Valeria Torres and the Midas Vault

Chapter 16: Harai-Goshi

The next day went by just as quickly, and before she knew it, Frank and Valeria were opening the door for her new mentor. He was young and had tan skin, a neatly shaved beard, and long curly hair pulled back in a ponytail. Frank welcomed him with a hug.

"Good to see you Hami. How's the family holding up?"

"As best we can."

"You look exhausted, buddy. Is Tara still keeping you both up at night?"

Hami yawned and massaged the stubble around his chin. "Unfortunately. We're still trying to get her to sleep at night, but she just sleeps when she wants to."

Frank looked over at Valeria. "Hami and his wife have a six month old at home. I told him he could postpone training you for a while, but he insisted."

"No way, brother," Hami said, shaking his head. "I wouldn't miss out on the chance to train one of the most gifted protégés our faction has seen in a long time."

"Thanks," Valeria said, trying to choose her words carefully. "I'm sorry I didn't choose your guild. I just had to make a choice and -"

"- Oh don't worry," Hami interrupted, holding up his hands. "Once we saw what sneaky Frank was up to, we knew you'd end up here."

"Hey," Frank said with a laugh, "We're just doing our part."

"Uh huh," Hami said, his tone sarcastic. "Well, you're in good hands here, Valeria. Frank and Jada are the cleverest mentors in our faction. Long ago, I was in your shoes as a protégé and new Bounty Hunter, and Frank here," he said, gripping both of his shoulders, "taught me most of his tricks as a thief."

Frank wagged a finger. "I taught you some things, not everything. So, what did you have in mind for today?"

Hami smiled as he removed his backpack. "Well, I figured we'd start off with something fun." He removed an odd set of ropes with balls attached to the ends. "I thought Valeria and I could toss some Bolas around in your backyard for a little bit. Afterwards, we can come back in and you can help me demonstrate pressure points."

"Nice," Frank said, "Have fun outside you two. Holler if you need anything."

Valeria followed the bounty hunter outside to their secluded backyard, where she could see the sun beginning to set along the horizon.

Hami removed one of the odd ropes with the balls at each end, and held it up. "So this is a Bola. It's basically a rope with a weight on each end. While it can technically be used as a weapon," he said while swinging the rope around like a nun-chuck, "That's not its primary purpose."

He turned, swung the bola like a lasso, and released it toward a lamppost. The device wrapped around the bottom as he said, "the Bola is designed to bring your prey to the ground. Now you try."

Valeria looked at the lamppost with disbelief. "You want me to toss this thing? I'm pretty sure I'll end up hurting you or myself."

Hami removed another bola from his bag and threw it slower this time. "It's all in the wrists. Go on, give it a try."

Valeria tried swinging her bola with a similar motion, but when she released it – the device somehow went backwards.

"Well," Hami said with a laugh. "At least you didn't hurt anyone. Go on, keep practicing."

Valeria's prediction ended up proving correct; she hit herself multiple times while trying to toss the bola. Her arms still burned from yesterday's rappel lessons with Penny, and certainly didn't make the task any easier. She lost count of her attempts as Hami addressed her again.