And we are back once again! Yeah, it really feels weird to be writing this… Shining Sunlight is now officially my longest story on the site in terms of its chapter count. And, considering Shining reached this milestone over half a year faster than Scarlet did back in the day, I have decently high hopes that Shining can have a lasting impact. It definitely doesn't feel like I have published twenty-one chapters for this story (counting today's chapter), but here we are…
As of right now, against my better judgment, Shining Sunlight is on an update schedule of once every other week. Let's see how long this will last…
A special thank you goes to Rider who left a review since the last time I updated this story and LightZephyr for catching up on the chapters you've missed out on. Thank you for your kind and supportive words.
Disclaimer: I do not own BanG Dream! Girls Band Party, nor do I, in any way, shape, or form, intend to pretend that I do.
"Move. This is my chance at a rematch with Endymion," Ran heard Tomoe warn Silver Kite's player as Chaos tried to put more pressure against Kite's blades. Kite did not give in; if anything, Ran had a feeling that Kite's response to Tomoe trying to push her way through was to put in more strength as well.
"That is unfortunate…" Kite muttered before a swift motion forced the two combatants to disengage. Chaos and Kite jumped a step or three away from each other before sizing each other back up. After a second or two of this, Kite made sure that there was no mistaking their intentions.
"Your opponent, Blue Chaos-san, is me!"
Try as she might to sidestep or otherwise avoid her opponent, Tomoe couldn't find a way to get past Silver Kite. The silver-based avatar danced across the grains of sand, its feet swift and nimble to keep up with Chaos' attempts to get past them. Every step was met by a step in kind, each feint and fancy maneuver was greeted by a dashing motion in the right direction.
It didn't take long for Tomoe to accept reality: Kite's player had decided that Tomoe would be their opponent, and until one of them fell in battle Tomoe wouldn't be allowed to get past them.
"All right, I see that you won't let me past. Have it your way, then," Tomoe grunted before she directed Chaos to jump away from Kite. The added distance between them was a nice safety precaution in case Kite started becoming more aggressive. Unfortunately for Tomoe, Chaos was a character who excelled at close-ranged combat. By creating distance between her and her target, Tomoe had made it so that Chaos wouldn't be able to hurt Kite.
"Chaos-chan! Behind you!"
Tomoe jolted back to the battlefield upon hearing Tsugumi's warning. The redhead had been so lost in thoughts that she had completely blocked out her surroundings. And had it not been for Tsugumi's timely shout, Tomoe would have been in much bigger trouble.
Kite had taken advantage of Tomoe's moment of indecisiveness to sprint forward. Or use some form of special technique that the avatar possessed. Tomoe didn't know what her opponent had used to get their avatar behind Chaos; but they did, and Tomoe escaped with just a small scratch.
This was all the motivation that Tomoe needed. Tomoe moved her hands swiftly across her keyboard, and Chaos sprung to life. Not ready to be outdone by Kite, Chaos dashed back into the fight and aimed a swift right hook at Kite. Kite's response was to duck underneath the outstretched limb and aim a slash with one of its daggers.
"You're fast, I'll give you that," Tomoe admitted begrudgingly as Chaos missed another punch originally aimed at the left shoulder of the nimble Kite. The gap in skill level between the two combatants was becoming increasingly obvious to Tomoe. Even still, Tomoe knew that she wouldn't give up. She couldn't afford to give up now.
So the only problem for the redhead was that she didn't know how to tip the battle in her favor.
Tomoe was unable to get past Kite and reach Ran, which was a big problem in and of itself. Tomoe knew how destructive Endymion could be if Ran was given the room to rampage freely, so Tomoe had to prevent that opportunity from presenting itself to Ran. The only thing that was saving Tomoe from Ran's onslaught was that Kite was too close to Tomoe for Ran to attack.
It was at that moment when a flash of light indicated the announcement of a skill that was all too familiar to Tomoe. But there was no way that Ran would use it if it meant risking injuring her partner by doing so, right?
