Disclaimer: I do not own any of the SM's character, SM does : ( All new plots, characters and their powers are from my mind vault though.
A/N: I know it's a bit weird to think of the kids learning to fight when they're so young but you have to remember they are vampire children. Also, some kids start training as young as two years old.
Gi = the clothes worn by practitioners of various martial arts.
Kata = a set of fixed movements or drills that are used in martial arts to allow the fighter to commit them to muscle memory so that when they're attacked their response is automatic.
P.S. This chapter is dedicated to three people; Stephanie Meyer (of course), Sasha88 because she always gives me nice reviews :D and finally…Bruce Willis because, let's face it, he is just one manly chunk of sexy and I love him.
Chapter 29: Jaspers POV:
I was crouching in a hollowed out tree trunk on the outskirts of the woods. I know that you're meant to let children win at hide and seek but I just couldn't stop myself from trying to challenge her even the slightest bit. I smiled to myself as I felt her emotions morph from excited and curious to frustrated and determined, eventually settling on being annoyed as I heard her wander through the house in search of me. This was no different than when she decided to teleport out of her own hiding places just before I found her, so I didn't feel like I was cheating. I smelt the familiar scent of Alice and grinned through the crack in the tree as she stood in front of it, arms crossed. Her emotions were the usual blissful warm that I knew as being her, tinted with the slightest bit of incredulity as she raised her eyebrows at me.
'You do realise that you're being unfair honey, and very very childish for that matter' she chuckled, leaning against the tree as if she were just talking to herself.
'I'm just playing dirty, she does it all the time' I responded, flicking a beetle off my shoulder.
'Yes but there's one huge difference, she's a child and you're supposed to be over one hundred and sixty years old' she muttered and I could feel the glint of amusement in her words. 'She's asking Edward for help you know, and…wait what?' she whispered, I could feel the usual slight uncertainty she felt when she had a vision, but instead of emotions of understanding or fear she experienced after her visions, she just felt…confused. I tried to pinpoint what exactly she was feeling; there was wonder, confusion, anticipation and the slightest hint of disbelief as she went over the vision in her mind. I wondered if it was perhaps something to do with our daughter and sought out her emotions again, hers were the same as before; annoyance at not being able to find me coupled with…a devious intent? What was she planning? The feelings were changing from frustration to anticipation as I felt her determination to do…something.
'Um Alice, do you know what our daughter is planning, should I be worried?' I asked, moving to get out of my hiding place. She shrugged and chuckled to herself before looking at me.
'Oh don't be worried honey, you'll be fine' she grinned and I rolled my eyes at her typical mysterious hints.
I was about to insist that she tell me when I felt my whole body begin to feel so…transient. I looked down at my skin that was beginning to buzz with a gentle golden glow, what looked like a million little stars were swarming over my skin as it began to flicker into non-existence. I controlled my panic, hoping this was just a figment of my imagination as I stared down at my wavering body. This looked a lot like what happened to Maddy before she teleported, what was she doing? I looked up, but instead of seeing the house through the crack in the bark or Alice standing next to the tree I saw, Maddy, and Edward….and Carlisle. Was I in the music room? How did I get in here? I glanced around myself in bewilderment, taking in their own shocked expressions and testing their emotions. They were confused, Edward was slightly amused but also shocked, Carlisle was just shocked with a slight hint of curiosity and excitement. Maddy however, she seemed like she knew exactly what was going to happen. Her emotions sang in triumph and elation as she grinned down at me, clapping her hands enthusiastically and running over to where I was picking myself up off the floor.
'Found you!' she giggled, running into my arms as I let her barrel into me. I saw Edward and Carlisle exchange a pensive glance before they turned their attention back to me. I stood up, scooping Maddy into my arms and chuckling at her still victorious mood.
'So I uh guess you've learnt how to do more than just teleport…' I murmured her as she bounced up and down in my arms, 'how long have you been able to do that?' I asked her, she grinned at me secretively and giggled.
'Apparently she found out she could teleport objects to her when she thought of them yesterday, it was only today that she thought of teleporting other people' Edward answered, raising an eyebrow and then scratching his chin thoughtfully. 'I wonder if she can also teleport people away from her…' he trailed off and I rolled my eyes at him, he and Carlisle were constantly trying to test people's limits and powers. I turned Maddy in my arms so that she was facing Edward and grinned over at him; he'd already guessed what I was doing and crossed his arms.
'Maddy honey, could you make Uncle Edward go away, just like you did to me, but this time can you send him to…the kitchen?' I whispered and felt a blossom of excitement spring to life in her emotions. She nodded emphatically and began to glow.
