Huba and Shinko's Knightly Collab

[retired]

Vrilyo readied himself as the piece of cloth fluttered gently to the ground. The moment it touched the earth, he leaped into action. Speeding forward, he gripped the staff tightly and locked his eyes onto his target. As soon as he was within striking distance, he prepared to swing as hard as he could. If this guy was as good a fighter as every one said he was, he saw no reason to hold back a single inch of his raw strength.

At last reaching the perfect distance to strike, he made a swing. In the blink of an eye, he slid his upper hand higher on the weapon, in order to balance out the weight of it and add to the force of the blow. He had aimed squarely for Gary's side.

[Shinko]

Gary was impressed by the force behind Vrilyo's strike. The boy had raw strength, that much was certain. But it takes more than strength to win a battle. Cunning counts for just as much.

Gary did not try to parry the Eyrie's blow; instead, he simply dropped to the ground, catching himself with his left hand while his right kept a firm grip on his staff. Now well below the range of Vrilyo's horizontal strike, the Bori lashed out with his legs. Hooking his foot on the Eyrie's ankle, he yanked hard, pulling the squire's limb out from under him.

[retired]

As if in slow motion, Vrilyo felt every second tick by as gravity suddenly took hold of his uprooted form. He landed hard on his left shoulder, but it was better than landing on a more-fragile wing. He lay in a daze, processing what had just happened. Never before, in all his matches against the other squires, had any of them thought to use anything to fight with other than their assigned weapons. He hadn't thought of it either.

Without acknowledging the throbbing pain in his shoulder, he pushed himself into a sitting position with his left arm. The young eyrie looked up at the bori with a curious expression and said flatly, "They were right. You are pretty good." He then used the staff to heave himself upward, allowing his left arm to dangle limply and recover. He stood quietly, examining his instructor with intrigue but without admiration. He'd been surprised, but he wasn't impressed just yet. Using body language that made it clear he wasn't attacking, he pointed at Gary with his staff. Without any emotion in his voice other then determination, he simply said, "Teach me that, bean-stalk."

[Shinko]

How long is he going to insist on calling me that? Gary wondered with a bit of frustration. He had enough mocking nicknames without being assigned more.

"Unarmed combat is something that's not part of a knight's usual curriculum," he said aloud. "I actually learned it from a member of the Shenkuun Embassy about two years after I was knighted. And it's gotten me out of a good few scrapes." he raised an eyebrow to the squire. "When you or your opponent is disarmed in a practice match, the instructor ends the match, yes? Well that's not how it works in the real world. If you're disarmed while fighting hill bandits, or an enemy army, if you just admit defeat the best you can hope for is to be taken captive. More likely, you'll just be killed."

He stared at the Eyrie speculatively for a few moments, then went on. "I can't simply teach you the move I just used. You would have to learn the unarmed combat techniques from the ground up, just as I did, or you would never be able to execute it properly. If you are willing to do this, I am certainly more than happy to teach you."

[retired]

(Sorry, short.)

"I don't want a history lesson!" Vrilyo barked, "I don't care where or how you learned it! I just want you to show me how to fight without a weapon!" Still ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he dropped his staff and crossed his arms. "It always did bother me that they don't show us how to fight unarmed." he admitted reluctantly, "Even if we have to start with the basics, if you can teach me some sort of technique like that, MAYBE I'll give you a little more credit..."

(Er... I'm kind of iffy on how this is going. Vrilyo's not the eastern-style martial arts type. I always imagine his main non-weapon fighting style being straight-up boxing. Would it be all right if they tried the Shenkuu style at first, but because Vrilyo just can't seem to get it they move on to boxing techniques instead? I think that might be a little more interesting, too, since it'd be a bit predictable that he just so happened to be good at techniques based on the real-world Asian techniques. Plus, like I said, I just don't think it fits his fighting style.)

[Shinko]

((That's not what I meant. He didn't learn Asian-style martial arts in the whole cloth, just a few basic tricks that you'd see anywhere. Y'know, like street fighting. To learn it as it would appear in karate movies or whatever would take years, and Gary only every appears at court for a month or two at a time, and always under duress. He wouldn't have stuck around long enough to learn more than the absolute basics. But he had to pick it up from somewhere, and that just seemed like the best place to go with.))

The Bori frowned. "You would do well to keep that temper in check," he said coolly. "Simply knowing a technique does you no good if you don't know when to apply it. I was trying to give you an idea of how to use these techniques strategically."

