Chapter 375 - 375. Counter Challenge

"How are you going to win a fight if you can't even counter two punches at once!" Jackson had pushed to get to the second opponent but failed there. This brought Louis, then Sammy, then Jane to their turns. All failed at the second stage. Currently, Art was attempting to block the two punches coming from opposite sides. His speed was able to keep up with the attacks but his mind couldn't smoothly put together the moves yet. 

"I said you need to counter! Forget that again and you are off the platforms!" Coach Winters yelled yet again making Art even more stressed out. However, the added stress was not a bad thing. It was able to force Art under more pressure. The added pressure caused his mind to short circuit to a degree and he stopped thinking about unnecessary things. The hard trained instincts began to take over. 

Hours and hours of training had made multiple moved muscle memory for every single member of the group. This was a large goal that every single martial artist worked towards. But here, using those muscle memories were harder than usual. The mind would start to think and the process would be delayed. But with pressure, the muscles would act without conscious thought. 

Art slipped down letting the two punches coming at him hit each other. He hand grabbed the two dummy hands and he tangled them together. His leg swept underneath them causing the two dummies to fall and become even more entangled. 

"Move to the third platform now!" Garnet shouted this time. "I swear if this kid loses his battle state now I will spar with him personally." The annoyance was clear in Garnets' voice but her eyes showed differently. She was actually very happy to see someone jumping in to a battle sense state. 

"I might not have been doing this long enough to know what a battle state is…" Laura was the one to come forward with the courage to ask this question. She had one of the least developed dictionaries when it came to martial artist terms and lingo. 

"It's when you shut off parts of your brain and allow yourself to use instinct and muscle memory. He is thinking about his moves subconsciously now. It's a state of mind that some martial artists will never experience no matter how hard they train. All of you have the potential." Coach Winters actually sounded excited to be seeing this. She had experienced this before and knew how beneficial it was. 

"Are you saying that we all will get that because of our training or is it just a chance?" Jackson had a few forming bruises on his arms and face from his mistakes in the challenge. But that didn't stop him from sitting up and asking his own questions. 

"From what I see, you all will obtain it. You have trained your bodies enough so that you should be able to let it flow. The key is age. Your bodies are developing now and the lessons it learns will cause this kind of state easier. This one here and I figured it out when we turned what, twenty two in the Jasper tournament?" Garnet fondly remembered the battle that had given them the longest match award in the tournament. 

"Ha, that was years ago. And I had already touched on it with my teacher back then. He said I would be able to enter it since I started training at the age of seven. Perks of your parents owning a martial arts center of excellence." As much as coach Winters' hid her past and life from students, she had no qualms saying these things now. The group would one day figure it all out anyways. 

"No way…your family has a center for excellence? That's pretty much the hall of fame for every martial artist. Only those recognized as a master in three martial arts are allowed to be in charge of them!" Cara had heard of this in one of her advanced combat classes. It was exceptionally rare to meet someone that had done something so major in their lifetimes. 

"My father mastered four and my mother mastered six. They are a little older now but they teach when they see a good student. I only have two mastered so I don't qualify yet to take over for them. My father still thinks he can catch my mother though. But she swore he would have to chase her even after they ascend to heaven or wherever they want to go." 

The group was looking at coach Winters' as if she was a monster in human skin. None of them had expected her to have such a major past. But comparing it with Garnets' history it made sense. These two were monsters that had major backgrounds and rise to the top. 

"Wait, didn't Asher do something like that and unleash a super long combo of moves?" Jane shot up and looked at Asher. He had been using his rag doll style and done a series of impossible to defend against moves. He had moved much faster and more efficiently than normal when he had done so. 

"Huh,  guess I did. I never really think though when I am fighting. My whole style is based on going with the flow." Ashers' shrug made Garnet and coach Winters's jaws to drop. They had not expected that Asher used such a tactic when building his style. If this was really how it came together then Asher would always fall in and out of the battle state of mind. 

"You didn't even last three minutes against three opponents. Get yourself down here and we will send up Asher!" Garnet watched as Art was taken down. After he was knocked the dummies stopped. Garnet had brought coach Winters back to reality as well. 

"You will show us exactly what your flow is like. I expect you to get to the three on top then ahead to the fourth level." There were only three platforms so it confused Asher that they were talking about a fourth. However, he ignored the feeling and met the single mannequin on the first platform. 

"Alright. Bring it on training dummy mannequin robot thing." Ashers' Arms fell limp to his side and he started to rock side to side. The dummy acted before he had even took a step forward. 

The dummy approached Asher with a heavy kick. Asher didn't move at all. Instead, he waited for the kick to get close and he leaned to the side. This left the kick to swing by him and his won leg to come up and kick at the extended leg of the dummy. 

There was a crack as the leg was kicked away with force. The dummy had been made to fall apart at the joints when a significant force was applied. Asher had just applied said force to the joint of the dummy. Therefore, the leg dislocated and fell on the ground while the dummy was left balanced in one foot. 

"Move up to the second level. Don't break them all!" Garnet knew that the dummy was easily put back together due to the design. But she wanted to see if Asher would react differently with extra pressure. Art was catching on to this now that he lay on the gym floor trying to recover his energy from the battle he had just minutes ago. 

The next two dummies rushed Asher together. They had preplanned moves that were randomly used. This combination was a fist and a heel kick coming at Asher at the same time. One was made to sweep his legs and the other was to knock his chest backward. If Asher wasn't fast enough he would be unceremoniously slammed to his back. 

Art watched as Asher tried to match his record of getting up to the third platform. The moment the two attacks were to hit, Asher raised a hand and caught the fist on one dummy causing the rest of his body to twist. The force spun him around in the air. The weight of the forward momentum pulled the dummy forward and Asher dropped it on top of the incoming leg of the other dummy. The two were knocked flat o the ground while Asher regained his balance and stance. 

"Third platform! Now! Faster Or I will fail you!" Garnet didn't waste time with being impressed. She wanted to see Asher pushed to the limits and try to beat three opponents at once. He had already proved that his speed and reflexes were well trained. Now he needed to be pushed to the limit so they could decide what training was best for him. 

The three dummies reacted the moment Asher's foot hit the platform. Their speed was the same as the others and Asher was barely standing form when the first of the three met him. Instead of dodging, Asher let the first punch hit him.. The response to this was more than coach Winters and Garnet had expected.