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[Alexander Faircroft]

Continuation of Rhythm, And Controlling It.

Alex took a moment sitting on the edge of the bench. Apparently Numia was apologetic for what she’d done. He just held a hand up and more or less asked her to stop with it. A few deep breaths passed and he took a moment. Eventually rising off of the bench again. That was going to be sore for a few days. He exhaled slowly eyes still closed. If it was an honest mistake he’d let it slide, but there had been so many other attempts form other female squires in the past that there was always that lingering possibility in the back of his head.

“It’s ok…Just give me a moment or two to… Deal.” He spoke again with the much greater depth to his voice. Another couple of ticks passed and he rose again still a little shaky in the legs but able to focus once again. Pycons… It wasn’t going to work against them bare handed. Alex instead headed down the steps quickly saying “Wait right there.” He returned a couple of moments later arriving back with a wooden sword. Steel core and wooden it was a fake replica of his bastard sword. He whirled the blade around his head the stiff and much safer wood flowing near effortlessly. Being out of his much heavier armour gave him a significant speed boost.

“Alright then Numia… Time for round two.” He sharpened his eyes and immediately took a lunging strike towards her then leapt back whether it hit or missed. Getting up close versus a pycon was a death sentence. He thought he’d be able to handle it but now that wasn’t a certainty in his head. They were beyond difficult to deal with. He kept distance between them. Against Ball he’d learned how to control the range of himself and his opponents and here he was going to showcase just how far he’d come when he held a blade in his hands against when he didn’t.

[Numia]

Numia fell silent with her apologies, still feeling bad when Alex raised his hand in a motion indicative of asking her to stop. She watched the squire try to rise from the bench only to fall back down. She heard him breathe heavily, focusing on banishing away the pain from her earlier strike but she could tell that her hit had hurt him severely. It seemed like this was an unfair weakness humans had to Pycon, was she really at a disadvantage despite her minuscule size? Or did she really have the upper hand?

Alex said he needed a moment, but shortly after that he seemed to rise verily and make his way towards the weapon rack. Numia looked at the weapon, it appeared as though it could inflict more damage than Alex' fists ever could and the reach of it more than doubled the length of his arm. It would be much harder for her to close the distance, and she knew from her last fight that he was just going to keep his distance as much as possible. Numia had to think of a plan to get in close if she was to fight against a weapon.

Numia was still a bit injured from her last fight, her right arm was a little thin and the clay was taking time to reform. Why was it taking so long? More importantly, why did it hurt when there was nothing to protect with that except her nexus? Numia focused on trying to calm herself, attempting to banish away the pain that lingered in her mind like a red haze. She thought of the fight, she thought of having her limbs regenerate, to become more responsive to her commands of doing so.

By the time she was ready, Alex surprised her by charging forward to deliver the first strike. He lunged at her, and she responded by charging forward knowing she had to close the gap. Numia didn’t bother jumping this time, learning from her past experience fighting him that a low profile was sometimes preferred to jumping. By her will, her elbow reformed into a thinner spike as she charged forward and some of her clay mass was shifted to her arms to make them thicker. Her clay compacted and began to fill with tension, more like human muscle so she could better deliver a strike.

Numia breathed in sharply, ducking as she ran to make herself the height of an inch just like last time. It appeared that Alex hadn’t learned his lesson, the blade skidded over her after she made her height profile so low. Numia did realize that her random nature did make a strike tricky, Alex probably didn’t know if she was going to jump or duck. When Numia made her way past his blade, she saw Alex’ feet move and heard the pull back of his sword. So, he was going to keep his distance from her.

Numia had an idea from earlier that she wanted to try, another tactic that she wanted to try. Numia ran forward while Alex was likely recovering his balance from the jump back, not wanting to give him any slack. She thought of the most jarring thing she could say, and she sucked in air to get herself ready. “REEEEEEE!” Numia screeched with her best imitation of a hawk cry. It was poor, but she threw her entire voice into it into the point of straining to make him flinch and make a poor move. Then, Numia jumped at his shins and cocked her arm back, feeling her clay contract as she poured energy into it and attempted to slam her arm into him.

Numia's song today was that she was a bird of prey!

