Fire Vs. Ice (Nekoryuuha)

[Zorolo]

OoC: I have three threads to start, so I figured start small and work my way up. Since this is just a one on one, I figured I'd start here. Ready, Neko? Cuz I sure am. First time I'm using the new Zachary. Link in sig. ^_^

BiC: Zachary Leos, the now quarter Ice Elemental, walked along the slightly stone lined path. The path had been worn away by years of no repairs and a great deal of travelers passing over it. The once heavily stone lined path now had few pebble, if not but dirt, leading towards where the ice warrior found himself trekking. It had to be near. He knew he was close, somehow.

Where the red haired elemental was heading was a city that had once been inhabbited by non-humans. Essentially a safe haven from the race of humans, demons, monsters, and other creatures gathered there in order to gain their freedom from the possible shackles humans may have put on them. Even though Zachary was mostly human, he felt an odd kinship with these people, and wished to examine how they lived, if only for sentimental reasons.

The part of Zachary that wasn't human, the part of him that wasn't wholly real, yet not artificial either, gave him a strange feeling of displacement. Maybe understanding how people that may have been like himself lived would help him console the break between his non-human part and his human majority. Of all else, Zachary wanted to feel as though he belonged, both with hmself and with someone, anyone, else.

Sure, there was Zorlo, but Zorlo was more of a brother to the young ice innate then a friend. More than anything, the red haired boy was searching for his place in the world. A place that he had slightly lost when he had killed Magnus. Sure, freedom had been gained, but the sense of belonging had faded. The sense that killing Zorlo was life was gone, and a void was left in the place of that. The only thing that could have filled it only made the pain worse with the reality of life.

Zachary's place in the world, however, as a warrior still stood. After finally leaving the Dome for a little while, he had found out that he was an accomplice of the Aura Master's. Unlike Zorlo, whose title as a bounty was "Green Hair" Zorlo, Zachary had a much more fitting, in his opinion, title: Zachary Leos, "The Avenger." Those who had seen him in combat had recalled what he referred to himself as, and apparently had given him that title. Well, at least people knew who he was now.

As his feet brushed against the ground, the innate rested his left hand on the pommel of Mobius and followed the path silently. Structures began to appear in the distance. He was almost there, and without incidence. Then again, he wasn't a blatant non-human, which the hunters of this area were looking for, but instead, he was very human in appearance. An archeologist some would have guessed, even though that wasn't it. Still, almost there. Almost to, hopefully, some form of truth.

OoC: Not a great opening, but hopefully it'll get better as I get back in character with Zachary. Sorry. ^_^;;

[nekoryuuha]

OoC: Sorry about the wait. Been a bit busy. Using the semi-new Haineko to kick this clash.

Bic:

"So this is it...Selena. My old home. I...I never knew it was this close to the Temple I grew up in," Haineko said to herself as she slowly walked through the town she once called home over a century ago. The soft snow crunched lightly under her feet while the sun shone brightly in the clear sky. The snow wouldn't take long to melt in this warm sunlight. Blurry memories played out near the few familiar buildings like fuzzy illusions as she continued through town.

At wasn't until she came across one building, its large window burned and charred that a flash of memory hit her. It took over her senses, dimming the world around her. Her breathing quickened, and the area around her faded out into her memories...


O=={-------> 122 years before. That night... <-------}==O

"Haineko... Please, run away from here!!" yelled a woman's voice as an eight year old Neko-girl with long, gray hair fell through a large, blown out window and into the thick snow. The girl sat up in the snow, shivering already as she only dressed in a thin nightgown. She could here the woman from before chanting something that made no sense to her, but made perfect sense at the same time. "...abandon your mundane form and become annihilation incarnate...!!"

The Neko turned slightly scared and confused gray eyes on the window as she stood back up. "Mommy...?"

"Extension!"

At black glow shone through the window before an explosion of disproportionate size blew the young girl off her feet, her scream shattered the air as she was tossed back into a snow mound. Shaking from both the explosion and from the cold, Haineko looked wide eyed back at the blown out window and now empty room and realized for just those few moments she was alone now. Her mother and Father, her only known family was gone. "MOMMY!! DADDY!!!"


