Are you guys ready for an epic battle?! Then enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think!
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Chapter 3
The next morning Atsuko woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking once again. Atsuko was still a little sleepy so when she walked in she still wasn’t fully awake. She walked over to Minami and leaned on her almost knocking the little one down. Minami had to push Atsuko up and sit her down on the chair. She served her food and Atsuko woke up instantly. The two ate and then got ready for school. They headed off for school and when they arrived they were welcomed with a strange surprise. Outside the school was a puppet battle and people were gathered around watching it. By the time Minami and Atsuko got to see what it looked like, the battle was over and the loser was on the ground. The two watched as a piece of the puppet’s heart came out and went into the winner.
The puppet and master looked like a very strong pair. The puppet was wearing a blue dress with strange robotic accessories. She had futuristic headphones in and green tubes connecting her body to the rest of it. The doll looked like something out of a science fiction movie. The owner next to her looked like a princess with her long black hair and elegant clothing. The two made an interesting combo and one Atsuko was certainly interested in. When the battle was over everyone left and Minami and Atsuko were about to leave when they were stopped by the winner from the previous battle.
“Hello my name is Watanabe Mayu.” the puppet one said.
“And my name is Kashiwagi Yuki.” the master said.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Atsuko said.
“We were wondering if you would like to join us for lunch during break. Would you like that?”
“That sounds great.”
“Then we will see you then.”
The two walked away and Minami whispered,
“Master be careful. I can feel really strong energy coming from them.”
“Oh they’re fine. They just wanna have lunch with us.”
The two went to class but Minami was still worried about the two they met earlier. She was afraid they were going after Atsuko like the others were and was on high guard. When break came around they met up with Yuki and Mayu and had a nice lunch together. They chatted about school and other things and then Minami asked,
“How many heart shards have you collected?”
Mayu smiled and said,
“Three. How many have you?”
“Two.”
“Well keep working and I’m sure you’ll catch up. There’s plenty of time before the tournament starts so don’t worry.” Yuki said.
“Yeah it’s just Minami and I have to train and get really strong!” Atsuko said.
“Well keep working and I’m sure you’ll get there.”
They went back to eating and when lunch was over they said their goodbyes and left. However before they left, Mayu whispered something to Minami that made her body tense up. When she heard the news, she walked over to Atsuko and told her the same. Atsuko nodded her head and agreed to go after school. Turns out Mayu and Yuki wanted to challenge them to a battle just like Minami had predicted. When school was over they met out in the fields where the two were waiting. They walked over and Yuki said,
“Shall we get started?”
“Let’s.”
The barrier spawned and the puppets prepared for battle. No one moved with either one waiting for an attack. Minami grew impatient and decided to attack first by charging forward. However when she swung, Mayu vanished leaving a puff of pixels behind her. Minami looked around to try to find her but she was nowhere to be found. Then she suddenly popped up from behind and slammed her elbow into her back. Minami flew back but it wasn’t over yet as Mayu came back with another attack to the chest. Minami fell forward and Mayu came down with a brutal drop kick pushing Minami into the ground deep. Atsuko watched as Minami jumped out of the hole and then tried to slice Mayu but missed sadly with that vanishing pixel trick again. Mayu appeared from under and sent her flying up until she slammed into the edge of the barrier and was electrocuted. She fell back down where Mayu was waiting with a blast of some kind of sonic boom sending her down into the ground again. When Minami tried to get back up Mayu stepped on her stomach holding her down. The next thing Atsuko saw was something unbelieveable.
“Ready to lose?”
Mayu’s right arm turned into some kind of laser cannon thing and Atusko watched the tubes on Mayu’s body start to glow. All the energy was going into the cannon that was aiming right at Minami’s head. The cannon was almost completely loaded and Atsuko couldn’t stand to take it. She looked away so she couldn’t see Minami’s head blown to bits and waited for the worst. The cannon was ready to fire but right as she was going to, Mayu aimed her direction right at Atsuko.
“Surprise!”
She fired and a huge blast of energy came shooting straight at Atsuko. Atsuko saw this and was frozen stiff not sure where to go. Her legs were frozen with fear as she watched the beam get closer and get closer to the point where it was about to hit her. However suddenly Minami got in front of her and took the blast. Minami’s body flew and landed hard on the ground.
“Minami!”
Atusko ran over to Minami was badly hurt.
“Minami are you ok?”
“M-Master…”
Minami didn’t say anything else as a crystal left her heart and went into Mayu’s body. Mayu and Yuki walked over and Mayu said,
“And I thought the battle was going to be interesting.”
“Now now Mayu be nice. They put up a good fight.”
“Whatever.. Let’s go find someone else to destroy.”
“Mou what am I going to go with you and that killer cyborg in you?”
The two walked away leaving Atsuko with the damaged remains of Minami. She saw a hole and saw the missing spot where Minami’s piece was. Now there was only two left which made Atsuko’s own heart feel heavy. Tears ran down her eyes as she started to cry upon her fallen puppet. She cried and cried until suddenly she felt someone place their hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Mariko with a smile on her face.
“It’s ok. Minami is going to be fine. Look.”
Atsuko looked at Minami and saw the hole seal up and the rest of her body heal as well. Minami woke up and looked at Atusko.
“M-master?”
