“Did you see him? Noah! Did you?!”
“What are you talking about?”
“That really big guy~ he was dressed in a costume, too!”
“Oh goodie, your soul mate. Did you at least call the Oceania unit to cover for us for a while?”
“What? -Oh, yeah… Sure.”
Sighing, Noah shook his head. He was absolutely sure she didn’t. And he wasn’t absolutely sure why he trusted her with that sort of task, knowing she wouldn’t have had it done. Living with an idiot for several years takes its toll, he supposed. As they walked through the back doors and out into the beautiful sunshine, he asked, “So what’s with the bunny suit?”
“Oh my- are you serious? I TOLD you before! I’m dressed in Haruko’s bunny suit from FLCL. It‘s why I dyed my hair this shade of pink, you know.”
“..Right. Hey. Look. It’s your soul mate. And.. It looks like they’re our first opponents.”
“Wha-” As soon as Hitomi turned her head, her eyes immediately softened, and it seemed she couldn’t help but fall into a dreamy trance. That hot bod, the long, gorgeous hair, the mustache and goatee, and it was all conveniently packed in a bright, vibrant pink-and-yellow leotard- complete with reindeer antlers. All she could say was, “..Wow.”
Without hesitation, Noah immediately prepared himself by materializing his violin and readied the bow right above the heartstrings. Hitomi, on the other hand, had no focus whatsoever. Without a thought, her feet began to move her self forward and her fingers waved themselves at her target, simply armed with a bright grin and flirtatious eyes. She did her best to work the bunny ears and legs to compliment her seductive, “Why, hello there.”
Noah pressed his palm against his forehead with disbelief, “Hitomi, are you seriou-”
“Why, hello there yourself. Your costume‘s quite impressive! Did you make it yourself?”
The musician looked up, noticing their obvious and immediate infatuation with each other. The little couple even took up hands and began to walk themselves away and underneath a tree, chattering all along the way. We’re in a tournament. And Hitomi has a date. God. Why? He turned to face the other two- a ghost and an older gentleman. Still cautious, he asked, “I’m assuming.. He’s your main offensive?” Studying their stances, he knew they didn’t want to take any chances, either.
The older gentleman spoke up, “Well, yes. More or less.”
And now the ghost, “But I recommend that you do not underestimate us.”
For a brief moment, it was simply a stare-down. Neither of them wanted to make the first move. But, as calmly as he could, Noah suggested, “Well, as he is to you, she is to me. And.. Since they’re on a date. Would you like to take up a temporary truce for the while?” And, to muster up his credibility, he allowed the violin and bow to disintegrate and return to their places in his heart. Thankfully, his opponents seemed to have relaxed as well.
Carefully, Noah took a step forward and stretched out his right hand, “Alright. My name is Noah Korinma. And my partner over there is Hitomi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
The elderly one nodded and took up Noah’s hand, shaking it quite delicately, “Yes- well, I’m Dr. Donavon J. Morstend, and this is my dear friend, Florence. Over there is my son, Michael.”
“I see,” Noah offered his hand to the ghostly figure and, after a short pause of uncertainty, she solidified her hand to give his a small shake. As soon as they made physical contact, she took this moment to search through his mind. It made him a bit uncomfortable at first, catching him off guard and all, but he was familiar with these sort of intrusions and genuinely had not much to hide. So, with a small smile, he gave no trouble or resistance to the telepathic entry. In return, she smiled back. He then attempted to strike up a conversation to break up this strange and uncomfortable silence, “So, a doctor you say? As in medical? Dental?”
“I’m actually an inventor, you see.”
“Oh, we don’t have too many of those nowadays. What do you invent?”
Nodding, the old man responded with an intonation of childlike excitement, “Yes, well, I’m currently working on the proof of ghosts’ existence!”
“How.. Unique and exciting,” Noah smiled, but he couldn’t help but think it was a rather strange goal. Most inventors try to make contraptions or find some sort of way to improve the quality of peoples’ lives, but he couldn’t see that common goal with this. Quite selfish, in his opinion.
“Yes! Yes! Exciting indeed! I believe I’m on the brink of completing it! But, you see, I’m in need of sponsors. And I’m hoping to attract quite a few with this tournament.”
“I see. And are you just helping out with Dr. Morstend, Miss Florence?”
“Well, yes. But… I also have a goal of my own in mind.”
“And what is that, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“…Well.. Since it wouldn’t be likely to encounter each other again outside of this tournament, I suppose I can tell you.”
With curiosity alighting, Noah’s eyes brightened and his ears perked up.
“As you can see, I’m of a spiritual shell- a mere shadow of what I once was when I had a body of flesh. And to become a ghost, one’s soul must be relinquished by a sort of death. But, I do not know how my soul was freed. And I wish to find out.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry.”
“Yes, well, what do YOU plan to achieve?”
