Valentine's day special!

This battle featuring myself against Piasu and his gladiator of the same name. I hope you enjoy and May the odds be ever in our favor.

[SPOILER=Delor's Fight]

I'm in love with a shooting star, but she moves so fast that I can't keep up, I'm chasing...

The Richards apartment was ruled by commotion. From right outside its door one could hear loud electronic music playing, with occasional thuds and screeches overlapping onto the track.
Every now and then, when the track's rhythm would slow down, a voice that could only be described as divine would overtake, filling the air with soft, gentle notes that could relax an angered bull. Then, as the music would speed up, the voice would die out, replaced by the loud, repetitive electronic beats of the track.

Inside the apartment things were much less chaotic than one could imagine. To begin with, most of the apartment was in extremely good conditions. New furniture had been added, such as a couple of bookshelves filled with a multitude of objects, ranging from books and papers to videogames, figurines and vinyls.
The far wall of the apartment was decorated by a beautiful oriental mural, depicting two traditional dragons circling and embracing each other around a Yin-Yang. Right along said wall stood a couple of guitars, one acoustic and two electric, along with an electric bass and their respective amplifiers, pedals and accessories.
The parquet at the entrance was now covered with a very elaborate Persian rug. The old television stand had been replaced by a bigger, more modern model, which sported two tall glass cases on its sides and a suspended section going across.
Besides those major changes, there were many minor ones, such as trinkets and paintings hung along the walls, new basic furniture such as a new table and chairs, new couch and modern electrodomestics. The place had gotten a complete overhaul, and it looked amazing.

Serena could have been seen going up and down the room, adjusting various books and trinkets on the shelves and cleaning the remaining dust off of them. She sported a rather simple white t-shirt and shorts, having her hair tied in her usual ponytail. Every now and then she would sing along with the songs coming from the TV.
Tanya had taught her gradually how to make use of technology, and Serena found that the Internet was quite the impressive platform. Not only it offered her endless entertainment, but she also began experimenting with her powers. During training sessions, she would play songs off something called YouTube, and try to mesh her songs with the rhythms and create new compositions. The sessions had given mixed results, but none of them really stimulated Serena.
Despite that, she still found the process fun. She quite enjoyed the music that came out during the last 100 years. At first the Irish woman was amazed by the diversity: in her age music was quite redundant compared to what she found 'online', as Tanya says it. Any possible rhythm that she could imagine was now a song. No matter the speed, mood, power or difficulty. The banshee could find at least 1 song that resembled it. Often a lot more than just one.

Suddenly the door of the apartment opened, with Tanya entering the room and closing it behind her. She wore a plain white V neck t-shirt paired with black leather jeans and hiking boots. Her left hand was busy carrying a couple of shopping bags.

<> she shouted loudly enough that the neighbours could hear her. After all it was understandable given the volume of the music in the two women's home. Serena's attention was inevitably drawn, greeting her girlfriend with a wave and a smile. Tanya replied to her smile with one of her own and began making her way to her.

”Hey honey! How was the meeting?” Serena cheerfully asked as she placed back on a bookshelf one of the vinyls she was cleaning. As Tanya got closer to her, she leaned in and the two exchanged a smooch.

<> she answered, reminiscing for a moment to the lounge meeting she just had with some of the gladiators. She began heading towards the kitchen, dropping the bags on the kitchen's counter and grabbing a glass from one of the cupboards. The blonde woman proceeded to fill it with tap water and head back into the living room. Meanwhile Serena completed her work at the shelf and moved towards the next one.

”It was pretty good. Trained a bit, cleaned the house and did the laundry.” she replied as she shuffled around the room, but as she crossed in front of the kitchen's doorway, she paused for a moment.
”Issues? What type of issues, love?” She added before moving in front of the second bookshelf and beginning to carefully clean the dust off every shelf. Tanya entered the living room, parking herself in the vicinity of the doorway. Her eyes wandered around the room, admiring her girlfriend's work.

<> She carelessly explained, thinking back at the gladiator lounge.

”I hope you didn't cause any trouble...” Serena regarded without distracting herself from the cleaning, her duster carefully brushing a delicate glass statuette. Tanya slowly moved towards her, leaning onto one of the shelves as she looked at the Irish woman with a huge smirk decorating her face.

<> she regarded with quite the confidence. The two women locked eye contact, both smiling at each other.

”True, but not with the Gladiator Organization. You didn't piss off anybody important, did you?” Serena replied, the smile almost immediately disappearing from her face. As she questioned Tanya again about her behavior, her hands fell on her hips, assuming a very judgemental stance. Her facial expression complemented that perfectly. Tanya's attitude changed almost immediately, all the confidence simply vanishing in thin air.

<> the blonde woman replied in the matter of moments. The two held eye contact for a moment, before Serena turned her attention back at the bookshelf and continuing her cleaning duties. Tanya let out a sigh of relief. She spun around and quickly made her way to the couch.

<> She shouted as she sat down, grabbing the remote from the coffee table in front of her and lowering the volume of the music. She loved that music, but it was hard to communicate.

”It began playing on its own at a certain point. How is that sound produced? I was singing along but I came nowhere close.”

<>

”A what?” Serena asked confused, turning her head and glancing at Tanya.

<>

Serena blinked a couple of times in confusion, before simply carrying on with the cleaning. Tanya simply giggled at her girlfriend's reaction.

<>

”I don't know where I put the telephone. Why?”

<>

At the sound of those words Serena paused her cleaning for a moment. She stood completely still, before resuming.

”Interesting. Briefing?”

