redhairedknight | Mission 3 [Voice, eventually Action]

Oh, I'm good to go any time! The barracks works well. Outside of it works, as does inside. Whatever you'd feel like doing. Should I meet you over there?

That sounds good to me. I'll see you there!

[Erza walks over to the Barracks, which takes a few minutes. Once she arrives there, she looks around for Adell, only roughly knowing what he looks like based on what she saw through the journals.]

[She'll probably catch sight of him outside stretching, shock of red hair fully visible. Right now he's wearing a heavy coat and gloves, so he probably doesn't look like too much. And well, he does still have those two scars on his face too.]

[Seeing as he's the only person present, Erza walks over to him. At this point, she's wearing her usual armour; although not to the same extent as Gray does, she doesn't let the cold air bother her.]

You're Adell, right? Glad to meet you in person.

Erza? Likewise.

[He'll offer his hand to shake once he finishes the particular stretch he's doing. Gotta get loose if he's gonna spar. And no, it doesn't look like he's wearing any armor either.]

[While waiting for Adell to finish stretching, Erza figures she could use this time to clarify on a few things.]

So what kind of weapons do you want me to use? I mostly have bladed weapons, but I can stick with the few blunt ones that I have if you'd like.

Use whatever you'd like. I'm used to fighting against people with blades. And nothing a little healing magic won't fix, anyway.

[He'll straighten up, looking like he's finished.]

Good. I'm much better with swords, anyway.

[As she says this, a pair of fairly large swords appear in her hands.]

You can attack first; I'm ready whenever you are.

[Adell's smile widens.]

Dual-wielder, huh? This should be fun.

[With that, he'll throw aside his coat. ...Yeah, his outfit looks kind of ridiculous what with the tie. But he does look quite strong. He'll crack his knuckles.]

How do you want to do this? Fight until yield or unconsciousness?

[At the dual-wielding comment, Erza smirks slightly.]

Trust me, you haven't seen anything yet.

I'm not really used to setting terms like that up; the few people that want to spar with me back home refuse to give up regardless of how outmatched they are. However, might as well go with yield. If one of us gets knocked out before we can yield, it's the same result either way, and if there are healing mages here, then we should be fine regardless of how this ends.

All right, those terms work for me. And if I haven't seen anything yet, I'm looking forward to it!

[He shifts into his battle stance and his expression turns to intense determination.]

Ready! Let's do it!

[Erza swings her swords through the air before getting into her own fighting stance.]

I'm not going to hold back!

Then I won't either!

[And Adell will flash forward extremely fast and attempt to trip her with a sweeping low kick.]

[Although Erza isn't particularly fast herself, she is at least capable of reacting quickly to speedy opponents. She jumps into the air to avoid Adell's kick and raising her swords above her head, she swings them downwards at the tie-wearing young man.]

[He'll deftly avoid the sword swings by slipping around to Erza's side in a roll. He'll counter an instant later with a punch directed for Erza's side.]

[Upon landing, Erza moves as quickly as possible and manages to use the flat side of one of her swords to deflect the blow. Meanwhile, she swings her other sword in an attempt to catch Adell off-guard.]

[A good move and parry, but Adell will backdash away when his blow is parried, causing the sword to miss.]

Ah, you are good!

[He smiles, and moves in for another attack... moving in to attack with a left hook. ...But odds are, Erza, being experienced at fighting, might be able to see that it's a feint attack.]

[Rather than block, Erza decided to jump back so she was out of Adell's range and throw her sword. Once the sword left her hand, she conjured a new one to take its place in case Adell had something up his metaphorical sleeve.]

[Sword! Adell dodges the thrown weapon rather ungracefully, but keeps his footing. ...And sees she has another weapon readied, despite throwing one of them at him. ...Some kind of magic? Who knows. He resumes a defensive position for the moment, unsure if she's about to pull something.]

You can dodge one sword, good; but can you dodge...

[Now that she had time, Erza's flair for theatricality came out slightly. She pivoted around in a circle as her armour disappeared, replaced moments after with this particular suit of armour (http://www.onemanga.com/Fairy_Tail/14/11/), which had twelve swords floating behind her. The floating swords aimed themselves at Adell and shot towards him.]

...all of these?

Holy hell!!

[Adell will move and evade with supernatural looking speed, dodging away from many of the swords. A couple of them will knick his arms when two of them fly in close together, but otherwise he manages to avoid getting shredded.

But now's the perfect time to launch an attack of his own. As soon as he avoids the final sword, he lunges forward with the same speed he avoided the weapons. Partway through the charge, his fist ignites on fire. It looks like it's going to hurt a lot if it connects.]

He's pretty fast...

[Erza prepared to dodge the punch, but the spontaneous combustion of Adell's hand caught her off-guard enough that she couldn't react in time and was hit by the blow, which sent her flying back several feet. After a few moments, she gets back up, more irritated than anything, even though her lip is bloodied from the impact and the part of her body where she was hit was burnt.]

You didn't tell me you knew how to use magic!

[He remains in a guarded position, just in case.]

It's not magic. Not where I'm from, anyway. Just an extension of myself and my own power.

Where I'm from, being able to light your hand on fire without anything to set it off is considered magic. I guess we just have different criteria for that sort of thing.

[Erza briefly considered switching to her Flame Emperor armour, which cut fire-based damage in half, but she decided against it for now; now that she knew about Adell's ability (or so she thought), she would be able to avoid it, so she might as well stick with the armour that's been working so far.]

You know, you remind me of my friend, Natsu. He used a lot of fire attacks and fought with his fists, but he could never beat me. Let's see if you can do better!