O=={-------> Present Day... <-------}==O

"Hey!! Can you here me, lady!? Hey!!" Haineko came back to herself after hearing someone yelling. Though she wasn't sure, something told her that they'd been yelling to her a while. Her face was slightly wet from tears as she kneeled on now bare, dry ground. An eight-foot sphere of super heated air surrounded her that had wiped out the nearby snow for a few meters around her and dried the ground to the point it was cracking from no moisture. She holding herself with her hands. How long she'd been out of it was anyone's guess but the sun suggested it had been an hour on two. The piles of ash around her also suggested that several people had attacked her and been killed, apparently by her. "You with me now, lady?"

"Ahh...yes, I am. How long have you been there?" She asked back as she dispersed the super-heated air and stood up. The tears had already dried.

"Long enough to see to turn several guys to ash with your aura alone. I tried to tap you with a metal pole, but even that melted and vaporized," Zachary replied from the edge of the zone she had up. The ground that was inside of it radiated heat like a large skillet and showed little signs of colling anytime soon.

OoC: This is as go as any to turn it back to you, Zorolo.

[Zorolo]

The woman shook her head and gathered her thoughts back into what was going on and looked at the firebrand. "Oh, and what brings you here anyway, boy?" the ash cat asked as she looked at him.

"Pretty funny coming from someone who looks younger then I do, but then again, Z told me not to judge based on appearance," the youth stated as he smiled and pointed at himself. "I'm here to look around at this village to try to understand how the non-humans here lived. Maybe that way I can find a place in life," the avenger stated as he rested his left hand on the hilt of his sword and swelled his chest proudly, smiling with vigor.

"That's pretty interesting, coming from a little human," the Neko stated as she looked at the firebrand, who looked back at her with annoyance.

"I'm not a human! Or not just, anyway! I'm one forth Ice Elemental!" he yelled, taking pride in his non-human part, and getting defensive in the memories of his weaker days as a mere ice innate.

The ash cat looked at the red haired boy and grinned. "An Ice Elemental, huh? I didn't know they were so weak looking."

"You'll regret that," Zachary replied as the air began to cool and an icy wind blew through the streets. "Like you release heat, I release a nice, refreshing breeze. You'd better rethink your strategy," he told her as he looked at the woman, his dark blue eyes meeting her gray eyes in a contest of resilience.

"Well then, care to see which is stronger: my fire or your ice?"

"Any day!" Leos roared as he leapt back and gathered up ice magic into his hands, throwing two ice daggers towards the Neko. He didn't need his sword yet, so he'd save it for another day. One where his foe actually looked like they stood a chance.

[nekoryuuha]

As Haineko called flames to her hand, the Ice daggers hit the radiating heat from the ground around the Ash Cat and melted them to the point that Haineko leisurely sidestepped bits of water that hissed and evaporated on the bare ground. "Hmm...If you can't even pierce this heat, then you are the one making a big mistake," Haineko retorted as she held out her hands, palms up.

"Oh yeah!? Let's see you try better!" the Firebrand replied with a frown as he tossed a ball of pure Ice Energy at her, only to miss her but inches thanks to another sidestep.

“Flames of the sun, I call upon you show my foes to their end under Macha’s menacing glare!” Both Magic from Haineko and the powerful heat drew into her palms as Zachary took a step back and threw another ice energy ball that hit Haineko's and vaporized instantly to his surprise. All of the heat surrounding her was gone from the earth and the ball in her hand pulsed with strength before bursting into a softball sized ball of blue fire. "Kurenai!"

Thrusting the ball at Zachary, it erupted into an easily foot wide column of blue fire that wiped out nearly everything in its way for meters. Everything but Zachary as he'd jumped aside and continued running as Haineko turned the column to him for the few moments it lasted before she stopped it. "Weakling! You have to gather heat and flames from around you the fight with don't you?" He jeered as her sent three more slightly bigger daggers at her.

