Post by Tako on Jun 26, 2015 17:49:53 GMT
There was a legend that there was a warrior who had strode into the forests and wrestled with the King of the Bears. The warrior had to defeat a dozen other bears, each one stronger than the last, until the King emerged and did battle with him. For six days and six nights they wrestled, until the warrior was able to perfect a new technique which overcame the bear and destroyed him once and for all. The name of that warrior, and that technique, were lost to the mists of time, but the legend had remained. Whilst Tako couldn’t begin to guess why the warrior had wanted to destroy the King of the Bears, but the idea had struck a chord with her. Bears were very big and strong, after all, and they were animals – always a handy source of inspiration in the world of martial arts.
Now that she stood before the enormous creature, though, she couldn’t help but wonder whether that old story had been embellished somewhat, because whatever this creature was, it was definitely not dead.
It also bore only a passing resemblance to a bear. It stood on its hind legs, some ten feet tall and thickly muscled, covered in a shaggy, thick coat of jet black fur. The Bear King was ursine, its face the most bearlike thing about it, but though its maw was filled with twin rows of viciously sharp, curled yellow teeth, its eyes – each blood red and furious – were possessed of an obvious, malevolent intelligence.
The girl opened her mouth to speak, and in that instant, the bear roared and smashed her backwards with one swing of his mighty paw. The teenager’s body was propelled through a dozen trees before she was able to bring herself to a halt, and shake the pieces of bark and twigs out of her hair. Her head rung with the impact of it, and her head shook several times as she tried to make herself come back to reality. The rainbow-haired girl exhaled, certain that the enemy would be on her again in an instant…
And then she was hammered into the ground.
The impact with the earth was an all too familiar sensation for her these days. The girl rebounded, though, and this time she recovered more quickly, now that she was expecting the attack it wasn’t nearly as painful as the first sucker punch. The girl was able to focus her power, and when the bear came at her again, she gritted her teeth. This time, the Bear King’s slashing claws impacted an invisible barrier which flashed a brilliant green in reaction to it, and the girl let out a loud huff, slamming her foot into the ground to steady against the floor.
When she erupted into the air again, it was under her own power, swirling around the bear so she could bring her fist into the bear’s guts. She had expected the behemoth to crumple after that – large fighters usually just meant she had more muscle mass to try and hit.
She was… unfortunately … disappointed.
It was like she’d slammed her fist into a steel wall, except steel walls tended to give far more easily than this creature did. The beast completely failed to budge even an inch, and in the instant that she was startled, he hit her a second time, the blow slamming heavily into the energy shield about her, causing another flash of bright green and a sound like crashing thunder as the bear roared his fury at her.
“Geez, your breath stinks.”
Trying to concentrate this close was difficult, but Tako was determined to give it her best. She struck again, and again, and this time she was able to force the bear back several paces, stumbling over the crushed and broken tree remnants that now scattered the forests. Her eyes narrowed and the girl bit down tight on her bottom lip.
Alright, it was time to give it her all!
Bright red energy flared about her, and she went in for the kill, striking up with her leg and a loud shout of “HELTER!” It was a technique she’d used a thousand times before; one that she knew how to use on instinct and that she was confident she could carry out even though the beast’s stench was trying its best to overwhelm her…
And in the same instant her foot connected sharply with the bear’s jaw, the beast brought both its arms down as hard as it possibly could, clubbing the girl out of the air and battering her down to the ground. Her head rung as she rolled away from the point of impact, a deep crater having formed in her wake. Now she wasn’t just bruised and battered; she was dirty and muddy as well!
The bear roared his triumph, and stomped both feet into the earth. That, annoyed Tako more than anything else he had done the whole time they had been fighting. The wobbling, dance-like motions of the bear above her were like a crowing victory parade, and that frustrated her. If she’d landed her technique clean, he sure wouldn’t have been doing that! But … she hadn’t, and the fact that she hadn’t wasn’t something she could blame on the bear, it was something that she had to take responsibility for herself. She was failing. She had nobody to blame that on but herself.