On the other end of the Chaos versus Kite fight, Kite turned its head in the direction of Endymion before vanishing completely. This baffled Tomoe, the drummer of Afterglow looked around frantically for her opponent to no avail. Kite was nowhere to be found, and Chaos was standing on the same spot for a second too long.
By the time when Tomoe realized what her opponents had done it was already too late. Eight crimson-colored orbs came flying at high speed from Endymion's direction, circling and surrounding Chaos before rushing to the blue-colored avatar at once. There was no hope for escape for Tomoe who could only brace for the blast.
An explosion shook the battlefield, and, in its aftermath, Ran couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. Even if the fight was a virtual one, she had just willingly hurt one of her friends. And felt good whilst doing so.
Ran's guilt was short-lived, however, as she switched her attention to her partner who appeared beside her.
"I am impressed, Kite-san. To be able to avoid my attack at that angle with little to no warning that it was coming…" Ran trailed off, remembering the last few times she had used her Double Impact attack. It had not ended well for Moca and her Black Lotus, and Ran had promised she would not use that attack again without giving her friends the warning they needed, "That was an incredible skill you have to blend in the shadows like that. Especially when there is barely any shadow for you to hide in as it is."
"Where there is a source of light, there will be shadows. And where there is a shadow, I can use my skill to hide and protect myself in them," Kite explained, and Ran voiced her understanding of Kite's line of reasoning. Kite then took a moment to compliment and praise Ran as well, likely to return the favor, "I am also impressed by your skill, Endymion-san. It had a lot of destructive force behind it."
'Perhaps too much…' Ran thought to herself with a grimace. The memory of the last time she accidentally hit one of her friends was a painful one to remember. To put her mind at ease, Ran tried to focus on what was in front of her, 'As destructive as Double Impact is, I don't think that Tomoe would fall from just a single hit. So, what is taking her so long to show herself again?'
"Kite-san, be on your guard," Ran warned as she moved her character a few paces to the left. This action was met by a questioning look from Kite, which meant that Ran had to explain her intentions to the other player, "I doubt that Chaos was hurt too badly by my attack, so we should be ready for a counterattack. Chaos is a close-ranged fighter, which means that if we create some space between us, we can't be taken out at the same time as easily as Chaos would want."
"That is… an understandable strategy, but we do not need to be so cautious," Kite's response was accompanied by Kite vanishing in the shadows once again. Kite would remain silent after this but Ran already figured out what her partner was trying to do.
"Then as promised I will fire from a distance!" Ran exclaimed, reaching for the key that would activate Double Impact once again. But before her finger had pressed the associated key, she stopped.
Using the same skill again would surely be enough to finish off Chaos, but it didn't feel right. Ran would be toying with her friend's feelings and pride if she were to use that skill again, but what else could she use? There was another skill right next to Double Impact that caught Ran's eye for a split second. A technique that would surely be enough to finish off Chaos and guarantee Ran's spot in the next round.
But was it worth it?
As much as Ran hated to lose, she knew. She knew that she couldn't use that move on Tomoe. When she would face Moca in the next round it would be fair game but Ran had to get through Tomoe and Tsugumi first. No, that move was not meant to be used against Chaos; Ran had to think about another strategy.
That was when Ran recognized the name of the third skill at her disposal.
'It's not as strong as Double Impact, but maybe I shouldn't use Double Impact anymore for now… Tomoe's pride might never live it down if I continuously bombard her with that skill,' Ran thought to herself with a small frown. It was crystal clear to Ran what she had to do and, after a click of her left mouse button, it was done. Ran watched Endymion raise its hands, compress a ball of air between them, and shoot it in the direction of Chaos.
The resulting blast was a small but effective one. Chaos, who had been trying to get close to Endymion again, was forced to roll to the right to avoid the attack. Ran knew that it was a simple task for Tomoe to avoid taking any damage from her most recent attack.
'However, if I wanted to hurt Chaos I would have used Double Impact again,' Ran thought to herself, allowing a smile to tug at the corners of her mouth. Air Bullet was never supposed to be used as an offensive technique and Ran was well aware of this. The amount of damage that it could inflict was minimal at best, so Ran tried to find alternate ways to take advantage of the skill.
