The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Counter Attack

It was hard to describe the rush of power that came over me. After a quick gesture to change my title, I drew upon Bai Hu's lost art, my life and power draining to fuel the flames as I burnt at both ends—though I was rather hoping I'd do better at lasting the night then a candle. It hurt for an instant, an agony like something was tearing me apart from the inside and eating me. After a moment, however, the bars on my status screen ceased their decline and I felt nothing but power. It flowed through me like blood and settled into my flesh and bones, reinforcing and empowering every aspect of the same body it had devoured for energy.

And yet, despite the cost, despite the pain…I felt amazing. I felt strong, stronger now then I'd once even dreamed of being, and I wanted to laugh out loud at the feel—or perhaps roar, declaring the might of Bai Hu's art for all the world to know. I restrained the urge calmly, but couldn't stop the smile that rose to my lips. It was like I'd felt that first time, when I'd put together Bai Hu's style in the forest outside my house; a rush of power that was at once humbling and uplifting, showing me how far I had to go but also giving me a taste of what it was like.

For a moment, I actually thought about winning. Honestly considered the idea that maybe it was possible—that I could beat Penny. It was so strange to even entertain the thought, but it lingered in my mind. It wasn't impossible, I allowed, considering it briefly. Not only that, but it was a lot more possible then it had been a minute ago. Unnecessary, too, of course; I didn't need to win, I just needed to buy time.

Although…how much longer? I wondered, thoughts turning slightly. With Dreary Midnight gone, it would probably take longer, as Levant's power would be greatly reduced without the cloak. Would it take five more minutes? Ten? Longer? That was a long time to run Penny around, especially with this style. Bai Hu's art wasn't about prolonged fights or wearing the opponent down—it was about crushing them, completely and utterly, in moments. It traded enormous amounts of power for brief surges of unstoppable might. It paid only passing heed to defense with the shield that could be removed and leave the fighting style otherwise the same, while all the other techniques built off of one another, pieces to a puzzle.

The White Tiger's Five Hundred Years was no different, making me run faster, hit harder and more frequently, but not making me any more durable, per se. It wasn't about withstanding attack, it was about evading them and putting the enemy down before it became an issue. I could rely on my natural defenses and Aura in addition to that, substituting durability and healing for a firmer defense; perhaps Bai Hu had done something similar. In a fight like this…

If I got to some more Dust, I might be able to last anyway, restoring myself heavily each minute. So long as Penny didn't hit me, I could drag this out, maybe. But…hadn't I already considered the disadvantages of a defensive battle? I was a bit better equipped for this fight now, but much of that still remained. No, more than that, it wasn't just loading the passengers I needed to be concerned with, was it? I had to escape with the ship itself, too, and with the reach of Penny's swords, she might make that difficult. It wasn't unfeasible—perhaps not even unlikely—that she could get aboard or inside the White Whale itself as we tried to take off. I needed to do more than just buy time, I'd need to stop her from pursuing somehow. And, if it was at all possible, recover my cloak.

Or maybe I was just trying to justify things to myself.

Maybe I just really wanted to play with my new toy.

I dashed around the building, emerging into the street. Cold air brushed against my bare chest as my four eyes turned to the android. I saw her blades bobbing casually around her, watched as green eyes shifted to focus on me in turn—

And I was already closing the distance. I watched as her blades stiffened in midair, noticed them turn under her controlling strings, and saw them shift at last into motion. They were fast, still, even to my sharp eyes—but only about as fast as my body now was or maybe even a shade slower. As the first blade reached me, the knuckles of my left hand brushed against the flat of the blade, pushing hard. I didn't try resisting Penny's inhuman power directly, even with my new power, but I didn't have to. A little force shifted the angle of the blade a bit further left and it slide passed my face. My body leaned forward as I did, letting the second blade swing over my head, watching everything around me as much with Crocea Mors' senses as my eyes.

I leapt forward, extending my right hand as I did and settling it on the flat of the third blade as it flew parallel to the ground. Such was the force of Penny's weapons that even as I settled my whole weight upon the blade, it only sank slightly and I used that to my advantage. With the blade as my platform, I drew myself up and flipped into the air, feeling the fourth, fifth, and sixth blades pass through a target that was no longer there and settled my eyes on the next four.

As I reached the apex of my ascent, they rose up to meet me, each aiming to stab deeply into my flesh. Settling my weight on not-so-thin air, I grabbed the seventh by the hilt with my left hand and pulled myself down passed it, reaching out with my right to touch the eighth with my clawed fingers. There was a metallic sound as the blades slid along one another, but it was only so that I could push against it—and here, with us both in the air, I was the one to move. I slipped to the side as it stretched passed me, falling just a hair faster and further then I should have.

