Familiar Faces [Arc and I, Private]

"Call it me trying to get a head start on this whole partnership thing, but I'm not really asking for normal lessons, per se," Kyoko said, waving her hand in Brandi's direction in an attempt to calm her down some. "And it's... Setting a foundation? I don't know... Really, what I'm asking for, is to get some skillful meister around our age to fight Brandi over here. Someone that can do all sorts of those special meister things. One on one. A proper, teacher sanctioned fight, as per the rules."

"So, what's that meant to accomplish..?" the man asked, confused by the prospect. He shook his head, though, not as a dismissal but more as a gesture of bewilderment. "Well, if y'insist, I can make somethin' like that happen..."

Brandi was going to protest to Kyoko waving her off, until she mentioned a fight. From there, Brandi relaxed a bit. "Nevermind. I'm down." She chimed in, leaning back in the chair. So Kyoko just wanted to see her fight, then? That was easy enough, and she didn't mind it either. In fact, she was kind of itching for a fight. Though... the school sanctioned part wasn't really her scene.

With another sigh, the man stood up and walked out from behind the desk, tossing the folder aside as he did so. "I'll be the witness, and that's 'bout all y'need to make a fight alright. An' I happen t'have the perfect candidate. Kinda similar background as Brandi here, thinkin' 'bout it. Follow me," he said, pausing in the open doorway to speak before moving on ahead. 

Kyoko stood up and gave Brandi a quick smile. "Thought you might say that," she said, then biting down on the lollipop in her mouth with a crunch as she followed whoever that guy was meant to be. He'd never introduced himself, after all.

Brandi smirked, standing and following the guy with Kyoko. She adjusted the chain on her wrist, which rattled as she did. "Similar to me? They stronger than the other pipsqueaks that pick fights with me?" She asked, hoping this person could at least hold there own for a long enough for Brandi to show off. Not that she really had anything fancy.

"The ones that pick fights with ya' are the ones that aren't smart and strong enough t'know any better," the man said. The rattling of the chain behind him didn't seem to cause him any worry. He continued on down a few more corridors, ending up at the entrance to a particular classroom. Opening the door, he leaned his head in briefly. "Lyra, need ya'," he said, and stepped to the side. The fact that the teacher inside didn't question this at all was notable. 

Soon enough, a girl slightly taller than Kyoko emerged from within the classroom. She sported the same black hair and grey irises as the man who had been dealing with Brandi and Kyoko. A quick back and forth between the man and her had her caught up on what would be happening, and she turned towards the weapon and meister with a smile. "Hey there. Name's Lyra," she introduced herself in a friendly sort of way. 

Kyoko introduced herself politely, in turn.

The man who had been leading them around took that opportunity as well. "Gyles Kindleberry. Death Scythe. This is my daughter. The Kindleberry line is a family of meisters. Sound familiar? Lyra didn't get'ta be strong by default like you, despite that, though. C'mon," he said, not wanting to wait around.

Brandi followed them once again, eyeing her opponent up and down. She didn't look like much of an opponent, but to be fair neither did Brandi. Maybe that was normal? Either way, Brandi looked forward to finally fighting someone of her own potential. She stretched, placing her hands behind her head as she walked. She didn't have much to say on the matter. It was time to get into fight mentality.

Kyoko decided to quietly tell Lyra more about what the point of this whole thing was as they walked along, about the way that Brandi was rather dismissive of what was required to hunt souls without getting killed. Basically, Brandi's ignorance towards the balance that a meister needed to strike, at least according to the Academy. 

Lyra seemed to understand. 

Gyles led everyone out of the school proper and then onto the training grounds, where there was plenty of space and very little that mattered when it came to damage. He was also listening in to what the girls behind him were talking about, and understood well enough what the point of making this whole thing happen was. Once out in a fairly open area of the grounds, he turned towards everyone. "So, first one to yield or receive an injury that I deem serious enough to warrant medical attention is going to be the loser. Lyra. You're allowed to use a standard menace only, and do try to tone it down. Otherwise, it's a no holds barred fight." Apparently for the sake of the explanation, Gyles chose to use a less lazy way of speaking. "You've got 5 minutes to prepare, and then you start," he said, moving off to the side with Kyoko and sitting himself under a tree. Kyoko chose to join him.

