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The two of you stare each other down as it becomes clear that you won't be responding to his vague threats, Spike's grin turning into a tight frown from the lack of reaction. As soon as baba calls out the start of the battle, you tense every muscle in your body and burst forward into a sprint that cracks the tiles beneath your feet, zigzagging on your approach with your limbs tucked in closely as you always do when adopting the River Stance. Most people would have a great deal of trouble tracking you like this, but you notice Spike's eyes keeping locked squarely on you on your approach, and his own muscles flex in preparation for an intercepting blow.
Unfortunately for him, you know exactly where he thinks you're going to be thanks to your own 'predictable' approach, and right when he swipes out with a chop that would have caught you right in the neck you kick off an air-step to juke off to the side and duck low. Popping off of a second air step to gain forward momentum again, you slam your fist straight into his gut with a full force uppercut, knocking the air out of your opponent and flinging him into the air like a ragdoll. He suddenly suspends his motion after a few seconds, thrusting his hands and legs out with a burst of energy, and stares down at you hatefully.
"A lucky shot, brat! We'll see how- WAIT, WAIT, I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF TALKING-" He starts to say, growing suddenly panicked when he notices the fact that you're actually leaping up towards him by springing off of several air-steps to follow up on your first strike. Before he can really prepare much of a resistance, you're up in his face and swinging your body sideways so that you can put your all into a kick that catches the back of his neck and sends him hurtling back down towards the arena. With gravity assisting your effort, he embeds a good foot into the brickwork as soon as he impacts the ground, leaving you free to control your own descent to land with considerably more grace near his hole.
With a growl of anger, he pulls himself out of the stones and brushes off some of the pebbles clinging to his suit. It looks like he wants to monologue again, but the fact that you're already on the move to keep up the aggression seems to dissuade him from such - he instead starts to spark with electricity suddenly, as though he's getting ready to use a technique of his own. With a malicious grin, he thrusts his hands towards you to try to intercept you, only for you to duck down into an extremely low-down slide and leave the electrical orb to fly harmlessly overhead. While he tries to charge up a second blast to compensate, you surprise him with some lightning of your own you've been charging up on your fingers, thrusting to point your index and middle finger at him to unleash a shocking bolt right at him that lights him up brightly for a few moments.
