[Semi-Finals] G-World

HoH season 12. Source: valucre.net static Gaia dump.

Posts 83Pages 6Forum HoH '12Topic 23543155Source originalWinner
Table of contents
  1. Abyssal Majesty
  2. Better Than Gore
  3. Unchecked Twitch
  4. Knight Breaker
  5. Glacialic Acid
  6. Just Naota
  7. LuvMonke
  8. Knight Breaker
  9. Better Than Gore
  10. LuvMonke
  11. Better Than Gore
  12. LuvMonke
  13. Better Than Gore
  14. Unknown
  15. LuvMonke
  16. Better Than Gore
  17. Glacialic Acid
  18. Knight Breaker
  19. Just Naota
  20. Glacialic Acid
  21. Glacialic Acid
  22. Knight Breaker
  23. Unchecked Twitch
  24. Just Naota
  25. LuvMonke
  26. Glacialic Acid
  27. Unchecked Twitch
  28. Better Than Gore
  29. LuvMonke
  30. Knight Breaker
  31. Knight Breaker
  32. Just Naota
  33. Unknown
  34. Glacialic Acid
  35. Unchecked Twitch
  36. Knight Breaker
  37. Glacialic Acid
  38. Knight Breaker
  39. Just Naota
  40. LuvMonke
  41. Better Than Gore
  42. Glacialic Acid
  43. LuvMonke
  44. Unchecked Twitch
  45. Better Than Gore
  46. LuvMonke
  47. Better Than Gore
  48. Just Naota
  49. Unchecked Twitch
  50. LuvMonke
  51. Better Than Gore
  52. LuvMonke
  53. Just Naota
  54. Knight Breaker
  55. Unchecked Twitch
  56. Just Naota
  57. Glacialic Acid
  58. Knight Breaker
  59. Unchecked Twitch
  60. Glacialic Acid
  61. Unknown
  62. Just Naota
  63. Knight Breaker
  64. Unchecked Twitch
  65. LuvMonke
  66. Glacialic Acid
  67. Better Than Gore
  68. Knight Breaker
  69. LuvMonke
  70. Better Than Gore
  71. Just Naota
  72. Glacialic Acid
  73. LuvMonke
  74. Unchecked Twitch
  75. Better Than Gore
  76. Just Naota
  77. LuvMonke
  78. Unchecked Twitch
  79. Better Than Gore
  80. LuvMonke
  81. Better Than Gore
  82. LuvMonke
  83. Better Than Gore

1Abyssal Majesty

G-WORLD

WELCOME TO G-WORLD THE MOST HIP HOPPING CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND TO EVER GRACE GAIA PRIME.

Here children of all races and sizes come to lolligag and frolic in the most low tech, cheap surroundings available for commercial use. It may also be where infamous criminals stash their innumerable piles of s**t from murders and heists.

The main attraction is the enormous ball pit where countless souls have made the Missing Children's list. Some avoid the magical playland in fear that it was cursed by Beelzebub himself.

General - It's a kids wonderland filled with obstacle courses and stuff galore. DEFEND YOUR CASTLE, PLAY IN THE PIT OF LAVA.

The ball pit (the main fighting precipice) is three deep, though entirely easy to move through as the plastic orbs are pretty damned light, rising out of the pit is a singular platform that measures 15ftx15ft. The area itself is 30ftx30ftx30ft.

Above the arena hanging from the ceiling is a twisty-turny tangle of tubes leading to one massive side on the very left whilst the ladder into the maze is on the very right. It can only support about 375 pounds total. If exceeded, it will collapse.

Weapons - Fist sized plastic fun balls, slides, and pieces of plastic paneling. Andddd **

Natural Element Resources - Plastic and children's spit.

Bonus Effects - The fantastical st that's called imagination.

Under the plethora of multicolored fun-bobs lay neat little gizmo's of the painful variety. If your character plunges the juvenile excretions to perhaps plunder the bounty, you can roll a D20 to behold what you have blindly grasped for. You can rummage once every 2 turns.

show spoilerhide spoiler1. Giant inflatable squeaky hammer

  1. A life sized stuffed Alligator
  1. (1) bag of (15) metal jacks
  1. A glass bottle
  1. A 12in lead pipe
  1. 6in steel dagger
  1. (1) Soap in a sock
  1. A pink pool noodle
  1. A Handful of Gary Busey's Teeth
  1. A wad of Blue Crystal s**t
  1. (1) Vuvuzela
  1. Sockem Boppers
  1. (1) Black Jack
  1. A can of Crisco
  1. The Great American Challenge
  1. A life sized stuffed shark (Tiger Shark)
  1. (3) Lightly used syringes
  1. (2) Steel knuckle dusters
  1. A croquet mallet
  1. 2ft Nerf sword

2Better Than Gore

"Guess we've finally arrived," With an obvious statement, Darren remained stationary for the time being, anticipating their freedom from the very confined vehicle. Once the rear door opened, he wasn't patient with the rest of his Team, the Cyborg hunched over after standing up from his seat, and basically shuffled his way around whoever else stood up in front of him. Hopping out, and onto the cement the vehicle stopped upon with a sigh of relief. "What in the actual ********> If this didn't alarm the rest of his Team, nothing would, Darren's facial expression twisted into a look of horror, and confusion as he stared almost petrified at the giant sign just outside of the vehicle.

G-WORLD!

"Good luck, gentlemen." With that, Darren shrugged lightly, and began making his way toward the entrance of their arena. Raising his FIGHTER every once in awhile to check for any notification of his opponent.

!

Code: Your opponent is Benjamin Nicolai.

"Alrighty then," By the time this message had arrived, Darren was already inside of the play structure, leaning up against the wall near the Ball Pit. This is where he would stay until provoked otherwise.

LuvMonke Wrote:

3Unchecked Twitch

"What happened? It was your responsibility to look after Miss Twitch!"

"You know we can't do anything about the Elimination round. Or like, anything that actually happens in this tournament."

"Nothing bad happened, Dream!Seung, everything's fine. Besides, Dream!Bubbles and Dream!Vox filled me in on what was going on."

"Is she using a hyphen or exclamation mark after 'Dream'?"

"That... that does not matter!"

"Look, forget it. Just get me some cool clothes and my stick, and I'll get back to beating people up! I always wanted to be in HoH and be Queen of Blazestar and a Power That Be. And now that I have the chance, it's time to make it happen!"

Seung frowned slightly. "This isn't a dream. I think you maybe got hit in the head?"

"What are you talking about, there's no way I'd be in Heaven or Hell for real, that tournament's for people like... like Lazenca and Shouyin and Taki. But like I said, since this is a dream--"

"You should probably stop believing that, Miss Twitch."

"No, I think it's better this way. This may prove amusing."

"Ooh, Big Sis has devil horns coming out of her head~"

"...And stop calling me Big Sis."

"I need a triple-shot of something," Twitch announced through a loud yawn. She then paused to consider her words. "But would it matter if I'm dreaming? Would a caffeine IV drip wake me up?"

---------

And without needing to get into the details of how such an event occurred, Twitch (with her team!) was on the scene. Openly brandishing a large staff [not a bat!) that bounced across her shoulders, Twitch laughed very, very boldly, reminiscent of an anime villain. And not one of those ladies who covered their mouths with the back of their hands, for this was no time for doh-hohohoho.

"GYAHAHAHAHA!"

Yeah, like that.

"It's time to take my dreams by the balls! Which one of you chumps am I going to drown in this stupid ball pit?! Let's hurry this up, I feel sleepy in my dream and that's stupid, so that probably means that I need to wake up for work soon!"

It was very understandable if the thick, loud woman sporting pointed ears and a twisted, toothy smile made the opponents feel a little intimidated, a little scurred.


[[TEAM-WIDE PERSISTENT EFFECT]]

Spirit of the Abhorsen (Buff): Because of your advanced exposure to one of the furthest Gates of Death, any persons who had contact with the water have an aura of intimidation as you have danced with the Abhorsen herself, an embodiment of the Great Death.

4Knight Breaker

G-World

KB disembarked from the Zinite or... whatever vehicle with slight haste. In truth he was feeling kind of jumpy. A hundred or a thousand hearts or whatever was enough to make even a vampire like KB almost giddy. The fact that they were condensed into one giant meatball was just convenient. Evidence remained of the meal of course, but the businessman took the time to wipe his face off with a kerchief.

"Well, I feel great!" He announced as he spread his arms out, then turned around to look at his team. They looked kind of ragged. It didn't kill the vampire's smile though, no, he was feeling pretty good. Bouncing on his feet a little he turned back to the arena at hand and stuffed his bloody handkerchief into his pocket.

A giant indoor playground. Huh. Tugging at the neck of his shirt a bit, KB wondered about the hugging, no, biting tightness of his suit. It didn't seem to hinder his movements but it was kind of uncomfortable. He could feel his undies biting at his d**k and the sensation was less than ideal. Compounding the problem was the appearance of ENEMY TEAM! They had brushed death and radiated it's energy. Scary!

"Oh man guys, don't know if we can handle this." KB remarked, approaching the ballpit. "These guys look pretty tough." He stuck out a gloved hand, chopping at a space about three feet in the air. "Oh yeah I just knew it! Taller than the rest! These must be... the PLAYGROUND BULLIES!"

Gasps of fear and awe resounded through the arena, or at least KB pretended they did. Instead there was some thick lady yelling and the idle booping and beeping of coin-farming arcade games. If his guess was at all accurate then DARE would have to dare to confront them, get it? Hahahaha!

"For the good of the gworld, I will defeat you evil bullies!" The vampire announced, before barreling into the ball pit with his arms waving wildly. His mouth split open really big and he started chomping through what ought to have been shovel fulls of those plastic balls that inundated the pit. He was... the BALLPIT SHARK!

5Glacialic Acid

Serren appeared in a new locale utterly bewildered. She looked like a 7 foot 6 inch mummy on heels and in under wear. Lost and confused Serren was stricken with amnesia. She had forgotten that she was dead. Luckily her blight was automatic; everything organic around her would sag and bow and carpet would brown. Even the spit of children would heal her.

In a meadow that no longer exists, Lily Charlotte is 38 years, 6 months, 1 week, 4 days, 14 hours, and 12 minutes and not a second older. Her lung collapsed, she had been lying on the ground for 18 minutes and 27 seconds before drowning in her own blood.

Sunlight glowed warmly upon the bed of grass and flowers, 49 seconds would pass, motionless with stale windless air suspending yellow pollen. It was a beautiful death fitting the elf. Unseen gods reached a judgment, and upon 49 long seconds of limbo, the ground and grass surrounding her body suddenly died in a growing circle. The pollen in the air turned into ash, Serren Glacial opened her eyes, now a deep black and grey.

Lily Charlotte had failed her occupation while living and death seemed too little a punishment. Serren was resigned to live forever and attached with a sickness that claimed the lives of those she loved. Serren exuded a necrotic blight from her bones. Blight is simply a rapid and complete necrosis, browning, than death of living tissues. The life forfeited by this death fed Serren and maintained her body for 2 million years into the present.

She stumbled back, frantically checking her surroundings. She was exposed in her under wear and covered herself poorly and fearfully; her left arm was sluggish and hurt like hell. She had questions. Where am I? Why does my arm hurt? Why is everything dying? She looked around at the blighted carnage around her and gaining courage she stood straight, but still confused. She bit her lip, “I have a condition.”

Serren’s pain was temporary, for all her frailty, lack of armor, lack of strength; her blight automatically provided a fully approved healing mechanic. If Serren knew the logistics of tournament approval, she would know this ability was likely allowed out of pity. Given that most combatants had steel skeletons, metal flesh, and armor. The pain in her arm would numb but not completely heal…not yet.

She glanced at her fighter, there were notes on it. Along with many other scribblings one read, "Wigi isssss hawt."

Serren noticed a scarecrow in the ball pool half submerged. She recognized the object as dear and important, but didn't know why. She spoke to the man who had dove into the pool. "Sir, can you pass me that scarecrow. I fear it is misplaced. Also do you know a Mr. Wigi?"

6Just Naota

smilies/icon_arrow.gif G-World

It was one of the happier arenas he had ever been assigned, rivaling even the Wheel of Moderately Priced Goods which had netted his previous team a plethora of prizes. And considering DARE had just passed their elimination round with flying colors (even though their ride to G-World hadn't been pleasant - with the exception of the Vampire who had been given incredibly tasty vampire treat), the cyberpunk looked (like much of his team) in good spirits as he entered the area with the rest of his team. Removing a pair of metallic hands from the front pockets of his zipper hoodie, Edward stretched out his metallic arms with a grin, the sleeves of his sweater rolled up to just below the elbow.

Slowly, the somewhat bruised and battered detective walked over to the ball pit and sized up the enemy team. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, though it may have had a lot to do with the zombie in their ranks, but looking upon the enemy team managed to make Edward hesitate in entering the ball pit. They didn't look like much, though they were scary either way. Tracing the long cut on the side of his face with a metal finger, the cyborg's eyes darted from member of Rising Star to member, and soon stopped to settle on the cat-woman with the the staff who was talking an awful lot about dreams or some such nonsense.

Twitch, the FIGHTER which he toted like a cell phone indicated.

Edward dropped into the ball pit, sinking deep into the colorful pool of pure fun. He took long and purposeful strides towards Twitch, gesturing to her with his left hand, essentially nominating himself as her one and only opponent.

7LuvMonke

Shuffle.

THUMP

Shuffle.

THUMP

Slowly but surely, Benjamin hobbled his way into G-world. He achieve a snails pace by taking gingerly steps with right foot, pausing in between to dragging his left up to meet it. It was a poor mimicry of walking but it got him from point A to point B immediately and was better than the sharp needles of pain that jolted through his left leg every time he tried to put some real weight on it.

Fortunately such a agonizingly embarrassing gait wouldn't have to be maintained much longer, as he'd caught sight a implement with which to aid his locomotion upon arrival. A shiny metal crutch has rolled over the lip of the ball pit as they'd been arriving, not too far from where he was now but a relative light year away at his current pace. This wasn't too bad for at his current pace, although still painful and slow, he'd eventually arrive at his destination. Unfortunately, it had disappeared neared a corner of the pit near some mean looking sunova b***h with shiny appendages.

He sighed, hopping that the ol' boy won't hit a cripple, and screwing his face up for the more likely case that this poor sop ran over grannies for pocket change. Maybe this aura of dread he was exuding would make him look like a deranged medieval hobo, with his frostbitten breastplate and water-worn gauntlets covering. Somebody way too crazy and deranged to start swinging at before you took his true measure. He struggled on, hopping he'd be in luck for once in his life, but knowing in his heart of hearts that God was lie and lady luck was a ****** ct.

8Knight Breaker

Glacialic Acid Wrote:

Serren noticed a scarecrow in the ball pool half submerged. She recognized the object as dear and important, but didn't know why. She spoke to the man who had dove into the pool. "Sir, can you pass me that scarecrow. I fear it is misplaced. Also do you know a Mr. Wigi?"

AHHHHH THE BULLY IS LOOKING AT ME!!!

KB's eyes widened as he was called out by the girl bully in underwear. Sinking into the ball pit a little lower he took a moment to appreciate the view. Damn that ancient zombie body was fine. When she asked him for the scarecrow he looked to it and stared.

The scarecrow didn't seem to exude a scary aura, so, KB took it as an opening and went for it. Besides, it would buy him time not having to directly deal with the bullies.

"Sure thing." He said, moving rapidly to the drowning object. It seemed to be in that position some people took when they stopped moving in water, laying on their back. KB wasn't really an expert on swimming ( had virtually no experience actually ) but he deduced that the scarecrow was in fact dead, drowned.

the past Wrote:

"It can be useful though - that attraction. You've obviously proven yourself capable of overriding the basic tendency to avoid harming females. If you cultivate the proper relationships then you can instill that hesitation in others, ultimately leading to unparalleled success." He gestured idly with a gloved hand, accenting his point. The reflective glasses hid his eyes from view so that only his confident voice could be read. If he felt badly about the notion of manipulating women in order to win a game it didn't show.

"Crushing someone mentally and physically... that's the true nature of victory."

Competition in general brought out the worst in people.

Darren kept an eye on his companion using his peripheral vision, it would appear that the Cyborg had been staring straight ahead, but KB hadn't left his sight since he approached him. A one sided smirk rose slowly as he began talking about not holding back against the opposite sex, and in a way he was correct. In fact, KB was far more intelligent than anyone the Cyborg had talked to thus far, and that was a tad bit concerning. With knowledge came power, and with power came corruption.

"It's kill, or be killed. Just because an opponent has a nice rack, doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to show mercy."

That moment at the opening ceremonies was rustling around in KB's head like a noisy insect. Mistaking Serren's altered perception for naivety or hesitation he steeled himself for the task at hand. Wordlessly, the vampire sunk under the surface of the ball pit - when he appeared again it was with an explosive breaching of the surface that scattered different colored balls everywhere.

!!!

The scarecrow was caught in the jaws of the deadly BALL PIT SHARK! Showing no mercy, the ball bit shark would shake the drowned strawman violently before using the full force of its bite to snap it in half. If anything remained from such a brutal attack it would be rent apart as the wannabe king of the sea thrashed his oversized chomping mouth.

!NOM NOM NOM!

[1/17]

9Better Than Gore

Huh.

Guess everyone didn't do as well as DARE did in their Eliminator.

"So you're Benjamin, huh?" Darren wouldn't bother moving for the time being; instead, he remained in his comfortable leaning position. "Let me get a cigarette going before we get started," Slowly, the Cyborg's cybernetic limb dug into the closest pocket, fishing out a red, and white box. Using his thumb, he'd flick open the top of the pack, casually snatching a cigarette by the filter. Biting onto it gently, Darren would then extend the cybernetic limb holding the pack out toward Benjamin, offering him a cigarette. While he waited for an answer, his opposite arm patted around his lower body for Edward's zippo, somehow the good Doctor still hadn't noticed it went missing. With a mere flick of the wrist, the metallic top of the object flung open, and his thumb rolled across the cog mounted atop of the metal rectangle. An orange hue was created, and was then whisked across the end of his cigarette. Then came an inhale, igniting the cigarette with a steady red glow, smoke bellowing from Darren's partially agape mouth.

