Nallia smirked when Minerva confirmed her guess. Interesting room, with some very ... interesting things hidden around it. Nallia's voice was light and teasing, and if her visor was off her yellow eyes would have shone with amusement.

Reaching the room Nallia gestured inside. Get your armour on, I'll be waiting out here. Nallia leant against the wall next to the door to wait.

Okay it will just take a minute. Minerva went into her room to put her armor on. She headed over to the foot of her bed where she kept a spare flight suit. The flight suit also had armor built into, but it was far from the most maneuverable armor that ADD had, but it was the one assigned to her.

Minerva bent over to put on the armor, it became clear that Nallia probably could see her, but how much she could see of Minerva was unclear...

Nallia examined the corridor's to either side, but the movement was just for show. Her visor had a very wide field of view, and by studying the corridors she had brought the room currently occupied by the agent as she put on the armour. Nallia smirked as she watched the show Minerva was putting on as she got into her armour, although the moment Minerva finished and moved towards the door the smirk faded and Nallia's face became blank.

As Minerva came out of her room in her armour Nallia turned to face her. Assuming I am four times faster than you can you think of any environment that neutralises that advantage? Any location that helps level the fight? Because without having the environment on your side you won't stand a chance. I'll give you a hint, you want an environment where speed does not matter as much, where movement is limited.

Minerva thought about Nallia's latest puzzle, Hmmm, something that neutralizes your speed. There were several places I could think of that would help even the fight. A Zero-G environment would be one such environment. While you might still move faster, your movements would very telegraphed and easier to defend against.

Another location would be in water or underwater. It simply slows down any movement by any person. However, it would be difficult to lure an opponent into such environments, especially if they are somewhat wary of me. However, the other way would be a tight environment such as a narrow corridor or tunnel. Even a narrow valley may work. It would force you to come at me from one direction and there are only a few ways you can attack me.

Nallia smiles and nods, and her smile is warm rather than predatory. Correct. However if you choose water you need to remember that some shuro will be able to breathe under water, and will be just as quick, if not faster when submerged. But for a human like opponent the base logic is sound. Lets go. Nallia takes the lead and quickly passes through the base as the two agents make their way to the pool.

Upon arriving Nallia nods contentedly when she notices that is is empty, and she un-clips two breathing masks. When we spar I have a single rule. Do not strike at the face. Just trust me when I say hitting my face is bad, for you I might add not me, and to be avoided. With that Nallia clips on the mask and dives into the pool.

The masks simply pull oxygen out of the water, and need no tank or extra equipment. They also house a radio that allows the two agents to talk to each other with them on and being underwater. Nallia simply waits submerged until Minerva follows her.

Minerva took her mask and looked it over. It was amazing level of technology. Things were always such a mismash of equipment, with some agents having some tech, and some such as herself having some basic equipment. Minerva put the mask on and dove into water.

She could feel the coolness of the water flow through her hair and the bit of skin still exposed. Minerva contacted her trainer on the radio, Okay, no strikes to face got it. A hit to face probably would wreck the mask and would probably make Nallia pretty angry, and considering what she did to those other ADD agents, anger was not something she wanted to face.

As Nallia moves through the water it quickly becomes apparent that she is just as graceful and natural when moving through the water as she is on land. She swims over towards Minerva and reaches out to the mask. Her hands tap the top of the mask and a simple, at least to Nallia, visor rises from it. The visor seems to resemble standard goggles, although once they settle against Minerva's skin she can suddenly see clearly through the water.

That puts us on an even footing in terms of visibility. Have you ever fought in water before?

No, Minerva was never a Navy SEAL. Why would she have fought underwater. Of course that not a good response to give a teacher, especially one like Nallia. Such a sarcastic response would definitely result in Minerva lying on the ground spasming in pain like the other agents.

No, not really. I have SCUBA dived before, but I never had a reason to fight underwater before.

