Tails of Lit and Dark: Chapter 4: Testing Darkness
The elderly panda walked their way into the Modern Quester, their silk robe blowing in the breeze. They heard the grunts of exertion coming from inside and sounds of either wood hitting wood or the unfortunate clangs of metal on metal. And the panda knew who they were looking for.
The warrior of darkness would be here.
The panda looked to the left and right, seeing no one. But straight ahead was the father, the red fox, sitting behind a desk and looking out into the training area. A smaller version of him was sitting on his knees, watching with great fascination.
The panda walked up, the walking staff they held hitting the floor every time they placed it down. The father looked towards the panda, and his eyes opened in shock. He placed the little fox on the chair he was just sitting on and walked up to the panda, arms crossed and his tail flicking with danger.
"Why are you here? We told you to not come near my son." The red fox growled.
The panda smirked. "Funny. I came here for him." The panda replied, the voice feminine.
The red fox began to growl louder, which made the panda's smirk larger.
The red fox turned away sharply and paced over to the training area. It seems she won.
"Braedon! Come over here! And bring your weapons as well!" The red fox ordered.
There was a muffled reply, but it seems that she will be seeing the warrior of darkness' skill for herself. A black fox jogged up to the red fox, wearing a faded green muscle top and white tracksuit pants. In his paws, he held a sabre in his right and a straight shortsword in the other, both by the hilts and kept away the blades from his body. The black fox saw the panda, confused as to who she is or why she is here.
The panda walked up to the black fox, the future warrior of darkness. That is, if he can accept the fact that his destiny has been set out for him in stone.
"Excuse my asking, but what is your name?" The black fox asked.
The panda smiled. "My name isn't important right now. But I know who you are, fighter of the dark." She replied.
The black fox's features went from being calm to one of shock almost instantly. He shook his head from side to side.
"No, I refuse to be a part of it." He said and began to walk back.
"You cannot avoid it, warrior. Rikmos made it so." The panda replied.
The black fox stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he turned back to face the panda, his features hardened like stone.
"Why are you here then?" He growled out.
That is unfortunate. If the black fox were to give in to anger, then Loscade's future would be nonexistent.
"To see your skill level with your weapons." The panda answered, calm presiding her emotions.
"Then to a sparring room we go." The father said.
He nodded to the black fox, who transferred his sabre to his left paw, picked up a key from a whole bunch of hooks with great dexterity and walked back into the training area. The red fox motioned his head for the panda to follow, which she did. The smaller red fox jumped off the chair and ran to the older fox's leg, trying a futile attempt to hide behind it yet look at the panda.
The panda only kept on walking and to where the black fox stood, the door next to him open. The attacking of anything stopped while the panda made her way over to the room where she will fight the darkness-warrior.
She entered and the black fox came in after her. He left the door open, and held his two weapons in both of his paws.
"Once more, I shall ask for your name. What is it?" He asked.
The panda smirked. "If you want to know...." She began.
She picked up the staff and twirled it. She held it in an inverse grip in her right paw, a look of complete focus on her face. Only the smirk gave her emotions away.
"... You must knock me off my feet first." She finished.
The black fox smiled and got into a ready stance, sabre out in front and shortsword behind, right foot slightly forwards.
They stayed that way for a minute, silence between them. The black fox jumped forwards and struck with the sabre, his right foot forwards. The panda stood there, waiting.
Only when the dull blade came close, the panda twirled her staff and knocked the sabre away to her left. The black fox stepped with his left foot and struck with the shortsword when the sabre was knocked away, but the panda twirled the staff once more and deviated the strike over her head and to her left.
The black fox spun on his toes and swung the sabre once more. The panda ducked under and swung her staff at the fox's legs and sent him onto his back and tail. The panda stepped a couple of steps back when the fox swept both his feet at her legs.
He rapidly stood, holding the swords inversely and in front of his body. He was still, but the panda knew better than to think he was just waiting for her to move. The fox stood there, still waiting.
The panda, knowing that she would need to strike at some point, decided to do so now. She twirled the staff around and swung heavily at the feet. The fox nimbly jumped over the stick and leapt forwards when he landed, shortsword ready to strike. The panda quickly moved to the fox's left and struck with the end of her staff into the fox's stomach.
The fox stumbled back and dropped his shortsword to clutch at his stomach. He was breathing heavily, a look of pain evident in his face.
'Well, this is easy.' The panda thought to herself.
The black fox stood back up, growling out his breaths.
"Three more tries." The panda announced.
"Of what?" The dark-warrior growled.
"To get me off my feet. After the third fall, you do not deserve to know my name for now."
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Later:
Braedon unwrapped his paw-wraps, his knuckles sore from the beating. His father walked past him, standing in front of the six photographs that hung on the wall.
The photographs? Past owners of the Modern Quester, all once a part of the Reischer family and all foxes of the same colour, all of which descended from a once prestigious line of warriors.
"Dad." Braedon begun. Azaz turned around to face his eldest son. He saw the unhappy pup he now rarely sees, not the courageous vulpine he usually sees now. "I'm sorry I couldn't beat her."
"Don't worry about that, son. It's just an indication."
"How so?"
"That you need to embrace the fox within you."
Braedon's ears pricked up. Embrace the fox?
"W-what do you mean?"
"Do you know why I am able to beat you so easily?" Azaz asked. Braedon nodded, confusion still written across his face. "It's is because I embrace the natural gifts given by us being foxes."
Braedon's eyes widened, his mind now in full blown realisation.
"You get in and out using our natural swiftness and use our lean stature to dodge easily." Braedon answered.
Azaz nodded. "You need to use those qualities that make you a fox. I tell the experienced bears and gorillas that come to use their natural strength when they fight. You must do the same with yourself."
Braedon embraced his father, considerate of the now helpful tip. They packed everything away, turned off all the lights and left the Modern Quester for another night.
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The panda sat down in the passenger's seat in a nearby car. A wolf, his fur the common grey with a bang that is an odd shade of dull blue over his left eye, sat in the driver's seat.
"How did it go?" He asked the panda.
"The warrior of darkness is not ready yet. But still, he did not give up." The panda answered.
"Any flaws?"
"He has unbridled anger if provoked. I fear it may consume him if it goes too far."
The wolf started the car up.
"Then let's hope he doesn't succumb to it, Ming. Only Master Rikmos knows what side the warriors will lean towards."
The car pulled onto the road and out of the local area, driving away into the middle of nowhere that barely anyone knows about.