(Disclaimer from the author: Okay guys, I'm not some Shaolin monk or professional MMA fighter, so before you read the rest,you should know that this is all creative liberty. If anything about the next bit just seems cringe or totally wrong to you, leave a comment, I'm desperately in need of some constructive criticism, just make sure to go easy on me please 🥺🥺🥺)
«okay, so we don't have much time, the first expedition is in two weeks, so we'll only be able to cover the basics of combat »
Neo suddenly heard another voice, this one resembling his.
«but i already can fight »
«street fighting is very different from what we're here for. This should help you deal with any low level thugs or anyone else that wants to exploit the fact that you don't have an ability»
Neo's vision once again flickered and he found himself in a room that looked like a gym,in front of him was a blonde haired boy that was demonstrating some moves in front of him.
"Are these my memories?"
Once again his vision blurred and he found himself in the center of his attackers
Neo had no idea who this blondie was but it seemed like he wanted to help.
«first of all,if you ever find yourself surrounded and outnumbered you need to set up a defensive perimeter. You can't just go around attacking recklessly, you'll tire out that way, instead,create a mental image of a circle around you, this way you can determine who's closer to you and who should be taken out quicker, but be careful, make it too small, and you'll be unable to move, make it too big and you'll be ignoring the whole point which is to conserve energy. This will allow you to conserve energy and give you enough time to think of a solid plan to either escape or win. This method is usually only effective against lower levels or people you can eliminate quickly »
Neo didn't have any other choice but to listen. As fast as he could, he drew up a defensive circle with his legs, with the way his head was hurting, he doubted he could create any mental image.
"Okay, what now?
His vision once again flickered back to the gym.
«now,how to stun enemies. First start with an upward blow at the jaw, but make sure to strike inward towards the neck, this will temporarily block your opponents airflow, and cause swelling,buying you time » The blonde explained while demonstrating in detail.
Neo's vision flickered back and by now someone had crossed his defensive circle. It seemed like they were intentionally taking their time to enjoy this moment, something which Neo was benefiting from.
Neo immediately did as told and aimed straight where the blonde said. His attacker immediately grabbed his neck and looked like he was getting choked as he struggled to get air out.
Neo's face brightened, but he didn't get distracted and quickly punched his opponents face, knocking him out.
The others suddenly stopped and looked at the one Neo had gotten. They all suddenly seemed less careless as they started moving to attack him.
«If you want to score lots of damage,aim for the knees,heart,throat and spine. If you want to draw it out or focus on blocking,aim for the head, elbow,shins, and wrists. The head one is only applicable when fighting barehanded»
From then on till the end, Neo would hear fighting tips and advice, sometimes even reappearing in the gym to see it in detail. Although Neo wasn't exactly well practiced, just those small tips were enough to deal with a few street thugs that didn't have abilities.
Neo quickly finished up there. He looked around at the small team he had taken out on the floor.... hopefully knocked out. He had never felt so alive before...or had he?
He didn't have time to think and he quickly ran out in the direction where Jesse went.
A different memory suddenly started playing in his head.
«Alright buddy,Max sparred with you last week,so it's my turn this time»
Neo listened attentively, learning that the previous blondie was called Max.
«Max taught you how to deal with large groups of opponents,so I'll teach you about the nature of attacks. You've heard of a piercing or penetrating strike and a heavy strike, right?»
Neo's vision flickered again as he found himself in the gym, this time with a dark haired boy.
«Have you always noticed how in video games , heavy attacks are always slower? Turns out it isn't just a video game mechanic. When performing a heavy attack, you need to flex extra hard and then use your entire body to strike in a way that distributes the damage equally at a certain area, this causes less potent damage, but damage in more areas overall, about as many as you'd need two or three penetrating attacks, the amount of intense flexing you'd have to do as well as punching with your entire body is the main reason for the slow speed. Penetrating attacks however require you to tense up your muscles rather than flex, and release all the energy as quick as possible, making your attack super fast and mostly concentrated in one area, however the amount of damage in that one area will be super potent and reach deeper. Both have their own uses,for example, if you're planning on dealing a critical hit at a wounded area, piercing is the way to go, but if you're trying to block and counter or meet an attack head on,or maybe even planning on minimizing your damage output, but maximizing the area of damage go heavy all the way»
Neo immediately flickered back after seeing the demonstration and immediately felt like he already knew it for some reason.
«This method is super useful, but pretty difficult. I talked to Max and even Zen uses this. But he said he calls it something weird like hammer and needle or something like that»
Zen? Who was that? Would he be giving him another lesson?
«of course you can just use a regular attack which is faster than a heavy strike but doesn't have the added bonuses of either. Make sure to use these attacks carefully as they take massive amounts of stamina, but the payoff is worth it, so don't hesitate when it needs to be done »
Neo got a few more pointers, and although his technique was below even the most basic mastery,it was enough.
Perhaps he was just talented, but Neo felt like he already had a bit of experience with these moves. His headache briefly intensified, but he shook it off and kept going.
The crystal. Use it, you'll save her quicker.
Neo paused momentarily, considering it before shaking off the thought.
"No! I can do this"
Neo was suddenly confronted by another group and immediately tried his new skills. He planted his foot on the ground as firmly as he could and clenched his fist, flexing his muscles and compressing tendons as much as he possible could, and released all the force in one punch, curving his fist and leaning forward, putting the force of his entire body into the strike.
The unlucky recipient of the attack was sent flying at least a meter back and then onto his back. A few seconds later, he stood up, mostly fine, but clearly damaged.
