The meaning behind "Iron fist" (Bones)

by **Ximal** on July 4th, 2013, 11:25 pm

45th summer 513AV

Xi stood in his training room a practice dummy in-front of him is left and right arms raised up infront of him his hair hanging behind him loosely with a sheen of sweat rolling down his bare back and chest his left fist darted out and struck the dummy with speed and ferocity. His hand going from half open to snapping closed tight to help with the speed of the punch. His right hand however hung back acting like a power charger his fist closed and ready to strike when the time came. Three more jabs. Two...One...NOW! Xi let his right hand fly like an isur's hammer striking the training dummy in-front of hi hard enough to knock it over a few feet away from him. Xi stepped back closer to it, pressing his foot at the edge of it's base and snapping it up to a full standing position. Xi then switched his stance changing from a standard to a reverse. His left arm hung back this time acting like a power charger. Still too weak..Far too weak... Xi snapped out his right and letting his fingers close as it got close each time acting like a snapping jab. Xi let his hand close tightly upon impact. Then after several jabs brought his left arm across like a anvil. again knocking the dummy over but not quite as far as his right hand had.

Xi's boot pressed into the wood work snapping the dummy back up again. Xi took a slow breath and this time thought it might be a good idea to practice from something he'd been neglecting. Xi brought his djed to fruition with in him pulling it around into his shoulder muscles and his left arms bicep and tricep along side his forearm muscles. His hands raised in a boxing stance. Xi then began a furious set of unloads upon the dummy each one snapping with lightning speed and enough strength to let the dummy wobble back and fort upon impact. His right arm hanging back like a stored and charged up rocket. In the flash of an instant though that all changed as he brought his djed back across his shoulders into his forearm muscles and upper arm muscles to snap his fist out and hammer that dummy like izurdin's hammer. The blow impacting the dummy hard enough for the wood to creak and the dummy to fly back into the wall at the other end of the room...It was onyl after he'd sent the dummy flying he'd noticed the creak of the door and the foot steps walking towards him.

by **Ssafirsotibones** on July 5th, 2013, 2:45 am

Bones was up early each morning. He was still not used to sleeping late, not used to feeling safe. He was not even sure yet if he was safe. Could not quite let go, and let himself feel at ease around so many... Humans...

At times he missed Zinrah, its ways. Surrounded by Dhani... Were he was the norm. But it had been so long since he had been home. He had not returned since he left. And the reasons he had gone, were still intact. Still existed.

He was an odd Dhani. Peaceable by Dhani standards, which by human standards, or an average humans, was still pretty violent. He worshiped Caiyha, saw the logic in her ways, though he still respected Siku. But he did not savor pain and suffering in others. And for that, he was odd.

But he could not let old habits die. Could not let his body fall to waste. And besides, it was the only thing he was good at. How else but by fighting, and using his body, could he make a living, and survive?

So even though he wanted peace. He needed to fight to survive. To kill to eat. To break skulls to make a living. Part of him liked it, even if he would not admit it. Even if he fought it.

All of these were why he was up today, and headed into the room of fists and fighting and wooden bits, the "training room" as humans called it.

He was a bit surprised as he entered, to see Ximal was inside. And doing some kind of fisty fighting. Bones had tried something akin to it before, but it was not his specialty.

"Hello Xxee... I did not know you would be in here today."

Bones stood there, as the man faced him, looking him over, his sweat stained body.

"I did not know you fought sse fisssty ssstyle... I have tried my... Hand, at it..."

Bones could not help the pun, which arose as he spoke in the human tongue. A small smile crossed his lips, which was intrinsically wrong, a failed imitation of the human expression, which no one had ever bothered to tell Bones was off.

"Perhapsss you could ssshow me a bit of it... I do not even know sse namesss of sse ssingsss. Perhapsss you know sse termsss?"

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by **Ximal** on July 5th, 2013, 11:22 am

Xi took a slow breath as he turned to face the source of the voice...Bones...Fair enough the guy was curious about the place and it must have been difficult being the only dhani in a school full of humans. Xi smirked as he spoke though, walking over to puck up the dummy and stand it back up. "Nor did i know you would be here. And it's noting major I'm just practising." Xi switched stances again and began to hammer at the dummy with his right hand as bones continued. And couldn't help but laugh a little at the pun that he made. "It's true I'm a user of the "fisty" style. I was in syliras and I saw some poor oaf trying it out...Now I'm trying my hand at it. It's called "boxing" not really sure why but that's what i was told." Xi brought his hand hammering into the dummy and then exploded out his left hand like an anvil sending the dummy flying again. Xi smirked when bones suggested that he should give him a hand. with learning it. Sure i don't see why not I'm not exactly adept with this style but i'm good with my own. Right then stand next to me and prep yourself. I'll start teaching you like i do all my students. Fist comes the stance then comes the motions." Xi lifted his hands to push the hair back out of his face the bright red head band staining to a darker red.