"I could say much the same about you." Haineko smited the daggers from the air with several fireballs before lengthening the fourth fireball into a thin line of flame that soon crystallized into a crystal Arrow. "Couldn't I?" She smiled as her bow seemed appear in her hands she readied it so fast. Within seconds, the arrow was notched and flying at Zachary's face to be stopped by his newly formed ice gauntlet's palm. Before he could say anything back, the arrow exploded in a small blast of flames that he could feel through the gauntlet. Though he was fine, the gauntlet was half melted and was soon reformed by the quarter elemental. He altogether dodged another crystal arrow this was aimed for a leg, instead hitting the snowy ground and wiping out a three foot patch of snow. He looked back at the place it hit before looking back to Haineko in time to see her vanish blurring out and Vanish. "Can feel the heat?" She asked sadistically from behind him as He was blown forward by a flame blast to land in the cleared spot from earlier. "Give up, Boy. You're out of your league."

As Haineko slowly approached his face-down body, he rolled and shot an ice spike at her head. Pain and cold ran across Haineko's face as a cut from the attack ran across her cheek. She dodged most of the attack, but the part she hadn't dodged cut in and froze over the wound to stop the bleeding and add more pain. "Never. Don't underestimate me, fire cat," he said as he finished back on his feet and retracted the ice spike, reabsorbing its used power.

Gray flames covered her palm and slowly, she wiped it across the wound, leaving as it was before. "And don't underestimate me, Ice boy. I've lived far longer on this plane than you can comprehend." The two looked at each other a moment longer before Zachary brought his sword to bear and Haineko vanished again, an arrow notched and ready.

[Zorolo]

Leos looked around as he kept his sword held low to the ground. So far, none of his ice skills but that one spear had done any damage. Luckily, the temperature bracer around his arm kept things from getting too hot for him. The red haired warrior looked around, trying to figure out where his foe had gone to, but quickly stopped thinking about it while he examined what he knew so far. After all, the one useful thing that Zorlo had taught Zachary was that analysis of a foe's powers made it easier to plan an effective defense.

Well, he started his thought, keeping a keen eye out for any on coming arrows, I know she's fast. Not as fast as Cadenza or Zorlo, notably, but still very fast. She moves to the point where the eye has a hard time keeping up. Even so, I can... kinda see faint images when she moves. Still... I'm no where near fast enough to keep up. I'm not that much quicker then a human being, even with my Half Elemental Form.

Secondly, she focuses on fire magic. Now, although fire won't work on me, thanks to my temp bracer, flames are still annoying, and do still hurt when I get hit, even if they don't burn. Aside from that, she's also long range oriented. Now, although I like my magic fine and all, I'm not a great warrior at too long a range. My choices are pretty slim.

Zachary barely heard the sound of an arrow moving as he turned and held his blade up, using the weapon's flat to block the blast that erupted from the arrow against the blade. The ice mage swung his sword and moved the smoke out of the way and looked around carefully. The sudden rustling of branches and leaves informed the Ice Elemental where his foe was and he quickly rolled to the side, evading yet another exploding flame arrow.

The time had come to take the counter offensive. Zachary used the power of his sword to create two ice spears and shot them towards the tree. Both were aimed at large branches, not so much the ash cat, and quickly snapped the tree limbs, causing the archer to look as she began to fall. She seemed slightly surprised, but the red haired warrior took the time to use this advantage.

The firebrand rushed the woman, who leapt up and shot down two more arrows that the red haired youth narrowly evaded as he shot up two ice spears towards her. The spears didn't quite reach her, or missed her completely, but the ice warrior didn't fret. He had her just where he wanted her. The woman was still leaping backwards, and unbeknownst to her, there was nothing but solid ground behind her. Just what the Elemental needed.

Zachary hefted his sword over his shoulder and swung it down hard. The ground split where the blade struck the earth and ice magic began to rush into the soil. Before long, a path of ice spikes began erupting from the ground, Quickly moving towards where Haineko was to land. Finally, he had mastered his newest version of Flash Freeze. The avenger wanted to see her fight her way out of this trap.

[nekoryuuha]

As the Ash cat watched the Flash Freeze bear toward her, so was mentally logging yet one more move of the Elemental's as well as cursing herself for falling into such a trap. Not that she couldn't escape it. This time, however, she'd make a show of it. "Wonder how much this kid likes illusion..?" She said to herself as her made a hand sign in her sleeve and used her Shunpou, seeming to vanish in midair.

