#Scout hasn’t done any of the main quest at all

[hellaoldfander86]

The Grey Mage’s Quest  Ch.10

Word Count: 2975

Tags/Warnings: None

Chapter 10: Anxiously Bored

Virgil was bored. After waking up again in the hutch with the wagon already in motion for an unknown amount of hours, and just sitting around in the hutch held zero appeal. Roman was sitting at the desk drinking coffee and reading the guest ledger again. The anxious side didn’t blame him, it’s probably the most interesting thing around right now. He silently cursed the fact that his phone was left in the mind palace, but then realized it would probably be dead by now anyway, so he would be just as bored even if he had it. Virgil sighed.

Being eight inches tall sucked. He couldn’t help with setting up camp, or even packing the wagon to get back on the road. Or even help gather firewood when they do make camp. The dark fairy side took a bit of comfort in the fact that he was not alone, that the royal side was basically in the same predicament as he was. At least they could fly. That was a perk.

But, being hopelessly addicted to Patton’s magical dad hugs after he brought them back, needing at least one a day, he is going through major withdrawals. But he has to wait a couple more days to hopefully get back to normal and get the hug he so desperately craves from the moral side. He has no choice but to wait patiently.

Covering a yawn, he puts on his shoes and laces them tight, and sits back in the fairy chair, wings fluttering unconsciously as they extend out the backrest. But there was one more thing that niggled at the edge of his thought processes. When he swears he heard Logan’s thoughts as the silver logical side looked at himself in the mirror. He hasn’t been able to replicate it since, of course, he had no idea how he did it in the first place. Maybe he is trying too hard. He was just watching Logan quietly when Logan’s voice popped into his head. Maybe he just needs to relax, and see what happens. He hasn't even tried the “moving through shadows" thing he was supposed to be able to do. He just isn't motivated to try it.

Virgil smirks. Yeah, he could totally relax. He is ANXIETY for Pete's sake. That is the exact opposite of being relaxed. There is always a low hum of tense nervousness that settles into his head and body and keeps him on edge, and feeds his nightmares. It’s part of his job. His cross to bear. He’s used to it, and sometimes, can harness it to add to the fight or flight reflex. And as they get closer to the Fairy Wood, the more nervous he gets.

When the time comes he hopefully  would be able to latch onto Roman’s confidence and desperately try to not pass out from fright as he curls up as small as possible into his hoodie, as the threat of a painful death awaits him if they don’t convince the resident fairies of their complete and utter sincerity, smell of chaos magic and magic changed eyes aside. But he had to admit, they make a pretty odd looking group.

Four magically changed individuals traveling with a mage? The anxious side hides a grimace, as he realizes what the fairies may or may not assume. That Karybdis changed them on purpose, or were they changed by someone else and the mage volunteered to help? Whether or not they knew of the reversal agent would make all the difference in what the reaction would be. The mage says he has friends among the fairies. If they learned the truth about his “companions” in the wagon with him, would they still count him as a friend? Or would he bend the truth to keep his fairy friends? Virgil suspects that the mage would follow any lead that Roman would put forth, putting his fate in the hands of the royal side. They need the mage to get to the reversal agent. Throwing him under the bus with his fairy friends would be petty revenge, which is not their style. But it wouldn’t stop him from having some choice words with the mage after everything is all said and done.

Virgil sighs and sits forward, putting his elbows on the table and resting his head in his hands, and stares at the wall, willing his mind to go blank, dulling the ever-constant nervousness down to a tolerable, and possibly calmer level one more time while using his breathing exercises, and closes his eyes, and somehow lets his mind wander as a last ditch effort to replicate the other night.

//Portobello Road, Portobello Road, street where the riches of ages are stowed...//...Roman?

//Oh! What a cute chipmunk! Aww! He even has a friend! It’s like a real life Chip and Dale!//…Patton?

//It was very interesting seeing Roman heal Patton. I will have to interview Pat later on how it felt..//...Logan?

//We will be within the range of fairy scouts soon. I will have to notify His Highness.//...Karybdis?

Virgil opens his eyes and turned his head to stare at the royal side who wasn’t really looking at the ledger anymore, just staring off into space, tapping a pen he had just conjured against the book.

It takes the anxious side a split second to make the decision, and before he could chicken out, he finds himself singing out, “Anything and everything a chap can unload, Is sold off the barrow in Portobello Road.”

Roman stares at him, blinks, and lets out a chuckle. “It is your fault, you know. It was the last movie we saw before we came to the Imagination for the picnic. Plus you were singing “Age of Not Believing” to Patton when he was hurt.”

