'Ain't completely solid? That right there ain't exactly what I was wantin ta hear . . . whateva it means . . .' Yukie shrugs as he brings his aching arms up alongside the blades they bear. It really doesn't matter if he understands what exactly is going on; the fact remains that something about this Darknut-shadow-thingy has got Flit really, really worried.

Suddenly he wonders if the younger Deku's words could have been referring to the sudden speed employed by the shadow, and is only thanks to the natural light frame of the wooden people's bodies that allows him to jump quick enough to avoid it. He immediately decides that Flit couldn't be talking about agility; otherwise he would have been anticipating such an attack and would've been prepared to dodge it. 'Well, that right there ain't exactly what I was wantin ta see . . .' He lands with his natural skill, arms held out in front of him even as his breathing begins to deepen once more.

Drat. He's still tired. 'Well, that right there ain't exactly what I was wantin ta realize . . .' Well, no rest for the weary - isn't that how it always goes? Apparently so, Yukie decides as he charges towards the Darknut, blades held high as he leaps forward, lashing out with his blades as he comes into range, even though he doubts it'll do him any good. He feels an impact, though he isn't sure if it's the result of whacking at metal or stone - heck, will it even feel like metal if he hits? He can't afford to ponder that right now, for as he flies past the creature and around to its backside, his left leg catches on a random stone in the path.

He flies forward, mouth opened wide as he feels it crashing into the dirt on the other side. After a few seconds of lying in the dust, he cringes and spits out a handful of pebbles and earth that had entered his circular jaw. 'Well, that right there ain't exatly what I was wantin ta taste . . .'

~The deku's attack had missed pathetically. Not so much because of the darkness, but more because the blades simply scraped along the shadow's heavy armor. Even while Yukie lay on the ground, spitting out ancient earth, the darknut never stopped moving. In fact, still completely silent, the armored creature was already standing over the deku, sword raised. The black blade was huge and sharp, but it looked like everything else in complete darkness, and like usual the only hint that the darknut was attacking was the lethal swooshing noise that accompanied a swing.

In fact, that swooshing noise suddenly filled the air, as the dark knight brought the sword down, trying to chop Yukie in half. It could be dodged easily enough, but the deku would have little time to do anything else. That is, a regular deku wouldn't. As he had proved over and over again, Yukie was a little different, and he might be able to make something of the situation. Like any creature, the darknut must have a weakness. The regular stradegy would be impossible to utilyze in these conditions. There had to be another way. (HINT HINT HINT! Maybe there's something you need to do now.)

Meanwhile, Flit was still lost in unconciousness, still unaware of his companion's predicament. Its seemed the darknut had forgot about him as soon as he had no longer become a threat, but surely once it had disposed of the other deku, the shadows would come back to feast upon him....~

The Deku lies there on the ground, coughing up stones and wads of dampened dirt as he shakes his head. That hadn't been fun, and it's doubtful he'd done anything remotely close to damaging this shadow thingy. Whatever the heck is up with these things, they're getting progressively harder to defeat, especially since this one's got armor. His shoulders sag at the thought, but he uses a bit of energy to force them back into a ready position - this is no time for him to be resting. A few seconds ago, before Flit had started yelling for him . . . that had been the time. Figures it'd been cut short . . .

Suddenly a swooshing noise fills the air, the distinct sound of a blade slicing through the air ringing in his ears. Yukie's eyes narrow. Time to drop the old guy act once again. He's been doing that a lot recently, now that he thinks about it . . . he's getting too old for all this. Now, he could always do this the easy way . . . but . . . maybe if he . . .

The blade cuts downward, and it is only at the last possible millisecond that he leaps to the side, dodging the blade by mere millimeters as he dodges to the left. In midair he spins, doing so in a way that results with him landing on his feet, albeit slightly off balance. He's facing the Darknut now, which is what really counts. In a blur of motion, he jabs one sword into the ground so that he can get back on balance, then hops up and over the shadow's form. With a mighty warcry, he flips in midflight, bringing his twin Deku Swords crashing down towards the creature's head, performing the classic Helm Splitter perfectly . . . or so he hopes . . .

