I thought about all of this as I moved quickly through the bends, nearing the amphitheater that had been our meeting place for the past year or so. The last few months had gone by quickly. Raul had said that he wouldn't be able to come every day anymore (apparently he had been neglecting his actual job of "real estate management" to teach me), so he only came every other day or so to help train me. It was too bad, but I understood. I was immensely grateful for everything he had done, so I didn't complain. Instead, I kept focusing on getting better so that Raul wouldn't worry about me, and so that I wouldn't need to worry about going out anymore. I learned swordplay from Valdus, martial arts from Raul, and I kept working on my Sights with both of them. Of course, I worked out every day, so by the time a year had passed I was in incredible shape. My strength and stamina had improved by leaps and bounds compared to when I first started, not to mention the fact that I was actually getting pretty good at combat now.
Now Jameson was actually having to heal not just me, but Raul as well. Valdus sometimes got hit too, but he never accepted any sort of help from Jameson. I figured he must have someone else do it, or else do it himself, because whenever he came back he never had any bruises on him.
Speaking of Valdus; Just the day before this, Raul had decided that I was a bit too much for him to take at his age (uh-huh, sure), so he told me that I was going to start training with Valdus every day from now on instead of alternating between them. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly looking forward to this new arrangement.
I suppose I should give him some credit; He wasn't as bad as he used to be. By this, I mean that he yelled about half as much, only insulted me on occasion, and generally treated me like I was an actual person, though one that he didn't like. So while I wasn't looking forward to having my training solely under Valdus, I felt that I could put up with it. After all, Raul was right, he was a good teacher. I learned more from him than I did from even Raul, so I was sure that having him teach martial arts as well as swordplay would be good for me in the long run, even though I might not enjoy it.
It wasn't long before I made it to the stage, but first I went down to a small hollowed-out compartment where I kept my wooden sword. I was getting kind of fond of it actually, seeing as it was usually the only thing between myself and Valdus' own wooden sword. It was just a few minutes from that point until Valdus came into view.
"You're here." He observed.
"Yeah." I responded.
That's usually how our conversations went.
Nowadays Valdus wasn't really teaching me as much as we were sparring, and sometimes he would perform a certain move, I would ask about it, and he would show it to me. Then we would keep sparring, and I would try to use it at some point. Valdus said that the basics were by far more important than any sort of fancy attack, so he was going to give me as much fighting experience as he could in the few months that he was going to be teaching me. At this point in our relationship, it wasn't that unusual for us to just acknowledge each other before we started sparring, then not say another word until we eventually left for the night.
"I assume Raul told you about the new schedule?" Asked Valdus.
"Yeah, he said that you would be training me every day now."
Valdus nodded and drew out his wooden sword. "That's right. I won't have much to do these next few weeks thanks to the holidays, so Raul convinced me to train you for now. This'll only last for two months, then you and I will be done, got it?"
This was surprising, to say the least. "Wait, you mean you're not going to be teaching me anymore?" I asked.
Valdus narrowed his eyes. "I thought you said Raul told you about the new schedule?"
"He didn't mention that you would only be teaching me for the next couple months."
Valdus shrugged, "Well, doesn't matter. That's the deal, and now you know. We might as well make the most of it and get started."
But my head was still reeling from this sudden revelation. It might not be that big of a deal to Valdus, but I couldn't help wondering why Raul hadn't said anything to me. Did he just forget? Or maybe he felt like I wasn't worth looking after anymore? Was my training coming to an end? If so, was I going to keep seeing Raul? Maybe he would let me go live with him, or in his office building, I mean, it was big enough-
"You know," Said Valdus dryly, "You'd think with how easily you drift off that you'd be a natural at Shifts."
I scowled at him, then moved to the first Vulpar offensive stance. In the past few months, I had learned several new stances that I can use, depending on how I want to fight. I tried to mix it up every day so that I wasn't too reliant on one specific fighting style. But instead of getting into his own stance, Valdus sat on the ground with his wooden sword in his lap.
