Recent events in Muffinville have attached jumper cables to my creativity. In Whatevr89532's P.F.L. Office thread, my secondary main character Callista underwent a trio of bouts to determine where in the Pokemorph Fighting League she would place.
The upcoming story goes into the immediate aftermath of her experiences in the thread, showing what she's thinking and how she attempts to solve a problem she faces (the keyword being "attempts"). I also hope to show a little bit more of what Callista and several of my lesser-used characters are like when they aren't interacting with those in Muffinville, as well as just how much they hold back for the sake of others. There will be a fight of some kind, too.
I intend to have the story posted here by the late afternoon of 6/28/2016 CST at the soonest, and Wednesday evening at the latest. For those few of you looking at these, please hold off on posting anything until after the story is up. Your consideration is appreciated.
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Thanks to KonokoHasano for providing Callista's artwork.
[Writing] Muffinville Side Story: In The Heat of Battle
Moderator: Raleigh
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[Writing] Muffinville Side Story: In The Heat of Battle
by AmbushCat » Tue Jun 28, 2016 12:28 am
Last edited by AmbushCat on Sun Jul 24, 2016 9:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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AmbushCat - Fuku Fanatic
- Posts: 8217
- Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:12 pm
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Re: [Writing] Muffinville Side Story: In The Heat of Battle
by AmbushCat » Tue Jun 28, 2016 5:28 pm
AND SO IT BEGINS.
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Callista was deep in thought as she left the PFL's office. Considering that she was entering entirely new territory for her, she felt that she'd done relatively well. She'd managed to hold her own against three tough opponents in quick succession without so much as a snack break... or at least what passed for her as a snack break.
Still, it had raised at least one issue to work on. For the most part her normal battle style, power-set and habits translated well towards Pokémon moves, but at the moment she couldn't think of any real means of dealing with tanky opponents like Dave beyond boosting her Special Attack through the roof. Stored Power made a decent trump card, but the fact that he'd been able to keep going in spite of both that and Thunder spoke legions about his ability to take a hit.
By contrast, Callista bruised pretty easily. She frowned; she loved her Delcatty Hybrid form like nobody's business, but it never did well on the defensive front. I need to get some practice in, she thought to herself as she walked. I've been away from the Personal Battle scene for far too long.
Her desire to shop had been sated for the day, so she had plenty of free time on her hands. She'd all but retired as the Infinite Defense's leader, being that in name only; nowadays she only issued orders if her fleet back home really needed her. Her successor was competent enough that such requests only came about maybe... once every two weeks on average, maybe more if the Game Masters wanted her to take an active part in current events. She had more time to waste than she'd ever thought possible.
Callista had no real job before deciding to try out for the PFL, and she'd had no desire to search for one; her tenure with the Infinite Defense and the obnoxious economics associated with them (and the Game) meant that she was set for a million lifetimes, maybe more. If there was any profits left over from the Mungojerrie's day-to-day business after dealing with expenses and doling out paychecks, she gave the remainder to those who needed it more than she did.
In short she was rich, she was free... and she was bored. Doing whatever I please is all well and good, but maybe what I need is something to occupy my mind.
--"I still don't know why you're even bothering,"-- Kaoru Matsubara's voice echoed somewhere in Callista's brain. --"If you want to occupy your mind, why don't you just get yourself re-instated as Grand Admiral?"--
Too much effort, Callista reprimanded her. You weren't around when Crocodile and Baroque Works were making things hard for us. Time and time again I was exhausted after a day's work, and it wasn't the 'good' kind of exhausted either. If Curtis hadn't discovered Spamville, and if I hadn't obtained the means of stopping Crocodile for good, I would have worked myself into an early grave... and that's only if that superweapon he obtained didn't do the job first. Asking the Game Masters to put an early end to the problem so I could rest had never occurred to me back then.
--"This coming from the person who dies something like seventy times a year?"--
Shut up, Callista thought, grimacing. I like having the freedom to do as I please, and working for the PFL as a competitor appeals to me. I dislike combat, but I love putting my fighting abilities to good use. At the same time, part of me has always liked to entertain people. I need this, Kaoru.
--"If you say so,"-- Kaoru reluctantly agreed. --"So, what are our plans for the rest of the day? Did you still want to go bowling after lunch?"--
Callista's legs tensed for a split second. Actua---
/---/---/---/
---lly, not this time, Callista said as she came to an abrupt halt in the Mungojerrie's parking lot, miles outside of Muffinville's city limits. She resumed walking at a normal pace towards the space where her Pyro-GX was parked. If Clyve, D and Dave are any indication, I've got my work cut out for me. Especially Dave. Between his tankiness and his Dream Arena gimmick, I'd be struggling against him in a normal fight.
Upon reaching her starfighter, Callista opened the hatch and hopped in. She pushed a series of buttons in quick sequence, sending an audio transmission that arrowed past time and space, flying to a destination an entire reality away...
"You've reached the Grapes of Wrath," a cheerful voice proclaimed. "Admiral Karate speaking."
"It's Callista," the hybrid stated as she closed the hatch. "Aldonza, could you do me a solid and call Zapana? I'd like for her to meet me at Infra Station in three hours."
"Sure," Aldonza confirmed, confused, "but how come? She was hoping to marathon 'Gundam 0083' today. You know she hates being taken away from that."
"Because I'm in the mood for a fight. Zapana may be retired from the fleet, but she's still the most durable fighter we've got. I need a punching bag."
"...Well, okay," Aldonza said. "But fair warning that she's probably going to want to punch back."
"That's alright." Callista smiled. "It'll be good practice for me, anyway."
"Now I'm curious. Why're you interested in doing any sort of fighting?"
"For practice. I'm joining the PFL," Callista told her without thinking about it.
Aldonza's excited and childish squeal, which sounded more natural coming from an adolescent girl than a grown Kittenoan in her 30s, made Callista flinch and cover her oversized ears unsuccessfully. She winced as Aldonza went into a long-winded rant about how undeniably awesome the PFL in general was, her speech rattling her hearing. Maybe it's a good thing Ambush decided not to try out for the league after all, she conceded, wishing that the fox's voice had a volume control.
--"It's not going to kill you to transform back,"-- Kaoru complained. --"Sheesh!"--
--------------------
--------------------
Instead of transforming back, Callista decided to remain in her hybrid form for the duration of the trip, much to Kaoru's annoyance. She did devour a triple-decker bologna-and-cheese sandwich and take a nap on the way, if anything to recover some of the energy she expended during her three fights. The Pyro-GX's cockpit wasn't the best place to take a nap, but since she never minded sleeping in duffel bags large enough to carry her, she wasn't about to register any complaints.
A few hours after she left the Mungojerrie, the opening notes of Information Society's "Repetition" pulled her awake: that was the song Callista had assigned to signal her when the ship was getting ready to exit hyperspace. Taking a few moments to become alert and reassess her situation, she nodded and silently counted off the seconds. Four... three... two... one...
The mottled display around the ship receded back into starlines, and from there into a vast multitude of tiny white pinpoints. Callista double-checked her displays to confirm where she was, then nodded in satisfaction: she'd arrived in the Muffin-verse's analogue to the Zeta Aquilae system.
And on cue twenty kilometers away, a circular portal wide enough to accomodate her ship erupted to life, connecting to the system's counterpart in the Spamville-verse. Callista's scanners showed her the space station on the other end, and the task force guarding it; without hesitation she hit the throttle, rocketing into the portal.
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Infra Station had started life as an underground replica of the Pontiac Silverdome, serving as the Infinite Defense's base of operations for the Spamville-verse from 2007 on. After Callista had laid claim to Zeta Aquilae and been designated an honorary Sailor Senshi by the powers-that-be, the Station had been refitted for deep space and relocated to the system in question. Though there were still alien threats to worry about, it was more likely to last long than in Spamville proper.
