The scary munchkin part 2

When you hear of someone without any sort of combat training challenging someone who has at least a year of martial arts training, it's hard not to think 'what is this person expecting the outcome to be?' Before you start to wander if this person has some brain problems or is just a glutton for pain.

But Jaune didn't make this decision in the spur of the moment, in fact everything he did ever since he entered the dojo from what he said to his body language was decided beforehand after much deliberation and was practiced until he could perform his actions with perfection.

According to what his research about Ryu-Bang has given him, a more direct and bold aproach will be the fastest way into his good graces, afterall he was just the same in his younger days. But more importantly he absolutely needs to win this fight, otherwise he won't be able to earn the old dojo master's respect, just his pity.

And besides, all the novels he's read have taught him that the more underestimated, mocked and pitied he is, the more surprised and shocked the audience will become with him, allowing him to quickly gain respect and recognition, also it would be very satisfying to see the audience giving him disbelieving expressions like those protagonists that are weak but become badass.

The only complaint he has is that his opponent apart from being the perfect arrogant, loud mouthed prick that most protagonists use as a stepping stone, his opponent is just too weak, so he doubts that beating him will give him that much respect in the dojo. All because that old man decided to grow a conscience.

Finishing dressing up in appropriate training clothes, he makes his way out of the changing room along with his opponent Cole and back to the main training room where the other students have already positioned themselves to watch the upcoming fight while shooting him glares that would make any other child his age run home crying.

"Are the two of you ready to fight?, do any of you wish to warm up beforehand?" The master asks clearly directing those questions to me instead of his students.

"I'm ready"

"Let's get this over with" Comes an answer from my opponent that seems almost bored.

"Good, now I'll go through the rules: 1- This spar will end when one of you concedes or if I see that one of you are badly injured and decide to intervene, 2-I will tolerate no low blows or dishonorable acts, so maintain your respect towards your opponent and 3-I will not accept any outside intervention or any other kind of cheating. Do the both of you understand?"

"Yes master!" His opponent respectfully responds while Jaune gives a single nod of confirmation.

"Then head towards your positions so I can signal the start of the match.

We both take positions inside the ring where a staredown ensues, I could clearly hear a few sneers and hushed whispers among the other disciples but I choose to ignore them and focus only on the fight.

"Ready" At the master's signal his opponent takes stance while Jaune copies the opponents stance the best he can, that makes the scowl on his opponent worse as he starts thinking that Jaune is mocking him.

"Fight!"

...

|Odachi's P.O.V|

"Fight!"

As I give the signal, I start to carefully observe both kids, especially this Jaune in order to ascertain his potential and see if he is worthy of being added to the dojo.

Hearing the signal the new brat seems unhurried and just continues to analyse his opponent while he keeps a defensive stance while he waits for him to make the first move while Cole either due to impatience or seeing no need to invest so much effort in an inexperienced opponent goes in the offensive as soon as the match starts.

Cole opens up with a unrelenting assault, such is the main characteristic of the crushing fist style, an offensive that is layered and so overwhelming that your opponent has no opportunity to counter attack, though his offensive proves itself incapable of completely overwhelming his opponent and it isn't because of his opponent.

Giving credit where credit is due, the Boy despite having told me that he has never been in a fight or trained any combat techniques has completely nailed all the basics of fighting to the point that most would not take him for a complete newbie. His stance is firm and he always keeps his arms up even when he tries to strike in order to not leave himself open, his attacks are straight forward but have no wasted momentum or are telegraphed too much, his footwork is passable and he knows when to retreat from a disadvantageous position and his reflexes along with his coordination leaves nothing to be desired.

Despite the boy doing 'fine' for his first fight, it is still very clear to me that the fight is being maintained in a stalemate because Cole is holding back in order to make the fight longer and to spite his opponent. That is one of the reasons he is one of my worst students, his arrogance along with being a slacker has made someone that I saw potential once become just another disappointment.

Going back to the battle, the tempo starts to slowly go towards Cole as he starts to finally use the more advanced techniques he has been taught in order to truly start to overwhelm his opponent, but the boy continues his conservative aproach as he analyses his opponent and slowly starts to improve his copied stance.

But Cole quickly tries to put a stop to that as he finally moves to end their stalemate by breaking his opponent's guard with a technique called 'shatter bone'.

As his opponent continues to block and Dodge attacks Cole than suddenly raises one of his arms in the air and brings it down in a chopping motion on his opponent that was unable to dodge as the previous flurry of strikes has forced the boy into a full defensive.

But my expectations along with those of the surrounding disciples are subverted as the boy instead of trying to retreat, he advances towards his attacker and extends his hands to stop the attack while his opponents hand is still above his head. Which works flawlessly, leaving even his opponent apprehensive.

And I could barely believe myself, the Boy was able to identify the flaw in a technique he was seeing for the first time and decided to act accordingly in a fraction of second! He must have realized that if he was hit by that technique then the fight would be as good as over so he decided to stop the attack before it could gain momentum thus making it easily blockable.

I must admit that I'm feeling more and more admiration for the bo- I mean Jaune as the fight progresses, to have the capability of so quickly analysing and overcoming hurdles while having to concentrate on a fight is a gift that few possess.

