Promotion Exam, Part 4

"What did you just call me?!" Jamie snaps from her place to Mikey's right.

"Do you at least want me to boost you up?" Ella asks from Mikey's left.

A rush of flames begins spewing from Mikey's pistols, which Mikey uses to rocket down the staircase towards Chishiki, and setting the dorm house ablaze in the process.

"I knew this was gonna happen," Jamie sighs as she picks up the bucket of water beneath her, and splashes it across Mikey's flames. Meanwhile, Ella grabs the hose attached to the sink faucet and begins sprawling the entire dorm house, protecting it from Mikey's flames.

Chishiki watches Mikey continue flying towards him, and brings both of his arms up to block, reinforcing them with Cursed Power. But Chishiki's defense is futile when Mikey slams into him with a flaming tackle, sending Chishiki flying backwards and shattering the glass living room table. Mikey then lands at the bottom of the staircase.

"Please be careful!" Ella snaps.

But Mikey ignores Ella's plea. "Exploding Flame Bullets: Embers!" Mikey shouts as he aims the barrels of his dual pistols at Chishiki, firing off a volley of flaming bullets his way.

Chishiki counters by removing his second glove and crouching down low, placing both hands to the ground. "Alchemy: Ice Floor," Chishiki says, and starting from where his hands -bubbling with olive green Cursed Power- touch the floor the floor turns to ice.

"Stop destroying our house!" Ella snaps.

"Oh, well now we need Mikey's flames," Jamie sighs.

Chishiki turning the floor to ice causes Mikey to lose balance. "Woah woah woah!" Mikey cries as he frantically flails his arms about, desperate not to fall. But Mikey fails as he slips on the ice, causing the barrels of his dual pistols to angle upwards and fire into the ceiling, shooting right through it and igniting the floor above on fire.

***

"WOAH!" I cry as I leap to the side, dodging Mikey's flaming bullets which come flying up from below, shooting straight through my bedroom floor. "What was that about?!"

"A sign from Mikey?!" Grover suggests as he pops up and rushes to the hole in the floor. The two of us peer down, seeing Miley engaged in combat with who we're assuming to be one of the Assassins sent my way.

"Not a sign that we've gone over," I reply.

Currently, I'm hiding out in my bedroom with Grover. The plan is that if an assassin somehow gets through the first line of defense (Nick taking on Hitoshī with Austin sniping from above), or the second line of defense (Mikey and Jamie stationed outside my bedroom with Ella to juice them up), then Grover will just teleport me away.

Hiding and doing nothing. That's my part of the plan…

***

"He changed the texture of the floor…that must be Slayer Chishiki, the alchemist!" Ella deduces.

"And up there is Jamie Ebba, Slayer Gorira," Chishiki replies as he turns and peers up at Jamie, who gets chills sent running up and down her spine from Chishiki's bloodlust-filled Cursed Power Burst. "Your Cursed Ability, Adaptability, is too similar to mine, and I don't like it."

"Yeah? And what of it?!" Jamie snaps as she punches her fists together, turning her right hand and wrist into iron. Jamie then jumps up and leaps down the staircase, flying towards Chishiki. Chishiki, in response, turns away from the fallen Mikey (who's busy sliding around on the floor, still unable to stand up thanks to the ice), and turns his attention back to Jamie, reinforcing his own right fist with Cursed Power and punching it towards Jamie.

Jamie's and Chishiki's fists collide in a burst of Cursed Power. But Jamie then slips on the ice, causing her to lose balance, and gives Chishiki the chance to knock Jamie away with a Cursed Power Barrier reinforced kick.

"You left yourself wide open!" A voice shouts from behind Chishiki, and Chishiki spins around to see Mikey leap off of the ground, aiming a Fire Fist his way. Chishiki counters by crouching down low and touching both hands to the floor, which begin bubbling with olive green Cursed Power.

"Alchemy: Tar Floor," Chishiki says, and starting from where his hands touch the ground, the floor returns back to its wooden form, rather than ice, before turning black and sticky, like tar. A small "wirrr" noise escape Chishiki's high-tech boots as the fans in the soles of his boots begin spinning, propelling Chishiki an inch above his tar floor, so that he's not trapped.

"What the Hell is this?!" Mikey snaps as he slowly sinks into the goop. Mikey attempts to wiggle himself free, but thanks to the tar, he's lodged in the floor from the waist down, with his arms bound to his sides.

