the way of the jungle (part 2)

On the twenty fifth day Kyle had been at the village, he began walking out towards the training area during siesta, and found a large crowd of about fifty people huddled around something.  Walking closer, he found Jimmy and another kid sparring intensely.  By the time Kyle got there, Jimmy had given the other boy a black eye and, upon hearing him shout the "words 'I surrender just stop!", threw his hands into the air triumphantly.  Everyone cheered, and Kyle noticed several others with noticeable injuries.  Just as he began to wonder how long Jimmy had been in the ring, and with how many people, someone noticed his arrival and yelled to the group: "Hey it's Kyle!"  all fifty of them looked up in surprise, and chanted for him to fight Jimmy.  Still getting used to the fact that everyone knew his name, Kyle was about to spar with him, until he announced, "nah man, I'm tired."  Kyle asked the group what they were doing, and they explained that it was king of the hill, and that you were allowed to stay in as long as you kept winning fights, but as soon as you lost, the victor was king, and you had to sit out for two fights.
         "alright my turn,"  said Kyle, causing an uproar of cheers from the group.
         One boy after another challenged him, and each one was defeated.  Every single one was forced to surrender at one point or another.  Kyle was a very well rounded fighter, such that whenever he fought someone who was particularly fast, he was just as fast, but twice as strong.  If he fought someone strong, he was just as strong but twice as fast.  It seemed he was just about unbeatable,  and after eleven matches he was dead tired.  Luckily, so were all of his potential opponents, who were so excited at having either watched him fight or fought him themselves that they carried him to dinner like a champion.
         Gramm sat back in his chair, observing the spectacle with interest.
         "Your boy over there is quite the fighter,"  Mike said casually.
         "yes he is, isn't he,"  responded Gramm without looking away.
         "if he survives his time in the jungle, he could be instructor material."
         "I don't know, I'm going to have to test his mettle first."
         "he learns quickly, I doubt he'll struggle with anything you throw at him."
         "it's not so much a matter of survival as it is loyalty."
         "survival is pretty important," said Mike, who was beginning to get uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was turning.
         "he won't have a problem with survival, but I don't know if I can trust him.  People have been known to... question my way of surviving in the jungle."
         "You're afraid he'll have morals?"  asked Mike disdainfully.
         "You've gone too far Mike.  I wouldn't make those kinds of comments if I were you.  You wouldn't want to lose my favor."
         "you're right, sorry," Mike said, but indicated clearly from his tone of voice that he would have made the comment again if he could do so safely.
         That night, as he was lying in his hammock, Kyle had a crazy idea.  He was exhausted from his eleven round win streak in king of the hill, and was thinking about what he would do tomorrow, when it struck him.  No one he had fought had given him a real challenge.  Even Jimmy had been losing to him more often in the past week.  He desperately needed a challenge, and he knew exactly what he could do to get one.  Sure, it was crazy, and to everyone in the village it would seem like a death wish, but he knew if he succeeded he could reach a level of glory that would solidify him in legend.  If all went according to plan, he would get the thrill of his life.  'What's the worst that could happen?', he asked himself, and then immediately regretted doing so, because the answer popped right into his head.  Death.
         The next morning, all he could think about was his plan for the afternoon.  He had decided to go through with it completely, and to accept whatever consequences came along with it.  He told no one about what he planned to do, not even Jimmy, for he wanted it to be a surprise.  The last thing he needed was a lot of suspense to get him nervous.  Also it would give him time to plan, while catching everyone else (one person in particular) completely off guard.  In the morning before breakfast he refrained from training, like he had done every now and again when he was sore.  At breakfast he ate a lot, so that he would have energy for later, but at lunch he ate little, to prevent sluggishness or cramps.  Finally, he sat through the jungle combat class, during which he was to spar an opponent, and then switch to another opponent at the end of two minutes.  They did this five times and then began training on the dummies.  For his first four fights, Kyle took it easy, going through the motions, and taking advantage of his opponent's fear of him.  He did not engage or expend much energy until his opponent did, and when they did he would slip and dodge.  Finally in his fifth fight, Kyle began to fight for real, trying to get his heart pumping and warm up for the ordeal to come.  While training one the dummy, he bounced back and forth energetically, to maintain a good heart rate.  If Mike took notice to this odd behavior he didn't show it.  As class ended, and Mike began pulling the dummies from the ground and laying them in a pile, Kyle stayed behind, waiting for most of the other boys to leave, so that he wouldn't cause a commotion.
