[center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjk2LmZmYTUwMC5VMlZoYmlCRFlXeHNZV2RvWVc0LC41/neuropol-x-free.rg-regular.webp[/img] [h3]VS[/h3] [img]https://i.imgur.com/YFCJ57q.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/Otv7My2.png[/img][/center] … A giant explosion of smoke appeared on the far end of the stage and Jaden Raldo came sliding out of it, leaving behind a trail of smoke. He came to a stop as he reached behind him to grab one of his katanas and grinned… with that joint in his mouth. [color=olivedrab]“... Oh, [i]lawd[/i],”[/color] Jaden chuckled as he stood tall and shrugged, [color=olivedrab]“Just anotha’ nobody! Get ready to get jobbed.”[/color] The entrance on the other side of the stage was much more subdued. His black robes fluttered around him as Sean, hood drawn, took his position opposite of his opponent, shillelagh in hand. He pulled his hood down, revealing a head of fiery red hair and an easy smile. [color=orange]”You seem awfully confident,”[/color] he responded. He tapped the narrow end of his shillelagh on the ground and violet energy crackled along its length as the ground it struck cracked. With an impish smirk, he added, [color=orange]”This might actually be rather fun.”[/color] [color=olivedrab]“[i]Confident?![/i][/color] Jaden parroted, [color=olivedrab]“You’re looking at the [i]greatest[/i] Nomad to eva’ be born! [i]Course’[/i] I’m “confident”.”[/color] Sean’s smirk spread into an open grin. [color=orange]”Ah, is that so?”[/color] he asked. More energy sparked around his shillelagh as he added, [color=orange]”If that’s the case, I won’t hold back.”[/color] [color=olivedrab]“Heh,[/color] Jaden did a spin and both of his blades were in his hands, he was swirling them around in his hands as he said, [color=olivedrab]“Let’s give ‘im a show, then!”[/color] [h1]”BEGIN!”[/h1] The Announcer shouted. Sean raised his crackling shillelagh and brought it down, increasing its weight as he did. The heavy end of his weapon slammed into the stone floor, throwing up numerous shards. Sean held his free hand out and the shards, sparking with that same energy as Sean shifted gravity around them, suddenly flew out toward Jaden. He grinned as [i]ran towards them[/i], teleporting in a cloud of smoke and appearing above Sean with both blades ready. He slashed diagonally toward Sean, intending to give him just a little haircut. Taken by surprise, Sean reacted instinctively. He felt his body jerk to the side as his gravity shifted, forcing him to fall parallel to the ground he left behind a small tuft of red hair. He twisted in mid-air as he returned his gravity to normal, crouching as he skidded to a stop. [color=orange]”Teleportin’? That’s gotta be against the rules,”[/color] he joked with a grin. [color=olivedrab]“... Somebody brought a fuckin’ [i]tank[/i] in, you know,”[/color] Jaden noted as he reached for his belt, [color=olivedrab]“There ain’t no rules in the Fightin’ Carnival, baby!”[/color] That was when he threw a CD at Sean like a shuriken. [color=orange]”Fair point,”[/color] Sean replied. He held his shillelagh out in front of him and created a gravitational field, offset slightly from the path of the CD. Once it came close enough, the CD’s path suddenly reversed as it rounded the field Sean had created, sending it right back at Jaden. It was a simple attack, and easily counterable, as far as Sean was concerned, though he wanted to gauge his opponent’s reaction all the same. [color=olivedrab]“... Maaaaaaaan what the fuck?[/color] Jaden said as he simply grabbed the CD when it got close and then pointed at it, [color=olivedrab]“This is [i]art[/i] in ‘ere!”[/color] Sean’s eyebrows arched at Jaden’s reply, which didn’t exactly line up with anything he had been expecting. [color=orange]”O-oh, sorry ‘bout that. But if that’s how you feel, then why are you goin’ around, throwin’ it like that?”[/color] Jaden was dead quiet for a second. [color=olivedrab]“... Uhhhhhhh… shut up, nerd!”