The shadows of two figures could be seen making their way into the primarily empty space, one apprehensive while the other nearly bouncing with eagerness. Two polar opposite outlooks on the possible events of the upcoming training session, yet both were standing there and ready to work irregardless. Jameson, gulping down his nerves, and Rook, calming himself a bit to assure his master that he wasn't going to try to go overboard today as he usually did.
Normally Ian would be with them to supervise their training sessions, but today Jamie's older brother had a fight or two to attend to and was unavailable. Jamie, not wanting to ruin his and Rook's training regimen, insisted that he would alright with going it alone; that it would be a good idea since Ian couldn't supervise them forever. Rook was more than comfortable with Jamie, but truth be told he wasn't sure his new master would be able to handle it. That being the case, he knew better than to purposely go overboard and aim snapping jaws at him. It was just the two of them today, meaning Jamie was the one who had to manipulate the different pieces of training equipment and giving orders.
The silvery-splotched mokai blinked, bi-colored eyes hiding behind eyelids for a split second before glancing up at his human. Jamie took a deep breath which Rook followed after, timing each breath to match his master's. They needed to be in sync during these sessions, else neither of them would get anywhere. After Jamie seemed to get his bearings, he took a few steps toward where all the equipment was and stood in thought for a moment. Rook followed obediently, taking a seat where Ian always instructed him to go at the start of their sessions.
Jamie, in the meantime, was staring down at the gloves and various pieces of training equipment. He'd seen what Rook could do to these things first-hand, and being in the audience had scared him enough the first time around. He wondered what it would be like to actually be the one standing there, waiting for Rook's next attack. Not only that, but according to Ian he had to gauge each attack to see how strong it was, and what he could do to perhaps make a better one the next time around. He wasn't even sure he could just stand there and take a beating from his mokai, let alone assess his mokai's progress. He couldn't fail though, he thought, so after taking another deep breath he left the table, equipment untouched, and went to where Rook was sitting.
"Hey Rook," he said, getting the mokai's attention in an instant. Blue and green eyes stared into his hazel ones for a second, drawing a smile from Jamie. "It's just us today, but I'll try my best so don't hold back, alright?" Rook blinked up at him for a second before nodding. Jamie stood and looked around, spotting the piece of equipment they would be using for the day. "We'll be using the sandbag dummy for today since I don't think I can use Ian's gloves well enough." It took him a few minutes to get it ready, and when he finished it hung at the center of the would-be ring, directly across from Rook.
"On my cue," Jamie said, to which Rook's ears twitched upon hearing. Rook bared his teeth, a low growl rumbling from his throat as he slowly got up and stood at the ready. His eyes narrowed as he stared at his target, muscles tense as he waited for his master's instruction. The 18 year-old positioned himself a good distance away from where all the action would be centered before taking another deep breath to ready himself. Seeing that Rook was ready to go, he called out his first command. "Start."
Rook darted forward, a trail of dust behind him as he aimed straight for the dummy's trunk at nearly top speed, landing a strong body slam and knocking a bit of the wind out of himself in the process, though not enough to slow him down by much. He didn't wait for Jamie's next instruction, knowing that there wouldn't be one since his first blow was dead-on. The sandbag swung back and away from, but he didn't wait for it to come back. Instead, he chased after it, claws bared. Just as it started its way toward him, he jumped at it, bared claws making contacts with its side before he landed behind it. Turning on his haunches, he noted that his hit caused the dummy to slow down just a bit, so he lunged forward again, this time his jaws snapping at its tail.
He felt bits of sand and dirt trickle into his mouth as he bit hard into the dummy's tail, digging his paws into the ground to bring the dummy to a complete stop. He pulled back and sidestepped, snapping his jaws at the dummy as it passed by him and making contact, once again, with its side, pushing it in another direction. It swung almost wildly, and with Rook still clinging to its side. The gray-splotched mokai grew a bit disoriented, but let go once the momentum was working in his favor and jumped back. He landed quite a distance away and tried to shake out the dizziness from his head.
Though the young fighter recovered quickly, he wasn't quick enough, and while he tried to reorient himself the dummy had swung toward him. Rook felt a sudden pressure on his head, and he yelped in pain as the impact sent him back, landing on his side. Rook reached up and set his paws down on where the dummy had landed, head now throbbing. Jamie, nerves newly set aflame, ran over to him, stopping the dummy on the way, and knelt down.
"Rook, you okay?" he asked while he helped the mokai up and trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. Bits of his usual nervousness still seeped through, but Rook was too busy trying to deal with his new headache to notice it too much. Jamie smirked at that, then stood and went to fetch a few things for his mokai; some food and water, and a treat to cheer him up from his defeat against the training dummy.
Word Count: 1,050