Lyra, responsible as she was, chose to do some stretches in the time allotted.

Brandi seemed lost in her own head as they walked, coming back to earth only to hear Gyles give the rules of the fight. The fuck was a Soul Menace? Brandi wasn't sure, but she figured she'd find out as the fight went on. Hearing that the fight was anything goes, she shrugged and tossed her bag beside Kyoko. She unhooked the chain that was previously tightly wrapped around her arm and allowed it to unravel and fall, catching the end of it. She gave it a testing spin, and sure enough the weight was still good. From there she watched the girl stretch, waiting for the fight to begin.

Lyra quickly got herself all limbered up and started bouncing on the balls of her feet. She watched Brandi unfurl and test her chain with unconcerned interest, finally cracking her knuckles moments before Gyles shouted out a 'Go!' while looking at his watch. Despite this, Lyra simply took up a stance, light on her feet and her fists up in front of her. She was watching Brandi, but she wasn't going to be making the first move.

In stark contrast to Lyra, Brandi moved without hesitation as the word Go was spoken. A grin stretched her face as her body moved into action. She grounded her stance and whipped the chain at Lyra, aiming for her core with a brutal lash. If the girl wanted to play defensive, Brandi would shatter those defenses and land a solid blow to end the fight. At least, that was the very narrow-minded plan.

Watching Brandi really let Lyra be ready for the rather obvious attack. She ducked down below the chain and swung her arm after it as it sailed overhead in an attempt to grab it; disarming Brandi of her weapon would be the most important key to the fight, Lyra thought.

Brandi watched as the chain swung over Lyra. As Lyra made her effort to grab the chain, Brandi made no effort to prevent it. Instead, she steadied her stance and got ready to yank the chain back towards herself, hopefully pulling the girl with it. Winning on brute strength had always been her ticket to victory, why should that not hold true now?

How helpful of Brandi to let Lyra get up so fast. With the extra tug, and her own to go with it, Lyra shot up out of her crouched stance and straight towards Brandi. Without a weapon, getting within discrete melee distance was important. With one hand holding on to the chain, she dashed forward towards her target. Her other hand was held at her hip, in a fist. She was watching Brandi to see what she would do with the closing distance, but ready at enemy moment to open her hand and deliver a textbook palm strike menace should she not need to evade.

As Lyra was launched at her, Brandi swiftly shifted and raised a leg straight into the air, aiming to slam it down onto Lyra in an axe kick. This girl was supposed to be strong, right? So why had she been pulled so easily? It didn't make a lit of sense to Brandi. In her eyes, the girl held no chance at landing that punch. Even if she did, she couldn't hit THAT hard, right?

Lyra shifted to the side, slightly, at seeing Brandi lift her leg. She then thrust the hand ready by her side up at the other girl's leg while simultaneously shifting her stance downwards so that she could more easily absorb the impact of Brandi's leg hitting her open palm and to lower her centre of gravity. Of course, her hand was sparking with the tell-tale energy of a soul menace, and she wasn't slowing down any by instead bracing for the potential impact.

As the girl got close, Brandi slammed her leg down. Surprised by the movement of the girl, her leg came to rest inside the girl's open palm as her foot planted firmly into the ground. With the electrical nature of Soul Menace shooting through her body in an instant, Brandi let out a pained yelp. Her leg reversing and knocking her off balance and backwards onto her back. Her leg hurt like hell and it wasn't quite registering what had happened yet.

With Brandi off balance and moving towards the ground, Lyra was no longer in a direct collision course with the other girl. She ran straight past, yanking the chain she was still holding up and over her shoulder with both hands. With a shout as the chain became taut she dug her feet into the ground and twisted her body for a little extra power, looking to start dragging Brandi across the ground.

