Ok, at this point Rika is battling Nitro; Nitro is a warrior clad from head to toe in red armor. He's got a few interesting things on his suit of armor, but the most important is the long rifle that is his entire right arm. Rika has just started her training and isn't a Super-Saiyan or anything yet. Well, here is an excerpt for you. Enjoy!

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Rika found herself backed against a wall. She dodged left and right as the energy pellets struck the cliff side all around her. Nitro was relentless and she knew she would have to do something drastic if she was to escape without a scratch. However, the bullets stopped before she could come up with a plan.

When she looked straight ahead she saw that Nitro had lowered his rifle and was staring at her from his original standing spot far off. For a moment, neither warrior moved. What Rika didn’t realize is that a pause is what Nitro had wanted. Rika finally realized what he was doing when she noticed a green light shimmering from his gun barrel. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that his entire arm was shaking from the energy rapidly building up inside the chamber.

She gasped when she realized what was coming-seeing his queue, Nitro locked his gun and aimed it at her. She could sense that the energy inside the rifle was great, but she especially knew she was in trouble when braces extended from Nitro’s feet to hold him in place. Rika felt the urge to run when she saw the green energy waves swirling around his rifle, but she changed her mind when she remembered that she was here to train. This was her moment to prove to herself that she could accomplish anything. With newfound determination, she took a step towards Nitro and dug her heel into the dirt, bringing her arms back at her side. She was going to meet his attack head on.

Nitro gave a shouting laugh as he braced himself. His entire gun began to radiate as a buildup of light formed at its tip. Across the field, Rika cupped her hands and began charging up an energy blast of her own. The tension built as they each prepared to fire. Rika watched closely, waiting for him to fire. Eventually Nitro shouted as his energy peaked-she fired first.

A sparkling white fireball shot from her hands and flew towards Nitro. Unfortunately, Nitro wasn’t intimidated. He fired his blast before it hit him, and suddenly Rika was the one under attack. The massive dark green energy beam launched out of his rifle cannon and soared across the plain. Rika’s attack exploded harmlessly upon contact with it, not even slowing the giant beam down.

A sense of dread and terror came over her as she watched the attack bearing down on her. Soon it was too late to move. She took a quick step forward, shifted her feet, and then placed her hands out in front of her. Bent over in crash position, she braced herself as the beam hit her. Nitro laughed as the collision shook every muscle in her body and almost overwhelmed her. But she maintained her stance; amazingly, she was holding the beam back with her bare hands!

The energy was too intense for her to stop, however, and it slowly began to push her backwards. Rika groaned as she struggled against the incredible force of the attack. She found herself sliding backwards through the soil. She had good presence of mind to recognize how far she had traveled and put her left foot back just as she reached the cliff behind her. Using it to stop her, she bent forward, putting her head down, and used all of her strength to lean forward and hold the beam in place.

Knowing that her life depended on her stopping this attack, she began to power up. A white flame appeared around her and gave her the strength to hold the beam another inch away from her. The energy proved to be futile, however. Her power and determination rose like a candle burning strong against an overpowering gust of wind, but as such she knew she could not stay alive for long. Still, she refused to give in. Somehow she was finding the strength to keep going. Her violet ponytail suddenly rose up behind her and her eyes glimmered with determination. But then, just when she thought she couldn’t take anymore, Nitro began having problems of his own. It was taking longer than he had calculated to beat the youngster, and suddenly his suit began sparking with electricity. He realized too late that his capacitors were overloading, and his gun backfired and exploded.

The enormous beam stopped, and Rika collapsed onto her knees. She looked up, and saw through the beads of sweat cascading down her brow that what was left of Nitro’s smoldering gun was still sending an occasional shock through his suit. Without serious repairs to his suit, the unfortunate Nitro would not be able to continue the battle. Rika smiled, and even though she was out of breath she found a way to laugh out loud.
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Matthew Hoffman
mathius30@hotmail.com
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