Brucenorris007

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce's body relaxed reflexively at the Gaian's instruction. The material he'd been manipulating for another attack ceased motion and crumbled back to its natural state. With a sigh, Bruce released the powers his sagely skin afforded him, and dialed back his Ki output to zero.
"Well," Bruce said, glancing up at the blue blob still on his head and the matching one sitting atop Ross as he walked toward him. "How was my performance?"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce noted the lack of pursuing footsteps behind him, and sensed that Ross had been slowed more by the pillars than he'd anticipated. Briefly he considered changing course to sprint back toward the Gaian while he was occupied, but chose instead to maintain his semblance of a plan. As he passed the granite slab still situated where Ross had left it, Bruce manipulated the earth beneath it such that the side his chain was now attached to rose up. Bruce lengthened the chain to connect to the dirt he'd earlier set up on the opposing wall, and then retracted it quickly to hoist the massive granite platform onto its side.
Bruce brought back his mace, dissipated the chain, and, dictating the flow of Ki such that it thrummed at the outer edge of the weapon upon impact, sent it flying back toward Ross while he also brought a horizontal column of stone shooting out toward Bruce from behind him.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce couldn't help being impressed by Ross' quick means of dispatching with his colossus. As the Gaian approached, Bruce's instincts tempted him to work with the idea of stabbing one of his opponent's hands. He was not, however, too keen on putting himself within reach of those powerful hands a second time, and if he was to learn as much as possible, he couldn't let the fight end yet.
Bruce allowed gravity and the shift in the floor beneath him to push his body forward and down- Ross was quick, but his height meant it would take a fraction of a second longer to grab a small target. Bruce rolled past the oncoming Gaian, first on his side, then onto his feet, sprinting past one of his three interconnected pillars.
"Iai."
Bruce slashed the base out from under the pillar as he passed it, and manipulated the material so that it twisted in midair and fell toward Ross base-first. The chains connecting it to the other two pillars pulled them in the same direction after the first one while Bruce continued booking for the opposite end of the arena.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce barely had time to register surprise at Ross' apparent drastic shift in tactics before he had to make a move. Rather than attempt to regain his balance, Bruce made the floor immediately beneath him cave entirely so that he fell downward and outside of the blade's reach. That done, he caught himself from falling deeper by jamming his sheath between the walls of the hole, and redoubled the efforts of his earthborn ally.
Bruce pondered what the sudden shift meant. And he'd noticed how Ross' skin had changed somehow. Did his spike in speed mean he'd shed his stone skin completely, or did he change the material? The latter seemed more likely. Bruce couldn't help but smile a bit despite the intensity of the fight- Ross was keeping his word to give Bruce as much variety as possible.
Thinking done, Bruce carved out a chute in the side of the wall that led back up to the surface behind Ross, and swung his body on his sheath to launch himself up through it, collapsing the material down behind him. Once he was up, his colossus had torn past Ross' granite platform, and Bruce set about adding a spike to the chain left around its base on the side opposite Ross. To avoid becoming predictable with only dodging, and since he didn't know Ross' full speed yet, Bruce also called his sword back from its sheath, settling himself to observe.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce felt a small sense of achievement at the fact that his blade didn't outright shatter against Ross', but he had no time to revel. The impact of the blow had upset his orientation in midair- thankfully, his connection to the earth made it nearly impossible to completely throw off his sense of direction.
Almost unconsciously, just outside of Ross' ring of granite, two thin poles of stone shot up out of the ground. The transition wasn't as seamless as earlier, but Bruce's blade nonetheless changed into his chains again, flying to intercept the poles and yank him up and away from Ross' crystal projectile and the spires. The poles crumbled forward toward Ross as soon as any sort of tension was placed on them. Bruce had managed to avoid a second death, though, and he left some length of chain behind near Ross' granite platform before he rolled onto the dirt and back onto his feet.
The chains that had aimed to snare themselves around Ross' spinning spires had narrowly missed their mark when Ross redirected their aim, and instead just connected Bruce's pillars to one another.
Bruce took in a deep breath, and exhaled.
"Terran Colossus."
From the side of the arena opposite Bruce, a horned beast a bit bulkier than the Gaian emerged from the floor, rearing its head before charging toward the granite platform and Ross.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce felt, rather than saw, the spires move again. He cursed the fact that he'd disregarded them in his, admittedly threadbare, plan. Not only that, but it was harder to sense Ross' impact on the earth now that he'd made the distinction between the material under his control and everything else.
Although part of him encouraged reckless abandon all over again, Bruce knew better than to expect that he could strike Ross with his sword before the Gaian got him. If he wanted to make any progress, though, at least one of Ross' hands would need to be preoccupied.
An idea popped into his mind, and Bruce created more lengths of chain that wrapped around one of each of the three pillars he'd erected. Timing the release as best he could, each length shot out toward an adjacent pillar, the path they took leading them straight into the turbine-like formation of spires that spun around Ross. Just one chain making it between a spinning spire and Ross would mean that the Ki-based weapon would surround the Gaian. Bruce allowed the length of chains to extend naturally at the pace of the whirling spires. He had little doubt that between his pillars and the spires, if the chain went taut, the pillars would break first.
That done, Bruce was already through the veneer of sand that remained between his flying body and Ross' position, and he angled his blade so that it was perpendicular to how Ross attacked. He shifted the flow of Ki in the blade, trying to mimic Mikey's defensive Ki structure as best as possible- rather than concentrating the song's rhythm toward the sharp end of the sword, he reversed it so that it made multiple crescendoes as it flowed toward the back side of it, culminating in a thick wave that would, hopefully, withstand at least one slash from Ross. At the same time, he stretched his consciousness to make a layer of dirt and stone crawl up the wall of the arena, planning ahead for his next move on the chance that he 'survived'.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

