Marie
~
Oblivious to the surrounding world, Marie entered the Academy's grounds to the tune of birdsong surrounding her steps and a fresh breeze rolling around her ankles. Although late by at least a few weeks, as she hadn't really taken a look at the paperwork, she was certain that she would be prepared for anything, unless the people that came to meet her were dumb-butts. She even did her hair just-so, and hiked up her school uniform a few inches to make sure that she looked extra appealing to the God of Youkai; she'd heard that he liked short skirts. Somewhere. Or she swore that she had. Whatever it was, she did it anyway, and skipped along to the entrance to the girl's dorm. It seemed as good a place as any to start, given the lack of an escort.
She softly knocked on the door of the girl's dorm with an ivory wand intended specifically for knocking, lest her delicate knuckles be bruised. She waited a few moments, heard no answer, then pushed her ear against the door and knocked on it with the ivory wand one more time, and still received no reply from the empty air within. Mary - stopped dead still and stared at the sky for a few moments - Marie put on her doorknob-turning gloves and twisted the golden handle open with a small twist of her palm and pushed it open all the way, only to come face to face with an elegant mask that covered somebody's entire face, who stood just far enough away that the door brushed past their nose.
The young Youkai's mouth fell agape at the sight of who waited for her; the assassin that had been hunting her since murdering her parents! And she got their faster, despite it being rush hour! Before she could make any further action, the assassin tackled her with telekinetically propelled shoulders that punched her gut like a keg of Vodka! The two of them went hurtling across the grounds outside the girl's dorm, twisting and turning int he air with Marie's flailing limbs scraping against the hard grit, which tore away her doorknob-turning glove to reveal the delicate skin and manicured nails beneath, until their flight tackling smashed into a nearby tree, which let loose a might crack with their collision.
The assassin, nimble and unhurt, leaped away from the tree with a well-placed kick that widened the split across the great tree's trunk, and the alcove in which Marie struggled to regain her composure. Marie scarcely saw the twirling flip of the assassin before she felt the weight of the tree begin to crush her, hurling herself out of the way before it inwardly collapsed on itself. She landed in a tight ball that allowed her to roll to her feet, just in time to spot a flying fist towards her beautiful face and duck beneath it, and finally gave herself an opportunity to go on the offensive! She jammed her head straight back up, hitting the assassin's center of mass and sending her crumbling forwards with the force of her own fist.
But the assassin was already back on her feet, from a handstand to cartwheel, by the time Marie looked back! With her ivory wand still clutched hopefully between her fingers, she bathed it in an aura of violet energy and hurled it at the assassin with a firm flick of her wrist, turning tail, literally, and fleeing before she could see where it collided. Hearing a sickening crack, she trusted that it had broken a bone, as she sprinted towards the sport court and scrambled over the fence. But, her hope was short lived, as two halves of the ivory wand, sharpened by their snapping by the assassin's flat palm, came hurtling after her, slicing off a lock of her not-gold hair while the other barely skimmed between her thighs in a way that was probably metaphorical!
Her heart gripped by fear and adrenaline, Marie cast her gaze about desperately in search of something on the basketball course to help her hide and saw only the basketball net without the actual net. A smirk coming to her lips, she leaped into the air and gripped the metal ring lightly between her fingers, using the momentum and angle granted by it to soar through the air, with her luscious golden locks flowing behind her, tinted by color, and her tail wagging happily at the chance of a brief evasion. She was headed straight towards the roof of one of Youkai's many halls, which she could hopefully use to get to safety, as long as she stayed one step ahead!
This slight victory was eliminated by the wicked sight before her, as the chainlink fence that served as a perimeter for the court twisted away from the ground beneath her, bathed in an amethyst aura, and leaped into the air in the form of a gigantic net! She could do little but push back against it with her own telekinesis to stop being caught, but her own momentum was ruined, and she just fell short of the chainlink net. With a grunt, she was sent hurling across the rough ground, hitting and being dragged along it by momentum that tore her clothes and gave her many owies. Rolling onto grass was her only mercy, but at least she was prepared for the assassin's next move; as she surrounded herself with an orb of force.
The assassin, sprinting faster than any mere mortal, attempted to grip Marie by the throat with her telekinesis, but found only that her outstretched hand and its extended reach slammed against the orb; and sent its perfectly spherical surface careening across the school grounds. Marie giggled wildly as she was tossed around in her perfectly safe ball, rolling at rapid speed across ground that would otherwise hurt her, until she rolled across the surface of the pool and against its edge, curved for safety, which served as a ramp for her makeshift vehicle and shot her far into the sky; high enough to see the beautiful area surrounding the academy and revel in its beauty for just a few moments. She was weightless and without care.
