Flashback Taking A Punch (Part 2)

[Kavala]

31st of Summer, 508 AV

Continued from: Taking A Punch (Part 1]

After their water and rest break, Seth wanted them to continue with the lessons. He wasn’t one of the instructors that stuck to an hour and left it. He was rather the type that gave it all day before he got tired. Which truthfully was fine with Kavala? A previous evening she’d taken both girls out with leased horses and had put some of their new skills to use on hacks to see if they could walk and trot trails with her and Windsong. The girls could, which was good news for their father. Seth wanted his girls able to ride because to him that freed them up for traveling when they grew to age and got their own Calls.

Kavala often wondered about her own Call. When would it come? Where would it be? What would it mean? She couldn’t conceive of it being anywhere but on the Sea of Grass helping the Drykas and her family. To her, that was already something of a call. Kavala glanced at Matthew, already sad to be leaving him. They’d become friends of a sort… no more than that. What they had together had already gone deeper. She didn’t love him because she couldn’t… her place was elsewhere. But his flawed charm and his mastermind mentality had gotten under her skin. Other women said that firsts did that. She depended on him in a way she didn’t understand. Kavala needed his smile and his over bright eyes when the sparked with understanding or curiosity. She wanted his touch and his laughter and his company. He was an actor playing at acting out life. She knew it as much as she knew the day was long. He wasn’t ‘real’ in a way. And if someone would have told her that she drank too much vision water on Mura and made him up, Kavala would have been inclined to believe them. He was too perfect. He was too beautiful. He never felt too deeply or let failure get to him. He didn’t know how to actually fail, come to think of it. He just tried other ways until something he wanted or desired to achieve was acquired. And she admired him in many ways… too many ways.

It was starting to feel a whole lot like family when he was around. And it was also starting to feel a whole lot like what the tales and poems spoke of when they talked of love. And that made her mad. She was not in a position to love him. She wasn’t in a position to even care about him. They studied together. They learned. And in many ways they came into their adulthoods together. Anything was open to exploration when it came to Matthew. Anything was possible, that is, but love.

Kavala decided to talk to him about it later. She honestly felt she could talk to him about anything. It would take her some time, some courage perhaps… but she’d bring it up to him eventually. Maybe in just talking to him she could work out her feelings, label it the crush or infatuation for what it was. Matthew had common sense and he’d make her see reason about it if he could. Would the human even know what love was? Could she love him and not be in love with him? That felt right suddenly. That felt good. He was in a way family, albeit adopted. Relief swept through her. Yes. She’d feel better talking to him about it. And in the mean time maybe she’d hit him a time or two to see if that got her over her newly budding feelings. After all, if you were in love with someone, could you honestly say you looked forward to breaking through their guard and jabbing them in the nose? Kavala didn’t think so, but she was sure eager to see if she could land some blows on Matthew. His nose, after all, would look a lot better less perfectly straight.

Kavala smirked. She was just about ready to start talking about how to block uppercuts when Seth interrupted her train of thought and brought her back on tasks in regards to the /hooks.

“There are a few more types of hooks. When you deliver two hook punches simultaneously, usually to the ears or lower ribs, then you’ve just thrown a double hook punch. The difference between two hook punches in a row and a double hook punch is simple. The double hook is fast….” He demonstrated and his fists were a blur. “…while the two hooks are considerably slower. The double hook could be an end game move so remember if you want to put your opponent on the ground, set yourself up to use it then strike hard and fast.” Seth said, looking a bit excited. Then he paused and moved on to one more type of hook, interrupting Kavala’s ability to move on to the uppercut. She still needed to tell him how to defend against it.

“The next type of hook is a shovel hook. This is a combination of a hook and an uppercut. It is usually delivered to your enemies body, but you can use it to strike their chin by coming up under the opponents guard. The idea is to strike close to the body with your elbows close to your side, and have your fist aimed upward as in an uppercut punch.” Seth said, going on to demonstrate.

Kavala moved into position and did the same thing, going through the motions of a double hook at top speed (which was considerably slower than Seth’s) and then a shovel hook. She thought she had the general hang of it when Seth added one more move in.

“Finally, before we go back to the Uppercut, let’s talk about the Overhand Hook. This is a move where you come in from a slightly vertical or overhead position. The first comes down on top of the opponent and the body sways slightly downwards as well.” Seth demonstrated and Kavala had to grown. It was obviously an easier move for a taller person striking a shorter person. Matthew, for example, could Overhand Hook her for example, because he was taller than she was. And at the same time she’d have issues getting the taller opponents with that sort of move. But she supposed if she were ever fighting a team of children or shorter Isur, then it might be useful.

