Flashback Just Observing (Solo)

[Xalet]

21st day of Fall, 510AV Xalet woke up to a rather familiar sight. His Patron had learned ornate paper folding techniques and appeared to enjoy displaying them to her Squire by leaving notes upon his sleeping head. Sometimes they were cutely crafted bows or animals, todays in particular seemed to be some type of bird. Rubbing his eyes, the little paper avian fell down from his forehead onto the floor beside his bunk. Leaning over, the bleary eyed Squire tried for several minutes to determine exactly how to open the thing up without ripping the delicate folds. Eventually he managed and was greeting with the beautiful flowing script inside. Squire Xalet, I want you to proceed to the Training Grounds at noon and observe a battle game they have their involving Squires. It will be good training. - Sergeant Braklin The task itself seemed simple enough. Get dressed, get some food, get some practice in, then head to the Antonius Grounds and watching the maneuvers of some of his fellow Squires. With a slight nod Xalet crumpled up the paper and tossed it into a nearby basket, not even realizing some small print that had been on the back, the ink hidden previously by the way the paper was folded. Without this knowledge, the large Akalak simply went about his day until the proper bells came. When twelve of them were nearing he grabbed his equipment and headed to the Grounds to watch the martial display. Once there he could see a small segment of the Grounds had been cleared of debris and roped off. A platform made of wood had been brought in and elevated with stone blocks which ended up creating a slightly elevated 'ring' where the fighting would take place so as to more easily be spectated by those not participating. In the middle of the makeshift arena one of the aging trainers stood with an excited look upon his face. A decent sized crowd had shown up to watch the small competition, with a few betting various trinkets or sweets that were served during chow time. "Welcome everyone! Quiet down now, quiet down and I'll explain the game here. There are eight Squires that were submitted by their Patron Knights to compete in the battle game for honor, glory, bragging rights...and maybe we'll figure something interesting to gift to the lucky winning Squire. The game itself works as follows. All rounds will be without armor or weapons and will consist of each fighter attempting to score 3 points. A point is scored whenever a fighter makes a clean and unanswered blow. An unanswered blow is any blow that is not retaliated against within a three count from me. A clean hit is also determined by me. NO arguing." the man stated, and for the most part those that were participating nodded their heads in agreement. All of the rules seemed very fair. "Any Squire may use any weaponless techniques taught to them, and there are no fouls, just make sure to be safe. We're all on the same team here, after all. After a point is scored each fighter may retreat to a corner for a thirty count in order to assess their mistakes and catch their breath. They will then proceed back to the middle and continue when I call to fight. Now then, let us start the very first elimination round. My hat, if you please..." the Knight called out to a nearby Page, whom brought what appeared to be a polished greathelm over toward the Knight. Dipping his hand in, the man brought out the first piece of paper and read it aloud. "Squire Duke, representing Ser Arlus Inkis." With several pats on the back a physically fit Human male approached the ring, ducking beneath the ropes as he made his way inside. With very short blonde hair and startling blue eyes, the Squire was obviously close to full adulthood. He stood over six feet in height and had clearly taken his training very seriously given his overall muscular definition. "Verses..." the man tucked away the previously drawn piece of paper to pull out the second. Raising it upward to his eyes to called out, "...Squire Xalet, representing Sergeant Irine Braklin." A few surprised glances looked back at Xalet, though none was as surprised as his own. Finally a few hands came down upon his shoulder, urging him forward with a couple encouraging words. "Make me proud Squire." came the soft, lilting female voice of his Patron, standing off behind some young men that towered over her petite height. "You...you said I would be observing..." Xalet attempted poorly to hush his words as he shot them over toward his Patron, unable to keep from being shuffled to the front where he was faced with the prospect of having to enter the ring. "And you will be observing, Squire. Very closely in fact." her arms crossed in front of her, her head nodded very matter-of-factly as she disclosed her reasoning.