Inevitably, gravity got pissed off because somebody was defying its iron will, and grasped her firmly enough to send her speeding towards the hard ground. Unable to affect her new path, Marie simply waited to hit the ground unharmed in her sanctuary. Instead, she curled up in a ball and squealed as the purple orb instead landing on the prepared foot of the assassin, who had laid flat on the ground and pushed her legs into the air, in preparation for a series of bicycle kicks of epic proportions. A thousand times in less than a second, her feet collided with the defensive orb, her legs a blurb to the sight of anyone as they blazed with a burning violet light.
With all that energy built up on one of its side, and rocking its inhabitant so violently that she vibrated, the orb could do naught but be propelled at a specifically designed angle against one of Youkai Academy's buildings, specifically reinforced for attacks of sheer force. All the way, Marie screamed, as she came to the realization that her assassin had exquisite aim; and she was heading straight for a window just large enough for her form to slip through. Her orb crashed against the edges of the window and shattered, her concentration unable to stand against so much pressure, and sent the Lycan hurtling through the glass shards in its place.
A few moments of silence passed for Marie, as she picked out shards of glass from her flawless skin and unjammed herself from the junk she'd landed in; most of it musical instruments, as she realized that she'd landed near the hall used for musical practice and performances. She didn't want to linger for long, however, so she wiped her nose clean of the blood from excessive use of her powers and rushed through the door, using only her bare hands thanks to her doorknob-opening glove being destroyed, and found herself in the ample space beyond. She barely paid attention to the electric guitar that had strapped itself around her shoulders.
While catching her breath, her hands on her knees and her vision hazy, Marie heard the scrambling of her assassin pursuing her, crawling in through the window and landing in the mess of musical instruments herself. For the moment, Marie resolved to fight back; she wasn't going to take this lady's attitude for any longer, and she was going to win! It was only fair! With fresh resolve in her eyes, the adrenaline blasting through her veins so fast that she could ignore the pain, Marie strengthened her stance and brought her fists up before her eyes, into a guard that she learned from a big book of boxing techniques. It would have to be enough. Her beautiful golden wolf form would, of course, serve well, but she'd end up both naked and injured if she used it. And she wasn't going to be both of those things again; not after the incident with Nurse Pervonalykan.
The assassin soon emerged from the doorway, slightly more ruffled thanks to her tumble through the storage room, and with her own electric guitar hanging from her shoulders. Glaring from behind her mask, the assassin charged at Marie with her fist raised and imbued with psychic energy that took the form of purple ice; intended to break Marie's guard. But each was trickier than the other expected, as both raised their left knee for a jab at the other's stomach before the hit could collide, leading to their knees smacking together and sending them tumbling over each other, before landing on their feet and spinning round to roundhouse kick the other's head. Both hits missed.
Each enraged at the other's successes and their own failures, Marie and the assassin began to throw punches, kicks, and parries at each other in a flurry of motion that was impossible to follow, save for the bursts of pain that shot across the other's limbs with each of their identical strikes. Their battle was a dance in perfect synchronization, where one took a step back and the other took her place, before colliding again and sending the latter back for the former to regain her ground. The whirlwind of beautiful fighting was not to last, however, as it came to close with an ear-shattering bang, each of their fists slamming into the other's jaw and sending them hurtling towards the glass ceiling of the recital area.
Body wracked with glass shards, head spinning from the blow it took, Marie struggled to her feet with her shoulders slumped, just in time to see her foe doing the same, on the opposite side of the glass rooftop, with a chasm between them brought by their epic collision. She was too exhausted to go on, with most of her psychic energies gone and her body having taken more of a bruising than it ever had before. Marie's only straw of hope, and a short one at that, was that the assassin seemed to be in an identical position; there would be no surrender, not yet, nor a victory for the woman who had killed her parents those few short years ago.
Gripping the neck of her guitar like it was the only support available, Marie recalled all the emotions of that single moment that changed her life. The moment that would turn her from a simple wolf pup to a Lycan and a woman. The splash of warm blood across her cheeks. The heavy lead that lined her softly beating heart. The hot tears that scarred her golden cheeks. And the sight of an assassin, masked, looking down at the two wolves like they were a masterpiece of her work, before sprinting away from the scene with only her shadow left behind. She hated that shadow more than anything else, and it lurked just fifty feet away from her. And that loathing gave her renewed strength.
