950/Amal and Zeph have a fight

Amal and Zeph have a fight
Date of Scene:	10 November 2014
Location:	Njorun Station - Ring of Philosophy
Synopsis:	Zephyr says she's slacking on training. Amalthea offers to give her a sparring match. Hilarity ensues.
Thanks to:	Amalthea, for being awesome
Cast of Characters:	162, 395

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Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr is, as she said, already in the Ring an open castle courtyard already loaded into the virtual system. She's wearing her Breeze mode Barrier Jacket, and the little flit and flicker of a pair of spinning turbines, accompanied by the much smaller and slender Device in her left hand signals the Mage is using Mistral Form. She's stretching, pushing one leg out to the side while crouching over the other, then changing stance to swap. "How're we doing for Mana, Dee?" she asks her Device. <NO PROBLEMS. ALL SYSTEMS GREEN.> Replies Divine Wind dutifully. <However. I must ask why you are so eager to fight Captaim Amalthea. She is much more advanced than you are.>

    Zephyr stops mid-stretch, then stands up, lifting the gemstone Core Matrix to eye level. "No pain, no gain Dee. You know I don't take the easy route. I'll never get better if I don't push my limits." Divine Wind chimes uncertainly after that, but says nothing further.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    It's not long once the field is set and Amalthea declares that she has freed up from her prior task at hand, that the unicorn arrives. The rattle and mighty clank of heavy armor resounding with each step. Though most of her figure is shrouded in the folds of a bright scarlet cloak, swishing with each footfall, there's no missing the gleam of silvery armor from her shoulder down, as she lazily trudges onto the courtyard, with her lance slung over her shoulder. A white-silver, winged great spear, the Wishblade seems to sing through the air just from being drawn.
    The tink-tink-tink of gauntlet-clad fingers play on the mighty spear's haft as the old, one-eyed unicorn halts in her gait.
    No pain no gain, huh?
    "Alright. Before we get this started, is there anything specific you wanted to focus on or learn from me, so I know what we're working with here?"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr looks over at the incoming clank of heavy armour. She eyes the entire ensemble, including that spear, before hoisting her Device to rest over her shoulder in a similar stance. "All I know is what they've taught me or what I've learned myself." she replies. "I can't see 'em, but I've probably got huge gaps in what I know..." she gives a shrug then. "Why don't I show you what I /do/ know, and we work from there?"

    The mage then turns to settle into a stance, pushing her right side forwards while dropping her weapon down to her side, held slightly away from her body. Legs at just beyond shoulder width apart, feet planted for easy juking to one side or the other.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "Fair enough." Amalthea concedes, drumming her fingers on the shaft of her spear once more. For when Zephyr takes her stance, the Wishblade is off her shoulder, a single smooth motion hefting the spear into a two-handed grasp, left foot forward. A flowing ripple of her cloak tosses it aside, revealing the bright polished plating of a full suit of heavy plate.
    Heavy though it may be, her motions of smooth, unbothered by the sheer weight that would fatigue lesser men, that lone eye focused on the axe-wielding mage.
    "Come at me then, bring your full force forward."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr keeps her mismatched eyes on the unicorn knight. The motion next might confuse, as the Mage sweeps her right arm in a horizontal cutting motion. The reason becomes clear as the Bits scatter and form a 'bubble' field, the wind in the area suddenly becoming very unfriendly for the Knight. <MISTRAL SQUALL. AREA MODE!> announces the Device, before...

    <BLITZ DRIVE! MISTRAL CUTTER!> suddenly the mage isn't standing where she was a moment before, though a keen eye could see the path she took from the sudden upturning of cobble stones under immense pressure, a furrow carved out in a tight arc to get behind Amalthea, a glowing axe-blade sweeping around in a backhanded chop.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    One-eyed she may be, the unicorn's vision is keen. As focused as a razor edge and locked upon Zephyr as the pair square off. The sweeping motion of Zephyr's arm instantly brings the lance's winged spearpoint up fractionally higher, indicating the knight to be on guard...
    When Zephyr is suddenly behind her.
    That speed is inhuman. And though Amalthea is able to TRACK it, her reaction time cannot match it. To turn is to die. At least that would be the cast for most. But Amalthea is undeterred. Even as her eye follows the furrow on the ground- the blur and blitz of motion leading to the sudden and impending feeling of a presence behind her, axe at the ready to strike her across the back, she...
    Flings herself backwards. Into the range of the axe shaft and not the blade, twisting her grip on her spear and slinging the shield lashed to her off-arm into the path, resounding with a mighty clash of Device against the heavy plate. And in the same motion, throws her shield-arm elbow back as hard as she can with intent to pound the girl in the gut.
    "Attacking from behind so soon? Good against a rookie, but it's an attack you need to earn against a veteran campaigner." Commented in a non-judgmental, appraising, teacher-like manner.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr's eyes, should Amalthea be able to see them, are wide as the Unicorn throws herself backwards. Haft strikes armour, blade strikes shield and detonates a wind-element charge against the defensive butress... and then the much lighter mage is send skiding backward from the elbow to the sternum, her own metal plate denting from the impact.

