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 Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:33 pm
The answer, Irene thought, was simple. If she wasn't strong enough, then she needed to become stronger. Why were Iris and Eunomia strong? Because they could take on monsters all by themselves. Solution? Take on monsters by herself until she was strong enough for ********* to acknowledge her and fix her pen already.
If she was in a more rational mood, she might have realized that beating up monsters solo was an effect of strength, not a cause of it. Or that ********* had only been trying to help. Or that this whole thing was a terrible idea. But Irene was tired of being rational. She'd tried it, and it had given her nothing. Iris and Eunomia got results when they did reckless things, and now it was her turn to try.
The youma she found was tough. At first, she had thought that was a good thing. The stronger the youma, the stronger she'd get by defeating it. It wasn't terribly fast, but it was sturdy and- as she later discovered- packed quite a wallop with its three large arms. All of her hits had landed on it, but none of them seemed to bother it much. Even the ones aimed at where she thought its stomach was, or what might be its eyes but might also be random gelatinous blobs, didn't do much more than annoy it and make it take another swing at her. Her magic was utterly useless when she wanted to attack something, so she hadn't even bothered with it. Instead, she aimed another kick at its side, and gasped, winded, when it knocked her up against a dumpster. This was not going the way she'd planned, not at all.
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 11:06 pm
Maia was out with Shang again. She was determined to make sure he wasn't running into this war blindfolded like most, not her brother. He was lucky, she thought, because he had her to help guide him and they worked well together she thought. Already he seemed to be getting better at the energy sensing aspect, but as far as combat went, well she wasn't sure. She thought maybe with her he was a bit too worried about not hurting her.
She frowned feeling the chaotic energy coming from nearby and paused to allow Shang time to feel what she felt.
Shang looked at Maia taking in her frown before he noticed the energy and gave a frown of his own. "I know that feeling," he said looking at her and not really wanting to go toward it, but knowing they would be anyway.
Maia nodded at him and motioned for him to follow her as she headed straight for the energy. Shang followed, he trusted his sister, and the girl had been doing this far longer than he had, but he still wished there was less running headlong into danger.
Rounding a corner the pair made it just in time to see a hitting a dumpster pretty hard. Both ran over to the girl, Shang asking if she was alright and Maia going to guard the pair as Shang hovered over the girl.
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 11:43 pm
It took Irene a moment to catch her breath, and her vision was a bit blurred from impact. She could feel the other people coming towards her before she could see them. One of them felt quite strong, while the other was more on her level. Which means he's weak. No, she told herself, that wasn't necessarily true. Even as a plain old senshi, Eunomia had been strong. You're the only weak one here.
Nothing like a little self-deprecation to bring a girl to her feet. Irene swayed a little, but remained standing. That was an improvement. But there was a guy in front of her. Protecting her? No, she was there because she was sick of being protected all the time!
"Move," she told him sharply. That was a little more curt than her usual manner, but the usual Irene was weak and needed to be replaced. "This is my fight. I didn't ask for any help!" And she wasn't going to, no matter how badly she needed it.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:15 pm
Shang backed away from the girl, hands up as if to say he hadn't meant any harm. He most certainly didn't want the girl angry at him for barging in. It hadn't been his idea, at the same time he was concerned as she'd been flung into a dumpster. "If your sure your okay? I won't stand in your way," he said, "I'm still new at this."
Maia, turned, giving the girl an odd look wondering what was wrong with her. This youma was clearly stronger than she was and Maia didn't think it was a good idea for the girl to be going it along.
"It's too stong. I'll help you. I don't want to see you get hurt, okay? You too Shang. Just keep on your toes and pay attention. I don't want you to get hurt either."
Shang nodded and pulled his little reflex hammer out of his pouch, ready to fight and hoping it would help him somewhat. That was what it was for afterall.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:11 pm
Why didn't these people understand what she was trying to do? The guy might not have been around for all that long- and, in fact, admitted to be new to the whole thing- but the girl had to be some kind of veteran, so Irene directed her next plea to her. "Listen, you've obviously been doing this for a while." Power signature aside, Irene had spent enough time around Iris to know that buttwings came with power and experience. "You're already strong. So you don't need to get tougher. But I do, and I can't do that if someone is always saving me."
There. Slow, even breaths, and her voice didn't even rise in pitch or volume at the end. If she was in speech class, she would have gotten an A, or at least a solid B. It was only in Youma Destruction 101 that her grades were solid Fs, but she couldn't improve if other students kept cheating on her behalf.
