Victor was inside teaching a class with Anthony while I was sitting out back with Jacob and Jane. They had small blocks of wood in their hands and were flipping them around. The wood wasn't special, just some I had grabbed that was sitting around. “What are we suppose to do with these?” Jacob asked.
“You're going to learn from them. Neither of you are Victor so you're going to have to struggle to learn. I can't cheat and punch you until you learn.”
Jacob let out a huff, “Good thing he's not out here to hear you say that. What are we supposed to do with the blocks of wood though.”
I waved towards their hands and the blocks of wood, “Swirl your chi through it for a moment.”
Jane got it almost right away, her chi swirling through the block as she focused on it. She had a nice black eye she earned from sparring with Victor the other day. That's why she was sitting in with Jacob learning this. Jacob took some time to get it. He struggled to get his chi to pierce the block of wood. Either way he was learning. Jane kept glancing at me so I waved at her to continue, I could have helped her advance but I felt it was better to wait on Jacob to catch up.
I pulled out my pipe and was chewing on the mouth piece when Jacob finally got it. Jane was laying back with the block of wood on her stomach staring at the sky. His chi stopped sliding off the block of wood and sunk into it a little. That started him and the rest of his chi rolled off the sides. He met my eyes and I nodded at him. The next time his chi sank into the block.
“Good. Tell me what it feels like.” I directed.
Jane sat up and pushed her chi through the block again while Jacob answered, “It's stiff. I have to weave my chi through the small gaps.”
“I can feel how the cells line up. How it's structured.” Jane added.
I gave both of them a nod, “I am going to be teaching you a technique called Hardened Oak.”
I saw Jacob cringe and I chuckled. Jane's head snapped between us, “Why is he having that reaction?”
Jacob sighed, “I saw how that one is taught. It's not going to be fun.”
I shook my head, “I’m not going to teach you that way. I'm going to give you an exercise to do. It will lead you to the technique itself.”
Jacob let out a giant breath of air and leaned back, “thank god.”
Jane started looking alarmed so I waved my hand at her to calm her down. When the two of them looked ready for more I waved at the wood they had been using, “You're going to cycle your chi through that wood and then pull it into yourself.”
“What is that going to do for us?” Jacob asked.
“You will learn how to harden your chi like wood. How to layer it. Things like that.” I replied.” This is not something I expect you to master in a few days. This might take you a few weeks or a month.”
They would learn this and it would help keep them alive. As long as they had enough chi they could survive quite a bit. It would act as a kind of soak. They would take a hit and lose a bit of chi. Jane and Jacob got to work on the exercise and I watched them. It was past noon and they would be at it until the dojo closed.
I waved at them to continue and headed inside. The exercise would help them learn and nothing I could do would help them. I helped Victor and Anthony teach class the rest of the night.
When classes ended we cleaned up and stepped outside. Everyone said their goodbyes and left except Jane, “Where have you been sleeping?”
“We have a house rented and a few of us are staying there.”
“Is it safe? Do they know I am training you?” I asked her.
Jane gave me a shrug, “It's as safe as any other place. They know you are training me but I don't think they know that you know it's a trick.”
“They will eventually.” I pointed out to her.
She looked down and kicked the ground, “They will.”
She was probably having an inner conflict about learning from me. I taught her freely and she probably fought for every scrap of knowledge she had.
“I don't care.” Her head snapped towards me. “Learn everything you can from me then teach them.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Yes, Sensei.”
She turned and walked away. I gave a nod and headed to my apartment. Teaching her would correct the problem with the ninjas. Advancing on the path of chi would force them out of the shadows. It was a self correcting problem. I wanted to ask how long until she was considered a master of her little group but I figured I would be disappointed by the answer.
Amanda wasn't outside of the apartment when i got there which wasn't unusual. She was probably still sleeping, she normally woke up later in the night. I entered my apartment but left the door open in case Amanda wanted to come hang out.
I sat down on the couch and turned on the tv. I didn't have the console anymore. I had given it to some of the younger kids a floor below me. They enjoyed it but their mom kept trying to pay me back. I flipped through the channels on the tv and landed on the news.
I had been here for two months or so and still didn't understand half the things that were talked about on the channel. They were talking about companies doing some trades that would affect the globe. It was shocking to learn that there were pretty much no wars going on. Anytime tension increased something would happen to calm it down.
