The Delicate Art of Thunder

[Electra]

The attack seemed to shake Wander out of the moment of uncertainty. As soon as Thunderstanding landed, Erin was in motion. Without any sort of finesse whatsoever, she closed the distance between them in a heatbeat and delivered a two-fisted punch straight into her new teacher's midsection, then backed off just as quickly.

[Sacerdos]

Thunder took a step back, cracking the concrete beneath her foot as she did so. "Oof!" She fought to avoid doubling over for a second before shaking it off. When she looked up, there was a tense fire in her eyes that hadn't been there before.

[Electra]

"I'm sorry," Wander said quickly, looking worried even as she automatically brought her fists up into a defensive posture at the look in Thunderstanding's eye. "Was that wrong?"

[Sacerdos]

For a long second, Thunder was nearly overcome with the urge to show the girl in front of her just whose house she was in. Alicia's drive to win, to crush her opposition, only grudgingly gave way to her responsibility to the student in front of her.

To Wander, her new teacher seemed to stare at her with murder in her eyes for a short eternity. Then, the older woman smiled and dropped her fists.

"No, you did exactly what you should've done. You're good--really good--and you caught me off guard." She smiled ruefully. "And, yeah, we need to learn you some control. You hit like a freight train."

Thunder poked her thumb at one of the heavy steel practice dummies, her grin growing wider. "So, what I want you to do is give that guy fifty punches in the nose. Not the face. The nose. Just touch it with your knuckles, slowly at first, then faster as you get the hang of it."

[Electra]

Wander relaxed as the moment of tension faded and it became clear that the fight wasn't going to continue. She listened carefully to the instructions, then approached the dummy. Standing at arm's length, she reached out with a fist and batted it lightly in the nose, a gesture that barely set it rocking, then pulled back the same arm and did it again at about the same intensity. With a look to make sure she had understood the instructions, she continued touching the dummy, slow touches that became gradually faster as she counted under her breath. As she got faster, the knocks got harder, for all she still didn't seem to be expending any effort, till the metal dummy was rocking back and forth with each hit.

[Sacerdos]

"Hang on," Thunderstanding said, lightly pushing Wander out of the way so that she could stand in front of the dummy. "What you want is something more like this."

With that, the heroine threw four lightning fast punches. She left the last one extended, barely contacting the battered nose. The dummy hadn't so much as moved.

"Give it another try." As she stepped out of the way, she added, "And don't worry if this is frustrating. You've obviously learned the hard way how to... well, how to kill. Now, you have to learn how to fight, and your instincts are gonna fight you the whole way. So, start out sloooooow." As she drew the word out, Thunder moved her fist in exaggerated slow motion toward the dummy's head.

"'Kay?"

[Electra]

Wander stood in front of the dummy and took a few deep breaths. She gave it a few slow, slow, punches, not even touching the nose, then tried to do what Thunderstanding had just done. Unfortunately, she was off by about an inch and a half. There was a deafening *KRONG* noise as the dummy ratcheted backwards, then upright again, vibrating. It had a rather large dent where its nose was supposed to be. Horrified, Wander stared at it for a moment before rounding her shoulders and turning to face her teacher. "I thought I had it that time."

[Sacerdos]

Thunderstanding was obviously amused. "You won't have 'it' for a long time. Not until every punch lands exactly as hard as you want it to, every time, even under pressure. That's going to take hundreds, probably thousands, of punches."

The muscular heroine pointed to a crumpled pile of canvas sitting in a nearby corner. "See that heavy bag? First kick I landed after I got my powers ripped that baby in half. Took me four hours a day of nothing but kicking practice for two weeks before I started to feel like I had any control again. And I've had years of training you haven't. So, back at Mister Man here." She smiled wrily. "He's out a nose, so move to his chin."

[Electra]

A little bit cheered by the pep talk, Wander turned back to the dummy and began punching again, this time more circumspectly. She was starting to get the hang of it now, punches that ended in light taps on the chin, rather than whiffs or punishing blows. The dummy still rocked a bit, but less than in the first set. After her fifty punches, she turned to Thunderstanding, rubbing her knuckles lightly. "But what about in a fight?" she asked. "Even if I can be careful here, I don't know what will happen when, you know, the adrenaline starts pumping. Sometimes it's like I don't even think, I just move."

