Pray to the Mantis [Closed/Training]

[Stitch]

Timestamp: 54th of Winter, 509 AV Purpose: Auristics, Flux, and Martial Arts training

The children out and about with Malia, Stitch had the whole house to himself. For the moment though, he wasn't concerned with the house, he was simply concerned with the backyard. This was one of those rare moments when he could train his martial arts, his Flux, and perhaps try to train his Auristics as well. He could when the children were around, he supposed, but usually one of them wanted to get in on the fun. Well, one of them in particular, actually. Damien enjoyed a good fight, and Stitch had never been able to turn the boy down. Most training sessions that Stitch had started, when Damien was in the immediate area, had quickly dissolved into frenzied wrestling matches with the young boy. Not that Stitch minded, it was quality time with a child he considered to be his only son. But, he definitely delighted in those few short moments when he was able to practice his art alone.

Especially those moments when he was able to try something new and out there, just like he was about to now.

Setting down a glass cage on a wooden table in the back yard, the glass container being one of Damien's bug holders for his bug collection, Stitch studied the creature held within. It was a simple thing, a caged praying mantis. The vicious little creature was currently on his guard, his forelegs spread out and held high, claws extending toward Stitch, while his wings were spanned out as well. Truly terrifying, if Stitch would have been a smaller creature. Stitch had observed the bug fight before, observed the insect eat the prey Damien gave him, and it was slightly horrifying to watch. The mantis would aim, strike, and connect with his prey with amazing speed, snagging the unlucky food upon spiked claws, and then drag it in to devour, or further mangle with his other arm. The amazing thing was the size of the prey of the mantis, compared to the mantis itself. The thing was able to kill snakes, small bugs, frogs, even rats and mice.

Stitch gave the cage a slight flick of his finger, and let out a slight breath as the mantis shot one of his forearms forward, smacking the cage where Stitch had connected. Stitch's sight, as unique and amazing as it was, had been unable to track that blow. Breath-taking, the creatures which the Gods had blessed them with. Standing up from the cage and table, and taking a few paces backward, Stitch centered himself within the fenced-in backyard. Keeping his gaze focused on his tiny opponent, Stitch reached up and stripped off his facial bandages, his eyes closed tight underneath the cloth. Gently winding up the bandages, he considered some more information he had read about his opponent while contemplating this particular method of training. The bug was nothing short of amazing, and a few other facts helped prove this.

The difference in body strength between Stitch and the bug was amazing. While lions and tigers were well known in being able to drag three or four times their own body weight, the praying mantis had been proven to drag even more than that. Insects in general could drag things around eight times their own body weight, all the way back to their nests, without breaking a sweat. Ants and the praying mantis were both a prime example of this fact. Stitch couldn't even imagine. If he had to drag something that was eight times his weight, he would be dragging well over a ton. Then, consider the jumping power. Deer were known to be able to jump almost ten in the air, but if you researched the grasshopper, or the flea, then that kind of height was petty, compared.

You could feel it if you picked an insect up. They barely weigh anything at all, but you can feel how strong they are as they struggle within your hand. Imagine if they had our weight. How massive would their strength and speed be, if multiplied along with their size? And then take the mantis, who actually knew something about fighting, who could throw a few amazing punches of his own...

Grinning, Stitch opened his sightless eyes, focusing upon the bug, veins beginning to pop out all around his eyes, a throbbing pain starting in his head. This excited him. Focusing hard, he locked his eyesight upon the bug, and simply imagined. He took that aura, that bright green aura of the mantis locked inside of a glass cage, and forced it to expand, and to sharpen into something even more real than it already was. To grow beyond that of the normal mantis, and to multiply in size. To multiply in strength, in speed. Clenching his jaw, Stitch imagined, he focused, he took his blind eyes and used them to his advantage, to mold the aura he saw into something completely different, if even only in his mind. Stitch imagined, veins throbbing around his eyes like some kind of sick spider-web, and Stitch saw. Before him stood a praying mantis, now let loose from his cage, and now towering above Stitch by at least three or four feet. Great bulging insect eyes examined the blind man in their sight, massive legs with spikes riddling their insides shuffled back and forth idly, while enormous front arms lifted high in the air, poised and ready to strike, with even more vicious-looking spikes lining their insides, and outsides. Even the tips of those strong, speedy arms were spiked. The mantis cocked it's head to the side, focused on Stitch, and let out a loud, breathy hiss.

