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Word Count: 5,412
EXP: +5
Yayama, Sakura, Captain Falcon, Amaterasu
@DracoLunaris@Chevaleresse@Double
In the end, they’d resolved the situation more or less by just running away. There would be consequences to that, of that the divine wolf was quite certain. Especially because they’d had to actively ditch some of the more persistent belligerents in the process, including the sage’s two machine people.
They’d lost Terry in the process, but hopefully he’d both lost anyone following him, and after that either they or another group would run into him again and be able to explain the situation to him.
Still, they’d pulled off their little escape, and ended up somewhere in the middle tier as a result, in a secluded booth of some sports bar they’d not bothered checking the name of before using it as cover. Given the nature of the town, the only sport being played in this bar was the combat type, with a boxing match between one Balrog and one Lil mac currently being shown on the monitors. One that didn’t really seem fair given the size difference of the two fighters, even if the little slugger was currently giving as good as he got.
Regardless, that wasn’t really why they were here, or what was interesting to the divine wolf right now. Instead it was the diminutive hero who’d helped them out on a whim, a fact which Amaterasu thought gave her a few points towards justifying that title certainly, that had her attention.
Sakura smiled at Yayama, and her response to the nature of being a hero. ”Classic hero stuff. But yeah, I know how you feel. It’s almost embarrassing to think of yourself that way, huh?” She said.
”Adventurer feels more appropriate. But me, I think the perfect word is Seeker. Which is our little group.” She said, and then followed the new adventurer’s eyes off to the distance where Terry had went.
”He’s normally a pretty happy-go-lucky kinda guy.” Sakura mused.
At her mention of Terry, the wolf looked away, embarrassed at how that had turned out. It had been her idea, and her actions, that had freed him, and things had not gone smoothly, she’d admit that much if anyone asked. Not that they would, given she could not answer them with any degree of complexity.
”I’m sure he’s fine.” Falcon interjected at the mention of Terry, trying to offer reassurance. ”He probably just needs some space to clear his head. I imagine he’ll find his way back to Amaterasu and I in time for the KOF to start.” It made sense to the Captain at least. Being flooded with previously absent memories and learning about something as… complicated as Galeem was a lot for anyone to take in.
Sakura nodded and agreement. ”Terry-san’s got a strong, good heart. He reminds me a lot of Ryu-san. The kinda guy who doesn’t really talk about his feelings as much as he…wanders about them. Broods stoically. Like this.” She threw an invisible jacket over her shoulder and strode a few steps away.
“Hard to say in cases like these, but there’s no need to be embarassed. I don’t know what exactly you did back there, but people don’t always respond predictably to big emotional revelations.” Yayama addressed Amaterasu directly, despite responding to Falcon. “Can you talk, by the way? You don’t exactly look or act like an ordinary wolf, and I’ve met auspices before.”
As Yayama talked, Sakura ended up behind her, casual-like. She formed a ‘heart’ looking shape with her fingers, and looked at Falcon and Amaterasu. Then she pointed at the top of Yayama’s head, and made the heart shape again, making a ‘yeah?’ expression with her face. This got a raised eyebrow from the Captain, followed by a small nod of agreement.
The wolf put her paws up on the table, hauled herself up a bit, and then stole a napkin from a little holder of them, before letting it fall onto the table with the word “Yes” written on it in pure black ink, conveniently answering both questions at once.
Sakura gave an emphatic thumbs up towards her two comrades. Yayama noticed the movement behind her - it paid to keep your wits about you in her line of work - but elected not to pay it any mind for the moment. She didn’t have any reason to suspect Sakura of anything untoward. “Ah.” Realizing she was potentially misunderstanding the situation, but proceeding anyways, she pitched her voice lower. “Is there a reason you haven’t done so aloud? Keeping up some kind of appearance or whatnot? On my blade, I won’t spill your secrets if so.”
”I don’t believe she can speak verbally.” Cap said, attempting to clarify the Sun Goddess’ answer. ”She understands us fluently. But to communicate back she either uses her calligraphy power to write notes or barks once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no’.” He gave a quick glance toward the white wolf, seeking confirmation that his explanation was accurate so as not to look like he was speaking for her.
The wolf, helpful, gave a bark for yes of confirmation, though it was possibly the least enthusiastic bark possible. She was, after all, not the biggest fan of the communication method. Unbeknownst to her, their diminutive new friend heard the bark as plain language, though she waited patiently to point this out as the Captain moved up to introduce himself.
