Hale of Blades (Hitokiri Chibi)

Christmas had gone and past and, although Arietta had loved his gift, the ice mage still found himself pondering what was wrong. She still seemed frustrated, and still wouldn't talk to him about why. Why is she so annoyed? After all, I gave her a present... but I don't think its that... Is there something that I'm not doing that she wants? Is there something that I'm incapable of grasping that's bothering her?

As these thoughts continued to spin around Zach's mind, anyone else who knew the situation could tell why Arietta was annoyed. They could tell where her frustration was coming from. More over, they could tell that it wasn't getting any better. After all, Zachary didn't seem apt to figure out his problem on his own so easily.

Monroe had given insight to anyone that didn't know among the groups. Well, those old enough for him to tell, anyway. From what Zorlo had told Arietta and Monroe, the Replicator was poorly socialized, creating a lack of understanding in some areas. The key places were the ones that involved romance. Although that had been partially remedied by Zachary's own hard work, the other half of it hadn't been.

Zachary's total lack of understanding of physical romance and intimacy had created this problem, and the thought that somehow he'd remedy himself was an almost laughable notion to Monroe. Still, the Quincy found himself hoping that things would work out for no other reason than that otherwise Zachary would wind up dying at the hands of the person he loved. Not a pleasant notion, but the most likely outcome.

"What's wrong?" Zachary asked as he stood up. The amateur sorcerer rubbed the back of his head and began to pace. He walked back and forth idly, trying to figure out what was wrong. The fact he couldn't figure out bothered him quite a bit, but still, he continued to ponder. "Maybe I'll figure it out. Then I can solve it."

That was his best hope, most people would say. There was one other issues that Zachary hadn't fully taken into account. That was probably the family envy that Arietta had gotten. After all, Cadenza, her sister, and Alex, her niece, both had happy, loving families involving parents and children. This problem, however, Zachary had figured out. Still, currently the ice mage found himself trying to find a child to bring home, as 'denza and Monroe had. It hadn't, however, worked.

"How does one go about starting a family?" the ice mage asked as he sat down. The nighttime in the desert was a lonely and cold time. Zachary actually enjoyed it more than the daytime, since it was cool. As the blade sorcerer sat in the ruins, he looked around. "How does one go about starting a family?" he pondered to himself. This would be the problem he solved.

Joker rolled over on his perch. He'd found some nice ruins today and had used them to escape the heat of the desert. He still wasn't sure how he'd wound up in a desert with his constant wanderings but he blamed that on his portals. Too often they seemed to land him in places he'd never been to before - something that while possibly entertaining still posed some danger to him. He’d never know until too late whether he was in a place that would kill him.

He’d been about to get up from boredom when he heard someone moving about, then the questions had started. Naturally they made no sense to the young man, being related to whatever inner thoughts the other was thinking but the last question caught Joker’s attention, namely as it was asked twice and seemed pretty straightforward.

Unable to restrain himself – after all Joker did enjoy a lewd joke every now and then, Joker flipped to his feet and turned, leaning over the balcony that had shielded him from the other’s view. He was a bit surprised to see a boy the same age, although that was all they shared. The other’s red hair was a direct contrast to Joker’s own icy locks.

“Arara, having a wee bit of trouble in the family making department, eh? Not to worry, many men don’t have it in them to create families or they can’t get the nerve up, so to speak,” smiling down at the boy Joker laughed as he continued, waggling his eyebrows suggestively “Not to mention its all about how manly you are~! If you aren’t manly enough… well then you’ll be having more than just a bit of trouble and run the risk of losing your partner.”

Here Joker paused, “Ara, you do have a partner who is female right? Otherwise that could pose a bit of a problem if you wanted a child of your own an if you’re not careful someone else might steal her away… so where does she live?"

OoC: Red and White hair. Well, red with large streaks of white, but still. And I'll be posting Zach's upgrades shortly. When I do... I'll put it here that they're in his bio. ^_^

BiC: Zachary quirked his eyebrow at the man and gave him the look that carried only one distinct look: Are you ****ing kidding me? In all of the man's inane ramblings, he hadn't said a single coherent thing that the ice mage could understand. After all, if this man was asking any kind of intelligent questions, Zachary would have, despite being a bit disturbed at the thoughts the man was throwing around, even if he didn't understand them, answered them. But after the stream of crap that had flowed from that man's mouth, all the Replicator wanted to do was kick his ass.

