Ace Cadet vs Sakura
Ace Cadet: Lvl 9 (103/90) -> Lvl 9 (112/90)
Sakura: Lvl 8 (17/80) -> Lvl 8 (26/80)
Location: Smash City Alcamoth
Word Count: 8778 (+9 exp)
One-on-one combat training, huh? The Ace Cadet was intrigued. He had figured there were places here at home base for people to hone their skills, but he'd also assumed most would be team exercises considering they had whole forces going after each of Galeem's Guardians. For the Cadet, being a professional monster hunter, Guild Knight, Ace Hunter, new world expedition member, and now Seeker of Light... he had tons of battle experience, but almost no experience whatsoever with one-on-one combat with a human. What little he did have was only within the last couple of days. And it just so happened that when the list of random match-ups appeared, his sparring partner was none other than the Seeker who specialized in this kind of thing! He couldn't help but laugh, a warm and low pitched chuckle.
"Jeez, I dunno if I'm lucky or unlucky," he said.
"Wacha say, Sakura? Want to go a couple rounds?" Sakura was grinning ear to ear, practically vibrating with excitement. Finally, she had an excuse to fight her friends! She’s always been so reluctant to ask outside of Alcamoth, especially since they are so busy all the time. But now she doesn’t have to ask because the telepathic alien told them too!
”Yeah! Let’s go!” She exclaimed loudly, punching her fists together.
”The answer is definitely lucky no matter how you look at it! I always try to fight opponents stronger than myself.” She said sagely, striking a wise pose. Then she broke out into a giggle.
”I’m just kidding. I really like winning. But this should be fun! We never did get around to that arm wrestling competition.” "Oh, yeah!" He did recall that back when they first arrived at the seaside and went to fetch gold for Brineybeard, they'd competed to see who could carry the most and wanted to see who was stronger. Now was the perfect chance, wasn't it? And Sakura's enthusiasm sure was infectious.
"And hey, we still can! There are probably a lot of areas to fight in around here, so how about whoever wins the arm wrestle gets to pick the spot? Ya-cool with that?" Sakura grinned, rocking on her heels and holding one hand behind her back.
”Perfect! A pre-competition for our main competition.” She cockily rubbed her index finger under her nose.
With that sorted out, the two of them should probably move on. Most of the other pairs had already left the room, or were in the process of leaving. However there were two things that the Cadet thought of before that.
"Uh, where are the fighting spaces here anyway?" He asked, glancing at Mewtwo who had remained in the room.
Passed the Arc Mall, there are domed rooms with transporters inside. They will take you to one of the many archways that provide arenas for the Alcamoth's residents, it said, speaking into both the Cadet and Sakura's mind.
"Alright." That shouldn't be too hard to miss. The hunter looked back at Sakura.
"You're the professional, are there any kind of rules we should follow when we fight? Like no hitting below the belt or something like that?" ”Eh, no, you can hit below the belt. Rules, rules…” She tapped her chin, trying to think of some rules she as a Street Fighter followed.
”Uhh...” She was really trying to think of something.
”No…eye gouging?” She offered up half-heartedly.
”I think that’s a rule. I’ve never seen anyone do that. So don’t stick your thumbs in my eyes, that would be pretty uncool.” She nodded.
”And you know, you win when you get a KO, so don’t hit the opponent after that. Only real jerks do that kind of thing. Basically just don’t do anything a villain would do and you should be good to go!” With those concrete and steadfast rules settled, Sakura began looking for a table and a place to sit so they could do their competition.
The Cadet looked a little perturbed at Sakura's example. Sakura suppressed a giggle.
"I definitely would not act like a villain," he said seriously, a little bit of Jamaica shining through. He followed her to some seating nearby, taking his place across from her. Hopefully the small table was sturdy enough to support them. He rolled his shoulder, mostly for show, then propped an elbow on the table and offered a hand to his opponent.
"Count of three?" ”On go, after three.” Sakura corrected, sitting down.
”So it’ll be three, two, one, fight! I mean- go. And then you go on go. So it’s three, two, one, go.” The street fighter said. She propped up her elbow and then clasped her hand with his. She grinned, eyes glimmering.
”This is fantastic. If we didn’t have to save the Worlds I would live in Alcamoth.” She took a deep breath.
”Ready? Three, two, one, go!” The muscles in her arm flexed and Sakura bit down on her lip as she pushed against Cadet as hard as she could.
As instructed, with his hand wrapped tight around his opponent's, at
go the Ace Cadet pushed. He was met with a wall of unrelenting force. Of course he knew Sakura was strong, he'd seen her fighting up close plenty of times now, but battling against her strength so directly still surprised him. And he was about to see her fight
way closer up than before right after this! It was kind of exciting, in all honesty. He grinned at the street fighter, though it came off as more a friendly grimace since he was currently putting his all into trying to force her arm down.
"It's a pretty cool place," he belatedly agreed,
"Tons of stuff I never could have even dreamed up." He held his ground, elbow firm and un-moving on the table. He squeezed her hand harder, the muscles in his own arm taut as he pushed.
