***Neon***

"Come at me, sis!"

"Oh, I will. Bring it!"

"Ready? Begin!"

As soon as ...Arslan, was that her name? ...whatever, lion girl, starts the match I dash straight ahead, leaving Reese just enough time to get on her board and jump up to block the swing of my nunchucks before kicking herself off backwards with a flip, immediately charging at me again. Game on.

I start forward as well, leaping into a roll to avoid Reese's high strike, and she overshoots right over me as I get back onto my feet and start skating, drawing a wide arc before returning to the offensive, gripping both parts of my nunchuck in one hand.

Reese does a sharp turn and comes right at me again, our weapons audibly clashing, but neither taking any hit whatsoever. Is this gonna turn into like a jousting match now?

Apparently not, as Reese steps off her board, taking it into her hands. Or, in front of her hands, she doesn't seem to be actually touching it, at least not the sides. Fancy. I approach her again, twirling my nunchucks and striking for her legs, but Reese blocks the attack, and, yeah, she's not touching her board, it's just kinda levitating in front of her palms.

Reese counters with an uppercut with her board, which I deflect with the bottom of my nunchuck and then quickly jab past it, landing a hit against her chest with my left fist. Reese spins her board in front of her to drive me back, then follows up with a low kick, hitting my thigh as I slide back.

I'm not in a very good spot. Reese's weapon has a bit of an edge against mine, and the terrain doesn't favor me either, there's absolutely no cover or obstacles to move around. Plus I never was that strong in a 1v1 anyways, I'm more of a teamplayer. Depending on how long she's been here training, Reese may have some of her Aura used up already, but I don't have all that much of that myself, so it's not as much an advantage as evening out the playing field.

But I probably should stick to my usual tactic anyways, if I can get Reese irritated enough to trip up, I still got this. We didn't even get time for any foreplay, what little we had we wasted on ordinary trash talk. However what I do is no mere showing off, it's an art. Reese is warily observing me, waiting for me to make the next move, so I guess I have a few seconds. What to do...

"Hey, what's with that black stuff in your face? Did no one ever teach you how to use make-up? Eyeliner goes around the eyes, not under them!" First try, and Reese doesn't fall for it. At all.

"I don't wear make-up. This is called eyeblack, and it's used by serious skaters and other athletes."

"Well, then it's good I'm not being serious. Because you're certainly not giving me a lot of reason to."

"I'm gonna give you a reason! Get serious or get hurt!"

Bullseye. With a growl Reese jumps on her board and rushes at me, and I can just barely get my nunchucks up to block her slamming down on me on her board, but then she splits it into two halves and practically kicks through it, hitting my upper body with enough force to knock me over backwards with a yelp, though of course my Aura blocks any actual damage.

I roll over backwards and jump up, just in time to see Reese's next attack coming, dodging out of the way of her recombined board and blocking the kick aimed at my face with my armguard. I quickly counter with my nunchuck, but the swing barely grazes her leg, doing next to nothing.

Reese turns around and I start in the opposite direction, hoping to get her to chase me. It works and I lead her into a chase, circling around the field, but there's no features I could use to my advantage, nor is Reese likely to tire out soon. Plus she's almost keeping up with me, so it's no use.

Never miss a beat... Never miss a beat... Just as we finish our second lap I suddenly swerve to the side and abruptly brake, striking backwards, and judging from the sound Reese runs straight into the attack. I immediately spin around and dart past her once, twice, three times, landing a hit with my nunchucks each time, before she manages to catch herself and block the next one, replying with a kick to my side, which I only somewhat manage to cushion with my forearm.

Reese sweeps her board around herself in a circle, then jabs at my neck with the edge of her hand, and I block with one arm before retaliating with a high kick with the opposite leg, forcing Reese to duck and dodge backwards.

"Hey, you're actually a pretty good skater. So why are you using a skateboard? Don't you know those are just toys for kids? Rollerblading is where it's really at!"

"It's a hoverboard! Also..." Reese renews her assault, attacking with a flurry of blows of her board, slowly driving me back as I block with my nunchucks and armguards and still take some chip damage. "...can your skates do this? Didn't think so!" Well, she's right about that.

