Paladin HQ: Image Training

Chidori Chinatsu performed a series of warm up stretches followed by the Tang Soo Do Naihanchi Sam Dan Kata while Sigmis watched from his seat.



"Who exactly are you planning to fight today, Chosen One?" Sigmis asked her.

"Well, there's someone I really want to punch in the face as a test to see just how far I've come since our last fight. After I deal with her I'll move on to Languishen."

"Languishen? The first Feond you fought? Why him?"

"He's the strongest villain I've ever faced and I only got to face him with my powers after the others had been kicking him around like a soccer ball. I want to see just how well I can measure up on my own." She explained and placed the headpeace over her face. The Paladin HQ Training Center can create Solid Vision Holograms from pre-loaded data or the user's memories through a neural link that links to the user's cerebral memory banks via quantum information, enabling it to become neuro-images which can be visualized into any open space. This room was also capable of producing virtual locations and people to allow for virtually limitless combat situations. Hiro had also started experimenting with the tech as well which meant she was going to make something amazing out of it that Chidori was sure that she would incorporate into her suit.



Chidori couldn't wait to see it. As if Hiro wasn't cool enough already. Right now though she had to focus on her training. Chidori took a deep breath, blew it out and slowly relaxed herself as she reached into her memories and brought her out. Her long flowing dark hair. Her angelic features hiding the mind of a demon. Her jet black costume. That white featureless doll like mask. The knives. Every movement. Every attack. Every cut. Every dirty trick. Every single aspect of the fight. Chidori remembered all of it very clearly. As clear as day. So it wasn't hard for the neural-link to bring her out and make her solid again. Chidori opened her eyes again to see Suko Chifumi staring back at her. The training room glowed and shined and changed itself to that same dark stormy night. The rain poured down on both of them. The thunder exploded like bombs overhead. The lightning flashed. Chidori took up her fighting stance.

Holo-Suko immediately went on the attack with her kitchen knife in hand. It cut through the air like a razor sharp blur. Chidori was certain that she was every bit as fast as she remembered but...she was moving slowly this time. It was like the killer was moving through molasses. As if somebody had set her on 0.05x slow motion. Chidori side stepped her easily and watched as the knife cut into the empty air. Chidori waited for her to finally notice she'd dodged and then she turned the blade in her hand, grabbed it with the other hand and stabbing it at her chest but Chidori once again slipped behind her. She watched Suko's movements. She was just like she remembered her. Still using her knives as parts of herself with quick, short, stabs and cuts aimed at the vitals of her victims. All the speed and skill of a Master Chef Serial Killer. But she was just so slow now. Chidori looked herself over. She knew she that awakening her powers had amplified her physical abilities, that she'd gotten stronger since their fight and had trained heavily since then, but she had no idea she'd gotten this much better. Suko nearly killed her when they fought and Chidori was out for nearly two days afterword. But now it was like Suko was a snail compared to her.

"Are you surprised, Chosen One?" Sigmis asked her. "This is just the tip of the iceberg of your true power. You'll only get better as you continue to train and learn through your coming battles."

"Amazing. Completely amazing. Ha-ha-ha-ha." She laughed and easily dodged around Holo-Suko's slashes and then she kicked her in the stomach that knocked Holo-Suko off of her feet! Chidori then stepped in, grabbed her and punched her in the face repeatedly and dragged her in close, kneeing her in the stomach, flipped her around, slammed her to the floor and drove her fist into the Holographic Serial Killer's face! Holo-Suko's skull was smashed into the floor and she broke apart and vanished into sparkles of light.

"WHOOOO! That felt good!" Chidori cheered. She stood back up and brushed herself off. "Still I had no idea I'd improved that much." She laughed. "Goddamn that is incredible. I wasn't even transformed either. Amazing. If I was on this level when I fought her in the rain I would've steamrolled that lunatic."

The holo-rain and area vanished and the room returned to normal.

"I'm glad you're having fun but was crushing her skull really necessary?"

Chidori shrugged. "Eh, it was just a hologram. Nothing wrong with crushing that."

"Fair enough I suppose. Would you like to team up against Languishen?"

"Hmmmm. We'll do two rounds. The first round I'm going to fight him myself. I want to really test out my base abilities. The second round we'll fight him together. Sound fair?"

