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Post by Arba Starshine on Jun 5, 2015 6:11:50 GMT -6
"Listen closely, Grunt," a gravelly Saiyan voice commanded Arba as the two of them stood in an open field, "I'm only going to go over everything once, so if you fail to pay attention, you're going to be dead later on. This is practice, but never go into a training with that mindset... Always believe that the other guy is going to kill you and fight as if your life depended on it, because you never know who has it out for you." The Saiyan instructing Arba was his senior, a Chief Grunt in Frieza's galactic army and a bit of an up-and-comer. Strongly built and plain in the face, the Saiyan was obviously of the lowest stock they come in as far as breeding and caste goes, but despite all of that he was clearly tough, the scouter reading an impressive 1,006 Power Level, easily ten times what Arba had.
"What I'm about to tell you now is key, so forget anything anyone else has taught you to date. I know you can't use Ki, and the majority of the Army would have you believe that you're weak because of it, but I have always believed that beyond all of that, speed and skill are what net you victories. Your enemy can have all the ki in the world, but you can't kill what you can't hit. Got what I'm saying so far, Grunt?" Nodding hesitantly, the blue-gray skinned 3rd Class Grunt affirmed that he at least loosely trapped what the Saiyan was going on about, though he himself was unsure how much he actually believed in what the Saiyan had to say. "Good. Now, since you can't even use your ki, you might think you've got a handicap. While it's true that your ki can supplement your natural abilities, even more important than that is just having strong natural abilities. Look at it this way: If you can do what others need ki to do without it, what the hell do you need that power for? Icing in the cake, so to speak."
Wandering over to a pile of rocks with ropes attached to them, the hyper-masculine Saiyan lifted one with a single hand and lobbed it to Arba's feet, the stone impacting with a heavy thud, barely rolling... It had to weigh at least fifty pounds. "You're going to tie those to your feet, and then you're going to work on dodging. I'm going to be lobbing Ki Blasts at you... Eventually, you'll get good enough to get out of the way of them reliably every time... That, or you'll be spending a lot of time in the infirmary. Ready, Grunt?"
The truth was that Arba wasn't ready... He'd never be ready for this, but he'd nod just the same. "I-I'm ready, Chief..." |
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Post by Arba Starshine on Jun 5, 2015 16:13:24 GMT -6
Reluctantly having strapped the small boulders to his legs with the trailing ropes, Arba now stands awkwardly in the middle of the field with a look of dread on his face. Still pretty much just a fresh recruit, the blue skinned warrior had no armor to speak of, simply wearing the short-sleeved form fitting undersuit issued for wear beneath the battle armor he'd be getting later, making the concept of being hit by ki blasts extremely unattractive... Well, moreso than usual, at least. Talking back wouldn't have been a sound idea, and it was out of the question at this point, so the Hera-Hybrid tested his ability to move his feet, lifting his ankles off of the ground slowly and pulling the boulders with them.... FUCK, those were heavy. "You aren't having second thoughts about training are you," the recruit's Saiyan mentor questioned from a distance. Dismissing the question with a quick shake of the head, Arba placed down his foot once more and assumed a preparatory stance for running. "Good, cause I wasn't about to let you go... Unless you wanted to run back to the base with those boulders tied to your ankles. A novel idea, but I'd still be blasting you the entire way."
Raising his arm into the air with ever-rigid posture, the Saiyan began tugging at his spiritual pool inside, his core a font for the energy that gave life to all living things. Drawing forth from his reserves of ki, the fighter slowly formed an almost oblong sphere of brilliant off-yellow energy above his hand, the ball of ki flickering as its falloff fluctuated, indicating just how held back and unstable the attack was... He wasn't going to kill the recruit, probably just mess him up a little bit. "Ready... Set... Go," the Chief Grunt counted down, giving Arba the chance to take off running. As Arba put himself into motion he finally realized just how heavy the rocks tied to his feet were, instantly negating his ability to go anywhere fast, trudging along at a clumsy power-walk and glancing repeatedly over his shoulder towards his trainer who was staring at him with an irritated twitch of the eye. "Well... I'm not showing you any mercy, kid... I did tell ya' to always treat fights like they're real, even if they're training. Can't tell if you're serious, so if you aren't, you'd better get serious right quick."
