[Battling Class] Countering I

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Lennox rolled himself onto the sparring field that morning looking vaguely grumpier than usual. His muscles were not doing him well today... if their was even a possibility that one could roll with a limp, Lennox was currently doing it. Ever since he had evolved, his muscles had been cramping and throbbing like they were too big for his shell. He had had a hell of a time even making it down the mountain to set all of this up. It was like his entire body was protesting the shape he had taken, and now he had to deal with the consequences. He grunted a little bit as he came to a halt in front of the couple of figures he had seen in the distance.

On the topic of this little "passion project"... Now that the bookkeeping was all said ad done, and he was finally sidling up to his first class... he had no idea what he was doing. Sure, he had a "lesson plan" that some person or another had advised him to make, and sure, he knew generally how you go about countering a move, but he had no idea if he was going to do anything he was going to do "right." He had gone to see the local school and he hadn't liked what they did at all, but he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to improve on the system when he had no other point of reference.

Oh well. It was time to start.

"Mornin'," Lennox said in greeting to the class. He realized how rough his voice sounded as soon as it hit his ears and he tried to clear his throat. "Uhh… if you're here for the countering class, I'm your teacher. If you're not, I need you to clear out so that the rest of us can start." He waited until only his students were left before continuing. "Okay... I think we can begin now. I wanna start by gettin' to know you all some, since we're gonna be seein' each other a lot if you're a Battling major." He had to stop and shift position as the post-evolution pain started to build up a bit.

"Alright, let's go 'round clockwise. Go 'head and say your name, where you came from, and what you like to do in your spare time. Maybe also include your other major. Just enough to give everyone a good sense 's who you are. I'll start things off. My name's Lennox, and I came from the Mire. I... well I do a lot of battling in my spare time, frankly. Battlin' and trainin'." He neglected to add his newly-developed habit of binge-eating desserts. "I only teach battling. Spend the rest of my time keepin' up with student info. Just r'member that I see all," he semi-teased. Man, was he being witty? Shit, he was being witty! This was awesome.

He nodded to the next person. "Alright, you got the floor."

(I dunno if energy is even necessary for these threads but I'm gonna post the bug's anyways for posterity |D Also there's no specific post order yet so we'll just assume that "clockwise" is whatever order you post in)
Lennox the Whirlipede - 28 energy
Scolio-horn equipped.

Vesper listened as Lennox responded to the group's observations. She was happy to be praised for the good points she'd brought up, but she honestly hadn't even considered the possibility of Poliwag knowing ice tye moves and her expression turned thoughtful as the Whirlipede mentioned it. Ice moves were often ranged as well, which could give her some problems. Filing that handy detail away for later, the Roselia glanced at both of her classmates as they also reacted to their teacher's comments.

The Roselia couldn't help her curiosity. Watching others could often be incredibly interesting and as students they were all on equal footing to learn what they could without the dangers that other settings would cause. A class such as this where pokemon were to expose their weaknesses in order to build their strengths only made it more intriguing to see the reactions of others. Yigo in particular had looked pretty worried about something only a moment ago. Was it his ability to battle that was making him nervous? Or speaking in front of everyone? Nevertheless, the Sandshrew's shaking seemed to pass as Lennox continued speaking. She smiled lightly to herself as she looked back to the teacher. Nervousness was no fun.


Lennox went on to explain their next activity. She and the other students would have to analyse and respond to the teacher as if he were any other opponent. He gave them a few facts about himself, but didn't reveal any of his moves. A handicap to help simulate a real situation. The ability that he had described caught her attention though. She was hardly a speedster to begin with, but if Lennox gained speed over time then it could potentially put her at a disadvantage even with her ranged attacks. If he could close the distance between her and himself faster than she could extend it, she'd be in trouble sticking to her normal fighting style. Was there any way for her to make up for the distance in strength?

Vesper put those thoughts aside and took a seat out of the way at the side of the field, watching as Yigo went first. She could do with the extra knowledge since she had a weakness to her teacher's Bug typing. The Sandshrew paused for a while before smirking. The Roselia quirked her head slightly, a little confused at that reaction. Had he realised something? Or was he just super excited to fight their teacher all of a sudden? He didn't verbally analyse Lennox, but the pair went ahead with the exercise anyway, so the Roselia shrugged it off and watched.