He patted the ground in front of him. "Not yet Alpus. We have to talk first."
I scowled yet again. I still didn't know what Alpus meant, and neither Valdus nor Raul would tell me. It was obviously a word derived from Letin, an old language that used to be spoken by most people in this region, but it's dead now. Unfortunately, I didn't know much Letin (because I had a life) and I didn't have time to learn a dead language, so I had no choice but to wait until either they told me, or I died of curiosity. Knowing Valdus however, I decided that I would be unlikely to die of curiosity, but more rather from blunt force trauma to the head if I were to push him on it.
Valdus, seemingly oblivious to my inner turmoil, motioned for me to sit down in front of him. After I had done so, he asked me;
"What is the most basic rule of combat?"
I thought for a moment, confused at this unusual change in our routine. I'd never spent time answering any sort of questions or having conversations with Valdus before, so I felt kind of uncomfortable.
"To win?" I said tentatively.
Valdus narrowed his eyes, "Are you asking me, or telling me?"
I straightened up, pursing my lips at his small criticism despite myself.
"The most basic rule of combat is to win." I said firmly.
Valdus nodded. "You're right, for the most part. Though a better way to put it might be to say that in combat, a person wants to accomplish their main goal. That could be to knock your opponent out, force them to surrender, cripple them, or kill them. In my case, my goal isn't to win exactly, but rather to teach you, just as your goal is to learn from me. Understand?"
I nodded slowly, not sure where this was going.
"So," Valdus asked, "What is the second rule of combat?"
I paused for a moment, unsure. I couldn't think of anything right off the bat, so I thought back to everything that Raul had told me about fighting. Had he said anything about rules? I couldn't think of any… But I remembered my encounter with the two men in the street. I had been ambushed, struck from behind, outnumbered, and outmatched. Out of all the people who saw this, only one man had the morality to stop and help. It wasn't fair.
I looked Valdus straight in his eyes and said with conviction, "There aren't any other rules."
Valdus seemed surprised at my answer at first, then he threw his head back, nearly falling over backward before his hands went behind him to keep him upright, bursting with laughter. I jumped to my feet, more than a little startled as I had never seen such a strong reaction to anything from Valdus before, and I was unsure how to react, so I just kind of stood there while he howled.
Valdus waved his hand at me, "Sorry, sorry," he said, wiping an eye, "It's just that the entitled brats that I'm usually hired to teach usually come with some sense of honor and fairness. They say shit like, 'never fight an unarmed opponent,' or 'show mercy to the weak.' But that's bullshit." He looked at me, actually smiling a toothy grin, "But it sounds like you already know that."
I stayed silent, but nodded and grimly smiled back a little. I didn't fully understand why Valdus was acting nicer all of a sudden, but I figured I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe this was a turning point, maybe we could even be friends like I was with Raul…
"Well, that saves me some time anyway." Continued Valdus, "Perhaps man has rules that they like to force into people's heads about combat, but a real fight isn't all neat and tidy. Combat is messy. It's bloody, and the only sure thing stopping your opponent from massacring you is yourself and your sword." As he said this he looked directly at the point of his blade, tapping it with his middle finger lightly. After staring in silence for a moment, he blinked, then turned his attention back to me. "Which brings me to what I really wanted to talk about. So far, Raul and I have been teaching you how to use combinations, how to swing a sword, and how to land a hard, swift, and killing blow." He stood up, sword in hand at the ready. "But now I'm going to teach you how to fight."
I was looking at him curiously when he suddenly kicked me hard in the chest. I had only a moment to react and was only able to move a little to the left, which gave the kick the unfortunate effect of not only knocking me backward but also spinning me around so that I was facing in the opposite direction. I instinctively kept rolling in the direction I was pushed, which was lucky because a half-second later, Valdus' wooden sword slammed point first into the ground where my back had just been.
I used the momentum of my roll to get on my feet and whip around. "What the-" I started to demand, but before I could get the words out, I had to parry another thrust from Valdus.
