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 Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 1:44 pm
Description: Unlike last year, the stone platform has been removed, making the entire ring nothing but a sandy ground. A twenty foot wall surrounds the ring to protect the audience in this open ceiling stadium. Field Measurements:Ring: 70 yard diameter Ten Count Boundary: As soon as a fighter enters the bleachers, the count begins. The flying rule remains, as well.
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 4:44 pm
Clouds drifted through the open sky above the arena. A gentle wind blew through the stands as the spectators filed into their seats, their humdrum of chatter showing their anticipation of the upcoming battle. "Damon Xylander? Arian Lennox?" "I hope they don't disappoint me, I paid good money for these front row seats!" "Hey look, one of them is here!"
The large doors at one corner the arena suddenly opened, the darkness of the interior shadowing the figure as he made his way towards the fighting grounds. The ground crunched underneath his shoes and locks of silver hair caught the rays of sunlight as he emerged, making his hair gleam. His white tanktop shirt hugged his torso comfortably, notable bulges beneath the shirt indicating some kind of extra layer of material. His black pants were in contrast to the rest of his look.
Damon had arrived.
His silver eyes glanced around, looking to see if he had come before his opponent. Being a rather punctual man, he was used to getting where he needed to be right on the dot. The arena was interesting. Damon felt like he had been put right smack dab in the middle of Gladiator. All that was missing were the emperor and the lions. He quickly went to analyzing just how he could make use of his surroundings and wrapping his head up in a black scarf so that his hair wouldn't get into his face.
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:13 pm
 "I don't do what I do because I want recognition-"Arian Lennox was there-but she wasn't in the ring, yet.
Standing quite outside the red little fence, Courtelli islander stood with her arms folded over her leather armored chest, watching the doors as they opened.
The crowd's chatter about the outlaw had died down, for the most part-she hadn't done anything crazy, so there was nothing to be excited about it. Still though-it seemed to quiet a little as she pushed off the wall and began walking forward, lifting her staff up from where it leaned against the wall.
At five foot two, Arian did not tower over ANYTHING. The native had darker skin that carried a reddish brown undertone to it, dusky colored. Glossy black hair was unstyled and just past her shoulders, longish bangs swept out of her eyes. And what eyes they were-vibrantly colored blues, they resembled tropical waters off the shores of islands, a very pretty Caribbean blue, and just as expressive, deep.
Despite her smaller size, Arian didn't look lost. Far from it-the woman was armed to the teeth. Black leather armor covered Arian's torso, rising up to meet a high collar, while leaving her shoulders mostly bare, the double V burn that was branded into her right shoulder blade exposed, as was the hollow black circle tattooed around it. A stocked weapon belt hung from one curved and leather armored hip, the handles to many knives, two short swords, and a pair of tonfas there, the wooden handles jutting out the sides of the curved elbow blades, one on each hip. The wooden staff was about six and a half feet long, currently carried over Arian's shoulder at the halfway point, held by her left hand.
Speaking of hands, they were gloved in what looked to be black leather, two thick gauntlets protecting her forearms and wrists-yet, strangely, they seemed a tad on the large side. Too big for her arms. A spiked strap could be seen above each elbow, snapped around Arian's upper arm. They looked sharp as ********, and painful. ...painful, and NEW.
Cloth boots made no noise as the outlaw walked and other than the diveted leather helm upon her head, she wasn't sporting any other protection save the leather flaps that hung over the front of each thigh, hanging from her belt. The helm had flaps that covered JUST over Arian's ears, but not much further-she had her collar for throat protection already.
She moved through one gated entrance of the red wall-and stepped onto the sandy ground of the ring, her staff picked up once again from the edge of the red fence, where she had left it. Walking towards Damon, Arian stopped quite some distance away, maybe seven or eight feet away from the fence. She stopped. She waited.
And idly, she recalled having seen this guy before. Huh. She's starting to get a history, in these tournaments... "I do what I do because they've been wronged, and I want to make it right."
