Completed Hard Lessons Learned (Ximal)

[Savio]

61st of Summer, 513 AV

The sky was just beginning to lighten up from the sun as Savio awoke from his slumber. It had been nine days since Ximal allowed Savio to join his school. Nine days of hard training under the watchful eye of the Master. But today was going to be the first day of actual lessons. Savio was excited as he jumped to his feet from his bedroll and started getting dressed in his tan training shorts and a loose white shirt in his person bedroom. He kept his feet bare since he planned on stretching before the lessons started. The soft snores of the other students could be heard through the walls as Savio finally finished dressing and grooming himself.

Once done, he quietly crept from his bedroom and down the hall until he was able to exit the building and enter the training yard. The air was still cool and smelled damp from the morning dew. This was Savio’s favorite time of day; the transition between from night into day, darkness into light. It helped him focus on his movements and flexes.
Savio sat in the middle of the training yard and spread out his legs in a near split, then he started leaning over to one side, reaching for one foot. After a few minutes, he did the same to the other side. Then he did shift his legs into a full split, with some slight discomfort. He held that position for a minute before carefully adjusting his body into cross legged position.

He then worked on flexing and stretching his arms, making sure they were limber before standing back up. He wanted to practice some basic maneuvers in his acrobatics before shifting into his unarmed. He shook out his body before getting into the starting position of a back flip; he jumped into the air, while in air he tucked in his knees to his chest and turned in midair, and then extended his legs once more to place his feet firmly back on to the ground to stand straight again. He practiced his backflip a couple more times until he was satisfied with his form before moving onto doing a Back Walk-Over.

He stood, with his feet shoulder-width apart, with his right foot slightly in front of his left and his hands raised above his head. Savio carefully shifted his weight so that it was primarily on his left foot. Savio then looked up to at his hands has he reached backward, arching his back, towards the ground until he made a perfect arch. As his hands touched the earth beneath him, he lifted his right leg up towards the sky, making sure his left followed close behind until both of his feet were pointing directly at the sky. Then he lowered his right foot back to the ground along with his left until he was once again in a standing position. He moved around the training grounds in this fashion until his movements were precise and fast, making each action more fluid with growing grace.

Once he was in a stable standing position again, he had to wipe his brow free of the sweat that was beginning to drip into his eyes. His body sung would energy, and still a tad sore from his altercation with Ximal, even with the help of the healers. Savio removed his shirt, which was sticking to his body from the sweat and wiped his face with it, yellowing bruises were still visible on his skin along with new ones from the training the last couple of days had provided. The sun was almost visible in the sky now, and Ximal was most likely waking up now, if he wasn’t already.

[Ximal]

Xi had been sat on the roof of his school the morning skies had been still dark when he had awoken, and now he sat there meditating listening to the quiet of nature and focusing upon manipulating the djed around his body moving his flux around himself in tandem with his body's own impulses. His speed had begun to snap with his thoughts, pulling it ton individual muscles at a moments notice. Slow motions of his arms had begun to allow him to feel how his djed responded to the motions of his arms as he took slow deep breaths making sure not to break his concentration until he heard the slow clank of a door closing. Xi opened his eye's to see then sun rising in the distance. had he really been out here this long? And who was up at this hour? Xi turned from his seating before looking down at savio. Xi turned from his seating to watch his student train on his won. His methodology was to limber up prior to combat. Or at least prior to physical exertion. His motions were fluid, but there was something about them that Xi couldn't quite place. Xi watched the boy train in his methodology the motions clear and easily counter able though mostly due to their slowness. As the boy stopped to remove his shirt Xi slid forward on the roof pulling his djed back within him breathing slowly and then exhaling with a light voice. "Two things. One your up early, good means i don't have to bother waking one of your asses up at random." Xi then stood up before rolling off of the roof shoulder first catching himself on his hands and then letting his body drop. Landing in a crouched position Xi then rose, He himself shirtless and for a change without the steel on his arms showing off his true physique beneath his clothing. Though as usual he was in his steel plated boots, and trousers. Folding his arms across his chest he closed the gap towards savio. "Second, in combat you often have no time to stretch and warm up your muscles must always be primed to fight. " Xi snapped his neck and shot out his arm like a lighting bolt to catch a falling leaf from a tree, between two fingers. Turning his hand for sav to see Xi smirked. "Combat finds you, you don't find it. " Xi then paused in his walking looking at sav. "Hit me." Xi opened his arms and let them hang by his sides. "before you ask if I've gone mad i want you to hit me so i can see how strong your fists are. In the last spar we had you didn't do so much as touch me. So now i wish to see how much strength you truly have. You know how much i have when I'm holding back to the point where i wont break any bones. And only half my speed. So let me see what you can do." Xi lifted his hands to run them over his hair and pulled the djed in his body forth for a few seconds pulling it up to his eye's shifting them in the space of a few seconds from dark royal blue to a shockingly pale white like paper. Snow White. Xi opened his eye';s slowly to see if Sav would follow his request or whether he would think himself too powerful.