[With that, more swords appeared behind Erza and she continued her assault, sending her weapons flying at the young brawler.]

I intend to!

[With that, he'll much more gracefully dodge the incoming blades. But partway through the barrage, he'll head straight for Erza. But as he approaches, it looks almost as Adell phases out of focus. Mirror images begin appearing in a V formation as they draw closer to Erza. Which one's the real one?

The one that pops up right behind her and tries to deliver an elbow to her back.]

Where'd he...

[Erza closes her eyes, listening for anything that could give away Adell's position. Hearing something behind her, she turns around swinging her sword. She doesn't turn quite fast enough, however, and gets an elbow to her stomach as a result.]

[With that brief moment of stunning, Adell spins around so his back is touching the front of her armor and goes for a grab on one of her arms. Unless Erza can break that grapple really fast, she's going to get thrown right over his shoulder.]

[Another sword appears in Erza's free hand, and she swings it at Adell. In addition, she struggles in order to keep him from being able to throw her and to keep him in place. He could either let her go or take the hit, it was his choice.]

[He's a real man and basically made of iron anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. He'll wince as he's hit by the weapon, but he's going to follow through on the throw. His inertia's too great for him to do much else at this point.]

How many of those damn swords do you have?!

[Landing on her back, Erza rolls over and get back on her feet. Still gripping her sword tightly, she grins.]

You're pretty good! At least now it makes sense how you can fight demons with no weapons or magic...

You're no easy target either. Gotta say, you're keeping me on my toes. I like it.

[He'll tighten his stance. She's got a lot of wildcards in play... lunging in head-on might be suicide. But he'll edge closer to melee range.]

I'm glad to hear that. I was worried that no matter how powerful I was, I wouldn't be able to cut it here.

[Erza summoned more swords to hover behind her in order to prepare for a counter-attack. Yes, she owns a completely ridiculous amount of swords, but given the sort of people who share her rank (among others, a man who is fast, strong, as durable as main characters from most shonen manga series, and controls lightning), she has to be extremely prepared in order to compensate.]

[Shonen series hero, huh? That's basically what Adell is. So it's a good thing she's very prepared!

Because after a light chuckle when he sees more swords appear, he'll back away to get dodging distance. The incoming blades make a number of close calls, but again, as the wave ends, Adell prepares his counterattack.

Leaping high into the air, he spins his body into a corkscrewing spin before finally leveling out. With a foot aimed right at Erza. And down he comes, rocketing at a 45 degree angle, feet and legs sheathed in flame. Upon impact, the attack will let out a fireburst, which will hit everything within several feet. Best move as fast as you can to get out of the way.]

[Seeing that Adell seemed to have gotten used to dodging the swords, Erza decided it was time to change her tactics, both to see if something else would be more successful and to keep Adell on his toes. Changing to her Flame Emperor armour (http://www.onemanga.com/Fairy_Tail/22/13/) for now, Erza ran to the side to avoid Adell's kick. However, she didn't expect the burst of fire generated by Adell's landing, which knocked her back. The damage done was cut in half, but it was still painful. Skidding to a stop, Erza summons a two-handed broadsword into her hands and runs at Adell, swinging it once she gets within range.]

[Changing armor, summoning weapons... this woman sure has a lot of tricks up her sleeve. ...No idea what that new armor's going to do, but it won't stop him from being ready to fight.

He'll juke away from the initial strike and lunge in while she's recovering from the wide swing, going for just a traditional, strong punch.]

[Upon seeing that Adell had dodged the swing, Erza changes her weapon to an axe in case of a counter-attack; it would be more useful defensively than a sword would. Noticing Adell lunge forward, she uses the head of the axe to block the punch. Satisfied that she had stopped or at least slowed his momentum, Erza pulled the axe back and swung it at his left arm.]

[Okay, she's fast. No time to do anything else at this range... So Adell's going to throw his shoulder into a tackle to try to knock her prone.]

[In mid-swing and with no room to dodge, Erza was forced to take the tackle, which knocked her to the ground. Her only hope at this point, as she tried to get up, was if Adell hurt his shoulder ramming it into her armour. If not, then she hoped she could take whatever Adell was about to throw at her.]

((OoC: How powerful is Adell in-series anyways? I know Erza's really durable (somewhere near "named character in One Piece" level), but I don't know that much about Adell's strength, seeing as I haven't really read much about Disgaea.))

[OoC: In series, Adell's canon strength is murky. However, Disgaea is a game where characters can end up with levels going well into the thousands, and damage numbers into the millions. Even the middling abilities of most Disgaea characters can look like something out of a ridiculous Shonen anime. Most of this is played for laughs.

Laharl, the first game's main character, is canonically around Level 1,200 and has the power to blow up entire Netherworlds. I play Adell around Level 1,000, as most leads in the Disgaea universe tend to get ridiculously strong. In Luceti, his power is halved down to Level 500.

To answer the question more directly, Adell is extremely strong and extremely durable. He fought Luffy to a total standstill (that spar was never completed and we never decided who won). So yeah, he's... a very tough foe to deal with.]

[With the tackle successful, Adell lunges hard at Erza while she's down, and goes immediately for a pin. If unsuccessful, he's going to maintain a grapple with her so she can't easily use one of her heavier weapons if she manages to escape.]

Edited 2010-02-08 01:15 (UTC)

[Erza manages to prevent Adell from pinning her by planting her foot on his chest and pushing him away, although Adell still refuses to let go. Rather than try to force her way out of Adell's grip, she chooses to try and fight her way out. Quickly switching to the Heaven's Wheel armour and summoning swords to appear behind her, the swords swing inward to try and hit Adell.]