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 9:04 pm
"You're certainly armed to the teeth, huh?"
And here Damon had come unarmed and lightly armored. The only armor that could be seen on him became visible when he removed his hands from his pockets. Gleaming metal gauntlets covering his hands and wrists, a new addition Damon had brought with him just for somebody with a blade. The greaves, well, shin-guards, were hidden beneath his pants.
"You've got me at a disadvantage."
Cheeky grin.
To say that Damon was unarmed was both true and false. He just hadn't done anything yet. If Arian's memory was faulty, it would be all the easier for Damon keep his abilities a secret. She wouldn't be watching out for them. However, Damon had been paying attention during Heaven or Hell. One could say this afforded him an advantage, in that he knew his opponents fighting style.
Damon took a moment to stretch, assuming he was given the chance and not immediately attacked. "Lets skip the introductions. We each know who the other is. Now. Come." Damon gave her the universal hand-sign to 'bring it.' While doing this, he began to focus and concentrate for what he planned to do next.
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:02 pm
"I don't do what I do because I want recognition-"Arian not paying attention? Arian Lennox...Arian Lennox the outlaw...forgetting?
All but impossible.
His cheeky grin was met with one delicately arched brow-Arian saying nothing, but seeming not to believe him either. At all. Seriously...did he think as such? Bullshit he did.
Arian found herself amused, and the flicker of it could be seen in her vibrantly colored eyes. Aaaaand-she didn't move anymore than to slowly walk along towards him, still all those feet away-without haste, without urgency, without any real FIGHTING sort of feeling. Watched him-and walked easily along, shaking her head at his hand sign.
Arian Lennox continued to walk, still some distance away-she was in no hurry. Her staff was held in her left hand, the right up and ready, it seemed-for something.
What would that something be? Arian could guess. But she did not yet know. "Ladies first." Came the exotically accented two words, a slight curve being brought to the outlaw's full lips, the amusement intensifying.
Well. There was some playful banter, for him.
When she said it, she was still forty feet away. Arian wouldn't get closer than thirty-but hopefully he wasn't REALLY going to just stand there and wait for her, or at least-Arian hoped not. "I do what I do because they've been wronged, and I want to make it right."
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:00 am
She didn't seem too amused by his little display. Normally, Damon wouldn't do that kind of thing, but seeing as there was a crowd around him, he felt the need to be a little showy. It showed he didn't have the personality of a brick.
Anyway, seeing as Arian was a long ways away from him, and in absolutely no hurry to close the distance between them, Damon opted to start first. He hadn't even heard her comment about 'ladies first.' He tucked down and kept his arms at his sides as he began to run towards her--not a careless charge of rage, but a controlled run. Not moving so fast he his momentum would be turned against him, but not so slow either. Combat pace.
All the while he was moving he was analyzing. His surroundings, his opponent's build, her weaponry, everything that would factor into a good opening attack. Assuming he wasn't attacked first. However, he wasn't just taking things into account. He was also forming a construct in his minds eye. Focusing his energy into it to give it a physical presence, one he wouldn't yet reveal.
Damon wanted a comfortable 10 feet from his opponent, but he could take a longer range if she decided to attack first. If he got into the range he wanted, he would divert his momentum into a right roundhouse kick that would sweep directly in front of her. But was waaaay out of the range to make any physical contact. Using this kick as his medium, he would send a concussive 'blade' of kinetic energy in her direction. Moving horizontally, aimed to smash into her mid-section. Quote: Crescent Wave: Damon swipes his arm or kicks his leg through the air, releasing a curved wave of kinetic energy. The energy impacts the target like the blunt edge of a large sword, though is incapable of slicing targets.
Dodging wasn't wholly of the question, though. That was if she could see kinetic energy. The only sign of it's existence would be a mirror like ripple that would last for all of a second. After that it would be like looking for a gust of air.
This was only the opening attack, Damon didn't entirely expect it to work. He had left himself a way out just encase of any funny business on her part. And of course, there was also the things that he could do assuming he never even got this far into his attack.