[Alexander Faircroft]

Fighting with Pycons was always a challenge regardless of their level of skill as Alex had learnt, however when he struck out with his blade it caught nothing, sliced air. Still the retreat and maintenance of distance was the thing he needed to keep here back and away from him. Control the range of the fight and the pacing and not let her get in close again. His balance held as he landed shifting his weight upon the sliding sands. He ground a well for his heel to sit in as something pierced the air. The cry of a hawk loud screeching something that seemed to come from below? Oh crap.

He spotted her leaping off of the ground even with the ringing in his ears now over taking him he Ground his foot in and took a heartbeat to measure the distance. And in a single motion brought the edge of his wooden blade towards her. He was attempting to shift her out of the path to knock her away from him as he did so. But instead of remaining standing his left hand pressed into his ear as he dropped to one knee again. The pain ringing through his head a clear issue He realized that the strike he was trying to take probably wouldn’t work. Instead he chose option two. Being so low to the ground now he instead rolled his weight around his shoulders tumbling into the sand to try and get a better position.

Rising now away from her leap he struck out with his blade again. The added reach acting like a bat. He intended to score a hard and firm strike but focused on speed over power as usual. No point in a hard hit if he couldn’t hit. Given by the thinness of her arm now that he could see it she was having difficulty holding together. But there was a small point of contention within his mind. He remembered that Nivel had pulled a length of string from her own body, and that meant that there could be untold tricks within Pycons too. Was there no end to the sheer amount of advantages they held?

Varied tactics, speed, power, technique, surprise. Every tactic he’d learned it seemed each and every pycon before him had a string grasp on more than he did. He hissed out a breath from between his teeth and Kicked out a plume of sand rolling away whether his trike connected or not. Almost flailing like a child against a wasp but in this instance with the pain she‘d delivered with each hit. He wasn’t taking any more chances.

[Numia]

Numia kept her eyes on the prize, Alex's shins. She failed to notice him reach up to grab his ear in pain but her tactic seemed to have the desired effect. However, then in one motion Alex slipped to the side and fell to the ground. Numia turned her head to watch him but all she saw was the wooden rod of a training sword hurtling towards her like a club. She couldn't change direction as she soared where Alex once was, and she tried to angle herself to avoid the hit but it didn't work as intended. The sword slammed into her legs, forcing her spikes against her and causing her to roll over the sword like a ball. She flipped through the air, down and up merging seamlessly as pain flooded through her. Then, her head hit the dirt in the soft mound of arena sand that Alex had dug his heels to create.

Numia tried to right herself, getting to her feet only to realize she had lost all of her breath and letting in some air. She looked at Alex who seemed to be having mild frustration, but he hadn't yet signaled for her to end the fight. Her knee spikes were at a sharp angle towards her torso so she spent a tick focusing on angling them out so she could run. Numia dashed forward at the flailing Alex again. There was already a lot of dust in the air from him kicking toward her, it seemed like a good moment to capitalize on. Numia flung scoops of arena sand into the air like an ant lion as she ran towards him, losing a little speed but making her hard to track. She listened for him, hearing the infrasonic beat of his heart and the scuff of his feet. She aimed to get around to his side this time and move at an odd angle instead of running head-on, like the first time she fought him. When she did, she kicked off with her feet and clenched the clay in her arm as she jumped at him with another punch shooting forward.

[Alexander Faircroft]

He’d clipped her with the rolling attack. Getting out of the way of the strike and swinging at her from behind seemed to have done the trick. He rubbed his right shoulder now with his left hand. Taking a tumble in the sand at an odd angle it appeared rolled his shoulder a little making it sore to swing. But that was a small price to get a strike back. Shaking his head again trying to get the ringing to stop he watched as the plume of sand seemed to grow larger. Unable to tell if it was just a side effect of the pain in his head or actually growing he took another swipe through it cutting clean through the cloud. Only to see that Numia wasn't there.

Where’d she gone, scanning his eyes across the ground he spotted a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. There! Alex took a swing to the side rolling with the hit trying to keep himself moving but low, trying to keep the distance up. Instead though he caught nothing but a plume of sand she’d thrown to distract him. And then he felt a sudden snap of pain in his left leg. She’d managed to slip through his defence and strike him again. He brushed his fore arm along his left shin and rolled away again trying to keep the distance between them.

