Training Arena

[kihaku]

Skizz's shop sat just south of the heart of the Kinrath District, which meant that the training arena wasn't terribly far in the south-western quarter of the District. As they walked, they left the sounds of hammer on anvil behind, and worked their way deeper into the market end of the weapon trade. Every time one turned their head, they would see polished steel glinting in the sunlight, full suits of armor wrought from the finest metals and adorned with gold inlay shone proudly from shop windows.

"Never had any use for it myself," Jezeroe mentioned off-handedly to his companions. His hammer was now strapped to his back, rather than on his waist, which was more of a sign that he had become acclimated to the presence of the fisherman and gynoid. On his waist, the weapon had been in easy reach, but his back was better for travel and saved his right leg some undue bumps.

"The armor always slows you down, and the swords are only good for cutting. It's all one big, shiny dance of two people strapped in tin cans trying to cut each other."

He sounded as if this was an argument he made often, and his tone invited no rebuttal. However, there wasn't time for one as the high walls of the arena the Rajoran had mentioned loomed just ahead. The street widened, and the cobbles under their feet were suddenly paving stones, flush against one another and not a single bump to be seen. The arena, by contrast, appeared almost decrepit and worn. The stones that made up its construction were all rough-hewn rock, spotted with lichen and moss.

"This arena has been around longer than the district, and despite its looks, it shows no sign of structural decay. The Historical Society won't let anyone with an eye for architecture near it, in case they get the idea in their head of attempting to 'improve' upon it."

He and his companions walked right up to the front entrance where a young Student stopped them, a tablet in his hand.

"May I ask your names and why you wish to enter the Arena?" Jezeroe met the boy's eyes, which wasn't hard considering they were about the same size.

"Greg?"

"Sir?"

"Give me the sheet, and piss off." The boy frowned, but handed over the tablet anyway. Jezeroe scribbled his name and that he brought two guests with him, handed back the sheet, then lead the way through a series of hallways into the main courtyard.

The majority of the ground was covered in cool, green grass, with an elliptical pool in the center. At various points around the outer wall, several small dishes were set up that held a substance that burned an inviting orange.

Jezeroe made a sweeping gesture with his arm, "Alright, have at it."

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

Sen walked out from the entryway into the arena, looking it over not only with her eyes, but with her other four senses as well, to the best of her abilities. What Jez had said about it being solid, he'd meant. It would withstand the test of time for centuries to come, let alone the movement of any within. It would take forces far greater than that of men to destroy this place.

She smiled, this was perfect - she'd break before the arena would.

"This is perfect, Jezeroe - Thank you very much." Sen said, accenting the words with a little twirl in an open space, grinning like the devil, ending the little spin with a slip into fighting stance, the one she'd used when she had intended to fight Jezeroe, back in the street.

"Alright then, Seath, I tell you what - you get first attack... Lemme see what you've got!" her voice and face more than said she was going to enjoy fighting him.

[Seath]

Seath walked into the arena slowly, still dragging along his case of fish. Once inside, he decided to leave it with Jezz, smiling slightly. "If you get hungry, feel free to grab some fish to nibble on." He said with a courteous smile before dragging his net out from under the case, and affixing it onto his side like he normally did.

He caught himself admiring Sen's form, more than just a combatant, a faint blush quickly creeping up to his cheeks as he nodded a bit, taking up a fighting stance as well, though he appears to not know much about what he's doing. "I'll go un-armed too, if that's OK." He said with a little smile. I just hope I don't get too distracted by her looks... He thought to himself, swallowing faintly as his blush darkened a bit.

As soon as he was sure that Sen was ready, he waited a few moments before rushing ahead, running at her head-on, skidding a bit as he lifted his leg and thrust it forward in an attempt to strike a strong first blow, a kick to Sen's abdomen.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

Sen saw the kick coming a mile away, and had more than enough time to lift her right leg, letting his kick bounce right off her hard-coated shin with its full force, using the bend of her knee to absorb the cushion, but only a little - most of it seemed to actually be absorbed by her shin itself.

Rather than use brute force to force him off, she simply spun, and threw a twirling backhand at his face, with little sympathy for the humanoid condition - only enough to prevent hurting him if she actually did hit him. After all, she was aiming for the forehead more than face, that was a hard point of the body, wasn't it?

[Seath]

Seath wasn't terribly surprised by Sen's ability to block his attack - it was, after all, an outright assault - but her next maneuver did catch him rather off guard, having expected to simply be forced away, not to have her move.

Left off balance by her spin, Seath had little time to defend against her attack, and as a result, was hit by pretty much the full force of it, which caused him to wobble for a moment before falling back with a thud, rubbing both his forehead and his lower back. "Ah... Ouch.. That was quite a maneuver..." He mumbled faintly before getting back to his feet, shaking his head some to clear it. "I've got to admit, I'm not really used to fighting someone with so much skill... Granted, I'm not really used to fighting anyone at all." He said with a little grin before taking up his fighting stance again.

