p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Braxton elbowed Jim in the ribs. "Man, watching you fall down three times, can't beat that," he teased in a low voice. "I got you good with that kick."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah, and then failed to follow up with your advantage." Jim shot back./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Puss turned off the hologram. "Alright class, you have seen how you fought and what your advantages and disadvantages are. Now we shall fight again. You may select any weapon you like with the exception of ones you throw. We are using each other as targets, no throwing."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The cat opened the weapon's cabinet once more but remained in front of it to block his students. "After you have chosen your weapon, get into small groups of about three to five people. I will give more instruction after."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Matt held out his hand towards his friends. "I'll put away swords. Who doesn't want theirs?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Varian thrust his handle towards Matt quickly. "I don't. I know exactly what I'm going for!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jim bit his lip. "I'll hold onto mine for a bit, I want to think things over yet. Thanks though, Matt."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Braxton gave Matt his sword. "Thanks, Matty. You know what you want?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Matt nodded slowly. "I think I might. If they don't get taken."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jim and Braxton headed for the weapons cabinet. Varian had already peeled off from the crowd with something clutched in his hands. Jim nudged Braxton with his shoulder. "Better move quickly if you want that staff you like. I think there's only two left."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Braxton snorted. "I'll fight someone for it if I have to." Even so he pulled ahead to shoulder his way through their classmates. He snatched up a wooden staff that was nearly as tall as him. He hefted it once or twice to test the weight. Dissatisfied, he returned it to the wall and picked up the other one. He nodded with satisfaction and turned to follow Varian./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jim took a moment to look over the remaining weapons. The axes were out of the question, he had never much been good at wielding the heavy weaponry. He momentarily considered changing his sword out for a different type but dismissed the idea in the end. Eventually he turned away from the closet. What he had would do just fine./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"All three of his friends were waiting for him in a small cluster near the middle of the room. Jim gave them a grin as he rejoined them. "Settled on the sword after all."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Color me surprised," Braxton replied in a monotone. "Jim kept the weapon he's most familiar with."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Technically," Matt answered brightly, "He's most familiar with blasters. We're just not allowed to use those right now."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I also picked the weapon I'm most familiar with," Varian piped up. "Maxi-uh, Max-the-totally-normal-human, who just so happens to be in charge of our military, made certain that I knew how to use one, just like all the royal guards."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Cadets!" Puss leaped up onto a training dummy so that everyone could see him. "Now that you are in your groups, we shall fight more! I want you to take turns fighting. Two people shall fight at a time from your group. When one loses, they sit down, and a new person shall replace them. Continue fighting until I say stop, rotating out whomsoever loses each time. Unless, of course, your group has a champion. If at any point you should win five matches in a row, sit down so that others might have a chance to fight each other!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The cat looked around the gymnasium. "Any questions? No? Excellent! Begin!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Braxton nodded to Matt. "Why don't you and Jimmy go first?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Matt reached to pick up his weapons off the ground. "Sure. Thanks Braxton." Braxton nodded his response as he and Varian moved off to the side to sit down./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jim and Matt faced each other. Jim unsheathed his sword and extended it towards Matt. Matt took a deep breath and tightened his grip against his tonfa. He brought one arm up, flicking the long arm out to tap against Jim's sword./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The boys lowered their weapons and settled into ready positions. Matt secured the tonfas against his forearms. The batons jutted out just a little past his elbow, the handle set far enough towards one end to create a discrepancy in the length of each half. Another inch or two of the solid wood passed his knuckles. The handle itself was barely longer than his fist. A simple weapon, but one Matt wielded well./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jim adjusted his grip on his sword and drew in a deep breath. The two boys studied each other quietly for a moment, waiting to see who would strike first./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jim took the initiative. He darted forward with a quick slash towards Matt's temple. Matt blocked easily, his arm circling past his face to knock the blade aside. As he defended he retaliated with a swift punch towards Jim's midsection. Jim leaped back to avoid getting jabbed in the stomach by the short arm of the tonfa./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bringing his sword back around to the front, Jim circled slowly to the side. He knew Matt was a defensive fighter, not one to attack first. Or, occasionally. at all. This made for a bit of a difficult fight, because if Jim wanted to win, he had to initiate contact, which only played into Matthew's style./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The boys circled each other slowly, each looking for an opening in their opponent's defense, or a hint to what they were thinking. Matt was frustratingly difficult to read. Jim surged forward again, his sword flying as he spun into a series of attacks./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Every thrust and slash was met by the solid thunk of wood. Jim grit his teeth as attack after attack failed to break through Matt's defense. The few strikes Matt did send his way Jim was able to dodge or block, though he could find no openings with which to counter./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Matt flicked the weapon in his right hand forward as he swung the thick hunk of wood at Jim's temple. Jim swatted it away with his sword. Instantly Matt was back into a defensive position, already blocking Jim's counter attack./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jim growled under his breath and lunged forward. Once again his attack was deflected. Jim couldn't help the words he muttered under his breath. He spun towards Matt again and swung wide. Every attack was deflected with a well calculated block./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jim spun back to face his friend, his breath heavy and ragged. He had to get past Matt's defense. He had to do something to end this match. With a shout he charged forward once more, his sword raised for a strike./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Matt was ready for him. Stepping to the side he pivoted on his foot and thrust out his other leg. Jim surged straight into it. His ankle caught on Matt's shin. Desperately he swung his weapon towards Matt's side with one hand, his other braced for the fall./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Matt caught the sword with his tonfa. Jim caught himself on his hands and knees. Instantly he shoved himself back up to stand again. Matt flicked his weapon in his grip so that the long arm pressed against his forearm once again. He brought his elbow down sharply against Jim's spine. Jim collapsed back to the /br /strongAN: /strongSo sorry this was late this week, had a bit of technical difficulties. Anyway, it's up now, and we'll have next chapter out on Friday like usual! Thanks so much for reading. 3br /br /As for this scene: Ahhh, fight scenes! I do love to write them. They're just so much fun, you know? /p