Falling Leaves 26 ??

  The sound of wood clashing against each other fills the air, as grunts are heard. The sounds of water splashing and a woman breathing heavily follow suit.

  A young Ari is on her knees panting as water drips from her, a wooden bokken lays beside her, she's next to a pond reflecting the green sky and grey clouds swirling around it.

  A statue of a giant fox with two tails stands above her as if it's looking at her, its shadow looms over her.

  "Mata!" (Again) An old man's voice calls out, as he stands there watching her, smoking a cigar.

  Ari opens her eyes as she tries to stand.

  "I said again!"

  Ari stands up wobbling, the black kimono she wears ripped as the sleeves are shredded.

  "Shun—- I've been at this for hours! At least let me take a break!" Ari tries to keep her balance.

  Shun scoffs. "A break? When you're in battle on your last foot do you ask for a break? Any moment you're about to lose your life do you ask for a break?"

  He blows another puff as his eyes narrow through the haze. "This isn't cruelty, girl, it's survival. Kill, or be killed. And I'll be damned if I let you end up the one killed."

  Ari picks up her bokken. "I never ventured out of the village—- but the Cursed Backwoods can't be that bad, right?"

  Shun laughs as he slaps his knee. "Not that bad? My dear, out there you wouldn't last a second."

  He holds his cigar up. "Why do you think we need to be in a hidden village? Every day we need a scout looking for intruders."

  "This place, this forest, down to the very last blade of grass is foul."

  Ari looks down at the grass below her. "What makes the grass we stand on any different from the rest of this biome?"

  "Are we on foul grass too then?"

  Shun sighs as he puffs another blow. "A silly question, but let's just say to answer you, we Fox Spirits purified this part of the land."

  "Oh—- but—" Ari stutters.

  Shun interrupts her. "Enough! As I said before, again!"

  Ari sighs. "Fine, fine—- you don't have to yell—-"

  She takes a deep breath as she bends her knees, she closes her eyes, as blue energy starts to emit from her arms and hands, covering the bokken.

  She holds her sword out, as water from the pond starts to sway and flow.

  The water starts to rise turning into a small cyclone, attracting itself to the bokken.

  As it covers the bokken, Ari inhales.

  "SLASH!"Shun shouts, Ari's eyes burst open, she swings her sword upwards, as the water around it turns sharp, the pressure of it increasing.

  The water forms a crescent, tearing apart the grass and dirt on the ground leaving a mark.

  As it dissipates, Ari pants. "I— I did it—-"

  She smiles. "I DID IT!" She laughs as she falls on her back.

  Shun takes another puff of his cigar. "She learns quick." He chuckles. "The pride of our people, a fantastic warrior."

  "You did good, kid! Now you deserve a break."

  She pants on the ground as drips of water run down, mixing with sweat.

  Shun stands from the wooden staircase he was sitting on and walks to Ari.

  Standing above her. "You lucked out having a Core of Water. I envy you." He snickers.

  Ari opens her eyes. "A core? What is that?"

  Shun throws the butt of his cigar on the ground as he stomps on it. "Your core essence. The very element of your entire being."

  "Everyone has one. You, your mother, me."

  He stretches his arms in the air. "Yours just happens to be water. And it seems to be a high potent core too, seeing how effective you are at manipulation."

  Ari sits up. "I still don't understand how this core thing works. So I know most Spirits have magic, but I didn't know it's something called a core."

  "Yes, and that magic comes from that Core Energy. Whatever their essence is made out of determines how strong and what magic every Spirit uses."

  Ari coughs as water spits out of her mouth. "Blah!"

  Shun looks at her with a grin as he starts to walk off. "Clean yourself up and rest. Tomorrow your training resumes."

  "Wait! I at least want to know more about these Core Essences, like what's yours?!"

  Shun continues to walk off as he sticks his hand in the air, waving. "Something that sizzles." He laughs to himself.

  Ari sits there and watches him leave. "So fire? He could have just said that—- instead of making a lame joke about it—-"

  She turns to the pond, staring into the water. "But—- I swear I'll master you—- and venture into the Cursed Backwoods. I want to see it for myself."

  As she declares this, she lays back down, closing her eyes. "But right now I need a nap—-"

  Days pass from that moment. Every day, she returns to the same pond having Shun oversee her, practicing her water magic.

  Each day she improves bit by bit. Each day Shun's smile grows wider.

  As more days pass by, she starts to learn more spells, like creating bubbles from the pond, each varying in size.

  She sticks her hand out, creating a giant bubble in front of Shun drinking.

  "Shun, look! Look at how big I can make it now!"

  "Uh-huh—- that's nice, Ari." He takes another swig of his booze.

  Ari's eye twitches as she bursts the bubble into hundreds of mini ones, firing them at him.

