It's got a lot of v.vizards there, who, though are a bit funky and weird, it's pretty fun. They also provide decent guidance, though that might probably just be me not having a mentor and finding these fundamentals fascinating. I've been practicing a lot too, but I haven't got the Dust Devil theory quite worked out just yet.
I guess it's just hard to visualise a huge current of air making an upwards tornado or something. Maybe I should go to Butch's place again, and practice with his pool... Maybe not. Opportunities like that don't come too often. I'd probably have to find some excuse to make it win-win again.
I've also been a lot more active at work too. That's really unusual of me, but since I've found out about that place, I've been brimming with energy.
I even started making a hand-out for the beginner engineers to refer to so they don't have to bug Palchou that much. He's certainly grateful, but once again, he sucks it up to the boss, saying it was his idea. Oh well, I doubt the boss would believe my spur of productiveness anyway. I've been working for 11 years and lazing around for 10, I wouldn't be surprised if the boss saw me as a lazy bum.
... ? There are two people on stage today...
The tab above the door says -
" Now : Ranko & Donniel - Fiery Tango "
" Next : Elden vs Xavier - Watery Showdown "
... Huh. A tango and a showdown? What's cooking today, team performances?
"Yo! Vance!" A bearded man wearing street clothes showed up again.
"Hello, Dekon- Did you wear those last Friday too?"
"N'aw, you know, I wear a set every day of the week! Ahahahahahaha"
... Like I said, weird.
"What's with these team performances?"
"Today's Duet Shows day. It's in celebration of Mahugral's death anniversary."
Ma-who-girl? Who's that? "Ma-who-girl?"
"Mahugral. She's a Huldra, daughter of Munga Rufal, and the great-grandmother of the Holy Knight Ezorie. Her discovery of the sacred stones in Norwegia resulted in the eventual birth of the Holy Knight, when Ezorie was right next to the stones and took in its power by sucking on it like a pacifier. She's a history maker. We celebrate her death anniversary by having male-female duets in the TATA, to ease her spirit by saying that her descendants have continued with life even with her absence."
I have no idea what he just said. Whatever he said sounded pretty deep, like some sort of history. Best not to think about it or something.
"Anyway, you just missed a great show. Ranko danced with Donniel just now! That's not a scene you see everyday, people synchronising both footwork and magic like that. You really could have learnt something from that."
"Sounds exciting. Wished I could have seen it."
How do people synchronise with each others' magic? I don't think I've seen that before. By 'synchronise', did they mean like, allowing opposites like fire and water to twist and twirl around each other, in a helix? Because that would be a splendid view.
... Who's Ranko, again? That name sounds really familiar...
Oh, Xavier's stepping up on stage with another person.
He must be Elden, I guess.
... ? I hear clicking sounds?
The tab board behind me shifted!
" Now : Elden vs Xavier - Watery Showdown "
" Next : Taptakafa & Booris - Windy Tennis "
... That reminds me, wasn't that second tab closed last week?
"Why's the second tab open?"
"Oh, that? For regular days, it's insulting to leave knowing the upcoming performer is weak at magic and v.vizardry, so that second tab's closed. On festivities like today, though, it's better to let them know the program coming up next so they stay interested."
... That makes sense, I guess.
The crowd is starting to count down. I guess Xavier and this Elden guy is going to face off!
5, 4, 3, 2, 1!
Taking off the robe, I see a rather feminine figure with short, blonde hair that reaches his- I mean, her collarbones. She starts to grab a HUGE amount of water from the stage's drain, enough to engulf 3 of herself. Molding it with her hands, she forms a barrier around herself.
"Heicha's Shield!"
That voice... It's too high to be a male's. She's a female, I think.
The water wiggled a bit, and immediately engulfed her, forming a bubble with the water transformed into torrents, rapidly raging about the bubble. That looks really powerful...
"So, what will you do now, Xavier? You can't hurt me with water when Heicha's shield
"Osmosis - Siphon!!!"
Xavier begins his counterattack! The water on that bubble shield starts travelling through the air and collating at the front of his hand. That's a really good move, actually. Having less water than the enemy means you can take theirs, according to concentration physics... Wait, is this a magic or a science battle? Why is it so... jumbled up all of a sudden?