Now that he knew such an obvious attack wouldn't work very well, Seath decided to try something a little different. He started a rush at Sen again, but this time switched his stance just before reaching her, and as a result ended up tripping over his own feet and flopping to the ground on his stomach with a heavy thud. He of course had done it on purpose, and hoped it wasn't too obvious that he was just trying to get Sen up close and off guard so he would have a chance for a closer strike, calculating in his mind - or, at least, trying to calculate - the best angle to swing a punch at her hip, if she got close enough.

[Kaworu - Horatio]

A strange boy who'd walked a fair distance to get to Warden found himself in a district he found was called Kinrath that was known to have an arena so he wanted to go have a look, once he got there he saw a person standing out front guarding the place and he figured that he'd have a hard time to get in without a valid reason so he snuck up behind the guy.

Once there he tapped the man on the shoulder then ducked into the door while he was looking the other way and once in he noticed that there was a match going so he took a seat behind someone who looked young and was watching, Horatio had his staff in his hand and watched the match out of interest and then looked at the boy before him.

He leant down closer to the kid "Hey young fella, nice show do you fight cause we can spar next if you like" commented Horatio, hoping not to get the broad side of his hammer that he noticed on the boy but he was in mood for some fun right now and he could help if anyone got injured as well.

[kihaku]

Jezeroe had noticed the man enter the arena, and had taken a quick assessment of his heritage with a brief glance. His eyes were two different colors, which automatically pegged him as Rellian. His attire was sparse, yet he carried himself with confidence, something Rellians were never in short supply of.

'If he slipped in, Greg had better be asleep,' he thought to himself. It would be a pity if Greg had been watchful, yet the vagabond still managed to wiggle his way in.

He took a seat not too far from the young Rajoran to watch the spar between Sen and Seath, but as luck would have it, he wasn't content to simply watch.

"Hey young fella, nice show do you fight cause we can spar next if you like."

Jezeroe turned his head to peer at the much taller man, then turned back to watch the pair sparring in the arena. After a few seconds, he appeared to have ignored the Rellian.

"Why wait," he asked with a shrug, "Arena's big enough."

Without looking back, he walked to the other side of the training area, across the pool and a good distance from Sen and Seath.

"Ready when you are, old man."

[Kaworu - Horatio]

Horatio walked towards the opposing side of the arena to the kid and spun his staff a little and it turned into a spear "Old man huh, well I guess I'd look old to a boy like yourself, so shall we use weapons?" inquired Horatio, he just stood there waiting not looking like he was about to fight but then started to look serious when he got into a loose fighting stance "Either way mate, I'll let you make the first move seeing as how you look so young" commented Horatio.

And depending on the kids choice of fighting he was ready with or without the spear cause he needed to let off some excess energy from being hyped up and annoyed on his trip here, and the pain it was to get into the city in the first place hopefully this boy doesn't try and turn him in cause he wasn't in the mood for prison or being chased by guards.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

Sen watched him flop onto his belly, more irked than anything else that he thought he could pull something like that. But, he'd underestimated her, not once, but twice - that was an opening. She'd absorbed some energy already, from his blow to her arm and from her strike to his... face, so she had some energy to throw around. With a grin, she leveled her palm at him.

"Yeah, no."

Her palm opened, and in less than a second, blue light flooded into the revealed assembly, condensing energy pent up and converting it back into kinetic force, forming and firing a bolt of this energy, with the force of Seath's earlier blow to her arm, and the force she'd absorbed from backhanding him. It wasn't like a laser, it had trajectory - thus it would take a half-second to reach him before it'd smack him.

[kihaku]

"Old man huh, well I guess I'd look old to a boy like yourself, so shall we use weapons?"

Jezeroe grimaced when Horatio called him a boy, but he knew that he had probably set himself up for just that rebuttal by referring to his opponent as "old." Still, it grated on his nerves, and when the question of weapons came up, the Rajoran was more than willing to tilt the scales in his favor.

"Yeah, it'll be a better workout."

"Either way mate, I'll let you make the first move seeing as how you look so young"

'Sound reasoning,' he thought to himself, 'let your opponent make the opening attack and come up with a counter from there.' Jezeroe's brow creased as he summed up what he could see of his opponent, and surmised that he probably had some kind of wind affinity, as most Rellians are wont to do.

Jezeroe raised his right hand over his shoulder and grasped the handle of his hammer, while his other hand moved around to his back and undid the clasp that held it in place. Without any sign of weight in his hand, Jezeroe swung the weapon up over his shoulder, then planted its head against the ground with a dull, ominous thud that shook the grass at his feet.

"I'm not your 'mate,' guy. For your sake, old man, I hope you're faster than you look."

Jezeroe dug in and launched himself at Horatio. He wasn't blindingly fast, but for someone his size carrying the weight of that inconceivable weapon, it was definitely above average.

His first attack wasn't with his weapon, as one might expect of one who wields a war hammer, but instead he gave a small leap, twisted, and slung the heel of his left boot at Horatio's left shoulder. With his normal strength, it would be enough to force him to twist slightly, just enough to allow Jezeroe to slam the full brunt of his hammer squarely on his back. His own turning speed would be magnified many times by his ability of Momentous Slash, which made this agile young man into a physical powerhouse.

