Main Bracket: Rei vs. Ryu

The fighting area is now much smaller than the previous arena type. 200 ft in radius, with a 100 ft in diameter platform in the center. The area between the platform and the high wall of the stands is 50 ft. There's something lying in this space other than usual sand and hard ground: water.

The water is no out of bounds, only the stands and beyond. However, the 6 ft thick platform is floating on top of water that is 30 ft deep, so the platform is bound to sway in balance whenever shifts of movement occur on its surface. Too much weight on one side can cause that side to become submerged in water for a few seconds before the balance resets itself.

Jeez, what a bother. The arena was floating on water. Even though in some sense he was at an advantage but not really at all. He wasnt good with that kind of manipulations. At anyrate he had watched his opponent get into the ring and he caught the general idea of the balancing act they would have to deal with. Hell, he already had a few ideas on how to play his opponent for all he had but first he would have to step into the ring. Jumping into the ring, landing about thirty feet from his opponent. Instantly he rose his right hand perpendicular to the ground, his eyes watching his opponent with a small smile. Dust began to discreatly pile onto the arena as a soft breeze blew naturally throughout the arena. "You know my name so lets do this." His red hair waved slowly as the breeze passed through it, every now and again revealing the crystal that seemed to be imbedded in his forehead. Once again he wore a black, elegant material, mythril made as usual with no visible weapon upon him.

As it stood, the less movement he made the better it was for him. Unlike last match he would not be in a hurry to start the blows first. No, he'd let his opponent come to him first. As time moved on the dust began to gather in clumps in random spots around the arena. They were still not visible to the eyes of those not looking for it but it was something Ryu could see quite easily. He knew where his secrete weapons were and he just needed one moment, the slightest movement to make his weapons ready. He also noted that his opponent had a good amount of heat starting to build up around him. This too gave him a few ideas. If all went well he wouldnt have to do much in order to win this match. However, he needed to first get around that armor of his opponent.

Bringing his left hand up at his side, locking it into place with a balled fist, the earth beneath the watery feild began to shift and a large spire began to raise from the floor. It was slow, making the water displacement pretty much unnoticeable. Now for his opponent to move.

Interesting enough his opponent had a little intrest in games. Yes he would be sent backwards but not into the water, no he would stop his backwards movement with a move of his own. As he flew backwards he spun his body to the side, just enough to have his left hand pointing behind him. From it he launched a burst of fire, the recoil enough to slow his flight so his feet could catch on the edge of the arena. Now the dust that was upon the arena floor moved into action, at least two patchs. A patch that was closest to his opponent fired into the air with the sudden jump. With a forward motion of his hand right hand, moving it now forward, this dust flew quickly to blind his opponent by getting into his eyes. The second pile of dust created three needles, each glowing a faint tint of red that would fly under the line of sight through his opponents blind spot on the left in an attempt to lodge inbetween the knee joints of his armor.

The needles of dust did bounce off his knee plate, well, a portion of it. "First rule of any battle. Finish your opponent quickly." He said this quickly as he moved from the edge of the battlefield. His opponent already underestimated him. They were in a watery situation and even though he wasnt that good at water manipulations he could do a little. The heat his opponent was creating was doing well enough to create a bit of humidity with all the water around. This would be enough to make dust stick to a surface after a while with a little help of some manipulations. Well hell... didnt his just turn his armor into a shield? At any rate this principle would start to take hold and would be enough to describe the tiny but of dust that remained on his opponents body from the needles. Being that there was obviously little use for his needle tactic at this moment he changed plans. He called all the dust and dirt that had built up on the surface of the arena to his body as he walked, all except what had stuck on his opponent. This dust discretly attached itself to his body. It piled up and hardened on him. With this done now his right hand moved back parallel to his body, his left hand moving back to its position at his side as he stood in the exact same spot before he had been knocked back. "However, the fun comes in when you get to see how long your opponent can last." As he spoke the large spire, it had stopped, began to move again, rising slowly. It covered a good distance but still had a bit more to go.

Ryu didnt underestimate his opponent. Not in any way at all. Right now he was just gathering the needed information that would allow him to fight more effectively. As his opponent spoke his two words Ryu was busy working with his initial plan. Now heres where the problem came in. His opponent was begining to make Ryu feel as if he didnt pay too much attention to him. It wasnt that he was doing anything specific but his opponent could have at least noticed that he was pretty much waiting for another attack. To his surprise, well not really surprise, his opponent sent him into the air yet again probbaly hoping to catch him off balance. Man if anyone was a rookie his opponent was. Why would someone stand in the same spot twice unless he had a damn good reason to not to mention his "dry heat" would be causing the water to say "hey, i like it better floating around in the air than being connected to a larger body" . Now as his opponent threw him into the air with his burst Ryu balanced his body quickly as he threw his left hand up. In response the large spire that had been growing shot up, curning the water and sending the arena on a rather fun ride on waves as the arena was pushed up from the bottom by the spire. A few things would occur at this point. His opponent would noticed that the ground he was rushing on would suddenly become more sloped. Normally when this happened suddenly without much notice one would slightly stumble and in some cases fall. However the additional height of the arena placed Ryus feet upon the ground rather keeping him in the air. Now the funny thing was that his opponent would stumble right as he was coming into range with his punch. This, now off balanced punch would be easily met with the movement of his right hand as he used his left foot to pivot on the arena floor that had so graciously risen for him. Now as he pivoted on his left foot and pushed the fist outta the way with his right hand his right leg moved with a kick that was aimed for the back of his opponents left knee. If the attack hit his opponent would be in a bit of trouble for it would be then that Ryus left fist would come down in a chop type fashion to the side of his opponents now exposed neck.

