CHAPTER 16: THE GYM

Today was the day to move into his new apartment. David still had not gotten used to the changes that were happening around him. He had called the architect firm and told them that he could no longer work for the company and had taken a job at the Carmine Corporation. It seemed that they were generally happy with him and even sent over a nice severance check. David thought that the businesses actions were kind of weird but he guessed they were trying to 'bribe' him into possibly getting them some more work from the Carmine Corporation. Or maybe they felt guilt for giving his office and cramming him into a cubicle.

That was actually one of the reasons David had went along with Mr. Carmine's plan and became an employee of the Carmine Corporation. After his 5 month absence, his old job didn't feel the same as before. That and his new position with the Carmine Corporation paid a lot more money. It was nice not to have financial worries.

Right now he was being driven by a few of the Carmine's guards to his new apartment building early in the morning. All his possessions from his old apartment had been mostly thrown away. The only items he had packed up to bring were his toiletries and a few of the plants in his kitchen window. Mr. Gauge had given him the option to have his new apartment furnished so he took the option.

When David was leaving his apartment, he ran into one of his neighbors that told him the old man who had the heart attack had lived. This made David feel slighter better since he didn't kill someone in the dream world by accident. The man had told everyone that a nightmare woke him up and as he was walking to the bathroom he had the heart attack. Probably from the lingering adrenaline from the dream.

The drive to the new apartment wasn't long. Pulling up at the new building, David was blown away by the size of the place. This facility is as one of the boarding buildings for guards and a few other groups of employees that worked for the Carmine family. David actually felt safer at this building than at the Carmine's house. The new apartment had three times the number of guards that the Carmine's house had, the training gym facility in the basement was exceptional and his apartment was more than double the size.

The new apartment was top notch.

Since David didn't have much to do after settling in and it was still mid-morning, he decided to walk around the building to see the facilities in more detail.

Actually, the first thing he did was try to call Karine. She seemed to be having a hard time since he wasn't a 'normal' person anymore. The phone had no answer.

As David walked into the gym, he could hear some intense sparing going on one of several mats stretched out on the floor. As David started to drift over to watch the sparing, he saw an old man standing nearby.

David had been feeling somewhat lonely the past couple of days so he walked over to the man to strike up a conversation.

"Hi, I just moved in today. Is the gym always this empty?"

The old man seemed to be surprised that David had come up to talk to him. Smiling he said, "No, usually there are a bit more people, you just showed up at one of the off times. mid-morning is usually pretty empty since everyone has went to their jobs. Usually the only people around at this time are new trainees or people that have been put on probation."

"Since you are new here, what will be your job function at the Carmine Corporation?," the old man asked.

"Ha ha...I don't really have one," David laughed, "I can walk through mirrors without any resistance so Mr. Carmine asked me to come work for him because of the skill."

"I can fight a bit but have had one of my arms ripped off before and reattached. The other arm had a dagger stabbed into my shoulder joint about two weeks ago. I was going to see about some strength training to help get some strength back in my arms."

The old man stared big eyed at David as he took in all the information.

"So, you have significant mental strength?", the old man asked.

"That's what everyone keeps hinting at. Mr. Gauge is supposed to be setting up some test for me to determine my mental strength," David replied sharing the information that was pretty much public knowledge at this point.

"Oh," the old man sounded interested but was pointing to the other side of the gym, "the weights are located in the corner over there why don't you go over and check them out."

"Thanks," David said appreciating the information, "My name is David Knox."

"You can call me Mr. Lester, my boy. I'll see you around the gym. I'm one of the trainers here," the old man said as he turned his back to watch the two fighters going at it on the mat.

Feeling dismissed, David turned around and started walking toward the weights. When he was about half way across the gym, he felt like something was going to smash him in the back of the head. He ducked down and rolled to the right. Popping up to face the threat he realized that nothing was there but a small racket ball rolling around on the ground after bouncing off one of the basements support columns. He turned to look behind him to see a smiling, waving Mr. Lester.

Seeing the old man signal him to walk back by, David decided to go over to find out why the old man had thrown the racket ball at him.