”Come to think of it,” Falcon then said, ”I don’t believe I introduced myself yet. My name is Captain Falcon. You might have heard of me from the F-Zero Grand Prix.” He said, name-dropping his status as a famous F-Zero Champion though such a thing might not be that well known in a city like Esaka. ”As for our silent furry friend here, her name is Amaterasu.”
Yayama nodded along with the explanations and introductions. “You got my name earlier, of course, but I could add a few more titles if you’d like?” Her tone was dry, but she did wait a moment in case someone did in fact want to hear the appellations in question. “I also happen to be gifted with a particular gift known, at least where I’m from, as the Echo. I bring this up because one of the abilities it grants me is the ability to communicate soul-to-soul, without the intervening barriers of language. I can’t read minds, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she clarified, though even that wasn’t true if taken in the absolute strictest sense, “but what I can do is speak to someone regardless of what tongue they communicate in, so long as they think enough like a human for us to reach a mutual understanding.” She gave Amaterasu an expectant look.
The divine wolf cocked her head at this information, clearly sceptical. She also wasn’t entirely pleased with the idea of having her thoughts read. Then again, given that the woman had had to ask if she had ‘human’ like thoughts then presumably it had some sort of active component? All she needed to do was be the master of her thoughts while whatever it looked or felt like was happening, and she’d be fine, surly. An easy task for one such as her, naturally.
Decision made, she righted her head, and then after a moment's hesitation thought a formal greeting Yayama’s way.
Sakura’s eyes were wide and she was leaning in close near Yayama, like she was trying to pick up some kind of residual message. She waited with bated breath. Being able to talk to animals has to be the number one superpower, right?!
“It’s good to meet you as well, Amaterasu Okami,” the lalafell responded. “I have to say, it’s refreshing to meet a deity that isn’t, in some way, trying to kill or subjugate me.”
The divine wolf thought very poorly of beings such as those, and expressed as much to Yayama, before committing to the goal of dragging her impression of the divine out of the mud, be it via her own positive impact on the world or by putting these abusers of their divine nature in their place.
Sakura clapped her hands together and hopped up and down, enthused. ”That’s amazing!”
”Huh, well I’ll be.” The Captain said with a hum of appreciation, ”Looks like you finally found someone who can fully understand you, Amaterasu.” He mused. ”That could make things much easier on us, actually.”
“Here’s hoping,” Yayama said, replying to both Falcon and Amaterasu. “I try not to assume the worst of people, so I’m not lumping you in with the rest, but the sentiment is still appreciated.” She glanced over her shoulder to Sakura and her increasingly close proximity. “Did you need something, by the way?”
Sakura scampered back a few steps. ”Uh, well-”
Amaterasu informed Yayama of Sakura’s fighting fanatic nature and guessed that she wanted to spar. Privately she was now even more onboard with the heart gesture the streetfighter had made. This was simply far too convenient for her not to endorse.
“I wouldn’t mind,” Yayama replied to the wolf. “I got all riled up to fight that Miqo’te or whatever she was earlier, but it turned out to not be necessary. I could use the practice, too; if I’m going to get anywhere here, I need to get through these tournament brackets.” She turned back to Sakura. “Assuming she’s right?”
Sakura put the context clues together and clenched her fists, nodding in agreement. ”I think it’d be great to have a fight!” Her fight with Falcon was interrupted, and while normally she would just challenge him to a rematch, recruiting Seekers was more important.
”No shady bars and bets needed. Just two fighters, last one standing wins!” Sakura said.
“Alright then,” Yayama said with a grin. “Just don’t complain if you get more than you bargained for from one of the Warriors of Light.” Her boast had a playful note to it; Yayama did genuinely expect to win most fights she got into, but she wasn’t trying to put Sakura down. “Did you have a venue in mind? Pretty sure I saw a couple spots earlier that were intentionally cleared out for this kind of thing.”
She grinned, excited that Yayama was confident. ”Somewhere we can’t get sued for damages.” Sakura said, grabbing her shoulder and rolling it. ”I usually just pick a wide enough street and go for it.”
Amaterasu thought (at Yayama) that maybe they could just ask the bartender where the closest spot was.
Sakura was already on it, though: ”Excuse me, sir. D’you know where me and my friend here could throw down?”
The answer to this question involved the man simply pointing up.
