Renegade World: Future Past (4 page)

While Thor boxed out Matt, Aaron started pulling down most
of the rebounds. Matt started shoving Thor, who held his ground against the
much bigger Matt. Finally, Aaron had to break them apart.

After the scrimmage ended, Matt ordered everyone to shoot
one hundred free throws. Anyone who didn't make at least 80 had to run wind
sprints. She counted as she watched Thor and Aaron shoot. Thor put 82 of his in
and Aaron 88.

It was apparent by the groaning that no one else had hit 80
or more. She was surprised when she heard Aaron say, “Feel like some wind
sprints?”

Thor replied, “Not really, but it looks like everyone else
has to, so what the heck. Let's keep it close with the others, though.”

They lined up with the others on the baseline. Everyone
groaned as Matt said, “OK, four wind sprints with 30 seconds rest in between. 
Ready! Go!”

They all sprinted to the free throw line and back, the
midcourt line and back, the far free throw line and back, and finally the far
baseline and back. Matt, Thor, and Aaron finished together. Thor winked at
Aaron. The last two guys crossed 15 seconds later, and Matt yelled, “We go
again in 30 seconds!”

They went three more times. Aaron and Thor pushed Matt each
time. After the final sprint, everyone was on the floor or doubled over except
Aaron and Thor.

Naami saw Aaron look right at the girls in front of her.
I'm pretty
sure he didn't recognize me.
She watched Matt get up and walk over to Aaron and Thor.
Those two are in better shape than Matt and their other teammates.

“Sorry if I got hot with you guys during the scrimmage.
I've got to get it through my head that I can't put the ball on the floor so
much.”

Aaron laughed, “You can count on us to help you out. Don't
put the ball on the floor, and we won't steal it.”

Matt walked away muttering, “I gotta break that habit.” He turned
and yelled back, “Say hi to Erica for me!”

Thor yelled back, “Will do!” Softer, to Aaron, he said, “I
think Erica likes him.”

Aaron laughed, “Is she dumping Jack? I guess two months is
a long time for her to date a guy.”

“Look who's keeping tabs on my sister's love life!”

Oh. Maybe Thor is Erica's sister. They do look a little alike. I think Aaron is jealous.

A
aron and his dad walked into the studio. They were
already wearing their uniforms. His dad had a black belt with three gold
stripes. Aaron's black belt had only one. Mr. Hyon didn't allow his students to
test for second-degree black belt until they were 16 years old.

Erica, Thor, and Mr. Carlson were already there. Mr.
Carlson was talking to another man, almost a head shorter than him. Mr. Carlson
was over six feet seven, so most people were shorter than him.

Erica waved at Aaron. “Look who’s here!” She pointed down
and behind her.

He saw Naami and waved.

Naami waved back. “Hi, Aaron. Oops, I mean Mr. Lieber.” Mr.
Hyon, who owned the studio, insisted that all black belts be called formally by
their last name.

“Are you going to train with us Naami?”

“Soon. I can't start today because I'm not five yet.”

The man who had been talking to Mr. Carlson turned around
and shook hands with his dad. His dad waved him over to them.

“I want to introduce you to Mr. Schmidt. Mr. Schmidt, this
is my son, Aaron.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Lieber the younger.”

Naami giggled.

Aaron replied, “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Schmidt.” It was
always weird when he and his dad were together at the studio because people
called him Mr. Lieber the younger.

My Hyon called out to everyone in a loud voice, “Please
line up by rank facing the mirrors. Black belts at the far end.”

The students walked in and began lining up facing the left
wall, which had eight-foot-high mirrors its entire length. The mirrors began
right above the floor that was made of a green synthetic material. Above the
mirrors were drawn the names of forms in both English and Korean with a
different colored belt hanging below each one.  The rest of the interior was
unremarkable with industrial lighting panels in the ceiling and dirty off-white
paint on the walls.

As the twenty-five students lined up, he noted the five
gold stripes on Mr. Schmidt's belt. He was a bit surprised because Mr. Hyon
usually gave students from other schools a temporary first-degree black belt
until they tested for the other black belt degrees.

Mr. Schmidt lined up on the far end. Aaron's dad stood next to him followed
by Rebeka Lee, Mr. Carlson, Erica, and Aaron. Thor was on Aaron's right followed by seven
brown belts and eleven colored belts. This class was for adult green belts or higher. Everyone stood straight, feet together, hands at their sides, looking forward into the mirror. The
studio just fit all of them at two arm’s length apart.