"As it pleases you. But do be careful. Hologram or not this will be much more dangerous than the killer."

"I'm counting on it." Chidori replied with a smirk and focused on her memories of the monster. Everything she'd seen and learned about the monster during its attack and their street fight and his battles with her friends, both from what she'd learned from them and seen from the news and camera footage and when she returned to the fight and finished him off. Chidori took a deep breath and braced herself as the Feond took solid form from her memories and the hologram tech and appeared in front of her once again.

(Okay...okay. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I'm a lot stronger now. I can do this. I can do this. Lets do it. Lets go. Lets go. I can do this. I'm ready. I can handle him. I can win.) Chidori hopped up and down and loosened herself up as the room changed to a holographic representation of the city street where she'd fought him the first time. Empty except for the two of them. The monster roared at her and she yelled an animalistic battle cry right back at him. "BRING IT MOTHERFUCKER! REMATCH TIME! LETS GO!"

The Whole Plan Is Coming Together.

"You heard the Super Intelligence, Chinatsu! Rip him a new one!" Takako cheered her on.

"Oh I like her." ARIA commented.

"Compliments appreciated Super Tech!"

"Oh I cannot wait to build you a body." Hiro told ARIA. "You are going to get so many hugs."

"EEEEEE! I can't wait!"

"Just be sure to watch out for the raptorial legs on his back!" Toki called to her.

Amaya hugged herself. "I know this is just an AI Hologram Simulation but I can't help but feel nervous." She admitted. "I mean, when you remember what happened last time she fought him..."

"It'll be alright." Ichika assured her friend. "It's just a simulation and besides Chidori's gotten a lot stronger since then. She has her powers now and she's had some training with them. She can handle him. Just watch and cheer her on."

Chidori didn't need to be told twice. She remembered what happened last time when she was ill prepared for the first time she fought the monster. How she'd been beaten to a broken bruised and bloodied pulp while completely helpless to do anything to him in retaliation until she had her power flare up. She remembered Jabami Kiriyama, her adoptive mother's, screams while trapped in the sphere. She remembered the rage that blinded her. She remembered the pain and sheer agony while she was trapped in the sphere channeling the pain of all of the trapped victims to further fuel her rage. She remembered nearly blowing her own arm off with the power flare up. She remembered Hiro and Izzy saving her life. But this was not going to be like last time. This time Chidori was ready. Chidori rushed him, leaped into the air and kicked him right in the throat. The last time she tried this he completely ignored her and laughed her attack. This time however the force of her Flying Throat Crushing Kick definitely put a dent in him! The Holo-Monster's jaw dropped and it growled out a reaction while sliding backward from the force of her kick. Chidori kept up her attack though! She landed on the floor, ran towards him, laped up into the air, ran up his body, grabbed his horns and driving her knee into his face! The Hanuman Thayarn, also called a Jumping Knee Strike, was definitely effective as she drove her power knee right into his forehead and the monster reacted to it with another loud guttural growl. Chidori didn't miss the chance though and dropped an elbow on his skull!

"A Flying Throat Crushing Kick, A Jumping Knee Strike to the face and now an Elbow Skull Crusher." Toki listed. "She certainly isn't playing around."

"A Flying Throat Crushing Kick?" Takako asked in shock. "That's a thing?"

"It's one of Kenshiro's techniques. It's supposed to be used only in emergencies or against Powered Opponents though." Hiro informed her.

Takako rubbed her throat. "I can tell. That's a finishing move if I've ever seen one."

Chidori dropped back down to the ground while still holding onto the monster and grabbing him and turning and throwing him to the floor with an O Goshi Large Hip Throw Variation to slam him down to the floor, mount him and she began utterly unloading him with a barrage of punches. She was fully intending to beat the monster into a limp, bruised bloody pulp this time around but the monster simply tanked the punches before sitting back up in the middle of her barrage and grasping at her with its clawed hands but she saw this coming and countered them and knocked away both hands and then he brought his tail around to grab her again and while she was able to deflect that he was able to grab her this time and throw her away! Chidori sailed away at least twenty-five feet through the air before she twisted in the air and stuck a leg down and then the other and slid another few feet before she stopped. "Not so easy this time is it?" She smirked.

