Skulls and Fists

The day was cool and dry at the training grounds. Most of today's lessons and tests were over for the Trainee Corps and most of them were resting, save one.

The quiet training fields would have their silence broken for awhile by the rasps and cracks of a well beaten straw dummy.

Here Connor spent his time idly jabbing at the dummy, his way of 'thinking' as he's told other Trainee's before. Most of the time he did it just to clear his mind and ease that ever growing restlessness.

Though in this particular session, he really didn't know what he was trying to think about. Maybe today he was just trying to beat the physical stagnation. Maybe he was just bored.

Come to think of it...Training sessions lately weren't as exciting without Cora around. Ever since she left the military, Connor felt he had little to teach him to keep his guard up.

Maybe that was the problem...training had now felt so idle, like a second instinct. That's not how it should be at all. It should teach one to break their limits, get out of their comfort zones.

Connor only realized his frustration when he gave the straw dummy one last cracking blow to the head which knocked it over. He stopped, panting lightly and trying to calm down.

Connor's head turned like an alerted hawk to the unfamiliar voice. He never expected it would belong to a garrison troop, especially a woman which, for the world weary trainee, screamed 'warrior' to him. That was always something he was glad to find in another soldier, no matter what corp they were in.

He gave her a firm salute before going to pick up the dummy. "Well at least they don't bruise easily...or need a medic after a good punch." He spoke in an intense tone as though that was a hard lesson he had to deal with not too long ago.

He turned to the garrison woman again and started walking towards the fence, removing his gloves. "It's not common we see the garrison around here." He stated, looking Koralee in the eye. He was genuinely intrigued but remained expressionless. The last garrison member he met gave him details of a suspicious job though he never heard from him afterwards, and wanted to make sure this wasn't a repeat.

Connor nodded thoughtfully at the first answer. "True...especially when it comes to Them."

Connor sighed through his nose in relief at the second answer, knowing that they were alone and that she wouldn't have any reason to lie. "You are just different from the rest of them. I don't blame you for not wanting to go back though." He sat on the fence, pressing the lower bar of the fence with his boot heel to keep balance while he sat on the top bar. "I can't imagine what it must be like, sitting around waiting for the enemy to come to you. It would drive me mad..."

He digressed and changed the subject. "So...you were a passionate fist fighter too?"

Connor only answered the mention of the Military police with a spit to the ground in front of his boots. He made no solid mention of them though but would answer about the Garrison. "I can respect the Garrison...if nothing else, they get to hold the line and that beats hiding as far within the walls as possible. But with the loss of Wall Maria, and the break in at Trost, I imagine their reputation is fairly shot by now. It's why I try not to give them too much hell."

He glanced at her as she removed her jacket, his eyes darting away awkwardly as his face turned red. He decided to get on equal terms with her as he removed his black leather jacket which fell to the ground with a strange clunk, a sign that his clothes were either armored beneath the fabric or just weighted. "If your sure about this..." He rose his hands up in a boxing fashion, though his feet were spread in a Taekwondo stance. "No holds barred?" He asked, unable to suppress a smirk. He never imagined he would get to spar with an experienced soldier in his training years, and he couldn't help but be excited.

Connor nodded. "You fought, and when you couldn't fight you at least brought people to safety. In the end, that is all that can be asked from soldiers."

He saw a flicker in her eye, the kind he hadn't seen in a long time, not since his mercenary days when he brawled with members of Zeus Squad. He could never figure out what he saw in it, but he loved the feeling it brought to him. It was as though his opponent regarded him as an equal, as a worthy foe. Not as a lion to be feared, or a sheep to be belittled. At least, that is what he could make of it.

From here on, it was time to speak with action than words. His heel started to turn in the loose dirt beneath him before he slid into action, swooping the turned leg towards hers in an attempt to sweep her feet from under her.

As he quickly finished the spinning momentum of the swooping kick, Connor got back into stance, feet held firmly to the ground as he clearly intended to hold the line, as though he expected a counter attack. His arms stayed lowered to his body in his defensive stance, leaving his head a rather exploitable opening. Judging by the scars on his head though, he was clearly more than aware of this.

Like he intended it.

He managed to block the punch with his forearm but took the kick's full blow with a cough. He sucked wind into his lungs as he attempted to recover, counting on his own endurance to withstand blows and counter attack.

His counter attempt would start with his lowered elbow reaching down to lock her leg under his arm. If this succeeded, he'd attempt to follow through with a punch to the chest just above her breast.