* * *

Zachary watched as Haineko landed and immediately tried to leap away only to be caught in the erupting spikes of ice. Her scream of pain echoed off the near-by building as Zachary smiled and began to walk toward her. "Man, I didn't think it would pin her in place. That worked out better than I truly thought," He said to himself as he watched Haineko coughing up blood as she bled from two rather bad impalements; one through her thigh that exited the other side with a similar one through her gut and out her back. The placement of the spikes had also managed to pin one arm to her side, leaving her with one free arm. "So, who's made the big mistake, lady?"

"Bite me, boy," She replied as she coughed up more blood. Her wounds were bleeding pretty badly.

"Oh, don't feel bad. Here, if you except that you lost to me, I'll stop the bleeding for you," he replied half serious as he intended to do that much for her before leaving.

"No chance in hell!" Haineko yelled back as she flipped him off. "There's no way I'll said something like that...!" She smiled now as searing pain ran from the back of Zackary's shoulder. He saw Haineko fading away now. "...Especially since I'm not even warmed up yet," the Ash Cat finished from behind him, bow in hand and 'back' to normal as her Yasashii illusion faded out from her attack. Reaching back, he could feel her arrow lodged in his upper back just past the shoulder blade. "I hope you liked that, boy. Cause it's going to only get worse." All evidence that Haineko had been impaled was gone now, even the blood.

[Zorolo]

Zachary hunched over, his eyes watering a little bit as he felt the arrow in his back. Well, it certainly as hell hurt, but luckily, it had only gone a small ways in. Otherwise, it probably would have rendered him incapable of fighting at his fullest. The ice innate stood up and reached behind his back, yanking the arrow out furiously. The mage's eyes teared at the pain, but he pushed it back and looked at the woman.

The ice mage formed a bit of magic in his left hand as he stabbed his sword into the ground, borrowing some of the magic released from the sword and swinging his hand sideways through the air. "Looks like a cold front to me," he stated as freezing winds blasted into the area, causing a light layer of mist at the mages' feet. "Anyway, nice shot, but let's see you do it again. Just try to hit me!" Zachary mocked, holding his hands up in challenge.

Another arrow flew suddenly and Zachary smiled as the arrow pierced through something that appeared to simply be some form of mist. A pair of feet running made their way towards the ash cat as the ice innate appeared to be running towards the woman, leaping into the air and swinging his blade down upon her. The Neko quickly turned and fired an arrow through yet another mirage. She raised an eyebrow as a voice reached out to her. "A mirage created by the cold temperature. It's next to impossible to tell which one is real. How do you like being on the receiving side of an illusion?" the ice innate asked with a smile.

Suddenly, a blast of blue fire shot towards the Ice Elemental, who raised his sword to guard the blast, being moved back slightly. The red haired youth looked around as the mist lifted. He couldn't feel it, but he knew the fire innate was kicking up the heat. Well, that attack had been worth a shot. Quickly, the ice innate swung his empty left hand and tossed a sharp lance of ice towards Haineko, smiling as the blade rushed towards her.

[nekoryuuha]

Kicked up the heat was right as Haineko radiated like as powerful heater. As the spear came at her, she Smiled and raised a hand. "Hadou 33! Soukatsui!" Another blue fireball blasted from her hand to smite the ice spear mid flight. "You'll need to do a lot better then that to reach me!" Haineko pulled out a normal arrow and fired it at the boy, smiling as it burst into flames in his hand when he caught it.

"Can you shoot a normal arrow once in a while?!" Zachary called back to her as he made and tossed two more similar spears in his hands. By this time, her bow had been put away to his surprise.

"Oh Lord, bearing a Mask of Flesh and Bone and moving through creation on a Flutter of Wings! Ye that bares the name of Man, Truth and Temperance!" Azure energy could visibly be seen gathering at her palms that she faced toward Zachary.

"And what the hell was that supposed to be!? I can't believe you'd say something sounding so stupid!" the Ice Elemental jeered as he threw the spears and watched her barely move to dodge them. A frown adorned her face and More energy began to gather at an even faster rate. This was quickly becoming something to worry about.

