Thought I would throw in a little bit of a quick sparring match between Tigress and Max and a little bit of training is her idea to test Max's skills to see if they're for real...but what she doesn't know is that he's got a little something in his bag of tricks.
Chapter 11: Quick Spar
The next morning comes around and everyone's starting to wake up while most wanted to sleep in for a little longer; Sage, Ryo and Kiba for example...but everyone else is already getting ready to start off the day and as Max got out of the tent, he scratches his back, butt and does a little bit of stretching to keep himself wide awake and energetic to save his wolf brother and Sierra. He looks up and sees that Tigress is busy meditating and he knows that he shouldn't disturb her so he quietly went back to the tent until...
"Up a little early, Max?" asked Tigress.
That pretty much surprised Max when Tigress knew he was awake without her witnessing it and he said, "Good morning to you too."
"When I'm done meditating, we're gonna do a mini-sparring session." Tigress added.
That part pretty much put Max into a mixture of nervousness and anxiety that she just put in a mini sparring session out there and said, "Um...shouldn't I have a say in this?"
"No. It's my idea. We need to do a little bit of training at a time while we're gone." Tigress replied.
"Oooookay, then...that's weird, but we still get to keep moving, right?" Max asked.
"Yes, we do. I wanna test you to see if those moves you did to the crocs were really your skills." Tigress added, with a growl.
Max could tell that she's questioning his skills and he was starting to get a little irritated with the fact that she doesn't believe his skills were really his own and he didn't say anything, but accepted the challenge anyway as he walks back to the tent and gathered up his black japanese headband and as he came out, he sees Kaizer walking past him and he said, "Morning, Kai."
Kaizer turns around and sees Max wearing the headband and asked, "Morning. What's with the headband?"
"Tigress challenged me for a little mini sparring session." Max replied.
That seemed pretty unusual for Tigress to come up with something like that, but definitely not surprising that she wants to instill some training while on a mission and Kaizer knelt down to his level and whispered to him, "You nervous?"
"Nope. She doesn't know it yet though...because I have something up my sleeve." Max whispered back.
That really sparked interest for Kaizer and asked, "Like what?"
Max made a mischevious smile and gave him a wink and said, "You'll see."
Later on...
Everyone gathered around on the campsite where Tigress brought in Takami to start off a little sparring session and Takami definitely felt the need to do a little bit of training as they began and Tigress started of with a strong uppercut, but Takami dodged them quickly and both of them threw some punches, kicks and multiple flips and Takami got through those with quick ease.
Max is rooting for Takami as he's eating a few grapes and Layla was definitely rooting for Takami as well and then she asked Max, "Eating grapes?"
"Yep. I like to fuel myself up if I'm being asked to do a little bit of sparring. Can't be trained on an empty stomach." Max added.
"Kinda like Ryo and Po." Faith pointed out.
Ryo glared at Faith after making that little response and he's not one to take this very lightly and asked, "Really, Faith? You just hit me below the black wolf belt."
"And then some." Faith smirked.
Kiba exclaimed at Faith's comeback and he playfully punched on Ryo's shoulder and said, "You got burned, dude!"
Ryo growls at Kiba for that unneccesary punch to the arm and in turn, punched him in the gut and said, "Who's burned now?"
Soon enough, Takami finished it off with a flip to the wrist when he made a quick run around and knocked Tigress in the shin and everyone cheered for Takami and Max pumps his fist in the air for support and said, "Touchdown, Kami-Kam!"
Tigress got up and saw that Takami's skills have progressed even more and she said, "I think you've gotten better. Good luck going higher than me."
"No worries. I'll find a way to breat your record." Takami said, with a friendly smirk.
And then, Tigress had her eyes set on Max and she told him to come forth and with zero amounts of nerves, he suddenly faced her and everyone's wondering what's Max gonna do and his brothers were gaining huge support for Max and Tigress was determined to shatter his confidence...for payback.
Max bowed to her for respect and all Tigress could do was snarl at him and said, "Don't go for all that cutesy stuff."
"Who says it's cutesy?" Max replied.
"This is a big fight between Little Leader Cub and Angry Tiger Chick." Kiba announced.
Tigress turned to Kiba and growled at him after that responsive name and she said, "Must you go there?"
"Tigress...are we gonna stand here talking all day or are we gonna fight?" Max asked.
