//------------------------------// // CH26: Art of the Dance // Story: Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: Rise of The Elements // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// “What the hell is wrong with this girl!” Dash screamed inside her head as she jumped back to the far back wall. After beating Octavia, Dash took a few minutes to refresh herself in the healing corner. That thing was no joke, she felt like she had just slept for several hours and eaten a full breakfast. She was fully ready to throw down with Lyra. What she didn't expect was that she wasn't about to throw down with Lyra, but rather some freak show that called herself Lyra. However, it wasn't Lyra herself that Dash considered freakish, but rather how she fought. Lyra made it apparent very early on that she could handle her keyblade expertly with pretty much any part of her body. In fact, the first thing she did was sit down and take her shoes off. This confused Dash momentarily before the weird monkey girl came running at her bare foot. Her second move was when she came in with a basic downward strike, something Dash thought would be easy to block. But when Dash expected to lock blades or prepare for a counterattack, Lyra simply let her keyblade go flinging back behind her as soon as Dash blocked it. In another surprise move, Lyra caught it behind her with her left hand and sent it in a wide spinning swing from the side. Seeing what she did, Dash decided that she was going to slam it to the ground with a harsh downward swing to avoid her switching hands again. However, she realized that she was too late when an empty hand whized past her keyblade. Lyra continued to spin, catching the keyblade as it fell with her right hand, slamming it into the side of Dash’s face and earning her a point. The fight continued from there, with no end of surprises coming from Lyra’s side. At one point, she even threw her keyblade high into the air and rushed Dash in hand to hand combat.  During which, what Dash thought was an upward kick that she dodged, came down on her head when Lyra had caught her keyblade with her foot and brought it down. The worst part, was that Dash had figured out what her keyblades power was. Any hit that the keyblade landed was repeated some time later. When she got hit in the face the first time, she felt the exact same hit a few minutes later when she was finally pushing Lyra back, knocking her off balance and letting Lyra regain the upper hand. The second hit had not resurfaced yet though, and she was afraid of when it would happen. This all happened in the first ten minutes of the match. Now, Dash was woozy for what amounted to four attacks to the head, and losing two to one. She also found that Lyra could bend her body at extremely weird angles to dodge attacks, making her almost unhittable unless Dash moved faster than her. Lyra, still holding her keyblade with a raised foot, flung it into the air and caught it with her hands. “Like my sweet moves?” Lyra chuckled. “You’ve probably figured it out by now, but my keyblade, Secondhand, has an ability called ‘Double Finisher’.” “Yeah,” Dash groaned, “I figured that out. You got a really weird fighting style you know that?” Lyra smiled and shrugged, taking it as a compliment. “It’s a gift. Plus, I’m still getting warmed up, I also know something called Capoeira. Wanna see?” Without waiting for an answer Lyra removed her hoodie and tossed it away, revealing a loose fitting white undershirt. Before Dash could ask what she was doing, Lyra banished her keyblade, and began somersaulting and flipping toward her. At the end of her vault she came down with what looked like drop kick, but instead of her foot hitting the ground and ending, she immediately rolled on the ground and kicked out with her other leg. When Dash dodged that, Lyra kicked out with both feet, causing Dash to back up even more as Lyra back flipped off the ground and landed on her feet and got into her stance. She rhythmically moved from side to side, switching her her front and back arms and legs, almost as if she was dancing. Not knowing what else to do, Dash rushed forward and attacked Lyra, who, in another bout of dance, dropped completely to the ground in a handstand underneath her. Dash barely had time to block when Lyra shot both her legs upward, slamming into her keyblade defense and pushing her into the air. Since the no wings rule was still in place, Dash decided instead to use wind magic in the air, maybe then she could throw Lyra off balance and get a hit in. However, she once again found that her magic was unresponsive. Dash immediately fell over when she landed, unable to keep her own balance this time around. “What is wrong with me?” she wondered. Distracted, Dash barely noticed Lyra close in on her. Unwilling to give up, Dash got up and met her head on. Unfortunately, a few dance moves later, Lyra was behind her, landing one last strike with her keyblade and ending the match. “Match point, Lyra!” Octavia announced from where she sat. Lyra instantly relaxed as she and Dash fell to the ground next to each other, both of them were exhausted, but for very different reasons. Lyra let out a huge breath. “Phew, good thing that’s over. Capoeira’s fun and all but it’s really exhausting