Not powerless

chapter 13: Leaps

“And here I thought there was more of a tree in you. At least you’re better than the twig you started as.”

That might have sounded encouraging to Izuku had it been said when he first started training with Tataka, but given that he’d just been slammed to the ground, again, it most certainly didn’t.

He’d been training with the four armed goat man for two months now. The first month was all conditioning. It was hell on earth, or wherever this place was, but the results were more than worth it. By the end of it, his muscles were more defined across his entire body, and he had the beginnings of abs. Koui actually fainted when he saw it for the first time, and Izuku had to conjure a long stick to keep the boy away for a few days after.

In the second month, Tataka introduced fighting to the mix. Izuku was taught martial arts forms which looked vaguely similar to what he’d read online, but it was mixed with something else. A more fluid style which allowed Tataka, over seven foot tall that he was, to nimbly and flexibly avoid every attempt Izuku had ever made to hit him. It was quite annoying.

“Your forms are only the beginning, because they require honour on the part of your opponent. They’ll be useless to you against a bastard or a shithead,” Tataka said.

“So how do I make them not useless?” Izuku asked.

“You must feel the flow of the fight, ride its rhythms. Do that, and you will never be dictated by your opponents actions.”

Tataka had him sit down while he moved around him.

“The bitch is teaching you magic, yes? Those skills will serve you well but they’re not necessary to understanding this,” he said, “now close your eyes. Forget everything else, just focus on the feel of my movement.”

Izuku did so. Tataka prowled around him, moving in and out. Occasionally, he would drill the forms again. Izuku could see him through his Sight, but as he paid attention, he started to get what his teacher was trying to convey. The only thing he could liken it to was air currents. It was a pressure moving in waves, generated by Tataka’s movements. It wasn’t air though, and it wasn’t entirely tangible, but Izuku felt it all the same.

They sparred again, and Izuku tried honing in on that feeling. It was difficult to do. His brain was constantly telling him to watch Tataka’s hands, mind his feet, pay attention to his opponent. The small pulses of pressure were hard to pick up, but then suddenly Tataka used his second left arm. Izuku had moved in for a punch of his own, ducking beneath Tataka’s guard when he felt it. It was small, a wave of pressure heading towards him, so he did what his teacher told him to do.

He rode it.

He allowed the pressure to move his body, riding it so he dipped beneath Tataka’s surprise punch, twisting around him and jabbing him in the ribs. So taken aback was he, that Tataka immediately swung around, smacking him to the ground again. When Izuku looked up, the goat man had an enormous grin on his face.

“There’s the tree.”

They kept at it for about an hour before Tataka called them to a halt. Izuku peeled himself off the floor, doing his best to catch his breath. He’d managed to get a few more hits in, but mainly he’d managed to dodge Tataka a lot more than he had before. Moving with the rhythm of the fight and letting Tataka’s own moves push him away certainly helped, but the man was incredibly fast so it was difficult to match him.

“You’ve certainly improved these last two months. You’re keeping up with your training outside of these walls, yes?”

“I am.”

“And the bitch has stopped drooling over you?”

“If you mean Koui, he’s been drooling over me since I met him, but about this specific thing, yes he’s stopped.”