Post for confirmation and whatnot.

Confirmed, heh.

Ok so, Choreography Training for you. The battle is something that is more or less considered an art. By creating and working out the twists and turns that your battle can take is the only thing that can truly leave a battle with a sense of realism. All godmodding stems from an inability to take your opponent into consideration. Working out the details and motions of a battle between two fighters is only natural. No fight is truly spontaneous, most moves stem from training in a particular style.

The major areas of concern are:

• The Build-up: The "contact the other party" area. If it looks like the characters are headed down the path of battle, it generally is a good idea for the both of you to have a discussion on how the fight would turn out, even if only a tad bit. Or at the very least to agree that both are interested in a fight (if for whatever reason someone has reasons to back out)
• The Rising Action: Study both of the parties(characters) involved in the fight: What are they wearing? What weapons do they have? What have they been known to do? What condition are they in? Basically, setting up the scene for the fight and getting a good understanding of the situation. Preparing for battle, what's the room looking like, and how will you set up for attacks, counter attacks? What kind of fighting will your character pull off? What is he trained in, all of this needs to be taken into account as the situation heats up and both parties prepare for an attack.
• The Clash: All that thinking and planning you've done so far get put into work at this stage. Attacks, counter attacks, counter counter attacks, feints, etc. This is the phase during which most god modding occurs, and when a poor lack of understanding is present, it can be unintentionally disastrous.
• The Decline: Damage is taken (Realistically) and you understand how the flow of the battle will go if you keep on going. From here on it turns a tad bit routine and may fall back into the clash as the fight lasts longer until finally...
• The Victory: The part a lot of people don't want to reach for fear of loosing. Losing is natural, it happens, and at this point one needs to be honest and see how the battle played out, and how it shall end. This is the part that a lot of fights get stuck in, as no one wants to admit defeat.

Ok so those are the basic steps of how a fight works, and since they are quite linear we'll take them step by step. To start things off, let's see what you are already capable.

Scenario: MeruMeru and his instructor are in a simple training dojo. Both have a wooden sword and a wooden shield in hand and are standing a good distance apart from each other. They are however enclosed within a circle, and the trainee's goal is to get his instructor out of the circle. The instructor is a Zora, and as such tends to be a bit more agile and will use forearms to block and counter often, as well as his legs. You are free to use whatever natural abilities your character may have as well as that which have been provided.

As Meru stepped up, ready to face his instructor, he quickly went through all the reasons he would lose in his mind. He had not paid any particular attention in class, which was a huge point of the class to begin with. He had understood basic strikes and blocks, but he had learned those with a training stick, cut to a length fitting his diminutive stature. Now, he had a rather large wooden blade. It wasn't the weight that would affect him, as the wood itself was fairly light. It was that the blade had a bulk he was nowhere near used to, and he had to hold it two-handed for any realistic degree of control. The shield strapped to his left forearm was more than useless here. The Zora instructor would be too fast to be block able with such a clumsy device, and it interfered with holding the sword with both hands. He decided it would be better as a weapon, that at some point he would try and catch the instructor off-guard by throwing it at him.

None of his personal effects would help much either, at this point. He had a small stone dagger in one of his tunic's pockets, but the point wasn't to hurt the instructor, it was to batter him out of the ring. His tunic was leather, bad for flexibility, but too thin to be protective, and his pants were heavy burlap.

Today was not going to be a good day for MeruMeru. He waited impatiently, raising his sword into a vertical position, ready to swing horizontally, and waited for the instructor to signal "start."

Ok, so far so good. You have the basic idea of what counts towards a fight beforehand pretty well, now in actuality you won't go through that list every time, but keep it in mind whenever a fight's breakin' out and find subtle ways to input as much details into the rp that would count towards a fight through multiple posts, without breaking it's flow.

Ok now, for our purposes, consider both parties to be at the same level/post count so the actual strength the two have is the same (For the sake of training). This is still sort of introduction and what not, as we go on I'll give you different scenarios so be ready. For now though, let's finish this. Your goal in your next post is to find some way to best the Zora.

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"Don't let me down, young one." I had much hope for my latest class, but even the best batches had a weak link. His size was a limitation that no doubt made it easier for him to fall to where he was, but when it happened for real there would be no excuses. Hopefully he would understand to use his size in time. Lightly gripping the wooden sword and having strapped on my shield with only the most minimal of strength, I had opened a weakness in my attack, but had created a strong defense with the speed that would be allowed to me.

