~Z~
Chapter 5 Like Zorro, Like Zorra
The weekend had arrived, and Diego had yet to experiment with the antique thermometer he had found when they visited the antique store. He didn't want to chance another accident suddenly whisking him away through time, possibly taking him to a completely different time than his own. He was enjoying being able to accompany James and Zorra to the fencing competition she had trained so hard for. He was beyond proud to know that he had passed on his skills to such a smart and talented descendant of his. She was beautiful, yet highly intelligent and cunning like a fox. He was once again wearing the all black modern clothing loaned to him by James. He had worn his own hat along with his mask safely tucked away in the pocket of his jeans. One never knew if and when it would be needed. He had been able to wear his sword. Not only was competition being held at the arena, but a sword and knife expo was being held as well. He definitely wouldn't be selling his sword, but he was certainly planning to look over the swords displayed for purchase.
Zorra appeared confident as they waited for instructions in the arena. The round robin matches were still going on, but Zorra had already done very well in poules and the first elimination rounds. She was on the verge of being pitted against the top seed in the final elimination round. Diego found the modern style of fencing to be amusing. It definitely wasn't nearly as simple as fencing freely with a sword in whatever a person was wearing at the moment. She wasn't even able to wear an outfit like he wore when Zorro had to take care of the drama in the pueblo.
Zorra began to prepare for her next match at piste 3. Her fencing ensemble consisted of headgear, which instead of a hat and mask to disguise her face was a fencing mask to protect her as well as her French grip epees, body wires, and a target with a horizontal line cutting through.
"Zorra de la Vega and and Samuel Mendoza please proceed to piste three, thank you!" a voice boomed across the arena. This was it, the final match. Zorra had hooked the back end of her body wire to the electrical scoring box and latched the front end to the Epee. The referee checking her gear held up a crimson red device with two strips of metal attached to it. The strips had a little gap at the end to be able to slot into the epee tip. Apparently the thicker strip made sure that the distance required for the tip to be at full depression wasn't shorter than it should be. The rest was tested so that a point registered only when the tip was fully depressed. After Zorra's weapon was initially tested she held her sword up as a small tube was slotted onto the tip of her Epee. This test made sure that a point was to be scored at no less than 750 grams of pressure.
When her sword was deemed ready the referee placed his testing equipment on the arena floor as the next step was a guard test in which Zorra had to test her opponent's guard by poking it and testing the grounding of the guard so points wouldn't be scored by hitting the guard. Her opponent saluted her and she saluted in return. "How interesting that my Zorra will be sword fighting with a Mendoza," Diego chuckled to himself.
The referee called out, "En garde, are you ready." Zorra and her opponent acknowledged that they were both ready. "Aallez!" the referee shouted as the match started. Zorra advanced as her opponent studied her in the piste. She moved forward, forward, then again forward, with the agility of a fox focused on her prey. Her opponent Mendoza kept finding himself ending up further and further into the back of their piste. She was causing him to begin to run out of piste.
Mendoza was wildly swinging his Epee around to attempt to throw Zorra's dedicated attention off. "That's definitely my granddaughter!" Diego thought to himself as she was closing in fast on her opponent. James was beaming with pride as he watched his daughter holding her own in her first competition against the best of the best.
"Halt!" yelled the referee. "You're out of the piste," the referee called out to Mendoza. The grey line indicating where the end of the fencing piste was, it was definitely quite far from her opponent. She had caused him to lose focus on the boundaries he was supposed to remain in. After going back within the boundaries the match began again. Mendoza began to hop back and forth in an evasive manoeuvre to throw her judgement off balance. Zorra transferred her weight onto her front foot and began to extend her arm. As she pushed off with her forefoot while kicking with her back foot, she twisted her hips as her eyes were locked on Mendoza. She continued to bring the sword, her arm, and her front shoulder forward. Diego was practically on the edge of his seat as James was clenching his fists beside him.
She had speed on her side with just the right amount of evasiveness and perfect timing as she continued to surprise her opponent. Zorra picked up her back foot, crossed her front leg, and landed it in front of her other foot. With her arm fully extended, she successfully carried out the hit. She continued to move forward past Mendoza, to avoid his counterattack. Zorra had quickly moved past him as if she were lightning, and Mendoza had failed to hit her as she passed by him. It had been a fantastic fleche! The referee extended his hand and called out, "Point!"
Mendoza lunged low, aiming to surprise her and score. Zorra bounced backwards and fell just short of Mendoza's reach as she lunged forward, scoring yet another point. Half-time was called and Zorra began to collect herself. Diego greatly wished that she knew sign language so that he could communicate with her as he did with Felipe. James was pacing back and forth. The people in the crowd were excitedly discussing Zorra and how she had never once competed before. An older gentleman behind Diego and James was overheard saying, "Well with a name like that I guess you could expect her to fight like Zorro." "It's almost as if Zorro himself had taught her how to fence," the gentleman added. Diego looked at James and laughter started to bubble up out of him. "The man doesn't know just how right he is,'' James said as he doubled over in laughter.
Everyone began to settle as the match prepared to be continued. "Allez!" the referee called out. The match had begun to continue. Zorra's point control was very desirable, and her foot work was quick and accurate. Her blade control was smooth and efficient. Zorra's movements were calculated and meant to distract as she streaked to Mendoza's left side and initiated a prise de fer. She had taken his blade into a line and held it there as she prepared to attack. She used the combination of two binds in semicircles and followed with a glide. Zorra had continued to sustain constant control of Mendoza's blade.
Mendoza desperately lunged for her wrist and she deflected his blade away from her, protecting herself. As Mendoza's blade was close to making contact, she dropped his point and lunged to score a point instead. Mendoza had begun to throw her off and was attempting a variety of flamboyant attack combinations.
They both moved and glided around inside the boundaries of the pist. Zorra's concentration couldn't be broken. Once again she stealthily picked up her back foot and crossed her front leg with ease just before she landed perfectly on her other foot. Mendoza's eyes were wide with obvious frustration as he watched her extend her arm as she made contact. A buzzer sounded and the scoreboard lit up, showing her as the winner of the match.
Upon exiting the arena as Zorra had rejoined them obviously fatigued and overjoyed with her wins, Diego spotted the older gentleman who had been discussing her name. He pulled his mask from the pocket in his jeans and put it on, made direct eye contact with the older gentleman, then raised his sword in a salute to the gentleman. James and Zorra, who had seen what Diego had just done, broke into a fit of giggles as the older man's mouth fell open and he stopped in his tracks.
"If only I had brought my cape," Diego mused aloud. Zorra laughed and said, "I think the man may have passed out if you were fully dressed as Zorro." Several people had stopped to stare as they had spotted Zorro examining the swords in the section reserved for the expo on their way to exit the building. James explained that they probably thought he was in costume as some people dress up to represent their favorite characters at events. Diego knew that his time with them would not be much longer as it was time to start looking for a way to reach his own time. He had begun to think of a way to try to get back to Victoria and his family.