Basch Taejin

This is a closed AU RP Blog, and does not portray the canon Basch from Final Fantasy XII

[baschtaejin]

Taejin Mission 035: Small Steps towards Bigger Dreams.

[bartztaejin]

Shaking his head slowly Bartz refused the offered water. He started to feel a bit more at ease when the Captain pulled out a potion while being examined by the medic. ‘Okay, so he is not entirely inhuman. That’s a relief… I guess.’

The recruit listened to his superior’s evaluation of his performance nodding obediently. There were numerous occasions when he felt like adding something but his early days of training had taught him not to interrupt his instructors and only speak when asked. Also, Basch would probably not take too kindly to being called ‘a beast of a man no normal human could keep up with’ when he scolded him for his lacking physique. Or how his lucky hit wouldn’t help him much in a real confrontation - especially if it meant ending up under his enemy with a knife at his throat. Or claw. Or beak. Or whatever deadly tools the beasts on Pulse employed.

He kept listening to Basch and the medics short conversation in silence. Finally the Captain turned to praise him some more and offered his hand as he congratulated him to a training well completed and welcoming him to the army. Bartz looked at him with a blank expression and was about to accept the hand shake before he decided to speak his mind instead. “Sir, I… thank you for the kind words, but… I don’t think I’m ready yet! No disrespect, but I only won by luck,” he complained his voice getting more intense. “And you could have still finished me off! I can’t go into battle, have my comrades rely on me, if I can’t do my share. I could end up dead, and worse: they could as well. Don’t you think I still need more preparation before going into actual combat and putting others at risk?”

[baschtaejin]

Basch retracted his hand and listened to the young soldier's concerns, nodding and listening intently. When Bartz was finished Basch just shrugged, "Listen kid. I understand what you're saying, and for the most part I can sympathise with what you're saying. I only came here temporarily, for supplies and mercenary work. This place has a way of making you feel at home, and I think the Army has a lot to do with that."

Staring off into the distance, he continued his monologue, "Going into active service is a big step Bartz, and it's also a daunting one. One day you could be ordered to clear out a pack of Swoops, the next a horde of Goblins, but there's one thing you can be certain of in this world," Turning back to face the soldier, Basch spoke in stoic manner, "The Army will always be there. You will never be alone in the field. You will always have assistance, and the soldiers here are damn good at what they do. If your skills are lacking for a job, your friends will be there to help. They will not falter, and if you fall, they will pick you up so you can try again. The Army is a family, and we protect each other, as family and friend."

Standing, Basch pulled out a cigarette and put it behind his ear; "If you still have qualms with accepting my commendation, then I will not go against your wishes. Speak up now if that's the case, because we best get back before it gets dark, and I have a lot of paperwork to get through."

[baschtaejin]

Taejin Mission 035: Small Steps towards Bigger Dreams.

[bartztaejin]

Bartz face went even paler when the bigger man got off him and pulled the brunette along with him. His eyes were still fixed upon the blade which had found it’s way into Basch’s abdomen. He seemed to finally notice the foreign object as well and Bartz thought he heard a quiet wince form his opponent’s side. But rather than show what he thought the adequate amount of pain considering his situation the Captain merely asked him to retrieve his blade in a calm and level voice.

‘Is he crazy?' raced through Bartz' mind, and 'I am no medic!' He looked up into the other man's face and opened his mouth to protest but decided not to argue with him. He probably knew what he was doing. So he very carefully grabbed the blade and slowly started to pull. With a little relief he noticed little resistance so it apparently didn't hurt any bones or did otherwise unnecessary damage. Although the term “unnecessary damage” was probably very inappropriate here. When he had removed the sword he still stared at it somewhat in disbelief. It wasn't much comfort but he noticed it was only covered in crimson blood and nothing else, so it was likely the wound was mostly superficial. As superficial as a few inches of metal in man's body can be, at least. 

