A.N: So… Uh… It's been something like 7 months now… Oops… Anyway I'm sick and stuck at home, so I thought I'd try and get back into things! I'm not even gonna try and make up excuses, such a long absence was super-lame of me.
(Also I have pink hair now too xD)
The smart thing to do would be to run. Kish was an Alien and not even Shirogane could estimate how powerful he was. But then again, nobody knows how powerful I am. And I owe Kish a solid punch (at the very least) for trying to kiss me without permission.
Instead of following Shirogane's instructions, I crouched into a fighting position and readied my machetes.
"Oh, very good, kitten," Kish cackled.
"Ichigo!" Shirogane roared. I tossed the phone onto the sand.
The Chimera lunged, a heavy grey paw shooting out towards me. I kicked off the sand and leapt into the air, dodging the attack with ease. However, it reached up with its other paw faster than I thought possible and swatted me into the sand. If we'd been on concrete I could've broken bones, but instead I landed with a squelch. I sprang up with such speed that I nearly lost my balance and toppled forwards. Luckily my balance had also been improved and any sand-in-face mishaps were avoided.
This new body was going to take time to get used to. It was stupid of me to rush into battle straightaway, but it was too late to back out now. This time I went on the offensive and aimed to hack at the beast's feet to unbalance it. I missed my first slice as it stepped back, but as it reached to knock me away with its other paw, I stuck out a machete and the Chimera skewered its own paw. It jerked backwards, widening the wound as I tore my weapon free.
"Now, now, that won't do at all," Kish chided. He pressed his hand to the Chimera's back and its paw began to glow with an eerie yellow light. When the glowing subsided, the paw was whole again, albeit somewhat caked in blood.
"Oh come on, that is so not fair," I muttered. While Kish was guided the Chimera, it was too fast and could heal itself – I wasn't going to be able to scratch it at this rate. So I needed to separate the two and fight them individually. How–
My thoughts were interrupted by the monster opening its jaws and snapping at me. I stumbled backwards and the teeth closed over the space where I'd been standing. I instinctively raked a machete across its eye. Blood and gross jelly stuff sprayed, but I'd learnt from last time to get out of the way, and so damage was minimal. Well, to my outfit, anyway – the Chimera's eye was destroyed. It roared and reared back as Kish once again pressed his hand against it.
Perfect. While he was focused on healing its eye, I executed another high jump and landed on the Chimera's back. I jumped towards Kish, then swung my leg back and unleashed a furious kick to his side. I'd had a strong kick before I became a MEW, but now it was enough to fling him off the Chimera and send him spinning into the sand. He was a lot lighter than I'd expected. Before Kish could come after me, I scissored the machetes across the back of the Chimera's neck, creating a deep score through the flesh. It wouldn't be enough to kill it, but hopefully it would keep it down while I took care of Kish.
After the severe injury, the Chimera collapsed into the sand of its own accord. I leapt off just as Kish managed to get to his feet.
"Not bad," he smiled. The smile wasn't the same unnaturally innocent one as before. It was more like a grimace, the lips drawn too far back, revealing far too much of his fangs. It made him look far more dangerous. His hands glowed with that unpleasant yellow light and twin daggers appeared in either hand. My weapons were larger, so in theory I had the advantage, but I also had no knowledge of his fighting abilities.
We hesitated for a moment, both of us eyeing the other, searching for the best place to strike. I noticed the slight twitch in his bicep a fraction before he moved, but it was enough time for me to duck under his strike and slash upwards. Kish was just as fast as me though, so all I achieved was a scratch on his forearm. With his other hand he plunged his dagger into my shoulder.
I screamed and dropped my machete without thinking. He yanked the dagger out and swung at me again, but I flipped backwards before the strike connected. I stood a few steps away, panting heavily. I wanted to clutch at my injured shoulder, but my hand gripped my only machete. I could feel warm blood spilling from the wound, but also an uncomfortable itching and tingling.
