Okay, Honnoji officially had a bad feeling about this, and it had nothing to do with her foresight.
"Hiei, if you will?"
The Gardevoir took a second of deliberation, before raising one arm into the air, and then swiftly lowering it to signal both sides to begin.
Before Honnoji even registered the fight starting, an intricate pillar of ice already sprung at Goodra's position - except, she was not even fully there anymore, somehow appearing to the side, only one foot and a part of her tail caught in the structure. As Absol was running towards Inabayama, she was sure she heard a 'tsk' from the Ice Type, and a low whistle from the dragon, before another ice structure spru-
CLAP
A sudden shockwave of compressed air washed over Honnoji, nearly causing her to stumble, as her eyes registered that instead of another intricate pillar of ice encasing semi-immobile dragon, there was just a layer of melted-looking ice stuck on another structure and the ground surrounding Goodra.
She somehow… Displaced the ice from cryokinetic's forming structure with a CLAP?!
Despite knowing this was a bad idea, Honnoji completed a semi-circle around her opponent to flank her, and dashed in an attempt to zoom past and slash at her legs on the way there. At the very same time, three Combees descended from the sky from different angles, as if in an attempt to cage the dragon between their trajectories.
Before Absol could even comprehend what happened, she was grabbed while delivering her strike, and thrown into the air, on a collision course with one of the Combees.
CRACK
The insect hit her harder than a sack of rocks, causing Honnoji to swerve in the air before landing painfully at her side. Somehow, nothing broken. Still, this was going to hurt tomorrow.
The dragon, still bound to the same place by the ice pillar, simply twisted out of the way of the other two Combees, causing them to crash into the ground, dead on impact. Next second, a wave of icicles was sent at the Goodra, at the same time as a single, bloated-looking insect descended at her position with a speed of a thrown rock. Inabayama snatched the Combee right out of the air, only to use her captive as a living shield against the needles. Wait, wasn't this one of the explos-
-huh?..
Despite Honnoji's expectations, the Combee did not violently explode in the dragon's hand, although the insect did make for a poor shield, pierced through by several needles, that were now stuck in Goodra's hide.
This time, five Combees descended in self-destructive pattern. At the same time, a transparent ice claw was slicing horizontally towards the dragon. Honnoji, for her part, decided to use the opportunity to make a pass against Goodra's tail - she was sure it was used to grab her last time.
This time, the Goodra simply raised her unbound leg, and STOMPED.
The ground sunk and risen and shifted in uneven, circular patches with Inabayama as the epicentre, causing her to suddenly descend for almost half of her own height, to then crouch below the ice claw swipe. Aim no longer true, five Combees went wide, three of them striking the earth to the side of the dragon, one being deflected by her swinging arm, and one hitting the ground right next to her, only to explode, sending rock and ice shrapnel everywhere, not exactly bothering the Goodra, but causing the ice pillar to crack. As for Honnoji…
Yeah, Honnoji stumbled.
The Absol rolled across the uneven ground, catching several unpleasant rocks with her hide, and stopping belly-up right next to the dragon, who used this opportunity to crumble the ice pillar with a couple of powerful strikes, only leaving ice pieces at the ends of her leg and tail. Then, she grabbed a handful of resulting ice chunks, and threw them against another wave of Combees, splattering a few mid-air, and side-stepping the rest.
Then, without even turning to Honnoji, she kicked, only missing by a hair, and only because Absol was already springing to her feet to try another attack. This was followed by an ice chunk throw that slammed into the ground, then ricocheting into her back leg, nearly causing her to fall again. Then-
CLAP
A new layer of displaced ice appeared around the dragon, one of the chunks forming on both of Honnoji's front legs and her neck, even as the shockwave deafened and shook her.
She was out of the fight.
Without missing a beat, Inabayama snapped to the side, and backhanded something invisible into the ground next to Absol.
A moment later, Okehazama appeared there, lying in the dirt, unconscious and satisfyingly silent.
Next, Inabayama grabbed another chunk of ice, and-
"You win," Nagashino raised her only hand, "There is no point in going any further"
"Eh…" the dragon looked at the Vespiquen, then at the chunk of ice in her hand, and simply discarded it, "Yeah, sure"
The entire battle only took what, half a minute, before all three of them were soundly defeated? Before Nagashino and Okehazama were soundly defeated - unlike them, Honnoji barely counted as a nuisance, spending most of that time either lying on the ground, or being tossed around.
Darn it…
Trainer was already there, applying different human medicines to them. Some to restore frozen limbs. Some to heal wounds and bruises. Some to awaken Okehazama.
"You've got faster," Hiei stated, looking at the dragon with a soft smile, "Though you were still tagged at the start"
"Still got some training to do, I guess, Inabayama returned the smile.
"How about your opponents?"
"The bug's pretty annoying to deal with. Had to plan around volleys, and pretty sure she was holding back some nasty surprises. And if it was annoying to me, it's gonna be deadly to everyone else, so she passes," the dragon shrugged, "The icy's got me at the start, pretty sure I'd be an icicle if I was just a bit more cold-resistant, funnily enough. Good control, and that invisibility trick at the end was pretty good. Pass, I guess"
Okehazama was conscious by this point, and he seemed a bit subdued as he listened to Goodra's words.
"The furry one's kinda fast, and can take a hit, I guess?"
"I see," the crimson eyes flicked to the Absol, and she felt an eerie shiver, "Honnoji, with me"
Well, that's it. As important as her visions were, she just proven her inability to fight against a dragon who obviously wasn't even trying to hit them hard. With a sigh, Honnoji followed the emaciated horror creature, past several human buildings, until they were far enough not to be overheard, unless Gardevoir shrieked like in her encounter with Anegawa.
What was going to happen n-
"You did not use your ability," Hiei stated.
"Yeah," she nodded, eyes to the ground, "I… I c-cant see visions on d-demand…They just- they just pop up r-randomly…"
"I'm not talking about your visions," she could feel the gaze on her getting heavier. Even as confusion set in.
"I… Don't have an-another ability?.."
"…" Hiei looked at her ponderously for a few moments, before floating to a nearby metal box, and sitting on it, eyes resettling on Absol, "Consider this. Every Absol has precognition. It's an ability so widely known that every human is aware of its existence. Yours is just stronger. Probably hypercharged by you being level 101"
Honnoji was following so far. Yes, other Absols also foresaw disasters, albeit on a specific scale, usually unable to pick up something too personal, or something too broad. Still, this did not mean-
"Earlier, you claimed that you were able to call for help from beyond this world through your telepathy. However, have you wondered how your telepathy reached that far?"
"I… O-overcharged it?.."
"There is no physical edge of the world. If you threw a projectile at a speed infinitely higher than the speed of light, and waited for it to reach the edge of the Universe and into another, you'd be waiting for literal eternity. You can not expand your telepathy radius to magically include another world," Hiei's eyes narrowed, "You can, however, puncture through the fabric of this world to reach another"
Puncture... Through?..