No way, that'd be cheating!

"How come Professor Phoebe didn't put you into a three with us? Now you didn't get to learn anything this class." Cameron finishes, as you stop your circling but maintain your crouched position. When he's done, you'll be ready.

"Boooo!" Lexi blows a raspberry and gives two thumbs down, still swinging her legs from atop the balance beam. "I came here to see a fight, dudes! I want my money back!"

She laughs and puts both hands back on the wooden staff in her lap, as Cameron gives her a very serious looking nod. He turns back to you, and the circling starts anew. But this time, for real for real!

Cameron rushes two steps towards you, then stops as you tense up and get ready to defend. He must've just been- then he does it again, after a tiny little pause, and this time takes a swing at your side!

You barely manage to react in time, jamming your own staff upright against the ground just barely away from your side. Cameron's staff impacts into it hard, sending a torrent of unpleasant vibrations through your hands and wrists as he pulls back and spins to go for another, this one higher up and on your other side.

Luckily, there was a lot of **** behind that first strike of his, so he's a little bit slow to go into the next and you're able to block it once more. This time, it's a much better block, and the staff shakes less in your hands.

"Woo!" Lexi cheers as you back up and get back into circling each other.

Hoo! You're feeling pretty great right now. That was two blocks in rapid succession against some pretty hard hits, after just one class of learning -- sure, Cam's only had one class of learning the strikes, but the Debbie that was searching for money in the heart of Kokkinport wouldn't have even come close to being able to do that. You shake your head gently. You can't have too much fun, or you'll daydream and he'll get you. You need to think tactically!

Now, he's only learned a handful of strikes, and you just blocked two. Now that he's backed up again, he's got time to think about his next move -- he knows that you can block him, so he'll probably start with a lunging thrust strike, since you can't block those and you haven't learned how to parry yet. From there, once he's tagged you in the chest once, he'll probably transition into other strikes that you'll be too winded to defend against.

If you're right, then you can't let him make the first move, because there's no way to stop that combination that you've learned yet. You could try doing it on him if you act quickly, but he's pretty strong and you're not confident that a single thrust into his chest would wind him that much. If he'd be able to tank it, then while your staff was out forward he could strike you back and you wouldn't be able to block. Plus, with how hard he hit your staff, he probably wouldn't need to land more than one or two.

Errrgggg..... this is so hard! What else can you do? You can't have much time before he goes in on you, and your only advantage is knowing what he'll probably start with. You could try to avoid his thrust when he steps forward, and then crack him in the side, but.... wait, you have an idea!

Just in time too, because as you focus fully back on what's in front of you, you see Cameron rushing in towards you. His hands are both on the staff, but the thumbs are facing towards you, not away from you -- he's definitely going for the thrust!

As he starts to step forward with his leading leg, staff reared back for the attack, you use your opportunity. Before it lands on the ground heavily, and he jams the staff towards you, he's only got his back foot on the ground. Which means you can sweep him over much more easily!

Your gamble pays off, as you duck down to the ground and spin with the staff out, taking his foot out from under him. He stumbles as his other foot slides across the ground, but still pushes forwards with the end of his staff as he falls towards the blue mats. He lands flat on his face, but you're caught right in between the boobs and knocked over onto your bum from your crouched position. Still, sitting in front of where he's lying, you're in the better position here!

He's right in front of you now, and will be getting up any second, which means you've got to act quickly. You decide it's time to break out an oldie -- the giant overhead swing!!

Before you can land it or Cameron can roll out of the way, you're both interrupted in your attempts by a sudden yell.

"Holy SHIT!"

You turn your head, still sitting down on the mat and staff still raised up behind your head. Cameron lifts his head from the floor in front of you and looks towards the direction of the sound as well.

It was Lexi who shouted, and now she's looking sideways from her spot on the balance beam. You and Cameron follow her eyeline. Across the room, the three of you see something unbelievable. Delilah, on the other side of the mat-covered space, has Jace backing up and blocking desperately as she performs a variety of flips and aerial manouvers, striking down on him at every opportunity and from a new angle each hit -- she's moving at incredible speeds, and some of the jumps have her at least a metre and a half off the ground.

Eventually, rather than land on her feet and strike with the staff, she lands with the staff on the ground vertically, and spins around it to kick at Jace with her foot -- he barely brings up his forearm to block it in time, the staff now in only one hand and down by his side. In one final landing, instead of striking and leaping back into the air again, Delilah lands with bent legs and spins out with her staff against the side of Jace's ankles which his staff isn't on. As he's backing up, the staff sweeps both feet from under him, and he falls flat backwards onto his bottom.

There's silence as Delilah slowly stands up from her crouched position, and holds the end of her staff out towards the flummoxed, seated Jace. With a smile, she lets it fall back to her side and offers him a hand up, which he takes. She's panting pretty heavily.

"Great defending, J! That was a real workout."

.....

Your jaw might be on the floor right now. It has also been seconds since you last blinked. At least twenty five of them. You slowly bring your staff down to tonk it gently on the top of Cameron's head. He pushes it to the side as he pulls himself up to sit on the mat next to you, the both of you still staring over to where a happy Delilah and confused Jace chat too quietly for you to hear. Jace rubs at the back of his head, and Delilah still looks exhausted.

Lexi, though, instead of the confusion on everybody else's face, is looking over with a wide smile and intense eyes. "Oh, this'll be fun....." You think you hear her whisper to herself with a grin, but you're not quite sure.

After pausing just as long as you have, Professor Phoebe pats a sitting Miranda twice on the shoulder, and silently walks over to join in talking with the standing Jace and Delilah. The bell rings after a few more seconds of staring, and Professor Phoebe turns back to the rest of you briefly.

"You're all free to leave now -- great class today. Enjoy your free period!"

With that, she turns back to her conversation with Delilah and Jace. Miranda stands up awkwardly, and shakily walks over towards the door, shooting wide-eyed glances towards Delilah on her way. You tend to agree. Lexi hops down from the balance beam and walks over to where you and Cameron are sitting. She tilts her foot back and drops the side of her staff on it to free her hands, which she uses to grab the back of both of your shirts and guide you upwards onto your feet. Once you're both up, still staring over, she dusts off her hands and lifts her foot to put the staff back in her hand.

"Let's go chuck these back in the closet, hey?" She says in a cheery voice.

You and Cameron both nod slowly, not taking your eyes off Delilah for several more seconds before eventually moving to take your staffs over to the closet near the entrance. For a second, you think that you see Delilah shoot a smug look back towards you, but you're really not sure, and then just like that you're out of there.

{if PhoebeFreebie == True}((Hey hey! You already got 2 points of Free Time before retrying the day, and all the stats from that should still be working. So just imagine you did all of that stuff now, as part of the Free Time!)){endif}