The Ripple Effect | Volume I

Chapter 11 – Drawsah vs. Kitsutsuki


(Capsule Corporation – Atrium)

Kitsutsuki clicked her tongue in annoyance and made an irritated face.

There's that stupid uncaring stance he had back on the roof. He's still not taking me seriously.

She tightened her stance and rolled her hands around in a circle. The girl felt loose, and her body moved fully the way she wanted it to. She grinned devilishly. It doesn't matter though. I feel like I can move a whole lot faster now.

"I'll be using everything I've got! So, don't take me lightly!" Kitsutsuki shouted at Drawsah.

Drawsah didn't say a word. He leaned forward with his arms still crossed and dashed towards Kitsutsuki in one swift motion.

Kitsutsuki flinched, bracing her guard. He's on the offensive?!

She watched Drawsah planted his foot onto the ground and push off, spinning one eighty degrees and throwing his foot towards Kitsutsuki's head. She leaned back and let the kick fly over her, falling backwards and planted her hands onto the ground to perform a series of backflips away from her opponent.

After watching his attack speed, which she noticed was fast enough to catch and react to, she reoriented herself and prepared to defend against another attack. Then just as she expected, Drawsah dashed up to her and paused, then drew his leg up and kicked at her multiple times without any effort.

His first strike scratched Kitsutsuki's cheek just barely. But each next kick was guarded against. Drawsah throws his leg at Kitsutsuki in an attempt to kick her in her abdomen, but she catches it with her arm, holding it tight under her armpit.

Gotcha…!

Kitsutsuki pulled his leg which caused him to slide closer to her and she drew her free arm back for a wide-open strike. But before she could throw it, Drawsah spun around on his free leg and landed his heel right in Kitsutsuki's cheek, knocking her a yard away.

Drawsah watched as the girl quickly rolled back to her feet and stood all the way back up in a low crouching stance. How's that…? She rubbed her cheek with an open palm and smirked back at him. Drawsah's face turned into a deep scowl.

"Nyeh," Kitsutsuki mumbled. It looked as if she was trying to win a mental battle between them. Now he's fighting back.

Drawsah narrowed his eyes. Her strikes are always telegraphed. Physically, she may be able to keep up when the limiters are tuned to a high level, but if she doesn't have the skill to take advantage of that, she's already lost.

Kitsutsuki reset her stance and took charge, running towards him in a straight line. Drawsah assumed that she'd attack in the same way she was all day but out of seemingly nowhere, she started flipping and spinning towards him at every angle. On her hands in cartwheels, backflips, frontflips, twisting barrel rolls that threw Drawsah's train of thought off the rails.

What the-…? He uncrossed his arms and slowly started taking steps back to make the distance between them close at a slower rate. Kitsutsuki jumped up off one leg and flipped forwards into a heel strike that targeted Drawsah's head. Drawsah watched it all happen in one swift motion.

Drawsah put his arms up to block the blow with his forearms and then looked surprised by the strength of the attack. He grunted, surprised at the fact that he had to give at least some sort of effort to keep her from pushing him to the ground.

Kitsutsuki sneered, showing the whites of her teeth as she flipped back and landed on her feet. "Too fast for ya'?" she mockingly asked.

Drawsah clicked his tongue in slight annoyance. He didn't expect this sudden jump in speed and flexibility from just one simple outfit change. Raising his wrists slightly to look at them, Drawsah verified the percentage reading that was displayed on the limiters as twenty percent and slid them up, raising the workload for them.

I refuse to use any energy.

Seemingly in sync, Drawsah and Kitsutsuki darted towards each other and threw many strikes of which one parried the other. As Drawsah threw a fisted punch, Kitsutsuki would change the strike's course and counter with a strike of her own which ended up being grabbed. Drawsah swept her legs with his own and intended to keep the pressure by throwing a strike while she was grounded.

But instead, Kitsutsuki landed on one hand and threw a kick right at Drawsah's chin, landing squarely. That kept him staggering as he reached for his chin to cover the pain. Kitsutsuki took advantage of his short period of stumbling and kipped up to her legs, spun around, and kicked him in his stomach, sending him flying about two yards in the air.

Drawsah sat up off his back and held his stomach, slowly getting up while he hissed in pain. Not only had Kitsutsuki's speed improved, but so did the power behind her strikes as well. This was going to be a lot more troublesome and take a lot more effort than the boy truly wanted to deal with. He stumbled on his way up and fell to an ungraceful kneel.

"Hn~n…" Kitsutsuki smirked at Drawsah, crossing her arms, and cocking her head sideways. "I hope now you'll stop playing around and start fighting me seriously."

She watched him catch his breath and slowly stand up from his kneeling crouch.

