(Flashback) Rematch at Kendoka Sasaran (Rykanis)

[Imass]

Spring 25, 495

Imass walked into Kendoka Sasaran with a big grin on his face. Today was the big day for his rematch! His eyes gleamed in excitement. As Imass waited for his opponent to arrive, he thought back to the previous fortnight.

The Akalak's last encounter with Rykanis put him in bed for a whole day. The boy's entire body was sore for at least a week after the spar. He had to spend a good amount of time recovering from fighting such a skilled opponent. Although his chest had completely recovered, he still had a dark bruise spot on his chest. His legs and arms felt good though. They felt stronger like the roots of trees. Maybe this was just a feeling, but the feeling of bulging muscle felt awesome, so Imass didn't care.

Imass scanned the fighting floor. Imass knew he would be able to spot him from a mile away, because of the black eye. The boy would instantly remember his opponents face the moment he saw him.

The Akalak decided it was time to enter the fight floor. Wielding a single wooden Lakan, Imass stretched his arms very quickly, just to warm up the muscles. He bent over at the waist and stretched his legs. He did not push too hard though. He stretched just enough to get the blood pumping. One did not want their muscles too loose in a fight.

Imass shuffled into the training floor and began to look for Rykanis.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Today Rykanis had been called out. Now normally, he simply sparred against whomever there was to fight, just some random Akalak. Usually it did not matter to much to him, he just fought to get better, and a bit for fun. Though with random partners, it was a bit of a guessing game, if your opponent would be of similar skill, far weaker, or stronger. It had not been that long since they had last fought, but he guessed he had been using the time to get better, and to heal up. He himself had taken a bit of time to heal. It had taken 3 or 4 days before his eyes swelling went down. And it had only been yesterday, that the color around his eye, had gone back to normal. Though it was a bit hard to tell, since his skin was so close to black, as it was so dark. So know, he was fully healed, his eye taking far longer to return to normal, than the other bruises he had gained. He himself usually stretched as soon as he got up, before even leaving home, and so was already stretched by the time he got to the Sasaran. He did some lunges, bent down to touch his toes, some behind back arm bends... Loosened himself up, with the basic stretches most people learned. So by the time he had arrived, he was feeling a bit playful. He sneaked over to the weapons display, and grabbed one of the wooden practice lakans, before carefully creeping over to Imass, the young Akalak he had sparred... Keeping his breathing shallow quiet, and carefully placing his foot so it would not produce to much noise, stepping evenly, he attempted to sneak up behind Imass, and poke him in the back with his lakan. If he managed to sneak up on him, well it would surely alert him to his presence, when he poked him. Otherwise, if he was detected, and Imass was not to distracted, he might notice Rykanis, and leap in to attack him, before he got the chance to play his small prank.

[Imass]

Imass walked around the fighting grounds once or twice without seeing any signs of Rykanis. Imass knew his opponent would eventually show up, because Rykanis was an Akalak and the blue skin warriors didn't mess around when it came to training. The boy's eyes bounced from man to man. The Kendoka Sasaran was very crowded today and Rykanis could very well be training already.

One hundred percent focused on the finding his opponent, Imass did not take into consideration that Rykanis could be sneaking up on him. Therefore, Imass did not notice Dakshata until the point of a Wooden Lakan was at his back. Imass paused for a moment realizing his mistake. In Kendoka Sasaran everyone was fair game. There was even a rule that if you so much as nudge a person, you must start fighting them. It was the Akalak tradition and Imass intended to follow it.

After a couple of seconds, Imass snapped into his fighting mode. Clenching his wooden weapon, the boy spun around with a horizontal slash at whoever was behind him. Imass would have to spar with anyone who touched him, even if it wasn't Rykanis. These were the rules of Kendoka Sasaran. This is how the Akalaks got stronger.