Tanya looked back at Serena for a moment. Unfortunately for her, it was an instant too late, so she did not catch the banshee's initial reaction. It felt odd to her that she did not question her at all about the why. After that thought left her mind, the blonde woman simply flopped on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

<>

”When and where?” Serena didn't even allow her girlfriend to finish her sentence. Her words came loud and clear to Tanya's mind, which resulted in her stand up and stare at the Irish woman in confusion. An odd moment of silence followed immediately after, only disturbed by the gentle guitar riffs coming from the track in the background. Serena glanced over her shoulder, double taking instants later.

”What?!” She asked confused as Tanya kept on staring at her.

<> the blonde woman bluntly asked from the other side.

”Huh? What do you mean?” Serena added, confusion now quite visible on her face.

<
<> Tanya asked, visibly ticked off. She quickly stood up from the couch and made her way in front of Serena, clenching her fists along the way.

”Whoah relax babe. Nothing happened to the real Serena, because I am the real Serena.” The Irish woman regarded without backing up a single inch.

<> Tanya stated quite aggressively, ready to go on the attack. But Serena did not bat an eye, and her reply came instantly.

”You squeal when I lick your nipples.”

The two women held intensive eye contact. Tanya holding a mean face and Serena replying with a smirk. But Tanya's mean face slowly turn more and more red.

<> she mumbled as she slowly lowered her head, leading to Serena sort of just scoffing.

”It's your fault! You went all crazy on me! What was I supposed to say?” Serena began to panic, going on a small guilt trip. Tanya stood in front of her with her head lowered, clenching her fists. Instinctively Serena stepped forward, tossing her arms around her girlfriend and pulling her into a hug. The blonde woman embraced the brunette immediately.

”I'm sorry I didn't mean to.”

<>

Suddenly Tanya's words were cut short as Serena pressed her lips against hers. The two exchanged a long and intense kiss before separating one from the other.

<> The crimson eyed woman stated, her voice trembling oh so slightly.

”It's ok. You're my weirdo after all.” Serena replied quickly after, smiling. Tanya's face soon brightened up.

<> She added, allowing her hands so slither down Serena's back and onto her bottocks.

”Only if dinner is good.” Serena replied, kissing her girlfriend. The two women remained embraced for a bit more, strongly gazing into each other's eyes.

”You still didn't answer my question, though.”

<>

”That's in 4 days...Training tomorrow?” By then the two women had let each other go. Serena slowly moved towards the couch and Tanya entered the kitchen.

<> Tanya replied. She stopped in front of the kitchen's counter and began unpacking from the bags she brought in. Suddenly tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, eggs, butter, cheese and chicken breast filled the counter, complemented by soda bottles and beers.

”Alright I'll have a shower!” Serena quickly made her way to the bedroom, emerging from it moments later with some clean clothes in hand. As she passed in front of the television she picked up the remote and began buttoning along.

<> Tanya stated from the kitchen. She had quickly put on the apron they had and had already began to chop the vegetables.

”Way ahead of you!” Serena cheerfully answered, hopping her way across the living room and into the bathroom. At the same time gentle guitar music echoed across the apartment, the lyrics of the song following immediately after.

When I wake up! Well I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man that wakes up next to you!

Tanya's eyes suddenly snapped away from the vegetables and focused on the other room, barely catching Serena's figure entering the bathroom.

<>

”I like the song!” Serena replied as she shut the bathroom door. Tanya sighed, shaking her head and simply resumed her task of preparing the dinner.


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The two women spent the following couple of days training and researching Serena's opponent. There wasn't much in the archives about him. He only went by the name Piasu; devoted most of his young life to learning the art of swordmanship and, according to the archives, reached the rank of master. His arsenal consists of a longsword and a special broadsward listed under the name SeverSword. Whether the weapon had magical effects or not was unknown, given the lack of information. The ability that Tanya had described as a 'Spidey Sense' was also mentioned, but no full disclosure was given. The records simply stated that it gave Piasu an edge in close combat. Tanya explained that during the review of his demo, it felt like the boy could predict the incoming attacks, counteracting the action of their opponents before they actually executed them.

The two women took this knowledge and scheduled Serena's training to be heavily 'close quarters combat' focused. Tanya challenged the banshee to use her powers in every possible way in order to fend off melee attacks, and the brunette found surprising success, using both her wakizashi and her symphonies more effectively. Despite this success, Tanya stressed the fact that taking the fight to him was a poor strategy, heavily emphasizing on disengage and counterattack. Time quickly passed and suddenly the day of the fight arrived.

On the way to the Arena Tanya could not stop talking about how Serena needs to be cautious and always ready. At first the banshee was delighted by her girlfriend's concern, but after a while it became irritating, and for as much as she loved her, Serena was on the verge of socking her in the face. That threshold had been reached as the two arrived in front of the Arena.

<>

”I got it! I had it since the second time you said it, but the 54th time definitely fuckin' made it crystal clear.” Serena suddenly snapped, finally interrupting Tanya. A slight tone of anger accompanied her words. Tanya simply stood still, dumbfounded.

<> she quietly muttered, lowering her head in guilt. Serena's emotions immediately changed. Without batting an eye Serena grabbed Tanya by her shoulders and pulled her in, embracing her.

”I didn't mean to be rude, love. It's just that you kept talking about it non stop and...you were putting me under pressure, you understand?” She explained, her tone now a lot more relaxed and soothing.

<>

That statement got quite the reaction out of Serena. Although it was cute for Tanya to be overly concerned about her well being, the banshee also felt mildly offended about the supposed lack of faith that her girlfriend had in her.
She's been through a lot harder times before, and she firmly believed that a simple battle was nothing compared to her past. A battle that was also supervisioned by the Gladiator's Organization.
But she completely understood Tanya's concerns. Afterall those battles can easily escalate and turn for the worse. She slowly let the blonde woman go.

”I understand. I promise you I'll be careful, ok?”

Tanya simply nodded, leaning in and kissing her girlfriend immediately after.

<