Gads... Sam thought to himself at Yuliya's reassurances,
I'm actually going to do this. I'm going to get stronger! He shifted his weight a bit, still keeping his eyes on the ground, but he couldn't keep a small, self-satisfied smile from stretching his lips. Fear was always a part of the equation, but at least now it was drowned out by the light of progress at the end of a fifteen-year-long tunnel. Shen's arrival with the orange packet only seemed to solidify the feeling.
"S-S-Solo, p-please..." Sam made a hushed squeak to try and voice his preference for the lessons as Shen ran through the packet. Groups seemed like a cool experience and all, and they were obviously good for making friends based on the recent demonstration, but Sam knew better. He just
knew. He screwed things up with any potential "friends" no matter what the situation called for. A group wouldn't help him protect himself. It'd more than likely just get more people hurt. No, the less people involved in this whole training thing, the better. Besides, if he really needed saving, he'd feel better about a teacher doing the job.
That's their job, after all. he reasoned.
All the thinking about friends brought Mayra back to mind, and Sam had to shake his head solemnly at the recollection.
She saves your hide, gets hurt, and you just ditch her and...jeez Sam, stupid! Maybe this class'll at least help me grow some guts...
Speaking of guts, Sam tuned in just as Shen made his request for an assessment. The blond sniffed nonchalantly and looked up, as though a written test would be presented to him. It took a few seconds for the realization to hit him. This was a gym, not a class. Another subconscious sniff brought the weight of the sweat-scented air back into his mind, and his eyes, fueled by an influx of nerves, darted every which way. This was a gym. A gym!
A gym! What am I, an idiot?! I'm not gonna get stronger, I'm gonna get myself killed!
With all of that in mind, Sam's confidence took shotgun to his fears. The image of the sad, timid boy was replaced with a baby bird in the hand of a hunter, chest heaving, head swiveling, arms fidgeting...about the only thing that hadn't changed were his eyes, still housing some kind of fierce determination to stay put. And so he did.
"Th...Thank you." Sam forced out the breathy reply as he took hold of the packet and pen, shakily filling out what he could, and all but signing his soul away to this strange new world.
Once Sam had finished filling out the form, Shen tore out the signed portion and handed the information part back to the blond boy. "Keep that, and read it over. Keep track of the schedule too." So it looks like this student wanted to go solo then. Doable, and he's mentored many students privately before. Likely solo lessons were within the boy's comfort zone given his rather quiet nature. If Shen hadn't realized it before, he would have thought the boy was trying to disappear into thin air.
"I'll take it from here, Yuliya," said Shen. "The punching bag is free right now."
"Oh, sure. I'll just change first." Yuliya walked away, but not before giving Sam an encouraging nod.
"This way, Sam." Shen headed for a large punching bag in the corner of the room. A cord hung below the punching bag, connected to a small computer with what looked like blank graphs and charts on the screen. "Punch right here on this red X--" Shen pointed at said red X on the center of the punching bag. "Punch as hard as you can, but don't use your powers."
With his signature handed off, Sam began flipping through the rest of the information, taking in as much as possible to keep his mind distracted. Rules, schedules, syllabi...all safety-zones for the blond. His breathing and nervous twitching settled down once he hit the second page, his eyes glued to the sheet.
Thanks to that, Yuliya's leaving wasn't such a big hit to Sam's confidence as it could've been. Sure it still made his heart go into double-time, but he managed to keep a grip in front of Shen. So the clinging phantom fingers that desperately wanted to reach out for his teacher, like a lost child for its mother, sank to the back of Sam's mind as he followed his terrifyingly stoic trainer to their destination: A punching bag. The various connections to it looked familiar to Sam, and he drank in that familiarity with a relaxed sigh.
No fights. No going toe-to-toe with the teacher like in all the movies and stuff. No ridiculous trials or risk of death...just straight-forward data. I guess I should give Mr. Shen more credit. Sam thought, trying to get a read on some of the technical instruments. As he stepped up to the X, Sam couldn't help but take some time to take a closer look, trying to find out how all the fancy hookups worked. After wasting a minute ogling nothing in particular, Sam shook himself out of his distractions and focused on the X, beginning his old song and dance of thinking way too far into what had to be done.
He said punch, but ma always said bare-knuckle punches hurt like the dickens. Should I use my palm? Maybe the hammer? Pa always said to do things "shoulder-first..." I wonder if Mr. Shen would get mad if I tackled it. And what about my elbow? Concentrated force and a small surface-area. That's science, right? Sam's eyes narrowed as he ran through the options, and another minute flew by before he finally decided to just punch the stupid thing. He had already broken a sweat just trying to figure out the pros and cons, and it really wasn't worth being so nitpick-y before training even officially began. Plus, Shen was probably getting impatient, and Sam didn't want to see what an impatient Mr. Shen looked like. He was scared enough as it was. Frankly...
