"Concentrate Seth! you're letting yourself become too distracted," Mathilde cried out as she lunged forth, her blade slicing along the side of Seth's jacket.

Seth had barely managed to avoid her forward thrust when he felt pressure on his front foot in the form of her boot, hindering his movement. In a flash, Mathilde's fist cracked Seth across his jaw, an assault she followed up with a swift kick that sent him flying back and skidding along the snowladen ground into a snowbank. Staying alert, he rolled to the right to avoid the point of her blade and scampered to his feet in time to block a slash that was targeted at his chest.

The song of clashing blades could be heard as Mathilde and Seth met steel with steel, their movements carefully calculated to avoid anything fatal. Mathilde pressed her advantage and increased the speed of her strikes, a speed at which Seth was incapable of keeping up with. Before Seth could calculate a countermeasure, his blade was slung from his grip and his eyes were now met with the sharp point of Mathilde's blade just inches from his throat. The fifteen year-old sighed and put his hands up in surrender.

Mathilde sheathed her blade and waited for Seth to retrieve his.

"Better... but you still have a long way to go," Mathilde informed him, causing the youth's eyes to narrow.

"It doesn't matter how long I have to go. Defeating you is impossible!" Seth retorted, clenching his fists in irritation. "I just keep losing no matter how hard I work."

"And so what if you keep losing? have I taught you nothing!?" Mathilde fired back in a stern tone, startling Seth at her sudden outburst.

"Well..."

"Listen to me Seth Da Silva. In my school, if you will, defeat is a teacher. And if you do not learn from it, you will not grow. Defeat is an inevitable part of life. Even I have to face that reality as there are others out there who are far more skilled than I," Mathilde continued, crossing her arms an stepping towards her disciple.

Seth flinched as she neared, causing Mathilde to sigh and loosen her expression a little.

"My dear disciple, do not be disheartened whenever you face defeat, for defeat is a wise teacher. Learn from it, and you will come out stronger than you were before. You may not realize it yet, but you are already making great progress," Mathilde beamed, patting Seth on the head before turning to walk away and face him again.

As Seth watched her walk away, he could see that part of her clothing had been sliced...

Handling defeat was not something that came easy to Seth. It took many years of hard work and dedication to develop the patience needed to overcome his inability to cope with the concept of failure. Coming out of his meditation, he was met with a pair of concerned blue eyes. Serena sat down in front of him with a look that seemed to ask how he was doing. The swordsman sighed.

"I'm alright, Serena," he began, causing the honey-blonde to stay her first statement and form a response.

"You say that, but your actions show differently," Serena replied, crossing her arms and fixing him with a stern expression. "We all wondered where you got off to after your match. I swear if we didn't know your habits we'd be hardpressed to find you," Serena sighed, shaking her head.

Seth laughed slightly at her response. She was right of course, and he couldn't deny that.

"How'd everyone else fare?" Seth inquired, curious as to the outcome of their matchups,

Serena's expression softened and she let out a nervous laugh.

"We uh... didn't fare nearly as well. Working around her team isn't going to be the easiest thing on earth since this is our first encounter with Mega Evolution," Serena replied.

"I see. So she did things a little different with you guys huh? Makes sense. You all saw the battle with Mienshao and by now would have figured out how she fights. Heh... you know, before I began my journey, I knew that the Gym Leaders would be strong. But that only fueled my desire even more for this adventure. I thought that as long as I did my research and stayed one step ahead of the game, I'd be able to overcome anything. But I see now, that even with all that knowledge I've acquired, it still won't be enough," Seth chuckled. "I still have so much to learn..."

"Wise words for someone so young," came a voice from behind the duo, prompting them to look up to see who it was that had spoken.

Gurkinn approached the two and placed his hands behind his back. His eyes fixed themselves upon Seth with intense focus. Much like Korrina, Gurkinn could sense the aura emanating from Seth. The amount of untapped potential he could see sent a chill down the old man's spine. His eyes trailed down to the decorative hilt on Seth's rapier, recognizing the insignia that it bore.

"Good morning Gurkinn," Seth responded as he stood up, dusting the sand off his pants before turning to face the elderly man.

"Good morning," Gurkinn smiled, nodding to Serena in acknowledgement, prompting a wave from the youth. "I must admit, Seth, when I watched your battle with my granddaughter, I couldn't help but notice a hint of nervousness on your part..."

Seth wasn't going to try to hide that fact. It wasn't any secret to him considering what his team was composed of and how horribly it stacked up against Korrina. There wasn't much he was able to do during that match.

"I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't. Even though I did all that I knew against her, I was unprepared for the struggle I would face. You've truly trained her well," Seth admitted, rubbing the back of his head out of habit.

"She really is strong. I couldn't do too much to her team either," Serena said with a slight chuckle.

Gurkinn nodded at Serena and then refocused his gaze upon Seth.

"While she may be strong, she too still has a lot to learn. As a matter of fact, the gap between the two of you is very wide indeed," Gurkinn stated with a smirk. "I am of course referring to your skills not only in battle but in combat, disciple of the Épée Maîtresse Bellerose..."

