Alex watched as Thomas worked out against the practice dummies. Ever since Thomas had been moved to the Shaman class, Alex had spent a lot of time watching him. Thomas was impressive. His skill with the axe and mace he had selected to replace the sword was improving steadily. And his drive was unmatched. Alex had often found Thomas hard at work, either at the training ring or the blacksmith club's forge, long after the rest of the school had gone quiet for the night. But most impressive to Alex was his ability to deal with the isolation he was being subjected to by the rest of the school. As one of only seven student Paladins in the school, Alex was used to being alone. Most of the students treated the Paladins as almost royalty. Interactions were smooth with most of the students, but only when the exchange was initiated by Alex. Thomas was another matter. Ever since the headmaster had escorted Thomas back to the warrior classroom and announced his new status as a Shaman, the entire school had been steadfastly ignoring him. There were also quite a few instances of bullying, mostly led by Lenard and his cronies.

While he was clearly annoyed by the unjust treatment, Thomas seemed to take it all in stride. He determinedly focused on his training, and the results were impressive. For his Warrior classes, he had quickly caught up to the majority of the class, despite having to learn a whole new fighting style. In fact, there were only five or so who could stand against him in the ring now. Alex and Lenard were at the top of that group.

Still, there was one last question Alex wanted an answer for. How would Thomas fare in a real fight? Thus far, no one had fought Thomas in a match that allowed the use of magic or skills. Alex planned to change that.

Mr. Ericson was planning the days sparing matches while the students finished warming up. "What do you want, Mr. Mason?"

"I want to challenge Thomas to an open match."

"An open match? Why?"

"At these training sessions, Paladins are restricted from using our skills to keep the matches fair. Thomas has his own skills he can't practice with for the same reason. An open match will give us both a chance to practice our skills against a live opponent."

"Are you sure you're not just trying to bully Thomas some more? He's had enough of that. Of course, an open match could allow him to return the favor with interest." Mr. Ericson thought for a moment. "It might be a good idea to let him blow off some steam, though."

"Yes, it might. And I've never bullied anyone. It always seemed like a cowardly thing to do. I was raised better than that." Alex responded, a little annoyed with Mr. Ericson's implication.

"OK, if he agrees, you'll be the last match. I want the other students to see this. It might keep them from being so cocky."

Mr. Ericson walked over to where Thomas was practicing. "Mr. Walker. One of your classmates has requested an open match against you. That means that all skills and talents, including magic, are allowed. If you agree, you'll be in the final round today."

"Did Lenard give a reason he wanted to fight me? Other than wanting to pat himself on the back by pounding on me?"

"Mr. Silvercrest is not your opponent. Mr. Mason is the one who made the request. He thinks an open match would be good for both of you. The two of you are the only hybrid classes here, and it will be good to allow you to practice your skills without a limit. It is better than waiting until you're in a real fight to try to learn how to use them."

After a moment, Thomas agreed. "OK, Mr. Ericson. Alex has behaved decently enough toward me, so I'll give him the fight he's asked for. But you know Lenard will try to twist this to his advantage. If I win, he'll claim it was because I used magic. If I lose, he'll claim I'm too weak to win even with my magic." Thomas shook his head in frustration, "I just don't understand him. He's hated me since I got here."

After the regular matches were complete, Thomas faced Alex in the center of the largest ring. "Thank you for agreeing to this," stated Alex.

Thomas thought over what he knew about Alex. Alex was well known for never removing his armor during school. He claimed a Paladin he had met once told him "Your armor must be as comfortable as your skin. The only way to make it so is to live in it." Alex took his advice to heart. There were very few students who had ever seen Alex's face. He was also acknowledged as the best fighter in the freshman year, especially with the two-handed war hammer he favored. Other than that, Alex kept mostly to himself. His preferred fighting style was to trade blows until his opponents drop. His training with his armor, stamina, and paladin skills allowed Alex to outlast his opponents, usually by a large margin.

"I appreciate that you've been giving me a chance, rather than following along with Lenard and his clique." Thomas said, extending his hand to Alex.

"I was always told to judge people for myself, before making up my mind about them. This is a step in that process." Alex shook hands with Thomas, and then returned to his starting corner. Thomas moved to his as well.

"Alright, you two, listen up. This is an open match. All skills and talents are allowed. However, you are not here to kill your opponent. I expect you to restrain yourselves and pull any killing blows. Ready? Begin!" Mr. Ericson started the match and left the ring.

When the start was given, Thomas found himself dodging a charged blow from Alex's war hammer. Maneuvering around Alex, Thomas released his first magical attack. A ribbon of lava lashed out from his mace, slapping against Alex's chest. The Lava stuck against the plate, burning and releasing fumes to distract Alex. Alex's return blow was blocked by Thomas' axe, but the power of it knocked him off balance. Alex closed in to gain advantage, but Thomas rolled away and to his feet. As Alex pressed the attack, Thomas released a frost shock spell that caused ice to form on his armor. Stunned by the cold, Alex returned to a more balanced stance. Thomas began to press the attack, but Alex held his ground. Blows were traded until Thomas was knocked down by one of Alex's heavy blows.

