"Ladies and Gentlemen, we present to you… Sword Knight, the WolfWrath tamer!"
And as the words escaped Athelas' lips, the humanoid knight ran until skidding to a stop in the middle of the two ringleaders. Fanfares exploded and confetti was thrown in the air, as the crowd screeched savagely and called out to the small WolfWrath tamer. Sword smiled under his helm and waved at his fans with his gray gloves, calming himself down for the first performance.
"Bring out the Torch!" Savage Rose ordered, a finger pointed towards a corner of the tent. Out of the shadowy corner, a pair of amber eyes suddenly flickered to life and a loud growl shook the tent. Everyone's cheers increased in volume as the furry, red wolf crawled out of its giant cage, with fangs bared for attack and golden jewel glowing proudly in its forehead. Rose and Athelas exchanged a glance before nodding. The hooded blond threw a smoke pill to the floor and in a flash of smoke both ringmasters were gone, leaving just Sword and Torch, the WolfWrath.
Slowly and vigilantly, the WolfWrath started circling around its so-called prey, eyes narrowing in Sword's direction. The canine's tail flicked anxiously from side to side as the giant dog's paws dug the ground with every step. Sword knew how to move. He just didn't know how the WolfWrath would react. His hand lowered ever so gently until feeling the comforting sensation of leather and grasping tightly the whip against his gloved fingers. Now with the whip in hands, the knight stood still and watched the hound from the corner of his visor, trying his best not to move. Seeing its prey standing still, natural instinct took over and claimed Sword Knight was afraid of the WolfWrath's menacing appearance. The wolf's pace quickened and the animal soon fell over Sword, but the knight's trusted whip beat against the air, making a loud echo form within the circus ring.
There was a silence, the audience gasped and their eyes grew in size. The Demon Beast was shocked to see the unmoving thing suddenly lash out at it. With some pants and breaths, the WolfWrath backed down but soon regained two steps forwards. Its eyes narrowed when it saw the threatening weapon held at its front, poised to strike once more. It almost looked like it was analyzing it. Sword swore inwardly and wiped away a trail of sweat under his helmet. 'Sweating already…' The wolf stood motionless in front of him as he waited for the fiery mongrel to act. The canine growled under gritted teeth, breaking the extreme silence everyone had grasped onto. Sword smirked to himself and stuck out his hand, beckoning the WolfWrath to bring it on.
Whistles and praises followed afterwards, the audience feeling the adrenaline coursing through the atmosphere. The beast's ears pricked up in rage and its eyes tightened even more, teeth displaying once again. The beast crouched and its tail flicked anew. With a step backwards and the jewel shining more intensely, the wolf opened its jaws and a trail of fire escaped the animal's mouth. Sword's golden eyes widened and the boy jumped, somersaulting in midair to land effortlessly on his feet. The whip flailed as it coursed through the air in its owner's hands and landed with a faint thud on the ground, still held by Sword Knight. The tamer recomposed his posture and his eyes narrowed in the direction of the WolfWrath, who breathed in more oxygen to attack once more.
Sword thrust the whip backwards and cracked it hard against the dog-like creature's back, making it howl in pain and stagger back. Torch closed his eyes in ire; fury and anger poured into the beast's heart and Torch soon found himself lunging on the tamer, claws out and aimed for Sword. Shocked by the wolf's sudden behavior Sword was trampled under the WolfWrath's large body, as Torch raised a paw to strike against his trainer's chest. The knight took out his golden blade and held it defensively against the canine's ribs, soft enough to not hurt Torch, but strong enough to poke the animal and let it know it can cause harm. It was tempting to just scratch the boy clean out, but Torch recomposed his character and snarled under his breath. Heaving what could be referred to a sigh, the wolf's ears lowered to its skull and Torch took a set of steps back, letting Sword rise awkwardly from the ground and dust himself off. The knight swung his golden sword at Torch, making the animal dodge and jump to the right. Repeating the motion and the WolfWrath jumping instead towards the left side, the tamer turned around and to his surprise, his sword clanged against the hound's claws as they acted like a shield. The paw dropped to the ground, crushing the blade under its sharp claws. The wolf looked like it grinned at Sword, savoring the other's rage.