If Benjamin wasn't a fan of lung cancer, the pack would be tossed aside for later, and the Cyborg jolted forward. Tilting his head slightly to the the left as he watched his opponent very carefully, slowly he raised onto the balls of his feet, placing the left foot forward and having little weight on it. Even bouncing off the toes in an exaggerated manner. His hands raised, about shoulder length apart and palms facing outward toward Benjamin, firsts curled and chin tucked. The traditional Muay Thai stance was one Darren apparently knew quite well, his motions relaxed and viciously smooth. He didn't shuffle in, in fact at first he didn't even move.

Darren was allowing Benjamin to make the first move, showing just a tad bit of mercy, although the Drug Lord wanted nothing more than to completely, and utterly destroy the man that stood in front of him. This was the only warning Benjamin would receive.

[1]

LuvMonke Wrote:

10LuvMonke

Huh.

Guess not everyone was a a*****e, go figure.

Sadly Benjamin, thought not opposed to the practice, hadn't smoked in quite some time. No matter how much a smoke might momentarily take his mind off his troubles, he really didn't want to end up coughing up a lung mid way through the mat--

******** It. At this point he took whatever he could get.

"Sure, why not?"

He stopped, turned and took the offered cig with his left hand, his right sitting at his waist and fiddling with on of the steel studs on his belt. He stood with as much of his weight as he could on his right leg, his back now facing the ball pit as he waited for the other man to give him a light. This unwakeable leg of his was getting on his last nerve, a short smoke before the blows started flying might do to tamper his temper.

[ 1 ]

11Better Than Gore

How odd.

Normally when someone took a fighting stance, that was a clear sentiment that it was time for action, but that surprisingly didn't encourage Darren's opponent. Or phase him for that matter; instead, Benjamin remained still. 'Better not kype that.' Was the only thought the Cyborg mustered before the object was lightly tossed, obviously Darren hadn't trusted the man, otherwise he would of handed it over.

"How was your Eliminator?" Yes, Darren was making small talk, and for no good reason either. It was evident that Benjamin wasn't ready for combat, maybe he wouldn't be ready for quite sometime judging by his appearance; where as, the Cyborg was basically in top shape. Darren's left arm had definitely been in better condition, Barsait had taken quite the large bite out of the man, and his two 'Medic's' repaired it. Several small burns were scattered across his body, and random cuts that had been filled with a rather disgusting looking concoction.

Darren hadn't relaxed his body once since he took his stance, the Cyborg would continue to bounce about, taking a drag from his cigarette every once in awhile. Simply waiting for Benjamin to attack, or attempt to attack, or attempt to do anything for that matter.

[2]

LuvMonke Wrote:

12LuvMonke

How odd.

Normally when someone took a fighting stance and got handed such a golden opportunity, they struck hard and fast hoping to ending things as quickly possible. I mean, Benjamin was just standing there obviously open and naked, seemingly unprepared for any attack. This was one of those once in a fight moments to hit your opponent when he most vulnerable and get some points and damage in. The swordsman was practically begging to get socked in the face, kneed in the chest or something.

Instead of his opponent showed mercy, courtesy, and maybe even honor in not attacking before his opponent seemed 'ready' for combat. It was unexpected and refreshing at the same time, not often had he come across men of honor since the day he fled his homeland. Not many in these parts would go out of their way to avoid....opportunity.

He shrug, choking it up to the randomness of the universe. To think he'd find one of the last honorable men in a place like this. Benjamin great fully took the lighter and lit his cigarette. He did not however close down the lid to return the implement, but considered it briefly.

"My eliminator? Hmph. It was to die for..."

He said in a sardonic tone that emphasized more than hide the double entendre in his words. As he did so he flicked the lighter out of wrist like one would a frizby, tossing it in such a manner that lighter's lid would be held open instead of closed by centrifugal force. It would fly across the short distance to thud into his opponent's abdomen and if Ben was lucky, set it on fire. If not then it would be a pleasant distraction.

For hit or miss, Benjamin followed this throw by leaping off his good leg. However he didn't leap toward as it traveled toward Darren's chest, forgoing any offensive opportunity in the sense of advantageous retreat. Turning and shoving off with his good leg, he sent himself into a swan dive into the ball pit. Light and made of flimsy plastic though they might be, these colored and spit soaked balls would they'd stop him from getting much more injured than he already was when he hit the bottom.

[ 2 ]

13Better Than Gore

Benjamin probably thought throwing the lighter was a wise decision; unfortunately, it would force the Cyborg into action. Which would easily be the largest mistake Benjamin made all Tournament. Darren had a feeling his opponent would take advantage of having the small trinket, and so he acted accordingly.

Swat!

Like a feline with a ball of yarn, Darren's right arm swatted at the object, his hand knocking the lighter off course, and onto the ground. A smirk presented itself upon noticing Benjamin attempt a dive into the pool, at that exact moment, Darren too moved. But he wouldn't move in a way that would match his opponent; instead, Darren followed his movement very closely. Exploding forward right as Benjamin shoved off, his left foot suddenly got the weight switched onto it. As his opponent was basically falling backward, aiming the kick would be quite difficult, but if he timed it correctly the Cyborg's attack may have connected. His right rear leg came out from a chamber less stance, driving downward at the hip, and into the body of his falling opponent. The blow was easily devastating, those who had never been Thai kicked could never understand what it was like to be body kicked by one. Darren's kick was aimed at the falling Benjamin's hip, if the Cyborg timed it correctly, and hooked the kick accurately.

Ouch.

[3]

LuvMonke Wrote:

14Unknown

Just Naota Wrote:

A volunteer, awesome! After a loud yawn, Twitch all but jumped into the ball pit, only vaguely and subconsciously aware that there may be sharp, painful, unhealthy things stored at the bottom. Still, her nice sneakers would protect her from any errant drug-laced needles, right?

"Woo, give me a second..." She couldn't shake it, the feeling of being tired. She had to get her adrenaline pumping, had to get her blood moving. Lethargy could be beaten with activity, she knew, but she had to just... start moving. Shake the cobwebs out, try to keep those awesome fine motor skills and complex thoughts. Twitch couldn't get out and start stretching, now that someone actually picked her out, and it was her fault for not being amped up before entry of the fighting arena.

Another yawn. A wipe of her eyes, a shake of her head and her hands. And all though it, she kept that genuine smile that people thought was psychotic but oh well it was how she smiled, sorry she's a hellcat you're gonna have to deal with it.

"Alright!" She leveled her gaze at the man that the FIGHTER she totally checked told her was named 'Edward.' The gaze was accompanied with a hand curling to her, beckoning him closer, immediately followed by her taking a pointedly threatening stance, left side slightly forward; her hands were low and while the left one was splayed open with small claws presented, the right held the staff. Her hackles raised as her hair and fur stood on end, and she bore her teeth at him as her perpetually-slit eyes stared and waited. She rather enjoyed her current position and it was up to him to continue to close it or decide that it would be best to not approach her from the fore.

Mind the pun, but it was a blatant dare. Ante up, double down.

show spoilerhide spoiler

Spirit of the Abhorsen (Buff) Wrote:

Because of your advanced exposure to one of the furthest Gates of Death, any persons who had contact with the water have an aura of intimidation as you have danced with the Abhorsen herself, an embodiment of the Great Death.

Blazestar Staff Wrote:

Made of oak, the staff has been pressurized and treated. It is otherwise an ordinary, though notably hard and dense, staff of red stain with hard, golden caps at the end. Measures 5 feet long, 1¾ inches in diameter.

Claws Wrote:

Twitch maintains small, ½ inch claws extending past her fingertips. They cannot do any shredding against any armor, but they can inflict expected damage on uncovered flesh and mundane cloth.

15LuvMonke

Well he didn't quite fall backwards, though that might have been a more dignified. He spun about roughly 360 degrees and dove into the pit as if it were a lover's arms or the palm the aching pain in his leg. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately that meant that kick would land upon his uninjured right side, his hip spared demolishment by the black breastplate he still wore. The unusually heavy blow, a combination of cybernetic strength and Muay Thai beefiness, crumpled the metal it came into direct contact as the armor did its job and absorbed some of the force. The rest translated into a flash pang of agony in the region and slight shift that if he weren't already airborne would have destabilized his footing. However he wasn't trying to stand at the moment but instead was letting gravity do its duty, and thus the pain he suffered didn't immediate his derail his current efforts.

He landed and sunk into the ball pit, hidden from view for a moment or two as he shuffled about in the colorful and murky depths of the ball pit. He quickly and as ambiguously as he could move away from his point of impact on his hands and knee, trying not to jostle his injured leg too much. An impossible task but atleast he didn't need to come up for air every time he wasted it by cussing under the balls. He quickly got his hands on the long sought after metal crutch but instead of surfacing, as he might have in real pool, he chose to stay submerged and see what his opponent would do. How would the fellow react to his journey unda da sea spit-covered balls? As well his little adventure had been unusually taxing on his energy reserves, he could use a moment to catch his breath.

[]

3

16Better Than Gore

CANNON BALL!

After the kick made impact, Darren didn't hesitate following his opponent, literally leaping into the Pit. Tucking each knee up as he fell downward, coming down into the Ball's, forcing them scattering everywhere. Darren's landing point was almost pin-point with Benjamin's entrance into the Pit; unfortunately, his opponent probably immediately began swimming around. This fact easily escaped the Cyborg as he came down; though, this wouldn't discourage him.

Darren's hand dove downward into the Pit, fishing around for something of use, whether it was Edward's zippo, or anything else littered at the bottom.

"I have acquired something." Escaped him, as his hand acted like that of a claw from the arcade machine's. Pulling free a croquet mallet! That would come in handy if Benjamin came back up anytime soon.

[4]

LuvMonke Wrote:

17Glacialic Acid

“WILSON!” Lily screamed unable to swim out to him. “WILSON! NOOO, god” The scarecrow’s name came to her mind in a flash. Lily fell to her knees, her eyes flooding into a blur with grief and pain from her left arm. “Wilson, WILSON! I’m sorry…I’m Sorry…Wilson…(sobbing)…why?”

Wilson sensed his lady’s pain and his heart went out to her and his anger towards his attacker. His revenge was swift, also nonexistent, he’s a scarecrow. His central staff was made of Australian hard wood, a wood as strong as metal, it would not break easily. But the strawman’s torso would be torn asunder and spilling out in a flurry would be fiberglass asbestos and shards of glass. Straw is boring and expected; spilling down KB’s throat, onto his face, and into his eyes would be millions of micro slivers and jagged glass. The effect would be lethal to normal people, ingesting or inhaling large and small shards of glass along with millions of glass needles would prevent breathing and produce large amounts of blood; also choking. Compounding this would be hundreds of internal and external lacerations.

The once brimming scarecrow would spill Serren’s collected treasures not only down KB’s throat but all over the ball pool he was swimming in. It would take nothing short of a miracle for KB avoid cutting, stabbing, and piercing himself in a pool now flooded with particulates that did little else but stab.

Depriving Serren of her weapon and Wilson would have a prickly price.

[1-17]

18Knight Breaker

CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP!

Bent, battered, broken.

CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP

Glass and other random stuff tumbled off KB's face and spilled over his body. If the little jabby bits hurt it didn't show. More than likely the mundane stuff simply failed to breach his supernaturally durable skin. Even his eyes which by human standards would be terribly maimed seemed to be doing ok as his head waved around wildly biting.

As the glass cascaded over his body though, it bit at his less-durable suit. A single shard sliced through a couple of threads of his tie before the reaction happened.

POOMF!

Plastic balls of every color went flying out in a giant sphere, suddenly displaced by an explosion centered on the vampire. Anyone looking would be able to plainly see the pale body at the core of the event was... completely naked. His clothing seemed to have hardened and gave a spasm as it was cut just moments before violently jumping off his person.

Code: [Dress to Duress:]

If KB's suit is punctured or pierced in any fashion, it will suddenly explode off his body into small stone fragments that will rapidly shower an enemy omnidirectional 3' from his person. This will cut open flesh, lightly bruise it, and serves as quite an entertaining mixture of a distraction and a bit of deadly force. Of note is that suit cares not for what punctures it, only that it is in fact punctured, and that the explosion is purely outward -- KB will not be harmed.

Over several hours, the suit will piece itself back together - pristine and spotless.. on KB's person. The fragments will seek to harmonize over the vampire, and will form on his body regardless of location, even if he attempts to flee them - constricting randomly in the night. Of course, this means it can only be utilized once in any standard fight.

...!

So that was the 'gift' that the tyrant of Zine had bestowed upon him. It would have been quite useful in any other situation besides the one he was in. Then again as the ball pit resumed its resting state with balls rolling in to replace those lost like a hastily dug hole in sand a thought occurred.

Sharks are naked.

<!>

BWOOOOOING BWOING BWOING!

Cue camera zooming in and out on KB's face as the realization dawns on him, completely with crazy tilts and that springy sound effect. The colors of the arena blended into a whirlpool around his face which was suddenly replaced by a cartoon shark head. A giant smiling one with glasses and hair to match. Everywhere kids watching Heaven or Hell at home freak out and start running around the house biting stuff, people, themselves, going RRRRRGH IT'S BITIN' TIME!

"doop dooop doopy doop doop da doop da da dah nah nuh" KB hummed as he dove back into the waters, arms and legs flailing wildly in a pathetic attempt at swimming. His enlarged mouth mulched anything that came close, frothing blood and bugs that seemed to leak from between his teeth like venom from some alien snake. It didn't matter though, he was empowered by the power of imagination or something. Video game music was hanging around him as if someone in the rafters could just point a sound gun at him and make it there. He still had that 100 or 1000 or whatever hearts high going.

[2/17?]

19Just Naota

He adjusted his goggles over his eyes.

The detective watched his opponent and the rest of her team carefully, making note of a few important and not-so-important things as he 'gave her a second.' For example, judging by the yawn and talk of being sleep and being in a dream, Edward was certain that she was both tired from her elimination round (given theirs occured right before this match as DARE's did - and the cyberpunk had no reason not to assume as much considering the injuries on some of Twitch's teammates) or really delusional, though likely a good bit of both. It was also apparent that Rising Star was a member short, so either one of them had been injured to fight or they hadn't done so well in Eliminations.

Nodding, Edward began to advance on Twitch, or tried to anyways as his body leaned forward yet his feet refused to move. The cyborg shook his head, his every fiber told him to stay back and not fight. He didn't know what to chalk it up to, or how to explain it even (for she seemed no more scarier than any of the other fights he'd fought at these sort of events), but the hellcat gave him pause. Gritting his teeth, he shoved his fears aside, deeming those feelings totally irrational. She couldn't be that scary, she couldn't possibly be intimidating enough to scare him off...right?

He took a step forward and then another, followed by another, then another, and before Edward knew it. He was halfway to his opponent. His features became stoic, his stare hard as he continued to study his opponent. Nearly half of his body submerged (three feet was pretty deep) as he treaded easily through the pit at a steady pace. Edward didn't move too fast nor too slow. The cyberpunk's vision settled on the hellcat's long staff, noting that the deep pit wasn't the ideal place to maneuver such a long weapon (especially if Twitch happened to be on the shorter side and a majority of her body was submerged because of it). Yet, she still held the advantage of reach on the cyborg. He adapted his game plan around that.

Edward moved forward, trying to get in close at his steady place, but he didn't move to attack though he did lift his arms up defensively. The cyberpunk had taken her dare head on; the ball was in Twitch's court now, however. She had a choice. Would she attack with her staff from a range where the hellcat maintained an advantage, or would she allow Edward to move in close where such a long weapon would lose much of its effectiveness?

Or would she do something else entirely?

Edward didn't know but he remained alert and focused, beating back the calls from the section of his cyber-brain that dealt with self-preservation to retreat. He blasted those calls away defiantly, and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

Always one foot in front of the other.

-1-

20Glacialic Acid

Rolling for Serren Glacial.

21Glacialic Acid

Apparently the pounds of micro glass slivers and shards of glass forgot how they would affect skin. The lazy glass also forgot how it would affect the tender inside of a mouth and esophageal lining.

Lily didn’t care; Wilson was torn asunder and then lost in an explosion. Already low to the ground, she ducked a few balls hitting her head. She then scrambled to her feet. The nude madman was unharmed. She stepped back and wished she had something to defend herself. And the same gods who violated her mortal coil saw her plea and granted her a Vuvuzela which landed at feet from the explosion.

Lily looked at the nationally recognized musical instrument of Africa and found a new tune striking her emotional chords. Anger began trumpeting and she crushed the horn at the neck of the mouth piece with right stiletto heel.

Lily lifted her left arm, feeling the pain, and pointed at KB accusingly. She unleashed her attack and with the rebuke and recriminations that only a mother could conjure Lily said, “What is wrong with you?”

She stepped forward, “what mother taught you courtesy? Clearly you weren’t dropped as a child you were thrown against the wall and then stomped upon.”

Adding to Lily’s intimidation was the only gift imparted upon her from her eliminator.

Spirit of the Abhorsen (Buff) Wrote:

Because of your advanced exposure to one of the furthest Gates of Death, any persons who had contact with the water have an aura of intimidation as you have danced with the Abhorsen herself, an embodiment of the Great Death.

[2-17]

22Knight Breaker

KB was still scared of death... or... whatever. Some stupid aura thing that made the scolding woman more frightful. Normally the vampire wouldn't have been bothered but he was pretty amped. That and the arena had the power of IMAGINATION, and imagining could summon up some pretty scary stuff.

Glacialic Acid Wrote:

“what mother taught you courtesy? ”

KB's head popped out of the pit as Serren rambled, his eyes narrowing. Her scathing words brought him back to his first memories shortly after birth. In his mind's eye he could clearly see it. The ballpit welled up around him and reached high above his head, the sea floor littered with random lost treasures as giant strands of kid drool floated overhead like clouds. Serren was in an elevated position in her undies entwined by hooting African instrument kelp. Different colored balls floated around them and illuminated the dark spaces between them.

"I never had a mother." He answered solemnly, thinking about it pretty hard. Recounting his life wasn't really very exciting but he felt compelled. "When I was born... it was in darkness, but I wasn't alone. All my brothers and sisters were with me!" Despite the fact that family was generally pretty cool, the shark didn't smile. All around him little KBs were trying to swim in vain. "That didn't last long though." Sighing, he watched the memory play out in front of him, a giant phallic mexican diving through the water like a bullet. The c**k Fox ate up hundreds of the little naked KB's at once.

