Destiny Colosseum ~ Training Rooms

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa kept the Whiplashes coming, relentless, but steady. She wasn't trying to knock Celeste out, just to provoke more from him...

"I ain't gonna quit 'til ya show me what you're capable of! Prove yerself t'me!"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

As the fight went on, Brisa seemed to be catching on to him. The patterns of light fluctuated, forcing him to readjust his own reactions. Eventually, one of the Whiplashes scored a grazing blow on his flank. He couldn't keep doing this, he needed to adapt. He felt a sort of contempt towards his inability to evade. His shadows fed on that feeling, and he channeled them into words.

"Huh. I'd been expecting you to give me more... trouble. Are you going easy on me? You don't have to go so slowly, I can keep up."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa gnashed her teeth hard enough to make sparks. "As if I'd go easy on you. Come at me, motherfucker!"

She put real effort into her next Electric Facade, but somehow, she could only land a goddamn grazing hit on the fucker. He'd messed with her aim!

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Brisa channeled more raw speed and power into that attack than she seemed to have been doing before. However, the pattern he saw it predicted to move in didn't shift as he began his dodge. He felt a tingling sensation, and smelled some singed fur, but it didn't make a proper connection.

"There. I think that was it. I felt something as I said that, and now you're fighting differently. It felt a bit like using Taunt."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Good fuckin' gods you're hard to hit."

Brisa came to a halt and breathed hard, focusing away her blacklight. "That's one hell of a move. If you can land it on the godlike bastards we fight, I have a feelin' it'll come in useful. Sky and stars, Celeste, what a workout."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste laughed. "There's a reason melees between two absol tend to end in stalemates. We're hard to hit indeed."

"And..." It was hard to show gratitude through the Shadows... "Thanks."

Please don't ask about radiance...

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Hey, no problem, partner. Just eager to get everyone at their best fer our toughest throwdown yet."

Come to think of it, Brisa had no idea what Celeste's improved radiant move was. Had he even used one?

"You figured out yer Shining move yet?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste grimaced. He was hoping figuring out another application for his shadows would be enough. "Err, no. I... haven't tried."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Is now a good time?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste cast his gaze away. "I don't know. Vision had been mostly... instinctual. I can't imagine what another application of it would do. Or what it would do to me."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"What, you're worried about explodin'? Or . . . what it'll reveal about ya?"

Most folks were more worried about their shadows than their radiance. Then again, if you had a lot of inhibition that got stripped away by radiance it would be like being drunk... Brisa thought back to her first experience, of clapping her paws on Curio, challenging her to a sparring match, and promptly exploding. Ugh. Still, there was no use letting worry hold you back. Radiance had turned the tide in countless fights by now, they had a responsibility to master its power.

"Y'don't gotta be worried about it. I'm here. There's no better time than now to reach fer the radiance. Find yer shine."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Well, I just don't like how it makes me feel. It plugs up my head, makes it hard to think straight. It takes willpower just to force myself to speak. It makes me feel... poorly."

He recalled that Brisa had spoken of feelings of ferality herself before, but he hoped that description was vague enough that it wouldn't clue her into his.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

'Poorly', huh? Maybe Celeste's reservedness was a cover that'd get stripped away by radiance. Maybe he just felt uncomfortable without clarity of mind. After all, shadows brought out a . . . harsh side of him, from time to time. If he went blacklight, perhaps he'd veer even wilder?

"If it doesn't agree with ya then . . . I guess that's that. But lemme know if y'change yer mind, y'hear? Anyway, it was good to see you, Celeste. I've . . . missed ya."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste sighed in relief. "It was good to see you, too. Don't expect me to take you up on that offer, though. I... don't like Radiance at all. I'll take shadows over it any day."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Yeah, it was definitely the right play not to push him too hard right now. That was okay. He had a good umbral move, and he'd reach for his shine when it counted, when there was real need. If he really didn't like radiance at all, he probably wouldn't like alcohol either, but . . . it was worth a try.

"I take it y'ain't much of a drinker either? If it's the inhibition that's gettin' to ya. ...Just thinkin' about spendin' time t'gether once this fight's through."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"I've never had much, but I wouldn't mind a bit of a drink."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Well, wasn't that a pleasant surprise? Brisa smiled at her friend, certain that she'd make good on their mutual scarcity in due time. Just as soon as things were less hectic. Once they beat Joule.

"Well, it'd be my pleasure to share one with ya when we're done with our pal Joule up there. Maybe two!"

Brisa gave Celeste a light thump on his shoulder as she left, on her way to her next order of business...

<><><><><>​

 

[Adamhuarts]

Shortly after parting ways with Icetales, Cynthian strolled her way back to one of the training rooms. Watching the outcome of that last battle in the colosseum, oh how brilliant Brisa, Owen and Starr had looked. If only she could be like them.

Cynthian grit her teeth and called upon the faux sunny orb above her. She was weak, she'd always been weak. More than anything, she would continue to be weak. Knowing that frustrated Cynthian.

With an angered yell, she swung her flower and shot a noxious sludge at one of the dummies. It sizzled and melted, revealing its foamy interior.

No, she shouldn't be overcome with emotion like that. Elegance and grace, those were the virtues Mama Rosa symbolized. Cynthian needed to emulate that, or else she'd never amount to anything.

"How do they all do it?" she muttered to herself.

 

[Namohysip]

Knock knock.

The door slid open, revealing Wishkeeper holding Owen. Brisa and Starr were probably recovering somewhere else, or off doing their own thing, but Owen had been quite fatigued from the fight, and was still riding off that battle high. There was a slight smile on his face, even though some of his scales looked bent and bruised and cut.

"Oh, I thought you were here," Owen said, being carried in Wishkeeper's arms. "Perceived you through the wall... um... Hi, Cynthian." He couldn't quite move, but Wishkeeper nodded at Cynthian. "...Something seems different about you. Did I miss something?"

 

[Adamhuarts]

By the time Owen arrived, the room had been filled with a strong fragrance of peppermint mixed with lemons. Cynthian herself stood in the middle of three dummies with purplish goop covering them, and one more with faint scorch marks.

Cynthian swerved her face over her shoulder to look at him. She forced a smile and waved a flower half-heartedly.

"Shouldn't you be heading to the infirmary? I doubt you came here cuz you're lost," Cynthian asked, avoiding Owen's question. She wasn't about to admit she was angry and anxious about her state of being.