They called for entertainment.
Evolve hadn’t thought she would step up but her blood had been riled and she was ready for some sort of physical contest. Fighting, she thought, was a dance. You could do it on your own, but it worked best with a partner. There was a flow to a perfect fight, a give and take of movement as you sought out an opening. All she needed was an opponent. Someone who could give her a decent show.
She eyed the crowd and of course, she saw her brother. He would have to do. It wasn’t as if he was hard to convince, all that was required was a roll of a shoulders and challenge, ‘fight me.’ System Shock had never, not once in his life, turned down a fight. No matter the odds. He’d been trounced into the ground more than once because of it but always got up again kicking. Even if his strike rate against Evolve was currently at zero wins/fifty-two losses, it never occurred to him to stop trying. She had to admire that tenacity, even if he was as dumb as a stump.
So they stepped before the fire, staring each other down.
System Shock made the first move; she’d already known he would because he always did. He didn’t have the patience to wait, to seek out the right opening, to keep your opponent guessing. So she side-stepped, neatly and with minimum effort, pivoted on her hooves. As he rushed past, she could have ended it there, but this was a show, a dance. They had an audience.
He nearly surprised her. He put on the brakes, dug his hooves into the earth and whipped around, throwing his left side against hers. So he could learn new tricks.
Evolve sunk quickly and System Shock had nowhere to go but over her. He tumbled, hit the ground and was up again with hardly a breath in between, hooves lifting to strike. She was faster; she always was and darted back, just out of reach. Circling, waiting for her moment. Three misses; that was his limit. Three misses and frustration took over. She could see it on his face already, along with the iron determination.
He would try his new move again. As the thought crossed her mind, she almost laughed. Of course. It had almost worked for him once, so he would attempt it again.
Her brother charged but she didn’t dodge this time, she did the opposite of what he’d expected. Evolve met him head on but lower, her shoulder angled to collide with his chest and her head turned sideways to protect it from the impact. The move had the desired effect, as she heard and felt the whoosh of air rush from him. Winded, it was easy to tangle their hooves and lean him sideways.
She nipped him on the neck, a playful ‘got you!’ as he tumbled to the earth. A hoof to the neck and it was over.
“Nice try,” she said once he had yielded.
The audience wasn’t sure what they’d just witnessed but Evolve was pleased and she stepped away from her defeated opponent to get herself something to drink.