Whew, it's finally out and I am moving this right along! So much for trying to get this done close to Christmas! Haaaa... I edited this and edited this and edited the crap out of this, but still - if you see any mistakes, please let me know. This actually got posted a lot sooner than expected because of Nanari, so a big thank you to her. She let me bounce a few ideas off of her and gave some really good advice.
Want to know what that advice was? Why are you reading this then!?
There were prickles of rising angry snarls injected in the chaotic crowd. Bets had been lost, money and promises broken or re-exchanged between clans, hands clasping in agreements, voices roaring with unpaid debts. Meanwhile, distant explosions from the arena blasted with waves of sand and sparks. As numerous trained canine men scanned the arena's vast width with noses pointed dangerously to the ground, more than one painful yelp followed the detonating mines.
She couldn't help but wince with a drop of guilt with every shaking eruption. Since leaving Dryden and the arena to the care of Fanelia's expert nurses and custodial services, she'd been trying to fix a small problem of her own: her backfiring armor.
Her fingers twisted anxiously together in a tornado of cold and clammy phalanges. The churn of armor on her right leg sloshed like a miniature tidal wave with her nervously bouncing knee. Sitting on the small wooden chair with a straight back, she tried to hold still as the small, white-robed nurse visibly scowled behind her back at her twitching and the current predicament she'd landed herself in. Balgus leaned like a calm storm on the back wall, his beady eyes drilling small holes. The lady's beautiful blue-feathered arm accidentally brushed against the side of Hitomi's bicep and the shoulder piece let out a cracking snap. The woman flinched with a loud squawk and let out a small foreign curse through a clamping beak.
"Sorry…" Hitomi apologized for her sparking armor as the bird lady clacked in exasperation. "Can you see what the problem is?"
"I cannot, though I might have a theory."
Lifting a hand, the golden girl sighed as she ran her fingers through her auburn locks. The hairs rapped with static and, even without a mirror, she was absolutely positive it stuck out like a hairy ball all over her head. Using her upraised hand with hairs still stuck to it, she waved it in the air for the bird to continue. "By all means, what's the theory? I'm taking any and all ideas over here."
The nurse snapped her beak again. "Well, I am no blacksmith and I certainly wasn't around when your armor was forged, but judging by the interference, I presume a portion of Sir Dryden's vox might have intercepted against your own when he hit you with the arrow. Your armor is fighting the foreign vox like white-blood cells to a disease."
"So, in other words, I've ruined my legendary swirly armor." Hitomi murmured dryly with a groan.
Another shot of electricity snapped at the lady and she chirped in surprise. The nurse backed away and fell silent for a full minute. The Pilot didn't see the bird-lady's beautiful yellow eyes dance longingly towards the outside before visibly resigning herself to duty. "I'm not sure it wants me near, My Lady. It keeps trying to lash out at my touch."
"Lovely." Settling her shoulders, she exhaled her disappointment through parted lips. "Any thoughts back there, Balgus?"
"You don't want to hear my thoughts, runt."
She clicked her tongue. "Helpful as always."
"I actually have a bit of an idea." The bird chimed, stepping forward bravely. The armor popped warningly in response. "Mediation… I would mediate your thoughts on the disruption. That is a possible way to cleanse the armor from foreign powers. Inject your own vox and force Sir Dryden's out."
Hitomi pressed her lips together thoughtfully and nodded slowly. That might work. "Do I have time?" She lifted her head to scan the bright arena. The canines were still scouting, several being carried out by their brothers with small yips of pain through singed faces.
"I'd imagine so," the nurse remarked, clacking her beak. "Sir Balgus, what do you think?"
"Stand up, Kanzaki."
The green-eyed girl frowned in confusion, but did as she was told.
The old man grunted as he pushed his large body up and step close to Hitomi's side. Both women watched him with expecting eyes. As her armor cackled angrily in response to his closeness, he scowled ferociously at its aggressiveness. He raised a large hand and the red-head gasped as he placed a finger courageously on her left shoulder. The room lit up with an explosion of wiggling white-fire, but Balgus remained touching her. His scarred face arranged in a brightly illuminated snarl. A navy vapor wafted over his hand and he put a second finger on the swirl. A blast of lightning bleached out sight and sound for several seconds. Hitomi's mouth clenched as a small ringing pulsed with the aftermath. The nurse had backed away so far, she was practically part of the wall designs in the corner.
Balgus' quirked an eyebrow challengingly; the wiry hairs on his arm shriveling with the heat.
"Snotty, condescending, temperamental, low-class, piece of junk!"
