{Date: 10/17 - Monday}
{Time: 12:00 PM}
Adrianna stood before me with a confident smile on her face, shuffling her feet around in a two step rhythm. I watched her closely, analyzing her every step to find her rhythm, using light sparks of lightning to jolt myself in sync to her rhythm.
Adrianna stopped her two step rhythm, dashing toward me with a staight punch, but I swiftly evaded her strike, countering with a swift cross. My attack landed true, causing Adrianna to stumble backwards.
Regathering herself, Adrianna fixed her hair with a smile on her face. "Alright, that was a good hit...but we're only getting started."
I gestured for Adrianna to come at me, playfully taunting her with a smirk. "Let's see how bright you can shine, Golden Star..~"
Adrianna's lips stretched into a smirk, her eyes glowing with determination. With a powerful stride, she launched herself toward me and leaped in the air. I evaded her flying kick then began parrying and dodging her barrage of strikes.
Adrianna swayed out of the way of my counter, palming my stomach to knock me back then rushed forward. She rolled forward along the ground, knocking me in the air with a high reaching kick. With me in the air, she began performing a NY Flare to gain momentum into a Hand Spin.
"Taste my Destiny Flare!" Adrianna called out, landing a powerful kick upon my stomach as I came down, golden sparks pulsing around her foot upon impact.
I groaned as I was blown away by the force of her strike, a burst of golden wind blowing me away but I swiftly recovered, flipping backwards and landing on my feet. I stood up straight, holding my stomach and gazing at Adrianna with respect.
'That Destiny Flare... It's a Wind Technique? No...that's not it at all. She used Alchemy to elementally enhance her attack. She certainly caught me off guard,' I thought to myself, letting out a soft chuckle.
"That look in her eyes...it's all too familiar, yet different," Celene said, watching the battle intently and crossed her arms.
"Hisumi is downloading Adrianna. I call it her Cerebral Gaze..~ It's fitting for her...a Hound studying her prey before striking," Yusa giggled softly, crossing one leg over the other, keeping a close eye on the sparring match.
Orika continued watching, soaking in all of the information she could take about our combat styles and usages of energy. She looked at her hands, surrounding them in Spirit Energy, snowflakes peacefully generating around her hands and floating to the ground like a feather in a calm breeze.
I crouched down into a running start position, zoning in on Adrianna with my Cerebral Gaze, predicting how she would move once I charged in. 'Based on her combat style, she takes heavy inspiration from Capoeria...She already has a rhythm, so I'll need to make her dance on mine...'
Lightning began to spark around my body, crackling around me with life and unrestrained energy. My body began to flicker, using a burst of speed to appear in front of Adrianna at near invisible speeds.
Adrianna moved to the left to dodge my strike, but I predicted her movements, striking her with a Evasive Quick Attack, hitting her with a side kick to her cheek before she could perceive the attack. Streams of my lightning wrapped around Adrianna, shocking her and leaving her vulnerable in front of me.
Lightning flashed from the corner of my eyes, Spirit Energy surrounding my hand as I struck Adrianna with a palm strike, a burst of Spirit Energy flashing around my hand upon impact. Adrianna grunted heavily as she was knocked away, sent crashing toward a tree.
Adrianna quickly recovered in the air, landing on her feet and sliding backwards, stopping just before hitting the tree. She stood up straight, placing her hand on the tree and let out a heavy exhale. "Heh... now that's something I've never seen..."
"Whoa...I didn't even see her move..." Orika gasped in awe, her eyes sparkling with amazement.
Yusa's eyes lit up as she noticed I had used one of Cherry's Techniques. 'Cherry's Evasion Strike mixed with her Quick Attack...she created an Evasive Imperceivable Strike. Such speeds like that are second to none...'
I grunted softly, red lightning crackling around my body. 'Such exertion like that is something my body isn't ready for...'
Kioshi seemed impressed by the speed of my attack, her eyebrow raised with intrigue. "Yumi, what was the speed of that attack?"
Yumi used her binoculars to replay the moment of my Evasive Quick Attack, using the software to calculate the speed of the attack. Once she got the reading, her eyes widened slightly. "I-It's...it's an error. She moved beyond my software's limitations..."
Kioshi grunted softly, gripping her sleeve slightly and her body tensing from Yumi's answer. 'Incalculable Speeds..?! That shouldn't be possible for a B Rank. Has Judgement really enhanced her that much..?'
