Duelist League: Syx vs Uta

To be honest, Syx never thought he would get quite as much feedback on the offer to teach people how to fight as he did. Still, the fact that so many folks had wanted to learn had made him put together a little surprise for the training.

A small arena had been set up in Carmina Gadelica's town square, with stands and a 20" x 20 " square wrestling ring. Apparently Syx had been selling tickets, because the stands were filled with a mixture of Landers and Adventurers, concessions were being sold, it was a whole production, including a backstage area where Syx and Uta had separate locker rooms to prepare for the fight. It wasn't PERMENENT by any means, but Syx wanted to show off.

It would seem Syx was going to make his entrance first, as music starts playing, and the curtain to the backstage area swings open, as Syx steps out, throwing his hands upwards, and firing off a pair of small fireballs that explode like fireworks above him. He quickly dashes down to the ring and leaps from the floor, flipping over the top rope and landing in the middle of the ring in a three point stance. You know the superhero landing one.

He rises back up and throws his hands up again, firing off several more firework styled shots, "Yeah! Who's ready to see some crazy action, huh?! Let's go!" He starts lifting his hands up to encourage the crowd to get louder. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with wrestling back in the real world should be able to put two and two together by now and recognize that the outfit he's wearing is at the very least inspired by the one he wore at Superslam 32 back in 2010. The outfit's been modified to fit the tail that he has now, but the tiger pattern on it is unmistakable.

The Landers are probably just entertained.

Vertina is here. She is one of the people learning wrestling inspired combat from Syx. So she's here both as a student, and as a fan in general. It's kind of a funny story. She had watched matches of the Real World Syx, but had thought this Syx was just a fan making a recreation of a favorite character like many MMO players do. Until Syx told her something that only the honest to goodness real Syx would of known.

She thrusts her fists in the air and adds to the cheering as Syx makes an entrance appropriate to a professional wrestler. Pyrotechnics are a bit easier with you can just make your own fire after all.

Soujiro Seta got a whiff of what was cooking. What was cooking was /training/ and thus the samurai is here. When the samurai is here, there are around 60 others from various lander ladies, adventurers, cluck clucks, and one mallard. The wonder of the Suplex shall be in raw form!

Uta steps out of her own backstage area, -rocking- the iconic anime healer look fans love so much it's a staple of the genre!

Too bad that by 'iconic anime healer look' we mean 'an extremely embarrassed, borderline terrified expression while she grabs onto her staff, held vertical in front of her face, as if she was trying to hide behind it.' "S- Syx! I don't think my training covered this!", she stutters, regardless of whether Syx's training covered this or not. She's a good student, but she is prone to the occasional bout of forgetfulness.

Thanks to Gwen, she's decked in a white pseudo-spandex outfit themed with the symbol of the Red Chain, the in-world equivalent of the Red Cross, as set up by NWA, which picked a symbol more familiar to the Landers (the Chains of the Beautiful One); she's even got a few lengths of actual, metal chains, colored a bright, shining red, criss-crossing over her body. It kind of looks and works like a harness. Otherwise, it's white boots, white gloves, and a snugly fitting body suit which shows off her curves.

The Landers are probably entertained.

She takes stiff steps towards the ring, and kind of struggles with getting on it, as if she was still getting used to a new set of limbs.

"I am!", she exclaims, raising her hand at Syx's question. Her leg is yanked along a little with the sudden movement of the arm, and she has to look down, then lower and raise her arm and leg, alternately, to get the hang of this new fabric works.

Uta accepts the offer to duel, then adjusts her nurse's cap. Yes, she's still wearing one. Hats are Important. "Time to start, I gue-"

She interrupts her own sentence, and rushes towards Syx to smack him in the face with her wooden staff. Instead of cutting off, her 'E' (in 'guess') gets louder and louder and louder; the red, anatomically-corret-heart-shaped gem in the weapon growing brigher and brighter in sync, leaving behind a shimmering trail of magic in its wake; much like a jet engine, providing a magical boost to the impact.

