The Azra-El Series Ch. 17

"Of course, dear. If that is what you wish," Jie Er agreed. Blaze had already mentioned it to her the previous weekend. "But I must warn you that I am not familiar with pixie flying techniques. However, I am sure we can work on other aspects of your fighting."

"Thank you, aunty!" Siofra immediately perked up, startling the otter a little. Splash yapped a complaint before going back to nuzzling her head against Siofra's green one-piece dress.

"We must also get your mother's permission," Jie Er added.

Siofra visibly deflated as she nodded. "I will talk to her," she mumbled.

Later that evening, Rebecca took Siofra out to show off some of her army techniques, while Jie Er took Blaze into her room to receive her bi-monthly dosage. It was a relatively quick yet wholesome session, as Blaze made Jie Er put her legs behind her shoulders and fully pounded away into her.

Siofra was none the wiser about what went on in her absence when they took their carriage back to Varan.

oOo

Class 1A faced one of their toughest Flyball matchups yet on the seventh weekend. 2E was known to be a class of Malakim and they were one of the best teams in the first three years.

They batted first and compiled a daunting total of 188 in twenty rounds. Blaze's class had scored more before, but 2E had much better pitchers than any of their previous opponents, much better than his own class. His class was a class of strong batters. Bi and Kida had been averaging 40 and 50 each game, which was a quite of lot of runs from two players.

As Kida and Bi were about to head out to face the opposition, Blaze glanced at 2E's dugout and spotted a new arrival. Priscilla and her gang had joined the players, and she was giving Blaze a piercing gaze.

"Kida, wait," he called out to the black-haired girl, making her turn around and give him a questioning glance. "I am going in, Aahna," he said to his self-appointed manager.

The angels in his dugout followed his gaze to the enemy dugout.

"It is the Houri!" cried someone from the back.

"She is not anymore," said Afriel of the Malakim seven.

"Blaze!" Aahna cried out. "It is a ploy. They don't have to win this game to get into the semis, and neither do we. They want to figure out your weakness. The more they pitch at you, the more they will know on how to get you out," she protested as Elyssa and Siofra watched their exchange. Though Aahna was not the best player on the team, she was very knowledgeable about the game.

"I know Aahna. But this is a direct challenge and I can't refuse," he shook his head direly. If he refused, it would give Priscilla and her buddies the excuse to say that he couldn't win without guile. "But trust me, Aahna. It may be helpful to know my own weaknesses before we play the important games. If they figure them out, so can you, and I will work on removing them. Let's not leave it to luck."

Aahna seemed like she wanted to say 'no', but ultimately nodded, "It is up to Kida."

Blaze looked at Kida. "But I really want us to bat together," the usually compliant girl complained.

"But Bi rotates the strike more, and I want to face as many pitches as possible," Blaze told her.

"I can play defensive too. Bi, can I open with Blaze, please?"

"Okay," smiled Bi.

"Yes!" Kida punched the air.

Blaze took out his bat and placed an arm around the short Kida's shoulder as he led her into the field. "Alright, Kid. Just take singles and leave the rest to your Big Bro. You want to see some big hits, don't you?" he said to her.

She nodded eagerly. There was nothing more satisfying and rousing to a batter than hearing the solid thunk of a bat striking a ball, whether it was from your own or your partner's.

When they reached the pitch, Blaze glanced at the pitcher. At six feet tall with long sinewy arms fit for a pitcher, she was a mean-looking angel -- at least she looked mean to Blaze. Her purple hair was held up in a short ponytail and her sharp green eyes looked at him in challenge.

Blaze patted Kida on her shoulder and jogged up to the batting side pole while Kida took her spot at the other end.

The first pitch was a curving in-slider. Blaze adroitly defended it, sending the ball into the ground for no runs. He did the same with the next two pitches: a cutter followed by a knuckleball. The fourth pitch, however, was a juicy fastball and it went flying back over the pitcher's head and into the stands.

"Slam!" the umpire declared as Blaze raised his bat towards Priscilla. The audience from her side of the dugout booed while those from his cheered. Priscilla simply gave him a sweet smile; a smile that Blaze felt was rotten on the inside.

