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(no subject)

Who:

thesevencodes
What: Training. For real.
When: Mike gets sent home. Don does some really unimpressive solo training, spends a night guarding Polka, and eventually gets his head back together. Then this happens.
Where: Starting outside C6, and probably ending up elsewhere.
Summary: Don apologizes to Raph for being a jerk in the best way he knows how: by giving Raph permission to abuse him until he becomes an acceptably competent ninja again.
Rating: PG-13
Where has Don been for the past week? Why, making a new bo staff. Crafting the simple weapon doesn't involve slaving for hours over a hot forge in the smithy - rather, he's been out in the woods, using the peace and quiet, the meditative carving of wood, to get his head back together.

He needs to train. He's been doing some work this week, out in the woods, and he's managed to bring himself back to a level that wouldn't make his father cry in embarrassment. (Shake his head sadly, yes - but at least he wouldn't be asking the ancestors how he got such lazy, undisciplined sons.)

Now, though, he needs help. He needs someone on a higher level, who can beat him back into shape, and then beat him into a better shape than he's ever been in before.

Fortunately, he knows such a person. And he knows that the individual in question will be all too willing to do it.

He prods the journal open with his toe. "Raph - come meet me behind the building. ... And don't panic. It's good news."

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"Yeah, yeah." He huffs a sigh and walks over. Why can't he resist you when you're all logical and guilt-tripping him to death? Seriously.

"You are so needy sometimes. You know that?" But despite the grumbling, he's gonna fold. Just for you. "Okay, do your worst."

Right. Because needing to feel confident that you could save your own brother's life is completely unreasonable.

He leans forward slightly, basketing his hands and inclining his head towards his shoulder to indicate that Raph should brace himself there. "Step up."

And up he goes. He is so glad no one else is around to see this.

Ow, ow, ow. He manages to hold Raph's weight, but it's obvious that he's not going to be carrying him anywhere any time soon.

"Okay. Get down."

He slips off gratefully, just to see that look of pain on his brother's face. "Don't hurt yourself or nothin'."

He stoops down to pick up the staff again. "You didn't even warm up before this didja?"

"Of course I did." He stretches his shoulders as he talks. "I knew it wasn't going to be a fair match, but I thought I would at least show up with my game face on." He rubs his snout, dislodging some remaining dirt. "Or whatever catchphrase those athletes on TV are using."

"Okay good, 'cause I ain't givin' you a message or nothin'." He grins at that and punches his bro roughly in the arm.

"So what do you want to do? 'Cause sparrin's not really working out."

"Right." He draws his bo again, spinning it in a casually subtle display of what he's been practicing this week. "Do you remember when I'm from, Raph? Name some things you think I've learned already. We'll see how well - or if - I know them."

Raph's face falls at the words 'when I'm from.' It's something he's easily pushed out of his mind since the first time they discussed it all those weeks ago. In fact, he hasn't let himself think about it much at all. The idea is too unsettling.

He folds his arms over his chest in the classic emotional shut-down response Don will so well recognize.

"Forget the weapons."

He promptly leans his staff against a tree and keeps his attention trained to the task far longer than what's normal.

"We'll do hand-to-hand."

Edited 2010-04-17 03:47 (UTC)

Don catches his bo, stilling its motion. Something is happening here.

"Raph... what's the matter?"

"Nothing." He does his best to keep his face placid, motioning to Don's staff. "Just forget the bo. C'mon, I'll go easy on ya."

"No, Raph -" He holsters his bo, then drops his hands, showing that he doesn't want to fight unarmed either. "You don't want to spar me because I'm younger?"

It didn't seem to bother him a minute ago, but something about the mention of the timeline has clearly upset him.

"I'm askin' you to spar, just lose the bo. I'm sick of beatin' your butt so easily."

He moves into a front stance and motions for Don to come at him. "C'mon, I ain't waitin' for you all day."

That's a ridiculously transparent request, but Don complies anyway. There's no way he'll fare any better, without the range and leverage of a weapon. But Raph can't talk about his feelings unless he's hitting something, so... sparring it is.

He gamely moves into some straightforward strikes, seeing whether Raph will actually let him get a hit in, but mostly just trying to perform less disgracefully than he did in round one.

Raph grunts at the attack and blocks them all relatively gently. He's resigned to watching your form instead of trying to make an ass out of you. "Aim a little higher."

