You Flee Like An Invalid Snail! (P. Xuba)

(apparently "tonight" always means the next afternoon when I remember, sorry D:)

He only remembered charging Xuba and trying to punch him, his fist flying towards Xuba's face. Aw, heck. He didn't even remember aiming the blow much at all, assuming his instincts would help him out. As it so happened, his legs were swept from under him.

"Waagh!"

Splat!

Well, someone landed hard on the ground after some flailing, and it was not Xuba, thats for sure.

Sadly, for Xuba, Kohei had generally not seen a clenched fist outside of holding a pencil, he was one of those guys, if you know what I mean. While he was flopped over on the ground, Xuba began giving him instructions.

Ok, apparently charging was a bad idea. It went unsaid, but if he could control his momentum better, perhaps stopping on a dime, he could consider charging. Still, ironically enough, it seemeed that charging an opponent gave them the prerogative, and not the person charging them. Truly... unfortunate for those who did not know anything different.

Approaching at angles, that was definitely something he had not thought of. He was not very sure how to go about this though, since he did not have much experience. Besides, he would need a new tactic if the opponent shifted position to match. Perhaps they could be driven towards unfavorable terrain?

Open hands. Probably until he was about to strike? He thought it was unlikely to mean only slaps, and gouges, more that it was practical to have one's hands open for most of the time. He could understand how that worked immediately, even if in practice he would not be any good. Catching knives sounds helpful though.

He got to his feet, standing off to Xuba's side now from where he had fallen.

"Orgh."

Completely unused to physical punishment. Hopefully he toughened up soon. He was about two and a half meters away from the other individual, on Xuba's left side. The increased distance came about mostly because he had rolled on the ground after falling, in an attempt to reduce the impact.

Now he stood again, his left foot forwards, his body at a slight angle towards Xuba. He kept his palms towards Xuba, his elbows near his sides, his fingers oriented up towards the skye, and slightly curled even though that would make little difference in grabbing speed. His forearms were parallel to the ground for the most part. He was unsure of how to approach though, so he began shuffling forward, his legs alternately moving him closer, barely leaving the ground. He tried to keep an eye on all of Xuba's limbs, if he tried a head butt or such, leg movements and the like would be visible.

If xuba let him get within striking range, Kohei would shove his left open palm towards Xuba's face, and the other at Xuba's shoulder, his goal more to push over Xuba than to strike, he wanted to get used to the idea of approaching for a fist fight, before bothering to try for good strikes. Besides, he did not want to commit his body to a full swing, he was hardly an experienced puncher, and he didn't know what Xuba would do yet.

Xuba exhaled as the boy got to his feet. It was defintley worth noting the boy had guts to stand back up. His eyes watching the boy. The eyes were like mirrors. voided of any betrayal of intent, and malice. Xuba was calm at the moment. As he hardley had to put much effort in fighting the boy. 

Give him points for standing up... means that he is willing to learn. Each step he makes now matters. This is good i can see the gears waking up for the boy.


Xuba thought as he watched the boy finally take a stance and his hands finally open. From the get go. It was a vast improvement. No terrible charges in hopes of a "good hit"  xuba gave a stiff nodd and felt that the boy was not doomed to being robbed blind, and even tossed off a cliff. 

"Better"

Xuba replied as he still never raised a guard and allowed the boy to strike his shoulders. Being semi grounded and much stronger. Xuba merely felt that the boys strikes were as effective as a toddlers. 

He defintley needs a work out... not enough strength to even make me consider the boy any safer with me standing here. Then me holding a chicken over the boy. Still he looks at the most an new heart here.


Xuba thought as with control and speed his own hand was merely a blur and xuba gave a light rap on the wrist of the boy. (Speed:50)

"That is your first lesson. Slap with intent. If you can slap, then you learn hip movement and rotation for a stronger strike. Move into the strike while maintaining a good stance. Keep your eyes up and other hand ready to defend."

Xuba instructed.

(FYI: I am intending to stick with my effective stats when we first "met" - which is like 7 or 10 speed, idr which, 1 strength, and about 3 health)

Kohei froze, as soon as his strikes landed, and not for the reasons that one might think. No, there was not a badger about to bite Xuba's head off. Lightning was not about to strike out from nowhere. Rather, Kohei froze because he was pushing against Xuba in an attempt to unbalance him, but turned out to be pitifully weak. Rip.

