#chapter 1x06

The two fighters danced around the entirety of the arena that was their stage. Energy crackled between them. Each time that they touched each other, miniature bolts of lightning lanced outward from the point of impact, jumping to the edges of the arena, and travelling up, clashing with the energy field that the competing energies of the two fighters fed. It was the first time so far that the Megadojo’s unique technology had come into use, and the crowd was thankful for it. Many of them flinched, and drew away from the action, until they were reminded that there was no need to be afraid. That they could enjoy the action taking place before them without worrying about being affected by it.

Not that there was much to see at the moment. Jo and her opponent were pushing their speed to the maximum. They were moving about so quickly that an outside observer barely had time to pin down where they were before they had already moved two or three more times. It was exciting at first, but as the fight drug on, it didn’t offer much of interest to look at.

Then, suddenly, something changed. They two fighters flickered into view. They skid to a stop in the center of the arena. Both of their auras were still burning brightly, but Jo’s fluttered irregularly, while Christopher’s remained completely unchanged. Likewise, Christopher showed no outward signs of exertion, save for a slightly elevated rate of breathing. He showed no injuries, and his stance was as casual as before. In contrast, Jo looked significantly more battered and bruised than she had before, and was breathing heavily. As the two drew to a stop, Jo drew back her right fist, and struck with all of the strength that she could muster, aiming right for Christopher’s jaw. He raised both arms and crossed them in front of his face. The impact of Jo’s attack was enough to push Christopher back nearly to the edge of the arena, but he was, overall, left completely unharmed.

Yet, he wasn’t out of danger. Just as soon as he had managed to find his footing again, Jo pressed him and launched a follow up attack. She was suddenly directly in front of him, driving her right knee upward, underneath Christopher’s guarding arms, and striking him in the chest. He was thrown upward, and back, his feet sailing several inches off of the floor. Taken aback, he wasn’t able to defend as Jo shuffled to the side, and drove a right hook right into the side of his face. He was knocked sideways, his feet flailing from beneath him, but he never made it to the ground. Instead, he was struck in the gut by Jo’s left knee with so much force that he was sent flying, only to land sprawled out on the arena floor, sliding the rest of the way to the arena boundary, stopping short of falling out of bounds.

Her opponent downed, Jo stepped back and waited for the stout man to begin the count. As he had earlier when met with an unexpected turn of events, he took almost a full second to start. Jo didn’t mind. She knew that, regardless of when the count began, it wouldn’t matter. Her opponent wasn’t going to stay down for long. She placed her hands back into her pockets as the count reached two, and, as Jo had expected, Christopher Johnson pushed himself back up to his feet.

“You’re resilient,” Jo told him. “I’m not sure how many times I hit you back there, and your defenses barely faltered the entire time. It doesn’t even look like I’ve hurt you at all. That ice Sol of yours really is impressive.”

“It is,” Christopher told her, “but it comes with its down sides. It hampers my movements so much that keeping up with someone like you is almost impossible. I’m not sure how many times back there I had to choose between trying to score a hit, and keeping ahead of your next attack.”

Jo had noticed that as well, and despite the fact that Christopher’s aura looked just as strong as it had been since the fight began, she had also seen it falter more than once during their brief clash, and even again just now, just before she’d scored her hit on Christopher’s jaw. Looking, she could see a bruise forming there, just below the jawline. If she hadn’t been looking for it, she might have missed it.

Jo smiled, and sighed with relief.

“What are you suddenly so happy about?” Christopher asked, only half invested in the answer to his own question.

“I was worried for a second,” Jo answered, stepping back from Christopher as she spoke, until she stood once again in the arena center, “but I just figured out how to beat you.”

She rushed forward again. If Christopher was surprised by her statement, or believed that she might be right, he didn’t show it. He moved to meet Jo’s attack, taking her first strike in the right breast. Jo recoiled, and struck again. This time, Christopher defended, but he did so casually, as if it didn’t matter. As he did, though, his aura flickered. Jo watched it, and after just a second, she saw what she’d been looking for.

Her smile widened. She shuffled to the side, so that Christopher was between her and the nearest of the four lights situated at the four corners of the arena. As she passed into the shadow cast by Christopher’s body, it was like she became a shadow, if only for a moment. A shocked Christopher reacted, purely on instinct, raising his arms up just in time to guard against the next thrust of Jo’s fist. He hadn’t even seen her move, and yet she was right on top of him, in a completely different stance than she’d been in less than an instant ago.