[Sacerdos]

Thunder nodded. "That's what practice is for. You start by abusing Mr. Man here, then you move on to moving targets when he's too easy. And, while you're doing that, we spar from time to time."

Alicia walked off and retrieved a pair of hard leather target mitts from a shelf nearby, talking as she went. "And you'll learn to trust yourself as you realize that you can do this."

Standing, mitts at the ready, "And don't go whining to me that this is hard, or that you can't do it. If it wasn't hard, everybody'd be doing it. And can't never did anything. Now, hit these target mitts. Punches or kicks, I don't care so long as you do it as fast and as light as you can."

[Electra]

"I can do it," Erin muttered under her breath, sounding slightly affronted that she'd be accused of whining. She decided to stick with punches, since she'd been practicing with those. Even more gingerly than before, she punched out at the mitt, still exclusively right-handed, till she was tapping the left mitt about twice a second. Her focus on the mitt was total, and if someone had come up behind and startled her at that moment, she'd likely have taken their head off. After a little while, though, the sheer repetitiveness of the task became almost meditative, and she started to relax just a little bit. This time, it didn't result in a punch that was much too hard, a result that seemed like good progress.

[Sacerdos]

Suddenly, Thunder's left mitt smacked Erin in the side of her head.

"Keep your guard up and be aware of your surroundings," the older woman said firmly. She also started moving the targets slowly back and forth, up and down. There was little chance of Erin missing, but the game had obviously progressed to the next level.

[Electra]

Wander startled badly at the touch, bringing her hands up to defend herself, but managed to catch herself before lashing out at what had hit her. Biting her lower lip between her teeth, she refocused and kept hitting the now-moving targets. As her tension ratcheted back up, she started hitting harder again, not with superhuman strength, but definitely more than just tapping. She also started using her left hand to punch as well, but only when the target came close in range. She didn't say a word or meet her teacher's eyes, concentrating both on the exercise at hand and on waiting to block another hit, if any when it came.

[Sacerdos]

Over time, Thunder moved the target mitts faster and faster. She also began moving them more aggressively, occasionally swinging them toward Wander's head or midriff. Toward the end of the exercise, she threw in the occasional kick toward the student's legs and feet.

[Electra]

As Thunderstanding became more aggressive in her moves, Wander's moves became less controlled, more honestly aggressive as well. There were no more punches like that very first one, but as she dodged and jumped to avoid being hit, she started smacking the mitts considerably harder than she had been before. A normal person holding the targets likely would've had to pull back or risk muscle strain or hand injury. Her face was set, her brow furrowed, and still she did not meet her teacher-cum-opponent's eyes.

[Sacerdos]

Suddenly, Thunderstanding took a step back and dropped the targets to the ground.

"Not bad," the competitive heroine said. And she meant it. A large part of her seriously wanted to get Erin in the ring, just to see which of them would walk out. Thunder had to admit that it might not be her. "Keep that focus and you'll do well."

She pointed to a clock on the wall. A young Muhammed Ali looked defiantly out from behind its hands. "We've been at this about an hour now. I know you could go on, but you need to relax and let this soak in a bit. Tomorrow, I want you to find something to practice on. Make it something you can destroy, 'cause you will. Maybe get a few pumpkins or something. And then do what you did with Mister Man to it; at least a hundred punches."

She looked over at Mr. Archer. "When am I going to see her next? Day after tomorrow?"

He nodded and replied, "Same time, right?"

"Yep."

Turning back to Erin, Thunder asked, "So, any questions, thoughts, whatever?"

[Electra]

Erin was quiet for a minute, still pulling herself into check after the intense workout. She nodded at the instructions, hoping that Mr. Archer would know where she could get some pumpkins, or anything that would mean not having to go back into the doom room. "Thank you for teaching me," she finally said, looking up and meeting Thunderstanding's eyes for the first time since the lesson proper had started. "I'll try to remember everything you said today."

[Sacerdos]

Thunder smiled. "I'll kick your butt if you don't," she responded. It was hard to tell if she was serious or joking. "I'll see you in two days. Be good."

