Chapter 62
Swordplay
.:Violet:.
Until mid-day, she and Nathan have been chatting nonstop, trying to get to know each other better and talk about fighting strategies. They only stopped when they both heard the low growl from Violet's stomach.
"Come on, let's go and get some lunch." Nathan offered as he stood up from the chair and Violet followed in pursuit. As Violet have discovered, there are two different sides of Nathan. There's the everyday Nathan and the fighting Nathan. The everyday Nathan was kind, sweet, hilarious –without realising- and really caring whereas the fighting Nathan was serious, cold, tough and independent.
So after lunch, Violet and Nathan began to start their training with swords. All the kids have gathered around to watch whereas the parents strolled around talking to the other, probably about her. Violet gripped the handle of the sword tightly as Nathan walked around her.
"Would you prefer to handle the sword with one hand or both?"
"Both for now." She answered clearly.
"Okay. Firstly, I want you to relax."
"I'm always relaxed."
"Okay then. I'll skip the first step. I need you to be balanced as well-"
"I'm balanced… most of the times."
"Fine, I'll skip step two or should I got straight to the last step?"
"Just go to step three." She laughed at the older boy as he displayed a face of annoyance.
"You need to make sure you assess the situation-"
"Done and dusted." She answered and she heard giggles from the kids around her as Nathan groaned loudly in frustration.
"And let me guess. Engage with care is something you know already."
"Yep." Violet answered cheekily with a large grin on her face.
"You know what? I'll go straight into using a sword otherwise we'll get nowhere. So get into your battle stance. Yep good. Now make sure you keep your elbows bent and close to your body. An inexperienced sword fighter tends to stretch out their arms in order to keep their opponent further off but this will hurt your ability to thrust and parry quickly. So keep in mind to always extend your sword towards your opponent, not your arms. Other tips never use unnecessary flourishes simply for effect. For example, do not spin in a circle as this leaves your back open to blows for a second or two. Unless you're duelling a novice, such moves serve no practical purpose. Against a novice however, flourishes can be used only from a distance for intimidation."
"Got it. Anything else? There has to be more than that."
"Yeah, I'm going to teach you very basic moves which should allow you to be able to fight me."
"Let me guess, you're not going to go easy are you?"
"Nope. So the first one is Absetzen. Silly name if you ask me. So pretty much, it's when you hook your sword over the opponent's when it's coming towards you and force it downwards. In other words, it's a simple trick to parry with a thrust."
And without anyone warning, he lunged at her, earning gasps from the little kids. Violet quickly stepped to the side, making him run past her. He then thrust his sword out and she dodged to the side once again making the sword go past her neck.
"Deflect it dummy!" He said between gritted teeth so when he did it again, she stepped to the side and she brought her sword down with both hands. From the momentum, her sword pushed his down. With a smile, Nathan stepped back. "Good. I'm going to keep doing this so you need to act fast okay?"
"Okay."
"To be honest, I forgot the other moves' names so I'll just demonstrate it. So hold your sword up as if to deflect. Good." And Nathan pressed his blade against her's and then he pushed his weight onto it. Violet gave a small cry. Since she was the shortest and he was the tallest, he had a great advantage on getting his sword to push her's down on top of her. Violet's arms started to buckle as she tried pushing it back up. But the tip of his sword started to point downwards and she widened her eyes at Nathan. "When an opponent does this, his strength and pressure all relies in the lower base of the sword, so the tip is weaker therefor much easier for you to push and steer it away from your body. Push Violet."
"I-I can't!" She whined as her legs suddenly gave away, making her fall. Just as Nathan's tip was about to pierce her, she kicked her legs up, pushing his legs up there for making him flip over her. She quickly got up at the same time Nathan did.
"I'm going to keep fighting you while giving advice and tips. I want you to focus fighting with your sword, not your legs or hands." He warned her and he lunged forward again. Violet parried it with the block move he first taught her. "But mainly, you need to trust on your instincts. A way a Samurai fight is pretending he and the sword are one, moving in perfect sync. So even if I tell you all these moves, you'll probably never use them and do something completely different which is more effective to your gender, body type and fighting style."
"Alright then." She said and she sprang into action by lunging forward. When she saw Nathan was about to parry, she leapt to the side and went to attack his side. Nathan must have seen this move because he deflected her blows. Once he started to push down on her again, she slid her blade against his so her blade was blocking the tip. The samurai had another idea in mind since he pushed the handle so that it got her in the stomach. A small oof came from her lips back she jumped back to gain some distance between them.
