I repeated the ritual.I repeated the ritual. I stared across the minute distance towards him, and he smiled at me. "Ken," he said quietly, "Atari, Coimelin." I inhaled sharply. Not at the warning, but at the second word. "Love of my life." If he was trying to throw me off-balance before the battle even began, that was a good way of doing it. I shook my head for a second and said, "Aaden, Sente..." and I paused for a second. "Coimelin." He smiled, enjoying the affirmation. Then he lunged for me. I dodged to my right and he slid across the oiled floor, crashing into the railing. I leapt upon him and he tossed me off easily. Neither of us was sufficiently oily to do what we were here for. As I rolled across the ring, I deliberately spread as much of myself across the floor, picking up as much oil as I could. I would need it; I wanted to be slippery; it would make it hard for him to get a good grip. More than that, I needed to be ready for him. Aaden pushed himself off the edge, sliding towards me on his knees, his hands spread wide. I ducked; he compensated, grabbing me under a shoulder and throwing me down and slamming my head to the mat. "Gotcha!" he said. "No!" I shouted, twisting to my left, away from him. "Not so fast," I said. My heart pounded against my ribs. It was already too much for me. "See," he snarled, trying to wipe oil away from his eyes with the back of his arm, "You're out of shape. You're nowhere near as good as the day we met, Ken." "I'm better!" I said, pushing up and leaping for him. He caught me in his arms, taking advantage of the momentum to slam me down to the mat again. "No, you're not!" he snarled again, straddling my naked body. "You're getting slow, and I'm going to fuck you to prove it." "You're going to have to try harder than that," I said. I bucked up against his hips and he lost balance, falling back. I clawed for him, grabbing a leg and pulling him towards me, sliding on the oil. I managed to get my knees under me, and he began kicking to avoid me as I grabbed for his waist, trying to pull his ass towards me. "On your back this time's just as good," I said, my lips curled into a sneer. One foot caught me on the shoulder and shoved me off-balance again. I fell over, my head hitting the mat hard. |