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 Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 4:58 am
He'd been given this guy's number by Adorea; she'd been perfectly clear on what he needed as well. To put things plainly, Sumner was 'like her', in essence he didn't know how to fight. That didn't mean that he didn't want to learn, in fact that was the entire reason Adorea had given Athalia his number, but Athalia wasn't entirely sure if the Page was going to appreciate the fact that a random senshi was calling him.
...Nevertheless, that was exactly what Athalia had done.
He'd picked up his personal phone and left a message, he'd introduced himself of course. In the message he had told Sumner that he was an ally of Adorea's, that he was also one of those who was helping her to learn how to fight hand to hand, and that she had informed him that Sumner might be interested in those lessons to. Athalia had then proposed a location, one that wasn't too far out and hadn't had any unpleasant nests near it.
This was where the senshi now waited, perched comfortably on the wall with his legs crossed as he stared out across a particularly isolated area of the park. There was enough space around him to comfortably dodge, duck, dive and more importantly punch. Sumner would have all the space he needed to learn how to do what he needed to do... If he showed up that was!
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Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 12:32 pm
Sumner had been surprised at the phone call. He would have ignored the message if the man on the other side hadn't mentioned Adorea. As soon as he had though, Sumner knew that there was some reason he was being called. And the reason was a good one. Learning how to fight was something he had desperately needed. However the suddenness of the meeting and location had him scrambling a bit. Luckily his real job still hadn't opened back up yet as it had still been too cold outside to open the lake, at least to those who didn't have cabins around it and so he had some time off still. He had felt bad though as he was a bit late to the meeting, having to figure out where Athalia was and only after he felt the aura of the Senshi was he able to get there quickly. He ran up to the Senshi, standing a few feet in front of him and took a breath to calm his racing heart from the exercise. "Athalia? I'm Sumner. Thanks for uh, calling me!" He said, holding his hand out for a shake. The situation felt a bit awkward with how the phone call had come, but Sumner was happy to receive any advice, even if that advice was learning how to throw a punch correctly.
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Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 12:41 pm
Athalia offered a warm smile and extended his hand to shake Sumner's, late or not, the Page had shown up. It showed he was willing and Athalia would have been one hell of a lot less impressed if he'd run away from his responsibilities. Whether Sumner liked it or not he was part of this 'war' and if he ran away from it then that meant more work for everyone else... Not that Athalia expected anyone to hurl themselves to the front lines, but he certainly didn't anyone dying an avoidable death either!
"That's my name," he confirmed and gave the Page a once over. "You have my apologies about how I got in contact, Adorea mentioned you were ah... Without one of the odd little phones," he remarked. He didn't mention the ring, if only because he hadn't had the time to research what they were and what purpose they might serve.
"But, based on what she said you were in the market to...at least learn how to not die," he raised both eyebrows. "I was under the impression you weren't aiming to be an action hero right at the start, you just wanted something a little more than 'throw dust in their eyes and pray'?" he confirmed. Rest assured Athalia could certainly get someone dedicated to 'action hero' levels, especially if they had souped up powerlevels like himself, but it was always good to start with the basics.
...If Sumner took a liking to it then he could learn more, but there was no pressure either. He could learn at his own pace and be as clumsy as he needed to be, just so long as he picked one or two things up along the way!
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Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 6:32 pm
Sumner felt a bit embarrassed at the phone remark. "Yeah, I think it's because we aren't as connected with the Mauvian's as the Senshi are?" He wasn't sure how it worked, but as a Mauvian hadn't awakened him and he was connected to only a Wonder and not an entire Homeworld, maybe that had something to do with it? He wasn't sure. He had never met one, but somehow they seemed almost like the Guardians of the Guardians of the Universe. "It's no problem, just wasn't expecting it! Next time I'll probably need to do a bit of planning to meet up since my summer job will have started, but this is fine!" He said giving the other a nod and a smile. Now was not the time to feel embarrassed. Though for some reason he always did when it came to meeting others in a situation like this. Saving someone from drowning? Piece of cake. Modeling? Anytime! Meeting people to talk about "training" and this war? Made him nervous. He really wanted to change that. He couldn't help but laugh at Athalia's description however. "Yeah yeah. Just enough to not die for now." He let out another chuckle. "I'd like to get the basics down before trying to be a superhero. I'd rather know what to do at least to defend myself. I haven't had any training like this whatsoever. The only thing I could do right now is save someone from drowning. And maybe running quickly." Running on sand was harder than running on grass or gravel or even pavement after all. "So any training I can get I'll be satisfied. It's better than getting into a battle and flailing about at least while I try not to get killed."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 1:43 am
"So you don't prescribe to Adorea's fighting style," he smirked. Sumner may not realise it but Adorea had been found by Athalia while she was fighting and suffice to say, all the larger senshi had done was take a seat and marvel at how utterly silly the entire scene was. When it came down to it Adorea's method really was to run, throw dust and pray that something either gave up or conveniently fell over and she won by default.
