Unexpected Encounters (Duke of Clubs)

OoC: Well, continuing in our title as Best Rivalry, it is time for our battle to begin. ^_^

BiC: The rap of the snare drum was the first sound that entered a person's ear when they entered the fortress, or even just being near it. Soon after, the harmonious sound of the flutes entered the air, adding a balanced of tone to the music. Not long after, the bang of the bass drum, and the blair of the trumpets erupted into the fortress. There was one last sound that filled the air.

The sound of marching, chains and the grunts and groans of the prisoners being marched along. They were prisoners, and not the kind that were about to be forgiven. Vagrants, vagabonds, thieves, murders, pirates and other associated people that could be called unwanted. The long walk through the fortress' courtyard didn't have anything nice at the end, either.

The gallows stood at the ready, and the executioner pulled his black mask over his face, and the eye slits allowed him to look out over at the condemned. He pulled his dark gloves over his hands and gave the signal to the magistrate. The judge smiled and looked at the piece of parchment that he had in his hands. What a cruel world they lived in, but it didn't matter. Who cared about these people anyway, they were the trash of the streets, and death was bound to come sooner or later.

The Magistrate began to speak, and his words echoed over every sound there. "Today, we are gathering you cretins that have stained our streets for years now. With the new state of Martial Law, all rights to any kind of trial of defense have been removed." Within the next few moments, the judge spoke each of the things that were lost to these people, and the massive murder began.

Meanwhile, the fencer stood atop one of the walls of the fortress, watching this "spectacle" blankly. His green hair blew in the wind as he watched the effects of the endless slaughter. The fencer would step in soon, but he couldn't yet. He wasn't here simply to correct the wrongs that were occurring before him, but more to check out a strange feeling he had.

The city behind the fencer was where he was headed, but something about the disgusting actions of man made it impossible for him to turn away, although he did finally. His eyes and mind attempted to push away the image of the specter of death, and instead looked at the city below.

It wasn't much to look at, although it did have the essentials. The fortress supplied the city and its merchants with goods to sell, and the small, wooden shacks that had been built made good houses. The island fortress' town had merely dirt roads, animals roaming about on the wild streets. Everyone went about their daily business, and people didn't seem to take much notice of strangers. Even the odd man attired entirely in green.

The Aura Master smiled and took a monstrous leap from the fortress wall and directed himself as to land just away from the wall, in front of the gate. After a few moments in the air, the fencer landed effortlessly, and with almost no impact, against the ground. The green haired man's aura sure did make a great impact reducer, but hey, that was the fun of battle, wasn't it? Feeling the blows your foe gives you, and then continuing.

Anyway, the fencer walked into the town. He had to find someone. Mayhaps this person was familiar, mayhaps not, but the aura of this person seemed slightly familiar, yet slightly different. Well, it was time to get to looking.

OoC: Okay, that should do. Sorry it took me so long to start. ^_^;;

"Mushrooms, lady. Mushrooms."

"For eating?"

"In a matter of speaking."

The elderly woman sighed and heaved a box of mushrooms to the front of the stall. Her customer knelt down beside the crate and started rummaging through it, bleached white hands shifting fungi aside in his search.

"I'm surprised you aren't at the hangings," the stall owner commented. The bony hands stopped moving.

"Ha. So am I," the customer said, resuming his search.

"It's an affront to a man's liberty," the woman continued, watching the strange man closely. The skeletal hands grabbed a fistful of strange-looking mushrooms and brought them up to a face hidden in the cart's shadow.

"Luckily for you, madam," Johnny Bones said, straightening up and stuffing the 'shrooms in one of his many pockets, "you are, in fact, a woman. A man's liberty will not apply to you."

The woman's mouth opened and closed several times. Johnny cocked his head.

"What's the matter? Never seen a dead man before?"

He reached into a different pocket and handed the dumbstruck woman a small pouch of coins. "Buy yourself something nice. Thanks for the magic mushrooms. I'll need the trip."

With that, he spun on his heel and started stalking through the streets. "That ugly old lady'll have the cops on me in half an hour...and she just gave me the whole 'civil liberty' thing. Ironic."

Humming to himself, he patted the pocket full of pyschedelic mushrooms and strolled along through the dirt streets. By the sound of it, the hangings were only a third of the way through. He'd have some time to relax, then, if she called the guards.

Pfft...like they would be much of a threat.

A flash of bright green caught his eye in the midst of the earthen colors of the town. His hands dove to his hips where two large pistols hung comfortably.

There was no one there...he must have just seen the sun reflecting off of a leaf or something.

Passing a group of shifty-looking men who were huddled over a barrel of what looked to be gunpowder, Johnny relaxed slightly. He was dead. What was there to worry about?

Passing a ramshackle house, the green-haired man was in the open again. Johnny saw him easily this time. Cocking his pistols, he stretched and took his time getting to the main road. He knew who would be there now, and quite frankly, it just made him angry.

OoC: Haha, Johnny's into LSD and whatnot.

Zorlo shook his head in disbelief. He had not been seeing things. That was a skeleton with a similar aura to Kellson. What in the world was going on here? The fencer had heard in the Dome that the regicide had died, but something about them bones, them dry bones made him feel slightly like he was staring at the deceased man.

Even so, the green haired man couldn't deny the extreme similarities between the deceased and the technically deceased. The only thing about the skeleton that kept the Aura Master from knowing for certain if that living dead was really the former Demi-Angel was the fencer had no spoken with him. Even so, the Aura Master had gotten a good look at the dead man's clothing and arms.

He carried what looked like two guns. Two hand guns, probably higher then nine millimeters, but even so, that didn't mean they'd be able to pierce his armor, right? Aside from that, he wore something that the fencer had seen. A kind of material that was designed to defend against bullets. What an invention that man had come up with in the eras after the green haired man's own.

Well, even if he had that kind of armor, it'd make things interesting. That was, if the fencer had to fight this man. After all, even if this person had an aura similar Kellson, it didn't mean they were the same person. Actually, come to think of that, that was the oddest thing about this skeleton. In fact, the fencer had never seen anything like it in his life, no matter how short the period of time he'd been alive seemed. The only thing that separated him from many older then him was he had knowledge that would make some immortals shudder in terror at how much he knew.