Another minute passed. Sam looked up at Shen, then down at his feet, then his poorly-balled fist. Enough stalling. Sam lifted his arm and threw his hand forward with his best attempt at a menacing yell. It just felt right in the moment, though thinking back on it, Sam regretted it. His voice cracked, his fist had begun to uncurl before making contact, he missed the X by a small margin, his footing was helter-skelter,
Gads Sam, you're a mess! Embarrassing, embarrassing, embarrassing!
The blond's chest sank, and his face flooded with pink. All he could do was return his gaze to the floor. He waited patiently for Shen's word, whether to move from his place in front of the bag, or to try again. Either way, Sam felt like his training would be short-lived if this was to be his starting point.
Shen stepped off to the side as Sam stepped closer to the punching bag. The boy stared at the bag for a full minute. Shen crossed his arms but didn't say anything. Another minute passed and Shen was about to clear his throat when Sam looked up at him, as if unsure if he was really ready for all this. Shen nodded at the bag and once again waited for the boy to proceed.
Sam raised his fist and swung once, missing his target. The monitor remained unchanged, but in that first attempt, Shen gleaned a lot of what needed to be worked on. Posture and footing were a given; he wasn't surprised given that Sam was a Freshman at HSSI. Shen may not have seen Sam's profile, but he already knew the boy had little to no experience in combat. The yell could use some work, as well as making sure his fist stays as a fist. Shen also picked up an issue of self-confidence within him.
"Keep your hand in a fist. Do not open your hand when making a punch. You want to make sure these--" he pointed to his knuckles "--makes contact with this." He pointed at the red X. "Go on and try again."
Hearing Shen speak only made Sam's face turn redder.
Well obviously I should keep my stupid hand into a stupid fist, and it's not like I didn't TRY to hit the stupid X on the stupid bag...
Sam's rare temper sank into his expression as he reared back again. He didn't bother with the yell this time. All he wanted to do was get it over with, and so he did. His fist, fully formed, found its mark. The moment it hit, Sam recoiled and shook his fingers out with a hiss of air. The material hurt a lot more than he expected it to, but at least it was done. The blond stepped back and took a shaky breath to clear his head. He did it. It took what felt like forever, and it didn't feel as accomplishing as he'd hoped, but he did it. Even so, he waited on Shen to speak before making another move. For all he knew, he was so weak that the instruments might not even register a direct hit from him. Feeling a bit self-conscious, Sam glanced at his arms. Working with his dad had put a little muscle on him, but looking at where he stood compared to his classmates, it just didn't feel like enough.
The monitor beeped once, notifying Shen that the data-gathering and number-crunching were complete. He briefly glanced at the monitor to see the linear graph that formed on the chart; There was one large spike that rose above a thin green line on the monitor before flatlining. That green line told Shen the punch slightly above the force of the average man. A little surprise given Sam's demeanor and build, but a good surprise.
"Good," he grunted. Shen changed the chart to allow the device to have a wider sensitivity in the bag. "Now kick it. As hard as you can. Afterwards, I'll test your reaction time."
Sam sniffed at Shen's next order. Kick? As in, with legs and feet? The blond took a deep breath to calm himself down. The fact that the monk had seen him flounder at hitting a static target at point-blank range, yet
still insisted on making Sam look like an idiot, really didn't make sense to the poor kid.
Still, he wasn't one to go against authority. That, and Sam was actually a bit more confident about his foot-usage. He had once struck his parents speechless by opening and closing the bathroom door with his heel while reading a comic-book. Balance may have always been an issue, but dexterity was another matter for Sam. So with a bit less thought hampering him down, Sam lashed his leg out and planted a solid heel into the bag, hitting the X with ease. Sam would have smiled at the result, but he became wobbly as soon as the deed was done. A second later saw him on his hide, and there he remained, waiting on Shen to state the next order of business.
Shen watched Sam land a kick on the bag before falling on his behind. The monitor spiked, showing the impact of the kick. There definitely was power there, as shown by how high it spiked. Form, of course, will need work as well as balance, but Sam's kicks definitely held potential.
"Solid kick," said Shen. He clicked through on the monitor, sending the results to his email. He'll look over the data on Sam's kick and punch to figure out where to start, as well as send Yuliya the results so she has an idea how to approach training too.