Virgil shrugs. “We hadn’t seen “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” in ages. You shouldn’t be complaining, it is a Disney movie, after all. Patton loved that song, it looked like he was having a bad dream, and afterwards he seemed calmer.”

“I hadn’t really heard you sing since the new years resolution video. Emo Allan Poe.” The royal side says with a chuckle. “It was not bad at all.”

“I sing in the shower sometimes.” The anxious fairy trait says with a small smile. “I think Karybdis wants to tell you something.”

“How.?.” A gentle tapping on the hutch roof interrupts the royal sides question, and they both exit the hutch with the royal side giving the dark fairy side an odd look as he lands on the roof of the hutch.

Virgil just taps the side of his head and smiles at the royal as he flies up to land on Patton’s shoulder, his favorite perch.

“We will be in range of the outer fairy scouts soon, My Prince.” Karybdis says. “It would be wise to be visible so they know we are peaceful in our intent.”

“Agreed.” Roman nods.”Let us exude peaceful intentions, even though we are...uh...unconventional travelers. I hope your friendship with the fae is strong.”

‘I have done business with the fae for many years, My Prince, I have no doubts.” The mage says with a smile. “I believe we will most likely have visitors tomorrow morning, once the scouts have reported seeing us, and the news that they have undoubtedly heard about Prince Roman defending a wagon driven by a mage with some interesting passengers, will lure them to come and say hello, most likely to get clarification, since news that travels distances can be a bit vague and spotty besides the main point of a royal sighting.”

“Indeed.” The royal fairy side adds. “Gossip is only as reliable as your source from whence it came. Hearsay is not as believable unless you can get confirmation from a trusted source. I agree. Tomorrow morning we will be visited.”

“Quite possibly by Ambassador Malia herself.” Karybdis carefully adds.”News of a royal sighting may lure her out to hear the confirmation herself.”

“Ambassador Malia. Her name appears many times in the ledger in the hutch. She very much wants to meet with me.” Roman thoughtfully muses. “I hope she does come. I very much want to meet with her, also.”

“Remember Princey.” Virgil interjects. “You are not in your regular form here. She may take some convincing, if she is to believe you are, well.., you.” The anxious side punctuates the statement with a wave of his arms in Roman’s direction.

“I have no choice but to cross that bridge when I come to it, Stormcloud Longwing.” Roman says as he paces on the top of the fairy hutch. “I have no choice in the matter. If the smell of the chaos magic does not add to my case, hopefully my diplomacy skills will lure her to visit the castle when this is all over.”

“Diplomacy is the key word here.” Logan interjects. “When our visitors arrive, I have had no experience with any kind of visiting dignitaries, neither has Virgil or Patton. The last thing we want to do is commit an unintentional faux pas that offends them.”

Roman smoothes his sash and tugs on his tunic to pull out any wrinkles. “The main thing with any dignitaries is respect. Keep your head bowed until given permission to look upon them. Only speak when spoken to, and with the nervous nature of our possible visitors, keep your hands visible at all times to alleviate any suspicions the guards are trained to have from the get-go.” The royal side crosses his arms and stands straight with a confident smile. “And if all else fails, follow my lead.”

Virgil sits cross-legged on the moral sides’s large shoulder. “Oh, don’t worry, Princey. I’m the one that they will be watching the closest. Dark fairy, remember? My well-being is in your hands. I will be watching you like a hawk.”

“The main thing when meeting with the fae is complete sincerity. They have the uncanny ability to read body language and detect untruth.” Karybdis says.

“Oh, I plan on being super-nice to our new friends.” Patton smiles a sunny smile. “But if they threaten my dark, strange son I will not be so nice.” The large moral side says with a small frown.

“Do not worry, Padre. The Dark, Stormy Knights safety is my top priority.” Roman says as he raises his right hand. “I promise to you that I will do whatever it takes to keep Virgil safe. I swear on my last jar of Crofters.”

Patton chuckles. “Alright. I believe you, Roman, and I will hold you to that.” The large moral side says with uncharacteristic seriousness, and a pointed stare from his bright blue eyes.

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful as the wagon traveled along on the road, only to run into a tree partially blocking the road, which was taken care of quickly by a seemingly effortless one-armed grab and toss by Patton, and a large oddly-shaped boulder in the middle of the road that had dislodged from the cliffside above a couple of hours later.

Logan jumps down from the front seat. “I will take care of this, Pat.” The silver logical side says as he walks up to the obstructing boulder and examines it quickly for the most efficient way of clearing it out of the way, and settles on a kick to a protruding side of the boulder, which sent it bouncing down the slight embankment on the side of the road like a small pebble. “Satisfactory.” Logan says as he climbs back into the front seat of the wagon, and they are again moving forward.

