Struggle on the Big Bridge [Sora]

The corner of Felicia's mouth twitched into a slight frown when her opponent revealed himself. He was just a kid? It was kind of expected, given that this event seemed more for children than anything despite being open to all ages. But just because he was young didn't mean he would receive any mercy. She would get that ice cream! Money. She would get the money. It was hard to focus on what was important with the grumbling in her stomach. Felicia was feeling even weaker than normal, even just holding the foam bat up was a bit of a challenge... but there was no way she would allow herself to be beaten by a child regardless. She would destroy him with maximum prejudice.

It seemed that she was a favorite to win for some bizarre reason. Did these people have some sick desire to watch a child be beaten senseless by a grown woman? Regardless, the cheers and calls of encouragement were mostly for her. But she couldn't let it distract her. She was used to performing in far more oppressive environments than a friendly tournament. And then, the gong rang to signal the start of the round. "To you as well, but I can't allow myself be defeated here. En garde!" She was taking this whole thing a bit too seriously, but throughout her entire life, she'd had nary a moment to stop and relax. Such was the fate of joining a terrorist organization as a young child. She did everything with 120%, and this battle was no different.

She pointed the tip of the bat towards the ground, shifting to the side to assume a battle stance. "Here I come. Prepare yourself!" With that, as the boy attacked she suddenly vanished from sight before reappearing behind Sora with her bat raised in the air, eliciting surprised gasps from the crowd as she swung it down hard in an overhead slash. Whether Sora was struck or blocked or evaded it, she would follow it up by stepping in to thrust the bat in, attempting to knock the boy away so that she would be free to collect any points that dropped, if any did.

She had admittedly expected the boy's spirit to be broken after her display of speed. A lesser foe might have realized they were outclassed, but this Sora seemed to have no such reservations. She caught his movement out of the corner of her eye and brought the foam bat up to block his strike... but apparently that was what he was waiting for. His attack slipped past her guard and struck her square in the chest, causing her to stumble back a few steps. She let out a grunt, though more from confusion than pain- was this kid really so powerful as to push her back? Or was she simply too weak to fight properly? Or both? Either way, she needed to end this quickly.

Draw upon my power. Let us tear this world asunder.

...She might have been taking this contest a little too seriously, but she wasn't going to raze the town to ash just because she took a hit to the stomach. Pushing the Voice back down into the depths of her subconscious once more, she raised the sword to rest horizontally by her face with her left hand extended forward, adopting the stance of a certain silver-haired SOLDIER. "...You caught me off guard. I commend you, but- it won't happen again."

With that she dashed forward again, drawing her right arm back as if she were about to thrust again... but instead she dropped into a crouch while twisting, throwing her leg out in an attempt to trip the boy. If she managed to sweep his feet, she would rise and quickly stab the bat down towards his chest to return the favor.

And with that attack, Elfé won. Apparently. She wasn't overly surprised- he was just a child and she was the former leader of the much feared AVALANCHE. But something about their skirmish bothered her. There was more to the boy than she'd seen. It was said that great warriors could sense each other's thoughts and feelings when they clashed blades- of course, she felt nothing during their fight, but that was likely due to their 'blades' being a pair of foam bats. It made her wonder just what kind of weapon that the boy usually used. The earlier move that he'd used to bypass her guard made her think that it must be a short sword of some description- unless he did all his training with the bat, but that seemed unlikely.

She was so distracted with her analysis of the situation that she almost missed Sora's offer of a handshake. The woman took his hand lightly and gave it a small shake before turning away from him. "Wait here." With that, she walked off the stage and pushed her way through the crowd towards the back. If Sora remained in place as requested, she would return a few moments later with a small pouch of munny in one hand and a blue ticket in the other. When she reached Sora, she'd hold the ticket out towards him, letting him see the picture of a popsicle in the center. It was a coupon that could be redeemed for ice cream, good through the next week. "Here, take this."

The offer, more of a demand really, might have seemed odd given her intensity regarding the fight earlier, but she still really didn't care about the ice cream, she just wanted food, and now she had enough cash to buy something. But if Sora would start to reach for the coupon, she would lower her voice so that none of the crowd could hear, "You weren't trying in that fight. I'm going to get something to eat- and then I want you to fight me again. Bring whatever weapon you wish, and then show me your true power."

The boy seemed to agree to her condition, which she accepted with a curt nod. She had her suspicions about him... but their quick skirmish with foam bats wasn't enough for her to form a proper hypothesis yet. Well, she would have enough information to confirm or dismiss her suspicion soon enough. She watched him run off in silence, surrounded by the cheering crowd... only to place a hand over her stomach as it growled, cheeks reddened ever so slightly from embarrassment. She should take Sora's lead and get something to eat as well... but first, as her eyes drifted down to the foam bat in her hand she realized there was something else she'd need to do.

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Twenty minutes passed and Felicia had already blown through all of her winnings. One might imagine that she bought some expensive trinket or do-dad... but in truth, she spent almost all five thousand on food alone. Though the Materia embedded in her palm no longer sapped her life force, it did still drain her energy at a frightening pace, necessitating quite an appetite. By the time she left the restaurant, there were four piles of dishes and bowls in front of her, two large pillars reaching up to her eye level in the back and two reaching up to her biceps in front. Feeling invigorated, she handed over the pouch of munny to the waiter and went on her way, headed towards the forest off in the distance...

