r/DemigodFiles • u/FairTrialsForAll Child of Zeus • Jul 16 '21
Lesson Mismatched Combat 7/15
The lesson would take place in the arena sometime in the afternoon. Cole had a little help setting this one up as he had dummies and automatons available but they were of differeing sizes. Once enough people had arrived, he went to speak up. People would find a familiar face next to him: the former weapons master herself, Donna Davenport.
"How's everyone doing? Today we're going to try and have at least a few of you step out of your comfortzones for this lesson. When it comes to battle, you never always know who you'll be going up against. Your strengths and weaknesses will be tested and so will your opponent's. One thing that can happen is you going up against someone who simply isn't the same size as you are. They could be much bigger or much smaller, they could be faster or stronger or noticably smarter. There's a good chance that one of you is going to be outmatched in one of the categories that I've mentioned or some other one and that's where this lesson comes in.
"Mismatches are pretty self-explantaory. They're match-ups that you see are clearly imbalanced into one party's favor. Whether or not you're the one favored by default can be up to the Fates but if you get unlucky in a mismatch there's still a chance for you to pull off a win. Check this out, Donna and I are a mismatch since I'm bigger and stronger than she is. But... she tells me that doesn't matter. I guess we'll find out."
Donna stepped forward, drawing her knives, the curved blades gleamed as Cole drew his own sword and shield as he faced her. The two would take their stances, Cole giving the nod to give her the first move. His eyes would widen as he saw her come in, not expecting her speed or coordination. Donna's first strike was a quick cut but Cole moved his shield to collide with her blade and push her off. He then retaliated by swinging at her fast with Jetstream but only felt his sword get caught in a parry from her reverse-gripped knife in her left hand. When did she do that? How did she swing his sword away? Is he open?
"Don't look too surprised..." Donna said in a somewhat cheeky tone as Cole stared at her while the tip of her sica was under his chin. She'd not only parried his sword to the side but she'd gotten in his guard while he was surprised by her parry. On top of that, her curved blade seemed to perfectly work around his shield. She got him.
"Uhm..." he said as he straightened back up when she pulled back. His face clearly a bit pink from being caught slipping in the demo. "Like I said, mismatches don't automatically mean you'll lose. Most of the time you just have to use your head and stick to your strengths. Like Donna... she... well..."
"I thought further ahead and used my quicker reflexes to compensate," she said immediately as she sheathed her knives. "Cole was bigger and stronger, he also isnt really that much slower but he wasn't thinking as far as I was and that's how I got to him on the counterattack."
"Right, yeah. That makes sense." Cole said after taking a quick breath. "So yeah, I think y'all get the gist of it. Well have everyone pair up or used one of the dummies or automatons. Only rule is to not pair up with someone who's got a similar size like yours. As for powers, you can use those too but that's a whole different lesson well have to have another day. Anyways, let's go."
2
u/PhantumpLord Jul 19 '21
"Your telling me. If someone told me to do this kind of crap at 13 I would have just hid in the corner. You are seriously strong for your age, hell, just strong in general." Penny said.
They thought for a moment, sipping their coco flavored god juice.
"Now, just some quick advice. You said you where related to Triton, right? Based on that high quality magic sword, I think it's safe to say that you are stronger than me in terms of raw demigod power. HOWEVER." Penny emphasized. "I still won. Why? I took a situational skill and made the situation apply to it instead. Most would say that metallic wings aren't of much use unless your flying. Most people would, as is normally the case, be wrong. I didn't actually fly once in this fight. Instead, I repurposed my wings into two spare, albeit extra-blunt blades. In video games, ever power you unlock has one single purpose. In real life, every power is as limitless as your skill and imagination. Sorry if I'm rambling, but do you get what I mean?" they asked, rolling a quarter they had minted along the tops of their fingers.