"Hey, buddy. I don't know if you noticed or not," the amateur sorcerer said as he brushed his trench coat to the side a bit and let it fall back to where it normally sat, "but I'm in the middle of nowhere to think. I know this is a little hard for someone of your intelligence to understand, after the stream of **** that just came out of your mouth, but get the hell out of here! I don't have time to deal with people that think they're funny."

The odd man seemed insulted as he spun his forearm and hand around showingly and rested his hand against his chest. "Joker does not think he is funny. Joker knows he is funny, and if stupid boy doesn't think so, then he should leave."

Zachary narrowed his eyes at this "Joker" person and stretched out his left hand until his fingers cracked. Suddenly, both of Zachary's hands, along with the rest of his arms, were covered in Fenrir. In the span of the next two moments, a flash had produced a bow in Zachary's left hand, which was being held firmly. The ice mage looked through the special guiding part he designed to help him aim as he held his right hand out. A glob of some molten looking liquid appeared and quickly shaped itself into an unusually long main gauche.

Suddenly, magic flowed into the main gauche and it reformed itself into the shape of an arrow. Zachary mounted the arrow upon his bow and drew the string back. "Dodge this, funny man!" the Replicator yelled as he released the arrow. The magical arrow traveled quickly, striking the rocks where Joker had been and blasting a hole through one of them as the arrow continued on for a short while before simply disappearing.

"So... he dodged," the amateur sorcerer muttered to himself as he turned around. Quickly, the bow slowly seemed to turn into a gray mist and vanish. "Maybe that scared him off. That'll show him for interrupting my time to think," the Replicator mused as he took a step forwards. Still, the ice innate knew his foe was somewhere nearby... for some reason.

Joker sat on the opposite side of the ruins, eyes wide. Well, that went to show that people who sounded mild amidst their ponderings could turn into homicidal crazies. Not to mention Joker had a sudden craving to examine his weapons more closely... and was grateful that his first instinct in dodging hadn't been to simply duck down but go through a portal as well.

"Ara, what a dangerous fellow..." Joker murmured. In his mind he knew that the lad probably upped Joker in terms of battle experience but... Joker felt his proverbial cat ears perk in interest. He wasn't one to let his curiosity sit idle and if the only way he could examine those weapons was to do battle...

Once a course of action had been decided, Joker went straight into implementing them. Firstly, he created a portal that reached to his dream realm and traded his billowy shirt and vest for a plain black shirt with tighter sleeves, better for his movement and he didn't want to really get hid favorite shirt ruined. His daggers he put in a cross belt at his waist and he made sure that his mental link to the portal that stored his weapons was close to mind. Lastly, he retrieved a black musketeer styled hat with a wide brim, complete with a dark purple feather.

Leaping onto the edge of the wall, Joker looked down at his new amusement, brandishing his dagger and shifting its shape into a rapier.

"Nasty trick you pulled on Joker there, but Joker now wants to take a closer look at your weapons. Always best to know what you're about to steal, aye?" Grinning what could have been termed a psychotic smile that showed lots of teeth, Joker lightly flipped down to stand on even ground, his rapier held aloft with ease.

OoC: for all of those that want to know how Zach gets what I'm using in this post... and what it is... you'll have to wait until I show it off in Let's Start Anew. ^_^

Zachary's trench coat swayed in the wind as he looked over his shoulder at Joker, who now stood behind him. "That's a pretty nifty trick, you've got their. I didn't even see you move... so I'm going to assume you didn't. Even if I'm not a limited Clairvoyant like Monroe, I can still tell when someone did something without moving. This leaves but one option... you're a Leprechaun. That's all there is too it."

Joker's face seemed to read something that could only be considered a mix between total shock, and the feeling that the person he was dealing with was an idiot. "And what, praytell, makes you call Joker a Leprechaun."

The Replicator laughed as he held his hands out and smiled again. "I was kidding. I just love seeing someone with a dumbfounded look on their face."

"Joker will make you look dumbfounded!" the man responded as he seemed to make the first move.

The amateur sorcerer moved his head slightly to avoid the oncoming sword thrust that moved towards him, giving him just a narrow enough room to evade the attack and leap backwards and turn around. "That hat makes you look ridiculous and your attack was good, but not quite good enough," Zachary taunted as he held his arms out to the side.