“Saving the world, really.”
“Oh I see. Very common sort of goal amongst tournaments like these.”
Noah nodded in agreement. And a somewhat still silence followed up on their conversation.
And, as a close brother, awkwardness also crept up behind the silence to surround the three persons in discomfort. No one seemed to have any sort of offering to save the conversation.
But, seconds later, they all, and maybe a few spectators from within the Manor, could hear Hitomi’s outrageous outburst, “ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! YOU KNOW WHAT! IT’S OVER!!!”
“FINE!!” came an equally outrageous response from Michael.
“FINE!!!”
“FIIIIINEEE!!!”
And here came Hitomi and Michael stomping along on their return, obviously infuriated with each other. Noah turned to the less angry pair and smiled, nodding, “I guess that‘s our cue then.”
The older gentleman grinned back, “Yes, well, good luck with saving the world.”
“And good luck to your inventions, Dr. Morstend, and finding out your past, Miss Florence.”
She simply nodded.
As soon as Noah took a few steps back, Hitomi immediately began to vent, “Oh my GOD! I can’t believe I just had a date with that guy! Ugh! You know what?! Whatever! I just wanna kill him now!”
He was saddened a bit that they may have to execute such a polite and curious group, depending on how persistent they would be. It’s been a long while since he’s killed other than for the sake of rescuing humanity from the insanity of demons, so he hoped they wouldn‘t be too persevered, “Alright. Let’s go then.”
The musician summoned up his instrument once more and started off with a pleasant chord. As the tune began to deepen into a melodic world of demonic manipulation, Hitomi’s body changed accordingly. She even gave off a sort of roar to help ease out a bit of her excitement.
A rather immense rock was suddenly seen from the sky, descending itself at their location. She easily knocked it off to the side with her massive hands, but she didn’t see that it was a mere distraction, for, a second later, she saw Michael’s fist ready to make fleshy contact. Noah quickly switched a chord and a ghostly shell appeared around Hitomi only long enough to fend off his punch. The little demonic spirit returned to the safety of her chest cavity quickly thereafter.
Hitomi, you have to be careful.
Yeah, yeah.
She started a quick sprint to follow up on Michael’s rebound off of the ground, readying her own fist. As soon as she threw it, Michael countered with a parry and quick kick at her thoracic cage. Although, because it was quick, the kick didn’t have much of a force behind it and she took the opportunity to fasten her arm around his ankle and fling him across the yard and into a tree. Another large boulder flew across the air and actually landed itself across Hitomi’s gut, knocking her over. She quickly got back up, only to find herself quite surprised that the large piece of earth derived from the elderly efforts. Grinning and wiping off a drop of blood from her lip, she made sure not to underestimate either one.
Throughout all this, Noah was worried. Where was Florence? Then, he heard a quick hissing sound before changing yet another quick chord to shield himself with one of Hitomi’s demonic spirits. He quickly turned around to find her floating above him with another set of knives in her hands, ready to be thrown. He saw that the first set was what made the hissing sound before it was left lifeless on the ground.
“There can’t be music, without a musician,” Florence whispered before throwing her stars once more.
At first, Noah didn’t worry, assuming they’d simply become deflected, but then he realized that she’s made them transparent for a brief second, only enough to pass through his shell, and solidified them once more to implant themselves. He tried his best to roll out of the way, but two of them were much too rapid to avoid and stuck themselves into his right shoulder. Bleeding, he knew he couldn’t stop playing. Or else they’d both be done.
Hitomi! I need help over here!
Well I’M a little busy, too, Noah! I’m dealing with two heavy hitters here!
Okay, then we’ll have to-
Go for it.
While Florence dove down and attempted to melee Noah, knowing his hands were full, he did his best to duck and dodge from her punches and kicks. As soon as she tried to throw a haymaker, he gave her a good head butt to give himself some time. Frick. No one wins in a head butt. And his head ached severely for a quick moment before he assembled a shamisen from his violin and bow. As soon as he plucked the first note, Hitomi shrieked in pain, for her genetics began to take on a more demanding transformation. A large tail grew from the base of her spine and her teeth extended itself to an enormous length. Her irises became a deep and threatening red color while her sclera takes up the lifeless color of black, and pointed, bare fox-like ears pulled themselves out from her skull and her skin becomes much thicker and rougher than before. Grinning, bits of saliva dripped from her lips as she spoke with many different pitches, deriving from the varying demons inside her, “Let’s rock.”
Planting her feet into the ground, Hitomi waited for Michael and Donavon to make the first move. She watched their faces, a bit surprised that they were unfazed by her transformation, but they were only as determined as she was to win, and none of them could afford to waste any chances.
