Avy's Armour Training v3.0 [pv Jet]

Avery sat on one bench inside the training arena silently, hunched forward while being a sulking and pouting mess. She grumbled and kicked the ground in her little tantrum as she remembered her earlier phone call with her uncle.

"A mini-concert?! You told me you'd help me test my armour! I just finished upgrading it."

"Duty calls kiddo. I have a city to grace with my beautiful voice.. and talented fingers, if you know what I mean. I'll be back in three days."

"But that's too long. A test run is needed ASAP after an upgrade."

"I know and I'm sorry. Just call someone to be your punching bag. I have to go now. Talk to you in a bit.:

And then there was silence. Avy sighed as she finished recalling the events. After a while of sulking she decided to just follow his advice and ask someone to spar with. The blonde took out her phone and went through her contacts. There was 'K-Sasuke', though they're not really close enough for her to be asking favours. Plus he might be out in a hunt. There's 'L-Senpai' but he's probably busy doing who-knows-what. Scrolling lower, the blonde realised she actually didn't know much people capable enough not to die in a spar against her.

Eventually Avy had gone through the rest of her contacts and was left with only one person in mind: J-Sunnies. Whatever. Let's just do it. She thought and sent a message inviting him for a spar and disclosing that she indeed needed to test her armour as well. Avery flipped her phone closed and waited, hoping at least he would come.

[281/1750 words]

Jet was in his room when he got the message. He had been reading this book on programming optimisation which he found both fascinating and boring at the same time. Really, the level of difference a single change in a line of code could bring was staggering, but there was so much boring theory and mathematical calculations in there it was sometimes pretty difficult to get into it as much as he wanted. Still, it was useful stuff so might as well. That being said, it might have gone faster if he didn't stop every two minutes to put his new cat down from his face. That little ball of energy just loved using her semblance to teleport on Jet's head every chance she got. Well, he didn't help it since he found her so cute everytime she meowed at him with those sad kitty eyes when he was about to scold her he couldn't resist petting her.

It was official, he was whipped by a woman, she just happenned to be a cat.

Picking up his phone, Jet started to read the message he got from Avery. A spar? Armor testing? Bonus that it was with a pretty blonde? Count him in! Not a lot of things sounds more fun than that. Picking up and equiping his weapon, the shades wearing guy went for the door but stopped short. "Hmmm... Maybe I should pick up some burn salves? I mean she does have flame throwers... Nhaaa I'll be fiiiiiiine! It's just a little fire, it didn't seem that special other than being blue."

Nodding to himself at this decision, Jet openned the door just as his vision suddenly obscured.

"Gah! Rossi! Not the face! OW!!"

---------------------------------

The doors to the arena flew open and in came a black haired guy with a smile, looking around and trying to spot the girl. There wasn't many peopple in the place so he managed to find her quick.

"Hey Av! How are you doing?" Jet stood there for a moment, adjusting his bracer a bit. "I'm glad you called me for this, it'll be fun. Also, I wanted to ask your opinon on my weapon, what you think it needs. Nothing better than a spar for you to find it's weakness and relate them to me. If you want to of course."

Satisfied his weapon was in place, he looked back at Avery trying to spot any changes to her usual equipment. "Sooo... Where is this armor you have to test?"

Avery looked up as the doors swung open and in came her unofficial partner-in-crime. She stared at his sunglasses and wondered of a time she'd ever seen him without them. Never. Given she was respectful of other's sentiments and dramas in life and that included his at first, it did nothing but make her curious now.

Nevertheless, Avery stood up and shrugged off her blazer before proceeding to fold her sleeves up to her elbows. She was still in her school uniform since she was too disappointed with the phone call earlier to even change to her battle attire. Plus, no student in this academy could rough her up in her full gear anyway, so why bother.

The blonde removed her necktie and used it to tie her hair into a ponytail just as Shades asked for her opinion on his weapon. She tilted her head for a second and gave a shrug. "Sure, why not," she responded approvingly. It's more than just returning the favour; she was actually curious as to how he'd improve his weapon.

"Sooo... Where is this armor you have to test?"

