*MADE IT TO THE FINALS OF ONC's SHORT LIST*
One makes, one nurtures and one extinguishes - thus, a balance is maintained on Tellus.
But what happens when the scales topple?
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In the next few days, Ati spent a life busier than one she had lived before. After she'd be done with her classes, she would go to the precinct for her training.
Today, it was nothing different.
"Well, if isn't the brazen lady," the chubby man greeted. Ati was surprised to see him smiling after two days of showing discourteousness towards her.
"It surely is, Mister judgmental," she grinned wider. Taking the good-natured joke in a stride, the man named Brian, who had now finally warmed up to her, pointed her to the combat room. He ushered her to reach there sooner as he was already aware that Ryker had been waiting. And, everybody, by now, knew that a late Ati and a waiting Ryker was an equation that did not bear fruitful outcome. However, that never stopped Ati from not reaching the precinct on time. She liked messing with Ryker.
"You're late," he stated, looking at his watch. And as usual, he hardly let Ati reply for herself; cutting her off before she could even utter a word in her defense, "if you want to be able to hold your own against such a powerful entity, punctuality is an important attribute."
Ati snorted, "rudeness does not become you, sir."
A ghost of a smile appeared on Ryker's face.
"Let's not waste any more time," he gestured her to don her training gear as he waited in his. The clothes were, well, not clothes. It was, like everything else, a chip that had to be attached to the current clothing that one had adorned and then, it would cover the body with the gear that was programmed into it. The chip would camouflage itself in order to not give away any advantages to the enemy and when the brain wanted to remove the clothing, it would sense the vibrations coming from the nerves, removing itself it'd fall to the ground.
That was technology these days, making people lazy one chip at a time.
Once ready, she tied her long lavender locks into a braid and took a battle stance. Although she had not learnt much about fighting yet, she knew that getting aggravated and advancing first was not considered to be the best strategy. Maintaining her calm, she looked directly into Ryker's eyes and teasingly raised an eyebrow.
Her first lesson had been exactly that, poking a sleeping lion was forbidden, but that's exactly what she'd done. So, when he lunged at her with a samurai sword made of out blue lasers, Ati tried not to flinch. She dodged his attack, which she was the best at, and saw that he had, in fact, been anticipating the same. He hit her behind the neck with the sword's kashira. She lost her bearings along with her footing, falling on her knees. With her head spinning because of the jarring impact, she roared in anger. Throwing her sword aside, she outstretched her foot to trip him up by entangling one of her ankles with his.
Ryker groaned as he fell on his back, arching it in pain, but Ati quickly took advantage of this opportunity and moved atop him. She touched his throat with her own sword and shouted, "yield."
