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FJ17: Thorns of the Rose

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November 5, 2010.  I looked around the battlefield chosen by Thexlade for our duel, a secluded area on the beach of the Organization's new home world behind a semi-circular ring of jagged rocks, with a smile on my face.  Personally I wouldn't have chosen anything different (well, perhaps a different world, but basically the same setting).  She had obviously wanted to keep things private, out of the eye of the public.  

She was already waiting on the beach for me by the time I arrived.  I wouldn't have expected anything less, considering that she had picked the battlefield.  "At last," I said to the Surreptitious Rose, "we meet in combat. I've been curious as to your true prowess after the tournament ended."

Thexlade turned to face me at my words. A smirk formed as she placed a hand on her hip, lifting her chin upwards ever so slightly.  "It's been a while, Fexyregof," she said.  "So glad you could make it."

She then started to simply pace back and forth a few steps in the sand, keeping her eyes on me, sizing me up if anything.  "I'm correct in assuming that you've noticed I'm more powerful than I was since that silly tournament, hmm?~ And now you want to see just how powerful I've become, yes?~"  She stopped pacing and stood before me, arms folded over her chest.  "I figured you would have, sooner or later, so I'm not too terribly surprised," she said dismissively, waving a hand.  "However, I suppose you could say I'm a bit enthusiastic about this, seeing as you are my first sparring partner."

Thexlade rolled her head back, letting out a hearty laugh.  "Goodness! Listen to me babble!~ I forgot, you came here to spar with me, not to talk over tea and biscuits. I do apologize~"

"Perfectly acceptable in my opinion," I replied.  "I always find that a battle of wits before a battle of fists is rather stimulating."  This was the truth, after all.  "But if you'd like to cut the small talk short…"  I held out my hand, summoning my pen-knife to my awaiting fingers as I took my battle stance.  One foot forward, one back, my knife held horizontal as my empty hand was held out to intercept any incoming attacks before they got to my torso.

As far as I was concerned, this was mostly a battle of element vs. weapon.  Since Thexlade had adopted a glass perfume bottle, it seemed rather unlikely that she would use it as an offensive tool; it would only be used as a holster for her true weapon, her perfumes, if my guess was correct.

Then again, my element would be useless in this fight as it ever was.  It was meant to avoid fights if I ever got caught or else provide an appropriate form to fight in (when I got a hold of my world forms document).  Both aspects were of no use here.

With a nod and a chuckle, Thexlade extended her own arm outwards to her side.  A thin mist appeared as she summoned her large perfume bottle, grasping it firmly by the tube, right underneath the squeeze ball.  "You wanted to see my true potential, deary?" she asked as she brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, then taking a battle stance of her own, placing one foot perpendicular to the other in a ballet-like position.  "Well, you'll get nothing less.  I promise to not disappoint…  Ladies first, I suppose~"

She charged forward towards me at full speed, her bottle (built to be lightweight) being tugged along right behind her.  Thexlade then stopped dead in her tracks, inches away from me.  She used the remaining momentum to spin on the heel of her right foot, her bottle swinging with her, right into my side!

I had expected her to play a long-range game with her element; this sudden assault from the front lines was the least of what I could have anticipated.  Still, the distance between us that she had to cover had allowed enough time for me to anticipate it.  My body had tensed as she approached, but the kick to my side took me by further surprise.  I could only lessen the damage dealt by leaping to the side along with the kick.  It was enough to avoid breaking a rib (who knows how long that would have taken to recover in a corpse) but there would definitely be some bruising.  Kicking up some sand as I skidded towards the ocean's edge, I held my slight injury with my empty hand but kept my knife held up.  My eyes were narrowed behind my glasses with a mixture of pain and light disdain.  "For one so slight of frame you certainly have some power behind your attacks," I said through a grimace.

Not wanting to be left in the dust, I ran forward myself with my knife held low and to my side to slash at her leg.  Limiting her movements would be sure to put the advantage with me.

Thexlade, watching me carefully, noticed I was aiming low with my knife.  Quickly she swung her bottle in front of her to use as a shield.  I heard a loud screeching sound as my weapon's blade made contact with the thick glass bottle.  Thexlade winced at the sound; I had found a definite chink in her armor.  She pushed back on the bottle to shove me away, making space between us.

"Now, now!  I just bought these new stockings!" she snickered.  "And as for your observation, I've been spending some more time in the training room.  It's called 'cardio'.  Perhaps you should give it a try sometime~"

In the blink of an eye, the Surreptitious Rose disappeared into a portal, only to reappear behind me, swinging a leg from underneath me.

