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 Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:31 pm
Description: Though Midus knew there was a storm approaching, instead of closing the ceilings of the fighting arenas, he has instead decided to keep them open to add an interesting aspect to the next round. Instead of a nice, warm sunny day, the fighters would instead be fighting in the harsh condition of ten mile per hour winds that will sometimes gust to thirty mph, heavy rain drops (though not disturbing enough to cause total distraction to sight; maybe 20% reduction), and the occasional thunderbolt lighting up the skies. To help make the arena more comfortable for the fighters, the floor has been turned into low cut grass to help keep traction. However, if the ground is dug up too much, mud and dirt will be added to the terrain. Despite the weather, the crowd of people have come to watch the fight, wielding umbrellas over their heads. Special Conditions: Fire is a bit weaker here since it'll be harder to start up one without the rain putting it out. And electricity will get a bigger boost in strength, though it will also short out much faster than if wielded normally by the fighters who possess it. 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: Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:11 pm
"Man, I wish these shades had windshield wipers"
That was perhaps James's third thought, standing out in the rain and waiting for his opponent to arrive. His first two thoughts being, "Today's forecast: s**t going down" and "This clown better get here soon" respectively.
He felt like a god damn lightning rod, and thusly, dressed to minimize today. James was pretty near bare from the waist up, dressed in just shoes, and slacks. He still wore the ruby-tinted shades he had from the first match, they provided some rudimentary protection from the elements, but they also hindered vision slightly in a way themselves.
His nodachi was embedded in the ground before him, and the slayer preoccupied himself by checking the grip of his left glove and right gauntlet, the ancient silver and black metal of the latter going up to his elbow. His knife was sheathed on his right thigh, and he looked particularly handsome today in the storm, with wild wind-swept hair and drops of water glistening and flowing down his toned body.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:05 pm
Removing the green cap from the top of his head and twisting it within his hands to wring it out, Link would wander into the second arena while heaving in a deep breath of the scent of the grass, curiously being reminded of the fields outside of Hyrule's market district. Home sick, but otherwise well off since his previous battle against Leinhart, Link welcomed to patter of rain drops on his mildly tanned face while studiously inspecting his opponent - Weapons, armor, articles of clothing, build, et cetera.
"Hai." Shaking his cap out and replacing it over his head, Link reached behind him with arms and drew the Master Sword first with his left hand before removing the Hyrulian Shield from its clinch to slip it onto his right arm. Strapping it tightly to his forearm and slipping his fingers around the metal handle, Link tested the weights of both his weapon and shield before appearing satisfied and prepared for battle.
Save for the minor aches and pains as well as the unsightly blemish on his arm where Leinhart's psychic attacks did their nastiest damage, Link was moderately well rested and prepared for this fight to come. Lifting his shield and presenting the bulk of it's (slightly damaged/patched) surface to Fierach, Link lifted the tip of his sword waist level before flourishing it along his flank.
He was ready.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 9:17 pm
James nodded slowly in acknowledgement at his green-clad opponent. He seemed to be a bit on the shorter side, and James couldn't exactly make out if the man carried any weapons besides that shield and sword at this distance.
"Iku ze" he said simply and smiled a demon's smile. "Here I go" he added even softer still, drawing his nodachi with one hand and leaning it casually over his shoulder as he slid into a rather relaxed looking pose. There were no further words to be had, even the audience could tell something in the atmosphere changed by the way their cheers and roars heightened.
James's last battle had been rather disappointing by his standards, his opponent barely put up a decent fight and that left a warrior like him feeling a bit empty, even in victory. If Link checked out his competition, he'd know that the martial artist was extremely dangerous. Fast, strong, tough, and skilled with the art of conjuring and casting his ki to burn away his enemies in a tidal wave of flame. Taking his lust for battle in stride, James started at Link in a moderately quick jog, seemingly unfazed by the light wind and the heavy rain. The palm of his armored right hand started to glow a dull red, however, this was well-concealed as the slayer simply kept the hand turned inward.
