The Quad C: Catherine
Chapter 1
With both hands, I held the sword in my arm, leveling it till such that I may have a formidable defense. My objective this round was not to strike hard and fast, but wait for an opportunity to lash out, all the while, letting my opponent, who stood before me on all four, tire herself out.
(Ready?) That was the signal that the spar was about to begin.
"Yeah," I said through the grit of my teeth. It was going to be very rough in a matter of seconds.
(Yeah) My opponent replied.
(Fight!)
The fight had started!
Contrary to my typical maneuver, where I would allow her to strike first, I thrusted out my sword, in the direction of my opponent. Expectedly she parried it, followed by a series of vertical tail slashes that made me withdrew my sword close to myself.
This continued, eventually pushing me backwards. Slowly, I parried each of the attacks, twisting my arm round in motions that it wasn't normally used to. Fatigue set in as the fight extended, pushing me more and more onto the defense.
(Catherine, you're not going to win this time,) my opponent taunted, as our weapons came into a lock, (I analyzed your techniques, I'm sure to counter them.)
Heh, Andalites, arrogant as usual.
"I hope you win then," I replied, before breaking out of the lock, sliding my sword along her tail blade, and then ducking. She whirled overhead. I sent my sword to strike her legs.
She saw her mistake and jumped immediately to prevent from losing. Now I struck, sending my sword across in horizontal directions forcing her back onto the defense. I swerved here and there, with erratic movements to throw her off balance, then lashed out quickly, finally breaking down her defense.
"Games up." I said, finally delivering the final move. Then, a mistake!
Throwing my opponent on the defense, I had sent her fighting lower and lower, and I hadn't thought about that. Her tail blade flew, sending me on my bottom in a second and her standing over me, ready to finish me off. No! I was going to loose!
Fwap!
Pah!
I blocked her attack! I continued to block her attacks desperately, hoping for some sort of opening, but none presented itself.
(You loose human.)
I spotted an opening, her tail blade veered in an angle that was aggressive but yet vulnerable.
"Finish me then." I replied.
(Certainly)
Her tail blade, aimed for my neck, flicked in a split second, but I was ready. Pain seared my arm as I blocked the attack, then I grab my sword and hurled it forward, locking with her tail blade. I pressed against the lock hard, using the floor as a base, then sent her off balance.
I jumped to my feet immediately, and whirled round to face her, only to find her tail blade at my neck.
(Fight over!) Collath said, (It's a draw. Both opponents would have delivered the fatal blow to each other in the event of a real fight.)
But of course, would I ever turn without a move ready? I looked at Calath who held her tail blade against my neck. My sword held steadily at her torso, which if it was real, would her severed her upper body off.
(Though Calath's attack was faster by 0.01 of a second, Catherine's attack would still be counted, as the reflex action of her body would follow through the action.) Collath said, all the while, analyzing our fight through the computer screen in the corner.
I turned back to Calath, who just stood there saying nothing. I held out my hand to her and we shook each other's hand. Just a week ago, I had lost to her, today, I nearly won, but barely.
"Congrats sis. So you made it through another of Calath's amazing tail slashes. Heck, I wouldn't last a second against her."
I turned to look at Conner, he sat at the opposite end of the room, his arms folded, head high. Since when did he enter the sparring room…
"When did I invited you in here?" I said.
"You didn't. He did." Conner pointed across to Calath, or at least an empty spot where he last stood. He was no longer in the room, no doubt in the communications quarters, sending the video of our fight to all his friends on the Andalite net.
(We didn't invite you in here for a reason. Just look at the shreds in the floor where I had struck.) Calath said. True enough, I spotted three more shreds in the fabric, due to our fighting.
"Blah, who cares, anyways, is your arm all right sis? There's blood." He said.
I looked down onto the floor. Droplets of blood stained the sparing floor this time. It wasn't the first.
"Let's take a look at that shall we?" He grabbed me by the other arm, dragging me into the corner where he initially was, then proceeding to remove my armour.
(Sorry Catherine, I shouldn't have struck so hard when I-)
"Nah, its my fault. I used my arm to defend, shouldn't have done that." I said, "but good match with you this time. Didn't expect that you'll use a lower slash."
Calath twisted her face to form an Andalite smile, a weird mix of facial movements to form a likeness of a mouth. She bowed to me, and similarly I nodded my head back as my arm was immobile, being toyed about by my brother. Then she headed out of the room and into the Andalite night sky, gazing at the stars.
"You're lucky she didn't chop off your arm in this spar." Conner said as he rubbed the alcohol against my cut. "You know I don't really like it when you spar with Calath, I mean, she's the greatest tail blade fighter in the region. This isn't earth, this is the Andalite home world."
(Hey Catherine, your mom's calling.) Calath said from inside.
I pulled away from him, grabbing the alcohol soaked wool, and rubbed on the wound myself. Sometimes my older brother almost seemed like my intervening mom, one was already enough, especially one who calls everyday, repeating that exact same quotes.
"Geez, you're sounding more like mom each day," I replied.
"Why thank you." He grinned before I left the room.
"You're welcomed."
What a brother…another day in the life of an interplanetary student I guess.