[Xalet]

"But, I haven't even had a chance to prepare...or warm up..." Xalet argued, although in the back of his head he knew arguing with Irine Braklin was completely pointless. In the many years he had been with her, he had never won an argument. In fact he had never seen ANYONE win an argument when she was the opposition. Sergeant Braklin had talked more people into submission and had broken up more squabbles and brawls with just her voice that a Squire with some concerns could never hope to defeat her powerful verbal judo. In Irine's head, she noted to herself that her Squire must have failed to read the text on the BACK of her letter, which indicated that he would have been participating. Of course chastising him in public would be morally devastating, so instead she utilized the circumstance in her favor with some quick thinking, "And does the Knight have time to prepare for all of their conflict? Does the Knight get to stretch before running to the aid of his fellow man? This is the best training, which I have carefully devised." Immediately the people around the Sergeant were completely impressed, with several whispers in her favor consisting of, "What revolutionary training..." and "As expected of the Sergeant, sheer brilliance!" This left Sergeant Braklin to thank the people about her politely as Xalet stepped up into his doom. She had done it again! How did things manage to go in her favor every time!? Looking over at the man he was fighting, Xalet removed some of the equipment he wore and allowed it to drop down to the side of the ring with several long clanging noises. From the Knight in the middle, both men received a pair of hand wrappings, probably to cushion some of the blow from a punch. No doubt Sergeant Braklin was present to administer any first aid that would be required during the matches. Xalet slipped the coverings onto his fists and flexed his fingers. Luckily they were just large enough to fit the sheer size of his hands. Overall he couldn't believe how confident his opponent looked, staring at him while bouncing softly on the balls of his feet. Attempting to think back about what he knew of this man, Xalet couldn't find anything particular. With the amount of Squires and Knights, there was the potential to go years without meeting each one. Even then, Squires were accepted all the time, some older or younger than others, with various experience beneath their belts. Just what type of knowledge and skill did this man have? The only thing Xalet could utilize was his knowledge of hand-to-hand combat. He watched the way the man held his stance. Right side back, left foot forward, so he was most likely a right side dominant fighter, just like Xalet. His stance was very mobile, and the way he moved constantly on the balls of his feet told Xalet he preferred to be moving rather than stay toe to toe. Looking over the man's build, the Akalak recognized Duke's powerful thighs, was he some kind of kicker? His shoulders were also extremely built up, with powerfully corded muscles that reached down from the sides of his neck. Those neck muscles were extremely important when fighting hand-to-hand, as they stabilized the head and allowed a man to take a punch without becoming knocked out. "Alright boys! Start when I say start, stop when I say stop. Remember the three count. During the break between points if you want to gain some pointers from your Patron's head over to your corner. Easy right? Have fun and learn something. Alright fight!" Xalet brought his hands up and bent his knees. Immediately he noticed how much more rigid his fighting style was than his opponent's. He stepped forward to engage, looking to start low and then work his way up. If he could do some damage to the man's stance, he could more than likely slow him enough to land some points. Tossing in a low round kick, Duke crouched a bit to absorb the impact from the blow and then responded by darting forward and landing a pair of jabs right into Xalet's mouth. The force behind the hits was substantial, causing the large Akalak to back off slightly. Quickly remember the three count he rushed back, swinging with a right hook which was met with only air as the Duke bobbed easily, countering with a right straight to Xalet's gut. Despite how hard the Akalak's abdomen was, he could feel the amount of follow through Duke had in his punch, driving his insides to the rear by his spine, what a hit. Clenching his teeth he stepped to the side as Duke rose back up into a full stance and spun with a spinning back fist. Already the blonde man had moved from his spot and caught Xalet with a brutal pair involving a left and right straight to the temple, causing Xalet to stumble straight down to the ground. Looking down at the floor for a moment he saw the planks of wood he stood upon start to shift and wobble. That attack had literally scrambled his vision!