Xi shifted his feet and his hands his left foot forwards, and his left hand forwards, his right arm hanging back and acting as a power store. He then lightly bounced on his feet, to make sure his stance was stable. "Right this is the basic stance the one that almost everyone falls into. Regardless of how they fight. from here i's all about the speed of your hands and the toughness of your arms. Since you're not exactly a novice i'll skip the formalities and get straight onto the foot work aspect. Your feet ironically, whilst not being able to be used are where most of your ability to punch comes from. Lemme show ya. Xi bounced on his feet lightly before darting off in three steps he'd closed in on the dummy away from him. If bones was watching carefully he would have noted that Xi'd done that on the balls of his feet and now that he was close. Xi had planted his feet heel down and stable. As Xi closed the distance though he brought his left arm back and twisted the side of his body. His feet now planted he turned his upper body bring the power of his back muscles through the punch and hitting the dumy across it's wooden face hard enough to send it crashing to the ground a few feet to his right.

Xi then turned back to look at bones. "This boxing...Has a lt of unique moves. The two punches you saw me doing as you walked in. Those were the fast snapping punch called a jab, and a powerful stored up shot called a straight. The one just now using my torso as the energy well...That's called a hook." Xi smirked and snapped up the dummy to full attention using his foot. "Right you give it a go."

by **Ssafirsotibones** on July 5th, 2013, 6:28 pm

Bones watched as Ximal laid fist to practice dummy repeatedly, giving it a good once over. There was certainly a good bit of power behind them... For a human anyways.

He nodded as he told him its proper name, "boxing". It seemed an odd name, and made him picture someone putting things into a wooden box. Common tongue was odd at times, and he could not understand why some things were named as they were. Something to do with the human mind maybe, or how it worked...

He watched as Ximal sent the dummy flying again, with a quick punch.

Bones moved over to stand near Ximal, imitating the motions to come. Moving his left foot and right foot forward in alignment, as Ximal did. He even bounced around for a few moments as he had, but quickly stopped when he proceeded on to the next thing. Of which made little sense intuitively, but he would give the human the benefit of the doubt.

"No feet... But sse feet power sse fissst? Okay..."

Once Ximal's demonstration ended, Bones bounced forward as Ximal had, trying to imitate what he had done.

He planted himself firmly in front of the dummy, stance solid and unwilling to move, almost adhering to the spot. He brought his hands up in front of his body, almost like he was hiding his face behind them, but peaking over. He darted his left hand out quickly a few times, doing a light "jab" at the dummy, as he had seen Ximal do, his body twisting a bit as he did it. He knew how to punch pretty well from his time with unarmed combat, but this was a bit different, so he still had to focus on the specific techniques.

He then tried the straight, throwing the punch directly at the dummies head with his right fist. As he did it he also shifted his body weight, as Ximal had done, sending the the force of the weight of his body into the punch, much more so than the earlier light jab. He was still limiting his strength, but as his blow connected the dummy teetered and almost fell, but only just fell back to a standing position.

He could see though what he meant when he said that you used your feet to punch.

He tried the hook, but this time he was a bit off center with his blow, and it only caught the dummy with a glancing blow to the side of the head, barely moving it at all. He tried to swing his torso into it, and sort of did, but that only added to the problem when he missed. The more force behind a blow like that, the harder it was to adjust once you sent it off...

Bones did one more straight, right to the dummies face, using his full Dhani strength for the one blow. This finally sent the dummy flying, as he shifted his body and moved his weight into the blow, catching it right in the face, and blasting it off its "footing".

"How do you know when to ussse what? Or isss ssere any right 'time' for one? Or sssome purpossse behind sse different punchesss?"