'So that's what they're for.' Bruce thought, not surprised that both of his attacks were unsuccessful. He'd suspected that Ross had an advantage in earth manipulation already.
The next question seemed to revolve around Ross' sword- was it the primary source of his superior affinity, or did having it simply enhance his abilities? Regardless of the answer, the problem presented was the same. If Bruce wanted to strike another hit without getting killed, he'd either have to first separate the blade from Ross, or Ross from the earth.

Storing away his thoughts for the moment, Bruce summoned his chains again, shooting two lengths out from beneath each of his robe's sleeves. Each one wrapped around one of the three spires spiraling toward him. By retracting the chains rapidly and dispelling them once he had changed trajectory, he slipped between two of the spires and angled himself back toward the floor.
On his way down, he erected three pillars that rose up to at least three times Ross' height, and another chain shot out that wrapped around the one nearest him. Without touching the floor, he swung around by the chain, and a ring of sand erupted from the ground inside the triangle formed by the pillars, which angled downward after reaching an apex and converging toward Ross. Bruce's intent was to momentarily blind Ross to his position while he catapulted himself toward the Gaian after dispelling his chain again, another length hidden beneath his robe sleeve. His other hand held his blade as he flew just barely at a level that would clear Ross' head, ready to react if his instructor took a swing at him.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce felt his airway tighten under Ross' grip. He coughed once, loud and hard, once Ross dropped him back to the ground. He sucked in a gulp of air and briefly assessed Ross' state. A second was at least longer than it had taken for his own sword to recover from a hit from Bruce's blade. Not by long, though.
Still, the fact that Ross had requested any length of time as a time out in the middle of a test meant he'd achieved something. He opened his mouth to apologize for the wound, but thought better of it- he had a feeling it might offend Ross somehow.
Though he tried not to, he couldn't help imagining Ross' response.
"What the hell does that mean? You think that puny little box cutter you call a sword could hurt me?!" Imaginary Ross then flexed needlessly.
Bruce puckered his lips, trying to repress laughter.
"Snort!" Yet a snicker still escaped. Bruce's cheeks puffed up as Ross turned a perturbed glare on him.
"What's so damn funny?"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce watched the spire rise out of the ground, recalling everything he could about Rajaka from the briefing on him a couple days earlier. He took a deep breath, recalling the errant Ki lingering around Ross that had dissolved during their exchange. Once more, he closed his eyes. The earthly restraints around his feet had sunk back down. He reached out for the planet's pulse, willing his own to match it.
He found it. Maybe it was a consequence of his training, or the removal of the restraints he'd once put on himself, but the pulse felt stronger. He smiled.
Bruce's eyes snapped open, and a wall of stone and concrete shot up between him and Ross. His mace made a second appearance and smashed the wall into jagged rocks that flew toward Ross and sent debris into the air. Bruce bent his knees and jumped in sync with a column that erupted from under him, angled slightly in Ross' direction. He went sailing over Ross' head, and, using his new vantage point, he erected another two walls on either side of the huge Gaian. These he made to roll across the floor toward Ross, growing larger as they gathered up more material from the ground.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Bruce blinked and straightened. He hadn't expected an analysis of his performance mere minutes after they'd started.
"Well," he rasped, clearing his throat again, harboring the distinct feeling he was about to be readily instructed. "It takes eleven pounds of pressure to collapse a windpipe."
Ross had been exerting an excess of perhaps fifty with just one hand- thinking about it, Bruce was fortunate Ross hadn't held him for any longer than an instant, or he'd have very likely blacked out.
Bruce thought hard to explain his decisions- the instincts he'd repressed had returned to him more quickly than he'd anticipated, and the more natural something was, the harder it became to explain.
"I'll confess that there wasn't a lot of conscious thought beforehand, but I figured that changing the scope of the battle from in-fighting to middle range would only hinder any attempt to actually hit you. I've improved my control over the earth, but your sword could easily negate any projectiles I might have struck with, and even if I connected us via my chains, I only imagine we'd end up in close quarters again."
Bruce paused, careful to avoid exaggerating what might have really spun through his mind or simply justifying his actions.
"Instincts brought forth a bad result this time, I suppose. I should adjust my tendency to accept being struck to score an attack myself. I probably should have been light on my feet and tried to trip you up with my chains rather than being so straightforward, right?" Bruce asked, a slightly self-deprecating smile flashing across his face. A moment later it disappeared as his brows furrowed.
"Or maybe I could have just stabbed him in the hand?" he muttered. There was no malicious intent in his voice, just hypothetical curiosity.