    Cough... grunt. Zephyr winces, then tightens her grip just a little on her Device. "Right... that's my instinct for heavier opponents though. They turn to face, they get it full of exploding axe blade..." she replies, then sets both hands onto that haft, teasing a little more length from it before charging in headlong this time. There's no spell called, but the area effect of the wind seems to be speeding the mage up on its own.

    Zephyr sweeps her weapon in a diagonal hack, scraping the blade along the cobbles on the upswing, then shifts her grip and brings it around to follow up in a horizontal slash, trying to use her unnatural speed to disrupt the Knight.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Once she's turned to face Windstar again, Amalthea's stance shifts. Her shield is up, lance braced over the upper lip of the kite-shaped plate, much akin to a one-knight-phalanx as she hunkers down on her heels and prepares for the renewed assault. She is pointedly on the defense, and this seems to be how she prefers to be, for even as Zephyr has an amazing advantage in speed, that the rocket knight can't match, she still must get through that wall-like defense.
    The scrape of Divine Wind's edge kicking sparks off the ground causes loppy ears to flit, as Zephyr only gets faster. That initial upswing is met with a CRASH, as Amalthea meets it head on with her shield and a grunt, the impact enough to make her dig her heels in and skid backwards a fraction. But the weight of her armor is solid, and she takes the second blow just as mightily. Now in this range she's at a disadvantage of her own, unable to put her lance to full use. Yet still it sweeps in from the side, singing like lightning as she seeks to bat-off the mage with a baseball-bat blow of the shaft. A subtle reminder that the entirety of the lance in her hand is a weapon, rather than just the edge.
    "Hn... It's a good instinct." She concedes. "Try and get them down before things drag out."
    Unfortunately for Zephyr, the heavy-armored unicorn knight is doing everything she can to turn the fight INTO a match of attrition.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    <KITE SHIELD!> announces Divine Wind. A rotating Marchian spell diamond forms in the air to the side that lance is coming from, taking a good portion of the initial impact but fracturing under the strain and shattering a moment later. Luckily Zephyr's instinct when a shield is announced by her Device is to bring her bracer-clad arm into position as well, so that shaft CLANKS against the metal bracer.

    Zephyr isn't as heavy, nor as strong as the Unicorn though, and she's easily batted into a stumble to the side, a spin correcting her before she falls. She shakes her right arm as it aches from the impact vibration. "No wonder you're always taking the defensive posts in a fight... I remember when we helped Major Kaminagi with her... world problems." she offers conversationally, before making another gesture. Right arm up vertially, then dragged down as an open hand clenches into a fist. <MISTRAL SQUALL. EMPOWERMENT MODE!> announces the Device, as the area effect dissipates, and the Bits close in to orbit around the mage directly.

    "If this were a real fight, I'd be using Shooting-type attacks and maybe a Buster cannon or two to break down your defense... but this is about getting my hand to hand skills sharpened." she notes, before adjusting her grip on her Device. <MISTRAL RAZOR!> chimes Divine Wind, followed closely by.. <BLITZ DRIVE!>. The Mage seems to vanish again, and appears to be going for the back-attack once more, only to shift around and do a three quarter circle, trying to flank instead.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "Well when you've got one eye, you kind of have to keep from losing it somehow." Amalthea teases in regards to her defensive nature. "You'd probably have me at a serious disadvantage if that were the case though." She admits to being wittled by bombardment from afar. But this is, indeed, a lesson in melee, and that's not the case here. "Setsuko's a pretty good friend, and I gave her my word that I'd help her out back then."
    Nonetheless, even amid the banter, she keeps her focus. But old dogs are set in their tricks. It's Amalthea's own fault that she backs into that one. Again. Flinging herself in a backwards lunge as Zephyr comes around behind her, that eye widens when the mage shifts and swings in from the flank.
    "--Clever girl."
    There's a CRASH as Divine Wind smashes into her armored middle. And a grunt as she only barely keeps her footing, taking several staggered steps off balance before catching herself in a twirl, a lightning quick reprisal of that glinting, singing, lance that seeks to catch Zephyr in the leg and hobble her some.
    In a simulated environment, this is totally A-OK.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    <RAMPART AEGIS!> chimes Divine Wind, autocasting another defensive spell to soften that lance point. The nature of the weapon, piercing, negates a lot of the defensive ability of that convex barrier though, punching clean through it and barely being slowed down as it fragments into glowing purple motes, like glass dissolving.