"That's a smart choice, but I suppose it means that you aren't really doing anything right now either," he shrugged. Again, this particular decision wasn't something that he looked down on. Sumner seemed to have made the choice not to get in trouble when he couldn't look after himself, inaction wasn't laziness when you didn't know how to make sure you were safe, it was just plain smart.
"We can start with the basics though," he motioned to him.
"You just have to tell me what you do know and we'll go from there," he chuckled. "Even if you have to say you know nothing, that's fine, but some folks do happen to know how to throw a punch even if it's because they have a bad habit of getting themselves into brawls in their spare time."
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:14 pm
Sumner was now curious as to what Adorea's fighting style was, though he imagined it was a lot of dirt. He wondered how well that fared in a wet grassy place or one filled with concrete. He nodded at Athalia's observation. "Yeah, I patrol a little here and there, but I don't go and try to find fights." He wondered if he would ever get to that level of confidence and skill to be able to do so, but knew that it would take years and well, did he really have that much time? "Let's just go with, if I were to have a fighting level, it would be level zero. So literally all of the basics would be a great starting point." He couldn't even throw a punch properly. Was it keep your thumb on the side of your hand? Inside? If it was outside, do you try to avoid hitting with it? He needed to know!
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 4:37 pm
"Great, then we'll start with the basics," he grinned. This was something he was good at and to be perfectly honest, this was something he thrived on. Who would have thought that in his new 'part time' profession he'd be able to fully utilise his hobby in a much more practical fashion, eh?
"First set of basics is learning how to not break your limbs while you're fighting," he added and raised a finger. "Particularly when it's you throwing the punch or the kick," he clarified. He couldn't promise that Sumner would ever be able to complete avoid being injured in battle, even in sparring and scuffles on the mat accidents happened, but at the very least he could prepare him to not screw up his own attacks.
...Unless something really went awry.
"Not a trick question, but when it comes to throwing punches how do you think you should be doing it?" he asked. He seemed genuine, until he knew what stance Sumner naturally adopted he wouldn't be able to correct it or improve upon it if it turned out he happened to conveniently pick the right one!
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:41 pm
"Well, that's something at least!" He knew that he wouldn't always get out of fights without taking any hits. After all, even if he were to practice fighting it would still be quite different from a life or death situation where he knew he would be in a world of trouble, versus sparring with an acquaintance. Sumner held up one of his hands, looked at it, and clenched it into a fist with his thumb on the outside. He was... pretty sure that's how it was supposed to be. Then he moved so that if he were to hit something, it would be with the flat part of his knuckles. "Something like that?" Though if he was doing it wrong, he would be thankful for any corrections made to his "technique"!
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:16 am
"Surprisingly, yes," Athalia seemed impressed, a warm smile on his lips. Sumner certainly wasn't perfect but his overall understanding of how his fist should look was right. The senshi strode over and lifted the fist ever so slightly to inspect it before tapping gently at Sumner's wrist, this was where they needed to put in the work. He might not break his hand the way he was holding it, but the way he held the rest of his arm could potentially cause some problems.
"There's a rule about how you punch beyond that," he explained and released Sumner's arm. "You need to be looser," he adopted a similar stance to Sumner's, his fist looking almost identical to the Page's and then swung. The only difference was that when he swung it looked like he released all the stiffness in his arm as it came round. What had started out as tense had been let go midway through the swing, but it didn't look like he had lost any strength in the process.
It was one of those 'blink and you'll miss it' moments, but it was there.
"Don't keep your arm tense as you're about to land the punch, let momentum take it the rest of the way," he explained. "So long as you start with enough force, it will naturally carry through on its own," he continued and gave another thrust, this time with the other arm. "If you're too tense, your own wrist will snap if you hit someone the wrong way. If you're loose, then your limbs will bend and at worst, you're going to ache a bit," he added.
He'd had more than a few times where he'd landed a blow, misjudged and walked away shaking his wrists because they hurt but he'd been left with no lasting damage. Had he been too stiff he'd probably have been in the emergency room given some of the the spars he'd been in.
"If that makes sense then you can give it ago," he held up his palms and smiled, they were slightly cupped to catch his fists if they needed to.
"Start slow, land a few, then speed up when you feel more comfortable," he suggested. He didn't expect perfection at the start but repetition was key and if Sumner already had a natural understanding of it, then Athalia had confidence it wouldn't be long before those blows were solid enough for them to move on to something else.
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 7:05 pm
Sumner listened and wondered if he could really do what the Senshi suggested. After all, it felt as though he didn't have much time to relax his relax the arm when landing the punch. How much time was it? Less than a second? If the basics were this hard, how would he ever get to the more advanced techniques?! He sighed and looked at his wrist and punched the air a few times, trying to see how he should be throwing it. "I'll try. Though I'm not sure how I'm supposed to relax it by the end. Doesn't seem like there's enough time to do so." He said before turning back to the Senshi and bending his knees a little so that he wouldn't be throwing punches with straight legs. He threw one punch towards one of the palms facing him and winced as he felt his wrist hit it a bit hard. "Is it just practice? Is there some way to practice relaxing the arm in that moment?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 12:17 am
"Honestly, it really is just repetition," he admitted. "Eventually it becomes natural, you get used to how fast it is and you'll figure out when to release," he pointed out. He paused briefly as he looked for another example of what routines might sound odd, but did work, and finding none he instead went for what he did himself.
