Uppercut Stable

Stage14: Guttpunch Farm

Uppercut Stable

The naming scheme seems really odd, but all the animals seem strangely broken in. I'm half afraid to ask about the methodology.

A rather large comercial stable containing a few different sorts of animals, but mostly horses. In a strange display of irony they've become paralyzed with fear at the very concept of fighters entering the stable. While they're not considered spectators, the torunament would rather you not hurt the animals.

Terrain

General - The ground is fairly solid, but there is a slightly shifty layer of sawdust in most places. There is plenty of room to move amongst the corrals.

Weapons - Statue stiff animals, branding irons, riding equipment, nasty beating implements.

Bonus Effects - The smell of fear, ire of animal rights activists.

Athan felt practically right at home on the farm. Out of all of the venues for the tournament, none felt more 'right' than returning to his roots. The stable was a bit of an odd touch, not so much the stable itself, but the animals within did a good job of putting Athan off. The almost complete lack of motion, the nervous stares, it was all Athan could do to avoid getting in a staring contest with one horse in particular.

He was currently standing just outside of the stables, leaning back against the thrown open barn door and tending to his sword, which happened to be jammed into the grass in front of him. There wasn't much to tend to, aside from wrapping the hilt with some athletic tape, but it was best to get that sort of stuff out of the way before the fighting actually started. If past experiences had taught him anything, it was that he needed to get ready before the other team arrived.

Though, in retrospect, he should have also probably learned to start arriving with the rest of his team for once. Still, he was outside and technically in the arena. That was close enough to safety for him. Then again, according to the FIGHTER they were fighting some sort of team featuring raptors or something.

He wasn't quite sure if that meant they were entirely composed of dinosaurs or whatever, but he might as well have assumed that a t-rex was going to be rounding the corner soon.

The girl with the eyepatch somehow snuck on past, so for all Athan knew he was still the first one on the scene.

Izette calmly puffed on her cigarette as usual up against the side of the stable while she waited for the rest of her team. Her attire was the same as always, except this time she had a top hat balancing on the top of her head. The way it was propped up in a tilted fashion.

Where the hell were the other girls?

Normally, she wasn’t the first one waiting. This was really weird.

Her attention was soon on the other opponents; there was a HUEG guy standing there and a smaller woman with long black hair and funny ears. Not much for the pickings but she was ready for some bloodshed.

Besides waiting around was rather boring.

Her walk had changed since the last round; she was actually walking fine now, which was a definite plus on her end of things. However, despite the healing of her foot she seemed to have a new injury on her left arm. Instead of having a bare arm, she had a lovely white cast that was covered in signatures. It didn’t seem to stop her though, why the hell would it? She did however stop in the middle of the barn and pushed the brim of her top hat up in order so that she could see her opponents.

“So which one of you kids wanna play?” As she spoke, Izette walked on forwards and removed her smoke between her from her mouth and between her slender fingers in her right hand.

Izette smiled at them.

Izette really wanted to play.

"Maybe they're going to turn...transform into...something...I don't even want to imagine." Lucind grinned lopsided.

"Yes, definitely better," she answered his question, her ears having registered Izzy's presence already a moment ago. "By the way, we should meet for a drink after this round - who knows when our team is going to come together again when the tournament is over.

Speaking of which: Where're the others?"

In this moment the Siren bothered to turn around to eye up the first and so far only member of the other team...and a soft chuckle escaped her when she saw a very familiar tophat.

"So it's you," Lu said and nodded in a welcoming way. Taking a band from her wrist to loosely fix her hair, she walked over to the other woman. "My name's Lucind. Pleased to meet you." She offered her right for a handshake, her expression all serious. "Also, you have my honest admiration for surviving being in the same kitchen as my boyfriend." She slowly shook her head, still lightly squeezing Izzette's hand, even placing her left on top. "I mean, you know you escaped armageddon...total annihilation by just an inch...? You were really, really lucky."

The Siren lowered her arms, pulled back her right foot, followed by her right arm.

"And now..."

Without further ado, Lu sent a right hook straight center at Izzy's face, her fist surrounded by a minor level of sound waves, which would give the punch, if it hit, thirty percent more kaboom

"It's indeed time to play."

[01/17]

Izette rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet for a moment as she waited to see if the other two seemed to catch notice of her. Occasionally, she would bring her smoke up to her lips and pull it back down in her right hand.

Finally, the big guy seemed to catch notice to her.

Designated Hero Wrote:

"You uhh...know that your arm is broken, right?"

“So it is!” Casually, she looked down at her gimped arm and pretended to be shocked. She had a rather playful smile on her face as she than looked back up at them and continued to smile.

“Eh, what’s your point?” Pfft. Injuries seemed to be the last thing to worry about. Her conversation was quickly broken as the funny eared woman interrupted the in depth conversation that she was having with the gargantuan man.

Lucind Varhetel Wrote:

"So it's you," Lu said and nodded in a welcoming way. Taking a band from her wrist to loosely fix her hair, she walked over to the other woman. "My name's Lucind. Pleased to meet you." She offered her right for a handshake, her expression all serious. [/align=center][/align]

Rather than accepting it in a polite fashion. She looked at it, with her raised eyebrow. A handshake? Honestly? How was she supposed to shake her hand when both of her hands were full. One hand was casted up and basically deemed useless, while the other one was holding her smoke. And her smoke was definitely way more important than whatever ritual she was trying to perform.

She knew what she was trying to do, but Izette was never a woman a formalities.

“Izette.” The punker smiled, that was a step up from simply standing there and thinking the other woman was crazy.

Lucind Varhetel Wrote:

"Also, you have my honest admiration for surviving being in the same kitchen as my boyfriend." She slowly shook her head, still lightly squeezing Izzette's hand, even placing her left on top. "I mean, you know you escaped armageddon...total annihilation by just an inch...? You were really, really lucky."

As Lucind tried to take her hand, Izette pulled it away as though they were germ infested. But that wasn’t the case, the punker just wanted another puff. Once hearing that the woman mention something about a boyfriend, Izette coughed and returned holding the smoke between her right fingers.

“You and The Comic Book Hero?” She started to chuckle slightly, that was rather funny to think about.

Lucind Varhetel Wrote:

The Siren lowered her arms, pulled back her right foot, followed by her right arm.

"And now..."

Without further ado, Lu sent a right hook straight center at Izzy's face, her fist surrounded by a minor level of sound waves, which would give the punch, if it hit, thirty percent more kaboom

"It's indeed time to play."

OH!

IT WAS PLAY TIME!

Lucind was aiming straight, and Izette was beginning to take quite a bit of notice to the punches towards her face considering that seemed to be all of her opponents favourite spots to hit. Side stepping to the left and turning her body with the motion, Izette allowed the long haired woman to attempt to make the full frontal blow to a nice space that she had left behind.

As Izette stepped to the side however, she decided to added another spin to her moves. With her left casted arm, Izette swung the plaster towards the Siren’s face. Considering the speed that the two of them were moving this was going to feel like running into a brick wall on Lucind’s end. And if the blow managed to get Lu in the nose…

Well let’s just saw that it was really going to hurt.

[1/17]

There was a duck.

And than there was a grab.

And than there was an attempted throw.

