[Anthonius Fighters' Pits] Under Pressure.

by **Archailist** on July 3rd, 2014, 6:20 pm

40th of Summer, 514.

There was something different about the Fighters Pits that day. He couldn't really put his finger on it but there was definitely something going on. Then, suddenly, he knew. Fist, the Pycon that he'd only ever see either training Pycons or sitting on the edge of the courtyard watching everyone with an expression that would be indecipherable to even the master decrypter, was fighting someone. Actually fighting someone - and it was a human and that. The squirrel knew that there were such times that commoners and travelers from other cities would arrive and begin trying to prove that they were the best, one way or another - mostly through fighting. This was the first time he'd ever actually seen one of the travelers fighting someone in the Pits. And it was the first time he'd seen Fist getting involved as well. She was really giving it all she had as well - he wasn't the only one apparently surprised with the moves that she was pulling, because there were a fair few people in the Pits that had stopped in favour of watching the duo go at it.

The man was quite fast, but nowhere near the speed of Fist. As usual, the man could only resort to stomping at the ground in the hopes of catching out the Pyken instructor, but she seemed to weave between the heavy footfalls effortlessly. They can't have been going at it for that long but the man looked like he was already running out of breath, as well as patience. His face was red for more than one reason. But when Fist easily side-stepped a stomp into the ground, and then hopped behind the foot in question and clenched the fingers pf her head into a tight fist, the squirrel knew that she was about to do something serious. And she did - her legs flexed and she leaped up into the air, with a solid punch flying straight for the back of his knee. The effect was immediate - the man cried out in pain as his leg automatically folded and he was sent tumbling to the ground with his one good foot unable to stand the rest of his body weight focused upon it so suddenly.

As he fell, Fist was already on the move.. hopping back a few steps from where he would fall, and then hopping straight up into the air. She didn't even wait for him to hit the ground - in mid-air, before he slammed back into the dust, her body lined up with his throat and the fingers of her head clenched down around it tightly, most likely by pushing all of her clay into the fingers and increasing their density. The sudden impact of the ground only tightened the grasp, and the man was begging for mercy and slapping his palm down against the dusty floor of the Pits over and over until the grip around his throat and his face was allowed to return to its normal pink colouration, instead of the purple it'd been turning mere ticks before. It was less of a surprise to the squirrel as it was to others - he'd been in near enough the same situation after all. Trying and failing, over and over.. and she'd only been teaching him how to use the same technique.

Hopefully, one day, he'd be the one stood at the edges of the arena, waiting for others to come and challenge him so that he could beat them into the dirt before they had a chance to fight back.

For now, there was Fist. And surprisingly, as she hopped down from the.. downed body, the first thing she did was nod to him. After all - by that point, they'd come to spend enough time with each-other to understand what they were looking for. One was looking for a profit and the opportunity to teach, the other was looking for an opportunity to be taught. Their relationship was pretty simple. "You're here for some more training, aren't you." Of course he nodded - and Fist held up a hand for a moment, before turning back to the person. "What's your name." Apparently she must have hit him harder than either of them thought before, because he was struggling to make coherent words. All he could do was grunt.. and also unfortunately, Fist wasn't the kind of person that took jokes. "Ugh, you'll be my assistant for this. I need a human body to show Arch a few things." Now this was definitely a part that the squirrel couldn't, and probably wouldn't understand. Why would they need a human body?

by **Archailist** on July 5th, 2014, 4:01 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

When Ugh eventually caught his senses again and tried to explain his real name, Fist silenced him with one point at an empty space in the Pits. Apparently he'd be taking more of a role as a punch-bag and less of a role as an assistant teacher. And judging by the one beating he'd already been given, he wasn't about to disobey Fist and be given a second helping. For the most part, the female Py-Ken instructor didn't even give the man a second glance - just got straight down to work instructing as usual. "Now, one of the main things in Py-Ken is not to make yourself strong or fast, but accurate. You're already fast.. and I suppose you're strong enough. Now I want to tell you about the right spots on this body to hit. These are the spots to hit in any battle. Different areas will give different reactions - they're all called pressure points." He knew he needed to hold onto that little titbit of information, so he paid as close attention as possible as Fist began running through the various effects.

