Hybridization

Chapter 192 – Power Sparing

“No, I hate it. Math was math and everything made sense. Now math is still math but the results are conditional to whatever magical bullshit has been done.” – Engineering student at Georgia Institute of Technology when asked if he liked working with magical materials.

The spar between Kurt and Donnovan quickly devolved into a series of cautious approaches, followed by lightning-fast cuts which then turned into a grapple while holding very long knives. If the spar was scored in matter of points for landed hits and such, then they would be relatively even. That all went out the window then considering things through the lens of reality.

Donnovan was staying on par with Kurt because he was being boosted, by his scribe Timothy, to have enhanced speed, reflexes and strength. This allowed him to enter a melee with almost any supernatural creature of a roughly humanoid size. Almost any.

Kurt wasn’t being boosted. He didn’t have support of a mage and most importantly, armor wasn’t as important. On a couple of the bouts, Kurt had taken a blow to the leg or forearm that would have crippled a human, requiring extensive medical or magical healing. He only needed to step back for a moment and relieve some pressure as the bones knitted back together and flesh healed.

“You- ah, you wouldn’t… Hooo. You wouldn’t have such an easy time if we were using our offensive spells.” Donnovan panted as he leaned on his cross guard. He had flipped his visor aside to allow for better breathing as they ended the sparring session.

“And you wouldn’t be better off if was in my other shape.” Kurt retorted. “Remember that the blade is not my primary means of attack in melee.” He was much less winded, having a werewolf’s constitution.

“Let us see.” Gladys stepped up beside Donnovan with her scribe. “Paul, boost.”

“Yes, Gladys.” The scribe began chanting in a similar way to Timothy while gesturing at his knight.

Gladys nodded. “Thank you.” She then turned to Kurt. “Fight for real. All out.”

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Kurt glanced to the girls who just shrugged. “Are you sure? You know what I am.”

“I have fought wolf before.” Gladys cast her spell to blunt the cutting edge and spike on her halberd. “Just don’t kill me.”

That got Kurt’s attention and he wanted to ask more but a sharp look from Gladys got him moving to his spot in the training field. “Ooooh kaaay. But don’t get mad at me and don’t freak out.” He directed the last part to the watching templars.

Kurt dismissed his gear to his ring and took his spot. When Gladys snapped her visor shut, he knew that was the signal to begin.

In a surprise move, Gladys quickly advanced across the open space, jabbing the spike of her halberd at Kurt. As he was already shifting, he just took the blow, letting it sink an inch into his stomach despite the protective barrier on the weapon. The templar had put enough force behind the blow to almost completely negate the protective spell.

If her eyes weren’t covered by her visor, Kurt might have seen the look of shock on her face as her blow missed its target of his chest. He could imagine it, however, based on how the helmet tilted back to look up as he loomed over her.

There was a startled shout from the crowd of onlookers that was almost as loud as the scream from Gladys when Kurt’s Jaws clamped down on her. His mouth ended up over her right shoulder, cutting off her dominate hand and most of her striking power as his teeth disformed the armor around her.

Kurt’s paws grabbed hold of her halberd, yanking it from her hands and throwing it aside as he fought the urge to death shake the templar. Still, he grabbed hold of one arm while his other hand went around to grab a leg. His claws wrapped around the limbs, finding the few soft spots between plates that he could have applied pressure to if he wanted.

“YIELD!” Gladys screamed into his ear. She didn’t mean to, but that was right where her head ended up.

“HAKah.” Kurt dropped her, a slight cough and retch as he did. He took a step back, letting the slightly soggy templar have some room.

The clank of Gladys falling to the ground was drowned out by the other knights rushing forward, weapons barred as they looked at Kurt. Their un-helmeted heads showing faces with grim determination in their expressions.

“That is quite enough.” A familiar voice called out.

Kurt looked up to see Jay, Alexi and Ronni walking into the ring, the templars parting like the sea. “She did say to go all out.” Jay commented as he gently pushed aside a halberd. “Can’t blame him, especially after she broke the skin with that opening attack.”

Alexi nodded, stopping before Kurt. One of the knights that had been sparring with Rindi moved to step in as a guard, but Ronni was also there and firmly but gently pushed him away. “Yes, I do think she got more than she asked for.”

“Damn right.” Gladys cursed from where scribe Paul was helping her to her feet.

“Language.” Jay chided, his voice teasing. “Well, Kurt, was it worth it.”

Everyone in the room tensed and flinched at the sound of the muscles and bones in Kurt’s face rearranging for him to speak. “No.”

“Really, you shifted to talk just for one word?” Jay raised an eyebrow.

“No, it wasn’t?” Kurt offered, getting a nervous chuckle from a few of the templars and a real one from Alexi.

