(Training) Basic K'tesh, Capise? (self-mod)

[Elros Amandil]

Time Stamp; Last month of Summer, Last cycle, era XIV P.f.

Ic: Elros returned to the fitness and bones building a cycle after leaveing, only to find that the place hadent changed a bit. The same Vystechi still pumeled the same wooden manaquin with his bare hands.

"So you did decide to come back," Markner said with a sigh almost as though he were disappointed by the fact. "You didn't pay before you left. Pay up and then run three laps."

Elros was kind of confused by how suddenly the training had begun. But he took out the crowns and set them on a near by desk and started running. "Three laps, thats not to bad," Elros thought as he started running. Soon he had finished and he could feel his heart rate in his chest.

"What next, sir?" Elros asked as he regained his breath.

Markner turned his head at him and peared at him with his blood-red eyes and said simply, "More laps, this time you'll run until I'm happy and you'll run with weights on." He tossed two five pound weights for Elros to strap onto his ankles. "Now, get going!"

Elros was confused but put the weights on and started running. "Faster," he heard being called from the center of the room. And again and again. Elos was pushing himself as hard as he could go. He was breathing hard, his legs were burning. How long had he been running? Close to ten minutes at full speed. It felt much longer though. Just as he was about to collaps he heard Markner speak again.

"Tell me, what do you know about K'tesh?" Markner asked while standing in the middle of the room.

"Nothing," Elros managed to gasp.

"Well here is a little history lesson for you then while you keep running. K'tesh was developed by the katta. It was thier form of combat. It was stollen by a human man that went by the name of Mr. Face. He was a spy. After teaching it to people royalty liked the way it looked and so it was used in fighting contests. But do not be misslead, K'tesh can be very much a lethal skill."

Elros began to stumble as he started to get tired. "Alright, thats enough running in circles for now. Take the time to stand still for a minute."

"It is the only un-armed combat skill that has actualy been adapted to use weapons. Claw class weapons and the katta's natural claws. And as such your stances and strikes will reflect these weapons."

[Elros Amandil]

Elros nodded understandingly. His breathing and heart rate still high and hard in his chest. He could hear the thumping of his heart deep in his ears. "So what next master? The stance right?" Elros got this out through gasps of breath.

"Yes, it is. Your going to stand, starting with your feet shoulder length apart, now move your lead foot, generaly your left, forward just the slightest little bit. This will give you better balance. Next, bend your knees slightly, and lean forward so that your sternum is directly over your feet. Next you'll possition your arms high. Remember clawed strikes are the focus of this technique, so you need to have room for your arms to slash. Now, get into possition," Markner comanded.

Fallowing the command Elros put his legs shoulder length apart, with his left foot forward a little. He bent his knees slightly, fallowing Markners example. Leaning forward slightly he brought up his arms into a high position ready to slash. "Like this, Markner?"

"Yes, thats about right. Come out of the stance and get back into it."

Elros did so, setting up his stance again. Once he was there Markner said, "Alright, now hold it. Never call me by name. I am either master or master Markner. Now, for your insolence you'll need to stand in this stance for a candle mark. While you stand there, think about the things your people have done to mine, and think about why you want to learn k'tesh."

'Great,' Elros thought, 'He's going on a power trip becuase I'm not vystichi. This is going to be a long day.' As Elros throught this to himself his thoughts were interupted by his legs starting to cramp up, he noticed his arms were starting to droop. He was already sore from the running he had done, and now he has to stand still and hold the stance. 'So why do I want to learn k'tesh? That's easy. I want to defend my self. The city is getting worse and worse every cycle and I can't afford to move out of here. Not yet. But soon I'll be doing bett...' his throughts were crushed by a sudden burning that consumed his mind. His muscles were about to give up, but his mind wasnt ready. Already exhausted from running he was tired and his will to continue was fadeing. But for fear of the consiquences of stopping Elros fought on just to stand still and not move an inch.

Finaly the candle mark rolled around and Markner said, "Alright. Come out of the stance, and go back into it. Once I said good, you do it again. The idea here is to make your body know the stance so well that you can get into it quickly, accuratly. Now go."