The pooch's ears twitched in anxiousness, already the animal wanted to stop fighting. To end this…
Sword fought to retrieve his weapon from under the paw, teeth clenched and sweat prickling down his forehead. Finding no result, the humanoid stepped back and grasped the whip that fell to the floor upon impact with the wolf. The whip flew at the WolfWrath, hitting its forehead and making Torch screech in agony. Its ears stuck once more to its skull and the canine whined from the sting, claws digging into the ground as if he had tightened his fists.
"Melodramatic," Sword retorted, swinging the whip backwards once more. The wolf's ears pricked up once more and its eyes snapped open. Swiftly the creature jumped over the small knight, landing behind him. The whip was thrust frontwards but hit the sandy ring's floor, avoiding its original target. Mentally sighing, Sword turned around and immediately dodged a set of sharp claws that were aimed for his back by jumping to the side like the wolf had done earlier. His eyes widened like platters as the wolf prepared himself to spew fireballs out of its mouth, aiming each for his helmeted head. Jumping and dodging and evading the fiery projectiles, the knight didn't notice the wolf was pushing him closer towards the audience, and if someone from the audience got hurt… Savage Rose would make you feel the pain twice as hard.
The wolf took a stance and breathed in an enormous amount of oxygen, the jewel on its forehead shining intensely. Torch's head rose dramatically and soon enough, fire erupted from the canine's mouth, forming a straight line up to two meters long, reaching the knight. Sword felt immense heat well up in his body and couldn't jump backwards anymore or else the audience would panic. Eyes desperately darting around the ring he caught sight of Stranger's silhouette under the tent's shadows, as the mysterious man aimed a dark-colored arrow to Torch. The armor-clad boy breathed in some air to calm down and proceeded to lash out at the WolfWrath with anything his hand could grasp, trying his best to keep the dog still. Stranger closed his right eye to get a better view of his target; the arrow was pointed for the middle of the six spikes on the animal's back. This arrow –filled with some type of knock-out poison— would tranquilize the rebel wolf just long enough for Sword's performance to end and save some time.
"Just as Athelas ordered," he muttered under his breath, letting go of the arrow with a flick of his wrist. With a slight hiss, the arrow flew away, heading towards the flaming hound. In a matter of seconds Torch staggered slightly, head nodding off and licking his lips, cherishing the taste of sugary sleep. Sword lashed the whip once again towards the WolfWrath, hitting it and making it fall limply to the ground, taking deep, sleepy pants.
Sword heaved for breath, he was literally on fire. Flames flickered all around the ring, and he had flames dancing around his body and skin. His armor was cracked and broken. His weapons ragged and ripped. He was sweating like a pig and was scratched by Torch, earning a really deep gash on his arm. In conclusion, he felt like crap. But the audience took no notice and cheered loudly at the performer's actions, somehow altered by Stranger. Speaking of which, was emerging from the shadows to exit the ring to appear to his master and report his actions.
Savage Rose rushed into the ring to conclude Sword's performance and introduce the next after saying the actors needed a break to prepare and review their acts. It was a wonder how the woman could run in such high heels. She passed Stranger and suddenly skidded to stop, turning around to tell the Wanderer something.
"Thanks for the help; if not for you we would've lost our first performance andour actors. Athelas said she wanted to speak to you, by the way. She's in Meta Knight's trailer," and with that said, the blonde rushed again to the entrance, along with a small swarm of Waddle Dees that would help cure Sword and Torch. Stranger had barely time to nod his answer, but he shrugged to himself and kept on walking to the knight's trailer while hearing the carnival music play in the background.
…
"Excellent use of the Darting Arrow, Stranger... I might say I'm proud of you," Athelas congratulated, while pouring a cup of tea for her apprentice. Stranger's eyes uncharacteristically flickered with pride, but under his dark hood nothing could be seen. Athelas pushed a cup towards Stranger and took a seat in front of him. The Wanderer accepted the cup and held the welcoming beverage close to his face, to feel the warmth. The hooded female smiled to herself and rose the cup to the air, swirly mist erupting from the hot drink.
