Magical Self-Defense

Your next class takes place in the gymnasium, though your first pure gym class is not until Friday. For today, you were taking a course that all students were required to take in their first year.

"As many of you may already be aware, the world of magic holds many great wonders," the teacher says, "but it also holds great dangers, particularly when dealing with those who will want to violently use the power of magic against you. That is why, for your own safety, you lot find yourself in my class."

You look the teacher over and consider that she probably knows a great deal about potential danger. She is a taller than the average woman, clearly not as tall as Professor Aspecta but certainly taller than the rest of the girls in your class. She has a hard look to her as her crimson red right eye sweeps back and forth over the class, her left eye covered by a large, thick eyepatch that stretches from slighly above her eyebrow and down to her cheek. Her skin is a dark brown but a jagged patch of pale looking flesh marks a long scar that travels across her jawline and another lighter toned line also cuts across the bridge of her nose.

If that alone were not enough to make her notable, you also notice the long, thin, pointed ears sticking out of her silvery color hair, marking her as some form of elven. Even those, however, carry the marks of unspoken battles as the very tip of her right ear is missing, cut away and healed over from some unknown conflict.

She is dressed in a loose fitting, purple track suit with black leather gloves, hiding both her figure and, you suspect, even more scars she may not be willing to show.

"I am Professor Zizana," she says, "and I suggest you take my lessons deadly serious. There will come a day where they will be all that keep you from being seriously dead."

You suspect that, if anyone else had said a turn of phrase like that, it would have drawn at least a little laughter from the class. However, the serious and intense manner in which Professor Zizana speaks it drives your ability to find it amusing from your very mind, with the same apparently holding true for the rest of your classmates as well.

After a brief explanation of the different kinds of magical **** that one could face (physical, mental and spiritual) Zizana wastes little time in putting you in groups of four to give you all a taste of how to deal with the first of those potential threats.

"I am going to pass a ball of energy to each group," Zizana says, nodding to the small crackling orb of purple lightning in her hand, "And you will try to deflect it to the person to your right in the circle. Try to keep it moving for as long as possible without dropping it. For if you do, or fail to deflect, it will sting slightly. Take it slow this time as this is to simply get a feel for the technique."

"Sounds easy enough, eh Stud?" Amelia whispers to you and the other two in your group, giving you a wink.

"'Stud'?" Selena and Mana ask simultaneously looking at you quizzically.

"I didn't know you already had a girlfriend," Selena says.

"You move fast, don't you?" Mana adds.

"Girlfriend?" Amelia snorts, giving the two blondes a dismissive wave of her hand, "Naw. I'm nobody's girlfriend."

Well that was... basically true. Or at least true enough to quiet questioning for the moment beyond a hum and stare from the twins.

The Professor reaches your group, tossing the energy ball to Amelia. You feel a small crackle of energy in the air as Amelia holds up both her hands, palms out, and the ball stops in the air. "Ready?" Amelia asks you as Zizana takes a moment to see how you start.

You and the twins nod and Amelia pushes the magical ball of lightning towards Mana. You feel the "pushing" energy coming from Amelia and, when the ball reaches Mana, feel a similar burst of energy coming from Mana. However, Mana's "push" somehow feels curved and the lightning ball follows the path of that curve, now headed for you.

In response, you try to picture the sensations that came from Mana coming out of your own hands, trying to focus the energy within to move the ball away from you and towards Selena. Unfortunately, you are a little nervous and while you can feel the curve of energy you make, you can also feel that the curve is perhaps a bit deeper than intended. Selena's eyes widen as the ball goes wide and she throws out her hand to catch in, deflecting it up in the air and forcing her to try and bounce it a few times like an out of control volleyball.

"Be gentler," Zizana says, looking at you as Selena continues to try and recover, "You are just trying to deflect, not counter attack. The idea is to move away an enemy's energy while saving as much of yours as you can for flight or fight."

You nod sheepishly even as Selena finally manages to pass the lightning ball on to Amelia again, who catches it for a moment with her magic, easily regaining control before passing it to Mana again. Selena looks slightly nervous when Mana passes to you again but this time you try to make your energy half as powerful as it was before and she lets out a sigh of relief as the ball comes at her at a reasonable velocity and angle before she passes back to Amelia once more.

Your group continues like this for several minutes, Zizana finishing her rounds to the rest of the groups and heading for the front of the class to observe, calling out advice whenever someone makes a mistake. You feel you are swiftly getting the hang of this up until the point a mischievous glint enters Amelia's eyes and she says, "You guys wanna see if we can go a little faster?"

"I dunno," Selena replies as she tosses the ball to Amelia, "The teacher said we shouldn't..."

"Aw, c'mon," Mana says, "We can try just a little bit."

Amelia makes the attempt to convince Selena moot as you notice her pushing the ball of energy towards Mana with a bit more ****, requiring the pace to increase as Mana does the same to you. Just barely, you manage to deflect towards Selena, who yelps at the unexpected speed but also just barely manages to make it go around back to Amelia again.

That seemed a little mean to do to poor Selena (and you, for that matter) and it also seems the two do not intend to stop as the next pass towards you is even faster, another nervous squeak coming from the twin tailed blonde as she is keeping up for the moment but you are pretty sure at this rate she is going to be struck before too long.

You could certainly see if you might be able to do something about that as three major options come to mind. The first is to see if you can simply slow the pace of the ball, bringing the exercise under control. The second and third would be giving the two a taste of their own medicine as you could either try to angle your pass unexpectedly towards Amelia or see if you can somehow reverse the course of the ball and send it counterclockwise towards Mana.