Brian and Asha hadn't moved yet. They had calmly assessed the other's partner. In short, they were both acting as backup rather than a separate matchup.
"Your Arianna, she's very aware." Asha observed. "She has to be, considering who she's fighting." Brian responded, and Asha chuckled. "Yeah, I guess."
Arianna took a deep breath to calm herself. The longer I let this girl do what she wants, the harder it'll be for me to be able to determine what is true and what is not.
She glanced at the ground where the lightening had struck. The chars on the ground brought out a cold sweat. If I didn't know any better, I'd be completely fooled.
Anika flicked her wrist and materialized a dagger. Arianna subtly glanced at it. She just materialized that. Is it to distract me again?
Anika walked over to her and stabbed forward. Arianna dodged the stab and grabbed Anika's extended arm, intending to flip her over.
The moment she made contact with Anika however, Anika disappeared. "Tch." Arianna quickly scanned the arena. "Ari, look out!" Brian called, rushing towards her.
Arianna turned, and locked eyes with Anika, who was preparing for a wide arc slash. "I won't let you!" Brian said, rushing towards her.
"Sorry, but I can't let you interfere." Asha said, and Brian laid eyes on the most bizarre scene he had ever seen.
Asha looked as though he was flying, with his back facing Arianna and Anika, even though he was heading in their direction.
He can fly?! Asha stopped short of the two girls. "We'll handle you later. Shoo." Brian felt a pulling force, before he was yanked backwards.
"No!" He crashed to the ground, too far to reach Arianna in time. Anika stabbed forward, aiming for Arianna's abdomen. "...Huh?"
The dagger didn't pierce her skin. "What the-" "My turn." Arianna announced, backhanding Anika. The force was so intense, it threw Anika back several metres.
"Ugh. What the hell was that?" Anika sat up her head reeling from the force of the blow she just took. One thing was for sure; it was a bad idea to get hit again.
"You okay?" Asha had made his way to her side. "More or less." She groaned, getting to her feet. "She stopped the momentum of my stab."
Asha absorbed this information. "And that attack...Does she have high durability or super strength?" Anika sighed. "Her body isn't hard or incredibly durable."
"She stopped the momentum of my attack." Could it be that she can use your own momentum against you? Anika sighed. What a pain.
Arianna sighed and stretched. I messed up. She's not going to hit me again. Anika sighed. Well, I guess I'm not hitting her again.
"What's the plan?" Brian asked. Arianna was quiet. "We'll have to push her out of bounds or find another way for me to store momentum." Brian nodded.
"It's exactly as I suspected. You'll be the game changer for this match." Anika said to Asha. "I revealed my ability to Brian." Asha confessed.
"...So, they have the advantage." Asha nodded. "That's good." Anika said with a smile. "I assume you have a plan?" Asha asked. "I'm working on it."
"Shall we continue?" Arianna asked. "Yes, let's." Arianna rushed forward, with Brian keeping up with her. Anika clapped her hands together, causing an explosion of smoke.
Asha dashed forward, knowing exactly where he was going. What we should find out, is exactly how much force can she stop?
I'll regulate the force to about mach. Asha threw a blunt concrete slab, and with a sonic boom, the slab left his hand. A loud crash resounded through the smoke.
"Mach speed, throw angle 98 degrees, estimated distance eight metres. Arianna, you know what to do!" Brian called out.
What...? Asha had hit Brian instead of Arianna. "My teammate can take a hit just like me." Arianna said, her foot already making its way towards his face.
"Tsk." Asha was only quick enough to use his forearm to block the kick but still got sent back a few metres. His arm was tingling and his HP bar had dropped steeply.
"Well, that makes a few things clear for me." Arianna began. "Your ability can only be activated by touch. It also has something to do with force, considering that throw."
"That's right. And?" "That means unless you touch me, you won't be able to move me about like you did with Brian."
Asha nodded. "That's right. However, if I don't touch you, you won't be able to use your stored momentum on me."
"I wouldn't worry about that." Arianna waved his concern away. "No, you should." The smoke had cleared, and Asha suddenly vanished.
At the same time, Brian flew across the arena and landed close to the edge. "Ugh. That was close." "Hm. Your ability is rather plain. Nothing worth getting anxious over." Anika observed.
She had used the smoke as a cover to prepare. Brian's ability was hardening. She didn't need to test how durable he could get, because for a fighter like her, it was skill rather than strength that got the job done.
Her goal was to keep Arianna guessing, confused, uncertain. If she gave Arianna too much leeway, she would unravel Anika's plan before she could put it to good use.
Where did he go? Arianna eyes flitted across the arena. Wait, no. That isn't what I should be concerned about. What is Anika's actual goa-
"Focus." A shockwave pushed her back a few metres. "Ugh." Arianna groaned. "So, you can't completely absorb all the momentum of a shockwave."
Arianna sighed. She needed time to think, but Anika and Asha were keeping her busy, and Asha could keep Brian at bay with his ability.
"Guess I have no choice. Brian, jump!" How do they keep powers like theirs active? Without warning, a shockwave moved through the ground,
putting both Asha and Anika off-balance. "Ugh, what the-" Instantly the arena changed. All the illusions came undone.
And there you have it. Once they lost focus, their powers stopped working. However, Arianna was low on momentum too.
She still has a bit of stored momentum left. Anika wanted to make sure she had none left before setting things in motion.
Several apparitions of Anika began to appear and rushed towards Brian and Arianna. Arianna had reinforced her hypothesis.
It's just noise to keep me from thinking. She grinned. Well then, here's a surprise for you. Another shockwave hit the ground.
Anika's apparitions disappeared. Now she's out of tricks. Two quakes in quick succession like that are bound to mess with your head.
Now she's out of momentum, and I can get close. Anika rushed forward, getting ready to attack her. "Gotcha." A third smaller quake hit the ground. The illusion dissipated, and it was Asha in front of her.
"I knew it." "Tch." Asha tried to reach for her, but she grabbed him and flung him out of the arena. "Well, at least Brian and I aren't going to have too much troub-"
"Gotcha." Brian grabbed her and flung her out of the arena. "What the-" Arianna blinked. she was out of bounds.
"How?" "The smoke." Anika began. "After it dissipated, Brian was actually thrown out of the arena. Of course you saw it differently, but that was the actual truth.
I then proceeded to make you focus on me, so I could integrate what you were seeing into your perception of Asha."
Arianna's eyes widened when she saw Brian turn into Asha. "But your illusions aren't tangible, are they?" "Not necessarily, no. However, they can obtain hardlight properties for a second or two.
And all I had to do was follow through. You were right in trying to disrupt our concentration, but you should have done so earlier. It would have given you a better chance at winning."
"There was no big plan?" Arianna asked dejectedly. Anika shook her head. "Nope. I acted that way to keep you from noticing the slight changes around you."
"I lost." "It was more of a bad matchup." Anika stretched out her hand. "Good match." Arianna shook it.
"Hm." Excavre observed quietly. The new batch of mutants could be useful in his plan. "Keep up the good work."