Championship Round: Division Two!

[Garoten Reklor]

--Legends of Dragonia: Tournament 2006--

Esperanza Edition:

Championship Round: Division Two

Viva la Dragonia!

Match: Kihaku, Falkan, Kilix, Hakuto
Final Score: ? - ? - ? - ?
Location: Bedoe
Starting Date: Thursday, November 9th, 2006
Ending Date: Friday, December 1st, 2006
Judges: Jimmy, Zolomon

Reminder - Be aware, this match is very different from the others in several ways: First, this is a four person match! Technically, it is a free-for-all, but the fighters may form alliances or stand alone as they wish. Second, the round will last longer than the previous matches. Due to the increased number of fighters, an extra week has been given to the usual two-week limit. (Note, to avoid confusion, please post in turns, if possible. It will help both the fans and the judges keep track of what's going on.) Third, this is a last-man-standing round. If a fighter has reached a point where he can no longer continue, he will be transported off the battlefield. (Note: The judges will be keeping close tabs on the match and will have the authority to declare a fighter out, if necessary). If the match time ends with all four fighters still standing, it will be judged on the usual criteria. Otherwise, there is only one rule - ytou WILL BE DISQUALIFIED if you kill another fighter. Anything short of that goes.

Be sure to include your surrounding area; remember, YOU ARE NOT FIGHTING ON THE TOURNAMENT GROUNDS! The first person to post can set any additional conditions, such as the weather or the exact location of where the two are fighting, to further the environment. Also, be creative with what you do, and be sure to have fun! The winner of this match will receive the fifth place title and prize from Tournament 2006! Good luck to you all.

[kihaku]

((Good luck to my opponents, I must say that I am rather intimidated by the line up that I am forced to go against, but best of luck anyway))

Kihaku stood on a windy mountaintop plataeu in Bedoe, the battle ground amazingly unique, almost sculpted in it's symmetrical design. He had a feeling that it wasn't entirely natural, but that really didn't make a difference to him; this was merely a place to fight, and holy crap was it going to be a fight to remember.

His thoughts turned to his opponents for this, what could very well be his final match. It was odd, he was both glad it was almost over, and yet he'd never been mroe nervous in his life. Well, perhaps nervous was too strong a word, more like anxious. Kilix Gyro, the little Liixan fought with the strength of any grand size warrior on this planet, at one third everyone else's size. His gear made him very deadly, but that combined with his normal skills of granted him through evolution made him only more potent. Then there was Hakuto, the demented homicidal android. That was really as far as his knowledge extended. Some strange attacks could be expected, this being the first artificial life form he'd ever come across. Then there was Falkan Reval, the mighty V'alcan warrior that he'd faced nearly a day ago. It was strange to think that an enemy he just so recently defeated might very well become an ally in this game. Two warriors are always better than one.

His mind turned back to their battleground, and was surprised to find it far more uniqe than he'd first suspected. It seemed as if the entire top cone of the mountain had been cleanly slice, creating a minutely concave surface on which to battle. There was a puddle of water six feet wide, but only two inches deep at it's thickest point. The entire area was maybe a half mile in diameter if he was any judge of distances. This was certainly going to be an interesting match.

[Archer]

(Looks like I'm in for Second Post; I may not be exactly active, seeming as I have a lot on my plate right now, but I'll try my best. And to be honest; I prefer this line up to the Finalists ones. Good luck to all; You're gonna need it )

"Looks like I'm the second to arrive, Mr Sagaku." came the confident voice of Kilix Gyro, his visible fur wafting in the gently flowing mountain winds. His eyes were fixed on the figure of his enemy, Kihaku Sagaku. This was the free-for-all final, and Kihaku had been the first to arrive. However, Kilix knew far more about his other opponents.

Falkan Reval, the V'alcan, the man that Kilix considered one of his few true friends on Dragonia; Rizuk the Dragon taking the other place on that particular pedestal. His fourth opponent was by far the most dangerous from his personal experience, Hakuto. Kilix and Hakuto had more than their fair share of run-ins with each other, but none of them had been violent so far. That, obviously, was about to change.

"So, Kihaku, would you like to begin now, or shall we wait for the others?"

[Garoten Reklor]

((Good luck gentlemen! I've been looking forward to fighting all of your for a long, long time!))