Avery took out her guns from her waist and thigh holsters giving them a light spin. The moment they stopped, she brought them behind her as they shifted into their flamethrower gauntlets form and pressed the trigger, using the recoil to give her a boost forward towards him and sending an open palm blow right at the centre of his diaphragm.

The gunslinger gave a small smile as she'd meet his gaze. "Punch first. Questions later."

Battle Log:

[545/1750]

Jet was glad she was willing to give her opinion on his weapon and looked at her getting ready for the spar. Ponytails fit her well really, not that she wasn't pretty otherwise but hey, it was a different look than what he had seen for her as of yet and he liked it. Not like she was doing that for him of course, but he wouldn't stop himself from enjoying it.

His enjoyment was cut short though as he saw her draw her guns of mass destruction and turn them in their gauntlets of devastation form. They weren't the actual names for them but hey, they were scary weapons, Jet was both excited and affraid of being on the receiving end of those. He followed their movement and as she closed him on him using her recoil as a boost, he took a fighting pose on reflex, right arm forward so he could use his coiled weapon to block the incoming strike. It was straight forward, thankfully since it came quick and as a surprise. It was probably just a hit to start the spar, not something she expected to hit or deal damage with, especially since she used her bare hands and not the gauntlet to strike.

"Punch first. Questions later."

Jet smirked at this and did just that with a left straight aimed at her right clavicule. "Why not ask questions while punching?" He then followed with a twist of his right arm to roll it over her own, striking toward her face with a back-handed punch. He couldn't pinpoint it yet but something felt weird whenever he was in contact with her body, something he realised already while blocking her strike but could feel even more as he was attempting to strike at her. He frowned slightly but remained ready for whatever was comming next.

Battle Stuff:

Avery's eyebrows raised up slightly as the guy was able to block her opening blow with his arm. She had actually intended it to hit and the fact that he was able to react to the boost of speed meant the person had fast reflexes and was constantly aware. Not too shabby. Avery noted just as she caught sight of his other arm striking at her right clavicle. While the girl would've normally just shifted ever so slightly to make the strike miss, she decided to block the punch.

Her left hand caught the strike just before it hit her clavicle, the force causing her hand to press hard against her shoulder. Avery glanced at the contact from the corner of her eyes. Usually with a punch like that the force would cause her to skid back due to her light weight, putting much strain to her lower body to keep herself from tumbling back, just like what happened with her spar with Alex. But this time, the armour cushioned even the force applied allowing her to stay steady in her feet even while blocking.

Avery glanced back at the guy just as he asked a question and she smirked. "Because that would just be unoriginal, wouldn't it?~" she responded before swiftly dropping low just as the backhand came and using that opportunity to strike with a leg swipe to knock the man off his feet. Following the attack, she sprung forward with right arm pulled back to deliver another open palm blow, this time aimed at his throat.

Battle Log:

[808/1750]

Yeah, something definitly felt weird. Every time he connected, be it blocked or not, the strike didn't feel right. It was as if he was hitting a cushion, not flesh. So that's how it was. Well he knew there was some armor testing to be made but he didn't expect something like that. Well, he still didn't know what it was really, all he knew was that whatever was protecting the blonde girl was acting like an invisible layer of something around her. Like some force field or some stuff like that.

"Ooooh, fancy. I genuinly curious about what is protecting you and how it works. You'll have to tell me some about after this spar!" Well he might not know what it is, how it works or whatever, but he knows she called him to test the thing out, so testing is what he would do! Well, she obviously wanted a spar, cause if she only wanted to test the armor, she would just let him hit her without defending herself, not fight back.

She had good moves, and good reflexes. That first punch she blocked was a bit sloppy but he realised it was on purpose, she didn't seem phased at all when the hit should have pushed her backward. He didn't see that much of her hand to hand ability but she did seem like she had at the very least good bases in combination with the reflexes she developped in combat. Not that he was extremely surprised, she did have gauntlets as weapon, but she always seemed to favor her pistols, so he had to admit he assumed she wasn't much of a hand to hand fighter.

