Annabeth Gulch & Meirin Kurenai
Annabeth parried a blow and thrusts her sword at Meirin, but she had retracted her blade quickly after the parry and used it to deflect Annabeth’s attack. Meirin then did a sweeping kick to Annabeth’s legs, knocking the warrior down. But as she fell she rolled away from meirin before she could bring her sword down onto her, putting distance between the two fighters once more.
After the botched hunt, Annabeth had felt the need to become better at her swordsmanship. All she was able to do that day was run away with Lyn, and by the time she came back most of her friends were hurt. Someone (She didn’t know the person personally) died. Sure protecting Lyn was important, but Annabeth felt that if running away wasn’t an option, she wouldn’t have been able to protect herself. Ever since then, Annabeth had been honing her swordplay. However, she was also aware that while she was decent enough with a common arming sword, her opponents aren’t always going to be rogues or bandits dressed in leathers. She needed to learn how to fight against faster or more heavily armored opponent, such as that vampire-hunting knight or the assassin who was able to keep up with Samson. Thus Annabeth had chosen to start training with an estoc; a thrusting sword capable of finding and peircing the weak points in armor. While longer than her usual longsword, an estoc was sturdier than a rapier and could even double as a shorten lance while on horseback.
Meirin also felt that since she started practicing her magic, she has neglected her martial training. While she has maintained her body by exercising with Ssarak, she knew that her skills at fighting had taken a hit. She knew because she never even once tried to fight the vampire hunter in melee; she had relied entirely on her own magic. She didn’t want to believe it, but she knew that she hasn’t had a proper fight in a long time, and thus her skills had waned. Not to mention that Meirin was simply not used to fighting armored opponents. Most of the bandits who attacked the caravans or travelers she used to guard were ragged men, perhaps wearing gambesons or at least chainmail. But she had little to no experience fighting a fully armored knight, another reason why she hesitated to take on the vampire hunter directly.
Since that fateful day the two girls vowed to improve themselves. They haven’t let up on their magic training, but right now they weren’t practicing their magic. They were sparing; no more jogging or weight lifting. Movement drills and aerobics had their uses, but no amount of exercises could make up for live fighting. If they were going to practice, they needed to spar.
Annabeth had her estoc and buckler, but also wore a coat of plates, complete with helmet, greaves, and gauntlets. Admittedly, Annabeth wasn’t used to wearing armor heavier than a chain shirt, but if she was expected to fight than she needed to get used to heavier equipment. That being said, she couldn’t fight like Grey or Ssarak, who were practically born into full armor. She had to settle with this armor because at the time, it was the lightest armor she felt like she had most of her mobility in, despite that it wasn’t as immensely protective as plate was. Mainly, Annabeth needed armor she could reliably deflect a blow with. She didn’t intend to simply stand there and take the full hit, but to use the armor on her body to deflect the attack away as if it were a shield.
Meirin still went without major body armor, though she did commission a set of steel vambraces. She still felt that speed and agility were far more protective than suits of metal were, but she couldn’t deny that her enemies may be fast enough to keep up with her movements. If that was the case, then she would need more protection. And while Meirin had learned of a Weaving move that could make parts of her body as hard iron, they weren't going to be useful if she didn't know how to block an attack. She also fought using a double-edged straight sword. While it didn't fare well against armor, Meirin was most comfortable with a familiar weapon. Not only that, but no armor was invincible. Meirin needed to learn how to pierce armor, either by finding their weak points or developing a technique that would allow even an edged weapon like her sword to penetrate metal plate.
The two girls had been sparring for ten minutes straight, and both were fairly winded. Annabeth was especially tired after doing so much in her heavy set of armor. Meirin breath was steady but her arms were shaky from deflecting so many blows with her armguards. Annabeth did not take her eyes off Meirin however, knowing that if she dropped her guard, Meirin could land a blow on her. Meirin was keeping an eye on Annabeth trying to figure out the weakness in her defense.
Suddenly, Meirin lunged. Holding the sword in her left hand, Meirin slashed at Annabeth’s right arm holding the estoc. Meirin was right-handed and sword fighting with her left felt awkward, but the change in hand made sure that Annabeth couldn’t utilize her buckler as effectively. Not to mention that after a while, Meirin was able to get a good idea of how Annabeth’s attacks were like since they were mostly thrusts. If she could just keep the hand pointed away from Meirin’s direction, then she could get a clean strike through Annabeth’s armor.
