Season 1, Episode 6 - The Tree Plot XXXI - "Lynn vs Hikari"

[That's what you need! Just a little self-confidence. Your friends will always have your back...but first and foremost, you need to have your own back!]

Lynn let out a chuckle as Audrey’s advice from the Combat Simulation echoed around her head. She darted up this last staircase, wondering how Mackenzie did, wondering how Audrey did. It felt funny - Lynn had her own fight ahead of her, but all she could think about was her friends.

How can you be self-confident when your choices send your friends into danger?

Then she gritted her teeth and kept her eyes ahead of her. She chose this road - and her friends had the option to back out. But they joined her on it.

Ah, but is that right? I might’ve chosen this road back when I broke the Trowel in the first place. Maybe I didn’t really give them a choice after all. But that’s all the more reason to see this to the end. No backing out now. I just have to trust in them and win my own fight.

Lynn arrived at the top of the stairs. As usual, the stairs came to a stop only a story up; the road she chose would take her through the doorway into the last dojo on the fourth and final floor.

This dojo featured a wooden floor with yellow bamboo walls. Every so often, a Chinese character painted in black covered the wall; Lynn couldn’t read what it said. Weapons of all sorts from all ages hung from racks on the walls - swords and nunchaku mixed with sawed-off shotguns and submachine guns. Scattered around them were crates of grenades, fireworks, and other explosives.

At the back of the dojo, Hikari sat cross-legged in front of a white folding screen, her brown hair done up in a bun, a sheathed sword resting across her lap. Lynn briefly looked up; a black-and-white photo of a young man in the typical woolen Presidential Restorationist military jacket hung from a beam above Hikari.

She noticed the direction of Lynn’s gaze and spoke calmly. “The man up there is Master Himura. An acolyte of Theo of the Theodite Rebellion, Himura was one of the few survivors of Arthur Reed’s crackdowns on the opposition. Himura invented the school of swordsmanship known as Modern Kenjutsu - the one that mixes old sword styles with the Rddhi.”

Lynn decided to play along and continue speaking with Hikari while her eyes scanned the dojo for any sign of the Trowel. No luck so far. “Thanks for the history lesson.”

“Isn’t it fascinating?” Hikari asked her. “Anyone who can make flames flicker in their palm or bend a spoon can be a Kenjutsu user. By wielding the sword, you can draw the Rddhi out of you and into a focused point. For all the weak users who can only do the bare minimum, yet get drafted into the military anyway, Kenjutsu is a way to make them feel useful to the country they love. Rather than wield a rifle like anyone else, they can finally use the Rddhi to a worthy, greater extent. And yet, due to its association with the Theodites, the military outlaws Kenjutsu.”

“Uh-huh.” Lynn found boxes of gi’s and recruitment pamphlets, but nothing about the Trowel.

Hikari continued unabated. “It’s issues like this that give the Sect of Steel strength. This country has millions of willing patriots, yet our military and government are far too backwards to successfully use them. Corruption and mismanagement flows everywhere. Why do you think we have so many Military Police units? So many areas of overlapping jurisdictions and powers? It’s corrupt, all the way to the top. Soldier and civilian alike, the Sect of Steel gives citizens the opportunity to right those wrongs.”

Then she sighed. “I suppose that’s why you’ve come here. You’ve heard of our plans and came to stop us. I suppose that reflects poorly on me if I allowed three schoolgirls to get the better of an entire secret society.”

That did get Lynn’s attention, who increasingly believed the Trowel could be found on Hikari’s body. “I came here to get the Golden Trowel back. I don’t know anything about your plans.”

Hikari looked at her for a moment - a mixture of astonishment and amusement twinkled in her eyes. Then all appearance of serenity broke when Hikari started laughing. Lynn guessed Her to be in her mid-to-late twenties - yet she laughed in the same giggling, carefree manner that Lynn or any of her friends at the Academy would.

“That’s rich!” Hikari exclaimed, clutching her stomach, the sword in danger of sliding off her lap. She reached inside her gi and produced the Trowel. Lynn tensed up, debating her next move, while Hikari looked at her own golden reflection within it. “My entire sect destroyed by someone who didn’t even know our true plans. I only took this because I planned on attending the groundbreaking ceremony myself, but I guess you didn’t know that.”

Lynn calculated the distance between herself and Hikari and how long it would take Hikari to unsheathe her sword. “If I had to guess - I don’t think you were invited.”

