”Shoot kid you keep up this you’re gonna be one of my best students, give Koga and Gawain a run for their money.” Sam said praising the young girl as she did as she was instructed. She complained a lot less than them as well. ”Like all the things I teach you, practice these on your own.” Sam threw a few more front kicks then stopped and got back into his stance.

”Next is a roundhouse, quick and to the point. It is good to stun or stagger your partners.” Sam pointed to his ribs then his leg where the major muscles were in his thighs ”two bests places to hit with this kick, and just like the front kick, four positions.” Sam over exaggerated the kick again going as slow as possible. Sam steeped forward with his back foot and cocked his front one up and then swung it around almost like a whip. Hands still up in a guard he snapped his foot back again after bringing it around.

”Up, out, back, down.” Sam said placing his foot down in a good stance, ”Don’t get much power from these kicks but they are meant to be used in combos, and make sure you hit with your in step when attacking some one’s leg.” Sam demonstrated a few more times till he changed the angle of the kick so it was a bit higher, ”Ball of foot is the point of contact when you are aiming at a higher target like the ribs. Make sure you pull the toes back or you will break them.” Sam changed the angles again and started to throw it faster and faster before stopping and watching Victoria.

”How many kicks did I say you were gonna learn today?”

Smiling big at the praise from her teacher Victoria’s face quickly turned to one of curiousness with a slight tilt of the head. “Koga and Gawain? Are they some more of your students? Speaking of which, will I ever see other students in your class? Don’t get me wrong, I really like the one-on-one learning. I was just wondering.”

Sam introduced another kick technique and the girl again watched him attentively. When her teacher had performed the new kick a few times Victoria slowly went through the motions. Feeling extremely confident she tried a full speed kick. This didn’t go so well unfortunately, as the power of her kick swung her around spinning her like a top and sending her spiraling down to the ground in a rather undignified manner.

Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment Victoria picked herself up and with her head tilted down she peeked upwards at Sam. "I'll go slower for now."

“They are.” Sam said nodding his head to the first of Victoria’s questions. He threw another roundhouse letting his body pivot keeping his guard up the entire time. Years of practice made it a habit. “Koga is hard to keep track of, I only have classes with him when he lets me know he is going to be around and Gawain. You’ll meet him/her in time.” Sam said not bothering to explain the ‘him/her’ mention. “Keep in mind I’m dead right now so me teaching anyone is impossible.” letting that comment sit for a second he lowered his guard and turned towards Victoria, “Right? We aren’t really here because I’m dead.” hoping that Victoria was as quick witted as he was led to believe he continued.

“Technique before speed and power.” Sam nodded as he went slower as well. “You’ll get to full speed one day. Got to be patient.” After she threw a few more roundhouses Sam nodded his head. “Right I think I’ll give you at least one more for the lesson before we start the simulation.” Sam said getting into a good stance.

“This is called a side kick.” Cocking his leg up pulling his knee into his chest he turned slightly and shot his leg straight out pushing all of his force into his heel. Leg extended Sam let out a small exhale then slowly pulled it back cocking it back up into his chest then setting it down. “This kick is gonna be your powerhouse.” he demonstrated a few more times making sure she could see his in step was parallel to the ground.

“A good target would be the ribs or chest. Keep in mind if you miss you leave yourself open to a lot of attacks, so only do this one if you plan on getting away from the situation or you are dropping someone.”

Nodding in acknowledgement to the explanation of the other two named students Sam kept going while Victoria’s brain was trying to pop out questions. Yet his words kept her questions from ever making it to her mouth as he reminded her of his ‘death’. What he said made sense. This whole practice ‘wasn’t happening’ if anyone were to ever ask.

Taking a deep breath she nodded with a renewed focus in her eyes. “Right. Technique before speed. I’ll remember, I promise.”

Returning to her fighting stance she watched Sam perform the newest kick. “I’ve seen that done lots of times in movies and the person getting kicked always flies back into a table or goes out a window or sometimes through a wall. So it must be strong.”

In typical fashion Victoria went through the mechanics of the side kick. Leg up while bringing her knee close to her chest and thrusting out while trying to point the kick with her heel as she had observed Sam doing. Several more times at a slow and methodical pace to ensure all the correct motions were performed, and then she fired off a couple at a faster pace. “Was that good teacher?”, she said while her leg was still out stretched.

