Description: Zach gets some free "lessons" from Ryuhaku Todoh. Punching ensues.
The Karuta district of Southtown... well, there is honestly not much to say about it these days. The Todoh dojo was at the very cusp of emerging as a brand new popular style for those with promise would come to train and master the various techniques! But, every day, it slips away more and more.
Ryuhaku Todoh is not what some would call the most stable of men. A regular upon the Saturday Night Fight circuits, he has also been regularly defeated. Not once has defeat stopped his ambitions! But with each passing televised battle, he seems to slip more and more from 'determined' to 'stubborn' to 'maddeningly unflexible.' Some aspects of him have proven nearly impossible to follow. How the hell does he keep appearing in the places he does unnoticed? Why is it that he's so easy to simply miss when he damn well chooses to be? When is he ever going to throw in the towel and retire?
He's sure not answering those questions. But there is one that he may, at some point, be coaxed to explain... what is he doing out in his front yard in the middle of the night?!
Flashes of chi light illuminate the otherwise quiet section of town as the elder Todoh stares down the latest menace in a long line of things that draw his ire for increasingly esoteric reasons. This one is far more practical, but yet as relentless as any Kyokugen artist, as stubborn as himself, and renowned the world over. It is a force that the whole world must remain vigilant against, lest they allow it to take over their homes.
The lawn.
Ryuhaku Todoh is above your measly mowers. He decides to shorten them through several careful applications of his patented technique, eyes narrowed as he evaluates every little movement of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. Those little green bastards think they've got the upper hand because his wife's not going about making it neat and tidy. Ooooh, does it have another thing coming.
Zach is making his way back to his dive of an apartment, a bag slung over his shoulder. He stops short at the light show, however, to watch the Todoh Elder go about his work. He stands there for a moment, adjusting his ballcap as Todoh mercilessly mows down blade after blade of grass.
He doesn't say much, however, but one might notice the raised eyebrow with the slight grin. That's =one= way to go about it.
This is not your average Todoh outing. Not by a long shot. For one, he's been at home for perhaps the longest consecutive amount of time in recent memory (currently, five days and counting). One may gain amusement from the whole ordeal, but the face of the older man is one of the fiercest intensity.
It is not just a simple matter of cutting the grass with single sets of three blocky segments of chi. If Zach pays careful attention, he'll notice they aren't all dissipating at the same height. If Todoh releases too high, it doesn't cut the grass. Too low, it goes down far enough to destroy the seed. Neither outcome is favorable. It requires a master's touch to get it just right.
Or the mind of a man that works smarter, not harder, that would go and get the mower already. But then again, the masters of martial arts have been known to lead very colorful personal lives. Todoh must presently be seeing his own life in red and green, if not specifically in this order.
One by one, another wave falls with what appears to be minimal exertion. The only break in the monotony of his actions is the occasional grunt of disapproval. He looks like he's got a while to go with this lawn yet - and even in the end it likely won't be even. Even under the careful watch of someone who is anything but even-tempered. Even Zach could probably pick up the eventual futility of the whole exercise.
Zach leans on the fence in front of the yard, watching Todoh work harder and not smarter. He grins faintly; doing the lawn this way must take a lot of effort. A lot of control.
Zach can appreciate the need for control in one's technique.
He continues to watch as the sun starts its descent on the horizon. He pushes the cap back and doesn't say anything yet.
Doing it right. That must take a lot more effort than this man is showing. And if he's even capable of showing any more effort, that would be a real sight.
One strip by one, grass gets cut. Some, too low, doomed to become bare until they get more grass seeds planted there. Others, barely cut off at the tip. Really, as time goes on, the chances of him cutting down grass the descending chi way at the height a competently designed lawnmower would seem to grow slower and slower. But the man is still throwing them without appearing as though he'd be ready to stop any time soon.
His back seems to still be turned to his sole spectator, his campaign against the unruly yard an ongoing war where the odds continue to stack higher and higher against him actually getting it all cut nicely. This might be solid entertainment for a while to come yet.
"How long have you stood there, huh?!" The old man suddenly snaps, without actually looking away from this new mortal enemy.
Zach gives a slight start at Todoh's shout as he pushes off of the fence. The wind kicks up around Zach for a breif moment before dying back down.
"Long enough to wonder why you don't just use a lawn mower," Glen says guardedly. "But seriously. That was neat to watch. You cut the grass like this all the time?"
