The Journey to Freedom: Path to WW3

Chapter LXXXVII

I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'

Muhammad Ali

For the next six months, I had the girls train in archery with Horacio. Jasmine and Lydia may have hated it but the twins loved it. I also trained them in the proper shooting of all the guns. Lydia was in love with the handling of the weapons. She was made for it. It scared me. She was almost as good as me without any military training. The twins learned to shoot with guns also. It took me a few weeks before they learned how to handle the guns and stabilize themselves. But once they knew how to handle the guns, they would get closer and closer to their targets. Eventually close to the six-month mark, they were already hitting their targets. No bullseye but close enough to do some damage. Once it got to training them in swordsmanship, all four of them were spectacular. They each handled their Bokken with care. I thought them to use it as if it was a real sword.

"This sword is your life. This sword will always be an extension of your hand and your body. Always be prepared to go into battle, whenever possible, avoid fighting but you almost be ready to go into battle." I tell them as they are ready with their Bokken pretended to be in sheaths.

I tell them to get into their stances.

"1! 2! 3! 4! 5!"

I yell as they get in their positions as numbered. For six months they train and taught them to fight each other. Jasmine was best at the sword. Lydia still struggled with being fluid in her movements. The twins were more flexible in moving. They moved and bent themselves in some spectacular moves that I wish that I could do. They were acrobatic in their Japanese movements with the swords.

Once it came to hand combat, all four of them would get frustrated. I taught them to learn how to fall, how to flip, how to jump, and how to land properly.

"Dad, is it really necessary that we have to learn how to do flips and fall on our backs and sides without trying to stop ourselves from hurting ourselves?" Lydia asks.

I reply, "Sweetie, the reason for this exercise, is because if someone is better at fighting than you, then you must know how to fall and land so you can recover fast and get better at getting back on your feet and getting back into the fight and learning their movements and trying to overcome your opponent. Even when faced in battle, you must always be prepared to learn from your opponent. Once they see that they have the upper hand, they tend to make mistakes. Arrogant fighters always think that once they have their opponent on the ground and sweating in fear, they always make mistakes. Always! How do I know this? Because when I was in Japan being trained. I did the same mistake. I thought that I had my sensei defeated and he came back and beat me. The arrogant always think they have the match won when their opponent looks defeated."

I made sure that once the six months were up, they were at least proficient enough in archery, weapons, hand to hand combat, and in swordsmanship. I told the girls that whenever I was not around, they were allowed to train in swordsmanship on their own. The girls would train on their on the weekends and I would watch them and not interfere.

When it came to training Josh. We always did it at night when no one was around. Horacio would teach Josh during the day in archery and I would teach Josh at night with the sword. With Josh, I would give him the basics and after about a month, I trained him to do the steps and the movements.

Once I saw that he was ready to move on, I trained him in combat. I never held back with him. I made sure that he would get hard training since he was coming with me on the trip.

"Come on, man. Do you have to be so hard on me?"

Josh asks when I hit him on the back with the Bokken.

I reply, "Sure, let me take it down a notch since we are going to be traveling and the people out there aren't going to try to kill us or knock us out and try to steal our shit."

Josh looks at me and says, "You think that everyone is out to get you or kill you."

I stop and turn around and say, "Tell me, Josh. For the past five years, how has life treated you? Have you had to travel and survive on your own? Have you had to hunt for your food? Have you had to fight and kill someone because they were trying to kill you because they thought that you had something of value to them?"

Josh looks at me, shakes his head no, and asks, "Is that how it really is out there? Did you really have to kill people just to live? I mean what has so much value that people are willing to kill each other for?"

I reply, "People out there are still as lazy as ever. Girls prostitute themselves, drug dealers make drugs out of whatever they can to sell to others, people kill others for their food, and finally, the currency out there is gold, silver, and diamonds. It's better to steal and kill for things than to work for it. There are people that are still honest and hard working. But they are a rare bunch."

Josh gets in his stance and says, "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's keep practicing."

We continue practicing and we keep going for the next few months. Once he was good at the sword, I trained him in weapons. Once he was extremely good, we passed the time by exercising and getting faster and stronger.