Chapter 4

Shin was running through the forest, chased by a myriad of whip images. He had gotten quite good at evading those whips, though, and it was getting rarer and rarer for him to get hit. However, as he was running, he suddenly had an empty look, and stopped, as if his soul had been taken out of his body. Then, accompanied by a sudden headache, he fell to his knees.

His mind was taken by visions, rather familiar to the scene surrounding him at that very moment. That of running away, in a forest.

“Another vision?” Atsutaka asked, as he stopped his whip myriad attack, and looked at his disciple, with some worry.

“Yes,” he answered. “Anything new?” Atsutaka asked him once more.

“No, it’s just the same thing as ever. Me being chased into the forest, and then that Cliff guy pushing me over the cliff,” Shin said. Atsutaka nodded his head. Indeed, this had happened several times already, so it was nothing new. By now, he didn’t even have anything new to learn from those visions. He already remembered the entire chase; just not anything prior to it.

“Don’t worry Shin. I’m sure your memories will come back soon,” Atsutaka consoled. “Now, how about we take it off our minds, and continue our light jog,” he said, with a light in his eyes, causing Shin to gulp. But there was no mercy, and the ‘Myriad Whip Attack’ continued, and Shin had to run for his life.

Then, after having spent two hours in the forest, they came back to the hut. These days, they would go run for two hours, as a warm up, before starting strength training.

“Alright, let’s warm up your joints first,” Atsutaka said. “Do a hundred quick push ups, a hundred quick squats, and a hundred quick sit ups. Then we’ll start,” he continued.

“Yes, Master!” Shin said, without a hint of hesitation. Then, without further ado, he dropped, and speedily did a hundred push ups, sit ups, and squats, in just about ten minutes. Indeed, he was already capable of that much. It had been about almost three weeks since he started training, and as Atsutaka had promised, he was able to do a hundred push ups, in under a month. In fact, he was already capable of it a week ago.

Then started the true training exercises. Doing lunges, while holding heavy rocks, then throwing the rocks as far up into the sky as he could muster, then catching them again. God forbid if he didn’t catch… Balancing on poles, while Atsutaka swiped at him with a stick. God forbid if he didn’t evade… Doing heavy bench presses with rock, and all sorts of different strength exercises, some seemingly normal, others exotic and weird. However, they still didn’t do anything resembling martial arts.

Back inside, they were eating dinner, when Atsutaka decided to ask Shin something.

“Shin, what are you going to do, when you regain your memories? To Cliff?” He asked. Shin looked up at his Master, taken off guard by the sudden question. He started to think, looking back down into his food, as he did so.

“I don’t know. I mean, should I be the magnanimous one, and just forgive him, or should seek vengeance? I don’t have any memories, but is that what martial arts are about? I don’t feel like martial arts are purely a tool for revenge. Violence,” he said. Atsutaka looked at his disciple, a somewhat approving look on his face.

“Indeed, martial arts are not purely about violence. There are those that use it purely for violence, those who kill without discretion, and there are those who only use it only to protect, who never kill. However, neither of those paths are the true one! Martial arts are a tool, as well as a way of life. You use it to protect those dear to you, so that harm may never reach them… and you use it to destroy your enemies. If someone shows you kindness, then you give kindness back, if someone shows you malice, you give malice back. If someone saves your life, you must help them in their time of need… and if someone tries to kill you, you must kill them. That is what I believe. Everything must be dealt in equivalent exchange,” Atsutaka explained.

“So, what I’m trying to say, don’t kill over just the smallest of things. If someone insults you, there is no need to go further than to just punish them. But if someone does something unspeakable towards, if it goes to the point where they can be a threat to your wellbeing, you must kill,” Atsutaka continued.

“So I must Kill this Cliff, if I ever get my memories back?” Shin asked. It wasn’t that he was appalled or anything. In fact, he didn’t think it sounded too wrong. After all, he was a blank slate, so it was easy to implant new thoughts into his head.