After a few seconds of thinking about how much the fencer knew, he thought about something he didn't know. "I didn't know that skeleton's could have holy energy. I normally thought such creatures were brought back by the dark art of Necromancy," Zorlo said with a shrug. Hey, anything was possible. After all, he'd seen a human with wings, a girl with technology several centuries in the future, and a cross breed between an angel and a demon. It didn't get much odder then that, did it?

Suddenly a noise entered the fencer's ears. Someone was approaching, and it made a nice crackling noise with each steps. The sound of bones moving, was the more exact thing of what it was. The green haired man turned and looked at the person who merely pointed a gun at him. "So, you're the dead man that I keep seeing," the Aura Master said with a smile. "Who are you? You remind me of someone I knew. I wasn't particularly fond of that person, but even so, the fact your aura is similar to his. Who are you?" the Aura Master asked, not making any movements towards his weapons. Not yet. No need to get violent without cause.

That smile, that goddamn infuriating smile. He could recognize it anywhere.

"Who are you?" Zorlo asked. Johnny kept his pistol raised and the arm, pardon the pun, dead steady. With one thumb, he snapped the safety off. The click was painfully audible in the silence. The fencer kept that same knowing smile plastered on his face like paper on a wall.

"Who are you?" Johnny mimicked. His voice copied Zorlo's perfectly. If they had had the same clothes and weapons, it would have seemed like the Aura Master was talking to his own skeleton. The irritating smile faded slightly.

"You seem familiar," the fencer said.

"You seem familiar."

"Come now. Enough of this," Zorlo said, for the first time seeming to become irritated.

With the ease of a man trying on a different hat in a store, Johnny's voice morphed into Zachary Leos's. "Enough of this!"

Zorlo still hadn't made a move for his sword. With a laugh, Johnny pulled out his other pistol and clicked its safety off, too. His voice reverted back to the original, similar to Kellson's but, in a way, calmer. Quieter. Less arrogant.

Well, maybe less arrogant. Sometimes, the leopard can actually not change his shorts.

"Oh, this is fun," he said. Zorlo's smile returned. Johnny ignored it. "I mess around with your head, you make a snide, egotistical remark, I mess with your head some more."

"It is you, Kellson," Zorlo said, somewhat smugly. Johnny shrugged with a popping of joints.

"Who can say? Besides God, of course. But on my driver's liscense it says 'Johnny Bones.' Very popular name with the ladies, it is."

"Very well then...Johnny," the fencer said, testing the name out. "You might as well put those pistols away. The bullets won't go through my armor."

"I'm sure I have some that do," Johnny replied. "Hollow points, AP rounds, you name it, I've got it. And we both know we're going to fight, so I'll just keep them out, thanks. You don't like me and I sure as hell don't like you."

"What happened to Kellson?"

"Hell if I know. I've got his charming personality, though."

Zorlo chuckled. "And his powers? If you're only as strong as he was, this fight will only last a few minutes."

Johnny shrugged. The fencer was in for a hell of a surprise.

"Who can say, besides God?" he asked, and pulled the trigger.

Actually, Zorlo could answer his own question quite easily. He simply needed to close his eyes and gauge Johnny's aura, after all, now that the skeleton stood before him, that wasn't a hard trick to pull off. His eyes shut, as if blinking, and the world changed from what it had been to the spectral world. Before long, Johnny's aura erupted around himself, and the Aura Master gauged it. This surely would be different.

The skeleton's power far outranked that of the demi-angel's, which matched up to be a bit stronger then Zachary's. It wasn't unusual for someone to get more powerful, since Zorlo had done it, but what had happened to Bones to make him as strong as he was. It didn't matter, since the skeletal warrior was now a much better match for the green haired man. That meant that maybe the fencer would need to be a bit more inventive this time, and not just match up style for style with Johnny.

After all, the last, and only, battle that Kellson and the Aura Master had was fairly unequal. Even had the regicide and the ice innate teamed up, the odds of them defeating the fencer were very unlikely, much less the demi-angel alone. When it came down to it, the power difference was far too great for even Kellson to balance out. After all, the battle had become very decisive after the Aura Master stopped playing around and actually fought the brawler seriously.

This battle would be very different then the fencer's last one with the bones that formerly belonged to Kellson. The Aura Master would have to be a bit more serious, and he didn't mind that. In fact, a good challenge would be lovely right now. He hadn't fought anyone in a short while as strong as he is. After all, Kenjii was an interesting sparring partner, but he wasn't as strong as the fencer was. Zorlo would have to keep his mind on this battle, and not lose track of what he was doing if he wanted to win.

Suddenly the fencer was forced back to reality as a bullet whizzed past his face. His eyes looked at Bones and his smile remained strong. He'd had the feeling that Johnny wasn't going to play games for long, and here was the proof. A warning shot, no doubt, but he didn't care. The Aura Master's hand moved quickly and, in a flash, drew his sword, splitting a bullet in half, sending both pieces flashing past both sides of his head, displacing his hair a bit.

"It is good to see you've still go your expert shot," the Aura Master stated, chuckling slightly. Even though he wasn't joking, he rather enjoyed the thought of this fight starting finally.

Without a response, another bullet suddenly was cut in half as Bones' pulled the trigger again. "What's wrong? Afraid your armor won't withstand my bullets?" he asked mockingly.

"Not in the least, I'm just examining how slow your bullets are moving. How could you hope to hit me with them?" Zorlo asked, swirling his sword around in a circle, barely blurring at the speed it was moving. "So, care to get serious?" he asked, readying himself for whatever Johnny had next.

Oh, how he longed to wipe that smile away.

Johnny ejected the magazines in his pistols, flicked the switch to semi-auto, and slipped in two clips of AP rounds--armor piercing. If that didn't work, he'd try something else, but this was his best shot. Without thinking about it, he tainted the bullets; poison and disease now coated them. The fencer was still waiting, smirking.

The skeleton paused, and then holstered the guns. Zorlo wore strong armor. Why bother trying to shoot through it?

