Training for Battle - James learns how to fight

James was wandering through the halls of the magic school, a stern, serious expression on his face. He couldn't stop thinking about the day before, when he'd met Robyn.

He was still puzzled by why he'd told her all that. He didn't even really know her...! Why had he given away so much?
He sighed. Perhaps he'd just kept it to himself for too long now, and it just had to come out right then and there? He frowned at that idea; though that might be a part of it, it wouldn't explain why he'd tell Robyn of all people. As he thought about her, a small smile came to her face. He couldn't really explain why or how it'd come to be, but he felt at ease around her somehow.

As he thought of that he suddenly felt very embaressed about what had gone down. It had barely phazed him at the time, but Robyn must've thought him a complete basket case! Nearly committing suicide in front of her like that... what was he thinking? It wasn't that he hadn't considered doing it before - more of the opposite - but he could've at least waited for her to leave? On the other hand, he was also relieved that he'd started it with her there to talk him out of it; otherwise he might not still be here today. And at this moment, he did regret the idea of him not being alive anymore... a little.
'O well,' he said to himself in thought misserably, 'at least I didn't let the family down... yet.'.

His train of thought was interrupted by him arriving at the place he was heading to; outside of the school, a great field of the school grounds that the rebels had taken in use as training grounds. No matter what had happened between him and Robyn, or why, she was right about one thing; he could use a bit of training.
He walked around uncertainly, not sure where to start.

He already saw some other students getting their training on; those were probably the students that had already decided to join the rebels in the war. He looked around a bit alarmed for a moment, to see if Sameea was here too, but was relieved to find she wasn't there. Probably didn't want to get her hands dirty, he thought with a chuckle.

After the earthbending magic classes, which where still on a too low level for her, Robyn had immediately gone for the training grounds. She started practising her earthbending again, trying to come up with new fight and defence techniques. She kept an 'eye open' for everybody around her, not wanting to hurt someone by accident.
She picked up on James as soon as he walked onto the grounds. Mainly because his footsteps where still yet unfamiliar to her. She kept practising, but kept her 'eyes' on her, noticing that he was coming closer to her. When he was within hearing range she heard a soft chuckle coming from him. Not bothering to interup her practise she just kept on earthbending while saying: "Hey James, what's so funny?"

James looked up a little startled as he hadn't really expected anyone to pay attention to him. When he looked over, he noticed it was Robyn. He smiled upon seeing her; for a moment he thought it was Sameea... that would've made his inner joke a little more awkward to explain.

"Ow nothing," he replied to Robyn, stepping over to her, "I just thought of something funny, that's all."
He looked at her curiously; "what are you upto?"

Robyn made a small 'hmm' sound when James said that he had just thought of something funny. She needed her concentration too much to really answer. A moment later she lifted her arms and along with that multipule huge pieces of rock lifted from the ground as if it was nothing. She let them circle her for a moment before putting them back into the holes they had came from, leaving very little evidence of what had just happened. She let out a small satisfied sigh, glad that she had managed it.
"Just practising a little," she then answered turning towards James, "What has brought you here?"

James' eyes widened as Robyn moved the boulders, and with such appearant ease too! He blinked at her for a moment after she put them back in their place, not entirely certain if he should find this as amazing as he did.

"I see," he finally said, pulling of a weak smile, "I'm here to practise- well, 'learn' might be a better word. I uhm... figured it might be time for me to learn a little bit of non-magical combat."


He looked around once more, seeing pretty much everyone around him training, some of which pretty intensively. His eyes lingered on one rebel - who he didn't yet know was the leader of the rebels - who was fighting three guys at the same time... and actually seemed to be winning! James looked at the man in awe for a moment.

Then he turned back to Robyn, a dubitable expression on his face; "I wish to emphasize I want to practise 'a little bit' here..."

Robyn nodded and smiled when James said that he was there to practise nonmagical combat. Glad that he had decided to learn how to fight. She walked over to him, wondering if he already had an idea of what he wanted to practise exactly or if she needed to guide him in that. She chuckled when he said that he empathised that he was only here for a little bit of practise.
"So what little bit of practise did you have in mind," she asked now standing before him, "hand to hand combat, sword fighting, bow and arrow...?"

James shrugged, looking a little clueless; "I'm not sure. I've never actually fought before." He said it in a tone that implied he didn't expect her to be surprised about that at all, as if it was self-explanitory.

He looked around some more, trying to find an awnser there. "Could I just try everything? See how it works for me?"

