World Tree MUSH

     As the announcer blares over the intercom through the arena, coming through over the roar of the eager crowd who are rapt in anticipation for the next round of kombat, a young dark blue haired girl enters, wearing her usual outfit of blue wave patterned surf pants with a yellow string around the waist from which hangs her trial captain badge and three pokeballs, sleeveless white sailor shirt with a small light blue cape, and dark blue swimsuit visible underneath. As Suiren enters the arena, knowing who she's up against, one might think the young trainer would be nervous, but if she is, the serious 'go time' look on her face shows no hint of any such feelings. Win or lose, she was here to give it her all, and grow in the experience, and that was all that mattered to her at this moment. 

     While waiting for Frost to enter, she looks around at the crowd, more of them were cheering for her after her incredible fight with Rez, and that made her smile, as did the sight of her family in the crowd, her dad had even managed to come in from his time at sea to be here. Her sisters were notably absent, as her mom had decided against bringing them along after how some of the other fights have gone here and the kinds of people in the stands. With a deep breath, she turned her attention back to the direction Frost would be coming from, and focused only on the fight that lay ahead of her along with her Pokemon.

 
 Go time indeed. Cyber Frost had never feared Kombat, she relished it, loved it deeply, to her it was the one thing that had ever made sense in her horrible life. Just rip someone's head off, display your martial superiority over them, and prove them that you're the best! Simple and Brutal, just the way she liked it. 
 
 But in this fight.. it was safe to say she felt a little Konflicted. 
 
 Suiren had really given her a talking to last fight when she faced Luke, and she had left her a little shaken. Frankly, she had known that there was a chance that she'd face Suiren in the tournament, and even then she was already thinking maybe she should pull her punches a little, but after Suiren threatened to no longer be her student- to no longer be her friend- if she let her bloodlust overtake her again. Now she wasn't sure if she should just take a dive rather than risk losing Suiren. 
 
 What to do? Could Cyber Frost even fight to lose? It might not be psychologically possible for her. She was just going to have to figure this out as she went. 
 
 Just like in her fight with Luke, an EXPLOSION of ice heralded Frost's appearance, and she walked into the arena cracking her knuckles with that easy confidence that comes from being a street fighter.. 
 
 And she paused and blinked at Suiren. She looked so adorable with her badges and her cape! GAAAH! She wanted to run up to her student and pick her up and spin her around. How was she going to do this!!? 
 
 No, she shook her head, she couldn't let Suiren's cuteness get to her- maybe that was Suiren's plan too! Cheeky rascal! She shook her head, steeled her heart, and took a Tongbeiquan fighting stance a ways off her student. 
 
 "Show your Sifu what you've learned, Suiren." 

     Suiren herself has been wondering how Frost is going to fight today. It's certainly true that it could have some bearing on their relationship after the fight, but Suiren knows she has said her piece to Frost and only Frost can decide what she wants to do in the wake of their talk. Suiren starts off by giving Frost a respectful bow, then takes hold of one of her pokeballs, it's dark blue on the bottom, light blue along the middle, and white on top with a droplet of the light blue extending across the top half of the sphere, and a wavy pattern between the colors. She brings the ball toward her face and briefly kisses it for good luck before tossing it out in front of her. "Go Sandy!" She cries as the sphere opens to reveal her Eevee partner, who takes a moment to look between Suiren and Frost, the former giving a nod, at which Sandy looks back toward Frost and lets out a growl before barking out "Evoi!" 

     Suiren gives a clap of her hands, and Sandy charges forward, moving towards Frost, but it's not just Sandy going toward her, Suiren moves in as well. As Sandy goes for a tackle, leaping at the last moment and aiming for Frost's midsection, Suiren comes from the opposite side and is looking Frost in the eyes till the last moment when she drops low to kick out a leg sweep.

Bowing, tsk! Cyber Frost never liked bowing before a fight. Bowing before a street fight meant asking to get your teeth kicked in. 
 
 But this was Suiren.. so she relented a little. Frost broke her stance momentarily to give her a curt bow, and just like that she was back at the ready. Her mind was still wondering how best to approach this. Maybe she could choke Iona? But then she kind of risked breaking the Pokemon's neck.. oh boy. 
 