Remaining silent except for a small smile to Victoria’s question Sam waited till she asked him what he thought of the kick. ”Not bad, though keep in mind just like any of the kicks or punches you’re gonna want to snap them back after you make contact. Leave it out too long and someone can grab it and break it or worse.” Sam said throwing the kick out a few more times himself before walking to the nearest tree and leaning his back to it.

”The kick is strong, no doubt but movies are usually a little exaggerated, a kick like this usually just breaks ribs or knocks the wind out of you. All depending on where you hit them.” he’d been kicked out of the window before and thrown threw a table. Usually the super strong mutants were the cause of it and if it wasn’t for his armor he might have had a few more broken bones then he’d care to admit. ”Like everything I teach you, you only do this to protect yourself or friends, you could really end up hurting someone when using these."

Nodding his head and looking from Victoria to the top of the sky Sam called out, ”Danger Room, begin target practice exercise 114.” it was a training simulation that had targets pop out from the surroundings. Nothing more than punching bags in the shape of men. When hit they would give some resistance to getting knocked down or back. There was a total of thirty and they were all different shapes and sizes and had different body shapes. Something that he thought would be needed when getting target practice.

A few feet from them a six foot figure appeared from the tree Sam was leaning on. It didn’t make any noise and just stood there in place. ”Tonight you are going to use all the things I taught you. They are nothing more than punching bags, so you hit them as hard as you want. Remember good technique. You hit them in the right places they go down quicker. You have 15 minutes, there is thirty of them around us. You get close enough to where one is hiding it will pop out….” Sam waited for a second to make it seem he was about to take questions however, ”Begin” he didn’t give her any time for one, he had enough confidence in her where she could figure out where to strike and what to throw.

Heeding Sam’s first warning about making sure to snap back the punches and kicks, Victoria considered what if someone did catch one of her limbs. What if she increased her flexibility so as to strike the person if they had hold of her leg? She wasn’t worried about being broken *rolls eyes*, but what if she could still strike back while being partially incapacitated? That would be useful right?

Sam went on about the new kick and how it was strong but not like in the movies. “But I might kick someone through a window or wall if I get stronger.” Immediately the girl pictured herself kicking someone and sending them bursting through a window ‘just like in the movies’. “I know I need to protect my friends, but if someone tries hurting them then they’ll get hurt instead.” A look of fierce determination flashed in her ruby red eyes.

Now a new challenge presented itself with Sam’s instruction. He wanted to see her take out a bunch of punching bags as he called them. She listened while looking around to see if she could locate any of the other targets besides the one near her teacher. 15 minutes should be enough time but Victoria didn’t know how far out her targets went. Might as well ask. “Umm…how far…” “Begin.” A huff exhaled Victoria’s nostrils when she didn’t get to finish her question. Fine then.

Trying to imagine that these punching bags were coming to hurt her friends Victoria focused on what needed to be done as she began sweeping the area. Random targets popped out along her path and as she got closer to each one she struck with whatever attack quickly came to mind. Some went down with a single strike to the center while others she tried a combination of strikes. A leg kick followed by a kick to the side, or a mix of punches. She was playing with what felt comfortable following up with whichever attack she started with. As the little vampire progressed through the targets she became more and more confident in what to do. Her kicks and punches snapping out and then back.

After a little huff when she didn’t get to ask her question she went off and did what she was instructed. Stronger than Gawain and Koga, she might be smarter than both of them as well. It was clear she had the power but her technique still revealed her inexperience. That would change in time but she was still very impressive for a kid. She definitely could have beaten the tar out of Sam if he was her age. Then again Sam was never the strongest kid, he specialized in longer range and stealth to take down his targets.

A smile of satisfaction touched Sam’s lips even though he was still worried with other things outside of the danger room. Once the timer and the targets were up and out Sam clapped his hands a few times as he walked up next to her. ”You kiddo are gonna be scary when you get older. It usually takes the Gawain and the others twice as long to take the targets down. You did it with only a few punches or kicks.” Sam nodded his head again.

