Crowded market battle (anyone)

OOC: It's my first battle with Brather Tawn! (Her link is in my sig)

The crowded streets were filled with dirt and disease. The town square was filled with merchants selling foods and other goods. Each stall was as big as the one next to it, the merchants were ringing bells and shouting their goods to get customers.

What a time not to have money! And Brather could have bought those sandwiches for a fraction of the price she usually got them at! Darn gipsy better have had a good reason for sending her to this dirt pit. With so much filth you wouldn't want to buy sandwiches anyway... they might be diseased. So many shady merchants around here... if she wasn't careful the might take her things without her noticing... She decided to stand a distance from those stalls.

She had been told by a young gipsy that her first challenge would be here... but who? If only the woman had been more specific... She probably just wanted to pass through the forest without Brather following her. It is her forest after all. If she goes back and finds even one of her trees chopped down she'll crack the woman's head open with her staff. No... she must have had a legitamite reason for sending her here.

She took time and made notice of her surroundings. There were only twenty stalls to her left, but she didn't really care about the stalls... it was the people that she was watching. Each person had their own way of standing out, but none seemed to be any kind of threat.

Then again... her father had told her a story about underestimating people. There were probably other things hiding in those alleys and under masks of humans. Things that couldn't be cosidered normal. But in this dingy town? There's no way a creature would want to stay here.

Brather looked to her right. There was a big platform there. It was used for public hangings and for announcements. It probably hadn't been used in a while.

But there was something else. A person was climbing up onto it! The person looked almost determined to be heard. They cupped their hands to their mout and shouted, "Come out! I am here for a fight and I will get one! Where are you? I want to fight NOW!"

Brather sighed. Now was better than ever... the person kept shouting.

"I'm your challenger! If you want to fight now it would be fine with me, but what about all these people? I would feel sorry for them if they got hurt on your behalf."

And suddenly the people were gone. They had all been an illusion by Brather all along. This town was abandoned. The only reason she had payed attention to them was to see if there was someone that wasn't an illusion among them.

"Let's fight!" Brather shouted, "but first... what is your name warrior?"

OoC: I'll use Zephia.

BiC: "Warrior?" Zephia giggled. "Please don't call me that. Warrior sounds so serious." Brather was very confused.

"Ok then. Well, what is your name?" she asked.

"Zephia. And you?" she said with a smile.

This girl is way to happy. Is she really a fighter? Brather thought. "My name is Brather. What kind of fighter are you? You are way to energetic."

"What? A fighter can't be energetic? You should try it."

"I'm not an emotional type of person. Can we just fight."

"Oh, I respect that. Ok, let's go." All of a sudden, the wind began to pick up. The wind was blowing faster and faster by the minute. Zephia jumped forward and she flew toward Brather.

She can fly? Brather took out her staff as defense but the force of Zephia's impact pushed her back a little. "How are you able to fly?"

"Fly? I can't fly."

"Don't act dumb. You just flew straight at me."

"Oh, that wasn't flying. That was gliding. I use the air currents to push me back and forth, but I would concentrate on what's happening now." Zephia pointed behind Brather. She turned around and saw a sai floating in midair. It flew towards her but she caught it with her staff.

"I can't push it away. How are you doing this?"

"Hey, you really good with that staff. But how will you keep that sai at bay and block this sai from stabbing your back." Zephia threw her other sai at Brather. She tried to block it but her staff was stuck by the sai in front of her. "And....it hits! What?" But to Zephia's surprise, a rock from the ground intercepted the sai and hit it away. Zephia let out a sigh. "Lily! Are you interrupting my fight again."

"No. That was me." said Brather as she threw Zephia's first sai back at her. She caught it.

"So. You can control the elements also. But you're definitely not an Elemental."

"What do you mean 'also'? And what is an Elemental?" asked Brather.

