SP-F2 <<Breaking the Unbreakable>>

[Reusririasuir 0]

Reu stepped out into Urbus. The town itself resembled a medieval kingdom, stable and all. However, Reu wasn't interested in Urbus, not in the least. As soon as he stepped out of the teleport area, Reu started walking South out of Urbus. He had heard rumors of an unbreakable rock blocking a dungeon in that area, but what he had also heard, was even smaller rumors of a place where you could learn how to get around that rock. Reu didn't know what that meant, but he was determined to find a way into the dungeon.

[Reusririasuir 0]

"Damn it old man!" Reu stood facing several training dummy's. Without a second word he launched into a frenzy of bare-fisted attacks against the dummy's. Stepping into a forest of training dummy's left Reu with nothing but targets to choose from. Finding his center, Reu attacked the one to his right first, and then attacked the one to his left, and then Reu made sure to hit the one behind him, and then Reu was hit in the face hard, from what had been his front just several minutes ago. "How do you keep DOING that?!"

 

Reu was becoming frustrated, it was nearly 3 in the afternoon and the two had started this drill before sunrise. Each time Reu would move into the field of training dummy's striking targets until the old man punched him the face. That wasn't what was supposed to happen, ideally Reu was going to walk in there, and punch everything, but he kept letting one of the dummy's get too close and as soon as he did, it would turn out to be the old man. No matter which one he attacked, or how often he thought he had just punched the old man instead.

 

Suddenly a dong, housed in the old mans house, emitted a resounding note clear as day to Reu even at this distance. If Reu was frustrated before, he was infuriated now, because now his attempt at passing this drill was over for the day. It wasn't just over, go back and go to bed, oh no. It was over, now go do physical training for two hours. It wasn't the PT which bothered Reu, it was the fact that it was yet another day, two weeks now, in which he hadn't finished this quest. Sighing, Reu put these thoughts out of his mind, turned towards the mountain trail, and started off on his mandatory run.

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Reu could feel the heat from the sun beating down his face. Despite knowing the mountain-trail was only 6 miles, Reu was sweltering. First you had to run the 6 mile course without-stopping, and then on the return trip, you'd run the six miles back stopping to perform calisthenics at pre-marked out points. There were streams along the mountain path from which a person could drink water, but Reu was under strict observance that he was only to drink water in the rest period between calisthenics and resuming his run. Essentially, the faster you'd finish the calisthenics, the more time you'd have to drink. Only that was much easier said then done.

 

Being in superior physical shape, Reu was having less trouble with the exercises then most players probably did, but the game seemingly compensated for this by having the old man increase the number of reps Reu had to do at each station. The difficulty was increased so much  that even Reu felt he was being challenged. It was exhilarating and a pain. He had come here to learn how to break apart the boulder blocking entry to a dungeon and yet all this old man had done was put him through a rigorous training routine. Reu had figured it out long ago, it was obvious almost instantly, he was here to learn a martial arts skill; but the emphasis wasn't just on learn, it was on EARN.

 

Finishing another set of fifty push-ups, Reu brought himself to the waters edge and plopped his face in it, letting the water pour past his face. Silently he counted down in his head, and as soon as he hit zero, he was off and running again. The water was crystal cool, and it helped Reu keep going. Finally Reu could see the old mans house; slowly Reu began a cool-down walk in an attempt to catch his breath, as he made his way up the long path leading to the front door.

[Reusririasuir 0]

Arriving at the front door, Reu collected himself, and slipped his boots off; entering the house barefoot. Walking in, Reu saw the old man sitting on the tatami quietly. The clock read five, and Reu knew what that meant. Slipping onto the tatami, Reu bowed deeply. Approaching the old man, Reu again bowed. Taking a seat, Reu knew that this was another important part of training, meditation. It was here that Reu was learning everything about the world about him, and about his place in the world. The old man had told him, a quiet mind, lead to discipline with ones old body. It was very similar to something Reu's real life sensei had once told him. Reu decided he would take both men's advice to heart.

 

Finally, after an hour of meditation, the pair got up and went into the kitchen, where they quietly ate supper. Here the old man would answer questions Reu had about the training, about the old mans life, or any number of topics in line with his NPC's persona. Reu had to admit, the depth the old man had programmed into him was astounding.

 

After supper, Reu went into his room. Here he had access to his own personal bath, and unique to most baths in this game, this bath could be set to an 'ice bath'. Pushing his hurting muscles into the water, Reu felt why. The training was horrendous at times on the body, and needing to maximize recovery was important. By bathing in the ice post training, you pushed the painful lactose out of the muscles. Allowing you to heal more quickly.

 

Rising from his bath, Reu walked to the bookshelf and selected a book on a martial arts based topic. There was so much to learn, and not just technique, but history, and historical figures, and ideologies as well as famous points in time in which the martial arts were revered; even Reu was learning much from this library.

 

Finally at 8pm, Reu went to sleep. And so this was his routine, wake up before the sun, train with the old man, and then perform physical training, ending the day with meditation, dinner, and studying to train the mind. This had been Reu's life for two weeks now.