Sakura bared her teeth, one eye shut tight. She made a little exhalation noise as she stopped pushing forward and just tried holding her ground.
”Uh oh.” She said.
”...getting tired yet?” She asked hopefully, though it was probably trying to come off as cool.
"Nope," he lied. He was starting to feel it, but if there was anything he was confident in it was his stamina. He could definitely out last her, and if she was flagging then all it would take was a few more seconds. Or so he thought anyway, because she was seriously tough and he was already giving it all he had. He just had to wait until she started to give, and then finish it.
Sakura pressed her lips together.
”Not too late to surrender!” She said, straining the words out. The inside of her arm was on fire! Were there any tactics to arm wrestling? If there was, Sakura couldn’t think of any off the top of her head. Sakura gave it her all, grit her teeth and gave one big push. She started to force Cadet’s hand down but then she ran outta gave, wavering, the pressure relieving. In that moment while trying to hold fast, the monster hunter turned the tables and advanced. He pushed Sakura's arm back upright to where they started, and then down all at once to the table. Once her knuckles brushed the surface it was over, the Cadet pinned her hand flat for a second and then released.
"Phhhhew." He shook out his hand and wiggled his fingers, getting the feeling back into them.
"That was a close one, but it's my win this time." So now he got the honor of choosing their stage, from which he initially planned to just pick whatever looked the most interesting.
Sakura grabbed her wrist and shook her hand, wincing.
”Itai-itai-itai.” She stuck her finger in her mouth.
”Aw, man. Guess I still need to get stronger…” She said, only a little bummed out.
”I have been slacking on my training recently.” One could almost hear Sakura trying to come up with new training regiments so she would have a better chance next time.
”Did you have anything in particular in mind you wanted to pick?” Sakura asked, curious.
"Not really," he replied with a shrug.
"We'll see what looks fun when we get there." The two of them moved on, starting to make their way across the Ark Mall. They chatted as they did so, mostly clarifications about the match they were both excited to take part in. Part of it was reconciling the fact that the Ace Cadet would be using a deadly weapon against an unarmed opponent, but Sakura assured him it was fine - expected actually. Even more, his items and tools were allowed as well. Fighting without their use meant the Cadet wouldn't truly be bringing his A-game, and they couldn't have that.
”The weapons are fine, really!” Sakura had said, giving two thumbs up.
”Come at me with all you got! Street Fighters can take it. At a certain level of skill, weapons are just another form of self expression through martial arts. Like…a hat! Or a hair color.” Item use was a little more conscionable anyway, even if it meant he'd have to replace whatever was used up before they set out another mission. The two of them put their brain cells together to think of some kind of loophole around that, when Mewtwo once again intervened with advice. They hadn't gotten very far yet and their conversation was a bit loud, so the psychic Pokémon couldn't help but overhear them. It informed them about the city's
Matchmaker system, which was used to prepare the stages for battle in the first place. With a solution seemingly found, the Cadet told Sakura to go on ahead to the plazas holding the stages while he got the rest of it set up. They parted, soon to meet again for battle.
It wasn't too much later that the Ace Cadet reappeared, waving at Sakura as he jogged up to her. Since last she saw him, he had traded in the casual fit for his armor of iron plate and green scales. At his hip was his weapon of choice for this match, the long sword
Nightsky Ripper. Even though she'd said it was alright he didn't want to risk using the
Master Bang sword and shield combination that was specifically meant to carve the flesh of giant monsters, especially with it's even deadlier upgrade, lest he get one or both of them hurt. Besides, he was a weapon's master and already very familiar with this long sword, so it wasn't like he was handicapping himself.
"Everything's good to go!" he said, giving the girl a thumbs up.
"I even figured out something radalos for the arena. All we gotta do is go through the arch." ”That’s good! It would have sucked if we went through all that arm wrestling effort only for you to pick a random one.” Sakura said, laughing.
The both of them stepped into the fog, feeling the unusual pull of space distorting. When the mist cleared, they stood on the edge of a vast desert, bordered by the gates of a wild and rustic city. Vessels floated high up in the air via balloon, and behind them tempered sand turned to packed dirt.
Despite the desert just steps away, the temperature was pleasantly warm and not overwhelming. The space in front of the gate was wide open and devoid of people besides themselves. It would be a good enough place to fight. The Ace Cadet took it all in eagerly... maybe a bit too eagerly, as it seemed like he was scrutinizing every little bit of the area. The reason why was quickly explained when he finally turned to Sakura with a huge grin on his face.
"It's not exactly right, but it's purrretty close," he said.
"That thing Mewtwo showed me that scanned the items can make areas based on whatever information you give it too. So this is the closest it could make to Val Habar, one of the cities from my home world! What do you think?" Sakura had done a spin, gasping happily when Cadet revealed the true nature of what this place was supposed to be.
”Ace! That’s awesome!” She took it in again like she was just seeing it for the first time.
”Bal Harbor.” She said to herself, nodding.
”Do you like making cat puns now, too?” Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow.
”She’s kind of rubbing off on you, hmm?” She rose her eyebrows up and down.
