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Liuye Dao’s titanium armor had taken on a slight red glow from all the heat of the Flamethrower as he lay on his back in the dirt, steam rising from his body. He could still hear and see, but just barely. He muscles wouldn’t move. The leaf that Chen Zhen had given him before had no say over his exhaustion anymore. He was surprised that he was still conscious. What…what are they saying over there?

Chen Zhen felt as little nauseous at the sight of all of Topper’s blood. He liked a pokemon battle as much as the next guy, but this? This was overkill. Part of him wanted to go to the Watchog’s side to give him one of his leaves and at least ease the pain, and the other part of him knew that was stupid. [Did it…have to come to this?]

Salieri turned around to see where Bill was walking to, and now saw that her Pawniard was down for the count. Without a second thought, she held up his pokeball and returned him to it, leaving Chen Zhen out a fair distance away.

“You guessed it, smart guy. They’re male. And for every good man there’s an even better lady behind them.” She stretched out her legs, massaging the muscles as she did so. There was no pain now thanks to Chen Zhen’s medical assistance. She didn’t know how Bill was getting through the burns. Willpower? Her Pansage got up to walk over to Bill, but Salieri held out a hand. Chen Zhen stopped immediately. This was something she wanted to deal with herself.

“Now, let me tell you something about this sixteen year old girl. This sixteen year old girl has fought tougher men than you in her lifetime. She’s taken her fair share of lumps and she’s dished them out too.”

Her stretching stopped and her eyes narrowed at Bill. “Now, you’ve gone and picked a fight with the wrong person. You interrupted my training with my buddy before, and that is something I can never forgive. My dad used to tell me that I wasn’t allowed to fight anymore, but I’ve never really let that rule sink in. I can tell you're not the brightest, so I'll put that in layman's terms for you. It means I can and will kick your a** hard enough that you puke out my shoe.”

Chen Zhen winced. He knew she had a flair for dramatic speeches, but couldn't she deliver them in a more...sophisticated manner? The mental image was pretty gross.

She pointed to Bill with one hand on her hip in a defiant pose. “You are just another tiny hurdle on my way to becoming the greatest. Don’t let your pride tell you you’re better than me, because all that bullshit that you spew makes you a frail excuse for a soldier. That lame get-up means you’re supposed to be a knight, right? Then let me ask you something.”

Salieri made a wide gesture to the entirety of the Dreamyard. “People come here to realize their true dreams. So what kind of knight doesn’t know what he’s fighting for?”

So that was it? She wasn’t trying to make him turn a new leaf, but she at least wanted to try to understand why he was such an a**. It seemed like she never would, and for a second she almost felt sorry for him.

Almost. He was a sexist assaulter who had essentially tried to kill her and her pokemon. Like she had said before, there was no forgiveness to dole out now. For the sake of honor, she had really wished that the two of them were fully healed so they could fight on even terms. But they weren’t, and Salieri felt there was no honor to be gained from this fight anymore, win or lose.

Didn’t stop her from wanting to beat him up, though.

She shrugged. “Okay then.”

And then she darted at Bill. Like her monkey, she was incredibly quick, and closed the distance shortly. With the way the sun was hitting her, it was like a trail of gold emanated from her amber eyes while she ran. She leaped and extended a leg in a jumping kick to Bill’s shoulder, where there had been armor before. Sal rationalized that the areas of his body that were previously armored were the most burned, making them his current weak points. Even if he was working through the pain now, if she struck at these spots long enough the damage would accumulate. With a grunt, she thrust her leg forward. Enough of this, I’ll change those burns to the highest degree!

Bill dodged, and it wasn't a bad move either. But Salieri was no one trick pony. As Bill spun around, so did she, and her jump kick turned into a helicopter kick as her second leg kicked away Bill's arm without missing a beat. To anybody else looking at her spinning body flow through the air, it was almost as if she had a technique to fly.

She landed on the ground facing Bill due to the spin, and rose up with an arm twisting uppercut resembling a Hitmonchan's boxing technique to the man's chest where there had previously been armor. Salieri assumed there would be a burn there as well, making it an excellent spot to target if she wanted to wind and wound her opponent. I can't lose to you...

~~~~
“Father, please.” The bald black belt was on his knees, his head bowed down to the wooden ground of the dojo. “You must reconsider the rules, for her sake.”

“I am sorry, Koichi,” replied an old man from across the room, kneeling on a pillow on a slightly elevated step. He resembled his son, but unlike Koichi he still had a head full of white, messy hair. “This tradition has run through our family for generations. No matter the circumstances, she will never become the heir.”

“You don’t understand!” Koichi yelled to his father. “Mozart wants nothing to do with this gym and it’s leadership, and she is a prodigy! She gets along with the dojo’s pokemon, she tutors my advanced students. And above all else, she trains so hard every day, like nobody else I’ve ever seen. And you’re denying her talent because she’s a girl? This dojo is her life. Without out, she’ll feel like she’s nothing-“

“Nothing?” boomed the elder’s voice. Koichi quieted himself. “Do you remember when we first found them on the doorstep to this dojo, my son? The boy too traumatized to remember who he was, and the girl too young to remember anything of her previous life. They were abandoned, cast away like trash on the streets. And even after we’ve taken them in and given them a home, you say that she’d still feel nothing? How selfish of your daughter, Koichi.”

Koichi clenched his fists as he began to tremble, allowing his father to finish. “Father,” he said, “I don’t want them to resign to the fates handed out to them. Don’t you think they’ve been through enough?”

The old man sighed heavily, and Koichi could sense his regret. “I told you I am sorry. To make her the heir would be to turn our back on this school’s lineage.” His weary eyes wandered away to out the window, where he could see the loyal students of the dojo tending to the garden. “I feel that my era is coming to an end. Soon, I will be gone, and you will be in charge. And after that, the one to lead will be your son. There was never been a female leader here and there never will be. No matter what happens…”

He closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see his son’s reaction. “No matter what happens, Salieri will never become the leader of this school.”

There was a long pause after this was uttered, like a law bestowed by god. Finally, Koichi spoke. “Yes father…I understand.”

Outside of the dojo’s main room, a seven year old Salieri sat against the wall with her knees tucked up to her chest. She was trying to remain as silent as possible so she could hear the whole conversation between her dad and her grandfather. If she wasn’t silent, they’d find her and she would be reprimanded for eavesdropping. So no matter what they said about her, she could not make a noise.

But it was so hard to be silent while the stinging tears wouldn’t stop streaming down her face.

