Next to go was Bunny, who did about as well as Sasha did, although, her last shot landed somewhere in the forest behind the target instead of in front of it. This pleasantly surprised Avery; Bunny seemed to have a lot more strength than Avery would have given her credit for.
Skylar went after Bunny. She hit the target near dead center with her first two shots, but her third was more than a few inches off. However, her fourth shot actually landed on the target, the very outside edge of the target, but so far it was the best shot of the day.
Next was Jade. She didn’t take as long to aim as the other’s had, but even so, her aim was scarily accurate. Her first two arrows landed right next to Skylar’s near dead center. Her third shot was only a few centimeters from center, and her fourth and most difficult shot, flew through the air, slamming into the target a whole three inches closer to the bull’s-eye than Skylar’s.
Finally, it was Avery’s turn to go. Jade handed off the bow to her and Avery ran her hands over it. The sensation of the wooden bow in her palms seemed familiar to her body, even though she had never handled one in her life. She picked up one of the arrows off of the ground and got into position. She tried to remember Gumptin’s words about not over thinking, about letting her body remember the skills it had and letting it do all the work. Avery was skeptical her body would do what she wanted it to do, but she decided to try and give it an attempt. If she failed, she would just blame Gumptin and his stupid reasoning. Avery closed her eyes and let her left hand feel the strong center of the bow, her right hand the delicate tip of the arrow and tight tension of the string. Her body was telling her she knew these feelings, and she forced her mind clear before she could argue away what she was feeling. She took one long deep breath, raised her bow and pulled back on her bow string in one swift movement. It took Avery only a split second to decide and aim at the fourth and furthest target first. It seemed like the world around her went black and the only thing she could see was the bright red center of the circular target. What had seemed so tiny to her just ten minutes ago was now the clearest thing she had ever seen. Her hand released the arrow and it sailed through the air, whistling its way towards the target before hitting dead center in the middle of it.
After she watched her arrow hit its mark, the world came back into focus for Avery, color returned and the target went back to looking like an unreachable speck.
“Well, screw me!” Jade whooped, standing behind Avery, staring open mouthed at the shot she had just made.
“Thanks for making me look pathetic, Avery.” Skylar pat Avery on the back.
Avery looked over at Gumptin and noticed a small smile on his face.
“What are you smirking at, weirdo?’ Avery asked, a little embarrassed at all the attention her perfect shot was getting.
Gumptin’s smile broadened, “I knew you would do well if you let yourself. You were always excellent at the bow and arrow. After practice or patrolling, you would come out at night when the moon was bright enough and practice it for hours.”
It seemed like Gumptin was fond of the memory, so Avery smiled back at him and nodded, deciding not to tell him that there was no way in hell that was ever going to happen this time around. Avery didn’t think anything could possibly suck more than added voluntary training after what she had already been through today.
After the bow and arrow, Gumptin moved them on to the crossbow. Unfortunately, it didn’t go quite as well as the bow and arrow training had.
Sasha had difficulties drawing the bow string back by hand, and before she was able to get it set, it snapped back on her fingers, leaving her with a horizontal red mark across her left hand.
Skylar hadn’t been paying attention when Gumptin talked about being prepared for the recoil after a shot was taken, and as a result, she was not prepared and ended up with a good sized bruise on her shoulder.
Avery, whose aim was still impeccable, hadn’t expected the trigger on the crossbow to be as delicate as it was, causing her to accidentally fire before she had lifted the crossbow up to her shoulder. As a result, it fired while she was holding it at chest level, giving herself a bruise to match Skylar’s right above her right breast.
Avery was still rubbing at her bruise when she witnessed Bunny make the worst mistake of the day. Bunny had just been handed the crossbow, and while she was jokingly asking Avery for any tips on how to avoid personal injury, she unintentionally fired the crossbow; sending one of the sharp crossbow bolts sailing into a tree trunk centimeters from Gumptin’s head. Even though Bunny apologized profusely, she wasn’t allowed to use the crossbow any more that day, and Avery guessed probably ever again.
Jade, however, did more than exceptionally well, liking the fact that unlike the bow and arrow, she didn’t have to use both hands if she didn’t want too.
