Shabaka's Pride - Round 1: Match 1

            “What order will these matches occur?” asked Tilian, looking up at the tournament table written in light.

Shabaka didn’t care, she would be willing to fight a full four-person gauntlet in one go. She would probably lose, but if asked she would be willing. Intellectually though, she knew it would be better for her to have all her fights come as late as possible, let her opponents be worn down before she fought them. Then again, she wanted fair fights, and she wanted to be challenged. The most favorable outcome would be something between the two options, with her matches evenly spread out, and this was also probably what Bard had planned.  

            “It is fitting that you asked that Tilian,” said Bard, pointing his fan at his half-dragon son with a flick of his wrist. “I determined the rounds and match ups last night by drawing names from a hat. Round one will be you against Shabaka, and then Vitoroy vs Smallblade, while Amare gets the bye and will act as timekeeper.”

            Shabaka instantly started to think on how best to combat her brother. The issue was that more than any of the other, he was an unknown. She had play fought with Smalls, dealt with Vito at his shortest of tempers, and had seen Amare cast xyr spells. But when it came to Tilian, not once had she ever seen him do something remotely violent. That was until the battle at the dig site, where he had orchestrated the downfall of the giant Capital Robot. It proved that he had a mind for combat that needed to be feared.

            Soon, Shabaka stood opposite to Tilian. He looked nervous, if dragons could sweat, he would. His stance was cooked noddle like, and his eyes while locked his opponent, seemed to be staring off into the distance. To her left, Shabaka saw her father in a horse stance, his fan pointed to the ground. To her right, there was Amare, Smalls, and Vito. Xey were holding the pocket watch Bard had pulled out earlier and staring at it intently. Waiting for the exact right moment for the match to start.

            “And… BEGIN!” shouted Amare, and Shabaka jolted forth. The bales of straw in between her knuckles were tightly woven and packed, one solid backslap to her opponent’s face would be more than enough to knock him down. However, just as she suspected, Tilian was smarter than that, he wasn’t going to fall to a simple charge. Tilian thrust up the tip of his sword, almost like he was uppercutting her jaw. Shabaka redirected her striking right hand and hooked it so that the wooden sword’s ‘blade’ was caught in between her claws. Shed parried the sword, dragging it into the ground. Shabaka had the fight won. While keeping the sword stuck in the dirt with her right claw, she went to deliver a straight upwards punch with her left. Tilian opened his massive aligator like jaw, and bit down on the hay bales.

            “I won’t let you just overpower me!” Tilian said through gritted fangs. “I am still a dragon! You can’t underestimate me!” This made something clear to Shabaka that she hadn’t thought about before. For whatever reason, Tilian was always the victim of teasing by Shabaka and her brothers.

            “You know typically princesses are supposed to be afraid of dragons,” Shabaka had once mocked in response to his story about being nervous around girls.

            “Happy birthday to my dear brother, terrifying to children of men, a funny face to children of drakes,” once said Vito.

            “Sure, would be nice if we had a dragon that could breathe fire and light the stove,” Shabaka had said when having trouble preparing dinner one evening.

            “I love you,” cried Tilian, amber tears streaming down his face.  “But I have to prove my strength, not as a man, not as a dragon, but as your big brother!” He arched back with incredible, beast like force, and dragged the sword through the ground, back to him. This was just what Shabaka wanted. With the wooden blade how looser in the ground, she swung it back to Tilian, right at his shins, making a satisfying wooden knock sound. Tilian went off his balance. He turned his head, trying to drag Shabaka down with him. But then, Shabaka took a risk.

            “You don’t need to prove your strength right now, because I know you can grow stronger than any of us!” Shabaka shouted. Tilian’s eyes widened, and he froze for just a fraction of a fraction of a moment. She speared forward and overpowered her dragon brother. As soon as the tip of his wing touched the ground, Bard pointed his fan towards her. She had won.  

 

Amare

Vitoroy

Tilian

Smallblade

Shabaka

Points

Amare

~

 

 

 

 

0.0

Vitoroy

 

~

 

 

 

0.0

Tilian

 

 

~

 

L

0.0

Smallblade

 

 

 

~

 

0.0

Shabaka

 

 

W

 

~

1.0

Tilian vs Shabaka: Winner, Shabaka Bin Asa’um. Match time, 0:47.


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