Martial Arts 101.1: An Introduction to the Fighting Man (OPEN/CLASS)

Despite being 20 minutes before the start of class, the classroom was already busy. Men with ATN (Atlesian Television Network) uniforms worked to set up cameras, lights, and microphones to record the very first episode of "Teachings of a Grandmaster". "Teachings of a Grandmaster" is a new reality TV show to premiere on ATN and involves Grandmaster Samurai Brown, an international celebrity who is a master of Kendo and several other martial arts, teach martial arts to a class full of students at Syne Academy.

Other then the excessive studio recording equipment, the layout of the classroom was very similar to the layout of a normal college classroom. The professors desk sat in front of rows of student desks that were gradually raised the further back in the classroom they were. Unlike most professors, the Grandmaster sat on top of his desk, legs crossed and tucked under each other.

Two men in ATN uniforms, one of them a cameramen and the other just holding a mic approached the professor.
"What are you expecting out of your soon-arriving students?" The man holding the mic asked Grandmaster Samurai Brown, recording his response.
"I'm expecting the lot of them to be scrubs. Sure there might be a few somewhat talented individuals, but overall, this I'm expecting a class full of scrubs." The Grandmaster responded, "But that is completely acceptable and to be expected. Afterall, this is an introduction to martial arts. It would be a waste of their time and more importantly my time if they were martial art experts instead of scrubs. I don't like wasting time."

With that, Grandmaster Samurai Brown closed his eyes and placed his hands on his thighs and began humming, "Mmmm". He began a meditation process as he waited for the time to begin his class.

Kaiwen heard of her former master attending Bellmuse and she was not about to allow this opportunity wane. He was quite dramatic and was a fan of the theatrics but she couldn't help but enjoy his teaching, it reminded her of her father's eccentric nature. In a sense, he was like a rogue uncle figure.

Then again, this was before all of the glitz and glamour. She would slide on her usual attire, akin to a uniform with her leggings, flats and buttoned up white shirt with her flowing skirt allowing for freedom. She then adorned her red belt that she obtained from her teacher, but instead of it being upon her waist she kept it as a headdress and headband along her forehead and hair. Not obtaining the black simply from loss of contact, her skill level at this point was just as unknown as her master's since they last saw one another.

It would have been years since they last met, but she still could not wait to see him. As she headed to class her prevailing sublime aura that clung to her as she strode down the halls and busy corridors had an a notion of passionate fierceness to it. She couldn't help but be excited while a grin was plastered along the raven haired beauty's face.

She walked in quite early (due to her excitement) to see, cameras and another student. A boy, black hair, taller than she gave off a bit of professionalism but indifference as she quickly scanned him. However, even her noteworthy perceptive and deductive skills were dulled once she laid eyes on her teacher. Her grin became a simper into a full blown smile. She couldn't help but be giddy to seeing him again and even seeing this publicity he was obtaining warmed her heart as she saw him achieve what he always wanted.

Watching him meditate though, she decided to lower her head and simply see herself to a nearby seat. She was simply a student, she was not expecting special treatment as all people were equal. She simply tightened the red belt over her head and hair, placing herself in a seat away from the watchful eye of the cameras. Attempting to hold her composure overall as she did not want any of her glee to register on an emotional level.

"Hey, Bart. Have you seen this?" Hyght asked as he pulled a flyer from the wall and scanned over it before he showed it to Bartholomew Samos. "It talks about some Grandmaster named Samurai Brown. Have you heard of this guy before?" Bart, a tall well built Huntsman that was one year Hyght's senior, read over the flyer and nodded once before passing the flyer back.

"Yeah, I've heard of him. My dad was talking about him earlier this week. Something about him being some real famous martial artist." Bart shrugged, "I've never looked up on how good he was though. Why? You wanna check it out?" He asked but Bart already knew the answer. He and Hyght had been training for a little over a month or so now and he had spoken to the former baker about strengthening his hand to hand combat as well as his weapon skills. He's improved quite a bit but he's still a novice. This might help.

