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RP: NovaCorp/Horizon City Apesaels Training

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Zakalwe

Inactive Member
Apesael was floating in the comfortable oblivion of his consciousness. The gentle whispering of ten thousand minds gave him the impression of being at one with nature and he felt as though he could stay in this state forever.

His armband GPC buzzed, sending a small electric current up his arm and jerking him from his meditative state. He sighed, uncurled from his lotus position and opened his eyes. Darkness.

“Gravity onâ€
 
Apesael knelt in front of the stars. He had taken advantage of one of the rare occasions that the Horizon came for enough out of the cloud to see the outside galaxy, and the stars where as usual restoring his sense of inner tranquillity, and clearing his mind of the fears and what ifs that might occur in the upcoming challenge.

His armband GPC beeped, signalling his self allotted time of meditation and contemplation had ended. He sighed regretfully, stood up and bowed to the stars, before walking a few steps backwards before turning his back and walking out.

His mind was so filled with thoughts of the stars, their beauty and hidden power, that he almost walked into a group of cadets. He snapped back to reality just in time to stop himself and he saw whose group it was with an inward sigh. Mephis'.

"Look where you’re going idiot. Oh it's you, why to busy looking for you soul Oni, to notice your superiors?"

Apesael had been weathering these comments since he arrive, and he had enough, annoyed how a few words could shatter his inner calm.

"Cadet Mephis, I hereby challenge you to a duel under NovaCorp personnel relations section 7, under the charge of repeated prejudice, provocation, verbal abuse and disrespect to an equal. At the nearest convenient time we shall consult an advocate." Apesaels voice was calm and cold but inside his heart sang with wonderful fury

This stunned Mephis, and well he might, challenges where not often issued, and Mephis couldn't back down from the challenge without risk of a fine, demotion and a report on his record. However by the same measure if the advocate saw the reason as unworthy of a duel the same punishment would be applied to Apesael.

Apesael pressed a few keys on his GPC and after finding the relevant information stated in the same cold but authoritarian tone

"First officer Tanjo is one of this weeks advocates and has no recorded preference for either of us. He has an opening at 1600 hours. Is that an agreeable time for you?"

Mephis nodded and was about to say something when Apesael cut him off

"Good, I'll see you outside his room then."

And with that he walked off fast, resisting the temptation to look backwards, but he already heard the murmuring of Mephis' group giving him encouragement.

Apesael turned the corner and slumped against the wall, holding his head in his hands.

"I shouldn't have done that, I lost my temper as per usual. I should be training for the challenge, and instead I engage a worm like Mephis to a duel! Damn it." He thought. His GPC beeped again telling him to hurry to Tactics. Apesael gave a heartfelt groan. Sometimes he really hated his GPC.
 
First Officer Tanjo heard the gentle rapping on his door and stood, sighing. "Come." He called softly, hoping it would simply be more reports. He liked reports - they didn't complain and make him tense.

Apesael came it "Sir, It's Cadet Emrys and Cadet Mephis reportiing for your advocation on a duel.â€
 
As Tanjo walked into the planetarium, several idle employees looked across at him and gulped at the look on his face. "Out! Now!" he shouted. "This area is a duel zone until otherwise stated!" and locked the doors around the edges of the circular room. "Kip." he said, and a small figure shimmered into existence, hovering off the floor to give the appearance of looking at him eye to eye. "Yes Tanjo?" the AI's high voice piped up. "I've been watching this with some interest..." then, looking across to the two duellers, nodded and waved "Good luck to both of you!"

Apesael seemed uncomfortable with the blade and took a somewhat shaky fighting stance, weight on the back foot and sword pointed to the ground. Mephis on the other hand, seemed very comfortable with his sword and stepped naturally into a fencing stance, with the sword pointed at his opponent, breaking common etiquete

Tanjo, versed in the ways of fencing himself, frowned. "Mephis... you do not start a duel in this manner." Looking up again to Kip, he murmured "Seal the doors, and get a recording. I have e feeling this will turn out nasty..."

