Manifest Revenge [B Tier Job/Solo]

The Island of Tranquility Kata had many movements within it. Hasan demostrated the Kata with a mastery that could only come through the hard work of repitition. The Island of Tranquility was a strange form, in that one was constantly using their hands throughout each movement, even during the movement of the feet. Garret watched as Hassan took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as his hands moved about left and right, up and down. A quick turn with his body while these movements were occurring gave the feel that he was like one of those Mimes, creating a bubble around him with intense speed.

While Hasan's upper body was a blur, the lower body walked in a calm manner. Garret took note that Hasan's hips were the key to the technique, containing the counter force necessary to allow his legs to move at one rate while his upper body was a flurry of motion. "Old man, what is it you are doing?" Garret had asked, as he could make no sense of the movements. Partly due to them being so hard to see, and also due to the fact that Kata was performed in the air, and required a certain visual perception of an opponent in order to accurately define what kind of things the Kata was 'reacting' to. As such, there were times when Garret would require an explanation.

An explanation Hasan was always happy to provide when it came to the River Styx Style. He stopped his Kata and had Garret stand up. "Now, boy. These movements are to help condition your body to move in a full range; it is called the Island of Tranquility because even if there are raging rivers on each side of you, you are set in place and immovable." Hasan directed Garret to throw a series of punches at him, which Garret did. As he did so Hasan's hands followed the direction of each of Garret's punches, connecting on the inside of his attacks and pushing them to the outside. As Garret continued, he noted that the choice of whether to push an attack to the inside or the outside was made by quickly determining which direction would require the least amount of strength behind the technique. This allowed Hasan an excellent amount of stamina management, as he didn't have to work as hard had he simply chosen to block them in random directions. It was certainly the efforts of a superior martial artist.

As Garret continued to send attack after attack towards Hasan, he watched other parts of the man's movements. The breathing was rhythmic, allowing him a constant flow of air in order to replenish his lungs, and also keeping into account the speed at which Garret's attacks were coming; his inhales were coming as Garret's attacks were just leaving the peak of their execution, right after Hasan had blocked them. This breathing technique was important for several reasons; a strike that makes its way through a defense while the lungs are full of air could potentially knock the air out of you and, thus, cause an opening from which an opponent could easily take that opportunity in order to inflect much more serious damage. The second reason was that the exhalation of that air allowed the tightening of muscles. This meant that, should an attack slip through during a defensive technique, one would take minimum damage as the tightened muscles would protect your organs far better than loose muscles. The tightening of muscles did not only offer greater defensive power when taking a hit, but also offered a greater offensive power through the arms. It streamlined the body's movement in order to provide more power through the core and, thus, allowed an easier time of either striking hard or parrying heavy techniques.

Garret soon grew tired as he could not keep up with the monk's abilities. "Ho ho ho ho." Hasan laughed, though it was slightly forced. "If we kept going for much longer you could have outlasted me. Youth is so exuberant. Ho ho ho ho." Hasan had already caught back all the breath he was missing and began to explain to Garret the movements that would need to be made in order to perform the technique effectively. "The barrier that many come up against is that the hands are the only tool you can use to defend. But this is not the case; the elbow is strong, as are the feet and the knees, if you are in a situation where you are hanging from somewhere and need to defend yourself. Most never master the use of anything other than their hands. Since it is very natural to use your hands in every day experiences, it is often the first thing that is learned and mastered. A flat palm can be used to push attacks away, whereas you could also use a curving nature in order to connect the back of your hand to a technique, like so..." Hasan pulled Garret's hand out and made a fist with it. The back of his hand slapped against Garret's arm. "And change the trajectory by either the force of the blow, or by doing this." Hasan's hand moved; the palm was previously parallel to Garret's arm, but now it was perpendicular. The movement displaced Garret's arm slightly. "This technique can also change the trajectory through displacement. The circular movement will add additional force to your block while requiring minimum effort."