A sudden flash of light blue from his right hand and an orange flash from his left vanished and left a blue, miniature scimitar with a snowflake engraved into the cross guard and a red, yellow, black and orange miniature scimitar with a fire engraved into the cross guard in Zachary's hands. "Azul and Rosso. My trusty blades. Can you handle them?" Zachary asked as he rushed forwards.

The ice mage quickly slashed his swords at the man with the funny hat. His left hand moved quickly and collided with Joker's rapier. With a powerful second movement, Azul moved towards Joker, giving the portal master just enough time to bend back and evade the attack before leaping back. "I'm going to defeat you," Zachary said. "And after that, I'll get back to my thinking," the Replicator stated as he held his swords in front of himself.

As Joker evaded the attack , he did have to admit to some surprise. After all, it was pure stupidity to call someone who was neither short, red haired nor dressed in green a leprechaun. Joker had seen those little critters and while they smoked some interesting things they weren't high on Joker's list of boon companions.

He also had to admit he hadn't expected the red/white haired hot head to have two blades. Joker had only been counting on one which is why he'd changed his dagger into a rapier... as well as to complete his outfit choice.

Sighing, Joker knew he had to change his battle tactics, not that he had much of a head for them anyway. All he'd figured was that he'd do enough to see the repertoire this weapons conjurer had and scuttle away.

"Two blades against one is a tad unfair~" Joker called airily as he twirled his other out of it's sheath, the rapier reforming into its usual dagger shape, "neither of Joker's blades have names but Joker is sure they can withstand yours - and Joker's hat in NOT ridiculous!"

Grinning he launched forward, his leading hand holding his dagger in a reverse grip along his forearm as slashed at Zachary, speed aiding his spin to complete his turn so his other arm could come in with a stab.

Zachary smiled as he blocked the first attack with Rosso, expertly blocking the slash. However, the unforeseen second thrust from the spin came by surprise. Still, the ice mage was quite ready to deal with it. Zachary quickly thrust Azul up and used the part between flat part between tips to deflect the blade and spun around.

The Replicator leapt back and crossed his swords as he took a few steps around the man. This man had some good knowledge of weapons, since he had just proved he could effectively use two types of weapons. Still... I can't let this guy get the better of me. After all, that hat... if I let someone who'd wear THAT hat beat me, I'd never let myself live it down.

The Replicator quickly gathered himself up and crossed his swords over his chest, even inside of his jacket. "Take this!" Zachary said as he started running and quickly slashed both swords at once in horizontal lines. This move would be effective in, if not taking down the foe, then at least stunning him.

Joker stared at the oncoming attack. Really, did the boy just do that? Joker had seen that move done many a time aimed at his person, namely in streets of crowded cities when some two bladed city thug thought to impress his friends with the move against the weak 'freak'.

Bending backwards, Joker watched as the blades slashed over his nose, a few strands of his fringe that were late in following his sudden movement flying as they were cut by the sharp edges. Joker didn't have time to waste with the loss of some hair, his feet came up flying towards the unguarded chin of his foe to complete his backwards handspring. Thankfully, the Replicator was close to Joker's own height or Joker would hit nothing but chest.

"Ara, don't you know that some of the best thinking can be done amidst battle?" Joker commented, standing straight with blades out in a guard position, "All that adrenaline, you can't help it! SO Joker is helping you!"

The Replicator rubbed his chain with the back of his hand as he looked at Joker and thought quietly to himself. Maybe this guy was right? He was odd, but he definitely had some good moves. Double Quickdraw had failed, miserably, so that had left him defenseless for the counterattack. Well, lesson learned, right?

Still, the amateur sorcerer wasn't about to simply give up for a single mistake. After all, everyone made mistakes. "It's if you learn from your mistakes do you really gain anything from making them in the first place," the ice mage stated as he held his swords in front of him. That was better. The Replicator could feel his vigor starting to heat up again. His passions were slowly becoming ablaze. He felt alive again.

The ice mage moved Azul slightly behind him as he held Rosso in front of him. The red haired warrior rushed forwards and made his first offensive move. Rosso slashed quickly horizontally at Joker, but quickly met a dagger, which locked the two. The sorcerer smiled as he quickly slashed Azul in an interesting fashion, having the blade skim past Joker's face.

The blue haired man smiled in response and quickly slashed his dagger, but soon found Azul blocking that weapon. The way Zachary had attacked had left himself accurately placed to defend against the counterattack he could predict coming. There was just one problem now: both warrior's had both of their weapons locked.