Robyn wasn't about to deny that she wasn't all that surprised that James had never really fought before. Well not in a nonmagical way that is. When he asked her if he could just try everything she nodded.
"Sure not a problem," she answered, "I can help you with the hand to hand and the swordfighting, but I'll have to direct you to someone else for archery. What would you like to try first?"

James smiled, then looked around some more, trying to find a kind of combat that he felt would suit him. Then Robyn pointed out she could help him with hand-to-hand and sword fighting alone, and he knew which discipline he wouldn't choose.

"Hand-to-hand then?" he said, still hessitant. He wanted to do something he could train with her for, hence sword fighint and hand-to-hand remained as options. But he was scared of hurting Robyn, or Robyn hurting him (a much more likely turn of events) so he didn't want to start out with swords straight away. Also, he felt that hand-to-hand combat would be a nice transition into fighting anyway. Surely hand-to-hand wasn't what he wanted to become good at, but it seemed like a good first step.

((en ik moet echt gaan! XD))

"Hand to hand it is," Robyn asnwered with a smile. They could use the field that she had been practising her earthbending on for that. And she didn't need to go and look for a pair of practise swords somewhere, yet. She gestured for James to follow her to the middle of the field where she turned to face him again.
"Okay, what do you already know about hand to hand," she asked, her stance relaxed though ready for action.

James stepped over to where Robyn gestured him to go. He looked a bit ill at ease and uncertain how to compose himself. He'd never fought hand-to-hand before, not for real at least - even in his youth he never really got into any fights - and his lack of experience showed.

"What I know about hand-to-hand combat?" he repeated when Robyn asked him about it. He shook his head and replied; "nothing really."
He felt rather stupid admitting that. Still he felt he might as well add - to prevent future disappointment: "I don't know anything about any fighting discipline that doesn't include magic."

For a moment he felt like also stating that he actually was quite skilled at magic duels, but then he realized that wasn't really relevant right now, and that it would probably make him look like a show-off. So he just waited for Robyn to reply and/or continue.

Robyn nodded slowly when James said that he had no experience with fighting without magic. She wasn't really all that surprised about it, but she had hoped that maybe he knew a little of the basics. Then again he might still, she realized. After all she had no idea how a magical fight was fought, but just in case she decided to start with the very basics.
"Okay then well start at the basics," she answered and adjusted her stance. She now standing with her feet at hip width and her right foot (her dominant foot) a little before her left, her knees slightly bent. Her arms where still hanging by her sides, but if you would look for it you would see that there was a slight tension in them.
"I want you to copy my stance," she said, "but don't plant your feet on the ground, remain light on your feet. You want to be capable of making quick and sudden movements. Try not to tense yourself either, a bit of tension is good, but too much will only delay your natural reflexes."

James nodded slowly, frowning a little. Looking at Robyn, then back at his own body position - and back and forth like that over and over again until he got it right - he tried to assume the same pose as Robin.

When he was done he looked up at her questioningly, a little uncertain and feeling quite exposed. His stance did resemble Robyn's a lot, though it looked very uneasy and forced as he did it, while Robyn made it look very natural.

"How's this?" he asked.

Robyn waited patiently as for James to mimic her stance, not changing hers until he asked her how his stance was. It was clear for her that there was a lot of tension in his stance, far too much tension.
"You are standing in the right position," she answered, starting off with the positive, "but you are too tense. Try jumping up an down on place a few times while mainting the same position. I'll do it with you."
She reassumed her 'fighter stance' and jumped up and down a few times.

James nodded, already looking unhappy about it. Then he followed Robyn in her jumping, which clearly made him even more uncomfertable - and he was!
He felt like a complete fool jumping up and down like that. Still, he had to admit, it did work. He felt his stance becoming more natural every time his feet touched the ground again.

After a couple times of this he stopped, even before Robyn did, still feeling pretty embaressed. "How's this then?" he asked again, his voice showing that he wanted this to be over fast because he was feeling awkward.

Robyn stopped jumping when James did, nodding approvingly when he asked if about his stance again. The excess tension was gone, but the positioning had remained.
"Good," she answered, "but you are mentally too sidetracked. Stop thinking about what the people around us might think when they see you. They all had to start with the beginning just like you know. And besides no one is paying us any real attention. Next off I think it might be best to teach you defence movements first. The faster you get the hang of them the faster they will become a natural reflex. Try to attack me in which ever nonmagical way you prefer and I'll show you. Don't worry I'll won't harm you."

