[04] City Sector FIGHT

[Tamsin]

It was nearly dark. As the day was almost done with it`s transition into night, the first stars appeared on the red and blue sky. As a final farewell before retreating under the horizon for a while, the sun illuminated the long desolate street with it`s final powerful beams. As if this last part of solarisation served as a sort of cue, the street lights and neon signs themselves suddenly lit up and prepared the city for nighttime. It was in this practical light show that Tamsin appeared out of nowhere, finding herself standing in the middle of the concrete road.

Although she had underwent teleportation several times by then, the prodigy maid was never able to quite get used to the sudden shifts of location. She had just nodded in acceptance to Ashe that apologised for her disrespectful behaviour when her neckband sounded the signal for combat. Her mind was filled with worry over her master`s whereabouts and wellbeing at the time, so she was caught unprepared for the upcoming battle. So while she was physically in the middle of an urban lane, she was emotionally still back in the City Sector bunker.

Attempting to focus on her present location, the silver-haired girl scanned her surroundings. The street appeared to be a part of a shopping district, display windows facing the pavement as far as the eye could see. The shopfronts contained objects of innumerable kind, from electrical appliances and books to various kinds of clothing. Also, if one listened carefully, one was able to hear the faint sound of music in the distance, most likely from a discotheque. But none of these things caught the adolescent`s attention as she noticed a person other then herself standing on the road, a long shadow originating from it.

Raising her hand to shield her eyesight from the sunlight, she took a better look at her would-be opponent. His sparkly blond hair and not particularly tall figure reminded her of the eliminator she had faced in that very same sector before. However, everything else about the person was different. His brown leather jacket and close-fitting trousers wavered gently in the light breeze, while a prominent pare of darkened spectacles covered his eyes. The girl sighed in relief....at least he was not wearing armour, like all of her previous opponents. Wanting to make sure that her initial suspicions were indeed incorrect, Suzaku hesitantly asked:"...Pierre?"

If it had been her previous opponent, she would have probably received a slew of broken French or sword wavering in response. Instead, a prominent laughter resonated through the largely deserted street. The man lowered his designer sunglasses a bit, revealing the blue-tinted iris of his eyes:"Babe, please...do not insult my dignity by comparing me to that joker. Unlike him, I am a real man."

Placing himself in a rather daring pose and forming a thumbs-up with his right hand, he exclaimed with a fair bit of pride: "Ray Norris is the name, but my friends call me....Hollywood."

"Bollywood?" asked the silver-haired female, having misheard him.

"Yeah, Bolly...Wait, what? No! Hollywood!" came the frustrated reply from the man, thinking that the maid was not paying attention to him. This quickly reminded him of the thickheadedness of his previous opponent, the elderly Saiyan by the name of Orion. But a smile crept up onto his face...he fixed that problem with the "inferior jackets" rather handily. As a partial attempt to taunt the teenager, the stuntman told her: "Look, little girl. This isn`t a playground. You could get seriously hurt. How about you spare yourself the trouble and let me just knock you unconscious or something?"

Tamsin remained silent, her long hair gently fluttering in the light wind. She took hold of the gold medallion that hung around her neck, gazing upon the jade cat-like eyes glittering on it`s surface. She could not know where Maleficus was or whether he was even still alive. However, she knew well why she had joined the event to begin with. Her master wanted to conquer the Abyss and she would help him do so....no matter what would occur.

Releasing her medallion, the maid started pulling the knives from her belt one by one. Carefully placing them between her fingers, she entered a combat stance and readier herself for the inevitable. Her opponent, however, uttered a sigh and placed his spectacles back onto their proper place:"Why do they always want to do things the hard way?" However, he was just putting an act. He was actually quite glad of a fight...although he was uncertain whether or not the adolescent would prove much of a challenge.

Suddenly, Norris charged towards the prodigy, his black and white sneakers heavily hitting the concrete beneath his feet. Suzaku was so shocked by his lightning speed, she barely had time to move away. The heavy punch directed towards her hit the side-mirror of the nearby car instead, Tamsin`s reflection coming from the bits and pieces of the ensuing debris. If there was any doubt within her that the man she now faced was not her golden armour-clad opponent from before, it quickly evaporated upon the sight of this fierce assault. Ray had the speed of a jaguar and the strength far surpassing anything Pierre`s sword was capable of doing.

Grinning in immense enjoyment, Hollywood viciously pursued his assault. Although the girl was completely exposed to any potential energy attacks, the stuntman never made any outer manifestation of ki....it was just not his style. Her perfered to strike himself and feel every blow that lands onto his foe. So he kept up his physical attacks, precisely aiming his every strike. The silver-haired girl could barely keep up with him. He was taller, faster and stronger then she was, giving him a serious edge. To make matters worse, the sun`s rays obscured her vision and made it more difficult to anticipate the moves. An ocassional swipe with her dark blades was all she could do to keep her persistant assailant at bay.

Knowing she could not remain on the defensive forever, the adolescent counterattacked and aimed to pierce her foe`s shoulder. However, this was the opening Norris was looking for. Using the advantage of his longer arms, he sent an uppercut into the girl`s chin and she was sent flying before the sharp tips of the knives could touch him. As she landed flat onto her back, Ray already moved in for the kill and exclaimed:"Hasta la vista, baby."

A panic took hold of Tamsin as she felt lost as to how to defend herself. Her foe seemed fierce and unstoppable. Suzaku attempted to think. She knew that her ki was her greatest strength, that only by using it would she be able to surpass her opponent....This thought subconsciously triggered her hidden power. The dark blades among her fingers suddenly launched themselves at the enemy. Completely caught off guard by this, Hollywood jumped back to avoid them. But the knives changed course and flew from different directions at him. It was the stuntman that was now on the ropes, barely dodging the seemingly self-minded assaults of the girl`s weapons. A few of the strikes came so close to hitting his flesh that they cut through his garment, doing so as if they were made of paper.

The prodigy maid suddenly regained her focus and the knives flew back to her hand. Albeit amazed at what had just occured, she wasted no time in getting back onto her feet. Using the remaining shock that still held onto her opponent, she jumped over him and faced her back to the sun. Although this gave her no advantage, as her opponent was wearing sunglasses, it improved her own visibility.

After turning around to face the girl once more, Hollywood looked down onto his torn clothing and his visage formed a grimace: "Oh, not this AGAIN!" But Tamsin was paying more attention to her knives, looking at them in awe. She had already unknowingly used her knives against her opponent once before. However, this time, it did not require as much focus or desire from her to execute the feat. Infact, she had almost knowingly tapped into her hidden power. Was it increasing....was it closer to it`s true potential? However, these questions had to wait as her opponent adressed her once more. This time, the blond male had a grin plastered on his face and pointed at himself with his thumb:"That was some impressive trickery. But a real man uses his fists to hammer at his opponents!"

Suzaku sighed. He was no Pierre....but his ego was certainly big enough to fit the bill.