Adrianna walked forward, rolling her shoulder and hummed lightly. 'Alright, time to turn up the tempo of this fight..~'
Adrianna began to set a new rhythm with her stance, her two step in creating in count and beat. Without warning, Adrianna dashed toward me, striking me with a high knee, causing me to stagger backwards. She delivered two more strikes to my stomach then swept my feet from under me.
Adrianna hooked her arm around mine, taking me to the ground by tossing me over her shoulder. I grunted heavily as I impacted the ground, the crunchy leaves blowing away from me due to the small force of air my body produced.
Adrianna let go of my arm, stepping backwards to let me stand up, a proud smile curling on her lips. "I bet you didn't expect that huh..?"
I shook my head, shaking the leaves out of my hair and straightened myself with a soft grunt. 'I could barely react to her rhythm...she didn't attack at her usual 2/4 Time Signature...'
"You added an extra beat to your step. You're using Three Step aren't you?" I asked, crossing my arms with an impressed smile.
Adrianna chuckled softly, shaking her head and continuing her steps. "Nope..~ What I just used was 5/8 Time Signature aka my Five Step!"
"Five Step?" Orika asked, looking over at Celene with curiosity.
Celene chuckled softly, leaning back against the bench. "Five Step is an incredibly technical technique that requires advanced knowledge of Capoeira and Music Rhythm. To achieve Five Step you must know the 5/8 Time Signature perfectly."
I caught a glimpse of Celene's explanation, letting out a thoughtful hum. '5/8 Time Signature... Although I am trained for all situations, this one is tricky. I don't know the 5/8 Time Signature, I wasn't trained to learn Time Signatures...'
'Based on her expression, it seems I finally have a checkmate on her~' Adrianna thought to herself, changing her Five Step into a Three Step.
Noticing the change in her step, I noticed she was moving in the count of three, but with a slight waltz swing to her step. I watched her step, studying the Time Signature closely to learn it as quickly as possible.
Adrianna didn't give me the time to finish studying her, knowing my Cerebral Gaze would give me an advantage. She quickly sprinted toward me, leaping with a graceful spinning kick, but I quickly dodged her attack and used a Evasion Strike with my Quick Attack to swiftly evaded her next two kicks.
'What the—' Adrianna thought, her eyes slightly widening with surprise at my speed.
Red lightning crackled around my body, causing me to stagger and grunt softly from the strain of my body. The drawback of my Quick Evasion allowed Adrianna to capitalize off my self-stun, landing quick NY Flare upon my legs.
She began to keep me in the air with her Windmill Kicks then knocked me higher in the air with a quick. She leaped upward, following her attack a Flying Superkick but I quickly shifted my Valkyrie Type into Tank Type, withstanding her attack.
"Null Blow!" I bellowed, striking her midsection with a powerful double axe handle, my hand surrounded by neutral Spirit Energy.
Adrianna grunted heavily, crashing onto the ground, a small cloud of dust and smoke covering her body. I began to descend slowly to the ground, panting softly, the sting from Adrianna's kick lingering upon my cheek.
'Her attack managed to overpower my Defenses...No wonder she's the Co-Leader of New Karma,' I thought, gently rubbing my cheek and let out a soft exhale.
Adrianna sat up on the ground, shaking her head and let out a laugh. "Wooo! I haven't had this much fun in forever!"
I smiled at Adrianna, a surge of pleasure from the battle heating up my body, basic Spirit Energy slowly surrounding my body. "Same here. It's been a while since I've had a fight where I could have fun."
Adrianna stood up from the ground, dusting herself off and cleared her throat. "What was that move you used on me though? It was like all of my energy points were disrupted at once, I couldn't even counter!"
I looked at my hand, watching as my energy flowed around my hand. "When I am a Tank Type, my Elemental Affinity becomes the Null Element or as I call Neutral. Null Blow is a Disruptive Strike meant to set my opponents back to Neutral."
"The impact of the blow disrupts your energy flow, putting you in a Flash Stasis State. Due to its nature, it also always deals double damage to users of an Elemental Affinity," I explained, looking at Adrianna with a confident smirk.
Celene hummed softly at my explanation, closing her eyes with a smile. "Using a technique like that...Your daughter is beyond brilliance. She's a Tactical Mastermind. I've never seen anyone play chess like this before, not even Shiro."
Yusa smiled at Celene's praise for me, watching the battle with a proud smile on her face. "Yeah...and now she's using that intelligence for the right reasons now. I can really see her shining..."