to use sometimes.” Dash didn't respond, still laying on the ground, wondering why her strength disappeared every time she tried to use her keyblades powers. “Anyway,” Lyra said, sitting up. “I won, where’s my 10 munny?” That, however, snapped Dash out of her daydream. She sat up and gave her a weird look. “What 10 munny?” “You know, the 10 munny that you bet at the start of the match.” “I didn't bet any--” ~15 minutes earlier~ Dash finally returned to the middle of the gym to fight Lyra, who was almost bouncing from excitement. “Come on, I’m ready,” Lyra urged. “Then bring it one, you saw how I tool down your friend,” Dash bragged. “I’ll take you down too, Minty.” Lyra summoned her keyblade and pointed it at her, smirking wildly. “Betcha 10 munny that you wont.” “Betcha 10 munny that I will!” Right after that, Lyra sat down and took her shoes off and rushed at Dash. ~~~ Dash lowered her head in defeat. “...Oh.” “See, you do remember.” Lyra held out her hand. “Now gimmie!” Grumbling inappropriate words under her breath, Dash reached into her back pocket and took out 10 munny from the group wallet. Twilight would be angry with her later for this but… you know… whatever. “Sweet,” Lyra cheered. However, her cheer didn't last long as the money was deftly snatched away by Octavia, who had made her way over to the two while they were talking. Octavia held the money tightly in her hand as she glared down at Lyra, “I’ll take that.” Turning she held it out toward Whitney. “That’s 10 munny off your tab, though you still owe the poor girl hundreds.” Whitney glanced down at the money before backing away. “No, no please. Lyra can have it. She needs it more than I do anyway.” Octavia leaned down and gave the girl a small smile. “Whitney, it’s alright. Lyra only spends it on junk food and action figures anyway.” “Hey!” Whitney waved her arms, dismissively pushing Octavia’s hand away. “That’s more than what I need it for. Plus, I’m not allowed to have any money anyway.” “Woah what?” Dash asked, finally standing up. “Why aren't you allowed to have money? Isn't it important in this world.” Ditzy appeared next to the group with her usual bubbly smile. “Yup, it’s super important, but Whitney’s too nice for it. So the mean guys should thank her.” Dash gave the girls a confused look, causing Octavia to remember that she didn't speak Ditzy. “What she means, is that there are lots of pickpockets in Radiant Garden. However, just about all of them target Whitney specifically.” Dash nearly fell over in surprise. “What? Why!” Octavia sighed and put a hand to her shaking head. “Because, Whitney is too nice for her own good. Anytime we give her money to have. She purposefully walks into a district where she’ll most likely get robbed... and lets them have it!” “But they need it more than me!” she defended. “I don’t have anything I need it for, but who knows what they could do, they could feed their family, or buy a toy for a child, or fix something important,” she said, rattling off more uses. Octavia groaned and turned back to her, a clear sign that this was a recurring topic. “Whitney Mane!” she called out, cutting her off. “We have had this conversation before. They money we give you, belongs to you, not to anyone else. You cook, you clean, you train with us, you take care of the pets, you clean Lyra’s room! Maker knows how you accomplish that one.” Whitney smiled brightly. “Oh, well it’s actually fairly easy, all you need to do is--” Lyra hopped up and covered her mouth completely. “Whitie no! You mustn't tell her the secret!” she hissed, glaring at Octavia. Octavia rolled her eyes. “What I mean, is that you do everything around here, you’ve earned it. And even if you don’t use it, you might need it in the future. So save it… please?” Octavia looked into Whitney’s eyes with deep concern. Eventually, the small girl broke eye contact and nodded. “Alright, I’ll try.” Reluctantly, she took the money from Octavia. Dash, meanwhile was listening to the conversation with interest. “Anyway, who’s up next?” Lyra instantly raised her hand. “I’ll fight you again!” Dash took a step back, leveling a half lidded grimace of “I don’t want to deal with you right now” at her. “Nah, I’ve had enough of your freaky dance fighting today. I really don’t like that you won, but I wanna fight someone else now.” Dash looked at the two remaining girls. The one with the mismatched eyes, or the kid, honestly it was a tough choice. “I choose her,” she said, pointing at Whitney. Almost all of the other girls flinched and grimaced awkwardly. “Are you sure?” asked Ditzy, smiling an awkward, worried smile. “Yeah,” added Lyra, “Don’t you wanna fight Ditzy first?” Octavia frantically looked around the gym. “Oh, how about Clockwork, where is he right now?” she asked, looking at Ditzy who shrugged. “Nah, nah, said Rainbow, shrugging their questions off. “I wanna see how good this kid is. how old is she anyway? 