The weekend had arrived and Diego had yet to experiment with the antique thermometer that 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 where he desperately needed to be. He was enjoying being able to accompany James and Zorra to the fencing competition that 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 also cunning like a fox, much the same as himself. He was once again wearing the all black modern clothing loaned to him by James on the first evening when he had found himself stuck in the future. He had worn his hat along with his mask safely tucked away in the pocket of his jeans. He never knew if and when it would be needed even in this modern time period. He had been able to wear his sword to the fencing competition. Diego had discovered that the fencing competition was being held at the local arena, along with a sword and knife expo which was being held in the lobby. He definitely wouldn't be selling his sword, but he was certainly planning to look over the swords that were being 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. She was on the verge of being pitted against the top seed in the elimination rounds. "The bracket announcements for the direct elimination matches are beginning, competitors please proceed to the DT table to check on your placing," an announcer's voice boomed across the arena. Diego watched her walk to the table and patiently wait for information about her next match.
As soon as Zorra received the information about her next match she returned to the area where the contestants were waiting. She was to go up against the second seed. 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 outfit that a person was wearing at the moment. She wasn't even able to wear a special outfit like he wore when Zorro had to take care of the drama in the pueblo. Her fencing ensemble consisted of headgear, which instead of a hat and mask to disguise her face was a fencing mask to protect her. She had French grip epees, body wires, and a target with a horizontal line cutting through.
"Zorra de la Vega and Samuel Mendoza please proceed to piste three!" a voice boomed across the arena. Diego noticed that Zorra had hooked the back end of her body wire to the electrical scoring box and latched the front end to the Epee. The person checking her gear tested her epee. When her sword was deemed ready the referee placed his testing equipment on the arena floor. 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 ability 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 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, running past Mendoza, to avoid his counterattack. Zorra quickly moved past him as if she were lightning, however 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 secretly wished that she knew sign language so that he could communicate with her as he did with Felipe. James began to pace back and forth during the short break before his daughter would resume her match.
The people in the crowd were excitedly discussing Zorra and how she had never once competed before. Diego and James had overheard an elderly lady behind them say, "Well with a name like that I guess you could expect her to fence like Zorro." "It's almost as if Zorro himself had taught her how to fence," an elderly gentleman who was most likely the lady's husband replied. Diego looked at James and laughter started to bubble up out of him. "The man doesn't know just how correct his statement is, '' James said to Diego as he doubled over in laughter.
The crowd quickly began to settle as the lights of the arena bgan to flash signaling that the match would soon resume. "Allez!" the referee called out. There was an abrupt lack of sound in the arena as the match resumed. Zorra's point control was very focused, and her foot work was quick and accurate. Her blade control was smooth and efficient. Zorra 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 a combination of two binds in semicircles and followed with a glide. Zorra 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 struggle with his attempts to throw her off and was desperately trying to perform 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 she landed perfectly on her other foot. Mendoza's eyes were wide with obvious frustration as he watched her extend her arm just before she made contact with him once again. A loud irritating buzzing sound filled the arena and the scoreboard lit up, showing her as the winner of the match.
Diego and James exited the arena as Zorra rushed over to join them. She was obviously fatigued and overjoyed with her big win. Diego spotted the elderly gentleman and his wife who had been discussing her name during the halftime break. Even though he knew it was a bit immature, he pulled his mask from the pocket of the jeans, removed his hat, and tied on his mask before placing his hat back on his head. When Diego had noticed that the elderly elderly man's attention was on him, he drew his sword and held it up as if he were saluting to the gentleman. James and Zorra, who had seen what Diego had just done, broke into a fit of giggles as the elderly man's mouth fell open. The man had stopped in his tracks and was tapping his wife's shoulder.
"If only I had brought my cape," Diego mused aloud. James laughed and said, "I think the man may have fainted if you were fully dressed as Zorro." Several people had stopped what they were doing to stare as they had spotted Zorro examining the swords in the section of the lobby that was reserved for the expo as they were walking towards the exit of 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 even though leaving James and Zorra would be bittersweet.
