Oath of the Survivor

Kyle stretched as he looked across the flat surface of the arena.  He, Duroc, and Skippy each stood at different points, roughly equidistant from each other.  Behind each of them floated a combat dummy, nearly two meters tall and heavily padded.  An impressive amount of mana flowed through the materials, and Kyle expected that they would be difficult for any E Grade to damage, even for Warrior types.  Unfortunately for the dummies, both of Kyle’s opponents possessed the raw strength to blow them apart with power to spare.

He shook his head as he considered the sparring session.  Benjamin had explained the goal here was to get all of them to think differently, and open up holes in their fighting styles that they could learn from when protecting him in the field.  While Kyle could appreciate the thought, he also knew that the exercise would be heavily slanted in favor of Duroc.  Compared to Skippy and Kyle, the orc had a much better balance of offense and defense, as well as significantly more combat experience. 

Kyle knew that, and assumed Skippy did as well

.  Given the skrell’s ability to keep up with Kyle and obsession with breaking STORM SHELTER, he expected that Skippy would move directly towards him out of the gate.  That put Kyle in an uncomfortable position.  While he could hold out by using his defensive skill, he would also be unable to move.  Either Duroc would hang back and wait for the war of attrition to end, or he would join the fray. 

If the orc waited, he’d be up against an exhausted opponent that he could easily beat.  If he showed up to fight, Skippy could escape and leave a tired Kyle to deal with the mighty orc.  Neither set of circumstances ended well for him. 

Before Kyle had a chance to finish evaluating, a loud buzzer sounded across the arena.  As expected, Skippy left his dummy in the dust as he dashed towards Kyle.  Without thinking, HASTE activated and the Survivalist moved.  Grabbing his own dummy in his arms, he took the one course of action he felt could effectively disrupt the flow of combat.  He sprinted directly towards Duroc.

If the porcine alien was bothered, he didn’t show it.  He took his stance calmly, raised his tower shield, and leveled his spear.  Duroc made a lazy thrust towards Kyle, and just as Kyle was about to dodge, he felt a massive weight bearing down on him.  While it wasn’t unexpected, it was still disorienting.  Neither Auric Perception nor C.H.A.D.D. had been able to offer any warning before the ability took effect, speaking to the sheer control the orc had over its mana.

Still, Kyle wasn’t out of the fight.  Using his baton, he slapped the spear’s tip to the side, diverting it just enough to scrape past his armor.  At the same time, PARASITIC RESONANCE was activated, and a tendril connected to Duroc.  With an effort of Willpower, Kyle focused on disrupting the mana forming the enhanced gravity.  A moment later the skill was released and he was free to move as before. 

If it were just the two of them, it likely wouldn’t have been a problem for Duroc.  He specialized in defending against and pinning down more mobile fighters, after all.  Unfortunately for the orc, Skippy’s presence complicated things.  Seeing an opportunity, the skrell was hot in pursuit and making a beeline directly towards Duroc’s dummy.  Duroc was forced to turn his attention away from Kyle and towards the flaming grey form.  Skippy slowed as he was impacted by Duroc’s gravity spell, but was still able to deftly dodge a swipe with the spear’s edge. 

Kyle thought he would have a moment to rest, until C.H.A.D.D. flashed a warning.  Focusing his Auric Perception, Kyle felt the power building up in Duroc’s shield.  A moment later, the orc spun and unleashed a silvery blast of energy right in his direction.  The shockwave was massive, and even if Kyle could dodge, he wasn’t sure if his Benjamin dummy would get by unscathed.  Not seeing another option, he activated STORM SHELTER. 

An orange barrier met the blast of energy head on, and it sounded like a bomb went off.  A cloud of dust obscured the arena, though the sounds of combat could still be heard through the barrier.  Deactivating the skill, Kyle grabbed his dummy and retreated, trying to get some distance between himself and the other D Grades.  As the dust cleared, he saw Skippy and Duroc engaged in a pitched battle, with neither able to gain a real advantage.  Skippy’s attacks didn’t find much purchase against the shield or armor, and Duroc wasn’t able to land any decisive blows.  Kyle knew that there was a cooldown period for the shield blast, and knew that this would be the best window to take the advantage.

Looking at the position of the combatants, the target became clear.  Duroc had his dummy positioned almost directly behind him, shielding it with his bulk.  Skippy, on the other hand, left his quite a distance away as he attacked his opponent.  Kyle dashed towards the skrell’s dummy, baton in his right hand as he carried his own dummy over his left shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Skippy disengaged with Duroc and turned to intercept, but the orc was one step ahead.  The hair on the back of Kyle’s neck stood up as he felt the wave of mana go out from the piggish warrior.  Skippy was slammed into the ground by the onslaught of massive gravitational pressure, and even from a distance Kyle could feel the lingering effects as each step took more out of him.  Maybe that’s why Skippy left the dummy so far behind.  If he’d brought it much closer, it could have been caught up in the blast, easily destroying it.

The skrell managed to stand, but it was too late.  Kyle arrived, and with three quick strikes the dummy flashed red.  Skippy was disqualified from the fight. 

“I didn’t even get to try out my new skill!” 

The skrell’s complaints continued to mount as he strode off to the perimeter of the arena.  Just before exiting, he called out to Kyle, “Don’t think this means you’re off the hook!  We’ll get another sparring session soon!”