Ryo whistled in response and Kiba lets out a big 'Ooooooooooh, snap' after Max said it to her, thinking that them's fighting words and Tigress glared angrily at him after that and she said, "You'll pay for your attitude!"
She immediately came at him on all fours and started kicking him, punching him and thrashing him with everything she's got at him and after Max got a lot of takedowns from her, he knew that it was time to strike back and he knows that he's not going down like that and when she tries it again, he immediately kicked her in the stomach and then got back up on his feet.
Tigress snarls in response and she charged at him again, but Max has some tricks up his sleeve when he tumbled under her legs and then kicks her in the butt and does a backflip and strikes her straight to the side, making her trip and fall over.
Kaizer was blown away with every move Max has gotten...and at such a young age which surprised him even more.
She quickly got herself back up and unsheathes her claws to go after him, but when she turned around...he was nowhere to be seen. She looked around to see if he could be anywhere and everyone was curious to where Max could be and Kaizer immediately assumed that this is one of those tricks under his sleeve things that he mentioned.
"Where is the little show-stealing twerp?" Tigress growled.
"That could be a foul; calling out your opponent." Ryo added.
Tigress turned around and glared at Ryo and said, "Was anyone talking to you? I cannot lose this round to a mere child and I would appreciate it if you'd shut your mouths up so I can brutally defeat him!"
All of them were unaware that Max is right above that tree branch clinging onto it and waiting for the right minute to drop down and tackle her and as he's waiting...Max unsheathes his claws, climbs towards the branch, starts running, slides down the branches and then leaps up in the air and attacks her from the side, tumbling down and pinning her down to the shoulder and kicks her straight to the face.
Everyone started cheering for Max and his little move he just did and Tigress was shocked that he actually did that and he didn't even go down without a fight. She retaliated by punching, kicking and throwing him down just for that move and when she pushed him down to the tree, Max always got himself back up and that just frustrates her to no end that he never gives up.
"Why won't you be defeated?! I've tried hunting you down and yet you continue to fight? I'm not gonna stand for this!" Tigress roared.
"Are you finished yet?" asked Max.
Tigress growled at this and wanted to end it once and for all and Takami could tell that neither of them is backing down, but Max is one to always keep going no matter how many times he falls back down.
Both tigers began fighting again and Tigress wanted him to lose so badly...but also teach him that he shouldn't be a leader in the first place and he dodged and ducked down every punch, kick and blocked every move she made and when she attempted to punch him in the face, he slid down to the ground which resulted into Tigress punching a tree.
"Missed me!" Max said, giggling.
"I've had enough of your child's play!" Tigress shouted.
Tigress ran over to him to knock him down, but Max climbs up to the tree, circles himself around this one branch and then punched her out with the use of his head.
"Now that's no child's play." Hope said, his jaw dropped.
Sage was deeply impressed with Max's fighting skills and it's like he's got the swagger of a kung-fu professional at age eight and he said, "Remind me to never give him noogies."
Ryo started cheering for Max and Kiba pumped his fist in the air as a response and shouted, "Victory for Little Leader Cub by a head-butt!"
Everyone else cheered for Max that he won this sparring session and both Layla and Faith gave him a kiss on each cheek, which made Takami and Hope with their jaws dropped after witnessing that.
Kaizer was definitely most impressed and really stunned that he actually did this and he said, "Wow, little guy! You've got the strength and courage of 25 cats!"
"Eh, no biggie." Max added, taking off his headband.
As Tigress got up, she found herself knowing that her ability to take Max down for payback definitely backfired and she came up to him and got super angry at him that he won and said, "This is unfair!"
"Hey, it was your idea to spar with me. I just rolled along with it." Max added, with a friendly smile on his face.
Tigress groans at this and she thought that this would be a mini-spar, but she stupidly diverted it into a competition and Max said, "All righty...you guys should get something quick to eat and pack up. We've got a long way ahead of us."
Everyone quickly did what they said and Max joined in as well, but stopped and looked at a very angry Tigress and said, "Good fight."
He stuck out his paw hoping for a handshaek, but Tigress growled at him instead and rejected the handshake as she walked away from him and Max lets out a deep sigh and said, "Oh well."
Well...didn't expect that from an eight year old cub, huh? He may seem sweet and innocent, but this guy will pack a punch...so don't get on his bad side. We've got more coming up next!