I watched as the familiar golden light surrounded her and then trailed outwards, engulfing Edward's body instead of her own, he waited patiently, his emotions slightly anxious with a hint of anticipation as the tiny lights swarmed upwards, wrapping him in a golden haze as his body began to flicker before it disappeared. I sent my senses down to the kitchen, feeling Esme as she contently went about the room, humming to herself and felt the usual playful emotions of Emmett. I heard and felt his shock as Edward must have materialised in the middle of the kitchen, Esme's own fright simmered down quickly and her shock turned to amusement. A minute later Edward came back through the door, grinning.
'You should have seen Emmett's face, scared the crap out of him' he chuckled, closing the door behind him, sure enough I could still feel the remnants of Emmett's shock downstairs, I shook my head smiling. Listening as Emmett stomped up the stairs with unnecessary noise, his emotions settling to amusement but still tinged with shock and embarrassment. He opened the door, raising his eyebrow as he leant against the doorway, trying to compose his face as he took us all in.
'Does someone want to explain why my brother just magically appeared in front of me?' he asked, crossing his arms. I chuckled and looked to Edward, perhaps you should explain I thought at him, I was still trying to come to terms with it myself, trying to look down at Maddy with anything but apprehension as she crawled into my lap.
'Well Maddy here just learned a new part of her gift' he answered, smiling down at Maddy who tried, and failed, to prevent herself from looking smug. 'She can teleport others, either bringing them to her or sending them away' he shrugged as if this was normal. Emmett's eyebrows shot up slightly, the shocked ebbed away now that he had an explanation and his feelings turned to amusement and slight awe as he grinned over at Maddy.
'Well that could come in handy, she could just transport Eddykins here to the middle of the Sahara desert whenever he gets annoying, which is a lot' he smirked at Edward, winking when Edward gave him an exasperated grunt. The conversation went like that for a while; Emmett kept trying to provoke Edward to the point where Carlisle just decided to give up trying to keep the peace and went off to the sanctuary of his study. I picked Maddy up and snuck past them to go down to the living room; they were so ensconced in their brotherly squabble that they barely noticed us as I passed, I rolled my eyes at them; even though Edward put up the front of being the mature one, once Emmett pushed his buttons he would always become almost as childish as him.
I felt the familiar emotional climate of the love of my life, her warm and excited emotions rippling outwards as she hopped up and down on the sofa, absorbed in the fashion programme that her and Rose were watching on the television. I couldn't help myself as my own emotions lifted upwards as we got closer; a combination of her own happiness and Maddy's causing me to perk up as I settled down next to her, placing a kiss on her temple as she smirked briefly at me before returning to gasping at the latest fashions on the catwalk. Maddy reached out and Alice wordlessly scooped her up, placing her into her lap and pointing out the different dresses that I just knew she would be hunting down as soon as they were in Milan or Paris or wherever it is that they were.
I felt a wave of frustration float over from Bella who was sitting on the Sofa opposite me and trying to read a book, I gave her a questioning glance, sending a trickle of calm over to her and raising my eyebrows in curiosity when she looked up. She rolled her eyes dramatically and sent a glance towards Alice before settling back to her book, her smile looked grim. I peered curiously over Alice's shoulder, suppressing my sigh as I spotted the thick notepad in her hands. She had written down notes on almost an entire four pages, noting down descriptions of clothes and placing them next to names. I noticed that a majority of the clothes had been allocated for Bella and understood the frustration; Bella could sense that there would be a lot of forceful make-over sessions in her near future and she was having a hard time concealing her annoyance at Alice. I chuckled to myself and winked at her, causing her to slump in defeat; she had been counting on me to try and calm Alice's excitement and take the heat off her somewhat, but I was pretty powerless to prevent my wife from doing something she wanted, besides, if she was happy then so was I; even if it was at the expense of Bella's already fragile nerves.
I looked over at the clock and realised it was almost time for the training session, after much convincing by Nessie; Edward had finally allowed me to train his daughter to fight. He didn't want her knowing too much, but she was still having nightmares about the Volturi; I would feel her panic at night as she was faced again in the clearing, looking into the eyes of the people who wanted to tear her family apart. Edward as well had felt her emotions through me and heard the fear in her mind at the idea of being attacked again, even though they were now gone, there was still the threat of Vasilios and his mate to worry about. I smiled over at Bella and stood up, she rolled her eyes in response, she knew what time it was and had decided to separate herself from the training sessions, unwilling to see her daughter in that position. The only reason why she let me train her was because I figured she knew that deep down, Nessie would feel safer if she felt she was able to protect herself, even though her family would never let anyone hurt her.
Edward still wouldn't let me teach her full on fighting, so he had insisted that I start her off with a mixture of martial arts so that she wouldn't have to get too involved with the idea of battle. She was still too small to spar with so Elsie would also be training with her, partly because she liked learning martial arts but also because she loved spending time with Nessie. They were both roughly the size of two year olds by now, it was very surreal to be teaching karate and tai kwon do to a couple of toddlers but with their vampire grace and increased intelligence, they were more than capable of learning the basics. I went out to the back yard where I could hear the thrumming heartbeat of Nessie, already waiting in the small training area that Emmett had set up near the cherry trees. I laughed to myself as I approached her and Elsie; they were both wearing matching sets of gis, bright pink and special ordered by Alice. They looked like what I'd picture a Barbie doll would look like, if the toy shops sold karate Barbie. Their tiny frames stood out in the garden as they giggled anticipatorily for my arrival.