She's different… Her movements aren't only faster, but they're so unorthodox I can't even read them… Drawsah lifted his arms up and positioned himself in an orthodox boxing stance. I'll have to pay more attention.

Drawsah's stance was left with many openings. It started from his neck all the way to the top of his head. He had no guard to prevent that. The same went for his torso and lower body. He leaned forward instead of positioning himself upright or at another angle. Which also made him open to attack. His next strike is also telegraphed just based off of how he stood. He's projected to open up with a strike from his right hand.

Kitsutsuki noticed this immediately as she lowered into her own, now signature martial arts stance. She looked far from impressed. Maybe he wasn't lying…

Drawsah previously mentioned before multiple times that he didn't know how to fight. But after many instances showing that he had the idea, it turned out to be an outright lie. If Drawsah was to strangely be put on par physically with his opponent, he'd probably be able to win any street fight against any random amateur.

But that wouldn't translate against someone who had seemingly trained themselves in the way of martial arts. Kitsutsuki dashed towards Drawsah at different angles, hopping side to side on the way in no specific pattern. She reached close enough to him and spun around telegraphing a kick by raising her leg, but Drawsah is smacked in the face by a spinning backfist instead, causing him to stumble backwards with an eye closed.

Drawsah watched her throw a left hook and just barely managed to duck under it, running through his hair instead. Then seeing as no other option was quick enough, he raised his head right into Kitsutsuki's face and head butted the bridge of her nose.

Kitsutsuki's head snapped back slightly, and she immediately covered her nose with both hands, accompanied by mumbled groans in pain. "What the—…screw you!" she yelped.

Holding the top of his head with one hand and his cheek with the other, Drawsah winced in pain too. Is her head made of brick?! I thought my head was hard… He looked back down at his limiters and read the percentage which showed fifteen percent. His eyes widened.

It hasn't even been a minute yet…! He swiped his limiters down to a slightly below moderate intensity level. He shook his head and looked up at Kitsutsuki who was rubbing her nose. There was a bruise on the bridge of her nose but luckily enough for her, her nose wasn't profusely bleeding. Good for her, bad for Drawsah.

That didn't go as planned at all…

Kitsutsuki pointed at Drawsah, still covering her nose with her other hand. "I'm kicking your ass for that!" she yelled. "No mercy!" She wiped some blood from her nose with her thumb and glanced at the mark it left. It irritated her. Then she immediately took off at Drawsah, showing a lot more speed than she did before, which surprised him.

He raised his guard up, but Kitsutsuki came in low, with her head around his abdomen area. Anticipating her to strike him in his gut, he lowered his hands to block low. But instead, Kitsutsuki brings her arm up in a swift motion and uppercuts him through his weak guard, right under his chin. The blow broke his guard, but Drawsah was quick enough to regain himself and raise his guard again.

Drawsah watched her throw strikes in quick succession of the other and did his best to bob, weave, and dodge. Every palm strike and attack seemed to scratch him, meaning he wasn't moving fast enough. Kitsutsuki's face was serious as well. She was trying to beat him to her best ability.

How is she not getting tired…? I can't find an opening at all.

Kitsutsuki took a moment to refrain from attacking and decided to wait for Drawsah to attack her, which confused Drawsah. Drawsah assumed that she finally started to lose steam and decided to throw a punch at her head to knock her out as quickly, but as painlessly as possible. But Kitsutsuki charged at his strike and barely weaved his punch to the side, scratching her cheek.

Then, Kitsutsuki throws a tough gut check with her fist, right below Drawsah's ribs. She watched him recoil and hold his stomach in pain. "Can't you pick up the pace?!" she barked. "C'mon! You're leaving yourself open!" Kitsutsuki ran towards him and punched him with a right hook. Followed by a left and another right to finish the short combo. Drawsah is knocked down and comes close to the edge of the patio.

She lowered back into her stance for a moment to regain a bit of stamina. My hands are starting to hurt. And he barely looks bruised… What's up with that?

Drawsah opens his eyes. He sat up and slowly tried to stand up to his feet. However, Kitsutsuki watched him and decided to end the match with one final blow. She ran at him with a balled fist and threw it at Drawsah. But Drawsah seemingly disappeared.

What…?!

Kitsutsuki came to a screeching stop and looked around. Then snapped her head up and saw Drawsah seemingly floating in the air with his fist cocked behind his body. Drawsah threw his fist towards her from up there and a giant tube of air pressure came careening down. Kitsutsuki barely jumped to the side and out of the way. The air impacted the ground at a great speed and dispersed at the surface, blowing Kitsutsuki away a little bit.

Drawsah lands onto the ground in a three-pointed stance and stands up, dashing after her with his head leading the charge. He looked completely focused. Kitsutsuki stood up from the sliding crouch the wind had pushed her in and braced herself. She noticed that Drawsah was closing the gap between them with only two quick steps. Drawsah jumped at her and threw a right hook which was dodged quite easily.

