"Fu!"
Layfon grunted as he was hit by an unexpected kick. After the kick, his opponent disappeared again.
The sound of a breath being let out brushed past his ears. Layfon pulled back his stance to respond to that breath. Then the sole of a shoe suddenly appeared before him.
"Whoa!" He barely had time to jump back.
"Umm Lyra? Don't you think you're taking this a little too seriously?" he panted.
"Hah? After years of training Lay-chan? I don't think so." Lyra grinned, as she aimed a kick for his head.
He bent forward, and the kick went over his head. Lyra changed tactics and swung down towards Layfon's back with the foot. In a flash, Layfon's left hand shot upward to grab the foot, his right hand already grabbing the collar to her shirt, and he kicked out at his Lyra's other leg and lifted her over, throwing her towards the ground.
A yelp was heard as black hair scattered and Lyra's back hit the floor. She let out a cough as the wind was knocked out of her.
"Are you all right?" Layfon getting up..
"Damn it! I thought I almost got you!" Lyra groaned as she sat up.
"Yeah, almost." Layfon smiled.
"Hmph, you just increased your speed to avoid my kick, right? I lost because of that!" Lyra combed her hair with her fingers.
"Well at least you're getting something out of these random challenges…" he chuckled.
That was their third round that day. Every match that Lyra challenged him to, she kept losing. Whether it be with a dite or hand-to-hand combat, Lyra lost.
"Ugh… I need a sword. Harley! Are you done yet?" she called out to the technician who was walking by at the time.
"I told you Lyra, it's going to take a while, especially from the damage you did." Harley replied with a sigh.
"But you said it was finished." She protested.
"It was until you decided to challenge Layfon with it!" he retorted grumpily.
"Oh yeah… hehe…" she blushed a little remembering the outcome. Lyra sent a blast of Kei at Layfon who dodged it easily. After that, he was somehow behind her with the blade against her neck.
"I still feel like, I haven't gotten anywhere…" she grumbled, crossing her arms.
"That's not true. You've gotten very strong. Your Kei control for example is very good. Much better than when we first fought in Grendan. You skills with hand-to hand-combat could use a little more work.
"Hmph," Lyra just grunted crossing her arms. It was only those three. They were waiting for Nina, Felli and Sharnid to come. Nina wasn't one to be late though, it worried the three on why she would be late.
Felli was always known for coming in late and Sharnid, Lyra didn't even bother to consider the fact that he would come. After all, he was a skipper.
"Hey Lyra! Your dite is done!" Harley's voice came from the other side. Lyra looked up her face brightening instantly.
"Is it really done? How is it? What type is it? Can I try it out now?" She bombarded him with questions.
"Yes, yes. You may try it. And the rest you'll figure out once you try it." He replied.
Lyra took the dite looking at it. It was light compared to the other one she used. "Restoration." she said as the weapon appeared. It was a sword like her other one but it was pure white.
"Wow… it's nice… but it's so light." she remarked while swinging it around.
"Yea… I chose the white one cause based off of your other dite, you use a lot of kei and white is the best one for conductivity," he explained.
"But… don't you think this will be hard to control. I mean with all that Kei especially?" Layfon added.
"Well, it won't break as easily." He replied with a shrug.
"Uh huh… right…" Lyra nodded. She understood what he was saying, but she wasn't really in the mood to listen, She just swung the sword around practicing it. She then concentrated her kei in it and swiped the blade sending a shock wave through out the dojo.
Harley let out a whistle in awe, "That was pretty good."
Lyra nodded surprised herself. She wasn't used such high conductivity. She then continued to swipe through the air sending out multiple shock waves. She sent out a huge blast, which ended up knocking over Harley's things.
"Wah! My computer!" he exclaimed catching it before it fell.
"Oops. Sorry!" Lyra quickly apologized.
"It's ok… nothing broke." Harley replied once making sure it was fine.