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:52 pm
"I don't do what I do because I want recognition-"((I apologize once again))
And then Damon dipped his head and began to run.
Arian's easy walk changed-suddenly she was on the balls of her feet, tilting forward-and dashing as well, cloak flying behind her as her left hand raised the staff slightly, right moving to also support the six and a half foot wooden stave-nearly in a pole vaulting like manner.
What...what was Arian doing?
With a twist of her left hand, currently on the lower portion of the staff, Arian revealed the simple seeming weapon to be anything but. With her twist, a half inch of space was created between the top and bottom halves of the staff, a spring trigger. The top half, the half that was ahead of area, had many holes in it, barrels-all revealed now, where they had been seamlessly hidden before. Speed was important in her fighting style.
So was craft.
Flute Staff Description: This wooden Staff is strong enough to use in regular combat-but it has a wild card built in. The staff is actually composed of two hollow tubes of strong, metal reinforced wood, top half able to slide a little on the metal pipe when engaged. The bottom half of this special weapon is simply twisted to the right to allow use of the triggering mechanism and to uncover the many barrels in the top half. By slamming the staff (bottom first) into the ground and pole vaulting, Arian can launch many projectile shots at a surrounding group while avoiding damage to herself.
He was running at her, Arian was running at him-and when he reached the fifteen, sixteen foot mark away from her-Arian thrust the staff forward and pole vaulted, driving the top of the staff into the ground, her body a graceful curve as the trigger was depressed-launching three dozen sharp, needle like pins in every direction.
Fire Shot **Fire Shots: The tips of these thin little darts are coated with a rather medieval mixture-oil, sulfur, and quicklime, mixed with tow. This mixture bursts into flames in the presence of moisture-any contact with water (sweat, spit, etc) brings this fiery effect. Trying to put it out only makes it worse.
Of course, not long after Arian's attack, which Damon most likely wouldn't realize just how bad it was, since the pins were not yet on fire-Damon would cross to the ten foot line-and do his kick.
It hit Arian's staff violently, sending the bottom portion back and Arian-not quite having let go-landing oddly, forced to drop into a roll and pop to her feet again-with a visible frown. She hadn't seem him do anything but kick air.
She also had stumbled rather than stick her landing-costing her time. For you see-Arian didn't just stand there, staring. No-she remembered the church floor ripping up, and decided she really oughtn't stall any longer.
Staff in hand and a curse on her lips, Arian Lennox burst forward to attack Damon, twisting her staff closed so that it was against a staff-and stopping dead seven feet from him to jab her staff violently forward, looking to drive it's end into his abdomen harshly.
If she got there, that was. "I do what I do because they've been wronged, and I want to make it right."
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 6:53 pm
It seemed that his opponent had just been waiting for him to start running so that she could do the same thing. The first thought that came to Damon's mind was that she was attempting to set him up for something--just by him realizing this, it had already failed. Whatever it was.
Damon continued to move towards her, just waiting for her to attack him. At the fifteen foot mark, she played her hand by vaulting up into the air like an olympic athlete.
Instead of stopping his run and directing his attention to what she was doing, Damon reacted. Considering how high she was up on that pole, just kicking straight up wasn't going to do him any good. So instead, he diverted all of his momentum and jumped into the air, kicking his right leg out and spinning backwards. The kinetic blast whipped in an arc off his right leg and shot towards her, aimed to take her right off that pole at the top of her motion.
A shot to the mid-section would have been cleaner, but having this blunt edged attack land straight into her lower back or right in her middle was just as good. The resulting fall onto the back of her head would certainly add to the damage, unless she had cat like agility, even with all those weapons and armor.
The crowd was likely to go slack-jawed after watching Damon do this. After all, who the hell expects to see something out of a videogame done in an actual fight? And be practical for the situation?