"Upon this sinless wall of dreams, unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws!" Zachary gathered energy into Mobius as the heat from Haineko became intense enough to be felt from where he now stood. "Mock this! Hadou 33! Soukatsui!" A blast wave of Azure Flames easily two meters in diameter tore across the clear toward Zachary. A bit of surprise gripped him before her swung down, once more launching a flash Freeze as he ran to the side. The two attacks met in a blast of steam and reaction energy before the powered-up Soukatsui tore through it and continued on to wipe out a nearby building in a release of flaming energy. "Where is he?" Haineko asked herself as she slowly readied her bow and another Crystal Fire Arrow. "I didn't think that he was wiped-" The sound of snow crunching cut her off as she turned and fired the arrow into the steam. The arrow's blast clearing the spot in hit to reveal nothing.

"Looking for me?!" Zachary yelled from behind the Ash Cat as he came down with his sword, knocking the Bow from her hand in her surprise and putting her off balance enough to fall backward. "Got ya now!" He continued through with his attacks as he moved to stab Mobius through her.

To far off balance to Shunpou correctly! Her hands came together as Zachary stepped in to strike. "Bakudou 9! Geki!" Haineko fell to her back as the red glow covered Zachary and paralyzed him in place, stopping his strike only a few inches from her.

"What? What the hell did you do to me!?" Zachary yelled as he fought to move and was failing horribly. Haineko could only smile and sigh in relief as she rolled from under him and moved to her bow, all the while maintaining the handsign for Geki to work.

"I used Geki on you. Just be happy I didn't use something more permanent on you," she replied as she broke the sign and Zachary continued through with the stab that put a fourth of his blade in the ground. She picked up her bow as he pulled his sword free and the two stared each other down once more. "Getting warm?"

"I'm not even defrosted yet."

"Good, cause I've barely turned up the heat." The two both showed a smile before the two began to build-up there energies around them. The wind began to pick up from the temperature differences and the partly cloudy sky was starting to overcast.

OoC: Sorry, if it's not that good. But I think you can do something with this.

[Zorolo]

Zachary stared at the ash cat and smirked as he raised his sword to ready the next move. He'd been saving something that he'd been working hard to train to learn with Zorlo. The Aura Master had told the ice innate countless times that until he mastered this most basic of basic techniques, that the Ice Elemental's swordsmanship would never be as full in potential as it could be. The ice mage focused himself fiercely as he tightened his grip and closed his eyes.

The cool and warm air fronts raged violently as the serious difference, and ever growing difference, began to create large clouds. It would rain soon. Zachary could feel the rain. If that truly happened, he would have an edge.

No... not just rain. A monsoon, actually. A large sum of rain, cold wind and a powerful flux in temperature to a colder, more temperate setting. All these things would be greatly aiding to the ice mage and give him an edge here, but still, the weather, especially with the heat that the archer was giving off, would be hard to predict, since a large enough release of fire would dissipate the clouds and cast away the monsoon. All that meant was buying time until the winds and rain were upon them.

It was in that moment that Zachary recalled what move he had decided to use and tightened his grip again upon his sword. He focused magic strongly into the blade as he readied to strike, preparing his newest attack to date. With a quick slash and a powerful burst of energy forwards, a dark blue blade of pure ice magic rushed towards Haineko. The Neko stared at the blade, but quickly jumped to the side into a tree branch to evade the attack. The ice innate smiled.

The red haired youth turned to face the gray furred woman and kept his sword low to the side as he glanced quickly at what the blade had done to a nearby tree it had struck. The blade had cut halfway into the tree vertically and frozen the area it cut in a thick, dense ice. "Frost wave, I call it," the Ice Elemental stated as he pointed his sword at Haineko. "A high density wave of ice magic released from the blade of my sword when I swing that, when it strikes something, cuts and then freezes. Had you been hit, it would have split you apart and held you together," the ice mage stated as he took his blade in both hands again and readied to continue the fight.

However, the ice mage did have to give credit where it was due. "That was a skill I learned from a man named Zorlo, the Aura Master and Fencer of Tasogare!" Zachary stated proudly, although why, he didn't know.

[nekoryuuha]

"Yeah, and it shows too," Haineko shot back as she looked back to the Ice Boy, remembering the Fercer's Air Slashes. A drop of water hitting on ear made her flinch as another caused her to look up. Lightning flashed and thunder roared as the weapon took a nose dive and a downpour began. "Damn it...it's probably from a conflict of heat and cold." Haineko's robes began to lift as the air around her expanded explosively around her. The water on and around soon steamed and was gone, drying the area, while the new rain vaporized on contact with her Area of Effect. Even from where Zachary stood, he could feel the strong hot that would have had him sweating if not for his Temperature Bracer.

