Chapter 2 - Training Begins

The next morning she wakes up to the sunbeams peaking through the thin curtains of the small house that they live in. It's a simple house, the main part and then a basement along with a small attic. Two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room with two chairs and couch, there's the kitchen and dinning area. It has two counters, an oven, a sink, three cupboards, a microwave, and fridge with a freezer attached. The dinning area has a good-sized table, and three chairs. They don't have a phone, but they do have a mailbox. Their T.V. is small, and hardly used, and their computer is the simplest one there is. The lights are very few, for they are almost never home during the night. And if they are, they're training in the dark anyway.



She gets up, looks around a little, letting her eyes adjust to the morning. She stands up, letting her bare feet touch the cold wood floor in her room. She goes across the small hallway and knocks on his door; he's up and getting dressed. She goes back to her room and gets dressed herself. While he's in the bathroom, she's making pancakes and eggs. He comes out; they sit down, she pours both of them some orange juice. They eat in silence for a few moments. The he looks up at her.



“Will I begin my training today?” He asks quietly.

“Yes. After last night, I say that you need to.” She replies with a little smirk.

“What will I be learning?”

“You're first lesson will be patience. You need to learn how to wait for what is to come.”

“Then after that?”

“You have to complete the first lesson first. Only then will you learn what the second one is.”



They finish their breakfast in silence. After they finish breakfast, he cleans up the table and washes the dishes. She goes into the bathroom and gets ready for the rest of the day. After everything is taken care of from breakfast, they walk down the steps into the basement. This is his first time being in the basement. There aren't normal lights; candles and torches light everything up.



“Why is it like this down here? Why aren't there normal lights?” He asked looking around.

“Because this way, if they go out, you will have to learn how to fight in the dark.” She said leading him into the center of an empty room. This room was large and had a dirt floor with a large wooden square that took up three-fourths of the floor. There were staffs, swords, chains, ropes and other various weapons and training tools along the walls. There was a medium sized circle in the center of the wooden square, and four smaller ones in each corner.



“Stand in the center of the bigger circle. Stand there until I tell you otherwise.” She says, not even looking at him, but walking towards some weapons. He does this. She picks up some rope. The rope is about the same size and thickness of a horsewhip. Then she goes into another room and shuts the door. He just stands there, not even looking around anymore. About 15 minutes pass. She comes back into the training room. He still stands there without even moving his eyes to follow her.



“Good. You have learned patience when you're the only one.” She said with the rope in her hand, stepping into the circle. “Now you will learn how to defend yourself against an attack by an assailant who has a rope. I will give you no instructions. I will attack, and you will defend. You cannot go outside the circle, but you can do anything you wish while inside.”



They stand there looking at each other for a few seconds. With that, she turns to the side, then whips the rope out, making a snapping noise. He dodges to the right, but still the rope hits him on the arm.



“Ouch! That hurt.”

“I was hardly trying. But that's why we're doing this. We're doing this so you can dodge attacks. Again.”

Again she snaps out the rope. He dodges it this time without getting hit. She moves around the circle a few times snapping the rope at him. He dodges every time without getting hit.

“Good. You're learning to predict where the rope will strike. Now this time, I want you to try and take the rope from me.”

She snaps it; he grabs the end of the rope and yanks it from her grip.

“Very good. Very good.”



They practice like this for a few hours. Then they break for lunch. When they go upstairs, they see a man sitting at the table, with his back turned to them. He's an older man, dark hair that's starting to turn gray, and is very well built.

“What do you want?” She asks.

“What do you think I want?” The man replies, not turning to look at them.

By this point the Kid is very confused. He's never seen this man before, and he doesn't know if she's joking with him or not. He looks up at her with worry in his eyes. She notices this.

“You old fool. If you're going to eat here, you're going to help.”

At this point, the man stands up and looks at them.

“All right all right. I'll help, I'll clean up after.”

“All right.”

The man and the Kid sit down at the table. She makes sandwiches and pours everyone a glass of milk.

“So what have you two been doing this morning?”

“She taught me how to dodge a rope attack and take it from the attacker.” He says with excitement.

“Good. Good.” The man says looking at the Kid. “What do you plan on doing next?” he asks looking at her.

“I was planning on having him using the walls next.”

“So early? Why?”

“He's already been in one battle. I want him to be ready for his next.”

“Very well then.”

At this point they have all finished their sandwiches. The man gets up and washes the plates and puts them away. The Kid washes the glasses and puts those away.

“Well, thank you for the meal. Keep up the good work.” The man says as he walks out the door.

“Who was that?” He asks her.

“That was a very dear friend of mine. He was the one that trained me. He's the reason I'm still here.”

To Be Continued

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