The next chapter is posted! Enjoy :)
The two of them finally made it to this cavern he was talking about.
It was only a little bigger than the last cavern they stayed in during the storm. Only difference here, the bottom she noticed wasn't solid rock. It was more like sand.
"You really do know some good hideouts, don't you?" She inquired as she looked around.
"Yeah, tends to happen when you've hunted on certain worlds multiple times throughout your life. You tend to discover places like this during hunts." He informed her.
When Kayla was done inspecting the place, she turned to face Than-guan.
"Ok, what did you plan on starting with?" She asks.
"I want to see the extent of the training you already have first. Show me what you can do." He then ended by spreading his arms and getting down into a slight crouching position in front of her.
She noted he removed his weapons and armor. But left his mask on.
Her eyes widened a little.
"Seriously? You want me to practice on you?" She asked, in disbelief.
Than-guan nodded, "Yes, show me this form of grappling you speak of."
Kayla sighs, "I don't necessarily know if any of the moves will work on you. Other humans yes, but I'm not sure how effective they will be against you."
"What's wrong? Afraid? Quit being a chickenshit." He said, trying to see if baiting her will work.
"No, just trying to be smart. You're like three times my size and weight." She tried reasoning.
"Coward." He replied.
"C'mon, Midnight. I just got done saying..."
"Pussy." The hunter said.
"Seriously, knock it off you bas..."
Cry baby." He said, cutting her off again.
Than-guan saw her slowly tensing up. It was clear she was starting to get annoyed.
"What the fuck is your..."
"Small fry." He kept going.
"Would you shut up! It's not going to..."
"You're like one of those little rat dogs that never shut up. I heard a human refer to them as living with a car alarm that shits and eats. Maybe..."
He was cut off when she charged him and went for a single leg take down on one of his bent legs.
Kayla latched on and tried to shift it. But Than-guan stepped backed and shoved her off. When she landed on her back her legs shot out and she went for a heel hook instead to throw him off and used her other leg to push his other leg out to throw him off balance.
The angle and where her feet were situated on his legs did cause him to lose balance a little.
She then went in for a sweep to try and get him on the ground. Kayla kicked out hard to his instep and heel. She can only hope he has the same pressure and weak points as a human.
With him, she may have to apply more pressure.
When she threw her knee into the back of his, he finally went down onto a knee. Then she shimmied out and grabbed one of his arms and twisted it into an arm lock.
As she bared down, he could actually start to feel some pressure being applied to the joint.
The seasoned warrior twisted around to face her and made a grab at her with his other free arm. But she circled around to his back and kicked out the back of his other knee. Then wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
Then she used her body as leverage to pull him sideways to the ground.
Kayla had put him into a spinal lock. It was a pretty awkward position for him. She was clinging onto him at a weird angle like a yautja pup clinging on desperately to its mother.
He went to go push down on one of her bent legs. But she kept tightening up. She also was tightening up on his neck.
It was also pretty hard to roll in this position. But since she was rather small, he was able to push to roll onto his back with his free arm. Now most of the weight of his upper body was on her.
He sure as hell was heavy. But Kayla still was refusing to let the crushing weight get to her. She shifted her arms to put him in a von flue choke hold and started to apply pressure.
She arched her back and constricted her arms.
Than-guan was quite surprised by her strength. That and she apparently knew where all the good pressure points and weak spots were. If there was one thing his kind and humans have in common, they both seem to have the same areas for pressure points on the body.
He went to grab her thin arms. But was having a bit of a hard time working his fingers between her forearm and bicep and his throat.
When Kayla felt him trying to wedge his fingers in between her arm and his throat, she pulled even tighter, making him let out what sounded like a mix of a choking and grunting sound.
"Take back what you said, and I'll ease up." She hissed between breaths, trying to maintain her tightening grip.
If he were an ordinary man, he's either be passed out by now or probably dead with how hard she was pulling. Kayla never squeezed this hard on an opponent before.
But she knew his kind was bigger and stronger and can take more damage.
Than-guan didn't answer though. Instead, he heaved hard to his side and rolled back over. Then got up on his hands and knees with her still clinging to him.
He then angled his body sharply downward to the ground hoping to make her slide up his body and possibly loosen her hold from the changed position.
With her body now angled downwards with his, it created a bit of an awkward position for her. And she felt her front sliding up his back a little.