But Annabeth wasn’t going to be disarmed so easily. She could rely on her armor to protect herself from Meirin’s strikes, so Annabeth needed to maintain her offense. They both knew this, so Annabeth was ready to protect her swordhand with a swipe of her estoc. While mostly a piercing weapon, she can easily bludgeon her enemies with her estoc as if it was a rod. So Annabeth twisted her sword so that the guard of the estoc knocked Meirin’s blade off course, before slamming the tip right towards her nose.
Meirin barely was able to dodge the swipe, getting a slight cut on her cheek for her trouble. She should have figured Annabeth would just swing her sword like a brute, but Meirin had a few tricks too. She spun her body as if the estoc had given her a deep cut, but this was a feint so she could do a spinning back kick into Annabeth’s stomach.
The kick connected and Annabeth lost her breath when she felt Meirin’s foot slam into her gut, knocking her a fair bit away. Thankfully the armor cushioned the blow, but even so Annabeth could feel the blunt force behind the kick. Annabeth quickly resumed her defensive stance and watched Meirin carefully.
While Meirin was glad her attack worked, her leg felt shaky. Kicks were one of her strongests attacks, as her legs were far stronger than her arms, but this would have been the first time she tried to kick through body armor. She has shattered trees, stones, and bricks before, but that was with time and focus to channel her energy into a precise strike into a weak point in the wall. That last kick was a wild shot right where most of Annabeth’s armor was, and Meirin could feel it. If she had reinforced her legs Meirin could have done more damage, but for now she just had to accept that she needs to be more careful about striking Annabeth’s chest now.
As the two stared each other down, Annabeth decided to taunt Meirin, to goad her into making a mistake.
“You could probably wear real armor if you didn't have big floppy breasts!” This surprised Meirin. She was used to people questioning her skills or being sexist, but she's never heard someone insult her breast.
“What? You… Hmph! You certainly look more manly than Grey drilling the guardsmen.” Meirin rebuked, trying to copy Annabeth's tactic.
“And your hair is long enough to be a tail! Do you clean your ass with it too?”“I'm sure blood isn't the only thing that gets sucked in Underhaven.”“With all that jumping and spinning, you fight more like a clown than a warrior.”“The only joke here is your skills with with a sword. You fight like a dairy farmer!”“How appropriate, you fight like a cow.”Meirin glared at Annabeth, but her snarl soon turned into a snicker. They weren't even putting up a defense right now. They were just making from of each other now. Though now Meirin didn't care so much about learning the weakness of armor. She just wanted to beat the shit out of Annabeth now.
“Fists then?”Annabeth dropped her sword and shield and took off her helmet and gauntlets for some good old bare knuckle boxing.
“Sounds like your last night with Ssarak.”Meirin sheathed and tossed her sword away, removing the shoulder guards on her vambraces and cracked her knuckles.
“You'll be very close to my knuckles too. They want to meet you, face-to-fist.” Annabeth threw off her coat of plates in a swift motion (Annabeth specifically ordered hers to be easy to don and remove) and charged at Meirin, fists raised.
“I'm going to smack the bitch out of you!”Annabeth rushed in with her guard up, expecting Meirin to try to dodge and strike her. Annabeth the was going to go into a take down and pound Meirin into the ground. Sure enough Meirin did dodge, but instead of moving back or to the side, she move forward. She reached out and hooked a hand behind Annabeth’s head and a foot in front of her feet. Then Meirin pushed her hand forward and swept her feet right to Annabeth's knees.
While Annabeth didn't know fancy attacks like Meirin, she had excellent control over her body. When Meirin stepped to the side, Annabeth stopped her movements dead in her track before redirecting her body to where Meirin was. Her arms weren't in any position to wrap around the warrior monk, but Annabeth could still slam and tackle into Meirin. She felt a sting on her head and one of her foot was kicked out from under her however, and Annabeth's tackle instead felt more like a shove.
Pushed back Meirin didn't hesitate to out distance between herself and Annabeth while also throwing a retreating round house to Annabeth’s leg. She needed to weaken her stance a bit and go for the decisive blow. Additionally Meirin learned a bit about Annabeth’s own strange form of mobility, so side stepping and throwing Annabeth wasn't going to work out so well. Meirin needed to take Annabeth head on and use that stench against her.
Annabeth immediately resumed her charge, this time instead of going for a tackle, she lunged with a jab. But this was a feint for Annabeth; she wanted Meirin to try to deflect her punch while Annabeth tried to grab Meirin’s leg and put her into a hold.
