Chapter Two: Struggles and Spells

Six months later, her life had gotten worse. “The Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee” had done a background check on her, and had come up with nothing. They eventually spied on her while she was asleep, and found out that her other name was Loveless. So that’s what they called her, when they figured out that she got mad when they said it to her. Hayner, Pence, and Olette had ignored her, along with most of Twilight Town. Some people still liked her, but she managed to ignore the town as a whole. No one talked to her, aside from the occasional “Hey, Loveless!” She managed to keep her temper down when this was said, not wanting a repeat of the incident with Saix.

 

She had been practicing manipulating words and spells and had made lots of progress. She just hoped that she wouldn’t need to use them today. She had a bad feeling about the Struggle today because of a dream she had had last night. It was of a boy with the appearance of an older man. He was fighting another boy with blond hair creeping out under his black hood. Their blades looked similar to huge keys and they were fighting at a huge skyscraper. She hoped it didn’t mean anything too serious.

 

She was currently sitting in the sandlot, waiting for the Struggle tournament finals to start. She had worked her way up to the top along with Hayner, Seifer, and strangest of all, Vivi. From what Ritsuka knew, Vivi was the one to run when Seifer picked a fight.

 

So how did he end up in the finals? No one seemed to know.

 

The Struggle coordinator stepped up onto the platform in the middle of the sandlot.

 

“The Struggle finals are about to begin!” he cried. A roar came up from the crowd. “Let’s introduce our finalists! Underground favorite and local attitude problem, Hayner!” Hayner stepped up onto the platform, a huge smile on his face. “Regular finalist and Head of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee, Seifer!” Seifer jumped up onto the platform and bowed to the crowd. “Completely out of nowhere, who knew he’d make it so far this year, Vivi!” Vivi clambered onto the platform without a word. “And last but not least, a newcomer to our town that’s already made herself known, Ritsuka!” Ritsuka cartwheeled up onto the platform, demonstrating her agility. She stood next to Vivi, a little creeped out by his face under his hat.

 

“The first match is Hayner vs. Ritsuka!” Ritsuka started, while Hayner smirked.

 

‘He thinks this is going to be easy…’ Ritsuka thought. ‘Well I’m not going to let him win.’ She and Hayner took the Struggle clubs and faced each other. Hayner took up his stance, while Ritsuka bent her knees and held the club along her arm behind her back, her other arm in front of her. Hayner had never seen this stance before and tilted his head a bit, confused.

 

“You’re in over your head, Hayner.” Ritsuka near whispered. Hayner still heard it, but no one else did.

 

“Begin!”

 

“Oh yeah? I’ll show you ‘in over your head’!” Hayner rushed her and tried to slash at her. She swiftly ducked and knocked him away with an uppercut. He got up quickly and watched her pick up some pink orbs that had flew out of his pockets. He rushed her again, but she prevailed once more, sending him to the floor. She picked up the orbs that had flown from him as he got up again. He rushed her a third time and he hit her once before she unleashed a brutal counterattack, making about 40 orbs fly. She picked up a few of them before having to jump out of the way of Hayner’s wild slice. She ran around him and viciously attacked his back, causing him to fall flat on his face. He got up, but she whacked him in the stomach, causing him to fall on his back.

 

“Time!” the Struggle coordinator called. “Ritsuka wins!” She felt her hand being raised by the coordinator and looked at the crowd. They clapped politely, staring at Hayner on the ground. Pence and Olette ran up to him and helped him up.

 

“That’s no ordinary girl…” Hayner said before blacking out.

 

Olette glared at Ritsuka as she walked off the platform. Ritsuka saw the glare and put on a fake smile and waved. Olette was caught off guard and her glare faltered, letting Ritsuka walk into the crowd with a smile on her face.

 

“Next up, Seifer vs. Vivi!”

 

"You should pay more respect to your elders." Seifer muttered.

 

"Wow! Just look at those sparks fly! I guess Seifer didn't expect to go up against one of his own boys!"

 

Vivi turned to face Seifer and looked down. The Struggle started. Vivi jumped toward Seifer and started a flurry of unusually quick and rapid attacks.

 

Seifer kept blocking attack after attack and then he lashed out, sending Vivi flying. One orb landed on the stage. "You're mine!" Seifer shouted, running toward the orb. As soon as he was about to get it, Vivi quickly picked it up and slashed at Seifer. He fell to the ground and orbs flew everywhere.

 

"Um... I'm not sure what happened... but... the winner is... Vivi! In a positively blistering comeback!"

 

The crowd cheered, and Seifer’s suspicions were confirmed. "That's not Vivi." he muttered. "Thrash 'im." His gang disappeared into the back alley. Ritsuka looked across the arena, where Vivi continued to stare at her.

 

“And now the match you’ve been waiting for! Ritsuka vs. Vivi!”

