Tru Grit’s Fight Pit (Pt. 2)- A Tru Beatdown

“Nah.” Tru cracked his neck before punching his hand as music began to fill the air. “You get a shot at the champ.”

(Of course…) He sighed, slowly putting some distance between them as he reached into his pack and pulled out his axe.

Something that only made Tru’s smirk grow, before the older man made a ‘come get me’ motion with his hand.

He glared for a moment, before deciding that he was not in fact stupid enough to simply rush the guy. So instead, he tossed his axe to the side and drew his bow and a couple arrows out of his pack. (He’s clearly a fist fighter, keeping my distance and out of arm's reach is probably for the best.)

Tru merely raised a brow before shaking his head. “Can’t really recall someone pulling a bow on me in a fight, you sure this is a smart idea.”

He quickly shot an arrow at the other man, only to watch it be swatted out of the air. An act that was repeated with the next three arrows he fired regardless of where or how quickly he shot them.

“Well, if you want to start things off with a shooting contest, I should warn you against bringing a bow to a gunfight.” Tru warned him, while flexing to show off his biceps.

Not bothering to respond, he reached to pull out another arrow. More specifically one of the trick arrows that he was pretty sure would catch Tru off guard after the flurry of mundane arrows.

Or that was the plan before Tru took a boxing stance and punched the air. At which point the air punched Jon with enough force to send him skidding back a few inches.

He blinked before looking at Tru, who gave him a wink before pulling his other arm back.

Realizing what was about to happen he tossed his bow and the arrows to the side before ducking and running in the opposite direction as Tru began shadow boxing with the air. Each strike sending out a wave of force that Jon could feel tugging on the air as he just barely managed to stay ahead of the blast zone.

(He’s leading his shots just enough to keep me boxed in, and punching too fast for me to double back and make him miss.) He grimaced, realizing the older man was either playing with him or keeping him corralled. (Neither of which is a good option…)

Carefully he skirted around the arena’s edge, glad that Tru had moved near the ring’s center rather than sticking near a wall to cut off his movement range. Once on the opposite side of where he started he flexed his wrist, recalling his axe into hand and hopefully cutting Tru down from behind.

Tru’s eyes narrowed before kicking off the ground and jumping over the incoming axe. And as if that wasn’t bad enough the older fighter still managed to fire off a quick one-two in the air, neither of which he could avoid having stopped his sprint to make sure Tru was in the axe’s path.

Of the two blows the first one wasn’t too bad, as he somehow deflected some of the force off of the axe that he just barely managed to keep a grip on. The second angled blast however was enough to tip his balance and force him to stumble backwards into the wall of the arena.

“Telegraphed that a little too hard. Should’ve just kept moving.” Tru told him as he landed. “Now, you done playing around? Because we both know you’re really a melee fighter.”

He couldn’t help but frown at the older man, because while Jon was more skilled in a melee in reality he preferred stealth, traps, and deception when against something he knew could break him with one hand. (And given how he’s twice my size, I’m pretty sure he could do just that.)

Which is why he instead used the light ring Miss Edna had given him to begin drawing a spell circuit in the air, figuring that if he couldn’t wear Tru down with arrows or molotovs he could hopefully burn through his defenses with a small -relatively- giga-zap.

“You know, drawing spell scripts mid-fight ain’t exactly a smart idea, kid.” Tru chuckled, appearing in front of him with an inhuman level of speed before punching straight through his spell circuit and slamming him back into the wall of the arena where he was forced to raise his arms to block as Tru began laying into him. “You see, this little mess is why most Practitioners make their scripts before the fight. After all, everyone knows not to let the magic users cast their spells whether they know magic or not.”

Unable to do much beyond blocking the incoming blows, he eventually decided to risk dropping to the ground letting Tru’s fist slam into the wall above him before using the wall behind him to leverage himself into tackling Tru’s leg. An act that forced the man to stumble backwards a step, though it did little beyond that given how Tru grabbed him by the back of his shirt and threw him across the arena.

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He hit the ground in a roll as he skid his feet on the surprisingly loose ground and managed to right himself so that he was once more facing Tru.

“Look, I’m going to tell you now that most of your tricks ain’t going to work on me kid.” Tru warned him with a half glare. “Now quit wasting our time and actually fight me! Or leave, I ain’t into bullying kids!”

He growled even as he felt the cool warmth of Pix’s magic washing over him and dealing with whatever bruises and fractures Tru Grit’s little beating would’ve left him with. Once it began to recede he drew his knife before rushing forward to fight the older man in the hopes of making him regret his demand.

“Finally.” Tru groaned his voice inaudible over the music and only understood because Jon read his lips.