"Didn't you say," Grunted Valdus in between thrusts, "That you understood that there are no rules?! That fighting isn't fair?! Because you don't act like it! How about you start fighting for real?!"
Easy for you to say, I thought to myself as a surprise slash nearly gave me a concussion before I managed to slip under it. I'm a bit busy just trying not to get turned into a human Shish-kabob.
I was dodging all around the arena, unable to get enough of a breather to put up any sort of defense, much less make an attack of my own. All I could do was deflect and dodge, trying to find a break in Valdus' relentless offense. Taking a step back to try and give myself some room, my foot bumped into the edge of the first stair. An idea sprung to mind, though it was a huge risk, and I wasn't sure… ah screw it, I was gonna do it! After deflecting one last thrust from Valdus, I turned and started sprinting up the steps, sidestepping to my left just in time to avoid a strike that would've left a pretty nasty bruise right around my liver.
"Running away?! Just when I was thinking you might have some sort of backbone!" Roared Valdus, boots pounding the staircase several steps behind me. Luckily, his previous attempt to attack me had put him a little farther behind than he might be normally, but I knew I couldn't evade him forever.
And I didn't intend to. The stairs in the amphitheater were more like benches, and each one had a lip. As I bounded up the steps, gaining speed, I eyed the shape of the lip and morphed my left foot to fit around it like a hook. Once I was about halfway up the steps, I kicked my foot at the side of the step instead of placing it on top, causing my foot to fit around the edge and essentially trip me. Obviously I didn't want to actually wipe out, so I planted my right foot on the step two places above the first, then twisted around. Just for a moment, I extended the elasticity from my legs to my entire body and pointed my sword right at the charging figure of Valdus, just about seven feet behind me. His eyes widened in realization at what I was about to do.
At first, it was pretty glorious. My whole body extended for a fraction of a moment, pulled by my momentum, then suddenly shot backward, with the force of both my elastic body snapping back, as well as my right leg that was pushing back towards Valdus. It's not like I was moving at an inhuman speed or anything, but just the fact that I had changed directions so quickly would have been devastating… if I had been facing just about anyone but Valdus.
Right as I was flying sword-first towards him, Valdus planted his right foot and just… jumped. And when I say jumped, I mean about 15 feet into the air, far more than I could ever hope to reach with my three-foot sword. But now I had bigger problems to worry about now, such as how I was going to survive crashing down fifty feet of stone steps without breaking every bone in my body. Time seemed to be moving at a snail's pace, and also really, really fast. Slow enough for me to see what was about to happen, but too fast to do anything about it.
Maybe I can just roll down the steps? I was thinking furiously since that was all I seemed to be able to do… but what about those performers that I saw all the time in the market? They were always tumbling around on each other and boxes and stuff, so why couldn't I do it on some stairs? I decided that thinking about it more wouldn't help anything, so I just went for it.
Letting go of my sword, I placed both hands on a step that my head was headed for and did a cartwheel. The idea being that I would land one foot on each step and run the rest of the way down. It was honestly a great idea. I still say that today. It wasn't stupid.
But it didn't work either. The weight of my body flying down the stands was too much for my arms to take, and they weren't prepared for the sudden strain. They gave way almost immediately, and I'm pretty sure I would've broken every bone in my body if I hadn't practiced making instant callouses so often. As it was, I got a whole lot of cuts, bruises, and a few sprains.
"Hhhhgggg…" I groaned on the ground, clutching my right arm, which had taken the brunt of my weight when I tried the cartwheel.
"Stop that mewling."
I looked up just in time to be smacked in the face with my wooden sword, which Valdus had tossed at me none too gently before it went skittering off a few yards to my left.
"Never let go of your weapon." Lectured Valdus as I rubbed my nose to check if it was bleeding, "If this were a real fight, you would've just lost an important edge." He paused, "No pun intended."
"I thought there were no other rules?" I said sarcastically, trying to figure out which part of my aching body I should be paying the most attention to. Valdus answered that for me by giving me a sharp strike to the top of my head.
