RULES OF COMBAT:

1. 10 post each limit, if you wish to have this amount reduced, get in touch with me.

2. Each player is allowed to make one introductary post.

3. Mark which number post you posted at the end of your posts.

4. Deathblows allowed, play to win, play for keeps, whatever. But the character will be regenerated after the fight.

5. YOU KNOW WHAT THE JUDGES WANT, read their screenings, no whining because of the judges decisision, you know what they are looking for in each fight.

6. Judges shall give their scores out of 10, highest totaled player wins.

7. Every character that's not participating in battle may be observing the match and may post whatever they like IN CHARACTER during fights as long as they do not interfear with the combat.

8. There is an audience of bumbling idiots, sure what the hell.

9. I DO NOT want matches taking more than a week to finish, I will put on more than 1 at a time if need be. Which I am, 2 at a time for now.

Arena decided by Contestant James: Inside a giant clocktower, gears and all.

Winner of coin toss: Sean, chooses Derek to post first.

Description reminder: Forge is very tall, and muscular. He wears a brown hooded trenchcoat with a flame pattern surrounding the bottom. Beneath the trench coat, he wears a black leather shirt with protective red padding covering his abdoman. His pants are brown with a flame design near the bottom, identical to his coat. He also has black boots, and a black leather belt. He wears a metal protective face mask that covers the lower portion of his face beneath his eyes. In a fight, he wears a pair of gloves, each with three pointed spikes attatched at the knuckles. The spikes are about three quarters of a foot long.
*************************

Tick... Tock...
Tick... Tock...
The loud echoing noise reverberated through the clock tower.
Tick... Tock...
Forge slowly opened his eyes. Carefully he looked around, taking in his surroundings. In front of him was a thin wooden walkway that led to several large metal gears turning meticulously. Gazing over the edge of the walkway Forge noticed a wooden staircase spiralling around the walls leading from his location to the ground floor. He was at least one hundred stories up, if not more. There were several platforms lower down, most likely used by mechanics to repair the many gears that kept the clock tower running. He did not trust the stabillity of anything that he was looking at. Each plank of wood seemed old and worn down. For all he knew the floor boards beneath him could crumble at any moment.

After stairing down the extensive shaft beneath him, Forge finally turned around. Before him was a wide wooden platform and the face of the immense clock itself.

The numbers were all reversed from Forge's point of view. To one that was outside of the towers walls, the face could have been seen for miles. The number 6 alone at the bottom of the clock was as tall as Forge himself.
At the moment, the hands of the clock pointed to the 7 and partway between the 11 and the 12.
"11:35... Very well. I won't make any mistakes this time. I will end it quickly and efficiently. There is no longer any margin for error."

A fire began to burn in his eyes as he continued to stare at the enourmous clock.
"Before those hands strike midnight... This fight will be over!"
Soon the fire in his eyes took physical form as each of his hands ignited in flames. The stage was set, as well as the time limit. All that was left for Forge to do was to wait for his opponent. And when that person arrived, he would not hessitate...
Tick... Tock...
Tick... Tock...
Now... She appeared.

[post 1]

Physical Description: She dresses in the style of Earth, with tank tops and short skirts. She has the flowing blonde hair of her mother but lacks the oversized breasts. Her frame is small. she weighs about 120 pounds and is just under six feet tall. She's pretty much ALL legs.

She's now wearing a pair of black jeans, a white tank top, and a pair of sneakers.

**********************************************************************

"One loss down. I can't let myself be defeated, not this time. Not with my new skills." Lisa grinned as she looked at her opponent. He had also been defeated once, thus she knew that he was not unstoppable. The gears around her spun, doing their job as she looked on with interest in her opponent. At once she noticed two things, his claws and his demeanor. First, the claws meant that distance fighting would be smarter than close combat, but that he attacks could not be too far away or predictable, for he would cut straight through her vines. Second was his demeanor, he was standing straight, meaning that he was proud and was not weary in the slightest. This was not going to be an easy fight, everything was at stake for her new opponent, he'd fight twice as hard; but the same went for Lisa...she'd fight harder than ever before now.