"It's Val Habar, and - uh, haha, maybe?" Had he made a cat pun? He didn't even notice. Cat puns used to be just part of his everyday life, given it was how the felynes and melynx spoke, so hearing them all the time again probably brought some comfort to his subconscious or something complicated like that. But more than likely Sakura was just right. The Cadet had been scratching at the back of his head sheepishly, but then he coughed into his hand to change the subject.
"You know once, before the Ace Palico went to..." He trailed off before even really starting the story, shaking his head.
"Ah, nevermind, I can tell you later! Already kept you waiting too long." He moved a little farther away from Sakura, not quite sure of the distance they should be starting at.
"From 'go' again?" Sakura nodded, and she took up a position that was outside the range where either fighter could threaten the other with advancing.
”Okay! Battle at Val Habar!” She said, emphasizing her correct pronunciation this time.
”First to who knows, best of whatever!” She smacked the sides of her head and then palmed her fist, bowing.
”Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!” She took up her fighting stance, bouncing lightly from one sneaker to the other. Though her energy was still upbeat, the smile left her face as she began to concentrate.
”Three, two, one…go!” On go, she quickly stepped forward and then backpedaled, wondering what Ace was going to do. Just sizing him up, it seemed.
She'd seen his free hand fly to the hilt of the long sword, joining the one that was gripped tightly around the scabbard. However when she didn't actually approach, the Cadet looked at her curiously rather than drawing it.
Was it... a feint? Pretty tricky! Well if she was waiting for him to make the first move, then he would oblige.
"Alright Sakura, you asked for it," he reminded her, pulling something out of his item pouch. He held it up, giving her a brief glimpse of what looked like a small metallic hexagon - right before he pulled his arm back and pitched it at her.
Sakura raised an eyebrow, wondering what the item did. She guessed it was a grenade of some kind and dodged out of the way.
The device didn't need to strike her, in fact it would detonate in the air either way and let out a sharp, harsh noise so ear-splitting it could even throw dragons off of their game. And while Sakura was momentarily debilitated, the Cadet used the chance to move in.
”Itai-itai-itai!” Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and stumbled backwards, slapping the sides of her head several times. If she had any feelings on the matter other than ‘OUCH!’ she had no brain capacity to express them for the moment.
Now up close, it was time to really get into the action. And given it was a friendly match, the Cadet gave Sakura some prior warning just before his weapon was unsheathed.
"Heads up!" he called, and then with a flick the blade jumped from its scabbard, going into a horizontal slice aimed right at the girl's middle.
The good news was, Sakura was true to her word. She didn’t get split in half or anything. Slashed across the waist, she bent over and slid backwards, a bright yellow spark deflecting the blow. It was an unusual feeling on the other end of the blade, but it felt like a solid hit. Sakura dropped into a crouch, her back knee almost touching the floor, and raised her forearm in a defensive position.
It took a moment for the Cadet to grasp exactly what had happened, but he did realize that he didn't have to hold back. He could fully focus on fighting - and learning. With a glint in his eye he brought the sword up until it's tipped pointed to the sky, and then down in an overhead slash. It was just what he’d needed. The cut sliced down onto Sakura’s shoulder and she gasped, feeling a little heat in her cheeks. How embarrassing! Knocked onto all fours, she pushed herself back up to standing. Her hands were up and waiting for the next strike as she galloped backwards.
Looking to press his early advantage, the hunter followed after her. After the first few swings, it was easy to fall back into the familiar striking pattern of the long sword: a diagonal slash from calf to shoulder, then bringing it around again for the reverse, an opposite slash from neck to hip. Another quick strike across the midsection, followed by another overhead, and repeat. The flurry of attacks fell upon Sakura, unrelenting until the end of the Cadet's combo which was signaled by the sword being swung nearly 360 degrees to gain momentum for a more powerful blow aimed at her chest.
Sakura did her best to keep up, and mostly succeeded. As long as she interceded her forearm or her palm in the way of the blade, a blue flash met Cadet’s swing. Walking backwards she moved her upper body from side to side as the strikes came in. Nervous, she decided to call off Cadet's combo early. She spent some of her energy to pull off a defensive move.
”Right there!” As her arm moved from left to right, so did she, dropping into a balanced, spinning crouch. Her leg swung out and knocked Cadet off his feet, sending him flying backwards. The air darkened around both fighters as she did, dealing grey damage to Cadet’s legs. Sakura popped up to her feet and shook the pain out of her hands.
”Yeesh! I’m glad you have so much faith in me!” Sakura said, laughing.
After being launched the Cadet hustled to stand again. He took up a pose much like a samurai with his feet spread, shoulders square, and both hands on the sword held in front of him with the blade itself pointed at his opponent.
"Well if I had underestimated you I probably would have already lost!" The street fighter gathered a ball of blue energy between her hands and launched it towards Cadet at high speed.
”Hadoken!” She repeated the cry and fired out another and another, her hands moving towards and away from Cadet in a rhythmic motion. Blocking them was possible but not effortless, and they had a shove’s worth of kinetic energy behind them.
