DW Tournament : Aron Franz vs James D. Cook

From the ethereal waters of the dreamworld, Aron emerged. "Odd." He mused. He had to go somewhere. For some reason, he knew exactly where. He started swimming like only a fishman could, the massive claw not inhibiting his movements the slightest.

Some time later, he emerged on the rocky shore of an island. It was a barren thing, an expanse of rock risen from the depths of the sea, little more than an open arena with the occasional outcropping. "You're the one?" Aron flatly mused, raising his giant claw. "What an odd contest.." A fair ways from his opponent, Aron pointed his claw at James in a pistolier pose, suddenly closing it within the fraction of a second with a thunderous snap, sending a neatly directed bullet of sonic pressure directly at James to mince whatever part of his body it went through.

“Where am I?” James found himself sitting on an island, and an empty one at that. He had just been lying down on his bed in his cabin on the Aurora Pirate ship. Then he was waking up here. Wherever here was. Something like this had happened to him before, but that time he had actually teleported to a real war zone. This place felt different. It was…just so…he had no idea how to describe it; he just knew it wasn’t real.

That was when a fishman came out of the sea and faced him. The fishman spoke to him and then did something with his hand. A loud snapping sound came from his fingers and James, who was already nervous, jumped. Technically he jumped several times, kicking off of the ground ten times within the space of a second. The speed at which he did this caused him to disappear. (This is also known as Soru.) He reappeared on a rocky outcropping and landed lightly on both feet. Reaching back, James drew his swords. He normally didn’t fight people he didn’t know, but this guy had started it. And besides, it felt like he had to fight, like someone or something was driving him to attack.

“Fine, let’s do this,” James said. He opened with his usual trademark attack: “Ittoryu: Storm Tunnel!” James spun Kazeshini in front of him and a vortex of tiny blades of wind tore through the air towards the fishman.

(The claw doesn't really have fingers. It's basically a giant shrimp pincer. It's pretty much scaled up from what the real-life pistol shrimp has. His right hand is humanoid though.)

Aron simply turned to face James again as he used some sort of air-blade technique, raising the massive claw to block the blow, neatly absorbing it as well as any shield. His opponent was much too fast to be felled by simply sniping from the front. He shifted forwards towards his opponent, snapping the claw at a much closer range.

This time, the effect was different. The blast was much more diffused, affecting a wider area. Something like a shotgun, but with a wider radius. It reverberated through the rock, just as it would through flesh and bone, destabilizing the internal organs and causing internal bleeding. The snap attack roared with less control and more area, not as damaging, but far more difficult to avoid.

“Ittoryu: Thunder Crashes!” James’s arm alone blurred this time, instead of his whole body, as Kazeshini was stabbed forward repeatedly firing off powerful blasts of wind that blocked the oncoming attack. It didn’t protect James completely, however, and he winced as he felt his legs shaking from where the rock he was standing on was affected by the attack. Realizing that his legs wouldn’t be much use to him right away, James kept Kazeshini pointed at the fishman and then he shouted, “Ittoryu: Vacuum Twister!” A powerful vortex began pulling on the fishman, trying to drag him forward and then, “Ittoryu: Aerial Lance!” James was lifted into the air by a powerful wind and he shot towards the fishman, holding Kazeshini in front of him. As he flew, wind gathered around the tip of Kazeshini and then it spread out, giving the sword almost the appearance of an umbrella.

Aron took a more melee-suitable stance as he lowered his posture, pointing his claw at the incoming James like a shortspear. He opened the claw as the humanoid arrow made his way toward the fishman, snapping it shut to form a wave of destructive sound directed at James as he punched forwards with the claw to block the attack, aiming to both damage James and deflect the attack. Having avoided harm, he immediately stepped back, not wanting to stay in melee with a swordsman.

James didn’t let up. He winced horribly as the sound wave rushed over him, jarring his whole body. However, he continued his attack, thrusting his sword forward with all his might. This would have been pointless, seeing as the sound would have weakened him and made him an easy target for his opponent, but James wasn’t just trying to stab the fishman.

“Ittoryu: Thunder Crash!”

A powerful blast of wind, which at this range could crack stone, was fired at the fishman’s chest.

The attack hit Aron straight-on, hitting him in the chest, cracking his chitinous skin and piercing into the flesh. The force threw him backwards, sending him flying for several meters until he hit one of the larger outcroppings back first. Blood started to seep through the wound. Blood which, despite his odd appearance, was red.

Aron slumped against the outcropping, but quickly righted himself. The damage had been far from negligible, but his hide had made a substantial difference. Then, he pointed his claw at James once more, opening and closing it in quick succession, drowning the surrounding sounds in roaring snaps and turning his claw into an angry red, sending a total of five bullet-like shockwaves of sound screaming toward James, aimed at the whole of his torso without much care for the individual positioning.

(My sincere apologies. I had this written up yesterday, but somehow when I cut it out I didn’t paste it. And then I ended up copying something else, so when I realized my mistake it was too late.)

