Yesterday had been pretty frustrating. Christena hadn’t even taught Addie anything about fighting! She had just forced Addie to exercise all day until she couldn’t move. Luckily, Nettal’s magic had recovered enough this morning to heal all of Addie’s sore muscles and binaryburnt skin.
Today was just as hot as yesterday though, so Addie knew she’d have to ask Nettal for more healing again tomorrow.
Christena had run Addie and Nettal through more exercises until both of them were close to passing out. Now, all three of them were sitting in the sand listening to Christena’s instructions.
Addie’s eyes were closed as she sat in the sand with her legs crossed.
“Addie, I know you can make two layers of transcendent loop, but I want you to go back to focusing on just one layer. Nettal, you are doing a good job following along keep it up.”
Doing her best not to open her eyes or pay too much attention to her spatial sense, Addie focused on the inner world of her soul. With well-practiced ease, she formed that magical layer around her soul shell. She could feel Squishy’s measured breathing from his position in her lap.
The bird’s interested attention focused on Addie’s magical working, but Addie tried not to let the disruption distract her. The bird seemed to be poking around from within the cracks in Addie’s soul, but not doing enough to actually break Addie’s layer of magic.
“The goal of this exercise is to learn how to keep that layer around your soul at all times, even when you are asleep or unconscious. It will act as a permanent safety blanket and stabilizing force around your soul, which will indirectly help your magic become stronger. Have you got it stable?” Christena finished with a question.
“Yes.”/”No.” Addie and Nettal said at the same time.
“That’s ok Nettal, keep sitting here and working on it, ok?”
“Okay,” Nettal said.
“Addie, you come here while Nettal works on that.”
Addie opened her eyes to see Christena gesturing her over back to the ‘sparring ring’.
“We are going to start working on some basic martial instruction. Your main goal is going to be keeping that transcendent loop layer active the entire time.”
Addie stood up and tried to trudge her way over to the other side of the sand field. She was still dead tired and sore from their earlier workout! Her feet dragged along the sand, each step seeming to take extra effort as the sand absorbed all of the energy from her legs.
“Come on Addie —you’re doing good— keep it up!” Christena waved Addie over with a bounce to her step.
“How aren’t you tired!” Addie complained more than asked.
“Don’t whine. Focus. Stand here,” Christena pointed right next to her.
Addie shuffled over.
“Good, now spread your legs shoulder width apart— good that’s perfect. Put your left leg slightly in front of your right. No, move it a bit higher up. That’s good, stop. Okay, now put your hands up in front of your chest into a guard. See how I’m doing it?” Christena stood right next to Addie, demonstrating where to put her hands. “No, don’t put your thumb inside your fist. That could break it. Wrap your thumb around your knuckles like this,” Christena made a tight fist. “Good, just like that!” Christena walked around to stand in front of Addie. “Now I want you to punch my open hand; Stop! Not yet, listen to me first. When I tell you to, punch this hand—” She waved her left hand, “—With your right hand. I’m going to be moving my hand around a little bit, so you’ll have to adjust your aim as you go. Okay, try punching my hand once, now.”
Addie threw out a limp punch, smacking Christena’s hand with a sound not unlike a high five.
“Alright, that was a decent first attempt. This time, imagine you are punching something behind my hand, instead of just stopping at my hand. Go ahead.” Christena nodded her head.
This time, Addie aimed to punch the air behind Christena’s hand, and her fist thumped into Christena’s palm, forcing her hand back a little bit.
“Much better! Remember, if you want to punch something, you have to punch it hard enough to do damage. That means you can’t just stop your punch at the surface. You did really good this time,” Christena praised, “Throw another one just like that—aim to punch past my hand instead of just stopping at my hand.”
Again, Addie threw a punch which thumped satisfyingly into Christena’s palm, forcing it back a little.
“That’s good! Ok, now watch me for a second,” Christena got back into a fighting stance and was just about to demonstrate something.
“Christena!” Nettal hollered from the other side of the field, “I think I figured it out!”
Turning her head and putting her hands back down at her sides, Christena turned her head to reply, “Great job! Come over here.” Then, Christena turned her head back to Addie.
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“You’ve got the basics down for a solid forward punch. I want you to practice that for a while. I’m going to show Nettal the same things I just showed you.” Christena began to walk toward Nettal.
“How long should I do it?”
Christena just kept walking, but Addie could see just the corner of her mouth upturned into that annoying smirk.
“Christena, how long!?”
“Make sure to really put your strength into each punch! Try rotating your shoulder to get more power.” She called back
It was going to be a long day.
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“Alright, you two have been doing a good job! Now, I think it’s time to move away from drills.”
Addie just about collapsed in relief, her whole body sagging but still managing to stay upright somehow.
“Now, it’s a good time for you two girls to spar each other!” Christena said with exuberance. “A little bit of ‘friendly competition’ never hurt anybody.” She crossed her arms and nodded her head, agreeing with herself.
“Nettal wouldn’t want to fight!” Addie protested, “She’s a healer, not a fighter.” She tried to defend Nettal.
“What does that mean??” Nettal’s tone made Addie realize she had offended her somehow. Nettal continued with wrinkled eyebrows and a frown, “I can fight if I want to!”
“Well, I just thought,” Addie tried to backpedal.
