Chereads / Kokoro and the Fourth Wall / Chapter 18 - Two Kings and a Royal Flush

Chapter 18 - Two Kings and a Royal Flush

Gypsy and Calico let Adilita finish crying and wipe away her tears of anger. Streaks of makeup ran down her face from the work Eliza had done for her. Calico offered a handkerchief to who Adilita surprisingly accepted the cat paw embroidered clothe to quickly wipe away the makeup. Even Gypsy had the nerve to politely look away to allow Adilita to recollect herself, yet it actually worsened the need to cry. Since at the moment they were simply locked into a stalemate with Calico preventing to her from grabbing her weapon it was actually the moment when she handed it back to Calico that the fighting should have started. No, it was once more an extra second as Calico deposited her calico-colored handkerchief back into her tabby purse that the fighting began. The first to start was Calico as she sang a divine cord with her magic while spreading out a magical seal in many complex mana geometric shapes spread in weblike formation. In a balance of Adilita Kokoro where the Andriod was blocked by the staff and knew from fighting Lockpiece that some mysterious force was about to be used, she only drove her force harder into attempting to break through the staff. In the next set of actions and counter-interactions words were quietly spoken on a depth of looks, gazes, intelligent observations, and a myriad of different kinds of one-up boasts like a deck of cards being played.

Calico merely swished the staff away, since the magic she's cast was short and difficult to interrupt her action made her gracefully simplistic as a counter to avoid her staff's destruction. Yet, to Adilita this diversion was already preempted because it was only a feint strike as her picked up her pistol. Calico laughed, as she didn't actually move from her seat when Gypsy received a fiery discharge of the mysterious lazerpower from Adilita's gun. Instead, almost all of the shots fired seemed to be absorbed by a sheen of light surrounding Gypsy. Adilita didn't really know what Calico was up to until this point of reveal because unlike the mithra woman's brother, Calico only showed amnesty without revealing the depth of her bond to Gypsy. "Your store is Gypsy and you are Gypsy King?" Adilita asked in a bewitching tone. "The scrapheap can add one plus one rather well." The male answered with a sneer dipped in an accented grace. "What do you get when you have two Kings in a deck of cards?" Adilita didn't know but the archives immediately retrieved the answer for her. Gypsy's surname was King as well. "A pair of minx asshats, perdon miss, only one is worth your royal fur." Adilita answered scornful as she switched to targeting Calico so quickly that the icy wind whipped through the broken window to add to the flare. Calico unlike Gypsy wasn't enchanted and therefore an easier close range target to take out however seeing how the bond the two shared, Adilita was only using it to counter-rush Gypsy into striking. Which Gypsy did with a trail of after-images followed by the forceful impact of two blades colliding with the material of the gun to knock it aside.

As the emotional force gathered, naturally Calico's multicolored hair began to ripple as the aftershock of an unstoppable force and immovable object pushed her out. "Calico, push her outside! The less damage she does in here the less I have to worry about your safety." Gypsy commanded, and even under the grounded martial stance Adilita that withstood Gypsy as he managed to keep pressing the android with as many percussive strikes as possible. What made it worse was that Adilita didn't bleed normally as he did and the material was much more durable than any golem he'd fought in Yeviathan city's arenas. "Damnit why did you have to ruin it?" Gypsy's eyes were much more open to expressive volatile emotions as Adilita locked eye to eye underneath the barrage of blades. He was blaming Adilita completely for interfering with their lives and the unrelenting feral strikes were less meant to damage but more meant to cause suffering. Adilita's experience with Lockpiece showed her the answer of how to respond as she reached through an opening in his attack formation and reached for his throat. Lockpiece had been exceptionally brute in overwhelming her so as she grabbed him into a mid-motion choke slam she found her feet submerged in water. Gypsy landed into a splash of water instead of head first into hardwood flooring. Adilita was stunned mentally allowing the very organic Gypsy to grab her and snake two legs around the frame of her neck and arm.

It was during the next split few seconds that Calico emerged from the shop looking a little more exhausted that she should have appeared. The mild flash of mana flow closed around her body only to open a second flow shortly after causing Adilita to be trapped inside the water pressure of a bubble being formed from the fountain water. The crushing pressure dented the servos in Adilita's hand causing her to release Gypsy from her hold. Seeing as how dangerous it was inside, Gypsy King folded his strategy and bailed by pushing off and out of the bubble. The sopping wet catman seemed surprised by how effectively Calico neutralized Adilita for the moment. "Magic works well on her, keep it up."

"I can't I really need to drop her or we'll lose her heart."

Gypsy scoffed and nearly felt his emotions give way to Calico. "Fiiiiiiiine. We'll do it the hard way." The cat man said and went inside the shop as Calico kept Adilita captive. It wasn't going to be much longer for Adilita to fall apart underneath her tactics and the pair thought themselves safe under her imprisonment. That itself was an error as Adilita's holoworld triggered many simulations during the imminent threat of Adilita's destruction. Even though the cats had cornered a rat, a prisoner still never lost the power to think and eventually decide how to escape. Adilita realized that her strengths were far stronger than Gypsy's and that he wore very light armor specifically designed for a unique style of combat. Although Adilita was stronger it was the fact they were proving to be veterans and her calculations revealed the mathematical equation to show their weaknesses to her. This happened as her casing groaned but it was something that was easily resolved by switching the max output of her gun. There was no penalty or downtime for doing so she pressed the trigger. The water itself distorted the plasma's movement and direction because of the density of it but in a few moments the desired results showed.

"Hurry up! She's escaping." Calico called out to behind her as she felt the amount of water inside her magic decrease as steam soon rose it. "What!" Gypsy ran outside half dressed in proper armor and fixed the last bits of belt straps. He gawked as he saw the steam release up into he sky as it boiled. He was nearly impressed with concerned fear as he saw the impressive will to survive playing before his eyes. Adilita could not made a better impression on him as she floated in the air the last remaining few moments inside what remained of Calico's water prison. Calico wanted to say more but there was not enough time to monologue during a heated battle when at last gravity returned to Adilita. Her dress was wet but that was quickly solved as she seared holes with her pistol making a magma ring around her to dry it enough to continue. Unlike Lockpiece these two were deadly serious about their mission and Adilita realized something in that moment. Instead of continuing her battle of fists she moved into a battle of deduction where she asked Gypsy, "When you met Calico who did you save her from?"

Gypsy shrugged and flipped a throwing knife in his hands before catching it and dervishly spun his body. Adilita's computational system calculated speed, distance, and jewls of force causing Adilita's confidence to spike. A knife throw was harmless but Gypsy was not as he followed after in a much more maneuverable manner. Adilita ducked under the kick and aimed for Calico instead with the pistol during the duck. A shot fired but Adilita received a heavy blow as Gypsy's roundhouse switched into a downward axe kick. The knocking blow chipped a layer of her mantel from her shoulder due to the destructive force and the quality of armor Gypsy wore. Adilita of course wasn't haven't any of it and reacted with a backhand across Gypsy's face. "Thirty-two more and you'll answer me." Adilita said proudly only to find a gale of wind force from Calico's direction return fire. The reason Adilita picked on Calico was simple and that was because she a magician while Gypsy was a fighter.

The fight wasn't just going to be a few minutes long with a herioic finish. It would fuel a whole force to come out and the city wasn't actually ignorant of the fight either. Yeviathan solders were already being alerted of the skirmish and like any anti-viral system began it's impact as well.