Team 1 (Gabby, Erika, Freya)
Team 2 (Breeze, Raymond, XiaoPao)
Erika sighed at the larger girls idea. Honestly she thought it was weird and stupid. Who the hell thinks up 'I'm going to put both of you on my shoulders and run around.' like seriously? She put her hand up to her face and rubbed her temples with her thumb and middle finger.
"We are so going to lose..." she said with a deadpan voice while allowing her hand to flop to her side when Freya liked the idea as well.
"WE WILL DO IT!" Happy dusk suddenly said popping out from behind her.
"Ohmygod shut up Dusk." Erika growled immadiatly after wincing at the sudden shout in her ear.
She looked to Freya and addded,
"I can switch between offensive or defensive pretty easily as long as HappyDusk isnt stretched too thin or running out of energy." Looking to gabby she quickly ended with.
"Lets just get this over with. if nothing else we will win the weirdest idea award...which is impressive...Usually Momo is the queen of that."Raymond nodded in response to pows question,
"yea i can make armor out of my crystals too and not just for myself either" the boy then turned to Breeze who said that he shouldnt worry about accidently hurting her. He gave her a questionable look in response as to why she would ask that, she said she could absorb the crystals but she wasnt too confident in her ability to do so and neither was Raymond.
"Its fine, I don't want to risk injuring you guys. Its my own inablity hindering me, i would rather not inconvenience anyone else...but just maybe" he said placing a hand on his chin.
It was during that brief moment of thought that the group lots were told and the weren’t lined up against one of the stronger teams.
It just had to be an all girl team huh? Maybe if they were actual villains it would be different but he was pretty cool with Grabby and Freya. Erika on the other hand he hadn’t had much of the liberty of talking to her just yet. He turned back to Pow and Breeze,
“this won’t be easy guys but we can definitely win if we play our cards right and give it our best shot” he smirked, he then turned to Breeze.
“I might have an idea, but I’m going to need to borrow that wooden knife, umbrella, and metal chain.”"S-Sure thing...u-uhm, I'll hold onto them for now, just tell me when you need th-them..." Breeze surprisingly enough looked even more petrified than normal when it came to the team they'd be going against. Freya and Gabby were nice enough, b-but that Erika girl make the green haired girl want to hide away for the rest of her life. Would they really be able to handle this? Pow seemed excited enough, and even seemed to like her idea...maybe she should take a page out of her book... And Raymond had faith in them that hey'd win if they gave it their best. Breeze would try not to let either of them down.
Section A of the divided up cityscape was to house their team's fight against Team 2. Gabby was the first of Team 1 to step into the area, not necessarily because she was the leader, but because she was definitely the most excited person on her team. Taking starting position on the open asphalt, she waited for the whine of the starting whistle. The moment it sounded, Gabby took a knee and lowered her hands onto the ground, palms up, giving her teammates purchase to climb onto her shoulders, Freya on her right, and Erika on her left.
"Yep, same!" Freya called across the arena to XiaoPao, even though her stomach flipped at the sound of the whistle. There was no choice but to do what she could. She quickly climbed onto Gabby's shoulder, taking a seated position and studying the other team - not that it helped. Fighting a good friend like Raymond would be awkward, and Breeze showed every sign of being even more nervous than she was. Erika's little comment about losing didn't exactly help morale either. At least Gabby and XiaoPao displayed equal enthusiasm.
Once they were in place, Gabby stood, her elbows bent and hands raised to keep the two girl's steady, giving them each a hand to hold for extra stability. They'd all need a bit to adjust to the setup, being their first time doing it, so Gabby took slow, powerful steps toward the other team rather than rushing, the grin spreading beneath the cutoff of her wrestling mask telling Team 2 all they'd need to know about what they were in for.
With every step Erika winced in embarrassment. She felt like she was gunna die of embarrasment.
"Kill me now..." She said mostly to herself as she willed Dusk to form into three balls of mist like she used against that annoying Chinese dude...yang...or chi...what ever.
The group then made their way over to the battlefield in which pow gave her greeting to the other team. Raymond hoped for a good match as well, once the whistle sounded the opposing team spent no time in preparing. Raymond observes as Gabby picked both Freya and Erika up on her shoulders before running over.
“Sheesh I wonder how much she benched” he said preparing himself for combat, their battle stance wasn’t very stable but that couldn’t be all to there is to their plan.
