Allister pushes his paw into my face a few times to make me wake up. "Someone's outside. On the beach, they won't stop looking up here." I nearly throw myself out if bed when he says that. I rush to the window and look down at the beach. He's right. There's someone looking right at me with a single glowing gold eye.
"Oh shit!" I actually throw myself off my bed that time. "That's them right?! It has to be them?!" Who else could it be?! I scramble to get my wand from the desk and immediately transform. The strings knock a lot of things over and cause the talking cat I live with to hiss but that's fine. I hit my head on the window because I forgot to open it before leaving. There's two long scratch marks from my horns on it but that's fine! I open it this time and fly down to the beach. The stranger continues to watch. When I land on the sand they only turn their head. The only bit of skin I can see beneath the rags is the tan skin by her(?) nose. Does that black claw of a hand count?
"Hello." Ok so she is a girl. Her voice is lifeless and without emotion.
"Hi." At least we're polite. "Do you work for lord star fall?" I ask while trying to fight the lump in my throat. She stares at me for a moment.
"That would be the most optimal way to describe our relationship." Ok so she's not just some awkward girl!
"Ok that's helpful! I have so many questions!" I feel a smile creep up on me.
"No." And it's immediately shattered. "I will not give information to an enemy. That would be a foolish maneuver." Oh. She's smart. That's not good. She glances up slightly. Is she looking at my horns?
"Hm. Well I think we have to fight." I say but I think it's clear how unsure I am. Beyond the obvious question of if I can even match her, what will happen if we fight so close to zone W?
"That is correct. We are on an opposing side of a conflict. It is natural that we would engage in combat." Oh boy.
"Alright then." I grip my wand tighter when I feel it vibrate. They're hungry. "Can I at least know your name?" She tilts her head for a second. Wait, I can salvage this. "It would be the most efficient thing to do. That way there will be no confusion during our conflict." I try and keep emotion out of my voice like her but it's hard to hold back a chuckle.
"…Artemis. That is what I am called." That's so cool!
"I'm Kaiju boy!" I spin and do a pose. It gets no reaction.
"Now we should begin. Push your abilities to the limit." What's that me-
"Oh gosh!" I narrowly block a laser from her eye with Raven. She has laser eyes?! Why does she have laser eyes?! A bright spot appears on the other side of the wing before a hole melts through. I call him back and send a wolf Kaiju. I should lead her out to the ocean. It bites onto her right arm, her feet leaving the sand. She gets thrown into the ocean, crashing into a thin layer of ice that was floating around. Wait a second. I look up at the sky to see there's a hole where the clouds should be. At least above the beach. "What the?" I look back down in time to see my wolf fall into squishy pieces. I have to remind myself not to get distracted while I return it to the wand. Another blast of gold energy flies my way and just barley misses. Naga is already out and spewing venom at the enemy in the distance. It hits some sort of sphere, leaving a floating bubble of poison above the ocean. It expands fast enough that the purple liquid practically disappears, the only thing faster being Artemis. Her fist smashes into Raven like a truck. He's sent into the cliff and creates a crater. Naga swipes her with its tail but she manages to block it. Next is some red flowered trees that I launch while she's blocking. The explosion makes me cover my eyes for a second. "Sorry Naga." I mutter and return it. Only briefly though. It's tiring but I bring it right back out fully healed. I need my best for this. She has that bubble up again, I've never seen something like that. Her expression is still the same as before, no signs of tiring. Can she use the laser and bubble at the same time? I'm really hoping it's a no. Naga uses the same poison attack to cover the bubble. Assuming she can't see me I quickly summon Norbert and his brothers to smash as much ice into her as possible. If I can box her in maybe she won't be able to breath? That's quickly dashed when the mountain of ice is vaporised in a pillar of light. Artemis slowly floats into the air, like she weighs nothing at all. Raven flies past me so I send him his sword. When he catches it the flames from the sword boost it like a rocket. That annoying bubble appears again and blocks the strike. But Raven is clever so he continues the swing. Without anything to ground her the bubble is pushed by the force. Eventually at the end of the spin he launches her into the ocean again. With a smile I fly over and send some bomber Beatles into the sky. If I want to beat her I'll need to build up to it. Norbert freezes over the water she fell into but it just melts when she jumps out. She shoots another beam at Raven in the air. It burns through the top of his body and goes further past that. Soon it passes the storm clouds above and stops. Well stopes might be the wrong word. It detonates. I stare in awe even when Ravens remains return. The tint of orange in the sky makes it clear that that shot could have taken out a couple of zones at least. Norbert is already in prices when my attention returns. In the air Artemis waves her right arm in front of herself, orbs of light appear. They immediately race towards my remaining bears and tear them apart. "This is ridiculous." Frustration boils up inside me. Just when I've beaten instructor Audrey someone else I can't keep up with shows up. I can barley stay alive, let alone beat her.