"Some of the pressure points, like the one I used earlier, will cause the person to fall to the floor involuntarily. Most of these are around the legs - either the ankles, the back of the foot, the back of the knee or the side of the knee." This time, as she spoke, she turned and walked back towards Ugh. He looked nervous.. but all she really did was walk around him and point with her stubby little hands to the various points on the body as she spoke out loud. His relief was broken before it could manifest anyway, as she suddenly reeled back one of her stubby arms and slammed it straight into the back of his calf. He didn't buckle as quickly as before, but he did it harder. Instead of one foot being bent to take some of the fall, it was thrown directly from under him - and in doing so, it meant that he slammed into the floor with full force. There was a sharp 'whuff' of air as it left his lungs and he became winded. "I want you to begin testing them."

Of course, they both had to wait for the man to come back to his senses for a second time. This was going to be a very awkward training session if they were going to spend nearly the entirety of it beating into a human opponent over and over, testing all the spots that could knock him out or throw him to the ground. However, he guessed it was the best way. One could never really do it on other Pycons because.. well, they weren't humans. They didn't have human bodies, some of them didn't even have humanoid bodies. Not to mention, he couldn't really see it being often used on Pycons. Humans and the larger creatures would be the ones that were being abused, and in turn they would be the ones abusing the Pycons. Even if it meant he had to repeatedly beat into Ugh, he was going to learn how to take advantage of pressure points.

Fist had as much enthusiasm as the squirrel - as soon as Ugh was back on his feet, they set off again. "Hit the pressure points as I read them out. Ugh has every ability to throw you off and stop you, so make sure that you at least try to beat him." Now that was a little worrying, having the opponent fighting back - but then again, it'd be pretty useless if he wasn't. Then it would just be the Pycon mapping out the placement on the human body without actually trying himself. And, seeing as Fist had already beaten the man near-senseless in front of a crowd of more than a few spectators, he supposed that it couldn't be all that hard in the end, could it.

"Let's work from the bottom up. First point I want you to hit is the back of the knee." Oh, that one would be easy. And indeed, soon, the squirrel had dropped down onto all-fours and made a straight sprint for between the mans legs. He'd already been fooled by the same attack before though, so he knew to try and keep his face to the squirrel - and he hopped forwards a few paces, before turning. Of course that meant Arch slid too far between his legs, and couldn't jump up in time. Ugh had already turned around again. It looked like it might turn out harder than he'd previously expected.

by **Archailist** on July 5th, 2014, 4:27 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He knew he'd need to find a way to distract Ugh, if he was going to have a chance of getting behind him. So, he did the only thing he knew he could - he ran. He ran and he jumped left and right, trying to bait Ugh into making the same move as before. Thankfully, he did - and Arch knew it was coming this time. He could quickly turn on the spot as the man was still moving through the air, and as soon as he'd settled again, Arch sprung up into the air and tucked his chin down into his own chest. Mere ticks later, there was a sharp impact as the squirrels body slammed satisfyingly into the back of Ugh's knee. Of course, it caused the whole leg to fold, just like before.. and the man tumbled. Arch landed on the floor first and was able to quickly scurry backwards before he got squished, and they were left waiting yet again for the man to gather himself and stand again. In the meantime, Fist began to run off in another long description-joint-rant about pressure points. Arch was happy that he was learning a lot about them - but at the same time, he wished he could be left alone to explore the different points. It sounded quite interesting.

"We won't have enough time to go through all of the points on a persons body in this lesson. But that doesn't mean there aren't more. I can tell you about them as much as possible, but it's important that you go out and you learn as many of them as you can. They can be found all over the body - if you can find a way under armour, then you can push them from even inside. Or, if you use your Py-Pole." It was as if everything was just being set out before him - everything he could possibly need. Once again, he didn't even know how he was supposed to thank Fist for all of the help she gave him. Perhaps one day he'd donate her as much Miza's as he could spare, to make sure that she got some reward for herself. She'd earned it.

