Zuri, Abby, Strips ~ Private

[petdr89]

Strips watched as blast after blast of dust and sand stirred in the air; he blinked rapidly, attempting to clear his blurred vision and watering eyes. But although he couldn't see, he still had other senses working in his favor. He could hear Zuri running toward him; Zuri's footsteps synced up to the beating of his heart. When Zuri emerged from the dust, most likely being just as blind as he was, Strips was ready. The sound of Zuri's sword slicing the air was Strips' queue; he brought his own sword up to block, tightly gripping it in one hand while his other hand aimed to drill Zuri's jaw. Still, his eyes were watering, and he couldn't be sure of his aim.

[zash]

Zuri was slightly blinded by the dust. It was his double edged sword. Though he did keep his eyes closed till he came up to his target, he was still able to strike at Strips and hit his target, for the most part. Zuri felt his sword hit against Strips' and heard the cling of the blades. He kept his eyes squinted to keep most the dust that followed him out of his eyes. Then Zuri was able to see Strips' punch but was in mid air practically so he was forced to take the blunt of it. Zuri raised up his shoulder to take the blow. He was blown backwards and landed with a thud on his feet. He landed and bent down on one of his knees and bent the other leg and prepared for an attack.

[petdr89]

Strips felt Zuri's mass against his fist, but if he hadn't of felt it, he would have never known he hit Zuri. The condition of the arena was in no way improving, and as long as Zuri wasn't moving, Strips couldn't hear to tell where he was. As soon as the dust settled though, and his vision cleared, he would feel more confident in his actions. Right now if he tried anything it would be mere guess work. But as Strips was reaching for more throwing daggers, a loud boom rumbled above them, followed by a flashing streak across the sky. "Oh great," he muttered. Rain, perfect, as if this couldn't get worse. Heavy sheets began pouring seconds later; it settled the dust, but in turn caused a dark blanket to fall over the arena. Oh well, it fit the theme of the battle anyway: dark, cloudy, and full of rage. Strips caught an outline of Zuri a distance off and aimed a dagger in his direction.

[zash]

Zuri looked up at the sky. "Awesome, rain." He thought. "This is gonna be cool. An vengul fight in the darkness of a rain storm." Zuri then looked down, Strips seemed to be having a problem. He threw a dagger and it was towards Zuri but not to accurate Zuri thought. He moved behind his sword and blocked it. He then stood up and then jumped forwards and burst towards Strips in the air. He was ready to do a full air tackle on Strips and plow into him.

[petdr89]

When Zuri moved, Strips lost sight of him almost immediately; it was hard for him to see through the thousands of rain drops. His eyes didn't lock onto Zuri again until it was too late; he saw the outline of Zuri's figure and the glint from his sword right before he bashed into him. With the full weight of Zuri on him, Strips was knocked backward into the mud, landing on his wings. His wings flattened under their weight, but were luckily unharmed. Not like it really mattered now; rain made flight difficult. Is it really a mystery why Strips detest rain and water? Anyway, Strips looked up at Zuri looming over him through reddening eyes. Instinctively, his arms raised and crossed to protect his face, and his tail whipped behind him to wrap around Zuri's throat.

[zash]

Zuri had rammed Strips and when he was about to fall he let go and flapped his wings to gain enough altitude to land on his feet. Though it was raining and it did make it a bit harder to fly, thanks to Zuri's bat like wings it wasn't as if the water was sticking and making his wings heavier. Zuri landed on his feet and was standing over Strips. Zuri's eyes were beginning to redden with the heat of battle, like Strips' were. Zuri then noticed Strips' tale coming for his neck. When the tail was close enough Zuri grabbed and said "You know, I've always wondered of kougras hate it when you pull on their tale." At that Zuri yanked on Strips' tale and then went to kick Strips in the side.

[petdr89]

Strips' eyes reddened purely at Zuri's yank and kick. Though his sides were protected, there was still an impact, and that impact caused his body to curl in spit of himself. He looked up at Zuri through narrowed eyes, "I've heard they don't like it, but I wouldn't know about that. My joints have been popped out of their sockets so much that none of them have feeling anymore." The final words of his statement were punched out with a fierce growl, all while he jerked his tail from Zuri's grasp, in lightning speed curled it around Zuri's ankle, and yanked him to the ground. And with equal precision, he sat up enough to bash into the center of Zuri's chest with his left fist, giving as much force as his muscles would allow. His movements were almost demonic in accuracy, consumed in rage and hatred. Yes, feeling minimal pain had its advantages, but only through a lifetime of practice was he like this. But it was like he had said all his life; pain only distracts people from reaching their full potential.

[zash]

Zuri felt Strips' tail wrap around his ankle. He wasn't able to realize it quick enough and before he knew it he was falling. About a foot from the ground he felt the extreme force of Strips' fist being plowed into his chest. He hit the ground with such force that his body bounced back up after it had hit. The air had been forced out of his chest and he was choking for air. At that point he found his only defence his tail. He swung it to the right and with full force swung it back straight at Strips' side. He put his full weight into the swing of his tail, putting all he could to ram Strips with his tail so he was given a second to regain his breath.

[petdr89]

Zuri's tail moved faster than Strips could react, but even if he had attempted to block it, it wouldn't have mattered; dragon tails were strong and if he had blocked it with his arms, it could have very well broken them both. He was lucky to have been knocked to the side a few feet with only a few throbbing ribs to show for it. He always hated that about dragon subspecies; sure he could wrap his tail around things, and it was decently able to move something in a pinch, but there was just no comparison in strength.

