3118/WMAT B3 Wind Dancer vs Franken Stein

WMAT B3 Wind Dancer vs Franken Stein
Date of Scene:	29 September 2015
Location:	WMAT Arena - Diablo Desert
Synopsis:	Franken Stein and The Wind Dancer try to reach the WMAT's semi-finals!
Cast of Characters:	162, 848
Tinyplot:	WMAT 2015

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Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    There was shade here. It's gone now. Bcause it's yet another scorchingly hot day in the desert, and what shade there is tends to be underneath rocks or up in the fancy stands, not down here where the fighters are. Stein has come without his signature labcoat this time, already in his sleeveless top with the patchwork pattern that seems to be stitched into his skin. The mad scientist is ready for yet another fight in the tournament. More data to be collected. After his last match, he had lot to go over in his research notes.

    But everything is his research material. So his new opponent is also one that bears scrutiny.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    It's a hot, dry day once again in the Diablo Desert. Some might find that obvious, but to the Mage, it's somewhat of a novelty. 'Deserts' on her homeworld are practically non-existant. She's fought here before. The sting of her first defeat in her first ever tournament still rings as she flies in, landing atop one of the stone pillars that line the battle arena.

    She's in her uniform, but that quickly changes as she spots Stein. A flick of her right wrist kicks the coin of her Device out of its mooring. A snatch out of the air, and the keywords: "SET UP!" ring clarion as she's engulfed by deep purple light. The transformation barrier shatters, and the girl is left standing like a beacon in her Barrier Jacket, Device in her left hand as her skirt flutters in the wind. "I am the Wind Dancer of March." she announces, hopping down to glide to ground level. "Fight well... an' lets give these people a show, huh?" she offers, smirking a bit before settling her stance, waiting for the signal to begin.

Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    Stein stands ready with his arms at his sides as his colorful opponent introduces herself. His glasses are opaque from the sunlight, masking his eyes. But his response seems to be friendly enough despite the rather placid look on what's visible of his face. "Yes. Fighting well would be a good idea. I look forward to seeing what you can do."

    Then the referee gives the signal to start after announcing the match, its bracket and placement, and the participants.

    Stein seems to belatedly ready himself for combat only after the signal is given, giving his opponent the chance to strike first. What slow reaction time! Will he be able to keep up with Wind Dancer?

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr is a veteran fighter. She knows by now never to judge by first impressions, someone at this stage in the tournament is going to be strong. The weak ones were eliminated early. Her Device is in its melee mode, Mistral Form, and so she also has a pair of orbiting little drone devices that stick close near to her. Grip shifts on her axe-like weapon, and she brings it back behind her, as if to throw it.

    <TEMPEST RAZOR!> chimes the Device, as Zephyr sweeps it forward. She doesn't let go of the weapon, but a pair of spinning blades spall off of the blade as she swings, spinning out towards Stein like boomerangs made of compressed, mana-infused air.

Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    The spinning wind blades come tearing forward at Stein, slashing him as all he can do is raise his arms in front of his face to try to shield himself. He takes several superficial, though painful, cuts on exposed skin, and some even through his protective wear. But afterwards, he doesn't seem to be ready to give up or start howling in pain or anything like that. It was a strong start from Wind Dancer, and did significant damage. There's no denying that. But the match is far from over. Franken Stein charges forwards suddenly, seemingly just trying to test whether he can land a blow at all. He moves fast to close the distance between them, and lashes out with a back-knuckle blow aimed at Wind Dancer's face, his free hand supporting the striking arm.

    In the shadow created by turning his back to the sun, it's clear that his gray eyes are closely watching his opponent, and how she reacts. It's a blow meant to hit, but it's also a blow meant to yield further gains down the line.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr shifts her stance, and brings up a transluscent purple shield to buffer against that strike. It takes the initial blow, but cracks and buckles quickly, leaving the Mage to take the rest by letting it strike the haft of her Device. She skids backwards, kicking up sand as she tries to maintain her balance. "Drive Ignition." <YES. MISTRAL SQUALL, AREA MODE!>

    The little orbiting 'Bits' suddenly spring to life, spinning rapidly lke buzzsaws... however, they don't move to attack, instead, they move out to about 150 meters from the Mage. Zephyr herself grins a bit, as the wind within that area begins to move according to another set of laws, picking up sand and starting to blast it at Stein from random directions. "This is My World Now." she intones, then kicks up off the ground, and aims to slam her axe into the Good Doctor in return for the punch. Luckily it's sheathed in a magic aura, so it feels like getting smacked by a hammer, instead of sliced by a blade.

Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    Stein can't use Soul Detection on Wind Dancer like he could against opponents from his own world, to altering his Soul Wavelength to match her attacks isn't viable. But even so, he seems to have learned enough from the brief exchanges thus far to shift his body to roll with the blow he receives. As stinging sand pelts him every which way, he takes some of the impact of the magic-enhanced axe to his leg as he raises it to absorb some of the momentum. The powerful blow sends him skidding backwards on one leg, before coming to a halt. His vision is somewhat obscured thanks to the sand flying around, but his glasses seem to be protecting his eyes for now.