Show time.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:45 pm
Lifting his leg and tapping the tip of his boot on the soggy grass beneath, Link would make sure his boots were secured and firmly strapped to his ankles before bending his knees to bring himself closer to the ground. As far as James' approaching went, Link only studied him ever more tactfully. He measured the length of his opponent's legs, the reach of his arms, the dynamics of the weapon he chose, et cetera et cetera. Even the pace James took on his approach was taken into consideration for the bout to come.
Lowering his shield and peering over the top, Link remained in passive reserve as James closed the distance between the two. Right foot planted infront and left foot behind, Link was fully prepared for a wide range of quick and deft motions for both offense and defense or a mixture of the two.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:51 am
James would have ran, but the wet ground provided a conundrum. Move too fast and he risked slipping or some other manner of losing balance, and move too slow he risked sinking ever so slowly into the soft earth, delaying his movement. The wind weren't helping either, the fickle element that it was, and he still didn't know what kind of tricks the elf might've had.
He gripped his nodachi with both hands, uncurling it from his shoulder, left hand closer to the guard. He dipped the point of sword down for a horizontal swipe, intending to cut Link's right foot with the tip of the sword or force him to block low, or make him move. His actual slashing stance had his left leg forward and his right in back, knees bent and arms up at chest level.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:01 pm
Tensing up and squinting his eyes against the raging winds that threatened to tear his once-again-soaked cap off of his head, Link shifted his footing by stepping forward with his left and twisted his torso to the right as he simultaneously lifted his right arm up (to keep his shield out of the path his his weapon) and swung his sword in a horizontal sweep from below to catch edge-on-edge with James' nodachi in a fierce clamor of steel striking steel. While this was traditionally frowned upon with normal weapons, Link had no fear of damaging the Master Sword with it's augmented properties; but James' weapon might be worse off depending on its make. Stripping his opponent's attack of most (if not all) of it's momentum and there by decreasing a great deal of it's cutting capability, Link had both saved his limb from injury while also placing James within the reach of the Blade of Evil's Bane.
However, though it was fortuitous to have bypassed James' guard relatively easily, Link would not seek to take advantage of the opening presented to him. This wasn't Leinhart he fought. James was, for all intents and purposes, not a bad-guy. He was just a man who fought for the pleasure and thrill for battle; but far from evil. By the lazy exercise of Link's uncanny ability to gauge the alignments of those who crossed his path, the dynamics of the way he fought James were changed considerably compared to the many vile beings that crossed the Hero's path.
This wasn't a contest between good and evil, but rather a competition. The drive to win was still there. The reasoning behind his participation in this tournament still burned in his heart; but he wasn't out to destroy James utterly and completely. This battle was good natured and friendly, and Link was not going to mar it's experience by letting it end too soon or in a truly bloody display.
Upon impact with James' nodachi, the Blade of Evil's Bane would angle off with a resounding scrape of metal-on-metal as Link righted his weapon in a low-guard between he and James. With his shield still aloft in the air by his right, the Master Sword was the only defense between he and the fighter he fought. No counter-attacks, no grueling offensive or tactful back-peddling or anything of that sort. The only entreat James would receive to continue the battle would be the constant gaze of darkened cerulean optics as Link squinted at him under the rain and winds that bombarded the both.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:51 pm
James's sword Amaterasu might've came out worse in its original form. As the sword Link wielded probably had some sort of enchantment and history behind it, so did the martial artist's weapon. It wasn't always in the form of a magnificient nodachi named after the Shinto Goddess of the Sun, but rather a bloodstained zweihander of a murderer, named Halcyanos, a dark god of flame.
Long story short, throughout the trials of time and heroes past, the evil one had been sealed away into his sword, where it would eventually find its way into the hands of the young slayer. Time had taken its toll on the seal however, and the God had attempted to whisper to James, seductive promises, cruel threats. He wanted to possess the body of the Eredas heir for his own use, a vessel for his immortal soul to wreck havoc upon the world once more.
James would have none of it. The great ancient, Time, had also weakened the powers of the flame lord himself, and in such a enfeebled state, he was released and destroyed forever in a vicious battle by the daemon-slayer. The sword, then named Hellfire, was taken as a trophy and reforged, cleansed, and purified by the best smiths of the Eredas clan, made anew in their flames, and now served a new owner.
