#37 – Spirit
Ax
I have been wrong before, but never so drastically as my misjudgment of a human being's ability to fight.
From the first time I morphed a human, I held it in disdain. A bipedal design without even a tail for balance? Ridiculous concept. Two forward-facing eyes? Disadvantageous, to say the least. I have experienced the rush of adrenaline, and I understand the fight or flight response.
Secretly, I had always assumed the human body had far more flight than fight in it.
I tried to keep my opinions to myself, lest I offend my human friends. I may have failed a little in this regard, based on what Marco said to me when he came to my scoop one evening.
He and Prince Jake arrived at my scoop as the sun was going down. I patiently waited for them to demorph, feeling the familiar anxiety of knowing a conflict was probable in the near future. Once they were finished, I said, (What is up, Prince Jake?) This is the human way of requesting the specifics of the situation.
Prince Jake cocked his thumb at Marco, indicating that he would defer to his second in command. Marco showed his teeth in a human smile. "We're all sort of tired of hearing you talk about how inferior the human body is to your almighty Andalite body. There's nothing going on tonight, so I figured we'd bring you to a fight."
(A fight?) I asked, confused. (Is this another of your human wars? I do not wish to see humans kill each other.)
Prince Jake and Marco laughed. Prince Jake said, "No, a fight. Two guys in a ring. Punches, kicks, grappling. One human fighter trying to win out over another."
Marco chimed in. "Mixed martial arts, dude. Rage in the cage. Blood on the mat. It's going to be intense. My dad got three tickets for himself, me, and Jake, but he has to work. Third ticket's got your name on it, Ax-man. Let's go."
I had no idea what they were talking about, but they both seemed excited, yet relaxed. This is the way humans act when they are anticipating something fun. I morphed to human and followed them out of the woods, out past Cassie's farm. We then rode a transport called a bus to a large, indoor arena. Once inside, I demorphed and morphed back to human in a bathroom stall while Prince Jake and Marco stood guard. I then let them lead me to a specific row of seats, as specified on the paper stubs called tickets.
Once seated, I watched with interest as the humans milled around the obvious focal point of the event – it was indeed a cage, but without a top. I knew from experience at Cassie's barn that humans keep animals in cages, but this cage was much larger than any I had seen there. "Prince Jake, will the beast they put in that cage be able to escape? There is no lid."
"That's where the fight will happen," Prince Jake said, which reminded me why we had come in the first place.
"Two humans will fight?" I asked. "Each other?" I clarified.
"Yeah, they're going to fight, all right," Marco said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation as the lights dimmed and the crowd cheered.
"Why?" I asked.
"Combat prowess. To prove who the better fighter is. Entertainment." Marco listed reasons as he looked at me. "Your people never fight?"
"We fight," I said. "But it is mostly for training purposes. A few subcultures on the home world fight for entertainment, but it is generally looked down upon." I watched as two humans made their way into the cage. "But we fight with tail blades. Blay-duhs. Those humans have no weapons."
"Sure they do," Jake grinned, and held up his hands in fists.
I saw that the two fighting humans had coverings on their hands. "Oh! Are those hand coverings weapons? Are they electrified, perhaps? Or are they made of something heavy?"
Marco laughed. "No, dude, those gloves are only there to keep them from breaking their hands on the other guy's face. Just watch, you'll understand."
I did as he asked. I watched the fighters staring at each other, pacing on opposite sides of the cage. I noticed that these two humans were both male, and they were more heavily muscled than most humans. Even though they only had two legs, they somehow moved more gracefully than I could in my own human morph. They carried themselves more confidently. The way they walked reminded me of Rachel.
A bell rang somewhere, and it was apparently the signal for the two humans to engage each other. I watched intently as they came into range of each other. The first thing that happened was amazing.
One of them threw a kick. He kept his balance on one leg, and tossed his other leg in a wide, sharp arc toward the forward-facing leg of his opponent. It made contact with impressive velocity; a loud smack reverberated throughout the arena. Even more impressive was that the human absorbed the blow that would have damaged any Andalite leg; not only did he absorb it, but he pistoned his fist forward at the other human and struck his head. The human who had been "punched" stumbled, but did not fall down.
The fight continued with an astonishing display of strikes using only the limbs. Not only did they hit each other with their hands and feet, but they utilized elbow strikes and knee strikes, as well. At one point, the two humans were rolling around on the ground together. There were what Marco called "submission attempts;" they looked to be creative ways to cause pain or injury by manipulating the other fighter's limbs. The fight finally ended with one fighter lying on the other's back and wrapping his arm around his neck tightly, cutting off the flow of blood and oxygen to his brain. "He will kill him, now," I muttered, waiting for the inevitable, brutal end.
Just as I said that, the fighter being choked patted the fighter choking him rapidly and lightly on the leg. I thought it was a feeble attempt to cause damage, but the choker let him go immediately and the crowd cheered. "They do not fight to the death?" I asked. Marco and Prince Jake laughed, then acted shocked when they saw I was serious.
The most amazing part was the end, after one fighter had been declared victorious. The two fighters met in the center of the ring and embraced, showing affection in the human way. "I thought they were enemies?" I asked, confused. "Why would they do that?"
"They're not enemies," Prince Jake said. "The fight is for sport. It's just a proving ground. Those guys respect each other, and they're just showing it." The two fighters made way for the next two, and I watched with great interest.
The physical human fighting ability is both surprising and impressive. But the fighting spirit, the fact that they will fight so hard for something as minor as a sporting contest…well, it is beyond impressive. It is enough to make me believe that my human friends are correct when they say that the Yeerks picked the wrong planet to invade.