Nam meets Zack

[Nam Reikonaga]

The sun was rising and the silhouette of a figure descended to the courtyard of Victory School. It hasn’t changed much, has it… Nam thought, observing the campus. Everyone was sparring around him, and the familiar face of an old master spawned before him.

“Well, if it isn’t Nam!” said the man. He was tall and had a shaved head, a warming smile on his face as he greeted his old pupil. “How’s it been in Kikoukenjutsu?”

Nam smiled in response, “Abuul, it’s been a long time…” Nam remembered running all the way from Central City and climbing Mount Paozu every day to get fighting lessons with his old master. “I have to admit, I haven’t been to Kikoukenjutsu for quite a while…”

The milky chocolate skinned man looked worriedly at Nam’s bandaged hands, “I thought I heard some raucous in the mountains… that was you, wasn’t it.”

Nam was silent.

“How’s your mother?”

Nam looked away, refraining from answering the question once again. How does he do it? he thought. Abuul always seemed to know what’s up, even if he didn’t really know. Nam’s silence explained what a million words couldn’t. The half-saiyan’s old master embraced him, “She’s with the Kais now, no need to worry.” Abuul looked up and smiled.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m over it.” Nam assured, smiling back; although, it wasn’t completely genuine, and Nam knew that Abuul knew that he knew that Abuul did not buy his cheap grin. “I’ve been training.” Nam said suddenly.

“No kidding!” Abuul said sarcastically. “Injured hands, wrapped in blood-stained bandages and rock slides in the mountains every morning. I’m sure you were just having some fun.” He winked.

Nam couldn’t help but smile. Abuul always took things easily. But Nam knew he was deeply worried for his health. Abuul then turned away, telling Nam to follow. “Come, I’ll show you around your old dojo.”

[Zach]

Zach woke early again, as seemed to be the case while he was at the school, and dressed. Going about his normal morning routine for the first time without pain, he ate a quick breakfast in the commissary but made sure not to drop by Diane’s room too early. He knew his injuries from the previous week had caused her quite some concern but now that he was recovering he didn’t want her loosing any more sleep if she had lost any in the first place. In either case, Zach bypassed her room and headed to one of the smaller training yards around the periphery of the school.

Finding one of the yards unoccupied, at least at this early hour, Zach started to limber up with some squats, bends and stretches. He them took his warm-up further and started to do some pushups on the fine, pristinely maintained ,white sand of the training yard. This particular yard was used for staff training but Zach never used weapons so the comparatively flimsy sticks were safe. As he continued his pushups, Zach could hear voices, or at least one voice that he recognized, coming closer to the doorway leading into the yard. The teen was sometimes a showoff and felt like doing so as the owners of those voices neared. Standing up, the young man got into his boxing style defensive posture and started to shadow box. As he threw hard punches at the thin air and accompanied them with duck and blocks to the imaginary counters, his spiked, blonde hair threw off the last remnants of moisture from his morning shower, adding a short-lived glittering effect to the scene as he worked out.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam followed Abuul through various places; nothing had changed much since he was last subscribed. They were walking down the wooden hall, and a student almost slammed right into both Abuul and Nam. He seemed to have been enjoying his little spar. Another student passed by, almost bumping into Nam, while he was sweeping the floor. Abuul had been talking all along; going on about how well they’ve been doing without Nam. It seemed he was used to these kinds of behaviors. It was like he was expecting every moment; the guy slamming onto the wooden walls, the other guy polishing the floor, etc.

"You remember the training yard, right?" said Nam's young master, as he opened a door revealing a wide space of pristine, white sand. Nam observed in awe, It looks even better than before.. he thought. The sand was clean and maintained; everyone was doing a very good job keeping the place tight. "Zack? Up so early again?"

Nam looked up to find a blond man practicing his punches in the thin air. He sized the individual from his black training pants, to his exposed back muscles, and the blond hair that almost gave him the image of a super saiyan. Nam observed his thrusts, they were fast and full of power; he could sense it too, the spiritual energy emitting from the warrior. It was near Nam’s own.

[Zach]

Continuing through his punching routine for a few moments and actually starting to work up a sweat, Zach made sure his movements afforded him the occasionally, clandestine glance at the door to see who was coming. He wasn’t surprised to see Abuul, having recognized the man’s voice, although the young man with him he did not know. The master addressed him and so after a few more quick punches, Zach stopped and turned fully to face the two.