[...Okay, so grappling her's not going to work either. Great. He rolls away to avoid getting slashed... well, mostly. Hard to evade at that close a range. So he'll take a couple more injuries to the sword slashes, and Erza will have enough time to get to her feet completely.

She can change attack patterns on the fly... and it seems she's prepared for everything. I guess I'm gonna have to be decisive here...]

[Not having any other options ((OoC: in-canon)) to choose from as far as armour that would let her use ranged attacks, and not wanting to get into close-range combat with Adell, Erza chose to stick with the armour she had on. She was already breathing heavily from Adell's attacks; she didn't want to risk him landing even more when she was winded this much from the few he had landed already.

As Erza gets to her feet, the swords hovering around her rearrange themselves so they are floating in a ring in front of her. The swords begin to spin in that circular pattern, flying at Adell like a razor-sharp disk at Erza's command...]

Tenrin Circle Sword!

How many things can you do with those damn things?!

[He runs to the side, trying to evade the spinning food-processor wheel of death. Unfortunately, he's not able to follow up this evasion. He already used Tiger Charge, and she'd see the surprise attack coming. And right now, he's only got one option, but not enough time to do it.]

[After Adell dodges the swords, Erza makes a motion with her hand, and they stop in mid-air and return to her.]

This is probably the first time in a while that I've actually had a challenge in winning a sparring match!

[Changing the weapon in her hands to a bisento, or "blade on a stick" more or less, Erza runs at Adell, swinging the weapon horizontally.]

Glad I'm not disappointing you!

[That reach weapon is going to pose problems. Normally, evading spear and naginata attacks were easy enough, because Adell would have enough time to capitalize on the recovery. Erza's ability to summon weapons from nowhere negated her need to recover...

So now, he's just going to have to get clever.

When the weapon swings at him horizontally, he'll roll underneath the blade and make a sliding kick at Erza's feet. If she won't give him an opening, he'll make one!]

Edited 2010-02-10 03:44 (UTC)

[Erza jumps into the air to avoid his sliding kick, changing weapons in mid-air while she does so. If Adell is going to try to attack her when she lands, her current weapon wouldn't be very good for defensive purposes. She changes back to a pair of swords, landing in a defensive stance, even though the landing throws that stance off a bit.]

[He'll whip back to his feet after she leaps over him and spin back around. She's skilled, and she covers her mistakes really well. Now... all he can do is press the attack while he has the advantage.

His fist ignites into flame again, and he'll lunge right for her at high speed.]

[Now that she know about his ability to light his fist on fire, Erza isn't caught off-guard by it and manages to block Adell's punch. However, the force of the blow causes her to skid along the ground. Coming to a stop, Erza takes a moment to catch her breath before jumping into the air and shooting the swords that were hovering behind her downwards at Adell.]

Mind fighting someone who uses swords? Not at all! I defeated the swordmaster of Melee Island, after all.

You beat a master swordsman, huh? This will be interesting...

I'm at the barracks. You can stop by whenever you're ready.

I'll be right there!

[He'll show up at the barracks soon enough, armed with a cutlass.]

So how do you want to do this? Do you want me to stick with one sword, or use all of them?

[Despite saying this, it's clear that she isn't holding any swords, nor is she carrying any with her. Of course, Guybrush doesn't know about her magic, but we'll keep that a secret.]

Uh, you normally use more than two?

Depends on the situation. Usually, I stick with two, but some of my armours let me use more than two at the same time.

Your armor has... extra hands?

Not exactly. The swords that aren't in my hands mainly float behind me, although I can control where they go.

Uh... let's just stick with two swords for now.

Okay.

[In a puff of smoke, two swords appear in Erza's hands. She swings them around a few times before deciding that these are the ones she will use.]

I'm ready to start whenever you are. How long do you want to fight until? Forfeit, unconsciousness, or once we reach a certain number of hits?

[Guybrush holds up his sword.]

Let's go with forfeit.

That sounds good. You can start, seeing as I'm the one who made the challenge.

[In that case, he decides to start with an old standard. He slashed with his sword.]

You fight like a dairy farmer!

[Erza parried the blow, but... Wait, what did he say?]

What are you talking about? I haven't started fighting yet!

[Huh? No one's ever complained about that before...]

O-oh yeah. Let me try that again.

[Trying to force her sword aside.]

My wisest enemies run away at the first site of me!

Really? You don't look all that threatening to me.

[Erza pulls the sword that she used to block away from Guybrush, while at the same time, swings her other sword at his side.]

[Guybrush leaps to the side, to avoid the attack and put space between himself and Ezra. Fighting an opponent with two swords was proving tricky...]

My sword is famous all over the Caribbean!

Can't say I've heard of that place, but there are a lot of places I haven't heard of before.

[Erza held up her swords in a defensive stance, unsure of what Guybrush's next move was going to be.]

[Guybrush is trying to make the decision himself. Maybe the old three-headed monkey trick? Nah, that never works. He takes a quick glance around in hopes of finding something useful, while talking to Ezra to keep her occupied.]

Oh, the Caribbean? That's the chain of islands I'm from. Great place.

[Maintaining her stance, Erza decided to talk during this lull in the sparring session.]

So where did you learn to use a sword?

I was trained by the legendary Captain Smirk on Melee Island.

[Was Smirk famous? Guybrush doesn't really know, but it hardly matters. Guybrush steps forward again, swinging his sword.]

