OOC:

Level 0
Ancillary 5
Close Combat

The stench of sweat, musk and blood clung to the air. Through the dim lighting scuffs on the mats, splotches of blood that had gone uncleaned and sweat stains could be seen around the gym. Shadows flickered across the ground like children playing hide-and-seek. The small bit of light that was in the gym was caused by the night sky shining through the skylights. It would have been silent were it not for the sound of a creaking bag chain that would permeate the otherwise silent surroundings every so often. It would have been deserted... Were it not for a single form sitting against the wall next to the slowly swinging punching bag. The night sky’s silver light just barely coming across her face illuminating an obvious black eye, a handful of hastily dressed cuts and a grimace.

The girl’s knees were up to her chest, her elbows resting across her knees, her taped hands hanging over her legs and balled into tight fists. Her chest was still heaving with the effort she had released only minutes ago while trying to calm her frustrations by beating the punching bag. The white tank top she wore was stained gray with sweat, her shorts bunched and wrinkled from whatever activities had gone on in the gym before the lights had gone off. Anger sat as an obvious entity on her face, the corners of her lips drawn down, and her brows knitted together above heavily narrowed eyes.

With a frustrated huff, the girl spat to the side, her narrowed eyes now glaring daggers at the still swinging punching bag. It taunted her... The more she glared at it, the more her breath quickened with rising anger. However, each time her breath quickened the pain in the right side of her ribcage, the pings of sharp stabbing pain in her left hip, and the cramp in her abdominal area increased. It did nothing to help her frustration, her control eventually slipping entirely as she raised her fists and slammed them down on either side of her body, the dull thud echoing through the empty gym, accented by the loud snarl that ripped through her lips.

“That won’t help your issue, Private.”

Jae nearly jumped out of her skin as her head snapped to the other side, her eyes landing on the form of Sergeant Major Ronson who stood in the doorway of the gym, his arms crossed. The girl fought the grimace from her face, settling on something more stoic though the anger and frustration was still clear in her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sarge.”

The tall, gruff looking man took another step into the gym, a beam of the night’s light coming across his face just enough to accentuate the disappointed glimmer in his dark eyes. “Try that again, Caldwin, and this time don’t lie to me.”

For several moments the girl just continued to stare at Ronson, continuing to fight back her glare. Finally, with a heavy sigh, she looked away and at the blood and sweat stained ground. “I lost today.”

“No shit.” Ronson’s reply was met with wide eyes as Jae snapped her attention back to him, her mouth hanging open slightly. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not going to coddle you into thinking you didn’t do bad today.” Jae’s mouth closed again and her face once more adopted that frustrated and disappointed look. “You holds were off, you didn’t have enough power in your tackles, you kept slipping up every two seconds. Your mind was somewhere else today. Maybe it was on that ego of yours. I don’t know what it was, but it needs to change. I can see you passing this course, but I’m not going to deal with a little baby who throws hissy fits when she loses. Got it?” Despite the power behind his words his voice was still soft.

The girl’s eyes had moved back to the ground in front of her, her hands no longer balled into fists as they were now resting on their backs beside her. All Jae could was nod.

“Good. Now get your shit together and go get some rest, Private. You still have two more days in this class so don’t frack up now.” With that the Sergeant Major turned and left the gym, the rhythmic thud of boots echoing down the hallway as he returned to his quarters.

Jae remained staring at the ground, lips drawn tight and eyes holding a renewed glimmer of confidence.



As the knee collided with her stomach spittle and blood flew from her mouth as she fought the urge to crumble over and give up. Instead, Jae reached her arms out and used the opportunity to grab her opponents hip and grip them with all of her might as she forced her body forwards. The sudden push caused the grip her opponent had on her back to slip as they both toppled to the ground. The young man Jae was sparring with fell to his back with a dull thud. The reaction timing was something that Jae had been able to excel in, so she had already positioned her left forearm under the other’s left shoulder as she pressed her right elbow down on the bits of muscles connected the shoulder to upper arm to the shoulder.

Her opponent grunted in pain as he bucked his hip upwards in an attempt to throw the smaller girl off. The attempt was stifled as Jae forced her left arm up, bringing the other’s shoulder up and his arm across his chest as Jae forced his torso into a twist. The movement was an attempt to pin at lest his chest to the ground, though it was lost as she realized that she had made a mistake. She hadn’t placed her legs correctly and so the other was easily able to bring both of his thighs in a tight grip around Jae’s waist and swing her over in the same direction she had been trying to twist his torso, causing the holds to switch control.

