#(aymeric vc) i should send my knights here and see how they do

[theazureblade]

Aymeric hadn't been aware there would be a crowd watching, but he wasn't opposed to showing off a little. He instructed drills frequently, with knights watching his form to mimic it, so a crowd wasn't that intimidating. Besides, there were plenty of other people they might be watching on the stage.

Yojimbo might have been fast, but Aymeric was faster – or, perhaps more accurately, fast enough to anticipate where the bamboo would fall. He quickly moved out of the way, moving right along with Meiko to a clear area of the stage. Would that he had his own sword and could clear his own path – but alas, that was not the point of the exercise.

A few of the people competing with them were knocked off the stage by the first cut, and the second cut happened just as fast. Aymeric fled to safety, barely even pausing to marvel at the size of the overly giant bamboo as he did so. This one was split straight up and down, reducing the amount of safe areas on the stage.

Aymeric found himself next to Meiko again, and he gave her a brief smile. “Interesting game, for certain,” he told her as a third piece of bamboo appeared on the stage.

A crowd had come to gather around the main stage, with a few folks lined up chanting Yojimbo's name as he arose from a platform from down below.

Without much more of an introduction, Yojimbo drew a mighty blade.

"Behold, the sword art of legend -- Zanmato!"

A near-hilariously large bamboo pillar abruptly rose out of the center of the platform. Meiko let out a snicker of excitement, bouncing where she stood.

"Get ready! He's a fast fucker," Meiko enthused.

In a flash of light, Yojimbo had sliced the bamboo in a sharp diagonal. As the bamboo's top half began to slide, Meiko took off running with a handful of other competitors to one side of the arena!