Visitors would be hard-pressed to recognize any similarities to a sports arena, at least on the outside. Where the entrances to the station's Lower Level would have been were instead four massive hangar bays, which housed the spacecraft belonging to the station's staff as well as the occasional visitor. The entranceway that normally would have allowed people to haul things from the outside onto the field had been sealed off, although the locker rooms and restrooms had been left alone. The roof had been redesigned and reinforced, though it wouldn't seem that way from inside the facility.
Callista never tired of looking at it, as doing so always filled her with nostalgia.
For now, her attention was focused on the figure standing in front of her on the Station's football field. Zapana was a timber wolf Kittenoan standing a little bit short of six feet tall, fur pitch black and her eyes blue. She favored slacks and a jacket that were both magenta in color, with the T-shirt under the latter a bright yellow and lime-green.
Her clothing might have made her look a bit odd, but no one was about to tell that to her face. While Zapana's more violent days were long behind her (from her perspective, anyway), no one was stupid enough to make her mad; her average musculature belied her planet-splitting physical strength, and the blood in her veins was the catalyst for a raging inferno. Her ears and eyes were incredibly sharp, and had in fact been her initial superpowers as a pup.
Most noteworthy about her was her ability to take a hit; she was quoted at one point as saying that "you would need to drop all of Mount Everest on me before you could begin to do me serious harm", and that was no exaggeration. While there were plenty of people in the Villes who met/exceeded that standard, there were few (if any) who willingly associated with the unpredictably irregular Callista on a semi-regular basis, and retired or not her reputation with the Infinite Defense still stood: she was a physical powerhouse, and everyone knew it.
And as those who knew her personally could testify to, Zapana was a flake. "You dragged me away from my me-time just so you could have a fight with me?" she was saying. "Seriously, Calli-chan?"
"Didn't Aldonza tell you why I wanted you here?" Callista asked.
"Yeah... some sort of practice match or another. But couldn't you have done that sort of thing on the Wild Saturn? Isn't that what the Exodus Holograms are for?"
Callista rolled her eyes. "What, and miss the delightful sound of your voice? The Game Masters don't show up for fights like those. I'll need Risk's perspective on things to help me better see what I need to work on."
"I'll tell you straight up what you need to work on," Zapana told her with a tinge of heat. "You stink at combat, Calli-chan. Can I go home now?"
"Is 'Gundam 0083' really that important to you?" Callista asked. "Even if you'd started on schedule, the marathon wouldn't end until late."
Zapana had an eye-roll of her own to offer. "You've marathoned the entirety of 'Megas XLR' before, Calli-chan. You have no room to talk about my sleeping habits."
"I had good reasons for that!" Callista protested. "You expect me to purchase---"
"Swindle," Zapana interrupted.
"---PURCHASE a giant mech and not learn what its capabilities are? Seriously, what the crud kind of girl do you take me for?"
"The loony kind," Zapana said without a second's hesitation. She shrugged. "But for better or for worse, you're still my boss. Let's get this show on the road. Sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can go home."
A nod. "Good idea. Thanks for putting up with my selfishness, Zapana."
"That's what friends are for," Zapana conceded with a light-hearted smile. "Being with each other through good and bad, being willing to exchange smiles and beating the daylights out of each other."
"...I don't think real friends really do that," Callista told her, sweatdropping.
"Hey, it's too late to make yourself look like a hypocrite. Now you gonna call Risk here or what, Calli-chan?"
"Fine, fine... Commence Personal Battle," Callista said aloud. "Callista O. Wilson-Metallium Vs. Zapana Zquor. Infra Station, Spamville-verse. Special Conditions."
A long silence. Nothing happened.
"Oh, for..." Callista spat, tail twitching. "RISK, GET YOUR OMNIPOTENT POSTERIOR OUT OF YOUR CHAIR AND GET DOWN HERE!"
An oversized cushy-looking chair appeared out of the air in a flock of Sorry! tokens, flying into Callista at high speeds and skidding across the field. A few seconds later, the hybrid had gone from the 45-yard line into the closest end zone.
Zapana did a quick double-take, watching as the Game Master Risk materialized nearby by way of a similar flock. "Zquor-san, how many times do I have to hit her with that chair before it sinks in?" the woman asked, massaging her forehead. "My posterior's not omnipotent. I am."
"You guys knew what you were doing when you asked her to regain her powers," Zapana chortled, all smiles. "You should've known that it restored her bad attitude, too." Her smile dimmed to something a bit more polite. "So, why the delay? Get caught up in a close tournament or something?"
"Nah, we were just in the middle of a Madden '15 match. Vieza didn't want to pause the game until he'd finished his Touchdown dance."
"You people are complete nerds," said Zapana. "I'd almost go so far as to call you all rednecks, too."
"You probably wouldn't be too far from the truth on that score." Risk continued talking as she watched Callista get up, kick the chair out of her way in a hissy fit, and summon a bottle of Dr. Pepper from her discarded shopping bag to heal the injuries caused by her unintentional field trip. "My fellow GMs are the only ones who don't think I'm weird for using a jelly bean to represent my character in Dungeons & Dragons."
"I can do a pretty good Piccolo voice if you'd like to hear it," Zapana suggested.
Risk closed her eyes and smirked. "Your vocal range is good, but it ain't that good." In the background Callista finally managed to suppress her temper, take a deep breath and walk back towards them. "So. She's joining the PFL?"
"Heard of them before, I take it?"
"There've been one or two realities we've ventured through in centuries past where they (or at least a close analogue) existed. Vieza thought about joining them once, but at that time our 'no interference, no outside knowledge' edict was still in effect: we weren't to get involved in their affairs, and they weren't supposed to know about us. Over time he just kinda lost interest, and we moved on."
Zapana nodded. "Any related dangers, Risk?"
"None that we're aware of," the Game Master informed her. "Far as we can tell, they seem legit."
"Good," Callista said as she got close enough to join in the conversation. "I didn't want to think I was wasting my time with them. Now how are we playing this battle?"
"The rules for the fight will be as such: Callista, you'll be limited to whatever Pokémon moves that your current form permits you to utilize. Usage of Shape-Shifter, your cyborg costume, reality warping, and transformations will be prohibited. Standard Personal Battle rules apply."
A nod.
"Zapana, Standard Personal Battle rules apply. For the purposes of this fight, you will be assigned a Pokémon type that is most applicable to you; some of your opponent's attacks may do higher or lower damage as a result. You have no other restrictions."
The same.
"For the both of you, standard HP. For Callista, MP and Special Ability points will not apply. For Zapana, MP and Special Ability points will apply. The battle ends when one or both combatants' HP drop to zero and stay at zero. Are you both ready?"
"Rock it and roll it," Zapana confirmed, cracking her knuckles.
Zapana Zquor
HP: 1,900,000
MP: 0
SA: 4
Fire/Dark
"Ready as I'll ever be," Callista chimed in, tiny claws glimmering in the light.
Callista Wildcat
HP: 450,000
Normal
Far behind and above Zapana in the facility's Upper Level, a video screen lit up with the appropriate information. A blue-tinted, transparent dome encompassed the entirety of the football field.
"Battle music, set... and go!" Risk called, hand raised towards the ceiling. In the same motion, she teleported into her chair and relocated to a vantage point where she could oversee everything.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Zapana, much more eager to battle than Callista would ever be, made the first move; the air around her BOOMED as she turboed past the sound barrier, fist ready to strike. Callista knew Zapana's mannerisms forwards and backwards, however, and she had already utilized Quick Attack to scoot out of the way well before the wolf's fist reached her location.
Looking to exploit the brief opening in Zapana's defenses, Callista lashed out in a Slash attack; even hindered by the Game Masters' rules and limiters, her claws were still very dangerous weapons. Still, all they were able to do was tear through the side of the wolf's jacket and shirt; Zapana didn't so much as twitch when the claws made contact with her skin.
