Akira - The Energy Vampire

  Chapter Three: Let the Training Begin!

  I awoke to an ice cold bucket of water being splashed across my face. I rolled backwards in shock as my body felt like it was literally frozen. I screamed abruptly, “WHAT the HELL!!!” Quickly looking around I noticed a man standing above me. He said calmly, “Now that is no way to greet your father who has been away forever now, is it?” I opened my eyes wide and focused them in on the man above me. “Dad! You have been a lot longer than I expected you to be. I'm glad your back.. But what is with the...” Before I could finish talking he interrupted me, “It's early in the morning and its time to start training. You will be 21 in five days and it has been a while since we trained together. I am sure your skills of accuracy and your muscles have improved over time from hunting, but now it is time for the tough part.” I looked up at him and nodded seriously. I noticed the scars and bruises across his face. I then asked, “How did your arena tournament go?” He sighed saying, “It went a lot better than last time. Out of thirty contestants I won 16th place.. Isabella's father got 18th and we even went against each other which was tough to do. But I am growing old Akira and my body is barely able to handle it any more. I loose breath faster, and have noticed that I am a lot weaker. So I spent a good portion of the money on training equipment for you. I am counting on you to learn and develop quickly. I bought us a different material like a human size fighting dummy, a training post, training gloves, a heavy wooden sword, and a couple of other neat things. We need to build a training ground for you. The next arena battle is in a couple weeks and it takes a few days of travel to arrive to the city. So get mentally and physically prepared because the fights will test your every limit. I'm not expecting you to do great your first time in the tournaments, it takes a while to adjust to that type of stress but I would love to see where you stand in terms of everyone else. I did of course get a few 'goodies' for us, like fresh bread and a stack of meats along with a little alcohol for myself. This way we wont need to focus on hunting for the first few days of our training.” I pondered everything he said for a minute and stood up saying, “Let's start building our training ground then.” He smiled at me and we walked out towards the field behind our hut.

  First we designed the outside of the training ground. We put up wood and made an enclosed fence around where I would train. Then we built different parts of the training course. One part had our big dummy punching bag, with critical spots circling where to hit. Next to it we built a wooden post with short pieces of wood sticking out of it in different spots. We made this post able to spin. So when I would hit it a different part in a random place would come at me so I would have to block it. Next to it was two heavy wooden swords that laid on the ground. This was used to practice my balance and control through sparring with my father. Though it is not used in tournaments, it is a good way to practice building myself. Over on the opposite side was a running course. There were two very heavy bags attached to a long piece of wood. It was to hold the wood with the bags above my head as I ran, to build endurance and strength. We finished the course happily, I was excited and so was my father. We took a break after building the course and headed back to the tent.

  Mother was there smiling, as she prepared us a fruit salad. We all sat talking about how dads battles went and how mother had been working a lot lately in the fields. Mother asked me looking quite concerned, “are you sure you are ready for this Akira? It is a lot to take in you know and if you think you need more time training then we can extend it to the next tournament. About one runs every month.” I saw my father as he frowned at her but I quickly said, “I have been training basically all my life mom. I'll be fine, it is better to go sooner than to procrastinate it.” His frown turned into a smile and he sat there nodding My father broke out is alcohol and started to pour himself a drink. Mom eyed him down and said, “you're breaking that out already?” He just gave her a look and took a sip of his drink. “Yes, after all my hard work I should deserve a drink.” She sighed and finished her bowl of fruit. She got up and said, “I am going back to work, I told Ron that I would be back some time in the afternoon. I hope your training goes okay Akira!” She gave my father a kiss on the cheek and walked out. My father and I sat there and he asked, “how was hunting while I was gone?” I answered, “it went okay, I only found rabbit, birds and other small creatures, I wasn't able to find any deer.” He nodded and I then told him about the new bow I carved and showed him. He replied with a smile, “It looks great Akira, you really are getting skilled huh?” I laughed and said, “yeah I guess so.. Now you wanna hear about my little adventure while you were away?” He looked intrigued and told me to continue. I told him about the fight with the rabid bear, and how accurately I shot it, defending myself as best as I could. He looked shocked and thrilled at the same time. “Wow son, you have turned into a great hunter. I haven’t even encountered such danger. And I think this proves to me your ability to stay calm in stressful times.. Now since we have taken a nice break from building our training ground, we should continue and go actually train.” We got up, leaving the hut.

