Post by The Ronin on Sept 24, 2021 6:37:39 GMT
"Huh, guess I hit a nerve." Rika said dryly, shrugging as a couple of the thugs stepped forward at their leader's prompting. She did always appreciate it when people reacted exactly how she expected them to. Of course, by not doing the job himself the guy was really just helping to prove her point, but she wasn't expecting a lot of critical thought from this one. Still, they expected to "teach her a lesson" with just two? Either these guys were pretty confident in themselves, or it was just another example of people underestimating her. Well, if it was the latter they'd realize their mistake soon enough.
Rika took a long sip through her straw as she watched the boys approach, her eyes sharpening as she scanned over them. Short black hair, six feet tall, dark tan skin, medium build. Medium blonde hair, 5 foot eight, sharp jaw, fair complexion, lanky frame. Nothing particularly surprising at first glance, just your standard fair street toughs. As he stepped forward, the taller boy flexed his arms and all of the hair on them straightened and elongated, taking on a slight sheen that suggested something metallic. At the same time, his partner spat out a mass of gum that proceeded to morph into a vaguely human shape and start moving on its own. The display, which she was sure was supposed to intimidate her somehow, really just proved to her that these kids weren't all that smart. They threw away any element of surprise that their quirks could have given them for effectively nothing, meanwhile they would still only have the vaguest hints of what she was capable of.
Taking a step backwards, the girl calmly finished her drink and set the cup on a half-built wall before truly turning to face the pair of thugs. Within her sleeve her fingers had found a length of thread, part of a simple knot that held a knife between two folds of fabric. She pulled slightly, loosening the thread but stopping short of tearing it out. The knife was too short to be particularly effective against the human pin-cushion in a straight fight, and unlike her opponents she had no intention of playing all her cards up front. Instead she simply put up her fists and slipped into a common fighting stance just as the boys drew close. To their credit, the lackeys immediately backed off slightly, hanging a few steps outside of her reach. Evidently these two did know something about fighting. That meant she wouldn't just be brute-forcing her way through this one after all.
After a moment's hesitation, needles decided to start forward again and Rika began circling slowly to the side. The trick to fighting multiple enemies at once was to keep them in front of you as much as possible, that would put them in each others' way and keep them from flanking you. Of course, even fighting one on one she didn't particularly feel like taking on the dark-haired boy in close quarters. She'd prefer to find something to extend her reach a bit.... luckily they just happened to be in the middle of a construction site, so there were certainly resources on hand. It was just a matter of finding the right tool for the job.
Evidently growing tired of the standoff, the boy suddenly sprang forward with jab. Rika wasted no time flipping her internal switch, energy flooding back into her body as the dullness faded from her eyes. She darted to the side, avoiding the first blow and then dropping into a roll to get clear of the second. As she went down, one hand shot out to snatch a empty cement bucket from the floor nearby and immediately swung upward, catching the boy's arm as he went for a third strike. Several of his spines pierced the plastic as it made contact with the limb, but the force was enough to make him recoil regardless. While the boy stumbled back with the bucket stuck to his arm, Rika made for a toolbag that rested beside the closest wall and plucked a hammer from the top of it. Staying low, she charged the boy while he was still trying to pry the bucket off his arm. As she was about to swing her newly acquired weapon though, a shape suddenly shot out from her side. A strange pink substance hit the side of the hammer's head, the end of a long appendage of sorts that stuck to the metal with tenacity. Rika had just enough time to trace it back to its source, the tiny gum man that the second boy had created, before the creature tugged back with a surprising amount of force, forcing the girl to let the tool go, lest she get pulled completely off balance.
With her weapon stolen away so quickly, Rika once again found herself on the defensive as the construct threw out its other arm toward her in the form of a long whip. She dodged to the side of the strike, but the appendage quickly recovered and snapped out again, forcing her to retreat out of the diminutive creature's range. As the whip retracted, she took the moment to appraise the thing. It's reach was rather impressive, but it didn't seem to be particularly mobile on its own, stubby legs struggling to move as it continued to drag around the hammer it had stolen. Her instincts told her to take it and its master down first, but at she turned to face the blonde, a familiar bucket came sailing toward her. With little effort she pivoted out of the way and turned to see needles approaching again. Apparently the little distraction had been all he needed to free himself from the meddlesome plastic.
