Home Life and Training (Part 5)

Fight after fight, drill after drill, Mary and I improved at a rapid pace. She was getting closer and closer to the twenty minute mark in her obstacle course, getting as close to 20:08.

However, for the past three months, she had seen no improvement at all.

As for me, I still hadn't been able to even touch father. However, we could now trade at least a couple dozen moves. Apparently, that's what two years of constant training did to you. My morning exercises had changed four different times. From the legs and core, to my core and chest, to my shoulders and back, to my arms and core. Father repeatedly stressed the important of your core muscles, and made it the most repeated exercise for a reason.

Two years to the day that we started the new phase of training, I had already turned 16 a couple of months ago. As I got up to start sparring father for the afternoon, he said, "take it off."

"Yes father," I answered as I took off my shirt.

"Take it off," he repeated.

"Ok father," I said as I took off my pants.

"Take it off!" he shouted.

"Eh?"

"Take off the suit!"

"Oooooh," I said as I was about to take off my underwear for some reason. I had been conditioned to listen to father almost without thinking, and I only realized my stupidity when he shouted and woke me up from my trance.

I haven't taken off the suit for a full two years. About six months in, I started barely noticing the weight. Around six months ago, I had almost completely forgotten I had a weight suit on. I had gotten stronger. Much stronger. Plus, I had grown to 178cm and gotten up to 75kg. Not only had I grown stronger, but the 30kg suit had gotten less noticeable since it was only around 40% of my body weight instead of the previous 50%.

As soon as I took off the weights, I felt like a bird out of its cage. I started jumping up and down excitedly as I felt like a huge restriction was lifted off of me. I was faster than ever before. This felt amazing. My whole body felt like it was floating. I could definitely get used to this feeling.

I needed to fight. Nothing could satisfy me more right now that using this newfound speed and power.

"I'm coming," I said, before I started running at father, not caring about guard, form, or technique. I jumped at my father with all that I had. I flew.

I jumped so far up that I completely missed my kick and jumped over father completely. I landed and fell. The jump threw me completely off balance. I stayed on the ground on my back as I looked at the sky. I put my arm up as if I could grab the clouds, and clenched my fist. I felt strong. Addictively strong. For the first time in my life, I wanted to see how far I could go. Not for acting, not for father, not for anyone else but myself.

I breathed in deeply, and got up slowly. I think father saw the change in me because for the first time since we started sparring, his eyes looked serious. I breathed in again, and closed my eyes. I pictured my body and my newfound strength. Then, I started picturing my surroundings. The grass, the wind, my breathing, and even my father's breathing I could hear it all. I could feel it.

I inched closer and closer to father. Taking my time, I started anticipating his moves. His guard was fearsome, and his eyes even more. It looked like he could see right through me, but I had confidence in my speed for once.

I threw the first punch. Father dodged to the side almost before I even released a punch. I stepped back, got out of his range, and feinted a kick to his head. Father dodged under, and swept at my legs. I jumped straight at him, knees up. He blocked with both of his hands as he staggered back. I landed on both my feet, making sure not to lose track of him.

He lashed out two quick kicks in succession, but I was able to dodge both of them with ease. He was pushing me back, but I was able to keep resisting his advances. He couldn't step into range for his punches. His relentless assault was making my hands and arms go numb, but I kept dodging and blocking. I was waiting to find an opening. He kept pushing me back, until I realised my back was almost against the wall of our house.

I thought of a plan quickly, letting him push me back even more drastically. As soon as I got close enough to the wall, I turned my back to him, ran and jumped up the wall. As I was in the air, I saw father's smile, as if I had fallen right into his trap. I landed behind him, but as soon as I touched the ground, I felt an overwhelming force in my stomach.

I flew backwards and grimaced at the pain. I did a quick kick up, still marveling at how light my body felt. I felt invincible, and I wanted to try everything in order to beat father. Trying to think of a plan against him was useless. I took a deep breathe as I tried to remove all thoughts from my head. I had to feel what to do. Just like how I feel my surroundings. No thinking. My body know what to do, it's been beaten into my bones.

"Good try, but not good enough," remarked my farther at my silly attempt to try and outmaneuver him.

Hmph. Here I come, father.

I let out a guttural scream as I charged him. I was going faster than I ever had before, and my punches were flying at him. He blocked each and everyone of them, but I stopped him from advancing. All of my thoughts were focused on one single thing: to stop him from advancing. I thought that if I stopped him from moving closer, he couldn't finish me. My fists got faster as I continued. His blocks weren't able to get all of them now, and sometimes he had to dodge them. I was pushing him harder and harder. My punches would sometimes barely grazed him. I felt like I was getting closer and closer to hitting him.

All of a sudden, I felt like the wind stopped blowing against me. It felt like it was helping me instead. Pushing each one of my punches to get to my target faster. It was magnificent. As if nature itself wanted me to beat the @!#! out of my father. My father's eyes sparkled with realization, clearly knowing what was happening. Faster. Faster. FASTER!

One step. Two steps. Three steps. I was pushing him back, slowly. His eyes still sparkling with excitement, as if he was trying to make this moment last as much as possible. It felt like I was suddenly given wings. I started seeing my father's movements more clearly. He felt... slow. I can definitely hit him. I will hit him!