However, Izette was slightly bigger than Lucind, so this was proving to be a lot more difficult considering that Izette was slightly taller and weighed a bit more than the siren due to her physical weight, plus the clothes, and boots. Plus it helped that the punker didn’t loose her balance either at that point in time.

But Izette didn’t just stand there and looked pretty. That would have been too easy, and plus Luncid did provide enough force to cause her to stagger off a bit.

Oomph!

Izette’s back managed to run into the corner of the corrals were the horses normally would be staying. To the right of her, she quickly noticed a small area were it looked as though that’s where horses would be taken to get their horseshoes on. Grinning, she rushed over and grabbed something from where the appropriate equipment was resting.

What could she have grabbed?

Nails?

Hammers?

A HORSE!?!

Oh no, it was even better.

As though she were tossing something like a Frisbee, Izette began to launch various discs towards Lu. However, they weren’t discs. They were horseshoes. And rather than throwing them individually, she was tossing them constantly and at different heights. Thus if Lucind was going to move, she was going to be quickly met with another iron disc of death in someway, shape or form.

[2/17]

Izette began to giggle rather loudly as she noticed that she was managing to get some good hits in with the use of horseshoes. But she did notice that Lucind seemed to have magical powers of some sort as some of them she had managed to wave them off as though they were nothing.

Hissing, Lucind continued to make her way towards Izette. Apparently, the other woman with the funky ears was a bewitched cat of some sorts. As the eye patched woman seemed rather distracted by trying to piece together what exactly she was, she didn’t notice the fact that there was now NAILS were raining on her. Nervously, she covered her face in order to avoid some serious damage done to her eye. After all, she didn’t really want to wear two eye patches.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!” Izette quickly brushed herself off, she had a variety of cuts now on her arms and parts of her face. And Izette was pretty certain some of those nails were even rusted. She quickly looked up in order to see her opponent.

It was time to kick some serious crazy demonic cat as-

Her eyes quickly widened as she saw the unusual tornado before her. That was something new, but really cool at the same time. There was only one explanation for what was going on.

She’s a magnetic cat with weird ears!

Curiously, she tossed another horseshoe at the spinning magnetic of death.

It was a better than nothing!

Maybe that will work!

[3/17]

"Kael's never in a rush to be anywhere."

Athan didn't make much of a motion to get out of the way of the fight as it began, but it didn't take long for the fight to end up in a section of the stable that was far enough away from Athan for him to take a breath without fear of interfering in the thing.

Again he had opted out of his armor, not because he had studied his opponents like in previous rounds, but because the stuff was just plain uncomfortable to travel around in. And with the exception of one fight, the stuff just wasn't that useful. Hell, he was already entertaining the idea of loaning his armor to one of his opponents so he wouldn't feel bad about using his sword for once.

Speaking of opponents...

Athan took his attention away from Lucind to scan the interior of the stable. With the exception of Brendyn, however, nobody else was present. Somewhat surprised by this, Athan double checked his FIGHTER, made sure that they were in fact here at the right time, then shrugged his shoulders.

Maybe they missed their flight.

Izette watched the horseshoe become deflected from the hammer, which caused her eyes to widen as it bounced back down to the dirt on the ground.

“s**t.” This game wasn’t fun anymore now that the woman had crazy super powers and was deflecting things. And what was even more frightening was the fact that there were more nails coming her way. As they flew towards her Izette hit the deck and caused herself to roll on the dirty ground in order to avoid getting hit from some of the storm of nails. Unfortunately she did feel some of them hit her in passing, with a wince she finally stopped and held her side for a moment.

Once she finally stopped, Izette noticed that she had landed by some more stable equipment. Crouching still, she looked over her shoulder to see that Lucind was now climbing on the walls like some crazy monkey thing.

She had made a new discovery.

This woman was secretly Spiderman!

Standing up, Izette hand something within the grasp of her right hand. It was a spear of some sort. No, it was a pitchfork. But what could a girl do with a toy like that?

Quickly stepping backwards towards where more bails of hay were, Izette stabbed one as though she were going to move it. However, rather than just holding onto it, she quickly launched it towards where Lucind was perched on the top of the horse pens. But, like what she did with the one she continued to toss multiple bails over as she used her casted arm for support on the post.

If these were to hit, they would most likely cause Lucind to fall off the top due to their weight. And depending where she fell, she could probably be encountering a pile of manure very shortly.

[4/17]

"Wsssssssshhh-wooo-ssssssssssssh-"

[[Kid Rock - Cowboy]](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RgG__qB6bY)

The sound of the off-tune whistling led right back behind Athan and Brendyn, dusty silhouette leaned against the open door frame. Sun at his back, the shadow grew in inches and inches as a thumb popped up the front of a ratty hat and a grin split the comfortably shaded face of none other than the late-arriving captain himself.

"You can really hear the tumbleweeds in here."

And smell the fear.

Little clouds of sawdust went up at his feet, sidling in past the other two and positioning himself to the side, letting the props do the work and take his weight yet again. His eyes flickered about the eyepatched woman and Lucind having their ranged battle and- oop, she fell. A moment later, with the exclamation, he couldn't help but chuckle. He hadn't really been in a great mood or rested quite so well as he'd have liked to begin with, but he could hardly help but be amused by the choice of stage for this round. Western hat, leather gloves and his boots, revolver belted- but not loaded- openly at his belt with his knives, his only regret was that he'd left his spurs back in Durem. When you had a theme handed to you, sometimes you had to just roll with it.

"No shows?"

Kael thought that was rather odd. Of all the other teams in HoH, this was about the only one that he'd known about before they ran into them in the ring or had some other direct contact with, knew about beyond what their name was and paying no attention as he flicked acrossed a channel showing their match. Of course, what surprised him was that Asherah wasn't here at all. That seemed very odd of her... though maybe she'd run into something cute or shiny on the way here. He didn't really know the rest of her team and barely even faux-cyclops here. There was one with orange hair too though, and... he didn't know about the other, actually. And apparently he wasn't going to find out.

Curious, he scritched at the stubble beneath his chin and reclined to see how Lucind held her own until someone else showed up.

Ash was in the corner, playing with dung beetles.

AHA!

Izette was finally somewhat triumphant as she watched the large eared woman fall over and land in the bin where the horses rested.

“BULLS EYE!” She grinned wickedly as she bared witness to the hay as it rained down on her. But than there was silence, which was slightly concerning considering that she figured she didn’t hit her that hard. But luckily there was a rustling sounds.

Lucind Varhetel Wrote:

"Alright! I'm alright...!”

Sweet.

There was life.

BANG!

Lucind had made her entrance as the lone ranger and Izette’s eyes widened. In fact they widened so much that she was met by the uncomforting feeling of a hammer to the face. Quickly, she was flung backwards and landed against the ground again. On her position on the floor she noticed that there was a group of people standing there in an upside down fashion from were she was resting. First, there was the HUEG guy with the sword, ZANDY, Blue, Bendy, and some Cowboy dude. With the sight of these individuals, she grinned.

Izzy had a plan.

A big plan.

Pushing herself off the ground, she turned herself in order for her to cause notice to the group of spectators in the arena. She gave Zandy a wave as she could feel the blood drip down from her forehead. Damn, that was a good hit. But her attention was soon back to the cowboy on the horse.

“ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDY! COVER ME!” With that yell towards the ginger, instantly a sticky black substance began to exit from underneath her eye patch and over her flesh. It was a very similar motion that had occurred during the fight in the parking lot.