After finishing up their mostly disastrous crossbow training, the girls were hoping that they were done for the day. They couldn’t imagine what else Gumptin could possibly have them do.
“Can we please go home now?” Avery whined, longing to leave the clearing and all of its tortures behind.
Gumptin sighed, “You five never complained this much before, not even you, Jade.”
Jade was sitting on a large rock, looking far too exhausted to give Gumptin any sort of sarcastic reply.
“You may leave after the final training exercise.” Gumptin told them, “It is time to take what you have learned and put it into practice. You will spar one on one with each other.”
“Spar?” Jade asked, “You mean you want us to fight each other?”
Gumptin nodded, “That is correct. I will give you each a wooden sword and pair you up against one another. The first person to make what would be considered a killing blow shall win.”
“Hell, I’m down with that.” Jade said, jumping off of her rock with new found enthusiasm.
There was no way Avery could think of that this was going to go well. They were tired, sore, and grumpy, and now they were suppose to beat each other up.
Gumptin was wearing his usual oversized belt with at least seven different small pouches tied and attached to it. He undid a purple velvet pouch with a gold string and untied it. Inside the pouch was a bright red powder that he used to create a giant circle outline, ten feet in diameter.
“You must stay inside the red circle.” He told them, “You win the match if you inflict your opponent with what would be a killing blow, or you get them outside of the circle.”
Gumptin handed each of them a wooden sword, “Jade and Skylar, you two go first.”
Jade stepped into the circle, twirling her sword around in her hand. Avery could tell she was excited. This was Jade’s element; she loved competition, and she loved fighting. Avery was sure Jade would have chosen to go against Bunny or Sasha, preferring to kick their ass, but she would make do with Skylar.
Skylar stepped into the circle, across from Jade. She didn’t seem as enthusiastic about it as Jade was, but didn’t complain about it either. Skylar dealt with it the same way she handled most everything, with a light and flighty approach. She danced around in a small circle, stretching her long legs out one at time. She stretched her neck and moved her shoulders around, like a dancer warming up for a performance.
“You’re going down, trailer trash!” Skylar threw out a little pre-fight trash talk. Skylar was one of the only people Jade let call her trailer trash. Mainly, because Jade liked Skylar, and she knew Skylar meant it lovingly. She just had a crazy way of showing her affection.
Jade just smiled and set her body into its fighting stance. She let Skylar have her trash talk, confident enough to know that the outcome of the fight would speak for itself.
Jade went on the attack right from the start. She lunged at Skylar, striking at her left side with her sword. Skylar twirled to the right, avoiding Jade’s initial strike. She raised her sword up quickly to protect her body as Jade swung around, swiping at Skylar’s mid-section. Skylar brought her left knee up and kneed Jade hard in th
e back, right where her ribs were located. Jade grimaced, arching her back slightly. That was all it took to piss Jade off past the point of trying to make it a prolonged fight. Jade bent her knees and then back flipped through the air, landing directly behind Skylar. Before Skylar had time to appropriately react, Jade reached around Skylar’s chest with her right arm. Then, with all her strength, Jade swung her body hard into Skylar’s. Placing her left hand on Skylar’s back, Jade, literally, flipped Skylar’s body up over her head. A second before Skylar’s body hit the ground; Jade whipped her body around and, fast as a flash of light, gave Skylar a quick kick to the stomach.
Avery grimaced and looked away, shutting her eyes. Gumptin had said the Protectors possessed a high tolerance to injury and an ability to heal quickly. After watching poor Skylar tossed like a rag doll and kicked in the gut, Avery sure hoped he was right.
The kick sent Skylar rolling backwards and out of the parameter of the red circle. Skylar stopped rolling and sat up, groaning. She winced as she attempted to stand up, obviously in some kind of pain.
Jade walked over and helped Skylar delicately stand up, “Are you alright?” She asked, in a tone that intentionally kept concern out of her voice. It showed that she wanted to make sure that Skylar was alright, but that she wasn’t sorry for winning the fight.
“I’ll be fine.” Skylar groaned, stretching out a little as she stood, “I just have to re-learn how to breathe.”
