Starring:
Midoru, Suisen
Date: September 24, 2010
Summary:
Midoru takes Suisen's combat assessment.
"A Matching of Power"
A Clearing in Konoha's genin training grounds
Midoru's 6'10 frame could be seen entering the training grounds, seeming almost unobtrusive despite the fact that he was taller than just about anyone else, broader through the chest than certain trees, and shining in the sunlight. He spoke to the woman walking next to him, walking with his back straight and a noticeable air of command. "Noon is as good as any other time for your combat assessment, yes?"
The sun shines down on the two from the Shattered Shore, brightly reflecting from their armors. In the meadow they stand in, there are no shadows, though that can hardly be said for the woods beyond, thick canopies obstructing the sun and keeping the grasses low beyond. A clawed hand removes her mask as she hangs it at her waist, "Yes, and thank you for letting me rest after my trip." she comments with the hint of a grin tracing her lips, "Anything in particular? We don't have to climb trees do we?" Suisen asks incredulously, staring then at some of the taller trees.
Midoru inclined his head in wordless acceptance of the thanks, the corner of his mouth quirking in a slight grin. "No," he said. "We would not do such a thing to the trees." He spotted the clearing he was looking for -- a place designated for sparring, and pointed past it to where the trees began again. "We'll likely be doing worse. Beyond there is a clearing, and in there, I'll be your opponent. This is as I said it was. A simple assessment of your combat capabilities, offensively and defensively."
Lines form between Suisen's brow as she ponders the clearing they approach and how they used to train with her on The Shattered Shore. Shrugging Gitoujunsai from her back, she interlaces her clawed fingers between it's wrappings, effectively creating a man-sized shield. "I would rather test my strength against you first than a Shinobi who genuinely wants my end." Suisen muses as they near the meadow. Bars of light descend from the canopies as they pass through them.
Tree bark rasped as Midoru slid a mailed hand across it in passing. "A decent rule to live by. At least, it is for now. And it will still be later, even though you may not be quite as sure." He stepped into the clear, stepping through the invisible curtains and passing under the waterfall of light the clearing held. He turned around, facing Suisen as he walked backwards. "We don't stop until you can no longer go on," said the giant with an abruptness. "The session began when we reached the treeline. Attack."
Though she is guarded, it's a mostly relaxed gait that Suisen has as she follows Midoru. Her grey eyes move to her right then as her bootsteps take her passed the treeline just as Midoru said the word - attack. Tossing the blade up just a bit, she nods as mailed hands grip the end pommel. For being mailed head to toe in thick armor, Suisen, like any San or Kuroyari moves surprisingly fast. The first slash is simple in it's execution, a horizontal slash from right to left. However, her technique increase in complexity as she grabs the side handle, spinning the massive blade like a toy for a quick slice in the opposite direction.
Midoru's arm flashed up, the gauntlets on his hand slapping against the flat of Suisen's blade and simply powering it up over his head, over extending her so that the followup attack could be deflected upwards and back towards his student. "Make sure your feet are set," advised Midoru. "Your balance is off." He simply stood at ease as he had been, not making any attempt to attack.
Sure enough, Suisen nearly topples when her attacks are deflected. With a stab, she buries the tip of her blade in the grass as she affixes her mask, it making an audible snap when it fits into her helmet as a whole. With a metallic breath, Suisen nods before dirt flies from her weapon. Unwrapping some of the green material on the pommel of the weapon, the Sanyari uses it to steady the weapon she now spins by the side handle in a whirring motion. The first two slices are the same but of different heights, two horizontal slashes at chest then stomach level before Suisen tugs hard on the wrapping and in switching her grip, brings the weapon down in an overhead arc. The black blade hardly shimmers in the sun as it's heavy weight comes down in a committed strike.