Walking back up, Mr. Lester began to talk right away, "You don't need to take one of Gauge's stupid tests. You have good mental ability to be able to dodge without seeing a ball coming."

David realized that he had been tricked into showing one of his skills. The old man had dismissed him solely to throw a ball at the back of his head.

"I heard about how you managed to injure that trash Atkins twice. Even though he was just promoted, he was still a Class B fighter. I didn't believe that a normal person could do that but your reflexes are outstanding due to your mental strength."

What the hell is a Class B fighter? David was thing when the old man followed with a question.

"I really want to see how well you fight. How about a spar with someone?"

Thinking for a second, David replied, "Sure old man, I can spar with someone. But I need an answer to a few questions first of that is okay?"

"Sure kid. Have at it," Mr. Lester said before looking over his shoulder and yelling, "Chaz, get over here for a spar."

David saw a man walk out from one of the side rooms on the other side of the gym. Figuring he only had until Chaz got to him and the old man, David started to ask questions, "What is a Class B fighter? And just how important is this mental strength that everyone is fussing about?"

These two questions was new based on what the old man had just told him. The books that Mr. Gauge had given him had a good bit of information but it was more like a history book and introduction to different species of people. No information about individual power structures was included.

Realizing David didn't know very much from he questions, Mr. Lester began, "There are lots of classes for those in The Other. Fighters. Wizards. Monsters. Rangers. Trainers. Trackers. Just imagine all the types of classes in a video game and maybe add a few. There are even some dual and triple classes for some people that are really skilled. "

The old man breathed in before continuing, "Each Class is divided into separate levels based on strength. F being a normal person up to A which is someone of considerable strength. There are even three classification levels above the standard: S, SS, and Zero. The three are absolute titans on Earth and should never be offended here."

"Given you performance against Atkins. You should probably be around a Class C fighter which is outstanding for someone never involved with The Other," the old man finished up as the guy Chaz showed up.

The old man continued, "For mental strength, it is much easier to talk about after a spar."

David was quickly taking in the information as he and Chaz walked over to the mat with the old man.

"Alright, a nice clean spar. Chaz this is David. He's new. I want to see what he's made of but don't break him."

Chaz smile at David and said, "Let's go."

Then he charged straight at David.

Seeing a punch headed his way, David moved his head slightly to the side while countering at the same time. His hit was about to land on Chaz's chin when Chaz shifted his body to knock David off balance.

Instead of stumbling, David converted the movement into a roll to give himself some distance from Chaz. Coming out the roll, David swayed a bit seeming unsteady. Chaz too the opportunity to move in from behind. As Chaz approached, David flung a kick back at his knee which caught Chaz off guard. David wasn't really unsteady he had faked the action to draw Chaz into a trap.

The two continued to battle it out for about 5 minutes before David started to lag behind. Both guys had managed to land punches on one another but David's lack of arm strength and speed was definitely troublesome for him.

David realized that when he had always fought in party dream world, he would always start over with a refreshed physical state. He didn't have the arm issues or the lack of condition in those dreams.

Just as David was about to tap out due to fatigue, Mr. Lester stopped the fight.

Both Chaz and David were hunched over hugging and puffing. Old man Lester looked very happy from the results of the spar.

"Exceptional," the old man thought,"this kids mental strength mush be pretty good. When he dodges punches, he is dodging with the minimal effort. It is like he has been in hundreds of full out battles before."

Regaining their breath they both walked over toward Mr. Lester.

"Thank you Chaz. I know you just had a pretty hard workout earlier, so thanks for the help," said the old man.

"Ya Chaz, Thanks," David said also, "that was a pretty good spar."

"No problem man. Anytime," Chaz said before turning and walking back to the room he came out of before.

As Chaz walked away, the old man made David an offer, "How would you like me to train you, David? I could help you get those arms back into shape pretty quick."

Thinking it over for only a second, David agreed. What else was he going to do during the day? He lived here now and made a good salary for a nonexistent job. He had had a full workout and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. He needed to find something more to do with his time.