“DON’T YOU DARE UNDERESTIMATE ME!”
The bellowing shout was an effort, more than anything, to bring herself to the right mindset. More surprisingly, it actually worked. The girl exhaled, and as she let the tension flow from her, she was able to focus far more intently on the beast. The way his spit coated his fangs, the way his stench clung to her nose, the way the wind blew through his fur, it all combined to build towards one, perfect, crashing crescendo; one moment of perfection as she closed in towards him.
This time, it wasn’t a preordained combination which she bought against him; she let herself flow into the moment, and as she struck out at him, even she wasn’t sure where her attacks were going to land, only that she was throwing more punches and kicks in these few heartbeats than she had thrown in the last dozen fights she’d fought combined!
The bear was tough, but the sheer quantity of attacks raining down upon him took its toll. His initial attempt to bat the girl aside was easily evaded, and the blur of brilliant colour she had become beat him down again and again.
“KIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
With that exultant cry, the trees around the pair of duelling warriors began to splinter and crack, bursting about the because of the shockwaves from the impacts. The ground shook, the sky – previously calm – began to pick up and terrible winds blew through the area, whipping up clothing and hair, and… at last, the bear was forced to collapse to the ground, beaten, bloodied and battered against the floor. He hadn’t broken any bones, but he was clearly badly hurt, and it was just as Tako was about to smash him once more between the eyes that she realized it, coming up short. The bear raised his arm above his head to ward off another strike.
“Well met, brave warrior.”
The girl hesitated, and floated down to the ground letting her arms hang by her sides.
“You can talk?”
“Its funny.” The bear growled, “Most people who get this far know that already.”
The pair sat down next to a swiftly moving river as the sun set behind them. Tako used some logs to make a fire, and the Bear King plucked a pair of salmon from the water. Soon enough, the scent of freshly-cooked fish started to fill the makeshift camp.
“You know.” The Bear King grumbled as he chewed on his salmon, “That is something you humans got right. Cooking your food. Call me crazy, but I’ve really learned to appreciate the difference that a bit of fire and time can make.”
Tako was still trying to deal with the fact that the Bear King could talk. The brute of a creature was far too injured for him to do much more than slouch there, opposite her across the fire, where the beast’s bulk blocked out most of her vision. The sheer size of him was, disturbing, in some way she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was like she was trying to conduct a casual conversation with a mountain.
“So uh, why do they call you the King of Bears?” Tako asked quietly, trying to grope around for anything that wasn’t a discussion about the fact that she’d beat the creature to within an inch of his life. Somehow, that didn’t feel like such a fun accomplishment any more; it was… embarrassing, really. She’d beaten him to hell and back because she thought he’d teach her how to be a better warrior; in fact, all he’d done was show her that monstrous-looking people could still be… people. Even when they were bears.
“Because I’m the King of Bears.” He grumbled. “Duh.”
That sure helped her feel like less of a dork. “Oh. Right. Yeah. That makes sense.”
“Why did you come out here, anyway, kid? Trying to find the secret to eternal life or something?”
That made Tako blink several times, uncomprehending from across the flames, “Uuuh… no, not… what?”
“Back in the old days.” The bear rumbled, “I found the Fountain of Youth and drank from it. I was a young bear then. That’s how I got so old, and so smart. Can’t get any older, you see? I figured you must have heard the story and come to beat the secret out of me.”
Tako blinked a few times, “You… huh. No, I didn’t hear about any of that. I just thought you’d be a fun opponent.” The bear shot her a filthy look. “… I wasn’t wrong!”
The bear let out a harrumph of acceptance, actually sighing – which was a very odd thing to see a bear do – before he tore off the side of his salmon and gulped it down in a few heavy gulps, tongue slathering over his lips.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if you were.” He said at last, “Forgot where it was decades ago. Might have lived a long time, but you can’t remember every day.” A grunt, and he shook his great, shaggy head, “Though I think it’ll be quite a few until I forget this.”