I rested my feet against the backs of nine and ten and Lunged the rest of my way to the ground, landing gently despite the force. An instant after touching the ground, I was rushing towards Penny again, speed boosted by Bai Hu's techniques. The final pair of blades hovered just above her hands. Dreary Midnight was grasped lightly in one of the hands and the other was held out at my, fingers twitching with short motions.

I lifted my eyes to meet slightly widened green ones, saw actual surprise covering Penny's face, but I didn't let it give me pause. Where before I had scurried in a desperate attempt to avoid it, I now stepped boldly into melee range with the mighty android. I felt a premonition of danger, felt her begin to move with Crocea Mors, and still didn't hesitate in my advance. When the right blade rose and struck out towards my eye with startling speed, I twitched my head to the side, letting the blade graze my cheek rather than stop. The left blade rose a fraction of a second later, driving towards me with that same speed, but I Lunged again, boosting my speed further as I closed in.

There was a sharp clang as my fist drove into her stomach. Touching her so, I felt her through Crocea Mors, felt vibration rock through her from the blow, and felt, more than anything, the sheer, massive weight of her.

But I still didn't back down. In that same moment, I used Double Strike for the first time in a real battle, two different blows connecting as one, each enhanced with Power Strike. I felt her rise to the tips of her toes and then off the ground completely, but I was already turning away from her, Lunging backwards to slam my back fully into her chest, lifting her ever so slightly higher. As I did, I reached back, on hand grasping her hair and the other her rising arm.

Then, with the full might of Heroic Strength, with Jaws and Rip, with the martial arts knowledge I'd gained from Tukson, I heaved with all my might, using my body as a pivot to bring her up, over, and then down to the ground. I sent her crashing into the concrete hard enough to send a spider web of cracks racing out in all directions and I still didn't let up. Before she could withdraw her blades, I descended on her again, fist pounding down into her face with another Doubled Power Strike, hammering it down like a nail until most of her head was below ground level with fissures stretching away from it.

As the blades spun back towards their master, however, I withdrew, free hand reaching out to snatch my cloak from the robot's fingers and she didn't try holding on. She didn't even try to stop me as I danced several meters away, though I saw brilliant green eyes follow my every move as I did before looking away. Above her, the twelve swords spun in a short circle, blades pointed down, ready to strike but waiting for something.

"Huh," Penny voiced at last, staring at the sky ponderingly for a moment, apparently paying me little heed. In fairness, I glanced away from her myself as a new window popped up and a cheery tune sounded in my ears.

You've received the title 'The White Tiger.'

Glancing at Penny quickly, I bounded another dozen meters away before turning my back. I watched her like a hawk through Crocea Mors and felt certain she was doing the same to me somehow, but since she was giving me a moment's reprieve—likely preparing something of her own—it seemed foolish not to take advantage of it.

The White Tiger

Obtained through the use of long lost power, the Tiger's tail has finally turned white. By incorporating the Five Hundred Years into Bai Hu's White Tiger, you have earned your position among his elite warriors! Train even harder to prove your skill further and uphold your title as Bai Hu's legacy!

60% increase the damage of White Tiger techniques.

60% increase to the defense granted by White Tiger techniques.

30% decrease in the cost of White Tiger techniques.

Status: White Tiger's Star [Low]

As expected, an improvement on the Tiger and the Tiger's Child…I wasn't certain what the status did, but every bit helped so I changed my title—and had to keep myself from bowling over, a sudden flash of pain extending through me, fire running down the length of my body to gather behind my eyes, in my teeth, at my hands and feet and the top of my head, tingling through my hair. After a moment, it faded, except in my hands—until I felt Crocea Mors shift my gauntlets slightly, extending the claws as…

As my claws extended behind them.

I touched my fingers to my mouth even as I prodded sharpened teeth with a tongue and wiggled my toes slightly. Though I couldn't see my eyes, I glanced up at my open status screen, searching…and wasn't sure whether to laugh or sigh.

Race: Faunus

So even stuff like this was…?

Well. It didn't really matter, did it? I guess this was a lie I'd made come true—and with any luck, it wouldn't be the only one.

"Are you alright?" I heard Penny ask and glance at her. She hadn't gotten off the ground, though she tilted her head back in its crater to look at me with concern. "You look…"

"Oh, nothing worth the mentioning," I gestured dismissively, drawing Dreary Midnight about my shoulders. I didn't offer any explanation because, really, why would I? And it's not like I understood, either. "And you, Penny? I'm sure I didn't hurt you…"

She blinked slowly at me before smiling again.

