Austrailian Arts Festival (Mr. Spork)

OoC: I felt this was an appropriate setting, since Sarah's an artist of sorts. Also, I really do go to the Main Street Arts Festival every year. *see below* Come on Sporky, let's see what Ray can do! ^_^

The sun was beating down, and Sarah was drenched in sweat, but she was otherwise in a good mood. She at an arts festival in Austrailia, which rather reminded her of the Main Street Arts festival she used to go to all the time as a kid. She was slurping a lemon icee and inspecting some metal sculptures.

She was about to move on when someone pushed past her, knocking icee all over her shirt. "Hey!" she yelled, turning. "Watch where you're going!"

Standing before her was a young man about her age wearing a suit and tie. He had black hair so thickly covered in gel it looked as if it could repel bullets. He was holding a microphone and was followed by a camraman. Presumably he was doing a report of the fair. He did the worst thing he could have done to improve Sarah's fastly rising temper; he ignored her.

"Hey!" she yelled. "You got lemon icee all over my brand new shirt!" Her good mood quickly dissapating, she waited for an apology. It didn't come.

"Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn't stand right in the way," the man replied. He looked over his shoulder to the cameraman. "Come on, let's go find something interesting to report." He turned to walk away, and Sarah launched a punch at his half-exposed jaw.

OoC: Here Sporky sporky sporky. Let's see what your newest character can do. ^_^ *chuckles inwardly* I shall crush this foolish reporter. Muahahahaha!

OoC: Oooh...a challenge from Belle. *jumps into the battle* I will be using Ray Robson, who you know already Belle.

"What did you do that for?" asked Ray as he rubbed where he got hit.
"You spilled Lemon Icee all over my new shirt," angrily replied Sarah.
"I see," said Ray with a delicious pun.
"Apologise to me or suffer the consequences," demaned Sarah.
"Look, lady, I'm a busy guy, I've gotta get this report in soon and I can't be wasting my time with you," said Ray.
Sarah punched him again, exactly where she hit him before. Ray looked angrily at Sarah. He gripped his microphone tight.
"Is that how you want to play, huh?" said Ray.
Ray began swinging his mircophone around by the cord. It picked up speed. Ray kept his eyes on Sarah as he swung it faster and faster. Suddenly, he launched the microphone in Sarah's direction. She deftly sidestepped and grabbed the cord. Sarah yanked it, sending Ray flying towards her. She simply raised her fist and Ray slammed into it.
"My face..." groaned Ray. "I need that for television!"
"Please," said Sarah. "Your face was already ruined."
"So was your shirt," retorted Ray.
"Do not disparage my shirt," sternly warned Sarah.
Sarah unsheathed two silver daggers.
"Those look pretty cool," said Ray. "But they won't when you see tonight's story 'Arts Festival Terrorised By Woman Concealing Weapons'.
Sarah lunged towards Ray, brandishing her blades. Ray quickly raised his clipboard and the daggers became embedded in it. The current affairs reporter yanked the clipboard back, taking Sarah's daggers with it.
"What are you going to do now?" asked Ray. "Not that...sharp anymore are you?"
"Gah, your puns are pathetic," said Sarah. "Tonight's top story 'Current Affairs Reporter Found Beaten at Local Arts Festival'"

OoC: Oh, so that's how you wanna play is it? Well, take away my physical weapons, and I gotta use my magical ones. *grins fiendishly*

BiC: Ray Robinson grinned at Sarah. She glared back at him and concentrated. She need to think of something ironic, something that could be called poetic justice. In a weird way, the fact that she had this power, when she could rarely think of ironic ways to bring about poetic justice, was an irony in itself. This wasn't helping her any though, and she tried to think as she punched almost mechanically at the confident reporter.

She ducked another swing from his microphone, and listened with half an ear to his never-ending puns, trying to think of something. She launched a kick at him, momentarily knocking him back, but he was up faster than she expected and hit her on the side of the head with his microphone.