Whatever Yigo had been smirking about, his expression swiftly changed as the Whirlipede moved.  As Vesper poked at the soft green glow of her petals, she squinted at the poison type attack the teacher had used. Venoshock? It was a little bizarre that the Sandshrew had made a complete U-turn from almost confident to squeaking in panic. Had he been expecting something else?

Lennox himself voiced those same words a few moments later. She supposed it made sense. After all, the two seemed to know each other before the class had started. It was definitely something to keep in mind though. The Whirlipede's point of him being able to use the 4 S's also stuck with her. She should consider those from Lennox's point of view as well as her own.


Next up was Osiris. He seemed to be enthusiastic from the get-go and Vesper was curious to see how he would utilise his limited moveset. Shifting in her seated position and brushing the glow of her skirt whilst attention was elsewhere, the Roselia listened to the Dratini's analysis. His plan of action had seemed solid at face value, but in the end it relied a lot on factors that the Dratini wouldn't know until he faced the Whirlipede, such as being able to outpace him enough at the start to get in any analysis of speed to act on. If their teacher were more on even terms with them, she could see it working, but...

It seemed the lesson from the Dratini's encounter with Lennox was to act quickly. The Whirlipede could outpace any of them in speed rather quickly with his ability constantly aiding him. From her seated position, Vesper brushed her chin lightly with the blue petals of her rose as she considered the Dratini's final analysis. Soon enough it was her own turn to go.

"Vesper, you're up next."


Pushing herself up from her seat, Vesper dusted herself down and waltzed over to the flag, Lennox re-taking his position a small distance away.

"Well... I guess I'm in a similar position to Osiris, in that you are definitely stronger than me, are likely faster than me even before your ability activates and have the advantage of a generally even terrain," she began, feeling it wasn't entirely necessary to state what the others had already realised. "You have a type advantage against me and I have no doubt you likely have some sort of bug move in your arsenal, which I need to be cautious of. You've also used two poison moves already, which makes it unlikely that you'll use another, unless you want to repeat one. The possibility still exists though."

"On the other hand, when it comes to type advantages I also have one against you in my Extrasensory, which is a psychic move. Unfortunately, the rest of my moveset won't have much of an effect against you though." The Roselia lamented with a slightly dramatic sigh. "The terrain is favourable in that it lets me use my ranged moves across a large distance but unfavourable in that I have nowhere to go when you outspeed me. Overall keeping my distance from you would be most advantageous to me, but hard to achieve."

Keeping it short and sweet, she shrugged and added, "I guess that's it!"

Lennox nodded, and the two prepared for their 'battle phase'. Vesper waited by her flag, her posture appearing nonchalant. The Whirlipede took a few seconds to make sure the Roselia was ready before he moved. Unlike with Osiris, where Lennox had begun with slow movements, the Whirlipede had instead shot forwards immediately, making a speedy beeline towards Vesper. He was likely trying to eliminate the one advantage she'd said she wanted to keep - distance.

Vesper, however, smiled lightly, springing into action herself. She'd already maximised her advantage over the two previous turns, her special attack increased from the effects of the two Growths she'd snuck in during the chaos of the other two turns. But she'd also taken Osiris's words into account.

'I shoulda just thunder wave'd you immediately, huh?' He'd said.
And so that's what she did.

As the Whirlipede's barbs began to glow yellow-green, she took a leaping step back and brought both of her roses together, using them as the conduit to release her Extransensory in a beam straight towards the oncoming Whirlipede. There was no room for hesitation.

Yikes.

That Vesper packed a punch.

Even before he got within impact range, Lennox suddenly felt woozy all over. The disorientation was clearly being caused by a slight pressure on the... well what Lennox could only describe as the inside of his body as he charged towards the Roselia. Then she blasted him.

Oh god it was a gross and weird feeling. Not to mention painful. His aching muscles began to flare up and crawl with distaste at the external manipulation. He was feeling sick and tingly all over, far more than he had expected to even from a move ha had a disadvantage to. It was enough of a shock that he wobbled off-course, and at best he would only manage to graze her. At worst... well there was a chance that he would hit her harder than intended by mistake, so in the end he just braked and dismissed the buildup of his move before that "at worst" could happen. There was a moment of silence where he just stood there in front of her, dumbfounded.

Then, it clicked.

