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the students by one leg and one arm and whirled him around like a club, opening the way, then threw him to crash against the crowd. Another man jumped on Loco's back. Loco threw himself into a hard rear fall, crushing the man underneath him. Then he used both feet to kick another man who was jumping on top of him. He sent the man flying, then bounced to his feet again. Once two men made the mistake of grabbing Loco, one on each hand. Loco pivoted on his left foot, twisting his body, and caught one opponent in the left armpit with a right roundhouse kick. Then, with the same leg, he aimed a side kick at the other's solar plexus. Loco was taking lots of punishment, but the blood lust was upon him, a kind of berserk fury, so that he did not mind the blows that rained on him. He took two or three strikes for every one he delivered, but such was his fury that while he merely shrugged off even the hardest hits, his opponents went down injured or unconscious. Because these were kung fu students, they preferred to strike rather than to grapple, and this was a major weakness, especially against such a man. But when they realized that he was virtually invulnerable to ordinary strikes, they tried to overwhelm him with massed action. Still he fought, holding them off in a circle. But no man can maintain such a pace indefinitely, and Loco had had a bruising encounter with me and a shock to his body when we used him to haul out Luis' chain. His strikes grew wilder, his throws less controlled. Finally he stood there panting, no longer attacking, just waiting like a tiger caged within a circle. He was so tired he was almost out on his feet, but who steps into the range of a tiger, even a tired one, while that tiger keeps his feet? They ringed him, afraid of him. Now and then one of them 383 would dart at him, making a daring sally, and he would dispatch that idiot with a quick chop or kick or throw. Occasionally he would charge the ring, enlarging it for a while. But he had been nullified, for he could not break out. Meanwhile, I was on my way to Kan-Sen, heedless of all else. I think he recognized me now, for he was off his throne. I have no memory of how many men I tossed aside; my reactions were automatic, like swatting mosquitoes. I know I lifted one blue instructor in a mighty te guruma, grabbing him by one leg with my other arm around his stomach and hurling him into the man in front. Another I took with a hane goshi hip throw that I converted to makikomi, going down in a wraparound sacrifice but landing on top of him, hard, so that I crushed in his rib cage. It wasn't that I bore him any personal malice; it was that he wouldn't let go, and I refused to be constrained even for a moment. At one point three men surrounded me. I lashed forward with my head and squashed a nose, then sideways and broke a jaw, then backward to crush a face. Three blows, using my head as a weapon, and perhaps the ki imbued me, for I never felt the impact, while all three men went down. The one I remember clearly was competent: a blue-clad teacher who made an impressive jump-kick at me. I sidestepped it. He landed cleanly, then started the whirlwind hand movements of the Chinese kung fu combat. I knew better than to step into that pattern. The others were standing back, letting the expert put on his show, demonstrating how to foil a barbarian. It would be an expression of contempt for their instructor if any of them piled into me now. So I waited calmly, out of reach, watching for an opening. I don't hold any grade in kung fu, but I have been exposed to it, and much of its technique overlaps that of karate. I realized that my blue opponent's defense was flawed. His hands were too high, at times leaving him open. This would not have been perceptible to the average opponent. Also, he expected me to come to him, which meant I didn't have to worry about his potential charge. Too much defense can be a man's undoing. 384 I figured the pattern, timed my move precisely, and made it with untelegraphed speed. I made a right roundhouse kick to the left side of his neck, felling him in that fraction of a second he was vulnerable. Then the others piled on me, but I had little concern for them. I kicked them in the armpit, stomach, and chest, downing them like so many tenpins. I jumped onto the dais, laying about me, and suddenly I was kicked hard in the back. The blow sent me careening into two men in front, who clobbered me with blows about the head and shoulders before I righted myself. I threw them down, but three more were on me immediately, and I could not turn to see who had landed the telling blow on me. I swept my arms forward, bringing two men down, but the third entangled my legs, and I ended up in the pile with them. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |