by Justin Parks
Chapter 10
Fight
A few weeks later the introductory course Jin had been attending came to a close. He had learned a lot about the academy and how everything worked there. He decided to attend the new fighting class that had just opened up.
Jin made his way to his new class. He walked into a large empty room. The floor was composed of soft dirt. There were various apprentices standing around talking. Jin didn’t know any of them, but he did recognize Saga who was leaning up against the wall by himself. Jin and Saga still hadn’t been getting along so well, but it had gotten to the point where they mostly stayed out of each others way.
There were some apprentices talking in the corner. Jin was close enough to hear what they were saying. It was a girl and a guy. The guy turned to the girl. “This is a new class right, so whose teaching it?”
“Yeah, I think it’s some guy named Ares,” the girl answered.
“Wait, you mean ‘the’ Ares? That guy’s a legend and he’s going to be teaching us? I can’t believe this class is opened to all ranks,” the guy responded.
“Yes, and I heard that he just got here not too long ago. He’s a former apprentice who came back to teach,” she explained.
The door flung open. A huge mountain of a man walked in. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties and he wore a black eye-patch that covered his left eye. There was also a large scar going through that eye. The man wore a long martial arts gi with the academy’s symbol. He was obviously the master.
“All right; line up kiddies!” the man said, in a booming voice. All the apprentices ran up and got in a line against the wall. He stood tall; placing his hands behind his back, he stared down all the apprentices with a disapproving look. “I’m Ares. You will refer to me as Master or Sir. You have not earned the right to as much whisper my name.”
Ares began to pace in front of the apprentices. He was sizing up each one. “You are all here for one reason . . . to learn how to fight!” he said, stomping his foot on the ground. Some of the apprentices jumped. Ares was a very intimidating man. “Now, I don’t care about your ‘rank.’ That’s why I opened this class to all ranks. So let’s see what you’re capable of,” Ares said, throwing off his gi top. His feet, stomach, and hands were wrapped in white bandages. The man’s chest was covered with various scars from battles long since past.
Ares walked out to the center of the room and began looking through the apprentices. A sense of fear began to build among them. Ares raised his hand as if he was going to point at someone. No one wanted to be picked. The ones passed over breathed sighs of relief. He continued until he stopped . . . on Jin. “You!” he bellowed.
Aww shit! Jin thought as he slowly made his way to the center. He could barely move and his legs were shaking. Ares looked at him. “Are you ready?” he asked. Jin couldn’t speak. He wanted to run, but he couldn’t. Jin had never been in a real fight before. “I guess that’s a yes,” Ares said. “If you want to learn to fight from me, all you have to do is land one hit on me. I’ll only use my left arm to make it easier for you,” he said with a cocky smile.
For some reason those conditions didn’t make Jin feel any better. He still didn’t know what to do. Jin figured he’d try to finish it fast and get it over with. He charged Ares, raising his fist to strike. Jin made it within arms length of him when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He rose off his feet and flew across the room, eventually slamming into the wall. Ares had hit him and he didn’t even see it. It was unreal.
The majority of the apprentices looked on in fear except for Saga, who had begun laughing at Jin’s failed attempt. Ares quickly fixed his eyes upon him. “Ahh, and I suppose that means you’ll go next,” Ares said, before pointing to Jin’s limp body. “Someone take him to the medical room,” he said as two of the apprentices ran over and helped him up. “Well, come on then. The same terms apply,” Ares said to Saga.
Saga’s tone changed. He became serious as he stepped to the center. Ares studied him. “Now that’s the look of a fighter, but is it because you’re strong or just arrogant?” Ares asked.
Black tentacles suddenly rose up from Ares’ shadow. grabbing his arm. It managed to catch him by surprise. In that moment, Saga ran up and jumped over Ares and punched at his turned back. His fist had barely made contact when Ares turned, ripping away the clinging shadows and striking Saga with his forearm. Saga pulled up his guard. taking the brunt of the blow, but he was still barely able to hold his ground.
