Jasper :: Open Challenge

[Clint M.]

Anyone up for a friendly T1 Mild Powers spar?

Anyone may accept, and I will accept either a one versus one or, even, a one versus two battle. It's all fun for me---anyone up for it?

I'll check on the thread again sometime tomorrow to see if one or two want in.

Of course, you may propose a setting. If one is not given, whoever decides to post first can come up with one on their own and surprise the other.

[Shin]

Consider your challenge accepted.

I'll have to accept with... Shin. He's been around on this site for a long while now. He was a beef cake on the previous site, lets see if I can continue the trend without stats to back me up on this site.

Feel free to post. I shall respond.

[Clint M.]

I'll wait until after school tomorrow to post, to allow anyone to fight beside you if they would like in on the bout.

[Clint M.]

The air was sprinkled with small ieons of glories light, like fieflies and little tinkerbells buzzing all around. The land was flat, fed with short blades of green grass. In its center an ageless tree of crystal grew from the earthen soil, sapping not the rich minerals but the infinite generation of ambient energy hanging in the chill air. From its hard branches, transparent apples were brewed, each of them spilling spectrums of colors from their very centers.

Beneath this legendary tree, Jasper sat with his back to the tree and bathed in the infinitly variable colors of mortal and more. Beside him, his heavy sword stabbed into the ground, its metal like the surface of water as the reflection of colors mirrored in every direction. Whilst Jasper sat, he looked closely at the inside of his hand, as he had picked from those producing branches. The crystal-origin apple was strangely soft, yet firm as all mortal apples grew. The bright colors had dulled, but still lingered in its midst.

What a strange confection.

[Shin]

It was a sight that Shin had never seen before. He could not even imagined that such a tree existed. A crystal tree, clear apples?

'Am I dreaming?' Shin asked himself. 'I dont even remember how I got here...where the hell is here?' He looked around as he asked himself. Flat land...in every direction. 'Great.'

It wasn't until he walked towards the tree for a little longer that he noticed a man sat against it, a man with a huge sword. Shin looked down at his own sword, a Bokken. A wooden sword. Incapable of actually cutting, it did however have the potential to break bones. It resembled a real katana in everyway, down to the tsuba, it was just one hundred percent wood.

While Shin could appreciate the natural beauty of his surroundings he didn't really care about the physical appearance at the moment. Shin was lost, and he hated being lost.

"You, under the tree." Shin broke the silence with his near femine voice. "Where in the Nine Hells am I?" He gestured out with his right hand. "And how do I get back to Cizok?" He continued his approach as he spoke, his hand was not yet on his weapon, but for a man once known as the Tenken that hardly mattered.

[Clint M.]

The properties of the tree weren't complex, but nor were they something to be brushed aside. While the tree itself sapped the ambient energy help in the atmosphere in the air around it, anything thrown at it by the means of magic would near-instantly find itself absorbed, running through layers upon layers of filters to purify said magical energies which would then feed the crystalline landmark. This energy, which was the harvest of the tree, but also the excess mana which ran to the tips of the tree's branches, birthing the apples, their cores sources of power.

When the voice stained the land, Jasper's eyes peeked up to find Shin approaching him. The man's very voice put an ache to his ears. The sight of him made Jasper want to scratch his own eyes out. He had to be put away. As if growling, he muttered while he moved to stand.

"You're on my land."

With his two feet firmly planted, he had started to reach for the still handle of his sword when, instead, his hand began to rise above his head to take a resolute grip over the middle of one of the slumbering branches which hung just above his head. The crystal was strong, but so was Jasper. With a hard jerk, he broke that empty branch away from the tree and held it at his side like a club, while the apple he had plucked earlier was secured in his left palm---all the while his eyes focused on Shin who steadily approached.

"You'll leave, if wise."

[Shin]

Instantly the man seemed to percieve Shin as a threat. Wise choice on his behalf. Though Shin currently wasn't in a threatening posture and wouldn't take one up despite the mans own.

