Practice Makes Perfect..

[Lienn~]

Training is the key to any good fighter. In a readied stance, Lienn faced her target, which for now was a realistically sized scarecrow (for lack of a better name) on a stick around fifteen to twenty feet from her current position. On the ground in front of her lay metal disks that were a bit smaller than the average cd. Their edges weren’t necessarily sharp, but could do considerable damage when propelled at high speeds. She had ditched her peasant skirt for a pair of khaki capris and a rosy tunic that didn’t hinder her movement like a skirt would, but still allowed for flexibility. Light blonde tresses were pulled back into a single pleat that fell snugly between her shoulder blades.

She extended her left hand, palm up, and lifted it a few inches. In doing so, three of the disks raised themselves from the ground, hovering at just about eye level. Changing her footing slightly by moving her right foot forward so that she was facing the target from the side, she leaned her weight back on her left foot as she lowered her center of balance. She placed her right hand to hover an inch or so over her left, and fast as lightning, slid her right hand forward in three quick successions, the disks flying at the target as if they had come right from her hands, and in the blink of an eye had lodged themselves in what would be the chest of the target, disappearing completely within the sewn cotton exterior.

Many people believed that telekinesis is only manifested in the mind, but few realize that the body’s kinetics are also involved in the movement of objects. It is two thirds of the word after all. Sometimes it could be as simple as the flick of a finger or a tip of the hand, but stance and concentration increase the potency of this power phenomenally. Another good thing about telekinesis was that she didn’t need incantations or silly spells to call up her power either, like those the historian was trying to teach them in the beginners’ class. She didn’t have the patience nor the attention to remember those kind of things, and luckily, she didn’t necessarily have to.

Grinning, she admired her handiwork, you could hardly see the holes where the disks had entered the cotton and straw manikin, meaning that they were just as fatal with little sign of a wound. Despite these good results, the blonde girl let out a sigh, a small frown forming on her deceptively delicate features. Honing her powers was good and all, but she couldn’t truly test her advancement unless she faced something that did more than just stand there..this would never happen in a true battle.

[Junpei]

Junpei Taltos sighed, his Phae was out somewhere shopping for dinner tonight and he had nothing to do. He still had the ring on and his thumb idly spun it on the left ring finger it sat on, he bit his lower lip as he thought of something to do. He really needed to stop doing that as well, chewing on his lip, he was going to break it open one of these days and bleed. Oh well, all he needed right now was to get his mind of off Phaedra, which meant one thing for the 17 year old male, training.

He had been here once before, to have a fight with a man who used cards to summon, Junpei had finished him off in three quick moves, hardly the challenge he had expected from his first spar at the academy. Hopefully this time there would be someone here who could present him with a challenge and prove to be a much more exciting fight.

Stepping out onto the calm field of that was th training grounds a person instantly caught Junpei's eye, a psychic. Xeryth was a psychic but Junpei had yet to fight him, maybe fighting one who didn't know him, wouldn't hold back, wouldn't worry about hurting a 'friend'. Junpei let his spear rest easily on his back, he would need it this fight, he had just watched that girl throw three metal disks into a dummy target. A few seconds later had him standing across from the girl, next to the dummy target.

"Psychic eh? Care to fight a moving target instead of these poor excuses for training dummies?"

Junpei let his right hand remain at his side while his left came up to scratch under his familiars chin, speaking of Loish he was rather quiet today. Then again the little lizard hadn't been sleeping well with Junpei being in constant study and play.

[Lienn~]

Lienn blinked at the sudden appearance of the boy, he seemed to have come out of nowhere. She didn't recognize him either, which wasn't too surprising as she was fairly new here. A small smirk formed on her pouty red lips as he addressed her by her ability, quite forward of him, but she didn't mind.

"Yes, I suppose I am."

He looked a bit younger than her, but he was taller. With a pulling motion of her hand, she summoned the three silver discs from the dummy and they fell into her open palm.

"Well, it would be nice to fight something that was a little less submissive. I accept."

She replied with a grin, her pale eyes glinting. This should be fun, he appeared to be a formidable opponent, and a good match for her first battle here..but she wasn't about to admit this to him. Her posture was casual and she seemed almost uninterested as the discs spun in her hand, but it was all an act. Catch your opponent offguard first and the battle's half won. She tore her attention from the spinning discs to consider the boy, her gaze cool and calm.

