A Warrior's Resolve

The young warrior had often found herself alone in the wilderness as she'd grown up but whereas previously there had always been a lot of shouting and screaming and fighting, these days she sort out the quiet and calm of the wastelands to reflect on her experiences and to remember the few good times she could recall from recent years. It was rare to find another out here, but it was slowly becoming more common as the average soldier and visitor to Plant grew in strength as the years went by. Where once, being alone in the wilderness had been a death sentence for most and a tough time for others, now many considered the area to be a perfect training ground to test their strength and let loose without the eyes of their peers on them, or the judgement of others. So while it was somewhat surprising to find another this far out from any settlements of note, it wasn't a shock to find someone letting off so much energy with abandon.

She'd watched quietly from a distance, hidden amongst the rocky outcrops that provided natural shelter against the sun and the wind. The young woman had left her armour and any identifying objects back in her home in the District and was dressed in some simple loose fitting pants in the Namek style and a vest like top. Her innate ability to mask herself was in full effect and without needing to check she knew that she would remain hidden from any scouters or Ki sensing abilities. She wasn't going to be found by anything short of actually seeing her physically, and by the looks of the Saiyan down there he wasn't really looking for or expecting to be watched this far out.

The sun was finally setting behind the broken edges of the wastelands, casting its deep shadows in the breaks and ravines before the figure down below started to move off, its training apparently done for now. Jagaimo had moved silently, slowly at first with just enough pace in her movements to close the gap between them gradually, her bare feet making barely a whisper as she passed along behind on the rocks. She let her own senses expand when she moved, reaching out all around her to track the man and anything else that might be lurking. Even in perfect darkness she could sense where and how he moved, her skills with her senses growing stronger with every use.

Eventually within earshot of the stranger she smiled and hopped onto a small boulder, legs dangling, feet swinging idly and leaning back on her hands.

"Those rocks must have done something really bad to be treated the way you treated them huh? Did you find what you were looking for out here?"

There was a touch of mirth in her voice and her pose was non threatening as she sat there, looking for once like the child she used to be. She'd taken his measure on her approach and knew she was in no danger from him but that didn't mean she wasn't paying attention to his posture and the way his muscles moved. She'd seen him training...even the Palace guard would have had issues with him one on one.

She held his gaze as he tried to fathom her out, the smile never leaving her lips even when she listened or spoke, body remaining relaxed even now he was aware of her. Jagaimo was pleased she's startled him, even if it was only a little and only apparent for a fraction of their encounter. People just didn't like being snuck up on, no matter whether they were peasant or warrior. The shadows were growing longer and darker with every passing moment and some of the cracks in the rock faces were becoming wells of inky blackness...it was hard to tell it they were just surface shadows or caves that vanished into the rock face.

"Training is all well and good but as many have come to tell me, it can only take you so far before conflict and adversity is required to grow..."

The small woman hopped down off the rock lightly and bounced on the balls of her bare feet a few times, testing her balance in the sand and the rocky surfaces, her Ki still hidden from all prying despite using no suppression technique.

"I think what they meant was its good to get your ass kicked from time to time to show you what your missing in your training. Certainly worked with me a few times. And much better than blasting at random rocks...although it usually takes a while to wake up again afterwards."

She chuckled with a wink as her voice trailed off, breaking eye contact when she rolled her body forward at the waist, folding in half perfectly, loosening off her back with a few clicks as her hands grabbed her ankles before her hands flattened out against the ground and there was an audible 'pop' in the air above her,

"Ohh thats sooo much better...still getting used to this sitting still business...you were out there for some time you know."

Jagaimo slowly lifted herself back to a standing position, still bobbing lightly on her toes but making no effort to move from the spot or even bring her arms away from her sides, in fact she even went so far as to hook her thumbs into the band around her waist that held her tail snugly out of harms way. She smiled when he spoke about not having noticed her approach and shrugged playfully,

"Its a skill...some can be taught...some not so much but it has its uses when I don't want to be noticed or be left alone...say when I'm training out in the wilderness and someone starts firing off blasts and making an awful racket. As for who I am, that's not really important for this meeting...I can see it in your eyes your already thinking about whether you can best me or not...we all do it, Saiyan's I mean...we always size each other up...its instinct. You can't...at least not yet...but that shouldn't stop you trying. I believe the only way we can truly know the honest truth about the people we meet is to face them in combat."