"There aren't," Said Valdus, "But that doesn't mean that everything is a good idea. When you're trying to beat someone in combat, you should always take every advantage you can, no matter who it is you're facing. Besides, even if your attack had managed to hit, what were you planning to do to keep yourself from tumbling down the steps after me?"
I hesitated because I knew that I definitely hadn't thought that far ahead, as much as I didn't want to admit it. In the end, I just shrugged my shoulders.
"I would've figured it out. Just like you figured out how to dodge me." I said, pointing out his incredible jump.
"Well, that's a bit different." Said Valdus, crossing his arms. "I've just forgotten how to fall at this point."
I stared at him blankly for a second, then decided to just let it go. I had a feeling he was messing with me, and I didn't feel like getting into it.
"Well, it probably would've worked on most other people." I said, trying to regain a bit of dignity.
Valdus shrugged. "Maybe it would've. But you weren't facing 'most other people,' were you?" He said, I thought somewhat smugly. He exhaled sharply through his nose, "Still, you did alright I suppose. At the very least you were creative. I definitely didn't expect you to be so suicidal." He said sarcastically.
I, not really in the mood for jokes, just grunted in acknowledgment. I wasn't really seeing the point in all of this.
"I don't think you're seeing the point in all of this." Said Valdus, squatting right in front of me. He grabbed the top of my head and forced me to look directly at him. "Listen closely. I. Want. You. To. Be. Ingenuitive. Creative. Do shit that I'm not expecting. Take me by surprise. If you can surprise me, I can't react as well as I would if you were to do something I'm expecting, or even just something I'm used to."
"That… seems kind of obvious." I said, forgetting yet again that Valdus had a sword, and I didn't.
"Most lessons that we learn seem 'kind of obvious,'" Said Valdus as I nursed a second bump that had just appeared on my head. "Such as not being a sarcastic brat to the man with the sword." He chuckled a little. "Alright, get up, we're not done yet."
Not wanting to look any more pathetic than I already did, I gritted my teeth and got to my feet, then quickly grabbed my sword from where it was on the ground and faced Valdus.
But Valdus waved his hand nonchalantly. "No, no, we're done with that sort of thing today. You're a little too beat up for it to do any good, unfortunately." When I didn't put my sword down he scowled a little. "Seriously, I won't attack you this time. You can lower your sword."
Warily I started relaxing my stance. Only when Valdus started to sit down did I actually feel safe enough to sit down also.
"AAAAHHH!!!" Howled Valdus, springing up and bringing his sword in a huge overhand arc.
I shot backward, sliding my back on the ground and eventually rolling over, then scrambling awkwardly to my feet, ready to face Valdus' onslaught of blows. But Valdus was a little too busy laughing his ass off to swing his sword. I stood there, wanting to give him an onslaught of my own but also valuing my life. I waited for him to finish while I tried to turn my face a somewhat lighter shade of red.
Eventually, he calmed down enough to speak again. "God, you should've seen yourself. You really are Alpus." He laughed a little more at that apparently hilarious joke, then sat down and tossed his sword to me, which I caught. "Alright, now you've got both swords. I'm sure you have a delusion of being safer now, so sit."
Deciding there was no other course of action that would let me keep my remaining smidgen of dignity, I put myself on the stone in front of Valdus, albeit several feet away. Just in case.
I won't bore you with the details of what we did next, so suffice it to say that we talked a little about what I could've done better in the previous fight, then I practiced my reaction timing by hitting stones thrown by Valdus.
The remaining couple of weeks went by quickly. Each day was another fight, but instead of the typical sword sparring that I had gotten used to, Valdus made me fight with everything I had learned, and a few things I hadn't. He started using his Sights and martial arts mixed in with his swordplay. He fought dirty, aiming for, ah, sensitive spots, and would attack me in the middle of a lecture sometimes. He even ambushed me on my way to the amphitheater once, though we accidentally wrecked a few tents, so that was a one-time thing. I learned a lot in those two weeks, not just about fighting, but also about Valdus. He wasn't as serious a person as I had previously thought, though he had a somewhat violent sense of humor. He was a patient teacher, but once I had gotten something correctly once, he expected that I wouldn't mess it up again. He was strict but mostly fair, and I liked him, I suppose. He could've definitely been much worse. I'll admit I was a little bummed at the end of my training.