Cocking back, the Saiyan loads his strength behind his shot before launching it viciously towards the recruit, blasting him full-force in his failure to properly "DODGE!", laying out the recruit solidly. "Get up and try again," the Chief Grunt commands with a detectable tone of disgust and disappointment. |
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Post by Arba Starshine on Jun 6, 2015 0:27:20 GMT -6
By the time the sun was beginning to sweat, Arba's undersuit was a melted and dusty mess, half blown to crap by continuous failures to dodge. It wasn't his fault, really, the Saiyan simply overestimated the blue alien's ability to lug around an extra 100 pounds of weight strapped to his ankles, no big deal or anything. "Damn, Grunt, that was pretty pathetic. Look, if you're going to fail every time at this, then you're going to lose me a lot of Zeni in that fight you've got coming up. I can't have that, so I'm going to bend the rules a little. Tomorrow morning I want you to meet me back at the facility and we'll get you in the gravity chamber... It's a little less primitive than rocks on ropes, but the balance is totally different... Instead of working just your legs and back, you're going to be doing full body exercise. Understand?"
Dismissing the Third Class Recruit, the Saiyan waves Arba off to return to the barracks, though he does require him to wear the rocks home... One last ditch attempt at saving some face after a failed training. Trudging home slowly, Arba grumbles to himself under his breath, the two moons over the planet rising like eyes of the gods, staring down brightly from up above. Thankfully the extra light made it bright enough for him to see, the Hera-Hybrid probably would have broken an ankle if he'd tripped now. Dragging the boulders with each step, Arba's weary legs fought him all the way, finally forcing him to stop when he was about half-way to the barracks. Plopping down where he'd stopped, the Hybrid stared at the sky with troubled eyes, inky black pools meeting a star-filled cosmos and searching for meaning like his father had done so many years ago.
"Mom, is all of this worth it," the blue-skinned alien heard his voice saying, his body giving form to the hesitations his mind consciously denied, "This is hard, and I feel like a total loser... I'll never be as strong as the other guys, no matter what I do. They can use their ki to make everything easier... Why can't I do that too?" It was true no matter how you cut it, the other recruits could make everything a cake-walk by applying just a little bit of their ki, Arba had to go about everything entirely physical and make up for lost ability with skill. Considering the gap between himself and his peers, Arba recalled the Saiyan's words from earlier, /"...I have always believed that beyond all of that, speed and skill are what net you victories. Your enemy can have all the ki in the world, but you can't kill what you can't hit..."/ That much was true if the hybrid thought about it, but how was it fair that other Grunts could sacrifice their ki to increase their speed too? Once again the young Grunt faced his own faults painfully, staring down ineptitude with reluctance and fear.
When a voice in his mind broke his concentration, it pulled him from his dwelling long enough to listen... It was a voice he'd not heard in many years, unrecognizable but distantly familiar, /"Life isn't fair, my boy, but sometimes we have to make due with what we've got. Just because you can't use your ki doesn't mean that you can't also be tough, it just means that you'll have to work harder to make up for it. Don't give up when you start struggling, that's just life giving you more opportunities to grow. Those who have it easy don't truly understand the value of hard work."/ Given pause by the depth of the statement, Arba pondered slowly over the advice that came from the depths of his soul... Was this a memory, or something more? Keeping his eyes on the sky as he allowed his mind to calm for the moment, Arba found his eyelids growing heavy and his thoughts becoming murky... Perhaps he wouldn't make it back to the barracks before he fell asleep, this ground was extremely comfortable right now, and the gentle breeze that blew across him kept the heat down just enough.
Allowing his eyes to drift shut, the Hybrid finds peace and rest finally, allowing his thoughts to drift off into the darkness. He would stop worrying for tonight, the voice in his heart was right, he was going to have to face this challenge eventually if he wanted to prosper, may as well do it without a complaint. |
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Post by Arba Starshine on Jun 6, 2015 9:09:04 GMT -6
Morning came quicker than expected, but Arba was no less refreshed for the brevity of his sleep. Rising as comfortably as he would have from a bunk (maybe even moreso) the hybrid got to his feet as the sunrise washed over him. Surprised to find no ache in his legs despite all of his training (or failing), Arba resolved to finish up what his Saiyan mentor had instructed him to do and drag the boulders the rest of the way back to the compound.
