This is one of my favorite chapters in Aidan. The ending of the chapter is not my favorite though. I kind of feel bad for what I did to the young ones. Well I hope you enjoy!!

Chapter 15
“Chloe, come on, you need to hit me,” I yell over at her. We have been training for what seems like forever. Not that I’m complaining because I’m enjoying teaching her. She doesn’t like the fact that she has to hit me, but she has to try. She needs to learn how to block and punch when needed. Street fights are normally unfair.
Blocking was the easier thing to teach her. Chloe is starting to get the hang of blocking my punches and kicks. I don’t like hitting her, but I have to throw punches so she can practice. I’m trying my hardest to hold back so I don’t hurt her. If I were teaching a guy I would go all out on him. I’m horrible sometimes. I crack myself up.
I notice that Chloe tries to use a low kick against me. I smile widely, block it, and punch her as lightly as I can. Randy would receive faster and harder punches from me. Chloe is still having a hard time blocking my punches. “Aidan, I can’t even keep up with you at this point!”
I sigh a little, but smile. I’m glad that she’s getting better at reacting. “I’m sorry, Chloe.”
“It’s alright, Aidan, you are really good at martial arts. I haven’t even been able to land a single blow on you yet. Even when your punches make contact they don’t hurt. I’m glad that they aren’t any harder or I would have more bruises,” Chloe responds while rubbing sweat off of her forehead. I laugh a little bit.
“I’m holding back against you because I don’t like hitting girls. You are getting the movements down a lot better than when we first started. If you get into a fight again you will be able to block them more easily. I have some advice for you. When your opponent is blocking a punch to the face they won’t be paying attention to their middle. Once they are distracted use your other hand to punch them in the stomach. I actually learned that from a television show. I practiced it for a while until I got it down. It actually comes in handy,” I explain to her.
“Okay,” Chloe says. I notice that she’s a little distracted and I sigh. Rule number one in a fight is to never get distracted. Randy is watching us on the other side of the field. He has a little smirk on his face. It seems like he’s enjoying the entertainment. Chloe smiles at him and is not paying attention to me. I throw a punch at her. I end up punching her in the stomach, but she blocks my second attack.
“You really need to start trying to hit me back now. I know you don’t like hitting others. I don’t either, but you need to learn offense. I want you to win the fight if you ever get into one again. The only reason I learned martial arts was because I wanted to get my frustrations out. It releases also some of the stress on your body. Please just try to get a hit in. Our lesson won’t end until you get a hit on me,” I respond. I go into the stance that we both need to be in. Chloe does so also. Chloe throws a punch at me and then kicks me, but I block both of them. I jump back, do a flip in the air, and land on my feet. I probably shouldn’t have done that. Randy and Chloe are staring at me with wide eyes. I forgot to mention that I know how to do stuff like that. Quickly I do a hand stand and bring my legs down to kick Chloe. She dodges it and kicks me. I smile because she finally lands a blow on me. Both of them are still in shock.
“Wow, that’s amazing, Aidan, where did you learn to do that?”
“They are some tricks I picked up while I was fighting. There is always something new to learn in martial arts. I end up picking it up while fighting someone in my class. My classmate was surprised when I did that as well. He told me that I have catlike reflexes. I agree with him now that I think about it. I love learning new things about myself.”
“It’s pretty cool that you can pick up on things like that in a fight. Do you know anymore fancy moves like that? I want to learn how to do that! I could surprise them by doing something like that,” Chloe responds with excitement. Randy and I start crack up laughing. Chloe is really excited right now. She’s going to want to learn more now. I should have kept those moves to myself. I honestly don’t know if I can teach them to her. They are just flips, but I normally don’t flip over much. The only time I do is when I want to catch my opponent off guard.
“I can try because I never really learned how to flip over. There is one really cool move that I have never used on anyone. You can knee them in the face and then jump back. That is another great move that I picked up. I also saw that one on a television show. I used to show my teacher those moves and he would help me learn them. At the time he wanted to make sure I was able to jump back well. It took me a while to get it down, but practice makes perfect, right? I’m sorry, but I can’t teach you anymore today. We have been out here for hours and I’m quite tired. Do you think we can pick up on this tomorrow,” I respond in a tired tone. Chloe has a pout written on her face. I sigh and put my guard back up. Chloe smiles at me and kicks at me again, but I don’t flip over. Her kick actually kind of hurt, but I smile a little. I wasn’t really paying attention; something else had caught my eye.
“Hey Aidan, are you okay? You always tell me to pay attention. You aren’t paying attention to me for once,” Chloe laughs while saying this. I don’t respond. I am more focused on the bushes. I run towards the bushes. That catches Randy and Chloe off guard. I just smirk when I get over there.
“Hey! I thought it was you! Why didn’t you come out and show yourself before,” I ask. Chloe and Randy are staring at me as if I’m crazy. They probably think I’m talking to myself. The person I’m talking to pops out of the bushes. He has a scar running down his face and copper colored hair.
“It’s been a really long time, Aidan. How have you been,” he asks.
“I know it’s been way too long. I’m alright, considering my mom’s anniversary just passed. How have you been,” I ask and my smirk grows a little bit wider. I look over at Randy and Chloe. They both have looks of confusion written on their faces.
