11-19-2009, 04:11 AM
It was amazing how quickly things had changed.
Sophia laughed and lowered her head, giving it a shake as she placed a hand on her forehead. Kaden was a confusing man, though she supposed that she couldn’t have blamed him for being a little…inconsistent, considering their circumstances. The healer couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed, though, as she walked with him and the teenaged girl down the path that led away from the bunker. Truth be told, she felt a little stupid—she was starting to think that the courier had developed an interest in her, after their little chat, but in the end, he tried to sneak out like a thief in the night.
She stole a glance at him. If he hadn’t already been through so much, she would have let him have it right then and there. Sophia looked behind her shoulder—the building was fading out of sight then. She was impressed with herself for coming up with such a brilliant cover story about not wanting to be in Sage’s way, though in truth she only wanted to avoid feeling depressed and alone when morning came. Maybe there was some truth in her lie, however…the cyan-haired girl had always relied much too heavily on other people. Maybe leaving her alone actually could have done her some good.
Or leaving her with Belle could have been the worst mistake she had ever made.
In any case, it was too late to go back, even if she wanted to. She took a deep breath as she passed through the threshold of the city, marveling once again at the seam that ran along the border where pavement and dirt met. The area seemed relatively the same as when she had first been there, though she surmised that several hours had passed since then. It was still dark, but streaks of light began pushing through; daylight seemed imminent. A calm waved throughout their surroundings as the silence made Sophia shiver.
It didn’t last, however, as bolts of ki streaked in the air, raining down on the buildings around them. The trio huddled around each other, each eye turned towards the sky as they tried to spot their attacker. Sophia could barely keep track of everything that was happening around her, as was evidenced when Kaden got rocked by an unknown attacker, who had appeared mid-air from seemingly nowhere. She only got a glimpse of the assailant before he turned towards her and Ashe. Lifting his hands, he fired a volley of ki shots at them. Her eyes focused on the energy as she lifted her arms to defend herself, the attack drawing nearer…
“Beginning combat protocol…” was the last thing she heard before the device whisked her away from scene.
Oddly enough, this made the healer feel more relieved than anything else. Whoever had fired at her before she was teleported away could have snuck in a quick shot, and that would have sullied any shot she had at staying with the living. She shook her head as her eyes focused on her new area—as nice as King Kai had been to her, and as great as her afterlife experience had been, she wasn’t ready to leave. She wasn’t ready to leave…
Her thoughts screeched to a halt as her opponent appeared in front of her. The first thing her eyes were drawn to was the gigantic headphones atop a mass of bright red hair. Those coupled with the bizarre purple-themed outfit made her recognize the boy right away. As happy as she had been to see him again, she was equally as distressed—she wasn’t particularly excited about fighting another friend. Tempo seemed to share those exact sentiments, as his despairing facial expression gave him away.
However, something…changed. In the blink of an eye, the youth fired a blast of energy at her. It seemed like a forced reaction, as if he was fighting himself to do it, since the bolt fell short and exploded in the expanse of land that separated the two fighters. Sophia sank back into a defensive stance as her pupils sorted through the smoke, trying to spot his figure. The pit that had already reared its ugly head in her stomach tightened as she thought about having to fight him…she didn’t want to do it, but when it came down to it, if she had to…
Tempo popped out through the smoke, swiftly and suddenly as he dashed towards her. She tightened her fist, fighting back tears though she knew what she had to do. The healer wound back her fist as he charged, and was prepared to swing it forth before he just…stopped. He grabbed his headphones and pressed them to his head, wincing in pain as he stumbled backwards. Sophia cocked an eyebrow—he had feigned a dilemma before and nearly caught her off-guard with it. She couldn’t risk falling for that twice, so she took advantage of the brief window of opportunity by flying forward with a knee. As he bent over in pain, she followed it with a spinning backhand.
The boy grunted and flew backwards, only hitting a glass window on his way back down to an incredibly painful fall. Sophia looked down at her hands, feeling a mixture of amazement and pure horror as she pondered what she had just done. She had never sent anyone flying before, and as cool as it would have seemed, she couldn’t help but feel absolutely awful about it. Sighing, she began walking towards where he had landed, nothing on her mind but pleading with him to stop the fight.
“Oh my God,” Sophia shouted to him as she searched for his body. “Are…are you okay, Tempo? I…I really didn’t want to do that.”
A rustling sound came from within the building he had flown into. Pushing aside pieces of debris and picking glass shards out of his skin, he stepped out and stood in front of her, staring at her with blank eyes. She felt the change immediately as the dark energy that coursed through his veins emitted as a shadowy aura that surrounded his body. Sophia started to tremble at the display; it was obvious that he was no longer himself. Maybe the strain of the competition was starting to get to him. That coupled with his obviously powerful potential was a dangerous mix indeed.