"Good," said Midoru as Suisen again pressed the attack. Gleaming gauntlets swept up, batting the first horizontal slash upwards and into the empty hollow of his neck and sweeping the second downward, away from his body. "You tend to falter after--" he continues talking as he lifts a hand, open palm stopping skull cleaving attack "--your initial strike. Too timid. Invest." He pushes the weapon back, letting it move back to Suisen. "I did like that last attack, however. Remember it."
Suisen's momentum faltered, she stumbles backward a step but as he gives her advice, it's only a moment before she takes it, thinking on her feet and using her backward inertia to sweep the blade into an uppercut that slices into the ground before spitting dirt, grass and an obsidian blade upwards at Midoru. Gritting her teeth behind her mask, she again uses inertia to power her blow, this time stabbing forward and twisting near the zenith of the strike. Though a breeze blows against the grasses here, it does little to cool Suisen inside of her casket of armor.
Midoru slammed the initial uppercut down with a single powerful thrust with his plated hand. He walked forward then, simply striding into the second slash, letting the point slide across his chest plate with a sussurous sound before going past his shoulder. "Good creativity," commented the giant as he punched a fit and let it fly to Suisen's midsection, in an uncomplicated but effective punch. "Poor form."
The blow staggers the masked Suisen and her cough holds a metallic tang as the sound bounces off of her headgear. "Thank you, Sensei." is all she says before looping her gauntleted hand through the wrappings around the base of her sword, it's edge now running down her right arm, a large shield it would appear. Holding her guard up in front of her, she again runs the gauntlet. The first punch uses the base of her sword as it's striking point before a left straight punch to Midoru's own chest. All of this leads up to the material slipping slightly on her weapon, allowing her to slide it into an upwards cut at her Sensei's left shoulder.
Midoru turns, as though letting a person pass him through a doorway, the pommel strengthened punch finding nothing but air as it sought. His hand swept up, catching the secondary punch in an open palm before he sidestepped in a single fluid motion, the armor providing no deterrent to him. "Good," he remarked once more as he sent a light punch towards Suisen's shoulder. "You have a very good foundation."
He stepped back, foot lashing out in a lazy looking kick to the back of her knee. "You simply need a little polish."
Pulling the wrappings taught with a small motion, they snap back to the hilt of the blade. Suisen is just able to get her own gauntleted hand up in time to block Midoru's first jab and jumps back, dragging her sword, to dodge his second, albeit leisure, kick. Pulling her mask up, Suisen grips her sword yet again, "Thank you, Sensei." is all she says before holding tight her sword and making a series of successive jabs at Midoru - his chest, shoulder, leg, stomach, chest again. Some of feints but as she twists the blade in her hands, it might be difficult for another Genin to tell. It's a shame she's not fighting another Genin however…
Midoru set about evading the jabs sent his way, using minimal effort needed and looking to do so. "Jab needs work," he noted to himself. "Inconsistent. Elbow bent. Body works against itself in the flow of power." Suddenly, he whirled, arms flashing in the sun's bath as he spun and moved low, bringing his arm to to bat the last attacks upwards, pushing the weapon too far away to be used again before he could act.
So he did. He took a step inwards, long legs stretching, foot gliding in a lunge as he swept two palms out, both hands aiming for her shoulders, seeking a brief dislocation.
To say the strike was jarring would be to understate Midoru's skill. Suisen's mask falls from her headgear when her head dips forward from a metaled palm striking both of her shoulders. As she struggles to step back, her blade is dropped with a heavy sound to the ground. Holding each of her shoulders, Suisen grimaces as she's nearly dizzied by the attack. "I suppose…" she starts, wincing, "…you'll show me that?"
"Yes," said Midoru standing straighter and backing up a few steps, putting some distance between he and she, knowing that the effects were not very long lasting. He shifted his stance, Mhaldor's hilt glinting with the motion. "It is one of many. Now continue."