So, Xuba let Kohei push at Xuba's shoulder, probably so the latter could see what Kohei intended to do. Unfortunately, it was not going to come to fruition. Xuba did not even seem to be bracing, and Kohei couldn't push him over. If Kohei was a character in a manga - which he was closer to than he realized - he would have dissolved into a quivering puddle of tears and frustration. However, he was a role playing character, and not a comic book character - large difference, right? So he instead looked visibly unhappy with his lack of strength, his somewhat distraught expression abruptly replaced with one of determination.

His opponent was letting Kohei hit him, and nothing happened? Not today, no sir. Kohei had to keep trying even if he felt too weak. The real world wouldn't be this kind.

A brief moment of uncertainty passed after his shoulder push landed, his other hand also being unblocked and hovering in front of Xuba's face. However, as he was about to act again, he felt a tap on his wrist, from a motion he barely saw. Damn. Well, he now knew how fast Xuba was, he would need a speed enhancement to keep up!

Slap with intent. Ok.

Xuba was probably telling him to really try and slap the hell out of Kohei's target. Kohei was able to see why too, his shove turned out pretty feeble. If he was to do anything real to Xuba, then he would have to put his whole body into the motion, but without tripping over his own feet.

He withdrew his limbs, there was no point in maintaining those.

"Hope you don't mind, but I am going to work on my strike first, and later the approach, since the latter is useless without the former."

He stood, with his feet still in the same stance, and took a deep breath. Suddenly, to him at his low speed, anyway, he twisted his left arm forward, his hips and torso twisting as well to give him a bit more leverage and speed, his left arm pistoning forward and then curving to his right to punch Xuba on his own left shoulder, putting as much force as possible behind it, the fingers closing into a fist at the last split second. Even with all that, his punch might do very little, but at least his form was different, maybe stronger. Well, hopefully, anyway.

As the first hit would impact Xuba's shoulder, Kohei would pull away his left arm, which swung out due to lack of attention, his entire body, minus his feet and head, twisting the opposite way, his right hand swinging towards Xuba's left shoulder from behind, also closing into a fist at the last moment before impact. After trying to follow through on the impact, he would back up a step, if not stopped, his arms dropping to his sides.

He honestly was not sure if his strikes would be any more noticable than a mosquito bite, but it was worth a try nonetheless.

"What do I need to change now?" he inquired.

Xuba felt the boy's strike as  he still was unmoved by the form improvement. Still he nodded. It looked even more crisp than before.  Yet xuba clicked his toungh and stared at the boy.

"What is your intention with your stirke? With an attack there must always be a goal and a point of orgin. Your orgin is your body. But your intention is the real question.  When you strike you can  do a varaiety of things. For example."

Xuba slid his right foot slightly forward an inch, and assumed a masic fighter stance. Xuba aimed a jab with his right hand at the boy's face right between the eyes. His fist due to control will stop an inch from the boys face. (Speed:50) it was a feint that was forced to cause the boy to blink.

However, xuba will also throw a quick. But light snapping roundhouse kick with his right foot aimed right at the boy's ribs. (Strength: 12, speed:50) due to the stance it would be a simple roundhouse intended to go under a guard.

Xuba would return to to stance as he would respond. As he would settle back down into a relaxed version of a fighter stance.

"Your intentions are direct in hand to hand, and in any sort of combat. A jab in form is good, but also you must have a goal in mind. If i struck your jaw, i would've been aiming to stun or knock you out. If it was your face. It would be to shatter your nose. What was the jab used for?" 

Xuba would ask the boy.

Urk.

He got kicked from the side, as Xuba was punching at him. Kohei tumbled through the air several meters, before landing in a crumpled heap. Apparently, he had much to learn, including how to take a hit.

He stood, slowly, wincing as he used several different parts of his body that had recently experienced significant impacts. God damn, he really needed to toughen up.

"Got me there, I wasn't sure if I could really move you, so I was just trying to land a good strike. Noted, though, I will try to push and follow through next time. As for your own jab...."

Kohei tilted his head for a second as he thought over the recent sequence of events.

"Well, you didn't actually hit me, not with your fist anyway. Was that a feint of some sort? While it was obscuring my vision, I couldn't see, similar to my earlier attempt, while that was up, I got hit, probably by your leg due to the positioning. That's my theory, anyway."