"If you don't like it, how about you step in here and do it yourself!" With one last, though no mightier swing of the arms, chi flashes about once more as it descends upon another patch of overgrown grass. He breathes in and out deeply, perhaps even starting to get winded in the effort. Now, how many did Zach watch him perform? That's quite a bit for anybody.
Finally, Ryuhaku turns right around to give Zach a good, hard stare. Or, actually, his eyes don't look terribly focused on much of anything right now. He takes a couple steps closer, his approach maybe not being too friendly in its intention. "I got a better question! And you're going to answer it!" He shakes his fist, and when an old man shakes his fist it is DEADLY SERIOUS. "Yes you will! You're here to learn the ways of Todoh, not come and piss off your elders, aren't you?!"
There is a faint scent of alcohol on his breath.
It was not a small number. It was a very big number!
Zach is about to beg off of the attempt to emulate Todoh's activity, possibly with some excuse that the Todoh's still would like to keep their lawn. He blinks a couple of times, slightly intimidated by this angry old man who could likely chi-blast him across town. He does not make any delay in pacifying the geezer.
"Sure. Whatever you say."
"YEH HAH HAH HAAAAHH!!" And there he goes, bursting off into laughter as he makes some swinging motion with his arm for Zach to come in closer. "Good. Good. Good! You. You seem like a smart kid. Yes."
The lawn doesn't really need any further explanation other than 'full of patches of grass of uneven height' for reasons Zach has already personally witnessed. "And I'll show you this one for free! Tonight! Because I'm in a good mood! Yes I am." He is likely anything but, if Zach's special psionic emotional sense picks up anything... well, he's a crazy old man who has had a few drinks, that's probably enough description right there.
Zach has no such sensitivity. A =brick= is more psionically sensitive than Zach Glen.
Needless to say, having placated the Crazy Old Coot has led to other situations. He picks up his bag and steps into the yard proper, not really paying attention to the grass. He looks around a bit, wondering just how long this is going to take...
You're under Ryuhaku Todoh's wing now, kid. Who knows how long you'll be there. "Now, you see. You see! It takes more than... than just all those flashy colors you see everywhere. Yes!" He raises his hands up over his head in a single clap, legs spread apart evenly as he centers himself despite however much is running through his system that is trying to convince him that he shouldn't even bother trying to do so.
"And now your first lesson! Your very first. Which is free! And you'll cherish it too! You'd better! I don't do this for everyone!" If Zach bothers to look at a flyer that has somehow ended up by his feet, it says plainly otherwise that the first lesson here at the Todoh dojo is, in fact, free.
"Now chi! It's the energy that runs through the entire world! And it's called chi! Nothing else! Ever!" Is he done ranting and raving yet? Nope. "It's not so hard! You breathe it in every day! You just focus it in your hands, like above! Like this, see!" He raises them up, but a new wave of the energy that Zach has been watching for the last few minutes doesn't yet shoot out. "Now hold them up!"
Zach raises an eyebrow at the explanation of chi. He got a lot of this from that library on the Suiryuu, actually. He sets the bag down, and raises his hands to the sky.
"Like this?' Zach asks. This... might be interesting.
A faint shimmering purple sheet appears in the air above Zach's hands. Whatever it is made of, it certainly does not look or radiate that 'chi' feeling. It wavers in the air dangerously, as if it might disappear without warning.
"And then you gently guide it down to--" In Todoh's hands, a brief, extremely chunky and none too beautiful little block of chi forms and disappears about as quickly as it takes for him to be interrupted by this. His eyes widen. Hm! On the first try, that is very good. Or so he would reason if he were a rational human being.
"What's this? You want to be a show-off, hm?" A harrumph. "Anybody can do it once! Even those Kyokugen freeloaders! Now... do it again!" He doesn't raise his arms in further demonstration. Is this because Zach seems to have gotten the clue early on? Or, is it something else?
Let it not be said that Todoh is rational.
Zach swipes his arms down, losing the sheet to the ether. He looks up at the empty air with something of a frown. He brings his hands up again.
Summon sheet.
Hold it. Hoooold it.
Drop the arms.
Sheet disappears again.
Zach scowls.
Right at the formation of the sheet again, Todoh thrusts a hand forward into it. The burst that would follow in doing such does nary much other than for him to draw his arm back very suddenly, though the rest of his posture stands very firm - as though it weren't a great big deal at all.