As the day finally began to wane into the early evening, a forest could be seen in the distance. “The Fairy Wood.” The mage announces, as the large trees begin to dominate the horizon. “We will be stopping soon at a campsite that is only a few miles from the wood. But scouts have most likely reported us already. They may have witnessed the clearing of the road obstructions earlier. We were well within the range of the scouts when those occurred.”

“Great.” Virgil mumbles as he adds mentally, “No sleep for me tonight, then.” As his nervousness increases tenfold.

The wagon pulls into the campsite an hour later, and the tents are quickly set up, Jasper is taken care of by Patton, and a fire is cheerfully blazing in the fire pit as Karybdis sets up the tripod and cooking pot. A somber evening meal is consumed as Logan gathers firewood in the surrounding forest, a slight nervousness settling over everyone as the hour grows late, and time to retreat to the tents grows near.

Karybdis produces his pipe and tobacco pouch again, and he quickly packs and lights the pipe with a flaming brand from the fire, “There will most likely be an advance herald to announce the impending arrival of our visitors tomorrow, giving us time to prepare for their arrival. They have done so in the past.”

“That would be perfect.” Roman says. “I was hoping they would adhere to the customs I had read about in the books in the archive. Announcing the iminent appearance of dignitaries is most appreciated in this case.”  

“Uh...yeah, great.” The anxious side gulps as he hunches down into his hoodie and adjusts his “sweater paws” nervously as he sits next to Roman on a stump next to the fire pit.

“Do not worry, Virge. Your safety is my top priority.” The royal fairy side says with a squeeze to the anxious sides shoulder. “Neither I or Karybdis will allow any harm to come to you, right, mage?” Roman says with a raised eyebrow at Karybdis, his red eyes glowing in the firelight.

“I swear upon my honor, no harm shall come to you.” Karybdis says with his right hand raised, a sincere look upon his face. “They are a reasonable people. They will ask questions first, before any kind of action would possibly be taken.”

“Alright, I am trusting you.” Virgil says with a pointed purple stare to the royal side and the mage. “If I am a Virgil-kabob after tomorrow I am blaming you both.”

“Me too!” The large moral side adds, giving Roman and Karybdis his version of the blue-eyed stink eye. “No Virge-kabobs allowed!”

The mage and the royal side simply raise their right hands, and murmur “We promise.”

Patton nods. “Good. Time for bed. We have an interesting day tomorrow.” He says with his “Dad Voice.”

Everyone agrees, and retreat to the tent to turn in for the night.

Virgil flies to the bed where the large moral side is kicking off his shoes and setting his glasses on the nearby table, getting ready to lay down. “Super Dad?”

“Yes, kiddo?” Patton replies as he stretches out and arranges his arms comfortably.

“Can I sleep on your chest? I think that is the only way I will get any.” The anxious side murmurs softly.

Patton smiles. “Of course you can! If it helps you, do it. I don’t move much lately when I sleep anyway, I think the extra arms keep me from rolling over.” The moral side says with a chuckle.

Virgil quickly returns to the hutch to leave his shoes just inside the door, then returns to the large paternal side and lands on his chest and sits down, already beginning to slightly calm down with the sensation of Patton’s heartbeat and body heat through the cat hoodie the large moral side wore. “Thanks Pat.”

“Anything for my hero!” Patton says as he winks at the fairy anxious side settling on his chest as Logan enters the tent and settles into the chair next to the fairy hutch.

“That was months ago, Pat.” Virgil says as he fidgets slightly with the cuffs of his hoodie.

“But it is a label that you will be wearing for as long as we, the individuals you “rescued” deem necessary.” Logan interjects. “You saved us, Virgil. We will forever be grateful.”

“But you were the one that found the way to do it.” Virgil mumbles. “You are just as much a hero as I am, Teach.”

“Ah, but you were the one who set the plan in motion, and braved the subconscious. I was unable to do anything but find the information you used. You did all the legwork.” Logan adds.

“Yeah, but why I did it was for a purely selfish reason.” The anxious side says with a small smile. “To bring you all back would help me with my aversion to hard work. With everyone back doing their jobs, I could go back to doing my singular job, instead of all of them.”

Patton chuckles. “You can’t fool me, Virge. You missed us.”

“No, I can’t fool you, Super Dad. Yeah, I missed you. And so did Thomas.” Virgil says, “I’m just glad it worked. Though lately I have been regretting bringing Princey back.”