The monster sprung back up to its feet and placed its hands together and began charging up an energy sphere. Chidori and everyone in the stands knew what that was: The Suffering Sphere. "Still using that trick huh?" The monster rushed towards her and threw it at her but Chidori dodged out of the way leaving the sphere to collide with a holographic wall and fizzle out. But the monster was hot on her tail! It charged after her on all fours and leaped into the air towards Chidori and swiped at her but leaped into the air to dodge him and that was when his tail came back around, wrapped around her leg, whipped her around, tossed her up and then it came back around and he tried to wrap it around her throat but Chidori grabbed onto it and kicked up her feet to catch him in the chest while at the same time biting down on the tail! Languishen snarled but released her and then struck out at her while she was in free-fall down to the floor. Chidori raised up her arms and they took the impact. She flew backwards several feet and when she came back down on the floor she rolled backwards a few times and then sprung back to her feet.

The rematch was well underway and while the monster still had a strength edge she was holding her own at least even without transforming!

Oh don't you worry folks. Chidori is just flexing her martial arts moves on him right now to test out her enhancements. She hasn't even started up her magical powers yet.

I'm pretty sure Izzy would still win that matchup though. Chidori has a lot of power but she's still new to the magic game whereas Izzy has years of experience with it. Same with Ava and The Battousai Siblings: They're just more experienced and entrenched in magic than the super rookie.

"Technically there's no such thing as fighting dirty outside of tournament settings or agreed upon rules and regulations." Toki pointed out. "If a street fight breaks out, you have to do what you can to win."

She noticed the rest of the group looking at her in surprise. "What? Diva's In Defense teaches real world scenarios too you know."

"And you can bet your butt that they'd incinerate his hairy butt!" Amaya declared and then she relaxed against her OG Bestie. "I am so happy to have you back."

OOC: You gotta love just how close this group of friends is. It's really heartwarming.

"Quite right." Toki replied and stroke Malty's own hair.

(Are we forming a chain?) Han questioned. "You're not wrong about that. Just because there are rules doesn't mean you can't focus on beating down the other guy in the most rule abiding practical manner available to you." He reasoned.

Hana meanwhile was filming the fight, while eating popcorn, to send to Kenshiro later for his personal review on her hand-to-hand combat skills. Agent Granger would be offering her own constructive criticism after the matches as well of course. This entire exercise was a learning exercise for everyone. "I'd join in the chain big bro but my hands are occupied. I'm sure Hiro will join in though."

The monster charged and attacked her and closed in quickly. He began furiously swiping and slashing at her while Chidori utilized clockwise and counter-clockwise blocking techniques and moved her hands up and down with sudden hard blocks to deflect his claw swipes by striking his wrists and moving his arms aside or striking underneath his arms to deflect them upwards or the top of the arms to move them downwards while twisting and turning and bobbing and waving accordingly. He attacked her with a crescent kick but she ducked under it and he followed this up with a swipe attack that she deflected, a kick that she dodged and then when he swung his tail around Chidori jumped in the air and drop kicked him in the back hard enough to send him skidding forward. The monster dug its claws into the ground and smashed his tail into the ground to slow himself back down. Snarling the monster turned back around and fired its eye lasers at her.

"Yikes!" Chidori quickly dodged them by ducking and rolling out of the way. The lasers continued on for quite a distance before they impacted with a random Holo-Car and caused it to explode on impact! (I thought I'd memorized most of his movements from our last fight and the video footage but there's still a big difference between watching someone shoot eye lasers at someone else and then seeing them being fired at you!) The monster jumped over to the side of a building and grabbed onto it and fired them at her again while lunging down at her forcing Chidori to run! The lasers tore up the street while the monster flew back down to the floor and swiped at her but Chidori dodged that as well, flipped in the air, turned and landed on her feet. This time however the monster charged up energy and threw two successive Suffering Spheres at her! Chidori dodged them both but this left her open for the monster to leap up at her while she was airborne and crash into her. Chidori gasped from the shock of the impact and flew back a considerable distance until they both slammed back down on the street.

"Owwwww! That's gonna hurt." Hana noted.

