Chapter Text
Ryan looked pleased with himself as he said, "I easily spend 3 hours a day at the gym."
Igneous raised an eyebrow but otherwise nodded in approval. "Good. And the rest of you?"
There were hesitant looks between the other four members. There were shrugs and sighs, but the group remained very silent.
“Okay, I have no idea why I asked any of you. Four laps around the track. Hopefully, it won’t take longer than a star.”
There was a questioning look from the collective group. Another question mark to add to the sea full of them. They glanced at the tall green hills around them. Sure enough, in the far distance, where green met aquamarine, there was a tiny sliver of red. Ellery scathed her eys along the path. The track went all the way around the island.
Daniella stood by her side. She nodded. Of course. She had one foot in the air when Igneous continued her speech.
"Be warned. None of this will be easy. And not even in the way that humans think athleticism is hard. I will find your weakest point and then I'll exploit it until it's your biggest strength.
After all, that's how I had to grow up. It's easy to look at the pennies of talent you already have in your metaphorical purse, it's easy to think that being able to walk is good enough. All of you have your heads tilted to the ground, and I find that truly troubling. That is why I will put my had under your chin and yank it up to the sky." She smacked her hooves together. "Anyways, enough talking. Laps. Now."
Daniella paused to smile. Ellery would have liked to stand still for a moment, enjoy the lull of the moment that seemed to be such an odd pocket of happiness in the strangest place. However, Daniella has her hand wrapped around Ellery's arm. Before she knew it they were running.
None of them made it. It took Ellery a half a lap for her legs to go numb, and another quarter for her and Ellery to both give up and collapse on the hard ground underneath them. Daniella was laughing.
They all walked back to the starting point with their tails tucked between their legs. To their surprise, Igneous didn’t yell at any of them
She stood in front of them like a challenge. “I’ve got to be honest. I have no idea how skilled any of you are. That’s why we’re going to engage in a little combat.
Alexis raised an eyebrow, “What kind of combat?”
Igneous smirked. "Five on one. Fencing."
Ryan grinned, “awesome! Hell yeah.”
“Wait,” Luke interjected, “Why fencing?”
“You humans are weak. Anything else, and I’d break every bone in your body,” Igneous stated the fact as if it were obvious. “Does anyone know how to play?” Igneous gave them an expectant look, only to be returned with blank stares. “Of course you don’t.”
Igneous unsheathed a sword from the rack she stood beside. Well, calling it a sword was generous. With the skinny blade, it looked like it was more fit to be used to cover windows than to cause any harm to anyone
"This is how I start training any Anipresbian soldier to asses their abilities. You start with a sword." Igneous tossed said sword up in the air with a flick of her wrist. "Since our hands are more clumsy than yours, I usually have to spend hours teaching them to hold them. Since I'm teaching it to you, I luckily won't have to do that." Igneous tossed the sword to Alexis.
She caught the blade with shaky hands, she winced back as her hands grasped hard to the blade. She opened her eyes curiously. "Wait. It's not sharp."
"That's right. I don't need any of you hurting each other." Igneous said. She retrieved another sword from the rack. "A usual match with consist of two players, care to be an example, glasses?"
Alexis nodded frantically, without hesitation.
"The rules are simple. Whoever hits the tip to their opponent first wins the point." Igneous presses the tip of the skinny blade to Alexis' chest. "Got that?"
The group nodded in unison. "Usually it would be two people, anyway. Just to see what I'm working with, I'll have all of you fight me at once."
Ellery raised an eyebrow. Ryan tilted his head.
Igneous threw the sword to Ellery. It hit her square in the chest.
Igneous continued. "The rest of you, get swords. The practice mat is right over there," she said while pointing to a large dirt clearing."
"Wow. That's pretty big for a sword fight," Alexis said.
"It can get pretty messy. You'll see."
Elley retrieved the sword she had taken up a second ago, examining it. The hilt glinted brightly. The swords had never been used before.
She glanced at Alexis, who was doing the same thing. She noticed and gave her a shy smile. "Hey. I guess we should get over there."
Ellery nodded. "Sure."
The two of them walked at a slow pace. Alexis looked at her feet almost the entire time. It was a wonder that she didn't miss something and a trip.
"So... I've been meaning to ask you something."
“What?” Alexis flushed, her neck turning bright red. “Well, it’s nothing really important. It’s kind of stupid.”
Ellery continued to look at her. She blinked. She didn’t say anything in encouragement or smile or nod. She did look at her though.
“Well, I wanted to ask-”
“Hurry up El!” She glanced up to Daniella, who waved from where she stood in the middle of the clearing.
Ellery smiled smartly. “Coming!”
---
Ryan blew hair out of his face. He stood the sword in front of him awkwardly. He had never tried to fence, but he had watched his younger brother go to a class every week. His younger incarnation made the sport look so easy as he held the sword like it was a part of his body. It was not easy
He and the rest of the kids stood in a circle around Igneous. She stood easily, glancing around her as if this match was just another thing to cross off her to-do list. Ryan bit his lip.
"Ready?" She asked.
Daniella nodded, "Yes."
Once the rest of them nodded their approval, igneous counted down from three.
"Three," she said. Ryan looked down at the saber in his hands.
"Two."
He glanced at Daniella for a quick second.
"One."
Igneous turned to Ryan in a split-second action. He had her sword in his chest before he could make sense of what was up and what was down. He blinked.