Mr. Hyon yelled, “Ready stance!”

All of the students stepped left, raised their closed fists
towards their chests, fists almost touching, and then snapped them down to
their waists a couple of inches apart.

“Fighting Stance!”

All students stepped back with their right foot into
fighting stances.

“Front leg front kicks on my count!” He paused briefly.
“One!”

All twenty-five students lifted their front knee and
snapped out front kicks.

“Knees up high! Use your core. Really snap the kick! Two!”

Twenty-five kicks snapped. Out of his peripheral vision,
Aaron noted that many of the lower belts kicked higher this time.

“Three!”

Twenty-five kick snapped out. Aaron noticed that Mr.
Schmidt was kicking at Mr. Carlson's head height.
He's quick and flexible.

“Four!”

Twenty-five kicks snapped out. This time, Aaron tried to kick at Mr. Carlson's head height.

“Five!”

Twenty-five kicks snapped. Erica and Thor now
kicked at the new height. Mr. Hyon continued to call out his
counts. After nine, he yelled out, “Switch feet! Watch me.”

Everyone shifted to left foot back fighting stance and
looked at him.

Mr. Hyon brought his left knee up in slow motion,
straightening his ankle so that the top of his foot formed a straight line with
his shin while pulling his toes back to a right angle. He looked down at the
green belts. “Observe how my toes are out of the way. You do not want to hit a
target or, an opponent with any of your toes!”

Aaron thought he sensed a grimace from Thor, who had broken
a toe exactly that way when sparring as a green belt.

Mr. Hyon lowered his foot and yelled, “One!”

Twenty-five kicks snapped. He continued counting, and the
kicks kept snapping. After nine more he again commanded them to switch
feet.

“Round kicks! One!”

Twenty-five students pivoted on their back feet and snapped
out round kicks. Erica and Mr. Schmidt kicked at Mr. Carlson's head height
without dropping their torsos' down to horizontal. Aaron kept his torso up too,
but his kick was an inch or so lower than theirs. Thor had dropped his torso almost to
horizontal and matched Aaron's kick. Most of the lower belts weren't much above
waist high.

Mr. Hyon continued his count to ten, commanded them to them
switch feet, and then continued with ten on the other side.

“Switch feet! Green and purple belts, side kick. Brown and
black belts side kick and hook kick in combination. Ready! One!”

Aaron chambered his knee, pivoted, and thrust his side
kick. He re-chambered his knee, thrust higher and slightly to the right of his
first kick then hooked his heel back at the chin of his imagined opponent. He
liked this combination and practiced it almost every day.
Wow. He's fast.
He prided himself on being the fastest, but today he was a distant second.
He tried to make each combination faster, but Mr. Schmidt seemed to speed up too.
When they switched feet, he could no longer see how he compared to Mr. Schmidt, but the whole
class seemed faster.

“Line up facing the back of the studio in five rows of five
by rank! Highest rank in the first row and lowest in the back!”

The students lined up, and Mr. Hyon barked, “Bow! Ready
stance! Form Dan-Gun on the hut!”

The students moved through all twenty-one moves to his
cadence. Blocks, punches, kicks, and other techniques were executed with great
focus. Next he ran them through the twenty-four moves of Do-San.

The green belts moved to the side of the room and watched as he ran the
others through the twenty-eight moves of Won-Hyo and the thirty-eight moves of
Yul-Gok.

The purple belts moved to the side with the green
belts as he put the brown belts and black belts through the thirty-seven moves
of Toi-Gye and the twenty-nine moves of Hwa-Rang.

Finally, only the black belts moved through the thirty-nine
moves of Choong-Moo and the thirty-six moves of Po-Eun.

Throughout all of the forms, when Aaron was facing the front
of the studio, he could see Naami watching intently with her face pressed right
up to the glass that separated the workout area from the small spectator area.

“Get your head gear and gloves on! Green belts down here
with me. The rest of you line up by rank in two rows facing each other.”

Aaron took his place facing Josh, a 19-year-old
brown belt.

My Hyon yelled, “Bow to your opponent!” He paused.
“Fighting stance!” He looked at the twelve pairs of fighters to make sure
everyone was set and yelled, “Begin!”

