Xeonon Solomon
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Post by Xeonon Solomon on Dec 17, 2013 15:37:55 GMT -8
Ryu vs Saris Location:  Notes: Ryu gets two blaster pistols, Saris gets two lightsabers Force powers are a yes Light-to-no armor |
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L???? ?o R??
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Post by L???? ?o R?? on Dec 17, 2013 18:41:38 GMT -8
"What a desolate place this is..."
Clearly, I am not the first to utter such words about a desert planet. "Oh!" I think to myself. "It's a desert...that's why it's called Aridus...it all makes sense now."
Clever puns by planet-namers aside, this is a real wasteland. In meandering my way to the Iron Tower, where it has been said that Darth Vader concealed in the ruins of the former Imperial power plant a certain artifact, I was also navigating treacherous expanses of volcanic pools. My overcoat, Freedom, gladly shields my skin from any magma liberated from these reservoirs by the occasional stiff breeze, and I do pay attention to stay well clear of them so that my feet do not betray me, yet in spite of these safeguards one never does well to belittle the power of nature's elements. A healthy amount of respect, even from a god such as myself, is the toll paid here.
The tower's body shimmers a soft light grey against the silver backdrop afforded to me by Force Sight. The world is monochrome, save for the vibrant colors which depict the flair of life, and those more vibrant in proportion to the strength with which they touch the Force. It is, after all, surrounding us. It binds the galaxy together. Between me...the ground...the magma...the tower...and I see it. It is the precious gift given to me by the accursed Solus when he stabbed my eyes out on Ison that I would ever after perceive the world, not with these blank glass eyes, but with the very substance that unites all things. (Well, not all things, you know? The Vong...like Solus himself, devoid of the Force, are silhouettes of emptiness, but emptiness is different from background either way) I get the impression that the flow of the Force is to lead me on to ever greater things. That is what has brought me to the Tower this evening, after all.
My newest addition to the armament, the flash pistol Crux, now adorns my belt. It sits opposite my body from his older brother Crisis, with whom many have become acquainted (to their own misfortune, of course). It was in that Laboratory on Kamino that I chanced to find him, and then to fashion a near-identical chassis to Crisis was what completed the adoption process for Crux. Updating the heatbeam technology there with the diodes that Tyrannus had expressed interest in using was likewise natural, so that now I wield the power of almost-identical-twin LL-30 pistols equipped with lasers.
It does tend to get the blood of excitement pumping through your veins when you consider it!
As-yet untested, though, only time will tell if Crux can meet my lofty expectations. But it will not be this night, surely; this is naught but a simple excursion to search through the ruins for anything salvageable from the 1 1/4 century span between when Darth Vader may have been here and when I arrived tonight.
I run my hand along the Iron Tower's namesake metal surface, feeling the smoothness all but nonexistent anymore due to erosion from the harsh climate and oxidation from the ionized atmosphere of the planet, and note that it is neither cold to the touch nor electrified, and prepare to seek out a means by which I can penetrate the tower and begin my expedition to its interior.
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Saris
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Post by Saris on Dec 18, 2013 19:02:04 GMT -8
Mmmm... Yup. Smells like desert. And ash. Definitely ash too. The gray-skinned sakiyan strode almost meanderingly across the dusty ground, his bare feet eliciting tiny puffs of dust with every step. He wore little clothing owing to the almost perpetually hot climate of the planet, his outfit consisting of wrappings from knuckle to elbow and dark pants. While the temperature on most desert planets would drop drastically come nightfall, that was not the case on this one, the lava pits keeping the temperature up long after the sun had set. There was no lack of light, however, as the full moon cast it's eerie glow across the arid landscape. It didn't take long for the jedi to reach the tower, and when he did, he was unsurprised to find that someone else had beaten him there. I guess that's what I get for using public transportation.
"Having trouble finding the door? I've got the key, you know." Saris gripped his right-hand saber and pulled it free of his belt, holding it out for the other man to see. "Unfortunately, I know why you're here. I've heard the rumors too, and I can't allow you inside. Nothing personal." He lowered the saber to his side and reached out with his mind, testing the sands, so to speak.
Earth.
