Ryukishi had drawn his blade. He was ready. Hiroshi had also drawn his blade. He had been preparing since the journey back home. Just to test him, Ryukishi decided to go on the aggressive.
"HERE I COME!"
He called out just to make sure Hiroshi was prepared. And prepared he was. The moment Ryukishi swung the blade, Hiroshi perfectly parried the blade sending Ryukishi's sword to the side.
"Nice parry, but how are you gonna deal with THIS!"
Ryukishi lowers his body and does a sweeping kick. Hiroshi successfully avoids it by jumping. As a counter, he takes his blade and swings down to slash Ryukishi. Unfortunately, the master was a step ahead of his apprentice. Ryukishi rolls to the side to avoid the blade and then moves back to create some distance.
"Not bad. For a warm-up." Ryukishi says. Knowing most likely that those words will fire Hiroshi up to fight harder
"That was a warm-up? Should've figured. I'm a bit glad though."
"Why is that?"
"I kept thinking to myself 'This seems a bit too easy to be my sensei'"
Ryukishi chuckled. He wasn't expecting Hiroshi to be this sassy.
"Heh, good one."
"Hey, from now on this is where things get serious. All I ask is that you don't hold back"
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that." Ryukishi smiled. It had been years since his last serious fight. This was a great opportunity to see if he had become rusty or if he still got it in him
This time, Hiroshi begins. He runs with the sword ready while screaming. He swings it from right to left. Ryukishi blocks it. They almost go into a lock but Hiroshi attempts to knee Ryukishi in the stomach. He manages to take a step back in time and successfully evade the knee. Both of them have separated and the distance between them grows greater. The intensity is not lost however, as they both know the next time they lock, one of them if not both are getting hit
Hiroshi again strikes. Instead of the usual slashes done with his sword, he went for a piercing stab. Ryukishi didn't expect it and improvised a parry. As the 2 swords clashed, Hiroshi's glided across his sensei's blade as sparks flew across the 2 blades. Ryukishi moves his blade away, preventing his hand from getting cut. They both slash from opposing directions. This time they get into a lock
"IT'S TIME!" both of them thought. Ryukishi uses his left hand to throw a punch. Hiroshi manages to move his head away by a few inches to prevent the punch from connecting. His sensei's hand flying across his face. Ryukishi knew this left him vulnerable. He had to improvise again to prevent this from being a quick fight. He reverses the direction of his swing and now his left punch has become a left backhand. Hiroshi saw this and panicked. He instinctively took his left hand and tried to slap Ryukishi. As a result, both of them couldn't avoid getting hit and the 2 slaps connected. They both got hit. Now, the real battle can begin.
DRAGON DOJO PRODIGY
HIROSHI TANAKA
Ryukishi steps back to get some distance. Hiroshi, now attempting to overload Ryukishi takes a step forward and does a flurry of slashes. They aren't precise, but the sheer amount of slashes and the unpredictability of them is what Hiroshi is vouching on to catch Ryukishi off-guard. Ryukishi was caught off-guard. However, he manages to successfully evade the flurry by parrying one hit and sliding under Hiroshi.
"And there goes my 2nd set of clothes…" Ryukishi sighed. It was the 2nd time he had to ruin some good clothes over a fight. The first being when a bunch of thieves attempted to break into the dojo.
Hiroshi, carried by the momentum of the flurry moved forward. Ryukishi uses this moment to get up and strike. With one large step he closes the distance and slashes from the left. Hiroshi has his back completely unprotected. He knew Hiroshi was bad at improvising blocks so this was going to be an easy hit. The sword, closing in on Hiroshi was expected to make a loud thud.
Instead, it was the clang between 2 metals that was heard.
"WHAT?!" Ryukishi exclaimed. He was in disbelief. Hiroshi, had blocked an attack from behind.
Hiroshi overpowers Ryukishi and swings his sword out of the way. He turns his body to Ryukishi's direction.
"You do realize I didn't go to military for nothing right?"
"Yea it's just, I never thought you'd fix that up so soon…"
"I'm a bit flattered. I exceeded your expectations. Now, time to go ahead and do that AGAIN!"
