Training (1/2)

{Official Schedule will be a chapter a day but if I feel like it, I'll upload 2+ a day}

(I will use ** for flashback sequences)

---The following morning---

Ryle and Rachel were standing in the yard with Sarah and Ake sitting on the porch. Ryle was sweating and panting as he had just finished his stretching and warmup exercises, while Rachel was sweating from stretching. Both held katanas by their side, Ryle holding his basic black and white katana and Rachel holding a red and black katana with patterns all across the hilt, scabbard, and blade.

"You have a nice sword."

"This? Yeah haha, my mom gave it to me!"

The sword looks very sharp and clean as if it was just made yesterday. Sarah must've been a pretty good swordsman if she can just give these types of swords away. Well, she isn't a fighter anymore so maybe that's why she decided to pass it to Rachel. I glanced at Sarah before bowing towards Rachel as we were about to begin our first training session.

*Last night*

"Hey uh Rachel, can you tell me why your mother quite the marines?"

It isn't like I want to pry into their lives. I wish not to create drama or upset anybody, but as they've accepted me into their lives I wish to learn more about them and try to build a proper relationship. I still don't treat them as my actual family and I want that to change.

"My mom? Well it's quite a long story but to keep it short, she didn't save a little boy that was captured by pirates as a hostage, and when she asked for her teammates to help save the kid before anything else, they completely ignored her and in the end, the little boy died. Even after his death, the marines were celebrating since they defeated the pirates. That's why my mother quit and decided to settle in with someone, that being my father. She doesn't like the marines so that's why she is a little hesitant of letting me join but I'll still join of course haha!"

"That's... very unfortunate."

"Well yeah but it's been over a decade since that happens so we rarely bring that topic up. Don't be so sad about it, she redeemed herself by letting you live with us!"

"Uh yeah. I am very grateful."

*Back to Present*

Now I understand that both Ake and Sarah didn't end up saving a kid they met so they felt guilty, and decided to take me in as redemption. I respect them for that, they are good people and I'm glad these are the people that I met. I promise that one day I will return this favor. As I finished my inner thoughts, a shout came up,

"BEGIN!!"

It was Ake who was watching from the sidelines, the match against Rachel has begun. We both began staring at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Rachel was making a weird stance as if she was ready to dance. After a full minute passed by no one moved, so I decided to go first. I rushed forward with very quiet steps and swung my sword diagonally with both hands.

'DING'

Rachel pulled up her sword with a single hand, causing our swords to connect. However, while I was somewhat shaking, trying to get through her defense, she was repelling it with no effort. This was very shocking as I thought our strengths would be similar but she is completely above me in that aspect. She then used more force and completely parried my sword, causing me to fall back.

Now it was her turn to attack. She made weird movements with her feet but somehow crossed meters from her starting point within a blink of an eye. She appeared right in front of me and without me even noticing, she went to my right and swung her sword. I quickly lifted my sword to form a horizontal line and try to parry the attack. Instead of parrying, I was forced to kneel on one of my feet while still defending Rachel's first attack. Afterward, I slipped backward and made some space between us.

"That was... unexpected."

Seeing Ryle's usual gloomy expression turning into a surprised one made Rachel really happy.

"Hahaha, yeah I told yah I'm good."

"No, you didn't. 'sigh'"

After a brief exchange of words, I got into an attacking stance again. If I let her attack me first, I will just lose the trade and even if I parry it somewhat, I will run out of stamina eventually. Without even waiting for Rachel's reply I sprinted towards her. Once I reached in front of her I began to hit her with a barrage of attacks. Each one of my attacks got blocked by her with minimal efforts which at this point wasn't as shocking.

Right when my barrage of attacks ended, she began launching multiple attacks focused on one point. This made me worry since this type of exchange is a strength-based one which I will obviously lose. I tried retreating backward but she would keep following me wherever I went, leading to us going throughout the entire yard before reaching the middle again.

'pant, pant, pant'

I was panting very hard, as I've just been running around using everything I have to block all of her attacks.

Just as I thought I was going to get a break I saw Rachel making a stance. It wasn't a regular attacking or defending stance. With one of her legs up and her arms apart from one another, her left arm in front of her chest, while her right arm which is holding her sword bending backward. Before I could even react she was about to reach me, she then muttered the words.

"Butterfly Style: 2nd Strike!"

I dodged by ducking because I seriously didn't think I could've parried or repelled that. A gush of wind then went by and when I turned my body around to try and escape, I saw an astonishing feat, there was a huge hole in the wall a couple of meters away from us.

"... That, would've definitely killed me."

"Haha! I knew you would've dodged that. Not bad Ryle!"

"Uh, thank you, Rachel."

We both went back to our original stances and were about to continue this fight. Now that I've seen what Rachel can do. I'm afraid she might actually end up killing me throughout this. When I glanced at Sarah and Ake, Ake was paying keen attention while Sarah was surprised at mostly me being able to dodge that attack, before noticing my stare, she then turned to Rachel and exclaimed.

"RACHEL! Don't use dangerous moves like that or you might really hurt somebody!!!"

"Haha, you're no fun mom."