 Things didn't get any easier for her when she saw not Iona coming after her but Sandy! "The Eeve!? Kid, are you mocking me??" She was expecting Suiren to throw her the very best she got, but she knew Sandy was new and inexperienced, what was Suiren thinking?? 
 
 As Sandy came for the charge, Frost just rolled her eyes at the tiny little thing coming to try and headbutt her. She toyed with the idea of uppercutting it in mid air, or bash an ice club on its head.. then opted to play nice at first- she extended her hand out and just caught Sandy by the head as one might a baseball. What then? Crush the Eeve's skull? Freeze it and then crush it? All these thoughts came rushing to Frost's head because they were second nature and she had to fight hard to push them off. She couldn't kill Sandy, what the hell? Suiren would hate her forever- plus Sandy was cute! 
 
 It was because she was so totally distracted that she didn't notice Suiren joining the fray too, and caught her eye only when she was right underneath her. "What the- AAGH!" Frost got caught with the leg sweep and fell on her back, releasing Sandy on the way down. To her credit, she rolled with the sweep and got back to her feet quickly- but that had certainly taken her off guard. "Not bad..." She was so shocked that for now, she had no Kounter prepared and just lay crouched there for a moment.

     Even Suiren was a little surprised by how well her two-pronged attack worked, though the fact that Frost just caught Sandy's tackle like it was nothing did lend credence to the notion that the little Eevee didn't really have a chance against the frosty kunoichi. "Nice catch, but don't underestimate Sandy just because he's small, even small Pokemon can be strong!" She then claps again, and this time follows with a whistle. Sandy cries out "Voi!" as he begins to run circles around Frost, his body starting to glow with a blue aura as his speed increases dramatically, before suddenly the Eevee with a mohawk haircut turns and goes rocketing toward Frost's back. At the same moment, Suiren moves in closer and aims a right hook at Frost's midsection.

 
 "Yeah, no shit..." Cyber Frost muttered to herself and slowly started getting back up as Suiren lectured her about not underestimating a smaller opponent. It seemed funny to her that someone would tell her that, Frost was pretty tall for a woman, but she was still a female and often had to fight absolute mountains of muscle that towered over her. To be on the receiving end of underhanded attacks was.. an experience for her.. for sure. 
 
 However, Suiren was now the one getting cocky. Her first mistake was to get Frost to get back up at all, once someone was on the ground you got on top of them and beat them senseless, Frost thought she had taught that bit to Suiren but it seemed the little trainer still had a way to go before she truly developed a killer instinct. 
 
 The running on circles was an amusing technique but Suiren was now forgetting a critical issue. Her Sifu was an expert martial artist yes.. but she was also a master of fighting dirty. She knew what Suiren and Sandy were trying to do, so much that she just crossed her arms and waited for the attack. 
 
 Once she saw Suiren launch herself for an attack, and feeling that Sandy was coming behind her, Frost.. 
 
 She just kind of.. 
 
 Side stepped at the last possible moment allowing Sandy and Suiren to hit each other if they really wanted to. 

     Suiren indeed didn't like the idea of beating on someone while they're already down, but considering this was just the start of a fight and she was fighting an opponent who would not likely give her the same courtesy perhaps she should have made the exception. Instead, Frost ends up sidestepping Sandy's attack and due to the height difference between Frost and Suiren, the aim lines up with Suiren's head, ouch. Sandy's eyes widen as he sees he's now heading for his own trainer but it's far too late to do anything about it, and the two indeed collide, sending Suiren staggering backward a few steps, she feels the pain but takes it in stride, perhaps it wasn't the first time she'd been tackled by the Eevee, even if they were usually playful otherwise. Sandy looks sad that he hit Suiren instead of Frost. "Evoooi..." He says with a saddened, apologetic tone. Suiren is chipper and gives the little Pokemon a pat on the head. "It's ok, I'm fine." Let's keep going!" She said with a snap of her fingers. At this, Eevee once again charges toward Frost with that same blue aura, moving with rather incredible speed. He attempts to run up Frost's leg, and aim a bite attack toward her torso. One might not think the teeth of the little Eevee would do much damage, and you'd be right, but empowered with the dark typing, a shadowy aura in the shape of large fangs manifests around the Eevee's jaws as he bites down, giving a much sharper bite. 

