Determination was evident on Xy’s face as she watched Sergeant Ronson. It was her second time taking his close combat class. The first go around, her mind had altered reality and she had not learned a damn thing. Her alternate reality had actually made her relive the abuse she suffered at a younger age. At the end of her first course Ronson slapped her lightly upside the back of the head after she had started doing gymnastics around the sparring ring instead of practicing disarming her fellow student opponent. Her blurry eyes blinked in confusion as Ronson chewed her a new rancor hole and told her to get the hell out of his class room. Laughter followed her from the other pupils as she left shamefully.
Luckily for her, Ronson was willing to let her take the class again. It was drawing close to the end of the first day, which was all instruction. Xy was completely immersed in Ronson’s instruction, which was not what she expected. He demonstrated paralyzing moves on a dummy and disarming moves with volunteers from the class. With eyebrows furrowed in concentration, Xy kept her wits about her and tried to memorize Ronson’s every move and guidance.
"Alright, go sleep on what you have learned and be ready to start trying the moves yourself tomorrow. You might want to bring some ice packs, you will get bruised! Class dismissed!" Ronson called out in his scratchy deep authority filled voice.
Xy saluted the Sergeant respectfully and filed out of the room with the others. She went straight to her apartment to get to bed early. She wanted to be fully rested for the next day.
At the crack of dawn, Xy and the other students were standing at attention in the sparring room that Ronson had been using as a class room.
"Good morning maggots!" Ronson bellowed with a slight grin.
"Good morning Sergeant!" everyone else yelled back in unison.
"Today things get fun. Grab a sparring partner and hit the mats. There are dummy weapons on my desk for you to use practice disarming. Feel free to come up and grab them when you want to use them, but please return them when you are done so that others can use them! I want to see you sweating and practicing the techniques I taught you yesterday. Carry on!" Ronson rested his hands behind his back as he watched the troopers pair out on the mats.
Xy nodded respectfully to her opponent and they started to dance. She moved her feet slowly as she held a defensive position. The skinny lumbering man was grinning at her.
Humph. He must think this is going to be easy. Wrong. He threw a kick at her ribs and she threw her right arm down, blocking the blow with her forearm. Stetson nodded approvingly to her. He started to speak, but she closed the distance between them and threw a left handed punch at his torso.
Blocking her blow, he spoke in a relaxed tone, "Nice one, but I’m going easy on you, for now."
"Come now Stetson, lay it on me. I can handle it." Xy goaded him.
Suddenly he grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her, standing at her back. She could hear the satisfaction in his breathing and so with a focused look on her face, she busted out one of Ronson’s moves. Turning slightly to her left, she bent at the waist, throwing her left hip into Stetson’s abdomen. Simultaneously she grabbed his arm with her free hand and pulled him up over her shoulder, gripping onto his wrist tightly. The momentum and her pulling threw him over her hip and onto his back on the mat with a loud smack. Her arm burned from the angle he had twisted it in and from his tight grip. Grunting in frustration, he swung his leg behind her knee, sweeping her off her feet. Xy rolled away to avoid his grapple. They both stood, facing each other once more.
Ronson walked around the room, giving tips and commenting on several of the sparring matches. He came to Xy and Stetson just as they both stood back up.
"Lance Corporal Rose, next time he tries to sweep you, try jumping to avoid it. It’s frelling difficult to do, but possible. Keep going." He nodded and walked away to guide others.
Stetson threw some punches at Xy. She blocked two of the three throws, but one got through and stung her shoulder.
Yeah, that one’s definitely going to be a bruise. She countered with her own punches. Hitting him in the ribs and arms, Stetson stepped backward.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Slow down!" he whined.
"There’s no slowing down Stetson! Man up and defend yourself!" Ronson called out.
Stetson blushed, embarrassed the Sergeant had heard him. Anger took over his face and he came at Xy again, this time he didn’t seem to be holding back. The black haired young buck threw a side knee and Xy blocked it with her own knee. He became even more angry. Crouching trying to get around her to take her down, Stetson ran at her. She turned sideways at the last instant, grabbing one of his wrists in the process and throwing the palm of her hand into his spine. Pushing his torso forward, using his momentum to her advantage and pulling his arm back, she pinned him against the nearby wall.
"Son of a frelling sith!" Stetson muttered through mushed lips.
"You like the taste of wall Stetson?" Xy couldn’t help her snide remark.
He grumbled something inaudible.
