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Zev faced Kouji on the sparring mats. He had traded his clothing from the scouting mission for athletic shorts and a T-shirt, spares he kept in his locker on the submarine. After stretching and warming up, there was nothing left to do but fight.[break][break]

Kouji had chosen a kickboxing stance, so Zev chose a striking stance for himself. He had the height and reach advantage, so a reactive, counter-striking style would suit him well here.[break][break]

Let Kouji expend his energy, Zev thought. Let him falter and create an opening for a takedown.[break][break]

"I became a Beast because I'm the best at what I do," he said with all the confidence of a man who believed he was right. There was no boasting or gloating in his tone, just the delivery of cold, hard fact.[break][break]

"I cultivated a reputation of professionalism and efficiency as an assassin in Kanto. I came here and helped Underboss Quinn achieve the rank he has today. I fought in the war effort and seized the primal crystal to the Mechanical Kingdom for our syndicate."[break][break]

Zev beckoned for Kouji with a sharp gesture of his hand.[break][break]

"Now come. See if you can best me."

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Once again, Zev could not help but admire Kouji's speed. The Beast observed the first and second feint, saw the elbow sliding in. He blocked it with one hand and took his own half-step into Kouji's space. His other fist shot out for a jab to the face.[break][break]

Earlier, Kouji had implied he wanted to know Zev's full strength. Kouji did not know, however, that Zev's strength was cultivated over two decades of continuous MMA training, the close-quarters combat he excelled at as a soldier in Kanto's Army, and all the brutal, life-or-death situations he'd survived while killing his assassination targets.[break][break]

If the punch landed, Kouji would feel all that strength behind it.[break][break]

But regardless if it did, or if Kouji blocked or dodged, Zev took several steps backward to dance out of the grunt's grasp. Then he waited, guard up, eyes laser focused on Kouji's movements.

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His elbow had been blocked, it was a solid stop to his strike, a singular arm, and that momentum was now being used against him. Simple feints weren’t going to do it, he’d have to get a lot more complex.
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And brave.
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He had made the decision for a mutual strike, Kouji was proud of his durability, how much punishment he could take, and he loaded up his right again, pulling it closer to him, by his ribs; leading foot planted solidly on the ground, back foot flexible to help take some of the impact.
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Then just as Zev’s punch came in, Kouji rele-
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His head was knocked upwards by the jab to the face, before his lead foot faltered just a bit, it was a well placed blow; enough to rock his head around. Precise, and powerful, it might just have been a jab, but it was a well placed jab.
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Kouji had underestimated the man in front of him, the added space between them would make it more difficult, when it came to striking; he’d have to pull it all out. He kicked off the ground again, he threw a fake jab, followed by a fake uppercut before he stepped to the right, trying to take the outside with his lead foot, Kouji was trying to manoeuvre for the most foot space.
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When it came to striking, Kouji understood the precepts just fine, dodge to the outside, try to take one’s lead foot to that same outside, it was the most subtle dance of dominance, and in the middle he mixed in more feints, before he opted for the foot stomp.

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Kouji took the punch to the face well, recovering quickly. He barely shook it off before lunging at Zev again, throwing feints. Seeing them for what they were, Zev ignored them. Instead, he mirrored Kouji's footwork, trying to keep the grunt from maneuvering into his blind spot.[break][break]

Kouji raised his foot. Zev's mind raced, assuming a low kick of some kind. But the angle of his leg was wrong.[break][break]

A stomp, he realized.[break][break]

Zev took the hit without flinching. Foot stomping was a low-tier MMA move, one that didn't always work, and especially not while wearing shoes. It brought Kouji closer, though, which meant more opportunities to punch.[break][break]

For both of them.[break][break]

Zev leaned forward, one fist raised to block any incoming attacks, the other shooting out for a palm strike against Kouji's solar plexus.

