Chapter 23

The night after the second round was relatively quiet, at least from Shizuka’s perspective.  Haruko seemed very eager to talk to Sayuri in private once they got home, but otherwise the evening passed uneventfully.  They’d only been there a few days, but it already felt to Shizuka like her master was settling in among the Koureis quite comfortably.  A part of her felt as though she should perhaps be concerned about that, but the way Keiko smiled when she snuggled up against Ayane during the night’s movie was enough to brush those concerns aside.  She’d never seen her master so happy before.

Sayuri provided the third day’s human-scale escort.  Haruko and Keiko rode in her travel bag as with the day before, but Shizuka had Ayane stand with her on Sayuri’s shoulders to get the practice keeping steady.  Her student was improving at a remarkable pace, Shizuka thought: just a few days ago Ayane had been visibly unsteady doing this, but by now she was able to keep herself firmly upright, with only the occasional lapse in form.  Perhaps her experience as a gymnast was to thank, but either way, Shizuka was happy to have such a talented student.  Teaching was something she’d never done before, and she was starting to deeply enjoy the experience of passing her skills on.  As they arrived at the arena, she hopped off Sayuri’s shoulder to the holosseum entrance, and was delighted to see how smoothly Ayane followed suit, with even a bit of extra flourish that seemed to come naturally to the younger ninja.  It was an unusual fighting style Ayane was developing, and one that showed its strength in close combat rather than with thrown weapons, but one Shizuka believed had potential.

“Who’re we up against today?” Ayane asked as they settled into the stadium seats.  Keiko looked over the board when the Materias began their announcements, the teams now only a quarter of their original number.

“They’re called Team Guardian Generals.  The models are...both Jinrai?”

“Factory Advance’s ninja model.”  Shizuka looked towards her pupil.  “This will be a good learning experience for you, Cocoa.”

“Ha?”  Ayane nodded.  “Yes, sensei.”

With their match up first, there wasn’t much time before the pair had to make their way down to the arena floor.  It was immediately obvious that their opponents were no normal Jinrai, as both had been heavily customized with extra weapons and armor.  It wasn’t unexpected, Shizuka thought: most AI girls were designed to be compatible with external accessories regardless of manufacturer, but they were Factory Advance’s specialty.  Many of the teams had come loaded up with large weapon packs, often bought specially for the tournament in an effort to boost their firepower.  Their lack of experience using their new weapons, though, and the amount of weight such packs added unless they were carefully made, had meant that most of the teams relying on such strategies hadn’t made it past the second round.  These two were different.  Not only did they look quite comfortable in their armor, but in the previous rounds they’d hardly used any of the features of the extra parts.  That meant they were experienced, enough so that they could win their first two rounds at half strength.

Shizuka examined their opponents in more detail.  Jinrai came in two main colors, and there was one of each.  The red-armored blonde was the more heavily armored of the two, with a backpack unit connected to plates hanging next to her shoulders and by her hips making her resemble a samurai.  A pair of large assault rifles hung off her thighs, and while she carried a katana strapped to her back, she’d proven only a decent swordsman in their previous battles.  Her second round opponent had actually managed to disarm her, only to discover that the heavy reinforcement and shield emitters integrated into her arms weren’t just for defense: she was a martial artist, the sword and guns mainly acting as a distraction from her true style.  Shizuka was suspicious of the bulky components, certain they couldn’t just be armor.  The indigo-haired Jinrai was more lightly equipped, with a cloth cloak hanging down from a mantle wrapped around her shoulders that obscured most of her black-armored body.  In the previous rounds, she’d fought exclusively using a pair of gunblades, but she was taking care not to give Ayane or Shizuka an early peek at whatever other weapons or features the cloak hid underneath.

“An old-model Fubuki and ASRA’s newest, huh?” the red Jinrai asked as she ran her eyes up and down the pair.  “Oh, this is pretty exciting.  I’m getting-”

“Sister, can you not?” the black Jinrai interrupted before her counterpart could raise her voice to a shout, with the weariness of someone who’d done this many times before.  “At least save it for the match.”

The red Jinrai shrugged off the complaint and gestured at her chest with her thumb, rapping it against the extra armor plating that had made her chest comparable in size to Ayane’s own.  From the way she grinned at the pair in Haruko-like fashion, it was clear she was well aware.  “I’m Ikari!  The sadsack here’s my sister Kana.  Let’s make this fight something wild, alright?”

“The second round match will now begin.” the black Materia announced.  “Team Tiny Heart’s Cocoa and Blueberry versus Team Guardian Generals’ Ikari and Kana.”

“There are no rules for this battle format.” the white Materia declared, a sadistic edge creeping into her voice that sent audible groans rippling through the audience.  Shizuka was fairly certain that whoever ran Factory Advance’s PR department was a masochist, because every company representative Materia seemed to use this same...she supposed distinctive personality was the polite way of putting it.  “Punish your opponents however you wish, and the last girl standing will be the winner~”

By now the words came as easily to Ayane as to the other three.

“Session, go!”

