Hermes - Bubble dodge

*Gon?*

Hermes’ mental voice seemed meek and timid, but ever-present all the same. Gon smiled slightly. *Hey, Hermes. Is it time to do that already?*

Across the ring, Ryuko tried her best not to rub her injured leg- another sweep had turned the stinging into a dull, numb throb, and she was beginning to worry that her mobility would suffer. “What’re you smiling at, kid?”

“YOUR JIGGLING TITS, YOU DUMB BROAD!” Panty screamed from the sidelines.

“STAY OUT OF THIS, BULL DYKE!” Ryuko roared back.

*We figured you could use an extra set of eyes,* came Danny’s thoughts. Gon would normally have looked around, but with the network Hermes had set up, Gon could sense his ally’s presence, hovering over the ring a good distance away, set up in a perfect position to watch Gon’s back. Literally.

*Alright,* Gon thought with newfound energy. *Let’s get started.*

*Sounds good,* thought Hermes. *Promoting synergy… uhhhg.*

*You okay?*

*Yeah, just… just remembering what Henderson did to… hhhhhhuuuuuuuuuurk- No. I’m okay. I’m okay. ...Alright, promoting synergy... now.*

The sensation was like Gon had lived his entire life with only one eye open, like he’d never learned to use his ears, and only just now had opened his eye, had taken the time to listen to something. Simply by being aware of it, Gon could see himself in the ring below, standing amongst a mass of bubbles with a fighter that… holy crap, was wearing basically nothing! A flush of embarrassment felt on Danny’s behalf made Gon’s cheeks flush, but Hermes quickly noticed and shut off that particular set of emotions from being transferred to Gon.

*Sorry about that,* Danny thought sheepishly. *Not used to… uh, outfits like that. It’s a bit distracting.*

*I could give you my married man’s libido,* Hermes offered.

*No! No, I’m okay. I’ll just deal with it. Geez, kill my interest in women completely, why don’t you…*

With his new extended senses, Gon saw his opening. The bubbles drifting behind Ryuko had been affected by the air blown about in her sword strikes, whereas the bubbles behind Gon, less whipped about by his smaller strikes, floated about with a more predictable pattern. He could work with that.

Letting a bit of Danny’s cockiness slip in, Gon smirked and called across the mat. “Hey, Ryuko!”

Not one to get caught off-guard more than once, she readied her scissorblade and squared her stance. Gon darted across the ring, intentionally jumping as fast as he could to catch some bubbles in the slipstream. As Ryuko swung in with a vicious flurry of hits, Gon watched with Danny’s eyes as the bubbles neared his back. Before Ryuko’s attacks could land, Gon slipped off to the side and swung in with a combination attack, keeping Ryuko’s attention focused on the fighter and not the environment.

Ryuko barely saw it in time- Gon’s current had pulled in several bubbles, and his reposition had set things up so that they’d fly right into Ryuko’s exposed side. She almost didn’t catch it, but reflex kicked in and Ryuko barely avoid the bubbles, which floated harmlessly by in the wake of the battle.

“Whoa,” she said with surprise. “Getting clever on me, are you?”

Gon grinned, keeping his eyes locked on Ryuko as she looked around to get a better view of the bubbles around her. The more they fought, the more the cloud of bubbles whipped into a frenzy, and Gon seemed perfectly intent on continuing that trend.

***

Round 10, FreestyleKneepad