“I’ve been alright as well. I just so happened to be walking by when I saw you. I’m glad to see that you were doing well. I watched you teach this young lady how to fight. You are a great teacher,” he says smirking back at me. We are sizing each other up. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him.
“I’m trying to teach my friend Chloe offense and defense. Chloe got beat up a week ago for no reason. She had never been in a fight before. Well hopefully she will be able to defend herself this time. I don’t want to see my friend beat up again. I doubt Randy wants to see his girlfriend get hurt either. That is why I’m training her, Dev,” I explain.
“Aidan, who is this,” Randy asks while walking up to us.
“This is my martial arts teacher, Dev. He was the one who taught me everything I know. He is a great teacher. I really did learn a lot from him. If you ever want to learn how to really fight you should go to him. He is great at what he does. I’m not just saying that either. I really have the utmost respect for him. Dev, do you want to spar with me for a little bit,” I ask with a grin. Dev laughs a little bit. I may be tired, but sparring with my teacher is going to be fun.
“Sure, let’s show these kiddies what we can really do.”
I nod and we both got into a stance. “You make the first move, Dev.”
Dev smiles and then goes on the attack. When Dev charges at me I block the first move and flip over to kick him in the face. Dev smiles even wider now. He knows that I’m going to be a challenge. He’s always told me how good I am at this. I notice that Dev’s movements are a lot slower than mine. He tries to attack me again, but I block him. I use my own counterattack. I grab his leg while he is spinning over and I kick him. I think I kicked him a little too hard because he lands in a bush. When he recovers he dusts himself off, laughs, and then goes into the offensive again. His punch connects with my face. I laugh while blocking his second attack. I throw a really hard punch at Dev which he is not able to evade. My punch connects with his stomach. He falls to his knees on the ground. I can see that the wind is knocked out of him. He is struggling to breathe a little bit. I punched him a little too hard. Oops…
"Wow, Aidan, you haven’t lost any of the skills I taught you. Plus you have gotten a lot faster than before. I’m really not all that shocked that you knocked the wind out of me. That was an awesome fight, kid. I haven’t had this much fun or energy in a while.”
“I’m sorry that I actually hurt you, Dev. That spar was really fun. I’m pretty tired now. Chloe and I have been training for a couple of hours. Chloe hasn’t really hit me too much. I had to land a couple of hits on her although I didn’t really want to. I hope that Chloe is going to be a good fighter after this. I will make sure she is,” I respond with a smile. I really don’t want to see Chloe get hurt again. She didn’t deserve what happened to her. Violence is still never the answer.
“You will become an awesome teacher if you ever decide to open a martial arts business. I’m sure that Chloe will get better, kid. Well I really ought to be going. I will see you again real soon, Aidan. Don’t forget to keep training hard, you will succeed, and also in the process get stronger,” Dev responds while walking off. Dev has always given the best advice. I wave goodbye to my teacher. Dev waves back and shoots a proud look at me.
“Wow that was an amazing fight, Aidan!” Randy exclaims. Randy has never seen me in a sparring match. I am a completely different person when sparring. He did know that I could fight. I don’t want too many people to know. That cat is out of the bag now.
“That honestly was nothing, Randy, but if you want I can teach you. It’s not really all that hard to learn, but it does take practice. I promise I won’t hit you as hard as I hit Dev. I hit him a little too hard because he couldn’t breathe for a moment. I rarely use that much force. I knew I was going to have to use force against Dev. Dev always uses all his strength when in a fight. He’s always taught me to do the same. I was prepared for painful attacks from him,” I respond, but when I see the look on Randy’s face I stop smiling. I can see sadness in his eyes. I have only seen him depressed a couple of times. I need to try to cheer him up. He is always there to cheer me up when I’m feeling depressed. I want to do the same for him.
“I would love to learn to fight like that, Aidan. Chloe is honestly going to learn a lot of great moves from you. I wish that you could have taught her earlier. I couldn’t hit that girl because that goes against my morals. I wasn’t able defend my own girlfriend. I blame myself for her being beat up,” Randy responds in a sad tone. His smile is starts to slip off his face. I feel bad for him. I hate when Randy isn’t happy.
“Randy, it’s not your fault that Chloe got beat up. You know the difference between right and wrong. Hitting a girl is never the answer. You have really great morals. Chloe is going to know how to defend herself no. I know you will never be able to take back what happened to her, but it is not your fault. Chloe doesn’t blame you for any of this,” I respond frowning.
“I know that Chloe doesn’t blame me for this. She told me before that it wasn’t my fault as well. I should have stopped that girl from beating her up, but I didn’t make it on time. I didn’t even know that she was in a fight. I thought she was behind me the whole time,” Randy responds with a frown on his face. I frown as well.
“What happened when you found Chloe?”
“The girl ran off when she saw me. Chloe was on the ground crying. I scooped Chloe into my arms and held her close to me. I kissed her on the cheek and I rocked her back and forth. I wasn’t there for her…I wasn’t there and she got hurt…”Randy responds sadly. At this point I honestly don’t know what to say to him. I’ve never been through this before. Randy is looking at the ground and I am trying to think of something to say.