An hour or so later, everyone has gathered in the gym. Everyone had eaten, the competitors maybe more lightly than the others. Emma and Ian had been to collect belongings at the pool and had arrived back with Emma's bag being a little fuller than before as she now carried Skye's and Levon's clothes. That had given the competitors time to get changed into their gear and assemble onto the mats in the centre of the room. Along one long wall there was tiered bench seating, mostly empty.
Looking at the seating apart from all of you, Guy (one of your team from York), Sarah, Tony and Mr Harding with Miss Beech, there was another slim auburn haired young woman that you recognise from the fancy dress as Tina, Ben's girlfriend. Then the door opens and Geoff & Sam, guy's friends wander in. Guy goes up to them and they high five. Ben straightens and moves to the mats.
"Right."
He claps for attention.
"Let's have our first practice - Miranda v Skye. But first all four competitors on the mat for a warm up. We'll go through our routine."
He stands at the front to lead the warm up so that the team can copy him.
He takes his spot, close to Skye, and got ready for the warm up, already stretching. When it was announced that Skye would be sparring first he said to her, "you got this."
She'd powered up with food that gave a good level of protein and carbs, without being too heavy. And a good amount of Nuun-prepped water drink. One last stop in the loo before changing and she had her fight face on. When Levon leaned in, she fished a wicked smile. "I'll take her down just like I did you."
Entering across from Miranda on the mat, Skye gave her opponent the proper acknowledgement in all seriousness. A moment of stillness passed — then, in unison, they performed the Keirei.
Their upper bodies dipped forward in a respectful thirty-degree bow, spines aligned in a straight line from the crown of the head to the lower back. Eyes cast downward, they focused on a spot just a few feet in front of their toes—an invisible point of humility and discipline.
The bow was not merely a gesture; it was a declaration of mutual respect. In the dojo, it might greet classmates, in life, a superior—but here, it marked the solemn beginning of the match: an acknowledgment of the art, the opponent, and the shared spirit of the discipline.
After a light lunch with Miranda and the others, he sits with the others sipping on a bottled water as he watches the fighters warm up. When Ben announces who the first two are going to spar, he lets out a whoop and shouts just before the two get set to do the Keirei, "You got this Miranda!"
Unsure just how hard they go at each other during a practice fight he silently hopes that neither injure themselves as he waits for them to start.
He took a cross-legged seat on the edge of the mat and waited for the match to begin. He watched these sparring contests with a discerning eye. While others might marvel at a maneuver, he was more likely to identify a flaw or admire the expertise in each move. He couldn't help but evaluate every move for technique and weakness. He was also curious how Skye would do. She w as cocky and while he liked that in her, he hoped, for her, that it wasn't overconfidence.
Miranda is a little nervous at the start and as a result is a little tentative, though she defended well. Skye is very much on form and wins the first bout 7-4.
Miranda rallies, trying harder in round 2 and manages a good hold but is still outclassed by Skye who wins 7-5.
In the third round, Miranda is either tired or demoralised, maybe a little of both and Skye has an easy victory at 7-3.
Miranda smiles at Skye.
"Well fought, maybe you could give me some lessons sometime?"
Ben moves up to them both.
"Good clean fight both of you. You did well to hold your own as much as you did Miranda but you must keep your energy and confidence high all the way through. Nice going Skye. It'll be great if you can give us a repeat performance on Monday in the start rounds."
Sarah and Tony applaud both contestants as they leave the mats.
He stands, serene and focused and moves to the mat, passing Skye on the way there. "Good job," he whispers as they pass each other. She had done well. It was now his turn. Standing there opposite Guy on the mat he did as Skye did, bowing respectfully towards his opponent. He really didn't know what to expect from Guy as a fighter but he had an inkling that this wasn't going to be an easy bout.
She gave Miranda a little hugs after they formally ended the practice match. "Of course, hon. Let's get one of the boys to record us sometime - and we can "review the tape" as my Dad always did with football."
As Levon gave his praise as they passed each other, she simply winked back. Skye had all the confidence he was on top of his game. So to speak.
She sat next to Miranda and the rest of the team to watch the next sparring round.
As the two men take their place on the mats, Sarah points out the guy from Teeside (the one arguing in the alley last night), who opened the door as if to come in, sees the gym is occupied and turns smartly on his heel and exits.
"Who is that guy, he gives me the creeps?"
She grimaces.
Tony comments.
"I think he dropped something by the door."
Guy is a good fighter. Levon had fought him before in a practice bout at York. He didn't seem to be on his game though today and Levon took the first 2 rounds easily. However he rallied on the last round and narrowly beat Levon. At the end he nods, almost to himself, and grabs his towel before walking off the mats.
Ben is waiting.
"Good session you two. Maybe a bit more of a warm up Guy? Though if you both fight that well, we should do well on monday.
His endorsement is backed up by enthusiastic applause from the audience. They had winessed a good bout, especially the last round where both competitors had worked hard.
Ben smiles at the both of them before calling Skye and Miranda back, putiing all four of them back in their pairings and running thhrough a series of moves, watching carefully, making suggestions for minor corrections for each competitor in order to improve their performance.
Having missed the first part of practice due to the side trip to the pool, Ian was able to catch the last part of Skye's and Miranda's match.
Glancing over to Emma, "I hope we didn't miss too much."
Looking up into the stands he sees Tony and Sarah among the watchers."Look. Tony and Sarah. Guess we can join them." he says as he takes the gear to where Tony and Sarah were sitting.
Setting things down to take a seat he briefly catches their conversation and looks towards the door as the man ducks out.