Ryoga had gone to the fields today for a new lesson.Hand-to-hand combat was cool but he wasn't very good at first.By the time the lesson ended he decided to train a bit more to get the hang of it.He had gone to the training dummies about to train until he saw two trainees sparring and was amazed at the amazing display of hand-to-hand combat and tried to learn as much as he could.He approached them and watched in awe as they fought amazingly.He thought that their fight was as graceful as a dance while being equally intense and he could even feel their power vibrating through the air as they had fought.Now he watches the fight.

Auth yawned and stretched his back and arms while heading towards the main training area. He was clad in his usual dark longcoat, only now he also had a bow strung around his arm, as well as some arrows on his hip. Moonray was an impressive weapon to look at, but it was absolute pain to wield. Auth certainly would know that, as he was just coming back from training with it, in the forest with titan dummies.

Well, in fact, training wasn't his main objective for being here, but the chance shouldn't have been passed up. He was here to take a good look at the titan dummies themselves, as he had expressed annoyance at them in the past. They just couldn't hold half a candle to the real deal. There was room for improvement though, and trying to see the possibilities and costs of those improvements was Auth main objective. Which was already fulfilled, needles to say, as he was now returning.

Not much farther he sighted two people fighting. His interest was obviously instantly sparked up, and changed course towards there. Soon enough, he could clearly identify the two combatants, one trainee boy, Connor, whom he knew from the trial, and one woman.  This woman seemed to be part of the garrison, by the uniform of the ground. His sight had instantly narrowed at the emblem, but only for a split second, as he remembered not all Garrison members are homicidal titan-shifting hypocrites... actually, most of them weren't....

For now he stopped, leaning to one of the training dummies, watching the fight. He tried to stay low-profile, but didn't make it a priority. After all, he wasn't sneaking up on anybody, he was spectating. And from his perspective, the fighters weren't half-bad. That wasn't to say there was no room for improvement, far from it.

Cora rode to the training areas together with four of her soldiers. She hadn't been here since the trial and the only reason she was getting there now was to get the stuff she had left there back.
She took a look at her companions. Everyone of them looked frightening. They all wore a thick black leather armour. It was unusal for them to not carry any weapons but Cora told them not to. She herself wasn't really sure how the military would like it.

"I dare you to attack anyone here. Even if someone should attack me, or do anything else. You. Do. Nothing."
They nodded, not really sure about that all.
Cora smiled at them and got of the horse. She tied it to a tree and walked to the training grounds.

She saw a familar looking figure standing near the main training areas.
Cora went up to him and layed her hand on his shoulder.
"Hey my Lord. How is it going?", she grinned and looked into the direction he was looking. A fight. How great. But was that...Connor?
She wrinkeled her forehead.
"Is that Connor fighting against one of the roses?"

Auth raised an eyebrow at Cora, and leaned a bit more towards her. "Well hello as well. And yeah, that does seem to be indeed Connor fighting." He watched Connor take the hit, then lock Kora's leg. He sighed deeply when he saw the response to that as well. "... for some reason though, I feel like I'm watching a bar brawl instead of a battle between trained soldiers. I mean, yes, I do see they're skilled enough in what they do. What I don't get is why they choose to do that?"

He watched a few more seconds. "It might be just me though, that's true, but I feel that both are taking way too many unnecessary risks. For example, Connor could've grabbed her arm instead, then sweep the other leg from beneath her. That would have assured him a position of superiority. And she could just kick his jaw wi... or maybe she can't, actually." Auth scratched his head. "Still, I don't understand why grapple the shoulders. If she would have taken one of the arms instead, she'd be in a position where her opponent had no free arms and she had one. Connor would be forced to let go if he'd like having his head still on his shoulders." Auth shook his head.

"I don't know, Cora. Maybe I'm just expecting way too much. What do you think? I'm pretty sure you have quite a bit more experience with not-so-optimal fighters than I do." What he said was true. Most of the hand-to-hand combat training he had was with his father... who was an elite MP captain, much better versed in martial arts than him, and the most cunning devil there was. So indeed, quite the opponent. Maybe it was this that made him have such high standards of people fighting.

Cora started laughing quietly and patted his shoulder.
"Shhh Auth...shhh. Let them be!", she said with a wide grin on her face.
She nodded, "I indeed have alot of experience when it comes to that. But I guess Nec has more. I'm not entirely sure though. You are seeing it wrong Auth. You have way to high expectations. You see: you are trained to fight and think while you fight. I'm sure neither of them aren't. I mean...we still think but you...dammit. Forget what I just said. There's a difference in your kind of fighting and let's say their kind of fighting. And my kind of fighting, of course. You want to have challenges and are specifically looking for really good fighters and you forget that there are different kinds of fighting methods. They are just fighting...how should I say...they do not look for such opportunities in the other's defense. That is the main difference I would say. Correct me though.", she grinned, "And if I fight really then I fight unfair. I use everything I can."