Hyght adjusted his glasses, a pair of wire rimmed, half moon specs, and hmm'd in response. Bart cocked an eyebrow at that but said nothing. "Your dad says he's pretty good?" He asked to which his senior shrugged.

"Honestly I don't think he said much outside of his status he didn't mention his skill. Though I suppose it's possible." Bart grabbed the flyer back from Hyght and looked down at the location the Grandmaster was supposed to be. "If you want to check it out, it's in my Dad's classroom. Weird." He muttered returning the flyer to Hyght once again.

Hyght accepted the paper and tacked it back to the spot it was. "Why is that weird?" He asked and began walking in the direction of Professor Samos' classroom. Bart slid one hand into the pocket of his jeans and used the other to animate his speech.

"Well Syne is pretty big so I doubt there was no other classroom they could take but the location is in Dad's room."

"Maybe he wanted to watch and see how good he is. I mean, if this guy is supposed to be super skilled I could imagine your Da wanting to check it out." Hyght replied as they navigated through the busy hallways, the cacophony of squeaking shoes had filled the air. "Ugh, I know buffing the floors makes them look better but I hate how everyone squeaks when they walk on it."

Hyght's complaint made Bart chuckle."Relax, grasshopper." Bart said with his usual grin. "Think of it as training to move silently. One day you might be able to do it." Bart barely finished his sentence before Hyght's fist connected with this shoulder.

"This isn't some tv show about ninjas, douche." He said through a laugh as they both slowed to a stop right outside the door to Professor Samos' classroom. Through the small translucent window on the door Hyght couldn't make much of the interior out. "Guess we're about to find out ourselves." He said as Bart's scroll chirped. Bart held up a finger and answered it. He motioned for Hyght to head in before him and mouthed he'd be there shortly. With a nod, the former baker stepped into the room to find it already alive with the motion of people. Hyght stared for a moment before he was ushered past a camera he was in the way of and took a seat. With a glance at the digital wall clock he noticed he was a little less than five minutes early. "Early bird gets the flood lights." He muttered and took note of all the bright lights around the room.

After a moment he blinked the lights from his eyes and noticed there were three other people in the room, other than the film crew. A young man with dark hair, whom stood before Professor Samos' desk, which was being used as a place to sit for a dark skinned man with an afro. With him being the center of almost everyone's attention Hyght took that to mean he was the Grand Master. THe third person was a young woman in a type of uniform whom sported a red headband. Hyght stifled a grin as he thought she resembled a character from an old fighting game he used to play. The young woman had a somewhat calm expression but the rigidity of her back had him think she was excited. That made him think this Grand Master might be the real thing but he didn't want to sell himself to that idea before seeing the man in action.

Hyght's seat was two rows from the front, away from the cameras, and gave him the luxury of not being blinded by the lights. It also happened to be his usual seat in the class, the fact that it happened to be so convenient made him a bit happy. So the pudgy huntsman-in-training sat and waited for the class to begin.

Gramps will be rolling in his grave if he knew his gunslinging protégée is learning martial arts.

Avery couldn't help a small smile at that thought as she strolled through the hallway heading towards the martial arts class. A gunslinger like her had no business in such class, but due to the nature of her weapon's second form, she wanted to expand her somewhat decent knowledge in hand-to-hand as well as provide variation in her overall fighting style. Upon arriving, she made her way inside dressed in her all-black form-fitting sleeveless turtleneck, shorts, and high-cut sneakers with her golden weapon fastened around her hips in its belt form.

However, the blonde hadn't even made it past the door when she froze at the sight of men in ATN uniforms. Avery quickly backtracked and hid behind a wall, her thoughts racing. Atlas?! What? Why? And media for that matter? The first thing she thought of was her relatives sending their regards to screw her over as usual; there was no reason for ATN to be here. But then as she peaked inside, her eyes caught sight of afro man sitting on the desk.