Changing into a fresh uniform with boots and gloves when he got back, the blue-skinned recruit caught a few jeering remarks aimed at the back of his skull, but paid them little mind as he started getting a bit anxious to find out what his superior had in store for him at the gravity chamber. Last night's speech from the voice in his heart had bolstered him quite a bit, giving the young hybrid the encouragement he needed to keep going when all of the world thought he was a failure. Glancing squarely at the three other recruits in the room who were making the jokes, Arba made his own comment in return, "You three better stop talking and start training, power doesn't come from running your mouths. If you don't get a move on, this failure here might actually catch up to you." Disarmed by Arba's as of yet unseen bold side, the three alien warriors looked to each other with a bit of nervousness, unsure of the truth of those statements, but only for a moment. Bursting into laughter, the three of them returned to their senseless japery while Arba left, heading for the Gravity Chamber... They'd find out soon enough.
Stopping before the trisected door to the Gravity Chamber, Arba noted the red light that signaled it being in use was illuminated, so he'd press the radio button on the outside of the door to let them know he was intending to come in. "Yeah, who is it? It better not be one of you recruits trying to talk your way in here, you know the rules," came a familiar gruff voice from the other side, the Saiyan who was training him of course. "It's me," Arba replied confidently, "Recruit Arba. I came just like you said, Chief Grunt." Silence was all that came from the other side for a moment, the doors remaining shut. The bright red light indicating use would shut off after a few seconds, indicating the gravity had been turned off, and then the doors split at the center to reveal the Chief Grunt from earlier with a towel slung over his shoulder. "You ready for the workout of your life, kid?" Nodding confidently, Arba stepped into the gravity chamber around the Chief Grunt, for once impressing the Saiyan with his boldness, "I am."
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Post by Arba Starshine on Jun 7, 2015 2:18:13 GMT -6
"You haven't been in a Gravity Chamber before, have you kid," the bulky Saiyan asked Arba rhetorically, assuming that he hadn't based off of the fact that he was only just a recruit and limited on use of the facilities here at the compound, "This is going to be your new home for the rest of the week until your match. You and I will stay in here, train in here, eat in here, and sleep in here." Pointing to a set of bunks that had been assembled in the gravity chamber, the Chief Grunt grinned toothily at the hybrid recruit, he was completely serious about them staying in here for the rest of the week. "The planet I come from, Planet Vegeta, the gravity is much higher than the gravity here, so our people are predisposed to strength and speed. We don't just train under increased gravity, we live in it, thus our muscles become denser as they repair instead of bigger, and we end up more durable than most of the humanoids in the galaxy. In short, by virtue of our planet we are simply better suited all around for fighting. The two things you need to make a diamond out of a lump of coal are pressure and heat."
Walking over to the console and tapping away at the keys, Arba's mentor slowly increases the gravity... 1.5x ought to do it to start, right? Turning the machine on and allowing it to warm up to the settings, the Saiyan chuckled as he felt a slight downward tug upon his body, pitiful gravity amplification compared to his homeworld, Arba was probably suffering though under the weight. "You won't benefit the same as if you'd grown up on Planet Vegeta, but a few days under increased gravity will have an impressive boost on your power level in comparison to what you would otherwise get. This is your pressure, now all we need is heat." Gesturing with his left hand, the Saiyan lowered himself into his people's traditional fighting stance, squatting with his right arm tucked and loaded into a fist at his hip, his left hand extended slightly and held open. "Come at me when you're ready."