[Xalet]

"One point Duke, go to your corners and await my command." said the Knight. Once Xalet shook his sight back into focus he climbed up to his feet and walked with some slight unsteadiness over toward the corner his Patron had taken up a temporary residence in. As he looked down at her she dispensed some much needed advise, "Xalet, Duke is a well trained boxer, his footwork is much better than yours. He also had a great deal of talent before he came to the Order." Nearly everything she had spoken thus far wasn't exactly good news. Worse yet none of it was telling the Squire exactly how he was supposed to go about having any chance in this rather abrupt match. Staring down with a look that clearly said 'annnnd?' to his Patron, she finally continued onward, "You're not going to outbox him. You must use your kicks. Use your elbows. Use your knees. Remember the training in the eight point style. As of right now, Duke uses two striking surfaces, you use eight, make them count. Time's up, Squire." she commented, looking over Xalet's shoulder to the Knight which was calling for the two young men to prepare for the second altercation. With the quick call of, "Start!" the Knight backed up once more and allowed the two Squires to meet in the middle. Xalet worked defensively at keeping his hands up, doing well enough to push a trio of quick jabs aside. From the feeling of the punch against his hand, they weren't meant to inflict damage, but instead to gauge the distance between the Human and the Akalak. Xalet knew for certain he had a longer reach, but this Duke's feet were almost like lightning, moving his body much faster than Xalet could advance or retreat his own bulk. Ducking down, Xalet lunged forward and took a firm grip around Duke's mid-section with a well executed body spear. Knocking the blonde boxer back a few steps, Xalet followed up with a segment of strikes from his knees, looking to drive them up into his opponent's ribs. While a few made contact, most were staved off by Duke raising his own knee and dropping his elbow, creating a strong shield on the side where the attack was originating. Unable to squeeze his fist beneath the small opening created by the Akalak's extremely close quarters grip, Duke improvised by jamming his elbow down into Xalet's trapezius muscles, immediately starting to numb the feeling from the Akalak's broad shoulder downward. Feeling his grip starting to slip, Xalet wrapped his calf around one of Duke's and swung his hip into his opponent's, bring Duke's feet up and over with a strong hip-throw. Though Duke was momentarily dethroned from his feet, the agile boxer was quickly back up before Xalet could further capitalize. Coming in with his text-book jab, Xalet brought his hands up only to discover too late that the blow was in fact a feint. Dropping down Duke slammed a left hook into the thick ribs of the purple skinned Squire, causing his arms to buckle inward. The buckling revealed an opening in his chin, causing Duke to follow with an uppercut that caused beads of sweat to fly back from Xalet's stringy hair. The final maneuver was a right hook, effectively appearing to nearly separate Xalet's head from his shoulders, bringing him back down to the platform in a heap. "One point Duke!" "That a boy!" cried out Ser Inkis, "Pop the head up, then chop it off. Well done Squire, couldn't have done it better myself." a few of the other Squire's winced empathetically from the impact, which did well to open a cut right above Xalet's right eye. With the three count quickly coming and going, Xalet found himself down two points to zero, and feeling quite embarrassed by the lack of skill he thought he possessed. What had happened to all that training? Was he freezing up when he knew he was being watched by all those people? Wasn't he tougher than this? A nearly seven foot tall monster of an Akalak brought to the ground by a boxer? "Squire, Squire Xalet? Can you hear me? Come quickly before the break count is over." Sergeant Braklin demanded of him in her sing-song tone. Once Xalet managed to stumble over he dropped down to his knees. First to rest, but also to better hear his Patron as they were more equal in height, "Xalet, you need to ground him and then fight him from there. You can't get anywhere just going fist to fist. Take him down, then work him from there. You've got eighty or more pounds on him, he'll exhaust himself trying to simply escape or move you, but most of all he won't be able to gain all that power from his hips and shoulders. His form is better, but you've got more muscle mass. When restricted you can generate an excess of energy by using muscular strength alone, that's where you can score your points. Watch his hands, watch the jab, and keep those hands up."