There was one thing Damon didn't count on though, and that was the pins and darts shot from the lower section of the pole. They had been initially aimed for his legs, it seemed, but with him pretty much rotating in the air, they would shoot under him and into the ground behind him. When Damon landed in a kneel, he would not even know that he had just dodged the bullet, or, well, exploding darts of pain.
Wherever Arian landed after the attack, assuming it worked or she wasn't knocked out by the fall, Damon would get up and move in that direction. Right back to combat pace. He was in no hurry, no buzzers hanging over his head this time around. He could take his time with her. Actually bleed some entertainment for himself and the crowd out of this.
[Edit]
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:32 pm
Struck hard in her lower back, Arian was, indeed-sent violently forward, caught off guard and BARELY managing to complete the backwards flip the attack had pushed her half into-landing hard on her feet, sliding back half a foot in a crouch, the impact having shot pain up her left leg and to that knee.
Her teeth were grit, her staff held in her left hand, it's other end touching the ground to her left.
Her hood had fallen over her head haphazardly-and her longish bangs had slipped over one eye, Arian impatiently blowing them out of her eyes.
That...had hurt. Her lower back ached now, but a metal plate beneath her top layer of leather had spanned the blow, making it less concentrated-and so while she was sore, she was not devastated. Third layer of armor ...third, longer piece of metal over her back, protecting her spine and most muscle area on her lower back.
Arian straightened once more, the ache in her back lending a slight tenderness to her rising.
...
This a*****e was a meta. Great. Couldn't she get ONE human fighter, without the bullshit? Jeez-and even when she did, they were huge.
Arian issued a sigh, taking her staff up in both hands once more, rising to stand now that her back was straight-and twisting the staff closed.
Arian leaned forward slightly before her right leg burst forward to touch down and propel her forward-and then once more she was running for him-except this time, not straight at him, but at an angle.
She was quick. Very, very fast-and her aim was not to run straight for him-but out to his side, making her a harder target to hit with his blasted-well, whatever he'd hit her with.
As they got closer, she suddenly zagged-so that she WAS heading towards him, but now slightly from his left, and even if he turned to face her head on-Arian would still attempt to run diagonally, to get closer and closer from his side.
If he showed any sign of dealing another blow of magical whatever-well, she'd deal with that when she had to. For now-she was trying to get close, dammit.
"I do what I do because they've been wronged, and I want to make it right."
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:58 pm
Arian had managed to get back to her feet.
Good.
Now that the fight was continuing, Damon began to gather his energy as he observed her movements. He focused on her, wondering in the back of his mind why she was running in his general direction at an angle. And why she would abruptly zig-zag back and forth. The movement itself looked like it wasted energy needlessly, considering that there was no way she was going to be able to juke a pivot.
Damon figured it was her way of trying to make herself a harder target to hit by moving erratically. Applying the same principle here as though Damon were wielding a gun against her, so that he couldn't take aim and hit his mark. Interesting, but it wasn't going to be all that effective. Especially considering that Damon wasn't going to just stand there and let her zig her way over towards him while he blindly launched psi-waves.
At a steady 'combat pace' like he had done at the very start of his fight, Damon began moving off to his left in a circular motion. This would either place her directly in front of him, or him off to her right flank, depending upon how she wanted to move. It would also force her to have to face him if she wanted to keep approaching and get on his left side. Trying to come at his right side would just have her end up being in front of him. At a very awkward angle at that.
When Arian got a little closer, whether she was still zigzagging or had decided to break that off for a different type of movement, Damon would concentrate his energy onto a large patch of surface dust and whip his right hand left, causing it to violently stir and whip up right at her. Though the motion was much more choreographed than Damon would have liked, it only vaguely hinted at something happening, giving Arian very little time to consider the vast amount of things that could be aimed directly at her.
A patch of surface dust, even a large one, cost Damon almost no energy to lift because it was so light. And he was moving it in an unfocused bulk. One big veil of this stuff in the eyes, mouth and nose would make the fight even more annoying for her to keep pressing through. Damon had seen the annoyance in her face, so he decided to keep digging under her skin while holding the high ground.