Mephis let out an almost inaudible growl at being revoked, and lowered his blade

Tanjo, still frowning at Mephis experience and obvious aggression against Apesael's courage, raised his voice. "Duellers, raise your weapons!"

Apesael rose his rapier level to Mephis' solar-plexus and started his breathing technique.

Mephis brought his sword up until it was pointing at Apesaels neck, and moved it around a little, in anticipation

Tanjo looked away and said, after a long pause, "Begin." Immediately Mephis leapt forward, swinging his rapier in a short side-slash, trying to catch Apesael off guard.

Apesael blocked quickly with his rapier, but over compensated for weight, and left himself open, so Mephis flicked his rapier around in a circle, cutting under Apesael's guard and thrusting in toward his unprotected chest. Apesael in desperation leapt backwards, thrusting both legs of the floor and landing three feet away.

Mephis grinned, the obvious lack of experience on Apesael's part beginning to show. Hopping back and forth on his feet, his rapier pointing to the ground in an obvious show of disrespect - he didn't NEED to guard himself. "Feeling the heat Oni? You look to be sweating..." he darted in again, viciously slicing at the air and trying to force Apesael backward. Apesael blocked with his rapier again, but at the same time thrust both their swords upwards and came around with a sweeping kick.

Tanjo, looking on and frowning suddenly grinned. "Looks like Apesael might have the advantage after all..." he murmured to Kip, hovering at his side. "Really?" the little AI replied. "I thought Mephis was winning..." Looking down at Kip, Tanjo smiled, "Yes... yes, he was. But with the introduction of martial arts, he hasn't a hope. Apesael there is a very accomplished fighter."

Mephis grunted as the kick came out of nowhere, slamming into his ribs and almost winding him. Cursing, he forced the pair's swords back down, slowly wrenching his own out of Apesael's grasp and rotating it down toward his head, forcing him to lean backward. Grunting and throwing Mephis back slightly, Apesael thrust his foot forward into another kick to the solar-plexus. Mephis hunched over slightly, then roared and slammed Apesael's blade out of his fist, twisting the fingers painfully and sending the sword arcing across the arena to land outside the circle.

Apesael quickly retracted his fist, shaking it to get rid of the pain. He dropped down into a deep fighting stance, suddenly very wary of his opponents obvious advantage. Mephis, still gasping slightly from the sledgehammer hits to his abdomen, retreated slowly, his eyes locked on Apesael.

Apesael slowly scanned his opponents stance, looking for a weakness, and tried a dummy attack in the form of a kick to the knee, before trying a real punch to the head. Mephis swung his sword around unevenly, his eyes blinking strangely. "guuh..." he murmured as the punch to the head took him by surprise, slamming into his forehead and making fireworks flash in front of his eyes. Falling over backward, he recovered just before he hit the floor and rolled to flip back up to his knees, then his feet, and charge forward, swinging the sharp sword wildly, his eyes wide and his face locked in a grimace of rage and pain. Apesael slapped the sword out of it's path, hitting the side of the sword with the back of his hand and side-steeping, then following it through with a roundhouse kick to the back. Mephis dropped to the floor, air expelled from his lungs in a loud "hufff!" as he hit. The sword, held against his body, sliced into his shoulder, blood welling up around it and ending the duel.

Tanjo entered the ring quickly, Kip hovering at a distance, and murmured to Apesael "Very well done..." as he passed, then knelt to roll Mephis over. Wincing at the sight that greeted him, he carefully withdrew Mephis' sword from his shoulder and dropped it next to him, then ripped a strip of soft cloth off the end of Mephis uniform and bandaged the shoulder. Apesael, breathing deeply straightened himself, coming out of fighting stance. "Thank you Sir. It was a worthy duel." Kip zipped over to Apesael, gently hovering around him in circles "Hiya Apesael! I'm Kip, in case you didn't already know! Actually, you were hopelessly outmatched, sword-wise... very nice addition to fencing!" pausing, he added "your martial arts that is!"

"Thank you Kip." Apesael inclined his head, smiling gently "Mephis was overconfident, it was that that allowed my victory, That and how he lost his temper."

