Restoration III: Life after 25 years

Chapter 34: Protection

Belle enrolled herself in a self-defense class in order for her to learn not only how to defend herself but also her whole family. If everyone had protected her in the past over the years when she was still a teenager, now it is the time for her to be the protector of her own family especially Ashley and Skyler from anyone. Our world today is full of violence which is why Belle thought of enrolling in this type of class. She will be taught inside a gym nearby in their house and today will be her first day in training. The trainer at the gym was the one who scheduled her for the day and she just informed it about her day offs in school. The atmosphere at the establishment is relaxing. Her trainer is a guy who looks like a person having a lot of patience in teaching. Belle can feel that she is going to enjoy this class where she is currently enrolled at. She is lucky that her trainer is a professional and not a person who just studied self-defense alone. You might encounter some trainers who only taught themselves on how self-defense works and not a real professional in its industry but not for Belle. Mike Fox will be the one to teach Belle several self-defense moves. They will start from the basics until they reach the most difficult moves throughout the lesson. Belle will also learn some defense moves that a cop does. She is well determined to master every lesson that she will go through just to protect her family and keep them safe all the time. She needs to endure a lot of pain in the training since it won't be easy and simple. The training requires great stamina especially when the time comes for a student to learn how to endure pain like a cop. She must be willing to get hurt which is a part of the training.

"Good morning Mrs. Reynolds and as I have told you, I'm Mike Fox and I will be your trainer for self-defense lessons here at the gym. I hope that we will be able to build a harmonious student to teacher relationship as we go along the way. I believe that you can relate on what I'm saying since you are a teacher yourself. Your purpose here is to learn how to defend yourself from anyone and don't worry because we will take everything slow. We will begin studying about basic moves first until we reach the highest level of our training. This won't be easy for the training requires great stamina and I think you have one. You don't have a heart illness right or anything that can be a hindrance in our training lessons"?

"I don't have one Mr. Fox and I have a great stamina to last long in all of the lessons that you're going to teach me here".

"Good! I guess we won't be having problems then. We will not only focus on defense moves here Mrs. Reynolds and I just want to inform you that health is also important and is part of our training to determine how long you can last a day. You also need to undergo different exercises so that you will be able to maintain great physical health. There will also be a time that I will ask you to endure a different kind of pain that you may experience for the first time in your life. You must fight like a man and act one even though you're a woman. Woman in this training is not exempted in pain. You won't fight back against me upon endurance and we are going to see how far can you go through it and see if you're ready to be out there facing different kinds of danger in our society. Are you willing to get hurt Belle to master our lesson"?

"I'm willing to get hurt. I'm already here and I'm not going to back out whatever happens"!

"May I know the reason why you're doing this Belle"?

"I'm doing this for my family and I think this is the only way for me to protect them in this cruel world full of violence. I want to be sure of our safety. If everyone protected me in the past and I can't defend myself, I think this is the time for me to be brave in facing everything on my own. I'm going to assure you Mr. Fox that I will do anything you tell me just to learn a lot in this class".

"Let me see what you got in a few minutes. I will ask you later to defend yourself against me without having any knowledge to do it. I won't teach you first about anything and I just want to know what you can do for yourself in times of trouble. Do you know a single move to defend yourself just even one"?

"I don't know a single move in defending myself but I'll try my best to show you what I got".

"Do you know or have any idea what part of the body can be damaged easily that should be your main target when someone wants to attack you"?

"I don't have any idea Mr. Fox and can you tell me what parts of the body are those I should go after"?

"When you're in the middle of an intense confrontation and there is no way for you to escape, you must do everything you can with enough energy. The different parts of the body that you need to target are: the eyes, nose, neck, ears, groin, knee, and legs. I assure you that once you hit these parts of the body of your enemy, you can easily put him or her down. Remember not to get so close to your attacker in order for you to reach your targeted part of the body. For example is you want to scratch the attacker's eyes, you won't be able to do it if you're very close to him. Shall we begin the test of your skills in defending even if you don't know much yet"?

"Yes Mr. Fox, let's begin this training now"!

Belle tried to defend herself against her trainer Mike Fox at the gym and gave all the strength she has left. She failed and all of the moves that she gave Mike didn't work out. Mike successfully reversed all of her defenses and was able to hurt Belle a lot. He really is a master of self-defense and whatever Belle does, it always fails. She thought it would be that easy to take down a guy like Mike but she was wrong. Belle had been so exhausted and decided to take a rest. She realized that she is really an amateur when it comes to these things and should learn more from her trainer. She won't last long and stand a chance against an attacker if ever she encounters one again in the future without having the knowledge that she needs in self-defense classes. She was asked by Mike to punch a punching bag right in front of her at the gym and think about all the worst things that had happened in her life especially those nightmares she had experienced. Everything in her past came back once again especially her mother Miranda Harvey whom she first lost because of Paul Breckmann. She thought about her friends who were all murdered by Paul as she punched the punching bag. She thought about Mhack Montereal whom had a special part in her life and had been a perfect boyfriend towards her. She thought about everyone whom protected her especially Merideth Milwaukee until it died. She thought about Elaine who lost a mother because of her. She thought about all the staffs that Paul murdered at Tremont Medical Center just to go near her. She felt so much anger in her heart as she punched the punching bag at the gym. She was shocked because of her strength realizing that when a person gets angry, the strength it have will increase surprisingly. Mike Fox was also surprised and can't believe how strong Belle is. He saw the willingness of Belle to be a good defender anytime when danger arises somewhere. Upon remembering her worst nightmares in life, Belle's vision was covered with darkness and she didn't notice how splendid her performance is today in training on punching the punching bag in front of her. Lots of people went dumbfounded seeing her giving it all in her first day. Mike Fox asked her to have a fight again to test her for the second time around in defending herself against him. She was able to hurt Mike a bit but not enough to put him down. When Mike strikes back at Belle, she immediately was put down on the floor and reached her limit for the day.

"Are you alright Belle"?

"Yes I'm fine. This day is so tiring and I think I already reached my limit on training".

"I'm impressed with what you did today here at the gym and I consider you the fastest learner among all the students that I had taught. We don't have to rush things out Belle and I guess you need to rest for now. That would be all for today. I will only suggest you to do more exercises in the morning like jogging or anything you want to increase the level of your stamina. It had been great teaching you on your first day".

"I had a great time with you Mike and even though it's just my first day, I enjoyed a lot".

"We will be doing more in our other sessions".