This is my 4th battle(and 2nd against a fellow clan member), and Cruel's 1st.
Super excited to see how this turns out!
Oh yeah, on the side note... It would be helpful if the voters would actually READ the stories before voting. I'm looking at you, digkid.
Spoiler (Click to Show)
I don't tell this to a lot of people, but I own a company that features music equipment and sponsers upcoming musicians. I've been working on it since my days in the dojo, and things have been working out great so far. I've been able to pay for the rather expensive equipment we have at the hideout mostly with this.
But, I was having problems with composing a new song. Usually it would take about half a month to create one song, but the song I'm making right has been giving me trouble for weeks, and the due is supposed to be tomorrow. Sh*t, I'm officially out of ideas.
"What to do, what to do..."
Suddenly, an idea popped in my head.
Maybe I could think of something if I moved my body a little. I was getting tired of sitting in front of a computer anyway.
But who would I spar against? I've already gone against Charlie a couple of times, Zackeroar's too busy with his own training, and Vamprina wouldn't be up for it, since she avoids fighting as much as possible. Hmm...
"Hey Zoe, you wanna spar a little?" I said as I went down the stairs to the living room. Zoe was watching TV with Vamprina, with both of them wrapped in a blanket.
As she looked up, she replied
"Huh, why? I'm in the middle of something here"
"Well, I thought that it would be a good time to fully understand your abilities. Just because I stopped you the first time we met, it doesn't mean that I'll be able to do it again"
She raised her brow up, and replied
"...You're just bored, aren't you?"
"Not bored, but in need for an exercise routine"
"...All right, fine. Just gimme a second. I need to change" Zoe said as she stood up. She was still in her pajamas.
"But, Zoe..."
Vamprina said. Apparently, she still wanted to watch TV with Zoe.
"I won't be long, OK? Aiba, please tell her that this won't be long"
Zoe said as she turned her face to me.
"I can't assure you the exact time, but we'll be done in about a half an hour. So just hang tight" I said to Vamprina. She nodded vertically.
"All right, let me go get my stuff" I said to Zoe.
We both walked upstairs, and Zoe yelled at me as soon as we got to the second floor.
"If you look into my room while I'm changing, I'm going to kill you Aiba!!"
She's been paranoid about people looking into her room ever since Volt peeked into her room while she was changing the other day.
"Have I ever?" I said, grinning at Zoe.
"I'm just making sure!"
We arrived at the training quarters, which I got people to build underground (another super expensive thing). Zackeroar was still training there.
"Hey Zack, could you open No.3?" I asked him as I was approaching him.
Ever since I made him co-leader, I put him in charge of maintenance of the training quarters, since that's where he goes mostly every day.
As he stopped stabbing the dummy in front of him, he replied
"Yes. Just give me a second"
He put his sword away, and pulled out the card key to the training rooms.
We walked down the long hallway that lead to the training quarters. I've built a number of training rooms, ranging from Numbers 1 to 7. Among the seven, No.3 was the biggest.
Zackeroar opened the door to the training room door, and attempted to leave. I grabbed his arm, and said
"I want you to monitor the room"
He looked confused.
"Why?"
"Because if things go south, I want you to be there to stop Zoe. I don't trust myself completely to be able to stop her if she goes berserk"
I turned to Zoe, who bloated her cheeks and crossed her arms.
"No offense, by the way"
Zackeroar sighed, and replied
"Fine" as he walked up to get to the monitoring room.
"OK, let's get started, shall we?"
We both stood, looking at each other.
"You're good to go"
Zackeroar said through the comlink.
"All right Zoe. First, come at me with only your fists. I'll go unarmed as well"
I said.
After a short nod, she dashed at me to attempt a right hook. I quickly moved my head to dodge it, and gave her a straight punch to the throat.
Zoe kneeled down, and choked a little, but not for long. She got back up on her feet, and gave me a couple of kicks. I was able to block the first few, but she was able to hit me directly on the right side of my stomach. Damn, that stings.
I eventually grabbed her leg, and flipped her. She landed face down on the ground. With a grunt of pain, she got back up and attempted a scissor kick. I dodged the first kick, and grabbed her leg again as she kicked a second time, and flipped her over again, this time with me using my wind abilities to make her spin a few times in mid-air before she pummeled to the ground.
"You're making your moves too predictable. If you're going to use them, don't put too much motion into it" I warned her as got up.
"Come to think about it, you're younger than me right? How do you know so much about fighting, when you usually use weapons?" Zoe asked.
