[LinkMS] Blitz' Training

OoC: Hope you enjoy!

BiC: Stars twinkled high above the plains, glittering like tiny jewels in the sky. Though the Eye of Din had descended beneath the Earth some time ago, the bejeweled heavens still shone their radiance down upon the grassy plains. Crickets chirped their soothing music, carefully hidden in the shrubbery. Somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted sagely. The air was sweet with the smell of tree sap. A twinkle of light shot through the nighttime sky, briefly illuminating a figure that walked laxly across the overworld. Once again, Blitz had strapped his running shoes to his belt and walked barefooted in the grass. Dew tickled his soles, healing the callused skin. His sword jingled in its sheath at his waist, producing a quiet ring.

“Why is it always so bright at night?” he wondered aloud, though he well knew the answer. All the soldier had to do was upturn his eyes, and he could see the vast heavens blessing the world with their infinite eyes. Stretching, he placed his hands behind his head for comfort. So long he had walked that now it was almost instinctive; his feet moved of their own accord.

Blitz’ eyes found their way skyward. The stars were so bright tonight; just like that night so long ago. That night still haunted him in dreams and in waking. A chill went through the swordsman, and he quickly turned his thoughts to the present.

His search for The Dome had turned up little information. Once, he met a man from a distant land who introduced himself as Anslor, and said that he “regularly attended The Dome.” Blitz failed to understand this statement largely because of the word choice of attend. Unfortunately, Anslor had been unable to tell him how to enter The Dome for some obscure philosophical reason that Blitz had not been in the mood to hear. Other than that, he had met only one man who knew anything about The Dome.

A wizened man named Tarhedron confronted him not a month ago. For some reason, this warrior had felt compelled to fight Blitz; perhaps as a test of the swordsman’s ability. After the battle, which had been a draw, Tarhedron congratulated Blitz for his perseverance and told him that portals to The Dome occasionally appeared across the world. Perhaps the man wanted a rematch?

As Blitz pondered this, he was suddenly aware of something very unusual nearby. Alert, he shook himself out of his memories and focused on his surroundings. He cast about, but saw nothing that could attract his attention so strongly, so unexpectedly. A sort of morbid curiosity filled him, and he felt himself being drawn to whatever was causing the sensation. Again, his feet began to move of their own accord as if they knew what his mind did not. Slowly, he was drawn to the right, toward what he now realized was a sheer drop. Until then, he had not noticed that he was walking alongside a ravine. His feet took him straight to the edge of the cliff, and his eyes turned downward.

The drop was steep; very steep. He could not quite make out the bottom of the deep ravine, for the stars did not shine brightly enough to illuminate the darkest corners, though Blitz suspected that there might be a small stream somewhere down below. Then something caught his eye; for a brief instant, a flicker of light flashed at the bottom of the steep slope.

“What could that be?” he thought to himself. Carefully, Blitz placed one foot on the edge of the drop. It felt even more steep than it looked. But his curiosity was driving him nuts, and so he began a dangerous frontal climb down the ravine. Several times, the swordsman lost his footing and nearly tumbled down into the darkness below. At one point, the ravine inverted sharply, and Blitz found it very challenging to climb down at that point. Shadows leapt out at him as he descended, threatening to consume him. But Blitz was accustomed to traveling at night and had grown to ignore the darkness. Besides, he was far too focused on his destination. After quite awhile of climbing, Blitz stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow with one hand. Thinking that maybe he could see whatever was lurking at the bottom of the ravine from here, he looked over his shoulder.

Halfway. He was only halfway down. But there was definitely see something there at the bottom of the slope. It was a bit clearer now, quite shiny and black, but still obscured by the shadows. Once again, Blitz began the arduous journey down the cliff face. But just as he reached for a handhold, the stones beneath his feet gave way. Blitz yelped in surprise, reaching up to grab a jutting rock. Its sharp edge bit into his flesh, but at least it held. Only now, as his very life hung on that stone, Blitz realized that a cool breeze ran through the ravine. He swayed dangerously, but there was nothing he could do. A throbbing pain began to form in his arm. The swordsman looked over his shoulder to see just how far down the bottom was. He estimated a good fifty meters, give or take.

“Crap!” Immediately, he regretted his shout. The echo of his words reverberated off of the cliff walls, bouncing back from one side of the ravine to the other. And then there was a loud rumble.

