Forging a Secret Weapon

[CaptainL]

When Clara brought up having PTSD, that was something that gave Mina a bit of pause. She hadn't said a thing about that before. She was always quiet, yes; a little weird, yes, but she'd never outright come forward and said anything. The fact she was doing this now meant two things - for one, she knew enough to put her feelings into words, and two, she was entrusting Mina with those feelings. The blonde lingered on that thought a moment. She and Clara had barely known each other for very long at all, and their first encounter had been that of rivals. Yet now, Clara felt she was safe to share her deepest secrets with? If that was the case, then Mina clearly meant something to the girl...and that told her that she needed to protect her now more than ever.

For now, though, she would have to focus on her training. That in and of itself was a way of protecting her - if Mina knew anything about her mother, it was that she expected progress according to her exacting standards, and Mina would have to ensure Clara was trained enough to meet those standards. When the white-haired girl came charging in whirling her arms and legs around her in a blur, that was something Mina looked at and realizing she would have to break the habit of. She was wasting energy. That wouldn't do, especially not when Clara had burned herself out in their last match. In fact, the biggest move of them all - when Clara attempted to tackle Mina - was something the blonde could see coming, and she brought her hands up to deflect Clara's charge accordingly. But when Clara suddenly threw up her knee and slammed it into Mina's gut...that was different.

She hadn't seen it coming at all. As the blow landed with a thud, Mina doubled over forward, coughing and sputtering as she grabbed at her stomach. But a moment later, as she realized what it was that had hit her, she looked back up at Clara, and she went still a moment. "You...hit me. You actually hit me..." This...was progress. Clara was learning for sure, and what was more, she was learning faster than Mina had expected. If she could keep this up...she'd be going places.

Straightening herself back up, Mina cleared her throat. "That's good! You managed to feint me out and catch me off guard. Being too predictable won't take you anywhere. And I want to focus on that - to see if we can keep that strategy going. I want us to keep trading off attacks, and we'll take turns trying to anticipate and counter them. Try to keep me guessing, because if I don't know what's coming, I won't be able to stop it. I'll start us off. If you're ready, then...let's begin!"

Looking to open up the volley, Mina would take a step forward, swinging her forearm in Clara's direction. It was a pretty basic move, but that was the point. Surely it wouldn't be that hard to counter it. It'd be a good way to gauge where Clara stood as of now.

[FreshBritishSalmon]

When Mina praised her for landing a proper blow to the blonde, the white haired woman felt proud. She had very rarely been praised for anything, and now she had been praised by the one girl she trusted most. She watched as her friend doubled over and spluttered, feeling a little bit bad, before realising she had probably endured far, far worse than that as a champion. She took a deep breath before watching intently as Mina arose to her feet once more, before announcing the next plan of action.

"Alright then!" Clara said eagerly as she saw Mina take a swing at her. She quickly lunged her arm up and attempted to grab Mina's forearm with her hand, before sweeping her right leg into Mina's left shin as a counterattack!

[CaptainL]

Clara's move had given Mina an idea. She had a good grasp of the fundamentals. She knew how to hit. But her moves didn't go much deeper than the basics. A skilled opponent, Mina knew, would have been able to outwit her and use her own momentum against her. It was time to get Clara used to thinking like a true fighter, focusing on the defense as well as the offense - ideally, at the same time. And the best way to do that, she thought, would be to practice that in a safe, controlled environment, with the two of them taking turns countering each other.

Clara had no problems settling into the flow of things! When Mina threw a forearm in her direction, she managed to catch it - and that was a sight that briefly brought a smirk to the blonde's face. She knew what to do, she thought to herself. And so too, Clara had no hesitations about escalating things, throwing her leg against Mina's shin! It landed with a crack, causing Mina's stance to buckle; she leaned in closer, her teeth clenching in a wince. But this, too, was something that could be countered - and Mina would demonstrate that.

