Sparring
TW: Depiction of PTSD, gore, violence and rude language.
The sound that left Gale's mouth as she hit the ground made Tom look twice at her. He let go of her human arm which he had craned back in a grapple at the right angle to make her other, supernatural limb, unable to fight back.
"You're over relying on your abilities. You're skilled sure, but when you're head to head all that skill goes out the window." Tom stepped away from her, letting his sparring partner catch her breath.
Catch her breath she did, coughing a little as she scrambled to her feet. "Christ man not everyone was a jarhead like you, just tell me how to beat you and we'll try at that."
He rolled his eyes. "You exert your arm in combat, let's say you use it to block some bullets and it's out of commission for a few minutes. How do you defend yourself Gale?" He paused, watching her gesture to where she normally kept a sidearm and axe. "You asked me how to improve at hand to hand so don't get smart with me."
Gale adjusted her bright green and yellow hair in the tie before raising her arms in a guard. "Then take me down man, I'm ready this time." She took a low stance, and held an active guard that was minimally offensive, electing to focus on lining up the perfect strike rather than keeping up offense.
Tom shook his head. "Terrible. Not necessarily because your idea is bad but because it wouldn't work for you. You wanna outlast, right? Get me to close the gap and let you find the right time to strike. Gale you're anemic, you can't keep up for an extended bout, if you want to maintain that you'll want a less active guard, focus more on closing the gap and end the fight pronto." He approached, holding out a hand.
As he closed the distance she swung on him, a left hook for the ribs, normally not great but with the added strength connecting the swing would lay him out.
It wouldn't connect though.
Gale spun off kilter as she put follow-through into what she swore was going to hit. The plume of nicotine stinking smoke hit her in the face and before she knew it, Tom had his arms looped over her extended bicep, and with firmly planted feet he connected his shoulder to her inhuman limb and used her momentum to swing her to the ground.
"I was offering some help do not ever do that to me again or so help me God I won't just end the session there and then I'll kick you off the fucking squad and send you packing back to the Yakuza where I'm sure they'll happily bury you in a ditch am I clear!?" His voice didn't raise by a wide margin, but his tone was one of a soldier ready to get someone court martialed.
Gale only barely didn't hear a word though,as she hit the ground again her eyes didn't see the room around her.
Her right side was singed, the scent of her still smoldering flesh was somehow the least upsetting feeling as she looked to her left to see a severed and crushed left arm, courtesy of the truck tire flung free from the explosion. She screamed, but she couldn't hear it. Her ears rang so loud she couldn't hear the fire. She saw a man squat down by her side.
"Gale?" Tom held out a water bottle, and poured it on her right arm. The feeling was so unfamiliar and counter to what ran through her head, she sat up. She was back on the mat, she looked down at her hands, one scarred from old burns, one now made of twisted vines and warped wood.
Tom sighed. "I went a stretch too far. Maybe we'll pick this up tomorrow, eh?" He held a hand out to help her stand.
She took it. "Nah, run it back, I'll listen this time bossman."
~
I hope it reads well cause I did NOT proofread this lol. More Gale lore!! ^^