1,900,000 -----> 1,700,000
[EXTREME HEAT]
The air went wavy for a second... and Zapana erupted into full-on flames, doing damage by proximity alone. Callista cried out and poured on the speed via Agility, dashing to a safe distance and escaping the worst of it. "I think I'm beginning to understand why Curtis hates summers in Kansas so much," she muttered, blowing on her hands in an attempt to get them to cool down.
450,000 -----> 410,000
[HIKEN]
"Don't get distracted!" Zapana yelled, shifting control of her flames from a full-bodied technique to a full-fisted one. She reared back a bit before punching the air, and a giant fireball in the shape of said fist propelled itself forwards.
410,000 -----> 390,000
Callista was much faster than the Hiken could travel, and at that distance she had no problem dodging the attack. The fiery fist impacted and dispersed harmlessly on contact with Risk's barrier.
The hybrid hissed in pain as the lingering temperatures from Zapana's first technique seeped past her fur. "Better play it safe," she told herself, a strange sparkling veil of sorts surrounding her for a moment. "Fat lot of good getting past her defenses will do me if I let myself get burned."
[DARK FIRE]
"You gonna dance like a deer from the rampaging wolf?" Zapana cat-called. She held out her hand palm-up, the flames around it turning purple; her eyes' irises took a much darker coloring. "Because if all you're going to do is dodge and play defense, I may as well cook myself a rump roast and call it a day!"
While not technically a Taunt, it was still sufficient to drive Callista over the edge. "Don't you mock me!" she hissed before expelling her anger in a long and loud scream, blasting away any lingering sparks in the air via sheer volume.
1,700,000 -----> 1,250,450
The Hyper Voice washed over Zapana. Whereas Callista's Slash did absolutely zilch to her focus, Zapana's enhanced hearing had a fairly obvious drawback; the caninoid cried out and whined as she unsuccessfully tried to protect both ears with only one hand. Deciding to free up her other hand to guard her hearing, she immediately stooped close to the ground and made a scooping motion upwards, releasing a purple wave of insanely-hot fire that rolled along the ground towards her opponent.
The downside of charged attacks in Personal Battles is that if the enemy is familiar with them, it's likely they know how to respond to those techniques. Callista Bounced away at an angle, the leap taking her well over the upper edge of the Dark Fire and back down toward's Zapana's head- - -
[HALL OF HOLYFIELD]
- - -but in her anger, she completely forgot that Zapana was used to fighting against those with aerial advantages over her. The fist that struck Callista's chest on her way down was both engulfed in black fire and backed up by a fraction of Zapana's tremendous physical power, launching her across the length of the field. There was a muffled yelp as Callista bounced once off the ground, then a crash as she struck the barrier at the other end.
390,000 -----> 0 -----> 120,000
Zapana's eyebrows arched as she watched Callista struggle to get up, recovering from what normally should've been a OH-KO. The HP counter on the scoreboard had dropped sharply to zero, wavered back and forth between that and several different numbers before finally rising up to its current total. "Would that even be considered legal?" she called to Risk. "In the PFL, I mean?"
"Oakon looked into the PFL when we first found out about it," Risk said, thoroughly relaxed in her chair. "There's no shortage of fighters there that have some sort of gimmick or talent that they can safely call their own. Swift's friend Whyte gets much more damage out of Frustration than you'd expect. Another fighter can shift between different forms without needing to waste extra time. Still another can pull opponents into a 'Dream World' of sorts if they're both asleep. I'm pretty sure they'll allow this."
Risk glanced at... something, then continued speaking. "For the benefit of those listening in, Callista has absolute control over her brain and all its functions. Depending on how willing she is to continue fighting, she can force herself to ignore all the pain signals she'd normally receive, pull herself together and keep going, giving the illusion that she's more durable than she looks. HOWEVER, the chances of her successfully doing this will keep dropping with every successful comeback... and eventually, her body will reach the point where it'll just... give up and refuse to obey her brain altogether, after which only healing will allow her to rise again."
"I think I get it." Zapana watched as Callista finally got her feet under her. "Knowing that she has a solid shot at winning fills her with determination."
"...Been playing 'Undertale' recently, I take it?" Risk asked in a deadpan.
"And loving it."
"...Just get out there and fight already," Risk muttered, waving her off.
Zapana smirked and hustled off down the field.
/-/-/-/-/-/
--"Callista?"-- Kaoru's voice called. --"Callista! You in there?"--
I heard you the first time you called me, Callista bit out as she steadied herself, trying to get a grip on her anger. I'm trying to focus here!
--"Callista, would you pay attention to me for five--"--
Kaoru, I said Shut up! Callista snarled as she gathered energy into her being. Not feeling in the right state for Calm Mind's effects to trigger, she opted to raise her defensive stats via Cosmic Power instead; the air around her sparkled in reply. How do you expect me to turn the tables on Zapana if you keep distracting---
It wasn't hard for her to imagine Kaoru going monster-headed at this point. --"HER PUNCH DISINTEGRATED YOUR SHIRT, CALLI-BAKA!"--
Back when Callista had created that form per the Game Masters' wishes, she'd loosely modeled it after the residents of Zapana's homeworld: not only were the reproductive and digestive systems different where it counted, but she was covered from head to toe in fur. To put it another way, the only way for a human to tell whether a Kittenoan was male or female was by hearing their voice.
However, the exclamation made Callista momentarily forget that she was in full hybrid form, not human; instinctively she made as if to recreate the destroyed shirt via reality warping, but found her efforts stifled by Risk's barrier. Frustrated, she shielded herself instead. That clinches it, she muttered as she watched Zapana approach. Tankiness or not, I'm gonna pulverize that wolf.
--"Yeah, have fun with that,"-- Kaoru griped. --"What can you do with one arm?"--
Callista's body took on a soft glow for a few moments. Not recognizing what was going on but figuring it wasn't anything good, Zapana closed in to deck her again- - -
HALL OF HOLYFIELD
1,250,450 -----> 0 -----> 995,300
It was a strange feeling to be on the dealing end of that attack, but that was part of the joy of Copycat. Callista swung with might that wasn't hers... with black fire that wasn't hers... and connected with her opponent in the same place that she'd been hit with. Said fire seeped into Zapana like water down a drain, healing the worst of the injury that she'd been dealt, but the damage was done as the wolf was blasted clear into the opposing end zone.
"I can do that," Callista finally said, fangs jutting out of her mouth as she smiled.
/-/-/
If Zapana was upset at being hit with her own attack, she didn't express it verbally as she got back up. Her eyes, their irises now completely black, spoke for her: she was taking this seriously now.
Zapana closed her eyes and concentrated, a blazing black aura manifesting itself... twisting, reshaping itself, reforming, splitting apart, reshaping itself again, lather, rinse and repeat. The temperatures were positively smothering, the heat unbearable.
Let's see her try and copy this.
/-/-/
Callista's euphoria faded as she felt her senses being stifled one by one. Sight? Rendered negligible by the flames. Hearing? The constant crackling made that impossible. Smell? Forget about it. Touch? Taste? They burned. The Safeguard that she had used earlier was the only thing keeping her skin and fur from following suit.
Telepathy? Zapana's temporary Dark-type made that impossible.
Now that her mind was a bit clearer, though, she remembered Zapana's favorite techniques and knew what was coming. A shield of cyan sparkles flared to life in front of her---
ONE HAND CLAP
---and stopped Zapana's fist cold, interrupting the wolf's attack and sapping her aura from her. There weren't too many things that could stand in the face of her strength, so being stared down by Protect was a new sensation, one that triggered a truly priceless expression of shock.
This gave Callista another opportunity to go back on the attack. She was tempted to zap Zapana point-blank with Thunderbolt, but after seeing the results of one of her earlier attacks it was best to just go with what worked. On the heels of the fading Protect, she again bellowed at Zapana with all her might, rattling the air and floor with a truly hyper Voice.
