I suggest readers who need battle advice read this entire thing. At least 40% of the chapter ended up being a battle guide. Oh, well. Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: Kid Icarus is not mine and belongs to Sakurai YADA YADA YADA...ON WITH THE DAMN FIC.
Derp.
Olympic Bloodshed
~*Chapter II*~
Fiery Comrade
Day One
I arose from bed that morning feeling quite crappy. I got dressed in my light blue tunic with some shorts underneath, and grabbed my mini treasure chest. I had my cereal, grabbed a small box to go, and left my house to head to my instructor's, where she would be training me.
The night before, I'd done some research using the magazines regarding the Skyworld sports, recent and old ones. Almost on every issue, I heard mention of Queen, and she was often addressed as the "Angel Hunter" as I read. She was one of the best Fighters in Skyworld, best known for her wide weapon variety. According to a certain issue, she changed her weapon each match as to not bore the crowd. The most recent issue told me she was fifteen years old. No wonder she was taller than me.
I just wanted to be sure about who I would be spending my time with for the next few days before the start of the games. I didn't like the way she'd talked to me and smiled at me. I was always wary of new people.
The walk to my instructor's house took about half an hour, but she'd told me I could take my time and arrive whenever. Her place looked small, nothing special. White walls, a roof held up by columns wrapped in ivy. Her front door looked a little beat up, and before it was a welcoming matt. I knocked once. Twice. She replied at the third knock.
"Coming!" The door swung open. I was surprised to see my instructor already fully clothed in armor but in the middle of brushing her teeth. That didn't give me a friendly vibe at all. She motioned me inside with her hand and ran off somewhere else. I was in her living room, occupied by a couch, a dinning table, and a lot of random junk. I could faintly hear music in the background.
Queen came down a set of stairs, having disposed of her toothbrush. "You got here earlier than I expected," she said. "But that's fine. Means we can get things done soon. Follow me!"
She went down a set of stairs. I followed. Below was a battlefield bigger than her own house, with damaged stone flooring and beat up dummies everywhere. Half of the place was indoors, but there was a glass door that gave way to the outdoor side, which looked a lot cleaner and livelier thanks to a few flowers here and there.
"Whoa," I said. "And you live here?"
"Yup. I don't have much else to do, so I built a training area." She pointed toward a wall that was occupied by a huge shelf on which was a huge variety of weapons. "That's my armory. You can borrow anything you want. Just put it back where you found it!"
I went to a corner to equip my armor, but Queen stopped me and took my treasure chest from me. When I tried to get it back, she put it on top of her weapon shelf, out of my reach. "You won't be needing that yet." She said.
"Okay so," I tried not to insult her. Now my armor was up there gathering dust. "What am I supposed to do?"
"I just want to know one thing," she said. "What's your strategy?"
"My strategy?" I was hesitant, but, hey, what were the chances of facing her in a match? I could tell her. "Attack and evade."
"Evading, huh?" She went to the far corner of the shelf. Her voice echoed. When she came back, her entire, bare left arm was tattooed red, with flaming rings dancing around it. It was a Burning Palm. I stepped back a bit. I owned one of those once, but I gave it away; the slightest contact of it on skin seriously hurt. "Do you like dodgeball?"
I couldn't see how that had to do with anything. "Yeah, I love it." I replied. And I was pretty good at it, too.
"Well then," there was a conveniently-placed yellow ball on the floor. She picked it up with one hand. "Have you ever heard of extreme dodgeball?"
Extreme dodgeball? Nope. Never heard of it. I wasn't sure if it even existed. Queen noticed my confused expression, and her lips curled into a smirk. She juggled the ball into her Burning Palm and set it aflame.
"Then how about I show you?"
"I don't like where this is going." And I was already running away from her. The flaming ball impacted the wall beside me and bounced back to her hand. She threw again, but I jumped, and it rolled between my legs. I could see she had a crappy aim. That was good. But she was still trying to kill me.