Gumptin shook his head in approval, which was as close as he got to clapping, “Good job, very good job. You must go into every fight with everything you have. Your enemy will never go easy on you.”
Jade had definitely set the tone. There would be no going easy on each other just because they were friends.
“Very well done, Jade.” Gumptin told her, “In this instance, your natural aggression actually comes in handy.”
Avery noticed Jade smile slightly, then quickly turn away so that no one, especially Gumptin, would notice he had said something that pleased her.
“Skylar,” Gumptin continued, “you need to react faster. Your movements are graceful and fluid, but you must find a way to add speed, especially to defend yourself.”
Skylar, who was now sitting down outside the circle, resting her wounded self, gave Gumptin an encouraging thumbs up.
Avery thought Skylar’s black and blue body tomorrow would be more motivation for Skylar to work on her speed, than anything Gumptin could say to her.
“Next, Avery and Sasha shall fight.” Gumptin said, pointing towards the circle.
Avery did as she was instructed and followed Gumptin’s finger into the circle. Watching Jade and Skylar’s fight had made one thing blaringly clear to her, she wanted to avoid getting hit or kicked at all costs.
Looking ahead of her, Avery saw Sasha getting into position. Sasha didn’t seem nervous or scared at all. In fact, she seemed cocky, giving Avery a little smile and tilt of the head. Sasha seemed completely sure she was going to win this fight. Suddenly, everything became very clear cut to Avery. She was being given the chance to do something she had wanted to do for over ten years, to kick Sasha Seraphina’s ass. Avery didn’t care what it took; there was no way she was going to lose this fight.
The moment Avery got herself into a fighting stance, Sasha came charging at her. Sasha swung her sword at Avery’s head, but Avery managed to duck in time. Before Avery righted herself again, Sasha tried to side kick Avery with her right leg. Avery took her sword hand and slammed it into Sasha’s leg, forcing her leg down. Sasha gasped in pain and Avery stood up, cutting her left hand across her body and punching Sasha square in the jaw.
Avery heard Jade whoop from outside the circle, but she didn’t let it distract her.
Sasha swung at Avery hard with her right fist, obviously upset that Avery had been able to hurt her. Avery spun to the right, avoiding Sasha’s fist. As she spun, Avery switched her sword from her right hand to her left, this allowed her to reach up with her right hand and grab a hold of Sasha’s wrist as her arm was still extended. Once she had Sasha’s wrist firmly in her grasp, she pulled Sasha forward and towards her, at the same time she brought her left leg up, kicking Sasha across the chest. Sasha staggered backwards and fell to the ground. Avery walked over to her, about to thrust her sword into Sasha’s exposed chest. Sasha, never one to go down without a fight, came off of the ground in a backwards hand spring, shoving the heel of her boot into Avery’s chest on her way up. The pain hit Avery like a bolt of lightning. It was all Avery could do to flip out of Sasha’s way as she came at her with her sword raised high. As Avery flipped over Sasha, before she hit the ground, she pushed both of her legs hard backwards, slamming Sasha in the middle of the back. Sasha was sent falling forward landing on her face. Avery landed delicately on her hands and knees, rolling over and springing onto her feet in less than a second. While still lying on her stomach Sasha attempted a backwards kick, once again aimed at Avery’s chest as Avery walked towards her, but this time Avery was prepared for it. Avery grabbed Sasha’s ankle and flipped Sasha from her stomach over to her back. The moment Sasha was on her back, Avery had her wooden sword pointed right in the center of Sasha’s chest.
The girls clapped from the sidelines, happy to see Avery defeat Sasha.
“That’s my girl!” Jade shouted, clapping louder than the others.
Sasha ripped her ankle out of Avery’s grip, stood up, and pushed Avery away from her, hard. It didn’t faze Avery at all as she stumbled backwards from Sasha’s shove. She had defeated Sasha, and that was something that would keep her happy for weeks to come.
Angry about being beaten, Sasha walked over to the sidelines and complained to Gumptin, “I’m so done with this crap! Yesterday I was the girl every boy wanted to date and every girl wanted to be! I was hot, popular, smart, and wealthy!”