The result was that James's blade would not break, it would be chipped, or even scratched, both swords still looking pristine after the first clash. The problem lying with Link's defense though, would be that he was wielding a one-handed sword one-handed against a two-handed sword used two-handely. The nodachi, although sharp, wasn't so much about "cutting" as it was "cleaving" using its larger mass and momentum to overpower the opposition, thereby, Link would find defending with his own weapon a bit difficult.
Satisfied that this was his opponent's response, James bulldozed forward with his left shoulder into Link's guard, holding his own his own sword to him horizontally as a sort of make-shift wall between him and his opponent, and to ensure he just couldn't sidestep out of the way easily. It was certainly large enough to pin both of Link's weapons to him if he wasn't careful, as the martial artist pushed forward and attempted to shove Link back, to make him lose his balance.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:20 am
Thin blond eyebrows furrowed together as James came in with his shoulder. To Link, this was a tactical mistake that only increased his advantage over James. However, Link was not about to underestimate his opponent. There must have been a reason behind James sacrificing his reach to get in close with the Hero of Time, and Link didn't want to find out. He was in favor of drawing the battle out; but he certainly wasn't going to allow himself to fall into what he could only assume as a false sense of security by thinking he was the better swordsman of the two. Though Link never heard of James or ever seen the man fight, the two of them were in Round Two of the Gaian Tenkaichi Budokai. That alone meant James was at least competent at the art of battle, and thus presented a very real threat.
With the Master Sword in a low-guard between he and James, Link would c**k his wrist to shift the angle of his weapon so that the tip might be pointed towards James' abdominal section. Taking in regard the nodachi James possessed and the way he held it, Link would lazily feint a thrust towards his opponent's stomach without shifting any other part of his body. Should James cease his bulldozing ways and avoid the Master Sword or find a way to deflect the weapon, Link would turn his feint into an attack and target another area of his choosing. However, if James continued to come right into Link's weapon without taking defensive measures, the Martial Artist would not be skewered but rather feel as if a very blunt object had collided into his stomach.
The sword Link possessed was not meant for harming those without the taint of evil, and as such James would be saved from it's bite.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:04 pm
The roar of thunder drowned out the clang that would result as Link stabbed past James's weapon. The accompanying flash of lightning might've revealed that his armored fist slipped from its grip on the handle to cross the small bit of distance and head-on block the thrust under his other arm. His left hand was still more then sufficient enough to wield the large nodachi, the grip being closer to the center of the sword's point of gravity.
With the tip of the master sword somewhat embedded in the palm of the artifact gauntlet Susanoo, James had some measure of control of where it went, and he'd redirect it to his left, forcing the two warriors to pass each other. The slayer turned as he passed to keep facing the elven-looking warrior, and a simple, practiced 180 degree turn of his wrist while doing so enabled him to slide his nodachi off of Link's shield and slash him on his unprotected left side, hopefully the sword arm.
Though the sword would bite deep, it was a slow slash, hindered by the size of the weapon itsef, if Link managed to turn clockwise fast enough he had a chance of deflecting it, since James's grip on the Master sword would delay him from using the short route. The very length of the nodachi also ensured a hit, however, clean or not, and gave James the possibility of dancing just outside of a counterstroke.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:48 pm
Link glanced up at the sky in complete horror as his sword darted past Amaterasu. The roar of thunder followed suite by the flash of lighting had struck the Hero of Time into disbelief as it contradicted everything he knew about the world around him. Did not lightning strike before the crash of thunder? There was no Science Class in Kokiri Village where Link grew up, nor was there any scientific genius in Hyrule in his adult years that said light traveled faster than sound, but the Hero of Time certainly did experience his fair share of lightning storms when camping out in the fields outside of Hyrule's Market District. That experience told him that when the God's lit the sky with their divine strength, the World boomed in response with thunderous applause.