Izette was doing what she knew best.

Quote:

Shape Shifting: Izette source of ability comes from her right eye, which allows her to copy any individual as she chooses. This process must take place with another individual face-to-face in order to copy them. For her to properly copy someone, she is required to see him or her with her right eye in order to be able to use her ability. If she cannot see it, it will not occur in the shift. This includes, thoughts, mentality, and ideas.

When she has chosen a target to change into, a black spider web like mass will exit from her covered eye and engulf her body. It will hold onto her for roughly about five to ten seconds depending on the size of the individual than retract back into the eye, leaving her with the appearance of the new individual. During this period of time, Izette is hindered in her attacking abilities.

Once shifted, Izzy has her new persona, it will only last around roughly around ten minutes, where she is like them in a variety of ways such as appearance, fighting style, and magic abilities. However, when she does copy an individual, she is mainly mimicking their physical traits and the personality they put forth. Everything must be witnessed in order for it to copy over in the shift.

The shift will only last for a short period of time before she will turn into her normal form. This occurs mainly do to the lack of practice she has when it comes to battle.

-Regarding folks with special abilities/magic/and so forth; Just like their appearance, Izette must see the target performing an ability or spell in order to be able to perform it herself. However, on the down side, because she has no experience with the skill, or prior training, the execution will often have decreased effect due to a lack of control.

-For copying fighting styles, it is very much similar to how the magic skills work. If she did not see the ability being performed, it cannot be used for her own fighting pallet for she does not have the ability to copy memories and experiences.

-Izette cannot copy material objects such as weapons and clothing. Only the physical attributes to a person, causing her clothes to remain the same size as her body will grow and shrink to match the other individual’s size.

-If she chooses to copy an individual with injuries, she too will gain the current injury. However, if it comes to something as a prosthetic limb, she will not be missing the limb, but rather she will have a usable arm as well.

Once being completely engulfed by the black sticky substance, the punker’s body began to change into something bigger than she was. But so far, everyone in the room was somewhat bigger for her except for her opponent. It was definitely a gamble on who it could be. As her body grew and was clearly gaining weight and height, the cast on her arm broke off. That was probably not a good sign considering that it was clear that her arm had an injury before.

Oh well!

All one had to do was wait and see what happens.

[5/17]

[1/2]

STRIKER

From a relatively safe distance away, Ryke had watched the larger eared woman climb the horse box, attempt to jump onto the horse, fall, and take cover beneath the horse all before bursting back out now with a lasso flying like something straight out a western flick.

A flick of the little switch on her FIGHTER signified she was performing a Striker assist and assist she would.

The bounty hunter took a very quick look around to find a wheelbarrow propped up against the stable walls and sprinted over to it. Ryke wore a lopsided grin once she took up each wooden handle, turned, made a sharp turn and set charging off after the Siren.

One of two things could very well happen here, Lu could jump out of the path and avoid being run over;

Or she could get scooped right up and taken along for a ride.

Both of which would give Izzy the time she needed to finish shifting, that was what this Striker was all about primarily, just stalling for time. She could do some heavy damage later.

[1/2 - Striker posts]

"Awww..."

That was Lucind's only comment when Ryke dared to push a wheelbarrow towards her. The Siren darted forward, then to the side and jumped - jumped up or against the door of the next box where she clung with one hand to the iron bars, one boot half planted against the wooden wall, letting the wheelbarrow rush past her.

Sending a grin at Brendyn, she landed back on the stable's floor. Lu grabbed the pitchfork Izzy had used before and sent it flying, all spear like, in Ryke's direction, before once more, she took the pearl from her collar and activated her staff (only now she noticed a soft bruise on the back of her hand where she had blocked the horseshoe before; without the sonic shield, she likely wouldn't be able to use the hand properly anymore).

The Siren was curious to see how Ryke would react. And even more curious to see what was happening to the punk.

[06/17]

Well there was a little downfall to this whole magic business that was going on Izzy’s end of things. And it wasn’t like she didn’t see him coming, oh no that was quite the opposite. She could see every movement that he was making towards her.

Aw crap. Aw crap. Aw crap.

Her mind continued to race rather wickedly as he moved. She knew this was going to hurt, in fact she could feel the pain all ready surging through her as her body continued to grow in size and weight.

THUNK!

Izette could feel the lovely sensation of the horseshoe smack her right in the face. As the metal made contact with her own face, she could hear the sensation of it cracking beneath it. Ow, that was definitely going to hurt once she returned to her original form. Lucky for her though, she wasn’t going to be in her original form, in fact she was becoming someone else entirely at this moment in time.

Finally her body was beginning to retract the black substance against her skin rather rapidly to reveal a much larger persona to begin with. In fact, this new persona was much, much, MUCH larger. However, despite that, Bendy was making his charge towards the punker at a rather quickened pace. As the two bodies collided, it was proving to be rather loud smacking sound to occur, and for a body that was just finishing up a shift, it wasn’t going to all that pretty.

For she was know 6’6” and weighing around 415 lbs. of weight, and she was male. And what was even more frightening was the fact that she appeared to be somebody that they all knew rather well.

Yes, Izette had now taken the form of Athan, who was lacking in injuries at this point in time.

Except this version of Athan was now wearing the punker’s own clothes, which didn’t look all too flattering for someone of that weight and height.

But anyways, back to the fight, as the black substance finally disappeared to underneath the eye patch the doppelganger Athan stumbled backwards as it was an unexpected sensation that it was greeted with. Lucky for the assassin the smack caused the newly formed individual to feel rather winded and out of breath.

However, for Brendyn rather than having the sensation of smacking into a light version of Izette, or any of his other teammates, it would probably feel like he had ran into a brick wall.

What fun!

[6/17]

[2/2]

Behind his mask, Brendyn grinned at the sound of the horseshoe connecting with Izette's head. It wasn't the same as what she had done to him, but still...

I hope the damage is permanent!

His smile faded as the ooze retracted to reveal... suddenly ATHAN! If Brendyn had been able to predict that her power would result in this, his charge would've involved a lot more stabbing and a lot less collision. At it was, he stumbled back, having committed himself fully to his bull-rush, and tripped over a bale of hay. He landed with a flop next to Asherah, who was counting dung beetles or something equally silly. Having exited the area of the fight, albeit not entirely of his own volition, his striker time ended. He was well within the time limit.

"M'lady", he offered simply to Ashe before getting up and dusting himself off. He sketched a bow and said "I'll speak to you in a bit" before returning to where the rest of his team sat. He had plans for that one, and would hopefully fulfill two goals with a single act.

[striker post 2. It's over!]

"I challenge you. If you will fight me, then let us discuss terms."

Asherah's ears twitched as the man spoke, who dared disturb her from her dung beetle examining party? Getting to her feet, she turned around and clapped the dirt from her hands and smiled.

"Terms?" She giggled as she walked slowly over to where he was. With a cocked hip and a tilt of her head, her eyebrow furrowed. "What sort of terms would that be?"

Terrrmmmmssss yyaaayyy!!

She couldn't believe her ears. Did this man just offer to go easy on her for---ugh, men. If this were and anime, her eyebrows would be floating off her face, that wasn't the case though, don't be foolish. With a thoughtful blink or two, Asherah stood up straight and smirked.

