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Raolain watched from a ways off as the two fools and their partners entered the academy. He snorted and shook his head beneath his dark cowl. Were these the kind of mages that were being created these days? The one with the animal man seemed stuffy, while the other really had been a fool. He wondered not for the first time if he should just do away with these upstarts instead of the sages. The gods above knew the world would be better off.
"Nononothenwewouldhavenoonetoplayplayplaywithus!"
Raolain sneered and batted away the little fairy that had suddenly begun buzzing around his head,"Silence, gnat." he growled. He disliked that his little familiar, Cookie, could read his thoughts, even less that he couldn't get rid of her. He sighed and strode forward toward the academy. Those two bumblers were going to get beaten soundly by the resident sage. Though he was sure the performance would be poor, it might still be fun to watch. Cookie squealed with glee and zipped around him as he walked, making him sigh in annoyance.

"Forgive me for taking so long." An older male voice called out in a cultured voice. "I was in the middle of a practice session with some of our younger students."
A man was exiting one of the many doorways into and out of the Academy proper. He was dressed in lightweight trousers and a tunic in shades of black and brown respectively. He wore simple sturdy boots and a jacket of dark green. He carried a smooth, polished, staff of a dark brown wood and topped with a fist sized transparent crystal which caught the light and refracted it into tiny rainbow colored spots on the ground as he walked.
The man walked up to the two mages and gave a slight bow of the head. "My name is Sage Albert Weslan. I accept your cahllenge and we can begin our battles immediately." Sage Weslan nodded to the two of them again and walked over to the opposite end of the battle grounds. He climbed the dias and stood behind the pedestal there, resting his staff against it while he waited.
"So," Sage Weslan called from his position on the far side of the battle grounds. "Who will be going first?"

"You got it, Xander." Leonard said, once again shaking his head at his friends antics.
Leonard and Kazal both walked up to the pedestal. "Sage Weslan, I'll be your first challenger." Leonard called out. "May name's Leonard Noyes. So, how do you want to handle this battle?"
"Good afternoon, Mage Noyes. I generally leave the format of my battles up to my challengers. I would suggest Limited, as it puts us on relatively equal footing. Though many young mages are inclined to challenge me to Intruder Combat, hoping to overwhelm an old man with their superior physical prowess."
"Well, I'm gonna guess that you didn't get to being a Sage if you didn't have some way of handling Intruder Combat." Leonard said. "I'm gonna choose Limited. How many spells?"
"Again, I leave that to you. I suggest not so many that it negates the purpose of our spellcasting being limited, but also not so few that you cannot spare one or two to improvise and react."
"Good advice." Leonard replied. He thought about for a moment. "How about seven. Maybe it'll give me good luck."
Sage Weslan chuckled a bit. "Well, seven it is. Allow me to reveal your competition."
The Sage held up his right hand, upon which he wore a wide ring set with a red gem. The gem suddenly lit up with an inner light which sprang forth into a beam of crimson light. The light spiraled around and around beside the Sage, building a figure made of bright red in its wake. When the complete form of a quite large creature was formed the light faded revealing a very real, solid, creature where it had been.
Leonard had never before seen a Chimera, but he had heard of them. This one had forward part of a lions body, including the head and forelegs. The rear portion of its body was that of a ram, including the legs, though it had a scaled lizard-like tail. It also possessed curling rams horns protruding from its lions head amongst its mane.
"Allow me to introduce you to Jaxxolon'd'cor. Quite a mouthful, I know. Which is why I simply call him Jax." Sage Weslan said. The Sage gave a slight gesture to his partner and the creature proceeded into the battleground, its front feet padding along quietly and its rear hooves clopping.
"Well, I suppose it's time to show you my partner, too." Leonard said. "Kazal."
Kazal threw off his cloak, revealing his full leonin form. This day he had not felt any need to disguise his luminous fur and it gleamed golden in the light. His muscular figure was obvious beneath his rippling coat as he strode onto the battleground, his double-axe in hand.
The Sage looked taken aback for a moment, then regained his composure. "That's quite an impressive partner. Can't say I've seen a creature of his breed before. What is his kind called, if it has a true name?"
"My kind call themselves Leonin, honorable Sage." Kazal spoke up in his rumbling voice.
"Most interesting." Sage Weslan said as his eyebrows perked in interest again.
"Uh, should we start?" Leonard asked.
"Oh, yes, of course." Sage Weslan said directing his attention to the matter at hand once again. He produced a coin from a pocket and held it up. "I will toss this coin into the air. When it hits the ground that will be the signal for us to begin."
That said the Sage proceeded to toss the coin high into the air, over the battleground. The coin flew high into the air, spinning as it went, catching the light and casting gleaming sunbeams reflecting off its surface before it descended, hit the ground with a clinking sound, and bounced away.

