"Wrong!"
CRACK!
The wet sound of wood on flesh resounded through the courtyard as Blazing Echo went over her fighting stances and movements with her instructor Rising Shadows, the most strict of all the Nagual instructors
Already, the young guaeko's arms, hands and legs were slick with blood, but not once did she cry out. She took the pain and used it to press on. She moved through the movements again, slower, and a small smile turned up the corners of the instructors lips. Truth be told, she had been performing the moves perfectly since he woke her nearly four house ago, but she would need to be beyond perfect if she was to survive next weeks exam.
It was true, for the fifth year in a row, the majority of his class had been selected for the Fightmaster's exam. Also, for the third year, he would be sending both a male and female student to take the entrance exam for the Soldiers of Awloo, Kohana's most dangerous and highly trained warriors. A common, and not all that wrong, belief was that not even the Avatar's Templar could match one of these warriors.
And now, Rising Shadow was preparing another student for the entrance exam. She had come from one of the Guaeko ruling families, but she was anything but soft. Blazing Echo, while on her survival quest actually found, raided, and escaped a Sha'Nai village without being identified or caught. Using magic and martial skill unseen outside of an apprentice level student, she raided the village stores and made off with enough food to survive her entire testing time. The Sha'nai dispute the validity of the story in public, yet speak of it vehemently in private.
"Master Shadows, will we be stopping soon for breakfast? I am getting hungry, and my injuries are making me weak." Echo spoke quietly, flowing through the movesets like water over stone.
This time, when the wooden rod cut through the air, it did not find flesh or bone, it found only stone. As Rising Shadow swung his cane to rap the student on the knees, Echo had moved quickly through two separate move sets, one with her hands, while her feet and body moved through her martial steps. As her left foot slammed down onto the cobbles, she thrust her paws out palms facing the oncoming weapon.
With speed untraceable with the naked eye, a wall of stone rose from before the young canine to block the attack. Echo was proud of herself for calling the wall so quickly and in that celebration was not prepared when her master's staff crashed through the stone. She had lost the element of surprise, so would not be able to pull the same move again.
Bending backward at the waist Echo grabbed the rod as it brushed past, using it for stability as she drove her foot into the underside of her teacher's face, causing his head to snap backwards and loosened his grip on the weapon. As it left his hands, the wood became a hissing cobra, which Echo tossed to the side, expecting that sort of illusion technique.
Turning back to her instructor Echo threw a feint of a left jab, but followed through with a jumping front kick that transitioned into a falling axe kick that Rising Shadows barely got his arms up to block.
She is fast. Much faster than the last time we sparred. I will have to end this quickly if I want to avoid having her make me look foolish. Shadow mused to himself as he blocked and parried 2 punches and a roundhouse kick that sent him stumbling to the side.
Taking the momentary pause in the battle to inhale deeply. Rising Shadows knelt to the ground as if injured, and quickly began to scrawl symbols in the dust. When he finished his hasty design, he rose slowly still carrying the show of injury. Echo didn't buy it for a second and just sprinted at her teacher, leaping up and spinning in the air to look down at him, and for the first time, noticed the runes in the dirt.
As she landed, the ground beneath her feet sucked her in up to the knees like a quagmire. Knowing that fighting this technique would only make it worse, Echo focused on how to counter it. She knew that she could not rely on sympathy from her instructor, so it would have to be on her own merits that she got out.
Focusing her mind and wanting to cry out in pain as the earth began to harden again, Blazing Echo could think of only one technique to use, but it was very dangerous in her weakened and mentally exhausted state. Still, she could not bow out of this just yet.
Sighing out, she dropped her head and just stared down at her encased legs. Grinning as she lifted her head, she folded her hands as if to pray, and seemed to melt into the ground. It was an advanced level technique in which she called upon her mastery of earth and stone magics, and actually disappeared into the very ground Rising Shadow had meant to be her prison. She would have to hurry though, or her body would reconstitute inside the earth, instantly killing her.
Rising Shadows did not expect this, and it was evident. He looked all around him as if to try and guage where his star pupil would come up, but try as he might to detect her magic, he could not do it. He did not expect her to use the technique she did, and came flying out of one of the stone pillars behind him. Without seeing the attack, he had no time to react, and was quickly pinned, face down, with his student kneeling atop his back.
"Very good, Echo, you have been studying, and I can see that you are ready for anything that may come. You show great promise in dealing with any attacker, no matter how advanced. And your use of strategy and the environment makes you nearly as impossible to plan for as a group of sha'nai assassins. Well done, now please....GET OFF ME!"
Blazing Echo could not contain the smile that came to her maw as she hopped off her prone teacher, but it was short lived for as her paws touched the ground again, the exhaustion of pushing herself so far came flooding back.
With eyes rolling into the back of her head, she went limp. She would have fallen headfirst into the hard stone cobbles of the courtyard, but this is one thing that Rising Shadows did foresee, and quickly moved to scoop her up, carrying her towards the dormitories, grabbing his staff as they passed it. After tucking his student into bed, the feline instructor went to the mess hall to get her some breakfast for when she awoke.
To her credit, she lasted much longer than I expected. And to think that she will be joining the ranks of the Soldiers of Awloo, five years before she would have actually been considered, had she not been pushed by a hardass like me...
Rising Shadow allowed himself to smile fully on the amount of skill he had been shown this morning...and now, one thought crossed his mind.
Now, where is Autumn Rain. It's time for HIS training.
