The Beginning Of Two Echos

[Mikkel Markov]

[member="Tyro'din"]

Mikkel walked in, wearing loose pants and a cloth top. As per usual, he also had his personalized slugthrower slung over his shoulder and his lightsaber acquired on Helska on his hip. Out of the two he had found, Mikkel had chosen to keep the orange, dual phase blade with the curved hilt. Looking over at his master, Mikkel nodded once. "Good morning, Tyro'din. Been a while since we've last trained together."

The dominions of Helska, Dubrillion, and Bastion happened so fast Mikkel didn't have time to think, and the only thing he'd gotten out of them were the lightsabers and the promotion to Delta. Needless to say, Mikkel was glad to have the break.

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Mikkel Markov"]

"Aye, it has been a while, hasn't it?" Tyro'din asked rhetorically. Standing up he chucked a mask to Mikkel, "Put that on," he ordered, "You don't want to end up like me, missing an eye, do ya?" He walked over to a rack fixed to a wall and returned with two fencing foils, "Put that gun down and pick up a sword. We will be beginning with the basics."

Tyro'din walked over to Mikkel, letting the rubber-covered point of the blade drag against the floor, "Hold the hilt in any way that it feels comfortable, just make sure that the thumb is on top, fingers are wrapped around the bottom." When Mikkel was done, he checked his grip. Nodding in satisfaction, he went to stand in front of his student. "What you must keep in mind is that if you desire to learn fencing, you will have to disregard everything I teach you unless you want to learn the second Lightsaber Form: Makashi." He said, nodding to a datapad sitting to the side where he had been researching Lightsaber forms. "Do you still wish to continue?"

 

[Mikkel Markov]

Mikkel held the foil, testing the weight. Then, Mikkel pulled the lightsaber off of his belt and turned it on, testing the balance between the two. "The lightsaber is much more off balanced in comparison," Mikkel said. "Why don't we train with the pair I picked off of Helska?"

Mikkel turned off the lightsaber off and reholstered it, and lowered his foil.

 

[Tyro'din]

Tyro'din stared at Mikkel for a few seconds before stepping forwards to hit him around the back of the head, "Do you have any prior training in wielding a blade, hmm? Your just going to use a blade that could easily cut off your arm with one mistake? Are you a fool?" Tyro'din swiped the lightsaber from Mikkel's belt and turned to place it to the side. Turning he went to stand in front of Mikkel again but this time further away. After standing still for a few second he snapped his legs together and raised his sword upwards before bending his arm to bring his hand level with his nose then snapped his arm out to the side, angling the blade down and sideways. He then put his right legs forwards slightly and pushed his left to the side and pointed the blade at Mikkel's chest, arm bent slightly. "Tell you what, if you can hit me five times in three minuets, I'll consider teaching you with the lightsabers. Deal?"

[member="Mikkel Markov"]

(OOC: Please don't think you can win this. I don't mean that in a bad way, its just I'm using a similar thing that my own fencing teacher did. Some students protested learning the basics, saying they already new them. He challenged anyone willing to the same thing I just did, but he said he would only use the basics and minor things. They didn't have to win, only reach a certain amount of points. Everyone who tried failed, badly)

 

[Mikkel Markov]

Mikkel thought about this for a second. He didn't want to appear weak, but he also didn't want to appear naïve. Weighing his options, Mikkel thought it wise to go along with the lesson as [member="Tyro'din"] wished. "Very well," Mikkel said. "You would know best. Learning how to use a regular sword should prove useful in the future anyway."

Putting his mask on, Mikkel did a few swipes with the foil to get accustomed to its weight, and turned his body so his shoulders lined up with where Tyro'din was standing, his left side forward and holding his foil at bay.

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Mikkel Markov"]

"Very good." Tyro'din said as he allowed his body to relax, glad that he wouldn't have to deliver then same lesson his old teacher had had to, especially because he had been 9 then. He rolled his shoulders and lowered his right arm, letting the foil touch the ground, while gesturing for Mikkel to keep his up.