However, in the time it took him to begin daydreaming about what he'd find for her.. Ugh managed to get back to his feet, and Arch was given another pressure point to exploit on his body. The more points they ran through, the more tired and angry Ugh seemed to get - but then again, he'd been abused for long enough already, and they'd barely managed to get through two of the many points over his body. Arch didn't know how many there were, but if they couldn't go through all of them in one day.. then there must have been a lot of them. "Next point is just below the ribcage and just above the abdominal muscles. It might take a few tries." Arch didn't exactly know too much about human bodies and their anatomy, but as it turned out, this lesson was really beginning to open his eyes to the subject. Before he could even get moving, he had to take a long look at the body to try and visualize where it was. "You're looking above the stomach, but below the chest." Ahh, he knew roughly where that was.

It would be a difficult place to get to, because he couldn't just jump up there like he could for the knees and the groin. He'd actually have to climb up the man. And climbing opened himself up for all kinds of worries.. like grappling or shaking. And first, he actually had to get on Ugh. The man had long since lost all confidence and quickly moved away whenever the squirrel came close. He couldn't play these games all day, he knew.. and oh, it'd be easier if he had his pole with him. However, he only had his paws.. and immediately, he broke out into an all-fours sprint straight for the human. He couldn't even hope of escaping, but he tried by jumping to the side. Unfortunately, the squirrel was ready.. and he twisted his tail sharply to the side, pushing his lower body around before his upper body and turning him in mid-sprint so that he was still facing Ugh. The man was cornered.

The squirrel was up the mans leg before he could do anything about it. The leather armour that he wore wasn't exactly very protective from things like sheer force, so he didn't even need to try crawling under it. All he needed to do was climb up the leg - winding around it as he went, to make sure that the futile attempts at smacking the squirrel off didn't succeed - around the hips, up the stomach, and then he did the one thing he could think of that would probably work. He condensed the vast majority of his clay into his head.. putting more pressure on it, while moving the nexus down an inch or two; just until it was around his neck rather than the top of the head. Then, he reeled back his head.. and slammed it straight into his stomach. It wasn't where he was supposed to hit, but it was still done in a good spot, and with enough force that it caused the human to bend over double.

by **Archailist** on July 5th, 2014, 4:32 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He thought he'd done well, until he looked back to Fist and saw her shaking her head. Petch. I thought I'd gotten it right. He still had a firm grip on the man, so he had an opportunity for another attempt. And she'd said already that she didn't expect him to get it on the first try.. so there was that much, at least. "You're a few inches too low. Go a little higher." That was all he needed to know. However, the same could be said for Ugh, who quickly reached down a hand and managed to catch the squirrel unaware, and knocked the squirrel away. If only he'd been a little faster.. he could have jumped out of the way and found another perch to use. But now he had to damn climb up all over again... and Ugh didn't look too pleased with letting the squirrel climb up the first time, either.

That was the mans fault, not the squirrels. He needed to get back up there. As soon as he'd righted himself again, the squirrel scampered straight towards the man and made sure to aim for the point between his feet. Ugh was expecting it though, and kicked out with one foot straight for the squirrel. Not fast enough to escape the squirrels reflexes though, and Arch easily twisted his tail sharply left, and then sharply right to turn his boy just far enough that the foot brushed past his side, and nothing more. Arch was left with a perfect path straight up to the other foot, that now acted for the sole support of the humans entire body, and then up the foot itself. Now it was a matter of making a second blow on the point that he'd been instructed.. he didn't know what it was called, but he knew it was a pressure point and even a point just below it was enough to wind the human for a few seconds. He didn't know what would happen when he actually hit the spot.. but he was about to find out.

It wasn't really much of a trial to use the leather armour as a climbing surface - as long as he pinched a little between his fingers, he could climb up fairly quickly along the mans side, towards his arm-pit, before turning off at the point he needed to, and making his way across to the point just below his ribcage. Most of it was really guesswork but judging by the point he'd hit before, aimed a few inches higher, he thought he had it about right. Though he didn't have long to line up a proper attack. Hands were flailing - trying to catch the squirrel and throw him away. So, he needed to act very quickly. With that in mind, Arch pushed all of the clay he could spare into one fist and reeled it back - hoping he'd done enough. Except, when he slammed it straight into the spot, the mans eyes visibly bulged a little as he crumpled. Not just his legs - but his entire body, all at one, seemed to implode on itself. Not literally, obviously.

