Battle Hymn of the Republic

"We can go all out and be epic and stuff and - huh? What's that Duncan?" she asked the air suddenly. "B-but, but! That's how Nee-san fights!" Coco began to pout. "She's all awesome and scary and winning!" the little girl went on, apparently distressed over her older brother most likely telling her to do something different. She paused for a moment, as Duncan's words were heard by her, and her alone. "Why not call her Nee-san?! We're in Japan!" For a moment, it seemed like she was, for once, going to get genuinely angry at her older brother, but her expression suddenly 'clicked' as some sort of epiphany dawned on her.

"Wait...we're in Japan! How could I be so silly - you're just trying to point that out to me!" she exclaimed in delight. "Thank you Duncaaaan!~<3" Coco smiled up into the air. With a single wave of her hand, the red scarf around her swept up the snow and swirled a little igloo into existence around herself. "Oh, boy, oh boy, what color should I wear?" she asked herself, voice muffled from within the ice-based-changing-room. "Do I go for something classical like Miyuki and Heart out there, or something more modern like Homu-Homu? Kyaaa! I can't decide!" she exclaimed.

"What's that? Just be like Captor?...that's so outrageous it's gotta work!"

The little igloo's side suddenly came apart as Coco simply strode through it's side, leaving a Coco-shaped imprint behind as she came to show off her new outfit - the heavy winter wear and ushanka was discarded for something simply more festive. A lightweight, bright red parka with white fluff at the hem adorned her shoulders, complete with equally snow white puffballs which ended the hood's drawstrings. Meanwhile, a brown leather belt with brass bells , jingled as Coco hopped from one thigh-high booted leg to the other, hood excitedly jumping up and down as she did so herself.

"And I love the bells Duncan suggested too!" she smiled at them all, turning to Adrienne. "So, how about we get started and give everyone a grand show? Just light armor at the most, and just swinging things and stuff! No fancy magic other than what we need to move, move and move! How's that sound?" Coco asked excitedly in her 'Little Helper' outfit. Considering that she was working for Duncan, it seemed somehow fitting - but it'd mean that Duncan had presents for them all...

Adrienne nodded, smiling pleasantly as she had been doing nearly the entire time. "I can work with that," she agreed, placing both her hands on her left hip. slowly, she moved her right hand until it looked like it was supposed to be gripping something, but only air could be seen in her fist. Slowly, she drew upward and outward, and along with it came first a hilt, then a blade, and eventually an entire sword. Somehow, beyond any sort of understanding or vision, indeed, nobody had even noticed when it had happened, her outfit changed. Instead of the school teacher's uniform, she was now in what appeared to be the base layer of a suit of armor.

A somewhat thicker tunic, in blue with red accents, adorned her torso, and a similarly colored pair of well-fitted trousers were on her legs, though mostly obscured by the knee-high armored boots she now wore. The rich brown boots and the embedded plates were well polished, and glistened in the light. Upon her arms were similarly colored gauntlets which reached up to her elbows, made of a supple leather with polished silver plates attached in a similar fashion to the boots, Atop the tunic was a light mail vest, well-fitted like the rest of the armor, with leather sections that likely protected her from the edges of whatever heavier armor was worn over this relatively light gear. around her waist was a black sword belt, with a matched scabbard. Emblazoned on certain portions of her outfit were black Crosses of Lorraine, signifying the order to which she belonged.

"Shall we?" she asked, simply, grinning, her face completely different than the gentle mask before- she looked like a wolf ready to toy with some prey.

"Ready, steady, goooooo!~" Coco cheered, a hail of red threads lashing out in every which way, enshrouding the entire area in a crimson web. In a blink of an eye, the little girl was yanked off her feet up into the air, being pulled from one thread to the other before finally being shot at the golden haired swordswoman, cloth spear materializing in her hands and pointed right at her teacher.

The teacher rolled to the side, leading with her sword, leaving quite a few of the nearby threads in a tangled, lifeless mess, and rising to her feet in the same swift motion, without so much as a word. Her next move was to leap lightly into the air, landing upon one of the threads, and running across it, not toward Coco, but rather a tree, which she used as a backboard to launch herself at the smaller combatant, sword again leading the way.

Threads shot out from Coco's hands and feet, randomly jerking her about sharply like a ricocheting bullet. The little girl dodged the unguided blonde missile before zigging and zagging after her. More crimson wisps latched to a nearby set of strings before the little girl went at Adrienne like a ball and paddle, coming in and out, jabbing and stabbing out at the woman madly with her spear.

