Closed [Antinous Training Grounds] Catch Me If You Can!

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Well, he's different, I'll give him that. He could quickly tell that the man was going to go down the same path as Suresslynn went, when it came to fighting - crouching low and attempting to attack with his hands instead of standing tall and stomping around with his feet. Really crouching down never worked in ones favour - the other squire must have been in the range of five, and five-and-a-half feet in height. Not huge for a human, but not exactly tiny either. The squirrel was five inches tall. Bending low enough to meet an opponent like that in the heat of battle wasn't going to be the brightest idea. Nevertheless, it looked like the man was going to push through with it - and the squirrel was in for a bit of a ride, too. First came the rise of the sword - which, honestly, he could see coming pretty easily and could swing himself to the left and evade it, well before the thing even rose itself out before him in a crude attempt to take him by surprise.

That horizontal swing opened his eyes to so many possibilities. I can jump over it or under it, neither of them will make much difference after all. I can swing around if he attempts to make an attack, then head straight for the feet and knock him over with a few solid attacks to the knees and ankles. Then he's all mine. But then, as the swing neared, a different plan came to mind. Or I can have a little bit of fun and ride straight to the face. As it neared, closer and closer, he ducked down and then launched himself into the air, just enough to pass over the edge of the bastard sword. But not enough to fall down on the other side. His weight pressed down around half-way over the length of the blade, and as the swing continued around in its arc, he began the quick run all the way down the length of the flat of the blade, in the hopes of using it to run straight over the boys arm and get to the face. There, the possibilities opened up so wide that he couldn't even imagine what might happen. He could make the boy vomit if he punched right in the throat, and then followed up with a few hits in the stomach or sternum to make him retch. He could get a good hit on the nose, likely break it in the process.. and he could drop down from there to any other part of the body he wanted.

The one part that remained, was the attempted grab. Although by the jittery motions of the boys arm, he couldn't tell if he was going to attempt something with the free arm or not - considering that, by now, the squirrel was pretty much riding his one weapon. If it did come, any way, he had a plan for that too. If that thing tried to grab him anywhere, all he needed to do was make a sharp twist of his body, and a solid kick with one leg right against the thumb. It'd push the digit back far enough to dislocate, causing severe pain. Well, what could he say - he'd had enough of people constantly trying to grab him. Perhaps I can use that on both hands... then he won't be able to hold up that sword anymore.

[Garland]

Garland knew that the Pycon was toying with him now. Fighting him at his own level was a bad idea, in the absence of good ones, what else could he do? Of course he could have thrown his sword like before, but he doubted that Arch would fall for it twice.

The squirrel jumped over his sweep and landed on his blade, and scurried up to the hilt and then up his arm. Instinctively, he tried to shake the Pycon off and then tried to swat him away, obviously, Arch's claws weren't just for show. Of course he needed to put a lot of distance before Arch could attack, but he was really close to his face now. Arch's pupil-less eyes were very unnerving for Garland.

Though he didn't know how strong the squirrel is, in fact he thought he would be quite weak, he was worried about getting clawed or bit, but he would not be expecting punches or kicks from his diminutive opponent.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

His claws weren't really that sharp - if anything, they were just a little bit squishy as they pressed into Garland's arm on the climb up towards his face. The few swats and feeble attempts at dislodging the squirrel didn't work at all, unfortunately - his grip was pretty tight, and his reflexes meant that every swipe that came for him, he could roll to the side of. Heck, he could even flick his tail around to change his direction suddenly using the tail as a counter-weight, and flip himself so that he hung upside-down from the mans bicep, before eventually crawling onto his shoulder. Game over by this point - the man would likely have to drop his sword, or sheath it, just to free up both hands if he wanted to actually capture the squirrel. If the man couldn't catch him before, there was no chance that he'd be able to do it now. All he needed to do was throw a few punches for the face - maybe the cheek or the nose - and get the boy to surrender. Just as he was preparing for this, however, a particularly baritone voice spoke up from the crowd.