Luke tried to take advantage of the opening, but Igneous was faster. She pushed the blade at a leg that Luke kept unguarded. She used the lower balance to put her hands on the floor and flip her body over so she was right side up again. She pressed her blade right into Ellery's shoulder as she did so.
Alexis went in for her hoof. Igneous blocked the attempt with her sword and then pressed into her thigh. Igneous turned to Daniella, whose hands were over her chest as if she was being caught without a towel. Igneous took the flair in putting the saber to her neck. The whole thing couldn't have lasted longer than 30 seconds.
"Really? That was it?" She demanded.
The rest of them looked at each other with matching blank expressions.
"That is precisely why I've done that. It looks like I have quite a group of people to work with." Igneous admitted, "Because that match was quite short, I couldn't quite figure out what any of you are good at. So next is one on one matches." She turned to face the group.
Ryan wondered who he'd be paired against. It seemed a little odd to do that if she didn't know what their skill levels were. If he'd be paired with Ellery, it would be over for her. That didn't seem like it would improve her knowledge of their skills any.
Igneous pointed at him, "Tall boy, you're with Ms sunshine," she pointed at Daniella, whose eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Glasses and Xanax, you're together as well."
'So where does that put me?" Luke asked as if he were hurt at the prospect of being left out.
"You're with me," Igneous said. Ignoring Luke's protests, she did a sweeping motion, singling the kids to get off the clearing.
"Gremlins, you're going first."
Alexis and Daniella glanced at each other in confusion, but they shrugged and stood across from each other in the circle.
"Ready?" Igneous asked. "Ready," they replied.
"Go!" igneous shouted. The two looked at each other for a long time. It wasn't that they were slacking or confused in any way. Both of their postures were rigid. They were looking for openings in each other's stances. While Igneous knew that she could rely on pure speed, the two of them were at similar skill levels. They knew that if one of them were attacked, the other could take advantage of the opening.
Alexis was mostly doing this as a defense mechanism, her eyes gazing over Ellery for any sign that she might give and open up for her. Ellery, however, was looking at Alexis' body and build, trying to find an open space for her to attack. A leg out of place or a shoulder hunched too tight. While on the outside it looked like a stalemate, Ryan knew that it was more like a test of will. Eventually, someone would have to give up and attack. The rest would be up to speed.
Alexis gave first. She went for Ellery's shoulder, perhaps thinking that she wouldn't be protecting the space, thinking it would be a safe spot for her to hit. She was wrong. Ellery took advantage of this opening since she had already been looking at her for any hints, she realized that Alexis left her chest completely open by doing so. She took the opportunity and the match was over.
Ellery looked bored, and Alexis was just ashamed.
Igneous nodded like she had been familiar with this kind of tactic. "Ryan. Daniella. You're next "
Ryan stepped up to the figurative plate. Daniella stood opposite to him. She was bouncing on the back of her feet, swinging her sword from side to side. Her hair bounced along with her and Ryan wanted to giggle.
Not now, he told himself, concentrate.
"Ready?"
"Ready!" Daniella shouted.
"Begin," Igneous declared. Daniella went for a chest attack right away. Ryan blocked her easily. He took a step back. Daniella tried again, aiming for his legs. Ryan jumped and blocked that shot as well.
Daniella frowned but held her saber in front of her with confidence anyway.
Ryan went in for an attack at her shoulder. The shot didn't make it.
Daniella curled over backward her hands on the ground, still grasping the saber in her hands tightly. as her feet went up, she kicked at Ryan's sabr, once she was right side up, she turned around and hit Ryan securely on the chest.
Ryan blushed "Nice, but that was an illegal move. Try again."
"What?" Luke complained, "but That's not fa-"
"Ready?" Igneous asked them.
Ryan and Daniella nodded. The match began.
This time Ryan started and it was Daniella who blocked. Daniella bit her lip and went for his feet. Ryan took the opportunity and hit Daniella's shoulder.
Igneous nodded. "Point." She glanced at the people she had to work with. "Hmm. Alexis? Ryan? You're up."
Ignoring Luke's complaining, the two stood against each other. This happened for some time, Ingeous paired up the kids in every which way possible. Ryan kept trying to figure out how she was doing it. At first, he thought it was based on playing style, then on skill. Perhaps, he thought, Anipresbians were made with built-in scoreboards, so perhaps she was doing it like that. No, he argued with himself, Alexis lost her first match so that couldn't be right. They played until their limbs were sore and standing up was a sport in of itself. They sat in a circle around Igneous' feet.
"Valuable information was collected today. A lot of good and valuable information indeed. Something that surprised me was the human ability to adapt. Usually, I wouldn't waste a day figuring out the fighting ability of a group of soldiers. Because they don't adapt as humans do. You, humans, look at something in front of you and think 'well how do I take this and make it mine?'
“You humans are different. Although you are clumsy and ignorant. There’s a reason you’ve survived so long. You’re able to adapt to things.”
"I'm going, to be honest. When I first came in contact with you, I thought we were done for, and if I'm being completely honest, we still are. But I may be able to make something useful of you yet."
Igneous continued, "Go back to the cabins and rest up. I'll be expecting ten laps by the fourth star, and you better not disappoint me."
When she finished, the kids nodded and headed back. Ryan looks over his shoulder to the purple alien. She was picking the sabers off of the ground and putting them back in the rack. Her expression was complex, but Ryan saw that underneath the creased eyebrows and tense posture, that she was smiling.