Writer's Academy - DragonHeart vs Toph Bei Fong

[Victoria]

The tournament has finally gone under way in the Writer's Academy, so without further ado, you two will be portraying your combat skills in the Fyr Drage Lair.

This round will end in three weeks from now, January 21st.

[DragonHeart]

Kylista landed at the foot of the volcano, glaring at the crumbling earth as though to blame it for her current situation. The air was heavy, reeking of sulfur and methane. Sweat dripped down her forehead, stinging her eyes. She fanned her wings but only succeeded in stirring up a thick cloud of ash.

All in all, it was a miserable place for a battle.

If not for Rasui, I'd never agree to such a ridiculous contest. I must be going soft.

She glanced around, found the cave as stated on the map, and entered. One step within and she paused, sensing it immediately. The presence of ancient magic, beyond even her power. Only a true-blooded dragon could posses such an overwhelming aura.

Kylista continued on, careful to avoid the lava pulsing sluggishly in time to the earth's heartbeat. Down here the atmosphere was stifling. The air alone threatened to scorch her. She had trouble focusing, passing from the pitch black of a tunnel into the brilliant red glow of the volcano's core.

A raised expanse of stone lay in the middle of the fiery sea. Resting upon it was a large dragon with scales the intense dark red of magma. Its eyes were fixed on her with calm regard. It didn't move or acknowledge her, choosing instead to let her make the first move.

'Wind to your wings and the sun to your back, cousin.' Kylista said in the universal language of the dragon. It'd taken her nearly two millenia to learn how to pronounce draconic sounds with a human voice, but the skill remained invaluable.

The dragon's head rose. She spoke tentatively, with a voice rough from long disuse.

'And you, little one. I am Fyr Drage, last of my clan. What brings you to my lair?'

'A test of wills. I wish to match blades with one who has yet to arrive. Will you grant my request?'

Fyr Drage paused, considering. Kylista remained silent.

'I shall.' Fyr Drage said at last. 'However, this mountain is under my protection, and I hers. Anger her and I will not spare you.'

'I understand. My thanks, Fyr Drage. What request would you make of me in return?' Kylista asked, trying not to let her relief show too plainly. Dragons were a fickle bunch, but they always held to their word. Except for when they didn't.

'Ah, you are indeed wise for such a youngster. I would have you fly with me, if you're still breathing by the moonrise.'

'It would be an honor.'

'Good. I shall withdraw now; your opponent is here.' Fyr Drage stood and stretched her mighty wings, then lumbered along a sloping path to a rocky overhang. Kylista noted how she walked over the lava as though it wasn't even there. The dragon resettled at the top, her head and tail drooping over the edge like an oversized ivy.

Kylista glided to the now vacant platform and turned to face the tunnel. She could hear the footsteps now. It was almost time.

[Victoria]

The sound of a stereo blared through his ears while he trained to his favorite tune on his mp3 player. The surrounding was a peaceful forest with a light spread of trees throughout the area. He stood below a thick branch in one of the trees with his eyes closed. He planned his thorough regimen in his mind that would take up at least a few hours.

Just then, a loud noise blared through the forest and interrupted his music and training rhythm, and without a beat, a huge gust of nonstop wind knocked the earbuds from his ear. He peered into the sky at the source of the wind, and a feel of disgust and irritation came over him.

A booming voice came over a loudspeaker from the ship. The voice was his sensei's, Shadow Otenaki. His sensei always entered him in tournaments or sent him off on adventurous missions that always interrupted his training.

“Kana Mitsu, please respond with either an “Okay” or “Yes”,” he stated and gave off a sadistic grin. The place where he would be going would be a new area that Kana had yet to battle inside of. Especially being guarded by that particular dragon.

“Damn you old man! Let me get back to my training!”

A net swooped down and surrounded Kana and carried him off to an unknown destination, which he would soon find out would be something entirely new for him.

A half hour later, he found himself heading toward a dark atmosphere full of dense sulfur and smoke. As he was outside and hung up inside of a net, he had coughed seldom until he reached his destination. The glow of red lava entered his irises and he knew that he was about to fight in a volcano. The atmosphere wasn't to his advantage at all, but neither do his disadvantage. He would just have to work with what was given to him.

The net was released and he fell from high in the sky into the mouth of the volcano. He looked down below him and sighed that there was a platform waiting for him. Although on his way down, he passed by an elder dragon that appeared to be the guardian of this area.

“Damn you old man, stop entering me into tournaments without my consent!” he shouted on his way down into the pit. A moment later, he landed on his feet as gracefully as his skills allowed, but a tingling vibration flew from his feet all the way up his body.

He took a few deep breaths and glanced across the horizon and noticed a woman who seems to have an enormous amount of experience and wisdom. She would be the greatest obstacle he would ever have to face in his life time. A part of him sees his sensei in her. Perhaps they knew each other somehow.

Kana drew a prayer talisman and hovered it over the molting lava. It instantly caught fire from the heat and he let it drop as his lips read off a silent prayer toward the volcano, as this would be his first battle in such a place.

