Power Ranking(Solo)

Acun stared, a grim reflection stared back at her, the concrete ceiling, she knew she was far underground, hundreds of feet. Some secret military base, it occupied her life. But for what, what was the purpose. She wasn’t given a cause, she was supposed to serve, but who did that, certainly not her parents. Not Tami, although her teacher was the closest thing to a mother that Acun had. She had been training, to do what, fight shinigami. What for? Why was there fighting in the first place?

Acun was trained to fall asleep and wake up at a certain time each day, but today was different, she had the trials tomorrow, to see which operative was the strongest. A tournament structure was set up, and would being in the morning. But how had her classmates changed in the last 2 years? Had they surpassed her?

Acun crowded the questions out of her head, to question was to receive punishment, 50 lashes now. In the beginning it was 10, but now as the class’ transgressions had happened 4 times, it was up to 50. 50 lashes would leave a grown man immobilized for days. On a child, maybe a week. It was awful to watch, an opinion which she wasn’t allowed to share. But they were made to watch, that was the only time she had seen her classmates, was in formation watching the whippings…

Had it really been so long? Acun asked so many questions now to Tami, she would have to watch her mouth around the authority. Emotional outbursts would be the worst punishment, 100 lashes to start.

Noone had received that punishment.

Acun fell into a fitful sleep, resting until the “morning ” came.



Acun awoke, curled up, she was in a cold sweat. Bad dreams, dreams of her burning, of her insides resting on her knees. She had a bad feeling about today…

Acun got up, and redressed in uniform, the drab green crisp and presentable, she looped her katana around her back, which was resting against the back wall of her room. The metal door unlocked, huge bolts sliding back into the door and Acun was ready, she stepped out of her room, the harsh white light illuminating the concrete hallway before her. She stepped forward, straight toward what seemed to be a mirror, doing the same thing she was. But it was no mirror.

Acun felt a jolt of realization, of connection, the surprise shocked her eyes wide. She was staring at a mirror of sorts, she was staring into an identical room, with a fairly similar girl mimicking her posture and look. They both felt it. Sisters. Their faces were the same, they shared the same height, their hair was different colors, Acun’s being a silvery white, and the girl across from her being a light brown. Sisters nonetheless.

The moment only lasted a fleeting second, as they returned to attention, waiting for the command to march.

“Left, MARCH!” a recording said. An adult dropped infront of the formation, guiding the way from then on out, and the children marched in step.

Acun put one foot infront of the other, and the spiritual energies she felt bounced off of each other, a horrible symphony of power was orchestrated by almost 20 children, and only a few had solos.

Acun and her sister stood out, and a few others. Otherwise, they seemed the same they were 2 years ago…

They were separated into pairs, and filed into separate rooms. Acun saw the insides, all wooden Dojo’s, perhaps 40 feet long and wide, and a good deal taller than a normal room. Acun was last, not facing her sister thank goodness, instead she was facing a blond boy, and they were paired off and took their places on the lined center of the dojo.

She waited for instructions, the other boy didn’t, he came at Acun with a huge right hook, and Acun was completely blindsided by the attack, and as the attack connect, she felt a shock run through her body, her hair was on end. Acun rolled away, drawing her sword, ripping hard against the scabbard.

Hair was already in her eye, it being longer, a short pony tail was bound up in her hair, but her bangs were much too long for fighting. The Blond charged again, a lighting charged punch searing past Acun, just barely dodging that assault. Again and Again, the boy was fast, and was pressuring Acun to the rear of the room. The boy seemed to ignore Acun’s crystalline katana, making his attacks no matter his position. And predictable. Acun stepped forward into the blond, hitting him with the butt of her blade, he was stunned knocked back, and Acun slashed, his shirt was instantly covered in the crimson liquid that was called blood.

He wound up another punch, this time way out of range, and Acun felt what was coming, and dove to her left, collapsing into a ball, and rolling to the boy’s right. The boy compteted his punch, lighting arcing off his fist and into the wall, a thunderous KA-BOOM rang off the walls. Acun was in a suitable position to strike now, as he was reeling from his own attack, and Acun stabbed her sword into the ground her fists covering with crystal as she punched, laid down the same haymaker that started the fight.
As it started, it was ended, and the first match of the day was over… “Victor, Acun.”