Elros stood up strait and shook out his limbs, oh how good it felt to relax his tired appendages! He struck the stance quickly, and then he realized that he missed his left leg being forward a little bit. He made the correction. "Good."

He relax and popped back into possition, this time he remembered his foot but forgot how high his hands should be. Corrected it and was told to good.

Again he did this, several times in a row until he had gotten the stance right consistantly.

"Good, now take a break Elros," Markner said to the physicly exhausted elf infront of him.

"Thank you master Markner," Elros said as he laid down on the floor let his muscles relax. The hard cool floor felt wonderfull against his skin as he baked on the inside from his own body heat.

[Zim Rage]

After a half of a candle mark and about a gallon of cool water elros was ready to go again. Still his muscles burned, but that was the best time to teach his muscles what they needed to know.

"On your feet, boy," the master said to Elros, "It's time to learn your basic punch. The katta have the distinct advantage to be able to punch becuase they can draw and withdraw thier claws as they want. We, however, cannot due to the fact that we don't have natural claws. Infact most of the time you'd use large blades that attach to your hands called Nekodes. Now, get into your stance and listion closely to what I say."

Elros put himself into possition easily, it felt much more at home now and his muscles were more familiar with it. He listioned closely to his master as he explained the proper form to do a normal punch. Your hand, wrist, and forarm must be a strait line, and your hand will twist as you punch to increase the power of your strike. He demostrated slowly at first and started to speed up the strikes. He then turned to Elros and said, "Alright, your turn. Take it slow at first."

Elros nodded and then he pushed his fist forwrd twisting his hand and arm in as he went. He kept his hand strait in line with his fist. "Good," he heard Markner say, "Now, Faster."

Elros picked up speed, slightly. He didn't want to out pace himself so early in the game. "Your doing alright, remember your stance. Your foot work. Good alternating between hands. Thats right, good correction. Now, faster."

Again he increased his speed, he was throwing punches at a regular rate at this point. He minded his stance and kept thinking about the movements of his arms. He started to work up a sweat and soon the burning in his arms and legs came back. He pushed himself though, and picked up speed. "Good. Looks like you've got that down," Master Markner said cooly.

"I think that is enough training for today, so go ahead and rest up tonight. Don't do anything to strenuous or you'll hurt yourself for tomarows training. Tomarow we will talk about kicks and more punches as well," Markner concluded, he was done with Elros for the day, and so he turned a cold shoulder to the Elf and went back to kicking the manaquine into the ground.

OOC: Sorry, posted on the wrong account! >.<

[Elros Amandil]

When Elros awoke the next morning he brought himself to a near by tavern and treated himself to a good, hearty breakfast before returning to training. As he went to the training facility he did various stretches that he could as he went to prevent cramping and damage to his muscles.

Once he arived Markner turned to him and said, "Put on these weights, and start running. Do about a dozen laps or so. As you run, do some puches in the air." As Elros started to run Markner turned his back and started practicing on the manaquin again. When the laps were finished Elros came to a panting halt near Markner. "Good," he commented, "take off the weights and get a drink of water. I'll show you the proper kicking technique."

Elros took off the weights and put them back on the shelving on the wall and then got a drink of cool water. It felt good as a drop of water dripped down his chin. The hot humid air of the late summer made his skin stick, and his fine skilky hair friz. He came over to whare Markner stood and waited for his instructions to continue.

"First thing you need to know is that you NEVER kick with your toes. You'll break them every time. If you can, strick with your heal. This means keeping your toes up and back. Now, watch as I demonstrait slowly."

He came into his stance, his arms were positioned in a way that made a triangle. He slowly raised his leg at his knee, he held it in this position for a moment to say, "This is step one of the kick. Notice that I didn't shift my weight, the only thing I changed was the position of my right leg. Notice the position of my foot. Flexed, with toe up and heel pushed forward. The next move, of cource, is to kick your foot outward and forward. Like so."