The effect was immediate though, and the man fell with both hands holding the spot.. and the squirrel landed a few paces away and backed up a few more to watch. "Was that supposed to happen?" Even he was pretty damn surprised by the outcome. He knew that there were certain points on the body that could cause more damage than others, but solid punches to the right spots seemed to have some serious consequences. If only he could figure out all of them.. then he'd never have to worry about fighting ever again. Just a few punches in the right spots could reduce an opponent to.. well, what he had lying before him. A moaning, crumpled heap with his face still screwed up and looking like he was wheezing.

by **Archailist** on July 5th, 2014, 6:05 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Once again, they were left to talk while the man struggled to reconstruct what remained of his mangled body. And probably his mangled thoughts as well. If he was even thinking about escaping, he was sorely mistaken.. because Fist had barely shown him two different points on the body. There were still so many more to be harnessed. "Now you've seen points that can incapacitate an opponent and one that can ground them. We should probably focus on a few more and then we'll call it a day and let Ugh go free again. Back to Riverfall, where he belongs." He was still struggling to see how he could possibly find even more.. but he guessed he would have to listen to all there was that Fist could tell him, before he began to think such things. "One of the best things to do, is to take advantage of multiple pressure points either at once, or simultaneously. There are plenty around the neck, the stomach, the legs.. and especially around the head and face. Which is why I'm going to give you a small list and I want you to try and hit as many as possible." Ugh's eyes really widened at that, but Fist wasn't looking at the human as he rose up again and tried to dust himself off.

"Alright. Hit the bone just below a point between the neck and the shoulder, then a point underneath the chin, and then a point at the middle of the neck, under the chin again." Those three points would be clumped together into a small area, so he was sure that he could use them all at once, if he so wished. But it would be a difficult area to reach, even with his fantastic skills put to the ultimate test. He'd have to reach a point right under the mans nose in order to slam into him effectively... and here was where he really wished he had his pole with him. A Py-Pole could launch him right up, at the face, and he wouldn't have to worry about all this damn climbing. It'd probably add a bit of speed to his attacks as well.. make them a little faster and a little harder. That was, if he could time the attack correctly and let go at just the right time.. as well as aim correctly. For now, he was stuck.. he had to find a way to get around the man, who had now fallen for so many tricks that he pretty much knew everything that the squirrel knew.

He knew that the squirrel needed to get to the face. Every time the squirrel even came close, the man backed off, threw in a small but sharp kick and then immediately stepped back again. It meant that the squirrel had little time to really put in much of an offensive. Every time he made for the leg, the squirrel had nothing.. he could run all he wanted but as long as the man kept backing off, he'd never manage to reach the leg. And the occasional kick just meant that he had to spend extra time jumping out of the way, where he could be building up even more speed to tackle the mans leg. At last, the squirrel knew that he wouldn't be able to reach the pressure points. That was, until he heard a call from Fist, who'd evidently caught on as well, that the man wasn't going to let him climb. "Stamp down on a point between his large and second toe!" The sandals that he wore really came in helpful to the squirrel, and the next time a kick was sent his way, he jumped over it instead of just rolling aside. It didn't take long to locate the large toe.. the toe next to it.. and the tender spot of the gap between the two, which was immediately given a good slamming by both of the squirrels feet.

Even though Ugh had heard the advice thrown into the wind, he'd reacted too late to it. The pain in his leg became immediately apparent as he struggled to put much weight on it.. and crippled as he was, the squirrel didn't waste any time in jumping off the foot, running over to the neighboring one.. and stamping on the exact same spot on that one too, for good measure, before grabbing handfuls of the mans leggings and climbing up it as fast as he could manage. It was a much longer climb than before up the man.. so he went for the easiest solution he could manage. Once he reached the hips, he swung around and instead moved to the back to climb that instead. The straps were pretty much ladders that he could use to make his climb much easier.. and once he reached the back of the mans head, he was still focused on his aching feet. It left plenty of time for the squirrel to hop over his shoulder, grab onto some of the straps that went around a spot just below his neck, and use them for purchase while he lined himself up.