"Who taught you this?!" Uh oh, angry old man voice.
See, now Zach thought he was doing well when he had the sheet going. Now the old man wrecks it? How dare he!
"Noone. I'm just trying to make it look yours, was all." Zach frowns. He's not sure what he is doing wrong here.
"What?!" Todoh's still shaking his hand up and down and up and down again after that little burst. The very /feel/ of that thing, it is similar to that kid in the pullstring hooded jacket he fought at that antique shop. What do they teach these kids these days, he wonders? All his life he's worked with chi. He knows his chi nearly inside out! He knows there's a consistent feel even beyond the many different expressions people of lesser styles utilize. And then... there's this. The stuff that doesn't have that same touch and only appears to exist to give him a headache when he's been struck with it enough.
"No pupil of mine comes here wielding their chi all wrong! It's wrong! Wrong!" From here, he goes into various (incorrectly pronounced) variations of the word 'wrong' across several different languages. Some of them might be made up. "And you should be ashamed! ASHAMED!" Which ends, once more, in angry old man fist clenching as he sways erratically to one side.
Zach scowls, losing his temper. The area around his feet depresses under the intense pressure of Zach's building anger.
"It ain't chi, old man. It never was. I don't even know how to =use= that stuff." Purple energy flares around his hands and lower arms. "So of course I'm going to wield it wrong."
"What'd I just tell you?! What did I! Just! Tell you!" The lower parts of the elder fighter's trousers get caught in the Psi-powered breeze. It is truly an awesome power that Zach wields. A truly awesome power that Todoh believes must be purged of whatever garbage it is he picked up off of all these other lunatics that call themselves martial arts masters!
"What's with all that shiny crap there?! You don't even need any of that! It's inefficient! Wasteful! Wasteful I tell you!" Whether he's intimidated, pissed off, or just outright being belligerent, the elder Todoh takes a step back and points both arms forward, one further out than the other. "You need it only at one point! Two at most! At most, only for control. So try it! Two points. Focus at two points only!"
Will Zach seriously take that advice?
COMBATSYS: Todoh has started a fight here.
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Todoh 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Zach has joined the fight here.
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Todoh 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Zach
The shiny is not Zach's fault. Really. It isn't. He could not kill the lightshow even if he wanted to.
Zach growls a bit, setting into a loose stance as the glow starts to die down a bit. He brings up a hand, fingers spread wide as he sets his aim. That is the first point.
The second point is Ryuhaku's face.
Shortly after that a small sphere, no bigger than a baseball really, launches at Todoh's noggin!
COMBATSYS: Todoh endures Zach's Warning Shot.
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Todoh 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Zach
The shiny purple little baseball sphere thingamajigger flies from Zach's hand and into Todoh's face, where it bursts apart as the older fighter skids back in the dirt a ways. This gets a strange chortle rather than any yelp of pain or screams about the colors blinding him. That said, the onset of an early hangover seems to loom overhead.
Ryuhaku leans forward again, a hand producing a fan in which he uses to, of all things, fan himself. "Yes. Yes! That. Like that! That is how. See! You'll get it right yet. You will! Do it again!" What is he babbling about? "That arm. That arm alone. Just that arm! Nothing else."
His voice trails off into similar babbling. He doesn't look like he's about to fight back, barring being set off by some obscure pet peeve in the way these kids use their chi. Hell, he might make very good target practice for Zach tonight. Willing target practice! ...To a point?
COMBATSYS: Todoh assists Zach.
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Todoh 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Zach
Zach stares at Todoh for a moment. This guy MUST be crazy.
Oh well. Zach can blast him all the same. The hand stays up, and Zach focuses a bit. Same two points. The difference? There are two!
The first is that the sphere is about the size of a basketball now. The other is that Zach leans into it a little more, the draft from the blowback kicking his ponytail into the air a bit.
COMBATSYS: Todoh endures Zach's Blast Ball.
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Todoh 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Zach
Once again, Ryuhaku Todoh just stands there and /takes it/. It's a larger sphere, with a larger burst, and by all accounts, a far larger impact than the previous. But yet, he just slides back all the same, hardly flinching for the effort.