The girl laughed nervously over the fire, “Uh, yeah, well, you weren’t bad yourself you know! You landed a few good hits. Ouch! I’ll be, feeling that in the morning!”
The withering look that the bear gave her shut her up again pretty quickly, and not for the first time she wished that she could be better at talking.
The girl nibbled at her salmon, until the bear rumbled to speak up again, filling the growing silence of the night as the light dimmed behind the pair, the world painted in violent splashes of amber, crimson and lavender.
“So you came all this way, out into the woods, tracked me down… just to fight me? And you don’t even want to finish the job?”
That very idea seemed to make Tako hesitate, looking utterly confused. “Finish the job? What is that supposed to mean? I beat you in the fight!”
“But you’re not going to kill me?”
The rainbow-haired girl stared at the bear across the fire, and then burst out laughing, “What? No! Of course not! Why would I do that?”
The bear gave another snorting harrumph, and tossed his head back, peering down at the girl across the flames. “Because that’s the law of the natural world, girl! The strong kill the weak! You didn’t complain when I killed that fish for you.”
The girl looked at the burned, greasy fish that she’d been chewing on, and then looked back at the bear, pursing her lips thoughtfully as she did. “You’re not wrong.” She decided at last, “But I’ve never been one to care about what laws say. Killing the fish doesn’t seem so bad to me, but killing you? Especially since you can talk… I mean, do you want me to?”
That idea brought the bear up onto his hind legs again, holding up his great paws, “No, no!” He said hurriedly, and Tako just grinned at him across the flames. For the third time he snorted, and it seemed to Tako that his maw had twisted into an amused little smirk as he settled his great bulk back down to the ground. She returned the smile with that same, amused little grin.
“Hmph!” He snorted, “Well. I think I like you, little Rainbow Warrior. But I tell you right now, I’m going to start training again.”
He yawned, and rolled over away from the fire as the light of the sun disappeared entirely below the horizon. “Next time we clash, it won’t be so easy for you.”
And Tako brought one hand up to her tender side, and the bruising that she felt through her clothing. Next time… yeah, next time, they were going to have even more fun! She could tell that already!
Now that she stood before the enormous creature, though, she couldn’t help but wonder whether that old story had been embellished somewhat, because whatever this creature was, it was definitely not dead.
It also bore only a passing resemblance to a bear. It stood on its hind legs, some ten feet tall and thickly muscled, covered in a shaggy, thick coat of jet black fur. The Bear King was ursine, its face the most bearlike thing about it, but though its maw was filled with twin rows of viciously sharp, curled yellow teeth, its eyes – each blood red and furious – were possessed of an obvious, malevolent intelligence.
The girl opened her mouth to speak, and in that instant, the bear roared and smashed her backwards with one swing of his mighty paw. The teenager’s body was propelled through a dozen trees before she was able to bring herself to a halt, and shake the pieces of bark and twigs out of her hair. Her head rung with the impact of it, and her head shook several times as she tried to make herself come back to reality. The rainbow-haired girl exhaled, certain that the enemy would be on her again in an instant…
And then she was hammered into the ground.
The impact with the earth was an all too familiar sensation for her these days. The girl rebounded, though, and this time she recovered more quickly, now that she was expecting the attack it wasn’t nearly as painful as the first sucker punch. The girl was able to focus her power, and when the bear came at her again, she gritted her teeth. This time, the Bear King’s slashing claws impacted an invisible barrier which flashed a brilliant green in reaction to it, and the girl let out a loud huff, slamming her foot into the ground to steady against the floor.
When she erupted into the air again, it was under her own power, swirling around the bear so she could bring her fist into the bear’s guts. She had expected the behemoth to crumple after that – large fighters usually just meant she had more muscle mass to try and hit.