[Erza jumps to her right to avoid the swing and tries to slash at Guybrush's side in retaliation.]

[Guybrush hops back, barely dodging the attack. But Erza makes a gash in his jacket.]

Hey, this is my favorite jacket!

Trust me, if there's one thing I've learned from my job, it's that you can't worry about the state of your clothes when you're fighting.

[Erza runs forward, slashing at either side of Guybrush.]

[Guybrush blocks one sword, but takes a small gash as he tries to avoid the other. He grunts in pain.]

I can see that you don't worry much about clothes. Maybe you ought to start.

What's the point in doing that? Clothes are just that, they can be repaired easily; in combat, your own safety is much more important.

A true master swordsman can defeat his opponent and look good doing it.

[He attempts a stab. It's not really what his sword is made for, but he has to attack her and be able to dodge those swords quickly.]

[Erza jumps back a bit to avoid the stab, the swords in her hands disappearing. In their place appears a bisento, which is more or less a blade on a staff. Upon landing, she swings the weapon horizontally at Guybrush.]

Woah!

[Through some miracle, Guybrush avoids this unexpected attack, but her weapon hits his and knocks the sword from his hand.]

Uh oh...

[With her weapon pointed at Guybrush, Erza stops her assault for now.]

Do you give up? Or do you want to keep going?

Er... yeah. I give up...

[Erza's weapon disappears, and she holds out her hand for a handshake.]

In that case, thank you for the spar. I don't think I got your name, though.

I'm Guybrush Threepwood, might- er, pirate.

Nice to meet you, Guybrush. I'm Erza. You're definitely the nicest pirate I've met, although that's a given. Most of the time, any pirates I meet are trying to kill me.

[He chuckles]

Yeah, pirates'll do that.

Seeing as how you're a pirate, what's your crew like? Do you have a bounty on your head?

Uh, I've never been able to keep a crew for very long. I do have a bounty though! There are Guybrush Threepwood wanted posters all over Phatt Island.

What are you wanted for, anyways?

[Erza briefly wondered about the strange names of the islands he had mentioned, but decided not to bring it up; he might take offense to it.]

Lots of stuff! Thievery, fraud, jailbreak, murdering LeChuck multiple times.

Really? ...

[She took particular note of this. As she was what amounted to a mercenary back home, she disliked lawbreakers. Thievery and fraud were fairly minor crimes, yes, but jailbreak was intolerable, and murder... wait a minute...]

Wait, how did you murder one man several times?

Well, he was already a ghost the first time I killed him. But then his first mate brought him back as a zombie, and I had to destroy him again and... it seems like he comes back every time I defeat him. Anyway, I guess killing a ghost is still murder.

I see... That makes sense, to some degree. And what does this LeChuck person look like?

Well, he's really big and tall and green with a bushy beard. Lately, it's been all fiery, sometimes.

But, he was blue and translucent when he was a ghost.

Okay, I'll be on the lookout for him if he shows up. Someone who cheats death that many times usually isn't the type who can be trusted.

Thanks. I'd hate to see him show up, here. Mostly he's after my wife, but he'd love to get his hands on me, too. He's planned out all kinds of ways to torture me.

At least one thing you can take comfort in is that there aren't many villainous types here, from what I've heard. Hopefully, that trend continues.

I have nothing against the regular sort of villain. Just the conquer and/or destroy the Caribbean type.

Why would someone want to destroy an entire group of islands?

Well, I mostly mean that metaphorically. He was working with a guy who wanted to brainwash everyone in the Caribbean, so we would have been as good as destroyed.

Oh, I see.

It worked out, though. I stopped them.

That's good. I'd hate to think that, after these Malnosso creatures are done with us, you would return home to find it destroyed.

Come to think of it, even though I stopped their plans, LeChuck is still out there somewhere...

I wouldn't worry about it. If you've killed this LeChuck person as many times as you say you have, he should likely pose no threat to you.

Hey, that's right! If I run into him again I'll just improvise like I always do.

Whatever works, I suppose.

You desire a sparring partner?

Yes. I intended on just training with Adell today, but after encountering a nigh-invulnerable psychopath, I realized that I need to become stronger in case any others show up who are even more malevolent than this creature was.

I have not had much chance to hone my skills in this land. I would welcome the chance to spar with one as yourself.

What sort of weapon do you use, if any?

I believe you were evident that you preferred the sword. My sword skills have been well honed throughout my service as General of the Gestahlian army.

I know I said that I preferred to use a sword, but I've had people asking about a challenge who fight with bows and arrows, or no weapons at all. I figure it's best to find out what my opponents have before I accept; I'd prefer not having to wind up fighting someone who's armed with a gatling gun or something like that.

I readily assure you that I did not bring a bow and I have never armed myself with a gun. I would not dishonor you with an uneven battle.

I only wish to a fair spar.

That's good to hear. I'm at the barracks whenever you're ready to practice.

Who shall I look for?

Leo Cristophe. Pleased to make your acquaintance.

Nice to meet you. I'm Erza Scarlet.

I'm a woman with long red hair who wearing armour. There can't be a whole lot of people here who meet that description, I'd think.

[Later --

Walking into the barracks, with sword in scabbard. He looks around for his sparring partner. He spied a lady matching the given description. As she looked rather occupied, he patiently waited and watched for any hint of skill or tactic. When she paused for a respite, he finally responded to her.]

Miss Scarlet.

Greetings, General Cristophe. Are you ready to begin?

[Leo lightly fingers his blade, feeling the growing his adrenaline begin to pump.]

There shall be time for pleasantries upon completion of this spar.

