Style Quest: Push It to The Limit

Over the last few months of training with the tiefling, Gard started Varick on a daily exercise routine. The Clydesdale fiercely dedicated himself to beating Gard for embarrassing him. Tay, Varick’s kobold boyfriend, occasionally joined the horse’s training but had trouble keeping up because of his size and because Varick was pushing himself harder than he needed to achieve his goal. He needed to be ready if the black fox Syph and his cult found him, so the horse tailor worked out like clockwork.

 

Every morning he started by running laps around the large training room. Varick did five miles, trying to beat his time from the day before. Tay usually made it about a mile before the little kobold had to rest. After running, laps came an upper-body workout with weights, push-ups, and sit-ups. The Clydesdale constantly pushed himself to beat a new mark, like with the laps. Next up was a break for lunch and meditation. Varick didn’t understand the point of meditation at first, but over time, he found that it did help to relax him. Tay, however, never quite learned how to center himself and liked to try his best to help the horse relax in other ways. 

 

Afternoon workouts began with various leg exercises to build up Varick’s lower body. Next up was a shirtless sparring session with Gard. The tiefling insisted that they fight shirtless so that combat may make them brothers. Varick didn’t understand what that meant, but his trainer’s odd methods aside, they were working. Gard built on what the horse already knew, turning his fighting style based on survival into a much deadlier combat style. Varick always left these sparring sessions bruised and sometimes bloody, no matter how hard he tried. Gard did not hold back as no one learned anything without bleeding a little. Finally, the daily workouts ended in another five miles worth of laps.

 

“So you think you are ready for a real rematch,” Gard asked cockily, laughing as his tail swished behind him. The tiefling was wearing his torn pants and blue silk robe but, like always, no shirt. It was almost like he was allergic to having his chest covered.

 

“You’ve seemed to have run out of new tricks to teach me, so yeah, let’s fight,” Varick answered as he adjusted the lines on his vest. With all the new moves Gard taught him, plus the new enchantments and armor, this fight would be fun. The tiefling barely waited for that reply before he launched himself at the horse tailor. Varick threw palmed and threw three needles with earth-powered enchantments tied to them. Gard took them straight to the chest, expecting them to be fire needles. Each needle hit with the same impacting force of a brick, staggering the tiefling. Capitalizing on the moment, the Clydesdale palmed half a dozen sky-enchanted needles and threw them behind him while keeping the image of his opponent in his mind. 

 

“New tricks, I see,” Gard laughed as he recovered from having the wind driven out of him. Varick went in for a punch only to have it blocked by the much more experienced tiefling. Mad about being blocked, the mahogany horse tried to spin into a kick only to have that pushed away. “If all your going to do is show me my attacks, this is poi-,” Gard started to taunt but stopped when the opponent’s seeking sky needles hit the red-skinned tiefling’s arms. Not wasting a second, Varick grabbed his opponent’s arms, using his thumbs to push two needles deeper in. With a mighty heft, the horse threw his opponent across the room.

 

“I think you’ll find that I’ve adapted you’re teachings and put a little spin on them,” Varick yelled as he palmed and threw a dozen water-powered needles in rapid succession. Most of the needles missed as Gard quickly recovered from the throw, but one grazed the brawler’s cheek, cutting like a piece of razor-edged ice. 

 

“So are needles your only ability, or are you a one-trick pony,” Gard teased as he began to close the distance again. Varick snarled and ripped the scissors free from his arm. His opponent would expect him to fight with only one weapon, but the tailor also had a surprise hidden here. By hitting a hidden release, the shears split it into two blades the horse took in each hand. One makeshift dagger erupted in blue flames while the other ignited in purple fire. Gard’s fist was blocked by the blue one while the purple sought to take flesh. Unfortunately for Varick, Gard was prepared for it as he twisted out of the way and dropped into a leg sweep.  

 

“Dragon flame,” the horse shouted as his helmet slid out plate by plate to cover his face in a dragon visage. Exhaling as he stood fast on his hooves, Varick coated the ground in blue and purple flames.

 

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m fireproof,” Gard demanded as he leaped up through the flames to grab Varick’s throat. “Exploit your opponent’s weakness, not give them the win. That was day one!”

 

“Are you also blade-proof,” Varick smirked as he pressed one blade lightly against his teacher’s throat, and the other drew a prick of the blade from just above the kidney. “Your weakness is being a cocky asshole.” Gard laughed as he released his grip on his student and backed away.

 

“Congrats! Come, we must celebrate with drinks,” Gard suggested as he pulled the needles out of his arm. “It is not every day someone bests me! Tonight we drink as brothers!” Varick rolled his eyes and hoped that didn’t mean he had to remove his shirt.