Teaching how to fight

Evander wasn't entirely sure how he had managed to be convinced to give lessons to Dimitri, the son of some random sea goddess. It was not exactly something that he had planned on doing, but he didn't mind it. Everyone needed help with self-defense every once in a while. So he walked into the arena, his sword in his hand with his armor on. He looked intimidating with his red armor, but he had his helmet off, his helmet held under his arm.

His student wasn't here yet, so the son of Ares walked to the middle of the arena and put his helmet on, then started doing some sword maneuvers to get warmed up. He wasn't sure what level this Dimitri person was at, but he could start with the basics. He just wasn't sure he was going to be able to be patient. Patience was not exactly his style.

Dimitri wasn't the kind of person to turn up late, it was a part of having a strict curfew. There wasn't a punishment for turning up late for him, simply because he'd never been late. He didn't hold the same obligations to campers as he did his parents, but the moral still stuck. He wasn't late, but he was punctual.

Combat training was a huge deal to Dimitri. Being around dogs and pigs his whole childhood meant he knew how to be physical, but it didn't mean he knew how to be violent. The thought made him sigh, sure he was no pacifist, but he certainly wasn't the kind to hurt a person. This wasn't for people though, it was for monsters. Dimitri took a deep breath at that thought, taking his steps into the arena. It was the first time he would step in with the intent of holding a weapon.

"Evander?" Dimitri asked, his thick southern accent apparent in his words. Christ, he looked even more intimidating in that battle armor. Dimitri looked down at himself, severely under-prepared to take a blow from any weapon. He was wearing black jeans and a white t-shirt. That certainly wasn't going to stop a butter knife, let alone a blade. Dimitri looked up at his teacher, he was glad Evander had a good reputation. Ares kids had short tempers and loved to use the power of the sword over then pen. It wasn't their fault, it was in their genes. But Evander was a good example that those genes could very well lead to good still.

"I guess I wasn't really sure what I was expectin'. I've never really had to fight before. Not in a serious situation." Dimitri explained, shooting a look at his teacher, as if he was giving a silent apology. "What's our first step?" Dimitri asked.

Evander looked at the southern boy in front of him, giving him a full once over. "Well, first thing's first, I would say we need to get you some good fitting armor." He said, then he stopped. "Oh, and yes, I am Evander. Son of Ares. Nice to meet you, Dimitri. Now, where were we? Armor, yeah, you need armor or you're going to be seeing a lot more of Apollo's kids than you want to."

The Navy-brat put his helmet down and walked over to the rack of regular camp armor the arena had. He looked back at Dimitri, trying to gauge his size. After a few moments, he pulled out a simple breastplate of dried leather that was reinforced by celestial bronze. He shouted a heads up to the southerner and tossed it over before starting to look for greaves for the man's shins and arms. It took him a little while, but he found two sets that looked like they would fit well enough, and didn't have any blood on them. He picked them up and walked over. "Once we get all this on you, I'll teach you some basic techniques. You should also learn to fight without the armor, because you're more likely to be attacked while doing something stupid, like shopping, or while you're out on a quest, rather than while you're here where you have armor."

"It's nice to meet you too." Dimitri replied, without saying anything else while Evander was speaking. Dimitri was perfectly happy with Evander doing most of the talking for the time being. He was the teacher after all, and Dimitri wanted to learn as much possible. He knew this was going to one day make the difference between life and death. "Thanks for takin' the time to do this, it's much appreciated." Dimitri added in. Manners were vital, but maybe not as vital as these lessons.

Dimtiri followed close behind and watched Evander rummage for proper armor. It was very obvious that he'd done this before, and it made Dimitri feel good to be in experienced hands. Even if it meant he was going to be taught through example. Dimitri swallowed hard at that thought. But his mind was brought off of it by a heads up, and Dimitri quickly reacted, catching the breastplate as it hit into his chest. "Christ, you're good with your aim." Dimitri complimented, looking at the breastplate in his hands, figuring out how to put it on.

"Getting attacked while shoppin'. Sounds like the time of my life." Dimitri replied, as he worked the breastplate on himself. "Listen, I think I should tell you, as my instructor, that the idea of facing up to these things torques me up jus' a little." He wouldn't even be at any risk until he left camp, but he knew he'd have to one day. "Does it get more simple? Facing them?" Dimitri asked, finishing up with the armor. It could be a little better adjusted, but it was all in place.