"I remain combat ready," She confirmed, still not getting up. "You surprised me, however, so I'm trying to think of a solution."

I suppressed another sigh and turned to face her fully.

"Oh?" I asked. "Did you come up with anything?"

Penny put her hands to the ground on either side of her head and half-flipped to her feet in an instant. Twelve blades became two before folding in half, returning to their more gun-like shapes.

And without another word, she opened fire.

I was already moving, alerted by Sense Danger, Crocea Mors, and Common Sense. I Lunged to the side, landed, and Lunged again with barely a moment's pause to determine my destination. Bullets flew past me, flickers of steel and light I could just barely make out as they flashed through the air.

It was easy to see Penny's plan—it was pretty much my plan turned against me, in a way. In the same way that I'd been able to dodge the swords when they'd moved faster than me simply by gauging where they were going and moving shorter distances, faced with my suddenly increased speed she had chosen to respond with an attack that required less movement. From this range, a small turn in her floating weapons could result in a vast change in the direction of bullets. Added to the speed of bullets…

It was a good plan. As far as Penny knew, I was a primarily close range fighter, after all, and she'd basically shrugged off my Dust attack like it wasn't even there. I'd proven that I could advance even against a tide of her blades so she was choosing a form of attack that she thought had a better chance of hitting me, changing her strategy from forcing me into melee to keeping me at a distance. Whether it was because she was a robot or very skilled or a combination of both, I knew that Penny could track my movements and plot out forms of attack with tremendous speed. There seemed to be limits, possibly because her body couldn't keep up and maybe also because calculating every possibility on a battlefield is pretty much impossible—but even as fast as I'd been suddenly moving, she'd been able to make slight adjustments to individual blades to try and get me.

A pair of guns aided by that same ability…minute adjustments made literally in-between shots as she guided the weapons towards me…I couldn't deny that it was a pretty frightening combination, not just to be the target of but even to bear witness to. In moments, what seemed like a hundred bullets cut through the air, each drawing closer than the last as she calculated and compensated. As I dashed and dove, bobbed and weaved, complete evasions became near misses. What started as almost random fire turned into something more controlled as she learned from success and failure both. The shots of one gun began leading into those of its partner, bullets started guiding my dodges towards other threats…

I suppose it shouldn't have been surprising, but Penny was a fast learner. All told, those weapons under her control…it was a good plan.

But not perfect. There was no such thing as a perfect plan, not truly, and this one had a flaw. And it wasn't the person shooting as it might have been for someone else—it anything, Penny was the strongest link in this combination.

It was her weapons.

That might have been a bit surprising for most people. There was a reason guns were such a common choice of weapon, after all; they were generally incorporated into pretty much all Hunter armaments in one form or another, even. And there were a lot of good reasons for that. Weak or strong, small or large, man or woman, anyone who could pull the trigger could fire a bullet. How well it was aimed could vary great, as well as a number of other factors such as rate of fire and reloading—but at its most basic level, anyone who pulled that trigger could fire that bullet. It might hit for one person and miss for another, fire rapidly for someone skilled and slowly for someone inexperienced, but given the same ammunition, the same weapon, and told to fire once, the result would be roughly the same no matter who you had firing. It wasn't dependent on strength or speed and, though it definitely had its place, even skill wasn't as big a concern as with earlier weaponry.

And in many ways, that was a virtue. If you gathered a thousand normal men, gave them guns, and trained them for a week or two, you could get a far greater result then if you did so with, say, bows. With the introduction of dust rounds especially, that was invaluable and had played a large role in much of Remnant's recent history, in the rise of the Kingdoms and the defense of Mankind. For the average man, there was no question that guns were by far the best choice of weapon.

But things got a bit murkier when Hunters got involved. It wasn't uncommon to see a Hunter parry bullets or evade them. While the adage of bringing a sword to a gun fight held true generally, if the swordsman was a trained Huntsman…well, I'd seen enough robots shredded to know how that went. Though there were many advantages to guns—hence why they carried them and incorporated them into everything under the sun—the same held true even between Hunters, in many ways. There were a lot of reasons for it, but in the end it boiled down to this: It didn't matter who held a gun. How fast you are, smart you are, strong you are had no effect on the bullet once it was in flight. With the possible exception of me, I guess, depending on how the appropriate skills worked.

And while that was definitely an advantage for the majority of the planet, when you got into the outright insanity that defined most Hunters…

Penny's bullets were shot well, fired with inhuman accuracy and precision. She attacked carefully, a point to every bullet, a strategy unravelling. But though Penny was ungodly strong…that didn't make her bullets hit any harder than if she'd been anyone else in the world. Though a solid hit from her swords could send me flying and sheer away half my health…that didn't mean the same was true of these bullets.

