Intermediate Zan Zu (Private, GM Soldier?)

[Veleraen]

2nd cycle of The Month of Junctior in the Season of Autumn, of Era I of the Celestine Mandate
Era X Post Fractum in the Age of the Darkening, the Mageocracy of Julos the Mad
Paradigm: Mystique Threatens Rebellious Frigid River

Ever since he had arrived back in Zerdargia, back to the Veldar Elite, he sought to find a Drill Instructor which knew the art of Zan Zu. He knew that it was only taught within the Dwarven Metropolis but by whom he did not know. This is why, one bright brightening, the giant decided to take a walk down and throught the Veldar compound towards the DI's quarters or at least to some extent the training grounds to which all the physical side of wrestling and the martial arts were dedicated to.

Striding down the walkways of the Veldar compound, the giant rotated his head to see if he could spot any one of the Veldar Drill Instructors to at least introduce himself and see if he could enroll himself in some more Zinn'ka training in the art of Zan Zu. Veleraen had suffered some minor injuries in his ventures in the summer season but it didn't seem like they would interfere with his learning the art. His previous instructor hadn't taught him the true basics of Zan Zu, but they were very similiar in principle that they could be adapted to suit the specific art form quite well. Veleraen's emphasis on strength was perfect for Zan Zu, and that was one of the main reasons for the giant pursuing the art in the first place.

"Now,... To find a Drill Instructor that is versed in this noble art..." The eyes of the giant swerved from side to side, searching the practice fields and gymnasiums for any signs of massive slamming and close quarter combat, which was what the art was all about.

[Soldier]

As Veleraen walked onto the field, he spotted setik standing next to a Giant. The diamond in the Giant's stripes signified he was a Master Sergeant, and he looked to be Setik's twin in perfectionism. Both Sergeants stood at parade rest, glaring at the Giant as he approached. "You are fourty-five minutes LATE, PRIVATE!" bellowed Setik, though Vel knew full well he was a full fifteen minutes early. Still, he hopefully knew better than to talk back to Setik. "You demanded this course and yet you keep us WAITING! DROP AND GIVE US ONE HUNDRED!" Vel was doing his push-ups as the Giant knealt in front of him, eyeing him up and down.

"I am Master Sergeant Venton Carmit, your trainer in Zan Zu. From this moment on, every time you come to train on MY field, you will come an hour early. IS THAT CLEAR?!?" The final bellow caused Vel's teeth to rattle in his head, his eyes to cross and his arms to lose their rythm. Finally, the Giant had pumped out his hundred and the two Sergeants allowed him to climb to his feet. Setik nodded to Carmit and walked off, leaving the Private alone with the Sergeant. "And why do you wish to learn Zan Zu, anyway, Private?"

[Veleraen]

Finally after a good couple minutes of wandering the training fields, Veleraen spotted the ever so infamous body of Anton Setik and his counter part who was indeed a giant. His eyes beaming, Veleraen's stomach rumbled within his body, as the excitement that was pent up within him let go.

As Veleraen approached, he could see that the two men were not happy, and even then, Veleraen was still afraid of the small hobbit more than he was afraid of the Master Sargeant. As Setik shouted at Veleraen, all the giant could muster was a clean and loud "YES SARGEANT!" In response to Setik's orders. Dropping down to pushup position, Veleraen's arm's bulged as he pumped up and down in the dirt, his breath spreading the dirt below his face in an even fashion across the ground. "I could've sworn I was early..."

The Giant Master Sargeant Venton Carmit bent down and followed his movements. Explaining to Veleraen that he was to be an hour early for his training, Veleraen shouted out in his deep, militaristic fashion once again. "YES MASTER SARGEANT!" The teeth clenching shouting that the Master Sargeant seemed to have a nauseating effect on Veleraen. The giant could've sworn the bellow from Venton rattled his skull and made him drop a couple paces behind his usual beat in his pushup exercise. Veleraen's eyes crossed quite harshly as the bellow echoed in his skull. Sweat dripped off the Giant's forehead as he got off the ground, arms and chest somewhat tired from the pushps, but luckily his previous training in the basic and advanced classes of Setik kept him going.

Not complaining of the treatment, as he was used to it by now, Veleraen stood at attention in front of the Master Sargeant. "And why do you wish to learn Zan Zu anyway, Private?" The question rattled through Veleraen's mind for a second and then as the answer came to mind, Veleraen spoke confidently in his decision.

"I wish to learn Zan Zu Master Sargeant, so that I can effectively make good use of the strength that Aslan has granted me, Master Sargeant. I am a Veldar soldier, and being one of the best, I strive to be one of the best, no matter what it takes Master Sargeant." Veleraen looked straight ahead, face stern and confident as he always had been in the face of his superiors. The giant always did strive to be one of the elite of the elite, even if took a millenia to do so.

[Veleraen]

OOC: Self Modding with permission from GM Soldier.

IC:

"You want to be the best of the best soldier!? Well, I'll tell you right now, you are far from it, but with my teachings, you will be one of the most elite soldiers here. I'm going to shape you into what I like to call, my perfect student. You will do what I say, and do only that! Is that clear!? I don't want any fancy smancy fluff from you, and I DEFINITELY DO NOT want any lip! You got that Private!?" Master sergeant Venton jabbed Veleraen hard in the shoulder and stared at him hard.

"I got it Master sergeant!" Veleraen shouted in response, staring over the master sergeants shoulder, never making eye contact. "Good! Now! We're going to go over the basics of Zan Zu! Show me your crouch stance, your jabs, your drop kick and then at the end, you're going to throw ME! So you better not mess up! Now! Get to it!" Master sergeant Venton screamed at Veleraen and then crossed his arms and watched as his student began the warmup.

"Yes sir!" Veleraen shouted, and then took a deep breath. Crouching down, legs not that far apart, his left foot a little ahead of his right, Veleraen crouched and held his arms to his sides and at angles closer towards his body, readying them to defend himself. "Bend your knees more! Get your feet a little wider apart! Keep going!" Venton interjected and started pointing at Veleraen from a few feet away. Veleraen nodded and responded with yet another "Yes sir!"

