Escaping Darkness

‘Gear up’ apparently meant putting padding on arms, legs, chest, and head. Jack would have asked where Aster even got the any of this, but after finding a pair of very sharp swords in the Tooth Palace, the winter sprite learned not to question what the Guardians owned. It was safe to say the Pooka had everything they could ever need for training including padding for simple sparring.

“Why do we have to put this rubber stuff in our mouth again?” Jack asked, holding up the piece of rubber in question. Ochieng looked over at Jack and shrugged, putting in his own.

“It’s called a mouth guard, Frostbite. Now put it in so ya don’t bite off yer tongue,” Aster ordered. The elder spirit stood by the ring that was to be used for the day’s training. He waited for the boys to finish putting on their gear. The Pooka was almost perfectly still, except for one ear that kept on twitching in different directions. It looked as if it were listening to something far off into the distance. Curious, Jack closed his eyes to see if he could hear anything. The only sound his ears picked up was what sounded faintly like a drum in the distance.

“Excuse me, Jack?” When Ochieng received no response from his friend, he bent down and picked up the remaining headgear for Jack. When it was clear Jack was still distracted, Ochieng aimed and tossed the piece of padding. Being as accurate as he would with his spear, Ochieng hit Jack squarely in the head. Jack’s concentration on the soft music broke and he glared at Ochieng. “I would suggest putting that on before we step into the ring,” Ochieng offered, pointing at the headgear in Jack’s hand as if he hadn’t done anything wrong. The Summer Season was fully equipped and just slipped his mouth guard into place as he stepped up to Aster.

Grumbling quietly, Jack slipped the padding on and fastened it snuggly before joining the two. Aster’s ear twitched and sent the Winter sprite a glare before clearing his throat.

“Right, today, ya both are sparring; no powers, no weapons. Just hand ta hand,” the Pooka instructed.

“Wait, how’s that supposed to help us defend ourselves against enemies?” Jack asked. Powers were the best way to win in a fight against another spirit with powers. So why were they learning to defend themselves without them?

“Because there will be times where ya can’t use either. For example, I know North occasionally runs inta people who can see him, but don’t recognize him as the jolly Christmas maniac. As a result, he has had ta defend himself without his magic. I have never had that problem, but ya both might, as yer both humanoid spirits. And it also helps against spirits, before ya ask. I’ve seen both Aria and Juhua take down spirits larger than either shiela with no weapons before.”

“I’ll admit to using l’eau for some assistance in knocking them off-balance,” Aria stated behind the boys. All three males looked to see both Aria and Ju materializing out of… a mix of mist and flowers. Apparently not even Aria could not escape the curse of plant life that plagued all spring spirits.

“Yer late,” Aster started, leveling a stern gaze on both female spirits. Both winced and put on their best apologetic faces.

“Sorry, my fault. I had to take care of a minor winter spirit who lost track of where she was and found herself too far north. And then I forgot to take a snow globe with me, so I found myself surfing from about Cancer to the North Pole to get Ju,” Aria said, her head sinking lower and lower as she explained.

“It’s not entirely Aria’s fault. I was caught up in the Irish harvest and just lost track of time,” Ju added, glancing at the Pooka to see if he accepted their reasons.

The older spirit just sighed and gestured towards the pile of protective gear. “Just put on yer gear and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Aria and Ju scurried off to obey, grabbing padding and putting it on. Aster turned back to Jack and Ochieng. “Alright, while the sheilas are doing that, Frost, Kiangazi, yer both in the ring.” Ochieng nodded and stepped up to one of the marked spots.

Jack swallowed hard. He couldn’t help but start to feel a little nervous. Sure, his father taught him how to defend himself when he was human, but that was with a shepherd's crook against wolves. His lessons never included bare hands against other humans. It just wasn’t needed. Burgess was small and peaceful, and there weren’t many boys Jack’s age for him to make it necessary to learn. The local Native American tribe was a good 20 miles away. Generally speaking, everyone just left each other alone.

Jack thought back to all the fights he had witnessed in his centuries of being unnoticed. Fighting didn’t seem too hard. You just had to lash out with an arm or a leg and hope it hit hard enough to knock the wind out the other person. A smirk twitched at the winter sprite’s mouth. Yeah, Jack had this.

Ten seconds after Aster called start, Jack was on his back. For a few seconds, Jack could barely see what was in front of him, he was very much aware of a stinging pain at the back of his head and it felt like someone had squeezed every last bit of air out of him. There was a persistent ringing in his ears.

“Jack!” There was padding before a thud and part of Jack’s vision was taken up by a dark brown face. “I am so sorry, I thought you were ready!” Ah, okay, Ochieng was talking to him.

“Oi, Jack, you okay?” a female asked now, sounding a little up and to the left.

“Oh, will you two just let him breath for a second?” another female snapped. “Jack, can you understand me?” Jack stiffly nodded once. “Do you feel severe pain anywhere?” Jack thought about this for a few seconds before shaking his head slightly. “Alright, I’m going to have you sit up, okay?” Jack nodded again before he began to pull himself up with an arm supporting him from behind. With some effort, his breaths came in gasps. The frost spirit blinked a few times before looking around, the ringing finally lightening up. His movements remained shaky and slow.

Ochieng was kneeling next to him on his right, wearing an expression mixed with guilt and worry. Aria stood a few feet off, her head tilted to the side in silent questioning. Aster was not far behind her, a faint look of worry finding itself on his face. Ju was the one holding him up, rubbing circles on his back to help him breath.

