Her eyes slowly crept open, a slow crawl to an eighth, then a close. A blink open, then another. It was dark, a dim red glow outlining a large room. Atop a bed she lay, black shirt and pajama bottoms on, wrapped in a blanket. Head resting upon a pillow for a moment, Elise came to as she awoke.
Hours had gone by now as she shifted herself upwards. Slowly her eyes scanned around: a large room, empty mostly. Walls white normally now coated in the dim red, a wooden desk with a small wooden chair. A clothing rack hung in the corner, from which Sephiroth dangled with some of her outfits. A door far out ahead of her, and then one to her left.
A sigh left her as she turned to the bed’s side, feet placed on the ground with a hoist up towards the left door.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJZwD309B8
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A squeaky faucet turned, the sound of scooting metal followed by the patter of water from the shower. Steam drifted up into the air as she stepped in, water dumping itself into her face, now aimed towards the shower head. Taking it in, she stood there with the mist dancing around her, wrapping her like a warm blanket. Her hair drooped, full on flopping as it became soaked.
Once more, a sigh left Elise, her eyes shut as the water poured out onto her face and ran down her chin.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCvrOjdhxR
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A low scrunching, a slight scratching. A zip and a crackle. Another flopping and fluffing. An echoing scrunch and then the louder flap of a coat. Elise stood near the corner, her jacket adrift in the air as it wrapped round her. Finally Sephiroth was placed at her side and her belt fastened.
The door zipped open and out she walked, her footsteps echoing as she went out down the halls. Empty, for the most part, short of the occasional official every now and again walking alone in their white cloaks with blue stars. Still not a single murmur or comment arose, as these encounters drifted few in number.
Then, another sigh left as she passed round yet another turn.
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She stood to the center of the training grounds, Sephiroth sheathed and in hand. All around her stood multiple thin tin looking drones, arms that honestly seemed like silver plastic tubes covering only a minimal amount of wiring. Only the torso, gauntlets & fists, boots, and head were on the thicker side- and even then not by much. Some stood dented, some with cuts in their metal, some with very visible welds and tape.
She held Sephiroth tight, set above her head, taking on the ox position as she stared down the drones in front of her, “Alright… begin!”
Right away, six of the tin cans started to charge right ahead at her, one taking the lead with a training sword held up in ox as well. The first swung down at an angle, to which she simply lowered her own weapon. The sheathe of her sword blocked the strike of the drone’s, a loud thud echoing as only she and the drones were present in that hall.
A single kick to the lower torso sent the first drone flying back into another two, while two others swerved around swinging their own weapons. One handed, reverse grip, she held Sephiroth out in front of her chest to block both of their swings. Effortlessly after impact and the clang, her hand flipped around and as it did, she swung out with force.
Both drones were thrown back as she did this, next attempting to block as she swung left and then right. Simple sword swings, left and right and left, one handed; though met with turns and a slight dance as her feet carried. She bent back to dodge a swing, then swung up to strike the arm of the drone. Quickly it fell backwards, dropping to the ground, powering down immediately from the sheathed hit.
Next she turned and threw out her right hand, five beams of white energy sent flying from her finger tips straight into the remaining drones. All of them flew backwards and collapsed, not yet deactivated with minor scorching to the impact points. She blinked looking ahead as one last drone took a charge for her, a training-dagger in hand, quickly being thrust forth towards Elise’s left side. She stepped back, left hand gliding through the air as her right took Sephiroth.
With a clap, her hand struck the lower side of the drone’s arm, a minor deflection, slapping followed by a kick square to the gut from her right foot. The drone toppled backwards and collapsed, deactivating just as the rest had. One more sigh left as her body lowered.
“How am I meant to get stronger if these things can’t even put up a fight...”
“You’re weak and pathetic girl!” a voice echoed in her head, “You are NOTHING to Vulfax. Now piss off and work on your gathering skills, because that’s all you’ll ever be good for!”
Her teeth gritted as Azala’s words drifted through her mind, grip tightening. In front of her the five drones took charge with their training swords, raised high and ready to strike. Her eyes flashed, a glow of white rising up around her. The sheath of Sephiroth flew off, the blade exposed with a white glow absolutely erupting around it.
“HRRRAAAA!” she yelled, swinging the sword around.
A blast of Light Energy ripped way from the sword, slashing through the air, slamming clear into the drones. All of them were split in half at the mid-section, ripped to pieces from the impact of the Light Energy swung out like a blade. The head of one hopped and skipped, rolling away as a heavy exhale left her.
Her stance relaxed and her weapon then lowered, eyes glaring on ahead, “{I can’t stop, not now, not until I beat them,}” she thought to herself, gazing off as images of Toby, Shadow, and Arkaza formed before her.
A clang of metal broke her focus as to her right the decapitated head rolled in the opposite direction. Standing present to her right was Holly, looking at the broken drones. Elise turned to face her, Sephiroth now being completely lowered and pointed to the ground at an angle.
“My, and I thought Wesley had anger issues,” Holly commented.