"Promise?" She bit her lip gently.

Unbeknownst to him, she had a playful ace in her back pocket for that said bedtime.

As Asherah dawned her knuckles, she took a deep breath and pushed the air out from her mouth. She had seen him fight before, but that was with his weapon. She had no idea what she was in for now, but that was all apart of the fun.

Spontaneity. Her favorite.

Moving forward, Asherah gripped her knuckles tight, and tested the waters with a good feigning left punch to his chest, and a strong hook to follow!

Yaaaayyyyy watterr teeessttinnnggg!!

}1/17{

When Brendyn was bending back and avoiding her right hook, Asherah stayed low and focused her energy into her left hand. It began to a fiery red as he stiffened back up and launched his punch.

Slipping under his arm, Asherah grabbed at it with both hands and attempted to use his momentum against him to heft him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Not to mention, her left hand's fingers seared into his arm before she let him go to fall to the ground.

If this worked out and he hit the ground, Asherah would then back away to let her opponent up.

"Up."

Yyyyaaayyy goooddd ssppoooorrtttsssmmaaannnssshiipp!!

}2/17{

Oh, Lucind had a hard time holding back laughter and comments directed at Athan she knew was somewhere outside the stable. But she didn't had a second to waste, so the moment He-Izzy appeared, the Siren looked indeed like she wanted to laugh out loud, but only let out an

Sonic attacks Wrote:

iri ki = Intense form of the iri gi: in this form, the trill may cause one or more of the following: dizziness, nausea, loss of orientation – depending on the frequency; needs no preparation, lasts 1-2 seconds; effect can be decreased for around 80% by shielding one's ears and 60% quickly changing one's position (e.g. ducking) since this attack follows a certain, unchangeable direction; consequently, it's an AOE attack

Brendyn's first inclination was to follow up the attack since she was off her guard, but he knew that he would be expected to honor the restraint that she had shown earlier. He waited until she got back to her feet and drew her weapon.

This is where it gets interesting.

Unarmed combat versus a real weapon. At that point, reach became a factor, and superior tactics would be a must if he hoped to keep the fight in his favor.

"I try. This would make it your turn again, m'lady."

He took on his fighting stance from earlier: right arm at face level, left arm protecting his gut. His legs were bent, and his left foot was slightly in front of his right. He was waiting for her to make an attack, as he had been the last one to take the initiative after there had been a pause in the fighting. There had been more planned for that kick he had performed, but since it had connected and done that much damage, the rest became moot. Now he had to be certain he was ready to receive and respond to whatever she attempted.

[4/17]

"That's alright," Kael half chuckled, smirking as she charged off. With a lazy motion he raised up a forearm, tugging his glove down his arm, revealing the fighter.

"I'll help t... too?"

He blinked as the fighter flashed a little notation in the corner at him. It would seem, as something whipped through the air and the assassin came a'following that his help wasn't so needed after all. He supposed if anyone he should have expected the assassin to make for that sort of an announced opening. Still, the semblance of some decent teamwork was a nice start. He chuckled and sat back, letting the clock move on and watching until Brendyn made a move again. Kael raised an eyebrow, watching the whole formal deal. Which, he supposed, was the only thing he could have expected from the guy besides a sneak attack, and the hushed exchange following. What really got him though, was when the guy came back.

"...ahuh."

He just held up a hand, not sure whether he was confused or exhasperated as he took the belt and slung it over a shoulder. His only guess was that the man had some kind of trick planned out, laying his weapon aside, but...

God if he wasn't absolutely radiating a child-like sense of mischief. Kael knew that attitude pretty well. He might have been putting on a calm show, but it was a pretty sharp turn around from the seriousness he'd seen any time the assassin wasn't getting a drink or soaking up the fame- an ironic taste for someone of his profession.

Trying to stop himself from imagining Brendyn skipping back over instead of simply walking, he almost didn't notice someone else absolutely bouncing right up next to him. His eyes slid over, and he damned just how much cheeriness seemed to be going around like the latest infection today. Made it hard to hold onto a sour mood, all around. The tomboy got straight to the point too. Refreshing, always was.

"One,"

That lopsided grin spread to his face, twisting the scars down his cheek into their own jagged smiles. He shifted his weight, still leaned on the wall by an elbow. Eyes closed, he went out and openly took one deep breath. In his head, he ticked off his points quickly, getting himself set, and let it out, relaxing and trying to dump his misgivings about having to throw down with a woman yet again. She was spirited and looked sturdy at least. Red eyes opened back up, but this time there wasn't just reflected cheer in them, but a sharp humor of his own.

"Let's make this good."

His left side dropped, almost as if he was collapsing to the ground, hand meeting the dusted floor as his weight came forward, laying his shoulder into the hunter's stomach- and the musculature of his entire body seemed to explode at once under the coat, right foot braced against the wall, and burst forward, folding Zandra in two and taking her with him. While he had surprise, plenty of weight, and pure brute force on his side, she was no paper-weight ballerina. He had three steps- tops, of bulllrushing her backward, before the speed started to go out of it and he stopped, digging in and shover her ahead off of him.

Surprisingly, there was no burst after her. Ryke had a moment to collapse or regain balance entirely of on her own, while Kael straightened up again, grinning like the devil himself. The joke would probably take a moment to sink in- he'd thrown her right over into the very part of the stable she'd picked out.

With a flourish, he removed the cowboy hat, and advanced on her one lazy step at a time.

[Zandra vs. Rayner]

[1]

Ahh, now there was a sight she was grateful to see, it was Kael's grin of his own, showing he was equally interested in having a good time. Excellent, she liked this guy already. It was little things like how your opponent responded to you, and their expressions that she felt could paint the picture for the whole fight itself. Not to mention the scars, tell tale sign of someone who sees battle often.

Ryke was no artist, but she could appreciate one form of art and that was throwing fists around.

Her question hadn't been rhetorical but she hadn't actually been expecting a real answer when he said "One." leaving the bounty hunter thinking he was seriously going to lay down some sort of special fight rule. I mean, he didn't seem that way, but she stared at him blankly, a little trace of surprise to show she hadn't been anticipating it.

A deep breath usually meant he had a lot to say and her eyes widened just a tad, mouth parting, hanging open ready to question him...

till he said the magic words:

"Let's make this good."

Oof

That was his shoulder check right into her stomach, considering Ryke hadn't been paying full attention to the cowboy. Sure as hell surprised her, and the hunter had to resist laughing, knowing how much it was going to hurt here very soon, but at least he'd managed to take her full undivided attention by the reigns, that much was unquestionable.

He might have just bowled her right over if her first and instinctual reaction was to try and dig regain some semblence of balance, keeping her from getting trampled but not stopping her from stumbling back, which, could be a good thing and give this guy time to run out the batteries on his little burst of speed.

Once he stopped, Ryke chuckled and immediately plucked a horseshoe off the neighboring wall and swung back, the weight turning her arm into a pendulum almost before she let it fly out at the would be swordsman slash cowboy, trying to earn a ringer with his forehead.

Where it actually hit didn't make a bit of difference, nor if it hit at all cause she charged him after letting go. Kael now had two things to worry about, the equivalent to a steel brick (or was it?) ... and herself. She didn't try throwing a punch or anything of the sort yet, cause he could easily move and make her look a bit ridiculous hitting nothing but air.

