On the ground, he let out a deep groan.
"Get up, Felix."
The skies were pitch black, and standing in front of a car, a shadow asked, "Can you still fight?"
Short, ragged breaths escaped his lips as he pushed his face off the asphalt, just enough to look at the figure.
Frost bit into his skin, while wind howled in his ears.
Her form silhouetted against the harsh white headlights. Long, silver hair swayed with the swirling snowflakes, a green clover pendant dangled on her chest, swaying as well.
The snow continued to gently pour. He steadied his breathing, letting out a deep exhale that turned into a white mist.
"Come on, work…" He spoke in a raspy voice.
Particles of light flickered from his scraped hands as he rose to his feet.
"That's it, Felix." She spun her crimson spear, "Every time you fall, you get back up."
Blue light enveloped his body as he got back up on his feet.
Her fiery eyes pierced through the darkness of the snow, "Your anger and regret, can you feel it swirling inside you? The storm raging inside your heart… Can you call upon it?"
Both of his eyes radiated with the unnatural glow as he faced her.
He clenched his fists tight, and the azure light spiraled around him, and snow followed it's path, coalescing into a cold sphere.
A blizzard was brewing, and he was it's center.
Luna smirked, raising her spear — An orange blaze erupted from it's tip.
As it burst into sunset-colored energy, fire and ice collided in the night.
Felix gasped, his mismatched eyes snapped open and he found himself on Maria's lap.
"You know, you really have to stop doing that all-fours animal style fighting nonsense." She pouted.
As he got up, he looked around and the training hall had become empty. The crowds have cleared up and only three people remained, "M-Marie? What... happened?" He groaned.
"She grew cat ears and a tail, and you blacked out. She looked kind of cute, actually. Golden Lion, huh?" She said, looking far off.
"That right? Expected nothing less from CHIMERA's golden girl." He sat up, looking at Allison, who was with the red-haired woman.
She swiped the back of her hair, "Welp, there goes my expectations."
"It's not my fault you overestimate me." Felix muttered with a sharp groan.
Maria grabbed him by the cheeks, pulling him close with a cold stare, "You want to be rank one, don't you? You're supposed to be better than this — act like it."
"R-right." He nervously gulped.
She sighed, letting go of his face. Her eyebrows curled with annoyance.
"On the flip side, you left a Felix-shaped crater where you landed." Her voice returned to the usual poppy tone, pointed to the floor, where his body left a silhouette on the floor mat.
Allison walked up to Felix with a blank expression, "I apologize, I took you seriously." She was her normal self, the additional ears and tail were gone.
Felix laughed awkwardly in disbelief, "That somehow both annoys me and makes me happy at the same time."
"I remember now. You're Luna's brother, right?" She tilted her head.
"…I'm surprised you remembered."
"Your attack… It looked like you were throwing a spear. It was familiar."
"I feel like I've finally caught up to you, even just by a bit. Good match." Felix smiled and reached his hand out.
"Yeah… good match." Allison muttered with a gentle smile as she shook his hand.
But as she let go, Felix suddenly lost balance and fell to the ground. The intense shock on his body quickly caught up as he got up, and Maria lifted him over her shoulder.
"Easy there, bud."
"Thanks, Marie…" He then turned his head back at Allison, "Think you and I can have a rematch again sometime—?"
As Maria helped Felix up straight, her and Allison's eyes met, and as they did, the golden lion pounced far from the two of them.
"Huh, what's wrong?" Felix asked, though Maria just smiled cheerfully toward her.
"I'm… sorry." Allison's emerald eyes sharpened immensely, there was subtle agitation in her voice, "I have to go."
"Oh, uh… okay." Felix waved.
Both of them watched with as Allison ran out of the training hall.
"There goes Golden Lion's golden lion." Maria mumbled.
"Allison, wait!" The maroon-haired woman called out, rabbit ears, gone, "Great, you scared her off."
"You can still catch her. Hop to it." Felix smirked.
"Ha, ha."
"Friend of yours?" Maria asked, still carrying him.
"My firearms mentor, Saya Song."
"You're more entrenched in Chimera than I thought."
"And I'm keeping pace." Felix added.
"You land one hit on her and suddenly you've caught up?" She scoffed.
"When I was young, I wouldn't have even dodged her first jab, now I landed a blow on her… so yeah, improvement." He snickered.
She rolled her eyes, smiling, "Good job."
He gazed into his balled fist.
What is it that I wanted to prove? That I was stronger than I was before? Or maybe I just wanted someone else to knock some sense into me… or maybe I wanted something else entirely. In any case, that made me clear my head.
"So, Luna Aster… You never told me she was your sister." Maria's eyes narrowed.
"I didn't? I'll tell you some other time."
"Mmkay. Sure."
The moment he looked at the room, his expression shifted from excitement to a scowl.
His fist tightened over Maria's shoulder.
"What?" She asked.
Gnashing his teeth, his eye twitched at all the shoe prints left behind, "Nobody removed their damn shoes, now the training room is dirty…"
"The janitor'll clean it up. Now c'mon, the Chief is waiting for us." She said as she carried him out of the room.
~