Lyra nodded as she took a deep breath. Harley watched as the kei disappeared from the dite, "You have good kei control." he remarked.
"Thanks. Courtesy of all the good teachers I had." she replied.
"Who taught you?" Harley asked.
"Meh… lot's of people, my brother taught me most of it. And a sensei back in Gredan." She replied.
"You call him Sensei?" Layfon coughed.
Lyra just shrugged. "He did teach me." Was her reply.
Just then the door opened and in entered Felli followed by Nina and Sharnid. They all stopped in he tracks looking at the place. Sharnid let out a whistle while Nina glared at the three. "What happened here?" she demanded.
All three of them tensed as they realized how trashed up the place was.
"Umm… Lyra, we may have overdone it a little…" Layfon muttered.
"Only by a little." Lyra replied with a light chuckle.
"You mean to say you two did this?" Nina asked indicating.
"We didn't mean to, we were just training while waiting for you. Harley was also working on Lyra's dite so we were testing that out." Layfon explained. Lyra was next to him, nodding her head.
"Well must have been intense training then, if you two managed to damage the walls this bad…" Sharnid remarked with a chuckle walking in. Felli just stared at the two before turning away, "I'm heading to the locker room to change." Nina muttered something in agreement heading off to change as well. Sharnid let out a sigh following, lazily.
Once the other three were out, Nina began the training.
"We'll work on evasive techniques." She started holding up a white ball. "Each of us will have two balls and your job is to try and hit them towards other, with out getting his yourself.
"Well this'll be fun." Lyra grinned, "Lay-chan we know who's gonna win here!" she glared at the boy.
"Um… I don't think so Lyra, you should probably take it easy, you did waste a lot of kei." Layfon replied uneasy.
"I don't think so! Don't try to make excuses, I'll be fine." She replied.
They were interrupted by a cough. Nina stood there giving the two of them a disapproval look. "If you two are done now…"
"Uh right." They both nodded straightening up. Nina tossed them all two balls each. Lyra caught the two feeling them. They were heavy and made of rubber. Well this will be painful…
"Question? Are we allowed to use dites?" Lyra asked.
Nina thought for a second before nodding. "Dites are allowed."
A small groan was heard from behind her. "Your putting Felli and I at a disadvantage then…"
"Well that's your problem." Nina replied before tossing a ball in the air.
With a signal the training began. Lyra instantly threw both of her balls in Layfon's direction. Layfon let out a sigh, "Too predictable Lyra." He remarked moving away, only to get hit by a ball in a different direction.
"You should have seen that coming Layfon." Nina remarked shaking her head.
"Uh right sorry!" he apologized, before giving Lyra a "watch out" look.
Lyra gulped before turning her attention back to the match.
She turned around only to see a rubber ball coming directly at her face.
"Yipes!" she yelped jumping in the air only to have another right there. Lyra let out a groan kicking the ball away.
"Tch, so close." Sharnid sighed. Lyra narrowed her eyes getting ready to throw a ball, only to realize that she didn't have any.
"Dangit…" she grumbled landing.
"Oi! Pay attention!" her captain's voice was heard. Lyra quickly ducked the ball and quickly called out her dite. She then swung it at Sharnid who was getting ready to dodge one that was thrown towards him by Layfon. Lyra grinned realizing her was stuck, but at the last second, Sharnid restored his gun and shot the ball off in a random direction, and blocked Layfon's with his gun.
Damn it… he's smart…
Training went on for a while like that. Lyra tried her best to hit people. She ended up getting Sharnid a couple times and Felli, and ever Nina. But Layfon? None. That was annoying Nina as well. At one point, it was as if no one but Layfon mattered to her.
Now she had decided to end the training session.
"Good work everyone." She was saying in the locker rooms. "It seems that this may have helped, you guys can go home now. Our next platoon match is coming up soon. I'm not sure who it is yet, but I'll tell you once it gets closer. Till then, keep up the good work." And with that, they were all dismissed. Everyone nodded heading off in their own directions.
