worry faced Master Bao Shun dressed in traditional orange robes. Bao Shun was the very man that had taught Mark the art of taekwondo and many others, for in all the Americas he was know as the best of the best. “Heyyyy!” Mark exclaimed as ran up to hug Bao Shun.  But right before he was about to embrace Bao he was stopped by Bao's outreached hand.  

“How could you bring the children here at a time like this. How did you not know!” yelled Master Shun.  

“Excuse me?” said Mark.  

“The guerrilla soldiers have come from the north and are leaving nothing behind their path!  Quickly we must go inside at once!” He said.  And just like that the dream come true field-trip turned into a nightmare.

Bounding up the steps. taking a last glance to the left and right, I saw a guerrilla soldier coming down the valley moving boulder to boulder.  Inside, doors locked, utter chaos broke, almost everyone was freaking out. What were we going to do? Lucky for us Bao Shun was there to save the day and bring us to our senses.  “Everyone calm down!” he said.  “We should be able to just wait him out and if worse comes to worst I know Mark has trained you well.”

“But how can we wait them out if we have no food!” someone screamed.  But it didn’t matter now because just then... Whizz, CRACK, a bullet just hit the door.  Quickly, we all dropped to the floor, and  Mark motioned us towards a tunnel in the corner of the room as Bao stayed behind.  It was dead silent, except for the soft footsteps that we could hear growing in volume outside the door, and our own soft march with me and Sean in front thankfully.  Peering through the cracks in the green weathered wall I could see the soldier coming up the stairs behind the wall between us.  It appeared he was going in the direction... The crack ended. As long as we stayed inside and the soldiers didn't get in we should be fine I hoped.

Nearing the end of the tunnel, I began to faintly hear an extra pair of feet about to turn the corner in front of us.  Abruptly, I stopped to prepare for the worse, but,  Sean, practically stepping on my heels, wasn’t paying attention and tripped over me.  “Sean, No!” I yelled.  Too late, over 270 pounds went hurtling forwards like that of a freight train, stopping at nothing.  Just then, the soldier I  had heard turned the corner. BAM!  A direct hit.  Miraculously Sean, in tripping managed to plow right in to the soldier for one fatal blow;  poor soldier didn't even get a chance for any last words. He was knocked out cold. The classes’ mouths dropped around the room in unison, eyes wide.
“Everyone saw that right?, I told you I could go all day Grant!” Sean exclaimed working his way up off the ground brushing the dirt off his clothes.

Mark quickly rushed to the front, asking if Sean was OK and congratulated his handy work. I knew he was OK though, for never in my life had I seen a grin as big as the one on Sean's face.  However I knew it would be short lived.  It was score one, but it was only half time.  Would the bus driver even come to pick us up?  How many other soldiers were on there way to the temple?  We would just have to wait and see.