Chapter Four
Once his daughter said begin Hercule rushed forward at his top speed wanting to prove to the old master that he was his equal. 'This loss is your own fault Roshi, you should have taken a stance' Hercule thought as he pulled is right fist back and unleashed his most powerful punch at Roshi's head.
Roshi, who felt like he had all the time in the world to move pondered to himself 'should I make this a close fight to give him an attainable goal, or should I crush him without mercy to show him our gap in power and give him a real goal.'
'Option two I suppose' Roshi thought as he lazily shifted his head the bare minimum to dodge the blow. 'But I will let him get a bit of a workout first.' Roshi thought as his continued the motion of his head.
Hercule was beginning to doubt the wisdom of striking with all his speed and power as his fist flashed through the air with a crisp sound. However when his fist was only an inch or so from the old masters face, Roshi moved so fast that Hercule almost did not believe his eyes.
His fist passed so close to the right of Master Roshi's head that on another person he would have gotten some hair. Roshi deciding to put Hercule through his paces grabbed the passing arm at the wrist with his right hand and rotated his body grabbing Hercules right elbow with his left hand.
As Roshi continued to rotate both his hands facing away from him on Hercule's arm he gently, by his standards, pulled with his right hand while pushing with his left. Because he was directly behind Hercule and facing the same direction this move forced Hercule to turn to his right and bend at the waist.
Once this was achieved Roshi shifted his body weight even more to the right and threw Hercule to the ground. Hercule was quick to jump to his feet however, and that was the only thing that prevented the right kick Roshi had aimed at his chin from connecting fully. 'that kick would have ended it if it had hit' Hercule thought.
Though the impact of the kick was mostly dispersed by Hercule's motion there was still enough remaining to snap Hercule completely upright.
'Maybe 1/10 of my power is too much' Roshi thought as he sent another slow kick at Hercules side, this time with his left leg. 'Can he dodge this?' Roshi wondered as he watched the kick approach his opponent's right side.
To Hercule the kick was a blur. However thanks to his training he was able to regain his stace and block the kick with his arm.
"That was a mistake" Roshi said as his leg impacted Hercule's arm blowing it perpendicular to his body and continuing on to his side. The kick struck with enough force, despite the block to send Hercule skidding five feet across the sand.
However much to Roshi's surprise, Hercule managed to keep his feet. After a short pause to collect himself Hercule launched a barrage of fists at the old master.
Roshi was mildly impressed that the man before him managed to take the kick. He was even more impressed the man pressed to attack a moment later.
After seeing how easily Roshi was dodging his fists Hercule worked in some fast kicks. Seeing that the old master still had no difficulty dodging his strikes and beginning to fell fatigued due to the ferocity of his attack Hercule changed tactics.
Hercule only had one more option. He would have to take the fight to the ground and use his greater weight to win the fight.
Roshi saw Hercules plan before the large man even began to implement it. 'Time to end things I guess' Roshi thought.
Hercule began to close on Roshi while keeping up a screen of strikes. Once he was close enough. He shifted his weight into a classic double leg takedown.
However when his shoulder impacted the old master's knees something unexpected happened, nothing. Roshi continued to stand firm despite all of Hercule's effort. Roshi rose an eyebrow while looking down at Hercule and said "what exactly are you doing down there?"
Hercule was so shocked by the absolute failure of his take down that he responded to slow to Roshi's next maneuver. Roshi set his hips slipped his left hand between his own legs and Hercule's grip while placing his other hand on Hercule's shoulder.
From that position Roshi preformed a perfect over-under throw. While Hercule was still upside down in the air Roshi delivered a powerful strike to the pit of Hercule's stomach ending the fight.
As Hercule flew through the air in to a tree Roshi turned to Videl "Well that's it for your dad kiddo now it's your turn.
Videl was not sure what just happened to her father but she was certain that she did not want it happening to her. "Shouldn't we wait until he wakes up so we can have a referee?" Videl asked hopefully.
