"And so the clash of the mages ends!" Tarlen yells above the din of the crowd after the last match. "And now its time for the final match! Hold on to your seats, folks!" and I'd better hold on to my bladder... The announcer thinks to himself, trying not to cross his legs as he hovers above the field. "Just keep concentrated on the match..." He mumbles, before going into announcer mode. "First we have Pyralin, the Ranger known for his agility and the defeater of Xokorn in the first round!" The crowd roared again, and Tarlen waited patiently before continuing. "And in the other corner is the renowned Bard Victor Vir, who beat Hiro in the last round! Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the first match we've had with no mages; you're going to be seeing some impressive melee combat today!" As the crowd begins to shriek even louder, Tarlen lowers himself a bit to get a better view on the close quarters fight.

"And let the final match of the second round--BEGIN!"

~Pyre was standing someways away from the din of the crowd, slowly spinning his scimitar in an arc, concentrating on the battle to come. He knew he was up against Victor who was no pushover. It would be a tough battle, but one worthy of going all out for. He was fortunate that his opponent was not a mage. Mages were probably the most dangerous of enemies to go up against, and his own experience with magical spells only served to drive home that fact. However, against another melee user, the battle would become extremely close. Too close for comfort. Not for a moment did Pyralin believe he would lose, indeed he was full to the brim with confidence, but there was the slightest possiblity that Victor could pull away triumphant.

Despite his arrogance, Pyre, like anyone had to prepare himself mentally, so that was the reason he stood alone spinning his blade. He wasn't thinking about attack or defence, defeat or victory, but was simply ridding his mind of all emotion, and thinking of nothing. With a blank mind, he prepared all his muscles, making sure that his whole body was ready for the fight to come. He made sure all his weapons were in place, concealed and not concealed, and that his armor and tunic were all correctly fastened. He then moved on to less important items: was his large red brimmed hat on properly, and was the white feather shooting out from the brim fresh and bright.

With these thoughts turned over, the ranger once again cleared his mind, this time just to relax and rest, and listen to the roar of the crowd in the distance. It didn't take long for him to detect a spike in volume in the sound of voices. It seemed like the awaited battle was beginning. This would be good. Pyre tossed his scimitar up into the air, grabbing the hilt, blade facing downwards, and then shoved it into the sheath at his waist. With a smile to himself, he started to walk forward. If things were beginning now, there was no way that he would arrive on time, but that was okay: The main characters always arrive late.~

Victor Vir the Bard stumbled into the arena. He stumbled because he was pushed in rather harshly by one of the people behind-the-scenes, having arrived at the arena for his fight only moments before. All the Bard's things were gathered in his arms, besides his trusty harp and his armor. The harp was, as always, harnessed safely to his back, but the armor was haphazardly thrown on; he itched at it as best he could with his chin, for it was new, stiff, and uncomfortable. Seeing that he was now before a full house, though, Victor moved to wave at the crowd and, consequently, dropped all his things to the ground.

Now frantically reaching to the arena floor for his weapons, the Bard took a good ten minutes to grab his things and put them in their rightful places: the dagger in its sheath, the bow close to his harp along with his arrows and shield, his boomerang and ammo in his satchel, and... well, that was it. Finding nothing else to reach for he stood straight and smiled bashfully at the crowd and his opponent, Pyralin.

If the second Vagabond thought his opponent was going to fight in close quarters, he was wrong. Victor HAD taken some measures of preparation before the fight, most of which involved training his bow and magic skills. He didn't plan on using his dagger unless it was absolutely necessary, since he had a better chance to win if he kept his distance from the Ranger. If he had a chance at all; for Victor knew that his first arena win was pure luck, and even then it was a close call. It could very well have been Hiro fighting Pyralin today, but the Goddesses had not willed it so, and it would take the Goddesses' will to win again as far as Victor was concerned.

With this thought in mind Victor took a minute of silent prayer to ask the Goddesses for help in this battle. He assumed his opponent would do the same, but, it never hurt to pray a bit. So he did, and when he was done the Bard readied his shield and assumed a loose fighting stance, nodding slightly at Pyralin to signal his eagerness to start the fight...

(((OOC: The benefits of posting first... I get the first attack!)))

~Pyre smiled as Victor stumbled out into the arena. It seemed that Victor was being his usual self, and that's the way that the ranger wanted it. It would be a clash of wills, Pyre's arrogance, versus Victor's..... Self-motivation? The hylian nearly laughed out loud as he said this to himself, but quickly became serious again when he saw that the bard was ready to fight. It was time to start throwing down!

Pyralin spun his scimitar a couple of times around in his hand before taking it and throwing it forward at a rapid pace. It might seem that the hylian was chosing to fight at a distance, just as Victor was, but one truly watching the path of the blade would know this was far from the case. The spinning blade struck tip first, not into the bard's face, but into the ground halfway between the two of them. With that Pyre drew out his true weapon, a long lance.

The spear shaft was made of sturdy deku wood, of a reddish color like all such wood was, and with a long curving line etched into the wood. The butt of the shaft had an iron cap and attached to the shaft was a red flag. The blade was made of a dark steel (but it still only does deku damage ) and a red curving design was etched and painted into the metal.