“Pow, the one to be wary the most of is the black hairs girl with the horns, we have to keep an eye on her at all times. Their battle plan is surely a plot for something greater” he said as he braces for the other team to clash.
Breeze on the other hand kept an especially close eye on Raymond, waiting for the right moment to take out the items he requested. Doing it too early would give the other team an idea of the plan and too late would just be pointless. She moved slightly away from her other teammates, sprinting in an arc around the other team in attempts to get behind them.
Upon seeing Gabriella carrying her teammates, XiaoPao began pointing and gawking, thinking that her opponents' formation was the coolest thing ever, and excidtedly said,
"They combined! THEY COMBINED! AMAZING!" XiaoPao looked excitedly at her teammates, wondering if they could do the same thing. Sure, she maybe had the strength to lift them on her shoulders, but she at least had the self-awareness to realize that strength alone wasn't enough; size and physique still mattered and balancing two people larger than her above her shoulders was not a tenable situation.
"Freya, ready?" Gabriella aked, having reached the halfway point between their team and Team 2, leaving a gap of about ten yards, maybe a little less, between the two.
With a nod, Freya signalled that she was - well, as ready as she could be.
"Yup, fire the cat-apult!" she whispered to Gabby, thinking of Renard's cheesy puns and the way they always lifted the mood. No matter how nerve-racking this was, she'd take his example and at least try to bolster people's spirits, including her own.
God no...was she stuck in some kinda Anime Momo watched? Cat-apult? Cheesy before battle one liners?
"No just no..." she said looking at Freya before she was launched.
Once she had confirmation, Gabby released her grip on Freya's hand and turned her arm forward at the shoulder to cup her hand under Freya's feet. She bounced Freya into the air, then repositioned her arm over her own head as the momentum from the bounce tilted Freya backward a little. Then, taking a step forward, Gabby placed her hand on Freya's back and thrust forward while creating a repulsion from her palm, firing Freya feet-first at Breeze like a bullet, intending to intercept her. A weakness of their formation was that they could easily be surrounded, so some effort had to be made to delay that from happening.
Though Raymond had requested items from Breeze, XiaoPao wasn't exactly sure what the plan was, but she knew Breeze would try to restrain their opponents, making Breeze key to their strategy. So seeing Gabriella launch Freya towards Breeze spurred XiaoPao to action. XiaoPao slammed her tail into the ground, giving herself a boost and launching herself forward to intercept Freya to prevent the cat from doing whatever it was she planned to do to Breeze. XiaoPao knew about cats and dogs, cats and mice, cats and birds, and cats and fish, but a battle between cat and shrimp was an unprecedented matchup.
"Finally! A worthy opponent!" XiaoPao thought to herself,
"Our battle will be legendary!"Just as Freya's attack was about to hit home, XiaoPao hurtled at her in a blur and knocked her aside. With a strained yowl as the strike forced the breath from her lungs, she twisted in midair, landing on her feet and panting. Well, this threw a wrench into the plan - she hadn't counted on someone to block the formation's moves with speed and strength alike.
She crouched and pounced to tackle XiaoPao. With any luck, it would stagger her opponent enough that she could climb back onto Gabby's shoulder. Then again, luck seemed to rarely be on her side.
Gabby winced at the blow Freya took, guilt forming a pit in her gut at having underestimated the opposing team. She should have judged the situation better. Instead, she got too eager and now Freya was in a bad position. But Gabby couldn't run to her aid - she had to keep to her role, and as long as she still had Erika to keep safe, she couldn't make any other risky plays. She had to trust Freya would be able to get back to her using her own speed.
With out a word after Freya's attack was blocked, she allowed two of the orbs to fall behind Gabriella using her to somewhat cover her attack. Making her last orb split into three as well. (Though slightly smaller.) Hopefully it would be enough to fool them while the two she allowed to drop got into position a second later. When they were, they shot out quickly from either side of Gabriella's knees towards both shrimp and butler, Fast and low. She didn't see the other girl as a threat yet. Having seen her spar with that goodie two shoes blonde from her class.
XiaoPao braced herself just in time for Freya's pounce to not throw her off-balance. Though XiaoPao's tail granted her an explosive leap that she could translate into an explosive sprint, at close quarters, Freya was clearly the more agile of the two animal quirks, and if XiaoPao wanted an advantage, she needed to stop Freya's movements somehow, most likely through grappling. This caused XiaoPao a conundrum; her claws were strong, and she could use them for fine manipulation, but in the heat of battle, it might be hard to control her grip strength, and she didn't want to cause pain, or heaven forbid, break Freya's bones. This indecision caused XiaoPao's next few attacks to be fairly weak claw lunges as she attempted to daintily grab Freya, but to no avail, as the catgirl was simply too nimble for her. Distracted by this one-on-one, XiaoPao was competely taken by surprise as the low-flying orb released by Erika struck XiaoPao in the knee, causing her to buckle and fall to a kneeling position before Freya.
