Justin was right. He really wasn’t as hot with a staff as he used to think.
After telling Max about his run-in with Slash, Justin had again tired of talking, so Max suggested sparring. Since they were currently near the main portion of Max’s jungle training ground, he had fetched his staves. He had told Justin: “Sometimes I break a staff in training, so I always make an extra one, just in case.”
And he found out right away that Max had learned some vicious moves with that weapon, as well. He wondered if Trevor could fight like Max. Then again, unlike Trevor, Max had offered to teach him rather than kill him.
It only took a couple minutes of sparring for both of them to realize that they were each in a totally different league, skillwise.
Now Max had been teaching Justin the same basic moves Robert had taught him as a child. And Justin was catching on more quickly than he had hoped. The more he watched, the more he was convinced that the staff was the weapon Justin was made for.
“One thing I don’t get,” Max muttered, having turned back to mulling over Justin’s story while his friend continued to practice, “is since when did Slash have tattoos?” She certainly hadn’t had any the day he met her. “No one ever said anything about tattoos…”
“I don’t know,” Justin muttered, continuing to repeat a sequence of moves Max had shown him, “maybe she got them just lately?” To be honest, he had also never heard any descriptions that included tattoos, either. “Maybe they’re fake. Not real tattoos, just painted on or something… After all, she was using a different name in the Triangle State.”
“That’s probably it.” Now that Max thought about it, it made sense. Just another part of her disguise when visiting enemy territory. As he thought this, he glanced back over at Justin and said, “No, you need to swing a little higher. Remember, you’re coming down on your opponent’s head or collarbone.”
He walked over to Justin and stood before him, saying, “See where your staff hits me? Keep picturing me in front of you and aim for where my collar would be…”
And so Justin continued to train for a while. But then he got bored, having decided that he had learned as much as he could for one afternoon. So he asked his new companion about Layosha again.
And Max again tried to tell him about his former home, but kept having trouble finding the right words. Instead, the subject revolved back around to Justin’s smuggling run. And Justin again found himself in a talkative mood.
No one had ever really asked him if he had anything to say before.
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Chapter notes: Justin's training