Hikari laughed again. “You’d be right. We’d be crashing a ceremony for peace hosted by Captain Kepler of the Russet Military Police, with the Academy and State Police as honored guests. The ceremony is symbolic - the real point is Kepler hosting negotiations between them on neutral ground afterwards. And yet…what do you think would happen if we crashed it?”

Lynn finished her calculations, but she still held a seed of doubt inside her. Maybe it was about her next move. Maybe it was still about coming here in the first place. So she spoke. She needed to prove her reasons for coming here to herself.

“If you’re trying to get rid of all the corruption like you say, then you’d take the opportunity to kill everyone there,” Lynn supposed.

Hikari smirked. “Almost there.”

Lynn looked at all the weapons again. “If you have this many supplies…then somebody is funding you. You mentioned to Rodolfo that you have a boss, too. Somebody who wants to sabotage the peace conference. But why? I thought you love this country. Why would you try to sabotage an attempt for peace?”

“We love the idea of our country,” Hikari countered. “We want it to be the best it can be. The current government is holding it back. So we must do away with it. It doesn’t matter what happens next. All that matters is that something does happen.”

Lynn raised an eyebrow. “You mean…change for change’s sake?”

“If the status quo results in society gradually declining from sickness, wouldn’t you go for a risky operation? If you know you’ll die eventually, why not try something, anything?”

“With no care for what happens next?” Lynn questioned. Then she realized something. “This whole time, my goal’s been to destroy the State Police and liberate New England from its fear of them. But I don’t know what’s going to happen after that. I guess I need to think of something. You can’t just go into things without a plan.”

“The State Police?” Hikari repeated. “Why would you want to destroy them?”

Lynn’s face contorted into a hot-blooded mixture of anger and confusion. “The midnight knock on the door? The Piscataquis camps? The atmosphere of fear?”

“What you call fear, I call law and order,” Hikari answered. “New England needs somebody strong to rule it. One day, that will be Chief Amien and his State Police. After that, we will finally know peace.”

Lynn took a step back. “Wait…are you saying the State Police is backing you? They’re trying to sabotage the peace conference?”

Hikari gave an infuriating, answer-hiding shrug. “Who knows? But Amien understands. He understands the corruption and inherent instability of New England. Once he takes over, we’ll root out the career politicians and the like.”

Lynn narrowed her eyes. “Amien doesn’t exactly like Rddhi users.”

“It’s not like you can just turn the Rddhi off. The Rddhi will always exist. I would’ve liked to have seen the Sect of Steel serve as Amien’s personal Rddhi corps. Perhaps, once I’ve rebuilt it, they still can be.”

Lynn closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “This whole time, I’ve been wondering if I made the right decision in storming your dojo. It put me and my friends at risk. But it was the right choice. If you’re going to sabotage peace and kill people striving for it, then I was right in coming here.”

Strands of brown hair trailed across Hikari’s neck as she stretched it in tight circles. “But that’s not why you came here. You came here just to get this Trowel back. Deciding that something is right after-the-fact, isn’t that just victor’s justice?”

Rddhi sparked around Lynn as she shrugged. “Who knows?”

Red sparks surged across the dojo as Lynn dashed for the Trowel. Just as she reached it, Hikari contorted away, rolling across the dojo. She stood right as Lynn redirected herself; Hikari effortlessly dodged Lynn’s attempts to get close. Lynn urged herself on, trying to be faster, blindly following Hikari around the dojo until she stepped aside and Lynn realized she was heading right for a rack of spears.

With their sharp points staring her down, Lynn skidded to a stop right at the last moment. Hikari stood in the middle of the dojo, tossing her sheath away, revealing a dark sword with Rddhi flowing through it.

“Kenjutsu Ice Style!” Hikari yelled as she slammed her sword into the wooden floor of the dojo. Rddhi and ice, moving hand-in-hand, sparked and expanded across the floor. Already mid-charge, Lynn slipped on a patch of ice, sending her veering off course. When she reached a dry spot, she came to a halt and collected herself, just in time to see Hikari darting her way, slicing with her sword.

Lynn rolled out of the way of a strike, only to receive a kick to the stomach. She used the opportunity to propel herself further away, landing a good distance away from Hikari near a stack of crates. By this point, a layer of ice completely covered the floor on the other side of the dojo. Hikari walked calmly across it as if it was dry land, paying no attention to the cracks that formed with each step.

