More Than A Book

Training Part 1

I was still screaming while looking around.... "Well, less screaming would be nice for a start." Mister British Man said while suddenly falling not too far away from me. "Oh, really?" I asked with a glare. "Well, except that we're falling, nothing really." "You mean except that you have a parachute and you're not using it?" Jerry asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hold on. There WAS a parachute?! I gave the man a 'why hadn't you told me before' look, but gaped once I saw him holding for his own parachute. Nice, very nice, hint at sarcasm. "Yours is in that backpack." He said simply, and I knew he wasn't going to tell me how to use it. Crap. That meant I'd have to figure out how to use it myself before I embraced the sea beneath me.

Quickly touching my back, I sensed some sort of a button and pressed it immediately, hoping it would save me from definite doom.... And suddenly, I could hear something opening. Opening my eyes, I looked up to see the parachute and I quickly started holding for it until we landed on a little island, parachute falling all over me.

I let out a groan while trying to untangle myself from this mess. "Who turned the lights off?" I asked in utter disbelief and I could hear chuckling, but that only made me even more determined to get out of this by myself. "Do you need help?" I could hear Jerry asking, making me shake my head. "I can get out of this unpleasant situation by myself, thank you very much." I responded with a huff before finally getting the damn thing off my head.

Looking up, I could finally see Sun rising. I quickly stood up to look at it better. "Amazing." I muttered at seeing its golden and pink rays coming through clouds. "Okay, now we can say it's morning." I told the man with my arms folded. "If you say so." He responded, clearly not amused but just rolling with it.

"Okay.... So what's first?" I spoke up, at the same time wondering whether I should have asked that question. "What's something that you can't imagine yourself doing, no matter how hard you try?" Jerry asked instead. I frowned at that question and looked up at the sky. The thing I couldn't imagine myself doing.... And I sweat dropped, remembering what happened last night....

"Back off all of you or I'm going to... I'm going to...." I could remember threatening agents advancing on me while wondering what I could actually do. Fighting was off the list because I had no fucking idea how, and....

"I suppose you have an idea, hence the expression." The man pointed out the obvious. "Last night, when all those agents were advancing on me, I took care of them with that Wind Tunnel, but before that, I couldn't do a thing because I didn't know how to fight." I explained while rubbing the back of my head. "I see." Jerry responded simply with a finger on his chin before looking at me. "Fighting then, that is." And as soon as I heard those words, I was wondering whether I should have mentioned that....

I was sitting on ground with hands hugging my knees while watching Jerry pacing in front of me back and forth. Sun was high in the sky by now, and, it was rather warm this morning... But then again, what to expect? This wasn't London where it always rained, nor was it Liverpool!

"Alright then." Jerry stopped to look at me. "Do you know anything about martial arts?" He asked and I quickly clapped hands over my mouth to prevent myself from bursting in laughter. I was on intense training, and laughing at a simple question was something both he and I wouldn't find funny at all. But the reason I wanted to laugh was because... Of how poor my answer would be. I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry.

I took hands off my mouth and tried to muster the most serious expression I could. "Well, let me tell you right now, I have no fucking idea what they even are." I responded. And I could see the man sighing. "Well, that was an honest answer. Can you at least try to guess?" "Fine." I commented before looking up with a finger on my chin. Martial arts, martial arts... "Is that maybe like, karate and those series of punches and kicks?" I finally asked, my eyebrows furrowing. Not that I knew much about it, I just saw Uncle Angus watching wrestling and punching on TV....