The templar saint looked up at him with an amused expression. “Quite. But I do think you have made your point to young Gladys here. Unless she thinks that she can take him on anyway?”

“No.” Gladys shook her head, mirroring Kurt’s earlier frankness. “No chance to win.”

That admission sent a ripple through the crowd of knights and scribes. It was well known amongst them that Gladys was supremely confident in her abilities and had yet to back down from any fight. They had even told Kurt about her sparring and fighting 3 on 1 and coming out the victor every time.

“I think then that our fine knights and scribes have graduated from teacher and sparring partners to coaches.” Alexi said to Jay.

“Works for me, if they can keep up.” Jay looked at the rest of Kurt’s team standing not far from him. “Think you guys can pair off and have some spars? Go ahead and use your abilities but don’t try to do that dimensional shifting stuff. That’s an ambush, not a fight.”

“You and me?” Val looked to Kurt.

Kurt looked down at Val. She was still limited to light duty but had been pushing the limits of her doctor’s orders as much as she could. He shifted back, clothes snapping back into place as he returned to his human body.

“Not a chance.” He said. “You are still on light duty so we will sit this one out.”

“Let’s go.” Kristi nudged Rindi and they both moved off to the more distant edges of the sparring ring. It was fifty feet across but at the speeds there team could move, that was nothing.

Jay turned to the templars. “Come on, back it up. The bleachers beckon your butts.”

“It’s not fair that you are putting me on the bench.” Val grumbled as she walked next to Kurt. She sounded angry but the way she was rubbing up against him told him otherwise. It could also be because Kirsti had interpreted ‘light duty’ to mean no sex and Val was just pent up despite her annoyance with him.

Kurt snorted. “You put yourself on the bench. We are just making sure you don’t stay there.” He reached out and booped her on the nose, watching her eyes cross adorably as they tracked his finger.

“Still don’t like it.” Val mumbled like a child not wanting to eat their vegetables. “How do you think this is going to go?” she changed her tone and nodded at the girls standing across from each other.

Taking a good look at Kristi then Rindi, Kurt had a hard time making a call on that. On the one hand Kristi was a highly competent fighter and rather wily, based on his experience sparring with her. On the other hand, Rindi was a bit of an unknown, her methods of attack mixing almost as much power as Kristi with more surprise like Val. What was really concerning was how both of them were still adjusting to their new power and how it affected their abilities.

*****

“Set.” One of the templars called out, having decided to officiate the spar. The knight had gotten an 8-foot-long pole with a small flag used to officiate and was holding it level between them. He stood in the middle of the ring, looking to both in turn for confirmation.

Rindi nodded, her eyes not leaving Kristi who also gave a curt nod. They had both opted for their swords for this opening exchange and she was cautious about the long, thick blade the other woman had. Her own saber, while a fine blade and to her preference, was much shorter and more flexible than the dragoness’ weapon. Yet, Rindi had more reach with longer arms and less targets, with her digitigrade legs being harder to hit.

“Begin!” the same templar called. He lifted his pole and backed away quickly.

Kristi advanced, holding her sword in a high guard, hilt up and point angled down. It was a position that cut off many of the angles Rindi had from being taller and using a slashing weapon. This guard was one that she seemed to favor when unsure of an attack.

In turn, Rindi had chosen a wide, low guard which she held out, advancing and circling to her right. Her point was also down, but the curve of her blade was such that the point was angled back in. She hoped it would allow her to deflect a blow aimed at her core and allow her time if not.

When they got within striking range, around ten feet given how quickly they could both lunge, the probes began. Kristi went first, her wrist snapping downward, rotating the point of her blade so it was tilted up. She paired it with a step forward, not quite a lunge but definitely setting one up.

Rindi countered it with a lateral step and rotating her own wrist down. She brought the blade to a vertical orientation, trying to keep the strong of her blade outward to better repel a cut. If it were a thrust, then…

Kristi launched off her back foot, thrusting the point of her estoc forward. Rindi parried, twisting her saber so the curve of the blade sought to push the incoming one away. She then raised it, not only deflecting the narrow point of Kristi’s sword upward but also positioning her cross-guard to catch it.

Predictably, Kristi broke from the attack. She sprung backward, turning the lunge into a feint as she swept the tip of her blade around to slash at Rindi’s arm from above. Having been drilling in the use of the saber for weeks, Rindi had already brought her guard to her left and up.

Their new position was with Kristi cutting downward at Rindi’s horizontal guard. When the two blades met, the straight tip of Kristi’s blade met the curved part of Rindi’s. The attack failed and the straight cut slid off the end of the saber as the block was turned into a slash that caught the dragoness in the elbow.

“Point!” The flag tip of a pole flashed between them as the referee stepped in, lunging like his staff was a spear and separating them.