The energy attack coming at him he'd seen from her before, so when she started the motion he knew what was coming. He dodged to the side, only to be caught by the second one immediately after. It burst against his armor, further pushing him back. It also did additional damage as the defensive leg sweep she’d landed earlier caught up to him due to getting hit. More hadokens followed, effectively keeping him locked in place for the time being. He discovered that they could be disrupted with a well placed swing of his sword, but between getting the timing right or outright jumping out of the way, he was stuck until he could think of something.
It was true- a jump was a good way to deal with a fireball. But that might leave Ace open to different types of attacks. Her fireballs were no easy gimmick to overcome! The timing was made even harder by the variable speed of the fireballs. Some of them came in slower than others, like a pitcher changing up the speed of her pitch. Grinning, Sakura charged up a big one and dragged it through the air, lobbing it at Cadet’s feet.
”Hyaaah!” Whatever he did afterwards, Sakura sprinted up behind her fireball and aimed to catch him off guard with a roundhouse kick and get some close range offense going of her own.
After getting thoroughly pushed around by the hadokens, the Cadet had formed a plan. Putting it into motion with the final fireball, he leapt backward while swinging the sword around and over his shoulder in a stance that looked similar to a player up to bat, quite fitting given the way Sakura was throwing her projectiles around. It just so happened that this particular move was also called the
Sakura Slash. Go figure! Once the big fireball hit the ground harmlessly in front of him, the Ace Cadet swung the sword in a mighty slash, the momentum giving him his own rotation to match her roundhouse. The blade met her kick, stopping her forward movement in midair. The Cadet followed through with the slash, hoping to throw her back just far enough that he could regroup.
Sakura wasn’t worried her sneaker would get ruined, even as it clashed with steel. Sakura brought her raised leg in and dropped backwards into a roll that ended up with her on her feet. Both fighters had enough time to set things back to neutral. Sakura moved to run in, taking a sidewinding curveball path towards him. But she was going to stop dead right as she got within stabbing range and try to bait out a reaction from Cadet, and then push forward. She thought to herself that there was no way she was going to be able to get close to Cadet if she just kept throwing herself on his sword- he needed to be worried that she might do something else!
Luckily for her, baiting the hunter was fairly easy to do. As she approached he positioned the blade back low against his hip, ready to draw in a manner similar to iaijutsu. If anything showed that he needed a lot more practice when it came to solo battle against another person it was this. When she ran close enough he tried anticipating her movement and lashed out, flicking the blade forward in a thrust only to meet air. His eyes widened in surprise, and he only had time enough to swivel his head toward Sakura before she dashed in.
The old bait and whiff. His sword was out of position, and Sakura knocked it aside with her fist. She was too far to get any hard hits in, but she could push in.
”Shunpukyaku!” She spun forward and brought her leg around like a hammer, slamming it into his chest. Now she was right up in his face, and Cadet only had a moment to defend himself. She attempted to stick her leg between his, grab his shoulders and fling him upside down and onto his hip. Trying to pull the long sword in close enough to be of any use was futile, but he wasn't without any options. Unlike Sakura who had de-fused with the spirit of Arashio, the spirit of Jamaica still lived in the Cadet. The ship rigging that fanned out from his lower back came around on either side of them both. Armed with mini cannon batteries and a curved blade on either one, they closed on Sakura while firing their guns.
Sakura twisted Ace over, leaning as she did and stepping into her throw. The rigging came in and jabbed into her shoulder in back, the explosions causing her to lose her balance. But because Ace was practically horizontal in the air, it became something of an awkward hit.
”O-oops!” Sakura said as she got hit. She stumbled past and over Cadet and then landed on her hands and knees. Fortunately she was a bit too tough to scrape her bare knees. She pushed herself to her feet, and turned to face Cadet. Dropped unceremoniously in the dirt, he blinked at the sky for a moment before scrambling up. He wiggled the ship rigging as if flexing it before it was tucked out of the way when he moved his sword back into position. It'd most likely be match over if he was pinned, so he was glad he'd escaped by any means. He'd had enough time to get to his feet as she did the same.
”Okay, that won’t work.” She said, glad nobody saw that.
Sakura brought her hands together and back, seemingly to charge another fireball. Once released, it would move very slowly, barely slower than Sakura’s walk speed. It would explode on contact, but only for Ace. Although upon realizing what she was doing, the hunter grinned.
"Okay, this one I've definitely seen!" he told her. And he definitely didn't want to get hit by it. Giving the attack a wide berth, he circled Sakura with the long sword raised. It was gripped in both hands, held up near his shoulder in a high stance. Though wary of what she might do, he decided to go for it - dashing in with the intent to jab her. He hadn't tried this move on such a small target before, but should he be successful he could dig the blade in and use it to vault himself up for an aerial slice. Now he just had to land the attack, not an easy feat.
Sakura made an unsure noise, smiling.
”I don’t know if you have!” She called out. She gave Cadet a wide berth as well, sprinting alongside her fireball and continuing to put it between her and Cadet, avoiding his jab. The fireball was so slow, lazily floating through the air, it was more like a floating mine than a projectile. One that she could walk through. She dashed through the fireball, leaving it behind, and went to jab him a few times with her quick fists.