"You!" Marie yelled pathetically across the chasm, her finger weakly pointing at the assassin while her other hand tightly grasped the neck of her electric guitar. "You...are going...down...lady. And your...stupid mask...too..." Through her blurry vision, she saw the assassin tilt her masked head in a gesture of both mockery and curiosity at how this broken and beaten young woman was going to win this battle. Giggling softly, madly, to herself, Marie hefted the neck of the electric guitar in her palm and brought her pinched fingers towards the strings that line it. "These...have always been a weapon of rebellion. And the shape is perfect for channeling my powers..." She let out a short fit of laughter. "And I am going to rock you back to Youkai Hell!"
The assassin barely had time to comprehend before Marie's axe was alight with the power of her soul. The base glew softly violet, a still lake waiting to be rumbled to its very core and send a tidal wave of rock over its opponent. The neck buzzed in anticipation, volatile sparks rained from it in preparation for the inferno of metal that would scatter across it and set the sky ablaze. Even its pattern seemed to shift, shifting wildly like a tornado being split apart from the inside by a gust of unwrought emotion. And finally, the strap that bound it to Marie dug its ash-black claws into her skin to serve as the mountain that would carry her unmoveable will to the instrument of rock!
Their eyes met across the chasm, as the assassin's guitar was similarly brought to life; but it was Marie's challenge, and her chance to begin her vengeance. Her fingers danced softly across the strings, a low thrum of energy that built and built across the stage. It was the first wind of an oncoming storm, stretching on for infinity, before the first bolt of eldritch lightning was brought to its wrath and Marie's fingers struck the strings enough to send a telekinetic blast against the assassin, unable to defend against the attack. Before the assassin could bring up her defense against Marie's storm, three separate strikes and bolts were sent against her in rapid succession, with the storm blasting against her ears, serving as Marie's shield, as her fingertips continued strumming.
The assassin fought against the storm with an unstoppable inferno that curled around the neck of her guitar in the form of a blazing purple dragon. As her fingers rattled across the strings, filling the rooftop with notes that heated the glass itself and robbed the air from Marie's lungs, the dragon twisted and writhed, its form thickening and rankling with the potential that burned along the assassin's guitar, riffing with extended notes that made it pop and burn with sparks until it could scarcely fit on the guitar's neck for any longer, as it singed the assassin's hair. Finally, wincing, she released the drake of inferno with an extended screech of her guitar.
The violet wyrm of uncontrolled vengeance burst across the chasm between the rockers, singing glass and burning air with black fumes in its wake. Its power was enough to wriggle through Marie's storm, even as her fingers maniacally plucked the strings in an attempt to send it away, but even the flames lost in the whirling hurricane were not enough to deter its course. The drake's tail wrapped around Marie's throat while it crawled down her throat, filling her lungs with flames that made her cough black smoke and wrack violently. She was barely able to keep her storm up, but she'd survived the attack, just barely, and caught the sight of the assassin failing to keep up her defense after shoving all of her energy into one attack.
This was Marie's only shot at true revenge and victory; her rock would be more powerful. Her fingers struck the guitar's chords like lightning, which was just what she intended, as her feet gripped the ground and her body half-crouched to brace her guitar against her opponent enough for her to unleash the emotions that ran pure from her heart. There was no outside world any longer, not in Marie's reality, not for this moment. There was just her, the assassin, that rooftop, their axes, and the power of metal. This was what fuelled her, what rang true in her head, and what guided her hands to unleash a riff mighty enough to shake the air.
Marie gave three strikes of her pinched fingers, three bolts of amethyst lightning collided with the assassin's hand, making her grasp on her guitar loosen as she cried out in pain. Marie dragged her nail along the length of one string, while her other fiddled and jumped across its tuning like living electric, connecting the two of them for only a moment, as its tip struck the assassin's forehead and its end stayed connected to the guitar. Her head was assaulted psychic energy that sent the assassin's head back a little further with each second, shocking her body until she had no control over it for any longer, as she released the guitar and crumpled down to her knees. Finally, Marie brought her fingers trailblazing across the string of her guitar, her entire body burning with crystalline energy as lightning coalesced along the neck of her guitar, rushing towards its tip to form an orb as big as Marie herself. With the last few notes of her metal ballad, the orb shot across the chasm and collided with the assassin's chest, sending her flying across the horizon with nothing but a scream to mark her passage.
The arena for their rock-off vanished in moments, as Marie's guitar shrinked back to its normal form and left her feeling powerless. But she'd won. It was a victory. For the moment, she'd defeated her assassin. This thought allowed her to shamble over to the edge of the rooftop, pump her fist in victory only once, before unconsciousness claimed her and sent her falling off of the edge of the rooftop. She landed safely atop a bush, but suffering from extreme exhaustion and covered with bruises. Somebody would have to take her to the nurse...