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by **Ximal** on July 5th, 2013, 8:41 pm

Xi watched bones copy his movements his fists a little off centre with his motions but his questions were in the right place to fit the briefing. Boxing was an odd technique it was a style which allowed no kicks but had a lot of varied punches with some exceedingly complex ones. Xi though watched bones preform a few manoeuvres. His second to last one his attempt at a hook barely glanced the dummy. The more complex the blow as bones had just learnt the more difficult it was to change course mid swing. However his last blow held a lot more power than he was used to seeing. Almost exceeding the power of the punches if not fully exceeding the power of the punches Xi was using. Needless to say it was impressive however Xi still held his own secret weapon. However bones next question was more of a one he was hoping for. "That's a good question. When it comes down to the punches there is no set time to use one, However, it's good to have one or two more complex moves in your inventory to make sure that once your opponent thinks they've seen through all your tricks and traps you have one you can pull out of no-where to catch them off guard. So suppose that their purpose...I've shown you the basic attacks i've learnt. Now seeing as i know you can hold your own when fighting i can finally get down to the meat of the technique. It's all about practice as we fighters know... So I'll show you two intermediate level strikes i know of."

Xi stepped over to the dummy and snapped it back up with his foot yet again. Xi let his shoulders slump lightly and then crouched in slightly before bringing his left hand in for a vicious and brutal upper-cut to where the dummy's chin would be. Xi's practised motions allowing him to use his former body training to bring his hand through with enough force to hoist the dummy off of the ground an inch or two from the impact. "Simplest intermediate strike is an upper cut. A under hand shoulder swing strike, you need a very strong stance and footing to use it without falling your ass over. And this is the second strike I'll show you." Xi shifted his footing slightly binging his left foot forwards a little further And went for what looked like another hook but with his right hand and much lower a full power body blow, aimed directly at the stomach area. The punch hitting hard enough to send the dummy skidding backwards with the impact force. "The hard body blow. Keep your arm in tight for this one, but keep it low as well with this strike your hitting the the full force of your hips turning you as opposed to the shoulders which is where the power usually comes from. Give em ago." Xi smirked and stepped back from the dummy opening it up for bones to try his hand at it.

by **Ssafirsotibones** on July 5th, 2013, 10:09 pm

Bones nodded, as he explained the reasoning behind the different techniques. It made a sort of sense. He could use any whenever he chose, but as always it was good to keep a few moves secret, to use by surprise. Bones had hunted enough to know surprise was a critical factor, and could quickly change things into ones own favor.

He waited as he said he would show him some more advanced moves, waiting to see what he had. He ran his head through them. A jab, which was just a quick left punch... A straight which used his right and was a full on punch, though throwing your weight more behind it, and slower than a weak jab. And a hook... Which came of come in at an angle, hooked around the side and smashed in unexpected instead of coming right at them.

First was an uppercut, he lowered himself a bit, and rotated his shoulder around and fist straight up from underneath like he was aiming for a jaw.

Next was a "body blow", aiming right at his gut or stomach, appearing to hook around like the hook, but coming on lower. But unlike the hook which used the shoulders, the body blow used ones hip rotation to give it force. Certainly different, possibly not as powerful, but different regardless.

Now his turn, Bones came in at the dummy, bending his knees a bit, hopping around left and right a half step each way a few times, and then giving it a few quick left jabs. Pop pop. Then he came in a bit lower, and did as he had shown doing a uppercut aimed at the head from below.

He hopped back a step, keeping in motion, hopped left and right, then hopped a step forward into range and used the body blow, twisting his hips and sending the fist into the lower area of the dummy. This one he had to be more careful with his arms, keeping them extended and not using his shoulders, as the hips were more important for a lower blow.

He had not used his full strength this time, relegating himself back to more or less human level.

His arms were a bit sore, and after all the hopping he was breathing heavy. And a gentle ache was developing in his fists, on the knuckles, from all the strikes.

Bones rubbed at the knuckles on his right fist a bit gingerly, looking at Ximal.

"I usssually don't do much punching wiss my fissstsss. Essspecially in sse face. To easy to get your hand busssted open. And punching sssomeone in sse mouss isss jussst asssking to get it infected... If we are going to do ssso much punching, we need to get sssomessing ssso we don't do ssat."