"I'm experienced as well" I replied. She seemed to smirk at my responce.
I used my electricity powers to teleport right next to her, and told her in a small voice
"Let me show you"
She turned around to punch me, but I quickly teleported backwards, and got ready to attack. I dashed at her, and did my usual combo: a one-two, low kick to the shin, uppercut, kick to the stomach, teleport to the rear, and tornado kick to the head. Zoe wasn't able to react to any of the attacks. She flew to the ground, with a rather loud thud.
"Impressive" announced Zackeroar.
Zoe got up slowly, but something was different about her. As she turned her head around, I realized that her right eye was completely blank.
"It's time show you what I can really do" she said.
I couldn't help myself to grin at the fact that she's giving her all.
"Bring it" I said.
Within a blink, she was gone from my sight. I sensed her from my left, but I was too late. She managed to punch me in the shoulder.
I groaned a little. She knows how to make her hits hurt, I'll give her that.
I took out my kukri and pistol. I'm gonna have to use my weapons if she's going to be jumping around like that.
"I thought you were going unarmed!" yelled Zoe.
"If you're using your "weapon", so am I" I replied.
This time, she came from the right. I dodged her, and shot her in the arm. She groaned in pain as she quickly dashed at me with a hard right hook. I blocked it with my kukri, and she attempted to punch me in the stomach.
I teleported back before she could hit me, and as soon as I saw her stumble, I unloaded the rest of my pistol magazine at her. Zoe looked like she was having a seizure as she took all of the bullets.
She kneeled down, panting from the exhaustion and pain.
"Not too shabby for myself. You alright?" I said, as I reached my hand out to help her up.
She lifted her hand up, but she bit into it. Hard. What happened next astonished me. As well as her bitten hand, her left eye sent down blood. She seemed to put her other ability away though, as her right eye regained it's pupil.
I quickly reloaded my pistol, and shot at her once more, but she deflected it with her arm. That's not good...
"Aha... ahaha... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA
AAAAAAHHHH!!"
The tone of her voice was... different. It was a little deeper, and it seemed to echo throughout the room.
"Calm down Zoe, we don't need to go this far..." I said, trying to calm her down. Even Zackeroar, who wasn't in the room, seemed to be terrified by the state that Zoe was in, as he looked at me in an uncomfortable way.
Suddenly, Zoe gave me a barrage of punches. I wasn't able to block them all, and I eventually got blown away, landing hard on the wall.
She tried to punch me even further into the wall, but I teleported out of the way just in time. Her punch made a humongous crack in the wall. Damn, she means business. I'm glad I paid for those regenerative walls...
I slashed my kukri at her back, but I only managed to make a rip on her coat before she hit me with a backhand. I twitched in pain as I regained my stance from the blow.
I teleported as far as I could from Zoe.
"Looks like I have to go full out as well... Don't hate me for this, OK?" I said to Zoe, as I put away my kukri and pistol. She didn't seem to understand what I meant. She swung her right leg at me with immense speed. But, I summoned my katana between me and Zoe's leg, just in time to block her attack.
As Zoe grabbed her leg in pain, I grabbed hold of my beloved sword, and unsheathed it, strapping the sheath on the side of my belt.
Recovered from the pain, Zoe dashed at me again with a right hook, but I blocked the attack, and hit her on the forehead with the handle of the sword. She stumbled. Now's my chance.
I slashed her diagonally, and gave a roundhouse kick directly to the head. Zoe didn't seem to handle the attacks, and soon fell to the ground.
As I put away my katana, I let out a big sigh. What a fight. And I still can't think of anything good for the song.
I checked my phone for the time. All of this happened in a mere 15 minutes. I looked up at Zackeroar, who seemed to be relieved that I won. I should probably get Zoe back to her room...
But as tried to lift her up, a black aura surrounded the girl. I quickly let go of her, out of astonishment.
To my surprise, Zoe got back up. But, something was wrong with her. Her eyes were... completely black.
Suddenly, a pair of wings grew from her back, as well as a tail with spikes. It was the form that I recognized instantly; it's the form that she was in when I first met her.
In an instant, she was gone. The next thing I knew, I was in the air again, with severe pain on my back. I land on my feet, but Zoe was infront od me immediately, giving a multiple punches and kicks to me. Everywhere on my body started to hurt like no other.
I was coughing up blood after a few more devastating blows. Zoe wasn't herself anymore; she was completely possesed by the devil inside her. I couldn't feel my arms anymore. My katana was no use on her hard skin.
"Aiba, hang on. I'm going down there!" said Zackeroar, who stood up and started running for the door.
