It had just so happen to end up that Malin from the Westside Magpies came up against the A Class rider Cobra Lilly. He had never had the chance of facing her back home but he had watched her participate at the highest levels of female competition and she had wiped the floor with the best of them. Now that she had come over in unisex and male competition as well, it seemed her techniques worked better than they did on women. Malin hadn't been able to completely figure out what exactly happened, but he had an idea of how she caught people under her trap and he hoped he had taken the necessary precautions.
She was more than happy to fight him and she noticed that Malin wasn't looking into her eyes, "So you are trying to avoid my Cobra Lilly trap? I admire your intuitiveness but it isn't my eyes you have to avoid." Malin said nothing and she charged towards him. Malin looked at her body and his eyes scanned every inch of her while avoiding eye contact. He was able to predict what angle she was coming from and act accordingly, blocking the punch and twisting her body over her own axis slamming her into the ground. Before he did anything else, he retreated rather than try and get her again on the ground and made some distance between each other in another Mexican standoff position.
She charged in again throwing an array of punches and kicks in a very complex combination but Malin was able to stop it with his anticipation. Cobra Lilly had never faced someone who could see through her attacks before and she kept trying to keep a high speed tempo to ensure he would soon make a mistake. Waiting for his opportunity, Malin swung a punch that connected with her face and he quickly retreated again to give himself some space despite everyone watching expecting him to pursue his offensive. Cobra Lilly had seen something weird when he had backed off, "You are avoiding staying too close to me for too long aren't you? Another way of trying to get around my trap?" Malin still said nothing and it was now Cobra Lilly worked it out, "So you avoid eye contact and speaking because you believe that it is a scent attack through your mouth that may be my technique. That is very impressive in being able to work that out, but I am afraid it still doesn't matter because there is no getting passed my other way of using scent-the obvious way through your nose has been here the whole time-you are already under my trap."
Malin kept his mouth shut although he looked a little worried. It wasn't too much longer before his movements became a little sluggish. Everyone watching saw that he was indeed under her technique and he could no longer move and dropped to his knees, "Odysseus has fallen like an average warrior. Didn't Odysseus fear the Sirens on his great odyssey and it was only by the help of his crew that he didn't kill himself to go after them-you are weak." Cobra Lilly charged at him to end it so she could assist her teammates in this match when she saw Malin stand up. In horror she looked as she could almost see him as a legendary warrior in front of her and how he had once again come out on top somehow with his cunningness.
Tornado Air 900. The move that using his leg strength and low centre of gravity-could power forward, leaping into the air and using his flexibility to spin his body around and cut through the air like a torpedo and slam straight into his opponent as if he hadn't been damaged at all. Cobra Lilly went flying backwards with all the air taken out of her stomach and she coughed to get in as much oxygen as she could after she had been winded, "How could you not be under my technique?" Malin was breathing heavy, very heavy catching his breathe even though he hadn't done much in the fight so far. "When Odysseus was partaking in his great journey you speak of, there was one island he came to with his entire fleet. On this island he lost over half of his ships and crew members as they were hunted and killed by the Laestrygonians that inhabited the island. You see they were already doomed when they set their ships down on the shores as they were already cornered by the surrounding gorges and cliffs which they merely used to box them in. Odysseus was only saved by his own intuition as he didn't foolishly anchor his ship in the harbour as the others did allowing him to escape back out to sea. I was never under your trap from the beginning because I had taken the precautions. Getting past your fumes by my mouth was easy-it was the fumes you were slowly releasing for me to inhale that I had to watch out for." Malin reached into both of his nostrils looking very strange within an AT battle and pulled out two nose plugs. The whole time he couldn't breathe through his nose which was why he needed to create space to be able to breathe through his mouth that he was holding closed when in close with her. "And now it is time to finish it," he rode in to her ready to finish it but she was saved by the River, "The River will wash you away," he said getting a shot on him from behind. Malin went down, but got back up quickly to see River had come to help his teammate and he wasn't alone-Ikki was right there next to him looking as confident as ever.
