Renegade World: Future Past (19 page)

Mr. Hyon continued testing the students on other kicks as
well as striking techniques. Finally, he said, “OK. Put away the targets.” He
waited for them to line back up. “Right foot back fighting stance. Students
facing the mirrors will punch.  The other side will block. Focus your punch an
inch away from either the head or body. Defenders, choose whichever block is
appropriate. On your own. Begin!”  Billy threw a punch at Naami's face. Naami
easily blocked it with a rising block. He threw the next punch at her body, and
she blocked it with an outside block.

The judges walked around and graded each student's
techniques. Rebeka Lee stopped and watched Naami's blocks. Naami waited until
the last possible moment to block and moved her arms the minimum necessary
amount. She still managed to generate more than enough force to block Billy's
punches, which were hard and wild and might have struck her if she didn't make
the block. Rebeka Lee walked down to the next pair of students and called out
to everyone, “Attackers, watch your control!”

Mr. Hyon smiled at Rebeka Lee. He was pretty sure who that
was really directed at. He yelled out, “Stop!” He waited briefly. “Now the students
facing the mirror will defend. Ready! Begin!”

He watched Naami throw a punch at Billy. It was focused
about one-half inch from Billy's nose. His block was late. At best, it would
have only partially blocked the punch had she focused it an inch further. In
addition, the block was much bigger than necessary, leaving him vulnerable to a
combination. He watched several more techniques and then marked a question mark
on the score sheet at the intersection of Billy's name and the technique
column.

Kim and the two boys watched all of the students.  They
agreed that Naami looked better than the other eleven students including some
of the older students who were testing for brown belts.

After Mr. Hyon finished testing techniques, he called up each student to demonstrate their form for the judges.

Naami performed Toi-Gye right after Jeff, a former college
linebacker, had performed it. As they watched Naami, Kim and the boys heard
Jeff say, “She is so explosive. She makes me look slow and unfocused.”

Mr. Hyon and the two other judges watched the remaining
students perform their forms, and then he stood up and said, “Get your sparring
gear on please and line up by height in front of the mirrors.”

Mr. Hyon watched as they lined up. “We will have two
sparring contests at the same time. From Billy down to Naami, you’re with Ms.
Johnson. The rest of you are with Mr. Rude. Everyone will spar three times.”

Naami first sparred Phil, an eight-year-old green belt.
Phil was cautious and threw only one punch or kick at a time before quickly
retreating. Naami quickly shuffled in on him, throwing multiple combinations of
kicks and punches as he retreated.

In her second match, she sparred Julie, a ten-year-old
third-degree brown belt. Taller and more confident, she stood her ground against Naami and
countered Naami's techniques. She blocked a front-leg front kick, backfist, and reverse puch combination
and several other combinations, but Naami began to wear her down, scoring on
the third or fourth techniques of her combinations, frequently a ridge hand or hook
kick.

In her final match, she sparred Billy. Billy charged in at
Naami, but she easily moved sideways out of the way. Rebeka Lee warned him,
“Billy, don't charge in like that. You will run into a sidekick no matter how
good her control is!” Naami scored on a backfist, punch, ridge hand combination
and danced away. Billy charged in, right into a jump back kick. Although Naami
pulled it, he still woofed as it made contact with him. Billy composed himself
and then threw a wild round kick at Naami's head that came down from above her.
At the last second, Naami threw up an x-block and trapped his right leg above
her head. Billy hopped on his left leg twice before Naami released his right
leg. Rebeka Lee stopped the match and bowed them out.

The last part of the test involved breaking boards and
patio blocks. Mr. Hyon let Naami try to break a board for the first time. As
good as she was, at her last test, he hadn't been sure she had enough mass or
strength to perform a break. He asked Rebeka Lee to hold for her.

Rebeka Lee picked up a board. “What technique are you going
to use to break the board, Naami?”

“A side kick.”

Rebeka Lee knelt down and held the board out at Naami's
waist height, but Naami walked over and positioned it at her head height. She
then stepped back from the board and bowed to Mr. Hyon.  Turning back to the
board, she assumed a fighting stance and took a slow breath. With one quick
shuffle step towards the target she launched her side kick and shattered the
board.

