'Probably a last-minute shielding of aura, what he used I have no clue… should have paid better attention.' dodging under another fist and running with a trail of bullet impacts just behind me I began to try and close the distance and launch a lot of smaller and focused attacks toward his thighs. It would be best for me to not waste aura on the big attacks that it would take to bring him down in one critical hit. Instead, I wanted to bleed him out by exposing the major artery found in the thighs.
*bang* slamming a knuckled jab into his lower torso I duck out of the way from the counterattack, not really doing much except further angering him. A feat I would have thought impossible moments earlier if not for the fact I was just backhanded and sent flying.
*crash* flying through what must have been a block of flats, I pull myself out of the debris in a practiced manner. Just like how learning to fall was a requirement in martial arts, learning to excavate yourself from the ruins of a building was a requirement in anime fights.
*Bwoom* Launching off the tip of the rubble pile I sent myself upward into the air as I fell upon my opponent from the sky. Hoping to land a solid blow whilst Killua and now Melody kept Franklin busy. Then as I neared my target I began to use small explosions of stored energy to leap off the buildings lining the streets to steer myself as I was now directly above.
"Twenty-First Century Boy." Muttering the call phrase of my Hatsu I felt my body lock into what was essentially a pencil dive as I plunged downward. My feet were on course to land between his shoulders as I fell alongside the rain. All the while, I concentrated on focusing all of the previously stored energy inside my body as it eagerly tried to escape and fire off.
*Crunch* Slamming downward, I sent all of the brimming energy through my feet and into Franklin sending him sprawling into the floor creating a noticeable divet in the road as I stood on top of his flattened body. The only issue was, I didn't have much weight to pin him down with letting him knock me over as he stood back up off the ground. Leaving me in a similar situation as I was in the van, able to attack but really only once before putting myself in a vulnerable position. Right now I was unable to move, and my aura was being exponentially consumed with my head being face down in rubble.
'I really need to think three steps ahead with this thing don't I?' coming to a half-baked conclusion at an awful time, I strained my ears for any clues as to what was happening. And from what I could gather Melody was playing her flute yet due to my Hatsu being activated it surprisingly didn't affect me as it did earlier. I also heard the heavy footfalls of Franklin and the tumbling of rocks falling alongside the incessant heavy rain and winds that had plagued the entire night.
Taking the opportunity to quickly dispel and reactivate my Hatsu, I rolled over and fumbled around until I managed to regain my footing I stood up only to be met with the rapid cracking of gunfire as numerous aura bullets shot towards my location. Each one felt like a baseball being thrown at me by a professional player as I suspected numerous welts would be forming on the site of impact if I looked underneath my shirt.
*BOOM* Placing both of my hands on the ground out in front of me I released a large sum of energy as I created a hail of rubble to occlude his vision of myself. Afterward, I bolted away as I looked around for signs of my teammates while remaining wary, taking the chance to pour just a bit more aura from my reserves into the plate-like armor I formed around my body.
*tap* *Tap* spinning around I heard the small crescendo of the raising volume of footfalls behind me as Killua purposefully made himself known to me. Looking at him quizzically, I waited for a moment to see if he had anything to say to me.
"You suck at this." Abruptly breaking the silence, he quickly ridiculed me at what I could only think of as an awful time. Frowning a bit, I hushedly yelled at him in a practiced tone cultivated through countless midnight online arguments.
"Real team player aren't you?" Poking him hard in the chest with my pointer finger, I looked away to see what was happening with our opponent as Melody attempted to strafe and circle around Franklin with her much smaller legs.
"That's the issue, we aren't working together to take him down. Even if we have to loudly announce our plans and attacks it would be better than this. I can follow your lead but you aren't giving me much to work with and Melody's attacks will inevitably hit us as well if we don't prepare." Turning my attention back to Killua I realized he was right, as much as I didn't like it. Especially the announcing of attacks, it was that reason after all that made one of my conditions for my evolved Hatsu so powerful.
"Alright then, I see your point. What do we do?" Looking at the fight, I eagerly listened as we decided on a plan. Apparently, he had slipped away earlier and given a similar talk to Melody when I crashed above Franklin.
"You didn't seem to be affected by Melody's last song right? I can plug my ears and read lips, so we have her do her thing while you draw his anger. I will harass him and make small attacks whenever the opportunity is there. When you were trying to bleed him out was alright, but if we all work together we can make a large opening."
"...I can do that" Thinking about it, I realized I could switch to my evolved Hatsu whenever I heard the music begin to play and switch out when it ends. I would probably only need some help or cover when transitioning. " I will just need you to spot for me when dissipating my armor as I can't move my body, if he is in a blind spot when I remove my defenses I'm toast.
"Perfect."