Unexpected

Chapter 2

The next day, Loki spent his morning practicing cryokinesis and honing his craft by pouring over books in his study. He'd received note that Thor wanted to spar with him this afternoon and was not thrilled at the prospect for defeat. He always lost, so what's the point? For him there wasn't a point, but he knew how much Thor loved it and it was probably his way of getting to enjoy spending some time with his brother.

Like everybody else who sparred, Loki followed rules of engagement that were expected during these matches: Hand to hand combat, using a weapon permitted but you must rely on physical skill and brute strength. Of course, most of these are not his strong suits and lead to him losing 95% of the time. The only times he would win under these conditions was typically if Thor's stamina had already been mostly depleted from a long day of training. Loki would win in other areas of training like knife throwing or anything that involved stealth or agility, but none of those matches were held in as high a regard as sparing.

A new idea crossed Loki's mind then. What if he threw the rule book out the window and used his magic? According to the rules there's no honor in that, but there's also no honor in losing repeatedly so he didn't have much to lose. Besides, was he not the God of mischief, what did they expect?

With that, Loki left his study and made his way to meet Thor. He decided to keep his strategy to himself and surprise his brother instead. After all, Thor loved surprises. So, when they both stepping onto the sparring mat, Thor took his usual stance beaming at Loki like an idiot. Loki chuckled, and dropping his head slightly to look at Thor with a mockingly sinister grin, "Brother, are you ready to meet your maker?" He quipped, but Thor only laughed, "I should be asking you that, brother. You're the one who seems to have left his daggers in the armory. Or are you planning to fight me hand to hand?" Thor cocked his head in actual puzzlement. "Don't worry about me, I've been practicing new skills." Loki said nonchalantly, Thor only beamed brighter nodding his head in excitement, "I'm ready then!"

The fight began the usual way, by Thor charging him and jumping to bring his hammer down upon Loki's head. It was a practiced and typical strategy that Thor always used with Loki because it rarely failed to work. It was the glass ceiling Loki was expected to break and move past before Thor would start hitting him with newer and more complicated techniques. Unfortunately, due to Thor's arrogance he failed to realize that Loki would ever grow and only assumed he would remain at the same level, as he had for centuries.

As Thor's arms came past his face Loki teleported out of his hologram in a dim green blip that Thor failed to notice. The hammer was brought down with his usual force but slipped through Loki's hologram and crashed into the ground. Loki appeared behind Thor as he went down to his knee and turn kicked a massive shockwave of energy into his back sending him flying forward onto his stomach.

Again, Loki teleported out of his hologram appearing in front of Thor's head, predicting that Thor would look back at the hologram rather than in front of himself in that moment. And in this second of thoughtless surprise, with his head turned away as he anticipated, Loki brought his heel down on Thor's temple in an axe kick with such force that it caused Thor's vision to flood with black specks.

As Thor momentarily drifted in and out of consciousness, Loki knelt placing both hands on either side of his head and began the difficult task of dropping his body temperature, starting in his brain. Thor's pulse slowed and skin paled as a wave of brain freeze swelled in his skull and within minutes, he began to pass out as his body was overtaken by mild hypothermia. The last thing Thor saw was Loki's hologram towering over him. Seconds later he was unconscious. Loki laid his head on the sparring mat and stood up, his hologram vanishing.

A wave of pride crashed over himself. He couldn't believe he had taken him down so easily! Why hadn't he done this sooner? A smile was stretched wide across his face, he was panting, and his fists were resting on his hips when he looked up from Thor's body. He hadn't realized anybody was paying attention to their fight. In reality they had only been in combat for about 3minutes, but it was enough of a spectacle to turn the heads of nearly every other warrior in the courtyard, including Sif. The sword she had been polishing hung limp in her hand as she stared slack jawed at Thor's limp body.

Loki shuffled in place uncomfortably for a second before looking at Thor again, his skin was slowly regaining color under the midsummer sun. He'd be fine. He looked back up at his gawking audience, grinned widely with open arms and a breathy chuckle, turned on his heel and vanished.