"I’ll go grab us some fake weapons to practice disarming techniques." She stated quite exuberantly.
She released him and turned, walking towards Ronson’s desk. When her back was to Stetson, he lashed out at her, still fuming. Grabbing her pony tail, he yanked her back and slammed her back against the wall, knocking the wind from her. Punching her in the chest, Xy gasped in pain before she could start blocking the rest of his blows. Where he had hit her stung and she gritted her teeth before emitting a low feral growl. She bent forward and pushed against the wall, ramming her left shoulder into Stetson’s gut. He doubled over in pain and she continued to propel forward, taking him to the mat. Locking her legs around his knees, she started punching his stomach right under the sternum repeatedly. He tried to grab her shoulders to throw her off, but she swung her arms up in front of her, throwing his hands off of her. Diving down and throwing her forearm across his neck, she came nose to nose with him. Struggling for breath, his face started to turn red.
"Attack me with my back turned again, and you’ll wish you were dead you piece of hutt scum!" Xy spat in his face before releasing him and rising. She jogged over to Ronson’s desk and grabbed a dummy rubber blaster.
Xy faced Stetson once again, pointing the blaster at him. He just stared at her for a moment before he decided to try to disarm her. She held the blaster pistol with two hands. Ducking, he reached up over his head and grabbed the blaster by the nose and threw it out of her hands. Xy nodded at him, acknowledging his successful disarm. Stetson picked up the rubber prop and aimed it at Xy to give her an opportunity to try to disarm him. After a breath, she darted forward and slightly to the side throwing a punch hard into Stetson’s elbow of the arm holding the rubber gun. Groaning in pain his arm started to fall down to his side. Trying to raise the weapon again at Xy, he started turning to his left to face her. Immediately, Xy dove behind him and threw her leg into the back of his knees, sending him crashing forward onto the mat. Once he was down, she punched his wrist, making him drop the prop. Stetson, shook his hand, slightly wincing.
"Nice one Xylonia." Ronson beamed at her knowing she had definitely shown improvement.
Smiling at the Sergeant, Xy returned the dummy blaster to his desk. "Oh, I’m just getting warmed up Serg’." She gracefully grabbed the rubber commando knife and headed back over to Stetson who was watching her warily now.
Planting her feet on the mat, Xy held the knife up and waited for Stetson’s move. Stetson took a defensive stance and the two started to move around in a circle, keeping each other at a distance. The green rubber blade went forward towards Stetson. He jumped out of the way and then grabbed her wrist of the hand that was holding the fake weapon. Keeping the rubber a safe distance away from him, Stetson used his other hand to bend one of her fingers backward, making Xy drop the chunk of rubber. He grinned defiantly at her before she jumped on him and wrestled him to the ground. Placing her hands upon his neck, she grinned back at him.
"Stetson! Disarm and immobilize your foe! You left yourself open to attack." Ronson stated as he walked between the spar partners and another set of students.
Xy removed herself from the skinny and tall young man letting him get up. Picking up the knife, he took a similar stance Xy had when she was wielding the dummy weapon. Xy also stood and went after Stetson without pause. He swung the rubber at her neck and Xy threw an uppercut punch under the but end of the knife and Stetson’s hand. The rubber model went flying up into the air and Xy caught it by the handle with a flourish before kneeing him in the ribs and punching fiercely and repeatedly with her free hand. He stumbled backward caught off guard by the fast and furious assault. Pressing his back against the wall, he panted for air. Xy grabbed his wrist, twisted it backwards making him turn to try and avoid the pain. He fell to his knees and she twisted the arm behind his back while stomping on his other wrist that now rested on the mat. Immobilized, he struggled against her trying to get free. Cool hard rubber slid along his Adam’s apple and he sighed loudly.
"Gotcha’." Xy whispered triumphantly before releasing him.
Slowly he got to his feet and held out his hand for the dummy weapon. "Yeah. You sure did. Here, I’ll put it back."
Xy handed him the rubber knife by the handle and wiped sweat from her brow with the back of her forearm. The other students were hitting and blocking each other filling the room with grunts and pants. Loud smacking sounds also filled the room as the students took each other down to the mats. The sparring continued into the next day and by the end of it, Ronson was nodding happily to Xylonia.
"Well done. I must say, I did enjoy watching you take down all the opponents you faced. You have improved immensely. Keep up the hard work Rose." Ronson shook her hand firmly before she left the class smiling despite all the bruises.
- OOC:
- WC: 1875