The audience, led by Kim, Eddie, and Raul, applauded. Eddie
looked at Raul. “That was so cool!”

Raul laughed. “I think I'll remember this every time she
side kicks me when we play Ultimate Martial Arts.”

All of the students passed the test except for Phil and
Billy, who got conditional passes, which usually meant that they would have to
talk to Mr. Hyon and redo part of the test for him during the next week. Naami
proudly showed Kim, Eddie and Raul the new stripe on her purple belt.

The three of them were congratulating Naami loudly as Billy
walked by. Eddie saw Billy scowl at Naami. He leaned over to Naami and quietly
said, “I don't think Billy's too happy with you.”

Naami shrugged her shoulders. “Billy’s OK. He'll get over
it when he gets his new belt.”

Eddie frowned. “I hope so. Billy is Brenda's stepbrother.”

K
im, Eddie, Raul, and Naami got together to watch the
broadcast of the Junior Olympic saber matches over the net.

They all cheered when Erica won the match to get into the
quarter-finals. While the boys were still cheering, Kim leaned over to Naami,
“What's the difference between saber and the other fencing events?”

 “The main difference is that the saber is both a cutting
and a thrusting weapon. Also, the target area isn't exactly the same as the
other fencing events. In saber, the target area is from the bend of the hips to
the top of the head, including the arms but not hands. The saber is descended
from the slashing cavalry sword.”

Raul heard the end of Naami's explanation. “I heard that
the saber descended from the oriental scimitar and was the national weapon of
Hungary.”

Naami shrugged. “It’s possible the cavalry swords descended
from the scimitar.”

They watched the quarter-finals and cheered when Erica won.
“The speed of the attacks was awesome,” commented Eddie. “I don't know how they
could have scored these matches before electronic scoring. How could they have
detected who scored first?”

“I asked Erica the same question,” Naami responded. “She
said that there were a lot of disputed decisions.”

Raul frowned. “I think the matches are really exciting, but
I don't think that a real duel would look anything like one of these matches.
It’s kind of like the difference between Ultimate Martial Arts Tournament and a
real fight.” 

Naami shrugged. “I don't disagree. Neither one takes into
account how much you get hurt each time your opponent scores. Especially in
sword fights, I think the real thing would have to be much more defensive.”

In the semifinal match, Erica faced Svetlana Karina, who
was ranked number one in the world. Svetlana got the first three points, and
the four of them all yelled for Erica to make a comeback.  Erica got the next
three points as they all whooped. Svetlana silenced them as she got the next
three touches to make it 6-3. Erica continued to trail but finally pulled
within one at 13-12. They were all screaming, but Svetlana again silenced them
by winning the next point.

Naami yelled, “Come on Erica, you can do it!”

They all screamed when Erica won the next point, and they
screamed even louder and jumped up and down when she tied it up on the next
point. The final attack by Erica was a blur.

Naami bounded into the air. “She scored!”

Raul pumped his fist. “That was incredible!” He high-fived Eddie
while Naami and Kim did back flips.

They continued to celebrate until the final match came on.
The final match was not nearly as exciting. They cheered as Erica won almost
every point. Naami was watching Erica's opponent's moves. She could see them
coming before they came. Evidently Erica could too. Erica only lost two points
in the entire match.

Naami asked Abraham to message Erica her congratulations.

Done.

Raul was still pumping his fist over the victory. “Let’s
play Ultimate Martial Art Tournament.”

Kim frowned. “Sorry, I’ve got to go.”

Naami put her hand on Kim's shoulder. “I'll walk you out.”

Raul and Eddie yelled their goodbyes as they watched the
two girls walk out of the room. After the girls left, Raul turned to Eddie
and smirked. “While Naami is out of the room, let’s set up a tournament with
Naami up first, and”— he laughed — “level ten.”

“Are you nuts? I won't get a point and neither will you.”

“Yes, but will Naami? Wouldn't it be worth it to see her
lose a match?”