“How are you feeling?” Ju asked in a concerned, almost motherly, tone as she leaned over to look at older season’s eyes. She didn’t seem too worried overall.

“Like the yetis threw me through another portal,” Jack responded. He winced as he felt Ju brush over what was sure to be a forming bruise. So that’s where Ochieng hit him.

“And you’re sure nothing seriously hurts? You don’t feel nauseous or anything?” Ju pressed, removing her hand from the Jack’s back. Jack just shook his head, not feeling anything of real concern.

“Bloody hell, Frostbite. I figured ya weren’t too familiar with martial arts, but I thought ya’d at least be able to throw a punch,” Aster commented, finally speaking up.

“Sorry, Bunny, but I can’t,” Jack admitted, looking down at his hand trapped in heavily padded gloves. “I’ve never been in a fight without my staff or my frost, so I’m kind of limited to shooting ice beams, clubbing with my staff, and throwing snowballs.”

“Wait, you mean you have never received proper training in how to fight?” Ochieng asked, shocked at the news. Jack raised an eyebrow at the warmer spirit. Isn’t that what he just said?

Thankfully, Aria cut in “Ochieng, it isn’t common for people to be taught to fight unless they part of a warrior tribe or if their profession calls for them to fight, like a knight or a soldier. As a result, those not in either group tend not to learn to fight unless their parents can afford lessons, or they pick it up on the streets in order to fight better.”

“So that’s where ya learnt ta fight before tha May Queen asked me ta teach ya,” Aster said, grinning at the younger spring spirit. Ju turned to look at Aria like she’d never heard that before. Aria just shrugged at all of this.

“Let’s just say there’s a reason why, as a kid, I almost always wore shorts under my dresses, all of which were also easy to move in,” Aria concluded. “Anyways, aren’t we supposed to be learning something?”

“Right,” Aster agreed and turned back to the three still sitting. “Since Frostbite here doesn’t know how to fight, I’m going to have Juhua go over the basics with him, got it?” Both spirits nodded, not really seeing a problem with that. “Aria, I’m going ta have ya be Ochieng’s partner so I can see his style and how much he’s mastered.”

“Alright, sounds fine by me,” Aria responded, walking to the starting area which was… Wow, did Jack seriously get knocked three feet back?

The others on the ground got up and moved to their respective areas. Ju had Jack stand with his legs spread like he was riding a horse, and had him mirror her while she showed him how to block. She occasionally broke her stance and fixed the his arms. Easily growing bored, Jack found his eyes wandering over to the advanced sparring match.

Aria and Ochieng traded blows and dodged out of the other’s range in a way that could have been choreographed. Aria herself focussed more on her legs, whipping them out, spinning, and kicking, forcing Ochieng back towards the edge of the ring. Meanwhile, Ochieng used his arms more, avoiding Aria’s legs and trying to get in close to land some hits on her padded chest. Aria seemed to have caught onto his tactic though, and started blocking his punches, using the same moves Ju was trying teach Jack, all while throwing a punch of her own at the same time.

“Jack, I know how fascinating it can be to watch the advanced group have at it, but you do need to learn your basic blocks,” Ju criticized, pulling Jack’s attention away from the violent dance going on a few yards away.

“Hey, Ju?” Jack asked, noticing something off about the match. “Isn’t Aria right-handed?”

Ju gave the frost teen an odd look before glancing over at her friend. “She is, but her left hand’s faster. Right now, she’s not relying strength to win this match,” the Autumn spirit explained as she observed the blonde’s fighting tactics. The two watched as Ochieng shot his right hand out, aiming directly for Aria’s head. The blonde spun out of the way in an instant. Her arms shot up to grab her opponents extended arm, her left leg sweeping out to knock his legs out from under him, all while twisting her shoulders to pull his arm over her. In a few seconds, she stood over the winded African spirit lying on his back, asking if he was alright.

“How did she learn to do that?” Jack asked, amazed at how easily she took down the Summer Season.

“Well she has been trained by Aster ever since she was first named the Spring Knight,” Ju reminded him, impressed that Ochieng lasted as long as he did. “She taught me how to do that move, though I’ve never had to use it.”

Ochieng stood up and thanked Aria for the match before the two traded tips with Aster adding in his own two cents. Ju managed to wrangle Jack’s attention back by letting him move onto punching exercises, which involved hitting her hands for about an hour, give or take a century. After that it was kicking, which was apparently a lot harder than Aria made it look. Ju admitted that was partially due to Aria’s speed and years of training.

When Aster called them in for the day, Jack was about ready to collapse both from fatigue and frustration. Seriously, why did the youngest of the Seasons have to be the best when it came to fighting? Jack was older than her by over half a century and he couldn’t last ten seconds in the ring.

On the way back, it looked like only Aria had the energy to walk upright, though it was hard to tell. Ochieng looked worse for the wear and quietly revealed that he now sported a few bruises on his torso from repeated sparring matches with the former Spring Knight.

Later that evening, all four of them had nodded off during a movie North insisted on watching. When Jack woke up the next morning, he found himself on the floor of the entertainment room with pillows tucked under his head while sharing a large blanket with Ochieng and Ju cuddling, as well as Aria, who was curled around a snoozing Sandy. As carefully as he could, Jack wiggled out from under the blanket, trying not to wake the sleeping group, and went off in search of a camera. He disappointingly was unable to find one before Aria woke up ten minutes later.