[Job] Personal Trainer

Jem struggled heavily in the gym, he always had. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the drive; it was more that there were so many machines that he had no idea how he was going to get started. It was for this reason that he had put up a job request hoping that someone would help him train, but no one had bitten, or at least no one until Kenshiro suddenly appeared. As it stood he was unsure about training with the boy because a fifteen year old wasn’t going to be any better trained that he… or so that was the impression until the kid took his shirt off. The scars covering his body told a story of someone who had walked through fire and managed to come out from an inferno alive and stronger for it.
”You don’t need a gym to train. Things that you find can offer better training than the high tech equipment they offer here.” The boy had said. Jem had never thought to find ways of training outside on his own.
”Where do I go to train? Please help me learn to train like you! I can do whatever you put me through.” Jem had replied.
”That’s good. You’ll need to draw on everything you have if you want to survive this.” Those were the last words Ken uttered of warning and that was the event that had brought them to where they were now.

Word count: 242/800

Ken started training Jem in the gladiatorial arts with his own creative embellishments as learned from Kamui and from his own training and combat experience. He started by having his employer walk with a 68kg log on his shoulders and had him walk for the entire evening with it on his shoulders. Ken himself stayed up getting his own workout, smacking him with a small cudgel every time the man started slacking. The small circle that Jem was forced to walk in began to wear down and by the morning time there was a track on the ground of earth that was beaten in.

When the sun came up Ken was ready for Jem to collapse, but despite stumbling a bit as he threw the log to the ground the man stayed upright.
”Rest, eat. Fill your belly.” Ken said with a maniacal grin. Jem finally got a chance to eat, but it was short lived. Four or five bites from his bowl and half of his chunk of bread and he was back to training.
”Get up! Pick up your sword, we work the pallets!” Ken barked, calling on the same cruel and unsympathetic methods the training instructor had used on him since the first day at the ludus or training area for gladiators. With wooden swords in hand they began the next stage of training. Ken taught Jem one form for the day. Right-to-left cross slash, vertical upward slash, left-to-right cross slash, rising right-to-left cross slash, forward thrust to forward step, and horizontal slash. Kenshiro repeated this five times before moving Jem to wooden crosses mean to imitate a man.
”This is form one, there are four additional forms for you to learn. Starting from this you will master form one this morning and strike until that sword breaks. Only then may you rest.” Ken commanded, grabbing a wooden sword for himself and beating on the wooden cross from the opposite side.

word count: 566/800

For the duration of the morning they struck the pallets. Ken’s strikes were exponentially faster than Jem’s, and Ken broke three wooden swords in the time it took Jem to break one, but by the afternoon Jem had managed to break the sword along with his own willpower. As Jem’s sword broke he fell to one knee, blacking in and out of consciousness for a moment, but amazed at how he had managed to keep going this long. He raised his head momentarily to celebrate this fact, but subsequently lost consciousness. It was in this instant that Kenshiro realized just how much the training had forced them to push their upper limits.

Three more days of training all morning and very little actual punishment pushed Jem to the point where he was starting to be able to keep up with Ken during regular training intervals. Very little rest, short breaks, and a large portion of the day eaten up by training and the boy was almost ready to set out into the arena on his own.
”You’ve come a long way, you’ve managed to master multiple forms of combat in the practice area. All you have left is to test yourself in actual combat and you’ll be ready to carry your training over on your own. The last thing I have left to teach you is how to use what you’ve learned. After this you are on your own.” Ken said, picking up a wooden sword and shield and gesturing to a set of wooden weapons he had carved for Jem to learn with. The man had actually taken to the spear and hoplon more than anything else.

word count: 844/800

At first the two squared off, a forward thrust was deflected with Ken’s shield while the buckler and dagger swung for Ken’s head only to be blocked with Ken spinning inward to take some utility from the spear, but Jem pulled the spear inward with him and used it as a bar that stabbed toward the ground between Ken’s legs and swept outward to trip him while Ken jumped to dodge, slashing this his own sword only to find it deflected by the buckler. They two fought like this for several minutes before Ken was satisfied, ending the battle the same way the veteran gladiators would in order to demonstrate a new initiate still had much to learn. After deflecting an attack from the spear by holding the shield horizontally but at an angle before slamming it into Jem’s chest and forcing him to the ground, he stood over the boy and put his sword to his student’s throat.
”You have much to learn still, but you are on your way. Keep training and you may even be fit for heaven’s arena one day.” He said, smiling genuinely. Ken had enjoyed their earnest battle without the use of nen. It was refreshing to focus more on the combat than on the use of aura.

word count: 1058/800

Now that the job was done, Kenshiro said his farewells to his student and left. He accepted the money for the job and waved at the new friend he had just made. His way was starting to make itself known now and he could finally start to live his life for better purposes than simply getting revenge or killing his enemies in NGL. He still wanted to get revenge, but now the purpose wasn’t just to free the country. It was to give others who were going through something similar, or even just those who were downtrodden or wanted something more to be able to have the opportunity to do so, and from training Jem, Ken realized that he had everything he needed to train people to fight for themselves in the hopes of a better tomorrow. Unfortunately there was still much to do in order for him to get everything started. There was the matter of building his strength and testing himself in heaven’s arena, gaining some sort of underground reputation, and getting enough people to help him do the job. He just had to find the right people to do so, and if he was going to find such people, they would be in heaven’s arena, so several of his goals seemed to coincide with coming to this place. There was much to learn here and the sky was the limit, or at least it seemed that way now. This was the beginning of something major in both his life and the lives of people to come.

Word count: 1315/800 (COMPLETE!)