Ikki had joined back up with Malin for this fight on the platform. River had eluded him to get the shot onto Cobra Lilly and he felt himself becoming more tired. As if knowing what he was thinking, River looked at him, "It doesn't feel good to feel the moisture leaving your body does it?" Ikki was out of breath and thought back to what they had discussed the night before about River.
"The River is well known for his ability. I only know it is something to do with his jacket and how he rides enables him to go for longer even though his stamina is not very good at all. He will use it to help out his team by draining our energy and giving it to them, as if he really was fresh river helping out a community around it. So after he drains some energy from us, which is the moisture in our very body that we naturally make to cool ourselves down and move our blood around the body-he will then disperse it to his team. He will make some kind of sign during the fight, the only way of knowing is after it is done and by that time his team would have already received their nourishment. We can identify as many signs as we want but they have too many backups and will be something we have to get around in the fight-especially if one of us is already under his ability."
Ikki came back around and realised he was under the Rivers technique. He remembered back to the start of the fight where he was able to connect a shot against the River and believed that was when he was able to start dehydrating him. This River had known what Ikki was going to do and this was beginning to make things very interesting. It was then that Ikki noticed something else, he saw River throw his hands into the air and how this sign bought a change in everybody's attention in his own team. They abandoned their fights and flocked to their leader, hovering around him. This was a sign and Ikki also saw something else and smiled, "You all had better enjoy that as it will be the last bit of energy you get for the rest of the fight."
"Why because Odysseus can see our body patterns? It hasn't stopped us before."
"By your movements with your AT and your jacket I believe it has some precipitation device in it that absorbs water from the area around it, which you can direct at your opponents if need be and separates the air from the water to store it. Then you can emit it within the air to reenergise your teammates and keep you fighting."
"Congratulations, you are the first to work out how my hydrate and rehydrate ability works. The River has always been a source of life to any town that has been lucky to live by it and they use it to their full extent. I am merely fulfilling my duty to the team, but you haven't told me how you are going to stop it."
"Because unlike them I can see the very water in the wind that you are emitting." Everyone stopped dead, River's eyes changed and he covered it up with a smile, "You are bluffing." Ikki didn't need to wait any longer, he charged in at River while everyone else went back to their fight.
The River saw him coming and threw a punch which wasn't even close to hitting Ikki and received one back that knocked him down. He got up from the ground and needed to give himself a lift. Ikki rushed in again and forced River to move otherwise he would have copped another devastating shot from River. Ikki stood in the spot that River was jut standing and called out to his team, "Hey Agito, Slingshot, Odysseus-come over here and get some energy back." Everyone listening came over and soon enough they felt like they hadn't even been fighting the whole time. "What is going on?" The Devil asked River wondering how their opponents were now receiving nourishment and they were not."
"You can see it can't you?" River asked.
"Yeah I guess I can see the wind when you release the moisture into it, it looks a little heavier than normal and I guess that is how I can tell. So were you going to tell your teammates that you were releasing this or were you taking it all for yourself? I suppose those lucky enough to live next to a river also ran the risk of the river flooding and working against them." There was no answer and he had got under River's skin enough to the point where he charged recklessly.
This time though, it was Malin that got in the way of Ikki and was ready to meet him head on which River was all too happy with. They clashed and neither of them was able to get a shot in on the other. They created some distance again and they both began to rethink their strategy. River looked behind him and noticed Ikki was there and he turned quickly expecting Ikki to finish him and was surprised to see him not move at all. "Hey Malin do you think you can handle this chump?"
"No problems."
River smiled, he didn't really want to fight Ikki the Wind King anymore and he a burst of confidence ran through him. Ikki picked up on this and mocked him, "It seems you do not want to fight me anymore. That is the problem with you rivers; it is the path of the least resistance that makes you crooked. You think it will be easier fighting him, there is nothing harder than fighting something with a reason to fight." Only Malin understood what Ikki meant and it made him so pumped he wanted to show River what he could do and that he was the next Seer King of the Vision Road. He needed to bring himself under control though if he expected to see everything.