995,300 -----> 790,000
The attack wasn't as effective as it had been earlier. Zapana wasn't trying to build up strength for any techniques, so she was able to cover both ears and backpedal far enough way to escape the worst of the damage. As soon as Callista's scream petered out, Zapana lowered both hands, gathered residual energy from her surroundings into one of them and fired it off at Callista as a high-intensity beam.
PLASMA BLAST
Callista blurred out of the way, bumping up her speed another few notches by way of Agility. The Plasma Blast detonated harmlessly against the barrier. "Hey, Zapana," the hybrid called out, her tone suddenly jovial. "What are you doing this weekend?"
"...Well, I was asked to sub as a DJ Saturday morning on the radio, but other than that I'm free," Zapana said, unsure of where this was going. "Why---erk!"
Callista blurred into Zapana's face at that moment, looking every bit the cute kitten that she often claimed she was. The wolf silently swore that she could see bishoujo sparkles around her boss. "Because I wouldn't mind hanging out with you and the others..." she mewed. She looked unsure for a moment, upping the Charm factor. "...If that's alright with you, I mean."
"Gah!" Zapana backed off, one arm over her eyes. "Alright Flanders, alright! I'll hang out, I'll hang out! Just get the [Censored] out of my face!"
...
Everyone who had been watching the fight, be they curious passers-by or Infra Station staff, fell silent in shock. Risk sat up in her seat, feeling that she knew what was about to happen.
...
All pretenses at being cute vanished in an instant, replaced by an icy cold fury. "...Did you just swear at me, Zapana Zquor?"
Zapana realized her mistake too late. A sweatdrop cruised down her temple. "Um... oops?"
790,000 -----> 50,460
Between the bad attitude that came with Callista's hybrid form and the mental instability that came with being an adopted child of Zelas Metallium, that slip of the tongue almost cost Zapana the fight then and there. Quick as lightning, Callista assailed her with a long-lasting barrage of Slashes that Wolverine would've approved of. The speed boosts she'd gained from Agility made it almost impossible for Zapana to evade, and by the end of it all the wolf's knees were actually shaking a little.
But only a little. Delivered as it was with only one arm, the prolonged assault quickly tired Callista out... and before she could capitalize on Zapana's low HP, she found her forearm caught in a grip far stronger than any vise. As her anger abated, the situation fully sunk in and caused her ears to droop in apprehension. "...I'm done, aren't I?" she asked, sounding resigned.
Zapana reached her other arm around Callista's shoulders, made as if to pull her in for a quick hug...
"Like dinner, Calli-chan. Like dinner."
...and ruined the moment by having their foreheads violently introduce themselves by way of a headbutt. Zapana's skull was far more durable than Callista's, and the hybrid dizzily sunk into the arms of her old antagonist. This time, her HP dropped to nothing and stayed there.
120,000 -----> 0
Risk's barrier disappeared, and she raised her hand towards the ceiling. "Zapana Zquor is the winner of this Personal Battle!" she called. A small group of off-duty personnel that had gathered in the bleachers applauded their approval.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"Callista?"
Blurred vision. An insistent voice.
A hard surface beneath her. Plastic?
A cold, rough surface under her feet. Concrete?
"Calli-chan, can you drink some of this?"
She felt pain in her chest from where she'd traveled down the Hall of Holyfield. Right... she hits like a train. She tentatively raised a hand up to her wound, sleepily pondering why she was even dwelling on that, then let her hand drop over her chair's armrest.
Something cold, flavorful, and acidic poured into her mouth and down her throat, and she recognized the taste of Dr. Pepper. The pain she was feeling disappeared as her injury healed, and the headache that had been hounding her receded. Ah. That feels much better...
... ...!
Callista's eyes opened, and she immediately slammed one of her arms across her upper torso. She vaguely realized that she'd been placed in one of the stadium's seats, but shut it out in favor of preserving her decency. "Gh...! Is a blanket too much to ask for?!" she hissed, blushing.
Zapana flung the empty Dr. Pepper bottle away, letting one of the Station's staffers retrieve it and take it to the facility's recycling bins. "Why are you getting so worked up over that?" she asked disinterestedly as she sat down. "You have fur, for crying out loud."
Gobsmacked silences on Callista's part were always amusing to see. "... ... ... ... ... ... ...Eh?"
--"Finally someone gets it!"-- Kaoru shouted in exasparation.
"Calli-chan?" Zapana asked kindly, her words slow and measured. "Did you forget that until you decide to change back, you aren't currently human?"
"... ... ... ...Wow," Callista murmured, letting her arm drop. "Just how long have I been like that?"
"For almost nine years," Risk said from another seat two rows down. She was holding some kind of old, black, clunky device in her hands, playing a game that involved little red flashing lights of some kind. "We forgive you, though. It's an easy mistake to make."
Callista managed a grunt, but not much more than that as she let herself relax again. Her eyes wandered around, her vision taking in the entirety of the football field and the silhouetted workers in the Station's far-off corridors...
"Got a question, Calli-chan."
"Hm?"
Zapana eyed her former boss curiously. "It could just be me never seeing it before, but there's a zig-zagged tuft of discolored fur on your chest."
"...What?"
"Yeah. It sort of encompasses that entire area." Zapana tilted her head a little as understanding flickered in her eyes. "Wait... wasn't it because of... you know, that case? Back when you were helping to find one of Raleigh's grandkids?"
Callista's silence and thoroughly haunted face spoke volumes. She maintained both of those as she willed her T-shirt back into existence, the fabric piecing itself around her in a cascade of zeroes and ones. In seconds, the discolored tuft was concealed from sight.
"...Don't want to talk about it?"
She shuddered. "Not a snowball's chance in the Sahara." Callista took a deep breath, looking at the back of Risk's head. "So. Risk Analysis?
"Yesterday I took Eastern Australia via New Guinea with only three armies," Risk said without turning around. "Apparently I'm awesome."
Face meets palm. "Not that kind of analysis."
"Well, as the main protagonist of 'Prince of Tennis' would probably put it, you still have a ways to go. It didn't take you long to exploit Zapana's weakness once you found it, admittedly, and you worked the defensive game pretty well. However, until Zapana's curse triggered your temper, your attempts at staying on the offense were subpar at best. Also, I did a scan of you and checked over your movelist, and while it's diverse, it's very... situational. Not enough type coverage."
"Yeah, I see your point... anything else?"
"You get some bonus points for keeping up that barrage with one hand, but let's face it; if you'd remembered your condition sooner, you could've had the match won right there. If you don't get a handle on things, be more observant and learn to keep your rage under lock and key, your career in the PFL will probably be lackluster and short."
Callista fumed, blushing in both embarassment and anger. Had it been forty-five years ago from Zapana's perspective, she would've been ribbing the chronologically-challenged hybrid; instead, she felt like making things up to her somehow. "Hey, Calli-chan? I'm still going to try and have that Gundam marathon when I get back. Want to join me?"
"Pass." Callista sighed to herself, shaking her head. As she spoke reality shifted around her like streams of data, turning her from a Delcatty hybrid to a full-blooded human once more. "I'm going to have to keep my normal schedule. The secretary at the PFL Office told me there's a chance that I'll be getting a call within the next day or two concerning my first real match, and I'd like to stay on-hand to respond to it."
"So... you think there's nothing I can do to cheer you up?"
"Not really."
"Not even a hug?"
Callista finally managed a chuckle. "It's too soon for me to get injured again. Maybe you could hug Risk instead."
"On that note I'm getting out of here. Bye!" Risk blurted out hurriedly, immediately dematerializing and disappearing in a flurry of dice.
"...So much for that idea." Callista reached over, giving Zapana a hug of her own volition. "But I still appreciate the sentiment." Letting go, she pulled out a bottle of anti-bacterial cleanser and applied some to her hands; Zapana's jacket absolutely reeked of alcohol, and she made a mental note to take care of some laundry at her earliest opportunity. "Anyway, I was being serious when I made that offer to hang out this weekend. Feel up to it?"