[A single sword appears in Erza's hands in a cloud of smoke.]

Are we going to keep going until forfeit or knock-out?

((OoC: I don't think she has any sort of title like that; she seems to be self-taught from what's known so far, given that she spent her childhood as a slave and entered the guild that the main cast is a part of shortly after escaping. However, she has the same rank in her guild as a master of illusions, a man who controls lightning, and an older man who has what effectively amounts to a disintegration aura surrounding him at all times, when her ability basically amounts to "summon swords/armour", so she's really good at fighting as a result.))

[Leo withdraws his blade from his scabbard, allowing the weight to deftly slip in a ready stance.]

I would be hesitant in risking your health in a spar of such lengths. Yet be prepared, I do not yield lightly.

[He begins to raise up on the balls of his feet in anticipation of the first strike.]

((OoC: I was only asking, since I don't recognize the character or her skill level. Leo was the best swordsman and General of the Empire. This should be an interesting little sparring match.))

Neither do I, so this will probably take a while...

[Erza gets into an offensive stance.]

...but who cares? That's what we're here for!

[With that, Erza charges at Leo, slashing her sword at him.]

((OoC: Yeah, Fairy Tail is fairly obscure from what I've seen. I'd think it's because its genre (lots of fighting and over-the-top comedy) and its name kind of clash.))

[He quickly steps forward into the charge, raising his sword in a defensive parry as he gauges the skill level of his opponent.]

Do not worry for my interest will not wain.

[Leo takes a step back quickly as he looses his sword from her with a quick swivel aiming towards her shoulder.]

[Acting quickly, Erza summons a sword into her other hand, bringing it up just in time to block Leo's sword and preventing the blow from landing.]

I'm afraid hitting me isn't going to be that easy, general.

[Surprised as Ezra pulled a second sword from midair, he quickly readied his shield for her other sword should she mistake his shock for weakness]

You are full of surprises Miss Scarlet. I did not recognize you to possess the skill with two blades you show.

[Erza leapt backwards to put some distance between her and the general.]

One sword, two swords, axes, spears... The magic I use isn't as powerful as other types, so I need to be skilled with as many weapons as possible if I want to stay on top.

As skilled as you are with sword, I am thankful that your magic is no more powerful that you relay.

[Leading the way with his shield masking his movements, he quickly closes the distance as he feints high and sweep low.]

[Recognizing the signs of a feint, Erza jumps over the low swing, swinging one of her swords vertically at Leo while in the air. She keeps the other one available to defend herself if she needs to.]

[A lesser Knight would have been caught defenseless. Leo, however quickly adjusted his shield taking the brunt of the blow squarely upon his shield. His arm buckled slightly under her strength but held.]

[Upon landing, Erza jumps back a bit, and then she runs forward, swinging both of her swords inward to try and hit Leo on either side of his body.]

[Leo watches intently as his opponent backs up and charges. It takes nary a split second for him to determine his move. While he could use both sword and shield to block her attack, it seemed more prudent to give a little quarry for a grander prize.

Turning his body to the side he allowed one sword to smash against his armor plate as he concentrated his aim on the hilt of the other.

At the moment of impact he stepped into the attack and slammed his shield towards her torso.]

[Raising one leg up, Erza kicked at the shield, leaving her foot on it to stop it from hitting her. Stuck in a stalemate, Erza was forced to distance herself again in order to gain some breathing room.

Kicking off from the shield, Erza jumped back slightly, skidding to a stop.]

You're pretty good at close-range combat, huh? Maybe it's time I changed things up slightly...

[A cloud of smoke surrounds Erza; when it clears, her armour has changed to this (http://www.onemanga.com/Fairy_Tail/14/11/), several swords floating behind her. The swords rearrange themselves so they are in front of her, floating in a circle. The circle of swords moves faster and faster until it resembles a buzzsaw more than a bunch of swords.]

Tenrin Circle Swords!

[With that command, the ring of swords shoots at Leo.]

[Leo's eyes widen at the sudden influx of swords. He deftly slides his head and arms behind a shield, dodging much of the flurry.

Unfortunately, a couple slipped through his tight defense and pounded against his boots.

Not wishing to further injure himself in a training spar, he acknowledged defeat]

To see one who can wield so many swords, is a sight I never hoped to have seen.

I probably should have mentioned it beforehand; I know magic that lets me change the weapons and armour that I'm using, and some of my armour has magical abilities of its own. I apologize for that; it gave me an unfair advantage in this friendly spar.

[He shakes off the sting in his foot, effectively hiding its discomfort]

You need not worry for I enjoyed our spar. To battle with someone of your skill was an honor.

That's good. You did well also, especially for one who doesn't appear to use magic.

It was a welcome respite from the day's activities. I know of many who have used magic, but I prefer to rely on my own strength.

Really? Who do you know that can use it?

We began infusing magic into our warriors a while ago. While I refused, many folks did not. Surely you have heard of one of them. Although it pains me to admit, I did work with Kefka in the past.

I've heard of him, yes, although thankfully I haven't met him yet.

You should consider yourself lucky to have been spared of his presence.

My friends Miss Branford and General Chere have the talent as well, yet their wills are honorable.

Why does everyone consider him evil, anyways? The only thing people have told me is that he's evil, which isn't very specific.

I don't think I've met either of them yet. The only people here that I've met who can use magic are a green-haired woman named Terra and a tanned man with white hair named Hugo.

I did not realize you'd met Miss Terra Branford. I have known her for many years, yet you ask for more of Kefka?