Avery and the other girls exchanged looks, shaking their heads and rolling their eyes. For as long as they had known Sasha, no one had ever thought Sasha Seraphina was as perfect as Sasha herself did.
“Now,” Sasha kept going, “today, I’m getting beaten up by Avery Kimball! My life has gone to shit!”
“For crying out loud,” Skylar exclaimed, as sick of Sasha’s tantrum as the rest of them, which was rare for Skylar since she got along better with Sasha than any of the other did, “stop being such a sore loser.”
“I don’t think Sasha knows how to be anything else.” Jade added. You could always count on Jade to make a tense situation even tenser.
Sasha turned on Jade, “Jade, sometimes you really need to know when to keep that trashy mouth of yours shut!”
“Oh, is that so?” Jade asked, walking towards Sasha, still clutching her wooden sword.
Gumptin held his hands up, silencing everyone, “Enough!” He bellowed, “Sasha, you lost, collect yourself and move past it. Your life may not be what you want it to be. I am sure you are not the only one of the Protectors to feel that way, especially after today.”
Gumptin looked around at all the girls. He knew very well that none of them, except maybe Jade, would have ever voluntarily chosen to give up their lives on Earth and travel to another planet to battle monsters. Gumptin felt for them, but he also had to make sure that they realized they really didn’t have any choice in the matter; it was their destiny.
“I know it is hard for all of you,” Gumptin said to them, “but this is a birthright that you cannot escape. You are only alive now because the Elementals gave you a second chance at life. They gave you a second chance so that you could come back and fulfill your destinies as Protectors. If you forsake it, if you forsake them, they could take your life away from you as easily as blowing out a candle.”
Silence crept over the girls as they let Gumptin’s words sink in. They had to except the duties of a Protector so that the Elementals would let them keep living, and they had to keep training so that they had the skills not to be killed by a hideous enemy. All of a sudden, the girls got the feeling of being very small and very n
ot in control of their own lives. Avery wasn’t convinced the Elementals would actually kill them if they chose not to fight as a Protector, but it wasn’t a theory she would ever be willing to test. Of course, whether it was true or not didn’t matter, since it managed to shut Sasha up real quick. Sasha valued her life far too much to ever put it in even more unnecessary danger.
“Now, if all the complaining is over, then let us continue.” Gumptin pointed to Jade, “You and Bunny get in the circle.”
Bunny stood across from Jade looking ready, if not just a little bit frightened. Avery didn’t blame Bunny for being scared about being paired off against Jade. It hardly seemed like a fair fight. Jade could have wiped the floor with Bunny back on Earth, and that was before they had all their super human Protector powers reawakened.
Jade and Bunny ran towards each other. Before they met in the middle, Bunny vaulted over Jade. This surprised Jade as much as it did the other girls. None of them figured Bunny would have the foresight to do a move like that. Jade was shocked, and the half a second it took her to recover from her shocked state cost her. Bunny landed facing Jade and managed to backhand her along the side of her skull before Jade could defend herself. Jade tripped sideways shaking her head. Bunny advanced on Jade. She lifted her sword to swipe at Jade’s side, but this time Jade was ready for Bunny’s attack. Jade lifted her elbow up to deflect the blow; then gave Bunny a hard side kick to her midsection. The kick caused Bunny to flail backwards, giving Jade a chance to go on the attack. As Bunny righted herself, Jade whacked the sword away from Bunny’s hand with her own sword. Once Bunny’s sword was on the ground, Jade laid a hard roundhouse kick on Bunny, causing her to fall face first onto the ground. Jade reached down and grabbed Bunny by the back of her shirt, preparing to flip her over, but before Jade could do anything, Bunny spun herself over and hit Jade hard on the side of her head with her fist. Jade backed away clutching her head, a trail of blood was beginning to run down her face.
The girls gasped at the sight of the blood. It hadn’t seemed like Bunny’s punch could have caused such a bloody wound, but when Avery looked over to Bunny, she saw Bunny clutching a good sized rock in the fist she had struck Jade with. A flash of the Alex Marquez incident from their youth popped into Avery’s mind.
The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga Page 15