"You sure do ask a lot of questions." Zephia said and then let out a small giggle. "But I'll answer both of your questions with this." Zephia put her hand out with her palm facing up. In her palm a mini tornado formed. "The Elementals were a race that could control and create the elements. Unfortunately, their planet was wiped out. But, eight Elementals manage to survive. I am one of those survivors. I am the last Wind Elemental. But enough history, it's really boring me. Since I know my sais can't cut through your staff, I'll attack bare handed."

"Bare handed against my staff? Not a very wise choice."

"You'll see."

"There's one thing you didn't count on," Brather started to say with a sly smile, "I was trained by an... what did you say again? Oh... an Elemental."

"But how?" Zephia asked in confuusion, "I thought the 8 of us were the only ones left!"

"I wasn't trained in Reality. I was trained in my dreams. Two years in a forest does a lot of things to you, and starvation combines the two together. Dream and Reality... mixed as one they can create true power!" With that the symbol on Brather's staff glowed white. Brather grabbed some clay from the pouch on her belt and slapped it onto the symbol. A white hole started to form in the ground, but before Brather could finish what she started Zephia had already attacked.

Brather was forced to block the attack with her staff, stopping the process in its most crucial moment.

"Hehe," Zephia laughed, "You're pretty good with your staff... but what happens if I take it away?" She made a move to take the staff, but Brather had already chosen her next move. She smashed her foot on the ground. A moldy rock shot up from the ground and blocked Zephia.

Before Brather could move again, however, she felt the tickle of one of Zephias sais on her neck.

This was trouble...

Great, she has me. Thought Brather. Then she heard Zephia laugh. "What's so funny?" She then felt her sai go away.

"I told you before, I'm not going to use my sai. I was just playing around." Zephia smiled while Brather looked at her, confused.

What a strange fighter she thought. Zephia looked at Brather's serious face.

"What? Can't you take a joke?" asked Zephia.

"I just have never met someone that jokes around in a fight before."

"Ok then, I'll get serious. Well, as serious as I can get." Zephia giggled. "Oops, sorry. Serious." Zephia began to move her feet around at a quick pace.

"I thought you were going to get serious? Why are you dancing?"

"Because dancing is my style. Watch." Zephia ran up to Brather. She got defensive. Zephia then fell and stopped her fall with her hand and used her hand to jump up over Brather. Then she grabbed Brather's head with her legs and flipped her. Brather got up and hit her with her staff, knocking her down. Brather jumped up and was about to strike when Zephia did a kick up and then did a handstand and caught Brather's staff with her feet. She then started to spin around using her hands and threw Brather away.

"What was that?" asked Brather.

"That was a 1990. One of my favorite break dancing moves."

"Break dancing?"

"Yep. As I said, dancing is my style, my fighting style. Break dancing is my favorite type of dance because it is very unpredictable, like me. So, I turned various break dancing moves into fighting moves. Like the Windmill." Zephia laid down on the floor.

This could be my chance. Brather ran towards Zephia. Zephia threw her feet out and started spinning around, kicking Brather in the process. Zephia got up.

"See."

"This could be trouble."

For once Brather was glad she could create illusions. Sometimes she could cross her elemental powers with her others, creating the perfect distraction, or in this case, an almost perfect replica.

"Fine," a voice sounded to Zephia's left, "let's get serious." Zephia was confused because, to her left, was Brather with her staff. When Zephia looked back at the Brather she had been fighting she saw a heap of soft, claylike stone piled in an almost human form. When she looked at the staff she had stolen she realized what had happened. The staff she had stolen was only a long stick, nothing else. She threw it away.

"You're a tricky one aren't you?" Zephia giggled again, "I guess it was a little too easy."

It had all been an elaborate plan to find Zephia's strengths and weaknesses. Brather was surprised that it had worked as easily as it had. She should do that more often.

It started to rain. Brather hadn't even noticed that clouds were coming in, but she didn't care. This only meant three things for her. One, fire wouldn't be of any use now. Two, she now had a small advantage since she prefered water and this would make things slippier for Zaphia. Three, she couldn't do realistic illusions anymore.

The replica of herself was one of the few safety measures Brather had made. After all, this was her first challenge.

