The following morning they all woke up early hoping to bypass the “Wake up maggots!” wake up call they seemed to be getting every morning. This caused our resident sergeant from hell to frown as they seemed to be getting used to routine.

“No! My wake up calls! They can’t already be getting used to it. That’s not fair! I “educated” the last guard patrol for 3months before they actually caught on!” he muttered aloud with tears in his eyes. These tears and his sudden outburst made the kids look at him with an expression of “WTF? On their faces.

“Hum hum!” trying to recover from his outburst and redirect their focus away from it.

“Morning maggots, today we start tackling kicks. Also we will work on your balance. Any time your stance or techniques aren’t stable enough I'll push you down. So who here can demonstrate a proper kick?! Huh no one is volunteering, I guess you guys know you don’t know shit! GOOD!”

So for the next day Alexander taught them basic Karate Kicks. He ran them through drills, monitored their movements and made them hit trees until they started being sore and bleeding He ran them absolutely ragged. They learned the following kicks.

(video’s and some descriptions of how to perform the kicks can be found on www. blackbeltwiki.com)

Side or roundhouse kicks

Mawashi Geri or Roundhouse Kick: bringing the back leg forward on an angle with the knee bent. Then pivot your front foot while whipping out your leg and hitting with the flat of the foot. The key is speed which ends up generating the power.

Ura Mawashi Geri - Reverse Roundhouse Kick or Hook Kick : bring your back leg towards you and settle in a stance with the back foot in a straight line facing 180 degrees away from opponent. Lift front knee up straight, rotate hip out, bring the leg backwards while extending. Can be used with the heel or the bottom of the foot with a snapping motion.

Ashi Barai - Foot Sweep : advance forward with back leg while sweeping inward with the bottom of the ankle to destabilize opponents leg. Easily followable with a roundhouse kick.

Yoko Geri kekomi – thrusting Side Kick: while pivoting your front leg towards 180 degrees, you bring your back leg forward with your knee at waist level and foot facing opponent, you then thrust your foot towards your opponent utilizing either the sole or blade of your foot.

Yoko geri keage or snapping side kick: a variation of side kick where you use the front leg. It is quicker but weaker then it’s counter part. You lift your forward leg angling the knee to point to the target. You then lift and thrust.

front kicks

Mae Geri - Front Kick: bring back leg forward lift the knee to roughly 90 degrees then extend the foot striking with the ball of the foot. Their are variations to this kick utilizing the front leg in a snapping motion Keage or simply utilizing different striking areas.

Hiza Geri - Knee Strike: starts off similar to a front kick but the rising motion of the knee continues into the kick. Often paired with a grab. Kick can be at an angle instead of fully straight.

Kakato Otoshi Geri - Axe Kick : lift back leg above opponent and bring it down like an axe. This is used mostly for the head and shoulders. Leaves you open to groin level counters.

They then spent the following 2 days endlessly advancing while kicking. They were getting tired of these endless days of repeating a move over and over instead of normal walking.

“Teacher why do we keep doing these exercises while moving every time we learn something. It’s repetitive as hell. There is a reason right?” asked Aden with an annoyed expression on his face.

“Yea why do we keep doing this?” stated Cade

“Are you questioning my methods maggots? GOOD! I’ll tell you why but you will get punished for questioning your teacher! I have taken it easy of you Maggots for too long ! Elena will keep doing regular training but you I will teach you like I did with the guards back in Kingston. Muhahahahhahaha!” Said Alexander with an almost demonic grin on his face and an absolutely giddy air.

Gulp!! That last sentence made both Elena and Aden sweat as they had overlooked one of those lessons.

“OK there are 3 reasons I’m teaching you like this. One is simply for the repetition. During these repetitions I can also correct any flaws I observe. A wise martial artist said: “I don’t fear the martial artist that knows 1000 techniques. I fear the one who has practised one technique 1000 times.”. Another reason is so it becomes automatic for you. You shouldn’t have to think about how to do a technique during combat. You should only have to think of how you will apply it in combat. My third reason is simply to help build your strength as you all have been under my aura whenever you are practising this way.”

“Currently you haven’t actually begone Ki cultivation. You are at the preparatory stage where you are accumulating more Ki. To start your path requires that you control the energy and start refining your body. The body tempering stage refines the body in the odd way compared to chi cultivators . This stage refines in order the blood vessels, bone marrow, bones, musculature(muscles/tendons/ligaments), organs, then your skin. A chi cultivator progresses from skin, muscles, organs and finally bones.”

“Now begins the fun! You have to fight with me 2 on 1. If you can’t even touch me before supper you aren’t getting any. I’ll limit myself to one level of cultivation above you. Hell I wont even go on the offensive and I’ll release the aura dampening your abilities. Get ready! begin!” said Alexander.

Cade lunged at Alexander faster then he though possible. Cade overshot his mark. He then used a front snapping kick/ roundhouse kick combo aimed at the head followed by an elbow strike to the chest. This combo was easily dodged.

“Cade your moves lack control. it’s understandable since you were acclimated to being suppressed by my aura for a couple weeks.

Aden wasn’t faring any better anything thrown at his grandfather never seemed to connect. He executed a front kick to Alexander’s torso followed by a hook kick to his head. Both attacks were easily dodged.

“Aden your moves telegraph your actions too much. You have to learn to make them flow more naturally. Keep your eyes on the opponents eyes or shoulders don’t focus where you want to hit. It gives you away.

Both students then tried to time their attacks together to improve their chances. Aden launched into an axe kick while simultaneously Cade tried to go for a uppercut. The result was them getting in each other’s way resulting in a worst overall outcome.

“You both are too focused on the opponent. You both don’t take the background into account. it’s why you get in each other’s way. You both have tunnel vision. If you were facing multiple opponents you would easily lose track of them.” Alexander stated.

Their teacher seemed to be able to dodge their attacks with the least amount of movement necessary. The sparing lasted another hour but the kids made no progress in hitting him. They were both exhausted and on the brink of collapse.

“Oh well time to end this spar. You both don’t get supper tonight. Also think on the flaws I pointed out.” Alexander said with a smug look on his face.

An hour later, Cade finished reflecting on his loss. He then noticed the moon was almost full. He had to make a decision.

“What do I do about the full moon/ transformation? I know if I can’t see it it’s not an issue but where can I go. it’s not like their is a cave nearby. Do I let them know about the transformation? Do I simply run off? What will they think of me after they know? Will I still be able to pass off as a beastkin if I transform?.....” Cade seemed lost in thought.

“Penny for you thoughts?” asked Elena.