There's Always Room For Improvement...

Sadako quietly crept into the room, cautious this time of anyone who might be there. It wouldn't be good to have a repeat of barging in on someone's meditation like she did Elijah... Elijah. She still wasn't sure about him. Sure, he seemed like a friend, but now that she was away from him, that feeling that she should trust him was gone.

And so, she unsheathed her katana, staring at it for a moment. A single tear threatened to spill from her cheek as she thought about the blade's meaning. Sheathing it again, for she couldn't bear to use the soul-less blade. She carefully removed the sword and sheath and leaned it against the wall, turning away. Slowly, ever so slowly, she walked to the middle of the room. She started to obtain her usual state of zanshin, closing her eyes as she stood there.

It took a minute, but soon Sadako could sense most of what was going on in the entire complex. She tried not to use her abilities with the air to sense out people that way, but focused on her major sense.. Tasting the air, a sliver of air snaking it's way past her slightly parted lips, she tried to use this along with her sense of smell. Though a bit more limited, it was still useful. Also, her hearing was excellent, noticing the whisper of cloth of a mage as he passed through the courtyard quite a ways across the complex, his bare feet hardly making a sound on the worn pathways.

Her breathing slowed, trying to perfect her zanshin. Pulling out a strip of cloth from inside her dress robes, she tied it over her eyes, completely eliminating her sight.

Of course, because she hadn't really requested this session, there might always be someone who would join her...

*There would be a swift and sudden burst of movement near the wall opposite Sado, as I IT into the room, feeling the pressense of the one within* Would you like to spar....a sparring partner...? *My voice would whisper out, knowing Sado's keen sense of hearing would be able to pick it up easy*

Sadako didn't even flinch as the shrew teleported into the room. At his words though, she turned slightly, allowing him to see she was blindfolded. His quiet whisper would indeed be more than enough for her to hear - In fact, it was quite loud. Turning to face him completely now, she nodded, "That would be most welcome." Her voice was soft, but it carried to his ears quite easily on a breath of wind. "Any special conditions...?"

Well....no weapons goes without saying....however, seeing as your unable to use your eyes, so should I... *I would say, as I twirled my finger, making a blindfold appear around my eyes too* You may attack me when ready.... *I would say, as I focused my conscious perimeter around the room and beyond, which gave me the awareness that I needed*

Hearing the whisper of cloth sliding into place over the shrew's eyes, she smiled. "As you wish..." Sinking into a generic martial arts stance, she realized just how much she missed the presence of her wings. Now that their familiar weight was gone, she felt as light as the wind that she could manipulate.

She thought back to her sword leaning against the wall, a spike of sudden loss making a slight shiver wrack her slight frame. She shook her head, as if to clear it, then disappeared on a breath of wind. Appearing in front of the shrew, she decided to test him. Sending a punch with a torrent of air behind it, she then spun, a roundhouse kick prepared to be flying at his head, with the same air manipulation technique behind it, hopefully sending him flying backwards. Sadako disappeared on a stray air current once more, waiting to see what would happen.

*As the wind swept attacks came towards me, I would let an unnoticeable smile cross my face, as I jumped to the side, doing a cartwheel, avoiding the wind and attacks, as I then IT, vanishing, and as Sado stepped back, I would appear behind her, aiming a punch, kick, and tail swipe all in one motion towards her, trying to hit her head/neck, chest, and legs all at the same time. As I appeared, Telekinetic energy would create a kind of armor which would lessen damage on me, and produce more damage to Sado, if she was hit. Astral energy would also coat the Telekinetic armor*

((Stepped? Disappearing would allow her to be almost unpredictable...))

Spinning rapidly, she swept an arm and leg across, respectively blocking his punch, kick and tail. Tucking in both her own limbs rapidly, she switched up her punch, sending another toward his chest, a stronger gale coming before her fist this time. Almost hopping back, she planted one foot, sending a side kick to try to wind him, trying to anticipate his next move as she did so. She kept her free arm up to protect her middle, and her concentration focused so she could dissipate in a mere instant.

((Oh, sorry I misread it....))