Nathan came forward and she waited until he was within reach. Once he was, she pushed her sword forward and hooked it underneath his so his tip was at her handle and her tip was at his handle. She skilfully managed to get their blade twisted and she lifted it up sharply, his blade came out of his hand and into the air. She made the attempt to catch but instead, she missed, making a fool out of herself. So she scooped the sword that fell to the ground in her hand and turned around to look for Nathan but he vanished. When she turned around again, she felt his large hands grabbed her wrist and squeezed, making her hand –against her will- dropping both swords on the ground and he picked them both up.
"That's not fair!" She whined as he now held two swords in his hands, earning more startled gasps from the youngsters.
"Alright, fine then. Fight me how you normally would to get your sword back."
"Including my elements in front of them?" She asked, indicating to the kids who seemed confused.
"Well you did save the city, I'm sure everyone would know you." He smiled.
"Nathan, did she save Ninjago City?" A little girl asked from the crowd. Her large, blue eyes sparkled. "Did you miss?"
"Why yes I did."
"So you saved it from the big snake?" A boy asked this time.
"Yes. I did. But Nathan was there too." She told them with a soft smile and their eyes went to Nathan. When she looked at him, she saw sadness in his eyes. Of course that day would remind him of Scarlett.
"So you're the purple ninja?"
"Yes." She replied.
"So is Nathan the better fighter?"
"Only when it comes to swords."
"Are you good when it comes to swords?"
"No, but I'm good with just my hands."
"Can we see who the best fighter is then?" The kids cried out. Violet looked back to Nathan to see a smirk.
"Do you kids want to see a fight?" He asked with a bright smile.
"Yes!" The chorused.
"Ready?" Nathan asked her and she nodded.
She watched as he chucked her sword to the side and he gripped his tightly whereas Violet just stood there. The female ninja quickly looked around to see parents and elders have come to watch the fight as well. When she looked back, she saw Nathan's sword swinging towards her neck. Immediately, she leapt back, dodging his blade. When he swished again, she skilfully stepped to the side just dodging the blade by an inch. She grabbed the arm that held the sword in a tight grip whereas the other arm came down and she kneaded the elbow to the back of his neck making him fall to the ground.
"Ha, you fight better when you can see."
"True. At least I know where I'm stepping." She grinned as she watched with her lavender eyes as he stood up.
When he charged forward, he charged with speed she has never saw before. Her eyes widen as she saw him tilt the sword so the blade was still charging at her but the flat surface was vertical. In a flash, she clasped the flat side of the blade with both of her hands and she tried to keep balance but Nathan kept running, making her feet slide in the sand. She hissed when she felt the sharp edges of the blade dig into her fingertips.
"Am I going to rough on you?" She heard him ask with a goofy grin on his face.
"Nah, I haven't even unleashed my full powers yet." She chuckled and then Nathan stopped moving yet he still pushed. So she let a smirk appear on her lips and she let a gust of wind from her hands, pushing Nathan and his sword back.
"Whoa!" The little kids exclaimed and she smiled a little bit.
"That's what you did last night correct?"
"Well wouldn't it technically be morning? But yes, that was it but I still have a few tricks up my sleeves." She smirked and she ran forward with Nathan running towards her. She then slid on the ground, between his legs and swiftly got up and kicked Nathan's back, making him fall onto the ground.
"Do your teammates fight like this?"
"No." She scoffed and he got up again. This time, she decided to go invisible, igniting more gasps from the crowd.
"Hey, where did you go?" He asked and she walked next to him and whispered in his ear.
"I'm right here." And she stepped back before he could throw a punch as her.
"Okay, that isn't fair."
"You wanted me to go hard on you didn't you? Plus I'm giving a huge hint on where I am." She said from a distance and his head snapped to her direction so she made herself appeared. Once again, Nathan ran forward with his sword next to his waist for a side slice. Violet put up her arms and let her barrier deflect the blow, knowing it would be too hard to dodge.
"Why would your sister want me to train you when you're perfectly capable to defend yourself with just your elements."
"Hey, I like a challenge otherwise I would have placed you in a coma in that last fight. I don't want everything easy for me… Although this is easy."
She answered so she walked over to the sword on the ground and went to face Nathan.
"You want me to go easy?" He asked, eyeing the sword in her hands.
"Nope."
Eventually their fight went a little longer than two hours and Violet could feel her muscles protest every time she goes to block Nathan's powerful strikes.
"Tired yet?" She heard Nathan asked as he panted deeply. Most of the kids and parents got bored and walked away but only one little girl stayed; the same one that asked the question.
