Jay took one step, two. Li’l Shang stopped him dead in his tracks. “Take a few more steps, open up your stride and give yourself a little more height so you have time to flex your body while it’s still in the air.”
Jay nodded, absorbing the information. He started again. He took three steps, four, five this time—big, long strides. On the last one he leaped, trying not to stay rigid, spreading his arms, spider-like, and letting two hands touch the wall at the same moment that his feet struck it. It was perfect. He was completely enamored with himself. Unfortunately he fell straight down to the floor.
“Good start,” said Li’l Shang. “Better than I would have guessed for a first-timer, but never get cocky. You hit the wall right, but you need to immediately spring backward. Take the force of your own impact and turn it around into another leap. Try again.”
He did. He tried twice more, and then a third time. Each was a tad less embarrassing than the previous one. He wasn’t sure how many jumps it took, but after a while the landings stopped hurting. It all started to feel natural.
Li’l Shang handed Jay back his sword. Jay accepted it gladly. It was time to move on to the good stuff: swordplay.
He leveled the saber, ready for a real fight.
But Li’l Shang just shook his head.
“The first thing is that you’re holding it wrong,” he said, fixing Jay’s grip.
Jay was surprised; he thought he knew how to hold a sword.
“You shouldn’t hold it that tightly,” Li’l Shang continued. “You need to keep your wrist loose, keep your grip light so you can move quickly. If you hold it too tightly, you’re locked into a position and won’t be able to dodge or parry.”
Jay looked down at his fist: he’d gripped his sword so hard his knuckles were strained white. He relaxed just a little bit and found it was easier to hold once he wasn’t choking it.
“The next thing you need to remember about making the R.O.A.R. team is that it’s all about balance—kind of like the jumps we practiced. But now we’re using swords. It’s almost like a choreographed dance: you’ll learn to move on every surface, and use flips and kicks along with sword-fighting,” said Li’l Shang. He sprinted across the gym and launched himself against the wall, running up it diagonally, until he flipped backward and landed on his feet.
“Nice,” said Jay.
Li’l Shang bowed. “It’s all practice.” He tapped Jay’s sword with his. “En garde!” he called. “It means, on your guard. Every duel starts with it. It’s a tradition.”
“En garde!” echoed Jay.
They circled each other around the mat. “You have to be nimble, and lead your opponent. If you’re just reacting to their blows, you’re going to lose. You have to set the tone.” He attacked with a series of lunges, moving left and right, then leaping atop a chair to land at Jay’s side, pressing his sword to Jay’s neck.
“Um…” said Jay.
Li’l Shang gave him a generous smile. “Let’s try that again. R.O.A.R. isn’t fencing. It’s not linear. We aren’t simply advancing and retreating. You can move sideways, off a wall, off anything. Think of it as 3-D fencing. Your opponent can literally jump out at you from any direction, so you have to be ready to defend yourself against an attack that could come from any direction.”
“How?”
“In fencing we protect ourselves from the front, but, like I said, in R.O.A.R. an attacker can approach from any angle. So you need a whole new set of moves. The side-parry, the backward block, the over-the-shoulder cut. These are R.O.A.R. moves. Let me show you.”
Shang went through each one, carefully displaying the move, then helping Jay copy it. Shang had just given him a whole new set of tools, for a whole different kind of fighting. Jay was ready to R.O.A.R.!
This time, Jay was able to not only block his coach’s sword but push forward so that it was his opponent who found himself stepping backward. Jay kept advancing aggressively, the sword singing through the air as if he’d been born wielding one. He even attempted to run up the wall to dodge a blow. As he fought, his confidence grew, and he flipped, cartwheeling in the air when his coach tried to slash forward. He landed just as Shang had instructed, bending his whole body, flexing every muscle, one hand touching the floor just as his feet struck it.
“Better.” Li’l Shang nodded. “Much better. We’ve worked on your jumps and your R.O.A.R. moves, but you still aren’t bringing the two together.”
“But I almost beat you!”
“I was just going easy on you. This is going to take a lot more practice on your part. Keep trying to improve your jumps and don’t let the sword be a detriment to your movement. You’re still too afraid that you are going to poke yourself with that thing. Use the sword as if it were part of your body. Quit holding it at arm’s length. Flex your sword arm when you hit the wall and when you land. And don’t separate your jumps from your attacks. Some of the best fighters will strike with their blade midway through a jump, or just as they hit the ground they’ll roll into a lunge instead of planting their feet.”
Jay tried a few of these moves. R.O.A.R. was definitely a hybrid sport, and it took fencing to a whole new level, but he felt like he knew the basics now. Unfortunately he was still back where he’d started: he needed practice.
“You think I’ll make the team?” asked Jay. He knew he was acting a little optimistic, but he’d come a long way in a short time. How much longer would it take to master R.O.A.R.?
“Sure, if you work hard enough,” said Li’l Shang. “My sister’s pretty good at this stuff too. You should practice with her sometime. She just left for Northern Wei, to help with an issue there, but when she gets back you should ask her.”
“Lonnie?” said Jay. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering who your mom is. She’s on the team?”
But Li’l Shang didn’t have time to answer. The gym doors banged open, and Carlos, Evie, and Mal entered, calling Jay’s name and looking distressed.
“What’s up?” Jay asked, putting down his sword. “You guys look like someone just told you we had to go to back to the Isle of the Lost.”
“We might have to,” said Mal.
Jay raised an eyebrow and wondered what was wrong now.
Now that she had a pirate ship and a pirate crew, Uma was in the market for a new pirate hat. Her old one had gotten way too ratty, and there was a hole on the brim that she’d covered up with duct tape. She needed something that told the world she was large and in charge. She puttered about the bazaar shops down by the central market around the Bargain Castle, looking at fedoras and trilbies, boaters and turbans. She’d brought Gil with her, who was trying on a succession of ridiculous headgear.