ES10: AKENO KUDO CONTINUED FROM Static Pieces
Akeno took a starting stance.
She stood with her feet a shoulders width apart, her back straight, shoulders squared and arms down and slightly apart from her body. Her right foot moved inward and forward, before swinging in an arc to the outside of her hip, heel off the ground. At the same time her hands came up, her biceps staying in place as her forearms moved towards her body and rotated up, stopping with her arms up in front of her, palms facing her.
She pulled her left hand in until it was pressed against her side then thrust it forward like a spear. Her arm returned to the position it had been in; upright, palm facing her, then her left foot duplicated the motion of her right; inward, forward, arc to the outside. Her right hand duplicated the motion of the right; down to her side, thrust, back to where it was.
The motion repeated again; right foot forward, left hand down, thrust and back. Every time her hand moved forward she put as much force behind it as she could, maximum power. Each strike was intended to take down an enemy, to kill them. Just like she’d been taught.
There were stings of pain in her arms as they cut through the air and a deeper ache from her side as she brought her hand against it, but she ignored them and continued with her kata.
Pain, at least this kind of pain, wasn’t a big deal. The first time Akeno had taken part in a full-contact tournament the next day she’d felt like she’d been hit by a car; bruises on top of bruises all over her body. Over time she’d toughened up, learned how to deal with the pain and, more importantly, learned how not to get hit as much; something like this wasn’t much of an issue. She just needed time to adjust.
She brought her arms together, pressing elbow to elbow and edge of hand to edge of hand, before bringing her right foot all the way back behind her and throwing her arms down and out to the side with closed fists.
Akeno lunged forward, right foot stomping down in front of her as her right arm cut sideways through the air to chop an illusory opponents throat then immediate twisted around to swing her arm over to her left, elbow first, to shatter and imaginary arm joint.
Her sensei, the one she’d started training with when she was fifteen, was kind of hard-core she was coming to realise. He was traditional, old-school, and he taught karate as it was intended to be used. At the time she taken it metaphorically, he was just reminding them to put force behind their actions instead of repeating the motions, but those lessons hit differently now.
The action was repeated for the left side of the body before bringing her feet together, knees slightly bent, left hand coming close to her side as her right arm swung an elbow up. She turned around, foot sliding back as he hand shot forward in a palm strike. She turned again, facing the opposite way and repeating the action with the opposite hand and foot.
It would be an issue if her injuries affected her movement, so she needed to make sure that wasn’t the case. The bruise at her ribs, where Maxine had thrown the drawer at her, gave a twinge of discomfort anytime she twisted her upper body a certain way, but so far it wasn’t enough to impede her or give her pause at the wrong moment. Her arms were a little tender too; her forearms had the beginnings of welts and her elbows still ached from being dragged down the stairs. That would make blocking and striking with those parts of the body harder, but not impossible. Wearing her jacket would help.
Having actual, real experience of fighting through pain and fatigue as she stepped onto the mat for the fifth time that day was one of the only clear advantages she saw in herself. She knew people like Lucille, Lucia and Jasper could fight like she could, better even in some cases, but none of them competed like she had or had that kind of endurance to her knowledge. She could push herself if she needed to.
Her body moved forward, bringing her feet closer together and her arm out in front of her. Akeno brought her foot up in a snap kick before stomping her foot down as her elbow came up with a follow-up strike in the same motion; power from the ground travelling up to the point of impact. She turned to the right and repeated the elbow strike again, before turning 180 and returning to her starting position.
It was always better never to get hurt in the first place of course. Injuries stacked up over time and led to more injuries. They slowed you down, limited you, weakened you; you weren’t fighting at one hundred per cent so you made a mistake you wouldn’t have otherwise, took more damage, slowed down even more, made more mistakes and took more hits that you shouldn’t have. It was a slow downwards spiral and the longer it took you to stop and recover the further down that spiral you slid and the harder it was to come back from.
That was how it was in tournaments anyway; she’d seen people drop out early even though they won their matches because they were too beat up to continue and she’d even done it herself a few times. There was always a risk of pushing your body past what it could endure and doing serious harm to yourself. SOTF, however, didn’t allow for that; it was a ride with no stops and once you were on there was no way off. The show’s history was full of people with high prospects, lots of potential and all the pundits backing them, who got hurt early on and pretty much lost their chances then and there.
