- Bring it on, Wagner!

At this callout I jumped forward, but this time I changed my strategy. I stuck to the plan I had first came up with, giving short steps so I’d be able to change directions in case it was needed, but instead of going for one big blow, I’d try to hit him from different angles and positions to try and create an open on his defense.

He once again was waiting on his defensive stance, ready to intercept my attacks. As I approached him, I lowered more and more my back, changing my center of gravity to help me go even faster and maximize the efficiency of my faint, but, just when I was about to reach him and I was starting to move my sword, he quickly lifted his big sword and threw a swing to my arm, trying to intercept it right before my attack, at the moment it was most vulnerable.

Luckily I noticed in time to sidestep to my left, bringing my arm behind my back to barely dodge his sword, but that left me in a bad position so I couldn’t counterattack. I had the idea to just swing anyway, but it would’ve probably done nothing and it would’ve left me open for a counter, so I just repositioned myself behind him and jumped forward trying to attack as fast as possible so I’d get him while he turned around and recovered from his first move.

Before even coming here today, I thought that he’d be really strong but very slow, which would be his main weakness, but that wasn’t the case. Of course, he was still slower than me or Pat, but he compensated that with his absurd strength and control. So, I had to fight around speed, not power, and analyze him until I could create space to land a hit.

By the time I got to him, he was already facing me, but his sword was still making its way around his body, so I quickly moved my own blade from my right side, the side his sword was coming from, to my left, where his unprotected torso was begging for a hit. I swung as quickly as I could to ensure a hit even if a weak one, but, once again as I usually did, I underestimated my opponent. Before my attack could reach his body, Frank pivoted on his right foot, bringing his left one forward, which gave him the momentum needed to reach my attack with the lower part of his blade, almost at the handle.

My sword bounced back but since I didn’t use that much force, it didn’t trouble me to much so I was able to reposition and lash out one swing after the other trying to out-speed him, and I was actually doing it. Every time I swung my sword, he would respond with one of his own, but he couldn’t make use of his strength because I wasn’t giving him time to prepare, all he could do was interpose his blade between mine and his body. I was really close to land a hit on him, just a bit more…

Then, I slipped.

I had just thrown an attack from my lower left side aimed at Frank’s hip, and he’d been able to block it with the bare minimum, so I was already using the inertia of the bounce to rotate on my left heel to throw a second attack before he could react. It was the perfect plan because he was too focused on trying to keep up, but when I tried to rotate, I stepped on something that made me completely lose my balance, making me not only fall on my butt, but also drop my sword to stop the fall from being too bad and maybe hitting my head.

It seems that all the training that we’d done before plus the ongoing fight made us sweat a lot, and that sweat dripped from our bodies to the floor, and since the last couple of minutes we stood basically on the same place on a radius from a couple of meters, it had accumulated, and one of this accumulations was big enough to form a puddle, in which I stepped on a moment ago.

I looked up right in time to see Frank jumping towards me, sword up ready to strike, and I was totally open and defenseless. I tried to move out of the way but I’d been unluckier than I thought because the fall had hurt my ankle. It didn’t seem too bad, but it was enough for me to stay in the floor, incapable of using it right now. I was in trouble, because if that attack got me, even with training swords I could actually get hurt badly. I didn’t know what to do so instinctively I lifted both my arms crossed over my head to try and absorb the hit and hoped for the best.

- That’s enough!

As if hearing my silent prayers, agent Neumann finished the duel, and luckily her order reached Franks ears because he stopped right before swinging his sword.

- Phew! That was close. You shouldn’t have done that Mr. Wolf, you could’ve seriously injured him.

- Oh my… I’m so sorry mam’! I was too focused – He said regretfully and then looked at me and continued – Are you okay Theo? I’m really sorry!

