"Now then, that's enough talking. Let's begin."
A flash and my father appeared right in front on me fist drawn back. Hastily I dodge to the side tripping over my clumsy feet. As I hit the dirt I feel a tingle go down my spine and instinctually I roll to the side. As I do I feel a gust where I was and… boom.
I rush to stand and my father is nowhere to be seen. Where I just was a small crater has formed. I slowly back away looking around for where he may be. My back hits something hard, I glance behind and there my father stands.
"Hmph, good instincts welp. Though your awareness leaves a lot to be desired. Prepare yourself son you can only get better at fighting through constant stress and hardship. I'm going to come at you full force from now on. Don't worry though I won't hurt you… at least not too much that is"
'Wow he's intense. He's definitely not just some backwaters villager. He has definitely got some real life experience. But don't worry old man I've got experience to pull from too!'
"I'm ready dad!" I say resolved.
Suddenly he disappears again.
'So fast' I think as I roll forward out of the way from his backwards assault.
"Don't think the same trick will work twice dad"
"Ok I'll step it up a notch"
His left foot stamps the ground and he dashes forward with his right fist drawn back. When he gets within range I shift my weight to his left side and dodge out of the way of the attack. At the same time with my knees bent I raise my body with my fist drawing up.
Completing my preparations my whole body comes up and I uppercut my father in the jaw. That was the plan at least. His eyes followed the entire attack so he had shifted his weight to his right side and simply leans out of the way of my upper cut.
Now I'm in the air my body overextended in the middle of an attack. My father raises his fist and begins to punch towards me and with nothing else left to do I curl my body into a ball and try to rotate my body out of the way. Unfortunately this only made me an easier target to hit and I slam into a nearby tree sputtering and coughing. This exchange only lasted about a minute.
"Very good, very very good. It's almost as if you've fought before. Do you know why I beat you so fast welp?"
"*Cough* *Cough* I don't know I thought I was doing so well" I sputtering out.
"Well you have excellent instincts and battle sense and that's a really good thing to have. But what you lack is strategy. And while good instincts are beneficial they can be exploited easily."
"When I got behind you the second time I knew it wouldn't work but I did it anyway. Why do you think that is?"
"Um, I don't really know."
"It was mental warfare. I made you think you could easily counter me so I used something you could protect against to raise your confidence. With that you lowered your defenses."
"Oh I get it now"
"After that I stomped all my weight down onto my left foot. Now why would I do that? Think really hard."
"Was it to draw my attention"
"Finally some progress. Yes that's part of it. But the main reason I did that was to lead you. In response to me doing that you shifted all your weight to my right side to avoid my attack then you jumped up with everything you had to finish me with a grandiose flying uppercut."
"Since I led you to my left side all I had to do was shift back to my right side and punch you."
"Now what do you think this exchange has taught you so far?"
"Well from what you've said I should have had a strategy before attacking. With yours you led me like I was a puppet."
"And?"
"Umm… I shouldn't have jumped because I can't really control myself in the air so I could do nothing about your punch."
"That is true but that's not the lesson I wanted to teach you. Let me enlighten you son."
"Who would win in a fight a smart fighter or a reactionary fighter?"
"I guess a smart fighter based off this fight."
"Correct. A thinking fighter with a plan will always beat a reactionary fighter with no plan."
"From now on while we spar I want you to make a plan. Try to lead me like I lead you. Even if your plan fails that's fine make a new one, we're just training here this is the place to make mistakes."
"Ok dad that makes sense. Thank you for teaching me. How did you get so good at fighting anyway."
"That's a story for another time welp. There's one other thing I want you to try." He said avoiding the question.
"You know that innate skill you awakened. I want you to try using it to see just what it does and how it fits with your combat. It can be turned into a powerful tool if tempered properly."
"Okay dad"
"This is something I forgot to tell you earlier but when we train I want you to refer to me as sir."
"Huh, why?"
"Your mother and I want you to learn to be respectful and disciplined and this is the only way I know how to teach that so will you just fo this for me son"
"Only if you stop calling me welp"
"Fair, from now on I wont call you welp"
"Thank you"
"That's more like it son. Now then let's get back to training. Today we'll finish sparring then tomorrow I'll teach you some basic techniques you can try when we spar. For today though I want to see how your battle sense is"
"Let's begin"
"Yes I sir"
End of chapter nine