Martial Arts 101 [Fend, Shoga]

    With Terryn hurled off into the woods to rethink his life choices up until this point, that just left Fend and Shoga. It was surprising to see just how much these two differed despite wanting the same thing from the watcher of Korin Tower. Shoga was eager to just rush in despite being physically weaker than Fend or Terryn, but the other human seemed afraid of fighting... She'd rustle the reason for that hesitance out of Terryn later.

    For now, Fend's focus was entierly on Shoga. The brawler rushed her down, aiming to plainly punch Fend right in the face. She raised her forearm up to block, but was caught off-guard by the sudden sweep to her legs. "Ohp-" Fend fumbled in the air for a moment before stabilizing herself and hovering in place, just in time to swing an arm forwards to oppose the bright blue punch heading to her throat.

    White and blue ki appeared between Fend and Shoga and rippled like water, distorting the very air between them. However, as Shoga's fist struck the shield, cracks coursed across the energy, and shattered it like glass! The defense was just enough to absorb most of the impact, and a moment was all Fend needed to sidestep the remains of Shoga's attack.

    "Ooooooh, almost had me." She taunted, hopping back to get some more distance. "That's real good, though! Gonna be honest, I wasn't expecting that to break my defense." She shook her hand, which felt a bit sore from just contesting against Shoga's burning strike. "...But 'yer gonna need to do better to--"

    A firm bonk to the back of the head was enough to remind Fend of something important. Oh right, Terryn existed.

    "AUCH" Fend recoiled a foot back from the strike, her form flickering like static before just disappearing... Seconds passed, and there was still no sign of her reappearance. Even her ki seemed like it was just gone. It was like the Shinjin just vanished from existence, then and there. Was Terryn's fear of doing irreversible damage real?

    If Shoga's senses were honed enough, he might have been able to sense a low, yet familiar power hiding in the canopy behind them.

    There was a glint of light- a bright dagger of ki rocketed right past Terryn and Shoga, narrowly missing the two humans as it continued into the trees in front of them. The bolt of energy sliced cleanly through a row of trees, toppling each one over like a row of dominos and sending them to the earth with loud, resounding slams.

    "Did 'ya remember that I can teleport?" Hanging upside-down from the branch of a tall tree was Fend in the flesh, looking quite pleased with herself. "The ability to suppress my ki's pretty useful too." Fend's once tiny energy signature surged back to its normal level on cue. Four more daggers of ki, identical to the one that had cleanly cut through the woods, glinted menacingly in her hands.

    Fend flipped back down from the branch and landed on her feet, rubbing the back of her head. "I felt that one a little! It was more surprising than it was painful, though, so don't get too content with yerselves." She cracked her neck as a white aura began to flare from around her. There was a scheming glint in her golden eyes.

    "But, y'know..." She shrugged, slipping into a low stance and reeled one arm back. A little adrenaline would surely do some wonders to draw Terryn and Shoga's real power out. "I also gotta see how well you two can defend."

    Swinging her arm forwards, Fend released a flurry of thin, yet sharp darts of light that. While these weren't as powerful as the one that just had cleaved down some of the forest or do any serious damage to either of her students, Fend hoped it would do well to trigger their fight or flight responses.

Fend uses Tesselation to defend against Burning Lance for 8,000 PL! Burning Lance's piercing effect halves it to 4,000 PL, but both attacks fizzle afterwards, being the same in power.
Terryn's Scorch Strike hits fully, dealing +13% damage!

Fend uses Ki Suppression to lower her PL to 1 when hiding, and then raises it back to 40,000 when revealing herself again. Some funky flavorful use of Kai Kai is used, along with some non-KP attacks.

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KP: 4/6 (-2)
MP: 4/6 (+2)
Damage: 18/250 (+13)

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WORD COUNT: 3,501 (+657)

Terryn's attack struck with a loud and profound thud, yet it didn't feel particularly satisfying to him. Landing a direct hit like that in the midst of battle was supposed to feel good. At least, that's what he thought. Right?

He was still unable to see Fend as an enemy, and struggled to discern this training with an actual life-or-death battle. Terryn didn't want to hurt Fend, but he had little choice. And so, he only opened his eyes again when Fend's voice quickly faded into nothingness.

"...Where'd she...?"

Terryn muttered, eyes darting around. Right, she was able to teleport, wasn't she? Terryn had no conceivable way to track her location down, and so his eyes darted toward Shoga. He was feeling around as well, but it seemed that he was eventually able to trace Fend toward the distant foliage using his...Was he sniffing the air?

"SHIT!"

Shoga's sudden shout scared the hell out of Terryn, who immediately followed his command and allowed himself to drop straight to the ground. Terryn was only able to catch a glimpse of the bright dagger as it whizzed above his head. It effortlessly cut it's way through the treeline behind them, toppling rows upon rows and causing a chaotic noise to erupt through the forest.