Kyle grimaced at that, not eager to get beaten up by the grey alien again.  For now though, he refocused his attention on Duroc.  He expected to see the orc at least breathing heavily after the technique he used on Skippy, but instead he looked as calm as a mountain lake.  Holding his stance, Duroc advanced.  The spear was held high, tip slanted down, while the tower shield was held in front, obscuring all but the top of Duroc’s head.  The dummy floated slowly behind the orc, which reminded Kyle of Skippy’s decision.  He dashed backwards to deposit his own dummy before returning, realizing now that he had to keep the pressure on. 

If he tried to play it defensively, Duroc would walk up and squish his dummy with the gravity attack.  He wasn’t sure if STORM SHELTER would be able to block out those types of effects, and he’d rather not bank on it unless he had no other choice.  When only a dozen meters remained between the two combatants, they stopped.  Duroc spoke first.

“That was a good move back there.  Skippy always gets a little too focused.”

“Thanks.  I have to say, you’re incredible.  I know how powerful Skippy’s punches are, and you take them like they’re nothing.”

Duroc snorted.  “Comes with the territory.  Where I come from things hit a lot harder.  I’ll have to show you sometime when this assignment is over.  Food kinda sucks though.”

Kyle couldn’t help but chuckle at the exchange.  He knew by now that the shield blast ability was available for use again, and that delaying much more wouldn’t do him any good. 

“Should we get to it, Duroc?”

“I guess we should.”

Kyle exploded into motion with HASTE active, tendrils of PARASITIC RESONANCE reaching out to connect to the orc.  He could have had C.H.A.D.D. try to bind his opponent up with some vines, but decided against it.  It could be explained away that he’d just found some unique plants when he’d saved the others – after all, they were in a forest near a pseudo-world tree – however that became much harder to defend if he showed that ability repeatedly.  The last thing he wanted was Corthian Mining becoming any more interested in C.H.A.D.D.

Kyle’s plan was to stay close and turn it into a battle of attrition, syphoning off Duroc’s mana reserves and disrupting skills as they fought.  That would play to his strengths, while hopefully carving out opportunities to attack the dummy directly.  Duroc had other plans.  He seemed to remember Kyle’s ability to stop his abilities, so instead he focused almost entirely on offense.  Sweeping attacks and thrusts kept coming at Kyle, forcing him almost entirely on the defensive. 

That’s when Kyle realized one of the major flaws in his fighting style, particularly in sparring situations.  His offensive application of RESONANCE was completely off the table.  He wasn’t going to cause major internal damage to his sparring partner to win a match.  With Duroc avoiding using any of his skills, it was simply a match of martial prowess.  A match that was painfully one-sided.

Even with HASTE running, Duroc seemed to have no issues keeping pace.  What the hell kind of attributes does he have?  Powerful mana control, great physical attributes, and top-notch combat skills.  Kyle was facing a true master.  While he had little confidence in his ability to win, he was at least going to learn as much as he could from the experience.  C.H.A.D.D. proved invaluable as they fought, flashing warnings as attacks came from outside his field of vision and signaling changes in the orc’s footwork.

Kyle put up an admirable fight, blocking and parrying attacks as he tried to find an opening.  There!  Duroc committed to a thrust too far, and Kyle pounced on the opportunity.  He closed the gap and quickly got inside the orc’s guard, only realizing as he did so what a colossal mistake he’d made.  In his focus on learning and avoiding, he’d lost sight of the fact that his opponent was a meter taller and likely a ton heaver than he was.  Duroc had not forgotten those facts, dropping the spear and grabbing Kyle in a meaty hand.  With a spin, he hurled Kyle and the attached C.H.A.D.D. towards the other side of the arena, PARASITIC RESONANCE disconnecting as they landed out of range. 

Silvery energy gathered around the shield, and before Kyle could do anything a shockwave ripped through the arena towards his dummy, blasting it into the wall as it let out a red light.  Duroc was the winner.  Kyle picked himself up from the ground and dusted himself off.  He wasn’t upset that he lost, though he was sour at himself for making such a rookie mistake.  Kyle had gotten so swept in the flow of the fight he’d lost sight of the objective.  While a real life-and-death battle would have ended differently, it was still disappointing. 

Duroc walked over and patted Kyle’s shoulder, nearly knocking him over. 

“It was a good round.  You did better than I thought you would.”

“I shouldn’t have closed in on you, it was a stupid decision.”

“Not your brightest move.  It’s easy to tell you’ve only really trained against other humans.  And monsters, I guess.  A little more experience with other species and I think you’ll be just fine.”

Kyle smiled at him, though it felt forced.

“Thanks, Duroc.  I still have a long way to go.”

“No doubt.  Keep working at it; you’ll get there with time.” 

The two of them exited the arena, Kyle still feeling ashamed by his performance.  That washed away somewhat as the whoops and hollers from the gathered crowd reached him.  Affirmations, cheers, and laughter filled the training area.  He saw Skippy standing next to Benjamin, arms crossed and one foot furiously thumping on the ground. 

“It’s about time you got done.  Mayhew, it’s you and me.  I’m getting my damn match against your shield.”

Benjamin chuckled. 

“If only we had the time.  We’re heading back planetside in fourteen hours.  Good work today, all of you.  Get the rest you need, because I have a feeling things are going to become eventful.”