Lisa thrust her right hand to her side and summoned her sword. It appeared in the same fashion as always, a luminous white line that slowly contorted to become a rapier. With her left hand she pulled a few seeds from her pocket and scattered them about the floor, creating a thick semi-circle around herself, encircling her and leading to a wall.

"Make the first move" Something had changed in Lisa's nature. Her jovial giddiness had been replaced with frigidness, her impetuous "strike first, strike last" actions had morphed into calculating coldness, a sort of strategic epiphany had come over her after her last fight. She realized that she lost because Clara had a better plan, no, not better, she won because she HAD a plan. Lisa had jumped into her last fight with a hack and slash attitude, the observant Clara had stomped all over her. Lisa was determined to make an example of Forge, she would she the rest of the combatants, and the mystical beings that had arranged this tournament, that Lisa Muri was not a being that was to be toyed with.

11:36 P.M.

A smile formed beneath the steel face mask of Forge and the flames coating his hands grew more vibrant. Out of all the people that could have been matched against him, he was left with a girl that looked to barely have the durability of a stick. The only thing that was impressive about her was her height, and even there Forge had the advantage. Though she seemed ready to compete, She hardly seemed capable of fighting Forge on an even level.

He watched intently as the girl summoned her weapon. It was quite an impressive blade. Worthy of a true warrior. However, as far as Forge's eyes could tell, there was no such warrior in his presence. Just a weak little girl that would try to get in his way.
Eyes never wandering from his opponent's, Forge watched as she sprinkled small specks onto the wooden floor in front of her. He did not know of their purpose, but all the same was not very concerned.

"Make the first move" was all that she said.
"Very well..." Forge replied coldly, taking a step forward. "But I must warn you that I can't toy with you for long." He turned back to the clock before once more locking eyes with Lisa.
"You have less than twenty-four minutes. Before that time is over... I will kill you."
His words echoed through the open space of the tower. There was no emotion within them. Emotions would only get in his way at this stage in the competition. He would make sure that he took care of her quickly. A warrior must never waste time on the battlefield, and their current surroundings made this fundamental fact all the more evident. In his last fight he had taken too long to finish his opponent off. Because of this, he lost due to a technicallity.
'No... That will not happen again. The girl will DIE!'

Forge darted forward at Lisa. She had taken the defensive, most likely to test his abilities, so he decided to give her a small taste. The flames surrounding his hands grew in intensity once more. Bringing his right arm back, he quickly thrust it forward, launching the ball of fire at the small specks on the ground. Next he repeated with the process with his left arm, this time propelling the ball of fire at Lisa's midsection. Still moving quickly in a forward motion, he brought his right arm up so that his fist was level with his head.
'Even if she protects herself from the fire, she won't survive this.'
Just before the flames reached their targets Forge lunged at her with the intent to drive his spikes straigt into the girl's head.

[Post 2]

”Fire. Can’t use my plants as they are. I have to try some of the new techniques I learned in my last fight.” Lisa threw her left hand into the air and flowers rose from the seeds, she twisted her hand and they became a wall of entangled petals and stems. Now with a whiplash motion of her arm she focused her energy into a maneuver she had never tried before, reconstructing the material that the flower was composed of. The barrier of green slowly turned to a dim gray. The flowers seemed as though they were fossilizing. Where the wall of plants had stood, a three quarter inch thick shield of stone took its place. The fireballs hit the wall and dissipated helplessly.

Without another thought, Lisa drew the last three pine needles she had out and threw them to the ground before her, using her index finger to position them to point just over the stone wall. ”Let’s see him attack me now.” Lisa was prepared for everything it seemed, in her own mind she was prepared to destroy Forge when, and if, he overcame her wall.


((POST 2))

11:39 P.M.

*Clank*
The spikes on Forge's gloves collided with the stone wall. Even with the momentum that he had built up, the wall didn't give an inch. There was barely even a scratch to be found.
'Those were flowers a moment ago... So those specks that she scattered onto the ground earlier must have been the seeds. She must have the ability to control plants... But what kind of flower can turn into stone like this?'