In Flyball, a pitcher pitched ten throws before they switched to the next round. Blaze scored twenty runs in the first round, and if he continued scoring at the same rate, he could finish the game in nine rounds instead of the usual twenty.

The next round, Kida took a single on the first pitch she faced and quickly gave him the strike. The second pitcher's pitches were slower and less zippy, but the angel could curve the ball more. Blaze hit two ground slams in her round, and together with Kida, he made fifteen runs off her pitching.

However, things soon began to slow down, as the pitchers kept testing him with various types of throws. 2E's players were quite good, and they soon realized that pitching him fastballs was a big no-no. It didn't matter how fast they pitched; the ball simply disappeared out of the ground.

Screwballs that curved into his body worked, but if they were slightly off, they were hit for ground slams. The same could be said of sliders -- too much width, and he placed the ball between fielders for quick singles or twos. The only pitch that worked consistently were sinkers, but they were hard to pitch.

Blaze made his first mistake in the seventh round. One of 2E's pitchers threw a waist-high slider, curving from the middle to a little to the right of Blaze and the pole. He drove his bat at it but nicked the ball off the top edge of the bat, popping the ball into the air.

The fielders scrambled for the ball, but it fell out of their reach, saving him from being caught out early in the game.

From then on, the pitchers continued to throw sliders, constantly testing him from different angles. A few pitches went for ground slams, but it was obvious he was uncomfortable with waist-high sliders that were close to his body.

Finally, in the twelfth round, Blaze swung at a slider from Mean Face, and once again, popped the ball high into the air. The opposition captain ran all the way from far leftfield and dived forward to safely catch the ball.

"Out!" screamed the umpire.

Blaze glanced at Priscilla and she gave him a knowing smile, but the students of Class 2E weren't cheering. The score was 135 for one when he walked back to his dugout. He had scored 98 of those runs in around half as many pitches. 2E needed a miracle to win from their current position.

"You can finish the rest, right?" he asked Bi as she walked by him.

"Yes."

Blaze shook his head at her. Bi was an angel of few words.

"You have a problem with sliders!" Aahna exclaimed as he stepped into the dugout.

"No, I don't," he replied adamantly as he sat down beside her and Siofra, whose current expression made it seem like didn't even know what a slider was.

"Yes, you do," Elyssa told him. "That is how you got out."

Blaze turned to her with a little grin.

Elyssa's eyes widened in realization. "You sly, little punk!" she whispered, glancing back at the Malakim of Blaze's class. They were sitting on the opposite side of the dugout and weren't paying attention to their conversation.

"You know me too well, Ely."

"What is going on?" Aahna whispered, bringing her head closer to the other two.

"It is all a sham! He is not weak against bodyline sliders. He was pretending all along!" Ely squeaked while Blaze smugly nodded his head.

Aahna was taken aback. "You mean to say that you missed scoring a hundred just to fool the Malakim? You could have made two more and scored a darned hundred!" she asked, trying to keep her voice down.

"Yep. How else would I leave them without a grain of doubt? But it does seem like I have a problem with sinkers and screwballs. Who on our team do you think is the best with those? I will make sure to practice against those throws," he asked her.

"Nina is good with screwballs and Kriti can pitch a mean sinker."

"Good. I will ask them if they can make some time for me."

Kida went ballistic with her hitting once Blaze was out. She made a quick twenty-five runs before she was poled out. Minerva, the next batter, got out scoring only two runs, but Aahna and Bi managed to win the match by the 18^th round.

Class 1A jubilantly celebrated their victory, but 2E didn't seem totally disappointed. Their team had a flawless run until that game, and they were almost assured to get into the semis along with two 3^rd year classes. More importantly, they felt that they had figured out how to pitch at Blaze. If they could get him out cheaply, they had a good chance of overcoming 1A if they ever faced them again.

oOo

Over the 2nd quarter, Badava began to slowly become comfortable enough around Blaze to let him ride her and Claudis taught him how to ride her on the ground. The rest of his class were already flying the Pegasi, but Blaze had fallen behind due to Badava's reticence. He vowed to catch up with them soon.

The fine balance that had existed in Blaze's duels with Siofra in their first quarter was also broken in the second quarter. After their first duel, they battled two more times, which had both been easy victories for him. Their score was now 14-9 and Siofra did not even bother to ask for another duel, even though they kept practicing together. However, neither were happy -- Siofra because she was annoyed for lagging so far behind him, and Blaze because there was no one else his age that could challenge him.