12, 13?” All four girls gave Dash equally blank expressions. Whitney cocked her head in confusion. “I’m 24.” she said as a matter-of-factually. Dash’s jaw fell to the ground at this new information. ~~~ Moving on, after hopping into the  healing booth for the third time, Dash came back to see that Lyra, Octavia, and Ditzy had all left the room. “Hey, where’d everybody go?” she asked, looking around. The small adult, as Dash had discovered, now had her keyblade out. It was by far one of the shortest ones that she’s seen. It looked like one large chess piece with the white rook acting as the tower thick shaft that thinned town towards the bottom to also act as the handle. and what seemed to be two connecting fans that acted at the guard. At the top of the keyblade, acting as the teeth, there was a shield with a picture of the keychain on it. At the end of the keyblade, swung a small black keychain in the shape of the chess queen piece. She shrugged and fidgeted. “The other girls are always told to leave the room when I fight.” There was the sound of a door opening and both girls looked over to see Ditzy sticking her head through. “It’s alright! We’re over here.” “Why are you guys over there?” Dash asked, giving them all suspicious stares. Lyra stuck her head through next to Ditzy’s. “Because we don’t want to die! In fact, you’re the insane one for wanting to fight her.” She looked down at Ditzy. “Are we doing three points, or no points like usual?” Ditzy shrugged. “Personally, I don’t think three points is fair for Whitney. It should be until one of them gives up.” Whitney looked panicked for a second, glancing every so often at her opponent. “Please, can’t we just do one point? I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Octavia stuck her head in as well. “It’s challenger’s decision…” she informed them. Dash, to her credit, kept her cool despite her confusion. Hands behind her head, she shrugged lazily. “We can do the second one I guess. I’m cool with anything.” “Oh you poor fool,” Octavia muttered, looking at her with sad, concerned eyes. Raising her voice, Octavia addressed both fighters. “The rules are set, flight is still not allowed, first to concede wins.” While Octavia listed the rules, Dash took her stance, ready to take this girl out in one shot. Whitney took her own stance, holding her keyblade out in front of her with two hands. “Fight!” A few seconds passed and neither opponent moved. Then, Whitney smiled at her opponent and lowered her keyblade. “You can have the first move if you want.” Confused, Dash shrugged. Like the others, she was willing to wait and see what her opponent would do, letting them have the first attack. In fact, the only time she would ever let others have the first attack was during practice matches where winning didn't matter… as much. Deciding to take up her offer, Dash promptly leaned forward and zoomed forward in a polychromatic blur, stunning the girls behind the door. Whitney’s eyes widened when she realized that Dash was already behind her. With barely any time to even turn her head, Whitney was defenseless as Dash slammed her blade into her back. Taking the full brunt of the attack, Whitney fell forward and slammed into the ground. Dash actually looked concerned for a bit until Whitney picked herself up and retook her stance as if nothing happened. “I’m ready!” she announced. Dash’s concern turned back to confusion. Moving fast once again, she went straight forward and slammed her keyblade into the girl several more times. Whitney, during the onslaught, never once tried to dodge or block. She simply took each and every hit. By the time Dash backed off, Whitney still returned to her normal stance, as if none of her opponents hits had done anything. She was completely unfazed. Dash, on the other hand, wasn't faring nearly as well. She was playing it off and not showing it, but she could swear that her right arm felt like it was nearly broken. Each swing, when it connected, felt like it slammed against an iron wall. Whatever this girl was, she had a body made out of the stuff. It almost felt like when she was fighting Spike when her attacks were completely powerless, Except, in this case, her attacks were hitting, but they just didn't seem to be hitting hard enough. Dash thought about trying magic, but recent experiences told her otherwise. She didn't need to lose the battle because she passed out or something this time. “You can fight back you know?” This actually seemed to surprise the short girl. “I can?” That in turn, surprised Dash. “Duh! It wouldn't be a fight with me just beating on you. Come on, don’t hold back either!” Whitney gave her a nervous and concerned look. After some hesitation, she nodded. “O-okay. I’m going to fight back now. I’m going to run forward with a downward swing, alright?” “Is she trying to psyche me out or something? Who would just tell their opponent what moves they use?” Dash thought. “There’s no way that she’s actually coming from up top.” “Here I come!” she announced. Raising her keyblade above her head, Whitney ran toward Dash with a full intention of telegraphing her attack. “Oh man, she’s actually coming at me like that.” Raising her keyblade, Dash got ready to block her attack and counter. This time she was going to give it everything she had. “Don’t block her attack! Don’t block!” Dash recognized Octavia’s panicked voice from somewhere off to the side. “Dodge it!” Even though she was confused, Dash had long since come to the realization that sometimes she needed to follow others advice. So, despite her confusion, she lazily stepped to the side. Then the room exploded.