We Spar

>Sheloah's POV<

Humarap ako kay Sir Erick. "Sir, you're good at critical thinking. Have you thought of any plans," tanong ko habang inaayos niya ang pinaglalagyan ng bullets ng M16 niya.

"Sa totoo lang, the situation is difficult. Hindi natin maiiwasan na isa or ilan sa atin ang mawawala. It's inevitable," sagot niya at binalik niya ang bullets sa loob at tiningnan niya ako. "No matter how hard we try, no matter how much we want it, we have to accept fate, that we cannot be complete, in reaching our destination. Many of us have to die. We are not super heroes. We are not immortals and certainly, we do not have any special powers," dagdag sabi pa niya and my hopes were melting down.

Totoo nga ang sinabi ni Sir Erick pero masakit talaga sa pakiramdam malaman mon a hindi kayo kumpleto pag dating niyo sa destination niyo na maraming mawawala, maraming mamamatay. Mahirap nga na lahat kayo sinusubukang maging kumpleto but let's face it… a lot of us cannot fight that well. One of us will have to give up easily.

There are also cowards; afraid to fight because they are afraid to die. All of us are cowards, but deep down one of us hope. We hope for a better future and we hold on to that hope so we sacrifice. We fight just for that hope to become a reality. We believe sometimes that the impossible becomes possible if we put more effort into it.

But in this case, I guess the impossible is more attainable than the possible.

I sighed at tumingin ako sa sahig. "Totoo nga, Sir… pero it's not bad to hope, right? Hoping that you'd still be complete until the end," tanong ko at nilapitan lang ako ni Sir Erick and he gave me a nudge on the head, whilst I fixed my hair.

"Hoping keeps us going." Sabi ni Sir Erick and he smiled at me. "But hoping too much will give you disappointments," dagdag sabi pa niya at tiningnan namin siya ni Veon. "So don't hope too much because it will also serve as your downfall. Just do what you can," he said finally at sumama siya sa tito ko at tinuruan nila ang kalahati ng attacking group.

"I agree with sir," sabi ni Veon at napatingin ako sa kanya. "Pag umaasa ka at hindi nagampanan, madi-disappoint ka lang," dagdag sabi pa niya at tiningnan niya ako. He smiled at me a bit and he patted my head.

"I'm not a kid," sabi ko sa kanya and I pouted at him at tinawanan niya lang ako ng onti.

"Sige… I will train with them. Magpapaturo ako kay Shannara kung paano gumamit ng dual gun. She's good at that field," pagpapaalam niya sa akin at tumakbo siya papunta sa kanila para sumama sa training.

Magte-training sana ako with the healers pero kinuha ni Kreiss ang attention ko.

"Princess, care to spar," tanong niya at nakita ko si Geof na kasama niya. Pareho silang may hawak na katana.

Bukod sa marunong din kami umatake long-ranged, marunong din kami sa close-ranged pero mas pinili namin maging closed-ranged attackers kahit high ang chances na masaktan kami dahil mas matitipid namin ang ammos. Pag patuloy lang kasi na guns ang gagamitin namin, mauubos din lang ito. Kaso hindi naman namin maturuan ang ibang classmates namin na gumamit ng katana dahil wala naman kaming extra na katana para sa kanila.

Binato ni Geof ang katana ko at agad ko ito kinuha. "Spar? What? The three of us against each other," tanong ko and Geof shook his head.

"Hindi na muna ako makikisali sa spar. Kayo muna dalawa. Pahinga muna ako since kanina pa ako nakikipag-spar kay Kreiss," sagot niya sa tanong ko and I nodded at his answer.

"Then that leaves me with you, princess. One on one," sabi niya at naglakad kaming tatlo papunta sa isang clear space malapit sa mga healers at tiningnan namin ni Kreiss ang isa't-isa habang si Geof, nakaupo sa sahig, nagpapahinga, papanoorin kami.

"Hindi talaga ako magaling, Kreiss, so teach me a thing or two," sabi ko sa kanya and he nodded at me. "Besides… you told me before you had lessons when you were five," dagdag sabi ko pa and he smirked at me.

"Fine, let's not spar. Geof and I share something in common and we both had lessons with katanas before. You also need to learn the basics," sabi niya and I nodded at him.

"Then teach me," suggest ko at tinawanan niya ako ng onti.

"That's no good, princess. Why not I teach you, then we spar," suggest naman niya at nginitian ko siya.

"Okay," sabi ko na lang sa kanya and he became a little serious.

"First, since we use katanas, we should learn more about the art from Kenjutsu," he started off and I am now listening to him attentively.

"There are different art forms. Iajutsu for combat of how to draw the sword, Kendo gor Japanese fencing, and Iaido for the art of drawing the sword," he further explained at tumayo si Geof para sumali sa pag explain.

"In this case, mas effecting ang Kenjutsu. Training with different kinds of swords in terms of combats and specifically ang sword natin ay katana," dagdag sabi pa niya and he got his katana at nginitian siya ni Kreiss.

"Care to join me in training, Sheloah," tanong niya at nginitian siya ni Geof at tumango bilang sagot.

Now this is getting more interesting. Gusto ko pang matuto ng iba't-ibang paraan kung paano umatake para mas lumakas ako at para mas gumaling ako.

"Turuan ka namin kung paano mag strike attack at counter attack kung kailangan. Dapat mapatumba mo rin ang kalaban mo since mas effective 'yan in killing the zombies faster or to delay them from going near you para may time ka pa para atakihin ang iba," dagdag sabi pa ni Kreiss and I listened and fair enough, I'm gaining more information at mas naganahan akong matuto. This is also challenging on my part.