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 Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 7:44 am
WELCOME TO ROUND FOUR!
Aurostibite and Xenotime have congratulated you upon making it to round four of the tournament!
OOC:
Because there is an odd number of entrants for round four, you have been randomly selected via dice roll to be automatically advanced into the final round (known as a "bye" in sports terms)! Sarabauite will receive a one-on-one training session from Aurostibite in the meantime, so she can get a battle requirement along with the others!
You do not need to roll dice for this training session, as it is not an official advancing round for Aurostibite.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 11:47 am
Oh God, what an opportunity!
Victory in anything was an odd topic to broach for the lieutenant. Never before had she made it this far in any pursuit; heck, she couldn't even make it passed one round of Minesweeper!
So to be given this chance of a one-on-one with the same general who recruited her made her feel giddy. Partly from elation, but also partly from embarrassment. In the heat of battle, Sarabauite could think, observe, and act in the span of a few seconds. She attributed the influence of that one skill partly to her victories. However, before the eyes of another? She dreaded slipping up.
In fact, she was positive she would.
Returning back from whence she had been a myriad of times, Sarabauite held one arm to the other and glanced around. "G-general, sir...?" she called out. "You wanted... I mean, I was to show up here? For training?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:12 pm
He was dressed down, without his coat and hat, and what lay beneath his Negaverse uniform was a simple white dress shirt, the sleeves of which Aurostibite had rolled up to his elbows. His hair was tied back into a thick ponytail at the base of his neck, and he stood waiting patiently for Sarabauite at the edge of one of the training circles.
"Ah, yes," he said, as she came into view. Aurostibite stepped forward and gave her an approving nod.
"Congratulations on making it into the final round of the tournament," he said. "This tournament is not an attempt at pitting the agents against one another to boost competition, but instead to encourage training, as well as learning how to deal with a myriad of opponents. Considering all whom you have fought up until now, I would say you have done extraordinarily well."
He shifted his feet and readied himself into position, arms raised without his weapons.
"Now, try to attack me as best you can."
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:36 pm
At first, Sarabauite only expected something akin to a lecture. She fixed her weary posture to something presentable and listened with keen interest to the man's words. However, when he expected an attack, the lieutenant visibly faltered.
"Sir, I..." she began, her eyes wide.
Surely this was insubordination, treason, unruliness! There was no way she could! It was different with other lieutenants; they came at her with the same uncertainty she went in to duke it out. Somehow, their clumsiness came together into a fight. But this—this was different.
Sarabauite swallowed. Despite her reluctant, an order was still an order, so she obliged. Summoning her bookmark, she gripped it tight within her hands and stumbled into a run toward the general.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 5:53 pm
He gave Sarabauite an encouraging nod, his arms still raised in front of of him in a defensive stance. Attacking him was far different than attacking someone on her own level, Aurostibite knew, but it was important for the new recruits to have a variety of experience.
She came at him, and Aurostibite reached out immediately, fingers closing around Sarabauite's wrist. In one swift movement, he shifted sideways, out of her direct path, and instead was poised off to the side, so that she would have run straight past him if she kept going.
"Make sure that you don't give away too much of your attack all at the beginning," said Aurostibite, and his voice was level and calm, almost gentle. He let go of her wrist and took a step back. "Keeping your opponent guessing is a good strategy for getting past their defenses."
He raised his arms again, gesturing for her to come at him once more.
"Try shifting when you run, go either left or right instead of straight on."
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 9:05 pm
Gentle fingers on her wrist were at odds with the expectation of pain. Sarabauite hooted in surprise as she was drawn around and released. If it wasn't for the general's advice, the lieutenant was positive she'd done a thousand and one things wrong that moment.
Nodding her head in determination, the bespectacled girl replied, "Guessing, right, right..." Now that she thought back to it, her intention was to always outright attack, wasn't it? It'd been her number one strategy, just to get things over with.
This time, she applied Aurostibite's words to her actions and feinted as she ran at him with her bookmark again. Though they were ungraceful, it showed indications of a try.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 10:40 am
She was a good listener - it made for an excellent new recruit, and Aurostibite was very pleased to see how well she took his advice. Kainite would have doubtlessly done something ridiculous if he'd said the same thing, which was a whole other story in and of itself.