Mephis, the last of his conscious thought slipping away, stood behind them, grabbing his blood-stained sword as he did so. With an outraged roar, he took a vicious overhand swipe at Apesael's unprotected back, and was surprised in a detached way to hear a fleshy thunk as his sword impacted with something. Apesael heard the same thunk and whirled around, and saw Memphis' sword imbedded to the bond in Tanjo's arm.

Tanjo had, moving with lightning speed, thrown his arm up, standing at the same time, and now stood with his teeth gritted, eyes closed and shaking slightly, blood running down the lower edge of the sword from the deep wound and welling up to run slowly drip to the floor.

Apesael moved forward, close to fury at this attack on a superior and readied a reverse punch. Tanjo opened his eyes suddenly and stuck out his other arm, blocking Apesael's strong blow. Slowly, he turned his head to Mephis who was staring at him, no longer angry but simply confused. He slowly dragged his arm along the sword to the point, making a slick "shhhhing...", then reached out with both hands to Mephis forearms, his long fingers circling them completely. A grim smile smile crossed his face for a second before he suddenly, viciously twisted, twin snaps sounding like whip cracks as the bones of Mephis' arms broke and jacknifed into the surrounding flesh.

Mephis was beyond thinking, in pure agony, and screamed, jerking his body violently in a futile attempt to escape from the pain but being held by Tanjo's rock hard grip. Apesael came forward and backhanded Mephis' head, putting him out of his misery for the moment. He grinned savagely, enjoying the feeling of avenging an attack on honour and his superior, before regaining control on himself.

Tanjo, suddenly looking confused and exhausted, dropped to his knees and looked down at his arm for the first time. Looking up at Apesael and grinning for a moment, he said "Ow." then keeled over sideways. Kip zoomed in to him for a moment, then looked up at Apesael too. "Don't worry, I have alerted medical teams and they're on their way..." Looking down at Tanjo's arm, he murmured "I wonder..." then fizzled away into light. A moment later, small sparkles appeared around Tanjo's wound and the bleeding stopped. Looking closely, Apesael could actually see the flesh slowly knitting together. Returning in a flash, Kip grinned and murmured "Knew it! Nanite enhanced... but didn't know how to activate them!"

Apesael went over to Mephis and looked at his sleeping face with a mix of wonder and disgust. What drove him to this? He layed him out in a more comfortable looking position and then walked back to Kip.
Apesael mused, "So Kip, what did you think of the duel? Was it what you expected?"

Kip simulated a quick backflip, "landing" to hover as if he were sitting on Apesael's shoulders. "Um... yeah, I guess! The only duel's I've seen so far have been fought with pistols or ranged weaponry... not many people go in for swords!" He momentarily manifested his hand, ruffling Apesael's hair and continuing "But swords and martial arts? It was like watching an action sequence from a vid!"

Apesael asked, surprised, “You watch action videos?"

Kip giggled slightly and said loudly "Yup! all the time!"

Apesael laughed quietly, Kip's optimism was contagious "When's that
medical team going to get here?"

Kip frowned "Lemme check..." and looked off into the distance a moment, his eyes unfocused. "They should be here about..." he grinned and looked over as the large main door hissed open "Now!"

The med teams came in quickly, two hover beds between the five members. "What happened here? We where told there was a duel but what's Tanjo doing injured?" The lead medic asked while the other four got Mephis and Tanjo onto stretchers and began rudimentary first aid.
Kip scowled and muttered "Head case on the floor there with the broken arms is the only one injured. leave Tanjo here. I have recordings of the whole lot, just leave him to me... I need to debrief him on something"
"OK Kip, whatever you say". The lead medic gestured and Tanjo was lowered back to the floor, the medic team jogged out of the room, carrying Mephis on the stretcher.

Tanjo groaned. He opened his eyes and slowly, strangely, the world blurred in and out of focus. He saw a strange ghost-like grid overlaying everything he saw, small blue lights flowing along it in places. Finally, his vision swam back into focus and the grid faded. "uugh...what happened? I feel like a transport module hit me..."

"Sir, you intercepted a blow meant for me, and it uhm ... almost severed your arm. You passed out after breaking his arms." Apesael said, and held out his hand to help him up.

