~The Sangria Shadow~
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Upon White's retort, Sangria gave out a small sigh and cast her gaze downwards, lest her eyes give away Ayami's thoughts.
--Oh, Ughs..! 'Ice Queen?' Yeah right... more like Ice Cream Cow! What a killjoy! Mooooo! Sounds just like my brother... Ughs-- But as Sangria, calm and rather coolly, did she respond to the White Shadow.
"As, I've said before, White: day by day we are losing. You know that," her chin lifted, red eyes gazing upon the ice wielder, and music in her voice a soft bassline,
"they keep telling us to stop expressing ourselves. They keep making us kneel to their control. But here? In Umbra. No way. Anything fancy here is our right. So maybe I haven't been in this fight as long as you, White, but I am so sick and tired of losing... and so as for anything fancy I do here, I will speak in defiance to anyone or anything that tries to stop me. I will not dull down and be controlled by them."
The response she had given was much more controlled and bit more mature than when she was a new Shadow. A year ago, Ayami's emotions would get the better of her and she would storm off if anyone told her to tone down. But bearing witness to terrible things here in the Digital World had made her grow up a bit; those terrible things happened to those that she had cared for. And so she never got all huffy and stormed off anymore because she never knew if she would ever see them again. What a terrible feeling. It made her feel so alone...
The Shadow cleared her throat and cleared her mind of the past. Sangria then unfolded her arms and walked over to where Mikan stood and gently rest a hand upon the shorter girl's shoulder. A slight sigh she gave before speaking, the same bass in her voice now humming with other string intrumental sounds.
"Oh, please don't feel that. There is no mistake. You have been chosen because you are you, Mikan-chan. You have responded and arrived. There is no mistake. The rebellion is real. And so are your choices. And so is everything I have sworn to you, to all of you--" momentarily she paused as her red eyes swept around and landed upon all others present then she turned to face Mikan as she broke pause
"--I will be more than just a friend. I am bound to you as a Sister in Umbra. You are not alone."
Maybe she did speak a bit too flowery; maybe White had spoken true about Sangria, but this was the Artist's Soul inside Ayami speaking
--Mooooo! I'm fancy, huh! I'm fancy, huh! Oh but fancy that you Icy Cow-- not the emotional teen-aged brain speaking. Sangria bowed politely once at Mikan then once
--moooo-- at White.
<~<★>~>
Then out from the expanse of the darkened sky it came; a swirling monstrous form ominously descending upon the buildings below.
Sangria's eyes gave out a single red flash of light in alarm and Eri directed both she and White into action. Out the door she ran, cyber-angellic wings blossoming into existence from her back. The golden sigils lining the top edge of those wings burst into life, shining in sequence from shoulder to wingtips. Several hand gestures she made, unlocking a portal in front of her. From that portal a wind funnel sung into life and into the open end Sangria reached and grasped. A heartbeat later from the wind funnel emerged her beloved sword,
Escalation, the Singing Blade. (Of course, she just had to thrust the weapon heavenbound over her head, and, of course it glowed brightly when she held such a pose, frozen, as if there was some hidden audience to bear witness to such a magnificent pose and 'oooh' and 'ahhh' over said pose...)
"It's going to destroy the city!" Sangria blurted out the obvious as she pointed at the giant beast with her sword,
"We have to stop it!"
She turned her head towards the ice-wielding Shadow,
"White, I'll get its attention and lead it away to minimize the damage to the city! To the cliffs!"
The Sangria Shadow leapt up and she commanded winds to push at her, billowing her wings, rocketing her up, up, up and towards the snaking form of the skybound Henzaipede. Into the mess of giant legs she flew, weaving in and out of the slicing motion of sharpened clawed ends till she got to the 'head' of it. A melodic whistling sound let out from her sword as she gave a mighty swing. The tall and sinewy Shadow let the monster have it and sparks flew as her weapon,
Escalation took off a small chunk of its armour. It roared out in annoyace, a sound not unllike a ship's hull rubbing up against the docks. She had its attention now. But instead of retalliating, it pulled away from Sangria and its tail swept down towards Eri's shop.
Several residences were flattened but a shimmering liquid rose up and deflected away the onslaught from the monstrous tail. A second later, a golden ray shot skyward aimed at the midsection of the spirallling form.
"Well done," Sangria cried out,
"well done, Shadows!!" For that is what they were, there was no going back now
-- Aw yeah! We just doubled in number! Sick! Can I get a Hell Yeah?!-- A bright grin and a single wave she gave them then she flew back in for the second strike.
The giant mandibles clamped close together, looking to pinch the winged shadow and devour her, but she twisted at the last second. It shred the hem of her battle-skirt; a fair price for narrowly escaping doom. And within that same twisting motion, Sangria sung out a battlecry as she swung
Escalation once more, this time at the Henzaipede's open mouth. Here, she did more damage than she did when she hit its armoured head. That same booming and terrifying shriek sounded out, but this time in pain, as bits and pieces of digital gore spilled out from the new wound. Oh, she definitely had its attention now alright.
"I think I may have found a weak point, Shadows!" Sangria sung out. Immense wings shone her signature Sangria colour, sigils burning golden hues into the sky, as she flapped away to the shore. It was a showy display; a grand attempt to lure the beast towards the cliffs overlooking the water. And trailing her words she thought,
--Man, I wonder how they got that thing past early-warning sensory code...?!
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