Rolling to his feet again, Thomas had a flash of insight and memory. "Fighting a shaman was like fighting two or three opponents at once," Thomas recalled the Headmaster's words. "Let's give it a try," thought Thomas.

As Alex turned to square off against Thomas again, a small ball of fire leapt from the ground to hit him on the pauldron. The impact caused the ball to break apart into a spurt of flame. Surprised by the heat, and flinching from a burn on his neck, Alex turned to the new threat. On the ground where Thomas had regained his feet, was a small wooden figure. As Alex saw it, another ball of fire left the Totem to hit Alex in the chest. Thomas also struck Alex then, a ringing blow to his arm. Alex returned his attention to Thomas. Ignoring the balls of fire that continued to strike from the totem, Alex tried to close the distance to Thomas only to feel his feet sliding out from under him.

The ground beneath him began to shake. Unable to balance well enough to advance, Alex was surprised when Thomas flew into a melee attack. Blocking Thomas' blows while the ground beneath his feet continued to quake accelerated the destruction of Alex's balance. Unable to get footing to attack, Alex was forced more onto the defensive. Finally, one of Thomas' blows forced Alex to his knee.

Pressing the attack, Thomas brought his axe in for an overhead blow. The blow was stopped with the blade of the axe against the haft of Alex's war hammer. Seeing this, Thomas redirected his next blow to strike the back of his axe. With a resounding crack, the haft of Alex's hammer broke under the blow. Thomas used the excess momentum of his weapons to quickly attack with a double overhand blow. The blow shattered Alex's hastily erected barrier and landed hard on Alex's shoulders. A peal of thunder sounded with the blow and lightning flashed from the heads of his weapons. Alex fell forward under the blow, landing face first on the ground.

"Winner, Shaman Walker" called Mr. Ericson. "That was an impressive victory, Thomas." Turning toward the rest of the class, Mr. Ericson continued, "Who can explain to me why Thomas was able to win?"

Lenard spoke up, "It was because he cheated. This was supposed to be a one-on-one fight, but he used that weird doll to add another opponent to the mix. And he only did it after Alex had proved he was the better fighter."

Alex groaned and began climbing to his knees. "You're pathetic, Lenard," He said. "I challenged Thomas knowing there was a good chance I'd lose. Once he was able to force the advantage away from me, his ability to deal blows would quickly outpace my ability to defend against them."

"Correct." Mr. Ericson said, addressing the class once more. "Defensive fighting is usually a losing battle. If you don't stop your attackers, it doesn't matter how strong you are. Alex's usual fighting style is about forty-sixty offence to defense. At the opening of this match, that was enough to overwhelm Thomas' ability to defend. Thomas style is much more offence oriented. He needs to quickly defeat his opponents, before he is defeated. During the opening of the fight, that was not enough to beat Alex."

One of the other students spoke up. "Then how did Thomas win? I thought Alex had the victory in the bag."

"That's what I'm saying," shouted Lenard. "He cheated! That's the only way Alex could have lost. That stinking Shaman" He made the name a curse "used his pathetic magic to beat the second most skilled fighter in our year."

"And who do you think is best, Mr. Silvercrest? You? Who has never beaten Mr. Mason? Or are you admitting that Mr. Walker is the best?"

"Of course, I'm the best! The only reason I've not beaten Alex yet is these cheap training weapons the school gives us."

"Please," said Alex as he recovered from the match, "blaming your equipment for your lack of skill is insulting to listen too. Thomas beat me fairly. He used all his abilities to their best advantage. He altered the fight in ways I couldn't adjust for. The fireballs were painful and distracting. He kept me in place and destroyed my footing with the ground spell. Then he attacked, shifting from one flank to another. With my footing destroyed, I couldn't shift fast enough to face him. I was completely on the defensive, unable to strike back. When I fell to my knee, he won. Blocking his attack destroyed my hammer and the follow on put me down. It was like fighting three people at once."

"The Headmaster said the same thing." Mr. Ericson said. "I think that just about covers it all. Think hard on what you've seen here today. Against many monsters, strength alone is not enough to win. Strategy will often beat strength."

As the class left to go clean up, Thomas lingered to speak with Alex. "Are you OK? I didn't expect that last strike to be so powerful."

"I'm fine. Except now I need to buy a new war hammer."

"Yea, I'm sorry about that. The blacksmith club has weapons for sale, stop buy after classes and I'll help you get what you need."

"I don't think the Blacksmithing club will be stocking stone war hammers."

"Come by, and I'll see what we can do."

"OK, I'll see you there."