Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Actually I think they do generate their own source of light, being magical and all that. Only it shouldnt be blindingly bright since its used to reveal invisible creatures. Makes it kinda moot if you blind yourself trying to look at something that you want to reveal that was previously invisible.

You could just say that from Dash's perspective with the dust getting into his eyes he'd see crazy brightness.

Oh well, good fight.

Now to wait for Moonblade and everyone else to get back.))

(( Well, better finish up where I left off... not even halfway through a move. xp ))


Two more jabs slammed into his back, so hard and fast that Vahn would have felt the force pass straight through into his lungs as another dose of negative energy dispersed into his system.



"No..." Joshua responded quietly, leaned in so that his forehead was pressed to the back of Vahn's neck, close enough that Vahn would hear it even if he whispered. "...but this might."

His arms flew out, then back in, driving two sets of two fingers into the sides of Vahn's neck; then quickly again into his sides, at the kidneys.



With a quick twist of his hands Joshua slammed both thumbs into Vahn's spine at the small of his back, then drew back as Joshua took a quick, pivoting step to the left and brought his arm around to jab two fingers into Vahn's chest, where the shoulder met the pectoral muscle. This was followed by the right hand sending a jab into Vahn's left hip, the left hand driving hard against the inside of Vahn's left bicep, and as Joshua took another step to come across in front of Vahn, the right hand struck his thigh. Simultaneously, Joshua then struck with the left hand at the inside of that same thigh, just above the knee, and with the right at the end of Vahn's left shoulder.

And that was exactly what happened... more or less... except for that last part.

Joshua twisted in the air to bring his right hand down to the ground and catch himself before he slammed anywhere; and it would have been a perfect recovery, if not for the sudden shock of pain that ran up the arm as soon as he brought it down. Though pain itself had little effect, pain is a very useful warning sign that something just isn't right; in this case it was a warning that he had put too much stress upon that arm too soon after healing it only partially. The arm slacked and the elbow dropped down to the ground instead, which Joshua used to roll over onto his knee and into what resembled a runner's stance.

'Nn... One of those types...'

The sixty-four point strike was effective due to it's focus on attacking the muscle structure and nervous system of an opponent's body, the very things which allow him to move. Each strike carried a measure of negative energy with it, which is dispersed into the body at each of the points struck in order to distrupt the body's natural functions.

The strikes at the shoulders had paralyzed Vahn's arms by both numbing the nerves and breaking down the muscle that was used in raising his arm. The strikes at his neck and back would have functioned the same way... if Vahn were any type of normal man, he would hardly be able to stand upright at this point because the muscles in his neck and lower back should have been numbed and burned out; by all rights a normal man would collapse to the ground after even those first few strikes of the Hakkeshou. With the strike to his lower spine, the nerve disruption should have put a stop to any movement of the legs, at least for a second or two...

The mistake had been in assuming Vahn were anything resembling a normal man.

Joshua remained upon the ground, left leg under him resting on the knee and the ball of the foot, right leg behind him, with his left hand pressed flat to the ground beneath his knee.

"Do you have a name for everything you do?"

He moved his right arm behind him, holding it out of the way. It wouldn't be of much use with a hairline fracture, so it was best to concentrate on fighting one-armed.

It was a straightforward thrust kick, at least it seemed. Though Joshua was getting tired of those metal boots.

He rocked back slightly and dropped his right knee onto the ground as his weight shifted to the ball of his left foot rather than the knee. He wasn't trying to avoid, however, but to strengthen his stance.

"...I like it."

They would both smell the burning skin, as the heel of Vahn's foot had met the heel of Joshua's hand. Between the two of them Joshua had the more solid stance, and because of this, Vahn would find himself high-stepping with Joshua solidly gripping the sole of his boot- even as the flames blackened and blistered the skin.

'It looks like he can't move his arms... hell, what is this guy? He could resist with the legs, but his arms are like butter? ...no matter, it just means more-'

Burned skin peeled as Joshua's left hand slid off of the greave and swept past Vahn's calf as he thrust his arm upwards along Vahn's leg. At the same time he shot up from the ground and into a standing position, with his weight so far on his right foot that he was almost falling to the left as he leaned in against Vahn.

Joshua's head and shoulder to the right, and his arm to the left, he hooked the inside of his elbow around Vahn's hamstring and pressed the side of his neck against Vahn's quadracep, just above the knee, so that Vahn's thigh was pinned in his grip and he was able to place the side of his left hand against Vahn's right side.