"No. Well, yes, and no. I'm not the best person to ask about that. I've only done a few battles. The first against Langastro...Langstr.. Lastr...ah northern...giants, on my way here. Well, no, before I knew here existed. Then there was the battle of Manhattan, where I didn't die, but I was terrified. And then there was another battle here, where I didn't die, but I was terrified. And frankly, as long as you don't die, and you don't run, I don't care if you soil yourself." Evander said as he looked over Dimitri's armor. He tightened a few straps, but other than that the man had done a pretty good job.

"Alright, pick up your sword. I'm going to teach you the most basic steps. The first thing is first. The pointy end goes in your enemy." Evander said, smiling a little. "Okay, so, a xiphos, what you have in your hand, is a double edged sword, with a long blade. It's not a great sword for stabbing, and the Greek form of fighting involves much more by way of slashing and hacking. So I want you to... no, no your grip is wrong." He went over and adjusted the sword in the other guy's hand until it was a little higher up and better to hold while slashing. Then he stepped back and pulled his own blade out. He moved beside Diminitri and showed him his grip, then did a simple downward slash with the blade. "Follow my movements here."

Dimitri listened intently, as though every one of the words being spoken to him would later be used to keep him alive. "Yeah, a lotta people have told me about the Battle of Manhattan." Dimitri said, respect for Evander now abundant in his voice. The thought of being in that city alone made him uncomfortable. Knock everyone out cold? Then it was nerve wrecking. Add titans and gods at war and watching people you love die? It was downright terrifying and cruel. Sure, most campers had survived, but most didn't mean a thing. People had died in such a horrible event. Dimitri literally prayed that nothing like that ever happened in his lifetime at Camp Half-Blood. But he had to be ready just in case.

Dimitri cracked a smirk at his comment about the pointy end going towards the enemy. "Xiphos." Dimitri repeated, butchering the pronunciation in his southern accent. "Bare with me here, I ain't really that knowledgeable in this field. Up until today, I coulda told you that swords existed and that's 'bout all." Dimitri commented, attempting to adjust his grip. "Thank you." Dimitri said again, he could never thank people enough. Having this knowledge on gripping could one day mean everything. Dimitri mimiced Evanders movements as best he could. "How many swords are there?" Dimitri asked, out of curiosity. "I gotta admit, this feels kinda comfortable." He commented.

"How many types of swords? Probably hundreds. At least dozens. Xiphos and Kiphos are used by the Greek. Then there are gladiuses used by the Romans. Scimitars. Fencing swords. Rapiers. Broadswords. Claymores. Any type you can imagine." Evander said, straightening up and looking at Dimitri's form again as he moved. "Alright, little more of a solid movement, friend. Smooth motion. Start thinking like this. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. 'kay? Doesn't do you a lick of good to be fast if you can't hit what you're aiming for."

Evander turned and faced Dimitri from the front. "Now the block to that." He said as he lifted his own sword up during the middle of his opponent's swing and the clang of sword on sword run through the air. With a smooth, but slower than usual for him, motion Evander brought his sword around to the side effectively deflecting Dimitri's swing, then brought his sword down and turned it so it slapped the other guy harmlessly on the arm. "Think you can do that?"

Dimitri kept his eyes open and focused, which usually was never a problem. Watching Evander move his blade was nothing like he'd ever imagined. Watching fights before, fast paced, at all looked nearly impossible like it was all some large illusion playing in front of him. Watching Evander slow his pace down, it suddenly resembled something different as though Evander was an artist and his sword was his paintbrush. The thought disturbed him a little bit, that it was in him to see such warlike skills to be an art. However, he decided it was time to learn, whether he was meant to or not. He swallowed hard once, and reminded himself what was at stake.

Dimitri let out a nervous laugh. "Thanks for not usin' the bladed side." Dimitri somewhat-joked when Evander tapped his arm with the flat of the blade. "Let me give it a shot." Dimitri said, with a shrug to answer Evander's question. He felt that he could do it, so now it was just a matter of seeing how accurate that was. Dimitri attempted to mimic what was shown to him, but in the comfort of his own reach. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he was determined to work at it either way.