Continuing, the giant jabbed the air violent, his large fist whipped through the air, his arm twisting slightly as his massive limb pretending to sink into the body of an imaginary foe. Veleraen followed it up with a few more jabs aimed at the lower abdomen and upper chest areas. Following it up, Veleraen kicked straight upwards into the imaginary opponent's stomach and delivered a few more jabs for safe measure. "Okay! Stop right there!" The master sergeant strode over to Veleraen and nodded. "Good, good, It seems you have the basics down fairly well. You have to remember to keep a little bit wider stance because if you don't, i'll punish you for each mistake you make. I'm going to say this right now, each mistake you make, I jab you in the stomach and then you do twenty pushups! You got that soldier!?" "Yes Master Sergeant!" "Man this guy is tough.... at least I'll learn a lot and increase my endurance somewhat." Veleraen gulped a little and awaited for the sergeant to give his next order.

"Now! I'm going to get into position and you're going to show me how to throw your opponent over your shoulder! You hurt me and I swear to Aslan, you will be in an immense amount of pain. Now throw me soldier!" The master sergeant pointed over to a large pad he used for his other classes that was a little ways off in front of them on the field. Veleraen walked over to it and positioned himself about ten feet away from the edge, to give him some throwing clearance. Veleraen knew he would have to throw the Sergeant lightly as his strength was quite enormous, even to throw a giant that was bigger than him. Sergeant Venton bent over and hung his arms down in the standard ready position to get thrown. Veleraen took a deep breath and and stood just at a little angle to the sergeant's right side so that he could step in and get enough momentum to throw him. Stepping forward once, Veleraen reached down, placed his left hand around the Sergeant's right wrist, and placed his right hand underneath, on the sergeant's chest. Simultaneously, Veleraen snapped towards the pad in a twisting motion, lifting the giant sergeant over his shoulder and throwing him through the air towards the pad. There was only one problem, Veleraen threw him a little too far, and the Sergeant landed on the edge of the pad, his backside hitting the hard ground in the process. The Master Sergeant let out a loud bellow of anger, and Veleraen's eyes widened as he gulped in fear for his own life. It was clear that Master Sergeant Venton could've whooped him to Prime and back with his skills, but Veleraen stood tall and firm, hoping the Sergeant would take it easy on him.

Storming up from his position, Venton's face was beat red from anger, as he walked furiously towards Veleraen. As he got close enough, the Sergeant threw a jab at Veleraen, catching him right in the stomach. It was an excessively strong punch to the gut and Veleraen could feel the wind almost getting knocked out of him as he gritted his teeth and bore the pain. "NOW WHAT DID I TELL YOU SOLDIER!?!? DO NOT THROW ME LIKE THAT AGAIN! YOU WILL GET THIS RIGHT!! NOW TRY IT AGAIN! THIS TIME DON'T SCREW IT UP! GET DOWN AND GIVE ME TWENTY AND THEN YOU WILL THROW ME AGAIN!" Veleraen got to the ground quickly into pushup position, still groaning from the punch, trying not to show that he was hurt. The giant did his pushups, and got to his feet again, finding the sergeant readying himself again. Venton gave him a look of seriousness that meant in Veleraen's mind "If you mess this up, you won't see the light of day again". Taking another deep breath Veleraen repeated the process.

The giant student took a step in, placed his hands, one on the right wrist, one on the chest, and snapped the sergeant over his shoulder, but this time, released the sergeant a little later in his throw so that he didn't throw him that far. This time it worked, as the sergeant landed on the pad with a big soft thump. Veleraen took a big sigh of relief as he saw that he was successful. It had been a while since he used his skills and he was getting a little rusty, but it seemed that he still had a grasp on them.

Sergeant Venton got up from the pad and brushed himself off and came over in a couple of thunderous steps. "Now THAT is what you are supposed to do! I'm going to bring over some dummies, and I need you to effectively show me your jabs and drop kick so that we can move on to the harder stuff." Sergeant Venton strutted over to the supply shack they kept on the field for their training supplies and brought out a giant sized dummy, one in the upright position, one that was halfway bent over so that students could kick them effectively.

"SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT SOLDIER!" "Yes sir!" Veleraen walked over to the upright dummy and crouched him his position and got real tight to the dummy, getting to about two feet to his dummy opponent. He was taught before that you were supposed to get real tight to your opponent so you could deal an insane amount of damage real fast so that they don't get away from you. After getting close and crouched, Veleraen slammed his fists with two rapid jabs into the dummy's upper torso, and then sent another one into the lower stomach and then sent a massive jab into the head of the dummy as it slightly bent the head off of its post. "GOOD! GOOD! Shots to the upper torso and head are always the most effective choices. Now show me your kick soldier!" Veleraen simply nodded and stepped over towards the bent over dummy and prepared himself to deliver a solid drop kick to the dummy's stomach. Focusing on his objective, getting into his stance once again, Veleraen sent his foot flying upwards towards the stomach of the dummy, sending it a little backwards, as his drop kick connected solidly to the soft material of the giant sized dummy.

"I SAID KICK IT! NOT GIVE IT A LITTLE TAP IN THE STOMACH! YOU ARE A GIANT! YOU CAN RIP A MAN'S HEAD OFF WITH TWO FINGERS! YOU CAN SURELY PUT MORE POWER INTO A KICK LIKE THAT! I WANT YOU TO KICK THAT THING SO HARD THAT IT FLIES INTO THE AIR! YOU GOT THAT SOLDIER!?! NOW DO IT!" Veleraen looked back and simply nodded and gave a "yes sir!".

Setting the dummy up again, Veleraen took a deep breath and gave a loud bellow as he burst from his crouching position and gave it the meanest kick one could ever think of. His foot connected harshly with the lower torso of the dummy and sent it flying upwards into the air about fifteen feet and it hit the ground with a large 'thunk'. Several people who were nearby on the field looked onwards as they watched Veleraen knock the crap out of the dummy with his kick.