Her bootsteps take her over her weapon as she attacks Midoru with her bare gauntlets. As has been characteristic for her so far, her attacks are off-balance. Her right jab is quick before her left sends her practically stumbling into her Sensei. However, just as she loses her center of gravity, she spins bringing the pointed end of her elbow down to Midoru's chin with a slightly increased speed since Suisen dropped her massive blade.
Midoru arches a brow as the punch comes in, somewhat unbalanced but far more proficient than she'd give herself credit for. And it was swift -- he could see the power behind it. His own open palm neatly caught the punch as he nodded, that same hand coming down to sweep the second blow out of the way. The other hand rose as Suisen pivoted to bring the elbow around, but it only managed a partial deflection, leaving the rest of the blow to catch him on the chin, turning his face to the side some. "A blow," was his only comment on it, approval and acknowledgment in the words.
He retaliated, sending a straight jab to Suisen's face before stepping forward and turning. He attempt to grab her shoulder with one hand and sweep her foot out from under with with a quick foot, hoping to upend her.
This is the point where the sparring speeds up. No longer is Suisen using a longsword and neither is Midoru playing quite as nice as he were. She breaths heavy after striking her Sensei in the chin and again after turning aside his first supposed strike to her face with an open, mailed, palm. She widens her stance as he tries to grab her and in one motion slaps his wrist while kicking his light foot. From this exasperated stance, she pushes forward to strike Midoru on the chin again with her right and throwing another punch forward with her left. "As luck would find me…" Suisen quips.
Midoru found Suisen's punch nearly bypassing his attempt at a block and hitting him rather neatly on the chin. His hand struck out with the sudden speed of a snake after that, easily stopping the followup punch, almost even before it began. "More than that," decided Midoru. He sent a forward kick lashing out to the young woman's chest. "You have skill. Unpolished, but great. So, I've decided that I'll be testing your body's endurance."
Though the attack may have only done minimal damage, a clawed gauntlet still rests on her chest as Suisen winces against the aching as armor knocks against her scars underneath. Something that, despite it being her Sensei, gives her a cold splash of adrenaline, and anger. Boots dig against grass as Suisen pushes herself forward, teeth clenched, jabbing first with a straight right before stepping into another elbow to Midoru's chin. Finishing her momentum, she drops, driving her left fist towards her Sensei's same knee.
Midoru takes note of the ardor that once action seemed to give Suisen, filing it away as something to take into account as he guided the strikes to his face away with open palms. The strike to his knee was deflected by the self same area, leg lifted in time to deflect her strike at the wrist with the giant's kneecap. Rather than replacing it, he followed the leg back down, crouching before he threw himself at Suisen. He would aim to sweep her up in his arms and put her over his shoulder, charging with all speed into the tree line, not bothering to avoid the trees but rather go -through- them, giving Suisen the honor of going first.
As Midoru charges, Suisen even has the gall to swing once at him before he takes her. She beats on his back and even tries a knee or two before plowing through the next tree…or trio of trees at that. Each impact further stuns Suisen until she's certifiably dazed. Stars swim in front of her greywashed vision and a few branches have embedded themselves inside the action points of her armor. Practically stunned at the end of their trip, Suisen looks back bars of light to see Midoru but since she can still fight, it must mean the sparring is still on.
Staggering to her feet, it's a moment before she gathers her bearings. "And that one?" she stammers, "I'll learn that too?" she questions then waits just for his intake of breath that might mean he'll answer, before growling and charging him outright with a full-bodied left towards the side of his face and a right to the opposite.
"You--" His hands swept out, anticipating her blows before they arrived. "May learn it.." The first punch was deflected, open palm, sweeping the arm outwards. "If you wish to." The second was swept away from his body with the same motion and he brought both hands inwards in a smooth circular motion. He snapped the circle with a swift forward push, open palms once more seeking Suisen's shoulders.
Teeth bared even as her attacks are blocked, her fierce visage turns towards one of confusion as she's struck with what must be one of her Sensei's favorite moves, if only because it made her feel lowly intelligent. Suisen staggers back a step, resting one of her shoulders on the bark of a tree, shoulders slumped low as she tries to regain her bearing, hopefully before Midoru came around with another strike…or eight.
