A Second Meeting (Icy Angel)

OoC: Ok, Icy, heres that rematch between Skif and Aristo, but this time, we each get a second char to help join in the fun. The battleground is deep in forest at midnight.

Skif ran his fingers over the horse tracks gently, following them down the leaf-covered path with his eyes. He stood up and ran down the narrow dirt track. He had been tracking the wanted man for several weeks now, ever since he had escaped his grasp in their last encounter.

Skif ran off the path, following it from several yards to the side.

OoC: Enter Aristo and friend. Sorry its so short! I am being forced to get off the cp now. XD My other char will come in in my next post.

“Why did you not finish him?” Cyno questioned.

“Killing people should not always be the alternative, he was a worthy adversary and a meeting shall come again, soon enough,” Aristo replied coolly. Cyno looked Aristo up and down, he was indeed a strange one, though a powerful fighter. They had met in the town before the forest, the ice elf needing a job, and Aristo on his way to a big bounty which he needed help with. Luckily for the animal tamer, Cyno had said he would help for free.

“So, tell me more of your friends” Cyno asked casually, trying to keep his eyes on the nearly invisible path.

“We meet every so often to discuss what needs doing as a group, and we only meet once a month, so we catch up as well”

“How did you all meet?”

“It was like fate, each of us was made to be found by each other, as if we were made by the same…” Aristo started to say, but was cut off as a harden piece of earth flew past his face, cutting his fringe of hair. His horse buckled wildly, throwing Aristo off.

“Look’s like we meet again” came a voice from the nearby trees. Cyno dismounted his horse in one smooth jump, slapping the horse’s flanks and sending it after the other horse.

“Indeed we do my old friend, are you still after the bounty?” Aristo replied coolly to the voice, shaking the dirt from his trousers.

“Is this the earth powered assassin you were talking about?” the ice elf commented dryly, taking his dagger from its sheath under the back of his shirt.

“Yeah, looks like we will miss the other bounty, but we will collect his,” Aristo replied, drawing his whip.

“Idle chit chat, let us begin,” the man replied, drawing his trident and jumping from the tree.

“Would you like to start this off?” Aristo said, jumping to the side as the man landed. Cyno nodded in reply, forming his dagger into a scythe, swinging it at the man.

OoC: Oh, yeah choose an ice and water guy to use against him, I see how it is. Oh, well. Serves me right for choosing a forest, and having it at midnight.

BiC: Vanyel silently floated through the open window and hovered above the sleeping old woman. He sighed and bent over her. Several minutes later, he wiped the blood from his chin and floated back out of the window.

He didn't like to have to drink blood, but he didn't have much of a choice. Its either this, or perish. At least I can confine myself to old people deep in sleep. Its a painless way to go, and they've had a full life. Much more preferable to chasing down some young woman yet to enjoy life.

He floated up above the cottage and transformed into a bat, winging away into the darkness. He flew through the trees, taking a moment of pleasure the thrill gave him. As he ducked under a branch and swerved around another trunk, he detected voices up ahead.

He flapped himself up to an upper branch and transformed back into his normal form. Looking down, he saw three people, clearly fighters. he watched as a large man in a dark green cloak shot a spear of rock at a human and elf walking together.

The misslie missed them just barely and the attacker leapt out at them. Vanyel flipped upside down, his soft boots clinging to the underside of the branch. He calmly walked down the tree trunk, listening to the three proclaim who would walk away with the bounty.

The vampire grabbed his own blade as the man in the green cloak launched into an attack with the elf, who transformed what appeared to be a shard into a scythe. The large man locked his weapon with the elf's and knocked it to one side. He then kicked out at the elf, a dagger protruding from his boot.

The elf dodged the kick and slipped his scythe out from between the prongs of the trident. He reared back and brough his weapon across in a long swiping motion. The lone man blocked the attack and again kicked out, this time at the elf's hands.

The elf dropped the weapon to avoid having his hands cut off, and charged at the cloaked figure. The lone warrior stood strong against the elf and threw him back, dropping his own weapon.