Mina's balance was compromised on that leg, but she still had another leg she could use. And it was that leg she went to throw around Clara's right, hooking it behind her ankle. If that worked, Mina would try to pull Clara off her balance while leaning forward to fall on top of her, trying to drag her down. If she was going to go down anyway, she'd take her opponent with her!

[FreshBritishSalmon]

Just when Clara thought she had toppled her partner, Mina had used her brief moment of stumbling to hook her leg around Clara's ankle, causing them both to topple hard! While they were falling, Clara grabbed hold of Mina's hips, in an attempt to try to swing them so that she would be on top afterwards. Though this wasn't fully successful, she did manage to get the, both into a position in which both of them landed on the mat in perfect sync, their sides becoming the crumple zones in the fall.

"Ngh..." Clara grunted, before quickly sending a second knee up into Mina's gut, then trying to seperate the two of them by pushing her leg outwards, and using this brief moment to rest. After resting, she would get onto her knees and, if Mina was still laying on the floor, leaping onto her like a lion on its prey, and pounding her face and breasts hard with a flurry of punches!

[CaptainL]

Clara was definitely starting to think more strategically, and Mina was impressed to see her think outside the box. She was going to need to adjust her tactics if she wanted to keep up with the competition, and it seemed she was starting to get the hang of that. But if Clara was learning, Mina was just going to step up her game to match. She had learned she could counter and trip her opponents up - but then, so could Mina, and Mina would do that just now, as she swept Clara's foot out from under her as the two went down! She wasn't going to let the white-haired girl claim the upper hand that easily!

However, it seemed that Clara was doing a good job of keeping up with Mina's example. Even as they were in motion, she was going to try and control the balance between the two of them - she grabbed for Mina's waist, pushing her over to the side so that the two of them would land face to face! Mina winced a little as she fell, rolled out from under her opponent...but she couldn't be too mad. The fact that Clara was giving her this much trouble was a sign she was doing the right thing!

She managed to shove her knee into the blonde's gut, and Mina was rolled onto her back, breaking the two away from each other. Before Mina had a chance to ready herself, Clara was already on her with her other greatest asset - her raw aggression! With the same fury she had showed in their first encounter, she leaped on top of Mina, and she barely had any chance to prepare herself before she was bowled onto her back, with Clara raining punch after punch down into her from above!

Mina's body swung from side to side as every impact landed with a crack. Her head was spinning - but she could be just as aggressive, and she wasn't about to let Clara walk all over her that easily! Hissing through her teeth, Mina would attempt to reach up and grab Clara's wrist as another punch came toward her. If that worked, she'd crank back at the joint to try and stun Clara with the pain, then kick her legs up to throw them around her waist and squeeze!

[FreshBritishSalmon]

As the two of them landed with a loud thud, Clara's attempts to neutralise Mina's plan of being on top when they landed actually succeeded. For that, she was thankful, but knew that Mina was very persistent, and she was going to fight back with more gumption than before, despite the fact this was just a training session, and Mina was teaching Clara in what to do. But in Clara's mind, she was treating this match as if they were in a full ring, to better prepare herself for future bouts.

When they landed, Clara acted fastest by moving her body on top of the blondes and hammering away a barrage of speedy punches. Her strikes weren't anything to go nuts about, but she threw them fast, so the damage would pile up. This seemed to be working as Mina's head swung from side to side, clearly bring rocked by the onslaught that she was enduring. But Clara knew that Mina wasn't going to let that happen.

And it didn't. Firstly, Mina grabbed a hold of Clara's right wrist and cranked her wrist backwards, causing quite a lot of pain to her, clear to Mina by the white haired girl hissing in pain and stopping her onslaught almost instantaneously. Then, she swung her legs up and caught Clara's waist before she could reach, rendering her legs unusable! Clara grimaced and thought for a moment, before giving in and tapping the mat at the side. She couldn't think of a way out of that situation.