Orika nodded in agreement, fascinated by how quickly I can adapt in real time. "Null Blow sounds so cool..."
Yumi continued watching the battle, drawn in by how graceful Adrianna and I moved within the arena as we sparred with one another. "Do you think this is enough information? We got to see some new abilities I didn't know she had. You used to be a Valkyria, explain what she just did."
Kioshi grunted softly, closing her eyes and letting out a heavy sigh. Her body tensed a bit as she racked her brain for old Valkyria knowledge, her reluctance to answer Yumi palpable.
"She used an ability named Type Change. Valkyria's have Five Main Types: Attack, Tank, Support, Speedster, and Balance. Type Change is an A Rank Technique, and the only way to have access to this is if you're an A Rank or your true Valk Type is a Balance Type," Kioshi explained, her voice thick with disdain for having to talk about Valkyrian techniques.
"Whoa, Hisumi is still so cool..~ Ahh, one day we will be together again. With Cherry out of the way, there's no more competition for Hisumi to be mine again," Yumi squealed to herself, zooming in on me to capture all of my features.
Kioshi glanced at Yumi, her expression slightly softening as she gaze at her. With a soft exhale, she pushed herself off the tree and began to walk off. "Alright, let's go. You can spy on Hisumi later after we report."
Yumi whined softly, lowering her binoculars then stood up from the bushes. "C'mon, we gotta see if they make it to the top! I'm actually invested in this now!"
Kioshi groaned softly, running her fingers through her hair. Although she was annoyed, she decided to turn back for Yumi, lingering around a bit longer, although begrudgingly. "Fine...but if we get caught, I'm personally kicking your ass.."
Yumi giggled softly in victory, settling back in the bushes to continue spying for the love of it. "And all the higher ups call you a cold hearted warrior..~ You give off major big sis energy."
Kioshi groaned softly, rolling her eyes and leaned against the tree again. "Shut up..."
Adrianna and I continued our sparring dodging and blocking each other's attacks, the two of us moving at high speeds to find an opening upon one another. Soon, we struck each other's cheeks, knocking each other back, ending with a stalemate.
I panted softly, chuckling softly and standing up straight. "Alright, it seems we are pretty evenly matched...so we can't decide the winner in a sight."
Adrianna picked up on my suggestion quickly, turning her gaze toward the peak of the mountain with a smirk, wiping the sweat from her face. "Returning to our race huh? You sure you're not too tired to continue? It's okay to lose~" Adrianna teased, narrowing her eyes to look at me.
I smirked, shifting my Valk Type back into Speedster, light blue lightning crackling around my body once again. "Tired?~ Not even close! I can do this all day!"
"Well then...see you at the top!" Adrianna exclaimed, running off to get a head start to the peak of the mountain.
Caught off guard by her sudden leave, I chased after her, leaping into the trees to catch up to her. "Get back here, cheater!"
Celene stood up with a soft chuckle, stretching her arms and legs. "Well, looks like the sparring is done. Time to get back to it."
Orika, with a surge of energy within her, began to feel inspired from my battle against Adrianna. "I'm joining in on the race! Let's go, Genesis!"
"Yeah! Gotta go fast!" Genesis cheered, swirling around Orika excitedly.
Orika shot up from the bench, running after me and Adrianna as fast as she could with Genesis flying beside her, matching her speed. Celene and Yusa glanced at each other, giggling softly and began to run after the three of us.
Yumi shot up from the bushes, gasping lightly. "C'mon! We can't lose them!"
Kioshi sighed loudly, pushing herself off the tree and put out her cigarette by crushing it in her hand. "Alright, let's go.."
Yumi and Kioshi began running after us, pushing through the obstacles with the rest of us. They watched as we began clearing difficult leaps, swings, and maneuvers along the trails, impressed by our athleticism.
I looked behind me, noticing Orika catching up with both me and Adrianna. I smiled at her proudly, pointing at my feet. "You'll go faster if you skate!"
Orika looked at her feet, her mind building with questions on how she could begin skating. Concentrating her energy, she began to generate her Spirit Energy around her feet, trails of ice lingering behind her as she ran.
Pushing off one foot, she began to skate along the ground, generating ice beneath her feet to keep her momentum. Orika let out a soft laugh of disbelief, surprised that she was able to use her energy for mobility with my help.
"C'mon! We're almost at the top!" I called out, running ahead at lightning speeds.
