Sakura Level 8: 69/80 Karin Level 4: 16/40 Location: Metro
Word Count: 1,928
Points Gained: 3
New EXP Balance---
Sakura Level 8: 72/80 Karin Level 4: 19/40 (pending)
Sakura and Karin, having bought their
new outfits and chatted for a while, walked excitedly towards the next part of their mission. Karin had purchased a practical yet comfortable adventurer's outfit, sporting a sleeveless waterproof black and blue top over a tank top, and sturdy looking trousers tucked into boots. Her hair, however, still flowed gracefully over her shoulders in carefully maintained coils. For once Sakura was not in her school uniform but a form-fitting tracksuit and track pants combo. They were both white, but the tracksuit had red running up the sides of her body. Karin looked more prepared, but Sakura looked much more mature and prepared. Which Karin argued was the primary point of the new outfit- it would make people take Sakura more seriously. She even had new blue fighting gloves and a pair of durable looking red shoes.
(Writer’s note: Sakura still has her old, shorter haircut, not the slightly longer haircut in the picture. Ok thanks bye)
”All right, Karin.. Here we go. First mission for you. You need to make a good impression.” Sakura said.
”I believe they need to make a good impression on me, Miss Sakura.” Karin said, adjusting her studded fighting gloves.
”Were they fortunate enough to have me from the beginning, there’s no doubt that I would be running the entire operation. I’m just making up for lost time, now.” ”...Nah.” ”’Nah’?” ”Yeah, nah.” Sakura said with a shrug.
”What-” ”I just don’t think so.” Sakura explained.
”And we’ll never know because it didn’t happen that way. So, you’re right, I guess you don’t need to make a good impression. I’m just saying- it’s good to have you.” ”Well-” ”Becaaause you’re my friend. I’ve made new friends but you’re one of my old friends.” ”...Naturally I-” ”I mean not my oldest friend. That’s Kei. She’s my oldest and best friend. She puts up with me the same way I put up with you!” ”What-?” At THAT moment, an ominous message played over the entire intercom system. Karin and Sakura both turned around to face where they had just came from. A bead of sweat ran down Sakura’s head and Karin’s gaze hardened.
”One million p-per head?” Sakura asked as the eyes of the Metro began to fall on the Seekers.
”ONLY one million?! That’s insultingly low!” Karin exclaimed. She took a fighting stance.
”I’ll not be run out of town by a mob of unambitious, low-minded bounty hunters.” Sakura, though, was with the others. She grabbed Sakura’s shoulders. Even the blonde’s face fell slightly when she saw just how many cats were coming their way.
”It’s not worth it, Karin- we’re leaving anyway! Let’s just go!” She tugged at her friend.
Karin growled but relented, turning to flee.
”Fine! But it is for their good, not mine. We’ve no interest in killing civilians, no matter how foolish or reckless they are.” Karin said.
”And I don’t wanna get my ass kicked by a bunch of cats! My pride can’t take it!” Sakura yelled over the din, a nervous smile on her face. As the two ran towards the trains, it became clear that Sakura was the more proficient in the two of them at freerunning. Sakura vaulted quickly over a fence while Karin cleared it gracefully by ten feet. In fact, running in generally didn’t really befit a woman of her stature. She looked and felt out of place, especially compared to Sakura, who avoided a small group of would-be cat-captors by hopping onto a wall and then pushing down off of it, smoothly transitioning into a roll and then back into her sprint. Karin faced them head on, using her dash to push through the small squads ranks as they tried to stop their momentum to catch Sakura.
Frustrated, Karin glanced down at the grappling hook attached to her wrist. She and Sakura had practiced it with only a little in their free time. Flying gracefully through the air- that more befit a noble like herself. She prepared to try it, and attached it to the top of a nearby food stand. Immediately the top of the stand was ripped off and towards Karin, who side stepped as she ran, surprised. Out of the top of the stand came several Metro cats- and one cat girl named
Cliffheart who was using the place as her hiding spot. Karin pretended this was on purpose.
“Come on! Let’s show ‘em what we can do!” She cheered. Between her hands she held a threaded black rope attached to a sturdy looking hook. It had two ends, one for grabbing, the other for slashing. Sakura went to blow past Cliffheart, but the enemy catgirl whirled her hook over her head and flung it. Even with her midsection now covered, the layer of fabric did nothing to prevent the pain or the familiar feeling. Sakura was yanked back and pulled into a small swarm of metro cats who descended upon her with street weapons.
Karin immediately felt bad and went to interfere, aiming to give Cliffheart a taste of her own medicine by hooking her towards herself. As she did, a massive figure that ought to have been lumbering dropped from the ceiling and interceded. Her hook collided with him instead, and the unwitting heiress was pulled towards her six foot four foe. Once there he treated her perfect face with a clothesline. Karin grunted and span, detaching her hook and landing on her back, rolling to her feet. Where she looked upon the imposing feline named
Mountain. Unphased, Karin took her stance, turning her body perpendicular to his, crossing her back arm in front of her chest and her front arm back down across her midsection. As much as she is interested in battle, there would be no time for a full on duel- she simply had to give Sakura and herself enough time to escape.