Speaking of Yuliya, the auburn-haired woman emerged from the locker room, dressed in a comfortable purple workout racerback. She was wrapping her hands with purple boxing tape as she passed by. She waved at the Shen and Sam then finished her wrappings and approached another nearby punching bag. Tuning out all other major distractions, Yuliya started punching the bag, practicing a variety of move sets like it was second nature.
With Shen having obtained data on Sam's strength, form and balance, all that was needed was speed. His reaction speed. On the computer, Shen pulled up a website with HSSI's logo in the corner. The site on the screen looked like it had a bunch of simple minigames. Each game had a small description of what it was about as well as what they tested for. Shen clicked on one game and stepped back to give Sam the computer.
"Change of pace here," he began. "I want to see how fast you can react as well as comprehension. Just follow the instructions for each section and you'll be done for the day."
The first game had a bright red screen. It measured one's reaction time by having the user click the mouse once the screen turned to green. Another game that followed had a series of dots all over that had to be clicked in the order they flashed on the screen, and the final one simulated a car going down the road and the object of the game was to avoid incoming obstacles such as a deer, a falling tree or a villain's approaching laser. Shen wondered why the last one had that kind of theme to it, but it was developed by some past students for a Crux Lab contest and the school decided it could be a good learning tool, even making Sakchai use it for some of their students.
Sam couldn't help but smile at having his kick complimented. Solid meant good. Good meant he wasn't a lost cause. The embarrassment in his system started to steam out as he made room for thoughts on self-improvement. When Yuliya came out, the blond even felt at-ease enough to give her a wave back. Of course, seeing her level of focus at her punching bag made him quickly retract his hand in respect. Someday he'd be expected to be
that good, he was sure of it.
It wasn't long before Shen had the next test up and running. Sam picked himself up to be surprised at the format. "C-Computer games?" he questioned, looking to Shen as if it were a joke. He didn't press further though. Whether it was a joke or not, Sam definitely wasn't going to complain. With practiced motions, the blond took his place and set his hand on the mouse. Now
this was familiar. As he became accustomed to the chair and mouse, Sam's eyes almost fused with the screen in front of him, allotting pure focus to the task at hand.
Sam had little difficulty with the first game. There was a minor delay in a few of his clicks, and with others, hardly any delay at all. He didn't even bother to check with Shen as he proceeded to the next task. The dot game practically bowed to Sam at the end. His wrist movements were precise and accurate, and his memory didn't fail him once: A perfect score, he was sure. Finally came the car simulation. Sam floundered for a moment as he figured out the controls and experimented with the limitations of the test, but eventually he maneuvered his way through it too. After Sam finished, he wiggled the mouse around a bit more, hoping that something else would pop up. When nothing did, Sam seemed to snap back to reality. He slowly looked to Shen, eyes wide and uneasy, before snapping his head back to the computer screen, his safe space.
Sam seemed much more comfortable in front of computer screen. He flew through the little games with ease, taking little to no time figuring out the controls before finishing each game with high scores. It was impressive to see how Sam easily conquered the dot game, as well as figure out the rhythm of the car simulation.
Fast and intuitive, thought Shen. This certainly was more of his element and if his power complimented that, then a hero career in intelligence and scouting would be an excellent field for him.
Of course, that didn't mean Sam shouldn't learn about martial arts as well.
"Okay, that's it," said Shen, nodding. "The assessment is finished, so I'll be looking over everything and making the lesson plan for you." He reached over and saved the results, emailing the scores to himself. "You may go and join Yuliya, or head back to the dorms if you wish. I expect to see you here Thursday at six o' clock sharp. I recommend having clothes for physical activity. Your gym uniform, which you will receive on your first day of Gym class, will suffice." He logged out of the computer and with that left.
Sam sucked in a deep breath at Shen's confirmation. That was it. He did it.
Wow, that felt...unfulfilling. The blond sat in the chair for a while longer, wondering if he should be afraid, unnerved, or disappointed. He had gone and done all that fear-mongering in his own head for nothing, so it seemed, and Shen didn't give even a hint of emotion to help Sam along with his assumptions.
Maybe this was a bad idea...
Eventually Sam picked himself up and caught sight of Yuliya. He was about to step over and see what he should do next, but seeing her still pitted against her punching bag, Sam decided it'd be better not to interrupt her. After a final inspection of his surroundings, Sam up and left Sakchai for the dorms. Tomorrow would come with its own set of challenges, he presumed, so it'd be best to de-stress while he still had the chance.