There was also another surprise.
Damon had focused directly on the patch of dirt where the pins would most likely have landed. Meaning she was very likely going to get a face full of those as well. There was only a 50/50 chance any of them would stick into her, though. That was okay, this was only a distraction, something to make the fight a little mentally harder on Arian. That was just the way Damon did things in a fight. Try to control the flow and control his opponent.
After he did this, if Arian hadn't decided to attack in some way or another, Damon would concentrate raw psychic energy into a spectral looking blade on his right forearm, held in front his chest horizontally. Quote: Kinetic Blade: Damon is capable of honing a repulsive field of psychokinetic energy into a razor sharp wedge around the edges of his forearm to create a functional blade.
He would keep up his circular movement and bide his time, paying close attention to whether or not she would keep her staff, draw the tonfa's, attempt a knife through, or pull out a shortsword. Damon had a plan for each one of these weapons, some were obviously more effective than others.
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Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:31 am
Very little time indeed. She saw, vaguely, the cloud of dust rise-and without thinking, jerking one hand from her staff in order to yank up the piece of cloth hidden on the inside of her collar up and over her nose and mouth. Quote: ***Cloth kept just inside collar-is strong and will keep out most foreign particles and gases with thicker molecules than oxygen/nitrogen air mixture. Main function-prevent smoke inhalation.
That wouldn't save her eyes, however-and surprisingly, Arian closed them-and ceased her zigzagging, running straight for Damon now.
Long dark lashes fringed Arian's eyelids-they would keep out the sand. Until it hit-she ran blind. And well. She was practiced at blind folded battle, turns out.
As for pins, not many should hit her, for they had gone UNDER Damon and so were behind him, the ones that had shot in his direction-or they were already behind Arian and the ground she covered, along with to their right and left.
A stray one or two managed to find themselves embedded in her armor, and one scraped her cheek-but unfortunately for Damon, they were coated in SAND now, disrupting the fiery result that would have normally occurred.
Arian showed no sign of pain or opening her eyes when she was cut-she kept right on coming, until the initial blast of dust had hit, until she was through the swirling cloud of it-and only then did she open her eyes, blinking rapidly to get the sand out of her lashes, only then did she see what he had done, that he had moved slightly out of her line-and changed direction.
There had not been a hell of a lot of room, after all. Not much distance to cover.
Hopefully, the ******** would let her get close this time, so they could actually FIGHT-not a battle consisting of her dodging his blasted magic or whatever it was-Arian didn't know.
He waited, and Arian came at him.
This time she slid to a stop five feet or so from him, jabbing forward with her staff-thrusting forth with her right and left hand, right ahead, left thrusting further in the behind position-to ram the end of the six and a half foot long pole into his stomach, right in the upside down 'v' of his rib cage, into the area of nerves and muscle over the diaphragm called the 'solar plexus'.
If it hit, the blow would knock the air out of him, causing him to bend forward over his stomach-if not send him crashing to his knees in pain.
She was out of his reach unless that sword was some ridiculous length-and even then, Arian was watching his forearm, along with the rest of him.
She wanted the fight to start, dammit.
"I do what I do because they've been wronged, and I want to make it right."
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Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:44 am
The dust-pin-cloud had been little more than a distraction to keep her from gaining enough ground to interrupt the generation of the sword. And it had worked like a charm, Damon had his weapon at the ready. And as Arian approached him in a now straight line, he stopped his circular movement and allowed her to close the distance. He had a plan.
When she stepped in and thrust her staff towards his mid-section, Damon fell back onto his training in cross-countering. As the head of the staff struck him, Damon swiped his already chambered right arm in a horizontal, left to right motion. The result was an almost invisible long range razor sharp arc-like wave that would cut through the side-bone of the eye-socket, through the right eye, through the nose-bone, and through the left eye. As horrifically debilitating as it was going to be, it wasn't a fatal technique, not cutting any further than several inches, therefore not reaching the brain.
