[02] City Sector FIGHT

[Tamsin]

The echo of intense scrubbing came out of the bunker bathroom as Tamsin worked hard to clean her outfit. After roughly patching up the cut on it left from her fight with an armour-clad Saiyan, she then proceeded to remove the blood stains left on it. Although the bunker held cleaning appliances, the silver-haired girl had nothing to change into that would fit her and thus was forced to do the task while still wearing the white and blue household uniform. Carefully working in order to not ruin the material, the stain slowly began to wear off from the clothing. The blood mixed with the open water from the pipe to form a crimson liquid before it seamlessly flowed into the drain.

After a long period of rigorous work, the maid finished the cleaning process. After closing the water pipe, she picked up a towel she brought with her and used it to absorb some of the moisture on her outfit. However, she was cut short as an intense beeping sound emanated from her collar and disturbed the peace in the room. It did not take the girl very long to realise what the singla meant. However, it also reminded her of something else...her master was still peacefully sleeping in his bunk.

In a fit of panic, the adolescent stormed out of the bathroom and ran through the concrete halls to reach Nova on time. Meanwhile the beeping on the collar ever intensified, counting down to the beginning of the fight. After a few more long steps, the prodigy finally reached the sleeping section where the Namekian lied still, lost deep in his subconsciousness. Grabbing the knives on her own bed and hastily placing them behind her belt while still moving, she shouted towards her employer: "MALEFICUS!!!"

The green rogue hastily woke up, his gaze appearing confused and alarming. However, he seemed to realise the situation quite hastily as he reached for his equipment. Before his maid could reach him, they were both teleported away and seperated once more.

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After reappearing at another location, the young prodigy confusingly looked around. She found herself amidst what appeared to be an ancient-style forum, whether genuine or a replica she could not say. The paved surface was mostly open, save the columns marking the borders of the forum and the large horseman statue standing in the middle. The nearby buildings also seemed to be of Roman or Roman-esque architecture, the tall lined pillars in the front supporting the rooftop. Everywhere else the eye saw, however, the small piece of space was encircled by modern buildings, the structures towering over the ancient brethren.

Since the dawning sun still managed to shine on the assembly place and was already moderately high in the sky, the orange illumination was strong enough for the girl to easy make out another figure standing opposite of her. But before she could get a good look at her would-be opponent, a shout came from his direction: "Mademozelle! Your beauty is divine!" In a sudden fashion, flowers began to rain down on the forum. Whether red or white or in some other colour, roses of various sorts came out of nowhere and showered the two, falling gently onto the tiles beneath their feet.

After being poured with shrubs for a few moments, Suzaku was finally able to see the person she was facing. Standing in a prominent fashion a short distance away was a young man, not beyond his late twenties. Although not very tall, his build seemed fairly wide and muscular. The blond hair on his head well complemented his sky blue eyes, perfectly white smile and fair complexion that formed his salient visage. But while his natural attributes combined themselves well, the clothing on him did not do so even remotely. Attempting several styles at once and ending up merely with an akward mesh instead, the male human wore metallic shoes, violet leotards, a red sash, the upper part of a golden suit of armour and a brownish hat with a grey feather attached to it. To add further to the already eccentric look, the man also held a sword in his hand.

The stranger continued to wear a wide grin on his face, full of hopes of making the young female swoon over him. But all Tamsin could muster was an awkward look as she began to ponder what to contemplate first: his bizarre wear, the rather excessive attempt of winning her favour, the language that would make her French teacher burst into tears or the fact that she was yet again up against an armoured foe. As she was unwilling to break the silence first, it was her fellow human that decided to speak first instead, all the while waving his sword around like a feather-duster: "Let me introduce myself. I am Pierre, champion of Earth and defender of all the universe! Many a villain have dared to challenge me, but I was able cut down each one of them and stand triumphantly over their descecrated bodies. Stand in awe of my greatness!"

Once the young man stopped blowing his own horn, the adolescent uneasily replied: "Em...I am sorry, but....I honestly have never heard of you."

"Worry not, for now you have the privilege of getting to know me personally, a dream of many young maidens such as yourself," Pierre continued completely unabated. "There are those that doubt my heroic actions. But heracy, I say! They are merely blind to the truth. They cannot see that..." The man paused for just one moment. Lifting his sword as high as he could manage, he shouted at the top of his lungs: "...I HAVE THE POWEEEEEEER!....and good looks too, I might add."

"Yes, well...." the young girl added further, apprehensively reaching for the Ki Knives in her belt. "Are you in Dante`s Abyss? Beacuse I think we are supposed to fight one another."

"No! I have to eliminate a petite little thing like you? Oh, what has this world come to, when a man must strike at such a preety face," he commented dramatically. But in the next moment, Pierre raised his shoulders in resignation and readied his sword. "Oh well, at least the pay is good. I am sorry, mon-cherry, but I must remove you from the competition. Come over here and I will painlessly cut your head off."

"What? No!" Tamsin responded as she readied to defend herself. No matter how strange her opponent was, she was determined to defeat him and return to her master as promised. But her defencive pose brought her a bit of pain, which was her body`s way of reminding her to be more careful.

"Awwww...must you really make this harder for me?" complained the blond-haired warrior. "Then you leave me with no choice, mademozelle. An guard!" With those words, he charged forth. Readying his weapon for a strike, he proclaimed: "Super special awesome sword strike of divine light!"

The move turned out to be just a regular sword swipe...which still missed wide, as the girl crouched well in time to avoid it. The maid noticed an opening, her opponent having left his flanks wide open. Holding the knives between her fingers, she pounced like a tiger and struck the side of the Eliminator`s armour. Bits and pieces flew away as a portion of the armour came off from the strike, the golden metallic parts clanging upon impact with the pavement below.

Noticing the damage, Pierre shouted in a high-pitched voice: "My....my beautiful hand-crafted armour! NO!" Anger drawing on his face, he turned around to face the girl once more: "You..you will pay for this insult! Sword slam of magnificence!"

Suzaku looked above her as the young man raised his sword to strike her with it`s blunt side. Although raising her knives to block the attack, they only managed to significantly slow it down as it struck the adolescent on the head. An aggravating pain took hold of her as she felt as if her head was about to split in half and she barely managed to remain conscious. "Flower-aromad chilling sword swipe!" stated her opponent as he readied to cut her in half. Almost instinctivly, the maid jumped forward to avoid the hit...one of her knives accidentally cutting her opponent`s thigh by a small margin in the process.

As Pierre noticed a small trickle of blood come out of the slight cut in his tights, he yelled again in a high-pitched accent: "You...you cut me! How..." Looking at her, he attempted to smile and spoke once more in a sweet tone: "L-Let us not be too rash. I mean this is all just a game! None of this is...." Before he could finish, a gurgling noise came out of his throat and interrupted him. The young man was alarmed once more:"W...what was that?! Did you do that?"

Tamsin got back onto her feet, still trying to focus in spite of the pain that was caused by the blunt sword strike. Feeling a bit dizzy from her thrombing head, she readied herself into a defencive position. But although she was ready for anything her opponent my do, Pierre worried himself with the guggling sound his throat made every time he tried to reveal the true nature of the competition. He suddenly looked up towards the sky and shouted: "Is it you?! Are you doing this?!"

In spite of her ail, Suzaku observed her opponent with complete bewilderment. She had stopped trying to understand this person.