Gwen is there in the crowd with a look of glee on her face. The sort of smile that isn't normally seen on her face but normally Morri's. When Morri's being dirtye minded. her mother is here too looking amused at this whole situation. Gwen calls out.

"NOW DO KEEP IN MIND THIS IS A VERY EARLY ALPHA! THERE WILL BE ISSUES!"

Vertina tilts her head at Gwen. "Early alpha of what?", she asks. "Does this have to do with the recreation of Syx's costume?" She at least picked up on that. Gwen is a tailor after all.

"Don't worry it's part of the show!" Syx calls out to Uta, as she reminds him that his training didn't cover that part. It's right, he admittedly did not train her in how to wrestle in front of a crowd. But he figured she'd be able to get the idea! "You want to be in the tournament, right?!" He actually has no idea if she wants to or not, but he figures if someone wants to train with him then they'd want to.

He is taking a second to adjust his own tights that Gwen has created for him. While the pattern is good, the fit could be a little better. Still, he can make it work. When he hears the screaming and looks back up he sees Uta rushing straight at him! He's quickly engulfed by flames, though his momentary distraction causes his dodge to not clear the attack fully, getting a chunk of his HP taken down.

He plants his left foot and uses the fact that Uta has closed the gap to his advantage, as he drives his right knee upwards, trying to slam it into her midsection, "I'm not gonna lie that outfit would fit in perfect back in the Attitude Era!"

Soujiro Seta looks around and says to Gwen, "Its an early alpha? It looks so good already." Though the idea of 'there will be complications' doesnt enter his pure minded pure thoughts. Halo and everything with a breezy smile on his face. "And highly mobile!"

Gwen says "Making swimuit and body suit material! I need to get the fabric right before I start with smaller designs! Oh the sorts of things from sling bikinis to speedos will be amazing for the summer beach!" Morri is just seemingly pleased her daughter is not holding back, she may end up regretting this later As Gwen's mood really picks up.

"Yes mobile a great undersuit for many outfits... ohh SPORTS BRAS!"

"... Okay now you have my *ahem* attention." Not that Vertina has a figure anywhere near the designers, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have certain issues being a very physically active sort of girl.

But her attention quickly shifts back to the match going on. "Com'n Syx! Make her eat the mat!" Not that there's a mat, but it's wrestling lingo and she's just getting into the moment.

Gwen looks over to Vertina with a grin. "Oh really would you like to help me test some of it! I could do things with you!" She grins even wider and in such a way Morri for the first time in recent memory looks a bit uncomfortable...

"I -do-," Uta replies, at the question about whether she wants to be in the tournament, as she abruptly spins and lowers her staff to deflect Syx's mighty knee-to-the-midsec-

*THUD*

The staff was lowered in time, but the coordination wasn't the best; the stiffness of the fabric held her back, and what she obtained, instead of a clean deflection of the knee, was just interposing her weapon, so that instead of focusing all of Syx's force into her midsection, it's distributed on a wieder area.

It's still a lot of force, and it still hurt. Her bar is nudged down, visibly, as she tumbles backwards.

After a couple of rolls, she sort of stabilizes, in a crouched version of the three point landing Syx rocked earlier. Still wincing in pain, she opens her mouth, and her words, her words come out, carrying all her inner struggle: "...Syx... in all honesty... from disciple to Sensei... there is a thing I need to know." She inhales. "what is the Attitude Era?"

She gets up, and rushes for Syx. "I have had plenty of duels in the past. In front of crowds. But they were -duels-. This is -wrestling-!" Her staff swings, twirls, and as she leans away in a kung-fu move, she, at the same time, moves to jab the bottom metal tip of into Syx's flank. "Different things!" She intones an ominous chant, and begins pumping the dark Energies that coalesced around the gem into the Salamander.