She stepped forward, body straightening as she brought both elbows up at once. Lunging forward again, she repeated the arm breaking motion for both sides and finished with one last elbow strike, before she finally returned to her starting stance at the end of her kata.
Akeno wasn’t at that point yet, not even close, everything was still in working order. She could still move the way she wanted.
Dropping out her stance she walked over to the bed where she’d left her bag, grabbed the bottle of classic Gatorade from inside and drank from it. She was sure it was only in their packs because of some sponsorship deal, but the sports drinks were appreciated nonetheless. The rest of the supplies were a little unusual this year, probably to fit the nautical theme they were going for, and she pitied any poor bastard who didn’t have a taste for seafood. Or had seasickness.
Or couldn’t swim.
At least her costume was kind of cool. She’d thought it was a regular gi at first and that was something that she could definitely work with, but as soon as she’d felt the material she could tell it was a replica or a costume version of one. Once she’d seen the ripped sleeves and the red headband she’d figured out what it was supposed to be and couldn’t help but smile at the fact that they’d landed on something she could appreciate, even if they’d probably only picked it for the karate reference.
Akeno would have preferred a Makoto costume since, you know, she didn’t think the Ryu costume was meant for a woman with how deep that v-cut was, but the shoto’s were all anyone cared about anyway; Makoto was underappreciated as usual. She’d taken the gloves though. They weren’t real padded gloves, since that would have given her an advantage, but the fingerless red gloves were better than nothing for protecting her hands.
There was a moment where she briefly entertained the idea of putting the white vest on anyway, but there was no way she wouldn’t look ridiculous in it. She put her tank top back on instead, having taken it off to check her bruises and left it off during her kata, and put her bomber jacket on over that.
Turning to check herself in the mirror she straightened out her jacket and smoothed down her tank top. Aside from the bandana around her head and the background of her reflection she didn’t look all that different from when she’d left the house… however long ago it was they’d abducted her; same clothes, same hair, a little dishevelled but not by much. The only thing different was her eyes.
Reaching behind her head she untied her bandana and she held it in her hands, looking at the half-woman half-fish silhouette on the white background for a moment before tying it back around her head tighter. She used the mirror to make sure there were no strands of hair caught underneath it.
She was stalling.
As soon as she was done here she would need to leave this room and go back to the show. Akeno wasn’t quite ready for that yet, not while her thoughts were so… turbulent. She turned away from the mirror and leaned against the wall next to it instead, crossing her arms under her chest and staring at the opposite wall. “I’m gonna think out loud for a minute. Just want to get my thoughts in order.”
The words slipped out in a rush, suddenly enough that she nearly startled herself with her own voice. The room was empty aside from her and an audience of millions and hearing her own words echo back to her in the small bedroom was strange, like there shouldn’t have been any noise at all and the fact that there was, was wrong somehow.
“There are three ways to make it out of here; survive, escape… and kill.” She shifted against the wall and her shoulder bumped the mirror slightly. Her head turned to see what she had touched and then moved a step to the side.
“Survive means being the last one alive, or the last team I guess. Going that way probably gives me the best odds and is also the best one, like, morally as well. Outlast everyone else and make it to the end with my team; sounds easy enough.”
Who she was speaking to exactly? Herself? The audience? Emmy, her mentor who was probably watching her right now? Her parents, who may or may not have been watching? This was their second greatest fear come to life, but she’d never really thought about if they would watch if it came true.
“But… I don’t think I can rely on the team win for this. No offence to my teammates, whoever they are, I’m just not patient enough to play the long game; I can’t sit around and wait for this to be over. It’s not me.”
As if to demonstrate, Akeno pushed herself off of the wall with a shrug of her shoulders and began to pace back and forth across the small cabin.
“I’m also not smart enough to escape. There are people here who probably are; Stokes, maybe Ivan, people like that who know the game as well as anyone. I could try and find them but… escaping is always a long shot. More power to anyone who tries though, I’m just not willing to stake my life on it.
“So that leaves the last option; ten kills… I could kill ten people and go home.”