Reval found himself instantly whisked from the noise of a hotel bar full of drunken sots to the sudden, eerie calm of the mountains of Bedoe. He wasn't going to comlpain. The Beoese mountains were very much like the mountains where his home city of Reval was located, so much so that he had made his 'Dragonian home' among the jagged peaks. In the distance, his inhumanly keen vision caught a glimpse of Vi'drek circling the skies in search of prey - or Saiyan survivors.

Instantly Falkan sensed the oddities of the environment. The gentle curve of the ground where a jagged peak should have been surprised the V'alcan, but only slightly. It made sense that Tournament Officials would prepare a special battleground for this, one of the two Final matches. What was amazing to him was the seemingly limitless supply of resources the Esperanzan people continued to pour into their precious tournament. Though he had been exiled young, there was enough of the V'alcan culture in Falkan Reval to despise the barbaric passtime of watching people fight for sport. Yet here he was, preparing for what could be the final fight for anyone but himself.

Kihaku was already there, standing calmly across a shallow puddle from Falkan. He gave the warrior a respectful nod. After all, Kihaku had been the only opponent on Dragonia that had beaten the V'alcan warrior so far - a feat certainly deserving of some respect. And a feat the Falkan had no intention of seeing repeated. Kilix, the small, but powerful warrior from Liix was also there. He thought of the only contestant yet to show: Hakuto. Already plans and strategies began taking shape in Falkan's mind:

Of the four contestans, Hakuto was clearly the top as far as raw power was concerned, with Kihaku at a close second. Falkan, followed by Kilix, clearly couldn't plan on winning by sheer force. In fact, only Hakuto could hope to win using brute strength alone.

Skill was another story. In his own experience, both in the tournament and the invasion, Falkan had seen all three of his opponents display fantastic battlefield prowess. Although he and Kilix could be considered the top two concerning the actual technique and use of weaponry, there was no clear leader when the skills of the four were compared.

Strategy also seemed equally matched among the four. Each had demonstrated and relied upon a keen, almost rutheless ability to analyze and adjust his tactics, no matter the situation. While Reval had always counted his brilliance in battle as his ace in the hole, he could not do so this time. The others were equally good tacticians.

The last major factor to which Falkan gave much consideration was resilience. All the power in the world mattered little if one couldn't take damage as well as give it. Here he and Hakuto were the clear leaders, in his mind. Kilix would be limited by his own physiology, armor notwithstanding. He hadn't seen Kihaku sustain much damage, if any, but to Reval it was doubtful whether he could regenerate as extensively as Hakuto or heal as quickly as himself. There was where Falkan hoped he would find his edge. He would have to focus on dishing out as much damage to the others as possible as quickly as possible, regardless of the danger to himself, and count on his own healing abilities to keep him going while the others collapsed.

All these factors and more were giving the would-be gamblers in the stadium fits. The odds were radically different, depending on whom one asked, making it all but impossible for the officials to even take bets, much less calculate the rewards in question. The fight was going to be a close one, no doubt. One that nobody, warriors and spectators alike, would forget for a very long time.

[hakuto]

(OOC: Hey, good luck guys. This round should be fun. It sucks that we aren't the "tier 1" group, but top eight ain't bad. )

No one was thinking of starting this without me...I hope.

The deep voice of Hakuto would be instantly reckognizable. The android had just teleported to the area and then teleported himself to the top. He appeared in one "corner" of the square the four fighters made. It was rather perfect, however coincidental it was. The android's heavy black cloak did not flutter one bit in the winds blowing through this high area. It was an odd sight to see for some of the spectators. Then again, Hakuto was always an odd sight to see.

The android's red eyes looked around at his three opponents. He scanned them, took in all the information he could. Anything from their casual stances, eyes or even speech was being analyzed. Hakuto also reminded himself of what he saw of all the fights of his three opponents. he had watched them after his own fights in each round, if he wasn't facing them himself.

Out of the three competitors Hakuto was to go up against in a few moments, only one had not been one of his opponents so far: Kihaku Sagaku. But, Hakuto would figure out Kihaku soon enough. He is an android, after all.

So...might as well get this thing going.

Hakuto was only mid-sentence when he appeared above the smallest of the four warriors, Kilix. In a split second Hakuto had removed his cloak and whipped it straight down at the top of Kilix's head, from only a meter away. The cloak was extremely heavy and a shot from such a close range at such a high velocity with it would completely knock out even the strongest of fighters.

