Anisa was thrown hard into the ground, but she oddly didn’t feel it. She tried to roll to her feet but she felt him jump into the center of her back, putting his full weight down. She rolled to the left, her claws sailing towards Shawn’s face.

  Her mind returning to reality, she paused mid swing and was punished for it, her head being pulled forward making it harder to breathe and act. After a moment she was released and her teacher dismounted her. “You are still hesitating, Anisa! Again!”

  She snarked, “Well if you weren’t a literal fridge it would be easier to take you to the ground.”

  He threw a few strikes her way that she managed to avoid but he kept stepping forward into her dodges, trying to sweep her legs with each advance. She tried to lash out with a kick to make him back off, which did rattle him some, but when he retreated, he dove back in just as quick and managed to sweep her grounded leg, mounting her again. When he went for the grapple she threaded her arms through his to lock in some kind of chokehold but he blocked her efforts quickly. Using her leg power she managed to flip the situation, but he used the momentum and was able to reverse it again, swiftly taking back the dominant position. She aimed carefully and kicked him in the back of the head. Being at the edge of her range, he didn’t get the full force, but it was enough to loosen his grip and let her slip out of his mount and jump back to her feet.

  He sighed, “We are done for now.”

  She was annoyed and stated, “We started 10 minutes ago.”

  He nodded, “I’m not talking for the day. I mean at large. Your technical expertise is solid. You still hesitate, but I’m confident that you have finally learned all I can teach you.” She narrowed her eyes, clearly not amused by his implication of saying this after all losses and no wins. “I understand your feelings, but allow me to explain. I have not only more experience but a weight advantage. You can flip me all you want, but reality is that in a direct approach your opponent will have an advantage.”

  Anisa rolled her eyes and groused to herself, “Sounds like I wasted my time training here then. Wish you had said something a few years ago.”

  He shook his head, “No. You are misunderstanding. Terry told me you wanted to be a fighter, right? Did you notice something odd about what I was teaching you versus what I was doing?”

  She thought about it and sighed, “It was a little odd, but they all looked like the same moves.”

  He shook his head, demonstrating on the air what he had just done. Seeing it from the side instead of the receiving end made it easier to notice. It wasn’t the fighting style he was teaching her at all. They were done from all the same positions he taught her and returned to them, but they were visually different from here. He stated, “An effective fighter learns from as many different martial arts they can to supplement their style. I am a slightly larger build but smaller mass for my size. So I learned a little bit of Mantis Boxing to take advantage of that. Pair that with the Luta Livre I’ve been teaching you and I can be more aggressive, pulling my opponent’s guard before striking or sweeping.”

  He motioned one of the students over to demonstrate and when she saw it in action she could hardly catch when he changed between the two, but she could tell it was different than how she had been fighting. Once the demonstration was over he stated firmly, “You have the holds, strikes, punishes, and even sweeps down. The problem you have is your lighter frame. I know someone who might be able to help you with that, but he’s across the ocean.”

  Anisa sighed, “Well, I can go anywhere I want with the grades I’ve got. What prestigious establishment is he a part of?”

  He laughed at her and shook his head, “No. Not for your style. You would never get the attention you deserve from one of those teachers that does it for the money. Think rustic. Dusty. Old and ratty. That’s where he lives and trains.”

  She thought about it hard. Sculptura had not made herself known anywhere but her memories of her captivity. If it had found a host by now, it almost certainly wasn’t around here anymore. It didn’t even hunt the heroes down like it did before. The Psyclones were still active and public figures, rumors of a military buyout aside. Deciding that it was probably safer to finish her training and wait to hear from Terry any updates, she nodded, “Okay, I’ll make it happen. Where is he at?”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  ——————

  Sculptura dodged elegantly around the gouts of flame, striking Firebird directly in the veins on his neck, the poison paralyzing his body. She taunted, “All that power, you lot have only to discover how fragile you are in private. All it took was one sob story for you all to remove your armor, drop your guard, and hand me the keys to the kingdom.” She walked through the darkened halls, dragging her claws along the wall as she took advantage of her new human eyes adjusting to the dark. Anisa tried to resist her, tried to save her heroes. “It’s no use, little vessel. You’re mine. And when I find that friend of yours, I’m sure you can finally rest.”