         "Hey Mike!"  Kyle called from about ten feet away.
         "What," asked mike in a calm tone, without turning around from his work.
         "Fight me."
         "What did you just say?"
         "You heard me.  Thirty foot ring, first man to the knockout.  Let's go."
         "listen boy, I know you think you're some kind of champ' cause' you won in the small pond, but let's just make sure you know what you're doing.  If you fight me, I will not go easy.  I will not hold back, and if someone gets knocked out, they could take brain damage, maybe even die."
         "Then I guess you'd better keep your guard up."
         Mike smiled ever so slightly, and began measuring a thirty foot ring.  This was twice the size of a normal ring, which Kyle believed would give him an advantage, if he was, as he thought, faster.  Several of the boys who had been slow to siesta had overheard Kyle's challenge, and ran as fast as they could to get to the other boys with the intention of spreading the news.  News traveled fast, and two hundred people including all of the veterans came to watch this fight.  Everyone knew it would be intense, and everyone was wondering anxiously who would win.  All of the veterans and one hundred of the two hundred trainees were betting that Mike would, but the other hundred were still hanging on to a hope that the underdog would prevail.  Even Kyle secretly believed his chances were slim, and would have bet against himself if he was spectating.  Regardless of this, he kept up his confident bravado, and made it seem to his huge audience that he had everything under control.  Win or lose, he told himself, I'm in for the fight of my life.
           Mike finished drawing a circle with a diameter of exactly thirty feet, and stood at one end, smiling confidently.
         "you ready little boy?"
         "only if you are old man."
         Mike tore off his shirt, revealing an awe inspiring physique.  He looked like an ultimate fighting champion that Kyle had seen on TV.  A little bit more nervous, Kyle tore of his shirt, showing off a musculature that would have made any girl at his school swoon, but compared with Mike's seemed a little bit lacking.  A veteran from the crowd stepped between them saying, "three, two, one, GO!"
         Kyle and Mike danced around in a circle, tossing light jabs out at each other, with no intent of making contact.  They were both sizing each other up, trying to figure out the best game plan.  Kyle struck first, faking left, then moving his body right, while executing a left hook.  This succeeded in dodging Mike's first jab, but his hook was slapped away.  The next bout happened incredibly fast.  Kyle threw two jabs and two crosses, landing one of each on Mikes face, but taking a jab to the eye.  Kyle then withdrew, breathing heavily, wary of a counter attack.  It seemed Mike was conserving his energy, because for the next ten seconds, they circled, with no one attacking.  Kyle slid in with incredible speed, managing to hit Mike in the jaw with fast jab.  Mike was not phased.  He knocked Kyle's follow up cross out of the way with his hand, and elbowed him hard in the ribs.  Mike leaned back just in time to avoid a knee from Kyle, and then sprang right back to hit Kyle in the collarbone with a knife hand.  Throwing a few jabs to cover his retreat, Kyle circled again, with noticeably less spring in his step.  He saw a few stars.  Unfortunately, Mike couldn't have cared less what he was seeing, and leapt in to finish him.  Kyle pushed his jab away, slipped his hook, back fisted him in the cheek, and slipped another hook.  He hit Mike with a cross just as Mike hit him with a jab, and as they clinched, Kyle wondered if his cross hurt half as much as the jab he had just taken did.  He pushed his way out of the clinch only to be hit by a palm to the jaw.  Running out of stamina, Kyle knew he needed a fast knockout or he wouldn't win.  As he circled, he survayed Mike's condition, and wondered if Mike was getting tired, or if he was just pretending to have stamina.  Mike switched to his right foot forward, and assumed a southpaw position.  Kyle had not learned this.  Regardless, he plunged into the fight once more.
         Meanwhile, over the course of about a minute and a half, the crowd had been going wild.  Everyone was loving it.  The trainees commented to each other excitedly how hardcore the fight was, and the veterans were all survaying the match with joy, as they always enjoyed a good fight.  Gramm was smiling, and over a hundred people were jumping up on their friends shoulders to see better.  People were shouting , cheering and calling out to both fighters.  Neither of them heard a word the crowd said after the fight began.