"OW!" she yelled, her thoughts distracted. She then got her inspiration. It was as if the striking of the microphone was the strike of her muse coming down from the sky. She concentrated hard, not bothering to try and duck his latest swing with the mike. As it soared towards her, she made a gust of wind blow and hit the reporter right in the middle of his face.

Sara smirked. He took her weapons, so his would attack him. Not only that, but it would hurt his face, risking damage to his good looks, which seemed to be a large source of his confidence. Now THAT was a brilliant streak if she did say so herself.

Angered, the reporter launched again with his mechanical weapon, only to be struck once again as a freak wind blew it into his stomach, doubling him over. While he was bent over, Sarah wrenched her daggers out of the clipboard, holding them up in front of her. The spell was gone now, as she had retrieved her weapons, but hopefully she had wounded his pride a little.

OoC: Muahahaha! Whatchya gonna do now Sporky? Cower before the almighty wrath of Sarah! ^_~ *tosses Sporky some brownies*

Ray wearily got to his feet. By this time the crowd at the arts festival had lost interest in the art and instead became engrossed in the battle before them. Ray looked around at the crowd. He smiled.

"You can't hurt me as long as I have an audience, this is a pretty good audience, too," he said.
"I've hurt your pride though," smirked Sarah.
Ray was slightly taken aback before he managed to compose himself, "N-not at all, lady. You're not good enough to hurt my pride."

Sarah wielded her blades once again. Ray looked uneasily at them, they were very sharp. If one of them went the wrong way, someone, or more importantly, he, could get hurt.
"Those things aren't as sharp as my wit," said Ray.
"They're sharp enough," responded Sarah. "I think it's time I gave you a haircut."
Ray's eyes widened, "No, not the hair...anyway, you wouldn't be able to come even close to cutting my hair."
"As I swing my dagger in the air, off will come Ray Robson's hair," said Sarah.
"Nice poetry, I'll give you that," said Ray. "But you don't stand a chance against me."

Sarah swung one of her daggers. Ray ducked, the blade glanced across the top of his head. His hair, moulded thick with gel, almost like that of a lego man's hair, sparked as the metal blade came in contact with it. Ray got back up and smiled. He looked patronisingly at Sarah.
"See?" said Ray. "You're all talk."
Sarah smiled back at him and raised the dagger she had just swung at him. On the edge of the blade were two lonely strands of hair. Ray gasped.
"You...you...," Ray was lost for words. "My hair, my wonderful, beautiful hair. That's done it."
Sarah swung her other dagger at Ray. Ray tried to step back, but the dagger caught his tie and severed half of it. Sarah picked up the remnants of the tie.
"Looks like I'm releasing you of the ties that bind you," said Sarah.
"Hey, only I'm allowed to make puns," said Ray, with more than a hint of anger in his voice.
"Well, for ruining my shirt, I'm going to pun-ish you," smiled Sarah.
Ray became even more infuriated, "That's it, I'm not going to go easy on you anymore."
"Ha!" laughed Sarah. "If that was you going easy, I don't think you're going to do any better by not going easy. You suck."
Ray grabbed his microphone and broke it open, "Let's make it interesting...we're going Live."
Sarah saw his pun as the wires from his microphone dangeld out with the power still on. If her daggers were to come in contact with the wires, she would receive an electric shock, not enough to do any damage, but enough so that it would still be very annoying and hurt quite a bit.

Sarah eyed the broken microphone warily, planning her next move. She doubted those little microphone wires could do any serious damage, but she didn't really want to find out all the same. She struck out with her dagger, causing Ray to pull his microphone up suddenly in a counter attack. Just at the last second, Sarah pulled her dagger back in and kicked him straight in the legs. Ray stumbled, and Sarah struck out with her dagger, cutting his left cheek.

