Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (65 page)

So
rono had found his way over to their
group just as the Keepers and their partners began their hand to hand training. There were growling, battle
cries
, howling, snarling and mainly the sounds of swift battles.
Their group went silent as they
watched the cooperation between the species. It became easy to spot those with a lot of battle experience because the individual
sparring
lessons lasted much longer than those who had little to no training.

Even from over here
she
saw
Amphrite paired against another Elder and she had much experience becau
se she was still fighting where
as over half of the other f
ights had already concluded. Amphrite’s
movements were fluid and refined which also showed how skilled of a fighter she
remained
. Both she and her Keeper were fighting equally.

Sarah
attention was pulled away from the arena when Connor’s spoke. “… at that. Isn’t it obvious that I’ve asked this of you?”

“Hmm, so how can we do this?”
She
turned to see Connor sitting on the bench to
her
left as he looked up at Sorono.

“I know it’s a tradition for Keepers to be secretive about what they know, but
this is an all or
nothing
fight. We should teach the Balancers different variations of
their
elements because they need to grow as quickly as possible. They need to have much more variety to their skills. Our opponents have had over a millennia of practice with their skill sets. Trust me, once they learn those skills they will be more effective and will be able to adapt to a wider change of tactics our enemies might throw at us.”

When Sorono went silent
she
asked “Connor, what are you talking about?”

The corner of his lips quirked as he met
her
calm stare. “Actually I’m trying to persuade Sorono into teaching Balancers to see another’s aura and also teaching them about variations to their specific elements. Like teaching the Fire Balancers how to breathe fire or Liquid Balancers learning how
to rip water straight from the blood of the
i
r enemies. They won
’
t be able to manipulate blood because of the
i
r limits, but they should theoretically be able to pull the moisture from another source besides humidity or from an aquifer or stream.”

Her
jaw locked because
she
didn’t have a response.

Sorono finally broke the silence of our huddled group.
“I cannot give you an answer right now, Connor. I understand where you are coming from because it is logical, but this will be a discussion that must be decided by all the Elder Keepers. This is a topic that we will need to discuss at length.”

“Just don’t take too long.” Sorono only nodded in acknowledgement.

Then Sorono turned his piercing gaze on
Sarah
and then on his mate
who sat to the
right
. He smiled and said
“Veronica, will you and Sarah go on up and
have your turn?
”
it was obvious he wanted to speak to Connor, uninterrupted.

Veronica’s golden eyes swept over
Sarah
. She smiled and then stood up from the bench. She turned around and looked down.
“Shannon, I will return shortly.”
The small child only smiled at her mother.
Sarah
too stood up, turned around and met the four eyes that were part
hers
and Connor’s. “Pear, Darrel?
” They met her
eyes and smiled like
adorable
cherubs
. “I’ll be back too.”

“Good luck, Mommy.”
Darrel said and Pearl then added
“Have fun.”

Connor gave
her a smile of approval. She
leaned closer to him and stole a quick
kiss. He chuckled silently as she
began walking towar
ds the arena with Veronica by her
side.

As
they
approached
they
saw that a line had
already
formed.
They
then stood silently behind a male Keeper and a male Changer
,
in the shape of a large
wingless
tiger. When another pair showed up behind
them they
began speaking about how well
their
children were learning and also she asked how Shannon did
when she stayed in
the cottage
.
They
continued sp
eaking casually until it
came
their
turn.

It took fifteen minutes before
they
finally managed to make
their
way up on the stage. Veronica and
Sarah
made
their
way to a vacant square
,
surrounded on all sides with other
amazing fighters.

Then
they
separated and stood about thirty feet from one another.

Sarah knew Veronica i
s goi
ng to be a tough opponent, but she
was excited. It felt good to release the restrictions that were p
l
aced on
her
physical strength. The restraints on
her
muscles we
re a necessity or else she
’d crush
here
babies before knowing what happened. It would also feel great to get in some
unrestrained
exercise. The last strenuous thing
she
did was giving birth.