And then, with no warning, she was just gone. Christopher hadn’t even had time to register her disappearance before he found himself flying forward, a sharp pain erupting from the small of his back. He was sent tumbling forward, and landed sprawled out a few yards away. This time it took him until the count of seven to rise again, and even longer to straighten up completely. Jo was positively beaming with pride.

“See,” she explained, “when someone hits you, in any part of your body, when your aura’s up, your aura springs to cushion as much of that blow as it can. That’s why it flickers. Your aura, it tightens up. It pulls itself toward the point of contact, leaving itself thinner everywhere else, and then springs back. But I noticed, completely by accident, when I hit your jaw, that if someone is quick enough, they can get ahead of it before it snaps back into place, and they can hurt you. That’s what I just did.”

“I’m impressed,” Christopher replied, smiling right back at her, “but at this point I’m less interested in how you hurt me than I am in how you moved like that. You didn’t telegraph your moves at all. It’s like you were in one place, and then you were somewhere else. I’ve never seen anyone move like that.”

Jo hesitated. If she told Christopher how her technique worked, he might be able to find some way around it. However, with his aura hindering him, he couldn’t hope to keep up with her technique, and she had figured out how to get around his aura, so maybe it was only fair to even up the score a little bit. Besides, Jo was proud of her technique, and she didn’t want to keep it a secret forever.

“I call it Shadow Step,” she explained. “It’s a technique that I created that allows me to multiply my speed in quick bursts without giving any indication of when and how I plan to move. Like a shifting shadow.”

“That’s not the only reason you call it that,” Christopher interjected, before Jo had a chance to say anything else. He met her eyes, “You can only use it when you’re standing in a direct shadow.”

Jo was taken aback. She wanted her technique known, but she didn’t want the whole world to know how it worked, and yet Christopher had figured out its weakness after one use.

“How?” she almost stammered.

“I noticed,” Christopher replied, “that you repositioned yourself so that, when we clashed again, I would be directly between you and the light. Then you disappeared as soon as you stepped into my shadow. Hearing the name that you gave it just proved me right. You have a shadow Sol. An unnatural Sol. And you figured out how to use it to make yourself faster in the shadows.”

Jo took a step back. She felt like someone had dropped a rock in her stomach. It was no big secret that she had an unnatural Sol, a Sol that manifested itself with powers that don’t exist in nature. A Sol born of self-doubt and denial. It was no big secret, but she didn’t go around announcing it, either. It was hard to tell what people would think when they found out. Most people with unnatural Sols were just like everyone else. Their unnatural Sol was born of no more than a childish insecurity that they had outgrown over time. A few, however, were different. Their unnatural Sols were born of some evil impulse that the common person didn’t share. Jo almost didn’t blame those who immediately assumed the worst of anyone with an unnatural Sol and shunned them. Almost.

“No judgment,” Christopher added, when he saw Jo’s reaction. “Truth is, I’m impressed. I heard that unnatural Sol doesn’t mix well with life energy. That, when they mix, it goes out of control. That makes your aura even more impressive. You were able to mix them together and control it.”

He sounded genuinely impressed. Jo could tell that he was serious. He didn’t care if she had an unnatural Sol or not, but he wasn’t the only person in the room. Jo was well aware of the crowd watching them. They had heard everything that Christopher had said. Most of them only seemed concerned with when the fight was going to continue, but Jo could see some of them murmuring to one another. She felt her face grow hot. She had to force herself to ignore them, and focus once again on her opponent, and their unfinished business.

“I’ll admit,” Christopher told Jo, “even if I divide my attention between fighting you off and maneuvering you out of any direct shadows, you’ve still got my ice Sol beat, hands down. I just don’t have the speed or the offensive power to bridge the gap that your Shadow Step creates.”

Jo frowned, I sense a “but” coming…

“But,” Christopher explained, “like you, I have a Sol that isn’t entirely normal.”

Suddenly the energy surrounding Christopher changed. Jo felt it first. Up until that moment, Christopher’s presence had felt cold, distance, and guarded. In an instant, that changed. He began to radiate warmth that put Jo on guard, that made the hairs on her arms stand on end. Just him being there in front of her made her feel like she was growing too close to something that would burn her. It reminded her of when she would fight against Tucker.

Jo hadn’t even begun to internalize the sensation, when this sudden difference in Christopher’s energy turned outward. His calm, stable, icy blue aura flared out, and turned hot red and wild. A wave of heat rolled off of his body and singed Jo’s cheeks like the beams of a direct summer sun on a cloudless day. Jo was astonished. The rest of the room was equally surprised, the revelation about the nature of Jo’s Sol all but forgotten. Even the other members of Christopher’s team seemed surprised at this turn of events.