Clapping in a sarcastic sort of manner, Sergeant Venton grinned and yelled at Veleraen. "THAT'S WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!" The Sergeant gave Veleraen another jab, this time in the shoulder of the student and pointed at the ground, indicating another twenty pushups. Veleraen realized what the sergeant meant and got down and gave him another twenty. At this point, Veleraen was getting a little winded from doing pushups, getting punched and having to do all these exercises, but luckily he had gone through much worse in his actual Veldar training.

"GET UP! GIVE ME TEN LAPS AROUND THE FIELD AND CALL IT QUITS FOR THIS BRIGHTENING! YOU WILL ARRIVE HERE AN HOUR EARLY TOMORROW AND THEN I SHALL TEACH YOU THE MEANING OF PAIN! YOU GOT THAT SOLDIER!?! NOW GET MOVING!" Sergeant Venton screamed in Veleraen's ear. The giant cringed and shouted out a mere "YES MASTER SERGEANT!" Veleraen took off right away and started to jog, his hulking mass moving up and down as he jogged, his steps creating loud thumps as he jogged around the field. Panting after he reached the fourth or fifth lap (it was a big field after all) Veleraen slowed down a little, but noticed the Sergeant still watching him until he finished. Trudging onwards, Veleraen finally reached ten laps, panting and beads of sweat rolling down his face. The sergeant grinned and patted him on the back harshly. "We'll make a fighter out of you yet. Now get go get washed off, you smell like an orc in heat."

[Veleraen]

Opening his massive maw, Veleraen yawned as he stumbled out of the barrack's the next brightening. Walking towards the field in his uniform, Veleraen realized that he had to spend at least a month with that beast of an instructor, Master Sergeant Venton, and sighed disappointedly. Shaking his head, Veleraen's ponytail was getting longer by the brightening and had grown to the middle of his back, the dark brown hair settling nicely with his uniform. Interlocking his knuckles, he cracked them and made his way towards the field where Master Sergeant Venton had told him to meet earlier and saw that the instructor wasn't there yet. Shrugging, Veleraen waited for a minute and turned around and faced the supply shed on the field only to see an unwelcome figure flying at him.

A large bellow echoed from the almost twenty foot tall Zan Zu instructor as he flew through the air, arms out stretched towards Veleraen. Totally unprepared, the Master Sergeant took the private by surprise and planted his shoulder into Veleraen's gut, bringing him down to the ground with a loud thud. It was early in the morning, and thankfully not many people were there to witness Veleraen's take down.

Letting out a loud groan, Veleraen looked over to Venton who had already gotten to his knees and brushed himself off. The larger giant let out a big grin and shouted at Veleraen from up above. "I told you I was going to show you the meaning of pain soldier!! Now get up onto your feet! Hup Hup!" Venton rapidly motioned with his arms in an upward direction. Veleraen laid on the ground momentarily and then slowly got up as his morning wasn't turning out exactly how he planned. He had the wind knocked out of him and his ribs and chest ached like no one's business.

"Good morning to you too Master Sergeant..." Veleraen smiled faintly, clutching his sides from the tackle, panting. "Suck it up soldier! Today is going to be a living hell for you! But if you take it like a man and not like the granny that you are, maybe you'll just make it through these sessions! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR PRIVATE?!!? Venton screamed at Veleraen and the private immediately straightened up into attention. "Yes sir! Crystal clear sir!" Veleraen winced at the pain, but he could take it, he was tough and he knew that Venton wouldn't show him any mercy at this point on in. "GOOD! Now! We're going to do a form of endurance training I like to call, the Fists of Fury. It's a special endurance trick I like to use to toughen up my students. Since you'll be dealing with real upclose hand to hand combat with slams, punches and kicks, you will need to be able to take these hits! Now, what you need to do, is just block whatever I throw at you and if you fall to the ground, you owe me fifty pushups and five laps each time you do at the end of the lesson! You got that Private Veleraen!?" Venton screamed once again in Veleraen's face as he still tried to recover from the tackle he received just minutes earlier.

"YES SIR!" Veleraen shivered and regreted the two words he shouted out, but he knew he really didn't have a choice. If he wanted to get tough and be able to take what was dished out, he would have to adapt. "GOOD!" was all that was said before a massive fit came flying at Veleraen's stomach. Venton jabbed the giant in the mid section and sent him backwards a few steps, but Veleraen held his ground and got into position. Gritting his teeth, Veleraen took the punch and put his hands up in front of his face to protect it, while he balanced himself to take the next oncoming attack. Venton just grinned and then grunted as he took a few steps towards Veleraen and grabbed onto Veleraen's right arm, and before the giant knew it, Venton leg sweeped him and brought Vel down to his backside. "That's 50 pushups and five laps so far Private!" Venton shouted as he jumped down onto Veleraen and delivered a savage two jab combo to the chest and then to the stomach and rolled off the private. The surge of pain was already almost unbearable for Veleraen as the massive fists slammed into his midsection and chest. Breathing heavily, Veleraen slowly got to his knees and got into stance again, eyeing the sergeant, making sure he wasn't going to do anything sudden again. His midsection felt like it was on fire, "I'm definitely going to have a massive bruise there tomorrow.."

"You're doing alright private! Most of my students don't make it after that last combination. Here comes some more, you think you can take it!?" Venton taunted Veleraen and then took a few more steps forward and delivered another blow to the stomach, this time it made Vel bend over which was the worst thing you could in this situation, and Venton took advantage of the situation. Grabbing Veleraen as he had done to the sergeant before, Venton shoulder tossed the giant this time way farther, using more of his strength than Veleraen had used. Flying through the air, Veleraen landed thirty feet away with a humungous thud, leaving an indent on the soft earth of the field. Veleraen let out a large groan of pain as it flowed throughout him. Rolling onto his stomach, he could see Venton just grinning and then the sergeant shouted out once again. "That's 100 pushups and ten laps now Private! What did I tell you about staying on your feet!?" It didn't seem like the horror was going to end, but it had to sometime or other and Veleraen was getting fed up with taking all these blows, he HAD to do something to relieve this pain. Never before had he been beaten so badly, and now he was getting angry. With a furious expression, Veleraen gritted his teeth once more and got to his knees and then slowly to his feet, brushing the grass off of his uniform. His eyes burning with revenge, Veleraen got into the crouch he was taught before and readied himself for the next attack, this time he was going to fight back. "I've had enough, I don't care if he's my sergeant or instructor, he's going to pay..."