Still, Bartz experienced another shock when Basch instead of getting the medics to check on him merely pulled out a piece of cloth to press on the wound and only handed the recruit over to the doctors. Before he could protest he was lead a few paces away and one of them began patting him down and asking whether he hurt anywhere. Bartz kept denying her inquiries - ignoring a few bruises he had gotten from being slammed on the ground - and stared only half-listening at the Captain lecturing his comrades. ‘Is that what sentinels do? Letting themselves get stabbed like that all the time? Or does he just not care of I spill his guts all over the grass? Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration but—-!' He remembered he still held the dirty sword in his hand and carefully wiped it clean using his pants before placing it back in its sheath.

Suddenly he felt a sharp stab and whinced when the medic poked him hard in the ribs. “Oi, pay a little attention here, boy!" "I’m fine," he replied a little embarassed and continued: "Shouldn’t you rather check on the Captain than me?" But in reply the woman only chuckled and rolled her eyes. Bartz couldn’t make much sense of it but she didn’t seem like she wanted to explain further.

Just then Basch had finished his instructions and bellowed in his direction again: “When you’re ready kid, I need to speak with you." He looked at the medic again who just nodded and the brunette started running towards his superior. "Coming, sir!" ‘Oh gosh, what now? He knows it was an accident, right? Or is he going to teach me how I could have wounded him more lethally?' He shook his head to focus on what was to come next. 

[baschtaejin]

As a medic came to treat him, Basch removed his tunic to allow the man to treat the wound. Acknowledging Bartz, he beckoned the young recruit over and offered him some water. Stretching his neck, he retrieved a potion from a pouch on his belt and imbibed it, recoiling slightly at the bitter taste, "I'll never get used to the taste of these... You're a good fighter kid," nodding, he continued his summary of Bartz abilties, as if talking to himself more than the man in front of him. "For what good my observations are, you've got natural skill in magic, but you could certainly use more physical training with your blade. Magic won't always save you after all, it's fair to say you learnt that today?"

As the medic was finishing treating him, Basch nodded as he listened to the young woman, and then said softly, "Alright, once I'm finished here I'll head to the clinic and get this wound treated" Turning back to Bartz he smirked a little, "Looks like you got me pretty good kid. That was a decent strike you landed, even it was by accident." Turning around, he retrieved a stack of paper from his bag.

"I've got a lot of paperwork to get through, but I'm going to recommend the commander assigns you immediate field work. You have the aptitude for it, and I'm sure the other active field soldiers will benefit from your magic," writing something down on a scrap of paper, he folded it and stashed it in his pocket, "If you have any problems with that, tell me now." Standing up, he offered his hand to Bartz, "Welcome to the Army of Taejin Bartz."

[baschtaejin]

OOC-

[baschtaejin]

Taejin Mission 035: Small Steps towards Bigger Dreams.

[bartztaejin]

Things happened shockingly fast even with Bartz increased speed of perception. He did notice his opponent shift the grip on his sword while both were still charging. ‘What is he up to?' raced through his mind but he couldn't make sense of it. 'Maybe I should dodge? No, I shouldn’t waste any more time.' He focused and kept going at the taller man. Things seemed to be going according to plan. Basch lowered his shield to block his attack and wouldn’t be able to use his shield bash but then suddenly changed his stance and jumped at him. The recruit had no real choice in what to do and kept his sword pointed at his target. Then the Captain’s full weight slammed into him and everything vanished in a blinding white flash of pain. ‘Should’ve cast protect…' was the last thing racing through his mind. Somewhere far off he felt his sword connect and in exchange his feet lose contact with the ground as he fell backwards and slammed hard on the ground. When he was able to gather his senses again and realize what had happened it was already too late. If he’d been able to recover faster he might have been able to do something but now the Captain pretty much sat on top of him and had his blade almost pressed to the brunette’s throat. As if this wasn’t intimidating enough “DO YOU YIELD!?" rang in the younger man’s ears. He swallowed hard his eyes wide with fear, tried to speak but somehow no sound escaped his lips. Considering the sweating, heavily breathing person on top of him nodding didn’t seem a like option. For a moment he let his eyes wander while taking a deep breath. This was when he realized where the sword he no longer had in his hand was instead: buried rather deeper than it should be in Basch’s waist! If at all possible his eyes went even wider in shock but in exchange he somehow manages to croak a “I yield… I yield!" the first barely audible, the second louder and with more than a just hint of panic in it, more due to his recent discovery than due to his situation.