His deeds of evil have been great indeed. He poisoned the water supply of an entire castle decimating its people. I could continue with more of his deeds, yet he has no regard for life.

I just met her recently. What do you know about her?

This Kefka person seems to be a sore subject for you, so I won't ask about him any further. At least I know some specifics; enough to know that he needs to be caught as soon as possible.

If you wish to assist myself in defeating the man, I will share what you wish to know.

[He is extremely protective of Terra.]

Terra is important to myself. What is there to know about her?

I'd be open to fighting with another who uses swords. Can't let myself get rusty here from sheer boredom.

I'll be at the barracks whenever you're ready.

I'll be there soon then.

[And he's headed off towards the barracks now. It will likely take him a bit since he's over in Community Building #1, but not too long at least.]

[Seeing Flik arrive, Erza walked over to him.]

You're Flik, right? Glad to meet you face-to-face.

[Although they had only spoken briefly before today, when Erza had first arrived in Luceti, Erza made it a point to not forget a name or a face if at all possible.]

That would be me. And it seems you have settled in well. Ezra, right?

Yes. I've gotten my weapons and armour and I've found a place to stay, so at least I don't need to worry about that any more. Plus, most of the people here seem nice; I've only met one exception to that.

Most people are nice, but you're lucky to have met only one exception. I've heard comments about at least three now. There may be even more. And that's why I don't need to be getting rusty.

Really? Who have you heard about? I just met this loud monstrous creature who calls himself "the Great Aku", and I've only heard about a man named Kefka who looks like a clown. I wouldn't want to run into another villain and not know it.

Yeah, heard about both of those. There's another who broadcast a murder over the journals. Blond haired, wears a lot of black. I've only seen him over the journals, but others have been attacked by him.

I'll look out for him. Murderers shouldn't get away with their crimes. In the meantime, how do you want to do this? Do we fight until one of us forfeits, gets knocked out, or hits the other one enough times?

Are you any good, though?

Edited 2010-02-04 23:52 (UTC)

I'm one of the strongest mages in my guild, and I've beaten illusionists, massive demons, and people who can petrify others with a single glance without breaking a sweat. I've also beaten a mercenary whose sword skills were honed to the point that she could effortlessly break steel in a single blow. How about you? Are you any good?

Not bad. That's an interesting CV.

And I am good, as a matter of fact. If I'm not already the best swordsman where I'm from, then I will be. The title Second Sword Emperor is mine for the taking.

You definitely sound confident, at least. Do you want to spar, or would you prefer to leave your reputation untarnished?

Voooii, I wouldn't have responded if I didn't want to spar.

Wherever, whenever, Red.

I'll be waiting at the barracks.

...

And don't you dare call me "Red", unless you want to start being called "Geezer".

WHAAT?! [His eye twitches in irritation. The hell is this? He's not old.]

Call me geezer, and you might just lose your tongue.

-I'll be there in ten!

Maybe if your hair wasn't so grey, I wouldn't have said anything about it.

[But enough joking around; time to focus.]

It's white, dumbass. [Because that makes a lot of difference...] Get your eyes checked.

[And true to his word, he arrives promptly at the barracks ten minutes later. He wears no armor, just a black leather uniform and gloves and his sword is already strapped to his left hand.]

VOOOOII! You the one from the journals?

Yes. ...Why is your sword strapped to your arm? That must make it difficult to use it defensively.

Haha! I wouldn't be alive if it were! But it's not for everyone.

[He turns his wrist thoughtfully - no need to tell her his left hand is a mechanical prosthetic - then grins.]

I have my own sword style. It's served me well.

Well, clearly, it has; otherwise, you wouldn't have done nearly as well as you've claimed to when you were back in your original world.

[In a puff of smoke, a fairly large broadsword appears in Erza's hands. Gripping the handle with both hands, she is able to lift it up easily.]

So, at what point do you want to stop at? When one of us forfeits or gets knocked out?

[Squalo quirks an eyebrow at the appearance of her weapon.] Neat trick, Red.

[He studies her a moment. Most people here tend to offer first-blood as the alternative. This is interesting.] And I'm not the type to forfeit.

Neither am I, but I'd rather leave the option open. After all, there are some people who would forfeit, and I have no reason to not accomodate them.

[She raises her sword, getting into a fighting stance.]

Are you ready?

Heeeey, I've been waiting around for you to stop talking!

[He grins sharply. Taking her question and stance as a cue to get started, Squalo he closes the distance between them quickly and attacks with a diagonal slash of his blade.]

[Rather than dodge the attack, Erza brings up her sword to block it. Once that's accomplished, she tries to push Squalo's sword back so that he'll be defenseless, albeit briefly.]

[Squalo holds his ground, determined not to move unless it's on his own terms. It's not a bad start. He's pleased to find his opponent is stronger than she looks. Shifting his stance, he manages to push forward enough to jump back and create space between them for a second attack. He readies his sword.]

VOOOII, now don't just stand there!

[The Varia swordsman gives Erza a look that clearly reads C'mon. Let's see what you've got.]

[Rather than rush in and attack, Erza slowly side-stepped around Squalo, thinking about what she could do. After a few seconds, she ran at Squalo, swinging the sword at his right side (the side without the sword on his arm).]

[A wide grin stretches across Squalo's face when he realizes she is willing to attack him on his most vulnerable side. But vulnerable does not mean undefended, not to mention he's too proud to dodge unless he absolutely has to.

Pivoting on the balls of his feet, he quickly turns so his left side is mostly facing the attack and barks out a laugh. He just manages to parry Erza's strike though he has to bend his wrist at an unnatural angle (http://www.onemanga.com/Katekyo_Hitman_Reborn/111/04/) to counter the direction of her swing, and he draws their blades upward.]