"All right, Z," Johnny said, pulling out a sword from the back of his jacket. Zorlo's eyes narrowed; there was no possible way the long, broad blade could have been hidden successfully inside the jacket, but there it was. "I'll play it your way."

The sword erupted with a whoomph, golden flames crackling along the edges. Johnny's voice lowered incredibly, becoming almost satanic. "Let's play games," he said gutterally. Flames exploded inside his skull, streaming out of his eye sockets and mouth.

Zorlo was surprised for a fraction of a second. In this battle, a fraction of a second could kill you. Johnny zoomed foward, a small thunderclap echoing as air rushed to fill space that the skeleton had previously occupied only nanoseconds before. Their swords crashed together--flames streaming and sparks shooting in the air.

What Johnny lacked in finesse, he made up for with effort. Zorlo duelled with the ease of a real swordsman--he was called "fencer" for a reason--but Johnny matched his speed and went faster, driving them both to new limits until they were just blurs of green and tan and white. The holy fire blazed through the air, setting one of the poorly made houses alight. As Johnny pushed the fencer farther back, the flames continued to spread until half a dozen houses were burning.

Abruptly, Johnny stopped moving; Zorlo swung his sword down and raised it with blinding speed once more, and they both stood still, watching each other. Johnny laughed, his voice returning to normal, and looked around at the flaming carnage around him. Dusk was approaching, staining the sky purple, gold, and crimson. There was no sound but the crackling of flames and the occasional scream of terror. Everyday stuff.

Johnny Bones laughed; neither of them were so much as scratched. "Nice warm up. Pardon the pun," he said, glancing back at the fires. Witty. "Now get your head out of your arse and start doing something that'll make me feel like I'm fighting and not like I'm attacking a dummy."

Zorlo laughed. If there was one thing he did like about Kellson and Johnny, it was their sense of humor. They always knew just what to say in order to get the fencer to play a bit more seriously. The fencer's eyes rose to meet the skeleton's, filled with a nearly endless desire to fight this battle echoing through them. Suddenly, his body burst into green flame, followed by his sword, as his aura began to empower him.

A green energy that looked like flame, but couldn't burn or cause any damage on its own, yet when the fencer summoned up the energy, his body became faster and stronger, not that he wasn't either of those things on his own. He'd need the added strength and speed here, since he was sure both he and the skeletal warrior hadn't even begun to start fighting. Normally, the Aura Master would have taken note of the damage, but he was too caught up in this battle.

Then, the fencer raised an eyebrow as he began to examine what Bones had done with his guns. He'd put a new clip into them, yet then he holstered them. Obviously the bullets in his gun weren't normal, but what were they then. Well, Zorlo supposed as he held his normal smile, it is best to not think about it. It doesn't seem that he will be using his guns. Well, at least not until I remove my jacket anyway.

Johnny seemed to laugh as he had what looked to be a boney smile across his face. It had a rather creepy feel, but it didn't bother the Aura Master. He was having too much fun with this. Anyway, that wasn't consequential right now, mostly as the former brawler said, "Hey, get your own skills," in a joking kind of tone.

The fencer laughed at that comment and held his sword in front of himself. "I'd say you are copying me, mostly since I used this skill first on you," the green haired man commented as Bones and he blurred and sparks and green and golden flames left the only traces of where the two had gone.

The fencer was sent in a back peddling, blocking slashes with his sword expertly, as he had become skilled at. A quick slide slash met a counter side slash from the fencer, and then a lunge from the green haired man was knocked up by a quick slash of of the skeleton's sword. The zombie quickly brought down his sword, and the fencer blocked with his own, and a massive amount of aura and divine flame shot out as a mix to the sides of where the blades met, the ground around Zorlo shattering.

With a powerful push, the fencer displaced the skeletal warrior's sword and caused them to both jump back, the Aura Master skidding to a stop. He laughed, spinning his sword and getting ready for the next round. This battle was getting too fun to be true. Something strange was happening though. Slowly, the sun was fading away, and the last lights of the twilight were sinking. Fighting at night wasn't the most fun thing, but this battle couldn't end like this. It was just starting, after all.

Hopping over the large crater in the ground, Johnny glanced up and then back at Zorlo. As he landed, he brought his sword down and Zorlo swung his up. The end result was a locking of blades, blinding light erupting through the now-abandoned street. Johnny took the opportunity to nail the fencer with a blast of holy energy far beyond anything Kellson had ever fired; Zorlo was sent tumbling backwards into a house.

When the fencer emerged seconds later, dusting himself off, Johnny was nowhere to be found. Zorlo glanced around, looking on top of the roofs in front of him, even those that were aflame. No Johnny.

"Navy seals!"

With that cry, Johnny slammed into Zorlo like a bowling ball into a pin; they both tumbled into the dirt, sending scorched earth flying everywhere. Johnny flipped upright even as Zorlo rolled to the side and snapped his fingers; lightning shot down from the sky, frying the spot where Zorlo had lain less than a second before.

"Hadn't done that before," Johnny muttered, zooming back at Zorlo. The fencer, regaining his senses, was back into attack mode, moving faster and faster as the gold and green flames flew dozens of feet into the air like fireworks. In response, Johnny slowed down his own perception of time--bullettime, as it was known in the Matrix. Asking God for that particular power had been rather useful and totally cool.

Even as Zorlo speeded up, Johnny didn't even use his sword, moving fractions of inches to the side. The golden blade would zip right past his head or shoulders, millimeters away from making contact. So close, but yet so far.

Johnny held out a hand and charged it up with electricity; Zorlo's fantastic armor would do more harm than good now. The air sizzling and popping around his clenched fist, he let conjured a bolt of lightning and sent it zooming straight towards Zorlo's chest.

Whereas Johnny had bullet time, Zorlo had something very different. His eyes, through intense training, could actually adjust to just how fast his foe was moving and allow the fencer to see them as if they were moving at normal speed. It had come in hand in the past, and it was much more effective then following auras, the fencer had learned in his battle with Nikudemon. If your foe didn't have an aura, or the person's aura wasn't from themself, due to an external source feeding off it, then response to how the aura moved didn't help at all.