Well, he's swaying backwards a little, yes, but his stance is otherwise unbroken though the two are more distant now. "Yeh hah hah! You've got a long way to go! A long way. Until you can do it without effort! Now. For the... the best! The best control." Both of his arms rise up. Zach's seen this enough to probably know what's coming. "Two arms! Two points! Of two arms. Two arms." And, just with that, those yellowish-orangeish chunks of chi form in the air. With a downward motion of his arms, they descend. There is not much flash. But, if Zach were to pay attention, the way the movement goes is very efficient in itself. It may be worthy of taking a pointer or two from.
Or grievous bodily harm. One of the two. Gravity's handling the rest by the time the chi is formed as Todoh's arms go down and a little further off to the side than he probably should.
COMBATSYS: Zach dodges Todoh's Kasane Ate.
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Todoh 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Zach
Zach dives to the side. That thing looks like it would HURT! He rolls to his feet, gasping for air as he does so. He stares across the way at Todoh, fire racing through his veins even as Todoh... wobbles there.
Glen hops up, dashing in unassisted as he brings both fists back. When the gap is closed, he shoves both arms forward with a splash of psi energy.
Projectile wars can get dangerous, after all. Best to do things in close!
COMBATSYS: Zach successfully hits Todoh with Sting.
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Todoh 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Zach
"What're you waiting for? Eh? Hm? Err..." Todoh wobbles a bit again as Zach seems to cease whatever good work he must have been doing to impress the old codger and decide to take things up close. Take things up close he does, swiftly rushing in as he then plants both INFERIOR NOT CHI energy-charged fists right into his chest.
This is the first time Zach actually manages to get something other than a giggly sort of acceptance out of the older one as he earns a surprised groan of pain that, actually, sends him off his feet and into a cleared patch of grass.
Ryuhaku sits up and scratches his back before stumbling up to... well, it's not a stand, more like a kneel. "No. No! Still wrong! STILL WRONG!" His eyes almost light right on fire - and wow, he almost looks like he could actually concentrate even after however much he had to drink on top of all the chi energy he slung everywhere not too long ago. "I'll show it again. Again! Once more! Again! Again!" This sort of dialogue repeats as both arms come back up in the exact same gesture. The exact same formation. But the chi segments, they seem further stretched apart. This may be stretching how far he's even able to reach with this thing.
The arms come down once more. If Zach's really paying attention at all despite being directly insulted more than once about the way he fights, Todoh uses a lot less general movement in summoning his energy. It is a simple gesture of formation. Gravity itself picks up where most fighters would instead spend more effort thrusting these things forward. The end result?
Maybe Zach will get to know first-hand as it descends once more.
COMBATSYS: Zach dodges Todoh's Fierce Kasane Ate EX.
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Todoh 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Zach
Holy crap. That thing is kinda fast this time.
Zach dives, sliding between Todoh's legs and pulling himself upright behind the old man. He hops back, breathing hard as he re-evaluates what Todoh is doing. Meanwhile, he is trying to get sweet sweet oxygen into his lungs. He's not made for endurance, Zach Glen.
COMBATSYS: Zach gains composure.
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Todoh 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Zach
If it weren't for the grass that had yet to be cut, Todoh wouldn't have any idea at all where Zach went. Even after the young psionic's daring dodging movement that, were he of less alcohol in his bloodstream, probably would have caught. But, some things work in Zach's favor in this exchange. His general swiftness, the knowledge that there are some things he should probably not attempt to ever stand tall against at his current level of skill... this already garnered knowledge will probably see him further than anything Todoh will ever tell him.
Slowly, in a turning stumble, Todoh finds Zach trying to breathe in the sweet air for sake of his own endurance. He, too, wobbles a little from whatever fatigue he has already garnered and taking a couple psi-powered blasts to the head. "What's wrong? You tired? You done? You done now? Hmmmmmmmmm?" His arms try to cross, but it is a strangely clumsy effort. More like his hands are trying to get a grip on his upper arms but keep slipping off. Somehow.
It is the patience of a master, or a rare bout of mercy. "It is very hard. Very hard for a first timer. Yes."
COMBATSYS: Todoh takes no action.
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Todoh 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Zach
Zach stares at Todoh for a moment, somewhat incredulous.
Glen launches himself at the taller man, attempting to place a Pro Wrestling-style drop-kick right on that red padded vest of his. Maybe Zach'll unbalance Todoh, knock him on his arse and make the geezer fall asleep.
Or miss horribly. You never know!
COMBATSYS: Zach successfully hits Todoh with Heavy Kick.