The feint was good - not perfect, but much better than her initial try, and Aurostibite shifted the wrong direction, directly into her path instead of away from it. He managed to dodge the majority of her attack, though she grazed him, and twisted around behind her.
"Excellent," he said, sounding pleased. "Just keep working on doing exactly that - feinting will get you farther than simply running head on. Now when it comes to attacks from behind - "
Aurostibite reached out and looped his arms beneath Sarabauite's from behind, attempting to restrain her. It was a looser grasp, not meant to hurt, but to demonstrate more than anything else.
"How would you free yourself from this?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 3:12 am
A small smile traced her lips to be praised so, but it soon diminished.
Sarabauite never turned her back on anyone, not even her mother. Especially not her mother. So the grasp from behind brought forth a weakness, and the fear of that weakness, to the surface. The was a slight helplessness in her struggle when Aurostibite asked her what she should do in such a situation.
She forced her fear into a calm; shutting her eyes and drawing a deep breath. When her mind cleared some, her leg reflexively lifted. She didn't kick the general, but she nudged of her heel into his shin to indicate where she would hit.
"I... I would kick," she said. "Kick them, and jab them with my elbow."
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:41 am
He felt, almost immediately, the sudden tension, the shift in Sarabauite's demeanor. Aurostibite's eyes narrowed slightly, but he remained still and calm, his grasp staying relatively loose even as he kept her in front of him.
"Breathe," he said quietly. "Keep your mind calm. There will be opponents who come at you from all directions. School yourself to look at it from an outside perspective, if that helps. The most important thing you can do when you've got someone at you from behind is to drop your center of gravity, make it more difficult for them to hold onto you."
He gave her an approving nod at the feel of her foot against his shin. "That's a good step as well. Disable your opponent, throw them off balance by taking out one of their legs. Raise your arms straight in the air and drop after you kick, you should slide right out of my grasp."
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 9:06 am
Her slackened jaw loosened and her breaths were low and deep. In little time, she was copacetic; her attention alert, but direct, to General Aurostibite's instructions. She listened intently, giving small nods as she imagined her actions in advance.
"An outside perspective, you say," Sarabauite said, engaging that kick and sliding out as hurriedly, but carefully, as she could. Her lips pursed in dismay. "All my life I've been an observer looking in... I-I don't need to imagine."
Realizing what she had done, the lieutenant chagrined while rubbing her arm sheepishly. "...S-sorry," she said.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 11:21 am
He stumbled back as she kicked him and then she had dropped, sliding neatly out of his grasp and away from him. It wasn't perfect; her movements were still a little slow, and with Aurostibite's experience and strength, the kick had done hardly more than make him stagger. But she was an excellent learner and a particularly good student.
He knew what sort of life she had lived - or at least, she knew what she had told him. Aurostibite gave a little nod of understanding.
"There is no need for apologies, you have done extraordinarily well; you take directions very well, too," he said. "One last thing for you, however, before you return to the battles."
Aurostibite swept a few stray curls out of his eyes and said, "Take advantage of what weaknesses your opponents may have. Slower to react, shorter, weaker, less experience, clear useage of one thing over another, a tendency towards kicking, rather than punching, or vice versa. Always take note of what your opponent is doing, and use your instincts."
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 11:36 am
Despite all that she's done, the praise, Sarabauite couldn't hide her discomfort. Still unused to such sentiments, she regarded Aurostibite with the same pair of eyes she went into their training session with; one of dread. Though she was content partly through the training session, the mistakes she was conscious of seemed to rebuke that mirth.
"T-thank you, sir," she said. "I will remain weary and keep vigil over their actions. There will be... There has to be a flaw somewhere, I will find it a-and use it to my advantage. It will be helpful greatly in the final round."
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 3:57 pm
He nodded at her approvingly.
"You may be new, but you have good instincts," said Aurostibite, giving her a quick once over. "I chose you to recruit because I thought you could do well here, and because the strength that the Negaverse has to offer would benefit you. I'm sure you will prosper."
Aurostibite inclined his head towards Sarabauite, straightened, and then said, as he began to walk away,
"The last round will begin shortly. Best of luck to you."
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