Even as she twitched out of the way of the first bullets, fear rippled through Dance Sabres body. Any of her friends, her sisters really, would consider the
Lost nothing. A risk perhaps, but one easily handled. Even Nene, once the weakest of the original team (physically at least), had the combat skills to brush
off the mutated homeless.
But not Linna. Not the woman that was once the best fighter in the Knight Sabres. She couldn't fight as well as any of them anymore. As she'd finally
explained to Priss and Nene a few days before, it wasn't for the reasons the others had suspected. Her early days in this world, her mind trapped in
patterns that made her a willing slave to one of Creys mad scientists? She was fine with that. It wasn't really her that it happened to (One day while
putting up with afternoon television, she'd worked it all out in a way that made perfect sense to her and made the nightmares go away).
It was her body that was the problem. The designers in Crey weren't accurate to her memories, making for ever so tiny differences that added up to a
frustrating series of problems. She was reminded of this as she nailed a Scrounger with a snap kick. He stumbled away with a broken jaw, but Dance found
herself off balance, and was unable to recover as fast as she would have liked. Another newly initiated lost came at her with a fire ax, and she dodged his
swings before breaking his leg with a low kick, then spinning and slamming her foot into his stomach, sending him flying into a pile of boxes.
She didn't have time to catch her breath however, as the noise brought more Lost into the hallway, including a Headman. As the giant pulled his Rikti rifle
from over his shoulder, she moved into the group of Scroungers, hoping to use them as cover. Here, her body betrayed her again, as she overreached in an
attempt to disarm one of them, leaving herself open to a a baseball bat. It splintered against her armor, but she stumbled, and as a result left herself open
to the Headman, who opened fire.
Linna gasped as the energy bolt hit her dead on, knocking her off her feet. For a moment, she was gripped by a sudden, overwhelming terror, certain that the
blast had gone through her armor. There was no thought of the Medicomm system pulling her to safety. As she fell, it was as if the world shifted, and the
brightly lit warehouse became a dark rooftop in MegaTokyo, the Lost became the hulking robots known as Bumas... and it all came back to her.
She rolled as she landed, firing the suits thrusters to get herself back on her feet faster, then charged the Headman. The brutes eyes widened as he fired
again, only to have her leapt over the energy bolt. Flipping in midair, she brought her armored gauntlet down on the Headmans forearm, getting a scream from
the mutant, before she lashed out with a series of kicks. There was no hesitation or doubt this time, and for whatever reason, it seemed to work. As the large
Lost dropped, she nailed a Scrounger with another kick, before backhanding another. The last mutant standing came at her with a fire ax. Smoothly, she stepped
into the swing, grabbed the handle and twisted, driving her elbow into the mans ribcage. He made a gasping noise as several ribs cracked and he lost his grip
on the ax.
The Sabre tossed the weapon away, making certain the Lost was out of the fight. A moment later, she turned to deal with even more of the mutants that had come
at the sound of gunfire and screams.
***
That afternoon, she sat in the cafeteria of the Steel Canyon branch of Paragon University, retelling the event to Priss, who was showing considerable interest
in Linnas plight, now that she'd gotten sick of waiting for the green Sabre to open up and had, in typical Priss style, come and confronted her head on.
"So, what changed?" Priss asked, looking at Linna over her beer.
"I don't know," she admitted, looking frustrated. "You don't just learn to compensate for the little errors instantly. One moment I was
putting too much power into my attacks and overbalancing, the next, I was virtually flawless."
"Still flawless?" the musician wondered. That got an even more annoyed response from her friend.
"No, it's back to the screwups. No mater how hard I try to do it-" she stopped as Priss chuckled. "And what is so funny?"
"I've got the answer to your problem," she smirked. "You're trying to adjust for your body, because you remember it differently.
You're thinking every single move, every kick and punch... Stop over thinking and just do it."
The look on Linnas face would keep Priss amused for days. After a moment, she recovered enough to reply "You think the problem is I'm thinking too
much?"
"Do you normally put effort into thinking about how much effort to put into every punch, how far to stretch and bend?" Priss asked. "You're
an artist Linna, but you've been focusing too much on the details that you're getting lost in them."
"And you're so sure of this how?" Linna wondered.
Priss smirked. "I needed to work out how to play a guitar again," she said, before downing her beer. Linna blinked at her, obviously getting the
message, but having no idea how to reply.
