Will of a Prince

Avala strode out of the small medical ward in search of her brother. She didn’t show it, but her heart was anything but still. Years of emotions were welled up inside of her, ready to be released in the upcoming spar. She inhaled deeply before closing her eyes.

"It’s just a spar. Focus, Avala. This will be nothing."

When she opened her eyes, Squabee was standing in front of her holding a powdered pastry. She looked at Avala with fear in her pupils as she dropped the treat on the ground.

"What do you want?"

Squabee ran away as fast as she could.

"I DON’T WANNA SPAR! PLEASE DON’T MAKE MEEE!!"

Avala slapped her forehead before she continued walking.

"Such an ignorant woman. Where the hell is Orvo when you need him?"

Avala continued walking through the convoluted halls of the kingdom until she finally reached the main dining hall. Inside, Slimo and all his friends were having a large feast. All of their arms wobbled as they attempted to pick up their silverware.

"Lucy, please feed me. My arms..."

"I can’t, Serena. My arms feel like snakes... dead snakes."

Zoey slammed her face on her plate and began eating without her hands.

"Who needs hands when you all have perfectly good teeth?!"

Surprisingly, Bo, Steel and Lee all followed Zoey’s lead.

Slimo noticed Avala approaching shortly after finishing his food. He could tell immediately that something was off.

"Avala. Are they late to the next training session?"

Avala continued walking towards Slimo silently. Once she got close enough, she reached out a hand. Slimo stared at it confused.

"Uhm... what are you doing?"

"Spar with me."

"What? Why?"

"Do it or else!"

Slimo rubbed the back of his head.

"Did I do something to piss you off yesterday? I’m sorry about interrupting the training session."

"Just shut up and spar me!!"

Slimo raised his hands defensively.

"But I don’t want to spar. You will clearly win, so what’s the point?"

"The point is-!"

Avala stopped and looked around at everyone eating at the table. A devilish grin appeared on her face.

"The point is, if you don’t spar with me, all of your friends must do one hundred laps across the top of the wall..."

Harold perked up hearing the suggestion.

"Hm. That’s doesn’t sound too bad."

"...with one foot."

Harold choked on his food. Abby got behind him and made him spit it out.

"Take your time while you eat!!"

Harold coughed out a desperate plea.

"Please, Slimo. Take the spar. Do it for me!!"

Slimo sighed heavily.

"Fine. I’ll do your stupid spar."

"Good. No holding back either, or I will kill you."

Slimo gave Avala a weird look before slowly standing up. Lidia put a hand on his shoulder before he walked away.

"Seriously. You better not die."

Slimo kissed Lidia’s cheek lightly and continued following Avala.

"It’s just a spar. I will be okay."

Avala led Slimo through an extremely convoluted path through the kingdom. There are many times that Slimo got lost, which was a rare thing to happen for him since he grew up around these streets.

"Uh... where are you taking me?"

"There’s a specific room father built for me to spar against my subordinates. The walls are made of the same material that surrounds this kingdom. It is nearly indestructible."

Slimo slouched his back.

"Hey, you really aren’t trying to kill me, right?"

"It wouldn’t be a true battle if we weren’t trying to take each other’s heads."

"I thought this was a spar?"

"That’s what I said."

"I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to this."

After three more moments, Avala led Slimo through a black steel door. The room they entered was as large as a field of crops, the walls surrounding them were around half the height as the ones outside, but their surfaces were strangely white.

"This room doesn’t make any sense. It didn’t look nearly as big outside, and these walls aren’t even the same color as the door."

Avala walked across the room, ignoring Slimo’s conversation. After creating a good bit of distance, she raised her fists.

"Are you ready?"

"Wow. You want to get right to it, huh?"

Avala remained silent, her green eyes shimmering with malice and determination. Slimo sighed and took a fighting stance.

"I’m sorry, Avala."

Avala dropped her guard slightly, confused by what he meant.

"For what?"

"For crushing you."

Suddenly, Slimo launched off the ground with all his might. The distance between him and Avala disintegrated into nothing. A fist was already flying at her cheek by the time she finished blinking. Avala grit her teeth and ducked under his punch. However, Slimo wasn’t going for a punch.

Boom!

A knee was sent flying into Avala’s stomach, causing a shockwave to reverberate across the room. The sound echoed off the wall’s multiple times before dissipating. Even with such a powerful kick landing in her gut, Avala didn’t move a muscle.

