Pitohui

"Damn you, Pitohui... You killed Ervin, didn't you?"

"What? I only sent him to join the friends who sank under the water."

"Keh! And it was on your orders that the ship smashed into that building!"

"I'm affronted that without any evidence you'd treat me like a criminal. Although, it is true. I defeated our enemies, and I don't deserve to be criticized for it. At least I gave Ervin a nice little nugget of hope. He thought he was going to be able to save his buddies. He should thank me for giving him that hope. Just think of how considerate I am!"

"Pitohui...I knew that you were a completely irredeemable piece of shit, but I thought you at least took the game seriously. It's one thing to beat your enemies. But involuntary arrangement or not, I didn't think you'd plot to kill your own teammates. I've lost any respect I had for you."

"Why, don't you dare flatter me. In fact, didn't you watch the entire tape of the last game?"

"I'll say one final thing, though."

"What? That you love me?"

"You are now our enemy."

Geez. You make a promise to a teammate, don't exactly deliver on it, kill the mate, and then you're branded a 'irredeemable piece of shit' by another? Even if the accusation are two hundred percent true, Pitohui doesn't see what the problem is. What happened to all's fair in love and war?

"Here I am!" bellows the former leader of MMTM, David. His STM-556 is pointed forward, ready to shoot anything that moves. Or maybe he'll blast her with the attached grenade launcher. Oh, the possibilities...if David can find her.

First David checks the right side of the room, where the armored body of Ervin and his XM8 assault rifle remain. David continues to gaze around the bridge, looking for Pitohui. He takes notice of a hole in the leftmost window at the front of the bridge, big enough for a Pitohui-sized person to squeeze through and escape.

"Shit!" Poor David, he just missed his chance to pronounce his feelings for Pitohiu. Maybe she should go back and allow him to speak it. It's the right thing to do, she thinks... But not right now. Something else is happening.

To David's surprise, Ervin rises from the grave and grabs the STM-556, pushing the muzzle away to avoid being shot. David relinquishes control of his gun and reaches for the M9-A1 pistol in the right holster. "Die, Pitohui!"

Oh right. Pitohui is wearing Ervin's armor. She forgot that detail.

Tossing the rifle aside, she allows David to shoot her fourteen times. All fourteen 9mm bullets fail to penetrate the thick armor, landing on the floor with a ringing click of defeat. Once David's clip is empty, Pitohui lunges forward and smacks the M9-A1 out of his hands.

"Dammit!" Leaping back, David scornfully glares at the armored Pitohui. "So first you kill him, then you steal his gear?! Have you sunk to petty thievery now?!"

Waving her left hand, the armor breaks off and falls to the floor, starting at the
limbs to the torso and helmet. Free of her disguise, Pitohui faces her opponent with a smile. "Ah, I see your point. Stealing the equipment of the dead is bad. But those it might happen to in this situation are asking for something like this to happen, aren't they? I'm sure Ervin will understand."

"You won't blame me, then, when I kill you? Because I'm the kind of guy who feels like he needs to do that to make it up to his team."

"Aren't you supposed to say you'd rather starve than do what I did? Come on, you've got to stick to the script."

"How long are you going to keep this up...?"

"Don't be such a downer, Daveed! Remember, the next scene is where you rip off my clothes and run away yelling 'Hya-hooo!'"

"I'm not doing that! The audience will think I'm a pervert!" Sighing, David reaches for a pouch on his waist, the same weapon that he used to cut the rescue boats down; the black cylinder that is the Nosada N2 photon sword. "It's time for me to kill you, bandit woman!"

Like all photon swords, its named after an actual katana - close enough in name to not be taken to court - and a paired letter and number designation. The letter, from A to Z, denotes the length of the blade, while the number from 1-9 denotes the color.

Pitohui answers by reaching for her lightsword, the Muramasa F9 stuffed in a pouch around her back. Eyes on David, she teases him by saying, "Huh? You aren't going to ask why I killed Ervin?"

"Why would I expect a reasonable answer? It'll probably be some reason like, 'Because the sun was so bright.'"

"No, it's not something as literary and abstract as that. Ugh, I'm going to have to spell it out, aren't I? Fine, it's the souvenir you can take to the grave with you." Spinning the dial on the hilt to extend the blue blade, she says, "You see..."

When David hears what Pitohui has to say, he's momentarily stunned, then his lips expand to show all of his teeth in delight. The Nosada's red blade extending, he yells, "That was the perfect thing to hear at the end! Now you can de without regrets! Hya!"

David attacks first, swinging from the right. Pito grips her blade with two hands and blocks her opponent. The deadlock creates sparks between the two weapons for a moment, then Pitohui darts backwards. Holding her sword in front of her, she teases, "Whew! Very fasst. And your swing is pristine and focused. You must have practiced quite a lot, eh?"