"You're quicker than I thought." Queen said as she walked to pick up the ball. I was at least twenty feet from her, panting and waiting for the next attack. One hit would earn me a trip to the hospital. "Time to kick it up a notch!" Oh, of course. Of course she had to be holding back. This was not my day.
The ball was flung at me faster than before. I had to sidestep to evade, and duck when it bounced against the glass door behind me. It went back to her palm, as if attracted to it, before she tossed it back, this time so it would bounce off the ceiling.
That one wasn't tough. But a second ball came my way when I wasn't looking. I managed to dodge it, but it burned off part of my tunic. Now I had two balls to worry about. I was beginning to feel more annoyed than worried when she tossed in a third. I was pinned against the shelf at the mercy of the one that wouldn't go back to her and stop ricocheting off the walls. As a reflex, when it came at me, I grabbed the first thing I touched behind me, and swatted the ball away with it. When I looked, it was no longer aflame; just scorched and rolling normally on the floor. And then I noticed what I was using as a bat. It was an Aquarius Blade. I grinned.
"Oh, very funny; using my own weapon against me." Queen laughed. The remaining fiery balls of doom went back to her and rolled around her feet without touching them. "Okay then. Let's play extreme baseball."
She grabbed one of the balls, and threw it at me like a pitcher. I wasn't a fan of baseball; all I knew about it was that you had to smack the ball with a bat and run as fast as you could if you got the hit. Well, I did just that. I used the Aquarius Blade as a bat and put out the ball that came at me, effectively sending it flying against the shelf. I ran just in time to avoid the last ball. Then it bounced off the floor and toward me, and I swung. But I did it with too much force, and ball ended up hitting Queen. Right in the face.
I feel satisfied, I thought.
Queen snarled, but showed me a forced smile. "You actually beat me. Heh," no more comment came from her about the extreme session. Instead, she asked me to open the glass door. Once I did, we were outside, with the wind blowing at my face. I looked up at the sky. I could see some centurions up above and a trio of angels apparently racing. It was a nice day, not a cloud in the sky (well, we kinda do live on the clouds, but whatever).
I slumped on the ground, tired already. "Were you trying to kill me back there?" I shouted.
"Not really," Queen replied from behind me. "I've never had an accident with a trainee before."
"There's blood on the floor." I pointed out, catching her lies. There were dried-up patches of red everywhere I looked, even some on the dummies.
"Oh, no," she laughed. "That's my own. I often end up hurting myself during training." I could see that happening. After all, Fighters had to deal with sharp stuff and all. You could hurt yourself just fixing your armor.
I was sitting cross-legged on the ground waiting for further instructions. I didn't know the place and I didn't know the girl, so it was all I could do. Abruptly, a heavy weight was dropped onto my lap. "Oof!" I saw it was my folded armor.
"Get suited up. Now that we've practiced evading, we will practice your battle skills." Queen said sternly as she discarded her Burning Palm, carefully washing it off into a bucket. The tinted water magically reformed into a sphere with a ring of fire around it. She took it and put it high up on her armory shelf.
I snorted. "But I don't need battle practice," I complained. I thought Palutena had sent me here so I would learn how to play in the Light vs Dark games, not this!
"I'll be the judge of that." Queen replied. I sighed, went to a corner and equipped my orange suit of armor. As I was putting my helmet on, I noticed it was way too scratched. I'd have to polish it at home.
When I came back to the outdoor training field, Queen had set up five dummies resembling monoeyes and miks. "Pick a weapon."
I wanted to see what she had to offer on her shelf, so I ignored my own weapons in my mini treasure chest and browsed the variety. Then in a corner, I spotted a pair of Brawler Claws, which looked like big fists wrapped in bandages. It was one of my favorite weapons, so I picked them up and equipped them.
Queen sat and watched as I beat up the dummies one by one with melee attacks. The pair of claws gave me a nice, unnatural speed boost that let me throw multiple punches per second. "Continuous fire, I wanna see you do it. Get five feet from your opponent." Queen demanded. Maybe if I did what she asked I would be done quicker. I stepped away from a monoeye dummy and thrust my arm forward, commanding the weapon to obey me and fire.
