Shen - Sparring with Satzu

[11:10] <Deedles> The next day Satzu had brought Shen to a large clearing in the forest surrounding the lake, the Storm Mentor going through some stretches before the training would begin.
[11:19] <Shen> Shen stood across from his brother, stretching his arms behind his head as he limbered the muscles in his body. It was almsot a ritual that he repeated in the exact same way, for the exact amount of time every time he had trained in combat since he was young. This time it was different though, before he finished he also practiced his breathing.
[11:19] <Shen> Inhaling and exhaling as he built up the chi in his lungs, he knew he would have to get quicker at it if he was to use it in real combat, he thought to himself.
[11:30] <Deedles> Satzu uttered a faint groan before he finally fell into his stance, fist leading open palm. "You ready?" he asked his younger brother
[11:34] <Shen> He hadn't fought since his fight with Hayato at the tea house and he almost despised himself because of it. You're rusty, he told himself internally as he began to exhaust the white mist from the corners of his mouth. He thought of what Ziulong had taught him, used what he had already practiced and built upon it: Exhale, Subdue, Retain.
[11:34] <Shen> He fell into stance, Open palm leading closed fist as he reopened his eyes, the white mist surrounding him as he did so. "As I'll ever be." he nodded back to his brother.
[11:40] <Deedles> Satzu's stance shifted, his hands mirroring Shen's as the palm shifted to the front and his closed fist to the back.
[11:43] <Shen> Shen stood in stance, focused, showing no sign of movement as he waited for his brother.
[12:02] <Deedles> Satzu bursted forward, probably not as fast as he could, but in the end this spar wasn't for him to mash his brother into the floor, but to teach him, one step at the time, to use his mist in combat. His palm moved to the side in place for his fist which came in for a punch, his hand crackling with lightning as it did.
[12:06] <Shen> Shen waited, his ears peaking as he heard the initial force of his brother pushing himself off the floor towards him. He knew something was coming. As his brother entered the proximity of his mist, Shen saw him and his fist, and moved to react, but he wasn't fast enough. He needed to be quicker at reacting, he scolded himself as he shifted his weight to the side to avoid the blow.
[12:13] <Deedles> Satzu's fist only grazed Shen's shoulder.
[12:14] <Shen> As Satzu's fist passes over Shen shoulder he reacts, twisting with the graze to redirect his brother past him as he pushes his palm upwards towards his elbow.
[12:25] <Deedles> The blow to Satzu's elbow hit, but didn't seem to have any effect as he shifted away from his younger brother.
[12:44] <Shen> As Satzu left his mist, Shen immediately twisted to face the direction of his brothers exit. A thought crossed his mind, a slight spark crackling from his witheld fist as the mist around him chain reacts into a storm of his chi. It worked, he thought to himself as his mouth faintly tweaked into a smile, his focus remaining on the unpenetrated mist.
[12:48] <Deedles> Satzu's stance remained the same, open palm followed by closed fist as he boomed back into the mist.
[12:56] <Deedles> His fist came forward again, once more crackling with lightning as he aimed for Shen's stomach, quickly followed by his open palm coming for a blow on his shoulder.
[12:59] <Shen> Again Shen span the second Satzu penetrated the mist, at this point he could only react, cursing his own passiveness but forcing himself to pay attention. He focused on the palm first, knowing the palm is not meant to harm as much support, but in his brothers case he would use it tactically. He avoided it completely, but simply did not have the time to escape both palm and fist at once.
[13:01] <Deedles> The fist collided, but only barely, in a blow that didn't have much power behind it, but certainly would leave bruises.
[13:06] <Shen> Shen exhaled at the collision, still enough to force even more mist from his mouth as he accepted the blow. However, it didn't stop him from aiming a twisted fist at the muscle beside Satzu's armpit in quick reaction.
[13:08] <Deedles> Satzu shifted out of the way, but ensured to remain within Shen's mist of vision so that he wouldn't have to pass through the lightning again.
[13:11] <Deedles> His arms moved around, fist leading open palm as he shifted into Black Dragon Form.
[13:14] <Shen> Shen mirrored his brother as he did so, he knew Satzu was getting serious, but remaining as he was was only going to make it worse for himself. He shifted fist before palm and exhaled.
[13:46] <Deedles> Father Heaven came at him again, his palm shooting forward to send Shen off balance ,before his lightning infused fist boomed into his shoulder.
[13:51] <Shen> Shen was losing the focus he had over the mist as it slowly began to loosen from its realm around him. This isn't good, Shen choked to himself in his mind as he took the blow to his shoulder that destroyed his stance completely. He took a step back from the impact and gritted his teeth, quickly falling back into stance and recuperating the lost mist with more from his hurried breath.