The human who had been walkin and talking with the elf had now pulled out his own weapon and moved silently behind the man with the double-ended trident. He brought his hand back and lashed out with his whip at the unprotected back of the lone man.

Vanyel had by now drawn Soul Blood and floated down above Aristo. He knocked the blade-whip away from the unsuspecting cloaked man's back moments before it would have struck him.

The elf, human, and cloaked man, who had turned around at the clang, all gasped in surprize as Vanyel flipped over and landed next to Skif. "Now, now." He scolded Aristo. "Don't you know its bad manners to attack a foe when their back is turned? How very terribly rude of you."

Rolling across the ground, Cyno jumped up next to Aristo, leaves from the floor sticking to his back.

“Another friend of yours?” the ice elf said casually.

“Not of mine” Aristo replied, snapping his whip in the air between the groups. Mumbling a quiet order, the animal tamer pounded the ground with a spiked fist. Suddenly the ground around the other two was alive with insect life, worms, beetles, all of them swarming over the two’s feet, making it impossible for them to move. The vampire and earth user struggled against the small insect attack, freeing themselves within a few seconds. Looking up, the animal tamer and ice elf had disappeared. Laughing silently, Aristo and Cyno climbed the nearby trees, watching the two search for them. After seeing no trace of them, the two started making introductions to each other. Cyno suddenly had an idea, and whispered it gently into Aristo’s ear, who smiled and nodded.

“The names Skif” said the earth summoner.

“Vanyel” the vampire replied. The ice elf laughed silently as he raised two balls of water out from near the trunk of the tree. With a click they turned to ice, and with another click they took shape, one slowly turning into himself, the other into Aristo. They two clones slowly walked out of the trees revealing themselves to Skif and Vanyel.

“Nice to meet you both, Im Aristo and this is Cyno. Let us continue this” the animal tamer clone said coolly, running straight into the vampire while his own clone charged into Skif. The instant the two were on the ground, the clones fell on top of them, melting and then reforming, forming thick ice bands over them.

“Nice work, shall we continue?” Aristo said, watching as the two struggled against the ice bonds.

“Lets,” the ice elf replied coolly, both jumping down at the same time, their weapons slashing in front of them.

Vanyel simply laughed as Aristo's whip flew for his head. He transformed into a bat and flew out from under the icy band. The blade-whip shattered the ice moments after Vanyel escaped into the night sky.

Skif however, didn't have such an easy means of escape. As Cyno stood over him, weapon raised, the Minish knocked his heels together, blades springing out of the front. he kicked out at the elf, cutting his ankle. Skif struggled, grunting as he shattered the ice with pure strength.

Rolling backwards, the Minish brought up his weapon as Vanyel turned back into his regular form on a brach above him, Soul Blood in hand. The two crisscrossed, Vanyel flying at Cyno, while Skif ran towards Aristo.

Aristo lashed out with his whip, Skif catching it in the prongs of his trident and twisting. The warrior shot out a hand, using his powers to contol the tree behind his opponite. The tree swung back a branch and attacked Aristo. The large, thick branch caught him in the back, sending him flying forward.

Skif shook the whip loose from his weapon and spun around as Aristo flew through the air towards him. The Minish's double-ended weapon slashed Aristo open from under the armpit to the waist.

Meanwhile, Vanyel was preforming hit-and-run attacks on Cyno, swooping down and slicing at him with Soul Blood. He had scored severl minor hits, but couldn't get any good ones, since the reach one Cyno's scythe was longer.

Finally, the ice elf managed to hook the vampire around the waist and throw his to the ground. Vanyel rolled as he landed, springing to his feet well out of Cyno's reach. "Well," He said, readjusting his shades. "You fight better than I had anticapated."

With that, the vamp launched himself into the air, an undead missile headed straight for Cyno. He swerved under the scythe and sliced at the elf's side, Soul Blood draining his life force as his cut through him.

