Fight or Flight

Chapter 10: All Valley

The next day at the dojo, Johnny had handed out white gis to all the new students at the start of class. Everyone got changed excitedly, now they really felt like a team.

They fell in, and Johnny shouted, "Junbi! Bow."

They did so, and he yelled, "Fighting positions!"

They got into their positions, legs spread and fists up. Johnny started to walk around the class, observing their stances.

He kicked Eli's front leg, making his stance wider. "Stabilize your base, Hawk. Keep your balance, full rotation when you strike." Johnny threw a punch, demonstrating, and Eli copied.

"Yes, Sensei! Hai!"

Johnny walked up to another student, and the boy flinched.

"Did you just flinch, Virgin?" Johnny questioned, and the boy didn't answer.

He stepped aggressively towards another student, who also flinched.

"Holy shit," Johnny said in disbelief, "we got a room full of flinchers."

"Yes, Sensei!" The students replied, still in their fighting stances.

"That was not a question!" Johnny yelled. "Raise your hand if you've never been punched in the face."

Everyone raised their hands except for Miguel, Josie and Aisha. They had all taken at least one punch in the face from either each other or Johnny during training.

"Put your hands down." Johnny looked around. "All your lives, you've been avoiding fights. So you don't break your nose, or lose a tooth. This concussion nonsense."

He stopped in front of the class. "So, there's only one solution, and that is before you leave this dojo, each and every one of you is going to take a punch, very hard, to the face." He looked at Josie, who was standing right in front of him. "Ms. Levesque, line them up. Unflinch this group."

"Yes, Sensei." Josie looked at Miguel, who nodded. She then turned to the class, looking at all the people who were about to be punched.

She walked up to the younger boy Johnny called 'Virgin', and punched him hard in the face. He fell  backwards on the floor, clutching his nose.
Josie helped him up, and moved onto the next person.

The students had formed separate lines in front of Josie, Miguel and Aisha. Josie noticed that Eli had moved to her line. She continued punching students then helping them up, most of them supporting bloody noses.

Finally, it was Eli's turn. Josie felt bad punching him, at least she didn't know the others very well.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's all good" Eli shrugged, "There's no one I'd rather be punched by."

She hesitated, then punched him in the face. He groaned, but didn't fall. A trickle of blood fell from his nose.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I'll go get some tissues or something from Sensei's office."

She went to the office at the same time Miguel did.

"What are you getting?" She asked him.

"Nothing, just asking him something." Miguel replied. "You?"

"Tissues." She answered. "I can wait outside if you want."

"No, I don't mind." Miguel shrugged, and they walked into Johnny's office. He was sipping a beer and flipping through a magazine.

"Hey, Sensei. I need to ask you something." Miguel said.

"First aid's under the counter somewhere. We got a bleeder?" Johnny said and looked up from his magazine.