Simple defense moves won't cut it anymore

[Jullian]

"Good," Dimitra said when she'd gotten the technique. It wasn't very graceful yet, mostly because it was not the natural way to get up. It forced your body to do things it wouldn't normally do and get up in a fashion that was not natural. All of which meant that Sawyer had to think about it to do it correctly. Eventually, if she did it over and over, she would get it down. But, while it was actually the more difficult of the two recoveries, it was the one that Sawyer would use least. She wasn't expected to fight face to face with an enemy in her own body and, if she ever had to make a stand that way, she better be armed with more than her fists since they would prove no match for a Hork-Bajir's blades. So after Sawyer did a few of the same recovery on the other side Dimitra moved on.

"Very good. Alright, now here is the easier one and the one you'll most likely use. This one just assumes you fell and your goal is to get back up as quickly as possible, probably to keep running. Remember, it is not your job or your responsibility to fight in your human body. If you're human, most likely, your first goal is to run and get to a place where you can morph. We're a guerrilla force, not an army."

Dimitra once again did the a right side breakfall and rolled onto her shoulder before rolling back into a sitting position. "Ok, so last time you left your leg out. You kick the right leg out, fall and when you roll, you leave it out to help your recovery. This time though, when you come back up, the right leg should be tucked under the left." She demonstrated again and ended with her right leg folded in to her body under her left as if forming half of an indian summer sitting pose. The left leg, as it had been before, was pulled in, her knee close to her chest and her foot on the ground.

"Now the reason we do it this way is so that you can use your right leg to push you up. If it had been out," she quickly switched legs to the wrong position, "standing up would require you to move your weight forward and push off entirely with your left leg. It works, but it's slower and, if something happens to your left leg or you trip or something, you can't recover. So, right leg tucked under. Then just," she switched her legs back to the proper position and shifted her weight forward, "shift forward and you're up easily." She ended up on her right knee with her left leg bent, almost as if she were kneeling to accept a knighthood.

"From here it is really easy to stand up and keep running," she finished, standing up. "So give that a try."

((BTW, if you want to know what we're doing, we're doing the side break falls that can be seen in this video and we'll do back and front ones before the end of the thread if that's cool. Ideally, one day, we'll all be able to do this in real life but by the time we're done we can probably say our characters can do something like that. I mean, doing it that gracefully and that well takes years of practice, but you'll be taught how to do it so if you say your character practices this stuff a lot they are probably good at it.))

[Sawyer]

There was that word again, morph. That would be the next set of lessons she would have to learn and probably from a different teacher. However, right now she was in combat training not morph training so she convinced herself to stop ruminating on her morphing anxieties. Sawyer got into position and attempted the move. She managed to roll but she didn't exactly land on her feet. She wasn't in any pain though either so she got into position to try again.

This time she got onto her feet for a few seconds before falling back down again. "You make it look so easy" Sawyer sighed and got back up. "Then again you've been doing this for a while." Sawyer felt her arms were getting a bit tight so she stretched them out again for a few seconds. Ok one more time Sawyer thought and she went to try the move again.

[Jullian]

Dimitra laughed. It was the full throated sound of someone who had never had to worry about hiding her feelings from anyone. Which wasn't at all true. She often had to wear the masks that all people wear and, more than that, she'd had to perfect them. But part of perfecting them had been being able to drop them. She'd had to learn that if only to keep herself sane. She couldn't spend even the time among her friends and allies partially lying. So when she was off duty she tried to be as uninhibited as possible, knowing how much of a luxury it was.

"Maybe I have, a bit longer than I'd care to admit," she said ruefully. She shook her head as if to shake of a feeling that wasn't quite unpleasant but certainly heavier than the moment warranted. "But let's keep going. You're getting this one. Try it again."

((Second page ))

[Sawyer]

"Sure laugh it up," Sawyer sighed sarcastcally but she smiled slightly to let Dimitra know she was joking and wasn't actually offended. She got into position and tried again. She managed to land in a sitting position this time which she guessed was at least a little better. Her legs were beginning to feel a little sore but that was just because she was working muscles she normally didn't use. She stretched them out a bit and then went into the move.

This time she landed on her feet but only in a crouch position. "Well at least I didn't fall on my butt again" Sawyer smirked. "So um do you have to morphing ability too?" Most of the people in the on the Animorphs army did have that ability. Although she knew not everyone that joined the Animorph cause fought on the front lines so maybe they didn't have the power if they did as many animals to morph into.

[Jullian]

"That's good," Dimitra said, honestly pleased with her progress. "Now, it may not seem like it but the side break fall is the hardest, or at least, the most awkward. It's not a motion we normally do but that is also why you have to learn it. You've spent your entire life falling forward or back for the most part. Our bodies know how to handle it. It's not often that our feet get swept and we fall to the side or we get thrown and land on our sides. But we'll work more on these a little later. I want to move on to the last two breakfalls."

Dimitra once again took up a position next to Sawyer so that Sawyer would be able to follow her instead of having to mirror her movements. "So the first is really easy. You just fall back and slap the mats with both hands." Dimitra did so, falling backwards almost as if she were sitting down, then just allowing herself to roll on the mats, tap them lightly and roll back to her feet. "Like with the last one, when you get up you want to do so with that knee motion. You could just roll back to your feet," she 'fell' again and rolled back to her feet easily enough, both feet planted, "but the problem is all your balance is in one place and you're really easy to push over. So even if it is a bit more awkward at first do the proper recovery."

