The Academy

"Who wants to demonstate the proper knife disarming technique," the teacher, Mr. Alex, said. He was wearing a black jogging suit that looked more like lounge wear than dojo gear, and a stern look that seemed fake. The knife in his hand was real though, and looked sharp. He gazed at the students in front of him, the best of the under 16s in the Academy, all personally selected by him for this advanced bladed weapons combat class. 'Well, I picked them all except one' he thought while glancing at the new girl, Lily.

"Come up here Sean and show them how it is done. Watch closely Lily, I know this is your first class, but we keep a fast pace, and everyone here has already been excellently trained". He couldn't help a little smirk, this class was his pride, and they were going to rule the Academy rankings in the coming years. Lily was just some pet project of that asshole Cedric, who knows how she bribed him to get a recommendation to this class.

He held the knife in front, his body sideways and ready to lunge forward. Sean stood loosely in a fighting stance, calm but alert. Mr. Alex didn't say anything, but jump stepped forward, slashing high towards kid's neck. He might not have been going at fight speed, but it was still a dangerous move. Sean stepped back just out of the slash's range, then pivoted towards him while the knife arm was still extended. Using a complex two hand lock on his wrist and elbow, Mr. Alex was forced into a position of weakness and released the knife.

"Excellent Sean! Great timing, and the disarment was smooth. Class, did you see how he controlled my weapon arm?" Mr. Alex was happy, he didn't think everyone could execute that sequence yet, but he wanted to set the tone for the new girl. She needed to know she was outclassed here, and better pay attention.

"What did you think Lily? Has your previous .... training, prepared you for advanced defense like this?," Mr. Alex said, the smirk coming through in his voice.

The entire class turned to look at Lily. She seemed mysterious with her slight build and onyx black hair, but dressed in tight shorts and a sports top. She cocked her head to the side slightly, as if considering something a little queer.

"Honestly Mr. Alex, I think that disarm was risky. I can tell that you could have made that attack much, much faster. Even if the boy avoided the slash, I doubt he could have executed that arm lock if you followed through properly on the move," Lily said. She didn't sound rude or condescending, more like a peer sharing an asked for critique.

The class became eerily silent after she finished though. Lily looked around, wondering why everyone looked so troubled. She had trained with fantastic martial artists all her life, she didn't compete the way Ethan always was, but was considered something of a prodigy. The best senseis and teachers welcomed discussion and debate; even if the student was wrong, it was a great opportunity to learn.

Mr. Alex's face looked very stiff, then he smiled again and said, "I think, Lily, you should probably demonstrate the 'proper' disarming technique then". He waved her forward onto the mats.

"Sure thing sir" She turned to face him in a loose stance, arms at her side as if she was waiting for the bus.

'Is this bitch serious,' Mr. Alex thought. Maybe a scar would make that blank face more interesting. He was in the same stance as last time, but he launched forward with much more speed and strength in his slice. She was asking for it.

She moved so fast he lost sight of her. He felt a sharp strike above his elbow and in the nexus of his armpit, then a staggering blow to his kidney. The hit to his back was so unexpected that he stumbled to one knee, and he only realized he wasn't armed when he saw the knife in Lily's hand. He coughed, trying to catch his breath.

"My brother always said not to focus on the weapon too much. An aggressive offense suppresses the opponent more effectively than a defensive posture when you are at a disadvantage," Lily said. She casually flipped the knife, caught it by the blade and handed it towards Mr. Alex. "Thank you for the lesson sir," she said, her face quite serious. Lily knew the type of martial artist Mr. Alex was, skilled, but full of himself and a bit of a bully. He would be easier to deal with if she showed respect, but didn't back down.

Without missing a beat, Mr. Alex accepted the blade and stood up. "Your brother is right Lily, though we tend to teach those techniques to the older cohort of students. I was impressed with your speed and accuracy. You and your siblings must have had amazing teachers."

Lily bowed her head and stepped back off the mats so the teacher could continue the class. A tear escaped her eye though, probably because someone spoke about Ethan in the present tense.

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Dan was surrounded by 4 young men, all intensely staring at him, sweat dripping from their brows. This is the kind of situation he used to see Ethan and Lily faced with when they were training at their dojo. Dan practiced some karate too, but he was never as serious or as accomplished as either of them. He focused his size and athleticism on sports for the most part. Yet here he was.

Before the first one moved, Dan saw his 'static ghost' (as he called them now) doing the future move... and the other 3's ghosts as well. It wasn't like he didn't have time to react either. The more he practiced with this ability, the more he seemed to be able to watch the ghost reel of future events as long as wanted... it felt like he was pausing reality to watch a distorted tv channel.

So he had time to see the next few moves each was likely to make, and think about what counters he could make. He wasn't exactly a battle expert, but since joining the Academy, and practicing this way, he was getting scary good.

He refocused on reality. He stepped backwards, pivoted slightly, and grabbed the arm that exploded past his ear. The front attacker missed his kick, and was surprised by Dan throwing the back attacker into him. He used the twisting motion from the throw to turn towards the attacker on his left. A strong jab was coming to his face, but he used a soft open hand to knock it aside and followed through with a knee to their centre mass.

He tried to sidestep to the left, but a foot hit him solidly in the ribs. It was a strong round house, delivered from the last guy, now behind him.

'Shit, I was expecting a kick from the other foot,' Dan thought to himself. He let out a little groan.

"Ok, stop guys. Very good all of you," Cedric looked very different wearing a black gi and running a class of 16 to 20 year old fighters. Dan learned, from his extra senses, that Cedric rotated in as an instructor at the Academy frequently. This semester though, the Centre was consolidating top operatives into their deepest safehouses and non-field operations locales while they planned for these sudden 'monster' attacks.

"As you know, in a fight, it is rarely one to one, so you need to think about the field of battle. You are going to get hit too, get used to it. Dan is good at these multi-front fights because he has strong observation and predictive talent. These are skills you can all learn through practice. With enough practice, you won't need to predict your opponents' moves, you'll know what they are going to do before they even start," Cedric said with a smile.

"That's it for class today. Remember, the Academy ranking exams are coming up next week, so now is the time to practice, strategize and mentally prepare." Cedric finished then walked out of the class. Dan had never had a teacher who left class first, it made him smile a little.

"Hey Dan, those were some smooth moves out there today. You've gotten much better in the last few months. I'd almost be worried about you in the rankings, but you're still terrible with weapons," Caleb said with a smile and a pat on the shoulder.

Caleb was one of those guys that looked like he excelled without trying, except he was really putting in a tonne of extra effort behind the scenes. It made him competitive, but also appreciative of others who worked hard. He hadn't decided if Dan was a late blooming genius (which might explain why he entered the Academy so late), or just amazingly dedicated. Either way, it made him interested in Dan.

"I'm still not one hundred percent sure why these rankings are so important. I mean, yeah, the teachers seem to think is good to show what you've learned, but everyone seems very excited about it." Dan was honestly curious. He'd never heard of a school wide martial arts tournament, it was the kind of event Ethan would have gone nuts over. Participation was mandatory though, very weird.

"Well, in a way, the rankings don't matter at all. Except as bragging rights," Caleb said, smiling, but serious. "In another way, the rankings are more important than your grades and accomplishments in class in a few ways. You're too new to know about all this, but you can be scouted for special teams, honours level courses, and inducted into experimental labs and groups. The rankings matches are the fairest way to expose promising students to all the other levels of The Centre.... which you also don't know much about." Caleb paused, "Someday you need to share your story. How did you end up here?"

"Let me tell you a story about how my life got flipped..."

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