Pyralin twirled the spear around a couple times before reaching for a shield on his back. It was a typical deku shield, and would serve as an aid to defence.

With his weapons drawn, he was ready to attack. The ranger knew that using a spear was slightly unorthodox, but had practiced quite a bit, and could manage it. Twirling the blade around in his hands, he leapt forward, and closed the distance with Victor. It was time to unleash another surprise.

His right, dark colored, spear tip seemed to be flying straight towards Victor's face, but this was not the case. Instead, he pulled up short using the momentum of the thrust to spin around 180 degrees. He changed hads with his lance, and then shoved backwards with his left hand, trying to slam the butt of the spear shaft into the bard's chest, which would knock the breath out of him. Not sparing any time to see if the shaft thrust had been successful, he turned all the way around, once again facing Victor, and then slashed forward, once again changing hands, this time aiming straight at Victor's chest. The technique he had used was fancy and complicated enough for Pyre to name it. The hylian called it the Dreadnought Feint, and he shouted out this name as he attacked with both of his weapons at the same time. The technique was far from a 100% hit. Indeed, the spear was slightly unwieldy making it harder to strike true, but if he did manage to confuse and then strike Victor, it would be worth it because of the massive damage and pain it would inflict.~

PYRE
STR-3 DEF-16 AGI-5 INT-7 SPI-1 HP-61 SPL-17

VICTOR
STR-2 DEF-15 AGI-3 INT-6 SPI-1 HP-61 SPL-18

"And a surprising attack after a surprising feint!" Tarlen yells as Pyre goes to work on the Bard, not sweating any of the finesse that had come to be expected from the Ranger. However, perhaps the weapon in his hand was too unfamiliar to him still, for the attack barely missed [5+14-1(AGI+Roll-Penalty) vs. 18] and the crowd gasped in unison at the Bard's narrow escape. "Looks like Victor got lucky there!" The announcer spoke what as on everyone's mind as they wondered how the pointy-eared virtuoso would react.

Said pointy-eared virtuoso (OOC: Wow, RG) barely had any time to react. As soon as Pyre had begun to charge at him the Bard froze in recognition of his.. well, he doesn't belong in fighting tournaments. The stiff Hylian truly was lucky, because his opponent should have hit him straight-on. In fact, all logic said Victor should have a spear through his chest. But it seemed that the Goddesses had smiled upon him.

Though Pyre's attack had missed, Victor managed to knock the wind out of himself. Gasping for air at the closeness of the Ranger's assault, he could only trip so far out of the way. But, feeling it was enough, the Hylian soon turned back to his enemy. Anticipating another attack soon, he took up the offensive. Suddenly a flashing orb appeared in his open hand, with his shield held high over his armored torso. The ball of energy was slyly hidden behind the Deku shield, so Pyre could not see the form it took when Victor whispered,

"Shadow."

Yes, it was unorthodox for a Hylian, but the Bard knew that his only chance to win this match was to manipulate what little magic he had. Thus, he took time before the fight to train up his Elemental Burst to give him the edge over his fellow Hylian. At least, as far as the Bard knew.

But, not worrying about what Pyre might have up his sleeve, Victor was about to release his attack when he gave his opponent's fancy move another thought. Not wanting to be left out, the Bard hesitated with his attack and managed an awkward spin before shouting,

MAGIC... uh... whatzit, THINGY!!!

Feeling more embarrassed than before, if that was possible, Victor wasted no more time and finally released his attack, a Shadow Elemental Burst, in the general direction of Pyre, who he hoped would be kind enough not to dodge the Burst...

OOC: Are you challenging my nicknaming prowess, plumber?

IC: As Victor shouted as much of his attack's name as he could remember, there was a certain puzzled look on every face in the crowd. "I like Pyre's better." A dissapointed child seven rows up mumbled to himself as the ball of energy left the Bard's hand. Perhaps due to the slightly cumbersome weapon the Ranger was carrying, and his relative lack of experience with the weapon, the blast hit full on [1+2(SPI+Roll)] and dealt 20 DMG to Pyre, the shadows enveloping his torso. The child in the seventh row dropped his jaw as he saw the effectiveness of Victor's attack compared to Pyre's, and immediately began testing it on his tongue over and over with increasing intensity. The audience, now that the first hit had landed, began to lean in towards the middle of the arena, wondering whether the Ranger would be able to overcome the unfortunate start and win the fight.

Pyre--41 HP, 17 SPL
Victor--61 HP, 12 SPL

~The hylian frowned most profusely as the magical attack enveloped him... until the pain came, then he was neither smiling nor frowning, indeed it was all he could do to keep from screaming as the crushing darkness came over him. Soon enough however, it was over, and he was back on guard. Now was his only chance to strike, and though it wasn't an ideal situation, he would make the best of it.