"This is a spar, Squire Archailist. It came from his own patron, the huge crimson Akalak fully-clad in plate-mail. The man didn't really look like he knew whether to be proud or disappointed, but either way, he didn't look like he approved of what the squirrel was about to do. Archailist wasn't about to bring down the wrath of the Akalak.. at least, not in front of all these people. Instead, he nodded and crouched down with both of his forepaws touching the man on the shoulder, as well as his feet. His tail curled up, and all of a sudden swung out again as he sprung up from the shoulder, and spread both of his arms out to the side while slowly somersaulting backwards on his way down to the ground. After about three backflips, he landed once again and lowered both arms to his sides while staring up at the boy. Well.. if this was only going to be a spar and he wasn't going to seriously injure the boy, the best he could do was give him a fighting chance in this battle and not just scurry over his back until he surrendered.

"Guess you get to go again. You still want to use that sword?" He pointed nonchalantly at the sword, and then glanced back to the shield that was still lying on the floor. In all honesty.. he wasn't really sure what else he was supposed to do to help the guy in this situation. His swings were just so damn.. slow. Everything about him was slow, the way he swung his sword and the way he kicked, and grabbed.. he could see it all coming for him. Wysar, give me discipline. Give me the strength of mind to persist in this battle, and overcome the urge to beat him silly. Well, it seemed like the most sensible thing to do. All that was left now, was to take a deep breath and await the next swipe that came from the man. "Whether you do or not, it's your choice. I'm ready when you are."

[Garland]

Garland shook off the embarrassment and got back up. He got one good kick in and then a downhill spiral of bad decisions. He needs to think more about his next move.

He just got his butt handed to him by a squirrel. He thought that this was going to be easy, now he knew that he needed a lot more of his tricks to even land another blow on the Pycon. If it wasn't for Arch's mentor, he would probably have to save face and surrender. He knew that there was no shame in running away to fight another day, but by Myri's name he won't go down without a fight.

He weighted the pros and the cons of his sword, the blade was long enough for him to attack by a stabbing motion, and even maybe use it to make it seem like an advantage to the Pycon, but really a way to predict his movements.

Based on the earlier attack, Garland thought that maybe Arch liked to play with his opponent or at least show off. That stunt he did, balancing on his sword as he swung it felt a bit cocky to the young squire.

So the sword could be used as a way to predict Arch's movements, on the other hand would he be fast enough to react? And he knew Arch was fast enough to dodge and react to his own attacks. He would need to use cunning and deception to attack. Without a weapon though, he wouldn't be able to defend himself, unless you count trying to stomp the living day lights out of Arch as defense. He needed range and at the same time manoeuvrability.

He decided to hold on to his sword, for now. He stepped back, not saying a word, which was uncharacteristic of the talkative squire. He raised his sword and focused on the battle.

The young female knight crossed her arms in disappointment. "Archailist will win, hands down. Garland has little training under his belt while Archailist had traveled most of the region, or so I've been told." Catherine turned her attention to the large Akalak next to her. "You know, this fight doesn't seem fair, See Iros. One squire has a weapons, while the other does not." She implied.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

For the few moments of pause, Arch waited quietly with both of his paws neatly folded behind his back. It seemed that what little information the man had gathered about the Pycon race... had nothing to do with battle at all. Needless to say that the weapon he was using was gravely ill-suited to fighting off a five-inch squirrel that knew its way around a few back-flips. His choice. Once the boy took a step back, it was time to return to the matter at hand. This time, however, the squirrel decided to take a more cautious approach - if he wasn't going to be causing serious harm to the boy, which was pretty much the only way to get an advantage other than to stand on his head and wait for him to surrender, then he could afford to take things a little slower in the hopes that something new would pop out. In the end, this was as much for his own experience as it was for the boy.

Instead of a run, the squirrel began to calmly walk towards the boy, with both of his paws still held behind his back. Behind them, his tail flexed and twitched in different places, as if limbering itself up for the trials ahead. I wonder if he'll throw the sword again. Or if he'll try one of those horizontal slashes. Perhaps the boy was beginning to understand that the weapon really wasn't suited to fighting the squirrel.. or he was being too stubborn and headstrong to care, and just intended on using the weapon over and over until he eventually managed to hit the squirrel or just lose with it. Using the shield as a weapon would have been more useful than using the sword. Hindsight really was a piece of shyke, but the closer he looked at the situation, the more true it became - that shield, with its wide surface could have struck much better if slammed repeatedly against the ground than the silly narrow-but-long sword could. It'd have a better chance of hitting, at the very least.