One foot reeled back for the collar-bone, check. One hand ready to slam into the center of the neck, check. A few ticks spent lining the two up, and just before the man could reach up with one free hand to grab the squirrel and squish the life out of his little clay body, he slammed into both pressure points at once. When his head jerked back, the hand switched targets and slammed straight into the spot just behind his chin, and that was enough to send him toppling straight over and land on his back from the shock. Just like from the attack with Fist, he was choking and struggling to breathe. It hadn't been as sudden as the female Py-Ken instructors fight.. after all, she'd not even given the man a time to make a single attack, while the squirrel had unfortunately been hit more than a dozen times. But it gave the same results, with a little more effort.

by **Archailist** on July 5th, 2014, 6:20 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

After that, they both moved off Ugh and left him to recover for himself. He'd gone through enough pain, they both realized.. and besides, Arch had been given plenty of opportunity to make attacks on all those weak-spots. He liked to think he'd gotten enough out of it to be able to continue fighting using them in the future.. on humans anyway. Pycons and other strange creatures unfortunately wouldn't be subject to the same attacks and he'd most likely just have to give them a good whack with his Py-Pole, if he had it on hand.. or a good smacks of the fist if he didn't. He could remember most of the places he'd learned.. but judging by the practically encyclopedic knowledge that Fist held in her nexus, he knew he'd just about scratched the surface and little more than that. "That was good. Combining groups of pressure points or hitting multiple pressure points in rapid succession will make the effects much worse. The best pressure points of all are around the throat or the head." He knew that much by now already.

Half the problem was finding the pressure points. The other half was actually reaching them. Though he could see by now that using certain points could lead to a distraction to get to more. The only issue was, how Fist had managed to run around them for long enough that the man barely had time to react. He could tell that Fist wasn't a fantastic climber but she got the job done fast. "It's about timing, too. Getting different pressure points makes different results, remember? You just need to make sure that you can map out which points are where and what they do." Well, that really didn't sound that hard. All he needed to do was make plenty of practice on it, and he'd be fine. Heck, he could practice on thieves and bandits hiding out in the Bronze Woods during the patrols, if he could reach them on the back of Xarex. "Even the toughest armours have weak areas that you can climb inside, too, before you find the pressure points. So, you should probably use those as well." Well, he'd already fought plenty of people with chain-mail.. so finding a weak area would just be fighting Ser Iros again.

"Thanks Fist. Oh, yeah... here." He couldn't even remember that they' completely forgotten about their payment. Fist didn't seem like the kind of Pycon that would give out freebies, and neither the one that would skimp out on such business terms. But he supposed that in the heat of the moment, he'd forgotten about payment and so had she. Fist took the money immediately, but they continued walking and talking together right up until the entrance to the Pits. And he felt like he'd not just learned something.. he'd had his eyes opened to a whole new way of combat. It was like when he'd first learned about the squirrels. After all, it wasn't just a form.. and it wasn't just a personality. It was a true lifestyle, being a squirrel. And he'd come to not only accept but completely embrace it for who he was and what he felt comfortable with. Now, he had a whole new way to go about his fighting.. instead of just trying to punch them again and again until they fell over.

In fact, it could even explain the cultist he'd.. seriously injured during his time i Nyka. There was only one way to be sure. "What's the most.. deadly pressure point on the human body?" At the mere mention, Fist stopped and turned to stare at the squirrel for several long, dark moments. He could tell that he might have just asked a bit of a personal - or worse, a pretty damn serious question. He was about to wave it away and act as though it'd never been mentioned, but before he could even lift a paw, Fist's hand came out and grabbed it by the wrist, holding it tightly in place.

"There are quite a few. The back of the skull is a dangerous one.. the top of the skull as well. And finally, the sides of the skull.. just at the sides of the eyes." The place that Arch had slammed his entire body into... "Those are weak spots and soft points in the skull. They're the most serious of all. Those points will cause potentially long-term and permanent damage.. so I wouldn't suggest using them at all, unless you absolutely need to." The squirrel nodded thoughtfully - after all, he already knew what one of them could do. Maybe it wasn't him.. maybe it was the wall afterwards.. but his mind lingered on the empty eyes that had been left behind, trickling blood from their corners. It sent a shudder down his spine, but he kept himself steady.

"I won't."

by **Vanari** on August 14th, 2014, 9:03 am

Archailist

Observation	+4 XP
Acrobatics	+3 XP
Tactics	+2 XP
Running	+2 XP
Unarmed Combat: Py-Ken	+3 XP
Climbing	+3 XP

Lores :

Loot :

Notes :

Solo [Anthonius Fighters' Pits] Under Pressure.