Gaiagon

Chapter 9: Preparation

The next morning, Sylva got up early to do her morning practice. She got dressed, splashed some water in her face to wake her up, and then went outside. The sun was still set, and the small area behind Seth’s house was not lit, either by the sun or house lights. Sylva walked to a spot where the moon was showing some light, but when she arrived she found that Seth had been waiting for her. He was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed and looking Sylva right in her purple eyes. Once Seth noticed her walking to him, he started to walk to meet her.

            “How long have you been waiting for me?” Sylva spoke without even a hint of surprise. “To be honest,” Seth responded, “I guessed at what time you would be out here using my memory of when I saw you out here the day I first took you to town and came out ten minutes earlier. Would you be ok with me practicing with you? I won’t always be wearing armor.” Sylva nodded, found a decently lit area, and motioned for Seth to come closer to about arm’s length.

            Several minutes pasted. Seth had obviously been practicing, because he was keeping up with Sylva better than the last time. After about thirty minutes had pasted, Seth turned to Sylva. As soon as Sylva had noticed that Seth had stopped, she turned to face Seth in return. Initially, they were starring calmly at each other, but pretty soon, they got into a battle stance with both of their lefts arms sticking out and touching at the wrist. Sylva took Seth by surprise and Seth was on the ground in a matter of seconds. Seth, slightly in shock, stood up and got right back into position. Sylva, most likely humoring Seth, responded the same way again. This time, when Sylva attempted to flip Seth by once again twisting his arm, Seth lunged forward, picked up Sylva, and tried to flip her over his back. Sylva was well trained for most moves, even the one Seth tried, so she landed on her feet and backed up to let Seth attack.

            Seth quickly realized her maneuver and once again lunged at her, this time sliding in hopes of tripping and then pinning her. Sylva turned around and did a back flip over the sliding Seth, who was soon able to get back on his feet and stare her in the eyes. “I’m impressed,” Sylva said, almost as if she was his master. “You are not as experienced as I, yet you did surprise me once, that I will admit. I know you see me as a girl, but ignore that for now. Come at me with all you got!” Seth made a few jumps in place, and then ran at Sylva using the illusion of a blind furry dash. As soon as he was in melee range, Seth attempted to punch with his left hand, which missed. Expecting her to dodge, Seth quickly spun clockwise, building momentum with his right arm. Sylva responded with a clockwise corkscrew spine to his right, fully dodging the otherwise powerful attack. She continued to dodge his many punches and kick, which seemed well practiced. Eventually, Seth began to sweet hard. Sylva, who had done nothing but dodge, made once quick jab to knock him down and stood over him saying, “You are very good for someone so new to fist fighting, but I think you should stick to swords. You know them very well, and from what I have seen, it looks like you feel more natural holding one.”

            Seth nodded looked around him as he lay on the ground. Sylva walked away to wipe off her sweet, during which Seth noticed three sticks. One of them was much longer than the others, which reminded him of a sword, while the others were the length of daggers. All three looked quite thick, and they looked like they wouldn’t break for a while. Seth rolled to his right over to the tree were the Sticks were and grabbed the three sticks, the long one in his right and the short ones in his left. “Hey!” Seth said to get Sylva’s attention. She turned around, quickly catching the two short sticks. She looked up at Seth who now had the long stick in his right hand with the stick pointed at her. She quickly realized his plan and placed each of the sticks in a hand with them both in an underhanded style.

            Seth ran at Sylva, stick raised and ready to swing. Sylva placed her crossed sticks in front of her face and blocked the down swinging blow from Seth. She quickly lunged to her left, causing Seth’s stick to swing further to the ground. Seth, who was now expressing increased comfort in holding something that reminded him of his sword, continued to swing expertly at Sylva, this time Sylva was more tired than him by the end. Eventually, Sylva found herself on her back, looking up at the victorious. Seth, with his hand reaching out to help her up, said, “You are right, I’m a better swordsman than martial artist.”