He narrowed his eyes, "But, why not? Let's do it your way. Come at me, squire. Come at me like you mean to kill me. I'll teach you the most crucial of all the unarmed skills."


((When he says "the must crucial skill" he is referring to dodging. You mentioned that Vrilyo wasn't big on defense, so it seemed like a good place to start. And sorry, mine's short too... D:))

[retired]

(Ah. Okay! If that's the case, it should work fine as it's already going. We could say that where as Gary taught him defensive stuff like dodging, his dad taught him offensive stuff like punching, maybe?)

Vrilyo stared at Gary with a look of slight hesitation. He didn't like the guy, but he had no desire to try and kill him. Then again, this person had already managed to avoid one of his head-on attacks before. He didn't like to admit it to himself, but there probably wasn't anything to worry about... right?

Wait... why was he worrying in the first place? So what if he managed to land a punch on this guy? He wasn't homicidal, but why should he have any problem taking a chance to knock Sir High-and-Mighty Lecture Man into next Tuesday?!

"All right. If that's what it takes to learn what you have to teach me." Vrilyo agreed, clenching his hands into fists. He confidently assumed the stance of a boxer, bending his knees and turning his body slightly. Without any sort of bragging tone, Vrilyo stated very frankly, "You'd better not let me knock you out. Now that I know you actually have something worthwhile to teach me, you'd better be able to stay conscious long enough to do it."

He paused momentarily and clenched his fists tighter as he focused on his target once again. Without a sound or any warning, he launched forward once more. The eyrie pulled back his fist and shortly thereafter shot it out with every bit of force he could muster. This time, he was aiming for Gary's chin.

(No worries on the shortness. Come to think of it, since it'll be one long piece when it's put together, I guess it doesn't really matter how short our replies are. I mean, there's no need to add fluff and stuff where none is needed just to make our individual posts longer. Don't you think?)

[Shinko]

(You have a point there. And in fighting scenes it makes more sense for our individual bits to be shorter anyway. And it makes sense for his dad to have taught him offensive stuff.)

Without a word, Gary sidestepped away from the Eyrie, coming up on his right. He skipped a few steps backwards, walking on the balls of his feet and fanning his wings slightly to keep his balance. "You missed," he said coolly. "And from where I was before I backed up, I could have easily tripped you again. Or pushed your back. Either way, your own forward momentum would have ensured that you went down. Do you see what I'm trying to show you yet?"

Too much aggression, he thought. With any luck he'll have the sense to think about what I did and realize what I'm getting at. If not, he'll just wear himself out coming at me over and over. He's smart though; smarter than most people give him credit for. He hesitated when I told him to come at me with a killer's intent. He has a brain in there; it's just going to be a matter of getting him to stop letting his temper get the best of him.

[retired]

Vrilyo had stumbled forward a bit, but regained his balance fairly quickly. He now looked upon his instructor with an expression of concentration. He was genuinely paying attention.

"I don't get it." he replied honestly, "If you dodge me and run away every time I make a move, of course I'll never hit you." It seemed like a cowardly tactic to Vrilyo's head-on sensibilities. "What am I supposed to do?!" he asked, not without frustration. "You're saying the problem is my own momentum, but how am I supposed to attack you without moving?!" In all his training sessions with his Father, he had always been told that the surest way to defeat an opponent quickly was to take them down with a strong initial attack. The idea of letting your opponent make the first move simply didn't register with him. At least, not yet.

(I'm thinking three is a good number of failed attempts to attack before Vrilyo finally gets it. If any of this post didn't make sense or doesn't set up your next post well, blame me and not him. XD He really isn't stupid, which I'm impressed that you noticed. I, however, am running on coffee right now. lol)

[Shinko]

((Three seems to be a pretty consistent magic number, so it works for me XD And I noticed what you were implying with that hesitation because I do that a lot; pay attention to ridiculously minor things that set up character development. It annoys my friends sometimes because I'll point out something and guess at a thing that will happen later in the plot.))


Gary raised an eyebrow, "Think hard about what you just said, and try again. You've already grasped the basic concept instinctively, it's just a matter of realizing how to apply it." He crouched defensively, jerking his head in an invitation to Vrilyo to come at him again.

((He said to "think hard about what you just said" because Vrilyo SAID "If you keep dodging me I'll never hit you" which is the point. Vrilyo just needs to think for a minute and apply that in reverse. Epic shortness, but not much to say, so meh.))