Too bad Brather had had to reveal herself so soon. She had wanted to see the weaknesses in Zephia's strange break dancing fight style. Oh well, not a lot she couold do about that.

There was something to do while Zephia was still stunned by the trick, which wouldn't be much longer. If Zephia knew that Brather could use the water to her advantage she would kick her fighting up another notch. She wanted to end it here. The only problem was her energy. Controlling two things as one is very exausting. If she wsn't careful her next move could be her last.

She was going to call out her weapon. The staff was only to use to call out dreams. The clay was the key. She applied all of it to the symbol on her staff. She then grabbed two places that were equally spaced from the middle and started pulling. Half of the staff stretched in one direction, and the other half stretched in another. There was now about a foot long diagnol piece of wood seperating the two halves. Then the true nature of the staff was revealed. Two scythe like blades shot out of the staff, one on the bottom and one on top. It now resembled a large S.

Brather twirled it from arm to arm, using it like she had used it for years, and in fact, she had. It was the last thing she was willing to use on someone as cheerful as Zephia, but she wanted so desperately to finish the fight quickly that she didn't think of other things to do. She ran at Zephia with her S scythe in her hands.

And as quickly as it had started it had been stopped. A swift kick from Zephia sent the blade sailing into the air. Brather was caught defenseless with Zephia's next kick. She went skidding backwards into the wall of the stall. She was very tired now. There was only enough energy left for one special move, but she couldn't use it now! If she did now there was no telling what would happen! It was true that combining the elements was powerful, but doing so could change the very being of the person it was aimed at. If it hit it could make the target powerful or make it crippled for life.

There was no time to think about it. She was going to use the power on herself!

A line of light connected the pentagons on her hands and her head. The light then connected the pentagons on her hands with her feet. The symbols, connected by the light, made a pentagon that was created by Brather's whole body! Whatever was going to happen it would be decided now.

"Pentagon..." Brather shouted, "blast!"

A smoke surrounded Brather's body.

And Zephia watched as the smoke cleared, showing Brather's body. She gasped...

Zephia's eyes began to glow a bright pink. She let out a deaf defying scream and fell to her knees. The wind started to circle around her at insane speeds, lifting her up into the air. Then, her hair turned pink and an explosion of air occurred. When Zephia landed on her knees, she looked up at Brather. But her eyes were different. They glowed a bright pink and were no longer the sweet, innocent, carefree eyes, but angry almost hateful eyes. Slowly she got up. She began to breathe heavily.

"You...it's you." said Zephia in an angry tone. Brather looked at her with confusion. Even though she knew her body had changed, she had no idea what she looked like. But unfortunately, Zephia did.

"Zephia, what's wrong?" Brather asked.

"Don't talk to me! I will bring you down and avenge my people!" Zephia rushed at Brather and jumped above her. Brather looked up and Zephia was gone.

"Where..." She looked down and Zephia was right in front of her.

"Sonic boom!" Zephia clapped her hands once and unleashed a small sonic boom throwing Brather into a small bathroom. Brather shook her head and got a hold of herself.

"I don't get it. What happened to her? It's like she's a completely different person." She then saw Zephia fly in. "Why are you acting like this?"

"How else would I act in front of the thing that destroyed my planet?"

"Wha?" Zephia kicked her, but Brather caught her foot. Zephia did a Valdez and flipped Brather outside the bathroom. Brather landed and put her two hands out. Then a fire and water ball flew out her left and right hands, respectively.

"Whirlwind!" Zephia released a strong gust of wind that blew the fire and water together, canceling them out. Brather looked at her hands. Surprised by the new attack she had, she barely realized Zephia. "Wind Spin!" She did an incredibly fast head spin, which caused a small tornado to form.

"Alright," said Brather. "Time to put this new body to work."

Whatever happened to me, Brather thought, It must be whatever she thinks destroyed her planet... Could it be that Krid was... No! He was a nice person. Even in my dreams he was a strong teacher.

