League A (Division 1): BlueGhostofSeaside v. Zack Blaze

[Max Dirks]

Battle at your leisure folks. This thread must be completed by January 9th, 2014 at 12:00 AM EST. If you finish early, please submit it for judging per usual.

[Zack Blaze]

“I guess this will be a song of fire and ice,” Zack said as he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, “A pretty fitting place for me and my opponent to fight.” Puffs of air blew out through his mouth with each word, as well as each breath following. Behind him, several glaciers jutted out beneath the snow covered land. Snowflakes casually fell to the ground, dancing to the winds whims before finding a place on the white earth. Every so often, a snow bunny or some other cuddly creature would pop its head out from the wintery blanket, and go about its daily routine. It was a pristine wonderland of ivory.

Twenty feet across from Zack stood a stark contrast to what surrounded him. Heat waves rose off of the soil, which in itself was cracked and blackened. Holes would spout open, releasing a combination of steam and loud hissing, a hidden snake making it known to all around that it existed. Several charcoal colored hillsides were coated with small streams of what appeared to be molten lava. Luckily, the bubbly red liquid only covered the hills that dotted the adjacent land. The ground itself appeared safe to someone with footwear, and quite painful to those without. Zack could hear the rumbling and see the shaking of the lava land, tremors that did nothing but cause more lava flow from the miniature volcanos.

He snapped his fingers several times, each snap bringing with it the spark of a flame. He had learned that his opponent was a girl named Ashla. Ashla had been a participant in Sei Orlouge’s Cell, but was eliminated almost as soon as she began the fight. The thought of this caused Zack’s upper lip to raise a bit, his face forming a scowl. He had not made the list to register for The Cell because people had so hurriedly registered for it. Ashla had wasted her opportunity in the tournament, and the more Zack focused on this, the angrier he got.

He stomped his foot into the snow, a small wave of white flying into the air before laying to rest back down at his feet. Zack would prove today that he should have been the one in the tournament, not this afraid little girl. Though it was a part of the Althanas League, the street fighter’s personal interest in this particular matchup was quickly starting to overwhelm his urge to just win. He removed his hands from his pockets, continuing to snap his fingers and produce sparks. His anger stewed, bubbling inside of him like one of the volcanos he so worriedly eyeballed.

[Ashla]

Ashla was confident that she would win this fight! Ice and snow surrounded her all around. She smirked, it reminded her of her own home so long ago... There were only one or two weeks a year that snow would be a scarce sight at Eiskalt, and that was during the small heats of summer. Other than that, it was nothing but pure ice and snow all year long! And even though back then, Ashla hated the cold, now, it felt like home. Bittersweet memories of her uncle came to mind and encouraged her to win the fight. "The most important thing is to believe in yourself; now go out there, and prove you can do it!" Those words had been spoken to her when he had placed her in a class for lady's etiquette... Though that was a place she hated with a burning passion in her soul. Now the arena, an arena of cold, she loved this! She smirked, Whoever my opponent is, I'll crush him!

And she stepped up into the center where a blond man, who seemed a little older than her, was waiting. It was his hair that caught her attention first, the spiked design made her feel grossed out. She also took notice that he was barely scarred and had one sword as a weapon. Ashla kept telling herself not to be overconfident, and she told herself it was probably not the best idea to provoke him until she knew who he was like, however, one thought crossed her mind. I'm gonna cut off all those spikes on his blond head!

[Zack Blaze]

Ashla’s lithe figure seemed more intimidating with the fiery background behind her. In his frustration, Zack had not even heard the girl approach. He made a note to not let the same mistake happen again before getting a good look at his opponent. He had a good half of a foot on her length wise, and judging from the look of disgust in her azure eyes, she did not want to be anywhere near the street fighter. The boy cracked his knuckles, the corners of his mouth rising into a smile.

“Zack Blaze,” he said, giving a mock bow to his opponent, the snow accumulating on his shoulders falling to the ground, “you are Ashla Icebreaker. Pretty ironic that our last names seem to be the setting for this arena.” Zack stood up and looked to his opponent, his hands going back into his pockets. “It’s pretty cold on this side.”

Without any other warning, Zack disappeared from Ashla’s sight, the boy instantly reappearing behind the girl. He took his hands out of his pockets, his left hand leaving the teleportation stone he had won during the Adventurer’s Crown, and reaching for the back of Ashla’s neck. His fingers cackled with electricity, a thunderous viper going in for the kill from the get-go. “Why don’t we heat things up a little?!”

[Ashla]

Ashla was shocked at how quick her opponent's hasty approach to attack! Wow! He's fast! The electricity activating in his fingers flashed in her eyes. For a moment she was too surprised to move, but she quickly collected herself again as Zack jeered, "Why don't we heat things up a bit?"

Ashla forced herself to scoff; thankfully her tone was enough to fool you, "Eh... Nah." She smirked, "I'd rather bring things to temperatures below zero." Even as she was speaking, she'd grabbed her dagger with the tips of her hands; reaching down to her upper leg where the small weapon was strapped to her. She forced herself not to scuff her feet in the pure, white snow as she reversed her hand grip and attempted to stab him.

[Zack Blaze]

Zack gave pause as Ashla reacting, dodging in such a quick way; the youth could not comprehend it. For someone to dodge his neck grab so quickly, especially from behind, astounded the street fighter. She even had time to quip back at him. Zack began to doubt that the battle was going to go as easily as he had imagined it.