While Archailist lulled over weapons in his head, he was apparently completely unaware of the remarkably similar conversation on weapons happening barely within earshot. "If you're concerned with one opponent having weapons, and the other having none, perhaps you should tell your boy to lower his weapons and try with his fists instead.." Well, she did have an issue when one squire was choosing not to use any weapons. If anything, it was an unfair fight because the squirrel was evidently more proficient in simply avoiding attacks rather than showing an advanced unarmed combat. "Unless you want me to make the fight even more unfair and give Squire Archailist his Py-Pole." The crimson Akalak was practically snorting through his nose, though he never took his eyes off the fight. There was little need to, after all.. the young female knight's opinions were little concern when she could pull out her squire at any time she pleased.

[Garland]

Catherine looked up at the tall Akalak. "Like I said, Ser Iros, Garland has no chance winning, I just wonder what he'll do against an opponent that he can't beat, would he give up and accept it? Or will he go down fighting." Catherine pulled out her journal, and started taking down notes on what Garland was doing wrong.

Garland was drawing a complete blank right now, no ideas, no plans, no strengths. He was at a complete disadvantage and could see no way to turn it around. The terrain would give no advance, the ground was too hard to throw and trying to blind him wouldn't work, the Pycon would see it easily. He needed to distract him and attack from the side or somewhere else. He needed something, anything.

That's when he noticed his shield was still in play, he needed to get to it, but Arch was in the way. He needed to get pass the diminutive squire. Holding his sword tightly in his hand, it wouldn't help, but what could stomping and punching do to something that's made of clay?

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

The squirrel didn't increase the pace, nor did he slow, as the man seemed to do nothing but stand there. However, as he began to close the distance between himself and the squire, one thing certainly did change. He may not have heard much in the conversation between the two patron knights amongst the crowd, but he knew just as well as them that this fight was considerably unfair - well, he was just evening the odds by slowly removing the Py-String from the small pocket of air he'd held inside himself for a significant part of the day. It was pretty damn long - he couldn't stretch both of his arms out wide enough to tighten it all the way if he held it end from end, so the ends of the string were wrapped around each of his paws several times to compensate for this. He could loosen them as he pleased however.. which was what he began to do as he neared the boys legs. This is going to be a perfect moment. His eyes, even though they held no pupil and no iris, sparkled with determination in his ingenious plan.

Meanwhile, on the sidewalks, Ser Iros was beside himself. "You know, drawing a boy into a fight that you know he's going to lose.. that's not going to do anything to keep his spirits high." Then again, he shouldn't have been prying into the methods of the other patron knights. They all went their different ways, focusing on different parts of the knighthood that they thought were the most important of all. Nobody ever bothered to speak up about Ser Iros' methods.. although there was never any reason to. Strength was strength - the Order needed strength in its members and there was nobody around to provide a good argument why they shouldn't. He never knew why the knighthood needed to continuously go into battles they could never hope of winning, though.. they both knew, just as well as both of the combatants likely knew, that this was a one-sided fight and that there was going to be one squirrel-shaped winner and one human-shaped loser. What was the purpose of sending them against one-another, then?

"Wait... hold on, did he...?!" If Ser Iros had been in the middle of a conversation, he likely would have broken mid-sentence as he leaned closer, watching with careful eyes. "Goodness me, that squire.. he's going to be the death of me, one way or another." Just as the knight thought that things couldn't get much worse, the squirrel decided to pull a weapon. The crimson Akalak pressed two fingers against his forehead and sighed through gritted teeth in order not to stop himself protesting and likely stopping the fight altogether. It was supposed to be a spar - a fake match. Why the heck was the squirrel pulling out obviously sharp, and obviously very harmful weapons then?

[Garland]

Catherine gave Iros a look of confidence, and a little laugh."He's got plenty of spirit, what he doesn't have is the strategy, I'm clocking him for how long he can last and what does. He just runs in without a thought and just rolls with it, unless someone orders him otherwise. He's a good enough fighter, but as a tactian, he needs a lot of work. Brute strength isn't everything, its important, but a well thought out plan can change everything." Giving a small jab at Iros' way of training, though it was just a friendly jab, Iros could take it as an insult by mistake.

