Authors: Palladian
The second charge started so quickly it seemed as if it had grown up from the ground organically. Suddenly they were together again, punches and blocks flying so fast they were difficult to see. Joan was taller in her suit than she normally is, but Casey was still taller and bigger than she was, and had more reach. Finally, though, she got in a good kick on Casey and drove her to one knee, but as she was going in with an elbow strike to Casey's neck, Casey gave Joan a lightning-quick punch to her midsection, and Joan went flying back, digging out a big section of earth as she landed a yard or two away.
I turned at that point to see if I could find out where Riss, Lily, and Serena had gotten to, but it seemed they were all in the woods right then, so by the time I turned back to where Joan and Casey had been fighting, they were several yards away from where they had been, rolling on the ground. Casey had a hold of Joan, who was struggling to get up, and Joan was punching Casey in the ribs, trying to get her to let go. When she did let go, Casey pushed Joan away and got to her feet at the same time, pressing forward to attack again.
Mr. Chen and I watched for at least twenty minutes or so as Joan and Casey fought. Joan seemed to have learned her martial arts mostly in the military, and her execution was very angular and to the point. Casey had obviously studied under Mr. Chen for long enough to pick up some moves I recognized, and I remember looking over at him at a couple of points and smiling as I saw Casey do something he'd taught me not long before.
Finally, it seemed as if Casey and Joan were getting tired, both moving more slowly and circling each other more often than coming in to fight. Mr. Chen and I were both getting reports every five minutes or so, and neither of the teams had located the flag yet; Riss was dragging Serena along with her, following Lily who had climbed the tallest tree she could find to look for the flag, and who was now trying several locations she'd spotted that seemed promising. As my latest report was coming in, however, I saw Joan lunge in for Casey and grab her sides, then a moment later, Casey cried out as there was a burning, sizzling sound.
In a blur I saw Casey lift her knee almost straight up against her chest to dislodge Joan, then snapped a kick at her. Even though Joan stood taller than normal, Casey's knee was at Joan’s head level, and the kick hit her squarely across the chest with a sound almost like a gunshot. Joan went flying for yards and hit the forest beyond, knocking parts off of a dozen or more trees with a terrible rending sound as her suit cut through them, finally landing on her hands and knees, shaking her head.
Everyone turned to look as the first tree began to splinter and crack, and as we all watched, the flag fell out of an abandoned nest. It had been on top of a shorter tree and we could see it flutter and sink towards the ground. Lily was halfway up a different tree, but Riss began running for where the flag had fallen, dragging Serena with her. Casey stood in place, trying to gather her breath, her hands on her knees and still looking pained, but she straightened up and began walking for the spot as well, moving jerkily.
Riss grabbed the flag and a moment later, Casey gathered up her and Serena and ran off into the trees. Lily made it back down from the tree she'd been climbing and looked off in the direction they'd gone, then shook her head and came to see to about Joan.
Casey, Serena, and Riss showed back up about fifteen minutes later, Serena grudgingly agreeing that they'd held the flag for the required amount of time, rubbing her wrist once Riss untied it and glaring at her. We then reviewed everything and had breakout sessions where we worked together in small teams to apply what we learned, but this email is already way too long, and most of that was way more boring anyway, so I'll sign off. I hope everything's well with you, and that you've found out more about your trip.
About a week later, Kate wrote back.
Ha! I would have PAID to see that fight. No chance you caught it on camera? I know, probably even if you did film it, I wouldn't be allowed to see it. I'm glad it sounds like it all worked out so well, though. Hopefully everyone found out a little about the importance of teamwork…and maybe that idea will trickle over to our group? Well, I can wish for it, anyway…
I didn't write sooner because I've been getting ready for a big trip. First, we'll be hitting the Great Barrier Reef near Australia for a couple of weeks, and then we’ll spend a week in Antarctica. I've been working to decide what I need to pack, and they've been giving me endless lectures and study assignments about the creatures to be found at each of those places, which to avoid and which to look out for. Fortunately, I just have to be able to see the animals and observe them for a short while before I can pick up things from them, so many of their warnings are unnecessary. But I like seeing the pictures and hearing more about all of the creatures there. The reefs look like they'll have a lot of interesting things to see, but I've been working hard at improving my scuba skills, since one of the easiest ways you can get hurt there is to get washed into a reef. There are lots of things that can sting or cut you, if you do, and some of those are even deadly poisonous in Australia.