  "AH!" He screams as the bubbles swarm him, popping and leaving him soaking.

  Ari laughs to herself as he spits out water. "THAT WASN'T FUNNY! YOU RUINED MY DRINK!"

  "Well, do what you're supposed to do and mentor! Stop just being piss drunk all the time!"

  Shun slams his bottle on the ground. "Agh! You know what?! Training's over for today! We'll continue tomorrow!"

  "Fine! I didn't want to be with you today anyway! Hmph!" Ari crosses her arms.

  As Shun walks off, Ari sits down by the pond pouting.

  More days pass as Ari continues to train. Her and Shun make up. Each day she masters the bubbles more, she slowly starts to learn about creating mist from water.

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  She spends hours trying to perfect her mist creation.

  She sticks her arms out as blue energy flows, collecting water into her hands once more.

  She closes her eyes as she imagines the water turning into a cloud.

  "Got it!" She spreads her arms as mist erupts from them, spreading across the entire area.

  Shun coughs, trying to blow some of it away. "Yep—-" He coughs again. "Good job, but next time—- tone it down a bit—- please—-"

  Ari chuckles, rubbing the back of her head. "Hehe, sorry."

  As more time passes, Ari continues to train as she naturally begins to create water from thin air, taking water molecules and water vapor from the air, making new bodies of water.

  Shun watches in awe as he drops his cigar and spills the booze next to him.

  "No way! You've made it this far? In such a short time?!"

  Ari grins. "Yep! I'm feeling pretty proud of myself!"

  Shun pauses as he holds out his palm. Flames surround it, summoning a black wooden bokken.

  Ari tilts her head. "Uh—- what are you doing?"

  He points the bokken at Ari. "Well, I say it's time for a test. Let's see what you're capable of in a fight now."

  Flames sprout from the handle. "Be warned, this will hurt." He stretches as he stands up straight, his short stature getting a bit taller.

  His eyes open, revealing grey pupils, as his hair flows while particles of flames surround him.

  "Wait, Shun! I don't think I'm ready for all that yet! I'm still prac—"

  "Pick up your bokken and fight!"

  The heat around the area starts to rise as bubbles start to foam in the pond.

  "Lesson for today. Be prepared to be attacked at any moment. Never let your guard down!"

  He rushes to Ari, leaving a trail of flames in his wake as he pulls back his bokken ready to swing it, aiming for the side of her torso.

  "Hol—" Ari stutters as she moves her bokken with quick reflexes, she quickly pours core energy into it.

  She guards her side with a wall of water before Shun could strike. His bokken bounces off it.

  "Good!" He disappears into flames.

  He appears in the air as he holds his bokken above his head. It bursts into flames as he drops down like a meteor, aiming for Ari.

  Ari quickly plants her left foot down as she raises her bokken, creating another wall of water.

  She then quickly retracts it, collecting water to cover it. She dashes to the side as she uses her tail to propel herself in the air while Shun falls ready to slash at the wall.

  Shun turns as he sees Ari at the corner of his eyes. "Heh—- a tricky one, eh." He uses his body weight to turn his body to Ari before he hits the water wall.

  He ignites flames from the tip of his tail to launch him towards Ari as she flies towards him.

  The water around her bokken starts to swirl as the pressure of it rises.

  BOOM!

  Their two bokkens clash as steam erupts, covering the entire area and leaking into the village.

  Other fox spirits walking around look at the steam rising into the air as they all heard a loud explosion.

  "What's going on now?"

  "There's always something going on in that backyard. Just ignore it."

  Back at the battle, Shun lands on the ground as the steam covers everything.

  Ari dances around the steam, trying to make him lose focus.

  "Haha! Smart, trying to feint me. But—-"

  His bokken starts to flame once more as he stabs it into the ground. Flames erupt as the ground cracks, blowing the steam away and causing fire and dust particles to fill the air.

  "You can't hide from me that easily."

  "No one was trying to hide—-" Ari's voice comes in coldly.

  Shun freezes as he turns to look behind him. Ari is inches away from him, ready to swing her bokken. High pressure water still surrounds it.

  Shun quickly tries to position his bokken to defend himself as Ari sticks her arm out, creating a bubble in front of him.

  "What the?!" He's caught off guard.

  Before she's blown back completely, she sticks her hand in the bubble, increasing the density of it and gliding over it.

  As she jumps off it, landing in front of Shun. Before he could react, she swipes his feet with her bokken, making him lose balance.

  "Clever little shit!"

  She then quickly throws a kick to his torso. "GWAH!" Blood erupts from his mouth. She then jumps back as Shun's blown back against the bubble.

  The density makes it elastic-like. As his body sinks in it, he's bounced back towards Ari.

  Ari, in that moment, pulls water vapor from the air, covering her entire arm. She rushes towards Shun as he's launched towards her.