So, this was the plan that the Chief had for Arba's training? The increase in gravity was immediately noticeable, it was as if Arba were wearing the weighted training armor that they were allowed to try on in training not too long ago, except it was a whole lot more evenly balanced. Taking a deep breath and feeling his chest rise and fall with more resistance than usual, the blue hybrid swallowed cautiously and lowered himself into his fighting stance.... Even under this minimal increase he could feel himself being pulled down towards the ground, the warm "burn" of physical exertion starting to work its way into his limbs even before he was fully set into a mirror of the Saiyan's posture. Finally convinced he was ready, Arba stepped off in a quick lunge, throwing himself forward as fast as he could go under the increased gravity. Swinging with all his might, Arba threw caution to the wind and put his heart and soul into his attack, his fist meeting something incredibly hard and dense.
Looking up to see that he'd landed his hit on the Saiyan's forearm, Arba prepared to be thoroughly thrashed, only to find himself being lightly pushed off by the Chief. "We already know I can kick your ass any time, kid. Keep attacking me, get faster. Your moves are too slow yet, but if you stoke that fire in your belly, maybe you'll be able to hit me at one fourth of my power." Nodding as he was given the order, Arba got his footing and stance in check once more and buckled down to attack again, lunging in...
It would be a couple hours until the sounds of combat finally stopped echoing in the halls outside of the gravity chamber. A few recruits milled about curiously and tried to figure out who was inside drilling so seriously, but none were any closer to the truth by the end of the day. Eventually someone came and placed a "no entry" sign on the door for the Chief Grunt and folks started going about their business again. Nobody had the slightest clue just what was going on behind that door, and that was probably for the best, Arba could train undisturbed this way. When the first night finally fell, his body was tired and sore to the point of complete muscle failure... Falling into bed exhausted, the hybrid recruit ended up sleeping like a rock. |
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Post by Arba Starshine on Jun 7, 2015 9:51:46 GMT -6
When Arba awoke on day 2 he sluggishly pushed himself to his feet and stretched tiredly, the Saiyan Chief Grunt fiddling with the console a bit. "How'd ya sleep, kid? Like a baby right? Ha!" There were only two days remaining in the week before his bout was to come. Why had the Chief Grunt bet on him in the first place, Arba wondered to himself quietly as he sat down at a table set in the corner of the room with their breakfast. A simple spread was laid out and it looked as though his instructor had already consumed his share. Some manner of spiced and roasted meat, a grain native to this planet before its occupation by Frieza, and a hearty fruit imported from a nearby planet... Nothing special in the long haul, but a high calorie and protein meal. Eating until he was full, the recruit pushed himself to his feet once more and glanced at the console, noting that it displayed the number 2 prominently... The Saiyan had increased the gravity earlier.
"Today's lesson is going to be more practical," Arba's instructor began as the recruit fell into place, "We're going to go through the motion of a few katas of my people's martial arts. I shouldn't be teaching you this, but if you're going to kick ass in my reputation, you'll do it as a Saiyan should, using real Saiyan arts. Remember this: Your entire body is a weapon. Got an opponent too close for punching? Bam, hit him with an elbow." Swiping across the air with a tucked arm, the Saiyan illustrated his point by deftly executing an elbow strike that would have probably killed the recruit. "Don't waste your time going for the hard targets like the ribs, instead go under. Use your speed to your advantage and get in close like so," the Saiyan began instructing before vanishing with incredible speed and reappearing before Arba, "Grab your opponent by the shoulder to control their body and bring your knee up into their abdomen to wind them." Grabbing ahold of Arba's shoulder and forcefully cinching down, the Saiyan raised his knee and lightly (perspectivewise) tapped the recruit's stomach with his knee, bending him over the raised leg momentarily. "At this point the back of his skull and spine are exposed... You can simply bring your hand off of their shoulder and ram your elbow down on their spine where their skull connects, ending the fight with a killing blow."
Standing Arba upright after he made his point, the Saiyan moved back into his position across from the recruit and allowed him to recover from being jerked around. "The primary targets of the Saiyan martial arts are simple: Areas that incapacitate or kill. A blow to the chin or jaw from below or the side will jam the vagus nerve and brain, stunning your foe if performed correctly. A blow to the temple is easily a murderous strike. A blow to the nose is extremely painful and can result in a vulnerability to easily compromise by jamming the broken bone and cartilaginous tissue into the brain with a second strike. The solar plexus is a bundle of nerves just below the rib cage that can lock up the diaphragm and keep your opponent from breathing for a time, the perfect move to capitalize on. The throat is a soft target and requires only a moderate level of force to completely crush and kill." Demonstrating a series of strikes to an invisible target, the Chief Grunt goes through the motions to land each blow he'd verbaly illustrated moments ago.