Garland saw Arch take out a small weapon, or a piece of string, he didn't really know which though. Arch was taunting him with how so he was moving, he was playing with him. He was in no way acrobatic, but he was fast, he knew how to run, not processionally but just enough to jump over Arch and get to his shield.

He used his sword to do a sweep attack like before, hoping that Arch would grab on like before, if Arch did grab on he would throw it away, as much as he hated it, since it was all he had from his parents, he was a bit conflicted about it, but it was just a sword, what was important is that helped him in times of need and he wanted to make his parents proud wherever they are.

Catherine studied the fight carefully, writing down everything of note, she saw the Py-string but she didn't call out or give advice like before, she was going to enjoy the imminent beat down soon

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Unlike the last time that Garland went in for a swing of his sword, the squirrel didn't hop onto it. He should have - he could have used it as a platform to go straight for the face. Even though he wasn't supposed to be causing any injury during the fight, it was just too good of an opportunity to miss. Unfortunately, though, his plan had nothing to do with the face or in fact anything above the knees. Instead, his tail moved out to the side and his knees bent mid-stride, causing his calves and knees to grind against the ground as he bent his body back at the hips and folded himself in half in order to meet the gap between the ground and the sword. He might have been overcompensating a little bit, but he really didn't want to get hit by a sword.. especially anywhere around the neck. Just feeling the bite of a Balicani was enough to get his body running in shivers once more, he didn't need that same stuff from a damn squire.

Once the sword passed overhead, he righted himself by rising at the waist and lifting one leg to plant his foot firmly on the ground, and push forwards with enough momentum to lift the other leg as well. Now, the ankles. His plan was to thread himself between Garland's knees while allowing the string to unravel from between his paws, letting it billow out and wrap around both legs as he slid between them. Then he could tighten them on his way out the back, and hopefully trip the man up. Unfortunately.. there was one fatal flaw. He was in the prime position - ready to sprint between the legs, both paws spread and the thread ready to be unraveled. As he started to unravel it, running towards Garland.. it didn't billow out. Even as he began to pick up speed, it wouldn't b billow out.. it just hung lazily between his paws, too thin to be able to pick up any air resistance. "Shyke, how do you even use these things..."

He'd only had basic experience with them. He was still learning exactly what they could be used for, unfortunately. Apparently tripping people up was going to be harder with a piece of string than he thought.. after all, how the shyke was he supposed to wrap the thing around their legs in the first place? Uhhh. As he stared at the string in his paws, suddenly embarrassed, he could hear Ser Iros in the background stopping mid-conversation with whoever it was he'd been talking with before. "Oh yeah, tactics are always important. Unfortunately, they're useless if you don't have the strength to carry out your plan - thankfully Squire Archailist at least has some brains in his he--..." Suppose it's time for a new plan then.

The first thing that came to mind was to wrap the damn thing around the boys throat.. well, it'd likely get the results he wanted, so why the petch not give it a go?

[Garland]

Garland's plan didn't work, or at least not the way he intended. Pulling back and jumping over the Pycon squire, and then spiriting towards his shield, he quickly dropped his sword and took up an open position with his shield, in normal combat it would be stupid to stand like this with a shield, but right now, this wasn't normal combat, this was fighting with a miniature squire that was way above him in terms of skill.

He had his shield to the side, instead of it being up to defend his torso and body. This way, he can see his opponent and hopefully be able to react in time to dodge and then counter-attack. He looked at the squirrel's weapon, he didn't really understand how a piece of string can be a weapon but whatever floats his boat. Though he could see how his weapon could choke him if he gotten up to him.

Catherine closed her notebook, and then crossed her arms. "He's done. It's only a matter of time now. Catherine looked over to Ser Iros. "He's getting tired, and that can lead to him losing his sight on his opponent. So, do you have the time?"

Garland held his shield on his side and breathed in slowly, to try to calm himself down, he knew that this fight was lost when it started, and it would have ended earlier if it wasn't for Ser Iros. He wanted to at least hold out for more than ten chimes though.

The crowd was watching intently on the fight. Hopefully they couldn't tell Garland's tired state. The crowd was talking among themselves, the younger squires were guessing who would win, but the older knights already knew the outcome.