Blitz’ eyes turned upward to see an avalanche of boulders rolling down the steep slope in his direction. “S***!” he cried, abandoning his handhold for another jutting stone at chest-level. Working his way down as quickly as he could, Blitz realized that he could not outrun the falling boulders. They were gaining on him at phenomenal speed. Only one solution to this problem came to his mind. Reluctantly, and a little fearfully, he released his hold on his handhold, watching the boulders cascade toward him, still accelerating.

Blitz twisted his body in midair so that he could see the bottom of the slope. Ironically, he was falling directly toward whatever had attracted his attention to the ravine. Now, though, he was hurtling toward it fast enough that he could make it out.

It appeared to be a… a transdimensional portal? “What the…?” Of course, Blitz had seen transdimensional portals before; had even visited one of Earth’s parallels. But to find such a void out here, in the middle of nowhere?

A new solution to his problem was readily apparent. In fact, there was little Blitz could do to avoid falling directly into the portal. As he drew nearer, he noticed that it was black and rippling like dark water. Also, it was hovering mere inches above the dusty ground. Perhaps that was why he had not been able to see it from above? SHREOOM! A familiar, yet still bizarre sound that reminded him of the sound pudding made when plopped on a hot skittle, rang in his ears as he passed through the wispy tunnel. And then he was on the other side.

FWOOP!

“Uh-oh,” Blitz thought to himself, recognizing that particular sound. The portal had closed behind him, and he then noticed a disheartening fundamental flaw in his plan. But there were more important things to worry about at the moment—for instance, the fact that he was still falling. The ground was about twenty fifty meters away again, but fast approaching. Quickly summoning up fire elemental energy, Blitz called forth the flames within the planet’s core. They obeyed, he could tell, but were being a little less timely than he would have liked. He counted the seconds, becoming a bit worried.

Just moments before he slammed into the ground, an eruption leapt out of the planet’s surface, sending him soaring back into the air. At the peak of his flight, Blitz performed a stylish frontflip, and landed safely on one knee, kicking up charred soil.

“That was close,” he thought aloud as he rose and dusted himself off. Then the swordsman took a good around. Most of his surroundings were typical of a desert, save for a few collections of green shrubbery here and there. The ground was dry and cracked, particularly so where he had summoned the Heart of Fire. Feeling despondent that he was no longer in his own world, Blitz sighed. “Where am I?”

“You are in The Dome,” came a voice from behind…

OoC:
Not many mistakes. In fact, I was hard pressed to find any, but I did find one or two. one, front flip is two words, not one. In the next part, steeper would sound better there.

It felt even more steep than it looked.

And lastly, the next part just sounds funny and I can't really think of a way to fix it. Maybe reword it...

A familiar, yet still bizarre sound that reminded him of the sound pudding made when plopped on a hot skittle, rang in his ears as he passed through the wispy tunnel.

IC:
Blitz turned around in surprise. "Who... who are you?"

The silhouette of a man that the voice had come from was kneeling as if he was looking for something. The cloak surrounding his body hung silently from the lack of wind. The figure spoke again, in a raspy whisper, "I am the night. A shaodow cast from the pale moonlight. Death is my shrowd and I have no regrets. I am Ranul and I will train you in combat, using your senses, and anything else that can be learned. And, yes, I know your name... Blitz Keir."

Blitz jumped back at the fact that this man knew his name. Blitz was good at hiding his surprise and simply asked, "Train me in... combat? I think I'm good enough to protect myself."

"But not someone dear and close to you," came Ranul's quick reply. "Amy was her name, wasn't it? I know that story and have gone through a similar expirience. I always thought that if I was stronger, I could have saved my family..." he trailed off.

Blitz was truly shocked at the knoledge of Ranul. Can he read minds or something? he thought.

Ranul answered the man's thoughts. "Yes. I read minds but that is not how I know your story. We... have our ways." Ranul stood and looked at Blitz through a mask.

"Who's 'we' exactly? I only see you and this doesn't seem like a good place for a battle. If that's what you want."

"Me and my brother co-teach students who find their way to the Dome. We aren't the only teachers, but we chose you."

Blitz had regained his composure at this point and tried to take stock of his surroundings. Blackness was all he could see though. "Why me?"

Ranul didn't answer. "You said you can take care of yourself, let's see how you fare against me. Right here, right now."

Blitz didn'e expect a challenge, but was eagear to accept. "Sure, let's fight."