"Was that... was that growth?" Lennox asked, still feeling and sounding a bit startled. It had been... kind of an ingenious move, really. He had foreseen students coming into the class with stat-boosting moves, but he hadn't expected that they might use them in that fashion during this part of the class. He felt.... well honestly, a bit jealous that he hadn't thought of it. But, at the same time... He was just, well, impressed. Vesper had come up with something that even he had not considered (probably because stat boosts, specifically speed, were natural to him) on her own, and she had used it to her advantage. He was beginning to suspect that he could expect some interesting things out of her in the future, burying the slight on his pride under the many opportunities that he could imagine.

"For those not aware," Lennox commented, "Seems like Vesper has gone ahead before our faceoff and used her Growth move to add extra power into her attack before we even clashed. It was an effective way to add the element of surprise into her attack in this situation; it definitely threw me off guard and it makes me unsure of what to expect next, effectively shortening my reaction window for at least a few more turns while fighting her." Lennox didn't want to talk one student up more than the others, but at the same time he wanted to make sure they fully understood why the tactic worked so they could possibly work on trying it out for themselves. "This means her initial analysis was fundamentally incomplete. She also had the added element of surprise working for her in the situational aspect. She had a decent window where no one was payin' attention to her where she could sneak in those boosts that the two of you unfortunately didn't have, and since the lingering effects aren't especially noticeable outside of feelin' 'em she was able to conceal them from us until it was too late for me. Crafty, but also requires a lot of foresight. It's a good way to give yourself an edge if you know you're expectin' a fight - but it's also something that's not allowed in organized fighting so be careful."

"'Siris, your thunderwave can definitely have a similar effect and it would have helped you out if you didn't want to try out Vesper's method, but just be careful about charging it up ahead of time. If your opponent sees you randomly crackling with electricity while they're sizing you up, they'd be on to you in a heartbeat. I'm not sure how you deliver your shocks though, so just do what you believe is right." Lennox then turned to address Yigo, who had seemed pretty flustered when Venoshock had come into play.

"Yigo, even though I caught on, you exhibited good foresight as well. You knew what most of my moveset was so you tried to adjust yourself accordingly and had I used any other move you would have had a hit. Definitely a good call on your part. It was just slightly flawed in the execution; you didn't consider enough possibilities to cover that blank space in your knowledge of my moveset. At the same time, considering too many possibilities will set you behind so what you need to work on is not just coming up with more predictions, but balancing how many you're coming up with with what you know and how much time you have to react. …Granted, it's also been quite a while since I've seen you so you shouldn't fret over it too much. It's completely understandable that you forgot the smaller details from back then, but even so, you should keep an eye out for exactly the same reasons. ...Seems we both made that mistake this turn, actually. So don't feel too bad about it; it a mistake anyone can easily make." He hoped that that explanation would be more constructive than the advice he had given during his intial reaction to Yigo's attack. He didn't want to leave the sandshrew feeling like he had nothing.

"Alright, you all take a moment to process everything you've seen. We already know that you won't have this kind of time in a real fight, but I want to be as thorough as possible while you do so that you can build up the habit. I am gonna give you a time limit of two minutes to get you used to time management though, so try to prioritize what you analyze. If it feels important to you, it probably is; but it also may not be as important as something else. You forgot to do your analysis before the start of our fight as well, so you missed the chance to realize the for yourself. Rushing in blindly is only really good if it's a complete necessity, and I'm opening this time up to you guys for practice so you definitely shouldn't feel pressured to rush in. Even if you think you know the answer - analyze if you can. It's most important for you to do this now." He proceeded to leave a blank opening in his speech for them to consider the turns that had passed, simultaneously taking the opportunity to hunch back and put the weight on a different part of his body so that he could recover. He wouldn't say it out loud, but that psychic squeeze that Vesper had given him had really messed with those growing pains that had set in with his evolution. His muscles squirmed and protested in a way that made him ache all over, and even the simple opportunity to just stop and rest was a relief to him at this point. ...So much so that he almost missed the two-minute time mark he had been aiming for. Or maybe he had? His brain wasn't working the best with the pain overloading his senses like this. The short rest was enough to allow him to carry on, however.

"...Right, that marks it," Lennox huffed as he rolled himself back into an upright position, still unsure of if his timing had actually been accurate. He felt bad about the possible inconsistency, but there was nothing to do about it right now. "Now that you all've had a chance to comb through and pick out the details, we'll start round 2. I want to hear your updated analysis based on what you learned from round 1 like I asked before - but in addition, I want to hear a prediction on what you think I might do now that I know more about you, also considering the knowledge you have on me up to this point. Use the opinions that you formulated from your two-minute analysis here to inform your predictions. Remember to analyize before and after the fight - but you only need to have a prediction before." He turned to Yigo and nodded at him. "We can start whenever you're ready."