[Xalet]

Xalet rubbed the back of his forearm against his head, bringing his arm before his eyes to recognize the crimson color of his own blood staining his purple skin. "He is...very skilled." Xalet attempted to reason with his Patron. It was simply possible this young man had more experience fighting in such a capacity than Xalet, but was there a way to overcome such a deficit? "You...believe my training is insufficient?" Irine replied, looking almost hurt as the corners of her mouth slowly dropped downward into a soft frown. Xalet was of course quick to offer up his apologies, which was exactly what the Sergeant wanted. A Squire worked hardest when he worked not only for his own honor, but for the honor of those he felt were important to him. "Then you must represent my training appropriate. I will look upon you with pride, and I hope that you too will feel proud for representing both myself and Priskil." "Fighters up!" the Knight said, waving his hands inward toward the center of the platform so that the match could continue. "Now go." Irine said with a nod, causing Xalet to push up from his knees and turn back toward his Human opponent. With a great swell of air he raised his hands up in an offensive posture, and Duke took his own boxer's stance, feet dancing lightly from front to back. "Start!" shouted the Knight, removing himself from the middle of the ring. This time Xalet was the first to cross the distance and put himself directly in front of Duke whom shuffled to move out from the corner. Xalet followed however, ducking beneath a quick jab before closing as much distance as possible to sweep his elbow upward. Duke simply met the elbow with his own elbow, attempting to keep his boxing 'cover' stance strong. Xalet hooked a punch, which ended up sailing wide giving Duke the opportunity to outmaneuver Xalet once more and slip beneath his right shoulder. Now it appeared the positions were completely turned with Duke on the outside and Xalet stuck near the corner of the platform. Sergeant Braklin had suggested taking the man down, but Xalet couldn't manage to find an opening to exploit that would allow him to remove the man from his feet. His stance was very strong, and his center of balance was surprisingly stable for a Human of his size. As Duke danced around the perimeter of Xalet's effective punching range he suddenly darted it, swinging with a combination beginning with two left jabs followed by a right straight. Xalet did well enough sweeping his hands at the appropriate times to counter the blows with open hand blocks. The two remained in the corner for several seconds, Xalet trying to find a way out, and Duke reeling him back in with hooks and jabs meant as tests to determine Xalet's defensive readiness. Finally an opportunity presented itself and Duke rushed in looking to land a standing uppercut. Xalet managed to rock his head to the side, deflecting a good deal of the blow from his chin before he locked both arms around the back of Duke's neck. Yanking the boxer toward him Xalet drilled upward with a sizable knee thrust, causing his opponent to be forced to drop his hands downward to reduce the impact of the strike. Though boxers were not well known for grappling techniques, Duke demonstrated a type of modified clinch as he wrapped a hand around the underside of Xalet's knee, attempting to pull him off balance. Xalet recognized the maneuver quickly and stomped his foot downward utilizing the full brunt of his bodily weight, allowing his thigh to break free from the grip. This allowed Duke to execute a fairly difficult boxing maneuver, an extremely short right hook made for penetrating the defense of another boxer inside of a clinch. The blow struck home relatively unobstructed, releasing Duke from Xalet's clutches. However there was a follow up that the boxer could have never seen coming. Immediately after the blow he prepared to increase their distance, opening up his elbows as he shifted his weight toward his rear foot to begin his backward motion. That opening found Xalet's foot coming straight through it. Xalet had taken the hook and had reflexively retaliated with an immediate front stomp kick! The sheer force of his own attack knocked Xalet back into the ropes, and kicked Duke's feet right out from under him. The boxer slammed onto the ground, getting his elbows beneath him just in time to keep his face from meeting the wooden planks below. That was when the impact to his insides caught up with him, causing his face to flush bright red and his arms to wrap about his lower torso. "Point Xalet!" the Knight called out. A few questioning words floated across the gathered crowd, mostly due to several folks being unable to follow exactly what happened with their eyes. The Knight in the middle of it all explained briefly, "Squire Xalet took a blow and answered with a blow of his own. His blow was then unanswered within the three count, thus the point."