His right foot slid forward through the loose sand as he waited for the other man's response, the motion acting as a focus for the sakiyan's abilities as he began to reach out to the energy surrounding him. Better safe than sorry. "Feel free to walk away."
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L???? ?o R??
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Post by L???? ?o R?? on Dec 19, 2013 14:52:46 GMT -8
'Seek out a means by which I can penetrate the tower' was a fancy word for 'debate whether to use a thermal detonator or my lightsaber to break in'. But I stop prematurely, before the decision is made: there is a man headed this way. I see his teal-ish aura shimmering like a mirage on the surface, headed towards the only landmark for kilometers.
As a courtesy, I'll let him speak. Once he arrives, of course.
. . .
And arrive he does. He comes to the tower to find me waiting for him there and he speaks without hesitation, pulling a lightsaber out, even! I like this one, very straightforward. I think it would befit me to be merciful in this circumstance. While Saris is engaging in the necessary prelude, I study him with Force Sight: barefoot and dressed for the climate, that's for sure. He no doubt can move with agility, much like myself. His head is big, and I don't mean that in judgment of his ego, but rather the actual cranium-- very rounded. And he's got long, strong-looking arms, and scarred all over to boot. And a second lightsaber on him, too, I would do well to not forget that.
He's probably a very tough combatant. Does it make him a skilled fighter, though? --Oh! He finished up his words, and yields the right to speak to me now. But his aura's not staying still, either. It's flowing...outwards, I guess? The action of the Force under his influence currently seems somewhat diffuse, still in its early stages no doubt, but it isn't one that has any recognizable form for me yet.
Whatever he's planning is definitely not as easy to judge as 'moving the Force to the legs' in preparation for Force Speed, for example.
But as he does not yet threaten me with it, I will solely remain on guard. That probably means I will wind up making a Force Barrier, if I had to guess. So if I get in a pinch, which I might, as I'm about to say something provocative, I'll be prepared to create one to solve whatever need.
"You can't allow me inside? Hah! I like you!"
I bring my hands to my sides, taking each pistol by the handgrip from my belt into which they've been tucked nose-first, and lift them grandly: Crux in the left, Crisis in the right. As the barrels come free from the belt I snap my wrists so that the barrels now point, not at the ground, but in Saris' general direction. Clearly not well-aimed yet, though.
"To find someone with your audacity has made this all worthwhile. So let's put things this way: I am a god, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Lapay no Ryu. If you are still alive after five minutes while I let these two pistols wreak havoc, I will permit you to become my disciple."
The Dark Side is ready to bend to my command, as well-- as long as that command is to form a Barrier. I am not yet mentally prepared to do anything except my most familiar power, since I plan to start shooting the guns pretty much right away instead of tossing the Force at him.
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Saris
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Post by Saris on Dec 19, 2013 18:01:04 GMT -8
While Saris was no master of the art of force sense, at least not in the regard that his opponent was using it, even he could detect the darkness that suffused the man. "And why would I wish to be your disciple? The dark side holds no allure for me. My revenge has been taken and my anger mediated. What can you offer that I cannot obtain for myself?" As he spoke, he focused his mind and the energy it was gathering downward, not into his legs, but rather into the soil beneath his feet, spreading and growing it with each passing moment. Harnessing the latent energy in the very sands themselves. Altering weather patterns and the natural terrain around himself was something that had always come naturally to Saris, but until his training with the Shapers of Kro Var, it had been a crude weapon at best.
Now? Now it was something far more lethal.
"Besides, wouldn't a god already know if I'm going to last five minutes?" A smile suddenly split the sakiyan's lips and revealed his pointed fangs as he watched the other man, then his eyes closed in preparation for what was to come. "My name is Saris, and I'm going to enjoy contending with a god." With his eyes closed, the world turned monochrome for Saris as well, though for him it was gradients of heat in varying shades of silver, rather than the auras created by the force that his opponent saw. A distance of no more than thirty meters separated the two men, and Saris took a single step forward with his left foot, drawing his second lightsaber as he moved.
The instant his foot struck the ground, millions of particles of sand leaped into the air between and around him and the other man, completely obscuring normal vision and creating a rather significant choking hazard should Lapay not have a means to counter. It was in this haze that Saris sidestepped two meters to his right and began moving toward his opponent.