Kavala started to smile at the thought.

Finally, it was time to get to the Uppercut and practice it. Seth had already demonstrated it, and asked for a defense, so Kavala was more than willing to supply one she thought was feasible. She had to watch both Seth and Matthew demonstrate it before she could get a really good handle on what it meant to DEFEND against it, but when she got to the point she thought she understood the move well, the defense seemed obvious to her.

“I think you need to catch the fist as it rises or lowers, using your forearm, to block the punch. It doesn’t seem like it’s as powerful of a punch as some of the others, so maybe even covering… like hiding behind your hands and forearms would work. You could even step back or outside to take away the range your opponent needs to throw the uppercut and thus dodge it or take the power out of it. You could also; it seems to me, tie up the opponent or clench to avoid the uppercut.” Kavala meant of course stepping in close or clenching the opponent or throwing a series of counter punches to throw his uppercut off.

Seth nodded, turned to Matthew, and asked him quietly. “Do you want to add anything to that explanation?” And then she waited. Once Matthew had declined or given his response, Kavala sensed it was time to practice and got underway with it.

Their instructor gave them more time to practice, so Kavala got down and dirty breaking the technique apart. She was starting to think like a fighter and that meant each move of her body was carefully calculated and executed. The uppercuts began with the punching hand set near the waist with the elbow pointed backwards. It was something of an awkward position at first for Kavala, but as she began to throw the uppercuts, she began to feel more comfortable with it. She bent at the knees, and would explode upwards using the strength in her legs to generate the power in the punch. As she punched, her fist moved upwards and her arm rotated at the shoulder with her elbow still holding the bend and brushing along her ribs as she moved. Then, as the fist moved upwards, she kept the elbow under her fist with her wrist straight. She found she could use the fist with or without fist rotation. The rotation didn’t seem to add much to the punch like it did other moves.

The more she practiced, the more thought she gave on how she was going to use the uppercut. To her, if an opponent was leaning forward she could definitely get an uppercut in with very little effort. But on a taller target who was close in there might be problems unless they had their guard down. It was definitely a punch that could be used in combination or by itself. She knew instinctively she could take her trailing hand and throw an uppercut with it, especially if the leading hand had a hook combination thrown out there for training. Kavala also felt she could use it as a counter punch, though she’d have to slip to the outside of a straight punch to throw an uppercut unexpectedly.

The Konti smiled, imagined both techniques, and then took a break stretching.

Seth spoke again. “Now, those are the main punches. But lets talk about some of the other punches out there. Do you guys have any ideas?” He asked, talking to both Matthew and Kavala at the same time.

Count: 1,690

[Matthew]

He had wanted to go for a little jog or do some sort of little work-out on their break. He was tired and sore but felt he could push himself more, felt he could push himself farther. Seth had absolutely refused and had even threatened to slow the pace that he taught Matthew at if the student decided it was appropriate to disobey the orders of his teacher. This had instantly caught Matthew's attention and returned him right back to the focused and obedient student he was. He took the entire break to just lay there and rest while drinking plenty of water. It was interesting how good water tasted when he was truly thirsty. He usually didn't find pleasure in eating and drinking, but simple water after a hard session of exercise was incredibly satisfying to him.

Kavala had glanced at him once or twice and he had glanced back, meeting her stare and giving her a polite smile. He was completely obvious to her thoughts. Sometimes he seemed to magically pick up on them, able to give her the logical side of whatever it was she was struggling with. An anchor in an emotional storm, perhaps. Most of the time he didn't seem to know anything was going on at all. It was just another quirk of his, something she had probably noticed quite a few times before. Like several of those times before, his bright blue eyes just slid back to the sand and grew distant as he retreated somewhere inside of himself. He was mentally going through all the strikes that they had learned in the very first session. It had been so many. There was even more? He hadn't really ever explored self-defense and it was proving to be quite the intricate and unique world.

Even in his own private little area inside of his head, sometimes Matthew picked up on things that were going on around him. This time the young student picked up on her smirk, blinking and glancing up at her suddenly. Why was she smirking? He suddenly felt uneasy but quickly stifled the impulsive sensation. He had nothing to base it on. It was useless to him, for now. It didn't help that she was still smirking though.