Hakuto, now sans his heavy cloak, quickly shot forward at Kihaku, hoping to catch him off guard with a basketball sized ki blast aimed at the center of the body. It would be harder to avoid this way and it would make Kihaku move a greater distance to avoid it. Hakuto followed up with a roundhouse kick to Kihaku's head in full flight, quickly spinning out of the way of any sort of counter.

Falkan would be left out of this attack for now, but Hakuto kept his senses at their highest level for all three men.

[kihaku]

Well, Hakuto didn't waste any time in getting things started. That was good, Kihaku wasn't one to waste time, unless there was something worth watching. Unfortunately, though he wanted to see what Kilix might do, Hakuto instantly turned the attacks on the Spirit, and this wasn't something that he was going to allow. The Ki blast missed, screaming over his left shoulder when Kihaku ducked into a crouch, only this had a very bad side effect, the original torso kick was now headed right for his head. Not good at all.

Rolling to the right, he gave his hand a jerk, his energy level shooting skyward. His aura floated off his body, effervescing like a cloak of purple mist. In his hand, a screaming vacuum of blackness forming, sucking in air and any other material it could, destroying it, ripping it apart into it's natural energy, then devouring it like it was a snackfood. The Spectresphere tugged at his hand, trying to coax it into the darkness and munch and mangle it, just as it had Falkan's hand not so long ago.

He twisted his torso now to the left, his right arm shot out to grab Hakuto's incoming ankle, a vice-like grip moving faster than the eye could follow, even he had trouble following his own motion. At just the same time, his left hand shot upwards and outwards, the howling black sphere darting towards Hakuto's chest.

It was Hakuto who attacked first, this was a battle royal, it was all against all, every man against every man, where if you ran slower than the rest, life would be nasty, brutish, and short. Already a plan was forming in his mind about what should be done, and it hurt him to think such things, but there was a distinct possiblity that he'd have to be disrespectful or dishonorable, especially to the closest things he'd ever had to comrades other than Cham.

Forgive me Chameleon, but I must do what I must do.

[Archer]

It really wasn't a surprise, the speed of Falkan's arrival, followed by the equally speedy approach of Hakuto Inuneo. Kilix allowed himself a sly grin, watching both the figures eyes and faces turning and darting from Kihaku, to himself, to each other. It was obvious to anyone they were considering each opponent carefully, judging each's advantages and disadvantages.

Kilix didn't bother as much with his planning, unlike any other match he'd been in up till this point. The reason? He knew as much as he was going to about two of the warriors; Kihaku was his only concern, and he already had a plan to judge his prowess. Avoid. Let the others dig into this mysterious warrior before even approaching, and then he could see what the warrior was really up for.

It was absolutely no surprise that Hakuto decided to begin the battle. Kilix' own peice of technology, the microchip lodged deep in the cortex of his brain, immediatly detected the movement of the Android's energy signal as his form broke down, moving at far faster than the speed of light, and terminating it's journey directly over the Liixan's head.

His eyes darted skywards as the sun's light was obscured by the cloak that Hakuto had launched in his direction. The speed at which it had been flung was immense; to anyone who was watching, it was little more than a blur. And yet, when the cloak reached it's target, it remained suspended in it's place for a split second. An impossibility, physics denying this event with the masses and momentums of both the forces in action. But even more amazingly, after it's suspended moment, a bright light erupting from beneath the cloak's cover forced it at twice it's previous speed towards Falkan Reval, the only warrior not to be involved in battle so far.

The real Kilix, happy that his Explosive Translocation technique had once again worked a treat, stood calmly in the center of the naturally formed arena, a grin once again playing on his lips.
I've rebuilt you twice, Inuneo, thought Kilix, You have no power over me.

His attention turned to Falkan, who would inevitably have escaped from his little trap. "Want to get involved a little then, Falkan?" he smirked, and instantly he was gone, a swift elbow seeking the target of Reval's gut, before his body shifted downwards, allowing for the spring that launched his spin-kick to the V'alcan's head.

The battle had truely begun, and it would be far from easy.