Now, not only was his opponent shielded, but Forge remained blind to any actions that Lisa might have taken. As a small feeling of frustration began to build inside of Forge, he pressed the spikes firmly agains the stone and scraped away at it in a downward motion. The the metal, scratching roughly against the stone made a screeching noise that could only be described as 'excruciating.' The hooded fighter cringed for a moment but continued none the less.

"Fine..." he called out to Lisa, pulling his arm away from the stone. "If you're so intent on hiding behind your shield then I'll just have to climb over and make you come out!"

Of course Forge had no intention of blindly jumping in to a close combat situation. Instead he focused a small amount of fire energy into the bottom of his feet. Soon smoke began to emit from the soles of his boots and the wooden planks beneath him began to creak. within seconds, the fire burnt through enough of the wood so that the planks gave way to Forge's wait. Immediately, he began to fall through the newly made hole, but on his way down instinctively reached up with his left arm, driving his spikes into one of the more sturdy looking planks that remained to the left of his hole. Dangling by his left arm, Forge reached out with his free hand and placed his palm beneath the floor boards that Lisa was standing on. If she was still expecting him to attack from above then she was sorely mistaken.

Quickly, Forge let out a viscious roar and simultaneously discharged a pillar of flames from the center of his palm directly into Lisa's "shielded" stronghold. In an instant, the floor boards beneath her shattered and burned.
'An attack can come from any direction. A warrior must never forget that.'

[post 3]

Lisa prepared her left hand and watched the top of the wall, awaiting Forge's attack. "Why in the hell did he tell me where he was coming from? Is he that inexperienced?" Just as she finished her thought, a warm draft engulfed her ankles. "Did he really think he was going to get away with that? He must think I'm a complete idiot." Without hesitation she made a few motions with her fingers, tapping into the well of enormous energy she had unlocked in her last fight. The pine needles near her feet began to extend, forcing a handle from one, she sent herself over the wall and watched as the pillar of fire exploded through the ground. She grinned with her own plan of deception.

"AAAAAAAAH!!! AAAAAHG!" She cried out in fake agony, creepy to the side of the planks with one of the needles in her left hand. She ducked down and peered beneath the floorboards. "This man is dumb beyond belief." A few more dips and spins from her wrist and the now spear-like needle wound down serpentinely and sharpened. Lisa quickly jutted her palm forward, sending the pointed end of her weapon rushing at Forge's head.

11:42 p.m.

"AAAAAAAAH!!! AAAAAHG!" Lisa cried out.

'Something's wrong. If she was hit by that attack, she would have fallen through the floor boards, not be propelled behind me. So that must mean...!'

Forge turned his head towards the direction of her voice and looked through the hole to see Lisa looming above, weapon in hand. As quickly as he could, Forge reached up and tore off his glove, thereby removing one of his weapons, as well as his only means of support. In an instant he found himself falling, just barely avoiding the fatal blow. Unfortunately, this was no short drop. He fell nearly two stories before slamming feet first into one of the horizontal metal gears below. With a loud crash, his knees buckled under the pressure he had just exerted. As the cog continued to spin on its axis, Forge couldn't even move his legs for a brief moment.

'That little bitch! I will not let her humiliate me! '

Once he regained his composure, the fire warrior lept forward and grabbed onto another cog. This one was verticle, and allowed for him to ride upwards along the side. He didn't have the patience to use the stairs. They would only take more time.
Repeating the process, Forge lept from one gear to the next, until he reached the highest one. Quickly jumping off of the final gear, Forge landed on the same thin wooden walkway that he had been staring at before the match began. Lisa was still on the widened platform ahead of him, no doubt thinking of her next move. However, he didn't plan on giving her any more time to think.

"If you keep me at a distance like this, this fight will never go anywhere." He said dryly.
Closing his eyes, and raising his arms out in front of him, he concentrated his energy on a few of the dying embers left behind from his previous attacks. Soon the embers grew and spread into a wall of flames, rising high behind the plant wielding girl. Pulling his arms toward himself once more, the wall slowly began to slide towards Lisa's direction. To one side, she had a wall of fire. To the other, there was Forge on the thin walkway.
"Why don't you come a bit closer?" He asked, beckoning her to join him on the walkway as the flames pushed nearer and nearer.