A tip for the future, never offer a fight in an environment you haven't fought in before. It practically guarantees you will lose, and if your foe is a shuro you will get raped. For the moment just try and attack me with simple attacks. Don't try anything advanced, just get used to attacking through the resistance of the water, the fact your impact is blunted and the fact you are fighting without your feet being on the ground.

Nallia easily blocked Minerva's strikes, but the point of them wasn't to hit. The point was letting Minerva get used to the water surrounding her, to it slowing down her movements. When submerged the most effective method of attack was a jab, a thrust. Anything that involved a swing would be reduced in speed significantly, but a thrust would only have minor reductions. But that is something she would have to learn on her own. Nallia wasn't the type to show people moves or teach them something that basic. If you couldn't work something that obvious out within a few blows that was your problem.

Understood. I guess it is a good think I am practicing here then.

Minerva began throwing jabs and thrusts immediately. It was clear how much the water effected her movement. Years of horsing around with her sister in the pools had taught her that. Large swings only really generated some splash while quick thrusts got more thrusts per swing resulting in more water. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect that horse play would come in handy.

Nallia let Minerva throw jab after jab, for her defence she fought as she would on land, her wrists deflecting strikes and her body weaves around. The water slows her movements, but she is still fast enough for such a defence to be useful.

Far quicker than Nallia expected Minerva's movements seem to become more natural, and at a glance Nallia can tell she has gotten used to having to attack through water. I'm going to take a stance, and in that stance I am going to leave an opening. Find it and use it. However if you don't or can't use it that is a strike. When the lesson finishes Their will be some punishment based on the number of strikes you have. The more the harsher.

Nallia takes a stance, leaving a deliberate opening in her defence in front of her chest. An easy one to spot, and exploit. She fully expects Minerva to use it, and as a result Minerva's jab connects with Nallia's chest plate. The next stance's opening is a little harder to use, and they will get progressively harder to take advantage of. Eventually Minerva will fail, and when she does Nallia will lock that particular difficulty in and every stance will have an opening that hard to exploit. It will be interesting to see how far Minerva can go before she starts accumulating strikes.

As Nallia took a defensive stance, Minerva took a moment to size her up. The first stance that Nallia left her chest wide open. Minerva couldn't believe it. I guess she wants to assume I am amateur until I prove otherwise. Minerva took a quick and jab and scored a direct hit on Nallia's chest plate.

Nallia then took a different stance. The opening she offered was a bit more difficult to spot. However, Minerva managed to hit it again. With each success Nallia made it tougher for Minerva to find the opening and Minerva was finding harder to even spot them. It wasn't long before Minerva finally failed to connect with the proper opening.

By the time Minerva failed to hit Nallia, who twisted out of the way of the strike with her gauntlet deflecting the impact to her left side assisting her defence, she had a excellent feel for Minerva's martial ability.

Strike 1. Match the stance I had just taken.

When Minerva had matched her stance, with Nallia gently correcting her to adapt the stance to Ishtar's frame, Nallia quickly explained the gap, and how to exploit it by changing your attack's aim slightly. To demonstrate Nallia struck at the same speed Ishtar had, but her different aim would mean that if Ishtar tried to replicate the defence she would not be able to deflect the blow, and thus even if she spun away it would still connect.

Does that all make sense?

Minerva adopted the stance that Nallia had presented it her. Nallia made slight adjustments so that it was easier for Minerva's body to hold the stance. Then Nallia showed her how to defeat the stance. The stance turned out to be pretty easy to defeat once you knew how, a simple strike in the right area was simply unavoidable.

Ah, I see. I just have to be more observant when looking for an opening.

I have not put any time limit in place, and for this exercise I am not attacking you if you take to long or give me an opening ... so why would you rush your strike? Visualise what your attack will look like, and how it could be stopped. Do not attack until you cannot see me blocking or avoiding the attack in any way.

With that, rather brief, lecture out of the way Nallia moved into another stance that had an opening that would be just as hard as the previous one to spot. Whether Nallia's rather brief lecture, and her earlier demonstration, would have shown Minerva enough to spot and exploit it was unknown.