Someone would donate money here, another person would show up and have a talk. It was smooth and under control. It was eerie to watch it happen but when enhanced got involved it was understandable. I knew there was a big law or something that stopped them from joining military action, it stopped people from trying to mass produce enhanced.
The news changed and started talking about things Erid Industries were producing. That was the top of the line cutting edge tech company. It was about ten years ahead of everyone else. That made me start channel surfing again. The tech might have been interesting to old me but as Suneya it was boring.
I had almost found something to watch when my window opened. Owl crouched down and stepped in from the fire escape. The floor creaked as she walked over to me, “Doctor Kathor sent me an email. Do you really believe you can destroy that vampire?”
I stretched out on the couch and answered her, “I don't think it's a vampire at all but I believe I can kill it, yes. Angle City probably wont survive the fight though.”
She waited a few seconds before replying, “well you seem confident that for sure. He asked me to help with the planning.” She pulled out some device and a wireframe of the planet with a few dots appeared on it, “I am going to have to work on collecting these fast then. I might need your help with a few more.”
“You don't think I can kill it?”
“We shall see. I am going to try collecting the rest of these before the fight so be prepared to help me.”
I could understand her doubt. They had records of trying to kill this thing going back pretty far. “I would have helped you either way.” I replied.
She gave a slow nod then turned around and headed for the window. I watched Owl step out, close the window and vanish. The sound of her humming armor disappeared and I let out a sigh of exasperation. I turned to the door and watched Amanda step through the door. She had the baby raccoon tucked into her arm and gave me a questioning look, “Whats going on with you?”
I waved her off then tucked myself into the couch making room for her, “Just people.”
She took a seat and the raccoon crawled out of her arms and over to me. I reached for the draw on the table near me and pulled out a bag of chips. Taking one out I held it out to the raccoon. Its little paws reached out and grabbed it from me, I had become the free chip person in its mind. It scurried back over to Amanda and climbed into her lap, enjoying its treat.
Amanda and I hung out the rest of the night. Playing with the raccoon and watching TV. The night slowly rolled through and when the sun started shining through the window Amanda took her leave. That's how my nights normally went, Amanda was nice and I enjoyed hanging out with her.
I stepped out of the apartment and headed for the dojo. I arrived there before anyone else and headed for the back. Forcing the door open I started setting everything up, laying down mats and setting out towels, things like that. When it was done I headed for the front door and unlocked it before stepping out. I had taken to doing this every day when I stayed up and hung out with Amanda. Not sleeping had perks and downsides.
Jacob soon arrived and waved at me as he pulled into the back. He would head into the dojo and do some paperwork while waiting for people to arrive. Anthony pulled up next and parked in the back. He came around front to enjoy the morning with me while we waited for the people we would be teaching to start showing up. “How is your search for you chi going?”
“I think I am doing well. I don't have as much time as Jacob in learning it but I should have it soon.” He answered.
“That's good. Just come tell me when you have awakened it and I will show you some tricks to start getting control over it.”
Anthony nodded at that. He was on his way and I didn't think it would be much longer until he unlocked it. Growing up with Jacob and Victor had helped him quite a bit.
Victor showed up next. He was jogging down the street still advancing his mastery over the movement technique I had taught him. He wasn't sweating, his advancement of chi let him take a run like that easily. He was carrying his gym bag and was taking the added weight easily. He stepped up to us with a wave and headed inside. Anthony gave me a nod and followed him.
I pulled out my pipe and lit it with a spark of chi. It would be about a half and hour before any students showed up so I leaned back and relaxed against the wall. The mountain was still towering in the distance. I had realized a few days ago that I had not thought about it for a while. I guess I was getting used to living in this world and the shock of showing up had slowly left me.
I slapped the ash out of my pipe just as Jane showed up. She was walking with her head down and looked really depressed. She saw me and headed towards me, stopping in front of me. I waited for her to speak and she eventually mustered up the courage to look me in the eyes, “Can I have another block of wood?”
“...Did you lose it or did they take it from you?”
“They took it from me.”
“Did you tell them what you were using it for?” When she shook her head I sighed. They probably thought the wood was special or something, “Go to the back. There are chunks of barrels back there you can use.”
Fucking ninjas.