As her heartbeat chugged along, threatening to pound out of her chest, Lynn tried to think of her options. But Hikari wouldn’t give her time; Lynn gasped when more Rddhi sparked from the sword. A Rddhi-filled line of ice extended outwards across the floor; Lynn easily side-stepped it, only for the Rddhi to connect with the crates behind her - crates filled with fireworks.

The explosion blew Lynn away; with a burning heat at her back, Lynn landed onto the ice, which did little to break her fall. Hikari slid over to her and plunged her sword downwards; Lynn rolled out of the way and the sword slammed through the ice. With the sword stuck for a moment, Lynn exploded upwards, trying to strike Hikari’s jaw, but she nimbly grabbed Lynn’s arm and tossed her away. This didn’t result in a soft landing, either.

“To think, you destroyed my Sect and I don’t even know your name,” Hikari said calmly as she walked towards Lynn across the ice. “Surely, you must be trying to change something too. What makes your change better than my change?”

Lynn slammed a fist on the ice. “Because it’s my change!”

With a look of amusement on her face, Hikari watched Lynn stand back up. Lynn wiped her mouth and let Rddhi flicker around her. “This whole time I’ve been worried about whether or not I’m right. You know what? I know I’m right in this case, and none of your pseudo-philosophical ramblings are going to change my mind. I know I’m right, and I know you’re wrong!”

Despite the anger in her voice, Lynn suddenly felt completely calm on the inside. Her inner being emerged on the other side of a breakthrough.

Ah…so this is what confidence feels like.

An instinctive feeling ran through Lynn’s very being. With each breath, impurities left her body, and the entire world seemed to slow down around her. She felt clean, she felt calm, she felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Class 2.

Hikari raised her sword, expecting Lynn to charge her; instead, Lynn darted over to the crates and kicked them over. With a spark of Rddhi, she lit up a line of fireworks, then dashed out of the way when several exploded inside the crate. Those that didn’t flew around the entire dojo in a mad frenzy, forcing Hikari to deflect several with her sword. Others smacked into walls and the ceiling, creating a kaleidoscope of color and smoke within the dojo.

With Hikari distracted, Lynn threw several spears and swords in her direction. Amazing. As a Class 1, I could only use the super speed with my legs, but now I can focus the Rddhi in my arms and move them just as fast. She put her new skill to good use, sending a barrage of gleaming metal towards Hikari.

The smoke cleared for a moment - Hikari had deflected any weapon that came her way, leaving the field of ice pockmarked with craters and implanted swords. Using the lull in the fight, Hikari slammed her sword into the ice and extended her ice field towards Lynn, but she was already moving toward another crate of explosives. With quick hands, she pulled the pins off of a crateful of grenades and flung them at Hikari.

Just like tossing eggs at cars back home.

Explosions and smoke covered the dojo again; when Hikari knocked away all the projectiles, she scanned the room, breathing heavily. Smoke disappeared into vents, gradually opening up parts of the room for viewing, but Lynn was nowhere to be found.

As Hikari scanned the field of Rddhi, she gasped and looked left - Lynn burst through the cloud of smoke. Rather than slip and slide across the ice, Lynn had used all the implanted swords and weaponry as footholds.

Hikari said that using a sword makes it easier for a person to use the Rddhi. So, if I can just knock that sword out of her hands-

Lynn kicked Hikari square across the face; she heard something crunch beneath her shoe. The sword flew from Hikari’s hands and added itself to the field of scattered weaponry. Lynn landed on top of Hikari; the two skidded across the ice until Hikari smacked into a wall.

Before Hikari could gather herself, Lynn punched her across the face until her knuckles bled. When she felt Hikari’s body go limp beneath her, she punched her some more for good measure. Finally, finally, Lynn punched Hikari’s head through the bamboo wall and, as if waking from a trance, realized that was enough.

She sat on top of her for a moment, taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.

Isaac told me he fell asleep soon after reaching Class 2. I better get a move on.

Lynn looked through Hikari’s gi and found the Trowel - fortunately, it was still in one piece.

All this trouble, just for a little golden statue.

Lynn felt something else inside her gi. She pulled a small metal box with a big red button on it. Her eyes widened. “Is this-”

“A dojo self-destruct detonator,” Hikari answered for her through a broken jaw, then pressed the button.