Jae was on her back now, staring up into the confident face of another Private that was her age, Kenneth Williams. The spark of ego that came to Ken’s eyes enticed a deep growl from Jae as she bucked her hips in a futile attempt to throw him off. The hold Ken had on her was solid, however and within another few moments a bell echoed through the gym, mixing in with the multitude of excited shouts and yells and screams.

“Alright! Break the hold, Williams. Nice job. You pinned her in a minute and a half. Stand get ready for the kickboxing portion.” Ronson’s voice boomed through a speak system from his seat behind a desk, a microphone sitting in front of him.

Jae looked up to see a hand being held out to her. With a grumble she grabbed it and allowed Ken to help her back to her feet. “Ya did fine, Jae. Don’t let it bother you too much, kay?”

“Yeah yeah, Ken. Just get yer ass ready.” She spat on the ground, the resulting splat tinted red with blood. She dragged the back of her hand across her mouth, clearing the trail of blood from the corner of her mouth as she took a few steps back to settle into a ready position on her side of the mat.

With a chuckle and a shrug Ken backed into his area of the mat and hunkered down into his own ready position.

As Jae looked on at the Private she would soon be throwing punches and kicks at she couldn’t help but allow her mind to drift back to the night before: the sound of the bag’s chain creaking echoed through her mind again; the pain in her ribs came back as a mental ghost; the heavy booming voice of Sergeant Major Ronson rag through her head so clear that it almost felt like the memory was tangible. Jae was lost in the memory for long moments, sifting through what she had felt like for hours upon hours after she had lost yesterday’s spar. She went over Ronson’s words again and again, playing his speech like a record as she clung to every word he had said.

The bell rung, the echo jarring Jae from her mind and bringing her back to reality just time to side-step an incoming right punch from Ken. The girl’s lips twisted into a smirk, her eyes sparkling with something that wasn’t ego or confidence or even her normal smug attitude. The look in her eyes was fun.

Another punch came and went, grazing her side as it barely made contact. Her retorts were swift and well placed. Reaction time had always been her strong point, the talent for speed coming from her hobby of free-running. More kicks and punches were thrown from each of the sparring Privates, grunts of exertion and effort filling the air around them, only to beaten back down into silence by wave after wave of hoots and hollers coming from the others in the class who stood on the sidelines as spectators. More and more attacks were made only to be met with heavy defences from both sides. The two were evenly matched, neither giving way easily.

With each second that passed the sense of fun that had surrounded Jae only grew, engulfing the stinging pain of her earlier injures and the ones she was sustaining from this fight as well. It kept a smile on her face, shining through the stern look of concentration that lit up her sea-foam eyes. Her mind continued to cling to the speech from the night before, refusing to allow the attacks that did get through her defences to frustrate her. The gril was having fun and she was doing everything she could to keep having fun while still keeping her control.

Three minutes into the spar and both Ken and Jae were riddled in heavy bruises, cuts and scrapes and both were panting from the effort. The stood opposite of each other, both on their toes with five yards between them as they stared at each other.

“Ya doing okay, Jae?”

“Doin’ fine, Ken.”

The young man laughed and wiped a trail of blood from his nose. “Ya sure? Ya look a little tired.”

“Not as tired you, little boy.” She bounced on her toes slightly, chuckling under her breath as she prepared for what she knew would be the last few attacks of this spar.

With a final chuckle from the both of them, they went at each other again, each growling with a surge of confidence.



Her ribs were killing her, her head was pounding and she could feel her blood rushing to each of the small wounds she had received from well placed punches and kicks and knees and elbows. She stood on the sidelines, her face voice of emotion but her eyes narrowed slightly. Her hands were in the pockets of her workout pants, her shoulders slumped and her chin pointed down slightly. The air that surrounded her was of accepted defeat.

The girl was silent as she watched with an absent mind as the next two combatants square off and begin their spar. She jumped slightly as she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning her head to see Ken smiling at her.

“Ya did good.” His voice was hard to hear over the hoots and hollers of the other Privates, but she understood just fine.

She shrugged and chuckled softly. “Yeah, but fine obviously wasn’t good enough.”

Ken squeezed her shoulder for a moment, let go, then patted it gently. It was a friendly gesture. “Hey, ya might have lost but you still put up one hell of a fight.”

Jae allowed a smirk to come to her lips as she shrugged again and turned to watch the spar that was going on. For a moment she could feel her hands threatening to ball into fists, she could feel her eyes wanting to narrow and glare daggers at the guy who had beaten her down. It was Ronson’s voice from the night before that stopped it all and instead she laughed and turned to land a playful punch in Ken’s chest.

“I’ll put up a better one tomorrow and make sure I kick your ass. It’s the last day of class after all.” The smile that lit her face was full of unwavering confidence.

OOC:

Little bit over 2k words.

Oops