I manage to land a low kick against Reese's leg and follow up with a side kick against her board, giving me enough room to jump backwards into a flic-flac and create a bit of distance.

I can't see the Aura numbers, but my intuition tells me right now I'm losing. Let's try to even the odds a bit. I twirl my nunchucks then grip them both into both hands and bend them, activating the Dust with a low hum and a crackle. Orange. So it's Lightning, good one.

I've always got a selection of Dust cartridges with me to have whatever element I need at my disposal, but if it doesn't matter, I just load my nunchucks with whatever without even looking too closely. It's obviously a gamble if I suddenly need to activate them, but that's what makes it so fun. Kinda like a box of chocolates... except a lot more weapon-y and possibly explosive. So not actually chocolates. It's not like I can eat too much chocolate at once anyways, except white one. Where was I going with this? This time I lucked out on the draw, lighting is gonna be rather handy against Reese's weapon and fighting style. Let's go.

I run towards Reese but slightly veer off at the last second, striking at her in passing. As she blocks with the edge of her board, my nunchucks spark and wisps of electricity licks across Reese's board and hands, draining just a bit of her Aura. Just racking up residual damage like this may take a while, but as long as I'm halfway careful it's a reliable – if not that exciting – way to win this.

I think Reese can charge her board with Dust as well, but it doesn't look like she has any with her right now, and even then, to neutralize lightning she'd need lightning herself, or like earth.

I press my advantage, not letting up and quickly attacking with both my weapon and kicks and punches, forcing Reese onto the defensive. She manages to hold her ground well enough, but when she counterattacks and hits my shoulder with her board, I manage to land a strike on her arm, delivering a jolt of electricity that makes Reese grimace in pain, even through her Aura.

It's not like those few thousand Volts are enough to be actually dangerous, though. I would know, after managing to shock myself a few times when ironing out the kinks of my weapon, as well as during that other incident involving a sleep-deprived Iris thinking it'd be a great idea to commandeer an ice-cream truck to supply all of Atlas' students. Lucky we got that cleared up before anyone got seriously hurt, though the headmaster's office smelled of bleach for months. Anyways, that bit of a shock won't hurt Reese, and if the thing is anywhere close to decently built, it won't even hurt her board.

"So, how do you like that Lightning Dust?" I ask with a grin "Was it ...shocking?"

"..." Reese's pointed silence is practically audible.

"What's wrong? Say something, or are you all thunderstruck?"

"...Really, Neon? Puns?" Reese answers only after several seconds.

"Really. And here I thought you were all silent in shock and awe."

"Seriously, stop it."

"Don't you like my puns? Would you rather continue our electrifying battle?"

"Shut up!"

Wow, someone really doesn't like puns. With a cry Reese sends her board flying towards me with the broad side first. I easily deflect it to the side, but it accurately rebounds in Reese's direction anyways, as she runs at me, grabbing the board and swinging it around herself once before sweeping it towards my leg in a rather telegraphed move, and I actually have enough time to jump over the attack and aim a high kick at Reese's face, which she of course blocks with her board.

Before Reese can capitalize on my vulnerable position, I use my other foot to kick off of her chest, sending her backwards to the ground while I do a clean backflip and easily land on my feet.

I leave her just enough time to get up before attacking again with a wide swing of my nunchucks, but when Reese parrys with the broad side of her board, the moment the two weapons make contact, the board glows and with a low hum takes on the same color as my nunchucks while their light visibly dims.

I reflexively jump backwards before trying to register what just happened. I think her board just drained some of the Dust from my nunchucks, somehow. "Hey, that's cheating!"

"Is not!" Reese protests "I didn't even know it could do that. ...Cool. I mean, I did design it to be able to take in Dust from an outside source, but I didn't think it could drain another weapon like that. Say, what form of Dust do you use in your weapon, and how does the infusion mechanism work? I'm really curious to see how this could happen." Oh, great.

"Hey, how about you nerd out later? We're kind of in the middle of a fight."

"Oh, right." With a grin Reese jumps onto her – now supercharged – board and runs right at me with a spinning attack. I just barely block it with my nunchucks and take a quick step backwards as Reese hops off her board and continues the attack, and I manage to land a clear hit on her leg, her parry coming too late and too slow, but she grits her teeth and pushes through, jabbing her board against my chest and following up with a side kick to my stomach that sends me flying.

