Challenged - Skinwalker Book 2

Chapter 32

The warehouse was laid out interestingly. In the centre, the floor was lightly padded with gym mats and there were a variety of simplistic obstacles such as rails, vaulting boxes, curved and straight walls and a few trampolines. There was also a really fun foam pit off to the one side. The layout looked like an odd cross between a gymnastics gymnasium and an urban construction scene.

After a brief lecture from Remy and Jacques about the history of the sport, they went on to discuss what was involved. The primary goal was for participants or 'traceurs' to move from point A to point B as efficiently as possible, regardless of what obstacles inhibited them along the way. There were several basic techniques that could be easily learnt to enable even new practitioners to move forward through a course fairly effectively, and the goal was to teach them as many of these during the morning as possible.

They started the team off on the mats, where they were shown various warm-up techniques to ensure that their bodies would be properly prepared for what they were about to do. Then they were encouraged to explore quadruped movement in human form – which was hard not to laugh about considering what they really were. As they shuffled around on all fours in a number of directions with a great deal more dexterity than the average newcomer, the instructors looked on at them with unveiled surprise. It was easy to see that this particular team was ready to receive the particular brand of training that they were equipped to supply.

With the warm-up out of the way, they started learning basic vault techniques. The most basic forms of this type of movement were simple, so the majority of the team picked them up in a matter of minutes, whereupon Ken and Devon started trying to explore a more complicated version of the vault that they'd seen in movies. By the time everyone else was ready to move on, the two of them were executing kong vaults very neatly. Sierra wondered how Devon would react to the news that he looked like a fictional werewolf every time he flew over the vault box that way. She somehow doubted he'd appreciate the news...

Next on the list was a discussion of proper landing techniques, including how to angle the feet and legs correctly, and roll to absorb the impact properly after a jump. That was something that the instructors drilled much harder, even though Geoffrey and Alyssa where the only ones that struggled a little with it. Once Remy was satisfied that they were all executing the manoeuvre satisfactorily from low heights, he started teaching them a simplistic vertical wall run up a mid-sized wall – something that was surprisingly easy to do.

The instructors seemed surprised by their rate of progress and Sierra overheard one commenting to Kal that they hadn't really believed him when he said his team was already fit, strong and agile. It didn't take long for them to start guiding the group to new heights – literally.

There were a number of obstacles set out in concentric circles around the padded centre of the building. The ones nearest to the centre were smaller in height and less challenging, but the further away they got, the more difficult they appeared. For the most part, they represented various obstacles common in urban settings – walls of varying heights, stair railings, balconies, trucks, ladders, pillars, flower beds, picnic tables, light posts, rooftops and just about anything else that you might encounter in an inner-city chase. The obstacles in the outermost circle were really high and intimidating, though the thick layer of mattresses between each circle mostly like helped quite a bit in the event of a fall. The team started working on the innermost circuit and gradually started upping the challenge as they got the hang of it. The bravest of them got to the third circuit, but most had to give up half way. The two higher levels were left untouched until the coaches decided to demonstrate their own proficiency on them, causing more than half the team to stare on in slack-jawed awe. They looked truly surreal, leaping off roofs and skipping up massive walls or navigating five-tier stair cases in seconds without actually using a single stair. Benches, walls, windowsills, railings - almost any aspect of the urban environment was put to good use to produce an energetic but flawless ballet of movement through the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It was incredible.