Having realized that Arian's staff would keep him from being able to get close, and that sooner or later he was going to overexert himself trying to psi-blast her or compete in a battle of speed, Damon had formulated a very brutal plan. He combined the sharpness of his kinetic-blade with the ranged ability of his Crescent Wave to make a weaker, razor sharp arcing wave he could perform as soon as he was attacked.
Assuming the attack hit, Arian would be have a long red laceration across her face with her eye's cut nearly in half. Depending upon how good Arian was at dealing with the excruciating pain and permanent blindness, this was likely match-ending. Damon didn't count on this of course.
At the same time this was going on, Damon was having to deal with being hit right where the staff had been aimed. Thankfully, the psion had played it smart and worn a strong battle-suited underarmor that would absorb much of the shock. Damon was still going to get knocked back and feel some pretty gut-wrenching pain, but nothing that would knock the air out of him or put him on his a**.
Once all this was over, Damon's kinetic-blade would fade back, and he would quickly gather himself. If Arian was suffering from the blades effect, but not ready to throw in the towel, Damon would move in for the proverbial kill.
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Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 6:33 pm
"I don't do what I do because I want recognition-"((Thank you.))
Finally-the fight would begin, she had something to fight rather than just to be beat up by-and then Arian saw him swing, noting he was too far away for his ******** hopes for a fight were dashed when his next move hit, though not quite in the way he wanted it too.
Arian was short. Sure, he was aiming-but she was short, and bent kneed to boot. Had he horizontally slashed with his arm up, shoulder aligned neatly with it-then he would have missed entirely.
Assuming not, then the laceration would appear across Arian's leather helm, JUST above her eyes.
There wasn't 'several' inches to cut through there, and while the helm added some protection-she was still cut beneath it, the blood flow instantaneous, flowing into her eyes and down her face, Arian cursing a foul streak as she backed off, one hand up, palm facing him-the other throwing her staff down violently.
He had gone for her EYES. Arian was furious. She was not a vain woman-surprisingly, given her beauty-but her eyes were the one thing that set her apart from her mother, the only part in herself that Arian found to be 'beautiful'-perhaps because they were the only part of her incapable of deception. <******** this. It was stupid. "So much for a ******** martial arts tournament." She said violently, trying to see through blood, ripping her helm off and hurling that aside in a display of temper, pressing her left glove to her forehead to try and stop the bleeding-scalp wounds were the worst, and this ******** had probably just etched her skull-
"END GOD DAMN MATCH." She raged in her accented voice, disgusted with herself for actually NOT finishing a round, furious with HIM for denying her her fight and attempting to harm her eyes, and all in all pissy, because Arian had a temper-and having her face become hidden behind a curtain of blood was just ANNOYING.
And indeed-ripping down the cloth piece as she angrily turned her back on him, Arian headed for the gate, her beautiful face now stained red with a continuous flow of blood.
She shoved the gate open, and would have strode off long before the crowd could entirely realize she wasn't tricking Damon-she was actually saying screw it.
Crazy a** outlaw.
(End match) "I do what I do because they've been wronged, and I want to make it right."
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Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:40 pm
Damon just stood there, actually stunned by the level of immaturity of his opponent. He had attacked her face alright, because everything else was armored and he was being attacked at the time. It was not to meant to be anything personal. And it was certainly nothing that the medical staff here at the GTB, in all their likely wondrous ability, couldn't restore. Or so Damon had come to expect from all medical staff on Gaia.
"Haha... yeah, alright."
The crowd was a mix of booing and laughter, this match had been about a three minute disappointment. And it wasn't even his fault! Or so he believed, all he had done was attempted to keep things moving in his favor, and get around her weapons as tactfully as possible. Probably not that entertaining for his opponent, but this wasn't a game. Not to him. How could he not be expected to do his best in a fight?
In the end, Damon just shrugged his shoulders and stuffed his hands into his pockets, walking out of the arena feeling-empty. No sense of satisfaction was to be gained from this.
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