"I brought in a dummy for you to strike," the instructor thumbed towards a sand-filled cloth dummy off to the side, "Go ahead and start practicing strikes to the locations I've shown you. Don't worry about tearing it up, it's from my homeplanet, there's nothing you can do that'll leave a mark on it." Nodding and moving over to the dummy, Arba began putting himself through the motions as the Saiyan looked on. |
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Post by Arba Starshine on Jun 8, 2015 7:08:40 GMT -6
Gravity is no joke. At two-times gravity alone Arba's body sagged after only fifteen minutes at the dummy, his muscles aching and begging him for rest. Spotting the stoop in the recruit's posture, the Saiyan chuckled and shook his head with disapproval, "That won't do... That won't do at all. Get up, straighten that back out and square up them shoulders, Recruit. If you sag like that you'll present your chin to the enemy and you'll be flattened in no time. You want to develop your back and shoulder muscles as well as your legs, they'll be what power your punches and propel you in battle. If you want to survive war, you need to be able to endure pain." Forcing himself to adopt a better posture, Arba uprighted himself and buckled down, going back at the dummy for another half hour until he could do no more.
"Alright, take a break and rest," the Saiyan finally relents, "Do some seated stretches. I forget that you're not one of my kind afterall. Weak, but you'll do." Walking over to the console, the Chief Grunt fiddles with it a bit while Arba gets into his seated posture, the gravity suddenly increasing once again. "Woah, hey Chief, what's going on," the hybrid yelped in surprise, his seated groin stretch suddenly leaping from mild to painful intensity. "If you're simply stretching, I'm going to turn up the gravity. Recovery should be done at a higher setting to encourage denser muscle growth. Get used to it kid, this is going to be life for the next couple days."
Following a brief lunch and recovery period they were back to sparring, nothing had really changed between today and yesterday, Arba's punches still met the Saiyan's seemingly impenetrable guard without so much as a grunt in response. Dinner precluded another stretching exercise and then a series of katas on the dummy before it was time to bed down, the recruit climbing into bed exhausted and falling nearly instantly asleep. Looking over the slumbering recruit with a hint of disappointment, the Chief Grunt pondered to himself, "I wonder if this is all paying off? Looks like I'm out a couple hundred zeni." Walking over to the console once more, the Saiyan slowly began turning up the gravity like he'd done the night before, heading to his own bunk and racking out as the lights shut off in the chamber. The only glow in the room was the monitor of the console, reading the current gravity setting: 10. |
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Post by Arba Starshine on Jun 9, 2015 6:09:51 GMT -6
Day four might as well have been hell as far as Arba knew, he'd awoken to the gravity already set to 3, his tired body fighting him as he pushed himself up out of bed. He'd woken up a few the night prior and his body resisted every prompt to get up, illustrating just how exhausted he'd become from the training regimen that the Chief Grunt was putting him through... Hell, it was hard to even breath at some points, though he managed to force himself through the night. Breakfast was the same as the day prior, more roasted meat from some exotic animal, a strange grain-based porridge, and alien fruit that seemed bland but filled a hole. The training had also started out much like the day before, except he was instructed to stretch first and the Saiyan tipped the weight up to 3.5x gravity briefly.
After an hour sparring with the dummy, the Chief Grunt finally called Arba in and brought him over for another class. "Let me teach you something about fighting, kid," the Saiyan began with almost a sense of familiarity, "You aren't strong, this much you know, and without ki you're going to have a hard time fightin' most people. You need to learn to use some dirty tricks in order to win. I'm not just talking about feints, I'm talking about being ready to throw a fistful of sand in someone's eyes, or to punch them square in the junk if they come flying in with a kick. You'll be issued a blaster later to make up for your ki deficiency, so use it to your full advantage. Get within range for a punch and throw one with your left... Wait for him to block and pull your blaster with your right, blasting him in the gut while he can't see your arm." Slapping Arba on the shoulder, the Saiyan grinned toothily, "My people have no mercy, we don't win battles by pointlessly lowering our fighting power just because of something silly like honor or dignity. The only time you should hold back is when you want to lull your opponent into a false sense of security, and then you unload with everything you've got."
