Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Synthetic Emotions ❯ Phase 19: The Strength of Willpower ( Chapter 19 )

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Synthetic Emotions

Phase 19: The Strength of Willpower

By: Melissa Norvell

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"Mizuki and Susumu will be fighting against each other? Oh my God. I didn't think it would happen so early," Hyobe said with slight surprise. It was something that he hadn't expected to happen at first. The thought of two people that were so good in martial arts competing with each other for the first round was unheard of to him.

"This will be interesting," Hisaka seemed interested in the tournament's first battle. It would give him plenty of information and research regarding fighting techniques and methods of defense that could possibly be applied to any of his future creations.

"Yes, it will," Chacha watched down below as the two contestants took a respectful bow towards each other, then the gong was sounded and the announcer shouted 'go' to signal the fight.

Mizuki and Susumu rushed forward as they each threw an attack, only to be knocked back at the same time. The two skilled contestants landed on their feet. The blonde then spun around as flames swirled around her body.

"Flame Burst!" She called fourth as the swept her fan across and commanded that her attack be released upon her enemy. The flames shot towards the man with great speed as he narrowed his eyes and brought down his Bokata.

"Cutting Winds!" He brought the weapon down and got to one knee as powerful winds ripped through the fire, disengaging the attack before it could even reach him. He then opened his eyes and looked straight at her. "Now, feel the wrath of my Dark Phoenix." He said in an emotionless voice as he pointed his weapon towards his enemy and dark energy gathered in the form of a black phoenix who then took off and flew at Mizuki, who's lone uncovered eye widened in shock.

"Crap! Barrier!" She barely had time to block the attack as it barreled towards her. After her block was successful, she was then kicked in the face as she flew backwards and landed on the ground, rubbing her face. Susumu landed skillfully on one knee.

"Damn, those zori sandals hurt," the blonde rubbed her face where her competitor's sandal rammed into her cheek. As she saw the dark-haired man in the kneeling position, she shot off of the ground and headed towards him.

"Take this!" She brought her fan up in an attempt to hit him but he managed to jump back and avoid it. Mizuki then jumped after him as the two took off running down the field.

"Running?" A smirk came across the girl's face at the thought of having someone like the Bird Fighter afraid of her.

"Hardly," Susumu replied with the same static expression he had always had but his voice held slight amusement in it as he stopped and allowed his opponent to get close to him. Mizuki then drew back her fan in an attempt to hit him.

"Let's get this over with," she told him sternly as the competitive girl brought down the fan. "Rising Gale!" Mizuki called out in order to summon her attack. The attack had been successful and managed to blow him back a good three feet before he caught himself on the ground.

"Wow, he almost had her," Momo commented from her seat in the crowd.

"I've never seen them both fight before. They are really good," Mariko complimented her friend's ability. She had to admit, she couldn't take her eyes away if she wanted to.

"Yeah, I heard that they were both in the top honor in martial arts," the wavy-haired blonde informed her friends of the two student's ranking.

"How do you know that, Momo?" Mariko asked, impressed at her knowledge.

"I asked them," the answer was quite simple really. The short-haired girl felt a drop of sweat roll down the back of her head at the comment.

"Why do I even ask?"

As she heard her two friends poking fun at each other over the subject, Aroura stared blankly off into the stands across the arena, where Professor Gaiga was sitting and observing the tournament. Her eyes widened upon the realization of who exactly it was who was watching the tournament. 'He's here…Professor Gaiga…'

"Raging Hurricane!" Mizuki's battle cry distracted her momentarily as she glanced to the battle field to see her friend send fourth hurricane-like winds as Susumu literally split them down the middle with his Bokata, creating a void area that he could move through with no interference. "Tornadic Winds!" The determined fighter then tried again to knock Susumu off of his feet, but he pulled up a barrier and successfully blocked them.

"Yah!" He spun around, only to have his weapon clash with hers. Suddenly, Mizuki flipped up and landed on the tip of his weapon. Thinking quickly, Susumu brought it over his head and tried to smash her into the dirt with it, but when the dust cleared, the only thing that had been driven into the dirt was his pole.

"Huh?" He looked a little confused as he turned to see where the girl had gone but was greeted with a harsh spin kick to the ribs as he flew a distance and landed on the ground.

"You made an error. That's not like you," Mizuki mocked his usual perceptive nature.

