//------------------------------// // Chapter 89: Dirty Tricks // Story: A Long Way to Fall // by Cinders of War //------------------------------// "I'll be in this next bit, Twilight." Morning Blade ran a finger down one line in her journal. "This part takes me back... It really does." "What's up?" Twilight decided to look at the various ripples on the pond's surface. Those were likely made by water bugs. "Just some exercise. You know, Frigid didn't train me much, yes? Thought I would betray him." Morning shook her head. The more she thought about it, the weirder it became. "I don't know why he decided to live like that, but he did." "Mirror Match betrayed him." Twilight patted Morning's shoulder. "I'm sure if the person you love betrays you, it'll be hard to accept others again." "I don't know, princess, but it's no way to live." Morning sighed extremely deeply. "I just wish things had been better between us. I would've liked to have gotten to know Frigid better. From himself, I mean. Not from asking others about him." Morning Blade stepped out of the shower and began to dry herself with a towel. Frigid Night had taught her some neat fighting skills today, which excited the young apprentice a lot. Day after day, she had asked for him to train her in combat, but he had always found excuses not to do so. High Noon had told her it was because he was worried she might use it against him like Mirror Match had. Something must’ve changed his mind, because he had shown her an advanced skillset. Morning still needed time to pick it all up, but she was glad that her dear old master had finally taught her something she could use. Morning Blade knew that deep down, her master was still the kind man she had heard about before she joined the Brotherhood. The apprentice hung her towel behind the bathroom door and got dressed before leaving for the cafeteria. She met Dewdrop and Velvet Breeze on the way down; they seemed to be heading to the dojo. “Hey, Morning Blade,” Dewdrop wished as the three girls reached the bottom of the staircase. “Good evening, ma’am,” Morning saluted. “Evening, Velvet Breeze.” “Oh, enough with the formalities, Morning,” Dewdrop guffawed. “No one else does it. I don’t see why you’re so uptight. Loosen up a little.” “Frigid told me that-” “Bah, Frigid this, Frigid that.” Dewdrop placed her hands on her hip. “That guy’s not exactly a shining paragon of example like he used to be.” “But shouldn’t I still take his word for it? He’s more experienced after all.” Dewdrop rolled her eyes and shook her head. “A little too experienced, if you ask me. That guy’s stirred up a lot of trouble around here because he can’t keep it in his pants. Just… act casual.” “I’ll try, ma- Dewdrop.” Morning gave the other Assassin her best smile. “So where are you two headed? Isn’t Pierce Network the one training young Velvet?” “He did this morning!” Velvet said. “He really knows how to use a baton! Did you know he used to be a vigilante?” “No. I didn’t.” Morning made a reminder to ask Pierce about it. It sounded like he had some interesting stories to tell, though he liked to go on and on when he talked. “Pierce is busy right now, and I want to spend some time with her,” Dewdrop said with a rather unconvincing smile. “You know, show her some of my tricks.” Morning Blade didn’t buy it, but she didn’t have anything to do anyway. “Mind if I tag along?” “Sure, I don’t see why not,” Dewdrop shrugged and down the hall with Velvet at her side. “So what are we doing today, Dewdrop?” Velvet bounced. “Well, the original plan was to do some target practice with throwing knives,” Dewdrop pushed open the dojo door, revealing it to be devoid of people. “But maybe since Morning Blade is here, we may as well go a couple rounds at each other. You up for that, Morning?” Dewdrop gave the other Assassin a sly wink. “If you would like,” Morning Blade agreed. It’s been a few days since she had last sparred with someone. “What is Velvet going to do?” “She can practice throwing knives.” Dewdrop steered Velvet to a target board and handed her three small knives. “It’s like throwing darts, Velvet. You can do it. Satin told me you have a good eye.” While Velvet got to target practice, Dewdrop and Morning Blade walked over to the matted part of the floor and stood on opposite sides of each other. “Anything goes?” Dewdrop checked with the apprentice. “As you wish,” Morning nodded. She could already feel her blood pumping. This was going to be an exciting fight. Dewdrop reached behind her back and pulled out one sword. “What’re you going to fight with?” Morning Blade reached into her coat and pulled out a long steel blade. She had picked the katana as her weapon of choice mainly because of its weight. The two Assassins began circling each other, assessing each other. Seeing as Dewdrop had arrived first, Morning knew she was definitely outmatched, but she would take whatever Dewdrop was going to show her and put it to experience. “I’ll begin, I guess.” Dewdrop slid towards Morning Blade, covering the distance almost immediately. The blue haired Assassin cut down with her sword, almost too quickly. Morning stepped to the side as she watched a portion of her fringe separate from her before floating down slowly. She brought up her katana and parried Dewdrop again as the more seasoned Assassin kept on the offence, forcing Morning to either block or dodge. “You’ve got to find an opening, Morning,” Dewdrop instructed. “No Templar is going to give you time to think during a fight. You’ve got to work fast.” Then the butt of her sword found Morning’s nose and knocked her back. The apprentice staggered back and grabbed for her face with one hand. She felt warm blood dripping from her nose through her fingers. “You alright?” Dewdrop asked, but continued to attack. “Remember, a Templar won’t give you a pause just because you’re injured.” Morning shifted both hands to her sword and parried as many blows as she could. Dewdrop was a skilled Assassin, leaving almost no room for Morning to counterattack. The white haired apprentice saw openings at times, but