Not taking kindly to threats, no matter how subtle or unsubtle they were. In this case it was the later of the two. Shin arched a brow, mockingly.

"If wise?" Echoing the words to himself, he stiffled back a chuckle. "If wise, you will put down that branch."

"Which way is it to Cizok?" He asked again. Shin had no problem leaving this place, but in order for him to leave he needed to know where he was and how to get to where he wanted to go. Assumably the man had the answers, he could simply tell Shin or he could threaten Shin and not give him answers which would result in Shin beating the pulp out of him and extract the answers that way, either way Shin would be going home.

[Clint M.]

Jasper ear's were deaf, while he himself in a near-rage. Shin's mouth moved, but nothing was heard. In Jasper's mind, the man had taken one of two choices: leave or stay. Between those, it was obvious to the gaijin which Shin had picked carefully from. This angered Jasper, enough to have his body trembling and send shakes up his spine while he tried to control the fury. Yes, in Shin's eyes Jasper might have been crazy or out-of-control but, to Jasper, this was very controlled purely by lineage.

Quickly cutting back, Jasper focused on something in much more importance: Shin's feet. Or rather, what was beneath his feet. Synapses would snap, an invisible hand of psionic influence willing the grass in which Shin walked over to stand up and harden, stiffening while their thin edges acted like the blades of knives. The area controlled was a circle around Shin, a radius of five yards. While Shin might have stepped on this tack-like trap, a portion of the grass would pull from the ground in an unusual pattern and bullet for every part of Shin's body, from every direction with intention not to just prod but instead puncture flesh and organ.

[Shin]

The man was shaking, already? Shin had barely said a word and the man was ready to go off like a loose cannon it seemed. Very well, it seemed that there would be no smooth talking his way out of the upcoming conflict, not that Shin was a real smooth talker in the first place, so it was probably for the best.

If Shin were to be caught so unaware off the bat by such a technique he would have perished long ago. Mindful of his surroundings Shin could feel the subtle changes around him, beyond that he was blind to the actual tactic, only that whatever it was it was centered directly around him and Shin assumed it wasn't going to feel pleasant.

Psionics! Shin had fought people with telekentic powers before, a certain Enigma he fought had used a power that was based in psionics. Shin could feel the subtle changes in Chi around him, and while he couldn't actually detect those with Psionic or magical abilities he could feel it when such powers were being used, allowing him just enough time to evade the entire attack.

Shunpo, a technique Shin was becoming very profecient with. By concentrating his own Chi in his feet he propelled himself near instantly to the side roughly fourty feet. So rapid was his movement that it could easily be mistaken as teleportation. When the blades of grass rose and blades of grass came slicing at where he stood Shin was happy to be out of there, that would have done some damage.

He looked back to the trembling man, pulling fourth the wooden bokken, holding it out to the side in one hand. Whomever he was he had made the first move and now Shin was left wondering what to do, he was several yards away still and this man just proved he was a danger at a distance... and with the large sword at his side Shin could safely assume he was a danger at close range to.

Shin had no ranged attacks of his own, all the techniques he knew were either for augmenting himself somehow or defense. He would have to bring it in close. Shin would begin his way forward, stalking in straight at the man, he wasn't running, but his pace was quick and percise. Shin had an idea.

[Clint M.]

While Shin flew some yards off, Jasper staggered forward toward his earthly-sheathed sword. Every visible and invisible muscle shook and jerked while his flesh trembled. The man snarled, his teeth very much exposed while vehement growls escaped his lungs. He tripped, falling to his knees when finally close enough to his waiting protector. His left hand made a tight white-clenched fist, his fingers and knuckles cracking while the glassy apple was crushed underneath restrained strength as digits curled, which cratered the earth beneath it whilst his right hand had dropped the crystalline branch and reached up for the weapon's high-borne hilt.