It was becoming increasingly apparent that she no longer had a choice.
“There…there’s no avoiding this, is there?” she said silently, staring at him through sad eyes. Tempo responded with nothing more than a grunt, charging at her once again. This time, she could almost feel his determination as he created an orb of energy in both of his hands. Sophia’s eyes darted between each hand as she took a step back—Tempo had such an arsenal of weapons at his disposal. If she focused on one thing, he would catch her with something else. His talent with ki was too much to ignore, however. Sophia fixated her eyes on the orbs, prepared to make a move in either direction when he finally let them go. Tempo did so, though not in the way that she had hoped he would. Throwing them to her sides, the ensuing explosions forced her to either fly upward to escape and potentially get shot down, or to meet him head-on.
The force of the explosion hit her soundly, though she managed to keep her balance as she lunged forward, flexing her fingers as she reached for his throat. She had done this on multiple occasions, and though it seemed like she wanted to strangle him on the outside, her main intent was to drain enough ki for him to back off. As fingertips touched skin, she could feel the massive reservoir of energy that the young boy kept inside of him, and when her mediumship kicked in, it forced her to stumble backwards, almost to the point of falling down on her backside.
That sensation was something that she rarely felt, but she knew that somehow, someway, she had just glanced through a window of his life. She looked up at his headphones as he shook himself from his momentary stupor—she always thought that the boy had some weird music fetish, but she now understood the role it played in his life. Had the music stopped playing? Or was it simply not enough?
She didn’t have the time to think on it further as Tempo kicked at her, the heel of his shoe hitting her breastplate. The blow squeezed the air out of her lungs as she flew backwards, skidding on the ground. Sophia coughed and wheezed, the pain gnawing at her insides as she quickly scrambled to her feet. The boy’s fighting prowess was simply amazing for someone his age—his technique really complemented his raw power, which didn’t bode well for the healer at all. One kick was all it took for her to realize how difficult the fight was going to be.
“Tempo, please! Snap out of it!” she cried as he began walking towards her. Her words seemed to fall on deaf ears. He resembled a zombie at that point. “I know…I know you can fight it. Your power, you have to control it!”
Energy trickled between his fingers as he raised a hand. Tears sparkled deep within Sophia’s eyes as she tried not to cry. Tightening another fist, she prepared to attack before he could get off another shot. Even if Tempo wasn’t himself, even if it meant fighting him, Sophia couldn’t allow herself to lose.
Not if it meant never seeing her friends again.
Sophia laughed and lowered her head, giving it a shake as she placed a hand on her forehead. Kaden was a confusing man, though she supposed that she couldn’t have blamed him for being a little…inconsistent, considering their circumstances. The healer couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed, though, as she walked with him and the teenaged girl down the path that led away from the bunker. Truth be told, she felt a little stupid—she was starting to think that the courier had developed an interest in her, after their little chat, but in the end, he tried to sneak out like a thief in the night.
She stole a glance at him. If he hadn’t already been through so much, she would have let him have it right then and there. Sophia looked behind her shoulder—the building was fading out of sight then. She was impressed with herself for coming up with such a brilliant cover story about not wanting to be in Sage’s way, though in truth she only wanted to avoid feeling depressed and alone when morning came. Maybe there was some truth in her lie, however…the cyan-haired girl had always relied much too heavily on other people. Maybe leaving her alone actually could have done her some good.
Or leaving her with Belle could have been the worst mistake she had ever made.
In any case, it was too late to go back, even if she wanted to. She took a deep breath as she passed through the threshold of the city, marveling once again at the seam that ran along the border where pavement and dirt met. The area seemed relatively the same as when she had first been there, though she surmised that several hours had passed since then. It was still dark, but streaks of light began pushing through; daylight seemed imminent. A calm waved throughout their surroundings as the silence made Sophia shiver.
It didn’t last, however, as bolts of ki streaked in the air, raining down on the buildings around them. The trio huddled around each other, each eye turned towards the sky as they tried to spot their attacker. Sophia could barely keep track of everything that was happening around her, as was evidenced when Kaden got rocked by an unknown attacker, who had appeared mid-air from seemingly nowhere. She only got a glimpse of the assailant before he turned towards her and Ashe. Lifting his hands, he fired a volley of ki shots at them. Her eyes focused on the energy as she lifted her arms to defend herself, the attack drawing nearer…
“Beginning combat protocol…” was the last thing she heard before the device whisked her away from scene.
Oddly enough, this made the healer feel more relieved than anything else. Whoever had fired at her before she was teleported away could have snuck in a quick shot, and that would have sullied any shot she had at staying with the living. She shook her head as her eyes focused on her new area—as nice as King Kai had been to her, and as great as her afterlife experience had been, she wasn’t ready to leave. She wasn’t ready to leave…
Her thoughts screeched to a halt as her opponent appeared in front of her. The first thing her eyes were drawn to was the gigantic headphones atop a mass of bright red hair. Those coupled with the bizarre purple-themed outfit made her recognize the boy right away. As happy as she had been to see him again, she was equally as distressed—she wasn’t particularly excited about fighting another friend. Tempo seemed to share those exact sentiments, as his despairing facial expression gave him away.
