ToT Chap1 - To Be Strong Pt4

Yang hadn't moved whatsoever from her crouched position. Her whole body a quivering mess as the laughter and dark faces completely surround her. She doesn't even react when Xavier took her gem hair ties or when an explosion goes off in front of her. She just remains in her comatose state mumbling things like "No more" or "Help."

Ting

Yang's shoulder twitches. A soft, soothing sound barely breaks through the laughter surrounding her. Yet Yang still caught it briefly.

Ting

There it is again, this time much clearer. Yang manages to move her head at the sound. Wondering where it's coming from and why it makes her feel at peace.

Her long bangs obscure most of her vision, still seeing the mocking faces of the dark figures around her. Yet, behind them she can see something else. It's blurry at first but she can see it. The figure of someone she recognizes and on their left side is a tiny, golden light.

Ting Ting

Yang gasps softly, the sound coming from the small light on the figure's left side. Each time it rings, the dark figures slowly start to disappear and the figure before her becomes more visible.

Soon after a few more soft Tings Yang can clearly see the golden light is actually a small bell. Attached to the left ear by a four legged form standing in front of her. Looking beyond the four legged being, Yang can see the blurry form of another figure. The two seeming to be facing off against each other.

Yang looks confused, tears still staining her cheeks as she tries to get her head straight. The dark forms no longer around her as they disappeared in the shadows. The bell seeming to be chasing away these dark demons with it's soothing sound that was tiny yet seemed to strike a huge cord in Yang.

Ting

Yang's eyes go back to focus with one last ring from the small bell. Gasping softly as soon everything around her becomes clear.

No more darkness or red, and looking in front of her she now realizes she's still on the trail and standing protectively in front of her is her teammate Sonya. The Eevee crouched low in an attack stance as she faces Xavier. Confusion coming to Yang at what is going on and what happened.

"Yang." Yang blinks at hearing her name coming from Sonya. She doesn't even look at her, keeping her eyes squarely on the Braixen before them. "Are you ok? What happened?"

It takes Yang a minute to get her thoughts together. Processing what she recalls though it having a hard time distinguishing from what she saw as real or imaginary. Everything she saw in the darkness feeling real enough to her.

"I-I...." Yang tries to speak. Sonya glancing back over her shoulder to her, her eyes blazing with anger but also concern.
Yang's voice is hoarse and weak. She doesn't even know what to say or explain just what happened. She only looks to Sonya scared and unsure.

Even with Yang's bangs hiding her eyes, Sonya can easily see the tear stains on her cheeks and feel the fright oozing out of her teammate's shivering form. Even if she doesn't have any physical injuries Sonya can see she's hurting badly.

Seeing her teammate in this state, makes Sonya look forward back to Xavier with blazing violet eyes and a snarl. "What did you do?" She demands with a growl.

Xavier was lost for a minute to what happened, yet hearing the demand from the new arrival snaps him out of it. He humphs and twirls his wand while looking to Sonya with a smile. "Quite the hello you got there missy. I take it you know this shiny."

Sonya gives an impatient snarl then crouches low ready to move. "Answer me!"

"Oh feisty aren't ya. Relax missy, we only had a friendly duel. Though before I could even move she fell to the ground like that and forfeited the match." Xavier explains then begins to toss Yang's gem hair ties up and down in his hand.

Sonya's eyes widen in surprise seeing he has them then she narrows them angrily. "You stole them!"

"Not quite missy. In any duel the victor claims their reward. She forfeited the duel so she lost. Now these belong to me, the victor." Xavier smirks as he points his wand at Yang.

Yang doesn't flinch, but she does gasp softly as she recalls briefly before she partially blacked out. "If she wants them back, then she'll have to find something else to give as a reward and have a rematch."

Sonya glares turn sharper and without warning she gains a huge burst of speed and rushes right at Xavier. Yang gasping again as she sees Sonya tries to use her Quick Attack yet she was so angry that she didn't even notice Magic Room is still in effect.

