I cast FIST

John’s brain was not functioning. Or at least it wasn’t functioning at higher levels. Higher level functions would have come up with something to say like “Hell yeah, I’m ready to start training” or “I’ll do my best!”

No, instead he just looked dumbly at legs that made him drool and arms that could crush him into dust. And, god, how much did he want those arms to crush him to dust.

“I… uh… yes?”

Moira smiled. “Good. Then go get changed. I still gotta get a couple more mats.”

John nodded weakly and slowly made his way to the old locker rooms, and slowly changed from his normal clothes into gym clothes. He didn’t have gym today, but he always kept some spare clothes in his bag ever since his friend Cho accidentally spilled two cartons of milk on him back in freshman year. But he couldn’t even think about it. All he could think was if Moira’s thighs could crush a watermelon or if he could somehow convince her to sit on his face.

God damn, who would have figured Moira freakin’ Brighton was so hot?

John shook those dirty thoughts from his head, slapping his face a couple of times. He was here to learn, not leer!

Even if he wanted to do both- NO! John had to focus! Fooooocccuuuusssss!

John stood up a bit straighter, checked to ensure his boner wasn’t obvious, and walked out to join Moira in training.

Moira had indeed pulled a couple more mats, giving them plenty of space to work on. John tried his very best to not ogle her again, despite his eyes immediately going to her thighs the second she entered his field of view. But NO! He had to focus. Fooooccuuusss. He walked over, standing tall and making SURE he was maintaining eye contact with her. “Alright, coach! Ready to learn.”

Moira smiled, standing back and giving him a once over. “Alright, so do keep in mind that I’m not really the best at unarmed combat. I asked a friend to come teach you but she’s… busy. But I had a few lessons when I was younger, and I never really forgot them so I figure what I know should be good enough to get you through your fight with Frank. So to start things off, give me a fighting stance.”

John raised an eyebrow. “Like… from Street Fighter?”

Moira gave him a confused expression. “Wh… what is that?”

“Street Fighter? You know? One of the most influential fighting games of all time?”

“I don’t really play video games.”

“You’re missing out,” John said with a smile. “But I guess I can do that.”

John thought of various poses that the Street Fighter character had, and while he would love to see Moira show him Cammy or Chun Li’s poses (shut up, horny brain!), he figured for himself he would have to go with tried and true. So he tried taking on Ryu’s pose, bouncing on the front of his feet while having one fist ready to punch and the other ready to block.

“Why are you bouncing so much?” Moira asked.

“I… uh, figured that was what I’m supposed to do.”

Moira shook her head. “You have to be light on your feet, but you look more like you have to use the bathroom. Plus, your fists aren’t ready to do anything other than… I don’t know, rub your chin in thought?” She walked over and took John’s arm, adjusting his pose. “Here. Stay on the front of your feet and ready to move, you had that right. But keep your fists up like this. You want to keep your arms close and ready to strike or block if Frank throws a punch.”

“So no bouncing?” John asked.

“Maybe a little bit. More that you want to keep yourself ready to move at a moment’s notice. If he comes in swinging, you want to be ready to dodge out of the way.” Moira stepped back and smiled. “There. Now you look like a proper fighter.”

John looked at himself, and couldn’t help but agree. He actually felt a bit like he was ready to go fight, like he could actually throw a proper punch rather than just flail angrily.

“So what do I aim to do? Block his punches? Attack fast? Open up a can of Scatman John across the face?”

“What, no… what even is that?” Moira rolled her eyes. “This isn’t a video game, John.”

‘Shows what you know,’ John thought to himself.

“You need to be careful and be safe. Frank’s pretty strong, so you probably want to focus on dodging his hits. In this stance you should be able to dodge pretty easily if he is slow, and get in hits when he messes up. Like… try this.” Moira stepped in front of him and held her own fists up. “Pretend I’m Frank.”

“Frank is way less pretty than you,” John said without thinking

Moira blushed. “Focus, John. Pretend I’m Frank. Now, if I come in with a big overhead swing like this,” Moira threw a slow punch with her right arm, swinging high and aiming for John’s head. “What do you do?”