"I'm only human," the dark-haired boy pulled himself up from the ground as Mizuki walked over to him. Studying her movements closely, when she approached him closely enough, the ninja quickly got to his hands and horse-kicked her with enough force to send her body flying across the ring and nearly to the line. Hisaka, Chacha, Tetsumaru and Hyobe watched in horror as she came dangerously close to flying out of the ring and loosing the fight.

"Mizuki!" Hyobe wailed.

"She may lose," Chacha leaned forward in her seat and watched intently.

Thinking quickly, Mizuki turned around in mid-air and pulled out her fan. "Bursting Gale!" She shouted as she released her wind attack at the ground.

"It looks like she's going to be knocked out of the ring!" The announcer's voice rang through the speakers. "This fight may just be over, folks!"

The dust from the ground was kicked up as Mizuki was blasted backwards and landed just in front of the line, where she was safe. As soon as the dust cleared a little, the announcer could see that she was still in bounds and the fight was still in progress.

"What a fantastic move! Mizuki just saved herself from crossing the line!" His voice informed the audience of the event. Even he was shocked to see someone use that kind of ingenuity to save themselves from loss. Then he saw Susumu charging back to her, resolute to knock her out of the ring. "But our Bird Fighter is right on her. He's determined to knock her over that line!"

"This is pretty intense. They really both want to win badly, don't they?" Aroura asked, trying to get her mind off of what she just saw and quell her fears of being found out by Eros' creator.

"That's what a tournament is all about. Especially one like this. People are serious about what they do, no matter what it is," Momo replied.

"And in this tournament, it doesn't matter if anyone dies. We all know that Mizuki and Susumu won't try and kill each other, but we don't know that whoever they go against next won't try to," Mariko said in a dire tone. It was things like that, which worried her about having her friends competing in such an event.

"Aren't you worried about Asagi?" Aroura looked to her friend. After all, the spiky-haired man did have those awful seizures. What if he had a seizure and got killed? That would definitely be something to worry about.

"Because of his seizures, right?"

"Yeah, I mean if someone wants to kill him and he ends up fainting, then that could be bad."

"I try not to think about it. I just pray that he doesn't," Mariko closed her eyes as she tried to quell whatever worry resurfaced in her mind.

Mizuki brought her fan down as Susumu jumped into the air and did a flip. As he was in the air, he preformed several hand signs and summoned fourth his attack.

"Ninja Art- Random Flight!" He called out as he began to flip around the girl, performing cartwheels and flipping through the air at such a fast speed that it was hard for her to see him with the human eye. It was as if, for that moment, he had become superhuman.

'What? What the hell is this?' Mizuki thought to herself in shock and question. This was something that she had never encountered before. 'How can I concentrate enough to hit him if I can't even track his movements? This must e one of those ninja arts of his.'

Just as her thoughts ended, she was rushed out of nowhere and his across the face with such force that she screamed as she was flung backwards across the field and tumbled head over heels for a good five feet.

Hyobe shot straight up out of his seat and shouted to his sister. "Come on sis! You can do it! Give it all you've got and don't let him mess up your beautiful face with his ugly kendo stick!"

A bead of sweat ran down Susumu's forehead as slight unamusement crossed his face. "It's not a kendo stick, it's a bokatta," he corrected the white-haired pretty boy.

Mizuki could feel the pain shoot through her body from the collision with the ground as she shakily pulled herself up and panted. 'Damn, he's good. How in the hell do I get past those ninja techniques of his? He's a lot more skilled then I previously took him for. He never showed this kind of skill in martial arts class. What kind of student is he? If he's so good, then why does he even need to take classes at SayaTouya?'

Before she could even catch her breath, he bum rushed her again as he prepared to strike her, she quickly arose and blocked his hit. The clash was so powerful that both students flew backwards, each catching themselves and staring each other down. Mizuki was panting and her body was wearing down but the only sign that Susumu showed was a little sweat. He was dead calm and showed no signs of weakness. It was almost as if he wasn't human.

"What the hell are you?" The blonde tried to catch her breath.

"I'm a ninja in training, a true dying breed," the black-haired boy replied as he waved the bokatta across his view and sent powerful winds at the girl. "Wind Strike!"

Mizuki quickly countered it with winds of her own, which caused both attacks to be cancelled out.

"If you were this good, why are you taking classes at SayaTouya?" The blonde asked, interested in his motives. He was good enough to take college courses in martial arts at his age. No doubt, when it came to that subject, he was a genius. Mizuki was fairly certain that he could beat anyone in her class, minus Asagi and probably Eros. If not, he and Eros were definitely matched.