The sudden strike from behind was unavoidable, especially since I didn't even see it coming until her leg collided between my own.  She was definitely not shy about hitting a man below the belt.  Reflexively my hands went to my assaulted groin (my knife remaining pointed away) before I rolled forward and out of her range.  Being a man the attack normally would have put me down for a good minute, but without a pulse it was the same attacking there as it was attacking my side.

Obviously she knew less about my past than I thought.  Perhaps it was time for a quick history lesson in a manner in which even she would be educated.  Quickly I regained my footing, unzipping my Organization jacket and throwing it off.  Up to my waist was covered in my usual cotton pants; but above my belt line there was nothing, save for a large gash where my sternum should have been.  A faint light shone from the back of the deep, empty cavity.  "As you can see," I said through gritted teeth, "I don't have much in the way of cardio to improve upon."  Angrily I threw my jacket to the sands before rushing forward for another strike with my knife.

Thexlade stood there completely dumbfounded and paralyzed with shock; I could only imagine what was running through her mind.  The message had obviously gotten through.  A little late in refocusing on the fight and executing her reaction, she tried diving to the side and away from my knife, only to feel a sharp pain on her upper arm.  She grunted as she knelt on one knee in the sand and examined the damage:  there was a clean cut on her arm, her sleeve glove had been ripped, and a line of blood had been revealed.  It wasn't deep; I was aiming to wound, not to kill.

She quickly stood back up on her feet, grabbing a hold of her bottle once more.  "Great," she snarled.  "That's the second pair of gloves ruined this week…"  She looked up to me and snorted.  "Have I riled you up?  My apologies… perhaps you should calm down~"

With those words, I knew immediately what was coming.  In confirmation, a purple mist snaked out from her perfume bottle's nozzle, climbed up her undamaged arm, then, with the flick of her wrist, was sent flying towards me, wrapping itself around my head!

I should have anticipated this move from her; I had guessed that she would be using her element more, but I hadn't anticipated the speed of the perfume.  Even lacking breath in my lungs, my nose was still working to a degree.  This was just enough for the lavender aroma to take a hold of me.

All traces of rage left my body, my pen-knife slipping from my fingers before sticking in the sand.  My joints loosened as well, causing my knees to collapse under me.  This was the first time that I was exposed to any of Thexlade's scents, but I was familiar with how they worked: each use only had a duration of half a minute.  There was nothing I could do now besides count down my down time, hopefully talk my way out, and avoid getting my nuts kicked again.  "Again your speed amazes me, Thexlade.  Perhaps it is about time to enhance my skills."

"Hmmhmm~ I haven't been working hard for nothing, you know," Thexlade snorted, taking the time to quickly rip off a piece of her torn glove and wrap it around her cut as a makeshift bandage.  "You see, after the tournament, I had this renewed sense of…desire—an obsession, if you will—to become even stronger, more powerful.  Second place is just as bad as coming in last.  Don't get me wrong, I'm quite proud of how far I had gotten, but it just wasn't satisfactory.  That's when I began to hone my powers and battle techniques, taking on missions…"  Thexlade returned to her bottle, readying for me to make a move once I was free of her snare.  "So, Fexyregof, riddle me this," she continued once she was in position, "if you so desperately want to become stronger yourself...why haven't you been trying harder?~"

With the seconds counting down before liberation, I just had to keep talking.  But just because my mouth was running didn't mean that it had to be nonsense; such wouldn't be me.  "I was never given a good enough opportunity to improve my skills without being 'under the radar', as I have heard it said.  My element as the Organization sees it is useless in combat.  My body has limits that cannot be improved upon by average means; only my mind and my memories can be updated."

'Twenty-eight… twenty-nine… thirty.'  I could feel a smirk on my face as my suppressed emotions came back to the surface.  My fingers closed around my knife.  Slowly I stood up, my eyes never leaving those of Thexlade.  "Until the Missions department reopened, there didn't seem to be a point to improve.  Pardon if it seems like I'm rambling, I've just been a little stir-crazy of late.  It's been a while since I've just been able to talk, even though now might not seem like the best time.  As I mentioned before, I have always enjoyed a battle of words more than anything, despite what anyone else says."

Shouting once to psyche myself up, I ran at her with my knife held in a reverse grip.

The Surreptitious Rose stood her ground, watching as I came closer and closer.  She waited for the opportune moment to make her move.  Once I was close enough she shouted, "THEN LEARN YOUR STRENGTHS!!"  She ducked low then leaped forward, taking the bottle with her and swinging it so that the tube lay right in front of me.  I was almost forced to trip over it.  Thexlade quickly turned back around to watch me fall.

