2231/Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Cybodies

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Cybodies
Date of Scene:	14 January 2025
Location:	Southern Cross Island
Synopsis:	Chiyo Sakai acquires her Cybody and tries it out in real Zero Time, while Takuto helps her get used to fighting with a partner and Wako and Sugata are more well-behaved than to provide sports commentary.
Cast of Characters:	Wako Agemaki, Takuto Tsunashi, Sugata Shindo, Chiyo Sakai

---

Wako Agemaki has posed:
For Chiyo, it's like reaching out with her heart and finding someone reaching back, hopeful, eager, ready to help. The newly-granted Resh mark on her chest blazes brightly.

And time stops.

The world loses all color and substance. Ryousuke, walking away from the four of them, freezes in place mid-step. Only Takuto, Sugata, and Wako retain color and life - and then, starting from close around her and rushing outward, this faded world falls away.

Chiyo has seen Wako's Zero Time, of course. She had not, until now, had any way to understand what a tiny sliver of a reflection of the real Zero Time Wako's barriers actually are.

The mine and the abandoned, dusty base and the looming metal doll shapes are all gone. In their place is a vast, smooth sea in all directions as far as the eye can see; a sea frozen in time, solid enough to stand on. Over it, reflected upon the glassy surface, the sky is a technicolor starscape spangled with nebulas in every color of the rainbow and criss-crossed with long golden arcs like huge distant chains.

To one side, the horizon is dark with looming storm clouds, outlining what looks at first glance like the shattered silhouette of a ruined castle. Except... she's seen Sugata's miniature Cybody companion. The looming shape is the same, albeit wrecked as though from some epic battle, and tethered down with more golden chains, and it is easily at least the size of the castle she might first have taken it for.

The trio are still here with her, suspended in midair in bubbles that aren't quite the same as Wako's shields. Chiyo will find herself within a sphere herself, but hers is nestled securely in the chest of her Cybody, and Reshbal is ready and poised for action.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
Takuto's bubble pops, and he falls nearly to the glass-like ocean of a floor as he yells:

APPRIVOISE!

Instead of going splat, he bounces one-footed off the floor and sails directly upwards, tucking into a somersault as he goes, and vanishing into a pinprick in the vast cosmos overhead.

And then: there's a crack in that sky, punched in and radial, and bits of the sky fall like glass as an enormous robot hand reaches in to break the crack open further. Crack-- shatter-- crack-- and then a fancy high-heeled robot foot steps through the wall of the sky, easily as tall as a city bus.

The rest of Tauburn follows that foot, various parts of him shifting and clicking and clunking into place as a steam plume curls up from the vents on his 'hat', cutting a handsomely cavalier figure making one hell of a dashing entrance.

And then Tauburn waves. "Hi Chiyo-chan, hi Reshbal!" comes Takuto's voice from Tauburn's unmoving Cybody face, which gives the impression, somehow, of having a faint and mysterious smile. Tauburn thumps his chest -- and Chiyo can see Takuto, in henshin, also thumping his chest -- and as Takuto pulls out Star Swordo Emeraude and calls its name ("Star Swordo! EMERAUDE!" Tauburn pulls out the same sword, except it's like what, four storeys tall? Something absurdly large, like these Cybodies are absurdly large.

"You've got Star Swordo Turquoise, so just do what I did and pull it out of your chest," he says helpfully, seriously. Ever since they got to the old mine, he's been serious.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
There's that moment of time stopping, and the world fading away first losing color, then altogether losing substance, until all the world is the motionless sea reflecting the endless stars above.

Sugata stands silent in his bubble, face turned towards the tower figure of the Samekh's ruined form, slumped in place, bound in golden chains. When Tauburn and Takuto make their bombastic re-entry, shattering the outer walls of Zero Time to force their way in, the faintest twitch of a smile comes to his face, and he turns his back on that ruinous figure, eyes tracking up, to where Chiyo and Takuto, Reshbal and Tauburn, stand facing one another.

The fact that the two were twins was well-known, but seeing them again, now, without combat between them - well, it's genuinely striking.

"How do you feel?" He asks, breaking his silence once Takuto has given instruction. If it seems odd, for Sugata to be the one asking about feelings, that might disperse with his next words, "Feeling up to sparring with them?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
This moment was a rare and precious one in the world. Not many had the power of mahou in their lives. Fewer still had the opportunity to experience it twice.

The power of being a Culinary Guardian had felt like a warmth that welled up from within; a fire that could warm and comfort, or rage and burn. Even so, hot as that power had surged through her when it was hers, it was a lone power with her at the epicenter.

This was different.

The mark that lights up brilliantly on her chest was a warmth of another kind; of another reaching out, welcoming, and enveloping as Chiyo becomes instantly aware of ...

"Reshbal!"

The name springs from her lips gleefully at the feeling of greeting and being greeted. Everything else in zero time she becomes aware of only after that first initial rush of her heart surging with the power of this newly formed partnership.