"Very well, begin!" No sooner had I spoken than I had launched myself. My goal here was to be simple with my moves. Standard array of attacks and blocks with an emphasis on keeping distance between the two of us. Bringing my sword down so it moved parallel to the floor, I charged in ready for an upward swing, with my shield arm at the ready, blocking my torso.

The fight had started way too quickly for Meru's tastes. The immediate aggression his instructor had shown, moving to strike within the first few moments of the match, had caused immediate fright in the Skull Child. He dropped his sword, letting it clatter to the floor, and dove to his right, tumbling into a crouching position, dangerously close to the circle's edge. Meru noted with dissatisfaction that his hat had fallen off in the process. Thankfully, it had fallen safely out of the ring.

Meru realized he needed a plan, and fast. He would need to fight with wits, rather than force. To that end, he removed his shield and tucked it under his arm. With his and the instructor's relative sizes and strengths, the shield would be worth more as a projectile than as a defensive means. Even then, though, he only had one chance to use it, and if he missed, or if it were blocked, he would have nothing left to defend himself with. Conversely, if he could catch the Zora off-guard, he could nab an easy victory.

MeruMeru hoped to his feet, and waited for the instructors next move. Meru needed him to charge again...

"Oho, nice dodge. Although I fear that without a weapon, you have met your demise, no matter how clever you may think you are." The shifting of his shield was too obvious and too sudden, the fact he held unto it told me he meant to throw it at some point. His chance at a projectile was lost the second I saw the movement. He's got a quick mind, I'll give him that, but the subtleties are lost in him. It's a shame he never paid attention in class.

Oh well. Time to end this. I began my rush, but as I did so I spun the blade in my hands so it was face downwards, lowering myself unto the ground and shifting into a slidekick at the Skull Kid by the second step. I was his teacher in the end, so I did what I had to do. The wooden sword was kept centimeters above the ground, ready to dig itself into the floor should my kick miss. Keeping my left arm ready in case such a thing happened, I would use the the shield to finish it and force him out.

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Ok so, you have the basic idea down, but I believe I'm beginning to see where you fall short. Now, your goal for your next post is to react to to all the actions mentioned, and finding a way out of it. This will be the last post before we move on to another scenario, so find a way to end. As I'm sure you've noticed, I've included a series of "when/if" movements. In other words, your post should incorporate these movements should you meet the prerequisites (in other words, if Meru dodges the attack, the second set of actions plays out)

Ah, I avoided using ifs. Wasn't sure if they would be too complicated.

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The instructor had already seen what Meru had planned to do. Meru sprung into the air as a last second defense against the sliding kick, stomping down on the instructor's shield and pushing off, just as the Zora attempted to strike with it, for a second jump, landing at the other side of the ring. Much to Meru's dismay, the instructor had stopped himself from sliding out of the ring using his sword as a brake.

But now the instructor was down, and Meru still had a plan. He readied the shield, holding it discus-style under his arm. As the instructor stood up again, he would throw it. It would be blocked, Meru knew this, but that was what he had wanted, after all. If the instructor moved to defend against the shield, Meru would run forward, into a leaping two-footed kick, aimed right at the Zora's own shield. He would use it as a platform, and push off, hopefully with enough force to topple him.

If he missed, or if the instructor dodged rather than blocking, well, then Meru was up a creek without a paddle, figuratively speaking. But he figured that a slim chance was enough, at this point.

Situation Turnout: The actual shield throw misses because he rolls off to a side, but the Zora in doing so rolls out the circle. Winner: Meru by default.

Ok then, now we move on to your first scenario, are you ready? It'll be something simple enough. The purpose for this one will be to see if you have the knowledge of fights and how they work to a sufficient extent.
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You have taken the role of a Human caught in his home as bandits raze the area. You hear the cries of people all over start out suddenly, out of fear for your own safety you make your way to your sword. Only seconds after having picked it up you hear the doors to your house break down as you see four come in from the doorway. You hear the backdoor open as well with an unknown (three) number of coming in from it. You are mere feet away from those in the front door and have no choice but to take them on. You may find some plan or trap for those in the back. Consider them NPCs under you command to an extent, you have permission to record if they're hit or not and have control over basic movements. In other words, resolve this scenario in one post. If you do it well, we'll move on, if not we'll take it apart and go through it piece by piece.

SitRep (Situation Report):
Your character is a hylian; Your only weapon is a longsword, and you are wearing no armor.
The four in front carry a Mace, Short Sword, Hatchet, and Long Sword. The three coming in back carry two longsword and a halberd. They have leather and light chain mail armor respectively. In other words, deadly ones are in back.