[ooc: so horribly late; sorry!]

((OoC: It's okay; I don't mind!))

[Erza quickly brings her sword into a defensive stance, so that Squalo won't be able to strike while she's off-guard.]

What happened to his hand? It shouldn't be able to bend like that normally!

[Shaking off her confusion, Erza swung her sword at Squalo's feet.]

VOOI!

[Scowling a little at that attack, he jumps back out of the way.

Squalo then straightens his wrist and charges forward with a wide swing of his sword.]

[Erza brings up her sword to block Squalo's slash.]

Stop shouting! You're so annoying...

Don't tell me you're easily distracted.

[He adjusts his footing and follows up with a downward strike.]

[Ignoring Squalo's taunts, Erza blocks his sword with her own. While he's in range, Erza tries to knee him in the stomach.]

Ah, foolish girl. You wish to become stronger to challenge the all powerful Aku?

No, just the people here who are even more powerful than you. I heard about this person called "Kefka". Sounds like he's done worse things than what you've claimed to have done, and I've heard he's more powerful than you as well.

[Erza actually hadn't heard these things, only that Kefka was an evil person who looks like a clown, but she figures that the less villains there are in this place, the better.]

A potential ally, is it? Thank you for the information. Perhaps you are not entirely worthless to the great Aku after all.

Not exactly. He doesn't sound like the type of person to make alliances with others; from what I've seen, villains rarely are. Besides, you'd just be mocked wherever you go. People would question why, if you're so "great" like you claim to be, you'd need to ally with someone else to get anything done.

We shall see.

...

[Seeing as that didn't seem to work out as well as she had hoped, Erza's just going to ignore Aku from now on.]

Seems like everyone here loves a good spar. I'm not very good against swords, though.

Why? What weapon do you use?

I'm an archer. I'm no good at close-ranged combat.

I don't think I can help much there, then. Unless... Do you need a moving target? My armour's fairly durable, so unless you're using a crossbow, it should be able to withstand any arrows shot at it.

Oh, no, I'm fine! Adell helped me with that. We have an archery group here, now. There's a lot of us.

Not much else I can do to help, then. However, it was nice meeting you. My name's Erza Scarlet.

Oh, no, I wasn't looking for help...I just thought it would be nice to talk to one of Adell's friends. Don't go easy on him, okay?

Ah! I'm Rebecca, by the way.

I won't; he seems like the type who would be disappointed if I did.

I don't use a sword, but sparring sounds good.

What do you use for a weapon?

Also, I don't think I got your name the last time we spoke. Mine's Erza.

A knife.

I'm Hugo. Nice to meet you, Erza.

Hm... Haven't fought a lot of knife-wielders before, but might as well try. Meet me at the barracks when you're ready.

All right. I'll be there in a while. [Give or take around 10 minutes, at least.]

I'll be waiting. I shouldn't be hard to miss; I have long red hair and I'm one of the few people around here who wears armour from what I've seen.

[And true to his word, about ten minutes later he arrives, looking around for her.]

[Recognizing him from the journal, Erza walks over.]

Hello, Hugo. Glad you could make it.

I'm sorry if I took a while.

Are you Erza, then?

Yes. And I'm not concerned with how long you took to get here; you never said how long it would take, and as long as you arrived at all, that's okay.

All right.

Do you have any conditions to follow?

I don't have any conditions. I prefer to go all out, even in sparring, which is why I can't do much of it back home. All I need to know is whether you would prefer that we keep going until forfeit or knock-out.

Knock-out sounds a little too extreme. Forfeiture is probably better.

I'm okay with either option.

[A sword appears in Erza's hand, and she points it at Hugo in a dramatic gesture.]

Are you ready to begin?

[He pulls out his knife and nods.] Ready.

[Running at Hugo, Erza slashes her sword at him once she is within range.]

[Hugo quickly jumps back away from her range, knife drawn in front of him in case she strikes a second time quickly. One thing he learned from fighting knights was that they can be very fearsome when they attack, after all.]

[Wanting to keep this fair, Erza chose to stick with one sword rather than summon a second. To be honest, she wondered if Hugo would be able to fight her evenly, let alone hurt her, with nothing but a knife.

Erza quickly moved towards Hugo, swinging her sword vertically this time.]

[That one was harder to dodge, and Hugo instead uses his knife to block it, quickly moving out of the way and parrying it. If he accomplishes that very well, he'll move in and try to strike at your chest, Erza.]

[The parry was successful, but not knowing whether the knife was enchanted to bypass armour (or something similar) or not, and not wanting to find out first-hand (she had fought enough magic-negating opponents back home, she didn't want to do too much of that here as well), Erza summoned a second sword to block the knife.]

That catches Hugo by surprise, and he moves away quickly, obviously startled.]

[Noticing the surprise on Hugo's face, she decides to explain.]

I probably should have mentioned this before; my magic is the ability to summon swords and armour for me to use. It's not as flashy as breathing fire or something like that, but it gets the job done. Do you have any special abilities?

[He frowns a little at that, still not that comfortable with swords and the likes, though he has mostly moved on from it.]

I can use fire magic. [Which is underestimating it, but then he didn't want to use his rune in a sparring session after all.]

Well, don't be afraid to use that as well. I work with a mage who has power over fire, and he tries to challenge me to fights all the time. I'm sure I'll be able to handle whatever you can throw at me.

Are you sure?

Trust me, I'll be fine.

All right then. Shall we continue?

Yes, let's.