Grey clouds hung overhead, as the two ladies took to opposite sides of the bar’s roof. Around them a few spectators were found, as it seemed there always could be. The wolf and the falcon naturally had found their own spots, and like sharks smelling blood, or worms drawn to rain, a number of Yokai had already perched themselves around the area as Yayama took up the same fighting stance she had previously.
A few patrons, early drinks or late lunches in hand, were scattered about too, and the odd onlooker took a peek out their window, but with the hour being that awkward middle of the afternoon, and the rain threatening to fall, there weren't actually more than a handful of bystanders interested in the upcoming sparring match.
As such, the first attempt of heckling by some Yokai who’d definitely been at the teahouse of “alright let’s see what you’re actually made of!” got shut down by a growl from Amatarasu, and with that the pair were left in relative peace to their bout.
”Just try to relax.” Captain Falcon advised the heckling Yokai, ”Ms. Kasugano is as tough as they come. She won’t disappoint you.” While his own match against Sakura had been cut short, Falcon had seen enough in that fight to have an idea of how strong the girl could be. Anyone who could take even a glancing blow from his Falcon Punch was someone who had definitely earned the Captain’s respect.
Sakura waved at the Yokai and then at Captain Falcon. She bounced back and forth from one foot to the other then settling into a rhythmic fighting stance.
Yayama began the fight deliberately, taking slow, measured steps toward Sakura and waiting for the other fighter to initiate. Her cheerful expression had fallen away, replaced with one of focus as she prepared for Sakura’s assault.
”Three, two, one…here I come!” Sakura didn’t hesitate for long, running towards Yayama, curving her approach to the right side. She was going to come in hot with a powerful straight punch downward before unleashing a series of quick kicks. As long as she could, Sakura would stick to Yayama, kicking and elbowing her, and if her defense was too strong, tripping her up with martial throws to the ground.
Her guard proved to be sufficient for the series of attacks, using the large flat of her blade to deflect the overhead punch and utilizing her stature and her armor to dodge or harmlessly soak most of the series of following blows. She hadn’t been prepared for the throw, which sent Yayama tumbling over the ground, but she halted her motion by driving her blade into the roof and pulling herself up with it. “My turn.” She held one arm out to the side and a barrier shimmered to life around her. With its protection, she launched her counterattack, leaping a surprising distance into the air and then plunging downward with a gravity-assisted slash. She followed it up with a broad sweep of her blade diagonally upward, positioning it to either return to a neutral position or double down on a successful attack.
When Sakura landed the throw, she took the time to position herself accordingly, right outside her estimated reach of Yayama’s sword. The barrier looked hard to overcome with one of her usual anti-airs, but she was quick on her feet and pulled out a trick. As Yayama surged downward, she used her speed to dip right under her at the last moment, dodging the swing and ending up behind her as she landed. Twisting around, she slammed her fist into the barrier to get a gauge for its strength, before shifting right, bringing her hands back, and blasting it point blank with a blue fireball.
The lalafell simply charged through the fireball, the Blackest Night shattering like glass as the warrior beneath was singed. She swung her blade skyward in a sweeping uppercut, wreathing it in aether to further extend her range. This was immediately followed by another downward slash, falling diagonally as she converted it into a spin in the hopes of catching her faster opponent off guard.
Sakura jerked to the left as she failed to draw her arms back in time after shooting the fireball, and then was brought to her knees by the downward swipe. Both hits resulted in great yellow sparks on impact. There she stayed in a crouch, a little lower than Yayama’s eye level now. ”Gah…more hyper armored opponents for Sakura.” She said with an acknowledging, if slightly annoyed, tilt of her head. At this point she was wondering when she could get her hands on the stuff.
Not one to relent in her assault, Yayama threw herself at Sakura once more. With her blade being somewhat out of position for a clean followup, she went for a body check, driving her shoulder toward Sakura and relying on her defenses to ensure she came out on top of the ensuing impact. She prepared to chase that attack with a pommel jab, followed by swinging her sword horizontally to get it on the correct side of her body relative to her opponent.
Sakura’s knee scraped against the ground, meeting Yayama’s shoulder with her own, raising her arm. The pommel strike bounced off, and she shifted closer to reduce the amount of power available for Yayama to swing and block the swing up close. Then she went to ram her elbow into Yayama’s face with piercing power, prompting a grunt of pain from the lalafell. Then, a noise like gunfire rang out as she went to launch Yayama off the ground with a rising Shouoken uppercut. ”Shouoken!”