Stitch gulped, taking a step back, flinging his palms up in front of him, center of the palms facing the mantis, thumb folded over the palm one palm at three o' clock, the other at nine o' clock. Feeling a bead of sweat drip down the side of his face, he resisted the urge to wipe it off, unwilling to put down his guard, even for a moment. Perhaps this was a bad idea.

[Stitch]

The mantis cocked its head at Stitch, skittering forward just a bit, focusing black beady eyes on the blind man in front of it. If it registered that Stitch was blind, or even remotely odd, it didn't particularly show it. It simply examined the man, just like the man was examining him. Stitch didn't know why, but he was sweating. He knew this bug was just a figment of his imagination, but it looked so real, looked so terrifying. This too was likely a figment of his imagination, but he couldn't think that, not for one second. If he did, the illusion would shatter in front of him, he would lose his fear, he would lose his concentration. Focusing, he made sure to keep a steady trickle of Djed flowing to his mind, to stimulate his Auristic senses. From what little he knew about the magic, his relatively strong senses, as well as his "sixth sense", as his former father told him, fed information to his brain through a flow of Djed. A small, steady amount of Djed that he replenished as quickly as he used allowed him to use those senses, as well as Auristics to see, while expending more Djed allowed him to see more clearly. As well as pick up on major details, even things that he shouldn't be able to tell by sight alone.

This exercise called for him to apply a bit more Djed flow than normal, and he did so, even though he knew he would soon be drained. Best to act. He was never one to attack first, but this time, he knew he would have to.

Deep in his stomach, he knew the opponent he had created for himself was much too powerful to face alone. But he could try.

He shot forward, dropping his defensive stance. The bug hardly moved, shuffling insect feet in place, cocking it's head back and forth to focus one of two huge black beady eyes on Stitch, one after the other. Stitch kept both hands to his sides, letting them flow freely as he darted a few steps over the grass, clearing the space between them in mere moments. Feeling the tug of the stitches in his body, he tapped into more of his Djed, now directing flow to one of his legs, as well as his brain. Using the stitches on his body as a path, the small tugs as method of sensing where to flow Djed, he would soon tap into the Flux.

His second-to-last step brought him to the bug, who had just continued to stare. His final step brought his left foot right beside his right foot, as he began to turn sideways. His left foot lifted into the air, snapping almost straight up in a high kick, to slam into the chin of the insect. Midway through the kick, using the momentum, angle of his body, and tug of his stitches, he directed Djed into the kicking leg. His vision flickered as he briefly paused the flow of Djed to his Auristics, unable to process this all at once. Even then, his kick didn't get all of the Flux power it should, it was just too much going on. He was just too unskilled. Still though, his kick landed, with some added power behind it. The bug's head snapped back, a sickening sound echoing out as foot connected with insect armor. Armor. In the back of his head, from a distance, Stitch realized his foot was ringing. That had hurt. But it had still connected, and the bug had still gotten his head nearly taken off. Wasn't his brain shaken around, wouldn't it be a knock out?

The bug's head snapped back into place, a loud hiss shooting from the jaws of the mantis.

Stitch remembered something he had read, something about how the mantis had brains that were almost non-existent.

It couldn't BE knocked out.

The bug let out another angry hiss, and snapped out a forearm, faster than Stitch could see. He tried to throw up a guard, tried to defend, but his foot was still coming down from the kick. And he couldn't SEE the darn thing move. With a startled shout, he took the blow, his imagination tricking his brain completely, actually causing him pain. He grunted, moving back, flying to the ground, knocked off balance and off his feet. He hurriedly tried to heft himself up, groaning in pain. The blow had hit him in the chest, and it was hard to breath.

He heard the skittering of feet, and realized the mantis was closing in.