"I don't see why not," Zapana said with a shrug. "Talk to Teasy's little sister when you get home; she had tickets to the Detroit Tigers game, but she can't use 'em anymore. She may as well give them to us."
"I just may do that." Callista gave Zapana a grateful smile. "Thanks for not giving me a bad time over this."
"You're welcome, Calli-sans."
Callista's smile disappeared as she facepalmed again. "I think you enjoyed that game way too much. Stop stealing my material."
Zapana's grin wasn't all that apologetic.
FINE
-------
-------
Callista was deep in thought as she left the PFL's office. Considering that she was entering entirely new territory for her, she felt that she'd done relatively well. She'd managed to hold her own against three tough opponents in quick succession without so much as a snack break... or at least what passed for her as a snack break.
Still, it had raised at least one issue to work on. For the most part her normal battle style, power-set and habits translated well towards Pokémon moves, but at the moment she couldn't think of any real means of dealing with tanky opponents like Dave beyond boosting her Special Attack through the roof. Stored Power made a decent trump card, but the fact that he'd been able to keep going in spite of both that and Thunder spoke legions about his ability to take a hit.
By contrast, Callista bruised pretty easily. She frowned; she loved her Delcatty Hybrid form like nobody's business, but it never did well on the defensive front. I need to get some practice in, she thought to herself as she walked. I've been away from the Personal Battle scene for far too long.
Her desire to shop had been sated for the day, so she had plenty of free time on her hands. She'd all but retired as the Infinite Defense's leader, being that in name only; nowadays she only issued orders if her fleet back home really needed her. Her successor was competent enough that such requests only came about maybe... once every two weeks on average, maybe more if the Game Masters wanted her to take an active part in current events. She had more time to waste than she'd ever thought possible.
Callista had no real job before deciding to try out for the PFL, and she'd had no desire to search for one; her tenure with the Infinite Defense and the obnoxious economics associated with them (and the Game) meant that she was set for a million lifetimes, maybe more. If there was any profits left over from the Mungojerrie's day-to-day business after dealing with expenses and doling out paychecks, she gave the remainder to those who needed it more than she did.
In short she was rich, she was free... and she was bored. Doing whatever I please is all well and good, but maybe what I need is something to occupy my mind.
--"I still don't know why you're even bothering,"-- Kaoru Matsubara's voice echoed somewhere in Callista's brain. --"If you want to occupy your mind, why don't you just get yourself re-instated as Grand Admiral?"--
Too much effort, Callista reprimanded her. You weren't around when Crocodile and Baroque Works were making things hard for us. Time and time again I was exhausted after a day's work, and it wasn't the 'good' kind of exhausted either. If Curtis hadn't discovered Spamville, and if I hadn't obtained the means of stopping Crocodile for good, I would have worked myself into an early grave... and that's only if that superweapon he obtained didn't do the job first. Asking the Game Masters to put an early end to the problem so I could rest had never occurred to me back then.
--"This coming from the person who dies something like seventy times a year?"--
Shut up, Callista thought, grimacing. I like having the freedom to do as I please, and working for the PFL as a competitor appeals to me. I dislike combat, but I love putting my fighting abilities to good use. At the same time, part of me has always liked to entertain people. I need this, Kaoru.
--"If you say so,"-- Kaoru reluctantly agreed. --"So, what are our plans for the rest of the day? Did you still want to go bowling after lunch?"--
Callista's legs tensed for a split second. Actua---
/---/---/---/
---lly, not this time, Callista said as she came to an abrupt halt in the Mungojerrie's parking lot, miles outside of Muffinville's city limits. She resumed walking at a normal pace towards the space where her Pyro-GX was parked. If Clyve, D and Dave are any indication, I've got my work cut out for me. Especially Dave. Between his tankiness and his Dream Arena gimmick, I'd be struggling against him in a normal fight.
Upon reaching her starfighter, Callista opened the hatch and hopped in. She pushed a series of buttons in quick sequence, sending an audio transmission that arrowed past time and space, flying to a destination an entire reality away...
"You've reached the Grapes of Wrath," a cheerful voice proclaimed. "Admiral Karate speaking."
"It's Callista," the hybrid stated as she closed the hatch. "Aldonza, could you do me a solid and call Zapana? I'd like for her to meet me at Infra Station in three hours."
"Sure," Aldonza confirmed, confused, "but how come? She was hoping to marathon 'Gundam 0083' today. You know she hates being taken away from that."
"Because I'm in the mood for a fight. Zapana may be retired from the fleet, but she's still the most durable fighter we've got. I need a punching bag."
"...Well, okay," Aldonza said. "But fair warning that she's probably going to want to punch back."
"That's alright." Callista smiled. "It'll be good practice for me, anyway."
"Now I'm curious. Why're you interested in doing any sort of fighting?"
"For practice. I'm joining the PFL," Callista told her without thinking about it.
Aldonza's excited and childish squeal, which sounded more natural coming from an adolescent girl than a grown Kittenoan in her 30s, made Callista flinch and cover her oversized ears unsuccessfully. She winced as Aldonza went into a long-winded rant about how undeniably awesome the PFL in general was, her speech rattling her hearing. Maybe it's a good thing Ambush decided not to try out for the league after all, she conceded, wishing that the fox's voice had a volume control.
--"It's not going to kill you to transform back,"-- Kaoru complained. --"Sheesh!"--
--------------------
--------------------
Instead of transforming back, Callista decided to remain in her hybrid form for the duration of the trip, much to Kaoru's annoyance. She did devour a triple-decker bologna-and-cheese sandwich and take a nap on the way, if anything to recover some of the energy she expended during her three fights. The Pyro-GX's cockpit wasn't the best place to take a nap, but since she never minded sleeping in duffel bags large enough to carry her, she wasn't about to register any complaints.
A few hours after she left the Mungojerrie, the opening notes of Information Society's "Repetition" pulled her awake: that was the song Callista had assigned to signal her when the ship was getting ready to exit hyperspace. Taking a few moments to become alert and reassess her situation, she nodded and silently counted off the seconds. Four... three... two... one...
The mottled display around the ship receded back into starlines, and from there into a vast multitude of tiny white pinpoints. Callista double-checked her displays to confirm where she was, then nodded in satisfaction: she'd arrived in the Muffin-verse's analogue to the Zeta Aquilae system.
And on cue twenty kilometers away, a circular portal wide enough to accomodate her ship erupted to life, connecting to the system's counterpart in the Spamville-verse. Callista's scanners showed her the space station on the other end, and the task force guarding it; without hesitation she hit the throttle, rocketing into the portal.
--------------------
--------------------
Infra Station had started life as an underground replica of the Pontiac Silverdome, serving as the Infinite Defense's base of operations for the Spamville-verse from 2007 on. After Callista had laid claim to Zeta Aquilae and been designated an honorary Sailor Senshi by the powers-that-be, the Station had been refitted for deep space and relocated to the system in question. Though there were still alien threats to worry about, it was more likely to last long than in Spamville proper.
Visitors would be hard-pressed to recognize any similarities to a sports arena, at least on the outside. Where the entrances to the station's Lower Level would have been were instead four massive hangar bays, which housed the spacecraft belonging to the station's staff as well as the occasional visitor. The entranceway that normally would have allowed people to haul things from the outside onto the field had been sealed off, although the locker rooms and restrooms had been left alone. The roof had been redesigned and reinforced, though it wouldn't seem that way from inside the facility.
Callista never tired of looking at it, as doing so always filled her with nostalgia.
For now, her attention was focused on the figure standing in front of her on the Station's football field. Zapana was a timber wolf Kittenoan standing a little bit short of six feet tall, fur pitch black and her eyes blue. She favored slacks and a jacket that were both magenta in color, with the T-shirt under the latter a bright yellow and lime-green.