Hasan had Garret go through the Kata slowly, learning the various movements that could be done with the fists, feet, elbows and knees. Garret would practice the fists first and, as he came to understand the Kata and the technique better, he would be able to spice it up a little with some different techniques thrown in. They worked on the technique over and over while Hasan gave instructions on when to tuck his hips, how to turn while maintaining the technique and how to walk forward and make sure that no large disruption of the technique was to be had. It was in this manner that Garret learned Redirecting Blows from the Island of Tranquility Kata.
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Hasan was once again demonstrating a Kata. On this day, it was the Flowing Rock Destruction Kata that Hasan was showcasing. Garret watched as the old man moved forward, causing a flurry of blows to fly in all directions. The purpose of what looked to be a technique between his movements and other definable techniques, seemed to be to deal quick damage to multiple individuals in a short period of time. The blows Hasan was striking with looked as if they could knock a man back several feet, and deal quite a bit of hurt, but Garret knew he was not quite at that level yet. The fluid interchange between different types of attacks impressed Garret; even when there were consecutive punches, there were different kinds. The uppercut, the corkscrew punch, the vertical punch, the hook punch. Garret swore he had even seen a few rising punches in there, if those weren't movements to some other technique that he had yet to define. Hasan did not stop at simply throwing punches, however. Side kicks, roundhouse kicks and front kicks were all thrown at varying speeds. As, too, were elbow techniques and knee techniques.

Nearing the end of the Kata, Hasan had performed some strange movement and burst forward, continuing another series of strikes after having turned around. Garret watched as these blows were sent through the air and took note at their movements and the shifting of Hasan's body.

"Boy," Hasan began, "At your current level, this technique will not inflict heavy wounds to an opponent. It will, however, create an opportunity to warn those that are around you that you mean business. And, you never know, should you aim some of those attacks at vital places you could have an opponent down for the count." Hasan explained that both the crotch and the head were known for being fight-enders, though Garret was already quite aware of that.

Hasan began to direct Garret on the movements, providing suggestions for different techniques and explaining that he should have a rotation, and that he should learn several sets of rotations so as to randomize his attacks and not become predictable during such a technique. Garret continued under the directions, throwing out two punches, a kick, an elbow and two more punches. Hasan approved, but still gave advice. "Boy, you should work on varying the different kinds of punches you use as well. A straightforward punch is nice, but occasionally throw in an uppercut, even if it's a feint, or perhaps a hook punch or roundhouse punch."

Garret's posture was commented on as well, as Hasan began to impress upon him the necessity of his feet being firmly rooted for his attacks to be the most effective. "It's fine if a few of your attacks don't deal the optimal damage, but make sure that some of your attacks get a good lick in." Hasan explained that should his heel be off the ground during an attack, it caused a spring-like action which would divert some of the energy from his attack which would render the attack less effective.
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Having just worked on the Water Corrosion technique that was in the Flowing Rock Destruction Kata, Garret took note of another movement that interested him within it. He wasn't sure exactly how it worked, and couldn't get it down with how he was practicing it. Garret turned to Hasan and made a request. "Could you, again, show me this part of the Kata?"

"Ho ho ho ho. Paying attention where the action was, but choosing to overlook the truly unique part of the Kata? Well, lets show it to you again." Hasan was joyous in his teasing as he stood in place and took a breath. His breathing technique was just as good as ever, and he moved through the Kata with the practiced ease he had used earlier. When it got to the point where Garret was having difficulties, he kept careful look at Hasan. Using a circular motion, Hasan sent his right arm into a blocking technique. The back of his hand was parallel to the wall, as if resting on the outside of an opponent's arm. His footwork was almost too fast to follow, as he shifted himself to the left in preparation for a series of steps that occurred at high speeds. His left foot was in the back, which he moved in a semi-circular motion and thus made it the forward foot. The movement itself was quite fluid, but Garret knew that it was not the only part of this footwork. The setup from before became apparent as to what it was used for; that sidestep would be necessary for the user of the technique to then move their right back foot in a semi-circular motion. The changes in the trajectory of the body caused a wave of energy to ripple through the user, and when that wave reached the left foot, Hasan kicked off with the energy backing it which had bust him forward.

Garret nodded to himself. "I believe I understand how it works, now." Garret followed his own way through the Kata. He was a bit more sloppy during the Water Corrosion technique, as it was still a new technique to him, and he wanted to instead focus on this new technique that Hasan had called Fish Swims Upstream. Garret focused his strength. His left foot was in the back, and his right hand moved to do a right middle-block. He copied the movements that Hasan had shown him, moving his rear left foot to the front in a half-circle and then moving his right foot forward in the opposite half-circle. He could feel the shift of his weight as his center of gravity changed and the energy hit the apex. When that happened, Garret pushed off the ground with his back foot and felt an exhilarating rush as he moved forward.

