THURSDAY 10 AM

After yet another morning of Andrew rambling and Danny trying to keep up, he was carted off to his lesson with Athena. Danny could still feel the bruises left from yesterday.

Athena had given him the challenge to get down the hallway past her, without using ghost powers. He was given a half hour to prepare. But being the goddess of strategy, she saw right through him. She attacked him when he got too close and, well, Danny got his butt handed to him. Overall he wasn't sure what it really taught him. Just seemed like a waste of time. No way was he telling Athena that, though.

But yeah, he wasn't looking forward to today.

Instead of going down countless flights of stairs (which he could just phase down through so it wasn't really that bad, but he reserved the right to whine) this time Danny soon found himself in a brightly lit courtyard. Though maybe a walled in field was a better description. The area was surrounded by outer walls, but was left open without a ceiling. There was none of the GZ's typically purple grass, just dark dirt.

Danny tread carefully as he and Briar approached Athena, who stood in the middle of the field. He took carefully measured steps and watched to make sure he didn't step on anything suspicious. Based on yesterday's interactions, he wanted to try and expect the unexpected. It was only when Athena looked at him weird that Danny remembered he could fly. He really needed to remember that. Danny floated smoothly over.

"It seemed that yesterday's lesson is stealth went entirely to waste." Athena said hautily. The owl on her shoulder flapped its wings aggressively at him, before Athena shushed it. From then on it just decided to glare at him, as it had also done for much of the previous lesson. If Athena didn't catch him, then the owl did.

"So today we're going to do something that, from what I've heard, is more your forte." She bid the owl away, and it went to perch upon a bench. She formed a large, ornate shield from light green ectoplasm.

"That's my cue to leave. I'll return in two hours for your next lesson." Briar excused themself.

"Are we fighting?" Danny asked. He clenched his fists in anticipation.

"The term is sparring, but yes."

"You shall make the first attack, then we'll begin. All you must do is land a single, good hit on me." She instructed, then just stood there. Her shield floated idly by her side. Danny contemplated for a moment. Athena was an unknown factor, he now knew she was skilled in constructs, but that was it. He could either go in carefully, or launch into an attack.

What was the fun in subtlety?

Danny charged his fists and launched himself through the air into Athena. She brought up her shield and just smacked him to the side. Danny recoiled through the air for a moment but quickly regained his bearings. He launched towards her again, anticipating the shield and managing to duck underneath her outstretched arm. He sent energy to his foot, rearing back for a kick.

Athena took hold of his leg, and tossed him back into the sky. She was strong!

"You are too obvious!" Athena shouted. She hadn't moved from the middle of the field. She just seemed to be waiting for Danny to act.

'Obvious? Well then.' Danny turned invisible. He snuck around behind Athena, and grabbed her by the leg. But she wouldn't be so easily felled. She whipped around and used the leg to kick him off, landing a blow right to his nose as she did. Danny's invisibility dropped, and he held a hand up to his nose. Green leaked down his front. A small smile graced Athena's face.

Danny snapped back to invisibility, and neared Athena again. He grabbed the back of her clothes and yanked it over her head, making her helmet fall to the ground. She seemed somewhat frazzled, and pulled at the cloth. Danny powered up a fist, aiming for her back.

Athena's shield smashed into Danny's side and kept going, which launched him into a wall. He lost his breath at the impact, and wheezed to get it back.

Athena's hair was now a mess, which was good. But the fight wasn't. Danny was out of practice. Usually he relied on his opponents being bigger and dumber than him, but this was certainly not the current case. She was tall, but quick. So he couldn't play his own game, but maybe he could play hers?

Danny summoned a blade of ice, and swung it once experimentally. He approached Athena, and held the sword threateningly. She grinned, dismissing her shield in sake of a large spear. Danny swung, and ectoplasm met ectoplasm. Now it was Danny's turn to smile. He was having fun with this.

On the next clash, Danny pushed energy into his sword. The ice spread and encapsulated the spear, including its user's hands. Athena yanked at the icy trap, but it held fast.

She yanked the spear upward, dragging Danny's sword out of his hands.

Danny gave a snarky wave and went back to invisibility. Athena swung her spear all around, which just narrowly missed Danny. He flew around her in a random pattern, letting loose volleys of ectoblasts. But she kept managing to dodge. Fine, he'd make one she couldn't dodge. Danny called upon his core and made a huge blast. The glow caught Athena's eye. She snagged Danny's cape with the monstrosity attached to her hands. Athena spun Danny around and around like a top. He fumbled with his cape, and managed to untie it before it strangled him. Danny was once again flung off into the arena.

He just wasn't getting anywhere! She was quick and observant. His powerset wasn't well suited for being fast. Blasts and constructs took time. Fists wouldn't get him anywhere. He had to slow her down somehow. Danny momentarily touched on the thought of icing up the field, but then recalled that both he and his opponent were flying.

But what if he wasn't?

Cloaked yet again, Danny switched forms. He let his sword melt and instead put that energy towards covering himself with frost, to protect his human form in case she struck out with her spear. The cold blanket was comforting and gave him confidence. Cold was his territory.

To mask his own presence, Danny pushed out a wave of cold into the arena. He just let it go, and the battleground turned icy from the freeze. He rounded the arena, and in his element he did not slip. Blue eyes took on an even more frigid hue. Or would have, if he wasn't invisible.

"Where are you?"

Athena looked around wildly. But Danny left no footprints. She shivered slightly. After a moment with total radio silence from her opponent, Athena's spear dissolved. Danny could tell she was attempting to form it into something else. He took the moment of distraction as an opportunity.

A snowball hit Athena on the back. She turned around and searched for the thrower. In doing so, she missed the mound of snow that coalesced above her head, gathered from the flakes that had littered the ground. Unceremoniously it all dropped at once, burying Athena. She couldn't phase through it.

Athena clawed at the compacted snow, digging herself out. She had just surfaced when she caught sight of Danny. With a smug little look on his face.

"Boop!" Danny poked her on the nose.

"Does that count?" He wore her helmet, which had been discarded earlier in the battle. Athena's teeth chattered.

"I suppose it does." She conceded. Danny felt energized at the win, and that more than made up for the pain he experienced when Athena's owl decided to peck at his head until he managed to dig her out.