Carrying on the Torch

Disclaimer: I don't own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

Chapter 10 (First Day of Class)

Charlotte and Jo stood in the center of the room as the other students returned to their prior positions. She was almost afraid she'd get herself beaten up, the instructor really did seem incredibly fierce. She had to admit, Miss Keener was pretty. However, she couldn't help but think this was how martial arts movies went. Whenever the main guy was late to practice, they got their ass handed to them by the instructor. Three minutes wasn't so bad, was it

Jo studied her for a minute and folded her arms over her chest. "First lesson, no matter what, don't let your opponent read you." Charlotte raised an eyebrow. What did that mean? Don't let the opponent read you? "If you're going to go into battle, don't let the opponent know anything about you, if you show emotion, you can give away so much. It also can affect your form. Right now, you look nervous. Why?" She studied Miss Keener's form, then her own. The instructor moved her hands behind her back and had her legs spread apart, but planted firmly on the ground. She looked like a mountain, there was nothing that could shake this woman. If that's what she looked like, then she understood.

Studying her own form, she saw her feet were together, her arms were relaxed at her side with her fingers gently fidgeting on her legs, and her shoulders were slumped. "Uh...because I'm new and inexperienced?" Jo raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly to the right. Charlotte mentally slapped herself for that response, but she honestly couldn't think of anything better. Thinking fast, she mimicked her instructor's pose, but held her fists at her side with her arms strong and curled, as if she were ready to punch forward with all her might.

"That can be fixed with experience." Jo's lips curved up slightly. Charlotte was sure she saw a spark of life in the woman's eyes, but it was difficult to tell, there was also a significant amount of pain. She couldn't place the reason, but it was almost like she was recalling some sort of painful memory. "You're a smart girl, taking the fighter's stance right there, you interpreted that just by my form?"

"More or less. I've seen a lot of martial arts movies as well. Jackie Chan and Jet Li were awesome in their day."

"Very true. Now, as for your nervousness, it's okay to be nervous. I've devoted my entire life from the last twelve or so years to martial arts. When facing an opponent at a higher degree, or any strong opponent, fear is going to be there. The trick is to appear confident and strong, never let the opponent see that fear in your eyes. The minute they see it, they could have the upper hand on you." Charlotte slowly nodded her head and put on a determined expression, her eyes burned with confidence. She was ready to learn. "Now, next, you must always maintain a strong stance. What does my form say to you? Interpret it."

"You look like a mountain." Jo's eyebrows went up and her eyes closed. Her lips curled into a smirk and she slowly turned her head to the side. It was clear she was trying to determine whether or not the statement was flattering. "Also, I want to assume based off of your years of experience…you might have very swift moves? Like that dragon on your uniform."

"That's a good assumption. Always assume your opponent will be strong, remain levelheaded, and never leave yourself open. Also, if you know a little about martial arts, can you tell me the first thing you do before beginning a battle?"

"Bow?"

"Yes. Why?"

"It's a sign of respect for your opponent."

"Yes." Jo put her hands to her side and pressed her legs together. Thinking fast, Charlotte did the same. They bowed and quickly moved to a fighter's stance. "Hold." She nodded and waited as Jo straightened herself and started to circle her. "Let's check your posture." She continued to stare ahead, afraid that if she moved her gaze, she'd be scolded. So far, Miss Keener didn't seem crabby at all. Rather, it appeared the woman was showing some sort of affection towards her, mild at best. "Make sure your elbows are curled and your fists locked at your side." She nodded as Jo grasped her wrist and tried to move it. At first, she let the woman move her arm. "Wrong. You need to be unshakeable, unmovable. Do you know the reason your legs should be spread out?"

"No ma'am." Suddenly, she felt Jo's hand push against her shoulder. Reflexively, her left shoulder went forward, but she twisted to the side much like she saw Dee do in cheerleading tryouts.

"Good, very good. Now, put your feet together."

"Yes ma'am." She knew it was better to refer to her as ma'am or sensei, and not simply reply without the title. Most instructors in the martial arts field preferred this, that she learned from PJ. She brought her feet together and once more felt Jo's palm rushing against her shoulder. Only this time, her body went forward and her balance was thrown into the wind. The next thing she knew, her face had become romantically involved with the blue floor mat. "Ow…"

"When you lose your form, you do not have a proper balance in your body." She flipped over and looked up, sighing heavily. She now understood that this wasn't going to be a place where anyone cut any slack, she would wind up with bruises and welts as Dee and Regina said she would. Fortunately, Skyler would always be waiting for her at home with something to make any bruises feel better. That was, until she got used to them. "When you lose balance, you lose focus, when you lose focus, you make yourself completely open."

"I'll try and remember that, Sensei." Jo's eyes sparked with delight as she reached down to Charlotte. She grabbed her instructor's hand and rose up. She then felt the woman's other hand, a balled fist, gently grace her abdomen. Her eyebrows rose and Jo slowly shook her head.

"Remember to never leave yourself open. Even when you've been knocked down. If your opponent helps you up, still don't trust the opponent enough to leave yourself open. In an actual sparring match, the other students know this rule, and if you leave yourself open, you will be hit. The one thing many people learn when they come to this dojo, as we call any place of learning, is they put the outside world behind them. You will be hit, you will not be given slack, and tardiness will not be tolerated. Any other day, and I would make you spar our fiercest student here." Charlotte's heart sank as she followed Jo's gesture to a female with a long, black ponytail. The girl was wearing glasses and had a petite body, but she was all over her opponent, who happened to be a male almost ten times larger than her, he looked a lot like Mason.