Avery recognised him, any combat enthusiast would. Grandmaster Samurai Brown as he's called, well-known internationally for his fighting aptitude. She used to admire him back when she was inexperienced in combat, but now that she could hold a battle of her own, she was starting to question his legitimacy mostly due to his celebrity status.

Regardless, now that she realised ATN's purpose, Avery walked back in and opted for a seat away from the cameras. There were three students so far, one of which she hadn't met before, another of whom she met a few times but never got to catch his name, and... Kaiwen?

"You? Why are you here? Don't you use a gun?" Avery asked as she unconsciously settled next to the graceful lass. Once seated, she leaned back, crossed her legs and folded her arms, shifting her gaze back to the professor while still talking to the girl beside her. "Not to mention you look quite enthusiastic there. Or is it just me?"

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[OOC: Before the start of class]

Grandmaster Samurai Brown opened his eyes as someone tapped on his shoulder and asked him for a favor. Before him, the Grandmaster saw a student standing in front of him. An older teenage boy with crimson streaks running through his black hair.

"Damn boy," The Grandmaster said angrily being interrupted from his meditation, "Don't ya know it's some common courtesy to never interrupt a man in his meditation?"

"Keep that in mind, I won't be so kind next time." Grandmaster Samurai Brown sighed, and then continued, "Anyways, what do ya want?"

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[OOC: At the start of Class]

After completely dealing with Korrea, Grandmaster Samurai Brown returned to his meditation. As such, he wasn't paying attention to those who had entered the classroom after.

Even with his eyes closed and being deep within his meditation state, Grandmaster Samurai Brown was keeping track of the time. The moment the time came for the class to start, the Grandmaster was ready. His eyes immediately came open, and as they did, a song track was turned on over the speakers in the room, filling the air with a oriental/hip-hop mix beat.



Grandmaster Samurai Brown hopped off of the desk and landed on his feet in front of it. His wooden sword at his waist and a headband tied around his forehead, the Grandmaster began to walk back and forth. The TV cameras in the back of the room followed the Grandmaster as he paced the front of the classroom. At this moment, the Grandmaster wasn't really paying attention to the faces of his students.

"For those of you punks who are completely lost," Grandmaster Samurai Brown spoke up as he paced the classroom, "I am Grandmaster Samurai Brown, probably the baddest mofo you will all come to know. All of you better be rejoicen cause I'm here to be teachin ya'll the arts of hand to hand combat. That's right, this is martial arts 101."

The Grandmaster came to a stop in the center of the room and turned to face the students. He observed the faces of those in the classroom, as these faces would give him insight on what kind of people he would be dealing with. Some uneasiness, a lot of confidence. There was one face amongst the students that looked familiar, a girl with black hair and a red headband that ran across her forehead. It was greatly bothering him how familiar she looked. He knew her, but he couldn't quite pin it.

"Before we get to some of that good ol' learnin," The Grandmaster continued, "There is something I'd like to ask ya'll about. The Fighting Man. Who do ya'll think this man is?"

Jack kept himself closer to the back of the class, he sighed deeply. He wasn't a fan of hand to hand but he knew if he was going to get any stronger as a huntsman he would have to learn. He was ready to watch and take as many notes as possible. But he wanted to stay away as to not get thrown into a fight to see what kind of skills he had. He was a long ranged fighter hand to hand is probably something that the other students knew much more about. He liked the teacher though, he was pretty confident leading Jack to believe he was highly skilled in his trade which made him feel a bit better about being weak. It at least gave him half of a chance to excel. Then again every other student will be wanting similar attention. He contemplated moving forward a few rows. But he thought it best to stay where he was for now. Although he could do without the music. But he enjoyed that the teacher had an odd style teaching. It would at least make the class tolerable or at least interesting. At the risk of sounding stupid he didn't want to answer the Grandmasters question.