she was too slow to react in time, forced back to defend herself instead. The younger Assassin kicked out with a foot, but only let Dewdrop grab it before throwing her forward. Morning steadied herself but felt something hard hit the back of her head, blurring her vision. “Still good to go?” This time, Dewdrop stopped to check on her. “I’m… fine. I’m fine.” Morning turned around and attacked. Dewdrop brought her sword up, but Morning grabbed one of Dewdrop’s hand with her off hand before yanking her down to the side. Dewdrop abandoned her sword and rolled to avoid Morning’s blow before pulling out another one from her back sheath. “Hey, that was pretty good.” Dewdrop attacked again, this time, much faster. Morning worked to the best of her ability, but her best wasn’t enough to win. Then Morning fell. She had taken too big of a step, allowing Dewdrop to kick one leg out from under her before delivering an elbow strike to the apprentice’s chest. “Oomph!” Morning gasped as she hit her back on the floor. She didn’t get back up, involuntarily groaning from the pain. Dewdrop pointed her sword down at Morning. “So, how was it?” “Very good.” Then she spun out a leg, catching Dewdrop off guard, sweeping her off her feet and onto the floor. Morning Blade hopped up and brought her blade close to Dewdrop’s head. “That’s a pretty rad move,” Dewdrop laughed and pushed Morning’s blade away before getting up. “Frigid teach you that?” “Picked it up on my own. Figured since I’m not so experienced, I should learn to catch my enemies off guard.” “That’s dirty.” Dewdrop walked over and shook Morning’s hand. “But that’s good. Works well against the enemy. Nicely done, apprentice. Keep it up, and perhaps you’ll reach Frigid’s rank.” “That’s a long way away,” Morning said as she sheathed her sword and stowed it back in her coat. “Well, he did it. I don’t see why you can’t. Sorry about the nose, by the way. Do you want some ice? I can go grab some for you.” “It’s no problem.” Morning wiped her bleeding nose with her sleeve. “I can manage. Thanks for the sparring. I should let you get back to training Velvet.” “Guess I’ll see you around. Take care, Morning Blade.” The apprentice waved and headed out of the room. She had suffered some injuries today, but they were good ones. At least she got to learn something today. “Are you serious?” High Noon jumped back aghast. “Yeah,” Wreckhouse nodded his head. “Mahogany Wood will definitely attend his brother’s funeral. All we have to do is get into position and when the time is right, we strike.” “We can’t do t-that,” High Noon tried to stand up for what’s right. “Even if they are Templars, attacking one of them during a funeral? That’s absurd!” “If we always play fair, we’re going to get nowhere!” Tangent argued, throwing her hands forward, slightly startling the cowboy. “We need to do this! Imagine what would happen to them when we take out their chairman!” “Another death during a f-funeral?” “What’s wrong with that? If we can get an easy kill, we should take it!” “I think that’s a good idea,” another Assassin motioned. “We need to do this. Mahogany Wood is like, their second in command. We’ll seriously cripple the Templars if we kill him.” “But it’s not right!” High Noon tried to get his point across again. “I mean, I know we’re Assassins and all, but even we have morals! And besides, I’m sure he’ll be guarded. It won’t be easy.” “That’s why we’re planning this out,” a red haired Assassin replied. “If we place ourselves in key locations and strike all at once, one of us will have a chance to take him down.” The Assassins didn’t know, but High Noon did. The chairman rarely walked about without his bodyguard, Crescent Wing. Crescent was a civilized fellow, always doing the honorable thing, even when he didn’t like it. Besides that, he was a skilled swordsman. High Noon had the chance to see his sabers on many occasions, and he had always dreaded being on the other end of the blades. “Mahogany has a bodyguard. He’s not like any of the other Templars you’ve all killed.” “Pssh…” Wreckhouse waved and laughed. “He’s only one man. Surely he can’t take us all.” High Noon gritted his teeth and sat back down, placing his hat on his head, covering his eyes. “Do as you will, but I’m not having any part of this.” “Fine. We’ll manage.” Wreckhouse and Tangent turned around and left. The other Assassins in the plan looked at the cowboy before following them. High Noon sat there, shaking his head. The plan they had was crazy, but Noon didn’t deny that there was a small chance of it succeeding, though the losses might be high. “What are they getting themselves into?” Frigid Night scouted the city of Manehattan, looking for his target. Today, he was alone, his apprentice back at the bureau learning up on Saddle Arabian history. She thought she could learn something about Sombra, but Frigid didn’t want to stay put so he left her to it, taking a contract from Red Card; he liked going solo anyway. Since the Assassin numbers were all spread out, some Templars had decided to get things done in some of the major cities, transporting goods and weapons. Frigid figured he could fight back against these Templars; he wanted them to know they still couldn’t do as they pleased. This time, he was after a Templar agent called Sturdy Shoots. He was supposedly an information broker for the Templars in Manehattan, so that was exactly where Frigid had gone off to. The skies were grey with the approach of what looked like a big storm. Frigid wanted to be done and home before it hit. He wasn’t in the mood to get drenched today. Then a smell hit him. It smelt slightly sweet, but also with a tinge of smoke and maybe baking soda. Frigid was about to head to the next roof when he felt himself falling to his feet. Wait… What? He thrust out his arms to break his fall, his head also spinning from the sudden deprivation of air. Frigid pushed to stand up, but he only managed to push to his knees before falling to his face on the cement rooftop. Odd… Frigid muttered and closed his eyes as the strange smell enveloped over him.