Hotaru amusedly regarded the water copy that was standing before her, until it manifested what appeared to be a broom that is also made of water.
It then hopped onto the broom that hovered at waist-height almost as if it was riding a surfboard, then gave what seemed to be a reckless grin...Or whatever passes for one among water copies. "Oh~? Well then, shall we dance?"
BGM: Dog Fighter (OOC: Yes that is a link, I generally make a habit of doing this, Macross music will fit the dogfighting moments rather nicely I do believe.)
At that point, Hotaru spread her wings and took off like a shot. "Try to keep up if you can then!"
And seemingly in response, the watery mimic took off after her at an equally alarming rate of speed. Of course, this both surprised, and amused Hotaru.
'Wow, even for a copy of someone Utsuho and the fuzzball obviously knew, it's pretty fast! Wonder if the original's just as fast? I'll have to make a note to have a race with her! ..Or have dinner....Or something, I forget what it was already, I just know she's damn fast and I like it!' "Why should I bother with finding something called a DC-Mini? I should be getting myself a nice little bikini! Those snobby little petit-fours that are always uneaten...Everybody in Oceania knows how I hate 'em!"
Of course, the water-based clone paid no mind to her inane ranting, a method that would likely have worked on her foe, were it a being of flesh and blood.
But as things stand, her foe is most assuredly not, which means that anything like that would have no effect. So Hotaru just settles for pouring on even more speed!
But when you consider that she took the manifestation of the broomform and the water-clone's summary unorthodox mounting of it as a challenge, it was really the only logical extension from her point of view.
Of course, the water-based copy held out a strange, talisman-like shape formed from water, and silently mouthed something, much like the Hina Copy.
And before long, it was engulfed in a muted and watery rainbow aura and rocketed forward with a shocking speed, leaving a trail of that same, watery and muted aura behind as it flew.
BGM Shift!: Information High (Also a link.)
"Tch, guess I can't hold back either eh?! Never done this before, so I dunno how I'm gonna hold up but...Limiter Release! ...Or something like that at least."
Then Hotaru seems to briefly regard something unseen, and even speak to it. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna go out in a blaze of glory like Guld did, that's just not my style!"
After this small aside, she pushes more power and exertion into flying faster, she is going to surpass even this blinding comet even if she collapses afterwards. That is her determination.
Eventually, she almost seems to leave a glimmering golden trail of light as she matches the rocketing blur that is the Water-based Mirror Image of Marisa, move for move.
Whoever is watching the flight and fight from the ground, or afar, would be treated to a rather impressive light show as the dual trails intersect, run paralell to, and even seem to bounce off of each other.
In reality, they actually are colliding with each other, with Hotaru coming out noticeably the worse of each clash.
'How can water hit this hard?! It's just water that looks like someone! If this keeps up, I don't think even a Youkai like me could handle it...! I gotta try to bring this to a close somehow...But how?!'Then, the swords she had been carrying through this whole ordeal decided now of all times to clank audibly, even at this breakneck speed.
And that single, crystal clear noise was enough to shatter the confusion that Hotaru was trapped by. And a simple, yet powerful feeling took hold.
'I got it! Dunno how this'll work out but...I hope this works...!"BGM Shift 2!: Stoner Sunshine Theme (Yet again, another link.)
During the battle, she had managed to end up going past the very crag where everything began for her, and in the middle of the high-speed flight, somehow managed to hole-in-one the swords she was carrying into the cave with a rather loud crash. No doubt they had managed to embed themselves in the far wall, going by the sound.
Of course, she did only just barely avoid going splat. Of course, in the process she had inadvertently managed to frame herself with the sun with that sudden pull up.
The stop was intentional, making it so the sun framed her was decidedly not. But she figured she'd just roll with it.
She focused hard, yet carefully, but with that water mirror bearing down on her, she clearly didn't have much time...
(OOC: The first thought really showcases Hotaru's scrambled-ness. But when you're dealing with someone who's basically all the crazy i can't let out without getting locked up for the rest of my life, what did you expect?)
(Second OOC: Yeah, the dialogue right after is a reference to Paprika in case you didn't already know, that movie reminds me of some of the really weird dreams I've sometimes had, usually after a 24-hours no sleep stunt in which I have consumed many sweets and watched much Widget stuff. Or drank too much Grape Nehi. Speaking of which, I'm all out of that stuff. I should really get more, to keep myself from becoming too normal. I got tired of sanity a long while ago, when I discovered the Internet.)
(Third OOC: Yes, in case my repeated notifications haven't keyed you into this, Hotaru is pretty much what might happen if Osaka and Ed(Ed, Edd, and Eddy) were to have a kid, with just a smidge of Deadpool for good measure....Yes, that means you can expect many bizarre and amusing shoutouts, and slight Medium Awareness/4th Wall Breakage.)
(Fourth OOC: Yes, I am referencing Guld Goa Bowman's sad fate of removing his YF-21's limiters to give his own life to defeat a Ghost-V9 Unmanned Fighter. Nobody'll be able to match that Heroic Sacrifice. But being a Youkai, that pretty much means Hotaru's gonna come out of it in considerably better condition, doubly so since Avian Tengu are generally flat-out
built for speed, going by StB and DS. And then there's Youmu, who can move at near the speed of light. So it's safe to say a Youkai(Or even half-way in the case of Youmu!) would've survived Guld's Stunt pretty easily, if not pushed it even further!)
(Fifth(!) OOC: That last bit is a simultaneous reference to the aforementioned Guld's Stunt, and the Marisa VS Aya fight found in
this vid, which itself is a reference to Guld's fight....Tengu seem to love doing stuff like that don't they? Well, any Tengu whose names aren't Hatate and Momiji probably.)
(Sixth(Running Gag Gone Horribly Wrong) OOC: This post is almost more OOC than actual post. ^^; )
(Seventh(Okay, really now?) OOC: She's got a 3 in Stamina, so she could probably hold out for a little while longer, but repeated collisions with Blazing Star, even a false, water-based copy, is definitely gonna hurt like a dickens. But hey, one's gotta make sacrifices for Rule of Cool. Just be thankful that Spiral Energy ain't in Gensokyo, otherwise there'd be even more crazy. And praise whatever gods you believe in that Getter Rays or the Ide aren't there either.)
(Eighth(Oh come on...) OOC: Don't wanna finish the fight in one post, it's just not done. I'll figure out how to drag it out to after the next update, if that's fine with squawk. But if he wants me to rewrite this so it isn't essentially just one long highspeed chase, then I guess I can work that out with him. But if this looks good sofar, then great! I'm not used to fight scenes. :ohdear:)
(Ninth(Holy crap.) OOC: I apologize again for all the OOC stuff, all this is tangentially related to the IC stuff though. Took me almost 24 hours to write up in completion. I put more effort into this than a Youkai Quest update! :V)