As he stretched, his mouth gaped and a painful cry that would have struck terror into any man of the norm washed across the terra. Behind Jasper's bent-over body, the tree of glass quivered, daring to shatter while the sword he reached for bent toward him, as if by will alone. When his fingers brushed against its grip, Jasper's body suddenly jerked outward to snatch it. Just as quickly as he could wrap his hand around its hilt, Jasper's body contracted and reeled back, but not before he could strip the hilt from the sword's blade. Jasper fell, his head crashing down against the dirt below him. Another cry of anger and pain came, complimented with the acute snap and crack of bone. Black patches of hair then began to sprout across his bare, naked body while its humanoid mass began to grow in a monstrous expansion.

As this occured, Jasper squeezed the withstanding hilt of his detached sword. The blade of his sword looked as if the metal was melting beside him, oozing out of the crevice which had been made to secure its stand without foreign aid. The metamorphic blade first moved across the grass toward Jasper, and then around him in a protecting bubble. The stomach-knotting sound of his shouts were trapped in the dome and the transfiguration was veiled.

Edit: Changed wording of various sections of post.

[Shin]

Shin stopped his movement the moment Jasper had fallen to his knees, snarling and shaking violently. Was the man going to explode? Shin took a half step backwards, raising his sword defensivley infront of him. He had no idea what was going on at first, it looked as if something took hold of his opponent and violently shook him around.

Shin had plenty of time to Shunpo in and cut down a defensless man if he so choose, but he didn't. By the time the defensive shield cast itself around Jasper Shin was another few steps back. The man was transforming...patches of black fur were appearing. Shin had heard of something like this before ... lycans they were called. He had fought several himself, but not once had he actually wittnessed the transformation.

He watched, his face void of emotion, he pitted the man before him. If he could even be called a man. Once again Shin placed his wooden bokken back on the belt at his side. He wouldn't attack while ...whatever it was...was unable to defend himself, a loose code of honor was all that Shin had, but it was honor none the less.

Once the thing showed it was capable of defending itself Shin would prepare himself for battle, until then he stayed a safe distance away.

[Clint M.]

Shin was, for a lack of a better word, a fool. Regardless if he could of taken Jasper down or not, he should have taken the chance. The two combatants were gambling, their lives the bet and prize. There was no room for pity; no room for mercy. Honor was to be tossed to the wind.

Jasper, it seemed, was trapped in the suffocating shell of metal. Gradually the shield expanded, growing just as the beast within until after some minutes the bubble would pop like a peice of bubblegum. Liquid-steel would splatter and stain the earth's surface in all directions. As soon as this occurred, it began to draw back toward its origin while in the center of it all, the Gaijin stood.

Stacked at nine feet and nine inches tall and built into nine-hundred pounds of muscle. Glistening black fur had spread across its body, razor-sharp claws attaching themselves to large hands and feet. Jasper's eyes had been painted gold with dilated specks of black as pupils. His nose and mouth replaced by a wolf's mussle, a brigade of teeth with tips like knives set into place. His ears had left the sides of his head, crowning either side at the top of his head.

The beast had awakened.

The Gaijin needed no time to find his partner, seeing him waiting some distance away. On impulse, Jasper's spine lined-up as nostrils flared and a deep breath was sucked up. While his right hand still clasped the hilt of the detached blade, his left hand opened and bent its fingers as if ready to ribbon Shin if he strayed too close. When his lungs were full, he bent forward and bellied a dragon-like roar. The lycan was ready to defend itself.

The tone of Jasper's voice was deadly, and the earth expressed this as it shook. If the sound of his roar had met Shin, powerful wavelengths held the strength to shatter bone. If heard, eardrums were subject to burst while nausea and an unbalanced equibrilium was likely to occur. Behind the werewolf, the tree began to collapse. Had Jasper not unleashed his battlecry, the thousand sounds of breaking glass would pierce the air like a lightning bolt. The tree's branches shook violently into dust, immediately caught in the smooth breeze, sailing away while its trunk broke apart as shards and peices. The spell was broken. However, where ambient energy once was drawn to the crystal tree, now moved and centered where the grass had been precisely picked.

