3 A Serious Ass Whooping

The group went out to the training grounds and listened to the instructions that Captain Chris gave out.

"First off, whatever I tell you to do you will do it no questions asked. Second, you must remember that you will be practicing with each other, so you don't need to go crazy against each other. Lastly, you can all challenge me once a day to try and prove yourselves."

Everyone was given some kind of armor that fit well with their classes. The girls were given armor while Ian had studded leather. Derek was wearing fur armor and Markus had steel armor. Derek was questioning why he had gotten fur armor, but Markus explained to him that he had gotten the armor so he could rush the enemy quickly and hit hard and fast.

"I'd like to challenge you Captain," said Ian with an exorbitant amount of confidence.

"Ok boy, let's see what you've got."

Ian grabbed his large stick and took a swordsman stance to face against the Captain. They faced each other and one of the guards did a countdown.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Fight"

Both swordsmen rushed at each other and the sound of the stick clashing with the sword surprised all those who heard it. It sounded like a child dropping a metal pot inside of a metal room at 3 in the morning. Everyone expected that the stick would break but it bent the sword instead. The sword didn't bend completely only a little. However, Ian and the Captain now had a ringing in their ears. Ian was the first to recover and rushed the Captain again swinging in a horizontal angle trying to catch the Captain off guard. The Captain raised his sword and blocked it, but Ian pulled a trick out of his back pocket.

Ian dropped his stick and went for the Captain's leg. He then wrapped his arms around the leg and raised it in the air. As the armor was not built to allow the leg to go that high, the Captain was knocked off balance and fell to ground. Ian got his arm around the Captain's exposed neck and held him in a choke hold.

Ian began to squeeze tighter which was hard with the helmet and neck armor, but once he found the right spot he just kept on squeezing.

"Tap Captain, or this is going to be very uncomfortable."

The Captain was stubborn, but realized it was getting very difficult to breath. The Captain did the only thing he could do and tap. Ian let go of the hold and the Captain felt oxygen just rush back into his lungs.

"Where did you learn that, from barbarians?!"

"No, I learned it on my world. There are some people from our world that still train in hand to hand combat. I dabble in a form of it."

"You should teach us this form of hand to hand combat, it could be very useful."

"As long as you teach me how to swing this stick like a sword, then I can agree to teach you what I know."

The two both stood on their feet and shook hands. Things were about to get pretty wild.

A few days later...

"Hey Ian, can you show me that move that you did to me during our little spar? I just can't seem to replicate it, because I struggle with lifting the leg as high as you did."

"Well that's because you can't raise your arms that high with your armor on. Your best bet would be to either switch to a more mobile set of armor or get the armor adjusted."

"Wouldn't it just be better to learn the move and make some changes to it so I can do it with this armor on?"

"I can show you a variation of the move I did where you don't have to raise your arms that high, but it's more complicated."

The Captain pondered the idea for a minute, being really adamant on learning the original move, then gave in and agreed to learn the variation. Ian and Chris went out to the training ground and practiced the variation of what Ian called the single leg. The variation was grabbing the opponent's leg and picking it up as high as you can then taking your most forward foot and using it to sweep the opponent's standing leg out from underneath them.

"This variation is much easier to use, thank you Ian."

"No problem Chris, if you ever want me to teach you something else then I'd be more than happy to."

.....

It had been almost two weeks since the group had been brought to the new world of Leone. They had all been training in basic fighting skills and honing their practical class skills. Zoe had slowly been practicing pick-pocketing with Ian's instructions by everyone putting stuff in their pockets throughout the day and having Zoe get the items out of their pockets without getting caught. Ian is the only one she never passed on. Markus and Derek were constantly working on their fighting styles and covering each other in battle. Alice learned attack and defense while Rose learned more healing and buff magic. Then there was Ian who was doing a little bit of everything.

Today was a special as Derek and Ian decided to do a little sparring of their own. However, this was no armor and no weapons sparring. They would wear some cloth shorts and nothing else. Chris was very against this as Ian was so much smaller than Derek but he completely shook off the doubt.

Markus acted as the referee for the match, which the girls were against seeing as Derek is Markus' best friend and Ian was more like an acquaintance, but Ian reassured them that Markus would be fair.

"In the red corner standing at 5'6" tall and weighing roughly 185 lbs. Ian Grey. Standing in the blue corner at 6'4" tall and weighing roughly 270 lbs. Derek James."

"Alright gentlemen, I want to a good clean fight. Not shot below the belt, no eye gouging, no biting, no choking without an arm or leg."