She took two swift steps to counter and got whacked upside the head from the same direction she weaved the punch from. Drawsah hit her with a roundhouse kick on the same side which completely caught her off guard. Kitsutsuki was sent flying outside of the patio and hit the floor of grass on her side, coming to a sliding stop.

"What the hell…?!" she yelled. She sat up and shook her head, holding her cheek which started to look bruised.

Drawsah had purposely whiffed the right hook he threw and before Kitsutsuki could counter, he spun around midair and used that momentum to throw another strike from a side which would've made that physically impossible at that speed. This was one of the gifts of flight that he decided to abuse then and there. Since he didn't have to land, he just spun around instead. Being able to fly allowed you to ignore the laws of physics to some degree.

He crouched down on the patio and looked at her, huffing and puffing. Drawsah wiped his brow and glanced at his watch. I didn't expect her to be that adept at fighting… Eight percent left.

Kitsutsuki finally looked around after being distracted by the pain she felt on her cheek and noticed that she was outside of the patio, signifying her loss. "I…lost…" she mumbled to herself. She then sighed in disappointment.

Seeing this, Drawsah hopped off the patio floor and walked over to Kitsutsuki, offering his hand in good faith. "That went better than I thought it would," he pointed out. "Good job!" Drawsah smiled at her brightly. It seemed like the only thing that ruined his face was some dirt that got on it.

Kitsutsuki stared at his hand perplexed for a moment before groaning in contempt. She took his hand and lifted herself off the ground. "You hit hard," she commented, dusting herself off. "But you hit sloppy. You should've won earlier."

Drawsah sighed.

"I told you I couldn't fight but you didn't believe me…" he said, his face looked unimpressed.

"Yeah, yeah…" Kitsutsuki rubbed her cheek and winced at the pain she felt.

Drawsah watched on with raised eyebrows. "Do you…need some medical attention?" he asked curiously.

Kitsutsuki scoffed and looked at him as if he said something strange. "Oh please, I don't need any—!"


Back inside of the family living room, that was only a minute-long walk, Kitsutsuki sat at the table behind the couches and was being patched up by Bikini. She looked a little embarrassed.

Bulma and Drawsah watched on with two contrasting expressions. One looked stunned and the other looked despondent. Bikini didn't look happy with somebody either. She dabbed some gauze in alcohol and tapped it on the bruise on her cheek which made Kitsutsuki wince a little from the stinging sensation.

"What did I tell you about hitting girls?!" Bikini barked at Drawsah, who looked guilty in the face.

"But Mom," Drawsah started, "she told me to—"

"No buts!" Bikini interrupted him, refusing to hear a reasonable answer. "You're grounded, mister!" Drawsah's eyes widened in surprise.

"What?!" Drawsah shouted. Kitsutsuki failed to hide her snickering. The thought of Drawsah getting in trouble over something she forced him to do was pretty funny. Drawsah looked slightly irritated and pointed at Kitsutsuki. "Look at her, she's laughing!"

Kitsutsuki broke out in short laughter before recollecting herself. "Jokes aside Mrs. Brief," she began, "I told Drawsah to fight me." Bikini moved her head around expressively, showing that she looked bewildered. "I'm an aspiring martial artist."

"Now why would you wanna do that?" Bikini asked the girl in a nagging tone. "Women are too important to just be put on the battlefield! Why not switch to something more…" Bikini paused to find the word "…Ladylike?"

Kitsutsuki frowned. She's starting to sound like my mom… "That's not happening," she replied bluntly. Bikini shook her head in mild disapproval.

"I think she should pursue what she wants, Mom." Drawsah caught everyone's attention. Bikini looked at him with a piqued expression. He shrugged nonchalantly. "She's really good at it." He pulls up his shirt to his chest and the bruises on his body are made known. Bikini and Bulma look on in awe. "I ended up having to use a ton just to keep up."

Kitsutsuki glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. She didn't expect Drawsah of all people to praise her. It made Kitsutsuki close her eyes and smile to herself.

Bikini sighed.

"Kids these days…" Bikini stood up from the chair she was sitting on and took the alcohol and mini med kit with her. "I'll call you kids back for dinner, okay?" Bikini announced before walking out of the room and turning the corner.

"Okay," Drawsah and Bulma replied in unison.

Kitsutsuki turned her head at them both and then at Bikini. "…Dinner…?" she slowly repeated. Bikini stopped her stroll and peeked back into the room.

"Didn't Drawsah invite you over for dinner?" Bikini curiously asked the girl.

Drawsah glared at Kitsutsuki. "I didn't invite her at all…"

Kitsutsuki sheepishly chuckled and waved her hands dismissively. "It's okay, Mrs. Brief. My mom is probably waiting for me at home," Kitsutsuki emphasized. She stretched her arms up. "Thanks for your hospitality!"

