The Fisherman

3. The Lucky One

The morning on the beach was as welcoming as every other morning. Fruit loved it, the calming presence of the lake, the light breeze collecting moisture from the lake, the low sun.

As promised, Fruit was there, sitting on a flat rock near the water. This time he didnt have his fishing rod. Instead, he had a stick the size of a sword in his hand.

He held it on both of his hands, with hand wraps on both of them. He held it, weighing it, giving it a swing, tapping it against a nearby rock.

A weapon.

A shit weapon nonetheless, but a weapon. He rarely found himself with a sword in his hand, or any weapon anymore. That was behind him.

But he wanted to help his friend, Joel. He wanted to repay the hermits, for being great people, and Joel was the first.

He watched Joel, someone with the strength and tenacity to battle well. He watched him fight wild animals, and the occasional creature, and his ability to block their attacks, and dodge the ones that couldn't be blocked.

"Fruit? Uhh... you ready to go?" Came a British accent from behind his shoulder.

Joel was wearing a set of iron plated armor, with a squared helmet. He had a sharp iron shortsword on his belt.

Fruit laughed, and stood up.

"Take off the armor dude, we ain't using real weapons right now."

Joel looked at him confused, before slowly taking off his armor, helmet and all. He put his stuff against a rock, with his shortsword on top.

"Okay, so what's the plan?"

Fruit picked up another stick, and softly tossed it to him. He awkwardly caught it, and felt all over the stick.

"Now Joel, I want you to hit me. Don't be shy." Fruit walked slowly towards near the lake shoreline, where there wasn't any rocks.

Joel walked toward the makeshift arena, and held his stick firm with two hands.

Fruit held the stick with his right hand, with his left hand free.

"Come on. Hit me." He beckoned Joel to try and hit him, which Joel took as a sign to begin.

Joel kicked up some sand, before charging head on against Fruit, with both hands on the stick, ready to swing the piece of wood as hard as he can.

He reached an arm length to Fruit, who was simply standing there. A mighty swing from Joel... which caught nothing.

Fruit was to the right of him, as he skillfully went under the slash of Joel in the blink of an eye.

Joel went and swung his weapon clockwise, spinning his body in an off-balance motion. Fruit realizes this, and knocks Joel off his feet with a sweeping leg, and Joel lands in the soft sand.

Joel springs up in a moment, getting his bearings, and grabbing the stick off the ground. This time he grabs it with only one hand, for more quicker hits.

He begins to approach more tactically, trying to find an opening in Fruit, who stays square to his opponent. Joel feigns an attack, trying to get a flinch from Fruit.

His fake swing was able to let Fruit's guard down a little bit, where Joel switched to a backhand attack, but Fruit is able to swing rapidly down at the attack, and smack the stick straight out of Joel's hand, just before it connects to Fruit's leg.

With the loss of his stick to the ground, Joel then tries to punch Fruit, with a quick jab. Fruit expertly blocks his jab with the stick in his right hand, before knocking Joel's right hand away with his left hand.