Using it to throw her opponent off-balance and vulnerable to a follow-up attack was one such application of the move.
Kite jumped into battle as soon as Endymion had fired its attack. With Chaos distracted by Ran's attack, Kite saw an opening. The silver-colored avatar unsheathed both its daggers and slashed at Chaos' unguarded torso.
The blows weren't as deep as Kite would have liked them to be, but the damage was already done. Especially when Chaos was forced to dodge another Air Bullet from Endymion a split second later, giving Kite enough time to land the third blow on the blue-colored avatar.
'Kite's attacks aren't dealing a lot of damage. Either Kite is a lower level than I thought they were or Tomoe's been working on her defensive abilities in her spare time,' Ran thought to herself as she watched Chaos' health bar. Choosing to ignore the fact that she had been training on her own as well, Ran instead tried to find where Tsugumi was. Tomoe wasn't the only opponent that Ran had to fight to get to the next round.
"Endymion-chan…"
Ran was shocked to hear those words in her headset. Using her mouse to look around Endymion's surroundings to confirm her earlier suspicion, Ran saw that she had not misheard. Standing barely a few meters away from her avatar was Tsugumi's avatar.
"Peace, you know we are opponents now, right?" Ran asked her friend before she could stop herself. What was she doing? By not attacking her friend the moment she saw the opportunity to do so she was effectively giving Tsugumi a free chance to land the first attack. But something wasn't right, and Ran couldn't get herself to attack Peace, "Don't you think that it is reckless for you to approach me so openly?"
"Probably," Tsugumi admitted with a sheepish chuckle, positioning her avatar in an awfully specific way. Ran knew that her friends were well aware of the distance Endymion needed to be at to be the most effective at dealing damage. This meant that Tsugumi was aware of this, too, and the brunette was slowly trying to close the gap between her and Ran to minimize the damage that Ran could do, "I don't want to fight you, Endymion-chan. I don't think that any of us wanted to fight each other this early, but… we promised each other that we would not hold back."
"Chaos-chan even warned me about not getting too close. Endymion-chan knows this as well, but Peace… isn't a very strong character when it comes to dealing a lot of damage," Tsugumi trailed off as Peace took another step in Endymion's direction. Ran, in turn, tried to take a step away from Peace. As long as she didn't know what her childhood friend was planning Ran wasn't feeling safe allowing Peace into her personal space, "But Lotus-chan has taught me well this last week."
Before Ran could even pull together a string of curses aimed at a certain ivory-haired guitarist she had to pull up her guard. Peace made an abrupt move and sprinted as fast as it could towards Endymion. It was all Ran could do to use Air Bullet.
But much to Ran's horror, it missed. No, it wasn't that Ran had fired the orb of compressed air at the wrong spot but that Peace dodged it effortlessly. Tsugumi made it seem like avoiding Ran's desperate attack was a breeze, but something else was eating away at the back of Ran's head.
'Tsugumi knows that Peace wouldn't be very good in a one-on-one fight, so why did she initiate the fight?' Ran thought to herself as she tried to fire two more Air Bullets at her opponent. Neither of these attacks managed to hurt Peace, but the second attack succeeded in forcing Peace back a few steps.
And that was when Ran realized what Tsugumi was trying to do.
"Kite-san, heads up!" Ran called out as she prepared herself to use her favorite skill. Ran's partner did not respond to Ran's warning, so Ran had to hope that Kite was ready to dodge again. Ran activated Double Impact and aimed at the air ten steps to Peace's right.
"I can't let you do that, Endymion-chan!" Tsugumi threatened, directing Peace to close the distance between itself and Ran's avatar. In the second it took Peace to move Ran wondered to herself why Tsugumi was rushing in.
This unvoiced question of hers would be answered when Peace landed a successful jab at Endymion's midsection.