The contact between the elf and blade was short however, the blade unable to drain a suffient amount of life from Cyno. "Hmmmm...." Vanyel remarked with criticism. "We'll have to do better than that, won't we?"

The vampire launched into the air again, this time high above the treetops. Cyno stood ready, changing his ice shard into a halberd. The long pole came at Vanyel as he dive-bombed the elf. He just barely managed to dodge to blade at the end and grab the pole, sliding down to cut Cyno's arm before launching back into the trees again.

Cyno jumped back, avoiding another attack from the vampire. Having a idea, the ice elf reformed the ice shard back to its original form, and grabbed the blood shard from his back pocket. The vampire jumped at him again, and Cyno let him attack. As the vampire sliced the ice elf’s arm with his sword, Cyno took the chance and stuck the blood and ice shard straight into the middle of the vampire’s chest. The vampire jumped back, confused that the elf had given him his weapon and armor. Deciding to attack his unarmed foe, Vanyel took three steps and was covered in Cyno’s armor. Confidently, the ice elf walked up to the stuck vampire, who was trying to move in the armor.

“That won’t work, even if you change form you cannot escape it. Just think of yourself as a living statue,” he laughed, and took the chance to take the vampires weapon from him, and threw it into the top of a nearby tree, where it stuck.

Meanwhile, Aristo was fiercely attacking Skif. The earth summoner had cut him, but that wouldn’t stop him. With a swift roundhouse kick, Aristo sent the man’s double ended trident flying.

“Looks like we are both weaponless now,” Aristo muttered.

“You maybe, but not me,” Skif retorted, and brought up two dagger’s from the earth. The man went to strike Aristo, but as he did Aristo formed a shield of ice over his arm, deflecting the attack. Before the man had another chance to attack, Aristo punched him squarely in the face with his ice shield, breaking his nose. The man fell to the floor, blood streaming from his nose. Climbing a nearby tree, Aristo jumped and brought down his leg into the man’s gut, cracking a rib. Standing up confidently, Aristo picked up his whip.

“I don’t think you should have tried a second time to collect my bounty,” the animal tamer said confidently, and lashed out with his whip.

Ooc: that’s for hurting my characters, PWNED!!!!

Skif rolled over, dodging the whip. He leapt to his feet as he rooled away and clutched his rib. He held out his other hand and took control of the plants around Aristo. Roots and vines sprouted from the ground, wrapping around the man's legs, holding him in place. The trees around him lashed out with their branches, knocking him back and forth.

Skif ran over and kicked his trident up with his foot, catching it in his hand. A smaller tree directly behind Aristo wrapped it's branches around his arms, pulling them back. The Minish ran forward and leapt into the air. He feet collided with Aristo's chest, cracking a rib.

"You break my rib, I break yours." Skif said grimly. He spun around and kicked Aristo in the face. "And thats a nose for a nose." The Minish warrior backed away from Aristo and formed a stone covering over himself. He pulled out a knife as more trees, vines, and roots wrapped themselves around Aristo, holding him and his whip firmly in place. Reaching back, Skif threw the knife at the trapped man's neck.

Meanwhile, Vanyel lifted a finger. Soul Blood shook itself free of the tree. As Cyno pulled back to punch the vampire in the face, Soul Blood spun through the air, slicing across the elf's back. The broadsword flew up into the air and turned back around.

"What the-?" Cyno said in shock as he saw the blade fly back down towards him. He ducked under it and the sword bashed into the armor holding Vanyel. The sword spun back, forcing Cyno to leap over it. Soul Blood swerved around a tree and shot at the elf, ready to impale him. Cyno spun to one side, recieving a cut on his back as the blade passed him.

Soul Blood began to spin again as it head towards Vanyel. It slammed into the armor and flew up into the air again. Cyno looked back between the blade and Vanyel. "You!" He exclaimed.

He ran towards Vanyel, but was forced to duck again as Soul Blood shot over him. The blade once more collided with the armor holding the vampire. This time, the armor changed back into the shards, having been battered suffeciently.