     At this moment Suiren also backs away a bit and grabs a second Pokeball, tossing it out. "Iona, Aqua Jet!" She cries, and as the Popplio comes out of the Pokeball, she immediately surrounds herself in water before rocketing forward along with the rushing jet of water, aiming at Frost's legs.

 
 Cyber Frost couldn't help but chuckle a little as Sandy headbutted Suiren by accident. Sure, Frost had changed -a lot- since she met Suiren, but it'd be a looong time and work before she ever completely overcame her 'schoolyard bully' syndrome. 
 
 To her credit, if Frost was her usual totally sadistic self, she wouldn't have waited for Suiren and Sandy to make nice, she would have jumped in there, stab the trainer in the back while she was distracted and finish up the fight. Instead, Frost backpedalled a little to give herself and her student some room, essentially resetting the fight. 
 
 Now what was Suiren's plan of attack. Another frontal assault!? Frost ducked low and put her arm on the way of Sandy's attack so that he bit her in the arm instead. "Ow! Seriously!?" Somehow the Eeve's fangs were piercing through her armor, which was amusing enough to distract her that she didn't see Iona coming until the last second. "Ah! There you are, Iona!" She said as she ducked low again and blocked the Popplio with her other arm, taking the brunt of the attack on her forearm. "I was wondering when you were coming out to play!" 
 
 This was all nice and dandy, but to Frost it still felt like these were very weak attacks. "Suiren! Quit trying to tickle me and hit me already! Ya gotta swing hard, kid! You gotta put some guts and courage into your attacks! You gotta PUNCH THROUGH ME!!" Yelled the cyborg. 
 
 Twin ice swords popped out of her hands and her entire upper body started spinning rapidly in 360 degrees, like a blender, her head was still staring straight a head as she walked towards Suiren, a whirlwind of icy death. If Sandy and Iona decided to stay close to Frost they'd get sliced up for sure. "You see this!? This is death! Do something about it!" Frost slowly started walking towards the trainer, the ice swords spinning like a helicopter blade towards her. It was cruel to attack Suiren like this but if she couldn't handle something like this she'd never make it to the finals. 

     Suiren didn't think she was really pulling holding back too much, she was using some fairly strong attacks considering the Pokemon she had in the ring. But clearly only the strongest attacks were going to work against Frost. "I was just warming up." She says with a smile, then goes serious again as Frost turns into a whirling blender of death. "Iona, protect, Sandy, takedown!" She calls quickly to her Pokemon, but Iona didn't have to be told and was already creating bubbles to block Frost's spinning blades, and to further toughen up her bubbles Iona followed up with icy wind, super chilling the bubbles, turning them into spheres of ice. Sandy nimbly and dodges both the bubbles and ducks under Frost's spinning blades if they get close, and charges at Frost's legs with breakneck speed, A golden aura forms in front of and around Sandy as he moves to strike with much more strength than before, so much so that if the attack hits, Sandy will hurt himself a little in the process.

 
 This was certainly new! Cyber Frost's whirling blades met ice spheres and even being laced with chi, Frost still found that they were cracking after being forced to impact a solid surface. In reality- Frost could prooobbly push through the ice spheres if she really wanted to, but the issue here was that this was clearly just a distraction. The real attack was coming from down below, and Sandy slipped right under her guard and flew in like a -freaking- lightning bolt right at her leg. 
 
 "AH!!" Frost was lowering her guard a little- but she wasn't expecting this kind of retaliation, at the very least Suiren got it now, nothing but her best was going to bring someone like Frost down. She couldn't hold anything back- even if she thought she wasn't holding back, she really was. 
 
 The impact struck the cyborg on the leg solidly, so much in fact that Frost's knee actually broke, and her leg went flying backwards sending the ninja down on the ground sans now one leg! 
 
 "Well shit!" She sat there, glaring at Suiren and Iona with icy eyes full of fierce hatred. It was that look that Frost had right before she killed someone. "You got me on the ground, now what!?" Was Suiren going to make the same mistake and let Frost recover or was she going to FINISH HER? 