[retired]

(lol Well I like that about you! I try very hard to put in little bits like that, so it's nice when people actually notice. I'm sure you understand, yourself. Ah. By the way: "He raised eyebrow"? Ah. Also, since we're switching P.O.V. so much, let's go back over the whole thing later to make sure it's always clear who's doing what.)

Vrilyo sighed with exasperation, but assumed his stance once again. This time, he utilized the boxing footwork his Father had tried to teach him. He drew closer to Gary in small, quick increments, nearing him rather quickly. At last, he was in striking distance once again. He stepped forward as if to punch at Gary's stomach, but suddenly jumped back before jumping forward again and aiming a punch at the Bori's cheek.

I don't like using fake-out moves, he thought, but maybe this will throw him off enough to leave him open. Until he could figure out the secret to Gary's technique, he figured he may as well take this opportunity to practice what he already knew.

(This will be the last failed attack, I'm thinking. After this he'll get it, and try waiting for Gary to make the first move.)

[Shinko]

((Meh, grammar fail. I'll fix it.))

The Bori's ears flattened as Vrilyo feinted for his torso, than struck out at his head. Clever. He's starting to use his brain, finally. Once again Gary dodged to the side, but didn't quite sidestep all the way away from the Eyrie. Using his own momentum like a slingshot, the Bori crouched down and slammed his shoulder into Vrilyo's chest. He gasped a little with pain as his back protested to being twisted that way. I'm not as flexible as I used to be. I need to practice these techniques more.

"For the record," the knight said out loud as he righted himself. "In fist-fighting blows to the head are very hard to deliver with stealth on an opponent with a distinct height advantage. The difference in reach will force you to give yourself away every time."

((Just because he's aiming towards a specific goal, that doesn't mean he won't give generic advice when the situation warrants it.))

[retired]

Vrilyo managed not to fall, but the wind had been knocked out of him. He was still standing only out of sheer will-power.

"My Father..." he replied, struggling to regain control of his breath, "Is... very squat... we're... almost... the same height..." He forced himself to steady his breath and ignore how sore his body was becoming. "When we spar... we don't hesitate to go for the head... Enemies won't hold back... 'Have to be prepared... " Sir Orin could be a bit harsh during training, despite being a rather jolly and loving Father any other time. "But you're right." Vrilyo agreed, "You're too tall."

The fake-out had failed, too. Now what? Vrilyo reconsidered Gary's words from earlier, trying to understand. In his thoughts, he repeated, How am I supposed to attack without moving?...

Suddenly, the young eyrie was struck with an epiphany. His expression once again grew serious as he balled his hands into fists once more. His eyes rested solely on Gary as he took his stance. He did not, however, attack. He stood, fists raised and ready. He did not speak. He waited.

[Shinko]

((Okay, you said I could godmod Vrilyo for this sequence so I shall.))


The Bori paced around Vrilyo, his own pale brown eyes locked with the squires. Finally getting the message, are we? But understanding is only half the battle. Let's see you apply it.

Gary edged closer and closer, circling Vrilyo. Then, when he was close enough, he struck out with a fist aimed for the Eyrie's face. The squire, however, was not there to meet his fist. He ducked, bringing up his own fist to slam Gary in the gut. The Bori gasped with pain; there was a great deal of power in Vrilyo's punch, more than he would have expected from the young warrior. However, he had made a crucial mistake.

Gary brought up his knee, catching the Eyrie square in the midriff. He pulled the blow, and pulled it hard; he had no desire to lay the boy out, only to make it clear what he could have done were he so inclined.

"Using my own height against me to dodge my blow and hit low," he panted. "Well done. You certainly caught on quickly. Although you should have sidestepped slightly so that you were in front of my forward leg. Being directly in front of me or slightly to the side of the leg that's backwards gives me enough leverage to get a knee in."

((Was that satisfactory?))

[retired]

(Excellent. A well-balanced exchange of blows, I think.)

Vrilyo was panting as well. "I think I understand now..." he wheezed, "But I can't say I... like fighting this way..." He plopped on the ground to rest a moment, bending one knee to keep himself up. His breath returned fairly quickly as he continued, "All this dodging and sneaky punching stuff... I avoid it when I can... 'seems like a cowardly way to fight." The Eyrie was thinking aloud, more than anything else. It never occurred to him that Gary might take what he was saying as an insult. Not that it would have stopped him from speaking his mind.

With some difficulty, he struggled to stand back up. Not-so-firmly on his feet, he shrugged and sighed with an irritated tone, "It's really annoying when your opponent is too afraid to come at you head-on."

(Hm.. does that set up the lecture all right? >_o )