Finishing his speech regarding the merits of being a shiesty fighter, the Saiyan returned Arba to his workout, this time strapping weights to his arms, torso, waist and ankles as he went through his katas. The added poundage made the effort grueling, tearing his muscles quickly and tiring him to the point of pain... Whenever the Hera-jin slacked though, the Chief Grunt would come over and give him a nice jolt with his ki, shocking him painfully back to the proper posture and awareness. "No slacking, weakling," the Chief bellowed, "You've got one more day in here. I want you to struggle until your arms break off, then pick them up and glue them back on. Don't ask me how, just do it. If I tell you to jump, you respond with 'how high'. If I tell you to run, you should only ask 'how far'."
By the time night fell upon them both the hybrid would have no trouble sleeping, his body collapsing under the weight of his exhaustion and his mind slipping into unconsciousness instantly, unaware of the gravity increasing once again to the levels of Planet Vegeta. Standing over the recruit, the Saiyan rubs his chin and ponders aloud, "You've got spirit, kid... I almost might like you, if you were one of my people that is. I wonder if you might actually be able to pull this off... I hope for both of our sakes that you prove everyone wrong." |
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Post by Arba Starshine on Jun 10, 2015 6:08:16 GMT -6
This was it, the final day of training. Awakening to the gravity set to 3.5, Arba stretched out and yawned tiredly, his sleep less broken than the night before. Rising from his bunk, the recruit found himself facing not only the Saiyan but a simulation of himself that stood perfectly still for the moment, eerily staring back expressionlessly. "Good to see you're awake finally, I was beginning to think you'd died in your sleep," the Chief Grunt bellowed with self-amusement, "That would have been one hell of a waste. So, what do you think of the dummy? Pretty lifelike, right? Note the vacant look in his eyes that accurately captures the void mind of its inspiration." Jerking a thumb at the dummy, the Saiyan smirked, preparing to explain its purpose, "This entire time we've been here, I've been having the training room record and analyze your actions. From stance to attacks, this guy here knows everything you know and can do it perfectly, regardless of the gravity settings. You're going to spar with him for your final day of training. If you can't even beat yourself from yesterday, how do you expect to beat someone better than you tomorrow?"
Brushing off the incredulous glare that Arba gave him, the Saiyan took his place against the far wall and waved towards the two Hera-Jin, signaling that they could begin at any time. Adopting his fighting stance by slowly lowering himself into a squatting straddle with his right arm tucked and his left extended, Arba faced off against the simulation of himself and watched as it perfectly mirrored his own motions and looked significantly less strained doing so. "So... This thing is me from two days ago," the hybrid questioned with a cautious tone. "And yesterday... He's seen everything and learned from it," the Chief Grunt replied with an affirmative nod. A grin slowly worked its way across the recruit's face, a thought forming in his mind and escaping his lips with a pleased tone, "Good, then he's going to be absolutely horrible."
Stepping in with the full of his strength and speed he could muster under the current gravity, Arba threw a punch for the dummy's abdomen, the fist trailing through the air smoothly only to be intercepted by the back of the simulation's left forearm. Snapping its leg up in counter, the dummy kicked for Arba's side, only for the real Hera-Jin to duck under the sweeping leg and respond with his own kick towards the simulation's head. Back and forth the two of them continued their spar, each attack met with a solid defense, each defense prompted a counter, each counter was nullified once again. "Not as easy as you thought, eh kid," the Chief Grunt chided Arba with mild amusement at the tiring recruit being put in his place, "Afterall, he doesn't feel the gravity. You're fighting yourself if you never got tired, if the weight of the world was nothing, if you were a perfect machine. Can you beat a machine?" Glancing up as he wiped an errant string of saliva away from his mouth and panted heavily, the recruit offered a self-confident smirk, "I can, and I will. He can't do one thing that I can, and that's why I'll win, even if he can fight longer than me." |
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Post by Arba Starshine on Jun 11, 2015 6:29:16 GMT -6
Watching the battle with curiosity at the recruit's confidence, the Chief Grunt stood his ground as Arba and Simulated Arba went after each other. It was clear that the recruit was losing by fighting a battle of attrition, and yet he still hadn't played his supposed trump card... Was he bluffing the whole time? The real Arba took a punch from the recruit in order to attempt to return a kick to the simulation's shoulder, though the simulation easily deflected the incoming leg and snapped his own foot inward towards the back of the real hybrid's supporting knee, tripping him up. Dropping back with all of his finesse, Arba absorbed the blow and somersaulted in reverse, tumbling away from the programmed fighter and encouraging him to follow.