[post 4]

“You have GOT to be kidding!” Lisa had no time to think anymore. As much as she hated the fact that Forge had pressed her into fighting blindly again, she had no other choice. With one last glance at the impending doom that was the fire wall, she ran toward Forge. Each step on the thin walkway sounded like it would give way and send her falling into the vast pit below. Without another thought she drove her blade straight forward, hoping that her pattern of trickery beforehand would lead Forge to look elsewhere for the real attack.

“I have to find out how he’s controlling the fire. If it’s with his mind, I can break his concentration. Seeing as how I don’t see and physical movements that would signify him manipulating the flames, it must be all in his head.” Her next plan was already concocted, she knew how she would beat Forge. "I can't let him continue to dictate the pace of this match. I've got to take control."


((Post 4))

11:46 p.m.

'Good, she's taking the bait.'
Midway through Lisa's charge, she left the safety of the wide area to the confined space of the walkway. Since she had dodged his previous attacks so easily, Forge knew that he would need to take a risk in order to catch her offguard. As the blonde continued to dart foreward, she lifted her blade and thrust it foreward.
'Would she really try such a mundane attack?'
Forge remained still, waiting to see if she had some sort of underhanded trick up her sleeve. Thus far, she had only attacked when the situation had granted her the advantage. However, he soon found out that this time, her attack was as simple as it seemed. Finally seeing this, Forge started to duck out of the way but only positioned himself to reduce the damage. As the hooded warrior dropped to one knee, he allowed Lisa's blade pierced through his right shoulder.
"Ahhg!" He grunted in pain.
'This better work. I can't let this bitch win.'
Quickly reaching up with his left arm, Forge grasped the blade, purposely cutting the palm of his hand. With a violent roar, he flailed his arm towards Lisa's face in an attempt to splash the blood in her eyes. Immediately after, he fought through the biting pain in his shoulder and attempted to thrust the spikes of his remaining right-hand glove into Lisa's thigh.

[post 5]

Lisa turned from Forge as he slung his own blood toward her. She felt it splash on the side of her face, but by the time she prepared to attack again, a cold feeling had invaded the heated blood that pumped through her leg.

The sound of tearing denim pulled her from the shock of the blow and hurtled her back into reality. She lost her concentration on her weapon and in the blink of an eye, her blade, aptly named “turmoil” disappeared from her hand, replaced by literal turmoil within her body. A thousand and one techniques shot through her head, too fast for her to decipher. She hadn’t the time to plan anymore; she was now engaged in a battle against the clock, ironically enough, taking place inside of one.

Lisa stumbled back and hit the floorboards, a small leaf tumbling from her pocket, caught her eye. Forcing her irrational mind to slow down, she gripped the reality of this fight. The winner was promised another battle, the loser wasn’t even promised their life. Nothing would keep her from winning this fight, she returned to her resolve.

Lisa pushed on her arms, luckily enough that had remained unscathed. Propping herself up on her left knee, she fell with an agonized moan. Tears filled her eyes but refused to be pulled from their place. She would not cry, not for this trifle of an injury. Her father was a proud warrior, and so she would be. Once again, she leaned on the floorboards, this time using her right leg for support. “I have to end this quickly. No more mistakes…”

Lisa spied the leaf that had fallen from her pocket earlier and began devising a new plan. With her right pinky she drew it to her and clasped it in her hand. She was sure that from that distance, Forge would be unable to see what she was doing. Feigning another pained screech, she hit the ground and moved her head so that her hair shielded her eyes from Forge’s view.


((post 5))

11:49 p.m.

Finally, Forge had succeeded in striking his opponent. The thin girl fell back in pain and her weapon dissappeared. Forge watched with glee as her blood dripped from the tips of his metal spikes. With a wound struck to her left thigh, her mobillity would be impeded, especially considering the tight range of movement that the walkway supplied. Allowing himself to be wounded was well worth the risk. Now he had his opponent on the ground before him, ready to be finished off. Forge took one step towards the wounded Lisa, wincing as his own blood trickled down his trenchcoat and dripped from his hand. He needed to ignore the pain for now. Victory was too close for him to slow his pace now.
"Don't bother trying to get up. Your fight ends here. I apologize if it is a bit sooner than I had promised."