         Kyle was breathing fast, and was afraid he would faint from hyperventilation.  He stabilized his breathing and tried to think.  He had just been caught with two or three right hand jabs from Mike, who had astounding strength in his right hand.  By switching to southpaw, he had caught Kyle off guard, and could throw jabs with incredible speed and power.  Kyle was now desperate, but tried to control himself.  He brought himself to try something out of his comfort zone.  Sliding in as if to throw a back fist or jab, Kyle crouched, avoiding several moves, and swung a kick around to the back of Mike's leg, hitting it as hard as he could.  Praying that all those times of practicing it paid off, Kyle watched as Mike's knee buckled, causing him to fall to one knee.  Unfortuately, he didn't anticipate a powerful uppercut to the gut.  Kyle fell backwards, and landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him.  Mike dove in for the kill, and Kyle used his last bit of momentary strength the repel him.  A swift kick to Mike's jaw managed to knock him off, and Kyle managed to get back on his feet with much effort.  Both incredibly tired, the two adversaries circled each other warily.  Mike was tired, but Kyle was even more so.  'I'm going to finish this', Kyle said to himself, 'this ends now'.  After several seconds of consideration and planning, Kyle tried an incredibly risky move.  He dove headlong at Mike, and landed his shoulder right into Mike's stomach.  This caused them both to topple onto their backs.  Mike was deadly fast.  He was on top of Kyle in seconds, and in the blink of an eye, wrapped his arm around Kyle's neck, grabbing the bicep of his other arm.  Getting a hold on the back of Kyle's head with one hand, he choked him with his other.
         "tap,"  he whispered quietly.
         Kyle didn't respond, he couldn't speak.
         "tap."
         Kyle was fighting for consciousness, and was dumbstruck at the power of Mike's chokehold.  It wasn't just cutting off airflow to his lungs, it was cutting off oxygen from his brain.  Every cell in his body screamed for him to do anything to survive.  He would be out any second now.
         "tap!" commanded Mike, who was afraid Kyle might die under his incredibly effective hold.
         It had only been seven seconds since Mike began to choke him, but his vision had gone from stars, to wavy lines, to blackness.  Kyle could no longer see the crowd, but he could hear them screaming as if he was underwater.  He could feel Mike's powerful deadly arms, and could hear him urging him to tap out, surrendering the fight.  He made one last attempt to escape, and then everything went black.
         
         










Kyle awoke slowly, thinking at first only about the pains in his body.  As he became more and more conscious, he began to think about where he was and what had happened.  he took a tally of all that he knew, beginning with the fact that he was not home, but in a training camp for the jungle.  Soon he began to collect his thoughts, and remembered how he had challenged Mike, and refused to tap when being choked.  He sat up, but instantly regretted it when a throbbing pain in his head and back started up.  Looking around drowsily, Kyle noted that he was in someone's hut, lying on a cot like his own made out of plant material.  Just as he was about to work up the nerve to face the pain of standing and walking around, Jimmy entered looking relieved.  "You're awake!”  slightly scared by Jimmy's expression and tone of voice, almost as if he was surprised Kyle was alive, the first words from his mouth were: "how long was I out."
"twelve hours."
Kyle knew his expression must have given away his utter surprise, because jimmy quickly noted that because he was knocked out near the end of the day, as soon as he came to he fell back to sleep from exhaustion.
"I've never been knocked out before."
"just be thankful you still have motor skills."
Horrified at this prospect, Kyle arose and began to test his arms and legs, glad to see he was functioning properly.
"so have I missed breakfast?"
"no, the food still appears at any time, and Gramm needs you well fed for your private training, so just head over when you feel well enough."
With that, Jimmy walked away, leaving Kyle to think about what  the private training sessions Gramm promised would be like.
         Kyle missed Gramm's class that day, but after he ate, he made sure to be on time for jungle botany.  All through that class and the next, he was dreading seeing Mike again.  Part of him thought Mike might feel guilty, which would be awkward, or resent his challenge, and be angry with him.  It was however, some comfort that the trainees of the village seemed to revere him as some kind of folk hero.  When Mike's class finally came, Kyle walked over, trying to act as normal as possible, but feeling very nervous.  Mike surveyed him as he walked up.  "glad to see you're still alive."
"so am I."
"you got guts, and I salute that."  He paused a moment and smiled.
"fight like that in the jungle and you just might make it."
Kyle shook his hand, and felt several pairs of eyes on him.  He realized that the trainees had been wondering as much as he had whether Mike would hold a grudge.  During the class, Mike showed Kyle several things he had done wrong in the fight, and how to correct them.  It didn't seem like he was trying to show superiority towards Kyle, but instead it seemed that he had a newfound respect for him.
         At lunch, everyone wanted to sit as close to Kyle as possible, which was quite a change from when he had been at school.  Mainly he just tried to fit in, and few people really paid attention to him. "I could get used to this." Kyle thought, as he was bombarded with questions about the fight.  After lunch, Gramm pulled him aside.  "sorry to end your little victory tour, but it's time to train."