That was just fine by him.

Ashla spun around with a blade, Zack sidestepping the girl to the east and smirking. The dagger managed to just barely nick the warrior’s jacket, pieces of the leather tearing and falling to the snow covered ground. Zack watched as Ashla’s lunge brought her closer to the fiery side of the field. He rubbed his hands together, quickly snapping his fingers and creating dual sparks. He then slung both hands forward, creating two fireballs upon the ground that headed straight for the back of his opponent.

The snow around the flames quickly melted into water as they slid across the ground, hungry to envelope Ashla in their heat. “The only absolute zero I’m seeing here in you, Cell Loser.”

It was in Zack’s opinion, a very weak insult, but perhaps it would goad the girl into making further mistakes.

[Ashla]

As he threw the two fireballs at her, he yelled an insult at her. Ashla let out a deep growl at the remark, but still knew well enough to block his fire attack- yes... block it. In an attempt to try and impress this jerk she was fighting with, she stood her ground. As the flames flung towards her, all the snow in it's path melted to reveal nothing but a thin layer of dirt and mud below. Ashla sighed as the flames flew right in front of her.

Her cue from the play director to pull off her part of the stage act.

Ashla froze herself over with a heavy layer of ice. The flames did not harm her a bit as they flew right through her and flung into a large, but short tree. The tree immediately began to burn, and Ashla was thankful that that wasn't her. The tree was bare of leaves due to the winter, so all that was left behind her was the sound of choking, burning wood. As Ashla's ice spell undid itself and she returned to her normal self; she was hit with the realization that since the attack had been so strong, that was the only time she would be using her ultimate defense system. Drat!

Ashla began to doubt that the battle was going to go as easily as she had imagined it.

[Zack Blaze]

Zack’s eyes widened at Ashla’s clever counter. A wall of ice had suddenly formed around the girl while somehow allowing his own flames to phase through the transparent blockade. He ignored the smell of burning wood and the goose bumps over his body to stare the girl down. His lips instinctively rose, causing his face to make a sneer at the Cell dropout. She had an answer for two of the street fighter’s best moves, and still stood in the snow unharmed.

Got to think of something, Zack thought to himself, beads of sweat making their way down his cheeks. Ashla was better than the youth had expected. He knew he had to pull out all of the stops now if he was going to beat his opponent. His muscles were growing stiff in the cold atmosphere, his eyes constantly glancing back behind Ashla towards the volcanic area of the arena. IF he could just push the ice mage back a mere fifteen feet. What I need is a good distraction….

Zack smiled as an idea quickly came to him. He clapped his hands together and whistled while jumping up and down. Overall, the display was nothing more than theatrics used to throw his foe out of her state of mind. The real threat came from the giant ogre that landed not five feet in front of Ashla. His charcoal black skin seemed to release steam thanks to the cold surrounding him. The single large loincloth danced in the wind, revealing the beast’s well-endowed features underneath. He shot a hand out towards the girl, the boulder-like limb of the eight foot creature attempting to pop the girl’s head off like a grape. “I hate the cold, Zacko!” the beast screamed, an echo in his voice carrying through the snow.

“Know you do Makai,” Zack’s voice replied, from above Ashla. During the ogre’s attempt on the girl’s life, his master took to opportunity to run up the creatures back and jump off, a fierce kick heading straight for the shoulders of the girl. If the first kick connected, Zack would continue to try and hit her with dive kick after dive kick in order to push her to the fiery arena only fifteen feet away.

[Ashla]

The snow fell peacefully onto the quiet ground. Little would anybody know that only twenty feet away from this lovely place, a battle featuring flames, human, a halfling, and an ogre was taking place...

To make matters go from bad to worse concerning Ashla's current state of disadvantage, the young man had summoned something dark onto the battle field. Ashla's eyes widened in sudden fear when she realized that there was something else behind her. She slowly turned to see an ogre right behind her... And reaching to take her life. When her eyes had widened, and she'd turned around, she had finally shown signs of fear to her opponent (now opponents) so she had just made a bad move.

She tried to ignore her nervousness and ducked, rolling to the left. She thought she was good for a moment and smirked, but as she stood up again she heard footsteps behind her and realized that it was a trap! Her smile faded instantly; she hastily blinked once and turned to face her opponent, bringing her long-knife out in an urgent attempt to block - however, her opponent was faster than her and had made it first.

[Zack Blaze]

While Makai had not managed to hit the girl as he had intended, it provided Zack with the perfect opportunity to strike. A grin formed on the youth’s face as he slammed his feet into the girl’s shoulders. He followed the attack up with a series of continuous kicks, almost as if he were running on top of Ashla. With each blow delivered, the girl stepped back further and further until she was finally right where Zack wanted her.

The boy leapt off of his opponent and landed onto the blackened, cracked ground. Only a few inches behind him the snowy winds of their former setting blew against his back. Though his backside remained quite cool, Zack’s font had begun sweating profusely. The heat from the arena made the boy feel as though he were in the hottest sauna he could dream of. Every so often, the ground would crack open and release a vent of steam from below. The change of scenery had definitely also brought a change to the danger level.

I may have underestimated myself Zack thought, his hands quickly sending another flame towards Ashla. The added heat from the ground increased the intensity of the flames, though Zack had only sent one this time at his foe. He hoped it would be enough of a finishing blow to get him out of this strange area. “On the menu tonight is Icebreaker Flambé!”