As for Jamie, her iron arms turn back into their usual fleshy color, which Jamie aims upwards, stretching them out like rubber and grabbing into the ceiling above. Jamie then retracts her rubber arms, using them to lift herself upwards, and evading the tar floor.

The tar floor then continues up the staircase towards Ella, who finds herself trapped as well. "I can't…get free!" Ella cries.

Now…Jamie is the only one not trapped by Chishiki.

"Ella, hang on!" Jamie cries as she scratches her rubber legs towards Ella, wrapping them around her. Jamie struggles to retract her rubber legs and pull Ella free from the tar.

"Ella, can you boost my strength with your Wave?" Jamie asks.

"I can't, I can only use my Waves with my hands!" Ella answers.

"Yeah, and I can't burny my way out of here with my arms bound like this either!" Mikey calls to the two girls.

"Jamie, it's down to you," Ella says, causing Jamie to gulp.

Chishiki then retracts hands from the floor and stands back up, turning the entire floor back into wood except for the tar circles bounding Ella and Mikey. This gives Jamie the chance to deactivate her rubber and jump back down to the ground.

"Slayer Goriria, although my mission is to assassinate Slayer Fūjin, you are the one I am most excited to fight," Chishiki says.

"I don't blame you, it's not often that you meet someone with a similar Cursed Ability to your own," Jamie smirks as she gets into a fighting stance.

And then…the fight begins.

Jamie punches her fists together, turning her hands and wrists into iron and the rest of her arms into rubber, reinforcing them with her yellow Cursed Power, before charging Chishiki. "Adaptability" Rubber-Iron Cloak!"

Chishiki, in response, crouches down low, touching his hands to the ground which begin bubbling with olive green Cursed Power, and saying: "Alechemy: Ice Floor!" Starting from where Chishiki's hands touch the ground, the floor turns into ice (other than where Ella and Mikey are bound by tar).

Jamie slips in the ice a little bit, but continues charging towards Chishiki nonetheless.

In response, Chishiki hops upwards, and when his feet touch the ground, ice-skates shoot out of the soles of his high-tech boots. Chishiki then uses his ice-skates to slide towards Jamie.

Jamie shouts; "Adaptability: Iron Gauntlet!" And punches the ground, kicking up shards and chunks of ice and sending them flying towards Chishiki. Chishiki slides to the side to dodge, then continues ice-skating towards Jamie. Once he's in front of Jamie, Jamie launches an Iron Gauntlet to Chishiki's face, who ducks beneath the attack and slide-tackles Jamie's knees, knocking her over.

Chishiki then touches his hands to the ground again which are bubbling with olive green Cursed Power, and says; "Alchemy: Tar Floor," and changes the floor again.

Swiftly, Jamie counters by changing her arms into rubber and stretching them upwards, grabbing the railing at the top of the stars. Jamie then retracts her rubber arms, lifting herself up to the railing above, and evading the tar.

"Adaptability: Modified Rubber-Iron Gauntlet!" Jamie shouts as she turns her feet and ankles into rubber, before stretching her rubber legs towards Chishiki, who hops out of the way to dodge. Jamie then retracts her rubber legs before they get stuck in the tar.

Chishiki's boots allow him to levitate over the tar. "Another tech user, eh? Reminds me of Austin…" Jamie says to herself under her breath. "I need to get those boots!"

Chishiki withdraws his hand from the floor, reverting the floor back to its wooden form, allowing Jamie to jump down.

"Adaptability: Iron Cloak!" Jamie shouts as she punches her fist together, turning them into iron, before charging Chishiki again. Once in front of Chishiki, Jamie launches an iron fist towards Chishiki, who counters by reinforcing his hand with his olive green Cursed Power and catching Jamie's fist, which then reverts back into flesh.

"Your alchemy works on living things?!" Jamie cries,

"No, at least not in flesh and blood," Chishiki answers. "But your iron skin, however, isn't flesh. Therefore, I can change its texture into whatever I want, into skin."

Chishiki then reaches down with his free hand and reinforces it with his olive green Cursed Power, touching it to the floor. "Alchemy: Ice Floor," Chishiki says, as he turns the floor below Jamie into ice. Jamie finds the iron soles of her feet stuck to the ice.