Training Amongst Trash (Dar)

Zarakc said that he could indeed fly, but then just stood there. Dar was starting to get annoyed. He had wanted a demonstration, not just a short answer. Zarakc, whether he knew it or not, was testing his patience. Perhaps his first impression of the lost man had been wrong.

Dar got an idea. He removed his heavy sheathed sword and placed it on the ground. He found an old broom handle with no head and took a few practice swings with it. Turning towards Zarakc, he smiled.

"Well then, you seem to have everything all figured out. Next I want to see your combat skills. You will fight me, and I will fight you. Use your powers as you see fit. Defend. Attack." Dar's grin turned sinister. "Survive."

His powers were not active right now, so Dar was just a normal human. A normal human in good physical condition, but a mere human none-the-less. He didn't want to kill Zarakc, just beat a little wisdom into him.

Running forward, Dar planned to bring the broom handle crashing down on Zarakc's head, assuming he didn't get pushed aside by the wind first. He had seen Zarakc make those hand gestures, and would be watching for something similar.

Zarakc seemed curious as to what Dar was doing with the wood stick in his hand as he swung it around a few times. Everything figured out? It certainly felt like he was from far that. Dar wished to test Zarakc's combat skills? That would certainly be interesting as Zarakc was not aware as to what those would actually encompass, considering he was just in combat once before. There was the question in his mind as to if Dar had powers, perhaps it would be answered with this.

"Sounds interesting, though I am uncertain how well I can fight you." Zarakc simply stated in response, he was unaware if Dar had any special abilities and he was not much of an experienced fighter, though perhaps this would be a helpful exercise. Only time would tell.

Zarakc stole in a quick breath as he jumped backwards to give himself some space, and thus a little time. Channeling his energy, he made a shallow diagonal motion with two of his fingers, starting from right to left. Right after the motion, a surge of wind picked up in front of Dar and rushed hard against his feet as he crossed it, clearly an attempt to knock him off balance.

Regardless were that to succeed or not, Zarakc leapt back again and turned around and started to run in the opposite direction, taking in a deep breath as he did so, getting ready to use his powers again to try to avoid letting Dar get too close to him or hopefully manage to avoid an attack if the former did not work out exactly.

Dar saw Zarakc's gesture with his hands and jumped to the side, avoiding the diagonal slash of wind. It didn't damage the ground as he passed it, so it hadn't been an actual attack. Zarakc was simply trying to slow him down and throw him off balance.

As he got closer, Zarakc started to run away. If Dar had been using his powers, he would have been able to catch up to Zarack very quickly. But right they were pretty evenly paced. "Don't worry about it. You'll do fine." Zarakc was running away a little too much for Dar's taste, but it wasn't a big problem. The idea that moving away from your opponent showed cowardice denoted stupidity. There were times when tactical advantage could be gained from increasing distance. Considering Zarakc's powers were easily used at range and Dar was only holding a stick, it was the natural response. Good, the boy wasn't an idiot.

Dar scooped up a small steep pipe about ten inches long and threw it at the back of Zarakc's head. Again, it was only as hard as a normal human could throw, so it wouldn't cause any serious injuries to Zarakc if it connected. This junkyard was full of things Dar could use as projectiles, so Dar decided to make use of them. He scooped up a baseball next and threw it after Zarakc.

As Dar jumped out of the way of the slash of wind meant to try and trip him up, the idea that Zarakc's hand signals also illustrated in a general sense of what he would try to do with his powers. Perhaps he could go about making the hand signals in a different manner as to not let Dar know what he would do. That was an idea, though right now that's all it was.

Zarakc peered behind him as he kept his stored energy, managing to catch site of the steel pipe being sent toward him. Reacting quickly, he made a swatting motion of one of his hands, a gust of wind interfering with the pipes path as he ducked slightly. He managed to avoid getting hit by the pipe and looked back at Dar again, seeing him pick up a baseball and throw it at him.

With a downward motion of one hand, palm flat, fingers spread, Zarakc let out a gust of air that rushed on top of the baseball. The baseball's travel arc was abruptly ended from the surge of wind that dropped down on top of it, causing it to land near Zarakc's feet. After the baseball had hit the ground, he ceased moving. He turned around watching Dar as he took in a breath, a small breeze being felt moving towards Zarakc as he did so.

Fighting was not much of Zarakc's strong suit, or at least not that he was aware. 'Defend. Attack.' was what had been said, so perhaps he should try out some attack. His eyes watched Dar, waiting for his next move to decide his own. Perhaps once he was more accustomed to combat he would make the first move, but for now, he was certainly used to a responsive methodology.

Zarakc used the wind to redirect both of Dar's attacks. He already had more control over his power than he realized. Zarakc stopped moving, and Dar grinned as the lost boy waited for Dar to make a strike. He was going to react to Dar's attack instead of making his own. This was what Dar was more interested to see.

Dar closed the distance between them, bringing his wooden stick above his head with both hands. He swung it down, but it stopped suddenly. He had only feinted the attack, and now he brought the weapon to the side to strike at Zarakc's ribs. As Dar's boots slid on the gravel to a stop, a fraction of a second went by for Zarakc to make his reaction.

Well Zarakc had what he was looking for. Dar was coming on him and quickly closed the distance between the two of them. As much as he wanted to simply use a direct blast of wind to attempt to push Dar away from him, the amount of power he would use would no doubt end up getting him caught up in the blast as well. Whatever he decided to go with, he was certainly going to have to do it fast.