"Ho ho ho ho. Garret, you forgot to side step. If you do that with an actual opponent in front of you, you will find yourself tripping over their leg. Ho ho ho ho." Hasan laughed; it was a simple mistake that didn't really effect him since he wasn't actually facing up against anyone. Hasan quickly changed that, however, telling Garret to try it again with him as the opponent.

Garret attempted the technique again, this time minding the side-step. Hasan approved of Garret's grasp on the basics, but told him he should continue to practice not only the Kata, but the techniques as well. And so, Garret's training continued.

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Near the beginning of the Flowing Rock Destruction Kata, Garret saw Hasan perform an attack that looked particularly well defined. Had he had to describe it, it would have been like the sight of a spear thrusting forward at a fast rate. The ripple of sinewy muscle while the strike was in progress did nothing to belie it's penetrative force and looked like a particularly deadly technique. "That strike," Garret would ask, "What are the principle movements behind it?"


Hasan laughed. "Ho ho ho ho. It's good of you to be interested. This is actually a basic technique from our style that, after years of training and mastery, it has become a spear arm that I can use in order to take out even some of the most difficult of foes. It begins with the same technique as the Tranquil Strike, if you recall that technique from the Calm Surface Kata. It utilizes the same principles of knowing the movements of your muscles and snapping them in place at a moment notice. This time, however, it is in a straight piercing line. There is no variation with this attack, as it cuts straight to the heart of basics." Hasan was explaining to an attentive Garret the differences between the two attacks, and that while this one both aims to travel the shortest distance to its target and utilizes the tensing of the muscles in order to streamline the attack, it is actually an attack that utilizes the nature of reverse punches by switching from the horse stance to the front stance and creating additional energy in a forward motion. The technique can, of course, be used without those circumstances, however as always when leaving out parts of an attack, the outcome is less favorable. Hasan warned Garret against cutting corners.

Garret began practicing the strike over and over, in succession, and under the directions of Hasan who continued his tutoring and advice over the course of Garret's training.

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Hasan was again practicing the Calm Water Form, and Garret was practicing alongside him. The difference in technique was noticeable, but Garret knew the Kata well enough to sacrifice some of his power and keep up in the speed of Hasan. However, it wasn't that Garret was as fast as Hasan was, when it came to the techniques; group Kata were deliberately performed at a slower pace than what the fastest runner of the form was used to running. This was so that they could view the techniques in unison while comparing and contrasting the differences in order to determine where work was needed. The two of them continued several sets of the Kata when Hasan stopped and began watching Garret.

He provided a few pointers about one of the slower parts of the Kata. "Tranquil Parry is much like Tranquil Strike," Hasan began, "You want your block to be able to stop an attack, even under the guise of not being ready for it. Should you wish to bait an attack out, the concept behind this technique will allow you to seem more defenseless than you truly are. And it will also be there for your need when you have to block an attack that you are waiting for the last moment for, in order to draw your opponent in."

Garret understood what Hasan was getting at, and recalled the various forms of advice Hasan had given him in order to improve his Tranquil Strike technique. Applying those concepts to this new technique, Garret continually practiced the movement under the direction and tutelage of Hasan.

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"No, no. That's wrong. After the Tranquil Parry is the Pond Reflects, Garret. This technique isn't quite the same as the Tranquil Parry; it's a preparatory block. You must be aware of the opponent and ready to defend against their attack in order to utilize it properly." Hasan moved Garret's hands so that they were back in their original positions. "Now, after your hand moves into the position to perform a Tranquil Parry, make sure that your other hand is moving at the end of that technique to get ready for the Pond Reflects technique."


Garret followed the instructions, working towards the goal of mastering this other block as well. Hasan explained to Garret that the basics become the foundation of all of the techniques that are taught, and could provide him with the experience and muscle memory required of a martial artist. The technique would meet the other technique in question and provide the defense required in order to divert it. Garret practiced this technique as Hasan sent varying strikes at him; a low kick was blocked by Garret's knee, his hand was in position as a punch came in, which he diverted by pushing the attack upwards. Another punch came through from below, and Garret's elbow came smashing down to break the new attack.

"Good, good. That's how's it's done." Hasan offered encouragement to Garret's movements as they continued to practice. "Don't forget, should you by lying down on the ground and the attack can be blocked, make good use of your feet. But take care not to get cut." It was his final advice before they simply continued their training and Garret worked to perfect the techniques.

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