Combat Training

Since they had started their training as third year students, the only thing they had been learning was about magic. How to use magic, how to control magic, and apparently even how to make their magic stronger. But now, after hearing they were going to be learning fighting techniques, they were excited again.

After Anna pressed a button behind the doll, the doll with the electric board above began appearing all over the training room.

"What's happening right now?"

"Is the doll multiplying?"

"This is unbelievable."

"What you're seeing now," Anna said, "is the doll multiplying with the use of magic. Every one of you is going to be training with his or her personal doll. There is enough space between each doll so there will be no interruptions or distractions from the person next to you when training."

"Does this mean we're done with our magic training?" Jake asked.

"Not necessarily. I've already taught you the main things you need to know, what's left for you to do is to keep practicing with what you know. If I feel the need to talk more about your use of magic, then I will. Move to a doll and face it, let your full attention be on the doll."

Smiling at Jake, Anna said to the students "As some of you might know, your combat skills are lacking, lacking so bad most of you hit like girls. This training is to change that, in front of you are the dolls you're going to be training with. The first thing to learn in any combat technique, is how to throw an accurate punch."

Not listening to what Anna was saying because she had already taught him how to throw a good punch, Jake was closing his eyes and focusing on the magic flowing through his body. Now that he knew what focusing on his magic does, he was going to focus on it at any chance he got.

"Dude should you be sleeping right now?" Kevin asked Jake.

"I'm not sleeping, and shouldn't you be listening attentively to what Miss Anna's saying?"

"I am listening, but I can't think straight when her jugs are bouncing around with the way she's walking."

"You better find a way to think straight, because some people don't have a problem with it." Jake said while looking at Smith.

Turning his head to look at Smith, Kevin could see he was paying very close attention to every word Miss Anna was saying. "Oh no you don't." Kevin said then turned to look back at Miss Anna, despite all odds and all forms of distractions trying to break his focus, Kevin fought against his urges and concentrated on what Miss Anna was saying.

Chuckling at Kevin's reaction, Jake saw Miss Anna demonstrating how to throw a punch with the steps she had just explained to them. Looking at the doll in front of him, Jake decided to also join the others as they hit the doll with the steps Miss Anna had just shown them.

When Miss Anna was training Jake on how to throw a punch using the steps, his improvement had been from 20.4 to 23. But he couldn't show the other students he had that kind of strength so he was still going to use the amount of strength they had already seen which is 11.

'This secrecy thing is almost starting to confuse me.' Doing the steps with more fluency than the rest, Jake hit the doll and saw 14 on the electric board. 'I'm getting better at doing it.' Looking round, Jake could see Miss Anna correcting some students. 'I'll keep focusing on my magic until she starts talking about something I don't know.'

Looking at Smith hitting the doll, Kevin kept seeing the number on the electric board increase and he was panicking. From 3.8 to 4 to 4.1 to 4.2. Very soon Smith will be just as strong if not stronger than him. The number on his own board was also increasing but Smith was right behind him. Currently he was seeing 5 on the electric board while Smith's board was showing 4.4

Putting more effort into learning the steps and following what Miss Anna was saying about not thinking too much, Kevin hit the doll and saw 5.3 on the electric board. Smiling, he kept practicing and hitting the doll ignoring the pain in his hand.

Smith was listening to what Miss Anna was saying and moving the way he saw her move. He was healing the pain in his hand with his magic and hitting the doll over and over again.

The number being displayed on Diane's electric board was 7. She had been working and practicing constantly to be one of the best amongst the students. She knew she was nowhere near as strong as Jake or Kyle but she wanted to be among the ten strongest in the training room. Looking at Kyle's electric board, she could see 12.6 on the board and realized she had a long way to go if she ever wanted to be as strong as him.

Kyle already had an advantage over the students he was training with, his size and the fact that he went to the gym often. He wasn't always the brightest students but when it came to things concerning strength and fists, he always wanted to know more.

In a world like theirs where they lived with the knowledge of the Werts being able to attack them at any point in time, to Kyle, being intelligent wasn't more important than knowing how to defend yourself. He had always been the type to rely on himself and now being presented with the opportunity to learn combat techniques, he wasn't going to let it slip away. He was going to learn everything he could as fast as he could.

With these thoughts running through his mind, Kyle kept hitting the doll and getting better at using the steps he had just been taught.

At first he had been a bit disappointed with the type of magic he had gotten –Poison Secretion, he had wanted something more on the offensive side and something stronger than poison secretion. But he could do nothing about it so instead of continue complaining about the type of magic he had gotten, he decided to work on it and make it as strong as he could.

Max wasn't stressing himself or pushing himself too much. He was doing what Miss Anna had demonstrated to them and was following her corrections, his electric board was showing 7.3. He could see he had made some progress from the last time he hit the doll, his magic also helped in improving and enhancing his body no matter how little it was.

Seeing the way everyone was working hard apart from Jake, Anna smiled to herself and came up with an idea that would make everybody want to work harder and get stronger.

Jake had stopped focusing on his magic a few minutes ago and was also practicing hitting the doll using the steps Anna had taught them but seeing the way Anna was smiling to herself, he got slightly worried. 'What could she be planning now?'