The ground was shaking -- why was the ground shaking? Another weird earthquake? Percy Jackson throwing an out-of-character temper tantrum? Poseidon throwing a temper tantrum?

Or maybe just that twenty-five foot tall Godzilla automaton slowly, creakily stomping its way towards the sword-fighting arena, bellowing its heart out as it wrecked the camp's paths and knocked over a few trees on its way. Its scaly black skin and beady red eyes gleamed in the harsh sunlight, as if it had just emerged from the depths of the ocean to wreak havoc on the camp and maybe eat a few teenagers too. The day was still young. It hadn't really decided yet.

Reaching the entrance of the sword-fighting arena, it found two boys playing around with swords. What a cute little scene.

With a deafening roar intermingled with the creaking of its joints, the automaton swung its tail -- sending a rack of swords flying at the duo.

Godzilla apparently actually existed. This was the first and only coherent thought that went through Evander's mind before instincts kicked in, and his reflexes went into overdrive. He saw the tail come crashing towards them, along with the stand of swords. If Evander had been thinking, he might not have been stupid. If.

On impulse, Evander dropped his sword threw his body over and slammed Dimitri to the ground with one shoulder, covering his head with his other arm and using his back as a shield. Swords pelted him hard, a few slicing across the exposed portions of his arms, shoulders and legs. One sword hilt hit him square in the back of the head where his arms couldn't cover, making him see blackspots and curse loudly in Greek.

When he pushed up, he felt dizzy and light headed. A wave nausea made him swallow down bile. "Grab you sword! Your sword!" He yelled, but it was more at himself than Dimitri, he spotted the sword and picked it up, straightening himself. "Keep your eyes open for chinks in armor. Uneven patches of scale or skin. Eyes, mouth and nose are most sensitive after that." It was the standard information for dealing with scaled creatures. This one was not like ones he had imagined. Was it an automaton? He had never seen one with such realistic skin.

The ground began shaking, which at first hadn't made the demigod feel too threatened. He'd felt small tremors before back home, but his expression darkened as he remembered New York wasn't known for tremors at all, rarely any type of natural disaster for that matter. Then the shaking intensified as, and creaking sounds began to be abundant in the air. Dimitri turned to face the direction of it, in the moment, it felt surreal. Camp Half-Blood had been a place of legitimate safety; the only thing that got in or out were demigods and friendly creatures. As Dimitri's eyes made contact with the thing, an unreal sensation overcame the teenager. "Good lord!" Dimitri nearly shouted in a mix of panic, fear, and preparation.

Dimitri might have reacted, but before he knew it he was on the ground. Panic overcame him, as he wasn't sure what was going on. He heard the sounds of the swords hitting the ground, and Evander too. The one that hit the back of his helmet sounded brutal, enough that it made Dimitri cringe. Surely enough, the son of Ares was on his feet again, though he didn't look as confident as he had earlier. He looked wounded, in a way that was not a walk-it-off situation. Dimitri was on his feet again, faster than he would have thought. What instincts he had were now kicking in. Dimitri ran to the side, picking up his sword. Out of all the time to possibly be wearing armor, it was a miracle he happened to have it on.

"You good?" Dimitri called out to Evander, his attention not leaving the terrifying machine in front of them, clearly capable of decimation of basically any structure. Dimitri gritted his teeth, he wished they were closer to a body of water so that he could at least have one advantage. He surveyed the thing, and it was looking pretty clear that charging in, even to a weak-point, wasn't a good idea. The machine would destroy them in a head on battle. They were going to have to distract it. Dimitri began circling around one side of it, careful to keep his distance.

The two boys had gone down to keep out of the flying rack's way, but not without a few bumps and bruises and cuts. Godzilla slowly watched one of the boys trying to move to its side, as if he thought it wouldn't be fast enough to react -- so be it. Master Hephaestus had programmed them to attack and defend against whatever enemies of Olympus it could, and certainly two little demigods would be easy to brutally maim, if not totally crush.

What to do? What to do....

With a few clicks and creaks from its joints, Godzilla opened its mouth and out came a large jet of flames towards the boy trying to circle around the robot.

Fire.