“Nice, you restrict my movement with the shadows; then you attacked from my blind spot, and you even managed to guard before I struck you. You’ve earned that pride, but you have yet to fulfill your potential,” Ares said as Saga’s arm began to swell and turn black from where he had blocked. Ares turned back to the class. “Next!” he yelled at the rest of the class.
Jin woke several hours later in a daze. He was lying on a bed in an unfamiliar room. Upon further study, he realized he was in the medical room. Jin sat up, grabbing his stomach in pain. “Easy now,” he heard a woman’s voice say. Jin turned to see Isis standing there.
“If you hadn’t been using your aura shield, you would have probably been hurt much worse,” Isis said.
“Yeah, but there’s obviously much more I need to learn,” Jin said, rubbing the bruise on his stomach. “Ares is something else,” he said in deep thought.
“He is very strong, but he does have a tendency to go overboard,” Isis explained. “However, if you can survive his training, you will be strong as well,” she said, walking over to Jin studying his injury. Isis began emitting a purple energy from her hand going over his bruise healing it. “There that will be fine for now. You’ll still be sore, but you will be able to recover on your own,” Isis explained.
“What did you just do?” Jin said poking the area where his bruise used to be.
“That’s called a healing aura. It’s a technique that uses one person’s energy to help another recover from injury. I teach basic and advanced first aid classes,” Isis explained.
Jin hopped up from the table. “Well thanks,” he said, heading out of the room. Isis smiled and went back to work. Jin walked down the hall trying to find his way back to his room. He was a bit lost and was looking around, not paying any attention to where he was going. Jin eventually saw Saga and was debating on whether or not to ask him for directions when he walked smack into the back of someone.
“Hey, watch it!” the guy said as he turned and immediately shoved Jin.
Jin fell and smacked the ground. Ahh, this is not my day, he thought, as he slowly sat up. Jin looked up at the guy he ran into. He was slightly taller then Jin and about twice as big. Jin slowly made his way to his feet. Other people stopped and took notice. “Oh, I’m . . .” Jin began, but he stopped when he realized he’d lost control of his right arm.
It quickly rose and punched the guy. Jin watched in terror as his fist crashed into his chunky face. Everyone around looked on in shock. Saga looked over and snickered to himself as Jin regained control of his arm. The guy didn’t go down and was now starring daggers at Jin. Jin raised his hands. “Whoa!” he said as the guy began to rear back to hit him.
Jin cringed as he shielded his face. “Hold it!” a new voice said. Everyone turned their attention to this new person. Saga saw him and rolled his eyes. He wore an apprentice uniform and had spiky blonde hair.
The big guy looked on in anger. “Just stay out of this Sky!” he yelled.
“Just leave the guy alone, Jared,” Sky said.
“Hell, no! He just punched me in the face!” Jared said, cocking his fist back once again to hit Jin.
Sky cupped his hands together and let out a sigh. A tiny crystal formed. He grabbed it and tossed it in Jared’s face. It exploded, creating a blinding flash of light, followed by a thud. Jin slowly opened his eyes and looked up to see Jared on the ground and Sky standing between them. “I warned him,” Sky said.
Saga sighed and began to walk away. Sky tu
rned to him. “Hey, where you going, Saga?” he asked in a cocky tone.
Saga shrugged. “I’m bored with this; besides, I have more important things to do,” he said, walking away.
Jin raised an eyebrow in confusion. What are they talking about? he wondered to himself as he turned to Sky. “Thanks for the help,” he said.
“No problem, my name’s Sky Keng,” Sky said, extending his hand.
“Jin Kaizer,” Jin responded, shaking his hand.
“Good, then you’re just the person I’m looking for,” Sky answered.
Jin gave him a confused look. “Oh, yes. I heard about your fight with Ares if you can call that a fight?” he said with a laugh. “But anyway, I’m going to help you learn to fight,” he explained.
“Why?” Jin asked.
“I was commissioned by one of the masters to help you out. I guess you can think of me as your tutor,” Sky responded with a big smile.
ToC
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