Well, the fencer paid close attention to how Bones was moving. Just enough so he could evade, and yet not get even hit. He was going to be sorely disappointed before long. The Aura Master had only begun to scrape the maximum of his natural speed. He had more power he could tap into in his normal state, he just needed to find it and unleash it. But that was a trick for another time, because right now, Johnny had readied another deadly attack.

Lightning. A power that could destroy both animate and inanimate objects with a whim, and yet, the fencer had no fear of it. He could see the skeleton's fist as it moved towards him, engulfed in the charged, moving electrons that created a current of electricity. Thinking quickly, the Aura Master moved his sword in front of himself and the zombie's fist struck it, and electrical energy unleashed everywhere... well... except on Zorlo and Johnny, that is.

With a certain amount of ease, the green haired man used his aura to redirect the electrical energy, but the lightning seemed to protest and move towards Zorlo, but merely found itself redirected again. After a few minutes of struggle between the two powers, a sudden eruption of electrical energies occurred, releasing an electromagnetic field. Had any kind of modern technology been around, it surely would have sizzled out, but in this battle, nothing beyond guns and whatever else Johnny had brought from the future didn't seem too effected.

The energy release seemed to send both warriors flying backwards, but it was Johnny that went through a building this time, and the fencer who hit ground, grinding his feet to a stop as he watched the debris where Johnny had fallen, still smiling, but a passion for battle burning in his eyes so bright that only Zachary could hope to exceed it.

Within moments, golden flames and bolts of lightning shot out of the building, reducing it to smoldering ash and cinder. From what had once been the house stood Johnny Bones, completely unharmed (After all, how can you hurt a dead person?). His extremely precise eyes scanned the area, looking for the fencer, who had seemly vanished.

In fact, the fencer had made a very expert tactical move. He had taken to the air, not flying, but rather, jumping very high into the air and keeping his eyes on the speck that was his foe. The skeleton may notice him eventually, or mayhaps not. Either way, did it matter. After all, the green haired man felt more alive then he had in a while, not that he knew his foe didn't, for lack of a better expression.

The situations were reversed, now. To avoid a humiliating and ironic déjà vu, Johnny glanced over his shoulder in case Zorlo was behind him. Nope. He looked around in the dimming light. Nowhere around him…

Johnny tilted his skull upwards, sighted a small green dot zooming through the air, and zoomed in.

At first, he thought Zorlo was flying with no means of support. Then, he realized he had just leaped very, very high into the sky. The fencer was falling, and Johnny wasn’t quite sure how he would manage to land safely. Probably his aura; it did everything else. Oh, well. It didn’t matter…

The zombie snapped his fingers and watched the sky. Lightning ripped through the heavens, the thunderclap following it, and hit Zorlo in the arm. Thunder boomed an instant later; Zorlo’s sword appeared above his arm and blocked the rest of the attack, but it still had to hurt like hell. With any luck, it’d be crippling.

Then, with a crash, Zorlo hit the ground. The shockwave sent Johnny flying backwards, but this time he was ready, hitting the ground in a crouch. The skeleton sprang up, somersaulted through the air, and came down firing. Armor-piercing slugs hissed through the air, leaving a trail of grime in their wake—tainted bullets. Zorlo’s sword buzzed through the air like an angry wasp, slicing through bullets left and right. Johnny’s sword met his and they began dueling with swords again, electricity and poison now joining the fire and green aura in the air. Johnny’s only thought was that it must play hell with the ozone layer.

It’d play hell with Zorlo, at least. When their swords met another time, the warriors inches away from each other, Johnny fired armor-piercing bullets at the fencer’s stomach.

OoC: It's a bit short, but I want to keep the rapid-fire posting going while watching Ocean's 11.

Zorlo's aura truly was an amazing thing that could do even more astounding things then just simply come to life. In the human body, aura drives everything, being just short of the person's actual life force that flows through them.

No, in fact, this was something else, and is different for every person. Warriors who wield magic, the magic is reflected in their aura, and warriors who are strong physically, their aura reflects that, and each aura is different. Race, strength and elemental alignment are all taken into account in a person's aura.

As for Zorlo's aura, it was very different in many ways. Normally, any aura given off is hidden from view, moving about the person who owns it. The fencer could materialize his, and owned not one, but two auras. He didn't normally wield his second, so at the moment, it was inconsequential, but his natural aura had quite a few unique traits about it on its own.

First, the Aura Master's natural aura has no magical or elemental alignment, giving it advantages and disadvantages. The aura allowed Zorlo to first learn to control air with ease, learned to control other elements by using wind, and later without it. At first, the fencer merely used his air as a weapon, and then learned to combine it to control fire or lightning, both of which were powerful and wild elements.

Even so, Johnny's powers were very different from normal fire and lightning. Johnny's fire was deeply ingrained into his body, being most of his aura, from what Zorlo could tell, and was made of divine energy, which caused it and the fencer's normal aura to nullify each other or refract each other, keeping them from harming each other.

As for the skeletal mage's lightning, it wasn't that it wasn't normal lightning that made it hard for Zorlo to control, but the fact that Johnny controlled it that made it hard for the fencer to do more then refract and redirect the electrical energy. How evenly their powers matched up, this was why the Aura Master loved this fight so far.

The green haired man pressed his sword against the zombie's, the two swords locked in heated combat as the two pressed forwards, trying to overpower each other. Suddenly, Bones pressed his gun against the fencer's jacket and pulled the trigger. With a quick second thought, the fencer turned himself, moving the bullet's path to his gauntlet, and causing it to ricochet off harmlessly in another direction.

The fencer suddenly pushed his sword forwards with all force, but it did little but cause the skeletal warrior to slide back slightly. Quickly thinking again, the Aura Master drove his fist into the zombie's head and threw him back a few feet with a crushing punch. True, Zorlo's bare hands weren't nearly as strong as his aura, but still, they were much stronger then a normal persons.

The green haired man spun his sword on its hand guard effortlessly, the blade cutting the ground as it continued to spin until the fencer finally stopped his sword and pointed it at Johnny. He'd wait until the skeleton rose, and then the fight would continue. This was a great test of his skills, and he'd not leave until he saw it all the way through.

