[Flashback] Bloody Blades and Bruised Knuckles (Koa)

[Siiri]

20th of Spring, 505 AV
Location: Training Yards

Every year, those who were on their second year serving in the army were allocated to different fangs, to join their first official forays into the jungle as part of a structured team. Each were assigned specific roles defending on their strengths, the stealthy and the fleet of foot were made to scout, the sharp-eyed served as archers and long range support to the bruisers, the warriors. It was the latter that Siiri found herself assigned to train, as one of the select few chosen by the perennial instructor Ackaris to assist him with the sophomores. Siiri stood at attention beside a handful of other senior warriors, her hands clasped behind her back and feet slightly parted to comfortably support her weight. She stared straight ahead as the diminutive Myrian addressed the would-be warriors, twenty in all.

“Alright, you bunch of reprobates, listen to me!” Ackaris was saying – screaming, really – in his growl of a voice, as he paced back and forth before the assembled recruits. “You turds were chosen to be frontliners of the army’s fangs! Unfortunately, I don’t think you’re worthy of the honor!” He turned to Siiri, the closest one near him when he paused in his tirade. “Do these pieces of shyke look like warriors to you?”

“No,” Siiri replied succinctly, trying to stifle the grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. Every year it was the same: Ackaris would drag any warrior available to help him “beat on the young’uns” and instill into them the discipline they would need to fulfill their roles once they’ve officially joined with their respective fangs. He would always give some sort of speech to try and intimidate the youths – different words, but the context was the same. His methods were strict, his training exercises grueling (Siiri herself had trained under him on her second year of service), but he never failed to produce top-notch warriors for the army.

The young warrioress spotted a familiar face among the peers standing at attention. Koa of the Painted Eyes stood rigidly, eyes staring straight forward, her jaw thrust out in that challenging manner that hinted at her stubborn streak. Siiri had in more than one occasion sparred with her and had in fact invited the younger Myrian to join her own training group – fighters already four years Siiri’s senior. Koa made a case for herself when she was able to stand with the best of them and made herself a permanent part of the training group. With little effort, Siiri caught the girl’s eye and gave her a playful wink. It was going to be a long day of all of them.

“For five tendays, the training be the center of your world. I’ll be teaching you hand to hand and weapons. You’ll learn to fight one on one, as well as in groups. You’ll learn to take advantage of a numerically inferior foe as well as even the odds against those with superior numbers. You’ll learn to use the terrain to your advantage, maximize your strength and minimize your weaknesses, all the while exploiting the weaknesses of the enemy! You are all turds now, but by then end of those five tendays, by Myri, you will be warriors!” He stalked up to one of the recruits, a shy-looking mid-teener a little on the chubby side, though Siiri could tell there were muscles underneath all that excess fat. “Do you understand what I am telling you, soldier?!”

“No, Ackaris, sir! I mean yes! Sir!”

Siiri smirked. The boy fairly quivered in his response. Ackaris obviously haven’t lost his touch. While Siiri knew it was all bluster on the part of the man, it never failed to instill some level of panic on some of the softer Myrians that got drafted into the army. Ackaris made life especially hard for those recruits.

Like what he’s doing to Chubby Cheeks right now.

The drill sergeant drew level against the boy, who stood half a head taller than him. He would be a fine specimen given enough training. Ackaris stared up at him, daring him to meet his eyes. The boy didn’t; Siiri could see he was close to tears, holding his eyes steady and unblinking like that.

“They let you partake too freely of the rice cakes, boy?” Ackaris growled, snorting at the end of his question for emphasis. The boy Siiri labeled as Chubby Cheeks could not decide whether to answer the instructor or shake his head in denial. Ackaris spared him from making the choice by screaming in his face, “It doesn't matter! By the end of the fifty days, you turds will have muscles harder than a deprived man's...”

Siiri tuned the man out, realizing he was about to go into one of his 'motivational speeches' again, detailing to the recruits what he would have them do and what he would force them to learn – all in a profanity-laden growl- and scream-fest. She knew the drill: he would start out with the basic: primary and secondary weapon training, unarmed combat, field action, then group dynamics, all covering different situations, from city to jungle warfare, straight up confrontations to ambushes and guerrilla tactics as well as storming and siege strategies. There would be one versus one scenarios as well as one versus many, from the easy two versus one to as much as six versus one. It was a backbreaking fifty day training, all to prepare the soon to be sophomores in their roles as warriors in the fangs they would be designated to.