His brother's form is sloppy at best, and not in Raph's own patented rough-but-effective way. And while Raph is usually one with the ability to lose himself in the focus that comes with physical exertion, this just isn't giving him enough of an excuse. Don's got something on his mind, and that always makes his fighting kind of half-assed, which isn't helping him prove himself at all.

"You ain't even paying attention." And neither is he, which is only making him increasingly frustrated.

No, he isn't paying attention. Half his mind is on watching Raph, even as Raph watches him back.

His older brother may have put on thirty pounds since the last time they sparred, but he's wearing it well. He still carries himself easily, still keeps perfect balance as he moves through attack and defense, still knows exactly how strong he is relative to his opponent.

Don is satisfied. The subject won't come up again.

Which leaves that other half of his brain to wonder what else is bothering Raph.

But while he's working on that, the half of his brain that is paying attenton takes Raph's advice, feeds it back to his body, and watches to see whether he can score even one commendable move in this match.

He nods solemnly. "Better." And they continue their slow dance of form-focused sparring. He steps forward, Don mirrors him - give and take, so different from the satisfying rush of battle. Raph's frown deepens.

"If y'know I'm stronger than you, you don't have to block me head on." His memory flickers back to his brother's previous demonstration of acrobatics. "You're smarter than that."

He curls his fist and throws a quick dragon punch at his brother's jaw, then rocks back for a roundhouse kick meant to throw him off guard. "Dodge it."

He doesn't know who Don's trying to impress, fighting him like this. Their styles have always contrasted like night and day. Don is the brains, Raph is the powerhouse, but most of what Don's done today is try to fit himself in Raph's niche and fight fire with fire, like he's trying too hard to be something he's not.

Did Don want to get his shell handed to him?

As the match goes on, Raph wonders exactly how much of this session is actually for him.

"You're smarter than that."

True. He's pretty sure he can still outthink any opponent he might find himself facing. But, as good as he is at staying mentally three steps ahead, sooner or later he needs the physical skill to back it up. And that's what he's determined to work on today.

"Dodge it."

He weaves to avoid the punch, then ducks under the high kick. On the way up, he'll cup his hands and see whether he can catch Raph's ankle and force his leg up, knocking him over.

When Don catches his ankle, he smiles. That 'a boy, now you're thinking.

Raph hobbles a moment with his leg caught, trying to twist himself out of his grip before falling over. But then it becomes very clear that he is falling whether he likes it or not. So he rolls with it, hopping a little on his other leg and using it to tangle with Don's as he gives into gravity.

If he's going down, he's gonna make sure Don's coming with him.

Edited 2010-04-17 19:43 (UTC)

It's clear to Don that he barely has enough strength to push Raph over, even when he's in a position that maximizes his leverage. If he tries to avoid Raph's tangling move, he'll lose his advantage entirely.

So he goes with it. But, on the way down, as soon as Raph is past the point of recovery, Don lets go of his leg and throws his arms forward, using them both to catch himself and to limit Raph's maneuvering space.

If he has any time after they hit the ground, he'll shift his weight to one arm and aim a strike at Raph's face - the kind of strike that would crush his skull if done with real intent.

His grin broadens even as his shell impacts with the ground. Then Donnie throws the punch and he reaches to grab his fist. "Now we're talkin'!"

Despite what little wriggle room Don's left him, he tries his best to wrap his legs around Don's and push himself off the ground with his free hand. He'll use his superior strength to try to roll his brother off of him and wind up on top, hopefully pinning Don to the ground.

Raph manages to get his arm up and block, but he shows approval of the move and that feels better than actually hitting him in the face would have.

Then Raph goes for a pin-reversal, and that is a situation that Don does not want to be caught in. He disentangles his foot from Raph's ankles, brings his knee up, and uses Raph's plastron as a launching board to throw himself into a somersault.

Raph's back on his feet in an instant, waiting patiently for his brother to get back on his. He holds the defensive stance, waiting for the next attack.

If anything, this little training session has been a wonderful lesson for control and patience.

Edited 2010-04-17 21:14 (UTC)

Don comes up from his somersault, vaguely surprised that Raph didn't tackle him before he could get that far.

He turns, sees Raph waiting for him - Of course, I only got away with that because he LET me - and dives back in with a flying kick.

Which Raph completely evades. Yes, Raph's always been the slowest of the four, but he's also improved a lot in two year's time. Have a surprise lesson in balance and recovery, Don-san. Your brother's just going to stand here waiting with an amused look on his face.

Yeah, you're not so much fun to actually fight anymore, so he's just gonna bully you this way instead. How...Mikey of him.