However, something…changed. In the blink of an eye, the youth fired a blast of energy at her. It seemed like a forced reaction, as if he was fighting himself to do it, since the bolt fell short and exploded in the expanse of land that separated the two fighters. Sophia sank back into a defensive stance as her pupils sorted through the smoke, trying to spot his figure. The pit that had already reared its ugly head in her stomach tightened as she thought about having to fight him…she didn’t want to do it, but when it came down to it, if she had to…
Tempo popped out through the smoke, swiftly and suddenly as he dashed towards her. She tightened her fist, fighting back tears though she knew what she had to do. The healer wound back her fist as he charged, and was prepared to swing it forth before he just…stopped. He grabbed his headphones and pressed them to his head, wincing in pain as he stumbled backwards. Sophia cocked an eyebrow—he had feigned a dilemma before and nearly caught her off-guard with it. She couldn’t risk falling for that twice, so she took advantage of the brief window of opportunity by flying forward with a knee. As he bent over in pain, she followed it with a spinning backhand.
The boy grunted and flew backwards, only hitting a glass window on his way back down to an incredibly painful fall. Sophia looked down at her hands, feeling a mixture of amazement and pure horror as she pondered what she had just done. She had never sent anyone flying before, and as cool as it would have seemed, she couldn’t help but feel absolutely awful about it. Sighing, she began walking towards where he had landed, nothing on her mind but pleading with him to stop the fight.
“Oh my God,” Sophia shouted to him as she searched for his body. “Are…are you okay, Tempo? I…I really didn’t want to do that.”
A rustling sound came from within the building he had flown into. Pushing aside pieces of debris and picking glass shards out of his skin, he stepped out and stood in front of her, staring at her with blank eyes. She felt the change immediately as the dark energy that coursed through his veins emitted as a shadowy aura that surrounded his body. Sophia started to tremble at the display; it was obvious that he was no longer himself. Maybe the strain of the competition was starting to get to him. That coupled with his obviously powerful potential was a dangerous mix indeed.
It was becoming increasingly apparent that she no longer had a choice.
“There…there’s no avoiding this, is there?” she said silently, staring at him through sad eyes. Tempo responded with nothing more than a grunt, charging at her once again. This time, she could almost feel his determination as he created an orb of energy in both of his hands. Sophia’s eyes darted between each hand as she took a step back—Tempo had such an arsenal of weapons at his disposal. If she focused on one thing, he would catch her with something else. His talent with ki was too much to ignore, however. Sophia fixated her eyes on the orbs, prepared to make a move in either direction when he finally let them go. Tempo did so, though not in the way that she had hoped he would. Throwing them to her sides, the ensuing explosions forced her to either fly upward to escape and potentially get shot down, or to meet him head-on.
The force of the explosion hit her soundly, though she managed to keep her balance as she lunged forward, flexing her fingers as she reached for his throat. She had done this on multiple occasions, and though it seemed like she wanted to strangle him on the outside, her main intent was to drain enough ki for him to back off. As fingertips touched skin, she could feel the massive reservoir of energy that the young boy kept inside of him, and when her mediumship kicked in, it forced her to stumble backwards, almost to the point of falling down on her backside.
That sensation was something that she rarely felt, but she knew that somehow, someway, she had just glanced through a window of his life. She looked up at his headphones as he shook himself from his momentary stupor—she always thought that the boy had some weird music fetish, but she now understood the role it played in his life. Had the music stopped playing? Or was it simply not enough?
She didn’t have the time to think on it further as Tempo kicked at her, the heel of his shoe hitting her breastplate. The blow squeezed the air out of her lungs as she flew backwards, skidding on the ground. Sophia coughed and wheezed, the pain gnawing at her insides as she quickly scrambled to her feet. The boy’s fighting prowess was simply amazing for someone his age—his technique really complemented his raw power, which didn’t bode well for the healer at all. One kick was all it took for her to realize how difficult the fight was going to be.
“Tempo, please! Snap out of it!” she cried as he began walking towards her. Her words seemed to fall on deaf ears. He resembled a zombie at that point. “I know…I know you can fight it. Your power, you have to control it!”
Energy trickled between his fingers as he raised a hand. Tears sparkled deep within Sophia’s eyes as she tried not to cry. Tightening another fist, she prepared to attack before he could get off another shot. Even if Tempo wasn’t himself, even if it meant fighting him, Sophia couldn’t allow herself to lose.
Not if it meant never seeing her friends again.