Chapter 25 - Unity(Part 5)

"Missed me! Missed me again!" She grinned, as she ducked under my fist and whipped the side of her palm at my throat, striking me there and eliciting a sharp gasp.

"That hurt...," I muttered, as I drove my knee up towards her.

She swiftly sprang up, blunting my strike with her feet before swinging both her palms in towards the side of my neck. I then reacted on instinct, turning my head to the right and grabbing her left hand between my teeth, chomping down on it as her right palm thudded against the left side of my neck.

"O-owwww!" She exclaimed in alarm, before forming a fireball with her other hand.

I quickly let go of her hand and sprang back while swinging my foot up towards her, before she swiftly slammed the bottom of her foot onto mine and kicked off, backing away.

"You totally bit me!" She frowned indignantly, as she shook her hand with a grimace.

"Why did your hand taste like chocolate?" I inquired in bemusement, licking my lips.

"Wha-...? Y-you can taste it? I, uh, had a chocolate bar before this, but it wasn't melty since it was in the fridge, so I figured I didn't need to wash my hands after I was done," She replied sheepishly.

"Cool, though you didn't need to defend yourself, it's no big deal. Mind if I get another taste?" I grinned jokingly.

"Hah, you want another bite? Come and give it a try, if you can," She smirked in response, before she she sprang up, grabbing a metal bar hanging from the ceiling and leaping across the rings and bars around, shooting down fireballs at me.

I sprang back to evade, racing across the room to dodge her attacks, before jumping towards a pillar and leaping off of it, grabbing a hanging ring.

"Guess the nullification doesn't work if I touch you with my teeth," I remarked with a wry smile.

"Heh, you're coming up here? Big mistake, this is my turf!" She grinned, as she suddenly raced across the handholds hanging from the ceiling, barreling towards me at an alarming speed...woah, she's seriously fast!

I quickly let go and began to drop back down, before she suddenly launched herself towards me, grabbing my shoulders with her hands and wrapping her feet around my knees, slamming me onto the floor on my back.

"Ow...," I muttered with a sigh.

"The way you move, there's a lot of wasted movement. Your reactions are pretty good, but you rely too heavily on being instinctive. And your attacks feel like one dimensional and like they have some uncertainty behind them. There's a lot of room for improvement though," She remarked, as she got off me and helped me up.

"I'm not used to attacking without trying to kill my opponent, though...I usually fight with a sword, and even without it, I generally got for the neck, chest or eyes when bare handed," I informed her.

"Wow, that's kinda scary. After you ran through my fireball the first time, it did feel like you were locked onto my neck, I kinda got chills...but then you threw that clumsy punch instead," She laughed in amusement.

"Okay, so I need to sharpen up my attacks, then? I still think I'd rather have a weapon though...even a wooden sword would be fine," I sighed wistfully.

"Well, some of us do use weapons, but only ones like tasers and stun grenades, nothing that can do fatal damage like a sword or a gun, unless it's with something like rubber bullets or tranq darts," She explained with a shake of her head.

"In that case, how about something like a blunt sword that tases people?" I suggested after mulling it over.

"Hey, that could work. We have a guy who makes us custom gear and weapons as we request, he was saved by Unity back in the day so he helps us for free," She informed me.

"Sweet, sounds good."

"We'll get to that later. For now, let's continue, shall we? This time, we'll do close combat, I won't use my flames or jump across the ceiling," She remarked with a smile.

"Isn't that too much of a handicap? I won't be doing anything different, after all," I pointed out.

"Yeah, it's fine...you're pretty strong, and you've got decent speed too. But your technique is way too sloppy. Now that I know what you can do, I know that you can't hit me," She smirked tauntingly.

"Oh, is that so? Okay, then, challenge accepted, Monkey," I replied wryly.

"That's Fiery Monkey, Red. Alright, bring it on!"

"Be careful what you wish for!" I exclaimed, as I drove my fist towards her.

She ducked under my punch and gave me a sharp jab on my side, just under my armpit, before striking my other wrist as I began to raise my arm.

I then swung back the arm I tried to punch her with, trying to grab the back of her head. She ducked to evade, before letting herself fall back, planting her hands on the floor before raising herself up and unleashing a barrage of rapid kicks at me.

I managed to block a few, before she struck me on the middle of my chest and sent me stumbling back, before she sprung forward off her arms and shot straight towards me before I could regain my balance.

I quickly drove my leg straight out towards her, and as my foot closed in on her midriff, she sidestepped to avoid my kick at the last second, before grabbing my leg and giving it a sharp tug, pulling me off my balance, as I fell down on my back again.

She swiftly sprang onto me, holding down my wrists with her feet while she sat on my chest, smirking down at me triumphantly.

"What did I tell ya? You can't touch me," She laughed cockily.

Yeah, she's a lot more skilled than I am, there's no denying that. But this isn't too bad...her butt feels kinda nice on my chest. And I don't dislike the way she's pinning down my wrists either...huh, I think this might have just awakened something in me...

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