The sandshrew's tantrum had turned into depression after he had to make room for the other two to face Lennox. Yigo was sure, o so sure about him being right! His defeat (that's how he saw it even if it was just a learning experience) highlighted the fact that Yigo had nothing to protect himself from ranged attacks. Trying to plan around that felt discouraging when Osiris went next and admitted that his best bet was just using his thunder and staying away from Lennox. Vesper reaffirmed this theory by actually preparing for a ranged attack in advance and dishing it out right away. Not even rushing in forward saved Lennox, even when he was faster. What was there to even do? Once you know you can see and can hit your target, why bother attacking at close range? It is only a matter of who can attack the other for afar the fastest and prepared for that the most. And Yigo had zero options of doing that himself as his only range damaging attack was unreliable and slow and his only lifeline against ranged attacks relied on him being fast enough to gather some sand and toss it out at his target and then hope they still miss. It is hopeless!

After everyone has had his turn, Lennox relaxed and explained a little better what had caused Vesper to prepare for the battle. Like Lennox said, if one is expecting a battle, there is no reason not to prepare for it in advance being with that Growth he mentioned. Yigo looked at Vesper for a moment. She didn't look particularly taller or much bigger than before. But if the teacher said that it was unnoticeable even for him, he'd take his word for it. Osiris' situation was something Yigo couldn't replicate as he doesn't have any innate visible energy that could give his opponent a clue about what he was going to do. Besides, if he saw Osiris sparking in the literal sense he wouldn't even be worried. That simply doesn't work on him. Lastly, about Lennox's advice on his own performance, he didn't even get anything clear out of it. He didn't consider enough options but considering too many was somehow a mistake as well. Should Yigo be expecting anyone to be able to do anything? Should he be expecting a wurmple to fly or a machop to breathe out fire? How can Yigo even draw a battle plan in those conditions?

Then all of the students were given two minutes to think about what to expect next but Yigo already knew what Lennox would do next. If the teacher was in a real fight, he would keep using whichever move worked last and as a friend trying to make Yigo learn, he would be trying again to see if Yigo found a way to avoid his move. Yigo's ears flattened and his eyes dulled even further. His tail remained limp in between his hind legs while sitting down. He couldn't even look at Lennox when the teacher expected him to be the first to explain his prediction.

"Y-You are just going to do the same thing with me, right? After all, I could only hide at the side of... Of whatever it was that you did..." He spoke afraid and shy in a low voice full of shame. He extended one of his claws forward and examined it "I only have these to fight with. All of you can keep your distance and attack me before I can even get close. I don't even know how someone can do that. I-I didn't know Osiris was electric... I-I didn't even see how Vesper hit you! I even thought I knew about you!" His voice rose as he was being carried by emotions, his breathing growing visibly harsher and faster. His heart started beating stronger causing a sensation of heat within the sandshrew "J-Just look at you! You look round... And... A-And have spikes... And have outside defenses! How could I know that you could do whatever you did before? Can't I trust my eyes?"

It was at this moment in which Yigo had to press a claw at his own chest. He was hurting both physically and emotionally. Each word felt like a deep sting inside his throat and his skin felt like burning inside. Yet still, everything felt like it had to be said because it was true, Lennox was his friend and because he wanted to be helped and learn "I-I don't know what I could do... I can't even try to charge ahead... I don't even have time to dig myself in... I'm lost..."

"You could maybe prepare for the fight before it started some way? Like Vesper did?" Osiris offered lamely in the face of Yigo's rather vulnerable plead for...mercy, maybe? Help? The dratini wasn't even sure. Maybe if he went first, Yigo could get some ideas instead of getting in his own head. "That's what I shoulda done, honestly. Using a move in secret like that before a fight is super smart. I could do that with dragon dance. If you've got anything like that..." he trailed off, unsure of how to help the sandshrew.

It was a little discouraging that after a solid two minutes of thought he could only think of copying the best student in the class, but it really did seem like the most optimal tactic. Only, he had to twist it in a way that suited him; Vesper had a psychic move that she used to put the hurt on Lennox immediately, but Osiris had no such tool. The dragon-type shifted his focus back toward the teacher. "That's the biggest part of my new analysis, I think. Instead of trying to paralyze you right off the bat, I need to play keep away and use dragon dance whenever I can so you can't blitz me. And we saw how boosting can help put us on your level. That makes tagging you with a thunder wave easier, too, which is still what I gotta do. Nothing new changes that, I don't think..." he said, nodding with more certainty as he finished his modified analysis.

