"Are you lost, baby girl ? "
Rosa lifted her head, mouth full of the piece of bread she was eating.
"Captain, we already said you wouldn't do that when we're on land" she said after swallowing her meal.
It has been six months since she's been on his ship.
She never felt more alive, which was ironnical considering she was putting her life on the line at every instant, but she was having fun nonetheless.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you are ashamed of your captain ?" he said, with a bright smile going from ear to ear, you wouldn't believe he is the captain of the best pirate crew in the whole ocean.
He looked like a child that just found a new play field.
And he did.
"Have you heard about magic, my dear Rosa ?" he started with his voice so relaxing it would shake you from the insides,"this strange power that gives you the ability to bend nature to your will"
"Only fairy tales" she said finishing her bowl and putting herself in a more suitable position to hear what he had to say, because she knew that smile, and she knew what it meant.
They were gonna have fun tonight.
"They always say there's a part of truth in every fairy tales, wanna hear the one behind those ?"
She only answer him with a smile.
And he answered her by another smile, then he got up, and walked toward the door.
She was his shadow, always behind, but never too far.
She believed some people were meant to be in front, showing their back to others, because they had enough confidence to do so.
And there was the one in the back, those were plenty, and she was one of them, but she was special.
She followed him in the dark alleys and the crowded avenue, until they reached an old building.
"Here," he said as he stood in front, "here, fairy tales becomes reality"
And so he stepped in.
And she followed him.
**
Rosa had to pinch herself twice to believe what she was seeing.
Their, in the middle of the arena, Neila was standing, getting ready to start a fight she didn't know anything about.
Here wasn't like fighting in the outside world, people didn't fight with their bodies, but with their minds.
Which meant that the closer to losing they were, the strongest they became.
Archibald appeared behind her.
"Isn't this the girl you told me about ?"
But Rosa was only focusing on the middle of the arena.
And what happened.
As the man started rising in the air, Neila rushed toward him with such speed it was as if she was being carried by the air, the man then flipped his fingers forward and a blade of condensed air materialised, rushing toward her face.
But she wasn't there anymore.
Right before the blade touched her nose, she jumped over his head, rotating around herself and throwing a dagger toward him.
It was too fast for him to block it, so he tried to dodge it by jumping backward, and he felt something hard hit him in the back of the neck, before losing consciousness.
"That girl is really good," said Archibald, "she made use of the force her rotation gave her to throw the dagger at full speed, and then used that same rotation to throw her elbow right in his neck, fast, precise, effective, If you weren't in front of me I would've sweared it was you fighting. You trained her well"
"I didn't train her", was all Rosa said, before getting up, putting her mask on, and getting ready for her fight.
While she was walking toward the arena she heard the owner scream at Neila.
But all she did was smile.
It was a beautiful smile, she wished she could go to her and hug her.
But she had more important matters.
She jumped over the fence of the arena with the grace of a feline.
Her opponent was already there.
From the informations she gathered, she was more of a fighter type than a ranged type.
It was perfect, she always prefered a good old fight.
As soon as the fight began they rushed toward each other, Rosa had flames in her hands and her opponents had water, which was unusual of close combat fighter, but everything was unusual in this place.
She throw the first blow.
A right hook, except she stopped before she was even close enough to hit her.
But her water didn't.
It flew toward her face as a ball, she was able to duck under it, and then she understood.
But it was too late.
She got hit by the ball of water from above, she was able to minimize the damade by moving along with the ball, as her head almsot reached the floor, she did a salto, hitting her oppenents in the head from above.
She then backed off a bit to look at her surrounding.
And then she understood.
She used two spheres of water to act as a shield and a spear, she would use them to attack or to defend herself, and combined with her physical abilities, she was a really dangerous opponent.
Rosa smiled, and got back in.
She was like a firefly in the middle of the arena, jumping and turning around, it was almost as if she was flying, water spheres coming at her from every side.
Her opponent used an offensive way of defense, if you get too close, you would receive a sphere.
