Chasing Shadows (Open)

The young Saiyan woman barely had time to register the thud before her hand impacted with something hard at the end of its path, knuckles contacting with a meaty slap against the outstretched hand of the Saiyan who had just materialised as if by magic in front of her. Instinct took over when he appeared, fight winning out over flight. In the instant her fist struck his hand she recoiled, drawing it back in a snap and lashing out with the other hand, the hook tight and fast and aimed right at the corner of his...handsome...Saiyan...chin.

Her concentration broken, his power flashed through her senses, overriding the fight response and pushing her to flight in an instance. She couldn’t sense anything malicious like others she had encountered but just the sheer presence of this man’s power so close...it was like comparing a raindrop to an ocean. She shuddered involuntarily.

Jagaimo pulled the punch at the very last moment, barely glancing off the man's chin before half jumping, half skipping back a few steps to make some space between them, flexing the fingers on her hand where she’d felt them strike the new arrivals palm. It almost felt like she had punched a stone. Given the power she could sense emanating from him now she knew she shouldn’t have been surprised by that, she’d heard of strong Saiyan’s tanking blows that would have levelled buildings, so someone this strong feeling her hit him was probably not going to be an issue.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and pushed her thick mane of hair from her face to look up at him, he was tall, a head taller than she was at least and outweighed her by a good amount too. Like her he was well lean and well muscled, sporting their races spiky black hair but there was something about the eyes she couldn’t put her finger on, almost a far away look but then it was gone in the same moment she saw it.

The Saiyan teen lowered her arms from a guard stance to let them relax at her side as she studied him for another moment, then remembering her manners she blushed and bowed her head in respect. You bowed to the Elites right? Especially Elites that were this powerful? She tried to recall what they had been taught about the classes and the structure but she really hadn’t paid that much attention. But then it couldn’t hurt to show some respect to a person that could probably turn her into paste without raising their heart rate even a beat.

Something made her nod her head slowly, and without really knowing why she smiled, despite how nervous his strength made her feel something about him put her at ease...at least she didn’t think he was here to just murder her or he might have done that already...

“Sure I guess, a partner always makes things more interesting right?...you think you can keep up big guy?”

She side stepped to make room in the setting sun, shadow cast long over the stone she had been facing, her gaze now on the Saiyan before her, giving a polite bow before taking up an easy stance opposite from him...

The fact he hadn’t simply punched her into orbit for her reaction to his sudden appearance told the young Saiyan woman a lot about the man who was in front of her. Rightly or wrongly she drew her own conclusions from this first encounter and her conclusion was that despite his power this person wasn’t rash or violent without reason. He clearly was capable of ending her, yet he seemed to understand she’d had no real intention of striking him just now, it was simply out of reflex to a surprise. I mean she wasn’t dead yet so she must have been close to her conclusion right?...Unless he was just lulling her into a false sense of security...

She watched him move to take a bow opposite her, that grin on his lips and easy one despite what his eyes said about him. They told her he was watching everything she did and for a moment Jagaimo felt like she was being appraised by some hungry predator looking for its next meal before they both rose from their shallow bows.

“You’ve never shadow boxed before?”

His curious question caught her a little off guard, what she was doing was one of the most basic methods of self training she’d heard of, apparently even the backwards Humans of earth knew how to do this...she’d never been but you always hear things when you hang around bars long enough into the night. She swallowed the lump in her throat…

“Well...not sure how well this is gonna go but I guess I can give it a try. Look there.”

She nodded to the large boulder before them, dwarfing both of them with its size, their shadows just casting off the edge of the stone because of where they were presently standing.

“First we need to move a bit, ideally with the sun's light behind us…”

Jagaimo started to move, then stopped and pulled the larger Saiyan by the arm until they’d taken several paces round the boulder, their shadows finally almost directly in front of them on the obstacle. Satisfied she let him go,

“Right so...there's your opponent, you see?"

She waved her hand at the two shadows of them, a smile on her lips, suddenly forgetting the vast chasm of power between them, just another Saiyan to train with. She shifted onto the balls of her feet and bounced lightly, even in the sand that moved under her,

“So it's all about speed…”

She threw a punch and slipped her shoulder to avoid the shadows movement almost in the same instant. It was impossible to perfectly slip your own shadow but the point of the exercise was to build up speed and feel yourself anticipating a counter to every one of your strikes. It was basic, since the counter was always the punch you had just thrown but without an opponent to trade blows with it was a reasonable stand in.