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L???? ?o R??
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Post by L???? ?o R?? on Dec 20, 2013 12:40:58 GMT -8
Ahhhh...I see now...an Alter Environment user. Don't sell yourself short, Saris, the number of dust particles to obscure vision and be a choking hazard in this vicinity is on the order of billions, not millions! You're stronger than you think!
I have faced exactly one of these in the past. He used it to travel through the earth as if it were water. It was odd. I think his name was Zimmy, but I don't remember to be perfectly honest. This, though, seems like it is on a whole different level.
On desert worlds, people often wear cloth strips wrapped over their mouths and noses in order to prevent them from clogging and causing respiratory damage, which Saris is fully aware of. The reason they do this is because in such places, the gusts of wind always carry with them sand, and they occur at such frequency as to make it necessary to have a semi-permanent piece of clothing in place to deal with it. What is different about this scenario is that the sand, unless suspended by Saris' power, will simply fall back to the ground below. I think he can't keep it up for long enough to really threaten me, so my solution is to wrap my right arm over my face, bury my mouth and nose in the elbow, and breathe through the thick material of Freedom in order to filter out the annoying particulates until they return to a restful state once again. As he sidesteps to the right, away from the tower, and starts to move towards me, he makes excellent use of the cover provided.
What I take particular note of is the fact that he has closed his eyes. Mine, I do not-- my eyes do not exist anymore, and what rests in the sockets is nothing but cold dead glass. I can see through this cascade of particles without issue, just the same as him. The difference is that he is not using Force Sight, or else I would see evidence of it. No, something about his biology lets him see even while he has his eyelids closed.
Dangerous.
Well, in any case, with his eyes closed there is not much purpose to me shooting off Crux, and in the large amount of sand scattered right now, I think the heatbeam lasers will suffer enough scattering due to sand interference within the beam path to be attenuated to non-damaging levels. Shots fired from Crisis will also fall to the same fate, I think I read somewhere that even fog of sufficient thickness can accelerate the dispersion of blaster bolts.
So! there isn't a lot I can do right now, so instead I'll elect for the 'do nothing' option and let him come to me. He's still over twenty meters away. Not far, but not close, either.
Saris made a really good smokescreen, but it's all going to fall back to the ground soon. When it does, what will he do? Throw it up again? I think he won't use stale moves like that, nor do I think he'll find it beneficial to pay the toll of using the Force for this effect repeatedly, but I could be wrong.
Either way, I know what it looks like when he's preparing to make it. If I want to, I can prevent it from happening in the future.
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Saris
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Post by Saris on Dec 22, 2013 12:03:10 GMT -8
Twenty meters. Close enough. He had closed the ten meter distance quickly, his long strides covering it before the sand began to fall again, though once it did, he halted his progress and focused the power he held upward, rising out of the ground to be used for a new purpose.
Air.
Hot, windy, and dusty. Those were the key components to this battlefield. Even as he had lifted the sand, the natural winds of the place had tried to catch it and carry it away, dragging it off to who knows where. Now, as the sand began to fall, he let the wind take it, let it begin to sweep the particles away from him. He did not, however, allow it to simply go where it would. No, this place was rife with lethal potential and all he had to do was give it a nudge.
To that end, he began to guide the winds, swirling and twisting around the other man and holding the sand aloft as it began to pick up speed in its clockwise rotation. Faster and faster it spun, a small sandstorm twenty meters wide, centered two meters to the left of the other combatant. Lets find out if the flesh of a god can bleed, shall we? It was not yet to the point of breaking the skin, much stronger winds would be needed before that would happen, but the speed never stopped increasing and already it would be stinging exposed flesh.
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L???? ?o R??
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Post by L???? ?o R?? on Dec 23, 2013 14:02:29 GMT -8
It can bleed. And this god's mind does not know the future. Nor is his power infinite, nor his life endless. Such are not the characteristics of my deity. If they were, I think I would have no need of these guns...nor to cover my mouth in the presence of sand.
What has given me justification to classify myself as a god is that all of my characteristics, in comparison to those around me, are cast in so favorable of a light as to illustrate the absolute transcendence of my total power over every other being I have ever encountered.