The kid didn't show any signs of hesitation when he approached this time, eager to engage the girl before she managed to secure herself another weapon. Rika slipped to the side of his opening punch without much trouble, but as she backpedaled he maintained his assault and managed to keep her from slipping out of reach. What's more, she couldn't help but notice that he was actually trying to herd her back toward the low wall where they started, back where she'd be within the gum golem's range again. Sure enough, when the boy forced her to take another step to the side, she saw a familiar strand of pink lash out from her flank. A quick dash to the side got her clear of the whip, but needles struck at the same time and forced her to twist herself awkwardly, avoiding a direct hit but still taking a glancing blow on her left shoulder in the process. Rika offered the limb little more than a quick glance, noting the torn fabric and shallow red cut before returning her attention to the foe in front of her. Perhaps she had been the one that had underestimated them after all, they were certainly far more coordinated than she had been expecting from a couple of random street thugs. Perhaps it was time to kick things up a notch or two.
Grinning with the satisfaction of finally landing a hit, needles came in with another straight punch aimed right for Rika's head. Presumably he was hoping to maintain his perceived momentum, but as the girl stared him down a blue light flooded into her irises, and her body seemed to blur out of the way. Unprepared for the sudden burst of speed, Needles couldn't recover in time and Rika slipped in close to bury her fist into his stomach. The boy stumbled back from the blow and Rika chased after, dancing around another flurry from the gum whip before managing to shift to the side and put Needles directly in the gum-boy's way. Attempting to keep up the pressure, she moved in close again and gave a hard kick to his shin. With a grunt the boy went down on one knee and he moved a hand back to catch himself from the fall, finally opening up his defenses. Rika moved in for the kill, the light in her eyes bleeding to purple as she poured energy into her muscles, but as she prepared to deliver the blow she felt something hit her wrist and tug back on her arm forcefully.
Gritting her teeth, the girl glanced back to see a strand of pink attached to her jacket's sleeve; a gum whip tracing back to the blonde haired kid. She'd been so focused on his creation that she hadn't noticed him form himself a weapon and creep over to her flank. Rika cursed under her breath at herself for not paying better attention. It was a stupid mistake that could have easily cost her dearly, but there was no use dwelling on it right now. With her enhanced strength Rika could have easily won a tug of war match with the boy, but with his friend already climbing back to his feet there was no time for such a contest. Her hand retreated up into the bound sleeve, and Rika's fingers quickly found the handle of the knife that was still hidden there. With a forceful twist she broke the blade free of its bounds and went to work on the fabric itself. The sharp edge made quick work of the sleeve and it tore away at the elbow, cloth streaming away along with the whip just as Needles returned to the fray. Even with her speed Rika barely brought her blade around in time to block a heavy uppercut from the boy. Sparks filled the air as metal met metal and she was once again forced to back away as her foe prepared another strike.
It was at that moment however, when everything seemed to stop. A single word cutting through the air and drawing the attention of everyone in the construction yard.
Ronin.
Rika barely stopped herself from freezing in place, her grip on her knife tightening as the word registered in her ears. She turned to look over her shoulder at Kyou, leveling a glare at him. Yet again he showed that he knew more than he should, and yet again the possibilities of his true identity narrowed. There were only a small number of people in the gang that she had actually interacted with at length, it had to be one of them. Part of her wondered just what she'd done to reveal herself, but she didn't give it a voice, instead giving a rather annoyed click of her tongue as she turned back toward her opponents. "Fine, I'll stop fooling around." She said cooly, deciding to play the part for the time being.
