Superboy Jamie and the Ninja Guardians

Chapter 8: The Dojo

Chapter 8: The Dojo


At our place, we introduced our guests to my parents, then we some orange juice to drink. After that, I and Hiroki showed Kevin and Jamie our bedrooms where they were very interested in browsing our collection of books and video games.

After we had spent ten minutes talking about games and sports, we took them to the stairwell which led them down to the basement where our Dojo was. There, they already saw our younger brothers doing various exercises on the mats. Hiroki suggested that Kevin and Jamie first change into white robes, which would be more comfortable than their street clothes. So the boys walked into the small bathroom in the back of the Dojo where they took turns changing clothes.

Jamie was the first to use the bathroom to change. When he was done, he came out wearing his white robe, which covered his torso from his shoulders to his legs. He was barefoot and he had removed his socks, shoes, and his jeans.

As soon as Jamie walked on the mat, I motioned for him to join me and Hiroki so that we could introduce him to my younger brothers, who had already started with their training earlier this afternoon.

“Hey, Jamie! These are my brothers: Arashi, Isamu and Kenji!” Hiroki said, pointing to the three tall Japanese boys who were standing right next to their bigger, older brother. Of course, to Jamie, all four boys were absolutely huge since Jamie was by far the shortest boy in the group.

As Hiroki introduces each one of our brothers to Jamie, each one bowed before shaking Jamie’s hand. First, there was Kenji, then Isamu, followed by Arashi who seemed to be the youngest of the four.

Just as Kevin had walked out of the dressing room, I did the same for him, introducing my three younger brothers to him.

“These are Kevin and Jamie!” I said to the three Japanese boys. “They are here to learn how to fight! They have been bullied at school so we want to help them!”

Jamie was the first to speak up for the guests.

“I know we’ll learn a lot from all of you! I’m really excited!”

“Yeah, me too!” Kevin added. “I can’t wait!”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Arashi shouted, as he turned to face Jamie. “Hey, Jamie! I’ll teach you how to kick! Right now! Wanna spar?”

I was about to shout a stern warning at my excited and impulsive younger brother, but before I could even say a word, Arashi had already jumped right in front of Jamie and he had already started kicking in the air, just inches away from striking Jamie in the chest with his foot and with his firsts!

“HA! HA! HA!”

He threw three kicks in a row!

“HA!.... HA!.... HA!... HA!”

Then Arashi threw four punches in succession!

Jamie gasped in complete fear as he slowly took several steps back as Arashi seemed to be getting closer and closer to him while attacking Jamie with a rapid flurry of punches and kicks which were striking the air only inches away from Jamie’s head and chest.

Finally, Jamie took a leap back, unintentionally bumping up against me, since I was standing right behind him. I could feel his weight, which was significant. He felt like a very heavy boy, which made me wonder what he ate all the time.

*I wonder what he eats. Lead hot dogs and stone hamburgers?* I thought to myself.

“Hey! What… What’s he doing?” Kevin wondered.

“Arashi! Stop it! NOW!” Hiroki shouted angrily. “You’re scaring them!”

“Arashi! You better apologize to Jamie!” I scolded him.

Arashi bowed before Jamie while blushed a little.

“Sorry, Jamie! I welcome all newcomers that way! I really wasn’t going to hurt you! I swear!” he replied.

“Oh, umm… Don’t worry… I understand… It’s fine…” Jamie said, clearly trying to please his hosts.

“NO! It’s NOT fine!” I said angrily to the three boys! I was really annoyed, since I could barely imagine how Jamie was feeling scared at that moment… and he was right, I knew Arashi was able to break two concrete slabs with a single kick! So I immediately started my lecture to my impulsive brothers, especially Arashi.

“How many times has Father told you NOT to scare other boys with your martial arts, especially since they are smaller, and weaker than us? You do NOT use your fighting skills to bully other kids, do you hear me? Especially if they are weak and delicate and defenseless! If I tell father what you just did, Arashi, then you will be in BIG trouble!”