The two forces pushed and pulled back against the strength of the other. With a flash and flourish of blades, the two blasted backwards and held their weapons ready. Although Zachary wasn't dealing with his problems, he sure did feel a hell of a lot better. "Come on! We're not through yet!"

Laughing now, Joker forgot his earlier irritation over the insult of his hat. Joker had never before engaged in a battle for fun but now... the battle of wits fought with their blades was more exhilarating than he had thought. No wonder people were so happy to bash at each other with swords!

At Zachary's yell Joker sprang forward beginning with a upward diagonal slash that Zachary blocked with his blue blade, his other already moving to block Joker's second attack.

"Learning from mistakes and it seems you have a two-hit theme running," Zachary taunted as he deflected Joker's strike. Then the Replicator attacked, brushing aside Joker's blade and beginning his own flurry of attacks.

Stab, slash, parry and duck, Joker thought as he manfully met each blade. He really didn't want any of those to hit him since he didn't have any armor. Then Joker realized he was fighting in a straightforward manner.

"Ara, getting Joker caught up in your fighting style~" he complained and promptly feinted to the right, ducking low to the ground beneath another of Zachary's attacks and promptly attempted to trip the red head. Joker wasn't sure what he'd do if the trip succeeded since death wasn't his aim but he'd see what happened. At the same time his hand dipped into a portal and pulled out an exploding rubber duck.

It clicked, a little too late though, that this man had some odd power. His hand had dipped into the ground and seemingly grabbed and pulled something out. The leg connected with the ice mage's legs and tossed him back. Joker smiled as he tossed the duck and rushed away. "Oh crap!" the Replicator yelled as he slashed the duck in half. And then...

BOOM!

The duck exploded, and the amateur sorcerer's body bounced against the ground before physics pushed him back into the air until his body hit again. Had it not been for a last second chance to block, that attack probably would have hurt more. Aside from the crashing against the ground and the being thrown back, the red haired warrior hadn't really sustained any damage from that explosion.

The Replicator stood up slowly, pushing himself up while still holding his blades, and looked at Joker. The odd man was rather powerful, or at least rather clever. That last trick had more than thrown the red haired warrior off his focus, and now had him pondering. "So, you wanna use tricks, huh?" Zachary asked as he moved himself to a knee before standing up. "Well then, I'll meet your annoying tricks with my own kind of power. My brand of sorcery," the ice mage said as he tossed his weapons to the side.

Azul and Rosso moved like boomerangs though the air, spinning around Joker as he looked at them. The blue haired man noticed that as he moved, the blades moved in order to keep the same distance. "I have created hundreds of blades," the amateur sorcerer stated as he created another pair of swords and threw them in the same manner of the first.

"Now these blades which are so plentiful will bring about your demise." Zachary held his hand up and clenched his fist. A that moment, the swords all swooped in and slashed at different points on Joker. These blades weren't meant to harm, but rather freeze their target in place. "Arctic Blade Dance!"

Quickly, the ice mage created a second set of Azul and Rosso. If this failed, he'd need to be ready for the counterattack.

Joker cursed as flashes of orange and blue light danced in his vision. When they cleared he realized he was stuck, his body frozen by colorful ice and Zachary had another pair of blades in his hands.

"Ara, so you be a magician of sorts! With magical blades!" Maybe it was just the way the attack worked but Joker's head remained free and so he could still blather away. Zachary immediately regretted that that was the case.

Joker himself had been frozen in a guard stance, both his daggers crossed in front of him. He couldn't even twiddle his fingers.

Having Joker bound made the ice manipulator drop his guard as he sauntered towards his captured foe. Joker grinned having a few option still left. He could open a portal beneath the magician but that would be revealing one of still as yet kept secrets. The other would make use of his daggers that were known to change form.

"Ara, you shouldn't get too close~" Joker sang out as the blades of his daggers shone icy blue before breaking through the ice as they lengthened, each blade arcing out in opposite directions to circle Zachary as his blades had done to Joker before wrapping tight around him, caging his arms to his side.

"Now we both be trapped, be this what they call a dead lock?" Joker asked conversationally.

"Well... this is just great," Zachary said as he pushed his arms, trying to break free. This soon occurred to him to be a useless. That uselessness was obnoxious, to say the very least. Zachary spun his blades in his hand and the blades exploded against the bindings and froze the ice manipulator in place as well. The Replicator tried again to break the blades, but the ice that now formed on him seemed to do nothing but bind him as well.