“Duck… right? And step back?”

“Try it.” Moira slowly pulled her hand back before throwing another slow punch. John responded by taking a half step back, ducking and just barely missing Moira’s fist. As he did so, Moira’s other fist came over and tapped him lightly on the cheek. She gave him a smile. “Good try, but you were too focused on that hand. You need to see your whole opponent.”

John stepped back. “But how am I supposed to focus on two fists at a time?”

“You need to be confident in your moves,” Moira stated. “If you think that something will get you away from a hit, commit. Don’t sit there and watch the attack miss you, you have to move on to the next incoming attack. Watch for my other fist, watch for a follow through.”

John nodded, and repeated that statement to himself. “Okay, let me try again.”

“Alright, but I won’t do the same move twice,” Moira said, but then smirked. “Or will I?”

She then moved back in to attack, again keeping her hits slow and obviously telegraphed. This time John stepped back and made sure he was nowhere near her first strike. But he kept his eyes on her, and when her other hand came around for another underhanded strike, John was able to move to the side and have her strike at nothing. She then moved to hit him again, this time her right arm coming for an underhanded blow. John decided to make things interesting, and instead of just dodging left again, he took a quick step to the right, putting him on Moira’s blind side. He then reached forward and threw a slow punch, tapping Moira lightly on her cheek.

“Got ya.”

Moira grinned. “Not bad, John! But that was at, like, 1/10th the speed of a real fight. But you did pick up the most important part of fighting.” She pointed to her own stance and where John was standing. “I got so focused on trying to throw slow punches at you that I didn’t notice I was leaving myself easily exposed on one side. That is what you need to be able to do. You need to dodge and escape hits until Frank makes a mistake, and then capitalize.”

“But what if he doesn’t mess up? I can’t dodge forever.”

“Then make him mess up! You managed to get him so angry that he was ready to beat you senseless in the middle of the school hall, play into that.” Moira shook her head, disappointed by something. “Normally I wouldn’t tell you to do that. You have to be able to rise above bullies like him. But if what Kelli and Titus said is true, you’re gonna have to deal with Frank, and I don’t have enough time to teach you how to fight him properly. So you have to do what my old teacher taught me, and play a little dirty.”

John chuckled, holding up his hands. “Wait a second, Moira Brighton is telling me to fight dirty? Want me to kick him in the dick? Throw sand in his eyes?”

Moira softly giggled. “No, not that dirty, unless you have no other options. I mean talk with him. Insult him. Get him off his game. My teacher once told me that, ’If your opponent is so focused on what you're saying, they won’t be focused on you hitting them in the face.’ So try and use that. Push him to mess up, and then punish him for messing up.”

“Now that sounds like a plan I can get behind,” said John. “Your teacher sounds like a pretty good man to listen to.”

“He really was,” Moira reminisced. “I wish he still was, but we parted ways years ago. Now, are you ready to go again?”

But John didn’t hear her. Instead, his attention was taken away by a few brand new popups that filled his vision.

Okay, holy shit, that was a lot for John to take in. He unlocked a class? And a Fighting Style? And skills that complemented his new fighting style? How th-

“John? You in there?”

John quickly dismissed the popups, masking his hand motion with shaking his body. “Sorry, zoned out there for a second. Was thinking about…” Shit, what was he thinking about? He couldn’t say Moira’s legs even though those were very much on his mind. “... Not getting in trouble?”

Moira stared at him for a few seconds, and John wondered if it would even bite. But after a moment she let out a breath and turned away. “Yeah, I will admit I don’t like this at all. Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that Frank will probably keep trying to fight you, I would just have you tell a teacher. But I can’t deny that a lot of problems get ignored by teachers around here. This is probably the best option, even if it's not a good one.” She then took a couple of steps back and held up her fists. “Now, back to training. And I will be trying to hit you a bit faster this time. Not full speed, but we gotta get you ready.”

John nodded, holding up his fists. As he did, a tiny popup message showed up before disappearing almost instantly.

