Chapter 6: At The Dojo

Sunday was a busy day for me. I woke to a text msg from Sarah.

[ Hang out at my place? No parents ;) ]

[ Ah, I have work till 4:00. Then kung fu. Then plans with Matt. ]

It didn't take her long to msg me back. I was surprised at how early she was up.

Work was obscenely boring. I had no schoolwork to finish and only one truck needed manual sorting. I hadn't realized how close I was to the end of my book, so once I finished it, I didn't have anything to read to pass the time either. The boredom was well mitigated by the fact that the job paid well enough and I'd need the money if I was ever going to get out of that group home.

From work I bussed straight to the Dojo. I did martial arts once per week. I got lucky to find such a prestigious place. It opened about five years ago and was now training some of Canada's best martial artists. Some are fairly well known MMA fighters, but most just participate in local competitions. We competed competitively at everything from kickboxing to Judo.

I showed up to an open house they had a few years back and impressed one of my instructors enough that he insist I take lessons. My only real objection was money (of which I had none) and so my objection was quickly smoothed over by an offer of free classes.

Sunday classes were always run by Yuki Takahashi. As the name suggests, his parents emigrated from Japan. He held up a long tradition of martial arts within his family lineage and took great pride in his work. It made him the most beautiful fighter I had ever seen.

Beauty in form, however, does not win fights.

"Today," said Takahashi, facing the class, "we have a very special treat. Form Art Academy's owner, dai-sensei, is here and will be teaching today's lesson."

Three years of martial arts at this school and I had yet to meet dai-sensei. He tended to show up every month or two, but since I generally stuck to Sunday classes, I'd never met him before.

That was the moment at which the dai-sensei entered the room and bowed respectfully to our sensei.

I had to admit that the man was impressive. Somehow I had expected an old oriental man to run the club. In my head, I was picturing Takahashi-sensei, only a bit older. I could not have been more wrong. This man must have been in his mid to late 30s. He was 6 feet and 2 or 3 inches tall. His shoulders were broad and his demeanour fierce.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time I had met him. Before the entire class stood Mr. Malone; Garrick Malone; Kerry's father. His eyes scanned across the row of deshi standing before him until at least they rested on me. There was no surprise in him, just a predatory smile.

Well, shit.

What were the chances that my martial arts school was, in fact, owned by my girlfriend's dad. More to the point, why was he here? It couldn't be a coincidence that he had shown up today.

"Alright," said Takahashi, "Usual warm-up! 10 laps, 10 pushups, 10 sit ups, 9 push ups, 9 sit ups, all the way to one and then back up to ten. Then the usual stretches. Go."

As a unit, we all bowed, and then began running laps. I put some extra effort into eavesdropping on the senseis as I did my warm up. Normally I would not have been able to hear them, but my extra senses gave me a bit of an advantage.

"How have the Sunday classes been doing?" asked Garrick.

Yuki shrugged, "it's typically their least favorite class. It's probably also the most important for most of them."

"Can't let them go soft on form. Basics, basics, basics," said Garrick by way of agreeing.

"Is there anything specific you've come to teach today, Sensei?" asked Yuki.

Garrick nodded, "When it comes to good form, I am deshi and you are sensei," even his humility was filled with pride, but Takahashi seemed pleased with the compliment. "I'm sorry to take your class from you, but today is the only day that works for me and I'd like to see my students spar before I leave."

Yuki nodded his approval.

"So," said Garrick, suddenly sounding less formal and more conversational, "any news?"

"Adrian has another two medals to his name. Sacha's not here today, but she is still undefeated in tournament, and her form has improved. Also, we haven't seen Robert in two weeks."

"Shaken up from his last defeat?" asked Garrick.

"Perhaps. He did seem discouraged," answered Yuki.

"And who's this?" asked Garrick, looking at me as I passed by for my third lap. Right, he knew exactly who I was.

"Ah, that's Simon."

"His story?" asked Garrick.

"He has yet to compete, so he's untested and inexperienced. He's a quick learner, though his form is still uncontrollably stiff. He doesn't quite have the strength the others have either," answered Yuki.

He wasn't wrong, of course, but I didn't think I was that bad.

"And yet he takes his classes for free?" asked Garrick.

Yuki paused for a moment before nodding.

"Explain."

"He has, perhaps, the most potential of any student I have ever taught. If I could convince him to come to more than one class per week and to actually compete, he would be international caliber today," said Yuki.

Alright. I knew I wasn't that bad, but I did not think I was that good either.

"Really?" asked Garrick, glancing back at me for a moment, "on what grounds?"

"I have never seen somebody else with a reaction time as quick as yours," said Yuki, "until I met Simon. He doesn't have your power, but before he learned to throw his first punch, he was dancing out of reach of fighters much more experienced than he."

"Quick reaction times don't make you international, Takahashi, especially if you don't have the rest." said Garrick.

"His second talent outweighs the first," said Takahashi with a smile, "because I have seen in Simon what my father claims only the old masters ever had."

Garrick looked interested now.

"He has the awareness," said Yuki, "so that none can sneak up to him in battle."

"What do you mean?" asked Garrick.

"Even where his eyes do not see, he has no blind spots. He tries to hide it, I think. I have seen him take hits that he is quick enough to dodge, but always the quick eye can see him brace before the impact. I do not know if he does it with his body or with his mind, but his awareness in a fight is absolute. With such a skill and the right training, there is no opponent in this country that would be his equal."

