Maikeru was sweating...it was hot as usually. He hadn’t been in Suna for this long. A gym area was made by a few people, Maikeru included, for Shinobi to train their bodies to pass the time. It had equipment neatly spread out, inside a large tent. . The Refugees had taken a liking to it. Maikeru had been punching the punching bag for the longest of times. He needed to clear his head. The heat and listening to people’s complaints had began to get to him. He needed to achieve catharsis. And training was always the way to do it. He stopped for a while, and went towards the weight lifting. He noticed how his muscles had started to get a little bit bigger and bigger than normal. “Hm. I’m gaining bulk fast.” It wasn’t something he exactly complained about however. He took on much more weights than he would normally do. He was really looking to test his limits today. As soon as he let it up, Maikeru felt the pain on his arms. His pupils dilated as the bar quickly went down close to his chest. He breathed heavily, and began to lift it. His veins were straining out, and his biceps, triceps, and all other ceps began to bulge. He then placed it back on the stand. Maikeru took deep breaths. His arms were sore but it felt great. “Damn. I should try not to push myself so much, heh.” He got up and for a while he let himself rest. He began to get into his thoughts, sitting on the bench, drinking his canister of water. He thought about Kumogakure. He really started to hate Hastur. So many fanatics. Fanatics everywhere, worshiping him as if he was a God. Maikeru sighed, and leaned back, his puffed up muscles relaxing and going down. He needed to train more. Thinking about politics was new to him, and something he didn’t exactly like doing. He needed to take a break. He thought about other things to do outside of the refugee camp, other than freeing slaves and beating up the slavers. He needed to find some fun out there.

He got off the bench, and looked at the huge boxing ring in the middle of the gym tent. He grabbed onto the ropes, and climbed inside it. Maikeru looked at the patrons of the gym. “Anyone wanna spar? A friendly one?”


407 WC

Katsumi dragged himself into the training area, the bag around his shoulder seemed to weigh more heavily than it should. Dropping it on a bench in the corner and removing his jacket while swapping its place with the simple white towel he would sling over his shoulder. The bag sat crooked across the bench as he pulled himself down and reached to his shoes to tighten the laces a bit before wandering over towards a punching bag. New techniques he'd been working on but he needed to warm up, he needed to find himself in the heat of the moment and make sure that in a true combat situation he wouldn't be caught off guard.

Coming up to the black weighted bag in front of him, dangling empty and motionless with the sounds around them. The chain held it up as Katsumi reached out a hand and pressed his palm into the warm leather of the bag, pushing it slightly and feeling the weight against his hand. Stepping back with his right foot and letting his hand separate from the bag, Katsumi's body would twist as he breathed in and focused his concentration on the target in front of him. Quickly, a single punch blasted into the bag, rocking it a bit as his fist plummeted and dented the leather before retracting backward and his feet swapping in their stance.

An inhale followed as he reset himself quickly, before punching with his opposite hand in as he pushed the air out of his chest and pressed the force of his body into his hit. Slow at first, the second strike coming a little bit faster and with less power, the bag trouncing in its place as he stepped back and let his foot slide from its ball. The continued blows he brought in various forms, hooks from an offhand as he shifted his body and rotated to minimize his profile. The first beads of sweat began rolling off as he moved into furious combinations of different hits and brought his knees and kicks into the combos.

The bag shifted violently back and forth as he continued to push and attack violently feeling the dent and weight of the bag shift behind each blow as he grunted forward. Sweat trickled off and left prints of his fist into the bag that would be wiped away by his repeated hits. With a roundhouse kick, Katsumi was finally starting to feel warmed up to it all, his brow shifted with a couple beads of sweat he wiped away with the back of his hand. Stepping back and letting the bag bounce and lose its own momentum in place. The gym around him seemed to stall for a moment as he grabbed the towel folded over the bar to his side and pressing his face into it.

A callout came from the center of the stage where a boxing ring was set up, a challenge to anyone there to spar in a friendly way, whatever that meant. Katsumi looked at him, obviously bulkier and more trained than him, but that wasn't his concern, more so if he used any real techniques here, he'd be liable to shatter the entirety of the arena itself. Turning to face him and holding the towel flat out in his hands as he looked towards the arena before speaking up in response to his question.

"You serious?" he would linger as he would wait for him to turn his attention to Katsumi, "A friendly spar, what rules do you mind?" Katsumi would finish off stepping forward towards the ring with the towel still in his hand and his forehead dried from sweat. With some conviction, Katsumi stared from down below towards him, waiting for an answer to his question and feeling the looseness in his body as he began to read the challenger in front of him and get a better read on the situation.