[Lord Fell]

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Mandy's plan sounded pretty reasonable to Pompadour. He could handle himself against a typical tough guy, but if he wanted to actually get into the hero-game, he needed actual skills. He was on his way to see someone who could teach him practical fighting technique, in a superhuman world.

He got turned around a few times, on his way to the address Mandy had gave him, and he'd be running late, if only she hadn't insisted he get their half an hour early. As it was, he ended up knocking on the (warehouse?) door, 7 minutes before 1 o'clock, which was when his appointment was.

[Sacerdos]

The heavy wooden door opened, and sunlight fell across Thunderstanding's well-toned body. Her eyebrows rose in surprise as she realized just how tall Pompadour was. Not many men could look down at her. He was also much more attractive than the martial artist had expected. But, she was here to do a job; socializing could wait until after she'd kicked his ass a bit.

The muscular heroine stood out of the way and greeted her guest with an easy smile. "Come on in. I'm guessing by the hair that you're Pompadour?"

[Lord Fell]

Pompadour smiled broadly. "Ah, my reputation, or at least my hair, proceeds me." Pompadour stepped inside Thunder's place glancing around curiously. He had a sports bag over one shoulder, and a pair of Gatorades in one hand. "You can call me Pomp, for short. I don't use any other name these days. How should I call you?" Glancing down at the floor "and am I supposed to take my shoes off?"

[Sacerdos]

"Thunder or ma'am will do. And yes, please do take your shoes off. You can just put them next to the door there." She pointed to a small set of shelves designed for the purpose. After a beat, she jerked a thumb toward a nearby corner. "You can put your drinks in the fridge if you like."

Watching him slip his shoes off, Thunder inquired, "So, Pomp, what are you hoping to get out of this?"

[Lord Fell]

"Yes, Ma'am!" Pompadour knelt down and quickly untied his shoes. Pompadour stood, and lifted his shoes into the rack. Meanwhile, his hair grabbed both bottles of sports-drink and tucked them into the fridge, a good 12 foot stretch. "I brought one for you, too. It would have been rude not to. 'Sides they're two for one right now." After a moments hesitation, he pulled off his socks and left them on top of his shoes.

Pompadour took in the sights of the training area, and not seeing a change room or reasonable facsimilie, discretely left his gym bag next to the door. "Well, what I need is some training in a combat situation. I just don't seem to have the kind of skills I need to take on Super Baddies. I've got lots of power and some basic fighting know-how, but that's not going to cut it against someone who can match my powers if they've got the skills to back it up."

[Sacerdos]

"Okay." Thunder nodded. "You can change behind the screens over there." She pointed to a corner near the spiral staircase that led to her loft living area. A collection of folding screens printed with Oriental scenes rested against the wall next to a couple of chairs and some shelves.

While he changed, he could hear Thunderstanding moving equipment about. She called over to him as she worked, "So, what kind of experience do you have? You said you know some basics. Did you train with anyone, or did you just pick that up here and there?"

[?????]

After he'd switched out of his street clothes, Pompadour found Thunderstanding waiting in a largish clear square area of the gym. The floor was slightly padded with some kind of foam wrapped in blue plastic. Thunder was dressed in a black unitard that covered her from neck to mid-thigh, but left her arms bare. She wore a pair of open-fingered padded gloves.

Gesturing to the far corner of the makeshift ring, Thunder said, "Okay Pompadour, let's see what we've got to work with."

[Lord Fell]

Pompadour snagged his bag, and disappeared behind the screen. Clothes-changing sounds are heard. "I haven't trained with anyone... I couldn't say where my fighting skills come from. I saw some security footage of me as a supervillain, and I was pretty bad ass. I knew stuff then that I don't know now. I still have some muscle-memory or something that lets me move OK in a fight."

Pompadour emerges from the screen wearing a pair of dark red Ever-last shorts, and a Buffalo Sabre's T-Shirt, with the new "banana slug" logo... which oddly looks a great deal like a profile of his hair. A tendril of his hair snaps out like a whip, latching onto an overhead beam, and that same tendril deposits him in the indicated corner. "So, I should just come out swinging? Or, what?"