CHAPTER 91: DODGING MADISON

"What are you doing? Are those manikins?" asked Miranda.

"These are training dummies," he explained. "They are pre-programed with a bunch of combat arts and I’m using them to learn an Unarmed martial art."

"Oh, cool. Does it have a name, like Iron Fist, or Sky Swallowing Palm, or Monkey Snatches Peach?"

He chuckled at the last name. He wondered if she’d read the same web novel he had.

"No. No names. Just categories like Unarmed, Sword, Spear, etcetera. Even the moves have generic names, or short descriptions."

"Part of me is disappointed that a martial art, essentially provided by a goddess, doesn’t have fancy names for the techniques, but at the same time, the names that are provided are much easier to remember. So I’m not complaining."

"Huh. I guess that makes sense. Hey, can I practice too?"

"Sure."

He summoned a third dummy but configured it so it had the same body proportions as Miranda.

Then had it and the second dummy demonstrate the first sequence. He figured it would be easier for Miranda to learn and mirror the moves if the dummy she was mimicking had the same shape and size as her.

As soon as the demonstration started, he noticed that the way the Miranda-shaped dummy moved was different from the generic male shaped dummy.

He’d seen the sequence enough times that he could tell the Miranda-shaped dummy was using slightly different stances, foot placements, and movements. He also noticed that the Miranda shaped dummy’s movements seemed more smooth and flowing.

This made sense when he realized that Mirada’s large breasts would make it difficult for her to perform certain moves in the same sharp and explosive way the male shaped dummy had been doing them.

The Miranda shaped dummy moved in a way that took into account the additional inertia imposed on it by large bags of liquid attached to its chest.

Once the sequence was completed a few times, he had her training dummy loop the first move so she could practice copying it. They each focused on their own practice, the only sounds that of breathing and movement.

Jack was practicing his seventh move when he noticed Madison, Rina, and Nora enter his impromptu training room.

"Hey, are those the training dummies you mentioned?" asked Madison.

"Yep, they have more pre-programed options that I expected. Including full martial arts."

"Why does one of them look like Miranda?" asked Rina.

"I made one to look like her, thinking it would make it easier for her to mirror, but it turns out the way it moves also changed."

"That makes sense. She does have an extra eight pounds wobbling about on her chest. That’s no small amount of inertia."

As Rina was speaking, he could feel over their connection that Miranda was a touch annoyed.

Not because she thought Rina was dissing her, but because she agreed and wished she didn’t have to deal with the extra weight.

Though he could also tell she would never give up her massive jugs because she liked the power they gave her. The power to make men stupid and women jealous.

"I’ve always wanted to learn a martial art, can I practice too?" asked Nora.

Jack looked at Rina and Madison. "Do you want to practice as well?"

Rina nodded, but Madison said, "Um, do they have a let-me-beat-the-crap-out-of-them mode?"

Jack checked and found that there was no passive mode. "Sorry, the closest available mode is defend-only, lowest difficulty. I assume you just want to beat the crap out of something?"

She nodded.

"Okay, I’ll spawn one at defend-only, lowest difficulty mode. Do you want me to make it look like someone in particular?"

"Um, can you make it my height and androgenous?"

"Sure."

Then he summoned dummies for all three. For Rina and Nora, he summoned dummies that were their size and shape, but for Madison, He made the dummy look androgenous with tiny breasts, narrower hips, slightly wider shoulders, and just a bit bulkier.

For Rina and Nora, he had their dummies go through the sequence with his original dummies, so they could see the full basic sequence. While that happened, he sent Madison’s dummy towards one corner of the room and watched.

Madison approached the dummy and threw a punch straight at its face. It tilted to one side and deflected her punch, causing her to lose her balance and stumble forward, left shoulder headed for its right shoulder. It stepped out of the say and she fell to the ground.

