Symbiosis: At World's End

Confrontation

Medusa grumbled under her breath as she roamed the 'concrete jungle'. She had been here for approaching twenty-four hours and so far, all she had found was crumbling buildings, cracked and upheaved concrete, plant life forcing its way through the cracks in the ground, and the occasional bird fluttering around. She was keeping in radio contact with her teammates, who were in other sections of the city. It was approaching nightfall, and she didn't want to be caught out in the dark. She checked in a nearby building for signs of habitation and upon concluding it was safe, ducked inside and settled into the darkest corner she could find and fell asleep.

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Merrick was up early today. He was sitting on his perch, deep in thought. He also was having a discussion with the symbiote, who was very suspicious of Brianna.

"Something just feels...off with her. I don't know how else to explain it."

"Well stow it. They'll be up soon, and I don't want to spook Brianna by talking to thin air."

Merrick was proved right when just a few minutes later, Brianna groaned a little and pushed herself up. Merrick noted that she didn't seem to feel any pain. He walked over and knelt down beside her.

"Hey, easy there. Let's check those stitches."

He rolled back her sleeve and saw that the wound had closed enough to remove the stitches altogether. Pleased with this, he checked her shoulder next. The cut was still a bit worrying to him, but he did notice an improvement. He spent the next while removing the stitches in her arm before wrapping it in gauze again. He wasn't leaving it to chance. He also rewrapped her shoulder. Once his medical duties were taken care of, he started to work on breakfast. The heavily salted deer meat was rehydrated and roasted on sticks as well as a mixture of roots for some variety. By the time he was done cooking, the siblings had gotten up and were waiting for him to dish out.

After breakfast, he had them start the usual workout while he took Brianna over to the gap and began teaching her about things to look for in the world, such as finding caches or avoiding Ripper hideouts. She absorbed the information much easier than the siblings. Once they were done, he started their first combat lesson. He gave them sticks carved to crudely resemble knives and began teaching them the basics. Brianna watched the whole time, knowing that once her arm was finished healing, she would be going through this training regimen. She simply rolled her shoulders, wincing a bit at the action before going back to watching Merrick teach Jason and Kelly the basics for fighting with and without a knife.

"Knives are the easiest weapons to fight with. They're light and there isn't much of a learning curve to them. One of the most important things to know is your stance when fighting. Most fights are going to be with Rippers, and you can usually figure out what you're dealing with based on the weaponry. Most Rippers use their fists to fight, but a good portion of them also use bludgeons of any sort. Knives you won't see very often. They're typically used by higher ranking Rippers. If you can take out the higher-ranking individuals in a group, the rest will typically just leave."

He went on, teaching them more about stance and how it can affect how you fight. He demonstrated a few times with the wooden knives and his fists what he was going to be teaching them. Most of what he demonstrated revolved around use of the arms. Punches, elbows, hammer blows and the like, but he did show a few kicks off as well. His knife play was actually really interesting. He often used various stabs, not often slashing.

"Slashes are painful, but that's about it. Pain isn't something that slows a Ripper down. Not enough to make a meaningful difference anyway. Stabs have more potential for damage, and you can follow it up easier with a punch or kick."