"Hiyahhhh!" Imass grunted with a follow up slash coming from overhead this time. At that moment he noticed that the person was indeed Rykanis. Imass was now grinning.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Amazingly enough, Rykanis did manage to sneak up on Imass. It probably had more to do with the distracting noise and activity of the place, than really any inherent great sneaking ability on his part, but it was still nice to for once manage to get away with sneaking, without being caught till he wanted to. In a real fight, that would likely have been a finishing blow. Since he already had his weapon drawn, and was holding it on Imass, it was simple enough to bring up his lakan to block his opponents, with a slashing blow that countered each other. The follow up slash, he was not quite as able to deflect in time, and so ended up doing a dive and a forward roll, to avoid the slash at his head. Spinning on the spot, and rising out of a crouch he had ended up in after the roll, he faced Imass with a grin on his face. His recently healed, no longer black eyed face. "So, you called me for a rematch? Well then lets have at it." Rykanis came back into the fight, making two quick slashes at Imass" chest, followed by a leg sweep with his right leg, coming in on Imass" left side. Of course, in this case, it was unknown to him that his partner was actually better at fighting with his body, than he was at fighting with a lakan.

[Imass]

Imass's initial attack was easily deflected by the older Rykanis. Using the momentum of his first strike, he swung his arm around into an overhead strike aimed at Rykanis's shoulder. His opponent would not accept that and drove under Imass's swing.

The boy did not know what to do in this situation at all. He had yet to see any fighter leave their feet, much less dive at the opponent. Without an answer to Rykanis' move, Imass just skirted out of the way and reset his footwork to be square with his opponent. The adult Akalak was quick to his feet.

Imass was alert now more than ever. The sudden acrobatic move had woken Imass up. The adrenaline was beginning to pump and Imass was quickly getting focused. Rykanis's surprise attack left the youngster more than unprepared, it had left him unfocused too. Imass always spent the first ten seconds before a spar meditating to focus his mind. It was one of his bad habits in the fighting arena. Regardless, Rykanis's daring move had triggered Imass to start focusing.

The boy looked at the man's eyes and stared. Imass finally got a good look at his healed eye; it was as good as new. Rykanis then announced that he was happy to be bringing the pain.

Imass nodded for there was no need to meditate. Now the two could actually begin the fight.

Rykanis came in with two quick jabs with his Lakan. The boy slid two steps back to get out of the way. There was no way he was going to block those swings, so his only option was the avoid them. On a side note, Imass slide back so that he would not stumble his footwork. Imass responded with an attack of his own. Coming in with a right hook, Imass tried to stab the side of Rykanis' left arm. In response, Dakshata avoided the hook by sweep kicking from the left.

The youngster capitalized and tried to grab his opponent's leg. If he succeeded he would try to drop Rykanis by pulling on his leg and walking backwards. If he couldn't get ahold of Rykanis' leg, he would try to jab with his left hand then stab with the Lakan hand.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

It seemed like once the two of them got going, they really tore into it, with a vicious fight and spar. There battles were a flurry of blows, punches, kicks, lakan slashes, and maneuvers. Perhaps one day, when they were good enough, the could even spar with real lakans, not these fake wooden ones. But they were still far from that, needing much work and training, and to perfect there styles and abilities. If they did so know, it would most likely prove fatal, or at least end with one seriously injured. Though know that he thought of it, he doubted the younger Akalak even had a lakan of his own forging. After blocking one blow, and dive rolling to avoid the second, there fight really took off, as Rykanis attacked. He slid back out of range of his quick lakan attacks. Imass tried to get him with a right, just as he tried to sweep his leg. Imass changed tactics mid attack, and grabbed at Rykanis exposed right leg. But once he got ahold of him, Rykanis was just as quick in changing his tactics. Before Imass could make him fall, or take advantage of grabbing his leg, he would drop down onto his rear, pulling Imass down to stoop if he did not let go of his leg. And since he was no longer standing, he kicked with his free left leg, trying to knock the lakan out of Imass grip, which he would attempt to follow up with a few kicks to the chest, and then try and dislodge his foot from the Akalaks grip. If at any point, he did manage to get out of Imass hold, or Imass let go, Rykanis would do a backwards roll, landing in a crouch on his feet, and then pop up, standing once more.

[Imass]

Turned out that successfully grabbing his opponent's leg really didn't help. Rykanis reacted by dropping to the floor on his own terms, which left Imass open to attack. Imass could do nothing but turn his shoulder towards the deadly left kick and eat the blow. Rykanis was not done with his barrage of strikes. The older Akalak proceeded to begin kicking at Imass's chest in attempt to free himself. The boy shielded the blows with his right arm and shoulder. Despite the savage heels, Imass tried to hold on as hard as possible to Rykanis' leg so that he could get his own kicks in. Imass swung two times as hard before needing to let go of Rykanis' leg.

