Sigma/Star

Chapter 95: The War In The North Part 5

"Among some of you," Mr. Toriyama explained, pacing back and forth at the front of the class, "will be heavy weapon users. Your Goliaths will be outfitted with high-impact weapons, or your personal Goliath, if you have one, has some similar device on it. For you, this next lesson may not entirely apply. For the rest of you, it is quite useful when dealing with larger foes or armoured ones."

Toriyama quickly spun on his heel to face the class, his eyes scanning through them for anyone who wasn't paying attention. His gaze met with Raul's for a second and he quickly moved on to another student. He couldn't stand to look at that ruffian for too long without feeling intimidated and he couldn't let his students see that. Chase was playing around on a little computer he held in his hand, a small cube that projected images. Chase was trying his best to hide it between his legs but the glow on his face exposed his secret. The teacher took a mental note to put Chase through detention later.

Near the front, Nami and Ardwen were both staring straight ahead, each competing with the other to be the better pupil. They had a variety of different electronic and physical notebooks arranged on their desks. Toriyama sighed a bit in his mind, not sure if he preferred the uncaring attitude of Raul in the back or the overbearing approach from the twin students at the front.

In the middle of the class, Toriyama noted Porter, whose eyes were pointed straight towards the back of Riya's head. He had yet to turn on the electronic notepad in front of him, even though they were two hours into the class, and Toriyama pondered about different forms of punishment for the youth but then remembered his own behaviour when he had been in love at first and let it slide. Then he took a quick mental note to send flowers to Ms. Sakura to avoid getting killed later for future problems he was sure to bumble his way into with her.

"We are going to go over the microburst technique, or microburst theory originally before it was put into practice." As Mr. Toriyama went to turn on the screen on the wall so he could continue the lesson, he saw a hand shoot up from the corner of his eye. It was Chase, with a grin on his face that was far too arrogant for someone with such low grades.

"So, if this is a technique, shouldn't we be learning it in combat training? Or will you actually fight today sir?" The rest of Chase's posse snickered around him before the teen resumed playing on the device between his legs.

"We used to cover it in traditional training," Toriyama replied through a clenched jaw. He held back a slew of other remarks that buzzed through his head and then quickly released the tension in his mouth, hearing the voice of his dentist scolding him for grinding his teeth again. "But, as combat in Goliaths moved away from specialized fighters into standard soldiers and armies, they found it couldn't fit in the curriculum, and wasn't incredibly useful in most situations. You really need to be engaged in a one-on-one match for this to work and most of you will not experience that, or at least won't have the right conditions met."

The board on the front wall lit up with a model of a fairly big Goliath, one coated in additional armour plating around its chest. It spun a little to give the students an idea and time to jot down notes. "Now, for microburst theory, we need to have an enemy who is larger or stronger than us. In this case we have both. Their defense is impregnable to traditional attacks and standard issue guns. In the time it would take you to beat them, you would expend all of your energy while they would give up miniscule amounts, and hold an overwhelming advantage. However..."

Toriyama paused, both for dramatic effect, and because his slide show wasn't functioning properly and moving to the next segment he had planned. He secretly mashed the button on the remote behind his back until the computer finally complied, showing an array of tiny dots around the model battlesuit's chest area. "Microburst theory runs on the concept that a collection of smaller, weaker attacks can make a single, focused attack significantly more powerful. So, if we were to deliver strikes here, here, here, and here..." Toriyama touched four of the dots in a square pattern around the model. He then dragged his finger to the middle of the Goliath, creating a line.