“Oh no! Please don’t tell dad!” the boy pleaded.

“Then apologize! Now!”

Arashi took a deep breath. He meekly walked up to Jamie and bowed his head while looking down.

“I… I’m really sorry, Jamie, if I scared you. Please accept my apologies! I won’t do it again!”

“Uhh… Apology accepted, Arashi…” Jamie whispered back.

“You’re very nice, Jamie!” Kenji said, walking to our guest. “Don’t be scared by Arashi, he’s a hothead!” Arashi shot an annoyed glare that Kenji ignored, continuing fast: “Let me welcome you in a good way, I’m sure you like chocolate, right?”

And before we could stop him, he had pulled a chocolate candy into a stunned Jamie’s mouth!

“Kenji!” Hiroki and I exclaimed at once.

While our friends chuckled, Kenji lowered his head guilty. “Sorry, sorry! I know you always tell me to not do it but-“

“No buts!” Hiroki said sternly. “When you have a guest in your house, you can’t feed him like a pet!”

“It’s okay, Hiroki, I really like chocolate!” Again Jamie defended one of my bratty brothers!

“No matter, he should’ve asked your permission before giving you that… threat!” Hiroki replied in a firm tone.

Jamie smiled. “Come on, don’t fight for that! Your brothers are nice boys!” He shot a sincere smile to the three brats, who smiled back.

I and Hiroki glanced at each other and shrugged. We were sure our brothers were going to cause some more mischief with Jamie… and we couldn’t know how right we were!

“Okay…” I said. “Let’s get started with just some basic holds and kicks for Jamie and Kevin!” I suggested to Hiroki and Raja. Raja and Rasul started training with Kevin, teaching him very basic moves and holds and kicks. It was actually quite surprising to see how Kevin began to pick up on the most basic martial arts skills almost immediately. He had explained to us that all the years of teasing and bullying, especially since Kevin had always been viewed as such a geek and a nerd in school, it had built up enough anger in him, that he had all the motivation in the world and nothing to lose at all from learning martial arts now. There was absolutely nothing holding him back and Kevin showed no fear at all. He was smart and fast and he wanted to learn everything we had to offer.

Jamie was another matter. He was hesitant and fearful. It was very clear that Jamie hated fighting and violence. He didn’t enjoy kicking and punching and he certainly didn’t like to throw or push other people around. Jamie had a very gentle and loving character and he was nice to everyone. He didn’t seem like a fighter at all. We held Jamie in holds and he had not an ounce of aggression in him. If we threw him on the mat, then he would almost just give up and surrender almost immediately. All this just confirmed my worst fears about Jamie, that no matter how hard we tried to teach him martial arts, he wouldn’t even try to learn anything because he just didn’t have the fighting spirit in him and we would always have to protect him in school from the thugs and the bullies.


It became very clear that we would have radically different results from both boys. Kevin began to pick up on all the martial arts tricks and skills that we could teach him, becoming a true young fighter who could quickly grow and advance to the point where the geeky boy could also defend him in case he would ever get bullied in school again. But Jamie was just too gentle and to soft. Jamie just hated fighting and he just didn’t care for the kicks and the punches. He didn’t put in any effort for learning how to spar, fight or defend himself. I knew that I would have to watch him every day in school, no matter what.

I was beginning to lose hope in Jamie. He just wasn’t a fighter. Jamie just wasn’t aggressive enough to embrace and use martial arts. It was as if he was doing everything to hold back his strength. I was almost at the point where I was ready to give up on Jamie when I discovered a new use for him during our training at our Dojo, during our second week after we had introduced Kevin and Jamie to our hideout in our basement.

Well, I should say that it was Arashi, Isamu and Kenji who did the discovery…

At that moment, my parents weren’t at home, and I had asked the boys if they wanted to eat some snacks; everyone had accepted and walked upstairs with me, except for Jamie and my younger brothers, who weren’t hungry. Waiting for the others to come back, my bros decided to do some exercises, and our new friend had fun watching them.



I love to write about science fiction and fantasy.