[661 words]

"You serious?" he would linger as he would wait for him to turn his attention to Katsumi, "A friendly spar, what rules do you mind?"

Maikeru lifted his eyebrow. He was very impressed with the the offer. Maikeru looked at the boy and tilted his head. He saw the uninterest in everyone se and shook his head. “Tch…no tenacity.Well then. The rules are simple. Nothing below the belt, only use Taijutsu, and ‘Big Boom’ is our safe word, if things get out of hand. Maikeru had him step into the ring. He shuffled around to get ready for a fight. He was definitely shorter than Maikeru. He didn't look too seasoned in the style of fighting.

“Just give me a few minutes to warm up.” Maikeru held out his arms, straight ahead, outward from his chest. And then he fell down. Using his outreached arms to stop him from falling on his face, and began to do push-ups. He moved up and down, his arms beginning to slightly budge again. He kept going up and down until he felt his arms reach their peak snout of heat. He pushed forward, and completely ended up on his feet, breathing heavily. He turned to the newcomer and wiped the sweat from his head.

“Alright. The fighting style that I use is something I learned from my late mentor. It's a style that is easy to learn but difficult to master, he just called it Brawling. It's based around tenacious and relentless attacks. What it lacks in refinement it makes up for in unpredictability. It's focused on fighting with anger and rage, should be used in an attempt to main your foes.” Maikeru was telling him this to test his resolve. He wanted to know how brave the boy was. Because most people, he found out, become quite timid when hearing of the description of Brawling. “Don't worry. I'll try not to hurt you too much.” Maikeru gave a light chuckle after saying that, implying that he was just joking. What he didn't notice is that other members of the group gym started to become interested, and turning to see what was to happen during this spar. Maikeru took a ready position, practicing with by punching the air with his fists. He cracked his neck and began to shuffle. “Ready when you are.”

807 WC

The other boy lingered a minute before giving Katsumi his attention, taking a look around the room and the general lack of enthusiasm to accept his challenge. Katsumi's eyes would train on him and watch as he scanned the room after taking a quick glance at Katsumi. His first words were a disavowing of those around them followed by the rules, sticking to Taijutsu and a safe word. It almost made Katsumi laugh more than anything to have a safe word for a spar but maybe he would take it a bit more seriously in this case. It was the perfect chance to see if he could hide his own abilities under the cover of their spar, sticking to taijutsu would set the stage perfectly.

Katsumi would watch as he would call for a moment to warm up even further. Katsumi reached up and pulled himself onto the ring before using his hand to separate the ropes and bring himself inside the 10x10 meter ring ahead of him. The soft leather of the floormat had a bit of bounce to it, retracting just slightly under the weight as he felt himself seemingly float in his own preparedness. The other boy went straight to push-ups to warm himself up, landing on his hands and vigorously pressing himself upwards.

As he did that, Katsumi would bounce in place and feel out his body. Push-ups alone might bring his fists to par but Katsumi's combinations had his entire body feeling loose and warm. Light on the balls of his feet as he bounced and stretched his neck, feeling his limbs and shaking loose the anxiety to fight ahead of him while he assumed the opposite corner of the ring. Pressing his fists forward and quickly, feeling the air rush over his tightly clenched fists and retracting them back to himself as he continued to step rhythmically.

After he stood back up, the boy began to elaborate on his fighting style but Katsumi couldn't figure out if he was being genuine or trying it as an intimidation tactic. It didn't seem to weigh very heavily as Katsumi would stretch his arms across his chest and watch him blankly. As he continued on, Katsumi would smirk at his comment about not hurting him too much, bringing a bit of joy across his face.

"You know," Katsumi would begin while releasing his second stretched arm to his side as the other began to crack his neck and punch the air similarly.

"If you wanted me to take that bit of bravado more seriously you would have warmed up more than just your arms. But don't worry, I'll try to avoid returning too much pain too..." A devilish grin would dance across Katsumi's face as he would bring an arm up and slowly slide his bare foot across the mat to turn his side and minimize his profile. The readied arm in front of him stayed open but with his palm turned towards himself as his left arm remained in a closed fist at his side. Katsumi's right shoulder was facing towards his opponent with his head turned 45 degrees to look at him directly. There was a sort of smooth calmness about his movements as he didn't waste a single ounce of his stamina as he moved directly from point to point in that way.