Vanyel scooped up the shards and grabbed Soul Blood out of the air. "Hmmm....." He said, looking the shards over. "These just might be worth something. Maybe.....one thousand gold?" He looked over at Cyno, smiling wickedly. "Does that sound about right?"

The elf was looking on with his jaw open as the vampire slipped the shards into a pouch. Floating up into the air, Vanyel heafted his blade. "lets see......yes, I think its drained a suffiecent amount."

He raised the sword over his shoulder as Cyno ran for cover. Swinging the blade across, an invisible force sliced across Cyno's back, cutting open his t-shirt and back. Raising Soul Blood again, Vanyel shot another cutting force, this one slicing across Cyno's shoulder blades.

OoC: Sorry, but you forced me to Icy. *coughPWNcough*

Ooc: oh so that’s how it is, this is going to be one of those fights where people lose limbs, eh? BRING IT ON!

Bic: Cyno laughed, the vampire had put the shard practically next to his body. Concentrating, the ice elf changed his ice shard into a bow, probably the most uncomfortable weapon to have in such a small space. The pouch exploded, knocking the wind out of Vanyel, making him fall to the ground. Before he could move to do another invisible strike, Cyno grabbed the bow and blood shard, knocking the one arrow to the bow, and fired. The arrow pierced the flesh of the vampire right in the middle of his arm, trapping him there. Before his opponent pulled the arrow out, Cyno changed his weapon into an exact copy of the vampires, making it so he knew its weakness. The weapon needed to be in within a certain range of its master or it couldn’t be moved by him.

“That far should do it,” Cyno grumbled, and threw the sword in the direction of the other fight, a clang emitting as it did. The vampire was trying with little luck to free himself from the arrow, which was rapidly freezing his blood, ice crystals passing through his veins. Turning, the ice elf put the ice Soul Blood to the vampire’s neck making him go still.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t finish you off right here and now?” the ice elf muttered angrily, his eyes flashing dark blue. The blood of his many wounds was stopping, as the ice in his skin stopped the flow from the cuts. Not waiting for an answer, Cyno raised four balls of water from the ground, laying them other the vampire’s hands and feet, freezing them solid. With a click the arrow vanished.

“I do not kill for fun, so I let you live,” Cyno said, and kicked the vampire in the head, knocking him out cold, breaking his nose in the process.

“Looks like Aristo might need some help,” the ice elf muttered, and ran toward the other battle, brandishing the ice Soul Blood.

[A few minutes before]

The dagger flew at Aristo’s neck, its aim dead on. But a few milliseconds before it hit, a sword came flying through, clipping the dagger, making it miss by a few millimetres. The dagger embedded itself in the roots above Aristo’s arm, effectively freeing it. Within a few moments, Aristo had freed his other hand and legs, and grabbed his whip from the floor. The other man had hidden under stone covering, making Aristo’s attack much easier. Reeling back, the animal tamer put as much power into a single punch as he could, and let his fist fly. There was a crack like a whip, and the stone covering split down the middle, revealing the other man.

“Surprise!” Aristo shouted, and grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck. Before the man could take control of the plants again, Aristo formed another ice shield, the ice forming up his arm. But as Aristo planned, the ice also travelled down the man’s body, covering it with a thin layer of ice, making him shiver.

“Now the battle is already in our favour,” Aristo laughed, and dropped Skif. The earth summoner landed with a thud, the ice on his body steadily dropping his body temperature. He got up, the anger showing in his eyes.

“The ice will take time to affect me, and by then, you will be long dead.” Skif shouted, and ran at Aristo, brandishing his weapon. Aristo watched in amusement as the man attacked, and as he was about to strike, stopped moving.

“You took your time, another moment and I would have had to stick my foot in his face” Aristo shouted, as Cyno stepped out of the shadow of a nearby tree.

“Sorry, the vampire was trickier than expected. Now let’s see what I can do,” the ice elf replied, and began to move Skif about as though as puppet, several bones in his arms cracking as Cyno made them bend the wrong way.

