S - Training for the Future
Setting: Current
Wordcount: 621
Quote:
“Again!” His gloved fists drove into the mitt of his training partner with a solid strike. Left. Left. Right. “Again!” He swung once more at the barked order. “Keep your guard up!” He didn’t flinch back when the free mitt of his opponent came out to tap him on the side. It went like that for several more minutes until his breathing was becoming ragged and they had to have circled the mat that served as their ring several times, all the while Ben was throwing jab after jab.
Finally they broke apart and the young man quickly made his way over to one of the benches against the wall. Once he stripped his boxing gloves off he started to chug down his bottle of water. The older man who had been training with him came over, running a small hand towel through his rapidly thinning hair. “You're doing good Ben but you still aren't guarding right.” He sighed and shook his head, “I know you're strong but you can’t just take punch after punch. You’ve got to protect yourself too. You're not made of steel like Superman.”
Ben just shrugged, “But If I get them down fast enough they won’t be able to hit me.” It had been his general mode of operation ever since he was a kid. Go fast. Go hard. Damn the personal injuries it caused. So far it hadn’t steered him wrong. He had almost always come out on top and the few fights when he hadn’t the other person sure as s**t wasn’t in any shape to walk away either. Then again… now he wasn’t exactly going to be getting into normal fights. He paused, tossing his own towel over his shoulders to help mop up some of the sweat the training had generated. “I’m a brawler, that's all there is to it.” But even he could tell there was now a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
“If you get into a real fight that's going to come back to bite you.” The older male just shook his head before adding, “Especially if you got that girl with ya.”
“What do you mean?” Ben practically growled. Most everyone in the gym knew he had a new girl, one he was very serious about, so Abby being brought up wasn’t all that surprising, but the comment definitely had Ben’s hackles up.
“Woah mate,” The other male held up his hands in a placating gesture, “Didn’t mean anything by it. Just that if you get in a fight and get taken down first you will be leaving her to protect herself.” He eyed Ben and added, “You keep dragging her to places in the city where women like her don’t normally go and you both will end up in deeper s**t then you want. Just take it as a friendly warning Ben.” He snagged his own bottle of water, “Work on your guard. Maybe look into some of the self defense classes for your girl too.” With that last piece of advice the older man walked off to put in some time in at the punching bag.
Ben of course did not like the implication that he couldn’t protect his girl, even against the shadier side of the city, but he also had to at least admit silently that the larger man did have some idea of what he was talking about. He was from those same streets he was warning Ben from. As much as it galled him to admit, there was some merit to what he had been told, he detested it, but it was still there. It was something he was going to have to work on that was for sure.
Finally they broke apart and the young man quickly made his way over to one of the benches against the wall. Once he stripped his boxing gloves off he started to chug down his bottle of water. The older man who had been training with him came over, running a small hand towel through his rapidly thinning hair. “You're doing good Ben but you still aren't guarding right.” He sighed and shook his head, “I know you're strong but you can’t just take punch after punch. You’ve got to protect yourself too. You're not made of steel like Superman.”
Ben just shrugged, “But If I get them down fast enough they won’t be able to hit me.” It had been his general mode of operation ever since he was a kid. Go fast. Go hard. Damn the personal injuries it caused. So far it hadn’t steered him wrong. He had almost always come out on top and the few fights when he hadn’t the other person sure as s**t wasn’t in any shape to walk away either. Then again… now he wasn’t exactly going to be getting into normal fights. He paused, tossing his own towel over his shoulders to help mop up some of the sweat the training had generated. “I’m a brawler, that's all there is to it.” But even he could tell there was now a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
“If you get into a real fight that's going to come back to bite you.” The older male just shook his head before adding, “Especially if you got that girl with ya.”
“What do you mean?” Ben practically growled. Most everyone in the gym knew he had a new girl, one he was very serious about, so Abby being brought up wasn’t all that surprising, but the comment definitely had Ben’s hackles up.
“Woah mate,” The other male held up his hands in a placating gesture, “Didn’t mean anything by it. Just that if you get in a fight and get taken down first you will be leaving her to protect herself.” He eyed Ben and added, “You keep dragging her to places in the city where women like her don’t normally go and you both will end up in deeper s**t then you want. Just take it as a friendly warning Ben.” He snagged his own bottle of water, “Work on your guard. Maybe look into some of the self defense classes for your girl too.” With that last piece of advice the older man walked off to put in some time in at the punching bag.
Ben of course did not like the implication that he couldn’t protect his girl, even against the shadier side of the city, but he also had to at least admit silently that the larger man did have some idea of what he was talking about. He was from those same streets he was warning Ben from. As much as it galled him to admit, there was some merit to what he had been told, he detested it, but it was still there. It was something he was going to have to work on that was for sure.
