Chapter 90 - Poof!
Cathy took out her phone and started recording the moment Kyle's harness was secured. Whether or not he succeeded, she wanted this climb of his to be forever saved in her phone. Violation of privacy? What's that?! She's just interested in being able to admire that person in the privacy of her own room. That's not wrong, right? .... Right?
She saw him make a few warm-up moves and approved. This already showed that he wasn't a beginner. Of course, it's best if it was five to ten minutes, but something was better than nothing. He did some quick jumps, running on the spot and then a few stretching exercises. He completely ignored the weird stares he got from the people around while Cathy was busy admiring the muscles that could be seen rippling from those movements.
Cathy zoomed in the moment Kyle started climbing. She could truly appreciate the arm muscles that were more pronounced as Kyle reached out to grab another handhold. She had a thing for arm muscles. Not big ones like it looked like there was a boulder or something, but the more lean and firm ones ... how the arm appears normal until one bends it and it appears. How ... *cough* ... okay, you get the idea.
So far, it had been rather straight forward but even then, she could see that he had some technique. His arms were relaxed when it went for a hold, only straining as he pulled himself up. His back was straight and did not appear to be in any strain. What made it more mesmerizing to watch was the way he moved. It was so smooth and flexible.
His legs would stretch outwards and upwards, sometimes gaining a foothold that was actually quite high. He would hook the heel of his foot and pull himself up with the strength of his arms and at the same time, used his foot to push him up. He did it so smoothly and effortlessly that it looked like a dance.
"He has good technique," Cathy's Dad said as he evaluated the kid on the wall. "He's making quite a few unorthodox moves, though. It's as if he's deliberately choosing the more difficult route."
Cathy noticed that as well. Now she watched in excitement as Kyle reached the first overhang. What would he do?
Kyle looked up and grinned. The nearest hold to where he wanted to go was not within arm's length. He looked to the side and noticed an easier hold to take but he didn't want that. He calculated the distance and figured that he could make it.
Grabbing some chalk in the bag behind him, he made sure his fingers and hands were not sweating. Gripping the hold he was on tightly, he pulled himself up and placed his right foot on the crevice of the wall that was slightly above him. He quickly kicked to push himself up while pulling himself up with one arm and used the momentum to grab onto the hold above with his other hand. He quickly placed his feet on the hold that his hands had been on earlier.
Cathy and her Dad watched this with open mouths. Was that boy part monkey?!
They continued to watch in fascination as Kyle quickly went up the wall. It appeared that no matter how small the hold was, Kyle could hold on to it. His feet didn't really need the holds, as he would often choose to get a grip on the wall itself. Essentially, the feet was only used for stability while he would be using his hands to maintain a grip.
Initially, Kyle found the harness to be a hindrance as he was used to scaling up the walls without it. Come to think of it, Master Shifu did make him wear a harness when he first started learning but it wasn't like the one he had on right now. That was more of a rope around his waist whereas this was more of a strap across his chest. Still, it was a requirement here and he adjusted.
Cathy found herself almost drooling as she admired the way Kyle climbed up. Pure poetry, that's what it was.
Kyle reached the top and smiled. The staff up there had seen him scaling up the wall and was now thinking of helping to pull him over the railings. However, Kyle simply waved them off and easily jumped over. He leaned forward then, looking down.
That was fun indeed.
"I want that boy," growled Cathy's Dad. He turned to Cathy and held out his hand, "Quick. Give me his information."
"Kyle Smith, 13 years old, Sakura Academy," recited Cathy.
"He's 13??"
"Yes," Cathy confirmed.
They waited until Kyle came down and he was busy dusting his hands. Cathy called out, "Kyle!" and motioned for him to come over. They were standing near the exit, so he would have had to pass them anyway.
He smiled an walked over, "Yeah?"
"Kyle, this is my Dad, Cole. He's the owner of this place," Cathey introduced.