(((OOC: Just randomly using TP skills won't save you now. BWAHAHAHAHAH!)))

~The darknut had missed its attack and was now in the worst possible position. It was leaning forward, off balance, with its sword tip pressed against the floor, having no protection except his armor. How then could Yukie's attack miss?...

The darknut's head was no longer there. As soon as the deku brought his blades crashing down, and then sailed over his opponent's head, hero of time style, the shadows simply parted around the path of his blade, causing him to cut through nothing but air.

In the meantime, the shadowy warrior had retrived his balance, and lashed out with a mighty spin attack. It was true that no orangish energy shot from the blade decimating all in its path, but it was a fearsome attack all the same. By the time he was attacking, the shadows had already fused its cranium back together, and it seemed that the behemoth hadn't taken a scratch of damage from the battle at all.

Yukie had missed its weakness, and was put into a bad position because of it, but one could not blame him. The creature was practically his own fortress with practically impentrable armor. What weaknesses could it have. In fact, its weak spot was quite unique to its composition, so it may well be hard to spot immediately, but if anyone could defeat the dark warrior, Yukie could.~

Yukie's eyes widen as he swings around with his blades, only to have the Darknut's cranium dissipate. 'Oh, so THAT'S what Flit meant. That makes a bit o' sense, I s'pose.' Still, the new realization isn't exactly going to help him as the creature does its own Spin Attack. Yukie, still tumbling through the air, is only barely able to deflect the blow with one of his blades. The force of the attack throws him off balance even further, causing him to not only stumble and roll upon landing, but also loose his grip on one of the blades. It flies away from its normal resting place in his hands, but that isn't exactly what concerns him most as he hits the dirt again.

Rolling back to his feet, Yukie swiftly turns back to face the creature. The corner of his eye spots his Obviously, a frontal attack isn't going to hurt this thing; it will simply split apart its shadowy self and then regroup to launch its own insanely powerful counter. And with the speed that it's got, getting around behind it ain't gonna be a piece of cake. 'Mmm, I could sure use some cake right 'bout now . . .'

No time for that. His eyes race across the form of the Darknut, desperately searching for something that he can use: a dent in the armor, a mismatched portion of its body, anything that could be exploited as a weakness. Every creature has a weakness - no matter how invincible it seems, unless it's a deity then that ain't the case - and all Yukie has to do is find it. [Awareness Check]

(((OOC: Lucky you, you just got a high enough roll... Darn it . (17+3[Roll+INT]) )))

~When Yukie had once again dodged an attack, and a short pause in the battle had arrived, he had begun to look desperately for any weakness he might find. Unfortuantely, he didn't actually notice something visibly on the darknut, but a few characteristics of his opponent must have been noticed in his search.

First of all, his opponent was heavy and powerful. The most common way to face such a foe is to use its own attacks against it. In this case, it probably wouldn't be its attacks, but its ability to dodge any threat thrown at it. The darknut, could move part of his body out of the way, preventing damage from being done. To use this against the monster one would have to think: What part of the body could one make dissapear by attacking to put the darknut in a bad position.

Even as these thoughts may have been passing through Yukie's mind, the darknut was already approaching again. This was the problem with spending time analyzing the opponent; it was certainly going to attack. And so the darknut did. It raised its blade above its head, and moved slowly forward, preparing to bring the sword slamming down on top of the deku's head.~

Yukie's eyes study the beast intently, the obvious facts of the matter abruptly hitting him like a slap in the face. Well, not exactly like a slap in the face, cause that hurt a lot more, and probably would have come quite close to incapacitating him due to his already weakened state. But the simile is still an effective way to describe the way the insight is suddenly apparent to his weary mind. 'Of course! It's ain't just taken on da form o' a Darknut, but also da darn attributes! And that right there means that if I attack -'

The thought is abruptly ended as the Darknut charges forward, ready to strike with the blade held high overhead. Excellent; he couldn't have asked for a better situation to test this little solution to the problem. Before the creature can even reach optimal attacking distance, the Deku has his blades in hand and is charging forward. With a mighty leap, his form darts skyward, the perfect formation for an aerial attack.