"To Circo de los Sueños."
"To Circo de los Sueños," Stranger answered, cup high like Athelas' own.
Now both were in her luxurious trailer, sipping tea contently after a wonderful performance. Sword was praised and cheered by many of the cast, and the Waddle Dees reported he wasn't severely hurt, much to Rose's content. Sword thanked Stranger personally before the Wanderer got to reach his mistress in the masked knight's trailer, and the mysterious human answered with another thanks, for acknowledging the fact that Stranger had helped. Being hidden in the dark world of the shadows was Stranger's hobby, being recognized was almost like a compliment to him.
Torch, though, ended up more wounded than expected. He broke a paw and has a weird inflammation on his lungs because of the overuse of high-heated fire. He whines about a headache caused by the whip when it hit his brow and his behavior around Sword changed drastically. The trainer, when recuperated, rushed to see how the WolfWrath was doing. But the canine refused being cared for by the knight and know is under the watch of Charge Knight, on Savage Rose's orders.
"What has you thinking so hard?" Athelas asked her companion, making Stranger snap out of his train of thought.
"Oh, uh… nothing, the… erm, Torch. Torch has me worried," Stranger stammered in a low breath, sipping a bit of his tea. His head lowered and strands of brown hair dance out of the dark hood, the man's eyes focused on the cup of tea.
"He'll get better."
There was a pause, and an awkward silence.
"I'm talking about his behavior."
Athelas arched and eyebrow at the man in front of her, "He's known for being overdramatic. Besides, I'm not surprised if he gets hurt every time he uses fire with his attacks."
"I know. But—"
"For a WolfWrath who hasn't used fire many times before in his life… he's doing pretty good."
"…What if someone gets hurt?"
"Why do you worry?"
"Because this circus is our responsibility."
Athelas almost scoffed, "It's Rose's and my responsibility. You're here because you wanted to keep on as my follower."
"Doesn't mean I don't care about the circus," Stranger remarked, taking in a deep breath.
"And that also doesn't mean I don't know that. You're part of the family now; you get along well with almost everybody."
"Almost."
"Don't bring that up now, please," Athelas let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing one of her temples. She let her hood fall down to show short, blond hair reaching just above her shoulders and maroon eyes closed shut in concentration.
"Well then, if that was all—"
"— Don't leave just yet. Blade will be performing any minute now and I want someone to escort me back to the tent."
Stranger set down the empty cup of tea on the table, "Fine then, ready when you are."
Savage Rose flipped her hair back and cleared her throat, waiting for Blade to finish something she was doing behind the tent, as the audience took their time to go buy food and go to the bathroom.
"Done, let's go. Get the show started!" Blade suddenly said, popping out from behind a tent flap.
"Good, Flamer. Show 'em what you got!" Rose replied, making her way to the ring's entrance. Blade winked in response and Rose smiled back, turning her head to look at the vast audience. She sighed and continued walking, staff in hand, until reaching the exact center of the ring as she had done before.
"I see you enjoyed our previous performance," she commented, listening to some of the overlapping conversations held within the crowd. Everyone slowly settled down as the ringleader tapped her heeled foot impatiently, her hands resting on the metal and crystal staff.
Some minutes later, complete silence reigned and Rose smiled contently, "If you liked Torch's fire. You'll love Blade's. Give a hand for Jessica Blade… the Flamer."
...
Please review and tell me what you thought of Sword's performance and what you'd expect for Blade's.
Jessica Blade is a partially fan-made character, a half belongs to HAL Laboratories/Nintendo and another half belongs to me.
[www. fanfiction. net/game/kirby/s/6604078/1/ Behind_This_Cold_Armor] - Go to that link and read a story involving the past of Sword and Blade Knight. Before they met Meta Knight they had normal lives... I think.
For your information, in the original Japanese anime, Blade is voiced by a female. Making her a female.
~Review!