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"It has to be some kind of resistance. But I'm not sure what it's a resistance to exactly." He listened to Kiki as she explained how to use her attacks. He thought for a moment as turn 4 wore off. "We still have 13 more turns. Let's see how the fire shield works first." Aris stretched her arms as she looked at Magnus from across the field. "Gee, how long does that last?" She asked. "It's no fun being blacked-out every few seconds." Magnus gave a barely perceptible nod. "Then just hold still. We'll make sure it ends quickly." Aris's grin grew wider. "K!" She said, standing still. Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Seriously...?" He asked. Turn 5 happened and Aris was forced to hold still. Another idea hit Magnus and he rushed forward until he was inches away from her. But instead of slashing at her he slammed the hilt of the scythe into the ground. "Error 890!" He yelled. The flames erupted in a cylinder around him as the attack came into effect. Aris was just within the radius of the flames and immediately caught fire. She was forced to hold still for one more second before Turn 5 was over. 'Waaaah!!!" She cried, waving her arms in the air and jumping backwards out of the fire. There was a brief explosion of resonance force as Aris used her wavelengths to push the flames off her body.

"I come back and I'm on fire! What's up with that!??" She exclaimed. Magnus stared at her through the flames. "You need to hold still longer," he told her. "Not while I'm on fire! Yeesh!" Aris replied, scratching the back of her head. "That's asking way way too much!" Magnus shook his head in annoyance before looking down at Kiki in the reflection of the blade. "Let's try that again in turn 6," he told her. He looked up to see Aris holding her katana up in the air. "Shimmer!" She yelled. All of a sudden her entire body began to shimmer and blur like a mirage. Her exact position became unclear as she seemed to be in several places in the general area at once, leaving double and triple images behind. Turn 6 activated and Aris's multiple images all stopped in place, though they were still blurred and shimmering.

Magnus rushed forward towards the images, reaching them just in time to slam the scythe into the ground, calling out Error 890 again. Fire erupted through the images and they all began to burn. Four seconds passed and the images began to move again, but this time they didn't seem affected by the fire. Instead, Aris stepped through it and faded back into one solid image again. "I told you that I won't stand still for fire," she explained as if she were simply reminding him what day it was. Magnus didn't have time to reply as she slammed her fist into his stomach again. But this time she quickly delivered a strong kick straight up into his chin, knocking him straight into the air. He didn't have time to reorient before Aris was above him. She slammed her boot straight down onto his back again, sending him down towards the ground at an even faster pace. Before he could even hit the ground she was there waiting for him again. She did a full roundhouse kick to the side of his head, sending him spinning away and landing on his side. He was still for a moment before he slowly put one hand out in front of him, pushing himself to his knees.

Magnus coughed up a mouthful of blood and he grimaced as it spread across the ground in front of him. He was bleeding hard from his nose and mouth. He looked over to see Aris walking towards him. Almost turn 7. She had executed all those moves in less than 5 seconds. "Shimmer!" She yelled, holding her blade up in the air, her entire body began to shimmer and ripple, creating multiple images like last time. "Any other ideas?" He asked as he got to his feet as quickly as possible, the tone of his voice making it obvious that he was in pain. But he couldn't give up now. He had to throw everything - and more importantly, Kiki had to throw everything - they had at Aris. He couldn't let himself lose until then, or this wouldn't work. Kiki would probably chalk it up to a fluke, or at worst, blame him.

Magnus thought for a moment. Turn 7 came. "I'm great," he told her with slight sarcasm in his voice. "We'll try all three. It's worth a shot." Turn 7 ended and Aris faded back into one figure. "We can't wait until turn 8 or she'll just use Shimmer again." The time-slowing error was working against them now. She was able to keep herself untouchable....at least from fire....until the turn faded. Aris began walking towards them. "Don't stop now!" She encouraged. "Don't worry," Magnus replied. Aris launched herself forward suddenly, intending to slash at him before Turn 8 activated. Magnus brought Kiki around, acting like he was going to slash at Aris but stopped at the last second. "Error 564!" he yelled. The electrical wires shot out and Aris was going too fast to stop quickly.

