Welcome to Gaia! ::

Someone had put word out in the Rift. It seemed that now that Linarite had a serious role in the organization that required her to spend more than snatches of perilous time in the Rift someone was looking out for her. Someone was probably lanky, blonde, and freckled in all the right ways. Hanging out in the training grounds of Special Operations was Lina's new version of patrol and she was more than happy to trade dashing across the rooftops of Destiny City to hanging out down here.

She felt more suited to it than anything else, really. Power-wise she couldn't hold her own against much of Destiny City; a lot of them had reason to want her dead as soon as possible. Some of the Negaverse had reason to not want that to happen. So now she was a full-time Rift worker, waiting in case someone should decide they wanted to show up to what should have been mandatory combat training.

It also allowed Lena to brush up on things that she'd forgotten, rusty knowledge that came back to her with practice, though it would never be the same. Nothing really would be though so that in and of itself was comforting. Anyone looking to train would have to tap the Captain on the shoulder, rousing her from fascinated interest with Integrated Calculus.

Aw damn it! Amber eyes flicked up from the book, shutting it with obvious regret as Domeykite pulled her attention from the world of numbers. Nonetheless, Linarite was smiling pleasantly as she moved to stand, adjusting her damnably-tight skirt with one hand and holding out the other as if to shake. "Captain Linarite and yep, I'm the trainer. Were you wanting to train in Pokemon, mathematics, or combat today?" Hopefully he picked the first two but somehow, no one ever did. Of course, the ones that were down here usually were forced here so Lina couldn't mess around with them the way she could with volunteers.

Volunteers didn't have to take her so seriously!

Not many thought much of the young captain who was no more than 5'3" tall, who probably weighed 120 pounds on a winter's day under four layers of clothing. They all underestimated her in a way she had never underestimated herself. Oh there were a rare few that understood from the start that there was no way a trainer could be inept at fighting, but many didn't use their minds. Only their fists. It was sad, really.

"You are?"

It took all the self-control Linarite had, which admittedly was not a whole lot in even the best of times, to not rub her hands together and invite this guy to sit down and trade strategy on how to Catch 'Em All. "Well I had to offer. I'm sure if the General-King knew I was offering I'd lose this very nice position rather quickly, but I had to try. Pokemon battling is pretty important too yanno?" Was she really almost 23? Sometimes she really wondered because it seemed like eight was a more approximate age.

Looking him over, she tried to guess what his fighting style was. The headphones really probably had to go into a pocket or something unless they were his weapon. They'd be bashing poor Domeykite in the head before long, doing more harm than good. Where in the world did things like that come from?! And how the hell could she get a pair, was the next question.

"Okay so, combat. As basic procedure I have several questions to ask so please bear with the formalities. How long have you been a member of the Negaverse, have you had any major injuries in the past three years, and if you could describe your fighting style for me I would appreciate it." Lina was sure that Zinkenite would have appreciated her writing all of this down, but that defeated a lot of the purpose of asking and made them all nervous to give the 'right' answers. Hadn't they learned there weren't any yet?

"Then, I'll probably just punch you. Just as a test."

Linarite bit her lip a bit at the description of his fighting style, approving heartily. Somehow she actually doubted he was Altair's parkour prodigy nor had he the lightning-fast reflexes of a rogue. Hell, she wasn't even that good and speed was her thing. That his rejoinder to announcing a punch was to say he was going to punch back was both good and bad. Announcing your intentions was a weakness, but being willing to fight was a strength. They all had to fight at one point or another.

So, as she had promised, Linarite tried to punch the lime-green lieutenant in front of her. It wasn't the simple punch that one would expect however. Lina feinted in as if she was going towards his face which was the most obvious place an untrained fighter would strike first. Of course she'd never been much of a face-puncher, seeing that for most people she couldn't quite reach their faces. No, Linarite was a fan of the solar plexus and it was there that she drove a well-controlled punch. It wasn't anywhere near her full strength, it was simply to push some wind out and prove a point.

Pulling back to observe his reaction to not only the hit but the pain, experience had the captain putting more than an arm's reach between the pair of them. "Unfortunately for us, hand-to-hand combat is always going to be our strongest asset. Weapons are great for adding force and extending reach but what you need to know most is how to fight without it. Cuz if you can't fight without it how are you gonna fight with it?"