He continued, not missing a beat. "After my family died I set out into the world on my own, as is common for my kind. There were many dangers but I overcame them all and grew strong. During my teenaged years I experimented with being a taco, but it was just a phase. Once I reached adulthood I met the CRIMSON SNAKE KING. He was an evil old wretch who told me he would make the whole world look like ketchup." Glaring, the vampire thought about Omi, manifesting the tyrant as a giant red snake bull thing. "I vowed to stop him, but first I had to secure my homeland, so I returned. Only to find..."

"YOU! EVIL BULLIES BEFOULING MY BIRTHPLACE! You're just like that man! That's why I killed Wilson, and why I'll kill you next, you see... I am the hero of this story. I will win. The world can't afford for me to fail."

That was it. That was the story. It ended with KB's bold announcement, followed by him plowing forwards towards Serren. Behind him a trail of plastic balls went flying up away from his surging form. Even if he was scared he would have to save the day. Not quite fearlessly, no, but bravely nonetheless. As he made his approach he readied himself mentally for the perfect moment to start bustin' out the real moves.

[3/17]

23Unchecked Twitch

PLAYER TURN

Just Naota Wrote:

He took a step forward and then another, followed by another, then another, and before Edward knew it. He was halfway to his opponent. His features became stoic, his stare hard as he continued to study his opponent. Nearly half of his body submerged (three feet was pretty deep) as he treaded easily through the pit at a steady pace. Edward didn't move too fast nor too slow. The cyberpunk's vision settled on the hellcat's long staff, noting that the deep pit wasn't the ideal place to maneuver such a long weapon (especially if Twitch happened to be on the shorter side and a majority of her body was submerged because of it). Yet, she still held the advantage of reach on the cyborg. He adapted his game plan around that.

D' was 5'11". Three feet was just over half her height, so she wouldn't be doing any curaaaaazy flipping about without some notable help and fancy maneuvering. She knew it too, though... she'd be wading if she really wanted to make ground. Unless he had the ability to leap from place to place...

...wait. Okay, keep that in mind.

Anyway, unless her opponent could simply propel himself 3+ feet to get to her (which she wouldn't discount in a dream), then he'd be wading too, much like he already was. As he steeled his commitment to advance, she moved into a stance to meet him.

Twitch couldn't hold the staff in her normal position, having to keep it up near the surface of the ball line. The tip closer to him was obscured a few inches into the balls, just under the first ball or thereabouts, so that the exact edge of her staff and end of her reach would remain slightly obscured unless he actually looked for it. The point was that she might be able to poke him a few times, switching the angles slightly every instance, so he immediately understood the range she was going to force him to stay at.

...So of course, she began poking Edward in the chest rather hard. They wouldn't do any serious damage because they were ultimately jabs, and she would quickly retract/hide the end nearest him to prevent him from easily grabbing it and just making things horrible.

Just little somethin' somethin' to get his mind going, as she watched his reactions. Most people got annoyed really quickly when getting jabbed like that.


Adrenaline: 3 + 1 = 4

[2/17]

ENEMY TURN

24Just Naota

Without hesitation slowing his step, Edward entered the staff's attack range, studying Twitch's new stance as he did so. He made mental notes of how the staff was being held, how the tip nearest the cyborg was submerged in the pit (though how far he wasn't aware, nor did he care as he was certain that little detail would prove more troublesome for his opponent), and how the tip was pointed vaguely in the direction he was arriving which suggested that Twitch planned on attacking. The hellcat had made the former choice, refusing to relinquish her impressive range advantage. A smart choice though the one any sane person would have expected, for who in their right mind would forsake such a great advantage, and therefore the choice Edward was most ready for.

As Twitch thrust her arm(s) forward, telegraphing the long, quick jab quite obviously, and the tip of the staff erupted from underneath the pit - causing various balls to shift every which way and telegraphing the move further; the detective halted his forward march abruptly, leaving his right leg forward, and swiftly moved to avoid the incoming blow. Edward threw his left shoulder back, twisting his hips from right to left, and turned his torso sideways.

The staff would narrowly pass the cyborg by, allowing Edward (who was always scrutinizing, always planning ahead) to get a true measure of how far his opponent's reach was. That said, Edward's dodge wasn't only for educational purposes. Simultaneously, as the detective twisted his hips to dodge Twitch's attack; Edward swiped his right arm across the surface of the pit in the same right-to-left motion as the rest of his body, throwing a multitude of multicolored balls towards the hellcat's face. It would obscure her vision just as she was retracting her staff back.

If her onslaught continued from there with a second jab, the cyberpunk would continue his routine in quick succession and in time to Twitch's jabs, though with one minor change. Edward would take a long and significant step forward (with his left foot) as the staff rushed in again, and used the forward stride to then throw his right shoulder back which caused his torso to turn sideways once more (albeit in the opposite direction). The staff would dart past him a second time, managing to graze Edward's right pectoral muscle due to the proximity and the varying angle of the poke.

No mass of multicolored balls went flying for the hellcat's face. Edward had something better in mind, considering things were now rather different than the first time Twitch attacked. The cyborg was closer to the woman, the stride easily covering more than two and a half feet. It didn't put him in range to strike back at Twitch just yet, but there was another target of importance. The hellcat's staff.

At the time of the first attack, Twitch had used the jabs to keep the detective at a certain distance, and she used that distance so that she could retract her staff safely away from Edward's clutches. Unless she planned on moving back to rectify that problem, she no longer had the luxury of that initial distance, and the cyborg's cybernetic arm (left) was dangerously close to the staff as it would retract.

Edward's left arm lashed out like a python, stretching the cybernetic arm out to its full length, and then some (the arm would extend itself mechanically an additional eight inches) as he attempted to grab hold of the long weapon. If the attempt proved successful, the detective would hold on like a vice.

Either way, the ball was again in Twitch's court.

-2-

25LuvMonke

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

((Could have sworn I posted something up on the Pause thread but it was still in preview mode when I booted the machine up this morning. Oh well, gist of it was I was feeling like a downtrodden mule and wouldn't be posting last night. Sorry, didn't mean to leave ya in the dark.))

Benjamin may be crippled and maddeningly annoyed at his present circumstance, but a idiot he was not. His scrambling for the holy walking instrument began with a scramble to vacate the area he'd landed in, as was previously stated. The iron spider, or whatever he was called, would land on nothing but plastic and spit.

Alerted to his foe's approximate location by the flashy entrance, he turned towards him before rising from the ballsy depths. His assent was neither smooth nor silent, his grace thrown off by the fierce pain shooting up his leg which gaze him a bit of a drunken swagger. His stealth, what little he might have tried to achieve anyway was ruined not by misfortune but by design. For as he rose he activated the bird marked ring on his right hand, causing a short burst of sound and light to emanate from the trinket. This light and sound coalesced into the 31" blade of his arming sword, which was held out to his right side in a similar angle to the metal crutch held beneath his left elbow.

For a moment he'd look like a great diving bird rising from the waves with dinner in it's beak, but the image was spoiled as he leaned towards his right and placed his weight on his crutch. This allowed him to elevate his left foot off the floor at last, and he reveled in the sweet delight of reduced pain. He felt so giddy for a brief moment, he even cocked a smile in Darren's direction.

"Well, are you just going to stand there?" he'd crow if the man hadn't begun moving by now. He'd even punctuate the "you" by point his blade at the other man's chest, hoping to spur him into motion.

[][

4

26Glacialic Acid

As KB prattled on, Lily winced and whispered “I know you.” Perhaps she recognized his trim naked body, perhaps it was his flavorful madness that granted him a memorable charm, she had slept with him.

The corner of her face twisted into a wretched smile. Her madness was returning. “You Have No Mother???…well god willing, I will cram you up my clown hole, birth you out, and name you my b***h.” She said in a matter of fact way. Serren never swore so her memory wasn’t completely back. Lily remained, but her new found sanity was cracking and the first drops like Wilson and KB were trickling through with no finger to stop the leak.

She marched forward and kicked up a plastic ball catching it with her right hand. As KB waded up she would take advantage of his lower position and throw the ball at his face while he remained in the pool.

The brutal ball assault would be followed with a graceful standing jump of 6 feet. She would do so giving him a clear birth. Serren was light and nimble. Combined with her 7.5 foot height she managed, barely, to crawl atop the high tubing overhead. It was meant as safe crawl tubing for the rodent spawn of man. Serren made alternative use of it. Like a grotesque flexible spider she would maneuver herself over the center of the pool. Her goals was simple, tease KB, search the area for something…important.

[3-17]

27Unchecked Twitch

PLAYER TURN

Upon entry of the pit, Twitch had hardly moved forward, something someone might've called her stupid for (actually, she might cry over a beer over the whole way she'd been this round, but that's for later). The point was that in maintaining her distance, she would have to circle and as she did take steps backward, her direction of strafe would be to her left. To be fair, she didn't take retreating steps nearly as large as Edward, but his advance might be slowed as she focused more in moving around him. That in itself meant nothing for his advance, but it meant that she could actually see it, especially since in her circling she'd have a bit more vision in the wall of balls. It also meant that they'd be perpendicular to her point of entry-- about four feet from the wall, if that.

And so nothing changed. Now aware of his advance and with him aware of her retreat, the game continued for a few more seconds until he changed his reaction. Taking hold of the staff was something she kinda expected when he moved towards her... he was trying to close the distance and would eventually move to disarm her, nothing weird about that. However, seeing a slight shift in his arm took her by surprise, especially since she didn't see exactly what happened, and given her state she was simply too slow to react to something like that.

She tugged slightly, and he held on. In response and while holding on with her left, she turned her body so that her entire right side was obscured by the left (save the hand and attached arm so he didn't decide to double-grip and rip the staff away), and she began leaning away. In the motion, her body began to sink into the balls inch by inch. If he was going to hold onto the staff, she could do the same.

"Leggoooo-oo," she called out in a rather sing-song manner.


Adrenaline: 4 + 1 = 5

[3/17]

ENEMY TURN

28Better Than Gore

Darren shrugged at Benjamin, smiling and saying but a few words. "Swag. Activated." Darren began to shuffle strangely toward Benjamin, right foot and right hand forward he arched his back slightly and shook his upper body back and forth in what could only be explained as the best form of walking ever invented.

The strange walk ended about half way between the distance of the pair, suddenly becoming a full force sprint with the right foot leading. His right arm rose diagonally across his upper body, fist closed around the mallet he was holding. The diagonal block of his arm prevented any thrusts or slashes being very effective, with a big metal arm in between his fleshy parts and his opponents sword it would be fairly easy to block.

And it wasn't like you could SWORD his legs, as they were made of metal as well. If his opponent wanted to fight, or even have a chance, he'd have to do it at close range. The distance game just wouldn't work against Darren, not unless you had some serious magical brunt to back up a sword.

Now, under normal circumstances the aura of intimidation Benjamin naturally had would instill some hesitation in charging head long at him, but Darren was different. You intimidated him and you did nothing but drive him harder to defeat you, for Darren wasn't scared of anything; little alone a man with a limp and a crutch.

The quickness of the gap close was the standard fair Darren always used, otherwise known as bat st hilariously fast oh god please stop raping me oh god why are you so fast. Usain Bolt could suck a fat **** dk, cause Darren was a ******** freight train of metal and speed about to bare down on some unsuspecting fool.

So ****** auras of scared sissies and **** swords. Darren was about to beat a b*h.

[5]

LuvMonke Wrote:

29LuvMonke

Benjamin cocked an eyebrow in surprise as the other man began to move, as he was unable to understand how the man was able to move continual further while he was having a seizure. What great efforts of willpower or tomfoolery lead to such a form of locomotion astounded him. The incredulity of the sight before him was great great he couldn't help but ask, "Are you...well, sir?" He phrased the question is the same tone one would use with a rabid dog, or grinning psychopath with a flamethrower.

Once the man assumed a more familiar gait, that of a mad dash, Benjamin concerns were not forgotten but simply put aside for more prudent measures. Especially since the other man was moving awfully fast, the abrupt acceleration taking Benjamin a bit off guard and thus he had much less time that he would have liked before before the other man was upon him.

He kept his sword in pretty much that same place, it being currently held at arms length with it's tip listing at little to his left and with a noticeable downward angle. He pulled the sword a little closer to himself, so his arm was no longer super extended and dropped the point further to point below the other man's upraised arm. Thus if he kept coming in some attempt to bow Benjamin over, he'd only end up skewing himself upon the blade. However it was much more likely he'd stop before that ever became a real issue, and so he'd not brace the arm until the last moment but kept it poised to strike.

He sat like a wounded snake in the grass, waiting for the moment the gazelle came closer to strike as the long distance game wasn't really his forte either. Instead he simply upped both his creepy hobo guy factor and close combat capabilities by enhancing his blade.

Quote:** Wrote:

Enhancement: Instead of an outward manifestation, his energy can also be channeled into a metallic object such as his blade or buckler. When this happens the object in questions glows with an inner red light and gains some metaphysical weight. Within an edged object, the glow electricity seems to shimmer along the edges giving them greater penetration as if each blow lands as if swung by someone twice as large as Benjamin. When with a defensive item, such as a shield or buckler, the power adds durability, reducing the damage and force acting upon the object by half via a release of red sparks as half the energy of every impact is diverted elsewhere. Either way this technique requires one cell of energy and last for three posts.

The blade held before him would begin to glow with an inner red light that although not blinding was bright enough to paint his face and torso in the same hellish color.

[

5

30Knight Breaker

rummage roll

31Knight Breaker

Serren made the miracle of birth sound quite terrible. In fact, it sounded like just about everything he'd heard about it from scarred men. Goo everywhere and tiny screaming people falling out of other people. And they said KB was a monster. As said zombie woman quite remarkably managed to straight jump up to the tubing above, the shark felt kind of let down. Nope, that was a plastic ball. PONK! It had bounced off his face and snapped him out of his melancholy. He was the legendary BALLPIT SHARK! There was no use floundering like some kind of fish out of water.

Sinking into the rainbow waters as they were, one of his fins scraped the surface by his split tail. Toes wriggled through god knows what as he scooped up something heavy. The vampire brought it up to his eyes just above the surface of the pit and they widened.

A 6" steel dagger! What the ******** kind of playhouse of death was G-World supposed to be anyway.

Just then he noticed a peculiar detail. The hand grasping the dagger was in fact clothed. For a moment he was puzzled, but then he realized what was going on. The gauntlet Godhand's resting state was that of a matching white glove worn opposite of one that was part of his suit. When Omi had enchanted his suit at large it hadn't included the item since they were in fact two separate things, not only due to their physical separation but because of the magical nature of the item. KB swapped the dagger to his left hand before thrusting his right fist from the ball pit triumphantly. A flash of light marked the transformation as the gauntlet took form.

Code: [Godhand]

KB's right-hand glove, Godhand, has the ability to transform into a spiked steel gauntlet at will. The gauntlet features fully articulated fingers, spiked knuckles ( 1" spikes ) and extends the length of his forearm to cover the elbow joint. The elbow joint features a curved blade protrusion that is 5" long. In addition to serving as a weapon and armor, Godhand is KB's only way of using the Magus ability.

Bringing his hand back down, he stuffed it in his mouth, then opened really wide and roared with his hand pointing out. Negative energy welled up between his fingers appearing like a purplish smoke with blackened edges. It instantly became so strong that it burst free of his hand in three entwined cords of darkness. The necromantic bolts shot up spiraling around each other trailing streaks of jet black that took a few seconds to fade from sight. Aimed to smash up into the tubing near and above Serren, KB hoped to cause the wobbly structure to come apart entirely.

Code:

[Magus]

KB has mastered the ability to manifest his Negative Energy in short, ranged bursts. Using Godhand KB can direct a small blast towards a target with limited tracking ability. The ability can be fired in one of two ways, either x1 shot or x3. When fired x1 the cooldown is 2 posts. When fired x3 the cooldown is 5 posts. The maximum range of the attack is 30ft.

This attack applies the Negative Energy effect on-hit and x1 does as much damage as being punched. x3 does as much damage as being shoulder-checked.

If all went according to plan and the withered angel came back to earth the hungry shark wannabe would be waiting. The fingers of his left hand tightened around the dagger as he felt its thirst for blood match his own. It was due time to demolish G-World and teach children everywhere that fun could only be had with wanton destruction and that bullies deserved to be shanked!

Also not to do drugs or some such.

[4/17]

32Just Naota

Edward's neon green-tinted goggles settled on the hellcat's own eyes, as they maneuvered their way into a stalemate. Taking hold of her staff with his cybernetic hand, the detective quickly corrected his footing, circling slightly to his own left so that the pair faced each other. Despite being oddly intimidated by his opponent, Ed even managed to give Twitch a fierce grin, nonverbally bragging about the fact that he had foiled her attempt at getting under his skin. A lesser fighter would have succumbed to the hellcat's onslaught of prods and jabs, likely deeming such a tactic the epitome of annoyance, and would have likely dug their own grave with their subsequent attempt at a counter. He wanted to make it known. Edward was different.

She would have to dig deeper into that metaphorical bag of tricks if she hoped to win.

Suddenly, once Twitch began to lean back while gripping the staff, a loud hissing sound issued from the hydraulics within his cybernetic arm as he pulled on the long weapon powerfully. Though his left arm was really strong, Edward wasn't sure whether his opponent could match that strength, and had little reason to believe that she couldn't match the power of that pull with her whole body since the cyborg was mostly utilizing his arm. And for that reason, the cyberpunk did not rely on the pull alone; his actual plan was composed of three elements (the pull included), and Edward worked quickly to implement it.

Simultaneously (as he pulled with his left), the cyberpunk stretched out his right arm, and aimed his outer forearm and the top part of his wrist downrange. Without delay, the outer forearm section of the Sentinel-pattern gauntlet (on his right arm) opened up, and the high-tensile wire of Edward's grapple hook sped away towards its target. The grapple hook was fired to the back and to the right of the detective, and its target was one of the edges of the elevated platform near the center of the ball pit. Once the hook's clamp grabbed hold of the platform's edge, the grapple hook began to pull Edward towards it (being that the platform was much heavier than him) and by extension the staff and the other person who held it. Such weight would prove difficult for the Claw, as their combined weight tested its limits heavily, but nevertheless it would pull and pull. It would detach itself the moment the stress proved too much, but the gadget would strain for now and aid Edward in his attempt to pull the weapon away.