"Are you alright, Chinatsu?" Takako called out to her.

"Just fine." Chidori replied with a smile and kicked up her feet to throw the monster off of her. She sat back up and rubbed her back. "Aaaatatatataaaa...that didn't feel good. Quite the clever trick there, Languishen, but I'm not the same as I used to be. I've been working on something brand new. Just for you."

Holo-Languishen just roared at her in response and unfolded its back raptoriales and began lashing out with them. Stabbing and slashing with the claws as it charged her. Chidori was immediately forced on the defensive again, leaping and dodging and rolling out of the way of the claws and rolling out of the way of its eye lasers, performing tricking movements to dodge its Suffering Spheres, and staying on the move constantly to dodge out of the way of its attacks. The closer it got to her however the harder the attacks were to dodge! Its attacks sped up in intensity and ferocity! Chidori had to put everything she had into dodging around his attacks but it was simply too much and she ended up leaving herself open again for a direct hard punch to the stomach that sent her rocketing backwards! "GAAAH!" Chidori cried out as she rocketed backwards away from him. Holo-Languishen smiled and readied two Suffering Spheres and threw them at her while also firing its eye lasers. Stuck flying backwards like this Chidori was wide open for the attacks with no room to dodge...until she dropped her palms towards the ground and released fire jets from her hands and feet that she combined with her telekinesis to propel herself upwards into the air causing them to miss her completely. (Hooly shit that was close!) She coughed and righted herself in the air while she rubbed her stomach. "I guess...this is about as far as I can go with just Martial Arts at my level even with my magically enhanced body, huh? Oh well, it was fun while it lasted." She landed back down on the floor. "I guess if you're going to kick it up a notch then I will too!" She ran towards him again and the monster rushed forward to meet her while raising up its raptoriales and stabbing forward with them but Chidori took a deep breath, focused and raised her hands up again to use her magical-telekinesis to deflect the mantis claws crackling energy stabs away from herself as she moved in closer and closer. The monster slashed and swiped with its claws but she deflected them both, countered a kick, dodged another attack and slid in close and reared back with her fist while the monster moved to grab her head and stab at her back!

"Dragon Champion's Style: Burning Annihilation Punch!" she called out! Chidori stepped in, moved her punching hand and non-active hand back at the same time like they were connected by a pulley system, threw her whole body weight into her enemy, focused her mind in sending her arm flying out and hitting him as if she fully intended to punch through him! While doing all of this she tapped into her Fire-Magic to surround her punching hand with flames and stiffened her body to its utmost limits on the moment of impact causing all of her joints to be fixed at the moment of impact resulting in her fist striking with the weight of her whole body. This first punch, using the proximal interphalangeal joints of her hand, was utilized to absorb the initial resistance of her enemy's body. After this she immediately switched over to the proximal phalanx knuckles of her hand to deliver the final strike to the structure of her enemy's body!

The result was a power packed burning punch that combined aspects of different martial arts styles into one punch, hit with the weight of her entire body and essentially punched through the resistance of the enemy's body! The monster was mere inches from attacking her but her Super Punch was just what the doctor ordered! Languishen's jaw dropped and his body doubled over while his arms dropped and his claws reared back again! The flames exploded against his torso and he was launched backwards through the air doubled over backwards for a long fly away from her! The monster rocketed down the street for a considerable distance before it hit the ground and skidded over ground while tearing it up on impact.

Chidori lowered her arm and rubbed her burning knuckles. "I see. So it's not as strong as my Tekkōdan Punch from my fully transformed Magical Girl Form but it certainly packs a punch." She took a breather and closed her eyes. "Thank you for your advice, Master Kenshiro." She took a deep breath in and slowly blew it out while she recovered. "Alright then." Chidori opened her eyes again to see Holo-Languishen slowly climbing back up to his feet. "You're still raring to go, huh? Well you wouldn't have been able to fight my friends if you weren't at least durable. Lets take this to the next level." Chidori blew out the flames and grabbed her wand from her belt and raised it up into the air.

"Hey Sigmis! You ready to party, buddy?"

