“These are the fighting Do’s and Don'ts, that you should always keep in your heart, NEVER break your stance, conversely always look to break your opponent’s stance, never get cornered, conversely always look to stay in motion, Never leave things unfinished, conversely always show no mercy, never overestimate your abilities, conversely it’s always safer to overestimate your opponent, Never prematurely showboat, conversely always know it’s not over until its over, Never lose concentration, conversely always be vigilant for the opponent’s mistakes, never become predictable, conversely always be creative, never be a fool, conversely always strive to be smart and wise, never give up before a fight even begins, conversely always be unyielding, and last but perhaps most important, never be stubborn, conversely always know when to retreat, make these the creed by which you conduct yourself in all your fights and perhaps you can live to fight another day.”

****

The days went by fast, but the hours slow, every day was a new lesson and a hellish session of training.

“Today I will tell you and teach you about the nuances and advantages of all 5 types of fighting. They revolve around the terrain, dimensional plane, and posture one fights in. There is striking, the Art of hitting with limbs, weapons, and motions from a short to mid-range distance. The most popular, diverse, dangerous, and ironically the least used in Expert and Ranker combat, nevertheless it could be the most important as once the distance is closed its almost a guarantee a victor must be decided.”

He grabbed me close to him and locked our arms and elbows.

“Then there is clinch fighting; the most close-quarter’s stand-up fighting there is. It revolves around posture, stance, and positioning and the struggle between offensive and defensive actions trapped in what is known as a clinch. You can strike, grapple, deflect, and trap or hug your opponent all in an attempt to break your opponent’s rhythm, posture, and stance and cause as much damage as possible. All striking fights will become clinch fights if given enough time.”

He grabbed my hands and forced both of us down into a wide sprawled stance.

“Then there is grapple fighting, to seize or grip onto your opponent in an attempt to gain superior position or cause damage. Most of the time at least one of the combatants will end up on the ground in a grappling fight. Positioning, stance, balance, and weight and strength, are all highly important in this type of fighting. It can happen dimensionally in a low, mid, and high stance and will even end up on the ground.”

He went to the ground and went into a weird position.

“And here is the gem of my method what I have perfected over the years and have sacrificed almost everything for. The controversial ground fighting. To many Martial Artists, this fighting style doesn’t exist. But tell that to all the idiots whom I have put down with this method. If they were alive or if they are still alive, they either wish they would've known how to ground fight or are currently practicing like madman to become good at ground fighting. No one ever wants to be in the ground. To many, if you fall to the ground you are almost as good as dead. But after years of searching and studying obscure Martial Arts, moves, and techniques, I even went as far as to study common streetfighters in many slums, I realized the ultimate fate of all previous 3 types of fighting is to end up in the ground. If you can’t fight on the ground then I dare say that in the future World of Martial Arts you cannot say you know how to fight. Ground fighting consists of its own set of rules, stances, postures, and tactics, although in the end, it is still fighting and so the fundamentals and essence stay the same. It may not be pretty but it’s effective, Guso you will learn to be a ground fighter that will reign over the Martial World, I’ll make sure of it.”

I looked at him perplexed and filled with all sorts of questions. He had mentioned it before but never did I think he literally meant ground fighting. I didn't know what to think.

“Old man I think you finally lost it. This is the aspect of your Method you've been itching to teach me. I’m sorry I don’t blame those Martial Artists for not acknowledging it, it sounds and looks stupid, dirty, and honestly inefficient why would I want to end up in the ground.”

“You fool never underestimate the power of ground fighting; it may become the reason why you can still breath in any future altercations you may have. No matter since you still haven't experienced it, I'll ignore what you said for now. I still have one more fighting style to teach you about. The last fighting style is ranged fighting perhaps one of the most underappreciated underutilized and criminally neglected fighting types in Martial Arts there is. The dimensions are enormous; it could be miles of distance or only a few meters away but in the end, ranged fighting is King in the Ranker world. Those who don't know how to deal or engage in ranged fighting are doomed to die. And so, other than ground fighting, ranged fighting has also been a point of emphasis in my Combined Fighting Method.”

He threw a rock and hit a flying beast that was quite a few hundred meters away, again the old man's throwing skills were impressive. We also now had dinner.

****

The intense training became more intense, the sparring sessions became more academic, since each day he focused the training and sparring around one fighting type.