[baschtaejin]

Upon hearing Bartz' submission, Basch's bloodlust began to subside, and he relaxed his muscles. He was suddenly aware of the shocked faces around him, the recruits, the medics, and even Bartz. Rolling off the man, Basch got to his feet and pulled him up off the ground.

He nodded at Bartz, "Sorry kid. I went too far," a sudden pain struck him, and he looked at his side, "Ah shit. I think you lost something there kiddo. Do you think you could get that for me?" He winced as Bartz pulled the sword from his side. Retrieving a cloth from his pouch, he instantly put the cloth to the area to clot the wound and called the medics over. As they approached, he grunted "Treat the recruit first, check for internal injuries around the waist and chest." Turning to face the recruits, he instructed them to organise into formation.

"I hope you were watching recruits. No matter how well trained you are, and how prepared you are, there will always be unexpected situations. It's up to you how well you handle them." Sheathing Chaos Blade, he continued his lecture, "Your skills, abilities, and weapons will be the closest companions you have on the battlefield. Rely on them first, and on your friends second." Removing the cloth to check the blood flow, he reapplied it, "Bartz here did well. He utilised his strengths and he took the advantage. He's small and nimble, and he used that against me. Your body is a weapon too, remember that. The one thing he didn't account for, is the unexpected. For the synergists among you, if you're in doubt, cast protect to aid in your defence." 

Spinning on his heel, he faced Bartz. With a nod, and a smile, he said "Well done, recruit Klauser. Well done"

With that done, he waved his hand above his head, "You're all dismissed. Please remember that while this is a military installation, Oerba is still a civilian area. Act accordingly." As a medic scurried to treat him, he pointed at Bartz and grunted "When you're ready kid, I need to speak with you."

[baschtaejin]

OOC-

Thanks

[baschtaejin]

Taejin Mission 035: Small Steps towards Bigger Dreams.

[bartztaejin]

Bartz was relieved when he realized he had managed to evade the Captain’s first attack. Apparently his Haste spell had caught the opponent off-guard and he ran a few more paces fom where they had met. When his hearing told him he wasn’t imminently followed he turned around to to face Basch again. ‘Thirteen chocobos, fourteen chocobos, fifteen chocobos’ he counted in his head to keep track how long his spell would last. The surrounding recruits he noticed in a spare moment seemed amazed he even managed to avoid that one attack. This had indeed worked much better than expected but running all the time wouldn’t help him. Surely Basch was much more enduring than him so tiring him out wouldn’t work and most likely soon he would see through him and simply evading like this wouldn’t be an option anymore. He could try some kind of debuff but poisoning his superior didn’t seem like a good idea. Even if - and this was a big “if" - he was lucky enough for it to work. No, he would have to face him head-on, somehow. The taller man had already turned to charge again. Bartz decided to cast Bravery as his next step. Whether the increase in strength would be enough to keep up with his opponent he would have to find out. He discarded his first thought to mimic the Captain and instead decided to just try to hold his ground. As Basch closed in Bartz had no idea what manner of attack he was about to use. ‘But judging from his last move it might be another shield blow…’ So he prepared to attack with his sword at the right moment forcing his opponent to use his shield for defense and block a possible sword strike with his shield as good as possible. Now he’d see how much good the Bravery would do.

[baschtaejin]

During his renewed charge, Basch was paying close attention to Bartz. He was moving fast, abnormally fast. He noticed a slight pattern in his foes' movements, his body moved and shifted in his fighting stance, albeit at a much more rapid pace. He flipped his sword in his hand, shifting to an icepick grip, if this doesn't work I'm going to leave a huge opening... But he shrugged off the thought, he was committed to the attack. He saw Bartz shift into a sword-stance, This is it.