"If this is supposed to be some kind of demonstration, I'll have you know that I've seen plenty of fighting already. I need hands-on experience, and I can't get that if you're in my way!" The more she spoke, the less calm and collected she sounded. To Irene, that was a sign that the time for talk was done. She had to act. And so, while the guy was getting something out of his pouch, Irene darted around him and tried to throw herself at the youma again.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:51 pm
Maia looked at the girl with a bewildered expression. She understood wanting to get stronger, but not like the girl was currently trying. She was outmatched Maia could see that and having help didn't mean one couldn't get stronger. She gave a frown to the girl, "there is a difference between saving and helping I think. Your not down and out for the count, so I don't think I'm saving you."
Maia's frown deepened as the girl spoke, in Maia's opinion the girl sounded a bit selfish. She wasn't sure the senshi was doing this for the right reasons or going about it the right way. Her jaw dropped when she ran by and jumped at the youma too, her head whipping to her brother who was looking at the girl as if she gone a bit looney.
"She's not going to be able to take it herself," she said, "even if she doesn't want our help she's going to need it, so let go."
Shang nodded not all entirely certain he wanted any part of this and wanting to really let the girl prove herself, but he trusted her sister and believe what Maia said.
Maia ran off to the side of the youma and Shang ran off to the other side ready to attack the youma from the side, both slightly hesitant not wanting to accidentally hurt Irene.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 9:01 pm
"That's right, I'm not down for the count yet!" Irene's words were punctuated by the blows she was striking, though none of them seemed to do much more than annoy the youma. "I can still do this. See?" With each word she threw a punch that seemed to bounce right off the youma's hide. She had long since abandoned strategy, and at this point was just trying to inflict as much damage as she could before the interlopers interfered.
The girl's words did not go unnoticed, and Irene flushed red as she turned to face them. "I can too handle it myself!" She sounded like she was five years old and throwing a temper tantrum, but she didn't care. "Everyone keeps underestimating me, keeps protecting me. Why shouldn't I be able to fight my own battles?"
Maybe because despite her claims to the contrary, she hadn't really learned some of the basic lessons. Like not showing one's back to the enemy. The youma was slow, but it still raised a fist and slammed Irene in the back. The young senshi flew forward several feet before falling to her knees, her lungs trying to resume their normal working order and having a bit of difficulty.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 9:14 pm
Maia and Shang could both see with all the girls frustrated shouting and her punching she was probably beyond reasons. When she turned her back on the youma, even thought it was slow, it was too fast for either of them to stop the blow that landed on the girls back.
Shang ran over to the girl and made to help her up, "You probably shouldn't have turned around like that after punching that thing,"he said softly, "but at least you got a few good hits in. Um did you see any weak points?"
Maia instead kept her attention on the youma, it was already slow, so she figured her attack would pretty much slow the thing to pretty much a halt. She decided her super attack was probably best, as it would give them about three minutes.
"Absolute Harmony," she called out letting the song come to her and fill her up before singing, notes forming in the air and rushing in a colorful tornado toward the odd youma. When it hit the youma wouldn't be able to do much of anything to them and they might be able to defeat it before it got its mojo back.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 9:52 pm
Sure, tell me about my mistakes now. Don't say anything when I'm being a sitting duck, but rub it in afterwards, that's the way to go! Tears burned at the corner of Irene's eyes. She was being unreasonable, and she knew it, but knowing it didn't change the fact that she was still hurt and angry. She hated this so much- fighting, needing to prove herself, yelling at other people- but this was what she had to do to become stronger. And she had to become stronger.
"I was aiming for weak points," she told the guy roughly, her voice somewhat ragged from breathing problems. "Stomach, joints, eyes maybe. Nothing worked, alright?" It wasn't that she didn't know what she was doing, just that what she was doing didn't do what it was supposed to. "Do you have any better ideas?"
The girl started singing then, a lovely song, and Irene sighed with longing. There was someone with useful magic. Why had she been absent the day they handed out all of the cool senshi skills?
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:11 am
Shang had no idea he upset the girl, he was trying to be helpful, as he'd like not to she girl go flying once more. The youma didn't seem like something to be fooled around with.
Shang looked at the youma, trying to think over the girl question and not really at all paying attention to his sister and musical magic. It was cool, but was more focused on what do about the youma. "Maybe you should just slow down a bit and think."
Maia moved away from the youma, not to sure, how her attack would hold up against it. Weaker youma pretty much slumped over, but this was obviously not a weaker youma. She looked to Shang and Irene. "We've got about three minutes, give or take, I'm never quite sure of the time."
She looked to Irene, "you can defeat this you, but we're going to help you."
She looked to Shang, who looked to Irene, "Even Camelot used his shield to dust the youma. Maybe you should try to find something to use against it."
Maia nodded, "I tend to need to use something if the youma is too strong. Find something, but hurry, we haven't got much time."
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 3:51 pm
"I have thought." This was not exactly a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. Irene had done plenty of thinking, none of it on things like teamwork and efficiency and self-preservation. Instead she had emerged from her failure with one goal in her mind, and one goal only. She had to prove that she was strong. If she couldn't do that, nothing else mattered.