The boy retreated and re-set his footwork. Imass pointed his Lakan arm (right) towards Rykanis and held his off hand up in a ready position. The powerful kicks left his arm numb, but he could still function. A quick glance showed Imass that his whole arm would be bruised in the morning. This did not matter though for the young warrior would continue to press the attack. Adrenaline was pumping through his body now and his mind was focused on the task ahead of him. He let no other thoughts enter, for winning was his goal. All Imass wanted to do was prove his worth.

Lunging forward the Akalak stabbed towards Rykanis' chest. The boy would not wait. It was in his nature to be an aggressive fighter and although he had little experience he would put everything into an attack. Imass would stab repeatedly as fast as possible to keep Rykanis on his toes. If anything he might get lucky and land a blow. Imass tried for at least three stabs in a row at Rykanis' chest, but who knew what the adult would pull out of his sleeve to counter.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

If nothing else, there fight was interesting. A bit vicious, and severe, even by Akalak standards, but the two of them were really getting into the spar, on proving how well they could fight. Neither one of them was one to pull punches, or to not take things seriously, so they were truly a flurry of blows, constantly changing tactic. Rykanis was successful in getting his attacks in, though most of them were blocked by his arm and shoulder, from hitting were he had aimed. Imass himself even got a few kicks in. Though Rykanis was able to shift a bit, and both of the kicks caught on his rear. He was probably going to have a good bruise there for awhile, and have some issues sitting down. But finally he got away, Rykanis rolled back and landed on all fours, and then popped up to his feet, lakan at the ready. Before Rykanis could prepare, Imass was coming at him, stabbing at his chest. Rykanis was able to block or deflect two of them, but the third caught him in a rib, on the left side of his chest. Taking in a harsh breath, Rykanis counterattacked, making two slashes at Imass head, and then trying to punch him in the side of his chest with his left hand, making the hit in his ribs twinge a bit.

[Imass]

Imass stabbed twice only to be deflected by a quick hand. The third one got through, hitting Rykanis in the ribs. The boy was grinning ear to ear at his success, but his opponent did not skip a beat. There was not even one second to get a breath after the bout. Rykanis counterattacked immediately with a slash at boy's head. Imass did not think, merely reacted on instinct. Dropping his shoulders and tilting his head, he dodged the first slash in vein, because before he could do anything else he heard wood crack on his skull.

Rykanis, Kendoka Sasaran, and all the Akalaks disappeared into whiteness. A moment later the young Akalak's vision returned, but this time he was seeing stars. He was still standing though. He felt a punch hit him in the side. That’s when he realized he couldn't hear anything. He felt weak. Imass wouldn't give up.

In a desperate attempt to prolong the fight Imass bull rushed Dakshata. The boy would come in hand up and try to run into Rykanis. His goal was to push his opponent into another fighter so that Imass could have a minute to get his senses back. Imass barred all his weight on Rykanis.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

It was a hit! Rykanis made a small internal celebration, at his blow striking, knocking some sense perhaps into the younger Akalak. The resounding crack of wood on bone, reverberated through his arm. Maybe that had been a bit to much? But he could not stop now, he was in the middle of a series of blows, totally concentrated. None of his celebration showed on his face, so focused was he. As his next blow struck, punching him in the side, Rykanis paused. He had seen the look for the moment on his face, realized perhaps that blow to the head had hit a bit to hard... Perhaps he should stop the fight, and check on him? While he was thinking of this though, Imass rushed him. He was unable to do anything, so distracted was he, not to mention surprised at the sudden tackle. Plus with them already being so close, he might not even then have been able to do anything. Instead, he ended up getting knocked off his feet by the lakan wielding foe, smashed onto his back, with Imass tumbling on top of him, his weight landing on Rykanis. "Alright, alright, that was a good one. Lets stop for a second." He strained to talk, with Imass on top of him, trying to push his bulk off of him. He was not yet fully grown, but was still pretty big and heavy, and it would take him a bit to get him off. "Maybe I should check your head... I knocked you pretty good back there... Don't want your melon cracked."