The blow dazed the dark knight and sent her flying almost straight up. Yayama managed to maintain her grip on her sword, which trailed behind her as she sailed through the air. Damn, she’s not bad, Yayama thought as she tried to shake off the impact and right herself before she hit the ground.
The blow was strong, able to secure a knockdown on even the toughest fighters where Sakura came from. Sakura landed on her feet first, having launched Yayama fairly far away from herself. Having landed a good hit on her opponent, her spirits soared. While the knight was still falling, she gathered her hands together and charged up a powerful fireball, more than doubling its power. ”Hadoken!”She launched it forward, having it be well on its way towards her opponent before she could get her bearings. It would explode at her feet sending pleasantly warm blue flames everywhere, though the concussive force wasn’t nearly as pleasant. Before the swirling blue flame was even half-clear, the street fighter burst through it on the offense. She looked to grab Yayama by the head and hook her leg behind the knights, before sweeping her onto the floor hard. ”Hup!”
Yayama grunted as she hit the rooftop yet again. Then Sakura crouched, one leg stretching to the side as she brought her fist down hard like a hammer toward the knight’s head. Said knight, however, had different ideas, and intercepted the incoming strike by blocking it with one gauntleted arm. Out of her guard, she threw a straight jab toward Sakura in an attempt to get the latter to back off.
In what the people around Esaka may refer to as a ‘frame trap,’ the hammer blow sunk Yayama’s gauntleted arm with a thudding blue spark, and Sakura beat out the counter jab with one of her own, a stinging jab to the nose. She punched down once more before converting into a close ranged one handed fireball blast that separated the two of them, Sakura bouncing back onto her feet. ”How are you feeling?” She asked. The knight was tough, so Sakura was hoping her meters and gauges would let her start doing some real damage soon. Though even if Yayama was in range of being Friend Hearted, Sakura wanted to see this fight through to the end one way or the other.
She pulled herself back up to her feet, returning to her neutral stance out of habit. “Well, I felt the last couple, so you're doing better than the usual rifraff,” Yayama said with a smirk. “But if that was enough to put me down, I wouldn't have made it this far.” The greatsword swung up onto her shoulders as she switched to a one-handed grip, using her armor to bear the weight while she stayed ready to swing it if needed. Yayama thrust one arm forward, palm up, and roiling energy began to gather above it. “I've got more than just a big sword and a big mouth.”
Sakura shifted her shoulders back and forth, pleased. ”Then I should probably just shut up, huh?” She asked rhetorically. ”Getting back to it!” She gathered some more ki energy between her hands and began lobbing fireballs towards the knight to see how her mobility and tankiness dealt with exploding bombs of varying speed, power, and range. Sakura switched it up to keep it tough to predict.
Yayama responded in kind, as the energy in her hand suddenly compressed, then shot forward at high speed. The Jolt would explode on impact with a, well, jolt of concussive force, while its caster expertly wove through the wall of incoming projectiles. The dark knight used a minimum of motion, standing just on the edge of each blast, then executed the second half of her dualcast during a brief opening in the pattern. The second spell had less overall force, but burst over a much wider area; Yayama attempted to set it off just behind Sakura to disrupt her guard.
Sakura considered turning up the heat on her fireballs, but thought she should save for a more powerful attack later. Feeling the jolt from behind, Sakura stumbled forward but converted into a big jump upwards, like she was going to come down on Yayama. Instead though, she drove her feet downwards like a nail and cut her arc well short, stabbing down into the ground evasively.
Seeing this, and recognizing a pattern from seeing (and fighting) other martial artists of similar talents and styles, Yayama responded to the aborted jump by taking up her two-handed grip once more and launching a full powered, overhead swing, aiming to slam Sakura down as she lands and create an opportunity to dish out what she’d mostly been taking so far.
Sakura was slammed face down onto the roof, flattening like a starfish. ”Oof!” She thought for sure she would be able to pull that trick off at least once, but no dice. But still, pain is a lesson, and she knows that Yayama will go for the big swing if she thinks she can get it. Sakura got her hands underneath her and pushed herself up into a dodge roll to get away from Yayama.
The dark knight followed with another leaping plunge, leaving Sakura with no time to breathe. Predicting that the pugilist would see the strike coming, she pulled the weapon hard to the side, launching a mostly-horizontal rising slash, itself followed with a thrust of her weapon.