Her green eyes just stared as the old man roared out, "What? You want to throw a temper tantrum just because you got a little prick in you!? What kind of legend is that? Golden armor, my foot! She might as well put her training gear back on with the way you are behaving!"
It blasted a little higher as if in defense.
"Are…are you scolding my armor?" Hitomi asked with incredulity.
"I am scolding both of you but this trash heap here comes first!" He pushed a third finger down and it snapped briskly, covering Hitomi's right side in angry flashes of white light. "You need to learn control! And it needs to listen and obey! You two need to work together!" Turning back to the armor, he barked, "You just keep on flaring up! I can stand here all day!"
"But I have a Trial…"
Balgus flicked his rage-filled eyes on her and she swallowed as the alarm for her self-preservation rang with warning shrills in her head. "You will go when I say you can go."
"Yes, sir," she whispered immediately backing down and looking to the floor.
He was in a whole different gear of wrath.
Placing his entire hand on the armor, the golden swirls started rolling, tossing in severe currents and crackling with energy. It splashed clear off her leather before falling back for another gush. Her core tugged at her chest, her vox wanting to rise with the torrent. The watery armor crashed against his hand over and over, as if trying to physically push him away.
"Just try it! Just try to move my hand! Help it!"
Hitomi, still in awe at the armor's open defiance, didn't realize quickly enough that Balgus was talking to her. A thick hand whapped painfully on the back of her head causing her to let out a surprised squeal and the armor to blast off in rage.
"I said help it!"
"Help it what?" She shouted back.
"Move my hand!"
"How?"
"How do you think I know? Are you so mindless, you can't think for yourself? Figure it out!"
Holding a fierce scowl of her own, she exhaled shortly and gently released her eager core. She could practically taste the golden vox's urge to join the armor's angry tempest, and she trembled with the weight of holding it back. With another deep breath, she trickled it slowly down her arms. Meanwhile, the golden liquid tossed like a hurricane. Her entire body was turning into many raging rivers all fighting and churning at once. Blasts of lightning tore into the under-cove, ripping inside the small opening to the arena. She closed her eyes to concentrate.
"Focus the energy! Don't let it take over! This is your power, Kanzaki! Now control it!"
Flicking her vox out of her hands, it floated like golden cloud in her fingertips. Lifting a shimmering hand, she braced herself before reaching over and placing a small finger in one of the swirls on her left arm. She felt the racing heated rage of the armor in that one small touch.
Listen to me… She called to it; hoping the armor understood her intentions. Listen…
Releasing a small portion of the airborne vox from her control into the mini-river she was touching, Hitomi stiffened as she followed the power with her mind; keeping connected to it with pure will. The vox tossed with the swirl: down like a spiral-twist out-through another spin-up her waist-around her back-over her right shoulder- bam! She hit a hard block and a gust of orange poofed out where the interference was.
"That's it, My Lady! You're doing it!"
"Quiet, woman!"
"I'm alright. I've got this under control now." Hitomi announced bravely. She added more of her vox to the swirl with her finger. Her presence within the armor was getting stronger now; flipping –twirling- another right twist and – bam! More orange came flushed out. Keeping her eyes closed in concentration, she felt the water she was touching sloshing away from the leather; ejected itself several inches away from her body. She moved her finger to another stream on her side, filling it with her golden power. The bird clacked her beak furiously with either fear or awe. With a steady breath, she changed to another one, staying in brutal control, but somewhat enjoying the ride through her roller coaster armor. Puffs of orange spilled out in waves as the water brushed violently against it.
And then, another resilient push, the orange block was gone. The surge flowed free off her shoulder, but immediately turned against the navy vox that inflicted the other side.
"It's coming after you, Balgus." She warned.
"Let it try!" He challenged. "Open your eyes, idiot! Look at what you are doing!"
Opening her golden eyes, she finally saw the encasing currents that flowed around her and almost laughed with surprise. The individual rivers circled her in the air like long golden snakes caught in a dance. Forcing her vox to the right, she saw the streams pull with her will, hurrying to the right side of the room; waiting. Glancing at the old man, she saw he was several feet away from where he originally was. The flow was pushing him away from her. His face transforming into a sharp grimace, he braced his hand against it. Hitomi lifted her radiant eyes and hands to the swirling cage around her. The intricate leather that had once caged the raging tides seemed to sing from her body. She was with her vox flowing in the tumbling currents.
Heated and alive.
Come back to me… she called to it. Come back…
The rivers shifted, brushing slower than before, but still flipping with resentment.
