The Titan Trials

Chapter 9: Bringing Out the Power Within

"That just leaves me and you then, Miss Opprotune." Alexander states as he stands up. Such a gentleman. I wonder how the robotics technicians were able to make androids with emotions in his universe. "Uh. Okay." I stammer in nervousness. I walk out to the arena really slowly. Alexander senses my hesitation, and walks up to where I am. "Do not worry. I know of your unwillingness to fight." He tries to assure me. "I'll go easy. I won't even use my power completely. How's that?" I feel bad having to use a handicap already but I nod slowly.

When we go to our ends of the arena, Alexander takes a basic brawling stance and says, "When you are ready, I'll let you take the first shot." I nod slowly again and try to make a stance I feel comfortable with. I think of the stance Jing Ti made, and the stance Alexander is making now. I stand sideways like Jing Ti, and put my hands up like Alexander, and started to circle him slowly, sizing him up and analyzing him.

At a closer look, I am able to place what other hedgehog he looks like from his universe. He looks like Shadow, although by his equipment I know his powers are in no way similar. Physically, he seems to have no chinks in his makeup, until I circle around behind him. Then I notice two weak points: on his head, where all of his spines meet up at the bottom of his second middle spine, and in between his back spines on his torso.

Through further analysis, I also notice the general idea of what his cuffs and Koronaae Crystal are for. They seem to act like a kind of nervous system; distributing the energy from the crystal to different sectors of his body, and this probably had something to do with his power as well. Lines of energy run up and down his arms, legs, and body as I realize that a simple nervefighting technique could easily disable his arms and legs, and probably, the removal of the crystal would disable him completely. Armed with knowledge, I circle back around to his front and plot my first moves.

"Did you see that?" Raven points out to Cyborg.

"See what?" Cyborg asks her, confused, "She was just sizing him up. It's a smart thing to do before starting a fight."

"So you didn't see the splays of light in front of her eyes as she analyzed him?"

"No. Was I supposed to?"

"Never mind." Raven sighs. "Just watch.

Now I've plotted my attack sequence. I anticipate he is a skilled fighter to keep his nervous system invulnerable, so I also anticipate he'll counter and attack.

Knowing what to do, I begin my attack sequence. I attack him off to his side, but it is a feign attack to move his arms out of the way. He falls for it, and I loop around the other side of him to get behind. Being a foot shorter than me, his head easily comes in to my arm level so I push him in the back of the head, and break his root at the same time. All of it is a blur and I don't realize how well I've done until after I see Alexander on the ground.

"Did you get all that?" Raven asks Cyborg.

"Yep." Cyborg replies, tapping his cybernetic eye.

"Good. Because I don't think she did." Raven states, pointing in my direction. She was right though. I wasn't aware I was doing all that until after I did it. I look down at Alexander to see him still laying on the floor, a dent in his cranium casing.

"Oh my God." I exclaim. "Alexander, are you alright?"

Alexander turns himself over on his back and looks up at me wearily. "Yes, although I do believe you gave me a headache."

"Sorry about that. I didn't know how hard I hit you." I sigh. "Does this mean I win?"

"For now. Goodness, you didn't even give me room for a hit. Next time I won't be so easy on you." Alexander warns me.

"Heheh. Challenge accepted." I state, helping him up.

"It's a date, then." Alexander smiles, "As soon as I get rid of this headache."

We both walk over and sit down with the others. I try to catch my breath, as I look over to Raven and Cyborg. "Well, how'd I do?" I ask them. "How'd we all do?"

But I am not given an answer.