With a flourish of her knife, Rika's entire body ignited. Blue-purple flames erupted from her core and danced across her skin as she opened up the floodgates and let the energy run wild. Movements quickening even more than before, she wasted no time in taking advantage of her foes' surprise. In an instant she hurled her knife at Needles. The dark haired boy instinctively raised his arms to cover his face and he successfully deflected the knife up into the air, but Rika was already moving. While he was busy guarding his upper body, she burst forth at full speed and dropped into a slide, sweeping out his legs as she passed beneath him and came out in a roll on the other side. Already anticipating a response from his allies, she tore off what remained of her jacket as she flipped back to her feet and tossed it toward the gum golem. As expected the creature had tried to attack the second she was close enough and its whip met the discarded cloth mid-flight before retracting again. If the hammer was any indication, it seemed to have trouble letting go after it managed to grab something, and so the jacket would basically end up pinning it in place.
Reasonably confident that she had one less problem to deal with, Rika spun about and plucked her knife from the air as it came back down. She had originally been planning on finding something with more range to fight with, but at this point she figured she would just have to make due. That wasn't to say she couldn't make use of her surroundings though. Recovering from his minor bout of shock, the blonde collected himself and struck out with his whip again. At this speed he really didn't have much of a chance, but Rika waited until the last second before dodging anyway. She skid to a stop not far away and waited until he lashed out a second time, again not moving until he had fully committed to the attack. The idea was to make him think he was getting close, that way he'd keep trying. After a third dodge she stopped beside a pile of concrete bags and waited for the strike. As he swung his weapon, Rika took a deep breath and hit one of the bags as hard as she could. A cloud exploded out from the impact, filing the air with a fine dust that eagerly stuck to the gum whip as it passed by. No longer quite as sticky or elastic as it was before, the girl reached out and seized the weapon before it could retract and gave it a hard tug. The blonde stumbled forward with the force of the pull and Rika was already on top of him as he started to fall. She grabbed his arm as he teetered at the edge of his balance and pulled it back at a harsh angle while planting her heel against his back. The boy hit the ground with a cry of pain as Rika shifted her weight and the shoulder dislocated with a dull pop. That was one of them fully down for the count; as tough as they tried to act she doubted most of them could deal well with pain like that. Several paces away Needles had gotten back up, but he suddenly seemed rather hesitant to keep fighting on his own, instead looking to the others around him for support.
Whether or not any of them decided to oblige him, Rika guessed, would be dependent on just how well she'd managed to intimidate the lot of them. Just in case though, she decided to press the issue; leaning forward to put her knife against the blonde kid's neck as she shot a cold glare at the group's leader. "We done here? Or do you want to keep trying to teach me a lesson?"
Rika took a long sip through her straw as she watched the boys approach, her eyes sharpening as she scanned over them. Short black hair, six feet tall, dark tan skin, medium build. Medium blonde hair, 5 foot eight, sharp jaw, fair complexion, lanky frame. Nothing particularly surprising at first glance, just your standard fair street toughs. As he stepped forward, the taller boy flexed his arms and all of the hair on them straightened and elongated, taking on a slight sheen that suggested something metallic. At the same time, his partner spat out a mass of gum that proceeded to morph into a vaguely human shape and start moving on its own. The display, which she was sure was supposed to intimidate her somehow, really just proved to her that these kids weren't all that smart. They threw away any element of surprise that their quirks could have given them for effectively nothing, meanwhile they would still only have the vaguest hints of what she was capable of.
Taking a step backwards, the girl calmly finished her drink and set the cup on a half-built wall before truly turning to face the pair of thugs. Within her sleeve her fingers had found a length of thread, part of a simple knot that held a knife between two folds of fabric. She pulled slightly, loosening the thread but stopping short of tearing it out. The knife was too short to be particularly effective against the human pin-cushion in a straight fight, and unlike her opponents she had no intention of playing all her cards up front. Instead she simply put up her fists and slipped into a common fighting stance just as the boys drew close. To their credit, the lackeys immediately backed off slightly, hanging a few steps outside of her reach. Evidently these two did know something about fighting. That meant she wouldn't just be brute-forcing her way through this one after all.
After a moment's hesitation, needles decided to start forward again and Rika began circling slowly to the side. The trick to fighting multiple enemies at once was to keep them in front of you as much as possible, that would put them in each others' way and keep them from flanking you. Of course, even fighting one on one she didn't particularly feel like taking on the dark-haired boy in close quarters. She'd prefer to find something to extend her reach a bit.... luckily they just happened to be in the middle of a construction site, so there were certainly resources on hand. It was just a matter of finding the right tool for the job.