Dimitra moved a bit away so that she had some space and then knelt on one knee. "Now, for the front one start on your knee. Then, as you get more comfortable with it, you can do it from a standing position. You want to roll on the outside of your arm," Dimitra said, holding out her arm in a curved fashion as if she were practicing swimming. "Then you just push off with your back foot and roll on that arm," she said before doing so.

"So do a few back ones, they are really easy. Then try the forward ones."

((Breakfalls: back, front))

[Sawyer]

Sawyer nodded and started doing some of the back break falls. These seemed at least a little easier and like her body was comfortable with moving that way. She figured it was was kinda like doing a back roll but just not rolling all the way back. She rolled back and tapped it lightly as Dimitra had done and the she rolled back onto her feet. She did this a couple more times until she felt relatively comfortable with it.

Then she moved onto the forward break fall. These were a bit harder since she had to be more conscious of how she placed her head and neck. Sawyer started doing a couple with her right foot in front. She got into position and rolled and her legs smacked the mat as she got out of the roll, "Oof," Sawyer grunted, "I guess I had more momentum than I originally thought I would. She chuckled to herself and got back up to try it with her left foot in front. She went a little slower this time and that seemed to help.

[Jullian]

Dimitra watched her closely as she attempted the front break falls. They were less awkward than the side ones once you got used to them but getting used to them was difficult. There was an instinctive desire not to fall on your head or break your neck that often caused hesitation.

Sawyer attempted a few of them. They weren't smooth or graceful but she was getting the basics. The rest of the eight weeks spent here would hopefully polish those off. Dimitra would have let her continue to practice but they were nearing their one hour time limit and she wanted to test out her marksmanship before she left so she called a halt to the break falls once Sawyer had done a few on both sides.

"Ok. We'll learn backwards ones tomorrow but that's fine for today. Follow me," she said motioning and walking over to the terminal she'd been prepping earlier. She set the program into motion and colored balls of light were projected into the air above Sawyer's head. Dimitra adjusted the focus slightly and then walked over to Sawyer.

"Alright," so now we're going to see where your aim is. This," Dimitra said, pulling out the dracon beam at her hip, "is a dracon beam. It's a yeerk weapon adapted from an andalite design." Dimitra turned it so that Sawyer could clearly see the controls to adjust the intensity. "This isn't a laser gun. It directs a narrowed beam at the target and causes the bonds between molecules to break down so that the target literally comes apart. The andalite version is called a Shredder in English. You know what this word means?" Dimitra asked, the fact that English wasn't her first language more clearly evident than it had been through most of the lesson.

[Sawyer]

"Yeah" Sawyer nodded. "A shredder is a instrument that tears things into little strips. Usually the type of shredder I always saw was a small machine was in our home office and we put documents through it that had info we didn't want others easily getting a hold of by digging though our trash. Of course it was nothing illegal or incriminating like you see in the movies just personal info like credit card or bank account numbers that people could use to steal our identity if they got a hold of it. But I'm getting off topic. So I'm guessing it's called a shredder cause it blows things into little pieces?"

How could a race decide to come up with a weapon such as that. Shoot this thing made the bazooka look tame by comparison. Heck it made all fire arms look tame by comparison because last she checked not many guns blew up your opponents. She would have made a comment about this weapon being like some twisted thing out of a science fiction movie but considering that the weapon was forged by aliens the comment would have just gotten her labeled Captain Obvious.

[Jullian]

"For our purposes, it makes things disappear," Dimitra said with a wolfish smile. "The pieces are so small we can't see them but this is set at a fairly low intensity so, for example, if I shot you it would blast apart some of your skin cells and it would sting but it wouldn't kill you."

Dimitra had heard stories about some of the previous training methods. Nineteen had shot her students, and not at a low intensity. It had forced them to deal with the shock of getting hurt and morphing out of it but Dimitra hadn't decided yet if she would carry on with the technique. She saw its value but she worried that it would scar in ways that were not helpful. Then again, the war would do that as well. Was it better that they received their scars from their teacher's hands or their enemies?

"Try to hit the balls," she said pointing before handing Sawyer the dracon beam and walking over to the terminal to set the program in motion. The balls began moving slowly through the air though Dimitra planned on adjusting their speed as Sawyer improved.

[Sawyer]

"It makes things disappear huh?" Sawyer sighed. "That's a nice euphemism for it I guess." Sawyer was glad that the intensity was low considering she was afraid she'd shoot her eye out like in that Christmas movie she watched once as a kid. She took the gun and it felt slightly heavy. She wasn't sure though if that was because of the actual weight of the object or because she was nervous when it came to using firearms.

Sawyer help up the dracon beam with one hand and pointed it toward the balls. She could feel her wrist shaking probably due to a nervous muscle spasm so she grabbed put her other hand on the trigger to try an better keep her hand steady. She took a deep breath and pulled the trigger but she missed her target. She took another breath and fired again and this time she hit a little closer to one of the balls.