A small circle appeared in the air at Adrienne's feet, and suddenly, she spun in the air, slashing her sword as she did- the first strike rending the spear in two, the second bringing the flat of the blade at Coco fiercely in a bit of a slap, as if the teacher were batting the small girl away. Her attack finished, the blonde's momentum running out, she dropped nearly to the ground, landing on a lower branch of a nearby tree.

The magical blade sliced through magical cloth, but at the backhand attack, the rent spear opened up into a parasol, bouncing the two away from each other. Coco used the momentum from the blow and rubberbanding thread to launch herself away, latching a string to a tree and using it to round out her course - like a dive bomber, the little girl sped about the treetops using the centrifugal force and elastic threads to practically fly about and harangue the teacher, the cloth weapon turning into a multi-meter greatsword with which she slashed with at each attack run.

Each attack found itself not doing much, as the teacher easily parried them- Whatever power the little Coco may have had, it was obvious Adrienne was a much better swordsman. At the final rotation, however, Adrienne turned the tables by grabbing the cloth-sword, a magically-enhanced grip allowing her to hold on without cutting herself, and she then pulled herself straight at the smaller girl, acrobatically swinging her legs to lead an attack, the sword trailing behind and slicing whatever threads and cloth it came into contact with.

Like chaff, the cloth-blade disintegrated and dispersed the moment it was caught, buying Coco just enough of a distraction to evade the blow - but at a cost. The little girl went skidding into the snow like a morphing robot descending from space, scattering debris everywhere upon her harsh landing. But she didn't stop there - like a relentless machine, she kept on coming. A massive ball of yarn unraveled from her trademark backpack. Up she leaped onto its curving surface, familiar, jagged spider legs spurting forth from its surface. As she rolled the ball of yarn, the legs brought her closer to her opponent, stabbing and swiping down at the woman as the little girl kept balance with a pole.

Adrienne blocked and parried every blow that came her way, showing off her years of swordsmanship training. Eventually, she switched hands, using her left hand to do the parrying, and pulling several smaller knives from her belt with her right hand, before throwing the small bladed objects at the fabric legs. However, that proved to only be a distraction, and a magical circle of light similar to the one she used earlier appeared beneath her feet as she bent her knees and then launched herself in the air much higher and more swiftly than any human should have rightly been capable of. With a flash, her sword, now in both hands, slashed through the pole that Coco was using to balance herself.

This time, anticipating the blow, Duncan's Little Helper focused her attention into the balancing pole - the blade struck with a mighty peal, both sword and staff ringing like the purest of metal. But the spider platform below Coco instantly began to unravel as her attention wavered, drawn out between too many things at once, the knives doing damage she didn't expect. Concentrating on staying upright, the legs reformed, the pole coming apart in its stead as her attention was finally spread too thin - the swordwoman's sword swished by with a wet splash.

Coco's left arm from the shoulder down flopped into the snow, a black red slowly oozing over the pure white of the ground while the stump spurted, blackening her red outfit. She simply stared for a moment at the severed limb and then her body.

Coco screamed murder before bursting into blubbering tears.

After a while, the grip of the snow around Miller almost became comforting. Whether this was because he was too cold to properly register heat, or that he'd remained face down in the slow for so long. He could hear the enthusiastic sounds of Coco's combat trash talk before the combat commenced, and he lifted his head to tap it against the snow, grinding it in upon figuring out who exactly Coco was. Wonderful. It runs in the family.

He contemplated why exactly Duncan wanted him here. Did he 'know too much'? or, when considering Ducan's thought train "know too little?". They were possibilities. Was this for 'his own safety' or some sort of demented magical fight club for Duncan's amusement or an act simply to show the teacher that these kids were above and beyond him by miles and that he should back off. This is all too real and too strange to be a dream. He pondered, Perhaps I am dreaming within a dream... Then the battle stopped. Suddenly. One stroke, something falling. Curious, he grabbed the solid ground beneath the snow and finally lifted himself up off of the snow. He felt a pain in his ribs and staggered, clutching his chest with some difficulty getting deep breaths. He leaned against one of the trees to steady himself, which may or may not have been real.

"What the fuck?" He didn't even have any good explanation for what he saw in front of him. Nothing on this logical earth could explain how a ten year old had her arm sliced off by the French teacher who was suddenly a knight. He felt woefully out of place. He had something powerful just waiting to manifest, but it couldn't hold a candle to the kids... for now.

Sakura sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't want those adults near me, nor do I want to fight them.." she glanced off to the side before looking up at a snow covered branch and leaping up, grabbed it, and spun around on top of it and laid down; resting her back against the tree and placing her bow across her chest.

