A/N: After this, I'm gunna start combining chapters (didn't start tonight because I'm freggin' tired to keep typing). This will increase the time in between updates, but it will have two benefits. One, the chapters will be considerably longer overall, and two; it will reduce the number of chapters. This way, when newcomers to the fic click the dropdown arrow, they won't be terrified by the sight of 30+ chapters. Yes ladies and gents, this WILL be a long story, so hunker yourselves in—I still have a lot of ground to cover.
It had been exactly an hour when Riley caught sight of Jazmine bounding across the street.
"Hey, over here!" He called out to her as she was making her way up to the front door. Riley had been in front of the garage while he waited. When Jazmine came over she gave him a quick smile. She was wearing a pair of pink sweats and some white sneakers. That would do he supposed. Riley himself wore a regular t-shirt and a pair of his more fitted jeans.
"We're gunna go to the park ok?"
Jazmine nodded and began following the Freeman boy.
"Ok, so what did you wanna show me?" Jazmine asked.
Riley took a deep breath. "I'm gunna show you the 360 field of vision."
"The what?" She asked with genuine confusion. Riley let his eyes roll once before giving his explanation.
"The 360 field of vision technique looks a lot like the arm motions in the Capoeira fightin' style—only it works better. What it does for you is increases yo'reaction time fo' when someone's swingin' atchu. Here, hold yo'hands up."
Jazmine promptly put both hands high into the air.
"No, not like dat! Raise'em up like this—like you about ta'push sumthin, then bow'em out like you chokin'ah bitch." Riley held his own arms out to demonstrate.
"Ok, now I'm gunna bring one of my arms around, and yo' gunna block it wit yo' arm ok?"
"Ok!" The girl chirped eagerly.
Riley brought his arm around very slowly so Jazmine could see what he was doing. When his arm was almost to her, Jazmine grabbed his right wrist with her right hand.
Naw, not like dat. Look Jazz, you crossed over yo' left arm jus'ta grab my wrist. See, now that you tied up yo'right arm, my left hand can do anything it want, like punch you, or snatch yo' hair." Riley said while touching her side, then tugging on her available puff to make his point. "Plus wit that," he continued, "you neutralized what yo'left arm could be doin' ta' help cuz you blocked it up witcho other arm tryin' ta stop the first arm you saw comin' atchu. Let's try it again. This time don't grab anythin', but listen ta'me as I talk thew it."
Jazmine nodded as they began again the exercise.
"See how my arm is comin' up an'around? I want you to move yo'arm up until our arms make an X, ok? Dis is called a block."
Jazmine's eyes widened a bit as she started to understand.
"Now," Riley began as he had them hold their position. "This next part's easy. You see how my arm is on da'outside ah'yours?"
"Yeah?"
"I want you to slowly push out wit'cho arm, then downward ok? You gunna see how my arm starts ta'down move under yours. Do it."
Following his directions, Jazmine could see what Riley was talking about. At the moment Riley told her to stop, the underside of her wrist was on the topside of his forearm.
"Now look where you at Jazz. From here you got control now. Where I was goin' ta'hit you, you stopped my arm, deflected it downward so that yo'hand can grab my wrist, and now I can't do much else wit dis arm. Ya'see?"
Jazmine giggled. "Wow this is cool! Just like a kung-fu movie!"
"Uh…not quite. But look, things jus don't stop there. I still got another arm over here that I can use. But you can do the same thing ta'my other arm as ya'did ta'this arm. See?"
Riley brought around his other arm, and in the same fashion as before, had Jazmine defended again. This was a fundamental skill in Kave Maga. The idea was to deflect an attack down the outside of your arm. It threw off enemy attacks and opened them up to a counterstrike while minimizing damage to the defender. What happened as a person trained, the person's speed in deflecting downward an attack increased exponentially to the point that the defender could even begin to anticipate the direction of an attack and block no matter from what side the attack came on.
"Alright Jazz, when doing this, there are three zones to block in, high, middle and low. You just do the same thing for each zone until you start gettin' fast. Simple, eh? We'll keep doin' it until you start gettin' faster."
It was actually incredible to see how quickly Jazmine's confidence had rose in just a few short minutes. It seemed the moment she realized she could do it, she took it incredibly seriously—which meant that Riley didn't have to do much explaining. Riley also noticed how patient he was being with her—maybe she was just being a good student.
After about an hour, Riley stopped them.
"Ya did good, ok? You got a lot faster. If you want, we can meet up tomorrow and we can practice some more. I'll show you some other stuff to so by the end of the week you can be fuckin' dem bitches up, a'ight?"
"Cool! Thanks for this Riley!" She smiled sweetly, then gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Augh!!" Riley exclaimed in disgust as he franticly began wiping his face. "Hoe whut's wrong witchu spreadin' yo'coodies an' shit??!"
Jazmine laughed aloud as she ran off back toward her house, leaving Riley to his distress.
When Riley had come into the bedroom, Huey had been waiting for him.
"Where'd you go off with Jazmine to?"
Riley was taken aback. What the hell?
"Why you wanna know?" Riley asked in an accusing manner.