Ray got off the ground, and brought his hand to his face. He stared at his bloody fingers for a moment, looking as if he might faint. "My face..." he said; stunned. "My beautiful face." Then he glared at Sarah so fiercely that she took a half step back. "You'll pay for that."

Sarah scoffed unconvincingly, and said in a somewhat higher tone of voice, "Yeah right. And you'll win the reporter of the year award."

Suddenly, Ray launched towards the young poet. He pummeled her in the stomach, and immediately followed up with a strong punch to her jaw. Sarah was knocked off her feet. She looked up, stunned, at the reporter, then glared back with intensity to match his own. She raised half up, then stopped and hurled a dagger straight for Ray's side.

OoC: Muahahaha! ^_^

Ray side stepped and the dagger swooshed past him harmlessly. He looked down at Sarah and smiled. The arrrogance in his eyes infuriated her.
"Sorry, sweetheart," said Ray. "You'll have to do better than that."
Sarah simply smiled back. A look of confusion came over the roving reporter's face. Why was she smiling? Sarah suddenly wrenched the dagger back towards her, catching on Ray's pants. An almighty tearing sound could be heard by everyone at the festival. The dagger had sliced his belt in half and tore off one of the legs of his pants. Ray's hands quickly moved to hold up his pants. If he let go, he would be humiliated in front of the audience. But if he kept holding on, he would not be able to defend himself. An idea suddenly popped into his head but Sarah began attacking him before he could implement it. She relentlessly thrusted her daggers towards the nervous news reporter. Ray did his best to dodge her attacks while holding up his pants. To a passer-by it would have looked as though Ray had spent many years trying to get into River dance. In fact, some of the people in the crowd that had gathered thought it was part of the festival and started clapping along.

Sarah grew more and more frustrated and angry as her attacks continued to miss. Though, she felt a strange sense of satisfaction as she looked upon Ray's face, the cut on it still bleeding. Seeing what damage she had already inflicted mader her more determined to inflict more pain on this joke of a journalist before her. Suddenly, Ray stopped. It took Sarah off guard. She just stood and looked at her foe.
"Cameraman, attack!" exclaimed Ray.
Sarah raised an eyebrow and without warning she was knocked to the ground. She groggily got to her feet and turned around. There was Ray's cameraman, looking down at her with all the contempt he could muster. The cameraman sneered at her as he held a bulky, expensive camera on his shoulder. Sarah's lips curved into a sneer.
"That camera must be pretty expensive," she said.
"It's worth more than you," replied the cameraman.
As fast as lightning, Sarah shot to her feet and drove one of her daggers straight into the lens. The camerman was shocked, his mouth was wide open, no words coming out. A tear formed in his eye.
"Why...why would you do that?" he said in a trembling voice. "This camera was a gift from my Grandmother...it's all I have of her."
For the briefest of moments, Sarah felt a bit sorry for him but then returned to her usual self, "You shouldn't have hit me, you...you...stupidhead."
"Hey!" The cameraman broke into tears. "There's...no...sniff...need to call me...sniff...names."
The cameraman ran off as Sarah turned back towards Ray. He was not holding onto his pants anymore. He had tied his microphone with its cord around his waist to substitute for his belt.
"Pretty clever, huh?" said Ray. "There's no way you can beat me."
Sarah rolled her eyes and walked towards the roving reporter...

OoC: Let's see what you've got, Belle.

OoC: Oh, this is too easy. Lol. ^_^ Btw, sorry it's been awhile. I just discovered an old forum that I thought was dead but it wasn't, and it's been taking up a lot of my time the past few days.

BiC: Sarah rolled her eyes and walked towards the report. "Please," she said. "That's not clever at all. Now you don't have a weapon anymore, while I've still got both my daggers..." Here she feinted with one dagger, then struck hard and fast with the other, cutting Ray's right arm slightly as he belatedly tried to dodge her swing.

"Yeah, well, I thought you could use a break. Having the advantage of weapons over me will give you just enough extra advantage to get away with nothing worse than possibly a concussion." Ray said in a confident voice.