Acun wasn't relieved when the boy started moving, mere seconds after the announcement had been made. No remorse was felt between the two for the wounds caused. The boy had been on the recieving end on it, but Acun had a bruise rising on her face. It wasn't her blood pooling on the ground.

--

Twenty Two Minutes had passed, she was standing out side of the same sparring room that she had beaten her first opponent in. She had seen exactly 0 people since that fight too, there must be other doors into the room, as the boy had been left bleeding on the wooden floor. Acun tried her best not to fiddle about with her clothes. She had wiped the blood from her sword onto her uniform, and replaced the blade into the scabbard in her belt. Now the blood was bothering her, she felt it seep into her soul, this was another's pain that she casually wiped away.

A sound of decompression, another door opened, and soon more, her class was finishing their bouts. Half remained, mostly they were battered, bleeding, and all manners of disheveled.

She was expressionless as another opponent was marched onto the oppisite side of the doorway facing her room. This boy was strangely spotless, he looked as clean as he was as if he had just showered... He must of been exceptionally strong.

Acun's sister walked oppisite her, fighting in the room oppisite to her own. As the command to enter was given, Acun broke her normal stoneface to give her sister a small smile. The shock registered in her eyes, if only for a moment, before she entered her own room.

The door closed behind Acun and she was all business again. She couldn't afford to think about her sister now, the large boy across from her was an opponent who defeated one of her class and came out unscathed. Acun stood across from him, facing her opponent, and there was no command to begin, just like before, but the pair knew it was time to begin.

Acun slowly drew her Katana the bluish hilt contrasted heavily with the bloodstained blade. The boy readied into a heavy defensive stance.

Acun took a decisive step forward, her blade becoming nothing but a red blur, ready to sever the boy's hand from his body. The boy responded, opening his palms and a surge of spiritual force followed, and Acun's blade, sparked off of the air.

"What!" Acun whirled around, leading with her body trying to get a heavy attack to connect with the boy. This time Acun slammed into something, something hard, and she was sent to the ground, her shoulder ached from whatever she had hit. "What in the hell..." Acun thought of the possibilities. This boy could be using some sort of mind powers to block her vision. Or mabye he was just conjuring walls... Walls... Acun summoned a shard of crystal, sharp all around, and launched it at the boy, his eyes flashed in panic, and he extended his arms, flat palmed again, and the shard was repelled, an invisible force sending the bit cartwheeling away.

"So you make walls" Acun stated, almost in a question tone. The boy gulped, and that was all Acun needed to know, that was his power, but what that really entailed eluded her. Acun sheathed her sword, she wouldn't get close enough to use it. She kept her eyes on the boy, he seemed like he wanted to do something, but couldn't make his mind up. Acun dashed to her right, circling around the boy, conjuring and throwing a shard of crystal, The boy didn't bother making a wall, instead sidestepping and making a wall infront of Acun which she slammed into, headfirst.

Now, Acun was throughly rattled. She had lost sight of him, when she caught it again, he was inhaling deeply, and she regained her feet when he breathed out, a beam of pure reiatsu.

"Shit!" Acun dove to her right, her body becoming as flat as possible to the ground. A wrong move it seemed, as she couldn't get back up. The boy had his palms open, a wall held her down, crushing her body against the wooden floor. Acun cried out, she desperately tried to get back up, summoning all of her strength to stand. Including spiritual energy. She couldn't get the wall to budge though, she seemed trapped, and this boy was inhaling now, charging another one of his beams.

Acun collapsed, and he lowered the wall further still, she felt like she was going to pop, her arm flailed out, her palm open, and her spiritual energy vented, a blast catching the boy's ankle, he screamed in pain, with powers like his he likely hadn't felt it much. Crystal formed around his foot, and stuck it to the floor, He stood and screamed out his reiatsu, blasting the ceiling, quickly destroying it. The wall lifted and Acun scrambled to her feet. But her advance on the boy was ended along with his scream, he punched Acun in face, knocking her down with a heavy blow. He pinned her, her sword skidding across the wooden floor. A swift headbutt brought pain to Acun, and he used his weight advantage to pin Acun's arms to the ground with his knees, and sat on her chest. His right foot still had crystal embedded in it, and it dug into Acun's side. This kid launched salvo after salvo of punches, Acun was loosing, his punches hurt, but he was physically weak, he wasn't going to knock her out with them. Her head was rattled, her face was a mess of black and blue, with red pouring from the cuts that he had ensured. He then took his hands and wrapped them around Acun's neck and sqeezed. Acun squeezed too, but lack of air wasn't what her's caused. It caused more of a lack of leg.