The detective would begin to pull with all his might, his body turned sideways (his left side obscuring his right as Twitch was) and his arms outstretched at either side like a human crucifix as he and his gadget strained against the hellcat. If the woman proved to have titanic strength, Edward would find himself being pulled from both sides, and his body stretched painfully. However, the cyberpunk remained confident that he would prove the stronger; the hydraulics hissing loudly as he pulled, and the servos WHIRRING in his grapple hook.

Of course, if Twitch still proved formidable or even if she didn't (considering Ed didn't plan on waiting and it was all being done in quick succession), the third element of his disarmament technique would become apparent. Besides intense strength, Edward's cybernetic arm was also known for its flexibility; his 360-differential joints being a staple portion of that fact. Out of the blue, Edward's left shoulder started to turn in full-circles, causing the rest of his cybernetic arm to rotate similarly (like a drill). The servos whined in his arm annoyingly loud, speeding the rotations of his arm/shoulder to 700RPMs in nearly no time, and threatened to twist the staff (at those very same speeds) out of the hellcat's hands.

Unlike the detective, Twitch's arms were limited to its bones and flesh, and reasonably could not follow along with Edward's rotations. She could potentially twist the other way, attempting to prevent the rotations from occurring, though could she possibly do that while at the same time fending off the attempts by Edward to pull the staff away?

Edward wasn't sure, but he didn't think it likely.

It was his hope that the sudden, sharp pain in Twitch's wrists as they were forced to begin twisting along with the staff would cause her to release the staff.

This, of course, would permit the grapple hook to then pull Edward and the weapon away safely without much trouble.

-3-

33Unknown

Smart move.

Benjamin immediately took a defensive stance, anyone with an ounce of common sense would do the exact same thing, it wasn't surprising in the slightest. In fact, Darren had planned ahead just in case a situation like this arose, and that's what made him a great fighter. Slowing his pace near the end of the charge, an adjustment would take place, the hand that was wielding the croquet mallet would be swapped. Casually it was handed over, and the human arm tucked in an upward motion. Preparing for an attack when the time came.

As the charge came to a close, Darren's right arm rose, facing his outer forearm toward the right side of Benjamin's bladed weapon, and a push would happen as they connected. Pushing it off toward Darren's right, and Benjamin's left. Deflecting it away from causing the Cyborg harm. After this push happened, the arm wouldn't move from the blade, instead it stayed as close as possible, especially after the deflection. Simply changing the trajectory of the blade, seeing as the sword was already sticking out, it would make it extremely difficult for Benjamin to bring the sword back in front of him as Darren ran in. As Darren moved in, it would completely screw Benjamin's reach advantage, seeing as he was getting inside his range where it became harder to hold the sword straight out in a low guard. Instead, Benjamin had to conform to a high guard, and had less space to swing and maneuver.

As for an attack? That croquet mallet would come in handy right about now. Darren's arm would fire the weapon straight into Benjamin's upper body. Blunt damage! Darren was moving so fast, the speed of his charge would add more momentum into the blow, even if he was only capable of 80% of his natural strength with that arm... The sheer speed would make up for that 20%. Benjamin was wearing chain-mail, which wasn't made for blunt damage, but slashing. Blunt damage against an armored target would never pierce the armor, but would break bones, and damage the tissue underneath it. Even if the armor absorbed the blow, Benjamin would more than likely be knocked backward, and on top of that Darren's blow was aiming precisely for Benjamin's solar plexus. Which would knock the air out of him, making it extremely hard to breath, and not to mention rather painful.

[6]

LuvMonke Wrote:

34Glacialic Acid

Lily spotted her target, it was Wilson's upper half and head. It was non salvageable as a weapon, but the burlap skin still had one black button eye sewn into it with the care of a master seamstress; Serren her self. It became obvious why she was drawn to the button. Upon closer inspection the button was obsidian and of an elvish make, worn, and very old.

The facts were these. This button belonged to a small silk coat, a coat belonging to a small elvish girl. The girl's mother was murdered before her very eyes and when the girl approached her mother, tears and lost sobs, she was murdered by Serren Glacial. Serren's first life; the first of millions. The girl's clothing was of natural fibers. The only thing left of her was a single button.

"Lily", Serren said; recalling the button's owner. "Please No" Serren begged. Serren was always named Serren, death never changed this. And like that Serren's memory returned in full. 2 million years worth of killing and atrocities... and with it the guilt of a mother.

Her memories returned, Serren coped the only way she knew how. Unseen to many eyes, save a few, Serren blighted her own brain rendering it insane.

Cursed was an inadequate qualifier to the life of Serren.

The describing of her memory's return and reasons for self inflicted trepanning took longer than the few seconds in which this all occurred. The Abhorsen's amnesia was lifted.

Bang Bang Bang CREEEEeeeeek

KB's attack was very effective.

One problem, KB was beneath the labyrinth he was attempting bring down on top of himself. Serren recognized this.

The arrangement would not hold for more than second or two.

Serren grasped one of the metal cables knocked loose that formerly supporting the plastic maze. The cable was designed to accommodate multiple obese children, Serren's 79 pounds would pose little challenge. Her left arm however would scream at the challenge, she could not remain like this for very long because of it. Her position secured, she used her blight, now in her full control, to compromise select points in the ceiling where other metal cables supported the mass. Most ceilings use plaster and wood rafters and or beams. Serren wasn't a bully, she would help KB bring this heap down.

Serren would have loved the chance to gloat and and expand upon the many ways his intelligence was dampened by his mother and that this an example of stupidity in its finest. But Kb robbed her of the time for such pleasantries. In fact her exceptional speed was about the only thing that made this possible.

Two problems with this plan remained. Her arm was already beginning to fail putting its workload on her right. And Serren would be dangling over a pool, and in this pool would now be easily claimable scaffolding. A pool shark could use this to peak at her neathers.

[4-17]

35Unchecked Twitch

PLAYER TURN

Were Twitch 100% reliant on her staff at all times, the complicated disarm would've been admittedly very effective at shutting her down for the rest of the fight. However, D' wasn't holding on to the staff solely for the sake of keeping her weapon; while it was a big part of the deal, she was also banking on the fact that Edward would refuse to relinquish his grip. As such, her leaning back served not only the purpose of giving her more leverage to hold her weapon in the short tug-of-war.

In just a short moment of time, there was a flurry of movement and sound. A metallic whir, a distant clamp, the sound of many balls being tossed about. Prompted by the noise and able to at least recognize that this guy had some cybernetics about him (two of D's aides were androids, after all), she pushed past her fatigue and used the strength of her legs along with her stealthily coiling to leap towards Edward. She planned to completely close the distance andarc her foot from behind her to over their heads on the way to the top of his shoulder/head/face with a spinning axe kick. Had Edward not been quickly retreating (with her weapon), he would have gotten brained most viciously. As it was, it was more likely that despite her speed, leg power, and aim, the moment she turned to spin he'd be moving out of her range.

Because she missed, he'd be aware of just how lucky/wise he was to have gotten those many, many feet away... she'd completely cleared the balls in the attack, and there was a filling hole where her leg landed. Had she more energy, she might've started to wade after him and press some sort of in-your-face action... but nah.

So... she was without a weapon, but D' didn't feel too disadvantaged, for she was used to fighting without it. It was just that she typically threw the thing, rather than the person attaching themselves to ziplines to yank it away. His disarm was pretty cool, though! Besides, she could just scoff--

"Tch!"

--and while keeping her eyes on him, squat down in the balls. Something was hitting her foot... time to see if that something was going to be awesome. Like, a cattle prod to mess with his cybernetics. Even with him able to spider-swing across the pit like that, she'd have time to get her hand on something ttly sweet. In the back of her mind she remembered she was dreaming, and so she willed something into her hands*, though she kept it hidden.

"Running away from me like that... you know the deal. But I've got something for you, nya!" Her ears and tail twitched excitedly.


Adrenaline: 5 + 1 = 6

[4/17]

(*No, D' didn't will anything into her hands, she just thinks she did.)

ENEMY TURN

36Knight Breaker

Success!

The entire tube maze system hanging above the arena groaned dangerously after the initial impact, which itself made a loud crashing sound. KB knew he didn't have long before the structure came down. Serren helped make that happen by sabotaging some of the supports in the ceiling.

Due to the way it all came apart though, the entire maze didn't drop as one solid piece. Instead parts of it swung down as it came loose, then dropped. The odd assortment of pieces sticking out and about caused portions of the maze to smash into the ball pit before the rest. KB moved himself out of the way of a particularly heavy looking section, just in time to be bashed by a lone tube.

A normal person probably would have been quite injured, but KB was one of HoH's deadliest combatants - and thus one of Gaia's. He literally caught the tube by stretching out his arms as it hit him, hugging it to his chest as the weight came down. The force of collapsing maze pushed him down to a knee and made him buckle, but then he simply threw the tube to his side and stood. Apparently uninjured ( as his bones were as strong as steel, and his flesh supernaturally durable ) the vampire wasted no time scaling the tube in all his nude glory. Once atop the maze that had sunken into the ballpit a few feet he would look to see where Serren had gotten to in the short time he was otherwise busy.

[5/17]

37Glacialic Acid

Music

The fun temple collapsed.

The heap toppled in segments as predicted by the wily KB. Falling in the disorganized matter made things sway violently, in turn, making Serren's grasp that much harder to maintain. Luckily Serren had learned from the best, she would put weight into the swing and launch her self through the currently falling debris, avoiding the moving wreckage with skill. She would stick the landing beyond the edge of the ball pool, her arms dramatically flaring outwards in a show of dramatic prowess. The flare was accompanied with lines of blight traced into the carpet.

The facts were these: Serren was once involved with a Indiana Jo-something, as one of his many female sidekicks that didn't work out. Involved was the choice word of Serren. Stalking would be the paralleled term used by our hero. A man who often swinged by vines and or whips; a hard man to keep up with, Serren learned well in her obsessive pursuit and it paid off.

Her landing however was more a show of lacking mass, and the benefits of reduced gravity not cracking her ankles into useless nobs. Serren landed facing away from the pool and walked seamlessly away with little pause after her landing. The lines in the carpet continuing to flow with her stride.

She stopped and spun around on the heels of her feet 20 feet away. The blighting lines completed their work ending at her heels and now growing outwards from Serren's feet, they carved a floral pattern in the carpet. It was show of gross power, intimidation, death, and precision. It would double upon the effects of intimidation granted by the realm of far death she had visited.

She would wait for the resilient KB to recover from the pool and approach. She placed her hands on her hips and slipped a thumb between her intimate under garment and skin. She tugged it suggestively lower. "Must we throw punches? I could imagine a different contest...of your combative prowess." She bit her lower lip playfully.

Kb was easy on the eyes and lacked clothing as apologetically as she did. She adored his handsome features and virility.

]I deemed a picture would do better explaining the words above[

[5-17]

38Knight Breaker

There she was!

At least, there her sweet a** was. KB stared as Serren walked away because hey, she was pretty good looking for a dead girl. Once she stopped and made her invitation ( as well as a strange pattern on the floor ) he shrugged and followed. With his arms outstretched to balance his feet padded up the tube, and then with a not-so-fancy jump he was past the edge of the ballpit.

"You know I have to destroy you." He said, his lips closing into a straight line afterwards. Thought seemed to haunt him as he looked her up and down. Just how much leeway could he afford to give her and still win the competition? It was worth... experimenting. "Though no one said exactly how."

His usual smile returned, and he started towards her with purposeful strides. Pale flesh moved quickly, everything openly exposed to her, every muscle and line of his body. Everything about him spoke of aggression and conquest in a purely male fashion. Curiously though, he still gripped the dagger in his left hand and his right tightened into a fist with the clank of metal. If he was to explore the pleasures of her body he intended to test its limits as well. Thus he intended to take her into his arms and baring any tricks on her part, expose her neck to his hungry gaze by drawing back on a steel clad handful of her hair.

[6/17]

39Just Naota

The cyberpunk laughed defiantly at the intimidating hellcat as he was dragged forcefully through the waist-deep (give or take inches) sea of colorful balls after having stripped the woman of her staff. Truly, it was like punching out the playground bully, an experience not unknown to Edward throughout his youth. Nothing dispelled fear more easily than being triumphant over your enemies. However, Edward's laugh would be abruptly cut short, watching in horror as D' leaped over the ball-line towards him and nearly clobbered him with one of the most perfect kicks he had ever seen utilized in actual combat. It became yet another close call in a long list of close calls in the detective's life.

******** if he had a dollar for every time he was nearly smote!

Issuing a sigh of relief as Edward was pulled away from his dangerous opponent, he waited until he was about three-quarters of way to the edge of the elevated section before calling off the grapple hook's pull prematurely. The clamp detached itself and the wire reeled itself in quickly; the gauntlet fusing back into one piece and closing off its opening. Edward eyed Twitch curiously, rubbing the pectoral muscle that had been grazed by her staff gingerly.

"My apologizes," Edward replied somewhat perturbed, yet somehow managed to eventually grin slyly at the hellcat. He studied the long staff in his hands momentarily and nodded as if having learned something. "I just don't enjoy being kept six feet away from my opponents."

Looking down at Twitch's weapon once more, the cyberpunk shrugged his shoulders and tossed it back, over his head. The weapon soared more than a dozen feet before dropping down, and sinking underneath the multicolored 'waves'.

Lowering himself as Twitch had, Edward felt around (underneath the piles of balls coated in the saliva of adolescents) with his right hand for something. Soon, after rummaging for a few seconds, the detective grasped the first thing that wasn't a ball with his gauntlet-clad hand. That said, he kept it down there, unwillingly to allow D' the luxury of creating a battle plan based around the weapon the cyberpunk was brandishing.

He began to approach his opponent cautiously, closing the ten feet or so of distance between them at a steady pace.

-4-

40LuvMonke

They closed at last with the resounding class of metal upon metal as prosthetic arm met arming sword. His opponent forced his blade downward and to his left via a skillful rotation of his elbow.* Benjamin fully understanding that this was just the opening move, did not fight the motion but allowing not only his blade but the hand which held it to follow the pendulum like motion.

All the while, he kept his eyes fixed on the mallet from which he was sure the real strike was sure to come. Thus he was not overly surprised when the cyborg stabbed at his gut. This time he responded with swift decisiveness, drawing his right hand back as if he were tugging on a bowstring. This would draw his blade back across the metallic arm held out to restrain it like a bow across a violin. For unlike John Henry, he had no desire to pit his muscle against the machine. After all, his strengths lay in grace and flexibility, not brute strength.

So it was that the cyborg's forceful blow slammed into neither flesh nor armor but the flat of Benjamin's blade. The power of the strike forcing the versatile piece of equipment back into the blonde's armored** torso. Before the mallet could be retracted for another blow Benjamin's left hand, which wasn't needed to hold his crutch while he was stationary, would attempt to grab hold of the weapon's shaft.

If this grip was achieved, Benjamin's blade would slip down and then up again to slice through the midpoint of the haft with its now enhanced edge. If he caught nothing but air, then the blade would simply be moved into a more comfortable ready position a few inches from his chest.

*(( Having discussed this matter with my opponent, I'm interpreting the upward push against the blade (which would have been completely pointless) and interpreting it as a downwards rotation because he misunderstood my sword's positioning.))

**((My earlier statements concerning this chest piece being a breastplate instead of chainmail is wrong. It was supposed to be chainmail and will be referred to as such in the future.))

[][

6

41Better Than Gore

Benjamin had skillfully blocked the lethal approach of Darren's croquet mallet, absorbing the damage with the flat of his blade, and the momentum would carry the blade into a resting place on Benjamin's torso. Where it would hopefully stay momentarily. Darren wouldn't attempt another movement with the croquet mallet, instead he kept it resting against the blade, but pressure would be applied. An attempt at keeping Benjamin from easily slipping the blade free.

Using his peripheral vision, Darren would catch sight of Benjamin's left hand reaching for the mallet, and would use the small amount of time he had to counter attack. Taking a step forward with his left leg, Darren would then raise his right, and fire it forward. Aiming to kick Benjamin in his already injured leg, at the thigh precisely, which would more than likely fracture the femur. Being kicked by a completely metal leg wouldn't feel too good, plus the PSI that Darren's cybernetics could produce, this kick would hopefully further harm Benjamin's gimped leg. Due to them standing in a ball pit, the likely hood of Benjamin noticing the sudden movement would be very slim, seeing as his lower body was obscured by the very colorful balls.

Maybe Benjamin would retreat after receiving this blow. With the sheer force of the blow, it wouldn't be surprising if Benjamin found himself falling onto the ground.

Code: Robotic Legs: Each leg is exactly the same as his right arm, but in the shape of legs, of course. Made from the same material, and able to move exactly how a normal leg would move. Attached at the thigh. These produce a speed bonus proportional to how much stronger than human limbs they are. Capable of maxing out at 30 mph in speed, and never tire. If Darren were to kick someone with one of these cybernetic legs, it would produce 6,000 PSI, which can easily knock someone onto the ground depending where on the body the hit is delivered.

[7]

LuvMonke Wrote:

42Glacialic Acid

KB didn't run towards her, succumbed to her charm, he strode forward confidently.

She wanted to say, "you could destroy me any day." But again there was no time. At this point speed was all Serren had, that, and a stage uniquely susceptible to her abilities.

Serren quickly bent down. Maybe it was a bow of respect and submission, maybe Serren was gripping then tugging a length of carpet already cut preemptively.

It was the latter, Serren had set a trap. Her most lethal attack thus far, she would pull the rug beneath KB. She silently hoped rug burn wouldn't affect his supple skin. Serren did not mind the view...each inch of it.

If KB tripped she would bolt forward and pounce high over head and dive into the ball pool searching for a viable weapon.

If KB was merely off put, she would bolt to the left, towards the lower half of Wilson, a 4 foot staff. She had spotted it earlier, when she had devoted herself to studying the area from a high vantage. She would scoop it up, and dive into a nearby opening to the fallen tunnel maze.

Both choices were escape, Serren could run 17 miles per hour and she would buy every second possible. She personally was familiar with KB's....strength. Flatly; full hand to hand combat would be tantamount to suicide.

[5-17]

43LuvMonke

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

As he grabbed for the halt that was so readily prepared for him, being used to wedge his weapon in place instead of retracting out of reach, he saw movement in the balls floating between them. Though these wonderful globules of spit and plastic obscured what lay beneath, any large movements such as any attack worth the name, would be not only be impeded by the balls themselves but also displace them in a fairly noticeable fashion. As both the cyborg's arms were visible, Benjamin could only assume that some sort of knee or kick strike was coming his way, though he could not quite determine which leg was striking or its intended target.