Veronica dropped down on all fours and said to
Sarah
only
“Whether fighting on my hind legs or on them all is all completely natural to
our kind
. Our tails maintain our balance when we are erect, but only fractionally. I’m going to come at you and I’d like for you to av
oid every move that is thrown
you
r way
.
Today’s object with me will be
to see how well your
evasion
and defensive tactics are
.”

“I’m ready.” Sarah
said as
her
legs spread into a more solid stance and raised
her
arms up while opening
her
hands.

Connor once taught her
this
stance
. He once said “The greatest offense is the ultimate defense. If you’re opponent cannot harm you then he cannot kill you.
If he is stronger than you, don’t fight. Let him wear himself out while all you do is redirect his attacks and make them harmless.” Then he taught her
this stance and how it should be used when facing a straightforward opponent.

She
could still hear everyone around
her
battling it out, but
her
main focus was on Veronica.
Sarah’s
eyes noticed the change in her as she switched from lecturing
,
to giving a
real-world
demonstration. She wasn’t going to hold much back either. Veronica then began the quick preparation of her
lesson. She dug in every claw she had into the stone, except for the small dewclaws on her back legs.

Her muscles bunched and she instantly launched herself
across the square
.

Sarah’s
mind was able to process everything she did.
Veronica
first aim
ed
for a straightforward shoulder tackle.
Because of her speed and size Sarah
had to make a small leap to
the
right
or else get flattened on the ground
. As she flew
harmlessly
by
,
Veronica
dug her claws into the stone an
d redirected her momentum into her
direction again. Stone and dust were dug up and removed from the foundation as she made this move. Some of
the
debris had been thrown into other matches
like shrapnel from a bomb
.

As
Veronica
threw herself at
her
again she leapt straight at
her
, with expanded arms.
Sarah leapt over Veronica and she passed right under her
feet
.
When Sarah landed
,
Veronica
had already doubled back and this time
Sarah
couldn’t jump up or
to either
side. The reptile’s leap and long arms had given
only
a single option.

Sarah dove under her. She
had to roll and spring up, but
Veronica
was on
her
again.
This time she wasn’t charging
any longer. Now Veronica
had reared up on her back legs to begin punching.
Sarah
was barely able to put up
her
defense again.
Veronica’s
punches were flying at astounding speeds and had enough force in them to punch through solid steel that was as long and deep as her arm.

As her
first right punch approached Sarah’s
face
,
her open
left palm moved towards
the scaly
index finge
r. Once she felt the connection on her
palm
,
her
arm diverted
the
punch away with the greatest of ease. It didn’t take much effort at all to divert
the incredible
attack, but if
Sarah’s
speed wasn’t at the level that it was
,
her
reaction would have been too late. With one punch diverted, another was already on its way
.
Sarah
did the same thing again with
her
right hand.

Veronica
rained down
blow after blow with precision and each one was diverted at a speed
Sarah
didn’t even know that
lay dormant
inside
herself
. The punches were so swift that
she
’d
lost count aft
er six hundred and neither of them
were short of breath.

Then
Veronica’s
tactics changed as she thrust her tail like a spear or slung it like a whip. She was now attacking with three weapons. As such
she
had slowly begun to push Sarah
back. Focusing on three attacks
,
at the speed
they
were going
became
incredibly
taxing.
Sarah would
either duck
under
the tail or divert it with
her palms because if she
were to jump
her
strength would diminish greatly.
Veronica
continued
forcing
her
further
backwards
.

Then suddenly
Sarah’s
right ankle stepped in a hole
that
Veronica
made earlier in
the
battle.
Sarah’s
stance had broken
apart
as
her body began falling backwards. She
couldn’t look back because
Veronica’s
right f
ist was coming directly at her
.
Her
arms moved instinctively to protect
her
face, but were moving too slowly compared to th
e approaching weapon.

Her
e
yes winced shut in preparation
f
or
pain.

The pain didn’t come, but a
new
pressure did encompass
her
.

Sarah slowly opened her
eyes and looked down to see a large scaly hand
,
wound around her
midsection.
She
followed the arm all the way up to see
serene
golden eyes.
Her
mind quickly pieced together
that Veronica had opened her hand, mid-
punch, to reach out and catch her
.