Rising Darkness

Charon was doing better than Sam had expected. He was by no means remarkable yet, but he was catching on quite well. The fifteen seconds ticked by and Charon was still standing on his feet, seeming winded to Sam, but not much more than that. "Good job. Focus a bit more on blocking and countering, though. Dodging takes up a lot of time and a lot of energy, and lets your opponent regain his footing as well. Fifteen seconds is all you have to win a fight; block the punch, then go in with the same hand. Won't have much power, but it'll stun them and have them off balance for a second. That lets you get in a punch with your other hand." He demonstrated in the air as he spoke, miming the block, counter attack, then the followup. With each punch, he took a step forward. "Not full power again, but another stun. By now, most people you're fighting won't have much of a guard left. Full strength punch with the first hand." He stepped forward again and punched the air in front of him, the sound almost audible despite him hitting nothing. "And with each punch, take a step forward. Lets you put more power into each hit and push them backwards. In the heat of a fight, people are gonna be focusing on backing away. Block, counter, followup, power hit. Steps with each. Simple and effective." Sam relaxed his arms; it was a fairly simple combination of punches, but one that Sam always found surprisingly effective at knocking down most opponents. It gave so much control for so long in a fist fight that it was almost impossible to stop once it started.

Charon thought about the lesson, pondering its meaning beyond a fist fight. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he employed the same strategy with his own battles. Whenever Charon wanted to strike at another gang, he always made his first attack a relentless power hit. He kept attacking and attacking until when the other gang finally had a chance to counter, they were too weak to do any damage. Most gangs gave up by that point. The beginning of the battle was the most important, as you had to make sure you that you utilized your resources more than your enemies did. Charon saw the wisdom in this.

He took Sam's advice and continues his movements. It took him a while, but slowly and surely he was starting to apply the knowledge that Sam was giving him, culminating in a hard punch to Sam's jaw.

Sam staggered back from the force of the hit; he had performed the combo well, and Sam held up his hand. "Nicely done. Still got a way to go, but you're coming along pretty darn well. Gonna call it here today. We'll meet up again later, keep training then. Any questions?" Sam's shoulders rose and fell as his breathing was heavy; he wasn't particularly tired out from the training, but he still felt that they made enough progress to call it for the day. Add the fact that Sam didn't actually have a large amount of time for practice; Father had wanted to speak with Sam, and he couldn't afford to be late.

Charon pulled his hands back to strike again but stopped as Sam decided that they were going to call it for a day. Oh right, they were both decently large figures in the gang world. They had other responsibilities besides throwing some punches at each other. "Questions, I don't think so" Charon admitted as he grabbed his shirt and put it back on over his body. "I just hope that we can continue this, you'll be paid until I'm comfortable enough to continue my training on my own" Charon added as he rubbed his hands, feeling just how sore they were from the blows that he blocked and the attacks he had successfully landed on Sam. He felt better, but it was going to take a lot of work to get to where he needed to be. Nobody was going to push him around again.

"If you need me for anything call me, I don't have anything huge planned the next few days. Father wants me ready for anything large, so I'm making sure all my boys are just guarding our territory or doing small jobs" Charon added as he moved through the cords and got out of the ring. "Take care Sam, I'll see you soon" the young man said before exiting the gym.