Tag Tournament - Round 2: Match 2: Embri/Angel vs Addman/HE

[Panther385]

An owl hoots in the blackened and charred tree, its yellow eyes gleaming ominously from its hiding place. Many other deformed, inky trees like that one are strewn around the battlefield, giving the place a dreary and dark- nay, gothic look. The long dead yellowing grass rustles in a sudden cold wind. A towering chestnut grandfather clock sits in the middle of the marred forest, the only gleam of something other than monochrome. A tan, cardboard sign hangs from a piece of tape on the object, swinging lightly in the chilly air. It reads in calligraphy print:

"Competitors! Duke it out to your limits! It's too creepy for me to stick around, so mind your back!

~Panther."

The clock began ticking, sounding strangely loud in the freezing quiet...

[3kul]

((Any chance of knowing who Angel's replacement for Embri is before we get this thing started? ))

[Panther385]

((I think Angel is playing them both. ))

[3kul]

((Oh, I see, crazy stuff. Guess we can start now then.))

HollowEyes wandered through the eerie arena, taking careful note of his surroundings. Since his opponent had yet to enter he was taking the opportunity to get to know this place as best as he could - for example, he'd already found out that by timing his steps with the overly loud ticking of the clock, he could move about virtually unheard. He wasn't sure whether or not knowledge like this would help at all, but it was still interesting to know.

Since it appeared that he had the time ((ah, the benefits of posting first)), the Parasitian also took the opportunity to set up various traps whilst he waited. Using the clock as a central point, he placed three charms on different trees to the north, south-east and south-west of it, before finally placing a fourth charm on the back of the rather intimidating timepiece.

Last but not least, he checked that his tag-team belt was securely fastened - it was tied around his waist, just below his third eye. The officials had reminded him that all it took to switch places with Addman was the touch of a button, a most useful device specially designed for these matches.

Jumping to a reasonably low hanging branch on a tree a little way away from the grandfather clock that this arena seemed to be centred around, HollowEyes now waited for his opponent to show up.

[addman]

((Just posting here to let you know that I didn't abandon this match. 3kul went in first, so Addman has yet to make an appearance))

[Angel]

((sorry for the delay, I had considerable trouble with my internet after moving house. I'll get down to it now ))

Angel glides in with the belt firmly on the hips. The forest makes her uneasy, its not good territory for her, as does the clock. Her opponent is a pale fuzz, indistinct at this distance, to her heat sensitive vision and she circles cautiously, slowly closing in.

On the other end of the Bond Embri is a misty and fuzzed presence, a barrier has been set up to stop their communications. Angel does not like it at all

~~~~~~~~

Embri shifts her hooves and watches intently, waiting for her turn.

[3kul]

((Nothing personal Angel, but when Cirrial didn't show, Shaon was pretty much forced to surrender her match. In this thread, Angel, who is controlling both characters, is almost a month late and is still able to continue like nothing's happened.

I'm not really complaining about how Angel's still allowed to participate, since some action is better than none, but why is there such a huge difference in how things are done between judges?))

Unlike Angel, HollowEyes felt quite confident here now. After having been kept waiting so long, he'd gotten an excellent feel for the environment around him, and because of the almost total absense of foreign mental activity here he was able to tell the moment that his opponent had entered the arena. He waited for a few moments, allowing her to think that she may have entered undetected, so as to pinpoint her location and decide upon the best course of action.

Since Angel was a member of the Evil Council, he'd read up quite a bit about her - it certainly seemed like he'd come up against the right enemy. She could easily detect magical and other varieties of energy, but the only time charms emitted any kind of magical energy was when they were activated, which in the case of traps would be far too late. She was an expert in controlling fire and rocks, so he'd have to limit himself in his opening moves in order to best remain undetected. Knowing this, he'd been particularily careful in his selection of charms to use for traps.

He continued to watch as Angel approached the traps he'd set to the south-east, two charms of the ensnaring vine and one charm of the demonic squid. The moment Angel came close enough, the charms would activate - the demonic squid charm would spew out a heap of black smog, whilst the ensnaring vine charms would lash out at her, attempting to hold her down if they could or simply just whip her.

((I've taken a little liberty in choosing where you're positioned Angel, but only because you didn't really specify yourself. HollowEyes is very close to the grandfather clock in the centre of the arena, and since you're circling around him I would assume that you'd run into at least one of his traps.))

[Angel]

(( I'm really sorry about being so late but i had no choice, i moved house and had no internet untill the 22nd of Feb. i did make apologies but it was rather longer than i expected ))

*a small flash of spirit, Earth she thinks, flashes beneath her and she swerves to one side to look down. and sees... nothing. blackness. she swears loudly and flaps for extra height. whatever it is it's coming on fast and engulfs her in short order, she waves a hand in front of her face and realises it is smoke or fog. she wonders how to get out of it, she's a good hundred meters from where it came from.

SMACK! something whistles out of the darkness and slams heavily into her side. she gulps for air and dives, gaining as much speed as she can stand without losing her wings. She struggles to pull up as branches begin to loom in the darkness. as suddenly a it came she shoots out of it, trailing black cloud from her wingtips. she looks up and stares, a web of vines are decending fast.

She turns on to her back, a nasty ripping sound signals losing feathers, and pushes her hands towards the sky and thin threads of fire chop at the vines. they disintegrate but more replace them, she looks down over her shoulder and sees more coming at her from bellow. she abandons her red wires and dives again, through the canopy of dead branches and lands heavily. with a small grin she smacks the button on her belt and is surrounded by purple fuzz even as she begins to run. she disappears and a galloping shape replaces her, better for ground covering, Embri bursts over a downed log with the belt around her shoulders.

she rounds towards the clock and Angels last sighting of 3kul, running arrow straight.

[3kul]

((Whatever, I don't really mind so much about you being late now

And it's HollowEyes, not 3kul ))

HollowEyes was more than a little surprised that his opponent had chosen to switch out the moment she was caught up in his first trap, but he supposed that she had something clever planned with this switch. Either that or this was going to be much easier than he'd expected.

Spinning his armblades to give himself an extra burst of speed, HollowEyes began to move backwards, heading towards the northern set of traps. For a fight with Embri, this batch would be better than the ones to the south-west, and for now he could probably lose her if he was clever enough and lure her right into them.

Or so he'd hoped. He may have been able to time his jumps with the tick-tocking of this arena's centrepiece, but the apparently dead trees creaked much louder than that as he leapt from one to the next, quickly forcing him to take a bit more action. No doubt this sound would easily allow Embri to follow him, so he flicked beetle charms onto the ground. The tall dead grass seemed to cover them well, so if he was lucky, Embri might step on them as she followed him. There was also a good chance that she'd see them from this distance and avoide them, but even that would work into his favour, as he'd have a better chance of losing her.

The main problem that he needed to solve was Embri's power over fire - she could nullify his charms with almost no effort at all on her behalf, but he'd remembered this and come fully prepared. The Parasitian kept the Ruby Dagger at the ready, just in case Embri suddenly did something totally over-the-top. It was currently skewered through his tongue so it was in a fairly secure place, but he wanted to make sure just in case, as it would be his only way to prevent himself from getting barbequed in a fight like this.

((EDIT: Angel has indicated to me that she wishes to forfeit this match in a PM, so this match is unofficially over. Panther will be posting soon to make this official.))