*As Sado would block my attacks, my tail would twist around, and since it was already touching her, it would wrap around her leg, thus not allowing her to move back, if thats what she was doing, and as then her foot would be tangled, not allowing her to send another kick towards me. As then the punch came towards me, I would focus, as suddenly, another pair of arms would come out of my own, they being glowing green, made of Soulforce, as those arms would move fowards, creating a ball of swirling Soulforce between them, as they intercepted the punch with wind before it, blocking the wind, and if/should the hand of Sado enter, it would hurt her since Soulforce was quite destructive, it would hurt her soul, and harm her physical side all at the same time. As my other hands were freed from attack/defense, I would make Astral energy form around my right hand, and Distortion Energy around the other, aiming to grab her arm with the distortion energy hand, and then punch her chest with my Astral energy covered hand. My tail would continue to hold onto her leg, keeping her from using either of them for now*

As his tail wrapped around her leg, it was a simple matter for her to turn herself into air itself, sliding out of his grasp. She was off balance then, having to disappear so rapidly. She went in with another punch, only to be stopped by the soul force. This was something she had never experienced before, and in her blindfolded state, her hand plunged in a few centimeters. She cried out, her soul quailing as she leapt backwards, allowing both his attempt to grab her arm and his punch to her chest to miss

Cradling her hand to her chest, Sadako winced as she dissipated on the wind for a moment, collecting herself and ignoring her own pain from the recent injury. It wasn't terribly hard but it was a daunting task. It wasn't like anything she had ever experienced before. Gritting her teeth, Sadako gathered the wind around her for her brief moment, a swirling cyclone surrounding her for a moment, hopefully throwing Ezekiel off for a moment.

Letting the swirling mass expand outwards, it began to grow more and more destructive, though it wasn't as bad as the old Sadako would be able to conjure. She still had to work for that. In fact, it was taking quite a bit out of her to keep the winds going at such extreme speeds.

Disappearing to be behind the cyclone-like attack, she willed the mass of air forwards while she dashed around off to the side of the attack to be behind Ezekiel. Her light footsteps were drowned from the sound of the oncoming attack, and so much of her energy was endowed to the cyclone that her chakra signature would most likely coat the entire room, making her able to pass almost unnoticeable.

Drawing the moisture from the air, she made tiny daggers of ice supercooled by manipulating the air temperature. These she willed to spread out and fly toward Ezekiel from almost all angles in their own little slip stream of air for each, allowing them to be unaffected by the cyclone raging around them.

*As the masses of wind and ice attacks made their way towards me, I would thrust my hands out to either side, so that there would be a sudden distortion in the air, preventing the wind and ice to come any nearer* You think you've seen wind....huh? I'll show you...its distorted form.... *I would say, as I brought my hands near me, and then thrust them back out again. As I did this, a Total Repulse would be blasted in all directions from me. The repulse was wind/air unbound from its restraints of gravity, temperature, and friction, and made to move faster than sound. This particular repulse moved at Mach 4, and thus way faster than Sado's speed had show so far. Whether she was made of air or just in normal form would definitely affect her no matter what. The Total Repulse even put large dents in the surrounding walls and ceilings, a place where Sado would be slammed into if she wasn't able to do something about it*

Of course, having not regained the ability to turn to pure shadow, Sadako only had a moment for her to mutter a curse before the wall of wind traveling at Mach 4 hit her, sending her flying into the wall. Groaning, she fell back to the ground, landing heavily on all fours. Coughing up a bit of blood, she tried to get her breath back, while keeping her senses keen. (This would take a moment, for she knew at least a few of her bones were broken, and they screamed in protest when she tried to move)

*Not wanting to lift up my attack, I would quickly motion towards Sado, as sudden the wall she was up against started to crack, as well as the ceiling above, as large chunks of it started to rain down on her position. As this happened, I would motion with my other hand towards her, as Soulforce shot out, becoming many sharp needles which spread across the area, trying to impale her and cause her the same pain as before, even if she should move* Come now, Sadako Rituke....you can do better than this...you once were famed....what has happeded...?*My telepathic voice would echo all around the room and in Sado's head, not mocking her, but trying to restore what confidence that she had lost with the hit*

Sadako instantly knew she should use a bit more caution with this fight, so she started to feel the air as she usually did. This allowed for her to sense the rocks falling around her. She sighed, dodging most, though she took a few minor hits from those she couldn't twist away from with her injuries. Also, since the energy was so new, she didn't recognize the soulforce energy until she was being pierced with it. She grit her teeth, shaking slightly. His voice startled her, and she froze, the soulforce not able to pierce her further if she just stood there.

