Chapter 9:

A few days later Theo was resting against the Grove Tree. He had gone all out with his foraging, gathering as many Caarsi berries and other edible plants as he could find. Luckily Trish knew many more plants that could actually be eaten, and had provided him with a few samples. He didn’t know exactly how long the travel would take them, but he estimated they had about a weeks worth of food when accounting for the rations the group already had.

He was having some difficulty containing his excitement over the whole ordeal. Finally, I’ll be able to rejoin civilization, more importantly I’ll hopefully be able to find new companions. He hadn’t realized how much he missed having people around until he came upon the group. Talking with Trish and Markus had rekindled his desire for friendship. He hoped what he thought was a budding friendship with the two was true.

Theo looked over at the party. Elana had been recovering quickly and he was sure would have already had them moving if it wasn’t for Trish’s insistence the party needed more time to recover. He agreed with Trish, even if he was getting impatient. He watched as Elana and Markus both stood and walked to the middle of the clearing. They began doing what looked like some warm up exercises. I wonder if they will do some sparing, maybe I should ask to join them? If I’m going to be interacting with people again then I’ll probably end up fighting some as well. Bandits if nothing else. I have a feeling this world is not nearly as peaceful as Earth was.

He continued to watch the two as they finished there warm up, and moved several steps away from each other as if they had done this a hundred times before. Elana opened the spar with a set of testing jabs. Wow even with one arm injured he still seems to have no issues deflecting those jabs. Markus countered with a few punches of his own which Elana dodged out of the way of with ease. This exchange continued for a little while longer before they both paused. They can’t be done yet so maybe that was still part of the arm up?

Just them Markus turned toward him and called “Hey Theo, would you like to join us for a bit of sparring?”

Surprise crossed his face before he stood, and quickly tested his injured leg. Finding no issues he called back “Sure.” and began heading over to them. “I was actually just thinking about asking to join, thank you.”

“My shoulder’s still not great so why don’t the two of you start first?”

Elana simply nodded her head and the turned to face him. “Sure thing. What are the rules for this spar?” He asked.

“Hmm we will go with an unarmed spar. No going for the eyes, or other fragile parts of the body. Don’t purposely severely injure your partner, but also don’t hold back to much. Part of the reason for this spar is so that we can all get a feeling for the combat level of each other.” So basically Elana wants to test me then? He smiled inwardly at the thought.

He nodded in response “Sounds good.”

He saw Elana get into a stance and got into one of his own. Guess I’ll try out that boxing I was messing around with. He looked toward Markus to see if there was going to be a vocal beginning to their spar but the man just pointed toward Elana.

Turning he barely registered the fist flying toward him. He tried to shift to the left but still caught a glancing blow against his cheek. The woman followed up with a side kick that he had no hope of dodging. He barely got a block up in time. Then another punch was coming his way. He stepped back just out of range of this one and threw a jab of his own. As if waiting for this moment the women stepped inside of his punch grabbing for his leg. The next thing he knew he was flat on his back staring up at the sky, Elana straddling his chest ready to lay into him.

“Hold!” Markus shouted. “Come on Theo, you can do better than that can’t you?”

They both stood, and got back into their starting positions. He couldn’t stop the excitement that was building within his chest. That was definitely a grappling move. Well I can’t say I’m too surprised by the outcome so far. I’ve had basically no experience fighting other people. From that little exchange I can tell Elana is good. A small started to split his face.

“Oh look at the big guy, he’s smiling” Elana said with a smirk.

The next 30 minutes consisted of Elana showing Theo exactly how ill experienced he was in fighting other people. The woman continuously exploited every weakness he had and opening he gave. Markus simply watched from the side calling out advice and critique every once in a while.

“Theo your being to predictable! Stop repeating the same attack patterns.”

“Square your hips! Don’t let your guard drop!”

“Come on, those were no better than your first punch!” Elana remarked, smirk still firmly in place.

Theo just kept his guard up not reacting to her provocation. “Well if you won’t come to me then I’ll just have to come to you!”

Elana shifted her stance slightly and began advancing on him. She started off with a strong right toward his face. Theo slipped under it and barely had time to react as a knee raced at him. He brought his arms up just in time to block. He stepped back and tried to find his opponent, but she was no where to be seen. A brush of air on his neck sent him dropping to the ground as a kick passed over his head. Turning he just barely had time to lean out of the way of another punch.

“You have good reactions but don’t have much experience fighting other people do you?” She still had that infernal smirk on her face.

Theo really wanted to wipe that smirk off her face. He decided to make the first move this time, quickly closing the distance. He lead with a jab followed by a straight. Elana easily dodged both punches and threw a counter of her own. Something within him refused to give even an inch to the woman this time, so Theo shifted his weight and back-swayed, the punch flying inches from his face. He quickly attacked the opening that he had made, springing forward to land a hook to the woman’s chin. Shit that’s too much, especially when she has a head injury.