 

Ritsuka stared at Vivi, and Vivi stared back. Her eyes shone in anticipation as the match started. Vivi ran around the edge of the platform, evading Ritsuka’s club. She managed to hit him once, sending him flying to the other end, dropping orbs. She picked them up, dodging Vivi’s attack. He nearly flew at her, lashing out again and again. Ritsuka blocked them all, but at the last minute tripped over herself and fell. Vivi saw his change and tried to hit her in the head. Ritsuka quickly put the club in between her feet and struck upwards into his stomach. Orbs went flying as Vivi scrambled up to his feet.

 

Everyone stared at Vivi as he glowed white and turned into a thing in a white jumpsuit. Ritsuka sensed that this was a Nobody, like Organization XIII. She glared at the Nobody and tried to hit it with the foam club, but it just bounced off of the white husk’s body. Ritsuka got thrown back by a serpentine attack from behind. She caught herself and stuck her hand out.

 

“Burst! Tear apart!” she cried. Light needles pierced the Nobody’s body, making it dissipate in a gray smoke. She was surrounded by more of them, and prepared to use another spell. “Burst! Tear apart! Destroy everything!” The Nobodies died swiftly as needles sprung from her hands into their white bodies.

 

Ritsuka heard clapping from the edge of the stage and whipped around, hands still poised for a blast, spell words on her lips.

 

“Don’t attack. I’m not here to fight.” There was a man in a black robe behind her. Organization XIII had come for her.

 

“Saix, why are you here?” Ritsuka shouted at the man.

 

“I’ve come to take you back, Loveless.” Saix responded, taking off his hood.

 

“Don’t call me Loveless!” Ritsuka’s temper flared.

 

“Let me show you what you’ve shown us.” Saix brought his hand out. “This is a challenge to a spell battle.”

 

“I accept!” Ritsuka shouted.

 

In the world of the spell battle, Ritsuka and Saix faced off.

 

“Dark clouds, shut out the light of the stars!” Saix shouted. Black clouds amassed over their heads.

 

“Lightning, pierce the dark clouds.” Ritsuka said. Lighting dissipated the black clouds above them, showing the stars again.

 

“Pitch dark curtain, protect! Hidden from the eyes of the beast!” Saix retaliated, a dark fog surrounding him.

 

“Fire, superheated fire.” Ritsuka stated.The dark fog disappeared in the wake of the fire. “Fire from all around, with that power, tear apart the darkness!” The fire ripped through Saix, forming blue white shackles on his arms. He grunted and Ritsuka used his hesitation to fire off another spell. “A greater power than any, subdue all!” A dark shape formed behind her and revealed itself. A large dragon loomed over her, and it launched itself at Saix.

 

“Defense!” he cried.

 

“No effect. Attack with absolute power.” Ritsuka said. The dragon slammed into Saix, restraining his neck and smothering him in darkness. “Conclusion. Defeat is total.” Ritsuka clenched her fist and the shackles around Saix burst as the spell arena disappeared. Saix disappeared along with the rest of the arena. Vivi was left in his place.

 

Ritsuka got off the stage, wary of everyone’s eyes on her.

 

“Umm… The winner is Ritsuka! She fended off the enemy long after the Struggle was over!”

 

Ritsuka looked at the people staring at her.

 

“Next match! Our underdog hero, Ritsuka, vs. our defending champion, Setzer!”

 

At this, Setzer’s fangirls screamed.

 

“Play fair now. You’re at the top of the bracket.” the coordinator suggested.

 

“There’s only room for one up here.” Setzer said, a little smug.

 

‘Again, I’m being underestimated.’ Ritsuka thought.

 

“Hey, Loveless.” Setzer asked. “How about you throw the match for me?”

 

“And let you stomp all over me when I can clearly beat you in a fair fight? No thanks you conceited freak.” She took her stance and glared at Setzer.

 

“Whatever you think is right, you’re wrong. And that is a big mistake.” Setzer said, confident that he would win.

 

“You’re not going to win this one that easily!” Ritsuka charged him and hit him twice in either direction, making orbs fly all over. She easily picked them up while dodging Setzer’s strikes by cartwheeling all over the place. She repeated slashing at him and cartwheeling for about 30 seconds. Setzer didn’t have very many orbs left afterwards, and Ritsuka bashed him with the bat, sending him flying and signaling the end of the match.

 

Ritsuka didn’t stay long after getting the Four Crystal Trophy and the Champion’s Belt. She was scared that Saix would come after her again. She fled to her apartment when people mobbed her and asking questions about her word-spells.

 

Closing the door, she collapsed against it, finally feeling the strain of calling up the energy for all the spells she had cast against Saix. She collapsed onto her bed, exhausted. She fell asleep almost instantly.

 

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“Hey, Hayner.” Pence said, watching Ritsuka flee the sandlot.

 

“Yeah, Pence?” he answered.

 

“What do you think those… word-spell things were? A trick?” Pence asked.

 

“I’m not sure…” Hayner said. “But we’re going to find out!” Hayner ran off to where he last saw Ritsuka, Pence and Olette following him.

 

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Chapter end.