If you go too far you would be brought back with one.
She was a master in space control.
But Rosa moved freely in the arena, like a free bird.
Neila was admirative, the woman in the middle of the arena was incredible.
"Impressed huh?" said the Man to her left, "Well she's in deep shit, and am not talking about water girl, am talking about Rosa"
Neila raised a brow at the name
"Come on don't tell me you didn't recognize your adoptive mother"
And then Neila looked back at the arena to try and recognize the moves she saw so often.
But the woman with the mask stopped right in the middle place.
"Do you understand now ?" said her opponent with a smirk on her face.
She was surrounded by small spheres of water.
Even if the rules stated that you didn't had the right to bring weapons, well first there was no judge so the rules weren't worth shit, but also it never said you couldn't use what's on the arena, like sweat.
Rosa looked around, and then she smiled under her mask.
As the other woman closed her arms together in a dramatical movement, all the water spheres ran toward Rosa.
But as soon as the spheres moved, an intense fire started getting out of Rosa's body, or to be more precise, they were getting out of her fingers and getting around her.
The fire was so hot even the public felt it.
The fire then expanded around her, violently, explosively.
It was now like a column of rotating fire around her.
And the spheres collided with it and vaporised away.
Her opponent was able to regroup some around her
"Oh come on, you think this will save you ?" said Rosa, transforming the column of fire into a semi sphere going behind her.
And then she started walking, slowly toward her opponent, arm wide open.
The meaning was clear.
Attack me, it said.
And she did, she threw at her everything she had.
But it didn't even reach her.
With a flicker of fingers, a whip of fire destroyed her attack.
And now she was closing in on her.
"Who is surrounded now ?" said Rosa, but her opponent already lost consciousness because of all the heat.
And just as it came to live, the fire died back in her fingers.
And so she turned back and went toward Neila.
She took her mask off, revealing her beautiful yellow eyes, that seemed brighter than usual, as if they were burning just a few moments ago.
"What are you doing here young woman", she said, and then she looked up to see the Man standing behind her, "so it's because of you".
"You were so awesome !!" Neila had stars in her eyes, as if she was talking to her forever idol,"He told me you were in deep shit but you handled her like a boss"
"Ahah yes, it was a tough fight, she was really good", she said as she brushed her hair.
"Now now," said the Man, "if you may excuse me, I have a fight waiting for me"
And suddenly they heard the crowd scream.
"Ladies and gentleman, now comes the real fight of the night," started the owner," on one side, the strongest challenger we ever had in this arena, and on the other side, the best champion we ever had in this arena, is she gonna keep the title or are we gonna see a new champion rise tonight ?"
The crowd made so much noise the earth started shaking as the two opponent got in the middle of the arena.
The Man didn't take his hands out of his pockets, and Gem looked even more irritated then she usually does.
As soon as the owner was out of the arena she jumped on the Man, she started throwing so many blows you wouldn't believe she only had two arms, but none hit.
The man casually dodged each and every one of them.
Then she backed off, and the air around her started moving around her, and she started attacking again, even faster.
But still none of her hit could make contact.
And then she couldn't move, it was as if there was a wall in front of her.
This wasn't anything unusual, people using their mind to block other peoples.
What was unusual, is the length of it, most of the time it lasted split seconds, just enough time to dodge a hit or slow your opponent down, but never to stop them from totally moving.
And the second unusual thing, is that he still had he's hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.
And the suddenly he gets his hands in the air, as in a surrendering pose and say, "I abandon"
Everything go quite, then the owner says, "You...you know it's your opponent that have to let you go, right ?"
"Right", he says, then he looks at his opponent, "can I go ?"
She stood there in shock, she can't move, but not because someone else's will is blocking her, but because her own body isn't responding.
She lost, even with someone in the public helping her, she still lost.
After a moment she opened her mouth and said "yes"
"Magnificient, I'm leaving then"
And just like that he got back to Rosa and Neila,"Ladies shall we ?"
They looked at each other, and then they nodded.
And they were gone.