"Heed my voice and lash out at the guilty! Pedunli's Impalement!!!"
The water barrier starts growing these... appendages, or watery spikes from it. The spikes then rush toward Xavier at a really fast speed. Had I blinked, I might have missed it.
... ? The spears are supposedly heading towards his arms and organs... but they divert from their original route just centimeters away, and converge at the center, where the Siphon is? Wow... What did he do?
Xavier has a really confident look on his face, as if that girl's fallen right into his trap.
"Don't get too smug. The symbol of water is black... Assassinate!!!"
!! There's a water spike from the side of that lamp above us all of a sudden, zooming down directly at Xavier! It's movement is so quick and unpredictable! When did water get there in the first place!?
... ! Xavier... isn't hurt by that? ... No, rather, the spike didn't hurt Xavier?
It split into two spikes, went by Xavier's sides of the head, and remerged in front of his face, only to collate at the now-huge blob of water before him! He's collated just about enough to match her Heicha's shield's size. ? He stopped the siphon?
"You have a lot to learn, Elden."
"!?"
"As a v.vitch, killing will weaken you. But killing your foe, and hurting to weaken them, are two different things. Also, don't think that by changing your theories to Chinese culture, I would be unable to defend against them."
... Chinese culture? Is there something I'm missing here?
"Scatter."
The huge blob of water dispersed into many tiny, fine drops of water. It's a beautiful phenomenon, seeing all of these glistening, little stars in the air.
"Freeze."
The drops of water all become tiny, fine ice balls. !! This is the technique he did last time, as a demonstration!
"The moment you stepped on that side of the stage, it was your loss already."
"!? What are you talking about, Xavier?!"
"The symbol of water is black? That's definitely the Five Elements theory by the Chinese. What do you think you're standing on?"
... ? She's just standing on rocky asphalt, is that something to be fascinated with?
"... Earth..."
"Exactly. And Earth precedes water in the five elements. For this final attack... You will lose."
The ice balls all float up high into the air, looking rather ominous. Had those ice balls been spears, it would have looked really cool, just like the video I saw of my Dad using Ice Pelter. A pity those are balls, not spears.
"By my will and voice - Return to Earth!!!"
The ice balls rained down on that Elden person like a snake striking out. With her water bubble weakened out thoroughly, it obviously couldn't block all of the ice balls, and they pelted her body and the ground she's standing on mercilessly.
"Guuagh...!"
... She didn't get up. It's probably too painful to even stand.
The match was over.
*** ***
Xavier walked out of the locker rooms, to be greeted by Dekon and I.
"As expected of Xavier - Still using the same technique, preventing people from knowing what cards you have up your sleeve, huh."
"That was amazing, Xavier! I have never seen such an awesome v.vizard battle before!"
""It's more of 'you've never seen a v.vizard battle before', Vance. You can't really call that a spectacular battle.""
? They're saying the same things at the same wavelength! That's cool.
... That wasn't a spectacular battle?
"That's not good?"
"No. Xavier's a prodigy at it because he has a high natural affinity with water. That girl was trying too hard at water when she's not well-suited for it. It wasn't a kind of exciting battle where two v.vizards who have mastered their own magic styles and techniques compete with each other fiercely."
"Yeah. She's not well-suited for controlling water at all-"
"HEY!!! XAVIER!!!"
"See, for example, v.vizards with high water affinity tend to stay calm and serene for the majority of the time. Just like water, we can accept anything and everything around us readily. It's not as fast as wind, which can accept change almost instantly, but we're comfortable with our own pace." "HEY!!! DON'T IGNORE ME! I'M TALKING TO YOU!!! LOOK ME IN THE EYES WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU! DAMNIT, XAVIER, I HATE YOU!!!"
It's amazing how Xavier can just ignore her utterly while explaining this Elden person's flaw.
"Still, I'm rather impressed she managed to pull off Heicha's shield. That's not easy to control when you don't have much affinity for water to begin with. It's commendable that she got it through sheer willpower, but that's as far as she can probably get." "I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU DOWN SOMEDAY, AND YOU'RE GOING TO SHOW ME THE RESPECT THAT I DESERVE! DO YOU HEAR ME, XAVIER!?!"