"Waah! Ow!" I fall down and hit the back of my head on the ground, but it's not so bad, and I quickly get up with a backwards roll, immediately holding my weapon in front of me in case Reese tries anything funny. But she doesn't, and just stands there with a big grin. Come on, it wasn't that bad. Sure, nice hit, but I still have Aura left, so I can keep going. "It's not over yet!"

I grip both halves of my nunchucks and grip them together like a baton or something, then run at Reese but at the last moment swerve around and attack her from the side with a series of jabs and short strikes. She defends against the barrage with her board reasonably well until I suddenly kick with my left leg, aiming for her thigh and forcing Reese to leave herself open to block the attack, hitting my shin with the edge of her board.

Jeez. Good thing I'm wearing my protectors, or that would've been pretty painful, Aura or no. Also good thing they're not just ordinary skating gear, or they wouldn't take this sort of punishment for even a single fight.

At first it was kinda surprising but on second thought perfectly logical that Kyle is a pretty adept metalworker. I mean, someone has to keep his armor in working order after all, and after my old protectors got ruined during a mission he offered to upgrade my new ones, turning them into legit armor pieces, even if they're of course not as tough as actual plate mail. Still, they turned out way handy numerous times, just like right now.

Before Reese can react, I hit her shoulder with my nunchucks, but she ignores the attack and does an uppercut with her board that forces me to jumps backwards, then follows up by continuing the motion, circling her board around herself diagonally, and jabs at my upper body, and I just barely twist out of the way, pushing the board to the side with my forearm.

As I shift my weight to prepare my counter, I stumble just the smallest bit, but that moment off-balance is already enough for Reese to push her offense, raking me with a whole bunch of quick strikes. I can't block every single one, and end up taking a handful of chipping hits on my Aura.

But Reese's assault also leaves her pretty unguarded, and just as she pulls back from a strike I find an opening and quickly shift forward, pushing into her as I strike with my elbow. However instead of forcing her backwards like I'd hoped, my strike hits the middle of Reese's board, and it separates into two halves, leaving me stumbling forward as I fail to encounter any resistance yet fall short of actually hitting her.

Reese circles around to the side and drops the two halves of her board as they start shifting into their gun form, aiming a blow of her palm against the center of my chest. I manage to deflect it from hitting my solar plexus, but the impact combined with my already somewhat shaky position is enough for me to stagger, giving Reese enough time to – somehow – return both of her pistols to her hand with just a gesture and start firing at me. How did she do that?

I convert my remaining momentum to dart forward, and start outwards before falling into a large circle around her as Reese keeps firing at me. She doesn't seem to be too good of a shot, though, as I only take a few relatively minor hits. Iris, and probably Flynt too, would have easily blasted me down by now.

As the sound of her guns stops I come to a halt too, to see Reese transform her guns back into board parts, and throw them at me with a flick of her lower arms, and they recombine in flight, the whole board coming at me rotating edge first, and I get my nunchucks in the way just in time, but the impact still makes me reel backwards.

The board rebounds towards Reese just right for her to get on it and quickly do a sharp turn, charging me and jumping up before bringing her board crashing down on top of me. I parry with my nunchucks, pushing against the the board with both hands, but suddenly Reese grins and taps her heel onto her board, and the Lightning Dust in her board discharges with a loud crackle, blasting right in my face. "Eep!" That alone might have been enough, but Reese is still bearing down on me, so as soon as my arms weaken, she crashes her board into me, slamming me pretty much straight into the ground while she bounces off and easily lands, then skates over next to my head and grins at me.

"That's it!" Lion girl announces from the sidelines "Neon's Aura is below 16%, Reese wins!" Aw, man.

"See?" Reese says as she holds out a hand and helps me up "Told you wouldn't be a problem."

AN: A nice, long battle scene. These are pretty difficult to write for me, I hope I struck the proper balance between readability and fluidity.

Sadly I didn't have any good idea what Neon's Semblance could be, so she's not using hers, but Reese is, what exactly her Semblance does may be expanded later.