“HAH!”
Clang Clang
“Hii-ya!”
Clang Clang Clang
“Hwah!”
CLANG!
Squall had given Vivi neither mercy nor quarter. From the moment the match started, he rained down blows born from a history of traditional martial arts. It seemed less like a fight and more like a high-speed, high-impact kata demonstration.
“Hya!”
Clang Clang
It was enough of an onslaught that, for most ponies, even if they block every blow, they’re muscles would still feel plenty of bruises and burn.
“Oraaa!”
CLANG!
But, as I’ve mentioned before…
Velocity Vector is not most ponies.
“Ya!”
CLANG!
Her artificial wing, her handicap, the aid that gives no feeling or feedback, her biggest enemy in flying…
In this fight, it was her greatest ally.
CLANG CLANG CLANG!
No feedback meant it was the perfect shield.
“Augh!”
Clang!
Squall grit his teeth with each impact, wincing from pain but unwilling to let up, unable to find an uncovered angle of attack, unable to break through her wing shield. It created enough distance to make sweeps useless. It had enough cover to make hooks and roundhouses ineffective. Even full blown body checks were only able to force her to stumble back, Squall taking the brunt of the force.
He snorted as his frustration rose, not just from his impotence in the match-up, but from his entire rhythm being thrown off. Her body was not reacting the way a body should when struck, not shifting when struck, not flinching when struck, not giving way when struck, not dropping when struck. Whatever years of reflexes burned into his muscles, whatever years of tradition that were drilled into his brain, and whatever years of experience that ate away his days, all of these years were coming up short.
And Velocity Vector…
Vivi was doing nothing.
She wasn’t advancing. She retreated only when he approached, circling rarely to avoid the wall. No matter the size of the gap between Squall’s attacks, she never dared to throw one of her own.
Her face was covered by her shield, I couldn’t see her expression from here, but her body language seemed the same as when she entered the building. Stiff.
“Hey.” I said “Rivet. You’ve met her. Would you say that Vivi is conflict averse?"
“Um…I’ve never seen her argue with any pony. Ah!” Rivet said, tensing up the sound of each of Squall’s hits.
“Yes, but Is it because she doesn’t want to, or because she’s never had to?”
“I…huh?” He tilted his head.
“I don’t get her…” I said. “If she’s scared, she can just surrender, or at least try to move more evasively. She shouldn’t be facing it as head on as she is now. If this is some sort of strategy to wear Squall down, then she’s doing that wrong too. She saw Tradewind’s fight. She should know that sitting back and waiting will hurt her. She’s had chances to safely put in some offense.”
Just what are you doing, Velocity Vector?
“Gragh! This is stupid!” Squall abandoned his stance, alongside all pretense of proper fighting, and lunged forward with both hooves out, and grasped the edges of her wing shield. The moment he made contact…
“Ah!”
With a gasp of surprise, she slammed her shoulder forward, knocking Squall backwards, and she immediately brought her false wing flared out to her side, watching it bend for a moment. She turned back to Squall and, seeing she had the advantage, she—
FWOOSH
…immediately flew straight upwards, straight into the battle dome’s cloud cover.
“…Is she seriously going to take her one hit and hide?” I said.
Somehow I doubt Silver will be happy with that…
By the time Squall shook off his disorientation, Vivi was completely hidden above. “Wha?” He immediately spun, scanning for his quarry. “Where did…” His eyes flared wide in momentary panic, as his line of sight scrambled until settling on the audience. Whether he looked there strategically, or looked there out of insecurity, I don’t know, but he found what he was looking for either way.
He saw several audience members looking up.
Memories of Little Star’s blow against Tradewind rushing through his mind, he threw himself backwards, tripping himself up and getting a face full of dust, sweat, and whatever else was on the arena floor. Faint laughter drifted from the audience as he collected himself, further fueling the flame of his rapidly dwindling patience. You could practically see smoke wafting off of him as he looked up…
…and saw the shadow in the sky, the silhouette in the clouds, the body not bothering to press its advantage.
The fighter not fighting seriously.
“GRRR!!” You could practically hear his teeth grinding, practically giving off sparks, as his body coiled and tensed in embarrassment and rage. He launched himself upward screaming. “ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME?!”
And that’s when Vivi dropped.
