basic_powers | (no subject)

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It's 5:45 in the back area behind the lake, and Tyler's already waiting by the backdoor, with his Cubefall helmet, and full Power Ranger armor on for the training. He's having some fun of it outside, as the cold is just enough that he can blow out a little smoky cloud of steam waiting for Voodoo.

Winston meanwhile is grubbing around at his person's feet and looking out towards the woods before looking back up at Tyler. Are they going to go for their morning run or not?

Spending the better part of a year and a half getting morning PE runs from a Marine was probably something he should have mentioned earlier.

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And here comes Voodoo, dressed in the usual polo shirt and jeans.

It's Bar's fault. Really, it is.

"Okay, kid, let's get -" UP come the eyebrows.

"Uhh...what're you wearing?"

"Armor!" Aaaand one really weird helmet.

...and oh lord in heaven what is that black and gold..

...We wonder if Voodoo has had enough caffeine for this.

No. No, he hasn't.

"Uh...okay." Whatever floats his boat, right?

"You didn't really need it, but okay..." Voodoo takes a look at Winston.

"And what's that?"

"Winston, he's a pet cyber-raptor I got for Christmas here a couple of years ago." There's a look to the black and gold cat-sized dinosaur and then to Voodoo. "You can probably guess why I can't take him home."

"...I'm just wearing it anyways. ...in case of stuff."

Voodoo nods. "Right. Gotcha." If it makes him feel comfortable, he can't really argue with it.

"Let's move a little closer to the lake. We don't want to set up right in front of the door." Voodoo starts walking.

"H'kay." Tyler answers obediently walking along after Voodoo with the raptor roaming around behind.

Voodoo stops near the edge of the lake, then turns to Tyler.

"Okay, let's say some dumbass punk said they were going to kick your ass right here, right now. Show me your basic fighting stance."

...Well Tyler's going to get into a decently sturdy stance...but it's one that looks like he's making to run like hell.

Voodoo shakes his head. "That won't stand up to a concentrated assault. Here's how you do it." Voodoo gets into a fighting stance - feet shoulder-width apart, heels off the ground, the toe of his rear (right) foot in line with his front (left) foot, knees slightly bent, elbows bent to 45 degree angles and close to his body, fists up around his neck, and chin tucked down.

"See my feet? I'm staying on the balls because you want to be able to move fast, but you also want to be able to plant quickly to get off a kick if you need to. By tucking in my chin, I'm taking advantage of the protection my shoulders give me, and by bringing in my elbows, I can protect my ribs, but the most important thing about this is that you can't look scared. Fear to a bully is like blood to a shark - they can smell it miles away. And once they get a whiff, they want more."

...That actually kind of makes sense.

"...kind of like how a big predator will go after the animal it thinks is weak?" Tyler responds, jogging back to try and mimic Voodoo's pose.

Voodoo nods. "Exactly. You want to look like something they can't handle. Don't go overboard, though, or it'll look...well, stupid." Voodoo gets down on one knee in front of Tyler, palms up and out.

"Okay. Let's see what we're working with here. Hit me."

The palms, not the face.

"Or go so overboard that the teachers end up seeing and hearing you." Because seriously, he would be happy to NEVER spend another 8 hours in detention on a Saturday.

He can probably trace Tyler's line of sight as the kid looks to each hand before striking first with a fairly good right hook. And another quick jab with that same hand to the same spot.

What he lacks in size he sure makes up for in power. Voodoo grunts in approval and stands up.

"Okay, you pack a pretty good punch. The followup jab was good, too. You want to keep your opponent off-balance. Now say someone challenged you to a fight right here, right now. Where'd you hit them first?"

It takes Tyler a moment to think about that, before a mental image of Charles Brigman comes up.

"...Stomach? The guys who pick on me are like, five grades and a couple growth spurts ahead of me."

Which puts the chances of him landing a solid hit to their jaws pretty much out.

Voodoo shakes his head. "Stomach's not gonna cut it. And even if they're taller than you, you can still take them down to the ground. All you gotta do is sweep their legs, give them a little push, and they'll fall right on their ass every time. It's real simple physics. Doesn't matter if they're bigger than you. From there, you can do almost anything you want."

"Now, if you weren't a civilian, I'd tell you to go for the head, because I guarantee you, a few solid hits to someone's noggin will leave them ringing. But since you're in school, you want to use as little force as you can get away with, otherwise you could get in serious trouble. What's really good in your situation are chokes. They don't usually leave marks, they're fast so long as you apply them right, and they're only crippling as long as you maintain pressure."

"There're two types of chokes - blood chokes and air chokes. Blood chokes cut off either the the jugular veins, the carotids on either side of your neck, or both. Air chokes cut off someone's air supply by compressing their upper airways. They're harder to apply and more painful, but I wouldn't worry about breaking anything. At your age, the hyoid bone's still pretty flexible."

"....choke holds." He doesn't trust himself yet to try using blood holds on anybody. "More painful might make them think again about trying anything, and you're right on me not actually wanting to cause them any lasting harm."

"Pain's a pretty good deterrent," Voodoo says. "But before we get to chokes, we'll need to work on blocks and counters. How good d'you think you are with those?"

Edited 2011-03-06 22:19 (UTC)

"...Probably not very good. I know to bring my arms like this if I'm gettin' wailed on." Tyler replies, demonstrating by putting both of his forearms in front of his face and head.

"That's a start," says Voodoo. "But you've gotta be aggressive, too. Don't be afraid to throw in a few punches of your own. You also wanna keep an eye on your surroundings to make sure you're not being backed into a corner or something."

"...isn't that kinda like knowing where to run to, and where not to run to?"

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