Punishment

[ASG1: Azure Door]

Hokaze ran through the area under the warehouse, her eyes darting about to look for anything she could use to turn the tables.

As she did, Lumen continued to sing. Thanks to Joule's scouting, Hokaze would know that the other girl was on her way.

She glanced up at the roof, taking note of the sprinkler system and the light fixtures before turning to look at the equipment in the room she had entered.

As she did, she spoke quietly.

"Joule... Lumen, do you think she can see out of the eye her bangs cover? She was acting like it was a blindspot earlier."

Lumen couldn't stop singing to answer vocally but she did speak telepathically.

"I can't be sure, I know when someone's looking at me but I can't tell if she was using one eye or two."

It was part of her existance. As something that could only be seen by those who held a certain level of ability, she knew when they saw her. It was an instinctual thing for her now.

As Hokaze walked to the next door, she continued to speak "I need a way to disarm her..." peaking through the door she saw boxes full of bags. Lumen could read their labels from where she floated.

Whole wheat flour... Strong? What determined if flour was weak or strong? The concept sounded strange. Hokaze smiled though as an idea must have occured to her. She quickly ran forward and grabbed two of the large bags. She set them up on some boxes and leaned metal pipes against them.

Lastly, with a little more strength than was natural, she punctured the side of one of the bags. Flour began to fall out, but slowly thanks to the small hole.

Hokaze grabbed some of the falling flour and walked back to the previous room, scattering the flour on the floor and ensuring that she left footprints leading into the room.

"I'm a bit lost." Lumen admitted.

The girl was nearly there, so she had to hurry with the last few steps. She took out her spare phone, a frog themed one, and put it next to the boxes and started a video call between it and her main phone.

Lumen could tell it was meant to be a trap of some sort but she still couldn't see it. Even as the girl reached the previous room, Hokaze dashed off in the other direction. If she were seen, it would ruin the plan. She headed up another flight of stairs so she was on the floor above the trap and the other girl.

She glanced at her phone as she heard a clattering noise, the noise of a metal pipe hitting the floor. A moment later, the girl stood at the door to the room where the bags had been set up, she could be seen through the video call.

Hokaze didn't even need to explain the next part of the plan. She kicked through the floor, allowing debris to fall.

"Wha-" The girl turned in shock as Hokaze fell, surrounded by what was once the roof of the room.

The plan had actually been fairly simple. The footprints in the flour would lead her to focus on that door. When the flour bag had emptied enough, it had let the metal pole that had been leaning against it clatter to the floor to create a noise to draw her closer. The video call was to confirm that she had moved in order to prevent accidents.

Accidents like actually hitting the girl. The debris weren't aimed for her, they were aimed for the machines in the room. Destroying them spilled water and... what was apparently cooking oil into the air. Combine that with the destroyed sprinkler system, the air in the room was full of water for a few moments.

The girl's lasers would be deflected by the water and oil by different amounts. She couldn't aim with any accuracy right now.

Hokaze wouldn't lose that chance.

Even as she landed, she launched herself towards the girl who was trying to pull her whistle into her mouth. Hokaze swung from the left, what should be the girl's blindspot if she was missing an eye.

But the girl guarded it, she had seen the attack coming. She had been faking her blind spot. Hokaze had allowed herself to fall into a trap, even as she tried to back up, the girl shoved her arm, palm first, towards Hokaze's face.

Hokaze dodged back but even that wasn't enough, the plan hadn't been to hit her. The movement of the arm was just to stun her for a moment.

The girl turned the room's ambient light into a flash.

If you're able to see a thing, it's because light bounced off that thing and into your eye. Hokaze could see the girl's palm, so her eyes were getting light that had touched the palm. That light was apparently also subject to her ability.

Lumen froze, her song stuck.

Hokaze's mind had been thrown into chaos. That hadn't just been a flash, it had been the flash of a strobe light- well, the girl's recreation of it. It had thrown Hokaze's mind for a loop. An artificial seizure.

The girl grinned but Lumen felt electricity storm through Hokaze's body. In an instant she threw a punch that sent the girl flying. She hit the wall and crumbled to the ground even as Hokaze's mind began to calm down.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, it was apparently to the girl "That ability of yours, it would have gotten any normal person. But my ability gives me control of my body's electrical signals. If not for Rampage Dress, you would have won there."

Even as she spoke, Hokaze stumbled slightly. She was also holding a hand to her face, it seemed her eyes couldn't focus either after that flash.

"Now please." She took a step forward "Tell me where the Queen is?"

"Don't joke with me." The girl's voice was quiet as she struggled to push herself to her feat "You think-" She coughed "You think this is over? You-"

Anger filled her face even as tears fell from her eyes "You! You're still holding back, so how can it be over!"

Hokaze took a shaky step forward and denied it "I'm not holding back."

"Lies! I know! If you used your full power, my body would have been smashed to pieces!"

She tried to straighten up but stumbled "DESTROY ME! KILL ME! I abducted the person you cared for most! Why show any mercy to someone like that?"

Her voice suddenly dropped in volume, her head dropped too. Her anger was still there but she wasn't yelling any more.

"If you're like this-" it seemed she filled with nothing but sorrow now, even as her feelings roiled within her "Then we'll never be rewarded in the slightest."

She looked up, tears still falling. Lumen could sense her emotions off her like waves. This wasn't even really a power. The girl was just feeling an agony that had nothing to do with the fact she probably had broken bones.

"Hey, did you know?" She paused but Hokaze didn't say anything. It seemed like she was sad too.

Lumen had never asked what connection the two of them had. It hadn't felt important before, but now...

"That Ideal never intended to grow our powers?"

End of chapter.

There's still one more chapter in this fight, but this was a good enough stopping position.

It's amazing just how little Joule/Lumen know about this. To them it's just a fight where they're repaying a favour. For Junko and Iruka though it's more.

Also, the Atems epilogue was... Fun? I mean, I'm not actually sure. Zed feels strange to control and it seemed to get easier as the levels went on rather than harder.

...Maybe part of that is I still can't dodge BB's doom attack without access to infinite flight. Well, that and the final boss had no prevasion-breaking attacks.