[1/17]

Laughter?

Ryke had only barely regained her balance and she was letting loose with the the chuckles, unwinded. This should have worried him or something. She'd taken the hit head on but sucked it up, maybe managed to brace herself enough to keep herself together.

Tough girl.

Oh yeah. Maybe he wouldn't have to feel bad about letting loose a bit with this.

Instead of coming back forward at him though, Ryke was grabbing for something. Horse shoe incoming- by this point he wasn't surprised, there was easily as much flinging of the things as punching in this match so far. His right arm popped up as she let fly, forearm in front of-

-s**t!

His gauntlets. He was wearing long gloves, but without the armor strapped onto them today taking that head on wasn't gonna feel nice. Thinking fast, he lashed out with his arm, down and at the oncoming projectile. Or rather, just in front and below it. The rim of the worn down hat crumpled as his hand clenched into a fist and let the projectile slip into the pocket of the headware. And keep trying to go. The weight of the speeding horseshoe jerked back on his arm, face jerking trying to keep away from it, only to suddenly find his teeth ringing painfully.

Without a sound, he stopped dead in his tracks, and spat blood. Even glancing half off him, his lip was split right open next to the preexisting scar in it, and for all he knew he'd gone and gotten a tooth or more chipped. Everything was staying in at least.

His eyes popped back up.

"Ouch."

And that was about the point where Ryke came bursting head on into punching range, and instead of going in swinging Kael raised his left arm up across his face, and charged right in as if he were going to shove her across the room again. The hat in his right hand flew backward and twisted, spinning out and around while his face rushed in behind his arm, expecting the guard could let him eat up a good hit before he could plant his forwarm, followed by face, followed by shoulder into her chest.

Breasts were always nice, of course, but he was really just looking to shield his bloodied mug from further hits with the proximity.

And following right after the hat in his right arm slung in, extended almost full straight arm downward, taking nearly a 180 degree wind up to sling his hat into the hunter's leading knee- or left, if they were fairly evened out. Now, no one really ever got worried about being struck with a hat. What might concern Zandra more was the fact that, upon impact, there was obviously something hard and heavy inside of that hat. Namely, the horseshoe provided courtesy of the huntress herself.

If that managed to earn him a good second or two of reprieve from getting shoved back or socked, he'd stand straight up, still leaning slightly into her, and slash up at her chin with the point of his elbow like some sort of attempt at a point-blank uppercut.

[2]

Snatch bap!

His strike and block hit home! Now the once lucid, energetic Asherah was nothing but a slow body of derp. She could literally feel the energy washing out of her. Grimacing, Asherah looked down has his hand that was on her breast and huffed out tiredly.

"Doode that's not cool."

Lifting her left hand, Asherah lobbed it against his head with all her lazy 'might'. Her head felt heavy now.

"Nuughhh~~~"

Heavvvvyyy.... Leaning forward, Asherah's lip landed on Brendyn's arm. Opening her mouth---

NOM.

She bit into it and sunk her teeth in as much as she could. Tired. She was so tired, to where if he pushed her face away, she'd more then gladly stumble back and drone some profanity.

NOOOOMMM

}5/17{

Hot damn!

That was some nice catch, Kael sinking the shoe into the open bowl of the hat and shielding his face for the most part was impressive. 'course getting whacked with your own hand wasn't too pleasant either and Ryke was pleasantly surprised when she heard it.

Bet that felt great! She'd have to ask him about it later.

The fact that he just stopped was interesting and the whole purpose of not striking as she charged just yet was to see where he would dart off to but he just stopped.

Wait wait wait, did he just say..."ouch?" Who even does that?!

Only slightly puzzled by Kael's actions, the red-headed bounty hunter met the cowboy straight on, bringing her arms in and up - one to grab Kael's blocking hand and the other to slug him (left grab - right punch) his arm was in the way for the most part of his face so she had to come in more from the side but it was fine, she just had this thing about punching people in the face, like pushing the big red button you're never supposed to touch. Or was that metaphor better related to kicking someone in the - nevermind getting off track.

What did all of this mean?

It meant that she had no hands of her own to block the incoming err, well, body, seeing Kael attempt to go in for another shoulder check, or so it seemed, was all fine and dandy but there wasn't a whole lot she would be doing about it.

The expected shove never came and Ryke realized he was simply trying to make it awkward and difficult for her to throw punches and grumbled about it.

Clank

OHSH-

Yeap. She never saw the hand come swooping back in with the horseshoe hat until it struck her knee with a fair amount of force and sending that lovely numbing pain just shooting through and causing her leg to more or less lock up in sudden shock.

She bit down on her lip hard and fought back the current of profanity and since her leg was busy recovering and her hands busy, her head was the next best thing to use as a weapon and the bounty hunter rocked it forward to play hockey with Kael's.

Oh sure, it was gonna hurt both parties but she didn't care, she liked to be all up close and in your face but even Ryke had her issues about personal space once in a while.

[2/17]

Go masseter go!

Whock!

Splursh!

His punch to her jaw slammed her to her goal. A new fresh pallet of iron seeped into her mouth. Ew. But now, she was free, and him pushing on her forehead only made her stumble back further drowsily . Her whip hand was free now too, and with that, she hooked it back onto her hip.

"PLACK!" Out went the Brendyn chunk. "********." She wouldn't be biting anytime in the near future.

Asherah shook her head and held her jaw gingerly as the man spoke, her eyes squinting to focus on her opponent.

"Yeah, I get it." She spat out as she grabbed one sai from her hip and spun it about her finger. Ash smirked and stood up as straight as she could. The throbbing pain of her wounds still made sure they could be felt.

A small jolt of her former energy raced through her body as she took three step forward.

"But you're gunna have to wait."

In the blink of an eye, Asherah flung the sai towards Brendyn's chest and snapped her fingers.

Shaa~~

Thouands upon thousands of the diamond shards where now hurdling to him. In the mean time, Asherah followed up by running forward (favoring her right knee a little in her steps) and readying her fists for a nasty assault.

She's back in business!

}6/17{

"We could just start here and now-"

Brendyn barely got his retort out before he saw her hand beginning to move. She was well out of range to stab with her sai, but there was still clear intent behind the movement.

A throw.

It meant he had to move if he didn't want that thing sticking out of his chest, so he bent his legs and sprang to his right, only to see it burst into shards.

Goddammit, she has almost as many tricks as me!

He knew he wasn't going to get clear of the expanded swarm of sharp objects, but the dodge he had already started would get him clear of the worst. A few shards struck his left arm, opening new gashes and causing blood to seep down that arm as well, helping it to better match the bloody mess that was his right. Another couple shards hit his left midsection, but the chainmail that he wore, magically disguised as a normal silk shirt, turned those aside without causing harm. He landed from his evasion up against a wooden post, which made contact with the bite on his arm.

"AUGH!"

His vision went white for just a second from the pain, and as it cleared he saw a revitalized Asherah heading straight at him. He could still use his left arm if he needed to, but his right wasn't going to do him much good. At least he still had his legs. His keen senses picked out the slight limp that showed the lasting damage his kick had done to her right leg.

If I can damage her left as well, I'll have the upper hand in mobility.

Just as she was about to get in range, he moved to create an opening, making a quick gesture with his left hand.