CRACK!
The wet sound of wood on flesh resounded through the courtyard as Blazing Echo went over her fighting stances and movements with her instructor Rising Shadows, the most strict of all the Nagual instructors
Already, the young guaeko's arms, hands and legs were slick with blood, but not once did she cry out. She took the pain and used it to press on. She moved through the movements again, slower, and a small smile turned up the corners of the instructors lips. Truth be told, she had been performing the moves perfectly since he woke her nearly four house ago, but she would need to be beyond perfect if she was to survive next weeks exam.
It was true, for the fifth year in a row, the majority of his class had been selected for the Fightmaster's exam. Also, for the third year, he would be sending both a male and female student to take the entrance exam for the Soldiers of Awloo, Kohana's most dangerous and highly trained warriors. A common, and not all that wrong, belief was that not even the Avatar's Templar could match one of these warriors.
And now, Rising Shadow was preparing another student for the entrance exam. She had come from one of the Guaeko ruling families, but she was anything but soft. Blazing Echo, while on her survival quest actually found, raided, and escaped a Sha'Nai village without being identified or caught. Using magic and martial skill unseen outside of an apprentice level student, she raided the village stores and made off with enough food to survive her entire testing time. The Sha'nai dispute the validity of the story in public, yet speak of it vehemently in private.
"Master Shadows, will we be stopping soon for breakfast? I am getting hungry, and my injuries are making me weak." Echo spoke quietly, flowing through the movesets like water over stone.
This time, when the wooden rod cut through the air, it did not find flesh or bone, it found only stone. As Rising Shadow swung his cane to rap the student on the knees, Echo had moved quickly through two separate move sets, one with her hands, while her feet and body moved through her martial steps. As her left foot slammed down onto the cobbles, she thrust her paws out palms facing the oncoming weapon.
With speed untraceable with the naked eye, a wall of stone rose from before the young canine to block the attack. Echo was proud of herself for calling the wall so quickly and in that celebration was not prepared when her master's staff crashed through the stone. She had lost the element of surprise, so would not be able to pull the same move again.
Bending backward at the waist Echo grabbed the rod as it brushed past, using it for stability as she drove her foot into the underside of her teacher's face, causing his head to snap backwards and loosened his grip on the weapon. As it left his hands, the wood became a hissing cobra, which Echo tossed to the side, expecting that sort of illusion technique.
Turning back to her instructor Echo threw a feint of a left jab, but followed through with a jumping front kick that transitioned into a falling axe kick that Rising Shadows barely got his arms up to block.
She is fast. Much faster than the last time we sparred. I will have to end this quickly if I want to avoid having her make me look foolish. Shadow mused to himself as he blocked and parried 2 punches and a roundhouse kick that sent him stumbling to the side.
Taking the momentary pause in the battle to inhale deeply. Rising Shadows knelt to the ground as if injured, and quickly began to scrawl symbols in the dust. When he finished his hasty design, he rose slowly still carrying the show of injury. Echo didn't buy it for a second and just sprinted at her teacher, leaping up and spinning in the air to look down at him, and for the first time, noticed the runes in the dirt.
As she landed, the ground beneath her feet sucked her in up to the knees like a quagmire. Knowing that fighting this technique would only make it worse, Echo focused on how to counter it. She knew that she could not rely on sympathy from her instructor, so it would have to be on her own merits that she got out.
Focusing her mind and wanting to cry out in pain as the earth began to harden again, Blazing Echo could think of only one technique to use, but it was very dangerous in her weakened and mentally exhausted state. Still, she could not bow out of this just yet.
Sighing out, she dropped her head and just stared down at her encased legs. Grinning as she lifted her head, she folded her hands as if to pray, and seemed to melt into the ground. It was an advanced level technique in which she called upon her mastery of earth and stone magics, and actually disappeared into the very ground Rising Shadow had meant to be her prison. She would have to hurry though, or her body would reconstitute inside the earth, instantly killing her.
Rising Shadows did not expect this, and it was evident. He looked all around him as if to try and guage where his star pupil would come up, but try as he might to detect her magic, he could not do it. He did not expect her to use the technique she did, and came flying out of one of the stone pillars behind him. Without seeing the attack, he had no time to react, and was quickly pinned, face down, with his student kneeling atop his back.
"Very good, Echo, you have been studying, and I can see that you are ready for anything that may come. You show great promise in dealing with any attacker, no matter how advanced. And your use of strategy and the environment makes you nearly as impossible to plan for as a group of sha'nai assassins. Well done, now please....GET OFF ME!"
Blazing Echo could not contain the smile that came to her maw as she hopped off her prone teacher, but it was short lived for as her paws touched the ground again, the exhaustion of pushing herself so far came flooding back.
With eyes rolling into the back of her head, she went limp. She would have fallen headfirst into the hard stone cobbles of the courtyard, but this is one thing that Rising Shadows did foresee, and quickly moved to scoop her up, carrying her towards the dormitories, grabbing his staff as they passed it. After tucking his student into bed, the feline instructor went to the mess hall to get her some breakfast for when she awoke.
To her credit, she lasted much longer than I expected. And to think that she will be joining the ranks of the Soldiers of Awloo, five years before she would have actually been considered, had she not been pushed by a hardass like me...
Rising Shadow allowed himself to smile fully on the amount of skill he had been shown this morning...and now, one thought crossed his mind.
Now, where is Autumn Rain. It's time for HIS training.