Link could only be caught in rapture with Gaia's nature as it defied his very beliefs and experiences in life. Such a simplistic event caught him entirely offguard, and nearly became his downfall as his feint approached it's mark. Luckily, Link had enough sense to stop thinking about nature and concentrate on the fight at hand. Dragging his arm back before James caught the Master Sword on his gauntlet and raising his arm up, Link would whip his wrist around and flourish the Master Sword over his head in a clockwise fashion while simultaneously side stepping to face James as the Martial Artist brushed past. At the end of the overhead flourish, and before James could get anywhere too far, Link would slash with the full weight and strength of his sword arm at--the Nodachi aiming to cleave into his side. He would have went for James' unprotected upper-torso and took an eye-for-an-eye as the saying went, but Link's self-preservation came first.
This could hopefully injure James' left hand by jarring it with such a powerful stroke.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 1:17 am
Well, this was Gaia.
Stranger things have happened and such terminology was often interchangeably used.
Link had just barely managed to avoid falling into James's trap. Although the oriental warrior's pure swordsmenship was lacking compared to those who truly wielded such weapons, he combined his swords style with his hand-to-hand abilities to create a formidable blend of maneuvers to use at all ranges, and he was all the better for it.
He let loose a controlled breathe throughout Link's apparent counter, demostrating the level of concentration he was putting into the moment. Indeed, the storm around them seemed like a fitting ambience as the two were at the eye of it, the slayer feeling ever so calm, yet happy.
The only problem Link would encounter would be that both swords crossed blades at the each other's apex. For a moment, both blades would be twined like serpents, before it was apparent that James would win out, having added the strength of his right hand back onto this weapon. It would've been a snowball effect, gravity adding to James's push as he tipped over the struggle. Link would find the tip of his sword pointed at the floor and locked from doing anything serious because of Amaterasu above it. He'd have naught but a shield to protect him from the martial artist's follow-up, a quick left shoulder check.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:48 pm
It was obvious that James would over power Link's sword arm with his two-handed grip, but while Link contested the strength of the Martial Artist's to little avail, the Hero of Time was stepping forward with something far more effective than his sword at this point. Keeping the hand-and-a-half sword at his left side and keeping it between he and Amaterasu, Link would lift his shield arm and meet his opponent's shoulder check with the flat of his Hylian Shield.
Whatever happened next would be decided pending James' reaction, but Link was really into it now. The heart raced, the adrenaline pumped, and everything seemed to be as if it were slowing down for him. The rain drops splashed, the roar of thunder seemed prolonged, lightning illuminated his opponent longer than it should have -- it was as if the world around stopped to take into consideration the two who fought the good fight.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 11:43 am
James was past the point to feel pain or be deterred by the contact of metal on muscle and bone. Atleast, not with the first blow. He couldn't hear the crowd roaring their approval at this stand-off moment, partially due to the din of the storm, and partially because of the rush that filled them as both warriors pushed and contested the dual impact. James peered at Link from behind ruby vision, only the smirk on his handsome face would hint at the genuine friendly intent in his eyes.
"Not bad" he whispers
But even in a friendly fight, warriors were obliged to give it their all. Suddenly, James slackened off, reaching up with his right hand again to grip the edge of Link's shield, and he pulled off to the side as he backed away. If Link wasn't immediately disarmed he might be thrown off balance, and that was the slayer's intention. Amaterasu was kept firmly between Link's sword and James however, reckoning that he could block or deflect all but the most powerful and deliberate assaults with one hand.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:04 pm
C-rrr-rr-aack!
As Link planted his feet and jerked his right arm in retaliation to James' tug upon the top of his shield, nothing could have prepared the Hero of Time for what happened next. Leinhart, in the match previous, had severely damaged the Hyrulian Shield with his psychic attacks of the greatest magnitude, and though Link had repaired and patched the surface, there was nothing he knew how to do for the splintered wood beneath.
With a resounding tear of weakened wood being torn asunder, James would successfully rip the shield from the handle in Link's hand and strap around the Hero's forearm, giving the Martial Artist the majority of the destroyed shield.
Grunting and nearly falling back and onto his rear as Link went back a few steps, the Hylian Knight would hold the Master Sword infront of him in yet another low guard while he lifted his right arm to bite at the strap clinging to his arm. Picking it apart with the rain as lubrication, Link dropped the remains of his shield and angled the tip of the Master Sword at James' chest.
Where in Din's name was Link going to get another shield?!
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