[Xalet]

Making his way over to his Patron, Xalet heavily dropped down on his knees, his breathes coming extremely heavily though he sought to calm and sooth them back into a normal tempo. The Sergeant seemed quite pleased with his reactive counterattack, while Duke finally managed to recover, leaning over the ropes to listen to the advise of his own Patron. "Way to go, Squire, you got a point. See? If you remember your training you will do fine. You both have substantially different styles of combat, but don't think for one moment yours is inferior. With each moment the victory comes nearer for you to grasp upon, just keep your body loose, keep your hands up, and use your takedown techniques." It seemed like the Squire had just managed to catch his breath, but the break count had passed and the Knight overseeing the event called the two Squires back to continue the match up. By now quite a few Squires were watching closely as a rather one-sided first event seemed to be slowly leveling off. "Start!" both Squires moved into the middle this time quite quickly with Duke firing off the first punches. Feinting low and then traveling high with a short right straight he managed to catch Xalet cleanly in the face, although the Akalak absorbed the blow well and moved past Duke pulling a low body shot into the ribs with his left fist. With the attack answered, Duke spun with a right hook prepared, but Xalet brought his forearm up parallel to the ground for a strong arm block. Displacing his left foot he snapped his right leg around with a surprising round kick that drove against Duke's outside bicep, the weight of Xalet's leg and the force of his kick knocking him out of the dance-like tempo his feet continuously bounced with. Noticing this, Xalet went for a low grab, but the boxer backed away quickly noticing his opponent's intentions. Unable to press forward he soon found himself against the ropes. Unbalanced from the constant retreat he had been forced into, Duke attempted a quick double left but found Xalet simply walking into them, unfazed by punches which were substantially less effective than the previous ones he had been taking all through the match. Getting both hands securely latched just below Duke's buttocks around the rear of his thighs, Xalet quite literally lifted the man straight up from the ground and spun with him, his shoulder drilling into the boxer's stone-like chest as he performed a double leg take down. The force of the slam made the entire platform shift, a unified shout of "Ohhh!" raining down from the crowd. From Irine's left, a short haired female Squire no older than fourteen asked about the validity of such a maneuver, to which the Sergeant chortled, "Ha ha ha...Xalet isn't the most typical Squire, so I had him learn an atypical unarmed style, a mixture of both wrestling and Syliran hand-to-hand techniques. When a man used to fighting on his feet his brought on his back, he is forced to utilize a new set of techniques. The problem is dealing with Xalet's size. Even if you have some answers when fighting on the ground, you are dealing with almost three hundred pounds on top of you. Even if my Squire was simply dead weight, it takes a skilled ground fighter to escape that type of pressure." Xalet was certainly bringing the pressure. Having finally floored the boxer he kept the man tight in his clutches, riding his body high up into the man's hips and swinging his right fist to hook into Duke's rib-cage over and over. The meaty slaps of the fist-wrappings meeting skin echoed, revealing just how solid they were despite not having the backup of proper hip movement to propel them. Duke twisted his arms in an attempt to seize Xalet's in order to keep the Akalak from drilling him in the side repeatedly, but the slick sheen of sweat that had built up all along the surface of Xalet's skin made it almost impossible to keep a hold on his arm. "Stop stop! Point Xalet! Squire Xalet landed several blows, of which Squire Duke was unable to respond to within the count." the Knight stepped in and stopped the Akalak's arm forcefully just as he was about to swing inward once more, causing the Squire to get pulled from his battle trance. Finally loosening his muscles he released the heavily panting Duke and climbed to his feet. Though the cuts on Xalet's face were still apparent, a mottled mess of bruising and red marks appeared on Duke's left side, the area that the Sergeant's Squire had been pummeling just prior.

[Xalet]