There were two things he knew right out, that his opponent was confident, and it would serve him well to strike at his legs and force his footwork early to take the advantage. His insights would continue as Katsumi's eyes would roll around his opponent and feel out his movements as he offered Katsumi the first move. With a nod to signal he was ready Katsumi would measure out the distance between them before taking a quick step forward with his left foot. His pace would be relaxed as he would close the gap but his feet would remain stable and underneath his shoulders as he would close in whether or not his opponent remained still or moved with him.

As they would near each other, Katsumi would find the chance to step up with a rough meter between them, off of his left foot and leaping into the air a small bit so his legs would just leave the ground. Turning his body left and keeping his eyes on his opponent for as long as he could, Katsumi would twist quickly and bring his right leg around the back of his body for a spinning heel kick, trying to delay it and see how the other man would respond to his hit.

If Katsumi would be given the chance to recover, he would aim to stand back to the ground and cover his body and face with his arms while taking a step or two back to create some distance and see how his opponent would counter.


[829 words, 1490 words total]

"You know," The boy then began to crack his own neck while punching the air.  

"If you wanted me to take that bit of bravado more seriously you would have warmed up more than just your arms. But don't worry, I'll try to avoid returning too much pain too..." The boy smiled, and took a fighting stance. Maikeru smiled back. He liked im. “Name’s Maikeru by the way.” He looked at his body up and down, analyzing him. His stance was precise and careful, well organized. He was a technical fighter, so Maikeru couldn’t exactly throw caution to the wind.

Maikeru eyed his approach, while still shuffling around the ring. He kept his fist in front of his chest, while his foot evenly, his feet equally apart. The space between them became smaller and smaller until the boy launched an attack with his spinning heel kick. Maikeru had decided to let the strike land, and hit him square in the stomach. It didn’t hurt too much, and Maikeru played it off as if the strike was effective. He wanted to gauge the boy’s potential, and it seemed to him that there was a lot of it. Maikeru, recovering now, looked up to see that he had put his guard up. It was clear that he wasn’t confidant in that strike. Had he been, he would have continued to rush down Maikeru. A staggering opponent is an opponent that has lost.

“Not bad, not bad. You definitely have skills. No denying that. But let’s see your defense.” Maikeru switched up his stance, keeping his feet even, but his right shoulder facing his opponent. Maikeru moved slowly towards him. Rather than going for a carefully coordinated attack, just when there was a good two and a half meter between them, Maikeru moved to the left, to assure that his chest was facing past the boy, and then accelerated forward at sprint speed, holding his arm to go for a lariat. Instead of letting him drop, if the land was successful, Maikeru would maneuver around him, his arm wrapped around his neck, in the choke hold. He would attempt to pull his weight back and downward, to make sure that Maikeru’s back was on the floor, his arm still in the lock, to give him little option to counterattack. Maikeru grabbed hold of the wrist of the arm that was around his neck with his other hand, to tighten the grip. Maikeru wrapped his legs around his torso, to further lock the lock, so to speak. “Come on...tap out.”

1243 WC

Katsumi's heel kick came flying in, quickly digging into the flesh of his midsection and feeling the tense back of muscle and weight as he drove it in. Katsumi's eyes watching as the quick stagger in his stance continued after his foot was removed and he was moving into his defensive position. But his movements betrayed him as another liar, watching Katsumi dig back and bring his guard up, analyzing his movements as he feigned off balance. Maybe it was Katsumi's own penance to continue a fight despite an advantage or a worry that he was out of his league but it had already given him one insight.

His strikes weren't punishing enough to bring him down. A heel kick to the midsection at full speed would drive most to the brink of their constitution but this man had to be a taijutsu specialist like himself to absorb a blow like that and continue on. Maybe that was already obvious by his want to stick to taijutsu and his purely physical warm up but even as Katsumi brought this to his attention, his opponent was already jawing off about his attack. Katsumi's stance would hold as his eyes would trace the key movement points around his opponent, watching his limbs and shoulders, tracking where his eyes were looking as began to make his move.

His shoulder caddied against Katsumi who leaned into the balls of his feet as the man closed the gap again with a few quick steps before dashing at him with his arm out. Speed that far outmatched Katsumi came into play as the most he could do was bring up his arms and absorb the force of the clothesline with his forearms in a defensive position. Feeling the sting as he leaned in and did his best to keep his balance, feet digging into the mat under the force as the man continued to maneuver behind him. Moving his right arm down to his side as the man used pure physical force to take him down, making entire adjustments of his body in the time that Katsumi had merely to adjust his limbs.