[Garoten Reklor]

Initially, Falkan had been more than happy to allow his opponents to batter one another without his help, but he knew it wouldn't last long. He wasn't at all shocked when it was Kilix that attacked him, either. The Liixan was a noble ally, but he was not unlike Falkan in that he favored no one in a free for all.

That's why he was more than prepared for the sudden change in direction of Hakuto's cloak. Nobody had seen it, but in the first moments of the battle, Falkan had used a modified version of the Stoenwall technique to literally fuse his legs below the knee with the stone of the mountain. It was a gamble based on the source and nature of the first attack, but it worked out just like he'd planned. When the monstrously heavy cloak of Hakuto came hurtling toward him, Falkan smiled just a little, and his eyes changed to blue in a twinkling.

Normally, even with his own weighted cloak, the utter difference in wieght between Hakuto's massive cape and the distinctly lightweight V'alcan physiology would mean Falkan had no chance of stopping or altering the course of the cloak, no matter that he was strong enough to carry the weight. It was a simple problem of leverage. With his legs tied in to mountain itself, things changed. The cloak got to Falkan just before Kilix came for his attack, and the V'alcan Warrior couldn't have planned it better himself. To the surprise of everyone - audience and fellow fighters alike - he leaned sideways, grabbed the cloak in mid-air, and, straining against the forces of weight and inertia...

...Swung the cloak in a circle that would bring it crashing into the form of Kilix Gryo, abruptly ending his elbow smash either way. Since Falkan was bent impossibly backwards with the weight and movement of the garment-turned-weapon, the kick for his head was meaningless. Now came the fun part.

At just the right moment, Reval yanked upward with his right arm and hid his power level, then dispelled the Stonewall techniqu that held him in place. Instantly, he was soaring along toward Kihaku and Hakuto, completely hidden from them behind the cloak. With his power level impossible to sense, he hoped to be upon the two before they knew he was there. As the coat was about to slam into the two, Falkan teleported above them, an ice cannon fully charged.

"Hakuto, I think you dropped something!"

He fired the ice cannon straight down, aiming for Hakuto, although he wouldn't mind if it caught Kihaku as well. As an afterthought, he sent a half dozen seeking beams after Kilix just in case. Now came the problem of overcoming his own inertia before he went soaring over the edge of the mountain battlefield. With a jerk of the handle hidden in his right palm, the Talon fired it's powerful grapple and attached to the opposite edge of the bowl-shaped arena. The near unbreakable chain added a new element to anyone on the ground, since the speed at which the V'alcan on the other end was swinging round would turn the chain into a wire-saw of sorts, capable of cutting a man clean in two.

Falkan unsheathed Rhiannon before yanking the handle on the Talon again. Now he was flying toward the ground as fast as the powerful little crank could pull him. He took a slash or two at all three of his opponents on the way by, then retracted the Talon and fired another Ice Cannon at Kilix while he rolled to a defensive position several meters away.

[hakuto]

Hakuto sensed the cloak's failure to crush Kilix as he flew over to Kihaku. One attack avoided; perhaps the other two would hit? However, neither did.

Hakuto found himself swinging and missing on both his ki blast and kick attempt on Kihaku. Luckily, he had already planned for any sort of counter, and quickly spun away from the swirling black ball of death protruding from Kihaku's hand. Hakuto noticed the very air around it being torn apart and sucked in. Interesting...I'll have to watch out for that one.

Hakuto continued to flip into an upright position and right away saw his cloak flying straight for him. That's a first... Hakuto knew something wasn't quite right when he could not sense Falkan anywhere. From the previous fight the two had in the third round, Hakuto knew Falkan could completely hide his power level. The android put two and two together, coupled with the returning of his cloak, and figured out that Falkan was hiding just behind the extremely heavy black mass.

The android now did something that would completely defy any sort of law of physics. He spun on the spot, grabbed his cloak and threw it straight up. Falkan teleported directly into the path of the cloak and before he could even utter his attempt at sarcastic humour, the cloak would be slamming into his face.

Now, Hakuto wasn't a magician, so how did he just re-direct 30 tons flying at such a high velocity? The devil is in the details, and Hakuto is all about details. He wound up his body, if only for a split second, before suddenly swinging it in a perfect circle, putting all his weight down, then up. At the same time, he used his telekenesis at as full of a force as he could, slowing the cloak down and tilting it onto the circular path it was about to take.