"Yeah, right." Sarah said; smirking. She was struck with inspiration, but she needed to be careful about how she implemented it, or Ray would be able to avoid it. She struck out with her dagger, but Ray blocked her arm with his. Then her brought his right hand up for a jab to the stomach. Sarah got a sudden idea, and let him hit her, throwing her to the ground.

"Well, looks like you're not quite as good as you thought are you?" Ray said, growing ever more confidant.

Sarah smiled. She sat up, and place her hand on the ground to push herself up. Her fingers curled unnoticably(sp?), and then she was standing before Ray. "Even an idiot can get lucky once in a while." she said. She then lashed out with her foot, kicking Ray in the knee. He winced, but stayed upright and threw a punch at her. Sarah timed it perfectly, waiting until Ray was in the middle of his punch and would be unable to avoid it. Then she threw the shard of camera lense she had gotten off the ground at his waist. It severed the cord wrapped about his pants, and a shower of electric sparks ensued.

"OW!" Ray yelled. A particularly powerful shock jolted him so bad that he fell over onto his side. Sarah walked over and kicked him onto his back, careful not to touch the cord or the area around it. "Humph. What was that you were saying about me needing an advantage?"

OoC: Let's see what you got now Sporky! ^_^

OoC: Nice one, Belle.

BiC: Ray looked up at the disgruntled woman above him. He was still on his back and he tried desperately to catch his breath. Sarah held one of her daggers to Ray's throat. The reporter's eyes widened as she softly pressed it against his skin. Beads of sweat rolled down his face. His hands trembled. He looked into Sarah's eyes with a pleading look.
"Please, don't hurt me," begged Ray.
"Why shouldn't I?" asked Sarah.
"If you hurt me, I won't tell you a huge secret," said Ray. "It's a shocking secret indeed."
Sarah mulled it over for a second, "Okay, tell me this secret and then I'll think about not hurting you."
"Okay," said Ray.
Sarah's attention was focused on Ray's face, awaiting the secret he had promised. She did not see Ray's hand grab the microphone around his waist. Carefully, he took it off from around his waist, careful not to come in contact with the exposed wire.
"The secret," said Ray.
"Yes?" said Sarah.
"Is..." began Ray. "You should never let your guard down."
Ray, holding onto the actual microphone, lashed the cord around Sarah's leg. It wrapped around her ankle and the roving reporter yanked it back, causing Sarah to fall flat on her back. The exposed wire delivered small electric shocks to Sarah's ankle, not enough to do damage but it was still annoying. Ray quickly got to his feet, before realising that he no longer had anything to keep his pants up. The nervous newsreporter spied a stand selling pants that someone had created. There were all sorts of designs and patterns. Ray ran over and found a pair of trousers and put them on as soon as he got them. The reporter fished some money out of his pocket and paid the person manning the stall. Ray looked back to Sarah, but she wasn't there.
"Wha...?" said Ray.

OoC: No one can ever defeat Ray, unless he gets defeated, that is.

OoC: Ooooh...the possibilities are endless, I could say she's right behind him, or that she ran away to post embarrassing footage of him begging for his life online! Lol. ^_^

BiC: Sarah was furious for letting her gaurd down, but, luckily for her, the young reporter did the same thing he had advised against immediately after knocking her down. The time it took him to pick out and purchase the pants gave her plenty of time to get the microphone off her leg and hide. She was about to throw the microphone aside, but thought better of it. Why give the fool his weapon back?

Ray turned around with his freshly purchased pants on, looking for his opponent. Sarah however had already snaked her way through the crowd and into the back of the pants stall. Ray stood dumbfounded, looking for her, when she leapt onto and over the counter, kicking out hard and fast at Ray's unprotected back.

Ray was knocked prone once again, his head smacking hard into the ground. After a hit like that, Sarah wouldn't've been surprised if the unfortunate reporter saw stars. He had had no warning, and so could not even throw his arms up to help protect himself from the fall.