Venton let out another smock grin and then walked up towards Veleraen his arms at his sides. "You don't want to quit yet eh? Well I'll make sure of that!" This time Venton came at him with a drop kick to the midsection, seeing it coming Veleraen knew what he had to do. Sticking his large hands out, Veleraen grabbed the sergeant's boot and caught it before it hit his mid section. Venton's eyes widened as Veleraen pushed it down with a sudden force of strength and sent two large jabs into the sergeant's midsection, reeling him over and then stepped into the position, grabbing the sergeant's arms and just tossed him over his shoulder like there was no tomorrow. The sergeant flew over head shouting out some nonsense and landed on the ground a good twenty to thirty feet away, and Veleraen put two hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

Venton got up with a furious expression and started to charge Veleraen and then stopped half way and started to laugh maniacally. The sergeant grinned with passion and steadily walked up to Veleraen and looked at him with pleasure. "This is amazing! He knows how to fight back! Usually it takes the stupider ones a cycle or so to figure it out, but you did it under a brightening...You caught me off guard there private. That was a nifty little combination you pulled off there, I must admit that. But for being so smart and all, you owe me another 25 pushups and another 5 laps for attacking your instructor, not to mention a superior. Now get down and give me one hundred and twenty five! You will then proceed to give me 15 laps! Then you will begin your true training!" Veleraen was quite astonished at all of this. "Is he off his rocker? Has he gone mad? Who does this guy think he is?!? Geeze, at least I hit him back before I took any more beatings..."

Veleraen stood up straight and got his breath back and then proceeded to get down again and give the sergeant his 125 pushups. Up and down, up and down, up and down, half an hour later, Veleraen finished his pushups as his body ached from all the punishment he had taken. Struggling to get the last twenty or so, Venton got down on his knees and shouted at Veleraen. "COMEON SOLDIER! ARE YOU TOO WEAK TO PUSH THAT HULK OF A BODY OF YOURS UPWARDS A FEW FEET!?!? DO IT NOW OR I'LL GIVE YOU A TASTE OF MY BOOT!"

Veleraen gritted his teeth and just shouted as loud as he could, his muscles straining against gravity. "YES... SIR!" Veleraen screamed as he did his last five pushups. The extreme agony of the workout was really pushing Veleraen's physical limits. Not only had been beaten severely but now he had to do pushups AND another fifteen laps. "NOW GET UP OFF YOUR LARDY BACKSIDE AND GIVE ME FIFTEEN LAPS! I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANY SLACKING OUT THERE! IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME ONE HUNDRED PERCENT OUT THERE, I'LL INTRODUCE YOU TO WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BEATEN TO AN INCH OF YOUR LIFE!! YO UNDERSTAND ME PRIVATE! NOW GET OUT THERE AND RUN!"

At this point, Veleraen felt like collapsing on the field and passing out and it had only been a good fifteen minutes into the lesson. Crawling a few feet and then positioning himself to one knee. Veleraen pushed himself up, forcing himself to get up and continue what he was told to do. Jogging fifteen laps after a beating like that was tremendously difficult, and Veleraen felt it every inch of the way. Groaning and moaning all the way, Veleraen panted like a dog, as he attempted to do the full fifteen laps. It was pure torture, but if the sergeant could do it, Veleraen could do. There was no way Veleraen would let him win, and disgrace himself in the process.

After an hour or so, Veleraen stumbled to the end of the fifteenth lap around the field in front of Venton. Just simply grinning like Jorel himself, Venton slapped Veleraen on the back, almost sending him to his knees. "You're a real trooper Private, I'll give you that much. You took my beating and even fought back, and then did those laps. You have earned my respect soldier, you can take that to heart. I needed to know you were tough enough to complete my training program. This is a rough zinn'ka art form, and if you can't cut it in this training, chances are, you won't be able to cut it out there. I must say, you are one tough cookie, how in the hell did you manage to keep standing private? What experience have you had as a soldier? I want to know before we continue this training."

Veleraen could only smile as to the semi-compliments directed to him as he panted to catch his breath. His chest heaving, his lungs barely gathering the air for him to keep alive, Veleraen spoke in gasps and slowly got better as he progressed. "Thank you.... Master Sergeant....I'm honoured...to be in your...program." Veleraen winced for a second and then continued, standing a little more straight this time, regaining his composure. "I took basic and advanced Veldar training, along with a basic course of zinn'ka at the Martial Arts school here in Zerdargia. I also enrolled into a blacksmithing class at the B and D Anvil here. I have fought in the Hinterlands in Carmelyn province, where I took on six Dracons at once. I have fought in the heartlands where I killed many undead along with a shadow golem of sorts that was at least five times my height. After that, I fought in the Malice war alongside the Enamorian forces and then I returned here back to Zerdargia sir." Veleraen caught his breath, gasping for more air near the end.

Venton's eyes went wide for a minute and then he grinned. "You fought in the malice war private? No wonder you can take the beating I gave out, those orcs will give you a run for your money." Venton gave a chuckle as Veleraen held up his left hand. "They took the bottom digits of my last two fingers on my left hand, and I have scars and acid burns on my hands and body from what they did to me. It wasn't pretty Master Sergeant.." Veleraen's face turned serious, as he stared at his instructor, a little depressed at the mention of Malice.

Venton simply nodded and turned and paced back a few steps and then turned around again. "Well, all of that aside Private, you're going to learn the best art form of Zinn'ka. The first thing you're going to learn today, is a breathing technique that will lessen the pain that is inflicted to you, which will ultimately help you today I believe, but in the long run, if you work at it, you can increase your pain tolerance by a tremendous amount, especially with you being a giant and all. You'll be able to take a gut punch without even being phased, and that's just the beginning." Venton motioned for Veleraen to come closer and sit as he lowered himself to the ground and crossed his legs and placed his palms onto thighs.

