January 20th 2011
Metropolis
"Strike harder!" instructed an old man. He seemed out of place sitting on a 10,000-dollar coach in one of my mansions in LA. He was wearing a white wife beater, grey sweatpants, and some cheap flip-flops while smoking a cigarette.
Mercy came at me throwing a jab. I parried it away when she all of sudden slipped a hand behind my head with her other hand and pulled me in to knee me in the stomach. I quickly blocked with both of my forearms but the impact greatly injured my arms. She then wrapped her other hand around my head while I was distracted by the pain and then began a barrage of knees. Trying to fight back I attempted to sweep her leg when she was kneeing me, but she simply hopped over it and then began punishing me with elbows to the head.
"What the fuck are you doing!" screamed the old man in Thai, "You should have predicted that! Do better!"
Okay but can you give me some actual advice instead of yelling? I thought. Trying to stop being Mercy's punching bag I shoved Mercy off of me and then went in setting up an elbow with a few quick jabs. She parried all of them away and dodged my attack.
Can she predict the future what the fuck! I thought. I continued my assault trying to give no respite for if Mercy had the chance she would gain the upper hand again. She blocked them all and then stepped in and countered with an upward elbow to my shin landing me on my butt. My head was spinning and could have sworn I had just received a concussion.
"That is enough for today. You were quite disappointing today Lex, you fight too predictably, yes you can perform the technique well, but you lack putting it into practice", the old man said
He quickly turned to Mercy and then said with a smile, "You, however, are a prodigy Ms. Graves! Come back with me to Thailand and I promise you I can make you the best in the world!"
Mercy shook her head and said back in Thai, "Thank you master, but my answer is the same as before, my place is beside Lex as his bodyguard."
The old man laughed out loud, "You got a good woman you man, make sure you don't lose her."
"I won't, I never let go of what's mine", I merely replied. With that, the old man left and was flown back to Thailand.
I was training with Mercy with the instruction of Apachai Rodtang, one of the greatest Muay Thai fighters in history, with 300 wins and only 8 losses. He had been fighting since the age of 5 but was now retired after developing Parkinson's disease at the age of 60. However, he became a coach to train a new generation of fighters due to his love for the martial art.
When Mercy contacted him last year in August, it was very difficult convincing him to train me with his excuse being that he was far too busy training his current fighters to take the time to train some foreign rich asshole who was going to do it half-heartedly. I tried bribing him with enough money to set him up for life, yet he still declined my offer. If anything, this act just upset him even more, calling it an insult. Mercy tried to persuade me to get another trainer, but I refused. If anything, having Mr. Rodtang reject my offer just made me want him even more. If I got someone who was easily swayed due to money, they might take it and not train me properly.
It was not until I went to Thailand myself in September that I was able to convince him. I remember when I first met him, he remained firm that he would not teach me no matter what.
5 Months Ago
Thailand
"You look soft. You no worked body before, why start now? Look at your hand! No calluses, very soft! You will not handle training! You give up!".
I just looked at him and simply stated "Because I want to change." That was it. No buttery words. No sucking up to him. Just the truth. I needed to change, no evolve, because my survival depended on it. If all my future technology and powers were to fail, I still had my combat abilities to lean back on.
"What could I do to convince you to train me?" I asked him, looking him in the eye. I held his gaze, not daring to blink in fear he would take it as weakness. He eventually sighed and broke eye contact, disappointingly confirming, " You no leave huh? Fine if you want me to coach, fight five here. You faint, you leave. You can fight how you want"
That was a very unfavorable deal on my end. My body was still very weak due to years of neglect on Lex's part, but I had no choice but to accept the deal if I wanted to be trained. I went to change into some shorts and had one of the fighters help me wrap my hands.
As I entered the ring, my very first opponent that came up was a 5' 6" man. At first glance, he seemed like he would be an easy opponent due to our height difference and his slim but muscular frame, but that way of thinking would make me lose immediately. I could tell immediately that if I did not him seriously I could possibly die.
Thankfully Rodtang underestimated me and stated that I could fight however I liked. Relying on my past life, I was going to have to rely heavily on my wrestling and MMA experience. If I were to stand there and trade blows with any of these fighters, I would leave here with broken bones and bleeding organs.
I eyed my opponent and saw that he did not take this seriously at all. His back was towards me and he was talking with some of his buddies. They were talking in Thai thinking that I would not understand them, but I was now a genius and learned Thai on the way here after watching some of their dramas. One of his seniors smacked his shoulder telling him to focus and get ready. He lazily replied chuckling, "Relax man look at him, he looks like he will get blown away by the wind. This is just a waste of time."
His senior merrily replied, "Well then hurry up and get ready so you can save our time. We got training to do!". He moved to the center of the ring and looked at both of us and raised a hand in the air. The whole gym stopped to look at this fight. Most likely to enjoy watching me get executed. They were all going to get disappointed. The senior quickly threw his hand down and yelled, "Begin!" starting the fight.
The moment the fight started, I immediately dashed towards my opponent and threw a jab towards his face and then a right hook. My opponent was taken aback, not expecting me to not only charge in but also pull off a textbook-perfect jab and right hook. Both punches landed perfectly, the jab striking his right eye and my hook hitting his chin. He stumbled back slightly dazed, but years of training prevented him from being knocked out. Knowing that it was not going to be enough, I continued my assault and performed a double-leg takedown before he could recover. We both landed on the mat and I quickly mounted him and started to deliver devastating hammer fists towards his face as fast and as hard as possible.
