the way of the jungle chapter five

Three weeks passed, and Kyle had trained harder than he had in his entire life. He was now able to scale the tower with ease, going in any direction, and could move from one place to another as agilely and skillfully as a monkey. He could now do twenty five pull ups, and forty five pushups. He had learned from the veterans how to tone every muscle in his body, and he seemed only to get stronger with each passing day. As for combat, he had learned ways to break more than half of the bones of a human opponent without expending a large amount of energy. He had learned chokeholds, wrestling locks, and about fifty different effective strikes. He had fought everyone in his group with spears, and after about the fourth opponent he never sustained another bruise from anyone but Jimmy. Kyle was a legend. Everyone knew his name, including most of the veterans, who began to wonder who he was after seeing him learn a new way to train from each one of them. Gramm especially took interest in his training career, and offered to teach him outside of class. Kyle was happy to learn from the best and accepted. He was however, still trying to figure out whether Mike loved or hated him for being so good at fighting.

Usually when you know someone awhile, you begin to see beyond your first impression of them. This did not seem to apply to Kyle's teachers. Phil was still his laid back, calm self, and acted like he was teaching about the dangers of dry skin, even though he was talking about a monster with hundreds of teeth that shred prey to bits in mere seconds. Sometimes his happy-go-lucky attitude was almost enough to make the group laugh, but only when he described the most gruesome killers in his pleasant cheerful tone. Nicholas was still very much like a hawk. He was calm, like Phil, but in a way that made it seem like he was anticipating the right time to strike. He would always demand attention from the group when learning about plant properties, and eventually they obliged, and gave it to him undivided, every day. Gramm on the other hand, was a mystery. He seemed to be the most battle hardened of anyone in the village, and rarely showed emotion. The other veterans paid him a kind of solemn respect, as if he was some kind of leader. Kyle was excited to start lessons with him, for he had already learned quite a bit from watching his training routine early in the morning, and could only imagine how much more he could learn with private lessons.

Lastly, Mike had seemed to be exactly the same over all three weeks. He still kept up his drill sergeant attitude, harshly punishing those who refused to work hard. However questionable such tactics were, they certainly did the job, for the trainees were so eager to escape punishment, that they would work extra hard. Much like Gramm, Mike showed little emotion, save an occasional smile, that he usually flashed when he found something amusing or impressive. He didn't seem to play favorites, and talked little to the trainees, but could be seen talking with Gramm at meals, and one got the impression that they were close friends. As for the trainees, they all talked about how harsh he had been earlier as soon as they got to dinner. Most of them hated him for being so rough on them, but some, like Kyle, realized that it was just to get them ready for the incredible ordeal that is the jungle.

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.