As always the standard disclaimer applies: I do not own the Happy Tree Friends; they are the property of Mondo Media. I own only my own characters and this story. Now here's chapter 27:

27 – PRACTICING

After the excitement of the city's first fast move life in Metramegopolis began to settle back into a routine. It wasn't quite as it had been before; the city remained floating several thousand feet in the air, slowly drifting eastward. Permission to fly down to the ground was extremely limited so, starting that next day the roof became, once again, an extremely popular spot for the residents to go. However it didn't stay as popular as usual because of the greater cold and the increased thinness of the air. It wasn't too long before most people decided to get their views of the scenery from indoor viewing stations, leaving the roof relatively empty most of the time.

So the days slipped by, eventually turning into weeks. Although the city remained on constant high alert the time was an uneventful one.

Barry was not deterred by the cold on the roof and he often went there in the late afternoons to practice his fighting skills. Ever since he could remember Barry had been a student of hand-to-hand martials arts combat. Although, like everyone else in the city, he was trained in the use of blasters and other guns, he preferred fighting with his bare hands. The style he practiced was unique to himself, mainly because a lot of information on the older styles of fighting had been lost during the wars of the Before Times. What information that remained regarding the ancient fighting techniques was spotty at best so he was forced to improvise. He had learned the basic fighting techniques mostly from Flippy who had initiated him into techniques to improve his stamina, strengthen his endurance, and build the power of his muscles.

During the last few years Barry had begun practicing new moves of his own invention. Since he practiced moves with an eye to actual combat use he had begun making moves that used three main parts: Precision, Speed, and Force. Precision allowed him to place any move wherever he wanted. It also allowed him to judge what moves would work best in situations where his options were limited. The use of precision also allowed him to read his opponents' moves, even to the extent of being able to judge exactly where and when a Marauder was going to fire a gun. Speed, naturally, allowed him to be able to avoid his enemies' attacks. Speed also helped offensively by 1) Allowing him to move quickly to get at an enemy, 2) Make his movements fluid enough to be confusing, and 3) making him that much harder of a target to hit. Using Precision and Speed together in an attack allowed him to direct the Force of his blow much more effectively. A precisely aimed hit, carrying as much speed as he could give it in delivery for maximum impact, was something he was always working on.

Practicing in the thinner air of the city roof during flight helped increase Barry's endurance even more, as he was starting to find out. He wondered if he would lose this added stamina once the city landed.

Emily joined him on the roof one evening a few weeks after take-off. She found him deep in practice. She also found that he was not practicing alone as Flippy was with him. He was standing about five meters away from Barry and he was holding a blaster in his right forepaw which he was aiming in Barry's direction. As Emily watched, Flippy fired blasts at Barry who expertly dodged each one. At first Flippy only fired single shots giving Barry a chance to recover, but it wasn't long before he began firing more frequently until he was shooting an almost steady stream of blasts. Barry had to move faster and more fluidly to keep dodging the blasts, and he did this by a series of movements that had an almost elegant, dance-like quality as he jumped, flipped, spun, ducked, leaped, cartwheeled, and so forth, to keep from getting hit.

Suddenly Flippy stopped shooting and motioned Barry to move to a spot another five meters further away from where he already was. Once Barry took his new spot he and Flippy faced each other for a long moment. Then Flippy aimed the blaster again.

"Now" said Flippy, who began firing at an even faster pace than before. Once again Barry began to dodge the shots, working harder as the blasts came more quickly. After a few seconds he began to move in towards Flippy, closing the distance between them. His movements got even faster and more precise as the space between them lessened because he had less time to react to each shot. Yet he kept moving, getting closer and closer to Flippy, who increased the pace of his firing even more until it seemed impossible that anyone could dodge shots coming so quickly. Barry had to move so fast to avoid getting hit that his movements seemed to blur.

Then suddenly he was on top of Flippy and his left hand shot out and grabbed the underside of the blaster grip and trigger and pushed the gun up until Flippy was aiming at the sky. Then, before Flippy could react Barry twisted the blaster out of his paw, somersaulted back out of his reach and came to rest aiming the blaster back at him.

There was a long pause as the two fighters faced each other. Then Flippy smiled.

"Good" he said. Barry smiled back, lowered the gun and handed it back to Flippy.

"Your skills have really come along" continued Flippy, "I'm very pleased. I didn't hit you even once. No wonder you beat that Marauder."

"If he'd hit me – " began Barry, who stopped and shrugged. Flippy turned to leave.

"I'll see you again tomorrow if you like" he said, "we can do some weaponless bare-handed fighting."

"I'll be here" said Barry. Flippy greeted Emily briefly as he left the roof. Emily came to Barry and they kissed briefly.

I remember the first time I saw you do that" said Emily, "I thought you were crazy. I was afraid you'd get killed. Thank heaven for the stun setting!"

"I remember the first time I had you fire the blaster; I was afraid you would kill me!" responded Barry "Thank heaven for the stun setting!" They both laughed.

"You aren't thinking of increasing the setting, are you?" asked Emily.

"Don't be silly" said Barry, "I may be reckless sometimes – "

"You're telling me!"

" – but I'm not an idiot, thank you very much! Shall we go inside?"

They began moving toward the roof exit.

"Nice sunset" murmured Emily.

"It usually is" said Barry. Emily pointed west.

"Look at that" she said, just before they reached the exit, "I wonder what it is."

Barry looked where she was pointing. It was difficult to see much because the sun was almost directly ahead of them. He squinted to try to make out what Emily had seen.

"Is something flying around out there?" Emily murmured.

"Shouldn't be" said Barry, "no one's authorized to leave the city right now – at least we'd know if anyone was." He stared more intently, shielding his eyes with his hands. Then suddenly his eyes widened.

"Get out of sight" he gasped, and grabbed Emily and pulled her behind the exit box.

"What is it?" whispered Emily.

"Marauder Scouts" whispered Barry, "they've found us."

(To Be Continued)