"Alright," Valdus said as I walked into the Amphitheater, sword at the ready. "There won't be any tricks today… at least not at the start" He grinned maliciously. "This is going to be our last day together, and I want you to give it your all. I want to be able to leave you knowing that I did my job. I want to leave you knowing I have no regrets. And I want to leave you knowing that I've made you into a warrior, Alpus."
I smiled a little. Valdus also had a penchant for being a dramatic as hell. Probably an effect of him working in the arena for so long. It still annoyed me that I didn't know what Alpus meant, but it didn't bother me as much anymore.
Without wasting time, I struck out at Valdus' head in a quick jab, going for speed over power, but he was expecting it. Jerking his head to the left, he crouched and stepped forward, aiming for my solar plexus. I never truly expected to get him with such a cheap move though, so I was prepared to take a quick step back, leaving myself just barely out of range, then bringing my sword in a short sideways arc to knock his sword just a little off to the side, then stepping in with my left foot, I transferred muscle fibers from my right arm for just a moment to deliver a powerful straight punch to his chest, which made him grunt and take a step back, slashing horizontally to give himself some room.
I smiled, "You aren't going easy on me are you?" I mocked.
Valdus grinned, "More like I'm just not worried about your weak punches. Maybe if you had worked on your Strengths a little more…" Suddenly he lunged forward, brushing my sword aside quickly and landing his own punch in the same spot I did, sending me flying a few yards backward. "... then you'd be able to hit me like that." He said smugly.
I landed on my feet, and luckily I was able to react just enough to place a thick callus on the spot he punched, so I didn't break any ribs. Still, It knocked the wind out of me, and that spot was going to have one hell of a bruise later. I couldn't really talk at that point, so I decided I'd just go on the attack again. Keep it nice and simple. Who needs words when you have a three-foot-long stick?
But I was worried. Valdus' specialty was Strengths, so his huge speed advantage had been a problem since he first started using his Sights to fight with me. Most of the time his finishing move would take advantage of his speed. It wasn't that my reaction time wasn't fast enough, it was just that my body couldn't keep up with his. But I had been practicing a few muddy ideas that I thought could be effective, and what better time to try them out than my very last chance?
But there were a lot of problems with my idea. First of all, it took a little bit of time to do. I was going to need at least three full seconds to complete the Morph. Plus… well, it hurt. A lot. Most morphs don't hurt at all, though some, such as muscle transferring, might feel weird. But what I had planned was much more serious than just the movement of a few muscle fibers, and since it was a pretty new morph, my body isn't used to doing it yet.
The hardest part would be finding the time to make the transformation. Three seconds may not seem like very long to some people, but it was all the time in the world in a fight. Normally I would go into a lengthy explanation of what I was planning to do, exactly how I was going to do it, and blah blah blah… but I think ill just tell you what I did do.
I had been on the attack for a while now, so I used a quick thrust to break contact and jumped back as far as I could, which caused my right shoe to fly off my foot like a Projection Sight.
"What the f- oof!"
By some stroke of luck, it happened to nail Valdus directly on the nose, which looking back was pretty hilarious. At the time, I was too focused on morphing as fast as I could to pay much attention.
Valdus blinked to get the dirt that was on my shoe out of his eyes, "That was- kuh!" He grunted again thanks to my left shoe (which I had actually aimed that time with the help of a Projection). I backpedaled to make sure I had some distance. This worked out much better than I had thought it would, if I'm being honest. And I was just now finishing my morph too…
Valdus decided to take a defensive step back while he sent a weak Projection out of his eyes to clear the dirt. "A little unorthodox, but not bad kid-" He stopped short when he saw me, lowering his guard slightly in his surprise. "What the hell-"
I didn't give him time to finish. I was at least thirty feet away from him when I started moving, but that wasn't an issue anymore. With one movement, I closed the gap between us in a fraction of a second, deflecting his sword to the side and slamming the point of my own into his sternum. I don't think you'll be surprised when I tell you that I heard a pretty damn loud SNAP. Unfortunately for me, I forgot to take into account how I was going to stop, and I ended up bowling over him, which I would imagine didn't help his (I assumed) broken sternum and ribs.