Cora stopped watching Connor and the woman fight and looked at Auth again.
"Just wondering...what the hell are you doing here?"

Connor counted on raw strength, endurance, and speed as well as base fighting instinct. To say he was more a brawler than a martial artist couldn't have been more true.

He pulled the fist back to attempt the second punch but her hand pressing down on his shoulder pulled the attack back a bit, making it into a missing hook rather than a connecting jab.

His grip on her leg was slipping, he had to act fast. Not willing to risk taking an overhead blow he quickly attempted to pick it up higher and apply her own momentum into a toss.

Successful or not, he'd shift forward a bit to get some recovery distance and get back into stance. At this point he noticed the crowd that was gathering. He blinked away another flashback as it all seemed familiar to him, people gathering around to observe two warriors in a fighting ring. 'Connor, stay focused kid.' He thought he heard a familiar voice call out to him but nobody was there.

'No, damn it, now's not the time.' He thought to himself. He was on the defensive as it is, he had to get back to the attack, to stay inside and make the most of his strength.

He came back in again, his arms staying in their low position to protect his body while priming him for his next attack attempt which would come in a quick sequence of a left and right hook to the body followed by a left uppercut to the chin.

The woman's reflexes and recovery skills surprised him. She was already on her feet and defending herself by the time Connor could get back on the inside and use his strength. And her move had a bit more finesse.

Before he knew it, Connor was at her mercy, his arm being twisted into a locking position. He had to act before she could make good on it, rolling his left shoulder up in a lean to give him just enough space for a firm elbow aiming back towards her face.

This might have worked, if she actually intended on holding onto the lock.

Instead the lean would betray him by giving her kick more leverage to work with, and suddenly his elbow would have been way out of accuracy as he was falling on his ass.

Connor was pretty much beaten at this point. He may have had the raw strength and speed to keep up with her but didn't quite have the mind for combat she had.

Connor was laying on his back, sore and flustered, staring up at Koralee and finding himself in the perspective of other Trainee's he has laid out before in unarmed training. "So...this is what it feels like." He did not have a pleased look on his face, like he wasn't going to like what would happen next. Losing in sparring practice back in Zeus Squad meant nothing but firm criticisms. Granted he had recently lost to Cora back when they were still training together but he did far more damage then than he did now and it humbled him greatly.

"That was really fun." She suddenly said.

Connor's eyes focused on her again. That childish, joyful grin was all she answered with. It really was all in good fun to her, wasn't it? He took it for what it was worth; meeting another soldier that shared a like mind with him. And that put him at a bit more ease.

He accepted the hand of assistance as he replied. "You're not all that fragile for a human." He remarked about her previous mention of an unfortunate side effect of being human.

As he dusted off his back he was quickly reminded of their gamble. He looked at her and nodded, rather liking the idea now. "Anytime, anywhere." He answered with one of the most genuine, sober smiles he has given anybody. It was nice to meet someone that would remind him of his limits, that he wasn't invincible quite yet. It gave him something to strive for, a new limit to break.

Connor nodded. "I guess I'll just have to go to Stohess the next chance I get. I'm not one to skip out on my debts, and I'm sure you will be off duty sooner or later." Connor spoke confidently, despite also knowing that they probably wouldn't get the chance for a while. To him though it would be worth the wait. Hell who was he kidding, getting a drink was always worth it.

"Anyway, I won't keep you here much longer. Last thing I want is to end up getting another soldier in trouble." He remarked while eying Ryoga somewhat apologetically.

Auth finished watching the fight. It turned out to end quite faster than anticipated, really. But that was good, it showed at least one of them knew what he was doing. He also overheard their conversation. While he never meant to, old habits die hard. Very hard.

Auth walked up to them, clapping slowly. "A good fight." This was more flattery than truth. "Also, I cannot help it, but I overheard your conversation. And I can bring a quick solution to the problem mentioned." He put one hand into his cloak and took out the MP badge from there. "As an MP, I can give you a good enough excuse to hang about here longer. If you wish to, that is. Oh, and do trust me, the chances anyone will actually need you at the wall pretty much don't exist."

This little fight had sparked up his interest. While none of the people present here could match him one on one, battle against multiple opponents was very interesting on its own. Still, Auth made sure that none of his muscles, facial or otherwise, would give away his general intention. It really wasn't very needed, but once again, old habits die hard.