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With the lack of distance between the two, Kouji knew that this was an opportunity for him, as much as it was for Zev, taking a blow this tightly would do too much.
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He used his lead arm to block the blow aimed at his Solar Plexus, he felt his forearm rock with that punch; even blocking would cause pain, and one like this was really stung. But Kouji gritted his teeth, there was only one path to attack here.
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He pushed the arm he used to block outwards, as if he was going to attack with his left but instead he raised his foot again, but instead of stomping down, he went for the shin this time around with the bottom of his foot.
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He wanted to win this battle of movement, it was why he was going for the slow and steady method; different to his preferred method of just busting his way through, but that first hit had told him that a battle of strength wouldn’t go his way this time. But, he knew just as well that he couldn’t win in just a tricky fight.
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It might have just been the start, but he could feel the walls beginning to close in.

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Kouji's block was solid, and his move to counter was swift. But in the brief seconds where his chest was open and his front foot was lifted, he was vulnerable.[break][break]

Zev dropped his hands to seize Kouji's forward leg and bulled forward at the same time, hoping to unbalance Kouji and, ultimately, bring him to the ground in a takedown.[break][break]

If successful, he would tangle the grunt in a kneebar, hyperextending Kouji's knee to cause discomfort and make escape difficult without tearing tissue or ligaments. If he failed, Zev would dance away again, fists raised.[break][break]

Either way, he grinned, barely winded by the exertion so far. "You fight well," he said, meaning the praise. "You're not as much of an unrefined lump of iron ore as you claimed to want to be."

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The takedown attempt came, it was too tight to just back away; Kouji would just have to adjust.
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He felt Zev push against him as his leg was grabbed, this was a dangerous position, Kouji understood as someone who preferred going for his opponent’s legs, a soldier lived and died by his legs after all.
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It was a snap second, that was how long he had to decide on his action, and so he tried to grip onto Zev’s t-shirt just as his back impacted the floor. It was an attempt to force the man into a close half-guard, so that he couldn’t crank the kneebar.
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But that just meant he was at an impasse for now, he’d need time to get out, a battle of stamina on the ground.
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”Tch. Feeling comfortable enough to talk, huh?” Then again, so would he. ”Well, a lump of iron can grow infinitely, or that’s what I thought I was tryna say. Back then I had the tools, I just learned to apply them better with some more practice.”
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Still, he didn’t want to admit the man was right to his face, it would leave a sour taste that would go away, just as he could feel now. But even so, as they were talking, Kouji tried to triangle his legs together, to buy him even greater time in that small space, that window.
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”Going for my knee, ain’t you vicious. You’d think you hate fighting by how fast you’re tryna end this. Didn’t take you for the peaceful type, Harcourt.”

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And what an impasse. If Zev let go of Kouji's legs to fend off the grab at his shirt, he would lose the kneebar. So the two men lay there, tangled in a grapple, unwilling to release the other. Unwilling to surrender.[break][break]

Zev gave a snort of derision at Kouji's comment. The boy spoke in a roundabout way, partially agreeing with him, partially resistant. But Zev focused, instead, on the way Kouji tried to squirm out of his grasp.[break][break]

"I don't fight for fun. That's what amateurs do," the Beast rumbled. "I fight to end lives."[break][break]

As fast as he could, Zev shifted into a calf slicer leglock, targeting the same knee. If he managed to pull it off, the pain would be extraordinary.[break][break]

"That's the difference between you and me, Matsubara."