As he approached, he quickly brought his shield up, feigning an attempt at a second shield strike, but just before he reached his target he brought his shield back down to his side and leapt straight at his foe's torso, landing his attack with his shoulder. It took Bartz by surprise, but it didn't stop him from striking with his sword. Basch took the blade strike in the side of his chest. His mind screeched at him, the pain was intense. Far more intense than it should've been. The momentum from his shoulder charge should've unbalanced Bartz and reduced the force of the attack, but it was incredibly powerful.

Using the momentum, Basch forced Bartz into the ground, and he quickly dug his knees into the ground either side of Bartz' torso, sat up, and brought his blade, still in the icepick grip, straight up to Bartz' throat, stopping mere centimetres from his foes neck. Even though Basch still had Bartz' blade embedded in his waist, his blood pumped adrenaline through his veins and he roared "DO YOU YIELD!?" at Bartz. He could counter this... but he might not have the strength to do so.

[baschtaejin]

OOC

I barely have any of you on my contacts list, so add me on skype if you so choose, the details should still be up on the contacts page... Ask Faris.

-rolls away-

[baschtaejin]

Taejin Mission 035: Small Steps towards Bigger Dreams.

[bartztaejin]

Bartz swallowed hard when Basch actually accepted his offer. He certainly wasn’t sure he could do any better than his predecessor but he had gotten himself into this so he would do his best to somehow not make a terrible fool out of himself. He stepped up and faced the much taller man with as much courage as he could muster. He wasn’t sure whether the Captain’s words were supposed to be comforting or intimidating… Probably he was just stating facts in order to teach the recruits what they should know already by now. Bartz tried to get into a proper stance as well and took a few deep, calming breaths and tried to plan his first few moves. Tap. He would start with Haste to give himself and advantage and then maybe try to slow or possibly blind the blonde man. Tap. And then… Far faster than Bartz expected Basch came rushing at him. Bartz reconsidered going for Protect first but as he had little time and it probably would not be that useful against Basch’s full strength at this point he stuck with his earlier decision to apply Haste. As this was probably his most used spell he finished casting quite quickly and took a moment to accustom for the well-known feeling of things moving slightly slower around him than before. He feigned a defensive posture with his shield held high in front against an incoming blow with either sword or shield from the captain. But instead, when Basch was only a step away from him, he made a jump to the right away from his opponent’s sword arm trying to keep his shield between them to avoid a possible shield bash against his head. His plan was to try for a possible opening if Basch was actually careless (or generous) enough to leave such or if not at least buy some time and get behind the enemy.

[baschtaejin]

Basch hadn't had much experience fighting magic users, there hadn't been much use for them in Landis, and he hadn't sparred with any in Oerba. He didn't really have much of a strategy, but he was confident in his abilities, and his plan was to overwhelm Bartz with speed and experience.

During his charge, he kept his sword trailing behind him, leading with his shield with intent to daze his foe with a battering assault. He was slightly surprised when Bartz didn't make an evasive stance, the recruit simply raise his shield, but Basch dismissed it, already committed to his charge. Getting closer to his target, he brought his shield-arm closer to his body, ready to lash out as soon as he was in range. But then something happened, Bartz appeared to be moving fast, abnormally fast, and in the instant before Basch's blow connected, Bartz effortlessly shifted his body away from the attack, as if Basch was merely a stray leaf on the wind. 

What?! How the hell did he do that?! Basch's mind raced, but he kept running forward, in an attempt to deny Bartz the ability to counterattack. After a few more metres of running, he pivoted on his heel, shifting around to face his opponent, he quickly surveyed the situation and resolved to charge again, this time with both shield and sword trailing behind him.

[baschtaejin]

Physical Therapy | Basch and Faris

[faristaejin]

Basch’s words resonated within Faris and she nodded solemnly at his comment, “You’re right, s’why I joined the Army in the first place. I didn’t feel like watching what was happening to the world any more."

She took the axe from him without question. Basch understood the circumstances of his predicament better than her after all. In any case, she wasn’t about to risk her own neck over something as trivial as carrying an axe. With both axes in hand, she headed towards the carts.