The wires wrapped around her and at the same time Magnus kicked out at her hand, knocking her katana to the ground. Of course Aris began to struggle but the wires squeezed tighter. "Error 232!"The wires began to shock Aris as Magnus pulled back slightly. "Error 316!" Magnus yelled again. The wings shot out of the scythe and Magnus pointed the gun barrels towards Aris. He pulled the trigger [metaphorically or literally speaking, whichever] and the bullets exploded from the tip of the scythe, peppering Aris with shots. By this time Turn 8 activated. Magnus stopped the bullets and before the smoke could even clear he stepped forward and slammed the scythe into the ground. "Error 890!" He yelled. Fire erupted around him yet again and Aris was caught in the flames. Turn 8 ended. At first nothing happened, then suddenly the wires slackened. Magnus pulled the wires back, realizing they were empty. He stared at them in confusion. "How did she-" Aris stepped through the flames behind him and slammed her open palm into the small of his back. Magnus flew forwards, the force of the hit causing the flames to fade. He landed on the ground with a grunt. He struggled to get up as Turn 9 began but collapsed again. Aris was standing still. Her clothing was torn and tattered. Long thin tears extending around her arms showed where the electrical wires had burnt through. Magnus slowly got to his knees. Turn 9 ended. Aris walked to him from behind and kicked him hard in the back, causing him to slam into the ground face-first. Aris walked around to his side and kicked him again, flipping him over onto his back. Magnus let out a gasp of pain and tried to get up, but Aris lifted her boot and slammed it straight down into Magnus's stomach. Magnus tried to cry out but he had no breath left. She lifted up her leg and slammed it down again. And again. She lifted her leg up for a fourth blow but then Turn 10 began. Still, Magnus didn't move.

Magnus slowly rolled over at Turn 10 ended, looking up at Kiki. "Kiki, she's going to.....beat you to a pulp..." he told her, not caring if she got mad at him about his comment. He was worried; she was in serious danger on her own. But Magnus couldn't deny that he was essentially out of the fight. He slowly sat up as Kiki conversed with Aris. "Yes!" Replied Aris with a friendly nod. "I would like that a lot!" She paused for a moment. "I think.... Yes! Yes I would! Just don't do it when I'm frozen or I won't be able to see it." Aris took a deep breath. "Okay show me I'm totally ready!" She said, giving Kiki a grin.

Magnus was in the middle of getting to his feet when the 11th turn hit. Aris stood stock still as the bullets hit her and the wires wrapped around her. Once turn 11 ended, Aris snapped back to reality, frowning at the wires she found wrapped around her. "I told you not to freeze time. I wanted to see it," she said. She looked up at Kiki. "Shimmer!" She yelled. Her multiple images blurred and the wires fell loosely from them as she stepped through them before it faded. Magnus managed to turn himself around to face the battle. I see... he thought. Her shimmer ability gives her a second or so to step through an attack....but when she does it just before time freezes, the ability freezes in place too, keeping her from harm until time returns to normal. ....She's smarter than she acts... Aris didn't seem too bothered by the shots Kiki fired though they seemed to have caused minor damage. Aris moved her head to the side, cracking her neck. "You shouldn't be so mean and deceitful to people or else they won't like you and you'll be sad," she informed Kiki. She noticed the white outline around Kiki and gave another frowned. "I didn't even see how that happened," she said disappointedly. Aris stepped forward and in a flash she was gone, reappearing by her katana. She reappeared by the katana and bent down, picking it up. She dashed forward again, aiming her katana to run Kiki straight through. She froze again inches before piercing through Kiki. It was turn 12.

Aris blinked as the 12th turn ended, only to be hit by the first missile. She leaned backwards slightly from the blast but that was it. As the second and third missile came, Aris stepped forward. In two quick slashes they were both cut cleanly in half, the two halves shooting beyond her before exploding. She aimed to cut the fourth missile but it exploded into smaller missiles before she could hit it. They exploded everywhere and several hit Aris. She seemed to brush off the explosions but they obscured the fifth missile. However, when it hit, it simply bounced off her head with a slight *thud*, falling to the ground. Aris looked down at it. "I think your missile's broken," she told Kiki before looking back up at her. Kiki's comment about her shimmer ability was met with a small laugh. "I know right!?" She replied. "People always get angry when I use it a lot and sometimes they yell at me with mean words! It's so funny!" She tapped her chin and looked up as she heard Kiki's last sentence. "Well...since you apologized and can't control it, I guess I can forgive you." She quickly raised her sword in the air as soon as she was done speaking. "Shimmer!" She yelled. She immediately began to blur and shift again as turn 13 hit. While the 4 seconds went by she was effectively invincible. Turn 13 faded and by this time Magnus had slowly gotten to his feet.

