Sheriff's Dept. vs Sky Pirates pt 3
In one moment, the wind whipped through Minori's fur, the next moment, she clipped the tiled roof of a random villager's home, and all she could see after that was a blur as her body was sent spinning. Her momentum barely waned as she skipped over a few more roofs, before she finally came up short on the next building bouncing off its wall and into a dumpster in an alleyway face first.
She must've been behind a restaurant or something because she could smell a lot of grease coming from some of the bags. Shifting her weight onto her knees, she was able to pull herself up right. Minori rolled out of the dumpster and onto the ground, taking a moment to breathe and take in what just happened. Those brass knuckles that Thunderfist used were able to produce and conduct electricity.
This was bad news if this was the case, electricity is one of her weaknesses. Minori's bangles gave her an "impenetrable defense", turned out it just meant she was indestructible and could take almost any attack head on. But there were a few ways around this. Electricity is one such an option; much like how Ashaki used mystic arts to manipulate the nervous system in Badgerclops' arm to smack himself, an electrical signal strong enough would force Minori's muscles to flex and contort against her will. Another option would be gas, as all she would have to do was breathe it in once.
This was a bad match up, this Thunderfist's dynamite punches she could take, but if he used those thunder knuckles strategically, her martial prowess would be rendered moot.
"So this is one of those "think before you act" situations Ashaki would talk about," Minori said to herself. "That's not really my strong suit, but I'll think of something surely."
Minori pulled herself onto her feet and dusted herself off. Making her way out of the alley and onto the street, she barely took two steps out before another punch struck her in the side, sending her flying again. This time she didn't gain much altitude and crashed through the glass window of a shop, knocking over shelves of porcelain and glass before she was hit the wall opposite of the broken window.
Minori groaned, pulling herself off the floor again. She must not have flown as far as she thought if that lumbering gorilla already found her. It was pretty evident that Thunderfist outmatched her in raw strength, but when it came to martial prowess and technique, Minori had few peers.
Minori broke into a run, jumping through the shattered pane of glass and back onto the street. Sprinting towards the pirate, Minori began thinking about how she should go about it. If she tried to make use of attacking nerves, that would be the best strategy, but this guy isn't going to stand still while she looks for nerves. The other option was to simply engage him in hopes that proper technique would trump his brute force.
Once she was close enough, Thunderfist swung out at her. Minori dropped to her knees and slid under the meaty fist. Once her momentum had carried her behind the lumbering ape, Minori twisted around, and set her sights on the first vulnerable point. Pushing off the ground, Minori performed a flying kick, striking the back of the Thunderfist's knee, causing his legs to buckle under his own weight. Minori scrambled to get away before he could crash on her.
Thunderfist hit the ground with a considerable thud. He pulled himself up, looking for that agile little fighter that just brought him to the ground like it was nothing. Applying some pressure to the sensitive grip in his brass knuckles, electricity arced between the two spikes that were positioned over his pinky and forefinger. He wanted nothing more than to send her flying again.
Thunderfist threw his fist forward in a jab. Minori side stepped it, stepping forward, she landed a few quick successive jabs of her own. Once Thunderfist started bringing his fist back, Minori jumped away, making sure he couldn't land another mighty blow. Thunderfist wasted no time in chasing her, trying to bring her back within arms reach. The dastardly pirate was actual quick despite his size, and before she knew it, she threw her arms up in front of her off of instinct, blocking the next punch that knocked her off of her feet again.
Minori felt the air zipping by tug at her clothes for a moment before slamming into her another wall, this one made of brick. The wall merely had a crater in the shape of Minori. After a few seconds, Minori became dislodged from the wall, plummeting to the ground for a less than graceful landing.
Minori tried to pull herself up again, but her arm jolted in a spasm, slipping out from beneath her. Landing on her face for a second time, Minori rolled over trying to focus on getting her limbs back under control. The sound of foot steps warned her she didn't have long to do that.
Ashaki stood between the flying reptile and Mao Mao's tanuki friend. She had been in the castle hoping to find the missing journal of Snugglemane XIII, but she didn't need any enhancements to hear the gunfire coming from the village. Shifting her vision to x-ray, Ashaki got a glimpse into the inner workings of the reptile's mechanical body.
"Go help Mao Mao," Ashaki said calmly, assessing her opponent's capabilities. "This is going to get a little messy." Tanya opened her mouth to speak, but decided to bite her tongue for the moment. She wasn't equipped nor did she have a viable strategy to neutralize Steelwing. Turning on her heel, Tanya ran down the street, deciding to leave this pirate in Ashaki's hands.
"Oh no you don't!" Steelwing unleashed a barrage of bullets, trying to mow down the tanuki. Ashaki threw out her hand, creating a wall of green energy. The projectiles stopped in their tracks once the they hit the barrier.
"You're dealing with me," Ashaki waited until Tanya turned the corner to drop the barrier. "Now, let me show you what real firepower looks like!" Holding her arms out to either side, green orbs coalesced in a vertical semicircle above Ashaki. Bringing her arms forward, the orbs shot forward.
Steelwing's engines roared with life, propelling him up over the chi projectiles that Ashaki launched. All that bravado and nothing to show for it, was what Steelwing had begun to think. At least it was until he saw that Ashaki hadn't been shaken. Why would she? She had seen much worse than someone kitted out with so much cybernetic armor that they couldn't go through an airport. Bringing her arms back towards herself, the chi projectiles slowed to a stop, before moving back to where they came.