“...what you do as warriors will dictate how, where and when a battle will take place, so bloody pay attention or I'll poke your petching eyes out! It's going to be your duty to draw the attention of the enemy force, away from those pansies using bows or whatever shyke weapons they use at long range. You give the scouts the opening to backstab and hamstring the enemy while they focus their attention on you! You may very well die on your first official role as the warriors – the anchors – of your fangs, but even if you do, you can at least tell Myri when She meets you on the other side that you made a damn good showing of yourself and what you learned here! You got that, turds?!

“Now! We're going to start with your favorite exercise! That's right, soldiers! Melee weapons! That's what you're here for, you petching idiots! But since you all look like a bunch of deyhan babies, we'll start off easy! You take your best weapons and I'll match you up with my warriors over here whose weapon specialties matches evenly with yours! You! You, you and you! And you – quit staring like a hooked fish or I'll pluck your fruit from inside your pants, you damn turd! Get over here and ready your damn weapons!”

Ackaris called Siiri's group over then, facing each of them off against one of the sophomores. Siiri found herself paired against a smaller girl wielding two long swords fashioned from obsidian. She was a little on the slim side, her body fit more for a scout than a frontline warrior. Siiri wondered how the girl was chosen for this group, then she turned to check who her friend Koa was assigned against. It was Paen, called Tooth by everybody else because, as one of his fellow fang-mates had teased, he had more daggers on his body than he had teeth in his mouth. Right now he faced Koa with his melee daggers, almost two feet long blades made from bone. He held one in the traditional overhand grip, while other was in an underhand grip. Quick and agile, he was known to switch grips between the two hands in the middle of a battle to confuse his enemies.

Koa's up against a tough one, Siiri thought as she returned her gaze to her opponent. Ackaris was just finishing some last minute instructions just as she did.

“First of you imbeciles to cause a serious 'accident' under my watch will be cleaning the tiger pens for the whole week – with your mouth! Now get damn ready and fight!”

[Koa]

Another day in a life. With a young aspiring warrior standing at attention in a row of initiates. Except Koa had caught a glimpse of these whelps before she had devoted her undivided attention to the infamous Ackaris. Many seemed weak-willed, incompetent and unworthy of the title warrior in her eyes, and she scowled in disgust. Being considered a part of this disappointing group made her want to gag, but Ackaris’ words still rang clearly in her ear. Koa had to admit that she was always amused at his tone, she had seen him yelling at younger Myrians frequently throughout her training bouts with Siiri’s sparring group, but at the moment, her thoughts were preoccupied with the prospect of truly being called a warrior. It would be a grand honor, one she would fulfill to the best of her abilities.

Her eyes strayed toward Siiri, responding to her wink with a crooked grin, then when Ackaris’ eyes passed over her she quickly cleared her expression and became a blank slate once again. She listened to him when he began to pair the younger Myrians off with the far more experienced warriors, then as she turned to face her opponent, her heart skipped a beat. He was already in a stance, a well established stance that emanated prowess. She wondered if she was going to get out of this still intact, then she shook her head and smirked. There would be no backing up from her, the mere thought of surrendering made her fists clenched tightly around her glaive.

“Are you ready to inspect the floor?” She taunted, raising her glaive up in the starter stance. She held it with the point facing up, arms bent but extended. Her weapon was easily able to twirl and switch blades at will, but she held only one, where as her opponent dual wielded. It appeared as if the battle was already in his favor. Koa’s mother had promised her daughter another glaive should she prove to be exceptionally talented with the weapon, and she was determined to receive it and further advance in the art of war. If she was to prove herself to a Myrian tiger in the future, her abilities must be at their peak.

Koa stood, however, waiting for Tooth to make the first move. She kept her hand steady, at the center hilt, elevated and waiting. The only time she was patient was when a duel was on the line. She was like a jaguar, ready to take the leap, to ambush and strike at the opening readily available. But would Tooth allow such an opening?

Karai, Koa. Pay attention, stop being a petching worry wart and FOCUS. She screamed in her mind.

No matter what it took, Koa would show Ackaris who was the prodigy amongst her peers.

oocI made up the word "Karai", in spanish it means something equivalent to "Effing A".