Jagaimo kept her thumbs hooked into her waistband, rolling her neck...the long thick mane of her hair falling about her shoulders as she did so. The toes of one foot curled in the sand beneath it and she smirked as she closed her eyes,

"So allow me to introduce myself..."

Her foot flicked up in the blink of an eye in the man's direction, toes flexing and releasing what they had grasped in the sand, showering the area in cloud of dust and grit, small stones flicking across the short distance between them like shrapnel from an explosion...

Jagaimo opened her eyes...

"Well...that was disappointing"

She hadn't expected much but had at least hoped the dust cloud would have lasted a little longer than it did, as it was it obscured the surrounding area for a few seconds then slowly dissipated on the gentle breeze. If she ever found Rainer again she would need to ask him about a few things...namely if this magic of his he'd learned could be used to manipulate the winds. As it was she was left looking into the eyes of an angry looking Saiyan, who didn't seem at all bemused by what had just happened. Very serious and all business was the impression the young woman was getting from the figure across from her.

"You know, I've been called a lot of things but I think your the first that's ever gone with arrogant..."

She tapped her chin with one finger and scratched the back of her head with the other hand, shaking out some of the sand,

"Yup, definitely the first time. Not sure how I feel about that..."

When he started talking and introducing himself with such pride she raised an eyebrow with a smile. He sounds like so many of the Elites she'd spent so long avoiding...The Kingsglaive sounded vaguely familiar from her days in the academy but right now she couldn't put a finger on it. The young Saiyan lifted a hand to her mouth and she stifled a yawn as he continued to inform her what she was getting herself into. What was it with self confessed warriors and their need to talk and make their vows before every chance at conflict? The speech may have been nothing new to her ears but it told her a few things about her opponent. He was proud of who he was, he was unlikely to pull his punches...and it was highly likely he expected this to be an easy fight given his pedigree...oh and that his name was Radic and he didn't play games. Jagaimo decided she could try and keep pushing a few buttons by ignoring etiquette...she didn't bother introducing herself to the stranger nor reveal her power to him. Let him figure it out on his own.

"Are you quite finished?"

Her senses expanded outwards to their fullest, taking in every ounce of information it could gather about her opponents Ki while her eyes read his body language. His muscles coiled, the way he shifted his feet, hands clenching...it told small parts of a bigger picture, things she'd been taught the hard way to pay attention to over the years. She was no expert but she was starting to learn what it all meant when gauging an adversary before the first blow was struck. What was it people said about Vocado...always the smartest one in the fight? She wasn't but information could always be useful in a fight.

Her feet shifted, toes curling in the sand and dirt before she pushed off, cracking the stone beneath her front foot with the force of her kick off. The distance between them closed in a moment and her arms moved, fists striking out in basic lazy patterns, shifting high to low...stuff the Saiyan's taught to their children so they could start fighting amongst themselves. With a wild haymaker she left her side exposed, eyes fixed on Radic's, a smirk on her lips.

It had to be to obvious to fall for right?

If she hadn't been busy throwing a few lazy punches his words would have made her chuckle out loud. Talk was her weapon? She's said less than he had in this encounter so far and he was calling her a talker? The thought was laughable really...Jagaimo had never considered herself a person of many words, and even if she didn't say much she often liked to surround herself in the din of others conversing. Although when she gave it some brief thought in the wind up for a childish like haymaker she considered the fact she flip flopped quite a lot and at times found that all she wanted was a quiet peace away from all the noise. So much for being consistent...

The young Saiyan warrior watched Radic's fist come in, considering for a moment, the idea of slamming her elbow into his wrist on the pullback of the haymaker but instead she folded the moment she felt his knuckles connect with her open ribs, folding herself down on that side and shifted her weight with the impact, using the momentum from to help her spin out of arms reach and gain some distance between them, no more than the span of a few arms lengths but it was the physical distance she was after. When you could move as fast as the two combatants could actual distance became almost irrelevant but the notion of space was never lost on a fighter, even one as young as Jagaimo. She held her side for effect with one hand and rubbed her ribs, pulling a sharp breath. She'd felt the hit land but had decided against just shrugging it off. She'd certainly been hit harder but she didn't want to injure the mans pride...not yet at least.

The way he spoke about real battle made her want to use his face to carve a path through the nearest cliff face, she had seen battle...her entire life she'd been in the war and afterwards...hell she'd fought at Hatchi and tackled a being from legend into unconsciousness. He was just like all the other Elites she'd ever met, looking down their noses at people because of their bloodline and inflated sense of self importance. It disgusted her.