The crystal in the boy's foot exploded, leaving nothing but a bloody stump remaining, the explosion razed the side of Acun's body bits of unexploded crystal acting as shrapenel against their maker. The boy rolled off, crying now, he grasped his leg, Acun felt breath come hard to her. She felt blood rush out of her head, the darkness closing in on the edge of her vision. She steadied on, crawling her way to the boy. Her sword lay behind his head as he rolled about, cradling his stump of a leg.

Acun grabbed it, her vision returning to her slowly, she put it against his throat, and he screamed. Acun's cut quickly, ending his screams permanantly.

Blood poured out from his neck, covering Acun's front, she pushed his body away from herself, and she tried to walk, the tip of her katana dug into the wooden floor, she used it as a walking stick to get back to the doorway.

She took one last look behind her, and she did feel regret for killing that boy. Then it was gone. The door opened, and she stepped through, holding attention the best she could.

Mari, first name, no last. What did this mean. No last name. Perhaps the girl... No, her sister would know. Who her mother was. She better not die. Mari had done her part, she had survived two of her class mates, incapaciating them both, rather than killing them. Her sister must have killed her opponent, or he must have been pitifully weak. Hopefully the former, as killing was a major let down for the tournament. The Agency needed its numbers.

She had been standing her, in attention for almost 12 minutes now. No victor had appeared from her sister's room. She felt the ground tremble, just a little, shaking coming from inside the room. Mari didn't move, how could she? There wasn't anything she could do to help. The rumbling stopped, and the seconds felt like years, who had won? The rooms were sound proof, so she couldn't hear the victor being called. 41 years later, the doors opened.

Her sister limped through the door, blood followed her, the crimson trail a gruesome result of a body that, hardly seemed alive. Her sister's face was swollen, the hair that was previously a beautiful white was a muddy red, her nose bleeding heavily , and perhaps blood was leaking from her mouth as well. Her mouth was open slightly, her teeth were stained red. It only got worse as it got lower. Acun's neck was blue from choking, her left side was shredded, a dark stain was pooling along her side, the fatigues ruined, and bits of flesh peaking out over the shreded material.

Her legs were largely unscathed, at least compared to her chest. Mari counted 2 shrapnel wounds, compared to the dozens on her sister's chest, that was a mere scratch. The being in front of her was hardly fit to walk, much less fight.

Acun stood at attention as best as she could, a cough sending blood spattering into the hallway. A fleck landed on Mari's face. "Please enter", Came the command, wait, Mari's door opened, and a realization shot through her brain. She was supposed to fight this mangled wreck of a girl. A girl who she shared blood with. Mari followed the instructions, walking into her sparring room.

They stood facing each other in the middle of the room, Mari had to wait for her sister to pass out, they both knew that this wasn't really a round. Her sister smiled, the grim sight of her bloody teeth ruining the gesture. "Hi" She coughed, blood spattering just abit onto the ground. "My name is Acun, what's yours?"

Mari was suprised by the show of kindness, she didn't know what to think, but she responded, "Mari" tenatively, almost as if someone would steal her name if she had said it. Acun leaned heavily on her sword, and a staff formed in Acun's hand, allowing her to switch. Another coughing fit. Mari said, "Don't." But she knew that no matter the pleading, what Acun was doing was required. Mari would have to end it quickly. Mari opened a canteen, the canteen dropped, but the water didn't.

Mari sent it forward, trying to knock her sister back, but Acun swatted it away with her sword, switching to the staff for support. "Go down, or you'll die" Mari said, bringing the water back, she actually hit Acun with it this time. Knocking her back, but neither down nor out.

--

Acun felt the abrasive water roll against her skin, it felt like being shot every time, each wave of pain setting her body on fire, she felt as if she were going to black out, the edges of conciousness closed in around Acun's eyes. The water hit her, for what seemed like the millionth time, and she fell backward, her head hitting the ground with a bonk, and she passed out.

--

Mari sent the water again and again, 3, 4, 5. Acun was tough. She didn't back down, even from a hopeless fight. Rediculously hopeless. Foolish
The girl that lay, bleeding out on the floor, the same face as her own... Eerie...