Her clothing might have made her look a bit odd, but no one was about to tell that to her face. While Zapana's more violent days were long behind her (from her perspective, anyway), no one was stupid enough to make her mad; her average musculature belied her planet-splitting physical strength, and the blood in her veins was the catalyst for a raging inferno. Her ears and eyes were incredibly sharp, and had in fact been her initial superpowers as a pup.
Most noteworthy about her was her ability to take a hit; she was quoted at one point as saying that "you would need to drop all of Mount Everest on me before you could begin to do me serious harm", and that was no exaggeration. While there were plenty of people in the Villes who met/exceeded that standard, there were few (if any) who willingly associated with the unpredictably irregular Callista on a semi-regular basis, and retired or not her reputation with the Infinite Defense still stood: she was a physical powerhouse, and everyone knew it.
And as those who knew her personally could testify to, Zapana was a flake. "You dragged me away from my me-time just so you could have a fight with me?" she was saying. "Seriously, Calli-chan?"
"Didn't Aldonza tell you why I wanted you here?" Callista asked.
"Yeah... some sort of practice match or another. But couldn't you have done that sort of thing on the Wild Saturn? Isn't that what the Exodus Holograms are for?"
Callista rolled her eyes. "What, and miss the delightful sound of your voice? The Game Masters don't show up for fights like those. I'll need Risk's perspective on things to help me better see what I need to work on."
"I'll tell you straight up what you need to work on," Zapana told her with a tinge of heat. "You stink at combat, Calli-chan. Can I go home now?"
"Is 'Gundam 0083' really that important to you?" Callista asked. "Even if you'd started on schedule, the marathon wouldn't end until late."
Zapana had an eye-roll of her own to offer. "You've marathoned the entirety of 'Megas XLR' before, Calli-chan. You have no room to talk about my sleeping habits."
"I had good reasons for that!" Callista protested. "You expect me to purchase---"
"Swindle," Zapana interrupted.
"---PURCHASE a giant mech and not learn what its capabilities are? Seriously, what the crud kind of girl do you take me for?"
"The loony kind," Zapana said without a second's hesitation. She shrugged. "But for better or for worse, you're still my boss. Let's get this show on the road. Sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can go home."
A nod. "Good idea. Thanks for putting up with my selfishness, Zapana."
"That's what friends are for," Zapana conceded with a light-hearted smile. "Being with each other through good and bad, being willing to exchange smiles and beating the daylights out of each other."
"...I don't think real friends really do that," Callista told her, sweatdropping.
"Hey, it's too late to make yourself look like a hypocrite. Now you gonna call Risk here or what, Calli-chan?"
"Fine, fine... Commence Personal Battle," Callista said aloud. "Callista O. Wilson-Metallium Vs. Zapana Zquor. Infra Station, Spamville-verse. Special Conditions."
A long silence. Nothing happened.
"Oh, for..." Callista spat, tail twitching. "RISK, GET YOUR OMNIPOTENT POSTERIOR OUT OF YOUR CHAIR AND GET DOWN HERE!"
An oversized cushy-looking chair appeared out of the air in a flock of Sorry! tokens, flying into Callista at high speeds and skidding across the field. A few seconds later, the hybrid had gone from the 45-yard line into the closest end zone.
Zapana did a quick double-take, watching as the Game Master Risk materialized nearby by way of a similar flock. "Zquor-san, how many times do I have to hit her with that chair before it sinks in?" the woman asked, massaging her forehead. "My posterior's not omnipotent. I am."
"You guys knew what you were doing when you asked her to regain her powers," Zapana chortled, all smiles. "You should've known that it restored her bad attitude, too." Her smile dimmed to something a bit more polite. "So, why the delay? Get caught up in a close tournament or something?"
"Nah, we were just in the middle of a Madden '15 match. Vieza didn't want to pause the game until he'd finished his Touchdown dance."
"You people are complete nerds," said Zapana. "I'd almost go so far as to call you all rednecks, too."
"You probably wouldn't be too far from the truth on that score." Risk continued talking as she watched Callista get up, kick the chair out of her way in a hissy fit, and summon a bottle of Dr. Pepper from her discarded shopping bag to heal the injuries caused by her unintentional field trip. "My fellow GMs are the only ones who don't think I'm weird for using a jelly bean to represent my character in Dungeons & Dragons."
"I can do a pretty good Piccolo voice if you'd like to hear it," Zapana suggested.
Risk closed her eyes and smirked. "Your vocal range is good, but it ain't that good." In the background Callista finally managed to suppress her temper, take a deep breath and walk back towards them. "So. She's joining the PFL?"
"Heard of them before, I take it?"
"There've been one or two realities we've ventured through in centuries past where they (or at least a close analogue) existed. Vieza thought about joining them once, but at that time our 'no interference, no outside knowledge' edict was still in effect: we weren't to get involved in their affairs, and they weren't supposed to know about us. Over time he just kinda lost interest, and we moved on."
Zapana nodded. "Any related dangers, Risk?"
"None that we're aware of," the Game Master informed her. "Far as we can tell, they seem legit."
"Good," Callista said as she got close enough to join in the conversation. "I didn't want to think I was wasting my time with them. Now how are we playing this battle?"
"The rules for the fight will be as such: Callista, you'll be limited to whatever Pokémon moves that your current form permits you to utilize. Usage of Shape-Shifter, your cyborg costume, reality warping, and transformations will be prohibited. Standard Personal Battle rules apply."
A nod.
"Zapana, Standard Personal Battle rules apply. For the purposes of this fight, you will be assigned a Pokémon type that is most applicable to you; some of your opponent's attacks may do higher or lower damage as a result. You have no other restrictions."
The same.
"For the both of you, standard HP. For Callista, MP and Special Ability points will not apply. For Zapana, MP and Special Ability points will apply. The battle ends when one or both combatants' HP drop to zero and stay at zero. Are you both ready?"
"Rock it and roll it," Zapana confirmed, cracking her knuckles.
Zapana Zquor
HP: 1,900,000
MP: 0
SA: 4
Fire/Dark
"Ready as I'll ever be," Callista chimed in, tiny claws glimmering in the light.
Callista Wildcat
HP: 450,000
Normal
Far behind and above Zapana in the facility's Upper Level, a video screen lit up with the appropriate information. A blue-tinted, transparent dome encompassed the entirety of the football field.
"Battle music, set... and go!" Risk called, hand raised towards the ceiling. In the same motion, she teleported into her chair and relocated to a vantage point where she could oversee everything.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Zapana, much more eager to battle than Callista would ever be, made the first move; the air around her BOOMED as she turboed past the sound barrier, fist ready to strike. Callista knew Zapana's mannerisms forwards and backwards, however, and she had already utilized Quick Attack to scoot out of the way well before the wolf's fist reached her location.
Looking to exploit the brief opening in Zapana's defenses, Callista lashed out in a Slash attack; even hindered by the Game Masters' rules and limiters, her claws were still very dangerous weapons. Still, all they were able to do was tear through the side of the wolf's jacket and shirt; Zapana didn't so much as twitch when the claws made contact with her skin.
1,900,000 -----> 1,700,000
[EXTREME HEAT]
The air went wavy for a second... and Zapana erupted into full-on flames, doing damage by proximity alone. Callista cried out and poured on the speed via Agility, dashing to a safe distance and escaping the worst of it. "I think I'm beginning to understand why Curtis hates summers in Kansas so much," she muttered, blowing on her hands in an attempt to get them to cool down.
450,000 -----> 410,000
[HIKEN]
"Don't get distracted!" Zapana yelled, shifting control of her flames from a full-bodied technique to a full-fisted one. She reared back a bit before punching the air, and a giant fireball in the shape of said fist propelled itself forwards.