"Okay!" Orika called out, pushing off one foot to gain more speed, skating even faster to keep up with me and Adrianna.
The five of us continued traversing the trails, clearing the last few checkpoints together filled with our most challenging set of obstacles. Ahead, lied a group of abnormally grown trees, their branches intertwining to create a series of leaps and sliding.
"Careful on this part! This is the last obstable!" Adrianna called out, sliding under a group of branches, using her arms to block the loose twigs in her path.
I looked back at Orika, holding out my hand toward her, watching as she gradually neared me. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her into a bridal carry, leaping over the branches to take the higher path of the final obstacle. Orika held onto me tightly, her hand gripping my shirt firmly and her body tensing with anticipation.
I ran along the branches, keeping my strides long and steady. As I ran along the trees, Genesis flew ahead through the cracks of the intertwined branches, squealing with excitement and laughed with joy.
"Hisumi! The ending is right there!" Orika pointed, her eyes sparkling with joy.
I nodded and began making a run for the ending, running along the branches and making a final leap for the ending. At the same time, Adrianna made it out of the lower path, the two of us landing at the peak of the mountain at the same time.
Adrianna stood up quickly, hopping up and down, brimming with adrenaline and energy. "Woo! Now that was the best hike yet!"
I laughed softly, setting Orika down and took a few twigs out of her hair. "Yeah, that was a really fun hike. Probably the most fun I've had in forever."
Adrianna nodded, looking ahead and seeing Yusa and Celene finally arriving to the peak of the mountain. "You two slowpokes finally made it?~"
Celene chuckled softly and walked forward, gently poking Adrianna's side. "While you and Hisumi were going all out, Yusa and I reserved our energy because we still have to go back down."
"No biggie, we'll just take a break here and enjoy the view and the wind!~" Adrianna said, walking toward the railing of the mountain, looking out into the distance.
I walked toward the edge as well, gazing out into the spectacular view ahead. "Wow, you really can get a good view of everything from up here. What's that mountain over there?" I asked, pointing to the mountain with aurora lights swirling around the peak.
Adrianna looked out toward the mountain I was pointing to, a bittersweet smile forming on her lips. "That's Mt. Destiny, the tallest mountain in all of Destiny Islands. It's the place Papa was last seen, located in Heavenly Bay. I've been there once with Mama and Papa on a family outing. I was only four at the time listening to his Tribal Howl for the first time..."
I looked over at Adrianna, noticing the nostalgic expression her eyes carried. I turned back toward the mountain, my gaze lingering upon it for a moment longer. "He really meant the world to you huh?"
"Yeah...every bit of him was everything to me, but I know that he would love it if I honored him by protecting his home. As the third Destiny Child, it is my duty to protect Destiny Islands from all who seek to destroy it. And I made that a promise," Adrianna said, looking over at me with a smile.
I returned her smile with my own, gently placing my hand on her arm. "I know you're making him proud right now..."
{Bond with Adrianna significantly increased!}
{Adrianna's Mood: Happy}
"Thank you, Hisumi...that means a lot," Adrianna said, her eyes locking onto mine.
I felt my heart skip a few beats as my eyes locked onto hers, my gaze becoming lost in hers. After a few seconds, we averted our gazes, our faces slowly becoming a light pink.
Yumi continued watching us from the pushes, letting out an annoyed scoff. "Another competitor..? And it's the Co-Leader of New Karma of all people?"
"Honestly, I didn't think she'd swing that way...but really this time, we should go. This mission is a bust," Kioshi said, turning on her heels to go back down the path.
Yumi continued watching, her binoculars picking up a signal and she quickly grabbed Kioshi's wrist. "Kio, wait..!"
"What now? We have no reason to spy anymore and we've gained more than enough data," Kioshi said, turning back to look at Yumi, her skin crawling as she sensed a strong source of energy. "Don't tell me..."
"Uhm, Kioshi...that Fell Beast..." Yumi began, her voice shrinking down as she immediately recognized the energy.
Kioshi watched as the humanoid creature began to form behind Adrianna, a tail slowly growing on the creature with a stinger attached to it. "No...Pandora, you fool...you did not just release the Siphoner..."
The Siphoner looked behind Adrianna with a ghoulish grin on his face, his stinger looming over Adrianna's head like a demon ready to snatch his next victim. Kioshi and Yumi were frozen with disbelief, watching as the Siphoner planned to strike Adrianna down.
~{To Be Continued}~