[/color] Jaden said as he teleported in Sean’s face and swung the CD at him, intending to pimp slap him with it. Sean was ready for the teleport, this time. It took a moment for him to charge it up, during which he felt the CD make contact with his cheek, but just as he started to feel the pain, he held out his free hand. Violet energy once again erupted around his body, more intense this time around, as a powerful, inverted gravitational field formed around his body, launching Jaden backward. [color=olivedrab]“…[i][b]AAAAAAAAH![/b][/i]”[/color] Jaden came to a roll… then rolled and hopped up to his feet. He saw his blunt on the floor, destroyed by the attack, and walked over to it… cradling it in his hands with a tear. “… You killed my baby.” Sean lowered his still-sparking arm, a confused look on his face, not for the first time in this fight, he realized. The look on Jaden’s face was as if Sean had killed his baby, but the object in his hands was a broken blunt. Keeping his distance and a ready stance, unwilling to let himself be fooled by the sudden change in emotion, Sean still asked, [color=orange]”You, uh…you alright, mate?”[/color] “Y-yeah,” Jaden said as he stood up, grabbing some more CDs. “… That tells me I just got to ante up!” He threw three CDs at Sean and then teleported behind him. Time seemed to slow for Sean as his mind raced to come up with a way to react. On the one hand, those CDs might do some pretty serious damage if they hit, but on the other, Jaden was right behind him. While Sean blocked the CDs, Jaden could hit him from behind. It would be easy if he could use his Radial Push, but as he was currently working on something else, charging that up was out of the question. He made his decision. He pivoted on his foot as he spun around. One of the CDs flew past him, the second grazed his upper arm, but he felt the third dig into the back of his leg as he swung his shillelagh at Jaden, using the momentum of his spin and his powers to increase the weight and force of the strike. Jaden tried to block it with his swords but all that happened was that he pushed the flat ends of his swords against him, and he still got hit with the attack. He was sent flying, but he flipped mid-air, landed on his hand, and hopped back on his feet. He aimed one blade at Sean and he quickly reached for his microphone… then started [i]rapping[/i]. [color=olivedrab]“Yo, Sean the wizard, you think you're so fly, with your wand and spells, reaching for the sky. You wave your staff, and you mumble some chants, but my words hit harder, like a lightning lance. You're a one-trick pony, I'm the whole damn show, so step aside, Sean, it's time for you to go!”[/color] As he rapped, he was surrounded by an aura of fire. Sean lifted himself into the air, hovering a few inches off the ground to keep weight off of his injured leg. He thought about pulling it out, but he remembered being told by one of his teachers, Siobhán, that pulling something out of an injury was usually worse than keeping it in. He turned his attention from his injuries to Jaden as his opponent began to rap and, despite himself, he couldn’t help but chuckle. [color=orange]” That’s not half-bad, actually,”[/color] he said, though the fact that Jaden now seemed enveloped in flames wasn’t lost on him. He let out a breath and added, [color=orange]” But, I suppose if you’re gettin’ serious, then it’s only fair I do, too.”[/color] His left arm began to spark again as he charged his attack, though he didn’t plan on using it, yet. Instead, he focused his power on the arena beneath him. The ground trembled and cracked around him as he pulled up three large stones, each about twice the size of his head (which was already huge) before he shot toward Jaden. He swung his shillelagh once he was within reach while one of the stones flew at him from the opposite side and a second came from above. Jaden cracked a smirk as he looked at the absolute barrage heading his way, so he waited, and right before everything hit… he vanished into a cloud of smoke. It was absolutely quiet for a blessed few moments that probably felt [i]far longer[/i]. Sean scanned the arena, his eyes darting left to right as he waited for Jaden to reappear. … … … [b][h1][color=olivedrab]“... HOUDINI, [i]NINJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA![/i]”[/color][/h1][/b] Then Jaden soared at Sean from above and behind, flying to give him a flying dive kick straight to his ass. The moment he heard Jaden’s voice, Sean spun around as the third stone moved between the two of them to stop Jaden. The other two flew around and came at his opponent from opposite sides, intending to catch Jaden in a pincer attack. [color=orange]”Not a great idea, shoutin’ at me if you’re going for a sneak attack,”[/color] Sean responded. They both hit Jaden, turning him into a… Jaden [i]Sandwich.