Spell List Wrote:

Combat Distraction

1 point

A very quick illusion, Brendyn makes a flicking motion and the target sees an illusory blade coming at them out of the corner of their eye. It disappears as soon as the target actually focuses on it, providing a short window of opportunity for Brendyn to take advantage.

Asherah would see the "blade" coming at her from her right side, arcing in at her neck. As she moved to deal with that, Brendyn would step forward on his left foot and snap out with his right, aiming for her right kneecap. He was prepared to adjust his aim and compensate if her reaction was to move to her left to avoid the blade.

(AP: 1, BP: 13)

[7/17]

Brendyn's thoughts jarred as she caught his leg.

Impossible! She's quick enough to dodge the illusion and catch my attack!?

He had grievously underestimated her. His foot was caught, and then she hauled up and away. At the same time, Brendyn pushed down with the trapped right right foot and sprang upward with his left, adding even more momentum to her toss so that his legs went clean over his head and he landed on his feet from the improvised backflip.

He was stable enough that when she did the ground-pound, he could readily jump to the side yet again to avoid the fissure. He looked back at what she had just done, and his eyes widened just a bit.

They say hell hath no fury...

He needed to do some damage control.

"M'lady, it was a trick! An illusion! There's nothing there, as you can see. No weapon! It was only a bit of magic, a trick of light and shadow."

He hadn't anticipated her taking the distraction as a breach of their terms, nor had he expected her to react so well to the two-front assault. He really didn't know what to expect next from her.

(AP: 1, BP: 13)

[8/17]

The real shame of it all was that Ryke just couldn't seem to land a solid, full hit, which meant she couldn't get that satisfaction of beating a face in, and Kael couldn't appreciate her spunk and or good arm. So far.

This was in distinct danger of changing as suddenly he found her attempting some kind of clinch or headlock- one hand pulling around his neck while she craned away to keep their noggins apart, that moment in the film where you can absolutely taste the fated kiss about to occur, when something pulls the lovers apart. Only with less love and more concussion and blood.

In danger of his head getting locked in place and already off balance, he was left with the option of forcing himself to a stop and then fighting back, or rolling with it. He decided to press forward- and strangely enough, he didn't really need to. She pulled his head in and pushed down as he bolted his body forward, which led to two interesting circumstances he hadn't really been counting on.

First of all, he'd pushed himself right into a punch coming for his body, and even if it wasn't the best of punches to begin with he'd helped turn it into something to cry about. The air rushed out of him, and thanks only to the awkwardness of the blow, he managed to pull it right back in, though it left quickly right after. He'd recover quickly, but his body was weak for the moment, and he knew very well how these could add up over time.

The other, was his face, even with the teeth still stinging, being in a significantly better condition than he'd expected. In fact, it was right out pleasant.

Kael had found himself in interesting situations in fights before, with a little help from his opponent, especially when he tried to use make of a head butt. But he'd never had a woman practically pull his face into her breasts before.

Well. Not in a fight.

The televised, serious sort, anyway.

To be honest though, the slight throb of the earlier blow to the head and the recent hit in the stomach were plenty enough to keep him motivated not to just sit and enjoy. His head he didn't have to worry about so much- it had a bit of cushioning on either side, and with her arm wrapped around the back about the best she could do was whap the top of it a bit or try and use her chin, which'd really be an annoying pain more than anything. On the other hand he was open for the huntress to wail on him for a while down below, left trying to guard blindly with his right. Instead he took initiative on the matter, dropping the downward support to his weight and pushing forward, leaning into her as he brought both arms down and made a double forward motion- first a firm punch with his right fist right into the side of the knee he'd struck with the horse shoe, and the left hand slid down to the right side of her hip and gave a firm shove backward. He had his weight leaned into her chest, a sharp strike applied to in follow up to the walloping he'd given her right leg earlier, and a nudge down and backward on the other side of her hip. It was awkward, but all and all, he thought he could shove Ryke right over.

If Ryke managed to keep her feet, he'd lock up the hold again, and rather than try and take her down while she got free hits, begin laying his weight into walloping her stomach/side- it'd be Kael vs James all over again, only this time with more breasts.

The question was really if she'd let up as they fell and let him roll off, where he could catch his bearings and take advantage of her fall, or hold on tight to his head, dragging him down on top of her.

If the latter was the case, he'd scramble quick, knowing it might be coming, to get his legs across hers and tighten down, securing something sort of like a mount and looking to avoid a knee to the goods. With his head held down he couldn't do much but lay little punches into her side while he recovered his breath.

That and comment on how he was "Comfy," in a snarky tone.

[4]

Tiimmbeerrrr!!!

Falling down to the ground, Asherah grimaced as she landed on the side he punched earlier. With a quick, sharp breath, she rolled over onto all fours, drew her last sai and pounced onto Brendyn. Holding the said more like a dagger now, Asherah stabbed down into his right pap and shoved it deep. And after that--

Click~

A snap of her fingers did just as was done before, now, they were certainly hitting their mark. None too soon after, Asherah panted out and smacked her knuckles across his face. Left that right, for as long as she could.

Asherah's jaw ached, as did the knee she was putting pressure on to sit herself up, and her poor kidney..

She might be peeing koolaid later...

}9/17{

Hmm.

Now if this wasn't a compromising position, Ryke truly had no idea what was and while despite rumors, she did prefer the male variety, having a complete stranger's head planted flat on her chest wasn't exactly something she was terribly fond of. Oh sure, it was her fault to begin with for grabbing him but she hadn't realized what sort of position it put the dueling fighters in and after she got a good -

WHUD

• in, the sound of her fist hitting his chest as planned, she'd had planned to shove him off but see, things never ever worked out quite the way she wanted them too. Karma hated her. Something fierce.

The hunter wasn't really prepared for Kael's next move, which consisted of putting all his weight into barreling her over, coupled with striking the same knee he'd whacked with the horseshoe only earlier. She grunted and winced visibly for the attack on her leg, gave into the sharp shooting pain and his shove forward while her right hand snaked to grab Kael around the middle. Her left hand attempted to get a better hold around his head or neck and Ryke let herself fall back, grinning ear to ear.

He wanted to take it to the ground did he?

GOOD! She hadn't done this in several rounds now and the huntress was more than excited to have it out right there like she knew best.

Ryke fell, and she was taking him right down with her but turning her body so it would be easier to roll and get him on his back instead of the other way around. Not that she was entirely helpless on her back but it was so much more satisfying when she was in control. Fortunately, the fall was somewhat cushioned by the all the copious amounts of hay and Gaia knows what else.

The downside?

They would both come out of this match smelling like a farm. How pleasant.

[4/17]

Brendyn didn't have time to celebrate bringing her down with him, as she didn't hesitate to keep up the offensive even from the ground. The attack she was preparing, at least, was rather obvious as she drew another sai and got up on all fours, so at the same time Brendyn rolled onto his back and pulled his legs up toward his chest. As she pounced, he unfurled himself as hard as he could, slamming his feet into her chest and driving with his whole body to launch her back the way she had come. That accomplished, he pushed off of the ground with both hands, grunting at the pain that this caused as unclosed wounds in both arms opened further from the exertion. Getting his feet underneath himself at the same time, he wound up in a crouch, supporting himself with both hands planted at the dirt. He curled his left hand into a fist, taking a ball of dirt into his palm, and then pushed up, returning to a standing position as he waited for his opponent to do the same.

