Battle of Friends by horsechicklet |  |
Jade grinned at her opponent, a handsome spotted Kougra, Gaalin, who also happened
to be one of her best friends. Gaalin shrugged and shouted, "Here goes nothing!"
Jade nodded and waited expectantly for the referee, a red Korbat, to blow the
whistle that would allow the two friends to begin their friendly Battledome
fight. The whistle blew shrill and clear, sending a shiver down Jade's spine.
She paused only long enough to glance at her younger sister, Taculi, who was
also Gaalin's wife, before charging her lighting beams right at Gaalin.
The Kougra met Jade's blows with his sharp Kougra claws and mask. Gaalin tore
at Jade's fur, but the cloud Gelert could tell that her lighting beams were
hurting him far more than he was hurting her. She pulled them away and backed
off slowly, eyeing Gaalin. Quite a few of his HP were gone, Jade realised. She
herself hardly felt any weaker. Was it right to do this to Gaalin? she
wondered momentarily. Jade picked up her Wand of the Air Faerie, however, and
fixed her hypno helmet into place.
From the sidelines, the families of the two pets watched in eager anticipation.
Stevie and Koby had always been good friends, and most of their pets were married.
Taculi sat, nervous, while Stevie's oldest pet, Sugar_Snap14, tried to comfort
her younger sister. "You can't be upset if Gaalin loses, Tac," she reasoned,
"Jade is our sister, so if she wins we must be happy for her."
Sugar's husband, MystPaw, squeezed in the seat behind his Christmas Kougra
wife. "Rooting for Jade, Sugar?" he questioned.
"I don't know, really," Sugar replied, "Of course you're rooting for Gaalin."
"Older brothers tire me sometimes," MystPaw quickly stated, "I wouldn't mind
if your sister won. I like Jade."
Stevie smiled and whispered to Koby, "Family dynamics are so… interesting.
I can't believe we married most of our pets."
"They loved each other," Koby answered simply, "What could we do?"
"Watch the fight," Stevie replied quickly, pointing towards the arena. She
said to more, knowing it might be embarrassing if she told Koby right off the
bat that Jade had frozen Gaalin and could wipe him out at any second. Stevie
was acutely aware that Koby was unable to train Gaalin full-time.
At that moment, Jade stood, looking at Gaalin. He was frozen stiff and only
6 HP remained. Jade shook her head in disgust. Thoughts of her friendship with
this Kougra she was bashing and his sister, Cereille, encompassed the Gelert
in dismay. Why was she doing this? Why was she fighting her best friend, and
in so doing fighting his whole family, as well as hers?
"Aw, Gaalin," she muttered, "It's not your fault that Koby doesn't have the
funds to train you as much as Stevie trains me. This just isn't fair, I shouldn't
have challenged you. I respect you too much to do this. Get up and fight!"
With that, Gaalin was unfrozen. One look at Taculi renewed his vigor and he
attacked ferociously. Jade stood, accepting Gaalin's blows with humble resignation,
refusing to fight back. Finally, Jade was down to 16HP. She fingered her lightning
beams once more, leaving her blue scorchstone for another time. If she used
it, she would certainly win. She didn't want to be certain, she wanted to be
fair. To have fun. "This is it," she whispered to herself, knowing full-well
that the outcome of the battle would likely be a tie.
With a clash the two pets met and then fell back, exhausted. Jade knelt, waiting
for the last of her hit points to drain away. Five minutes later she looked
up. Gaalin was on the ground, almost unconscious.
"You still have six hit points, Jade!" Lieaea, Jade's youngest sister called.
"Oh," Jade said quietly. She stood up and faced Gaalin, a smile spreading over
her face. "You did it, Gaalin! Great job." Jade ran to her family and was buried
in hugs.
Back in the locker room, Gaalin moaned to Koby, "She sure beat the stuffing
out of me."
"Nonsense!" Koby retorted, "You were awesome. It was a spectacular fight."
"Yes," Jade walked in, "It was. And I've made a decision. I will never fight
a friend again. Next time, we will fight in a war, side by side."
The End
Author's Note: This story is completely true. Gaalin's owner, now endershard,
and I role-played the fight as it was going on. Unfortunately, Gaalin's owner
had to delete his account and his younger brother disowned Gaalin. Now visit Koby
at endershard
and see his new pet, Taewen. The moral of the story? Do not fight friends. |
