On a String

Chapter 2

His guard was extremely careless- especially on his left side- and he provided Jay with a huge number of openings, which the blue ninja never took, of course.

After several more minutes, the two Ninja stopped and there was an exchange of sparring partners. Jay joined Cole on the side lines as Zane squared up against Lloyd. The Nindroid proved to be a better match for the younger ninja. He at least pressed his attack, making Lloyd think about keeping his guard up properly. Zane moved a lot more precisely than Jay had, as well.

The blue ninja was energetic and joyful - both good personality qualities, Kai reflected- but he continually let that distract him and needed to think more about the situation at hand. By contrast, Zane was tidy and controlled. However, too much of that good thing was...well, not so good. The Nindroid looked a little stiff when he executed several moves. He had amazing techniques, but just needed to flow more.

If a fighter didn't flow when they fought, then it was easy to lose momentum and let the opposition gain the upper hand by exploiting that weakness.

"Good evening, Kai," the ninja was interrupted from his thoughts and looked up to Sensei Wu walking out of the doorway next to where he was sitting.

"Good evening, Sensei," Kai replied, noticing the fading light for the first time as the sun sunk behind the desert sand. He expected his teacher to keep walking, but was surprised when the Master sat down next to him instead.

There was a small silence between teacher and student before Sensei spoke again. "It's most unlike you to sit down and observe," he noted.

"That's...very observant of you, Sensei," Kai replied. Normally, it would have been said jokingly, served with a smile and earning a groan from anyone who overheard. But this time, his tone was empty, bordering on dull.

"So, what have you noticed?" the Master asked.

Kai paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, not noticing the slight frown flicker across Sensei Wu's features. "Well, everyone has a fighting style very much like their personality. Jay's energetic, but that can lead to him making careless mistakes and missing openings in his opponent's defense. Lloyd is a bit more reckless, but he forgets to use his guard properly while trying to prove himself and impress everyone else. He needs to learn that a good fighter is skilled at both attack and defense. Zane is very precise, and technically correct with all his moves. But he doesn't flow from each move to the next. For example, he'll be doing a kick with a circular motion, before coming in with a front kick. If he could do two movements with a similar motion, such as a roundhouse and a reverse hook kick, he would be much harder to stop,"

(Gravity was hard to stop...)

Sensei Wu nodded, turning to watch as Cole and Jay sparred. "Very observant, Kai. What about Cole's fighting style?"

Kai shifted, scuffing one boot along the ship's deck as he watch the Ninja of Earth spar. "He's very...down to earth I suppose. He's got a rather honest fighting style. He uses his strength to his advantage. The downside of that is he can be a bit too reliant on using power, and that makes it easier to second guess what technique he will use next. Fighting isn't all about strength. Sometimes, you need to be sneaky and agile. A solid punch to the gut and a quick finger strike to the throat both have the same effect of stopping your enemy, but one requires a lot more strength and is a lot easier to see coming than the other,"

(...Free-fall...)

Sensei Wu didn't comment-just looked at Kai curiously. The sound of weapons clanging together drifted on the sluggish evening breeze. Eventually, Sensei spoke again. "How did your mission go?"