So he went to work limiting the effectiveness of both contingencies in what time he had. His left leg was already raised and bent at the knee, so that he could fight without wincing all the time, making it as ready as it could be to receive a blow. His right however was not as prepared and thus rose up on the toes of his right foot, allowing it to be easily bend under any force applied to it, and leaned to his left so that all of his weight was now resting on the crutch braced under his left armpit. The expected strike landed on his left thigh, striking against the meaty muscle which yielded under the pressure. Since that leg was not even touching the ground, and thus nearly completely free in it's range of motion, a great deal of the intended force was absorbed by a back bending motion. The power behind the kick would simultaneously shove his leg back and rotate his torso forward, resulting is short shuffle/hop backwards and a shallow bow.

The pain inflicted was still great even though some of it was displaced by motion, causing Benjamin to cry out and clutch spasmodically at whatever was within his grasp. That being the shaft of the mallet just behind the head instead of his intended target lower down the pole and the arming sword still held in his right hand. This grip would also serve to anchor him as the blow has left him a little unsteady on his feet, and he pulled upon it.

The damage inflicted on his thigh was major though not life shattering, it was now heavily bruised and tender, a presence of fractured or broken bones still unknown as he had no weight upon it. This damage would not however be compounded upon that suffered in the eliminator round, that punishment had been inflicted on his left leg below the knee and was the reason that leg was raised in the first place. The tingly pain suffered as his leg was roughly dragged through the balls behind him was put drops in the bucket of his other hurts at the moment.

The only good part of all of this was the movement dislodged the binding pressure of the mallet upon his blade, although he couldn't act on such fortune as it occured for he spasmed briefly in throes of his fresh agony.

Benjamin forced his body into renewed action by biting a bloody gouge into his lower lip, forcing the tremor to subsided before he could be left truly vulnerable. With a fierce downward yank upon the mallet and an equally animalistic rising hacking motion from his sword arm, he sought the rent the wooden implement in two. In contrast to his previous attempt the swing of his blade would not be satisfied with chopping wood but would continue on in arc that would take it soaring towards the cyborgs organic shoulder.

[][][

7

44Unchecked Twitch

PLAYER TURN

Just Naota Wrote:

"My apologizes," Edward replied somewhat perturbed, yet somehow managed to eventually grin slyly at the hellcat.

Were she not a little loopy, she would've actually laughed at the situation. While she serious'd when it came to work and sparring, she was still typically rather easygoing, and this would be the kind of thing that she'd just smile and shake her head over while deciding what to do now.

However, she didn't even remember she'd signed up for this tournament and apparently her dreams were anime so she played the part, because that's what she expected of herself. The show would lose fans if the heroine wasn't dramatic and flashy enough when it mattered.

Instead of joking back with him, she stomped forward, easily moving the balls aside as her arms remained low... indeed, it seemed like she was stalking him. Her eyes left him when he tossed her staff, noting where he threw it in case she wanted to go for it. However, she was otherwise watching him as she moved up to the raised area of the pit, where some scattered balls existed.

"I'm still the Queen of the Hill," she declared loudly while pointing to him-- it was then that he could see that she'd gone to the Equip screen below the balls and attached a 「Shawshank Redeemer」to her right-hand slot. The steel dagger's point was directed at Edward in a mildly threatening manner-- "mildly" because she was very clearly yawning, which took off the edge of her pose and posturing. "Don't think you've won 'cause you got rid of my weapon... I can still drop you!"

And with that, she crouched down before springing forward again. Fueled by IMAGINATION and THE POWER OF DREAMS and her SEXY LEGS, she'd probably clear the space between them again, what with her being slightly higher and Edward not having actually reached the other side of the pit. If he'd only traveled three quarters of the way, he'd probably be on the edge of the raised section, though on the ground level, wouldn't he?

One would think that with all of her posturing, the only way to telegraph her impending attack more would be to draw a giant X on his body. However and despite her very clearly leaping into the air towards him, her trajectory and velocity changed so that she was no longer looking to kick him in the head again-- this time, with a straight axe. He wasn't the only one able to change the distance in a snap, and she proved it as she performed a terribly fast flying side kick straight into Edward's gut, seeking to drive him down into the ground of the pit and bury him in his plastic bed of Multicolored Balls of Doom as she hopped off and turned, preparing to deal with any counters the cybernetic opponent would have to offer.

ESpecial: Delta Kick Wrote:

After taking to air, Twitch can drop quickly onto her opponent with a direct attack. The only true warning for her attacking in this manner, other than aiming, is a shadowy flash of torn wings. The rate of descent = (Gravity)(2). Three charges.

45Better Than Gore

Benjamin really wanted that croquet mallet! Right as the Cripple yanked on it, Darren would release his grasp on the handle of the weapon, and since his left leg was already behind he'd simply turn. Counter-clockwise, leaving his body sideways and at an angle that would cause Benjamin's sword to graze Darren's shoulder. The sharp weapon opened up a rather impressive wound, causing a scary amount of blood to drip down his arm in a series of miniature streams. The slash didn't reach the bone and still allowed the Cyborg pretty good movement. Though it likely would need stitches.

Meanwhile, the Cyborg would keep his metal arm in front of his torso, protecting his body in case Benjamin redirected the direction of his sword.

Rising Star apparently hadn't seen a highlight from Darren's match against Moonblade; otherwise, Benjamin would have known that getting into close proximity with the Cyborg was a very bad decision. As Benjamin's blade swiped by less effectively, a size thirteen metal foot would collide with Benjamin's jaw. Seeing as Darren was already in the perfect position, all he really had to do was raise that forward right leg again, and kick. Heel of foot to jaw. Not only would this hurt, but Benjamin was off-balance, so this attack would surely give him the little push he needed. On top of that, the mandible would receive quite the blow, and Darren's leg(s) were far stronger than his arm.

Benjamin Nicolai Wrote:

Benjamin forced his body into renewed action by biting a bloody gouge into his lower lip, forcing the tremor to subsided before he could be left truly vulnerable.

Bet he would regret that display of pain, as the kick landed Benjamin's teeth would surely go through his lip, severing it from his face possibly. If his tongue had been in the same forward position, it too would have likely been cut free from his mouth.

[8]

LuvMonke Wrote:

46LuvMonke

To Darren, the mallet was only a trinket to be used or discarded with ease but to Benjamin it represented opportunity. It certainly wasn't any more durable or potentially damaging than the cyborgs mechanical parts but it did grant him additional flexibility in his mode of attack. Depriving him of that mallet was depriving him of certain modes of attack and if the swordsman had the wit enough to use such implements for himself then he granted himself more opportunities.

Darren may have discarded a troublesome trinket, but Benjamin gained an opportunity to deflect the brawler's next blow. For as the million dollar man struck out with his foot, the blond beat struck out with his fist. More precisely the left hand which now held the mallet, moved on an intercept course with the kick to the swordman's jaw. Normally such a tactic would be ludicrous, as any strike made but that arm lacked much of its power due to the lack of hip movement and leg strength he could muster in his current condition. How could such power seek to contend with the strength of a well oiled machine? Well, Benjamin cheated.

For as he swung forth his piece of the mallet, his left hand was covered in his signature brand of electricity. Red arcs of electricity danced between his fingertips and slithered across his palm. The most basic manifestation of his abilities of his magic, which had previous gone undisplayed in this fight had finally made an appearance. However Benjamin had no idea how his chaotic electricity would effect Darren and his metallic limbs, so he was not about to base the result of a clash on a if or a maybe. That is why as his hand impact against the outstretched leg he'd activated the detonation clause.

Quote:** Wrote:

Detonation: "All the energy invested in the item or manifested on an object is used up and converted into a suddenly and violently expelled in a sphere of expanding electrical and concussive force. The explosion itself has the electrical force of a normal manifestation of the charge below it, plus a omni-directional force with the strength of clean-blow for a one cell charge"..."The range of this explosion is one foot diameter for every cell of energy present before detonation. This effect can be activated without an outside aggressor by simply providing another half cell of energy."

A concussive force equivalent to that which Benjamin normally put behind each of his blows would explode from his fist and exert itself on everything within 6 inches. Which meant the mallet and Darren's foot would caught up in the blast radius of this magically assault. The mallet being only a normal piece of crockery would be crushed between the two forces but that was by design. The two attacks likely cancel each other out, the collision of forces sending them both reeling from the exchange. However his force having the largest total area would blow the shreds and bits of wood flying in Darren's direction, countless sharp slivers of wood all flying for his face and upper torso.

Benjamin already on shaky footing to being with, footing that had only grown shakier as things went on, would be thrown off his feet and back into the depths of the ball pit. He would managed to roll himself over enough to land on his good/right side, though it would still hurt like a ******** when he landed on his bruised hip. But it was preferable to the sharp pain of trying to land on his injured leg.

[]

8

47Better Than Gore

Boom!

Darren's kick was canceled out by a magical force; unfortunately, it wouldn't work out quite like Benjamin probably expected. For one, the electricity the ability produced wasn't nearly enough for Darren's technology, it snaked across the equipment, cackling off of it until it died off. For two, the shrapnel from the croquet mallet would be deflected, instinctively Darren's right arm came up in front of his face. Letting the wooden shrapnel bounce off the outer forearm of the metal appendage, judging by the force of the blow, Darren's suit would also diminish the expected force of the multitude of sliver's. How would Benjamin fair against the explosion of polished wood?

Code: An electrical attack will not disable the technology; however, a sufficient charged electrical attack will stun Darren for one post(forcing him to not be able to move his technology).

As for the knock back effect, Darren currently stood on one leg, but it was a metal leg, so his balance wouldn't be nearly as disturbed as one might have assumed. Especially after the forward leg came crashing back down into the pit, splashing the multi-colored ball's sporadically, and bending almost immediately after it had firmly planted. Darren made an attempt at keeping himself from being forced back; however, the blast force would force a slide. Leaving the Cyborg a couple feet away from where he originally stood, surely it moved him, but did it leave him laying on the ground like his opponent? Definitely not.

Benjamin more than likely assumed that his Cyborg opponent would take some time for recuperation! Absolutely not. Upon witnessing Benjamin take the fall, Darren was instantly on the move, wading through the pit with great haste. Watching his opponent fall provided a general idea of where he was, even if Benjamin was currently concealed by the rainbow, the Cyborg wasn't giving the man any breathing room. Twisting his upper body as he moved forward, his right arm would sway with the twist, and right as the twist stopped it started up again, but this time in the opposite direction. Firing his cybernetic arm into the pit, Darren would attempt at grabbing Benjamin's closest ankle, and from there forcefully yank the man from the depth. Raising his arm as the pull happened, and releasing his grasp. Hopefully forcing the man skyward, making him collide with the wall of the room.

Code: Robotic Arm: Darren's right arm is completely cybernetic, attached at the shoulder, and wired into his nerve's. Able to move on command, and act as if it's a real arm. Made up of Ferrium C69, and layered with Graphene. The power of the arm is above human strength; however, it cannot crush anything is holding onto. For example, if Darren were to grab hold of an opponent's arm, he wouldn't be able to simply crush it, and break the arm itself. Instead, if he were to keep hold of the arm long enough, it would cause tremendous pain depending on the opponent's pain tolerance, and minor bruising. If need be, Darren can deflect a blow from a sword/axe/club, more than once before with his arm until it is placed out of commission. He is also able to wield his Sledgehammer with this arm, and swing it freely because of the added strength. The arm can lift a maximum weight of 250lb, where as his non-cybernetic arm can only lift a mere 90 pounds. Although lifting that much weight constantly can cause a malfunction in the arm, and put it out of commission for the fight until he's sought a repair(lifting that much weight for more than two posts will disable the arm).

[9]

LuvMonke Wrote:

48Just Naota

((Ed grappled to the raised section, and stopped at three quarters of the way away. So from his original position, he moved three quarters of the way back, which leaves him a quarter of the distance (between his original position and the raised section of the pit) away from the raised bit. So not exactly at the edge but close, I guess. The post still works, though.))

Edward watched D' closely as she moved from point a to point b. He was certainly capable of humor, even in the middle of a titanic struggle between Heaven or Hell combatants, but that didn't mean that Ed had dropped his guard or that his eyes (synthetic and organic alike) had stopped scrutinizing. He never stopped watching his formidable opponent, providing her with the respect that a formidable adversary deserved and then some; he didn't even look where he had thrown the woman's staff, it was unlikely (if not impossible) that he'd find it now without a rather dedicated search that could last over ten minutes. Not that it mattered.

The cyberpunk wasn't much of a fan of staves. They reminded him of wizards, certainly, one of the more annoying types of people in this universe. Then again, a staff was easily better than what he seemed to be holding in his right hand under the surface of the ball pit. It didn't take much investigation, nor use of his eyes to glean what he had found. He owned the genuine article after all. Edward frowned visibly.

Heaven or Hell was broadcast on TV, and his trusty weapon was a gigantic d***o.

With but a thought, as D' began to sprint his way, the reinforced section on his outer forearm rose a couple of inches off his left (cybernetic) arm. Quickly, the portion of metal cybernetic split into two, permitting a skull (wearing goggles and grinning cartoonishly) to move into the freed space before the two sections fused back together around it. Edward's cybernetic arm-shield began to expand in every direction until a circular shield (two feet in diameter) was produced attached to his left arm in no time.

He didn't just stand there, however, hoping he could just block the jump kick with the shield. No, the cyberpunk had something a bit more daring in mind.

Ace Detective Manual Wrote:

[Goomba Stomp.exe] When the detective’s cyber-brain sends a sharp signal to his legs, the hydraulics and motors inherent turn to their optimum capability. This sends the cyborg straight into the air in a burst of mechanical speed and strength. The vertical jump can go as low as eight feet and as high as twelve without any aid, the horizontal jump is extremely similar but could be used for different purposes. You don’t want Ed to land on you. That’s a killer curb stomp waiting to happen.

Note: This ability can be performed on one foot, albeit at only half the power. I.e. A jump that on two feet would take you twelve feet would only take you six on one.

Cybernetic/Implant of Origin: Cyber-brain and Prosthetic Legs

Duration of Move: Instant

Cool-Down Time: 3 posts

The cyborg bent low with his knees, a loud HISS from below followed as Edward leaped suddenly (as his shield formed) into the air. Tucking his knees underneath him, he cleared the ball pit quite easily, though whether he would be able to leap over Twitch's assailing leg was another matter entirely and Edward wasn't really sure what would end up happening. At first, it seemed like D' was attempting to deliver a flying kick to his head/upper torso, which would manage to hit the cyborg regardless of his jump or not albeit at a much lower part of his body. Of course, that's where Edward's shield came in (being placed in front of his torso in a defensive position against his body), and what the cyborg was hoping for. If Twitch's foot struck his shield, the force of the blow would still knock Edward backwards, but he would (for the most part) be saved from the excruciating pain that would have come from the blow. Also, the shield had its secrets that would have made even Twitch wish she hadn't gone for the kick.

However, out of the blue, the hellcat's trajectory had changed. She moved downward in a manner that Edward would not have expected. Had the detective remained on the ground, and raised his shield to protect his head and upper body - therefore obscuring most of his vision, he would have certainly been ******** in every way. Such a change would have been simply unexpected, and though it still was unexpected. It wasn't as much a bad thing as it could have been.

Edward's leap would easily lift him eight feet off the ground, in relation to the bottom of the ball pit as opposed to the elevated area. He was moving upwards in an incredibly swift manner, just as Twitch's trajectory dropped low in a rather significant way. Tucking his legs along with the jump, as the cyborg was accustomed, D's dropping flying side kick would dip below the cyberpunk's high jump. Though, the margin of that narrow dodge would certainly make anyone sweat.

Leaping over Twitch's side kick (unless something changes), the detective bellowed out loud and delivered a counter kick of his own. His leap would likely take him over D's head as well, so his time to strike back had a very small window. His right (tucked) leg extended outwards in a vicious front kick, aimed for the woman's flank (the side depending on which leg she side kicked with). In midair, the cyborg didn't have the balance the ground provided, so the kick would lose power in that regard. Nor was his jump propelling him forward but upwards, and hence his entire body wasn't necessarily behind the kick like Twitch's had been.

But the cybernetic limb would still manage a rather decent attack considering, more than capable of causing her ribs considerable ache. Along with loss of air, and perhaps even cause D' to fall back. Though, Edward wasn't too hopeful that the attack would be incredibly effective.

The kick would likely wound the hellcat's ego more than it would her body.


Goomba Stomp Cool-Down: 0/3

-5-

49Unchecked Twitch

[Noted.]

PLAYER TURN

Were this world's physics based on those of video games in the Fighting genre, Edward's mechanical kick would have indeed made Twitch snap out of the move, throwing her back in the direction from whence she came. Since he admittedly had a lot less dedication and power to the move to simply force all of her momentum back, his foot would land but not alter her trajectory. Had he performed the same maneuver on the ground with the same power, she would have easily beasted through. As it was, her right leg dropped in its aim and it'd cause her to check her position when she landed so she didn't roll her ankle or anything. It wouldn't take more than a subconscious split-second pause, for cats more often than not landed just fine on their feet no matter where they had just leapt from.

In the end, his counter was a surprise... for some stupid reason (nothing to do with a lack of respect, be assured), she hadn't considered that his legs might be cybernetic and able to extend a bit as well. And so her Delta Kick whiffed, more balls moved out of the way with the force of her landing, and she felt the impact as she hit the ground. There'd be no gasping from a sudden loss of air; not only was he attacking her leg but natural tendencies kept her guard up during physical attacks, even the flashy ones.

Her pride would be fine... the guy had to land at some point, and she would be on the ground by the time he'd start descending, unless he had a way to quickly alter his own jump to make him drop faster. She still turned sharply to him after the Delta Kick, watching for his landing point and his body position. Knowing he could extend his limbs was a very good thing, something she kept in mind as she ran to his landing point. About a foot from him her left leg lifted and, before he even touched the ground, Twitch delivered a running front superkick. She'd try to fine-adjust her aim in case he swung the shield around because she wanted to hit him, not something attached to his arm.

Madness, Sparta, et cetera.

She could feel it now-- an energy rush, an adrenaline rush. That her motor skills and will to actually battle had taken a hit even before the match started was forgotten. Twitch had already known that she had to move to get the blood pumping, and for as long as she could she'd keep moving. It was her plan to turn herself into the detective's worst nightmare in her own dream.