She caught him off guard. Since when could someone just walk right through a fireball like that?! Though her punches landed, she found that if she focused more on speed than power then it would be hard to damage him through his armor... and even more so when his next attack landed. The Cadet braced himself through her jabs while the core of his chest started to glow pink. Then suddenly a wide, wave-like energy burst forth from his core, the Crush Shot affecting anything it managed to hit with the Weak status.
Cadet was a tough nut to crack, and her quick jabs didn’t find much purchase on him. That wasn’t something she was used to, even the biggest Street Fighters flinched at her jabs. But he was used to fighting giant monsters!
Sakura dodged backwards and raised her hands defensively as the wave washed over her, taking hold. Seeing him recover, she kicked at Cadet’s shin, only to find not much happened at all. She took a moment to look her body over.
”Uhh. What did that do?” She asked Cadet, shuffling evasively back and forth.
"Makes your attacks weaker," he told her honestly.
"Don't worry, it's only temporary! Just means you're gonna have to work a little harder to win!" ”Oh! I get it. Okay, thanks!” Though the longer they fought, the more Sakura would get used to his combat patterns with the long sword. It was a great weapon with high damage potential, but very technical - and if he relied solely on it then he'd eventually end up missing his strikes more often than not. That only meant that he would have to work harder too.
He took one hand off of the sword and raised his arm, where attached to his gauntlet was a mechanical device that looked halfway between a mini crossbow and a collapsed cage. From it, the altered arms of the
clutch claw unfurled and locked together to form a anchor-like shape. He hadn't used this kind of flail before, but it didn't hurt to try it now during a practice match. It hung on a chain, and the Cadet took hold of it, swinging it in a circle.
"New strategy comin' at ya!" He flung the makeshift flail at the street fighter.
Sakura’s lip curled, grossed out by Cadet’s new, weird weapon.
”Ew!” It reminded her of Birdie’s chain, but even worse! At her reaction the hunter just laughed good naturedly. She crossed her arms in front of her, the flail crashing into her block. There was a thudding blue impact and Sakura grunted. She turned her skidding into a back pedal to get out of range. Fortunately, she had a lot of space to use given the environment Cadet had chosen. Just a big old desert. Sakura would have to pick her range carefully. She needed to be close up where she had the advantage, or far away enough that she could be safe. Mid range was Cadet’s specialty, especially with this new flail.
”I hate to be a spammer, but- hadoken!” The fireballs began coming in fairly fast, sacrificing damage and push back for speed and range. She even did a couple of one handed hadokens, thrusting out her palms to send quicker, smaller bursts of ki his way. She wanted Cadet to have to close the distance, and she wanted him to do it while he was under pressure.
At first he tried countering the fireballs with the cannons on his rigging, taking pot shots to make them burst before they got close. Fairly quickly he realized he wouldn't be able to outgun her blasts. If he advanced he'd be doing exactly what his opponent wanted from him, but what else could he do? Throw another sonic bomb, try and swap to his bow? None of those options really appealed to him, so moving up it was. He sheathed the long sword and made a beeline for her with the ship rigging fanned out. He took about as many hadokens as he managed to avoid either by dodging or dispersing them, and though he could feel the damage they dealt steadily piling up he continued to trudge on.
When he judged he was close enough to try something, he swung the flail again with one hand while the other dipped into his bag. From it he withdrew a vial with the blinding potion inside. He expected that she'd try and dodge the anchor, so as long as he timed it right he could toss it at her and actually hit his target.
Sakura ducked and rolled to the side underneath the swing, and as she prepared to step in, she spotted the potion coming her way. She couldn’t dodge, so she blocked the potion. The glass broke, causing the liquid to splash on her upper body. She meant to glance at it to see what
that did, only to experience the quite terrifying sensation of losing her sight.
”Bwaah!” She screamed, flailing her arms as she frantically turned to get away.
"Also temporary!" her opponent was quick to mention. This would be his best chance to get close to Sakura with as little risk as possible. With the hadokens stopped and the street fighter on the backfoot, the Cadet swung the chain and flail at her legs to trip her up, then let the clutch claw retract and rest at his arm again. Prepared to draw the sword again he dashed in close.
Sakura’s legs were taken out from under her. Gasping, she fell flat on her face and lay prone, eyes squeezed shut. When she opened them, she saw the ground at the tip of her nose and was grateful. She was less grateful for the oncoming sound of boots, and she quickly rolled to the right. Her instinct saved her from the blow, the Nightsky Ripper's blade hitting packed sand where she'd just been a moment before. Another slash was headed her way not a second later as the hunter re-positioned and swung again.
Gritting her teeth, Sakura clenched her fist pushed herself onto one knee just in time to launch into an explosive uppercut. Her body flashed with power as she spent some of the energy she had gained during the fight.
”Kurae!” Unless Cadet got defensive, the uppercuts force would blow straight through his downward strike. She did one uppercut and then followed it up by another, leaping into the air and dragging Cadet with her via her fist. Sakura landed on her feet, and then pumped her fist.