410,000 -----> 390,000
Callista was much faster than the Hiken could travel, and at that distance she had no problem dodging the attack. The fiery fist impacted and dispersed harmlessly on contact with Risk's barrier.
The hybrid hissed in pain as the lingering temperatures from Zapana's first technique seeped past her fur. "Better play it safe," she told herself, a strange sparkling veil of sorts surrounding her for a moment. "Fat lot of good getting past her defenses will do me if I let myself get burned."
[DARK FIRE]
"You gonna dance like a deer from the rampaging wolf?" Zapana cat-called. She held out her hand palm-up, the flames around it turning purple; her eyes' irises took a much darker coloring. "Because if all you're going to do is dodge and play defense, I may as well cook myself a rump roast and call it a day!"
While not technically a Taunt, it was still sufficient to drive Callista over the edge. "Don't you mock me!" she hissed before expelling her anger in a long and loud scream, blasting away any lingering sparks in the air via sheer volume.
1,700,000 -----> 1,250,450
The Hyper Voice washed over Zapana. Whereas Callista's Slash did absolutely zilch to her focus, Zapana's enhanced hearing had a fairly obvious drawback; the caninoid cried out and whined as she unsuccessfully tried to protect both ears with only one hand. Deciding to free up her other hand to guard her hearing, she immediately stooped close to the ground and made a scooping motion upwards, releasing a purple wave of insanely-hot fire that rolled along the ground towards her opponent.
The downside of charged attacks in Personal Battles is that if the enemy is familiar with them, it's likely they know how to respond to those techniques. Callista Bounced away at an angle, the leap taking her well over the upper edge of the Dark Fire and back down toward's Zapana's head- - -
[HALL OF HOLYFIELD]
- - -but in her anger, she completely forgot that Zapana was used to fighting against those with aerial advantages over her. The fist that struck Callista's chest on her way down was both engulfed in black fire and backed up by a fraction of Zapana's tremendous physical power, launching her across the length of the field. There was a muffled yelp as Callista bounced once off the ground, then a crash as she struck the barrier at the other end.
390,000 -----> 0 -----> 120,000
Zapana's eyebrows arched as she watched Callista struggle to get up, recovering from what normally should've been a OH-KO. The HP counter on the scoreboard had dropped sharply to zero, wavered back and forth between that and several different numbers before finally rising up to its current total. "Would that even be considered legal?" she called to Risk. "In the PFL, I mean?"
"Oakon looked into the PFL when we first found out about it," Risk said, thoroughly relaxed in her chair. "There's no shortage of fighters there that have some sort of gimmick or talent that they can safely call their own. Swift's friend Whyte gets much more damage out of Frustration than you'd expect. Another fighter can shift between different forms without needing to waste extra time. Still another can pull opponents into a 'Dream World' of sorts if they're both asleep. I'm pretty sure they'll allow this."
Risk glanced at... something, then continued speaking. "For the benefit of those listening in, Callista has absolute control over her brain and all its functions. Depending on how willing she is to continue fighting, she can force herself to ignore all the pain signals she'd normally receive, pull herself together and keep going, giving the illusion that she's more durable than she looks. HOWEVER, the chances of her successfully doing this will keep dropping with every successful comeback... and eventually, her body will reach the point where it'll just... give up and refuse to obey her brain altogether, after which only healing will allow her to rise again."
"I think I get it." Zapana watched as Callista finally got her feet under her. "Knowing that she has a solid shot at winning fills her with determination."
"...Been playing 'Undertale' recently, I take it?" Risk asked in a deadpan.
"And loving it."
"...Just get out there and fight already," Risk muttered, waving her off.
Zapana smirked and hustled off down the field.
/-/-/-/-/-/
--"Callista?"-- Kaoru's voice called. --"Callista! You in there?"--
I heard you the first time you called me, Callista bit out as she steadied herself, trying to get a grip on her anger. I'm trying to focus here!
--"Callista, would you pay attention to me for five--"--
Kaoru, I said Shut up! Callista snarled as she gathered energy into her being. Not feeling in the right state for Calm Mind's effects to trigger, she opted to raise her defensive stats via Cosmic Power instead; the air around her sparkled in reply. How do you expect me to turn the tables on Zapana if you keep distracting---
It wasn't hard for her to imagine Kaoru going monster-headed at this point. --"HER PUNCH DISINTEGRATED YOUR SHIRT, CALLI-BAKA!"--
Back when Callista had created that form per the Game Masters' wishes, she'd loosely modeled it after the residents of Zapana's homeworld: not only were the reproductive and digestive systems different where it counted, but she was covered from head to toe in fur. To put it another way, the only way for a human to tell whether a Kittenoan was male or female was by hearing their voice.
However, the exclamation made Callista momentarily forget that she was in full hybrid form, not human; instinctively she made as if to recreate the destroyed shirt via reality warping, but found her efforts stifled by Risk's barrier. Frustrated, she shielded herself instead. That clinches it, she muttered as she watched Zapana approach. Tankiness or not, I'm gonna pulverize that wolf.
--"Yeah, have fun with that,"-- Kaoru griped. --"What can you do with one arm?"--
Callista's body took on a soft glow for a few moments. Not recognizing what was going on but figuring it wasn't anything good, Zapana closed in to deck her again- - -
HALL OF HOLYFIELD
1,250,450 -----> 0 -----> 995,300
It was a strange feeling to be on the dealing end of that attack, but that was part of the joy of Copycat. Callista swung with might that wasn't hers... with black fire that wasn't hers... and connected with her opponent in the same place that she'd been hit with. Said fire seeped into Zapana like water down a drain, healing the worst of the injury that she'd been dealt, but the damage was done as the wolf was blasted clear into the opposing end zone.
"I can do that," Callista finally said, fangs jutting out of her mouth as she smiled.
/-/-/
If Zapana was upset at being hit with her own attack, she didn't express it verbally as she got back up. Her eyes, their irises now completely black, spoke for her: she was taking this seriously now.
Zapana closed her eyes and concentrated, a blazing black aura manifesting itself... twisting, reshaping itself, reforming, splitting apart, reshaping itself again, lather, rinse and repeat. The temperatures were positively smothering, the heat unbearable.
Let's see her try and copy this.
/-/-/
Callista's euphoria faded as she felt her senses being stifled one by one. Sight? Rendered negligible by the flames. Hearing? The constant crackling made that impossible. Smell? Forget about it. Touch? Taste? They burned. The Safeguard that she had used earlier was the only thing keeping her skin and fur from following suit.
Telepathy? Zapana's temporary Dark-type made that impossible.
Now that her mind was a bit clearer, though, she remembered Zapana's favorite techniques and knew what was coming. A shield of cyan sparkles flared to life in front of her---
ONE HAND CLAP
---and stopped Zapana's fist cold, interrupting the wolf's attack and sapping her aura from her. There weren't too many things that could stand in the face of her strength, so being stared down by Protect was a new sensation, one that triggered a truly priceless expression of shock.
This gave Callista another opportunity to go back on the attack. She was tempted to zap Zapana point-blank with Thunderbolt, but after seeing the results of one of her earlier attacks it was best to just go with what worked. On the heels of the fading Protect, she again bellowed at Zapana with all her might, rattling the air and floor with a truly hyper Voice.
995,300 -----> 790,000
The attack wasn't as effective as it had been earlier. Zapana wasn't trying to build up strength for any techniques, so she was able to cover both ears and backpedal far enough way to escape the worst of the damage. As soon as Callista's scream petered out, Zapana lowered both hands, gathered residual energy from her surroundings into one of them and fired it off at Callista as a high-intensity beam.
PLASMA BLAST
Callista blurred out of the way, bumping up her speed another few notches by way of Agility. The Plasma Blast detonated harmlessly against the barrier. "Hey, Zapana," the hybrid called out, her tone suddenly jovial. "What are you doing this weekend?"