Ooc: you made me angry, I make bad things happen when Im angry… J/K. I PWNED you all over!!!!!

OoC: How is this a limb-losing fight? And why does Vanyel's sword have to be within a certain range? I never said anything like that. Alright, alright. I see theres no point in holding back. I see you have a well-thought out team.

BiC: Skif's body may be under the control of Cyno, but he could still use his powers. A rock spear erupted from the ground, piercing through Cyno's leg. The elf's control over the ice covering Skif wavered. While he momentarily was still, Skif raised twin half-circles of rock to form over his head.

The dome pulled Skif down into the ground, melting the ice as he submerged. Finally, the Minish was deep within the ground, with several thin tunnels leading to the surface for air. Alright. They want to play? Play with this!

The ground under Aristo and Cyno began to shake violently. Spears or rock flew up from the the gound, creating a field of jagged points. Several of them stabbed right through the two fighters as they were knocked to the ground.

The trees began to flail wildly, pounding Aristo and Cyno, knocking them into the spikes and breaking several of their bones. The vines shot into the air and lashed out randomly, whipping the two fighters. The gound split and tilted, knocking the two around into more spikes.

Vanyel began to wake up as the ground bucked like a bull. Shaking his head, he saw Soul Blood sliding down a slope towards him. Using his mind, he lifted the blade into the air and brought it to him. Carefully, or as carefully as he could doing an earthquake, he used the blade to chip away at his icy bonds.

Finally, his bonds broke as the earthquake stopped. He grabbed the blade and flew above the trees. He straightened his nose and surveyed the scene below. Aristo and Cyno both had several spears stabbing right through their bodies, along with multiple whip cuts and bruises.

Vanyel watched Aristo hanging onto a newly formed ledge over a drop with no appearent bottom. he was only hanging on with his right hand, his left arm stook out in an odd angle, as did his legs. Cyno was grunting, trying to pull himself off of a spear the jutted up from the ground.

Flying over to him, the vampire layed Soul Blood across the back of his neck. "I seem to recall you breaking my nose." He said silkly, freezing the Cyno with his words as if it had been his own ice.

The vampire swung around and bashed his sword hilt into the elf's nose with a nasty crack. "I also remember you "letting" me live, so I will do the same for you. And I'll throw in your friend's life as a bonus."

Floating up into the air, the vampire prepared to find some cave to rest in while his wounds healed. Suddenly, below him, a mound of earth rose into the air and blossemed like a flower. In the middle of it, layed a broken and weak Skif. Raising the Minish into the air, Vanyel decided to take him along to a healer.

As an afterthought, he brought the man's weapon along as well. With a smirk, Vanyel thought what a traveler would think of an injured man floating along, followed by an unconcious man, followed by a trident. The three floated off into the night, leaving the other two combatants to fend for themselves.

OoC: Play with fire.............you'll get burned!

Ooc: ok that was a bit off a near death experience, but I won’t let it end like that!

Bic: Grunting with the effort, Aristo pulled himself up over the edge, his legs dragging uselessly behind him, both dislocated below the knees, several deep cuts from the earthquake. Looking over, the animal tamer saw that Cyno had received about the same punishment. Angry that they had both been bested, Aristo looked round for the vampire, and saw him gradually growing smaller and smaller in the distance, Skif on his shoulder.

“Im not going to let it end like this!” Aristo shouted, and pushed both hands to his chest forming a lightning ball, which covered itself with ice, and flung it at the vampire. The ball caught up with Vanyel within a matter of moments, striking him in the back, making him lose flight, and nearly dropping the unconscious Skif, the two plummeted back down to earth, landing quite a far bit away, so they couldn’t retaliate.

“We will meet again before my time ends, I swear it,” Aristo grumbled, and crawled out of the rays of the full moon.

Ooc: ok that was so I got in my final shot, that’s for breaking my legs. And this battle is officially done. *Seals with an iron door, followed by several big locks, followed by a small wooden chair to stop the door handle*

*coughcoughPWNPWNcoughcough*