"I'm Lienn, by the way. Who are you?"

[Junpei]

Junpei smirked, a small one, but it was there. He bit his lower lip with that same smirk on his face as she introduced herself, Lienn it seemed. Giving her a slight bow Junpei came up, a rather serious look on her face, now he was ready to fight.

"Junpei, and by the looks of things you're ready to go."

Junpei stood right where he was, not wanting to seem rude he would give her the benefit of the first move. He was afterall already casting behind his back. It wasn't even noticable to her, just a small black flame that sat in his right palm, which was now sitting right behind the small of his back. All he need do is remove those annoying disks from play and then trap her using his own set of spells. Luckily she probably thaught he would need to word spells, Nether Fire however did not require such a feat, and as such Junpei could merely think it and have his fire. He had mastered it, turned his own spell out of it, two actually. He still had his nether bolt as well, which he could tone down in this fight. He had actually considered starting with it, a powerful black bolt would more than likely suprise her.

Now that he thought of it she didn't know that he was a... wait. She's a psychic, meaning she could read minds, possibly. Taking the time Junpei set up mental barriers. To a psychic they might seem like giant stone walls that she would have to tear down to get inside. This was not a great feat for Junpei however. He had spent years with a small psychic, Loish, thus he was able to counter psychics fairly well, at least on the mind playing field.

[Lienn~]

She watched his eyes very closely. No matter how blank or indifferent anyone can make their facial features to mask their thoughts, there is no way they can totally shield their eyes short of a hat or a blindfold. There it was, when he smirked. No doubt he was making preparations as she planned her first move, and mental ones by the looks of it, as he simply stood there, not even to guard himself physically. He even had a hand behind his back. It could be carelessness, or he could already be planning something. He said she was a psychic, but he was only half right. She could move things with her mind but she couldn’t read other people’s minds…as far as she could tell. But if you watch a person’s movements and facial expressions, you’re more or less doing the same thing. She could safely assume that he assumed that she could, and even if he wasn’t, she could make him think that anyway. It would be a good thing to play off as their fight progressed, especially if she found she couldn’t overpower him physically, which seemed quite likely. It was all about mind games in the end, strength was only an afterthought.

“Alright, I suppose I’ve got the first move?”

She returned his bow, bending slightly from the middle and nodding her head. She cast a quick glance at the three other metal discs that lay on the ground between them. They were partially hidden in the grass, and instead of burdening her other hand with them, she left them there for the time being. And beside, there was no way he could use them, and even if he did, she could always stop them without so much as a blink, so they were perfectly safe. She transferred one of the discs to her opposite hand and it immediately disappeared behind her back. It was a neat magic trick, and obviously unimpressive. But impression wasn’t the key here, it was distraction. Where did it go? No one knows..

“I wouldn’t start with that if I were you..”

She said offhandedly, juggling the remaining two discs between her hands. She was playing on a fluke, however, as she didn’t know exactly what he was planning, but it was the first step to getting under his skin. But he didn’t know that. If she could get him to question his moves, for even a moment, she could get the upper hand. Almost immediately after this comment, she (finally) launched her attack, sending the two discs flying at him with the same movement and stance she had used earlier at the dummy, lowering her center of balance in the process. They were slightly slower than the former, however, as she wasn’t really keen on trying to kill him. There was a split second gap between the two discs though, so if he tried to stop the first one, the second one would make contact (and visa versa), and stopping them at the same time would be relatively difficult because of this gap. They were also about a foot apart width-wise so a simple sidestep wouldn’t evade them either. It was a relatively weak opening move, as he had already seen a version of this, but she wasn’t about to display the full extent of her power just yet, as that would be quite foolish.

[Junpei]

Junpei almost immediately knew she was trying to get under his skin, she tried to pretend she knew his move, to bad she couldn't possibly know. The Nether Fire was only a spark, not visable to her in any way. She hadn't intruded his mind, she wasn't even trying, so naturally he took away some power from that and focused it more on his movements. She began with a simple attack, move both disks at him at a relatively high speed. Simple enough but not effective enough. Her one simple attack would spell her doom within thirty seconds.