Steelwing looked back behind, just barely in time to see the projectiles coming at him once more. His first thought was to dodge, but if he did that, he'd be dodging these things all day until his jets ran out of fuel. So instead he began firing off a barrage of bullets, whenever the bullets met an orb of chi, the concentrated chi exploded and dissipated. Steelwing kept this up, unleashing an endless barrage until all the orbs were obliterated.
Once the last one had been destroyed, Steelwing was pleased with himself. That had been much easier than he anticipated, however, his initial anticipation was about to be proven correct. The jets on his wings went out, he began to plummet to the ground, having a strong sense of deja vu, as this felt similar to when he fell from Orangusnake's ship. His weight was shifted towards his back when he began to fall, so he landed on his back. In the air where he used to be, was the green clad Mao sister. Her arm had been outstretched, but now she lowered it to her side.
Ashaki levitated down to the ground, next to Steelwing, her squinted eyes made it seem like she was judging him, and he had failed whatever test she was giving him. Once her feet touched the ground, Steelwing asked her a question.
"What did you do to me?" Steel wing barked. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move any of his mechanical parts.
"Simple, I drained the power from your energy reserves," Ashaki said matter of factly. "But I'm going to assume you want to know how? As well as why?" Steelwing merely glared at her, which did little in disheartening her explanation. "You believed that when a bullet made contact with the spheres of chi I threw at you they would explode. That was an error on your part, chi is pure energy, there was nothing for the bullets to come in contact with. They exploded because I wanted them to, which made you think you were superior in fire power, but this was never a battle of fire power."
"But that wall," Steelwing was grasping now, trying to make sense of all this information she was dumping on him.
"That barrier," Ashaki searched for the best way to explain it. "I suppose it's incorrect for me to say that chi is pure energy, cuz it wouldn't do much if it came in contact with you. I suppose it's more accurate to say that the chi takes any property I imbue it with. I didn't imbue it with anything when I made those projectiles. Whereas the barrier was imbued to be sturdier than any stone or metal."
Steelwing was flabbergasted, he was defeated so easily by someone who isn't completely sure how to explain what happened. He cursed, feeling rage that overshadowed anything he had ever felt before.
"Well, it's not like telling you changes anything," Ashaki held out her hand, a sphere of green energy encased Steelwing. Raising her arm, the sphere also raised in the air. "You still lost."
The wall crumbled and broke as Minori was thrown through it. Her body was numb from all the shocks she received. Now she lay in her back, not even sure how to get back into this fight. Her head began to swim, thoughts and memories rose to the top of her mind.
One of those memories was of what Mao Mao had told her some time ago. "You are the first to jump into the fire, and when things get too hot, you're the last to jump out, and that's if you jump out at all. That is to say, what you think is a flaw, could be a strength." Why was she thinking of this now? Was this akin to your life flashing before your eyes?
Whatever the case was, she began pulling herself up onto her feet. Stepping back through the wall, Minori set her eyes on the lumbering ape that threw her just moments ago. The pink ape ambled down the street, a wicked smirk on his face.
"Still getting up? You just won't stay down, will you?" Thunderfist laughed. Minori wasn't any where near the level of strength necessary to meet him in a bare knuckles brawl. But that never stopped her before.
She set off towards the ape, roughly the same pace he was walking towards her, the fatigue of a one sided fight having set in. Minori shook her hands, bringing them up to either side of her head, like a boxer.
Thunderfist chortled. "I'm going to miss this." He sparked his brass knuckles for what felt like the umpteenth time. The electricity forced her muscles to contract in ways out of her control, but not this time. This time, Minori would not break.
Once close enough, they both reeled back their dominant arms, both putting everything into this exchange of blows. Minori gathered everything she learned in her travels into this: twisting her hips to give the punch a little more oomph, positioning her feet in a front stance to prevent herself from being pushed back, as well as other small techniques.
Their fists collided, neither had their arm fully extended. Both pushed, but Minori felt the cobblestones sliding beneath her feet as she was pushed back. Mao Mao's voice went through her mind once more. "You're a hero of the spirit! You're the last one to give up!" This will not be when she throws in the towel.
The electricity coursed through her body, but she moved despite it. The electricity should've made her jaw clench shut, but she opened it, releasing a guttural howl, but beneath that howl, was something primal.
Minori pushed pack, with strength that seemingly came from nowhere. Thunderfist was taken aback, this was impossible! No one could move while this much electricity was being applied to their body. It was a miracle Minori's heart hadn't stopped!
With another push, Minori knocked Thunderfist back, putting him off balance. As he tried to realign himself, Minori hit him with another punch to the gut. The mass of muscle that was Thunderfist was knocked of his feet sent flying, tumbling as he hit the ground tumbling over himself before crashing into another house.
Minori dropped to her knees, looking at her hands, confused, astonished, and excited. She didn't know where this level of strength came from, but she wasn't going to question it.
Everyone has heard of the line about how we only use 10% of our brain, how we have built in limiters. This is utterly false. But not the part about limiters. Although we may not realize it, we may not mean to, we dare not push ourselves beyond the limit. It would be easy to bite through your tongue, but unless pushed to it through an extreme condition, it seems much harder than it is if you tried.
Minori's body should've been destroyed by moving through that amount electrical stimulation. But here she was, unharmed. Her bangles rendered her indestructible, so that worry of ruining her body by pushing to her hard, was rendered moot. Minori didn't always have the bangles, so she still had those metaphorical limiters from growing up. But now that she has removed those limiters, she's capable of feats some would deem supernatural.
"Heh," Minori laughed to herself, standing up onto her feet, donning that evil looking smile. "It looks like I'm not done growing as a hero."