"It's a part of my training," Susumu answered the question simply as he charged at her again, relentlessly refusing to give up on knocking her out of the ring. He was focused on her defeat, almost mechanically so.

It was as if 'defeat Mizuki' was the only thing on his mind.

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"They seem pretty evenly matched," Asagi watched from the waiting hall, where the other fighters had been positioned.

"Go Susumu! Get her!" Kisame cheered with a hand to her mouth and a fist in the air.

"I thought you'd be on Mizuki's side," Eros looked to the girl in question.

"Well…Uh…" Kisame looked as if she was thinking for a few minutes and she scratched her lower cheek. "I'm rooting for whoever wins. They are both my friends," the brown-haired girl then resumed with her cheering. "Go Mizuki! Go Susumu!"

"Then I'll root for both of them too," Eros smiled as the pink-haired fighter gazed on as she watched the two clash weapons together as they fought back and forth across the stage.

'I'm prepared to do my best. No matter what, I will go the distance for him.'

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Susumu turned in mid-air and attempted to strike Mizuki but their weapons only clashed once more as they were flung backwards by the force of both attacks once more.

"This isn't what I thought it would be," the blonde continued to pant. "Man, I need to quit smoking cigarettes." She blamed them on her reason for shortness of breath.

The ninja was silent as she looked up to him with a crooked smile. "I have to admit, I've never seen you like this before."

"I haven't seen you battle with such determination before, either. It's refreshing to see," Susumu cracked a small smile at his friend.

"When you look at me with those eyes, I can see your true fighting spirit," Mizuki complimented him.

"Mizuki…" The ninja seemed flattered by her words, seeing as the blonde rarely handed out compliments.

"You're kind of cute when you're standing strong like that," she smiled, then appeared in a flash behind him and judo flipped him. "Too bad we're competitors right now."

Susumu then did a hand spring before he landed in the kneeling position as he turned around and grabbed her, slamming her into the ground. "I'm flattered that you think that but I, like you, must win this tournament," he replied in an informative tone that held just a hint of flattery as he pushed off of her, flipped over and brought down his leg to try and land a good hit on her chest but the skillful girl rolled out of the way and popped up as she charged at him.

Mizuki tried to kick him but he jumped and swung down. She rolled out of the way again and jumped up as he swung down again, then he jumped up after her.

'Crap!' She thought as she was hit and flew over to the line. The girl bounced off of the ground and landed right on the line and didn't move.

"Mizuki is down!" The announcer broadcasted.

"Mizuki! Get up! What are you doing?" Hyobe yelled from his position in the crowd.

"She can't win this," Chacha informed. "Even now he's just toying with her." It was more than evident that the famous Bird Fighter had more power than an average martial artist like Mizuki was capable of understanding.

"He's amazing, isn't he?" Hisaka asked in awe of his power.

"An exceptional warrior. His movements are like that of a bird and he glides rather than walks in a sense, he's very nimble," Tetsumaru noted as Susumu walked towards the fallen girl as she desperately tried to pull herself up.

"Ugh…" Mizuki groaned in pain as she watched in approach her, her body too badly injured to really move much. 'Damn it…What do I do now? I'm right on the line. If I don't do something quick, he'll knock my ass out of the ring.' She glanced over to her fan, which lay outside of the ring on the other side of the line. 'If I go and get the fan, I'll be out for sure. Son of a bitch, my side hurts…' She wrapped her right arm around her ribcage and buckled over.

"This is it. You lose, Mizuki," the truth cut her like a knife as the very words she didn't want to hear poured from Susumu's mouth.

In a last ditch effort, the blonde got up quickly and jumped up and over him in an attempt to get away from the line but he grabbed her leg and tried to throw her out of the ring. Mizuki quickly grabbed his hand so that she would go nowhere.

"If I go, then so do you."

"You think that, Mizuki?" His question seemed hollow.

"I refuse to lose."

Susumu was silent once more.

"If I have to, I'll take you with me."

"You're tough, but I wonder if you can do what you say," he looked dead into her eyes.

"What makes you think that I can't?" She asked, but soon found out the secret behind his words.

"Ninja Art-" He began as her eyes widened in horror. "Feathered Flight Frenzy." The ninja summoned fourth his attack as birds composed of energy flew around at high speed, flying every which way and confusing the crowd as the covered up the battle field.

"What the hell?" Mariko stood up in her seat in order to get a better look at the situation.