  As she walked past the containment cells for the protective armor of the Psyclones, Sculptura was caught unaware when one of them jumped from its container and grabbed her. She laughed, throwing the armor against a wall before driving a spiked heel through its heart, “Blade. Always so brave but your flesh is simply human under-“ She was cut off when the armor swung wildly and dislocated her knee. The villainess was in fear from this hero surviving a deathblow. Maybe they weren’t as fragile as she thought.

  It was watching it slowly lurch towards her as it spoke with a familiar young voice that the villainess glared with venomous intent. “Don’t worry, Ani! I’ll beat her and get you free!”

  She kicked him hard against another wall, the monster feeling Anisa restraining her from going for another deathblow. “You moronic fool! Your greatest heroes couldn’t stop me!” She picked up the armor and threw it into the ground. “You don’t have any of their talents or powers and you are alone. Do you have a death wish?”

  He laughed as he swung his legs, rolling to a kneeling position before he was driven face down into the floor. “No, but if dying saves my friend then so be it. I made a promise and I’m going to keep it.”

  Sculptura started to put pressure on the helmet, feeling it slowly crack under the pressure of her heel. “There is no saving her. She is my vessel now. Accept that and perish like the rest of your weak species!”

  He grabbed her heel, driving it a little into the helmet, seeming to accept his fate. It wasn’t until he slipped out of the helmet, blood dripping down his face, and pushed her back that she saw his plan. Trying to catch herself, the helmet held no friction with the floor and caused her vessel’s legs to split in a way it had clearly not been trained or adapted for yet. As she recoiled from this, he took off the gauntlets and started striking her around the head and shoulders with them until her world began to blur. Anisa felt every strike. The searing pain of sharp metal piercing skin. Every blow and every fracture that was destined to come, but in this moment she tried to put more pressure on her captor. Surely if she pushed from inside and he pushed from outside then she would finally be freed!

  ———

  Anisa walked towards Shawn’s grave, surprised to see Gena for the first time since Shawn’s death. She could tell from the tears on her face that she still hadn’t healed. Anisa wondered if she should tell her what was going on, but the cold glare that placed all her grief on Anisa told her that it was not the time.

  She didn’t know what else to say so she stood next to her quietly. It had been so long. She and Terry had been focusing all of their free time to trying to figure out what the woman had told her and her own memories. In all of their efforts, they had forgotten about Gena entirely.

  Gena spoke coldly, “So how are things between you and your new boyfriend, Nisa?” Anisa glared at her implication and Gena brushed it off, “Let me guess, it isn’t like that. Just like it wasn’t with Shawn.”

  “It was good catching up with you. When you are done grieving, come find me.” Anisa wasn’t going to just stand here and take this. She had work to do.

  “Yep. Abandon me again. That’s fine.” Anisa paused before letting out a sigh, “Gena, I wanted to tell you at the funeral. Shawn liked you. Said he knew you liked him but he couldn’t tell you. He didn’t want to stop you from living your life. If he saw you-“

  Gena snapped at her, “How dare you! How dare you keep that from me! It wasn’t your decision to make, Anisa!”

  She spun on her heel and shouted back, “You are right! It was his and yours! You told me not to tell him and he told me not to tell you! You both made your-“

  Gena came to take a swing at Anisa who dodged it and effortlessly swept Gena’s leg. When the red head tried to continue the fight from the ground with biting, Anisa quickly mounted her and flipped her to the side, locking in a chokehold. Her teacher was right. This was so much easier when her opponent had a smaller frame. Once Gena had stopped struggling, Anisa said gently, “I’m sorry. I’m working to fix everything, but for now just know that I’m sorry about all of this and that if you ever need me, just call.” Releasing her former friend, leaving her there in the graveyard, Anisa walked away. She muttered to herself under her breath, “I promise I’ll pay you back, Shawn. And when I do, I’m going to kick your ass for this.”