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The next morning, rising before the sun came up, Reu met the old man downstairs on the tatami. Quietly they took a seat across from each other, and then the old man stood, Reu stood, and the two began a simple judo warmup. The master would lead, and Reu would follow. Strangely, Reu already knew the exercise routine. It was one he had performed many times in the real world with his actual Judo sensei. First they would begin with a series of light stretches of the arm and the shoulders. Next they would navigate to simulated pulling motions with the upper-body. 'Reading your watch', Reu fondly remembered his sensei calling it. Then they would move to sun-circles with the arms, as well as lateral raises with a hold. Finally, they would perform ukemi, or 'practice falls'.

 

One sufficiently warmed up and loosened up, the drills would continue. The pair would go over a technique or a series of techniques in combination and practice fit-ins, after 10 or so fit-ins, they would then throw. Being thrown hurt, even in the game, being thrown hurt. Finally, after Judo ended, the pair would move on to practicing ground-work. They practiced both Judo groundwork and Jiu-jitsu groundwork. They'd move from position to position, guard passes, sweeps, choke and joint-lock submissions. After roughly an hour and a half of this, the pair would then don the appropriate safety equipment and work some sort of striking art, be it Boxing, Muay Thai, or Kickboxing.

 

Reu found it very curious how the game constantly used techniques and styles which he was familiar with from real life. Every now and then he would learn a new concept, but it really seemed like the game was simply trying to allow him to implement the knowledge he already knew, into its mechanics. He wasn't sure if he was teaching the game or the game was teaching him, but Reu did know that he was in love with it. When he was practicing Muay Thai he wasn't facing some old man, he was back home on the mats with his muay thai instructor, a former female professional fighter who he had even dated at one point. Or he was on the mats with his long time training partners and very good friends. At-least in his head he was.

 

Finally, after another hour of striking practice, the two would break for a second breakfast (the first breakfast being consumed prior to training), and then post-breakfast, around 9am, the two would head out for the outside training, which consisted of any number of items. Reu was always curious what he was going to be doing that day.

[Reusririasuir 0]

It was now just past 11am, and Reu had been standing on logs for almost an hour and a half. The logs were spaced fairly far apart and Reu was told that he must stand with no more then one leg, on one log, at a time. His objective was to advance towards an ever-moving flag. He would start to get close, and then the flag would move. How long would it do this? All Reu knew is that it would stop moving once he had made enough 'hops'. His instructions were clear, hope from leg, to the other, when changing logs. Follow the flag and then finally, capture it. Needless to say, this was taking an extreme amount of core strength and leg strength. Maintaining balance alone was difficult, but Reu was determined he wasn't going to fall. By his count (though he had stopped counting awhile ago), Reu had already made over 150 hops (so 75 with each leg).

 

Hopping from one leg to another was exhausting. It didn't help that while you were squatting down, preparing to explosively jump off your one leg, that you tended to keep your core tight, needed to keep your core tight, in order to stay balanced before the jump. Staying tight was fine in and of itself, but it was the fact you also stopped breathing if you weren't forcing yourself too; that was the exhausting part. Reu had always had breath control problems in real life. He remembered almost passing out doing a few pushups not because he was tired at all, but simply because he would forget to breathe. Slowly, Reu crouched down, forced himself to breathe, and then took another jump. Switching legs in mid-air, he landed on the next stump with a rough impact. Nearly falling, because after all the stumps were barely large enough for one foot to stand on them, he looked up at the flag and realized it hadn't moved. In almost disbelief, he reached up, grabbed the flag and the 'Congratulations' text appeared. Slowly the logs shrank down into the ground, and Reu was standing in the middle of the outside training area.

 

As soon as he was standing on two legs, Reu realized how much they felt like jelly. Shaky and wobbly, he turned and made his way to the old man who was now standing nearby.

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"Oh ho ho ho ho, very good Karate Kid!" The old man laughed at Reu.

 

"Gah, really! Really! Being mocked by an old man in a virtual game--"

 

"Quiet. Now, it's time for the next part of your training. We will be combining the force redirection from Judo, with controlling the center-line from Wing Chun. Come and move me from the circle."

 

The old man stepped into a low-stance, and as he did so, the training environment around them changed. Reu found himself sitting on the steps of a 1900's Chinese temple. The pair were at the top, on a flat, level surface. Two circles appeared, one underneath the old man and one underneath Reu. Taking his own stance, Reu reached out and attacked the old man. The old man, in kind, deflected Reu's arms and pushed Reu solidly in the chest. The only thing keeping Reu from moving outside of the circle was the new-found strength he had gained in his legs over the past several weeks.

 

Bringing his hands back to center, Reu again attempted to attack, this time the old-man deflected each of his hands, and used his leg to hook and trip Reu. Groggily, Reu stood back up and resumed his stance.

[Reusririasuir 0]

As the old man attacked Reu, Reu used a forearm strike to deflect his opponents forearms. Now that both arms were out of the way, Reu combined both of his hands and then using his entire body, pushed the old man in the chest, sending him stepping back out of the circle.

