Training Spar

[Zardoch]

[OOC: As the title says, this thread is going to be a spar and thread for training my abilities with the help of Psiko. Anyone not involved may not post or interrupt in anyway.]

Beauty, tranquility, harmony, and gracefulness; these four things are what defined the imperial garden of the Beijing palace with it's endless amount of evergreen trees and shrines dedicated to the God's of ancient China. With the morning sun peeking its head over the side of the opened ceiling, this hall of Garden was the perfect place to be able to sit and find oneself through deep meditation of hums; a hall designed to calm the mind and relax the body in perfect enlightenment. Yet it was silent to the sounds of shouting emperors or children's happiness, however, with the palace emptied of all royal family centuries ago, its desolate landscape now home to wild plants just stretching their arms out to cover all they can and consume what little nutrition is there. The sound of buzzing bugs and whistling birds painting this place to be more of a forest than a garden as one would assume. It was no longer an oasis of simplistic pleasantries with the royal family, but a shelter to poisonous creatures and strange auras of unsettled spirits waiting for the chance to strike to living.

Despite all that, it never came to the mind of a lost soul of sorts as a man walked through the halls of the palace searching for the simple necessities of life. He searched not for the treasures and antiques of this famous place, but rather the room that he may call home for the night. It was a rare find to discover such a large place in the middle post-apocalyptic world without being destroyed and even more amazing that it still stood. This man that knew not where he was going marveled at everything he passed with such great works of art.

This man was Ryu, an immigrant from another country who constantly roamed the world in search for food and water and above all, life. He had found himself the perfect place to stay for the day and there was even some growing food in the garden he noticed he'd be able to make a breakfast out of and then some. Luck seemed to be on his side as he wandered next to a tree and sat his back against it, sliding down to sit and rest from such a long journey.

The strangest thing about this young man though was that even if was Japanese, he showed little Japanese characteristics. His short messy hair was a bright blonde, almost bleach and his skin was a shade of peach that sat in-between the normal pink color and a dark tan. If anything he looked more American with a taller body of five foot seven inches and a semi-stocky build with defined muscles; even his clothes which were nothing more than an armless ripped black shirt, sagging ripped black sweatpants, and worn light tabi boots.

Unconvincingly, however, he was indeed part Japanese. Father was British, mother was half-American half-Japanese, and grandfather was full Japanese. Thus he had only one third of Japanese blood in him and was named Ryu for reasons he wasn't exactly proud about. He thought being named Blanka would've been more interesting than a muscle-head-like Ryu who irritatingly resembled the same kind of life this character went through. Ryu just dozed off for a minute with his head leaned down.

Suddenly, his caught the sound of running water crashing into a pool of itself and like it was a natural instinct, leaped up and turned towards it to see a fountain with sparkling water that didn't look unnatural for once. Ryu ran over to it and quickly cupped his hands together to gather the water from the stream, gulping it down quickly hoping it lasted indefinitely. His eyes widened when he saw a snake or two slithering through the water and jumped back in response. For a minute, he just stood there waiting for the snakes to do something, but they didn't seem to notice he was there, just swimming past him without even an acknowledgment. Carefully moving forward, he cupped his hands again to get more water, but this time his eyes followed the reptiles’ movements to be cautious.

In this garden, he was going to have to stay focused to stay alive.

[Psiko]

He has no idea where he is as he opens his eyes. The sunlight is blinding this morning, so he brings his hand up to shield his eyes. He notices a red tint on his fingertips, but the rumbling sound in his stomach diverts his attention before he can put too much thought into the discoloration. He glances down at the fish bones littered on the ground by the smoldering remains of his campfire, hoping that there might still be something edible left over. He frowns and sighs heavily when he finds no trace of any meat. His hand trembles slightly as he reaches into his pack to find his line and hook, but he passes it off as nothing more than weakness brought about by his hunger. He rigs a line and grabs a scurrying beetle, viciously impaling it on the rusting, bloody hook. Its legs scrape desperately at the open air, trying to escape as its final moments of life come to an end. He casually casts the line into the foaming water of the river, hoping to imitate the success he had here last night.

Hours pass by, but he hardly notices. He lingers in a state of half-sleep, reality and fantasy flirting with each other in his mind. He is hardly surprised when, out of nowhere, an old friend appears sitting beside him.

"You're dying, my friend," his old comrade coldly states.

He drops the line and scratches his head viciously, twitching nervously. "I'm so hungry."

"I know that, Pierce. You'd be lucky to die from hunger, though. That river there is polluted with mercury."