She was… unfortunately … disappointed.
It was like she’d slammed her fist into a steel wall, except steel walls tended to give far more easily than this creature did. The beast completely failed to budge even an inch, and in the instant that she was startled, he hit her a second time, the blow slamming heavily into the energy shield about her, causing another flash of bright green and a sound like crashing thunder as the bear roared his fury at her.
“Geez, your breath stinks.”
Trying to concentrate this close was difficult, but Tako was determined to give it her best. She struck again, and again, and this time she was able to force the bear back several paces, stumbling over the crushed and broken tree remnants that now scattered the forests. Her eyes narrowed and the girl bit down tight on her bottom lip.
Alright, it was time to give it her all!
Bright red energy flared about her, and she went in for the kill, striking up with her leg and a loud shout of “HELTER!” It was a technique she’d used a thousand times before; one that she knew how to use on instinct and that she was confident she could carry out even though the beast’s stench was trying its best to overwhelm her…
And in the same instant her foot connected sharply with the bear’s jaw, the beast brought both its arms down as hard as it possibly could, clubbing the girl out of the air and battering her down to the ground. Her head rung as she rolled away from the point of impact, a deep crater having formed in her wake. Now she wasn’t just bruised and battered; she was dirty and muddy as well!
The bear roared his triumph, and stomped both feet into the earth. That, annoyed Tako more than anything else he had done the whole time they had been fighting. The wobbling, dance-like motions of the bear above her were like a crowing victory parade, and that frustrated her. If she’d landed her technique clean, he sure wouldn’t have been doing that! But … she hadn’t, and the fact that she hadn’t wasn’t something she could blame on the bear, it was something that she had to take responsibility for herself. She was failing. She had nobody to blame that on but herself.
“DON’T YOU DARE UNDERESTIMATE ME!”
The bellowing shout was an effort, more than anything, to bring herself to the right mindset. More surprisingly, it actually worked. The girl exhaled, and as she let the tension flow from her, she was able to focus far more intently on the beast. The way his spit coated his fangs, the way his stench clung to her nose, the way the wind blew through his fur, it all combined to build towards one, perfect, crashing crescendo; one moment of perfection as she closed in towards him.
This time, it wasn’t a preordained combination which she bought against him; she let herself flow into the moment, and as she struck out at him, even she wasn’t sure where her attacks were going to land, only that she was throwing more punches and kicks in these few heartbeats than she had thrown in the last dozen fights she’d fought combined!
The bear was tough, but the sheer quantity of attacks raining down upon him took its toll. His initial attempt to bat the girl aside was easily evaded, and the blur of brilliant colour she had become beat him down again and again.
“KIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
With that exultant cry, the trees around the pair of duelling warriors began to splinter and crack, bursting about the because of the shockwaves from the impacts. The ground shook, the sky – previously calm – began to pick up and terrible winds blew through the area, whipping up clothing and hair, and… at last, the bear was forced to collapse to the ground, beaten, bloodied and battered against the floor. He hadn’t broken any bones, but he was clearly badly hurt, and it was just as Tako was about to smash him once more between the eyes that she realized it, coming up short. The bear raised his arm above his head to ward off another strike.
“Well met, brave warrior.”
The girl hesitated, and floated down to the ground letting her arms hang by her sides.
“You can talk?”
“Its funny.” The bear growled, “Most people who get this far know that already.”
The pair sat down next to a swiftly moving river as the sun set behind them. Tako used some logs to make a fire, and the Bear King plucked a pair of salmon from the water. Soon enough, the scent of freshly-cooked fish started to fill the makeshift camp.
“You know.” The Bear King grumbled as he chewed on his salmon, “That is something you humans got right. Cooking your food. Call me crazy, but I’ve really learned to appreciate the difference that a bit of fire and time can make.”