Johnny landed on his feet and extinguished his flames with a click of his fingers. The crackling of houses burning to ashes stopped as the fire disappeared.

Zorlo looked slightly bemused, but said nothing. The zombie holstered the pistol and did a quick run-through of potentially useful supplies. Bubble shield...naw, wouldn't work against a sword. Guns were out. Frags might work...he could try. Illumination and flashbangs were useless--he suspected Zorlo could see auras without using his eyes.

Frags might work. Tear gas and incendiaries might work. As Zorlo started forward once more, flourishing his sword, Johnny stuck his sword in the ground, reached into his jacket, and pulled out two grenades and a small, curving piece of metal. With one hand, he popped the pins of the grenades and dropped them.

Then he leaped backwards and yanked his sword out of the ground.

A pop sounded and pale green gas crept through the air. Huzzah for you, tear gas.

Then...an explosion.

Before the dirt thrown into the air had even begun to fall, Johnny zoomed forward, tackling Zorlo as he was thrown into the air. He pushed a button on the piece of metal with his thumb. Blue, crackling energy hissed into life, creating a two pronged energy sword.

If Johnny had had skin, he would have grinned outrageously wide. Can titanium or whatever-the-hell that jacket is made of protect you from this, Zorlo?

They crashed to the ground. Johnny stabbed downwards.

OoC: Very cool. Halo 2 style energy sword. Nice addition. ^_^

Before the blade even got halfway between the fencer and the zombie, and armored hand had grabbed it, covered in a familiar green flame. "Well now, a plasma weapon. I haven't seen one of these since my fight with you and Roery... and Ciaran," he said, smiling as a second armored fist crushed its way into Johnny's skull, throwing the skeleton's skull upwards as the blade kept trying to push down.

The dead man's other hand grabbed the double-bladed plasma weapon and started pushing it, intent on seeing if it would work. The blade was split in the fencer, and the fencer merely grabbed the other edge of the blade with his shielded hand and rocked it lightly before swinging his arms forcefully to the left, ripping the blade lose from the fingers and affording the green haired man a chance. Before the skull of bones had a chance to say anything, his body was kicked hard in the gut, or where it should have been, and threw the body into the air, landing feet from the skull, that rolled over and attached itself.

The Aura Master stood up and looked at the energy weapon, swinging it a few times, and splitting a nearby lamppost with ease. One thing was sure, whatever this thing produced, it was effective. Maybe not quite as useful as the Aura Master's sword, but still pretty good. Not to mention, it was cool to boot. The fencer clicked it off and placed the thing in a concealed pocket within his jacket. He'd keep this thing, one never knew when energy weapons would come in handy.

The fencer bent down and picked back up his sword, but not before another thing came flying at him. Before the fencer could respond, another blast went off, but this one was different, just an annoying bright light. Probably a distraction of some kind. The fencer merely closed his eyes, and found that Bones' hadn't moved an inch. This was odd... or was it.

Quickly, the fencer jumped backwards, narrowly evading an explosion. That one had been a bit close, even if the fencer might have seen it coming. The green haired man opened his eyes and let them focus as he sheathed his sword. He could see Johnny charging at him. Great, now he was charging, and the zombie had a tactical advantage, the fencer could only half see.

The dead man swung down his sword downwards and connected it with both of the fencer's gauntlets. The clash of weapons produced sparks, and the two stood locked, the fencer's hands holding the swords back. Bones was strong, there was no doubt about that. None at all. Even so, the green haired man knew that the zombie only had so many tricks and tools. All the fencer had to do was wait for them to run out, and then he'd have the tactical advantage. After all, Johnny had only seen maybe one or two of Zorlo's tricks.

The fencer pushed the dead man's sword away and caused him to stumble forwards, and quickly, the green haired man took advantage of it, spinning around quickly and chopping his hand at the brawler. The swords of the dead man buzzed through the air and stopped the fencer's hand, and the two pushed themselves away. "I see, Johnny. You're so much more then you were. I'm more impressed then I've been in a while. Perhaps, maybe just perhaps, you'll be able to keep up with me this time," the Aura Master said in a joking manner. He knew that Bones could keep up, it was just a matter of how long. That, the fencer would wait and see, especially now that the last lights of the sun faded, and night began.

OoC: Post made. And again, night has come... I knew I forgot something the first time I reposted. Hopefully we can start up our fast posting again, but we'll see.

By now, Johnny had tuned out the pointless chit-chat, the smatterings of useless, goading conversation. Zorlo treated this like it was a game. Maybe it was. Russian Roulette: it's a man's sport! Before the Aura Master could react, he somersaulted backwards, his sword lowered.

The skeleton silently took stock of what he had in his pockets. Gum, some leftover blotters, mushrooms, bullet cartridges, various and sundry gadgets, more grenades...

Hm. Gadgets. Zorlo had put the sword in one of his pockets, hadn't he? Johnny had stolen it from the government, and the defenses that came with it, defenses that had failed to stop him but might be useful now...

Johnny reached into his jacket and pulled out a two-inch long piece of plastic. As he moved his thumb onto a button situated on the top of the device, the sun disappeared behind the horizon. He slowly turned his head to watch, cursing silently in his mind. He had completely forgotten...

Organs grew out of nothing. Veins, arteries, and nerves exploded from the newly-formed heart and brain, deftly creating a spider-web network throughout his body. Skin and hair materialized, starting from his feet and running all the way up to his head. Eyeballs blossomed and moved to look at Zorlo. They gleamed red.

"Well, well, well," the fencer said, smiling.

There was no point in paying any more attention. There was nothing he wanted to say and nothing Zorlo could say that would interest him. In most fights--fights he was easily winning--he would browbeat his opponent, pushing their buttons, eating away at their self-esteem. That didn't seem to work with Zorlo. It seemed as though he had purged himself of all negative feelings. L. Ron Hubbard would be proud.

