Chapter 12
Nova stood opposite Aqualad once more as he prepared for the second bout that was about to begin. He wasn't really focused on the spar int self though, as his mind was still focused on Aqualad's well intended advice to 'go with the flow'.
How was he supposed to fight without thinking about his actions? Wasn't that an inherently contradictory idea in and of itself, to do something so demanding as to engage in a fight all the while without thinking about actually fighting?
No matter how he thought about it Nova couldn't understand what he was supposed to do.
He didn't have much time to mull over the cryptic advice for long though as the ring soon flashed green once more and Aqualad was upon him once again.
This time though, it was blatantly obvious that the kiddie gloves were off, and Aqualad was going into the spar with a frightening level of intensity from the very beginning.
Caught unprepared for this level of intensity, Nova was immediately on the back foot, unable to keep up with Aqualad's offensive.
It was a never ending onslaught of attacks, his every move seeming chained and flowing into the follow up move with a level of practiced ease. Endless and ever changing but relentless and ever-present on every front. It was if Aqualad was any and everywhere all at once, shutting down any attempts that Nova could possibly make to distance himself, open up space, or even destabilize Aqualad in the slightest.
Nova felt suffocated the longer the spar went on, as no matter how much he thought about what he should do to claim the advantage and to gain control of the tempo of their exchange, nothing ever came to mind.
The frustrating part was that for some odd reason, he had this odd stifling feeling that he should have been able to deal with Aqualad easily. Like there was a small voice, a constant reminder at the back of his mind that this shouldn't be as challenging as it was, but his mind kept going blank anytime he thought about what he needed to do to remedy the situation.
It was a rather frustrating sensation that he had become quite accustomed to and would haunt him when ever he came across something that he felt he should remember but no matter how hard he though about it the memories just weren't there.
Before he even knew what was happening, he found himself flat on his back and at Aqualad's feet looking up at the ceiling in a daze.
He had held out for as long as he could, but once more it had ended in his defeat. He thought about why he had lost, what moves Aqualad had utilized and why. What he could have done better to get a better result-
"You're still trying to think everything through when you move." Aqualad's voice cut through his thoughts and brought Nova back into the focus.
"I can see it in your eyes that you're still trying to think of ways to defeat and counter my moves instead of focusing on me. I'm sorry to tell you but the particular style of combat that I just showed you is a specialty of Atlantis. It's focus is on the idea of being everchanging like the tides and the currents of the sea. So what you're doing is pretty useless."
Once more Aqualad helped Nova to his feet before turning to get into position for their next spar as well.
"Stop overthinking things and just exist in the moment."
With that final cryptic piece of advice Aqualad once more got ready for the next spar to commence.
Nova, now slightly agitated by the 'useless' advice that was constantly being given to him, closed his eyes as he took a moment to get ready as well. These spars where supposed to beneficial to the team, but he had been getting more and more agitated.
For a moment he though about just going for broke and aiming at the more vulnerable parts of the body in an attempt to get a cheap win, but decided against it. He wouldn't appreciate it if someone did it to him so he wouldn't do it to someone else either.
In the end Nova came to a very simply conclusion, it was impossible for him to win the spar.
He didn't have the same level of training or combat proficiency that Aqualad had and no matter how quickly or easily it was for him to pick up on and copy the fighting patterns of others, there was only so much he could do and only so far he could go with stuff like that.
So instead of focusing on getting a win, why not just fight for the heck of it. He wasn't going to win anyway so he could as well just try out what ever he felt like trying.
As if a weight had been lifted form his shoulders, Nova breathed out slowly as he opened his eyes. He focused once more on Aqualad who stood in a rather relaxed posed as he waited for the signal for the match to start. He didn't have to wait long as the green flash of the ring soon registered in his mind, but Nova didn't take his eyes of Aqualad for even a second.
This time he was the first one to move forward, giving in to an impulse that had suddenly bubbled up out of no where and one that instead of suppressing, he had embraced.
He swung with a strong right hook and as expected Aqua lad easily batted aside his hand, not wanting to give Aqualad much time to take control of the tempo Nova started to unleash a quick combination of jabs and kicks, which Aqualad once more easily dealt with.
Thing were going well until Aqualad manage to catch him unprepared and landed a punch on his side. As usual he managed to eat the punch without much of problem and continued his onslaught.
He hadn't been paying attention to his odd ability to tank Aqualad's attacks at first, but by now he realized that for what ever reason he seemed capable to withstanding those blows even if they had all of Aqualad's strength behind them.
Now that he became consciously aware of such a fact, his movements began to change. Instead of imitating Robin and even Aqualad's style of combat that had displayed so far. He started to emulate the fighting style of someone else who usually didn't have to worry all to much about taking a few hits.
Superboy's silhouette flashed through Nova's mind and his whole demeanor shifted. Instead of being light on his feet and aiming to dodge or deflect as many hits as possible, he instead began to focus on exchanging blows what ever the cost.
So what if Aqualad managed to land a kick? As long as he could land a punch at the same time Aqualad was going to suffer more damage than him anyway. Mutual destruction was the aim now and since he could take a lot more of a beating that Aqualad could he wasn't as worried abut things escalating to the point of no return.
In fact the more he allowed Aqualad to land more and more hits on his body, the more Nova felt alive. He forgot about techniques and all that sort of fanciful approach to combat and simple gave into his base urges.
This friendly spar was turning into a straight up slug fest to see who could take the most damage and still get back up and as far anyone could tell, neither Aqualad nor Nova were backing down. In fact in Nova's case, it was almost as if every hit, every punch and kick was injecting him with a shot of adrenaline and energy instead of inflicting any pain.
Startled, Nova realized that while he had been feeling the pain of the hits at the start of the fight, now even though he felt the punches and kicks connecting all over his body, they weren't painful in the slightest and the sensation of being was nothing more than an afterthought to him.
Lost in this new and stimulating experience, Nova hadn't noticed the strange things happening with his body but everyone else who was watching, and Aqualad who had the misfortune to be facing Nova at the moment began to notice that Nova's had changed.
His combat proficiency was improving at a startling pace.
From a complete novice who was easily over powered, to a truly dangerous opponent who Aqualad couldn't afford to pull his punches against. His speed and dexterity had been increasing bit by bit, and from the bruises that now littered Aqualad's hands and legs, so too was his strength.
Yet Nova wasn't aware of any of this, lost in the thrill that had engulfed him, he pressed on. Putting less and less though into his defense and focusing his all into his offence, Nova continued to exchange blows.