"...Well, I was asked to sub as a DJ Saturday morning on the radio, but other than that I'm free," Zapana said, unsure of where this was going. "Why---erk!"
Callista blurred into Zapana's face at that moment, looking every bit the cute kitten that she often claimed she was. The wolf silently swore that she could see bishoujo sparkles around her boss. "Because I wouldn't mind hanging out with you and the others..." she mewed. She looked unsure for a moment, upping the Charm factor. "...If that's alright with you, I mean."
"Gah!" Zapana backed off, one arm over her eyes. "Alright Flanders, alright! I'll hang out, I'll hang out! Just get the [Censored] out of my face!"
...
Everyone who had been watching the fight, be they curious passers-by or Infra Station staff, fell silent in shock. Risk sat up in her seat, feeling that she knew what was about to happen.
...
All pretenses at being cute vanished in an instant, replaced by an icy cold fury. "...Did you just swear at me, Zapana Zquor?"
Zapana realized her mistake too late. A sweatdrop cruised down her temple. "Um... oops?"
790,000 -----> 50,460
Between the bad attitude that came with Callista's hybrid form and the mental instability that came with being an adopted child of Zelas Metallium, that slip of the tongue almost cost Zapana the fight then and there. Quick as lightning, Callista assailed her with a long-lasting barrage of Slashes that Wolverine would've approved of. The speed boosts she'd gained from Agility made it almost impossible for Zapana to evade, and by the end of it all the wolf's knees were actually shaking a little.
But only a little. Delivered as it was with only one arm, the prolonged assault quickly tired Callista out... and before she could capitalize on Zapana's low HP, she found her forearm caught in a grip far stronger than any vise. As her anger abated, the situation fully sunk in and caused her ears to droop in apprehension. "...I'm done, aren't I?" she asked, sounding resigned.
Zapana reached her other arm around Callista's shoulders, made as if to pull her in for a quick hug...
"Like dinner, Calli-chan. Like dinner."
...and ruined the moment by having their foreheads violently introduce themselves by way of a headbutt. Zapana's skull was far more durable than Callista's, and the hybrid dizzily sunk into the arms of her old antagonist. This time, her HP dropped to nothing and stayed there.
120,000 -----> 0
Risk's barrier disappeared, and she raised her hand towards the ceiling. "Zapana Zquor is the winner of this Personal Battle!" she called. A small group of off-duty personnel that had gathered in the bleachers applauded their approval.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"Callista?"
Blurred vision. An insistent voice.
A hard surface beneath her. Plastic?
A cold, rough surface under her feet. Concrete?
"Calli-chan, can you drink some of this?"
She felt pain in her chest from where she'd traveled down the Hall of Holyfield. Right... she hits like a train. She tentatively raised a hand up to her wound, sleepily pondering why she was even dwelling on that, then let her hand drop over her chair's armrest.
Something cold, flavorful, and acidic poured into her mouth and down her throat, and she recognized the taste of Dr. Pepper. The pain she was feeling disappeared as her injury healed, and the headache that had been hounding her receded. Ah. That feels much better...
... ...!
Callista's eyes opened, and she immediately slammed one of her arms across her upper torso. She vaguely realized that she'd been placed in one of the stadium's seats, but shut it out in favor of preserving her decency. "Gh...! Is a blanket too much to ask for?!" she hissed, blushing.
Zapana flung the empty Dr. Pepper bottle away, letting one of the Station's staffers retrieve it and take it to the facility's recycling bins. "Why are you getting so worked up over that?" she asked disinterestedly as she sat down. "You have fur, for crying out loud."
Gobsmacked silences on Callista's part were always amusing to see. "... ... ... ... ... ... ...Eh?"
--"Finally someone gets it!"-- Kaoru shouted in exasparation.
"Calli-chan?" Zapana asked kindly, her words slow and measured. "Did you forget that until you decide to change back, you aren't currently human?"
"... ... ... ...Wow," Callista murmured, letting her arm drop. "Just how long have I been like that?"
"For almost nine years," Risk said from another seat two rows down. She was holding some kind of old, black, clunky device in her hands, playing a game that involved little red flashing lights of some kind. "We forgive you, though. It's an easy mistake to make."
Callista managed a grunt, but not much more than that as she let herself relax again. Her eyes wandered around, her vision taking in the entirety of the football field and the silhouetted workers in the Station's far-off corridors...
"Got a question, Calli-chan."
"Hm?"
Zapana eyed her former boss curiously. "It could just be me never seeing it before, but there's a zig-zagged tuft of discolored fur on your chest."
"...What?"
"Yeah. It sort of encompasses that entire area." Zapana tilted her head a little as understanding flickered in her eyes. "Wait... wasn't it because of... you know, that case? Back when you were helping to find one of Raleigh's grandkids?"
Callista's silence and thoroughly haunted face spoke volumes. She maintained both of those as she willed her T-shirt back into existence, the fabric piecing itself around her in a cascade of zeroes and ones. In seconds, the discolored tuft was concealed from sight.
"...Don't want to talk about it?"
She shuddered. "Not a snowball's chance in the Sahara." Callista took a deep breath, looking at the back of Risk's head. "So. Risk Analysis?
"Yesterday I took Eastern Australia via New Guinea with only three armies," Risk said without turning around. "Apparently I'm awesome."
Face meets palm. "Not that kind of analysis."
"Well, as the main protagonist of 'Prince of Tennis' would probably put it, you still have a ways to go. It didn't take you long to exploit Zapana's weakness once you found it, admittedly, and you worked the defensive game pretty well. However, until Zapana's curse triggered your temper, your attempts at staying on the offense were subpar at best. Also, I did a scan of you and checked over your movelist, and while it's diverse, it's very... situational. Not enough type coverage."
"Yeah, I see your point... anything else?"
"You get some bonus points for keeping up that barrage with one hand, but let's face it; if you'd remembered your condition sooner, you could've had the match won right there. If you don't get a handle on things, be more observant and learn to keep your rage under lock and key, your career in the PFL will probably be lackluster and short."
Callista fumed, blushing in both embarassment and anger. Had it been forty-five years ago from Zapana's perspective, she would've been ribbing the chronologically-challenged hybrid; instead, she felt like making things up to her somehow. "Hey, Calli-chan? I'm still going to try and have that Gundam marathon when I get back. Want to join me?"
"Pass." Callista sighed to herself, shaking her head. As she spoke reality shifted around her like streams of data, turning her from a Delcatty hybrid to a full-blooded human once more. "I'm going to have to keep my normal schedule. The secretary at the PFL Office told me there's a chance that I'll be getting a call within the next day or two concerning my first real match, and I'd like to stay on-hand to respond to it."
"So... you think there's nothing I can do to cheer you up?"
"Not really."
"Not even a hug?"
Callista finally managed a chuckle. "It's too soon for me to get injured again. Maybe you could hug Risk instead."
"On that note I'm getting out of here. Bye!" Risk blurted out hurriedly, immediately dematerializing and disappearing in a flurry of dice.
"...So much for that idea." Callista reached over, giving Zapana a hug of her own volition. "But I still appreciate the sentiment." Letting go, she pulled out a bottle of anti-bacterial cleanser and applied some to her hands; Zapana's jacket absolutely reeked of alcohol, and she made a mental note to take care of some laundry at her earliest opportunity. "Anyway, I was being serious when I made that offer to hang out this weekend. Feel up to it?"
"I don't see why not," Zapana said with a shrug. "Talk to Teasy's little sister when you get home; she had tickets to the Detroit Tigers game, but she can't use 'em anymore. She may as well give them to us."
"I just may do that." Callista gave Zapana a grateful smile. "Thanks for not giving me a bad time over this."
"You're welcome, Calli-sans."
Callista's smile disappeared as she facepalmed again. "I think you enjoyed that game way too much. Stop stealing my material."
Zapana's grin wasn't all that apologetic.
FINE
-
AmbushCat - Fuku Fanatic
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