Akeno had said she was doing this to get her thoughts in order and that was kind of true but also kind of a lie. She was laying it all out like this, talking through her options as if she was giving things the proper and deserved consideration, but she already knew the choice she was going to make. She’d known even before she’d been picked what she would do if this ever happened. She’d known it in the back of her mind when people asked her what she would do and she’d lied and told them her strategy was going to be playing it safe and boring until the end.
This wasn’t her figuring things out. This was her justification; something for posterity and to provide answers for the inevitable questions.
The pacing stopped and Akeno found herself looking into the mirror again. Not at her own face, but at her neck, roughly where she thought the hidden cameras would be.
“I just… want to be able to say at the end of this that I tried as hard as I could, you know? That’s all it is. I don’t want to have any regrets at the end of this.
“The thing I’m most afraid of is dying feeling like I could have done more; wondering what would have happened if I’d tried harder.”
Seeing Emmy’s face during the briefing had almost been enough to make her reconsider, just for a moment, but in the end it wasn’t enough to change her mind. Akeno had never expected it to matter who her team’s mentor was, the gimmick had always been just that, but she had to admit the show had outdone itself this year. It mattered a lot, as it turned out.
“I’m going to be pro-active about this, even if it’s the dumb play. I won’t be able to accept anything else.”
She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it through her nose. That was pretty much everything she wanted to say, for what it was worth, so at least she could put that concern behind her. “So, stay tuned I guess. Keep your eyes on me because, win or lose, I’m going to give you a show.”
Akeno went back to her bag and began to put things away. Her weapon was already in her pocket, it had been during her brief encounter with Maxine and Sergio as well but she hadn’t felt the need to use it at the time.
“I’m sorry Emmy.” She’d come to terms with the fact that she was going to disappoint so many people with her actions here, but the girl on the screen with tears running down her face was the one that would bother her the most. “I’m really sorry.”
Violence Breeds Violence; But in the End it Has to be this Way
Oneshot-ish
There is a long moment between the apology and the sound of a soft voice from Akeno's collar.
"There's el—ten people on your side. Guaranteed. That get nothing out of hurting you.
"Is it less you to be patient and rely on them, and them on you, or to turn into a murderer?"
"There's el—ten people on your side. Guaranteed. That get nothing out of hurting you.
"Is it less you to be patient and rely on them, and them on you, or to turn into a murderer?"
”Ten?”
Akeno paused, hands hovering over her supplies as she took in that particular piece of information. There were ten other people on her team? Seriously? That was more than twice the size of teams they’d done before. Just how big was this season?
Emmy had probably intended for it to be reassuring, to suggest that teams were more powerful than she thought; to be fair she wasn’t wrong, but the news was more concerning than anything. The chances of Akeno running into a cohesive group of two or more people during this game had just gone up considerably. That would mean more fights like the one she’d just had on the schooner.
Her hands started moving again and she finished packing her things away before zipping her bag closed. The list of things she could do to stall her leaving this room was running out.
“You almost said eleven there, but then you changed it.” Twelve person teams, what the hell? “Someone’s already dead, aren’t they?”
If that was true, and she had no reason to think it wasn’t, then it was a shame but not surprising. There were always a number of people who were willing to kill from the word go and Akeno wasn’t so naïve as to think that none of her friends or classmates were among that number.
“Emmy…” Despite what the girl wanted, it wasn’t possible to make it through this show without someone becoming a murderer. Sure, there had been winners in past seasons who had made it to the end without a single kill, but only because other people had bloodied their hands instead.
People had to die for the game to end.
Even if she met up with everyone else the only thing she had to offer her team was her ability to fight; she knew what her role would be and she would end up being a murderer at some point anyway. If she was going to go that route regardless, then she might as well aim for the ten and see what happened. With any luck she would go home and her team would benefit from there being ten less people between them and victory.
“Emmy. Is there anyone you don’t want me to… is anyone off-limits? Don’t say everyone; you can’t change my mind on this. Just… do you have any friends who got picked or… or are you dating anyone?
“And is there any other information you can give me? How many people were picked? Is there anyone I should watch out for?”
Akeno paused, hands hovering over her supplies as she took in that particular piece of information. There were ten other people on her team? Seriously? That was more than twice the size of teams they’d done before. Just how big was this season?