Anyway, I'll be leaving in a couple of days, and after that I'll be going to visit my parents for Thanksgiving. I'll have my laptop with me, though, so I'll try to email you every few days about all of the things I'll be seeing. Say hi to everyone there for me! I hope no one's still mad after the training.
Lex wrote back the next day,
That's SO exciting about your trip! Definitely keep me posted, I want to hear every detail. Everyone's good here, actually. Riss, Casey, and I seem to have gotten closer since the team exercise, and we actually laugh and joke during our (now traditional) weekly meal together, something I didn't know Riss ever did. It’s also nice because Casey always seems to make her most delicious recipes when we do get together.
I've been working out a couple of times a week with Serena, as well. She seemed upset at Riss for a few days, but I guess she’s not the type to hold a grudge, so we're now all back on speaking terms. However, she did come to me afterwards and ask that I help her get stronger so that she could do more in a situation like that in the future, so of course I agreed. She's never worked out much in the past, but she seems determined to stick with it, so it's been going well. My work with Mr. Chen is going well, too. He seems pleased with me, and I feel like I've been learning an awful lot.
Anyway, I probably shouldn't send a long letter because you're going to be busy getting ready for your trip. Let me know how it's going when you have time. I'm looking forward to hearing about all of the cool new things you're going to be able to do!
A week later, Kate replied.
Hey! I really like Australia. : ) Just wanted to start with that; the people are really great here, and there's so much to see on the reef that I spend most of my days there, swimming around and watching. We’ve had this series of perfect sunny days, too, which has made everything even better.
I've learned to create crazy poisons, make my skin super slippery or gripping or tearing (sharks have skin like that, kind of like the gloves Victor made for you), and all kinds of other amazing things. The downside is that I pretty much need to be in water to do all of that, because otherwise I'll “drown”…I don't know what else to call it; it's weird to be standing in the air, unable to breathe it.
I have to say if you get a chance you should visit. It's really beautiful and a lot of fun. I wish I had time to see more on land, but I've been too fascinated with the reef to spend more than a day or so there. Most of that we spent going to zoos, anyway, to see some of the unusual land critters here, as well as some of the amphibians. : )
Glad to hear everyone's doing well, including you. I hear from Victor that everything's status quo at home base. He's been working on a few hot projects, though, so I don't hear much news. Anyway, I hope things continue to go well, and I'll keep you posted from this end. I'm attaching a few of the cool photos my team took, so I hope you like them.
In the next couple of days Lex wrote back.
It looks so beautiful there! I definitely want to visit now so I can go snorkeling and see all the amazing fish and things on the reef. I'll probably need to resort to using air tanks, though. Glad to hear you've been getting a lot out of the trip, too. I hope the Antarctic trip is just as successful.
Everyone here is doing well. I've continued to work with Riss on stuff, and between that and hanging out together once a week, it seems like she's finally getting used to us. Casey and I, at least. The workouts with Serena have been going well, too. I’ve actually had to encourage her not to work so hard that she gets hurt. I’m really happy about the fact that Mr. Chen has been teaching me a lot of new moves lately. It makes me feel like he really does trust me.
Casey found out we'd been writing, so she said to tell you she says hi and that she heard you have some fancy moves, so she wanted to spar with you one day. I forgot to mention earlier that the two of us started sparring once a week a little while ago. We'd been talking about my “fight” with George, and we both agreed it was useful to have some idea of what to do if we were fighting someone so different from ourselves. It's scary to have a fist flying at you that could easily bash your head flat, but Casey seems terribly careful, so I think we've both been learning a lot.