    "Hooohh?" he lets out as he lowers his foot back to the floor. "You and your axe are almost like a Technician and Demon Weapon. The way you enhance each other is like the Resonance of the Soul that boosts combat potential in such a pairing. Interesting. But not unexpected. In all the wide diversity of the Multiverse, it only makes sense that there would be other worlds where weapon and wielder work together as partners."

    Stein charges in again, suddenly, but this time about half-way to his opponent, he zips to his left and comes back at her from her right, kicking up a trail of sand in his wake before he leaves the ground and attempts to drive a knee aimed at his opponent's head, followed by a downward swing of a knife-hand strike towards Wind Dancer's shoulder, perhaps trying to accomodate for her defensive abilities displayed thus far.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    That barrier raises again. This time it doesn't even stop the initial strike, shattering instantly. That knee connects with the girl's head, and the knocking of balance leaves her wide open for the follow up, spiking her into the ground with a plume of sand and a crater within which she is ensconced. "Uhhnnn... That /hurt/" she grouses, pushing herself up to her feet again, rubbing the side of her face. A quick twist of her neck causes something to crack, and she shudders for a second. "Gonna be feelin' that tomorrow." she adds, then lifts back up off the ground, flying into the air. "Right then, now we're warmed up, lets get serious." she offers.

    <IMPULSE CASCADE, CONCUSSIVE SHIFT!> intones Divine Wind, as motes of light form around the floating Mage. In the distance, the Bits can be seen charging up too, expect random incoming long range shots too! "FIRE!" Each mote of light begins to spit out a 'bullet' of magical energy, tightly compressed mana that explodes on impact. All 'Stun'-type damage of course, but it'll still hurt like hell to get hit. She seems to be holding back a bit too, her Device beginning to glow a bit more brightly.

Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    Stein does his best to avoid the barrage of blasts coming his way, managing to evade the majority of it, but the sizzling bullets of stunning energy manage to at least hit him a couple of times, hindering his body's ability to react properly in the near future. Impairing a high-mobility opponent shows good tactical prowess on Wind Dancer's part. She isn't just blasting away with no plan in mind. Excellent. Stein approves of that and appreciates that. But he still has much more to learn about his opponent before he can truly say what kind of fighter she is, and exactly how strong the relationship between her and her device may be.

    He leaps through the air, somersaulting and trying to land within striking range, but she is up in the air now, and Stein doesn't really have ranged attacks. So he quickly bounds up the side of one of the rocky pillars nearby and tries to leap from THERE to attack with a heel-drop aimed at his foe's back, trying to knock her back down to the ground where he can more easily manage her. Though of course, even if it succeeds, there's nothing stopping her from just flyign again.

    "Show me more of what you two can do together, Wind Dancer!"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    WHAM. Down she goes again, back into the crater. She groans, holding her back from that strike. Felt like it punched right through her Barrier Jacket. It takes her a moment or two to get back up, and shake herself off. This time, she rounds on Stein and with a flare of white mana from her back, like jets really, she lifts back off the ground.

    <STRIKE MODE.> intones Divine Wind, drawing the spinning Bits back to latch onto the off-side of the single bladed axe. They continue to spin, but now start to trail purple 'streamers' of mana as they gather charge. <MISTRAL CUTTER.> A blast of motion, and dust is the only thing showing the Mage's path, as she barrels in to hack at Stein with a high speed fly-by axing.

Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    THAT hit certainly hurt! Cleaving into Stein right as he lands from his leap, he is hurled from his feet and sent tumbling across the desert with a deep gouge in his chest. He manages to roll out of it and into a crouching position, one fist in the sand, but there's no way he didn't feel that. Pain shrieks through him, and his ribs ache too from the impact of the attack. "Very good. It reminds me of the Witch Hunter. Another high-powered technique. Though your mobility while using it is much greater." he praises.

    "You have an awful lot of techniques. It's time for me to use some of my own, I think," Stein says as he rises to a standing position, adjusts his glasses with one finger, and then dashes after his magical girl opponent, with one hand ready to deliver what appears to be just a palm strike. But there's a little something extra added to it. Even if it misses, there's a discharge of yellow electricity into the air that shows what would have laid in store if it had hit. And if it DOES hit? A rather unpleasant jolt might be felt that leaves lingering muscle spasms and harm in its wake.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr struggles to maintain her speed. This flight spell is meant for quick dashes in a straight line, not evasive maneuvers. She pushes the envelope, but that palm strike hits home, sending electric misery through her Barrier Jacket and into her muscles. She jutters in the air, before skipping off the ground and into a higher altitude, muscles twitching with the lingering current.

    "Gear Second." says the Mage, causing a third 'Bit' to spall off her Device and join the others. <GEAR SECOND. MISTRAL STORM, DIFFUSION MODE.> The Bits detach from the axe haft, and instead take up a tight formation, orbitting in a triangular formation just behind the mage.