Evidently growing tired of the standoff, the boy suddenly sprang forward with jab. Rika wasted no time flipping her internal switch, energy flooding back into her body as the dullness faded from her eyes. She darted to the side, avoiding the first blow and then dropping into a roll to get clear of the second. As she went down, one hand shot out to snatch a empty cement bucket from the floor nearby and immediately swung upward, catching the boy's arm as he went for a third strike. Several of his spines pierced the plastic as it made contact with the limb, but the force was enough to make him recoil regardless. While the boy stumbled back with the bucket stuck to his arm, Rika made for a toolbag that rested beside the closest wall and plucked a hammer from the top of it. Staying low, she charged the boy while he was still trying to pry the bucket off his arm. As she was about to swing her newly acquired weapon though, a shape suddenly shot out from her side. A strange pink substance hit the side of the hammer's head, the end of a long appendage of sorts that stuck to the metal with tenacity. Rika had just enough time to trace it back to its source, the tiny gum man that the second boy had created, before the creature tugged back with a surprising amount of force, forcing the girl to let the tool go, lest she get pulled completely off balance.
With her weapon stolen away so quickly, Rika once again found herself on the defensive as the construct threw out its other arm toward her in the form of a long whip. She dodged to the side of the strike, but the appendage quickly recovered and snapped out again, forcing her to retreat out of the diminutive creature's range. As the whip retracted, she took the moment to appraise the thing. It's reach was rather impressive, but it didn't seem to be particularly mobile on its own, stubby legs struggling to move as it continued to drag around the hammer it had stolen. Her instincts told her to take it and its master down first, but at she turned to face the blonde, a familiar bucket came sailing toward her. With little effort she pivoted out of the way and turned to see needles approaching again. Apparently the little distraction had been all he needed to free himself from the meddlesome plastic.
The kid didn't show any signs of hesitation when he approached this time, eager to engage the girl before she managed to secure herself another weapon. Rika slipped to the side of his opening punch without much trouble, but as she backpedaled he maintained his assault and managed to keep her from slipping out of reach. What's more, she couldn't help but notice that he was actually trying to herd her back toward the low wall where they started, back where she'd be within the gum golem's range again. Sure enough, when the boy forced her to take another step to the side, she saw a familiar strand of pink lash out from her flank. A quick dash to the side got her clear of the whip, but needles struck at the same time and forced her to twist herself awkwardly, avoiding a direct hit but still taking a glancing blow on her left shoulder in the process. Rika offered the limb little more than a quick glance, noting the torn fabric and shallow red cut before returning her attention to the foe in front of her. Perhaps she had been the one that had underestimated them after all, they were certainly far more coordinated than she had been expecting from a couple of random street thugs. Perhaps it was time to kick things up a notch or two.
Grinning with the satisfaction of finally landing a hit, needles came in with another straight punch aimed right for Rika's head. Presumably he was hoping to maintain his perceived momentum, but as the girl stared him down a blue light flooded into her irises, and her body seemed to blur out of the way. Unprepared for the sudden burst of speed, Needles couldn't recover in time and Rika slipped in close to bury her fist into his stomach. The boy stumbled back from the blow and Rika chased after, dancing around another flurry from the gum whip before managing to shift to the side and put Needles directly in the gum-boy's way. Attempting to keep up the pressure, she moved in close again and gave a hard kick to his shin. With a grunt the boy went down on one knee and he moved a hand back to catch himself from the fall, finally opening up his defenses. Rika moved in for the kill, the light in her eyes bleeding to purple as she poured energy into her muscles, but as she prepared to deliver the blow she felt something hit her wrist and tug back on her arm forcefully.