"Yeah...and your expectations were spot-on. After being skewered like a sardine last time, I swore to skewer you back..."

"Very nice. I suppose I'll have to fillet you this time."

"Shut up!" David rushes her again, seemingly going to attack from the right again. However, he stops short by a step and spins. With the momentum of rotation, he slashes down Pitohui's right shoulder. However' she caught his feint in time to block and bounce his blade backwards.

In the same motion, Pitohui makes a thrusting motion, yet stops herself short. She internally praises herself for taking lessons from Jaymes, because that's the only reason she noticed the earlier feint and stopped herself from following through with her attack. If she had, David's backhanded-held blade would have skewered her in the head.

After two more exchanges, the duelists distance themselves. Pitohui watches as David returns to a forehanded grip on his blade and takes a look at the silver tube. "Aha! So you noticed."

"Same goes for yours," the leader of MMTM grins. Pitohui opens her hand to show David the small display panel on the side of the cylinder. The graph shows the remaining energy in the photon sword, and for both David and Pitohui, they're nearly depleted.

"And you don't have a backup energy pack, do you?" Pito taunts. "Though I'll admit, they're a pain in the ass to exchange."

"Hmph!"

"The energy expenditure of a photon sword is based on the length of time its blade has been out. And when they slash against each other, that also eats up a ton of power. Did you know that?"

"Are you saying...you knew that, and you got me to cut down the wires to the evacuation boats on purpose?"

"What if I did?"

"Well, it puts you in the same...boat!" David yells as he charges at Pito for the third time with his blade over his head. "Teiyaa!" He swings downward while Pitohui intercepts by holding her sword sideways. David continues to pummel her, pushing her blade downward until her strength gives out after the fourth strike. With her blade pointing at the floor, David smells victory.

"I got you!" The fifth swing goes straight for Pito's head, only to be deadlocked again by Pitohui. "Wha?"

"You see? You got so worked up that you forgot about the last time." Though her blade is pointed up, the hilt of the Muramasa F9 is downward. This is possible because the Muramasa class of photon swords are able to expel the blade at either end of the tube, depending on which way the control dial is spun. It was that trick that Pitohui speared David in the previous SJ.

As their strength evens out, their blades' energy continues to run out. Eventually, the blades themselves start to shorten out at the same time and speed. With seconds remaining on the photon swords' lives, David exclaims, "So we'll end it with a fistfight! That suits me perfectly fine!"

"What, you like punching women? I'm not into violent guys like that."

"Like...like you're one to talk!"

"Well, I'll pass on the fistfight idea."

"I won't give you time to surrender!" With their blades no longer than a dagger, both combatants can see the other's face. While David's remain tense, Pitohui is brandishing a wickedly pleased smile.

"The biggest downside of lightswords that that they're stupidly expensive, but the biggest upsides are that they can cut anything and..." The blades loses all power, and the two distance themselves again. They left go of the expended hilts and prepare their next move.

"Daaa!" David charges for the fifth time, fist raised high. As he swings down on her, Pitohui reaches for the small backpack on her back.

"...They're light to use!" Pulling her arms forward, two beams of light emerge from tubes in her hands. David gawks in surprise, but there's no stopping his momentum now. Pitohui steps back, swings right to left and back, then from outward to inward.

With his body sliced into so many pieces, David only gets one last scream of hatred before he's eliminated from SJ3. "You sick, bourgeois bastaaaard!"

Looking at the pieces of David's body at her feet, Pitohui grins victoriously. "...Ah! Crap! I forgot; I said I was gonna fillet him! I was supposed to slice him vertically! I'm so stupid!"

Redonning her preset armor and equipment, the exhausted Pitohui collapsed to her bottom. "Whoops... Phew, this is rough... I feel kinda sick, actually. I think I'm gonna throw up."

"I believe you require rest," Clara the AI points out with concern. "Please don't neglect your physical condition."

"Oh, I'm fine..." Using her KTR-09 as a crutch, she's back on her feet. Scooping David's STM-556 off the floor, she walks over to the console.

"You have no presently designated destination. Where shall we go now?"

"Well, Clara, why don't you take me across the River Styx to the Third Street of Hell?"

"I have no port registered under that name."

"It's right here." Pitohui props the STM-556 up against her shoulder and shoots the console with five shots in semiautomatic fashion.

"Please stop. I will lose functionality."

"I know." Pito continues to shoot the console area, shattering the monitors as Clara continues to beg for her to stop in the same monotonous tone. When the STM-556's magazine is empty, she replies, "Oh, just go to sleep already."

"Yes ma'am. Good night." With Clara powering down for good, Pitohui grabs her terminal in preparation for the next Satellite Scan. After a minute of waiting and feeling the ship start to lean towards the, the scan appears, showing Llenn and company scaling the staircase together. Eva and Anni are still on the map as well.

"I'll need to welcome them. Where should I do that?"