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”That just makes ya a machine.”
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It was only thanks to the triangle defence he was using that let him notice the shifting of weight, and Kouji only had moments to defend again, a leg slicer was devastating, it could put a man out for a while just by pain alone.
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It was a small movement, keeping his legs together, Kouji pushed off the floor to turn just a bit, and press his back up against Zev, but that was a failure. The only other path was to raise his free leg up, knee towards his chest, and push it through underneath his own calf, to stop the crank before it could get really bad.
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He needed his own counter-crank in that moment, his own knee wouldn’t do it from this angle, a triangle wouldn’t do it, so he placed both arms below his knee to pull up now that his foot was hooked around the grabbed leg. It still hurt, but his defence hurt a lot less than not defending at all.
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”Well, I ain’t gonna preach to a professional, but I can’t agree with that. If I have to kill someone straight away, I will. But I don’t want to kill a guy without knowing ‘em first, using them as a tool to better myself, become stronger. But more importantly, if I reach the point where I don’t feel anything after killing a guy, I’m pretty much dead inside anyway.” He couldn’t reach his goals that way, each person he killed put more fire into his furnace. He promised back then that he’d never reach the point of becoming a walking corpse.
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He needed to get out of this, or else his defences would gradually be broken down.

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"As I said, that's the difference."[break][break]

Time and time again, Zev encountered the same argument from people. Feel things, they insisted. They wanted to know that he and they were similar, that they could relate to him on some basic level.[break][break]

They couldn't.[break][break]

Once again, Kouji kept Zev from completing the leglock he wanted. Despite the boy's barking, he really did know what he was doing. But constant defense could only get someone so far. Zev struck with his free leg, attempting to hit a weak point on Kouji's torso or head.[break][break]

If he could get the boy to lower his guard for just a moment, Zev would switch up his calf slicer for a heel hook.[break][break]

"Frankly, I don't care what you want or what you think of me," he said, panting as he exerted effort. He did not want to show it, but the constant tension of the grapple was wearing on him, too. "You want to kill me? Good luck getting to know me."[break][break]

It was a taunt and a challenge both. Kouji misunderstood Zev if he thought the Beast was a walking corpse, if he felt nothing after a kill. But that was for Zev to know, and for Kouji to find out—if he dared.

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The decisive difference.
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It was easy enough to understand, but Kouji felt it directly as he went to block the kick with his arms, but that meant he wasn’t bracing his crank protecting leg, and the opened gap between his legs.
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Fatal Mistake.
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He should have known, but then again, he had only learnt ground defence, not ground offense, the didn’t know the transitions, Aikido was far too underdeveloped in that area, and so he found himself stuck in a heel hook. As far as locks went, this was one of the most brutal, it attacked the hip, knee, and ankle at the same time.
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The pain even half cranked was unbearable, and Kouji tapped immediately, he didn’t want to scream in pain in-front of this person, not anymore. He gritted his teeth hard as the sound tried to will its way up to his throat.
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This was the brutality of the world of martial arts, a part of him had only finally noticed that the moment he had been taken down, it had been his loss. ”Tch, fuck’s sake.” He complained aloud, a hiss of pain accompanying it.
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”I don’t want to know you Harcourt, I want to kill you. So hurry up and defect.”

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Kouji tapped to signal his surrender, but Zev did not release him right away. He waited another heartbeat longer, blue eyes boring holes into Kouji's skull, then finally relented. Zev untangled himself from the boy and stood.[break][break]

He did not offer Kouji a hand to help him up.[break][break]

"So was that all bullshit, then?" Zev asked, scoffing. "What happened to knowing a guy first? Bettering yourself and becoming stronger?"[break][break]

Leaving the sparring mats, he walked over to the water fountain. He drank deeply before turning back to Kouji, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He raised an eyebrow at the venom hurled his way, but his expression remained apathetic.[break][break]

"Defect? Now you're just spouting nonsense. Grow up, Matsubara. You're strong already, and you have the potential to become stronger. That's what you showed me during our little spar."[break][break]

It was high praise, not given lightly.[break][break]

"So you can either embrace that part of yourself that knows you can't remain a lump of iron, or you continue to be an idiot child slamming his head against a brick wall.[break][break]

"Because I am not going anywhere. So long as you remain in Team Rocket, so long as you seek the strength to kill your enemies, you will have to contend with me."[break][break]

Somewhere deep within the recesses of Zev's memory, in the black heart of the man, the echoes of a king stirred in its slumber.

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