Org. XIV (story)

<Mweheheh... Well, she's used to a hard life, but if Archer's thinking what I'm thinking... She's in for a real shock.>

Rexial slashed several times at Adachi, and each time, he parried. He noticed that it wasn't so much Adachi's speed or skill, but the fact that he could anticipate everything Rexial would do... Even throwing some unexpected moves into the mix stopped working after a while.

"...You're pretty good. I mean, if I had your ability to anticipate enemy movement, or you had my speed, skill, and-slash-or my strength... That's a scary thought."

Nick shrugged, "He's got a weakness." He immediately thought of Thalia, "But, he is human. That's his real weakness... if he was incapable of emotion... he'd be a demon." He thought back to how vicious and uncontained Lance's powers were when he was a nobody.

"Hm, then that's good," Archer nodded. "However, I'll just say this. The most vicious monsters are humans." There was a somber note in her voice. "Alright. Let's leave the girl to rest for a bit," she switched the subject abruptly. "I'll go out and look around."

Dante walked back to the sandlot, then stopped in the.middle as he picked up a struggle bat. "I thought I felt you pass through here" A voice said. Dante turned and saw Enixo, the once dark warrior. "Yeah...I came to try Struggle for a minute" he said then saw Enixo pick up a bat himself. "Think you can handle it...Kiddo?" Enixo seemed to challenge. Dante look at his bat and then raised to Enixo. "I won't know unless I try"

Aleri stepped in. "Hooooold it for just a second. Two people beating each other up with Struggle Swords doesn't make it a Struggle match. You need a referee, and equipment. I figure I'll be the ref, and they keep gear in a shed over there."

He left, then came back a minute later with what appeared to be armor made of velcro, and a stopwatch.

"Both combatants must wear these suits. A total of 100 orbs per person, red for one fighter, blue for the other, must be attached. The goal is to knock off all your opponent's orbs and claim them for yourself. You have 60 seconds in a standard, tournament match. Whoever has more by the end of the time limit is the winner, or if they have all 200 at once."

Aleri held out their respective sets of equipment.

"Oh, and by the way, Magic isn't allowed in Struggle matches, generally. It could damage the stuff we're using, which is technically public property. Put those on before you fight, and get ready. ...Don't give me that look. Like I said, fighting with toy weapons doesn't make it a Struggle."

Enixo helped Dante into his gear, once he finished strapping the child in, he did the same. "Don't go too easy!" Dante said automatically, then raised his bat. Enixo chuckled twirling his bat between his fingers. "As you wish Kiddo".

"Aaaaaaand START!" Aleri pressed the button.

They now had only a minute to steal their opponent's orbs.

<I guess that the game mechanics KINDA make sense with the explanation. If you were to touch an orb while covered in velcro, it would probably stick to you... And taking them one-by-one would be ineffective.
See, my explanation is derived from the KHII manga that was never finished, damn those guys. Otherwise, it wouldn't make so much sense... How can a person hold 100 orbs at once? How can somebody hold 200 orbs at once?>

<My thoughts excatly went I read it>

Dante leapt forward, using three sharp thrusts at Enixo's balls...Orbs, I meant orbs. Enixo twisted out of each shot and swung down on Dantes torso, effectivly dislodging a number of orbs. While the Boy righted himself, enixo snapped the orbs onto his velcro. Dante leapt at him again and again but Enixo just continued to dodge the boy and strike on his body, ripping away orbs with each moment. Before the full minute had ended Dante was stripped off all his orbs and as much as he tried, he couldn't recover

"All you have to do to end the match now is collect them all. Oh, and did I mention that, while Magic is prohibited, Items are allowed?"

"Nope" Enixo said while Dante sat on the ground, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat.

"... ... ..."

"...Time's up. Eni-Er, wait, I thought you had a different name now. Onei? Ione? Oine? Eino? Well, you're the winner for this round."

<Hint, hint.>

<Crap I had a memory laspe!>

Eoni crossed his arms "Eoni! My name is Eoni"

"Sorry, man. I ghad no way of knowing. I was just guessing, since you got restored to normal and all..." Aleri scratched the back of his head apologteically. "Er, you guys want another match? I'm sure Dante'll do a bit better, now that he has a good grasp of things. Here!" He tossed Eoni a Potion. "Heal Dante with that."

<I probably could've stood to be more subtle about it. You better get used to calling him Eoni. ...I kinda like that better than Enixo anyway. Eoni sounds italian. Enixo sounds like Square Enix.>

He handed the potion to Dante who drunk it gratefully. After ward he got up and picked up his bat. "Lets go" Dante said as Eoni nods and raised his bat to the boy before him

"Aaaaand, go!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5892CYpH4Q

<It's been way too long since we've had KH music, and I really like this arrangement.>

Dante rushed Eoni quickly, slashing and thrusting wildly. Eoni blocked most but got hit a few times, the orbs dropping off his torso and arms

"Evasion is the name of the game, guys! Let yourself get hit, and regardless of how much it hurts... you're gonna lose your orbs. That's why I've been trying to keep Rexial from playing. He'd be a menace."

"Who's Rexial?"

"A friend of m- wait, when did you get here?"

Vita had shown up, and was now watching the match. "Those two are pretty good." She commented.

As they traded blows, Eoni stepped inside of Dante's next thrust, then in a high arc, knocked off a good 50 percent of his remaining orbs

"Even the kid-"

"Dante."

"-seems to be holding his own pretty well. I guess I take back what I said before, about being too young for Struggle."

Dante flipped backwards to avoid Eoni's next strike. 'Times's running out, he's got most of my balls' Dante thought then rushed him with feint. Eoni made to block, but Dante prefromed a very interesting 'reversal ' he spun, blue sparks dancing around his sneakers. then Dante knocked Eoni to the ground, taking the rest of his orbs back.

"... 3... 2... 1... Time's up! Dante, you win."

Dante spun his bat and took a bow. "Nice move" Eoni said as he stood up

Aleri jumped onto the platform. "You guys are just full of surprises. I didn't think Dante would be able to turn things around so quickly."

Vita had followed, offering to shake hands with the two. "Yeah, you two are pretty good. I didn't think that it was possible to pull something like that off. Is everybody in your circle of friends this crazy-strong?"

"Pretty much." Aleri sighed. "It makes it so that you have to be absolutely amazing just to keep up."

"And to beleieve he's only nine...but then again I held back a little" Eoni said shaking her hand. "I'm Eoni" he said while Dante huffed and crossed his arms. "I hate it when they hold back" The kid grumbled.

Aleri shrugged. "Better than if they went full-force with all their-" He had to stop himself from saying 'magic, weapons, and other powers.' "-uh, force."