Izzy smiled at the rest of the Knights of Hinansho's interactions. Reminding her of the bond she and he friends shared back at Shepard. There were moments they'd drive each other off the wall but there wasn't a day that goes by that they don't have each other's backs when the chips are down. Awhile back she already informed Dave about The Goddess and her army and she has no doubt that Dave will relay the message to the others. While they're holding down the fort in Shepard she makes a mental note to introduce the gang to the Knights when the time comes.

Izzy All Grown Up!

Sigmis smiled and stood right up. "Oh I'm always ready for a party." He turned into a streak of light that zapped itself across the room into her wand and combined with it. "Yo, Hawk! Rin! Feast your eyes on my Henshin!"

Rin and Hawk leaned forward on the edge of their seats and Amaya sat up to see it again.

Chidori grabbed her wand with both hands and held it up in the air. "Sis Puella Magica! ANTE UP!"

The light swirled around her as a magical sigil appeared beneath her. Her clothes vanished in the light that surrounded her body. Her already long hair became wild and sharp and spread out while stretching down to her feet. Her body came taller and thinner as blades grew upwards out of her elbows at an angle and more grew out of her ankles and curved upwards. Her eyes began to glow a brilliant green. Her mouth opened and her voice echoed outward, reverberating into empty space in an unintelligible song. Then the flames covered her body from below. The blades were pulled back into her body. A red bodysuit with orange sections and scales running down her arms and legs appeared on her body. Her hair retracted and an orangish-red helmet covered her face with the exception of her mouth. An orangish-red knight visor covered the section of her eyes. Orangish-red boots formed on her feet with laces wrapping around her legs topped off with small wings. A long orange skirt appeared on her body that reached down to her knees. An ornate belt appeared on top of the skirt. A red collar with orange lines appeared on her shirt to be tied together with an orange bow. Orange gauntlet gloves with red lines on them covered her arms. A diamond symbol appeared on the upper part of her bodysuit above the bow and a golden diamond appeared inside of it. Finally, her costume was topped off with a red cape coming out of her back. Her skin returned to normal and red lipstick appeared over her mouth. Her proportions returned to normal as the flames were pulled into her body and the light faded from around the shrine, returning the area to normal.

Chidori Chinatsu stepped back out of the shrine. Her cape and skirt blowing in the breeze and every aspect of her body radiating power. The wand could be seen more clearly now. There was a heart symbol after the alien symbols leading up to a large circle with four glowing red orbs in it all situated around a glowing sun. The wand was topped with a crown.



From an outsider's perspective she was surrounded by a swirling light and a whirlwind of flames that faded away as quickly as they came leaving her clad in her Magical Girl outfit.

"WHOOOOHOOO! THAT WAS AWESOME!" Hawk exclaimed.

"NEVER GETS OLD, right?" Amaya laughed.

'BAD! ASS!’ Rin signed, cheering for her surrogate big sis

(Still so amazing to believe that was in my family for all those years.) Ichika mused internally.

Chidori held the wand with one hand while pointing at Holo-Languishen. "I will never forgive those who commit deeds! Repent while you can!" Chidori snapped her fingers and ignited a flame on them, raised her hand to her shoulder and swiped it through the air leaving a trail of flames. "The Blazing Dragon-Demon! SAILOR HELLFIRE!" She called out her name. "In The Name Of Justice: I'll Burn You To A Crisp."

(Pfffffft! Sailor...Hellfire? She seriously went with that?) Toki questioned barely keeping a straight face.

"That's Awesome!" Takako cheered.

(Guardian and Hellfire, huh?) ARIA asked Hiro.

(Hey she's the one who chose it. Besides it's actually kinda cool.)

(Arcanatrix, Raging Phoenix, SoulEdge, Guardian and now Sailor Hellfire. You can't say our team isn't varied.) Izzy-Bean commented internally.

"That is so damn 90's. I love it." Hana admitted. (I am going to tease her so much over this!)

Han chuckled at the name. "She's certainly creative."

(I wonder if she practiced that in front of the mirror?) Rin wondered.

"Trust me she did." Momo informed her.

Chidori just laughed and hopped up and down while she prepared herself for the next round. "Lets go Holo-Monster. I'll end this in an instant."

OOC: I'll Follow This Up With A Badass Fight Scene Tomorrow. Heading To Bed!