Mountain wasn’t impressed. “I’ve met plenty of people who claim to practice martial arts. They’re all just weaklings putting up a front.”
”You stole the words right out of my mouth, sir.” Karin said, narrowing her eyes and dashing forward.
Meanwhile, a crowbar swiped across Sakura’s face, and she had enough. Blocking a knife, she turned with the swing and swept out her legs in a circle, batting the entire squadron away.
”Okay!” She said, exasperated. Just in time to get pulled towards Cliffheart once again, who promptly tossed Sakura hard into the stand, knocking it onto its side with a deep thud that knocked nearby cats off balance. Sakura lay on her back and opened one eye, looking up at Cliffheart.
“Nice to meet you!”
“Pleased to meet you…” They both said at the same time, though one had a lot more exuberance in her tone than the other. Still, it was clear they might be somewhat cut from the same cloth.
Cliffheart when to stomp on Sakura’s face, but the street fighter rolled out of the way as the concrete broke in slightly where she stomped. Sakura dashed in and began firing off a series of light jabs and kicks. Cliffheart was forced into retreat, backing up and using her rope to deflect punches and moving her legs out of the way of the kicks. Sakura overextended and Cliffheart expertly wrapped her wrists together.
Sakura prepared herself for a smooth counter attack involving a kick, but instead, panic seized her heart. For a moment, she could have sworn she was back on the Maw, hands tied above her head, preparing to be made into stew. She stood there, dumbfounded, as a hard metal clamp swiped across her face, once, twice, three times. Sakura yelled and fell backwards as the rope lost its tension, releasing her. Shaken by her vulnerability, she tossed an oncoming cat away and scrambled back to her feet as blood ran from her cheek.
”K-Karin!” She shouted, voice unusually uncertain.
”Trade!” Karin was on more equal footing with her opponent. He blocked her first series of attacks and returned fire with his own. Karin leaped over his head and kicked him in the back of the skull. He turned and span his fist around, but she dropped under it, supporting her body with one hand as thrust both her feet into his leg, sweeping him off his feet.
“Hmph!” The Mountain noted, back rolling as she approached once again. Hearing her friend call out for a trade, Karin raised an eyebrow. She kicked out at the Mountain but he blocked it, and after a brief exchange of blows he caught her off guard with brutally fast Left Hook to the head. Karin’s head snapped to the side. He caught her shoulder and plunged his fist into her belly.
”Oof!” Her eyes nearly bulged. The next fist came in, but she put a stop to it with her palm and thrust her elbow into his chest with a V-Reversal, causing him to fly backwards onto the ground.
He was up and at her again in moments, but his feline face was crushed into by the steel-like surface of her palm. “Grr!”
”Ressen Ha!” She moved over him and went to attack Cliffheart from behind. Then things truly turned into a brawl. Karin seized Cliffheart by the wrist and flipped the cat girl over her shoulder, sending her spinning towards Mountain, landing on his back as he got to his feet. Sakura leapt a solid twenty feet and brought her fists down like hammers onto Cliffhearts sternum, flattening both her and Mountain onto the ground.
She rolled to a stop and dove out of the way of some cats, who were afraid of getting too close to this whirlwind fight, giving her opponents the chance to get up.
Cliffheart threw her hook again, but Sakura was ready this time. She blew it out of the way with a fireball that hit into both of them, causing them to slide backwards. Riled up, she flung a few more, forcing them into cover. Cliffheart hid inside a nearby building while the Mountain ducked around the corner.
”Hadoken!”Karin finally got to use her grappling hook. The Mountain turned and burst one of Sakura’s fireballs with his fists, preparing to engage. That was when Karin’s hook attached to him and the food stand was pulled toward him at high speed. “Coward!” He yelled as he crossed his arms in front himself, getting flung backwards.
“Hey!” Cliffheart yelled, offended on behalf of her friend. She ran out of cover and got beaned by a precise fireball. “Gah!” She was knocked onto her back and rolled back inside.
”Ditch 'em!” Sakura shouted, knowing neither feline was anywhere close to being defeated. But she knew they could be outran. Karin cast a brief, hesitant look at Mountain before nodding.
”If they wanted a fair fight, they should have challenged us fair and square. Quickly!” The two turned and ran away to the Black Line.
The gate was in their way, and many Seekers were engaged in disparate battles. But Sakura and Karin had tailed enemies on their own hypothetical tails. Still, the flow of metro cats and din of battle meant that as long as they took a few turns, they had left the pair of felines in the dust. As they got closer to the Black Line gate, they confirmed that their pursuers weren’t making trouble for any of their friends as best they could. They also spent some time knocking away some Metro Cats before the big wave could arrive.
Karin wrapped one arm around Sakura and fired her grappling hook up towards the ceiling near the gate. Once there, Sakura smashed open the window and the two descended, successfully making it to the Black Line.
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