“Hey! This is not my fault! We have discussed this!” Roman says as he stands outside the fairy hutch, crossing his arms with a huff.

Virgil chuckles and raises his arms in surrender. “I’m just pulling your wings, Princey. No need to get upset.”

The royal side grumbles for a moment. “Fine. I need to turn in to get some beauty sleep before our visitors in the morning. Goodnight, Purple Emo.”

“Goodnight, Princey.” The anxious side says as the royal retreats into the hutch.

Virgil sighs. “No use prolonging the inevitable. Goodnight, Super Dad, Teach.”

Both the logical and large moral sides respond with a murmured “Goodnight, Virgil.” as the anxious fairy side settles onto the large moral sides chest, and finds himself comforted by the sensation of the beating of Patton’s heart once more as he falls asleep.

[flauntpage]

Classic Flaws Leave Luke Rockhold Helpless against Yoel Romero

Luke Rockhold’s right hook proved the death of him. In his campaign to reclaim the UFC middleweight title that he lost in 2016, Rockhold was carrying the fight to Cuban super-athlete, Yoel Romero at UFC 221. At the end of the second round Rockhold had just discovered that some rudimentary doubling and tripling of the jab was more than enough to have Romero floundering—reaching blindly for the first jab and eating any others that followed. Seeming to have found the answer, Rockhold continued to work, not even realizing that he was backing himself straight onto the fence in the third round. Rockhold ate a knockout left straight down the inside of his instinctual, and always overcommitted, lean-back right hook and that was the end of his quest for redemption.

The straight down the inside of the lead hook. The great Barney Ross believed this was the most dangerous counter punch in boxing.

Rockhold’s classic flaws were still evident. He’d rather step on his mother’s back than step an inch off to the left or right and break the line of attack. Rapid advance or retreat? Rockhold’s your man. Unfortunately, bouts are not fought on an infinite plane and eventually you will hit a wall. Even in the old Mr. Strongman bouts which Igor Vovchanchyn grew up in, and which seemed to take place on a matted football field, attacking and retreating exclusively on a straight line would get you into trouble eventually. As we noted in our pre-fight Tactical Guide:

As Rockhold’s porous boxing game continues to be his weakness, getting in to trade with Rockhold should be a priority. By keeping Rockhold on the back foot and keeping the fight near the fence, Romero could chop down the space in which Rockhold has to check hook—removing the skip back—and stand a great chance of getting in and landing punches without getting caught first.

Overcommitting both to the wind up and the follow through of the check hook has seen Rockhold caught by Dave Branch and Chris Weidman. Against Weidman he overcommitted so far that he turned all the way around and Weidman began climbing on his back.

With that being said, don’t let the finish distract you from the fight. Luke Rockhold found himself in his first extended striking match with a southpaw and he actually brought the tools to do some good work. A flicking front kick with the ball of his lead foot digging into Romero’s solar plexus visibly frustrated the Cuban. The low kicks into Romero’s lead leg worked a treat—though by throwing them naked, Rockhold telegraphed his intentions and kicked into a stiff check early, cutting his shin wide open and making him reluctant to go after the leg as much as his corner would have liked.

The finish will also make it all too easy to forget just how Romero fought in this bout. There are already writers claiming he is provably a vastly improved fighter from his bout with Robert Whittaker. The truth is that Rockhold exposed all the same flaws in Romero, he just couldn’t exploit them nearly as well because Whittaker is a considerably slicker, higher-paced striker.

Some spectators seem to expect technical flaws to be shown up immediately, and if they aren’t it must mean the flaws don’t matter—that they are just cosmetic. Romero regularly goes three rounds and finishes emphatically in the third, therefore his unpolished striking skills can’t be that much of a detriment, they say. As we mentioned in the Tactical Guide:

He prefers to slink around the cage like a big cat between meals, until he decides—almost on a whim—that it’s time to make a run at ending the fight… The best strategy against Romero will probably always be utilizing a good jab and feints to draw those reaching, leaping, ducking over-reactions that Romero makes under fire, and then punishing them. Rockhold hasn’t shown those tools though.

Bizarrely, Rockhold unveiled a jab. It wasn’t versatile and he couldn’t pair it with his feet very well, but it was more than enough to have Romero reaching wildly. In fact Rockhold’s offensive boxing in this fight looked considerably better than it often has.

His effective use of one-twos in the early going had Romero reaching so severely that Rockhold was able to use his favorite left kick on Romero’s body. As we discussed last week, the closed guard set up should make that nearly impossible, but Romero’s reaction to the whiff of a left hand was to throw his right elbow up above his head. This is a man whose athleticism and reaction times are elite but whose boxing form and comfort under fire can only be categorized as cryptic.