    Zephyr cries out as that lance point sinks into her thigh, cutting a gash along the outer edge that leaks (simulated) blood down the remains of her Battle Skirt(tm).

    Instead of falling over, however, she lifts up off the ground on a quartet of glowing purple 'pixie wings'. <FLIER FAN> provide Divine Wind, almost as if explaining. Almost. "Not clever enough." remarks Zephyr, as she grits her teeth against the simulated pain. Feels pretty damn real.

    "A normal fighter, that'd be it, nail a leg, then bring it up and over for a finishing stab. Game over." she muses as she floats there momentarily. "I'm not a normal fighter though." she smirks, then pours charge into her axe-blade, making it glow brilliantly. <VECTOR CALCULATIONS COMPLETE. STRIKE VECTOR SET. HURRICANE THUNDERCLAP!> calls Divine Wind, as the two Bits flit close in to the counterbalance side of the axe, locking into place with resonant clanks. <MISTRAL SQUALL. STRIKER MODE!> "Ready for this?" she asks rhetorically, as she surges forwards on those wings, trailing purple light from the end of her axe blade.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    It is pretty true. Hobble a leg and that'll end a fight, but when it comes to the flying mages of the TSAB, they don't necessarily need to walk, do they? "Heh." It sounds like she approves. But once again, the knight steels herself. The bright glow of mana says Zephyr is readying to attack. Though in an actual fight, Amalthea would have pressed the initial advantage of drawing blood here, that is not the point of this exercise, and she lets the Marchian Device wielder come at her.
    The impact is nearly earth-shaking. As Divine Wind connects solidly to the paladin's shield, she grits her teeth as the simulated castle ramparts crack and crater under her boots as she sets her footing again and tries to weather through the force. There's a crunch. A crumple of metal as the shield starts to buckle, denting as the arm behind it holds strong0 if now getting sore. Steam vents angrily from her shoulder as she CHUFFS... And shifts her weight aside with a grunt. And in the very process, pointedly drops her battered shield. But not without the sudden flash of a silver-armored boot, intended to deal out a rib-battering kick en passant she she relents, and opts to not try and tank that whole lunge with her face.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Hurricane Thunderclap is a Finisher-class move. Zephyr just used it to batter down a shield wall, and now she takes a boot to the gut for her trouble. Being airborne means she doesn't have any 'footing' to hold onto, and gets send spinning through the air like some demented childs toy.

    She manages to right herself at the apex of what looked like the beginnings of a death spiral, rolling out of the spin and 'skidding' to a stop with her Device gripped in both hands.

    "How'm I doin' so far? Any pointers?" she asks, as steam vents from the underside of her axe blade, pouring out of two little vents that then close with a grinding rattle as they spin back into place.

    The Mage is getting tired, it's easy to see with the rapid panting and the slight flicker of her flight spell, the wings seeming to distort slightly every few seconds. She doesn't attack though. Seems that move takes a lot out of her.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    HISSSSSSSSS...
    That is the sound of Amalthea's shoulder, black smoke beginning to sizzle out with the venting steam as she shakes it out. Though for Zephyr's trouble, she has earned something more than that boot.
    Another huff and Amalthea hunches forward, hands planting on her knees with a mutter. "Ah shit, think you dislodged something with that one. Getting old, huh." She grumps. "Fwuh. Not bad. Not bad at all." Given praisingly as she picks her shield back up off the ground. It's a dented, mess. As for a pointer: "Keep up the fast, hard, hits. A wall's a wall, but they can still be busted down. Okay. Come on."
    That wrecked shield is up. "Final lesson. I'm not gonna budge for this one. Bowl me over. Unless you wanna call it quits."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr quirks a brow, then actually laughs for a moment. "Wow, did more than I thought.. but that's all I got in me. I've got alerts and warnings all over my field of view... Barrier Jacket integrity, Mana Energy level... I think, if this were the real deal, we'd both be slinking off to lick our wounds." she explains, slowly lowering herself down to the ground. "System, shut down." she calls to the room, making the castle slowly dissolve back to the basic, plain white infini-scape it uses as default. "Lets go get somethin' t'eat." she offers, dismissing her Device to Standby mode.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    If that's it, then that's it. Good thing, too, her shoulder was smarting like a right bitch.
    Slinging her shield aside and hoisting her lance over shoulder with a roll of her neck. "A snack sounds damn good right about now." She does muse.
    "Alright. Next time we're not stopping until you get me on my ass though, you got that?"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr gives a nod. "Sure. I'll hafta think of some new tricks though." she replies, dismissing her Barrier Jacket next, revealing some rather mundane clothes underneath. A dark navy T-shirt and some cargopants, with steel toe boots. Tomboy much?