Now the spire that had hit the bottom of the arena made its indention, sending smaller spires, these normal sized spires, through the hole. These spires then banched off through the arena bottom and began to become like roots that have overtaken a boulder. The arena was the ground, the spires were the roots and the giant spire was the tree. What would this "tree" produce?

Was that really a problem. It wouldnt take but a moment to notice that the earth wouldnt rise in time if that were to be the case and he would just have to change the order of his manuver. In other words, instead of waiting for the earth to throw his opponent off balance, he moved his right hand and parry the blow off to the side. At this moment the ground would have made it so he had a platform to stand on and here would come the pivot. With the pivot the target would not change however the blow would not strike where he wanted it to. No, because of his opponents jump it would catch him probbally at the foot or his calf muscle. Either way his opponent would be in for an unbalanced ride for making contact with his opponents leg while in the air would send him falling to his left. Further note the spires had not come up through the arena floor yet. They were within the arenas base hidden from sight while waiting for him to make them known. His opponent had nothing to slice or to slice him just yet.

Man this guy was becoming irritating. Ryu could now estabilsh at least one form of this mans abilities as well as how he works to some sense. For the very least Ryu could just feed off his opponents energy to fuel his own. For as it stood he didnt need to do much of anything. As his opponent spoke a large spire shot up between them. Systematically more spires broke the surface however none directly attacked his opponent, no, they all seemed to just be creating a labrynth of earthen rock. However, a few of these spires were different, some holding a red tint, others holding a deeper red, while some held a normal brown. It would be in this confusion Ryu pushed himself back as more spires came up infront of him with each passing foot. After reaching a distance of ten feet, he pushed to his left, hiding himself within the labrynth of spires. The man said he wanted a test of power. Well this was a test of the strenght of minds now, at least for now....

Ryu wasnt looking for tricks nor to please the crowd by exchanging physical blows with his opponent. He wasnt some brute to be entralled by a crowd. Hell, he could care less really about what they had to say. Right now he did what he needed to do. As for the arenas structure, no flippen duh. He wanted its structure to be broken apart. If it was broke apart that ment that he could.... well his opponent would figure that out later. Now as his opponent stayed away from the glowing rocks cutting through merely the normal colored ones he would go around in circles. The positioning of the spires merely kept him in a trap that Ryu created. Now the foundation of the arena as broken apart and could be freely separated with a given push. This push would be given by the movement of a spire. To the crowd they would notice that Ryu and his opponent would have two seperate islands of arena to play with. His opponent surrounded by red spires while Ryu was surrounded by spires that were tinted red. Now a few of these spires turned to a dust material, covering his body and packing tightly. This material became the color of his skin, making it invinsible to all. At the same time his sweat began to mix with the dirt as his body too began to heat up. A few clumps of dirt that hand been left behind began to revolve around his outstreched right hand, flames firing from his palm. The mesh created a katana, its blade terribly hot from the flame that had been created to form it.

Oh the laughs he would get by his opponents fear of the odd coloring. Now the spires, now towering above his opponent did something interesting. From the tips smaller, more dense spires shot across, connecting the tops of the spires to create... well what do you know. A cage. At this point the crystal upon Ryus forehead began to glow brightly as the earthen spires began to shake.

Earth seal forced opening: 35%

And here he went. As it stood right now he had gathered enough resources to make his initial plan to work. In this manner he wouldnt have to get his hands too dirty. Dropping to one knee, he slammed his plam into the arena ground. In immediate response the part of the arena in which his opponent was trapped was becoming quickly pulled under water. The holes made be the spires would aid in its quick sinking for water would find it easy to pass through these points as well as the broken surface. If his opponent was truely heated quite a bit the water would turn to steam as it first touched his armor but that would soon go away as water quickly reached his ankes and soon his knees in a matter of a few moments. Simultaneously the spire bars of his cell shot forth smaller pin like spires, all glowing a bright red from all directions. Their main targets were the joints of his armor however if they managed to get his face in the process with at least a scratch that was pretty good as well.

Now the dirt material upon his body began to take on a silver luster as time moved on. This was his Enkou Koutetsu, flame armor. For now it would serve little purpose except preparation to a hand to hand fight if his opponent managed to find a way to break free as he expected. He was sure his opponent wouldnt like to be submered in a cage.

((Hey man... I have to drop out of the tourny. Life is beckoning. My girlfriend is really sick and I'm going to college and I have almost no free time during the summer. Again, I'm sorry. Maybe we can fight some other time.))

The winner is Ryu by forfeit!