<div class="floatright">(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_et9ttl8zdzQ/TD_-vwBMOGI/AAAAAAAAN5E/eP7JumXuE2M/s1600/1a3f651e06434edab4aee510aaf9f5b6.jpg)</div><br/>This time, rather than trying to parry, her natural reflexes kicked in, throwing her body visibly to the side and simply bringing the sword up as an afterthought to block the weapon.  This seemed much more effective, but it still wasn't quite good enough, when his blow struck her back a few more yards towards the yards.<br/><br/>Flipping upside-down as she flew towards the ground, she shot out a hand down to the ground, reflexively catching herself and cartwheeling right side up once again.  She tried to take a deep breath and compose herself, but it hurt to breathe, leaving her staggering a little as she followed up to the dummy.<br/><br/>Her sword vanished from her grip as she reached out to catch the wooden blade, catching the blade by accident but readjusting to take the hilt in both hands.  Both her sides hurt now, and her eyes wanted to tear up, but she couldn't let them.  She had to figure out how to do this.  Miyuki was going to be there, and therefore Michelle had to be as well, making sure that nothing would happen to her.  How was Michelle supposed to live with herself otherwise?<br/><br/>She started throwing slices and jabs at the dummy, thumping with a forceful method that looked like more effort than she'd ever shown previously.  The dummy rattled with each powerful strike, leaving Michelle's hands stinging slightly, but she tried to just tune it out.<br/><br/>The weight of the weapon didn't feel right at all.  Somehow her unconscious expectations of what a weapon should be like were far too close to the sword that kept appearing and disappearing, not the heavy wooden thing that kept thunking the dummy.  It felt slow, awkward, foolish, but at least the fear was gone: the dummy couldn't fight back and couldn't really be injured.<br/><br/>Over and over she struck, trying out various techniques that she'd seen in the movies but abandoning many of them as impractical over time.  It really shouldn't have surprised her that Hollywood was full of crap, but she'd spent so much time avoiding violence that it was difficult to now pick it up.  Then again, no one could argue that Fate was cruel, and that she was going to have to handle this sooner or later.<br/><br/>She couldn't help but wonder what her dad would say, but then, it wasn't as though the others didn't have a lack of fighting streak in them either.  At least she knew she was stronger than most, that she could handle taking somewhat of a beating, that she seemed to heal a lot faster than most people.  Besides, she had that healing pool to look forward to once it was all over.