Come back…
Hesitantly, like the approach of a frightened child, it rolled; twisting closer to her sparkling leather. Pulling her vox gently back, the rivers went with it, the tempest quailing under her control. With a smile of delight, the swirls began to merge back to her leather, the water flowing heavily, but more calm than before. Encasing her legs, torso, arms, and shoulders once more, there was only one swirl that remained unattached.
The one Balgus was currently touching.
She grinned brilliantly at him. "I have kept my vox out of that one current you hold, old man. You wanna talk about vox control now?"
"Don't get cocky, brat. I'm still here." He growled back.
"Not for long."
The stream smarted, static beginning to show around his fingers. As the vox flowed back into her body from the now stable swirls on her armor, Hitomi tossed a pinch of golden wisp inside the last one and immediately the power flowed beautifully with the swirl. Nearing his hand, she imagined her vox solidifying into a hard knot inside the current. With encouragement, she pushed the stream faster and- BAM!
"BLEEEEGGH!"
Balgus was blasted clear off his feet and landed with a sharp huff on his back, sliding with the momentum closer to the wall. The stream instantly obeyed her wishes; pulling back to the others and simmering with quiet happiness around her left arm.
"Sir Balgus!" The nurse trilled racing forward to the old man. He let the small woman pull him up from the stone floor, his eyes blinking slowly.
Turning to the old man, Hitomi's fingers clenched into excited fists and she grinned elatedly. "I didn't know I could do that! I didn't know I can actually control individual armor swirly things with my vox! Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?"
"Because no one knew it could be done, My Lady." The bird answered quietly, checking Balgus' pulse on his thick wrist with quivering feathers. "I have never seen anything like you."
A red mist at the entrance of her under-cove caught Hitomi's sharp eyes and she felt her heart jolt in surprise as white scales shifted into view. Van turned swiftly to her, the thick black hair on his head beginning to fall out of its smoothed back position against his scalp and brush against his tan forehead rebelliously. His face contorted into a fearful worry, he took several hurried steps to Hitomi as his smoldering armor glinting up like coals. He grabbed her shoulders and his crimson eyes flipped up and down her body with a fierce examination. She gasped sharply in surprise; her streams flushing a little stronger than necessary.
It was definitely not trying to push his hands away like Balgus.
"I came as soon as I could! What happened? Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
Blood rushed to her cheeks as his red eyes met her gold-green, the concern so prominent in his irises it was making her heart race. "What do you mean?" she asked breathlessly. "What's going on? Did I miss the announcement to fight Allen or something?"
He stopped, blinking in confusion at her questions. Shaking his head slowly, his fingers tightened protectively on her, "Lightning, Hitomi! Lightning kept striking your cove just now! Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah."
"Are you sure?"
A small smile tugged at her lips. "Van, I'm perfectly fine. Balgus, on the other hand-"
"Present, Your Majesty." The old man interrupted on the floor through clenched teeth. The nurse had stopped her duties and bowed her blue head low to the floor beside the half-prone man. Her teacher's thick legs were eagle-spread on the ground, his back braced by the stone wall. Leaning his gray head against the fortification, his narrow eyes were sparking with irritation at either being overlooked by his monarch or blown away by Hitomi. Van's eyes widened in surprise and his hands dropped from her shoulders like a white blur. Taking an immediate step away from her, his tan cheeks were tinged with light pink. "Ah-ah, Balgus, there you are. What happened?"
A feeling of apprehension punched her in the stomach and her armor twirled thoughtfully over her body. Being able to physically control individual swirls on her armor... Like the nurse said, this was revolutionary! No one would see it coming.
Especially Van.
She couldn't let Balgus give away a potential surprise attack.
"Kanzaki-"
"We were just trying to patch my armor. That's it, really." Hitomi jumped in before Balgus could begin. He let out an audible growl in frustration. She zipped her eyes on his and tried to communicate with her pleas through some secret telepathy.
Don't tell him!
This only made him scowl further.
"But then Kanzaki's armor began to-"
"-to back-fired like crazy just like in the arena, but we got it under control, right Balgus?"
"You mean when Dryden hit you with his arrow?" Van tried to clarify, swinging his red eyes back on her face. She nodded, still keeping her sharp gaze on Balgus; his mouth was open slightly, trying to figure out her hints amidst a huge glower.
"Then what happened to Balgus?" the king gestured to her burnt teacher.
An expression of understanding finally brushed his scarred features and he immediately looked away, focusing instead on the nurse beside him. "Like she said, Your Majesty, it didn't appreciate our attentions, but Kanzaki fixed it. She is ready for the next Trial as soon as you announce it." Shoving his burnt hand into her blue feathers without another word, he wiggled his fingers for the white nurse to inspect them. She sat up quickly and gently examined several of the singed areas, keeping her yellow eyes trained on her task.