'How can I beat someone so much stronger than me? This is so unfair' Videl thought. 'Not to mention that when daddy tried to tackle his nothing happened. That doesn't even make sense. No matter how strong you are when something of greater mass hits you that low you fall. That's just physics'
"I suppose we can wait for him" Roshi said "it should not take too long" True to his words a few seconds later the crumpled heap that was Hercule began to stir. Upon realizing his condition Hercule tried to spring to his feet hoping he had not been out too long.
However his spring was more of a lazy summer as he barely made it to his feet before he collapsed again.
"Good to see you awake" Roshi said" I was about to fight your daughter. Would you please call begin when you're ready?"
"Now wait a minute" Hercule said still lying prone on the round. "There is no reason for you to fight my daughter you would win easily"
"That is not the point" Roshi said " I knew when you came to my island that I could easily defeat both of you, however I wanted to see your skill levels and determination"
"I guess it is Videl's decision" Hercule said siting up and turning to face his daughter. "Do you want to train under this man with your daddy Videl?" Hercule asked.
"I do daddy but I'm not sure I am ready to fight someone like him" Videl said.
"You do not have to win child you just have to show me your guts" Roshi said" Now let us begin
Videl took her stance and mentally prepared herself for a feint followed by an all-out rush.
'Let us see if she has any talent' Roshi thought. Roshi again did not take a stance. Videl decided to take advantage of this and rushed toward Roshi with all her speed launching a spinning side kick with her left foot once she was in range.
'A very direct attack with no subtlety' Roshi thought with disappointment 'surely the child has been taught better than this she is fighting like she is an unstoppable force' Roshi brought his hands down to block the kick.
However once he did so Videl pushed off with her right foot while twisting her hips rotating 180 degrees while parallel with the ground and brought her right leg down in a descending ax kick.
'Nice move, would have worked on someone slower ' Roshi thought while reversing the direction his arms to block the kick coming at his head.
The force of the kick was not what he was expecting however. When Videl's right leg connected with Roshi's cross block she completed her rotation using her right leg as her new pivot point while twisting her waist.
She finished her rotation, her feet now facing the ground while she faced Master Roshi's back. She landed and swiftly sent her strongest kick towards his kidney. 'I got you!" she thought hardly believing the maneuver had worked.
She celebrated to soon however as Roshi twisted to the right just before she made contact grabbing her extended right leg in a standing leg lock.
Roshi gently applied pressure with his left hand placed just over her knee while lifting with his right hand on her calf.
This had the predictable effect of sending her to the sand. Roshi knelt with her and as she twisted to her stomach while falling he took the opportunity to tap the base of her skull rendering her unconscious.
Videl awoke to find herself laying at the base of the tree her father used to occupy. Her father was now standing in front of Master Roshi talking animatedly about something to quite for Videl to hear.
Every part of her body hurt but the pain was worse at her neck 'I feel like I have whiplash' Videl thought. "So how did I do" Videl asked seeing that the conversation had stopped and both fighters were now looking at her.
"You did much better than I was expecting" Master Roshi said "Technique wise I would say you are better than your father"
Hercule wanted to disagree but after seeing his daughter's performance He was inclined to nod and say "That kind of move would have caught almost any fighter by surprise"
"Now that we have the sparring out of the way lets get on to your training schedule: assuming of course that you both want to learn" Roshi said
Hercule and Videl were both rather shocked by the old man's skills and eager to learn. They were quick to assure Roshi that if he would take them they could begin as soon as he wanted.
"Well all right then" Roshi said "let's go to the training grounds" With that Roshi turned to his house and pushed the button to encapsulate it turned to Hercule and said "Can your jet hold three or should we take mine?"
Authors note; Well what do you guys think? Were my battle scenes to descriptive, or not descriptive enough? Should I write longer chapters? What do you think of my pacing? Any advice is welcome as well as questions or just general comments. Please review!