62*
Red Skys and Royal Cards
“Keep your guard up at all times if you don’t want to get hurt!” Key shouted at us frustrated.
We were doing physical combat again, and it was funny as hell. I made sure I was doing things on the same level as my classmates; I had to refrain from bursting out into a fit of laughter every time my partner made a big mistake. I had to refrain from hurting her or attacking at all the places she left open for a major attack. She never kept her guard up long enough to do anything, she left so many places open for attack and didn’t notice when she did.
Unfortunately I had to leave myself open as well if I wanted to seem like I was at her level. She didn’t even see any of the places I left my side, middle or head open for an easy attack. I was slow and a little careless about what I was doing like she was, but still I knew when I was vulnerable and knew how to guard myself if she did anything. I knew myself and where I was leaving myself open to get hurt, but I also knew how to protect myself in a second if she ever managed to do anything.
As I pretended to not know much about what I was doing, I was always watching her. I knew every spot she left open, every weak point she had. I watched her moves with the utmost attention, and could predict where she would strike with just the smallest of moves from her muscles. I knew when she would attack and when she would bluff or second-guess before she even did anything.
I was using this for training my mind on how to predict attacks and avoid getting hit, all while not actually hitting her myself. I would let my eyes wander to the other pairs around the park and chuckle in my head at them, but I never let my concentration on my partner waver. I just made it look like I had. Faking it had become pretty easy.
“Have I taught you nothing!” Key continued to rage, “If you leave yourselves open, you are only foretelling your loss.”
Yeah, he isn’t impressed with us, not one bit. And he wasn’t wrong in that aspect, the more you left open the easier it is for someone to take you down. Even purposely leaving myself open was making me a little nervous, if I wasn’t able to cover myself properly and quick enough I wouldn’t be able to last long in any fight.
If I left myself open, I always did it with the thought in mind that if I placed myself in a way that both left the area open and I was able to quickly guard it again I would be fine. So each spot I left open I could cover if I knew she was aiming for it. All of her open areas were by mistake only and she wasn’t able to cover them at all.
My partner aimed a punch towards my left cheek. The force behind it was seriously lacking and would do nothing if it actually managed to hit its target. Problem two behind this, was she was aiming for an area I was covering, my side was wide open and vulnerable, but she was aiming for the one place I was currently trying to guard. Stupid.
Before her fist could get anywhere close to hitting me I reached out a grabbed her fist in my hand and twisted her around so I locked her arm behind her back. Rolling my eyes I let her go giving her a small push away from me. She stumbled forward before regaining her balance, spinning around to glare at me.
“What was that for!” She hissed at me.
And I think she is dumb on top of just being stupid. We were in a class where we are supposed to fight, am I supposed to just let her hit me? Yeah, not going to happen, not unless she can manage to aim for a spot I want her to. I was making it so obvious where I was leaving myself open and she was doing nothing about it.
“I was doing what we were told to do.” I answered like it was the most basic thing in the world.
Making a sound of aggravation she came back over and did such a poor job at guarding her right side. I really wanted to just kick my leg out and send her flying to the side and end this already, but that would be a bad idea right now.
Mimicking her to the best of my ability, I in turn left my left side open completely. I made sure to watch for anything that could hurt me there and was ready if something happened but made sure it looked completely open and I was unaware of this fact.
We just stood there facing each other she would dart her eyes around, watching me as best she could. She was clearly looking for somewhere she could hit me, my weak point. I made it very obvious and yet she still didn’t know anything. My gods it was getting a little ridiculous, but I wasn’t going to make the first move.
I didn’t have to make the first move after all. But neither did my partner. A stick was aimed precisely at my open left side from behind me. I saw the stick coming from the corner of my eye and I was not going to let it hit me. The idiot who would aim a stick at my side while I was seemingly unaware was just plain dumb.
Yeah, I wasn’t leaving any part of my body open without making sure I could guard it in a moments notice. So watching the stick swing closer to me I got ready to grab it. As soon as it was close enough to me, I swung my right arm down and grabbed the stick tightly using the same amount of force to stop it from hitting me and keeping it away from my body.
My partner looked at me with wide eyes and mouth slightly open. Growling lowly I kept a firm hold on the stick and turned around to see who was dumb enough to try and hit me with this stupid stick.
I wasn’t expecting to be looking up at my instructor. His firm but light grip on the other end of the stick made it clear that he was the one aiming for my open spot. I kept my eyes locked on his as I shoved the end of the stick I was holding away from me and towards the ground. I wasn’t impressed that he had tried that.
Our eyes never parted as we watched each other. I made sure to keep an eye out for if he tried that stunt again. My arms at my side as I looked up at him relaxed. The muscle in his arm twitched a second later the stuck was sailing towards my shoulder.
I kept my eyes on him as I raised my left hand and grabbed hold of it again making sure to stop it completely. Figures he would try that again, I’m not letting my guard down, Key.
“Can you please stop trying to hit me.” I asked him calmly. My grip on his stick never letting up as I spoke to him.
“See me after class, Miss. Rouge.” He replied as I let his
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