Pierce looks closely at the water. His vision is blurred slightly, but suddenly he sees that the water really isn't water. The light from the sun reflects brilliantly off the crimson surface of the flowing mercury. He stumbles to his feet, but drops back to one knee when his left leg trembles heavily under his weight. He takes a deep breath, trying to realign his composure. His comrade moves closer, the ghostly lips pressing right against Pierce's ear.

"Come with me, Pierce. Death isn't all that bad. I haven't aged a bit in ten years. We could make it end swiftly. And then we can go visit Mika and Tien. They miss you, Pierce. They can't visit you right now, but you can visit them."

Pierce tugs on his left ear, twisting hard as he stutters a reply. "I can't. She wouldn't want that. She wouldn't want me to quit."

"Oh, but she does, Pierce. If she were here, she would tell you it is okay. Just take that knife of yours in your hand, and I'll help you. It won't be suicide that way. You'll still keep your honor in tact."

"I don't know," Pierce nervously replies. He hurriedly begins to gather his few belongings, determined to get away from this situation. He knows that his comrade will find him again; he always does. This one is the worst, always trying to get him to kill himself. Always showing up when Pierce is showing weakness. Pierce starts to head off away from the river, looking back only briefly when he hears his comrade call out one last time.

"Where are you going, Pierce? They are waiting for you. I can take you to them. Come back."

He wanders through the wilderness, not knowing his destination. He pillages some berries from a bush and a ripe apple from a tree, and those help to alleviate his hunger for a while. His vision is still blurry at times, and his fingers are still red. He ponders this as he trudges along, and barely even notices when he hits his head on a low-hanging branch. He idly rubs the side of his temple as he continues on, muttering under his breath. He has been lucky so far today, he has only had the one visit. He no more than thinks that thought then looks up to see his old mentor, still looking vibrant and limber in spite of his old age.

"What is it you seek, young apprentice?" he asks in that raspy, winded voice that Pierce heard so often over the years of training.

"My wants are humble, master. Nothing more than a little food and a nice place to rest for the night."

"Shelter you shall need, young apprentice. A storm is coming tonight. Two miles to the east there is a place I once knew of. This palace was once a center of commerce centuries ago. Although infested with other living creatures, it is still in tact."

"I thank you, master, for enlightening your unworthy apprentice. May peace follow you." Pierce responds respectfully, more out of force of habit than anything. His master has been dead for nearly six years, after all. But he has learned not to question the wisdom of his old master. More than once his advice, even in death, has saved Pierce's life much to the disappointment of Pierce's comrade. Pierce sets off to the east, and soon the walls come into view.

His breath is taken away as he gets his first good look at the structure. Although coated with the snaking tendrils of weeds and vines, the image of what it once was still is evident. The stone has started to weaken and crack in a few scattered locations, but is otherwise in sound condition. He steps through the splintered remains of the doorway and enters the main hall. There is still a regal, yet tranquil, presence evident in every corner of the palace. To the left sunlight is shining through the doorway and into the hall, which grabs Pierce's attention.

Without exploring the remainder of the palace he sets off to the left, entering the imperial garden. Varieties of birds and other small animals are roaming though what once was a majestic garden. Some of the annuals that once were tended regularly have still managed to cling to life and spread their seeds over the years, allowing the beauty of the blossoming flowers to somehow have survived over time. Carnivorous plants have infected other locales in the garden, creeping around pillars and into crevices, groping to life wherever possible. In spite of the lack of human civilization, this area maintains a strong presence of life. Pierce can't help but admire the beauty of it all.

His thoughts are cut short by the sound of water. He suddenly is reminded of how thirsty he really is, and follows the sound toward the source. He finds a fountain, spouting fresh water. He stops as he notices a person hunched over the water, drinking out of cupped hands. A voice to his left whispers in his ear.

"Kill him. That man murdered and raped me."

Pierce looks over and sees his sister standing there, pale with black circles around her youthful eyes. Her look is somber and serious, unwavering as she watches Pierce. He smiles softly as he recalls the days in childhood of playing with his older sister, her black hair dancing in the breeze. When she was seventeen she was found brutally murdered. The man was never found. Pierce has killed over a dozen men since she started visiting him. Each one of them was the killer, each one of them raped her when she was in the prime of her life. Even though he knows it isn't true, he knows he can't fight off this one. He loves his sister. If she wants this man's blood, Pierce has little choice in the matter. He draws his knife and stalks toward the fountain. Before he can get too close, his hand trembles and his knife falls free from his grasp, clanging as it hits the ground. Pierce curses under his breath as he retrieves the weapon with his left hand and immediately adjusts into a defensive stance, having blown his cover. Today, one of them will die.

