Baro has lost his mind, it's as clear as the bags under his eyes.
"Come on, we're both exhausted from not sleeping. Me with training, you with making that ilegal money."
What? Baro knows!
"I don't care either way. What do you say, wanna get some real training done?
Ash has been itching to test what qi can do. He nods.
"I know a place where no one will watch us. Come," Baro said with a burst of qi at his feet, flickering on the spot. Ash nearly lost him. Baro leans on a tree a dozen or so meters away as full sprints barely catching up as Baro flickers away again. This time Ash saw. Baro's ejecting qi from his feet at the precise moment of impact. Instead of wasting energy sustaining a run, he just takes an extra long step forward with his qi. The footwork is different, but the way power is generated is identical. If qi can be applied in this way, then it can too be applied to perform the Garbage Collector's Glide. A foundational stance for Junk-fu. Without the Garbage Collector's Glide, there would be no footwork to support the techniques. Of course, Junk-fu is useless without the toxi-grip, useless at disposing trash. Though it's heretical, Ash can adapt Junk-fu techniques for other uses.
Sect Master Khan never thought it heretical. He wished to branch out the techniques into different mediums to help the forms expand and grow. He was called a heretic behind his back for such beliefs. It wasn't his fault though, the nature of trash began to change, which meant the Khal Sect had to change too. The elders hated that. Nine hundred years the Khal sect's ancient ways were fine. Then in the next hundred the world advanced so quickly that they had to overhaul their collection facilities four times. Their inability to keep up the sole reason three other great families weaseled their way into existence. This colossal failure was placed wholly on Sect Master Khan, another undeserved stain on his reputation.
I'll show them
Ash pulses qi through his leg, and bursts forward, flipping in a circle and tumbling onto his face. Baro flashes back and laughs.
"I didn't think you'd try to do it so quick. You have no idea how to use qi, do you? You sure you want to fight me?"
Ash scoffs. This will be Baro's undoing, giving him the time to feel his qi out. It's just like his old world. Using too much without the right balance and posture will cause a slip. The higher the momentum the worse the effect of a screw up. In his old world there have been reports of reckless experts accidentally flinging themselves up higher than mountains, and falling to their deaths. Ash knows what he must do. Start with very light steps that can't possibly fail, and slowly increase the distance as he gets more comfortable.
"As sure as I am about kicking to your ass." Ash said, patting the dirt off his shirt.
"Kid gloves are off then." Baro said with a smile, vanishing left and right as he gets further and further ahead. Ash gently pulses with each step, shifting mere millimeters ahead at a time. Limiting his qi output this much is exhausting. It's not the exertion of qi that's exhausting, but rather the focus it takes to use so precisely little. If he switches to what feels natural again, he'll just flip like last time. He needs to find the sweet spot, then the Garbage Collector Stance will take over, allowing him to glide with ease.
Baro slaps his butt at the end of the path, taunting Ash, by the massive sewer they went to yesterday. Ash increases the output, one centimeter shift on each step. Two, three, five. He's subtly flickering forward with each step, speed increasing little by little. Baro smiles wide as he flashes again. As Ash gains momentum, he begins flickering from side to side, moving forward in a zig-zag motion. There is no particular reason for this beyond Ash just experimenting with the different directions the Garbage Collector's Glide can flow in. Sweat on his head as he pushes up the momentum a little more.
Ten centimeters.
Baro speeds things up flickering a dozen meters at a time, but Ash's constant steps manages to keep the gap from widening.
Twenty-five.
Fifty.
One hundred.
Ash finally catches up, though he's panting, drenched in sweat while Baro's is just breathing heavy. Besides the arena-like circle, there's nothing but garbage piles around. Indeed, it is a great place to hide from prying eyes. Considering the way his class treated him earlier, it's evident that they have a heavy cleanliness bias. There's no chance anyone there will come looking for them here. Ash puts his bag down and pants. He needs to catch his breath.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"You picked the up qi step way too quickly. It's making me nervous," Baro said, raising his hands for an attack stance, with feet wide apart. Ash takes the Garbage Collector Stance with a deep breath.
He has no intention of letting me catch my breath.
Qi flashes through Baro's palm as he strikes at Ash's blocking arm. Ash's eyes widen as the qi flows and stings him. He wanted to step in but his body locked a moment. Baro's qi must have disrupted him. Ash blocks Baro's follow up with qi. He could not move in to strike, but he learned a valuable lesson through it. If qi is ejected at the right moment mid step, the rebound launches him forward. However, who said that only applies to feet.
Clang!
Baro's fist bounces off Ash. Ash smiles, as he suspected, the recoil has left Baro stunned like he was earlier. Using the Garbage Collector Glide he gets in close, reeling his fist back as Qi gathers.