I wouldn't give her that pleasure.  Her speed was impressive as ever, but she had yet to see my full bag of tricks.  I rolled when I hit the sand, tucking to make sure that no sand got into my chest wound.

It was a different injury that I exploited next.  As I stood up, I motioned with my empty hand to crack the bones in the wrist.  "My strengths, eh?  How about a surprise, then?" I asked, turning towards her once again.  My empty hand formed a fist before I brought it down as if to stab something in front of me.  Or to throw something, despite the fact that there was nothing there.  When my arm at last dropped, my hand separated from my wrist and flew at Thexlade!  "Catch!" I called.  The fingers of the severed hand spread in intimidation and anticipation of taking hold of the Surreptitious Rose's neck.

Thexlade held her arm up in defense, trying to prevent my hand from attacking her neck.  Instead, it latched firmly onto her wrist.  "ARGH!!" she snarled, flailing her arm and trying to get rid of the slightly decayed limb.  I had definitely gotten to her with this ploy as well.  

After a few flings, the grip loosened and my hand was sent flying off to the side.  "Making use of what your resources…  That's a start!" she called out with a nod.  "Let me give it a try!"  Suddenly, she disappeared once more through a portal.  I immediately looked around with caution for her.  She revealed her position on her own.  Letting out a loud battle cry, she jumped, bottle held high before bringing it down toward me…

…but instead, she shifted her direction ever so slightly and came down upon the ground right next to me, barely grazing my arm with a loud 'thump'.  Enough force was made to kick up a cloud of dust, which Thexlade blew into me by swinging her bottle to the side, creating a gust of wind that sent the cloud right into me.

Rolling to the side, I avoided the brunt of the cloud.  I was starting to regret the beach decision…  If I was to have a chance with this, I had to rattle her cage more.  Perhaps something personal…  "Is this 'Low Tide' a new fragrance of yours?" I asked with a smirk.  "It suits you.  The perfume is a bit dense, though; I don't think you'd be able to carry much of it in its current form."  My hand came scuttling up to me as the cloud settled, latching onto my wrist while I was still down.  Immediately my fingers curled and scooped up a handful of sand that I threw at Thexlade on my way up.  "Why don't you see for yourself?"

Before Thexlade could even react, my impromptu projectile found its mark.  She let out a distressed cry, bringing her palms to her eyes, grunting as she furiously tried to wipe away the grains.  "YOU WRETCH!!" she shrieked.  With a furious wave of the arm, a green mist (much larger than the purple mist that she had summoned earlier) formed, encasing her entire arm.  "STAND STILL!!"  She then threw her arm forward, sending the huge cloud of Curare perfume towards me, snaking its way right down my nose.

I could feel the effects of the paralyzing Curare scent before I could see it.  Before it could take hold of me completely, I detached my hand again.  Spider-like the hand crawled away from my frozen form, clambering onto Thexlade's foot.

"ARGH! YOU PARASITE!!" Thexlade shrieked, shaking the hand off of her foot.  "You just won't give up, will you?!  I admire that… but I think it's about time we put an end to this battle!"  Without wasting anymore time, Thexlade grasped the bottle's tube with both hands and charged forward before she (with all her might) swung the bottle into me.  I was sent soaring into the water that wasn't too far away, helpless in my paralyzed state to prevent it.

The ocean water had of course cleared up the paralytic effects of the perfume, allowing me to make a portal of darkness while I was still beneath the surface.  My pride didn't even want me to face the person who had made a private joke of me. I couldn't bear facing another defeat, even against one with as much skill as her.

A small portal appeared behind the severed hand that had been dragging my jacket into the fight.  With no further need of this measure, the hand simply attached to the wrist that stuck its way through the portal and was yanked into it along with the jacket. Thexlade would be left guessing on the beach.



Back in my room, I threw my jacket around myself, disgustedly spitting out a bit of saltwater.  Both the salty tang of the ocean and the defeat I was handed left bitter tastes in my mouth.  "Next time," I growled, "next time will be different."
The first of several fights involving mine and *Scary-Scarecrow's characters, Fexyregof and Thexlade of #org-nu. This also qualifies as a mission: 2.1 "Spar with a fellow member".

This story spawned from a note RP between me and Scary to get the details straight, so she might have a story something like this on her site soon (just through Thexlade's eyes).

Tell me what you think. :)

Thexlade: :iconscary-scarecrow:

Fexyregof: :iconpumpkinapprentice431:
© 2010 - 2024 PumpkinApprentice431
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Scary-Scarecrow's avatar
Nicely done! This was enjoyable to RP. :)