“Or at least destroy him. Cripple him, and ruin his reputation. For scum like him, you must never show any leniency, do you understand Shin?” Atsutaka said.

“Yes, I understand, Master,” Shin answered, much to Atsutaka’s delight. He enjoyed this, moulding someone into the same kind of person like him. Someone who walked the gray line. Not necessarily evil, nor good.

“Good. But before any of that, you still need to learn my martial arts. I think it’s about time for that anyways… Alright, I’ll start teaching you straight after dinner!” Atsutaka said with excitement. He was finally about to teach his first disciple martial arts! It was truly something to be excited for.

“What kind of martial arts do you practise, anyway?” Shin asked.

“I practise my own style that I created through many trials. It’s a combination of several martial arts that I learned in the past. They include Chinese Kenpo, Jujitsu, both the Japanese, as well as Brazilian variant, Karate, Muay Thai, Muay Boran, and tidbits from other martial arts, like Silat and Krav Maga,” Atsutaka said, only managing to confuse Shin.

“I don’t recognise any of those, except Karate,” he admitted. “Haha, don’t worry, if you’re not already interested in martial arts, you probably wouldn’t know much about them. However, when I’m done with you, you’ll know everything about them. Now, let’s go!” He said, as he directly dragged Shin outside, not even letting him finish his food. He was just a bit too excited to teach his art.

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Thus, he dragged him to the backside of the hut, where a sandbag hung, ready to be punched and kicked. He had also taken a few mitts, like those used in boxing, or to be more precise, Muay Thai. Thick, and elongated, so that you can both punch and kick them.

“Alright, we’ll start with the simplest, Muay Thai punching and kicking. First we need to get you into stance. First, take a step forward with your left foot, then a bit back, and to the side with your right foot,” he said, and Shin followed.

“Yes, that’s right. Now, hold your hands above your chin, and you’ve got your basic kickboxer stance,” he said.

“Alright, then what now?” Shin asked. “Now, we teach you how to walk!” Atsutaka answered fervently.

“What? Walk? Shin asked, confused. “Indeed, we teach you how to walk correctly. When you’re fighting, you want to keep balance, you see, so you must never cross your legs. Thus, when you walk forwards, you step with your left foot, and follow with your right. When going backwards, you step back with your right foot, and follow with the left. Going left, step with left, follow with right. Going right, you step with the right foot, follow with the left. You get the picture, right?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Shin answered. “Good, then do it. Start walking in a circle around the sandbag. Always keep the sandbag centered,” Atsutaka instructed, and Shin started circling it, with a,

“Yes Master!”

Thus, he did that for five minutes, before Atsutaka stopped him again.

“Alright, that’s good. We’ll practise footwork more, while we simultaneously train your punches and kicks,” Atsutaka explained.

“Now, for the left punch, the jab. We’ll do it slowly a few times. First, take a step forwards with your left foot. Meanwhile, extend your left arm outwards, like, you know, a punch. You’re done. Just don’t pull your arm back first, then the enemy will see the punch coming. Alright, here, try it a few times on my mitts,” Atsutaka instructed. Shin went back into stance, although Atsutaka had to remind him a bit, and then he started punching.

The first few times, Atsutaka had to do some corrections, but he quickly managed to get the jab right. After all, it’s not that hard, it’s the simplest punch in boxing.

“Alright, now for the right punch, also known as a cross or straight. The power of this punch doesn’t come from the arm itself, but your entire body and core, so it’s important to get it right. While punching, you want to rotate your right foot, like this,” Atsutaka said, as he showed him how to do the right punch.

“The point is that through the rotation, you’re putting your hips into it, and all your weight, causing a powerful blow. Now, you try,” he said, as he held up the mitts again. Thus, he started doing straight punches with his right hand. After a while, Atsutaka instructed him to change between the left and right punch in intervals, until they had half a combination attack.

“Alright, you’re doing good. Now, let’s finish this, and turn it into the simplest combination attack, by adding a left hook,” Atsutaka said, as he stepped back again.