Midoru stands as where he is, unbending his knees to raise himself from his crouch. He inclines his head to Suisen, stepping backwards, steps unerring as he reenters the newly extended clearing. "Come," said the Kuroyari Captain. "You'll be earning your lunch, today. Excuse me if I go a little too far. I do not quite know your endurance, yet. If it comes to the point that you can't feed yourself due to exhaustion, I'll do so for you as a matter of apology."
The man bent down a long way to grab the hilt of Suisen's fallen weapon, stabbing its point into the earth at his feet, before returning to the other end of the clearing, where he'd began.
Popping one of her shoulders back into place from the slight dislocation, with a noticable wince, Suisen tosses her helmet to roll near to her massive sword, the Gitoujunsai. "I would like to think that we'll both learn something today." she says seemingly reaching up next to her breasts and undoing something, when she finishes both of her long gauntlets fall with a heavy thud revealing her arms underneath.
Covering he left arm are the tribal pirate tattoos of The Shattered Shore. Massaging the inside of one of her palms, she comes rushing at Midoru once more. Boots claw into grass and dirt as she rushes her Sensei bare-handed going straight for his chin and just under his eye again; a hard left that turns to a backhand on the rebound and a full-bodied right to jar her teacher's senses.
"I have no doubt we will," admitted Midoru, eyes running along the ink-darkened length of Suisen's arm as she came to charge him. The left jab is firmly guided by a mailed hand to miss, rending the air in front of his face and it was a simple upkept hand that blocked the following backhand. "I have someone I think you should meet, some time."
A circular motion with his forearm threw the heavy right hand away from his face, and he simply let her momentum carry it away from him. "My face is much higher than yours. You're overextending to reach it." A fist clenched, more powerful than any punch he'd thrown thus far and he let it loose with a slight crouch and an low swing to Suisen's midsection. His body spoke loudly of the consequences should she let this do damage.
The air is heavy when Midoru's armored fist flies passed her and while Suisen is unsure of just how much damage the strike would do, she is sure that avoiding it was the best course of action. Suisen merely sighs when her Sensei states the obvious difference in their height. However, this makes for a fine enough distraction, though slight. Stepping aside of his blow, she bears both of her palms, striking first with her left and just a moment later with her right, attempting to knock him sideways.
Midoru's armor gleamed, shining metal shifting as Midoru simply flexed the areas Suisen attacked, that outward motion along with his casing enough to stop the blows, though only barely with the first one, which surprised him some. A practiced step put one leg on Suisen's side and he brought the other one over in a knee towards her midsection, an arm attempting to move across her shoulders to aid in his chances of landing the blow.
Her own armor flexes as she's struck, again her bare hand moving over her bust as she grimaces. "That, hurt." she states, glaring at Midoru with one eye closed. She breaths as if trying to catch her breath from the blow as she again rushes her Sensei, full out charge perhaps would be a better description. Another two strikes, with both palms, at his chest as she brings up her right leg for a crushing, or hopefully crushing, blow to his knee.
"Supposed to," murmured Midoru with a slight grin and an arched brow, taking a step back as she charges him again, to get his footing correct. He uses one open hand and sends it in a thrust across his chest, pushing both chest strikes to the side at once, though one hand managed to clip him in the shoulder. Damage he ignored, but damage nonetheless. A simple tensing of his body, the whole of his suit pressing outwards with the motion of his muscles, allowed the blow to his knee to simply deflect off of the metal. "Trying to cripple me?"
He set himself low, sending a swift jab towards Suisen's face, but invested little into it. Instead, he used it to make her react to the higher danger before he suddenly swept down to take rushed forward in a tackle and take her legs from her. If he succeeded, he grab them and pivot, muscles calmly shifted as he swung her across his body, throwing her armor and all to the other end of the clearing. "I hope so."