"I learned a breathing technique before in my previous training, I guess it is similar to this one Sergeant?" Veleraen asked as he walked over and sat in front of the Sergeant on the fresh green grass of the training field. "Yes, it is similar, but this one will help you alleviate pain quicker and more efficiently. Now, do what I tell you, as this is important for future recovery periods after you go through a grueling training session after you have just done. It's called the Breath of Pain Leeching. Now, the object of it, is to trick your mind into feeling that you are not in as much pain as you are in now. Breath steadily, sucking in the air and hold it for a few seconds and then exhale and then hold it for a few seconds. Steadily increase the periods to which you hold your inhales and exhales till you reach around ten seconds and then start slowly again going from one second to ten seconds. Do this for a period of fifteen to thirty minutes and just concentrate on the rhythm of your breathing and let your mind relax. Now try it.

Veleraen sighed and then nodded. Closing his eyes, Veleraen took a deep breath and held it for a second or so and then exhaled it and held the exhale for a second or so and repeated the process till he got to ten second periods. He could slowly feel his mind leeching away the pain from his body, but it wasn't coming easily. Starting over again, Veleraen steadied his breathing and concentrated on letting his body relax. Venton watched him with somewhat of a look of intensity and curiousness. "That's good, now keep it up, and let me know if you feel a difference, usually most people don't get it the first time. Keep trying." Venton was now more encouraging than ever, which really surprised Veleraen as he had been yelling at the private before hand.

Slowly and surely, Veleraen breathed in and out with timed intervals between inhales and exhales. Twenty minutes passed by, thirty minutes... forty five minutes, and Veleraen couldn't feel much of a difference. But, after the giant stopped trying so hard, Vel could feel the pain slowly seeping away from his body, as if he was being drained of his pain and a more refreshing feel was coming about. "I feel it working, although, not that much sir. It's definitely working though." "Good good. Do this for another ten minutes or so, and then your lesson is done for today, come back tomorrow and we'll continue with your training." Veleraen simply nodded as Venton got up and walked off the field. Veleraen continued the exercise and then opened his eyes, feeling quite a bit better than before, but his body still ached quite a bit after what he had gone through. It felt like there was a million knives sticking into his chest and his stomach. His arms felt like lead and his legs could barely carry him back to the barracks. "Note to self, never EVER volunteer with Master Sergeant Venton ever again...EVER."

[Veleraen]

Holding his chest and accompanying it with a aching groan of pain, Veleraen slowly sat up, his chest and stomach still burning from the day before. He awoke in the barracks much like he had the previous days, but never before had he felt so lousy, even when sleeping in the wilderness on those long trips out to Enamoria and Carmelyn province. Taking in a minimal breakfast, not wanting to expell it during training time, Veleraen got himself together and walked out hesitantly to the training field, worrying that he would get ambushed once again by Master Sergeant Venton.

Luckily for Veleraen, Venton was in plain sight this time, his arms crossed, waiting for Veleraen to get there. The Private jogged over and stood attention. "Reporting for training sir." Giving a salute, Veleraen stood at attention and awaited further instructions as all soldiers did in the Veldar. "Morning Private Veleraen, I trust you had a good sleep after that rough workout I gave you yesterday correct? Well, today, it's going to be even harder, cause I have a surprise for you Private. I have some former students that we're going to be practicing with and guess what!??! They're all you're size!" Veleraen didn't make any facial expressions, but he tried to stifle a sarcastic comment and managed to keep it to himself. "Yes sir!" "GOOD! NOW GIVE ME TEN LAPS AND ANOTHER 200 PUSHUPS! I WANT YOU IN PEAK PHYSICAL CONDITION BEFORE YOU GRADUATE THIS CLASS MAGGOT, SO YOU BETTER DO IT QUICK THIS TIME! NO MORE LOLLY GAGGING AROUND, YOU UNDERSTAND THAT PRIVATE!?!? NOW GO!" Spit flew out of the giant sergeant's mouth and landed on the bottom half of Veleraen's face. All the private could do was blink in reaction and then get down and do pushups. "This man is a sadist....Two hundred pushups? Not even Setik made me do this many.." After twenty minutes or so, Veleraen completed his pushups, still aching from the day before and then got up quickly to complete his laps. Jogging, one leg in front of the other, Veleraen concentrated on keeping his rhythm, not breaking stride once. Eventually after a good ten to twenty minutes, Veleraen completed his laps, and rounded the corner of the field back to Venton. "You're getting quicker, but still not quick enough! In any case, today, you will be squaring off with one of my former students today, his name is Proktar, he's a corporal here in the Veldar. I told him to report here about half an hour after you were to report here, so he should be here any second..."

Venton was correct, as the large form of Corporal Proktar jogged up to the pair and stood at attention. "Corporal Proktar reporting for duty sir." The giant gave a salute to Venton and then turned to Veleraen and nodded. Proktar was about Vel's height and had about the same mass as well. It seemed like it would be an even and fair fight, or at least Veleraen thought so. "Okay you two. Proktar, I want you to let Veleraen practice some moves with you, then we'll get down to some sparring. The private here needs to learn the basic techniques in the intermediate stages, so what we're going to do first is the Flying Tackle. Corporal, bring that pad over here and we're going to show the private how we do our tackles in the Veldar." "Yes sir, right away." The other giant student went and got the large pad from the supply shack on the field and brought it over and flopped it onto the field next to them.

"Corporal, I want you to tackle me onto the pad, don't over shoot, or else I'll have your head. Now get in position, private you watch the next couple of times, and then you'll get a shot at Proktar." Proktar nodded and lined up about twenty feet away and waited for the Sergeant to get into position. Once they were both ready, Proktar took a a couple of steps to build up momentum and then dove into the air. His arms were spread wide so that he could encompass the sergeant. As he hit the sergeant, his shoulder made contact with Venton's lower torso and then brought him down to the ground. Venton coughed as the hit kind of took his breath away and then got up and brushed himself off. "You see Private what the corporal did? He built up enough moment so he could fly at me, and tackle me. The object is to collide your shoulder into your opponent's mid section to knock their breath away and hopefully break a few ribs while you're doing it. Now, we're using discretion here, so if you hurt anyone here seriously EVER, i'll rip your head off and rape your skull, you got that!? Safety is important here, and I don't want anyone getting seriously hurt. Proktar, do it a couple more times to let the rookie take a better look and then he'll try it on you." Proktar let out a "yes sir" and lined back up again. Taking a better look, Veleraen watched them execute the flying tackle a couple more times and then it was his turn to try it out.