He waited, just stood there as the disks headed for him nd tried to take him down. It was only two however so she still had the third, he would have to suspect it was behind her back. He smiled, they were an inch from him, and he muttered one word adn was gone. Completely vanished and she would ave no idea where he was, untill it was to late. He reappeared behind her, a teleport trick, and grabbed the disk there, then raised the hand that contained a Nether Fire spell and held it at the back of her head, just far enough away so the fire wouldn't burn.

"To slow, move and I can set off a fireball that will make you vaporize. Give up?"

She wouldn't give up, she was probably to stubborn for that, but Junpei knew how to end fights quickly and deadly. The threat of death made most recosider if it was good to fight him, he was afterall a practiced mage and had killed before. This was nothing new to him, as much as Phae had warmed his heart, in battle he was still cold hearted and a killer.

[Lienn~]

Lienn grinned. The third disc wasn't behind her back, and by teleporting behind her, she could tell that he had intended to take it, much good it would do him. She still had three on the ground. But he had made a mistake, he hadn't tried to pin her hands behind her back or anything, she was still free to move. So he had threatened her, threats meant nothing, especially in battle. She felt the fireball directly behind her, nether fire, eh? It sounded unfamiliar, but anything with the word 'fire' in it demands a bit of wariness. But instead of frezing in fear like he had hoped, her mind began reeling.

"Then why haven't you already?"

She asked bravely, referring to vaporizing her. The reason was obvious, of course. They weren't out to kill eachother, they were simply training. And what was the use of training if you were both dead? Exactly. She simply laughed at his offer of surrender, they had hardly started. She turned her attention to the ground, where the third disc was idling secretly a fet feet away from her. Her original plan had been to catch him in the back when he was preoccupied with her weak frontal attack, but she had stopped once he disappeared.

"I don't give up that easily.."

She smirked over her shoulder before sending the disc flying up at his hand behind her head at such a speed that upon contact with his hand, was bound to put out the fire for at least a moment or two. At the same time, she ducked, and with a ground-level crescent kick, tripped his feet out from under him. He was wrong on one thing, due to her slight frame, she was actually quite fast, if not particularly strong. But he had teleportation on his side, and she would have to keep that in mind.

[Junpei]

Sigh, when would these people learn to pay attention to an opponent's previous moves and build on them? She knew, or at least he hoped she did, that he could easily teleport out of this whole ordeal, what she didn't know however, was that Nether Fire had been modified by Junpei. Smiling to himself he teleported once more, this time in front of her so the disks missed, the crescent kick went wide, and then whole attack was null and void from the start. Smiling to himself Junpei targeted one of the disks that had just gone by and raised his hand to it.

"Pretty proud of those disks aren't you? Hope you can find new ones."

Junpei smiled devilishly as he closed his palm around one of the disks mid air and it exploded into flames, flames that ate threw it and melted it to a puddle in the air, and left the disk to land as such. Funny thing was, now a soft black snow fell around them, and Junpei was quickly using it to build up his dark connection.

"So, wanna give up?"

He said bringing his hand back out. He was right around 60% energy, enough to last almost this entire fight if she chose to throw more of those damn disks at him.

[Lienn~]

Lienn felt that she only kicked air as Junpei teleported away again. Regaining her stance, she faced him, frowning slightly...he melted one of her discs!?!? The way he was taunting her, she guessed he assumed it would upset her when in fact she was relatively indifferent about the matter. He was simply trying to build up his image..intimidate her. Hah, she laughed inwardly. A cruel smirk graced the girl's face as she spoke, her voice even and cool.

"You think you're quite impressive, eh? Brave, strong, courageous perhaps? But all I see in front of me is a coward."

The smirk widened as she said this, an evil gleam forming in her eyes.

"Why won't you stay still, Junpei? Always running away..our fight won't progress anywhere at this rate, I may have to change my tactic.."

The discs fell uselessly to the ground as she found another target: him. Instead of throwing things at him, which seemed relatively ineffective, she decided to send her power at him directly. Rooting him to his spot, the air molecules even seemed to press themselves against him, making movement impossible. As for his teleporting trick, that was also temporarily disabled as she placed an invisible tether to his ankle directly to her, so even if he did try to teleport, he'd be pulled right back.

