25 Training

Afternoon arrived, and the house sparkled clean. The furniture rearranged to different areas, and the dust disappeared. The luster on the wooden floor brightened from the sun, and the tiles from the kitchen cleaned to perfection. Outside, everyone enjoyed themselves before tomorrow's work. The girls sat under an oak tree and chatted with each other. Mrs.Willard pushed the tire swing Mac was on with a grin as he laughed. In the field of grass, the guys gathered around each other. Bounye and Slimebob were playfighting while Sir Piggy watched them as he ate an orange.

"So you press the button to summon the monster, and I get the skill from it?" Marvin asked.

"Yes," Conner replied. "The rarity is determined by the colors of the summoning circle. For example, white is normal, red is rare, purple is epic, and gold is mythical. I don't know what else is there, though."

"How did you know that?" Marvin asked.

"To be honest, I gave them a rarity class based on the color." Conner scratched his head. "Some monsters may have more than one skill that is either locked or unlocked. I have my summoned beast with four skills; three of them are locked."

"Then what rarity are your summons?"

"Mythical," Ian replied.

"Rare."

"Mythical," Conner spoke out last.

Marvin nodded his head and pressed the [Summon] button. Seconds later, a magic circle appeared and brightened the field. The magic circle stopped when the color turned red, and it slowly disappeared. A tall, bipedal lizard stood before them with metal plate armor that only covered its torso and shoulders. It had green skin and the eyes of a snake. The humanoid lizard had a long tail with rows of spikes on it. In its hand was a long spear with a wooden handle.

"Oh shit!" Marvin screamed in fear. "Kill that fucking lizard!"

Marvin ran behind Ray before peering his eyes at it. The Lizardman looked on with confusion as the guys slapped their foreheads. Ray grabbed Marvin and pushed him towards the Lizardman. Marvin's feet dug up the dirt as he resisted Ray, but to no avail. Ray forcibly pulled Marvin's hand and made him touch the Lizardman while Marvin shrieked. In an instant, Marvin fainted, and his body slumped.

"Seriously!" Ian fell to the floor and laughed.

"Jeez, Uncle Marvin." Conner shook his head.

Ray turned towards the Lizardman and said, "Can you understand me?"

The Lizardman nodded his head in agreement.

"Good." Ray nodded his head. "Can you carry this dumbass and drop him near that tree over there?"

The Lizardman carried Marvin and walked towards the oak tree. Ray watched it as he sighed with pity.

"Hey Ray, can you shoot at me?" Ian asked.

"Huh?" Ray looked at him with confusion.

"I want to train my reaction time," Ian clarified.

Ian wanted to improve himself for future battles with stronger monsters, especially those with the ability to shoot projectiles. The desire to grow stronger burned Ian's heart constantly since his first battle with a Dragger.

"Sure, I'll shoot your ass up." Ray agreed with a sneer. "Stand one hundred feet from here."

Ray transformed his arm into a gun and waited for Ian. Ian ran further away from Ray and Conner before stopping at roughly the distance Ray said. He pressed his feet firmly in the ground, and his body steadied. Ian took a deep breath and stared at Ray, trying not to think about the pain of the bullet.

"Okay, I'm read-" Ian said before a flesh-like bullet pierced halfway through his shoulders.

Ian grabbed his shoulders and bent one knee to the ground. "Shit, that hurts!"

"Not my fault that you're too slow." Ray mockingly said.

Ian's body forced the bullet out before regenerating, and he got back up and ready himself again. Ray aimed and fired another shot, and Ian narrowly dodged the bullet, grazing the side of his chest. However, another bullet penetrated Ian's thigh, and Ian winced in pain as he squeezed the wound. Ian realized it was difficult to dodge fast projectiles.

"Giving up already, bitch boy?" Ray continued taunting.

The girls walked over to see the commotion and Lily asked, "What are you guys doing?"

"Your boyfriend wants me to shoot at him."

"Why!" Lily yelled in response.

"Training!" Ian's voiced echoed from the distance

Ray shot another bullet at him, and Ian immediately ducked down in response as the bullet cut pieces of his hair off.

"Shut your ass up, boy!" Ray yelled at him.

"That's a weird training method," Autumn said.

"Not my idea."

After an hour, Ian managed to dodge incoming bullets without any grazes on him. He learned that it was better to predict the trajectory of the bullet from looking at the angle of the gun. However, Ian still had some difficulty dodging more than six bullets simultaneously. Ray introduced variety in Ian's training by using different methods for him. In one instance, Ray commanded Ian to run towards him while dodging bullets. However, Ian wasn't allowed to run at full speed. Hours passed, and Ian fell to the ground with panted breaths. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and drank the bottled water that Ray had given him.

"I'll be training you every day from here on out," Ray said with a sinister grin. "By the way, you seem quite used to fighting, judging from the battles against monsters."

Ian sat up and said, "Eh, I was a pretty good fighter in high school. I also learned some fighting lessons from martial arts classes."

"Street fighting, huh?" Ray rubbed his chin. "Let me see what you got. Try not to use full power, Mr.Strongman."

Ian nodded his head, and the two of them faced each other before getting into their respective stances. Ian held both fists up and ready himself.

"By the way, you know my agility and perception is far greater than yours, right?" Ian said.

"No shit, Ian." Ray rolled his eyes. "You can even dodge bullets! That's insane. I just want to see your technique, so we'll spar slowly."

Ian adjusted his vision to normal and tried reducing his perception to focus fighting with technique, rather than overwhelming speed and reaction beyond human limits. Ray feigned a jab before throwing a left hook. Ian flinched from the jab but dodged Ray's left hook. Ian threw a left punch and followed it up with a low kick before distancing himself. Ray used his arms to block but took the kick head on, and a loud slapping sound emitted as a result.

"Not bad, kid!" Ray was impressed.

Ian smiled before throwing a right roundhouse kick to Ray's body. Ray caught it and moved closer to elbow Ian's forehead. Ian stopped it with his forearm, and they both clinched. Ray used this opportunity to trip Ian over with the swing of his leg.

"Damn!" Ian shouted. "Again!"

Ray pulled Ian back up and said, "Muay Thai can be highly effective in a clinch."

Ray used another deception jab, setting up for a high roundhouse kick. Ian bent his body backward and adjusted his center of gravity, dodging his kick. Ray threw a push kick towards Ian's stomach, and Ian stumbled backward before regaining his posture. Ray mixed up his combos by aiming both high and low, especially with the low kicks to Ian's thighs. Ian blocked most of the punches and counter back with his own. Ray threw another push kick but Ian was ready for it, and he lowered his guard to block. However, Ray changed his trajectory midway and aimed for Ian's head. Ian was caught off guard and fell to the ground. Ray used what was known as the question mark kick*.

"How did you know I was going to guard lower?" Ian asked.

"I conditioned you to think lower by setting up low kicks repeatedly," Ray said. "I kept using it to see how you react before I set up the high kick."

"It's always good to be deceptive when fighting, especially with intelligent opponents." Ray continued.

Ian nodded his head and smiled. He felt like he learned something from this. Conner yawned and stretched his arms; he felt tired from watching them fight all day.

"Come on, the food's ready!" Lily ran to Ian and grabbed his hand. "You need a shower first, Ian."

She dragged Ian back into the house before Ray and Conner followed them behind.