Throughout the previous rounds, Forge had kept one of his techniques in reserve. A fatal attack that could only be done in a situation that granted him an advantage such as this. It required for his opponent to be in a weakened state, as well as immobilized. Both conditions had already been met.
Next, Forge would approach his opponent and place his left palm on her forehead. Within seconds, a spark would ignite from within her cerebellum. As the nearby brain cells are damaged by this newly introduced catalyst, the spark would expand and intensify. Soon, this spark would become a flame, large enough to envelope the entire brain. By this time, all bodilly fuctions controlled by the brain would shut down. Meanwhile, the flame would continue to burn through the girl's head from the inside out. No mortal could survive such an attack, and Lisa would be no exception.

Forge took another step forward and continued until he was right in front of Lisa. Slowly he began to raise his left hand.
"This technique has never failed me before... now DIE!"

Unfortunately, he was unprepared for what would happen next...

[post 6]

Lisa had drawn Forge into her trap perfectly. She watched his feet come toward her from behind a veil of spun gold. She slowly allowed her eyes to scan up, studying his movements. "One step closer. Come on..." Forge neared Lisa, and sealed his fate.

Pressing off her right elbow, she stood on her right knee alone. Within a split second she had pushed through the pain in her right leg and was in Forge's face. Before he could react, Lisa had pressed her right hand into his open wound, but instead of attacking, she concentrated on less used powers, her healing abilites. The skin of Forge's shoulder threaded itself together, creating a patch of skin that was identical to the rest of his body. WIthout wasting another second she dove from the pathway but grabbed the lip of the floorboard, swinging herself she landed on the level beneath Forge. Her leg collapsed beneath her weight. She hit the ground in agony but smiled. "You're DONE!" Lisa stretched both her arms upward and upturned her now empty palms. Within Forge's shoulder, the leaf that LIsa had been holding began to leak a black substance into his bloodstream. This liquid was poison, and with a few motions of her arm, Lisa hurried the poison through Forge's veins. The second it touched his heart, he'd die.

((Before you judge, I asked Derek a theoretical question about a character healing their opponent. He said that he wouldn't have a problem if someone did it to him. So I took it as a sign. He doesn't have a problem with it.))

((post 6))

(( ;) To the best of my knowledge, there is a small difference between healing someone and poisoning them. But whatever, I'm game.))

11:53 p.m.

"AGH!" Forge cried out in pain as Lisa's palm plunged into his open wound. Normally, he would have cauterized the wound by now, but he couldn't waste any time if he was going to finish the girl off. Unfortuanately, it seemed that his last attempt to attack her was a waste of time to begin with. She had much more fight left within her than she had given her credit for.
He wanted to push her away, but some strange force seemed to keep the two bound together for the moment. Slowly, the pain began to diminish. The blood pouring from his shoulder began to slow its steady flow.
'What the hell is she doing!?'

Before Forge had any idea as to what the girl was planning, he found that his wound was completely sealed. Quickly she lept from the walkway and landed roughly on one of the platforms below.

'She... healed me? Why would she...!'
Sharp pains quickly began to strike the location at which Lisa had "healed" him.
"This pain... Where have I... NO!"
He was quickly reminded of his last battle. T`qual had employed a similar tactic. His words echoed in the back of Forge's head.

"Your blood is now tainted; I'd advise you to minimize your efforts, for at this very instant poison courses through your veins. It will not be very long before it reaches your heart and you suffer a very long and painful death."

He had indeed suffered from the effects of the poison in his previous fight. It was an agony that no one should have to experience, and one that he didn't want to feel twice. The severity of the situation was becoming more and more apparant. His eyes grew wide in anger.

Without another thought, Forge followed Lisa's lead and lept from the walkway, landing a few feet in front of her. He stared at frail girl for a moment, watching as her image blurred in and out of focus. The poison was working fast.
Teetering in an off balanced stupor, Forge pointed his arms out in front of him, trying to concentrate.
"Damned... bitch..."
In an instant, spurts of fire were launched from his palms. Knowing that he would be unable to concentrate properly, he attacked with no intent of aiming. If he could fire a spread of attacks at her in a rapid succesion then he would be bound to hit her at some point. Whether or not it would be enough, he would have to leave to fate...