"Okay Private, you're up next." Proktar stated, as he stood in front of the pad, waiting for Veleraen to get in position. The private nodded and got about in the same position Proktar did last time and got ready. "Okay...take a couple steps forward, get your momentum going and take him out at the stomach, you can do this.." Taking a deep breath, Veleraen closed his eyes momentarily and then opened them, as he took his first step. Taking two more, Veleraen lept at Proktar but he lept too far and almost clotheslined Proktar and hit him in the upper chest with his shoulder. Proktar was taken by surprise and got knocked down hard to the pad as the large mass of the giant came flying at him. "Private Veleraen, you numbskull! What did I tell you!? Hit the stomach! Not the chest! Now do it again or you'll be lined up for my next class where you'll be tackled for an hour! Now do it right! MOVE!" Veleraen looked nervously and got up again and got into position. "Okay...don't thrust off the feet too hard this time, and gotta aim a little lower... Veleraen barked a shout signalling his start and ran viciously at Proktar, only taking two steps this time, and let go a little early and collided with Proktar at the stomach, this time taking him down effectively. Vel got up off Proktar and the pad and grinned. Proktar gave him the thumbs up for a second until Venton eyed him. "GOOD! Now, do that fifteen more times but this time you're going to do it to that dummy so my good student Proktar here doesn't get hurt before sparring with you. MOVE IT!" Veleraen hustled and got the dummy from the supply shed and brought it back and set it up in front of the pad. Taking good precautions, Veleraen repeated the Flying Tackle manoeuvre over and over for an hour as he tackled it one time after another, more or less landing the tackle in the immediate area of the torso and bringing it down to the pad.

After Vel was done, Proktar and Venton had been having a discussing and catching up with other things, while Veleraen was practicing. "I'm done sir, I think I have it down." Venton nodded and grinned. "Good man, now I want you to try to attack Proktar here with just the moves you know. So your jabs, kicks, tackle and throw and see how you do. He will defend himself, he's not going to take all the punishment, so be forewarned. Now go at it you two, and I want to see some hard punches or else you're both giving me laps and crunches." Proktar nodded along with Vel and they both got into their respective crouches. Veleraen looked Proktar over for any weak spots but it didn't look like the similarly sized giant had any or any that he could see anyways. Putting their arms up in front of them, close to their bodies, Veleraen made the first move to initiate combat.

Taking a few steps towards Proktar, Veleraen dove to try and take out the Corporal with a Flying Tackle. Not expecting such a risky move off the bat, it took Proktar by surprise and took him down to the ground. Now getting in close, Veleraen sent a few hard jabs into Proktar's mid section before a massive right hook caught him in the face and send him off of Proktar to his left, landing on his back. The giant corporal followed suit and jumped back onto Veleraen, this time jabbing and kneeing the Private. Sudden surges of pain emanated all over Veleraen's body, as the art of Zan Zu was intended to kill people within a few manoeuvres if done correctly, but fortunately they were just sparring, and Venton would've had someone's head if anyone got hurt that brightening.

Punching back and forth, Veleraen and Proktar rolled aruond and punched and jabbed in close quarters for about ten or so minutes and finally seperated after Proktar tossed Veleraen off of him to a good ten feet. Stumbling to his feet, Veleraen panted as several bruises were already starting to show on his face and arms. His ribs ached with the fury of Proktar's punches and jabs. "He's pretty good, strong too, Venton has taught him well. Hopefully I'll be able to beat him one day.." As Proktar and Veleraen both took a rest, Venton eyed both of them and laughed. "Giving you a run for your money Proktar? Comeon! You can't let him stand there knowing he's not out for the count! Get'em! Veleraen, get ready son, he's just warming up.." Veleraen smiled faintly and nodded as he got into the crouch stance once again, waiting for Proktar to get himself together.

Proktar smiled deviously and then waved for Veleraen to come get him. The private gladly took the opportunity as he charged the giant and went to throw a punch at close quarters towards Proktar's stomach. The corporal, seeing it coming, grabbed it, twisted and snapped Veleraen over his shoulder as he landed right in front of the Corporal and then Proktar did someting unexpected, he wrapped his huge bicep around Veleraen's neck and began to choke him. The private could feel the immense strength being exerted to try and close off his airway, his vision began to get blurry, but Veleraen didn't want to get beaten that easily. Using two hands, Veleraen grabbed the back of the head of Proktar and pulled as hard as he could to toss him over his body and in front of him. His air supply was being diminished as he could barely breath, the throw worked just in time as Proktar flew over ahead, but not before Veleraen passed out and darkness covered his world.

Veleraen awoke in his cot, a blanket covering him, and Master Sergeant Venton along with Proktar standing over him. "You okay soldier? You took a massive throat choke by Proktar here, but you managed to fend him off, but not in time I'm afraid. You were out for about a good twenty minutes, and we brought you back here. Figured you'd be kinda out of it for today. Good job soldier, you did a heck of a match with Proktar, I look forward to training you. Tomorrow meet me same time, same place, and we'll continue from there." Proktar simply nodded respectively and followed Venton out of the room.

All Veleraen could do was sigh and close his eyes as his day was somewhat ruined from being knocked out already. Taking a deep breath, Veleraen lapsed back into slumber, as the beating he took, knocked all the energy out of him. Bruises littered his body from head to toe, and tomorrow would be no different.

