by Lazryn Lazak on April 28th, 2015, 12:01 am
Once Asurius had completed his examination, and questioning, of the children he returned to the front of the group. As he retook his place at the front of the class the smile that he had had at the beginning of the session returned instantly, as he spoke his eyes moved around the room staying on no on individual for any length of time;
“Okay guys that was great, it looks like we’ve got a good range of skill levels in here but you all seem to understand the basics of what you’re doing. Some of you know what you’re doing, but don’t know why. Some of you know what you’re meant to do, but you’re not quite doing it right. One thing is certain, and to be expected, you are all novices in the art of unarmed fighting. Do not worry however, as that is why I am here. One day you will be the pride of Riverfall, but do not think this honour will simply fall into your laps. This is the first day of your training boys, the first day of the rest of your lives!
Now, around the edges of the room you will see a collection of bags and training dummys. I want all of you to go and find a teaching implement and stand in front of it in your fighting stance, make sure that you end up next to your partner as well!”
Once again Lazryn and Sutikal hung back as the young Akalak exploded into action, watching as they all rushed towards the human-shaped training dummy’s and tried to avoid ending up in front of one of the strange cylindrical bags that hung from the ceiling by chains. When the dust settled all that was left for Lazryn and Sutikal, surprisingly enough, was two heavy bags at the back of the room which they made their way towards just as Asurius made his way to the middle of the room and began speaking again;
“Okay, now that you all have a target I want you to demonstrate what you know. Don’t worry this isn’t a test, I’m not marking who is the best at what and who doesn’t know what they’re doing.
I will be walking around and helping everyone out, and trust me everyone will need help.
One last thing boys, remember this is just the first day; take it easy, this is about lightly demonstrating your technique not about hammering your target with all your power. On you go.”
Once Asurius had finished Lazryn turned to face the browny-grey bag that hung in front of him, it was wider and taller than he was and was elevated about half a foot from the ground. He had never used something like this to train before, his father had only showed him the very basics of fighting technique he had very rarely implemented it on anything, even inanimate objects. Taking a breath he bent his knees slightly and got into stance.
For a moment he simply bounced on his feet, unsure as what exactly he was meant to be demonstrating on this giant flower-sack, but after that moment of hesitation he mentally shrugged and threw his left hand outwards for a jab.
He grimaced as his fist impacted on the surprisingly solid surface of the bag, it must have been packed tight because it felt akin to punching a wall. He watched as the bag moved backwards perhaps a millimetre from his impact, and began swinging ever so slightly though the motion was minuscule.
He shook his left hand off and then threw another jab, this time however he quickly followed it up by throwing his right hand afterwards. After throwing the two punches he reset into his starting position and stared at bag, with a rising focus as his hands stung from the impacts.
This isn’t just a bag, it’s the enemy. Its causing me pain, that makes it the enemy! He threw a quick succession of punches again.
A sudden grunt, followed by an explosive thudding sound to his immediate right caused Lazryn to lose his focus and look to see what had caused it. He turned just in time to see Sutikal retracting his right leg and placing it back behind his body, the bag in front of his partner was swinging several inches from side to side, far more than his own was moving.
Kicks, of course! Idiot…
In his rush to simply hit the bag Lazryn had forgotten perhaps his most essential weapons, his legs. Facing his own bag once again he threw another two punches, but this time he lifted his right leg up and threw it into the bag afterwards to finish the combo before resetting back into position.
“A good combination, one to keep in mind but your execution could use some work Lazryn.” Asurius said as he suddenly appeared at Lazryn’s side, he extended his hand out and stopped the heavy bag in its tracks;
“Watch, I’ll demonstrate how you’re doing it, and then how you can improve on what you’re doing.”
Lazryn took several steps backwards to allow Asurius ample room to demonstrate.
“Firstly, you throwing every strike individually. Following one another, but you’re not allowing them to flow as naturally as they should.”
Raising his hands up to his chin Asurius turned to face the bag, taking up a stance that was similar to Lazryn’s with a few modifications he tried to take note of before the man set to work, which was a mere fraction of a second. Throwing his whole left arm forward as if it were some sort of club he was trying to drive through the bag Asurius mimicked Lazryn’s movements, he realized, all to perfectly. The follow-up right hand came a second or so after the left one had landed, and then Asurius’s right leg came off the ground at an awkward angle and hit into the bag. Each individual strike had sounded like two weighted clubs hitting each other but the bag did not move overly much more than it had done for Sutikal’s strikes.
Turning to face him again Asurius motioned towards the bag;
“Sure, that sounded good and it would have hurt someone, but that is only because I am strong myself not because I had good technique. You’ve got to use perfect technique to maximize the impact of your strikes, like this watch.”
Whipping back around Asurius became a blur of motion almost instantly. No sooner had his hands came back up to his chin than he had thrown the left, then the right, and then his right leg came upwards and cut into the bag. Each strike had sounded almost like the crack of a whip, and every one had left a small dent in the bag, most noticeably the long cut-shaped dent left by the kick.
Asurius did not speak before he repeated the action, this time seemingly in slow motion, probably so Lazryn could actually keep up this time.
He watched as Asurius took a small step forward with his left foot as he threw the jab, his entire shoulder extended out with the punch not just his arm, in fact his entire torso rotated into the punch. He drew the punch directly back to his face, not lowering his hand at all, and the moment his left was back he threw his right hand forward. This time his left foot moved outwards, towards the left of the bag, and was twisted so that it was pointed towards the far wall of the room instead of behind the bag. Once again his entire torso, and the connected shoulder followed his punch through. The moment his cross impacted with the bag Asurius began swinging his arm down, as if he were tossing something away in anger, and he also began lifting his right leg; which was utterly relaxed and almost entirely straight. Since his left foot was now fully supporting his weight, and was off-centre with the bag, Asurius had to turn his hips into the kick as he swung his leg inwards so that it properly hit the bag. When the kick landed he brought the leg back down at normal speed and then reset back in front of the bag.
He performed the combination one more time, at full speed, and Lazryn watched in awe at the speed and power of his instructor as his body flowed from one strike into the next. Once Asurius had finished demonstrating the technique for a third time he turned to face Lazryn, walking away from the bag and motioning for the boy to retake his place;
“Okay, let’s see if you picked up on what I changed there. Don’t worry if you didn’t, I can show you again if need be.”
Walking back in front of the bag Lazryn raised his fists and slipped into his stance. He could feel Asurius watching him now, he wanted to impress his new teacher so he took a moment to steady himself.
Taking it slowly he jabbed at the bag, taking a creeping forward as he done so, and then followed up with the right straight and then the kick, remembering to throw his arm down as Asurius had. The bag swung from left to right as he retook his stance, more than it had before which caused him to smile slightly at his improvement.
“You forgot to step outwards, your hips aren’t open as wide as they could be meaning your kick is lacking power. Work on that, but other than that you’re doing very well. I’ll be back around in a bit, I want you to work on that.”
The sidestep!! Urgh, how could he be so forgetful, he had literally just saw what he was meant to do. He would get it right this time!
Continuing to take it slowly Lazryn repeated the combination, trying his best to mimic Asurius’s exact movements…
Last edited by
Lazryn Lazak on April 28th, 2015, 12:15 am, edited 2 times in total.