Emmy had probably intended for it to be reassuring, to suggest that teams were more powerful than she thought; to be fair she wasn’t wrong, but the news was more concerning than anything. The chances of Akeno running into a cohesive group of two or more people during this game had just gone up considerably. That would mean more fights like the one she’d just had on the schooner.
Her hands started moving again and she finished packing her things away before zipping her bag closed. The list of things she could do to stall her leaving this room was running out.
“You almost said eleven there, but then you changed it.” Twelve person teams, what the hell? “Someone’s already dead, aren’t they?”
If that was true, and she had no reason to think it wasn’t, then it was a shame but not surprising. There were always a number of people who were willing to kill from the word go and Akeno wasn’t so naïve as to think that none of her friends or classmates were among that number.
“Emmy…” Despite what the girl wanted, it wasn’t possible to make it through this show without someone becoming a murderer. Sure, there had been winners in past seasons who had made it to the end without a single kill, but only because other people had bloodied their hands instead.
People had to die for the game to end.
Even if she met up with everyone else the only thing she had to offer her team was her ability to fight; she knew what her role would be and she would end up being a murderer at some point anyway. If she was going to go that route regardless, then she might as well aim for the ten and see what happened. With any luck she would go home and her team would benefit from there being ten less people between them and victory.
“Emmy. Is there anyone you don’t want me to… is anyone off-limits? Don’t say everyone; you can’t change my mind on this. Just… do you have any friends who got picked or… or are you dating anyone?
“And is there any other information you can give me? How many people were picked? Is there anyone I should watch out for?”
Another pause.
"Yes."
"I ... don't ask me that. It's... it's everyone or it's no-one, Akeno.
"Eighty-one. Look out for Verity and anyone wearing a bag. They're not alone.
"I have to go. Talk again after the announcement. Stay safe. Please reconsider."
"Yes."
"I ... don't ask me that. It's... it's everyone or it's no-one, Akeno.
"Eighty-one. Look out for Verity and anyone wearing a bag. They're not alone.
"I have to go. Talk again after the announcement. Stay safe. Please reconsider."
Eighty people. Teams of twelve.
That was big, maybe the biggest season ever. She couldn’t remember if there was a larger one before this; Lucille would probably know, maybe she’d ask if they ever ran into each other. If she was lucky she’d never get the chance.
An unstable arena floating in the middle of the ocean.
All the times Akeno had talk about SOTF with her friends, talked about what they would do if they were picked, they’d never imagined anything like this. No matter what the situation she’d always expected she could at least count on there being solid ground beneath her feet.
She would have to get picked for the season where they went wild with the format.
Look out for anyone wearing a bag; did that mean over their heads? Avoiding that just seemed like good common sense wherever you were but, noted; people were ganging up by the sounds of it. Look out for Verity as well; the name sounded kind of familiar but… she couldn’t put a face to it. That was frustrating.
That was all the information Emmy had to give so, she’d stalled for a long as she could; unless Akeno wanted to hide in a bedroom until the first announcement it was time to leave. She hefted her bag onto her shoulders and checked her pocket one last time to make sure she still had her weapon, Akeno opened the door to the cabin.
ES10: AKENO KUDO CONTINUED IN Help
That was big, maybe the biggest season ever. She couldn’t remember if there was a larger one before this; Lucille would probably know, maybe she’d ask if they ever ran into each other. If she was lucky she’d never get the chance.
An unstable arena floating in the middle of the ocean.
All the times Akeno had talk about SOTF with her friends, talked about what they would do if they were picked, they’d never imagined anything like this. No matter what the situation she’d always expected she could at least count on there being solid ground beneath her feet.
She would have to get picked for the season where they went wild with the format.
Look out for anyone wearing a bag; did that mean over their heads? Avoiding that just seemed like good common sense wherever you were but, noted; people were ganging up by the sounds of it. Look out for Verity as well; the name sounded kind of familiar but… she couldn’t put a face to it. That was frustrating.
That was all the information Emmy had to give so, she’d stalled for a long as she could; unless Akeno wanted to hide in a bedroom until the first announcement it was time to leave. She hefted her bag onto her shoulders and checked her pocket one last time to make sure she still had her weapon, Akeno opened the door to the cabin.
ES10: AKENO KUDO CONTINUED IN Help