He then started to shake his body to try and loosen her hold more.
Eventually, her arms loosened enough, and he was able to quickly get his fingers and part of his hands between her arm and neck. She could try to resist as long as she could.
But once he got a good grip on her forearm and bicep, he pulled her arm away. The whole time she struggled, but he was just too strong.
Than-guan pulled her one arm away then pulled her legs from around his waist and knocked her off of him to the sand covered ground. He then quickly faced her and mounted her.
He grasped her arms and pinned them above her head.
Her legs were now straddling his hips. She tried to try an open guard on him. But it was hard to use her hips to push his bulk over to the side because he spread his knees for better momentum.
His hands around her wrists acted like steel bands. And the harder she tried to pull them free the more it started to hurt.
"You were saying?" He teased.
"You suck!" She hissed.
Than-guan just grinned at her.
"If it's any consolation, that was pretty good. If I were Unblooded or even a Youngblood and you tried these moves on me, it probably would've been a little more challenging for me to get out of it." He said.
Kayla snorted, "Just a little?"
"Take it as a compliment. I'm sure if I were a human man, you would've won with that chokehold you had me in. What kind of choke hold was that by the way? It was pretty interesting." He inquired, as he finally let go of her wrists and let her up.
Kayla sat up and rubbed her wrists.
"It's called a von flue choke. You place your opponent's head and neck into the crook of your elbow with one arm and lace it around over the shoulder, grip the bicep of your other arm while that arm is up at angle with the hand near the back of the head pushing it forward to add to the pressure. Wasn't sure it would work with those thick ass tresses of yours. It was either that or go for a rear naked choke hold which is another favorite of mine." She explained.
He nodded in appreciation.
"If we weren't crunched for time and in this situation, I'd ask you to teach me a few moves. They sound very interesting and effective." Than-guan said.
Then he stood up and offered her his hand.
Kayla took it and allowed him to haul her up to standing.
"On a scale of one to ten, how much were you holding back?" She asked.
He gave her a sheepish look.
"Uhh, do you really wish to know the answer to that?" He inquired.
"That bad, huh?" She says.
"I didn't want to seriously injure you. Plus, it was more of an assessment of your abilities rather than a full-on sparring match. I know it was pretty brief.
If there are more moves you wish to show me you can do, that would be good. The more I know of where you are as far as experience goes, the better." Than-guan told her.
"I never got a chance to ask, but have you trained others before?" Kayla asks.
"Have took part in training a few of my older children. Along with a handful of other Unblooded and Youngbloods every now and then." He stated.
"Wait, you have kids?" She asked.
Than-guan gave her a deadpan look.
"I'm one-hundred and sixty-two years old, Kayla. Of course, I have children. Twelve to be exact." He said, like the number was no big deal.
"Twelve!? Damn, you must really love kids!" She blurted.
"Procreation is a big part of our species. Many yautja have multiple offspring. But yes, I do care about them." He told her.
"They must really keep you and your wife extremely busy." Kayla replied.
"Not wife. We call them mates. And I've had at least five of them over the years. Our kind is not really known to be monogamous. It is rare when you come across a pair that is.
We have something called mating seasons. Where the males and females come together to mate and reproduce. After pairs mate, they don't tend to stick together.
Usually, the females rear the sucklings and bring them up. And when they reach a certain age, the males will often start to train them.
It's not to say that males will never visit their children from the time they are born until they age. They will go see them from time to time.
I visit mine quite often when I'm on home world. Or at least I did before I was framed." He said.
Kayla couldn't help but feel bad. Being accused of a crime he didn't commit and then having to flee. She could only imagine what it's like having to be alienated like that from your family.
"You'll find a way to fix this. Then you'll be able to see them again." She assured him.
He agrees with that. He will fix this or die trying. But no matter what, he will do everything in his power to take that bastard Lar'nix'va with him.
"Do you have a mate and children?" He asks.
The young woman shook her head.
"No, was on my own before I found myself here." She replied.
'And it looks like it may never happen if I don't get out of here alive.' She thought grimly.
"Why? Do you not want them?" Than-guan inquired.
"Of course, I want them, eventually. Just haven't found someone special yet is all. A lot of us humans are monogamous. We don't have mating seasons. We can mate and have kids at any time. But we like to make sure it's with the right person. And it's usually one individual not multiple partners.
