Teana jumped out of the way as the man she was facing suddenly grinned, jumped backwards and sent his pink car flying right at her. "Aww, come on, Tiyana, I never get to see if my exploding car bomb can do the damage I think it can do." Kuma pouted and held up a hand to block Teana's return shots. "Huh, that's interesting."
"What is it you want?" Teana asked as a tire rolled up to him.
He grinned at her. "Oh, I just want a few items in that truck, nothing more, nothing less." He raised his foot so he could bounce the tire before kicking it up. "Really, I don't want to be here too long." He tilted his head. "I suggest you get out of here soon as well, I'd hate to see something happen to someone as lovely as you are, Tiyana."
"It's Teana." Teana narrowed her eyes at him and snapped her left hand out, the gun in it shifting forms and becoming an energy dagger.
"Huh, you didn't do that last time." Kuma raised an eyebrow. "Alright, guess I can have some fun for a little bit." The tire landed behind him as his whole body started to glow. "Radical Good Speed Wheels Unlimited!"
Teana covered her eyes as dust was kicked up. When it was done, Kuma had boots on his feet that were light pink in color. "What the heck is that?" She stared as he smirked at her.
"Oh, just a taste of my real power. To be honest, Tetsunami, myself and Asuka are all mages who were born with rather flawed Linker Cores. While none of us are lacking magic ability, we were, because of this flaw, forced to do one thing with our magic and do it well." He shook his head, "but unlike those two, I overcame that limitation."
"Why are you telling me this?" Teana held her blade in front of her as Kuma stood straight and bounced from foot to foot.
"Well, for one thing, I don't want your report to be incomplete, and for another," Teana stared as he suddenly turned and ran fast, before turning around and rushing right at her, "I want you to realize that you can't win!" He jumped forward, his foot extended and grinned as it slammed into a barrier she created. "Not bad, but considering that I'm barely putting anything into this attack..." He seemed to get confused for a second as he tilted his head. "Well, I don't know what that says, but I really find you to be interesting, Tiyana."
"Teana!" She snapped at him and pointed Cross Mirage at him. "Variable Bullet!"
Kuma's eyes widened and he leaned back, causing the bullet to fly just inches past his nose. "Hey! You almost shot my glasses!"
Teana just stared, how the hell did this guy lean back with both feet off of the ground?
"These glasses are expensive!" He pushed off of her shield and frowned as he flipped in mid-air and slid across the ground. "I mean, really! Do you know how hard it is to get glasses like this?!"
"...You're completely insane, aren't you?" Teana couldn't help but stare at him as he tilted his head back and forth.
"Well, we're all a little crazy, little missy." He smirked at her. "If you want to fight in the big leagues, you've got to shrug off what you think reality is and accept that what you see is not always what you get." Standing straight up, he started spinning and twisting around as Teana shot at him. "You probably think that I'm a freak, huh?"
"That thought did cross my mind." Teana had to grit her teeth in frustration, why couldn't she hit him? He was barely moving. "Nnngh! Crossfire... SHHOOOT!" Several balls of energy surrounded her and her finger slipped to Cross Mirage's trigger and she started to squeeze it. "Take THIS!"
"All right! That's more like it!" Kuma did a backflip before rushing forward at such speeds that his body seemed to change colors. "Shocking Burst!"
Before Teana could react, she found his foot deeply planted into her stomach, driving her away from him and causing her to bounce off of the pavement a few times and crash into a dirt pile.
"Good..." Kuma muttered as the energy around him dissipated. He then looked at the semi trucks before rushing towards the first one and broke through the roof top, dropping into a nearly empty truck. "Nope, not this one," he muttered before turning and kicking forward and crashing through the side and into the second one, "huh, nothing here..." He narrowed his eyes and rushed out and through the trailer door before smashing into the third trailer from the front, shattering the truck's engine and the wall as he kicked forward. "Either someone gave out faulty information or..." His eyes widened behind his sunglasses. "We were all set up." It was possible, all of these trucks were completely empty. "...But who could set up everything?"
"Drat, I was hoping that it would take a little longer before someone got into those trailers." She sighed heavily and hit a button. "Is everything ready to go?"
"Yes. Just give me the word."
"Do... Wait," a small smile came to her face, "not yet, let's see just how things turn out here."
"Very well."
Teana groaned as she shook her head to get the loose dirt off of it. "Oww..."
"Need a hand?" She looked up to see Arisa standing above her, offering her a hand. "Looks like you've got a tough one."
Teana nodded and groaned, clutching her stomach. "Ugh... I feel sick." Looking up, she glared as that crazy man erupted from the third trailer, did a spinning flip in mid-air and landed on his feet not too far from them. "You..."
"Well, I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed that I came out here for nothing." He huffed, looking annoyed. "Well, almost nothing, I got to see the lovely Tiyana again," he ignored her when she corrected him, again, "and another very lovely woman." Standing straight, he bowed to them. "It's probably the best part of actually being a mercenary, all the lovely women I get to see."