Hiroshi lunged at Ryukishi with the last word. Ryukishi saw it coming this time. He dodged to a side, and was about to hit him. Hiroshi uses his other foot to turn to Ryukishi and parry the hit. Both of them enter a lock and put more force onto their blade. Ryukishi looks at Hiroshi. He can see the determination and adrenaline in his face. After a while, Hiroshi begins to sneer. Ryukishi knew this meant Hiroshi had something up his sleeve. But in fact, it wasn't on his sleeve
"What- "
Ryukishi lost balance of his feet. Something was wrong. Even if he had been swept off of his feet, he'd have had an idea to improvise. But it was too late. He had fallen down to the ground. Instinctively, his hands tried to protect him from the fall but failed. In doing so, he lost his blade. Hiroshi took advantage of this and kicked the blade away.
"I'VE GOT YOU NOW!"
Hiroshi exclaimed in excitement. He knew this was his big chance to take down his master in a duel. He tried to make a piercing motion to strike Ryukishi. By then, he had already begun thinking about the day after. All the women in the village will be praising him. The food will be free. His actions may even end up reaching the newspaper. He might even impress Ari with it.
Ryukishi thought quickly and began rolling away from his apprentice. The sword ended up hitting the ground with a thud. Hiroshi began to realize the battle is not over just yet.
"HOW!" he screamed in disbelief. He began getting angry. He wanted to get this win so badly, to prove that has grown from his journey with the military. To him, If he failed, it'd be the same as he was before he left for the military.
Ryukishi smiled once he saw Hiroshi's face. Even during failure, he isn't giving up. But if he lets that anger get to him, he may end up costing himself this duel.
Hiroshi began striking more frequently. Ryukishi began rolling faster. With each strike the ground breaks and his sword pierces through. Not due to how sharp it is, but because of how much force he's putting into each strike. This went on until Ryukishi reached a wall. Hiroshi, know beyond any logic or reasoning kept going with the strikes. Ryukishi catches him off-guard with a sweeping kick.
"AGH!"
Hiroshi loses his balance and falls down. Ryukishi takes the time to kick away the blade and waits for him to get up.
"But why? You could've ended it there."
"I could say the same for you Hiroshi. Remember when I fell?"
Hiroshi began to realize why he didn't do that. Ryukishi was playing it fair. He was playing it safe. The one thing he said not to do.
"YOU'RE PLAYING IT SAFE AGAIN AREN'T YOU?"
"I'm giving you a chance to fight back- "
"YOU DON'T GET SECOND CHANCES IN A FIGHT OUT THERE, SENSEI! IT'S LIFE OR DEATH! AND NOW, I'LL PROVE IT!"
Hiroshi, who was lying down mere seconds ago rose up instantly. He began to move in an erratic fashion, slowly making his way to Ryuksihi. Ryukishi was well prepared for what's coming. He began to position his body to a stance to prepare for Hiroshi's onslaught.
"THIS WILL BE THE END!" Hiroshi shouted.
Ryukishi didn't bother looking for a way out. He wanted all the violence Hiroshi was about to hit him with. He didn't move. He was waiting. Hiroshi got close enough, and he begins throwing punches. The 2 of them trade blows relentlessly. Hiroshi wanted to win so bad. Ryukishi didn't care anymore. He kept punching and punching until something different happen.
The 2 of them went at it for almost 3 minutes straight. Their bodies, bruising up as they took more hits. It was only a matter of time before one of them had enough. The 2 men, out of exhaustion and pain began to scream at each other. But then, Hiroshi's punches began to feel weak. He began panting heavily. He was losing his strength. It's almost time
Ryukishi saw one of Hiroshi's punches coming. Instead of taking the hit, he chose to parry it. He moved Hiroshi's swinging left arm further to the right, causing him to lose his balance. He then pushed his apprentice further back. This wasn't to create distance. No, this was a much more elaborate plan.
"What the- "
Hiroshi started to notice; he had tripped on a rock from behind causing him to become even more off-balance. He began to fall down to the ground. Ryukishi seized the opportunity, pushing Hiroshi down to the ground and keeping him frozen by setting up his fist for one last punch. Except, when it flew it didn't hit Hiroshi. Instead, it had stopped right before it hit his face.
"It's over Hiroshi."