Zuri, Abby, Strips ~ Private

[zash]

Zuri basically just walked around the guy. He was so huge and covered in armor that Zuri was able to just walk around. He was careful to always block with his sword and not get hit. "Is that all you got?" The guy got an angered look and started to charge Zuri. Zuri just kept dogding until the guy was tired and couldn't do much of anything. Thats when Zuri started to get serious. He began to ram the guy with the back of his sword. He was gonna play it safe during the touranment and keep his sword held backwards and just strike people with the back of his sword, plus why bother dulling it on this guy's armor. Zuri just kept pounding away until the guy dropped and couldn't fight anymore. The ref called it and the guy was pulled out and so was Zuri. Zuri was then thrown into another areana with another guy. This guy was in a bit of armor but not much and wasn't looking like the type of guy he just got done fighting, this guy looked more serious.

[petdr89]

(('Bout bloody time. ))

Abby peered at her opponent through pitch black eyes. "Are you ready, kid? 'Cause you're about to experience something you've never dreamt of experiencing before." Her demonic voice echoed throughout the arena, and she cackled manically. Muttering something in a foreign language first, she charged toward her opponent at full speed, but at the last second, teleported to a location behind him and bashed him in the back of the skull with a powerful orb of dark magic. The battle lasted all of two minutes; her opponent was knocked unconscious. Medical teams rushed to his aid while she was taken to a second arena.

Strips dodged a little bit, ran up to his opponent’s side quickly, and slashed him across the ribs with his sword. End of story. He was also taken to another arena.

[zash]

Zuri looked at his opponent. It was but a simple Darigan Aishia boy. Zuri wasn't that affraid of this little kid. He couldn't be more than 15 years old. "Ok kid, lets begin this." The kid turned around and charged for Zuri. The kid was quick on his feet. Zuri already had his sword out and was blocking all of the kids shots. He was having trouble keeping up with him, but he managed. Eventually the kid sliced threw his defenses and Zuri had to jump to the side, while doing so he grabbed the kids wrist and threw him across the arena. The kid landed with a thud. He bounced up and ran towards Zuri. "Oh boy, this kid just ain't gonna give up is he." Zuri waited and stepped to the side and tripped the kid. The kid was a good fighter but he didn't have enough experience to fight him. Zuri had fought a lot of battle over his life time and this kid was nothing but a trainey to him. When the next time the kid charged toward Zuri, Zuri used his hands, and opened up the kids arms and then he just head butted him in the head. The kid dropped and was knocked unconscience. "There, be happy thats all I did."

[petdr89]

Strips yawned borely, leaning on the long sword he had drawn from his back. His opponent finally emerged from the gates of the arena, yet Strips still stood in a non-threatened manner.

“Strips Tsunkatsa! Alas, I shall have my vengeance!”

Strips raised an eyebrow, “It’s never a good thing when my opponent already knows my name.” Still, he appeared not to care; a mistake on his part, perhaps? He couldn’t even tell what his opponent looked like; the man was fully decked out in armor, and had a helmet over his head.

The man began charging toward him, sword drawn and over his head. As they met, the phantom swung his sword down, and Strips lifted his up to block. A mortal coil became their lock; each swung at the other with talent, but each blocked in the same manner as well. A good amount of time seemed to pass where neither side caused any damage, then in a moment of carelessness by Strips, the phantom managed to nick the area of hand between Strips’ thumb and his index finger. You know what they say about a paper cut being the worse kind of pain, and having been mildly distracted by what happened, the phantom was able to knock him back slightly with a sword blow.

Strips struggled to keep his balance, but it wasn’t until he looked behind him that he realized why that was. The arena dipped slightly, and the tumble down hill didn’t look pleasant. The phantom raised his sword again and swung at Strips; Strips managed to block, but since he was already standing on the edge, was moved back slightly and was sent rolling downhill. He landed hard on his ribs; he attempted to elevate himself with both his arms and inhaled deeply, trying to recover quickly from the oxygen being knocked from him. As he stood, he expected to find his opponent still uphill, but the man had run down after him and, to his surprise, was standing right next to him. The phantom swung his sword; Strips ducked and maneuvered behind the man, knocking him in the back of the helmet with a spiked glove. The force was enough to knock the man forward onto his knees.

