|
|
|
We sat there dumbfounded for a second. What was he thinking!?
“When you mean test, you mean fighting, right,” Ruby asked uncomfortably.
“Why don’t you stand up and see,” Kane replied with a chuckle.
“Hold on a second,” Aqua interjected. “Everyone huddle.” We grouped together away from Kane, and Aqua continued, “Can you believe this!? He wants to fight all of us to get a sense of how strong we are.” She started getting excited, “Who’s going first!?”
“Well,” Terra started, “I’ve already gone, so I’m out.”
“I’ll go,” Chris let out. “I’ve been dieing to get a piece of this guy.”
“No,” Eric cried. “Let me! Please! I’ll tap dance on his spine!”
“Hold on, all of you,” Ruby yelled. “We all want a piece of him, so we’ll have to do this the fairest way possible.”
I don’t know if anything is fair when it comes to my friends and a challenge, especially if it’s a fight. But, seriously, Kane has this natural instinct to fight, so I’m not so sure we should be getting riled up to get a piece of him. Well, that and, the image of that giant lizard being split in half is still lingering in my mind.
“ROCK! PAPER! SCISSORS,” Ruby yelled.
Oh, crap…
“OKAY, everyone,” she continued. “Rock! Paper! Scissors!”
I shut my eyes as we put out our hands. My pulse was racing. I don’t want to win this game! Mine’s rock. Please let everyone else have paper! Then I slowly opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was everyone’s infuriated face. “Uh… Who won?” I looked down. Everyone had thrown out scissors. “Oh, crap.”
“Get up there,” Chris yelled. “I can’t wait to see your butt kicked!”
“Don’t worry,” Terra reassured me. “You’re the one wearing armor here.”
“Hey,” Kane yelled. “First off, I could hear you. And second off all, put those bags on.” We stared at him a second. “There’s a weapon in them for each of you.”
The next second, everyone strapped them around there waist, and went digging into the bags for their weapon. I stared at mine for a second before putting it on across my waist. Then I reached into the bag down to my elbow, and I pulled out a wakizashi.
Eric looked up, “Hey! Alexander got a Japanese sword! Cool…”
“What,” Ruby said strangely. “He’s never used a sword.”
“That’s not true,” Terra interjected. “He’s developed quite a few self-taught techniques and a few traditional ones too.”
“He has,” Aqua asked quietly. “How do you know?”
“I spend more time at the center than you guys think, and I saw him practicing with one of the teachers,” Terra answered.
“Is he any good,” Chris remarked.
“Alexander had his assessment last week.”
“Terra,” I interjected. “You were watching me?”
“Well, you get unfocused when you’re interrupted, so I just watched,” she answered. “But, it bothers me that you were the only person in that class.”
“No one else was interested, so I signed up,” I replied.
“It’s time for your test,” Kane yelled. “Now draw your blade.”
Everyone else went to the tables at the edges of the room and sat on them leaving me about ten feet from Kane and his five foot blade.
“I can’t,” I said nervously.
“What do you mean you can’t,” Kane asked impatiently.
“I just can’t. I promised myself I’d never pull a sword on someone, and I could kill you.”
“Is that what you’re worried about,” Kane smirked as he gripped the blade on his back. “You don’t have to worry so just draw it.” He took a stance with both hands on the handle and the blade parallel to the floor. “Besides, you’d have to get close to use that thing.”
He didn’t fall for it. Oh, man. This is going to get really ugly. “Okay… I’ll draw.” I put the sheathed sword in the left side of the belt of pouch around my waist and drew the sword with my left hand.
“What is that idiot doing,” Chris heckled from the side-line. “He’s right handed, and look at the way he’s holding that sword!”
“Chris,” Terra interjected. “There are many ways to use a sword, and Alexander is gripping it with a reverse blade hold where the back-side of the sword is against the forearm.”
Everyone leaned in from the tension, as I placed my left foot forward, readied my blade, and pulled my right hand back into a fist.
“Well, this is interesting,” Kane’s eyes flickered in wonderment. Then he dashed at me and raised the sword higher to bring down on me.
Open to the right, turn on the left, and send the blade into the side! CLANG! What’s that?
“I told you, you don’t have to worry,” Kane reacted upon contact.
I feel his weight shifting. He’s coming from the back!
I ducked down and saw Kane’s sword slice the air overhead. Then, when he looped around forward, I jumped and sent my fist into his jaw, and he hit the ground with a thud, his sword at his side.
“That was interesting,” Kane whispered, as he stood up and picked up his sword. “Apparently, you’re hiding some of your skill. How much training have you done behind their backs?”
“Quite a lot actually,” Terra answered. “He’s been at this longer than we’ve even been training.”
“Alexander,” Aqua said sweetly. “WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING!?”
“A few things,” I answered.
“Like,” Ruby finished Aqua’s thought.
“Three different sword styles, an assessment where I almost fatally injured my teacher, and I’ve been at this for ten years.”
They sat in silence.
“By the way,” I started. “What was that?”
“I told you not to worry,” He replied as he lifted his black shirt and revealed a full suit of thin plates around his entire torso.
We stared at it in awe.
“It’s called a night-steel suit, thin enough to be comfortable and tougher than a sheet of two inch steel. So, don’t worry about me.” He pulled down his shirt. “Now, who’s next?”
 Levias · Thu Oct 05, 2006 @ 06:41pm · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
