When the Titans Fall

Sparring

Sparring practice. That was the last training of the day. And the one Fox had been dreading. She'd never been in a fight before, never even learned how to throw a punch. Now she had to learn to break someone's neck in one solid blow. It didn't help that the instructor was Alpha, who was firstly, unstable and secondly, had punched a dent in metal not an hour ago and sustained no sign of injury. Needless to say, nervous was an understatement for how Fox felt. As she stepped into the boxing ring in the middle of the gym area, Alpha pointed at her, then mimed snapping something in two, then pointed again, first at himself, then at his arm.
"You want me to try to break your arm?"
He shook his head and pointed at Bravo, who sighed.
"He says you WILL break his arm or..." He shot a glance at Alpha who nodded. Another sigh. "You break his arm or he'll break yours."
"You... WHAT!" Yelped Fox.
Alpha held up three fingers, then two, then one. He closed his fist and threw a punch. Fox closed her eyes as his hand flew at her face, expected to feel her nose shatter. It didn't. Nothing happened. She opened her eyes to see, and realized Alpha was lightly gripping her left arm behind her back. Fox took a deep breath, then whirled, slamming her fist into his elbow like a hammer. He didn't even flinch. Slowly, his other arm rose. He swirled his hand around. The message was clear. "Again".
She brought her fist back and desperatly slammed his elbow again. This time there was a sickening pop and Alpha let go, arm dangling limply beneath the dislocated socket.
His other hand came up again and felt the joint. He nodded at her and hammered his fist into the his elbow, resulting in a crack and a quiet hiss of pain as the bone slid back into place. He wriggled his fingers, clenched his hand then nodded to her, pointing to join the others.
Fox did, wordlessly.
"Good job." Said Bravo, lightly patting her shoulder, "but it only gets worse from here."
"I doubt that" she replied, hanging her head slightly.

B was right. It got worse. Next was using punching bags, and while Fox couldn't make a dent, or even sway the bag too much, Bravo was splitting his in three or four hits each, until they ran out of spares. Then he instructed Fox, to a lack of results.
"Remember, as you punch, twist your arm and your body, to add more force to the punch. Keep your other fist clenched at your side. No, not there, here, at your waist. Now punch."
She did. The bag shuddered slightly, and Fox stumbled.
"You stumbled because your footing was off. Place your feet like this and try again..."
This continued for fifteen minutes, but for Fox it felt like hours. Even Echo wasn't struggling too badly, getting a solid sway from the punching bag with each impact.
Finally it finished. And Bravo told Fox they were onto the last activity. Alpha stood in the ring, then pointed at B, who sighed and climbed in.
"Watch closely for moves that you think will suit you." He said as he passed Fox.
"Watch what closely?" She replied, but he was already in the center of the arena. He raised his fists.
Alpha sprung at him, launching a hard swipe at B's head with his right fist. Fox gasped, but B blocked the hit on his arm, and launched a flurry of punches, jabs and strikes. Alpha pushed the first punch aside, then brought both hands up to tightly guard his head and chest. Bravo's last punch slipped between his guard however, but instead of sliding back, Alpha's arms closed on either side of B's wrist, and as Fox watched, Alpha threw himself into a front flip, letting go of Bravo's arm, and landed two mid-air kicks to his torso that staggered the larger man back, before landing in a crouch. As Bravo resumed his stance, Alpha dashed forward, slid under his guard and landed a hard punch to B's gut. Then, unbelievably, he slid one arm under B's breastbone, the other propping up his legs as the 6'7' man gasped for air, winded. Alpha lifted B ABOVE HIS HEAD, and dropped him behind him. The larger man hit the ground with a loud thud. Alpha then grabbed B's arm... And pulled him to his feet.
"Damn man, even holding back you still hit like a truck."
Fox's mouth dropped. She had nearly felt the blows herself, and Alpha had been holding back? How strong was he?
"Three, you're up. Sorry Echo." B announced
The young man stiffened and Three smirked at him, swaggering up to the ring as B climbed over. Echo's mouth set in a firm line and he followed her. As soon as Alpha gave the starting nod, Echo rushed at Three, who blinked in surprise, raising her fists to block, but Echo swung his leg out instead, nearly knocking the woman down. She staggered, the smirk returning to her face, and darted in, Echo's inexperience giving her the edge as she slammed a punch into his ribs with her left hand. Her right hand had gone to Echo's face, but he had pushed it aside before it landed. The blow to the ribs however knocked him back, gasping a little, before Three launched into a violent offensive, with kicks and feints he barely blocked, until Echo fell for a fake out and Three launched a roundhouse kick into his side. But it didn't connect. At the very last moment, Echo jumped back, and using Three's shock and momentum, landed a hard kick to her kidney. Three stumbled away, the tables turning as Echo started to press the offence again. It didn't last long however, as Three finally caught him out with a leg sweep that floored him. She placed a foot at his throat.
"Ok, fight over."
Three rubbed her side a little where Echo had kicked her, then glanced down at him and for a moment Fox could've sworn she saw something nearly positive in her eyes. Then it was gone, and Three offered him a hand up. He took it, and they both left the ring.
"Ok, Fox? You're up against Dee. Good luck, and Dee, remember that Fox is new so don't go all out." Dee nodded and gave Fox a reassuring smile as they approached each other. Fox took up the fighting stance Bravo had taught her, and Dee raised her fists like a boxer.
"Begin"
Dee was on her before she could blink, launching herself forward immediately and impacting her fist into Fox's gut, but pulling back on the blow so it had minimal force. Fox staggered, winded slightly and Dee jumped back, fists still held up.
"Tense up your forearms, but leave your hands relaxed, it lets you block faster and harder." The older woman told Fox.
"I don't know how to block" she responded.
"Try to push away my next hit, ok? That's all a block is."
Fox took a deep breath and tensed, returning to her stance. When Dee struck again, her hand darted out to push it, but she was too slow, and the punch still hit her side. It wasn't a hard blow, but pain seared through Fox's body and she dropped to a knee, gasping and hissing in pain as a stampede of memories that hurt more than any wound flooded her mind.