  First I started by training my endurance. I grabbed the stick with bags and held it over my head. My dad commanded me when to walk, sprint, and turn around. This weakened me faster than I thought. He yelled at me saying, “Is that all you got!?” I stood there holding it high in the air, gasping for breath. “RUN!!” I continued running back and fourth until I collapsed to the ground. He walked over to me and helped me up saying, “let us practice fighting on the dummy.” We got to the dummy and he told me where to hit and when. “Kick, left side! Punch head then stomach! Elbow chest! Knee on the lower body!” He continued telling me where to hit in routines and we practiced for about an hour. After, we went to the wooden post that spun and he showed me how to use it. “Hit one spot and back up, when I tell you to jump back in, block whatever is about to hit you, using your knees or arms.” At first I messed up a lot. I jumped in getting whacked in my head, knee cap, and stomach. But after a while I started to get the hang of it and my reflexes developed quickly. My father smiled happily after I successfully blocked it three times in a row. “I'll let you take a nice break, you worked hard and long today. I will cook us dinner so how about you meet me in the hut to eat in a few hours?” I happily replied, “Definitely!” He walked away and I fell to the ground exhausted. I laid there breathing heavily.

  “Akira..?” someone lightly tapped my face. “Akira..?” I didn't reply, I just wanted to sleep. My eyes were heavy and I only saw darkness for I was resting. A little splash of water startled me out of my dream world and I gasped looking around. There was Isabella standing above me. “I've been trying to wake you for a while, so I had to break out the water” she said giggling. I was confused and looked at her for another minute. This isn't a dream is it? What the... She sat down next to me looking at my wounds. “Owe, it looks like those hurt bad.. I like your training course by the way!” I let out a fake smile and nodded, looking away from her. Doesn't she hate me? Why would she be here talking to me.. She sighed and said, “Look Akira.. I'm not mad.” I looked at her, puzzled. I said with sorrow, “But I thought you would hate me after you saw what I did to Troy..” She laid back gazing at the clouds. “Not really, he deserved it honestly. I don't know exactly what to do about him, or what I even want. But I do know that I didn't want you to think I hated you. He came to you and started a fight, you defended yourself and kicked his ass. Yeah you got a little out of control before I could even realize it but that's your own problem and it isn't like you really meant to.” I replied, “I'm really sorry.. and you are right, I totally didn't mean to loose control..” I laid back onto the grass and a shock of pain ran through my body from all the training I did today. I groaned and looked towards Isabella. She turned her head looking back at me with sympathy. She really is a beauty.. I can't believe she isn't mad at me.. I let out a smile and she smiled back. “Listen, Troy will be okay and he doesn't hate me, so that is good. But I still need
to figure out what I want to do with him and he has no reason to hate me anyway, it isn't like we kissed or anything..” I blushed, quickly looking away from her. She giggled, “Akira, are you blushing?” I let out a pitiful, “No.. No, it's...” I had no words to fill the sentence and she burst out laughing. I let out a chuckle too. We laid there looking at the sky in a peaceful silence. I felt her energy next to mine and comforted myself in it. Just even laying next to her is miraculous. Her presence is soft and peaceful, it is filled with love and understanding. I've never heard of anyone talk about feeling energy but I feel like I can. Not just with her either, if I focus on the grass I can feel it bursting with life, if I focus on water I can feel it almost gushing happily for its running and well, and if I look at the sky I can feel when it is lively, filled with clouds, or gloomy when its dark and raining. I wonder if most people feel this or if it is only a special thing I can sense. Isabella broke our peaceful silence and