"M'lady, it's my turn."

Provided that she got up at his prompting, he would rush at her, speaking a flurry of magical words as he did so. As he got close, he would whip his left arm around, launching the dirt he had picked up just a moment before at her face, and then reverse the motion of his arm as it got to his right shoulder, aiming a backhand at Asherah's left ear, which would both hurt and discharge another spell.

Spell List Wrote:

Vertigo

2 Points

Contact Point: Hand on ear

~Initial~ - The target's sense of balance is suddenly distorted for ten seconds. They will find that even flat surfaces feel as if they are shifting under their feet. Running will be difficult under the circumstances. People that are used to the effects of vertigo or constant movement (for example a sailor), or who simply possess a superior sense of balance, will be less affected by this spell, but will still find particularly acrobatic maneuvers to be impossible.

He was keeping to his plan of limiting her mobility, this time by attempting to make it difficult for her to maintain her balance as she moved about. Even with his right arm becoming progressively more useless, he could still perform plenty of acrobatic maneuvers that she simply wouldn't be able to keep up with for the duration of the spell, giving him a chance to do some less temporary harm.

(AP: 1, BP: 11)

[10/17]

Yeah, thanks for the upda-

"-erk."

Ryke might was very focused on prying his teeth off, and it did the trick right well. She let him flip right up on top and both hands came away. In a flash he let go of her leg and shimmied his own up hers, securing one next to her hips and the other as far up between her legs as he could get, letting go of his bite almost right off and letting her yank his head up- all the better to allow him to scoot in and fix his balance up. He grit his teeth- which still hurt like hell- and forced his eyes open, letting go of her head to brace himself with the hand down next to it and hunkered in as much as he could with her jerking on his head. He'd just have to deal with that hurting and while he drew back his arm and-

-crack!-

Now his temple hurt too. The stars spun around his head but he immediately went to put his forearm in the way of more bashing instead of going for the punch, and as his sight cleared, lo and behold, she had a knife in her hand. That just wouldn't do. First priority, he went to grab her forearm, wrist if he could help it, whatever to keep the pointy end away from himself. He tried to put his weight down on that, giving up his chance at an upright mount to preserve his un-stabbed status. Of course, while that was what he cared about most, it'd make it hard to stop her flipping him over if she put her efforts into trying that again. Which was a little aggravating, and meant he had to work fast.

"-gaddamn-"

It also left him one hand free, for as long as she didn't try and go for another knife or shove and roll about at least. Normally this would have been the part where he made a sarcastic joke, offered surrender pointlessly, or considered how he'd really rather be kissing a woman than punching her. If nothing else though, Ryke had done a great job making this real difficult, and putting that right out of his mind. She'd gone for a weapon, and so would he- his free right hand snapped to his belt, flicking a large revolver out of it's holster.

One of us owes the other a drink after all this s**t.

Kael probably wouldn't have been able to hit the broadside of a barn with it, but he had no trouble spinning it about in his hand, raising the arm, and striking down at her head butt first in a quick, sharp motion. Eye for an eye, a firm strike at temple with a rounded metal point.

Maybe both.

Pistol-whipping commence.

[6]

CRACK

Ooh that sounded fantastically painful and Ryke still couldn't resist the urge to grin and show just how much she was amused by another person's pain, and of course by her own, but not so much the pain part as just exchanging blows with someone. A fight wasn't nearly as satisfying unless both opponents walked out beaten and battered to hell.

This was looking to be one of those fights.

Of course she went to hit him again, seeing how easily she managed it before, but unfortunately he caught her arm mid swipe, and kept her from taking another crack at his abused skull again.

Well damn. She actually pouted for a moment, disappointed but it didn't stop her from jerking her arm back trying to wrench it free and utilize it in another manner. The only problem was while she was struggling to pull her arm free he managed to really secure her leg and Ryke had failed to pay closer attention to his right arm, about which nothing had been done.

On the upside, Kael hadn't done a thing about her left leg and arm either, the one with a good hold on the back of his head, and she grabbed the hairs in her fist now, yanking tighter but she had no hand to deflect the incoming blow from the revolver as it cracked against her skull very unpleasantly, the yanking at least might have put him off kilter a little and letting her avoid getting whacked right in the temple, the most sensitive area.

Still though, getting hit in the head again wasn't all that great considering it was the second time after all, but through the ringing and dizzying sensation, Ryke took full advantage of her free leg and pulled it back into her body and sort of awkwardly shoved it as a wedge between herself and Kael pushing, shoving with all intensive purposes to put space between them again.

Oh and along the cowboy's same thoughts, yea, a drink would be good once this was all over, but unfortunately SOMEONE had set the bar on fire. That someone just happened to be wearing an eye patch...

[6/17]

WHAM!

His kick hit home like a charm. Knocking Asherah back, the air from her lungs was pushed out leaving her quite breathless. She took little time as she got herself up back onto her feet, her breathing also returned to normal.

"Do your worst..."

As Brendyn rushed forward, Asherah did the same and lunged her sai hand forward into his gut just as he threw the dirt. Asherah tried to cover her eyes with her free hand, but she wasn't fast enough. Grit and grim caked her vision and make it rather difficult to focus that was when.

Wap!

He backhanded her in the ear and made what was at most difficult to focus to the almost impossible. Her body followed the direction inwhich he smacked her, her hand holding fast to the sai as it tore through his stomach.

Falling to her knees, Asherah scuttled backward to a wall and tried to wipe the dirt from her eyes. It worked some, if only the floor and walls around her would stop acting as water beds. The ringing in her ear was starting to die down as she felt her way up the wall. Asherah opened her eyes ans squinted.

There were two of him.

}10/17{

He had known that there was an inherent danger in using his one good arm to attack, in that it wasn't there to defend. He still did what he could to mitigate the thrust, though, twisting as she stabbed. He knew what would come next: a repeat of the fight with Damon last round. The sai met his chainmail shirt, the force of the blow dispersing the illusion of a silk shirt and showing it for what it truly was. The force of their combined momentum allowed the sai to easily split the rings in his armor and reopen the wound that he had used his stock of magical ointments to heal after his last fight. As the illusion of the shirt reasserted itself, it also began to darken in color around the wound as the illusion took into account the blood now seeping from his side.

He went through with the attack, knocking her aside with the backhand before doubling over in pain briefly.

"That... wasn't very nice, m'lady."

And then he attacked. Knowing that she would have a hard time following the movement or moving in such a way that would allow her to evade while under the effect of the spell, he ran toward a wooden pillar near her, leapt at it, kicked off of it in her direction, and put both of his feet out to once again deliver a kick to the chest. He was looking to do some serious damage, using a combination of his full airborne body-weight and the fact that she was against a wall so that there would be no give to mitigate the blow. Of course, using both feet in that manner would normally mean that he would fall to the ground immediately after, probably in a painful manner, so whether he hit or not, he would then shout a single magic syllable.

Assassin Spells Wrote:

Feather Fall

1 point

Cast during a fall with a single magical syllable, Brendyn floats to the ground and lands unharmed.

He would use the momentary slow-fall to push off of either her or the wall, depending on whether the kick had hit home, to create a bit of space and get his feet under him. Although his intention would be to attack again immediately and put the spell's duration to maximum use, the gash in his side would force him to once again stop and gasp as a wave of pain washed over him.