“H-Holly, I-”
“Your energy control has gotten significantly better, hasn’t it? Though it’s still a ways from perfect, seeing as your first barrage didn’t shut them down and uh- well… heh, good thing we can repair and replace these things.”
“I-I’m sorry. I… I let my anger get the best of me there. It’s just that whenever I think of Azala or what those three did, I just-”
“It’s fine Elise, truly,” Holly again interrupted, stepping forward, “Honestly, anger can be a good motivator. Just make sure it isn’t what drives you.”
Elise looked down at the ground, sighing once more, “Sigh. I know. My drive isn’t for revenge though, it’s just to make sure what happened to me doesn’t happen to anyone else. That is my sole drive.”
“And are you referring to the betrayal of Toby and Azala which almost destroyed Vulfax? Or are you referring to what we did to you?”
Elise looked up in a heartbeat upon hearing those words. Their gazes met in that instant, curiosity from one side, and a cold confusion from the other. Holly’s body relaxed itself, her shoulders loosening. This time, a sigh left Holly while her eyes closed, next moving her right arm up so that she could scratch her head with said arm’s hand.
“Look, it’s alright if you’re not content with that just yet, I totally get it. I just need to know that you’re good. Are you good?”
“Yeah,” Elise huffed, “I’m fine.”
“Good,” Holly said while walking over to the drones that lay in pieces on the ground.
Elise followed her with focus, turning slightly and then fully. The drones lay with random bouts of electrical discharge occurring from the exposed wiring. Holly bent down with her knees and back, right hand out and placed onto the scrap. Shortly then after she stood back up and turned back around to face Elise, an eye raised.
“What? What is it?” Elise asked.
“Your energy control is still relatively out of hand you know. I thought that after all these months you’d have picked up on that.”
“What do you mean?” Elise asked.
“Your attacks are too wild and unfocused. After you discharge your attack you should still apply focus to it to control it. Otherwise you’ll end up with that situation again where someone might steal your power before it even hits them. Remember how so often you can take the power out of someone’s fire since it gives off light?”
Elise glanced down at the drones, looking over them. Her eyes drifted open as small remnants of white energy drifted from the parts of the drones up and into Holly’s clothing.
“You might also not need to expend as much power as you do now. If you had been able to focus, you could’ve essentially extended the range of your blade versus hitting them with a thick blunt blast that just ripped them apart.”
“I can influence it even after?”
“Yes. It’s just like how you capture and absorb energy normally. You just need to apply your concentration to discharging it. If you can do that, you could accomplish feats such as these,” Holly stated.
With her back to the drones, Holly smirked as they began to quiver, shaking rather. A gap had begun to show between ground and pieces which now had begun to hover up. Only a minimal glow existed around them as they climbed up to about the height of Holly’s head. Then in the next instant, fire erupted around each part for only a brief instant, fading out just after.
The pieces dropped to the ground instantly charred black, as if they had been set in the fire for many minutes; though it had been only a second or two at most. Elise’s emerald gaze looked down at the scattered remnants, then back to Holly.
“You can influence many things with proper control Elise, and I know you have a knack for it. Magic is not the only way to manipulate the elements. And you need not absorb an energy to manipulate it. In this case I absorbed some of yours earlier, then controlled the remaining bits and added some energy from the air. And then, poof, flames.”
“That’s- that’s kind of hax.”
“Isn’t it though? You can even apply this to your own body.”
“What?”
“Ever wonder how beings such as myself or the guy you fought in the mine lab could tank such tremendous attacks? The answer… is Aura Guard.”
“Aura Guard?”
“Aura Guard is a technique in which an Energy User applies their energy to their body’s cells, sort of like supplying them with oxygen in a sense. It can dramatically enhance our physical capabilities, including speed, durability, strength, and so much more. It’s also how we are able to constantly rejuvenate and not age a day.”
“That’s… that’s brilliant, fantastic even. So what’s the downside?”
“Well, while you might be enhanced... your body still can exhaust itself,” she replied while walking over to Elise, “Think of it like doing anything physical for too long, it’ll wear you out. And as far as durability goes, heh- think of it like one of those video game things where for some reason you can wail on someone in-game with a laser weapon that, practically of course, could cut through a building. Yet because it’s a video game, it just lowers their health bar. Kinda works like that.”
“I see… I still have a long ways to go then, don’t I?” she murmured, looking up to Holly who now stood merely a meter away.
A smile crept along, followed by a nod. Following this, Holly continued walking, brushing passed Elise while continuing to speak in that instant, “You have a knack for Energy Control Elise. It’ll take time but it won’t be too difficult. You have the talent for it. It’s like a writer trying to write for the first time, or a technician working with a computer for the first time. Some trial and error at first but it’ll stick if it’s what your personality is geared for. Of course for you- magic might be different, so focus for now on energy.”
“Got it… say, Holly I-”
As Elise turned around, she saw nothing. As quickly as she had arrived, Holly had also left, now nowhere to be seen. Her head turned left to right, scanning all around. Nothing. For a moment there was silence, until Elise let off another sigh with her eyes closed.
“Thanks for the lesson, I guess… back to the drones I go I guess, eh?”
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