Shadow Thief

18 - Practice, Practice, Practice!

Nothing's better than a fight.

The blade of a swords flew past my left cheek, nearly clipping the tips of my sunny blonde hair. I dropped low so that my knees nearly hit the ground as the sword swiftly passed over my head. Before my opponent had time to recognize my change in posture, I lunged forward. I quickly flattened my hand and slammed my palm into his knee.

With a grunt, he took a step back. At the same time, I backed up, giving myself space to recuperate. I looked into Theo's greenish-blue eyes. He was giving me a devilish smile while gripping his knee with one hand. His knee was setting him off balance. An advantage.

"I thought being sick would've weakened you, even a little. But, no. If anything, you seem to have some new extra burst of energy."

I laughed at him.

"What can I say, nothing takes me down."

I felt a rush of air towards my feet and I looked down. By my right foot, a wooden staff was preparing to take me down. I didn't have time to move, so I let it. Showing off some of my acrobatic skill, I let the staff take my feet our from under me and landed on my hands. I did a little flip, planning on furthering myself from the two of them. They seemed to be getting faster, and smarter.

"You say that now," Levi said, looking disappointed, "but you looked pretty knocked out when you were sleeping on Theo's shoulder."

Ah, so that's why he's been so bitter lately.

Theo charged at me after my moments rest. His wooden sword swung at me with great force, from my left side of course. I dipped down and to my left. He'd have to make a whole backswing to get me from here, which would take considerable reaction and effort.

I got close to him, bringing my forehead an inch from his own. He smirked at me, a knowingly annoying smirk.

"Don't get too comfortable," I warned quietly.

He only had time to frown as my flat palm slammed into his stomach. He let out a gurgled groan as he backed up. Good. He's getting too used to being close to me. If this was a real fight, he would've been drenched in blood by now, his guts sitting in my hands. I take that back, we wouldn't have even gotten this far. He wouldn't have even gotten into a proper stance by the time I was done with him.

I could hear Levi charge behind me, after that, predicting his movements was simple. At this point, his staff would be aimed at my back, prepared to take out my spine. Cheeky bastard. He's too predictable. I twisted to my right and grabbed onto his staff, protecting a defenseless Theo from another hit.

Well, I guess it's time to wrap this up. My foot landed in Theo's chest, a much softer blow than Levi's staff would've been. Theo, who was unprepared for the hit, landed outside of the circle on his behind.

I glanced over to Levi, whose staff I still held onto. He gave me a please don't kill me smile. Too bad for him. I ripped the staff from his hands and smacked him of the left side of his ribs. I took advantage of his moment of unbalance and knocked him out of the ring with another firm kick.

"Don't get so comfy!" I yelled to Theo. "Levi! Your moves are too predictable. Change up your style every once and a while or you'll get yourself killed."

"It's not like anyone can fight better than you, dearest," he whined, adding a sweet word to it to soften the complaint. "I doubt anyone can pick out my moves like you."

"What in the hells are you talking about?" I looked at him with my arms crossed. "There are plenty of people out there who can kick my ass. But don't worry about them yet. You probably won't meet anyone that strong until you become first class officers."