Junk-Fu, first form. Garbage removal punch, Junk punch
The Junk Punch is meant to be used to protect yourself from a falling pile of garbage, and can be used in tandem with the Garbage Collector's Glide to save an ally from potential danger. Had Ash any level of development in his waste management arts, he'd load the strike with garbage press. Unfortunately he had no means of progressing the waste management arts before unlocking Qi yesterday. If only he had some time to learn them first, this Baro is a shrewd one.
The garpage press is the most basic form of the garbage compressor ability. As it's name suggests, the garbage press pushes down on a pile of garbage with energy. At first it's in one direction, but as one gets more comfortable with the art they can start compressing from different sides, and eventually all sides. Once garbage can be pressed from all sides, the technique can rightfully be called compressor. Unfortunately, without the toxi-grip nerve network, Ash cannot send out his qi in a way which puts compressive force behind his hits, instead he can only increse the force. A basic kung-fu enhancement art, and a fruitless one considering Baro isn't letting him land any punches. He flickers away and around the arena, with Ash flickering after him.
"Yo Loosetooth, you seeing this?" Ripsock said, head poking out a far away pile of garbage. Flies swarm around his bushy curly brown hair.
"That Ash kid can fight with qi too." Loosetooth said. stroking his shaggy grey beard. It hasn't even been a full eight hours since that kid strolled out of town, then strolled back in offerring them all some weird potion that smells like royalty. Naturally the alley-boys wanted nothing to do with the trouble that would bring, but Ash was too insistent. He left five bottles by them and ran to the auction house before they could do anything. When did this damn kid find the time to sleep, doesn't he know that without proper rest the body can't grow and recover? He shouldn't be pushing himself like this at his age, it's irresponsible.
Still, the way him and that other kid fight is beyond anything Loosetooth and Ripsock have ever seen from children. Most don't even have a feel for qi, and a lot are aimless with it's application after awakening, remaining practitioners their whole lives. These two are striking, blocking, rushing, and exchanging blows while using qi at every opportunity. The difference is too much.
"Disposal Style, Junk Chop!" Ash said with a chop. The Garbage Disposal Chop is designed to apply garbage press along a single axis. The single line precision evolving the chop into a slice, which at full power can cut apart any and all forms of trash. Small precise pieces need to be chopped off a pile of trash in order to properly compress them into perfect cubes. Such precision and care for the process is what made the Khal Sect so great for so long. If only Ash had the means of using these techniques to their fullest. As he is now, this attack blocked by Baro is nothing more than a plain chop reinforced by Qi and Muscle. Though the ground cracks below Baro, he barely shifts a milometer as he smiles.
"Flaming strike!" Baro said, sending Ash flying into a heap of garbage. Ash groans and moans as he rolls the fire out. Had he not engulfed himself with Qi, he'd have been seriously injured. He can't keep going anymore. It's too much, he's too tired. Still, so is Baro. Just like him, Baro barely slept last night. Who knows, maybe he had his own encounter with death too. He's different from yesterday, it's been clear for a while now. Baro is panting now too, that last attack took as much out of him as it did for Ash. Neither of them have any extra energy left, Baro did his one flashy move. If Ash doesn't respond now, it will be his loss. There is no choice, he must surpass his limits. Whatever qi he has left, now is the time to use it all. His arms shake, fingertips feeling like they're on fire. Ash hasn't developed his body enough to handle the strain. He can feel micro-snaps all throughout his arms. Just a few seconds, he thinks over and over.
Ash grabs a nearby bag with his qi.
"Toxi-grip," Ash said, slowly lifting the nearby bag. Baro senses the qi spread to the bag, but the act is so nonsensical he could not ascertain the intent behind it. Luckily for him, Ash made that intent very clear. Unfortunately for him, Ash also made his intent clear very quickly. Ash squeezes his fist and the bag squeezes from the back, tension building heavily. Blood gushes out Ash's nose as his veins pulse throughout the surface of his body. His headache from the night before exasperating with each second. Just a few more seconds.
"Press!" Ash said, jutting his hand forward.
"And release!"
The pressure from the back of the bag reverberates throughout it, all the way to the front. The bag propels itself into Baro.
By the time Baro dodges, five more bags are flung at him. They smack and toss him back, the random strikes difficult to fully track, map, and cover with qi. Four more bags send him hurling into piles of trash behind. Baro pants heavy as he frees himself from the pile, covered in sweat. Ash, battered and bleeding, is also heavy breathing and sweating. They pant as they struggle step by step to the clearing in the arena, slowly making their way to the center.
Ripsock and Loosetooth can't believe their eyes, why won't either of them back down?
Ash smiles weakly as he lifts his fist up, Baro repeats and their two fists meet.
Bump.
And they both fall off their feet.