“Minami!”
Atsuko hugged Minami and held her tighly glad she was alright.
“Remember Atsuko that was just one battle. Lose two more times and you both die.” Mariko said.
“How do I get stronger?”
“You need to strengthen the connection between you and Minami. It’s very weak right now and nowhere near Mayu and Yuki’s. If you want to get stronger spend more time with Minami and get to know with her. You two should know everything about each other inside and out. Only then will you be able to grow.”
Mariko left and Atsuko carried Minami home where she got much needed rest. The two were sitting on the bed together when Minami said,
“I’m so weak…”
“You’re not weak Minami. We just weren’t ready for those types of battles. Mayu and Yuki.. They’ve been at it longer than us so of course they’re strong. But we can get stronger Minami we just have to work hard.” Atsuko said.
“I know but still.. I should be stronger! I mean I never even landed a hit on Mayu not once. I gotten beaten to a pulp and I couldn’t do anything. Face it master I’m useless.”
“Minami don’t you dare say that you’re not useless!”
“I am! And you know it…”
Minami got up and walked into the kitchen. Atsuko followed after her and stopped her by wrapping her arms around her and pulling her in for a hug.
“You’re not useless Minami. You’re my puppet and I’m going to do my best to help you get stronger. Don’t give up on me yet because we’re just getting started and I’m going to need you to believe me when I saw you’re not useless because if you’re useless then that means I’m useless too.”
Atusko started to cry again and Minami quickly turned around and dried her tears.
“Master isn’t useless. She’s stronger than any puppet or master I know. I believe you master so let’s do our best ok?” Minami said.
“Un!! Let’s work hard and get stronger! Then we can wipe that smug grin off of Mayu’s face.” Atsuko said.
“Yeah! I’m looking forward to that!”
“Then let’s work hard together alright?”
“YOSH!”
That night the two spent it training and becoming stronger like they had hoped. The next day, the two approached Mayu and Yuki challenging them to another battle. At first Mayu took it as a joke and tried to blow them off but then Minami taunted Mayu enough to accept the challenge. They met in the same place as before and went straight into the battle. Like before, Minami charged into the battle head first.
“Again? You know that won’t work.”
Mayu disappeared as Minami swung and then reappeared behind her. However Minami was expecting this and ducked while Mayu’s foot moved above. Minami took this chance and grabbed Mayu by the leg and then threw her across. She slammed hard into a tree but quickly recovered.
“Not bad but let’s see if you can handle this.”
Mayu clapped her hands together and sent a huge sonic boom heading straight for Minami. Right as the wave was going to hit, Minami took her sword and hit it making the sound resonate around it. The sonic boom wrapped around Minami’s sword who then redirected it right back at Mayu. The boom was too fast for Mayu to escape and ended up getting shot back all the way to the edge of the barrier where she got electrocuted. Mayu grew angry and decided to pull out the cannon. She loaded quickly and fired a blast not as strong but still fast. Using her sword, Minami charged at the blast and right as it was going to hit, Minami sliced the blast in half and then charged at Mayu cutting one of her legs and then her left shoulder. Minami got back before Mayu could attack and then sprung forward slicing her arm. While still in the air, Minami tried to turn around and strike again but Mayu grabbed her.
“Got you!”
Mayu started spinning around and around at an alarming speed and then finally shot Minami high into the air. Then she jumped up and slammed Minami back into the ground. She came back down and pinned Minami down in the same position as before.
“Any last words?”
Minami smiled and said,
“Yeah.. BOOM!”
“Eh?”
Mayu looked over and saw her arm cannon was shooting sparks out of it and malfunctioning. Eariler before Minami had sliced the tubes connecting Mayu to her cannon and then jammed a piece of stone in it. The cannon was now getting ready to explode and Mayu couldn’t do anything about. The cannon exploded and Mayu’s right arm was blown off. It wasn’t over yet as Minami prepared for the final move. Just freed herself from Mayu and then jumped high into the air. She shot out chains that tied Mayu down and then pulled out her sword for one last final attack. Minami charged up and her sword glowed while vibrating at a fast pace. The energy coming from it was intense and almost too much to withstand. Minami held on though and she charged at Mayu.
“Minami go!”
“Take this!”
Minami sliced straight across Mayu’s chest cutting deep. Wires and circuits flied as Mayu went down.
“Mayu!”
Mayu went down and the battle was over. A heart shard came out of Mayu and entered Minami’s. Minami smiled and said,
“Now we’re even.”
“Mayu…”
Mayu woke up still badly injured and looked at Minami. With that signature grin Mayu said,
“Not bad… You’ve gotten stronger since last time. Good fight.”
“Same to you.” Minami said.
“Instead of fighting, why don’t we become friends and help each other out?” Atsuko said.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea.” Yuki said.
“Well then Yuki, Mayu, let’s all work hard and strive for our goal to grow stronger and fight side by side in the future.”
Atsuko held her fist out and Minami held hers out as well. Yuki and Mayu did the same and then the four of them all agreed that from that point on they were friends and would help each other whenever things turned bad. Atsuko and Minami had made their first friends and will make more in the future.
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Well I hope everyone enjoyed the battle! Minami and Atsuko have made their first allies but who knows the other opponents that are up next. Find out next time on the next update!