'-openings.'

He snapped out with his left foot, kicking at the ankle of Vahn's grounded leg to knock it out from under him. Even if that failed his foot would come down with the outside of it on top of the arch of Vahn's foot. At the same time Joshua twisted violently to the right with his hips and would soon drop down to his right knee.

If Vahn truly couldn't use his arms at this point, his face would have to break his fall from this throw.

(( *Responds to the b***h move with another b***h move, despite that he promised himself he wouldn't do any of these in this fight.* ))


Joshua had caught the first kick of 'Viper Bringer', halting Vahn's movement by doing so, as the entirity of Vahn's force and momentum had been placed upon the heel of that foot for such a smiting strike.

If Vahn 'had no leg to stand on', as the phrase went, with his lead foot held fast like that and his momentum completely stopped, Vahn would be falling flat on his a** within a second.

If he had opted for a full leg extension with the first kick, his second would not be able to reach Joshua, as both of Vahn's legs were more or less the same length, and Joshua was holding Vahn's foot out away from him, as a prevention to the strike which was intended to hit him.

If he chose to bend his right leg in order to gain a little more distance with the kick of the left, Joshua would not need to apply as much force to stop the first kick as he had, and a simple movement of a few inches with his hand would move Vahn's right foot to the right.

Not only would this bring that leg in front of the incoming kick, if it were to come, but instead of falling flat on his a** he would fall hard on his right shoulder, within easy reach of anything Joshua decided to drop on him.

But, as Vahn intends to do a kick-jump off after the fact, we can assume that rather than falling down, he'll think of something.

So the hard choice to make is... does Vahn want to put a foot down, and be thrown onto his face, or does he want to wildly kick out with his left leg and fall embarassingly on his a**?


EDIT: STRUCK THE ENTIRE FIRST SECTION TO CLEAR UP CONFUSION. That was not a real post, as I tried to state in the OOC. The second half is the post. The first part is venting.




(( And now... an attempt at an actual responce. ))


Vicious headbutt.

...his ears were ringing, the greaves burned, and his neck was sore... but Vahn would still get the worst of it.

Joshua shot off with his left leg, lurching to the right even as he gripped the right greave with every ounce of strength left in that arm. His entirely body swung, and Vahn would swing with it, clockwise, and rolling to his own left so that the ground would be coming into view shortly before he found himself falling facefirst into it.

However, Joshua's right foot swung out to his side to stop his body from continuing in that direction; a sharp jolt as he put everything he had into forcing himself in the other direction... snapping back his left arm as hard as he could with it. His grip would remain firm, somehow even aided by the fact that it would take a noticable display of effort to even separate his hand from the searing heat of the Ifrit Greaves at this point.

And, as Vahn's body would be twisting to the left with all of his weight behind it, Joshua would force his ankle to twist to the right. If this opponent even had a style for just using two legs, then they would soon see if he had a style for just using one.

Joshua grinned despite the pain, even as his burns tore open and bled freshly with the fierce movements he made, and he waited to hear that snap of a tendon to come from either Vahn's ankle, or his knee.

Yes, he would, because gravity is always there, and always pulling downwards. Sometimes it seems as if it lets go for a moment, and that you can balance upon something for just a little bit before it remembers to grab you and pull you down.

However, this illusion of 'loose gravity' would not buy Vahn more than a fraction of a second if he wanted to stop himself from pratfalling. And a single hand used to stop a kick is not going to support all of Vahn's weight if he somehow manages to miraculously hold himself horizontal by the sheer strength of his ankle, which is the joint in question if the argument of "but his foot is held in place" were to arise.


Of course, if Vahn were going to fall, there would be no need to make a move to off-balance him or to perform a body throw, since he would be falling anyways. Not to mention that to block, stand, and brace a leg would take just a tintsy bit more than that fraction of a second after

that it would take Vahn to fall flat on his a**.

Though, regardless, all of this:


Completely pointless.

Why?







Hopefully, this can all resolve without a pointless argument, as none of what is being argued over has any relevance whatsoever to what is actually posted as IC action.

Somewhere, somehow, someone, for some reason, said "Be" and he was!


BAM! Dash appears standing out in the middle of nowhere. He's wearing a thick gold chain around his nect with some strange jewel on the "peice". That's it. He's butt naked otherwise. That may seem strange to a normal person, but Dash knew what was going to happen, and he didn't want to tear up any of his clothes. So, he thought ahead.

".... TOOOSUTA!!!!!!"