The amateur sorcerer sighed as the ice that covered him cracked and shattered. "Well... we're stuck... I can't see any useful purpose for doing this..." the ice mage stated as he looked at the swords binding him. "You've got some interesting weapons there, buddy," the red haired warrior stated as he tried wiggle his way out.

"Ararara~ You can make odd weapons!" Joker replied. Well, they were both still bound, and neither had made a move.

"Wait a minute..." the Replicator thought as he stepped forwards and kicked against the ice entombed Joker. A powerful force rushed through the orange and blue ice as it shattered as the blue haired man, along with the attached Zachary, shot into a nearby wall. This move, however intelligent seeming at the time as it had been, now found the amateur sorcerer at a distinct disadvantage.

After all, the sorcerer was still bound, and the trickster was, distinctly not.

"Well that was unexpected," Joker commented as he sat against the wall. Zachary, having been pulled along with him by his daggers was a few feet away and had managed to get to his feet, bracing against the daggers holding him in place.

"See, we had a good dead lock happening and then you went and freed Joker instead of yourself," shaking his head in disbelief, Joker stood and shook his head once more. The wall was harder than Joker's head after all.

"There is no way you could know Joker would do the following to you," smiling in a sinister fashion Joker twitched his hands ... and the blades retracted back to normal, releasing a surprised Zachary.

"Joker doesn't like to play with trapped prey," smiling and twirling his daggers he approached Zachary at a steady pace.

Zachary created another set of Azul and Rosso and smiled. "I guess so," he said as he started to walk forwards. "After all, fighting with a trapped foe isn't much fun at all. If they can't respond to your attacks, they're not fun to fight. Trapping something is only fun if the thing you're trapping is a lot stronger than you. Currently, we seem about even," the ice mage stated as he walked past Joker, and the blue haired man doing the same.

The two stood almost back to back and side by side. Only an invisible, diagonal line kept them parallel to each other. "So, this is what keeps the strong alive, right? The ability to fight and prepare," the Replicator remarked as he smiled. The dagger fighter stood quietly as well as they stood ready to strike.

Then, the first blows were struck again. Both fighters turned, and Azul's blade scraped along the blade of one of the daggers as the two warriors past each other. Zachary smiled as he slashed his other blade, which equally caught itself by being crossed with a dagger. The two warriors stood silently as they locked one weapon each and readied to continue on in their battle.

As the blades ground against each other, another slash from Azul locked with a dagger and the two both moved back after the attack. "Back to square one, I guess," the amateur sorcerer stated as he looked at Joker. "I think warm up is almost over though, so we might want to turn up the heat before long."

Joker shrugged playfully but inwardly he agreed. So far it had just been passing shots, measuring the other up. Sure they'd used a few flashy moves each so they could hint at what other tricks the other had to pull but now was when the real battle would start.

No more pauses, no more reevaluations. Just straight out battle with time only for reflexes and on the spot judgments.

Nodding once, Joker began the attack darting to the left and lashing out with his left dagger, his right coming up underneath Zachary's block. The mage twisted to the side, Joker's dagger slashing air as the turn also slid Joker's dagger free and wide, leaving his stomach open.

The red head took immediate action, his now free dagger stabbing forward for the vulnerability. Joker himself spun, sucking in his stomach as he fell sideways, watching as Zachary's blade sliced through his shirt cleanly. Concentrating as he was on the blade, he failed to the other hand that came down and smacked him to the floor.

Hitting heavily, the prankster tumbled away to distance himself and recover, looking up to see his enemy approaching swiftly. Scrambling to his feet, Joker quickly reversed his daggers and threw himself forwards, trying to catch the sorcerer off guard. He led with a hard slash that took Zachary's blade and dragged it across to block him from using his other dagger.

Joker used it as a chance to lash out with his leg and kick him in the side and away.

Here it was. The battle that had been culminating to this point. The ice innate stood up. His armor had taken most of the blow, and the chest plate had escaped almost totally unharmed from the attack. Aside from the small bit of pain in his side from the force of the kick, the ice mage had been lucky in the last attack. He wasn't, however, about to get lucky in this fight twice.

The sorcerer dug his heels into the ground and pushed himself back as two daggers came down and dug themselves into the ground. That had been closer than any attack the blue haired man had made before. This fight was finally going to be serious. The Replicator slid to a stop and started to run forwards. Finally, he could feel the breeze and the intensity he had felt lacking in his recent battles.