[Before Class]

Kaiwen would glance at the majority of the students walking in. There was Mr. Briggs a more hefty student that she would give a quiet nod to accompanied with her dignified grin. Despite her excitement she was not uncouth about how she appeared, keeping her overall grace and exalted body language.

Then she saw her acquaintance..? friend...? hunting colleague....? Fellow Woman in arms waltz into the class after her momentary hesitation which Kaiwen just simply kept her smile toward the young woman secretly hoping she was just enthusiastic of grandmaster brown. Clearly, Kaiwen was a bit of a nerd.

Then she heard Avery's rapid fire inquires and Kaiwen folded her hands along her crossed legs continuing to smile at Avery in silence. She giggled lightly and then held a coy smile, as it was time to mess with her just a tad. "I won't tell if you don't." she said while motioning over to ATN.

That was followed by a light giggle as her former teacher reprimanded the young student for disturbing his meditation. She felt bad because she used to do the same when she was more barbaric and impulsive and didn't give him his proper respect.

[Class]

She couldn't help but let out another giggle at her professor's eccentric nature but it brought so much nostalgia for her, she enjoyed it. Once he popped the question, Kaiwen slowly stood up with a silent sigh before letting out a silent bow. "Senpai.. The fighting woman is the one who adapts and overcomes. Achieving their own goals. While facing adversity head on instead of running away." she retained her poise throughout her speech, keeping her dignified posture but projected her familiar soft voice before seating herself once more.

She was usually the one to keep quiet and allow someone to answer, but for this particular inquiry, it hit home with her. Even her fighting style was influenced by his teachings, but she never was a fan of the man being the usual gender when it came to martial arts. She refolded her legs and lacked her fingers awaiting to see if anyone else had an opinion, and if not, hopefully could move the lesson along. This was basically a review of the basics for her.

Avery raised an eyebrow and noted the professor's strict nature by how he dealt with that student's inquiries. Though as her eyes caught sight of the cameras, she figured it was all for show.  

Meanwhile, the raven-haired response to her questions was... expectedly annoying. Avery narrowed her eyes. "I applaud your ability to piss me off," she stated with a sarcastic smile. Seriously, what was she thinking sitting beside this demon?

Avery took out her phone and decided to play a game while waiting. Several minutes passed and she was so caught up with it that the sudden music surprised her. She glanced up at the professor with a frown just as she returned her phone. The teacher had a knack for theatrics, she figured. There was even a background music to accompany his teachings. Not that Avery minded. This was a good change from the usual boring lectures.

The blonde remained silent throughout his introduction and even his question about the fighting man. As much as she wanted to participate, she had no idea what to say. The girl beside her was different however. Avery gazed at her from the corner of her eyes and with everything that she said, Avy was focused on one word. Senpai?

Did she perhaps mean 'Sensei'? The blonde tilted her head in thought as she began to piece everything. Once the girl was done, Avery smirked.

"The giggling, the uncharacteristic enthusiasm, and now 'senpai'~ Is dear little Kaiwen crushing on the professor?" she teased in a soft voice.

Hyght sat silently in his spot, his attention shifting between the people that entered the room and those already milling about. His dark eyes jumped from one to another until the lesson began. Hyght's attention fell onto Grandmaster Samurai Brown just before his eyes snapped open. This sudden action made Hyght blink and cock an eyebrow at the following dramatic feel of it all. The Grandmaster issued an question to those in attendance and waited for the response.

The first to respond was the young woman with the headband. She spoke of the fighting woman, adding a strong inflection for emphasis. Hyght cocked his eyebrow once again though now one would notice. The rest of her response didn't seem to be far fetched though he wasn't sure what the right answer would be. However, something told him that the Grandmaster wouldn't be too happy with there being only one response.

Hyght raised his hand and immediately regretted it as a camera swiveled to face him, the bright light illuminating his face. Using his fore arm as a shield from the impossibly bright light, Hyght continued on. "I'd say it's possibly you. And then, after your training, it would be us." He wasn't sure if he was even remotely close but he felt that with the theatrics the man had already shown, this might be a correct response.