[Siiri]

The rest of the world vanished as Siiri concentrated on her opponent and her twin obsidian blades. One by one, each of the recruits winked out of existence as the Myrian willed them from her mind’s eye. Her fellow seniors followed, then Ackaris himself. It was as it always had been: in every match, whether it was just a simple sparring match or a fight for her life, Siiri would shut out everything that wasn’t directly involved in the ensuing combat. Such was what she had learned from a very young age, to focus her thoughts at the task at hand, until she’s achieved complete and total victory. By Myri’s law, there should be no other way.

The warrioress drew her greatsword Slayer and eyed her opponent: lean, lithe, most likely agile and ambidextrous. She would have a certain degree of control on her dual blades, an advantage Siiri had to look out for. The girl’s wide stance told her that she needed a large area to fight properly, probably depending on wild slashes to keep her opponent at bay while she looked for a vulnerable spot to stick one of her blades in. Parry and stab, typical tactic. This would be the girl’s natural approach against Siiri’s longer blade. The older fighter held her blade low and tightened her defense, presenting the girl with a narrower profile. She’d change everything the girl was expecting. To her own advantage of course.

Her opponent offered her a sheepish smile before engaging, nodding at her serious disposition. “Take it easy on the newbie?” she asked. Her tone was light, joking, knowing full well her opponent would not hold back. Such was training after all.

To the girl’s surprise, Siiri returned her grin, all sweet and friendly. “I’m going to gut you like a bluegill,” she replied in equal sweetness.

And then they were at each other.

-o-

Koa:

Paen merely grinned at her, not bothering to offer a reply at her taunt. Some warriors simply refused to be goaded into a verbal war with their opponents, choosing instead to conserve their breaths for the late stages of the fight when both combatants would be gasping for air. Tooth was one such warrior. It spoke of his patience and ability to not make the fight personal. That he used daggers for melee combat, as a warrior and frontline, spoke of his skill and agility. He would be one to snake through his opponent’s defenses to pepper them with stab wounds. As his leading foot inched forward, he proved to Koa just how much the disparity between their skill levels was.

The man had a quick first step; he was a meter away one second and in Koa’s face the next. His left dagger, held in an overhand grip, was slashing to outwards and to the side to throw his opponent’s weapon wide while his right dagger, held in the underhand grip, was already coming towards Koa’s neck even before the left blade made contact.

[Koa]

Yes, Koa understood quite clearly the gap between experience. But she knew the consequences. To hell if she would allow herself to be seen as a failure in front of her peers. So what if she received some scrapes and gashes? It was nothing compared to the glory she would receive for defeating someone far more highly skilled than herself.

She watched as Paen made his first move. He was quick, quicker than she anticipated, and she found herself caught unawares. The dagger came dangerously close, but her instinct forced her glaive upwards to deflect the incoming left dagger. The right one had been unseen, until she saw it incoming in her peripheral vision. As quick as she could force herself to, she pushed with all the strength in her legs to jerk back, but the dagger still made contact with the flesh of her neck, causing a thin line of blood to form and seep onto the leather bra she wore that day.

Stumbling, she brought a hand up across her throat, drawing the thick, crimson liquid. She clenched her jaw, eyes narrowed to near slits as her fury rose. But that silly façade concealed her true intentions. Yes, she wanted to beat this petch up for ruining her bra. Bringing her glaive up once more in front of her face, she charged at Paen, twisting at the last minute on the balls of her feet and bringing her right arm in a sweep across her opponent’s back.

[Siiri]

Siiri moved to test the girl’s defense, throwing light but rapid slashes her way, never committing to any one strike but withdrawing her blade as soon as the girl blocked it, only to attack in a different place. The moves were not meant to injure, but merely used to feel out the girl’s reaction time and precision. The girl was skilled enough to recognize Siiri’s ploy however, and she parried with an equal amount of zest (or lack there of), never fully revealing to her opponent the extent of her abilities. For several moments, the two of them looked like they were merely playing swords, like how the children would out in the streets when allowed to play in the afternoons once they were done with their chores and lessons.

Tired of their little game, Siiri executed one last lazy pass with her greatsword, a horizontal strike aimed at the girl’s neck. She put her full strength behind the blow a fraction of a second before their weapons met, drawing a startled cry from her opponent, before quickly spinning Slayer over her head for a follow up strike in the other direction. The massive blade flashed unerringly towards the girl and she was only able to dodge back.

