Chapter 20: Training Day

“You will get what you deserve.”

-K??, date unknown.

Yin delivered a combination of quick blows to the punch mitts Lax held up. The force caused him to stumble back a step. It was mid-day, sun hanging high, and the city was already baking with the heat. They were in the patch of stubborn grass behind Lax’s house. Her shirt was already soaked with sweat.

“Tell me about Arxus Aucom,” Yin said. “What can I expect?”

Lax worked his hands inside the mitts and held them up for another combination. “You won’t have an easy time against him. Aucom is a technical fighter. He’s an Elandran paladin, but he fights dirty. He relies heavily on divine magic during his matches.”

Yin went in for another flurry of punches. She frowned. “I thought you weren’t allowed to use magic.”

“You aren’t,” Lax said with a grunt. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, blew sweat off his upper lip. “But Darling allows rule breaches for the underground matches as long as the crowd enjoys it. It’s part of Aucom’s image and makes for one hell of a spectacle, so Darling lets it slide on a technicality. Don’t think you’ll get the same treatment.”

Yin snorted. “Not like I’ve got a god in my pocket, anyway. So, how do I beat him?”

Lax stepped back, thoughtful. “Let’s see. Aucom’s usual strategy is to herd his opponents into a corner, distract and daze them so that he can finish the match in a single sweep. If you want to beat him, you’ll have to learn his patterns, know how to anticipate his traps. Of course, you also need to be fast enough to act on it. I think you might just have the last part covered.”

Yin had underestimated her opponent— and the sport itself—when she went up against the Bull. She wouldn’t make that same mistake again. She took Lax’s words to heart.

“I should be able to fetch some vids of Aucom’s matches,” Lax continued. “Darling keeps records of every match in the Pit.”

“Will he let you take them?” Yin asked.

“Well…” Lax winked. “He won’t miss ‘em.”

They continued her training for another hour. Yin hadn’t practiced her hand-to-hand for a long time, so they focused on brushing up her basics. She had all the raw speed she’d ever need, but her technique was lacking. If Lax was right, she would suffer against Aucom’s technical fighting style.

She had two days to rectify that.

Eventually, Lax had to head off to work. He promised to bring back those vids. Yin stayed behind. She sparred against an old tree on a shallow incline behind the house. Hundreds of punches and kicks put cracks and dents in the gnarled wood. Sweat came off her in sheets, but she kept going.

I’m going to win, she thought. I have to win this time. I’ll show him. I’ll show them all. I can do this.

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She would beat Arxus Aucom, earn herself a rematch against the Bull. Once she beat him, she’d know that she was worthy.

Gin, Sprocket, and Lillibel came out to watch her. They ran around the tree, laughing, and imitated her movements with childlike exaggeration. It was a distraction, but seeing them did put a smile on her face.

By the time Aella called them all inside to eat, Yin’s legs were weak, stiff from the punishment she’d put them through. Her arms hung slack by her sides, knuckles rubbed raw.

She ate with gusto.

*****

Yin and Lax had taken over the family scryer. It was an old, sputtering thing that bled color, but it was good enough for their purposes. They had rewatched the same match of Arxus Aucom decimating a Concordian offensive brawler three times now.

“Do you see how he leads his opponent around like that?” Lax asked, pointing at the flickering hardlight images. “He feigns openings to get them close, and then…”

On the screen, Aucom stumbled, his guard slipping. The larger, bulkier Concordian rushed in. Aucom’s hands snapped back up, and blinding light streamed from his body. It blew out the whole screen, turning it into a radiant shimmer. Only the Concordian’s screams of pain could be heard. When the light faded, the Concordian lay curled up on the ground. Aucom stood victorious.

“I wish I could get a better look at his finishing move,” Yin said. “Right now, all I know is that I need to avoid that light.”

“That was the best footage I could find, sorry,” Lax said. “That blast of light he does really messes with the auto-eye sensors. Regardless, divine magic is unpredictable at the best of times, so just make sure not to get caught inside whatever spells he throws at you.”

Yin nodded. “Easier said than done, but I get your point.”

“Aucom is chiefly a grappler. He’s going to try and get you into a hold. Once he does, he’ll never let go. Make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Yin nodded again.

Aucom was clearly a clever fighter. He wasn’t the biggest, only marginally bigger and brawnier than the average man. She’d seen faster fighters, too. He was nimble, but he didn’t move with the same superhuman reflexes as Yin herself or other offensive fighters. But he had a dark twinkle in his eyes, a sign of nefarious intelligence. He always moved to the right spot, away from attacks that should have caught him unawares, as though he could predict his opponent’s every move.

How am I going to outsmart someone like that? Yin thought.

“I know some vivimancers in the city,” Lax said. “It’s kind of short notice, but I could get in contact with one of them and see if they could do some work on you. It won’t be anything as fancy as that Awakened vivimancy you’ve got inside you, but it’ll be more specialized for the fight ahead. Let’s see, with hunter’s eyes you could block out most of that light he gives off, and if we added on loaded snakemail, that’d give you extra defense and a way to poke him at range, away from his magic. How’s that sound?”

Yin thought about it. She’d never considered getting more modifications done to herself. Ever since she’d escaped from the Awakened, she’d spent her life wishing she could be normal. Would she even be able to win against Aucom without those extra modifications, though?

“I’m good,” she finally said. “I want to beat him the way I am.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Strangely enough, it felt wrong to overwrite those parts of herself. Whatever its origins, she had begun to identify with this new body. It was only at the prospect of changing it this became apparent to her.

Lax chuckled. “You know, they’ve got a name for people like that in powerbrawl. Who never switch up their mods.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Squibs.”

“I guess that makes me a squib.”’

Lax got up off the couch to stick in the next Aucom vid.