Right, so they can get into my defences through use of tactics on sand. Can get around me thanks to their small size. They’re fast, they’re strong. They’re incredibly hard to hit. Above all they’re versatile, and no two are the same. Where’s the weakness? There has to be something I can exploit… Alex thought with his head moving a mile a tick, his heartbeat however was only slightly raised now. Exertion more than anything else. He was blitzing through what little energy he’d regained sitting on the bench and recovering from her… Less than fair strike. In any case though he couldn’t find an opening, any weakness.

[Numia]

Numia swelled with pride when her punch smacked into Alex, and as he scrambled away she jumped back to watch him. Her entire body ached, rattled from the spar and she was breathing more intensely now. She could tell that Alex was worse for wear too, and he seemed to have a look on his face that indicated he was having trouble with the fight coupled with the fact that he began to hesitate in the spar. There was no counter attack or attempt to prepare a defense of some sort that she could see. Was he discouraged, or just thinking really hard? Numia wanted to give him advice, but she didn't feel as if she could give the proper advice due to her level of skill. Still, she wanted to encourage him and give him the drive to beat her as much as she wanted to win.

"Alex, hold on a moment. You've hesitated, can I help you?" Numia asked, standing six feet away from him. Her mind swarmed as she thought about what gave her the most trouble when she fought him. "It makes it hard for me when you keep your distance, so I have to use what's available for me. You could keep your limb forward as bait and use it to plan a defense." She tried to think of some more things, but she could only point out her own inadequacies. "I don't hit very hard, nor can I jump that high. You could take my hit with a planned counter and I've usually seen you with armor on. I don't know much about swordsmanship or how that would work because I've never used a weapon before. You could also kick me or even bowl me over with a wave of sand when I’m close since I’m so low to the ground, you seem to rely on your upper body a lot..."

She wasn’t a very good teacher, and what she said came out as a mish-mash of ideas and observations. Numia did hope he would get something out of it though, even as she focused on regrowing her damaged limbs and soothing herself from the damage she had sustained. When Alex signaled he was ready, Numia dashed forward again with another punch aimed at his shins to see if he would try anything new.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Each passing moment against Pycons was a challenge in of itself. Aiming at something that small moving that fast refined his accuracy for his strikes at an accelerated pace. Keeping track improved his foresight and ability to discern where and when they would leap out at him. He had to plan ahead thinking for each possible circumstance aiming from every angle. Though as he was about to take another swing she asked him to pause if she could help him? Trying to give him a boost via pointing out where she fell and give him hints on using bait. Her words held merit but there was something about that which didn’t sit too well to him.

“Numia. As much as I appreciate the help. You’re putting yourself down too much, and just fighting a pycon even in training is helping me improve in leaps and bounds. Yourself, Ball, and Archie. All three of you have helped significantly and because of this. I’m learning to think a little more creatively.” He smirked and shifted his footing. A soon as he nodded for her to continue she rushed him darting as fast as she could. Same target again. Shins. Working on what he knew of her and her attack patterns by this point he lifted hia hand to the tip of the sword and as he did he charged on. The moment she got within range of him he lifted his foot over hear stepping past completely and placing his other hand on the tip of the sword brought the hilt around like a club using the full weight of the lower half of the blade in a large arching swing from his shoulder through his hips towards her.

He was attempting to fire her off and away from him again with a huge and heavy golf swing. A low strike with a high start. Perfect in his mind for dealing with someone so close to the ground. However he doubted this would work with Archie or ball. Those two would have possibly just grabbed a hold of the blade and rode it around with the swing. Though against Numia he felt he had a much better chance of this working. In fact he was praying it would work without hurting her too badly.

[Numia]

Alex seemed to respond in a truthful fashion. It was true that she tended to create some sort of standard for herself that she struggled to achieve, often lashing at herself with self-deprecating thoughts. Her music helped with that, but she wasn’t using her fiddle in combat because she didn’t want it to get damaged. At the same time, she was surprised to hear that the human had fought against other Pycon as creative as her including one she knew already, but at the same time he did seem to have some experience with them. He operated in such a way that made it difficult for Numia to get in a punch without being clever.