As Dar began to bring the wooden stick down in a two-hand swing, Zarakc dropped down, sliding his feet across the ground and to the right as he caught himself with his hands. With the motion of his feet, he released his stored energy. A massive surge of wind started from his left and proceeded to rush towards his right. The intent was to knock Dar away a bit, or possibly knock him off balance, and with his own center of gravity lowered, he was not affected by the wind as much as he would have been standing. There was just the slight problem that if this did not work, his head was certainly the closest part of his body to where the actual attack had been aimed at, leaving him rather vulnerable should Dar be able to hold his ground and continue with his attack.

Zarakc ducked down, way down, and spun on his hands to whirl a combination of inertia and wind into Dar's ankle. Dar was tripped and fell, though he thought he felt his broom handle connect with Zarakc's head. Then again, it could have just been his own head hitting the gravel below.

Dar's vision was blurry for a while. He decided that he had seen enough of Zarakc's fighting skill. Untrained and lost as he might be, Zarakc was capable of defending himself. Dar laughed. He remembered that Zarakc had seemed confused when he had laughed before, so he decided to explain. "That is laughter, and it's the sound people make when they're pleased." Dar sat up to look at Zarakc, a little bit of red now showing in his long white hair. "I am pleased with your fighting skills. Not everyone could have done that."

Of course, Dar hadn't been using his powers, which meant that Zarakc was far from the murder machine that Dar was seeking, but he would do fine for now. Dar was hungry. He had found little to eat since arriving in Jump City, and the little money he once had was now gone. It was time to make his move.

"It's time to throw down the gauntlet." Dar smiled at Zarakc. "Get some rest. Tomorrow, we are going to steal a semi full of food from a grocery store. We are going to show the people of Jump City that they cannot simply throw us away, like this trash. If anyone has a problem with that, then we will meet them head on. Meet me here tomorrow when the sun is high in the sky. Then we will put our plan into motion."

Zarakc winced as the broom handle met with his head, the blow working to blur his vision for some time. Perhaps that maneuver was not the best course of action, at least the whole getting Dar to be pushed off balance thing worked out. He had been quite ready to move again before he heard Dar make that sound again. So that is what the sound was all about.

Zarakc sat up as Dar said he was pleased with the fighting skills Zarakc had displayed. Well that was good it seemed. "Do you have powers?" He inquired as he rubbed the side of his head gently. It did not seem that Dar had done anything out of the ordinary during their short fight, though perhaps that was just because Zarakc was not the most capable fighter himself.

Throw down the gauntlet? Why where there so many phrases people used that did not seem to make all too much sense? Zarakc displayed a small sense of confusion as Dar said that phrase before continuing on about his plan to steal a semi full of food. "I do not understand everything you said. I do not believe I have been thrown away, but I am able to meet you here if you are unable to discuss what you meant now." He replied, his tone sounding authentic. He certainly did not get the purpose of stealing their semi full of food that Dar spoke of, or how it was tied to their being thrown away, but he could and would certainly be here at the designated time. It wasn't like he had much else going on anyway.

Zarakc had asked if Dar had any powers, and Dar nodded. "I do. I can push my physical body beyond normal limitations." He decided to demonstrate. It was only fair. After all, Zarakc had indulged Dar's curiosity. Dar walked over to an old rusted car. He activated his power, siphoning the rage from all corners of the universe into his body. The energy was invigorating and filled him with a bloodlust. This bloodlust would become harder to leave unsatisfied the longer Dar used it, so he decided to make this quick.

Dar reached out and grabbed the car with one hand. He grunted, and the car lifted into the air above his head. This was the power of wrath. He set the car down again and deactivated his power. Slowly, the urge to slaughter everything faded away.

Dar smiled. Confused as he was, Zarakc had agreed to help steal the semi full of food. With a bountiful supply of food, Dar would be better able to focus on his long term plans. Zarakc would meet Dar here the next day, and they would carry out their heist. "It is impossible to know everything," he said to Zarakc's concerns. "All you need to know is that stealing this semi will teach you more about yourself. You want to learn about yourself, and that is a noble goal. It is perhaps one of the greatest accomplishments anyone can achieve. I will see you tomorrow, and then you will learn more."

Dar turned and walked back in the direction of his claymore. He would need to pick it up before scouting out tomorrow's mission. Gaining food alone didn't seem like a very exciting goal, but stealing a semi sure did. After doing something like that, Jump City wouldn't be able to ignore him anymore.

Dar's grin grew wider. Perfect.

Zarakc sat on the ground as he watched Dar make his way towards a rusted car. Dar's actions were most impressive, it certainly took more than a fair deal of strength to carry out his display of his powers. Watching this made Zarakc quite content that Dar had decided to withhold from using his own powers during their little spar between each other.

Zarakc listened intently as Dar commented more about the plan to steal a semi full of food. He was most certainly uncertain of how this would teach him more about himself, but he was certainly open to trying it out to see if he could indeed learn something. He had yet been able to learn about himself through other means, so this was more of a lead than other paths that led to nowhere.

"I shall be here tomorrow then." Zarakc stood up, having decided to leave for elsewhere to prepare for tomorrow. He wanted to be at his best for tomorrow and that would entail a fair amount of activity. He shifted into his hawk form as Dar was walking back towards his claymore.

Zarakc was still not too keen on the concept of goodbyes yet, the sound of fluttering wings signalling his departure. He began to make his way to more open part of town; the cobalt hawk flying away from their position giving Dar the visual answer to he had been seeking in regard to Zarakc's flight. He would be here again tomorrow, interested in learning more about himself.

OOC: And time for a new thread. I took the liberty of starting one:

https://ttrpg.forumotion.com/t4087-fast-food-zarakc-and-2-heroes#67886