When she heard Coco's blabbering, at least that's what Sakura felt it was as she couldn't figure out who the little girl was talking to, she just shrugged her shoulders and was on the verge of closing her eyes when the battle started. She was initially not going to bother watching, it was against a teacher and in her eyes teachers always cheated and were cruel to kids. That thought of hers was confirmed when she saw what happened to Coco, the girls arm being sliced off left her stunned as she just watched it.

Her mind was racing with questions, one of the most important was how something that was supposed to be training could turn into a life and death situation. This not only troubled, but also, greatly angered her. She didn't like Coco, the girl had rubbed her wrong right from the start, but she didn't like seeing the girl in the condition she was in. It appeared, however, that the sight of blood wasn't even bothering her. "HEY!" Sakura shouted toward the adult as she jumped up onto her feet.

"Excellent strike!" appraised Aurus, his booming voice appreciating the display, "Do we have a choice in voting for her execution? I want to see a gladiatorial death!"

"What!? No!"

The sight of a severed arm squelched Percival's stomach, especially of young girl's. His amazement of the fast-paced battle was similarly smashed, taking him completely aback. He nearly tripped with Riley pressing down on his shoulders as she was. So he gripped her by the ankles and slowly let her down, before pulling Unity out of the air and into existence. With a quick slice across the air and the toll of a bell, Zulan, who had been watching, was called back up into staff as her blue energies were sent back into the head of Unity. Like a Buddhist monk, he put two fingers in front of his mouth as he set the base of the staff into the snow.

"Hal! O Doktom o Grot!" summoned Percy bring forth winds that were warm and welcoming. Vines of energy outstretched from the staff, and rolled forward onto powdery blanket, and from the energy formed Modeka, already toddling towards Coco, as if pre-warned of the situation. Every step of her tiny brown boots left small divots that were immediately filled by budding flowers and grass defying the very aspect of nature itself. First, Modeka went to the severed arm, and began brushing snow off of it. Once she was satisfied, she pointed to the stained snow, and then to the air. From that, the blood began to rise from the ground, moisture and contaminants spilling out. The little God of Life turned to Coco, placing one hand on the girl to sooth her, while she began reentering blood back into the body, carefully positioning the arm for reattachment.

Miyuki did her best to try and follow the battle, back and forth as it went, almost quicker than she could look. Certainly, she didn't see everything that had happened, but she did seem to notice one thing- Coco was being extremely theatrical and doing the most she could to do every move she made, whereas the teacher did very little, only what was necessary to keep the fight moving, and then- Miyuki gasped at the slice, and cringed at the scream. She looked on, uncertain of what to do, and just a bit queasy at the strangely dark blood. It almost looked like chocolate sauce, as if it were fake, or something, but, it couldn't be- Coco's arm was off, and she was crying.

"Thank you, Little one, but I can handle this,' Adrienne interrupted Modeka, taking hold of the arm which Modeka had lifted, and drawing her finger around it in a circle, before muttering an incantation in French. "Raccommoder!" she finally enunciated, and Coco's arm was back on, though, that didn't seem to stop the crying. Looking again, she realized what was wrong, and cast the spell again, this time on the sleeve of the coat. "Raccommoder!" she stated again, the threads reforming themselves, though the stains remained.

"Stop crying, Coco, we can wash the jacket later..." was all the consolation she gave to the little girl.

Riley flinched as Percy lowered her to the ground. The young stage magician had had a clear view of Adrienne's decisive and dismembering blow and it proved to have been a somewhat unnerving experience. The girl hadn't expected two supposed allies to go around horribly maiming each other – at the least it was considered a tad tactless in most areas of the world.

Looking down at her feet as she went through a series of calming breathes Riley pulled up the hood of her cloak to hide how pale her face had turned and – what was most certainly not – the beginnings of a few tears.

Hey! Hey! Look at Percy, he's not letting this get to him – you don't wanna shame him by association do yah? Riley scrubbed her face viciously as she continued her little mental pep talk. There we go! Now 's time to run up the flag – let's see a smile out there!

Pulling her cloak tighter about her for a few last seconds, Riley let out a gulp that was hopefully lost into the confines of her hood before she faked a smile and walked towards Percy and the now ex-combatants.

“Aha, good to see this is under control! Quite handy that – never seen a healing done so quickly.” Riley almost shouted as she spoke in her 'detective' voice. Averting her eyes from meeting DuMonde's, the stage magician leaned over closer to Percy and whispered loud enough that the whole group could hear. “Bloodthirsty one we got there Watson – you can see it all through out her face – probably got that limb on quick as quick just so she could start the cutting again.”

Turning her head from Percy to look over her shoulder at the french teacher Riley gave Adrienne an extremely exaggerated and very side-long look before flashing back towards Percy with a grin and a thumbs up. “Well, 'course, that's why I'm up here – got your back as always partner!”

