OVERPOPULAS

Chapter 9

"It's now time for the beginning of the Yurinami school!" Yurinami hollered. "First , I'll need that chair!" He said pointing at Jesse. The chair from under her just sank into the floor, like a mechanical machine just pulled it down. Jesse fell flat right on her ass, and next thing you know the chair was up on stage with Yurinami.

"How the hell did he do that!?" Fred said, looking back and forth between Jesse and Yurinami. "Is this some kind of magic show or something?"

As soon as Fred said that the stage got pulled into the floor, the paintings on the wall went into the wall, and a bunch of racks filled with training equipment started lining up around the room. The place literally transformed into a dojo. My jaw dropped to the floor as I watched in awe. Slinca was the same, she looked around the room. After about a minute the whole place transformed.

"You just saw the power of government funding!" Yurinami said jokingly. "Now please, choose a partner and stand on the mat in the middle of the room."

Me and Slinca looked instantly at each other, we didn't even have to say a word to know that we were partners. We both headed up to the middle of the room where we saw Jesses and Penny paired up, Fred and Jesse were also paired up. Me and Slinca were the only one's who paired up with someone of the opposite sex. Yurinami leaped into the little crowd we made up to break it apart.

"The first lesson today is sparring! I need to know what you need to work on from this." Yurinami said, twirling around like a ballerina. "The rules are simple. The first person to hit the opponent three times with a wooden sword wins! Use any dirty tricks you like, I won't mind."

It struck me as soon as he finished the explanation of the lesson. I was gonna fight Slinca. I literally was shaking in my boots because I knew she was one tough motherfucker.

"Maybe she'll go easy on me?' I wondered.

"I get to decide who goes first!" Yurinami yelled. "The first match-up will be Penny vs. Jesse."

Penny and Jesse looked at each other.

"The fight after that will be Ian vs. Fred." Yurinami announced. "And, of course, after that will be Lee vs. Slinca!"

I felt Slinca's eyes gaze at me, but I didn't look at her in the slightest. I needed to stay focused. She probably won't go easy on me, I should know that. But, I couldn't even get one hit on Eric, so how do I even get close to beating Slinca? No! I need to stop thinking like that! I can do this! Just, at least get one hit or two, you don't even need to win. I told myself that over and over. Slinca reached her arm out and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Come on, let's get a wooden sword and watch the fights." Slinca said.

Slinca and I went over to the wooden sword rack that was across the room from the mat. The swords varied in size, some of them were pretty long, like 5 feet long. The shortest one there was like a dagger. I took the one that was moderale sixe, which was 3 feet long and Slinca did the same. We walked back over to the mat and sat down around it, to see the fight between Penny and Jesse.

"Whenever you are ready you may begin!" Yurinami exclaimed.

Penny was in a fighting stance, ready to go at any moment while Jesse just stood normally.

"You are about to go down!" Penny said, as she flipped the sword around her hand. Jesse didn't respond to that.

Penny charged at Jesse, going in for a full-force attack. Penny swung the sword back and then swung down as hard as she could. In a blink of an eye, Jesse dodged it perfectly, she was now behind Penny. I swear what I wasn't seeing wasn't possible, it just couldn't be. How can one person be so fast, you don't even see them move! Jesse poked Penny in the back with her sword.

"That's one!" Yurinami announced.

"How!?" Penny yelled "That's not possible!"

Penny swung back at Jesse yet, she dodged again and hit Penny in the back once more.

"That's two!"

Penny was now backing away from Jesse, knowing she only had one hit left in her. Jesse just stood there, not saying a word. Penny now looked frightened, as if she saw the devil herself appear before her eyes and take her family away. Why was she so scared? I know Jesse is pretty fast, but there's no reason to be that scared over it. Jesse began to walk toward Penny.

"You stay back!" Penny shouted as Jesse drew nearer and closer. Jesse ignored her and kept walking until she was within stabbing distance of Penny.

"I said stay ba-AH!" Penny was interrupted by Jesse, hitting her in the stomach at full force in the stomach and Penny falls over. It looked as if Jesse had just hit Penny with a sledgehammer going eighty miles per hour.

"That's three!" Yurinami announced. "Jesse wins the match three to zero, our first ever shutout match!"

No one could believe that Jesse, a girl that didn't even look that physically strong, could do such a thing as knock someone down as quickly as she did. Jesse, as a sign of respect, helped Penny get up from the ground. She then didn't apologize or even say anything and walked off the mat over to me and Slinca. I figured she was gonna put away her wooden sword, and I had to know how she learned to do that.

"Good job out there" I said. Jesse, looking straight forward, didn't say anything and walked past me, bumping into me as she passed by. That was kinda rude, I guess she really isn't much of a talker. I looked at her as she went to the wooden sword rack, put the sword back up, and sat down in a corner. Penny limped over to her brother Ian, and sat down next to him. Ian, trying to comfort Penny, patted her on the back. He then got up because he knew it was time for him to have his fight.

Fred and Ian went into the center of the mat and took three steps away from each other.

"Remember earlier you said you were going to beat my ass?" Fred smirked.

"How can I not remember that?" Ian responded.

"Well, how about you prove it to me right now! Keep your word, why don'tcha."

"I sure fucking will"

Fred and Ian then both lunged at each other with their swords. Each of them swinging and hitting their swords together at a very fast pace. This went on for 10 seconds then Yurinami blattered out.

"That's one!"

I was confused at first, then I realized he must've meant that one of them got a hit on eachother. How could he have seen that? I can't even keep up with them.

"That's one!" He said again.

Another 10 seconds went by.

"That's two"

Fred and Ian were going back and forth with their swords clashing until Ian finally got the swoop in and made Fred's sword fly away and across the room. Ian then thrusted his sword into Fred, dealing the final blow.

"And that's three! Ian wins!"

Fred sloped back a little and was kinda stumbling, but eventually he found his footing. Ian dropped the sword and bowed down to Ian.

"Don't do that stupid bullshit!" Fred screamed as he pushed Ian to the ground. "I don't want your pity! I don't need any of your guy's pity either!"

Fred then went on a rant.

"I'm gonna beat you next time, i'm gonna beat all of you! Even that stupidly fast girl that's sitting in the corner! None of you guys are gonna bring me down! NONE OF YOU!"

All of us were hesitant to say something, Fred was really mad for what seemed like a little match. It wasn't anything that was big, or life changing, so why is he so mad? Ian was wise enough to not respond, only getting up from the floor and putting his sword away. Fred did the same but he stood in a corner, similarly to Jesse. My heart then skipped a beat when I realized it was my turn now. It was now me versus Slinca. I clenched the sword in my hand and walked to the mat. Slinca and I were six feet away from each other. I took a deep breath and got into a fighting stance.

"Don't disappoint me now." Slinca said.

"I won't!"