Chapter 14 Sparring.

The next few days went by in a flash with their established routine:

work in the morning and translations in the afternoons.

There was also a new activity which was some martial arts training.

Simon always trained at night when Alesia was already asleep but one night she couldn't sleep and heard some noises coming out of the cargo hold.

When she went to investigate she saw him repeating some strange moves.

It took her a while to realize that it was some sort of martial art she had never seen before.

She didn't want to interrupt his training so she went to her cabin to try and sleep.

The next morning she asked him about it.

-What was the martial art you trained last night?

Simon was in shock as he thought that no one saw him train.

-If you are referring to the one where I used my knees and elbows it's called Muay thai and the other one is called Aikido.

He answered.

-Are they martial arts from your country?

-No, Muay thai is from a country called thailand and Aikido is from Japan.

-What is your level of mastery in these martial arts?

-I don't know right now but i trained in both when i was a kid and continued training on my own until i was 18 years old then i stopped,I resumed training a few weeks ago when i was left on this planet.

Mikael was listening to their conversation and finally decided to speak.

-Kid if you know how to fight hand to hand then maybe you could teach me some of your moves and I can teach you some boxing.

-What's boxing?

-It's also a form of hand to hand combat but you only use your arms to fight.

Simon explained.

-It's also a great sport kid.

Mikael added.

-Wait. Your people use hand to hand combat as a sport?

She asked in shock.

-Yes and there are many styles of martial arts some are hand to hand and others are armed combat but for the competitions everyone uses a safety gear.

He explained.

-My people learn martial arts as a form of self defense not for sport.

She said while trying to imagine fighting just for sport and she couldn't.

-Many of our people also learn martial arts for self defense,some do it to fight in the ring and there are also people who learn it for the fun of it.

-Then how powerful are the martial arts you practice?

she asked.

-Aikido is mainly for self defense but Muay thai purpose is real combat.

Simon explained.

-Than can we have a sparring match in the afternoon?

Mikael asked with a smile.

-Why not ,old man,I'll be happy to whoop your ass.

Simon was more than eager to try out his skills on a living target.

-Why do you both smile like it's some form of entertainment for you?

-Because it is.

Both of the humans said at the same time.

However they had to postpone the match because they didn't have any gloves and fighting bearhanded would be dangerous for them.

It didn't take long for Simon to make some gloves similar to those used by MMA fighters and some head protection.

The sparring match was held in the cargo bay of Simon's ship as it was empty and they put some blankets on the floor so that they wouldn't hit the metal when they fought.

Alesia still didn't understand what was so fun about beating each other up but she decided to watch their sparring.

Both of the men had only their pants on and were barefooted,their heads were protected by the head gear created by Simon and they both had gloves on their hands.

 Mikael started by trying to hit Simon with a straight right punch but the next thing he remembered was hitting the deck with his back.

He got back to his feet and tried again this time with a left hook but all he got was a hit to his ribs and another on his head.

Simon used all his speed and pummeled the old man into the ground again and again but Mikael also managed to get a few jabs on him.

In the end the young man won and was quite satisfied with the results.

Alesia was stunned watching two humans going at it,for her it was a brutal fight not a sparring match as she understood it.

-How was that a sparring match ?

She asked when they were finished.

-How is it not?

Simon asked,not understanding what her problem was with their match.

-We are both okay and we at most will have some bruises so it's not a big deal.

Mikael said, massaging his ribs.

-For me it looked like you wanted to kill each other.

She said still in disbelief at what she just witnessed.

Both men started laughing at her words.

-If we really wanted to kill each other then we wouldn't have used the gloves and headgears.

Simon tried to explain.

-Also if that was a real fight this kid would take me out in around a minute with his skills.

The old man said.

-Well whatever this was I'm not doing it with any of you most of the hits that landed on target would probably injure or kill me right away.

She said,while making a mental note to never fight with humans in hand to hand combat.

They both laughed again at her remark.

But she had a point,in the end she was from a world with at least three times weaker gravity than earth.

-You don't have to spar with us but i am really curious how different our martial arts are?

Simon said.

-I have an idea why don't you try to defend against her attacks without hitting her? 

Mikael proposed .

-I can do that,at most you will end up lying on the ground but I won't hit you.

Simon said.

Alesia was in a dilemma,she was also curious about the effectiveness of her own martial arts against the humans.

-I'll do it but you can't hit me.

She finally agreed.

Simon nodded and went back to the middle of the cargo bay.

Mikael gave her his gear and soon she was ready to demonstrate her skills.

She attacked in every way she knew how but all of her blows were either blocked or evaded.

Even with her nano suit she couldn't land a hit on him which frustrated her to no end.

Another source of her frustration was that he was smiling all the time since they started.

After a few minutes of attacking she was getting really mad,it was humiliating that she couldn't even land a blow after so much time and she was getting tired while Simon looked like he didn't even break a sweat.

In her anger she rushed to tackle him but suddenly she saw the room spinning and a moment later she was lying on the floor while Simon's arms held her so she wouldn't hit the deck with her back or head.

-Ok kids, stop flirting and get up.

Mikael said while laughing.

Only then did they realize that they were in an awkward position which made both of them blush in their own way.