“Tricky,” the girl laughed, though the nervousness in her eyes were evident. To her credit, she didn’t back up any more than was necessary and brought the fight back to Siiri performing a series of stabs targeting vulnerable sections of her body.

-o-

Paen had a block in place as Koa charged at him, fully expecting the younger fighter to try and pierce his defense. Thus he was momentarily caught by surprise at the Painted Eyed’s sudden change of direction, sliding back just in time to avoid the girl’s weapon from embedding itself in his ribcage. The man backpedaled some more, daggers held up in a protective pattern. He offered Koa a toothy grin.

“Very good Kitten,” he acknowledged. “We dance now, you and I. Don’t be shy to make me bleed a little.”

With another grin, the man known as Tooth darted in again, daggers leading. He attacked Koa’s weapon this time, hoping to jar it from her hands with repeated strikes on the blades. All the while he never took his eyes from hers, the infuriating grin plastered on his face. A spectator of the match would have noted that the man was attacking Koa physically as well mentally, trying to get in her head to irk her and perhaps cause her to make a mistake that would cost her the match.

[Koa]

She had missed! Missed! Or rather he had so easily detected her charge, but either way he was far quicker on his feet than she could ever hope to attain at that level. She would have to use wits, just as he was.

This fight is turning out to be a huge pain in the ass. Petching, Ackaris, putting me against such a good opponent.

When he grinned at her, she did the same. She wasn’t so much as pissed at him that he was beating her, on the contrary, she was enthusiastic about the prospect of learning new combat tactics in the heat of battle. His movements would be stored in her head, for later use as she saw fit. To incorporate it into her own fighting style, and carve a name for herself in the future.

“I’m not shy, you’re just quick. Stand still, why don’t you,” The younger Myrian said as she circled around Paen, with the glaive held just above her chest. There wasn’t any animosity there. His little attempts to ruffle her feathers held no hold over her. “I’m starting to like you, even though you’re being a little prick.”

And then he had charged at her once more! She welcomed his aggression as she held onto the center of her weapon, absorbing the blows through her arms rather than the glaive. She wouldn’t easily let him knock her only defense off and leave her vulnerable. She even had the audacity to grin right back at him, and then a wink! She brought her knee up during his flurry of attacks to strike at his groin, then brought her left arm up to send a punch directly to his face, if it connected, she would swing her glaive down on his arm, if not, her glaive would swipe at his abdomen from below, trying to catch him off guard.

[Siiri]

The girl was good, very good in fact, and Siiri found herself somewhat admiring her quick but flowing fighting style. The younger Myrian was flashy in her attacks but never so much that she sacrificed effectiveness over it. Her stabs were crisp and pinpoint, and could have confounded many a competent swordsman. Attacks followed feints smoothly, and she never focused on one particular area of Siiri's defense, always targeting the vulnerabilities that opened whenever the older Myrian blocked the previous attack. Siiri would have succumbed to such skill, in fact, if she had not fought against a similar style. Janna, her younger sister, employed almost the same routines, though if she remembered correctly, her sibling preferred the use of scimitars. This one must in the same batch as her sister, which would explain the almost mirror-like quality of their styles.

But her opponent did not know this, and Siiri wasn't about to even the playing field by admitting such a thing. And so the woman from the Snapping Jaws clan successfully parried most of the girl's stabs, and those she could not block in time, she merely sidestepped. The girl's frustration was evident in face as her every move was foiled.

“Give up yet?” Siiri asked tauntingly as she deflected one obsidian blade. Her opponent did not bother giving a reply. There was a brief pause in her assault, perhaps brought about by the realization that she could not break through Siiri's defense. Siiri immediately capitalized upon it, taking the offensive. Slayer whooshed through the air before being stopped in midswing by a perfectly positioned sword blade. Siiri didn't let it deter her as she swung her weapon once, twice, three times more against the girl's parrying crossed swords, as she attempted to break through her guard. She did not realize that in a different fighting circle, Tooth had just done the same against her friend Koa.

-o-

“Maybe you like it more if I be a big prick then?” Paen returned, playing with Koa once more. His taunt cost him however, for he almost missed the knee the girl threw at him as he slid to her side. He scrambled back, effectively dodging Koa's punch, though her follow up swing with her glaive nicked him on the chest with one end and sent one of his daggers spinning away with the other. A sharp yelp from one of the other trainees told them where it went. The man ignored the lost weapon, pulling another dagger from his belt. “Tooth has plenty more teeth for you to knock out, Kitten,” he grinned at Koa again, showing his pearly whites, though he probably meant his weapons by that remark.