The little plastic device in the hand not holding a sword seemed to grow warmer. Johnny was fed up with anxiously riffling through his options: what explosives were tucked away, what magic he hadn't used yet. He had bullettime and Zorlo had...well, he had something. Whatever. The point was, they were evenly matched enough that all Johnny had to do was tip the scales enough to make himself better.

Oh. Zorlo was charging again. How nice.

Even as the fencer's golden sword reigned blows upon him, Johnny was thinking, only paying slight, hazy attention to the attack. The swords seemed to move like molasses in front of him, giving him time to plan. What was the best way to increase your odds in a fight, besides reinforcements? He didn't have any, so that was...

Actually, not a bad idea.

The zombie finally snapped his attention back to the fight. As Zorlo thrust forwards, he sidestepped and launched a barrage of kicks at the fencer's legs. Many a UFC fight had been won by beating a man's legs until he collapsed while still fully conscious. Most of them landed well, but Zorlo blocked several. No matter.

His ruby-colored eyes glinted, reflecting the golden fire that had just appeared behind the fencer. The bloody kicking was just a diversion, anyways.

Zorlo turned to see a man, towering above both of them by at least a foot. He carried two enormous broadswords and didn't have a face. Johnny felt a modicum of pleasure--he had never done that before.

The man was made entirely out of fire.

As the Aura Master turned to face his new opponent, Johnny pushed the button on the small piece of plastic.

The plastic explosives that the American government had added to the plasma sword's handle exploded.

Johnny seemed very distracted by something, and the only reason the fencer knew that was after the skeleton pulled out that small thing in his empty hand, the Aura Master had a nervous feeling about the stolen article he had on him. the green haired man had elected that it was better to be safe then to be sorry, and quickly pocketed his right gauntlet as his left arm swung his sword. The fencer slipped his arm down his sleeve and into the innards of his jacket, grabbing the energy sword from within his jacket pocket. Now came the hard part: the convincing ploy.

The dead man applied a tactic that Kellson had when last the brawler and the fencer had fought: kicking at Zorlo's legs. In theory, that attack could bring down anyone, but in practice, that wasn't so true. Zorlo's legs were almost as strong as his armor... at least in terms of durability. Meanwhile, something else tugged at the Aura Master's mind, and most notably told him to turn around.

Towering over the fencer was a seven foot man made entirely of golden flames. The massive creature had two equally massive swords, one in each hand, and stood threateningly ready to strike. The fencer stopped and turned, smiling at the creature. It nearly made him forget about the energy sword in his hand, but only for a second. Although a second was almost all that was needed to nearly take Zorlo's hand off.

The fencer dropped the device and leapt nonchalantly into the air as it exploded. Whatever kind of explosives were in there sure were powerful, but even so, they'd missed. Meanwhile, the green haired man just floated in a relaxed nature in the air. Relaxation filled him as the cool, night breeze blew past, although that didn't remain for very long. A light brighter then the starts shot up, accompanied by another figure, towards the fencer.

As Kellson's bones and the fire warrior shot up, the fencer allowed himself to plummet, hearing various swears and obscenities coming from the mouth of the dead man as he softly landed on the ground. That had been a nice break from fighting, and now he had to fight two strong foes. How long would they still be standing though, was a good question.

Bones slammed into the ground, causing lots of dust and ash to rise into the air from the crater that formed beneath his foot, while his giant monster landed without more then scorching the earth. The monster of divine flames brought its sword over its head and began alternating swings of its blade at the green haired man, who nonchalantly blocked the attacks with his sword. A sudden movement in the zombie's aura caused the fencer to side step as the dead man flew into his creature.

The skeleton was lucky for two reasons: One: The flames couldn't hurt him even if they touched him, and two: the creature created a massive opening in its chest to allow its master to pass through. To a normal person, that would have been very annoying, but to Zorlo it just meant more fun. After all, he had become a bit too relaxed in this battle so far. Maybe, just maybe, this creature could prove to be a worthy foe yet? Maybe Johnny, and his mass number of things and skills could earn a right to see Zorlo's true power? Those two were hard to say, so the green haired man would just wait and see.

The Aura Master slipped on his right gauntlet and began blocking slashes of the giant creature's swords as they blurred towards him. Too easy. This battle had prove too easy with this extra foe. In a flash, the fencer struck hard, knocking the beast's swords to the sides and allowing the fencer to channel his aura through his blade and, in an instant, he had cut the beast in half by the center.

Zorlo quickly jumped to the side as he saw the skeleton striking, driving his magical blade into the ground. Even a dead man could be defeated, it was just a matter of finding the right way of beating him. This the Aura Master knew for certain.

Johnny Bones couldn't stop laughing.

Adrenaline had hit hard with that explosion. That was a rush. He'd flown about six stories into the air and landed without a scratch; Jake Brown had nothing on him. Damn, that was fun.

Zorlo's sixth sense or aura or whatever the hell he had had warned him about the C4 lining the sword. No matter. By now, Johnny had no faith in his plans whatsoever and decided to just roll with it. Zorlo would become to fatigued to continue eventually. Johnny would not. It was that simple. Zorlo could continue going faster and faster, so Johnny kept making time go slower and slower. It balanced out, but Johnny was physically unable to tire.

The fencer was strong, but he was only human.

The only thing to do now was to speed things up.

Johnny clicked his fingers while deflecting a slash from the Aura Master's sword. A trio figures erupted into flaming life around them. Like his previous fire minion, they were armed with two swords each, but these were thinner and faster. Likewise, the minions themselves were shorter, around five and a half feet.

"Oh, Johnny," Zorlo said with patronizing smile. "Can't you fight without help?"

To answer, the zombie snapped his fingers again, crimson eyes gleaming in the firelight as the fire minions surrounded them. A faint buzzing filled the air. The euphoria of hurtling through the air had reminded him of when he had wings...not what he wanted to remember. He didn't even crack a grin as locusts filled the sky, gnashing razor sharp mandibles. Depression hit hard. Sobriety hit harder.

Zorlo might thwart this large-scale assault. He might not.

He conjured a golden shield, three feet in diameter, on his left forearm. The air grew uncomfortably hot; he could see sweat beading on Zorlo's brow. Johnny did not sweat. He didn't have functional sweat glands.