The leg swipe following his high attack wasn't entirely unexpected, but she still cought him mid-motion so he didn't have the time to do much about it. Instead of trying to jump over it, which was usualy a move that gave even more openings to an opppnent, he decided to simply steel his stance and take the hit. He wouldn't say he didn't feel anything, a kick to the shin is always painful, but his aura was a defensive type so it was much less painful than it could have been. She did have surprising power behing the kick, that or she just knew exactly where to hit for maximum damage.

He following palm strike to his throat was a surprise though, it's not a spot people tend to aim for, especially in a spar, but Jet couldn't deny that it was a good tactic, though the attack was a bit telegraphed with her arm pulled behind her. With his left hand, he deflected the strike, trying after that to grapple her. Lets see if her sort-of-armor-thing made helped her with this. Grabbing the wrist as he blocked, He spun on himself, back to her and pulled her arm over his shoulder, shifting his center of gravity lower and using his right arm to try and perform a throw. He didn't stop though and followed up with a hammer kick to whereven she landed, be it upright or on the ground.

Battle Stuff:

The moment her wrist was grabbed, Avery knew she royally screwed up. Well shit.. The blonde tried to pull back but to no avail and the next thing she knew, her vision spun and she was slammed on the ground on her back. That left her a little disoriented but only due to the motion. The armour had cushioned the impact most particularly her head from suffering a concussion.

Seeing a follow-up kick, Avery brought her arm over herself to block and used the smooth surface of the gauntlet to slide the kick and redirect it away. Following that, her other fist was quick to strike at the side of that leg's knee cap. Avery rolled to her side and quickly got up, taking a step back to gain distance.

Before coming to Syne, Avery had decent defensive close-quarter manoeuvres involving escapes to get herself away and utilise her guns from afar. But offensive unarmed were out of the question until Alex trained her. While she picked up the concept fast, she was still inexperienced. Thus, Avy could tell this man was on an entirely different level from her from the way he braced himself from the leg swipe as well as the immediate counterattack with the throw. Unlike herself who fully relied on her reflex in dodging, she realised Shades could actually read her moves and plan ahead. Avy wouldn't be able to match him on that field.

Avery changed her stance, shifting on her side with left leg forward. Her eyes briefly glowed a bright blue as a blunt ice rapier materialised by her left hand. She locked her right arm behind her and raised the sword, meeting his gaze once more.

"I hope you don't mind. I'm not a fan of fighting a losing match," she said with a small smile. Avy then performed a lunge in typical fencing fashion, striking him on the chest with a forward thrust.

Battle Log:

[1132/1750]

The throw was a success, but once again Avery's reflex saved her from a hit. He expected her to roll away or block with a cross guard, at which point he could have followed up with another move, but instead she deflected his kick to the side, even landing a quick strike on his knee cap while she was at it. Without much options, Jet moved his leg backward, effectively canceling any follow-up he might have had at that moment. The hit still landed but on his tigh instead of his knee, which still stung a bit.

His opponent taking a step back, Jet paused, wondering what was comming next. While they did have a certain gap in skill when it comes to close combat, Jet thought she was handling things pretty well all things considered. Her change of stance at first caught him off guard completely. That foot forward hinted at a sword stance but she didn't have any... well now she did. A moment she was weapon-less, the next she had a rapier made of ice in hand as she faced him with a dueler's stance.

"If I mind? Far from it, I love a good challenge!" The typical lunge was a good openner, but something he expected. With a smile on his face, he used his right palm to deflect the blade to the side and entered her zone by spinning, his right palm still on the tankfully blunt ice blade. His spin brought him closer to her, at first presenting his back but it was only to build up for another back handed fist strike toward her head. More than an actual strike, he mostly wanted to push her backward to destabilise her before following with first a roundhouse kick, then a reverse roundhouse kick using the momentum he gained from his initial roundhouse.

"Come on! I know you're faster than that!" Jet smiled as he said this. He wasn't even trying to taunt her, he was just getting excited by the spar and wanted to kick it up a notch. He knew for having seen her fight Grimms that she could move faster than this. One think he knew she had over him was better reflexes and speed and he wanted her to use those!

Battle Stuff:

Avery was pleased that he loved challenges. The moment he deflected the blade and began to turn, Avy countered by spinning the other way, mimicking his motion. Her right hand tucked from behind her swung into a backhand block, her forearm colliding with his. Again, she was thankful of her armour or the force would've made her skid.