With nothing to block the blow with, the Ace Cadet was sent flying back after two solid hits. He landed on his back with a groan. When he pushed himself to his feet again, Sakura looked as though she was ready for more - and either the Weak debuff had already faded, or she was powering up. Both were pretty dangerous to his chances of winning.
Okay, gonna have to play this a little smarter! he thought to himself, once more bringing the blade into position. This time he waited to see what she'd do - another fireball barrage, or try and bridge the distance between them?
Sakura bounced back and forth on her feet.
”That’s one of my big ones. In future if you see an enemy block or dodge that attack, please save me. Because if you had blocked that I would have basically just fallen gently towards you like target practice.” She explained.
"Noted!" the Cadet responded seriously.
Then she went in, galloping forward. But she shifted on her feet and moved her head, keeping her hands forward and making her movement harder to predict. When she was in range she began trying to bait out a swing from Cadet, and basically engaged him on a purely theoretical level, dancing in and out of his effective range, making like she was going to go in only to pull back. She watched his feet and his hands and occasionally made eye contact. It was times like these where her mind was empty of anything except the fight. Sakura was in the zone. It also had the added benefit of giving her more time to wait out this Weak effect.
Not wanting to be duped by another one of her feints, the Cadet kept the blade still in his hand as he turned to keep an eye on her. When she got too close his grip would tighten to signal his intent to attack, at which point she would gracefully bounce back out of range. Once or twice he did swing, quick flashes of steel that never hit their target but didn't exactly leave him open either. It was a stalemate until one of them committed.
Sakura stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth, proud of Cadet for playing it smart. She backed far away and dropped her guard, taking a few moments to walk back and forth and catch her breath. Then she wiped some sweat out of her eyes and got back to business. She did some fancy footwork, juking left then spinning right. She blasted a one handed fireball Cadet’s way and then leaped in, clearing ten feet before front flipping and bringing her foot down like a javelin.
”Sore!” This is it! The Cadet shifted stances - he bent his knees and flipped the sword in his hand so that the blade was reversed and held it up at shoulder level, horizontally so that it was perpendicular to his body.
Critical Juncture, the ultimate parry. The only problem was there was an energy blast coming right at him at the same time that the teenaged powerhouse was. His eyes flickered from the hadoken to Sakura herself, now airborne, and decided to focus solely on her. His senses sharpened and he braced himself against the fireball as it burst against his front, and then as soon as her foot connected with the blade he flicked it up in a powerful upward slashing motion.
As the sole of her sneaker found not armor but the edge of a blade, one of Sakura’s eyes winced shut in anticipation. It slashed vertically up the lower half of her body. A great bright yellow line was drawn from heel to navel, and Sakura was straightened out and thrown back.
”Gah!” She landed clumsily but quickly back rolled onto her feet, exhaling.
”Nice hit.” She said, before moving in again, her bandana trailing behind her head. It’s not like the hits didn’t hurt, but you were more likely to stop a street fighter completely before you were able to slow them down.
As Sakura moved in, she blocked a couple of Ace’s probing strikes, and then spun towards him, kicking at him with a
”Shunpu!” It was only meant to draw out his guard and let her advance. As she landed in front of him, arms swinging, Cadet would realize that he had the advantage. But Sakura was willing to take that risk in order to close the distance.
They were set to clash again. If he let her get past his effective range it would spell trouble. He thrust the sword straight forward toward her, though it was easily avoided. Transitioning into a sideways swipe he swung it in a wide arc, trying to catch her before she got too close.
Wide arcs were fantastic against giant monsters, but Sakura was 5’2 and almost within arms reach. The sword swing was hard, but she brought her bare forearms against it and then ducked under it, letting it scrape over her with a blue flash. Still crouched, she threw a crouching medium kick at Cadet’s leg. Then she stepped up and forward, throwing a series of heavy, long range punches his way, planting her foot closer with each strike. Her fists were interposed with Cadet’s blade as he defended himself. She forced out a sharp hiss of air with each strike, managing her breathing. The pressure was on! She was trying to get closer and closer still.
As she advanced the Cadet's mind raced while trying to think of ways out of the situation. He couldn't put any distance between them because every step back he took, Sakura took one forward. He couldn't swap to another weapon or reach into his bag, because if he lost focus and lowered his blade it would leave him wide open. The rigging at his waist did little to deter her as she pressed her advantage. He thought about trying to use another of his hunter arts, the Devouring Demon. At times when he was being pressed by a monster, it could give him an advantage to stagger it and get back into rhythm. But it was dangerous - not for her, but for him. If he powered up and whiffed, it would put him in an even worse spot... but then again, in a spar like this, the danger was only losing - not dying.
Let's just go for it! he thought to himself.
After barely fending off one of her punches, the Cadet swiftly brought the blade in close to focus his energy. His body pulsed a dull crimson, his muscles and senses both strained, and just like that his attack power was boosted while his vitality started to drain. He caught the street fighter's eye and went in for another forward thrust.