Perfect except for the fact that he seems to have underestimated the distance he's trying to cross. His arc of flight leads him directly towards the ceiling of the tunnel, several feet in front of where the Darknut is standing. And not only that, but his body begins twisting in midair long before he gets close enough to try out another Helm Splitter - yet still, he spins until his body is upside down . . . and then finds his feet being planted on the rock.

With a mighty heave, his legs propel himself from the ceiling, adding an extra bit of momentum that allow him to use another metaphor for himself: faster than a speeding Deku Nut. His blades are held to both sides as he slices through the air, aiming straight for the region between its kneecaps. And his blades, on their current trajectories, will slash straight through both legs without difficulty.

(((OOC: Ah. Good work. Reading through that, I almost thought you missed it altogether, but of course it doesn't matter because....to be continued)))

~As soon as the deku lashed out at the darknut's legs, it became apparent that the move had been the right one. When the creature's knees dissapeared, it stared forward dumbly for a moment before falling over backwards and landing with a heavy crash on its back, its armor causing it to look much like a grotesque turtle.

Now would be the time to attack and finish the fight, but who knew what tricks, old or new, this monster had up its sleeve. One would have to choose the manner of destroying the shadow knight carefully, because otherwise, it would be able to rise to its feet once again.~

(((OOC:.....continued here... YOUR NOT DONE YET!)))

OOC: Not done? I expected as much; I mean, come on, you can't kill something simply by making it fall on its back.

IC:
Yukie grins as he hopes away, already his aural senses informing him that the tactic has worked. He manages to get out from behind the Darknut with just enough time to avoid being crushed by its crumpling form, and quickly turns back to where it lies. One step completed: the Darknut has been incapacitated, and however temporarily that immobility might be it still gives him a chance to act. He can finish it off now . . . all he has to do is figure out how.

A nod of the wooden head symbolizes that a make-shift plan has begun to form. He can't afford to think too long, or else it will have time to recover; well, if this doesn't work than at least he knows how to get it back to this point. He'll think more when he's got the time to do so. For now, he lifts both blades up again and darts forward towards the fallen shadow.

Closing in on its form, Yukie leaps forward, traveling in a shallow arc that sends him flying directly over the Darknut's fallen form. His plan is quite simple: slice straight through the helmet and the head that lies beneath. Of course, it will almost certainly dissipate its form - if it doesn't, then he still gets the attack in, but if it does, then . . .

. . . in mid-attack, just as his first blade is beginning to slice into the beast, he twirls himself around in the air and jams his second sword directly into the helmet, through its shadowy form, and into the ground beneath it. The shadow can reform itself all it wants now, for all he cares. The Deku just hopes it doesn't mind having a sharp pointy object slammed straight through its brain when it does so.

(((OOC: Oh ho! Tricky. Tricky but.... wrong and Yukie will just have to pay the consequences .)))

~When Yukie went for the kill slashing at the head, it simply dissapated, and the then reformed after the attacked had past. However, the deku had made a second attack, slamming his sword into the creature's "brain" but apparently he had forgot about the initial composition. The helmet of the darknut simply reformed around the blade, but when it moved back into position instead of dying, it simply held the sword in place.

Why did the darknut not die? What about its composition prevented its death. Its simple. It did die. At least part of it did. One of the many many shadows that had created had died, but not the thing as a whole. Since the creature was made of dozens of shadows, it would be impossible to kill it just by killing its many parts. There had to be another way.

Meanwhile however, the darknut got up once again, and this time he assumed a guard position with his blade while moving forward. Once he was once again in striking distance, he kept his guard there, but with his off hand, he punched with a gauntleted fist straight at Yukie's face. It seemed that it was now prepared for an attack at his legs.

(((OOC: That's right. Now you need a roll to suceed at knocking him down. I'll need Yukie's stats too. Sucks for you, you could have done it without the annoying stat part too .)))

OOC: Dang. That's the only strategy I've been able to think of so far . . . stupid college! Ya made me think bad! *grabs freaky-weird mask from behind seat* BOOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA!

