Chapter 38—Training Jameson
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"Where do you want us to go?" I asked the Masters.
"I have a space for us to train in," Jameson told me. He led me to a large training area not far from the dueling arena. We moved into position and I started by activating the staff and jabbing at his shoulder. He swung the other staff to block it, but I used the momentum to hit his other arm. He jumped from the shock and his face filled with anger as I hit him over and over.
"Let go of your anger," I told him. "It clouds your focus, makes your attacks sloppy, easy to predict."
He frowned at me and swung the staff at my head. I caught it and pulled it from his grasp. I swung both staffs and stopped them an inch from his skull.
"I told you so," I added. "If you cannot reign in your emotions, you will lose. You must stay calm and not let your emotions dictate your emotions. The moment you give in to your emotions is the moment you lose the fight."
He frowned but held out his hand. "Again," he growled.
I just laughed and tossed him the zap stick this time. "Let's see how you do with a different staff," I told him. He grinned and grabbed the zap stick, but quickly grew frustrated and let his anger take over so that I could beat him.
"You need to focus on calming yourself," I told him. "Unless you can do that, you will lose every time. Your emotions make your attacks predictable, easy to counter."
He just sneered at me and said, "Again," while lifting the zap stick. I chuckled and we dueled again. I beat him in five moves this time, because he was already mad. I just had to dodge and attack his weak positioning, taking his legs out from beneath him.
"Again!" Jameson demanded.
"No," I replied, putting my staff by my side. "Until you control your anger, I can't teach you anything. Your emotions cloud your judgment."
"When did you get so wise?" Emma asked from nearby as she threw a knife at a target.
"I was told that after a week with my mom's group," I explained. "I lost my temper when Rob got the upper hand on me."
"I'm sorry," she told me, throwing another knife at a different target.
"It's not your fault. Good aim, by the way," I told her. "Do you think you could hit them if they were moving?"
She shrugged. "Maybe, why?"
I walked over to the targets and pulled them off their stands. "How about some moving target practice?" I asked her. Before she could get any ideas I added, "I throw the target in the air and you hit that target."
"Sure," she replied. I tossed a target in the air and she took careful aim before throwing a knife at it, hitting the edge.
"Focus more on the target," I told her before tossing another target into the air, higher this time. She focused more intently this time before throwing the knife, hitting the target at the center.
"Did you see that?" she squealed. "I did it!"
I smiled and nodded. "Good job," I replied, picking up the targets and removing the knives, handing them back to her. She smiled back and accepted the knives. "Time to make things a bit more difficult," I told her, tossing two targets in the air at different times. She put a knife in each hand and managed to throw them at the same time, hitting both targets.
"Whoa, nice job there!" I complimented her. She grinned further as I tossed three in the air. She somehow managed to throw a knife with enough strength to take out two targets and the third with a second knife.
"You're getting a lot better," I told her.
"Thanks," she replied. I handed her knives again, but Ray called me away.
"What do you need me to do?" I asked him.
"Well, since nobody else fights with blades like me, I would like you to help me train," he told me, drawing out his sword.
"Sure thing," I replied, launching my knives into my hands. He smiled and got into position. "You can attack first," I told him.
He grinned widely before shifting his position for a slash at my midsection. I automatically reacted, moving to block the attack as he attacked me.
"How did you do that?" he demanded. "It's like you knew my attack before I even moved."
"You need to read your opponent's moves," I explained. "I'll go first and see if you can figure out what I'm going to do."
He nodded and watched as I moved to attack his chest in an 'X'. He noticed and moved into position, but he looked ready to guard his legs, not his chest.
"Good job trying, but you didn't figure it out," I told him, stopping my blades an inch from his heart. I trained with him for about half an hour until we were going blow for blow, when we stopped to rest.
"Because you have done so well today, you have no training tomorrow," Ray told us when we finished.
"Thank you," we said, bowing before walking out.
"What do you guys plan to do tomorrow?" I asked John and Emma as we walked out.
"I was thinking about going to the beach to hang out and relax," John said.
"I was gonna do the same," Emma added. "What about you?"
