//------------------------------// // 15 // Story: Pearl's Travels 1: Hollow Shades // by Makitk //------------------------------// With the sun beating down on us, unhampered by the few small clouds drifting through the sky, Oval and I sat comfortably on the grass watching Blaze and brother get ready for their match. It was almost as if I was watching some old movie where there was some epic showdown; the light wind blowing over the mountain causing the grass to move while both Changelings stood relatively still facing one another. "Well, are you going to do something or not?" Oval remarked, and received a nasty glare from Blaze in return. "They're sizing each other up, I think," I offered to Oval. "The calm before the storm and all that." "Beside; no-one told us to start yet, sister of mine," Blaze sneered accusingly. "Oh, right!" Oval realized. "Get ready; and GO!" Brother immediately started off in his usual way, rushing forward with no hope of catching Blaze off guard. She dodged his headbutt with ease. "Okay, so; don't go straight for the enemy. You don't just give them ample time to dodge you, but they can easily counterattack," she explained as she moved one of her lower legs in his direct path. Brother could barely avoid tripping over Blaze's leg, and only managed by shoving himself sideways, rolling once, and coming to a stop by spreading his legs out as wide as they could go. He picked himself up properly again, and narrowed his eyes at Blaze. "If you want to surprise someone, you need to distract them and come at them from a blind corner," Blaze continued to explain. Brother gave a slow nod at that, accepting the explanation. "Let me demonstrate;" Blaze started, then quickly spat some resin to brother's left side, only to rush up to him while coming from his right instead! Brother jumped aside to avoid the resin ball headed his way, moved directly in Blaze's path, and got the full blunt of her attack. He flew sideways through the air, then suddenly stopped mid-air as a green glow enveloped him. I looked over at Oval who set Brother back down on the inside of the circle before letting go of him, her horn's green glow dissipating as she did. "You said the kid would get a fair chance, Blaze," she chided her sister. "That was way too fast for him to follow." Blaze narrowed her eyes at Oval and walked casually away from brother until they stood on opposite sides in the circle again. "So we're going to play it this way, sister?" "I'm only making sure the fight's fair," Oval offered up with a grin. Blaze let out a snort, but then put her focus back on brother, who was idly rubbing his side at the spot where he got hit by her last attack. "Okay, so if you think you can distract me; come at me, little brother," Blaze told him while trying to hide how annoyed she was at her sister's interference. "I thought the object of our training was to learn to dodge magic, since we'd learn magic in the room after the fight training one?" I wondered of Oval, who gave a nod back at me. "Blaze likes to forget that, really," Oval spoke back softly. "It's going to be fine; our siblings who do the magic training are expert magic users themselves. Benefits of a family as large as ours, you know? We have a lot of specialists among our siblings. Besides, there's matrons around to deal with the cuts and scrapes that may occur in case something does go wrong." I looked down at my leg and smirked. "Still; I didn't expect to sit around for two days while this heals up." Brother started to walk counter-clockwise around the circle, with Blaze eyeing him. "That's just a rotten accident. It could have happened to anyone," Oval chuckled. We both perked up as brother picked up speed, and Blaze started to move nearer to the center of the circle as it seemed brother was trying to skirt the inner edge of the cirle more than the center of it. "What is he doing?" I wondered, and Oval shook her head. "I couldn't tell you. This just looks stupid," she sighed. Blaze looked over to us with a look of confusion as well. "What's he trying to accomplish with this?" Noticing her attention was on us, rather than him, brother quickly changed his direction and launched himself at Blaze at an angle! Blaze only noticed him in the last moment and turned away from his attack, causing him to only skim her! While brother came to a skidding stop so he would not run himself out of the circle - digging up a set of grooves in the grass with his hooves, Blaze stood watching him with a raised eyebrow. "That was... a surprisingly good use of distraction," she breathed out, looking back along her flank at where she was supposedly hit. "Yeah, for a moment there I wasn't sure at all what you were doing, but you used our confusion as a tool, to help your attack," Oval agreed. Brother beamed as he took up position again to face Blaze, grinning up at her. "To be honest here; I have no idea what I'm doing." "I figured," she snorted back. "Still; a good effort. Now, you'll want to get closer than that before you launch a proper attack. That way, they won't have the time to get out of your way even if they do spot you. Like I did just now." "He could've had you there, sister; you only spotted him in the last moment," Oval remarked, and got a deathglare from her sister in return. "You'll also want to not run so much," I offered up. "Remember how Blaze told us to save our energy for when we really need it?" "Yeah, I've seen Blaze in proper fights," Oval revealed. "When she's up against an opponent of her caliber, they hardly move until one of them makes a mistake." "Wait, you guys do tournaments or something?" I queried, turning my head to look at Oval. "Well, no... but we were both there during the invasion of Canterlot," Oval coughed uneasily. "Failed invasion," Blaze recalled. "Failed, yes. It was a good setup, but someone, who shall not be named, forgot to take care of one vital part of the plan," Oval sighed. Brother walked up over to Blaze, then stopped a few paces away. "This is the distance where evasion is impossible, right?" Blaze glanced between them a bit, took a half step over, and then drew a line between them. "No, this is. You're opening yourself up for attack by coming this close, though. Your opponent has no way to deflect a punch or kick from you, but the same goes for you." Brother looked at the line, then backed away a bit more and looked thoughtful. "Okay, I think I get it now." Blaze raised an eyebrow at him. "You get what now?" "This whole fighting thing," brother suggested, then motioned to Oval and me. "Let's go join them, okay? I'm going to have to think this over." Blaze shrugged at that, and started off towards us. "Sure. We can do this kind of fight any time you're ready for it." Brother walked up over to Blaze's side as they came towards us, but then suddenly gave a fierce shove sideways into her! Blaze's eyes opened wide at the shove, and she stumbled a few paces sideways - out of the ring. "I win," brother stated calmly, sitting himself down where he stood - still in the ring himself. Oval stuttered a bit as she tried to find the words, while Blaze looked at the line her sister had drawn up to serve as a ring, her body trembling from the sudden shove. I just stayed quiet and watched Blaze as she tried to come to terms with the situation, until she suddenly dropped her head an inch and her expression fell. "Shit, kid," she started, taking a few steps on over to brother and holding out her right hoof to him. "Do that hoofbump thing again, will you?" Brother lifted his hoof up to meet Blaze's in mid air, and tapped hers lightly. "That was a good one," Blaze chuckled softly. "I didn't expect it at all." "Really?!?" Oval breathed out, then threw herself backward to land behind me in the grass with her limbs spread out. "REALLY?!?" Blaze gave me a light shrug. "We were still in the fight until we'd both left the ring. It wasn't exactly the most honest of tactics, but the world out there isn't exactly the most honest about most things either." I shook my head at it all. "I'm going to have to go up against you once my leg is healed, don't I?" Blaze smirked at that and shook her head as well. "Nah, I'll shove Oval up in the ring with you." "Wait, what? When did I agree to this?!?" Oval protested while flailing her limbs wildly! Blaze just grinned at that and gave me a wink.