Moon 514 || Blaze and the White Griffon

1 || the Order

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Last revision: 4/24/2014

DESPERATE, BLAZE DOVE, ROLLED, AND FELL into a defensive posture to await his attacker.  But the beast was already upon him.  Without a moment to spare, he slashed at his opponent's neck while diving sideways a second time.  From the unnerving sound of shrieking behind him, Blaze guessed that he had successfully slashed a tender spot on its neck but he had no time to carefully assess the damage.  

The young warrior had resorted to dive rolls precisely because his legs had been injured so badly.  It was the only way he could quickly gain significant ground.  And bulbous swelling on his throbbing right arm suggested a significant fracture.  He tried hard to ignore the almost debilitating pain and realized he was running low on options.  He stood up and spun around in one fluid movement, preparing to make a desperate last thrust with the bladed end of his staff, but the beast was already too close for him to avoid its attack.  Checkmate.  With no time to look at his opponent, aim, or otherwise methodically prepare for his attack, Blaze fell into instinct and thrust the blade parallel to the angle where the alien had attacked before - while simultaneously bending his torso to avoid a possible bite to his own head.  As the beast crushed into him and pinned Blaze against a rock wall, the young warrior lost consciousness.

"Simulation ended," announced the emcee.

Nearly instantaneously, the simulated, painful throbbing mellowed down to nothing and Blaze's alertness flashed back to normal.  He was always grateful when the simulator functioned well.  It's a tricky thing to manipulate the psyche.  Sometimes the pain lagged on for several minutes.  This time, the pain had been so intense that Blaze couldn't help but to rub his legs out of instinct.  Moments before, they had been a mangled mess, whole pieces of tendon and muscle torn from the bone.  It had been difficult to suppress the body's natural drive to panic in situations like that but now, his legs were perfectly whole.  Still, a disquieting self preservation instinct lingered.  Adrenaline coursed through his veins.  He was ready for round two.

Blaze noticed the spear ominously peering out of the beast's backside and then watched as his simulated opponent dissipated into nothingness.  Simulated terrain followed suit and disappeared.  Blaze took a deep breath.  He won.  He had been knocked unconscious but the beast had been slain.  It looked like a modified velociraptor with spikes, bulky muscles, and long forearms, he mused.  Jim usually came up with innovative simulations.  This one seemed old school and lacked creativity.  It just didn't seem to fit Jim's personality.  He must be busy with another project, Blaze considered as he anxiously watched a few of his friends approaching.

"UNINTIMIDATING," HE GRUMBLED IN FRUSTRATION.  "That was the word she had used – unintimidating.  Is that even a word?"  

Evelia couldn't have deliberately chosen a more damaging thing to say to bruise a young warrior's ego had she thought about it carefully and preplanned the entire exchange.  His voice growing louder and clearly betraying his mood, Blaze continued, "I mean, can you even create the negative of intimidating like that?" 

 "Oh, come on Blaze," Jazz responded energetically, "she also said you were the best fighter on earth – how 'bout that?"

"No contractions," Blaze reminded the young boy, "We are not supposed to use contractions."

"Sure – but that was a nice compliment don't you think?"

"You did it again," Blaze grumbled. 

"Oh, come on Blaze," Jazz encouraged.  "You can't be depressed when someone gives you a compliment like that!"

"No contractions!" Blaze reminded his young protégé with more gruffness than he used the first two times.  "Context is everything."  He looked down into Jazz's admiring eyes.  "If you did not notice, she said that although I was 'the best fighter on earth,' I also held the element of surprise over anyone that I would meet outside of the Order because I was unintimidating.  At best, she was warning me not to ask her father's permission to date her.  At worst, she was slamming me."