Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rain would smirk a bit mischeviously. He didn't press the advantage, but after the inevitable quick-stumble which he would have recovered from already, he raised his dukes, his left foot forward.

He waited for Johnathan to compose himself, after which, Rain would begin a slow approach, inching one bare foot forward a few inches at a time. Perhaps he was waiting for Johnathan to make a move first; perhaps there was more deception at work here...

Oh, who am I kidding. A little from column A, a little from column B!

Rain was approaching cautiously, so when Johnathan went for that kick, he wasn't caught unawares. He would grip his toes tightly around as much blades of grass as he could, ripping them and their roots from the earth itself as he coiled his left leg up, stepping back and leaning upon his right leg.

The kick would barely scrape Rain, and in the side of his calf, causing no damage of consequence; likewise, rather than strike out with one of his own fists, he used his left hand, opening it into a palm, to parry Johnathan's right jab to his left (Johnathan's right).

Then, Rain would snapkick with his coiled left leg, aiming to high-kick John Nemesis right in the face. Except the range seemed wrong, as he would come up a few inches short of any sort of connect with his kick.

... but not to fling the toesfull of grass and sod towards the man's eyes.

Rain's payload would still be flung towards Nemesis as best he could, but due to his opponent's elbow running interference, it would be launched rather harmlessly towards Johnathan's right.

There would be the sharp pain of recieving the elbow to one of his joints, which more or less worked in his favor; he would plant his left leg down, rather than leave it suspended in the air hoping for a multiple kick attack of some sort. Due to the momentum of his body turning (partially from the elbow, partially of his own fruition in retaliation to the elbow), he would turn his body sideways, causing the incoming boot to impact against his right thigh. Dangerously close to the land down under, but not hitting home.

The moment after, however, he would reach out to snatch the commando's right forearm with his left hand; if he could grab it before it was pulled away, he would push off the ground with both feet, looking to clock his opponent in the face with a right elbow of his own, but to the chin.

"Oof! he wheezed, the commando's right knee impacting against his side. One eye half-closed as he winced and gritted his teeth at the sudden sharp pain. He couldn't stay like this, or else he'll just recieve more blows like the one he just recieved, and too many of those will take him out of the fight rather quickly. And due to his angle, he couldn't exactly return the favor.

Rain would press forward with his right elbow against John's left palm, then pulled his arm back, though only a few inches. Using that same right arm, he would grab ahold of Johnathan's right that his own left had been holding, allowing to pull his hand back quickly.

Not sure how much time he had for blows, he would coil his left arm at his side, and taking the form of a one-knuckle punch, would send the blow towards Nemesis's unguarded right side. Namely, the man's ribs (specifically, his false ribs). And as a trained martial artist in the art of atemi karate, he was adept at breaking objects as dense as stone with his hands, knuckles, and even fingers.

The strike in of itself might have worked, if Rain had no indication it was coming. However, as stated, Johnathan had to remove his hand to do so; the feeling of the hand slipping up from his bared elbow gave Rain enough forewarning to lean his head back from the incoming first blow. The knuckles would make contact with skin, but just barely, and that was due to the close proximity.

Both men had their left arms free; Johnathan was throwing blows over the locked right arms, while Rain was aiming beneath. And that's the beautiful thing about going in deep. Rain would still have time to draw his fist back, and by ducking beneath Nemesis's and his own right arms (while giving it a reassuring tightening of his joint to keep it in place as much as possible), he would have time for more than just one blow to the ribs this time. The moment Rain would duck down to follow through with the attack was when he saw that fist pull back for the second punch, the very instant Johnathan committed forward momentum to the attack.

Now, Rain had been fighting for a long time, as far as mortal lifetimes go. And fire users were a dime a dozen, and he had plenty of experience fighting them.

Though in all his years, he had never actually gone up against a fire breather. The snapping of his fingers didn't automatically cease his attack, as getting distracted for a moment could cost a fighter their advantage when they had it.

The sudden wave of heat would trigger Rain's experienced instincts, and he would automatically abandon ship and roll backwards, thankfully saving his eyebrows, and his whole head for that matter, from catching aflame.

Panting slightly, he would narrow his eyes upon Nemesis, landing in an acrobatic crouch that would make Spiderman proud. "That was a neat trick! I haven't seen anything like that before, at least from a humanoid. That changes... wait..."

Sniff sniff.

"Is something still burning?" It was then that he looked down at his right arm, which was en fuego.

"OHSHITOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!" he exclaimed in a panic, abandoning his stance to run around in two and three-quarters circles, before dropping to the ground and trying to smother his burning limb between his own body and the moist blades of grass of the forest floor.

Man, 2008 has been a pisspoor year for Rain to not get himself lit on fire.

Now, that was an interesting trick. Just as easily as Nemesis created flames, he took them away. Most fire users just let their fires burn out of control.

This opponent was something special indeed. Conscientious, resourceful, and full of suprises.

Rain knelt there, taking in oxygen spent during his en fuego response. The muscles in his right arm would tensed to the point where he feared relaxing them, and smoke rose from the collection of newly added burn marks.

"Heh..."

Closing his eyes, he would stand up calmly, as if the previous panic attack never happened. He would widen his stance, taking a quick glance at his right arm.

Carefully, he would raise both his fists up towards the lower half of his face, putting up a full defense. His arms would close with his torso, and he would hunch over slightly. He wouldn't approach nor retreat, just stand.

The air around him would begin to hum and waver, blades of grass blowing in unforeseen winds about him. His steely eyes would lock with Johnathan's from behind his fists, though his grin would remain hidden.

Slowly, he would take the first step of many to begin closing the distance between them. And while taking this first step, he would begin to bob and weave...