Now that all that was arranged to her liking, she vaulted herself at him, executing a kick to his stomach and a rabbit punch at his face. If the direct apporach didn't work, she didn't know what would..

[Junpei]

She talked to much, way to much. Maybe she was trying to play a mind game? Oh well, Junpei didn't care, all he knew was that she was trying to squeeze him to death with air and had abandoned the disks. To bad Junpei was used to these kinds of ordeals. Being a summoner put you in a few tight spots, mainly summons who turned on their masters. Oh well, didn't matter now. All that really mattered was that she was now coming straight at him with a kick an punch, rather interesting combo but none the less, he could easily move with no air restriction.

His right foot slid right and his left slid back, he nimbly dodged the kick. The punch came next and he ducked his shoulder left of it. He came up inside her arm (you never specified which arm or leg) and his head vaulted forward. A sickening crunch would probably follow as Lienn's forward momentum would carry her and her face into Junpei's forehead, which was the correct attack he desired. His feet still worked under him to make it so when she fell he would be standing over her, ready for another attack. She would probably have a broken nose if this worked, nothing that would show, but it would hurt like hell.

(assuming attack succeeds)

Junpei looked down at Lienn and smiled, his arms were up and ready to block anything she threw at him. The smirk on his face told it all, she would not be winning this round, not now. She was a bit faster than him yes, but he had strength, it was obvious from his body. Maybe she would become a formidable fighter one day, at least to him, but for now he KNEW he had the upper hand on her.

[Lienn~]

Lienn realized what he was doing about a milisecond before impact with his forehead. Or at least she guessed it was about a milisecond, things were going too feast for her to tell. Abandoning her 'keep-him-rooted-to-the-ground' approach, she pushed against the air as hard as she could to slow her momentum. She still ran into him, it was impossible to dodge completely, but the result was less severe than he had hoped. Shifting her weight, she landed on the ground behind him, her feet sliding slightly in the grass as she came to a stop. She touched her nose delicately, it smarted something fierce but at least it wasn't broken. Fractured maybe, she reasoned, wiggling it and testing out the damage, looking somewhat like a bunny rabbit as she did so.

Ignoring the pain spreading in her face, ashen eyes glanced up determinedly at Junpei, frowning. So now what? She was quickly running out of options...not to mention ideas. Suddenly a grin spread across her face, eyes lighting up. He had put up his arms to fend off any futher blunt attack, so she would just have to be sneaky. Her discs were useless, at least against him. Her mind tricks didn't seem to be working either, but he could just be masking his responses...

Condensing the air behind his feet until it was basically an undetectable solid, she drew it up quick, tripping his feet out from under him. She took that exact moment to pounce, pinning him to the ground with and elbow at his throat and a knee in his gut. With her other hand she created an invisible dome around his hands, so that even if he did summon that black fire again, it wouldn't (and couldn't) go anywhere.

[Junpei]

He realized to late that she was tripping him and he was on his back soon after, luckily he had the smarts to tuck his legs in and take the force of the fall on his back, here it would hurt later but for now, be a life saver. Being spread out on the ground equaled one thing, easy pins. Junpei had learned that little trick from wrestling around with his little brother.

Finding Lienn on top of him, her forearm pressed to his neck he could only smirk up at her. She had just thrown herself onto him, and his feet were tucked in enough to let him gain leverage. Kicking both feet out at once he would catch Lienn in the stomach and quite literally throw her off him. Within and instant he had flipped back up into a standing position with his feet firmly planted and his hands back to a semi brawlers stance. He was ready for anything she threw at him.

"Same trick won't work twice."

[Lienn~]

Finding herself once again flung through the air, Lienn cursed inwardly. Getting back onto her feet, clutching her stomach momentarily as she regain her balance, she fixed her gaze upon her opponent, eyes flashing. He thought that getting the best of her again and again would distinguish her resolve, when in fact it just made it stronger.

"I'll remember that.."

She grunted, the air still returning to her lungs. Time for another change of tactic. Instead of being blindly offensive like she had been, she waited for him to make a move. Her power was best on the defensive level anyway, which was probably why she wasn't getting anywhere.