Brett Blakley's Story (Part 3)



New Age of Heroes

"George!" , I yelled as I walked up beside my new apprentice, "George!" "You do push ups like a girl!" George seemed to be insulted even though he knew it was true. "But sir..." I interrupted him before he could say another word, "do you just want to skip the push ups?" My apprentice fell silent for a momment. He eventually looked up at me, "Yes sir", "I would like that very much" he managed to say. I wouldn't let him off the hook that easily, I had something else in mind for him. "Okay then, do 50 crunches instead!" George looked at me in shock. He let out a half-muman cry of sorrow and began to follow my orders. I counted as he went. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5". George then collapsed and started gasping for air like a fish swipped from the water. I couldn't do anything but laugh at him, "5." "You can only do 5?!" I managed to say under my laughter. "I can do like 700!" "You're such a weakling!" George lowered his head with shame. It wasn't like I was trying to be mean to my weak apprentice. But there was just no other way for me to put it. I playfully kicked him in the leg but he ended up rolling down a hill and hitting a tree with a loud thud. It took him a while to get up, but when he did, he went running hoe crying. Even though I was still laughing like a mad man, I still had some concerns. Seriouse concerns. I was starting to get worried actually. It never took Tim this long to get me into shape. My heart began to sink. Even the very thought of my old master made me feel empty. I was able to push the image of Tim out of my head and go back to buisness. I sat down by a shady tree and started to think about George. I am never going to be able to train this kid, I thought to myself. Not even Tim could have handled him. If George were Tim's apprentice he would have quite in less than twenty seconds. Once again I realized that the thought of Tim was still drofting inside my head like a ghost that couldn't rest. After a while, I went back home to play some video games. Eventually, I fell asleep.

Next day:

If I remember correctly, I was having one of my best dreams ever. I was climbing a tree that seemed to be as tall as the London Bridge was long. I was able to climb it with great ease and I eventually reached the top. As I looked into the small town below me, I realized that even with Tim gone, I could still have my good times. I felt a breeze hit my face. It felt soothing and peaceful. Then, to my surprise, another gust of wind blew my way. This time, alot more harder. It was followed by another gust, then another, then two more! Eventually I was just hanging on to the tree for all I was worth! I was starting to scream, in the distance I heard a voice that seemed lost in time. It started to become clearer and clearer until I knew that it was saying my name! Brett, Brett was all it said. For a momment, it sounded like Tim's voice. Even through the mighty wind, I spoke loudly. Tim!, Tim is that you! Eventually my eyes began to flicker open and I woke up to George poking me saying, "sir I can do it!" "No you can't George!" "Just give up!" I said, starting to return to the real world. But George refused, "I won't!" I just sighed and started to yawn. Eventually, I spoke again, "Fine I'll just start to train you harder!" He quickly yelled, "NO!, sir I can't do it myself, just let me fight THEY!" But I knew my new apprentice George wasn't strong enough for that yet... or ever. "You'll lose then." I bellowed. George didn't respond. You could say a lot about George. He was not to bright, weak, and a bad fighter. But if there is one thing about George that you can tell most of all, he never gives up. I honestly think that if he was missing both arms and legs, he would still try to run laps around the track. Like I said, he isn't to smart. I sighed again, "Fine, I'll get a fight for you, with a bully." "But you need to prove yourself first." I continued, "Okay, the first thing you always need to know is what kind of moves you're good at." "Always have good balance and move your feet along with your fists to keep your attack one smooth motion." 'Like this," I stood with my favorite stance for three seconds, then stepped quickly with my feet and punched George in the chest. "Be ready George!" I yelled, "I could betray you any minute and you would just be standing there wonder whats for dinner!" I continued by saying, "I was taught by Tim Allender", "and I have to pass down what he has taught to someone...and that someone is you!" George stopped me, "But sir I just can't do it YET." I got really angry, "Then why do you want to fight?!" George paused for a second and at last said "I just believe." I replied by saying "Wow, I didn't know people like you, could believe."