“You thought wrong!” Nettal interrupted, “Fight me! I’m going to win.”
“No, you aren’t! I’ve fought way more than you have! I’m going to win.” Addie raised her chin up with confidence. “Plus, I’ve been practicing with Christena for longer, too!”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m older and taller so I’m going to win.”
“You’re only taller by like a tiny bit!” Addie spaced out her thumb and finger to demonstrate the difference.
“Doesn’t matter!” Nettal repeated, “Still bigger.”
Before Addie could shout out her next response, Christena chimed in, “I love the enthusiasm, girls! Let’s save it for the ring. Ok, Nettal, you go to the other side of the field over there. Addie, you stay here. I’m going to walk to the middle of the ring to referee. Don’t worry about hurting each other! I’ll use magic to protect both of you from anything more serious than a minor bruise.
“Wait a second Nettal, let me explain one more thing to both of you. You two are still new to fighting in general, but I want you to do your best to use the punches I just taught you today. No kicking for now. I’m hoping you can both learn more about how to react to an opponent. Alright, Nettal off you go!” Christena gestured toward the other side of the field.
Then, Christena walked away from Addie and moved closer to the middle of the sandy field.
In the corner of her eye, Addie also saw Squishy finish his exercises with Fluffy and walk closer to the sandy ring. He plopped down and sat at the edge of the sand so he could also watch the spar.
Christena put her fingers to her mouth and let out a sharp whistle, which was so loud Addie thought it must have been from her sound magic.
For a second, both girls stared dumbly at Christena, neither quite knowing what to do or why she had whistled like that.
Christena turned her head from side to side for a moment looking at either girl, and then she shouted, “The whistle means go!”
Trying to mimic Christena from earlier, Addie launched herself forward through the sand. She tried to perfectly replicate Christena’s movements and used her right fist to throw out a jab toward Nettal’s shoulder once she got into range.
In an almost perfect recreation of the fight from earlier, but with the roles reversed, Nettal sidestepped away from Addie’s first punch, only to get caught perfectly by Addie’s second jab aimed for her shoulder.
A bright blue panel of illusory magic lit up at the place Addie’s fist made contact and then forced Addie’s fist away. The force of the magic must have been stronger on Nettal since it sent her sprawling into the sand landing right on her bum.
Neither girl was sure what to do at this point, so Addie just stood there while Nettal looked up with a sour face.
“One point to Addie!” Christena shouted. “Girls, go back to your starting positions! Time for round two!”
Nettal scrambled off her bum while glaring at Addie. A deep red rose up on her cheeks, and she opened her mouth to say something, but instead, she turned around and walked three steps backward to her starting location.
Addie moved back to her side and got ready. It only took a moment for Christena to let out that ear-piercing whistle again.
Something about Nettal’s face had changed, making Addie approach a bit more cautiously this time. She shuffled forward on the balls of her feet, ready to move in any direction.
Nettal did similarly, some note of hesitancy reaching out through her eyes. In just two long steps, Nettal reached Addie.
All of a sudden, Addie’s body felt kind of disjointed and awkward, she didn’t really know where to try and hit Nettal. A brief thought of just trying the exact same thing flashed through her mind, but she didn’t think the same thing would work twice.
In the instant that Addie was hesitating, Nettal’s eyes sparked and she punched Addie’s stomach. Addie hopped backward quickly, then rushed back into Nettal’s open guard, landing another punch on Nettal’s chest.
Another circular panel of illusory blue light lit up on Nettal’s chest, at the point of impact, forcing Addie’s fist away and pushing Nettal backward.
This time, Nettal had been ready for it and stepped backward with the force. Then, she darted back in and managed to land a hit on Addie’s stomach.
Addie dropped her arms, “Hey! You can’t do that. I already scored!” Addie turned her head to look at Christena.
“She never said to stop!” Nettal’s excited tone forced Addie’s attention back into the fight.
Addie barely had time to think before Nettal threw a wild punch in her direction. Somehow, Addie managed to put her hands up to defend and even managed to halfway block Nettal’s punch. It didn’t stop it entirely though, as her fist glanced off of Addie’s guard and kept moving forward to tag Addie’s chest this time. The blue panel lit up and shoved Addie backward.
She immediately lost her balance and felt her stomach drop for one terrifying moment before flopping hard onto the sand. The impact sent a bit of it spraying up into the air.
“Point to Nettal!” Christena cheered from her referee position.
“That’s not fair! I hit her first.” Addie protested with her bum still sitting in the warm sand.
She looked over to Nettal with a hot glare.
“You’re just a sore loser,” Nettal said smugly.
“Am not.”
Christena walked over to the pair of them. “Good job you two! Let’s stop here for today. Tomorrow you two can fight for the tiebreaker!” She smiled.
Addie just huffed and crossed her arms.
“Did you at least learn anything, Addie?” Christena prompted.
Addie ignored her, making Christena look intently as she waited for a response. When Addie still didn’t want to reply, Squishy finally began to walk over from where he had been observing the spar.
He approached Addie’s lap and placed his paw on her leg. “Never take your eyes off your opponent. Take this loss with grace, and tomorrow’s victory shall be even sweeter.”
Nettal reached down to offer Addie a hand. “Truce for now?” She offered.
“Fine,” Addie said. Then, she reached up to grab Nettal’s hand so she could help her up.