"I need to practice for the upcoming tournament," I replied. "I haven't practice much, and I need to go to an actual skate park to practice for this instead of my improvised one across the street at the construction site. You guys are welcome to come and watch, but it'll probably be boring."
They shrugged. "We might stop by later in the day to drag you away to relax," Emma told me.
"Sounds good," I replied. They nodded and we walked over to a diner we usually go to for dinner.
"How are you three doing today?" the waitress asked us when she walked up to us at our usual booth.
"Good. You?" we replied.
"Good. Do you know what you'd like?" she asked.
"The usual," we all told her.
She nodded and wrote some stuff on her pad before walking away.
"Jake, how do you usually do in the tournament each year?" John asked me.
"That's a secret for now," I told him.
"He won't tell me, either," Emma said to John. "He claims that it will be revealed when it's his turn at the tournament. Apparently, an announcer introduces each person specifically."
I nodded. "I don't wanna ruin the surprise," I said. "Believe me, your jaws will drop."
They rolled their eyes as the waitress came back with burgers and Coke for John, iced tea for Emma and root beer for me. When I was young I was addicted with root beer until my mom made me break the addiction.
"Thanks," we told her. She nodded and walked away to serve someone else.
When we finished eating Emma paid the bill and we left to go to our houses, although I practiced at the skate park the tournament will be at for an hour.
"Hey, DiCarten's here!" another skater said when I arrived. He walked over to me and we fist-bumped. "Where have you been? You only show up for the week before the tournament, and then you disappear afterwards."
"I like to practice by myself," I replied.
"Not according to where I've been seeing you lately," he said as I pulled out my board. "Have you seriously been taking martial arts classes?"
"Yeah, some of my friends convinced me to do it," I explained.
"Who, the big guy and the girl you always hang out with?" he asked me.
"What other friends do I have?" I replied sarcastically. The other skaters laughed and watched as I jumped on the board and went down a halfpipe, jumping when I reached the top and spinning a few times while grabbing the board.
"Looks like you still have the magic touch," one of the skaters said. "So, what happened with Jessica? Last time you were here, you wouldn't even mention her."
The question snapped me out of my focus, causing me to wipe out. "Jessica and I…didn't work out," I told them.
"Oh, I'm sorry, man," one of them said as I picked up my board. "You could get back together, though, since she moved back last week."
"What?" I demanded. "She's back?"
"Yeah. Apparently, her father's job relocated her and her family back here," the guys told me. "So, any chance you two are getting back together?"
"There's a higher chance of me giving up skateboarding," I told him.
"Oh."
"Exactly," I replied. I climbed back to the top of the halfpipe and continued working on it before moving on to the rest of the park, including a part that resembles an empty in-ground pool and a few sets of stairs and rails.
"See ya tomorrow!" they yelled as I left after an hour. I nodded and continued on my way to the house on my board. When I reached my room I checked the Stalker Sphere for anything that happened, but nobody tried to enter my room so I got on my laptop and worked on a program to change the Spyweb Scurrier I found earlier for my uses. I couldn't finish it by ten at night, so I saved my progress and shut it down for the night.
The next day I ate a quick breakfast before heading to the skate park to practice more.
"You're back!" one of the other skaters said when he saw me arrive. "Come on, show us what you got!"
"You asked for it," I replied. I rode over to the stairs. "I ain't gonna show you my best, though. I gotta keep my secrets a, well, secret," I added before grinding down a rail and jumping off and pulling a three-sixty turn before landing on my hands and using them to launch myself to my feet.
"That isn't your best?" one of them said. "Whoa."
"Thanks," I replied. "I'm gonna have to work harder than usual, though. I haven't been practicing as much."
"So we won't have to work as hard to beat you?" one of them asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, sure," I replied, jumping up the stairs. They all laughed and worked on practicing along with me. I worked on my halfpipe moves and rail grinds for a while before Emma showed up with John to drag me away.
"See you guys tomorrow!" I told the other boarders before leaving.
"How do you know those guys?" John asked me.
"They also compete in the competition," I told them. "I usually only hang out with them while practicing there, but we get along fairly well."
"Neat," Emma said. "Let's get going."
"Kay," John and I replied before we started on our way to the beach.