         He led Kyle to an end of the village, where no one held classes.  Tied by a piece of vine to a stick in the ground was what looked like an octopus.  For about ten seconds, Kyle studied it, certain that nothing like this lived on earth.  It was bluish purple, and had a head the size and shape of a bowling pin.  It had eight tentacles, but in the place of suckers, there were speed bump looking ridges, that functioned like tank treads and allowed it to move on land, very much like a slug or an inch worm.  Its distinguishing feature however, was its skin and eyes.  Its skin was covered in a felt material that reminded Kyle of fur, but was about no longer than moss.  Its eyes took Kyle aback.  They were large and round, and seemed almost... human.  Kyle looked at the creature's eyes for a few seconds, and then surveyed its entire body.  Kyle realized that the thing even looked cute, with its mossy skin, and innocent looking eyes.
"what is it?"
"this is a snaffle."
"did you catch it?"
"yes, and you are going to fight it."
"will it still be tied?"
"we don't want you dying before you even get in the jungle, that would defeat the point of training."
"well can we untie it?"
"that will be our first lesson of the day.  I can see you want a fair fight.  Forget that notion completely.  Wipe it from your mind.  The jungle will not fight fair.  It will kill you in a heartbeat.  If I left you tied to a stick out there, you'd be dead before dinnertime."
With that, Gramm handed him a spear, and nodded his head towards the creature.  The entire time, the snaffle hadn't removed its eyes from Kyle, and when he looked back, it was still staring.  As hard as he tried, Kyle couldn't manage to convince himself that something so soft and frail looking could be a threat.  Wondering what it would do, Kyle cautiously poked it with the tip of his spear, while remaining out of reach himself.  The thing exploded.  It leapt at him faster than he had ever seen anything move, and before he knew it, he was on his back with hundreds of razor sharp teeth inches from his face.  The rope became taut, and thankfully restricted the snaffle from coming close enough to use those teeth.  For several long seconds, Kyle sat motionless, hyperventilating.  Before, he could not take his eyes off of the creatures eyes.  Now he sat staring at its teeth, which seemed to be retractable, as he had not seen them before.  The thing squirmed, trying desperately to eat him, as saliva dripped from the teeth which adorned the underside of every tentacle.  Whispering several expletives, Kyle laid shaking, and finally asked Gramm slowly: "What the hell just happened!?"
"this was to teach you, that not everything is what it seems to be.  In the jungle it is you versus everyone and everything.  Hesitate and die.  Kill first and ask questions later, and you might live.  Now kill this abomination."
Kyle rose to his feet.  Taking his spear in hand, he plunged it into the snaffle's head, and watched it bleed to death as he removed it.  It was not anger that drove him, but fear.  With the adrenaline still rushing through his veins, Kyle's primal fight or flight instincts had kicked in.  there was at first no sympathy for the creature, but as he watched it slump to the ground, its eyes bored into him.  They seemed so human, so innocent.  A very small part of Kyle regretted killing it.
"today's lesson is over, I'll see you at dinner."
         With the jungle only three days away, Kyle began to grow nervous, and started studying relentlessly.  He was determined to know all his plants and animals before ever setting foot in the jungle.  Worried that he wouldn't be able to recite them flawlessly when the day came, Kyle sacrificed some of his workout time, and often consulted with Nicholas and Phil.  The next couple days he spent in training were packed with things to do from the moment he awoke, to the moment he laid his head down at night.  Jimmy and him fought occasionally to keep each other in practice, but most of his time was either spent working out or going over plants and animals.  When he confronted Phil about why he had never been taught about the snaffle, Phil pretended not to know what one was.  Suspecting that he was being lied to, Kyle angrily brought Phil to the corpse of the beast, and was dismayed to find that he maintained the charade, thanking Kyle for showing him such an interesting new creature.
         In the two days following, Gramm and Kyle met for two more lessons.  During the first of these two, Gramm showed Kyle some advanced techniques in spear fighting, and some submissions that would prove useful for killing animals swiftly.  Kyle was especially delighted to learn the move he had been knocked out with, which was called rear naked choke, nicknamed lion killer.
         The final lesson however, came as a surprise to Kyle.  Gramm began by pulling out a piece of bark, that had been stained with dye, and scratched with a knife.  As he laid the bark on the ground, Kyle looked closer and found that it was actually a carefully drawn map.