Post by Shiku on Apr 28, 2023 17:53:32 GMT -5
Shiku blinked sweat out of her eyes, her chest heaving. The night air was cold, but there was no problem keeping warm - her shirt lay folded carefully but haphazardly on the side, and her bra was dark with perspiration. She flexed her fingers, making sure that her bandages were holding firm. She didn't want any bleeding knuckles, and she couldn't afford a new pair of training gloves. Her sword lay nearby, its tip thrust vertically into the earth, its grip waiting patiently for her to take it again.
Her body echoed the movements that she had been drilling since she had first decided, at age 15, that she was going to learn how to fight and how to kill. That went as well as one could imagine. Left jab, left jab, right cross. Left hook, right uppercut. Left knee kick. Right elbow.
"Alright," she breathed, "that's good. Whew - Let's take a break for now, yeah?"
She picked up the bottle of water that lay on the grass beside her and took slow sips as she allowed her breathing to return to a more relaxed rate. The night was a good time, as her energy was naturally running low and there were less people around. A dedicated gym or other such facilities were all well and good, but for some reason she just couldn't focus when training with too many other people around her. Some pirate she had made. She preferred the air outside, on the familiar arid surface on which she had been practicing since arriving on the planet, with its sparse grass and dry air. The cold grey, purpose-made feel of a gym made her oddly uneasy, like an uncomfortable memory lingering in the back of her mind.
She screwed the cap back onto the water bottle and dropped it back onto the grass. Her form wasn't in as good condition as it was nine years ago when she last fought for her life, followed by the five years she spent merely shadowboxing on her own until today, but it was still plenty adequate for the two of them to practice their actual physical fighting techniques. Shiku was gifted with a strong body and natural fighting talent. It would be a waste not to supplement it with hard work.
She hadn't been paying any attention to how long they'd been at it for, but she had the whole session planned out from here, each step meticulously designed to cover every basic point before moving onto a proper mock duel. This was uncharacteristic for her, all things considered, but the amount of time she'd spent collating her thoughts stood as a testament to how much free time she had currently. She sat down in the grass, her legs crossed, and just breathed.
Shiku glanced up at her training partner, and she saw someone she hadn't expected to see again.
Arashi.
It had been twenty years since she last heard that name. It was a name she hadn't even bothered committing to memory. Arashi had been half as tall and a quarter as old, and back then she was little else but an extra mouth to feed. She was a frail thing which clung at all times to her deadbeat father, right up until she didn't. It was funny, in retrospect, how they had viewed themselves as brothers. How astonished her father would be if he saw the two of them now, aside from the obvious: the two of them, sparring across from one another, perfectly-matched equals despite their difference in age and experience.
Her body echoed the movements that she had been drilling since she had first decided, at age 15, that she was going to learn how to fight and how to kill. That went as well as one could imagine. Left jab, left jab, right cross. Left hook, right uppercut. Left knee kick. Right elbow.
"Alright," she breathed, "that's good. Whew - Let's take a break for now, yeah?"
She picked up the bottle of water that lay on the grass beside her and took slow sips as she allowed her breathing to return to a more relaxed rate. The night was a good time, as her energy was naturally running low and there were less people around. A dedicated gym or other such facilities were all well and good, but for some reason she just couldn't focus when training with too many other people around her. Some pirate she had made. She preferred the air outside, on the familiar arid surface on which she had been practicing since arriving on the planet, with its sparse grass and dry air. The cold grey, purpose-made feel of a gym made her oddly uneasy, like an uncomfortable memory lingering in the back of her mind.
She screwed the cap back onto the water bottle and dropped it back onto the grass. Her form wasn't in as good condition as it was nine years ago when she last fought for her life, followed by the five years she spent merely shadowboxing on her own until today, but it was still plenty adequate for the two of them to practice their actual physical fighting techniques. Shiku was gifted with a strong body and natural fighting talent. It would be a waste not to supplement it with hard work.
She hadn't been paying any attention to how long they'd been at it for, but she had the whole session planned out from here, each step meticulously designed to cover every basic point before moving onto a proper mock duel. This was uncharacteristic for her, all things considered, but the amount of time she'd spent collating her thoughts stood as a testament to how much free time she had currently. She sat down in the grass, her legs crossed, and just breathed.
Shiku glanced up at her training partner, and she saw someone she hadn't expected to see again.
Arashi.
It had been twenty years since she last heard that name. It was a name she hadn't even bothered committing to memory. Arashi had been half as tall and a quarter as old, and back then she was little else but an extra mouth to feed. She was a frail thing which clung at all times to her deadbeat father, right up until she didn't. It was funny, in retrospect, how they had viewed themselves as brothers. How astonished her father would be if he saw the two of them now, aside from the obvious: the two of them, sparring across from one another, perfectly-matched equals despite their difference in age and experience.
Frankly, Arashi was a natural. More than that; she had a gift. She'd accomplished what Shiku had in half as much time... and she knew firsthand just how much she had suffered during her childhood to accomplish such a feat.
Things were different now. Arashi was different now... and Shiku had certainly changed since then. With a twist of her wrist and a gesture of Ki, the water bottle she had dropped practically leapt into her hand.
"Here," Shiku said, and tossed the metal water bottle over to Arashi in a low, underhanded arc. "Catch."
Power Level: 96,000 (Base Form [4x]) suppressed to 50,000
WC: 705
TWC: 705
Posts: 1
WC: 705
TWC: 705
Posts: 1