”Oops!” Sakura’s eye glinted and from her crouching position she spun, leg outstretched, to knock Yayama off her feet and away from her. This V-Reversal technique spent her 1 bar of V-Meter and did no permanent damage, but had extreme knockback. Sakura decided to frustrate Yayama’s offense before it could get going. Popping up to her feet, with things reset back to neutral, she began to approach, practically gliding along the ground as she put more focus into her footwork.
Yayama decided to be a bit more proactive this time around, not wanting to give Sakura an opportunity to land the throws and knockbacks that had been giving her trouble. Once she skidded to a halt and righted herself, she closed the distance herself, launching an exploratory thrust to try to catch Sakura on her approach.
Sakura learnt the range of Yayama’s sword the hard way, taking a stab to the gut for her trouble. After all this, Sakura reckoned she was about half-way to falling over. She stepped back and then shifted right, and looked to dash in again only to stop her momentum to bait out another thrust. Then she would deliver a mighty roundhouse kicked aimed towards the blade itself to knock it aside.
Yayama aborted her second thrust halfway, sensing something was off, but it was too late. Sakura’s gambit was successful, sending the blade spinning away as Yayama decided she’d be better off letting it go than following it off the roof in an effort to halt its flight. Left vulnerable, she cast another Blackest Night, then began channeling a Jolt using the last of her remaining mana.
The street fighter’s eyes gleamed with intensity, her heart pounding. She smoothly transitioned her round house kick into a blurring forward roll, closing the gap between the two of them. She then shot into the air with a knee to slam into the barrier. Turning away from Yayama mid-air, she planted both of her feet on the barrier and moved to break it by kicking away from it and catching herself into a roll that put her back where she started. It all happened at speed some might consider ‘alarming’.
Yayama staggered from the impact, but remained standing. The determination to finish out the fight flared in her eyes. “I can do this all day,” she declared, raising her fists. She sprinted toward Sakura, moving with speed belying her stature, and aimed a wild punch toward her with a shout.
Sakura leaned forward, clenching her fists. She raised her front arm and blocked the punch aimed her way with a deep thud and a bright blue spark of ki. ”Seyah! She shouted back, and engaged in a furious exchange of blows. But when it came to hand to hand combat, Sakura felt confident she had the upper hand.
”Senpu!” In a blink she was outside striking range, slicing at Yayama with a hopping spin kick. ”Senpu! Senpu!” She danced around the roof, her sneakers clattering against wood and shingles.
When the moment was right, and she had forced the opening, Sakura pounced. ”Power and skill!” She shouted, blasting the knight with a dazzling short ranged fireball. ”Hooooah!” She yelled, pushing the knight back with a series of spinning kicks shrouded in sharp ki energy that took her off the ground entirely.
”Sakura no Ame!” With a final shout and a burst of pink and blue light, she struck the knight with a powerful uppercut. When they both landed again, Sakura pumped her fists and let out a breath, looking to see if the knight could or would still fight.
Yayama bounced off the roof and rolled to a halt, but forced herself to spring right back up again as if nothing had happened. “Like I said,” she said, eyes gleaming with Galeem’s influence for those who could see it, “all day.” She made a “come at me” gesture with her left hand, while she stuck her right off to the side. In a burst of shadow, her weapon reappeared, and she brandished it at Sakura once more. Anyone with combat experience, though, could tell that the warrior wasn’t doing as well as she acted. Her blade was unsteady, and there was a tension to her expression that hadn’t been there earlier.
Sakura snapped back into her fighting position, eyeing Yayama up and down. While it was obvious Yayama still had a lot more fight left in her, if this was only a friendly bout or spar this might be the appropriate time to call it in Sakura’s favor to save them both the pain and effort. But that wasn’t the case- Galeem’s curse was at work. Sakura was in Yayama’s place once in her fight against Ryu. Every Seeker had been in some form or another. She spared a glance towards the watching Captain Falcon and Amaterasu. If Sakura lost control of the fight she knew they wouldn’t let Yayama beat the tar out of her, at least. Still, she wanted to win on her own.
Yayama had beckoned Sakura to come forth. The street fighter would always oblige the notion. ”Hiyaah!” She dashed forward to begin round two in earnest. Yayama met her opening charge with another overhead swing, aiming to land a telling blow early to compensate for her own condition.