Tanjo looked confused and looked down at his arm. By now the nanites had finished their work and all that remained was a slightly paler patch of skin. "I did what...? I don't remember that!"

"According to Kip sir you have nanites in your body that heal you. Honestly sir a few minutes ago there was a huge gash in your arm. You weren't really acting yourself either." Apesael tried to answer.

Kip suddenly spoke up, still sounding terminally optomistic. "Yup! Got recordings!" Pausing a moment, he stared at Tanjo for a moment before continuing, "And welcome back to the land of the living! ... Officer Tanjo, would you mind if I did a quick scan of your body? there's something I want to check."

"Uh ... sure, whatever you think is best Kip." Tanjo slowly shook his head, trying to get rid of the groggy feeling. Kip nodded, motioning Apesael to step back. A moment later, a quick beep sounded and Kip brought up a holographic readout of Tanjo's body. embedded in his chest, close to the heart, was a small metallic object. "Hmmm... You appear to have had a nanite implant. I would guess performance enhancing... and the rate at which you healed up..." He frowned, staring at Tanjo's face. "This is Yamatai Military grade equipment. What are you doing with military grade nanites in your blood?"

"Nanites? Aren't nanite enhancements outlawed in NovaCorp?" Apesael asked, followed by Tanjo's outraged "Never mind that, cadet! What the Hell are they doing in me?!"

Kip nodded at Apesael. "Usually. I would guess they have been added to Tanjo's system without his consent..." He stared searchingly at Tanjo's face before continuing, "Officer Tanjo... were you ever in the Yamatai Military?" Tanjo replied, confused,"I don't know, I... I can't remember".

Kip nodded again. "Well Officer Tanjo, we will have to look into this... perhaps another time. For now, be gratefully you have nanites - otherwise you'd be turning gray about now, calculating the amount of blood you would have lost..."He turned to Apesael, murmuring "keep an eye on him..." before continuing more loudly, "Well done on your duel, I'm sorry your opponent turned out to be so... crazy!" He grinned, hopped off Apesael's shoulders and manifested his avatar, pulling Tanjo to his feet. "Why don't you two go have a drink or something? I have some work to do... cleaning up blood for example." Wrinkling his nose, he faded and was gone.

Apesael asked softly, "Sir, what will happen to Cadet Mephis?" Tanjo, still shocked at the revelations into himself, murmured "I don't know cadet... but I'm guessing he'll be patched up and sent back to wherever he came from... You'll probably get whatever posessions he accumulated here, but these are special circumstances, so don't be too sure..."

"That's fine sir. Do you want me to accompany to your quarters, office or a bar as Kip suggested? You still look a little pale, if you don't mind me saying so."

Tanjo smiled, in spite of himself. "Oh, the bar definately. I think I could do with a drink!"
 
Apesael pounded away at the punch bag, each hit smashing it against the wall, to ricochet back for another hit. There was something soothing in the regularity of the hits, the repetition let him forget his fear and anxiety over the upcoming test, especialy in the empty training hall. Unfortunately his train of thought brushed against the forbidden area, and all the tension over the upcoming event rushed back. In a primal instinct was to lash against this, and this exposed itself as a punch at the punch bag, with all of his pent up anxiety and strength behind it, his eyes closed in a wince. When he opened his eyes he found the punch bag had exploded and was now to be found four metres two his right, the chain broken. He sighed, he had lost his temper far too often recently. On the bright side however, the tension was gone, he felt strangely rejuvenated.

Tomorrow was the test, and now with the stress and tension gone he could finally think about it straight. It was for the close combat special award, so melee would be the name of the game. He had practised hard for the last two days, memorising all the different blocks and attacks, and engaging in several practise fights. And there was that fight with Mephis …
Mephis had been thrown out of NovaCorp, with great dishonour, and the counsel, who had taken great offence by his actions, had spread word of what he had done to all the major corporations. His life would be very difficult from now on. Thinking of Mephis made Apesael depressed. Mephis, for all of his rudeness and impudence, had been a skilled combatant, and a very skilled tactician, it was a terrible waste of potential.