For a few moments, nobody in the class responded, and it was silent. Then what almost seemed to be out of nowhere, the girl seemed awfully familiar stood up, acting all formal towards him, and revealed her answer. To his surprise, it was actually spot on- save for the fighting women part, which irked him for some reason.

Following her answer, another male student spoke up, saying that Grandmaster Samurai Brown was the Fighting Man, and that he would train people in the class on how to be the Fighting Man as well.

"Well obviously I am the Fighting Man." The Grandmaster responded a bit rudely to the male student, "If anything, ya might even say I am the absolute pinnacle of the fighting man, and why that it, I will reveal soon. As for turning each of ya into the Fighting Man, well, that's not up to me ya see. I can show ya the path, the techniques, but h***, it up to follow them. I ain't gunna force ya if ya don't wanna do it."

"As for you," The Grandmaster said as he turned to face the familiar face, "I'm not gunna lie, your answers pretty much on point, there were just a few issues with it. First of all," He said as he raised a single finger in front of his body, "It's Grandmaster. Not Senpai. Secondly," He continued, raising a second finger on the same hand, "The Fighting Women? What are ya trynna do? Turn this into some class about feminism? Martial Arts is about punches and kicks, not about social issues."

"Thirdly," The Grandmaster said, raising a third finger, "I know ya from somewhere... Kaiwen?"

At this point, he realized that this familiar face was actually one of his old students he had back in the day. It was hard to recognize her since it was so long ago, and since that, she had grown a lot physically.

"Damn girl," The Grandmaster suddenly said with an eager grin, stopping his teaching, "You're still alive and kicking I see. That's real good. Man, why didn't ya come visit me whenever I first got here? I'm sure ya probably knew before today I was at this school now."

Kaiwen couldn't help but give a gentle smile when Avy 'complimented' Kaiwen. It was clear Avy's form of communication was palpable sarcasm with a fragrance of teasing. She needed to roll off of or feed off of reactions of the blonde's actions. Kaiwen's reactions were more or less not exactly what Avy had in mind, clearly.

Then after her speech, she sighed contently lightly with a smile. Before the raven haired beauty could part her lips to reply to the professor, ATN swiveled their cameras over to Kaiwen focusing on the tall dignified angel. She immediately rose her scroll to block her face from a particular angle with a faint rush of ruby sliding across her cheeks.

Kaiwen was asocial and for the most part would not have answered the professor regardless of ATN's presence or not. However, her excitement couldn't be contained. "Y-yes Professor, I figured you'd be busy with the publicity you've garnered. I-it's good to see you again!" her voice stammering slightly from the nervousness she felt from the camera's ever watchful gaze.

Once ATN brought their cameras back to her professor she sighed in relief placing her scroll back down, noticing the 'little red dot' on the camera. This class was on live TV? she thought with a brief stream of thoughts rushing through her mind she just gave another light sigh, before Avy made her comment toward Kaiwen about a 'crush'. Kaiwen's face still flustered from ATN, the starless cherub wouldn't respond to her while her voice was still shaky, which probably made matters worse. Her face just twisted into a form of slight confusion and embarrassment as she just regressed herself into herself looking at the frosty one next to her.

Avery scoffed silently at the grandmaster's answer to the 'fighting man'. Of course it would be him, she thought with a roll of her eyes. She glanced lazily at her watch, pondering what to do while waiting for this rather boring class to end. They weren't even halfway the lesson and Avy was already disinterested.

Just then the professor seemed to have recognised the girl beside her. Avery lowered her head, letting her golden strands shield her from the cameras that swerved to Kaiwen's direction. Based from their conversation, the two have known each other from the past and coincidentally met here. It also didn't help that the raven-haired was flushed red as though something happened between the two.