Faris put the axes down on one of the carts and pushed it around experimentally, “These should hold a fair amount of weight. What do ye say we both take one and haul what we can back?"

Turning back into the woods, Faris began making her way to the piles of lumber they had left behind.

"Thanks again for all your help today," she said genially, “With this much chopped, I should be able to start construction now."

[baschtaejin]

Picking up the cart’s handles, he nodded and said “Sure. It’s the least I could do.”

Making their way back to the wood, he mulled through things. In his mind, Basch knew what Faris made sense, but he felt she was too complacent about it, that there was no other reason for her to want to be here apart from “Bad things are happening out there”... But was his reason any better? He was too involved, the problem was too personal.

“My father once told me something, Faris. He told me that chaos is a part of life. It walks the wheel of existence, and it has always been and will always be. But this isn’t chaos. Chaos is untamed, and random. I don’t know what’s happening, but it doesn’t seem like its normal, like it’s part of the plan.

He shrugged, “Such thoughts will drive one to madness though. It’s best to just ignore it”

[baschtaejin]

Taejin Mission 035: Small Steps towards Bigger Dreams.

[bartztaejin]

After the lunch break and the usual chit-chat with the other recruits Captain Basch assembled them again and declared he’d be willing (and Bartz assumed at least a little bit happy) to take on anyone who thought he could challenge him in a mock battle.

There was some turmoil among the others and hushed discussion. When it seemed like everyone would be sensible enough not to take the Captain up on his offer the bigger recruit from earlier stepped forward and with quite a bit of confidence declared “I’ll challenge you sir. If I win, you owe us all a round at the bar.” Well, if nothing else this would at least turn out to be entertaining. And in the worst case there were some medics around to be sure.

The recruit’s first charge was easily dodged. The Captain was generous and let him get away with merely looking a bit silly.

The second time he didn’t go quite as soft on him. That stroke to the head looked like it hurt quite a bit, along with the kick. And from the observed reaction it didn’t seem like the Captain pulled the punch. Well, not entirely, anyway.

The self-confident rookie did seem like he learned a lesson. If not in man-to-man combat than at least in humility. And the others around him also seemed pretty impressed by the display and not a single one seemed to harbour any illusion about being able to stand up to him.

He was just about to step forward when he stopped in mid-motion. ‘Well, I’m sure I wouldn’t make a much better impression in hand to hand combat. But should I try anyway? Then again, would I be able to learn anything if he knocks me down as easily? Or would he be less hard on me if I’m not quite as full of myself? I wonder how the others would feel if the Captain was to beat another one of us. Would it discourage them, or would it just make them eager to get as good as him?’

“Uhm, sir?” Bartz began half-hearted but then straightened up. Looking like a loser from the start would probably not help him any. “If you promise to allow me to keep my lunch inside my stomach I’d try if I can last a little bit longer than him.”

[baschtaejin]

Basch was just about to address the recruits when Bartz' voice piped up in the crowd. Hearing the young man's offer, he thought for a second and nodded, "I'll try, but no promises on your lunch staying inside you kid, that's up to your nerves."

As the recruits cleared the general area, Basch drew his sword and stared at Bartz, the man was probably not prepared for a true combat situation, not would he be ready for Basch at his full force, I better go easy on him... Basch then shifted his weight to his feet. "In a real battle... your opponent won't let you know when combat begins. This will be as realistic as possible. I advise you to apply your protective enhancements quickly."

Basch then tapped his sword on his shield slowly. One tap, he eyed the distance between him and Bartz. A second tap, he twisted his feet in the ground. On the third tap, he began sprinting, shield in front of him, aimed directly at Bartz.

[baschtaejin]

Physical Therapy | Basch and Faris

[faristaejin]

Another soldier, another sad story… Faris sighed, everyone who had come to Oerba, to Taejin’s Army, had been brought there by horrible circumstances. In a better world, none of them would have met.

But here we are, she thought to herself, working together, helping out, becoming a team… She was starting to get sentimental about it all.