The coin hit the ground and bounced away. The moment it made contact the Sages partner, the Chimera Jax, leaped forwards. Kazal stood his ground, whirling his axe before him. Between Jax's fangs, claws, and horns he wasn't sure where the initial strike would be coming from, or where to guard. Fortunately he was spared having to make the decision as Leonard cast his first spell.
Leonard sent. He collected his magical energy, the store of magical energy that resides in every living person and gathered some of it to empower his next words. "Solor Mico!" As he completed the incantation Leonard thrust both of his arms out, palms forward.
A flash of blinding white light erupted over the area bathing everything in a brilliance so radiant it could not be penetrated by the eye. It lasted only a few moments, but Leonard knew from experience that any man or beast who had had his eyes open during the flash would be temporarily blinded. Which was why he had warned Kazal to close his.
Kazal counted off the seconds after Leonard completed the incantation, knowing how long the flash would last, and then opened his eyes. His opponent, Jax, had not been prepared and was stumbling slightly rubbing one paw over his face in an attempt to clear his vision.
Kazal burst into motion, charging at the chimera. He padded forward near silently, his innate prowess and years of hunting experience coming together proving him to be a stealthy and powerful predator. He closed the distance in moments and moved in close to Jax, on the side opposite the paw that he was rubbing at his eyes with. Kazal spun his axe through the air and swung at the opposing creature, preparing to go into a series of spins, tumbles, and other movements designed to take advantage of his double headed weapon by unleashing a flurry of slicing cuts.
As it turned out, though, he didn't even get the chance to start as the chimera managed to dodge just out of reach of his axe and then dart back in and swipe at hm with one massive paw. Kazal ducked under the swing, noticing that Jax's eyes were still closed. He glanced up and past the chimera and saw that Sage Weslan was watching the movements of both creatures with intense focus.

Kazal sent a mental affirmative and charged in again, axe spinning through the air. He swung in with the weapon one sweeping arcing strike after another. Jax rapidly ducked, dodged, counterattacked, and even blocked. Kazal could tell, now that he was engaged so closely, that Jax was reacting a half a second slow to his moves, as they were relayed to him through the Sage. Kazal suddenly feinted on way and quickly struck the other. As he suspected Jaxdodged away from the feint, at the direction of the Sage, and directly into his actual strike. He scored a long slash across the chimera's shoulder. Jaxrecaoiled and hesitated, and Kazal pressed the advantage. He knew he had broken the Sage's cadence. He wnet into a series of strikes, his axe in constant motion and quickly raised his hit count up to an even half dozen before He heard the Sage begin incanting.
Leonard heard the incantation as well, he didnt recognize it though.

Kazal had continued to press his assualt, not wanting to give Jax time to take the offensive. As he finished a swing, which the chimera dodged, he suddenly noted that the creature had opened its jaws, and there was flickering light emenating out from them. Jax aimed his face directly at Kazal and, simultaneous to a roar, released a brilliant fireball from his jaws.
Kazal called out as he attempted to both dodge and deflect the attack with one of his axe blades.
"Leonard, gathered his energy, threw out his hand and yelled. "Glacies Parietis!"
A wall of ice sprang up from the ground between Kazal and Jax. The fireblast collided with almost before it had even fiished forming and destroyed it, though it was extinguished in the process, casting a fog of heavy steam over the area.
"You're doing quite well, Mage Leonard." Sage Weslan called out across the battleground.
"Not so bad yourself, Sage Weslan." Leonard called back. "Some of my opponents never recover from that light spell."
"Well, I'm an old hand at this, son. I've just about seen it all."
We'll see about that...








Kazal darted forward through the fog, tracking Jax by sound. The leonin padded along silently and heard his partner cast a familiar spell. "Reproba Statua." Suddenly two illusionary copies of himself appeared next to him, copying his every action exactly.
Leonard sent.
Kazal darted through the fog and thew himself at Jax, both copies immitating him.