Xavier smirks at Sonya and manages to dodge her attack by side stepping her. Sonya looking surprised he was able to dodge her, sliding on the ground to a stop. Usually very confident in her speed yet he dodge her easier than she expected. He takes a firm step on the ground then raises his wand only to slam it on the ground. A blast of fire comes right from his wand and travels on the ground going straight at Sonya.

Sonya glares as the fire spreads out and gains strength as it travels to her. She quickly runs forward and with a powerful leap barely manages to dodge over the Fire Pledge. The flames heat intense it hits her back paws, making her flinch lightly then ignore it.

She runs over back in front of Yang facing Xavier once more with a snarl. Xavier smirking to her while clicking his tongue at her. "You really are a feisty one. And quite fast. Though I'd be careful missy. Attacking someone out of the blue like that isn't very honorable. And I'm afraid your speed won't do you much good at the moment."

Sonya growls anger at the way Xavier is talking to her. Like she's a child and he's lecturing her like an adult.

Yang looks concerned as she can see Sonya is only growing more annoyed and angry. When that happens she knows Sonya won't think straight and probably do something rash. Yet as Yang tries to reach out to her friend, she finds herself still unable to. Her body still weak and in shock to what she went through in her mind.

She tries to make herself move, desperate to snap her friend out of her angry state before something bad happens and she hurts herself. Right when she sees Sonya readying to rush at a still smirking Xavier, Yang's eyes widen and her mouth opens on instinct.

"Stop!"

Sonya freezes in place, just a split second from rushing at Xavier again in her anger to wipe that smirk off his face. Now instead of anger, shock appears on her face as Yang's voice yells out clear as can be. The loudest she's ever heard Yang speak since they knew each other. Snapping out of her anger, she turns around quickly to look at her friend.

Yang softly shaking now, but the fear she once had is gone and is replaced instead with concern. Concern for her and what she's about to do.

Seeing the change in her friend, reality dawns on Sonya as she looks ashamed. She let her anger get to her again and cloud her thoughts. She was just upset at Xavier thinking he hurt Yang and even more so for mocking her. Yet she acted rashly, and just like usual Yang had to snap her back out of it.

Xavier looks confused to the two, watching as the feisty Eevee seems to calm down now.

Sonya sighs softly, trying to get her thoughts together. She's still angry at Xavier mocking her, yet thanks to Yang she recalls the training session she had with Marble and her advice. Patience.

Never was Sonya's strong suit, yet she tries to remember what Marble told her. To be patient and collect her thoughts. Only then can she figure out how to deal with the situation.

She opens her eyes when Xavier whistles to her to get her attention. He gives her a bored look while spinning his wand. "Well as fun as this introduction has been, if you both have no more business with me then I'll be going. Unless of course you wish to have a duel with me instead missy then I'll be happy to. You have a few items on yourself we can use for the victor."

Sonya lightly glares to Xavier, glancing to his hand that still holds Yang's gems. She looks around as thanks to Yang, she now notices the Magic Room around them. Realizing that is why her speed isn't up to par and that she can't rely on speed like usual until it dissipates.

She looks back to Xavier who still smirks confident to her. Suddenly as she thinks, her eyes widen as she gets an idea. Whether it would work or not, Sonya doesn't have much of a choice but to try.

Xavier sighs out dramatically, tossing Yang's gems again. "I have other things to do so I'm afraid if your not going to duel me then I'll just be going."

"Four moves."

Xavier blinks confused at Sonya speaking suddenly. Sonya walking forward then sits down with a casual look. Yang herself confused to what Sonya is going to do as she watches silently.

"I'll duel you. Yet, let's make it interesting. I'll wager in four moves I will grab the gems from your hand." Sonya says pointing to Yang's gems he has. "If I succeed, I win our duel. If I go over four moves, I lose and you win."

Xavier looks closely to Sonya. Seeing she isn't angry anymore and there is a hint of confidence in her eyes as she stares right back at him. Sonya looking determined as she waits.

"Do we have a duel?"