“And control…”

Each time she threw a punch, her knuckles lightly kissed the stone without cracking or breaking it, before snapping back into a guard position.

“You're not trying to shatter the stone, just feel it out and then snap your guard back before your opponent…”

She nodded her head towards the shadow...which waved at the bigger Saiyan man when he looked at it, before throwing a punch and slipping again.

“Can land a blow back.”

Jagaimo went through a few moves with the shadow as her focus, blocking, slipping and ducking each time she threw her own attack, bouncing on her toes and keeping her balance on the shifting sand. After another few punches she looked at the guy beside her,

“See so nothing to it...give it a try and let's see what you’ve got.”

She nodded as he began to explain about image training, how he used it almost as a meditation exercise to sharpen his skills and run through every fighting or combat scenario that the mind might concoct. She didn’t even know his name but it didn’t really matter, something about him...when he spoke she listened. If she could glean anything from his words that would make her stronger then it was worth every moment. It all seemed similar to what she did with her own shadow except that you didn’t need to move, just focus and feel everything through your muscles as you pictured the moves in the fight. But something wasn’t quite right...where was the exertion...the sweat and aches from knowing you worked so hard the day before? It might work for someone with the patience like this newcomer seemed to possess...but she was still young and staying still was...difficult.

When he nodded and held up a hand she stopped mid flow, letting her arms rest as she turned back to face him, an inquisitive eyebrow raised under that thick mane of long wild hair.

“Oh so you do know…”

Her mouth opened and closed as the aura around the newcomer flared to life for just a moment, his outline flickering. When it settled an exact copy of the Saiyan that had landed before her stepped out from behind the first and she watched as they both bowed at each other slightly, completely missing anything that passed between them in her shock. The surprise at seeing a second figure appear so suddenly left her speechless for a moment, nothing but the wind blowing through the wastelands and then he was talking again.

She couldn’t help it...Jagaimo poked the duplicate...at least she thought it was the duplicate...in the chest with a finger, eyes widening in disbelief at first then a grin splitting her young face.

“He’s real! I thought when you said image training…”

She looked from one to the other and back again, appraising them both. They looked completely identical from what she could tell and they felt the same two...exactly the same, no difference in their ki signature at all except that where one had been ridiculously strong, now there stood two only incredibly strong warriors. It was an impressive technique and helped to explain what he meant when he said he had done something similar to the shadow boxing before.

The young Saiyan woman scratched her head and then looked at them both,

“So wait if they’re...you're both the same person, then you both act and think in the same way right? How do you learn anything new if you only practice against your own mind? You already know how your opponent thinks so even unconsciously you’ve already started working on counters to things you might do before the match even starts.”

For a moment she forgot she was talking with someone who could probably backhand her all the way back to the Radditsu District without too much trouble, but her mind and her mouth were in full swing now.

“And fighting yourself...i guess it works for a while but both of you have the same strengths and faults, so if neither of you pick them up...then someone else might see something that you don’t because they fight a different way? How do you practice fighting someone stronger or faster or tougher than you? What about a fight you know you only have a sliver of a chance to win but you do it anyway?”

Surely a Saiyan would understand what she was saying, that testing themselves to their limits against stronger opponents was the best way they could grow in power and that only ever fighting someone of your own strength would potentially stagnate your growth?

When she’d finished speaking her mind, a flicker on her senses reminded her just who she was talking to, and she looked a little sheepish at going off like that in front of an Elite Class even after he had taken the time to speak with her and had shown her something she’d never even thought possible until now.

“Well I can see that now...i’ve never seen anything like this before...i didn’t even know this was possible.”

It was an amazing sight to see, and when she’d poked the figure to find it wasn’t just an illusion or projection the description of his training methods made way more sense...and seemed far more functional than trying to throw a punch at your own shadow. But the way in which it was achieved escaped her completely, how did you figure out something you had only just learnt was even possible? At least against yourself you had a chance to try and dodge, she’d never once avoided her own shadows counter blow and didn’t even think it could be done.