As soon as he had landed and he could feel his body again, Strips popped back up like a Jack-in-the-box. He knew that he had to keep Zuri down if he wanted any chance of defeating him, and any few seconds Zuri was allowed to recover were seconds he couldn't afford. His feet dug deep into the mud as he charged forward; he could feel his heart pound in his chest, all three lungs were working at their full capacity. Then when he was close to Zuri again, he leapt forward to tackle him; he wanted to keep Zuri on the ground, even if it meant he was on the ground too.

[zash]

Zuri pounded himslef in his chest he had to get air in there one way or another. Finally he was able to breathe, he wasn't back to full strength but he could atleast choke in some air. Thats when he noticed that Strips was sprinting towards him. Zuri reacted quickly, as soon as Strips leapt up into the air he rolled back to allow full tail strenght. He whipped his tail around and rammed it full strength under Strips. Then with all his tail and lower body strenght he swung his body and tail downward and rammed Strips into the ground. After he hit Zuri swung his tail upwards to throw his body up and did a back flip off the ground and landed on his feet. He knelt down and pushed his knees against his chest and took a deep breath, now he was able to breath again. He then dashed towards Strips, picking up his sword along the way and leapt up into the air and went straight down attempting to plung his sword into Strips.

[petdr89]

Everything happened so fast, Strips felt like he was watching the whole scenario from an outsider’s point of view. Sharp pains reverberated throughout his thorax as his diaphragm spazzmed, making it impossible for him to breathe. Then another sharp pain as the full force of Zuri's sword pierced slightly through the armor he wore. The tip of the blade managed to intrude at least an inch before the metal of the breastplate managed to catch it. Strips body trembled as numbing pain spread, engulfing him in what he could only assume was fear; it was hard to tell, he didn't feel fear that often. And for the first time during this battle, his mind refused to come up with a solution to this situation.

[zash]

Zuri pulled out the sword and took a few steps back. He had to think of what to do next. His mind was getting foggier and foggier. The heat of battle was getting to him. The demon inside was feeding off the adrenaline of the fight. The thirst for blood and battle was getting stronger. He wanted to reek of the sent of death. Zuri's body was even changing just the slightest bit, but due to the darkness and rain you couldn't tell that his body was getting darker and his eyes were seeming to become more blood red and demonic.

Zuri raised his sword and still with the blunt side down slammed it into Strips' chest. Zuri jumped back and waited and watched. Now that he has gotten his opponent down and immobile, he figured the battle was over.

[petdr89]

Strips already couldn't breath, and Zuri's final blow to the center of his chest didn't help. Gut wrenching pain shot through his body the second Zuri jerked his sword back. His body curled and twisted, mangling itself on the ground and finally coming to rest so that his knees were near his chin; he was curled in a pathetic-looking ball. All the while, he attempted for force air into non-cooperating lungs by taking deep breaths, yet it was all in vain; a spastic diaphragm forced any precious oxygen out of his lungs immediately upon entering. Seconds passed by, all feeling like hours. When his mind finally kicked in, telling him to straighten his body fully in order to allow it to reboot, he was near the point of going unconscious. Still, he complied, straightening his legs before laying perfectly still. It took a few deep, slowly breaths before he finally regained sight. He couldn't be concerned with where Zuri was or what he was doing; he just had to make sure he was still alive!

When he finally fluttered his eyelids open again, he saw Zuri standing off in the distance, and alarmingly saw medics strolling toward him. No way, not yet; there was no way in hell he was going to stop now. This was just a flesh wound....an incredibly painful flesh wound that caused him to loose consciousness for a few seconds, but a flesh wound none-the-less.

He lurched forward and rolled to his feet, but he only made it half way to standing before he feel back down on his knees. Keeling forward, he began coughing. Nonstop he coughed until he caused blood and saliva to be hacked up in pools. This lasted for about five minutes. Then when he finally stopped, he became more aware of the sharp pains from his abdomen. Looking down, he realized the problem; points of metal from his armor had cut into him, forcing him to remove it. As he cast it aside, he looked up at Zuri and at the medics waiting for him to surrender, but like the stubborn ox that he was, he stood. Every fiber of his being was begging him to stop, but he would go on pushing his body to the limit. Wiping blood from his lower jaw, he glared at Zuri, prepared for his next attack.

[zash]

Zuri stood there, he watched as Strips kept rolling around and was looking like an idiot. Zuri stood at his full height, waiting and wondering what to do next. He knew better than to figure Strips would quit, espessially since he was standing and looked as if he was gonna start his attack. He figured he would just let the Strips go first, he wanted to see how he was holding up, and he had to wait till the medics left, or Strips forced them too.

[petdr89]

And sure enough, a medic did try to approach Strips, probably to try and convince him to quit. That would be the logical coarse of action, considering he just spewed half his blood out his mouth, and the rest was slowly drizzling from the gaping hole in his abdomen. But, Strips halted the man with a single "no, not yet." It was his right as a warrior to continue fighting, even to the point of his expiration, if he so chose. Of course, most people in the tournament passed out long before then; that's what made the game 'safe'. At that, all medics retreated to the sidelines; Strips clumsily reached for his sword, which had been dropped in the mud a while back. As he gripped the handle in both hands, one could say that his sword became apart of him again, as if it were fused to his body. And with pure rage driving him on, he charged at Zuri and swung at him wildly in a vicious, animalistic fashion.