“Well, OK, but when she figures it out, I'm going to let
her know that it was your idea!”

Raul finished setting up the tournament just before Naami
walked back in. “We both still want to play. I set it up. You're up first.”

Naami looked closely at Raul and then at Eddie. They were
up to something. Raul looked like he was biting his lip, and Eddie bent down to
retie his shoes when she looked at him.
Abraham?

They have set the difficulty to level 10.

They don’t know that I play at level 10 when no one else
is around. I can win, but should I?

She took her stance and bowed. The opponent attacked, and
she stayed on defense, anticipating each move and blocking each one just in
time. As the time was about to expire, she scored with a side kick to win.

She pulled off the sensors. “Wow, that was really tough! I
was lucky to win that match. Who’s up next?”

The boys looked at each other. They couldn't believe that
she had won and that they were going to get massacred.

Eddie got up and put on the sensor gear. He bowed and
immediately got nailed by his opponent's jump back kick. A few seconds later, he
fell for a feint to the body and got nailed by an outside crescent kick. After blocking
a kick and punch, his opponent ax-kicked
Eddie's guard down and scored with a punch to the head.

Eventually, Eddie lost
eighteen to zero. “That was brutal! I'm glad it was my avatar taking the
punishment and not me.”

With a straight face, Naami teased, “I've never seen you
lose that bad before.” She turned to Raul. “I'm sure you can do better than Eddie.”

Eddie shot Raul a dirty look. “Yes, I'm sure you won't get
skunked.”

Unfortunately for Raul, he did get skunked. “Man, I thought
I’d get at least one point.
Maybe Naami will lose her next round.

Naami got up, but instead of putting the sensors on, she
put them back in the storage box. “Since you guys both lost, I think I should
quit. I've got homework too.” While it was true that she had homework, she had
already finished it. She didn't want to let them see her compete at level 10
again.
Let them wonder if I got lucky. Besides, I have my weights to do.

She showed the boys out, waved goodbye, and then went down
to the exercise room.
I’m going to raise the platform another inch.
After she raised it, she jumped from the floor onto the platform twelve times.
She waited for Abraham to let her know when to start the next exercise.

Ok, Naami, power cleans set one.

After three sets of power cleans with twelve-kilo dumbbells,
she did a second set of platform jump-ups. As usual, three sets of bench
presses with twelve-kilo dumbbells came next followed by the third set of
jump-ups. She finished her workout with three sets of step-ups using the twelve-kilo
weights with a set of muscle-ups in between each set.

Abraham, are you sure I can’t use more weight? I feel
like I could do more now.

You probably could do more, but you could possibly
injure a muscle or a tendon. It’s safer to slowly increase the amount of weight
you use and make sure that your body can handle it. You just need to be—

I know! I know! Patient. The word I think I hate most.

T
he bell rang, and Mrs. Bright said, “See you Monday. Make
sure to complete all your homework assignments.”

Naami glanced back at Brenda’s empty desk. “Raul, did you
notice that Brenda was gone all week.”

“I—“

“She’s not coming back,” said Kim. “My dad was their
insurance agent. He heard they moved out in the country somewhere. The bank
foreclosed on their house. “

“Too bad, but I’m glad she’s gone,” said Eddie.

Raul nodded. “You’re not the only one.”

“That explains why we haven’t seen Billy at the studio,”
said Naami. “I hope they both are OK. I know it’s hard when you lose your
house.”

M
rs. Carlson dropped Naami, Thor, Erica, and Aaron in
front of the studio. She waved goodbye as they all got out. “Call me when
you’re ready for me to come get you.”

Erica replied, “Will do.”

Naami waved. “Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Carlson.”

“You’re welcome.”

Thor looked ahead at the studio. “Wow, there are a lot of
people in the studio today.”

Naami looked in and tried not to smile.

Aaron peered in. “It looks like people from the last class
haven't cleared out yet.” With twenty minutes between classes, the students and
parents from the kids’ green belt and under class were usually gone by the time
they got here for their class.

Abraham, how many—