Sarah held the mouth-piece of the microphone curled in her hand, and lashed out with the wire at Ray. But he apparently had his wits gathered better than she expected, for he rolled over, and then did something that caught the poet completely by surprise.

OoC: I wonder what this thing is that catches her completely by surprise *tries to think up of something surprising*

BiC: Ray rolled out of the way of the microphone cord. The look on the poet's face was one of outrage. She was not happy that he had dodged her attack. Ray smirked. As quick as lightning he rolled over to her feet. Without warning, he quickly unravelled her shoelaces and tied them together before rolling back out of the way. Sarah was taken completely by surprise. Who would do such a strange thing in the midst of battle? The reporter stood to his feet and walked closer to the poet. She could not bend down to untie her shoes, that would leave her vulnerable to attack. Sarah lashed out with microphone cord once again, but Ray neatly side stepped the attack. Ray stood right up next to her, just inches apart. Their noses were almost touching and from here Ray could see the intensity in her eyes. Ray smiled and then pushed her over. Sarah, to Ray's surprise, stretched out her hands as she fell, planting them on the ground and launching her body into backflip. She landed on her feet with ease. The crowd was very impressed, with an assortment of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' emanating from the audience.
"It seems they've really flipped for you," said Ray.
"You know," said Sarah. "I'm getting really tired of those puns."
"They'll grow on you," said Ray.
"If I just sit on them for a while?" remarked Sarah.
She immediately jumped in the air, stretching out her legs, kicking out at Ray. The roving reporter was knocked to the ground, but before he could recover, Sarah hand landed on top of him. Ray was trapped as the poet sat on him, her feet were positioned so that the shoelaces he had tied together were stretched across his throat and pressing against it, slightly choking him. Ray was trapped, their was nothing he could do, except...

OoC: Grrr...stinkin' cliffhangers. Now I gotta figure out what to put there. The last one was supposed to be payback for your cliffhanger, then you give me another! Lol. Oh well, I suppose mine was worse than either of yours. ^_^

BiC: Sarah sat on the reporter, planting her feet on either side of his head, choking him with the laces. Ha, she thought. I've got him right where I want him now. I'll just make him apologize, then I'll probably let him up. Well, after awhile anyways. Sarah grinned. Before she could demand an apology and confession that she was the better fighter from Ray though, he suddenly grasped the microphone that had dropped from his hand and was laying beside him, and struck out hard with the still-sparking cord.

Caught unawares, Sarah had no time to duck, and so was caught full in the face with the cord. It shocked her a little, but most of the pain was simply inflicted by the cord itself. Sarah jumped back in shock and anger, forgetting that her shoes were tied. She tumbled off of the reporter ungracefully, and by the time she had untangled her limbs and undone the knot in her shoes, her opponent was up and ready to fight again.

Sarah glared at him. "That really hurt you know," she stated flatly.
Ray made a face of feigned concern, and then laughed. "You let your guard down way to easily, content to sit back and relax once you've gotten a slight advantage. That's going to make you lose this fight."
"Hmph." Sarah replied, unconvinced. "Please, if I really let my guard down so much, then you must be a really bad fighter, or you would've won long before this. Now, enough chatting and silly puns. You're going to pay for all that you've done."
"All that I've done? Isn't that a little over-dramatic? I mean, I haven't done that much. And as for the spilling of the icee, honestly, I did you a favor getting rid of that excuse for a shirt."
Sarah growled slightly, and launched towards the reporter, daggers flying.