James signed, unhappy that he (appearantly) hadn't done ok. He nodded in reply to whatever Robyn said, but really didn't feel like he could pay less attention to the people around him. He had to admit, he just wasn't focussed on the fight as much as the other people... Perhaps if he just started, he would forget about everyone around him though?

So he took in a deep breath and prepared himself for attacking Robyn. The only problem was, he didn't feel any drive - none at all! Hence his attack was rather weak, unimpressive and mainly stopped by himself, even before Robyn could block it or anything.

He already looked unhappy at his own work, and apologized; "sorry... I'm just... not feeling that agessive, I suppose."

Normally Robyn wouldn't even have bothered to try and block the attack, but as it was a demonstration she still wanted to block it. And she would have if James hadn't aborted before she could. She let out a sigh and scratched the back of her head for a moment.
"You aren't suppose to be feeling agressive when practising," she answered, "if you only learn to fight when you are upset you'll learn it in the wrong way. Uhm... maybe if I sort of attack you? You'll get more into the training mode...?"

James frowned a little confused. He didn't really get the idea of fighting without being upset; fighting when you're not angry he considered the same thing as talking when you had nothing to say - in as much that he noticed other people doing it all the time, but couldn't really see himself doing it just yet.

Still he nodded, pretending to agree and understand. Then he assumed a defensive position, his arms raised in front of him, steady on his feet (a little on his toes though, ready to spring into action), his knees a little bent. His stance did seem more natural already, though his expression showed he was still ill at ease.

"Fine," he said, "have at me."

Robyn didn't really bought it when James nodded when she had told that you shouldn't learn to fight only when you are upset. But she didn't feel like pushing it either, she didn't know how to explain it better. When he assumed his defence stance she took up her own and gave him a slow punch so that he could easily block it. And if he didn't block it then she would stop just before actually hitting him.

James actually blocked it quite well - not that Robyn had made it very hard but still... he used the back of his lower arm to block the punch, not just bluntly holding it in between but also making a motion that caused Robyn's punch to be side-tracked to the left.

Afterwards he didn't stop or break tention, but instead just kept focussed, expecting another punch.

Robyn smiled approvingly, both at the block as well as the fact that James hadn't just relaxed and thought it was over. So she did throw another punch, a little faster this time and this time more directed to his head instead of his chest.

(en tenzij jij er bezwaar op hebt)

They kept going like that for a while, with Robyn slowly picking up speed wanting to see how fast James's reflexes already where. Of course she made sure that in case he would fail to block she would not hit him.

As Robyn picked up the phase, she would notice that the speed of James' reflexes was pretty good - he would miss one or two blocks, not surprisingly, but in general he did very well. He dodged at the right times and he was pretty light on his feet, but not so much that it made him instable.

It didn't come as much of a surprise to James that this went reasonably well; speed was an important part of magic dueling, so he was experienced at exercises that were quite bit like this. Even the blocking was fairly similar to movements of some blocking and defense spells and enchantments, he found to his surprise. Hence, he picked up on this fairly quickly.

So both the speed and the movements were already pretty adaquate (notice how I say 'pretty adaquate' rather than 'good'). He wasn't as good as Robyn, surely, but still...
A skill that proved troublesome though, was his strength. Though his arms and hands were at the right place at the right time, one could notice there wasn’t much resistance behind them. Surely if Robyn would punch at full strength – probably even at less – she would strike straight through his blocks.

James had already noticed this himself, and related to this was very relieved that Robyn was quite careful not to hit him, should one of his blocks fail.

Robyn noticed of course pretty fast that James already had blocking reflexes. She kept on going with the excersise for some time though. There was never any harm in training reflexes, she still did it every now and then as well.
"Okay," she said when she thought this part of the training was done for today and relaxed from her fighting stance, "you're already good at this, but you'll have to keep practising your reflexes. The faster you can get them the better. Though you will also need to improve on your strength so I think it's a good idea if we do some push ups now, or chin ups, which do you prefer."

James nodded as Robyn pointed out what needed to be improved, relaxing as well as Robyn did.
"Alright," he said as he smiled at her, "I'll do that. Thanks." He'd already decided to start with strenght training before speed - considering that strenght needed more improvement. As he decided this his mind already strained, looking for a magical option that might help him train faster or more efficient.

Then, as his mind was on training, he got curious; "if you don't mind me asking... what kind of training do you all do?"