Sakura sidestepped the overhead swing, and lunged in with a harsh elbow to the face, then battered her from the other side with both of her closed fists interlocked together. With another signature spin kick she smashed into Yayama twice more before kicking her away. This time instead of waiting, she ran right back into the action to not let the tough knight recover any more.
When she came to yet another skidding halt, it took Yayama longer to stand back up. She planted her sword in the ground to lever herself up, the desperate fire of determination that prevented her from giving in - why was she so invested in this spar, anyway? - the only thing keeping her on her feet. A barrier between her and Sakura began to shimmer weakly into existence just as the latter arrived.
Sakura knew why. But it wouldn’t be that way for much longer. She slammed her fist into the barrier, and then with a flash of orange ki energy she blitzed forward instantly to prevent counter attack. She planted her hands on Yayama’s shoulders and then flipped easily behind her, kicking out the back of the shorter woman’s legs. Then she tackled her from behind, trying to pin her. Looking to finish it, she tapped her own chest and produced the Friend Heart, before pushing it into Yayama’s back. ”This should do it!” She exclaimed.
With that, the fire in Yayama’s eyes would once again entirely be her own, and the fog of Galeem’s curse would lift!
Yayama’s eyes went wide as a tide of memories and emotions flooded back into her awareness. Urianger and Y’shtola, Alphinaud and Alisae. Thancred. Hoary and the rest of the ex-Scions. Going on world-saving adventure after world-saving adventure, fighting foes not unlike the being that ruled this eternal world, alongside her most precious of companions.
Petra.
Her power surged, Yayama’s dark side threatening to take the wheel as shadowy aether erupted from her. With all the triumphs came all the struggles along the way, the people she hadn’t been able to save, the people she’d had to put down for the fate of the star. All of this, further soured by the bitter knowledge that in the end, it had all been for naught. A tide of light had swept away her and everything she cared for, bled for, nearly died for. The raw emotion ripped itself free as a wordless shout of anguish and rage sent to the heavens.
The leather wrapping the handle of her sword creaked in her grip as she slowly rose to her feet, using it to lever herself up again. The scream died off into growling breaths through gritted teeth as she went, her chest heaving with the effort of keeping herself under control. A part of her just wanted to hurt something, anything, make anyone pay for the sheer injustice of the situation she now realized she was in.
But Yayama was a hero. These people had done nothing to wrong her; they in fact had suffered just as much as she had, though they’d likely needed less tampering with their minds to keep them from rebelling. So, her breaths smoothed out, her grip loosened, and she closed her eyes. With a final, deep inhale, she gathered up the rest of her rage, and released it on the exhale. “I’m gonna kill him,” she said matter-of-factly. She made no indication of who she meant, but it would be abundantly clear to the Seekers.
After another moment to compose herself, she turned back to Sakura. “Thanks for the fight. It really cleared my head.” It was a bit late to play off what had just happened, but it wouldn’t hurt to go back to acting like normal. After all, killing gods took patience.
Sakura haltingly reached out and set a gentle hand on Yayama’s shoulder. ”N-no problem, Yayama-san. Welcome to the Seekers of Light.”
Having been watching all this from the sidelines, and now somewhat getting why fighting was such a big spectator sport as a result, Amaterasu now padded over to add her own greeting to Sakura’s.
”Ha! What’d I tell you?” Captain Falcon said to the various Yokai, ”I told you Ms. Kasugano was tough as they come, didn’t I?” He asked, referring to his earlier assurances that Sakura wouldn’t disappoint them. Sakura grinned in Captain Falcon’s direction. She used it as inspiration to further brighten the mood.
”Great fight, Yayama-san! You’re really tough, it was like I was punching… I dunno, something really tough!” Sakura said.
“Aetherically enhanced wolfram steel,” Yayama offered for Sakura's sake. “I need to fight people like you more often, I'm getting rusty.” She glanced down at herself, then scowled at what she saw. “And to change. What the hells was I thinking, going out in this. . . ?”
”Well, I’m down for a rematch anytime. Er, in a general sense.” Sakura said. She lowered her voice and leaned in. ”We’re busy right now, mostly. The Four Kings of Esaka are the Guardians here who work for and protect Galeem. The uh, big star thing that took us all here and made the World of Light. We Seekers are gonna take ‘em out.” She said. ”That’s the gist of it. I’m sure you’ll, uh, pick up the rest.”