[post 7]

Lisa felt the heat around her, the attacks of her opponent were rapid, desperate, and sloppy. "SCORE! Now all I have to do is hold on long enough for the poison to take him out." Lisa began to crawl away from Forge, or rather, she tried to begin. Her lower body had become dead weight with both of her legs injured, and now she couldn't move. The heat was getting closer, his spurts of flame were within inches of her now. "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I CAN'T GET LUCKY ONCE CAN I!?!?" She had a thought, if she could summon her blade she'd be able to use it to drag herself along, stabbing it into the groudn as she went. Lisa fanned out her fingers once again and tried to summon her sword. A few cracks of what seemed to be lightning connected her fingers, but the white light that had created the blade wouldn't appeared. The first blast of fire hit her, engulfing her denim-clad right leg. She cried out and slammed her fist against the wooden floors. Within seconds her right leg was bare, the denim had burnt up and the fire was smothered. Tears leaked from Lisa's clenched eyes as she buried her face. She couldn't move her right leg, but she could still feel it. She culd smell her skin burning, she dare not look down to survey the damage. Lisa simply lay still, awaiting Forge's fall.

((POST 7))

11:56 p.m.

Panting heavilly, Forge ceased his spread attack and lowered his arms. Lisa lay injured on the ground. Her right leg had been severely burned and she remained still, sprawled out on the wooden floor. However, much to Forge's displeasure, she was still breathing.
"Still alive..."

11:57 p.m.

Neither of the warriors moved for a brief moment. Lisa was too injured to stand, and the poison continued to drain away at Forge's life. He wanted to walk to her, to finish her once and for all while she lay helpless. Unfortunately with the poison running its course, he found that he no longer had the strength left to do so. He tried to move his legs, but in vain. His knees buckled and he collapsed face first to the floor, just feet away from Lisa. He didn't have the energy left to fight. Neither warrior did.
"No... I refuse to die like this again... If it has to end now, it will be on my own terms..."
Slowly, arm shaking, Forge reached up and for the first time during the tournament, removed his mask. Not wanting Lisa to see his true face, he kept it hidden between the floor and his hood. She was not worthy of seeing his true face. He would never let her see that which had plagued him so.

11:59 p.m.

Soon smoke began to emerge from beneath Forge's hood. The smoke rose up and circled around him as his body began to glow orange. He knew his body was no longer able to sustain his strongest attacks, but that no longer mattered. He was already at death's door. Survival was no longer an option, let alone a priority. Breathing heavilly, he uttered one last word.
"BURN!"
Immediately, every ounce of energy he had left burst from within him. Massive flames erupted from beneath the thick trench coat in a large explosion and quickly engulfed everything they could in a 10 foot radius.

12:00 a.m.

The bells of the clock tower rang on right on cue. The glorious sound of the bells echoed loudly throughout the entire edifice as though signalling the fight's end. Forge's figure lay motionless on the ground. He would no longer be able to hear such sounds. In his current state he would no longer be able to do anything at all. The proud warrior known as Forge was now nothing more than a crude pile of ashes charred bones. As he had promised, he ended the fight before the massive clock struck midnight. Sadly though, he would not know if his last ditch effort was enough to take Lisa straight to hell with him. All he knew for sure in the last seconds of his life, was that his time was up.

[post 8]

"BURN!" Lisa's heart froze. "I'm done." She heard what soudned like an explosion, and before she could even begin to wonder what it was, her entire body was engulfed in a heat that overloaded the senses. Pain shot through every inch of her being, pain so overwhelming that she couldn't find the energy to scream. And all in that second it ended.

Lisa's last thoughts were only passing images of her family. Both her brothers were still so young, she thought of her parents as well, wondering if she'd be able to see any of them again. And all in that heartbeat, it was over. Lisa no longer existed, in her place was nothing but a charred skeleton and the remnants of skin and organs in a pile around those bones.

((BTW, Bones don't burn, when someone is cremated, they burn off the skin and organs, then they crush the skeleton which is still in tact. Those aren't ashes in an urn, it's actually bone dust.))

((Post 8, the end))