She saw no reason why her kick wouldn't land and knock him back several feet, but habit and training dictated that once it was delivered or even attempted, she stomped the ground to immediately end her momentum. Just in case he pulled something funny that would force her to react with more than a pursuit.

...Something funny. Edward had a giant d***o, and that was very dangerous (and exciting~!) for her.


Adrenaline: 3 + 1 = 4

[6/17]

ENEMY TURN

50LuvMonke

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

The problem with fishing is you never quite knew what you were going to get. Darren grasped around in the approximate area where Benjamin's feet lay and would grasp the most readily available ankle-like object. The problem here was that Ben was lying on his right side in the ball pit, which placed his crutch closer to the surface than either of his legs. Thus it was more likely that the cyborg would come across it's shaft than legs lying deeper in the pit. It's shape would likely be close enough to the man's intended target to fool him, seeing as he had neither sight nor a sense of touch to rely upon.

Once he drew it from the depths there was a chance he'd notice his folly before throwing the walking implement around, but in his zeal to imitate the Incredible Hulk he'd probably already have released before he realized what he had. Either way, Benjamin didn't stick around to find out, once the crutch was yanked out his elbow he grew wise to what was going on and used his arms to paddle away as best he could. Granted this was a tiny ball pit and not the olypmic sized pools he was used to, but with the proper application of arms and his less bum leg he could get some distance between them.

Seeing as he'd barely phased the guy with one of his signature attacks, it was time for strategic withdrawal to give his brain time to think of a new battle plan.

[][]

9

51Better Than Gore

Let's face it, there was a vast weight difference between a crutch, and a human being. Darren was surely disappointed once he realized what he had grabbed instead of Benjamin's leg; however, he wasn't reckless, despite what his past performance's displayed. With Benjamin's walking utensil in hand, the sheer fact that Benjamin could hardly walk with the object made the Cyborg cackle madly, what was the swordsman planning on accomplishing without it? Now the man was attempting a brave escape! But how did Darren know this? Believe it or not, he could hear him, hear him scuffling away like a frightened rodent. Darren could also see the ball's shuffle about, forcing the top layer to barely move, but it gave enough movement to indicate Benjamin's movement.

"You and your Team are ripped from the same cloth." A wicked grin crept upon the Drug Lord's face as he began approaching the approximate area where Benjamin had been fleeing from, slowly, and cautious was his approach. Knowing that Benjamin still had his weapon scared him enough to keep his distance, but this is where that crutch would come in handy! Swing, batter, batter, SWING! If Darren's cybernetic arm could swing a sledgehammer around like a simple switch, imagine what he could accomplish with something a lot lighter than it. Ball's would be knocked up everywhere as the Cyborg walked, swinging the crutch into the pit with every step he took, aiming to connect with the closest part of Benjamin's body.

"THE b***h CLOTH!"

[10]

LuvMonke Wrote:

52LuvMonke

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

The first couple of blows came pummeling down on nothing but slimeballs, tossing the disgustingly moist plastic contraptions airborne as the cyborg found his rhythm and his target. It would take a couple of swing but with his speed and his bionic strength, he'd be able to clear enough space to get a sight line on retreating Benjamin. Only Benjamin was retreating no more, having been alerted by the sheer violence of the initial onslaught of just what was going on. His legs were now even more bruised that before having caught glancing and near miss blows, before he could properly respond. Now he lay like a snake who rock had been overturned, exposed but poised to strike.

Once he understood what was happening, Benjamin had curled inward. Though his right arm and lower back lay upon a shallow bed of slime balls, his knees were now up towards his chest hiding behind the inadequate coverage of his left arm. All and all he looked like the perfect target surprised, stunned and begging to be punished.

All save for his eyes, which crinkled as if in laughter. The reason became apparent as before Darren swung the crutch once more, and a light blossomed on Benjamin's left hand and expanded into his foot long buckler. Using his miniature shield for he it was worth, he'd deflect the next strike off to (Ben's) left with a counter clockwise swing of his left hand. If successful he'd follow up the deflection by rocking forward and pushing off his good leg, uncoiling like a viper to close the distance and thrust of his blade at man's fleshy shoulder.

[][][]

10

53Just Naota

The detective would land. What went up had to come down eventually, and surely the cyberpunk (no matter how resourceful he seemed to be) was no exception to the rule. Prospectively, he could do many things, but flying wasn't one of them. However, the question wasn't when he would land. In the case of the highly mobile cyborg, the question was where he would land. Or actually... if he even chose to land due to a certain device.

At the apex of his jump, Edward pumped his right fist - while he held the giant d***o sideways - into the air, and released his grapple hook on the colorful and fun-looking sky tubes that loomed over their heads. The clamp attached itself with a loud SNAP, and the cyborg used the remaining momentum from his leap to throw himself into a wild swing.

Laughter echoed throughout G-WORLD as the cyberpunk swung like a madman, the tubes creaked audibly as it strained to support the heavy detective who on his own was nearly unsupportable by the structure meant for children. Swinging to the opposite side of the raised platform and bit beyond, Edward twisted his body and began swinging in the opposite direction. Simultaneously, the wire began to lengthen, lowering the cyberpunk closer and closer to the ground until he was nearly a foot off the ground.... And the hellcat was running straight at him.

With a kick that placed Edward in another of those 'smite' moments.

The detective folded his legs upwards in what would have been a crouch had he been standing, making himself a much smaller target as the attack came in. Instinctively, Ed placed his round shield in front of him, jabbing it out towards the offending foot (so that the foot would be striking the center of the shield) as his form barreled in with that powerful swing. She still had the option of adjusting her kick's trajectory to avoid the shield. However, it had just gotten a whole lot harder. Not only would any adjustments have to be more than 2 feet in any direction to avoid striking the shield; she would have to do it on incredibly short notice, as it wasn't just her running at him to kick, but it was him swinging into her with the outstretched shield.

If Ed proved successful and the kick landed on the arm-shield, the cyberpunk would allow for physics to take care of the rest. The hellcat was running fast and performing an incredible superkick, a series of movements that carried with it an impressive amount of power. That said, the detective was on a back-swing with his grapple-hook, moving unbelievably fast, and to make matters worse he was also three hundred pounds of muscular man and very heavy machine.

If they ended up colliding, Edward was confident that he would be the one bowling straight through his opponent, and that D' would be acquainting herself with the ground.


Goomba Stomp: 1/3

-6-

((Note: I edited my post to add my cool-down counter. Sorry if it causes any confusion.))

54Knight Breaker

The weird floral arrangement in the carpet turned out to be nothing more than decoration. Not so much the lines leading away from it though. When Serren pulled the carpet out from under KB it caused him to stumble a bit to the side.

After she disappeared down the tube he chased after her jumping up on top the maze. His footsteps would pound along the length of the tubes before he threw himself back into a clearer part of the ball pit with a mighty splash. Back in his natural element as the legendary ballpit shark, he kept an eye out for his prey even as his gauntleted hand dipped down to scavenge*.

[7/17]

*Life sized Stuffed Alligator acquired.

55Unchecked Twitch

PLAYER TURN

Awwwwww hell.

As stated, there was only so much adjustment she could do. She was fully aware of the shield's existence, and equally aware of not only of what he was up to, but his ability to make his own adjustments. Despite this, she continued to him just as fast and just as hard. Knowing androids and cyborgs and finally actually thinking about them, she knew he'd be heavier. She was pretty much about to kick down a flying metallic Spartan performing a shield bash headed back for her, and the small areas they were using to attack meant that she was about to get countered in the worst of ways.

...There was only so much adjustment she could do, but what she did was damn awesome.

The main thing that would change would be the actual method of attack and distance at which she performed it; rather than waiting until she was pretty much in his face, Twitch prepped her attack a couple of feet more than that and leapt to him instead of running the entire way. The other change would be just how much she was putting into the kick, for the mental image of trying to kick-stomp a car trying to run her down was not appealing at all. Granted, she still attacked him because she couldn't just run up to him and not do anything unless she wanted to get shield bashed in the face (she didn't), and he'd feel the force of her left foot landing, and he'd see her get repelled, spinning away clockwise.

And then this is the point where he'd probably realise that Twitch went out of her way set him up with the ground and by golly he was going to at least kiss it goodbye before they left this stinkin' ball pit.

ESpecial: Tornado Kick Wrote:

An advanced version of the Dust Kick, Twitch rotates to add more torque and double the power of her physical and aural attack. Can be delivered with any type of kick; roundhouse kicks concentrate all of the power in a crescent before her, axe kicks and vertical kicks deliver the power downward and upwards, respectively. Direct/glancing strengths are appropriately doubled. Four charges.

show spoilerhide spoiler

Special: Dust Kick Wrote:

A straight or side kick sends out a shockwave of energy on the ground, raising the titular debris in a 3-foot wide, 4-foot high (roughly, the height of her foot after a standing kick) cylinder. Direct hit delivers a concussive force of two meaningful kicks; getting caught in its immediate wake (1½ feet) or the edge delivers the force of a single meaningful kick. Moving at a constant rate of 20mph, it has an effective range of 25 yards after which it dissipates completely. Two charges.

56Just Naota

It was simply the single word that described and reflected the direness of the cyborg's predicament. He should have been able to, but on such short notice Edward had never expected the hellcat to perform an energy attack. Nor could he really avoid D' either, his course was as set as it could possibly be, and his intent was as overt as intentions came. They were going to collide and the cyborg would take the Tornado kick for his efforts.

On impact with the shockwave, there was sudden audible cracking sound, and the most painful sound Edward had ever made throughout the tournament escaped the confines of his mouth. The cyberpunk cursed aloud, the act of holding his right arm overhead while impersonating Tarzan of the Apes quickly becoming a painful - as opposed to enjoyable - thing to do. Despite the pain, however, his swing remained entirely uninterrupted, and Edward still performed the strongest shield-bash he had ever attempted. The hellcat was launched abruptly back into the ball pit, a preferable landing spot if you considered the other types of flooring one could land on, though likely not soft enough a landing that it would discount the impressive amount of pain Twitch would be feeling.

As the hellcat ragdolled away, Edward had the grapple hook detach itself, and his body dropped to the raised platform with a thud. Luckily, he was able to turn his body enough so that he landed on his left side, and protected his right shoulder from being damaged further. Of course, that didn't stop it from hurting as intensely as it did. An odd warmth, which didn't help matters, went down his arm, followed by a prickly sensation that didn't bode too well for him. Inspecting his shoulder, Ed couldn't quite tell if any of his bones were broken or not, but it was a b***h to lift up over his head and the bone kept popping out of place. Hopefully, it wasn't the rotator-cuff... Either way, the injury would gradually worsen as time passed, so the time to make use of the shoulder's fleeting mobility was at that very moment.

The cyberpunk grit his teeth and fought off the pain. He took to his feet, and snatched up the giant d***o he had dropped during his fall. Staring straight at Twitch who was at the same time getting ready to continue herself, Edward lifted his shield up defensively while brandishing his trusty sex-toy. He was ready.


Goomba Stomp Cool-Down: 2/3

-7-

57Glacialic Acid

At this very moment Serren was a rat in a tube maze. She had been navigating it for the past 30 seconds, she had gone up?...down? maybe left? Serren was unclear on where she was. "Where the blazes am I." She said, hitting the side of the plastic red tube. And where the blazes she was: was exactly 1 foot beneath the surface of the ball pool where the maze had fallen.

Serren would discover this as the tubing ended abruptly downwards into the pool. Turning around was an absolute impossibility given her height. Her arm aching and patience draining she made her way into the pool.

Her luck at this point took a turn for the worst as she discovered an alligator occupying the pool with her beneath the surface. How the blazes an alligator found its way here would be a different story all together. What was more pertinent was Serren's panic.

Serren was unaware the alligator was in fact not real but an inflatable one crafted by a factory that made pool toys and the such.

Serren had met an alligator once and the encounter was not one that would be forgot. The alligator had taken her hand while she was golfing and in an effort to eat the hand the alligator lost an eye. The alligator however found its prize to be unpalatable and spat it out. This very alligator now roams the golf courses of Florida and would later have a starring role along side Adam Sandlsomething in a box office hit.

Serren went for the eyes with long finger nails, she would likely be met with a percussive bang as it would deflate. And the far worse pool shark would be made acutely aware of Serren's whereabouts.

KB's weapon would likely serve real purpose and in the panic Serren lost her weapon to the abyss of plastic balls; the four foot stick would serve no use for now and likely never would.

[6-17]

58Knight Breaker

BANG!

Hey man, that's not cool. Poor alligator barely had a minute in its HoH career before it lost its dopey looking eyes. Rapidly deflating as it was, the vampire fell forwards a bit as his armored hand sunk through the toy he'd been holding.

And right on top of Serren, albeit with a thin layer of the ever present plastic balls between them. Most of them would get rustled off to the sides as the fighters moved around though.

"There you are." He growled, though it was obvious he was happy to see her. There would be a crashing sound of the ballpit being roughly disturbed as he lunged for her, aiming to catch her up in his arms and pin her to the floor near the tube. As always KB would set aside foreplay entirely and, out of the view of the watching fans, aim to slip his dagger into her - followed by relentless pounding.

[8/17]

59Unchecked Twitch

PLAYER TURN

Honestly, she wanted to smile at him and start joking right there, asking him if he was alright and assuring him that she would be good to continue. However, she was acutely aware of how much she'd slowed down just in getting bashed away, and needed to do something to get herself going. The tightness in her ankle was going to be something she watched... was it going to swell now? How much movement could she actually make on it? She could switch to her usual left-leading stance and work that way so she could still make turns on her right.

As she quickly contemplated what new limits she may have to deal with if this dragged on, Twitch did manage to grin at Edward while giving him a single nod.

"Alright," she said with a bit of a groan as she set herself in a defensive crouching stance. Her hackles raised again... she'd need a little something-something behind her attacks if she wanted to drop her opponent. Aware that he could grapple to her, she waited for him. It was going to be a close-range match if she didn't have her own staff, his ridiculous d***o notwithstanding.

Ante up, double down.


Adrenaline 0 + 2 (Ante Up) = 2

[8/17]

ENEMY TURN

60Glacialic Acid

Serren felt KB's dagger slide into her and she let out a painful exaltation and another and another as he voraciously pounded. It felt far bigger than six inches. Pinned to the bottom of the ball pit she defensively blighted her foe. Her skin becoming untouchable as it would render organic mater necrotic and deatomized. The carbon polymer plastic balls would also show the effects but the displacement of compromised plastic balls would be secondary.

Buried and being ravaged, Serren would push with her arms and hands out wards. Finding KBs toned chest, she did her best to control and moderate his attack. Her hands would likely leave marks and searing pain, looking and feeling much like severe burns.

She would move to wrap her legs around his waist and maximize her damage.

[8-17]

61Unknown

What a surprise! But at the same time it wasn't that surprising, Darren knew very little about his opponent, so upon witnessing Benjamin's left arm somehow create a shield threw him off a tad bit. Once the crutch had been deflected, the Cyborg was quick in following the direction the weapon carried, circling right(Benjamin's left) just as it originally bounced from the shield. Darren may have been quick in his movement, but Benjamin equally matched it with his lunge, the blade skimmed Darren's shoulder as he attempted his daring maneuver. Blood rising from the fresh wound, and trailing down his arm.

Hopefully Benjamin hadn't followed Darren as he moved, that way he wouldn't see what was coming, and that was another kick. Firing that right leg of his toward Benjamin's left, the attack would aim for the man's already injured leg, the ankle precisely. After the kick had been performed, Darren would continue to circle the man, keeping from being seen by Benjamin. As he moved, the crutch would be handed off, wielding it with his left arm instead of the right. Just in case the Cyborg needed his metal arm for deflection.

Sooner or later, Darren would pick this man apart, it was just a matter of time.

[11]

LuvMonke Wrote:

62Just Naota

The hellcat wasn't going to come to him, so Edward supposed he would go to her, and so that's what he set out to do. Grinning fiercely despite the awful pain in his shoulder, the detective moved towards the edge of the raised section, and simply hopped back into the ball pit. The cyberpunk remained aware of his opponent throughout the entire process; he knew that there wouldn't be a striker coming in for the woman (considering that their fourth member was simply not present) so all he had to do was fix his gaze on her. His shield was prepared to fend off any attack that came his way, and he was particularly prepared for any airborne attacks D' would perform.

If she didn't pounce as he was relocating, Edward would move towards the hellcat, jabbing his circular shield forward in a fast strike towards her chest. The Great American Challenge was held behind the defensive tool, poised to strike out at Twitch once an opportunity showed itself.


Goomba Stomp Cool-Down: 3/3

-8-

63Knight Breaker

Things were going pretty well in the KB vs Serren department until she became an ungodly radioactive tramp. With the dagger buried in her firmly there wasn't much wiggle room. She made that worse by wrapping her legs around him, suddenly causing the skin to darken. It seemed as though KB wasn't fully immune to the effects of the blight judging by the burning handprints and black ring around his waist.

Knowing that it would be hard to get her off and hold himself up at the same time, he threw his weight to the side. His head would be seen momentarily above the ballpit and then it was gone. By rolling onto his back and pulling Serren on top he could plant his armored hand on her thigh and try to push her off. The other hand reciprocated her gesture by planting on her chest with a rough squeeze. A hip thrust here and a shove there and Serren's upper body would probably poke up out of the ballpit sea a couple of times - the sound of her opponent growling and tussling somewhat muffled.

[9/17]

64Unchecked Twitch

PLAYER TURN

She most certainly the hell was not going to go to him, not when she had the chance to regain a bit of her energy with him so far away. It was obvious to her that in a purely physical punching match, he'd knock her lights out; Edward was pretty tough what with having at least some cybernetics in him. The extent of all of that, she didn't know, but his arms and legs were enough. He had to be tough to be able to wield the mechanical body parts as (apparently) effortlessly as flesh and bone. So no, she felt it might be wiser to wait just a bit and make sure she had enough energy in her to throw an attack on the fly.

She didn't pounce at him, but once he hopped down into the ball pit, she began to move to her right. In this circling, she began to close the distance. Doubtless he was going to keep turning with her, keeping the shield between them... it was fine. She took a quick moment to slip her hand into the pocket of her jacket and pull out another knife, this one a kris. With the right Shawshank Redeemer held in forward grip with her thumb resting along the underside of the guard and the kris held in reverse grip, she made her move.