[/i] He yelped as both rocks crushed him in mid-air, however, he teleported out of it. Appearing on the ceiling of the arena, he held himself there for a few moments as he stared at Sean. He quickly launched himself off the wall at Sean at blinding speeds, with both blades cocked at his right side. Ready to slash Sean and finish this fight. Sean locked eyes with Jaden as he stood on the ceiling. The fact that his usually chatty opponent wasn’t throwing any more barbs at him told Sean that he was aiming to finish this. As Jaden flew at him, he waited until the last moment, to make it as difficult as possible for Jaden to react and dodge, and held his hand out toward his opponent. [color=orange][i]”Sliocht Dé!”[/i][/color] An invisible projectile of pure gravitational force, wreathed in crackling violet energy, shot from his palm toward Jaden. It was a gamble for Sean; if Jaden were able to dodge it, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to react fast enough to a counterattack. [color=olivedrab]“[i]Ohshitwhatmuthafucka![/i]”[/color] Jaden yelled as he was launched towards the ceiling by the fuck beam that was sent his way. He was launched directly into the ceiling which created cracks and pinned him… and when the energy faded, he fell and flopped to the ground. [b][i][h1]”... AAAAAAAAAAAAAND JADE-”[/h1][/i][/b] [color=olivedrab]“... [b][i]Shut up.[/i][/b]”[/color] Jaden said as he climbed to his feet, with a devious grin on his face. [color=olivedrab]“You thought the song was over, muthafucka’, but…”[/color] He grabbed onto the hilt of Murakumo, his hand was radiating with a ghostly green energy… [color=olivedrab][i]”... We just got to the [b]chorus.[/b]”[/i][/color] In a quick motion, he swung Murakumo at Sean, creating a massive wave of green energy that destroyed all in its path. Sean’s eyes widened as the green wave hurtled toward him. He quickly ascended to dodge the wave, but one of the stones he had been using got caught in the wave. He watched as the stone was smashed to smoldering bits and said, [color=orange]”Right, then. I shouldn’t touch that.”[/color] He held his hand out toward the burning stone fragments, then sent them hurtling toward Jaden, the glowing shards like a swarm of angry, burning bees, before firing off several more low-power gravity projectiles from the tip of his shillelagh. While the low-power projectiles wouldn’t do much, since he barely charged them, he hoped they would at least keep Jaden preoccupied. Jaden grinned as he slashed each of them to little bits, spinning the swords at his sides as he deflected each rock. Sean watched as Jaden deflected each fragment and an idea came to him. He clenched his fist, crushing one of his two remaining stones, and sent the shards flying at Jaden, this time without really aiming. While some fragments flew right at him, the rest flew past, where Sean would then stop them in mid-air, the idea being to surround Jaden. [color=orange]”Saw this move in an old show I used to watch,”[/color] he said. He held his hand out toward Jaden and closed it, collapsing the loose hemisphere of the remaining shards he had created. Jaden raised an eyebrow mid-slash… he felt the stone shards hit him from all directions and he hissed as he awkwardly teleported out of it. He landed on his back, staring at the ceiling, wondering just how he got in this mess. Before he teleported again, this time, he ended up back on his feet. He narrowed his eyes as he teleported again, this time directly in Sean’s face. He didn’t give him much time to react before he began slashing horizontally, left and right. Sean tried to backstep, but he already knew he’d be too slow. He instinctively raised his shillelagh, reinforcing it with his ki to keep it from being sliced in two, but Jaden was much better at close combat. For every attack Sean was just barely able to block, he felt Jaden’s blades slice somewhere else. It was all he could do to prevent any of his opponent’s attacks from going too deep and he knew he had to get some distance. He waited for an opening, no matter how brief, and lashed out with a gravity-enhanced left hook toward Jaden’s cheek. Which sent him stumbling backward, but he quickly caught his footing and that grin crept back up on his face. With both katanas in hand, Jaden swung horizontally towards Sean. Seeing the grin on Jaden’s face, Sean couldn’t help but feel one spread across his, as well. Even though he’s normally easy-going and laid-back, at the end of the day, he was still a Nomad. Now knowing that putting distance between himself and Jaden was