Esme came out of the kitchen and settled herself on a bench, another stipulation of Nessie being trained was that Esme keep an eye on us, apparently they thought that I'd go overboard, teaching her inappropriate things. I rolled my eyes at their prudence, in my experience there was no such thing as inappropriate in a real fight, it was kill or be killed as far as I was concerned. I stopped in front of them before I got them to go through the basic katas, ignoring Esme's chuckling as she laughed at the adorableness of two tiny girls doing martial arts. We spent a while going over what I'd already taught them, adding tips on how to improve their stances and give them more power.
I became aware that we had an audience beyond Esme; Emmett and Edward watched from an upstairs window with contrasting emotions on their faces. I could sense that Edward was conflicted, a mixture of pride and anxiety swimming around him as he watched silently from above. Emmett however, just felt extreme joy at seeing his daughter swiftly take down Nessie and put her into one of the joint locks I'd taught her. Edward's worry peaked at that point but he eased when I assured him they were being gentle with each other, I was constantly reminding him that if his daughter began this sort of training early then she would have a greater chance of protecting herself when she grew up. He still worried though.
'Right Elsie, I want you to come at Nessie from behind as if you were going for her throat. Use vampire speed but not your strength okay?' I asked and Elsie nodded, Nessie's emotions were slightly worried but she was still determined. 'And Nessie, I want you to try and take Elsie down whilst preventing her from getting near your neck, do you think you can do that? Remember she will be moving very fast' I added and Nessie nodded. We had already begun to see great increases in Nessie's speed and strength lately, she was still nowhere near as strong or fast as a full vampire but we had assumed that she would have only half of our strength. According to Nahuel, her strength would grow, becoming equal to an average vampire when she reached full maturity in about six years.
I stood back and watched as Nessie positioned herself with her back facing Elsie, her small face furrowed in concentration as Elsie paced back, waiting to attack. If I had not been a vampire I would have been unable to see every movement of the girls as Elsie ran, leaping into the air as she launched herself towards Nessie's neck. I saw Nes register the threat, spinning around in speed that was frankly shocking and lifting her leg up before sweeping it around to connect with Elsie's head. She wrapped her knee around Elsie's own neck, flipping her over and onto her back before twisting and landing on her stomach, her tiny hand placed on Elsie's chest to represent a killing blow. I suddenly felt a swell of pride coming from Edward's direction; I glanced up and saw the small smile that he tried to keep hidden from me.
'That was awesome!' Elsie gasped, grinning as Nessie helped her to her feet, 'you're so fast, great roundhouse' she smiled, hopping up and down slightly as Nessie blushed.
'She's right; that was very good' I said, smiling down at them. I had to think of a criticism though; it wouldn't do to be overconfident in a fight so I thought back over the scene, trying to think of areas for improvement. 'One thing though…' I said and laughed as Nessie groaned, rolling her eyes, 'no no, it really was very well executed Nessie. However, in the future you should keep your arms still in defensive positions, it wouldn't be good if another attacker took advantage of your vulnerability now would it' I said, chuckling when a small flush of pink filled her cheeks. She looked so much like Bella when she did that, by the sound of Edward's quiet laugh he must agree. A few months ago, something as small as a blush would have given me a problem with my control; now though, I barely noticed it. I supposed the fact that my lack of control nearly killed Bella really helped me get a much needed kick up the ass, plus I was a dad now, I needed to set a good example so Maddy wouldn't end up hurting anyone.
'My turn!' I heard Emmett yell, I spun around just as he dropped from the window with a predatory grin on his face.
'Lesson's over girls, it looks like the real children are going to play' Esme chuckled, beckoning Elsie and Nessie over to her as I readied myself in a crouch. It was impossible for Emmett to spend long watching people train without him getting the urge to join in for himself. The overwhelming excitement and childish anticipation growing within him was contagious and I felt a smile stretch across my face as I awaited his attack.
'Bring it on big guy' I grinned, laughing as he launched himself through the air.
A/N: Everybody was kung fu fighting…dedededededede de de de deeee. I think the only reason why I wrote in the little training session is because I wish I could go back in time and perhaps convince my parents to send me off to an ancient Chinese temple to learn the ways of the ninja. Probably because I am shockingly weak and constantly worry how I would fair in a fight, if I were to get mugged tomorrow, I'd probably have to try and talk my way out of it. Anyway, enough of my ramble, hope you enjoyed it. R&R please.