***
Lost nothing. A risk perhaps, but one easily handled. Even Nene, once the weakest of the original team (physically at least), had the combat skills to brush
off the mutated homeless.
But not Linna. Not the woman that was once the best fighter in the Knight Sabres. She couldn't fight as well as any of them anymore. As she'd finally
explained to Priss and Nene a few days before, it wasn't for the reasons the others had suspected. Her early days in this world, her mind trapped in
patterns that made her a willing slave to one of Creys mad scientists? She was fine with that. It wasn't really her that it happened to (One day while
putting up with afternoon television, she'd worked it all out in a way that made perfect sense to her and made the nightmares go away).
It was her body that was the problem. The designers in Crey weren't accurate to her memories, making for ever so tiny differences that added up to a
frustrating series of problems. She was reminded of this as she nailed a Scrounger with a snap kick. He stumbled away with a broken jaw, but Dance found
herself off balance, and was unable to recover as fast as she would have liked. Another newly initiated lost came at her with a fire ax, and she dodged his
swings before breaking his leg with a low kick, then spinning and slamming her foot into his stomach, sending him flying into a pile of boxes.
She didn't have time to catch her breath however, as the noise brought more Lost into the hallway, including a Headman. As the giant pulled his Rikti rifle
from over his shoulder, she moved into the group of Scroungers, hoping to use them as cover. Here, her body betrayed her again, as she overreached in an
attempt to disarm one of them, leaving herself open to a a baseball bat. It splintered against her armor, but she stumbled, and as a result left herself open
to the Headman, who opened fire.
Linna gasped as the energy bolt hit her dead on, knocking her off her feet. For a moment, she was gripped by a sudden, overwhelming terror, certain that the
blast had gone through her armor. There was no thought of the Medicomm system pulling her to safety. As she fell, it was as if the world shifted, and the
brightly lit warehouse became a dark rooftop in MegaTokyo, the Lost became the hulking robots known as Bumas... and it all came back to her.
She rolled as she landed, firing the suits thrusters to get herself back on her feet faster, then charged the Headman. The brutes eyes widened as he fired
again, only to have her leapt over the energy bolt. Flipping in midair, she brought her armored gauntlet down on the Headmans forearm, getting a scream from
the mutant, before she lashed out with a series of kicks. There was no hesitation or doubt this time, and for whatever reason, it seemed to work. As the large
Lost dropped, she nailed a Scrounger with another kick, before backhanding another. The last mutant standing came at her with a fire ax. Smoothly, she stepped
into the swing, grabbed the handle and twisted, driving her elbow into the mans ribcage. He made a gasping noise as several ribs cracked and he lost his grip
on the ax.
The Sabre tossed the weapon away, making certain the Lost was out of the fight. A moment later, she turned to deal with even more of the mutants that had come
at the sound of gunfire and screams.
***
That afternoon, she sat in the cafeteria of the Steel Canyon branch of Paragon University, retelling the event to Priss, who was showing considerable interest
in Linnas plight, now that she'd gotten sick of waiting for the green Sabre to open up and had, in typical Priss style, come and confronted her head on.
"So, what changed?" Priss asked, looking at Linna over her beer.
"I don't know," she admitted, looking frustrated. "You don't just learn to compensate for the little errors instantly. One moment I was
putting too much power into my attacks and overbalancing, the next, I was virtually flawless."
"Still flawless?" the musician wondered. That got an even more annoyed response from her friend.
"No, it's back to the screwups. No mater how hard I try to do it-" she stopped as Priss chuckled. "And what is so funny?"
"I've got the answer to your problem," she smirked. "You're trying to adjust for your body, because you remember it differently.
You're thinking every single move, every kick and punch... Stop over thinking and just do it."
The look on Linnas face would keep Priss amused for days. After a moment, she recovered enough to reply "You think the problem is I'm thinking too
much?"
"Do you normally put effort into thinking about how much effort to put into every punch, how far to stretch and bend?" Priss asked. "You're
an artist Linna, but you've been focusing too much on the details that you're getting lost in them."
"And you're so sure of this how?" Linna wondered.
Priss smirked. "I needed to work out how to play a guitar again," she said, before downing her beer. Linna blinked at her, obviously getting the
message, but having no idea how to reply.
***