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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2371062" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 236: A Pair of IdiotsA very large part of Shadow refused to actually believe that it was Kyren. It was the part of her...or rather, the part of Marix, that had grown up with him. The one that had saved his life...and while, at that point at least, he had never even really been a friend, Kyren was also someone she could trust. He was like a brother to her. Shadow couldn’t even speak to Jyren the way she could with this emerald haired Alraxian Knight. And never could she have imagined that he would try to kill her.    Thankfully, Shadow’s reactions were not frozen as would have occurred with nearly anyone else in the galaxy caught in the same situation. So when Kyren’s two quick steps brought him right up to her, and his right arm rose up to slash across her face, Shadow was moving. She sidestepped left, ducking slightly as her hands shot up and snatched Kyren’s wrist. Gripping tightly and taking the half second she probably had considering the ferocity she could see in his eyes, Shadow growled under her breath, “Kyren! Stop it!”    He didn’t stop. In fact, he didn’t even so much as look her in the eye. Instead, he wrenched his held arms to the side, catching Shadow off balance and throwing her to the ground. His being stronger helped a bit, too. Shadow hit the ground hard, and while she heard a snap, was glad to realize it was not her spine(or tail for that matter), but a tree root below. Not that it didn’t hurt, of course.[He thinks you’re Nine!] Jyren’s voice cried out through Shadow’s mind suddenly. His voice almost caused her to lose concentration, and if she had, Kyren’s claws would have landed in her neck instead of the dirt where she rolled away from and up to her feet.    Taking a step back and giving Jyren at least a half look out of the corner of her eye, she sent back a short, very annoyed sounding response. [I’ve gathered that much, thank you.]    She knew that he wanted to help her...but he knew that she’d kill him if he tried anything, especially with Kyren involved. But Shadow knew that wasn’t going to stop Jyren’s usual idealistic streak...but, for once, she couldn’t keep her full attention on him and attempt to stop any stupidity that he charged head first into. Shadow was far too busy worry about Kyren, who was relentlessly matching her every step and movement with an attack. While she was able to block or dodge all of them, it was still tiring and Shadow couldn’t help but notice that the still-silent Kyren was backing her into a rather large tree.    Exactly what she would have done in the same situation.    Follow that line of thought. How would she keep her opponent from getting out of this? And immediately Shadow had it. Her arm was up in a flash, catching Kyren’s again and she took another short moment to search his eyes for something other than the outright rage she could see. He didn’t give her time to speak. Instead of yanking free of her tight grip(which was actually lighter than it would have been had it been anyone but Kyren), his eyes glanced straight over her shoulder to the tree that now had to be barely a step behind Shadow.    When his eyes darted back down, Kyren pulled his arm down, along with Shadow’s that held his, and his leg swept under hers to bring her to the ground and then pin her. But it had been what Shadow was waiting for. Just as his leg would have reached hers, she brought her knee up into his chest hard. The hit caused Kyren to fall forward and Shadow relinquished her grip on his arm. She had a half second before he recovered, gained his footing again, and attempted something else that she would have to figure out again.    Which meant she had to reverse their positions immediately. Her arms one step ahead of her thoughts, Shadow had already reached up to Kyren’s shoulders to spring over and behind him. She had just pushed off and forced him down hard when Shadow made an admittedly stupid mistake.    She looked forward.    And when she looked forward, she didn’t see a blank space of forest that would not have distracted her. Instead, she saw Jyren. His lightsaber ablaze and charging straight for Nine like some completely brainless fool...this much she did have time to send through the link before her lapse in attention gave Kyren an advantage.    Before she could scream and yell at Jyren, a hard something slammed into the back of her head. She tumbled over Kyren’s back before hitting the ground face first, and also feeling a rock dig straight into her left calf. The second that happened, Shadow heard Jyren yelp. Looking up, she saw him just lifting his left leg before tumbling to the ground right in front of Nine, his lightsaber sliding out of his grip and off out of the way.    Her fall had caused his fall. He hadn’t been expecting it just like she hadn’t expected him to be so stupid in the first place.    They were both idiots.    And now they were both idiots face first in the dirt. Above her was Kyren, pouncing down to rip out her throat from behind and destroy what he seemed to think was the abomination of Marix BlueIce. And in front of her, Shadow could see Nine casually approaching the now dirt-covered Jyren. Even though it had only been a pain through the link, he would not have time to get to his feet before she was on him. And Nine would simply kill him outright...especially considering the look Shadow could see on the demented clone’s face.((As you can see, update time has now changed. I've got a good long hour and a half between classes this term, and have just discovered that I can access the wireless network here on my laptop. So, this is a perfect time for me to update every day.))</blockquote>

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