Not to say it never happens that way. There are quite a few out there that don't know how to settle down with one individual and they sometimes do have kids with more than one partner. They tend to be sluts though who don't know how to have a good solid connection with another person.
But for the most part, humans do tend to try and stick with one partner for the rest of their lives. It's not always easy and can be challenging at times and can seldom end in splitting up or what we call a divorce.
It doesn't stop people from wanting that kind of life though. There are still plenty of couples out there that do end up successfully staying together. My parents are somewhat of a good example.
Their relationship was always somewhat tumultuous, but they have done their best to stick it out and still care about each other. And I maybe a sap for saying this but it's true; love isn't always perfect. There are always going to be obstacles. Question is how far the people involved are willing to go to make it work." She explained.
"Yes, I've noticed that there is no such thing as mating seasons for your kind. Though didn't know that humans prefer to stick to one mate. I still mainly paid more attention to the hunt rather than human mating habits.
Though I did see one male apparently say something to a female and it was clear she didn't like what he said because she slapped him and stormed off. Leaving him standing there with a dumb look on his face.
I found it to be quite funny." He said, with humor in his voice.
Kayla chuckled a little at that.
"Yeah. That will happen sometimes. Mostly to a guy who is drunk or pervy and doesn't know when to not run his mouth. Thankfully, I have yet to run into that type. Unless you count the assholes that brought me here." She replied.
They or should she say, she trained with him for a little longer afterwards. Showing him just about everything she knows. Kayla even included some of the self-defense moves she knows.
The only part she wasn't crazy about was when he wanted her to implement punches, kicks, knees, and elbows, and wanted her to spare with him that way.
Something she wasn't overly fond of. Because she always felt she was never good at that kind of sparring. Indicating she didn't always had the best reaction time or reflexes to parry or dodge hits.
That's why she mainly preferred Jiu-Jitsu. She felt she was better with grappling rather than kickboxing or karate.
But at least he was patient with her. And he told her he can help her build up her reflexes and reaction time. This statement came after he sent a punch to her gut, and she couldn't deflect or move out of the way in time. And she ended up getting the wind knocked out of her and landing on her back, clutching her stomach.
Kayla was the one to call it after a couple hours or so. She was very tired by then.
"Perhaps, we can add building up your stamina to the list of things you could improve on." Than-guan teased.
She snorted, "Two and a half hours of training like that would be going a little overboard for many. Especially, those like me who's classes were never more than an hour long."
"Really? That's sad. Yautja can train for an entire day before getting worn out." He stated.
"Well, this just in. I'm not a yautja. I'm a human with limits. And I can only do so much before I crash." She retorted.
"Whimp." He teased.
"Twat face." Kayla countered.
"What is a twat? And what does it have to do with my face?" He said, in confusion.
The young woman couldn't help but laugh.
"Trust me, I don't think you want to know." She said, between laughs.
"Ok, explain." He pushed, with his arms now crossed over his broad chest.
"If I tell you, will you give me a head start before you start chasing me?" She joked.
Than-guan arched an eye ridge.
"It be pointless. We are in a narrow gorge. And you wouldn't get that far regardless. But I suppose I can give you some leniency." He stated.
She bit her lip, "A twat is another word for vagina."
He was silent for a few moments.
"See, was that so bad? I won't chase you for that." He said.
Kayla seemed relieved.
"I'll just wait for the next storm and make you sleep outside in it." Than-guan added with a smirk.
Her smile slowly disappeared.
"Don't you dare." She said.
He leaned in, smirk still present on his face.
"Too late. Besides, all that rain seems to do a good job at making you clean so you don't stink anymore." He continued to tease.
She blinked a couple times, "You really do say the sweetest things. I could only imagine what you say to the other females on your world."
"Yautja females tend to prefer action over words. Which males don't mind in the least." Than-guan said.
Yeah, Kayla does recall hearing him mention something similar during one of their last conversations. She still can't wrap her mind around the fact that his kinds' females are larger and stronger.
So, it wasn't uncommon for them to get rough with their male counterparts.
It seemed the more she learned about his kind, the more interesting they were. Minus, the fact that they were highly intelligent and efficient killers.
But at least the more they learned about each other the more relaxed around him she became. And she does appreciate all that he's done for her so far.
Kayla just wishes there she is more she can do to help him.
Until Next Time ;)