What A Dream Wants

'A nightmare?' He couldn't help but ask himself.

The memories of his dream were blurry and mismatched. His head pounded like a bad hangover while he tried to recollect yesterday's events. Evidently, his mind didn't want to remember the atrocities that occurred.

It was only 7:20.

He decided to take a bath and calm his nerves.

. . .

He lay on his bed, tired.

"Knock, Knock." His door was being knocked on.

"Who's there?" Steven asked, getting up from his bed.

"Zero."

There was nobody at his door.

He sighed and opened the door.

"Good morning Steven. Day two of the Liang Tian Martial Art Technique is going to be a bit more different. It's going to be a bit tougher..." Zero paused, noticing that Steven currently looked like a panda.

"Did you get a good night's sleep?"

"I didn't, maybe I'm sick. Can I skip today's training?" Steven helpfully suggested.

"Oh no, what a coincidence. Yesterday, I sneezed randomly in the middle of the night. Maybe... there's a cold epidemic spreading in the school." Zero pondered for a while before a lightbulb lit up on top of his head.

"Since you're sick, there's an easy way to treat it. Circulating Wei Qi, or the defensive qi, can help you get rid of internal pathogens. Try it out."

Steven had no choice but to circulate his Wei Qi... and claim his cold was gone.

"Great!" Zero replied happily, "Okay, let's eat breakfast and then I can tort... ur... I mean train you!"

Steven was too busy sulking to hear.

. . .

Breakfast.

Steven gobbled down mountains of food to get rid of the lingering taste of socks that was still at the tip of his tongue.

Socks? What socks?

What happened last night?

Steven didn't remember.

Afterall, what happened last night stays last night...

Never to be mentioned again.

. . .

"Alright, so first, we'll do some warm up." Zero calmly instructed. "Run around for a hundred laps."

Steven ran around in circles a hundred times.

In the olden days, people ran because of life and death scenarios. They ran to escape the constraints of time- to escape their limited days here on earth. Now, people run in circles for fun. Human evolution is quite a peculiar thing.

Steven was having so much fun running around in circles.

. . .

He did some stretching.

He did some dancing in pointy shoes.

He ate lunch.

. . .

Steven tilted his head in confusion. How would one use biting in a fight?

But before he could ask, Zero continued with:

"You eat a lot."

Eat his opponent?!? Just as Steven was about to ask why he would suggest cannibalism, Zero continued on:

"There are many variations of basic moves. For example, there is a wide variety of kicks, that is to say: the roundhouse kick, dropkick, sidekick, sweep kick, ax kick, back kick, and more." Zero listed using his fingers.

"However," He interjected, "It's not about the complicacy or profoundness of the moves you use, but *when* you use them and *how*. There are hundreds of fancy moves, but you can't fight unless you understand how to fight. Moves alone won't get you anywhere. An expert will be able to utilize a simple move to turn the tides of a battle."

He paused to make sure Steven was paying attention.

"Understanding physics is essential for fights. That is where energies, other than qi, play a role. For instance, kinetic and potential energy. For every fight, the ready stance contains a lot of potential energy, ready to be released in a burst as the fight starts. And kinetic energy plays a big role during the fight. Ever heard of inertia?"

Steven shook his head. "I heard of it, but I'm not familiar with the concept."

"In physics, inertia is either the opposition of a physical object to any adjustment in its state of motion and rest... or the propensity of its resistance to any alteration in its movement relative to mass."

"Uh, what?" Steven asked. He scratched his head, confused.

Zero muttered something under his breath.

"In laymen terms, an object will stay still or move in the same direction unless an outside force acts upon it."

"Oh." Steven's eyes filled with enlightenment.

Zero muttered something under his breath again.

"During a fight, balance is key. By disrupting an opponent's inertia, you disrupt their balance, allowing you to easily topple them. In judo, for example, contestants utilize this technique in order to be able to throw the opponent."

Steven was listening attentively.

"When an opponent is rushing towards you, their energy is moving forward. Instead of just trying to topple them using your own strength, use their momentum. In other words, use their motion to your advantage. That's part of Newton's first law of motion."

"Oh, that's why you were able to make me fall so easily!" Steven exclaimed. He was finally comprehending these laws of physics!

"Yes, one way you could have prevented that is to not provide me with so much momentum to use. If you didn't rush so fast, you wouldn't be unbalanced, and wouldn't have fallen so easily." Zero casually pointed out.

Ouch.

"Anyways, the second law of motion states that force equals mass times acceleration. More force is needed to accelerate something with greater mass. Inversely, more mass also equates to more force. The simple underlying concept is that it is more difficult to throw someone larger than you, and easier to throw someone smaller than you."

Steven nodded.

"The third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite force exerted back. Hence, if the opponent can withstand the force exerted, but you cannot withstand their force, there will be a backlash. That is why it is important to utilize the opponent's momentum, especially when you're facing a larger opponent or a stronger one."

Steven nodded.

"Okay, now let me beat you up," Zero instructed benevolently, "I mean... teach you new moves."

Steven nodded.

He was too busy trying to digest the information which he had just learned to hear what Zero had said.

'Error 101: System Overload.'

Under more details, it specified:

'The brain cannot comprehend all this information; the user does not have the mental capacity.'

. . .

Steven entire body was sore. He couldn't recollect the number of times Zero had utterly decimated him, but at last, he had reached the initial completion level of the Liang Tian Martial Art Technique!