Xenotober2020 Day 14. Preparations

Addam and Mythra want to get in some sparring with Minoth before their final confrontation with Malos.

Enjoy!

Day 14. Preparing for a troublesome fight

"Alright, let's get in some training!" Addam declares, looking around at his little group of people and Blades. "Time to perfect our skills to take down Malos!" It's been nearly a day since they fought Malos in the Capital, and it's all too clear they need all the training they can get before they're ready to face him again.

His enthusiasm is met with far less so from his companions. The ones that are listening to him, that it. Hugo is off with Brighid and Aegaeon, a bit from them, checking over their armour and equipment and making sure they're in perfect condition. Lora and Haze are looking at Addam, both ready to train, as is Mythra. Jin is prepping their food, not really interested in fighting. Minoth is leaning against a wall nearby, making some kind of notes in a little notebook.

"Minoth!" Addam calls to his friend, waving excitedly when he looks up and at him. "Would you come spar with me and Mythra? I think you'd make a good sparring partner for this, considering, you know." He waves his had somewhat, not really knowing what to call it.

"Fine," Minoth agrees, putting away his notebook as he pushes himself from the wall and approaches Addam and Mythra. "But you know that just because Malos and I have some things in common, that doesn't mean our fighting styles are even remotely similar, right?"

"What do you and Malos have in common, anyway?" Lora asks curiously, leaning forward as she watches the match about to start. Haze has one hand on her shoulder, as if ready to grab her and prevent her from joining in herself.

"Not much," Minoth shrugs, pulling out his gun-knives, getting ready. "We're both Dark-Blades, we were both awakened by the same man, and we both left him when we figured out we're better off on our own. That's about it."

"Well, can't hurt either," Addam concludes with a shrug, which Minoth answers with an agreeing nod. If nothing, else, at least he and Mythra have barely sparred at all, so it's at least some new experience for both of them, if only a little.

Minoth readies his weapons as Mythra materializes her own blade. Lora and Haze are watching closely with wide eyes, and Haze is even contributing a little by using her powers to dampen theirs, especially Mythra's, so no-one gets injured.

Then, they spar. Since Mythra is fighting with such a large sword, she mainly uses wide, sweeping movements, but doesn't do too well if the opponent gets too close. And since Minoth can use his weapons effectively up close as knives, or at a distance as guns, he has a few ways to go about this. He isn't dumb enough to think he could actually beat her, but he can at least give her a good fight.

Knowing about Mythra's short temper and fighting style, Minoth goes with a mix of close-range fighting with his knives, combined with a lot of dodging, ducking and jumping out of the way of her attacks.

He ducks under her blade as her swings start becoming more and more erratic and gets in a hit in her back. She's getting really annoyed by now. It's a good thing Haze is using her ability to reign in Mythra's powers.

"Would you stop jumping around?" Mythra exclaims as she misses him yet again and gets a hit in the arm for her effort. Her frustration is getting clearer and clearer.

"What, and stand there and let you hit me?" Minoth replies as he jumps back again quickly as she swings at him. Increases the distance between them a bit as he switches to his guns and fires of a few shots at her, which she easily deflects. Which is fine, it was a distraction anyway as he swiftly moves toward her unguarded left side –

Only to have to dodge out of the way as Addam joins in as well. Minoth just manages to get out of the way as Addam's sword cuts the air where he was standing just moments ago. He blocks the second swing with his knives, pushing him back a few steps, as Mythra is coming at him again, from the other direction.

Not wanting to get caught between the two, Minoth makes a leap into the air, landing smoothly some distance away from them. At the moment he lands, he blocks an attack from Mythra, who wastes no time going after him. He drops down in the middle of his movement and rolls in order to get some distance between them, and to get some kind of idea what's going on.

Addam is now the one coming at him, wielding Mythra's sword. The affinity link flares to life, golden and strong. Minoth takes a few moments to consider how strange it feels to be sparring with the man he more or less considers his Driver but shakes it off quickly and resumes the spar.

