The Eyes of Fate (Currently in Rewrite)

Bruised not Beaten

Sentinel

The Eyes of Fate Headquarters

Washington State, USA

October 2nd, 2019

"Your forms all look good." Ranger said, nodding approvingly at the way Sentinel was standing after delivering his punch. "You almost look like a properly trained fighter now."

"Thank you, Ranger," Sentinel said, relaxing his stance and putting his feet together. Ranger had been working Sentinel through the very basics of fighting for almost an hour. It had started with basic forms for punching, kicking, and blocking. Ranger had shown him the form, then had him do it over and over until his form was right. Then he had to start chaining them together into basic move combinations.

"Now we're going to put it into practice." Ranger said, a small smile playing at his lips. He stepped onto the mats that Sentinel had been training in, the same ones that Fang had pinned him to earlier, and rolled his shoulders. "Come at me."

Sentinel didn't bother asking if Ranger was sure, instead opting to act. He stepped into Ranger, throwing a few testing jabs at his face and body, which the other man slapped away easily. Taking a page from Fang's book, he threw a snap kick at Ranger, who ducked it. The follow up backhand Ranger caught, then threw a punch into the center of his chest. Sentinel backed up, wanting to rub at his chest but knowing that Ranger would only take advantage of that if he did. 

"Not bad," Ranger said. "Let's see how your defense is this time."

Ranger moved in fast, throwing a straight punch at his face. Sentinel slapped it to the side, then followed up by trying to knee Ranger in the stomach. Ranger caught his knee with both hands and pushed it back down, then tried to slam a fist into his stomach. Sentinel tensed his stomach, trying to keep the hit from causing much damage, but Ranger was strong. The punch broke through his tensed-up muscles and pushed deep into his guts. He retched, and Ranger gently lowered him to the ground.

"Good work, Sentinel." Ranger said, sitting next to him as he tried desperately to suck in air. "Honestly, if you'd had the strength for it, that block would've worked great."

"Thanks," Sentinel wheezed. "Damn you're strong."

"Comes with the territory." Ranger laughed. "You'll bulk up too, in time."

"Weight training?" Sentinel asked, his breath finally catching up to him again. His stomach was hurting less, but he could tell it would be a very colorful bruise tomorrow.

"Only a little bit of that, and only if your strength doesn't improve from the rest of your training. Most of us work out some anyway, just to stay strong and work off some steam without fighting."

"Do you guys have a gym here then?"

"Oh yeah, we've got all sorts of rooms for different things. A gym, a library, gaming rooms, living rooms. I'll give you the grand tour after we get back from town today."

"Oh right, I forgot about that!" Sentinel said, pushing himself off the ground. "When do we leave?"

"Once we're done training, and we get cleaned up, we'll go. Don't worry, they won't leave without us."

Ranger pushed himself off the ground as well.

"Let's go again, shall we?"

Instead of answering, Sentinel merely got into the fighting stance that Ranger had showed him. Ranger mirrored him, and they advanced on each other.

Ranger seemed to take it easier on him this time, his moves slower than they had been. He was also a bit less brutal, his moves less targeted to vital spots and giving Sentinel more obvious counters.