The War Of Crystaliam Book One: Preparing for Battle

Chapter Seven: Calm Before the Storm

The tournament was creeping near. It was in a day and everyone was training hard. Except our group. They had been working their butts off since they found out so the last day before the final trial, they insisted, should be spent resting.

    "Come on, Jess!" All except Jessica. Everyone knew Jessica was a hard worker who liked to push herself to the limits, so it was no surprise she was on the training grounds the day before the tournament. "You've been pushing yourself since you found out about this! Come hang out with us! If you push yourself too hard you could crash and burn tomorrow!"

"Yeah," Jessica agrees, "But if I don't practice hard, enough, how will I reach my full potential?" Ashlie had been trying to coax her off the training ground for ten minutes and she hasn't budged yet.

    Then, an idea came to her head in an instant. "What if we spar?" Jessica raised an eyebrow and looked back at her friend for a moment. "If I win, you have to come with us. If you win, I'll let you stay."

    Jessica thought over her odds. Ashlie was skilled even though she didn't practice as much as her. Her attacks were sporadic and at times unpredictable. After a moment, she brought down her arms and faced Ashlie.

    Ashlie gave a childish smirk, already knowing the consensus Jessica came to. "Alright, star-eyes, lets see what you can do."

    Ashlie gratefully skipped over to the swords and grabbed one of the ones she could hold. The last six months of training school they trained them to used real swords, so they no longer provided any fake practice swords. She whipped around excitedly to see Jessica had already pushed the training dummy to the side and was waiting for her.

    An almost mischievous smirk was placed on Jessica's face, complimenting her sly expression. Ashlie walked over and stood across from her. She matched Jessica's smug look.

    "You ready?" Jessica checks.

    "Sure am!" Ashlie confirms.

    "In that case." Jessica made the first move, lunging at Ashlie at half of her full force. Ashlie, unprepared, stumbles backwards at her force. Not wasting a second getting her footing together, though, she blocked Jessica's first swings. The battle continued like that, swinging and blocking.

    Ashlie back flipped over Jessica and landed behind her. Typically, you'd use the seconds of confusion you left the partner in to attack, but Ashlie ran to the other side of the grounds, giving Jessica enough time to turn around and spot her. They waited for a moment, then Jessica made the first move. She ran at her fast enough for Ashlie to react by pushing her back with a spell, nearly causing Jessica to fall over.

    "That was so cheap!" Jessica complains.

    "All's fair in love and war, my dear Jessica," Ashlie teases, knowing herself that it was a cheap move.

    "If that's how we're playing." In a puff of purple smoke, Jessica had disappeared and reappeared in the blink of an eye. She puffed behind Ashlie, scaring her and hitting her in the back. Ashlie trips forward and turns around again. They go back to the standard "swing and block" battle format.

Halfway through, Ashlie switched to tank tactics (This format consisted of heavy and powerful swings). It left her very open for attack, but Jessica couldn't seem to find a window of attack because of the rapid swings.

Before she knew it, Ashlie had swept her leg and knocked her over. Just as she was about to get up and reposition herself, Ashlie came over and pointed the tip of her sword at Jessica's neck. Jessica had lost. Ashlie had won.

Jessica growled at herself. How could she be the best if she lost? She felt frustrated, but couldn't stay mad even if she tried when she looked up and saw that childish smirk. "Come on, let's catch up with the others."