Katsumi landed square against his center mass as the arm wriggled around his neck and trapped his left arm against his head as well before locking into place and beginning to tighten. It was a simple strangehold, an obvious grappling technique that showed dominance outright as long as Katsumi was helpless to over power him. And truthfully, his opponent absolutely overpowered him physically, that much was without question.

Still though, as the man taunted him to tap out and Katsumi held his breath calmly and began to think it out, knowing there was more ways to counter a chokehold than brute force. His left hand reached back to feel out his opponents head, finding the elbow of the arm that held him, he would grab hold of it and pull it up while leaning into the man heavily on the center of his back and trying to slide down his body as much as he would allow. If it weren't for his lack of breath and bits of panic starting to set in as he hurried to find his way out, the gap he would create on his right side would give him everything he needed to work with.

Feeling out his elbow to the man's midsection, he would measure it out and press into it, seeing where he could loosen up the grip of the man, wondering if pressure alone would give him the room to escape.

In the chance that pressure wouldn't work, he would shift violently towards his right shoulder and with as much natural speed as he could muster would try two quick elbows into his side just below the rib cage, or as near to it as he could in order to loosen his grip. Knowing that even the smallest release would give him a chance to squirm his way out and transition back to a more reasonable fighting stance.

Though, should that not work he would have one last resort up his sleeve to try. A sort of technique and understanding he'd been working on for some time. It might be out of the bounds of their fight a bit but there were no handsigns or indication that it would be a jutsu. Purely just a chance to show his opponent how far his abilities went by bring the volatile chakra within his system towards his hand, wrist, forearm, and elbow in his right arm. Bringing his arm high for one last elbow to the mans midsection, even if he anticipated it closing down, Katsumi would passively burst the chakra in his body and let the strike fall with a blinding speed that even he himself wouldn't be able to track or respond against. Going from the absolute highest range of motion and near instantaneous speed, he would strike the elbow deep into the man's side for one last attempt at freeing himself.

Once free, should Katsumi find a way to do so, he would simply squirm out from underneath and rear on top of his opponent laying down. If he could find his chance he would begin striking towards the mans abdomen and head, picking the opposite of the one he chose to defend until he could submit his opponent or force the next trick out of him.


[913 words, 2403 words total]

215/215 chakra:

As Maikumaru had a good grip a powerful grip around his neck, he smirked. He was sure that the boy would be tapping out eventually. But Maikumaru found that his hand was rubbing against his face. He moved his head from the side. Avoiding the rather uncomfortable interaction. But then it would reach down and touch the elbow that was reinforcing the choke position. He begin to feel an even more uncomfortable feeling in his ribs and stomach, as the boy’s sharp elbows begin to press up against him. Maikeru simply strengthened his abs by tightening them to make it more bearable.

“You are a persistent one, I see...I like that...but it’s going to take just a bit more than that to get out of this one!” But then he get the boy started to move his body very sporadically. Maikeru simply placed a tighter grip on him to keep him in check. But then he started to throw powerful strikes with his elbow into Maik’s ribcage. Maikeru noticed that this was an attempt to get him to loosen his grip. But He continued to endure the pain and grip even harder. “The fight in you just doesn’t die does it?”

But with one decisive and quick strike, Maikeru was hit really quickly and unexpectedly in the side, enough to make him loosen his grip on him. He transitioned from bing the restrained to the offender. The young boy started to wail on Maikeru, on his face and chest. He quickly put his guard up, protecting his face with himself with his forearm and fists. In a last ditch effort, he decided to attempt to absorb the blows as much as he can, and start punching back up at his opponent’s face. Eventually, if he wouldn’t be able to pound at his face as much as possible, Maikeru would have to use brute strength to push him off from the chest, by pressing his hands against his opponents chest, and slinging his upper body upward, while shoving with his arms to add more force to the push. He needed to gain the advantage and get on top of him. If his counter was successful, he would simply stand up to his feet and let him stand up. “Well I gotta say that you have a lot of skills. If it weren’t for my raw power alone, I would have been done for.”

1654

He liked to talk. That much was apparent both in the headlock and afterwards, as if he were assuring himself of some outcome or direction of the fight. Maybe he hadn't the intuition to read the situation to himself silently or maybe he was just trying to rub it in. Shaking confidence in the face of Katsumi's desperation was certainly an easy way to get into his hood. Katsumi could still feel it, the press into his chest and the brute strength that threw him several feet on his back before he rolled and took another step away. Even his strikes to his head, chest, and arms as he defended himself targeted every weak point and joint at the junctions of flesh and bone, trying to wear down on the tendons and leave a nagging soreness in his bones, any amount of damage to slow him down and wear him out.