~~~~

Not to a man like you! With her legs embedded into the ground, she growled ferociously as her attack came up like an erupting volcano.

Bill hadn’t made a real attack. It looked like he was getting cocky, although Salieri couldn’t see why. That was good, though. It was a definite advantage to be underestimated by her opponent, especially when she knew what she was capable of.

He’s not taking her seriously. Salieri…don’t let him get to your head, Chen Zhen thought as he sat in a cross legged position watching the fight unfold. Of course he was ready to step in at any time he felt she was in true danger, but this fight was Salieri’s. He knew how much she hated people like Bill.

“Two-” she started as she continued her attack. Following her previous attack, she lowered her punching arm and jumped into the air. It looked like she was about to try another spinning back kick to the upper body of Bill.

Except that once she released the kick, it would go low instead of high. She was going to change all expectations he might have had of the move while aiming the jumping low kick at the Plasma grunt’s shin, where armor had previously been. Sal was working with gravity now. If anything, this kick would be stronger than a high one, and it was targeting another burned limb. All of her rage was focused into the battle, and it only fueled her tactical strength as she attacked.

“I don’t need a husband to tell me how pretty I am!”

At last, Salieri was finally catching onto what Bill was doing as she landed on one leg with her other held high in the air. He was targeting some of the most vulnerable areas of bone breakage in her body with taps. Was he showing off? Did he really not care anymore? Salieri was no stranger to how to kill a person, although the teenager had never even come close to doing so herself. She had learned well from her teachers, but it just didn’t make sense to her as to why Bill wouldn’t fight back.

“….why?” she asked him sternly, her leg still raised in the air. Her attacks were hitting, causing damage. Yet he seemed to actually be enjoying himself despite the situation. Never in her life had Sal fought someone so…sadistic? She wasn’t sure that was the right term. She had no idea had to describe him.

“Why aren’t you taking this seriously? Why won’t you fight me!?” she shrieked. She was so angry, but this question took precedence to another strike.

Chen Zhen looked away, not wanting to see his trainer’s plea. He could sense the pain coming from her voice. She felt taunted, like the complimentary prize that was so close was just being held away from her.

Anger boiled up inside her. Her breathing became heavy and enraged. Everything he had said before, from the moment they had met…it all accumulated into this. So he thought he could win, just like that? Without even needing to prove himself? How arrogant! Salieri felt that she could rip off his head and feel good about herself and could still have sweet dreams.

Salieri, get a hold of yourself. You are not that kind of person. And you don’t want to be that kind of person in front of Chen Zhen.

She breathed deeply, forcing herself to calm down. Her muscles tensed and then relaxed, and her chest rose up and down with the calming process of breathing. “Fine, you win.”

And after she said those words, she rotated her whole body around on one foot for a final spinning back kick, this one to the side of Bill’s temple with her heel as fast as she could. Hard enough to rattle his brain around in his skull and hopefully knock him out. Although with this move being an all out offense, she’d probably “lose” a third time, and she didn’t care. She just wanted him to stop talking. To shut up so just once, his voice didn’t remind her of her grandfather’s decision that was still infesting her brain like a plague.

"“No matter what happens, Salieri will never become the leader of this school.”

Takamaru was indeed knocked to the ground by the spear as was Iron hide by the Arial Ace. but after touching down the Lad wheeled into another impressive and quick barrel roll regaining his balance, Iron Hide mimicked his trainer landing only feet from him.

"i...iron Hide, Water pulse!" stammered the silver haired boy. The Aron complied by letting loosed a powerful barrage of water rings at the opponetnt. giving his trainer enough time to regain him composure long before he could be pinned.

Tk had a gash across his brow that wasnt bleeding too badly, and he was pretty sure at least one of his ribs were cracked but other than that he was pretty able bodied. 'looks like we all got separated..' he thought whilst looking at the 'cave in' like setting. his thoughts immedietly sprang back to the battle both Iron hide AND himself were currently partaking. while both the thought of Spike being injured some where in this underground hell and Lance, who was still in the Munna's hand weighing heavily on his mind.

but before Tk would act again he would wait until the grunt moved first

iron Hide took the attack in full, no attempted dodge, no second thought, he just took it. the reason being, was partly to give Tk time to approche Olesya and partly because be knew he COULD take it. once the attack made contact Iron Hide would skid back a few feet then launch a headbutt attack at point blank range.

meanwhile, Tk approached Olesya before she could stand fully. "why?" was all he had to say to get the point that across that he wanted to know Olesya's reasoning for every thing she's done thus far, his arms placed at his sides showing he himself had no interest in combat. Tk locked his eyes to her's, what she saw wasn't some self proclaimed wanna be hero, nor some suprior battler, but a kid with every thing to loose and nothing to gain if he lost here and now. what he saw, well he wasn't all to sure WHAT he saw, anger, greed, hate, or maybe something else entirely; he knew he wasn't good with people.