Commander Cream's Failure

“Move your feet, Cream!”

I could have stopped it at any moment. Master Kim trusted us to stop the match if we needed to. Unfortunately, the system breaks down when someone is too stubborn to give up. Master Kim wanted me to learn how to spar. I was bad. Not just bad, abysmal. You would think that fighting with older siblings your entire life would prepare you for fighting anyone, but it’s simply not true.

My main problem was that I blocked: I stood my ground instead of moving. That’s one of my main problems in life, too. Master Kim took it upon himself to change this mindset. So he set me up with Matt: the fastest and the strongest in the class.

We had been sparring for less than five minutes. My arms were aching from wrist to elbow. You could see the red where blue-black bruises would bloom in the morning. I turned warily: I was in way over my head. I was gasping for breath in more than the literal sense. Matt threw a kick-punch combination that left my right arm numb and dropped my elbow to my side.

"Move! Stop blocking, Matt will…"

…and Matt did. I didn’t move, and the kick was too fast and hard for me to block successfully. Abstractly, the spinning-hook kick was perfectly executed: graceful, really. Concretely, the foot slamming into the side of my head did not conjure images of ballet, although I do recall faint music. Well, a ringing sound at least.

"Cream, are you all right?"

Upon regaining consciousness, all I saw was a field of red. I faintly heard Master Kim’s voice through the rushing blood in my ears. “My God,” I thought, “I must be bleeding into my eyes.” I wasn’t. My crimson vision was simply the floor of the studio. My eyes weren’t focusing well enough to see the texture at first.

"Cream, can you hear me?"

I had failed. Matt had won, and my feet still refused to move. Master Kim probably wanted an answer.

"Yes, Master Kim, I can hear you. I’m okay; just let me catch my breath sir."

Please, please let me stop.

"You should stop for the evening."

Thank you, thank you. Now I just need to acknowledge that I’m giving up.

"No Master Kim. I haven’t learned to move my feet yet. We should go another round."

---

Matt knocked me out several more times over the next couple of months before Master Kim gave up. I never learned to move my feet. But I did learn how to gracefully slump to the floor when knocked unconscious.