"Of course," he went on, "what you did against me worked, same as Yigo. So I can't imagine you'd change your plan that much. But you also know that I'm probably going to change my strategy a little bit, so... I think you'd focus less on goin' right for me first thing and try to lock me down instead. You get speed naturally through your ability, and I gotta use a move to get faster, so you can just use that time to throw moves at me and make me dance however you want."

Osiris shrugged as much as a dratini could, shuffling awkwardly as he finished his round 2 analysis and prediction. He looked to Vesper timidly afterward—her performance was a bit awe-inspiring, and he looked forward to hearing what she had to say on her turn.

Vesper couldn't help her small grin as she nodded in response to Lennox's question. He was definitely a skilled teacher to catch on so fast! She had honestly been expecting the Whirlipede to chastise her for it, since she was pretty sure he hadn't intended for anything of the sort to be possible, but was surprised when he instead calmly explained to the others why her approach had worked.

The Roselia blinked, raising one rose to her mouth to conceal a small, warm smile. It hadn't been entirely the outcome she expected, but she couldn't help the fuzzy feeling that bubbled to the surface as her tactics were being praised, despite their underhandedness.

Vesper spent her two minutes thinking about how she might deal with Lennox's attack this time around. She wouldn't have the element of surprise, so there was no way she could repeat her earlier strategy like Lennox could against Yigo or Osiris. She might still have her buffed moves, if it hadn't worn off by then, but the Whirlipede would likely be expecting the psychic onslaught this time.

Listening to Yigo's quite emotional analysis - or lack thereof - got her thinking. As someone who used distance to her advantage majority of the time, Vesper knew that there were in fact ways to counter this approach. If there weren't, she would never get hit at all. And that certainly wasn't accurate. She felt a little uncomfortable watching the Sandshrew get so worked up to be honest; part of her wanted to tell him to calm down, but she wasn't sure if her interventions would be very well recieved and she didn't want to get kicked out of the class on her first day.

Thankfully, Osiris spoke up shortly after, not leaving Vesper time to dwell on it for very long. She admired the Dratini's attempt to give some form of helpful advice where she had instead remained quiet.

When the Dratini looked to her after he'd finished speaking, Vesper smiled lightly to him before glancing over to Lennox.

"For my predictions... I suppose you might be more cautious of me this time around, since im not sure if the effects of my Growth will have worn off and i've now lost the element of surprise. Perhaps you might choose to attack from a distance like you did with Yigo, instead of attempting to come closer..."

The Roselia went quiet for a moment, wordlessly trailing her gaze over the others before they landed on Yigo. "But attacking from a distance usually means that you have to be precise. If your opponent moves out of the way you might not be able to predict where they'll go next in order to hit them with a ranged move. I also have the advantage in a distance versus distance fight right now, in that my Extrasensory move can be used invisibly, whereas if Lennox used Venoshock, I would be able to see its path and be able to more easily react to it, as long as I kept calm and was observant."

Vesper flicked her gaze away from Yigo as easily as it had landed on the Sandshrew, turning her attention to their Whirlipede teacher.

"Are we fighting here under the premise that we must win the fight? Or is the goal here just to survive your hypothetical attack?" She asked, a tilt of her head marking her curiosity as to the answers.

Lennox was listening very carefully, though his eyes looked a bit strained. The longer this class was running, the more he felt determined to match everyone else's enthusiasm for it. It was getting hard, though... the aches from his recent evolution were still there, and after that round of attacks they were flaring up again in even stronger form. He was just gritting his... well, wherever his teeth were at this point. He could feel them, at least, so he knew they were there. Maybe he needed to store more oran berries around the school grounds... he felt bad thinking about students coming to work in this kind of pain with no resources to relieve it.

He made sure he stored all his thoughts on the student's answers before he went back to lecturing. Yigo seemed... unsure... and maybe a little disheartened. That made Lennox feel a little upset himself... he certainly hadn't meant to be mean in any way. He had just been attempting to demonstrate a strategy that Yigo might have to face in the future, seeing as it targeted his personal weaknesses. He forced himself to remain focused, however. It was his job to make sure the students understood these things, after all. He just had to power through it, and hopefully help Yigo come around to a point where the shrew felt a little more comfortable in the class again.