While everything in effect shuddered submissively at the sound of the lycan's voice, the mercurial metal of Jasper's sword had finished collecting, having attached itself to the hilt in the Gaijin's hand. While the sword had normally looked oversized and overweight for Jasper as a man, it seemed too small even for him now. His roar would cease and Jasper would wait with the collapsed tree in ruin at his backside.

Edit: Changed wording of various sections of post.

[Shin]

Shin was to say in the least, impressed. The thing before him was huge, massive even! The beasts appearance only helped to dwarf Shins already diminutive appearance. And the noise that escaped it's mouth would have no doubt forced near any warrior running the other way, running for their lives. It would have been a wise choice.

However, Shin was not just some warrior, and he met the beast with an impassive stare. The effects of the roar, no doubt debilitating, were of little effect on Shin. They caused his stomach to turn his vision did waver for a moment, but that was it.

Something right there just dawned on Shin, he looked to his weapon.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

He held in his hands...a shattered bokken. The effects of the mans roar had litterally caused the wodden sword to explode, so focused he was on the beast that he only just now noticed. He now faced the beast with a shattered weapon, one that he doubted could even penetrate the beasts tough skin and rippling muscles.

He was either insane, or had a plan...because Shin began to charge forward. Shins normal speed was blinding, he reached top speed within two steps, Shin was running at almost one hundred miles per hour. The gap between him and the creature would be closed in literally the blink of an eye.

[Clint M.]

The air held a new pull and it went unconciously by the two, its actions uneffecting them. The shining ieons of light floating in the air all drifted toward one central location: just above the location of grass where Jasper had initially began the chain of events. Time was passing, and in this center a sphere of raw, ambient energy passively collected and grew, waiting to be claimed.

The wooden sword would not go unnoticed. It looked much like a jagged stick now, but its wielder payed it no mind; it was still lethal, not something to be taken lightly. And then, the beast's eyes caught the first and brief lift of Shin's foot. Shin was an idle man thusfar, any movement had to mean something was going to happen. And it did, beginning Shin's stride toward Jasper. Hair following the monster's spine stood on end, as if Jasper had collected a static charge. The air around the Gaijin wavered as he pointed the business-end of his sword toward Shin rather than lifting an arm. A wall of force, or rather a bubble, in this case, casted by telekinetic control.

While the wall held no presence to the naked eye, the air in which it was held was solid and unforgiving as a wall---meaning for Shin to run into and go splat. While Jasper stood idle within its protective properties, the shield stretched and warped in all directions away from Jasper: a shell of thorns. This meant if Shin did indeed come close enough in his quick decision to clear a distance in the "blink of an eye", between them would spears---all of which were pointed at Shin.

[Shin]

The blink of an eye was still long enough for Shin to react to most things, his own speed being one of them, reacting to something being brought in the wat, usually a weapon, was somthing Shin had dealt with on many occasions and when that large weapon was hefted in Shins direction he reacted immidiatley.

Shunpo, Shins momentum would cause him to go straight up and above Jasper near immdietly. While Shin had no Chi attacks, he could sense the energy as well as see that was gathering at a center location , now below and a little ways off to the side of him. This brought him an idea, he began to gather the chi in the air around him mid flight.

With no sword, other then the wooden dagger Shin decided what to do, his flight through the air was a lazy one, for his momentum from his run was still carrying him in the same direction, but now it was carrying him clear over Jasper and his invisible shield.

If Shin had any knowledge of the shield he didn't show it, his reaction was only after the huge sword was lifted in his direction. If not interupted mid jump Shin would land some yards away from the beast, crouched and ready to spring again.