"Sorry about your family," she said, “looks like Oerba’s just full of orphans. But we’re all doing our part to try to stop more stories like ours from happening."

She stretched and yawned widely at his offer to turn it in.

"Some rest sounds good but first I’d like to get some of this wood into to town by my place. Think I saw a couple places with some carts for transporting loads on the edge of town before we came here. Mind making a quick trip back to grab those?"

She began heading towards the direction they’d come from and looked over her shoulder to see if Basch would follow.

[baschtaejin]

Nodding, Basch began following Faris, a few paces behind her. He didn't want her sympathy, because it wasn't really going to change anything. His family was gone, no amount of empathy or sympathy was going to change that. "Don't apologise for things you have no control over Faris..." 

His grip tightened on the axe in his hand, "If we want to change Pulse... we have to do it ourselves. We can't be complacent, we can't wait until there's no other option. We have to find the cause... and stop it." He loosened his hand, no more innocents should die because of this. 

Flipping the axe around, so the head was in his hand, he tapped Faris on the shoulder with the haft. "You should take this. If the town guard see I have a weapon they'll probably punish the person who gave it to me." The forested area began to clear and the town was in sight, and sure enough the carts that Faris mentioned were there.

[baschtaejin]

OOC and stuff... (Yes. I'm alive!)

Sorry I haven't been around lately. I'm studying full time, 8-3 every day, and I have a few other things going on in life as well... I've got a 2 week break now so I'll try to get my ass into gear and do some replies.

Like/reply if I owe you a reply, please.

[baschtaejin]

Peak of Remembrance | Basch & Stella

It's been a while since I've come up here he thought to himself. A few weeks actually. It was a cool night, no clouds in the sky, Similar to that night isn't it.

Basch regularly trekked up to this point, ever since Aerith went into stasis. The pair met here the night before the Bismarck festival, and he hadn't told anyone else about it. It was his special space.

As he passed into the clearing, he felt something, the air was different. Pulling out his sword, he continued slowly and grumbled to himself "Probably just a monster..." 

As he continued up to the cliff, he saw a blonde woman sitting underneath the White Almond tree. He tapped his armour sharply with his sword to get her attention and just grunted "What are you doing here?"

[baschtaejin]

Physical Therapy | Basch and Faris

[faristaejin]

“M’ a commando as well, and a decoy sentinel I suppose,” she flashed a grin, “good at drawing attention to myself, see?”

It took her a few moments to formulate a response to his story. She bought herself sometime to think it over by stretching her shoulders out a bit; working the axe was slowly taking a toll on her for the day. Faris frowned at the earth as his explanation rolled around in her head.

It was still pretty vague, but given its nature she highly doubted she would get anything more specific or detailed than that. What he said did give her even more cause for concern. She still didn’t have all the details though. Perhaps she would ask Cloud or Queen about them later. After all, there was always the chance that Basch was over-selling the Army’s faults in all this.

“Skeletons…” she finally spoke up, in an unusually thoughtful tone, “Well, we all have some of those.”

Faris accepted the water bottle but placed it on the nearest tree stump. Taking the opportunity to answer his question further, she explained.

“I was the captain of the Syldra before coming here. My ship and hometown got taken out in the same monster wave,” she shrugged, not willing to turn this into the sorry sad tales fests she’d had with Cloud and Queen, “That’s how I joined the army.”

[baschtaejin]

Nodding in understanding, Basch sighed and said "There's similar stories everywhere Faris. Pulse has changed, and it appears for the worst." Stretching his neck, he stared straight ahead as if in a trance. "Both my parents died long ago, my father raised me and my brother for a time before he too passed. The highlands are a different place than it is down here. You hunt to survive, and you honour the old ways. My father was a blacksmith, forging weapons for a living. I guess that's why I'm adept at handling most weapon types." 

He shrugged and continued, "One night a pack of lobo struck into our camp, much deeper than they had before, and killed the herd of sheep... and a newborn child. I guess that was our first warning of the monster waves."