[Seath]

Seath looked up at hearing Sen speak and gave a bit of a sheepish grin. "Can't blame a guy for trying." He said faintly, watching curiously as her palm opened, and, unfortunately for him, his curiosity kept him from even trying to avoid the attack, getting hit with it easily, and quite hard, sending him rolling back a ways with a faint groan.

"Ok... I guess I'm gonna have to stop fooling around..." He said quietly as he slowly got back to his feet, dusting himself off a bit before slowly opening his left eye, trying to act a little dramatic for it as he takes up a more serious fighting stance. "Let's see how we fare on even terms."

Seath had really hoped someone would have gone for some fish, it would've given him some water to work with without being completely obvious, but since nobody had, he'd have to just go without for the time being... Or, try to get thrown over toward the case. He smirked a bit as a plan came to mind, and started at Sen again, strafing and rushing ahead to approach at an angle that he hoped would end up with her simply knocking him away again, right toward the case of fish.

He smiled a bit as he neared Sen, pulling an obvious feint with his right leg before swinging a left hook at her, trying to make it seem like he was really trying to hit her, and not that he was deliberately trying to get knocked away.

[Kaworu - Horatio]

"Interesting, going for a shot then planting his big weapon" thought Horatio as he saw the boys' maneuvering so he hand planted the ground with both hands and spun his body placing both his legs up in the air, to catch the boys' attack while his spear was in his hand and once he'd grabbed the boys he'd slam him to the ground.

Then all he had to do was get rid of his hammer and point his spear to boys' throat and he'd win but that would make things too quick "I'll just leave on his arse to attack again, either way he'll have a hard time hitting me due to my wind cloak" thought Horatio as he made sure he was in the right position and if it went wrong he'd just blow himself in another direction.

[kihaku]

'Shit,' Jezeroe thought, cursing himself for having thrown his weight into combat without thinking. Horatio's movements were swift and practiced, though Jezeroe had little time to notice just how practiced until his attack was already too far gone to adapt. The hand-plant had been very unexpected, but he saw the tactical advantage his opponent had gained; by using his legs to block, Horatio had robbed Jezeroe of any momentum he might have used to swing his hammer, leaving him with only what he would be able to muster from his arm-strength. However, even that was canceled when the drifter used an interesting maneuver that used his legs to twist Jezeroe back and slam him to the grass.

Seizing the opportunity, the Rajoran youth grabbed the handle of his weapon with two hands, and when the ground rushed up to meet him, his hammer made the handshake. The head of his weapon slammed flush against the earth, which caused a stiff shake about their half of the arena. A small crack ran from under his hammer back to Horatio quick as lightning. Once it slid under him like a serpent, his special Upheaval technique took effect and caused a five-foot area of earth beneath the drifter to suddenly jolt upward and break up into small, sharply-pointed cobbles that burst straight up. Unless he had some very special techniques, those rocks would batter Horatio's head, shoulders, and upper arms.

The young Cadet used his hammer as a stand to flip over and land on his feet with his back to the Rellian. He turned his head so he could watch the result from the corner of his eye.

[Kaworu - Horatio]

Horatio had successfully put the boy to the ground but didn't release that the boy's hammer was earth affinity and just as the crack the weapon had made came under his body, he launched himself into the air to avoid the ground spikes using his wind cloak to give him more height encase they went after him. Thou in the hurry to evade Horatio had let go of his spear which was now amongst the ground spikes the boy had made, "Nice recovery" commented Horatio as he slowly landed and went for his spear pulling it out from the spikes.

Spinning it around to see if it was okay and it was Horatio got into a more serious fighting stance with his weapon ready for battle against this little hammer boy, and he thought he'd throw the boys' thoughts on him off balance as he lent back and then launched his spear towards the boy. Then charged him while increasing his speed via the use of his wind cloak looking like he's about to attack the boy unarmed, but as he gets close he reaches behind his back thou he doesn't pull them out in till he's closer to the kid and unsheathes two daggers.

Horatio then proceeds to assault the boy with a series of slashes towards his hands so that his hammer is less useful while the spear will not hit him due to the cloak, thou he hopes it at least wounds or distract the boy so he can bring on his close combat assault and judging from his weapon the boy may not be the best at clcose quarters fighting.

[kihaku]

Jezeroe turned just in time to see the spear heading in his direction, and in a split-second decision, he leaned back slightly, then shot his arm upwards. With a dexterity that surprised even himself, he snatched the weapon from the air and gave it a twirl in his hand.

'Okay, let's see him handle this,' he thought with a malicious smirk. He dug the tip of the spear just under a bit of rubble left from his Upheaval attack and flipped it into the air towards himself. His eyes flicked to his opponent to gauge the distance between them, and his heartbeat increased when he saw the glint of metal at a rapid speed. Without a second to lose, he swung his hammer just as the rock was on its way to the ground, and when the two met, the stone exploded in a hail of shrapnel and sharp points. Each jagged piece was aimed directly at Horatio, and the Cadet was certain that he couldn't avoid them all.

His smile still firmly in place, he belted his hammer and grasped the spear with both hands. It definitely wasn't his specialty, but he'd rather keep this Rellian drifter at a distance, especially with those knives of his.