[Zardoch]

After watching the snakes more closely for a minute, Ryu began to notice some distinctions about the patterns on their scales and shapes of their heads. They weren't venomous, nor were they dangerous having very calm color patterns all over their skin and had round heads instead of the typical diamond shaped heads; they were garter snakes. Ryu gave a deep sigh of relief in discovering this important detail and almost felt stupid for jumping to the conclusion that any snake he saw would be some venomous creature ready to jump out and attack without warning. Gripping his hands on the ledge of the fountain, Ryu straightened himself out after having his fill of clean cool water before suddenly catching the sound of a footstep.

With a quick turning glance of his head, Ryu listened in on the footsteps behind him that came closer and closer with a cautious pace in-between the rhythm. Was it a predatory animal slowly easing in on its prey or maybe was it the wishful hope he had been searching for many years after living a solitary existence; another human being? The sensation of seeing another human being brought a smile to Ryu's face and built up a nervous feeling inside him, a feeling of excitement to finally find another living soul that had not been taken by the wars or diseases.

He slowly began to turn around until he heard the high-pitched ring of something made of metal drop to the ground. Ryu's head quirked around to see another man reaching down for a knife he just dropped and immediately that nervous sensation became a fearful look of danger as he knew he had to think quickly about what was happening.

Ryu's eyes darted to the right as he remembered the snakes in the fountain and quickly reached in the fountain pool aiming to grab one of them. Luck seemed to be on his side as Ryu felt the skinny body of the snake find its way in-between his fingers, instantly pulling back to swing the snake around along with his body and then letting it fly off in the stranger's direction as a distraction since he doubted the man knew if it was venomous or not. Using the momentum of his body’s spin, Ryu then quickly lifted his right leg to perform a roundhouse kick to strike at the newcomer's hand so that it'll be thrown out of his clasp.

Upon finishing his offense, Ryu would drop back away from the fountain so that he wouldn't be cornered; lifting both arms up so that his right arm would be at a straight 90 degree angle and sideways from his face while his left would be tucked in next to his ribs with the fist upside-down. His legs would be slightly bent with the right knee towards his opponent and foot straight but flat and the left leg would sit at a 75 degree angle outwards with the foot positioned with the heel lifted and most of the weight on the front ball.

"Who are you? Are you a cannibal?" Ryu asked almost as if he was ordering the man to answer.

[Psiko]

This man is fast to react, much quicker than Pierce anticipates. Before he even can have a chance to react himself, a slimy snake is flying through the air toward him. Pierce has seen enough snakes to know which ones to avoid, and this one doesn't appear to be venomous, but one can never be too cautious. Pierce ducks out of the way, but as he does so this man connects with a powerful roundhouse kick on his left hand, sending the knife flying off into the distance. Pierce braces himself for another blow, but it never comes. The man backs off, putting up his defense. Silence fills the air, but is quickly cut by the chirping of birds and buzzing of insects.

If not for this man here, Pierce would likely be enjoying the beautiful surroundings.

"Who are you?" shouts the man in a tone that almost seems to demand an answer. "Are you a cannibal?"

Behind this man is Pierce's old comrade, a smug grin on his ghostly face. He nods approvingly, calling out to Pierce, "Let this man kill you. Let him think you are wanting to eat him and he will destroy you. Come, join us in the eternal after life."

Pierce shouts a decline as loud as he can at his comrade and turns to run back into the main part of the garden. His eyes frantically search the area, looking for anything he can use to fend off this man long enough to be able to retrieve his knife. He is breathing heavy from the brief exertion, so he can't hear whether or not the man is following him, or how close he might be if he is following. Pierce only knows that he has little time if this man truly means business.

His attention is stolen by the appearance of Tien, his five year old son. He has an unhappy look on his face, as though disapproving his father's actions toward this man. He simply points at something in front of him, close to Pierce's hand. His eyes glance over and see a thorny bush of some sort wrapped tightly around a wooden stake in the ground. He glances back at Tien, who silently nods before whispering to his father, "Quick, he is right behind you."

Pierce grabs the stake and rips it free from the ground, not caring that the thorns are ripping flesh from his hands as he does so. Blindly trusting his vision's advice, Pierce swings the stake like a club as he spins around. Was his vision telling the truth? Or will he connect with only air? He doesn't know the answer as he spins around, but he hopes he isn't too slow with his attack.