Yukie watches as the Skull Kid teleports away, leaving without a trace. His first thought is that he'll try attacking from behind, but he senses Flit is already turning that way, so Yukie stands his ground, attempting to discern where he could be appearing from. With such a magical region his Nature Sense is actually more of a hindrance than a help, but without it being utilized the Deku's ordinary senses are not as well equipped to answer such a difficult question as where he will appear next.

The feeling of danger comes through strong, however, as Yukie picks up the presence of their foe floating above them. Twisting quickly he brings his swords up to defend himself just as he realizes that he is not the intended target. 'Did he go fer Flit because he was tryin to touch the book?' The thought goes through the Deku's mind in a split second, just as the blade slices through his companion's leg. But at this point, Yukie isn't standing still as a spectator - no, even as the Skull Kid's attack is finishing, the elderly Deku is already halfway to their opponent, swords already swinging.

~The skullkid grinned at Flit as he scrambled away, leg bleeding. By that time it was too late to dodge Yukie's attack. He spun around lifting up his blade, but Yukie's swords cut between the seems of the armor plates, slicing through the leather straps. This caused one of the plates to fall, and hit the ground. The skullkid's grinned was wiped from his face as Yukie's attack hit home. He warped away, appearing next to Flit. This time however, the deku was ready. He lunged forward with his dagger, but as he put his weight on his hurt leg, in twisted underneath him, and he fell to the ground. He did however manage to bring his blade to bear, and stop the gaurdians sword from plunging into his chest. He used his arm to force the skullkids blade away, and threw his left hand dagger at his face. The creature didn't have enough time to warp, so he moved his head to the right. The dagger cut into his cheek, and by now, with two wounds, not even a trace of the grin was left.

The skullkid jumped backwards, and quickly analyzed the situation. He relized that Yukie was the most pressing danger, but wasn't foolish enough to go for a head on attack against him. He decided to defeat him using more subtle manuvers. The gaurdian rushed at Flit, blade leading, but as Flit lifted his blade to block, he warped, appearing behind the deku. He launched a powerful overhead chop at the off balance Flit.~

Yukie grins as his blades connect, and his smile only widens as Flit manages to get a cut in there as well. Even if he has the ability to teleport away at will, it's still possible to catch the guardian offguard, and that is some valuable information. All they need to do is wait for him to strike at them, dodge and/or counter, and launch a counterattack. Even without his Nature Sense, Yukie can still most likely react quickly enough to succeed in that regard . . .

. . . if the Skull Kid ever chooses to attack the elder of the two, of course. As of his third slice of the swords, all this guardian is going after is Flit, and Yukie can't help but wonder again if that's because the younger guy was the one who tried to touch that book . . . whatever that is. Yukie doesn't know a thing about it, but it certainly is an interesting specimen. But that's not something to be thinking about during a battle.

"Look out!" he cries as he spots the Skull Kid reappearing right above Flit's head and slashing downward. Too far away to attack again before the Kid can warp again, the elderly Deku opts for a different mode of attack, and ranged one. Quickly inhaling, he feels it coming upward and then . . . from his mouth is launched a large Deku Nut which, if it hits, might be able to stun the guardian and allow them to get in some descent attacks.

~As soon as Yukie starts to launch the ranged projectile, the skullkid dissapears once again. He appeared behind Yukie, making a quick forward stab while the deku shot the deku nut. The gaurdian hoped to catch the skilled swordsman off gaurd, and kill him, if not incapacitate him. Flit was his main target, but this other deku would make killing him very difficult.

Flit watched as his newly-found friend was attack. He jumped up and shouted "Behind you!" He couldn't throw his daggers without Yukie getting hit by them. There was nothing he could do to help. He started to run forwards. If Yukie managed to dodge the strike, it would be the perfect time for Flit to attack, and he wasn't about to miss an opportunity like this.~

Yukie sees the Skull Kid warp half a second before the nut leaves his mouth, and just as quickly realizes the guardian's intent: get in a shot at the Deku before he has time to react. It was the perfect time for such a maneuver, with Yukie practically unable to move while his attack is in mid-motion, and the Deku simply nods a complement to the Skull Kid - in his mind, of course. In reality, moving his head at all might be enough to send the Deku Nut flying straight at Flit! And that wouldn't help anybody.

The Deku swiftly examines the situation. Flit's alright - good; the Skull Kid has turned his sights on the more experienced swordsman - good; Skull Kid has appeared right behind his form - bad; Yukie can't afford to move his head - bad . . .

In the only move he can make, his right hand flashes up behind his back even as the Nut leaves his mouth and flies away. Most people would do this in a move of desperation, but there is one more aspect of the situation that he has yet to consider: the Skull Kid actually thought Yukie wasn't prepared for such a maneuver. Very good. As the guardian will learn as soon as blade hits blade, Yukie had placed his right sword in an upside-down grip, allowing him to easily block an attack from behind.

As soon as the steel connects, Yukie intends to spin around and strike with the left blade . . . all that needs to happen is for the Skull Kid to realize his mistake too late.

~As the deku nut goes flying into the forest, the skullkid watched as Yukie put his blade behind his back. He knew that he had already commited to the attack, and couldn't turn back. His sword was stopped by the deku's blade. The gaurdian knew that Yukie had another blade, which would soon be flying at his face, but had no preparations to make. He would just have to improvise. Flit was nearing Yukie, but saw that his chance to attack had gone. He continued to run, hoping that the skullkid was to absorbed in his fight with the deku swordsman. He kept up his gaurd though. Who could tell if the gaurdian would suddenly warp, and appear behind him... or above him.~

Yukie grins as he feels the blades connecting without fail, effectively blocking the Skull Kid's attack. He sees Flit racing forward, and is gladdened by the defensive posture the boy has taken. That means it's up to him to deal the damage at this point in time, and Yukie is only too happy to comply with that vocation. Twisting his grip on his right blade he slides both his and his opponent's swords out of the way and swings a powerful blow with his left hand at the Skull Kid.