Tauburn's emergence into Zero Time in the shadow of Samekh, and her friends in their bubbles. It's all taken in as Chiyo lifts her hand to clench her fist in front of herself--And Reshbal does the same testing the flex of fingers.

"Right you said the sword... Sorry hang on I..." Chiyo laughs a bit as she clenches her fist again. Resbhal's hand draws to the gem at it's core just as Chiyo moves mimicking Takuto in calling out, "Star Swordo! TURQUOISE!"

Light blazes from that point casting dancing shadows over Reshbal's form as the sword is drawn out blazing brilliantly. In that light of the Star Sword, the blue of Reshbal's form shifts to a deep purple and even the plume on it's head turns from that pale pink to a stronger, more vibrant pink.

In answer to Sugata Chiyo laughs, "I feel amazing!" Did she want to spar? YES!

NO! Advises Reshbal as it's eyes glint with light and her mind floods with a replay of the last fight against Tauburn.

"... Reshbal doesn't think it can beat Tauburn, but this isn't an all out spar right? Just to test things out? I've fought against sword users before." A pause, and she adds, "Yes I know I'll lose." Another pause and she speaks aloud, "A hammer."

Was she just answering Reshbal now?

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako hangs in the same bubble as Sugata, watching Reshbal and Tauburn with a pleased smile. She has no particular need to apprivoise herself, right now; it's been a while since she's had the chance to see Tauburn in action in his full size. "It's kind of nostalgic, isn't it?" she remarks aside to Sugata, before she turns her eyes out toward Chiyo and Reshbal again.

"It'll be fine!" she calls out, laughing. "Take the chance to get a feel for working with Reshbal in real Zero Time. Takuto-kun is good at holding himself back, aren't you, Takuto-kun?"

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
Tauburn nods firmly to Wako. "Mm!" he answers along with it.

Then he turns back to Reshbal. "Yeah, I'll slow motion fight you, how about that? So you can see what I'm doing and Resh can help you? Or," Tauburn thumps his other fist into his chest, "(Star Swordo! SAPHIR!) I can just pull my hits to taps. I don't want to damage Reshbal unless you want to know what it feels like to regenerate a Cybody. Spoilers: it hurts."

Nevertheless, he spins one sword, then the other, and Chiyo can see Takuto's pose mirroring Tauburn's in the pilot bubble as Tauburn strikes it fancily. Then Tauburn spins on his heel and falls into a defensive guard. "I'm annoyingly fast," he confesses. "So go on and try to hit me with-- a hammer? With a hammer!!"

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"It is," Sugata agrees quietly, watching as Takuto and Tauburn draw Star Sword Saphir and stand with both of their Star Swords drawn, an image straight out of recent memory. "Of course, it's more pleasant now that the two of us could be right there with him, if we wanted."

Well, Wako could probably be beside him - Sugata will not be piloting Samekh ever again, if he has anything to say about it.

And then?

Chiyo agrees to the match. The smile that cuts across Sugata's face is keen, excited. Chiyo's going to regret agreeing to that match - not because of the spar itself, but because Sugata is absolutely going to ensure it happens again, and try to recruit Chiyo to the kendo club.

She might be a hammer wielder, but that can change.

"How early does Sakai-san usually wake?" He asks Wako casually, eyes fixed on the fight about to start. "Before, or after Takuto and I usually begin?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
A hammer indeed. Even while Takuto encourages her to hit him with a hammer, all she finds herself weilding is the Star Sword. At least until Reshbal informs her how to change it. It's flipped around in hand to send the sword slamming down into the ground more for the physical display of 'changing' than a need to do so. Again the light glints as the form evolves into the long-handled kine she was used to in her usual form. This one was certainly not wood though.

Chiyo shifts with knees bent as the hammer is brought forward across her body with one hand kept low, and the other higher up. It wasn't dissimilar to how a two handed sword would be weilded. It was familiar. It felt GOOD to hold again.

As she moves so does Reshbal, stance widening to crouch before surging toward Tauburn swinging the hammer aimed across his chest. There's no hesitation or waffling on whether or not this spar was going to happen--He said he was ready!

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"You super don't want to find out what it feels like to regenerate a Cybody!" Wako calls out across Zero Time. "We'd have to drag out some of those Science Guild creeps for that! So play nice!"

She watches as Chiyo and Reshbal's Star Sword changes its shape, and her brows go up. "Hey! I didn't know you could do that..." She pauses, considering. "Though I guess there was that one Vanishing Age guy who made his a spear... man, now I kind of wish I had one."

But her eyes are laughing as she looks over toward Sugata. "Chiyo-chan gets up around the same time as me," she tells him. "She said she's used to getting up early to help at the shop, that's why I started bringing her over to your house in the mornings sometimes."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
He certainly did. If Chiyo could see Takuto's face instead of just his posing and posturing and totally synchronous motion with Tauburn, she'd see the almost feral delight in his face -- but she's seen that before, when he knows he's going to fight and it's not five in the morning.