And whenever we get to talking about a fighter’s insane athleticism—how they are the Scariest Man Alive and how ‘it only takes one’—it is important to realize that technique will not carry a non-athlete to a victory over a freakish athlete, but a good athlete can get the better of a freak athlete by using the tactical and mechanical edge. The early bum rush and the late, all-heart resurgence are the areas in which technique and tactics count for the least—the middle part of the fight is the sweet spot for technical excellence and that is where the master striker really thrives. Luke Rockhold might not be a freak athlete on the level of Romero—but he has no business getting caught with straight line bum rushes like this. That is a flaw in Rockhold’s ringcraft and footwork, not anything to do with Romero’s freakish athleticism.

Not good any way you look at it.

On the subject of craft, Israel Adesanya made his Octagon debut at UFC 221 and he stole the show. As we mentioned in our pre-fight article Uncovering the Hidden Gems of UFC 221, Adesanya’s opponent Rob Wilkinson was a grinder who got to the fence well in his first UFC bout, but who faded soon afterwards. Adesanya vs. Wilkinson followed exactly the same flow as Wilkinson vs. Siyar Bahadurzada: Wilkinson got to the cage, wrestled for a while, exhausted himself trying to take his man down, and was a punching bag through the second round. Unlike Siyar the Great, however, Adesanya put a beating on Wilkinson, calmly and consistently building towards the finish rather than swinging big ones and hoping.

We noted of Adesanya in our pre-fight analysis:

Adesanya’s striking style is one which might well be better suited for MMA than pure kickboxing: a dozen fakes and feints a minute, flicking jabs from below the opponent’s guard, stance switches and beautiful "question mark" or "Brazilian" kicks. Adesanya is also a fairly handsy fighter: he likes to push and pull his opponents around, stiff arming them and nudging them out of stance between strikes. Strikers who like to check and palm their opponent’s head and shoulders anyway can adapt that well into a layer of their takedown defense as Anthony Johnson and Joanna Jedrzejczyk did.

That flicking jab from below the guard—the blind angle—worked a treat throughout the fight, switching to a powerful left straight when Adesanya went southpaw. What was especially noticeable was Adesanya’s manipulation of rhythm: often his blows come slower than expected and sneak through in ways that they just wouldn’t if he were always fighting at 11.

Adesanya’s striking stood in stark contrast to Rockhold’s. Rockhold got Romero out of position but then couldn’t follow up with anything useful. Adesyana’s feints all make something happen, while keeping him in position to strike. For instance this hip bump, almost identical to the actual motion of Izzy’s body-tracing middle kicks, drew the back leg up and allowed him to push off into the one-two.

The right straight to the body along the fence is a treat to see from any fighter, but Adesanya dug left hooks and right straights to the body consistently along the cage. The knees and high kicks draw the eye, but Adesanya’s commitment to the body showed an understanding of how to work towards a finish—making it an inevitability—rather than simply trying to land a concussion-making single shot.

Alexander Volkanovski and Tai Tuivasa, both of whom we also examined in the Hidden Gems preview, also picked up entertaining finishes and demonstrated the styles we noted them for. Tuivasa looked considerably wilder than he did in his last bout—sprinting to chase his man with right elbows, a terrible idea against competent strikers—but he is young and it is very early in his career to be featured so prominently on a card this size, in front of his countrymen. Volkanovski, meanwhile, hit the fence to dirty box but found that the takedowns came too easily. Roughing his man up on the ground, Volkanovski forced a stoppage with ground and pound which was more from mercy than a decisive point in the action.

So what is next for the headliners? For Luke Rockhold, we can only hope that this loss is a learning experience and not used to convince him that working with Henry Hooft is pointless. His recent exploration of other camps and coaches has clearly improved his striking chops—this is a man who rarely threw in combination and couldn’t throw a punch without serving up his chin on a platter just a few months ago. For Yoel Romero, Robert Whittaker is assumedly next and his main concern should be working out how he can keep Whittaker from driving the pace on him when he is taking his breaks. The lulls in action were so obvious in this fight that Jimmy Smith would call them out as they happened. Whether that can be done by pushing Whittaker to the fence and trying a more grinding type of fight—making use of dirty boxing and limiting Whittaker’s movement, or by trying to improve Romero’s footwork so that he doesn’t have to engage when Whittaker wants him to, it’s going to take some doing.

Jack wrote the hit biography Notorious: The Life and Fights of Conor McGregor and scouts prospects at The Fight Primer .

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