"Wow." Her eyes widened as she watched the girl perform multiple high kicks into the guy's chest, then two knife hand strikes to both sides. Next, she spun around the guy's back and performed a side kick into his lower back, dropping him to his knees. When he lifted his hand up, she helped him, but then delivered a strong blow to his chest. The guy fell back onto the mat and groaned as the girl beat her right leg forward and blocked her arm over her leg in a victory pose. "He was open…and is he going to be okay?" The girl had a black belt, the guy had a yellow belt. There was a remarkable difference in their strength and speed, just based on that statistic.

"He'll be fine, he's endured and is growing. Either way, that is what you're up against. I've had many students leave just by watching her fight. I hope you're not one of those." Charlotte chuckled and closed her eyes, just by watching the fight, she wasn't sure how good she could deliver her moves, but hopefully she could deliver some. She wanted to learn, she wanted to grow, and furthermore, she wanted something to relieve all the stress that she was dealing with. She wasn't going to 'run home to mommy', like so many would possibly taunt.

"I'm a tomboy at heart, my friend's the one who is the girly one." Jo's eyebrow rose as Charlotte locked herself in a fighter's stance. "I want to learn, so no, I'm not going to be scared off so easily." She pointed to the girl, who was now helping the guy to his feet. "What's her name?" Jo glanced over and Charlotte studied her poise. Even looking away, Miss Keener did not appear very open, but she'd have to take chances here.

"Sierra." Sierra, was it? She raised an eyebrow and slowly nodded, still eyeing the instructor's jugular. She wouldn't strike now, but at the same time, the woman was likely expecting it. They already bowed, so technically, the match was on.

"Well, I want to train until one day I can do to Sierra what she just did to that guy." Jo chuckled and Charlotte smirked. She threw a knife hand strike towards Jo, and the woman's eyes flicked over to her. In a swift motion, the instructor lifted her hand up, deflecting Charlotte's arm. Her eyes widened as Jo's free hand curled inwards and struck her in the abdomen.

"Not bad at all." Jo's eyes sparked with confidence and mentally, the woman was preparing her next move. Charlotte had to think fast! Jo lifted her knee and struck her in the midsection. She stepped back, winded by the blow. Tears stung her eyes and her jaw locked in place, she knew she was going to regret sparring the teacher. "One thing you shouldn't do in this class, I don't want my students striking at the head, or below the belt. Try and remember that."

"Yes ma'am." She shook her head and looked forward, seeing the instructor standing before her, not planning any attack.

"You have guts, I'll give you that, but as I said…Sierra is one of the fiercest students here, she's had years of training, not just under my dojo. If you want to beat her, you have a long way to go. Don't make it your goal to beat her, make it your goal to get stronger, so that you can beat anyone that comes your way. Believe me, one day, the things you learn here may very well come in handy. Got that?"

"Yes ma'am, and thank you, I'll remember that." Martial arts was indeed a great way to learn self defense. Even though she'd never been approached by anyone dangerous, there was always that chance. Denver wasn't a crime free town, and she hated walking around at night. Ever since she was a little girl, she would not go downtown, or anywhere else, without Skyler or PJ with her. "I also just want to have something to relieve stress."

"Well, Tae Kwon Do is very good for that. You can put all your stress into that form, it will definitely relieve tension…another thing, I noticed your blows were a bit weak. Don't hold back too much, you should never pull a punch."

"Okay."

"Now. A personal question, if you don't mind…why would you call your sister in law your mother? I've been wondering that." Charlotte's lips drew a thin line and she inhaled on a sharp breath.

"She basically raised me. She and my brother. I lost my family when I was just two…plane crash." She watched Jo close her eyes, her face twisting in a mixture of pain and horror. She'd never really met anyone who reacted in such a way like that, it was almost as if she knew the family. She didn't want to ask, though, too many unpleasant memories to bring up. "Sorry if I, uh, made you feel bad."

"No, you're okay. It's time to move the class along and begin the day, we always start off with a ten or fifteen minute spar, practice, just to get things going. Remember to stretch before you exercise, though. We'll get into that. You missed the stretching by being late, so…don't be late."

"I'll try not to be."

"Good." The tone in Miss Keener's voice had shifted, she seemed to be holding something back. The woman moved to the front of the room, where she'd been standing before. She clapped her hands together and shouted out. Charlotte studied her and frowned, the woman's eyes were misty, but it was a little difficult to see. "Okay, put the punching bags away, it's time to begin!"

"Yes, Sensei!" The class proclaimed. Everyone worked fast, impressing her as she watched. Within a few meager minutes, the class had managed to return everything to it's proper place at the sides of the room. They started to form single file lines in front of the instructor, trailing to the back. The lineup consisted of six students horizontally and four students vertically, except for the last row, which was two short. Jo turned her eyes to Charlotte and exhaled slowly.

"Line up, Duncan." She chuckled nervously and quickly ran to the empty spot.

"Yes ma'am!" She looked back to the empty space behind her and frowned, it was a pity that the other new student would miss today's class. Hopefully they wouldn't be someone that didn't actually want to be here. This seemed like one of those classes, one of those things, where you had to have that desire, you couldn't just show up whenever you wanted to. Miss Keener did not seem like a woman that would tolerate that either. She moved her eyes to the black haired girl in the front. Sierra, standing poised, ready, alert, and possibly a deadly force. Chances were, that student would wind up sparring her on one of their first days. Wasn't that what Miss Keener said? For some reason, she was nice enough not to force Charlotte to spar the girl, possibly because she was new. However lessons had to be learned. Her stomach burned from the earlier blow, so she rested her hand on it. "Note to self, do not be tardy again. Next time Sensei may not be kind enough to keep me from sparring Sierra." Lesson learned.

I'd like to give a shout out to Nightwolfmoon, and their awesome story, Nevermore, in which case I base Sierra's name off of one of my favorite characters of that story ^_^. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, Charlie definitely learned some valuable things here.