"Look," Brather started, "whatever destroyed your planet, it wasn't me. I just want to finish this thing."

Talk about the next step up! Brather thought to herself again, I barely felt her last few attacks! I didn't even try the water and fire attack! I feel like I have elemental mastery! I was sure that Krid was only teaching me the basics. A non-elemental can't have elemental mastery, it's just wrong! These symbols he gave me... they're a lot more powerful than I thought. If I'm not careful I could repeat whatever happened to Zephia's planet... So much power... This wasn't right! Maybe I should forfei- A swift kick in Brather's gut brought her back to reality. Where was the staff? If she could just find it again she could put them in a place where it didn't matter what the damage was.

However Zephia seemed determined to end this fight before Brather could attack again. Her mix of attacks were being enhanced by the wind, making her faster and stronger. There was only one power that Brather knew could slow Zephia down. Fire and water was good for fighting, but solid earth was good for slowing something down. If she could do what she was planning she could take them to a safe place. A place where even infinite power could not destroy that much. A place where Brather had been many times before. The dream world.

Brather slammed her foot onto the ground again. A dome of rock and dust surrounded her. Zephia didn't stop attacking. She was determined to punch through the earth bubble. Her pink-tinted eyes were filled with rage. Brather couldn't control the extent of her powers... The dome exploded, huge chunks of it flew everywhere, knocking Zephia down. Another large chunk of the dome hit Zephia in her head. She was knocked out for the time being.

Brather sat against a wall and started to concentrate on her staff. It flew from the bathroom over to her. She had two choices. She could either continue this battle in the dream world and try to beat the enraged Zephia, or she could forfeit. She could let the power she had drain back into the elements, and be gone before Zephia woke up.

She decided... to forfeit. How could she keep fighting with a form that had destroyed a planet? Even fighting in the dream world... it wasn't right. She couldn't fight with a form that had enraged Zephia so much. She didn't like to admit it, but she cared. She let the power she had drain back in the elements.

The rain stopped and the sun came out. When Zephia woke up she saw Brather sitting with her back against a market stall wall. She was in her normal form again.

Zephia shot up, ready to fight again with the pink back in her eyes.

"It's okay... I didn't know what would happen when I did the pentagon blast." Brather whispered. She was almost totally exausted. She could barely talk anymore. She was ready to fall asleep. She looked very emotional about what had happened. A single tear went down her cheek.

Zephia slowly became normal again. The pink faded from her eyes and hair. Her adrenaline stopped pumping. She walked over to Brather. Brather was sure she was going to attack, but instead Zephia held out a hand. Brather grabbed it and pulled herself up.

And without a word the two walked away. Brather walked back in the direction of her forest, pondering what the battle had revealed. Not only had it revealed something about herself, but it had revealed something about her teacher. This had definitely been her first challenge. It was not a challenge of winning, but the challenge of knowing when to stop. That was what the gipsy had planned the whole time.

"Krid... who were you really?" She thought out loud...

OoC: So what do you think? Not the WORST ending the world at least... I didn't feel like that fighting further was what Brather would have wanted. She's not evil.. just confused about certain things in her past...

OoC: *sigh* Just to tell you, the form that Brather took wasn't the thing that destroyed the Elementals, she just looked like it.

BiC: As Zephia walked away, she looked back at Brather who disappeared in the forest. "Why did she end the fight so quickly? What happened?" Her head began to throb trying to remember. "All I remember is getting an Elemental Boost and then nothing." She kept pondering this as she glided back to her fellow Elementals. She met up with Tidra.

"So did you find a fight? Tell me everything that happened." asked Tidra. Zephia began to tell her everything that happened up to the point that she could remember. "She could control the elements? Let me guess, another human who learned Elemental magic."

"I don't really know. I didn't really ask her. I'll be she to ask her a lot next time we fight."

"And how do you know you two will fight again?"

"Just a strange feeling."

"Ok, you're out of it, even for you. You need some food and rest." said Tidra tugging on Zephia's shirt.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"