Echo Skill and Time Skip part 1

It has been 5 years and we'd just celebrated Peter's birthday. Our birth dates were a couple of months apart, so I was the older one between us. Luckily my biological mother in this universe had found it appropriate to include the date I was born on,  on the note she'd left behind with me at the orphanage. 

These last 5 years a lot had changed. I had managed to convince my adoptive parents to let me learn martial arts from the dojo I had seen before. Surprisingly they'd allowed it. It probably had a lot to do with Peter finding his love for science and other nerdy stuff. Maybe they'd thought I needed to find something I'd love to do. I didn't complain about it though as I'd gotten what I wanted easily.

Once I got to the dojo however that's when I knew why I'd never seen it before. The store front was covered in a thin film of energy that spread out to encompass the whole building. 

Uncle Ben had seemed out of it and his senses were muddled before I touched his hand and used my meager control to channel Spark energy through his body. Only then did he see the dojo clearly. Walking in, the whole place looked pristine and was decorated with an Asian vibe. 

There were less than a dozen kids ranging from 7 years to maybe 14 cross legged at the middle of the room. We headed straight for the receptionist who was eyeing us excitedly and after a minute of letting the adults talk, I was finally registered as a member of the dojo. 

At that point my mind was working overtime. The thin film of energy I'd seen…what was it? I'd known that the world I'd found myself in would logically not be normal. I speculated that the energy was meant to shield the dojo's presence from something. What it was, I had no idea. All that was left was to wait and see what this new chapter in my life would offer.

The answers to my questions would come sooner than expected. Turns out that the first master of the martial arts dojo had been the one to open up this dojo and ever since then, the dojo had been passed down the generation. I'd known that, from reading and asking about it's history. The receptionist at the front was the daughter of the current master of the dojo. 

From there I'd worked out what the thin film of energy at the front was. It was a formation meant to make the dojo stand out to kids who were suitable for martial arts and seem inconspicuous to the rest. The formation was pretty vague about what it considered 'martially-talented.' To me, it just meant, kids who were more in tune with there physical energies as opposed to others.

Growing up I had started seeing more evidence of the mysterious energy in the air all around me. There were people like Peter who had a lot of it coursing through their brains in comparison to others and other people who had a bit more coursing through their bodies instead. It was a pseudo-ability that I'd gotten from my observe skill. It would normally only work when I came into contact with something and tried to scan it with Observe.

My ability was pretty low powered and at the moment only seemed to work on me but I could get-impressions of something if I tried hard enough. It was how I'd known what the formation covering the building was. This also raised my hopes about becoming an inscription master or formation's expert before my hopes were ruthlessly stomped on. 

The current master of the dojo while stronger than a normal human almost at the level of superhuman was completely average otherwise. He had a higher than normal amount of mysterious energy coursing around him but there was no indication of the precise control needed to become a formation expert, so that was a burst.

That didn't mean the dojo didn't have something to teach me. The katas taught were similar to Tai Chi and the martial discipline of Wing Chun. Seeing the master and the other teachers fight using Wing Chun was a visual spectacle that didn't lose out to a high budget Kung Fu movie. The moves were of course more practical and lacked that show business finesse like jumping up a lot, splits and somer-saults but that made watching them spar even better. 

I took to the teachings like a fish to water. Everything just seemed easy for me. It's like my whole body knew how to move and after being taught a move, I just ingrained it to every single cell of my body and accommodated the move to my other techniques. I could move like water at one point then change from a gentle flow to the fast hand chops and strong kicks that was part of Wing Chun. 

"Parker and Lee, step forward."

The master said. It was during one of the spars we had at the end of every week. Lee was a 9 year old kid while I was just 7 at the time. But that didn't stop the look of caution concealed by the apparent confidence he had in his skills that appeared in his eyes. Since I'd started learning from this dojo 2 years ago, everyone knew I was a genius in Martial arts and the only kid from the junior group who could match me was the Master's grand son, Lee. We'd sparred for so many times we'd lost count. 