Gabby's eyes narrowed, her mind racing at the sight of Erika's attack landing and putting XiaoPao in a vulnerable state. Had she the ability, Gabby would have rushed over and capitalized on that opening to land a heavy blow. Gabby was certain that Freya wouldn't be able to land a decisive blow with her own strength. Sure, Freya could do some damage, but if they could get XiaoPao out of the way early, the other team would have to fight without their heaviest hitter.
As XiaoPao fell to her knees, Freya considered running back to Gabby. From that position, though, XiaoPao would easily be able to launch herself with her tail and intercept her again. Right now, she had to keep her distracted, so Erika and Gabby could make their next move. And if that move involved getting close, so XiaoPao would only be able to do so much not just against her, but the three of them...
She scampered round to the shrimp girl's side and pushed off of the ground as hard as she could for another pounce. If she could knock her from her already unbalanced stance, in Gabby's direction, and hold her down long enough, that could give her teammates the chance they needed.
Gabby couldn't get to XiaoPao...but what if Freya could get XiaoPao to her? As soon as the idea struck, Gabby held out her free right hand, open and ready to catch.
"Freya!!! Throw her here!" It might have been a long shot, but Freya wasn't a weakling, and XiaoPao was rather on the small side. She might be able to find a way!
Things were not looking good. Breeze knew she should've kept running, it'd give her a moment to figure out what she should do in this situation. Although Pow did save her skin, she was quickly getting overwhelmed. She...she needed to help!
Removing one of the two wooden knives from her skin, Breeze held the weapon with two fingers before throwing it towards Freya as a means of distraction, all the while rushing into a sprint. Pushing off the ground in a similar manner to the cat girl, Breeze instead shot her feet out first, catapulting over her lobster companion and colliding straight with the opponent. With every intention to take the both of them to ground, Breeze locked her legs around Freya, and as an added weight, let herself fall.
"Pow, g-go!" She shouted once she could.
Well, so much for not getting intercepted again. Before Freya could reach XiaoPao and attempt to haul her to Gabby, a wooden knife hit her side.
"Mreow!" She curled up in midair. The next impact - a kick from Breeze - sent her veering off course. Legs wrapped around her, and both combatants plummeted. Given the disproportionate weight for Breeze's small frame, she had to be storing quite a number of items.
Just before hitting the ground, all Freya could do was twist, hoping to shift the balance and use that storage weight against Breeze.
Raymond observes the girls fighting tooth and nail in amazement, he was more impressed with Breeze who was showing a bit of bravado. Not only that but his teammates managed to create an opening for him.
"Guess its my turn to step up" the boy said whiping his nose with his thumb. The boy took a atep forwwrd but was intercepted by some sort of orb that managed to nick him in the leg. it stung but Raymond didn't want them to know that it hurt him. Combat was not only a physical conteat but a mental one. Once the boy was within rangw to use his quirk effectively he took in a deep breath and activated his quirk. Raymond planted his right foot hard into the ground and from he location of impact a wave of crystals exploded out towaeds Gabby and Erika growing in size thet soon would tower the two.
"No hard feelings ladies!" he shouted
Raymond was able to create an attack with a wide area of effect. Avoiding taking damage would have been difficult...for anyone but Gabby.
"Erika, wrap arms around Gabby's neck. We're taking off."After a moment to let Erika prepare, Raymond's wall of crystals beginning to tower over them as they approached, Gabby crouched down low, placing both palms on the ground while keeping her bare feet planted firm. She took a deep breath, focusing both her muscles and her mind, then, in one motion, generated powerful repulsions from her palms, pushed off with her legs, and produced even more powerful repulsions from her soles. She and Erika instantly rocketed upward into the air, high enough to clear Raymond's wall of crystals, but not so high that landing would be an issue. Indeed, despite the amount of power used in Gabby's repulsions, they were controlled, calculated - Gabby had only generated what was needed, having in that one moment accounted for Erika's added weight, estimated the height of Raymond's crystal wall based on the rate it was growing, and accurately produced enough force to just make it over the crystals as they formed beneath.