"It's... like music! A rock concert is not the same as a jazz session or the performance of a classical symphony!" After a short pause, hesitant, she continues, "So, uh... how does it work for Wrestling? Is it more like a classical concert? Is it ok if the audience coughs, or will they be shush-" She looks around at the likely cheering crowd. "...uh, nevermind."

Soujiro Seta may not be offering up time to test out bathing suits. How. Ev. Ah. A good half of a dozen of Souji's fan club quirk up with an opportunity to fashion up. So while Souji is intently watching the match, a small swarm turns to Gwen.

She's really good at defense, Syx has no doubt of that. But she is also still closing in and keeping him on his toes. That staff is a problem, especially once she starts hitting him with that dark magic that shoots in from the side after he gets jabbed, his attempted block not stopping the energy pulse. Visibly hurting he puts a bit of distance between himself and Uta, "Depends on the crowd but I love it when they're loud and wild!"

More flames coalece around his body as he locks eyes on Uta, "The most important thing in wrestling is to give them a show, win or lose!" And with that, he plants a foot, rushing at Uta, and feinting a strike, only to slip behind her and grab her by the arm, aiming to haul her up onto his flaming body, leap into the air and then drive her back into the mat.

Gwen looks over at the fan club with a grin. "Awesome! If your intreste here let me friend you!" She'll fire off friend invites to them. The plans contiune a plague of swimwear and body suits is upon /everyone/. Oh yes Gwen will make this change unto the world and Generations of the young will thank her.

"A show, huh?", Uta repeats, with a blink. And then she beams. "That I can do! I'm a Musical Kung-Fu Nurse! I'm one third bard!"

She proves this by assuming a textbook martial arts balanced stance, waiting for Syx to leap and-

-and she begins humming a tune. Tendrils of light and maigc dance and coalesce in the staff's focus gem as she does so, and since she's twirling it as a baton now (hey, gotta give 'em a show, right?), she leaves luminous trails behind, trails that draw shapes worth of a spirograph.

This dance only has the effect to -delay- the inevitable, though -- Syx eventually comes into impact range, ready to slam into the Spriggan, and that's when she spins while simultaneously lowering on her knee, as a dropping pirouette; the magic helix that protrudes from the staff solidifies into a summoned slime, which engulfs her, ready to welcome the incoming Salamander with a layer of acid.

She's still going to get slammed, but at least she dealt some acid damage. And summoned a slime, which is always a plus, right?

As the magically summoned slime shatters, while she's still down and held in place by Syx, she'll- well, swing to slam him again with a stick to the head again, really. There's something primal, satisfying about hitting people with a stick, and Uta knows how to enjoy the little joys in life.

"How's this for a show?"

Yes, she asks that with a wide smile.

Grabbing hold of someone covered in acid isn't a great idea, as Syx finds out the hard way. Too late to un-commit now, however. Syx is slow to pick himself up after his desperation attack on Uta, but he manages to get up to his feet, only to get clobbered in the skull by the staff again a moment later.

Dazed, he stumbles for a moment, but regains his footing, "Uta I'm not going to lie, I think you're one of the most dangerous people I've ever run across." He says, laughing as he takes a second to steady himself against one of the turnbuckles, "And to answer your question, the Attitude Era was a time in the 1990s where wrestling had an extra /edge/ to it. Curse words and blood and skimpy outfits. That kinda thing."

He may be using this as a chance to center himself, however. Because after his explanation, there's a sudden flurry of movement, as Syx crosses the distance between himself and Uta, putting all of his focus into the spinning heel kick he intends to deliver, the force behind it designed to open up her defense, allowing him to sweep in with an rolling elbow strike afterwards. It's an all or nothing kind of attack and it shows.

Vertina gives a vague waving motion to Gwen. "Later." She's really invested in watching how this fight is turning out.

Gwen is looking very, very pumped up the fight seeing the first alpha test, there's a lot that needs to be done, but she's on the right path and there may be some work to do but it will be amazing.