Fire was not what Evander had been expecting from robot godzilla. Although, to be fair, he didn't know what he was expecting. "DIMITRI, NO!" Evander yelled, realizing what was going on. This was going to be bad. Very very bad. Somehow, he managed to overcome the urge to just run into battle screaming and dying in a heroically stupid way. Because he would have died. He was certain of that. Instead, he ran for the other rack of weapons, the non-sword variety, and grabbed a spear and a shield. It wasn't much, but it was something, right? He hoped Dimitri wasn't dead yet.

The large son of Ares instead went into the stands of the Arena, running up the steps three at a time until he got as high as he could. It still wasn't as tall as Gozilla, but it was as close as he was going to get. Turning, he threw the spear as hard as he could aiming for the robot's mouth.

Dimitri ran faster than he knew he could, but even then, all he had was the average bi-pedal structure of a man. He hadn't even made it a fraction around the other side of the monster when he glanced over at it. In that split-second, he could see the air around Godzilla's mouth magnifying in temperature to an intense heat. If there was ever a time to act instead of freezing up, it would be now; freezing up now would mean being scorched in a moment. Dimitri continued his sprint, diving behind a rack of weapons and shields. The split second he'd made it behind the arms and armor, the flames bursted to life.

"JESUS CHRIST!" Dimitri shouted in panic and horror. If there was a time to stay silent and play dead, it was now. Dimitri, however, wouldn't be able to play dead even if Godzilla was standing over him; he was shaking too badly.

The rack blocked a good amount of the flames, but certainly not all of them. Flames gushed from both sides of the rack, and any openings in the center also let bursts of flames through. Dimitri backed away to avoid the burns from the center, but he could tell by just looking at the rack that a second burst of the flames was going to cook him alive. The demigod frantically darted his eyes from place to place, all he had to do was find some water. There had to be some water somewhere!

Just as Godzilla began to shut its mouth after its first stream of fire, a spear hit it right in the mouth -- brushing its lip and hitting its tooth, more specifically, which gave off a loud noise upon impact as it hit one of its teeth and left a small dent there, barely noticeable except close-up -- but which it could still sense. With a loud crunch, the automaton bit down on the spear and splintered it in half, the handle falling to the ground with a crash as it swallowed the spearhead.

Hmm. Two boys in two separate places. How could Godzilla maim them both in one shot?

Thinking that the boy behind the rack was a bit more important for the moment, being closer to the automaton, it let out a roar and spat out a large fireball at him.

Evander had little choice on what to do since the spear had literally done nothing. Sword at his side, he prayed silently to Ares and did something incredibly stupid. The Ares child ran as fast as he could, his arms pumping, and his mind telling him that he was going to die. He jumped, leaping as far as his strong legs would take him, landing on Godzilla's back, sliding down a little until he caught one of the spines on Godzilla's back and pulled himself up, trying to climb as high as he could. This was definitely one of the stupidest things he had ever done in his life.

The weapons rack looked divine, really. Someone must have worked very hard on it, maybe a gift to the camp from one of the campers who was talented with crafting. Maybe a child of Hephaestus, a child of Apollo, and a child of Athena worked hard together on it. Designs were carved into it, clearly by hand, and yet it was perfectly symmetrical. And not a single bolt or screw was in place; it was all made from what was likely one massive block of wood. A beautiful work of art, really.

Now it was nothing more than ashes with no urn to lay in.

The fireball didn't even burst when it made contact with the weapons rack, no, the structural integrity wasn't strong enough to ignite the pending blast of fire. The fireball continued its path to the demigod, who reacted as fast as possible. Dimitri dived out of the way, with what little time he had. The fireball missed him, but that was the only good news. As the ball of fire impacted against the ground, it bursted, igniting all sorts of things around it. Including Dimitri's clothing.

The demigod rolled, dirt getting all over him, his clothes not at full integrity any longer. He stood up, weary and frightened. He'd made it this long.

Oh, yes, Godzilla did feel the boy on its back -- Master Hephaestus' sensors worked well in that respect so it could even feel itty bitty human boys trying to fling itself onto its back. With several internal clicks, the automaton's body began to heat up -- it exhaled smoke as it roared, throwing its head back as its skin began to steam and several of the spikes closest to its head began to recede into its body.

Turning back to the boy still on the ground, Godzilla swung its tail at him.