Quickly, Donavon lifted Michael and actually flung his own son at Hitomi. Much to her surprise, he was coming at an alarming speed and she almost couldn’t get her arm up in time to defend his powerful blow. But, as a follow-through, she drove a punch at him. It made contact, but he quickly pinned down her hand, enabling immobility. As soon as her mind computed that it was a trap, she felt a sharp pain across her cheek as Donavon landed a solid kick. She immediately fell to the ground, blood spurting from her mouth and nose. Taking advantage of this brief vulnerability of a very short mini-victory, she gave a quick flip of herself and pressed them both down to the ground with her thick tail. Instinctively, her lips drew back to reveal her very beastly teeth. She could feel the heavy thirst of homicide coursing through her veins.
Hitomi, keep them alive.
Bu-but.. I-they.. They want me to-
Hitomi, focus. You have control. You can do it without killing them.
R-Right.
She knew how important they were to him. Not these particular individuals exactly, but humans in general. She wouldn’t be able to face him if she were to defy the one thing he loved to save. Breaking his heart wasn’t worth the satisfying feeling of murder. So she grit her teeth and placed as much weight as she could on her tail, attempting to at least force them to lose conciousness. They wriggled as she pressed harder, even holding her own breath to use up all she had to keep them still. C’mon now. Pass ouuuut already!! And as soon as they did slip into unconciousness, she, too, fell to the ground. She didn’t have much lung capacity to hold her breath for so long.
Noah made a quick glance to see how Hitomi was progressing, but he was a bit surprised to see her lying on the ground next to her opponents. Frick. If Hitomi’s down, then I-..Oh shii- Yet another set of glass knives was pelted in his direction. And due to his lack of athleticism, his endurance was very short-lived. He was already exhausted and couldn’t even attempt to duck. Instead, he could only utilize his shamisen as the only sort of defense he had enough energy to lift. As the blades pierced through, he could feel the excruciating lacerations in his heart, although there was no actual physical damage. Okay. That was a bad idea. The only idea he had left was to run, and, with the little energy he had left, off to running he did.
Hitomi has always done the fighting. He only sat back and supported her all these years. But what could he do now, without her? The only thing he had over her brawn was his brains. Okay. She’s a ghost. I can’t touch her, but she can touch me. I have no control or can’t affect that at all. But either way she’s still a competitor, so… That’s it!
Noah could feel the knives whizzing by his ears, but his feet kept going, almost fearlessly and tirelessly. Almost there. Making a quick turn of the heels, he darts to the left and, as calmly as he could, hides himself behind a tree. He was careful enough to only step on the roots. And now, he waited.
Seconds later, he could feel a sudden chill rupturing from his chest, and soon found himself staring at Florence in the eye as she pulled the rest of her body from within his, “It’s over-”
“This round has been concluded!”
Florence turned her head and searched for the source of the quite authoritative voice. And there it was: a large television screen displaying a smiling Miss Lydia. The ghost couldn’t help but question her, “What do mean? I’m still eligible to fight, and-”
“Yes, but I’m sorry to say that you’ve been disqualified. You’ve crossed the boundaries, I’m afraid.”
With a heavy feeling in her transparent stomach, Florence looked up and saw the trees with the blue sparks, and that she was amongst them. The one Noah stood upon barely sat itself inside the borderlines, and he couldn‘t help but smile, quite weakly though. Even the leaves seemed to be rather cheery to take part in the result of this round.
Sighing with a tired smile, Florence nodded with an equally fatigued, “Well, you’ve won,” before turning her back to see her friends.
“Wait- Miss Florence!”
Curious, she stopped and turned to face him once more, “Yes?”
“I-.. I’ll find out. What happened to you. It’s sad to say everyone dies, but everyone has the right to know how they‘ve died. Right?”
There was a short pause before she responded, “..Will you really? I mean, we’ve only met, and-”
“I promise. I’ll contact you as soon as I can. Alright?”
Her face brightened up and her soft voice complimented the light in her eyes, “Alright.”
---
Groaning, Hitomi sat up in her bed and rubbed her head, “Ugh. My head’s killing me.” She saw Noah attempting to tape up his shoulder himself and couldn’t help but giggle at his failure. Slowly creeping up next to him, she offered, “Lemme help, you ding dong.”
“Heh. Thanks.”
“So.. Did we win?”
“Barely.”
“Really?! Holy frick! That’s awesome! What happened?!”
“I’ll tell you tomorrow. I’m too beat right now.”
“Can’t believe we’re actually doing something like this! It’s really exciting you know?”
And then came a short silence before Noah finally asked, “So.. What did he do?”
“What?”
“Michael. What did he do that made you so angry?”
“Oh. He said that Bleach was better than One Piece. So I got mad at him.”
“…. You’re a moron.”
“Okay! All better!” Hitomi grinned, rubbing at her stomach, “Now make me a sandwich, woman!”
“Ugh.” |
Submission Name: MM Round 1: Vs. The Mortends