 

"Mate! Very good Reusririasuir! You have completed this phase of your training. Now let's try and see if you can break that rock with your bare hands."

 

Quietly the master and the student made their way to the large stone. "Now Reu, break it."

 

Stepping up, Reu looked at the large stone boulder that stood in front of him. It was several dozen feet taller then he was and much, much wider. Stepping up, Reu threw out a jab to find his distance. The quick punch bounced off the rock, and seemingly had no impact. Reu pulled his hand back to his chin, quick as he had been taught.

 

ID 17694 BD 6 (5 + 1 Dog Tags)

 

Stone 19 / 20 (-1)

[Reusririasuir 0]

Quickly, Reu fired off another jab. This time it was a step jab, meaning he took a slight step forward as he jabbed, changed levels slightly, and then threw out his punch. All of this happened lighting quick, a result from trained repetition over the past few weeks with the old man.

 

 

ID 17695 BD 6 (5 + 1 Dog Tags)

 

Stone 18 / 20 (-1)

[Reusririasuir 0]

Next Reu fired off an attack he had learned from Wing Chun. He brought both of his palms together, at his center-line, and leaned his body back without moving his feet. Next he used the power of his weight shifting forward to propel both his hands forward in a strong attack at chest-level. Hearing a thud, Reu felt himself connect with the stone.

 

 

ID 17696 BD 6 (5 + 1 Dog Tags)

 

Stone 17 / 20 (-1)

[Reusririasuir 0]

Using the energy from the attack, Reu pulled his forward momentum back into himself. Next he took a step off to the right side, and delivered a punishing high kick at the stone. If he had targeted a regular person, it would have been a head kick. Hearing the crack as his right shin bone connected, Reu knew it was a strong hit. He saw several pieces of the rock crumble as a result of his impact.

 

 

ID 17699 BD 10

 

Stone 14 / 20 (-3) (1 + 2 Critical)

[Reusririasuir 0]

After landing the high kick, Reu stepped in extremely close. Wrapping his arms around as much of the stone as he could, he simulated a clinch. Posturing himself high and standing upright, Reu quickly and violently brought his head forward into a murderous headbutt. The headbutt landed and Reu stepped back. That was something he never would have tried in real life because of the brain injury risk, but here, in a virtual body, it was a punishing blow Reu had spent time developing.

 

ID 17700 BD 10

 

Stone 11 / 20 (-3) (1 + 2 Critical)

[Reusririasuir 0]

After the headbutt, Reu took in a long deep breath. It wasn't time to attack again, he needed a moment to regain his energy for his next series of attacks. Slowly, and deliberately, he forced himself to breathe.

 

 

ID 17702 BD 2

 

Stone 11 / 20 

[Reusririasuir 0]

Continuing to breathe, Reu stepped in closer. Throwing out another punch, he felt it glance off without doing any damage. He must not have been close enough yet, Reu thought to himself as he moved closer yet again.

 

ID 17703 BD 3

 

Stone 11 / 20 

[Reusririasuir 0]

Launching another frenzy of strikes, Reu felt them bounce off with little to no effect. Forcing himself to step-back, Reu then 'reset' his stance. Once he had done so, Reu stepped back in close to the boulder, he was now even closer then he was before.

 

 

 

ID 17705 BD 3

 

Stone 11 / 20 

[Reusririasuir 0]

Now that he had his reset stance, Reu delivered a quick one-two combination. The jab followed by a straight was one of the most common, and yet also one of the most effective, boxing combinations a person could have in their arsenal. Reu marveled at the power behind his right straight, most of it coming from his stronger core and stronger back. All of the physical training was starting to pay off!

 

ID 17712 BD 6 (5 + 1 Dog Tags)

 

Stone 10 / 20 (-1)

[Reusririasuir 0]

Reu pulled back from his boxing combination and readied himself to unleash another combination. Stepping in, Reu suddenly felt his feet slide on gravel. Slipping to the left, Reu fell fall flat on his face.

 

"Ow."

 

 

ID 17742 BD 1

 

Stone 10 / 20

[Reusririasuir 0]

Scrambling back up, Reu resumed his fighting stance. This time he threw a jab to measure his distance, and then stepped in slight closer. As he stepped, Reu already began spinning. BOOM! SPINNING ELBOW! He whirled himself around throwing a backwards spinning elbow which thunk-ed off the boulder with a resounding thud. The centrifugal motion of his body generated a tremendous amount of power behind the strike.

 

 

ID 17743 BD 7 (6 + 1 Dog Tags)

 

Stone 9 / 20 (-1)

[Reusririasuir 0]

Moving forward, Reu threw out a front-kick. Typically used to create distance, Reu's front kick was more of a power-strike. He threw it straight out in front of him, feeling it land. When he pulled his foot back down and out of the way, Reu could see splinters in the rock face where his foot had landed..

 

ID 17744 BD 8

 

Stone 8 / 20 (-1)

[Reusririasuir 0]

delete me.