Kyle shook Cole's hand and asked, "Nice to meet you, sir. What can I do for you?"
"Have you ever rock climbed before?" he asked, staring at Kyle carefully.
"No," Kyle answered truthfully. He had scaled walls, not rocks.
"So where did you learn the technique that you used earlier?" Cole pressed.
"Technique? What technique? I just went for whatever hold I could," Kyle said.
Cole laughed heartily and clamped his huge hand on Kyle's shoulder, saying, "Fantastic! You're a natural! How about joining my team to compete at the international rock climbing competition next year? We'd first have to qualify for the spot at the competition held at the end of the year."
Kyle shook his head, saying, "Sorry, Sir. Not interested. I'm just here to have fun."
"But the competition WILL be fun!" insisted Cole, "And if we win, the prize money of $200,000 will be split amongst the climbers!"
"Nope. Not interested," Kyle said again.
"From what I can tell, boy, you're a natural talent! A prodigy! Look, come, there are three types of competitions: speed climbing, bouldering and lead climbing. You, my boy, can enter ANY of those three," Cole tried to persuade Kyle by telling about the sport itself, seeing that Kyle wasn't interested in the prize money.
"In speed climbing, you compete with another to scale a 15m high wall that's angled at 95 degrees the fastest. In bouldering, it's only a 4m high wall but you are to scale it within four minutes," Cole explained, his eyes twinkling in excitement, "The BEST thing is, there are overhangs and holds that are so small that you would be hanging literally by your fingertips alone!"
"From what I see, bouldering is the one for you. The way you scaled up the wall just now was a testimony to that," Cole said, his eyes now going into the far distance as he thought of Kyle's climb earlier.
"Or maybe you'd like lead climbing," Cole then continued, grabbing Kyle by the shoulders, "You climb as high as you can on a wall that's 15m tall within 6 minutes. Isn't that amazing?!"
"Yes, it is!", Kyle nodded in agreement, appearing excited then moved his shoulders in such a way that Cole's arms fell from it.
"Still not interested," Kyle continued, with a deadpan face.
Cole stared at him, then continued on badgering him. He tried to persuade Kyle in so many ways to the point that Kyle felt he would have been willing to sell off his daughter just to do so! What was so important for him to join his team anyway?
Kyle did find the whole thing extremely interesting but he wanted to keep a low profile. If he was to agree, he would do his best as there was no point in competing only to let others win. Kyle was confident enough in his own skill to feel that he would either win, or be in the top three - and that would mean that his name would be on record at an international scale.
He didn't want that.
He owed nothing to Cole and he there was absolutely no reason to join - or help. Still, Cole was extremely persistent. Suddenly, while Cole was on his latest sales pitch, Kyle gasped and waved frantically to someone behind Cole, "Mum! Dad!"
Cole and Cathy eagerly turned. Cole turned as he wanted to persuade Kyle's parents and Cathy turned because she wanted to see how Kyle would look like older (she imagined Kyle's dad is simply the older version of Kyle). They didn't see anyone that remotely looked like Kyle. They turned back and realised that Kyle was gone.
He had gone poof!
No matter how hard they looked, they couldn't see Kyle anywhere. When they went to the front counter, they found that Kyle had already returned the locker key and the equipment he rented, and was long gone. Cathy glared angrily at her Dad, blaming him for scaring away such a high specimen with his aggressive sales pitch.
Poof! Indeed.
Meanwhile, Kyle had reached the spa's entrance and felt he had just made a great escape. He didn't think a simple activity would turn into an active recruitment drive! He found that it was such a pity, as he did enjoy it but he couldn't go back now. Too troublesome.
He looked at his watch and noticed that the girls would be out any minute now. He figured that he would just sit in the waiting lounge outside and placed his hands on the door to push it open. However, just as he was about to enter, there was a loud scream from behind.
Kyle turned and saw, to his horror, a toddler falling from the top floor.