So I did something that would have been insane for anyone without the abilities of a Hunter.

I advanced through the bullets.

Not in a straight line, of course; there was no point to making it easy for her. I flickered between points, zigging and zagging with the Tiger's Lunge, my reenergized Air Aura bolstering my speed even more. There were two sources of the bullets—her two guns—and I kept a set of eyes on each even as I monitored them with my Elemental senses. With two lines of fire, it was hard to dodge them all.

So I didn't. I outpaced what I could, staying ahead by sensing the danger and noting where the bullets were aimed. Of the bullets that made it through, I blocked what I could with my left gauntlets; when that wasn't possible, I chose what hits to take and tried to minimize the damage. I was grazed a few times, bullets brushing the skin of my upper arms, shoulders, and legs. Other times, I was shot outright, not entirely physical bullets driving into my chest.

But I didn't go down. My defenses held, minimizing the damage, the Tiger's Hide even withstanding a pair of solid shots before breaking, and I closed the distance with speed that amazed even me. I leaned to the side to escape a bullet's path, bobbed my head once to evade another, leapt over a third, lowered my arm and then brought it back up to deflect a fourth and fifth, and Lunged forward, taking a sixth to the shoulder.

Penny brought her arms up defensively the moment she saw me closing in, crossing them over her face, but I went under her guard at first, driving a hand into a chest with Double and Power Strike aiding the blow to lift her just off her feet. Her Guns rotated in midair to point at me, opening fire again in an attempt to drive me off and push me back.

I ignored them completely. As my Hide broke under the first set of bullets, I drove Penny back with another set blows, pushing her higher and further. Crocea Mors sent flashes through my mind, images born from each stroke, and I sent a single thought back in return without letting up. I felt shots connecting, striking my Aura next, but still didn't break away. I rained blow after blow down on Penny, pushing her back through the air, across the street, into the wall of a building, and, because it seemed fair to return the favor, continued my assault to drive her straight into it.

I kept an eye on my MP bar as it steadily drained, each blow biting into it swiftly even as I activated the Tiger Hide again and again to block a few extra shots—and then, once it reached the halfway mark, I turned my Aura off. The pain of the blows sharpened in an instant as the damage switched over to my HP bar, but I didn't let either fact stop me from smashing Penny out the other side of the building and into the streets once more. Grabbing her with my left hand, I drove firm blows into solar plexus, throat, and stomach even as I halted her flight with main strength and then grabbed her fully by the head and flipped her over onto the ground once more, turning my body into her chest to serve as a pivot.

She hit the concreate with a crash that drove her shoulders into the ground and sent cracks running out even further than before. I didn't stop, though, but came down astride her and began pounding down on her crossed arms with steady, lightning fast blows. While her bullets chewed through my health, I drove her deeper and deeper into the ground with resounding, metallic clangs, the images from Crocea Mors coming in quickening flashes with each hit. I beat her down until her entire upper body was below the concrete around her and still didn't stop.

I only hesitated when the bullets stopped coming—and it wasn't out of any worry for Penny. A glance revealed gun barrels glowing a bright green and my various skills—aided by my functioning brain—told me that was bad.

I leapt into the air a moment before they fired and green lasers drove large fissures into the ground on either side of Penny. A moment later, the android uncrossed her arms and placed them on either side of the hole I'd put her in. She rose from the ground as I landed, standing with the sound of breaking concrete and smiled at me.

"Well, that didn't work," She said, brushing off her arms and shoulders. Her sleeves had torn when she used her arms to defend herself and so had the false skin beneath, revealing now somewhat dirtied steel. I gave her a moment as she stood from the hole, mainly to take the chance to draw out and consuming another round of Dust crystals to heal the damage I'd received and restore my MP. "Maybe, hm…no, but…oh, but…I have another idea!"

"Oh?" I asked, bracing myself on the logical assumption that it wasn't good for me.

Penny grabbed the handle of one of her guns and it unfolded back into a sword again a moment before she leapt into the air. I saw bullets race down at me from her remaining gun, but it was the sword she threw that I dodged, dancing a step backwards as it slammed to the hilt into the ground. A moment later, I had to dance back another step as she reeled herself back to earth and slammed her free arm up to her elbow into the concrete even as the other grasped her sword and pulled it loose easily.

Without showing any sign of discomfort at the landing, she rose fully to her feet and ran towards me, sword in on hand, the other covered in powdered concrete, and a gun floating behind here.

It was the type of image a smart man probably would have run away from.

It probably said something about me that I returned Penny's smile, reactivated my Aura, and ran towards her instead.