Terryn was shocked, that little attack came without effort! Just how ludicrously strong was she?!

He quickly brought himself to his feet, his breathing growing harsher at the sudden danger he found himself in. Terryn felt faint licks  of his latent power begin to sputter out due to the adrenaline, and he looked to Shoga for guidance. He'd follow his lead.

As the barrage of bright darts sailed toward the two, Shoga went in and charged toward Fend, aiming to brute force his way through the onslaught by using his hardening ability. Terryn instinctively followed with a hiss, positioning himself behind Shoga so that he'd soak up most of the damage.

A few darts still found their way past Shoga, some nicking Terryn's arms and shoulders. It stung like hell, but wasn't anything that was going to knock him to the ground.

"You uh, you sure that didn't count as a hit, Fend?! I'm pretty sure I got you j-just now!"

Terryn shouted from behind Shoga's wild axe-kick, his voice laced with concern and hesitation. He wasn't even trying to boast about the fact that he'd landed a strike on her. He just wanted this to be over, before she really got hurt...!

Hesitantly, Terryn whizzed past Shoga, sliding across the grass underneath Shoga to engage his teacher head-on! Terryn attempted to spin on his heel at the last moment and have a kick rocket out from behind him, aiming to plant his foot into Fend's stomach!

What Terryn failed to realize, was that all Fend had to do was step to the side, and Shoga's axe-kick would crash into Terryn instead! Oops...Well, he was still learning, okay? Cut him some slack.

---

No KP used!

KP: 6/6 (+2)
MP: 4/6 (+1)
Damage: 0/250%
Word Count: 2735 + 494 = 3229

    Just before Fend's attack could strike its target, Shoga rushed between the piercing blast and Terryn. "Wha--" Fend barely had time to process what had just happened before her blade of ki detonated against Shoga's defense due to the intensity of the clash. She raised her arm to block the torrent of dust and dirt stirred by the struggle from getting into her eyes. Fend narrowed her gaze, worry suddenly coursing through her gut. She hadn't gone too far there, had she?!

    Thankfully, Shoga was little worse for wear. But before she could speak, the human had some words of his own for both Terryn and his new teacher. The other Earthling's apprehension hadn't gone unnoticed by Shoga either, it seemed. But still, despite for how short they'd known each other, Shoga stood up for his friend... Fend glanced astray. Terryn wasn't the only one suddenly full of guilt right now.

    Was she doing this whole teaching thing right? She felt like she was just flailing and improvising her way through this first "lesson." This wasn't just a friendly spar, both she and her students had to take away something from this. Had she already screwed herself in the first five minutes of this asinine lie of hers? Oh gods, if either of them ever found out the truth that she was just a fraud...

    Terryn's shame, on the other hand, came from a place of fear. While he was able to pull everything out when everything was at stake against that strange demon, Fend was a friend, not a foe. He didn't seem to understand his own strength. Fend managed to pry her own thoughts back to her pupils, the gears turning in her mind. If he couldn't sense ki, then it made sense that he had a hard time comprehending the extent of his own power or that of his enemies. She felt like she was onto something...

    Shoga's speech had managed to get his friend to take this more seriously, though. Fend momentarily scrambled to get her thoughts together. She had to say something encouraging! With the shadow of Korin Tower looming over her, Fend cleared her throat. "Credit where credit is due too, you climbed up this whole entire fuckoff tower a whole two times despite the risk of going splat. If that ain't proof that you've still got it in 'ya to stick through Korin Tower's tough trainin', I don't know what is. Sayin' all that stuff aloud's real good progress, too. Now that 'ya told me I can start brainstormin' how to help." Though she was still running wholly on her improv skills, Fend was telling the truth this time.

    "I meant it when I said this shit's not gonna be easy and ain't gonna happen overnight, but you've already proved that I can't get rid of you two that easily." Fend was already in way too deep to pull herself out of this whole teaching thing. She had to start taking this more seriously now that the fact of just what she agreed to was fully sinking in. She was going to turn these two into protectors... But she also had to figure out what exactly that meant.

    Fend took a deep breath in. If she could escape Otherworld itself, surely she could handle all of this. Steeling her nerves, Fend returned her attention to the fight. "Alllrighty. Day one sparring session, take two!" Fend rushed forwards, unleashing her ki to send another gust of wind bellowing down to the two, before focusing back onto Terryn. The human would be met with a swift kick right into his side if he was unable to dodge Fend in time. It was about time she saw what these two were truly capable of.

No KP Action taken. Non-KP melee go brrrrrrrrrr.

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KP: 5/6 (+2)
MP: 6/6 (MAX)
Damage: 18/250

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WORD COUNT: 4,503 (+628)

Shoga's words of encouragement, as well as Fend's was enough to bring Terryn back to reality and make him understand the reality of things. If he was ever going to be a real defender of this planet, he needn't shy away from a simple sparring session. Fend might've been his teacher, and at this point, someone he considered a friend, but that didn't mean he should go easy on her.

