unable to block one of her strikes in time. The girl was my friend, but she took fighting drills super seriously, and she was not immune to losing some of her restraint due to an adrenaline rush.
Out of courtesy Blue also put on her own armored plates, even though I severely doubted she would need them against the likes of me.
All fastened up, I picked up my wand again and morphed it into the blade I was so used to.
Sword.
Blue twirled her own normal sword casually in her right hand as she paced the floor before me like a military sergeant. “Now I realize that since you and I haven’t practiced together since last semester, you have not been properly challenged for some time and may be a bit rusty. Regardless, I will not insult your skills or my own by going easy on you. This way you can get back into shape quickly. Understood?”
I nodded and drew into a fighting stance.
Blue charged.
My friend was fast and precise with all of her strikes, coming in hot at every instance. I was kept on the defensive most of the time, as she was usually able to anticipate any strike or countermeasure I attempted.
The first fifteen minutes we fought were really rough for me. Accordingly, I found myself feeling grateful to be wearing armor and having the ability to morph my weapon into a shield within a split second.
Eventually, after a decent match, our swords clashed against one another, neither refusing to yield. My arm, however, started to quiver under the weight of Blue’s superior position. I began to lose my footing and knew that my best bet was to break the clash abruptly and go for a low strike before she could stop me. I went for it. Regrettably, I miscalculated the reach of my blade and was unable to stretch my arm out far enough.
Blue saw her opening.
When my elongated jab failed to reach her, she forcefully underhand blocked with her sword, knocking mine out of my hand. Then, with a powerful thrust-kick, she sent me flying backward into a cushion of hay.
“You all right?” Blue asked as she picked up my sword from the ground.
“Fine,” I sighed, spitting some straw out of my mouth.
Blue extended her hand to help me to my feet, but I waved it away and got up on my own.
“Not bad, Crisa, but you’re overreaching with your strikes again. You need to learn to stop overestimating the length of your sword and quit doing so many of those swooping motions. They aren’t effective and leave you wide open.”
“Right. Got it.” I nodded as I swallowed my ever-injured pride.
Blue and I practiced for another half an hour and evidently I did not “get it.” I made the same mistakes over and over again throughout our drills. As a consequence, I found myself repeatedly landing on my butt in that same pile of hay.
I could not describe how frustrating it felt to not be as skilled as I would’ve liked to have been at this. Overall, it just really burned on the inside to not be good at something you loved.
You know?
Still, even if I was not the best at sword fighting, I was at least fairly skilled at it. And (my low level of raw talent aside) I adored the practice. I didn’t care how unladylike or non-princessy it was; fighting was fun. If anyone disagreed, well, I would have been more than happy to fight them to resolve the issue.
Wand .
I restored my trusty, magical friend back to its original form and placed it in my satchel. I had a couple more classes that afternoon and it was time for me to make my way back to the main grounds.
It was always a bit disappointing to leave the practice fields but, as it turned out, the second half of my classes went just as smoothly as the first. As a whole, it truly did end up being a productive and unusually pleasant first day of school. Frankly, it was an unusually pleasant day at Lady Agnue’s in general.
Too bad unusual things aren’t known for lasting that long . . .
Unexpected Unpleasantries
or most people, sleep was a time of rest and rejuvenation. To me, sleep
Out of courtesy Blue also put on her own armored plates, even though I severely doubted she would need them against the likes of me.
All fastened up, I picked up my wand again and morphed it into the blade I was so used to.
Sword.
Blue twirled her own normal sword casually in her right hand as she paced the floor before me like a military sergeant. “Now I realize that since you and I haven’t practiced together since last semester, you have not been properly challenged for some time and may be a bit rusty. Regardless, I will not insult your skills or my own by going easy on you. This way you can get back into shape quickly. Understood?”
I nodded and drew into a fighting stance.
Blue charged.
My friend was fast and precise with all of her strikes, coming in hot at every instance. I was kept on the defensive most of the time, as she was usually able to anticipate any strike or countermeasure I attempted.
The first fifteen minutes we fought were really rough for me. Accordingly, I found myself feeling grateful to be wearing armor and having the ability to morph my weapon into a shield within a split second.
Eventually, after a decent match, our swords clashed against one another, neither refusing to yield. My arm, however, started to quiver under the weight of Blue’s superior position. I began to lose my footing and knew that my best bet was to break the clash abruptly and go for a low strike before she could stop me. I went for it. Regrettably, I miscalculated the reach of my blade and was unable to stretch my arm out far enough.
Blue saw her opening.
When my elongated jab failed to reach her, she forcefully underhand blocked with her sword, knocking mine out of my hand. Then, with a powerful thrust-kick, she sent me flying backward into a cushion of hay.
“You all right?” Blue asked as she picked up my sword from the ground.
“Fine,” I sighed, spitting some straw out of my mouth.
Blue extended her hand to help me to my feet, but I waved it away and got up on my own.
“Not bad, Crisa, but you’re overreaching with your strikes again. You need to learn to stop overestimating the length of your sword and quit doing so many of those swooping motions. They aren’t effective and leave you wide open.”
“Right. Got it.” I nodded as I swallowed my ever-injured pride.
Blue and I practiced for another half an hour and evidently I did not “get it.” I made the same mistakes over and over again throughout our drills. As a consequence, I found myself repeatedly landing on my butt in that same pile of hay.
I could not describe how frustrating it felt to not be as skilled as I would’ve liked to have been at this. Overall, it just really burned on the inside to not be good at something you loved.
You know?
Still, even if I was not the best at sword fighting, I was at least fairly skilled at it. And (my low level of raw talent aside) I adored the practice. I didn’t care how unladylike or non-princessy it was; fighting was fun. If anyone disagreed, well, I would have been more than happy to fight them to resolve the issue.
Wand .
I restored my trusty, magical friend back to its original form and placed it in my satchel. I had a couple more classes that afternoon and it was time for me to make my way back to the main grounds.
It was always a bit disappointing to leave the practice fields but, as it turned out, the second half of my classes went just as smoothly as the first. As a whole, it truly did end up being a productive and unusually pleasant first day of school. Frankly, it was an unusually pleasant day at Lady Agnue’s in general.
Too bad unusual things aren’t known for lasting that long . . .
Unexpected Unpleasantries
or most people, sleep was a time of rest and rejuvenation. To me, sleep
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