Realising her weapon was useless in this close distance, she took a step back and took another to avoid the roundhouse kick. It was an easy dodge; quite predictable given he had been targeting her head the whole time. The same thing could be said for his follow up reverse roundhouse. Avery merely took another step back but this time, she was on the move. This was the reason she never used mid to high kicks in battle.

Her free hand caught the leg midair and tugged on it to make him lose his balance and at the same closing in to use her right leg to kick the back of the knee of his other leg. Following the momentum of the kick, she spun and her left elbow came to strike him at his diaphragm, aiming to affect his breathing. Almost immediately, her right hand delivered an open palm blow right at his liver. Still with the momentum, Avery used her right leg behind her to pull herself back and only had to stretch out her left arm to finish with a backward swipe of her blade across his neck.

"Heh. Wish granted."

Battle Log:

[1385/1750]

Jet laughed as his attacks were all either blocked or dodged, there's no fun when things are too easy and really, this was no easy fight. Her reaction time was pretty impressive and her smaller frame made high attacks easier and more natural to perform for him, but here she was blocking and dodging all of them. Some people freeze when a blow comes straight at their head, the typical "deer in headlight" kind of reaction. The person sees a kick or a punch closing in fast, less skilled people might react on instinct and cover their face or worse, look away. Well he knew she wasn't some wet behind the ears newbie when it comes to fighting in general, he didn't expect her to just freeze or whatever, but he got a bit too excited with the fight and just went with the flow without thinking.

His leg caught, he didn't waste any time for his next move, more of a learned reflex than anything else. While he still had balance, he pushed himself off the ground using his still free leg, moving with the pull. His precarious one legged jump didn't lift him much but he used his caught leg to push down on her hand, both forcing it free and lifting him higher, while also bringing his free leg to her face, knee first.

He landed not too far, only to barely block her elbow strike at his torso with both hands. Using both hands to block the elbow strike was like a knee-jerk reaction, but he immediately cursed under his breath since he knew it left him open to a follow-up attack. He knew and said that she was faster than that, but really he didn't expect such an immediate change. He liked it though, made things more fun, but at the moment, it also meant he was just hit right in the liver area. He winced a bit and was going to step back when she did herself, finishing with a swipe of her rapier to his neck. Good thing it wasn't sharp, could have hurt much more. A hand on his neck where he was just hit, he looked at his sparring partner with a big smile. "That's more like it!"

She was faster and reacted faster than him, any frontal attack would be useless. But how is she with feints? Jet stepped forward with an obvious cocked right fist and struck forward toward her chest area - no weird thoughts there. At the last moment, he flipped his fist downward and struck upward with his elbow. His goal was to slide is forearm along any block she would have made to her chest area, most probably using her free hand, and slide it back upward to hit her chin with his elbow, effectively locking her blocking arm on herself and preventing her to use it. Should she find a way to block this or avoid the strike, she would still have to deal with a punch to her stomach comming from his other hand while he kept an eye on the rapier, ready to block or dodge should she counter-attack.

Battle Stuff:

It amazed Avery how despite his leg being caught, the guy could still turn the situation to his advantage. Unfortunately, another frontal strike to the head was simply too easy for her to see and dodge. She merely tilted her head to the side and it wheezed past inches from her ear. Regardless, two of her attacks connected which was good.

Avery returned a smile of her own and braced herself as the guy stepped forward. She frowned a little as he saw him doing another frontal attack; another predictable strike. Her free arm raised up to block the attack, while her other readied her blade for an immediate counter. But at the last second she saw the movement shift. A feint? Avery was actually trained against feints, with how much she'd suffered under that goddess-wannabe's tutelage, she learned to see and react to them.

However, what she didn't expect was his versatility. With his fist moving down, Avery thought he was going for a punch to her stomach instead so reflexively her arm shifted down to protect it. She was completely caught off-guard as the elbow struck up and directly hit her chin, her vision fading for a second as the blow to the head sent her winded. She couldn't take time to recover as another blow hit her stomach and she gasped, reeling forward in pain at the unexpected strike. Unconsciously, she grabbed his shirt and leaned on him for support.