Rindi frowned as she backed away and reset their start positions. She shouldn’t have been able to deflect a blow from Kristi like that. She was bigger and slightly faster but by no means the equal in strength to her scaled companion.

“Go harder?”

The words brought Rindi’s attention back to Kristi who was smiling at her. “What?”

“Come on, that was fast but lets get some power.” Kristi said, gesturing to the watching templars with her sword. “We aren’t fighting humans or having to slow ourselves for technique and basics anymore. Let’s go harder.”

With a grin that showed a lot of teeth, Rindi nodded. “Ok, no magic though.”

“Deal.” Kristi nodded in return.

When the referee bid them to start again, both of them advanced much more rapidly. Rindi circled less and adopted an inverted high-guard position as Kristi used the fool’s guard. She wasn’t about to become the fool this time, however.

Rindi stutter stepped, advancing off her front foot and stepping to the left. Kristi’s point flicked up, whistling through the air as it came up to neck level, but she was already past it. She kept the edge of her saber on that side, chasing Kristi as she leapt backward to gain some room.

The longer blade came around in a cutting motion with the false edge that Rindi beat away with the strong of hers, hoping to bind it in her saber’s guard. She didn’t get the bind, but she did manage a deflection as she swept her tip up in a thrust. She used the gentle curve of her blade to reach around Kristi’s straight edge, driving for her shoulder. Being that this fight was supposed to be more forceful, Rindi wasn’t surprised when her attack was absolutely crushed and she was put on the defensive.

Kristi shoved hard, pushing Rindi’s saber away and stepping inside both their striking distances. Kristi ran the edge of her sword along her saber and smashed into the guard with a metallic clash. The move was meant to force Rindi to drop her guard but instead she let her wrist rotate.

Rindi’s blade rotated, letting Kristi’s fall through the cut which was already inside her optimal striking position. When that happened, it left Rindi’s saber in a point down position and she cut upward with the blade, swinging the tip and slashing at Kristi.

The cut caught Kristi in the armor of her waist, scoring a shiny line in the fabric covering over the plates. It then continued upward with the point of her saber coming to rest in the gap under her armpit.

“Point!” The ref called stepping in much later this time.

“Good one.” Kristi said, looking down at her armor and running a finger over the area before looking at her armpit. “I don’t think it cut the fabric. But I feel like that will be a bruise.”

“Oh.” Rindi suddenly felt bad. She hadn’t meant to actually hurt her. “Kristi, I am so…”

“It’s fine.” Kristi waved her hand. “Only a bruise and I have had worse. Plus, I will probably be healed up before we are done here.”

They fought for a couple more rounds, each one increased in intensity and speed. This had the odd effect of the templar acting as referee needing his scribe to boost him so he could keep up.

Over the next few rounds, they traded blows back and forth. Kristi no longer tried to fence with Rindi, seeing that the saber was so much faster and more maneuverable than her long estoc. She then played to her strengths, setting traps and slashes at areas that Rindi couldn’t defend easily and breaking through her guard with power. Still, Rindi gave a good showing and managed a few more wins of her own though not as many fatal wounds as Kristi with her tendency to place cuts and stabs on the inside of limbs.

“Want to switch it up?” Kristi asked, shaking out her hand from where Rindi had hit it with her guard. “Go to pole arms?”

“Sure. Power too, or no?” Rindi wasn’t sure if they had the room for that or not.

Kristi thought for a moment, looking at Jay who was already telling the crowd to back away and give them another few dozen yards of room. “Looks like that choice has been made for us.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Kurt called out, looking from Jay to them.

Kristi smiled and made a shooing motion. “We’ll be fine. Just a little sparing with our abilities. Don’t worry so much.”

Rindi moved a ways away, adding another several paces to her starting point as Kristi did the same. On her way she summoned the next form of her weapon, her lance.

To call it a lance was a bit of a misnomer. Sure, it was very lance-like with the thick shaft and even had a hand stop at the back that was about perfect to couch the 9 foot long weapon but that was it. Ok, if Rindi was completely honest, it was a short lance with a fat, extended diamond point with hollow facets that acted more as blades than anything. But that was it…

As Rindi looked across the field to where Kristi stood, some fifty yards away, she wondered what her thoughts were about this, since their power sets were so… counteractive to each other.

*****

Kristi was impressed. She hadn’t expected Rindi to have taken to the sword so well after being limited to sneak attacks with her stiletto for so long. The new girl certainly had found her talent in her opinion. Now to test her real power.

The sword sparing was fine and dandy. It was even the most likely use for their weapons in an enclosed space. Yet, there was something about the longer arms that really made her want to go all out in a way she hadn’t been able to.