There was a blinding flash of lightning, and when it faded the four were atop a stone pillar, one of many pillars of varying size jutting out from a raging storm-tossed ocean.  Shizuka immediately spread her wings and flicked a pair of kunai at their opponents to see how each would react.  Kana jumped back out of its path, her cloak flaring out enough that Shizuka caught a glimpse of the gunblades in her hands just before she began to return fire with them, unleashing several rapid bolts of violet light in Shizuka and Ayane’s direction.  Ikari, meanwhile, charged forward with no heed paid to the blade that had been flung at her, letting it bounce off her shoulder shields.  Her target was Ayane, who backflipped off the pillar and out of sight without hesitation.  Shizuka scarcely had time to admire her pupil’s growing bravery: the foe in front of her would require her full attention.  The Fubuki took flight and began throwing more kunai, circling wide to force Kana’s gaze to turn away from her sister while Ikari dived off the pillar after Ayane.

Ayane had driven one of her knives into the side of the pillar and was balanced on top of it, ready and waiting.  Ikari drew her rifles and opened fire as she fell, but Ayane was prepared to deflect the rounds with one of her arm shields.  In her other hand she readied her shuriken, hurling it up at the falling Jinrai with the careful flick of the wrist Shizuka had taught her.  The whirling blade knocked both guns out of Ikari’s hands, sending all three weapons tumbling off into the ocean.

Ikari took the loss of her guns in stride and readied a punch.  The shield emitter on her wrist flared to life, coating her arm in a bloody red aura that met Ayane’s gauntlet blade with a loud crackling sound drowned out by Ikari’s wild kiai.  Ayane winced at the pressure and twisted to one side rather than try and hold the block.  Her leg snapped up into a kick that met Ikari’s midriff, sending the Jinrai hurtling away towards another pillar a dozen yards away.  Her opponent twisted fluidly to hit the pillar feet-first, compressed into a crouch, and hurled herself back across the gulf at Ayane for another punch.  Ayane snatched up the knife she’d balanced on and leapt to one side, avoiding a strike powerful enough that the stone crumpled inward under the force of Ikari’s blow.

Ayane clung only briefly to the pillar, spotting a shorter one below them.  If she could get the fight back onto level ground, she thought, perhaps she had a chance.

<><><>

Shizuka and Kana were both silent as they engaged each other, flicking between pillars with a speed the audience could scarcely follow while they exchanged beams and shuriken.  Shizuka was plentifully skilled enough in the art of thrown weapons that she could continue to use the fighting style even in an arena where she risked losing her weapons to the ocean if she missed her target.  Neither had scored a solid hit yet, but Shizuka was slowly wearing down her opponent’s cloak with a nick here, a cut there, tearing up the cloth to expose the ninja beneath.  A few of Kana’s shots had caused Shizuka to lose a few feathers, but the Fubuki was slowly gaining the advantage.  She held no illusions that this was over yet, though: she was certain the black Jinrai still had a hidden gimmick she had yet to use.

If ranged combat wouldn’t draw it out, perhaps melee would.  Shizuka drew her katana and entered melee combat with lightning speed, met by Kana switching her gunblades into their sword forms.  Each flash of Shizuka’s blade was met by one of Kana’s parrying it aside, but the Jinrai didn’t have the reach to retaliate with her shorter swords.  She seemed content to defend, however, perhaps holding out for her sister to return.  Shizuka frowned at this: not quite enough yet, but perhaps with a little more pressure.  She spread her wings and took flight, starting to strike from above at angles that were more awkward for Kana to defend against.

That did it, as Kana slid away from a strike aimed at her head with a sudden burst of speed.  Her cloak’s mantle had unfurled in a heartbeat: the tattered scraps of cloth still hung from what was now a set of wings of violet light.

“You made me use my wings.” Kana spoke for the first time during the match, sounding disappointed in herself.

“I won’t accept half-hearted efforts.” Shizuka replied, readying her katana again.  “I have my pride as a warrior to consider.”

Kana cracked a faint smile at this.

“Very well.”

There was a hum as the Jinrai’s wings flared to life, and the clash began anew.

<><><>

It felt like she was fighting a melee version of Haruko, Ayane thought to herself.  Ikari was relentlessly aggressive, didn’t seem to show the slightest bit of restraint with how much force she threw into every blow, and was grinning like a loon.  On the plus side, she was slower than Ayane, if only a little: all that heavy armor was weighing her down enough that Ayane could twist and cartwheel away from her strikes without needing to parry every attack.  Her gymnastics training had started to truly meld with her ninja body’s programming by now, giving her a fluidity to her acrobatics that both felt wonderful and was proving remarkably effective at making her slippery.

On the other hand, Ikari’s armor wasn’t just for show.  She was tough, far tougher than Ayane’s first-round opponent had been: even though Ayane was landing more hits, it felt like they were both taking about the same amount of damage, and she wasn’t sure she could outlast her opponent.  If she wanted to turn things around, she was going to have to go for a decisive blow.  The opportunity came as Ikari drove a fist into the ground, sending shards of rock flying in all directions.  Ayane hopped onto one of the rock shards and flipped forward, her tanto ready in both hands.  She brought it down in a rolling smash, too fast for Ikari to pull her hand free of the rock.