"You are annoyingly good," she whispered, tasting blood on the side of her lip - one she accidentally bit during the uppercut. With no distance between them, her left hand flicked and gripped her blade in reverse before bringing her arm around to stab him on his lower back particularly the left kidney. Simultaneously, she cupped her free hand and slammed it against his left ear, a move commonly known to discombobulate opponents by forcing a large amount of high pressure air against the ear drum. And for the finale, she brought her knee up to strike him on the groin - her little thank you for the lip bite - before breaking away and jumping back to gain distance.

Battle Log:

[1747/1750]

Jet smirked as his two last hits landed on the blonde girl. When she leaned on his, grabbing his shirt, he thought for a moment she was going to call an end to the spar. He did hear her words and it made him smirk even more. "I'll take that as a compliment, but you're no slouch yourself." He had dropped his guard, so it was a complete surprise for him to be stabbed in the back. The pain was strong and while the sword was blunt, it felt almost as if she had pierced his skin. Hell, maybe she did, but activated Auras normaly take care of preventing injuries up to a certain threshold. He didn't think she breached that threshold but it damn well felt like it!

Her strike to the ear was just as unexpected but his reflex saved him partially this time. Seeing the hand comming to his head from the corner of his eye, his left hand came up and blocked what he thought would have been a particularily sharp slap. Now Jet didn't realise her first intention in disorienting him, he just saw the hand comming up and reacted by reflex, it didn't register to him that her hand was positionned to hit his ear and was wondering why the slap in the middle of a fight after all those punches and stabs. He tried moving backward to free himself from her grip and managed to do so at the same moment her knee came up, catching him right where it hurts.

His eyes bulged for a moment and he had to really thank his defensive type aura since without it, he would have been a writhing mess on the floor. He was away from martial-arts too long, this is something any martial artist worth it's salt knows : protect your vitals, and that does include your family jewels. Hell about a dozen techniques and stances has been invented in different martial arts specificaly to protect this zone from any attacks, passively or actively. He shouldn't have been hit and he was slightly mad. Not at Avery, she was well within her right to aim for a weak point, but at himself because he dropped his guard and was careless just because she leaned on him a bit.

Straightening up after stepping back a little, he took a deep breath and took a more defensive stance. "T-that was a low blow... But well within the rules of this spar... which were never set up actually." Taking another deep breath, he moved forward more slowly, keeping his defensive stance. Once he was close enough, he finished his approach with a sliding step forward that brought his gravity center lower. His left hand was ready to intercept any try she made with her rapier while his right hand an knee struck simultaneously, fist to clavicle, knee to hip bone, while raising back up to give more power to the knee strike. Right after, his right foot quickly dropped for a heel kick to her left kneecap. He wasn't striking strong enough for a break so long as her aura was active but it should be painful enough if it hit to impair her movements... hopefully.

Battle Stuff:

"Good but stupid. You know better than to drop your guard around me," Avery chuckled, nibbling on her injured lower lip. Her last attack, the most painful of all, was a direct hit yet this guy was still standing. Avery realised he might be more durable than what she gave him credit for.

With her sword still on reverse grip, Avy shifted to her side with left leg forward though keeping her sword lowered on her side. She eyed him nonchalantly yet cautiously as he approached, finding there was no opening. Then he finally attacked: a punch and a knee strike at the same time. Avery frowned. An attack like that will only divide the power between the two strikes since each need different momentum and counterbalance. Did she make a mistake thinking he was a CQC expert? Or was he simply toying with her?

Regardless, with another frontal attack Avy simply turned her body to the other side by placing her left leg behind her, allowing the punch to miss her clavicle by inches. Meanwhile the palm of her right and fist of her left were brought down to stop the knee strike. Due to the position of his knee however, his heel was hidden from her sight and she received another direct hit to her knee cap.

Avery winced, immediately collapsing on that knee. With her left leg rendered temporary useless and her right leg forward, she was quick to shift her rapier to her right hand and deliver a horizontal slash across both his legs. Using her good leg's strength she pushed herself up and forward practically with no distance between them and stabbed him in the abdomen, putting so much pressure on its blunt end to push both him and herself away from each other to gain a little distance before ending with an upward slash. Following that, she shuffled back to separate from him.

