CRASH-CLANG!, CRASH-CLANG! "Wake up! It's morning!!! Time to train."
"What the..." Ethan jumped from his bed with a curse on his lips. He had been shaken awake from another entertaining dream and felt like crying when he saw the Protector. He wondered why this kept happening to him. Anytime he was about to have fun, he would be awoken rudely by someone.
"Please Hermes, let me sleep for 30 more minutes. Please" Ethan pleaded, on the verge of tears. He would do anything to get thirty more minutes of sleep. Anything.
"No.gi freshen up and meet me in front of the house. We're going for a jog." 'CLANG-CRASH!' Hermes ended his order with a last clang of the utensils he had in both hands. Ethan jumped as the noise took him by surprise, again.
Ethan thought of ignoring Hermes and going back to sleep. He really did but gave up on the idea for two reasons. The first being that he was already awake. Yup, all that noise had done its job. Second, he really wanted to complete that Quest he had been given by the system. And lastly, he was worried about what Hermes was going to do when he came to meet him asleep after he had woken him up. What the Protector had done just now had convinced Ethan that Hermes was pretty serious about the training. It would be better to just comply than test his Patience.
Ethan quickly went through his morning routine but left out his shower. He would do that after the training that was yet to begin. After everything, he went out to meet Hermes was doing stretches outside as he waited for Ethan.
"Come on...let's start." Hermes prompted as soon as he noticed Ethan. "I personally don't need to do this since I'll always be in shape whether I exercise or not. This exercise is for you. Your body needs to grow stronger so it stays in peak condition. Even though our Powers are meant to do that work, we can't wait until you unlock them to be fit." Hermes said. "Follow me"
Ethan started jogging after the Protector. Soon they were jogging side by side. The whole street was silent. There was not even a single person around since everyone was asleep. The Protector and 'apprentice' jogged steadily around their small neighborhood. They stopped at one point to do stretches and some basic exercises before continuing once again with Hermes now sprinting like an Olympic medalist. Ethan had to admit that even without his powers, Hermes was hella fast.
Around 5:00 am the duo retraced their steps back to the house and went to the underground training room. Ethan changed into his training attire and went back into the dojo to meet a fully changed and serious-faced Hermes waiting for him. Ethan's heart started beating frantically as he realized that he was really going to start his mixed martial arts journey.
"Martial arts, contrary to popular belief is not about beating on your enemies. Far from it. Martial arts, from the very first people who developed their own unique fighting style with unique skills and moves all, had one similar objective in common. Ending whatever dangerous situation they found themselves in quickly. Even we, the Protectors, with all our strength and abilities thought along the same lines when developing our martial arts." Hermes started his lesson.
"I have been studying human fighting forms for hundreds of years now. I can tell you the history of most martial arts in this realm but that will be time-wasting. Due to the many conflicts, we Protectors found ourselves previously, we developed the most violent fighting style ever which I won't be able to teach you until later. Right now, we're going to focus on eight human fighting styles I have mastered. There are others but I chose these forms because of their effectiveness against foes and their quickness in terms of results." Hermes informed Ethan who was wide-eyed as he listened to the lesson.
"We will be training in; Boxing, Judo, Jiu-Jitsu, Krav Maga, Kendo, Muay Thai, Capoeira, and Ninjutsu." The Protector mentioned. "Personally, I believe these are the best Martial arts mortals have developed and so studied them thoroughly until I became a master in each. Now let me give you a brief overview of each Martial arts form, why I chose it, and how we will incorporate all these styles and make them one."
The lesson continued this way for the entire morning with Hermes giving a brief history of each Martial arts form and how it would help Ethan in different scenarios. After giving an art form, Hermes then went on to demonstrate some unique moves for each Martial art form. He had brought a training doll from one of the rooms and performed several moves like kicks, punches, and grappling on the dummy.
Ethan had been in charge of retrieving the dummy anytime it flew too far from a kick or a punch. As Ethan watched Hermes perform overhead kicks, spinning kicks, knee strikes, butterfly kicks, drop kicks, 360's, and elbow strikes among several others, he fell in love with Martial arts and promised himself he was going to master each and every martial arts on earth.
Finally, Hermes had called him over to try some of the more basic moves. They started with boxing and Hermes had given him a gist of what the art form was like and how it was supposed to be learned. Hermes had stretched the importance of blocking in boxing and how to block different parts of one's body, but most importantly, one's face. He had demonstrated this by making Ethan throw random punches at him which the boy had not held back on. Ethan had punched Hermes severally times on several parts of his body, even mixing in feints but Hermes had blocked each and every single one of his punches. Ethan had been beyond impressed. Hermes was really good. He realized. Feints didn't even fool him. He could tell a real punch from a feint as if he were in Ethan's head.
The rest of the morning passed like this. Ethan had learned how to punch, block and dodge properly. Before they both were aware of it, the alarm Hermes had set for 7:30 am rang loudly, signaling the end of morning training. Ethan had been sad training had ended that early but he was still glad. When he went to take his bath, he found out just how tired he really was. He felt like taking a short nap but knew he would be extremely late If he did.
After bathing, he had gone to the dining room and had not been surprised to see Mr.Twist with another basket of food for them. He ate the breakfast the janitor had prepared which he found really sumptuous and had picked his bag from one of the chairs, ready to head off to school. He had been at the door and had even turned the handle when Hermes came out from the dining room with a message.
"Wait for me Ethan...I'll be driving you to school from today", the Protector told the boy whose world immediately started spinning. Hermes was sending him to school? Oh boy. What would people think if they saw him coming to school in Mr.Andrews's car? Not only today but for the rest of the month. 'Things really keep getting better and better', Ethan thought with a smirk.