I was able to recover and get up, though Valdus looked like he was going to keep laying on the ground for a bit. As I hopped (gimme a minute, I'll explain later) over to him, he groaned up at me, but he looked like he was coughing. I had a moment of panic, thinking I had accidentally punctured a lung.
"Jameson!" I called frantically, but Jameson, ever the professional, was already there, providing first aid. After giving him a once over, placing his hand gingerly on his chest, and listening to the coughing, he gave me the diagnosis.
"He has seven broken ribs and a severely cracked sternum. Luckily, none of his organs were ruptured, so he should be fine after we get him back to the office." He stood back up and pulled out a small shell and held it up to his ear. I recognized it because we had a few in my uncle's shop at one point; they were called Shell-calls. I wasn't sure how they worked, but basically, they allowed people to talk to other people who had a Shell. What a world we live in. I assumed he was getting in contact with some people who would be able to get Valdus back to the office for healing.
Oh yeah, Valdus. I had forgotten that I was worried about him for a second. I turned my attention back to the man I had grievously wounded, who was still coughing like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat, and started to ask him what was the matter… but he suddenly got ahold of himself and stopped coughing long enough to look at my legs and blurt out,
"ALPUS!" And he resumed his coughing fit, which I then realized was actually laughter.
I felt the heat rise to my face at Valdus' laughter. I mean, sure I probably looked kinda weird, but hey, it worked right? I felt like laughing about it was going a little far considering he was the one with an imploded ribcage, smh.
"A-a-a-alpus! Hahahaha!" He just wouldn't stop. Seriously, I didn't get it. What was so damn funny? I couldn't even change back right then because it took a lot of marks (for me at least) to Morph to this extent, and I needed to rest before I could change back. I was still fuming slightly when I heard a little chuckle come from Jameson. I turned a curious eye on him now, because he wasn't usually one to tease.
"What's so funny?" I asked, letting my annoyance shine through.
Jameson put his hands up defensively. He had finished his call it seemed.
"Hey, it's a good joke. You do kind of look like an Alpus." Jameson shrugged.
I snatched at the opportunity, "What's an Alpus?" I asked, but looking down at my legs, I suddenly realized what it must be.
I had Morphed my legs so that my thighs had become extremely condensed, and I had also transferred all but the absolute minimum amount of muscle that I needed to them, so my thighs were short but very thick. My calves and shins were significantly longer than normal, and most of the muscle was bunched up near the back of my knee. My foot was much longer, and the ball was heavily calloused and widened in such a way so that I was always resting on the balls of my feet. This was all give me the ability to make one explosive jump in order to overcome what I lacked in speed. In essence, my legs were just like a-
"Rabbits," Jameson said, still smiling. "Snow-white rabbits."
Valdus ended up passing out from the pain of laughing at my rabbit feet, so I decided to just leave him be. I started heading back to my aunt and uncle's house, thinking over the night's events. It occured to me that maybe I should be more upset, since there was every likelihood that I'd never seen him again, but we were never that close anyway.
It's probably for the best. I thought to myself, at least I finally managed to beat-
I stopped in my tracks. I was too busy being embarrassed and worried to process it before then, but I had beat Valdus. I won. I did it. My idea worked, and it was even "ingenuitive", just like Valdus wanted. I looked back in the direction of the stadium, wondering what Valdus would think about that when he woke up. The thought made me smile… and shudder a little because I was pretty damn sure he'd be demanding a rematch, claiming I was just lucky. And honestly, I didn't think the same trick would work quite so well next time.
But it worked once. And I was soon to learn that one time was all it took.