[Veleraen]

Awaking with the low light of the barracks around him, his vision dazed and fuzzy, Veleraen slowly lifted his head to get a hold of his surroundings, as it was a new brightening already. Clasping the right side of his head in his right palm, the giant rubbed his bald sides and top, as being unconscious had really taken its toll yesterday during lessons. Bruises littered Veleraen's arms, legs, chest and stomach as he sat up, revealing the pounding he had taken. Sitting up on his cot, the giant rubbed his arms, trying to soothe the aching pain. A few recruits that had arrived not long ago had gotten up a little earlier and were in the barracks. They looked over at Veleraen in fright as to what had happened to him. Veleraen couldn't help but chuckle and smile as he saw the recruits shake in their boots as to what they imagined as to what they had in front of them in their training to come.

Getting bathed and dressed quite quickly, Veleraen got out of the barracks and back onto the training field once again for another savage beating. Venton was standing with another giant sized dummy on a stand next to him. He grinned as Veleraen approached and the private saluted him, Venton returning the salute. "Reporting for my training Master Sergeant."

"Good to see up and about Private, I didn't think you'd have the guts to come back out again, but it appears I was proven wrong. You keep this up and I'll have to push you so hard, you'll be in a body cast for the next month." Venton joked sarcastically, and then cut himself off with an abrupt clearing of the throat.

"Today, You'll learn the basic technique of the Throat Choke and the Simple Break fall. We'll practice those, then we'll be done for today. Once you show me you can use all of your techniques, we'll put them to use in an effective manner later on. But what I want from you now is fifty push-ups and three laps around the field! MOVE!!" Veleraen simply nodded and proceeded with his daily exercises. It was a normal routine and Veleraen was starting to get used to it.

Jogging back to Venton after a good three laps of jogging around the field, the private came to rest in front of the master sergeant. "You're going to now learn how to choke someone out like what happened to you yesterday Private. If you performed this manoeuvre on anyone but a giant, you would literally kill him or her instantly with the sheer strength of pressure you put on to his or her necks. Their small necks would snap and you'd probably take their heads off if you did it hard enough. On a giant though you will need to be efficient, if you are not, you will pay for your mistakes, because against a giant, you will not have many an opportunity to apply it." Venton explained as he paced slowly back and forth. ”Now, to properly apply a throat choke, you have to know how to apply it. First off, you wrap your strongest arm around your opponents throat and then press your other arm’s forearm against the back of their neck and apply force, pushing up and down from both sides. This usually restricts their airflow and cuts of circulation to the brain rather quickly, either that or it snaps their neck, which in most cases is fine as well, unless you NEED to disable them, so you must learn to control it. Watch and learn.” Venton walked over to the dummy and applied the throat choke that had been applied to Veleraen previously. The giant watched as the Master Sergeant did as he had just said and wrapped his strongest arm around the throat and then forced his other forearm on the back of the neck and connecting the hold so that they couldn’t escape.

”The best times to use this manoeuvre is when your opponent is down on the ground so you use your body weight to keep them there and apply the hold. The other good time is when they’re disoriented or right after you shoulder throw them, like when Proktar did the choke on you. It’s best to apply the choke from behind as it’s really the best position to do it from. If in dire circumstances, you can apply it from the side but it isn’t as effective as you don’t get the position you need to apply the force needed to choke your opponent out. Now you try it, do it standing up, then throw your opponent and then apply the choke. Make sure to execute it quickly and efficiently, it is the only way you’ll get it successfully, NOW MAKE IT HAPPEN!!” Venton screamed the last bit, startling Veleraen as the private jumped ever so slightly and made his way to the dummy. Getting in position, Veleraen got behind the dummy and wrapped his right arm around the dummy neck and braced his left forearm against the back of the neck. Using his right hand, he grabbed onto his own left forearm and apply force to the dummy’s neck. Venton stood and watched as Veleraen whipped around in front of the dummy and tossed it over his right shoulder right in front of him and then applied the choke hold as quick as possible.

Venton nodded and walked over. ”Good job. Now you’re going to learn the simple break fall technique. It’s a simple manoeuvre that you can use to break your fall when falling, either from being thrown or simply falling from a height, but be warned if you fall too far or too hard, this technique will not save you entirely. If you fall from a too high a distance you will most likely break your wrists, if not your arms. Being a giant you can fall a good distance and not break anything, but fall TOO FAR and you’re history. Now to do this break fall, you must concentrate on your hands and wrists when performing it. Usually when you’re falling, you will fall front first, and your initial reaction is to put your arms out in front of you to stop your descent. This is instinctual, but in Zan Zu, we can utilize this natural reaction to our advantage and allow yourself to recover quicker and break your fall. When falling face first, put your arms out, but bend them at an angle so that they have more bounce and are not as rigid. If you stick your arms out too straight, you will most likely snap them in half.” Venton sighed and looked at Veleraen.

”After you have stuck your arms out at an angle, concentrate on your wrists and push off of them as soon as they hit the ground and push yourself to a side, either left or right and roll. This way if your opponent intends on following up a throw with an attack, you can dodge this attack by using a break fall technique and rolling away. After you roll, recover yourself to your feet and prepare yourself into the standard stance. Let me show you, and then you shall try.” Venton lined himself up with the pad on the ground and ran and dove with his hands out and arms bent. He hit the pad and pushed himself immediately to the left and rolled off the mat and got to his feet quite quickly and into a stance. ”That is how it is done, now you try it private.” ”Yes Master Sergeant.” Veleraen nodded and lined up where Venton had been and ran. The giant jumped through the air and stretched his arms out at the ground, slightly bent, wrists ready to spring him to his feet. The giant hit the pad and pushed to the right with his wrists and rolled. As soon as Veleraen got to his feet, he turned his body and was met with a three shot combo of fists slamming into his mid section as Venton caught him off guard with a fury of punches. ”What th-“ was all that Veleraen could think as the Sergeant hit him to the ground and stood over him with a grin bigger than Meephos’. ”I told you, you have to be quick and get ready, cause your enemy is not going to give you a chance if they’re smart enough. So you must always be on the ready. Now do it again and this time be ready for it, you don’t know where they’re going to come from.” Veleraen nodded quickly and got himself up to his feet where he proceeded to try it again. This time right after he hit the pad, he pushed himself left instead of right and whipped himself up and into a defensive position, his arms up and ready to block. He met Venton’s punches with his arms and covered his body from attack. Venton paused after he threw the punches and grinned. ”You’re learning fast, that’s good. Good…Now give me one hundred more push-ups and another five laps and then you can go. Be sure to practice your breathing techniques regularly and I will see you tomorrow.”