Neither running away from, nor rushing to meet Squall’s approach, she brought her feathered wing to her side, and let herself plummet. Poised in front of her was her wing shield.
She had turned her entire body into a living meteor.
Squall, having neither the distance nor desire to dodge, met her head on, attempting a wide arcing kick to jolt her off course.
One was fighting with gravity. One was fighting against it.
One had all their weight leaning into the attack. One had only part of their weight leaning into the attack.
One was destined to lose the exchange.
SLAM!
Squall was sent spinning downward as Vivi veered to the side, both of their blows connecting but the difference of payoff in the trade obvious. Both flared their wings out to stabilize themselves, but by the time Squall had brought himself to a standstill, Vivi had already stabilized and hid herself back in the clouds.
Squall’s nostrils flared hotter than a steam engine as his once cold looking eyes were wide and burned red with frustration, as the pupil danced around the whites, his sight spearing through the wall of clouds, looking for his opponent.
Fwish!
Vivi had dropped again from behind him, the only warning the faint sound of her body cutting through the air.
To Squall, all senses made hyper-sensitive by his search and the rush of the spar, that swish might as well been a train whistle, screaming out an oncoming arrival.
Instead of spinning to meet her, however, he propelled himself forward, out of the way of her onslaught, attempting to circle around her. He attempted to, but the edge of his hoof clipped against her wing, merely a grazing blow, but one with enough force to unbalance him, turning his body away from his opponent. Once again, she seamlessly glided from hit to run, returning to the clouds yet again.
“Damn it!” he growled.
“I don’t get it…” Rivet said. “I mean, I’m happy that Vivi is winning, but why doesn’t he follow her into the clouds?”
“Seriously? You have flown through clouds before, right Rivet?” I said. “They’re thicker than air. He’ll be slowed down, and while he’ll need a moment to re-orient himself, Vivi will be used to it and be in a perfect position to ambush him.”
Despite this, you could see it in his face. He was debating rushing in, weighing facing an ambush versus facing her dangerous drop, sandwiched between two bad options, shivering with adrenaline and anticipation.
A moment later, like flipping a switch, he stopped.
His shaking calmed. His stance loosened. His scowl rose into a grin, as the wild look in his eyes dimmed. You could practically see the proverbial light bulb shining above his head.
The air around him began to heat up as he channeled the elemental Pegasus magic around him, cooking the atmosphere and sending a chill through the audience, as fire materialized in his front hooves.
“Get down here!”
He threw a barrage of flame towards the ceiling, punching holes through the clouds, Vivi’s shadow scurrying from side to side to dodge the shots. Seeing results egged Squall on, as he pushed himself to throw faster and faster.
“Ahh!”
A pony in the audience shrieked. Squall’s overzealous assault had filled the air with faint embers, floating down onto arena and audience unbidden. Ponies reflexively covered their heads, and Swift Justice immediately shot out a wing to cover me and Rivet.
FWEEEEEEE!
Silver’s whistle brought the match and the incoming panic to a screeching halt.
“SQUALL!” he yelled. “Save the playing with fire for elemental practice or your parents’ house! Not during sparring! And you all!” he addressed the audience “Sweet Celestia, It’s like you all have never been on fire before! You panic at those wimpy wisps again and I’ll teach you all a new meaning of fire drill!”
Unable to find flammable purchase, the remaining embers burnt out harmlessly as Silver delivered his tongue lashing.
“VECTOR! Get down here!” At Silver’s call, Velocity Vector slunk to the ground, her posture preemptively wincing at Silver’s glare. “As much as I would hate to interrupt your game of hide and seek, or whatever the hell it was you two were doing there, I had to stop the timer when I called out our little pyromaniac! As much as you would like make like an infant and run down the timer under a blanket of fluff, the rules state you have to return to starting positions before I start the timer! Now both of you, go!”
“S-sir yes sir!” She shakily saluted as she rushed to her side.
“Tch. Whatever.” Squall huffed as he dragged himself to the wall.
BZZZT
They once again took fighting stance, but the interruption had robbed both of them of all momentum. They were back to square one, feeling out the opponent and waiting for the first move.
FSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH
“Keen, look!” Rivet tugged at my hoof and pointed upward.
A cloud machine, one that should have been only occasionally puffing out cloud, was spewing.