[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/250116/28a4665692318df53ea398824a247a39.png[/img]
[b]Sagamiyama - Komori Sweets Shop - Testing Ground!?
Mid-Morning[/b][/center]

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Being airborne was an experience Darius hadn't gone through involuntarily in... Years, really. There had been that time in training, when he first learned what it felt like to get tossed over somebody's shoulder by his collar. The time when he was [b]teaching[/b], and a trainee the size of a fridge put him through a door. Of course, the time an IED put his humvee in a ditch. A palm strike, though, the shattering of a shield, was certainly new. Ouga didn't even [b]touch[/b] him, and yet he felt the force as surely as if the man had taken a massive club to his chest, knocking the wind from his lungs. He didn't even get the time to claw in another breath before his back slammed into Bakuto, knocking him breathless all over again. To his credit, he was scrambling upright, stepping forward all over again, before Ouga called a halt to their short-lived duel. If nothing else, the man could take a beating, and keep coming.

It was the advice that followed, though, that spawned the idea in his head, even as he sought to help the others up- Those who hadn't sprung back to their feet even faster than he had. Killing intent, an opportunity, a strike that reached him without ever touching him. Ouga was right that he had to deal out the hurt as much as take it. Perhaps, though... Perhaps he was wrong about just how much Darius could take [b]first[/b]. Taking a moment to check on Tony, patting the youth's back once he was sure he wasn't going to go hacking up any more blood, he turned a faint, thoughtful frown towards Ouga.

[color=f26522]"I'm with the boys on one thing- I'd like to know what you did with that stick of yours. But first, I want you to show me that palm strike. You hit me through the shield, from almost a foot out of your reach. That's something I can use, and I think I know exactly how..."[/color]