"What's going on?" Aroura glanced around, but saw nothing but the brightly colored birds.

"What a beautiful attack," Himemari smiled as Kyoui quickly glanced around.

"Hey! What's going on? I can't see anything!"

"I'd tell the crowd what's going on, but I can't see either," the announcer commented as the birds burst into sparkles as many feathers fell to reveal that Mizuki had been knocked out of the ring and was lying on the other side of the line against the wall. "And the winner is, Susumu, the Bird Fighter!"

The announcer's voice rang out as Susumu walked across the line and over to the fallen girl, extending his hand for her to take. The blonde slowly took his hand as she was pulled up from the ground.

"You put up a good fight, Mizuki," Susumu's expression was peaceful as he looked at the girl.

"Thanks," the blonde looked into his eyes, unaware that they were holding hands, "good luck on your advancement."

"Thank you, my friend," he smiled an actual happy smile at her.

"That's the first time I've seen you smile," Mizuki looked a little shocked. It was times like that, which made Susumu seem like a normal school boy and not such much a reserved and serious fighter.

"It was fun fighting with you. Our training sessions should be like this."

"If I can pull you away from Asagi and Eros," Mizuki teased.

"Well, I didn't know that you were so skilled, or I would have sparred with you a long time ago," Susumu was definitely impressed by her show of skill and ingenuity. She was truly worth of being a great opponent in the future.

"Well, let's go our separate ways now. I'll be rooting for you."

"I suppose you can go and smoke your cancer agents now," he teased her back and she pulled out a cigarette.

"I think I will," the blonde stuck the cigarette in her mouth as Susumu walked by and pulled it out as he walked off with a playful smile. Then he heard the offended girl yell at him. "Hey! Those cost money, you know!"

He dropped it in the trash and glanced over his shoulder. "What did you say?"

"You're going to die for that, bird boy!" Mizuki ran over and punched him in the shoulder. "You damned bastard."

He then held her fists to stop from being pummeled. "If you would have fought this hard before, you might have won by now."

"You're a jerk, you know that?" She glared with a frown.

"At least I can make you come out of that 'I don't care' shell of yours." That was truly all the satisfaction that Susumu needed. It was nice to see Mizuki's defensive and tough side, rather than just seeing her laid back like a cat sun bathing lazily in a window sill.

"Men are irritating,” Mizuki sighed.

"Well, women are confusing, so I think we're equal there," Susumu smiled.

"I wasn't kidding when I said what I did, you know," Mizuki then turned a little serious. "You're a great fighter and you do look handsome."

"I've never thought that about myself, so thank you. You're beautiful as well," Susumu had always thought of himself as average and until now, Mizuki had been the first person to really compliment him on his looks, rather than his performance skills. It was refreshing to have someone say such a thing to him.

"I look forward to our friendship…" Then she looked irritated. "Just don't throw my cigarette away again, or I'll hurt you."

Then the cigarette was handed to her. "I didn't throw it away, although I was tempted. It was an illusion but the look on your face was priceless," the dark-haired boy then stuck it in her mouth with a happy smile.

"Good luck, feather brain," she muttered. Mizuki didn't find it funny at all.

"Before you go, watch the next fight with me."

"Are you sure?" She was a little thrown for a loop by his answer. It wasn't like Susumu to be friendly like that.

"I wouldn't say it unless I was."

"Sure thing," the blonde lit her cigarette as they walked back to the waiting hall together.

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"I can't believe that she lost," Hyobe whined as twin rivers of tears dramatically rushed down his cheeks.

"The next competitor is A17. I've never heard of her before," Chacha ignored the crying white-haired boy as she paid careful attention to the next competitor of the tournament.

"Neither have I," Hisaka commented. "But, supposedly, she attends SayaTouya High."

"A student that no one's heard of but has been here the entire time?" The lime-haired girl asked. "In many ways, it seems illogical."

"That must mean that someone must have been going under an alias. The only question is-who?" Hisaka looked as if he were thinking hard on the subject as a pink-haired girl dressed in a white sundress walked onto the battlefield below and looked into the crowd at her special someone as her wings, composed of what looked like giant piano keys stretched out behind her.

'This is my chance…I will prove myself to him and one day, hope that he will be able to face the music when he finds out who I really am.' She thought to herself about that day and hoped that she would be accepted by him and have the chance to experience love, like every other high school student.

She longed to be normal.

…To Be Continued…