Still, his opponent stood before him and had the audacity to give Katsumi the room to stand as well, knowing how weak his strikes and efforts were in comparison. It didn't make much of a difference and it was weighing more heavily on him as this dragged on. Feeling the labor in his breath as his energy was starting to circumvent his body as the energy, and power within himself was no longer a positive he could use in battle but was becoming neutral, necessary just to stay toe to toe as he had been.

Katsumi finished gathering his stance while his opponent finished speaking, his right foot sat back just a bit and his legs were shoulder width apart. His feet were caddied parallel with his stance and his body turned just slightly with his left arm raised and both his hands in fists. Catching a quick breath he would retort back, "There's still time," a smirk would build across his face as Katsumi would turn his fist to a flat palm and curl his fingers to entice his opponent to make the first move.

With knees slightly bent and knowing his opponent could close the distance in an instant compared to Katsumi, he would have to make a quick decision on where to strike, where to go for, and how to encounter the coming move. His opponent would be faster and stronger in every facet, and therefore Katsumi had to beat him on technique alone. Shifting his weight subtly to the balls of his feet while his eyes focused on the eyes of his opponent and he waited for him to make his move.

[431 words, 2834 words total]

Katsumi almost became complacent in his stance, as he awaited for his opponent's move for nothing to arrive. The weight shifted just behind the ball of his feet before he began to notice it, the pressure that was building into his heel before he woke himself up and immediately began to awaken himself in a small burst. To Maikeru, he would see that Katsumi would lean back slightly, a small burst in his eyes before the first leg stepped forward.

Katsumi's face would neutralize, the expression of focus and grit as he planted his right foot forward to close the gap in a larger than needed step between the two. His left foot followed quickly as his arms would pace to his sides and the air about himself would shift, turning into the ball of his left foot he would follow a similar movement as before but feel a certain lightness against the weight of his person. With a quick shift, he would press his foot into the ground while turning, bringing an arm up to shield his face and torso while spinning and jumping upwards. Just like his initial move, the spinning kick would leave little interpretation to the scene as he would continue his assault but just like he continued, he needed variation. The small burst in his hips and leg to throw his leg violently from his person and strike quickly.

That chakra move was his saving grace in this battle and as the reverse kick would launch through the air, Katsumi would pay little attention to whether or not it landed, whether the back of his heel would plant into Maikeru's chin or not. His focus was on the energy and speed at which he was forced to move, his balance compromised for a brief moment in the air as he would immediately underestimate how quickly his body could turn at that speed.

Coming downwards on the second half of the kick, Katsumi's body would rotate horizontally and he would catch himself by reaching a hand to the ground to hold his torso up. His legs still moved but he would feel a knee hit the ground next before his right foot would catch himself extended out across the mat. It was just an instant he was on the ground before he would press with his foot and knee and jump forwards and away from where he had kicked to get himself off the ground. It was a rookie mistake to lose track of his opponent and what he would have done in response or counter to that particular strike but it didn't matter. The battle had dulled his senses just a bit and as Katsumi would be jumping up to his feet and regaining his balance standing, the sound of a shout would cross the gym itself before crashing against Katsumi's inner ear and breaking his concentration.

"Katsumi!" the shout would impress upon his senses as Katsumi's eyes would dart away from the duel to see who was there. Katsumi would find a chuunin in his full ninja gear just a few meters away and a folder in hand with a serious look on his face. The male's voice had blown through and reverberated off of every surface and could have broken the attention of every single person there with ease.

"We have a mission today, I've been looking everywhere, did you forget?" the words impressed worry on Katsumi who held up a lazy hand to pause their match as the guilt of forgetfulness would pang through his mind and body.

Katsumi would turn just slightly out of breath and feeling the beginning of exhaustion in his muscles but doing his best to hide it as he would find his opponent for their bout. His eyes scanning across the matted floor of the ring before he found his opponent.

"Sorry, we'll have to finish this another time..." he would let off with a slight hint of exasperation on his voice but standing up straight with his hands on his hips and his elbows outward as he did his best to catch his breath. "The name is Katsumi, and next time, you might definitely want to warm up more than just your arms..." he would chuckle before descending down from the ring to follow after the chuunin, lazily and quickly throwing the bag of his things together and over his shoulder as he chased after and out of the building. The mummerings of how he hadn't forgotten and was just trying to train quickly before could be heard quietly between him and his chuunin successor before he was gone from the building and off to his next troublesome adventure.


[794 words, 3628 words total]
[5291 WC Thread Total] ~ 2 EP
[Exit Thread]

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