"Don't like the rain, huh?" Zachary asked sarcastically as he increased his own powers in much the same way, his own Area of Effect so cold the rain turned to snow and hail within. The wind, already strong, began to increase in strength and speed and the clouds seemed to darken visibly. Between the warriors raged an elemental no-man's land of intense heat, freezing cold, torrential rains and gale-force winds. The scene was something out of true fantasy, two great fighters standing opposed one another as their very energy affected the environment.

"Never," was the Ash-Cat's replied as she set and launched an arrow so fast it looked as though she'd materialized it. Immediately after firing, it had already burst into flames from Haineko's area of effect, only to go out in the dead zone and freeze solid within Zachary's area to where the Ice fighter simply caught the arrow in his hand after slowing it. Smiling, he dropped the arrow to let it shatter on the ground. "I thought so. My physical arrows won't work." With her right hand, she took the Quiver strap off her body and tossed it aside, the flame retardant material smoking as the wooden arrows began to smolder and burn. "Let's go, Ice Warrior," Haineko then responded as she loaded a flame crystal arrow into her bow.

OoC: A little short, but still good.

[Zorolo]

Zachary watched the arrow move towards him and held his hand out, shooting a spike of ice into the flame arrow and forcing it to combust. The flames erupted and the rain evaporated more. As the rain continued to fall, the area of low temperature quickly create crystals of ice that started to form together slowly. Flames were handy, but enough of something could overcome any mass of heat. Especially if it were cold enough. However, that'd wait.

Slowly, a large stone of ice started forming behind the ice innate's left hand. "I think you're out of luck. This ice will break even your thick layer of fire," the red haired warrior stated. Man, if she fell for this ploy, she must be dumber than he thought. Zachary smiled as he slid backwards and began firing off ice spears, only to watch them melt and evaporate. Expected, after all, her heat was starting to cause spontaneous combustion, which held its annoying factors. However, no heat was too hot. Just like no cold was too cold. All it took was an intelligent way though.

The ash cat fired off two arrows of flame, but both wound up striking Zachary's sword as he swatted them away with his right arm and the blade held in it. The arrows exploded, but were quickly contained by the intense cold. After all, it was almost time for the ice warrior to act. The distraction was almost ready, and that meant it was time to deal with this pain. Zachary hefted up the massive rock of ice and tossed it with a great groan as it flew towards the ash cat.

Haineko leapt into the air and aimed another arrow as the mass of ice moved towards her slowly. Some people never learn. A dagger of a very dark blue ice whizzed through the dead zone and struck into the cat's lower abdomen, causing her to lose her focus and fire an arrow into a nearby tree. The temperature resistance ice did its job well. Still, that didn't mean anything yet, since that was only one strike. The Neko landed and readied another arrow as the Ice Elemental flicked two more arrows of Nevermelt Ice towards the woman.

As the ice and fire met, blasts rocked the area and sent the daggers crashing into the ground as the ash cat landed and the ice mage stared at her. "Starting to ware out?" he asked her, smirking. She merely twitched once. And then again. Zachary steadied his sword in both hands and readied to attack. What in the world was she up to?

[nekoryuuha]

"Starting to wear out?"

Haineko barely heard the statement as she tried to regain a grip on herself. Reality felt like it was slowing with her first twitch of her ears and eyes. As she lost focus on Zachary, she twitched once more and held her head with her free hand. Her Area of effects slowly began to shrink as her mind slipped in her memories embedded into the area. Dammit...This is not the time!! She was beginning to shake as the Ash cat dropped to one knee. In her fading vision of reality, she could see Zachary gathering energy into one hand and smiling. She'd lost her struggle. Her anger was burning as she lost all awareness. Dammit....dammit.... DIMMIT!!

...heh...

* * *

As Zachary watched her drop to one knee, a smile ran across his face. " It looks like this is it, Fire cat. You don't have the resources to do anything else it would seem." Energy gathered in his hand that soon transformed into a thin, but strong spear of ice easily longer then Zachary was tall with his hand within the center. Looking into her dulling eyes, he could only sigh. "It just too bad you won't know what hit you!" he yelled as he leapt forward at Haineko and thrust the spear.