Just as his blow was to land true, a thin translucent barrier covered the side of Elana’s face. His fist impacted the barrier which wavered slightly but held. Surprise ran through Theo and he didn’t notice the woman’s leg kick out into his side. The blow sent him skidding backwards a small amount.

“Magic?” Theo exclaimed. “Wait, we’re allowing magic?”

“Yes? You’ve been using magic this entire time haven’t you?” responded Elana, confusion clear in her tone. “Also that magic just now was not mine, that was Trish’s.”

Confusion appeared on Theo’s face as well. “I haven’t been using magic at all?”

“Seriously? That’s just been your physical ability?” Elana stated in disbelief “And then why is your mana still worked up?”

Theo responded with a confused half nod half shrug.

“I know I wasn’t going full out but still...” Elana mumbled. “Okay let’s do a quick session but utilize your mana this time. Trish can you be on standby just in case?”

The two stood about 5 meters apart and got into stances again. Theo recalled his fight with the Lynx and the instructions Trish and Markus had given him. Don’t just let the energy fully envelop you. Control the amount and only use it with clear objectives. Elana made the first move charging at him with a burst of speed faster than anything she had done so far. So she’s been holding back, that’s not surprising.

Theo called upon his mana and stepped backward. He almost fell over from the sheer burst of speed that he experienced. As he tried to regain his balance Elana seemed to have no qualms with exploiting the opening, as she hammered a kick into his chest. His legs were picked up off the ground from the sheer force of the blow as a burst of wind blew out, and he was sent rolling backwards. Holy shit! How didn’t that break any bones?

He stood just in time to see another kick racing towards him. Purely following instinct at this point, he moved with the kick, grabbing her leg, and throwing her across the Grove. Holy shit did I just throw her like 15 feet? Elana simply shifted in the air landing cleaning on her feet. That was freaking badass! Theo could feel his excitement rising. Not willing to give up the offensive, he dashed after her, pushing mana into his legs. It was as if he had teleported. One second he was on the far side of the Grove the next he was standing in front of her. With only a split second of delay, due to his own shock, he threw out a punch. Surprise crossed her face for only a brief moment before she batted away the blow, before launching into a flurry of punches of her own. It took his entire focus to deflect or dodge each attack. Explosions of air sounding with each contact. Each punch felt as if he was being hit by rocks, not fists.

Then she was gone, simply vanished. Theo stood in shock for a split-second, his only warning a chill that ran down his spine. Ducking she appeared behind him in mid air, a kick snapping out. Shifting he sent a kick of his own at her while she was still midair. She blocked the blow, but was sent flying back a few feet, landing cleanly once again.

“Okay let’s call it there anyway you two. That was very impressive stuff, both of you.” Markus cut in.

They both relaxed at that. “That’s some power you got there big guy! I haven’t been able to go that hard in a while. That was fun.”

Theo shook his head slightly. “You were incredible. I completely lost track of you at the end there. It was pure luck that I was able to dodge that last attack.” As his body began to relax his body started to burn. Badly. His legs taking the worst of it. It looks like that was to much for my legs to take.

“Theo, you’ve mostly been fighting Beasts haven’t you?” Markus questioned

“Yes? Yes. I have a small amount of experience fighting other people but no one as skilled as Elana here. And that experience is years old at this point.”

Markus nodded. “It shows, you try to dodge every attack unless you’re forced to block it. Something I must add is a very good idea against beasts, as they tend to be a lot stronger than us Humans. However, against people that means your giving up an advantageous position or missing an opening where you wouldn’t if you just weathered the blow.”

Theo simply nodded back to the man. “Sounds like more sparring will be in my future then.”

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Over the next couple of days Theo, Elana and Markus continued to spar regularly. They had asked Smith and the rest of his party if they wanted to join, but Smith had refused them. Theo had noticed the man’s dislike for him after the incident with Trish. He had tried to talk with the him, but any attempt he made was quickly rebuffed. He wasn’t the only one who noticed the growing tension in the man however.

Scott, Steve and Mike all joined them, but it quickly became evident that they could not keep up with the three. That didn’t mean they were excluded of course. Only that they tended to get instructional lessons from Elana and Markus rather than have true sparring sessions. Theo thought to ask Trish to join them as well. However, when he did so the woman quickly informed him that she had no interest in such practices. The little bit of combat magic she did know was purely defensive in nature and she preferred to stay out of such situations.

Theo had enjoyed the sparring they had done so far, even if he lost almost all of the engagements with Markus and Elana. The two were just that much more experienced then he was in fighting other people. I can’t say what exactly there level is compared to most combatants in this world. I’m guessing they are somewhere on the stronger side as those three can’t keep up at all.