~The skullkid was not caught by surprise. He knew the blade was coming, and knew there was only one way to evade it. He warped to the other side of the deku, blade drawn, and smirked. This move was only a feint. He immediately teleported back, landing on top of Yukie's sword. If the deku shifted at all in response to the first warp, then he would be wide open for attack, so the skullkid made a two-handed overhead chop at the deku's head.~

Yukie's eyes narrow in annoyance as the Skull Kid warps behind him. He had acknowledged the possibility of this technique in his head, but had hoped he would fail to execute it. Oh well, that must not have been meant to be. He swiftly switches his right handed blade over to defend against the expected attacks without turning that way, instead allowing his senses to do his seeing for him. But he is in for yet another surprise.

Suddenly the guardian is gone. 'Is he after Flit again?!' is the thought that rushes through the Deku's mind just before he suddenly senses the Skull Kid standing on top of his left blade. His eyes flick over to where their foe is, and he feels rather than sees the sword, now held by both hands, coming down towards him. There are so many things he could do in this situation, but he instinctively opts for two of them.

The first one is to tighten his grip on the right blade, and then to swing it above his head lightning-fast, hopefully quick enough to intercept and dampen the power behind the attack. And just in case that isn't the case, his left arm goes slack, allowing the tip of the left blade to fall downward while still remaining in his grasp. He can't tell if the Skull Kid is putting his weight on the sword, but if he is then this should cause him to lose his balance for a second. And if he's not, then the elder Deku can swing this blade up above him as well to help defend against the attack from above.

~The skullkid felt the blade slaken under him. His heavy armor weighed him down, and he was starting to lose his balance, so instead of continue his off balance attack, he just let himself fall. As soon as he hit the ground, he rolled forward, towards the deku's legs, and making a slash over his head, using the momentum of the roll to put force into the attack.

At the same time the skullkid launched his rolling attack, Flit dived forward, pumping his arm, sending a dagger flying between Yukie's legs. Unfortunately, the projectile simply bounced off the gaurdian's armor. The deku cursed, and got up slowly. After the dive, he had landed on his injured leg, hurting it even further. He needed to be more careful. He kept his gaurd up, waiting for another chance to strike.~

Yukie would normally have grinned as soon as the Skull Kid started to fall, but now he feels like acting a bit more serious. Fortunately this means he is able to respond to the guardian's tactics much more quickly. His right blade, rather than joining with his left, immediately goes to block the rolling Kid's sword. And at the same moment he tries the Deku Nut tactic again, launching it the moment the blades meet.

~The blades stopped the skullkid in his tracks. As his body's momentum was suddenly lost, inertia caused his head to jerk forward. At the same time, Yukie launched a deku nut, and the resulting impact flung the gaurdian into the air. He landed in a head dazed. The skullkid knew that someone would try to attack him while he was down, so he warped away. Flit stood, and knew the skullkid was going to try to get away. He thought about where the skullkid could of gone, and decided on the trees. He looked up, and the gaurdian soon appeared in one of the tree tops. Flit retrieved his thrown dagger, flicking his wrist, and sending it flying towards the skullkid. The blade cut through one of the leathers straps, and landed in the creature's side. An armor plate fell to the ground, alerting Yukie to the gaurdian's exact location, if he didn't already knew. The skullkid only had one armor plate remaining on his chest. His defenses were wearing thin.~

Yukie allows a quick smile to flash over his woody lips as the Deku Nut smashes into the guardian and he warps away once again. His face becomes serious once again as he swiftly glances around for his reappearance. Then he senses a shift in the air from above. His eyes flash upward in time to spot the Skull Kid's battered form. A sense of pride comes upon him momentarily as he spots Flit's dagger slicing into his armor. 'Nice shot,' he nods mentally.

With no way for the elderly Deku to attack at such range, Yukie takes in another large breath of air and shoots off another Deku Nut at their foe.

~The deku nut flew the air swiftly, but only to bounce off the limbs of the tree. The skullkid was already gone. This time he appeared behind Flit. He didn't go immediatly for a sword blow, but charge forward in a sort of bullrush, in hopes of catching the deku off gaurd. Flit had no idea the attack was coming, but avoided out of sheer luck. He jumped into the air, and the skullkid was suddenly underneath him. That's where his luck stopped. When he hit the ground, his injured leg gave way, and crumpled under him. He fell to the ground, in danger.

The skullkid was quick to take advantage of the oppurtunity. He lifted blade, and lashed out with a diagonal slice, aimed at the deku's collar bone. He would try to cut through Flit's chest. The deku only had one dagger, the other once being lodged in the skullkid, and lifted it in an attempt for defense.~

As Yukie had expected, after that first attack the Skull Kid had warped away before the Deku Nut could reach him. He had figured it was a futile attempt to stun their foe, but not attempting it would have been foolish. All Deku Scrubs could create and shoot nuts when they needed to; missing with one wasn't too big a deal. Not trying to hit him when given the opportunity . . . that was a mistake no veteran warrior would make without a good reason.

He had prepared for the guardian to once again strike at him, but his senses swiftly pick up his reappearance behind Flit. Turning into a dash, he spots the younger Deku leaping upward and over the Skull Kid . . . only to come down hard on his injured leg. And there's no way that a mistake like that will go unpunished in a battle like this. And so Yukie sprints forward as quickly as he can, hoping that he can reach the guardian before the Skull Kid reaches Flit . . .