OK, I really should go now. Hope your trip is still going well and I’ll talk to you later!
About a week later, Kate sent another email.
Well, it's cold as hell in Antarctica, but everyone who lives here swears that it's really warm. It's been kind of cool, though (no pun intended), since a lot of the wildlife in this place isn't too wary of humans. As a result, I’m able to get a lot closer to them than I can usually in order to pick up on what they do. At first, I just focused on the animals on land (maybe “on ice” or “on snow” would be more accurate), but after picking up on some seals and penguins, I wanted to see if I could swim using my new talents in order to pick up on the creatures underwater.
I tried it with a wetsuit and it went pretty well, except for my face, hands, and feet. I could only stay under the water for about five minutes before they started to freeze up, and I had to get out and get warm. I guess the fat layers in those parts of my body are too small to effectively act as insulators like they do for seals and penguins. Even with that, I’ve been able to see some amazing underwater creatures, and I've picked up all sorts of ways to deal with the cold and other new stuff, too.
It’s weird though, I found out after overhearing the two other people they sent me with talking that our sponsors decided to send me on this trip because of global warming. That's just sad; I don't want to be the only record that all these animals and fish once lived. Apparently it hits the Arctic and Antarctic the hardest, so things have really been heating up down here over the past decade or so, and wildlife numbers have been dropping like a stone. Plus they wanted me to go to the Great Barrier Reef due to the bleaching coral reef problem… : (
The people who live at the research stations we've visited here are interesting, but some seem a little weird. I guess living in this kind of environment for at least a year (which is how long most of them stay, at minimum) might make anyone seem a little strange if it's not what you're used to. They have a lot of great information about the animals that come here, though, so I've been talking to them a lot. I guess it's the start of the tourist season here (bet you didn't know there was one!), so I imagine they'll have a lot of other new folks to talk to over the next few months to shake off the winter isolation blues.
Anyway, I’ve got to go; we're arranging an expedition out to an area where the people at this station have said some penguins go to breed, ones I haven't seen yet. Hope all is well with you guys. Tell Serena, Casey, and Riss I say hi from the bottom of the world!
A few days later, Lex responded.
Hey, Kate. Glad to hear the trip's going well. I didn't know Antarctica had a “tourist season,” although I'm sure it would be interesting to see. I can't say the reason for planning your visit surprises me, though; I think any logical person can look at the world around and notice that the weather seems broken, but there sure is a lot of propaganda going on here to try to deny it.
Not really anything out of the ordinary to report here, I guess, except that everyone here is getting ready for Thanksgiving. Serena doesn't have to make travel arrangements, but she is going to her folks' house for dinner. She won't be staying overnight or anything, though (they don't get along, I understand), and she made me promise that we'd be working out on Friday and then going out clubbing that night. I was going to be here anyway, so of course I said yes.
Casey is going home for about a week. Her parents and her little brother have passed on, but she has some aunts, uncles, and cousins that she's planning to catch up with. I didn't talk with Joan about it, but I hear she's leaving for the week too. Which pretty much just leaves Riss and me here. I haven't talked with her about it, yet, but I’m planning to make something nice, so hopefully I can convince her to join me when it’s time to eat.
Early the following week, Kate wrote back.
I hope you and Riss have a good time on Thanksgiving. I'd invite you guys down here to my parents’ house, but Florida seems like an awfully long way to go just for turkey and sweet potatoes. Besides, it sounds like the two of you are getting to be pretty good friends now, so I'm sure you'll have fun. Just me and Mom and Dad here; they had me kind of late in life, so they're getting on in years now. Unfortunately, my dad has had some problems with his heart these days, so he’s not able to get out too much and enjoy the nice weather. Well, at least it seems pretty warm to me after Antarctica, but all of the people here in Florida are complaining and wearing sweatshirts and jackets. I'm hot in a t-shirt and shorts, so I guess it's not all bad. : )