However he couldn’t waste time thinking about what ifs. Apesael opened his Jo case and took out his preferred weapon, the tetsujo, or metal jo. It was to heavy for most people to use well, but his training, combined with his above human strength, meant he could wield it as easily as a normal man wielded a jo. He began a very elegant and fast routine, the Jo moving to fast to keep track of with the eye. He closed his eyes and allowed his mind to direct his hands, not slowing down, completing the dance like moves relying entirely on skill.

Finishing with a double handed downwards strike, Apesael had a small smile on his lips. He felt cleansed. He opened his eyes and put his tetsujo away in the case. He was ready.
 
All right, this was it. Apesaels heart was beating franticly as he slowly jogged towards the Dojo. He had been sent the time that morning, at five in the morning to be precise. It was now 7:58 and he was standing outside the doors of the Dojo. He a deep breath and hit the open button.

"Enter", said a deep, smooth voice from inside the dark room. The shihan stepped into the pool of light from the door, smiling slightly. "Are you ready?" he asked, as Apesael moved inside, slapping the door's control panel so that it close quickly behind the trainee and leaving white scars across his vision for a moment, as his eyes adapted to the deep blue ambient lighting of the room.

Apesael bowed deeply. "I am ready Shiham." He would never admit to anyone how unready he really felt. He glanced around the room slowly.

"Then let it begin" said the small man, backing into the darkness. Almost immediately, a challenge rang out across the large space, and the lights brightened, illuminating a red-garbed novice as he adopted a combat stance, facing Apesael warily.

Apeseal dropped into a low fighting stance, hand in the free-style position. He began to study his opponent’s stance and breathing, looking for a weakness to exploit. He really wished he had been allowed to bring his Tetsujo, but the message had been clear, come unarmed.

Suddenly, the novice broke into a sprint across the room, leaping into a perfectly executed flying kick at head height just a few meters from his opponent with a loud shout.

Responding with instinct Apesael moved out of the way instantly, before bringing his leg up in such a way to intercept the novice.

The man's foot slammed into Apesael's leg, knocking them both to the padded floor in an undignified heap. Rolling back quickly and wincing, the novice slowly stood, watching Apesael closely.

Flipping up, Apesael took the offensive with a palm strike to the face, accompanied by a sweep of the legs. His heart was singing, there was no fear or tension here, only relsease.

The novice dropped backward, clutching at his face. With one hand, he signalled surrender, blood leaking through the fingers of the other in little rivulets as he clamped it over his nose and crawled a little way off to slump against the wall. "Excellent" murmured the Shihan, appearing from the shadows in one corner, and signalling another fighter forth. This man was clad in blue robes, and carried a Jo which he arrogantly twirled around one wrist and then the other, forming a whirling figure of eight in front of him.

A man of his own heart, a wielder of Jo. Apesael knew how dangerous he could be. He kept his arms wide and began to slowly advance on the fighter, keeping solid eye contact.

The man looked questioningly toward the Shihan for a moment, but the smaller man had melted back into invisibility. Frowning, he advanced as well and slowly flicked his weapon from one hand to the other.

Apesael flung himself into motion with a double swing kick, landing after the first and using the momentum to launch his foot straight at the man's head.

Grinning at the attack, the Jo-wielder swung his weapon in a simple arc and slammed Apeseal's foot off course, unbalancing him

Apesael landed with his two hands in front of him, in a Poisson, not unlike as if he was doing press-ups. He quickly levelled a sweep at the man's leg's.

Almost laughing now, the man slammed his Jo into the ground, blocking Apesael's sweep. It did, however, knock him off balance and force him to stumble backward as the Jo bucked in his hands.

Apesael righted himself and lunged forward with a reverse punch to the head, followed by two to the stomach and one to the groin.

The man thumped down hard onto the floor, head bowed and winded. The Jo hung loose in his hand for a moment, before he swung it end first upward to impact hard on Apesael's jaw, almost lifting him off his feet.

Apesael winced, the pain threatening to overwhelm him. He reached down and switched of that part of his brain through telepathy. He was really mad, killing mad. In quick succession he axe kicked the man in the solar plexus three times, letting out a kiai with every kick.

