“Now!” Thomas shouted. Kyle exploded into action. He closed on the Warrior, hands up in a fighting stance ready to strike. He launched a series of jabs with his left hand, just like he’d been taught. Despite his superior Perception and Dexterity, Kyle’s punches each failed to land a meaningful blow, and he was forced to sidestep as Garth countered with a vicious straight punch that made the air crack in its wake. The group cheered loudly at the spectacle, watching Kyle once again attempt to land a blow on Garth. This time he feinted in with a left jab, only to take a deep step in with his right foot to try to get around Garth’s guard. The trained soldier saw the feint coming and lowered the shoulder, slamming into Kyle with the force of a small car. Kyle was knocked back several meters, the breath knocked out of him as he crashed to the ground. “That’s another for Garth!” Thomas yelled, and the crowd of onlookers cheered again. This marked Garth’s twelfth win, with Kyle only able to tackle or land a solid hit on the man seven times on his end. That frustrated the part of him that liked to compete, but he couldn’t help but feel invigorated at the challenge of trying to match up to Garth head-to-head.
He had balked at the idea at first, but looking at the smiling faces in the crowd he couldn’t help but match the expression. Garth had suggested practicing live combat against him, with the pressure of having the group of survivors watching. On one end it would give the group some much needed entertainment, and it would raise the stakes and pressure enough for Kyle to try to meaningfully improve without taking undue risks. In the week since they’d started this training, he still could barely come out ahead one in three skirmishes, despite his superior attributes. He still hadn’t meaningfully tested HASTE, but he knew that Garth likely had a handful of tricks up his sleeve he hadn’t deployed as well. Athleticism and physical ability were important, but they were no substitute for tried and true combat experience, which Garth had in spades.
Kyle hadn’t realized just how many variant creatures Garth’s team had been sent out to suppress, even this far after Earth’s awakening. Like everybody else, he’d heard stories of the hordes of powerful E Grade and even the occasional D Grade monster from the time of the Originators, but just like with people he’d assumed that when the ambient mana had calmed down the emergence of these creatures would as well. From what he’d gathered from Garth and the others in Central Defense, they were out on some sort of monster hunt almost weekly, and rarely returned with a false alarm. What that meant ultimately was that Garth had fought with his life on the line for over a decade – an experience gap that wasn’t going to be easily closed.
Garth walked over to the dust-covered Kyle, extending his hand. Kyle clasped it, rising to his feet. “You alright? That hit was a lot harder than I anticipated. Great step in, if a little predictable. Your footwork has gotten much better.” Feeling his smile grow, Kyle met Garth’s eyes. “You really think I’m improving?” Garth snorted. “You’re almost not a complete disaster. Don’t get ahead of yourself, you’ve still got a long way to go.” Kyle nodded, still not able to fully suppress the happiness he felt. This was the kind of thing he enjoyed – finding a challenge and having to push himself to meet it. From the physical trials of keeping up with his grandfather to the mental challenges of his medical training, some of Kyle’s fondest memories were of overcoming adversity. No, that’s not quite right, Kyle thought. Sure, he very much enjoyed the feeling of success that came with fresh accomplishments, but that wasn’t the whole puzzle.
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As he reflected on it, he noticed a familiar grief in the pit of his stomach. No longer the stabbing anguish it had been, but still present. Grandpa… he thought, remembering how Clark would always go out of his way to be present during the victories. He realized he’d been standing in silence for a moment, and had no illusion that Garth noticed. “Sorry, just thinking about how things were before. Got caught up in the moment a little.”
Garth smiled as he nodded, clapping Kyle’s shoulder as he turned away. “Nothing wrong with remembering, just don’t live there. Good job kid.” With that he walked away, and the circle of onlookers dissipated, returning to their duties and leaving Kyle alone. Well, leaving Kyle alone with C.H.A.D.D.
[DR. MAYHEW, SCANS SHOW MINOR BRUISING AROUND THE RIBCAGE, BUT OTHERWISE NO NOTEWORTHY DAMAGE. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO BEGIN THE REPLAY NOW?] Sighing as the drone brought him fully back to the moment, he nodded, not missing the drone using “me” in its language. C.H.A.D.D. had been doing more of that lately, which Kyle knew should worry him more than it did. There were strict regulations in place when it came to AI functionalities, and he had no illusions that C.H.A.D.D. was moving well beyond those boundaries. Still, he just felt better having the drone behaving more like a person. Having somebody else he could talk to that knew all the changes he’d gone through was incredibly comforting, magnified further by C.H.A.D.D. having been there since before this mess had started. He watched as the little drone projected miniature scale versions of himself and Garth, and watched their sparring session unfold again.
Kyle watched the battle play out in miniature scale, the combat slowed down to a snail’s pace as he took in every aspect of the fight. Watching Garth’s slow, fluid motions made his seem so frantic and sloppy by comparison, and just like the nights before Kyle saw areas that he could improve. Garth was right – his feint was hasty and easily predicted, the evidence before him as he saw a subtle shift in Garth’s weight even before projection-Kyle had gotten halfway through the deeper step in. He felt the intense focus build as he watched the dance again and again, just as he’d done with every fight beforehand.
The dissection and observation of his combat style in many ways reminded him of his medical training, and he took a similar clinical approach. If he was being honest with himself, it felt good to have something to fully occupy his mind. It wasn’t since his internal medicine rotations and micro-mana manipulation training that he felt a mental challenge at this level, and before he knew it he was narrating observations to C.H.A.D.D. who dutifully tracked the narration. “Too much tension in the hips, the lunge in was telegraphed by flexion in the left leg and dropping of the left arm. C.H.A.D.D., freeze frame here, I want to…”
Hours of observations later, Kyle gave C.H.A.D.D. the go ahead to stop the playbacks, his fights thoroughly reviewed and analyzed. He’d gone back to the previous recordings as well to compare some of the footwork issues, and was pleased to see he’d uncovered some of the common movements that telegraphed his transition into offense. With a grunt of satisfaction, he lay back on the cold ground, C.H.A.D.D. floating down beside him. The stories Garth shared had troubled Kyle – he still had a hard time believing that a group of awakened would have such an easy time throwing away the public good – but he recognized that this reality was one he would have to contend with. And he intended to be ready to tackle it head-on.