Premonition

Chapter #16: To Become a Warrior - Part 2

As Keiji walked back to table feeling refreshed, Ricky looked up from his book. Keiji nodded at him and parked himself at the sparring mats they had set up in the middle of the room. Ricky put his book down, stretched and approached Keiji.

“A couple of housekeeping rules before we begin. First off, Hella wanted me to apologize for making those signs against you yesterday. She says it was unsportsmanlike, and unbefitting of a trainer. So, I apologize,” Ricky said.

“That’s ok,” Keiji said.

“Second, I’ll be training you in a disarming throw, only for today. We can work on offensive strikes later. The move I will teach you is for use when you need subdue someone quickly and easily. You gain advantage by throwing them to the floor and putting them into an arm lock. This move is supposed to be used to disarm an opponent silently and without much effort. Once you have them in an arm lock, the goal is to make the opponent lost consciousness by pain or breaking their arm. Here is the main reason why I am only teaching you a throw right now. In general, for users of precognition, the main goal is to subdue your opponent before they even have a chance to react. This throw is a perfect tool for people with precognitive sight Before we start, I shall demonstrate the throw once. After, I want you to keep charging me and trying to throw me, but not before you use your powers. I shall use my powers as well and you will try to deter my efforts at throwing you,” Ricky explained.

“Sounds a little complicated…” Keiji said.

“Trust me Keiji, you learn by doing, especially when it comes to martial arts,” Ricky said. “Now come over here, I’ll demonstrate it too you.” As both Ricky and Keiji got onto the sparring mat, they removed their shoes and socks, so they were only in bare feet.

“Are you ready?” Ricky asked.

“Yes, let’s do this.” Keiji said. Ricky the proceeded to grab Keiji’s hand and twist while putting his right leg between Keiji’s two legs. Ricky pulled and for a second Keiji felt some pain, then was thrown into the air unexpectedly. Keiji hit the mat hard with a thump, and Ricky quickly shuffled his body to put him in an arm lock. The pain from the arm lock was immediate and Keiji tapped out almost instantly. As they got up, Ricky brushed the dirt from his pants and spoke up.

“You got it down?” Ricky asked.

“A little, wouldn’t hurt to show me again,” Keiji said.

“Let’s see if you can do it first, now back away a bit and use your powers, while I use mine.” Ricky said. As they both backed off, Keiji used his powers and didn’t like what he saw. Keiji could see himself charging Ricky and struggling because Ricky was stronger. Ricky then easily put him into a throw and punished Keiji’s lack of technique. The last thing Keiji saw was Ricky putting him into an arm lock before his vision ended.

“Now come,” Ricky said. Keiji cringed and could not see any other way out of the situation. He charged Ricky and just as predicted, Ricky was able to best Keiji and throw him to ground; a painful armlock following. Again and again for what seemed like 20 minutes, Keiji was knocked to ground by Ricky, and put into a painful armlock. Keiji could sense his strength wavering and knew he would not be able gain anything fruitful from this training today. Then in a moment of clarity after thinking about the situation, Keiji decided not to use his powers right away. Instead, he counted down from 7. This is was because Keiji remembered that Ricky’s limit for seeing into the future was 7 seconds. After those 7 seconds he would only be able to react. Ricky himself seemed intrigued that Keiji didn’t charge him right away and waited for him. After the 7 seconds were over, Keiij then used his powers.

Finally, he was able to see himself take down Ricky, albeit not in a throw, but a simple slide tackle. Releasing himself from his vision, Keiji then charged Ricky, who he was sure was blind to future events. Intending to slide tackle Ricky, Keiji braced himself for what might have seemed like Ricky’s retaliation. Nothing happened and Ricky fell to the slide tackle, totally unaware of what just happened. Keiji then scrambled into an armlock, grabbing Ricky’s left arm. Ricky tapped out and they both got up.

“Well that was….unexpected,” Ricky said.

“I knew your limit was 7 seconds, so instead of following the rules of our sparring, I decided to make my own,” Keiji said. “I’m sorry…” For the first time, Ricky laughed. A hearty one at that.

“Don’t be sorry Keiji!” Ricky said with a smile. “Part of the rules of combat is having no rules at all. You can’t fully predict what someone is going to do, even with precognition. It’s just a convenient advantage. The real trick is knowing how to adapt to a situation in real time and make it work for you.”

“Well….thanks Ricky,” Keiji said with smile as well.

“Good, let’s break for the day, I’m sure we both need a rest,” Ricky said. “We’ll be at this all day tomorrow as well. Different stuff, but you catch my drift.”

“Sure thing,” Keiji said as they both walked back to the table to get some water.