Falling down to his knees before his Patron, whom was currently wielding a sparkling smile, Xalet looked for additional advise on how he should proceed. Finding none other than the feeling of a hand patting the top of his, he brought his head upward to cant his gaze at the Konti, "Anything else?" he asked, his concern was rather direct. In his mind his Patron had been the one that had managed to get him this far into the match, back from a zero to two point deficit. Of course, in his Patron's mind it was Xalet's confidence in her own advise that was pulling him out of the dark hole defeat had begun to create. Such was the power of the spark of Priskil's hope. "A third point would be nice." the Sergeant chuckled, eliciting a slight similar sound from her Squire. Without any further involvement or verbal exchange between Xalet and Sergeant Braklin, the Knight was calling the two young would be Knights back for the final meeting. The last point would decide it. Xalet rose up and turned to look at the blonde haired Duke, whom now seemed to be breathing just as hard as he was. His feet moved with less bounce in them, and he constantly flexed his fingers to keep the blood circulating throughout his arms as he maintained his boxer's stance. Xalet moved his hands up in front of his nose-line, opening his palms and preparing his own defenses. Then the word came, "Start!" Tired from their previous exchanges, the two closed in on one another but with less vigor than they had in the past. It wasn't a waiting game, but it was a contest of stamina with both fighters looking to see which one of them would make the first mistake. With Duke testing Xalet as he had done in the past, the purple toned Squire found it much easier to bob his head away from the straight forward punches, timing the jabs much more accurately now that Duke had lost some of his hand speed. Xalet never had a massive amount of speed to begin with, and thus appeared to be more 'consistent' over the course of their matches. With a quick right hook from Duke, Xalet appropriately crossed his right elbow over, striking his opponent's attacking forearm before jamming both hands into the boxer's chest, knocking him toward the rear. Following up after the attempt to unbalance Duke, Xalet returned the attacks from Duke with those of his own, dropping a fist into the boxer's gut before torquing his elbow and raising his wrist in a snapping backfist to the jaw. The boxer was used to such blows and took them well, spiking Xalet across side of the head with a left straight as he stepped back and circled outward. Shaking his head Xalet suddenly heard the voice of his Patron, "Xalet you need to respond!" shouted the Sergeant, recognizing how the point system worked. In response the Akalak surged forward with the slightly renewed vigor the calls from his Patron gave him, simultaneously stopping a blow with his left hand and driving his right grip around Duke's neck. A faint choking sound was elicited from the boxer's lips as he struggled to deal with that tenacious grip, but not before Xalet positioned his right leg accordingly behind the boxer's calves and dropped him down with a combined neck choke and leg sweep. Once again finding himself on his back the boxer had prepared more substantially this time and brought his feet up to push Xalet's body to the side while slipping a quick jab around the hand trying to push against his neck, loosening the grip enough to grip the arm and shove it away completely. Looking to climb to his feet, the Human Squire spun from his seated position onto a three point stance upon his hands and knees, this however was the final mistake. Reaching down to snag one of Duke's hands, Xalet pulled him forward and wrapped his free arm down and around the boxer's head, performing a reverse guillotine chokehold. With the sheer power housed in his bicep, the Akalak squeezed for everything he was worth, causing the veins in Duke's neck and forehead to become raised and pronounced from the overall pressure exerted on the very arteries that brought valuable oxygen to his brain. Struggling for a moment to find a way out he felt the sensation of numbness start to strike his limbs, causing him to rapidly tap the Akalak's shoulder in an attempt to signal him to relax. "Stop!" the Knight cried out, tapping Xalet harshly on the back until finally the Akalak released his competition, allowing his Human counterpart the chance to breath. Sliding back on his palms the boxer caught his breath and looked down dejectedly at the ground as the Squire of Sergeant Braklin made his way triumphantly to his full towering height. Offering a hand downward in a showing of sportsmanship, Duke accepted the gratuity and hefted himself up. "Good fight." Xalet nodded, a narrow line of blood still trickling down the side of his face, aggravated by the amount of shots he had taken to the same spot. The Human couldn't verbalize the same quite yet, but gave Xalet a man's slap upon his shoulder before walking toward the edge of the platform and climbing down. "Point for Squire Xalet, the final score is three to two in favor of Squire Xalet. Great fight you two." the 'referee' of the event commented, shaking the hands of both men as they looked to evacuate the platform for the next match. That's when the realization dawned upon Xalet, with that victory this combative nightmare wasn't over, it had just begun!

[Accolade]

Xalet

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Unarmed Combat	+ 4 XP
Wrestling	+ 3 XP
Observation	+ 2 XP

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Executing a double leg take down (basic)
•	Executing a single leg take down (basic)
•	Utilizing a reverse guillotine choke hold (basic)
•	Applying wrestling tactics efficiently

Notes :

Good training thread! I'd like to see Xalet using wrestling more often.

The Sylir has spoken

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