Satsui no Hado in Equestria

by Frogace55

Round 25: Karate Man

After the short session (which we decided quickly afterwards to keep in dreams for now), we headed for the dojo. The place actually felt like home to me, though I wasn’t sure why. I chalked it up to familiarity, though I never actually explored the place. In any case, it was a place I could feel able to lower my guard, if only slightly, which made it a good place to squat in while I stayed here.

I entered the dojo and, for the first time, just looked around without a reason in mind. I wasn’t scouting for any advantages or trying to find flaws in the structure. I was just looking around aimlessly. I was in this trance for maybe a half hour before a call brought me back.

“Master?” Void looked at me with… concern? “Are you ok?”

I nodded and entered a meditative stance. “Just fine.” I closed my eyes and sat. “It’s been awhile since I felt that I could loosen up. I’m taking advantage of this moment. Breaks like this, this don’t mean good things for the near future in my past experience.”

I focused my thoughts internally. I’ve made progress, but I doubt it’s enough. The fact that I have no one to measure it against doesn’t help much. I took a breath in. Just take it one round at a time, Gouki, like the arcade and sparring.

I exhaled and opened my eyes. Night had fallen while I was pondering, to my surprise and Void had found a empty room nearby to sleep in. I wasn’t ready to sleep yet, however, and decided to practice my basic kicks like I used to: Ten reps of each with both legs. It was something I used to do before going to sleep to tire my body when I knew I should go to bed, but wasn’t tired.

I took my stance and begun. Each kick whistled through the air and I could feel my rhythm return. Before I realized, I finished the exercise feeling not only no worse for wear, but for the first time since I got here, I felt like I was on my own tempo.

I sat down with this more content feeling and quickly fell asleep.

---

I arrived in my dreamscape and picked up exactly where I left off with the exercises, throwing kicks into the air. I was so consumed by the reclaiming of my flow and how pleased that made me, I didn’t notice Void’s appearance until I threw a in-to-out kick over her head. She blinked at the force used so close to her.

“Ready to pick up where we left off?” I asked, making a mat appear behind me. Void nodded and quickly headed for the mat.

My worries can be reflected on later. Now, it’s time to have fun the only way fighters do: Exertion of mind and body.

---

I awoke at sun up, my mind both tired and refreshed. With my mood positive and my certainty of self returned, I took stock of the dojo- no, my dojo- to access damage, both from my sparring earlier and general lack of use. After a good half-hour or so, I was satisfied that the only real damage was the missing wood planks from the warm-up before.

Knowing most of the work was cleaning, I got to work. Luckily, everything I’d need was in one of the assorted closets here, so everything that would need to be done could be done. Even a couple extra boards were in a out of the way closet.

I was able to do a lot, but unfortunately, not everything was done before I had knocks on my door. “Who is it?” I asked, dropping a rag into the bucket.

“Rainbow Dash” I heard back.

“Pleasant surprise. What brings Crayola to the dojo?”

“I do have a Black Belt in Karate. Doesn’t hurt to practice every once in awhile.”

“You know Karate?” I asked, moving for the door.

“Not to brag, but I got a couple trophies. Why?”

I stepped out and got a look at her, or more importantly, her gi. It was a pristine white with, as she said, a clean Black Belt tied nicely around her waist. All in all, it looked less like she earned them and more like she bought them from a costume shop. “Could have fooled me.”

“You think I couldn’t?” Rainbow shouted defensively.

“Not that.” I shook my head in mirth. “I think what you consider a Black Belt is not the same level I consider when I think of such.” I shot her a challenge with my eyes. “For course, I can be wrong…”

I smirked.

“Doubt it.”

She looked at me with wide eyes, as if what I just did was unheard of. “Is that a challenge?”

I said nothing. Instead, I straightened my gi and performed my taunt, before shifting seamlessly into my stance. “You can have the first swing.” I said.

“Oh really?” She asked, slipping into a standard fighting stance: left leg in front, knees slightly bent, and arms in front of her face.

As soon as she finished entering her stance, she leaped into the air and launched a divekick at my face. I thought to leap back before a better plan came to mind, and I parried the blow. With most of her weight centered on her strike, the deflected blow was sent into a tree behind me.

“All the striking power in the world will fail if you can’t truly strike your opponent.” I spoke, not turning to face Rainbow. “Where I’m from, any decent black belt would know not to lead with such a easily countered move.”

I heard movement. “How about-” In one fluid motion, I ducked under her flying charge and sent her into the air with a simple uppercut into her gut. I waited for her to right herself in the air before continuing my ‘assessment’ of what I thought of her skill.

She spun for longer than I thought she would, but Rainbow eventually righted herself and came back down. Instead of trying a third attack, she simply touched down, panting. I took this lull to explain how big the gap in our definition of ‘black belt’ was.

“A black belt is not earned just for knowing the skills taught with their mind or wielding the strength to break blocks with his head. A black belt is earned for not needing to know with the mind but with the body, for being able to have enough power to kill and not use it. If you have to think of your move and how it is done, while thinking of how to counter your opponent, you are at a disadvantage. If you can only fight at full force, even against an opponent who is weaker than you, that opponent has a much better chance of winning.

“A black belt doesn’t just know moves. A black belt know when what move is best used and when it’s not. A black belt won’t go with the flashiest thing they know. Do you know who the flashy moves are for?” I asked and Dash shook her head. “A performer. Actor, Daredevils, Stunt People, that’s where a flying kick from across a room or a loud ambush works.

“I won’t lie, your form was clean and the power was more than I expected, but your strikes mean little when you cannot land a single blow.”

Rainbow looked at me with confusion and anger, her wings flaring open.

“With all of that said, I still thank the exercise.”

The anger on Rainbow’s face left, leaving the confusion. “You… like me trying to fight you?”

“You have actually done the most to make me feel at home with our few interactions than anyone else here. This...” I pointed to her and myself. “Was something I did at least twice a week. Not with this level of power, mind you, but I’d spar with others a lot. My sister would ‘ask’ to spar with me when we disagreed.” I laughed as a memory came up.

“First time, I forgot she was shorter than me and... let’s just say I’m happy I had a cup on.”

Rainbow looked a little confused before realization appeared on her face with a wince. Quickly switching the topic, she asked, “You plan on teaching ponies how to fight?”

“No.”

“Then what was-”

“I plan on refining the skills of those who wish to fight.” I turned to go back inside. “After all, what’s a pony to do if not their talent?” I closed the door and got to work.

There was much to be done.

Author's Note:

Hello everybody,

This chapter has been cooking for quite awhile, sitting half-done for the longest time. I hope you enjoy it as the writer's block was pretty bad for this chapter.

Next up: The wedding crasher Arc

Comments

[DisplacedWriter]

Yay for updates!

[Azure5555]

This chapter was fluffy. I like fluffy.

[megazerik]

8409825
And I your comment. This comment is good. I like good.

[Resadur164]

more?