"Yeah but I'm not backing out anytime soon." She answered and she went to thrust her sword out towards him but Nathan stepped to the side at the last second. The samurai then grabbed her arm and pinned it behind her back, making Violet drop the sword and shrivel under his control.
"Looks like our little fight have come to a conclusion."
"Little? That was one of the longest fights I've ever been engaged in."
"Really? That was my second." He laughed and got up. Being a gentleman, he extended a hand and Violet accepted it.
"Nathan! That fight was amazing!" A girl suddenly exclaimed with a bright smile as she bounced her way over to the two of them. The girl –in a way- reminded Violet of someone. The lass' eyes were a soft misty blue colour and her hair was a golden, blonde colour that reflected the sun's ray brightly. In a way, this girl looked like her. The face shape, jawline and ears looked the same. "You fought amazing too miss!"
"Thank you. What's your name?" Violet asked as she crouched down to be the same height as the young girl.
"My name is Angelica."
"Well it's nice to meet you." And she looked at Nathan who looked down at his feet with sadness presented on his face. He then looked at the little girl.
"We'll see you soon ok Angie?"
"Alright…" The girl sighed; the bubbly personality was gone as if both of them had suddenly thought of the same sad thing. Angelica then walked off, no longer bouncing and her hair seemed to dull.
"What's going on?"
"I'll tell you when we get back to my hut." Nathan said softly and he turned around. To Violet, it looked like as if Angelica reminded him of somebody that he doesn't want to remember. It also seemed that Angelica knew what she did and also felt sad.
Wanting to know what happens, Violet walked swiftly behind Nathan and into his hut. She stayed by near the entrance as he walked in and sat on his bed; resting his sword next to it. His hand then reached underneath the pillow and pulled out a small photo album. Her violet eyes watched as Nathan turned to a certain page and he took a photo from its place. Nathan then looked at her and beckoned her to come over with a gesture from his hand. So Violet walked over slowly to the bed and sat down next to him and looked at the photo.
It was a photo of him, Angelica and another woman, about the same age as Nathan. It looked like it was taken near the forest. Nathan had Angelica on his shoulders whereas his hand held the woman's hand. She was short as well, coming to Nathan's shoulders. Her golden hair flowed in hair to adorn her peachy skin and her misty blue eyes shone brightly. An elegant smile was presented. What shocked Violet to the core was how close they look alike as well as Angelica.
"Her name was Jessica. Angelica's older sister. She recently went missing a month ago."
"Who was she to you?" Violet asked as she held the photograph in her hands with great care.
"My girlfriend." He answered and he casted his eyes away. "After Scarlett and I met, I introduced the two together and they got along pretty well but after Scarlett left to return home to you guys, a scream echo near the edge of the village. When I ran over, I saw a hair pin on the ground."
And Violet watched as Nathan leaned over to the bedside table and opened the draw. He took out a small hair pin. It was an elegant design with fake, white lilies on it.
"It once belonged to my mother and I gave it to her as a gift."
"So you mean someone just took her and the hairpin fell out of her hair?"
"Yeah… The main reason I went to live temporality in Ninjago City is to see if I could find her. I've promised her sister to find her but I couldn't. I've searched for a week and there were no signs of her." He muttered bitterly. "So not only I've lost her, I've lost your sister… Scarlett. But Violet; I've only realise now who much you look like her." Nathan said softly, forcing a small smile onto his lips.
"My sister or Jessica?"
"Both but it kills me so much not knowing what happened to Jessica other than she disappeared with a scream."
"I think I may know but I don't think I'm right." Violet said quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"I remember a few nights ago –after Scarlett died- I was working late in a dojo, at the same time I got fired since a student of mine decided to wreck the dojo. A friend of mine found me and took me home. Then Kai's sister came in, exclaiming I was dead. When she saw me, she brought me into a hug. When I asked her what happened, she said she doesn't know any more so she took us to the scene. As it appeared, the serpentine dressed up a girl like me to make it seem to my friends that I committed suicide whereas their intention plan was to kill me."
"So they made a dummy of you so your friends won't accuse the serpentine of killing you?"
"It wasn't a dummy… I think it was Jessica… Although this girl was wearing contacts and a wig with a bit of prosthetics. I took off the contacts to reveal the same eyes as Angelica's but I didn't take off the wig."
"So you mean… Jessica was taken and killed by the serpentine?" He asked, his voice hollow of any emotion. Violet nodded sadly. Unlike last time, Nathan just sat there. There were no tears. No sobs for the news of his girlfriend's death yet the one of Scarlett had a deeper effect.
"If you don't mind me asking… Who do you care for more? My sister or Jessica?"
"Your sister of course." He scoffed as he stood up.
"But why?"