"Because I don't trust you. You up ta'sumthin' Riley and I'm gunna find out."
Riley smacked his teeth loudly. "Whatevea nigga! Why you always gotta think I'm doin' sumthin' wrong?" At this point Riley was truly offended, though he didn't have to be. He could've just told his brother what was happening, but Riley knew better. The moment Huey found out that he had suggested Jazmine fight the girls who were heckling her and was showing her how do it, Riley wouldn't hear the end of it. The thought reminded him that he probably should tell Jazmine to keep her mouth shut. But that wasn't the most important thing then. Right now he was only hung up over the fact that his brother would automatically think he was startin' shit—he didn't particularly care for the idea that Huey knew him as well as he did. At least up to the point of accurate suspicions.
"Cause usually there is." Huey had replied.
Riley didn't have to take this. His brother could be a pain in the ass sometimes, but he was not feelin' the vibe he was gettin' at the moment.
"Sure Huey. You right like you always is." With that Riley turned on his heel and left, not even sure what he had gone into the bedroom for in the first place. He figured he'd go to Thugnificent's to let off some steam.
"Oh shit! Look at whut the hell landed on ma'door step! Getcho skinny-ass in here!" Thugnificent beamed with an amused smile. "Frankly I cain't believe it—yo'brutha finally takin' you off lock?" He continued as he closed the door.
"He don't own me! I'm tired of him!" Riley fussed as he stood in the main corridor.
"So, you came to do some work?" Thugnifcent asked. Riley looked back to him, catching the gleam in his eye that suggested he had something planned.
"Well, not exactly—I just wanted to relax. Ya'know—I'm wound kinda tight right now. Huey was pissin' me off an' I just had'ta get out."
Thugnificent nodded. "A'ight then. G'wn downstairs. I'll be there in'a bit."
Down in the basement, Riley had been throwing a few warm-up punches while he waited for Thugnificent. When the gangsta-rapper joined him, he put up his hands as targets for Riley hit. Punch after punch met Thugnificent's bare palms with loud smacks as Riley threw them with all his force.
"So, whut it is witcha lil' man; whut got'chu so worked up?" Thugnificent asked as he continued to catch the tiny fists.
"…Couple of things." Riley replied as his punches flew.
"Wussup?" The gangsta-rapper hiked up his leg to block a kick.
"…My brother." Riley threw a few more punches as he began to sidestep.
"Uh huh?" Thugnifcent sidestepped in turn with the boy.
"…Butch Magnus too." Riley kicked again and was blocked.
"Him again? Whut he do?" Thugnifcent reversed his sidestep.
"Nuthin' that he don't normally do. I just wanna piece uh'his ass." Riley mirrored Thugnificent's change in direction.
"You gunna fight'em? He that big white boy right?" Thugnificent caught another punch.
"…Yeah." Riley threw another kick.
"Sounds like we need'ta be sparrin'." Thugnificent announced. Riley nodded.
"Come'own, 360 to a short burst—keep it clean and tight." He said outlining the exercise. Thugnificent brought his arms around quickly for Riley to block, simulating the wide and wild swings that Butch was sure to be throwing. They circled about in this manner for about thirty seconds until Riley executed his short burst. Deflecting Thugnificent's right arm with his left, Riley stepped in quickly and shoved his right fist with all his might straight into Thugnificent's gut—hoping this would be enough to stun him out of using his available arm to counter until Riley was able to make use of his own again.
"Oof!!" He wheezed as he stumbled backward, bent over at the middle for a brief second. Had this been an actual fight, Riley could have easily uppercut him, and possibly pulled off a leg sweep.
But since it wasn't he backed off.
"Dat was pretty good." Thugnifcent praised after he caught is breath. "Jus remember to keep movin'; ya'don't wan'em catchin' ya, ok? Now get on yo'footwork. If that dude slow as I think he is, you'll keep'em off balance easy. Begin."
After about two hours of the improv training session, the two returned upstairs.
"You hungry?" Thugnificent asked the somewhat winded boy.
Considering Riley hadn't really eaten at school, food was probably a good idea after his workout.
"Yeah."
"A'ight." Thugnificent replied quickly before digging around in an oversized pocket. Grabbing whatever he had been searching for, he tossed the item to Riley, who caught and examined it.
"Tic-tacs?" He inquired quizzically at open and half-empty container.
"Yeah!" Returned the gangsta-rapper, genuinely surprised by the boy's stunted reaction. "You betta be lucky; orange is ma'favorite kind an'dats the last of'em! Now g'wn outta here befo' I putcha ta'work fo'real!" Screeched Thugnificent as he pointed towards the door. Riley didn't need to be told twice and found his way out. As he crossed the street back to his home, (while eating some of the artificlaly flavored mints) he couldn't help smiling to himself. By the end of the week, there was gunna be one hellava fight at that elementary school—Huey and Grandad were gunna be pissed.
A/N: Review, review, review! Your speculations help me give the story flavor! (That where this new arc came from). Place your bets now! Riley versus Butch! Jazmine versus the Three Bitch-keteers! When they are introduced, you will see that these ladies are a nasty set!! L8er!