“I don’t just have an ice Sol,” Christopher explained, “I have a dual Sol! Fire and ice!”

Another wave of heat exploded from Christopher’s location, and he launched toward Jo like a rocket. She was able to avoid the oncoming strike, just barely, but shuffling swiftly to the left. She’d acted on impulse. She hadn’t even had a chance to internalize what she’d just seen. A dual Sol. It wasn’t unheard of, but it was so rare that she’d never expected to meet someone with one.

“This is my fire Sol,” Christopher announced, as he bore down on Jo, unleashing a flurry of attacks that she was only barely able to either deflect or avoid. “As much as my ice Sol limits my speed and boosts my defense, my fire Sol enhances my speed, and boosts my offense.”

He drew back his right fist, wrapping it up in his red energy, and struck right at the center of Jo’s torso. She couldn’t avoid it, so she raised her arms to guard. The force of Christopher’s attack knocked her arms right out of the way. She took a clear hit to the chest, and was knocked backward. The air burst from her lungs. Before she could recover, Christopher pressed his attack, driving an uppercut into Jo’s gut, spinning in place, and launching a kick right at her jaw. She managed to throw up her arms in time to cushion against the attack, but the force of the impact still sent her tumbling over sideways, sprawled across the arena floor. Her aura flickered, and then disappeared.

The stout man started counting the moment that Jo fell. Christopher’s attack had been relentless. Jo was left lying there, gulping down air to replace what he’d taken from her. She wasn’t in any position to even consider getting back up. Christopher had all but won, and yet he didn’t let down his guard. He’d seen how stubborn the Dueling Hearts could be. He stood back from Jo, his red aura still burning around him.

Then, just as the count reached seven, Jo pushed herself up. Her lungs still burning, her chest aching, her arms throbbing, she sprung to her feet, and then lunged. Prepared or not, Christopher had not expected that. He threw up his arms, and his red aura shuttered, and changed back into his blue one. Jo’s attack hit Christopher’s guard with earth-shattering force, but Christopher barely budged. There was a burst of heat, his aura turned red again, and he countered, aiming for Jo’s gut, but she sidestepped, and spun in place, launching a backfist at the side of his head. His aura flashed blue again, as he raised his left arm to deflect the strike, and then turned red again as he shuffled forward and threw a right hook at Jo’s jaw.

Christopher was faster than her old sparring partner Keith, by a wide margin, and yet, in that moment, Jo didn’t see a difference between them. As Christopher’s fist drew close, she leaned out of the way, and the strike sailed over her shoulder. She reached up, and gripped Christopher’s wrist in her left hand, as she thrust upward with her right, catching Christopher in his elbow. There was a loud pop, and Christopher staggered back, cradling his injured joint. It was a reflex, one that took him less than a second to overcome, but in that second, Jo forced the energy of her Sol to mix again with her life energy, and multiply in power. She bore down on that power with her entire will, even as she launched herself forward, and her aura flared to life all around her once again.

Christopher was taken aback. He’d never fought someone so persistent. Despite his surprise, though, as Jo approached, he didn’t fall into what was undoubtedly her trap, and use his newly-injured arm to defend. Instead, he took a risk. Without shifting back to his ice aura, he deflected Jo’s next attack, with significant effort, and launched a kick, backed by the full power of his fire Sol, at Jo’s sternum. Jo took the attack, allowing herself to be knocked back, using that momentum to flip backward and launch a kick of her own at Christopher’s face. He blocked, but the force of the blow still sent him stumbling back. Jo pressed, and Christopher sidestepped, and deflected another kick to the side.

As Jo stepped past Christopher, though, Christopher was confused to see a triumphant smile pulling at his opponent’s lips. She may have found her second wind, and gotten a few hits in, but Christopher was still in considerably better shape. Why did she look like she’d won? It wasn’t until Jo suddenly disappeared that he realized that he’d allowed himself to be maneuvered into the very center of the arena. Between the overhead ceiling lights, and the four bright lights at each of the arena’s four corners, he was casting deep shadows in multiple directions. Before he knew it, he could feel the movement of the air around him as Jo jumped from one shadow to the next, surrounding him, boxing him in, and picking up momentum with each pass.