     Suiren wasn't going to miss her chance again, if she had any chance of beating Frost, she had to take every opportunity to attack, even if it felt dirty. Thankfully, Suiren was pretty sure Frost could take it, so she didn't have any worry about killing her Sifu such as Frost had about her. She and Iona also had a few new tricks to show Frost, and this felt like the perfect opportunity to use one of them. "Iona, give it all you've got!" Iona responds with a bark and readies her attack while Sandy leaps atop one of the surviving ice spheres and then leaps toward Frost, going for a body slam, which you wouldn't think would do much damage with an Eevee, but a similar aura to the takedown attack says it just might hit a lot harder than gravity would normally dictate. Iona's attack comes while Sandy is still safely in the air as well, an immense blast of water that you have to wonder how it could come from such a small water type, this was Hydro Pump.

 
 Would Suiren have the ruthless necessary to strike her down? That was always the toughest part of a fighter with a relatively soft heart like Suiren, they could fight well enough but never knew how to finish a fight properly. The fact that she had just let her stand up earlier was proof of that- it was time for Frost to give her student the final test, so to speak. 
 
 Frost didn't even try to defend herself, this was all on Suiren and her Pokemon. Was Frost giving up? Hell no, someone like Frost never gave up. Suiren could be rest assured that if she didn't finish Frost -right the hell now- the Cyborg was going to get back up and show her to properly finish a fight. This was a test, perhaps.. for both of them. Frost had entered the tournament to inflate her own ego, but now she saw it as the perfect opportunity to ensure that Suiren achieved the next level of her training. 
 
 At the end of the day, Frost chose Suiren- for once not thinking about herself. 
 
 "OOF!!" Frost's eyes bugged out a little as Sandy smashed into her propelled by Iona's water blast. They would need to combine their attacks otherwise Frost would have just snatched Sandy mid air and flicked him away. Now this was a finisher! 
 
 "HRRRRAAAAGGH!!" Frost went flying backwards and slammed on a wall, falling off the ring rather gracelessly. She laid flat on the ground for a while as she glared upwards at the sky. 
 
 "That'll do kid..." 
 
 "That'll do.." 
 
 Suiren Wins! 
 Flawless Victory! 

     In the spray of water that obscures the ring when Iona's Hydro Pump hits, it's hard to tell if Sandy landed his Body Slam attack, at least from where Suiren is standing, but when the mist clears Frost is laying outside the ring. Suiren looks at that, and blinks in disbelief, she can't even believe it when the announcer calls out her victory. "I... I won?" She walks to the edge of the ring, with Iona and Sandy at her side, the latter looking like he's about to fall over. Suiren slips out of the ring, and walks over to offer Frost a hand. Whether she takes it or not, Iona and Sandy will attempt to nuzzle her affectionately, showing that even after a fierce battle, you can still be friends. "That was a really fun fight, let's do it again sometime!" Suiren says with a big smile.

 
 Cyber Frost did take Suirne's hand actually, but didn't quite get up as she was getting nuzzled by Iona and Sandy. The killer cyborg laughed. "Hahaha! Yeah, it was great!" She had fun??? LOSING!? Was this really the same Frost? Sub Zero would certainly no longer recognize her, but this was who she was now apparently. 
 
 "You guys did great, I'm so proud of you." She smirked. "Hey, by the way, can someone go fetch my leg? I think its still on the ring." Reason why she wasn't standing up was because she was still missing her leg. 

     Suiren laughs along with Frost, and smiles more as she watches Iona and Sandy nuzzle Frost. She offers them both a Sitrus berry to help them recover their strength after the battle. Both immediately begin chowing down like they haven't eaten all day, in reality, they've been training so hard that they've been hungry a lot more. At the mention of the leg, Suiren gives Sandy a pat on the head, and points, and the Eevee leaps back into the ring, runs over and fetches the leg, carrying it back and shoving it out of the ring, where Suiren catches it and offers it to Frost. "So, what should we do now? I feel like getting some food myself, and treating these two to something more rewarding than a Sitrus berry."

 
 Cyber Frost caught her leg and placed it back on her knee socket, the leg fusing together with the rest of her body. "Food sounds good. Who's up for some Pho!? I know I am!" Yeah.. she could get used to this.