Markners foot shot out from it's lifted position and kicked outward. His leg stuck strait out at an upward angle. Holding this position Markner commented, "See how my leg is strait, as well the only change of posture I've made is a slight turn. Which, like punching, gives it a slight bit more power, in addition to helps your balance." He returned back to the starting pose and then relaxed, "Now your turn. Slowly at first, of cource."

Elros nodded his head in understand and said "Yes Master Markner." He went into his pose. Legs shoulder width apart and arms forming a triangle, with his body leaning forward slightly. As Elros lifted his leg he shifted his weight and Markner quickly nocked him over.

"If I can see you shifting your weight then I know what you are going to do, I'll nock you on your backside everytime. Now, don't project your motions to me. Again!"

Elros got up, back into the pose and this time he raised his leg even slower thinking of how to keep his balance back on his other leg. Once again he was nocked down. Elros was already getting annoyed by this. Again he got up and went into his stance, almost as soon as he moved his leg Markner kicked Elros in hip nocking him over again. Elros hear Markner laugh. "That one was just becuase I like seeing you fall. Alright, once more. If you can't get it this time then we'll have to go into some balance excersizes."

Elros, was very annoyed, but he was determind to get this right. Squareing off into his pose he was already thinking forward, weight automaticly shifted over the forward leg and his arms forming the triangle. His body was a little less forward and more upright, centering his balance over the forward foot. He raised his knee slowly as he held this position. Focused on proveing Markner wrong. He got his knee all the way up, and then he heard Markner say, "There you go. That is what I was talking about yesterday when I said that the posture was good enough. Now you've really got it. If your weight is already on the forward leg then you can move your back leg with out adjusting your weight and that lets you move your leg faster as well. Now, go ahead and continue the kick."

Elros, with his leg bent at the knee pushed his foot away from his body, as he did so he let his back level out with his leg as he twisted to add a slight bit more power. This all of cource was done slowly. He tried to hold it in this positio for as long as he could and then he drew his leg back and back down into the pose. "Good, again," was all that Elros heard.

Again with his newly formed position Elros went through the process of the kick slowly this time instead of holding his leg out he brought it back in and down right away. "Good, faster now. Just a little at first, but do it a little faster each time until you get it as fast as you can go," Markner instructed.

"Yes Master Markner," Elros said as he continued the process, soon Elros was kicking at full speed with good form, at least for someone learing how.

[Elros Amandil]

"Good good, Elros," Markner said to the elf, "Now you have the very basic attacks, given enough practice, those are all you will ever need to know. However, you still need to know defensive moves. The most obvious of those, of cource, is the block. There are four basic blocks. High, mid, low, and the brush off. The first three start the same way. By crossing your arms at the for-arm. You then either put it high, low, or in the middle. These moves, however, are not recomended against weapons unless you have some sort of protective gear. Against weapons, it is best to either dodge, or to use the brush off, but that will come in time."

Markner went into his pose and then crossed his arms infront of his face. "This is the mid block," Adjusting his arms to be lower, "The low block, and finaly the high block." Markner then brought his arms up over his head at an angle. "These are easy to do. And quick blocks as well, because of the position of your arms when you are in the pose. It's just a slight adjustment to cross your arms and move them to the right angle. Now, get into position, as I call them out you need to do them."

Elros nodded and went into position waiting for Markner to start the commands. They started going through the commands; high, low, mid, low, high, low, high, mid, low, mid, low, mid, high, mid, high, low, low, high, etc. Until Elros was used to the quick movements and adjustments for one block to another.

"Good, next is the brush off. It is what it sounds like. As someone swings at you, you'll brush away thier attack. One throws a punch, you push thier hand to the side before it gets to you. Same goes for hammers, swords, or anything else you can think of. This even works for arrows and thrown objects. In addition to this simple hand guesture it will help you to move out of the way, in the opposite direction that you pushed it in. The advantage of doing this over just dodgeing is that when your weapon isnt going whare you expected it to, you will generaly fall off balance, this gives you the opertunity to strike them, turn from defensive to offensive. Now, we will practice this. First you will do just the movements, then I will use a stick to strike at you."