Sighing gently, and with a confused look in his eyes, the blue-robed man slowly sank onto his back, eyes closed. "Very well done!" roared the Shihan from his hidden watching place, and another man stepped through the arch at the back of the room. He didn't appear to have any weapons at first, but suddenly he flicked out a knife from his belt and flicked it into the air, the blade glinting and flashing as it turned.

Apesael bent down and picked up the Jo. He felt much more comfortable now he had his favoured weapon with him, he span it, quickly compensating for the lighter Jo than he usually used. He lunged forward with a flurry of blows faster than the eye could follow, his expertise with this weapon evident.

Flopping to the ground bonelessly, the knife-wielding man slipped under Apesael's assault, kicking up with one foot to slam the Jo into the air as he rolled backward, nimbly standing again and hop-dancing from left to right.

Apesael can forward with a side snap kick to the groin, punching out at head height to slam into the man's temple

Grunting with pain, the man retreated slowly, raising his knife and slicing at Apesael's fist as he withdrew, opening a thin slice across his knuckles and splashing blood to the floor

Apasael looked at his fist with some interest, before launching forward in a high-speed assault of a punch with his uninjured fist to the head followed by a low thrust kick to the solar plexus.

Shaking his head to clear it and stumbling backward again, the man dropped his knife, sticking into the floor and vibrating for a moment. Staring down at his hand, the man snarled and kicked out with fury, slamming square into Apesael's groin.

Apasael winced as the pain rocketed through his body, but had the presence of mind to clench his upper legs. The man's leg now stuck, Apesael brought his uninjured fist down on the man's knee, snapping it.

The pain in the man's leg was so intense that he didnt actually feel it for a moment, staring in confusion at his leg that now bent backward, hanging strangely as it extended from him to his opponent. As the pain slammed into his brain, he screamed horribly and fainted, dropping to the ground and wrenching his leg further, twisting the lower leg backward in relation to the upper as the shattered knee ground around 180 degrees.

"Very good", the Shihan roared again, apparently enjoying the violence greatly. He motioned for the next fighter.

The next fighter entered the ring slowly, two nunchuku clearly tucked into his belt.

Apesael was feeling very weary, the last three fights had not been easy on him. His groin, jaw and fist still hurt, and he couldn't fully shut down his pain receptors without loosing his ability to fight properly. He had a nasty feeling that some of the tendons on his right fist where damaged, and that would mean he couldn't hit with the knuckles. He tried his best to telepathically convince his body it felt better, and adopted a defensive stance.

The new fighter, looking first to the three slumped against the wall and then to the wounded Apeseal, smiled grimly. Spinning the nunchuku around in blurred circles, he advanced on Apesael at a slow walk, half-crouched, and forced him to back slowly away.

Apesael did not think he had the strength to continue a offensive style of combat, so stayed defensive, moving slowly, and watching for any sign of weakness. He would have to play on his opponents confidence if he was to win this one.

Halting suddenly as he saw Apesael's weariness, the man stopped spinning his nunchuku and caught the ends, holding one pair in each hand. Looking quizically at his opponent for a moment, he suddenly gave him a friendly smile and kicked the Jo across the floor toward Apesael, before beginning to spin his own weapons again.

Apesael was surprised at this. This was the first fighter which appeared to have honour. He picked up the Jo and adopted a defensive position with it, horse stance.

Still not appearing satisfied, the strange fighter let one of his nunchuku spin off into the darkness to thud against the wall. With the other, he began a complicated figure of eight that arced around his body, humming and swishing as the free tip moved through the air at immense speed

Apesael was not going to make the first move this time, whenever that had happened earlier he had ended up getting pounded. It was as the Shihan said "The defender must always win." He wished this applied to life outside sparing. The nunchuku where very impressive, their wielder clearly competent, and Apesael had serious doubt's about besting him. He tried to get rid of those thoughts. Doubt yourself and you will loos. "Good luck" He sent telepathically to his opponent.

