On a String

Chapter 7

And he wondered... what did it take to make such a change? Nowadays, Kai rarely spoke unless he was asked a direct question or put in a position such as teaching where communication was essential.

He was also completely unreadable most of the time, but Wu had noticed that small, seemingly unimportant things such as heat, feelings of being controlled or powerlessness and strings could make that empty exterior crumble and in those moments, a small glimpse of what was underneath was exposed.

And he didn't like what he saw, so the Sensei resolved to keep an eye on his student.

"Shut up, all of you," Kai demanded, his cold tone interrupting the sudden burst of chatter. "What I'm teaching here will save your life," his tone brought to mind blizzards- harsh winds and swirling snow beating the exposed face of the Earth relentlessly; the individual elements constantly struggling against each other- trying to rip everything else apart and destroy.

Silence fell and Kai nodded. "Good. Keep it like that. Now, I hate to break it to you, but The Puppeteers are clever. They plan out their attacks very carefully. Nothing happens by accident when you're involved with these guys. They attacked Cole and I in a supermarket,"

"But we know this!" Jay exclaimed. "I don't understand! I thought we had identified all the weapons! And you said they meant for you to see the bomb,"

Kai raised one eyebrow at the blue Ninja's interruption. "They meant to terrify me. They caught us at a time when I had no apparent weapons so I had to think on my feet. That's the way they work. They attack you at a time where you think you're unarmed and vulnerable. Then they prey on what you think- if you think you're at a disadvantage because you don't have a Beretta or Gerber or whatever else it is that you depend on then that feeling becomes your reality- no matter how delusional it actually is. And then they will kill you- well, actually, you would have let them kill you- and they won't care that they accidentally took 'terrify' a bit too far. Yes, I could have been killed and to be honest, both outcomes would have suited them just fine because they also wanted to make an example of me,"

"So, what do we do to stop that?" Cole asked and Kai nodded, appreciating a question which finally related to what he was teaching.

"We improvise. Believe it or not, everything that isn't nailed down is actually a weapon. You shouldn't waste time learning about different types of weapons such as Berettas or Gerbers- we're not in the army. Rather, when you're training to simply survive against the odds, you need to learn what makes a weapon. Then, you apply that knowledge to the objects around you when you're in a dangerous situation."

Kai looked pointedly at the things resting on the table. "And remember that sometimes the objects you don't think of as weapons actually make the best ones. Their function might require a bit of out-of-the-box thinking, but they work extremely well." Kai walked over to the bench and picked up the water bottle. "Take this water bottle for instance. You could throw it or try and get water in the attackers' eyes. But the best way to use it is to run if you're on a smooth surface- not a surface such as carpet, but polished wood or tiles or lino. You tip the water out behind you and anyone chasing you will slip and fall."

The team nodded, beginning to understand what Kai was getting at. Eagerly, Lloyd raised a hand, waiting for Kai to nod at him before speaking. "How did you learn all this stuff?" the Green Ninja had a huge grin, clearly loving the idea of taking an attacker down with nothing but a water bottle.

Learn?

Kai froze. What was he supposed to say?

He hadn't learnt it. He'd picked it up on the fly when there had been no other option.

And he'd be dead now if he hadn't.

"I um... just was looking at things and decided that they had multi functions?" okay, now that was one lame excuse. The group clearly thought so as well, if their disbelieving expressions were anything to go by. Kai hoped that no more questions on that topic were forthcoming from the group. Teaching improvisation sort of took away your own ability to improvise when one of your students sprang an awkward question on you.

Fortunately, Jay had decided it was time to change the subject.

"What about the potato peeler?" Jay asked, his enthusiasm stopping the uneasy atmosphere changing from 'awkward' to 'tense'.

Kai gratefully grasped onto the new question (solid wood under trembling hands). "Many potato peelers have a sharp top. You can use that to target unguarded, soft areas on your attackers' body, such as eyes, or the gap between the two bones in the shoulder near the neck. Now, I want you to work in pairs and decide how the rest of these things can be used in combat. When you're evaluating each object think- is it a defensive or offensive weapon? Can it be used as both? How could it be used differently- maybe not as a direct weapon- but in a manner which will stop your attackers like the water bottle did?"

Eagerly, the group nodded, getting into pairs to begin the task their teacher had set for them.