Battle Log:

[2067/1750]
[word count end]

Chuckling to himself at the same time as Avery, Jet couldn't help but nod at her statement. "Can't deny that. Not gonna happen again though." He talked more to himself than to her but he did talk loud enough for her to hear.

Her dodging of his simultaneous strikes wasn't much of a surprise. So long as she could see it she had been able to react to any attack in the appropriate way, either blocking or dodging. Really, it made him question who had the martial arts training here. Still, she seemed to be lacking the experience to expect the hits from her blind spots, something he could use, but if he overused it she would get used to them.

He first counter attack came toward him at his right leg, the same one he had used to both knee strike and heel kick, so his weight was still on his left leg, allowing him to lift his right one and block the strike by putting his foot on her hand. He would have pushed down to crush her fingers but she got up and went at him with a piercing strike. Having kept his eyes on the rapier, he took a step back, his left leg now forward and slapped both hands together on the blade of the ice sword, stopping it inches from his stomach. Just about to try and snap the ice blade in half with his hands, his sparring partner forced it out and upward in a last slash at him. Leaning back to dodge it, he quickly moved into action.

While she shuffled backward, Jet rushed forward. His left hand in front oh him, he had it ready to deflect any preemptive sword strike from the ice user's rapier. Once inside her range, he went to grab her sword hand with his left, his left foot beside her right leg. With a pull, he tried to force her to lean more heavily on her right leg which was forward before sending an open palm strike to her chest area. Should she block, dodge or take the hit, the backward move or the push would potentially put her out of balance on her right leg since she seemed to be favoring her left more after the heel kick on the kneecap.

The moment he finished his strike, he pulled again with is left hand, switching his right foot back behind him and putting his weight on it then swiping Avy's right leg from under her, hitting at the back of the knee to lift her up in a horizontal position. He didn't let go of her sword arm and used his right for a downward strike to the stomach while she would be mid air should his move work. The fall itself would hurt unless she managed to wiggle herself in a better position.

Battle Stuff:

Only a fool would try to grab a swordsman's blade arm and that was exactly what Avery was thinking at that moment. As the guy rushed at her aiming to lock her arm, Avy merely pulled it back and even if she didn't, she could have sliced off his whole forearm with a simple flick of her wrist. "Sometimes I don't know what you're thinking. Even if it's blunt, treat it as a real sword." Avy stated with a small chuckle.

Still steady in her offensive position, Avery could clearly see the palm strike to her chest and she merely crossed her left arm before her to block the strike. The resonating force would have put pressure on her left leg had it not been for her upgraded armour. It allowed her to remain steady in her position and even see the incoming leg swipe which she avoided by shifting sides again, placing her right leg behind her left at the same time as she switched her sword to her left hand. The follow up downward strike made her raise her eyebrows in approval. If the initial wrist grab had been successful (and she didn't have a sword to cut his arm off), the trip and the follow up would have surely been devastating to her.

Regardless, Avy took this opportunity to swing her sword down striking him right on his head. With her left leg recovered she bolted forward past him, slicing his neck in the process and halting just behind the guy. This ended up with them back to back. Another flick of her wrist and the sword was shifted to a reverse grip before bringing it in to stab the guy behind, the blade mere inches beside her own torso. Following that she crouched and made a 180 degree turn leg swipe with her left leg which would end up with her facing him again before springing back away to gain distance.

Battle Log:

Jet had to concede on her statement, he did tend to take the bluntness of the sword into account. Then again, he's pretty confident in his aura protecting him even from sharp blades but it's true that it would be more damaging. Avery proceded to block or dodge every one of his strikes following his failed grab. Well, that was a gamble anyway, would have been good had he managed his moves but she's better than to let that happen.

Her follow-up strikes came quickly after that. The overhead slash came at him quickly, which he blocked with his bracer by lifting both his arms over his head in a cross pattern, the ice blade striking his bracer. She followed with a slash as she rushed behind him, aiming for the neck but hitting his raised arm instead. Still stung when the blade hit though. Of course, Jet didn't just stand there as she was obviously trying to get behind him to strike in his blind spot. Spining to follow her, he dropped his left elbow to strike her nape while turning as she was passing beside him. As he finished his turn to face her, she finished her stab that hit him in the stomach just as he sent his right fist forward in a punch to the middle of her back as he finished his spin.