[Savio]

When a voice spoke from the roof of the school, Savio nearly jumped out of his skin as he head jerked in the direction of the sound. Ximal was just sitting up there, for only Gods know how long. And had he been watching?

Savio watched as Ximal rolled off the roof and land gracefully in a crouching position. When the larger man stood, Savio was able to get a better look at him. And yeah, perhaps what he saw made him a bit self-conscious… Alright, it made him very self-conscious. But could you blame him? Ximal was a giant, and Savio was small and lean, built more for flexibility and speed rather than strength.

Ximal moved closer to his student with his arms folded, "Second, in combat you often have no time to stretch and warm up your muscles must always be primed to fight.”He then said as his hand shot out in a blur to catch a falling leaf with his fingers. Needless to say, Savio was impressed as he curiously examined the leaf, abet from afar. "Combat finds you, you don't find it.”

When he spoke again, it was a rather strange command. Hit him? His confused expression must have betrayed him since Ximal continued on to explain WHY he wanted Savio to hit him. Yeah, it stung his pride being reminded that he hadn’t managed to land a single blow. But Savio would be the first to admit that he had a long way to go.

Savio had worked on a farm for most of his life. So picking up heavy bales of hay, working with livestock, and manual labor in general had worked off pretty much all of his baby fat. He wasn’t a weakling, but when compared to the mountain of a man that Ximal was, Savio might as well be. Savio fixed his stance and readied his fist, but right before his was about to strike, Ximal’s eyes caught his attention. They were different again. Perhaps Ximal was a Vantha? Savio shook his head to clear his thoughts and finally struck, focusing his strength into the power of his punch and aiming at Ximal’s hard stomach.

[Ximal]

Xi watched sav pull himself around from his standing stance a thing lean frame against Xi's own one. It was an interesting contrast however Xi awaited the blow. As it came towards him his muscle memory screamed at him for him to turn and roll to avoid the blow. To side step and bear down with a strong right at sav's face. But no Xi forced his boy to obey his mind and instead of rolling away and with the punch dug his heels in and took it. tensing the muscles of his abdomen at the point of impact to both mitigate the damage and turn his body into a stone wall. Xi felt the blow connect it was strong but not over powering. Then again little to Xi was. Xi released the tensing of his muscles before letting his arms rise to fold again. Judging the strength of the blow. Xi closed his eye's for a second allowing his djed to travel back into them and return them to their normal shade of blue. "You punch with no force...There is strength there but no force behind it. You let your arm do all the work. Turn your body into your strikes and you'll find the power rise. Your musculature is not built for limb only powered strikes, you need to turn your body into them as well. Xi closed the gap between him and savio. Standing next to him Xi spoke calmly. "Just copy what i do. As you punch step in with the opposite foot. it holds your centre of balance and give you strong footing, whilst allowing your upper body to turn and drive your weight through with your punches." Xi then practised what he preached stepping forward with his left foot and delivering a punch whilst twisting both his shoulder muscles and his abdomen. The resulting punch left a sound ruining through the air more like that of a blade cutting the air than a simple punch. "Everyone believes that power lies in just the power of your body. How you throw a punch makes every bit as much difference as how your body is developed. By throwing a punch like i just showed you. Your punching power should rise by at least double. Try it you'll feel the shift in your power across your shoulders. If you've done it right you should feel a pull across them and not your upper arm."

[Savio]

Savio listened closely to Ximal’s words carefully as he mimicked the Master’s movements. It took a few tries, but Savio finally got it. He felt the ripple of power run from his shoulders and down his arms as he punched into the air. He grinned to himself as he tried the same technique with the other arm. Once he was sure he got the movements down pack, he returned his attention to Ximal, with a confused expression on his face.

"Why is it, that such a small change can bring out a rather big difference?" Savio's curiosity was a bit infamous back home on his parents' farm. He was always asking "Why?" or "How?". Sometimes the workers would humor him and explain things, but most of the time they shooed him away like a pest. It was because of his curiosity that one of the acrobats back in Syrilas took pity in him and taught him a little of what they knew.

[Ximal]

At least the boy could mirror movements. But he was inquisitive so at least she showed some promise in the sense of trying to understand things. "It's a simple reason. Power is weight, the more weight you put behind your strike the ore damage it can do. It's one of the principles I operate on. The second one is my theory that speed equals weight. The faster you swing the more powerful the blow. Lots of small strikes at a blinding speed can lead up to do the same damage as one hugely powerful slow strike. It's just the theory of how you prefer to operate. In your case i'd suggest working on lots of small strikes. I'll teach you the basics of my philosophy but i wont teach my special techniques until i feel you have a strong enough basis on the foundations. Now repeat that punch one hundred times, if you stop...I'll give my version of that strike." Xi narrowed his eye's to make sure that he understood what he was asking before Xi moved back to pick up a a backpack of his he'd left in the middle of the training area full of dense heavy rocks before slipping it over his shoulders he jumped up onto a tree branch before beginning pull ups. He was going to do two pull ups for every one punch that he'd asked savio to do. Xi closed his eye's holding himself suspended in the air, and focused on pulling himself up and down in a rhythmic motion and then...His body followed.