Don't tell me – it was already healing!? Shirogane had said that I'd recovered from the operations a lot faster than expected, but I'd just been stabbed. That was a whole different level of injury. The blood was still wet and warm, but it felt like the wound had already scabbed over. I was grateful for my fast healing, but also incredibly unnerved. That is not a natural thing. I'm definitely a freak.
Luckily, with the wound sealing itself, the pain began to subside already. I prepared myself to launch another attack but Kish was already coming at me. However, instead of stabbing me again, he knocked the machete from my grip then grabbed both of my wrists and held them. I struggled to break free, but even with my new strength, Kish was stronger than I. I cursed and spat at him. He didn't even flinch, instead taking my cloak and ripping it off.
"Okay, what the hell do you think you're doing now?" I snapped.
He gently ran his hand along my shoulder. The touch of his warm skin made me shudder with disgust. Still, that was weird – last time his skin had felt burning hot. His finger prodded the stab wound, which was now nothing more than miscoloured skin.
"Amazing," he said softly. "It healed so quickly…"
"Let me go, you weirdo!" I growled. I yanked my hands away again, and this time he let me go.
"Well, it was fun playing with you, kitten," he practically purred.
"I can't say the same." Was he going to run already? I'd barely managed to injure him at all, and instead of soothing my anger, I'd only gotten more pissed off. I picked up the machete and made a final swing, aiming to slice across his chest, but he'd already stepped away and fled. He was pretty good at making escapes, I'd at least give him that. I wanted to run after him, but I could hear the Chimera's breathing rate increase and felt the sand shifting slightly as it attempted to stand.
I spun and, just as it stood up, accidently baring its neck to me, I slit its throat. I darted out of the way of the blood spray as the Chimera collapsed again, this time for good.
Well. Mission accomplished, I suppose. I surveyed the scene. Blood, mostly belonging to the Chimera and myself, splattered across the sand, which had been messily churned up in the heat of the battle. My other machete and my cloak were resting on the sand, so I went to collect them. Then it occurred to me that I'd also tossed the phone away at the beginning before the fight began. Also that I needed Shirogane's instructions to get back to MEW HQ.
But I couldn't see it anywhere. Oops. I paused, and my new animal ears pricked up as I listened intently. The waves crashing against the shore were loud enough to drown out anything else, but miraculously I could hear the buzzing noise that indicated active technology. I followed the sound then reached into the sand and scooped out the phone. The call with Shirogane was still connected.
"Hello?"
"Ichigo, you absolute moron! What the hell do you think you're doing?"
I grinned. "Kicking ass. Did you see how quickly I destroyed that Chimera?"
"If the Alien was actually trying to hurt you, you'd be dead," he said, his voice low and monotone. Maybe I'd picked a bad time to joke around.
"Well… Yeah… But he wasn't! And besides, if things got that bad, I would've run."
"We'll discuss this later. Get your sorry ass back here immediately."
"Excuse you, my ass is far from sorry!" That being said, I decided it'd be best to follow instructions to avoid making him any angrier. I double-checked that I'd gathered everything, then I refastened my cloak, covering up my ears, and made my way back the way I'd came. Now that running was no longer an issue, I raced back, only pausing whenever Shirogane barked an instruction and I had to change course.
I made it back to MEW HQ. I stood in front of the panel which served as a door and it opened instantly, and so I stepped back into the prep room. Needless to say, Shirogane was waiting with a frown plastered across his face.
"Uh." Evidently, I was always surprisingly eloquent in awkward situations.
"Do you want to explain why you thought it was a good idea to take on an Alien, whose abilities we do not understand at all, with less than a week of training and no back-up?"
"Well, not particularly," I shrugged. His frown deepened and I backtracked. "But, um, if you must know, I figured my freaky-deaky cat powers would make up for the difference in training."
"Wrong. No matter how fast you are or how quickly you heal, without the basic skills, you're still not a decent opponent."
"That's not my fault! If you hadn't dragged me away with less than a week to prepare–"
"You know what? The other MEWs will probably still be asleep for at least a few more days. And during that time, you're going to train like you've never trained before. Go get changed, training starts tonight."
"Hell no. I got stabbed by a psychopathic Alien today!"
"…Go get a good night's rest, training starts tomorrow."