It went on like that for about ten minutes, just me punching and shooting. Queen told me to stop, left me alone for a minute, and came back with a tray of drinks and snacks. Well, at least she was being a good hostess. I took a small bun and ate. After I ate and drank what she'd given me, she took away the Brawler Claws.
"Alright," Queen said as she put the weapon away in her shelf. "That's it for today."
"What?" She had to be joking. I'd only been here for around two hours.
"Get out of here; we're done. Seriously. I have stuff do get to." Queen said. She handed me my things, slapped my behind (what), and pushed me towards the stairs. "Come back tomorrow anytime in the morning."
And with that, I was gone.
Day Two
"Orbitars are not your enemies. Orbitars do not want to screw you over. Orbitars are your friends."
I was focusing real hard right then to keep the Gemini Orbitars Queen had leant me in the air. They looked like a couple of white and blue masks, one happy and the other sad. They didn't feel that heavy, but since I was not a fan of orbitars, it was hard just to keep them suspended. "This takes too much concentration."
"For you, maybe," she scoffed. "It's completely natural to me. Like extra limbs."
I was supposed to practice with every weapon type. Queen had promised that once I did, she would teach me about Light vs Dark. I was good with almost all weapon types, actually, except for bows, staffs, and orbitars. The latter, I was practicing now. Queen wanted me to shoot one of her monoeye dummies to extinction.
"You need to keep in mind that you have orbitars with you. Control them with your mind like proportions of your body. They'll move with you," she instructed. "Just don't forget they're there, or they'll fall. And you better not break those," she threatened, sending me a glare. "You have no idea how hard it was to obtain them!"
The Gemini Orbitars were a zodiac weapon. Such weapons were extremely rare; almost no one had them. The main reason being that the god of the forge, Dyntos, had created them and stored them away in secret chambers all around Angel Land, but none in Skyworld. My friend Chary had an Aquarius Blade that he'd received as a gift from one of his godly admirers for winning an LVD match.
"How did you get them?" I'd always wanted my hands on a zodiac weapon.
"Well," as she spoke, she was positioning me an appropriate distance inside the range of the orbitars from the dummy. "You know the angel on the Dark team, right?"
"Yeah." I wasn't sure at the moment, thought his name was Dark Pit or something. I'd only seen him around twice in my life.
"Well, he has a lot of these Gemini Orbitars. I managed to…persuade him into giving me a pair." Queen said rather proudly.
I wanted to know nothing of her persuasion methods. Nothing at all. So I went back to focusing on those damned floating masks. Queen commanded me to shoot continuous fire. I willed them to follow my orders and set my fists below the orbitars to open fire. Instantly, dark spheres with really creepy smiles shot from each mask, slowly but effectively getting the dummy. I felt a little proud. I kept it on with the continuous fire until Queen stopped me.
"Now, finish it with a charged shot!"
Charging shots took the same process with every single weapon. All you had to do was cease fire to charge. Then, with much care, command the weapon to release a burst of energy that hit hard. Now, when I did this, the Gemini Orbitars generated almost exact replicas of themselves that flew at the dummy faster than continuous fire. The hit blew the monoeye dummy to pieces, chunks of wood and cotton now on the floor.
After the long session with the orbitars, Queen handed me a Darkness Bow, stating it was one of her favorites. Bows were actually pretty cool. Though it took skill to load the arrows and fire them quickly, splitting the bow into two knives was very easy. So easy, at first I thought I'd broken the weapon. After that, I could smack my opponent with the knives like two blades. The tricky part was the charged forward dash melee attack, which was nearly impossible for me.
"I can't do it." I panted out after so many attempts. My hand just wouldn't cooperate.
"I know it's really hard," Queen agreed. "It takes time." She took the bow from me, targeted a poor dummy, and dashed toward it, performing that difficult move. The bow, in one piece, spun in her hand like a saw, slashing away at the mik dummy with agility. It looked awesome.
