Luke sighed. "You're good at reacting, but in the heat of battle, it's just like I've said before. You need information. I'm going to expand on that a little," Luke mentioned, flexing his right arm. "Reacting to something, sometimes it's instinctual. You just do it, because it's what you need to do. But if you always take that style of combat, reflex, you'll get read faster than you can manage to keep up with. Even in a common fist fight. Although you both put a lot of effort into your styles of combat, I can bet they weren't as dynamic as you could have managed, even without access to your powers. You have to tap into other styles as well. Jenso, you've learned how to change your fighting a bit and enhance your reflex, and Bruce has always excelled at this form of combat, but the way you originally is good in some situations as well." Luke rose his hand and extended three of his fingers.
"Reflex, Force, and Withdrawal. Rock paper scissors. These are the fundamentals of manipulating the initiative. It's how you control damage, and Knowledge, which keep morale high, affecting your attitude as well. The three fundamentals of initiative, and the fundamentals to those.. Er... Fundamentals.." Luke rose his hand and scratched the front of his forehead. "Just eh.. They're all fundamental, y'know?"
"It's real simple, actually. Reflex is what both of you were usin' the entire fight. The watch and react type o' strategy, and to the un-educated, it would seem like the ultimate strategy, always playin' it safe, while still being aggressive. Basically, the middle ground," he insisted, shaking his head, "But even though you can outsmart less experienced enemies with the Reflex style, it can be manipulated easily. While on the defence, you allow your opponent to prepare things secretively. You don't threaten their attitude at all, giving them the initiative in that category even if you haven't sustained any damage yourself, especially if they're as arrogant or confident as the Order members. You let them control the flow of battle, despite how much it might seem like you may have the most resolute strategy. Truth is, in some situations, a Reflex style will never work, especially against foes like Rajaka who physically overpower us by a large degrees, as long as they hold the initiative in attitude. But it does have its strengths!" Luke rose his fist up and posed heroically. "Get it? If you have the initiative in attitude, the opponent will be more vulnerable, and more eager to attack you. Of course, you can fall for this too, if it seems like the fight is totally in their favour. In this situation, a Reflex style is possibly the most optimal choice of attack. Some people with particular abilities are also vulnerable to this style of attack from the get-go! Enemies that are using a Force Style with unpredictable moves, or a withdrawal style will easily take advantage of your caution..." Luke shrugged. "The Reflex style can even appear as if it's not a Reflex style. It can dress itself up easily."
"Force style is possible the most dangerous, but most effective style. It's Jenso's main form of combat, from what I've seen. Using your abilities to overwhelm the opponent with attacks that all of the intent of forcing them to either react or flee. If they can't use a reflex style to effectively counter it, or avoid it easily, a force style will usually grant you the initiative automatically in both attitude and damage, if you can land hits. Of course, while using a force style, you are also very vulnerable as well. It's a double edged sword with the highest benefit-to-detriment ratio. Unlike the other two styles, it cannot be hidden under the guide of Reflex or Withdrawal. With you're using force, you will be automatically granting your opponent a set amount of knowledge. This can easily give away the initiative in knowledge, despite having the highest potential to take initiatives elsewhere. You can use the same techniques over and over to minimise this, but by doing so, you make it much easier for opponents to use reflex and Withdrawal styles, allowing them to take advantage of your force and flip the table. Using force it great against enemies who are unable to dodge or defend. Overwhelming a powerful enemy is sometimes the only way to seize the initiative overall."
"Lastly, there's withdrawal style. To put it simply, it's running away. Of course, if you use a withdrawal style, you can still attack, making it seem like either a reflex style or force style. It's probably the most versatile, style, allowing you to completely hard-counter a reflex style, or abuse a force style. It also allows you to gather knowledge while not doing much yourself, and avoid damage entirely. However, using a withdrawal style has two severe downsides. You can't usually deal significant damage with it, and you can easily lose the initiative in attitude if you make a single mistake. It's best used as a punishment, a knowledge gather tool, or an option against slower opponents, or opponents with very few options."
"Knowing when to swap between styles is key. If you stick to one style throughout an entire fight against an opponent of greater strength, you will lose. But knowing how to apply strategy can give you an edge against opponents with overwhelming power advantages. Of course, if the opponent is smart enough, they can use this triangle against you, as well..." Luke paused and looked to Bruce and Jenso. "You two are fairly even in terms of raw strength, without your abilities. In this situations, using the same style against one another like this is like rolling the dice. The first one to make a mistake would automatically lose the initiative. And by the looks of it... Bruce took a pretty big risk despite there being no shift in initiative. You were evenly matched, and tied in the battle for initiative, both looking for options. But when both fighters are just trying to learn without taking major risks, a fight will always go to the stronger individual. Likewise, taking major risks without learning enough can cause the strongest fighter to lose the initiative, and sometimes, the entire match." Luke rubbed his head. "Man, it's kind of a paradox, aint it? To win, you gotta take risks, but if you take risks, you can easily lose..." He shrugged and chuckled the thought away. "Guess it's really just a matter of taking risks at the right time! Going for the highest chance of success! Sometimes a 50% chance of success is your only real option, over a 10% success rate later in the fight, haha!"