"Hyah!" Sakura grimaced in anticipation, but this time it was on Ace’s behalf. It really wasn’t a good idea to try and power up right when your opponent is halfway through punching at you. Sakura knew that from experience. But Ace was going to learn that lesson the best way- the hard way. Simply put, she went and socked him on the jaw before his forward thrust could get much of anywhere. The impact from interrupting his powerful attack sent Cadet spinning away. Sakura dove forward into a roll and then jumped up and shoved her knee into him, launching him. Before he could hit the ground, she scooped him up with the knuckles of her fist.
Shouoken!” Rattling off like a machine gun, Cadet would go flying once again while Sakura landed athletically on her feet.
”Sorry!” She said afterwards, hunching her shoulders a bit. Then, because this was a fight, she began running over to kick him while he was down.
When going for a high risk, high reward move like that there was always the chance it would end up that way: getting flung, landing hard on dirt and lying prone while a girl walloped you. Long sword abandoned, the Cadet covered his head with his hands and called out, half laughing,
"Okay, okay! I surrender." The girl stopped, nearly falling over.
He really did need the practice it seemed. Early on he'd thought he had done pretty well for himself, though the longer the match went on the more he had fallen behind. The hunter rolled over onto his back and splayed his arms out wide, staring at the not-quite-right gates of Val Habar before his gaze eventually settled on Sakura. He grinned at her.
"You kicked my Astalos." A big, toothy smile on her face, Sakura practically yanked Ace onto his feet. With her mouth she made punching sound effects and mimed hitting him with an onslaught of elbows and jabs.
”Sphpewshpssh psshpsshpsshpssh-” Then she turned around and threw a real celebratory haymaker into the air, jumping for joy and running aimlessly.
”Yes! Haha, YES! That was awesome!” ”Yeah!” With one last punch that launched her upwards, she landed and made her back to Cadet.
”You can do so many things! How do you even hold all that stuff? You must have like, a million straps on your back!” Hyped up, she grabbed him by shoulder and turned him to look whatever weapons he was carrying on his back - which happened to be the sheathe for the long sword, his fairly large gathering pouch, the comically square looking backpack, a wicked looking carving knife tucked into a loose leather holster that had barely seen the light of day since he awakened in the World of Light, and a miniature oak barrel strapped sideways.
He let her examine his equipment all she wanted.
"Yeah, pretty much," he said. He was pretty kitted out, though not so much as the last couple of days when his extra weapons were just stowed on his body instead of in the bag.
"It's not really what I can do so much as what stuff I've got on me, which is why I carry around as much as I can. If I ever got disarmed I'd cart pretty quick," he explained,
"compared to you, your punches are like super-human! Plus that thing -" He turned around and made the motion of forming a hadoken and firing it.
"Even on the receiving end of it, it's really cool!" ”Isn’t it? Isn’t it just the coolest? It’s called the Hadoken, which means Wave Motion Fist!” She blasts one out into the open air to demonstrate.
”Ryu-san is the best at Hadokens. Mine still have a long way to go, if I want to be as strong as him someday…” Sakura said, trailing off for a moment.
Snapping back into reality, she turned to face him.
”Oh, hey! I have a tip for you. Do you wanna hear it? It was about the mistake that cost you the match.” She said, tapping him on the shoulder.
"Lay it on me, Master Sakura," he said, nodding his head.
"If you're not around to come save me if I get stuck in a duel, I'll need all the help I can get." Sakura’s face flushed red.
”Okay, first of all. Not a Master. Not Master Sakura. D-don’t call me that, it’s- nope. Nuh uh. No way. Ryu-san is the Master. And if you asked him he’d say he wasn’t. So that means I’m definitely not a Master, not even close. I- I haven’t even gone to a real dojo yet!” Shaking her head rapidly, she get back onto the subject at hand with a clearing of her throat.
”Don’t tell Hibiki-san I said that last part if you meet him.” The Cadet cocked his head to the side, a bit confused by her little tirade. Plus he had no idea who 'Hibiki-san' was or how he'd recognize them if they ever met. He placated her anyway, giving her a small smile.
"Gotcha, no master and no telling Hibiki-san." ”A-anyway.” She hopped into a fighting stance, moving her fists around.
”So I was bringing my fists in pretty hard, and that’s not a good situation to be in. Your attacks are way powerful, probably the most powerful I’ve ever faced. But they have a lot of windup. I imagine you need all the power you can get when you’re going up against monsters, but against faster opponents you’ll need to be quicker.” She moved her fist back and forth like she was punching.
”Just a simple jab. It won’t take much to throw someone off. Maybe you could check me with the bottom part of your sword. Just to my face, or my chest if you want to aim less. And you’re plenty strong, so a quick knee to my belly would work, too." He was less sure about the other physical strikes she mentioned, but anything that might help he was at least willing to try.
"The bottom part...? Oh, the pommel?" He drew the sword again, checking the weapon's handle from intricate guard to gold-colored pommel. That kind of strike wasn't intended for the long sword, but the Ace Cadet was nothing if not adaptable. And if he could pull off something half-way decent with the longer blade, then he could transition it over to the short sword too.
"Did you wanna practice?” She asked.