"Me? Dangerous? Thanks!", she exclaims, smiling. "Coming from someone as dangerous as you, it's really appreciat- wait. Blood? Swearing? Skimpy? I-I don't swear, dangit! And don't do skimpy!", Uta protests, as she looks down in panic at her failing outfit. Oh, no! The endgame timer has been activated! Time to get this over as soon as possible!

Syx helps in that, his disruptive defense-breaking attack with follow-up elbow blow throwing around Uta like a ragdoll, leaving her on the floor, gasping for air.

They say that people living in glass houses should not throw rocks. That saying is particularly fitting to the case at hand, if one replaces rocks with slimes. And throwing with summoning. And glass with experimental spandex. And living with wearing.

Look, we still got enough of the original saying that it's still relevant.

The acid splashes had hit Uta as well; on the plus side, no 'sensitive' area is struck, so rating is still safe. On the minus side, her outfit now got holes in the midriff and arms area, as well as below the knees. It would also seem that the acid is eating into the white dye: from each acid-soaked hole, a pool of blackness spreads, turning the body suit the opposite color.r
Uta inhales. She is holding her staff the way a rock star holds a microphone stand. She turns her face to look down, eyes closed, and points up with her other finger. She begins to weave one of her vocalized musical spells, and the air responds with... a slight current: a faint, circular current high above her finger; just air, blowing small items like leaves or twigs in a circle, then, slowly, clouds start to form, dark, ominous. Electricity crackles, discharging between the various arms of the spiral, untile they form into a shape not unlike a tightly packed Milky Way, but made of dark thunderclouds. By now, the air is acrackle with power, so much power that if 'acrackle' was not a real word before, it is now. Uta inhales, spins her staff in her hands, and rearranges it to function as a mock guitar; She -slams- her hand down on it, and as four separate bolts of lightning strike the poles at the corners of the ring, they produce a screeching sound almost identical to a chord from a distorted electric guitar.

Uta begins to shred hot riffs on the imaginary instrument, and as she does so, raw ionic energy crackles around the staff, forming the shape of an electric guitar out of luminous discharges. Uta rushes at Syx, ready to deliver a series of kicks, while with her hands, she plays the Air Guitar, each chord synthesized by a combination of lightning strikes. "Behold!" Kick, spin, strum, "Fear!", kick, spin, strum, "The!", Kick, spin, strum, "Power! Of! My! Fender! Stratocumulus!"

Kick, kick, kick, kick, over a wicked solo.

While by now she's in a swiss-cheesed black spandex suit, wrapped in blood-red chains, with white boots and gloves. All of this, one has to admit, is very metal.

Now, the nurse's hat on top... remains to be determined.

Soujiro Seta is all about this fight. The fanclub is all about this fashion. Though a few fans are now split between the fight and the fashion. Fashion fight? No, don't give Gwen ideas. It'll end up a battle fashion runway show.

While quite literally getting battered thanks to the electric guitar and the sick kicks Uta is delivering, Syx's defense is to roll out of the way. It's a simple defense, but it works! He uses the chance to cast a spell on himself, healing back up a bit of the damage delivered by the kicks, but he knows he's on his last legs here, as he tries to stay on the defensive, looking for a chance to attack back. He's pretty certain his chance to win this thing is rapidly closing as he looks at the health bar differences, but he's not the type to tap out either no matter how dire the fight looks!

The Wave Arte wears off just as the song finishes; the clouds dissipate, the distorted guitar sounds fade, and 'acrackle' ceases to be a real word.

This, however, does not stop Uta. She's on a roll. A rock and roll. Where the rock is actually a slime. Living in a glass house. It's very metal.

Speaking of metal, Uta has slipped into a rhythm, and the name of that rhythm is 'utter panic'. The spandex in her midriff area is slowly fizzling out of existence, the multiple holes now having coalesced into a window, and the whole part below the knee is gone. "OH SNAP OH FIDDLESTICKS OH CURSES," she does not swear. She just said she doesn't swear, remember? "Gotta finish this as quickly as possible! But how? HOW-"

That is when, in a fleeting moment, her eyes, by pure chance, meet Vertina's, in the audience. And a memory, a memory of a long time ago, is brought back to the surface, with all the bittersweet taste that such reminiscence tends to bring with it.