"Heh..." As the spear neared Haineko, it seemed like time itself pause as Zachary's attack was stopped mid air, less then an inch from Haineko's palm. Now come on, little boy," came Haineko's voice, but it was different. It had an odd inflective tone that was hard to describe. "Did you really think You could get me so easily? she asked as she raised her head to meet his gaze. Over the left half of her face was a black and white mask. It was plain and without features other then its eye hole. Her ash gray eyes had turned deep violet as well. The very heat around Haineko seemed to turn to force as she blew Zachary's attack away from her as if he were no more then a rag doll, the spear shattering and vaporizing as her Area of effect seemed to explode from her to a level beyond anything before.

"What is this?!" Zachary yelled out as he landed and slid to a halt. once more, his bracer had saved him from what would have been a horrible burning. The ground around Haineko was beyond baking as some parts of it seemed to be starting to melt. "And that mask... Just who or what are you anyway?!" Zachary yelled to her.

Haineko but merely smiled a toothy grin as she met his gaze. "Me?" She chuckled sadistically. "I don't have a true name." Tossing her bow aside, A bow of violet flames formed in her hand as Zachary kicked up the power of his our Area of effect. "I'm only going to kill you, that's all." An aura of Violet flames washed around the Masked Haineko as she pulled back and fired a black flame arrow. As it shot through Zachary's area, unstable, red and blue crystals of fire and ice energy formed in its wake in the air. The arrow itself missed and shot through a house, immolating it in the hungry black flames as the mixed Elemental energy crystal floated aimlessly. In the distance, tornadoes could be seen in the raging storm created by the elementalists and the storm itself was worsening.

O=={------->Haineko's Memories; 122 years before<-------}==O

"MOMMY!! DADDY!!!" As the child Haineko's yell rang out, the real Haineko could only watch with anger and sadness. Sadness at reliving these long since pushed away memories, anger at what these humans had caused her family, and anger at being so weak that her memories had pulled her inside herself, leaving her real body defenseless, or so she thought as she was unaware as to the situation in the real world. The sound of combat was dying away as several humans ran up behind her.

"Hey! Isn't that the girl we're supposed to be capturing?" said one, catching Haineko's attention. They're eyes meet for an instant before the child Haineko bolted on fear-driven legs, the humans bolting after her.

[Zorolo]

Well... ****... this is bad... Zachary thought as he looked at the now forming crystals of magical energy consisting of dark blue and red magical energies flowing into a mix of floating magical crystals and spires that seemed to rise straight out of the ground. What the hell is going on? the ice innate asked himself as he looked around, and then looked at the mostly black mask that had formed over Haineko's face. And what the **** happened to her. Seriously, what have I gotten myself into?

To be most accurate, Zachary had gotten himself into a clash of the very elements themselves. Ice and water and fire and lightning were all ripping about, formed by the imbalance and unstable nature of the intense cold and extreme heat. If Zorlo had been their, the Aura Master probably would have ended things now, but hubris dictated that the firebrand turn this fight up to a new level.

Zachary increased his magical release and gripped his sword tightly, charging forwards in a reckless rush, leaping right into the barrier of heat, pushing it way and causing it to convex around the extremely cool air and ice magic radiating form the Ice Elemental. Although Zachary knew his powers were restricted by something, he had found a way to break past the seventy percent of his powers he could reach under normal circumstances without becoming his Half Elemental Form. However, it would only be for a second.

That's all I'll need, he thought silently as a massive blast of flame exploded out of the masked Neko's hand. Zachary used his sword, releasing huge amounts of magic from the blade of it, as a shield as he pushed forwards. The thick flames were pushed back until they were at the Neko's hand and the Ice Elemental pushed the hand and his sword to the right, tossing his blade away.

"What are you doing, you foolish boy?" the masked figure asked as she moved her hand around the hand of Zachary's that now gripped her robe.

Zachary quickly gripped her robe with both hands and smiled. "Well, I'm doing the only thing I can think of... even if it is extremely dangerous!" he told her. Things had succeeded in reaching a new all time danger level. A thick crystal of fire and ice energies formed around the two as Zachary's hands began to glow and magic began to seep out of them. "I can't break my power cap for very long, but a second is all I need!" he yelled as the magic exploded from his hands, blasting them both back and encasing them both in thick ice that shattered the magical crystal.

