"Hey, Sage!" he howled, blacklight reverberating in his voice. His next words shook the air like a thunderclap. "Great job out there, you're really fast!" As his call filled the stadium, he winked at Sage.
“Fast?” Sage paused and grimaced, glancing quickly in Alice’s direction. “I’m not… I-I mean—hey! Gene!” he barked. Wayward flames danced over his head as he ducked another volley. Just as much fire raged in his eyes as he screeched and pointed a vine in Koa’s direction. “Silence him!”
Gene heard him, but for the most part, he was drowned out. Ugly roars and scrappy blows echoed throughout, sending the arena into uncomfortable disorder. Sage dipped and ducked but struggled to find targets, and when he did, there was only precious seconds to strike. He landed them where he could while his protection remained up. This was dire, he’d already gone down once, he only had so much time! But as more openings were created, he’d time the finale just right and call it a done deal. That was his style, after all. He’d simply wake up again if he had to.
When he rose after his latest onslaught, some of the quietude had returned. Odd. The battle had progressed, but there was still plenty to be fought. No matter. He was on his way to dealing the finishing blow. The only thing standing in his way…
“Hey!” Astrid called, balancing back and forth on her pawpads. “You seem pretty strong! I like the way you fight!”
Sage briefly paused his advance. “What?”
“Watch, I can do it too!”
A cold brick slammed into his nose—ice from the Ninetales, who’d thrown a jab from across the fairway that had bent itself just perfectly to catch his futile attempt to dodge. Curses, that
fucking dog had slowed him, hadn’t he? Sage wiped his face.
“Have it your way,” he roared back, dispatching both vines to whip up a flurry of leaves. They caught Radiant fire, fizzled with Shadow, and moved in rhythm with Sage, who danced across the field to avoid Astrid’s second shot, then third. Her fourth, a Stored Power barrage, grazed his side and threw his approach just off balance enough for Astrid to sidestep, shoving off his body with a forepaw and gaining some air.
Sage whipped around and slashed the space she stood—but she was gone.
No she wasn’t, she was
flying.
“That—that’s complete bullshit!” He looked around and grit his teeth. “Flying? How did you even manage to do that?”
“I don’t know!” Astrid used the opportunity to blast him again, which, at a sudden standstill, he could not hope to avoid.
Doubly furious and with no feet necessary to get under him, Sage didn’t lose a beat, taking the full blast and leaping after its source. Astrid weaved back and forth, but she’d never learned to fly for very long or very far, and eventually, Sage was able to wrap a vine around her leg—
Astrid air-rolled towards him in an split second, using the vine to pull herself in and catch him with a critical blow. He staggered back, lashed out, but she was there to block it this time—another costly mistake punishable by another blast to the face.
Anger brimmed as his nose bled and his eyes watered up from the beating it had taken. Yet all things considered, he was still in great shape to fight.
“Ghh… that all you fucking got, you slippery little…”
Her Radiance flared bright, then a dark sheen snuffed it out by enclosing her entire body. Only her eyes remained, while streaks of color danced over a cosmos background. A background… just like his own.
She can fly, her Unleashed form looks a lot like mine but better… what is life?!
“Oh, no, I have more!” Astrid called, tongue flapping in the wind she was creating around her by fucking existing, he guessed. She was having fun. Fun! Sage would take that fun and hang it on his wall, right next to her pelt.
She was back in the air, but Sage had a new idea. “Feel free to run,” he snarled. “It won’t last.”
Each Energy Ball he sent her way was dodged, except for a precious few she had no choice but to block, until one finally hit by sheer chance—she’d dodged right into it, way ahead of herself. She’d been fighting that way the whole time, and he exposed it as a weakness again when she, after tumbling a bit, raced forward instead of regathering the elevation she’d have needed to keep him cornered.
With a horrible sound, the earth split apart a ways ahead of her sudden, rapid advance. Roots clawed their way to the surface and burst forth, cutting off the space between the two of them. Astrid couldn’t dodge in time; she could only slow her approach, but it was all Sage needed to give all his commands. The roots did as he wanted and grabbed her, and no matter how hard she tried to struggle, they would not let go.
Taking a moment to breathe, he forced her over to him. Only her head was visible, and by the looks of it, she wasn’t trying to move.
“Do you yield?”
He only got confusion in return. “But why?”
“Because I’m gripping your body with vines that could immobilize a Rhyperior? I’m just leaving suggestions on the table.”
Astrid thought about it. “…What about an Electrode?”
“Yeah, whate—wait, what?” Dumfounded, he asked a question that he already knew the answer to. “Wh-why are you glowing?” Then, a more horrifying realization. “Why are you
smiling, that doesn’t make any sense!”
Famous last words. Astrid only smiled wider, sweeter.
“You might want to let me go.”
Sage looked around. The battle was tight, and by now, he’d gotten the memo. This girl was dangerous, and unnerving as hell to boot.
So… he’d do what he fucking had to. He tightened his grip, drawing a sudden pained gasp out of Astrid.
“Do your worst. I’m not letting go.”
Then
he started glowing.
Astrid’s laughter was strained but genuine.
“So you understand, then?”
Sage didn’t ask what she meant. He barely heard, could barely make sense of her craziness when he wasn’t doped up on bomb fuel. He was brimming with Blacklight that threatened to burst his scales into microscopic pieces. He pushed it further, as hard as he could. As
hard as he fucking could, so close to release. And his opponent… she was calm. Loose, even. How did she get so loose?
Sage’s blood turned to ice as a sharp pain sent waves down his body. With a flick of Astrid’s paw, a blast of energy much stronger than what she’d hit him with earlier ruptured the vines in half, leaving them smoking and unresponsive. Sage staggered back, intimately feeling every bit of it. Worse, his Blacklight was churning angrily, like it was recognizing something he couldn’t. And somehow, he knew it was
her doing it.
“Wha… what the fuck …?”
She walked up to him, both still glowing. Nowhere to run.
“You accept what happens next, right?” she asked.
“Y…” he scrunched up his face and straightened up, even though he was on the verge of disintegration.
“Yeah. Fucking obviously.”
“Then you won’t mind if I take some of that power.”
Sage didn’t react… until lurching suddenly, feeling that horrible, violating feeling again. He recognized that taste… it was his
own aura being yanked out of place. Tampered with. What? His bewildered eyes met her eyelids, shut tight. The smirk on her face dismissed any notion that she was remotely nervous.
“You motherfff…”
Astrid’s Blinding Meltdown, Inspired by Sage, dealt 8849 damage to Sage! Blaze of Glory!
Sage’s Staccato Explosion dealt 4013 damage to Astrid! Super Last Word!