Standing, he picked up the axe and tossed it around in his hand a few times, "What solidified the theory though, was when a behemoth attacked a travelling party of refugee's. They normally kept to themselves in the highlands, only attacking if threatened. 10 refugee's with barely 2 weapons wouldn't count as a threat to a behemoth. My brother and I defended them, distracting the behemoth for them to get away..." He roared and swung the axe with such force it embedded itself in the stump, "it killed my brother. There's no doubt in my mind now, Monsters are getting bolder, tougher, more brazen."

Pulling the axe out of the stump, he sighed and said "It needs to stop before more innocents get hurt." With a shrug, he turned to Faris and said "Well... should we continue or call it a day?" 

[baschtaejin]

OOC - Looking for someone to do a thread.

Long story short, it's gonna be a little remembrance thing for Aerith between Basch and another person.

Preferably a new recruit to get Basch to interact with people, but it's open I suppose.

also, I'll get to the replies I'm just not motivated right now.

[baschtaejin]

Taejin Mission 035: Small Steps towards Bigger Dreams.

[bartztaejin]

As Basch stood up from his paperwork Bartz felt (again) towered by the Captain. Well, apparently Bartz gave off the wrong impression again. But the quieter ““I’m not targeting you kiddo, so don’t think I’m the big bad Lobo.” made Bartz feel a bit more at ease. Bartz considered it would cause much less trouble if he just nodded to the following advices for his superior. ‘Self defence next. Get a shield. Get some food. Don’t get yourself in trouble again.’ He turned on his heels when the Captain was finished and joined the other recruits who were already eating and grabbed some lunch for himself. The others were chatting away about this and that, though quite a bit of it was actually related to today’s training for once. Still, Bartz was thinking of his own problems and how he’d tackle a long sword and shield with his measly dagger. Sure, a shield would be of use but could even so, what shield should he use? A small wood shield would be the easiest but would offer little in the way of protection. A bigger shield would be more useful but also more cumbersome. Or should he even go for a metal shield even though it would be much heavier? ”Oi, Bartz, what do you think?” another recruit elbowed him from the left. Bartz really wished he had a better mind for names. “About what?” he inquired. The other resonded with a grin “The big guy says he’s going to take down the Captain later. You think he can do it?” Bartz just burst out laughing.

[baschtaejin]

Finishing the paperwork, Basch stood up and sighed. "This is going to be a long afternoon." Finishing his cigarette, he had a few mouthfuls from his canteen of water. Turning around, he decided it was time for the  self-defence examination to begin.

"Right," he shouted, "Form up kids. I watched quite a few of you fighting before, and I feel I can make apt judgement on your ability to defend yourself in a combat situation." Stretching his arms out, he sighed and said "But if you want more experience, please step forward and I'll go easy on you."

A wave of murmurs rippled through the group, and a few of the recruits stepped forward only to step back again. After a few moments, Basch had almost resigned and dismiss the group, but a recruit stepped forward and grinned snidely "I'll challenge you sir. If I win, you owe us all a round at the bar."  Basch just looked back at the man with a deadpan look on his face, he wielded a zwei-hander and wore hardened leather armour. Basch sniffed and replied "It's your funeral kid," and he drew his sword.

The recruit moved forward apprehensively, but as soon as he was within range he lunged at Basch, swinging his sword in a wide arc. In a swift movement, Basch ducked beneath the sword and tapped the man on the small of his back with the flat of his sword. "In a combat situation recruits, pay close attention to your assailant's movements," he turned and kicked the stumbling recruit to the dirt. "Adapt to survive." 

The recruit stood up and moved close to Basch, but this time lashing out with the pommel of the weapon. Basch sighed and stepped forward to block the attack. The recruit stumbled backwards, stunned, and Basch kicked the man in the gut, causing him to double over. "If your foe has a heavy strike, you might want to step into the block instead of staying stationary," he used the hilt of the Chaos Blade to hit the man in the top of the head. "You can lessen the force of the blow by reversing some of the strength back on your foe."

The recruit stood up and spat at the ground. Basch just smirked and said "Will that be all?" 

[baschtaejin]

Just a notice..