Mallori slowly walked into the room, making a face as the floor creaked beneath her small frame. She stared at the address again just to make sure she was at the right place. It was scribbled down on the piece of paper in John's handwriting. He had told her to meet him at the gym located on the outskirts of downtown Albuquerque at seven in the evening. It was a rougher neighborhood that housed the building that looked like a gym on the outside. The inside told a completely different story. It looked abandoned with graffiti lining the walls and old equipment and furniture strewn about in the halls.
"Hello?" she called out. "John!"
The place was starting to give her the creeps. A sudden thud caused her to jump. It was followed by a series of similar noises that peaked her curiosity and led her to a larger room where there was light. The floor was covered in mats surrounded by randomly placed chairs, tables and other items lined up like a series of obstacles. A flash whizzed by her and before she knew it she saw a human figure jump over two chairs, do a front somersault, before attempting to scale a wall and back flip off of it. When the velocity had come to a halt, she could see her partner.
"Right on time, I see," he grinned.
"Barely. I thought this was the wrong place but never mind that. Wow. What the hell was that?"
"Remember I told you we were gonna start working on a new kind of training?"
"Yeah," Mallori nodded.
"It starts now. Welcome to my world. This is Parkour."
Mallori stared at him and the other dark haired man that had just joined them. Ever since they had arrived in Phoenix just two weeks before, the pair had stayed true to their pack of working out together. Mallori was no novice in the gym. She could hold her own with free weights, bench-pressing, pushups, sit-ups, cardio and the endless miles they would run everywhere together. John had been impressed with her strength, endurance and relentless work ethic but he knew it was time to step it up a notch and take her to another level.
"I'm sorry. What the hell is Parkour?"
"This is the training I've been doing for a while. The whole point is to pit an individual against their environment. You do that by overcoming any obstacle in your way by adapting all your movement specific to your surroundings. The point is to get from one place to the other by using only your body and the objects in your environment."
"John…"
"Check this out."
Without further prompting, the other gentleman took off. Together Mallori and John watched as he ran, jumped, vaulted, and climbed his way around every wall and other physical barrier in the room. The moves defied gravity, much less logic.
"That is insane," Mallori gulped in amazement. "I don't know what to say. You two look like Spiderman out there. Definitely impressive."
"Wait until it's your turn," the man said.
Before Mallori could protest, John made the introductions.
"I do most of my training back in L.A. but I incorporate the Parkour wherever I am. This is Zach and we met a few years ago. I wanted to introduce you to this and I knew he'd be just the guy to help us out."
"Nice to meet you, Zach. I'm Mallori Reed," she shook his hand, forcing a tense smile. "Um, John can I see you for a minute…alone?"
John shot Zach a smirk and a knowing look.
"Told you she's feisty. We'll be right back, dude," he said going to join his partner.
"Are you crazy? There is no way I can do that. John, there is no way I'm going to do that. I'm a wrestler, not a stuntwoman. I would break my neck!"
"It's all in the mind. We've been over this already. You can do anything you want to do."
"Not that."
"Mallori, what have we been talking about in the ring?"
"I want to do more aerial moves," she sighed.
"Right. I'm not the biggest guy out there in sports entertainment and there is a lot of diversity in the Women's division. For us to separate ourselves and have the competitive advantage, it has to be all about the aerial attack. Now I've been watching you the past few weeks when we practice in the ring. You have one of the best looking Moonsaults I've ever seen but it's almost like you hesitate up there on the top rope."
"Okay, I admit it. Heights aren't my thing. I know it's a part of my job. I really do want to practice more on the Hurricanranas and the Shooting Star Presses but I have a hard time controlling my body in the air."
"I know that and that's why I picked this training for you. It is designed to help you with balance, precision, and control. I'm not naïve, Mallori, I know after just a couple of hours you're not gonna be running around mastering this like Zach and me. I know it's not easy and we've been at this for years. All I want you to do is try. Fear keeps a lot of people from doing things they want to do. Fear is not a bad thing but it's up to you to control that fear. Dangerous stunts, showing off, being reckless…that's not what this is about. You're going to be fine."
"John…"
"I want you to be my equal out there in that ring. I want you to be able to keep up, to fly with me, not just look good in short dresses. Mallori, I want to see you go out there and hit Starship Pain," he said, referring to his trademark split legged corkscrew Moonsault with a full body twist.
"You think I can do Starship Pain?"
"I know you can and deep down inside you know it too. Look, do you trust me?"
"We haven't even known each other that long," she protested.
"I mean out there in that ring. We're partners now. If you can't look in my eyes and know that I've got your back and that I'd never let anything happen to you in that ring, then I don't know what the hell we're even doing."
She bit her lip. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Okay. Fine. Fine, I'll do it. I'll give it a try."
"That's my girl," he grinned.
"I'm not your girl and if you even attempt to slap me on the butt I'll punch you," she warned, strolling back over to Zach.
"We ready?" Zach asked.
"We're ready," John proudly stated. "We'll start off simple for now, show Mallori the basics."
Mallori listened as Zach explained some of the techniques. It was all about efficiency and speed. He went over the terminology. Balance was fundamental. After about an hour of verbal instruction and a few demonstrations, it was her turn.
The first task was simple enough. All she had to do was jump over a chair. Imagining it was just another opponent in the ring, Mallori performed flawlessly. Then two chairs followed by the addition of a table. It was a lot harder than she thought but she made it.
"Was I okay?" she asked, breathless and eager for feedback.
"Your landings were off," Zach critiqued. "Remember I told you that you have to bend your knees when your toes make contact with the ground. Never land flatfooted, which is what you were doing."
"Concentrate," she heard John whisper in her ear. "You have to be focused mentally to know where your body is and that you aren't under or overestimating any move. That's how you get hurt. Try it again."
She did over and over until it was right. John watched closely from the sidelines as Zach took a more hands on approach with his newest pupil. He worked with her on simple vaults teaching her how to use her hands to ease the movement as she went over an object. He taught her how to jump safely drop down from a height and then cap it off with forward roll, ending it with a final lesson on the art of the Underbar. Cautiously but with precision, Mallori swung through the gaps between the obstacles ending it with the landing she had been taught.
"Good deal," Zach nodded with approval. "Now before we wrap it up, I want you to give the lache swing a try."
The move was a hanging drop that required the person to swing or hang from an object then let go and drop down into an immediate repeated hold on another object. Wiping the sweat from her brow with her shirt, Mallori went for it, the two men watching as she made her way through the prepared obstacle with relative ease. On the last jump, she missed the bar by fingertips causing a crash to the floor.
"You okay?" John asked as he and Zach rushed to her side.
"I'm fine, thanks," she said, instantaneously rising to her feet. "I underestimated that last catch."
"You did really good tonight," Zach commented. "John's a good teacher. I hope you stick with it."
The group said their good byes and John waited as she grabbed her things.
"You picked that up quick just like I knew you would."
"Thanks," she smiled. "Actually it wasn't that bad. It was kind of fun. I surprised myself."
"I'll give you a lift back to the hotel. We have a long day tomorrow."
"Thank you."
"Are we good on that whole butt slapping thing now? Because I'm really starting to feel a moment between us."
"Touch me and I'll kill you."
"Seriously, I'm proud of you, Mallori," he laughed out loud.
She flashed him a smile. She was proud of herself too.