When closer to Tru he flexed his wrist, summoning the axe from where he’d dropped it during Tru’s pummeling and causing it to clip Tru’s side before catching it by the handle and using the momentum from its recall to deliver a slamming strike into the man. A strike Tru somehow managed to block the blade of with his bare forearm even as he pulled his other arm back.

Seeing what was coming Jon released his grip on the axe and ducked under Tru’s counter punch before futilely attempting to stab his knife into the man’s side. With a growl he drew his arm back before using his elbow to try and hammer the pointed blade through whatever defense the fighter was using.

Unfortunately, he was only able to hammer it once before being forced to jump back to avoid Tru’s own elbow strike. One that was extended by a blade of air that cut through the ground as Tru lashed out with his hand.

Rushing back in, he slammed his fist into Tru’s solar plexus. Hoping that if he couldn’t pierce through whatever defense the man had going with a blade then delivering a blunt strike to weak point would manage to do something. And if not then more than one blow to the same weak point.

The fact that even through his gloves it felt like he was hitting a brick wall did not feel him with confidence.

“You see, this is why I don’t skip core day.” Tru told him, not even flinching under the assault before grabbing him by his throat and slamming him into the ground. “Though to be fair, I don’t skip any day.”

Seeing Tru pull his fist back, -and knowing that if he took that to the face it would knock him out Pix’s healing or not- he raised his hand to the side of Tru’s neck and recalled his axe to it forcing Tru to instinctively lean back to avoid taking a blade to his throat.

With the axe in his hand he used the shaft of the weapon alongside Tru’s arm and weakened stance to break the man’s grip on his neck before lashing out in a strike meant more to buy him the space to get up than do any real damage.

Sitting up he brought his blade up in an upward strike between the man’s legs.

“Woah there!” Tru called hopping back and giving him the time to roll back onto his feet. “See you don’t mind fighting dirty there kid.”

“Fighting fair… is for chumps…” He coughed out as Pix’s healing wrapped around his bruising neck.

“Eh, I wouldn’t call them chumps.” Tru argued half-heartedly. “More… naive probably. They’re like the assholes who think bringing a knife to a fist fight ‘ll up their odds of winning. Speaking of, you dropped this.”

He glanced down as Tru kicked his knife back to him before glaring at the smirking fighter.

“So ready for round two?” The man asked, entering a boxing stance. “Be glad I’m not counting that playing around from the start as your first strike.”

(Right, he’s a brawler… He can probably keep this up all day unless I get a finisher in.) He grimaced, knowing that while he could keep this up until Pix’s healing ran out, he wouldn’t last long beyond that given the strength of the blows he’d already taken. (Need to wear him down if I want an opening to actually take him out.)

Keeping his eyes on Tru he made to crouch down and pick up his knife, when in reality he was entering a runner’s stance to rush the man. Knowing that the only blows he’d managed to get were because of recalling his weapons into his hands for cheap or suprise shots.

As soon as he touched the knife he shot forward -leaving it on the ground- and ran at Tru, before ducking under the man’s first blow and skidding around him to try for a couple jabs at his kidneys. (Which somehow is still like punching a brick wall!)

He leapt backward as Tru lashed out with a backhand as he spun to face Jon, before flexing his wrist and recalling his knife to hand in an attempt to stab the man in the back. The fact that Tru gave him a smirk without bothering to look back as the knife bounced off of him, proved how futile that attempt was.

That did not stop him from recalling the knife between Tru’s legs and attempting to shank the man’s groin. The fact that Tru caught his hand with wide eyes however did stop him from castrating the man.

“Okay, can you quit going for the groin shots kid?”

He answered by stepping in and kneeing him.

The flat look from Tru and the pain in his knee told him which of them that hurt more.

“Right…”

Tru pulled his head back slightly before headbutting Jon hard enough that he could’ve sworn he heard his skull cracking as his vision blurred. Not that that possible concussion did anything to numb the feeling of being grabbed, and kneed in the chest with enough force to break a couple of ribs. Ribs that if they weren’t broken by that were broken by the punch that sent him flying into the arena wall with enough force to actually leave him hanging in a small crater.

“Pixsh?” He mumbled, hoping his little light hadn’t been crushed by the impact that kept him from feeling his toes.

The cool warmth that filled him, gave him far more mental relief than physical as it began to painfully snap his bones back into place.

“You know kid I’m honestly kind of disappointed here!” Tru yelled after him. “I mean after seeing that fight you had with the Scarecrow? And hearing about how you took on the Horror? I thought you were a real fighter! I mean I’ve seen you do better! I know you can fight! So where’s the fucking monster?!”

As he pulled himself out of the wall Jon inhaled…

And the Beast exhaled.