Sarah launched into the air. The intensity and anger were all too clear in her eyes. Ray was slightly nervous as he looked into those eyes, they had been filled with fury all throughout the fight but right now it looked her rage was about to spill over. She was more angry than ever as she launched herself at the roving reporter.
"How dare you insult my shirt!" she cried as she lunged at Ray, her daggers outstretched.
Ray Robson nimbly and deftly avoided the attack, but Sarah continued striking out at him. She launched a volley of attacks. Each attack was followed by another one as quick as lightning. Ray was having a hard time keeping up. Occasionally, her daggers would tear a whole in his shirt as he responded just a little too slowly to her strikes.
"I'm really starting to get shirty with you," said Ray in yet another pun.
Sarah lifted an eyebrow, "Shirty?"
"Do you have that expression in the States?" asked Ray, his ego slightly deflated due to his pun not being able to over come the cultural divide.
Sarah ignored Ray and continued striking at him. As she did so, Ray spied his clipboard on the ground. He ducked another of Sarah's attacks and rolled over it, picking it up as he did so. Ray immediately got to his feet and began blocking the poet's attacks. Every one of her attacks was met by the sturdy clipboard. Sarah made careful attention not to let her daggers get stuck in the clipboard as they had done previously. Sarah swung one of her daggers at Ray, instead of just using it defensively, Ray, struck out with his clipboard. It hit her dagger, causing it to fly out of her hand.
"I'm getting quite...bored...of this," said Ray.
Ray struck out with his clipboard once again, this time it struck her in the side of her face. The news reporter barraged her with his clipboard. He struck her in the arms, in her stomach, even on her foot. The attacks were coming so fast, that Sarah did not have time to react. She could not strike out with her remaining dagger with the clipboard striking her so often. Suddenly, Sarah had an idea...

OoC: Gah, you're doing this to mess with me aren't you? Lol. And her foot? How'd he manage that? Lol. ^_^

BiC: Sarah jumped backward quickly, avoiding the latest swing from the clipboard. She then ran hard and fast away from the roving reporter. Ray stood staring at the poet in astonishment for a moment, "What?" he said. "You mean to tell me you're running away?"

Sarah leapt over the counter of an icee stand, and turned to grin at Ray. "Heh, you wish." she turned back and grabbed the container of raspberry icee. She whirled on Ray, who had been running towards her, and splashed him head to toe in the iced beverage.

Ray stood, dripping. He seemed really stunned, speechless even. Finally he said, "Ow...brain freeze."

Sarah laughed at him.

OoC: Okay, sorry for the superb shortness of this, I'm having to cut it short, cause I got to go. ^_^

Ray stood in disbelief, his clothes were sopping wet. A breeze blew through, causing Ray to shiver as the ice coldness of the beverage caused his teeth to chatter. The crowd joined Sarah in laughing at him. The roving reporter's face went red. He was half embarassed and half angry.
"Y-y-you a-a-are g-g-g-oing t-t-to p-p-pay," shivered Ray.
"Sure, I am," said Sarah. "Well, now you know why I was angry when you spilled icee all over my shirt."
"That was your own fault," said Ray, barely managing to keep his teeth from chattering.
"Well, this must've been your fault then," said Sarah smugly.
"You...," Ray trailed off.
They locked gazes for a second. Suddenly Ray charged at the poet with his clipboard outstretched. Just as Ray was about to strike her, Sarah rolled underneath his clipboard and through his legs, deftly and nimbly scooping up her other dagger as she did so. Sarah got to her feet and turned around as fast she could before delivering a swift kick to this behind.
"I guess you could say I kicked your butt," smiled Sarah.
Now Ray was really angry...

OoC: I've left this fight alone for way too long. Time to continue the butt whooping of Ray Robson. ~_^

BiC: Sarah was somewhat surprised by the supreme anger of her foe. Throughout most of the fight, she had been the one to become infuriated. Ray's fury wasn't a match for some of her worse outbreaks of temper, but Sarah could still see that the reporter meant business.

He swung with his clipboard, banging her right on the top of her head. Realizing she wouldn't be able to dodge this latest swing, Sarah opted to go for offence. As Ray's arms came down, she shot out with her leg, delivering a powerful blow to his stomach.