Numia tried to get in close to him, but he surprised her when he started to charge as well. She expected him to swing with his sword, or kick her as she suggested. Still, his shins seemed like good targets. Numia dug her toes into the ground to catapult herself forward and pick up speed, thrusting her balled hand out for a well-timed punch but she slipped. As Numia fell head over heel Alex lifted his foot and in its place a shadow appeared as he stepped over her. With the sun blotted out, what happened next was colossally impactful. Numia felt something slam into her, hard. The impact of Alex’s sword managed to hit her directly, and it carried her through the air fully reversing her direction. She was completely disoriented, lost in a haze of sounds, pain, and surprise.

Numia barreled through the air, spinning like a ball as she arced like a bell curve and landed more than twenty feet away, first slamming into a wall and further crushing her. She fell to the ground in a puff of dirt, paralyzed entirely. The pain was so great that she could not think for herself, trying to wrestle against it to so much as remodel herself slightly. Her entire body was crumpled, with each of her spikes bent severely and her leg jutting off to one side. One of her ear tips had broken off, and her face was almost unrecognizable. She slowly put herself together to the point where she could talk again with the goal of diffusing Alex’s potential worry about her so that he wouldn’t beat himself up about it. There was about a chime of silence before she uttered the words “g-good one, A-alex. I’ll n-need a f-few more chimes.“ Luckily for her, Numia's nexus had proven to be quite resilient.

[Alexander Faircroft]

His strike had worked, he’d managed to leap over her and strike. A large wheeling strike filled with power form an angle she didn’t expect. He’d hit her and felt the reverberation of the strike flowing up his arms. The shake resonated in his shoulders and in that split second with the sheer amount of force he knew he’d done something wrong. Something dawned in his mind telling him he’d done too much. He dropped the sword and ran over to where he watched her land. He skidded across the ground the sand shifting beneath him as he did so only to see the mangled form she lay in.

I should have just called it when I felt at a loss I should have just stopped there but no I had to keep pushing keep going. Damnit! He heard her voice slightly terrified that he’d actually killed her. Thankfully she was still alive if a little smashed. He exhaled a heavy breath of relief. “I’m so sorry…I put too much force into the swing. Just stay still.” He spoke as he cupped his hands into the sand and lifted her along with a good portion of the training rounds sand in his hands. Despite the size she was still much heavier than he’d thought. He carefully walked back over to the bench trying to keep his arms rock steady so that he didn’t drop her.

“I’m so, so sorry about that. Looks like it’s going to be you needing a break this time.” Trying to make much lighter of the situation when on his mind he was going over again and again how any harder may have killed her. Beating himself up again and again for it but trying his best to not let it show. He tried to hold back from just setting off on a tirade of how sorry he was for almost doing the unthinkable.

[Numia]

As Numia worked to reconstruct herself, Alex came over and picked her up off the ground. The warm sand enveloped her and made it easier for her to focus on regaining her form. Maddening pain seemed to accompany any part of her which has gotten smashed, and while she was getting used to it slowly she still had a long way to go. When Alex apologized to her, she was reminded of the time she spent with him again. The two had formed a close bond over mutual loss and failure, and it definitely showed. "Please don't worry." Her voice was already getting clearer, the pain dimming as she shifted her clay around slowly. Alex set her down on the bench.

"There is no need to apologize, I'm ... fine. I can come back from a lot of things so long as my nexus remains intact. It's just pain, it should go away soon." Numia didn't want Alex to worry about her, if he paid her too much attention she feared he might get killed in a real fight trying to protect her from another losing battle she would have survived. The Pycon always wanted to look out for her friend. Several chimes passed, Numia in deep concentration as she shifted out all the painful thoughts and worries in her mind to better open her up to reforming her damaged body. When she was done, a wave of exhaustion overcame her. All of this reforming and fighting had put a burn in her body that seemed to make her clay harder, and she needed rest.

"I'll rest a few bells, actually. I could use a nap. We will spar again later this afternoon, okay?"

With that, Numia drifted off to sleep on the bench almost as good as new save for her ear tip which had broken off completely and a slightly shorter knee spike from a battle before.