Watching them both move and the reactions on their faces was fascinating. She listened as one talked and the other just stood there watching them both, nodding occasionally when it agreed with something that was said, or shaking his head slightly when it didn’t seem to agree wholeheartedly... It was incredible to think they were the same person, and knew everything the other did yet they didn’t always agree, more like siblings or twins than actual copies. But she supposed that's what made it an interesting training method. Who knew you better than yourself? It was certainly an effective training method if you could learn about you own techniques, flaws in your attacks or any tells you might have when making a certain move...and if they shared memories then if they merged back into one...she assumed they could merge back into one...which meant you would have memories of watching yourself move...now that would be helpful indeed...

“But to complete your training you would need to fight someone else who might exploit a different weakness you can’t see yourself or have a style you have no counter against right now, since your own mind has never come up with it...oh...wait...what happens if one of you dies? Do you lose half your power...what about the memories and experience of the other you?”

The question broke her train of thought and she, like most teenagers, just blurted it out, without considering what she was saying or how it might offend. It had just come to her suddenly...i mean what kind of impact did it have on you if you watched yourself die, unable to stop it happening but still alive afterwards. It actually made her head hurt a little when she tried to wrap her mind around the idea. Watching others die was bad enough, but watching yourself pass must be truly difficult to cope with.

“But…”

She started to say and the other figure began to speak, which was strange because it was exactly the same voice and it took a moment for Jagaimo to realise one had stopped talking and where the voice was now coming from, her attention shifting to the new speaker, nodding in agreement when he started to speak about fighting someone stronger, the nodding stopping as he then started talking about power control. She understood about increasing her strength, her power through training and experience but he started to lose her when he spoke about being able to lower it as well...why would anyone want to learn something like that except to hide from a threat you couldn’t defeat yet? And that she could already do if she needed to, why would someone so powerful need such a skill...oh…

When she felt their Ki signatures drop rapidly to practically match her own something clicked and she understood...by controlling your power you could create an imbalance in training, experiencing the effects of fighting someone faster and stronger than yourself without the risk of injury...you weren't going to cripple or kill yourself now were you? But someone else might...it made so much more sense now. She concentrated again and now rather than almost matching her own strength, the two of them seemed to match it perfectly.

She couldn’t keep the grin off her face when they said it, to fight at her level of strength and power. Despite the vast gap in experience it brought a rush to her blood at the idea of fighting someone like this, the young Saiyan warrior unable to keep the excitement of the idea from her eyes, flicking them from one opponent to the other, taking a few steps back from them both and shaking out her arms, rolling her shoulders,

“Introductions first then...I’m Jagaimo...seems only fair to know your name before I try and punch you in the face…”

She couldn’t help it, with the prospect of a fight upcoming, the unruly, uncouth nature bubbled to the surface, an eagerness for violence that all Saiyan’s seemed to struggle with. Her hands lifted into a guard and she started to bounce on her toes again, even in the soft sand she managed to keep her footing, a sideways smirk on her lips. She regretted her own cockiness as soon as she opened her mouth but it was too late by that point,

“So you guys both want a piece or you gonna tag out when one’s had enough?”

“A coach huh? I guess your not going to tell me all your own flaws right?”

She chuckled and shifted her feet in the sand getting comfortable with her stance, gaze moving slowly away from Coach and back to Rainer, watching him move...well not quite move but stand there with his hands down...she raised an eyebrow and looked back to Coach before shrugging and shaking her head. It was hard not to feel confident about an upcoming bout when your opponent's idea of defending himself was to lower his guard...but something he’d said earlier...well they’d both said...Experience. It was deceptive, despite the massive power drop he still retained all his memories and past experiences of battle and combat so a fresh Saiyan who had barely been off planet was likely not to show him anything he hadn’t seen before…Did he fight in the war? She’d have to ask him if he hung around long enough to get to know him after this little dust up.