Zoe looked at the girls with a smirk, "15 copper on Ian, double if he knocks out Derek."

Rose looked back at Zoe, "You're on, 25 copper on Ian."

Alice looked at both of them, "Are you two insane, those are our friends and you're gonna bet money on them?! 35 copper on Derek."

Rose and Zoe looked at each other then at Alice, "You do know that Ian is a three time state champion for wrestling, right? He has a high school record of 137-2 with the 137 being his victories. He was favored to win the state championship again this year."

Alice looked at both of the girls, "What?! I didn't know that. Well there goes 35 copper."

Markus hit a metal plate with a spoon to signal the start of the match. Derek rushed at Ian and tried to grab him by the wrist. Ian side stepped away from Derek and got around him. Ian wrapped his arms around Derek's waist and squeezed really tightly. Ian then lowered his hips and began to lift Derek into the air. Everyone watched, dumbfounded, as Ian picked Derek up off the ground and slammed him onto the dirt on his shoulders. Derek was fine, minus being a little dazed.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt. Keep going Derek, I bet 3 silver on you."

*Groan*

Derek was out of it and tried to stand up. He stumbled a bit, but he was able to get up on his feet. Ian ran to Derek and dove for his legs wrapping his arms around Derek's legs and putting his shoulder into Derek's gut. Ian used his legs and pushed Derek back. The force of Ian pushing plus Derek's current lack of balance caused Derek to fall to his back. Ian then began setting up the classic arm bar with his hands holding on to Derek's palm and his legs wrapped around Derek's arm and neck.

"Tap Derek, you can heal a broken arm, but its not going to feel good when it breaks. Unless you pass out first."

"Fuck that, I'm not tapping. You won't be able to break my arm."

Derek sounded pretty confident until Ian raised his hips and more pressure was put on his elbow.

Markus, in fear of what could happen, shouted at the boys.

"Tap Derek, Ian's not messing with you. He will break it. Just let it go man."

Derek was too stubborn to tap out so he did something that was pretty clever. He used his free arm and socked Ian in the stomach. Ian was pretty sturdy, but he wasn't used to taking a right hook from a linebacker.

*Groan*

Ian let go of Derek's arm and grabbed his stomach. Derek then got around Ian and put him in a choke hold. The hold wasn't as tight as Ian's, but it was still tight. Ian was struggling for a breath and Derek was trying to tighten the hold as much as possible.

"Derek, take it easy. You might really hurt him."

Rose was shouting at Derek as Ian's face was changing color. Before Derek could continue to sink the hold deeper, Ian reached down, grabbed Derek's leg, and lifted it up towards him. Ian then put Derek's leg above his shoulder and rolled forward towards the ground. Derek, unsure of what was happening, let go of Ian and found himself going to the ground face first. He did a quick roll and was able to fall on his hands and knees.

"Slippery little guy, you trying to mess up my face?"

"Trying to make an improvement."

Ian was trying to be a condescending asshole and Derek knew it. Then Derek looked at Markus and smiled. Markus saw that smile and before he could do anything Derek activated his skill.

Skill Activation: Rage

Derek's whole body became covered in a dull red aura and grew slightly bigger.

"Here I come, you little shit."

Ian looked at Derek, impressed, and stated, "Now it's a fight."

Derek ran at Ian and swung clumsily but fast. Ian was moving as fast as possible dodging as many swings as he could. Derek managed to land a few hits, but Ian would lean in to them to lessen the effect of them.

"You're mom hits harder than you, so does your little sister."

"Oh really?"

Derek was getting a little agitated and rushed Ian again. He reached out an arm and tried to grab Ian's shoulder. Once again, Ian sidestepped Derek and grabbed his arm while using his momentum and threw him. The timing was also pretty bad as Derek's Rage skill timed out. Derek hit the ground and now had to fight the pain of being thrown to the ground while also dealing with the skill fatigue.

"Due to the condition of one of the fighters, I've decided to declare Ian the victor."

Markus raised Ian's arm in victory. Some of the guards cheered while some booed. Money changed hands and Markus carried Derek out of the makeshift "ring" with the help of some guards. In the mix of all the excitement, Alice tried to sneak off.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Rose and Zoe were both looking down at Alice with an evil smile.

"You owe us some coin so you better pay up."

Alice begrudgingly pulled a coin purse out of her pack and counted out the money she owed. The purse was almost empty and she had learned an important lesson: never bet against Ian.