It wasn't anything elaborate, Twitch making a couple of quick steps forward while more or less throwing her shoulder to him. Her aim was to jam the shield between them (while taking as little damage as possible), and then with a slightly lowered stance begin to disrupt his balance.

...It was a d***o, it shouldn't hurt more than her pride, unless it was like those bats with the steel pipe inside it.


Adrenaline 2 + 1 = 3

[9/17]

ENEMY TURN

65LuvMonke

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

Benjamin wielded a buckler, which although similar to a shield in purpose, was neither as bulky or restricting as it's larger cousins. He'd have no trouble tracking the cyborg's movements over the defensive implement's rim, he just have some trouble keeping up with he other man's footwork.

As he saw that kick come shooting in, he attempted to pivot around his good leg and move the other gingerly out of the way of the strike. Unfortunately, there was neither time to take things easy, nor ability to move the leg anywhere as fast as he would have liked. Below the knee the leg was mass of pins and needles, simultaneously numb and painful just as if the he'd fallen asleep. If so, his leg was an even heavier sleeper than Rip Van Winkle, for after all this time the damn thing didn't seem to be getting any closer to wakefulness. It responded but too slowly to completely escape harms way, and the metallic foot connected with Ben's lower shin. Thankful his shins were somewhat protected by a metal tongue placed in his boot. It wouldn't stop the bone from fracturing but would ensure it wouldn't completely snap in half.

Renewed pain blossomed in Benjamin's left leg, burned a trail of fire up his neutral pathways. The pain coupled with Benjamin's now vehement insistent to not even put a little bit of weight upon the leg, caused fall backwards into the ball pit once more. Unfortunately this time around there weren't enough balls to hid him from view. A great deal of the spitballs had been scattered by their recent activity and would take a moment or two to roll back into their previous positions.

While earthbound Benjamin did not roll around in pain, shriek like a banshee or hold onto his leg like a life-raft. For he was a man goddamn it, and by gods he'd would act like one in this scenario. He kept his outward expressions down to strained hissed through his gritted teeth, and a deep exhalations to vent his pain and frustration. This leg and the troubles it brought were getting on his goddamn nerves, but alas there was naught to do at the moment but wait for the pain to subside before he could do anything spectacularly offensive. In the meantime his left hand, which was still holding the buckler by a strap that straddled his palm, was kept between himself and his opponent.

[][][][]

11

66Glacialic Acid

Now Serren was on top, her head bobbed up above the surface and her face was not one of a multiple stabbings victim. A rich closed mouth smile graced her lips and her eyes were seductively shaded. She glanced up taking in her surroundings and her smile fell quickly and was replaced with incredible agony. She morosely placed her left hand to her chest about to faint and screamed "Oh God!!! The pain is unbearable."

Her blight turned off as she became the attacker. Still straddling him, she bent forward through the sea of plastic balls, disappearing out of sight from the surface. At this point KB removed her legs from his body.

Still close she moved closer using her right hand and arm to brush his blocking arm out of the way. Her left hand found his smooth toned shoulder, she rested her leather hand on it and pulled her self closer. She found his face and began biting with her metal incisors, particularly his mouth. His skin resistant to such gashes, KB would likely only feel her lips to his mouth in a open and closed mannered.

[9-17]

67Better Than Gore

Success.

Benjamin's injured leg took yet another blow, Darren's foot connected with his poorly armored shin, fracturing the bone upon impact. Benjamin definitely wasn't in a good position, for the Cyborg stood just above him, continuing his circle after the kick made contact. It was time for a good ol' beat down! Darren would take advantage of his downed about by kicking him, over, and over again. It was as if Benjamin was being beaten into a gang, people circled around him, kicking him until he stopped fighting back. Not wasting anytime preparing, Darren's left foot would slide taking a forward position, and the right would follow with a kick. A kick aimed for Benjamin's shoulder, the Drug Lord's kick would surely devastate the collar bone.

After said kick had been preformed, another would be attempted, and another. Darren would continuously kick at Benjamin until he moved out of the way, each time a different location would be targeted. Next came the scapula, and a small adjustment would take place. A third kick would be aimed at the acromion. Whether or not any of them hit, the Cyborg would stay focused on Benjamin the whole time, keeping a watchful eye just in case he attempted to skewer him with that nasty sword again. Darren then back peddled, creating space between the two of them.

[12]

LuvMonke Wrote:

68Knight Breaker

Those teeth!

Already familiar, the frenzied gnashing of Serren's mouth was met with equal resistance. It quickly devolved into a contest of who could out-eat whose face. The affair was messy, awkward, and rough. Roaming hands sought to grip and manhandle the zombie in a bid for freedom. Mostly he ended up just getting a**.

"mmf!"

[10/17]

69LuvMonke

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

Downed Benjamin might be, but he was certainly not out. He lay with his back resting upon a thin bed of spit balls, in quite a precarious predicament. His legs were pulled up as close to his chest as could be managed and his more heavily damaged left leg lay over his right. The only parts of him moving at the moment were his eyes and his left buckler-laden arm which was raised above his chest.

In fact his unique positioning, although high uncomfortable and vulnerable to attack, did lend him some unique perspective. From his floored position Ben could easily keep track of cyborg, even as he circled behind the swordsman, by simply leaning his head back into his best of spitballs. Thus he was able to see the second kick in enough time to roll, as at least he would have he such mobility at his disposal. At the moment he could only rock swiftly to his right and then back into his previous position as his opponent's punted in his direction. This move allowed him to take a glancing blow to his muscled back instead of his fragile collar bone, and gave him a moment to expend some of his accumulated energy. A bright red flash emanated from his weaponry as Ben enhanced his buckler and renewed the previously depleted enhancement on his sword.

Quote:** Wrote:

Enhancement: Instead of an outward manifestation, his energy can also be channeled into a metallic object such as his blade or buckler. When this happens the object in questions glows with an inner red light and gains some metaphysical weight. Within an edged object, the glow electricity seems to shimmer along the edges giving them greater penetration as if each blow lands as if swung by someone twice as large as Benjamin. When with a defensive item, such as a shield or buckler, the power adds durability, reducing the damage and force acting upon the object by half via a release of red sparks as half the energy of every impact is diverted elsewhere. Either way this technique requires one cell of energy and last for three posts.

Thus he increased not only his damage but defensive potential as well. The increased durability and force reduction of his now glowing buckler would allow him to catch the third kick on the face of his small red shield. By this time the pain had subsided enough for the swordsman to actual bring his sword into play, and move back into an offensive stance.

The opening salvo came in the form of a flying sword as Benjamin proceeded to chuck his crimson sword over his shoulder. He used a overhand throw, that more reminiscent of backstroke in his current positioning, that launched the blade like a spear towards the cyborg's lower abdomen and gut.

[][]

12

70Better Than Gore

Fool.

Benjamin's tactic of redirecting Darren's kick was a tad bit flawed, upon witnessing Benjamin rise, the Cyborg would simply turn his leg as the kick closed in. Aiming the attacking foot at Benjamin's cervical vertebrae! It wouldn't really matter how armored that portion of his body was, Benjamin would feel Darren's metal foot connect with his spinal column, the PSI of his cybernetic limb being applied upon impact. Whatever armor he wore would be crunched under the force, maybe his spine would be spared from the extravagant amount of pressure, but it surely hurt.

Darren's gaze never fell from his opponent while in close quarter combat, the Cyborg was scouting for any sort of offensive movement nine out of ten times, so it came as no surprise to him seeing Benjamin back hand throw some sort of object in his direction. By the time he saw it take place, it was almost too late to avoid, so the Cyborg did his best. Swaying his torso, the object would skim across the lower portion of his suit, tearing it as it flew by. The object also managed to cut into his skin as it sped by, blood rising from yet another fresh wound, staining the white material under his black dress shirt.

As Darren swayed, his right arm swayed with the larger portion of his body, rising as Darren's movement ended. Right as it ended, the right arm was fired in a downward motion, aiming to collide with the back of Benjamin's head. One hell of a metal hay-maker!

[13]

LuvMonke Wrote:

71Just Naota

The fight was back on. Edward grinned, turning his body along with Twitch's circular movements as the pair closed in on one another. Hopefully, the match-up would not be riddled with pauses between their attacks from that point on, and the cyberpunk could finally find his rhythm. Not that he was convinced that he had been performing poorly thus far, and therefore the cyborg had to step things up before the round's end. No, in his opinion, Edward held the advantage thus far, albeit narrowly. He needed to solidify his advantage on Twitch and pull ahead. He needed to put his opponent on the defensive, too afraid to commit to an attack of her own for fear that the cyberpunk would take advantage of it. He needed to convince any and all spectators that he was the victor of the bout.

He needed to win.

The detective quickened his advance just as he entered striking range, thrusting his shield forcefully into Twitch's incoming shoulder-blade. He didn't know how effective such a strike would be, or whether crashing her shoulder into his shield would harm her or not. All he knew was that it had been the hellcat's choice to ram her shoulder into the shield, and therefore did so on purpose and for a seemingly valid reason. Soon, D' began attempts to undermine his balance. It was an unexpected move on her part, for the cyborg wasn't expecting a brute force approach to the match. It nearly worked as well, though the solidly built cyberpunk managed to plant his feet firmly to the ground and fought back against the attempt.

At that point, it would have seemed apropos to make use of his offensive weapon. The d*o was positioned to strike like a viper in Edward's right hand, and had a somewhat clear shot at Twitch's face if he attacked over his shield. However, at the end of the day, it WAS just a d*o. A gigantic one to be entirely fair, but not a suitable weapon in the slightest. At the same time, Edward's right arm wasn't exactly in the best position to be making attacks anyhow. Any thrust or swing, whether he landed his attack or not, would end with the displacement and dislocation of the cyberpunk's shoulder. A manageable injury (for now), but an incredibly inconvenient one in the middle of a fight. No, for now, Edward was fine with keeping his right arm as a reserve, just in case, especially since it wasn't his primary mode of offense though it certainly seemed like it was.

It wasn't.

The shield was.

Pausing only for the briefest of seconds, as Twitch was pressed up against his shield, the cyberpunk unleashed the shield's trump card. Suddenly, the the skull emblem's opened, grinning mouth erupted outwards with a cone of flames, aiming to light a decent portion of the hellcat aflame.

Ace Detective Manual Wrote:

At the center of the shield, there's the unmistakeable shape/picture of a skull with a pair of goggles on. The skull is painted in a bleached white color, while the goggles' lenses are painted green much like Ed's own goggles. It's mouth is grinning cartoonishly, and there's a hole in the middle of the shield where the skull's teeth are slightly parted. At first glance, the hole seems inconspicuous at barely an inch in diameter and with nothing seemingly inside. However, that's a mistake. Within, a barrel is housed which on command fires a one-time cone of flames in a manner similar to a flamethrower.

It's capabilities are as follows:

1. The flamethrower can only be used once a match. This includes strikers.

2. The cone is only fired for two seconds, which is long enough for some decent burns and to set things that are flammable on the opponent's person (like clothing) or other things it might hit (like carpets, drapes, wood.)

3. The cones diameter is two feet and it's range is 4 feet, making it a close-quarters attack.

4. The heat from the flames from the fire, and the burning of the liquid fuel heats up Ed's metal arm like a frying pan on a stove. This effect lasts for two posts.

Besides her shoulder which would be scorched, as it was the closest body part to the shield, the other targets of the cone would be varied. Her clothes, more so the clothes she was wearing over her torso, would certainly catch fire. Simultaneously, since she had moved in with her shoulder as opposed to facing Ed directly, the flames would lash out at both the front and backside of her torso, likely causing her long hair to likely light up as well.

The flamethrower's attack wouldn't last very long. Though two seconds under intense flames could feel like an eternity to those being burned. The flames would only be able to cause (in such short a time) deep second-degree burns or lower, causing rather intense pain amongst other effects attributed to being burned alive, but there would be no nerve damage.


Burning Arm: 1/2

-9-

72Glacialic Acid

The facts were these, Serren had not enjoyed a fight with full satisfaction for 367 years, 9 months, 1 week, 1 day, 5 hours, and 1 minute. His name was Harold Hunden and the fight began in a Victorian Boutique that sold flowers and almanacs. Harold had problems fighting normal woman of the time and found dead woman to be far more pliant. Serren was seeking literature to glean and predict the future. They met and fought right away. But the farming almanac failed to predict the baron famine in Serren's future.

The dry-spell was over as Serren screamed out in jubilee. Her muscles tensed and her back arched like a swan. This fight was very satisfying.

She remained where she was suddenly lethargic and deeply affectionate to the life bringing rainfall named KB. She hoped he shared her fighting satisfaction or soon would.

[10-17]

73LuvMonke

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

As messy as Benjamin's evasion may have been, Darren's attempt to turn his leg wouldn't be pretty either. By turning his right leg to the right, he'd have to apply a bit of force tangential to his initial angle of attack and thus loose a bit of precision and power. The kick would still be sufficient to demolish a swatch of links and it would hurt like a b***h but would land to the right of his spine. The upside, he wasn't paralyzed, but the downside was he would have a little trouble breathing.

His sword once the cyborg's right side would embedded itself into the nearby ball pit wall, its enhanced edge allowing it to sink into the plastic housing quite easily. As the cyborg followed up this development with a mean haymaker, Benjamin felt well enough to finally roll away. He proceeded to do just that, gritting back oath and other such feverish expressions of pain, as he rolling towards both of their left. He held the buckler out before the crown of his head using both of his hands, to protect it in transit and got to his knees once he'd gotten a health two of space between them. Standing was now out of the question but that didn't mean he'd have to crawl about on the ground.

As he rose up onto his knees and saw his opponent now right-side up once more a mere four feet away, his right hand darted to his belt and took a firm hold of one the diamond situated studs there. With a quick tug and he drew the stud off of his leather wrapped hips, the metal rising smoothly and bringing more than just bits of leather with it. For as the stud was drawn from the belt, transformed into a 5" boot knife complete with a diamond shaped pommel.

Quote:** Wrote:

Studded Belt: He wears a studded leather belt, which is made of thick leather and contains six equally interspersed inch long, half inch thick steel studs in the shape of diamond (see 'Spell worked Steel' above). However these studs are special in that they are also enchanted with a transfiguration spell, though a different one from that used on Arming Sword and Buckler above. The spell used on these items only changed their shape once, and only when they're being detached from the belt, which is activated by a tugging on them like playing cards from one's pocket and having a resonant energy type. The two in the front and the two in back turn into 2.5" throwing knives. The ones on opposing hips turn into 5" boot knives. All are dual edged and more magnetic than his other equipment, the boot knives have hilts but the throwing knives do not.

The newly revealed weapon was instantly sheathed a swarm of red sparks, the raw expression of his electricity revealed once more instead of the more subtle working of the enhancements. What chose to do from there depended heavily upon the cyborg's response to his shift in positioning.

[]

13

74Unchecked Twitch

PLAYER TURN

Just Naota Wrote:

It nearly worked as well, though the solidly built cyberpunk managed to plant his feet firmly to the ground and fought back against the attempt.

Her opponent was very right to wonder about Twitch's tactics, a brute force match against the heavier and perhaps simply stronger man. However, there were few options immediately available to her opponent with such an assault against his weaponry and stance... she was no super weapons expert but she at least knew how to read his position and apparent weapons available.

Throughout the match she'd been poking at him to get him to show more of himself, show what he was about, show why he was able to get this far. It was too bad it cost her the staff, but now she had a good idea of how to attack to start doing some more lasting damage. The shield check was a vital intention feint, one Edward sought to make her pay for by actually hitting her with it, but Twitch was going to make him foot this bill.

I'm sorry.

Like a basketball player turning off a block to make a shot, like an agile martial artist reading an opponent's body at zero range, Twitch spun off the shield clockwise. Her pivot and chamber were tight, her right leg up and head behind her. The scene turned yellow and red and hot before going purple as the flames roared from the shield, catching her jacket and seriously singing her back. However, her eyes were focus was on where her right heel would land, on the side of Edward's right knee. For a normal person, taking any sort of stomp to the knee would spell danger, but Twitch planned to drop enough force in her kick to account for the fact that it might be mechanical. Jam a piston, break a line, shatter the joint... she wanted Edward's balance absolutely destroyed. Ideally, her foot would drive his knees together, the first knee instantly injured and officially shattering into uselessness once her heel drove it into the ground.

However, her assault wouldn't end with the one attack. The flames from Edward's shield assaulted her back before they began chasing her, darkening in color.

Innate: Pyromancy Wrote:

Control of open flames and sources of notable heat within fifteen yards that are not being manipulated by others. Just as she cannot easily affect others' fire attacks, opponents will find it incredibly difficult to magically take control of hers. Flames she manipulates will darken, gaining a dark, pale purple hue. Maximum amount of manipulated flame equals the area of a 3x3x5 foot cube. Typical manipulation includes creating walls of flame, whips, or fireballs. Control of flames will cost 1 charge per turn.

Assuming the shield was as mechanical as the rest of his augments, then Twitch would have no problem magically controlling the flames. Edward might not even have the chance to ponder the reason his fire was turning dark before her foot met his knee(s), and he might not even be on the ground when she took a short hop and, with the flames having finished their journey around her, returned the fire with an airborne axe to the head or face, whichever she was able to strike; while she was going to aim for the right shoulder if it presented itself, if his legs collapsed and he fell into her then his left would be the easiest target with her overhead heel attack. She'd be able to fade backwards in case he did fall into her, so performing her second attack was no problem. As for the stolen fire, it arced down and left a trail of purple flame on her foot and on contact with his body and clothes, ignited him the exact same way he had done her.

Needless to say, while her jacket and hair had caught a massive wave of the fire, by the time she landed the first kick she would have owned his offensive completely and she'd suffer no more damage past the first blast. It wouldn't change the fact that the scent of burned cotton and hair hit their noses, and D's expression bore a great deal of irritation at that. However, it was tempered by the sadness of the realization that to win, she'd have to break him down to the least common denominator. He was just too sturdy for her to not follow that course, but thankfully she was quick and precise enough to make it happen.