“Yeah, I’m feeling a lot better now so I thought I’d get in some solo practice before Diane got up.” Zach replied to the teacher and then turned his gaze to the young man in his company. Not having x-ray vision, Zach didn’t have the luxury of being able to look at the other’s body to judge how well built he was, nor did he have the ability to sense energy, but from the way the young man’s clothes fit him, Zach was reasonably sure he could handle himself. He’d been wrong before of course, but the blonde usually made up for that by wearing his opponents down to a manageable level or using the overconfidence that tended to go with great power to trick them, though he disliked that particular tactic.

“Morning. I’m Zach.” the teen stated as he walked over to the two, nodded to Abuul and then held his hand out for the other young man to shake.

[Nam Reikonaga]

The blond man walked up to Nam, “Morning. I’m Zach.” He said, reaching out for a handshake. For a moment Nam hesitated to accept the hand shake, but he then remembered his blood-stained bandages were dry, so he wouldn’t dirty the guy; and his hand’s wounds were almost completely healed, so he wouldn’t feel pain.

“You can call me Nam,” he answered, smiling. Zach seemed to have a nice grip in his hands, Nam felt as if Zach’s power was being transmitted through their hand shake.

“Zach, Nam used to go here a long time ago. I don’t know how he’s doing now, but he used to be a very good fighter. I can only assume he’s improved.” Abuul said, cutting the attention from both individuals.

“Well of course I’ve improved!” Nam said, pretending to be offended. Abuul simply laughed.

“Well then, why don’t you two have a little match?” he began, “I’d like to see the result of this.”

“It’s fine by me…” Nam walked to the other end of the yard; he left his scabbard resting on a nearby wall and began to stretch. “What about you?” he said, directing his question to Zach as he stretched out his upper body to the left, and then to the right. He then jumped in place for a few seconds and shifted into a fighting stance. Nam widened his legs, shifting his weight onto his right foot; his left hand was extended forward and his right was just over his head.

((Sorry for the small posts, I feel like I’m gradually getting worst at this >< starting to feel a bit sloppy…))

[Zach]

{Not at all. I don’t expect novellas out of anyone, your post length is fine and the description is good as always. Heck you brought up a point I’d forgotten about, the bandaged hands.}



As the other young man reached out to grasp his hand, Zach for the first time noticed crimson stained bandages wrapped around his hands and raised an eyebrow. He’d been too busy trying to look impressive and appraising the other man’s body to have glimpsed at his hands until now. He didn’t appear to be in bad shape though as his grip was firm, indicating that the bandages either had someone else’s blood on them, in which case he’d have to be careful should they fight, or it was his own and they were simply due for a changing.

“Nam? Good to meet you.” the teen responded and then turned his attention to Abuul as the teacher broke in and filled him in a bit on Nam’s history and then followed it up with the suggestion that they spar. Zach had no problem with it and neither did Nam apparently as the young man moved strait out onto the sand and disarmed himself before starting to stretch.

“Heh, sometimes I think you want to see me get beaten up. I’ve only just recovered you know.” Zach joked to the master and then turned to face Nam.

“I’m good to go, are you going to be ok?” Zach asked as he raised his arms into his usual high, defensive posture and pointed at Nam’s hands. “I have a feeling we’ve both just recovered from some serious injuries and this sadist wants to see us get hurt all over again.” Zach continued to joke, knowing Abuul was anything but a sadist. Following the joke, Zach remained stationary in his defensive stance and waited for Nam to make the first move.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Abuul smiled, at Zach’s statement. But his smile wasn’t exactly a smile. It had an ominous feel to it, as if it had a subliminal message under its gesture, which was transmitting clearly as “I’ll get you later.” Even though the gesture wasn’t directed to Nam, he still felt like cringing.

Nam laughed, but maintained his stance. “Well, I’m fine, just itching to try out a new move.” He admitted. “What happened to you though?” he inquired, dashing forward at the same time; the thin strand of hair fringed on his forehead danced as he did this. Nam wasn’t fighting seriously yet; he didn’t know how to go about his new adversary so he decided to go with a direct test punch, –like a warm up. It was like when you go out for a run, it felt weird suddenly running after being idle for a long time, so you’d begin with a jog and gradually increase your tempo, working your way up.

As Nam darted, the sand lifted behind him, leaving a trail. Anyone behind him would have been temporarily blinded from the fight. Nam smiled as he did this, he felt his training had helped him improve quite a bit and he was excited to see if they’d pay off. Assuming Zach would dodge his easily avoidable attack, Nam was prepared to throw his body forward, following his right hand to the ground and use it as a supporting beam, while his left hand would steer him to either direction in order to launch a kick.