"Yeah, if you don't mind!" Sakura was happy about this response, punching her fists together.
”Great! I haven’t practiced with anyone since I got here!” She exclaimed happily, excited to run some drills.
”Okay, so. I’m gonna come at you like I did towards the end. And I want you to try to interrupt me with a quick attack. On go. Ready? Three, two, one, go!” She began throwing her fierce punches his way, the kind that urgently needed to be blocked by a sword. But now that the situation was much more composed, he could find a gap between her punches and interrupt. Although shifting out of specific techniques and stances that had been drilled into him was easier said than done, he did eventually manage after taking a few punches to shift the blade and shove the pommel into her chest. It drove her off for but a moment, and then they started again.
After getting the hang of interrupting the fighter's flow, they went back and forth with it. The Cadet would break her stance, and Sakura would counter his counter. The two of them continued like that with the warm wind washing over them until they were satisfied. At least, with the practice involving the sword.
Sakura coughed, clearing her throat of some of the saliva that had been building up.
"Yeah, uh,” She tapped her fist against her chest.
"Let’s move away from that. Because my sternum hurts. Great work.” She gave a strained thumbs up.
"Teaching people techniques is way more painful than I expected.” "Learning them too, though I think it's been going pretty well," the hunter chuckled.
"But yeah, let's switch it up." After getting over the initial reluctance to try out physical strikes, it became apparent that for all of his strength the Cadet was not nearly so talented at picking up hand-to-hand techniques as he was with weapons techniques. Naturally this transitioned into much more basic training as a way to cool down before they inevitably picked up again.
Eventually, Sakura set her hands on her knees and took a breather.
”I have a question. So you were throwing like, potions and stuff at me? And grenades? I’m trying to think of things I could do to get out of it, because the bad guys are probably gonna have stuff like that, too.” She mimed throwing some potions and grenades.
"Maybe I could-” She jumped ten feet in the air, bringing her legs in. Landing gently she flattened out her skirt.
"Do something like that? Would that work?” The Cadet watched her land, chin tucked between his finger and thumb as he considered her strategy.
"That'll work against a lot of projectiles, but not everything. Like, here," he beckoned the girl over to him as he pulled out a couple of gadgets. Among them were the sonic-bombs he'd used earlier. He held up for her to examine.
"Jumping up won't do any good against something that doesn't need to actually touch you... well, unless maybe you can jump even higher than that? Anyway, something like this that uses sonic waves, or a flash bomb that would blind you if you looked at it, or even a regular bomb that has a big explosive radius - your first instinct would be to get away, but it's probably better to contain them, or disable them before they can go off." After a bit of fiddling, he took apart the bomb in his hand to show her the insides. Being from a more primitive world it wasn't a very complex device, but it was sophisticated in its simplicity.
"You know, with so many different worlds I'm sure there's a million different ways these kinds of items work, so uh, take this with a grain of salt? But from what I know most of them are on a timer, or trigger. So if you break them apart before they go off, you won't have to worry!" That was mostly true anyway. Though there should always be a healthy dose of worry, given just how many different kinds of things could be chucked at a person.
"It'll be tricky though. You could break out of these with your fireball, but if you used that on a bomb-bomb it would just go off early. Though that might not be bad either. I bet I could rig something safer than these if you wanted to give it a try." Sakura looked over at the item, tapping on her chin. Yup. That was the inside of a bomb, alright. Probably. From the ‘future’ or not, Sakura knew approximately nothing about military hardware.
"Uh huh. So just…step on it?” Sakura asked, stomping on the ground.
"Yeah. Smash it, slash it, slam it. Basically stop it from working before it, y'know, works!" "And if it’s a bomb bomb I can just block it or dodge it, or, I guess crush it. There’s a couple of street fighters who just throw bombs at people a lot. And Ryu-san showed me that my fireballs work on any old explosion.” Sakura thought aloud.
"But if it’s a potion, I should dodge. Because when it shatters, it’ll get all over me and affect me anyway.” She indicated the spot on her fuku where the stain had thankfully faded.
"If it’ll go bam, give it a slam. If it’s made of glass, move your…butt.” Sakura said, trailing off.
Ace Cadet laughed out loud.
"Perfect!" She rubbed the back of her head, grinning.
"That was a lot of fun, Ace. It was nice to just…do my favorite thing! It didn’t hurt that I won of course but, win or lose, you still gotta smile.” She bowed respectfully, and then reached her hand out for a handshake. When he clasped her hand she brought him in for a bro hug of epic proportions, clapping him on the back.
When they separated he fixed her with a wide smile, patting her on the shoulder.
"Yeah, it was Gargwawesome! And we can do it again whenever you want!" He told her.
"Or almost whenever. I think if I don't get out of this armor and into some healing soon I'll be really feeling it once all the adrenaline wears off, heh." He spun Sakura so that they were shoulder to shoulder as he steered them toward the exit, though he did glance back at the majestic desert town gate.
"Next time we can go somewhere like the world you come from?" "Yeah!” She did a little hop.
”I know the perfect place, it’s one of my favorite spots to fight. Next time for sure.”
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