Sakura lept from the tree, landing on the snow covered ground just below it where she dropped down to her knee and began to slowly pull the string of her bow back, as she did so she began to chant her activation key.

"Μπορεί ο αέρας να σταματήσει να κινείται, το σώμα παύει για να αυξομειώνονται, μπορεί ο ουρανός μου ακούει εντολές και το έδαφος σαλπάρουν με δικά μου λόγια," as she spoke it a red oval mass appeared between where the bow was and the shaft and began to gradually take on the shape of an arrow with a hot tip. She didn't fire it though, instead she stayed her position and kept the bow aimed at Adrienne.

Miller's knuckles cracked as it all fell into place. This isn't just for Duncan's amusement. "I guess all you need now is to give her a cup of warm milk and a pat on the back to make everything better, right?" He sternly told the Frenchwoman in relation to Coco losing her arm and having it reattached. Yes, call out the woman with armour and a sword who could cut me to ribbons. Real smart.

He felt some of the pain in his ribs wash away as he made his point clear, that he wasn't going to abide by this sort of bullying idly. He noticed his vision blur beneath his glasses, raised his eyebrows and took them off. He realised that once again, they had become redundant and blinked in surprise. He tucked them into the V-Neck of his sweater vest and kept his arms folded against his chest.

Ruarc, after his initial outburst of excitement given the new environment, settled himself against one of the nearby pine trees as he got comfortable to watch Coco and Adrienne. With a certain level of intrigue, he observed as the two combatants sparred, or at least he had assumed it was simply a sparring match up until Coco’s arm got loped off. That sort of crossed the line a bit.

“De réir na béir de mo shinsir!” Ruarc exclaimed reflexively in Irish as he grabbed the top of his head with both hands, “Bhflaitheas.”
Before he completely fumbled through his pockets for a healing rune, the situation, and the arm, was mended in an impressive feat of healing. “Well, that was, surprising to say the least,” he muttered as he looked on.

“So, wha’ was the moral of tha’ story? Aside from not overextending ourselves beyond our means, of course?” Ruarc said, trying to sound perceptive. “Or was tha’ meant to just be a tour de force?”

Miyuki stammered at what was all going on. suddenly, it had gone from a demonstration, to an accident, and now there was a standoff, with a teacher in the middle of it. Miyuki had known miss DuMonde for a while, and while it was news that she was a mage, Miyuki couldn't believe that she was heartless- Indeed, the teacher had gone and healed Coco after the accident!

"Wait a second, you guys- I don't think it's right for you to attack her! You're jumping to conclusions! I doubt Miss DuMonde did that on purpose!" The black-haired girl waved her arms insistently, trying to draw Miller and Sakura's attention and give them time to think about the situation.

"You used the same spell twice, didn't you?" the girl asked of the teacher. She simply nodded, pleased that there was at least one person not being hostile toward her.
Amid the new chaos, Ruarc was also inclined to step in on the side of Miss DuMonde. Moving away from the tree he stood under he walked out to the others. "Tha's right, everything was fixed in the end, wasn't it?" he said as he got close.

Just then something clicked after he heard Miyuki's question. "Oh yeah, that spell, what was it again...'raccommoder' if I am correct," he thought to himself as he thought back to his somewhat limited knowledge of the French language. "That means, 'mend', if I am not mistaken. How would that be able to heal two different objects though?"

"Aye, don't quite follow using the same spell, tha' an' the wording seems a bit off if my translation is an accurate reflection," Ruarc said, interjecting himself into Miyuki's question.

Adrienne closed her eyes for a moment, sighing, and then looking at the group again. She opened her mouth. "You two are correct. That was no healing spell. I thought you all had noticed too - "

"Umm...I, uh, wasn't crying because I lost my arm," Coco half muttered, just loudly enough for everyone to hear. The little girl's severed limb was already quite mobile again, its fingers already being used to dawdle with those of the opposite hand in unease. "It's just that, well...BLOOD IS REALLY HARD TO CLEAN OUT!" she suddenly yelled. "Especially when it's dried and stuff! I can't leave in a jiffy to clean up - I gotta stick here and make sure you're all ok and learn stuffs!" the ten-year-old blurted.

"Besides. I thought you all already knew at first like Adrienne did, but when I realized none of you did, I just...liked being treated like a normal person for a little bit," she explained to them all, rather unusually subdued. "I'm really glad that even Sakura isn't such a big meanie after all, but see, the thing is everyone...I'm a zombie, ok?"

The words which had come from Coco's lips, "Kore Wa Zombie Desu ka?" hung in the cold, cold air.