OoC:
Your assignment, whether you accept it or not, is to fight Ranul. The area is dark and there are no obsticles. Blitz must lose this fight. No magic or weapons. Martial arts only and Ranul will not use his wings.

(On a side note, I hope you didn't mind my mentioning of the story with Amy and all. I thought it would make the story a bit more interesting. I noticed the cameos of other characters in your post too. Nice.)

OoC: Now, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to write this entire thing by myself. But I did. I hope I was supposed to, 'cause if not then I'm screwed.

BiC: The swordsman decided not to hold back on his mysterious new opponent; if he was a tutor for combatants in this place, there was likely a reason. He leapt back in defense and began to power up for his Sun Bomb. But suddenly, all of his elemental energy was gone. Contrary to his nature, Blitz’ shock was more than obvious in his expression. “But… how?

Ranul crossed his arms and smirked boldly. He seemed pleased to answer. “Your weakness, Keir... The weakness of all your species…”

Now Blitz could not have restrained his shock even if he had seen it coming. No… It’s not possible! How could he know?

“As I said, we have our ways.”

“Don’t you understand what you’ve done to me?!” Blitz then noticed the sagely and knowing look in Ranul’s eye. The swordsman never thought about such things. Unless this man could pry into his mind and see his deepest most secret thoughts that even Blitz himself was not aware of, then there was a spy in the Alliance. Something was very wrong back home. He would have to pay Viscen a visit later on.

In any case, Blitz no longer trusted this person. Unsure of how to react to Ranul’s presence, he decided to let his foe know what he probably already knew to begin with. Choosing his words carefully, Blitz spoke, “I don’t know how you know that. But you may have just made yourself an enemy.”

“I know.”

Blitz held back a scoff at that. “You know, you’re starting to get on my nerves.”

“I know.”

Screw it! he thought, and rushed Ranul with his Supernova outstretched. But the fighter grasped the blunts of the blade with two fingers just before it made contact with his face. “How the Hell did you do that!?” Blitz demanded more out of surprise than anger. Ranul snatched the sword away and tossed aside into the darkness.

“If you cannot fight me without your weapon, how can you call yourself a warrior?” the man said coolly. “Use your fists and your feet, or I shall strike you down.”

A heel landed in Blitz face, planting him in the cold ground. “Oof!” The swordsman was stunned to the point that his vision blurred. But a strong fire blazed in his heart, and he felt strength suddenly surge through his limbs. Like a whip, his hand lashed out and grappled Ranul’s leg. With a flick of his wrist, he flipped the man on his back. In the same motion, Blitz rose to his feet.

His commander’s words fluttered through his mind. When you are disarmed, it is better to fight with your body rather than run for your weapon. Blitz was still surprised that Viscen’s words always came to mind when they were needed most. Expecting an immediate attack, he put up his hands in a defensive posture, lightly bouncing from one foot to the other.

“You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into, stranger,” he taunted. “While I do specialize with a blade, I was trained in hand-to-hand combat during my service to the Alliance for three full years.”

Ranul came to his feet in a way that made Blitz think the man was severely lacking for a skeletal system. “And I have been fighting with my hands for my entire life,” he replied. “I let my guard down. Do not count on that to happen again.”

Left-hook to the face, Blitz thought, and immediately swore at himself for thinking his actions. But it was too late; his fist was already moving. Ranul guarded with his shoulder, then bashed the same shoulder into Blitz’ chest. He felt his organs heave beneath the blow, but somehow maintained his battle stance.

This time, he made a conscious effort not to think. He unleashed a flurry of lightning-quick punches at the enemy, but Ranul simply guarded and shrugged them off. Leaping back into a defensive stance again, Blitz tried to come up with a strategy. He can read my mind, he’s more skilled at this than I am, and… I can’t see him. By leaping back, Blitz had lost sight of Ranul in the shadows. Crap!

CHUNG! Blitz careened forward, landing on his face and filling his mouth with dirt. He spit in disgust, but the foul taste remained on his tongue. Blitz pushed himself up with his arms in irritation. Ranul was already on top of him by the time he recovered, and was angling a high-jump kick toward Blitz' head. He rolled out of the way, barely avoiding the crushing blow, and guarded with both arms just as Ranul slammed a foot into his chest. Though he defended against the attack, the sheer strength behind it sent him skidding across the ground again.

