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All of the bout seemed to go by so fast for the last 30 seconds. He and his opponent danced, both épée colliding with each other frequently. It had been merely luck that at the last second, Howl had been able to score another point, making the total points tied at 4-4. Despite the formalities, he did attempt to call out a complimentary "Good bout!" towards Miss Whittaker as they both unplugged their suits. With a sort of calm serenity that had no ego attached to it, Howl walked back to his teammates. Each seemed supportive, but still remained somewhat respectfully distant from their captain. It was obvious they did not want their actions to come across as "gay" due to Howl being involved.

As he sat himself down, Chris was called up to the bout to compete against Miss Jacobs. Being the polite lad he was, he offered his well wishes of "Good luck, my friend!" He gave the boy a pat on the shoulder just before he walked up to the platform.

All the formalities were taken care of, and soon enough the bout had begun. Mikkelsen had been vaguely schooled on fencing prior to Howl, but even then, he was the weakest link in the trio. He leaned towards Jenkins and quietly offered "Be certain to carefully observe this match. You will be dueling with Miss Jacobs either next time or the time after that. You did well in your first bout, but do not let that go to your head and cloud your judgment."

With a careful eye, Howl began to watch the bout, taking heed to his own advice.

Despite how atrocious Chris' attempt at fencing had been, it had been very educational experience. Though the match had been quick in comparison to all the other bouts, and it had brought the score from 4-4 to 9-4, Crystal Academy, Howl watched it intently. He had been taking lessons for fencing since he was young, and continued to pursue the hobby in a dedicated fashion. His teal eyes had been well trained over the years to observe. This particular young lady's style seemed fierce and nearly instinctual. It was almost as if releasing a tiger upon an innocent baby animal. It was a slaughter in all aspects. The thing that seemed to intrigue him though was how natural it seemed for her to attack with her épée. Perhaps épée was her specialty, which would give her an advantage, but it seemed almost like something more. A single brow lofted up as he observed.

There was nothing he could really offer Phillip in regards to advise with Miss Jacobs. There really was no polite way of saying "You will be eaten alive," since the aggressive fencers were always difficult to defend against. Hoping to put a positive spin on his observations, he uttered quietly to the teammate at his side "A strong defense will serve as a good offense for you." Phillip Jenkins did not have exceptional skills with parrying or defending, the whole team was quite aware of this.

"I will try to do my best, Howl!" the lad offered, his voice hesitant as he gave Miss Jacobs a look as she exited the strip. As Chris removed his protective mask, one could tell he was feeling utterly defeated, having not even scored one point. His head hung low until Howl stood up and patted him on the shoulder in a supportive fashion.

"Hold your head up high, Mr. Mikkelsen, or the other team will attempt to walk all over you for your other two bouts. Miss Jacobs is perhaps their most advanced member of the team. You did what you could, and we cannot ask you to much more than that."

It was Phillip's turn up, to face the young lady that Howl had last dueled with. Being the kind lad he was, the teal haired boy attempted to coach his teammate. "She is skilled, but seems to take a bit of time to read your actions. Unless she completely changes her tactics, I'd suggest you be on offense first, then put yourself sharply onto defense, should you score any points." It was not a very positive message, but it was an honest assessment of the situation.

Bravely, Phillip approached the strip, and once the formalities had been taken care of, the bout began.

Even though the teal haired lad had already done his bout with Miss Whittaker, he still set himself up to observe as casually as he could ever allow himself to do. Casual for him was absolutely pristine posture, hands folded in his lap, attention 100% upon what he was to observe. It would be his own turn next, but he had already decided on a pretty basic strategy: Defense!

"Miss Whittaker did an excellent job of observing his form from before." Howl seemed to remain quite calm as the score jumped to 14-4, Crystal Academy. He had mentally decided that it was decent luck that he had his bout with Miss Whittaker first so she couldn't observe his mediocre style and take him out swiftly such as his teammate.

As Phillip approached the bench, defeated, Howl stood up and offered him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder before tucking his mask in the crook of his elbow. Again, he reminded the two lads of his basic advice for this whole match: "Be certain to watch the match and see if you can pick anything up about your opponent." With that, Howl abandoned the bench and approached the strip as he was called up. He tended to the formalities of hooking up to the scoring machinery, saluting the referee, saluting the audience, and fastening his mask at the en garde mark. Miss Jacobs, he had decided, would probably be his toughest challenge, based upon how aggressive she came across in the previous bout she participated in. He had managed to catch a faint glimpse of her eyes as she approached, fastening her mask in its proper place. They were an unusual icy blue color. Blue eyes seemed to be a very common place color in Destiny City, but it was rare for eyes to be so pale.

Not the appropriate time to be observing such things he mentally scolded himself as he got into stance. He had already decided that defense would be something he needed to focus on. His muscles felt a bit tense as he waited for the signal to begin.