A massive flower of ice expanded from the epicenter, engulfing them both. The ice around the ice mage quick cracked and shattered, allowing him to fall onto the ice. He felt very tired, as he always did when he poured enough magic to break his limiter for a very short period of time, but that would hopefully buy him some time. He stood up and quickly dashed for his sword. All he had left now was hope. Hope he'd stopped the masked fire mage for now.

[nekoryuuha]

OoC: Sorry for the wait.

Bic:

Get away... Please...Get away from me! It was a nearly constant thought string that ran through the child Haineko's mind as she ran for her life, the cold, sadness, and pain a distant thought altogether as fear and her mother's last words drove her as fast as she could go. This for even such a young Neko was indeed very fast as the pursuing human found it hard to keep up even in a flat sprint.

O=={-------> Present Day... <-------}==O

All seemed quiet as the Elemental picked up his sword and made himself ready. The massive ice blossom stood tall, cold, and quiet in the heavy rain that continued to fall in torrential amounts. Moments stretched into minutes and still there was no sign that the Masked Haineko was alive or otherwise. "Finally, its done with. I really thought...that..." The Ice warrior soon trailed off as the storm began to worsen; a red glow soon began to emanate from the thick ice. "No way..." As a thunderclap filled the air a thunderous clack of the ice splitting echoed simultaneously. Another such crack split the air soon to be followed by several more before the ice blossom exploded from the wave of intense compressed heat and flame, leaving Haineko glowing with a powerful flame-like aura as she slowly descended to the ground.

"You didn't really think that would kill the likes of me, Did you?" she asked him as she began to turn up the heat again.

"Jeez, it didn't even seem to affect her that much."

"Oh, It affected me, boy!" The Masked Haineko replied with malice as the area suddenly quieted and darkened. "It ticked me off to no end! Power flared around her form as her eyes literally lit up with power. "I'll scatter your ashes to the four winds! The air seemed to condense into an unknown place as the Neko faced her palms at him. "Primordial Illumination, the fount of life for all things!" The air began to heat up and then super heat as a large dark sphere formed in the air, drawing in large amounts of air ever faster and faster. "I call upon you to roar forth this once, and show us thy Power!" As a demented smile crossed the Masked Priestess' face the sphere turned bright red and orange as it collapsed on itself. "Big Bang!" The Sphere stopped its collapse as it flashed once and exploded in a torrent of flames so strong, it scattered the very clouds and parted the storm.

O=={------->Haineko's Memories; 122 years before<-------}==O

"Captain, we're not going to catch her at this rate!" Yelled one human as he stumbled, but kept from falling if it was just barely.

"The Corporal's right, sir!" Yelled another, clearly at the end of his rope while the fear-driven Girl showed no signs of slowing. "If we don't slow her down or stop her soon, we'll have to give up. Already, the rest of the squad has fallen out. We won't last much longer, Sir!" Looking over his shoulder, the Captain could see his fallen Squad members far behind and gritted his teeth.

"Okay." He didn't want to harm the girl as she was to be captured with as little harm to her body as possible and they'd already failed horribly with the Neko-girl's Mother, but this was one of those times it would have to be. "Put an arrow in her if you can hit her, but you better make 100% sure it's a non-fatal shot, Private! Else Mr. Vanderbrough will have your hide."

"Aye, sir!" As He pulled the and an arrow from his holder and readied it, he replied with a serious smile, murmuring, "I never miss, sir."

[Zorolo]

Zachary looked at the attack as the woman built it up, the magical power so great that it might even make Zorlo twitch a little with annoyance. Key words being maybe and annoyance, both of which the ice innate doubted would happen. However, he wasn't Zorlo. He was Zachary, and if he stood there, he would die. That was the reality of the situation. Terrible as it was, the ice warrior had come up with a plan relatively quickly. However, such sudden plans carried a risk. Only some.

"Shatter into the Northern Wind!" Zachary yelled as his sword burst into a thousand shards of ice that began to move around him. This was always so annoying, since it took a lot of focus and magic to maintain this power too long. Still, it was the most effective thing