He went to parley with Elyssa, but she outmatched him in both flying skills and fighting techniques, and that made their duels unhelpful for either, especially because, for some reason, Ely seemed unable to let him experience her full strength.

"Just wait until I receive some training from Aunty Jie Er," Siofra told him, after watching one of his bouts against Elyssa. "You will be calling me Big Bro in no time."

Blaze did not bother to quip back, simply opting to give her a smile and an encouraging pat on her shoulder.

"Why don't you guys just call me Big Bro?" Elyssa voiced her opinion.

"NO!" came two resolute replies.

The two younger angels looked at each other strangely. "Just be the Big Sis, Ely," Siofra said. "The word 'bro' doesn't sound good on you for some reason."

"It doesn't work on you either," Blaze informed the pixie.

Before the last week of the 2^nd quarter, two things happened that put a hold on Siofra's plans to train with Jie Er. She received a letter from her mother informing her that she was expected to come back home for the break. The pixie princess had apparently heard about Siofra's aptitude and wish to participate in the tournament, and had sent someone to train her. Siofra would be trained by her mother and her new trainer at the pixie embassy at Saket.

The next bit of news Blaze received partly from Elyssa and partly from the headmistress. Elyssa mentioned that she would be staying at Tir over the break because the Xian were coming to visit.

Fiora called him to her office on Xihedie (Friday) afternoon. He had been to the headmistress's office a few times over the quarter for research, but this time felt a little different.

"The granddaughter of the Xian Empress and a few students from Xian are coming over to exchange pointers with our students. I realize that training with your mother has been immensely helpful towards your growth, but this might be a good chance to test yourself against other students of your own caliber.

"I have sent your mother a letter and I think even she will agree to let you stay over this time," she told him, as Alice stood nearby. Fiora had a lock installed on her door the previous break and had essentially locked her secretary out of their research. This time, however, Alice stood her ground and showed no indication of ever stepping out of the office.

"I would love that, but it's up to my mother," he responded. Though he was a little apprehensive about what Jie Er had in store for him, his obvious improvement over the break had given him complete faith in her methods.

"Good. We shall await her reply," Fiora said, giving her persistent secretary an annoyed glance.

"Is that all, Headmistress, or do you need me for something else?" he asked with a smirk.

"I guess it is, Blaze. I simply wanted to let you know myself," she said with a sigh. She seemed to have no desire to put on another display for her overeager secretary. Moreover, if Blaze was to stay at Tir over the break, they were sure to get another opportunity sooner or later.

oOo

Matadie(Monday) morning, Blaze received a letter from Jie Er that he was to stay on campus. It did not say anything else, but he did not get much time to mull over it, as he began to immerse himself in studying for that quarter's finals.

Elyssa and Siofra had given him flak for coming third in his year, and he wanted to show them how well he could do if he put his mind to it -- by studying three whole days before the tests began.

The week and the finals quickly flew by, and by Friday evening, Blaze was satisfied with how his tests went.

"You better hope you did really well on your tests, Siof. Otherwise, you'll be the only number two," Blaze teased her, as they played a game of chaken with Elyssa, and Blaze's main minions: Aahna, Rachel, and Bi.

"I did really well, too," Aahna pointed out. She had not been too happy about placing 2^nd in the previous quarter.

"Good for you," Siofra said simply, moving her infantry to the right of Blaze's territory. Elyssa supported her from her right, and Bi's army was marching upon him from his left with heavy artillery.

"Why are you three ganging up on me?" he complained.

"Just 'cause," Elyssa replied, while Bi simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Is it not it obvious?" Siofra said. "Who else would we want to knock out first?"

"Rach, you're on my side, right? Help me out here!" he whined at Rachel.

"Can't! Aahna!" she pointed at Aahna's cavalry, carefully positioned to prevent her from making any drastic moves.

"You guys are bullies!" Blaze complained, investing the last of his money on defensive troops and artillery to bombard the invading troops. Defensive troops did not make as much money on kills and artillery consumed money, so it was bad for him in the long run.