[Zach]

“Oh, I just had a run-in with an unruly Saiyan.” Zach responded to Nam’s question and kept his attention on the young man, although he did catch the master’s awkward smile. Watching Nam’s movements carefully as he held his position, Zach was ready when the other young man closed in and launched a probing punch. Rather then dodging however, Zach used one of his guarding arms to knock the blow aside, He was going to step in closer and attempt a counter with his elbow, however Nam was still continuing towards him, prompting the teen to back up a step.

As Nam turned over to deliver his kick, Zach pulled his arm back in and attempted another intercept. The impact was rough but gave Zach an opening to gain control over his opponent. Reacting fast, Zach used his free hand to make a grab for Nam’s leg during the brief moment it was resting against his blocking arm. Provided he managed to get a good hold, the boy intended to swing his opponent off the ground and away in the opposite direction he’d come from, ostensibly away from the building and further out into the training area.

[Nam Reikonaga]

As Nam expected, Zach had avoided his initial attack; except, instead of dodging, his opponent knocked it aside. Either way, he continued with his plan and proceeded with the follow-through; a side-kick swinging to the chest. Saiyan!? he thought, as Zach blocked his attack and grabbed onto Nam’s leg; tossing him to the opposite side of the training yard. It wasn’t as easy as it seemed to just throw someone into the air like that; Nam was beginning to see just what kind of power Zach was capable of. In the air, Nam used his bukujutsu to stop himself from falling and froze in midair with a jerking motion.

“A saiyan? What happened?” Nam descended slowly back to the surface. “Do you know how to perform energy attacks?” he inquired, pulling his hand back and suddenly focused his chi into the palm of his hand; tossing a yellow glowing sphere of energy as if he were playing catch with a friend.

“There seems to be a lot of those around these days…” Abuul said as he watched the fight from the side lines, knowing of both Nam and Zach’s cases. Nam felt a bit of worry emitting from his old master, he didn’t understand why though; he said he was okay. Abuul knew Zach was a half-saiyan. He discovered it during one of their training sessions when Nam’s tail suddenly grew back while he was sparring with another student. Nam didn’t think he’d ever forget Abuul’s face when he figured it out, it was priceless.

[Zach]

Successfully tossing Nam away, Zach was pleased that the maneuver went off without a hitch, then again they were only playing at this point. Had he wanted to hurt the other young man, Zach could have directed the throw towards the ground rather then across the yard. Watching Nam bring himself to a halt in the air told him that the other young man could fly, a skill they both shared and a fact that he would keep to himself for the moment.

Returning his arms to a defensive posture, Zach grinned when Nam asked him about the Saiyan, he was probably hoping to hear a story about how he’d gotten his butt kicked. And while that technically was the case, it was only half true, Zach had after all let himself lose just to toughen himself up, he just hadn’t counted on his injuries being such a public spectacle.

“Well I ran across this really unruly one, your typical arrogant scum bag with no respect for anyone. We basically kicked each other’s butts.” he replied, stretching the truth somewhat. “As for energy attacks…” the blonde added and tensed up as he routed some of his ki energy into his body armor technique and formed the translucent bracers, breastplate and leg armor. At this point only the bracers were really needed but it had taken him long enough to perfect the techniques as it was and he wasn’t going to go messing with it in the middle of a fight. With his armor up and since the energy ball had been tossed so casually, Zach had no problem swiping his hand across it’s path, striking the ball with his energy deflecting bracer.

“…why toss them when I can just ware my opponent out dodging or blocking his and then pound the snot out of him?” he continued after demonstrating the deflection capability of his energy based armor.

“And, yes, there are a lot around… And too many of them need to be taught a lesson in manners.” Zach added over his shoulder to Abuul. Holding his defensive pose, Zach waited for Nam to get back on the ground before dashing forward and attempting to launch a fast flurry of punches as Nam’s head and chest to get his defenses up high and further attempted to use that distraction to raise his right knee up into the young man’s stomach.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam was awestruck by Zach’s unique technique, “Wow, I kind of wish I had thought of it.” He smiled as his opponent charged towards him. Zach looked like some kind of warrior; with the chest plate, bracers and leg armor. Nam almost felt like giving him his sword, just to complete the image. But even with such great defense, Nam could still strike Zach’s face, or perhaps work the abs on his midsection. This was perfect for trying out his new move.