Arisa narrowed her eyes and held out a hand, a flaming sword materializing in it. "I suggest," she said as blue wings appeared out of her back, "that you just give up."
He smirked at her. "Sorry, but I can't do that. See, I've got this thing called morals, and they're quite pesky, and part of them means that I can't just give up." His shoulders shook as he laughed to himself. "After all, what kind of man would I be if I just gave up all the time?"
Arisa smirked back at him. "I can appreciate a man like that." Teana stared at her, aghast. "After all, someone who can't man up and do what's needed is no man at all."
"Exactly! Exactly!" Kuma laughed and stomped his foot onto the ground. "Even if you've got your sights on another man, you have to recognize that a man with no conviction is no man at all. And without conviction, a man lets others control his life and without control a man has no destiny and without destiny there's no reason to live, so, I've got to do my job, even if it forces me to go up against a pair of lovely women like yourselves."
Teana looked back and forth between Arisa and Kuma and shuddered. "...You're both completely insane, aren't you?"
Arisa turned to her and grinned. "Teana, you'll understand someday as well." A flap of her wings had her floating upwards before she shot out at Kuma at high speeds. "Let's see what you got!"
"Oooh!" Kuma turned and started running, grinning as Arisa easily caught up to him and was able to keep going with his running. "Impressive, I've never actually met anyone who can keep up with me before."
"I'm even faster than you think." Arisa grinned and shot off like a cannon shot in front of him.
Kuma looked surprised, before furrowing his brow. "First of all, you're not flying very well, and secondly, you think you're faster than me, to tell you the truth, that's what really pisses me off!" A second burst of speed suddenly had Kuma rocketing down the street after Arisa.
Watching the two of them race, Teana stared, her eyes wide and a cold sensation ran through her body. "What am I doing here?" She asked herself, before shaking her head. 'Brother... I'll make you proud of me.' She thought to herself as she called up several balls of energy again. "Crossfire..." There was a sudden kick-up of dust and a small explosion from where the two had disappeared to. 'Did they just break the sound barrier?' It wasn't unheard of for fast mages to move that fast, but it wasn't exactly common either. "SHOOOT!" This time, she didn't bother taking her time until she had a good lock, she just hoped that she could hit that jerk and avoid hitting Arisa at the same time.
As they raced back to the battlefield, Kuma had to duck under and twist around several strikes that Arisa sent his way. "I have to admit," he lashed out with several kicks, which were reflected by a powerful gust of wind each time, "that I'm somewhat impressed. No one's ever forced me to use this level of speed before."
"You should try my friends, they always force me to go as fast as I can." Arisa grinned before she and Kuma were forced to look forward as several shots came barreling down at them. "That idiot..." Arisa growled and snapped a wrist up, the ground snapped up and formed a wall to block the shots heading her way.
"Wow, you could have used that to stop me," Kuma laughed as he danced around the beams and shot forward right to Teana, who cast a barrier around her as she saw him coming at her. "You're too slow!" Teana stared upwards as he raised his foot upwards before slamming it down, shattering her barrier with ease before he drove a knee into her stomach, causing her cough up some blood.
"Ughhhh..." At least he didn't use much strength with that blow, though the speed was still incredible and she found herself staggering back before falling down and clutching her stomach.
"Listen, little missy, at this level, only the freaks of nature can survive, if you're normal, you're likely to get hurt." He grinned at her downed body before putting something into his pants pocket. "I'll keep these for now, maybe you'll learn to create better and faster defenses the next time we fight." He ducked out of the way of an ice spear that Arisa tossed at him. "Come on, that's not really nice."
Teana didn't hear what Arisa shot back at Kuma. Those words rang through her head constantly. Well, that and the sudden realization that it was rather breezy under her skirt. 'Only... Wait a second...' She blinked and her face turned completely red as she stood up. "That..." She trailed off as she saw Kuma bouncing off of the walls and vehicles. "...What the..?"
"Oh, come on, I barely did anything!" Kuma yelled as he danced around Arisa's swings. A beeping sound came from his watch and he grimaced. "Sorry, miss, ah..."
"Arisa Bannings." She narrowed her eyes as he suddenly stopped and bowed to her.
"Miss Alisa."
"Arisa!"
"Sorry, I'm not too good with names." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But, I'm sorry, but it's time for me to leave, and I suggest that you do the same."
"What are you..?" Arisa stared as he seemed to split into four before a powerful gust of wind kicked up, a loud boom was heard in the air and the ground itself broke up as a trail of glass was left in his wake. "...I couldn't even see him move." She hated to admit it, but he was probably playing around with her and Teana. Turning, she flew back to Teana, who was rather red faced while tugging on her skirt. "...What's wrong?"
"...He stole my underwear."
Arisa stared at her and she nodded, causing the blonde to groan. "Great, just great, anyway..." She trailed off as something caught her eyes. Looking up, she stared and paled as a signal appeared in the sky. "...What is that?"
Teana could only turn and stare in shock. "...I have no clue."
See other episodes by Philip Weigel
(Posted Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:47)
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