A question came to my mind. "Who taught you?"
"The angels," she replied as she handed me the Darkness Bow again. "A few years ago, when I was still a noob, Palutena assigned Pit as my instructor. He's better at bows than anyone else in Skyworld."
Pit was the angel that fought in the Light team. I'd seen the guy maybe once in my life. I knew he was also a general in Palutena's army, her right-hand man. I figured having him as an instructor was quite the honor. I wasn't too sure, but Queen was lucky.
I continued bow practice for about an hour before it was snack time. We sat on the living room couch eating cereal with raisins, not bothering to take off our armor. She finished hers and let me rummage her pantry for seconds.
After lunch, it was time for the last session of the day. Queen handed me a robotic staff with a cool blinky light. It was a Laser Staff. "Okay, so what do you know about staffs?"
"They have little to no homing ability," I began. "They can slow you down and are good for sniping." Though I wasn't much of a sniper, I had good aim.
"Good," Queen clapped. "Okay, then, time to start your practice." She then placed a dummy really far away from me in the outdoor area. "The Laser Staff has the longest range of any weapon," she said.
"Next to the Earthmaul Club," I finished for her. She sent me a weird look.
"…Exactly. Good. So, your shots are almost guaranteed to reach opponents far away." Queen said. I let her move me till I was positioned in a straight line in front of the dummy.
Shooting with staffs resulted easier than with most weapons, because instead of mentally commanding them, they had a button that had to pressed to shoot. It was near the head of the staff, which is why these weapons are often held from that area.
The Laser Staff had rapid fire, which was great. I ceased fire to let the staff charge, and noticed it took quite some time. When it was ready, the blue light on the head began to blink. I took carful aim and shot.
The hard thing about staffs wasn't the actual managing; they were easy to use. The real problem is how to use them, since longer distance boosts their power, they have no homing, and most have terrible melee power.
Queen refused to teach me sniping, saying she wasn't good at it anyway. I asked her to teach me some other time, and to my surprise, she accepted. My session with the Laser Staff ended in as short as thirty minutes, after having tried everything it had to offer.
I had tried the three weapon types Queen had asked me to, and though my skills with bows hadn't improved much, I liked orbitars. They were like floating buddies.
It was late in the afternoon, and I was drenched in sweat. I discarded my armor, but Queen still wore hers, even after offering me a snack before I left. I ate some grapes and a donut before heading back home, glad the sun was setting and the atmosphere gradually got cooler.
Tomorrow would commence my real training.
Day Three
Last night, my parents interrogated me about my training, and more importantly, my instructor. I told them everything was cool, though I still couldn't trust Queen much. They said they wanted to meet her, but I quickly got that idea off their heads by pretending to have stabbed my own hand with a fork.
So in the morning, I got dressed in my tunic and packed an extra set of clothing before heading out, cereal bowl in hand and a spoon in the other. Eating cereal in the outdoors felt great.
When I got to her house, Queen told me to head on to the training field while she washed my bowl. When I entered the field and set my things down, I noticed something very different. The mik and monoeye dummies were gone, and there was a round table placed before the glass door. Queen came down the steps carrying a tray and drinks.
"What's this?" I asked, confused. Queen motioned me to sit.
"My breakfast. I'm starving." She handed me a plate with some crackers, cheese, and grapes and sat down. She was having eggs sunny side-up with toast. This had nothing to do with my training. Maybe I'd arrived too early.
"I can come back later," I told her, but she shook her head.
"No, no," she said. "We need to talk, as part of your training." I still didn't understand, so I just wolfed down a grape. "Alright, so," she began. "How long have you been a Fighter?"
"A few months." If I was being questioned, my answers would be short and sweet.
"How good are you in Free for All?"
"Recently I've been ranking among the top three."
It went on like that till she was done. All the questions she'd asked were concerning my battle record and experiences, and she never commented on my answers. She left, did the dishes, put away the table, and came back down to meet me.