The man smiled slightly, and an answering voice echoed around Apesael's mind "And to you too, young one...". Ending his display, he dropped into a low crouch, his weapon held in both hands outstretched, on above and behind his head, the other pointed directly at his opponent. "Your move..." his mind echoed, as outwardly he stayed focused on Apeseal, appearing to be about to attack.

Apesael slowly slid forward, his Jo held in such away so it would block downward attacks and could be quickly moved to block side ones. He locked eyes with his opponent, waiting for the slightest twitch that would give him an early warning of an attack.

After a good three minutes of neither opponent doing anything, Apesael thrust his Jo forward, without warning, aimed straight at the man's solar plexus.

With lightning speed the nunchuk arced up out of the man's hands, the central chain wrapping around the end of the Jo and pulling its point down into the ground, instead of to the man. He calmly reached out with one other hand, taking hold of the Jo and wrenching it out of Apesael's grip. "Hmm... You will have to do better than that..." he murmured, handing the weapon back and taking a step backward.

"Fine." Apesael attacked again, using both ends to lay a flurry of attack to the man's head.

Wincing slightly at a few of the blows, the man raised his arms and calmly blocked the attacks, although the strain showed on his face. "not bad..." he sent, kicking out against Apesael's chest once, then flicking around in a circle to land another kick that lifted his opponent off his feet, hurling him a little back backward.

Apesael swore mentally. Now both sides of his jaw hurt. He was going to have to replace several teeth after this. He dummied an attack to the face, before using the other end to hit the man's floating rib.

The man grunted, tensing his muscles a millisecond too late to prevent the attack from doing damage. Silently, he brought his foot around in another kick, aiming for Apesael's temple

Apesael was in the worst possible position to block this, so went with the kick, bending his body to minimilse the force. It didn't work very well and Apesael was sent sprawling to the floor, head rining. He fought hard to get his vision to stop blurring.

"Hmmm... I don't think you can finish this..." echoed the man's sending. He turned on his heel and marched away a few steps, before turning to bow. "I give you my strength..." came his voice, and then he was gone, fading into the shadowy edge of the arena.

Apesael picked himself up, telepathy quickly organising his mind and clearing it. He felt strength wash through him, and all his pain seemed to diminish. He felt amazing, like he could do anything. He quickly held that in check, overconfidence was what defeated most people. He marvelled at his last opponent, a superior fighter had surrendered, and somehow helped him. He couldn't quite understand. In any case he prepared for the next challenge, in a forward stance, the jo wide in on hand the other straight to the side.

A final warrior stepped through the arch at the back of the room. Dressed in black, vast and all of seven foot tall, he was the image of an ancient executioner, right down to the black hood. He didn't appear to wield any weapons at first glance, but as he moved into the light, metal studs glinted maliciously in the dim light. "Ahh... that one..." came the previous fighter's voice, still in contact with Apesael's mind. "He appears strong, and yes.. he is... VERY strong... but not unbeatable. You may notice that he limps slightly - his right leg is devoid of sensation. He will feel no pain, but will be weak defending that side..."

Thank you for your assistance. Apesael stared at the behemoth. This was not going to be fun. Waiting for him to attack first was not an option. Apesael began thinking liquid thoughts, a technique he'd been taught, think like water, and move like water. He dove forward, ready to dodge any blow levelled his way, and slammed his Jo into the Goliath’s right knee.

Stumbling backward, just barely, the hug man slammed his fist through the air with a roar, aiming directly for Apesael's exposed head.

Apesael dodged out the way, moved around to the man's back, and thrust the Jo into his floating rib, in one fluid move.

Grunting through his mask, his behemoth opponent swung his other fist around in an arc that connected with Apesael's shoulder, hurling him to the ground.

Apesaels shoulder screamed at him. He told it to shut up. It ignored him. He roled as he hit the floor, coming up in a crouching position, and rushing forward to deliver another blow to the right knee.

The man sagged onto one knee with a thump as Apesael's Jo pushed his right knee forward. Noticing the knife on the floor, still embedded in the padding, he reaching down and closed his fist around it and wrenched it out, hurling it with surprising dexterity toward Apesael's injured shoulder as he spun and stood again.

