Misaki experimentally reached to the back of her mouth with her tongue, checking for a canker that might just be nestled in the back of her jaw. It could definitely just be battle damage from her recent battle, of course. Her strange, demonic copy hadn’t left her very functional by the end of it, and she was still sore all over. A cut at the back of the mouth is small potatoes compared to everything else the shapeshifter had inflicted on her.
Still, she was pretty sure it was just a canker sore in this case. She didn’t recall eating this much citrus, but it was certainly annoying.
“...Hmmm.” The Florist muttered with an occupied tongue, before leaving the canker sore alone and letting her hands fall to her side, brimming with energy.
That last fight had left her breathless in more ways than one. She’d seen everything she could still aspire to be in this world, and just how much stronger other beings still had the capacity to become. She’d gotten some idea of the wider world from her recent interactions with the teahouse crew she’d met, and they were certainly stronger than her when they had their interaction, but it hadn’t truly hit her until she’d had the strange shapeshifter knock her around - using her own form, and her own techniques, no less.
It might’ve been something that would’ve left another person depressed, and to a small degree, Misaki was - She’d found out she was languishing on her own strength as she was beat around by a stronger fighter - but it also gave her excellent tips on how to increase her own strength…
She hadn’t trained a lot, and much of it was duplicating what she’d seen the copycat do in the fight, but she had trained, pushed herself, exerted herself, and it seemed like she’d made more than a little bit of progress. In just a brief period, her energy had vastly expanded from what she’d had before, the difference between a candle and a campfire, and she’d started learning to do things like… move fast. Punch harder. Aim. Put a bit of an extra oomph into her blasts of energy. Things she was sure most fighters had learned by now but were new to her.
There was a certain level of eagerness to meet the copycat again, but she supposed that could wait for a little while. After all, she was certain her new rival had been working on their abilities as well. She’d need to surpass her rival properly in order to crush her, and the thought was one Misaki relished.
The thought caused her to hum a happy tune as she kept walking down the road. The fight with Copy had left her confused, humbled, beaten and bloodied… but she’d have lied if she said it wasn’t a lot of fun, after all.
She put an arm out and experimentally flexed, feeling the soft golden glow she once had to concentrate so very hard to summon come out with just a simple thought. Like breathing.
“Hmmhmmhmm~” The Gardener hummed, content with the new situation. But she knew if she stayed
too content, that could become arrogance very quickly…
Still, it had served her reasonably well against the robots she’d fought in West city
It’s part of why she was travelling through the central lands towards the west. She wanted to see if she could quickly catch back up to the teahouse and work on improving her abilities. Maybe even… inquire about a job? She’d had a lot of plans for the future that might interrupt, and yet… the teahouse was quite a beautiful place. Maybe that was the sort of job Misaki was cut out for?
The thought intrigued her. Perhaps she could try university from there? Learn enough to be an expert in the field? Assuming they’d even have her, of course. She’d only just met them - she shouldn’t be assuming she could just
get a job out of this. She was sure there was hoops to jump through, and her age would likely be thrown into question, and she’d been so tactless as to cause harm to the property on their first meeting… she’d certainly done her best to make up for it, but she hoped floating a gorilla into their delicate koi pond hadn’t done irreparable damage to her reputation.
Misaki took a deep breath, before letting it out in a single quick puff. There was no point being anxious about it. She would be accepted, or she wouldn’t. That was simply the way of the world. It was as simple as the difference between the weak and the strong, or the righteous and the wicked. Treating it with too much apprehension would simply distract her from stopping to smell the roses.
Smiling, the Gardener proceeded to do just that, enjoying the more uninhabited area she now found herself walking in. the flowers gave off a gentle fragrance, the budding area around her was growing all sorts of wonderful flowers and grasses she’d never seen before, the wind blew gently through the pleasant meadow, and a pink-haired girl was running at a speed usually reserved for hovercraft or spaceships with a terrified expression-
Hold on. She should pay attention to that part.
“Oh gods oh gods oh gods oh gods-” The girl whined, her brown skirt staying mercifully low as she ran at top speeds. Her black shoes were done up in a neat little bow and her white dress shirt seemed like it came from a fairly rich family. Her body was small and completely lacking in muscle and her arms reminded Misaki of soggy linguini from a glance. Her hands appeared to be soft and warm, at least from how they clung around Misaki’s arm.
“U-uhm, excuse me, miss, but you may - huff - want to - uff - run…” The girl managed to choke out. The air the girl sought seemed like it would never arrive, and Misaki had a feeling she didn’t run this fast this long very often.
The Powerhouse frowned. “Pardon me, but what would I feel inclined to run from?”
Misaki found her answer staring her in the face very quickly. Something rocketed to earth in front of her, baking the earth with his approach. The grass and flowers burned as the earth cracked and buckled, shaking breaking the earth around them as the air grew hot and burned. Eventually, a figure showed from the ensuing smoke cloud, his eyes flashing red through the dust all that could be seen for a second.
