Chapter 53

Marinette's P.O.V:

This blindfolded spar probably went on for another hour and a half before I really started to get frustrated. It was over the dozenth time Bruce had knocked me to the floor before I spoke up.

"Why is this so hard?!" I said while lying on the floor.

"Because you aren't trying hard enough." As he spoke, I could feel the mat underneath my body faintly shift as he walked around me. "I don't think you are taking this advice too seriously. You haven't even tried to land a hit even once. This is a spare after all."

"Okay." I took a deep breath as I got back up. "Let's try this again."

I tried to feel the ground under my feet as well as listening this time. It wasn't as easy as it was to feel when I was laying on the ground but I began to have a better sense of where Bruce was at. It was like he was constantly walking around me in circles. I waited for him to step in front of me before I decided to swing. The punch didn't land but I felt his heavy foot fall as he backed out of the way. A second later another punch went flying towards my head and I managed to dodge it to where his fist barley clipped my ear.

"Okay." I whispered out loud but I was mostly talking to myself. I managed to quickly kick my shoes off to the left of me while I felt Bruce to my right. I wanted to make sure the shoes were far enough away so I wouldn't trip on them so I kicked them pretty far. It sounded like one hit the floor while another one managed to collide with a person.

"Ow!" It sounded like Tim. "Hey, watch it!"

"Can't, sorry!" I yelled back as I felt Bruce's weight shift as if he was going for another leg sweep. I jumped back out of the way just in time. Not having my shoes on made it much easier to feel his movements.

It seemed like everyone else around me went quiet now because I could now hear Bruce's steady breathing around me as well.

Waiting for him to be directly behind me, I spun as quickly as I could to land a punch. It didn't manage to hit him in the face but it felt like she got a good blow onto his right shoulder. I didn't hesitate to follow up with a second punch but this time he ducked out of the way and took a few steps back. I stayed where I was at and waited for him to step forward.

I could barely hear his breathing now because he seemed to be quite a few feet away from me. His foot steps even felt faint on my feet. 'I wish I had something to throw at him.' I thought to myself. I knew now that he was waiting on me to make a move towards him.

I made one step towards him and waited. He stopped where he was at but now I could hear his breathing a little better. After three long seconds of waiting I took another large step towards him but this time he made a move. I side stepped out of the way of whatever he was doing and went for my own leg sweep.

I felt him hit the floor but it sounded like he caught himself on all fours instead of landing flat. I made my way on top of his back and tried to choke him from behind. Bruce used his strength to pry my arms off from around his neck and tossed me over his shoulder.

We both managed to get up quickly. I stepped up closer to him and waited for him to throw another punch. I jumped out of the way of another sweep attack before he threw the punch I was waiting for. Dodging it, I grabbed his arm last second and turned around to yank his arm forward, effectively throwing the large man over my shoulder with all of my might.

Not wanting to waste a second, I follow him to the ground and put him in one of my lightning fast arm bars. A few seconds later I feel Bruce tap out on my leg. I immediately let go and hop to my feet.

"I did it." I smile to myself and jump up and down with excitement as I take off my blindfold.

Looking around, I notice everyone looking at me with praise in their eyes.

"Good job, Marinette." Bruce smiled down at me after getting up off the floor.

"Yeah. Way to go, Sunshine!" Jason grinned. "We really need to look out for those arm bars of yours. They are crazy fast."

"Thanks." I smiled as I looked around the room. "By the way, where are my shoes?"

"I put them on the bench over there." Tim spoke up. "And I feel like you tried to hit me with them on purpose."

"No." I giggled. "If I wanted to do that, I would have hit you with both of them."

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Dick agreed. "You should have seen his face though. It was hilarious."

"Sorry, Tim."I smiled at him. "I'll try not to kick my shoes at you again unless you deserve it."

"Taking off your shoes was a great idea though, Marinette." Bruce lightly grabbed my shoulder. "I'm glad you got the hang of it so quickly." He gave me an appraising smile.

"Quickly?! That took me almost two hours to figure out and I'm still not great at it."

"Two hours is very quick, Cupcake." Dick smiled at me. "It took me almost two weeks to do half as well as you just did."

"Grayson is right." Damian smiled at me. "And once you got the hang of it, you even looked graceful."

"Like dancing." Jason nudged Damian playfully. "We know how much you love her dancing."

"Shut it, Todd." Damian smacked his hand away.

"Anyways." Bruce spoke up as he looked at me. "I heard that you wanted to do some training with Dick next time. I think it's a good idea to do one on one training with each of my boys so the next four we will do exactly that. How's that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan." I agreed.

"Oh, can I go first?" Jason asked.

"No, I'm first and then it's Damian." Dick said.

"Well then I'm third." Jason looked over to Tim. "Looks like you're last, Timmy."

"Saving the best for last I see."

Damian scoffed. "In your dreams, Drake."