[05] Forest Sector FIGHT

[DA 2009]

Okay. How hard can it be?

“Are you going to move?” Kristanna prompted.

“Oh, right.”

Ashe advanced first. Her movements were not graceful, but not clumsy, either. She started out with a series of basic punches, keeping her balance firmly squared. Kristanna made no motion to counter or even block, and was simply content to dodge. The android’s contortions were perfect, fluid, practiced. Ashe overexerted herself one time, and Kristanna was quick to capitalize on the mistake, tripping the student.

“Don’t move beyond your reach,” she chastised.

Ashe rubbed the dirt off of her face and sprang to her feet, jumping back into the fray with renewed ferocity. This training session was nothing like that she had with Kaden; Kristanna didn’t seem quite as understanding…or forgiving…of errors. For every mistake the bubblegum blond girl made, she received a sound and humiliating thumping.

“Come on, stop trying to hit me and hit me!” Kristanna taunted.

The girl remained calm. She couldn’t panic, because panic never led to anything good. If anything, some of her fights had taught her that. Twice, the student had almost lost her life to panic against opponents who certainly knew what they were doing, and had no moral qualms with taking a life. They might have even enjoyed it. Who knew? Ashe took a deep breath and launched another salvo of physical strikes, uncertain as to whether this instructional segment was merely to bloat her fragile sense of hope in the situation, or meant to rope her into a false sense of security. Kristanna had no reason to do what she did; she made it perfectly clear that she held the keys in this battle.

“So tell me,” Ashe grunted, missing a well-placed kick. “Why would you help me?”

“What makes you think I’m helping you?” the pink-clad cyborg replied, dodging a punch.

“Because,” Ashe rumbled, nearly losing her footing as she set up for her next attack. “You’re…teaching…me…how to fight…better! HAAA!”

Kristanna’s image fizzled, and Ashe’s punch went straight through the illusion.

“Over here,” she whispered into Ashe’s ear from behind.

Ashe whipped around with a backhanded fist, but missed again when her opponent was nowhere to be found.

“I’m not helping you. I’m helping me,” Kristanna replied coolly from several feet away, adjusting a stray strand of silken hair.

“Really? How’s that?” Ashe pressed, blowing her own hair out of her face.

“Like this.” Kristanna pulled her pistol from its holster and fired a round, a deadly homing round promised never to miss.

Ashe gasped and threw her hands up, sending a spray of energy cascading out into her line of sight. The bullet was caught in the blast, and disintegrated into nothing. Ashe’s eyes widened, dumbly comprehending the action. “I thought you said my ki wouldn’t work?”

“I never said that,” the android shrugged, her logic irrefutable. “I said ‘try anything.’”

Ashe looked at her hands, a sly grin creeping along her face. Her eyes trailed upwards from her hands until they lingered on her opponent. “Okay.”

She thrust her arm forward, and exactly upon command, a thin yet definable bolt of ki shot from the palm, blistering towards her opponent. Kristanna calmly sidestepped, making it look as though she were avoiding a softball toss instead of a sizzling stream of deadly energy. Ashe frowned, and tried again. Much to her delight, the ability still worked. Finally, her powers had been unleashed. They were weak, and pitiful, but they were there, and they were hers.

The android slighted each ki attack, nearing closer and closer with every step. When the opponent crossed into range, Ashe cocked back her fist and threw her entire body into the punch, shifting her weight exactly like Gensei taught her. Her knuckles landed squarely on Kristanna’s face. A moment of time passed; it could have been a second, it could have been an hour. It was all relative. Then, a searing pain shot from Ashe’s knuckles and vibrated agonizingly down her arm. She wrenched her arm away, her other hand gripping her raw and bloodied hand. Kristanna’s face showed absolutely no damage.

“Son of a lich!” Ashe screamed. “OOOOW!”

“What’s a ‘lich’?” Kristanna questioned.

“It’s a…” Ashe began, her face crinkled in discomfort. She looked up at Kristanna’s completely confused expression. “Never mind,” she sighed. The student scrutinized Kristanna further, as if seeing her anew. When she spoke again, her tone came out as a mixture of incredulity and bewilderment. Her hand felt like she’d punched a steel wall. “I didn’t even leave a mark. What are you?”

“I am what I had to become,” she replied simply, although Ashe thought maybe she could detect a hint of sadness in there.

“You should give me the number of that plastic surgeon sometime. He did a heck of a job,” she joked. As soon as the words slipped out, she regretted them instantly. “I mean, I didn’t mean…uh…I’m sorry?”

Kristanna shrugged, although for just an instant, she seemed a little hurt. But Ashe couldn’t help but to continue her line of inquiry.

“Are you…are you real?”

The android raised her gun, poising it towards the site of the tracer round. “I am as real as you are.”

The earpiece in her head crackled. “Pull the trigger, Kristanna.”

“What if you’re wrong?” Kristanna asked simply.

“What?” Ashe stuttered dumbly.

“What if you’re wrong?” Kristanna repeated.

“Pull the trigger,” the voice commanded.

The android sheathed her pistol, turned around, and began to walk away.

“I said pull the trigger.”

“I don’t have to,” Kristanna said. Her mission was done here. She got all she needed.

“You’re fired.”

“Blow me.”