"Alright," she said, changing her previously-friendly tone into a strict one. "It's time to get serious." I was a little surprised, but nodded. "Like Free for All, you'll be facing Fighters in Light versus Dark. Unlike it, however, you will have two teammates and three opponents."
Queen went over to a wall and removed the curtain over it. Beneath it was a chalkboard with what I guessed were supposed to be Fighters drawn on it. There were three on either side of the board. "Nice…doodles." I suppressed a chuckle.
"Zip it," she barked. "Anyway, these are the Fighters on the Light side," she took a chalk and colored the Fighters on the left white. Then she pointed at the uncolored ones. "And these are the ones on the Dark team. It's important that you don't get confused on the battlefield; the color is key."
This was pretty basic stuff, but at least she was finally giving me what I'd come here for. I grabbed a chair I saw nearby and sat, feeling like I was back at Cloud Elementary, except I was the only student and my teacher was one year older than me.
"So let's say you're on the Light team. Don't attack the guys in white armor." She made sure to exaggerate the circle she drew around the Light members. "Friendly fire will not be tolerated. Now, you can either go after the Dark members individually, or work as a team for a quicker kill." The idea of going solo sounded much more appealing.
This stuff is simple, I muttered.
"Sometimes you're gonna have to share a kill…"
The next hour was pretty tranquil. All Queen did was give me a lecture on team work. She was entering the whole angel topic when she stopped and told me she had something else to do and to go home. I was allowed to leave my things at her house so I wouldn't have to carry them back and forth in the days that remained. Slightly disappointed with the short session, I began my walk home.
My parents found it odd that I was back so early. But they were glad. "Just in time for lunch," mom chirped.
Let me describe my parents. My mother was a tall blonde with green eyes and pale skin. She had a signature mole right beside her right eye, and short bangs that covered her forehead. She was one of the best Fighters of her day, but retired younger than normal to raise a family. Her old pink armor was still in her closet, now undersized and dusty. She'd taught me how to fight, but since she'd never participated in the LVD, she couldn't be my teacher now.
My father was also tall and pale-skinned, with messy auburn hair and black eyes. He was growing a moustache, saying it looked manly. Unlike my mother, he had large, mighty wings with faintly green feathers. As an angel, he had the job of flying between domains to deliver messages from the gods. A skilled archer, but not in possession of any of the bows that were exclusive to Fighters, which was why I couldn't ask him for practice.
These two adults raised me to be both a skilled battler and a…good person. They'd made a deal to have two children and teach each something different. Luckily, my sister was born an angel, so there was no questioning what she was being taught: the secret arts of arrows and letters.
I sat down for lunch with my parents. Dad had killed a chicken while in the Overworld this morning, so that's what Mom had cooked, along with some fresh vegetables. "How was it, Ethan?" Mom asked.
"Short. My instructor gave me a lecture with stick figures." I mumbled.
"That's a lot better than how I draw," joked the man who couldn't hold a pencil right.
If my sister had been there, lunch wouldn't have been so pleasant. She was too loud. We talked about my training, and about how proud I was making Mom by becoming an LVD Fighter. When the donuts came for dessert, the big question was asked.
"So, son, which team will you be fighting for?" My dad inquired.
"I have no idea."
Day Four
"Get up, get up, get up!" My mother sang as she beat me with a pillow. "Today's your last day of training! Get up, get up, get up!"
Maybe if I ignore her, she'll go away, I thought, hugging the sheets.
Alas, my mother was persistent, and I ended up jumping from bed to beg her to stop. She left me a fresh, green tunic for the day, along with really tight shorts. I went downstairs to pick out my cereal of the morning. I opened the pantry and stared. We only had seventy cereal boxes of each kind left. We'd have to resupply soon. I browsed through the variety and ended up picking cheerios. I took the new box with me and left my house.
I munched my cheerios on my way and said hi to a few friends before arriving at Queen's place for the final session. I knocked once, and there she was, clad in scarlet armor, half-eaten banana in hand. She motioned me in.