As one, the zombie and the men made of fire attacked. The fencer cut through one of the minions in the first five seconds, his blade whirring through the air like a twig in a thunderstorm. With a blink of his fiery red eyes, Johnny summoned another minion to take its place. He pulled out a pistol with his shield hand and started unloading a round of armor piercing bullets into Zorlo's chest, legs...anywhere that was open. The fire minions didn't even respond as the bullets whizzed through them.

And then, in the midst of the chaos, the locust swarm attacked.

OoC: LOLminion

OoC: I love it. Fast paced, crazy and inventive. Time to be the same.

BiC: The fencer absolutely loved this. Time itself seemed to be moving faster then even the fencer had become attuned to in the Dome. Four fire minions, one on each side, a swarm of flesh eating locusts on the horizon and drawing closer, and the propagator himself, Johnny Bones. Man was this a bad attempt at leveling the playing field.

Bullets whizzed towards the fencer, hitting either air or his sword, rendering them completely useless or destroyed. As soon as he heard the clip drop from the gun, he took the offensive, nearly vanishing into thin air, and then blurring back to where he had stood no more then two seconds before. Followed soon after were the sounds of brief slashes as the fire minions slid apart and dissipated into nothing.

As the skeleton slid the next clip into his gun, the Aura Master stuck his sword into the ground and took the offensive, peppering his foe with a barrage of punches, striking countless places on the dead man's chest and ending it with a fierce strike to his face. Zorlo watched as Johnny flew into the distance and slammed head first into the ground and continued sliding as his hair and skull ripped across the land.

A foe you couldn't incapacitate. This was a good fight. In an instant, the fencer walked back slowly to grab his sword, watching the insects swarm towards him. Time to deal with this problem.

The small, flying pests flew down towards the green haired man, who quickly leapt into the air, and the creatures followed him foolishly. Quickly, he began ripping through the insects effortlessly with his sword, scatting insect bodies across the battlefield as he slowly plummeted back to the earth. Suddenly, as the fencer landed, he saw something very annoying speeding towards him.

Bullets whizzed towards the fencer, becoming another thing the Aura Master had to cut down as he sliced through the insects, which proved to be a very simple trick. The shield in on Bones' left arm had proven ineffective before as the he had been distracted, but this time, he didn't have anything to keep him from using it. The dead man holstered his gun and drew his sword as he ran towards Zorlo, who merely continued to smile.

A sudden burst of gold flame and green aura entered the air and sizzled a few of the insects as a powerful, glowing green punch made for Johnny's head, but met instead his shield, causing the undead to slide back. The fencer leapt back, quickly cutting through the insects that had massed upon him. There were still too damn many, and Bones didn't make it easy to kill them all in one quick flash. That's when he had an idea, all he needed to do was stop the dead guy for a few moments.

Johnny came at Zorlo again, and this time, the green haired man was ready, dodging under the zombie's sword and slashing his sword, which bounced off of the skeleton's shield, but that attack wasn't his main one. A blur of fists struck Johnny Bones again, along with a few slashes from the fencer's sword to his legs, and a final thrust-punch to the dead man's abdomen again, sending him flying a second time.

That never got old, and Johnny seemed to keep getting up, which made it all the more fun for Zorlo to do it. Come to think of it, the fencer was still warming up, but now the Aura Master had to act quickly. He jumped back and pulled his left arm in and began thrusting like a madman. "Mirage Thrust Rain!" he yelled as he threw countless lunges, his long, golden blade slicing through the insects en masse until they were not but shells. Ten seconds went by until he was finished, and all the locust were dead, but hell, it was still good fun.

The fencer stopped for a second, taking a few breaths as he looked at the battle scarred landscape. Man they had done some damn damage, but he loved every moment of it so far. The fencer felt a single sweat drop hit the ground. It was astounding that the fencer wasn't even warmed up yet, yet he was slightly sweating. Now then, where was Johnny? This fight was still only starting.

OoC: I would have responded earlier but I missed that you responded. Sorry for the wait.

The fencer took to long to take stock of himself after slicing up the insect invasion. A kick to the head like a machete to undergrowth smashed the fencer in the back of the head. He fell over, but popped up just as fast. Johnny snapped his leg back and pulled his sword out from where he had stuck it in the dirt. It had taken him a while, back when he was alive, to perfect that kick without giving himself serious groinal stress. No worries now, of course.

Zorlo was sweating. Maybe Johnny could dehydrate him into submission.

Okay, let's see...Johnny had a bunch of kick-ass gadgets, magic, and could easily match the speeds Zorlo came at him with. Zorlo had his own aura magic BS that could block most of the good stuff the zombie threw at him. Zorlo was overconfident, Johnny was just confident. Zorlo's hair was a ludicrous green color, whereas Johnny's was normal.

Well, aesthetics mattered.

You know what? To hell with it. Zorlo wasn't even pretending he was trying. His goddamned aura or whatever took care of everything. Johnny pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "This is boring. It's too easy."

"What?" Zorlo asked, chuckling. "I just thwarted your--"

"Save it, you sanctimonious, broccoli-headed imbecile," Johnny spat. "You're not trying. At least I'm testing out new things. You've called me a many-trick pony and what have you before; well, you're a one-trick pony. Hack 'n' sash, all day long."

The air grew hotter still, rising to one-hundred degrees. Johnny inhaled deeply, his face changing from furious to impassive, and burst into flame.

After a few seconds of roaring fire, he glanced at himself, holding a hand up for inspection. His clothes and skin remained intact, but encased in fire. Kind of cool.

"Start trying. Pussy."

The fencer couldn't help but laugh. There was a distinct difference between a one trick pony and an effective power. The fencer hadn't needed anything more then his sword, gauntlets and what little power he was using. Johnny wanted him to try, well that was the dead man's business, not the Aura Master's. This wasn't like the last time they had clashed swords; Bones would have to earn the privilege of seeing Zorlo so much as make his own smile fade into seriousness.