Then again, helping Monroe fight petty demons and vampires in the neighboring countries was completely lacking in excitement. After all, the ice mage couldn't test out anything on them, for fear they'd die before he was through. Without a doubt, the only thing that had grown from helping Monroe deal with the sudden outbreak of demon and vampire, and possibly werewolf, activity in the areas around Rubato was a chance to work on his marksmanship with his bow and his magic sword arrows.

The two rushed forwards and thrust their blades forwards. Again, the blade scraped against each other as the two passed one another. The two slowed themselves to a stop and turned quickly. Their blades swung quickly and collided as Rosso met a dagger. The two weapons bounced back and an exchange of quick, fierce slashes followed. Each fighter put their weapons to their limit.

A block with the flat of Rosso pushed Zach back a small bit, but gave an opening to slash. A diagonal slash from the ice mage met a blocking dagger, but pushed Joker back a small bit. And suddenly, an attack from each weapon on both sides caused a flurry of sparks and a burst of dust under them as they were both pushed back.

The Replicator took a few quick breaths. He couldn't recall being this excited in a battle for a while. It had proved to be a lot of fun so far. All he had to do now was keep up with it. If I can just keep up with this guy, then I can get my feeling back. Maybe I'll be able to think better after I finish this fight... I hope so. I really want things to be all right, the amateur sorcerer thought as he looked at Joker. "For now, though, you're all I'm focusing on!"

"Good good, to focus on aught else would be quite dangerous!" Joker called back as he made to leap forward once more. Zachary reacted as before, raising blades to deflect Joker's attack that looked identical to the ones he'd done before. Instead, the air was suddenly filled with dust as Joker scored his daggers in the dirt, obscuring himself from sight.

Zachary on the other side knew trickery was to be had soon, and went on alert eyes flicking to the sides as he tried to anticipate where Joker's attack would come from.

Joker on the other hand, stepped within a portal to come out behind Zachary, his blade's extending to wrap around the ice innate' head and pulled back sharply, slamming him headfirst to the floor before disengaging.

"A bit of advice - when Joker fights serious he'll rarely come from the front. Trickery is to be expected at every turn."

OoC: Sorry Chibi, I had to sleep. ;_; Please don't hate me.

BiC: Zachary laid on the ground. His blades laid next to his body as he looked at the stars and then back slightly at his foe. That had been highly annoying. That had also been highly informative. Even though the amateur sorcerer couldn't explain it, he knew that this man wasn't moving fast enough for the red haired warrior's eyes to see.

The Replicator's swords slowly became mist as he laid on the ground and looked at Joker. That had been a cheap shot, but it had been effective. After all, if that was how this guy fought, that was how he should fight. The ice mage pounded his hands against the ground and shot towards the blue haired man. He already had a trick of his own thought up.

The sorcerer grabbed Joker's legs and smiled as he pulled his legs up. A sudden flash caused the ice mage's boots to collide head on with the dagger wielder's chin. Zachary released the man's legs as his boots struck his foe and sent him flying off. With his legs still over his head, the Replicator pushed his legs forwards and flipped himself back into a standing position.

The ice mage took a moment to gather that he could fully stand before he turned around and looked off towards where he had kicked Joker. "Well..." the red haired warrior noted, "it seems he's gone." Quickly, the Replicator created another set of Azul and Rosso. "I need to be on guard then. I don't know what this guy is up to."

Joker winced as he rubbed his chin. He hadn't expected the ice mage to copy his own previous move and damn it hurt. He was thankfull he hadn't been poking his tongue out as he'd have lost a good size chunk.

Needless to say he'd flipped himself into one of his portals and was now again where he had first started, hiding behind a piece of broken wall. Zachary was no doubt expecting for one of Joker's surprise attacks and Joker figured he could oblige his fellow man, after all, he was ever one to give people what they wanted.

Taking a breath to ready himself, after all he was going to be revealing his major move, Joker knelt with daggers poised. Then a portal opened beneath him and he dropped through the two layers to appear above Zachary's head.

"BAAAANZAAAAI~!" he yelled gleefully, his daggers slashing downwards hard. They caught on Zachary's overhead block, and the ice mage's push sent Joker flipping backwards into another portal he opened. He appeared behind the red head, his leg already sweeping back and up to catch him on the side of the head, turning so he faced the Replicator properly.

Knowing he probably shouldn't, Joker leapt forward to continue his assualt.