“I think we should go out and look for him.” You said, raising your voice to be heard over the thunderous storm that was raging around the building you were in.

“What do you mean? Are ya out of your mind? He’s probably lurking out there somewhere under the rubble, and I’m not one to like walking head-first into traps like that.” Sora shot back, irritated.

“I think that… the rain is actually hurting him. Or at least it’s making things harder for it to come out and reach us. It’s made of something liquid, so it’s no surprise this violent storm is hindering its movements.” You tried to focus on your hearing, but the constant rumbling in the sky made it difficult to concentrate. Thy thunders far away almost resembled cannon fire.

Sora spat to the side. “You have a point. I saw some smoke coming from that weird jello-thing. Fair enough. I love that stupid idea of yours.” Sora said, her mood shifting suddenly to one of joy. Such an erratic behavior of the girl. She moved to step out of the building, but you stopped her.

“Just one more thing. My semblance isn’t working that well right now. The strong winds and the rain make it incredibly hard to control. On top of that, my hearing is impaired, loud noises and al that. I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you out there as well as before if something happens. Please, take care?” You had to warn Sora about your current condition. It seemed both you and your enemy struggled against the harsh storm. Sora would likely have to take the lead this time.

“Are ya seriously chickening out? Alright, suit yourself princess. Let me take care of this one.” Sora stepped out of the building into the rain, the ground scattered with trash and shards of broken concrete.

“…I never said I wasn’t coming out.” You couldn’t let her taunt go unanswered. Was that a smirk on her face?

The cold sting from the downpour spread across your body, soaking you almost instantly. The deafening noise surrounding you from all sides dulled your hearing, leaving you with a vague feeling of being overwhelmed. You had relied too much on your enhanced hearing as of late; perhaps this was the perfect way to force you out of your comfort zone.

If only your enemy wasn’t a ruthless and violent psychopath, you might actually feel a bit more at ease with this training.

A forceful crash sounded to your left. Instinctively, you raised your sabers to block whatever it was. Luckily for you, it was just Sora, slamming the ground with her spinning chains to clear away the rubble. Pieces of wet trash and rotten meat scattered in all directions. You had to turn aside to avoid the fallout of such a distasteful maneuver.

“Is it really necessary to do that?” You called out as you approached Sora. She didn’t bother looking at you (Likely, she hadn’t heard). She just kept clearing the ground, a dome taking shape above her as her spinning chains deflected the rain partially.

(1/?)

Black liquid oozed towards her from some fragments of the rubble she had just destroyed. They moved quickly, but they lacked the strength to breach the defense Sora had with her spinning weapons. The liquid bounced off, cut apart into tiny pieces that scattered onto the ground, blending into the dirty swamp of trash on the concrete floor.

Something attacked you from behind. You knew, because your light-green Aura flared as it was damaged. You moved with the direction of the strike on instinct, using your Semblance to lighten your weight and propel yourself into a leap. As you turned around midair you saw small tendrils of shadows writhing right where you had just stood. The blow wasn’t particularly strong, but the fact that you had no way to safely predict the attacks made them a dangerous threat.

“Get yourself together, birdie, or I’m taking all the glory for this win!” Sora’s dome vanished as she extended both her chains towards the tendrils that just attacked you. They disappeared beneath some rocks, sizzling and moving as if they were snakes. But then, the daggers at the end of Sora’s chains erupted with a fiery explosion.

You had to cover yourself again with your arms, dazzled both by the strong sound of the explosion and the brightness of it. You managed to catch a glimpse of the shadowy snakes disintegrating, most likely due to their proximity from the blast.

You felt an adrenaline surge as you jumped towards your right side. You felt the graze of something that was trying to stab you from behind. More tendrils that tried to ambush you. This guy was a coward. He would never attack you fairly. You didn’t think of that in a demeaning manner (Maybe a tiny bit), but more as a strategic observation. He was only attacking you from your blind spots. This made them easier to predict, however it still felt quite unsettling.

Another dreadful sensation came from your left. You slashed in that direction, severing four tendrils just as they lunged towards you. The top-half of them still managed to touch your aura, igniting it faintly. The remaining parts retreated and hid into the ground again, pushed down by the rain as they lacked strength to stay up.

(2/?)

You wanted to jump into the air, use your arrows and attack from a distance. It felt far safer, but the rain would just push you down if you made yourself lighter. And if you made yourself heavier? Dodging with the same grace as before would become almost impossible. You were stuck, unable to damage the enemy as your slashes barely did anything to it.

Sora, on the other hand, was having quite a lot of fun, blasting away with constant explosions of fire by slamming her chains with now far heavier movements as she destroyed everything around her. Every now and them she managed to uncover some hiding place of the liquid darkness, obliterating it violently.

If you kept dodging and attacking in this manner then it would be just a matter of time before the enemy landed a hit on you again. You had to change something. And you had some ideas…

>Focus on using your Semblance to make the black liquid heavier. This would slow its movements, and it would help Sora indirectly, but it would also leave you open to attacks and unable to retaliate for a while. It would also drain your Aura more quickly.
>Scream to Sora to toss some dust vials. Maybe fire, or electricity or anything that might work. You weren’t particularly experienced with dust, but now was as good a time as any to learn.
> Maybe stalling was the right move. In the long run you would win this fight by clearing all the rubble. Help in this task by using your sabers and arrows to destroy hiding spots, forcing the liquid to retaliate.
>Other (Write-in)

>>6150935
>>Scream to Sora to toss some dust vials. Maybe fire, or electricity or anything that might work. You weren’t particularly experienced with dust, but now was as good a time as any to learn.

>>6150935
>Scream to Sora to toss some dust vials. Maybe fire, or electricity or anything that might work. You weren’t particularly experienced with dust, but now was as good a time as any to learn.

>>6150935
>Focus on using your Semblance to make the black liquid heavier. This would slow its movements, and it would help Sora indirectly, but it would also leave you open to attacks and unable to retaliate for a while. It would also drain your Aura more quickly.
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