They were back in their stances though, and Seth was now demanding their attention. Matthew quickly refocused, once again calling upon what little meditation techniques he knew. He formed a private space in his mind, a little blank sphere. All of his other thoughts went on the outside of that sphere while Seth, Matthew and Kavala remained inside of it. His bright stare sharpened and intensified, Seth now the center of his focus with Kavala the only other thing on the outside of it. He slowly nodded, having a bit of a hard time following Seth's blows but managing to grasp the concepts when aided by the detailed description that Seth gave. He noticed the brief moment of excitement on Seth's face but ignored it, classifying it as a train of thought that existed outside of the sphere. He kept his focus on the explanation of the various hooks, jotting them all down within the mental tomes that he had developed. Double hook, shovel hook, overhand hook. He was led through the motions of each and every one of them, Seth having picked up on the fact that Matthew (like many) found it much easier to commit something to memory when he actually acted it out.

Matthew silently shook his head when asked if he wanted to add anything to Kavala's description of an ideal defense. She was good at picking up on these things instinctively, seemingly finding what sounded like a perfectly logical defense off the top of her head. Matthew would have to see the different punches a few more times before he came to his own conclusion. His mind was already churning away at the puzzle, though. He partially agreed with Kavala and he partially disagreed. He felt that he could really put his entire body into an uppercut, making it a powerful blow. It would require certain muscles to be developed a bit more. When it came to defending it though, his first idea was along the same lines as one of her own. If he was close enough to the opponent they wouldn't be able to make the motion required for such a punch. Space and range were proving to be very important, time and time again.

When he practiced, he finally started to show that he could do something else besides practice the exact punch that Seth had shown them over and over again. Matthew began to experiment, quickly finding out that it was best to bend at the knee and rotate in the shoulders and waist... but there was a possibility of even more. If he dashed forward in a sudden burst of speed, fine control of the muscles in his legs and hips would allow him to stop on a dime and throw all that excess force upwards into the uppercut. It was the same with hooks, at least when it came to momentum. One hook was strong, but if the body started to bob and weave and throw hook after hook... It would add even more momentum. Space, momentum, range. He tinkered with each of the separate concepts, focused and in his own little world. Seth's voice broke him from his concentration though, causing him to blink and tilt his head back toward the instructor. His question caused the young student to blink a few more times, an eyebrow arching and glancing over to Kavala. Once again, it was apparent that Matthew lacked imagination. There were more punches? He had never known that hand-to-hand combat had been so fully developed.

[Kavala]

While Matthew experimented with his new found knowledge and got a little freelance with his styles, mixing and matching the moves that he had learned, Kavala thought over Seth’s question.

“Men when they fight tend to hit people under the chin.” She said, demonstrating a swing that had a lot of power to it but was swung upwards and under the chin. “I suspect that is a punch all to itself. It might even be a way to disable someone no?” Kavala asked Seth, looking to him for guidance.

Their trainer nodded, smiling at the Konti and yet marveling at how one of the lithe women of Mura could have so much fierceness in her. “You are right, Kavala. It’s called an uppercut. It’s similar to the upset punch except you target someone’s chin. The uppercut has a devastating power to knock out an opponent and is usually utilized as part of a combination… a finishing touch.” Seth said, moving around so he was standing beside Kavala where she could watch and copy his action.

“You begin an uppercut with the punching hand near the waist and with your elbow pointed backwards. Bend at your knees and push your power in an explosive move upwards using your legs to generate the force. As you punch, the fist moves upwards as the arm rotates at the shoulder with the elbow remaining bent and brushing alongside as the fist moves upwards.” He said, taking position and demonstrating the punch.

Kavala copied his move, did as he displayed, and mirrored his movement while Seth ran through the guidelines. “Keep your elbow under the fist with the wrist totally straight. Okay? This keeps the energy channeled. You can rotate your fist if you want… it is not required though. Your arm motion must be coordinated with your hips and legs to generate the most power you can.” He added, following through and demonstrating how Kavala and Matthew could keep their whole body in sync with the punch.

The Konti did as he asked, focusing solely on her work now that Matthew and her were not sparring. She thought a great deal about what Seth said about the technique and realized that the uppercuts were delivered to targets that were tilted forward, as if maybe someone was leaning forward after their own punch. It was a good time to use the punch in retaliation of one just delivered or dodged. She could still nail an opponent that wasn’t leaning forward, especially if he was taller than she was. That almost made the Konti smile. Almost everyone was taller than she was.

