Something I did for practice for an upcoming project.
Training Pair
"Ready Souji-kun?" Naoto asked confidently as she fitted the stock to her paintball gun and fastened the lever. The leader of the investigation team nodded as he spun the boken in his grasp, eyes focused on his target in front of him. Nodding slowly He lowered his goggles flinching slightly at the new weight on his head. In his mind he was hoping that it wouldn't throw him off balance as he moved. He saw his opponent lower her own set of goggles too, a small smile plaguing her lips. She was confident...
...She was ready...
"Go!" She shouted as she took aim and fired a hail of pellets. Not taking a moment, Souji dived to the side avoiding the immediate fire and aimed to chase her down. As he looked up he noticed that she was already gone.
'To your right,'
He heard Izanagi call out to him as he looked at the incoming fire and rolled to his right. At the point he noticed that Naoto was strafing around him, making sure he wasn't too close where he could lunge but not too far where her fast firing rate became inaccurate. Thinking on his feet he rolled backwards deflecting any of the paintballs he could with his boken.
"You're not doing anything Senpai!" She mocked as she kept firing pressing forward to keep that exact distance. Souji in his mind thought he could wait her out before she ran out of bullets and needed to reload. At this rate she would empty her clip in no time then he could strike. Side stepping to the left before sprinting to the right using the break in the river of shots where she needed to re-aim to get in a better position to approach safely. Naoto kept going anti-clockwise as he ran to the right. This confused him because it didn't press her range advantage but didn't give up ground either. She was stalling or...
...The smirk that was hard to see on her face clued him in before he released what was going on. Skidding to a halt he raised his boken in defence just before he noticed the leftover trap on the floor. Stopping just before the proximity range triggered before it exploded, blowing Souji off his feet. Naoto saw her moment as she charged in, firing into the purple mist as Yamato Sumeragi equipped itself to her face and arm as an augment. The cross hair lit up Souji like a heat sensor.
"You can't escape!" Souji heard the confidence in her tone as he swivelled on his hand to avoid being on his back before rolling backwards then diving to his left once again. Once he felt he was on his footing he shifted his body left as he just missed a ball aimed for his chest.
You won't win being on the constant defence boy. Close the gap.
Taking a risk he took off forward making sure he was moving in zigzag formation to make sure his opponent didn't have an easy shot. This was a lot harder than he expected because the travel times of the bullet was a lot less than his reaction speed. Naoto grunted seeing his change of strategy. It would take him seconds to get to her if she didn't hit her shot and that would be risky cause he could just face tank it and hope to get her that way. She won't win if he gets in. Gritting her teeth she charged forward, lowering the gun going in.
"What is she..." Souji muttered as she jet towards him before leaping into the air. Stopping on his heels he raised his wooden sword in defence as her foot crashed against it blocking her attempted melee attack before pushing her back. It was what she needed as she twirled backwards and retook aim in the air and fired.
Souji eyes wide at the ingenuity was taken slightly off guard for a second as he dodged a set of them in place before twirling his boken in desperation to avoid the brunt of the fire. One mistake he noticed in Naoto's plan...
...She needed to land...
Stepping out of the line fire he took off towards her again swiping any bullets out of his path that he could. Noticing that the trail his sword left was now multi coloured from how much blocked he's done since they've started. Sliding to the side he got within distance before Naoto had to give up firing and focus on her landing. He saw his chance as her form when hitting the ground was less than smooth, taking a tenth of a second too long to recover brought her within his striking range.
"Crap..." She dodged his first swing and then his under arm one. As she regained her footing, he was in point blank range and knew he couldn't dodge, his reflexes couldn't beat her Yamato Sumeragi assisted aiming. There was no way.
She pulled the trigger. And heard a click...
...She was empty...
Now Souji armed with the same smirk she was sporting before shoulder tackled her to the ground, knocking her on her back. He was about to go in with a lunging thrust but time slowed as he felt he was forgetting something. Only then he noticed as his boken bounced off her palm knocking him back a meter.
"Ha!" She pulled out a second paintball gun from behind her back and fired, forcing Souji to take evasive movement from point blank range until she stopped firing to get back on her feet. He clicked his tongue knowing the mistake he made and knew that she had a contingency plan for running out of ammo. The benefit from her using her shield meant that she didn't have her augmented aim which made it easier to get in. But as long as she was facing him directly it was always a move that was in play. He should have grabbed her instead, it's something he has to remember for next time.
