Victor's place was a few miles from the dojo. It was a single story place with a few rooms. I had helped Victor clean up and then wandered around the house before he went to bed. I didn't sense anyone so I was sitting in his living room in the dark. I thought about watching the news on the tv but i didnt understand half the things the news people talked about, who was this government, why do these people matter, things like that.
It felt about midnight when it happened. They used some kind of stealth skill with chi to open a window. I could have copied it but it felt like a waste of time. I rolled to my feet and headed to where they were entering the house. All I had on me was my pipe. I didn't bring my staff, hitting them with that would be straight murder.
There were quite a few of them inside the house by the time I crossed the house to the window they had decided to enter. I entered the room and the one in the front glanced at me, their eyes got really big when I met them. They were all dressed in black with face masks that only let me see their eyes. They stepped towards me and I put my put just above their hip and gave them a light shove, taking their balance. While they stumbled back into their fellows I closed the door behind me, locking them in the room with me.
They started pulling out clubs and things like it from their belts, I guess they brought them because Victor seemed to be immune to knives. I grabbed my kiseru from my waist and pulled it out, holding it by the mouthpiece I brandished it at them. I watched their body language slowly shift, getting tenser and stiffer before one of them snapped and jumped at me.
I stepped forward and caught the tonfa on the way down with the shaft of my kiseru. A twist of my wrist guided it down past me into the outer thigh of a different ninja. There was a meaty thwack as it hit and all the ninjas paused. The one that took the hit let out a hiss that rolled into a groan. They all kind of relaxed when he didn't yell out in pain so I turned to the nearest one and struck them with my pipe.
The bowl of the pipe hit them in the cheek with the tink of metal striking something hard and the person's head snapped to the side. They staggered, following the momentum, as I stepped back to the one that took the blow to the thigh. I ducked down and twisted, dodging someone trying to take my head off with a club. I swatted their inner thigh, taking their balance then used their chest as a step to get out of the immediate area of attack.
Landing behind one I grabbed the back of their black clothing and pulled them off balance, putting them in the way of any strikes coming my way for a bit. Using my kiseru as a lever, I lifted them from the ground and tossed them at the other ninjas. Some tried to catch him, the smart ones dodged.
He knocked a few of them down and the ones that dodged were ready for my charge, not that it helped them. I started whacking them with my pipe, hitting nerve clusters. If they blocked my pipe, my target would change. I got to the third one when they started jumping back out the window. The last guy didn't jump, he scrambled with me swatting him with my pipe. He hit the ground and crawled away from the window and the rest of them fanned out, forming a circle. They were super tense waiting for me to jump through the window and continue our fight. I reached up, grabbing the open window and slowly pulling it shut. They shuffled around a bit then one of them slumped. He waved his hands back and forth then they turned at started slinking away with a limp. Some of them were going to be feeling really bad tomorrow.
I stepped away from the window and headed back to the living room. I could hear Victor snoring in a deep sleep as I crept through the house. We didn't wake him up, that was good. He was going to need all the energy when I started teaching him how to move.
The next morning we were outside his house, Victor had his gym bag across his shoulder, “So what are we doing out this early?”
“We are going to head to the gym on foot.” I answered him.
He shifted his bag, “That's quite the distance. Haven't done that in awhile. Did we get any visitors last night?”
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I nodded, “some but I turned them away. We are going to race to the gym.”
He had started doing stretches and my reply snapped his head towards me, "What's the trick?”
I chuckled at that then I gave him a small grin, “You have to beat me there or your going to spend the day doing suicide sprints across the parking lot of the gym until you get the technique.”
He didn't answer me, just turned and started sprinting to the gym. I started walking, twisting my chi in a pattern at every step. Soon I was walking beside his sprinting form. He did a double take as I matched his pace, “How?”
“Twist your chi at the start of each step like so.” I replied as I showed him.
Soon every step he took a little bit of chi flowed out from his feet. He was still running but had slowed down slightly to focus. When he got to slow I would take a large step forcing him to speed up again. When it looked like he was going to throw his gym bag off his shoulder i spoke, “Keep it. The weight will help you learn.”
If he could have sighed he would have. He was right that it was quite the distance. We were almost to the dojo when one of his steps carried him a lot farther than he expected. It made him stumble so I reached out and snatched him by the shirt to stop him from face planting on the sidewalk, “You almost had it. That twist at the end was wrong. Less circular, more swirl.”
He was drenched in sweat as he caught his balance. He gave a little shake and started running again. I debated on letting him win but this was something he needed to learn as soon as possible. Those ninjas were not going to wait and I couldn't sit in his living room every night. That was not something I wanted to do. We stepped around a corner and the dojo appeared before us. I took one giant step and placed my hand on the building. Victor came up behind me and to the sound of his heaving breaths touched the building. I gave him a nod, “Ten minute break then you start running again.”
“Yes Sensei.” Was his only reply.
He dropped down onto the sidewalk outside the gym. I left him there and went inside to get a chair. Jacob and Anthony were inside setting everything up. Jacob noticed me first, he looked around for his brother and when he didn't see Victor following me he asked, "Where is Victor?”
I grabbed a chair from the wall, “Outside laying on the sidewalk. He is fine though. We are just doing some extended training.”
Anthony stood straight and followed me out, “This I have to see.”
We stepped outside and Victor had leaned himself against the wall of the dojo. He turned and waved a weak wave to his brother and Anthony. Jacob looked his sweat soaked brother up and down, “heavy start for the day?”
“At least I got some sleep last night.” Victor replied.
“A good warm up for his day. He won't be able to help in the gym until he learns what I am teaching him. Are either of you going out for lunch?” I asked.
Anthony raised his hand, “I was going to get some subs.”
“Pick him up something with everything on it. He's going to be really hungry come lunch.”
Anthony nodded at that then Jacob and him headed inside. I let Victor rest for a bit more before setting out my chair and waving at him, “Get to work. The technique isn't going to learn itself.”
Victor rolled himself to his feet and started sprinting across the parking lot. He went a quarter of the way across, touched the ground the headed back to the dojo. He touched the wall of the dojo then sprinted half way across the parking lot. I unfolded the chair and took a seat in it and watched him, calling out little criticisms of his technique. Jacob came out an hour later, gave us a look then headed back inside, returning with a massive jug of water.
Lunch rolled around and Victor started lagging. His run had turned into a stagger as he continued. Exhaustion was building up and he started doing the movement technique randomly. Exhaustion gave him a clarity that he normally didn't have. When he started doing the technique pretty often I waved him to stop. He walked over to the dojo, near where i sat in the chair, and leaned against the wall, “Now what?”
“Rest for a while. Then we are going to play dodge.”
“Dodge?” his voice climbed in tone as the word registered.
I reached down to the ground and grabbed a handful of gravel. I would roll one between my fingers until it was ground down into the shape of a marble then pass it to my other hand to hold. When his breathing calmed down and he looked like he was coming back from how exhausted he was I answered him, “I am going to throw these little stones at you. You are going to learn to Dodge.”
“I don't think I'm ready for that.”
I threw one of the stones at him, “Too bad.”
It hit him in the chest and he let out an oof. He would learn quickly this way. I wouldn't need to stay at his place tonight. Near the end of the working day he started to get it. He pushed off the ground with a twist of chi and was suddenly standing on the wall of the dojo, dodging the stone I had thrown. It didn't let him cheat gravity so he pushed off into a flip and landed lightly, when he looked at me for the next thrown stone I showed him my open hands, “You got it.”
He flopped down on the ground and let out a sigh, “I am probably not going to get any sleep tonight am I?”
“I doubt it. You'll be fine though.” I said to his aggravated sigh