As Zephyr and Alexander finally noticed Fiora, Farren, and me, Zephyr waved at us, smiling and beckoning us over. But when Alexander noticed the three of us, he smiled at Fiora and Farren. When he saw me, however, his face hardened, and he gave me a rude glare. I had no idea why this boy hated me so much. We had only had one conversation. I glared back at him.
Fiora, Farren, and Zephyr left us to train. If only anyone else had been put in charge of training me…
"Okay, first we're going to have a run-through of what you know so far. Have you ever had any other training?" Alexander asked.
"When I was 11, I had self-defense classes. They were part of the protocol at school, but I don't remember too much about them."
Alexander rolled his eyes. Pyra didn't know what he was expecting.
"Fine," he said, "show me how you hold a punch."
Pyra remembered her self-defense class. She was only in it for five months before she had to move to another family. She stood with her legs slightly apart and knees bent to maintain balance. She placed her left hand in a small, balled-up fist next to her face to protect it, and her other arm in a fist by her side, ready to punch.
Pyra had found that punching a bag at her old gym helped her release a lot of her anger. Although the feeling of flames never fully left her mind, she always craved the fire. She craved to burn things, to explode into flames and incinerate everything she hated—but she could never do that. She might hurt someone.
Alexander examined her stance, trying to find a flaw, but he couldn't criticize it. The stance was perfect. Pyra smirked, pleased that he couldn't find anything wrong. Then, out of nowhere, he punched her in the gut. Stunned by the pain and shock, the air rushed out of her lungs, and it took her a few moments to catch her breath. Alexander smirked.
Pyra pretended to still be out of breath, internally thinking through her next move.
First, I'll punch his throat—not too hard to hurt him permanently. Then, while he's out of breath, I'll grab his arm and twist, knocking him to the ground. Then I'll pin him.
The plan went almost perfectly. She stood up quickly, balled her fist, and punched him in the throat. He doubled over, gasping. She grabbed his arm and twisted, but at the last moment, he grabbed her arm and twisted instead. Pyra grunted in pain; now he had her in a headlock.
"You have terrible reflexes," Alexander remarked.
"I could say the same," Pyra retorted, then quickly stepped on his foot, hard. She smashed her head back into his skull just enough to get free. Her stomach throbbed from being punched, and she knew she'd have huge bruises later. Alexander's head was bleeding where she had struck it.
He ran toward her, not holding back this time. He punched her in the gut again, hitting the same spot. Pain ricocheted through her body. It was then that Pyra realized he had been going easy on her before. He pinned her, then got up, brushing dirt off his suit. He extended a hand to help her up. She didn't take it, standing up on her own and wincing from the pain.
"You're better than I thought you would be," Alexander said, smirking.
Pyra was stunned by the sudden compliment.
"It seems you already know the basics, and you have pretty good technique, but your reflexes are slow. We need to work on that."