"For example in Dojos you'll often see people doing warm ups where they forward roll and slam back first on to the ground," he shrugged. "Or they'll fall backwards to do the same, the only difference is they're being trained to smack the ground with this," he held up his arm and tapped the area between his wrist and elbow. "It's to absorb the shock so that when they land during sparring they don't get winded."
"It can take some kids years to learn it and others will get it in a couple of minutes," he smiled. "Learning how to throw a punch is the same thing, you'll probably encounter the same challenge when we start working on your kicks too," he mused. That didn't mean that he didn't think Sumner was without talent, only that he was capable of acknowledging that sometimes these things took a while.
"I wouldn't be too disheartened if you can't get it within a day," he pointed out and flexed his own fingers, Sumner may have made his own hands a little sore but that didn't mean he hadn't had some good force behind his blows. He just needed to keep trying.
"Give it a couple more times and then we'll call it a day?" he suggested. "That will give you time to practice, you won't look terribly strange doing practice swings in a park, it'll just look a bit like extreme tai chi," he added with a chuckle. It almost sounded like he'd done it himself before!
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 4:48 pm
"I should be able to practice it at least." After all, while he did do life-guarding, it didn't mean that he did it every day. Though his schedule could be a bit erratic at times. And perhaps when they did meet next time, hopefully when it was still a bit warm outside, Sumner would be able to move onto kicking. He couldn't help but sigh though. He wished that they would have more regular training sessions. Even if he did punches for a week or however long, having a training session regularly would be better than trying to see if they could meet up again. But he couldn't ask that, Athalia had already volunteered to teach him a bit, and Sumner couldn't complain. He just wished that there was some place for new Pages or Senshi where they could train. He looked at Athalia. "Sounds good. You want to get into position then?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 6:12 am
"Sounds good," he nodded and took a step back.
"I would ask that you think of something or someone you absolutely hate and pretend they're me though. If you're going to do this, we're going to make sure it's right," he chuckled and took a breath. A moment later his arms began to shimmer and he uttered two brief words. He hadn't been entirely convinced it would work and therefore hadn't exactly made a show of it... But sure enough the man had summoned his magic to erect a large shield in front of him.
He wasn't sure how long it would last but it would cover off one or two of the blows while Sumner wailed on him. If it shattered in the middle, well, then he was in for a bit of a rough surprise and he'd have to recover himself quickly or risk a black eye!
"Big hits, don't hold back," he instructed.
"Hell, you can even show me everything you've got if you want," he added. For all he knew Sumner might have a few more tricks and asking him to just focus on one thing may have been a disservice to him!
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Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:53 pm
He was surprised at the shield. He hadn't expected it, but it seemed that the Senshi did have some sort of defensive power. It made him wonder what his magic would be able to do. Still, that was for the future, he was a Page for now, and that meant he had no access. He assumed so that he would be able to learn to fight without magic in the case that they couldn't use it. And with that Sumner thought about it for a moment and... well no one really came to mind. As much as he disliked the Negaverse Agents, he hadn't really met one that he had remembered well enough to hate them or anything. The youma that attacked him had been dusted... Wait a moment, there was something... "All right then." He said, forming the fist that he had been taught and sending as much force as he could, safely, into it at the other Senshi. If there was anything that got a rise out of him, it was customers not listening to him when he was telling them how they needed to behave while he was lifeguarding them!
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Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 1:58 pm
Whatever Sumner had imagined had certainly been enough to dent the shield and while Athalia hadn't needed to brave, he did lift a brow as it began to splinter. It appeared that in the grand scheme of things they really did have increased strength and with his magic as unreliable as this, it really wouldn't be long before this thing came down - honestly, another two hits and it was likely to shatter.
At least there was one thing he could rely on the Page for, and that was when he was challenged to do something, he did muster the ability too do it. More often than not, when asked to cause harm to a friendly face their was hesitance and uncertainty, but in the grand scheme of things Athalia didn't want him to fall into those habits.
...If the Page could stay the course and act with conviction, then he would make a great knight some day.
It was in those moments that Athalia decided that rather than let the page shatter the shield, he'd challenge him to something a little different. With the slightest twice of his wrists he released his hold on his magic and rather unceremoniously, took a swing of his own towards Sumner's gut. He didn't aim for it to be too hard, but if it hadn't it wouldn't be delicate either, just enough to show that if they were going to keep doing this then they'd both need to commit.
Given Sumner's profession however and the observation it required (something Athalia would only marvel at), there was every chance that the Page had caught the tell though and the hit may not even land at all!
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