[Running at Hugo, Erza swings one of her swords, keeping the other at her side.]

[Hugo quickly counters with his knife, locking the blades together temporarily as he tries to push her back.

[Erza pushes back with her one sword, while swinging the other at Hugo's waist.]

[That made him react unconsciously, and his arm quickly blazed with a large flame, trying to surprise Erza enough to stop that swing while taking a quick step back, dislodging the hold.]

I don't mind at all, as I use swords also. It would be nice to spare with someone new.

I'm at the barracks right now. I'm the redhead wearing armour, just for reference.

That's good to know. I'll be the one with green hair and a red dress.

Thanks for letting me know that. I'll be looking out for you, then.

[Terra enters the barracks, and glances around, easily spotting the woman in question. She nods with a small smile and sheds her winter gear, placing it somewhere out of the way.]

I'm Terra, by the way. I didn't think to get your name over the journals, but now that we're both here....

Nice to meet you, Terra. My name's Erza Scarlet, a member of the Fairy Tail mage guild.

[She perks up at that.]

Mage guild? Did you want to use magic in this sparring, then? Though I don't mind if we just stick with swords, either.

[Not knowing that Terra can use magic, Erza assumes that Terra's only referring to her, mistaking her questions for enthusiasm from a lack of exposure to magic.]

It's pretty much unavoidable for me, at least when I'm serious. My magical skills basically revolve around changing my weapons and armour to suit the situation. If you don't want me to use magic, I can just stick with whatever sword I start off with, although I'm not sure why you wouldn't want me to. You sound pretty enthusiastic about seeing magic in action.

[She nods.]

I've been curious about the magic that exists outside my world, and how people use it. To be fair, I have some of my own...but it's mostly fire and healing magic.

So you can use magic too? Fire magic and healing magic is a pretty odd combination. Where I come from, people can only use one or the other. Thankfully, I happen to know two people who are the more powerful users of either type.

If you want to use magic, go right ahead. I'm not much for holding back, and besides, it would add a bit of diversity to my sparring matches. So far, they've mostly just been straight-up sword fights.

[She perks up and nods.]

I don't want to suggest magic to people who don't have some of their own, so it's mostly been pure sword-fighting for me, too. This will be a nice change...and please, no need to hold back. How are we supposed to get stronger if we don't test our limits?

[And she begins to stretch in preparation.]

Do we want any terms to this?

I definitely agree with you on that point.

[In regards to terms, Erza shrugs her shoulders.]

Not really; just want to know if we'll be going until one of us forfeits or gets knocked out. I'm not one for forfeiting, but there are others who are, so I should probably ask before we start.

[Terra ponders that.]

Hm...I would prefer to forfeit. Don't worry, though. I won't do so easily.

Edited 2010-02-08 21:31 (UTC)

[A smirk briefly crosses Erza's face.]

That's good. Wouldn't want this to be over too quickly.

[A sword appears in Erza's hand, and she gets into a fighting stance.]

I'm ready to start whenever you are!

[Terra straightens after that last stretch and stands again, unsheathing her sword.]

I'm ready.

[She assumes a fighting stance as well, then decides to close in and test Erza's defenses. Her movements are swift and precise, as she maneuvers her sword, attempting to land a blow wherever she can.]

[Erza manages to block Terra's swings, waiting for any sort of opening. After blocking her attacks for a while, Erza waits until Terra is between blows before launching an attack of her own, swinging her sword at Terra's side.]

[Terra nods approvingly, as Erza doesn't provide her with an easy opening. This should be an interesting fight, one that won't be resolved so easily. She barely manages to block the sword with her own, though the movement cost her a little, and she had to take a moment to regain proper footing. Now she assumed a more defensive stance, and since magic wasn't forbidden, time to see how well it would mesh into their sparring. Terra concentrated for a moment, sending a small stream of flame in the woman's direction.]

[Rather than dodge the attack, Erza decided she might as well display her magic as well. Her armour disappears, replaced after a second with the Flame Emperor armour (http://www.onemanga.com/Fairy_Tail/22/13/), which cut damage from any fire-based attacks in half. Standing in the way of the attack, she comes out relatively undamaged.]

You're going to have to use more powerful spells if you want to hurt me when I'm in this armour!

[Terra stares, more impressed than frustrated. After all, this is supposed to be a learning experience and she was eager to see other magic.]

So, that's akin to Shell. I see....

[She backs away.]

I'll do my best!

[With that, she focuses and tries Firaga, a much more potent version of the previous spell, both in range and area of effect.]

[Expecting a similar spell, Erza got into a defensive stance. However, much more fire was generated by this spell. With no time to dodge, Erza was hit by the magical flames. Even with the damaged halved, it still hurt a lot, and the parts of her body not covered by armour (her shoulders and up) were burned and bleeding.

Despite this setback, she continued. Changing into her Black Wing armour (http://www.onemanga.com/Fairy_Tail/21/11/), she charged at Terra, swinging her sword. If at all possible, she did not want to give Terra enough time to pull off another move like that.]

[Terra had to stop herself from acting on the instinct to heal Erza. They were competing, not fighting alongside each other, after all. Still, it wasn't easy to resist the urge.

She watched the armor change with fascination, and that was likely what cost her some needed time. Though she attempted to dodge, she didn't quite get out of the way in time. The sword struck along her sword arm, and she grunted in pain, nearly losing her balance and dropping her weapon. Quickly, she backed away, to cast a healing spell. Only after feeling some of the pain subside did she rush forward and leap, forging magic for a moment in order to test Erza's defenses again.]

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