He gingerly rubbed his arm, one of his forearms had taken a lot of force earlier when he had landed.

"Slightly off topic, but any suggestions on getting tougher? Many ideas immediately spring to mind, both for that and general speed or strength training, but my inexperience is blatantly obvious, I don't want to waste time with less effective methods, if possible. You won't be around to teach me all the time, after all."

Xuba laughed at the boys request. His voice booming through the area for a second as he chuckled. 

"Getting tougher requires time. Healing, work, and effort. I hunt through the land for wild food, and take time to hone my body and spirit. Well in your case. My body and will. However, the world is dangerous. Perhaps you may grow stronger and durible after our training, but you dont get this strong after a day. It takes time. Dedication. As long as you do that you can reach new heights. Some days you train in the rain, your heat and your effort to keep you warm. Other days you hound and gain it from combat and the will to survive. Take the time boy to learn yourself and what you wish to do. The sooner you do this. The sooner you will reach your way."

Xuba finshed as he nodded at the boy's  observation. It was good as he expected anyone can figure out a feint. 

"Very good. So now here is the question you must ask yourself. What is it you did not see? A jab is misleading. Its a quick attack something that if ignored punishes a person, but if focused it will hamper you. In the hand to hand arts you learn in time that the most important weapon is  your own distancing and determining when to strike. But now strike again. I want to show you something."

"Fair enough."

Kohei spoke, replying to Xuba's earlier comments. He was about to try to strike out, but a thought ocurred to him.

"So, how did you come to be here in the mdidle of nowhere? Why did you become a missing ninja in the first place? I figure everyone has an interesting story to tell, one that others can learn from."

If he was fighting a normal opponent he would have struck out quickly without warning, trying to take advantage of the lull in strikes, but such was not to be. Xuba had been quite good to Kohei, doing such would already be dishonorable, nevermind that he seemed fairminded himself. No, such underhanded tactics would be reserved for the actual battlefield, against equally dishonorable opponents.

There was no point in readjusting his position before making another strike, it didn't seem that Xuba had moved either.

It was a bit of a stretch, but Kohei began twisting his body and left fist towards Xuba, aiming straight for Xuba's chin. His left arm would straighten, extending towards his target's face.

His right hand would stay in a guarding position by his chest.

Xuba took a moment of thought at the boy's question. It was reletively an easy awnser to give yet he was relaxed with the awnser he came up with.

" i came from the sea. The fishing boats were quiet amazing and i even had a child recently go towards my home village in the tea country. He was keen. However, i failed one day to save my father on the boat. I was washed ashore and blamed for his death... iv been on the run ever since. Hunting, eating, killing to survive... but i would say it is perfectally fine in the end. The world is massive, yet we are all beasts on the inside. Just more intelligent."

Xuba finished as he took a moment to consider the next thing to do. Then he eased up and smiled


" you improved, but still keep striking, practice makes perfect."

(the words are not forthcoming ;-;

I hate to say it but it may be best to end the topic for now and see about meeting up again later :/)

"The sea, huh.... I wonder what that's like. Hard for me to imagine, I haven't ever been near large bodies of water like that."

In an ugly way, he did feel a bit better about his own situation. Xuba had become a missing ninja, without really trying to be evil, he just happened to be more suited for this life than Kohei. He did have a point though, "civilized" humans didn't tend to be very pleasant, and they could be just as dishonest as the missing ninjas they hunted.

His exhaustion overtook him. The shock of the earlier deaths had largely subsided by this point. He might have trouble with it later on, but not as badly as today, hopefully anyway. His eye wandered briefly towards the mounds of loose earth, his body sitting down heavily with a loud thump.

He exhaled slowly, and then flopped back, lying backwards entirely on the ground, spread eagled.

"As much as I would like to continue, I need to get some... work... done tomorrow, and as it is, I feel that I will be very sore tomorrow. Any chance I can meet you again later to show my progress?" He looked inquiringly at his teacher.

"Eh."

He closed his eyes for a moment, letting himself drift off. When he awoke, he would take his leave.

(potential exit)

Somehow, collapsing unconscious and snoozing passed very little time indeed.

He left, uninterrupted.

(exit)

ttl wc: 3694, so claiming +18 stats I guess. Don't know that I will use them though.