Go to sleep! Go to sleep! Go to sleep!, I thought in my head, hoping he would knock out already.
I was pulled back from my opponent by his senior with my opponent lying unconscious on the ground. I noticed I was breathing heavily and tried to get my breathing under control. Once I did, I looked at Apache and saw him slack-jawed, surprise miring his face. The rest of the crowd that had gathered to watch, especially my opponent's friends he was joking with earlier, were also very surprised. They never thought in a million years I was going to be able to win much less injure my opponent.
Once Apachai recovered from his shock, he started laughing for a good minute. He then said with a grin, "You fight well! I not know you did. I'm sorry we not think much of you". He then looked at his students and yelled at them in Thai, "Let this be a lesson to you all, never underestimate your opponent! Even mice have fangs and claws."
"Let me take him on next!" one of the friends, who had been joking earlier, insisted. "I swear I won't embarrass our gym like Thongchai did!" The next challenger climbed into the ring, and I realized the previous tactic wouldn't work again, as everyone in the gym was now alert to my strategies. Thankfully, I had a whole bag of tricks up my sleeve.
"You fight well foreigner, but you won't win this time!"
I merely looked at him and this time I spoke in Thai stating with an arrogant smile across my face, "We will see, I was hoping for more from the students of the famous 'Destroyer.'" Everyone was again surprised, this time by my fluent Thai. My new opponent was now furious realizing that I was toying with them when I let them speak to me in broken English.
The moment the fight began, I immediately backed up to see what my opponent might do. I knew he would do something drastic now that he was pissed off from being embarrassed. I was proven right when my opponent charged me and tried to land a flying knee. I pivoted on my front foot and rotated to my left, barely dodging his flying knee and once my opponent landed I quickly launched three jabs and a straight to his right side. My opponent quickly pivoted as well to face me and blocked all four of my strikes by having his guard up and charged again this time aiming to get me in a clinch. The moment I saw both his arms slightly start extending to wrap around my head, I launched an uppercut down the middle striking him hard on the chin but these damn Muay Thai fighters had strong chins and would not simply go down from one hit. Not with my current physical ability that is.
The punch still had some effect causing him to stagger back. I charged at him while he was still regaining his composure. He threw a punch and tried to back up, hoping to create distance, but I sidestepped and seized his wrist. With a sharp pull, I yanked him toward me, causing him to stumble. I then placed a hand under his right armpit and executed a basic shoulder throw. He hit the floor hard, and I was ready to finish him with an elbow strike to his face.
"Stop!" I heard and was barely able to stop my elbow from slamming into his face. I slowly stood up and offered a hand towards my opponent who was still in shock that he had lost. He eventually took it and looked at Mr. Rodtang and apologized in Thai, "I am deeply sorry, master, that I have embarrassed you and the gym!"
Rodtand did not say anything, merely looked me in the eyes and stated in a matter-of-fact tone in Thai, "So you know how to fight huh?"
"You are the one who said that I could fight however I wanted to".
Silence impregnated the air as all the fighters in the room were waiting for what Rodtang had to say. He finally stated after some deep thought, "Fine, I will train you from now but I am going to put you through such hellish training, you are going to regret even coming to Thailand!"
Present Day
Metropolis
Since then Mercy and I have been training under him an hour a day every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We were also learning from other masters too. Two of them were from Japan. One is a master judoka and the other one is a master karateka. I also hired Roger Roach, a world-class boxing coach. So in total Mercy and I would train for 4 hours straight on those specific days. With all the money in the world, I merely had someone pick them up and fly these people to me and then simply fly them back to their respective countries and to their homes. However, the one who benefited the most from these training sessions was Mercy. She apparently had a knack for fighting and was able to quickly learn and apply new techniques in practice. I had even asked if she wanted to join this world's version of the UFC believing she could be champion at this rate. She refused stating, "As I said before Lex, I'm yours so I am not going anywhere". I simply left it at that afterward.
I was also now much stronger and faster than before since my arrival to this world. My endurance had also skyrocketed as well. The week I was Isekaid into this DC world I took a basic military fitness test by doing as many push-ups, situps, and pullups as possible for 2 minutes for each exercise and doing a timed two-mile run. I also tried to see what my current max was for bench press, squat, and deadlift. Later that day was greatly upsetting after Mercy showed me my results.
Push Ups 36 Reps
Sit Ups 42 Reps
Pull Ups None
2 Mile Run 22 minutes
Bench Press 115 lbs
Squat 185 lbs
Deadlift 135 lbs
Bodyweight 168 lbs 25% body fat
As someone who was really into fitness in my previous life, this was greatly disappointing. However, we all have to start somewhere and that day was going to be now. When Henry Ranbo, the trainer for the 7x Mr.Olympia, showed up it was very easy to persuade him compared to the prideful martial arts masters. The only thing he cared about was if I could pay him. Since then my new stats were:
Push Ups 72 Reps
Sit-ups 76 reps
Pull Ups 15 reps
2 Mile Run 15 minutes
Bench Press 235 lbs
Squat 305 lbs
Deadlift 365 lbs
Bodyweight 172 lbs 20% body fat
Yeah, my current level of fitness was not as impressive as my previous life, but the gains were incredibly quick. Being able to achieve this within a mere five to six months was astounding! In my previous life, it took me about a year and a half of strict dieting and exercise to get to this level, but with Lex's body, I was able to achieve this in less than half of that. I even now had abs starting to show and veins beginning to pop out. It just showed that my new body had great genetic potential as a base human and made me excited about how far I can physically go.
I was going to become the ultimate human life form.