But that has shown itself to be a turning point in the battle as my student becoming flustered with his failure allowed Jaune to quickly switch into an offensive and start evening the odds.

This offensive different from the previous one which Cole avoided effortlessly have started to push him back as the attacks became more precise, unpredictable and unrelenting.

'Don't tell me!?'

After a closer observation, I can see clear traces of the crushing fist technique being shown in Jaune's strikes and not only that, his stance and footwork are also starting to improve at an alarming rate.

'He is copying his opponents movements and adding it to his own fighting style in order to close the distance with his opponent at an alarming speed!'

The fight than goes into another direction as instead of a unstoppable force clashing against a immovable wall it turns into two unstoppable forces facing each other as the two fighters start to exchange attacks relentlessly leaving all the watching students impressed.

But try as he might, the fight was quickly leaving his student's grasp. Despite using everything in his arsenal against his opponent, Cole finds himself unable to increase his advantage by even a single bit and can only watch as his opponent starts to catch up to him, before long the tempo of the fight turns even.

But I find myself once again underestimating Jaune once again, as his growth doesn't stop as his techniques become on par with his opponent's, instead his moves start to become slightly superior to the one's from who he is copying from.

I have seen many students going through this doors over the years, each having an unique talent or a promising trait I sought to foster but seeing this boy only one thing comes to his mind:

'Genius!!!'

Most of the so called 'geniuses' he has seen boil down to someone with slightly better comprehension and coordination that allows them to retain what they're shown faster then others, but when it comes to copying, even a baboon can copy something if it's shown to them enough times.

But a true genius is someone who has that can immerse themselves in an activity and perform them like they are second nature, they not only learn fast but they also require very little guidance as they are capable detecting the properties of whatever they are doing and using them to improve themselves.

They say that trying to teach a true genius something is like trying to teach a fish how to swim, you just need to give them a little push every now and then and the rest they can work out by themselves.

Observing, Analysing, Reproducing and improving. What this Jaune fella is doing goes beyond simply copying, as he is also correcting the mistakes from the moves he is copying and getting closer to the original move and that is without ever having seen the original move before, I would have seen him around otherwise.

Now I have already made my mind to recruit this kid no matter what! After searching for talent for so long I have finally found a genius, how could I let him walk away and inherit someone else's fighting style?

"Is this it? It looks like I can learn nothing more from you." The boy named Jaune mutters very faintly but I'm able to hear it thanks to my enhanced senses.

That led me to the conclusion that Jaune has purposely being passive in the fight so that he had time to learn his opponents style.

The boy then starts to breathe in a very particular manner that I can identify as a breathing technique, taking a very deep breath that fills his lungs with air, the boy completely changes his expression from the poker face he had ever since he stepped in the dojo to one that showed that he was dead serious before going into a brutal offensive.

What ensued from then on could not even be considered a fight any longer, it was a one-sided beating that came in a very unexpected way. Ever since Jaune muttered those words he started to show a level of strength and stamina that he hasn't shown before that allowed him to completely overwhelm his opponent and leave him no chance to react. He also became able to predict his opponents movements as he unveiled the intricacies of the crushing fist style.

'Heh, it looks like my student was not the only one that was holding back at the start, this completely invalidates my theory that if Cole had gone all out from the start he could've had won. That also explains why he was so confident in beating my students even without any experience, afterall to a certain extent lack of skill can be compensated by having higher physical attributes.'

But after a short while, his admiration was replaced by many questions that started popping up in his head such as:.

'How did this kid that clearly grew up in a remote village and had no combat training gain access to a breathing technique? Did he meet and was trained by another master? If that was the case then why hasn't he been taught how to fight?

Or:

'What have this munchkin been fed by his parents for him to become so freakishly strong? Are all village bumpkins like him? He has told me that he has only been receiving physical training but no normal training regimen would make a boy this strong!

But he doesn't have that much time to deliberate as the fight quickly approaches his end with Cole state being miserable after being pushed back time and time again and the roles being switched with Jaune now being the one that was on the offensive.

The end comes when Jaune finds a opening and executes the 'shatter bone' move that was once used against him but this time it is performed to a much greater affect as the attack lands in his opponent's shoulder with full force, that sends him to the ground as he cries in agony whilst clutching his wounded shoulder, none of the kids here had their auras unlocked yet so this wound will take a long time to heal.

"The match has come to a end, the winner is Jaune Arc! Please, someone bring Cole away so he can recieve treatment." I quickly intervene in the match seeing that the opponent is in no condition to fight, internally I start to wish that the wound that my student received is not as bad as he made it seem.

The watching disciples then become quite surprised with the outcome but none become too impressed, Cole is one of my worst students afterall and everyone that was watching is confident in being able to beat him. They don't even realize that they're facing a genius since they think that he was just pretending to be pushed back at the start and he later used his full power.

I'm already willing to accept him into the dojo after seeing his outstanding performance. But the boy seemed to be far from satisfied and asked: "Is there someone else willing to fight me?"

After hearing such a bold challenge the dojo momentarily becomes silent as no one expected him to be ready for another fight.

The other students showed eagerness to fight after watching Cole bring shame upon the dojo and seeing their enthusiasm to fight him to wash away this shame, I could think only one thing:

'My poor disciples, they don't even know how screwed they are.'