They stood in silence for a while.

"Good," said Garrick, "then I am glad I have made today a day for sparring. It will be interesting to see him in action."

I had the rest of warm up to decide what to do. I couldn't fake being worse than I was. I had well established parameters for what I allowed myself to do and what I didn't. To change them now would be to show Takahashi-sensei that I did not respect his teaching enough to give dai-sensei my all.

Warmup finished and we all returned to our positions. We are taught to line up roughly in order of skill. At most schools this is denoted by colours or stripes on a belt, but our club does not believe in such distinctions. We are all perpetual students and so, in a show a humility, we all wear white. Since we can't use our belts, the line is essentially based on age and experience. I was on the lower end of both categories.

"Sit," said the dai-sensei. We all kneeled side-by-side.

"Today's lesson has been altered and will instead be a day for sparring," said Garrick.

Two of the kids high-fived, but their backs straightened under Garricks disapproving gaze. "to make up for the loss tonight, Takahashi-sensei has agreed to give Monday's and Thursday's lessons a bit of extra time to work on form. Today's lesson will focus on counter-attacks. Takahashi-sensei and I will demonstrate then you will pair off and practise."

The lesson part of the lesson went well enough. There were 6 of us who were 20 years old or younger in this class. We could pair up with each other and rotate within our group. The two girls paired up with each other and didn't switch for the entire class. Normally, with Sacha present, they would just form a triplet.

The lesson, however, was cut short so that we could properly spar. There was room enough on the matt that two full-sized matches could be had simultaneously. Garrick had another idea in mind.

"It is an old tradition," said Garrick, "that a master may test his students by challenging them to sparring match. Today, we shall uphold that tradition. These matches will be filmed just like a tournament match so that deshi and sensei can review together and thereby improve."

Just like that, it started. One of our more experienced fighters, Alec, volunteered to go first. He put on the appropriate padding but said nothing when dai-sensei opted to go without padding.

It was clear very quickly that Alec was out of his league. Alec was one of the best fighters in the country, but Garrick turned his punches with relative ease. The match, of course, wasn't completely one sided. Alec gave half as well as he got. It seemed to me that Garrick was hold back none of his speed, though he was not using all of his strength.

In terms of experience and tenacity, they seemed to be about on par. Where Garrick stood out most was his reaction time. It looked almost as though Garrick could read Alec's thoughts, attack and counterattack both happened simultaneously.

When the second match started, Takahashi-sensei sat down next to me.

"Half the match is decided before it starts," he said.

I looked at him.

"Watch this, see how dai-sensei declares, 'this is my mat. You are here to learn from me.' Once this is conceded, then your initiative is lost. You are no longer here to fight, but to learn. Remember that learning is a consequence, not an action to be taken."

I nodded. Looking at the mat I could see the dynamic unfold. I watched as Garrick effortlessly swept his opponent's leg.

"And that is why good stance is important!" said Takahashi-sensei.

Garrick had fairly effortlessly won eight matches when the pool of volunteers dried up. Takahashi-sensei had spent the entire evening sitting next to me and explaining the advanced aspects of each match. It seemed to me that Yuki has seen Garrick fight often enough that he was able to predict quite exactly how Garrick would fight.

There was no way that everybody would have time to fight Garrick and there was also no way that everybody would benefit from such an experience, but there was still some time left in the lesson. I was hoping that I would get away from this lesson without having to face off against my girlfriend's father.

Garrick was about to pick somebody to be next when Takahashi-sensei volunteered.

I watched as they stood across from one another and bowed. Garrick's features were stern, but Yuki stayed serene and light on his feet. Even the way he walked looked melodic.

The match started with something I had never witnessed. Yuki led with a barrage of attacks. Garrick countered each attack in turn only to find that his counterattacks were being countered. Yuki's next attack was starting before the previous attack had been properly met as though he knew the future.

Watching closely, that's exactly what was happening. Yuki was guessing Garrick's next move and he was guessing right. When the barrage was over, Garrick was losing for the first time in the evening.

Garrick's smile was sincere. I watched him re-focus and steady himself. He was far behind in points, but he didn't seem daunted.

Yuki advanced his attack a second time but it was cut short. Garrick didn't counter the first attack, he turned the blow and stepped into Yuki's guard. Two taps to the helmet and Garrick was back out. He was still behind, but that was significant headway.

Garrick started his next attack right away. Yuki's counter looked majestic. Garrick took the full blow of the counter to the torso but stole two taps to the head again. Now Yuki was leading by three minor points. The two fighters were essentially tied.

The final clash between the two looked similar. Yuki Takahashi was quick and his technique was flawless, but he wasn't battle-ready enough to take on Garrick and win.

They bowed to each other again and as they went to shake hands, Garrick spoke,

"Am I so predictable?" he asked quietly so none could hear.

"Not anymore, I think," answered Takahashi.

"Once again, I am your deshi, Takahashi-sensei," he said earnestly.

Garrick turned to the class, "we still have some time available to us. Any last volunteers?" he asked. Most of us were still stunned from the insane match we had just watched. It looks like I wasn't the only one who had never before seen Takahashi-sensei fight.