The instant we entered the training room, Tre was on me. Her IS activated silently; before I'd finished thinking I'm in for it now, I was on my back, skidding away from her at high speed. She vanished, of course, well before I'd come to a stop.
Instead of rolling out of the way immediately, I waited a fraction of a second. This time, when she tried to kick me in the head, I could feel the breeze from it against my face. Her followthrough gave me time to spring to my feet and throw a punch of my own. It didn't hit, of course- Tre was too good (and too fast) for that- but she wasn't in a position to dodge.
My follow-up kick to her knee, coming directly on the heels of that punch, did hit, forcing her to the ground. She just grunted, slowly stood back up, and cracked her neck. "My turn." Then she vanished.
The first blow came, as expected, without warning- a punch to my side. Another two followed shortly after, quickly enough that I could barely feel when one ended and the next began. Her fourth hit was a knee to my groin; the barrier jacket took a lot of the force, but it was still enough to double me over... putting my head where Tre could grab it with both hands, and drive it into her knee. A descending elbow to the back followed that up, putting me on the ground.
This floor looks familiar.
"Get up."
Instead of trying to do what Tre ordered, I instead tensed up. She didn't disappoint- the following kick, aimed at my midsection, would've left me breathless and gasping if I hadn't. Of course, I was still on the ground, in a great deal of pain, and about to faint from exhaustion, but at least I wasn't out of breath!
Usually, this would be the point where Tre would either kick me a few more times, or put her blade to my throat. That's how our duels always ended, after all; I'd come to expect it, actually, and was straining myself to at least see her coming this time. Imagine my surprise when I felt her full weight come down on me. That's what I get for not asking for eyes in the back of my head.
"Only eight hours of battle, and you can't even stand. Pathetic. I can't believe I'm related to somebody as weak as you."
The elder cyborg sounded just as cold and dispassionate as always, but after the last few months, I could pick up on the scorn in her voice. "Did you know I asked the Doctor for the right to kill you, back when you first arrived here? He denied me because he was curious." She shifted her weight from one side to the other, eliciting a groan of pain from me. "He wanted to know who you were- what use you could be to him.
When the two of you made a bargain, I protested. I told him you were weak, honorless- a worm, unworthy of his attention. Again, I requested that your life end. Again, I was denied... because he was curious. He wanted to know if he could do what you suggested, and figured you might prove useful, if it worked.
When I brought you to your uplifting, my opinion of you changed." Here she leaned down, pulling my head back by my chin. "Do you know what I saw? I saw strength. I saw determination. You were on death's door, minutes away from a total magilink collapse. You shouldn't have been able to move... and yet you sat up- not once, but again and again. You managed to stand up, and even walk. 'Here', I thought, 'is somebody who is worthy.'"
Tre let go of my chin, pushing my face back down into the ground. "Now, look at you. You've been given all the advantages the Doctor could offer, and what have you done with them? NOTHING. You are a cyborg of my line, one of the greatest weapons ever constructed... but you fight like a HUMAN."
I felt her weight lift off me for an instant, before landing on the small of my back, her legs holding mine together as she straddled me. "I was right about you from the beginning. You are worthless! You're nothing but a jumped-up human worm who will never amount to anything, no matter what you try!" A fist came down next to my head, my hair fluttering as it clipped my ear. "You've never made anything, like the Doctor has! You've never changed anything, like I have! I bet you've never even helped somebody do anything great, the way Big Sister Uno does all the time!"
Her other fist came down, harder this time, on the other side of my head. "Did you leave your planet because nothing you did there mattered? Was it because your existence was pointless, or was it something more frivolous than that? Oh... maybe you realized that nobody would ever even like you, much less fall in love with a pitiful wretch like you!"
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
Instead of rolling out of the way immediately, I waited a fraction of a second. This time, when she tried to kick me in the head, I could feel the breeze from it against my face. Her followthrough gave me time to spring to my feet and throw a punch of my own. It didn't hit, of course- Tre was too good (and too fast) for that- but she wasn't in a position to dodge.
My follow-up kick to her knee, coming directly on the heels of that punch, did hit, forcing her to the ground. She just grunted, slowly stood back up, and cracked her neck. "My turn." Then she vanished.
The first blow came, as expected, without warning- a punch to my side. Another two followed shortly after, quickly enough that I could barely feel when one ended and the next began. Her fourth hit was a knee to my groin; the barrier jacket took a lot of the force, but it was still enough to double me over... putting my head where Tre could grab it with both hands, and drive it into her knee. A descending elbow to the back followed that up, putting me on the ground.
This floor looks familiar.
"Get up."
Instead of trying to do what Tre ordered, I instead tensed up. She didn't disappoint- the following kick, aimed at my midsection, would've left me breathless and gasping if I hadn't. Of course, I was still on the ground, in a great deal of pain, and about to faint from exhaustion, but at least I wasn't out of breath!
Usually, this would be the point where Tre would either kick me a few more times, or put her blade to my throat. That's how our duels always ended, after all; I'd come to expect it, actually, and was straining myself to at least see her coming this time. Imagine my surprise when I felt her full weight come down on me. That's what I get for not asking for eyes in the back of my head.
"Only eight hours of battle, and you can't even stand. Pathetic. I can't believe I'm related to somebody as weak as you."
The elder cyborg sounded just as cold and dispassionate as always, but after the last few months, I could pick up on the scorn in her voice. "Did you know I asked the Doctor for the right to kill you, back when you first arrived here? He denied me because he was curious." She shifted her weight from one side to the other, eliciting a groan of pain from me. "He wanted to know who you were- what use you could be to him.
When the two of you made a bargain, I protested. I told him you were weak, honorless- a worm, unworthy of his attention. Again, I requested that your life end. Again, I was denied... because he was curious. He wanted to know if he could do what you suggested, and figured you might prove useful, if it worked.
When I brought you to your uplifting, my opinion of you changed." Here she leaned down, pulling my head back by my chin. "Do you know what I saw? I saw strength. I saw determination. You were on death's door, minutes away from a total magilink collapse. You shouldn't have been able to move... and yet you sat up- not once, but again and again. You managed to stand up, and even walk. 'Here', I thought, 'is somebody who is worthy.'"
Tre let go of my chin, pushing my face back down into the ground. "Now, look at you. You've been given all the advantages the Doctor could offer, and what have you done with them? NOTHING. You are a cyborg of my line, one of the greatest weapons ever constructed... but you fight like a HUMAN."
I felt her weight lift off me for an instant, before landing on the small of my back, her legs holding mine together as she straddled me. "I was right about you from the beginning. You are worthless! You're nothing but a jumped-up human worm who will never amount to anything, no matter what you try!" A fist came down next to my head, my hair fluttering as it clipped my ear. "You've never made anything, like the Doctor has! You've never changed anything, like I have! I bet you've never even helped somebody do anything great, the way Big Sister Uno does all the time!"
Her other fist came down, harder this time, on the other side of my head. "Did you leave your planet because nothing you did there mattered? Was it because your existence was pointless, or was it something more frivolous than that? Oh... maybe you realized that nobody would ever even like you, much less fall in love with a pitiful wretch like you!"
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.