Sure enough Meirin was able to parry Annabeth's punch with ease with one hand, turning it into able fist to counter Annabeth. She didn't expect the grab however and Meirin felt herself getting lifted off the ground. Meirin tried to act fast: one of her legs were tightly locked by Annabeth so there was no sense in trying to save it. But with her leg so close to Annabeth's body, Meirin was in the perfect position to deliver a vicious knee strike to the side of Annabeth's head.
Feeling something bony and sharp smash into her skull, Annabeth winced, but still held onto Meirin’s leg with a deathgrip. She didn’t know how many more she could take however, so Annabeth did the simple thing and tucked in her chin and fall back, pulling Meirin over her shoulder so that when she fell, Meirin would hit the ground first. Meirin saw this coming and could only brace herself, pulling her legs and her arms up in so that when she fell she wouldn’t take as much damage. She felt herself crashing into the ground, but also Annabeths’ grip loosen, allowing Meirin to roll out of her grab. But Meirin was now bleeding from the head due to a nasty gash. Annabeth wasn’t much prettier with a blackened eye and a bloodied nose. Annabeth got up to her feet ready to fight. Meirin took a stance, solid and strong.
The estoc was at Annabeth’s foot. She could easily kick it up to her hand. Meirin’s sword was right behind her. She knew she could flip backwards, grab the blade, and have it drawn in one smooth motion. But Meirin wasn’t sure if she should draw her weapon. She did say they would fight with fists, and Meirin wasn’t as well armored as she was before. Annabeth also didn’t have her buckler, which was an important part of her fighting style. While she’d have better control and strength two-handing her estoc, that wasn’t the style she was used to using. She was still too new to using an estoc to reliably use it two-handed anyways. But Annabeth could tell that Meirin wanted her sword. They were both had just bashed each other and now wanted to draw blades.
”No, not yet. I don’t need my sword to beat her.””My fists will be more than enough for a barbarian like her.”Meirin stepped away from her sword and circled Annabeth. Annabeth also stepped away, walking the same direction to keep the distance with Meirin equal. Meirin could read Annabeth’s stance and could tell that fisticuffs weren’t her forte. She had a very basic punching stance, only good enough to take a beating. On the other hand Meirin’s stance would allow her the advantage of reach, either to strike Annabeth or to intercept her punches. It was no wonder why the Eania girl had to keep charging head-first into Meirin if she hoped to have a chance at beating her.
Annabeth took the first strike and charged Meirin. Meirin jabbed at Annabeth’s head and shoulder. Annabeth blocked one of the jabs and let the ones on the shoulders hit her so Annabeth could get close enough to throw a straight cross into Meirin’s stomach. Meirin tried to block it, but only succeeded it getting the wind knocked out of her as she turned her body away to deflect the punch. Meirin stepped back and tried to sweep Annabeth’s feet, but this time Annabeth lifted up her leg to stomp Meirin. She missed, but followed up with more powerful swings at Meirin’s body.
Meirin was able to duck, dodge, and weave through Annabeth’s strikes and return with a few jabs herself, but her blows were too light to phase Annabeth, however Annabeth was starting to show injury as well. She just needed to weather the blows until Annabeth tired out again and Meirin can finish her off easily.
But one thing Meirin didn’t expect was for Annabeth to start learning her moves. After one too many punches to the face, Annabeth was able to dodge Meirin’s counter attacks and use her own jabs and straights, putting her whole body into the strikes to give it extra weight. And being so close to Meirin when Annabeth threw her punches, there was very little time to dodge or deflect them. Annabeth gave Meirin three solid uppercuts into the stomach, and she swears she could feel a rib crack. Meirin certainly felt those, but she wasn’t out of tricks yet. She stepped back, and when Annabeth tried to throw another punch at her, Meirin reached out and grabbed her arm, holding it close to her chest. In one fluid motion, Meirin kicked her legs up, one around Annabeth's head and another over her midsection, and brought the weight, as well as Annabeth, to the ground. This put Annabeth into a straight arm bar.
Annabeth fell to her knee, but didn't fall to the ground just yet. She knew if she ended up on her back it was going to be all over. But Meirin, despite her grace and agility, was heavy. Annabeth couldn't pick her up with just one arm, and she wasn't in a good position to leverage Meirin into a reversal. She could feel Meirin legs tighten around her neck and body, and her arms was on the verge of splitting. Even with the armored sleeves, Annabeth's shoulder was on the verge of giving out. Things were looking bleak and Annabeth could lose. But she wasn't going down without one last act of defiance.