[13:55] <Deedles> Satzu held his form as he breathed in slowly and deeply, studying his brother intently after his blow hit home. His lips parted as if he was going to say something, but instead just shook his head and continued...
[14:01] <Shen> Instead of falling back into his former stance, Shen raises both hands equally, a fist next to his palm. A subtle change, but not one that Satzu would miss.
[14:17] <Deedles> Satzu's eyes studied Shen's hands for a moment, before he swiftly moved in for another attack, his lightning crackling fist swooping down towards his younger brother's right leg.
[14:20] <Shen> Shen knew he couldn't last much longer like this, but he chose to persist and at least keep his pride here. As Satzu performed the same motion again, Shen followed its fast pace. At least it wasn't attacking from out of nowhere this time. Even with the warning it was hard for the young man to fully avoid, but he did what he could.
[14:41] <Shen> As Satzu moved past on his attack, Shen quickly attacked his brother from the side.
[14:42] <Deedles> Satzu slid back to avoid the blow, but quickly came back in with one of his own.
[14:47] <Deedles> His fist came in, hard and fast, colliding with the same shoulder he had hit before.
[14:51] <Shen> Shen knew it was coming, his brother would be an idiot not to focus on his leading shoulder, but Shen realised it far too late. He growled as Satzu struck his already stinging shoulder, more mist escaping about them as Shen took yet another step back, planting his foot firmly behind him as he let out a set of flurried breaths. It hurt, but to Shen the feeling of weakness hurt him much more.
[15:05] <Shen> It was because of this distate for weakness that Shen took a step forward and struck with his fist through the mist, guided by his open palm.
[15:19] <Deedles> Satzu grunted as Shen's blow connected, and it hurt, the Shock Mentor swinging his fist, crackling with lightning, in for a counter blow.
[15:26] <Deedles> His fist stopped an inch short of actually hitting Shen though, Satzu relaxing his stance "... That's enough for now. You've already improved a lot." he stated quietly
[15:27] <Shen> "Not nearly enough." he replied reluctantly, his arm loosely dangling to his side as he watched his brother. "My reactions are nothing compared to how they were before." he growled as he laid a hand on his injured shoulder.
[15:30] <Deedles> Satzu opened his mouth to speak, but sighed and shook his head "The fact that you've already made so much progress is amazing." he stated before he actually chuckled "You're so impatient and stubborn."
[15:32] <Shen> "It's not like I have a choice." he reminded his brother as he painfully rolled his shoulder with a grunt. "I don't have long to get this down, if I don't I'm not just putting myself in danger." he admitted as his already annoyed face turned softer, sadder.
[15:33] <Deedles> Satzu laid a hand on Shen's uninjured shoulder "You will get there, if we just keep training like this for the rest of our time out here I know you'll improve drastically." he gave the shoulder a light squeeze "You'll protect her, just like you want."
[15:36] <Shen> "Its not just her, but everyone." he sighed as the adrenaline from sparring left his body and he began to feel every ache and sore. "Especially her, maybe, but if I'm going to fight alongside Jian and Yoshi again, I'll need to be able to hold my own... else I'm just a burden. I refuse to be looked after." he complained stubbornly.
[15:38] <Deedles> "Even in your current state I wouldn't say that you'd need looking after." Satzu said, honestly as he retracted his hand. "Now come on, the faster Ziulong can look at that shoulder of yours the faster we can get back to training."
[15:38] <Shen> Shen fell silent, but he nodded in agreement, he couldn't disagree with that. "Alright."
[15:40] <Deedles> Satzu began leading the way back to the camp, at first in silence, but after a bit he chimed "... Doing something other than sparring while we're out here could be an idea too."
[15:41] <Shen> "How do you mean?" Shen raised his head from his thoughts, constantly going over the spar with his brother over and over again.
[15:42] <Deedles> "Going exploring, just climbing in the terrain." Satzu shrugged as he looked around, pausing briefly before he added "..I know Ziulong likes it here because he can often find rare medical plants."
[15:44] <Shen> Shen thought about that for a moment, turning the thought in his mind "Maybe that isn't such a bad idea." he agreed as they walked. "I'll have a word with him about it."
[15:46] <Deedles> "I'm sure he'll be glad someone is curious enough to ask." Satzu chuckled faintly
[15:51] <Shen> "He sure knows how to show it." Shen laguhed softly as he perked up a little at the thought.
[15:53] <Deedles> His brother couldn't help but laugh at that "Oh, sure." he shook his head