The Moon's Successor

Reaching The Others

Well this one was a doozy. Loved writing it too.

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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽Dead Forest☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The warrior and her inky copy were fighting rather aggressively, causing a strange dance of shadows and ink that was bordering on deadly. "You don't really believe you were meant to be some righteous warrior, do you?" The creature spoke softly as it backed up but Linwan simply glared with her hazel eyes dimming in pain and her many ears pinned back. It took a moment for her six ears to show themselves again, but they just as quickly pinned back again. 'Too loud... Can hardly hear myself think...' She shook her head then looked over to see the ink being was gone again. A snarl ripped from her throat before she shut her eyes and focused on any indication of where they could be. Instead, she heard something else: a strong heart. It was racing and was joined by a shattering noise every now and then. A giggle then appeared, her own giggle, which caused her to turn and reach for what she knew was her inky copy. She didn't even hesitate to slam it into the ground, causing another crater. This time the creature seemed to whisper to her. "Wow, you're catching onto the increased hearing easily. That's great! Now, let's continue the lesson, Harbinger." "Lesson?" Linwan practically whispered, clearly not perfected in handling the volume increase just yet. "Of course. Dad isn't here to teach us, so that leaves it up to me." It wiggled its "ears" before smiling. "Besides I'm sure you hear the others juuust fine." She narrowed her eyes at the creature but her ears opening further just showed that she did begin listening out for the others. Mei and Tang were popping up in random places, likely using the scholar's spells to go through the chapters and find the others. They had Mo with them too. Good. She then flicked her ears a little, and with a bit of effort, heard Pigsy fighting Sandy?! She lost focus for a moment then got a kick to the gut that made her fly back. "Ah ah, we can't have you hearing them all! Privacy is important." She rolled a bit then dug her claws into the dead grass to stop herself, sliding slightly before coughing. She quickly went to check on her body but didn't feel anything too worrying, so she went back to focusing on the fight. She looked up in time to duck under the fist being thrown her way, crouching and rearing a clawed hand back. She summoned as much strength into it and dug into her palm as magic suddenly swelled around her fist. A devastating uppercut was sent jabbing into the ink creature's stomach, copying Wukong's jab on Ne Zha almost perfectly. In an instant, she used her bent legs to then kick up onto her hands and pushed off the ground, landing on a tree that she then kicked off of. She rolled herself over in the air and summoned a copy that rushed out of the shadows and threw her further after a few spins, causing her to zoom through the air with plenty of momentum until she was above the being she sent up. She situated herself and lifted her leg high before slamming her heel into its back, swiftly sending it back into the ground.

There was a moment of silence as she felt herself being pulled back down by gravity, but she stared into the cloud of debris as she listened out again. "Can't interrupt if you're stuck." She heard most of the group together now, teleporting everywhere in search of the three that were still currently missing. She growled softly when she lost them again, but ended up hearing MK facing off against... himself? That made her confused for a moment, but realization hit her as soon as she heard her own giggles again. "He's facing his own version of this thing..." "Didn't I say privacy is important?" She narrowed her eyes as all of her ears faced the voice. "Next lesson then, since you're already getting used to your body's abilities. See? I am a great teacher!" Linwan paused when some cloud cover caused a shadow to go over her and quickly delved into it to vanish from sight. "Ooo you're being tricky now!" 'Huh? It's so much calmer in here. This is... this is nice. Now to think of a new plan, now that I can think properly.' She began zipping through the shadows as she put some illusions over her ears, causing the three pairs to become two pairs instead. She couldn't hide more since she wished to hear better still, so she opted to come out of the shadows in a hidden spot for a small breather and to check her illusion's effectiveness. 'It does help a little... Hope it's enough.' "I expected you to be more monstrous like you used to be. I've seen it. How you used to brutally destroy your enemies with nothing but a large stick and a small rock. Do you really believe that you deserve any sense of happiness after all that?" This time, Linwan was the one to laugh, but that laugh began to echo as she dove back into the shadows. "What can I say? The others really wanted to give me a chance. Who am I to deny that?" "You say that, but I know you feel that guilt everyday. You ask that question to yourself every. Single. Day. And you constantly back away from any attention because you're scared to do all of that damage again." "... You're right about that. BUT-" She appeared behind it. "I've always liked to challenge myself. This being happy thing is hard sometimes, but they make it worth it." It turned around and smiled at her. "You're willing to hide away until they see you for the monster you really are? How selfish!" Linwan smiled sweetly as she mentally felt for all of the shadows swirling through the dense trees they found themselves in. "I'm willing to let them see that monster if it means they're safe. You on the other hand... Well, have you seen how I dominated fights in dense forests yet? 'Cause it's even worse now that I've got powers." That made the creature look around and realize they weren't in the dead forest anymore, but a far more lush one. Her smile grew, showing her small fangs proudly, as her tail lashed behind her slightly. "Gotcha." Her eyes flashed mauve for a moment before everything turned to darkness, swallowing all the surrounding light up and leaving the only glow to be the creature's blue eyes. Linwan wiped her brow clean of the sweat that was building from exerting her magic so much, then snickered when she saw the creature looking around again. "Dad never taught us this. How did you get a grasp on it so quickly?" "Stories from the others and privately teaching yourself with the results in mind help. There are a ton of skills I've done this for. Just for rainy days like this one. That reminds me... Did I ever mention I was a quick learner? Though you should know that already." It looked for her frantically, knowing how this would end if she wasn't found. "Am I that scary? You being scared is actually kinda adorable. No wonder dad finds scaring others funny." She felt her eyes begin to close slowly in exhaustion but forced them open before zipping across the darkness to deliver a hit with her claws. It stumbled a bit but couldn't recover as she did another swift attack by kicking. "You still believe you're anything but a destroyer, but look at you! I feel the murderous intent. You want to tear me apart." She hesitated for a moment which let the creature laugh. "You know I'm right." She took a deep breath then sighed before getting back into the attacks. She needed to end this now!