Shaun's POV
You and AJ are outside, behind the town hall. AJ's got his hat and jacket off. AJ hasn't told you what he's doing yet.
Shaun: So, uh...what's happening?
AJ: Mom and dad've been worried about your safety. They want me train you like dad trained me.
Shaun: Wait, so I'm gonna learn how to fight?
AJ: No--you're gonna learn how to defend yourself.
You raise your eyebrow.
Shaun: What's the difference?
AJ: When you use self defense, you're using it to protect yourself or someone else. When you fight, you're making a choice. And it's usually not the right one.
Shaun: Dad teach you that too?
AJ: Yeah, duh.
You chuckle.
AJ: Alright, first lesson: you gotta know when someone's about to throw a punch. That means good reflexes.
He jabs you in the face, knocking you on your ass.
Shaun: Agh! What the hell?!
AJ: So it's pretty clear you don't have good reflexes.
Shaun: Jesus...
AJ offers his hand to help you up. You take it, he pulls you up, jabs you again, and drops you.
Shaun: Christ, man...
AJ: You're not supposed to trust the person you're fighting.
Shaun: Well, I didn't know that 'cause I'm not a Pilates expert. You say, picking yourself up.
AJ: You don't need to be an expert in anything to have common knowledge. Now, since you didn't block the punch, I'm gonna show you how.
He gets into defensive stance.
AJ: This is called a defensive stance--when someone's trying to fight you, you always wanna be in this stance. Try it.
You study his stance and you get into it. He gets out of defensive stance and walks over to your side. He adjusts your foot.
He walks out in front of you and pushes against your shoulders.
AJ: Stiffen up. You need to be like a wall to your opponent.
Shaun: What if they're those kinda ninjutsu people who can punch through walls?
AJ shrugs his shoulders with a sigh.
AJ: Then they're already weird for fighting walls.
You chuckle.
AJ gets into defensive stance in front of you.
AJ: Alright. When someone throws a punch at you, there's an easy move. Throw a nice and easy jab.
You nod. You do a slow jab to AJ's face. AJ slowly dodges, grabs your wrist, and pretends to slowly roundhouse kick you in the stomach.
AJ: Boom. He says, letting go of your wrist and lowering his leg. Easy. This time, I want you to try it. Ready?
You nod.
AJ gets into defensive stance. He slowly pretends to throw a jab at you. You slowly dodge, grab his wrist, and pretend to slowly roundhouse kick him in the stomach.
Timeskip
After some basic training with AJ, he brings you over to archery area. AJ set up a table with your bow and arrows on it.
Shaun: What are we doing here? I already know how to shoot a bow.
AJ: No, you know how to hunt. When you're in a battlefield, that's completely differently
Shaun: Oh, please. How different could it possibly be?
AJ raises his eyebrows.
AJ: ...Shoot me.
He starts walking over to the targets.
Shaun: Uh, what?
AJ: You think it's so different...
He makes it to the target in front of you and turns around.
AJ: then shoot me.
You chuckle.
Shaun: Okay.
You grab your bow off the table and you put your quiver on your back. You take out an arrow and you brandish it.
Shaun: Just so you know, when you have an arrow in your chest, I'll make sure to tell dad that you told me to do it.
You load in an arrow. You pull the string back and you fire at AJ. He dodges out of the way.
AJ: Agh, too slow.
He starts walking up to you.
You take out another arrow and you try shooting him again. He dodges again!
You try once more. You shoot at him...
He catches the arrow as he stops walking. He smirks.
AJ: Try again.
You load in one last arrow. You pull the string back, but AJ grabs the arrowhead and breaks it off.
AJ: You're too slow.
He grabs your bow out of your hands and walks away.
AJ: And too cocky.
He walks back over to you with another bow.
AJ: Here, try this. He says offering, the bow. Yours is firewood now.
You grab the bow. You're amazed by how light and balanced it is.
AJ: This is dad's old bow. I remember him using it to fight off raiders when I was a kid.
You look at AJ.
AJ: THAT'S the way to shoot a bow. Try it.
You take out an arrow and you load it in. You pull the string back with ease. You fire and the arrow hits the bullseye.
You chuckle.
AJ: Nice job. But this time...try the other side. He says, gesturing to the other side of the bow. It'll save you a second on the reload.
You load an arrow on the right side of the bow. It's quicker that way. You pull the string back and you fire. The arrow hits the last arrow and breaks it in half, getting a bullseye.
Shaun: Holy shit!
AJ: Again!
You continuously take out arrows and fire them at the target, nearly covering the whole target. You and AJ both stare at the target engulfed in arrows.
AJ laughs.
AJ: That's it, Shaun.
He pats you on the back.
A/N: If you know what I based this chapter off of, you'll get a shoutout in the next chapter for being one of my favorite people.