Dammit! he swore at himself. He’s too good. I don’t stand a chance! Ranul came at him again, but Blitz quickly rose to his feet. He guarded against the oncoming attack, but his arms were beginning to ache from the impacts. This time, Ranul was attacking with a left-hook, the same tactic Blitz had opened with. The man was physically much stronger, due to his fighting style, and the swordsman knew that he could not hold out for much longer.

He’s open. Though his thoughts were undoubtedly heard by Ranul, it didn’t matter; Blitz had already moved to the right, and was behind him. A single well-aimed kick to the spine sent the fighter flailing forward, skidding through the dust.

As he breathed heavily, Blitz’ sense of time slowly returned to normal. Ranul began to climb to his feet again, but did not turn. The swordsman cursed silently. This guy’s insane!

“You certainly are fast, Keir. And you think well in a jam,” said Ranul in what Blitz could only assume was compliment form. “But you are not strong enough to cause damage with your fists.” The blow was so sudden, so lightning-quick, that even Blitz himself couldn’t detect it. All that he saw was Ranul’s fist right in front of his face, and then all was blackness.

OoC:
Yes, you were supposed to do the entire battle on your own. I'm going to let you in on my secret. I look over a student's post once by myself and then copy it onto a word proccessor. The reason I'm telling you this is because the line that reads "Though his thoughts were undoubtedly heard by Ranul" was corrected as "Though Ranul undoubtedly heard his thoughts." I don't care how it's done because it seems almost identical either way.

IC:
"Ranul, why'd you beat the poor guy? I mean, I know why you defeated him, but you roughed him up a little too much," a voice said. Blitz was still out but he could hear sounds that were going on around him.

"I did what was neccisary. You'd of done the same thing in my place. Just wake him up and leave. This one will mostly be mine to train," Ranul replied.

A couple of hours later, Blitz began to stir slightly. "Welcome back to the light. I'm Napaj Cyrod, Ranul's brother. And you are...?"

"Keir... Blitz Keir. Why do my eyes hurt?" Blitz replied to Napaj, squinting slightly.

Napaj applied a salve of some sort on Blitz's eyelids and said, "It's an effect of the midworld. The midworld is the point where a transdimensional portal leads to. You rarely end up in it because there is always another portal waiting for you. Ranul knows how to delay a second portal and did so to fight you there. He can stand the darkness better than most people and that place is a way for him to prove his supiriority. The strange thing is that he can't see in the darkness either."

Blitz wrinkled his nose in disgust at the smell of the salve. "Ugh, what's in that stuff?"

"Plants and other things that can be found in here. Marijuana for a lifting feel, dandilion seeds for the base, sunflower petals for the healing properties, and honey for texture. Smells bad and tastes worse. It can be used to heal canker sores instantly, oddly enough," came Napaj's thoughtful reply.

"Marijuana...?" Blitz echoed. Well, if it works... he then thought to himself. Since the sight had mostly returned to his eyes, Blitz took the opourtunity to take stock of his surroundings. He saw that he was in a room that resembled a large jungle with a couple of alcoves. "So, what is this place?"

"Our homeroom. Most call it the "Meadow Room" but I care not. Ranul left me with specific instructions not to tell you too much. *Apearently* I'm too trusting. I don't see what harm you can do," Napaj replied, helping Blitz to his feet. "Better?"

"Yeah, I think I can stand now," Keir replied. "Hey, where's Ranul?"

Napaj looked at a seemingly blank piece of paper. "He wants you to meet him in a market. Er.. the directions are on this, but unless you can read enchantments, they are of little use to you." Napaj handed the paper to Blitz.

OoC:
All you have to do is find the market. Blitz can either ask for directions along the way or can read the paper (your choice). Have him get a little lost but get there. The market will be an open air market with stalls, carpet, the whole nine yards. If you have read the training thread that I was being trained in (and I think you have) the market will be like that one; loud and full of people. Some people bad and others not. Have fun

OoC: Just so you know, I will be continuing my training, if only for amusement. It should help build my ability for the time I finally join the RPG. Naturally, Blitz will still be my character. I'll just carve some holes into his battle prowess, leaving more room for personality and appearance. Unforunately, I'm at a severe lack for computer right now. I don't plan on finishing the script all at once, and my dad is hogging the computer that has the document on its harddrive. I'll respond later tonight if I get the chance; if not, I'll be back tomorrow. See ya!

Screw it, he quit.