Did strong people need help beating youma? Not usually. Iris certainly didn't. But then Irene remembered a certain battle in the part, where even the whole team together hadn't been able to take out the youma. Of course, there had been a lot more youma there, so the situation wasn't quite the same, but it did give space for there to be some sort of assistance and still allow her to be strong.
"Very well." Her tone was far from enthusiastic, but at least she was listening now. "What sort of something? Like a weapon?" There was a dumpster behind her, but Irene was a bit too short to be able to see into it, even in her heels. She stood on her tiptoes, and when that didn't work, tried to climb on the side of it. There was nothing else around that looked remotely helpful, so the dumpster was her only hope. Assuming she could reach the inside, at least.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:35 pm
Shang gave no response to Irene's statement of having thought.If she said she thought he believed her, but he meant to look at it from a different angle so to speak.
Maia nodded, at Irene's question."Something heavy, or at the very least thick to hit it with. A fist or even a heel, just isn't going to do the trick with this one." She looked down the alley to see if she could find something further down that they couldn't see where they were.
Shang opted for the trash can route, which despite his height, he had a hard time seeing into as well. He frowned and looked to Irene. "I can give you a boost and you can look to see if you can grab something."
He looked over his shoulder, "that thing looks like it might be rather angry." He moved to help Irene up, hoping she would be okay with getting a lift up.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 6:12 pm
Irene didn't say what she was thinking, but she was thinking that even if she did find something suitably heavy, she wouldn't be able to lift it. Brute strength was not what she was going for here; if she'd wanted to lift weights, she would have gone to the gym.
"Wouldn't something sharp make more sense?" she asked instead, struggling to get up the side of the dumpster. "That way- ooh!" The guy was helping her up! Irene wasn't quite sure how to feel about that, but the fact remained that now she could manage to get over the edge and rip off the cheap plastic tarp that covered it.
Underneath were large chunks of concrete, several with pipes sticking out at odd angles, all of which looked too heavy to move. "They must have demolished something recently," she murmured, looking for the smallest piece. There, towards the edge, was a hunk of concrete with a dust-covered bit of pipe at one end. Irene picked her way over to it carefully, getting her heels stuck in the cracks a couple of times, and shoved it with all her might. Alone, that wouldn't have been enough, but by doing that she managed to shift the other pieces of concrete that held that one in place, and it fell over the edge with a loud thud. A few bits broke off, but it still looked like a big rock.
Irene huffed and puffed as she pointed to her treasure, too winded to ask what to do next.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 6:57 pm
Maia turned hearing the question for a little way down the alley and shouted, "sharp, heavy. It's not going to really matter. It just need to be able to do enough damage to dust that thing." She turned back jogging a little further down the alley thinking she saw something useful.
Shang nodded,"what she said," he responding while helping the girl up. She said something about stuff being demolished and he said, "that great, you see anything we can use. If something was demolished there has to be something good in there."
He quickly stepped out of the way when what looked like a rock on pipe came over the edge and laughed lightly, "that will do," he said holding his hands up to help the girl down. "Come on then, lets get rid of this ..."
He didn't finish the sentence as it seemed time was up and Shang was yanked back by his tail coat and thrown back toward the opposite wall. "Shang," Maia cried out, having turned at the thud only to see her brother thrown. She was already headed back up the alley. "Hit it with the thing," she shouted. If the Irene wanted to defeat the youma now was a chance.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:17 pm
For a moment, it seemed like the rest would be easy. The youma didn't seem to like that idea, grabbing the guy by the coat and tossing him against the wall. Irene, having had been in that position moments earlier, felt her body tense up as she watched the impact, helpless to do anything about it. Well, she was done being helpless. She had to do something, and she had to do it now.
Irene jumped down from the dumpster, wincing as one of her ankles throbbed. It was hard to walk in high heels, let alone do acrobatics, and it felt like she was always twisting an ankle. There was no time to worry about it now, though. She bent down to pick up the rock but, as she had feared, it was just too heavy for her to lift. Throwing her back out wouldn't help them at all, and she couldn't get back into the dumpster without help.
The chunks of cement that broke off were too small to be of much use, the largest ones being about the size of an apple. Irene picked up three of these and threw one. The youma didn't even notice as the debris hit its hide; Irene's pitch wasn't particularly powerful. The other two pieces were held in her hands as she ran at the youma, using them to stand in for her fists. If she hit it enough with even the little chunks, maybe it would work. She had no other ideas, and no time to think of anything else.
This time, the youma did notice what she was doing, as it was hard to miss a girl trying to pound rocks into your side. It seemed to be annoyed, maybe even hurt, but it wasn't melting into dust, much to Irene's dismay.
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