"I find this to be rather reasonable." Her feet delicately land on the sand.
"Are you seriously not tired?" I wipe some sweat from my forehead and ask.
"No. How are you?" I feel my pride shatter just a little bit.
"This takes a lot of energy ok?" I fly so that I'm between her and the cliff. It feels safer that way.
"Then get more." Oh. That's a good point. Really hope she doesn't kill me while I try this. As soon as I think of it the pink fire rushes through me, though it's not like I can see it. The spark of adrenaline is my signal that it worked, and it's like I was never tired at all.
"Thanks for that." I try and give a polite smile but I'm not sure how effective it is when my eyes are glowing.
"That's not an appropriate way to address an enemy." Like talking to a brick wall.
"Sorry." Wait why am I apologising?
"Ok." She dashes forward but I manage to make a wall of turtle knights to block her advance. Her leap is intercepted by pup smacking her back into the ground with a paw the size of her body. I have the turtles part in front of me and launch a phoenix at her. I'm pretty sure I got this right but if I didn't we're all gonna die so fingers crossed. It hits her dead on and the resulting inferno rampages past that spot and into the open sea. I can't even congratulate myself for that one before a flaming fist hits my stomach. The heat is almost as unbearable as the force. Raven goes for her arm but she just kicks his head off. Her bubble is ridiculous if it can even handle phoenix. But she can't use it and attack. The bomber beetles fall on her when she kicks Raven. I can't even shout about the moves name because she just weaves through them elegantly. Artemis has already left the blast radius when the first explosion occurs. Because I just can't catch a break apparently.
"Please come out!" I call Sapphire without really think of if I can. All I know is that she's probably going to laser me to death in a second. Another blaze of life erupts from me and the wand. The familiar scales as blue as the sky take shape. Sapphire unfurling her wings is enough to make Artemis jump back instead of lasering us. I stare up in awe. I managed to summon my strongest Kaiju again. Her reptilian eyes only acknowledge me for a second before a stream of fire heads for Artemis. The bubble comes up just before the heat hits her. When the attack ends a good portion of the beack looks like it's turning into glass. That's probably not good. When the snake clears I can barley make the enemy out. The ripples from the heat makes it hard to tell y I think I can see some holes in her shield. "Yeah! Let's go! You did so good!" I hug the dragon's ankle in an awkward manner.
"Do you need some help?" An exotic voice from behind be asks in a casual manner. I turn in confusion. Who would be here at a time like this? Sitting on a rock with her legs crossed is a dark skinned woman with more braids in her brown and blue hair than I can count. Around her neck are a series of necklaces with fangs on them and her upper body is covered by a black top. Her lower body is covered by a long skirt made from what I can only assume is animal pelts. She waves at me in a friendly manner. "Hi.".
"Hello." I try to keep my voice steady.
"I'm glad you've already met my friend." She points at Artemis, whose stopped walking towards me. "You can call me Jormy.".
"Really?" I say without thinking. Not really as elegant as Artemis.
"Yeah." She runs the back of her head. "My first was a bit of a mouthful so Jormy will work I think." A bolt of lighting falls on towards me when she finishes. Sapphire blocks it with her back while I jump in shock. Her scales sizzle and she growls in what I assume is pain but she's intact at least. "Well." She claps. "I think that's as good of a first meeting as we can give. Let's go." She waves to her friend who leaps over to Jormy.
"W-what?" Aren't we supposed to fight? I mean there's no way we can take both of them but still.
"Don't worry, we'll meet again soon. This was just a taste tester." A small tornado starts to form around them. "The boss is curious about what you can do." She holds her friend close as they are engulfed. When the tornado dissipates that are gone. I turn around and look at the ruined beach. I pat sapphire again before she returns to the wand. I sit on the same rock as Jormy and think.
"How'd it go?" I barley have the energy to be surprised when Allister turns up out of nowhere. I think of a way I could spin this as good.
"Terribly." No use lying.