[The Demon Galleon] /Finally Home/

[Zach]

Meeting with quite some success in his change of tactics, Zach managed to shove Ryota back through his portal and create enough confusion with the sudden aggression so as to prevent the man from responding for a few moments, during which time the boy took full advantage, plowing his fists up into the other man’s middle as many times as he could. True the Captain managed to block a few of the strikes but Zach didn’t care about those, only the ones he was landing. He did know however that Ryota would eventually pull himself back together and was ready to back off and resume a defensive posture when it looked like he was.

Thankfully when Ryota finally did respond, it didn’t involve running Zach through with his sword. The teen’s attention to such details as his skin not being impermeable had wavered to the point where he’d completely disregarded the weapon in spite of it being close enough to cut him now. It was still just the anger and blind aggression working now, at least until Ryota planted his feet against the wall and bull rushed Zach much like what had already been done to him. The blonde’s eyes went a little wide when the Captain’s shoulder thudded into his chest and he was forced back by the other man. Another quick trip through the still lingering portal and Zach’s back crashed against the wall on the other side of the room.

Trying not to get trapped himself, the teen let grunted with the impact but immediately scrambled to get away, slinking along the wall to the side while pulling his arms in to defend himself once more. Through the fog of his anger though Zach knew he was getting close to his limits, the gravity was just too oppressive and although he was coordinating himself a bit better, he was burning so much energy to do it that he was sure his muscles would burn for a week. Transforming was still and option but not one he wanted to rely on for victory. Instead the teen opted to try his armor again. Routing his ki energy to his limbs and chest, Zach started to form the armor but it was again suffering from deformations and inconsistencies in it’s substance and color. The chest piece was solid this time but tinted orange and intermittently shifting back and forth to a sickly green. His legs were once again covered in transparent jelly, but this time the bracers seemed to form correctly, although tinted blue instead of being clear.


{You didn’t mention if the portal had closed or not so I’m assuming it’s still there. If not there are three other walls to choose from.}

[Deleted]

Ryota grinned as his escape attempt worked and he managed to do a fair amount of damage on top of that, expecting a counter attack of some sort Ryota raised his arms in defense only to then effectively allow Zach to escape and reform his armor causing Ryota to sigh, destroying the armor was not THAT difficult but the last time he had done so had left him open to an attack.

Flipping his sword around in his hand Ryota watched Zach closely as he made it seem like he was waiting for Zach to make the next move, however in reality Ryota was simply waiting for Zach to come at him as once he did Ryota would wait until the boy was close and then cut open another rift, shortly after the rift's creation Ryota would shout two simple words. "GALLEON, FIRE!" and then from the rift would erupt a blast of energy fired from one of the Galleon's primary cannons.

[Zach]

With his arms up and guarding his head and upper body, Zach breathed heavily for a few moments to try and gather back some of his strength. It was really of little use, as he was burning more of it standing then he could get back by restricting his movements. That, in the teens mind, left only one option, attack before he was too tired to continue. Without another moment’s hesitation the boy dashed towards Ryota, intent on opening up on the man with another flurry of punches. His footfalls however were too thunderous to be called running, more of a labored jog as he attempted to close the distance between himself and the Captain.

An instant later Ryota had slashed his sword through the air and carved open another portal. The motion was enough for Zach to know he was in trouble and at once the teen tried to change direction. The gravity though made course changes difficult and even with the advanced warning of Ryota calling out the name of the attack, Zach was still trying to skid off towards the middle of the room when the shot emerged from the portal.

Blind aggression had taken him strait into the attack’s path and there was nothing he could do to stop himself. Not even the power to fly would help at this point, it was too slow to respond and in this case, there wasn’t enough energy reserve left for Zach to use it. Instead, the boy tried to tuck into a roll, letting the heavy gravity work for him instead of against him. The beam still struck him though, but he’d managed to cross his arms over his head, protecting it with his bracers and he dove through the bottom half of the beam and crashed to the floor in a heap. The bracers worked and deflected a large portion of the energy before the armor once again dissipated.

The attack had left Zach’s arms reddened and singed off a few of the spikes in his hair but other then that he was largely unharmed. He was however quickly becoming exhausted though, his ki energy supply already now dwindling to nothing. All that was left was his physical strength which by now was also beginning to suffer. The boy remained on the floor for a few moments, panting from his exertions. He could see Ryota’s boots from his low vantage point and not what the man was doing.

“Errrr… This isn’t going well…” he grumbled more to himself then the Captain and then started to try and pull himself back to his feet. He didn’t know how well the man expected him to fare but was determined not to fall bellow those unknown expectations.

