[Round 2] Link vs. James Eredas

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 cock 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.

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.

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.

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?!

Truth be told, the shield wasn't wooden in entirely. It was steel overlaying wood. A shield made entirely out of metal would have been too bulky for Link's style of swordsmanship, as well as too expensive to maintain. A Hylian Shield was therefore perfect as it was wooden on the inside with steel on the out - a resilient surface with the bulk of it being relatively light-weight. However, when Link battled Leinhart, the Vampire's psychic blasts had caved in the steel and thus splintered the wood beneath. Link might have attempted to patch the surface, but there was no repairing the wood where the handle and leather strap were bolted into. So when James pulled, the weakened and splintered wood around the handle and strap would be put under more stress, and thus break away as James literally pulled the shield apart.

As for being out of eachother's reach, that was relative. James had his large two-handed sword while the Hero of Time had his hand-and-a-half sword between them both. Link was in the Martial Artist's reach, but James was barely outside of Link's. That would change as Link realized it was time to go on the offensive without his trusty shield on hand.

Heaving in a deep breath and warding off the bouts of shakes he had in regards to the cold around him, Link would raise his right hand and place his index and middle finger on the last few inches of his Bastard Sword while accepting James' apology with a terse nod. Silent for the most part, Link had always thought his actions spoke louder than any words. It would come as no surprise then as Link stepped forward with his left foot and slashed downwards and at an angle to injure the junction between James' right shoulder and neck.

War Reparations for the shield now lost.

After the few exchanges between The Hero of Time and the Martial Artist he fought, Link had come to expect James' decisions to forgo a two-handed grip on his nodachi in favor of a mixture between hand-to-hand and swordsman tactics. While that was the man's wont, it should have been well expected that Link would adapt and capitalize on his opponent's predictability. Paying no heed to the impact of weapon upon weapon that produced a loud screech and jarred his hands and shoulders, Link shifted his body weight away in anticipation that James had something in store with one of his hands or shoulders while simultaneously lifting his arms up and away.

It would come to no evident surprise on Link's face that he would now be watching James slide his hand off the nodachi in an attempt to -- Link didn't want to be in it's path nor did he have to be to find out. Dancing to the right by pushing off his forward left planted foot and twisting his torso to the left, the Hero of Time would watch with the utmost care every detail and gesture James committed in his next set of motions.

The fluidity of his movements, the way his muscularity tensed and clenched, and most importantly -- the way his left shoulder moved. This was going to a power punch, and Link was more than ready to handle it. When it came out as Link lifted his arms up, danced to the right, and twisted his torso to the left, Link would end all of this gestures by swiping down with the Master Sword to the top of James' left arm.

The Blade of Evil's Bane wouldn't chop the Martial Artist's arm off, but it would certainly hurt a whole lot.

A deep rumble of contemplation emanated from deep within Link's chest as he watched James pitch over to roll out of the way of The Blade of Evil's Bane's path. It took a few encounters between the two, but it would seem that Link was finally pushing James onto the defensive.

Link was, for all intents and purposes, not going to give that up. He wasn't going to give James the opportunity to gain any distance between the two to optimize on the reach of his nodachi and overpower Link with swift and powerful two-handed strokes - which were the Hero's worse fear in the fight at hand. So long as he kept the distance between them minimal, maintained swift offensive tactics, and stayed keen of mind, Link knew he could prevail over the martial artist.

With his sword molesting nothing but air while he danced towards the side, the Hero of Time would land with a squish on the balls of his booted feet in the muddied ground, effectively slipping a few inches back before coming to a stop. It was then, before he could truly gather his wits about himself and devise what to do to hurt James the most, that his stomach would churn with enlightenment to what was coming to cut into his leg. With the Master Sword already angled down after the completion of Link's slash, the Hero would angle his wrists and catch James' strike on the the Master Sword's length while simultaneous rushing into the swiftly rising James.

No plans. Not much in regards to tactics save for the desire to remain close to the man he fought with little reserve. Just the thrill of battle, the adrenaline pumping through his veins, and the will to win.

After the initial impact of metal on metal, and upon entering James' guard, Link would release his hold on the last few inches of the Master Sword's handle to curl his right hand into a fist and send a punch into the facial area of the martial artist's head as it would nearly finish its rise. An unorthodox straight backed by a running start performed by a man with little to no training save for what he was taught on the fields of battle.

Realizing there was barely an arm's length between James and Link by the time the martial artist had batted aside the Hero's punch in apparent negligence, it would come as no surprise that the two would collide chest-to-chest arm as James lifted his leg to swipe at the Hero's own while simultaneously sending a backhand into Link's face. Fortunately, their proximity would deal with one of those attacks. With James' right arm crossed over his chest as Link pushed in, there could be no leverage to hit the Hero's face as Link barreled into the martial artist. As for the leg swipe, it impacted the side of Link's forward right foot to produce a painful thud.

With his face hovering over the junction between James' right shoulder and neck at collision, Link would reach with his once-batted-aside right arm and wrap it about the back of James' neck, regardless of the fact that the fighter could have very likely lost his balance and began a fall backwards, and pump his left leg up to send a knee-strike into his opponent's abdominal section. At this junction between the two, it was very obvious that the battle would become more of a flurry of limbs and ill-conceived attacks than coordinated attacks and defenses.

Unfortunately for him, Link was not a master at hand to hand combat. He took openings when he saw them, defended when he thought it was necessary, and adapted as fights progressed. These skills were no match for a well trained martial artist. Link had, to his dismay, stepped into James' domain and was going to pay the price for it. With James dropping his sword altogether as Link's knee struck it's flat (if the edge was buried in the dirt, the flat was between Link's knee and James' stomach) in favor of slipping his hands around Link's right arm, the Hero of Time would grunt with effort as he was quite literally pulled off of his feet (one which was already upraised and the other pinned down by James' foot) and thrown around like a rag-doll.

No time to think. No time to react. Link was taken by surprise by the expertly executed Judo move and was now watching his world be spun about with a odd sense of vertigo. All he would do is clench up and bring his left arm close to his body as he would find himself landing on his back at the semi-completion of James' throw. In a splat of mud and subsequent squish, Link would have the luxury of landing in the semi-cushioned ground that preserved the air in his lungs and resolve in his mind.

Perfect. Simply perfect execution. Link was right where James wanted him as the martial artist came down and ontop of the Hero, but could have James planned on Link's left knee? With it dropping marginally since being tossed, Link would right the appendage as if he were still striking James and place it blindly between himself and James once again. As James twisted his torso and sent his elbow into Link's gut as he fell, the man would find a powerful obstacle in the path of his body that barred his way.

With a good chance of colliding right into the side of James' head, shoulder, or chest, all having the very good chance of making James' striking-arm lax out of sheer shock-and-awe value, Link would blindly angle the tip of the hand-and-a-half-sword clenched tightly in his left hand and send it into James' body. Link could hardly see what he was doing with the rain beating down on his face, but he could certainly make out the blur of James' form as it descended upon his body. Half-blinded or not, he was far from being finished off.

((Edited targets for knee placement. Didn't realize how Link's and James' bodies were aligned.))