Standing to her feet, Annabeth hoped into the air and used all her strength to slam Meirin onto Annabeth's knee. At her angle the best Annabeth could do was hit Meirin lower leg, but maybe they would do something.
Meirin felt Annabeth's knee dig into her leg am cracking something. The pain was almost unbearable. But not enough to beat her. As Annabeth landed Meirin threw her weight back and made Annabeth fall to the ground, where she dislocated Annabeth's shoulder with a snap. Meirin rolled out and watched Annabeth squirm, only to see a bit of wincing as she stood up. Meirin could hardly believe it.
”You can’t win. You can barely stand and you can’t hit me. Just give up!”After the hunt things were different for everyone. The assassin was gone without a trace and the guards seemed to double in numbers. Each person had their own coping mechanism which they all seemed to do right away leaving little time for talking. Keri was no different. She had decided to vanish to the forge only coming up for certain things like training with Lucilia or classes with Uicle though once in a blue moon she would be seen gathering wood. All the vampire's free time was placed down in the forge just fixing Lyn's teddy bear while nearly ignoring her job entirely. Once that was done the young women decided to do something she should have years ago before coming to the college which was what she needed Annabeth's help with now. Though after running around the Underhaven and school Keri had learned that her friend was in the courtyard the whole time. The vampire walked outside wearing a short sleeved tunic and breeches with a water pouch around her waist, something she had started to carry around now. Her necklace was out in the open for everyone to admire than being hidden away and her stealth ring was on the finger underneath her family crest.
The one thing that would have received dirty looks was the deceased Knight's shield which Keri had grabbed for two reasons. One was for protection and another weapon during a fight to help prevent damage. The second was the scent. This would help the vampire remember that there were those who hated her kind and would do anything to kill them. Something the young woman would gladly prevent though in the white masked assassin’s case she would just rather drain him dry instead of a quick and easy death. Once this thought crept into the vampire's head a small smile crept on her lips. Usually she didn't want to attack humans without reason but this one had threatened everyone in the mission, which in her book was an all bets off the table kind of thing, allowing the young woman to attack without reason. Better to attack first instead of waiting to see if the guys would carried out the threat and lose friends who would most likely rather die of old age.
A sudden scent of blood caught the vampire's full attention causing her to run toward it. Once there Keri felt rather silly seeing Annabeth and her partner practicing. She kept quiet and watched closely noting each attack, parry, and dodge. Then the words come making the young woman question what they were doing now as her head went back and forth between the two women. Keri watched as both threw down their arm and weapons knowing where this was heading from experience yet still she kept quiet mainly want to see who would win. It was clear that both knew what they were doing yet neither seemed to want to back down. With each hit the women receive the vampire would flinch at as if she herself was receiving the beating. Then the young woman hear something give and then something popping letting her know that it was time to interrupt. Before she said anything Annabeth's partner spoke up.
" Actually I don't think either one can continue. At least to my ears ladies. I vote you both chalk it up as a draw. Or else I'll carry both parties to their rooms for a time out like my brothers and I got when we fought."Meirin looked at Keri when she arrived. Suddenly Meirin felt very embarrassed going this far with Annabeth. So she went to pick up their swords, handing Annabeth her estoc.
"Good fight. Maybe next time you'll even win." Meirin walked away, cocky, but as soon as she was out of sight she sat down. With the adrenaline dying down she could feel the full extent of her injuries, and she was fairly certain she had a few cracked ribs. She took off her bracer and noticed how bruised it was, and looking at her torso showed it was just as blacken and beaten. This actually made Meirin laugh a little.
"Not bad."Getting a slight patch up by the vitamancer at the sparring grounds, Meirin was still sore, but bandaged up. As long as she didn't get into another fight anytime soon, she would recover. Meirin walked back to her dorm to put her gear away when she noticed Ssarak standing outside. She ducked into a corner and tried to fix her appearance. She noticed that much of her clothes were torn and cut at various spots due to Annabeth's blade, most notably a cut cleave through the cloth that would have covered her cleavage. The best she could do was hold her belongings in front of her chest, which would help hide the her damaged wardrobe. Once she felt that she was decent she turned around the corner.
"S-Ssarak? Hello! I didn't expect you to be here. How are you?"