"Flamma Securis Vesica."
As Kazal swung his axe down at Jax, whom he noticed had his eyes open again, both blades on his axe busrt into flame, as did those of both copies. The leonin swiped across the chimera's shoulder again, leaving a patch of charred fur in his wake. Jax dodged back and Kazal heard the voice of the Sage incanting again.
Suddenly a wave, an actual wave of water, sprang up out of thin air and washed over the entire battlefield where it collided with the barrier that sealed spells in. The waved settled and drained away leaving Jax and Kazal standing near each other sopping wet. The steam had been washed away, and Kazal's axeheads had been extinguished.
"Young Mages these days." Sage Weslan said. "Too showy, too flashy. Not enough of them seem to realize that the simplest approaches are often more effective."
The Sage rattled off an incantation, which caused Jax, and the area immediately around him to dry instantly. This seemed like a wasted spell to Leonard, why bother using a spell to dry off his partner when he could use it for something more useful. But then the Sage began his next incantation and Leonard knew he was wrong, that spell had been very useful. As the Sage incanted Leonard recocnized one of the words. Levitas. It was a word that was a part of many lightning based spells. The Sage finished his incantation and this spell proved no exception.
Lighting bolts suddenly ripped across the battlefield, bouncing off the water slicked ground, and traveling out across it in arcing branching paths. The bolts veered around Jax leaving him unscathed as there was no water around him to carry the bolts there. But then it reached Kazal. There was lots of water around Kazal. And on Kazal.
Leonard barely managed to keep himself from flinching away as he watched his partner get violently electrocuted. A roar of pain erupted from the leonin's throat and Leonard held his chest, feeling a phantom of Kazal's pain through their bond. Kazal remained standing on legs whose muscles were undoubtedly clenched into position. Then the electrical assault abated and Leonards partner collapsed to the ground into a puddle, twitching and smoking.
"Damnit." Leonard whispered, not so much because of the loss, but because he had failed Kazal so badly.
"I concede." Leonard called out and then ran out onto the battlefield to check on Kazal.
He reached his partner and fell to his knees in the water next to him. "Kazal, are you alright?"
"I've been better." Kazal answered in a whisper of his rough voice. "Help me up."
"Kazal, you shouldn't be moving so soon, that was a powerful electrical attack."
"Yes, I know. My fingers and toes are still twitching." Kazal said as he looked at Leonard. "But it's Xander and Xyliah's turn now."
Leonard helped Kazal to his feet, bearing most of his weight for him, and led him off of the battleground to the bench on their side of the field he helped Kazal lay down on it and the leonin settled back as comfortable as he could, using his own cloak for a pillow and throwing one arm oer his eyes to block out the light.
Kazal sent to the spirit.
Leonard stood over Kazal a moment more.
Sorry, partner...
He then turned towards Xander. "Looks like it's your turn."

((James, dear, do try not to steal control of other peoples characters please. The Sage is MINE! lol, joking. But I am serious about stealing control of characters. If a person creates and establishes a character within the roleplay you cannot take control of that character without the creators permission. Just as I would never take control of Xander, Xyliah, or any NPC characters that you might create.

I'm going to modify what the Sage said in your post slightly. Instead of what you had He will have said, instead:
"And where is you partner, challenger?" Sage Weslan asked calmly.))

"My, what an unusual assortment of bound partners we have seen this day." Sage Weslan said. "Well, seeing as how Jax has had quite a tough time of it in his last battle he will not be participating in this next one."
Jax padded and clopped over to the Sage's side of the battlefield and lay down next to his podium.
"Instead you will be battling against my other partner." Sage Weslan said and held up his staff. The gem in it lit up with an inner light. That light then emerged from within the gem as a fist sized mote of pure white light. The light floated down towards the ground and expanded suddenly, filling out into the shape of a large quadrupedal form. The light faded, leaving behind a very solid, very large, very powerful appearing bear-like creature.
"This is Jesper. He will be your opponent for this battle."
Jesper appeared very much like a normal bear, only larger. His upper body, in particuler, appeared over-developed. His chest was wide and deep, with large slabs of muscle obvious beneath his thick reddish-brown fur. His forelimbs were massive, thick, protrusions from his shoulders. Parts of the fur on his forelimbs was a light blue-grey color, forming jagged stripe designs. His limbs were all ended in long sharp claws and his broad maw was filled with pointed fangs.
Sage Weslan cast off his jacket and then strode out onto the battlefield to stand beside his partner. "Well, shall we begin at the drop of a coin again?"

((Jesper basically looks like Runeclaw Bear:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221893 ))

Raolain had slipped into the battling hall unnoticed just as Leanord's duel had begun. Raolain had to admit that some of his spells were good choices, but Leanord hadn't thought ahead enough in the battle, nor adapted to the changing conditions quickly enough. He shook his head beneath his cowl and sneered in contempt. Cookie stood on his shoulder and screamed and whooped with excitement at some of the more showy displays, her tinny little voice not carrying far enough to be heard over the din of battle. Once Leanord was defeated she stuck out her lip and sulked, sitting down and resting her chin on her fists.
Raolain glanced sideways at her and sighed,"Peace, insect. The fool is up next. From what I have seen of him, this will be over even quicker, and possibly more amusing. After, we will show these simpletons how it is truly done."
Cookie's eyes lit up and she squealed again, taking to her wings to buzz around and around Raolain's head at dizzying speed,Oooooocanwecanwecanwe?OhpleasepleasepleaseCookiewantstoplayyyyyyy!!!!"

"A pincer eh? Well then!" That having been said Xander pounded his chest with both arms at the same time hitting certain runes that were tattooed on his chest. As his hands hit his chest he let loose some of his energy making his hands glow. Instantly his upper body exploded with muscles and stretched his clothes and made his Cetsus fit right and proper. Having done that, he put his hand into some hidden pockets in his pants and with a light glow more muscles ripped through his lower body.
"Let's take out that old man Xyliah! Cover me! Uah!" Yelled Xander as he hit his right hand into his left one making it glow with power. Xander then punched the ground with his right hand.
Nothing happened.
"Uh oh......" a worried Xander exclaimed. "Next strategy! I need some stall time. Mummy me up and face off with Jesper!"
With that having been said, Xyliah stopped swirling around Xander and made a complete cocoon around him made out of solid rock. That task having been completed she floated to face off with Jespe. Picking up and levitating some loose stones and rocks to make arm like appendages.