Gabby landed atop the crystal wall, giving her a great view of the battlefield. Having only had a brief moment to asses Freya's condition before Raymond's attack, she could now more clearly see that she was being prevented from regrouping. Raymond might have the most destructive quirk of their three opponents, so it would make sense to capitalize on avoiding an attack he didn't expect would be avoided, but that would mean abandoning their strategy before it had fully bore fruit. Retrieving Freya should be the top priority, Gabby decided.
"I'll get us near Freya. Prepare to attack the person pinning her. I'll defend against Pow if need be." Gabby instructed, hoping against hope that Erika would accomodate her taking charge in the situation. She seemed to have earned the dark girl's respect, having been referred to as their "win condition", but Gabby couldn't quite shake the image of Erika being a disagreeable person out of her mind. Regardless, Gabby attempted preparation for the drop by pulling Erika up over her head by her arms. If Erika allowed herself to be repositioned, she'd find herself being bridal carried in Gabby's arms.
Gabby then took a running leap off Raymond's crystal structure, giving herself enough momentum that they'd close the distance to Freya's location as they fell. They'd spent a few seconds falling, during which Erika would hopefully have enough time to ready an attack like she had before. Then, upon landing about 5 feet away from where Breeze had Freya pinned, Gabby produced a medium repulsion from her feet while her outstretched legs bent, her momentum combining with the repulsion to create a loud crashing noise while cracking the asphalt beneath her. She folded around Erika into a tuck and roll to avoid harm from the fall - the reason the bridal carry was necessary, then un-tucked and made sure she was facing Breeze and Freya so Erika could attack.
"Th-thanks, Breeze!" XiaoPao said as Breeze gave her an opportunity to recover and avoid getting overwhelmed by Freya. XiaoPao looked on in awe as Raymond summoned a massive wall of crystal. However, Gabby was able t oclear the wall of crystal, but XiaoPao realized something, as long as Gabby protected Erika, the two remained together as one unit, and if XiaoPao could engage with Gabby, she might be able to keep both of them occupied.
"Raymond!" XiaoPao called out,
"Freeze me!" XiaoPao then tail-sprinted towards Gabby, who still held Erika, and attempted to grapple with the luchadora. The intent was to keep both of the occupied and unable to escape another wave of crystal from Raymond. If Raymond could successfully encase XiaoPao, Gabby, and Erika in crystal, then the rest of the fight would be Raymond and Breeze versus Freya, which would hopefully give XiaoPao's team the advantage.
Breeze knew full well that letting herself fall could lead to some potential damage to herself, but when Freya twisted her body and disrupted where her center of gravity had initially been, the green haired girl could only let out a choked cry when her back hit the ground first followed by her head. She was almost seeing stars with how awkwardly she fell, but that didn't stop her from keeping her legs wrapped tightly around Freya's waist. The sound of Raymond's crystals forming, the crashing and rumbling of Gabby's quirk, XiaoPao's words of appreciation and seedlings of a plan coming to fruition...Breeze had been listening but was all the more focused on keeping Freya busy. This...this was probably the only thing she could do in this fight. She had to preform good...not only for her team's sake, but herself as well. The dread that crawled up her spine at the thought of ruining this only seemed to make her tighten her hold on Freya, the fear completely overriding her thoughts.
With a swift motion, Breeze whipped out her second wooden knife from her skin and aimed a hard swipe near Freya's neck in attempts to knock her out. Once less person to worry about, the better.
Freya winced at Breeze's cry. She hadn't hit the ground a little too hard, had she? Nonetheless, Breeze's hold tightened, reminding Freya she had to keep fighting. Especially with her allies in trouble.
"Gabby! Watch out!" she wheezed, flailing and twisting as the shrimp-like blur sped over. Freya's hand brushed against something on the ground, but right as she curled her torso and made a wild grab, the tip of a second knife struck the side of her head.
Thanks to her lunge - or the closest to such she could manage - the full blow hadn't hit, but lights danced in front of her vision. Through them, in the corner of her eye, the item's shape swam. The first wooden blade, probably knocked closer by Gabby's mini earthquake. It was no easy feat in her current state and position, but she reached out, extending her claws and only just hooking them into the handle's end. Once she'd pulled the knife firmly into her grip, she made a swift, if disoriented swing at Breeze's legs. At the same time, she pressed a foot and her other hand against the ground, trying to right herself.
