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A Hero Tale {Complete}

Mikey's attack struck air, and his body flew up slightly, until he flipped onto his feet and faced Jeff. He rose both his arms and the water around his body began to flow around him like torrential streams, increasing his body size slightly, as if he'd just received a power boost. "Alright, no more fooling around!" Mikey shouted, lowering his left arm. He rose his right hand forwards, palm outwards, and his left arm began forming a bubble around itself that barely allowed any light through. The transparent barrier seemed bouncy, but shared the properties of his battle bubble on a smaller scale. The water around his right hand began to funnel towards the center of his palm like a miniature whirlpool, until it inflated slightly, like it was physically bending with elastic force. Then, a single projectile shot out of it. It seemed different from his usual variant of water bullet. Jeff's perception was barely enough to detect it. The sheer speed at which it ripped through the air created a sharp banging noise, like an actual bullet, and it flew towards Jeff at its top speed. Mikey might have not been too fast himself, but his water was another topic altogether. For what he lacked in raw power and speed, he made up for in flawless technique.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

The middle clone was sliced in half immediately after its shield exploded, clouding Mikey's vision with a thick smokescreen. What happened? Mikey didn't take time to try and think over the possibilities. As soon as the smoke scattered, he dropped his body to the floor, the only possible evasion he could use if Jeff was on his way to attack. With his body flat against the floor, Jeff's wind-sphere struck the side of his armour leaving a small dent and forcing him to roll over. Jeff himself, would miss his slash. Of course, with all the water projectiles still spouting out of Mikey, and Jeff's own wind barrier displacing the smoke, he was able to react accordingly. Mikey clasped his hands together and rose his feet, before dropping his right arm to the ground, and using it to spin and propel himself up into Jeff with a screw-driver spiral kick.

While this happened, a great deal of the water bullets that were still in midair, stopped and redirected themselves above Jeff, combining into a single stream of water that quickly launched itself towards Jeff from above. Of course, as all this happened, Mikey's rain dance slowed down, and came to a stop.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Mikey didn't stop, extending both of his arms into sword-like appendages. He jumped over the middle clone, and slashed at it with a graceful flip, landing behind it regardless of if his attack hit or not, and careful to avoid its barrier while jumping overhead. This clone technique wasn't something easy to flush out. Mikey didn't have any energy reading abilities, and even if he did, trying to pick the real Jeff out of the trio would've been difficult. So the other option? Just hit them all! As he landed, Mikey spun around and slashed in a circular motion, aiming for all three of Jeff's clones, assuming that the first one he attacked was the real deal, so that he could at least read their movements, and possibly double-strike Jeff.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"Blup! Head on? Likely hood of injury is fair. Though Mikey will likely disallow attacks from striking him if he sees them coming!" Blup bleeped. Mikey let himself plummet to the ground and land with a hard thud. He then turned to Jeff and ran directly towards him, still channelling his rain dance, which eventually began to leave behind a thin coat of water all along the arena's floor.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Mikey's smirk tightened and he began running forward, continuously channelling his rain dance technique just in case Jeff lowered his wind barrier. Keep his guard up, Mikey suddenly bounded upwards, off the ground, as if he'd had his bubble boots active. But, without his battle bubble, he didn't stay up there like a balloon. From above, he began launching singular spear-like attacks composed of water with enough force behind them to pop most barriers.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 153 ~

_{Imperfect Sea Sage: You Only Need Two Hits, Jeff!}

Mikey's body flashed, and released a flurry of water bullets in all directions, covering the entire scope of the battlefield with a continuous rapid-fire of projectiles that emerged from every point of his body, while he waited patiently for Jeff to approach.

"Come on!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Mikey smiled and rose both his gauntlets to his face. "I guess I'm not allowed to hold back, otherwise this wouldn't be much of a test!" He shouted, well aware of the disadvantage he was at. The rules were there to encourage a more strategic approach from Jeff's side, it was true, but that was only half of the reason. Without the handicap, Mikey wouldn't have stood much of a chance against Jeff's speed. As talented as he was, his abilities lacked the raw power of the trumps. He had to do his best to emulate the Chaos crew, while allowing them to fight with all their strength. Mikey crossed his arms, following Jeff with his eyes as best he could. "I've always been curious about the sage-mode transformations," Mikey muttered, just loud enough for Jeff to hear, "You and Bruce pull out elemental affinities that make me completely envious. But I paid a visit to the great chasm, and had a chat with Chief Choofa." over the course of a few seconds, both of his gauntlets began to encompass his entire body, moving up his arms, over his shoulders, and down his torso, until every point of his figure was covered in a sheet of glowing liquid, similar to his Arki gauntlets.

"He told me I didn't have nearly as much power in me as you did, Jeff. But what little he could pull up... Well, it might make this a little more fair!"

---

~ End Of Chapter 152 ~

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Mikey immediately launched a slicing wave of liquid towards Jeff with a swing of his right arm and began running across the arena.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"You, and Jenso, seem to need more specific training in regards to your actions during battle. So, I've prepared a personal test for both of you, rather than simply taking your battle results from a 1-on-1 bout. I've already collected a great deal of Data on the both of you. That being said, here are the rules..."

"You will only be allowed to attack me five times during each session. I will have an unlimited amount of attacks, and I will be allowed to do as I please. If I can hit you twice, we will start over. Your goal is to either knock me out of the ring, or hit me twice before a match ends. We'll repeat this until you can consistently defeat me, over the next few hours." Mikey rose his hands and summoned his geyser gauntlets. "Blup will assist you throughout the battle if you need his help. Speak with him freely for advice and active tutoring. I won't be holding back, or helping you at all, though. Rely on Blup, and your own intuition to win."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 152 ~

_{Five Strikes}

Mikey guided Jeff towards the battlefield. "Could you set it to basic? I don't want any environmental advantages on way or the other," Mikey asked, setting himself up on one side of the Arena. "Today's session will be a little strange. I'm going to set a single parameter that you must follow without fail..."