Magical Atoner Lyrical Alicia
There was a loud crack as the padded, weighted staffs came together. Subaru wasn't as tall or as strong as her opponent, but she could use Raising Heart to strengthen her body somewhat. That evened things out quite a bit.
"Ooof!" Shoko grunted as she parried a blow with her own padded, hard plastic staff. "Not bad, kid," she noted.
"Thanks," Subaru started.
Shoko gracefully used her longer legs to kick Subaru's legs out from under her, "Not quite good enough, though."
"Ack!" Subaru fell backwards, but managed to roll away and gain her feet.
Shoko charged her, trying to attack before Subaru could recover, but her next attack was parried too, then Subaru managed to jab a staff tip into her guts. "Ugh!" she grunted.
Subaru seized the opening and tapped her on the head.
"That's it, fight's over," the Guard monitoring the training bout declared.
Subaru hurried over to Shoko. "Are you all right? I didn't hit TOO hard, did I? I can do healing magic if needed..." she said quickly.
Shoko waved her off with a laugh, "It's fine, it's fine. Nicely done!"
"Thank you," Subaru bowed slightly as the two women left the training room.
Shoko smiled at the shorter girl, "I think we need to find you a new trainer." At Subaru's slightly dismayed look she added, "I think we've hit the limit I can train you, you know?"
"Oh, okay," Subaru felt better. She thought Shoko was saying she was terrible, or something. "To be honest I more want to just... maintain this kind of level," she admitted.
"Do you have magic to fall back on," Shoko noted as they reached the showers.
"I promise to stay in practice," Subaru added as they stripped for the showers. "Uhm... can we continue to spar?"
"Sure," Shoko agreed, "and I want you to up that stfrength boosting you do. It'll make the fights more interesting..."
Once again, Subaru had to remind herself that Shoko was a bit of a combat maniac. Still, she was good at what she did.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"How did the training go?" Alicia asked as she descended, floating to a landing beside where Subaru waited.
Subaru did her VERY best not to look up the fluttering skirt that went with Alicia's modified Guard uniform. "Pretty good," she said, "I graduated from staff fighting, more or less."
"Oh?" Alicia beamed. "Congradulations!"
"Shoko has told me she has no more to teach me," Subaru informed her.
"Bet you she still wants to fight you though," Alicia noted, "she's battle crazy."
"No bets," Subaru agreed.
The two took off together. "Do your parents mind your training over summer?" Alicia asked as they flew.
"They don't mind. As long as I check in and they know I'm okay," Subaru noted. "They DO want to do an end of summer family trip though."
"Before school starts again," Alicia agreed.
"Would you like to come along?" Subaru offered a bit tentatively. "You'd be more than welcome."
Alicia looked startled. "You wouldn't mind?" she smiled, "I know Erica is planning something, along with the Hinata Dorm crew. You don't need to feel obligated."
"It's not obligation," Subaru reassured her. "Where are we headed, anyway?" she asked, realizing they were flying away from Crystal Tokyo.
"The Hinata Inn. I thought you could use a soak after Shoko beating on you like that," Alicia teased gently.
"Oh yeah," Subaru agreed.
The Hinata Inn was an official historical site in Japan. SUPPOSEDLY it had been rebuilt with original lumber and materials from the old Hinata Inn from the twentieth century. It certainly attracted it's share of odd ducks, but Alicia liked it and that was good enough for Subaru.
They ducked in to Alicia's room, emerging in towels as they went down to the springs.
"Alicia-san!" the manager, Yoko Urashima, beaned as she relaxed in a pool nearby. "Welcome back, Subaru-san."
"Yoko-san," Alicia smiled.
"Miss Urashima," Subaru said shyly.
The attractive redhead waved a hand, making her exposed breasts bounce. "Yoko, I said! Call me Yoko. We don't do formality here," she scolded.
"Yes Miss Yoko," Subaru tried.
"Eh, that's acceptable," Yoko conceded. She lay back in a pool as Subaru and Alicia settled in a nearby one. "You heard that Chikane and Himeko left, heading back to the Moon right?" she asked, knowing Alicia had become friends with the two women.
"Yes, Chikane got funding to expand her archeological site," Alicia agreed. "They promised to write, once they get settled again."
"They're the ones who found the Japanese shrine on the Moon, right?" Subaru asked. "They had to get special dispensations from the Queen to continue."
"Yup," Yoko agreed.
"How's your husband?" Alicia asked mildly.
Subaru blinked, not having heard about THAT.
"Ken's still busy with his job as a Visual Novelist in Tokyo," Yoko noted, "thankfully he gets out on weekends." Addressing Subaru she added cheerfully, "He's the actual heir to the Inn. I just married into the family."
"Ah," Subaru nodded.
"I noticed someone new moving in as we flew over," Alicia noted.
"Several someones, actually," Yoko agreed. "We'll be having a meet and greet tonight, barring anything going on," she added.
"That's usual?" Subaru asked Alicia.
"The Inn tries to foster a community feel," Alicia explained. She rolled her eyes, "Tho I think Miss Yoko takes it too far at times."
"What's WRONG with naked parties in the hot springs?" Yoko pouted.
Subaru snorted loudly. "Pass," she deadpanned.
"Exactly," Alicia agreed.
"You're all party poopers," Yoko added, still pouting.
"Sounds like my kind of party," a tall, black haired woman said as she emerged from the steam, completely nude. She was very well endowed, which Subaru made herself look away from quickly. Well, sort of quickly.
"Attim!" the shorter woman scolded, who was dressed in a towel.
"Alicia, Subaru, meet Attim M-Zak and her partner, Kei Heidemann. They just arrived," Yoko introduced the two.
"Ladies," Attim smiled.
"Hello," Kei waved shyly.
"Welcome to the Inn," Alicia said as Subaru nodded to them both.
"Did you finish unpacking?" Yoko asked as they both settled into the spring with her.
"Mostly just chucked the stuff in the room for now," Kei admitted. She smiled suddenly, "We wanted to see the famous hot springs!"
"Oh that's nice," Attim sighed as she sat back.
Kei settled in beside her then snuggled in beside Attim. "Oh yeah," she agreed.
Subaru watched Attim coverly check out the area, her eyes flickering about almost invisibly. She was an agent or bodyguard of SOME sort, she felt certain. Attim suddenly met her glance, and Subaru froze. Attim just smiled and winked.
"Ugh," Subaru sighed and let herself sit back in the water.
"Eh?" Alicia looked at her curiously.
"Never mind," Subaru said.
To be continued...
Notes: Shorter chapter. I had mentioned earlier that Subaru was doing staff training, so thought I'd follow up on that. Magic strength enhancement is KIND OF from the Vivid series.
Yoko is BASICALLY Yoko Littner from Gurren Lagann, pretty much. I'm assuming she served in Crystal Tokyo's military at one point, got out, got married and semi-retired running the Inn.
Attim and Kei are from a VERY little known manga called Seraphic Feather. Gorgeous art, by a fellow that used to do hentai. Anyway... I mentioned over in the main Crystal Tokyo series that they're agents of Venus. They may be at the Inn keeping a eye on Alicia, or they may just be on vacation.