"Got that right," Terryn chuckled in reply to Fend's comment about just how persistent Shoga and him were. "We're not going anywhere, Fend. Now, lemme show you what I can really do!"

Once again, Terryn flashed his stance and prepared for the continuation of their sparring session. Fend took off toward Terryn, her speed so absurd it was easily several classes above his own. Terryn's perception made it seem that his teacher was practically teleporting infront of him, and it took all of his reflexes to act in time.

His movements were sharp and precise, almost as if someone else had taken control of his actions. Terryn was just barely able to duck under the swift side-kick aimed at his ribs, and as Fend's leg swooped over him, Terryn quickly reached out!

Aiming to grab Fend's leg at the exact moment it sailed over him, the Earthling would wrap his arms around the Shinjin's leg at the exact moment that Shoga engaged her. Assuming that she'd have nowhere to go after that, Terryn cracked a grin.

"See? Better, huh!?"

Now that he had Fend where he wanted her, Terryn hopped on his feet to change his balance, his front leg rocketing upward with brutal ferocity, propelled by an explosion of fiery Ki that expelled itself from his heel. The upward kick was aimed directly at Fend's chin, aiming to daze her and keep her in place long enough for Shoga's barrage of Ki to connect!

With Terryn's head fully back into the game, there was a noticeable difference in just how the two Earthlings fought together. At first, they were fighting as individuals, getting in eachother's way more than they worked together. But now...?

They were fighting in unison. Just like they were against Sesame.

---

Terryn ducks under Fend's kick, and tries to grab it mid-flight! He uses the opening to unleash a Crane-School Boosted [Light]Scorch Strike toward Fend for 8,100 damage! Terryn takes 1,620 damage recoil.

KP: 4/6 (-2)
MP: 3/6 (-2)
Damage: 12/250%
Word Count: 3886 + 365 = 4251

    Fend hovered in the air, scratching her chin as she watched Shoga go flying into the woods. Had she hit him a bit too hard? She could still feel his ki, still lively as ever, but sent... a lot further away than she'd intended. Working on his mid-air combat was definitely going to be a priority. Oh well, the human could surely catch back up to them soon enough, surely, given his earlier displays of toughness.

While Fend was dusting off her hands, though, she neglected to pay attention to Terryn's fury until the sensation of a rapidly rising ki greeted her senses. "Ohoho," Fend gave a dramatic, amused laugh as she turned around to face the human's awoken might. "Now there's the fire I was looking for."

    Fend raised her arms to brace herself against Terryn's powered-up strike. Terryn's kick landed against her forearms with a scorching hiss as it burnt away at her cloak and the bands around her arms, sending the two of them rocketing back down into the forest.

    The earth greeted Fend painfully as she landed on her back, still recoiling from the force of Terryn's blow. Still, the Shinjin was just as quick on her feet as before, flipping in the air to right herself and digging a hand into the ground to slow her momentum to a stop. Fend stood up and brushed some embers away. And yet, despite the genuine pain the blow had brought her, Fend stood tall and clapped. "Well well welly well, color me impressed." She praised as the dust faded, giving Terryn a better look at his handiwork. The front of her cloak had been burnt to bits, and even the durable gi beneath it seemed to be singed. Most of the damage was concentrated around the Shinjin's arms. Some of her revealed, pale yellow flesh had been bruised and burnt to a charred gray color. "Now that, that was a hella good hit."

    "Buuuuuut, I'm not just gonna pass up the chance to see what else this glowy powered-up thing you got going can do when 'ya made me fight tooth n' nail just to get a sneak peek, you know." She cracked her neck and crouched low before vanishing yet again. This time, though, Fend hadn't teleported. With a massive burst of speed, she rushed Terryn, aiming to slam her fist right into his torso. Her arm was coated in a viscious, pale ki that would scatter as she swung her arm. If even a drop of the energy managed to stick itself to Terryn, it would stick on tightly to slow his movement. She nimbly weaved around her opponent after unleashing her splatter of ki, weaving her cloak back together with threads of light... Though she kept a few spare strings handy- they'd be useful later.

Scorch Strike hits Fend for +40% damage! Ouch.
Needlework is used to repair Fend's cloak.
Fend uses Splatter Paint, boosted by +10% for 2 MP, against Terryn for 16,000 PL! This has both the Homing and Exhausting variants, meaning Evasive Techniques cannot be used to counter it, and it will reduce the power of Terryn's next technique by -10% if it hits!

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KP: 2/6 (-2)
MP: 4/6 (-2)
Damage: 78/250 (+40%)

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WORD COUNT: 5,284 (+471)
OOC NOTE: Since Shoga is absent, we've sadly had to do a bit of retconning to work around his OOC disappearance by having him be sent flying into the woods by Fend's earlier attack to be able to continue this thread. Sorry!