We were immediately at the training field. She extended her hand towards me, and I gave her a handful of cheerios. We finished eating and Queen went outside to set up some dummies.
"Today's the last day of your training," Queen stated. "We've gotta make this count."
I was wondering how she'd teach me so much material in a few hours. She must've had a plan. "Alright." I said.
We reviewed some yesterday's stuff before she moved me to the outdoor field. There, she had six dummies. Four poorly structured Fighters and two funny-looking angels. What I found weird was that the feathers on those dummies looked awfully real.
"Alright, so now that you know the basics, it's time you know the most important thing in a Light versus Dark match: the angels." Queen lightly punched the angel dummy with white wings. "Angels are faster and a whole lot stronger than Fighters are. They can whoop your ass with just three hits."
That did not sound nice at all. I'd heard from Chary that the angels in the LVD were true experts despite their age (though I was sure they were a lot older than what everyone said). But he'd also told me that seeing them be defeated was hilarious. That, I was looking forward to.
"Their life gauge is as long as the entire team's." Queen added.
Damn, I thought. Taking them down sounded hard.
"But! They're not so sturdy." That sounded better. "So, in a Light versus Dark match, the goal is to defeat the opposing angel and win. You'll have to kill a few of your opponents first to lower the life gauge, and once that reaches zero, the angel will spawn. After that, stop at nothing to get him."
"So…the other team gets an extra members? Three on four doesn't sound fair." I said.
"Absolutely not! The Fighter whose death caused the gauge to deplete gets removed from battle and replaced with the angel. So it's still three on three."
Queen explained me the whole angel business. The more she told me, the more I began to look forward to my first match. An hour had gone by once she was finished. As usual, she brought me a drink and a snack. When I was done, I began to take an oral exam. She asked me for everything I'd learned.
"Day one: the skills of evasion and battle." I said. Queen nodded and wrote it down on a scroll she'd picked up. "Day two: the handling of all weapon types." She wrote it down. "Day three: Light versus Dark." She smiled.
"And?"
"Day four: the angels." I finished. Those were the things I'd learned and practice during my time with Queen. It had all been so fast; I couldn't believe I was finally done. In the end, Queen put away the dummies, stating how she didn't think they were necessary anymore.
It was over, done. I could leave, go home, and prepare for my first match. Smiling, I went to retrieve my treasure chest from the shelf. But then came an interruption.
"Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Um…" She didn't sound happy. "Just getting my things. I'll be out in a minute."
"Oh, no, no, no," she laughed. "Not yet. I have one more test for you."
I groaned. What could it be this time? "What now?"
Her lips curled into a smirk. I didn't like when she did that. Her smirks looked too sly. "Oh, nothing much," she walked to the far corner of her armory shelf. When she came back to face me, my eyes widened.
Queen's left arm had disappeared into the socket of a massive cannon modeled after the faithful watchdog of the very Underworld, the beast named Twinbellows. Flames decorated the back and the tip of the cannon's rear, while bones protruded from the side. The monster's mouth was agape, its glass eyes glowing neon. She held the head of her cannon with her other hand to support the weight.
"Get suited up. I'm your final test."
I got into my orange armor shortly after I was told to. I decided that if I would fight Queen with my own weapon, and not one from her armory. And I was determined to defeat her, because for some reason, she irked me to nearly the same level as my best friend did. Beating her in combat was my need. And besides, how tough could a girl be?
We stood ten feet each other outside in the training field, away from the mess inside. "Let's see what you've got, Ethan." Queen said.
A minute passed. I tightened my grip on the hilt of my Samurai Blade, which reflected the sunlight onto the bloodstained stone ground. And then without warning, Queen dashed forward, and a big ball of flames shot out from the cannon's mouth, bouncing towards me.
I sprinted out of the way, not expecting the sphere to blow up at the end of its trail. The minimum explosion caught my foot, and I tripped and fell. I managed to recover quickly, being fully energized and excited. I sprung up in time to dodge incoming continuous fire. I moved to the side, but the fireballs had slight homing and got to me anyway.