The clipboard came crashing down as Ray went crashing back. Due to his backwards momentum, the board struck just the front of her head, but it still hurt enough that Sarah stood blinking dazedly for a second. Sarah's kick had sent Ray bowling backwards into the icee stand. He was crumpled against it's wooden front it a dent his impact had created.

Sarah looked down on the drenched reporter. She needed to end this soon, the fight was going in circles. It was amusing, coming up with new ways to embarrass the man, but still he kept coming back with something new. It was annoying the short-tempered poet. Suddenly, she was struck with an idea. Sarah scanned the nearby stalls, and grinned with pleasure when she spotted what she had been looking for.

Leaving Ray groaning and making his way to his feet, she went towards a nearby funnel cake stand. While the cook running the stall wasn't looking, she snuck up behind it and swiped the open bag of powdered sugar. She prepared to make her way back to Ray, but saw something she couldn't resist. She reached out and grabbed a small section of funnel cake, munching on the warm treat as she made her way back to the fight.

Ray had gotten up by now, and was standing confusedly in the area where they had been fighting, looking for Sarah. She walked out into the open, revealing herself to him, carefully concealing the sugar behind her back. Ray immediately made to hit her with his clipboard. Sarah grinned. As he swung, she brought out the bag of sugar and blocked with it. It exploded, showering Ray and making him go down in a fit of coughing.

Unfortunately, Sarah hadn't had the foresight to realize the sweet, dusty cloud would envelope her too. She immediately was overcome by a fit of coughing as she choked on the powered. She glared through her watery eyes, upset that she had failed to realize what would happen.

OoC: Nice long post there! ^_^ I hadn't originally intended for Sarah's attack to backfire, but I realized that if I wanted her to block with it, there was no way she could escape the sugar. Lol. ^_^ Hmmm...funnel cake.

Ray stood, covered in the powdered sugar looking at his opponent, also covered in the sweet powder. He could not help but smile.
"My, you are a sweet girl," joked the reporter.
His puns irritated Sarah to no end, with each one they became more annoying and less amusing. Her lip curled in anger and frustration. Ray smiled. This made Sarah more angry, he should not be smiling right now, how dare he be enjoying himself. The reporter licked the powdered sugar off of his lips.
"Mmm," said Ray. "Tasty."
Sarah flew at him, extending a leg. The reporter held up his clipboard and Sarah's leg made contact with that instead of Ray. The poet fell to the ground. She clutched her leg, it appeared she was in considerable pain. For a moment, Ray felt bad for what he did, but then returned to his arrogant self.
"I know people say 'break a leg', but you're taking it too far," said Ray.
"Your leg seems to be hurt too," said Sarah.
"Where?" asked Ray, looking down at his legs.
As he was looking down, Sarah sprung to her feet and raced over to him before delivering a swift kick to his right shin. Ray immediately fell to the ground, clutching his shin. Sarah stood over him as he rubbed his leg. He looked up at her.
"This isn't over yet," said Ray.
The poet put one of her feet on the reporter's throat and pressed down slightly, "Yeah, it is."
"Not quite," said Ray, with a smile on his face.

Sarah looked bemusedly down at the prone reporter, wondering what exactly he thought he could do. Ray grinned up at her, and suddenly brought his arm up and around, hooking on the underside of her knee and making her fall over. This freed him from under her foot, but it wasn't necessarily the smartest move on his part either. For when she crumpled, her weight fell forward onto that foot, pushing it up into his neck and choking him.

Luckily for the reporter, as Sarah fell she tumbled off him, so it did no permanent damage to him and merely caused him some discomfort for a second. Ray got up and rubbed his throat gingerly. A few feet away from him, Sarah lay sprawled on the ground. The reporter looked at the poet as though wondering if he had finally managed to knock her out and would be able to get away.