The girl ran towards the exit of the room, passing by Bikini. "Scuse' me!" Kitsutsuki passed off and ran down the hallway towards the front of the building.

No words were spoken for a moment.

"She's weird," Bulma bluntly expressed.

Drawsah gave her a sideways glance. "Don't say that…"


(West City – Business District)

A couple blocks down, Kitsutsuki is found walking down the street on the not-so busy sidewalk as the sun was almost set. Streetlamps were now on and the lights that lit up the buildings for nighttime hours were on. She was late. And she felt that she was late.

Kitsutsuki took a glance at her phone and read the time. She was very late. Hours longer outside than she was supposed to be. Kitsutsuki sighed and hung her head low. There wasn't any point in running, she'd still get in trouble. My mom's totally gonna ground me…

The edge of the business district in West City ended on the block of Nansei Junior High School and from there, two different residential districts bordered the area. The two residential districts were one of high-class, which bordered the business district, and one of middle-class, where most kids who attended the school lived in.

Lucky enough for Kitsutsuki, she lived on the edge of the middle-class district, so she wasn't required to ride the bus to and from school like most of the middle-class students were. Despite that though, it was still a much longer walk than it was from Capsule Corporation to the school. The way from the school to her house took twice as long.

The streets in the middle-class district were a lot quieter and less busy. It wasn't bustling because there wasn't any business in those districts. They were reserved for residential homes and zoning laws would forbid anyone from building businesses in those areas. It was both a good thing and a bad thing for the district. The bad consequence of little business is that it forced people to look further away from their homes for work and travel to work, but the better thing for these districts was that it was a healthy place to live. There was a lot less carbon emissions and more walkable parks for the residents to enjoy.


(West City – Middle-Class District)

Determining the edge of the middle-class district became obvious. The edge of the business district, which was unofficially split into two halves, one side with smaller businesses, and this was the side where Nansei Junior High School was situated. As well as the larger, more expensive area of the business district, where dozens of much taller buildings that had floors spanning in the dozens.

Between the business district and the middle-class district was a small river that ran through and filtered into a larger river that flowed towards downtown West City. Across the narrow river was a small walkable bridge that might've only been five car lengths wide. On the other side were townhouses and orange streetlamps that gave the smaller streets a different atmosphere. It was quieter.

Kitsutsuki crossed the bridge and ran along the sidewalk. There weren't many people walking along the sidewalk anyways. Just a few people on each side either minding their own business or walking their dog. There was a line of townhouses that ran down one side of the street that were pretty close together. On the other side of the street was a large park that spanned all the way to the end of the block. A line of trees bordered the park and inside, there were pathways that led through small and sparse forests and larger fields for people to either use as picnic space, play space, or for other recreational activities.

After passing by three townhomes, she ran up the stairs of the fourth one on the line and reached into her back pocket for a set of keys.

The house number she stood in front of was number 803. It was the fourth house on this street and one of many in this neighborhood, which didn't necessarily start at one. Living on the edge was pretty beneficial for a couple reasons, one being that there was very little need for a vehicle. It was a short walking distance towards the business district as well. School was within walking distance as well, which meant that living so close to these things would cost less and let your body maintain itself with this much daily exercise.

Eventually after fumbling with the keys in her hand, she picked out one and stuck it into the keyhole of the front door. Twisting it, and slowly opening the front door of the home. Inside, it was pretty dark, the only lights being on was from the stair light in the front foyer.

Kitsutsuki stepped into the house and closed the door behind her, locking it back and turning on the light of the front foyer. She looked around and noticed how quiet the house was, which put her off slightly.

"I'm home…!" she announced. To whoever could listen. Where are they…? She slipped off her shoes and walked further onto the first floor and peeked into the family room which was at the back of her line of sight. No one was there either. She hummed in thought.

"Kitsutsuki—i!" a roaring voice boomed from the floor above. It made Kitsutsuki flinch in fear. "Is that you?! Come up here right now!" The voice sounded angry, but almost sounded like Kitsutsuki herself.

"Coming…!" Kitsutsuki timidly responded. Her face looked weary—worried for herself.


End of Chapter Eleven.

A/N:

MANNNNNNNNNNNNN it's been a busy week! XD

I managed to get one day to write this and get it out to you guys within a week. I'm glad I did. And since next week I'll be on vacation, I'll have to write a whole lot over the weekend. And I mean at least two more chapters after this one. Can't guarantee that happens and in case a chapter doesn't come out by Tuesday or Wednesday, you know why.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and didn't wait to long for it. This was my first time writing out a fleshed-out fight scene and I'll have to get pretty good at it considering what's in store next so—hope I see you guys for the next update!