With a growl, she hopped up and tried again. This time, she didn’t lose her balance, but she still failed to land a punch. After several failed attempts to punch the dummy, her frustration growing, she tried to kick it.

She lifted her right foot and tried to slam it into the dummy’s left knee. But instead of connecting, the dummy lifted its leg, pulling its knee up and to the right, then used its lifted foot to push Madison’s leg out and to her right. She again lost her balance and fell.

Screaming, she jumped and tried to tackle the dummy. It simply pushed her to one side and avoided her grasp. She tried again several more times, but never once managed to touch the dummy.

Besides setting her dummy to defend only, he had set it to the lowest movement speed. And yet she failed to connect with it even once. Curious, he walked over.

"Madison, take a rest for a second," he said.

She was breathing heavily by this point and just nodded, clearly frustrated.

He approached the dummy, squared his stance, and tried his best to throw the basic punch, just like he’d been practicing. Much to his surprise and Madison’s fury, his fist connected.

"What the fuck!" she screamed.

"Ow! fuck! That hurts!" He regretted trying to punch it in the face but was glad he didn’t use his full strength or he was certain he would have broken his hand. The last two fingers on his hand throbbed, suggesting there was more to learn than just stance and movement.

Still, he had learned something very useful. The training dummies did have a teaching mode.

In defend-only mode, the training dummy would only let you hit it if you used the right form! So, he could get immediate feedback if his form was wrong.

He suspected the difficulty level controlled the amount of leeway the dummy would give the attacker before judging the move bad form and dodging it.

"What the fuck, dude?! Why’d it let you hit it and not me?" complained Madison.

"It will only let you hit it if you use the right form."

"Seriously!? Are you telling me I have to learn how to fight before I can beat the crap out of it?!"

"Seems like it. But cheer up. It only took me a few hours to learn that move. So, join the rest of us in training, then in a few hours you, too, can punch a dummy."

She growled in frustration.

He put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, is everything alright?"

"No, everything is not alright! My cellmate keeps suggesting I’ll need her protection soon and the only way to earn it is on my knees, licking her slit."

There was anger and disgust in her tone, but over their connection, he felt something more. Dread. But it felt old, like she was reacting to more than just her cellmate.

"Can you ask them to put you in solitary?" For anyone else, that would be a horrible option, but for Madison, with her access to his soul space, it would be a blessing. He was also annoyed that she was only now telling him about this.

"I tried. They refused. Something about regulations. The only way you get put into solitary would be to do something violent. But if I did, I’d also be guilty of an actual crime."

What was especially frustrating was that they were still waiting for Cascade Marketing to incriminate themselves.

Using the teleportation technique he and Madison had discovered, he had placed hidden cameras in their conference rooms and several offices.

Once a day, he would update the template of the cameras so Madison could review the day’s footage. But, so far, nothing incriminating had been revealed.

With his help, she had already wreaked havoc on their servers, but the bastards had not reported it to the feds yet. So, she was still stuck in jail, awaiting trial.

As for her cellmate, he wasn’t certain what he could do to help. Killing her cellmate was technically possible, given that he could teleport a weapon into Madison’s cell, probably by putting it in her pillowcase. But her cellmate mysteriously dying would just result in Madison being charged with murder.

Assault or intimidation with a weapon was too risky because there was a high chance her cellmate would either take the weapon from Madison or report it, and then Madison would be charged with assault.

Anything they did that removed her cellmate from the picture could lead to an even worse replacement cellmate. Even intimidation through other means would just paint a picture on Madison’s back.

Contact drugs applied to her cellmate’s clothes, drugs in her cellmate’s toothpaste, everything he thought of would paint a target on Madison because Madison was the one with the best access and the most motivation.

Even bribery was risky because it would raise the question of where the cigarettes, or candy, or food, or drugs had come from, and how Madison got them into the jail. It was especially frustrating because all the solutions that were viscerally pleasing would put Madison at risk.

They were left with only one option: leverage.