Surely there is, somewhere, my equal or my better. But I have not yet met him, and even when I do, it would be more appropriate to also name him a god than to say that he is proof that I am not.
Saris might perhaps see my eyebrows lift in surprise when I see him stop after a mere 10-meter dash. My truest expectation was for him to close the distance entirely and engage in melee combat. I did have an answer for that. It seems, however, that the Alter Environmentalist has different ideas, and that he will not charge in all the way. This is, for me, somewhat regrettable.
But a god shows mercy, and when its heartfelt goodness is cast aside by the sheer arrogance of sinful man, what remains is the duty of the god: the remorseless execution of judgment. I will act as I must; he forces my hand to bring destruction upon him.
His Force-fueled influence over the environment now spreads to the air around us. I feel the winds change and see the movement of his aura. Having already seeded the atmosphere with sand, I can guess without too much effort pretty much what he's trying to do. Sand-blast the rust off of the Iron Tower, naturally! In this metaphor, I am approximately equal to rust...but the sand is still sand. I ...am not very good at metaphors, which is part of the reason why I do not chat while in battle.
Saris' focus is essentially everywhere it ought not to be. As the wind builds, I change my mind. It will not be a Force Barrier that I initiate, after all...I cannot ignore such an opening as the one he presents to me. The sand that he flings this way and that has, first of all, very little surface area of flesh to hit. My trenchcoat is long-sleeved, so my hands are vulnerable...I wear hakama and boots, so nothing is exposed on the lower body...and my face was already tucked into the material of the sleeve to help with the breathing by filtering out sand, so my forehead, ears, and neck are exposed to the elements. That concludes the parts of my body that are being stung by the gusts. But secondly, this is an attack that ranks more as 'annoyance' up until now, rather than 'threateningly lethal'. Threateningly lethal is the only way to really keep your opponent from countering with their best shot. If the winds continue to accelerate, I suppose I could be convinced that they will be able to shred my clothes, eventually, and erode my flesh to the bone.
But long before that happens, I think he will have died.
The alternative that I settle on to Force Barrier is to attempt a Telekinetic Grip. He prepares an exotic poem, but my reply is as succinct as it is ruthless. As he stands there, twenty meters away, swirling up his air currents to make them into successively stronger winds, I reach out with my Telekinesis to attempt to latch onto the most prominent feature of his body: that enormous head of his. With this Grip, I aim to meet a twofold purpose: to hold it in place, and, once it is secure, to apply crushing pressure with it.
To hold it will be to effectively immobilize his body, as the legs and torso cannot exit the vicinity of the head with a high vitality rate. To incrementally increase the pressure until it is strong enough to crush through the bone and splatter into oblivion the bulbous brain matter within will take me some time, but less time to be lethal than those sandy winds he is blowing. The fact that I use Force Sight to see through solid objects-- even my own arm, in this case, since my face is still buried-- ensures that there is nowhere to run to evade my line of sight. And the sandy winds that he blows my way do their part to help me, as well: the stinging is a source of pain. The pain sharpens my focus by incurring my anger. The anger incites my wrath, and as the winds grow stronger, the pain only starts to increase. The rage that he is swelling within me will only be satisfied once the one who caused my pain dies off. That is, once the arrogant fool who thought that stinging me with tiny grains of glass and stone was a good idea is no more.
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Saris
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Post by Saris on Dec 23, 2013 14:45:09 GMT -8
Finally. Took him long enough. The pressure began lightly but was quickly building as Saris continued to fuel and coax the gusting winds. Neither the lifting of the sand nor the harnessing of the wind had yet taken an appreciable toll on his focus, as they were both elements of great abundance here and a nudge had been all that was required. If circumstances had permitted, the jedi knight could have gone on for hours, expending only a pittance of his own energies in order to maintain the whirlwind and allowing the natural energy it possessed to carry it to greater and greater speed. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of time.
And so it was that as the pressure built around his cranium, he lent an extra portion of his own power to that which drove the winds, though not to simply increase the voracity of the sandstorm. That manifestation died away as the winds peeled off and up into the sky, then circled back to drive straight at the man with enough force to lift him off his feet, tumble him through the air, and throw him painfully into the side of the tower.