James was still out of it from the earlier sound blast. His legs had not stopped shaking and there was no hope of him simply dodging the oncoming attacks. So, he brought Kazeshini up and pointed it at the fishman. Within the space of a second, wind had gathered around Kazeshini’s blade. The wind took on the shape of the sword and made it both longer and wider. It also ran up James’s arm a short ways, giving his arm the protective covering as well.

“Ittoryu: Wind Tunnel!”

James spun Kazeshini in the same way he had earlier, sending a vortex of tiny blades rushing towards the fishman in front of him. This time with Kazeshini’s power boost adding to their strength, when the blades collided with the air bullets it blew them away along with itself. Then James lowered both of his swords to his sides and he even closed his eyes.

“Nitoryu: Eye of the Hurricane.”
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Kazeshini Released State Timer: 9 posts remaining.

His opponent was either a monumental fool, or this was a trap. Still, Aron knew that he could not win a battle by standing around, especially when he already had a fairly serious wound. Hearing could be a vital instrument in avoiding an attack, even when blinded, but Aron need not supply him with that luxury.

He shot another bullet-like blast of sound at James, but there was no roaring snap, nor the loud whistle of air as the snap compressed the air to the breaking point. Extensive concentration and expertise made such a feat possible, causing a sound of such frequency that only an insect could hear it.

The only sign of the attack being the faintest *chink*, the disruptive but intangible missile made its way towards James' heart, never making a sound.

James heard the ‘chink’. He was using only his ears, after all. However, he didn’t have a clue what it was and he didn’t even know that it was a ‘chink’. He didn’t hear it quite that well. It could have been a piece of paper fluttering in the wind for all he knew. However, this particular attack he was performing relied on him reacting the moment his opponent moved. So even though he figured that his opponent would make a little bit more noise than the tiny sound he had just heard, he was still put on his guard and that was the only thing that saved his life.

He was so ready to move that when the blast finally did hit him (finally being relative to how closely he was paying attention, which dragged the moments out) he kicked off using soru, but this was out of shock and pain more than anything else. He landed next to Aron and swung both of his swords at the fishman’s side, more out of instinct than choice. Now, using soru may have prolonged his life, but the wound was still so severe that he knew he wouldn’t last more than a couple minutes. So, with a heavy heart, he decided to go out with a bang.
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Kazeshini Released State Timer: 8 posts remaining.

(This battle is about to end very suddenly with either your win or a tie. And since I’m not sure how the judges would take a tie, I’m highly tempted just to let James die because of his/my stupidity of making him close his eyes in such a dangerous battle. Unfortunately for you/Aron, James has an attack I really, really want to try out. So, on with the fight.)

Aron's surprise barely even registered as James blinked to him in spite of the direct hit, cleaving him in the side. Aron doubled over, hands extended in front of him as the swords slid through his right side. His hide had slowed them down due to its chitinous qualities, but in the end they had done little more than make the wound slightly less deep. Still, the blood loss was serious, and would have proven fatal for a less tough man.

But Aron wasn't done quite yet. Adrenaline surging through his veins even as his lifeblood spilled on the rocks, he spun around, smashing his claw side-first at James' head with all his strength, hoping to cause him to fall. His opponent had to be almost done. One or two good hits would finish this. Were his strike successful, his opponent would be down, facing a point blank shot from his odd weapon with little chance to dodge. If he was not dead by that time.

The claw met James’s head and sent him spinning to the ground. He might have been worried about this new injury if he weren’t already dying. Things couldn’t get much worse, he figured. As he landed he used the spin to roll onto his back. Then, with the last of his strength, he raised Kazeshini and pointed it at Aron’s chest. He didn’t even bother speaking this time, but the words reverberated in his mind, “ITTORYU: TEMPESTUOUS DRAGON!”

All at once, the air around James exploded, slamming together to take on the form of an immense dragon. The dragon jaws opened as it was hurled towards the fishman. James watched the dragon for a few seconds, a smile playing about his lips. The he closed his eyes and drifted away…he wasn’t dead just yet, but he may as well have been. His body was still losing blood quickly. The only thing that was holding Aron at bay was the dragon which even now was still being projected by Kazeshini’s power.
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(The exact size and effects of the dragon are written down in James’s character sheet.)

Aron took a melee stance again as he smashed against the dragon, closing his claw again to provide heat, trying to protect himself from the winds trying to tear at him as he stood his ground. He stepped back as he attempted to divert the gale-force wind raging from the dragon. He forced his claw straight, snapping it shut again, generating a blast of sonic energy to both finish off James and divert the dragon. Then he simply stood his ground, shielding himself with his claw to avoid the winds from damaging him, digging his feet into the ground to avoid being pulled in.

The blast Aron shot may as well have been a speck of dirt for all the good it did when it splattered against the dragon. But since James was no longer directing the dragon or ordering Kazeshini to keep it going, the whole thing simply collapsed leaving James now wide open.

(Dunno how you kept from getting pulled into what is essentially a tornado when it was flying towards you, but whatever. The fight is over. You win.)

(Reading the description, I got the impression that someone with Aron's strength could resist it perfectly well.)