The lull in movement gave her time to reload her main paintball gun which Souji figured would happen at this range. It's annoying to give up ground like that but he would have been hit a lot trying to get in only for her to possibly push him back again.
"Come on Souji-kun. If this is the best you got you won't win!" He grunted in annoyance. In terms of battle strategy she had him beat unless he started going into the depths of his Persona usage. But then it wouldn't really be difficult and beyond the point of this exercise. Also getting hit by too many paintballs hurt like hell and didn't want to go through the recovery of that.
"Bring it!"
"Fine... Yamato Sumeragi, come to me." She held out her arm again as just as before, it was like she fused with her Persona. Also where the hell did she learn that?
"Izanagi!" He shouted as the former god shone behind him, his aura enveloping his master. His eyes narrow as she smiled down the now formed ethereal barrel on her paintball gun. Souji's foot tensed.
She held the trigger and kept firing.
This time the bullets came out thick and fast. Realising that their speed and her fire rate had been magically boosted. Souji shifted to the side before charging forward, his feet glowing as he ran up with Izanagi increasing his speed. As he was in range he slid forward, Izanagi taking him into his arms moving forward blade first. Naoto's eye twitched as she dropped another trap and leapt backwards.
"Now!" Souji roared as he launched Izanagi into the trap, setting off the explosion causing purple clouds to cover Naoto's vision for a second before the power of her Persona kicked in. She gasped at the speed he was coming, the second in not seeing him allowed him to cover the distance, she ducked a swipe from his sword before blocking the over slash from his Persona with her gun as her knees quaked under its pressure. Seeing his moment Souji used his left leg to sweep her feet, knocking her to the ground again. Instinctively she put her shield again, but Souji had it scouted as he grabbed her by the jacket and lifted her to her feet unceremoniously before pushing her back. She staggered backwards, not able to get her bearings in time before she felt the thrust forward of the blunt end of his weapon first knocking her on her back as her body skidded across the floor.
Rushing forward he was going to land the another strike but with an expression of defiance and a trump card in hand she set off one last trap in front of her that exploded in a blast of white light. Using that time she hobbled to her feet and tried to acquire firing stance but she struggled to move.
"How...?"
Souji easily blocked the explosion and pressed forward, taking her completely by surprise as her eyes widened, reflexes too dulled to react in time. Just as she raised her gun Souji's swipe with the boken knocked it out of her hand, disarming her. Naoto tried to go for her side arm but Souji knocked that out of her hand too. She stumbled back and tried to get some distance to cast another Blight spell but wheezed in exhaustion as she struggled to stay on her feet. All the spell did was peter out in her hand signifying she was out of power.
Calmly Souji put his boken away. His look of concentration is still on his face.
"You're out of energy, giving up?" She dropped to one knee trying to get her breath back.
"Y-Yeah I am..."
Souji let out a breath as Izanagi dissipated into the air, the glowing aura gone. He reached out and offered her a hand, it took her a moment to as she looked up at him, her pride taking a hit before thinking better of her ego and taking his hand. With a small heave he lifted her up onto her feet as she struggled to stay upright.
"That was risky to use your shield like that with whatever the hell you did there with Sumeragi. I'm amazed you went on as long as you did."
She was still wheezing as she tried to think of an answer.
"I-I thought I could end the fight... Before that..." Souji rolled his shoulders and clicked the joint in his neck.
"You almost did..." Pulled off his goggles, blinking at the feeling of nothing on his head before wiping off any paint residue. "You just made the mistake of using too much energy at once without giving yourself some time. You'll get better with it I promise."
Shaking her head as she was still doubled over trying to recover.
"Going to rub in your victory now?" Rolling his eyes, he leaned on his boken.
"No, I'm too sweaty for that. Lets head back to your place and take a bath. I'll take my winnings later."
"I... Fine..."
He shot her one of his signature grins.
"You might even like being the loser. Come on let's get out of here."
Seeing him walk off, she sighed as she picked up her weapons and slipped off her own eyewear. "Y-Yes Souji-kun."
With that she followed him out of the Midnight Channel set.