Although so far, it seemed that the goddesses were quite against his victory. First of all he had barely missed his first attack which would have helped greatly to even the score. (ONE POINT). Secondly, Victors attack had hit head on, and had been devestatingly powerful. The frown from before had returned, this time it was not a frown anticipating pain, but rather a thoughtful one. Pyralin would have to make his next move carefully.

Indeed Pyre knew just what he needed to even the score. The hylian began to sprint forward, just like before, spear leading. It seemed that he was going for another head on attack. To one watching one would assume that he either had no other attacks, or was simply saving up his magic power, but this time neither was the case. Indeed the opposite of both was true.

Once again, similar to last time, he spun off at the last second. He was not sure what Victor would make of this. It seemed unlikely that he would expect the same strike twice in a row, but at the same the bard might be prepared this time around. All the better that Pyralin was going to mix things up. Indeed, as he turned to shove his spear forward, built up magical energy within him, ready to be released. Just where that energy would be released was up to him.

Pyre chose his opponent's backside. He let his lance thrust miss by a small, nearly unsuspicious amount, and at the same time, unleashed a magical burst behind his opponents back. Then he turned around to hide his face from the brunt of the blast, though the force of the spell still managed to push his cloak up around him. With one hand he reached up and unclasped the garment and led the heavy black fabric fall to the floor. The ranger would have to fight much more seriously for the remainder of this encounter.~[/i]

A tightly-packed ball of earth magic slammed between the shoulderblades of the wordly-challenged bard [1+9(SPI+Roll)] dealing 17 DMG. "It looks like this match could very easily come down to magic as well!" Tarlen said excitedly, the crowd fully into the final match. "It seems like this one is going to be down to the wire--this fight could still go either way!"

Pyre--41 HP, 11 SPL
Victor--44 HP, 12 SPL

Victor flew... no, wait, this time he actually didn't fly away with the sudden blast of Earthen energy to his back. It's more like he... tripped, than flew. No doubt the magic was strong, but, he seemed to absorb most of it and merely fall over. Hurt? Yes, to say the least. But airborne he was not.

In fact, the Bard hadn't expected the magical attack from Pyre. But, maybe that's not the best way to put it, either. Really he had convinced himself not to expect any magical attacks as if it would somehow prevent them from coming into play. Alas, this was not the case. And so, as he tripped, the Hylian almost sighed. Truthfully, he gasped in pain, but to some it might have been a sigh of resignation as the battle turned magical.

His face thoroughly planted in the arena ground, Victor took his sweet time getting back up. No rush, really, as it was now his "'turn" to attack, and he knew it. Brushing some dirt off his own cloak, he turned to his opponent.

"Well, it seems we'll be having more magic than anything else today, eh? So be it, Pyre; who am I to hog all the good stuff?"

And with this, Victor raised his right hand and displayed his own pent-up energy: another Blast, once again made of shadow. The ball glowed at its target, if darkness could indeed "glow". Really it shined with an absence of light that seemed to make the daylight around it quiver; this perturbed the Hylian Bard, as it felt unnatural for one of his race. But, he was in this fight to win, wasn't he?

So he released the orb, forward. No magic words this time, little boy.

The next burst was a repeat of the last [1+4(SPI+Roll)] and the Shadow energy engulfed the firey young Ranger for the second time, dealing 20 DMG. The crowd itself was torn--the bard didn't act like a good fighter at all--in fact, he was embarrasing himself every couple seconds, it seemed. Yet he also appeared to be winning. Who should they cheer for? "Who knows how much longer this battle could take?" Tarlen shouts. "Both contestants are being battered with spells, and one has to give up sometime!"

Pyre--21 HP, 11 SPL
Victor--44 HP, 6 SPL

~Pyre smirked to himself as his own magic attack struck, and did a near equal amount of damage to Victor, but the smile was soon wiped off his face as another magical burst consumed him, pushing the ranger to the ground. Pyralin managed to stand up once again after taking the second magical attack, and this time he was worried; a few more hits and he'd be done for.

Victor was no push over. His ability to deal a lot of damage in a short time with spells was beyond even his own, and so Pyre's only choice would be to increase his own time of survival to match the bard's until he ran out of magic. Basically he would have to appeal to an outside source for aid.

Under his breath he muttered a short prayer, and released a small offering of magical energy to the goddesses in exchange for their healing light. This would be his only hope if he was actually going to triumph, and he prayed, literally, that it was going to work.~ [Favor of the Goddesses]

[1+19(INT+Roll)] Three ligihts of red, green, and blue descend from the heavens, answering the Ranger's call. 30 HP is restored to the redhead as his prayer is answered, and the crowd begins to collectively bite their lip, with the new understanding that this match could go either way--both contestants were Hylian. "This certainly puts a new spin on the fight, folks!" Tarlen shouts out. "Let's see how this new layer of depth affects our fighters' strategies!"

Pyre--51 HP, 11 SPL
Victor--44 HP, 6 SPL

(((OOC: Just finished my last AP Test!!!! YES! I will now be able to post once in a while... Well its time for finals so probably not, but still...)))

OOC: FotG doesn't cost SPL >.> That said, I hate you Pabru. Also, AP tests are DONE for the week. Will return to post soon.