Lightning and puddles man

But it was enough to press another crystal against my chest. Yellow glowed within me as if I’d swallowed the sun, burning out through my skin, my eyes, my mouth. Power flowed through me like I was a machine that had just been plugged in—and then it flowed out of me. The Tiger writhed, nearly unraveled as my power took hold and for a brief instant, it was like I’d caught lightning in the shape of a beast.

And the next, like lightning, it was gone, vanishing with nothing but the faint scent of ozone to imply it had ever been there at all. Carmine’s hesitation ended and she focused on me, arm lifting, moving—

The Tiger slammed a fist into her chest hard enough to stop her and bow her over, before vanishing again. She lifted her head, snarling something wordless—and kissed the dirt as the Tiger grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face up to the ears into the ground. She put a hand on the ground, fingers sinking into the mud, and a foot slammed savagely into her side, kicking her away. She hadn’t even touched the ground when a fist slammed hard into her back and smashed her down to the street.

Between each blow, the Tiger disappeared, flashing in and out of existence around her without seeming to pass through any of the space between. Through it all, it strayed far from me, five meters, ten, more, reaching out further and further to strike her.

Finally, Carmine seemed to have enough. With a snarl of frustration she slammed her arms into the ground as she was knocked around by another series of blows, whip-arm sweeping along the ground to one side of her body, vaporizing layers of dirt. Pushing off, she rolled quickly once, twice, and then came to her feet with a bit of effort. I could see the damage I’d caused her even through the layers of mud that now caked her form, small cracks in the armor.

“Puddles,” She spat as she rose, eyes at my feet. “That’s your trick.”

I said nothing, knowing what she saw. A writhing, glowing tail wrapped around my left leg, curling down into a puddle by my feet. From there, trails of sparks hopped around the battlefield, leaping in steady streams from puddle to puddle. My Tiger appeared at the edge of the dry area she’d created and took a pair of deliberately slow steps before flickering and reappearing five meters away. It continued its slow pace, vanishing and reappearing every heartbeat or so until it formed behind me. It paced beside me, claws curling as its eyes remained trained on Carmine.

“No matter,” She said after a moment, edges of a growl in her tone. “I can destroy them as easily as anything else.”

I looked around with my physical eyes and sniffed before cracking my neck.