(AP: 0, BP: 11)

[11/17]

Sins of an Angel Wrote:

Excellent, she managed to pry him and shove him away, sending him tumbling back, a good little distance away and giving Ryke more than enough space to recover and scramble back to her feet, and scramble the huntress did indeed. The timing couldn't have been any more perfect if it was planned.

STRIKER

Striker

It'sa comin'.

[For Fish and Kat's fight, specifically.]

Nocere, the weirdo that she was, had spent most of the round hanging out in one of the horse stalls, watching with mild interest during the fights. That is, until the cow started to fly.

The alien's teammate would be at a disadvantage now. The two of them a bit apart and the cow being flung at her and her opponent free to follow up straight away. So, she'd need a striker. The button was nudged on the FIGHTER and Nocere grabbed the closest thing to her and exited the stall.

Her choice of weapon happened to be a three pronged pitchfork- except that the middle prong seemed to be missing. She wasn't quite sure what the item was normally used for, but she knew what she'd be doing with it.

Nocere started towards Kael, the broken fork in her right hand. Once she was close enough, she'd bring up her left leg, kicking forward in a quick motion, forcing the man's back closer to the wall. As she kicked, she'd bring the pitchfork up, the prongs facing Kael and ram it at him. The prongs being at each side of his neck, the tips puncturing the wood and, if it works, forcing Kael to keep his place.

The teal woman would push the fork forward more, until the fraction of the missing prong is mere centimeters from the mans neck. Then Nocere would smirk at her work, drop her hand from the handle and walk away.

That should keep him busy for awhile.

[End Striker]

Kael may not have been the nice guy, but he was decent enough. He'd gotten up, and he was aching a bit, so why not take a load off while he gave Ryke a chance to catch up with him. Not like he wasn't taking his time to get all set up, hat full of sawdust and hay and loose soil, revolver in hand. He had a mouth full of blood and a sleeve full o' tricks.

And then something bizarre happened.

Designated Hero Wrote:

"MROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!"

"The ********!?"

Oh yeah, Ryke wasn't the only one who would be caught off guard as a cow came out of nowhere, barreling into the arena and taking flight in her general direction. Fortunately, she'd be the only one needing to worry about getting out of it's way. Kael was content to stumble back a step or two closer to security and just take the time to be glad he wasn't in the way of-

-where did-?

He started to tense as suddenly something blue and angry looking was in his face, but too late to stop the kick catching him gut. With another grunt as he fought to keep enough air in his lungs to fight back immediately and hit the wall, hands coming up in instinctive guard. His body froze for just a fraction as he saw exactly what was coming, hat and revolver dropping to the ground.

Panic set in as his mind registered the sharp and pointies slamming home not far from his exposed neck. The mind went wild dumping the body with chemicals to stave off what instinct said looked a helluva lot like an immediate threat to his life. Men like him fought off the panic, the fear of death all the time, but they went in and fought it, setting their own power against it and steeled for the conflict. For the sane, surprise and helplessness made him as desperate as any other man.

His hand grasped at the inside of the pitchfork as she shoved it in, panicky strength set against the steady push of her weight as the stub pressed in at this throat- and as she stopped, smirked, and caught away, he caught little more than her form moving away and a tight, chocking feeling in his throat as he desperately shoved his head against the wall and clawed at the pole and fork, shoving it bit by bit out and away from him, shove by shove, until it finally came out in his hand.

Ryke was somewhere. Doing something.

That much registered in his mind almost a full five seconds later as he leaned back against the wall and panted, pole held loosely in his right hand. He was in a fight. And finally, he'd look up, shaking slightly, to see where she was as his mind recollected itself and curses the likes of which would have to be steadily blooped right on through for the kiddies at home poured from his mouth faster than the blood had done earlier.

If Nocere had been looking to distract him, she'd done one hell of a job.

[8]

Quote:

"You hit like a man?"

Hehe. Her grin widened becoming noticeably amused but still rather lighthearted, goofy if even, as she took a hesitant step forward. "Good."

Before Ryke could even consider hucking the knife at Kael, the beeping on her and his FIGHTERs directed her attention to the noisy wrist device. "Eh?" She peered at the screen, reading the scrolling, blaring text stating STRIKER STRIKER - and the huntress looked around in a sudden panic...

Except no one was coming.

"Uhh-" She heard it first, faintly in the distance and steadily her eyes grew wider and wider, just completely baffled by what she was hearing. Till it was practically on top of her.

Quote: "MROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!"

OSHI-

-WHAM-

The cow-barrow came barreling out of nowhere it almost seemed, having been given a grand speed by the HUEG GAI Mr. cole none other and Ryke tried to get the hell out of dodge, or at least out of the direct path of the incoming Bovine-on-wheels. At least enough that it didn't hit her straight on and a little more than clipped her side and knocking her to the ground, winded and wincing, already feeling the giant a** bruise that would likely be there come morning.

Ughh.

What was it with these guys and using farm animals for weapons? Seriously. Ryke only briefly noticed Nocere jumping in to Striker and keep Kael busy while she attempted to drag her sore self up off of the ground, bits of hay, dirt and everything else under the sun falling off while the rest clung to her, making the bounty hunter looked like she went and took a dirt bath.

Mannn, she thought this was pain now? It was definitely gonna be worse tommorrow morning.

Nonetheless, she had to haul a** and scrambled back over to where Nocere had pinned her opponent to the barn wall briefly, watching him yank the broken pitchfork out and brandishing it like he intended to use it.

"Your teammate's a jerk." She groaned but still grinned. Luckily she hadn't dropped the knife, and made a quick dash towards Kael, tossing it at his feet with her right hand. And once she was close enough to close the gap between them, Ryke swung and made a sudden strike at his jaw with her left.

The purpose of the knife had been a feint, a fake out, to hopefully take him by surprise when she went to uppercut. 'Course, moving much when her whole left side was throbbing only made the pain worse and she didn't quite have her usual speed, but could bear it enough to at least throw a punch.

[8/17]

Whucrack!-

Ryke could go on all day about how she loved the sound of her fist connecting with his chin, sending his head snapping up and forward. Her feint had worked wonderfully, or as best as possible and she chuckled as he chuckled.

She was having one hell of a good time for sure.

He seemed to stagger forward a bit and Ryke steadied herself as much as possible until-

SHUNK

He thrust the pitchfork right into her thigh, the two in tact and very point ends hugging either side while the broken and yet not so useless center prong wedged itself painfully and firmly in her leg.

"AH! FFFFFFFFFF-" Her leg was pushed back, and he was teetering forward, dangerously close.

Oh no no, there would be none of that, She had to switch the weight quickly to her good leg and thus shoving herself forward right back into him - her right hand instinctively moved to throw a punch, a wide hook across the side of the face. He was making no effort to protect himself and she was going to take advantage of that as much as possible.

She wanted it to be wide, so she could grate the bands of her bracers across his already scarred cheek and maybe, just maybe, leave some sort of "Ryke was here" mark behind after this was all over.

With both hands at his head, she worked her fingers into the hair and grabbed hold, hard, put the weight back on her bum leg which immediately caused her to start crumpling from the lack of being able to support her weight, but that was the point. She was going to pull him down with her, and pulling him face first towards her left, undamaged knee if all went well.

[9/17]