He seemed actually concerned, so I sat down and smiled trying to hide the ache on my butt and said:

- It’s okay Wolf, we were both too immerse on the fight and, being completely honest, I probably would’ve done the same, thank god agent Neumann was here to stop it. Thank you for that mam’

- No need to thank me, it would’ve been really unprofessional to let you get hurt on your first training session with us – she was coming towards us so I tried to stand up, but a big hand stopped me

- Let me help you as an apology for almost breaking your skull in two – said Frank with his hand extended towards me

- Oh yeah, that seems like good compensation – I answered hoping we could just laugh it off.

I accepted his hand and once we were both standing, he extended his hand once more and said something I didn’t expect at all:

- We haven’t actually introduced ourselves so let me go first: I’m Frank Wolf, 21, and it’ll be a pleasure to work together.

I felt a bit awkward because I already knew his name and age from the ceremony of the first day, but I guess this was more of a formality so I played along and answered, shaking his hand:

- Theo Wagner, 18, and I hope we can learn some things from each other while working together

- I hope so too, you have to give me one or two tips on what to do against slippery and fast enemies like you or…

He seemed to hesitate for a moment and realized something, because he coughed and finished his sentence right there. Weird, but I let it slide.

- Only if you tell me how the hell did u stop my attack like it was nothing

- Is the third time I tell you, stre…

- Yeah yeah strength management, I know that, but I want you to show me, to teach me. I know I won’t be as good as you with just a couple of weeks of training, but I at least want to have the basics so I can apply it to my own style

- It’ll be hard, but after your performance on today’s fight I’m sure you’ll be able to learn it pretty quick

- I’ll be looking forward to it then

- Should I leave you two alone?

I hadn’t notice that agent Neumann was already besides us and was watching us playfully while trying her best not to laugh, but quickly lost that battle and let out a loud laugh, that made me release Frank’s hand instantly

- No thanks, he’s not really my type – I said trying to hide my embarrassment

- Don’t worry, I’ve seen him flirt with someone and you are not his type either

- Oh, big boy here has a secret crush already? – I looked at Frank and noticed that his face was red as if he’d been exposed to sunlight for a day straight – Who’s the lucky boy or girl?

- I told you it wasn’t flirting Emm… I mean, agent Neumann. It was the complete opposite of flirting!

- Yeah sure, even a blind guy could tell what you were doing, and sorry Mr. Theo, but I cannot give you that information, I’ll let Frank tell you himself

- I won’t tell him anything because there’s nothing to tell!

- That’s no way to talk to your tutor trainee Wolf! On the floor and give me 50, or maybe I should just tell our friend Wagner here who is our mysterious girl…

I had seen frank complete 100 push-ups in 5 minutes, but that was nothing compared to how fast he dropped down and started doing this 50 push-ups, which he completed before I could even process what was going on. Meanwhile, agent Neumann couldn’t stop laughing at his trainee’s embarrassment.

- Maybe we should invite her here, she’d fall for you instantly if she saw you training…

I couldn’t hold my laughter anymore and the room was soon filled with agent Neumann laughs and my owns, mixed with Frank’s complaints against her tutor which seemed to really enjoy teasing him.

- Okay okay, I’m sorry Wolf, but your reaction is the only proof I need to confirm my theory, don’t you think Mr. Wagner?

- I agree with you Miss Neumann, and don’t worry Wolf, if you keep doing it she’ll notice it too, sooner or later.

Letting out a sigh and loosening his shoulders in sign of defeat, the big and strong Frank Wolf said:

- This is going to be a really long week…

After all that happened, we were almost out of time so we just took the last minutes to rest while agent Neumann gave us some feedback she had gathered while spectating our fight. She already knew Frank’s strong and weak points so she just told him to keep working on what she already had told him, and then told me that I had good awareness of my surroundings but I lacked knowledge over my body and capabilities, which Frank already had told me, but this time, agent Neumann surprised me with a question I didn’t understand at first

- Theo, how much do you know about anatomy?