She shook her head again, bringing her mind back to the fight at hand, trying to shake out the thoughts that were creeping into her head, thoughts that were telling her she had already lost before she started...words she’d heard countless times recently...that she was weak, that she was worthless as she was right now. Her fingers cracked as she tightened her fists, knuckles going white, her guard raised up in front of her, head lowered a little and body turned slightly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. There was a look of determination on her face. It was a basic fighting stance, one of a number taught to them early one when flying wasn’t an option. She liked it, it made her feel light and mobile, the spring able to move her in any direction at a moment's notice. It wasn’t the best out there but neither was she right now...but that could be changed...she didn’t need to be the best out there...just the best right now.

Then it dawned on her.

Screw his experience, what was she worried about? His power was similar to hers right now...his speed and strength should be similar as well...so for the first time in a while there was someone in front of her who would need to use skill to beat her, power alone wouldn’t allow him to push past her. Jagaimo had nothing to lose in this sparring contest and everything to gain whether she won or lost. Whatever the outcome she would learn something about herself and something about her opponent today, something that would help her grow as a fighter and improve as a warrior in her own right.

The grim look on her face melted, a grin sliding onto her lips to replace it, the tension in her arms lessened, the colour coming back into her knuckles. Her whole body suddenly felt more relaxed.

And then she stepped in, swift and fluid, snapping off simple punch combinations at his upper body and head, figuring with his hands so low it would be her best bet at landing a blow early, given his guard was round by his waist right now it made sense to her to strike away from it. Her form was rough but her speed was right up there at the top end of what her power would allow and her footwork was steady and balanced, the practice in the shifting sands no doubt helping her keep her footing without needing to look where she was placing her feet. She had promised to punch him in the face and she half hoped she would with her first attempt, but despite the confidence she’d felt when she’d let herself relax she knew that even landing a blow on someone so experienced would be difficult. If what he’d said about his own life was true then he’d be able to read many of her moves just as the instructors in the training academy had...but it didn’t bother her as much as she thought it would...he looked to be at least twice her age and he was still alive...so that counted a lot...especially for a Saiyan Warrior...you were good or you were dead. And with the power she had felt...he was definitely in the good column of warriors.

All through her strikes she was watching for the counter strike, trying to predict where it might come from even as she focused on her own strikes...

PL: 500
KP: 6/6
MP: 0/6 -> 1/6
DMG: 0/250%

Well that was different...

She felt his hands pushing her attacks out and away from the centre line of his body where they should have been landing, the way they’d be taught to fight...the way he should have been taught to fight. Even without knowing what kind of power Rainer was hiding inside him, just from those few interactions Jagaimo knew he’d travelled off world...the things he must have seen...because the style was like nothing she’d encountered in her albeit short life so far. It didn’t look like it should work but the redirection of her momentum seemed to use very little effort on his part while almost knocking her off balance with a few pushes. She tried to push the frustration of not landing a single blow against him to the back of her mind while Coach seemed to take delight in shouting encouragement from the sidelines.

“A minute ago I WAS confident I could land a blow!”

The young woman growled back at the Rainer copy through gritted teeth as she quickly assessed her opponent again, taking in his stance and how he held himself. His arms were both raised but he didn’t strike back which again was an odd sensation for the young lady. A Saiyan warrior didn’t hesitate to exploit a gap left by their opponent, even in training, especially if they knew they were the better combatant...it irked her that he just stood there staring right back at her...down at her from his heightened vantage. They were so close together that she could reach his body without even straightening her arms but if those hands came down she’d have to expose her midsection to defend from above which given his unusual style and what she’d seen in their few brief moments, wasn’t something she relished doing.

She glanced sideways at the stifled laugh and scowled, mumbling under her breath at her ‘Coach’, who seemed to find the whole thing amusing for some reason,

“Keep it up and I'll be punching you next...”

Of course she’d have to figure out how to manage that first with this copy but maybe...The young warrior moved quickly, stepping up closer til she practically bumped into the larger Saiyan’s chest, both hands shooting up inside his raised arms to grab the collar of his armoured chest piece, tugging him forwards while bouncing off her toes to try and slam both knees into her opponents stomach in the semi clinch she’d gotten herself into, before extending her legs to propel herself backwards off the larger fighters thighs into some clear space.

In her head the idea seemed solid enough, off balance the opponent, stay inside his longer reach, strike and back off to reassess...but there was every possibility she was just gonna end up hanging off his chest plate if she couldn’t shift him...