It was then he noticed the small cut she had inflicted on his chest. He looked up at Koa, respect in his eyes and not a little wariness as well. “A trade for the cut on your neck, or just marking territory?” he teased once more before jumping back into the fight again. The renewed strikes her threw at Koa were more earnest now, as if he suddenly stopped playing games with his opponent. He lunged at her, one dagger stabbing high, the other slashing low. One had to be a feint and the other the real attack. It was up to Koa to know which one, as she could not block both attacks at the same time.

[Koa]

“You’re mine now, cutie.” She smiled, a sultry, tantalizing smile, but one that held a lot more mischief than was apparent. And here Koa thought these training bouts wouldn’t be at all amusing or exciting, but despite being paired against an older expert, the Painted Eyes was beginning to enjoy herself. Her offensive and defensive stances and actions would be more enthusiastic, especially in the wake of the possibility that she might be able to triumph over Paen. Or was he simply teasing?

When he lunged at her, she began to slowly back up while absorbing blows, forcing him to approach her further with each attack, and wear him out if only a little. But when Paen had attacked with both of his weapons, there was a flicker of apprehension on her features. Almost instinctively, Koa brought her weapon up to block the dagger incoming from above, only to have her body jerk back from the one below. It wouldn’t be enough however, she could feel the blood seeping from whatever incision Paen had made on her, but it wasn’t enough to stop her from sending another swipe of her blade at him, aiming at his neck.

[Siiri]

Heavy blows rained down on the girl as Siiri continued her incessant assault on her opponent's dual blades. With each strike, she felt the obsidian weapons quivering, as if the girl's lithe body could not handle the constant strain the older warrior applied. Inch by inch they lowered from the onslaught from Slayer.

“Skill alone can't save you here,” Siiri taunted, though in truth, her words were meant to be constructive criticism for the girl. There were there to learn after all, and Siiri and the other more experienced fighters were there to teach them. “It takes conditioning to bear the blows of you enemies like this. You should work on building up bulk to absorb the press better!”

A couple of more strikes in and the girl called it quits. In a real fight, that would have been the point where Siiri broke through the cross parry and probably dug her massive weapon a foot deep into the torso of her opponent. But no one was here to kill their training partners, and, with both fighters recognizing the eventual outcome of their match, the two of them just came to a silent agreement that it was over. The girl was almost on her knees then from the intensity of Siiri's attack; the Snapping Jaws had to help her up as their match ended.

“Think about what I said,” Siiri advised her before she herself turned to check on the progress of the other matches.

-o-

Koa:

Though the stab up high reached farther, the real attack had been the slashing dagger below. Koa had avoided both by blocking the first while dodging away from the latter, even managing to sneak her own counter in between the movement. Paen was forced to withdraw his stabbing hand to put a parry in place to protect himself. While both his blades were almost the same length as the Painted Eyes unique weapons, it was no match against the speed by which Koa could employ a follow up.

The man known as Tooth only deflected one end of the girl's weapon, but the other end was quick to reach for him in the other direction. He scrambled to pull up his other blade against it, but the move left him flatfooted and momentarily open to an attack from a different source, perhaps with a punch or a kick. Koa, experienced with the art of unarmed fighting, would surely recognize this, though she would also be aware that such an opportunity would just as quickly be denied, if her opponent's skill was to be of any measure.

[Koa]

She’d caught him! The flicker of victory in her eyes was painfully obvious. She would have him this time, if only to show she was determined at all costs to force him to Succumb. He deflected and deflected her blows from her glaive, but no matter, there would be an opening soon, there had to be, he could not keep his defense up for long. She continued her barrage of her glaive, only to finally see him stumble in his step and the opening so readily apparent.

There!. Yes, this was where her fist would come in handy. With the force of a boulder she brought her left knee up to connect with his gut and her right arm was brought down in another sweep, heading for his chest. She would bring her left arm up if he fell forward from the strike to his stomach to shove him to the ground, and if not, she would attempt a head butt.

Koa did not trust the whims of Paen, however. She quickly sidestepped and went out of his reach, bent over and breathing laboriously from the intense bout of combat. "Petch..."