"You two may not be my sisters by blood but you guys are my sisters. Haven't you heard a family always have unconditional love?" He answered as he grabbed the photo and the hairpins from Violet and placed them back. "Any more questions and requests?"
"Yes. Why were you in the forest?"
"I just got back from looking for your sister. Ever since the Great Devourer attack, I've been looking for her but at one point, I gave up and walked back to Aston. You took me by surprise when I heard you yell out 'I officially hate bats!'"
"I did not shout."
"Anything else?" The samurai asked, trying to end the topic.
"Can I see the photo album?" Violet asked politely. He nodded stiffy and handed it to her. The ninja opened the leather cover and the first picture made her smile. It was old, tattered and slightly ripped but in the photo, a young boy and girl sat on the carpet with a bunch of toys between them. Violet identified them as Scarlett and Nathan. She skipped the next few photos since they were with Nathan and his parents. The next one was Nathan again except he was holding a small baby in his arms.
"That was you were you were born." He told her and Violet smiled but then frowned to see how purple and wrinkly her skin was.
"Was I really that wrinkly?" She asked but unexpectedly, he laughed. The sad expression was gone and the usual smile was back on his face. I have a feeling Nathan and I will get along pretty well.
What do you all think? A nice long chapter but I have to admit, I'm a little bit disappointed. It seemed nobody took in my little warning not to mention anything related to my theories in the reviews. If you want to suggest something, then that's absolutely fine as long as you don't give hints what my original two theories were. But thanks you all for the lovely and amazing reviews! So thanks to: LightningDanino23, Kaiisthebest, ALookIntoMyWorld, Yuna53421, WillowPetal, Nightmare, ninjaofairandlight, FlameNinjaofDarkFire, KaiRulesSuckers, Kratts Brothers, CarlyShi208, AnimalLover22, ShadowNinja27, ElementzGirl7, MortalNinjas and the guest for reviewing! I've realised I forgot to reply to reviews so I'll do it here:
ElementzGirl7: No, that was not their fight (you asked on Chapter 60), their big fight will occur every soon.
MortalNinjas: How many years passed? When the first season took two weeks then another two that lead into the second season. That whole time that leads up to the defeat of the Overlord for the first time, maybe that was… I dunno, a year? And then a couple months (4-6) into the Rebooted season since rebuilding Ninjago City would take a while as well as settling into a teaching life. Then probably that whole season takes a week or two. Between Zane's death (T.T) and the invitation, maybe a month or two. Then the Chen's Island thing maybe a week or two again. So far, maybe a year and eight months have passed.
MinionBanana167: Forgive the lateness but Skylor is one of the competitors in the new season. You probably already searched this up.
Kaiisthebest: On my emails, people who doesn't have accounts appear as 'Guests'. So on my email, it would say "A new review has been posted to your story". Then it would say who it's from. "From: Kaiisthebest (Guest)". That's what fanfiction sent me. And about theory 1, Kai won't.
Jayla Fire Gal: Ah?! How are you reading my mind? Violet won't really be there when Garmadon turn them into kids (hopefully it'll be in the next chapter) but she'll see them as kids.
Rachymel: I'm afraid I don't have histogram… I don't really know what it is…
Yuna53421: Sorry about the 54321 and the 53421 thing… *rubs back of neck sheepishly*
Guest: I've already made plans for Nathan, he won't be around when that happens- Not because he dies. I won't do that to you guys, I already made you guys go through Scarlett's death. So far, I'm planning to let Nathan leave before Rebooted and return to Aston.
FlameNinjaofDarkFire: I haven't heard of Lego City Undercover and trust me, I haven't got my title from that. But maybe that might be Chen when he was younger.
Kratts Brothers: Agreed!
AnimalLover22: I love your theory! I think its great but I've made up my mind and decided Violet needed to be in the tournament. The creators left out Lar, a water elemental master so I've decided that I'll add him in my story. But the idea with Violet fall for one of the boys is great but I thought maybe Lloyd, Cole already stole Nya. I'm a complete Jaya Fan.
ShadowNinja27: I'm glad you took Nathan into a liking since I've tried making him into a likable and interesting person although I don't think you'll like him for too long…
Anyway, sorry for the long update but I did try to update as soon as I can. The next chapter will be posted same day next week because guess what? IT'S MY ANNIVERSARY FOR THIS STORY!Undercover will be officially 1 year old on the 30th of March and I like to thank you guys for making my most successful story. It's the 5th most reviewed story. 12th with most favourites and 7th most follows. This can't be accomplished without you guys so here's a cookie (::) . Sorry if it isn't a real one…