I was thinking to myself. Is this the end? Will I be devoured by the beast in front of me, who was once a friend? Suddenly, something clicked inside me.
That would be an awesome theme to create a song about.... Bing!
I have to finish what I've started, both this and the song. I won't let this obstacle get in my way!
"Forgive me for this" I said softly, as I started to pull out the sheath of my sword. Zoe came at me to attack, but I blew her away with the force of wind to get the sheath out.
I threw the sheath in the air.
"Let's rock"
I slashed my sheath, and the sheath started to transform into a body of aura. The aura surrounded the katana, and eventually me.
I really didn't want to do this, but she's left me no choice.
I felt all my wounds disappear, giving the sense of my arms back to me. I held the katana with both hands tightly, and teleported to Zoe's back.
I slashed as many times as I could, successfully hitting her with each blow. She roared in pain, and tried to grab me, but quickly dodged her, and slashed off one of her wings. As her scream of pain became louder, I saw the chance to finish her off.
"I hope this works again..." I said to myself as I took off my jacket, leaving Zoe crying from pain, holding the part of her back where her wing used to be.
I teleported to her rear again, and covered her eyes with my jacket. Zoe was desperately trying to get me off her back, but I felt her slowly losing her powers, as her wings and tail started to fade. By the time she was on the ground, Zoe was back to her normal state, with many slash wounds on her. I got up, and went to check her pulse.
"...Good, she's alive"
Suddenly, Zackeroar busted into the room with his sword and shield in his hands.
"I'm here to he... What the..."
I weakly grinned at him, saying
"You're way too late, brother"
As I confirmed that Zoe was unconscious, I carried her on my back, to get her medical attention. Charlie would know what to do.
I was siting in a chair right next to Zoe's bed when she woke up, as well as the others.
She looked around in confusion, possibly from remembering only from when she was in the training room.
"Where... where am I?" she said.
"You're in your own room, silly" said Vamprina, who held out a basket with fruits in it to Zoe.
Zoe buried her head into her hands, sobbing softly.
"So that means.... Oh no, I did it again... I still can't control it"
I kneeled down beside her bed, and put my hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe not yet. But, everyone here is doing their best to find a solution"
She lifted her head up, and said
"What are the solutions? Locking me up in here so you don't deal with me? Or cutting my arms off so I wouldn't harm anyone?"
She was csobbing out loud now.
I let go of Zoe's shoulder.
"No. Nothing is solid yet. But, we promise that we will never let you put yourself down, and we won't treat you how the people you've met before had. As clan members and friends, we will always be by your side when you need help. So don't you EVER think that we'll do anything horrible to you"
Suddenly, Zoe reached out her arms for me. I simply sat still as she
wrapped her bandaged arms around me. She hugged me tightly, still crying out loud.
"D'aaaaw, that's cute" Charlie teasingly said.
I gave him a look, and he simply raised his hands.
Zoe released me, and reset herself on the bed.
"Thank you Aiba... It's really good to see you alive" she said, giving me a grin.
"You too. By the way, I finished the song. Wanna hear it?"
Zoe nodded. I got up and plugged my phone into Zoe's stereo, and played the song. I made the song a slow and emotional one. All of us listened quietly as the soft sound of the acoustic guitar swifted through the room.[/spoiler]
Spoiler (Click to Show)
A small figure was curled under the shelter of a large tree. Her loose black hair was wet from the rain and covered her delicate facial features. Her face was buried in her knees that she so tightly held to her chest. The boy wiped his wet hair off of his brow and to the side as he sat his slim, yet tone, figure on a log a few feet from her.
“You shouldn’t have followed me Aiba.” The girl said softly from her nook at the base of the tree. She was hardly audible from the sound of the rain pattering on the leaves overhead.
“You should have stayed Zoe.” The boy replied. “People care about you now. The whole team does. You don’t have to do this alone.” Aiba repositioned himself on the wet log. The rain began to intensify.
“You don’t understand Aiba. None of you do!” Zoe said as tears formed in her eye’s. She loved the rain, because then nobody could tell she was crying. It showed less weakness than she was already displaying. “You don’t have to live with being a monster!”
“Maybe not, but we still want to help!” Aiba replied as he stood up from his seat with emotion.
“You CAN’T.” She said as she looked up at her friend. “There is no way you can help me! What are you going to do, cage me? Drug me? Make sure I’m not ever conscious to do the things that I do when I turn into that….thing?” She asked, emotion making her voice break periodically. “I have to go about every day k