[Savio]

Savio nodded at the command, and readied his stance once more before punching the air how Ximal showed him; first with his right fist, then with his left. He continued doing this, and soon his mind went blank to everything except counting his punches. The strain and burn of his arms and shoulders were welcomed and embraced. In the back of his mind, he was aware of how quickly the air around him had grown hot, and how the sweat seemed to pour down his skin.

As badly as he wanted to move past these simplistic moves, he knew they were necessary. He once made the mistake of attempting an advanced acrobatic move without grasping the foundations of flexibility; the resulting injury had him bedridden for two weeks from several pulled muscles. So Savio understood how foundations were important, so he didn’t complain.

While he practiced, he thought back to his first day at the school, as he has done many times in the last several days. He needed a goal. A purpose to fight and to learn. It seemed simple enough, but it was surprisingly difficult. What was worth fighting for to him? He wanted to make his family proud, and bring honor to their name. He wasn’t too particularly keen on fame and fortune. He liked helping people though. Perhaps if he did something that would help people? But what could he provide? How?

In no time at all, Savio had found that he reached the mark Ximal had set. His arms and shoulders ached as he finally lowered his arms and rotated his shoulders to loosen up the tense muscles there. “Master Ximal, I have completed your task. Is there anything you would like me to do?”

[Ximal]

Xi hauled himself up and down the tree pausing for no moments letting the powerful constant repetition power through over anything else Eh was powering through to let himself feel like he was simply...Ignoring the strain on his arms. As savio punched and cut the air with his fists i simply hauled himself up and down against the tree. His feet curled beneath him to increase the drag. However after the first fifty pull up Xi switched his motions from pull ups to chin ups. Lifting himself up int the same manner but changing his grip on the tree branch like a monkey to change his pulls. His lifting was working on his biceps and triceps. Focusing his entirety on making himself stronger in just his arms, if he could punch at his maximum power without putting his body weight behind it he could deliver some devastating punches able to break bone with just a tap. Eventually he completed his next fifty flipping his grip again back to the pull ups. Regulating the strain to give different muscles a brief break before continuing on building muscle without putting on bulk. Finally Xi finished a moment or two before sav finished his punches. Xi took deep slow breaths to help catch his breath. Breathing in through his nose and exhaling through his mouth. Xi then caught sav asking him what he should do next. "Right, don't call me master for a start. Everyone at this school is equal. all people are of equal worth it's what they do with their value that we see about them. Not all men were made equal. But all men are made of equal standing." Xi exhaled slowly before sliding the back pack of rocks off of his shoulders before tossing it to savio. "Toss that back to me after you've felt it's weight, then your climbing the tree with me." As sav tossed the pack back Xi would slip it back over his shoulders before leaping up to grab a hold of the tree before hauling himself up again. Sd then working on pulling himself higher. The purpose of this was to help build hand toughness and grip strength.as well as help condition every muscle in the body.

[Savio]

The bag didn’t look all that heavy, and the young man held open his arms ready to catch it. What he didn’t expect was the damned thing to crash into his chest and fling him down to the ground, successfully knocking the air from his lungs. The smaller man struggled frantically to shove the extremely heavy bag off of him, and upon doing so, he coughed and gasped for air. A string of colorful curses weaving in between gasps could be clearly heard.

It took a short moment to catch his breath and stand up again, his chest sore and aching from the collision. “How in the Gods’ name did you expect me to just ‘Toss that back’ to you? Your faith in my strength is flattering but let’s be realistic here. The bag weighs more than I do!”

Alas, Ximal seemed steadfast in his command. With a huff, Savio grabbed hold of the leather straps and dragged the bag to the tree. Then with much aggravation and strain, was able to lift the bag up and hand it to Ximal. Then he gripped hold of a branch and pulled himself up. Climbing a tree was okay. He could do that without too much hassle. In fact, Savio liked heights, as long as he was careful.

[Ximal]

Xi smirked and hauled himself higher up the tree. Using his backpacks weight to assist him in doing so. Keeping in consistent motion the weight pulling him down was also being used to help him throw his weight over and pull himself up over branches. "By the time your done here you should be able to haul this weight with ease. Until then just keep up i can see that you've got a range of motion i'm still working on but your body isn't yet conditioned enough to fully utilise the flexibility you hold." Reaching for a higher branch Xi hauled himself higher pulling his weight up and then standing on one branch he held himself steady. Lowering his centre of mass to be closer to the branch. Stop here. Try and find your balance up here...Once you have shift your feet to how you were below and then practice that punch up here. I noticed your feet shifting down there. So up here you'll not be able to have your feet move or your ass will plummet to the ground." Xi could almost feel the disbelief that his move could be done safely up in the tree tops. So Xi set out to prove him wrong. Xi shifted his feet and brought his fist across with a rolled stomach and shoulders. Utilizing the fact that his feet weren't moving and compensating for it by pulling his other arm back simultaneously meaning his centre of mass wouldn't shift but his punch could be thrown at full force. "It may take a few tries but once you get it...You'll get it. Until then, your not coming down from here. So learn fast."