Lyra thought walk in the city would be fun. She was an explorer after all and she always like doing something, not sitting home.
Lyra let out a sigh walking through the city. It was crowded, just like Grendan. But something didn't feel right. She felt some sort of strange presence. It started ever since the attack back at the machineries, when those wolf-masked people attacked.
Lyra looked around trying to see if she could spot anyone. No one. It didn't help being night time either. Lyra shifted her back on her shoulder uneasy as she continued on.
"Yo Lyra-chan!" a familiar voice called from right behind her causing her to jump, but quickly covered up turning around. It was Sharnid. He was walking around casually with both hands in his pockets.
"Oh, hello Senpai." She greeted him. Even though she didn't like it, he was older than her and she had been taught to call elders by their respective name, ever since she was little.
Sharnid made a scowling face, shaking his head. "Don't call me that. It makes me feel old."
"But I'm supposed to call you that. That and Harley and Nina do. she acknowledged.
"Yea well YOU don't." he replied.
"Ok… why not?" Lyra asked with her arms crossed.
"Does there have to be a reason for everything, Lyra-chan?" he asked swinging his hands up in the air. "Why do you let me call you Lyra-chan?"
Lyra just shrugged. He had a point.
"Alright I get the point." Lyra groaned while rolling her eyes.
"Hm? Something wrong?" he asked glancing down at her.
"It's… nothing…" she replied looking away.
"Hmm… doesn't seem like nothing. I know! How about getting something to eat. My treat?" he offered.
Lyra just shook her head, "Sorry Sharnid, I think I overdid it while training today. I want to go home and just rest. But thank you for the offer, maybe some other time." She apologized.
Sharnid just let out a sigh pretending to be hurt. "Fine then… I see how it is… I'll just go by myself." He pretended to sniff.
Lyra just rolled her eyes, "Have fun." She waved.
"So heartless…" he remarked.
"I am not! Knowing you, you'll just find some pretty woman to keep you occupied!" she retorted.
Sharnid just smirked leaning forwards, "Aww… is Lyra-chan jealous?"
"As if!" Lyra snorted moving back. She then spun around on her heels and decided to head home. "I have to go home now, unlike you I have classes to attend to."
Sharnid laughed at that falling into steps next to her. "What makes you think I don't have classes?"
"Well you never go to them? I told you, I can tell you're a skipper." She replied.
"I may be a skipper, but that's only once in a while. I still go enough days to understand what's going on, and pass the classes, or else I wouldn't be in my fourth year now would I?"
Lyra just sighed shaking her head and decided to pretend that he wasn't there. Not that she was annoyed by him it was more of the fact that someone was still watching her, was bothering her. She knew they were there, but where?
"Lyra-chan? Lyra-chan?" a hand swung down in front of her face, causing her to crash into it.
"Whoa, what?" she grumbled looking up at him.
"You didn't hear anything I just said did you?"
"Well depends on where you stopped talking?" she replied rubbing the back of her neck.
Sharnid just sighed shaking his head. "I said, isn't your apartment, down this way?" he asked.
Lyra blinked staring at the road. "It is… Haha thanks; I almost forgot…" she chuckled.
"More like you weren't paying attention." He muttered with a smirk.
"Hey, I still don't have this place mapped out ok?" she defended herself.
"You've been here for a month, maybe longer. Isn't that enough time?"
Lyra tried to think of a protest but gave up, "Oh whatever, thank you alright? Well I'm off now. See ya tomorrow." She waved deciding to end the conversation.
"Sweet dreams!" Sharnid called out.
If only… Lyra sighed as she entered her apartment. The feeling people were watching her was still there. Lyra stared out her window. No one. Maybe it's my imagination? After all, it had only been a month or two she was living here? She still wasn't used to the place. Lyra just decided to ignore it for now. After washing up and changing, she headed off to be, going into a fitful sleep.