As Zach closed in, Nam left an afterimage of himself in defensive position and snuck up from below. “This is a new move I’ve been trying out. It’s called Zanzoken.” From here, he was going to jab his adversary with his right hand, just below the chest plate –in his midsection. If succeeded, he would initiate a barrage and finish with an upper-cut to the chin. Nam was afraid that the transition from a warm up to a barrage might’ve been a bit too rough, catching Zach completely off guard. Nam didn’t want to be seen as a sneaky cheater. But seeing as Zach took out the armored energy, Nam assumed he had already shifted to fighting mode and would probably expect a similar response. In other words, Nam wanted to catch Zach off guard, but not too off guard that it might seem unfair.

[Zach]

As Zach closed in to deliver his opening flurry of punches, he met only air and went a little wide eyed with surprise. It didn’t last long as Zam gave away his position by stopping to talk before striking. However he cut the other man some slack and didn’t tighten up just yet, taking the initial punch to his stomach with his abs still soft.

“Uuugh!...” he choked out as he felt the power of Nam’s punch punish his solar plexus and rob him of his breath and strength. He knew right where to land his hits, that was for certain and now that he couldn’t breath, Zach was regretting giving him the free shot. It didn’t stop there though, the young man pounded Zach’s abs with a barrage of punches, the majority of which sank in and produced a gag or other choking sound from the blonde. He pulled his arms in as it continued, but didn’t block any of the body shots, instead he guarded his head and rode out the punishment. When Nam finally made at attempt to smash a fist into his face, Zach’s arms were up and ready, intercepting the punch with his bracers. However he still couldn’t breath properly and just stood there for the moment, eyes wide while trying to inhale properly.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam grinned as he felt his first punch connect, and as he planned, he followed up with a series of them. It surprised him that Zach didn’t seem to put up any resistance; then again, he was probably winded by the direct hit of Nam’s clenched fists. Soon the unmentioned and tailless half-saiyan shifts to his upper-cut, but has a jarring meeting with his adversary’s bracers. That was probably the first, and hopefully last time Nam would ever physically meet with Zach’s armor. The saiyan winced and shook the pain out of his hands. It was like punching a wall –no, mountains hurt less than that. But perhaps it’s just because he was recently training on that subject. Luckily, Zach seemed like he was still winded from the barrage and allowed Nam to recover quickly and continue attacking.

With this, Nam intended to grip his opponent’s arms and toss him to the other side of the training area, pushing him over his body and out from above; it was an Aikido style move. Nam intended to give his opponent time to recover, but still inflicting somewhat minimal damage. It was his way of saying, “If you didn’t know we were going serious, now you do; so get ready.”

[Zach]

As Zach absorbed Nam’s punches and gagged or choked with each hit, he really started to regret giving Nam that free shot, the boy was destroying his innards. Then there was the shot to the face that thankfully his arms were in a position to block. The blonde didn’t have time to recover, at least not yet, as moments after Nam threw the combination to his stomach and then failed to strike his face, the other boy grabbed him uncontested by the arms and rolled back, launching him across the yard.

Zach landed with a thud and finally managed to get a breath, inhaling and then exhaling with a groan. He got up quickly though, pushing his body in spite of the lack of oxygen and turned to face his opponent.

“Heh… That was pretty good…” he choked out and took a few more breaths. “…I just gave you that first hit there for free, then you went to town.” Zach continued and stretched his arms over his head for a few moments to ease the ache in his stomach.

“You can’t stop in the middle of a fight and start talking like that though, like right now, you could be kicking my butt because I’m busy talking to you.” he concluded and folded his arms behind his head now, showing off his physique in a decidedly self assured manner in spite of having just taken several strong punches. It was obvious he had somewhat of an ego and saw no reason not to let it out a bit, thinking he could take Nam with ease, and so his current pose, leaving his body wide open.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam held back a chuckle from his opponent’s casual joke; enough to say he was amused, but not enough to classify it as a laugh. It was like talking under his breath, but in a series of short releases of air. The saiyan watched as his adversary stretched and left himself wide open for a beating. Nam couldn’t decide whether he should be offended; or perhaps, Zach was still in play mode. He decided to take the apathetic approach and simply continue the fight. ”You’re right, no more talking…” Nam assured, bracing himself as he dashed through the sand, which lifted behind him as he advanced. I gave him a chance to get ready, now it’s time to fight. he thought.

Nam cocked his right arm behind him, preparing to strike once again just below the chest plate where the cluster of nerves were concentrated –in the solar plexus. He thought about using a distraction, but since his opponent was already relaxed and wide open. He thought a distraction would just alert him and lower the chances and Nam’s repeated move to connect.

If the attack hit, he expected Zach would lean forward with the blow and then Nam would use his Zanzoken to increase his speed for an instant, leaving an after image of himself punching Zach’s abdomen while he was in fact charging in from Zach’s left with a flying kick to the ear.