Christopher turned, trying to pin down Jo’s exact location. If he could just find her, he might be able to push himself hard enough to catch her and disrupt her attack before she could find an opening and hit him with all of that built-up momentum. His aura turned icy blue, and he mixed the energy of his Sol with his life energy again and seized hold of it, causing his aura to burn brighter, making his defenses even stronger. His eyes darted around, tracing the path of the shadow circling him. Then, just before he could pin down the pattern of her movements, Jo flickered into view directly in front of him. She hung in the air, her fist drawn back, her aura flaring, ready to strike, but she hesitated for just an instant too long, and she’d left her torso wide open.

It isn’t even possible to describe how relieved Christopher felt in that moment. His aura changed, turning red again, and he reached out to strike Jo’s exposed torso with all of the strength that he had left. This meant dropping his defenses, but it didn’t matter. There was no chance of his attack not connecting. He’d won.

That’s when his fist sailed right through Jo, and all of that relief turned sour.

She used her speed, he realized, to create a lingering image of herself!

The realization crossed his mind too slowly for him to do anything about it. The lingering image faded, and the real Jo flickered into view in his peripheral vision, her fist already an inch from his face. He didn’t have time to change his aura. He’d been overconfident, and left himself wide open, and his opponent had anticipated the whole thing. The force of Jo’s final attack was substantial enough to send Christopher tumbling out of the arena entirely, and it was just as painful as that suggests, and yet, as Christopher fell, more than anything, he felt satisfied.

Meanwhile, Jo skidded to a stop in the arena center. She took a second to catch her breath, and drop her aura, and then her face lit up as it sunk in what she’d just managed to accomplish. Christopher was a professional, a champion who hadn’t suffered a single loss since beginning his career as a professional fighter, and she’d defeated him in front of an entire room full of people. She looked around, as the same realization came upon the crowd, and Jo’s friends, and they began to cheer.

Nothing seemed real. Jo couldn’t remember a happier experience. She was sure that she’d been happier than this, but in that moment, it didn’t matter. She stood there in the center of the arena while the stout man announced her victory, and basked in that glory until, finally, she was asked by the stout man to step down, and the crowd began to disperse.

Is was then that fate, or karma, or whatever force in her life kept making things more difficult for her, decided that Jo had had enough happiness for one day. As soon as she’d stepped down beside the arena, the stout man approached her, and he didn’t look particularly happy.

“Excuse me,” he said, in the way that someone tends to just before saying something monumentally offensive, “but I’m going to have to ask you and your team to leave, immediately.”

“What,” Jo asked, genuinely perplexed, “why?”

“You didn’t make this company aware when you applied to win a place in this match that you had an unnatural Sol.”

Confusion turned to guarded dispiritedness, as Jo asked, “So?”

“So,” the stout man replied, indignantly, “you had to know that this match would be used to promote this location. Quite frankly, our parent company, ProCorp, isn’t the type to be associated with such people.”

By now, Jo was fuming. She felt a coldness seize her fast-beating heart, and she clenched her fists. It was everything that she could do to keep herself from hitting the stout man then and there. To keep her aura from flaring up around her again, and knocking the stout man away. The stout man hadn’t bothered to keep his voice down. The remaining crowd, and the rest of Jo’s team, had all heard what he’d said. They watched the two as if watching a trainwreck, as if they didn’t see any way to intervene, and yet couldn’t tear themselves away.

“It’s nothing against you, personally,” the stout man said pompously, “I don’t know what lie you told yourself to turn your Sol bad, but generally I think that it’s best not to take the chance that someone might misunderstand things. So, to avoid damaging this facility’s reputation, you’re being asked to leave and not return.”

Jo might have attacked him. She might have lost control. She’d never been so mistreated, so humiliated, in her entire life. She was so angry that she was beginning to literally see red. She, and the stout man, were only saved by, of all people, Christopher Johnson. Beaten and bruised, he still carried himself with calm poise as he stepped up beside Jo and the stout man and said, simply, “Well that’s just stupid. My agent told me that ProCorp approached him and asked if I might be willing to consider promoting this place. If this facility has such backwards policies, then I guess I don’t have to think too hard about the answer.”

He turned to Jo. He was hiding it well, but he was almost as angry as she was. Despite the nature of the conversation, and all of the people still watching, he offered Jo his hand. Surprised, she took it.

“I’m sorry I brought up your Sol,” Christopher told her. “If I hadn’t, this probably wouldn’t have happened, but I want to be clear that that was the best match that I’ve ever had, and I’m proud to call you my rival. You’d better get stronger, because next time our teams fight, I won’t make things so easy for you.”