My armor kept the fire from sinking into my skin. I dashed forward and thrust my blade at Queen, missing her by an inch. Taking advantage of the position I was in, she slammed her cannon down on me, pinning me to the ground with all that weight. I clenched my jaw in concentration as I managed to slip an arm under my body and reach my power belt.
"That wasn't so hard," Queen chuckled. I could feel heat charging up inside the mouth of the cannon, ready to blast me with a charged shot that would surely finish me. But I reached the power I needed, and pressed it just in time to avoid the attack. I appeared right behind her, and it took me no more than a second to realize my position. I swung my blade as hard as I could, and knocked Queen back and onto the floor. Warp was truly a life-saving power.
Queen was already picking herself up, but doing so seemed hard with that cannon blocking the use of her hand. Still, a battle was a battle, and I could feel my Samurai Blade signaling me it was charged up. I lunged and swung vertically, sending a burst of razor sharp winds into the air. Then it crashed down onto Queen, not missing a single inch of her body.
I couldn't let her recover, so I lunged before she got back to her feet. Bu I wasn't quick enough. She was up and blocking my attack with the mouth of her cannon. She thrust it forward and pushed me back, causing me to stumble and give her enough time to stand up.
Queen was quick. She dashed toward me and swung her arm, punching the air from my lungs with that heavy blow. The cannon was like stone against my chest. I could feel the heat through my armor. After that hit came another, lighter one, and two more. Then the fourth and final, which felt stronger than all the others, set my body aflame. I fell to one knee, seeing the flames engulf my entire form. My energy was rapidly decreasing, skin feeling millions of stings per second.
Queen leapt back, and I saw as another charged shot, one bigger than the first, shot from cannon into the air and then crashed down on me. The explosion was massive, and it did nothing to help me. I'd never fought anyone with such a destructive weapon before. However, I'd felt the cruelty that was burning from many battles, so I was used to it to the point I could keep on going. But the explosion from that backward dash attack was nearly lethal. As I writhed in pain, Queen's face was smug, but she was only two feet from me, watching me.
I took the opportunity. I grabbed her by the ankle and yanked her down to the ground with me. With one hand I held her down, and with the other, I brought down my blade with fury.
Queen gave a pained cry. "Damn you!" She rammed my side with her cannon and I rolled off of her. By now, the flames had gone away, and my status was back to normal. I struggled to stand up, and when I did, I noticed Queen on one knee, panting and glaring at me. My Samurai Blade had pierced her armor and was buried deep in her abdomen. Crimson dripped from the blade onto the floor, making new stains on the stone.
Gotcha, I thought with a smile. The fight was as good as over. Or else that's what I hoped, until I saw Queen stand up and yank out the weapon from her body. Blood gushed from the wound, but she was still glaring at me. She tried to put a hand on the injury, but her armor got in the way. Grunting, she raised her Twinbellows Cannon. I was too shocked to react when a charged shot came my way, just like the first. The ball exploded as it came in contact with my body, and I was blown back into a wall because of the explosion. As my hands bled and skin burned once again, I saw Queen spit out blood.
Now it was over. Neither of us could go on. I felt weak and my body wouldn't respond; I couldn't get up, as much as I wanted to help Queen. Realization had just dawned on me; Fighters are not magically healed back to normal outside of the ring. My instructor was seriously injured, and probably bleeding to death. It would be my faut for going overboard. I tried to call out for her, but suddenly, my world went dark.
"You little bastard," came a female's chuckle. "Look at these burns. I should've gone easy on you."
I opened my eyes. I was lying on something soft and comfortable, probably a couch. All I saw was the dirty, stone ceiling. The atmosphere reeked of alchohol and sweat, and I could feel something like acid being rubbed on my skin. I looked at my body, saw that if it weren't for my shorts, I would've been completely naked.