Once Kaiwen was seated and the cameras panned away, Avery folded both arms on the desk and rested her head on top. "Hey hey, just because the love of your life is in front of you doesn't mean you can attract attention. At least do that after class without the cameras." Avery mumbled. She gave a small yawn and with much disinterest shifted her attention back to the grandmaster.

Hyght listened to the answer Grandmaster Samurai Brown gave, however, it didn't make him seem to fit the cookie cutter mold of what a teacher would be. Though after a moment of thought Hyght realized that was a like calling the kettle black. A pudgy baker turned hunter wasn't the normal thing you'd think of in a Huntsman. With Samurai Brown having finished his explanation and his quick reunion with an old student, Hyght was beginning to grow a little impacient with how long it was taking for the Grandmaster to actually begin the lesson. With a glance he noticed the blond shared his growing disinterest. At that moment he knew he couldn't let his restlessness win out.

With a bite to his inner cheek he focused and reigned in his want to hurry the man up.

Jack sighed as he waited patiently for the class to start he thought to himself. (if this 'teacher' does this much talking I'll never learn to fight.) He tapped his pen on the pad of paper. Normally he wouldn't get impatient but he was here to learn something, not watch this man stroke his own ego. Jack finally mustered the courage to speak up from the back of the class. Standing tall he spoke with gusto in his voice. "Can we get on with your lesson? I'd actually like to learn something today." He then sat back down, sighing and tapping his pen on the pad again hoping then class would get back onto its original purpose. He hoped this class wasn't a waste of time he did want to learn how to fight. But something told him it wasn't going to be as easy as the other classes where it was more 'conventional'.

"Yea," The Grandmaster said in response to Kaiwen, "I've been a bit busy entertainin the populace, but ya know what? It's not as bad as ya'd think. In fact, it's treatin me pretty well. Also ya alright?" The Grandmaster quickly added, noticing that she seemed overly anxious at the moment, "If ya need to use the bathroom, shoulda done it before class ya know? It's proper etiquette."

The girl sitting next to Kaiwen muttered something under her breath outside of Grandmaster Samurai Brown's range of hearing, but before the Grandmaster could ask her what she had said, another student spoke up, asking for the class to be continued. The Grandmaster reached behind himself to grab the rooster of students of the professors desk. The rooster contained pictures and names of each of the students, making it easy to identify each by name. The point of identifying the students by name was so that they would have much more individualism then just another nameless student in his class. It was important that the audience who would later view this on TV feel that the class was made up by individual students with diverse backgrounds and personalities, making them easier to relate to and feel emotions for.

Using the list, Grandmaster Samurai Brown was able to identify the one who had asked for the class to continue as Jack Stroud.

"Well Jack, ya need ta understand that I don't like bein rushed." The Grandmaster said sternly at first, but then began to grin, "But I'll forgive ya this time. After all, you're eager to learn. I like that."

"This reunion will have to continue some other time Kaiwen, let's do it over some beer or something." The Grandmaster told Kaiwen across the classroom, completely ignoring the fact how wrong it was to be offering a minor some alcohol in the midst of a class session.

"So continuin the topic of the Fighting Man, ya gotta understand that s*** happens." The Grandmaster said continuing his lecture, speaking to the entire class. "It's how life is. Ya get good times, and ya get s***** times. Usually, the s***** times are a lot more prevalent then the good ones. The Fighting Man challenges the s***** times with every intention of overcoming them. Now there are times The Fighting Man may not be able to overcome them, but this doesn't necessarily mean that The Fighting Man has failed. Instead, The Fighting Man tries again, and again, using every possible mean, using every ounce of his effort, until he overcomes. Losing once isn't a failure, but rather accepting the loss as an absolute end. Fighting is the only thing The Fighting Man knows how to do. Fighting through bruises and broken bones, fighting through fear and absolute despair, The Fighting Man fights until there is nothing left to fight."

The Grandmaster paused his lecture for a second, letting his words hang in the air for added drama as well as giving his students an opportunity to reply.