“He was just trying to help me, I couldn’t sleep last night. Too much going through my mind.”
Malcolm looked over to me. “I know this is a lot to take in, Alice, but I think with our help, you can overcome anything.” He nodded over to the other boys. “We will train you in everything you need to know.”
He led me to them, and they smiled when they saw me.
“Ready for a fun day of fighting, Alice?” Melvin smiled.
“If it will help me defeat Morpheus, then sure?” I had a feeling, though, it wouldn’t help. But I was open to anything.
Melvin and Davis looked over at Chase and frowned. They didn’t say a word but I knew they were as mad at him as much as Malcolm was. Chase was silent as he approached.
I quickly changed into the outfit I had spotted earlier and came back down for breakfast. Chase simply lingered in the shadows, watching, making sure I was all right, but not saying a word to any of the others, his ears down and a bit ashamed. He acted like a cat who got caught perching on the dining room table on Thanksgiving. It was sad to watch, but almost a little comical.
Once breakfast was over, the four boys took me to a large room that was full of weapons of all sorts. I gasped in amazement. It appeared like something that would be found in an English palace.
“To start off, we will work on hand-to-hand combat.” Malcolm gestured to sit. “Melvin and I will demonstrate some fighting and then teach you a move and you will try it with Davis.”
“Why me?” Davis squeaked.
Malcolm smiled. “Because you are the smallest and best for her to practice with.”
Melvin and Malcolm went out to the middle of the room. Bowing, they raised their hands. Right away, I could tell that Melvin and Malcolm had two different styles of fighting. Malcolm held his hands up, but with fingers in, sort of like a tiger style that I had seen online, whereas Melvin had his fingers up and extended.
Melvin was the first to move. It all happened really fast, I tried to keep up with how they were fighting, but it was rather difficult. When Melvin first struck, Malcolm blocked the attack with his left arm and then counterattacked with his right hand, slashing Melvin straight in the face. It was clear they weren’t giving it their all, as Melvin had barely been hit. If it was full throttle, Melvin would have been on the ground.
Even though he took the hit, Melvin was quick to recover. He swung his leg out towards Malcolm, bouncing back on his arm, knocking Malcolm’s legs from underneath him. Although I would have definitely have fallen face-first on the ground, Malcolm landed on his arms and tumbled back up to a standing position. The fight was clearly nowhere near over.
Malcolm took a punch at Melvin that was easily deflected and punched Malcolm in the stomach. As Melvin was just about to hit him again, Malcolm grabbed his arm and pulled him towards himself, stepping out of the way and kicking him down to the ground. Malcolm knelt down as if he were going to punch Melvin in the face, but he stopped short.
“You get the idea, right?”
I nodded, eyes wide. They were pretty good, as it was just a demonstration. I wondered how good they were when they weren’t holding back.
Malcolm motioned Davis and I to stand up. “Now, you two come here. We will show you the first move and how to deflect it.”
I stood across from Davis, worried that whatever would happen wouldn’t cause Davis any pain. He looked as worried as I did, as if he has been in this situation before.
“Now Davis, act as if you are punching straight at Alice’s face, and do it slowly,” Malcolm said as he stood behind me.
Davis’ fist came slowly at my face.
“Now, use your left arm to deflect it, and once it is deflected, use that momentum to punch him across the face. Don’t actually do it, but get the movement down in your muscle memory.”
I nodded and did just that.
“Very good!” Malcolm said. “Now when he punched with his left hand, grab his wrist with your left hand and punch his elbow with the palm of your hand. Then with both hands grab his arm, pull him forward, and kick him in the knee.”
“You suck as a teacher, you know that? She isn’t going to get anywhere with a teacher like you,” Chase said, as he still stood in the corner watching and ready to mock anything he could.
Malcolm turned and frown. “Really, you want to do this now?”
Chase shrugged. “Just telling you my observations. You aren’t that great of a fighter, I could beat you any day of the week.”
“This again. You are just mad that I beat you last time.”
“Oh, yeah, how about a rematch? “Chase stepped forward. “And show Alice here what a real fight looks like, not this choreographed nonsense. You and me, one on one. No weapons, just fists.”
Malcolm sighed, then nodded for us to move. “Fine, but don’t complain to me when you have to crawl up a tree and lick your wounds clean.”
I quickly moved out of the way, along with Davis and Melvin. Both of them frowned.
“Not this again,” Melvin whispered. “What is he thinking?”
I didn’t know which of the two he meant. Malcolm and Chase bowed and raised their hands. However, instead of a tiger-like technique or an open hand, Chase raised his hands like a boxer would.
“He is completely different than both of you,” I commented.
Davis nodded. “Good eye. Neither of them ever agree on