The name Rituke... It did more damage to her than anything else he could have said or done. With a vehement sadness taking over her tone, she hissed, "I died."

Since soul energy eluded her at the moment, and her spirit was still shattered from that confrontation she had with Evangeline, Sadako did the only thing she could of. Calling upon every once of her remaining strength, all the elements surrounded her. Fire and earth mixed, creating lava that whipped toward the shrew at light speed, aided by it's own shadow. Shadow-like hands rose up as his attention was fixed on her, grabbing and holding him in place with sickening power. Water was supercooled into ice projectiles that followed carefully in the wake of the lava whips, in their own temperature controlled pocket of air. Electricity sparked from clouds that formed outside, a white-ish glow starting to coat Sadako entirely, most likely it's intensity blasting away some of the soulforce.

Sadako herself was hardly conscious, feeling only rage, pain, sadness... The agony of all she had lost was feeding her power. Another gale rose up, flashes of electricity lighting up pockets where moisture from the air had gathered as mist, several of these pockets by Ezekiel.

And across the room was a destructive child of a goddess, weeping not for her physical pain (which was very obvious - from the blood tricking from the corner of her mouth to the stuff that bubbled in her left lung every time she breathed.) but for everything she had lost. She wondered if she could ever forget; if she could ever move on... She doubted it.

Altus... *I would manage to whisper quickly, as suddenly, I would be surrounded by many Telichronoancy Shells, which were within eachother, and anything that touched them, would be sealed from time and soul and reality, thus they would do no harm to me. As multipules of them were around me, some within eachother, they would catch all the lava, wind, water, ice, even shadow, as it had energy, lightning, and any other elements that happened to be flying my way. The shadow which rose to trap me would suddenly vanish, as the Yin Yang pendant glowed, transforming it into Gray Matter, which was no longer under the control of Sado, only me, thus freeing me. As I was free, I would IT out of the various Shells, though numberous, covered the area in a complex network, which trapped all of the elements. I would snap my finger, as Reality Destruction Ripples would be sent out, as the shells would vanish into portals, taking what elements they sealed with them, and the RD ripples cleaning up anything I had missed.

I would then appear on the ceiling, standing there, as I whispered again* Crudus... *As I did, there would be a sudden change in the atmosphere of the room. Not a physical change, but a emotional change, as I had inacted the Crudus Emotion Aura, which allowed me to influence the emotions of people within it. Thus, as it was released, Sado would immediately begin to feel a sudden, and unexpected release from her stress, emotional not physical. Thus, the sadness, emotional pain would faid, so would her sudden flurry of the elements, which would die down, should the aura work.

However, being the overly cautious person I was, I would motion towards her, as suddenly, Astral energy shot out of my body in large portions, creating many bullets of the energy that would shoot at her from every angle and direction. If even a single bullet should touch her, it would see as her mind had been shot. Thus, if many should touch her, she would feel in direct proportion as though her mind had been shot many times. Any shot, either one or many, would make a persons mind burn and feel increable pain, just like you were shot physically, except it was now on a mental level. I knew that Sados mind, being effected so emotionally before, wouldn't be able to stand much more, thus even a single bullet could knock her unconscious for a little while, and so on....*

Sadako's eyes simply glowed a bright white as her elements disappeared, seeming only as twin glowing spots behind her blindfold. She hissed slightly, hearing the second word uttered, but her anger, along with the attack/defense she had been charging suddenly faded. She stumbled, falling to a knee as her pain, rage, depression... It all suddenly faded.

Then, she felt incredible pain as she was hit by the first of the Astral energy bullets, a cry escaping her lips. Suddenly, she was hit by a few more, and she doubled over, avoiding a couple as she practically burned. She was well trained by now to take pain, but in her weakened state it was quite difficult. After five more bullets, Sadako's senses dulled, and the last thing she thought was she wasn't all that glad this was just a sparring match. How easy it would be to just fall away to rest forever... But then again, what if she came back again...?

She didn't have long to wonder as she slumped, now unconscious.

*As I sensed Sado fall into subconsciousness, I would suddenly IT next to her, as all the other bullets, and the aura vanished, leaving a slighty damaged sparing room. I would knell next to her, placing a few finger tips to her temple, already flying through her mind to make sure no lasting damage had been done. After deciding that there was none, I would carefully pick Sado up, and IT out of the room, still carrying her in my arms*