Boxing stance

“What the hell?” was the response Gale had to seeing this.

Edge was curious though, while Slate had to do a bit of a double take. His sense of 'something's wrong' was starting to nag at him more and more. Maybe just take the two dames and make a run for it.

Cole’s right arm was raised upward, the fist clenched near his chin. His left arm was held just a bit above his waist, bobbing in time the motion of his legs. What’s more, he'd turned his body off to the side, presenting it towards Gale.

“Fuck is this?” Gale half shouted as gestured towards the man, "What the hell kinda pose is that... think you're one of those costumed heroes or something..?"

“That's… boxing?” Slate thought as he fiddled with the orb in his pocket. If it was true, that meant he was someone that was used to taking blows; would explain why Gale hadn’t put him down with a hits. Then again, Gale could hit pretty hard, a normal boxer shouldn't be able to just shrug off that damage. "Oi.... Edge..., get ready." he muttered.

His companion nodded, eager to see what this would lead to. At the very least, maybe Gale would get his teeth kicked in.

“Whatever just take a nap already.” Gale grunted as another snapping noise came out, leading into another blow coming out of no where.

It slammed into Cole, but he used his arm and shoulder to blunt the hit. Gale blew out air from his mouth and attacked again. The snap came out and Cole took the hit. Once more the attack was shunted, Cole sending the damage away from his body, making sure only his arms and legs absorbed the shock. On the third try though, there was no impact following the snaps. Cole shifted at the last second and avoided the hits.

"Err.... what the...." Gale muttered as he held up his hands once more, fingers pressed together.

“Got you.” Cole thought.

The snapping noise had been weird to him, so he watched Gale closer this time around. It was the guy's fingers. This Gale character snapped his fingers to send out those punches.

Now that Cole had an idea of the timing, the attacks were about on par with an average punch speed. They were still invisible, just arcs of **** slamming into him, but with the sound signal figured out, he knew about when to move. And where too, as whatever hand was doing the snapping also signaled which way they were coming from, along with how high or low he held them up. Final piece to the Gale attack puzzle was amounts of fingers snapping. One big or long snap meant a big hit, multiple snaps or fingers used meant a volley was coming.

He was glad he calmed down and figured it out. Cole wasn't sure what happened, just that he'd blacked out after hitting the ground. By the time he found himself again, he was standing upright with... a lot of anger in his system. Did he fade out again? Something was echoing in his head too but... that didn't matter now. Only thing that mattered was the fear in the woman's eyes behind these guys, and the small want of hope on her face.

Taking his stance helped clear his head, and whatever was coming, he'd be able to at least block part of it. And sure enough, it worked. Body was still a bit sore from the training but he was focused with a full stomach. His tank was ready to go for something like this.

Even with that though and the secret unlocked, Cole couldn't gain ground. Any time he stepped forward, Gale would pivot backwards with several snaps as he spun back. Which meant several wild punches at odd angles slamming into the boxer, enough to unbalance him. He had to step back to regain balance, or risk eating a heavier attack from Gale. It lead to a stalemate where Cole couldn't close, but Gale wasn't finding critical damage.

That said, Gale WAS inflicting damage. Cole's arms and shoulder were starting to burn a bit and those blows from earlier still ached. And if Gale's buddies jumped in, he was dead. One v One was about the only reason he wasn't down yet. And Gale's cockiness. Liked to play with his food but from a position of safety and given his range, why wouldn't he be sure he'd win.

"Well..., let's try that other trick..." Cole thought as his own powers started to build up.

"You're too slow with your constructs." Rave said as she lowed a leg.

Cole's arms were too low to bring them up to guard so at the last second, he tried to make a wall of shadow to block Raven's kick. The mage was faster and just plowed through it was forming. The boxer spat out some spit and licked the inside of his mouth after getting up. Nothing bleeding but damn if that kick didn't put him to the pads.

"I'm not used to doing this kinda stuff gimme a brake. You try figuring out how to suddenly guard yourself with just your mind." he grunted out as he pulled a bottle to him to get a swig of water before putting it back.

"....but you can do that on reflex." Rave pointed out as she watched the shadow arm make both trips from the table, several feet away.

"...I mean I'm just thinking 'grab water' and it does it." Cole said with a shrug, "Probably can't do it without being warmed up like this."

"... how to keep you warmed up and ready. Rather than having your react or think, it should come as something natural to you." Raven said as she walked around just a bit. Cole took the time to catch his breath...., and try to ignore the beads of sweat on Raven's legs.