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Todoh 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Zach
"Eh. Hm. What? I don't hear yo--" Todoh sways in a strange direction that, unfortunately, does not let him really avoid a well-planted kick to the chest that shoves him back so far as to nearly throw him onto his duff. But, no, somehow, he still keeps standing. At least Zach is rewarded with another gasp and a groan for his efforts as some saliva falls out of his mouth in Kasane Ate patterns. Oh dear! Oh my.
"What?! What. You're not tired? Not tired, huh. Then quit slacking!!" His arms clap up above his head again, loud and sharply as he re-steadies himself to the extent that he really even can. "Watch one more. Then you follow! And you do it right! You do it right this time!" This sounds more like desperation rather than any actual hope of his development into a well-respected fighter that represents the very future of his style when Ryuhaku Todoh himself is dead and gone! (But if the world is unfortunate enough he's probably going to be around for another fifty or so years.)
His arms separate and go up again. Zach might know the warning signs of the arms. But there's no chi that actually forms in the air. What gives? "USE WHAT'S THERE!" And with that 'helpful' comment, he brings his arms down with one step forward and a loud cry as blue-ish blades of chi erupt from the ground in a wave-like pattern that only extends higher and wider as it draws closer to Zach.
The grass? Probably a total goner. It's hard to say what the exact difference is between this and any other Kasane Ate he's tossed in such a short span of time, though. Maybe this is for a more advanced lesson.
Will Zach want to come back for seconds at all?! He should probably have a sample of this to be sure. Maybe. Probably. It won't hurt to try. (Lies!)
COMBATSYS: Zach endures Todoh's Cho Kasane Ate.
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Todoh 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Zach
Zach catches a fragment of insanity. He does something he has never had the nads to do before.
Instead of trying to dodge this blast, or shoot it down, Zach braces up and lets the sweet sweet pain wash over him, shredding the red t-shirt into ribbons and tearing holes across his jeans.
When the dust clears, Zach has his hands in the air. The air ripples with a ghostly purple as he brings his arms down hard, with a lunging step forward. Purple blades of psycho power 'erupt' from the ground in a wave pattern that just seems to get larger and broader as it gets closer to Todoh.
Zach then slumps to one knee. "Like that?"
COMBATSYS: Zach successfully hits Todoh with Burst Stream.
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Todoh 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Zach
"Hm! Posture." Todoh looks upon Zach's posture fuzzily with intrigue. Yes, the pose is at last right! Never mind how utterly ripped and destroyed his clothes look, those deails are very difficult to make out when you're this far off and also drunk. "Movement." He cites this as Zach actually goes through and does it! For a first time student, he has already mastured the gesture wonderfully!
The giant purple blades of Psycho Power send grass blades a-flyin' as they come closer. The impact is near. Rather than make any rational movement to get the heck out of dodge, Todoh simply brings up his arms in an attempt to properly protect against the impact.
Instead, the last blade happens just underneath him and sends him flying. There's a perfectly audible yell of surprise and anger as he, eventually, hits the ground a couple yards back. All is silent for a moment. Was that enough to put him down? Was it, at last, enough to freaking put an end to him.
"EVERYTHING BUT THE IMPACT!! The impact!! Why can't you get the impact right?!" Todoh's position is marked around the taller patches of grass with an angry fist holding a fan up. "Eh. Eh. Hm. Too much for one day, was it?! Was it. Hnnnnh."
Now might be a good time to pick it up and run away.
COMBATSYS: Todoh takes no action.
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Todoh 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Zach
Zach is gone when the dust clears. So's his bag. However, in his haste, he left his ballcap behind.
He was moving that fast!
COMBATSYS: Zach has left the fight here.
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Todoh 0/-------/---====|
And there Todoh lay, angrily shouting at who has since left the area. "One hundred times a day! Then two-hundred! Then... then... then again!" Obviously he is going to be shouting this to a pupil that is no longer there until he just basically rants himself to sleep out in the fields. It's actually a nice night for a nap under the stars.
It's not going to be a nice morning after with a pounding headache and the scorn of the rest of the family over the grass in the yard, though. The burning question remains...
Will Zach Glen be free of further lessons by one Ryuhaku Todoh? Time will tell, indeed.
COMBATSYS: Todoh has ended the fight here.
Log created on 17:39:41 11/09/2007 by Zach, and last modified on 09:37:14 11/12/2007.