OoC: Do you forgive me now? *Puppy-dog eyes*

Bic: “Well a lot of good that does me,” had been his words.

Now Blitz had wandered some distance from the stone structure in which he had fought the estranged Ranul. This wasteland in which he had been dropped was pleasantly warm, but the scenery was distinctly lacking in foliage. He had been walking for almost an hour, and still there was no sign of any market. Puffy white clouds floated lazily overhead, The swordsman’s body ached a bit from the bruises he had received in the short-lived fight, and the constant effort of travel did not help, but the pain was nothing that his power cells could not drown out. For the umpteenth time, he glanced down at the blank parchment in his hand, hoping that he would be able to make out even a small glimpse of a word, but still there was nothing. This is hopeless, he thought to himself disparagingly. How am I going to find my way around here? Just then, he raised his eyes and caught sight of something in the distance. On the horizon, a tiny speck fluttered in the thick, heated haze that swept over the ground. Blitz stopped walking and looked at the speck closely in disbelief. “Could it be…?” he said, not realizing that he had spoken aloud.

Interested and hopeful, he broke into a brisk jog. With a little luck, he would reach whatever that speck was within a half-hour. With quite a lot of luck, that speck would be the very destination he had set out to find.

***

People were everywhere in the desert locale, bustling busily this way and that, going from produce stand to garment stand. These people lived here in this wasteland, in homes built of mud and stone that surrounded the market itself. In fact, this was hardly a market at all; it was more of a local department store in which villagers produced and sold products that would hardly make life any easier.

Fortunately for Blitz, he was accustomed to high temperatures; this quality went hand-in-hand with his power over the fire element. Watching these people struggle in the heat, wrapped in heavy, protective, white clothing, eked a pang of guilt from Blitz. He had it easy, but these people suffered everyday just to make ends meet; an effort which was most certainly hindered by the all-pervasive sun.

“Oof!” cried Blitz as a man almost twice his size collided with him. Shoved off-balance, he stumbled over and collapsed into a stand full of melons, crushing the carefully-crafted cart and smearing fruit over the hot sand where it quickly began to evaporate.

Both the man who had been tending the cart and the one who had bumped into him were suddenly towering over the swordsman, shouting in a language he was not in the least familiar with. Their faces were scrunched in outrage, their complexion turning red, a factor not entirely attributed to the sun. Dually confused, Blitz looked from one man to the other, trying to comprehend what they were saying, but quickly gave up in this endeavor when he realized that what they shouted about was blatantly obvious. Then, out of nowhere, a crowd of people swarmed around the swordsman. Uh-oh. He struggled to get up, not wanting the situation to become hostile, but someone grabbed him by the collar and thrust him into another man, who in turn whipped him around and presented the swordsman as a target for what Blitz suddenly realized was a mob. He could not, for the life of him, understand why all of these people were angry. He had broken only one stand, after all.

With a startling unexpectedness, the furious people in the crowd grew very quiet and began to part, forming a path between themselves. One particularly scraggly looking brute stepped forward from the path, pounding a fist into his palm threateningly.

Blitz gulped. His power cells were nowhere near recovering, and his physical stamina was not something he prided himself over. The man behind him was restraining his arms, preventing him from drawing his sword. Blitz was completely defenseless.

The brutish desert-dweller approached, bearing a sick smile at the thought of bloodshed. Letting out a howl of incoherent words he snatched Blitz up by the collar and hoisted him into the air, rearing back a fist. And then his hand fell off.

Blood spurted from the fresh stump that remained, and for an instant the man did not appear to notice his lack of limbs. Then, the bloodthirsty grin fell from his face and he began to cry out in pain and fear. Blitz fell to the ground with a thud, not quite sure what to make of the situation. At that point, he noticed Ranul standing off to the side, sheathing his sword.

“Come,” he said, words almost inaudible over the rising tumult of the crowd which was undergoing a swift transformation from fury to panic. Suddenly, pandemonium broke loose as the mob disbanded and people were flying in all directions along with stray limbs. Blitz wondered briefly how a community such as this could possibly survive when if its denizens were always at each other’s necks as they were now.

But Ranul did not waste time waiting; immediately after that single word, he turned and began to retreat at a calm pace. Pushing aside thought, he rose to his feet, fearing that he would be trampled if he did not, and trailed quickly after the man who had just saved his life. He pushed more than one person aside in his pursuit, determined not to lose his new teacher.