Still having trouble breathing, Strips reached under his breastplate and unhooked it, allowing it to fall to the ground; even though it wasn’t really impairing his ability to gather oxygen, it felt like it. Moving swiftly toward his opponent while he was still down, Strips kicked him sharply in the side. The man fell over, but Strips continued to kick and beat him repeatably while he was down. Eventually the man stopped moving; Strips bent down, clutching the sides of the man’s helmet in his fingers. “Now, let’s see who the great warrior is,” he hissed as he removed the man’s helmet.

In total shock, Strips backed away, eyes wide and panting heavily. For before him lay a yellow lupe. “What the hell…You’re not even Darigan, what are you doing here?” The blast from the past was almost too much for the poor confused kougra.

“You have no idea who I am, do you?” The phantom already knew he was defeated; he was in pain now and no longer wished to continue. He laid still until the medics could reach them, but in the meantime wished to converse with his enemy.

“I can assure you I don’t care.”

“I think you already know who I am. You killed my father.”

Growling fiercely, Strips tried to ignore him and walked away. “Filthy Meridellian scum,” he uttered.

“You can’t run from me, Strips! You may have won today, but your time shall come. This isn’t over! I will fight you again, and when I do, I’ll kill you.”

A smirk came over Strips, and he turned back toward the lupe on the ground. Walking slowly toward him, he bent down. “I sincerely hope we do meet again. And next time we meet, make sure you’re strong enough to kill me, because if you don’t kill me, I will kill you.” The medics arrived at that moment and lifted the lupe to carry him away. Strips collected his fallen armor and sword and returned it to his body before being escorted to the next arena.

[zash]

Zuri sighed, the medics came for the kid and took him back and he was escorted out the door. "That was just a to simple of a fight." He thought. Sure the kid was a bit of a hassle but he didn't think of it as a very hard fight. He was taken into the hallway and was sat at a bench. He apparently was the first to defeat his apponent so he was forced to sit there and wait.

[petdr89]

Strips was escorted to the next arena immediately, since there was already someone in the waiting room waiting for an opponent. He had just enough time to sweet talk a young girl into getting him a bottle of water before the gate closed behind him; apparently they hadn't gone to get his opponent yet because the arena was empty.

Meanwhile, Abby's battle ran a little over; she was having entirely too much fun toying with this guy. When she finally did beat the guy, she was told to wait; they told her there was one more battle and that whoever won that would be her opponent, she could only hope it was the man who's heart she wanted on a platter.

[zash]

Zuri was about to fall asleep on that bench. He had been waiting for like 10 minutes and when they came to get him he was laying on the bench with his eyes closed. They shook him and pulled him up. "Huh, ok." Zuri popped up and started to walk. He was just a little bored waiting so he decided to try to gain some energy. Though he did bend over and grab his drink they brought him while he was waiting and took a big swig real quick. He then just tossed his bottle behind him onto the bench and started forward. He walked behind the guy taking him and he was then shoved into an arena. There he saw a purple kougra standing there waiting.

"Ah, you already, geesh, that was quick." Zuri instantly knew who it was, though it could of been any Darigan Kougra he knew it was Strips. "Alright lets begin." Zuri pulled out his sword and turned it so the dull side was on the striking side. So he stood there waiting to see what Strips would do.

[petdr89]

A smirk crossed Strips' face the instant Zuri stepped into the arena. Of course he recognized him; Zuri was the only red shoyru around this place. And at Zuri's comment, Strips' smirk grew. "Yeah seriously, I'm surprised you're still alive!" he called back. Zuri was busy preparing himself, but Strips was taking his sweetass time. His sword was sheathed behind him; the bottle of water remained curled between his fingers. Twisting the cap off, he took a few long swigs before dumping the rest down his chest and around his neck. "Can you believe this shit man, they don't have any burban!" He was clearly being sarcastic....or was he?..... "Ah well, there's more than one way to skin a cat." Tossing the bottle behind him, he stuffed both his hands into a pouch at his side, and pulled out a single cigarette and a liter. Lighting the cigarette, he brought it to his lips and inhaled deeply. "Ahhh, that's almost as good as sex...almost." And he did all this while Zuri was waiting for him to make a move; he appeared to be a'mockin' 'em.