... She seems really pissed about that though.
"YOU! YOU... STOP TALKING TO XAVIER, DAMNIT!"
Wait, hold up! She's attacking ME now!?
"Why are you shouting at me like that?"
"XAVIER, WHO IS THIS BASTARD YOU'RE TALKING TO!?"
"... He's my superior."
He probably meant that in terms of work, since he's a regular Engineer, while I'm Assistant Chief Engineer. Ironically, our roles are reversed, and he's the one standing next to the Chief Engineer, Palchou, for the whole day.
... The girl's eyes suddenly sparkled for a bit. I... don't like that at all, for some reason.
"You! Challenge me to a battle!"
... What is she, crazy?! I'm not even good enough to make at least 3 ice spears at a go, and she wants to fight me already?! I'm probably the weakest v.vizard amongst everyone around here!
"Are you nuts?! I only knew this place since last week!"
"You're his SUPERIOR! Which means if I defeat you, I beat him automatically!"
... I don't get how she derived at that logic.
"We'll fight tomorrow, at the Ajganwann park, 9am! Tonight I have to rest up and get my beauty sleep. And don't you dare miss this fight, or I'll take that as an automatic win!"
... She's so bossy, chattering loudly even while walking away. She doesn't even consider me into factor.
"... Now you see why she's not suited for water magic and techniques? A person like her who can't stay level-headed will definitely be unable to control water well. Her mentor wasn't that great neither, forcing her to take water because that's the only type of magic her mentor knows."
... Wow. That... sucks big time.
I'm kind of glad that I didn't get a mentor now, if mentors actually force their own techniques on their mentees.
"... Wait, Ajganwann park? How are we supposed to 'fight' there or something if there's people?"
Dekon steps in out of nowhere, and almost scared me. I almost forgot his existence, even though he dresses in such a flashy manner.
"Not to worry, I'll have Yurka prepare a crowd clearance spell on a rune card. That battle's a go."
... Wait, WHAT? HE'S NOT GOING AGAINST THIS BET THING?!
"Uh, Dekon? You do know that I'm against this battle right?" "Are you serious!?"
"Hey, I want to see Xavier shit himself when Elden finally crawls all over his head. Of course I'm not going to go against this battle."
... Oh my lord... This mess... I don't even know where to start with this.
"... Vance, my pride is on the stake here. I'm going to have to teach you some things to survive."
Oh boy. I don't like how he uses the word 'survive'...
*** ***
"That's it! Water is smooth, versatile, and fluid! Deflect the water away!"
The water spewing from the hose has been redirected to above my head, which by now has a really large blob of water. Controlling water's actually a bit... fun. I'm not used to it though, the blob above me keeps wiggling like a blob of jelly. It's not as calmed and sturdy as Xavier's not that girl Elden's.
"Divert the water away! Imagine it as an animal's tusk with air as its handle! Smash the tusk into the drain!"
I visualised it. The water shaped into a rhinoceros horn, and there's a handle made out of hardened air. Moving my arms, I grabbed the handle and forced the water into the drain!
"Hyaah!"
The water seeped through the metal grate, and poured into the drain beautifully without a splash.
"Good work. That's barely lethal, but it should serve as a protective technique to defend against all her attacks. Just remember the whirlpool theory and this siphon effect."
"Okay. Got it."
"One more thing, Vance. Swinging your arms isn't necessary to move the water around. Practice a little more on doing that same technique, standing perfectly still. You would need to learn to pour the water away while defending against her."
That sounds tricky, to defend and attack at the same time. I have to give it my all, since Xavier trusts me! I can't let my coworker down and show him that his sub-chief is incompetent!
... So, it's tomorrow. And it's 11.03pm now...
"I'll head home now. Practice a bit more, and then get some rest, Vance. You need all the energy to focus. And remember - Keep it cool."
Cool. Got it.
... I feel my mental weight increase by a butt-ton. By that, I meant a ton, 1000kg, completely comprised of people's asses. It's stinky, and it's something nobody wants. I'd have to prep up tomorrow for a battle I don't even want to participate in... Sigh.
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