Aris was still facing Kiki. "You don't care?" She asked her skeptically. Aris raised her hand to cover her left eye, leaving her right eye exposed and staring straight into Kiki's. Hey eye began to glow a brighter pink. Suddenly Kiki would be frozen in place, unable to move. If she were able to see herself, she would see that her eyes were glowing the same color as Aris's. Images of the death of Kiki's mother, Ene, and Kiki's recent fight with her flashed in front of Kiki's eyes. After a moment the effect faded. "You do too! You are SUCH a liar!" Aris told her teasingly. Behind her, Magnus began to glow with a barely noticeable green aura. Before Turn 14 could take effect, Aris rushed forward, ramming her blade straight into Kiki. Though strangely, the blade didn't go into her. In fact, it didn't even pierce her skin. Or hurt. It stopped completely and Kiki would only be able to feel a slight pressure from the tip of the blade. Aris's eyes widened slightly in surprise, indicating that this hadn't been the intended effect. "Huh...?" Aris said. "Kiki! She's wide open! Get her now!" Magnus yelled.

Aris felt the wires wrap around her and took the bullets to the face followed by the punch. Kiki was certainly dealing a lot of damage. In fact, most normal opponents would have been laid out by now, but as Kiki's punch landed, Aris wasn't knocked backwards. Undaunted, Aris pushed back, slamming first one fist and then the other into Kiki's face. Once again, although the punches landed they didn't do any damage or cause any pain. In a flash Aris ducked under Kiki and spun around behind her with amazing speed, kicking her straight in the back of the head. For a third time there was no damage or pain.

Aris jumped backwards and out of range. She was bruised and burned all over and her clothing was torn but she was clearly not anywhere close to defeated. "Alright! Yeah we can totally be friends! What's your name though I think we're supposed to know that as friends!" She nodded at Kiki's question about the past. "Well it's more like, I saw what you felt and stuff and why you felt like that. It was really sad. Here, since we're friends I'll take a look again!" She covered her eye again and once again she froze Kiki in place. Though strangely, this time Kiki wouldn't see anything this time. "What's this? This isn't you! It's that guy over there!" She frowned slightly as the effect faded and Kiki would be able to move again. Magnus gave a small smile but kept silent. Aris looked over at him. "Are you protecting her or something? Well still you shouldn't be so embarrassed about where you come from! Trust me Kiki has a lot more to be upset about. Your parents don't love you though, sorry!" Magnus's smile turned to a look of anger. "SHUT UP!" He yelled. "You don't know anything!" Aris shook her head and then shrugged, still smiling. "No no, I know everything! Come on, you know it's true!" No sooner had Aris finished speaking than time froze again. Turn 15 had started.

As turn 15 ended Aris cried out again, finding herself on fire for perhaps the third time. "AHHH!!!" She yelled, flailing her arms as the fire burned her. As she waved her arms, the wires tightened around her and she began to get electrocuted. "owowowwoowwww Shimmer shimmer shimmer!" She faded out of the fire and electricity, reappearing before Kiki with tears in her eyes. "That hurt!!" She yelled at Kiki as if she were a small child explaining something that she didn't think Kiki understood. Magnus let out a breath and fell to his knees. "We made a promise, remember?" He called out to Kiki. "We'd never let each other bow to someone else!" They'd done more damage to her then he expected. Kiki's motor clock was very effective and they'd come up with several strategies that had seemed to work at least a little. Honestly he was surprised they had held on this long. Kiki was stronger than he had given her credit for.

As Magnus was thinking these thoughts he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Suddenly a wound appeared in his stomach, mirroring the one Kiki would have received if she had been run through by Aris's sword. His head jerked left and right as he took the damage of the two punches that Kiki hadn't been affected by. Then the kick to the head sent him sliding across the ground. Aris looked over at Magnus. "Ohhh! I get why I saw his feelings! He was storing up all the effects of my attacks for you! What a nice guy!" She looked back at Kiki. "Well this is really fun I have to tell you except for the part of being on fire and you need to work on not freezing people all the time or at least controlling it but whatever. I'm glad we're friends!" She waved her sword in front of Kiki like a toy again. "But you're running low on power I can tell!" She rushed forward, throwing a punch directly at Kiki's stomach, forcing a lot of power into it to send her flowing backwards if it hit.