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It seemed that she arrived first. Or, the forest was a large place, so perhaps Sora was merely deeper in. She considered going looking for him, but decided to spend a few minutes waiting in the first clearing first. There was no doubt in her mind that the boy would show himself eventually one way or another, so she simply chose a particularly thick tree to rest her back against, folding her legs while crossing her arms over her chest, letting her cape fall over her shoulders to cover her body from sight as she waited for the boy to make his appearance.

She opened her eyes when she heard someone approach, and as expected, it was Sora. Her mouth opened to say something, and then hung in place as she took on a surprised expression, put off balance by the boy's offer. "T-Thank you." Still, not to be rude she accepted Sora's offering with her left hand, leaving the right arm still covered by her cape as she brought it to her mouth. The moment her tongue touched it she winced at the surprising saltiness of it, having expected something sweet. She assumed the salt was supposed to emphasize the other flavors... or maybe this was just what it normally tasted like. It had been a long, long time since she'd had any type of ice cream- The last time was probably with her father when she was still a child... so if she was misremembering what it was supposed to taste like she could be forgiven. The life of a terrorist didn't exactly lend itself to simple pleasures. Still, she managed to finish it before crouching down and pressing the wooden spatel into the dirt. Since it was a wooden stick, it was presumably biodegradable... and then pulled away from the tree in order to face Sora.

Once again she was surprised when the boy called forth his weapon in a flash of light. "A giant key...?" A glance told her that it was likely a blunt weapon as she couldn't see a cutting edge on it. That move he pulled off with the Struggle bat made sense now. She wasn't too far off when she guessed that he used a short sword, though a bludgeon like that key was certainly odd. "Hm... I see that this wasn't a wasted purchase after all." With that she rolled her right shoulder to let her cape fall back and expose her right arm... revealing that she was holding a struggle bat in her sword arm. But her gaze was as steely as ever. "Don't misunderstand my intentions, I don't want you to hold back. But if I draw my sword you might not survive." It might have sounded haughty for her to say it like that, but she had fought Sephiroth to a standstill on more than one occasion. As far as she knew, she was stating a simple fact.

As requested, the boy seemed to be going all out. The woman smirked slightly as she raised her bat to defend whatever he was planning, only to be surprised by the balls of light. She turned, grabbing her cape with her left hand and bringing it up to cover her body just as the explosion pushed her back, her feet skidding against the ground to keep her upright. Some of the fabric of the cape had burned away and thin trails of smoke rose off her forearm, though she seemed relatively undamaged despite having to shake her arm in order to dispel the stinging sensation. Sora moved in to follow up, but she thrust her bat out to block the strike, pushing in to secure the block as she moved her face in close to hers. "Magic, huh...? I hate magic." With that, she'd shove back hard in an attempt to knock the boy away so that she could speak, "In my world, magic comes from stones called Materia. Most Materia is mined from the planet, slowly but surely killing it." She sighed, raising her arm to point the bat towards Sora's chest. "What about your magic? Where does it come from?"

It took Sora a moment to answer her question, though when he had, she closed her eyes and considered it for a moment. Magic came from the heart? What a foolish, childish response. Yet... she couldn't bring herself to verbally admonish him for saying so. Maybe he had a point. Her love for AVALANCHE and all it stood for kept her pushing forward even after her body was broken and weak. Felicia couldn't help the corner of her mouth tugging up into the thinnest smile possible. "...A fine answer."

Her eyes opened again when Sora claimed to have beaten 'the toughest bad guys in the universe'. That caused her faint smile to fade away into her usual frown. As she formulated a response to that, Sora already returned to the offensive. As he expected she hopped back to evade the first attack, not foolish enough to attempt taking it head on for a second time. She was even ready for his followup, bringing the struggle bat horizontally over her head to block his strike... only for the bat to snap in half from the force of the blow after it was deflected.

The woman carelessly tossed away the remains of her borrowed weapon and took a few steps back to create distance once more. "You say your power comes from the heart?" She glanced down at her left hand, dark wisps starting to roll off her forearm while a faint red glow managed to shine through her heavy leather glove. Felicia stared down at her palm for a moment before clenching her fist shut hard enough that her knuckles cracked. "...My power comes from the devil himself."

She grabbed the sheath at her side her left hand while resting her right hand against the grip, the wisps around her arm darkening as they grew thicker. "You said you've defeated the strongest villains the universe has to offer? Well, one stands before you! If you wish to face the likes of Sephiroth, then you should be able to survive this attack. Steel your resolve!" With that, she unsheathed her sword into a single, lightning fast strike. She was still several feet away from Sora and hadn't moved to swing her sword, so he might be forgiven for thinking that she hadn't attacked at all. But a moment later the trees around them in quite a large area would shudder, and then start to fall back, as if felled by some invisible force- causing the clearing around them to nearly double in size.