"I thought you might be impressed." Then Midoru's fish flashes, darkening her vision for a moment as he strikes her before his real attack simply takes her. Suisen coughs when she's struck, then tossed a more than fair distance. She bounces, rolls, then finally slides to a stop face down in the grass. Suisen holds her tribally inked arm up for a moment before spitting grass and possibly some blood too. "I'm done, Sensei." she says pushing herself onto her knees as she cradles her side, "You're very good Sensei." she remarks simply as she sits there, still a bit dizzy from the attack.
"False," spoke Midoru from the other side of the clearing, once more standing tall, voice deep and silken, traveling the length between them with apparent ease. He looked up to the noonday sun, noting that a decent twenty minutes, perhaps, of relatively nonstop training has come about. He then looked back to Suisen, crimson eyes gleaming vividly in the direct light. "You can continue. So we will." He raised his hand in a gesture to rise.
"Stand and present."
Gritting her teeth, Suisen pushes herself up, still holding her side. She takes a few breaths, wiping a bit of blood from her mouth. Just when she looks weakest, slumping in her supposed stance, does she attack, another flurry of blows in an attempt to at least get a solid blow on her teacher. The first is a simple punch to his jaw, then his stomach before she finally finishes with a straight kick to his chest in an attempt to send him to the ground.
Midoru nods, giving silent commendation to the girl's strength and endurance. The slumping before she attacks manages through him off sufficiently for his hand to come up late and for her punch to catch him nearly squarely on the chin. Luckily, using his skills in faceblocking, he manages to angle his head to avoid too much damage. "Respected," commented the man. He'd expected her near swoon to be real, but she had more willpower than he'd given her credit for.
He wondered where she got it from as firmly pushed the second punch away with an obvious ease, looking as though he put effort into the maneuver, though, to counter-act his having been hit in the first place. As her leg comes up, aimed at his chest, he spreads his legs into a firmer, lower stance before swiftly sending an open palm to the underside of her knee, bending it and pushing her backwards to the ground. He took another step back for distance.
"Stand and present…"
Suisen stumbles and ends up hitting the ground with an audible thud and clank of armor. It's not long however, before she leans on one of her knees taking a few breaths. "Good block." Suisen comments between the throbs of pain in her sides and chest. Pushing herself forward, she again digs into the ground for support as she strikes upwards, an uppercut for Midoru's cheek, her momentum then follows as she spins to an elbow at Midoru's side and finally comes crashing down with a heavily armor leg, a brutal kick to his neck.
Midoru remains silent, simply responding to her. The uppercut came in swift and sure, and he found that his hand, when pressing down on it, only took some of it's momentum away before it continued upwards, slamming into his unmoving jaw. The following elbow, part of the same strike, came in in a way that he could do nothing against it and that blow landed on his stubbornly still chin as well. "You work well under exhaustion. Likely anger as well."
The giant's man swept a hand just over his shoulder, neatly catching the heavy kick without apparent effort. "Again, overextending. I like the move, though, you're doing it incorrectly."
He let the leg fall and Suisen regain herself before he set about showing her. His long leg rose in a smooth motion and he brought the foot over the woman's left shoulder before bringing the heel crashing down on her armor.
The attack is jarring, a heel knocking her to one side as she regained her neutral stance. Suisen stammers for a moment as her heart beats faster, reacting to the pain stemming and flowing down from her shoulder. Rather than respond, she merely grits her teeth, an eye flashing to her weapon for just a moment. Moving forward, she attempt to push Midoru back with a straight left to his chest, a spinning elbow to the exact same spot before she slides her hand down, spinning the sword in a deadly arc to cross his chest and what limbs he might've had in place to block her previous attacks.