It didn't come as a surprise to Seth that Gurkinn knew of one of the other names his teacher carried. Among her titles, this particular one struck a chord with swordsmen throughout Kalos.

"The hilt of your sword confirmed my suspicions soon after Korrina told me of your style of combat. To be honest, I wasn't too certain what I was hearing was correct as I had never known her to take on students, much less teach anyone her way," Gurkinn continued, crossing his arms as he spoke. "But it would seem that she has," Gurkinn smiled.

Seth smiled faintly and nodded.

"She's fickle that way. I've just learned to deal with it," Seth chuckled, taking a deep breath before continuing to converse. "I'm assuming that you didn't come all the way out here just to see if the rumors were true..."

At this, Gurkinn laughed.

"Sharp aren't you? of course that wasn't the purpose of my visit. I wanted to have a little match with you myself! I can't stack up to your mentor, but perhaps a little spar with her student will liven up these old bones," Gurkinn snickered.

A trickle of sweat slid down Serena's face as she remembered the last time Seth squared off with someone in a friendly spar.

"Umm... I think I'm going to stand waaaaay over there," Serena said hastily as she darted a good distance away.

Before she knew it, Seth and Gurkinn were in close range combat, with sand flying everywhere from their first exchange.

"Why are you like this!?" Serena shouted as she was nearly doused with water and sand.

Seth gripped Gurkinn's fist in his hand and launched a counter-assault with his fist directed at the jawbone, that was deflected and followed up with a knee towards Seth's abdomen. Seth tightened his muscles and took the blow to bring Gurkinn into his trap which consisted of a one-two punch to the jaw and the side of the head, proceeded by a kick that had Gurkinn scrambling to defend against, sending him skidding back in the sands. Seth took a deep breath, wincing at the force of the strike he took just so he could counter.

Gurkin wiped his lip and smirked at Seth.

"You've definitely got her technique down pat. It's been a while since I've been on the receiving end of that combo. Almost as quick too! she's been very thorough I see," Gurkinn laughed, rubbing the side of his head before shifting his stance once more.

"She's not one to cut corners. But since you're that familiar with her technique, you already know that," Seth replied with a wry grin.

"Ha! well I'm not one to cut corners either, as I'm sure you saw while sparring Korrina. I'd say you wouldn't believe the patience I needed to have in order to train her but..." he paused, shifting his front foot forward a few inches, "you probably gave your mentor her fair share of headaches."

Seth didn't deny it. Mathilde got more frustrated with him with every improvement, mostly because she knew he could do better. Seth adjusted his stance and stared Gurkinn down. He gauged the power of Gurkinn's strikes and determined that perhaps, back in his hay day, he could have been as strong or even stronger than his mentor. Seth knew the only reason he could keep up with someone of Gurkinn's experience, was because of the training he received. He had no doubt in his mind that was the case. As the two were about to square off again, Gurkinn heard his holocaster ringing.

Frowning, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the device to look at who was contacting him. With a sigh, he put away his device and turned to Seth.

"It would appear that my granddaughter needs my help with another challenger. It appears as though the challenger brought a friend with him of significant status," Gurkinn continued.

Sweat trickled down the side of Seth's visage. Based on what Gurkinn had just said, there was only one person who bore any status worth mentioning.

And just when I was starting to feel better...

"Judging by the look on your face, I assume you know what I speak of," Gurkinn stated, getting a nod and a sigh from Seth.

"Unfortunately, I'm involved with the individual you spoke of. I don't believe I need to go into detail about the competition that was set in motion," Seth replied with a slight frown.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's unfortunate. I've known the young lady since she was but a toddler. I would take care not to allow yourself to be too caught up in how things appear to be, for those are but surface level matters. It's what's under the surface that makes someone who they are," Gurkinn advised.

You just have to get to know her better, that's all...

Seth smiled faintly as Cecily's words echoed into his mind. What Gurkinn had just said reminded him of a lesson he learned just days prior.

"Thank you Gurkinn, I'll remember that..."

Gurkinn smiled in return and then turned to head back into the city, picking up his holocaster on the way to let Korrina know he was on his way. Seth watched until Gurkinn faded from view and then let out a sigh of exhaustion.

"He's right you know," Serena said, nearly startling Seth by suddenly speaking up.

"I almost forgot you were there, sorry..." Seth muttered.

Serena rolled her eyes and shook her head. Meandering over to stand in front of Seth, she placed her hands on her hips and looked him in the eyes.

"So, do you plan to just stay out here until she leaves, or are you going to go and observe the match to see if there's a way you can get around Korrina? This match might give you insight you know," Serena said with neutral expression.

Seth considered her words for a moment and decided that following her advice would be the better course of action.

"You're right, perhaps I should take your advice. Besides... this will give me a leg up on the competition if I know whoelse I'm competing against," Seth grinned, turning to walk back to the city, Serena following beside him.