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L???? ?o R??
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Post by L???? ?o R?? on Dec 30, 2013 6:49:58 GMT -8
How will he force me to let go? The answer, to me, becomes obvious as his aura shoots skyward.
Lightning.
The Alter Environmentalist has shown me air and sand, next is apparently going to be his mastery over the electrical elements. Too bad for you, Saris; your lightning strike will never reach me. You'll have to do better than that.
When I first arrived at the Iron Tower, I had reached out my hand to touch its surface. Since my arrival, Saris has not given me cause to move even a single step from that position. Thus, when I see his efforts aim for higher up, I casually lean, stretch my left hand out, gun still held in it, and decline the wrist so that the knuckles which wrap around the handle once again touch the metal surface. Thus ensuring that I am well-grounded.
The lightning that I assume he is summoning to strike will not strike me. First of all, I am close to the tower. It is far more likely that the iron of the tower will accumulate positive charge before I do, especially since I am touching it. Second, the tower is tall. A direct strike from the sky is not possible, because long before it reaches the ground where I stand, the electrical discharge will leap into the conductive metal surface and disperse into the ground. Third, the tower is iron and I am not. Electricity always follows the path of least resistance within its circuit. The tower leading into the ground is a far more favorable conduit than I am.
It will serve as my lightningrod.
Well... this is the point in time where I become aware of my fallacious assumption.
Wind, not lightning, cascades around me. I realize now the flaw: I watched his aura, but wind currents are not something that I am used to following with my eyes, so it is only natural that I would overlook it. In fact, if we consider my reaction to his previous attack, it was not the wind currents that I reacted to, but rather his aura diffused which was beginning to stir them. I did not see the wind. Nor do I see it now: I feel it.
It buffets me, but its efficacy will not be nearly what Saris hopes. Not even enough to rattle my concentration.
After all, the amount of wind that rushes down to meet me cannot effectively surround me; they can only come from the front, and they can only hit me back against the tower. But...the tower is right behind me. It is not a far distance to fly at all, nor is it 'painful', thanks to the bracing effect that my left hand has to lessen the thud of my back into the wall. Add to that that by the time my shoulders hit the wall (and they do hit the wall first, because I was leaning towards it to touch it) I am close enough for my feet to have not left the ground, even, and you are left with an assault of wind that is pressing me flat against its iron sides but otherwise has no noteworthy effect.
I have done nothing but stand still since his arrival. He should have known better than to think that he could cause me to lose my focus when attempting to whack me against the tower, when I would be accelerating over a distance of less than a meter.
Therefore, my Telekinesis remains intact.
This seems to me like last-ditch desperation, even though we have just begun. An amusing little thought. I redouble my efforts and attempt one last, strong squeeze. Perhaps it will be sufficient to fracture bone; crushing the innards is no longer my intention, due to this gleeful thought I have just had. Before relinquishing my Grip, I will try one last little bit of fun before shooting him to death.
I peel myself from the wall and stretch out my arms, guns pointed towards him, and exert the final bit of effort I am willing to spend right now on that Grip, to try to pull his head forward and down, face-first towards the sand, so that he will fall either prone or to his knees and bow before me.
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Xeonon Solomon
The First Order
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Post by Xeonon Solomon on Apr 17, 2014 5:59:51 GMT -8
This was shaping up to be one hell of a duel and I wish that it had gone farther than it had. Both of you fed off one another perfectly. I loved the humor from Lapay and the technical skill from both of you.
I have one nit pick for you though Lapay, duel wielding guns looks cool as hell but at least in the real world its impracticable. You cant aim and fire both. Now it could be argued the force guides your hand or some other sci fi reason but just the average (godlike) human cant do it. I know you didnt actually get to use them but something for the future.
Saris, I loved the use of Alter Environment its one of the better and only times I have seen it used. Not over powered, not under powered just right. I would have liked to see how you reacted to the lightning rod of a tower but that is neither tit nor tat.
As for a winner I give this one to Lapay, he had an answer for everything you threw at him Saris and had you in a pretty bad spot with that crush going on. Perhaps things may have changed further into the duel, maybe not but I can only judge with what I have available so good job both of you and I hope you return to the GBA to fight again.
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