"...don't... uh, don't go feelin' discouraged, Yigo," Lennox began, or maybe it was better to call it "trying" to begin. He didn't want to sound like a sap, but at the same time... nobody had ever really taught him to... console? He usually just got told to "suck it up" and "do it right," without ever actually being informed on what "right" was. So then... well, he guessed he should try and explain things to Yigo in a way that he would have wanted somebody to have told him....... but also in a way that didn't make him seem weak or sappy. Right. Easy. "Uh, I mean you didn't really miss anything. You got a hang on why I did what I did, and you know it gave me an advantage. You also seem to have caught on that I might try to keep moves on me that are different from what my appearances would suggest. Lotta pokemon are gonna try and do that to ya. The element of surprise is a very strong strategy. But that's part of what I'm tryna teach you here. You should always have a battle plan, but it's not always gonna work out."

"You should trust your eyes. But your eyes aren't gonna always tell you everything, right? If I were a wild pokemon, or even a stranger, that's exactly how you would have learned that I had that trick up my sleeve. In a fight, the situation will change. Counterin' is about reacting to those changes. That's why we're having two rounds, yeah?" He wasn't actually sure if any of this was helping. It all sounded kind of rough, and he was just kind of listing things off as he went along. But... it was true. That was exactly what these guys had signed up to learn right? "...So yeah, now that you know what you know it's fair to assume that I'd try the same thing again. Pretty great logic honestly. But, maybe I wouldn't."

Hmm... this was actually giving Lennox ideas he hadn't thought of before. "I do have a little bit of an aadvantage here that I might not have otherwise- I got knowledge on ya, right? I know what you're thinkin' because you're tellin' me. So logically, I ight react and throw you somethin' you're not gonna expect. It's fair to point out that, while I'm tryin' my best to simulate a battle with an opponent you don't know, I actually got a lot more on ya than another pokemon might." He didn't want to dwell too long on this, however, That kind of thinking was far more advanced than he had planned to get with this class... although, honestly - after hearing all the things these students had to say - he reasoned they might actually be ready for it. ...No, no. He should keep going as he intended, or he risked confusing everybody. "...We're tryin' not to worry about that though. I know it's a little frustratin'. Our goal today is just workin' on the basics, though, so we gotta work past the complications. Try an' put it out of your mind and just keep commitin' to a strategy, yeah? Even if you think it might turn out wrong. At least you knew exactly what you were doing, so you'll know exactly how to fix it the next run around. Hell, that skill might win you a battle one day, right?" He decided to stop there for the sake of time, but he hoped that had all gotten across to Yigo. Besides, there was no need to worry about making mistakes here. This was basically a place built for safely making mistakes.

"I hope you all got that in mind, by the by. Because I'm not gonna give you too much extra this go around. Generally, I think you all got a lot of logic behind your analysis. Yigo, I think it's good that you pointed out that your weak point was targeted. I think your analysis just lacks confidence. You know what you know, yeah? So don't be afraid when something you don't comes along. Just keep following your instincts. 'Siris, I think you're spot on pointin' out how you can learn from Vesper. Good work. I also like that you're considerin' a lot of possibilities- but when we get out of this whole breakdown stage, I think you should watch yourself in the moment and make sure you're not spendin' too much time craftin' theories, right? That might get ya caught. I'm kinda encouraging you to do it right now, so not a problem yet. Vesper, you got a lot goin' on in yours too, but it seems like you got a solid plan worked out. That's your strength, I think - you got the confidence aspect down pat. I don't want to give you any more advantage over Yigo an' 'Siris, though, so I'll just say this - make sure you're not interjecting too much of yourself into your opponent, yeah? I think you might be doin' that a little. It can be really easy to see your own strategy in your opponent's moves during the first few minutes of combat, especially."

"Also, to answer your question: since we're just starting out here, I want you to focus on surviving the attack. There's a little more to that question though, which we might touch on today during the 1 on 1 combat. There, "winning's" gonna be more of an issue. I'm glad you asked. I'll point it out again when we come to it."

With all that said, Lennox returned to his starting position. "Alright. When everyone's ready, we'll start. I'll give you a moment Yigo; just gimme a signal when you're ready to go. 'Siris and Vesper, you guys be ready too, cause we're goin' faster this time. There won't be a break again until after everyone's had their turn!"