New Teacher

Meanwhile, at the school campus, the students were Alice and her team were being trained by Maroon and Colette. Maroon walked over to Alice as she did one-handed push-ups.

"Alice, how did you manage to beat Taiyo?" she asked.

"Well, one, I had Pinoy infuse my dress and scarf with crysto that absorb and reduce the powers of active skills and anomaly abilities. I also trained null to, at the bare minimum, be able to cover me when she activated time stop. That way, I was immune to her attack."

"When did you learn all this?"

"Over the course of the summer. Nearly 3 months."

"I see... Alice, would you care to spar with me? Just a 1 minute mock battle."

"Oh, uh, sure. Yoshi!" Alice called over to Yoshi, who was running on the track. "Watch me battle!"

"Ok!" he shouted back.

"Do you need to have your boyfriend watch?" asked Maroon.

"No, but he gives him confidence."

"Confidence, ay..."

Alice got up and charged at Maroon. Alice jolting forward in a burst of speed with her claws extended. Her claws shot out like a bullet, aimed at Maroon's chest. However, from the glass like winder on her breasts skinned a bright light that blinded Alice, making her miss the attack. Maroon dodged around Alice and kicked her forward, making her face plant into the ground.

Her vision started to slowly come back. "What the hell was that!" she groaned.

"You've seen this ability before. It's the same power Star used against you; Skydome. Accept, I use it differently. This outfit allows me to better harness the light and charge it up. I can even use it in flashes like the one that just blinded you."

Maroon extended her hand forward. The glass on her wrist started to charge up and shine bright like diamonds. He fired a powerful beam from her hand, which Alice blocked with a null shield.

Alice the speed blitzed behind Maroon with a high kick to Maroon's head. Maroon ducked and she retaliated with a rib kick. Alice once again stumbled back. "You're... good."

"Experience will get you that. I must say, I'm disappointed. In these 35 seconds, I haven't seen anything impressive."

"Ok, ouch. Thanks, teach." Alice said sarcastically.

Alice leaped and came down with a powerful axe kick aimed at Maroon's shoulder. Maroon brought up her arm to block it, then parried Alice off of her with a small light blast. Though, Alice landed on her feet, recovering and kneeing Maroon in the stomach. Maroon's eyes widened in pain as she felt Alice's powerful knee strike her rib cage.

The two broke apart. Maroon's eyes narrowed as she extended his hands, her light flaring with a beautiful glisten. She thrust her palms forward, sending a blinding wave of light surging toward Alice.

Alice raised his hand, and null energy surrounded her, forming a barrier that swallowed Maroon's light attack in an instant. But Maroon wasn't finished. She charged through the remnants of her own attack, fist-cocked back, and launched a punch at Alice's face. However, before her punch could connect, her timer went off.

"I suppose that's it." Maroon said while pulling her hand back.

Alice fell to the ground in defeat. "Damn. If I can't even beat you..."

"Though Taiyo's rank is higher and her active skill is much, much stronger than mine, I am more skilled and experienced."

"If I lost to you, I'd definitely lose to Star."

"Why are you trying to get so strong?"

Yoshi came over and gave Alice a hand up. "Hey, that was impressive, honey. You were so cool."

"Thanks, sweetie." responded Alice with a smile on her face.

"I see." said Maroon. "So, that's why you get stronger."

Sybil walked over to Alice. She handed Alice a towel. "Wow, sugar, you're really something else."

"Oh, thanks." She said. "Uh, I don't think I quite remember your name yet."

"It's Sybil, hun."

"Right, I'll remember that. H-Hey, you've been getting pretty close to Yoshi, haven't you?"

"Yeah, he's such a sweet little thang."

"..."

"Oh, no need to get jealous, darling. He reminds me a lot of my twin brother back home. We actually connected because of you."

"Because of me?"

"Yeah. He was concerned about you one day, so I sparred with him and cheered him up. He genuinely loves you so much. That's a man you don't even wanna let go."

"I know. You don't seem that bad, actually."

"Thanks, but Sylvie would probably argue that."

"You seem like a bit of a battle freak." Alice said while chuckling. "All I see you do is train."

"It's a good pass tike. You wanna throw down too?"

"I'm... a bit tired."

"Ok, how about when you are not tired?"

"Uh..."

Maroon looked at the two. She stared at them before walking away with a disappointed look on her face.