"First off: stance. You should be in a relaxed stance, one foot forwards. If your right hand is dominant its your right foot, left hand dominant, left foot. Turn you body so that your torso is angled away from your opponent but not so that your shoulders are in line with the opponent. Dominant hand should be out, holding the foil towards the opponent, arm slight bent, palm of the hand facing sideways. You can do what ever you want with your other hand, just don't hold in in front of your chest." Tyro'din waited for Mikkel to adjust his stance before continuing. "There are nine targets on the front of the body, nine on the back. Top left torso, top right torso, lower left torso, lower right torso, right leg and foot, left leg and foot, right arm and hand, left arm and hand and head. They are the the same areas on both sides. Keep these in mind. If your opponent is guarding their lower right torso, the best area to attack is above that and to the left." Tyro'din paused to let the information sink in before continuing, "I shall be teaching you lunges and jabs, not cuts. You can add them in yourself, its easy to do so. But now ... parry!" Tyro' din lunched himself at Mikkel using his back foot, stretching out his front leg further and full extending his right arm. The point of the foil was aimed at the upper right area of the Umbaran's torso, from his perspective.

 

[Mikkel Markov]

Mikkel had adjusted to hold his foil in his left hand. He had seen a bit of fencing in his time, so he roughly knew what to expect. Seeing the surprise lunge, Mikkel took a step back and swatted at @Tyrodin's sword. Almost simultaneously, Mikkel moved in to kick his trainer's hand with his right foot and disarm him.

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Mikkel Markov"]

Tyro'din stepped back, letting the kick hit the blade instead of his hand. He shook his head. "Disappointing." Stepping back again he lowered the foil, holding it by the pommel. "Lesson three: parrying. That was a swipe, a wild attempt. It was no parry. If I had been trying to kill you, you would be dead. There was no power behind that move, nothing to force my blade from it course. You also moved too much, you only needed to make my blade miss, not send it away and open yourself up to attack. You parry by bringing the blade closer to the body then crossing it across the body. No unnecessary movements are done so no energy is wasted. Its kept tight an neat, preventing openings that your opponent can take advantage of."

Tyro'din moved himself into the ready stance again but didn't make any move to attack. "There are eight ways to parry. Four are with the palm facing sideways or upwards. They are: moving the blade to the top right, moving the blade to the top left, moving the blade to the lower left and moving the blade to the lower right. The other four are the same but the palm faces downwards. No matter how complicated you make the parry, all of them fall within these categories. Now, lets try again ... parry!" And he lunged at Mikkel again.

 

[Mikkel Markov]

Mikkel sighed, repositioning himself in anticipation for the next attack. Mikkel has generally relied on redirecting his opponent's attacks. Matching force with force would change Mikkel's overarching fighting style. Oh well, if it works better might as well learn it. Mikkel thought as [member="Tyro'din"] attacked him again. Mikkel responded with a parry using a great deal of force, causing the foil itself to bow.

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Mikkel Markov"]

Tyro'din let out a bark of laughter at Mikkel's second attempt as he lowered the point of the blade. "I mean no offence," he started, "but you seem to go from one extreme to the other. If I was fighting you hand to hand my weight would have been behind the punch and your first parry would have been enough to redirect it, but in sword fighting my weight is more centred, meaning I am more balanced. You will need to use more force than you are use to, but there is a thing as too much force, your second attempt is an example of this. No, matter. It will come with experience."

Tyro'din backed up slightly. "Next lesson: footwork. Footwork in fencing is necessary for success. You must always bear in mind where your feet are and where you could and should move them next, but be mindful of only moving when needed. In fencing one of the goals is to preserve your energy, let you opponent come to you if needed before pressing the assault. I fencing you are also taught to use your feet as a distraction and to feint. Use half step and such to make your opponent misjudge your next move and your location. Trick them by making you think your attacking when your not. Again, I can not teach you this, you must learn this through experience. Lesson six: attacking. In fencing we are taught to lunge and jab at the opponent, not slash. You can add in slashes if you want to latter. You must learn to keep the movement of attacking seamless and flowing, do not open an opening which could lead to your defeat. Unfortunately, this also comes from experience and can not be simply taught. Do you have any questions before I move on to my final lesson?"