The ordered chaos of twelve fights began. Aaron moved his
left hand just enough to block a head-high round kick and countered with a side
kick just under the armpit of the taller Josh. He followed immediately with a
hook kick that by design just missed Josh's head.

Black belts were not allowed to make contact with the lower
belts' heads. They could make minimal contact with their torsos.

Josh circled to his left and grunted, “Lucky for me there's
no contact.”

“You leaned too far back to get your kick up to my head
height. It left you off-balance against my kicks.”

Aaron stepped back with his left foot while blocking a
head-high punch with his right hand and in the same motion snapped a backfist
just short of Josh's face. Aaron, unlike most students, felt comfortable
sparring from either side, so he stayed in a southpaw stance with his left foot
back.

They continued sparring for another two minutes until My
Hyon barked, “Stop! Bow!”

Everyone bowed to their opponent, and then everyone rotated
one place to the left. Aaron nodded at Julie, his next opponent. Julie, who had
been in the same math class as him last year, was a couple of inches shorter
than him. She was extremely flexible and aggressive, but her control was bad
for her belt level. She liked to fight black belts because they did not
complain about excessive contact.

“Bow! Fighting Stance!” Mr. Hyon looked to make sure
everyone was set and yelled, “Begin!”

Julie immediately attacked with a high round kick that
came down from above his head. Aaron thrust an x-block to meet it. 
He trapped her kick above his head and said, “Pretty kick.”  He released her
leg and anticipated her charge. Instead of moving away, he closed the distance
quickly and pushed her back with his left forearm. He stayed in close, leaning
in and pushing her as he blocked her attempted blows. She didn't like to fight
in close.

She panted, “It really pisses me off when you guys bully me
with your size and strength!”

He stepped left to avoid her spinning backfist. “You’re too
predictable. All of the black belts know you like to charge in and hope your
opponent retreats. I'm not going to retreat. Learn to retreat and fight from
the outside!” He swept his right hand down, pinning both her arms together as
he threw a left-handed ridge hand at the side of her head.

“Stop! Bow!”

Aaron was disappointed. There was only going to be time to
spar a couple of more times, so he wouldn't get to spar any of the other black
belts. His next two opponents were both purple belts.

“Stop! Bow! Take you gear off and line up by rank facing
the mirror!”

Everyone pulled off their gloves, mouth guards, and
headgear, laid them off to the side, and then lined up quickly.

My Hyon barked, “Ready Stance!” He looked up and down the
row of students. “Any Black Belt who wishes to stay and spar may do so.” He
looked at Mr. Schmidt and nodded.  “Feet together! Bow!”

Aaron's dad walked over. “Aaron, Mr. Carlson and I have
work to do. If you want to stay, Rebeka Lee will give you a ride home.”

“I want to stay.”

He nodded. “I was sure you would. See you later.” He
started walking away and then turned back. “I gave Mr. Schmidt my permission
for you to spar with more contact than usual. He'll fill you in.”

Aaron's mouth gaped as his dad walked away. Thor was grinning.
“More contact. Yes!” They both looked around the room to see who was staying. Thor
turned back to Aaron and said, “You, me, Erica, Rebeka Lee, and Mr. Schmidt.”

“You mean Mr. Lieber, Ms. Carlson, and Ms. Johnson don't
you?”

“Whatever! Did your dad mention more contact?”

“Yes, but he was vague.”

“Mine too.” Thor turned his head towards the door and
looked puzzled. “Mr. Hyon is leaving.”

“That's weird!”

They grabbed their sparring gear and walked closer to where
Rebeka Lee and Mr. Schmidt stood talking. Erica joined them.

Mr. Schmidt stopped talking and grinned at them.  He was
about to start talking when he was interrupted by Naami.

“Do I have to stay out here? Can't I come in? I really want
to come in. I won't get in the way. Promise!”

Mr. Carlson rolled his eyes but smiled as he replied, “You
may come in.  Please stay well out of our way.”

She cartwheeled into the room. “OK.”

He turned back to them. “Mr. Hyon has graciously allowed me
to hold informal sparring sessions. If you see me in his Tuesday or Thursday
evening classes, you can assume I'll hold a session afterward. We’ll spar with
greater contact than in Mr. Hyon's class.”