”Think next time I should get you someone to practice with.” Sam said allowed but more to himself as he placed his hand on his chin and scratched it. . ”Maybe, I should up the difficulty.” the more he pushed her and the more she pushed herself the better she would become. It was how he learned, though when it was pushed it was more life or death situations. Something he never wanted any of his students to go through.

”Piece of advice, good targeting only means you need to strike once to take someone down. Right? You waste time when you hit the partners several times, one quick jab to a more sensitive area and they’d drop. Certain parts of the body can never be strengthened. Well unless they are a special case.” Sam thought of a few mutants on the MRD’s files.

When the last target was gone and the timer stopped Victoria heard clapping. It was coming from her teacher! A big smile spread over the girl’s lips as it was apparent she had done well. She had tried her best to do well, and the compliment and admiration that followed proved she had done just that.

Smiling and blushing at the same time as Sam compared her to some of his other students, Victoria was proud of herself. “Hopefully I’ll be scary enough to keep my friends safe.” She dwelled on Sam’s statement for some time. It gave her a glimpse of a possible future self. One who could keep those dear to her safe while also being scary enough that no one would dare try to hurt them either.

Sam’s mention of having the girl practice with someone else was exciting. “I’d like to do that! I’d get to meet someone new, and maybe make another new friend.” She beamed joyfully at this thought. Meeting new people was always interesting at the mansion because everyone was so unique in more than their looks and personalities.

The advice from her teacher was taken seriously, but she thought she should voice her reasoning for the way she struck some of the targets. “I understand that but I was trying to imagine that the targets were really coming after me like in a movie where the hero is surrounded. Some had weapons and so I would strike them in a way to expose a more vital area for me to hit. Should I not have done that? If I don’t do that then I’m sure I could finish much faster.”

Maybe she just watched too many movies?

The thought of Victoria knocking Gawain out crossed his mind and caused him to smirk. ”I’m sure both parties will enjoy the training.” Sam said agreeing with Victoria. As a teacher Sam liked pushing his students to the limits so they could challenge and better themselves. As a friend watching a little girl beat the tar out of Gawain just seemed so appealing.

”True, the movies sometimes do get that right. However some weapons are more dangerous than others, I’d rather have you get home then stay around just to beat the crud out of people. Most fights only last seconds and a lot can happen in that time.” Sam’s body covered itself in a thick layer of ice within a few seconds. ”I have armor, I still get tossed around. People, mutants and humans are too unpredictable. That being said strikes quickly and move on. You stay around to long and you could end up pretending you’re dead.” Sam said moving his body as ice started to fall off.

”Repeat after me, strike quickly and get home safely.” Sam waited to hear her repeat the words before he continued, ”You can’t protect people if you get too messed up right?” Sam asked her rhetorically. ”Got to use your head.” Sam said tapping on his noggin. ”One of the greatest muscles of them all right?”

Smiling when her teacher agreed that training with someone else would be good Sam then continued on with his critique. His points sounded valid and made sense. It probably would be easier and faster if she could make one good strike to take down her opponent before they have a chance to defend or retaliate. Nods gave some acknowledgement that she was listening to his words.

Victoria watched as Sam covered himself in ice and called it armor. So he had a way to protect himself. That was good to know. It’s probably what helped save him and get him back to the mansion after whatever fight he had been in where people think he may be dead.

He then instructed her to say and remember his rule. “Strike quickly and get home safely. I will remember. I promise.” Her smile was replaced with a determined expression. She would make sure to stick to that guidance as best she could from now on. “I will do my best to use my head too.”

Sam patted Victoria on the head once again and nodded his head, ”Well, I think that will be enough for tonight. Practice practice practice.” Sam said to her as he looked up to the danger room ceiling, ”End simulation.” the background faded back to the great grey room and then Sam looked to Victoria and gestured her towards the door.

”As for our next class, I’ll come find you. Me being dead and all it wouldn’t look right if I was still teaching.” Sam put a finger to his lips, ”Remember you didn’t see me. It’s super important for now for people to think I’m gone. Once I get this little mess of a situation fixed I’ll start teaching again. Alight?” Sam asked her hoping it would come off serious as possible. ”Have a good night Victoria.”