He stood in his battle stance and tightened his batatsu onto his wrist. He wiped the sweat from his brow. Instead of the tactic of wait and see, he began performing chakra signs and fired a bolt of lightning toward the sage-like woman, and dashed toward her right behind his attack. If he used the waiting tactic against someone on her or his sensei's level, he would lose in an instant. This wasn't the time to wait.

[DragonHeart]

“Damn you old man, stop entering me into tournaments without my consent!” A voice echoed through the cavern, followed shortly by a human dumped unceremoniously from above. Kylista raised a brow but said nothing as he landed at the edge of the platform.

She studied the young man, her crimson eyes narrowed. Silver-grey hair, blue eyes, dark clothing. Clearly an able fighter. She couldn't help but wonder if she'd met him before. There was something familiar in those eyes, in that defiant anger. But then, I could same the same of a score of others.

At least he wasted no time. Without even bothering to introduce himself the man began forming a strange pattern of seals with his hands. Kylista immediately opened her wings, leaping clear just as a bolt of lightning exploded from his hand, striking the ground where she'd stood. A sizzling hole, blackened at the edges, appeared in the rock.

He charged at the same time as his attack, but she had no trouble dodging him. She hovered out of reach, the steady beating of her wings stirring the foul air.

"You humans are always so hasty," she said.

She landed behind him, folding her wings against her back. Though the cavern was indeed massive, she had little wish to clip a stalagmite in the midst of battle. No matter.

Kylista drew her weapons from their sheaths. Twin kodachi, the curved blades reflecting the magma with a red gleam. Each was two feet long, barely more than a long dagger. In anyone else's hands, they would have been a child's toy. In hers, they were ruthlessly efficient.

She didn't give him a chance to recoup, darting forward. It took only a few heartbeats to close, and then she struck, launching a flurry of attacks with her left-handed kodachi, parrying and seeking an opening with the right. He matched her stroke for stroke, not a single hit sneaking through his guard. She backed off a bit, her breathing still normal. She was testing him, holding back most of her strength.

Those seals are unknown to me. I will be patient then, and see what this power is capable of.

[Victoria]

In a mere few seconds after his opening attack that he knew would be futile, the woman charged with her own. They exchanged an onslaught of parried attacks. He managed to hold his guard with her, fortunately. Though he felt that wasn't her all. Though he was thankful that wasn't his all, either.

The few moments he was close to her was enough. He definitely knew that his sensei had acquaintance with that woman, from the stories he heard on their various training expedition adventures throughout the galaxies.

Shadow always spoke of a woman he battled with on several occasions, one who held much more experience than he.

Kana cleared his mind of the flashbacks and concentrated on the woman in front of him. She may have been much older than her sensei, but she appeared to be much younger, as if time was frozen for her.

“All humans are hasty, eh?.. Well if I didn't start attacking soon enough, I would have died on the spot. I could tell that you hold much more experience than I.” he noted aloud.

He readjusted his batatsu and increased his speed. He performed the jutsu signs for his lightning clone technique as he dashed into the air toward her. He appeared behind her and swung his body around to bring his batatsu toward her abdomen.

The real Kana hid elsewhere, though, inside of the various crevices in the volcano. His mind contemplated her weak points and if there were any openings in her form at all. He would have to come up with some new techniques to fight a person of her caliber. He wouldn't prefer to use his final technique if he didn't want to. It was too risky for someone like her.

If she slashed out successfully at one of his clones, she would be electrocuted.

[DragonHeart]

Kylista grinned at his observation, making no reply.

Well, he's not quite as slow as a normal human, I'll grant him that.

He shifted his stance, fingers flying into another sequence of signs. She noticed the difference in the pattern and flipped her left kodachi, preparing to defend. At the height of his attack, he vanished momentarily.

Or not. Oldest trick in the book, that.

Kylista lunged forward and turned around as he reappeared behind her, slicing at her stomach. She crossed her kodachi, ready to flip the weapon from his hands with a defensive move almost as old as she was. As soon as the tip struck the blades, she knew something wasn't right. Electricity sparked against the steel, running into her fingers. She aborted instantly, backing off for a moment.

The contact was brief, but she felt an odd tingling in her hands. Flipping the kodachi back into offensive position, she eyed the human warily. He'd done more than just an attack, but she was not familiar with the style. It irked her to think a human possessed a skill she'd not seen in her five thousand years of life.

Well, I guess it's only fair. I know a few he's probably never heard of, either.

It'd be hard to manage in a volcano with all its ambient light, but she decided to try it anyways. Kylista lifted into the air again, out of the human's range. Focusing on her own shadow, she gathered her power, feeding it into the darkness. She felt it take root and spread, linking with every other shadow in the cavern. She amplified it, the shadows forming a thick, fog-like veil. With the light of the magma and the cover of the rock to feed it, the cloak of shadow was much stronger than she'd thought possible in the environment.

The cavern was one giant shadow now, nearly impossible to penetrate with normal vision. Kylista estimated it would hold about three minutes, if she was lucky. Her crimson eyes pierced the cloak easily, seeing beyond human limits. She could see his aura now, as well as the tiny thread that linked him to the body double he'd tried to trick her with.

She flew across to that thread, examining it. It appeared to be the same type of energy, glowing a faint blue to her enhanced eyes. I wonder what he'll make of this, she thought as with one decisive cut, she severed the thread.