easier said than done, he decided to fall back on what Siobhán taught him. He weakened the reinforcement on his shillelagh just enough to let the blades bite into the wood, then used his magic in an attempt to push Jaden’s swords back while he stepped closer. His right fist wreathed in violet energy, and he lashed out, scoring a body blow on Jaden. Detaching him from his swords, he was launched backward but he flipped mid-air and landed back on his feet. He grinned and teleported back to Sean to catch him off guard and give him no room to think. He launched a kick directly at Sean’s face. Sean threw up his arms at the last second, barely blocking the kick, and let the force of the kick throw him backward, aided by decreasing his gravity. His shillelagh, Jaden’s swords still embedded, trailed after him as he tried to keep them out of his opponent’s hands. Sean stopped himself in midair and pulled up several large stones, then shattered them. The fragments orbited at high speeds around him as he launched them at Jaden like a machine gun. Both arms began to spark with violet energy as he started to charge up his next big attack, which he hoped would end things. Jaden broke off into a sprint while the stones flew behind him. He eventually started running on the walls around the arena. Sean continued to fire the stones at Jaden, careful to not hit the spectators, as the floor of the arena crumbled and cratered beneath his feet. He glanced over at his shillelagh, Jaden’s swords still embedded inside the wood, and pulled them free before sending them after his opponent, both swords spinning at high speeds as they flew toward him. The energy arcing off of his arms and between the fragments floating around him continued to intensify. Jaden was running on the walls, dodging the rocks, he grinned when he saw his swords flying towards him. With a second to react, he hopped off the walls, and when the swords went flying towards him - he grabbed them in mid-air and flew towards Sean. He grinned as he shouted, [color=olivedrab][b][i]”... LET’S END THE SONG, BABY!![/i][/b][/color] He flew towards Sean, intending to deliver the finishing blow. [color=orange][b][i]”Couldn’t agree more.”[/i][/b][/color] Sean closed his eyes and held out his hands. The energy arcing from his body intensified, reaching out farther away from him. Wherever the bolts struck the ground, stone fragments rose into the air. The air began to shimmer around him as he opened his eyes and lifted his hands above his head. [color=orange][b][i]”Casúr Dé![/i][/b][/color] Sean’s eyes flashed violet as he poured every last bit of strength he had into this final attack. All around him, gravity increased several times over. The ground cratered and the arena rumbled under the sudden force as it spread outward, a wave of crushing destruction with Sean at its center. [color=olivedrab]”Casur-[i]what[/i] - [b][i]OH SHIT![/i][/b]”[/color] While soaring through the air, Jaden was hit with a sudden burst of downward gravity that slammed him into the ground as hard as possible. He was pinned as he tried to use all of his strength to get up, but he was at his limits… He looked up at Sean, and couldn’t help but grin… [color=olivedrab]”Hehe, [i]not bad.[/i]”[/color] Then he plopped on the ground and went limp. “Okay, [i]now[/i] I can say it- [b][i][h1]... AAAAAAAAAAAAAND JADEN RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALDO HAS BEEN BESTED BY SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAN THE WIZARD!”[/h1][/i][/b] The moment Sean heard the announcement, he called his shillelagh over to him and finally set himself down on the ground, staggering slightly as he used his shillelagh for support. The announcer shouted as the crowd went wild, and Jaden teleported next to Sean, leaning on him with a grin. [color=olivedrab]”Not bad, playa! You might have some [i]skill[/i] but I wasn’t even using 10% of my power level![/color] He chuckled. [color=olivedrab]”Maybe you should join me! You can be a rapping [i]wizard[/i]. Possibilities are endless, my guy!”[/color] Sean chuckled and replied, [color=orange]”Not sure about rappin’, but I appreciate it all the same. For now, though, think I’ll settle for some rest…maybe a pint, too.”[/color] [color=olivedrab]”Heh,”[/color] Jaden threw Sean the peace sign, [color=olivedrab]”Hit me up, playa’! I’ll be around, peace!”[/color] That was when Jaden exploded into a cloud of smoke, disappearing, leaving Sean to enjoy his victory.