[zash]

"Yeah I know seriously. I asked for a Jack and all I got was a lousy bottle of water." By this point in time Zuir was resting his sword around his shoulders and was just standing there. He tapped his foot while he waited and leaned off to the side just a bit. He wasn't in any hurry so why bother. His left hand rested at his side while his right hand gripped the hilt of the sword. "Ah, I'm not much for cigs but if you like em, take your time. This fight will be over soon enough. Might as well give the other guys fighting a chance to get the crowd's attention."

[petdr89]

"Thanks man, I appreciate it. When I die at the age a' forty 'cause a' lung cancer I'll be sure ta thank ya fer it," he teased....Yet, it wasn't that far from the truth. At the rate things were going, it would either be lung cancer or liver failure. He halfway expected Zuri to attack him while he was smoking, but since it appeared neither of them was in that big of a rush, Strips took his time and finished the entire thing. He stamped it out on the ground, straightened the gloves on his hands, and unsheathed his sword. "Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam," he uttered before walking toward Zuri, circling him slowly like a wolf hunting its prey. Roughly translated what he said meant "today is a good day to die."

[zash]

Zuri heard what Strips said but didn't know what it meant or if he was just mumbling. "Whatever." He thought to himself. Zuri just stood in one spot as Strips seemed to circle him. "Well ladies first my friend. I'm waitin." Zuri joked with Strips. He was just gonna wait and see what Strips did. He atleast took his sword off his shoulders and waited with it in his hands, positioned so the brunt of the blade was sticking outwards and it was in full striking and defending position.

[petdr89]

"I know you're waitin', because you're too much of a' **** to attack me first!" Strips continued circling, taunting Zuri with facts that weren't necessarily untrue; every time they fought, Zuri did wait for Strips to go first. But all while he was teasing, he was reaching subtly to his side to draw a dagger upward. His left hand was still carrying the sword, and he walked around Zuri with as innocent of a smile as someone like him could muster. Then, when he had reached the point behind Zuri, he stopped on a dime and with great talent, threw the dagger toward Zuri from three feet away...

[zash]

Zuri heard the sound of metal against a sheath and figured it was a dagger of some sort. Well most people probably would of turned around and tried to block it but Zuri still had his sheath on so he just made sure that the dagger hit his sheath. The dagger hit and clanked against the tough leather of his sheath, it hit the ground and Zuri spun around. Whilest doing so he picked up the dagger and threw it towards Strips and then right behind it dashed towards Strips with sword in hand ready to strike.

[petdr89]

Strips watched; the dagger hit Zuri's sheath but as it did Zuri didn't budge. Laughing internally, Strips' first thought was that Zuri's reaction time sucked! In his heart of hearts he knew that the dagger wouldn't do anything, but he expected a little more from his opponent. That was until Zuri turned on a dime, picked up his dagger, and then threw it back at him. Now it was probably a good thing that Strips hadn't consumed any alcohol, because if he had his own reaction time would have sucked. Strips saw what Zuri was doing, but not even the utmost talented could run directly behind and at the same speed as a thrown dagger; it would be close, but left enough of a margin for Strips to react to both. For the Dagger, Strips turned just in time to hear the subtle metal sound as it brushed across his breastplate; the dagger embedded itself in the wall behind him. Then came Zuri's attack; he had enough time to complete his turn and lift up his sword to block Zuri's. Still, his feet skid back slightly in the sand from the force of Zuri's body. Bringing the metal-plated, finger-less glove of his right hand to the blade of his sword, he shoved back on Zuri's sword.

[zash]

Zuri released the pressure he was putting on his sword and jumped back about 4 feet. He flapped his wings and landed, causing the dirt of the arena to jussle around. Zuri noticed the dust storm caused by his wings and began to flap his wings harder causing the dirt to form a cloud between Strips and Zuri. Zuri stopped flapping and then burst forward through the cloud towards Strips. He came through the cloud spinning around putting all force onto his sword ready to bash into Strips.