He takes a few moments to spar with Addam, using his knives to block the strikes from Mythra's blade, occasionally striking back. It's not really a good fit, as his knives really aren't meant to be used in close combat with a sword like that. New plan.

Minoth quickly jumps some steps back, readies his knives, then rushed towards Addam like he's just trying to get some strength into his next hit. Predictably, Addam swings the sword towards him, in a long and wide arch. Just as their weapons are about to collide, Minoth ducks instead, sliding underneath the blade and past Addam, going instead for Mythra. Who is right now, completely weapon-less, as there's no time for Addam to toss it back before Minoth reaches her.

She's forced to break her link to Addam to jump out of the way of Minoth's attack, not able to fend him off with no weapon. At least during sparring, when she's not going all out. In a real battle, he'd be toast by now.

"Hey now, Minoth," Addam calls after him, sounding like he doesn't know if he should be impressed or not. "That's almost cheating!" He tosses Mythra's sword back to her and just looks amused, arms crossed over his chest.

"Somehow," Minoth answers, putting his gun-knives away as their sparring seems to have finished. "I don't think Malos will particularly care about fighting fairly."

"True," Addam agrees, looking far more serious now. "We should be prepared for just about anything." He thinks for a moment before looking back at Minoth, with a small smirk this time. "And just where did you learn that kind of cheating stuff like that, anyway?"

"I've spent my fair share of time fighting alone," Minoth replies. "And sometimes staying alive is more important than fighting fair."

"Understandable," Addam agrees, stroking his chin absentmindedly. "We might have to keep that in mind. Beating Malos is definitely more important than fighting fairly, especially since Malos might very well also be using underhanded tactics."

"Yeah," Mythra agrees. She has also joined their discussion after dematerializing her sword. "We'll need to go all out to take on Malos, and he'll be doing the same, no doubt."

"That was a great match!" Lora interrupts their talk as she and Haze walk up to them, clearly impressed by what they saw. "I think we'd try to take you on next, Minoth," she says, turning to him and looking him in the eye. "I think Haze and I could use some practice with this whole "not always fighting fairly" thing."

"And I'm some kind of expert at it?" Minoth asks, somewhat teasingly, but not turning her down. In fact, he's almost looking forward to some more sparring.

"Well, more than the rest of us at least," Addam admits, looking at Minoth with a small smile. "I think you can teach us all some tricks, if you're up to it?" The last part is definitely a question, as if Minoth could say no to him, not bout something like this at least.

"Does it feel weird to fight Addam, even if it's just sparring?" Lora suddenly asks, looking between Addam and Minoth. "Since he's kind of like your Driver and all," she clarifies when he just looks at her with a raised eyebrow. Haze nods in agreement.

"I couldn't imagine fighting against Lady Lora, even if it's just for training," she says, looking almost appalled by the mere thought.

"Well," Minoth starts answering, thinking through his words before saying anything. It's not really something he's thought about much, since he and Addam have sparred a few times in the past. But that was before all this, before Malos and before Mythra, when Addam wasn't really Minoth's Driver in any way, just his friend.

"It's a bit strange, I suppose," he finally says, making Addam look at him sharply, as the man had likely never considered it. "But not difficult. It's not a big deal. And nothing new. Addam and I have sparred before."

"How about a lunch break before you start?" Addam interrupts them as they're about to pull out their weapons to start the sparring. "I think Jin's just coming over to tell us the food is ready," he says when they all turn to look at him, pointing off towards where Jin is indeed approaching them, no doubt to let them know food is either ready or just about ready.

"Well, we definitely need all the energy we can get," Mythra concludes, wandering off in the direction of the dining area without another word.

"Come on then, let's go eat," Addam agrees, already marching of after Mythra. "You can spar after eating."

Minoth shares a look with Lora and Haze before all three of them follow Addam and Mythra. After all, they are starting to get hungry as well.