Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

188 - My Greatest Rival

"I'll be facing you Disas. I'm sorry but I won't be going easy!" Alva murmured.

"You, on the other hand, are my actual target!" Rydia yelled, launching a wall of water directly at Winter.

"Don't be deluded!" Winter returned, facing the projectiles head-on she freezed the entire wall then quickly transformed it into shards of ice which she fired back, knowing that even if Rydia raised a defence of water, it would all be frozen over and work against the Epitome of Aqua. Winter's attack was perfect, or at least it should have been. In a blaze of glory, Fira leapt through Winter's barrage, melting the ice long before it could touch her and delivered a fiery kick to the top of the former Epitome of Crystallos' head, thus causing her to face plant into the mud.

Teamwork and deception. These were the two most important tools I would exploit for our comeback. Our ability to read each other and the situation was always great but our training against Lady Catherine had evolved it to incomparable levels.  I made a loud show when I wildly pointed Rydia in Disas' direction but this was to hide my more subtle cues because at the same time, I had locked eyes with Alva for a moment and signalled to her through them. She immediately understood my intentions, waiting for the perfect opportunity to catch Disas off-guard and begin her bout with the opponent most vulnerable to her Light.

My words weren't completely pointless however. I chose them carefully hiding messages that only my life long allies would pick up on: 'Cold feet' pointing Rydia in Winter's direction, 'act fast' telling her to be swift and take no breaks, then finally 'burn out' which told Fira she was due to intervene as her element held a natural advantage over Ice.

"Satella! Cheryl's your rival. That is your fight! I know you're the best one for Xyder, so you won't lose! Storm! Come with me! You know what you have to do!" I ordered.

Satella drifted to the left and Cheryl gave chase, likely riled up by my words and trying to prove a point.

"Don't! You're walking right into their hands!" Sorine warned but her hard-headed companion refused to listen.

"You think you can beat me all of a sudden, flea?! You flea! Now die! Ahahahahahahahah!" Cheryl exclaimed unloading dozens of dark stakes on Satella in rapid succession, however the girl expertly weaved her way through it unharmed Cheryl clearly had no plans of letting up and Satella had no way of getting close to make her. It appeared to be a stalemate, that was until Storm appeared beside her in a flash of lightning and drove his knee into her stomach, causing her to be winded and cease completely. We'd gotten extremely  close to both Storm and Satella especially having lived and trained together for so many months. Our friendship with them had truly become cemented. However, nothing could compare to the bond that Storm, Satella and Xyder shared. I knew he would choose to back her up when I told him to follow me and so, that was my intention. With both of them against Cheryl, it didn't matter that she'd become a high level Elemental Vessel. Those two would seize victory.

All that was left now was a pair I could honestly have said was my worst nightmare to face; Sorine and Celes. Rydia joined up with me once more and we screeched to a halt, staring up at the duo whom were both using their elements to hover in one place well above us. I could see tremendous disdain in the eyes of these Queens. They were certainly on another level. Not quite as formidable as Xyder but well outdoing anything Disas, Cheryl and Winter could muster.

My plan here was simple and it needed no explanation, honestly. Being an Earth Vessel, I was naturally the best suited to taking on Sorine. My natural ability to ground and cancel out her lightning would prove incredibly advantageous. It would still be difficult but I certainly had a shot at bringing her down. As for Celes and Rydia, neither could harm each other's Elemental Forms and as such their battle would truly boil down into one of endurance... atleast until one or more of us could win and back up the Epitome of Aqua.