[ooc: very uninspired late post i'm sorry]

I felt the rumblings all the way to the Demeter cabin. My first instinct was to run, but I knew that someone was in trouble. I quickly changed into my customized forest green celestial bronze armor, grabbed my war axe "συγκομιδή", my bag of seeds that I got from Demeter herself and headed out toward the arenas. Once I got there-- even before I got there, I noticed the twenty-foot some monster. Was that Godzilla? Was he breathings flames?! Oh gods help me. I came closer to the monster until I saw Dimitri. DIMITRI! I could tell that he was beaten up by the giant metal lizard. I scanned the automan and noticed that someone was climbing on top of it! Oh gods. Oh gods, oh gods. My eyes fell back on Dimitri and noticed that he didn't have any water to wield. Before I could join in on the fight against the monster, I had to make sure that the son of Cymopoleia had some fire power; er aqua power.

Anyways, I quickly ran off to the power developing arena and searched for anything that I could take with me that was water related. I found two full barrels of water. Barrels are made out of wood. Wood comes from trees. Maybe. Just maybe... Taking in a deep breath, I controlled the actual barrels that contained the liquid water and slowly came back to the fighting area with the barrels floating in front of me. "Hey, Dim! I thought you might need something!" I shouted once a was close enough before setting down the barrels close to him. However the damned Godzilla had turned his back and swiped his tail at Dimitri and now me. "Duck!" I shouted and hit the ground, hoping that it wouldn't send me flying or kill me. I decided to go ahead and tilt the barrels over for the water to flow out. "Who's up there?!" I asked him, referencing the demigod on the automan monster.

The skin was warming up. Great. Evander grabbed one of the useless leather straps from the bottom of his breastplate and pulled hard until the stitching came loose. His other hand was starting to burn, but he resisted the urge to scream. He flipped the leather strap over the spine he was at and took a grip with it, then did the same on the other side.

But he was losing spikes to go higher up, and the skin was radiating enough heat that while it hadn't burned him yet, he was sure it would of he stayed on there. Oh, yeah, and they were moving again at Godzilla swiped his tail. Sweat trickled down Evander's face as he climbed one more spine, hoping to find any sort of weakness. Then he saw it. Right below the base of the neck. A chink in the armor. Or more likely, a panel.

Evander swallowed hard as he pulled his sword out and stretched, trying to reach the panel. He wasn't going to be able to reach it without exposing himself to the skin of the monster. It was going to burn like crazy. Praying to his father for courage, he stretched again, this time leaning his body far enough over that it rested on the skin of Godzilla. His torso was protected, as were his legs, but his arm didn't have that luck. It burned so hot it felt like ice, and while he slid his sword under that panel and tried to pop it, he wasn't able to focus on whether or not he succeeded due to the pain. It overwhelmed him enough that he let go of his handhold. Only a vague thought gave him the presence of mind to push forward with his legs to take him away from Godzilla's body. Pain and terror gripped him as he plummeted to the ground.

Okay, step one in survival training, asses yourself for wounds and injuries and- JUMP!

Dimitri leaped, higher than he ever thought possible, as though he was a galloping horse. The reality is that his feet nicked the tail and he just narrowly avoided becoming a wall pancake.

Dimitri hadn't even noticed Alex appear until he turned his head and faced him, and the greatest gift to Dimitri's kind; water. Dimitri had never been so happy to see barrels of water. At this point, it was his adrenaline that was keeping him going. He eyes darted in many directions as instinct and survival continued to control the demigod's body for him. It was no secret that he wasn't yet ready for something like this.

"Evander!" Dimitri yelled back to Alex. There were likely a lot of useful things he could have shared, like that Evander was experienced in combat and was a son of Ares. None of that came to mind to Dimitri though. Not even ducking under the tail had come to his mind, which would have been a much less risky alternative.

Dimitri wasn't sure if he should take the water yet; once it was under his control he only had so many minutes with it. Surely enough, he spotted Evander falling from the robot. Dimitri caught the son of war with his new cloud of water, which slowed his fall while he was in it, even though he hit the ground afterwards, it was a much more smooth landing. Dimitri willed all of the water that was soaking Evander to return to the mass that he was willing.

Dimitri looked up at the robot, and then he spotted whatever the heck engineers used to make these magical machine things, and it was exposed. Dimitri lowered a hand to help Evander up. "There's a weak spot! Maybe!" Dimitri yelled to his allies.