"....Stand." Cole did as Raven faced him, "I'm coming. Block. 2-4-6."

His eyes widen as on reflex his body reacted...., and his powers did. Right Straight, Left body blow, followed by right hook; a textbook combo of blows. But rather than just his own hands blocking, Cole summoned bits of shadows to help angle the punches away from him.

"Wait... how'd...." Cole started to ask.

"Numbered combos. Though I wasn't sure you'd have a similar number system." Raven said as she waved her hand a bit to put feeling into it, "Each boxer or gym has their own numbering system or trick. I just borrowed one from Robin. But that's how you'll do it."

"Eh?"

"Rather than plan, ..... how will I say this...," Raven cupped her chin in thought, "I suppose 'program' might work best. Think/command what you want the shadow to with your thoughts and motions, then give the command to execute. Rather than thinking 'okay shadow move forward to the enemy' you can just think 'Dash' and it would copy a preset practiced distance."

That... made a lot of sense to him. In boxing, trainers would usually guide their guy into certain routines to make sure they understood the basics, or had that motion to fall back on should their head not be clear. It was also just faster to shout the command than describe it, which helped with speed training and rhythm. Why not train his powers in the same way?

"Alright..., let's see if this works." Cole thought as his shadow de-attached itself from his body. It stayed blow him and kept up with his movements, but anyone looking closer would see he's more standing on it. So long as the rain kept up, hopefully they wouldn't see it.

"Step step."

His shadow moved forward in two short hops, about the length Cole would do when he did a step in during a ring fight.

"Record, 5, playback" With his setup done, he just needed an opening.

Gale gave him one, using both hands to send out a number of punches towards Cole. But they were too high, a short but low step in was enough to make it through the barrage. Cole didn't stop though, making one long dash towards Gale. With a grunt he angled his body upward, giving one heck of an uppercut from the ground. And hitting nothing but air, Gale was still about one step away. He simply spun backwards and was going to just lay into Cole's exposed pose.

When a large shadowy figure appeared before him, slamming his chin with one hell of an uppercut.

Cole was on him before he realized it. Dashing through his own shadow construct, Cole shot two left jabs into him before slamming a right straight into Gale's upper body. For a man named after wind, he sure didn't have much left in his lungs from that rush attack. Enough for another barrage though, which should just put this poser down for...

"Repeat."

WHAM!!!!

That damn shadow form slammed another huge uppercut into Gale's chin, enough to lift him off the ground. Leaving the thug wide open to Cole's fully set up perfect right straight. Gale felt something crack as the punch landed and the resulting **** sent him flying back a bit. Now it was his turn to land with a wet splat on the concrete.

Slate moved a few steps forward to check his 'buddy'. His head was banged pretty bad but no blood, Gale must have used a bit of his magic to cusion the fall so his head wouldn't land wrong. But he wasn't getting up from something like that. He was a ranged fighter and wasn't used to getting rocked like that. Great someone else to have to drag back.

"Damn...., looks like we can't take him lightly huh...., Edge?" Slate called as he dragged Gale back a few more steps.

The larger man stepped forward, hands held up as they were covered in purple energy. They coalesced into a wicked looking bladed hook on each arm. He slammed them together, a sound of metal and energy ringing through the alley.

"Oh.... you're gonna be fun." Edge said as he licked his lips and took a small guarded step forward.

"And.... he's gonna be a problem." Cole thought as he fell back into his stance.

"..., I suppose this is the best I can do." Raven thought as she looked in the mirror. Regardless of what she'd tried on, she kept having noticeable, ... well clearly wide 'child baring hips' and a 'booty mama' as BB put it. She'd been opening to find something a little more..., conservative, but nothing seemed to really fit her that way. Not unless it was several sizes larger.

Still, she found a few more pjs, and some underwear that wasn't going to ride up on her. Still made her look like some pin up but... beggers can't be choosers. And they were cheap too. It was annoying that even away from the 'Cupid' altered clothes, she still basically looked like some kinda of model in anything that wasn't ultra covering.

"Maybe I'll pick up more dresses, even if they are hard to move about." She thought as she paid the counter girl and left. Maybe Cole would have some suggestions... no he probably would want to see more skin and....

"....the hell is he?" Raven grumbled as she looked around. Honestly, she was going to kill that man... or at least put a leash on him.