I watched as the two combatants tried to engage in close quarters, 'tried' being the keyword.
Tashinake, whizzed around his opponent, trying constantly to land a hit on her, only to move out of the way of an armored arm as Genunchi tried to hit him.
This continued for quite a while, but I was closely watching all of it, trying to commit all of their moves to memory, but just in case, I had also brought out my 'phone' as it was called and activated its recording function to be able to see this fight later if I so wished.
Captain Tashinake lived up to his title as the fastest spirit, as Captain Genunchi could not even catch even the corners of his clothes, no matter how fast she turned to much lightning she threw about.
Sadly, that was there was to the fight for the rest of the time.
They managed to keep themselves in a stalemate for the remaining time.
I wondered why Tashinake didn't try to get his swords back, but decided that there must be a good reason why, seeing as he had fought Captain Genunchi hundreds of times before, and would be very well acquainted with her tactics.
After the match ended, I sat in and reviewed the part of the match that had been recorded.
After I saw every maneuver I thought I could perform, I tried it a few times. I did this for two hours before I left the arena.
I made my way back to my room at the 'Hand', and lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Something was off, I felt strange.
I couldn't pinpoint was I was feeling, but it felt wrong, out of place, all throughout my body.
I pulled out my phone, made a call, and was informed that Numoral was still locked up in his lab.
I informed the lab assistant of what I was feeling and was immediately asked for my location and ordered to stay put, someone would be coming to pick me up.
The seconds ticked by, and with every passing moment, I felt stranger and stranger as I waited for someone to show up.
At some point in time, my vision started to lose its focus, and my thoughts began to drift.
Someone knocked on my door, and I managed to walk to the door, stumbling and swaying with every step.
I opened the door and promptly lost control of my balance as I fell backward, only for my hands to be grabbed by whoever had been sent.
I was pulled up, and the man whose shoulders reached the top of my head said something that I cannot recall.
They checked my face and eyes, and then the next moment, I felt the familiar rush of air parting around me and my carrier.
At that point, I lost all of my thoughts, while still keeping my consciousness.
I was carried to a lab where a dozen different people operated a dozen different machines.
They were panicking, and looking back at this moment, it made sense.
I was part of a very, very important experiment, and I had heard Numoral threaten people on more than one occasion when it came to my safety, and now I was going through some changes, and Numoral wasn't here.
These people did not have access to my files, and those who did weren't here right now, so they didn't know if it was to try medicines and protocols that would be used for other spirits, so all they did was mill around, trying to find out what was going on.
I heard all of their words, but could not process them, so I just sat there, blankly staring at something as I lay on a table as machines kept scanning me constantly.
I had no idea how much time passed, but it could not have been long when a sudden whiteness covered my vision, and I lost consciousness.
Looking back at it now, it was a much faster experience than it seemed at the time.
What had happened, was that I had started to leak drops of white from my chest, and Plot and Queen had arrived by that time.
When that started, they had told the other researchers to keep their distance, seeing as something similar had happened before.
And true to the previous time, the white liquid spread a little bit, before wrapping around me and encasing me in a cocoon.
I had started my second change.
...
I could not feel anything for a long, long time.
It was like a quiet, dark, long sleep, or maybe hibernation would be a better term.
No thoughts went through my mind for most of that time, nor did I feel anything. But, somehow, I could feel the passage of time.
If any intelligent creature was subjected to it, I had no doubt that it would lose all of its sanity and reason, possibly its sense of self and memories as well.
I regained my thoughts at some point, and I could feel a warm current running through my body.
I tried to move, but my ...cocoon? It did not give me any room to move, it felt as if I was sealed in a rock.
My eyes could not open either, so I tried to sense using my Da, only to fail at that as well as I could not move even the smallest particle.
But that seemed to unlock something, and suddenly, I had detailed knowledge of every part of me.
It appeared in my head all of a sudden, as if a switch had been flipped, activating a display of sorts.
I could somehow see the insides of my being, but I could do anything besides that.
So I just watched my Da flow inside me in silence, for a few minutes, or so I thought. I had no way to tell how much time was passing without any indication.
I watched the white flow until a wave of drowsiness hit me, and knowing that this was probably part of the process, I did not even try to resist it, and fell back into my unthinking state once more.