"Oh, you're awake. Stay here," I turned my head and saw a girl walked away. Weird. When she came back, I examined her carefully. her skin was slightly darker than my pale tone. Her dark crimson locks cascaded down her back, with surprisingly straight bangs over her forehead. She had strong arms, a sign of regular work outs. What made me realize this girl was my instructor was her dark brown irises and eternally arrogant expression.
"Queen?"
"No duh," she said as she lifted up a bucket. "Hold still." And she tipped the bucket, dumping a hot, yellow liquid all over me.
"Gah!" I coughed when it got in my mouth, thinking it was something nasty. But I felt the pain in my body slowly go away as my skin seemed to absorb the substance. It was water from a sacred hot spring. I felt normal again, though still sore and exhausted. I sprung up quicker than I'd intended. Queen's couch was completly soaked. While I was looking at me, something fluffy hit my chest. I saw it was a towel.
I dried whatever part of my body was still wet and stood up to meet Queen's stare. I was gawking.
"What?" She asked.
"This is the first time I'm actually seeing you," I stated. "How come?"
Queen crossed her arms smugly, flinched, and undid the action. "Ah...for protection."
"Protection?" Why?
"From you. I didn't know if you turned out to be some kind of psycho who would try to kill me, so I was always suited up for your training; in case I had to draw my weapon and decapitate you." Queen admitted with a laugh. I found it strange how all this time I'd been wary of her, when it was actually also vice-versa. I felt some relief somehow.
I retrived my spare clothing from my mini treasure chest and got dressed. I did not want to ask her how she'd stripped me without me waking up. I had no desire to know. Queen brought a tray of food as usual, and we sat down at the dinning table for snack time.
"How's your wound?" I reluctanly asked. Queen got up and lifted her beat-up brown tunic enough for me to see her torso in bandages. The bledding had stopped, but a little blood had soaked through the material. I made me feel a little sick and I couldn't finish my fruit punch.
"The bleeding stopped, but it hurts likes a bitch. I'll have to see a medic before the LVD begins." Queen stated.
We went back to our crackers, and after finishing that, we picked up cereal. I munched silently. When we were done, I expected some talking, but we both slumped on a couch and instantly passed out. an hour later, I was up, and had to wake Queen.
I was prepared to leave. No word had been spoken about our rather epic fight earlier. It was when I was beyond the door that she actually said something.
"Ethan, you're an amazing Fighter," she said with a smile that didn't actually look smug. "You have skill, you have power, you have the guts."
I felt very flattered, though this was all true. I felt inspired for the fights I would be having the next day, but also felt the need to face Queen in battle again, to feel that rush of adrenaline I'd felt when facing her. "You're great, too," I replied.
She puffed out her chest in a proud manner. "Indeed I am." She laughed. There was a short silence before she extended her hand toward me. "...Friends?"
"Friends," we shook hands, and with that, I ran off into the night on my way home.
I couldn't wait for tomorrow; the beginning of the Light versus Dark season.
THERE YOU HAVE IT. Two weeks after the first chapter, this thing is finally done. I would like to thank my so-called friends for pressuring (trolling) me to finish this rather long chapter. I hope you're satisfied.
This was yet another introducton chapter, in my view. I really look forward to writing the next one. If you, my dear readers, want to see anything specific in Chapter 3, please let me know via review, because up to now, I've only got the battle scenes planned.
And yes. I'm aware that I should stop naming my using Queen in my stories. Though her physisque slightly alternates between fics, she's got the same smug-ass personality. At least she's not a Mary-Sue. I hate those.
Okay, I know I refused back in Chapter 1, but OC spots are officially open. I need at 2 OCs for the Dark team in LVD. ONLY TWO. The conditions are: no Mary-Sues/Mary-Stues, no angels, no gods, no amazing past having to do with super amazing stuff. Other than that, knock yourself out. THE FIRST TWO REVIEWERS TO SUBMIT OCS THAT I LIKE GET THE ROLE.
Special thanks to Michael, Ethan, and Curimuch for reviewing!
That is all. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Leave a review, so I can sleep at night. If you don't, I won't care.
-ALL HAIL DA QUEEN!