To Ayane’s surprise, her blade stopped short.  In the brief moment that Ayane had taken her eyes off Ikari, the Jinrai’s shoulder shields had flipped around and opened up to reveal an extra pair of hands that had caught Ayane’s tanto between them.

“Oh, this is so exciting!” Ikari declared, her grin growing wider as she forced Ayane away.  Her waist parts had transformed into extra arms as well, both extra sets mimicking her main pair’s motions as the Jinrai took a fighting stance.  “I’m getting fired up~!”

The crimson glow around Ikari’s arms erupted into a full-on raging aura as the Jinrai hurled herself at Ayane, each punch suddenly now triplicated.  Ayane was able to parry some of the blows, only for two more to follow up every one she deflected.  She was forced into blocking, trying to weather the storm with her shields, but they quickly began to crack under the hailstorm of punches.

Trying to defend against this kind of assault was pointless, Ayane decided.  She went for a diving roll, trying to get at Ikari’s exposed midriff, only for the Jinrai to seize her by the ankle and hurl her at another pillar.  Ayane rolled with the throw and landed in a defensive stance, just in time to see Ikari lunging at her with three fists ready to pummel her opponent.  There was no time to escape before the blazing ninja struck, decking Ayane with enough force that she felt herself be crushed into the rock.

Ikari clung to the jagged edge of the crater she’d made with two of her extra hands, using two more to grab hold of Ayane and wrench her out from within.

“Heh, I see it in your eyes.” Ikari said as she gazed on the weakened Ayane, who let out an agonized groan.  The Jinrai leaned in, her voice practically purring in delight.  “You’re fired up too, right?”

It was true, Ayane thought.  She didn’t have a chance of winning against a monster like this, but her circuits were alight with excitement.  If she’d been in her human body, her pulse would have been pounding in all the right ways.  Even being on the losing end of a fight felt incredible.

Ayane ejected her knives from their holsters into her waiting hands.  Even if she was going to lose, she wanted to give it everything she had.

<><><>

Kana unveiling her wings had made her fight against Shizuka more even, and even more spectacular for the audience.  The pair moved at speeds that challenged the eye, stopping only to clash blades, Shizuka’s talons and katana against Kana’s paired gunblades.  It had been a long time since Shizuka had faced such an evenly matched opponent, and if she was honest with herself, it was rather thrilling.  From the look on her face, she suspected her opponent felt the same way.

Shizuka was the superior fighter, though, if only by a fraction, and in such a match, it only took one small slip-up to decide a victor.  Before most of the audience could even tell what had happened, Kana was disarmed and pinned to the ground by one of Shizuka’s talons on her chest, the Fubuki’s katana impaled through one of the Jinrai’s wings.

“It’s over.” Shizuka declared, pulling back her katana to deliver the finishing blow.  Before she could, though, she felt the air warm behind her.  Shizuka turned and deflected a haymaker from Ikari just in time, the force of the punch enough to make her stumble back.

“Need some help, sis?” Ikari asked.  Two of the red Jinrai’s extra arms were broken, with one of Ayane’s knives still embedded in a shoulder joint.

“I suppose so.” Kana said melancholically.  She got to her feet, picking up one of her dropped gunblades as Shizuka readied her katana once more.

She could have handled either one alone, but even wounded, both siblings together were too much for her.

“Winner: Team Guardian Generals!” the stadium computer declared as the storming ocean disappeared and the quartet were left on the arena floor.  Ayane was the first of the pair to rouse.

“Nngh...sensei?” Ayane asked as she hauled herself up onto hands and knees, seeing her fallen master.  Shizuka opened her eyes not long after, offering her student a reassuring smile.

“You did well, Cocoa.”

Ikari winced as she pulled Ayane’s knife out from her armor unit’s shoulder and staggered over to hand it to its owner.

“Rematch in a month.” Ikari offered as she presented the knife.  “You in?”

“Not sure I’ll be able to take you in just a month,” Ayane said as she sat up and accepted the offered knife.  “But...yeah, I’m in.”

Shizuka’s smile grew warmer as she watched the pair exchange contact information.  They’d lost the match, but perhaps gained something much more valuable.

“I wouldn’t mind a second chance against you either.” Kana admitted when Shizuka got to her feet.  “Without my sister to interrupt this time.”

Shizuka nodded in acceptance.  “It would be my pleasure.”

The teacher and student made their way offstage to where Keiko and Haruko were waiting.

“Sorry we lost before you could fight again.” Ayane said.

“Nah, I didn’t think we’d make it much further than this as a bunch of rookies.  Three rounds is pretty good.”  Haruko gave her cousin a cheeky grin.  “Besides, looks like you earned yourself a rival.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone defeat you.” Keiko murmured to Shizuka as she gave her Fubuki a hug.  “Are you alright?”

“I’m quite fine, Cinnamon.” Shizuka replied to her master.  “It seems I too have some growing to do.”

Indeed, she thought, she’d started to become a big fish in a small pond before they’d met the Koureis.  Even if she was worried about some of the ways they’d begun to expand her horizons, she was steadily becoming convinced that it was worth it.