“The left hook is a little bit more complicated, but it’s still easy. First, you wanna try hunching down to the left, just a little bit. You can easily do this, as you throw a right cross. Then, you want to throw the punch in an arch, while bending your arm ninety degrees. While you throw the punch, you want to rotate your left foot, like you did with the right when throwing the cross. I’ll show you first, then you do it,” Atsutaka explained, then proceeded to throw a few left hooks, as well as do a few combination attacks, with the left jab, right straight, left hook.

“See, it’s easy. Now it’s your turn,” he said, as pulled up his mitts again. Thus, Shin started doing the combination attack repeatedly, for almost an entire hour straight. Atsutaka was dead set on drilling it into his brain, until it became second nature.

“Alright, that was good. Now we’re going to get started on kicks!” Atsutaka said, still as excited as ever.

“The Muay Thai kick is a very powerful one, so use it responsibly, haha. Now, let’s get started. First, you want to step to the side of your opponent. You’re going to kick with your right leg, so you step to the left side. Then you lift your leg in an arch, while rotating your foot, like this,” Atsutaka said, as he demonstrated the kick. Then, Shin proceeded to try, however, it looked very clumsy. Luckily for him, Atsutaka had already fervently trained his flexibility. Although, he wasn’t able to do a split yet, he already wasn’t too far off.

If he wasn’t flexible, he wouldn’t be able to do it as well as he did. Thus, after a few hundred, exhausting tries, he had a relatively presentable kick.

“Alright, good, good! Now, your left leg. To do a left kick, first you need to switch stance. You just want to invert it, putting your right leg in front, and your left foot in back, then you follow the same steps, like this,” Atsutaka explained, then showed him how it was done. In one quick, fluid movement, he switched his legs, then did the kick.

“Alright, now you try,” he then ordered, and Shin proceeded to try as well. He wasn’t able to switch as quickly and fluidly as Atsutaka, but he still got into the left-handed stance, and did his kick. Then he proceeded to kick a few hundred times with his left leg, on the mitts.

“Good, you’ve pretty much gotten the basics down now. Now we’re going to combine these kicks into the combinations. First, I want you to do the same left jab, right cross, left hook, then add in the right kick. Then do it again, but add in another right hook, after the left one, then switch, and left kick! Begin!” Atsutaka instructed, and Shin immediately complied.

He moved in, and with a single step, his left fist shot into the mitt, like a spear, causing a loud ‘boom’ sound. Then with a turn of his right leg, he exploded his right fist into the matt, at almost the same speed, but this time it caused an even noisier ‘explosion’. Still, the matts barely even budged. With the second punch done, he immediately hunched ever so slightly, before he turned his left foot, and his powerful left hook exploded into the matt.

“BOOM!” It sounded as his bare fist and the leather matt clashed.

“Now, back out, and kick!” Atsutaka yelled out, and Shin immediately took a step back, then stepped to the side of his master, and let his leg shoot up in an arch, and chopped it into the matts, like a wide battle-axe.

“BOOM!” The loudest ‘explosion’ yet sounded out, and the leg finally found its way back down to the ground, and Shin stood back in his fighting stance.

“That was good. You’re already good at using your newly developed strength. If any normal person, who hasn’t trained, was to get hit by those punches and kicks, they’d be done for. Of course, you’d need to hit them. No telling if you could win a fight yet, since you just began, haha,” Atsutaka said, as he clapped his disciple on the shoulder.

“Now, do it a thousand more times, and we’ll call it for today, and get started on your evening strength exercises,” he continued. Shin’s expression darkened slightly, at those last words. He didn’t think he’d still have to do strength exercises after this. He had already been doing those for a good two hours, and doing a thousand repetitions of that combo would probably take at least another two hours… However, he couldn’t refuse.

And as thus, went his first day of real martial arts training. He had finally started on the path of power, the path of strength, the path of Muay Thai, one of the many martial arts he would learn from his new Master, and one of the many martial arts which would combine into that special, unstoppable martial art, of his Master’s.