Fighting Style: Counterpuncher

As the message vanished, John suddenly felt his body needing to move. Like his body just knew what he was doing was wrong and he had to move it to be better. He let his body move itself, and found his arms shifting their position and feet changing their placement ever so slightly. His weight was redistributed, and he felt a lot more stable yet also ready to move.

Moira raised an eyebrow as she looked him over. “Impressive. I thought I would have to adjust you there for a moment but it seems you remembered what I told you. Are you ready?”

John smirked. “Bring it.”

Moira stepped forward, throwing another punch at John. This time it was a bit faster, and rather than being a slow training punch, this was more like they were play-fighting as kids. John quickly stepped to the side, focusing entirely on dodging Moira’s hits.

Moira put punch after punch towards him, and John kept side stepping. He was laser focused on not getting hit, and he felt like he could easily match her blow for blow. However, he knew he would have to throw a punch at some point. So he stepped off to one side, dodging another hit and looking for a good place to attack.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for John, her clothes had shifted a bit in an odd way. She was showing a lot more cleavage than she was probably expecting, and John could swear he could see the soft pink of her nipple poking out. His attention went from finding an avenue of attack to laser focusing on her breasts. He couldn’t look away, not for anything at this point.

Moira quickly adapted, turning on a heel and putting a punch towards John’s chest. Now John was not focused. He should have taken the hit. He should have failed this little exercise. But as that fist came to hit him, something moved his body once more. Something pulled him back, putting him just out of reach of Moira. Like his body was automatically dodging the hit.

Then she put a second follow up punch forward and John took a fist to the stomach.

-10 HP

John buckled over, coughing as Moira went from focused to concerned. “Oh god, John! I’m sorry, I thought you were ready!”

“Nah, it’s cool! Just… Just got distracted.” John coughed, trying to regain his breath. “You… your clothes…”

Moira looked down, and immediately her face turned bright scarlet. She quickly turned around, and John was given a lovely view of her ass as she fixed her tank top. “J… Jeez, John, you need to focus on the fight. But… thank you for telling me.”

“No… Problem,” John said, and slowly got back to his feet. Funny enough, John could tell that Moira wasn’t going all out with that fight. She might have been going a bit harder than she started since John was doing so well, but John really doubted that was her full strength.

And yet she managed to do just as much damage as Frank did when he slammed John’s head into the lockers. Just how strong was Moira?

Wait, did he ever Observe her?

…

You know, he just got the powers this morning. He was still getting used to using magic on everyone he saw.

-

Lady Moira Brighton, Warden of the Golden Rose

Class: Holy Paladin

Level: 17

RP: +44

-

God, every time he used his powers now, it seemed like he was going to find a new thing to say “Holy Shit” at.

But HOLY SHIT?! LEVEL 17?! The highest he saw was his mom at 12, and even then she was about double John’s age. And Moira was just casually 17 and his age? What the fuck? Who was this woman?

Also, what the fuck was “Warden of the Golden Rose?” And why was she a paladin? A paladin of what? This Golden Rose thing? Was that a holy order that John had never heard about? Was this a magic thing? It had to be. What else could it even be?

Should he ask her directly?

…

…

No.

John shook his head, stuffing that little idea away. Moira was a paladin, and John was technically a mage. What if her holy order hated mages? Or if he was illegal in whatever order that Moira was a part of? If she wanted to, she could obliterate him in an instant. Level 17 compared to his level 3? Instant ****.

Plus, John was just now forming a decent friendship with Moira. 44 RP wasn’t nothing! Maybe with a bit of time he could make a solid friendship with her and then tell her everything. Once he was sure she wouldn’t kill him. Or if she tried, that he could at least run away and not get smited instantly.

John stood back up, and as he dusted himself off a bit, Moira turned back around. Her face was still red, but she seemed ready to go once again. “Alright, John, you were doing pretty good up until that point. How about trying again even faster? Get you ready to really deal with Frank.”

John held up his fists, feeling his fighting stance taking over once more as he did so, subtly shifting his feet and fist placements into the correct form.