That voice that Vocado had helped her tame under the palace called out from the depths, the distant rattle of chains reaching her ear...a howl on the wind. She shook her head. She was better than that...Vocado, the Saiyan's...they needed her to be better than that.

She felt his power flare before she saw it, bringing her guard round in time to absorb the first of his strikes before she began to counter with her own, pulling a look of concentration to her face to compete with his rapidly accelerating attacks. She moved in time with her opponent, always pulling in a block at the last moment, an elbow driving into a wrist or forearm, a knee catching a shin...even a slap or two throw in against the inside of his biceps as he powered into his assault...

When she saw her window, she grabbed for one of her opponents arms, yanking the wrist towards the ground and reaching to grab his hair with the other hand...attempting to use it to continue the original downward pull and plant is face in the dirt with a step back and yank...

She had expected her opponent to be more stable but perhaps fighting in the sand and stones was very different to how they had trained back home. Smooth floors that didn't impede your footsteps were great but a luxury they couldn't afford on the front lines during the war. The unpredictable terrain had been used to give them every advantage they could take against the Tuffles back then and even now Jagaimo preferred to train on sand or soft dirt rather than stone to keep her balance set...its also why she did a lot of her training barefoot, to allow her to feel the ground beneath her feet and how it shifted with her weight and footfalls. It wasn't perfect and when she had boots on she still felt clumsy but sometimes you couldn't take your footwear off before kicking someone in the face...

The setting sun cast the shadows long in their small battle ground ravine, darkening the walls and making the whistling of the wind through the crags sounds all the more eerie as the night came in. Radic had gone down from her jerking pull, wrist and hair providing ample anchor points for the young woman to grab but much to her delight and even a little surprise she felt him twist in her grip, even face down in the sand he was working to counter.

She saw the leg lash out at the last moment while he twisted his way from her grip, kicking up a trail in the sand as it crashed into her leg. She could have lifted, moved herself out of his reach...the gulf between them in terms of battle power was a yawning one but there was no fun in overpowering someone from the get go...especially when she hadn't learned all she'd wanted to from the man yet. Instead she let the attack connect, sweeping her foot out from under her and toppling the petite Saiyan fighter onto her back with a grunt. As she fell, Jagaimo lashed out with an elbow and arm, driving the elbow downwards towards her opponent and swinging her trailing forearm after it like a whip with a closed fist on the end. She grunted when the she hit the deck, not waiting to see if her elbow drop had even worked before she was rolling over onto Radic, trying to straddle his chest or back depending on how he rolled and drive a few hammer fists downwards into his head and neck...

There was no elegance in her style right now...but brawling didn't need to look good, it just needed to work from time to time...she could switch it up later if need be...

And just like that they parted. Her fall away elbow had missed by a hairsbreadth and when she'd tried to adjust her position on the ground to continue her momentum her wily opponent has simply rolled away from her grasp in the split second it took her to move. The distance between them had opened up in that time with both combatants returning slowly to their feet, poised to lay blows once more, eyes meeting and never waivering until his voice cut through the howling wind and Radic called an end to their little scuffle as if it were a match in the sparring circles. Every fibre of her being screamed to launch into another attack while his guard was lowering, that the fight wasn't over until one of them was bleeding on the ground unable to get up and defend themselves, one of them should be screaming on the ground in pain or better yet still...The young woman shook her head and growled in her own head, the voice that had been feeding those thoughts whimpering back into the darkness where it liked to scurry about these days. She wasn't that person anymore...at least she was trying not to be...

Her features relaxed as she watched him, eyes softening and fists unclenching, that young woman returning in place of the fighter he had just engaged with...there was a slight surprise in her smile that he'd ended it so soon, their brief exchange had barely been a warm up and there was still so much to learn about one another but...if he wanted to leave then she wasn't going to stop him.

"When your stronger come find me again for a rematch, this was fun but i feel you didn't tell me everything in that fight...now I'm just curious to see if that's all you've got hidden away."

She chuckled and leaned against the rock she'd been sitting on when they first met, eyes following his movements in the dark until he melted with the shadows, sitting in silence and following him further with her senses until he was reaching the edge of her ability to detect at his current power level...

Suddenly she hopped off the rock into the sand and peered into the darkness,

"Wait! Ah dammit..."

What was it again...the Kingsglove? Kingsglade? Maybe there'd be something in the palace to read up on now she had access to pretty much anywhere within its walls...