A/N: I'm back... somewhat. Sorry about the long wait, I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off lately. I wasn't sure whether or not to end this chapter, but after a few days, I figured I'd just post it and continue from there. In case you were curious.
A huge thank you to all of you who reviewed, favorited, and followed! I can't even express what that means to me, and how much it motivated me to get going on this piece.
Disclaimer: Descendants is property of Disney Channel. I make no claim to own the characters, and have only written this only with love for Descendants and its characters. Thank you.
Ben blew out a puff of air as his sword met Lonnie's again. He realigned himself and parried Lonnie's new attack. How is she so fast? he asked himself. He was having trouble keeping up with her. Over the last few minutes Lonnie had done more unfamiliar moves than he'd seen the entire time he'd fought on the Swords and Shields team. Ben made a mental note to come to more of the team's matches. If Lonnie was this good, then it was no wonder that they were undefeated. The next thing he knew, Lonnie had flung his sword from his hands. Ben tried to dive for it as it clattered on the floor, but Lonnie reached it first. She held the two swords in front of her, but Ben held up his hands in surrender.
"Good match," she said. Ben only nodded as he tried to catch his breath.
"Yeah. That was incredible! I've never seen some of those attacks before. Where did you learn to do that?" Lonnie smiled.
"Some of them I learned from my brother, I picked up a few moves from Jay, and I created a couple of my own by combining the two." She shrugged modestly, but Ben could tell that she was proud of her abilities. As she should be. "Come on, we're one of the last pairs." She gestured toward the group standing off to the side, and Ben grinned as he ran over to his girlfriend. Lonnie shook her head with a smile before she jogged after him.
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"Hey, guys. What's up?" Ben asked as he joined the group.
"Just waiting for the next round," Mal smiled up at him. Taylor nodded, but he looked concerned. Taylor was always a great sport, and Chad was standing off to the side seemingly shocked. Ben had to wonder if something happened while he and Lonnie were sparring. Then again, Chad was a little excitable, and Taylor might only be concerned with keeping him in check.
"Oh, okay." Finn and Sanders, the last pair fighting finally came and joined them. Lonnie grinned excitedly, she hoped that the would get to test herself against one of the girls. She'd have other chances to work with the team, but who knew when or even if she would have the opportunity to spar with Evie or Mal.
"Now that round one is finished, if you have been eliminated, please take a seat on the bench while we pair up for round two." Jay and Carlos looked at each other as Taylor pulled Chad off to the side with him.
"I call Evie!" Jay and Carlos both shouted at the same time.
"I always spar with Evie," Carlos hissed at Jay.
"Then let's change it up."
"I don't wanna take Mal," Carlos whispered incredulously.
"Neither do I."
"Well, you've got more-"
"Boys!" They froze and turned to Mal guiltily. "What is going on here?" she asked imperiously. Jay scratched the back of his head nervously while Carlos looked down at the floor. Evie rolled her eyes, and turned to the unknown boy who had just finished his first match.
"What's your name?" She asked sweetly.
"Uh… everyone just calls me Sanders." Evie turned back to Jay and Carlos.
"I'll be sparring Sanders this round." She shot them a look daring them to defy her, so they just nodded. Mal crossed her arms.
"So who am I sparring?" She asked pointedly. Jay sighed, about to volunteer, but Lonnie beat him to it.
"I'll have a go." Mal sent an icy glare at Jay and Carlos, who winced, before turning back to Lonnie.
"Let's go then," she challenged with a smirk.
"I guess it's you and me then," Jay told Carlos.
"Yeah." The three pairs took their places on the mats in the center of the room. Lonnie called out the commands to start the match, and the fighting began.
Evie noticed that fighting Sanders was pretty similar to fighting Taylor, almost easier. He left his left side open, and he wasn't as light on his feet. This made it easy for her to distract him with footwork while she made an attack at his wrist. He was protected by the wrist guard, and but he did loosen his grip on his sword a fraction. That little bit was just enough for Evie to use her blade to catch the hilt of his sword and force it out of his hand. The clang as it fell to the floor was silenced as she stepped on the blade, just like in her match with Taylor. Sanders just stood in awe.
"Wow. Good match," he said. Evie smiled.
"Thanks! You, too." She stooped to get his sword and handed it back to him. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but just nodded as he realized nothing was coming out. He blushed, and Evie saved him from the silence.
"Let's go over to the side and watch the others."
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"Wow! Ben, you've got to get Mal to join the team, bro. Evie, too!" Ben turned to see Taylor pointing at Evie disarming Sanders.
"Wow," was all he could manage to say. He shook his head. "It hasn't even been two minutes!" He went back to watching his girlfriend in awe. He'd known that she was handy with a sword, since they did have a huge sword fight with Uma and her crew just before Cotillion, but he hadn't taken the time to realize just how good she was. Mal crouched defensively, still smirking, swiftly blocking Lonnie's blows. Lonnie pushed her leg off the block behind her to get some extra power, but Mal anticipated it and somehow jumped over Lonnie and onto the block itself. She attacked downward at Lonnie, forcing the girl to defend herself. Their swords were moving faster than Ben could keep up with. He glanced over at Jay and Carlos, but it was hard to tell what was going on with Jay jumping around and Carlos sticking so close to the ground.
"Is it just me, or does this round seem… more fast paced than usual?" Taylor nodded.
"They're fast. It's hard to keep up with. I was having a hard time keeping up with Evie when I was the one fighting her. This, though. I don't know, man. I can't even tell who's winning."
"Oh, Jay's winning his match against Carlos," Evie jumped in as she and Sanders joined them by the wall. "Carlos is evading most of his attacks, but he's probably really missing his leather right now. He wouldn't have to worry so much about dodging and could actually make a couple attacks instead of worrying so much about dodging Jay's. Jay doesn't feel too much when it comes to skin, so he's not too worried about getting cut up. He'll probably win anyway. He used to fight Harry when we were battling the Wharf Rats, and while Carlos is a good swordsman, he's not Harry." Ben nodded in response, but the other guys were confused.
"Uh, who's Harry?" Sanders asked quietly.
"Oh, Harry Hook." The boys, minus Ben, exchanged bewildered looks and silently decided not to press for anymore information. They weren't entirely sure what they were asking about, and Taylor for one, wasn't sure if he wanted to know. By this time, Evie had already turned her attention to the match between Lonnie and Mal.
"Ouch!" She murmured, wincing as watched the match.
"You okay, Princess?" Taylor asked.
"What? Oh, I'm fine," Evie explained. "Lonnie just made a huge mistake. She hit Mal's shoulder blade. She probably doesn't know, but she just made the match-" Evie stopped talking as a bang echoed through the amphitheater. Lonnie's sword had flung halfway across the room to bounce off the wall. "-personal," Evie finished with a sigh. "I'll be right back."
"Do you understand what just happened?" Finn asked Sanders, who shook his head. "Do you, Ben?"
"Huh? I have no clue." He got up to go find out but Taylor put an arm on his shoulder.
"It might be better to wait a minute. Evie seems like she knows what she's doing, and she didn't ask us to go with her. Let… whatever that is cool off for a minute." Ben looked pained but he sat back down and tried to focus on the match between Jay and Carlos.