Tauburn leaps over Reshbal's head, doing a spinning twist with his body, swiping Saphir through the bright pink steam-vent plumage, then landing standing up facing Reshbal's back. "Excellent commitment, obviously," the red-and-white Cybody says, while he swings Emeraude casually at Reshbal's neck.

If Reshbal doesn't move fast enough, Tauburn pulls his slash short and it lands with a tink on the side of Reshbal's fancy fancy collar. If Reshbal doesn't notice and stop fast enough, Tauburn calls, "Hold!"

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"Or don't," Sugata calls, "Learning your limits can be a valuable lesson."

He is such a bad influence. Still, he's not entirely wrong, even if it is unnecessary. There's almost no circumstance where they'll ever be fighting with Cybodies outside of Southern Cross Island. The lesson isn't necessary, or even necessarily warranted.

Turquoise is transformed into a hammer, and that is interesting - Sugata hadn't known that could be done either. Reshbal's change in coloration isn't quite as interesting, though it's noted too.

"We could look for another, if you really wanted to risk it."

But it's more a joke than anything, and they both know it; there's no way Wako wants to deal with Benio's reaction to her learning kendo, or with adding kendo to her mornings after purification.

"So she won't even have to change her schedule," Sugata hums with satisfaction, already drawing up mental plans for Chiyo's training - both as a sword fighter and on how to accommodate for hammer fighting, both to fight alongside a hammer-wielding teammate and to defeat one. "Good."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Tauburn vanishes. This was not Chiyo's first high speed fight. This *was* her first high speed fight with Reshbal, a sort-of-unfamiliar weapon, and against Tauburn. Jumping made sense so with the motion already there the weight off the back foot is taken off to let the momentum of the swing pivot Reshbal around to face behind--

NO NO NO NO NO STOP NO DON'T

Whether it's Reshbal's litany echoing in her mind or her own sense of self-preservation she does stop growing still as the Star Sword presses to Reshbal's neck.

To. To her neck?

It's an instinctive reaction to lift her hand to touch her neck so Reshbal's follows stopping just shy of touching Emeraude's blade.

"Ah!" It's a good thing he can't really see her face right now. "I see what you mean by saying we're synched now."

Breifly she pauses as something causes her to glance over toward Sugata and Wako with another red flare of eyes from Reshbal. "What are you two plotting?"

Of course she KNEW, Reshbal had just told her, but she doesn't think much of it. They were right here. Surely it was just overheard.

At least she does laugh a bit while holding still waiting for Takuto to relent. "I give. I don't want to hurt Reshbal *or* myself without reason."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"No way!" Wako replies immediately, nudging at Sugata with her elbow. "And have to join you guys in morning sparring and kendo club? I have a perfectly good knife, thank you."

Lifting her chin, she looks back toward the Cybodies in time to see Takuto demonstrate his and Tauburn's considerable skills. As always, it's a sight she enjoys - now more than ever, when there's nothing riding on it, just a new Star Driver needing some practical experience.

"Nobody's plotting anything!" she calls playfully back to Chiyo. "Sugata-kun was just asking about your schedule~"

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
There's a small, silent nod from Tauburn, and he takes his sword back from Reshbal's neck and straightens, taking a step back. "Again?" he asks. "This time I'll do something else, some other move. Try and hit me again."

Tauburn falls back into guard with a flourish, totally unnecessarily doing a pirouette first, and he watches Reshbal while calling over to the others. "They can tell when you're lying," the Ginga Bishounen Tauburn laughs. Then he says to Chiyo-and-Reshbal, "Can also try out the piles, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't send them after me -- they're homing, I can't just jump out of the way, all I can do is destroy them."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"So you do," there's a warmth in his eyes, in his voice, at the mention of the knife, in the momentary glance back to Wako. Half of his attention is on the fight - on every clean, swift motion Takuto and Tauburn makes. It's appreciative, not critical - it's Takuto. There's nothing to critique, not in a spar.

It's a good thing Takuto is up in the cockpit, multiple stories up, where Sugata can't easily rake his eyes over his form. The demon that's been lurking in Takuto would happily show its face in Sugata if these were other circumstances.

And then Chiyo is eyeing them suspiciously, Reshbal's red eyes flashing towards them.

"Saying 'you two' is putting more blame on Wako-chan than was earned," Sugata points out. "But yes, I was inquiring about your schedule. Does a lie of omission count? Even if it was only implied, instead of spoken?"

This is asked with a sharp inquisitiveness, Sugata fixing his attention on Reshbal and Chiyo for a long moment. That could be useful, after all.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"That's true, Wako-chan is innocent in this," Chiyo intones with amusement as she moves to recover herself a bit from being startled at actually *feeling* the sword to her neck. HER neck. Their neck?

"Reshbal says that's the worst sort. Apparently there's a lot I need to learn but it's waiting till after sparring so that we don't risk damage." For others or herself? Probably herself.

"I'll avoid using them then," Chiyo assures Takuto with a jaunty little llift of Reshbal's hand to tap to it's forehead. "Once more," she agrees with a laugh before continuing to see just what she can do while sparring in a cybody.