Next day:

I hoped for my great dream to come back to me over night. But without George messing it up again. But there was no such luck. Just a night with no dreams. Nights like that would always make me tired in the morning. And even worse on a school day. I went to school with a face that seemed to say "I'm ready to learn!" But my sagging eyes were saying other-wise. As I got to the lockers, I saw my friend Random Kid being bullied by a really mean kid by the name of Jack. Jack's girlfriend was there with him. Watching and snickering as her boyfriend bullied an innocent kid. Since Machine had left, things were pretty simple. Nobody really stood in my way. And no-one was planning on comparing to Machine. I would always try the same routine on bullies. I would walk up, ask them kindly to stop hurting someone. And if that didn't work, I would go to plan B. So, I walked up and said, "Hey, don't bully him." Jack turned with a smile that only a true bully has, and said "What are you going to do about it?" It was a normal bullt response. I spoke up, "I'm going to give you the count of three before I kick your butt." I said sternly. But he just laughed and said "okay then, lets go tough guy." I right away dashed into him and pushed him into a locker, he screamed like a girl and fell to the ground. Then I picked him up by his shirt and knicked him into the wall beside him. Jack wasn't planning on staying any longer. He quickly got up and ran away in defeat. His girlfriend just walked away laughing, saying to her friends, how she was going to break up with that wimp. Then George ran up and saying "wow, why did you do that?" "Because it was the right thing to do George", "When you're done training you should know the difference between the right things and the wrong things." I said. Then I went back to class.

Next day:

I will never forget how scared Jack sounded when I beat him up. I had only been fighting against bullies for a little over a year, and I had already figured most of them out. Most bullies wern't as strong as they claimed to be. In fact, I'm still not sure how some of them were even classified as bullies. If I had learned anything from most of my experience, it is that bullies were often bullyed when thet were little. But I could hardly amagine anyone bullying Machine. Later that day, I was training George at my house. We were trying to stay up all night. Before I trained George, I wanted to tell him a little more about the return of THEM (Better known as THEY). After all, the more you know about the enemy, the better. "Okay George, are you ready to learn about THEY?" I whispered. "Yes sir!" he said loudly, nearly waking up everyone in the house. "Alright, well then, THEY was a dangerous group of kids that would always pick on others." "It's members consisted of bullies, math geeks, and people who just wanted to fight and ruin other's lives." "Their leader WAS Machine." "After a while though, Tim and I took down Machine and in doing so, destroyed THEM." "Even though most people think otherwise, Machine was said to actually be the second most powerful member." "Their strongest soldier was a kid named Eliminator." I paused at the name Eliminator. The very name of Eliminator brought back bad memories that George wasn't ready to hear. I eventually continued. "When Tim Allender first encountered THEY, he was weak and seemed to be in horrible shape for fighting." "But after much training and hard work, Tim sculpted the S.S.C (or Fighters Club) to what it is today." "There were a lot more things that he did, but I think he might've just not had time to tell me the rest." "But I learned to listen to Tim, and always obey his orders without question." "So eventually, I took down Machine and Tim was never seen again after the battle... he disappeared." My heart sank for a moment. I fought through the bad memory and lifted my head up with a fake look of joy on my face. "So that is just a single story out of the hundreds that made the Fighters Club what is is today, George old buddy old pal."