Tako was still trying to deal with the fact that the Bear King could talk. The brute of a creature was far too injured for him to do much more than slouch there, opposite her across the fire, where the beast’s bulk blocked out most of her vision. The sheer size of him was, disturbing, in some way she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was like she was trying to conduct a casual conversation with a mountain.
“So uh, why do they call you the King of Bears?” Tako asked quietly, trying to grope around for anything that wasn’t a discussion about the fact that she’d beat the creature to within an inch of his life. Somehow, that didn’t feel like such a fun accomplishment any more; it was… embarrassing, really. She’d beaten him to hell and back because she thought he’d teach her how to be a better warrior; in fact, all he’d done was show her that monstrous-looking people could still be… people. Even when they were bears.
“Because I’m the King of Bears.” He grumbled. “Duh.”
That sure helped her feel like less of a dork. “Oh. Right. Yeah. That makes sense.”
“Why did you come out here, anyway, kid? Trying to find the secret to eternal life or something?”
That made Tako blink several times, uncomprehending from across the flames, “Uuuh… no, not… what?”
“Back in the old days.” The bear rumbled, “I found the Fountain of Youth and drank from it. I was a young bear then. That’s how I got so old, and so smart. Can’t get any older, you see? I figured you must have heard the story and come to beat the secret out of me.”
Tako blinked a few times, “You… huh. No, I didn’t hear about any of that. I just thought you’d be a fun opponent.” The bear shot her a filthy look. “… I wasn’t wrong!”
The bear let out a harrumph of acceptance, actually sighing – which was a very odd thing to see a bear do – before he tore off the side of his salmon and gulped it down in a few heavy gulps, tongue slathering over his lips.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if you were.” He said at last, “Forgot where it was decades ago. Might have lived a long time, but you can’t remember every day.” A grunt, and he shook his great, shaggy head, “Though I think it’ll be quite a few until I forget this.”
The girl laughed nervously over the fire, “Uh, yeah, well, you weren’t bad yourself you know! You landed a few good hits. Ouch! I’ll be, feeling that in the morning!”
The withering look that the bear gave her shut her up again pretty quickly, and not for the first time she wished that she could be better at talking.
The girl nibbled at her salmon, until the bear rumbled to speak up again, filling the growing silence of the night as the light dimmed behind the pair, the world painted in violent splashes of amber, crimson and lavender.
“So you came all this way, out into the woods, tracked me down… just to fight me? And you don’t even want to finish the job?”
That very idea seemed to make Tako hesitate, looking utterly confused. “Finish the job? What is that supposed to mean? I beat you in the fight!”
“But you’re not going to kill me?”
The rainbow-haired girl stared at the bear across the fire, and then burst out laughing, “What? No! Of course not! Why would I do that?”
The bear gave another snorting harrumph, and tossed his head back, peering down at the girl across the flames. “Because that’s the law of the natural world, girl! The strong kill the weak! You didn’t complain when I killed that fish for you.”
The girl looked at the burned, greasy fish that she’d been chewing on, and then looked back at the bear, pursing her lips thoughtfully as she did. “You’re not wrong.” She decided at last, “But I’ve never been one to care about what laws say. Killing the fish doesn’t seem so bad to me, but killing you? Especially since you can talk… I mean, do you want me to?”
That idea brought the bear up onto his hind legs again, holding up his great paws, “No, no!” He said hurriedly, and Tako just grinned at him across the flames. For the third time he snorted, and it seemed to Tako that his maw had twisted into an amused little smirk as he settled his great bulk back down to the ground. She returned the smile with that same, amused little grin.
“Hmph!” He snorted, “Well. I think I like you, little Rainbow Warrior. But I tell you right now, I’m going to start training again.”
He yawned, and rolled over away from the fire as the light of the sun disappeared entirely below the horizon. “Next time we clash, it won’t be so easy for you.”
And Tako brought one hand up to her tender side, and the bruising that she felt through her clothing. Next time… yeah, next time, they were going to have even more fun! She could tell that already!