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by **Ximal** on July 5th, 2013, 11:26 pm

Xi watched bones technique a bit rocky which wasn't a bad thing as. He'd said he only dabbled in it. Xi could see him trying to test out his combinations on the dummy not just the techniques trying to see where he could and might be able to fit his special moves in. A true fighter, one who didn't just practice single moves by tested them out mid combo to see where the could fit best. Xi watched bones though and something surprised him, the fact that bones was rubbing his knuckles. A little red raw. Then the bones made it bluntly clear that he didn't do much with just his fists. Xi smiled and nodded. "Might be a good idea to get something softer for people who don;t have hands like mine to practice on. I suppose you've wondered why i called this school the "Iron Fist" school. It's for a simple reason. I've hardened my hands to the point where they're like leather. and the bones like iron. So punching wood really isn't much of an issue for me I used to practice my attacks on raw tree bark...That rips your knuckles apart. So my hands are now...Significantly harder than some others."

Xi as if to illustrated his point stepped forward and bright his right hand across with a dull screaming punch his knuckles white with his grip as he brought them across slamming into the dummy with a hay-maker straight. The wood behind it creaked and there was the audible unmistakeable sound of wood cracking as his hand hit the dummy's head. And then the dummy fell over onto the floor about half a meter away. "that begin said I wear my gauntlets because even though my hands are hard...They're not hard enough to stop steel blades. Hehe" Xi brought his hand up the red mark on his hand the only thing showing not an ounce of pain. "But yeah we could do with something for the new students whilst they train their hands up...I mean i did mine the poor and stupid man's way."

by **Ssafirsotibones** on July 5th, 2013, 11:57 pm

Bones had in fact not thought much on the name for the school. And when he did, he usually assumed it had to do with the metal fist weapon he had used on their first meeting. He did not know it was meant to mean Ximal's actual fists.

He simply nodded upon hearing this, and seeing Ximal show off his hard fists. Bones were not weak, but neither were they as numbed as Ximal's.

"Yesss. Eisser sssomessing sssofter to hit, or sssomessing to sssoften sse blow from your hand and fissst. Eisser would work. Besssidesss, I don't ssink we could box usssing metal fissstsss now could we? Or could we?"

Honestly, Bones was still a bit confused about how boxing worked, besides the fact that it was fighting with ones fists only. Did wearing a metal fist like Ximal wore mean you were still boxing? Or was it simply about the way you punched? He had no clue.

"Ssso... What isss next?"

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by **Ximal** on July 6th, 2013, 11:37 am

Xi glanced at the training dummy before looking at bones. He made a mention of boxing with the gauntlets on. Xi pondered the thought and came to a conclusion pretty fast. "I doubt we couldn't, after all i do my normal fighting style with steel hands, so there's no reason why you couldn't do "boxing" with them on. As for what's next how about you practice with me as the target it's more interesting with a moving target as you can find out how the actual punches would work and would be effective in what situations but I'd keep it to about twenty percent power." Xi smirked and lifted his fists up Falling into the boxing stance he was used too. The one that worked for him however little to bones' knowledge Xi was something people called " a switch hitter" Meaning he could flip which side he lead with and how his attack went. Xi fell into tyhe basic stance he'd taught bones and but fell in with his left fist as the leading arm for jabs and his right as the power arm for straights. "I'll let you have first swing, that way you can test out how effective each type of punch is."

by **Ssafirsotibones** on July 6th, 2013, 9:27 pm

Bones nodded, still a bit unsure. Boxing with those steel hands on? It just seemed wrong somehow... Of course, Bones did not usually use such implements, and he certainly did not wear armor... If he attempted to, it would hinder him from using his other forms, or force him to burst it apart to change... The latter obviously getting costly monetarily... The former possibly being costly with his life.

He did not feel safe enough even then, to hinder himself as such. Perhaps his other forms helped him, or perhaps it was a sort of crutch. But he used them all, and was not going to wear something that might stop him from using it.

"Jussst becaussse you can do sssomessing, doesss not mean you ssshould. I could do many ssingsss, but I choossse not to..."

But soon enough they were past that, and he was urging a spar on Bones. Which he would gladly accept. He nodded, and moved into position, pulling his arms up in a defensive stance in front of him, ready to ward off punches, his eyes peeking over the tops of his fists. He also made himself a bit loose, hopping left and right to get limber, keeping his knees bent and ready to move.

Bones paused for a moment, and then launched into a attack, coming in at Ximal he made a quick pair of jabs with his left hand aimed at Ximal's face, then as his left came back up to protect his own face, he sent a hook coming in down low with his right, turning at the waist and with his hips to send force into it, trying to jam his fist into his side or gut.

As instructed, he limited his strength in his blows, not even punching as hard as a normal human could, more of a playful pop, that would smart if it struck, but nothing lasting.

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