- You mean about the human body? Not much really, they taught us on high school but not much apart from that

- Yeah, I figured that. You know why Frank here is that good at managing his strength?

- I guess it has something to do with anatomy?

- Of course, but what knowledge could he have that helps him with fighting?

- I’ve been thinking about it but I haven’t been able to figure it out

- It’s easy: he’s been studying the muscles in the human body for some time now

- Oh, that makes sense, but what muscles has he studied?

- All of them, of course

- Wow, that’s actually impressive.

- It is, it took me a couple of years as a trainee to do it myself, but he managed to do it in only one year

There was something bothering me about these two, so I asked a question I had in my mind for a while but wasn’t sure how or when to let it out:

- Excuse me Miss Neumann, but do you and Frank know each other from outside the White Police?

- So you noticed, huh? – She said with a weird smile on her face as if she had been caught doing a mischief – I’ve been a friend of his family since he was born and I’ve seen him grow from day one

This didn’t surprised me at all since it was pretty obvious their relationship wasn’t that of two people that barely knew each other, it was actually something more like an aunt-nephew relationship. As I rambled, she continued her explanation

- He had always been curious about my job and always seemed to get really excited when I told him stories about it, even when they weren’t anything special. So, when he turned 15 I presented the idea of him becoming an agent to his parents, which they accepted, but only if I trained him myself. It was difficult at that time because I was still a lower rank agent and I didn’t have that much spare time or freedom to actually make space, but one year later there was a big mission and I performed so well that they gave me rank 4, which gave me some more time to work with. We’ve been training almost every day since then, until he was 20 where I thought he was ready for the trials

- Wait, but he’s 21 now, so what’s with that extra year?

- I was getting there, don’t interrupt your tutor while he or she talks

- Oh, sorry, I’m a bit anxious when I’m curious about something

- Where was I? Oh yeah, that last year we dedicated strictly to study the human body, more specifically its muscles and how they worked. You know, if you learn how to improve muscle function, you can exponentially multiply the amount of power output, minimizing your actual strength usage

She probably saw the confusion on my face because she thought for a minute and then continued:

- For example, let’s say you try to lift a chair using only your hands and forearm, you might do it, but it’ll be really difficult and it’ll probably hurt your forearm. Now, what if you do the same but this time you use your entire arms up to the shoulders? It’ll be easier, right?

- Right… - I still didn’t know where she was going, but I let her continue, hoping to understand by the end

- Right. Now, what if you used your entire body, from the tip of your fingers to the bottom of your feet? Using all those muscles and distributing the strength needed between all of them creates a balance that lets you, for example, lift a chair using the minimum amount of energy with every muscle, decreasing wear on the muscles.

- So, are you saying that, if I were to, for example, swing my sword with just my arms, it would not only be weaker but it would wear more the muscles than if I used my entire body?

- That’s exactly what I’m saying.

- I think I get it now. And you think that I can learn to do that?

- At least for what I’ve seen, yes, you can, and it’ll probably enhance your fighting capabilities by a significant amount

At first I wasn’t too thrilled about this kind of training because I thought it wouldn’t fit my style, but hearing her, an experienced agent, say that it would make me improve, I couldn’t ignore it.

- In that case, it’ll be an honor to learn from you, Miss Neumann – I said offering her my hand for a handshake

- It won’t be easy tho, so be ready for some long sessions of training – She said while accepting my hand with hers, which, just as his trainee’s was a lot bigger than mine – Now let’s get going, our shift starts in 10 minutes and we need to get dressed

We grabbed our things and tidied up the room before leaving, and once we were out, agent Neumann spoke to us while already walking:

- Go get changed and I’ll see you both at the west lobby. Don’t be late or I’ll make you jump on one leg the entire patrolling time.

- Yes mam’!

- Yes Miss!

Frank and I looked at each other, surprised about how in sync we said that, and shared a knowing smile before turning around and making our way to the locker room.