Gritting her teeth, the girl glanced back to see a strand of pink attached to her jacket's sleeve; a gum whip tracing back to the blonde haired kid. She'd been so focused on his creation that she hadn't noticed him form himself a weapon and creep over to her flank. Rika cursed under her breath at herself for not paying better attention. It was a stupid mistake that could have easily cost her dearly, but there was no use dwelling on it right now. With her enhanced strength Rika could have easily won a tug of war match with the boy, but with his friend already climbing back to his feet there was no time for such a contest. Her hand retreated up into the bound sleeve, and Rika's fingers quickly found the handle of the knife that was still hidden there. With a forceful twist she broke the blade free of its bounds and went to work on the fabric itself. The sharp edge made quick work of the sleeve and it tore away at the elbow, cloth streaming away along with the whip just as Needles returned to the fray. Even with her speed Rika barely brought her blade around in time to block a heavy uppercut from the boy. Sparks filled the air as metal met metal and she was once again forced to back away as her foe prepared another strike.
It was at that moment however, when everything seemed to stop. A single word cutting through the air and drawing the attention of everyone in the construction yard.
Ronin.
Rika barely stopped herself from freezing in place, her grip on her knife tightening as the word registered in her ears. She turned to look over her shoulder at Kyou, leveling a glare at him. Yet again he showed that he knew more than he should, and yet again the possibilities of his true identity narrowed. There were only a small number of people in the gang that she had actually interacted with at length, it had to be one of them. Part of her wondered just what she'd done to reveal herself, but she didn't give it a voice, instead giving a rather annoyed click of her tongue as she turned back toward her opponents. "Fine, I'll stop fooling around." She said cooly, deciding to play the part for the time being.
With a flourish of her knife, Rika's entire body ignited. Blue-purple flames erupted from her core and danced across her skin as she opened up the floodgates and let the energy run wild. Movements quickening even more than before, she wasted no time in taking advantage of her foes' surprise. In an instant she hurled her knife at Needles. The dark haired boy instinctively raised his arms to cover his face and he successfully deflected the knife up into the air, but Rika was already moving. While he was busy guarding his upper body, she burst forth at full speed and dropped into a slide, sweeping out his legs as she passed beneath him and came out in a roll on the other side. Already anticipating a response from his allies, she tore off what remained of her jacket as she flipped back to her feet and tossed it toward the gum golem. As expected the creature had tried to attack the second she was close enough and its whip met the discarded cloth mid-flight before retracting again. If the hammer was any indication, it seemed to have trouble letting go after it managed to grab something, and so the jacket would basically end up pinning it in place.
Reasonably confident that she had one less problem to deal with, Rika spun about and plucked her knife from the air as it came back down. She had originally been planning on finding something with more range to fight with, but at this point she figured she would just have to make due. That wasn't to say she couldn't make use of her surroundings though. Recovering from his minor bout of shock, the blonde collected himself and struck out with his whip again. At this speed he really didn't have much of a chance, but Rika waited until the last second before dodging anyway. She skid to a stop not far away and waited until he lashed out a second time, again not moving until he had fully committed to the attack. The idea was to make him think he was getting close, that way he'd keep trying. After a third dodge she stopped beside a pile of concrete bags and waited for the strike. As he swung his weapon, Rika took a deep breath and hit one of the bags as hard as she could. A cloud exploded out from the impact, filing the air with a fine dust that eagerly stuck to the gum whip as it passed by. No longer quite as sticky or elastic as it was before, the girl reached out and seized the weapon before it could retract and gave it a hard tug. The blonde stumbled forward with the force of the pull and Rika was already on top of him as he started to fall. She grabbed his arm as he teetered at the edge of his balance and pulled it back at a harsh angle while planting her heel against his back. The boy hit the ground with a cry of pain as Rika shifted her weight and the shoulder dislocated with a dull pop. That was one of them fully down for the count; as tough as they tried to act she doubted most of them could deal well with pain like that. Several paces away Needles had gotten back up, but he suddenly seemed rather hesitant to keep fighting on his own, instead looking to the others around him for support.
Whether or not any of them decided to oblige him, Rika guessed, would be dependent on just how well she'd managed to intimidate the lot of them. Just in case though, she decided to press the issue; leaning forward to put her knife against the blonde kid's neck as she shot a cold glare at the group's leader. "We done here? Or do you want to keep trying to teach me a lesson?"