The figure wore crimson armor, completely covering their face, and while they were of shorter frame, they were clearly well-built underneath. Their ki spiraled around them in black tendrils, and all that was visible was the lower half of their face under their medieval armor.
And on that face was a grin.
“Why, that would be me, Princess.”
The pink-haired girl to the left of her briefly frowned at the statement. “Not a prince-wait, not the time to focus on this, oh god, we should really be using the Pov’rel secret technique at a time like this-” The Damsel babbled, seeming halfway to tears… before seeing Misaki’s expression.
The armoured warrior, heedless, continued his speech:
“You weak fool! I am Author Pendragon, Dark knight of his Evilness’s counsel! Master of the blade! You seek to protect that girl from me?! I will show you just who you are-”
“-I don’t speak to
vermin” was all that the unfortunate knight got, before Misaki’s control snapped like a twig, and her energy released.
Power, golden and strong, flowed from her like a vibrant sea, engulfing the area around her in brilliant sunlight.
“My eyes!” Author yelled, holding up a hand to hide him from the sun’s violent rays. It was a mistake, as Misaki’s hand reached out and grabbed the man with a single, tight hold.
The knight was picked up and held still above the ground, just long enough to see Misaki’s violent expression and understand the pain he was about to go through.
“Oh, fu-”
Miss Kazamiya had given him long enough. With a twist and a simple slam, the knight was sent smashing straight into the ground he had destroyed with a thump. Misaki picked him up with another twist, sending him high into the air, before smashing him down into the dirt again. Then again, faster this time. Then again, even faster! The black-guard who trampled on Misaki’s newest friends was shown no mercy as his body was broken against the dry earth with all the force of a raging fire!
“That!” Thump. “Wasn’t!” Thump. “Very!” Thump. “Respectful!”
On the last syllable, the hooligan was thrown straight up into the air, and Misaki let off one more angry cry - not of words, but of Golden energy, blasting the man higher with a pristine golden bolt of solar power, and leaving him searing and burned.
“...
I want to go home…” Author Pendragon whined from far up above, clutching his body as he waited for the merciful earth to hit and take him to unconsciousness…
It was not to be, for as he opened his eyes, that same, terrifying face showed up in front of him. Misaki cracked her knuckles, her jump perfectly in sync with Author’s flight upwards, before outstretching both arms and grabbing the younger man, who at this point began letting out a girlish scream that did not befit his earlier candor.
Misaki’s strength was not to be denied, however, and the would-be villain was quickly brought spinning into a corkscrew head-first into the ground. The man’s screaming continued as the earth came into view and he frantically wiggled in an attempt to escape his fate, but it was all for naught as the fireball of escape velocity formed around them, and the gardener’s punching bad was smashed into the ground into one of the world’s most brutal pile-drivers.
And yet, not a single lily was injured.
Eventually, the gardener emerged from the cloud of soil she’d kicked up in the process, looking up with a faint smile.
“...Well, that was a little annoying. I apologize for leaving mid-conversation, miss…”
An agonized, choking squeal came from the soil behind them, which Misaki, of course, ignored. The young pinkette stood transfixed in fear and more than a little awe, though there was a significant wince as she saw the man’s body finally catch up with gravity and thud to one side.
“...Err. Pov’rel. Coral Pov’rel. It’s nice to meet you also don’t kill me.” The maiden introduced herself with pink cheeks, before shuddering.
“Well, I certainly wasn’t planning on doing something awful like that.” Misaki responded with a sweet grin. “...But I’m getting off-topic. So what was scary before?”
Coral blinked a few times, before leaning slowly forward, her mouth opening and closing several times without making a single sound. “What… was… scary… uhm.”
And then, with a quick shake of her head, she recovered. “...Well, I’m kind of, uhm, being pursued by people. See, I kind of have a bit of a… royal lineage. And it gets me in, well, trouble with people like, err, him.” She added, looking over at the defeated pendragon.
“...Why haven’t you called for an ambulance…”
Misaki responded to his request by a swift kick to the ribs, cutting past the armor like it was paper, and getting a sobbing groan from the recently brutalized swordsman.
“Well, uhm, it seems like you’re actually pretty strong. Hooow about I make you a deal? I’ll pay you eventually, help you do things, use my business acumen to make your life better? I just need a bit of, uhm, help in the, err… protection department in exchance, miss… Oh gosh I didn’t ask for your name yet i am so sorry!”
Misaki put a hand to her chin and thought about the notion a bit. She supposed there was nothing stopping her from taking on a travelling partner, and she enjoyed this girl’s wit and candor… why not?
“For at least the next little while then, Miss Pov’rel.”
“Yes! I promise I’ll be helpful! Thank you so much miss Misaki! It really means a lot to me.”
[2100 words]