But, Sarah stirred. Slowly, she pulled her legs under her and pushed herself off the ground. Her appearance showed the signs of the fight. Her hair was a mess, hanging in sweaty strands from her head. Dust and powered sugar mingled on her face and arms, and her shirt was completely ruined, both from icee stains as well as a few rips. Sarah was not happy. Her relaxing day had turned into a brawl, and a much longer one than she had anticipated when she first set eyes on the reporter.

She glared at him. Her largest comfort though, was the fact that he looked just as bad as she knew she did. He was sticky and red, and sweaty, and covered in small cuts and bruises. She grinned maliciously at Ray, confusing him. He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. "You know, I highly doubt you were the only reporter here. There are other, less conspicious reporters lurking all around this festival, as well as photographers for the newspapers. They're blending in with the crowd, taking still pictures and footage of you. And in such a state too. I can't imagine what this will do to your reputation as a reporter."

Ray looked shaken. He, in the heat of the battle, had obviously not contemplated this fact. Sarah grinned and twirled her daggers as she stepped towards him.

Ray stood shocked for a moment. He had been taken aback by this revelation. He had not thought of that. But still, he could not show his adversary that he had been affected by her comment. Though, it was slight bit too late for that.
"Those no hopes from Channel 4?" laughed Ray. "No one would believe them...don't you remember the great squirrel meat scandal of '03? They falsely said that milkshakes are made out of squirrel meat."
Sarah composed herself, she could see that he was lying through his teeth. Not about the squirrel meat scandal, that was news even back home in Texas, and even bigger news when it was found out that it was completely made up. He was lying about not being worried. She could see it in his eyes, they twitched ever so slightly. His lips trembled the slightest bit. It would have been unrecognisable to anyone who was not looking for it, but he was lying.
"You're lying," said Sarah with every ounce of confidence.
"No, I'm not," said Ray. "I'm not worried at all. I don't know where you got that idea. Silly woman."
"You're lying again," said Sarah.
The frustration in Ray was building up. The roving reporter could not hold it any longer. He struck out with his fist but Sarah blocked it, holding Ray's clenched fist in her own hand. She pulled his arm towards her and slightly up before delivering a swift kick to his stomach. His body went limp but Sarah held his fist in her hand, refusing to let him slump to the ground. She kicked him several more times. She was about kick him one last time when Ray threw a punch with his free hand. It caught her on the chin and offguard. She relinquished her grip on the reporter's fist and stumbled back. Ray quickly composed himself and stood in a fighter's stance.
"I'm not finished yet," he said.

Sarah stared at the reporter in surprise. She had totally had him figured as down for the count. For him to be able to still fight...was unexpected to say the least. He may have been something of a over confident, pun-loving jerk at times, but Sarah had to admit that when pushed he could really show his stuff. Sarah looked at him in surprise for a moment, before grinning slightly and lifting her daggers.

"I'm impressed that you can still fight," she told him. "But you still don't have enough energy left to win. Face it, you're going to lose, and lose badly."

"I don't think so," he replied, his confidence returned in full. "You're just as tired as I am. And, face it, I'm just better than you." Ray grinned and suddenly attacked, kicking out with his foot at Sarah's legs and making her fall hard to the ground. "Have a nice trip," he said.

"Oh please...not this again," Sarah said disdainfully as she pushed herself off the ground. "Besides...that's such an overused pun." She ran at the reporter, swinging her dagger. Ray brought up his clipboard to block, but Sarah saw it and was able to follow up with a kick to his stomach, sending him flying. She couldn't help it, "See you next fall. Bah...now you've got me doing it."

Ray gingerly picked himself up from the ground, glaring at Sarah. He grabbed his microphone and lifted it into the air, twirling it by it's cord. He lashed out at her, but as Sarah made to block it he drew it back in. He lashed out again immediately, so that it curled around her leg. Sarah looked down at it and up at Ray. Ray grinned and pulled the cord, bringing her crashing down once again.

Sarah winced. "You know...I'm going to be sending you my chiropracter bills after this..." she said, looking at the reporter standing over her.