Veleraen grinned and got down into the position he was most familiar with and started his pushups. Sweat dripping off his brow, the bruised and battered giant got up and ran around the field twenty minutes and went back and got ready for another rough brightening of Zan Zu with Master Sergeant Venton, an experience he would never forget.

[Veleraen]

Preparing for the next class, Veleraen woke up an extra hour early than when he was supposed to, and started his breathing exercises in the barracks. He slowly drifted off into a void of silence and calmness where he started to breath slowly and then increased his breathing rate and then decreased it, over and over, until he could no longer feel the bruising on his abdomen and upper body. Eyes closed and his mind focused on nothing but his breathing, Veleraen slowly could feel the pain leeching away, but then with the slam of a door, from down the hallway, Veleraen's eyes jutted open. The sound of Sergeant Setik yelling at the recruits to wake up echoed from not far away. "Ahh.. I'll never forget those days..." Veleraen had had some fond memories with Setik and his training. It was a wonder he ever came out alive from that program.

After cleaning up, shaving and preening himself (the giant was not a barbarian after all), Veleraen got dressed for another brightening of Aeternia on the bright little world called Telath. Walking out into the intermittent sunlight, Veleraen looked around took a deep breath of fresh air and then continued onto training field. It was a nice brightening, and the giant would've liked to enjoyed it more before it turned into a living nightmare, but he really didn't have a choice in the matter.

Master Sergeant Venton was already waiting for Veleraen and approached him looking at him with a curious eye. "Ahh! Private Veleraen! You look a little chipper than usual and that makes me feel like I want to run you even further into the ground soldier! But not today. Today, I'm going to teach you how to fight like a machine. Those moves I taught you were the essential moves of what it takes to compete at this level, and now I'm going to show you the mechanics of how you put them all together, to make you effective on the battlefield." The giant sergeant cracked his enormous knuckles and smiled deviously. "Gimmie the usual warm up and then we'll get started. I see you slack once out there, and I'll give you a whooping you'll never forget." Venton grinned and slapped the Private on the back and sent him on his way, crossing his arms watching Veleraen run his way around the field. Five laps later, and a gallon of sweat pouring out of him, Veleraen arrived back and dropped to the ground into pushup position and gave the Master Sergeant a hundred pushups, not even hesitating to take a rest. "That's it! You don't rest until you can do that routine twenty brightenings in a row. If you can do that after I'm done with you, no one will be able to touch you, understamd me? Now get up! We have some things to learn before you can call yourself a real soldier." Venton reached down after Veleraen had completed his last pushup and pulled him up to his feet. The giant was harsh in his ways, but it was all the same, military training. The roughest, most grueling things came about in training, but what had to be done, had to be done.

Panting somewhat, Veleraen took a couple of deep breaths, and slowly lowered his rate of respiration. "Yes..Master Sergeant." "It really wouldn't hurt to get breath mint either, Master Sergeant." Veleraen coughed, as if he were trying to cover up the sarcastic comment in his mind and straightened his gaze. "Now, tell me Private, how do you intend on getting close to your enemy when it's dangerous. For example, you are fighting a soldier your size who is armed with a sword and shield, and you are unarmed, how are you to get close and not get harmed?" Venton walked around Veleraen, looking at him as he stood in an imaginary circle of interrogation.

"Master Sergeant, perhaps take him by surprise Master Sergeant." Veleraen gulped and hoped his answer was correct. Venton grinned. "That is one option soldier, but what if you don't have that option. What do you do then? Hmmm?" Veleraen's mind wandered on the question for a moment, and when he realized he didn't know, the giant didn't know what to say. "Master Sergeant, well, I...I don't know sir. That's why I'm being taught here sir, by the best sir." The titan hoped it would suffice for now, but Veleraen had a hunch that the answer he just gave wasn’t going to cut it. Venton looked at him viciously as if one of his eyeballs were going to pop out of its socket. "You DON’T know eh? Well then, I’m going to show you.” Venton grinned and walked over to the supply shed on the field and brought back a shield and a longsword. He tossed the longsword over to Veleraen and the giant caught it with two hands by the handle. "Now, you are going to swing at me when I come at you. I'm going to show you how you get close when someone is armed." Venton walked slowly towards Veleraen and then when he was within striking distance, Veleraen raised his sword up in one hand and thrusted it towards the Sergeant as he came at him. The Master Sergeant grabbed the wrist of Veleraen as the blade came at him and rotated his body away from the sword attack, bringing Veleraen's arm forward and then twisting it to make him release the sword. Venton then proceeded to give Veleraen a couple of cheap shots in the stomach and the chest, adding an extra knee in at the end of the flurry of punches as he got in close to his opponent. Veleraen fell to the ground with a loud grunt as he took the punches and fell on his behind with a large thud. Shaking his head in disbelief, we found himself staring up at a grinning Master Sergeant Venton. "Did you see how I did that? I disabled you from using your weapon and then I pulled you closer to me, so that I can effectively use my manoeuvres against you. That is primarily what the art of Zan Zu is all about. You get close and you do as much damage as possible and then get out after you opponent is either unconscious or dead. Now you're going to try it. But we'll start you off with wooden swords, for obvious safety reasons." Venton chuckled as Veleraen's face went from an optimistic visage to downright annoyed. Venton grabbed a wooden sword and wielded it in one hand and now the situation was reversed.

The giant pictured the manoeuvre in his mind to try and get close to his opponent. "The object is to get your opponent to attack first so he opens himself up. Then you get in there and do as much damage as you can." Veleraen nodded to himself and visualized it over and over as he prepared himself for the first test. Finally he was ready to go and approached Venton, crouched and ready to spring into action. This time, Venton surprised Veleraen and took an swing from bottom to top, restricting the access to his arm and Veleraen didn't know what to do except try and go for the arm. Reaching out, Veleraen's hands didn't get to their target in time