Ryan tried to copy Arthur. He imitated the exact combination, step by step. He repeated the left hook and then moved into the short jab and right cross. At first it was not great. His feet were slow. His hands came late.
He landed some blows but Warren answered harder each time. The simulation drained his mental energy faster than his muscles.
He felt fog in his thinking and his breathing became shallow. He had to stop and breathe between rounds to clear his head. He felt shame each time he failed because he wanted to be useful more than he wanted praise.
He did not give up. He tried ten more times. Each time he took the lesson of the last failure with him into the next round. In the second round he focused only on his stance. He kept his weight lower and used his knees to absorb balance.