  CRACK!

  Ari lands an instant clothesline on Shun as two pressures collide against him. One from being launched from the bubble and the other from Ari's attack.

  He drops to the ground as he vomits blood. Ari points her bokken at him as her eyes are blank.

  He holds his neck as he rolls on the ground. "I— I concede—- you win!"

  The light returns to Ari's eyes. "Oh—-"

  She then looks at Shun as blood drips from his mouth. "Shun!" She rushes to him. "S-sorry! I was caught in the moment."

  Shun groans as dust and fire particles float past him.

  "Yeah—- you passed—- definitely passed—-"

  Ari helps Shun stand as she supports him with her shoulder. "Here, let me take you to the nursery. Again, I'm sorry!"

  As time passes after the sparring match, Ari continues to refine her spells, learning about how to hijack the five senses for illusions, and reading about how she can make her bubbles into teleportation.

  By putting drops of her energy in each bubble and spreading energy throughout her body, she makes a special magnetic force. As her energy is like a North Pole and the bubble is like a South Pole.

  When each bubble pops, it releases the energy and attracts the energy inside of her, making her appear where the bubble was.

  As she practices this new bubble ability, a thought appears in her head. If two or more bubbles popped at the same time, what would happen?

  In her cabin, she stands in a room lit by dim candles, the wood exterior creaking as she takes a deep breath.

  She then creates two bubbles, attempting to perform the teleport, only putting a small bit of energy into each.

  She takes a deep breath. "Okay—- here goes nothing."

  She closes her hands tight as both pop.

  She drops to the ground as the feeling of her body being pulled in two directions hits her. "AUGH!"

  She holds her stomach as she's sprawled on the floor. "N-noted—- don't pop two at the same time—-"

  A knock then comes from her door. She tries to stand. "Come in—-" She grabs her desk to support herself.

  The door opens as Shun walks in with something wrapped in a white cloth.

  "Oh, Shun, what brings—"

  She catches herself as she adjusts herself to stand straight and bow. "Shun, what honor do I have of you coming to my cabin?"

  Shun chuckles. "You don't have to be so formal, you know. I'm here to give you something."

  Ari looks at the cloth. "Oh, um, thank you!"

  Shun smiles. "Don't thank me, thank the council of the village. I told them about your extraordinary advances."

  "So they decided to tell me to give you this."

  He unwraps the cloth, revealing a golden fox mask. The eyes are almond-shaped and predator-like as they're painted red. Three black whisker marks are etched on the gold.

  "A mask?" Ari tilts her head.

  "It may seem like any other mask in the village, but this—- this is a part of you."

  It starts to glow as it floats off Shun's grasp.

  Ari watches in awe, still holding her stomach. "What do you mean by—"

  The mask then rushes to Ari as it latches to her face.

  "Huh?!" She feels like all her energy is being sucked out of her body.

  She drops to the ground. "W-hat are you doing to me?! Stop!"

  "It's okay, Ari. Trust me, it's okay. This will help you."

  The mask continues to glow as golden energy engulfs Ari like string wrapping around her.

  She screams in pain as shocks course through her body.

  Shun watches, his face turning into one of disappointment as he thinks to himself. "You poor girl—- you'll get what you wanted, venture the Cursed Backwoods."

  "This is the only way you'll even have a chance of survival out there, no matter how skilled you are."

  He sighs as her screams grow louder while she rolls on the floor.

  The strings wrap around her like a cocoon as her screams muffle.

  For a moment everything falls silent as Shun stands there watching Ari trapped in a cocoon of light.

  It then starts to crack as it breaks apart, shattering.

  Ari steps out of it with the mask on, this time only covering the top half of her face. The eye area glows red as the nose has a black dot at the tip. Black markings of whiskers are etched on her face.

  She now wears a pink and white battle kimono with two white lily flowers on the side of her shoulders. Her hair is in a ponytail as a red hair tie holds it back. The bottom of her hair glows a light blue as it highlights her natural navy blue.

  Bubbles surround her as her three navy blue tails flow behind her, all glowing the same light blue color at the ends like her hair.

  Ari stands there quiet as Shun's eyes widen, staring at her in awe.

  "This is it—- this is what she was meant to be!"

  In the moment, Ari's new form dissipates as it shatters. The sound of glass breaking fills the room.

  She returns back to her normal self, her hair down, wearing a black kimono. Her eyes roll to the back of her head as she drops face first to the floor, lying unconscious as all the bubbles pop around her.

  Shun looks down at Ari. "It seems like the effect of the Backwoods took place. Her being in that agony registered as a negative emotion and took her magic."

  He clenches his fist. "Forgive me, but this is what you wanted."

  He turns to walk out of her cabin, leaving her on the ground.

  Before he closes the door, he looks back at her one final time. "I'm sorry."