What was the recruit planning, the Chief wondered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully... Even though he was now very clearly losing and being pushed around, each hit he took seemed to make the Grunt even more confident of his ability to win. Allowing himself to be chased all the way across the room, Arba kept up with his defense until he'd been backed up to the console against the wall, ducking to the side of the simulation's attack.
The Saiyan's eyes widened slowly as the realization of what Arba was planning gradually dawned on him... By the time he had the full picture and leapt forward to shout in objection, Arba had already leapt atop the console and bounced off of it, onto the simulation's shoulders and then thrown himself forward, using the vaulting motion to throw the virtual fighter forward face-first into the machine. With the machine jolted violently by the simulation crashing into it and cracking the housing of it, the power instantly cut in the computer to keep the gravity from leaping to dangerous levels, bringing about exactly the end Arba had wanted: Without power to the machines, the Simulation-Arba ceased to be. Misjudging the sudden shift from enhanced gravity to regular gravity, Arba stumbled on his landing, his weight distribution way off. Recovering quickly and turning his attention towards the chief proudly, the hybrid found the Saiyan glowering much to his dismay.
"YOU CHEATED, KID," the Saiyan bellowed ferociously, obviously disapproving, "YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO TAMPER WITH THE MACHINERY! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" Stepping to attention quickly as he realizes that he needed to be show some respect to disarm the situation, Arba counters verbally, "Woah, hold on a second Chief, this was a no-win situation... How was I supposed to learn enough in a day to be able to beat myself in a fight if the other me never got tired? You told me at the start of all this that fighting dirty is important, so I fought dirty. The other me couldn't survive without the computers, so I brought the fight to his weakness. Besides, you never said how I had to beat him, just that I had to beat him, and I did that." Practically shaking as he prepared to respond, the Saiyan raised a hand and opened his mouth to yell at the argumentative grunt and then paused... The grunt was right, he'd done exactly as he was told, and he even adopted the Chief's line of thinking on fighting dirty. "Goddamnit," the Saiyan replied with a heavy sigh of frustration, "I hate to admit it, but you're right. Jarring the computer was a legitimate way to beat him, it just wasn't one I'd intended you to use. I thought you'd kick him in the nuts or something, that probably would have worked if you'd done it early on."
Looking around to the furniture and training tools scattered around the gravity chamber, the Chief Grunt placed his hands on his hips, shaking his head and chuckling, "Well, I'll be damned kid, I don't really have anything else I want to teach you at this point... May as well call this one a victory and let you go get some rest. Tomorrow is the big fight between you and that other grunt, maybe with everything you've learned you could actually stand a chance... If you don't go getting all stupid during the middle of the night. Go on and get out of here, be sure to show up tomorrow or I'll find you and kill you. Got it?" Attempting to suppress his jubilation with that assessment, Arba fails miserably and beams proudly, nodding, "Got it, Chief." With that, the recruit goes dashing off for the barracks to finally get his first night of real rest in a few days. Watching the recruit go, the Saiyan chuckles to himself once more, "Damn kid... That sure wasn't a Saiyan way to win, but maybe it's a good thing that he isn't just another one of my people... He'd have lost if he'd gone at it like one of us. Prove us all wrong, Kid, prove us all wrong."
((This thread is done. I'll probably throw up a follow-up thread tomorrow about the fight)) |
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