Next hour:

After my long talk with George, we were able to stay up all night. And just to see if he had enough energy, I took him outside the next day for some early training. While I was training George in a field, I heard a small rustle behind us. It was soft, I could barely notice it. But something didn't seem right, I didn't think we were alone. And I was right. As I tried to find where the noise had come from, a large rock flew out at us! I ducked just in time for it to hurtle over me. I wasn't hurt, but George was. He was laying on the ground, moaning like a ghost. But I didn't have time to chack on him, there was a danger hiding in the bushes. I scanned my eyes across the large bushes. The attacker had moved to a different spot. Then, I quickly took a double-take. The attacker was crouched behind some large shrubs. He blended in perfectly. Before I could see his face, I was quickly tackled to the ground and kicked across the dry grass. I looked up, peeking over my body was none other than Eliminator himself. "It's been a while, Brett." he said as if we were sitting down for dinner. I had no room for words, Eliminator was a threat, and a threat didn't deserve to be spoken too. I quickly kicked him in the chest and rolled into him. He fell to the ground and I had the upper hand. I stood up and punched him back to the ground as he got up. Eliminator wouldn't be that easy to take down though. He quickly tripped me and rolled back. We both let eachother stand and examine our wounds. But quickly after I did, I dashed into Eliminator and punched him in the head. But it just felt like my fist hit metal. I heard my hand crack and I staggered back in pain. I lowered my eyes to George. Any help would be great at this time. But George was still laying down moaning like a baby. I was then punched in the stomach three times, then once on my arm. Eliminator became silent and didn't say a word. Like lightning, Eliminator kicked my feet out from under me. I landed on my butt and he quickly jumped and slammed his fist into my chest. I didn't think I could win this fight. It was true, I was going to lose after all of my long hours of training, fighting, and teaching. Eliminator was closing in, I couldn't believe I was about to fall at the hands of... my best friend.

Next day:

I couldn't take it anymore, I was loosing the fight and I wasn't liking it. I stood up again but Eliminator grabbed me and dragged me to a tree. He silently threw me against it, and started climbing it. With some effort, Eliminator threw me from the top of the tree and I landed in a really bad position. My back felt like a twisted branch as I got up. I tried to re-gain my balence, but it was no use, Eliminator jumped down headbutted me. I fell to the ground, but was able to kick him in the stomach on my way down. Staying up all night proved to have been my down-fall. I was tired, weak, and confused. Eliminator hovered back over me and grabbed by shirt collar. He drew his fist back and said, "Your good Brett,... but not great." And with those final words, he knocked me out. I had a dream when I blacked out, a dream that I had beaten Eliminator and George bacame a great apprentice. But when I woke up, all I saw as broken branches and a horrible feeling in my back. I quickly scanned the area, Eliminator was missing. I checked the bushed one by one, expecting for him to jump out at any minute and make me suffer. But he was gone. That made it even more creepy, why did he leave. Eliminator was no ordinary bully, I knew him to well. He didn't steal anything or take us to a wied location. He just left us there. Something wasn't right, that was easy to see. After a while, George woke up and began to sulk that he had failed to easily. For once, I didn't hurt his feelings, I just helped him heal up his wound. I had to much on my mind to pick on George.

Next day:

I woke up the next day feeling as sore as if I had just recovered from a five mile drop. Yeah, Eliminator WAS my best friend when we were young. But one day he started bullying me and others and he just wasn't the same anymore. We had a pretty good rival in sports. I won most of the sports, but he won all the fights. It was a never ending battle between good and evil. I always hated those kinds of battles. News travels fast, and as soon as kids learn that Eliminator defeated me, who knows what kind of chaos will emerge. I wasn't ready to tell George about me and eliminator used to being friends. He was to buisy healing or sleeping the day away. I stepped outside into the cool morning breeze. It felt good, but my back still hurt like crazy. I started to think some more about how strange it was for Eliminator to randomly beat us up and then just run away. But another part of my mind kept saying how could you let him defeat you! Like a true Tim apprentice, I didn't need revenge. But I did need aswers, and if that meant fighting in a round two with Eliminator, then so be it. Then, out of nowhere, George ran up, kicked me out from under my feet, and punched me lightly in the chest. I looked up at him in surprise, he was able to sneak up on me without me hearing him. And he even knocked me down. He started grinning. "I've been training." he said. I looked up at him with pure joy. He had finally done something that impressed me. At last I said, "George, you're ready for the next step in your training."