The punch itself did negligible damage to Ran's avatar, but Ran would soon learn that Tsugumi's intent was not to hurt Endymion. A jolt of electricity was transferred from Peace to Endymion through the fist of the yellow-colored avatar. This surge of energy was now coursing through Endymion's body and preventing Ran from moving.
Much to Ran's horror, Double Impact's activation fizzled and died out, leaving Ran without the long-ranged blasts to support Kite. This left a very frustrated Ran, helpless to do nothing more than stare at her computer screen in disbelief. It wasn't just that Tsugumi had stopped her that was leaving Ran speechless; it was the realization that Ran had underestimated her friend to this extent.
Ran took a deep breath. Now was not the time to panic and she knew that she had to calm herself down. If she could think of a way to avoid Tsugumi she would be able to support Kite again. But with Tsugumi's newly revealed ability to temporarily stop Ran from moving and Ran's inability to land a single hit on the yellow-colored avatar, Ran wasn't liking her odds.
"You're not going to finish me off while you have the chance?" Ran asked after a few seconds, trying to suppress her disappointment from seeping into her voice. Tsugumi had the perfect opportunity to try and deal as much damage to Endymion as possible, so why was Tsugumi not attacking her?
"I can't do it. I don't want to fight you," Tsugumi admitted, much to Ran's surprise. It wasn't the fact that the brunette did not want to compete against her friends that shocked Ran but that Tsugumi was voicing it. Ran could almost see her friend lower her head in shame as she uttered the next few words, "I never wanted any of us to fight like this…"
"I didn't want this to have happened, either," Ran said in as gentle of a voice as she could and ignoring the memory of her challenging Tomoe only a few minutes ago. This was not the time to speak of Ran's competitive nature; Tsugumi was struggling, and Ran had to support her friend. Even if the two friends were on opposite teams on the battlefield.
It was weird trying to emulate how Tsugumi would respond while talking to the brunette, but that was the situation that Ran had found herself in. Ran could only hope that she would not regret what she was about to do.
"If you just step aside and let me through, I won't have to hurt you," Ran tried to reason with Tsugumi, hoping that she could get through to her friend that way. When Tsugumi did not respond to Ran's offer, Ran had to try again, "Let Kite and I continue fighting, and if you don't want to hurt anyone you can forfeit from the tournament."
"That's the thing, Endymion-chan. I don't want to fight you, but I also don't want to see you or Chaos-chan hurt each other," Tsugumi whispered in an eerily calm voice. Ran, who hadn't expected to hear this tone from her opponent, was left speechless for a second. A second that was all it took for Tsugumi to make her decision.
"Chaos-chan! Cover!"
Tsugumi's voice echoed through the battlefield and Ran knew that Tsugumi had managed to reach the ears of Tomoe and Kite. Ran didn't know what Tsugumi's plan was so she stayed still and watched her opponent closely. Yellow Peace was not a character that possessed strong levels of aggression, this was well known between the members of Afterglow.
But that raised a question in Ran's mind: what was Tsugumi planning?
Almost as if to answer Ran's unvoiced question, a deep, low rumbling sound could be heard all around her. A rumbling sound that grew louder and louder. Panicking, Ran tried to find the source of this new sound but was unsuccessful.
"Peace, did you hear—?" Ran began as she faced her friend again, wanting to ask Tsugumi if the brunette knew what was going on. The final words of the question never left Ran's throat, however, as she saw what was happening.
Peace was glowing in bright, yellow-colored light and the sky above the avatar had been obscured by dark thunderclouds. Right as Ran wanted to ask Tsugumi what she was planning, Tsugumi was already speaking again.
"Lotus-chan and I have been working on this for a while now," Tsugumi said as a bolt of lightning struck the dirt a few steps to Peace's right. Tsugumi let out a muffled yelp when the blast hit the ground, but she stood her ground, "This is what I can do to protect us. I'm sorry, Endymion-chan."
Before Ran had the opportunity to react to anything that Tsugumi was saying, a large bolt of lightning struck one of the round's combatants.
And that is all for today. I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time! Take care!