The game went by slowly, as three angels bombarded him with attacks while Aahna and Rachel fought their own private little war. However, when Siofra moved in her light and heavy cavalry to destroy his artillery, Elyssa suddenly turned coat and marched into Siofra's territory.

"What are you doing, Elyssa?!" Siofra cried. Her continuous success against Blaze had made her overzealous and a little unwary of Elyssa.

"Sorry, Siof. You will all probably gang up on me after you defeat Blaze. I have a better chance if I team up with him now. I can defeat him after you are out of the game."

Blaze gave Siofra a devious little smile. He had invested in artillery and heavy cavalry, which could pair perfectly with Elyssa's heavy cavalry and generals.

"Guys! Help me out," Siofra called out to the others. "We cannot let them team up!"

The others scrambled their troops to support Siofra, but Blaze and Ely swooped in over Siofra's territory from both sides and defeated her in four turns. For the rest of the game, though the other three teamed up, they were helpless against the onslaught of the two best players.

"When did you two even decide to join hands?" Siofra cried in frustration, as she tried to suggest ideas to Aahna, the last surviving member of the minion alliance.

"Ely's always on my side!" Blaze told her, giving Elyssa a fist bump.

"This is unfair!" Siofra pouted.

"It was 4 vs 2," Blaze drawled out.

"Still."

Elyssa ultimately won the game.

Later that night, the three friends stepped out to part ways. Siofra seemed a little more down than usual as she was the only one who'd be going away for the break.

"Look on the bright side, Siof. You will probably end up learning a lot from the pixie trainer. You want me to call you Big Sis, don't you?" he told her encouragingly.

"I would've rather done that training with Aunty Jie Er," she moaned.

Blaze laughed. "You can still do it next break. I just hope you will feel the same way after she is done with you."

"What are you saying? Aunty Jie Er is a sweetheart!"

But before Blaze could respond, Elyssa tapped on his shoulder and pointed at the night sky. Two angel silhouettes were zipping towards them from the north.

"Aunties!" he shouted and ran up to them as they landed in front of their dorm. He didn't even notice that he had slipped up on calling Jie Er 'mother'. "What are you two doing here?"

"We wanted to visit you over the weekend," Jie Er said, as Splash jumped off Rebecca's shoulders and began excitedly running around his legs.

"Awesome! Where will you be staying?" he asked, picking up the excited otter and brushing her head. She yipped and snuggled her head into his shirt.

"The Herald Inn. Remember? We stayed there the first time we visited Shapur. You can join us if you want to," Rebecca told him.

"Er... I think I should spend time with my classmates, tonight. Can we hang out tomorrow?"

"Sure, dear. We just wanted to see you as soon as we arrived. Go and have fun with your friends," Jie Er told him, gently.

"Thanks!" Blaze said, standing on his tiptoes to kiss Jie Er on the cheek.

"I will be doing a lot more than that to Jie Er tonight," Rebecca whispered into his ear.

"Just wait until I get my hands on ya," he whispered back.

The older angels chatted for a little while before parting ways. Blaze and Elyssa went to see Siofra off the next day, but they couldn't bring her spirits up before she left, posing a solitary figure as she waved at them from her departing carriage.

"I will buy her a VP as soon as I make some money," he told Elyssa. She simply nodded, without offering to get a pair for them. She knew he wanted to do it himself. "So, where will the Xian be staying, and do I have to be there when they arrive?" he asked her.

"The refurbished Agrasen palace is being opened to house the visitors. A few students from other academies of Aranya will also be staying with us over the break. We can stay there too, but we may have to share a room..."

Shapur was once the seat of Aranyan power, and Tir academy was built on the ruins of the old Shapur palace. Most of the royal buildings had been brought down over the years, but the Agrasen palace had been in the process of being refurbished. It was located to the west of the campus and was surrounded by thick forestry. Blaze had caught a glimpse of it before, while flying around the campus.

"Nah," he shook his head a little too quickly. "I'd rather stay in my room. I will just fly back and forth every morning."

He had shared a room with Siofra on her visit to Varan, but it somehow didn't feel the same with Elyssa. Besides, he didn't see the point of switching rooms. A portion of the staff and the matron would still be around over the break, and he was the type of person that got attached to their room.