[CaptainL]

Now that her mother was out of the picture, Mina didn't have anything that needed to occupy her attention other than the spar itself - and she was determined to give Clara a challenge that was sure to test her skills and force the white-haired girl to prove her worth. However, Clara was quickly adapting! As the two of them fell, Clara managed to scramble on top, unleashing a few rapid punches onto her opponent. A few of those blows struck Mina, causing her to hiss and wince as she felt the pain shoot through her system. But her eyes narrowed on her foe, and her teeth clenched in a grimace - she wasn't going to go down that easily!

Just then, Mina managed to kick out with her legs, securing her grip around her opponent's midsection. Then she could get to work in intercepting her next punch - and turning it against her, as she blocked her fist while wrenching backward at the joint to stretch the tendons and ligaments in her arm. Before Mina knew it, Clara had signaled her surrender. The white-haired girl had barely even bothered to try and last it out.

She let her go, but with a huff, Mina pushed Clara off of her before sitting up and crossing her arms. "Two things," she explained. "For one, you see how devastating a well-applied counter can be. I can block your attack, redirect your momentum, and use that to deal out damage. But...you really tapped out to a simple joint lock..?"

She sighed and shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek. It wasn't fair to Clara to be this harsh on her, Mina told herself. She was still learning, and she'd barely had any time to learn something more than simple brawling. She had to be patient with her. But even still...

"This just confirms what I've suspected ever since our first match. Your biggest shortcoming is your endurance. We need to focus on making sure you're more durable. More conditioned, and better able to keep moving." She looked over at her for a moment longer. "...I have an idea, but I don't think you'll like it."

[FreshBritishSalmon]

Once Mina had released Clara from her painful prison, the white haired girl knew that she had disappointed her friend and her new mentor. It wasn't that she couldn't endure that sort of hold, it was the fact that she could not figure out a way out of it. But for now, she decided to remain silent with that for now, deciding not to argue and cause any more issues for Mina. She had formed a bond with her now, one which she was determined not to break. Whatever Mina had in store for her, she had to just endure and accept it, no matter how brutal, or how embarrassing it may be for her.

"Yeah, my lack of experience kinda... hampers me..." She said, realising how deep down the rabbithole she had gotten herself. "...But I am willing to learn, no matter what!" She said with a determined look. Once Mina had an idea form in her mind, and warned Clara that she may not like that idea, she shook her head at her defiantly. "It does not matter. If it will help me improve, I will do it, no matter how much I struggle!" She said with a look of pure grit, her hands clenching into a fist, adrenaline starting to rush through her body. She had no idea what she had just agreed to do, but she had no way out now!

[CaptainL]

Mina kept a wary eye on Clara. Her expression was flat and collected; deadly serious. She knew this was no time for joking around. It was no secret that Mina wasn't the most thrilled about what she had seen from the white-haired girl so far. Clara certainly had potential, but if she was going to live up to it, she was going to need to be thrown into the fire. Her inexperience and lack of stamina did a lot to hold her back, and it would cost her any matches she tried to put herself up to. Mina knew for sure that her mother wouldn't be pleased with Clara if she burned herself out against more accomplished foes. What she needed was to toughen up - and Mina was the one who was going to have to do it.

At the very least, Clara seemed to be honest about her desire to improve. She had a strong spirit, and that was one thing Mina had to give her credit for - she was willing to do whatever it took if it meant getting stronger. Mina sucked in a breath, taking a step closer to her as she raised a fist and pounded it against her palm. "I think you're going to need to get used to taking offense," she explained. "And if I'm going to have to throw you in the deep end, I'll do that. Here's my plan. You won't put up a fight at all. I need you to just stand there and take it, and I'll lay into you with attacks. It's going to hurt, and you're going to get worn out, but you can't do anything about it, and I'll only stop when I feel like stopping. If you hurt, then it's better to get that out of your system now, so you won't do it in a match. Hopefully by then, you'll be able to roll with the punches." Yes, Mina liked Clara. But she also knew she couldn't learn anything if she went easy on her.