Brandi was drug just a little before letting go of the chain and trying to use the momentum to roll to her feet. She stumbled back a bit as she did, but planted her feet and attempted to catch her breath while taking a sloppy street-fight stance. It was clear that she wasn't a martial artist so much as someone who fought with punks on the street a lot.

With the lack of weight on the end of the chain, Lyra ran forward a short ways before turning around and skidding to a stop. She started spinning the chain quickly by her side, but rather than actually using it turned back around to throw it away and into a nearby tree. With that done, she turned back to Brandi and got into a loose stance herself, watching.

The girl had given Brandi enough time to compose herself. She was clearly skilled, and a head-on fight would be worthless. If she could land one or two solid blows, the fight might turn in her favor, but the girl seemed to be one step ahead of her at all times. Her only answer would be to try something reckless. She sprinted, full speed, at Lyra winding back for a punch on the approach while simultaneously bracing her whole body for a counter. She planned to take anything Lyra sent her way head on, then take her down.

The hell? Lyra had done more or less exactly that beforehand, charging straight at her opponent to bowl her over should the chance arise. Was this girl thick, or what? Did Brandi think she'd just stand there? The clearly visible punch wasn't helping her case any, and her momentum was easy enough to use against her. Surely, Brandi was more than aware that her axe kick would have been pretty damn bad had she not dodged and used a menace, right? She knew that Lyra was forced to close the distance like that because of the chain, surely? Whatever. Lyra had to work with the information she had. It was like bull-fighting, this. As Brandi approached Lyra stood stock still, except for changing her footing a little, up until the last moment. She pushed off to the side opposite Brandi's ready arm and aimed to deliver a menace palm strike to the side of the girl's abdomen.

Brandi watched the girl dodge as expected and tensed her body for the attack. The wavelength shot into her abdomen, causing her to grit her teeth and cough a small amount of blood as she held her ground. Using the strike as an opening she grabbed for Lyra's wrist in an attempt to hold her still for a heavy knee to the gut. Regardless of the outcome, Brandi probably couldn't handle another one of those attacks. The force behind them was likely doing a lot more inside her body than it seemed on the outside.

Lyra's rather surprised face quickly turned to concern as she realised that the awkward position her feet were in after pushing to the side would certainly delay any dodge she could think of at that particular moment. Gritting her teeth, she braced for the attack as best she could and hopped along with it to try and lessen the blow; this action didn't do all that much, and it drove the breath from her lungs, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Regaining her focus, she ignored her trapped hand and threw her free one towards Brandi's body with another menace.

Close combat was where she excelled, so keeping her hand around Lyra's wrist was a priority. This would prove to make dodging difficult, and despite attempting to sidestep, regaining her posture after the knee and trying to keep near Lyra would lead to the blow connecting. The wavelength hit her hard, knocking her off balance and onto her back. She attempted to follow her fall into a roll back onto her feet, but her legs buckled and she just ended up on her hands and knees. She had never been hit by a wavelength attack before today, and it showed. It was way different than any punch or kick that had ever hit her in the past. The strike hurt a little, but it was nothing compared to the pain in her stomach.

With Brandi toppling to the ground, Lyra stepped away to catch her breath and watch her in case she had something up her sleeve. Even though she was visibly taking shallow breaths while her diaphragm refused to listen, she still got into a ready position. There was no need for it, however, as her father finally piped up.

"Alright! That's three menaces. Any more an' I'll be worryin' for your insides, so this one goes to Lyra," Gyles called over to the girls, standing himself up off of the ground and made his way over to his daughter who had decided to drop into a sitting position on the floor. 

Kyoko made her way over to Brandi, crouching down in front of her with a clearly worried look on her face. She wasn't expecting things to be quite so one sides, even if Brandi's loss was the point. "You doing alright?" she asked.