The knife entered his shoulder with a horrible *thunk*. The screaming became a 100 part choir of pain, and Apesael let out primal scream. His arm hang limp, clearly the knife had damaged some muscles, but not much blood was coming out. Through some random good luck it had avoided all major veins and arteries. He cut off all sensations from that arm. Apesael tried to make the best of the situation and began to circle the giant man, bombarding his head with one handed blow's from his Jo.

The huge man grinned through his mask, mouth twisting into a horrible parody of a smile. As he swung his fist around in a lethal arc, he suddenly stopping, looking confused, and stared at Apesael for a moment. "Finish him..." came the voice of the fourth. "He won't be like that for long... and if you don't he will surely finish YOU." Indeed, as the words whispered through Apesael's mind, his opponent was already beginning to move more coherently, his eyes focusing evilly on Apesael through the narrow slits in his mask.

Apesael drew the knife out of his shoulder. Desperate situations called for desperate responses. He drew it out, and plunged it as hard as he could into the man's collarbone.

Roaring in pain, the man flailed at Apesael, sheer luck directing his blows. Wrenching the knife out of his chest, the man coughed horribly, blood seeping over his lips.

Apesael blocked the man's blows quite easily. Flailing never realy works anyway he thought, before landing a thrust kick towards the mans right leg.

Collapsing awkwardly, the black garbed man put his hand down to prevent himself from falling further. Unfortunately, it was the hand he held the knife in, and the high velocity plus his own weight drove the blade clean through his palm to stick up into the air, red sheen glinting. Grunting in surprise at the cold feeling in his hand, the man coughed again, spilling more blood across his lips. As he saw the blade his eyes widened in surprise, and he held his hand up to look at it dazedly. "wha...?" he gurgled, and collapsed into a fit of coughing, blood rolling freely across his chin to splatter against the padded floor. "You win, I think..." came the voice of the fourth, actually speaking rather than sending.

Stepping into the light, with his white cloak shimmering, he took Apesael by the shoulder and lead him through the archway into the next room, gesturing the Shihan who had, suddenly, appeared to sort out the mess.

Apesael was apprehensive about this new room, his whole body felt as if it had been pulversied (as indeed it had), and he was not in a fit state for any more fighting. Pleased was he when it was a quiet garden. He was surprised by this, what with it being a garden with plenty of smaal trees, and small stream and a mahogany desk in the centre.

"Welcome, Apesael, to my office" said the man, dusting off his clothes. "If you would find somewhere to sit while I find your papers? The carp are particularly relaxing to watch, I find."

Apesael knelt by the stream obediantly, and stared intensely at a carp, which apeared to notice him and hid beneath an ornamental bridge.

"Ah. here we are." Murmured the man behind him, soft voice carrying strangely across the bubbling of the stream. "Your papers," he handed a small portfolio to the tired fighter, "And your congratulations-on-winning weapon. Ceremonial, but quite functional." As he spoke, he drew out a short katana, blade gleaming in the softly lit room. The hilt was engraved with intricate patterns, etched black onto the silvery metal. Studying it for a moment, the man resheathed the weapon, handing it to Apesael with a small flourish. "May it serve you well, warrior."

Apesael bowed deeply and accepted the lovely looking sword. He was pleased with his success "Thank you sir."

"Sir ... who are you?" Apesael didn't mean to be rude, but his curiosity demanded that he asked.

"Me?" the man paused, smiling at some inner joke. "I ... I am the power behind many things, yet none know of me. I am ... the one who knows all and sees all ... the one who plays with the lives of Novacorp's Sixth, manipulating them, using them ..." He grinned, and patted the tired and bewildered Apesael on the shoulder. "My friends call me Zeke! ... oh, and forget I mentioned "the Sixth". they don't exist!" He winked, gently shepherding Apesael back through the archway. "Get some rest..." he sent to Apesael, motioning the Shihan over to him as he watched the young man walk toward the door.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Zeke, sir." Apesael was very enthusiastic about rest, sleep he could handle. His mind reeled though. The Sixth? He'd never heard of the Sixth. He bowed and walked backwards towards the door before walking out, it closing silently behind him. Sleep. Now.
 
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