Life Finds a Way

Chapter 16

Once they made it back to the 49th floor Genesis headed down a hallway she had yet to see. She was slightly disappointed when they walked into a room similar to a dojo, but on a much larger scale. There were various weapons along one wall and several mats, presumably for hand to hand training. She had hoped they were going to the VR room, but she managed to hide her disappointment well enough.

She was drawn from her thoughts when Genesis took his duster off and laid it carefully on a bench near one of the mats. She instantly felt her heart start pounding. He had said that he hadn't planned on fighting her but that's not what it looked like. "Uh, I thought you said this was an evaluation, not fighting."

His gaze was blank when he looked back at her. "I do not plan on becoming the aggressor. I simply want you to show me what you already know. You said the only combat experience you had was self-defense, so we will start with that."

Clarissa cursed under her breath. She had been afraid he was going to say that. She removed her pumps before moving out onto the mat with him. She knew some possible hits would be more effective with them on but being unbalanced by fighting in heels was a worse situation.

Facing off against Genesis had her palms sweating already. He was nearly a foot taller than her and far bigger in general. She logically knew she could possibly get away from a man that size if she didn't lose her head, but he was also a trained fighter. She prayed that Minerva was watching like she said she would. She wasn't sure what the Goddess might be able to do but she was desperate.

When she faced off against him she tried to clear all other thoughts from her mind. His face was a blank mask. She was certain this was his serious face and wished she weren't in the position to become familiar with it. Once she was in place he gave her instructions. "I will be holding back as much as I am able, but I will tell you up front that if you don't take this seriously you could get hurt. I would rather that not happen."

Clarissa responded with sarcasm. "You aren't the only one. Trust me, I see you as a serious threat and will treat you as such."

If he caught the sarcasm he didn't respond to it. "Good. I will attack from several angles and you will work to get away. I don't expect you to engage." Since she hadn't planned on it anyway she only nodded.

He gave her no warning before he lunged at her, moving so fast she almost panicked. That lasted until she felt his arms circle her in the classic bear hug. Instantly she grasped her hands together in front of her loosely, as she bent her knees slightly before pushing up hard. That allowed her head to connect solidly with his chin. She was surprised when he staggered slightly but she recovered quickly enough to jerk her arms out and break his hold. Instantly she turned to run.

She made it a couple of steps at most when his arms were back around her in another bear hug. Since she wasn't facing him this time she dropped her body, causing him to lean forward slightly as her body weight dragged him down. She knew it wouldn't last long so she swung her elbow up and back in an attempt to connect with anything. She was gratified when her elbow connected with his face. She couldn't tell where but once again his grip slackened enough for her to break his hold.

By now she was in full fight or flight mode. She knew she had been lucky so far. She could hear his breathing right behind her still and felt a slight heating of the air. The thought that she might have pissed him off enough for him to use a fire spell had her trying to run away as fast as she could.

Again, she didn't make more than a step before his hand was in her hair jerking her to a halt and actually hurting her for the first time. She couldn't stop the cry that escaped her lips, but the pain finally broke her panic. It was replaced by fury. She reached up to grab her own hair where he had a grasp to prevent his control as much as possible before she again bent her knees like she was going to drop. Instead of allowing her body to fall, she quickly turned back toward him and rammed the heel of her hand out toward his stomach. The blow was not nearly as effective as she had hoped it would be since she remembered at the last second, he had a leather plate across the soft part of his abdomen. It didn't matter though. She followed her hand towards his body and twisted at the last second to move past him, under the arm that had been holding her hair. She had effectively escaped his grip but swung the arm closest to him around stiffly so that her hand would hit his neck.

She had barely felt it connect before she was off. This time she made it off the side of the mat before she finally turned to face him again. She was surprised to see a little bit of blood dripping from his nose. She hadn't realized she had been able to hit him hard enough to cause damage. She hadn't really been thinking anything after he grabbed her the first time. The rest was all on instinct and the little training she had. She was even more surprised when he started toward her position with a slight smile. "That was much better than I expected after the way you talked. For someone that claims not to be trained you hit rather hard."

She was so stunned that she couldn't find a response at first. Finally, she looked around frantically to see if there was something nearby to stem the flow of blood. He stopped her before she could take off. "If you are looking for something to help me, don't bother. It has already stopped bleeding, see?"

When she looked closer she found that he was correct. He wiped the small drop away only for her to realize that if she hadn't seen him bleeding, she would not have thought he had been hurt at all. "I apologize for that. I really didn't mean to hurt you... I didn't think that I could." She looked away, feeling bad that she had managed to do damage.

"Don't worry about this. You did exactly as I instructed you to. It was my fault for underestimating you." He still wore a small smile, so she hoped that meant he really wasn't mad.

Thinking about it made her wonder if the air hadn't heated when she cracked him in the nose. If that was the case, she was glad that he didn't act on it. "Even so, I'm sorry for hurting you."

"If you are going to apologize then I must as well. I didn't mean to hurt you when I grabbed you that last time."

She had already forgotten about the pain he caused when he grabbed her hair. Her head wasn't even sore so the thought of it had fled when she saw him bleeding. "It doesn't hurt now so it couldn't have been that bad." She was just glad that the whole thing seemed to be over for now.

By now he had already retrieved his duster. He stopped by her side again before giving her a real smile. "Why don't we go see what other skills you are understating."

She tried to object to his obvious misconception. "I don't know what you inferred from that little scuffle, but I promise I am not a combat model."

The smile he shot back at her from the doorway said more than his words did. "I will accept that at one time you may not have been but that is obviously no longer the case. I am actually looking forward to the rest of the surprises you hold." She didn't like the sound of his words but didn't have much choice but to follow him through the training room and into another area.

edit 11/12/2019