The leg swipe was expected, it was an effective way to turn around and really, she had been hitting low pretty often already. The moment she started lowering herself, Jet jumped. He knew being mid air made him a bit more vulnerable but not as vulnerable as he would be should he be on the ground. He lifted his knees while in the air, making himself as small as possible with his fists in front of him defensively, and barely extended them before landing back down so that he was crouching on the ground. He pushed on his legs to get back up and move forward toward her at the same time. His attack was in the form of his right and left fist striking at almost the same time, his left one just slightly behind his right one, moving together. It was a technique called meotoude that used both fists as offense and defense, ready to deflect any counter with one fist and create an opening to the other fist. The one blocking depended on how the opponent reacted to the attack.

Battle Stuff:

From the corner of Avery's eyes, she saw the guy react to her attack by turning with his elbow. She was striking with the length of her sword and he was countering with not even a full arm's length? That made it easier for her to just step a little to the side and effectively get out of his range. The stab to the guy's stomach was enough to put distance in between the two and coupled with her speed, she was already crouching when he made the strike towards the middle of her back. The punch was sent towards the back of her head instead. The girl wasn't ignorant enough not to keep track of her opponent's movements through her periphery. She tilted her head to the side, the punch wheezing past the side of her head but managed to graze her cheek.

With that done, Avery wasn't surprised that he dashed towards her to deliver his attack and she was ready to defend. Except, it didn't look like an attack. The hand movements looked more like a counter than anything and Avery didn't need to understand what he was doing to know that she could simply slide back away again to get out of his reach. The guy was good but Avery already figured out his weakness.

The gunslinger was about to do something when she felt a vibration on her pocket. She raised a hand to stop the fight before taking out her phone. Afterwards she ended the call with a sigh. "Unfortunately I'll have to stop here. Something came up and I have to go. It was fun though," she stated, her rapier dispersing from her hand as she walked to collect her things. "We can continue next time. And rest assured I won't be playing around like I did today," she stated with a smile before walking out of the arena.

What a shame. She was so close to showing him a fighting style that she didn't suck at. She'd always been horrible with swordsmanship, mainly because it involved just one sword. For an ambidextrous and a perfectionist like her, the balance was off with just one blade.

Dual swords, on the other hand, were a different matter.  After all, it was her plan for her weapon's third form.

[Exit]

Jet wasn’t exactly surprised that he couldn’t hit her in his follow-up attacks, she was nimble, faster than him and he sensed that she was managing to read him now. Still, he couldn’t stop smiling; he hadn’t had as much fun sparring in a while. The sword gave her an edge – no pun intended – which made things more challenging and therefore, interesting. Still, even had they stuck to hand to hand, there was good chances that she would have started to pick up tricks to get the upper hand – again, no pun intended.

Readying himself, he waited for her counter attack in a defensive pose, but she stopped before she could even start, interrupted by a phone call. He watched as her rapier dispersed, a bit disappointed that things were ending there; they hadn’t even pulled out the big guns – why is there so many unintentional puns? Fortunately, her next words gave him hope it wasn’t the end of it as she mentioned them continuing some other time. “Heh, I didn’t want you playing around today either. I appreciate the experience of fighting a sword-user while bare handed; it’s something I lack practice in. Next time though, let’s pull all the stops and go all out, we’ll see who ends up playing around.”

Jet watched her leaving the arena. Really that girl, every time he sees her, they part ways with him either wanting to kiss her, or hit her. Strangely today, both felt accurate. He couldn’t let the obvious challenge go as he had pride in his fighting abilities, abilities and experience that were at the very least matched by her sheer talent and potential, but there’s something about women that can kick his ass that really attracts him. Shaking his head at those thoughts, he picked up his things and also left. He couldn’t show her his weapon’s modifications in the end, but that was fine, he needed to practice with them alone first anyway. He’d show her that next time she mentioned.

[Exit]