The air was warming up so suddenly... well no biggy. As soon as the heat hit anything even remotely annoying, the fencer's aura burst to life and created a nice cushion of cool air, a nice trick he learned that came along with manipulating air. What Johnny saw was not one effective trick, but a variation of one effective move applied over and over again. Lightning and fire displacement took different amounts of seriousness, as did creating a shield or healing his wounds. So many uses, and all useful. The only useful things Bones had so far were his shield and the fact he could heal.

The raging fire about the skeleton told the fencer only one thing: Johnny was doing something very foolish. The green haired man was surrounded by his natural aura and the cooling breeze it helped him with, making almost all sweating he was doing vanish, not that that mattered. He didn't normally rehydrate for long periods of time. It had become part of his meditation and focus training.

"One trick pony, you say?" the fencer asked as he began to laugh calmly, never losing his smile. "Maybe you should look again, for I have no one trick, as Kellson did, but a variation of tricks all from the same root of power, as you do as well. Your power come from what you have become, as my power comes from my aura. I once recall Kellson telling me do what you know best, and that's all I'm doing. If you don't like it, then perhaps you didn't bring your best," Zorlo stated crisply, noticing no change in the zombie's facial expression.

Perhaps the fencer could afford to use one more of his unused tricks. After all, it wasn't like it would hurt any. The fencer could fight for God knows how long and not need a break, so what did he have to worry about? It was time to show off some more of his more favorite techniques now, mostly since his body was completely fresh. Everything was in working order, so it was time to choose one.

After images? He wasn't on the defensive, so that'd be a waste. Mirage Thrust Rain? That was a maybe, although it had picked apart the insects with ease. Aura Slash? A most likely thing to use. After all, Kellson, had he seen it, would recall it. Mirror Mirage Barrage? Absolutely not, he wasn't worthy of such an advanced skill. Aside from that, the fencer had anything else he could come up with. Actually, coming up with something right now sounded good.

At that moment, the Aura Master had an idea of just such a move. Oh buddy would this one be an inventive one too. Just the kind of move that the fencer wanted to show off some of his flare and finesse. Now the only thing left to do was put it into motion.

Zorlo changed his sword to what is called an assassin's grip, or defensive hold, where the blade is pointed down towards the ground and not upwards. A raging flame rushed towards the green haired man, who calmly took a breath and readied himself, his aura still burning bright in the dark, night sky. With a powerful heave, the skeleton swung down his sword, and met the fencer's.

The clash of swords put the two very close, and the cool and warm air created a disturbance, and began forming clouds above the two. A little rain would be nice, if Johnny didn't succeed in dissipating it. The green haired man idly defended the dead man's sword with his blade as he formed his aura around it. Time to shine!

"Hurricane!" the Aura Master yelled as he pushed his blade forward and released the aura wrapped around it, which quickly began spinning around the zombie furiously, swallowing him into a hurricane of pure aura. The energy quickly extinguished his flames like wind to a candle, and spun him quickly, the sword essence within the attack cutting Bones' body with countless small, annoying cuts. A few moments ended and the hurricane vanished into nothing but a wisp of green and the zombie fell to the ground hard.

Zorlo smiled and called over to Johnny Bones, knowing his foe was still very much alive. "Are you done yet, or are you intent on trying to get me to fight seriously?" the fencer asked. He had come up with a very nice attack thanks to Johnny, but he wouldn't tell him that. After all, that attack had been only slightly draining, not that the green haired man even noticed. He was having way too much fun.

The Aura Master stabbed his sword into the ground and took a few deep, relaxing breaths, wondering how long it would take the undead to rise from that attack. After all, if the high intensity winds, swords essence and fact his aura effortlessly doused the dead man's flames weren't enough, the ninety foot fall probably added to the damage. Odds are, Johnny would get up just fine, with probably just a slightly bruised ego.

That wasn't Zorlo's fault, but that didn't matter. The show had to go on! After all, the two still had witnesses, and they seemed either too scared or too interested in the battle to leave yet. How much longer would this go on, the fencer wasn't sure, but it sure as hell hadn't been long enough yet to be over. Ten hours wasn't even a warm up.

Well, thank God for bulletproof armor. Johnny wondered vaguely, standing and examining his slashed and bloody hands, if he should start wearing gloves. As he righted himself, he nearly fell over again; his right leg had broken in the middle of the shin and the bone stuck out of his skin.

"Oh," he said, slightly surprised--he had barely felt it. His bones were broken often enough as a skeleton that he had barely felt it. He grabbed his leg and snapped it back into place, then allowed healing energy to wash over his body and sew together the cuts. The armor had taken the brunt of the damage, but hell...it was probably magical. Johnny wasn't sure. Either way, it would be fine.

Flame coursed across his body, drying him out. A miniature hurricane...not quite what he had expected. Nevertheless--and no matter what Zorlo said--it was still the same general idea of an attack. The aura again. Before meeting Zorlo, Johnny (and Kellson, subsequently) had been under the impression that auras were just colors around people. Well, a bit more complicated, but...

Hm.

Johnny couldn't see auras. Mythological BS was what it was. What he could see was that Zorlo was damp from the aura hurricane.

I gots me an i-deer. Johnny kept the deadpan expression on, even in the midst of a creative spark.

He glanced upwards and blinked. Instantly, lightning began to start raining down from the sky, the thunder following booming and rolling like an orchestra of timpani. Zorlo began to dance away from the strikes, drawing his sword out of the ground. As he did, the zombie raised both hands and began blasting webs of lightning.

Chess was a fine game. Johnny had never played when he was alive--Kellson the Regicide was angry that the king sat back and relaxed while the pawns went out and died--but, giving that he was now a retired and late regicide, he saw no harm in playing. The strategy aspect appealed to him. Often, when close to victory, he had trapped his opponents queen between the edge of the board and two rooks. The opponent couldn't flee in any direction--walls and/or a checkmate would result no matter what he did.

So many lightning bolts were lancing down from the heavens that it looked like a solid whitish gold wall. Johnny began hurling webs and lances of electricity at a horizontal level.

It was like a cage of energy. Time to see if Zorlo could bust out in an electrifying jailbreak or if he'd get raped by the lightning like the bitch he was.