"I'm already up. I'll see what it is," he says as he starts walking to the door where Tony and Sarah just saw the man.
There is a piece of crumpled paper on the floor. Ian picks it up and opens it out. Turning it around it seems that he is holding a roughly drawn plan of the gym, including the changing rooms and showers. There is a big cross in the middle of the area where everyone is sitting.
"I hope not, but it does not look like too much has gone on so far," she says as she follows him towards Tony and Sarah, giving them a quick wave and smile.
"Tabernac! What's going on now?" He looks around holding his arms up and slightly out, looking at Ian when he yells for them to get off the bleachers. With no sign of fire or smell of smoke, he gets down without any sense of urgency thinking this is just another over-reaction.
She was just annoyed that they kept getting these panicked situations. But, she pulled Miranda along to meet Henri and followed ahead of Levon towards the exit.
"What the hell now?" Skye threw in a couple extra expletives.
He picks up his pace when Miranda grabs him, "Yes, yes. I coming."
Walking out with Skye and Miranda he says to both to try and lighten the mood, "That was a pretty good match you two did. I don't know much about how it's scored, but you're both so fast. Very impressive."
After pulling the alarm he stood and watched as the others started to move. Everyone except Emma who was sitting on the bleachers. In the middle of where the X marked the spot.
He runs over to her, Tony and Sarah.
He grabs Emma's hand saying, "C'mon we got to get away from here. The man dropped a map with a large X where we are sitting. We need to go!"
Confused she looked at Ian, and then back at Tony and Sarah as they got up and followed the rest off the bleachers, and hopefully to somewhere this all made sense.
Finding himself back outside, he idly wonders if perhaps they should just all go for a walk around the university campus. So far it seems all the trouble seems to be happening when they are indoors.
He is interested to wait and hear what Ian has to say though.
Ian holds out the piece of paper for everyone to see.
"Tony, Sarah, Emma, and I were up in the stands when we saw this creepy guy poke his head in the door and drop this. Its a schematic of the gym with a giant X on the bleachers. My first thought was the Tube and 7/7. So I pulled the alarm to get everyone clear."
"Would you say that you have an overactive imagination?"
The question is obviously rhetorical.
"You guys stay here. I'll take a closer look."
He takes the paper from Ian and heads back in, using the map to pinpoint the spot. He bends down, checks underneath the benches and takes a good look around.
"So nothing...? Will you be checking again before the actual matches?" The bleachers would be fuller then, with the audience to cheer on the respective athletes. She smiles, engagingly at Mr. Harding. "I try not to have an active imagination, but there was some violence earlier... and well wouldn't it be better to be safer than sorry about this kind of thing?"
"Perhaps we need to find this guy." Skye whispers back over to Levon. "It's too weird that he keeps showing up -- and what happened with that fight the other night?"
"Even if it just provides you and Ian with peace of mind, then it is worth a quick check."
He smiles.
"Shall we continue?"
Everyone filters back in and the practice session resumes coming to its conclusion in good time for the end of the afternoon.
Ben steps forward.
"The competition starts on Monday. We can't get the gym tomorrow as the other teams have bookings. I suggest that the competitors consider going for a run tomorrow morning, maybe some stretching exercises in the afternoon? Otherwise you are free to do as you wish. See you here at 10 am Monday morning."
"Good thinking Ben" Mr Harding chips in. "And try to stay out of trouble."
She just couldn't help a very audible chortle with Levon's comment. Mr. Harding was a nice guy, so his quick glance over to her wasn't harsh, but good naturedly concerned. Skye waved her hand that she understood.
"We'll do what we can...." she said still trying not to laugh more.
Once Harding walked away, Skye turned to the others. "So -- how are we going to get into trouble tonight? And still be ready for a run tomorrow morning....Ben....." She was not a morning person -- they had all seen.
"A terrorist attack in London back in 2005." he whispers to Henri. "My grandfather died on the one set on the Piccadilly line."
Present
While dancing and even the dessert binge sounded fun, he was still stuck on the map. His mind had kept going throughout the rest of practice with him barely hearing anything Mr Harding said.
"An evening out sounds great. But I think we should avoid any pub crawls."
In the foyer leading to the cafeteria, there was a large notice board advertising various things to do but they had not yet had chance to read it.
Actually on campus there were a number of events listed:
- a karaoke evening in the WindUp bar - the drama group were currently showing 'Much Ado About Nothing' - there was a bowling alley with a bar & food - A tribute act (Take That) in the main auditorium with dancing, also a bar
"Gawd...." Skye leaned in to Emma. "If I can't fight it out... I just want to let it all out in karaoke. You'll all hate me for it..." She giggled, knowing that -- as the pros they were -- they all tolerated her voice.
"From what I know of karaoke there's probably going to be dancing there as well. So all for that. But I bet there is better food at the bowling alley. Anyone down for doing both? Dinner and bowling then a night of listening to Skye and Emma serenade us?"
Em leaned in to Skye in return. "It will be fine. We can duet it out, or belt some solos. If we go late enough, most of the people will be snockered anyway." Then she turned to the others. "If we are doing both... bowling first, and then relaxing at Karaoke?" Get the physical exertion out of the way, eat some, then sing and have some dessert at the bar sounded good.
"I let my guitar sing because my voice is like scratching finger nails against a chalk board. I suggest you find wax to put in those ears of yours if we dare let me sing."
Em looks at Levon and grins. "I will keep that in mind. I have the perfect song for a duet with someone who can't sing. We will have to practice sometime."
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