Midoru dips his chest so that the straight left hits his breastplate at an angle, and simply slides along the curve before she withdraws it. His hand sweeps up, the back of it pressed against his chest as he just barely got it between her swift spinning elbow, unexpected as it had been. He nodded at that as he simply swayed backwards, avoiding the slash of the blade and he continues with the momentum, backpedaling.
Whirling the blade around, she again uses it as a very large shield all the way and past her upper shoulder. There even appears to be some of the obsidian blade carved away so the blade will fit flush with her arm to prevent any gaps in her defense. Using the powerful platform that was the bottom of the Gitoujunsai's pommel, Suisen repeatedly strikes forward. A blunt blow to his chest, shoulders, stomach and even a few pokes towards his knees as she continues the offensive.
Midoru continued backpedaling, eyes on the pommel-equipped punches for brief intervals as they take in the whole of Suisen's motions. Every once in a while, his attempts at evading an attack fail and he gets dinged. He appeared to be unaffected by them, however, and most potential damage was turned aside with sure motions of the hand. The giant of a man pierced the tree-line, then, sending a glance behind him to assure that there was no needless collision.
Suisen whirls the sword about in a flourish as they enter the tree line, her wide swipes with the blade now mostly nullified due to the tree cover. She then rushes her Sensei in what appears nearly to be a tackle, with all of her body weight thrown into the blows. The Sanyari dives forward, lunging with the grip of her massive sword, aiming straight for Midoru's nose. The inertia spent, she falls into a crouched stance and proceeds with a vicious Gitoujunsai uppercut that turns finally into a kick at Midoru's chest. Bushes and grass waver as she pushes passed them.
Back and back continued Midoru, occasional glances helping him weave through the the trees. At the flying tackle, the giant of a man simply took a greater step back to avoid giving Suisen support and lifted a hand, neatly stopping her once it seems she would reach him anyways. The blow sent to his nose was stopped with similar results, a hand held in front of his facing doing quite enough.
After the uppercut, he kick she'd sent him had been wholly unexpected -- he hadn't felt that in her body's flow of power. As such, his defense wasn't anywhere near succeeding, and he found that were were a great number of aches stretching across the whole of his body. But war hardens a man and none of these wounds made a showing in his movements as he moved backwards, following the force of the kick. It was with a sudden strafe that he vanished behind a few trees, out of sight.
Disappearing behind the veil of trees, bushes and other assorted shrubbery, Suisen has no target on which to vent her anger so instead of waiting around, she retreats back to the sun drenched meadow that they had begun fighting in. "Sensei?" she queries, holding her massive shield-sword at the ready, unable to detect just where he had gone. An impressive maneuver considering the massive weight the San and Kuroyari armor.
Midoru answered Suisen's call. He appeared, silent as a wraith, the giant of a man simply materializing from the treeline behind his student. He loped along the ground towards the woman, one fist raised in calm and controlled aggression. This fist glinted once as it was raised just the slightest bit higher before it was sent crashing downwards.
Though her sword was at the ready, it was blocking all frontal attacks. Not only did Midoru's attack come from behind her, but above as well. The strike doubles her vision for a few moments as she drops her weapon. Grimacing, she turns slowly to behold the giant of a man before she falls to a single knee, dazed. "Lunch then?" she inquires, holding a bare, tattooed, hand on her head and another on her heavily bruised side.
Midoru lets his hand loosen and fall to his side, the tall man standing straight, his shoulder squared. He looks over Suisen with a critical eyes and then frowns, just a bit. "Yes. I should think so." The unused Mhaldor's hilt gleamed in the sun once more as he shifted his stance. "I think I had gone a little too far. Can you stand?"
Suisen is shaky when she tries to stand. "Not really." she says holding out an arm for assistance, "My father's Captains were a little more cruel." she remarks simply, more than likely putting an arm behind Midoru's back for support. "Thank you, Sensei, I learned a lot today." Suisen then heads from the training grounds towards where they might have lunch. "But, I think I got a few good ones in, hm?" she inquires finally as she attempts to keep herself stable.