’How is he-?’

She couldn’t finish her thought. Another punch was sent roaring towards her face. She threw herself on the ground and swept her legs under Slimo’s.

What was supposed to catch Slimo off-balance ended up sending him straight into the steel wall. Slimo bounced off its metal surface and landed on his knees, struggling to get up.

’It... was that easy? Was I imagining it before?’

Avala shook off the initial assault and stretched her arms while Slimo steadied himself.

"Damn sis. You could at least hold back a little."

"I told you to not hold anything back."

"Well, if you insist..."

Slimo slammed his foot on the steel floor. It dented inward from the impact of his kick, sending a ringing sound across the room. He glared at his sister sternly while raising his hands.

"...then come and get me."

Avala screamed and jumped in the air. She appeared to glide through the air like a bird, throwing her leg down at Slimo the moment she got close enough. Slimo caught the leg as it connected with his shoulder. The force was so great that the steel beneath them dented more.

Instead of letting go, Slimo pulled her closer to throw an elbow on her chin. However, when his elbow tried to land, it slipped off her skin like nothing. Suddenly, another kick collided with Slimo’s ribs. He bit through the force and tried grabbing it before he flew away. However, once again, it slipped through his grasp.

Slimo flew backwards once more. The air around him screamed as he flew. Avala did not let this chance get away from her. She blitzed towards him and began her assault. Multiple kicks and punches collided with Slimo as he desperately defended himself. Slimo kept throwing counter punches in between attacks, but each time it slid off her skin and did no damage. In this fight, Avala was completely invulnerable... is what Avala thought.

Slimo was bleeding profusely. His face was swollen and his legs started shaking. All she needed to do was keep up her pace and she would win eventually. Slimo appeared to be helpless against anything she would do. His armor became a mess the more they fought.

Eventually, Slimo managed to push himself away from her and create some distance. Both him and Avala stared at each other heavily panting. Slimo slowly took off his breastplate and tossed it somewhere away from their skirmish. His shirt underneath was soaked with sweat and grime. He took that off too and wrapped it around his bleeding head.

"I should have taken that off earlier. One of my friends keeps making me great armor, but I can’t help but destroy it by accident!"

Slimo inhaled deeply and raised his fists. Avala’s eyes glowed with anger.

"No more talking!"

She punched the ground with all her might.

"RELEASE!"

The ground beneath Slimo became as slippery as ice. An explosion rang from under Avala’s feet as she shot towards him. Slimo perfectly blocked her attack, but he couldn’t stop himself on the floor. Both him and Avala were sent flying into the steel wall. Slimo managed to wrap his arms around her torso and throw her to the ground. Avala used her hands and pushed off the floor to send a massive kick into his face.

Even being at an incredible disadvantage, Avala still couldn’t seem to finish him off. Eventually, she showed the slightest bit of haste in one of her attacks. Hardly a single millisecond was different in her pace. However, the single millisecond was the window Slimo had been desperately waiting for this whole fight.

Avala’s fist scraped against Slimo’s forehead as it flew by, but before she could recover, Slimo took off his shirt that was wrapped around his head and wrapped it around her neck. Avala didn’t even realize what happened by the time he was already yanking her back, cutting off her oxygen. Her vision went dark immediately, panic rose in her chest, and she desperately grabbed the shirt that was strained around her.

Luckily, she was just able to touch it in time for Slimo to lose his grasp on it. Avala fell on the ground coughing while holding her throat. Slimo took advantage of her recovery and kicked her in the stomach. Then, he jumped on top of her and began to repeatedly punch her face.

It took a few moments before Avala raised her arms and guided Slimo’s punch to narrowly slip past her head and slam into the steel ground. Slimo’s bones groaned from the impact, causing him to reel back in pain. Avala screamed and used all the power in her legs to throw him off of her.

She pushed off the ground and dashed toward her brother for one final assault. Slimo got completely devastated. Every punch landed with perfect timing, power, and accuracy. The sounds of each punch echoed off the walls continuously until Slimo finally went limp, coughing up blood on the ground as he fell.

Avala stood over him and glared down into his yellow eyes. Gabriel’s warning flashed in her mind as she touched her neck lightly.

’It was only a millisecond. That’s all it took for him to almost kill me. Would I have been dead if I was his enemy? Did he hold back?! I can’t tell!’

Slimo looked weakly back up at his sister.

"G-Grouch..."