At the end of it all, a whole second later, Hakuto ended up back on his feet, his blood red aura flaring. The android was ready for battle.

[kihaku]

Kihaku hadn't been surprised when the android managed to dodge the blow with the Spectresphere, but it was just then that the most unexpected, most unfortunate thing happened: nothing. There was a flash of blue, an instant chill, and he was suddenly in the room from which he'd been standing in, just before he'd gone to the tournament grounds. Kihaku had no idea what'd happened, indeed the sudden teleportation had left him disoriented from the sensation of flying through nothingness, then landing with a thud against the concrete floor. Whipping around to the nearest life signal, he was suddenly face to face with a tournament official, a slight shadow of stubble showing on his well muscled face, obviously from not shaving, the tournament being quite a demanding distraction.

Kihaku stomped forward, grabbing the man by his collar and yanking him close enough to feel his breath, panting deeply from the adrenaline of battle that the shock of suddenly not being there. "What the hell am I doing here!? I'm supposed to be in the battle with Reval, Kilix, and the android! WHY THE HELL DID YOU IDIOTS YANK ME!?"

The official took his reprimand without blinking or any other kind of indication he was being yelled at by an angry warrior, fully a foot taller than he. Instead, he raised his hand, and in it was a remote. Pushing the power button, a television screen blinked to life, a still frame of the very moment Kihaku had Hakuto's ankle in his grasp. A second offical stepped out of the shadows, and pressed play on the digital recorder. Kihaku watched in shock and disbelief as he watched himself become encased in a thick block of ice, then flashed out of view in a brilliant explosion of blue light.

He dropped his hands, limp from gaping disbelief. The official spoke some words, but they fell on deaf ears. He was handed a set of forms to fill out and almost shoved out of the door, something any other man at any other time would have been decapitated for. When the door shut behind him, he found himself in a busy corridor towards the front of the main tournament offices, bright light glaring off of the tiles, the cacophany of voices simply white noise as the simple premise of his defeat lodged itself in his brain. His footsteps carried him out the sliding front doors, and out into the city of Esperanza. It wasn't until he was standing in the front courtyard that the words the official spoke finally came through the dim fog cluttering the pathways of his mind.

"You were hit with a lethal attack, and we pulled you out. You're damn lucky to be alive. You did well for a first timer, but better luck next time."

Kihaku crushed the forms in his black-gloved hand, fingers balling up the carbon paper before it burst into black flames in his hand, incinerated to a pile of floating black ashes in seconds. The only thing that would truly cause concern within an onlooker, would be the smile upon his features; that smile conveyed a sense of well-being despite his defeat, a feeling of catharsis that one can only feel after raging against something that never deserved it. "Well done Reval. Well done." There was a breeze, and suddenly his form was ripped apart as if it were made of smoke, his body gone from the courtyard, done with the tournament for now.

[hakuto]

(OOC: I'll make an autohit here to progress the fight a bit since Kihaku's out. It will also stop all the recent attacks so we can post freely again. It's been more than two days anyways. )

"OUCH!"

That was the collective shout heard around the stadium that was watching this division two last man standing match. Falkan managed to get off his Ice Cannon, but it missed its target as the V'alcan's aim was thrown off by a massive black cloak slamming into his body. However, even though it missed its original target, Hakuto, it still managed to hit another. Kihaku was instantly frozen and teleported out of the battle due to the near lethal blow.

One down... Hakuto though to himself. Time for number two.

Falkan, unable to get off his talon in time, was sent rocketting into the sky, possibly unconcious from the sheer force of the object that hit him. Hakuto didn't bother waiting, though, deciding to go for the knockout blow. His weapon of choice was one that would not be pleasant in the slightest: The Worm Virus.

The android teleported up to the flying Falkan and quickly attempted to pull him out of the cloak's momentum. Hakuto would not release at this point, however, choosing to dig his fingers into Falkan's arms in a bearhug like maneuvre instead.

Hakuto only needed 10 seconds of contact. If Falkan could not break out of his hold it would prove near fatal. Kilix could stop potentially stop the android, but the android knew that even the fury warrior reckognized that this would eliminate Falkan from the battle. Nevertheless, Hakuto kept close attention to Kilix just in case.

[Garoten Reklor]

((What the? I was waiting for Kilix…Graar. Oh well, I’ll roll with it. But don’t think I’m going down that easy!))