[Deleted]

"No, it's not but then again your doing really well all things considered. Gravity training is some tough stuff but you've managed to take to it pretty well. I'm certain I didn't do half as well as you when I first tried and I started on five times gravity." Ryota said witch a chuckle as he sheathed his sword feeling that with just how little energy Zach seemed to have left that perhaps it would be best to call an end to the fight. After all it wouldn't be particularly good if the boy was left completely exhausted now would it.

Ryota had to admire the fact that Zach seemed to be refusing to make the training any easier with the use of his transformation, if the boy had chosen to use it then the fight would likely be prolonged for a bit longer but Ryota wasn't entirely certain if even now Zach would be capable of continuing, he seemed quite out of it however Ryota was pleased to note that while he hadn't managed to completely get rid of Zach's anger he had manged to redirect it to himself. He'd noticed it earlier but the fact that Zach had run headlong into a fairly obvious trap(as far as Ryota saw it) definitely confirmed it.

Hopefully however Zach wouldn't remain angry with him. "So what do you think Zach, I think it might be better to end the fight here since I think we've both gotten all we can out of this session but if you truly want to continue I'll keep going. If not I'm pretty hungry so I think hitting up the Galleon's kitchens might be a good plan." Ryota said giving the young warrior a friendly grin.

[Zach]

Climbing the rest of the way back to his feet, Zach wobbled a bit before straitening up. His muscles were openly protesting now but he kept pushing. The burning throughout his body was something to be ignored, he wouldn’t stop until he was sure he could do so without looking weak or he simply couldn’t continue. But then Ryota had to go and compliment him and all at once he wanted to collapse on the floor again and relax. No, he had to go at least one more round. Throw a punch, take a hit, go down and let him win, that’s what was going to happen anyway.

“Not good enough for me.” he replied to Ryota’s comment about his doing better in the gravity then he had. “I have to do better… Come one… One more time, I know I can take you down.”

It was of course completely transparent what Zach was doing, saving face. He was too afraid to look weak that he couldn’t take Ryota’s compliment and just end the match. He however realized the man was already impressed and wouldn’t mind them stopping. So it was a compromise between his ego’s need to not look weak and his body’s’ need to rest that he was going to force one more exchange and them call it quits.

Trudging forward, Zach brought his arms up into their usual defensive posture, guarding his head and chest. He didn’t run, just marched forward stubbornly and once he was in range launched what was to be his last string of attacks of this sparring match. First his left flew out, a strait punch headed for Ryota’s face. Then as he took a step closer, the right went in low just under the ribs. Another step and he would be right on top of the other man and if he was still uninterrupted, would attempted to crash his left elbow across the man’s face while pulling his right arm away. His movements were sluggish and labored though, a clear sign of his exhaustion.

[Deleted]

Ryota was rather amazed that Zach was able to actually continue on, though even if he was it was quite evident that he was practically down for the count regardless and was likely just going on because from what Ryota could gather Zach was a rather 'i don't quit' sort of person, even if quitting would likely be the more beneficial option.

Because of Zach's sluggish movements Ryota was able to bring his arms up in defense as Zach closed the gap between them, Zachs attacks were likewise sluggish and Ryota was able to block the majority of them with just a few slipping through and earning a grimace from the man as even if Zach's attacks were sluggish he still packed a reasonable amount of power behind them.

Once Ryota noted an opening he flipped his sword around so that the hilt was facing Zach and with all the speed he could muster moved to slam flat hilt into Zach's gut hoping that it would be a strong enough hit to take him down as Ryota was not particularly fond needing to continue attacking Zach in his exhausted state.

[Zach]

Launching into his last offensive, Zach pounded away at Ryota, trying to get in that one hit that would either take the man down and win him the fight or leave himself open long enough for the Captain to just put him down. Either was fine with him, he’d gone beyond what the Captain expected, at least that’s what the man said, and had passed even his own expectations. Now it was time to win it, or take that one last, glorious hit and let it drive any remaining fight out of him.

Then that strike came, finally putting an end to one of the most grueling training sessions Zach had ever endured. He felt the cold, smooth steel pommel on the back of Ryota’s sword ram up into his stomach. His breath left him in a gust as his lungs went into spasm. The blonde teen had had enough, as he stumbled back and dropped to one knee and his right hand while the left curled around his midsection. He choked for a few moments, finding it doubly hard to get his breath back in the oppressive gravity and then finally mustered enough to speak.

“Ok… Ok… you win… I’m done…” he gasped and remained on his knee until he’d recovered enough to get out of the room under his own power.

{Tiss a shortie. Requesting power level increase.}

[Rensou Hiruen]

Christ. I need to tighten up.

4,556 for Zach.

3,867 for Zain.