“Today I will teach you what is, in my opinion, the most complete striking skill the art of the nine-headed drago…”

“Today I will teach you nuances behind clinch fighting, if you master clinch fighting you become the ultimate decision-maker on whether you want to fight by striking or grappling or on the ground. The sweep is very important in clinch fighting…”

“Today I will teach you how to always maintain your balance by lowering your center of gravity in a grappling struggle. When you grapple my personal preference is to always go for the throw especially in hard and dangerous ground…”

“Today you become a ground fighter. We will begin by putting you in the basic guard position. I call this the Grave Guard as it becomes the death of many fighters through this guard you can maneuver counters, ground control, grappling holds, and what's most exciting and powerful to me, the mighty killing locks. When successfully performed your opponent will have no choice but to submit or die here's how it works…”

“There are not many options when it comes to ranged combat for a Human without special skills or abilities. Your natural ranged abilities consist of spitting, peeing, and pooping, now you may laugh and think this is ridiculous, but some of these Evolved are crazy, that's right you told me you encountered a spitting Evolved some time ago, HaHaHa! That's hilarious kid, well regardless in our case we will go for what is tried and true for us normies, the beautiful and timeless art of throwing. When you lack a ranged weapon as long as there is at least a stone or hard object in your vicinity then you have ranged capabilities. Now I won't teach you how to throw like an unbalanced monkey I’m going to teach you the cream of the crop when it comes to throwing techniques. I call it heavenly arm technique….”

****

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, the training was nonstop, my body had reached its limit more than once, but the old man was skilled with the secrets of the body as well and helped revitalize my body for more training.

Many times he broke it down many times he rebuilt it.

I learned about fighting forms, that there is only a switch from offensive to defensive at all times.

I learned about fighting stances, beyond the fundamental ones more stances than I could remember, offensive, defensive, transitory, neutral, all of them but the old man made sure to ingrain them into my body becoming part of my reflexes and instincts.

Unyielding Hydra Stance, Raging Badger Ground Sprawl, Python Guard, Erupting Mons Stance all powerful, all efficient.

I learned about fighting skills beyond the fundamentals, weakness sniping, energy bursts, high focus activation, falling technique, the list was long.

I learned about the innumerable fighting styles of the Martial World, and focused on being able to blend or change on command from one to another.

High-pressure style, counter style, unpredictable style, high stamina style, again if you could imagine it, it existed.

I learned about complex fighting tactics, stringing together an unending barrage of tactical skills and actions putting the odds in my favor as much as humanly possible.

And finally, I learned to blend all the Martial Art components together and create my own style moves and techniques.

****

“After movement creation comes fighting specification, Martial Arts practitioners looking to create their own path, combining and choosing a form, type, and style through which to focus on and create an identity and maximize effect. It is in this step where many Martial Arts become corrupted forgetting the essence of the fundamentals and the things to avoid in a fight. They become arrogant, foolish, and stale, lacking flexibility, adaptability, and in consequence forfeiting their ability to grow and evolve. This is what I have taught you the art of fighting in its purest form, do with it what you will but always hold true to it when you fight.”

I looked at the old man with gratitude in my eyes, after what had been almost a year of training I had grown to appreciate the true genius this man represented, as well as how he applied his gift to his genuine love of fighting.

I had decided if the opportunity came I would help him accomplish his dream.

“I understand old man Kemoro, every battle I have from now on I’ll bear your lessons in my heart in mind and maybe I can stay alive.”

“After you create your own move, our training is officially complete. I can no longer teach you anything more without spending another year here, and to tell you the truth I'm getting pretty tired of this rocky wilderness. I'm moving on to do better things. I will be on my way tomorrow brat, I have high hopes that you'll do me proud. Martial Citadel is only a couple tens of miles north of Will City, so it shouldn’t affect your original travel path too much. I have an old friend there that perhaps can help you further your training, whether you get to meet him will all depend on fate. Now I warn you once people see how you fight they probably won't be kind to you, so don't have too high expectations when it comes to finding a Master. Remember to be smart and wise. Have a good rest kid. I had fun, let us cross paths again and maybe then we can have a proper Ranker Duel.”

“Yes, a proper Ranker Duel. I look forward to it.”

As I said those words my eyes closed on their own.

I had passed out.

Up until the last day, he trained me till I collapsed.

The following morning the man who had helped enter the World of Martial Arts, and become a Martial Expert, was gone.