[Stitch]

Stitch ignored the sharp ache in his kick leg, the Flux flow already gone, and leaving behind a path of dull pain. He had to move, and move he did, rolling as fast as he could to the side. He only hoped his guess was right, and lucky enough for him, it was. Right as he left his previous location, the sharp end of a striking mantis limb slammed into the damp grass, piercing the soggy earth below. The mantis hissed, a bit put off by the fuss his prey was giving him, yanking his spiked limb out of the dirt and repositioning himself for another blow. Stitch scrambled to his feet, every muscle screaming as he moved. He was throwing all of his physical ability into this. His senses weren't good enough to even see the insect strike, he would need to pour a good amount of Djed into his brain to do that, and he was already expending most of his stamina just dodging.

As that thought entered, he noticed the bug pulling his forelimb back for yet another blow, and he had to force himself into another dodge. He moved in the direction he had rolled, throwing himself into another roll, this time tucked. He drew upon the basics of his martial arts knowledge for this, how to take a fall, turn it into a roll and spring back up after. He did so cleanly, and quickly spun to face the mantis, who was already on top of him and rearing back for another sharp blow. The thing was so fast. He would have to draw upon Flux and Auristics both in order to get in a dodge, and then an attack. How was he supposed to put any force behind the blow, if he expended all of his energy at merely getting an opening? He couldn't go for a knockout, and he couldn't hope to beat away at that natural insect armor and cause it enough pain to quit.

Sweat rolled down his body, and his breath heaved, and he finally decided to make a move. To take a stand, perhaps.

The mantis had been using the same attack for a bit now, and Stitch had the odd feeling the bug was just toying with him, for the moment. Nonetheless, he had to do something to turn this horribly unfair fight in his favor. Setting his feet, crouching just a bit, he prepared for the next blow. They always came down, and they always came straight at his skull. Now he just had to see it. As the bug reared back for his predicted strike, Stitch surged Djed to his eyes, in one huge pull out of his pool. Veins bulged out of his skull, around his eyes, and the image of the imagined mantis flared clear. His mind automatically started to sync his own aura with that of the bug, so he could tap into the thing, perhaps meet it on it's higher plane of existence, and skill. It seemed to move a little slower, just a tad, maybe half of a second, but that was enough for Stitch to use. Trying to predict the path, trying to sidestep the blow and slap it downward even further; to add momentum and put the bug off-balance.

He failed.

The forearm of the bug cleaved downwards, Stitch tried to simply barely sidestep, and the arm caught him on the shoulder. His shoulder blade crumpled, his left side crumpled as well, and Stitch realized that the mantis was about to cleave him in two. The sharp end of the striking limb caught his shoulder, and for a brief second, Stitch could glance over and see it start to puncture his skin. There was a brief pause on the strike as the mantis limb hit bone, and the bug struggled to follow through. Stitch could only watch, somehow void of pain, as the mantis hissed, and forced his blow deeper. His shoulder exploded into a spectacle of blood and gore, the spike on the tip of the mantis limb forcing it's way down the entirety of his arm. It was shredding flesh and bone alike as it went down, and Stitch knew that arm would be handicapped for the rest of his life.

It was also then he remembered that it was all a figment of his imagination, and he was now laying on the ground, sweating, gasping for air, and holding onto his left shoulder.

[Leviathan]

Thread Award! Stitch XP: +3 Auristics, +1 Flux, +2 Hand-to-Hand Lore: Fighting in Fear Additional Notes: Very interesting idea. I especially like the unique way you thought of training your character via manipulation of the Aura. You went into very good detail with the Auristics, describing it well and all. I would have awarded some more into Flux if it was focused on a little more. You are my XP Awarding Guinea Pig though, so my personal grading may not quite in sync with the other storytellers' methods just yet. If you feel something needs or should be changed, feel free to PM me and we'll figure it out. Whatever you do though, don't let me cheat you out of some well-deserved points, if I missed something, please let me know. Also, I'll get a cool looking format for this at some point, haven't had the time to get one thought up yet, so sorry for that.