Setting The Board
“Hey kid.” The woman says as she tips down her sunglasses as she glares at Maka. “I’ll give you a chance to leave this alley in one piece. You just have to pretend that you didn’t see anything. What do you say?”
Maka raises her arms in a combative stance in response.
“I’ll be honest and say that I don’t really know what’s going on here or who you guys are, but what I do know is that you aren’t up to anything good!”
“...So, you made your choice…” The woman says as she snaps her fingers and a white sphere the size of a bowling ball materializes out of the air and into her hand. She then lobs it into the air and punches it as it falls to the ground and in front of her fist.
Maka dodges this with ease.
“HA! Is that all you got?!” Maka taunts.
“...Nope…” The woman says as the ball ricochets off of the ground, onto a road sign, and collides with Maka’s back.
Maka falls face first onto the ground in front of her.
“...Since you were so curious, I might as well tell you what exactly we were up to…” The woman walks over to Maka and lifts her head up by her ponytail. “...We were paying a visit to one of the queen’s former peasants…and let’s just say that he forgot to pay his taxes…”
“...Why…why are you telling me this?” Maka says with gritted teeth as she spits out some blood.
“...You’re not the first person I had to kill today, child…and now you are just another leak that I need to plug…”
The woman then proceeds to pick Maka up by the back of her jacket, toss her into the air, and punch her so hard that she flies into the wall of the alleyway and cracks it.
She then walks towards Maka, threads her fingers together while raising her arms above her head, and attempts to slam them down into Maka’s skull.
“Okay that’s enough!”
Maka looks up to notice that Pythia was standing between her and the woman who she just vastly underestimated. She blocked her fists with her cane and was able to shove her back a few steps.
“...and who might you be?” The woman says as she places a hand on her hip and cocks her head to the side.
“I am Fortuna! The leader of Team Prism and member of the Central Hero Society!” She says as she slams the tip of her cane against the pavement. “Since we are introducing ourselves I think that it’s only fair for you to do the same. It’s easier to catch a criminal if you know their name after all”
“...I’m not dumb enough to tell you what my actual name is, but if you must know I go by The Pawn…” She then points at the person in the full suit of black armor next to her. “...and this is The Knight…”
“Ah! I see! A chess themed villain team team!” Pythia says as she snaps her fingers. “...I…am unfamiliar with your group…”
“...That isn’t surprising…You guys are probably some of the first people to see us and live…aside from those in the Queen’s court of course…”
“...Well, now that we are no longer strangers, let’s fight!” Pythia says as she points her staff towards The Pawn.
“...Works for me…” The Pawn says as she snaps her fingers and materializes to white spheres and tosses them on either side of Pythia.
Using her clairvoyance she is able to dodge both of the spheres with ease along with all of their ricochets.
“...Oh, I see…” The Pawn says as she snaps her fingers to produce yet another white sphere. “...Your power gives you the ability to predict where I throw these things…”
“I’ll just have to throw something that you can’t dodge!” She says as she tosses a sphere directly towards Maka face. “...It either hits you or her…the choice is yours…”
Pythia doesn’t move or even blink as the sphere flies towards Maka…but it stops immediately in front of her face anyways. It’s surrounded by a field of pink, blue, and purple energy that quickly dissipates as the sphere slams against the pavement.
“...No use hiding anymore I guess…” Ezmeralda says as she walks around the corner. “...I’ll play ball…”
Ezmeralda then uses her powers to lift all of the spheres that The Pawn has previously spawned and launches them back towards her.
As they travel towards her the woman just raises an eyebrow before eventually snapping her fingers again. After she does this all of the spheres immediately disappear.
“...Did you really think that you could use those against me?”
“It was worth a shot.” Ez says with a shrug. “At least your spheres aren’t a threat to us anymore.”
“...Hmm…I suppose you're right…” The Pawn says as begins to rotate her right shoulder. “...Good thing I don’t need them to win this fight…”
She then stomps her foot against the ground before she seemingly disappears.
“Right in front of you.” Pythia says as Ez stands her ground unphased.
Just like she said, The Pawn seemingly materializes in front of Ez, but before she could land a punch Ez uses her powers to lift her into the air and push her away into a wall.
Before The Pawn is able to slam into the wall she instead places her feet against it and uses it to propel herself toward Ez again.
Ez just sighs in response to this before she just snaps her fingers and surrounds The Pawn again.
“...That’s fine…I just won’t let you move at all this time…”
“...Do you really think that you have me in checkmate…” The Pawn says with a slight chuckle. “...Have you forgotten that I didn’t come here alone…”
She then turns her head to the side towards her partner in crime.
“...Can you get me out of check…”
The Knight nods their head and slams their shield into the ground.
The ground is suddenly covered in darkness that is spawning from where the shield collided with the pavement.
Before anyone could react to this Maka, Pythia, and Ez are all wrapped in dark tendrils and lifted a few feet into the air.
“...I must admit that you all put up a good fight, but y’all ain’t no match for this brute…This one could have done this alone…The only reason I am here is just because she wanted some company…”
A muffled sound suddenly comes from The Knight.
“What was that?” The Pawn responds.
“Hey!” The Knight suddenly says as she suddenly takes off her helmet. “Stop ruining my mysterious aura!”
“I’m not the one that just took off her own helmet!” She says as slaps her palm against her forehead.
The Knight suddenly blushes and quickly places her helmet back on.
“...Yep…the one and only great and mysterious Black Knight…” The Pawn sarcastically gestures. “...She can still kick all your butts though…”
Love makes the mistake of glancing around the corner at the wrong time.
The Pawn sighs and stretches her arms above the back of her head.
“...I guess there is another one of you…”
Love quickly retracts her head and hides back around the corner, but it’s too late now.