Adrenaline 3 - 1 = 2

[10/17]

ENEMY TURN

75Better Than Gore

"Not this time,"

Darren was a strictly close-quarter combat participant, there was absolutely nothing magical about him; in fact, the only thing that kept him in the same league as most of the fighters were his metallic appendages. Not giving Benjamin any room to breathe was his only key to victory, and the Cyborg displayed his blood lust exceptionally well in the heat of combat. Right when Benjamin fled from the small space between the two of them, Darren was immediately on the move, letting the strength of his cybernetic legs present just how quickly they could move in a dire situation. Before Benjamin knew it, the Drug Lord was upon him once more, but not in the way he might have predicted.

Benjamin rose his shield to protect his face, assuming that it would save him from any punishment Darren could muster, and he was very wrong. Once two feet had been closed between them, the Cyborg leaped, kicking out both of his feet as he flew through the air toward his opponent. Preforming one hell of a drop kick. Darren aimed to plant the kick into the buckler that protected Benjamin's face, forcefully pushing it back into the wielders face, maybe the object would strike true and break Benjamin's nose.

The timing of his kick was Darren's definition of perfection, hopefully interrupting Benjamin's attempt at re-arming himself, and doing some damage all at the same time!

[14]

LuvMonke Wrote:

76Just Naota

She spun! Edward's eyes widened from beneath the lenses of his goggles, genuinely surprised by the hellcat's actions. Had she known about the built-in flamethrower? It wouldn't have been a stretch, as the cyborg had used such a weapon on the dervish in the previous round. Then again, the woman had entered the round believing this was nothing but a dream, or at least that's what she had led Edward to believe that she believed. It could have been a ruse to confuse. Not that it mattered. Perhaps this had been Twitch's plan all along. Either way, the cyberpunk was prepared to respond within a moment's notice.

There was a reason why the cyborg had remained mostly still. Why he hadn't committed much in terms of power or momentum into any of his attacks; instead, he relied on standing behind his shield (at the ready) and allowed his flamethrower to do the talking. That reason was simple. It allowed him to react. It permitted the cyberpunk a variety of options in meeting nearly any obstacle. If the detective was swinging around a sledge hammer or a two-handed sword, then he would have been in a s**t ton of trouble as utilizing such weapons required much of one's effort. Standing still, while holding up a shield and pulling the mental trigger to a flamethrower required almost none. It left Edward ready and waiting for the opportune time to strike.

Edward was like the viper, patiently awaiting the perfect moment to lash out. D' spinning clockwise, towards Edward's right side (and the right arm that laid in wait) was that moment. Suddenly, the detective's heart began to pump furiously, spreading a cocktail of hormones across his body. His energy levels skyrocketed in mere moments, threatening to explode from within if Edward did nothing. Then... Edward exploded into action.

Ace Detective Handbook Wrote:

[Adrenaline Rush] When Ed's nano-machines stimulate the adrenergic receptors throughout his body, a cocktail mix of endorphins and quick-response steroids are released into his body that increases his speed and strength of his organic body by nearly 50% for a few moments (1 post). This helps Edward give a proper boost to particular moves, like single/double-leg takedowns and Lateral Drops. This gives the cyberpunk not only the capability of throwing an enemy harder but also farther. A 300 pound creature or object can be thrown about 10 feet. It can also be used to throw a combination of hits extremely quickly amongst other maneuvers. However, the ability is rather taxing and can only be used three times during a battle.

Cybernetic/Implant of Origin: Nano-machines.

Duration: Instant

Cool-down Time: 2 posts

With unbelievable speed and explosive power, Edward took a stride forward with his right foot, moving a lot closer to his opponent. During a clockwise (or counter-clockwise for that matter) spin, there was a point where the hellcat would have her back turned away from Edward and that's when he chose to spring his attack. The cyberpunk, quickly, reached out with his right hand, opening his gauntlet-clad hand wide (dropping the d***o from his grip) as he attempted to grab hold of his opponent. His hand's trajectory placed it line with Twitch's spin, making it so that the hellcat would be literally spinning into the cyborg's grasp. Of course, D' was a fast one, so she would likely finish her spin in its entirety. She would likely even be able to bring her right foot around for a stomp. However, the cyberpunk's stride had placed his right knee in another location, not incredibly far from its original position, but certainly far enough to force D' to re-aim. Then again, a ball pit of three feet in depth did a rather terrific job in obscuring small and very particular parts of the body.

Edward wasn't sure if it even mattered. Edward had stretched out his arm to touch an incredibly nearby Twitch, and as long as he did...it didn't matter where. The following would be instantaneous either way.

ZZAAAAAAPPP

Ace Detective Handbook Wrote:

Shock-fist: With a command from Edward's cyber-brain, the intricate electronics within the hand of the Sentinel begins to emit an electrical current that doesn't harm Ed. On the very next impact by the gauntlet, the electricity is released into the target for a short duration, electrocuting and stunning said target for a second or two. The shock packs the punch of your typical taser, and doesn't provide a continues stream of electricity even if Edward holds onto his opponent. After usage, the shock-fist has to take some time to recharge before the cyberpunk can use it again.

Cool-down: 4 posts (Does not count against the cool-down rules in Edward's cybernetic abilities.)

Electricity would flow from Edward's gauntlet and into the hellcat's body. Without warning, her every muscle would tighten and spasm, likely causing D' intense pain and an inability to maneuver her body parts for a short duration. Such a jolt would ruin the stomp to his knee, likely causing the power of the kick to falter tremendously to bearable levels. Though, Edward was sure that it would take more than one kick (even the strongest of kicks) to destroy one of his durable prosthesis. And it would definitely stop her from jumping into the air, and using his flames against him.

It would also leave her open, for a period, to one of Edward's attacks which he performed promptly if his Shock-fist went off.

The hydraulics hissed as the cyborg swung his left arm wide, attempting to acquaint the rounded edge of his shield with the side of Twitch's head. He wasn't sure if it would hit or not, though he wasn't sure how an electrocuted woman would avoid it either. But if it did, the hellcat would see stars, not to mention that his shield was burning as hot as a frying pan.


Burning Arm: 2/2

Adrenaline Rush: 0/2

Shock-fist: 0/4

-10-

77LuvMonke

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

As he reached for his waist to release his hidden dagger, a sudden influx of feet stayed his hand. Not being stupid enough to take the kick in his buckler, for even its enhanced protection would not be sufficient take that much force, he didn't even try. Instead he stopped fighting gravity and his fatigue to stay upright and fell backwards before the blow, bending backwards so that his back hovered over his ankles. However due to the suddenness of the blow and quick precision of cybernetic legs, such efforts would not cut it and Benjamin knew it.

So as he fell backwards, the swordsman also detonated the energy held with his buckler, producing the same expanding sphere of force. The concussive energy released would be insufficient to the task of repelling the blow, but it would speed up Benjamin's descent. It would also smash his face in, albeit less roughly than the cyborg has intended, but his face was still stuck with enough force to break his nose. More fortuitously for the swordsman, the blast would impart a upwards pressure against the bottom of the cyborg's feet, sending his feet skyward and his head earthward.

Regardless of whether or not Darren bumped his head, Benjamin followed up his speeding if painful retreat with a thrust of his right arm towards the small of the other man's back. He then utilized his one and only ranged ability.

Quote:** Wrote:

Wireless Connection: If an item is already manifesting a least one charge worth of his power and Benjamin has at least one charge of energy stored up, or if two items both have at least one charge of energy a piece he activate this ability. This ability uses a half charge from each item, or an item and Benjamin to create a bolt of electricity between the two points with a power of a single charge. It's like any of manifestation of his powers but the energy is taken from two locations and thus the attraction between the two reservoirs of power, allow this ability overcome his normal distance restriction. If no object is struct between the two points the energy will cycle for 3 posts. This power has a 30 foot range.

Two bolts of red lightning, one coming right after the other, would spring forth from his sword embedded in the wall behind the cyborg and try to make contact with Benjamin's outstretched fist. Fortunately or unfortunately, they'd strike the cyborg in his spine before they could reach their intended destination.

Upon contact each strike would inflict minor electrical burns and cause short lived convulsions in the target, momentarily leaving his exposed to further attack.

If Darren somehow avoided this mystical assault, Benjamin would still be left with an live wire of potential damage as the energy continued to cycle back and forth between his right hand and the sword stuck in the ballpit wall.

[

14

78Unchecked Twitch

PLAYER TURN

D' had no idea that the shield was more than a shield. It was a pretty interesting design, and her first glance had her think that he'd use it completely for defense because... that's what one did. If the question was 'how did she know to turn,' she didn't.. it was a last second decision, but she was going to attack his knees. She'd grabbed his fire because she was subconsciously ecstatic that someone had used fire, as she'd been waiting for something like that. At finding out about his cybernetic enhancements, she actually expected him to have some sort of lightning-based attack---

No...

If she looked back on the tape of this fight she'd not discount that he had been simply waiting for her; it was an expert movement on his part. Twitch did not re-aim her stomp and as he stepped forward her leg would jam. However, the realization that for some reason she was stomping down onto his thigh and he'd grabbed onto her arm would happen sometime in the period that the flames were curling around.

No, no, no, no!

All contemplation of the ramifications of this ended the moment she the current caused her to seize and hair and fur all to stand on end. She instinctively began to stumble away from Edward, just to gain a bit of distance. However, and if Edward was willing to swing his arm through the hanging, swirling pillar of flame that had yet to peter out, then she'd be caught mid-stagger by a blow to the back of the head. It was then that the fire, without Twitch's conscious will to control them, flickered away into nothingness and her knives dropped onto the ground, next to some of the balls that had been melted during the heat play. As for the hellcat, she dropped to hands and knees some five feet away. Thankfully, she had the presence of mind to not smash her forehead on the ground, and there were plastic balls that would've kept her from going that deep to the ground anyway.

The heat of the shield was a non-issue, it coming and going in less than a second. It was the bash's force that caused her the most problems, it having jarred her senses. She felt... weird, off. She felt heavy, and the back of her sinuses were wet. She felt like coughing, the mild sensation of choking. All sound muffled as she succumbed to a yawn, and she knew it then... she remembered all the nonsense she was spouting upon entry, and the fight itself, and the one prior.

Thanks to the blow to the head, Twitch was breaking out of the dream, out of the lingering mental effects of the Eliminator bout... she was waking up. Unfortunately it did absolutely nothing for her physical addling, and as she pushed to her feet (favoring the left just a bit, as her battle high had worn off with the shock-and-blow), she turned to him. Her left hand was up and balled into a defiant fist while the right was more at her waist; though she was still a bit dazed, a hand up was better than rising completely unprotected. She could only hope that Edward gave her the chance to stand from that, rather than moving to finish the fight immediately. Hopefully she could regain her senses fully and get something going to turn this around. She hadn't given up when moving and not-moving her shoulder and neck became a serious chore in the Winter Wasteland, and she wouldn't just give up here.

She didn't come to Heaven or Hell to tap out at the first sign that things weren't going her way.


Adrenaline = 2

[11/17]

ENEMY TURN

Fuka is dead. Twitch is awake.

79Better Than Gore

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Crazed laughter bellowed from the Cyborg as the explosive force of Benjamin's buckler sent him skyward, knocking his feet upward with little effort, forcing a rather unique black flip. While mid-air, Benjamin stretched his right arm toward the air-bound metal monstrosity, summoning an electrical ark from across the room. Said ark would course through the air toward Benjamin's extended hand, and Darren was caught right in the crossfire! By the time Benjamin used the ability, the Drug Lord had finished his makeshift back flip, so the bolt would strike him briefly. Striking him in the lumber region of his back; however, the electricity would be shifted toward the Cyborg's side as he lightly convulsed, his upper body twitching lightly.

Darren's suit would burn at the point of impact, burning skin that hid underneath of the expensive material, the smell of skin, and linen being burned lingered in the air around them. Darren's landing wasn't something people would consider perfect, keeping his balance while landing atop plastic balls would be quite hard, especially since the Drug Lord had been struck with a surge of electricity. Metal feet landed upon plastic, crushing under the weight of the man, but he still somehow managed to lose his balance. Applying his weight onto his left leg, the Cyborg would fall in an angle, basically diving into the pit. Tucking the crutch into his chest as he fell. Obscuring himself from Benjamin's gaze, he'd roll, just in case his opponent decided to act upon him being down.

Darren would attempt to roll a circle around Benjamin, only stopping once he believed he was to the right of his opponent(Darren's left). After he had stopped moving completely, his right arm patted around for anything of use, clutching whatever he managed to grab. Upon obtaining the item, the Cyborg crouched suddenly, rising whatever he currently wielded in front of his torso for deflection. Benjamin's crutch would be rose as well, but in a more offensive manner, cocking it back with his wielding left hand ready to swing at a moments notice.

A glass bottle was in Darren's right hand!

[15]

LuvMonke Wrote:

80LuvMonke

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

Two wireless connections, two bolts of Benjamin's unique brand of electricty, arced out of his sword and towards his opponent. Once caught the cyborg in mid-flip, the other missed it's target completely and was currently cycling back and forth between the blade embedded in the wall and Benjamin's outstretched right hand. As he rose from the back-bending position his opponent had forced him into, the swordsman simultaneously dispelled his shield allowing it to return to it's ring disguise and spit the blood out his mouth to add the growing accumulation on the plastic balls around him. All the while holding his right hand and it's rubber-banding power line of electricity above his head to keep it out of the pit and away from any chance intersections.

Once back into a kneeling position, and thus more able to act and respond to any incoming attacks or missiles, Benjamin oriented on the movement of balls to his right that indicated his circling opponent. The balls in their vicinity having been thinned once more by his latest detonation didn't give the cyborg enough cover and slip away unnoticed and Benjamin was able to not only track his movements but follow them by pivoting on the knee of his mostly whole right leg. As Darren rose from the depths and assume a combat stance of his own, he'd find the blonde beaut waiting for him.

Benjamin was now holding his right arm in front of his torso and to the right side, the shift in their orientation causing the cycling red bolt to pass horizontally in front of his torso. His left was cocked by his left hip, the thumb sitting on one of the studs of his leather belt. Just as the other man was settling, Benjamin moved that left hand viper quick, yanking out a smaller blade than he'd previous intended. It was a throwing knife with two and a half inch blade and no cross guard. In rapid fire action he swiftly threw the knife underhand at the bottle, hoping to shatter the weapon before it could be put to use. If it was moved out of the way then better still, the weapon would sink into the cyborg's fleshier side.

Regardless, after the throw the hand would not sit idle but return to his belt to draw a proper fighting weapon with twice the cutting edge and a nice guard to block and deflect with.

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81Better Than Gore

Darren's cybernetic limb held the neck of the bottle, the base would shatter upon the knife coming into contact with it, leaving a very jagged piece of glass in his hand. A look of approval flashed over the Cyborg's face as he realized just how big of a favor Benjamin had done for him, within his hand was a shank, a very sharp shank. Lowering his right arm, it would remain dormant until the right moment revealed itself, and the crutch would be adjusted in angle across his chest for a blocking mechanism. Sliding his left foot forward, Darren would rise the front of his right foot, and would proceed to shove off with it. Bolting forward with an impressive burst of speed!

Normally, bull rushing someone that was experienced with a sword wasn't the smartest idea, but this time would be different. Darren had Benjamin's crutch, and the Cyborg would use it to his advantage. Once Darren was in a close vicinity the crutch would be raised accordingly, the whole point of this was so the Cyborg could potentially wedge the crutch between them in case Benjamin had another bladed weapon, keeping it from being shoved into Darren's fleshy counter-part. As for the broken bottle, that arm would attempt at wrapping around the outside of Benjamin's body, and shove the jagged piece into Benjamin's side. Aiming for his kidney!

[16]

LuvMonke Wrote:

82LuvMonke

Unspeakable Tragedy Wrote:

Seeing as Benjamin literally had no leg to stand on he could neither charge his opponent or make any kind of reasonable retreat. He could only hold his position and met his opponent head on. They close fast, and he meet the proffered crutch with a sweep of his right arm. His gauntlet wreathed forearm would slap against the bottom of the brace, inches below the rubber head and shove it towards the outside. Yet even as his arm pushed against the crutch it rotated counter-clockwise, so that his hand could grasp the metal and complete the circuit. Once contact was made the cycling electricity would finally have an outlet, travelling through metallic crutch and into the cyborg.

The effects would be the same as before however in their current positioning Benjamin would actually be able to capitalize on opening created by the brief convulsion resulting from the electric shock. If everything went to plan he'd take the opportunity to strike out with the 5" boot knife held in a reverse grip in his left hand. A tug on the crutch to pull his opponent in close before stabbing at his gut.

If however his opponent found a way to avoid or resist the shock, his left hand would strike for his opponent's right arm as it tried to snake around his side. He'd forgo a deflection or parrying of the arm and snake his own arm down to stab at the metallic elbow joint. He probably couldn't do any real damage to the joint but he could jam his blade into the inner working of the mechanism. Thus preventing the arm from bending properly, to deprive any strikes of power and relying on his chain mail to do the rest.

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83Better Than Gore

!

Somehow Darren knew Benjamin would use his electricity in close range, and he was kind of hoping for it. Immediately as the grab happened, Darren would release the grip he had on the crutch, but the momentum wouldn't cease. Using his left hand, it would go over the crutch, aiming for Benjamin's shoulder. Upon grabbing it, the Cyborg would pull Benjamin closer, forcing them into the crutch. As for Darren's right-stabbing hand, the bottle would be dropped, and the arm would continue wrapping around Benjamin's back, with the dagger it was a tad bit harder to actually bend, but with a little struggle he'd achieve the grab. Aiming to clutch the back of Benjamin's neck.

If, and only if Darren latched onto Benjamin...

Code: [Veins & Vines:]

If Darren manages to secure both of his hands around an opponent in a lock of any type, bloody "snake" bone tendrils will rip out of both his shoulders, one each, and sink their little fangs into the opponent, attempting to either break skin or lock into armor to help hold them. For all intensive purposes, they will operate similar to steel-link chains and can be broken with similar force.

However, Darren cannot control these "snakes," nor can he do this again in the span of a fight. They will be dangling from his shoulders, and will slowly slide back into him over an excruciating five hour period.

Benjamin would be in for a big surprise! As "snakes" ripped from Darren's shoulders, lashing out toward Benjamin, from there they would latch onto him. With Darren holding onto him, and the snakes making his body a permanent perch as they dug into his armor, this would also cancel out Benjamin's electricity if it worked the way he thought it did. Making it shock Benjamin instead!

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Three kicks would be launched, Darren's right leg would be fired into Benjamin's left leg, attempting to harm it even further. Poor guy.

[17]

LuvMonke Wrote: