"How adorably familiar." I comment with a smirk as I walked along the ice I was making. Smiling every now and then at the vast expanse of water I was in. However, unlike my sister, I made sure I wasn't taken in by the scenery. Instead, I focused on trying to get out of this place.
And that brought me to another interesting sight because there was someone playing in the water. Yet, despite how their magic interacted with the gentle waves, it felt off. It was clearly not water magic, or, at least, not just water magic. Either way, it was probably safe to keep my distance until I could decipher their intent.
"Hello there!" this voice cheerily greeted in a peculiar way. Their voice had seemingly jumped through all these bubbles and straight at me... Instead of waving back like my sister might have, I instead chose to prepare myself.
"Oddity or one of the others?" I asked her as the air around me grew cold. A freezing mist emanated from me while this person overflowed with bubbles.
"Not Odd-" she began to say before I launched a surprise attack. Hundreds upon hundreds of sharp icicles rained down on her. Yet, with a simple gesture, her bubbles intercepted them all. Her expression even reminded me of my sister.
A childish pout...
But, I did not let that stop me, so I kept launching various ice creations at her while also trying to dig a path. Her control over these bubbles, however, was simply too good for me to just dig through like this. Each one could easily intercept my attacks and block them. However, she could not retaliate by the looks of it.
"GAH!" I yelped out in pain when a bunch of projectiles suddenly dug into my back. And, I suddenly slid away on a hastily constructed slope of ice. From this safer spot, I was able to see what she had hit me with. Bubbles...
And, filled with a new paranoia, I kept my eyes on the water for any signs of bubbles. Only to then narrowly avoid a wind-lance that shot through my ice. It's fine hole was easy enough to cover up, but, it made one thing clear. I was not safe if I just stood around.
Thankfully, my new injuries were light, so I had no problems running and sliding around her. That field of bubbles, however, would not let me go close. Any attempts to get at her were stopped. Even if I made sure to drop an iceberg on her!
"Grrr, dammit!" I let out before I avoided some more attacks from her. One nearly even came close to slicing my leg off along with a chunk of ice.
"This could've been avoided you know! If you weren't such a rude animal!" this girl complained with another pout before her bubbles began to descend upon me.
And I countered this with the overwhelming force of my ice, "SHUT UP, LARISHAZZA!" I screamed more out of instinct than anything.
"That's not my name!" this girl complained as the attacks came to a stop, "My name is Caraimmer!"
"I DON'T CARE!" I told her before I spun in the air and dropped another iceberg on her. Smiling with some anticipation as it was an absurdly huge one. Maybe, just maybe it would...?
"I bet you don't have many friends." she then commented out of the blue before a casual flick of the wrist sliced my iceberg apart.
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?" I asked with genuine confusion mixed with rage. This was a fight was it not!? Where did that even come from!?
"I'm just saying you are being very rude right now..." she complained before she crossed her arms.
"SHUT UP!" was all I could say in response as I really had no idea how to handle this. She was aware of what this was, no!? So, in an effort to remind her, I tried to break through a specific spot in her barrier.
The ease at which she moved and created those bubbles, however, stopped that effort cleanly. And, I was left distraught because nothing I was trying to do was working... Big attacks were sliced up into frosty dust and smaller ones were just simply countered. But, I still had some ideas.
So I slammed my hands on the water and froze a vast swathe of it. Then, I dropped down under it and hoped I could sneak closer to her. Yet, now I just had a clear view as to what her ice-slicing spell looked like. Thin worms that squiggled through the water until blood was drawn.
"GAH! GA-" I screamed and coughed out as I suddenly found myself above the ice again. The sudden influx of water into my lungs was quickly dealt with. But, now I was completely at her mercy as my magic had lost its focus. All the ice was just disappearing while I tended to my new hole.
"Ew." this girl commented as she began to move closer. At least, until she saw the hole she had made in my side.
"Grrr..." I growled once I had gotten over the initial shock of freezing the wound shut.
"I'm going to close my eyes, okay? I don't... I don't like the sight of blood..." she squeaked before she did, in fact, carelessly close her eyes. Yet, the way her magic moved proved it was not an issue. Her lack of comfort had led to her developing a fine sense of magic detection indeed...
"Fine by me." I commented with confidence anyway. As, if she was now relying on finding me by focusing on magic. Maybe I could confuse her by focusing my magic on different spots?
"Huh!?" she let out in confusion when her magic suddenly lashed out at the attack I was forming. A smirk then formed on my face before I slammed my fists on the water. The waves then froze over in an instant. And, I kept it up, making sure I had frozen it solid as far down as I could go.
Yet, that just made her go ballistic and her magic was lashing out everywhere. However, she was still more vulnerable than she had ever been. And I intend to exploit that, so, while I had some breathing room. I created a spear from the ice and fired.
"Gods damn you..." I curse when she intercepted it again. And, that action only made her focus on me. So I started to run again with her magic slowly trailing behind me. She had seemingly switched to a process of slow, all-out destruction!?
This time, however, I decided to go all-in to the point of risking injury. If I just made the ice thick enough while she was destroying everything else... Maybe then I could...? I did not know what else I could really do.
So, I dropped below the ice once again and shot forward with the aid of my magic. Twisting and turning around those dangerous air wires while building up a ram. Then, I surged upwards and briefly flew in the air above her once I finally broke through her barrier. And, with a mixture of frustration and glee, I dropped what remained of my ram on top of her.
"OW!" I let out once I slammed back into the ice. However, I could find peace in the fact all those bubbles were now gone. It was just me, bleeding out on the ice chair she had carved for me. So, with this injury in mind.
I tried my best to seal it or heal it, at least, until I heard a familiar voice, "La la la la la!" my sister sang with a clear twinge of pain in her voice.
"Larishazza!?" I called out as I suddenly scrambled to the top of my floating chair.
"That you Tiya!?" my sister called back with a voice full of her usual excitement. Yet, she did not leap into the sky or come running towards me. So, I grew cautious as this might've been a trick of some kind.
"Yeah, that's you alright." I found myself muttering anyway when I heard her yelp in pain as she tried to leap over anyway.
"Oh, you've been in one too?" my sister asked when I finally got over to her bleeding body. She had even turned a ghastly pale as a result of all these injuries.
"Never mind that, are you alright!?" I asked her as I turned my attention away from my injuries and towards her. It seems even she had come into contact with that girl from before. Well, I assume anyway, her injuries had a lot of fine and bloody lines...
"I beat up some musicians..." my sister giggled with a delirious slur before she fell against me.
"Sounds like fun..." I awkwardly say as I try to heal her injuries however I could. But, as neither one of us really outpaced the either. We were just sort of forced to rest here.
"This place reminds me of home."
"Just because it has water doesn't make it like home." I remind her as I shake my bemused head.
"No... Because the sky is sunny and the water is clear." she clarifies before I finally start to take in more of the details of this place. And, I could see where she was coming from. I could indeed see the resemblance to home.
However, I still just saw it as a body of water with a distant beach far off. And, rightfully so, I was focusing more on my sister as she finally started to show her pain. Even though she was crying to, I couldn't help but smile. I even stroked her hair to try and comfort her.
"It hurts..." she whines before she starts to rub at her eyes.
"I know, I know." I gently laugh before I wince at the hole in my side.
"I think I made a friend, though..." she eventually admits with a sniffle once most of the tears were gone.
"Somehow, I felt like that was going to happen." I say before she begins to fiddle around with a piece of ice.
"I want to find the others..." she then says, her fears obvious as she suffers from her injuries.
"Don't worry, they'll be fine." I tell her as I stroke my hair. I mean, how couldn't they be? Having done what they have recently, there was no way any of them could've lost!
"Yeah... We're all going to win together..." my sister mumbled before she just suddenly fell asleep.
I then sighed, "We're in a tournament, remember?" I quietly said before I just let her sleep against me. I, meanwhile, tried to enjoy the bright day this place was modelled after.