Training with Izo

-July, 2004-

4 years have passed since he met his 'sensei' Izo. Much to his surprise, Izo was genuinely a weird old man who was addicted to drinking and gambling. Although he looked old, his physical capabilities were at the peak human or borderline superhuman levels. He only taught Peter because he was running out of money to drink and gamble but now appreciates his determination and talent.

These past years Izo taught him a lot about meditation, martial arts, senses, and recently the mystical chi. Initially, Peter was not taught anything and was asked to meditate until mind became clear. He thought he was conned by the old man but still did what he was told.

Due to having both his mind and body evolved after the soul merge, he felt his mind become clearer in just three months. To utilize his time better, he also joined the MMA classes in the academy where he learned Karate. He paid for them from his own money.

After meditation came training his senses and body. He successfully trained his senses in just 2 years. This was all due to his hardwork and practice sessions at night after hos training with Izo.

Peter was also very quick to learn all the martial arts Izo had to offer. His combat proficiency soared during these years and he learnt to integrate all of the techniques he learnt in his combat style. Even after all this Master Izo would thrash him in every spar they had.

Ofcourse Peter was improving a lot. Due to his dedicated training with Izo, Peter was now a master hand-to-hand combatant, master acrobat, expert marksman, stealth expert, had enhanced senses and enhanced physical conditioning.

Peter's sense of touch, smell, hearing, detection and taste were enhanced to the degree that he could detect whether a person is lying by sweat, changes in body temperature, and heartbeats (though he can be fooled by a pacemaker and those able to keep calm under pressure).

What surprised him was the fact that his training with Izo helped him develop Daredevil's Radar Sense. Though it was very weak and limited as compared to Daredevil and master. Peter was convinced that his master was related to the Daredevil or he might be a hidden monster who trained for hundreds of year by relying on chi. Izo also told him that due to his meditation and training the mind, Peter could now block hypnosis and limit psychic intrusions to his mind.

Ofcourse Peter knew what he meant, but still acted surprised and asked if what he said was really possible. To this, Izo smacked Peter's head and told him that his acting was worse than C-grade Villians. Peter knew that his master knew that he knew about many things in the world. What relieved him was that although his master could read his mind, he was not able to read Luke's memories. If he could than things would have been more complicated.

He knew this was because his master's psychic powers were related to the mind and not the soul. Lukes memories were in his soul. Izo would also ask him what was he hiding and what kind of memories he had that would change the world, only to be called an 'old man with weird fantasies' again by young Peter.

Although Izo knew there was a secret but due to his student's nature, behavior, and determination, he chose not to press on him. He only found one thing while trying to discover those secrets, i.e. Young Peter wanted to be free to do whatever he wanted, he wanted power to be free and to help others. Izo could relate to this desire of freedom due to his own history.

Other than Izo, Peter was almost undefeatable. He strong, knew combat and had limited telepathic immunity. He also participated in junior/youth athletics competitions and won many of them. Only due to the monetary rewards he was able continue his learnings under his weird old master.

As an MMA fighter he went on to participate in National & World Youth MMA Championships twice and won both times. The finals of his 1st World Youth MMA Championship was hosted in London. All the expenses of the trip were covered as he was the finalist. The Parkers went to see the Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and other tourist spots in the city.

The 2nd one was held in Paris and again the Parkers went on an all expenses covered trip due to Peter. But his MMA stint came to an end when Aunt May refused to let him attend more such competitions because they were very dangerous and the fighter were prone to injury. Although Peter was never heavily injured, still it was difficult for his aunt to see him fight. So he stopped attending MMA classes but was allowed to continue his training with Izo as they knew that the old man forced Peter to meditate almost everyday.

Due to all his training, he was now 5 ft 9 inches. This was well above the average height of 5 ft 7 inches in the Americas for 14 year old boys. He had a lean muscular body, and looked very confident.

Recently, Izo has started training Peter in chi. Ofcourse he cannot utilize this chi in combat, not without decades of practice but it still could help him recover faster in case of injuries, strengthening his body and endurance. Only due to this chi and his enhanced stamina could he achieve peak human physical and mental conditioning at the age of 14 years.

Peter now believed that he was now a younger version of daredevil. He knew that neither his senses were as strong as Daredevil, nor his combat proficiency was any better, and he did not even have any other skills, but the point is, he is improving. Improving very fast. After the spider bite, he knew he would be able to beat the red costumed hero easily.