Admittedly, Falkan was caught off guard when Hakuto pulled a stunt similar to his own…only without the seemingly necessary leverage. His contentment at the fact that he managed to take someone out even while being hit was offset by the irritating sensation of Hakuto grabbing him from behind.

Yeah, right. You think I’m going down, you’ve got another thing coming…

To the crowd in the stands, the situation looked bleak for the V’alcan warrior. To him, it was just another chance to do the impossible. Being dead, near dead, held captive…all everyday occurrences for the one single warrior charged with defending an entire civilization. This was nothing new. It just took a little creativity, and a lot of resolve. Besides, Reval hadn’t forgotten his last match with Hakuto. While he didn’t necessarily understand the technology behind the android’s attacks, he did know one thing. Allowing prolonged contact between Hakuto and himself usually would end very, very badly.

However, he needed a moment to regain his strength. Sensing it’s master’s plight, Rhiannon screamed out of it’s sheath and spun in the air, facing Falkan and Hakuto, then launched into a series of unbelievably fast jabs at Hakuto’s arms.

A full second had passed while Falkan’s body healed from the impact of the cloak. His healing done, now he had the freedom to pour his energy into one goal…breaking free of the android’s death grip. Suddenly, his eyes began to glow a brighter blue, growing in intensity until the area around the two was illuminated solely by the light from his eyes. The air around Falkan and Hakuto swirled and whipped about them, while silver streaks suddenly appeared in the V’alcan Warrior’s hair. A jet-black aura exploded from Falkan, visible for the first time ever, and to the crowd in the stands the figures of Falkan and Hakuto faded from view, lost in deepening shadow of the state known as V’alcan Fury. Only the blue gleam of Falkan’s eyes remained visible.

Three seconds, and Falkan was transformed. Four, and his energy climbed further. Five, and he was at his previous limit for power. Six, and he was far beyond.

[shadow=blue,left,300]“Sorry Hakuto, bigger men than you have worked a lot harder to take me down…and they’ve all failed.”[/shadow]

Suddenly, Falkan relaxed every muscle in his body – loosening himself just a little in the android’s grip – before he pushed outward with everything he had. His arms and legs shot outward with a strength he had never known before. Ki exploded from his body, creating a second physical force pushing against Hakuto’s hold. Finally, his realm-bending abilities kicked in, and the surface of Dragonia shot upward in a wedge that shot straight up between the two warriors. Either Hakuto would release his grip voluntarily, or the combined might of Falkan, his ki, and the sheer physical force of the wedge would tear his arms from his body. Either way, a moment later Falkan was free, grabbing Rhiannon out of the air and swinging it in blows so powerful that even the air around the sword became a deadly weapon as it swirled in the wake of the strikes like a miniature tornado.

Even in his Fury state, Falkan retained his keen sense of battlefield awareness, and that told him he couldn’t afford to lose track of Kilix Gyro, who had been awfully quiet for the last few moments. Even as his last strike at Hakuto was finishing, Falkan’s left hand was sending another volley of seeking beams after the Liixan agent. With a few backflips to clear himself, Reval cut a wide arc in the ground with Rhiannon, then yanked a semi-circular wall of earth upward. This he pushed all of his focus into, and sent screaming across the battlefield like a two-story, thirty foot wide stone bulldozer. Not waiting to see the results of the move, he rapid fired ki beams and balls into the dust of the wall, then began charging one giant blast, which he fired at Hakuto several seconds later.

Even after all of this, his energy was increasing still. The android on the field had unwittingly opened the Pandora’s Box that is a V’alcan’s anger.

[Archer]

((Sorry Lads; can you bare in mind the fact I only have weekends and Tuesdays to post really when you're getting into the Auto-hitting.))
((Sorry guys, I'm really not in a writing mood now; I'll try and post tomorrow...))

[hakuto]

(OOC: The autohit was mainly to account for Kihaku being eliminated somehow and move on the fight. I'll wait for you to post now.)

[Archer]

((Guys, I really hate to do this, especially as I made you wait so long, but I really REALLY don't have time for this... I have about 12 hours maximum of spare time a week, which is usually taken up with overtime at work and homework. Plus I've got the play I'm in soon, and being the lead and all my life is more than a little stressful. So very, VERY sorry, but good luck, and may the best man or demonic android win!))