She looked at the long, tree-like weapon that Rindi held. It was part lance, part pike and completely meant for one thing. That was a weapon built for a single devastating blow.

Gripping the oblong haft of her own pole arm, Kristi grinned. All she had to do was defeat the initial attack and then she was golden. They even had the perfect setup with a powered fight where she could use her shield spell.

“Set!” The referee called.

Kristi settled into her stance, rotating the head of her pole axe to a better guard position. She only needed to time it right and guess a side. She should have plenty of time to-

“Begin!”

Rindi vanished.

Suddenly remembering the ability the tigress had used in the rift, Kristi immediately threw up a barrier. It popped into existence with crack-snap and she could feel the energy radiating off of it as it sought to push and deflec-

BOOM!

Her vision flashing white, Kristi ears rung like a gunshot had gone off inches away and she felt herself tumble then stop suddenly before everything went black.

She couldn’t tell if it had been a blink or if she had been out longer, but Kristi’s world quickly returned to that of light and very blurry color. She saw a double image of Kurt kneeling over her and heard a muted voice that she vaguely recognized as his.

“…ere she is.” She felt his hand on the back of her neck and his fingers wrapped around the base of her skull, supporting it. “Don’t move for a minute. OK?”

“HHHhh…kay.” Kristi hoarsely groaned and closed her eyes again.

She felt a pinch in her left pinky finger. “Ow!” she said, jerking the hand away.

There was another pinch on instep of her right foot. “Hey! Knock it off.”

“Well, she isn’t paralyzed.” Kurt said. “Can you wiggle your fingers and toes for me?”

“Why would I be paralyzed?” Kristi asked but complied. She opened her eyes once more and looked up at Kurt.

He stared at her for a moment. “Do you know what happened?”

“There was a boom then things hurt and then you were blurry.” Kristi said, recalling what had happened to he best of her knowledge.

Frowning, Kurt slid the hand under her neck to farther down her back. “Upsy-daisy. There you go.” He pulled her into a sitting position and then scooted her around to face more to her right. “How do you think you got here?”

Kristi blinked. She was sitting next to the door to enter the range. She turned her head and looked to the left where the sparring rings were set up over a hundred yards away. “How ‘did’ I get here?”

“You did your rendition of a baseball after getting smashed by a bat.” Kurt answered. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, gimme a hand.” He helped pull her up and they began walking. It was unsteady at first, but she quickly regained her balance.

She noted that he was leading her back to the sparing rings where several people were hovering around the far side of the area. Most of the templars had remained in the stands and were giving her worried looks.

“OH shit. Where’s Rindi?” Kristi looked around frantically.

“Over there.” Kurt was still holding her elbow with one hand as he guided her to the small group of people. “For the record, that was the ring where you were.” He pointed to a patch of the rubberized floor that looked like it had gone under a steam roller from all the flattened area and tears in the material.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.” Kurt agreed and the people they were approaching turned then parted for them, revealing Rindi sitting on the floor looking a little confused.

“Oh, heeeeyyy.” She waved a hand that looked like someone had scrubbed it with a pumice stone in a boiling pot of water. “Sure mm-kay?”

Kristi assumed she was asking about her condition. “Yeah, just rattled is all.”

“Ss-good.” Rindi smiled, showing some blood staining her pearly white teeth.

That made Kristi give her another once over. Her hair was a mess, the braid completely undone and neither of her eyes seemed capable of focusing. Her armor was still intact but looked like it had aged through 20 years of hard use. Her uniform was torn in several places, the seams having popped and all of her exposed skin was looking rather raw.

A familiar voice pulled Kristi’s attention from the battered tiger lady and up to her boss. “And we just found out what happened when enough energy is put into one of your force barriers where it’s no longer absorbed and instead is ‘dissipated’.” Jay drawled.

“Huh?” Rindi looked up, turning her head the wrong way.

“You pop big bubble. Go flying away.” Val pantomimed with her hand, making Kurt snort in amusement.

“Kristi’s shield broke?” Rindi asked after a couple blinks and a shake of her head, her senses seeming to return.

“Yes, and flung both of you to opposite ends of the room.” Kurt did not look amused. “Both of you are grounded and we are done for the day.” He turned to Jay. “Need anything from us?”

The daemon shook his head and opened a portal to Penny’s office. “No. Just take tomorrow off. I will catch up with you on Monday.”

“Alright you two. Up and at em.” Kurt hauled Rindi up by her armor but had to steady her before helping her though the portal.

“Come on sweetie.” Val took Kristi’s hand. “Let’s get you fed and get you off your feet.” She led her though both sets of portals, though the house and into the shower, not taking no for an answer.

Kristi just followed along and wondered if she would get another ‘punishment’ from Kurt for being reckless. She certainly hoped so.