IC:
Yukie grimaces as the Darknut rises back to its feet, and the feeling of worry only intensifies when he sees it taking on a more defensive posture. The thing might be made of a bunch of crazy shadow demon creatures, but it obviously wasn't stupid. Figures that the crazy shadow demon creatures he fought against would have to go against the stereotype.

Well, he needs to think of something else, and fast. He's growing more and more tired with each passing second, so he needs to think quick. Or . . . or he could just attack the legs again. Yeah, that could work. But first he's gonna hafta get his second blade back . . . from where it sits, lodged in the shadow's helmet. 'Just my luck, I s'pose . . .'

Well, no rest for the weary. He'll just have to wait and see what comes next. Charging forward, he tries to duck beneath the creature and perform a simple slice on the left leg, planning afterwards to spin and strike at the right knee while he's moving away. Hopefully it'll work out the way he's planning . . .

(((OOC:... yes booga booga.... let me repeat myself then.... "I'll need Yukie's stats." I'm surprised at you Alpha. College really is effecting your brain (although that doesn't mean you lose any of your beastlyness don't worry ) )))

OOC: Pfft, at this rate college will make me lose any and all chances of posting during the week - heck, if my schedule gets any more hectic I'll have to quit visiting HA2 on the weekends too!

SO yes, college is definitely affecting me. And my brain. I think. Let me just go check with Brain, and I'll get back to you on that . . .


Oh, and yeah, here ya go:

Yukie:
STR - 3; DEF - 3; AGI - 5; INT - 1; SPI - 1; SPL - 13; HP - 41
Grunt//Vassal
Weapon: Deku Sword x2
Abilities: Royal Spirit L3, Honorable Kill, Dual Wield L3

(((OOC: Sigh. The two things I hate the most. School and natural 20s... =D)))

~Yukie's blades, like usual, were aimed truly, and struck their intended target, despite his guard stance. The deku acted with such speed and agility that the darknut simply couldn't stop the attack, and once again, his shadowy abilities were used against it, sending the dark knight crashing to the ground, armor and all.

Once again, Yukie had a chance to destroy his enemy, and this time, fortunately things would turn out better this time.~

(((OOC: You've used the answer many times... it begins with an f. Lets get this show on the road, and move on now...)))

OOC: Brain just wanted me to let you know that college is indeed affecting him, and to thank you for those little hints . . . but good nightmare, do you have to make Yukie use a spell that he hates?! I mean, come on, it goes against his very physical structure!!!



IC:
Yukie darts over the ground, blade held in an offensive stance as he charges. This has to work perfectly . . . - without warning he ducks to the right, doing a side flip as he ducks around the Darknut's defenses - his spin completes, and his planted foot forces him away from the ground with incredible speed - his blade spins around his wooden form, slicing directly through the space of the shadows' leg, and with a quick twirl he manages to separate the ghouls on the opposite side of him - he lands behind the Darknut, panting heavily. And then he dives as quickly as possible to the right, where his second sword lies waiting - though that's just a coincidence, as all he was really wanting to do was avoid being crushed by the Darknut's falling form.

'Whew,' he thinks as his hand flies up to cover his mouth. A coughing fit quickly escapes him as he tries to get a bit more air into his body; regardless of how fit he is, the fact is that he's still getting pretty old, and being in dusty caverns isn't exactly helping the situation. 'Gee whiz, ya'd think that maybe they coulda put a tinnie bit more oxygen down here . . .'

He stops for a moment, blinking in surprise. Good grief, is his old age now making him senile?! Oh, what a day of mourning it will be when that takes place. But at least now he's got a plan - something that should have been obvious from the start that is only now occurring to him. Now, there's no telling whether or not he'll be able to perform the spell in question . . . and even if he can, there's no knowing if he'll be able to control it. Heck, whenever the Fire spell is invoked by a Deku, there's always a good chance of suicide taking place.

Oh well, it ain't the first time he's put his life on the line. He just hopes it won't be the last. The Deku inhales sharply, as if to spit out another Deku Nut, but this time allows a sphere of the flaming magic to form in his palms. Holding the sphere of glowing heat before his face, he unleashes the force of his pent up breath, bringing with it a fiery DOOM to the giant creature on the ground before him.