A/N: My character really loves to fight with Griffin. ^^ El oh el. Who wouldn't? There's a bit of fluff in this chapter if you keep your eyes peeled. (David&Tori, cough) The end just has a bit of general awesome action. XD Oh today, is a double post day since I already posted once for this story. Hee. Read, review, and enjoy!
Chapter 4: Techniques
(Tori POV)
She watched over her shoulder as Griffin started hitting Ashley with some sort of wooden stick. David pulled her away and said, "Griffin wants me to teach you some basic hand to hand combat techniques." He motioned towards a punching bag hanging from a tree. "Okay, first," David stepped behind the bag and grabbed onto the sides of it. "Just uh, give it a good punch."
Tori gave a nod and punched the bag as hard as she could. Both the bag and David jolted back slightly at her punch. "Was that…good?" She stood with her hands at her sides, balled into fists.
"For a first time, yeah," he nodded. "Now do it again but this time, really focus on putting your strength into it."
Tori gave him another nod and took a deep breath. She let out the air slowly and threw a punch at the bag. The bag shook and David took a step back, holding his footing carefully. "Is this all we're doing?" She punched it two more times.
David shook his head. "You'll need to know how to get out of situations," he said as he dropped his grip on the bag. He stepped out from behind it and moved behind Tori. "So uh, for example, if a Paladin does…this," David put an arm around her neck and the other pulled her right arm gently behind her back. Tori winced. "Sorry," David whispered. "But do you know how to get out of this?"
"Learn how to jump?" Tori snorted. David laughed a bit. She could feel his chest rumble against her back as he laughed.
"Other than that?" Tori stayed silent, thinking about her options. "Find an opening," he said softly.
Tori lifted her foot up and pressed her heel to his shin. "A kick to the shin could startle you," she said.
David dropped his grip. "Good. Alright, now what about this?"
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(Ashley POV)
From the corner of her eye, she saw David left go of his grip on Tori. She smirked and felt the familiar tap of the stick on her back. "Will you focus already?" Griffin said in a huffy voice. "Stop makin' googly eyes at Rice-boy."
"I'm not," Ashley said through a clenched jaw and hit the stick against his arm. "C'mon now Master Grumpy Pants," she said in a mocking tone.
He smirked at her and jumped. She looked around and saw him behind her a second later. She felt the familiar tap of the hard stick against her shoulder. "You need to hone your senses. Did you sense my jump at all?"
Ashley turned around and shrugged. "I felt like this ping in my mind. Is that it?"
Griffin gave a half nod. "Sort of. Gimmie the stick back. We're gunna work on your senses," he said as she handed the stick to him. "Tell me how many times I jump." Griffin started jumping from spot to spot and Ashley looked around, trying to follow with her eyes.
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(Tori POV)
Tori was pinned down, her back against the dirty ground and David hovering over her, holding her hands next to her head. She sensed multiple jumps in a row and cringed. Tori craned her head to see who it was. "Who is jumping so much?" she groaned.
David tightened his grip on her wrists a little. "Concentrate. How would you get out?"
She sighed and said, "Knee to the stomach." She felt a headache coming on. "Please tell them to stop. It's giving me a headache."
David let go of her wrists and got up, looking over at the two. "Tone down the jumps. Tori's gettin' a headache."
"Aw well too bad. This one can't sense the jump correctly," Griffin shouted as he pointed at Ashley.
"It's not my fault I can't sense them!" Ashley yelled at him.
"Well it's not mine either, princess. So get your bloody act together and focus on your senses," Griffin shouted back.
"Oh my," Tori said quietly as she got off the ground and brushed herself off.
David looked at her and gave her a half grin. "It's gunna be a long day."
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(Ashley POV)
Ashley was jumping back to the lair with Tori holding onto her shirt collar. She had been pulled from Griffin after she nearly punched him in the face. She grumbled as she trudged over to the couch once Tori let go of her shirt. Ashley plopped down lazily as she saw Griffin and David come through her jumpscar. She heard Griffin mutter something along the lines of "dumb girl" and "try to punch me in the face".
David started talking to Tori about something. Ashley heard the words, "Can't you control her a bit more?"
"Griffin can't provoke her then," Tori said.
Griffin came from around the corner and said, "And you can't waste space then. You need to learn to take care of yourself since you can't jump."
The stress on the word "can't" bothered Ashley. She got up and marched up to Griffin. "Does that mean I can't fend for myself since I can't sense jumps? She can probably sense a jump farther than you could." She glared daggers at him as she spoke.
Tori pulled Ashley by the arm. "You two are fighting like your married and you're not so just…stop." Ashley saw David nod in agreement from the corner of her eye.
"Who would wanna get married to," both Griffin and Ashley said at the same time. They ended up glaring at each other before Griffin stormed off. Ashley stomped over to the couch and threw herself down.
"Such a happy team," David said in a playful tone.
"I'll say," Tori said. She turned back to Ashley. "Home now?"
She stood up. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind leaving this place."
The three heard Griffin shout, "Oh please, don't come back!"
David shook his head and smiled. "He doesn't mean that."
"Whatever," Ashley scoffed. She grabbed Tori's arm and jumped back to their apartment. They appeared in their living room. As Ashley looked around, she noticed the place was trashed. "Did it look like this when we left?" she asked.
Tori shook her head and saw a person walk into the room wearing a trench coat. "Paladin!" she whispered. The Paladin man set eyes on them and dashed for them. Tori's eyes went wide and she ran into the kitchen. She felt a jump and saw Ashley jump behind the Paladin, throwing a punch to their back. Tori felt as if she should help and she ran back into the living room. She shut her eyes and punched the Paladin in the face. Tori heard a thud and opened her eyes.
The Paladin was on the floor, clutching their nose, and Ashley grabbed her hand. "It's not safe here anymore," she felt the tug as Ashley jumped.