Hitomi wanted to kiss the old man. He'd finally caught on.
"Exactly. Nothing I couldn't handle," the redhead grinned with a nod.
Van was silent, his red gaze switching from teacher to student multiple times. Finally, he sighed and brushed his black hair off his forehead with a heavy palm. It flicked back into his face as soon as he lowered his hand. "Alright, then. I'm glad no one was hurt too badly." He turned to the arena outside, avoiding her eyes, but his black cloak billowed out happily, brushing her ankles with its red insignia. "The sound system is unrepairable, but the traps have been removed. I will try to announce you in a few minutes. Good luck."
She could tell from his voice.
Something was off.
"Van-er-Your Majesty," she called, stepping up to him before he could transport away. Reaching out from behind, she touched his hand with her cold fingers, and like before, she felt his skin instead of the scale armored hand.
It was so warm.
He jerked at her unexpected touch and glanced at her with eyebrows raised questioningly. There was a strange emotion in his crimson eyes. It made an irrational guilt clench her heart.
"Thank you," Hitomi whispered quietly Balgus couldn't overhear even if he tried. "Thank you for coming to see me. For worrying about me."
Van visibly swallowed and he nodded shortly. She let him go and backed away as he disappeared into a puff of red wind.
But not before she saw the beginnings of a small curving smile on his lips.
The rising and falling charge in the crowd's resonance was her signal. She stood from her chair, feeling the familiar twist of nerves in her stomach, yet this time they seemed to hum happily in her belly. Balgus, his bandaged hand comfortably resting on her shoulder, pressed reassuringly on a swirl and it raced with its own branch of anticipation. Her weapons, her vox, her armor. She might not have Rutilus' consciousness with her, but she did have plenty of strong allies on her side.
And Allen was the last one in her way.
"He's the slowest of all the Vehotus you have faced so far." The old man rumbled in her ear. "But he is well aware of it. Allen does not use his power for speed like Gadeth or Millerna. The strength of his sword isn't from his vox either, but from his fierce training. He will only use his power if he has no choice. His long-sword will swing hard and accurate. His mind waves are weaker than Dryden's, but he has a trick up his sleeve. He has recently been gifted with transport, which is something you still can't do. I have watched him honing it in the private grounds. He is strong, Kanzaki."
"He won't be strong enough to take me." She whispered. "He's not the only one with a trick up their sleeve."
Balgus was quiet for a moment.
"Indeed."
Van was remained silent, standing in the middle of the arena. His black cloak flipping out around his shoulders with an air of importance. The mob trickled into an encompassing silence, the lack of sound system forcing people to strain their ears in case their king spoke. The muffle of shuffling feet, the squirm of those who'd bet on the outcome of this particular Trial. Those were the only sounds available.
And finally:
The circles appeared, one on each side. The king raised his simmering right hand and gestured to Hitomi's circle without a spoken word. She left Balgus' palm and took her steps, feeling the heat of the sun on her face as soon as she stepped out. Flurries of whispers followed her.
Within minutes, she stepped into her circle.
Slipping his left hand to the other one, she glanced at the north-east corner as a vibrant blond man strolled out from under the stands. An explosion of cheers burst into the air from the crowd. But Allen didn't acknowledge the praise. His blue eyes were forward, pinned directly on Hitomi. The long locks of his hair blowing freely in the breeze. She was surprised.
Wouldn't his hair get in the way?
He neared his circle and stepped over the line solidly. Her green eyes danced over him, studying every inch. Stretched boiled leather encased his arms, stitched for quick slices of his sword with less friction on his armpits and elbows. His black cloak, complete with the light blue insignia on the hem, didn't dance in the wind like Van's, but remained straight and slightly stiff. Allen's chest and legs were strapped with dark iron. The same blue design etched into the armor.
He'll be slow to move with all that metal, but… she set her mouth in a firm line and returned his unblinking stare. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered Van disappearing and the drums beginning their countdown.
Should she use her trick with her armor or save it for her battle with Van?
Should she use her trident or her sword?
Should she depend on only the strength of her mind waves and the skills of her quick reflexes?
The countdown slowed. Allen's right fist rose into the awaited stillness, washed in light blue.
And the circles disappeared.
He let out a yell, a massive blue blade emerging majestically into the air. Taking a step back, she held her right and left hands away from her body.
In her right, a pink pommel of a golden sword slapped steadily into her palm.
And in her left, the long iridescent pole of a trident.
And we begin Allen.
I hope you liked it.
Sorry it took so long to get it out, my dear readers. You guys mean the world to me.
blue...