The man walked Phillip into another room where there lay the weapons of choice. "Be sure to make your decision wisely. Once you pick a weapon, there is no going back."
Phillip walked over to the sword and picked it up. He's correct with what he said. You could easily transition between an offensive technique and defensive techniques very quickly. It seems light.
He set the sword down and walked over to the shield. This must come with the sword…but it's heavy.
Walking over to the two swords, he picked them up and felt the grip. Great grip…lightweight…feels good…
"What are you picking, Phillip? I'll give you ten seconds to decide."
"…the two swords."
"Dual wielding?"
"…yes."
"Ah, excellent choice. We haven't had too many of those lately."
"Now let me ask you a question. Sword fighting is non-existent in America, except for the scattered Medieval carnivals. How did you get swords and shields in the first place?"
"That…is something I cannot divulge. However, I can tell you we have a plentiful source of weapons at our disposal."
Phillip sighed. I should have known they wouldn't have given me a straight up answer.
"Now, Mr. Phillip, I will direct you to your room. It is still late at night, and you must get some rest before your morning training."
He did say something about me training with an experienced master.
"Just who exactly are these 'experienced masters'?"
"They're teenagers who survived the arena and retired. They're mainly late thirties early forties men."
"Just how long have you guys been around?!"
"Over three decades. We have our ways of doing our business undetected. Anyways, enough with the questions. Gentlemen, please show our newest fighter back to his room."
"Yes sir."
The two men took the swords from Phillip and put a syringe in his neck before Phillip could react. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the first room he was in. Phillip immediately remembered what had happened and shot up from bed. "This…isn't a dream…isn't it…"
Looking up at the air vent, he saw that he was sealed tight. No way I could remove it now…
Sitting up, Phillip's bladder finally had a say of what to do.
"Where's a bathroom here?"
Looking around, he couldn't find a toilet. Well…a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
He was about to unzip his pants when the door to his room opened, revealing the same men. "Mr. Phillip, I see you're awake. You are to have breakfast me with this morning. Please follow me."
Phillip reluctantly followed the man as the two bodyguards remained close to him. "Now, I know you must have to use the facilities about now. There is a bathroom next to the dining area, so please use them before we eat."
The rest of the morning went by in a blur. From going to the bathroom to eating surprisingly delicious food, Phillip was led to another room. "Now, it's time for you to meet your master. Phillip, I would like to introduce you to Maurice Stockton, also known as 'The Speed Demon.'"
A man walked up to him. True to his word, the man was indeed in his late thirties. "You must be Phillip. Welcome to hell on earth."
The two bodyguards gave Phillip back his swords. The man smirked. "You are lucky, Mr. Phillip. You received the master of our leader. Maurice personally oversaw his training."
"If I would have known what he would become, I would have never trained him."
"It's not your call to make. Now, I must see that the other fighters are doing their scheduled training. Can't make our fights become dull now can we. I'll come back around lunch to let you meet the rest of the fighters in your group. Until then."
The man and the two bodyguards left the room. "What did he mean by 'group'?"
"There are certain levels in here. The first group is the newbies like you. Inexperienced, unkown. Not many people show up the nights the first group fight."
"Each group is scheduled a night?"
"Yes. Your night is exactly two weeks from now."
"On a Monday…"
"Exactly. There are two other groups out there. The second group fight on Thursday and the last group on Saturday."
"There is surprising order amidst the chaos."
"Always been like that. Now, I'm sure you want to know how to use the swords you're holding."
"That might be a good idea."
Maurice took out his swords from their sheathe. "Back when I was a fighter, I was known to have the quickest hands around. No one could match my speed. Sadly, I gave that ability to the man now running this whole operation."
"How did he turn from a fighter to the leader?"
"He challenged the leader to a dual. The leader accepted and…well…you know the results."
"Why didn't he demand the whole operation to end."
"One word…power. It's the driving force behind all this. The man in charge has the power over a hundred people. Teenage boys and girls, it doesn't matter. I thought he wasn't like that when he first started. Anyways, enough with that, let's get your training going. The first thing you need to know is how to attack. The dual-wielders are known for their explosive offense. Now, just swinging a sword isn't going to work. Here, try to attack me with all you got."
"Unsheathed?"
"Couldn't have it any other way."
Phillip took out his swords and sighed. Soon, he charged Maurice and swung his sword. His attack was immediately parried, sending him flying backwards. "In a real fight, that would be your death. Your swing was far too wide. The wider the swing, the slower, and less powerful the blow. You have to contain your swing. Try putting in your elbows some. It would help."
Phillip tucked in his elbows and swung at Maurice again, he was parried, but he wasn't sent flying backwards this time. "The power you exerted prevented me from knocking you around. Of course, I'm only using the power a group one fighter would have."
Maurice motioned over to a training dummy. "I'm sure you've heard the saying practice makes perfect. Try swinging your swords at the practice dummy. Use both of your arms. It will equally build up your arm muscles and prevent you from having a weak side. Do this for an hour. I'll watch your form."
Phillip nodded and turned toward the dummy. Putting his elbow in, he swung at the dummy. The dummy bent backwards then returned to its original position. Using the other arm, Phillip swung again. My arms are already killing me! I thought these swords were light, but my arms aren't used to putting my elbows so close to my body!
"Good good. Now keep that up for an hour. I have two weeks to get you fight-worthy. This is the first step."
This is going to be a long rest of my life…
