Chapter 13: "Forward"

What a soul-sapping weekend! Worship practice on Friday night, guitar practice + Youth Training Union (YTU) + YTU committee meeting for the entire Saturday, then church and Sunday School Teachers' "Retreat" briefing on Sunday. For some reason, I suddenly couldn't help thinking about all the fun things church-going Christians don't get to do over the weekends...was also talking about this to someone who feels even more drained than I do. It's not easy when Sunday is almost always the busiest day of the week, and you're supposed to be constantly "enriched". Sigh...
Wednesday will mark another new chapter for me as I join the Young Adults' fellowship. Managed to drag along a prety sizeable "entourage" (Noel, Zhi Yong, Ee Wan, William), lol, but I don't think all of us will continue coming regularly. Never mind though, looking forward to having more mid-week meetings with church friends anyway. =^D

Instinctively I made myself fall forward and downwards to get out of the way. His fist swiped the air inches above.
I closed my eyes as I fell, fearing the worst should he Scroll over to me in mid-air. One. Two. Three. I landed on the ground, still intact.
"Garrick," suddenly Old Lady Melly stirred. "Don't stay still. He can only Scroll in a sraight line."
Huh? I was still trying to fathom what she meant when Phocadis charged at me again.
Shift!
This time around, I didn't Shift straight up as usual. Instead, I leapt forward at a lower height.
Sure enough, Phocadis didn't Scroll at me. Or maybe he couldn't. He seemed to be following me with his eyes, but unsure how to get to me.
Now I understood what Old Lady Melly was talking about. His Scroll movements only consisted of straight lines! Therefore, if I kept moving in a circle, he would never be able to reach me!
I landed and quickly spun around. Where was he?
"Scroll Left!"
From the right! Again I Shifted forward, narrowly missing his punch. Like before, he couldn't keep up with me.
"You're just buying time," he growled. "Sooner or later you'll become tired, and then I'll get you when you land."
He was right. I had to finish this off quickly. The only option left for me was Delete.
The button was raised.
"You'll need to come close to me if you're going to use Delete again," he smirked. "And when you get close enough...BAM."
I could almost hear his fist baying for my blood. No more dodging his attacks this time. Surely he would use another Scroll Forward. I had to face him straight on with my Delete.
"All it's going to take is a blink of your eye."
I swallowed.
"Scroll Forward!"
He was fast! I raised my free hand immediately and cried out, "DELETE!"
Before the blue ray could shoot itself something unexpected happened.
He Scrolled to the side.
Then turned to face me.
"Heh." I caught a glimpse of his grin. "Scroll Forward."
He was barely five feet away. There was no way I could dodge in time.