At the beginning, I'd been at a disadvantage but faster than usual I'd managed to get the upper hand in most of our later matches. We bowed to each other and settled in our stances.

The murmuring from around us settled down and the silence stretched as we eyed each other. Both of us were patient, waiting to see who would attack first. Lee more than me as he was in a loose Tai Chi stance which incorporated deflection and misdirection the most. 

I decided to make the first move. I stepped forward to close the 2 meter distance between us and whoosh! I suddenly ducked a flying kick that would have sent me to dream land if it had connected. What... That was new.

Lee didn't let me think as he smoothly transitioned from the kick to a palm strike. I blocked by crossing my hands and took a step back. These movements... I jumped over an unexpected sweep and cart wheeled away before bringing a knee up to block the whip-like kick that made me wince in pain. I threw a series of punches that were blocked and deflected before Lee hooked his leg behind my knee and I found myself on the ground.

What had just happened? I did a kip-up and fell into a basic defense stance. Lee allowed a small smirk to appear on his face.

"Surprised Parker? I've been having some extra lessons while you've been gloating because of your wins."

Gloating? What is he talking about?

"That's not Tai Chi."

I finally said. The murmurs from the other students begun before the master shouted, 'silence.'

Lee wove his hands in a hypnotic movement that left me blinking my eyes. I tried to predict his next move but couldn't.

"I assure you, it is Tai Chi. Just not the normal kind."

He didn't say anything else. 'Doesn't matter, I'll found out for myself anyway.' I thought before running to him again. 

This time he waited until I got close and blocked my fists. I was cautious not to fall for his unpredictable moves again as we traded blows. We had paddings on to protect us so I didn't have to worry about my reckless moves as Fists landed on my face. 

3 minutes in and we were both feeling winded. Lee had taken me down 2 times during that time but I always got back up and continued. From the contact with his body, I finally understood what was going on. The added movements to his Tai chi skill were somehow using the energy in the air to mask his movements and confuse his enemies by providing split second shadows of his body when attacking!

The movements also helped to dull his intent causing an opponent to not predict what he was going to do next. Despite my impeding lose, a feeling of happiness overcame me. If Lee could learn how to use this energy in his Martial arts then that meant I could do the same! He wasn't actively using the energy in the air for enhancing his body but the martial art skill did it for him. 

I stepped further back and bowed.

"I concede."

There was no way I was going to beat him as I was. 

"The winner is Lee."

The master said and I could see pride brimming in his eyes. 'So that answers where he learnt the skill from'. I craned my neck and went to sit while in my thoughts. I groaned because of the pain in my body and went to meditate by the wall a bit further from the others. 'seems like the energy even enhances his blows.'

Lee was crowded at this point with kids telling him how great he had been to take me down. I admit I... didn't have a lot of friends. It was hard to interact with kids who were very young in my eyes. Peter was smart for his age so it was easier. So I preferred to be alone by the corner. But there was another reason for staying so close to the wall.

I discreetly placed my hand on the wall and closed my eyes. I started scanning the formation. Something I'd started doing regularly. I couldn't exercise my body enough the way I wanted because my parents would be worried so I'd had the far-fetched idea to study the formation, decipher it's key components and try to see if I could use it to construct resistance seals. 

I knew I was over-reaching a little but one could only run for so long or do so many push ups before the adults started to worry I might be damaging my body. I had no way of telling aunt May, 'hey it's alright, my body is that of a cultivator and it allows me to heal quickly after working out with no detrimental damage to my body.'

I was really close to understanding it's inner components but it was slow-going. And as I did that, my mind was on the moves that Lee had demonstrated too. I had an idea on how I could achieve the same thing but I  would need some more time to work it out. It couldn't be easy and the only reason I could think of for him pulling it off was because it had been passed down. There was a lot of mystery surrounding the founder of this dojo and I would just have to employ my inner Sherlock Holmes to find out his secrets.

There was no way I was gonna be complacent about getting stronger. I wanted to be very powerful by the time Peter became spiderman because I was also going to get the bite too. Having a stronger foundation would only make me more powerful by then.