Kavala threw her arm out, starting with her punching hand at her hip and her elbow in the correct position. She lashed out, once, twice, three times, sometimes rotating the fist, sometimes not. The more she practiced the more she realized that she could use the uppercut alone or in combination. Her trailing hand could be used for a hook combination because the uppercut resulted in the head of a person being abruptly lifted back making the chin vulnerable for a hook. Like she’d already seen, it could be used as a counter punch, especially against an outside straight punch or someone else's uppercut where their body ended up leaning forward.

The Konti smiled.

“So, Kavala… what’s the defense for an uppercut?” He asked, always in teaching mode and always wanting his students to answer. He gave Kavala time to think and turned to ask Matthew the same question. When it was Kavala’s turn to reply, she simply answered…

“You can catch the fist as it rises or perhaps even the lower forearm to block the punch. You can cover yourself from it like this too.” The Konti said, dancing forward and raising her hands and forearms to protect her face. “You can also step back, not commit fully, and or outside of the range so they can’t get an effective hit on you.

“Good.” Seth said. “And finally… if you want to throw two at a time, you have to be fast. I want you to not be tempted to do so until you are absolutely sure you are fast enough. You give your opponent a lead in when you uppercut then follow with another so they have time to react if you aren’t fast.” Kavala nodded, understanding where her teacher was coming from exactly.

She looked thoughtful, realizing the uppercut lesson was coming to a close.

“So what other punches are there?” She asked, not knowing anything else to suggest like her trainer had already asked of her. The uppercut was all she’d known about or thought she’d seen in addition to what Seth had already taught them.

[Matthew]

This wasn't working for him. He wasn't able to absorb enough. His mind soaked in the knowledge and dispersed it through his body, page upon page of books within his inner library filled with concepts and facts. His body couldn't keep up with his mind, though. Infuriatingly enough, he could not take that written word and inscribe it upon his body like some sort of mystical tattoo, instantly blessing his physical self with all the knowledge his mental library contained. His brow furrowed, blue eyes glinting for a brief moment, gears clicking in the back of his mind. They clicked and they clicked, moving faster and faster, until the sound of the world was drowned out by the sounds of the machine that lived inside his head. As the machine roared and grew faster, the world shimmered and slowed, Matthew's thought process bypassing all that around him. This was where he best existed. Alone in his mind, set apart from all else. For some, it was a lonely existance. For him, it was the only thing that most closely matched the concept of home.

He took the scene before him and observed it in his own unique way. He meddled with it and moved it, transforming the scene in his eye and his eye alone, intensely seeking out each and every single detail and applying it to what he already knew. He built a complete and total image of Kavala from every angle, constructing her from memory. He had touched each and every muscle that pulsed upon her body with his own fingertips. If her body was a painting, he had re-painted it when they had laid on that beach. Now all his had to do was repaint it again within the expanse of his own mind. Kavala was constructed, and with a quick flick of a wrist her image was spun, his inner eye staring upon every detail of her elegant punching motion.

Omohyoid. Stemohyoid. Sternocleidomastoid. Pectoralis Major and Minor. Deltoid. Brachialis. Biceps Brachi.

Names that he had studied mere weeks before flickered through his mind as he reconstructed the way Kavala had thrown a punch, the young Matthew intently watching each and every little movement of her body as she went through the motions of the basic blow. After identifying what muscles he could, he quickly identified those same muscles on his very own body. Then, with a blink, Matthew was back in the real world, the gears slowing and the sounds of the nearby lake and trees filling his ears once more.

He went through the motions that Seth instructed, but this time he forced himself to remain hyper aware of every little motion his own body was making. He moved slowly through the uppercut and tracked the movement of every muscle, repeating their names in his head and making a note to find the names of the ones he didn't know. He was sure the Konti had tomes upon tomes about this sort of knowledge. When asked about the defense of an uppercut, he tilted his head slightly, voice sounding distant even though he almost immediately answered. "You could also slip your head to the side, if the blow was aimed at the face. The chin or jaw is a small target area and shouldn't be difficult to get out the way, provided you are skilled enough to react."

Seth nodded, then turned, responding to Kavala's next question. "Instead of going over additional blows, this would be a good time to discuss basic defenses when it comes to fist-fighting. Matthew already mentioned one when he made a comment about slipping the head to the side. That is called a Slip. There is also a Fade, a Duck, Bobbing and Weaving, Parrying, Covering, and Clinching. The first four are the most idea, as they avoid a blow entirely. The last four usually still involve contact of some sort, which usually means that there will still be damage, even if that damage is very small. Kavala, can you take a guess at what a Fade is and when it would be used in a genuine fight?"