Elros struck the pose again and when he was ready he imagined an assailant comeing at him with a sword, when he swong in Elroses mind, he pushed the sword away by pressing on the imaginary flat of the blade and he stepped to the side. It wasnt gracefull in anyway. "Again," Markner commanded. And so Elros did it again, over and over until he had the movements fluid and confident. He would be suprised at just how fast he would need to do this.

As promised Markner weilded a stick and started strikeing at Elros, as expected he wasnt nearly fast enough to block it. The sting on his neck was very distracting and it throbbed under the welt that remained there. Mentaly brushing off the feeling of the bruise riseing under his skin he prepaired himself for a faster brush. He missed several times before he finaly started to get the brush off tactic.

[Elros Amandil]

"Now keep in mind, the heavier the weapon being used against you, the harder it is to stop it, and so actualy blocking it is very dangerous as it could break your arms if they are unprotected. So try to avoid blocking and stick to dodgeing heavy attacks as much as possible. Understood?" Markner offered the advice cooly.

Elros nodded and returned to his pose, waiting for what came next.

"Next you will learn a few more kicks and punches. These are basicly modifications of what you already know. We'll start with the new punch, as it is the easiest. This is simply a slash. Ment more for sliceing and scratching then it is for stabbing. Generaly less fetal then that of the first punch, ment more for disarming your opponent, if you fallow my meaning. You'll start with your arms up, and you'll move your claws down in a downward angle. Thats it. The hard part is makeing sure that you don't let your wrists buckle as your claws drag through the meat or armor of your target."

Markner demonstraited the move a few times and then said to Elros, "Now you do it."

Elros nodded his head and said, "Yes Master Markner." He then started swiping his claws at downward angles, while still in his pose of cource. After doing it several times Markner said, "Alright, thats good enough."

[Elros Amandil]

"The next thing you'll learn," Markner Continued with out so much of a pause, "Is the spin kick. Some people call it the 'round house' kick. Either way, you will be rotating on one foot to kick the target from the side. If enough power is present, then the kick can nock your opponent off balance, break bones, or even be used to deflect multiple attackers. So with this move you need to start by moveing your weight into momentum. With your back leg, from your stance, swing the whole leg forward and out while you spin on one foot. This is the only part that is different from a regular kick, the spinning part. Balance in supremely important for this. So, you will balance on the ball of your foot, near your toes, with your other leg out like your kicking, and I will spin you around in a circle. Now, assume the possition."

Elros did as he was told, and as he was being pushed he fell over, again he assumed the possition, and again he fell. This continues on for a good part of fifteen minutes while Elros learned his balance and control. Finaly Markner was able to rotate Elros around a circle a few times.

"Now, kick in such a way, that will give you the power to make the spin. There is no way to do this kick with out shifting your weight, so don't even worry about that for right now."

Elros nodded his understanding and took his pose with his weight slighly over his left foot, which is his forward foot, arms forming a triangle around his face, and his legs slightly bent at the knee. He shifted his weight back onto his backleg first, and then threw all of his weight forward again into the kick as he raised his leg to make the kick. Elros spun, but the power was too much and Elros lost control.

"That was pretty good for a first timer. There is a lot of room to expand here, however. But as far as that goes,thats ok, practice practice practice. Now do it some more, now that you've got the basic idea."

Elros did, and again and again the proud elf fell on his backside until he finaly got the kick into working order.

[Elros Amandil]

"Good enough," Markner said, waveing for Elros to come over and join him, "Thats it. Those are the extreme basics of K'tesh. Your training is done. But your practice isnt. Take the rest of the day off and let your muscles catch up with you. But you better practice if you ever want to get better. True, these techniques here are more then what you would need to kill your opponent, but your not good enough yet. You'll probibly even loose the next fight your in from being over comfedent. Just hope that that next fight isnt with me, cause I play for keeps. Now get out of here."

"Yes Master Markner, thank you for the training." Elros gave a big bow to his trainer and turned and left the training facility.

[Kalinda]

Basic K'tesh Approved!
+ 2 XP!