Neo winced in pain. He didn't know if he imagined it, but it felt like his fist had bounced off slightly at the end. He finally understood why he was warned to use it carefully. Although the hit had landed, his muscles in not just his arm, but in his legs and torso were slightly aching.
Neo ignored the pain and quickly dodged an attack before trying a piercing strike towards his opponents back.
This technique required a more loose and close stance as opposed to the heavy strike's wide stance, meaning he could easily loose his footing.
Neo tensed his muscles, this time pulling and stretching them out for a second before releasing.
Neo could have sworn he heard something like a pop as his fist catapulted almost out of his control, landing on his opponents back.
Neo didn't even have time to assess the damage as he was catapulted a few steps back from the force andspeed of his own punch. Consequently this also meant most of the force behind the attack was wasted, dealing almost no damage.
Neo ignored the familiar aching. He knew that his lack of practice was what caused his attacks to keep bouncing off and back towards him, but there was nothing he could do about that now.
His superior ability was evident as he took out all his opponents while taking only a few hits.
Neo quickly finished up and kept running towards the abandoned building, hoping it was still Jesse's base of operations.
Neo got there without any trouble and started looking around for his sister.
"Iris? Where are you?"
Neo suddenly heard muffled screams that sounded like they came from his sister.
"Iris!"
He immediately ran in the direction the voice was coming from.
"You!"
Neo was filled with rage as he saw his sister tied up and gagged while being forced to sit on the floor with Jesse standing above her.
"Oh, about time you showed up. I was getting bored "
"I'm gonna kill you!"
Jesse laughed before kicking his sister towards the ground,an act which almost sent Neo over the edge.
"Before we get to it,are you sure there's nothing you wish to do? Maybe prepare? Say your goodbyes?"
Use the crystal and crush him. His arrogance will be his downfall.
Neo softly squeezed the crystal in his pocket but slowly released it. He didn't need it. Jesse was a normal human after all. He would crush him with his own might!
Almost like he could hear his thoughts, Jesse smirked.
"Alright then. Come and try it"
Without thinking Neo charged in and immediately aimed a heavy strike straight for Jesse's head, planning on finishing this as soon as possible.
Jesse suddenly disappeared completely from his vision, like he had teleported.
"Over here" Jesse taunted from behind him before punching Neo in the back of the head.
Neo fell, disoriented. He got up as quickly as he could, but Jesse for some reason, let him and didn't take the opportunity to hit him.
Neo put some distance between them and suspiciously scrutinized Jesse who was standing there with his hands behind his back.
He briefly questioned how Jesse was able to do that but quickly ignored it when he started thinking about the crystal again .
He threw another punch , this time going for a quick piercing strike to make sure he couldn't dodge.
Jesse snarled and lifted his hand, catching Neo's fist in his hand seemingly effortlessly.
"Big mistake" Jesse suddenly kicked Neo in the side, squeezing his fist in his hand to make sure he couldn't escape, before throwing a punch of his own, sending Neo flying.
Neo coughed up blood. He was fairly sure his internal organs were damaged.
He quickly got up, cleaning some of the blood from his lips.
He stared at Jesse, confused. How could he be this powerful? What was going on?
Jesse laughed maniacally and suddenly opened his palm. A large ball of fire suddenly appeared in his hand and flew towards Neo.
Neo's eyes widened as he jumped and rolled, managing to dodge. The ball of fire missed him and landed on the wall behind him, exploding into a terrifying inferno.
"But that's not possible..its-"
He had to dodge again as Jesse once again attacked him, this time with ice.
Neo looked at Jesse, visible apprehension in his eyes. His will was weakening.
Another burst of laughter escaped Jesse's lips as he suddenly began to grow and rip through his clothes as his height, width, and everything else about his body began to grow to a monstrous size of over three meters.
Neo rolled and quickly got up using a technique he learned from one of the memories. With a final burst of speed,Neo dashed towards Jesse while he still had his arms raised and with all his strength landed a heavy strike on his abdomen.
*Clank!*
Neo felt like he had punched solid steel as he reeled back in pain. His hand bones had definitely been broken.
It was hard to tell what facial expression was on the hideous and grotesque face of Jesse, but he could still recognize the deep boom of laughter that sounded like it came from the devil himself.
Jesse lifted his foot which was about as large as Neo's torso and kicked him with the bottom of his foot sending him flying into the wall.
Neo coughed blood. He was a hundred percent sure his ribs were broken.
Not waiting for him to get up,Jesse raised his hand which started to crackle with electricity. He pointed his finger at Neo and fired a bolt of electricity at him causing him to fly across the room again.
"H-how?"
Neo gritted his teeth and tried to stand up when Jesse snapped his fingers. The entire room filled with more of Jesse's lackeys who immediately began to punch and kick Zen on the ground.
"Look at you. Wasted and worthless on the ground. I should kill you right now... but,if you beg me, perhaps i might let you live".
Amidst all the beatings,Neo still managed to hear him and reply.
"Go to hell"
Jesse seemed to have lost all his patience as he dispersed his goons and grabbed Neo by his neck with his colossal hands.
Neo struggled as hard as he could. This couldn't be the end, there had to be more. He racked his brain trying to remember anything, anything at all that could help him, but nothing came to mind.
Jesse positioned his fist in front of Neo's face.
"You have failed!"
Neo internally panicked.
"No no. This can't be it, there has to be more. There should be more!"
Jesse's fist landed on Neo's face, causing him to black out again.