Uta smiles, fondly, at recalling what transpired. She turns to Syx, and just straight-up punches him.

While screaming. Because screaming makes it hit harder.

It seems that Syx's attempt to attack back was not prepared for something as simple as getting punched in the face. Syx had been winding up to deliver a massive blow in Uta's direction, but he falls back several feet from the hit as she screams and hits him. His HP ticks down below into red, and the duel is finished, as Uta is declared the victor!

"Ow!" Syx yells out, holding his nose with his scaled hands, "That hurt like hell!"

Cue the crowd cheering! The Landers don't really care who won, they got to see some action without putting themselves in danger like going out into the wilderness to fight monsters would. Vertina joins in for a bit, then hops down from her seat to amble over to the two fighters. Winks at Uta. "Sometimes the simple basics do work best." Gives Syx a pat on the shoulder. "You did fine, I know just dishing out beatdowns is your thing, but we need to work on your defense a little. A Floor Boss ain't going to be composed like a wily Spriggan is."

She then pulls out a pair of yakitori packets, offering one to each fighter. "After brawl snack?"

The crowd probably cheers when Uta is declared the victor, but what pops into Uta's head as soon as the battle is over, is not the thrill of victory; rather, her medical instincts take over. "Oh goodness me, do you need help? Are you fine?" she asks, as, frantic, she rushes over to kneel at Syx's side, swipes her menu open to activate her medical inspection.

"Oh, a snack! Thanks, Vertina!", she says, and munches on it distractedly. "Yup. The basics. The classics. There is a reason why they are the classics, after all. That's why I was afraid this would be like a classical concert. But luckily, the landers- wait, no, I digress. So, uhm, what brings you here?", she asks. Pause. "OH, RIGHT!"

She snaps to look at Syx again, flick her menu open to activate the medical inspection and-

-and she stops on her way there. "Wait, I should change first-", she says, noticing that the fabric has, by now, practically been reduced to cover as much as shorts and sports bra. Plus chains.

She navigates her menu, taps an entry, and her outfit shimmers.

Replaced by another pseudo-spandex Nurse's outfit with red chains, in a different design. "Uh..." Shimmer. Same basic idea, but this time it's got more on the mecha pilot vibe. Shimmer. Sentai suit! Shimmer. Medical one piece swimsuit. Shimmer. Heist movie catsuit. Still with a nurse's hat?! Shimmer. This black criss-crossed affair has definite Anime Villainess vibes. It would likely make Morri proud. It certainly makes Uta squeal and blush deep red. Shimmer. Shimmer. Shimmer. Shimmer.

"GWEN, NONE OF THOSE ENTRIES ARE THE ONES I GAVE YOU TO MEND!", she screams towards the audience, completely red in the face by now. "DID YOU RETURN YOUR EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS INSTEAD OF MY OLD CLOTHES?!" She looks down at the menu in sheer terror. "DID YOU FILL MY INVENTORY WITH EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS?!"

The crash hits. Uta pales, spins on one foot, and slumps to lie right next to Syx; as a result of Uta's last shimmer, they both boast tiger-striped experimental proto-spandex getup now.

"Syx... uh... do you have the Pharmacy skill?", she asks, weakly. "I... I think I need help..."

Gwen is cheering on the fighters she's loving the whole thing and then come the climate an d there would be something major for both fighters. The prototype outit durablity has almost gone...

Vertina wanders back over to Gwen. To poke the beast as it were. "So, you mentioned something about better workout outfits?"

Gwen GRINS "I did Vertina, I'm working on getting the material right but not only will it push swimsuits farther here things like sport braws and yoga pants should be possible!"