Mentally bracing myself, I continued between the trees, the air whipping past my face. The late afternoon sun peeked through the thick leaves, dotting the forest with thin lines of light. It wasn't until a sharp glint of light on metal caught my eye and I abruptly turned towards it. Landing gracefully on a nearby branch, I smiled, sheathed my blades and crossed my arms. Levi sat on the top of the last Titan, shifting a blade so that the sun caught onto the shiny metal, making it glint through the trees.
"Attention successfully captured." I declared at my friend, throwing my arms out wide. "I'm here. Now what?"
"Your last test is to rid of the Titan, defended by Levi." Jack called from above and I glanced up to spot him standing on top of another branch, just to my north-west.
"By Levi?" I asked incredulously.
At this, I looked towards the Captain and studied his surroundings. No rope. My jaw dropped open.
"You do know that would be nearly impossible, right?"
"I think that was the point when Brian initially made the suggestion." Jack looked down at the notepad in his hand.
"Jack!" I exclaimed, throwing my arm out towards him.
"Look Hazura, you can't complain about everything that doesn't go your way. Life isn't like that." Levi interrupted, standing up. "You wanted a chance to redeem yourself and here it is."
I gritted my teeth as the truth sunk in and let my annoyance slowly simmer. Before I could change my mind, I quickly drew out two blades, the sound echoing through the trees.
"I was expecting a challenge that I could actually surpass." I stated, making a face.
"And who says you can't?" Levi followed suit, pulling out two swords of his own. I raised an eyebrow.
"You."
"True." And he leapt at me, as propelling him right into my face. I shrieked in surprise and spun out of the way. I managed to dodge him but lost my balance, falling head first towards the ground.
"Tch." I clicked my tongue at my mistake and shot out a line behind me, reeling away from Levi. Of course, the Captain wouldn't make it that easy for me and smoothly changed his direction, now gunning after me.
"Give me a break, Cap! Ive already been through four of your squad!" I yelled as we continued our game of tag between the branches and leaves.
"There are no breaks in the Corps!" punctuating his sentence, he paused and hurled a blade at me.
"Urgh." I quickly spun, blocking the shrapnel with my own silver weapon. It made a clang sound before twirling to the forest floor. "Then I'll just have to go through you too."
I disappeared into the foliage, twigs an leaves scattering from my entry. I gritted my teeth and somersaulted onto a large branch, clear of the leaves. I'd have to face the music sooner or later. As expected, Levi flipped out of the tree himself and I gripped both blades at the ready. Here goes nothing.
Using his momentum, Levi launched at me. I parried his blades as he shot past and readjusted myself to face him. Levi landed gracefully before brandishing his own blades.
"You sure, Hazura?" taunted the Corporal, a smirk edging his mouth. I shot him a quick smile.
"I've kicked your ass plenty of times before."
We lunged at each other, swords clashing violently. Taking a brief step back, I spun on the spot, whirling my blade around to try and catch Levi on his left. Unfortunately, he was ready, blocking the swipe easily with one arm and driving his other to my back. I slid my right blade to cover my back, knocking his off course, allowing me to twirl out of harm's way. As I faced him again, Levi released two blades at me, slicing through the air. My eyes widened as I registered their path. My hands moved almost involuntarily and waved out at the projectiles, a twang echoing from impact as my weapons redirected their paths away from me. My eyes briefly watched as they embedded themselves into the wood before they moved back to focus on Levi.
The Corporal had withdrawn two new blades and leapt again at me. With no choice but to meet him, we clashed over and over again, the noise ringing through the forest. We parried and swiped at each other, our pace never slowing. I jumped up and spun, bringing my right boot towards his shoulder area. He swiftly brought up his closest arm, blocking the blow. I made a noise of disappointment and took the momentum to swing up my other foot, catching him by surprise, making him step completely out of my range.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the rest of the crew flying into our area. That mistake cost me the fight, as Levi knocked my left sword out of my hand before shoving a boot into my gut. I grunted at the impact as I flew backwards and collided into the tree trunk, the bark splintering behind me. My vision blurred at the force and I blinked rapidly, still gripping onto my right weapon. Cursing, I regained my vision just as Levi launched one last time at me.
"Captain WAIT!" yelled Jack.
I jerked my head to my right as Levi stabbed a blade to the left of my head, cutting deep into the wood. I spied his other weapon swinging towards my neck so I slid my right sword upwards, pressing the cold metal to his neck as he closed the distance.
"Corporal!" screamed Linda.