    <MISTRAL CASCADE.> The Bits begin to charge up power, the gemstone set into the head of the axe does too. She aims this at Stein, and with the thumping reports of multiple machineguns, she engulfs his location, and direction of travel, in high speed, unguided kinetic impactors, each one striking hard enough to make a plume of sand erupt a good ten meters into the air.

Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    This time, just like the first attack he received, dodging isn't an option for Stein under the barrage of weapons fire. He is blasted repeatedly and can only hunker down and try to keep it from hitting any vital locations. Yet, when the dust cloud kicked up by the intense rain of pure kinetic force starts to clear, the craters both large and small seem to be empty of Stein's presence.

    That's the only warning before Stein, battered by the damage he received, come WHOOSHING out of the pillars of dust, sand, and smoke, at about the same level as Wind Dancer, with one fist pulled back. He tries to grab his opponent by whatever he can get, though the head is best, and deliver an exterior-only electrocuting attack with his Soul Wavelength. "Soul Menace!" he calls out as waves of golden electricity crackle up and down his extended arm.

    His hair is quite ruffled, there's dust smeared all over him, and one of the lenses of his eyeglasses seems to be broken. But he's still able to fight.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr gets her face covered by that open palm. She screams muffledly as she's electrocuted, before falling limp and crashing once more to the ground. Could that be it?

    "Not... Done... Yet." comes a defiant groan, the girl pushing herself up onto one knee, propping herself up with the haft of her axe, as it extends out a bit to be a switch-hand weapon(Usable in one-hand or two). "I might be done here... but I'm gonna make you /work/ for it." she states, pushing herself to her feet once again, though the lingering spasms make her a bit unsteady.

    Divine Wind is telling her to conscede. She's outmatched. But Zephyr is stubborn to the point of bullheadedness, likely something Stein is used to. <JETSTREAM IMPULSE, TEMPEST SHIFT.> chimes the Device, as more of those motes form around the girl. She lifts into the air again, the three Bits forming a semicircular formation around her shoulders, as they too, charge power. "Rend and Sunder. Gralith!" says Zephyr, as the motes elongate out into curving, seeking laser missiles, dozens of them.

Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    Indeed, Stein is quite used to determined/stubborn students. He's rather determined himself, but that is more due to being crazy and the willpower he has had to develop to control that craziness than anything else. Though still, if someone threatens his students... He will go all-out to protect them. This is not a case like that, however. Again, he finds himself caught in a barrage of intense fire, this time being struck over and over in countless vital locations. Skin is burnt and bruised, already-bleeding injuries made worse, and it seems that Stein is washed away in a river of laser fire!

    The very terrain beneath and on either side of him has been gouged away, creating a charred channel of glass as the sand melted and ran together, fusing in the heat it was exposed to. Smoke fills the air, and the acrid smell of burning stone. No more sudden surges out of the smoke happen, and seconds continue to tic by without any sign of Stein. Has he been defeated?

    The channel is clearing more and more and... The heavily damaged Dr. Franken Stein is standing exactly where he was when he was attacked. His clothing is tattered and torn, some of his stitches seem to have come a bit loose, his skin is blackened and bleeding, and his glasses are missing completely. One hand is covering his eyes.

    But the forefinger and middlefinger suddenly spread apart, to reveal a hollow-looking, shadow-cloaked gray eye staring out of the darkness at Wind Dancer.

    No further words are exchanged, just Stein starting to advance on her slowly, steadily, like the killer in a slasher movie who keeps coming no matter what's thrown at him. At some point he allows his hand to drop to his side, but the hollowness doesn't leave his gaze. Instead he tilts his head upwards to look down at his opponent, and smiles a bit sadistically as he says, "Work for it? Don't get the wrong idea~! This is all... Just... Play time!" With those last words he dashes forwards once more, surging with a wide, maniacal grin, and both hands pulled back, as he prepared to try to stop right in front of Wind Dancer, with his hands on either side of her head, and then unleash a continuous electrical charge from both palms at once.

    It's a disabling attack, but it looks gruesome if it hits. It has, in the past, made people bleed out of their eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. No long-term damage, but pretty damn unpleasant.

    But perhaps Wind Dancer's luck will turn around and she'll manage to avoid this fearsome attack!

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Shields raise, and buckle, a parry is attempted, but fails, and Zephyr is electrocuted harshly. She can't even scream as the electrical current runs through her body. After the current fades, she drops to her knees, panting for breath. No bleeding, but maybe that's just some grace from her Barrier Jacket's passive defense.

    That sadistic grin... Zephyr turns her gaze up to the Doctor...

    "Playtime... is OVER!" she roars defiantly, bringing up a heavy uppercutting slash from her Device, before pummeling in with a series of enhanced strikes with her fists and feet.

Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    Wind Dancer strikes Stein unexpectedly in the jaw. Maybe part of it is that in this state he's slipping a little bit, maybe part of it is the long battle he has fought already, but honestly she's just a really, really skilled fighter, with speed, strength, and expertise. The next two attacks likewise land firmly, pounding into Stein's chest that still bears the deep gouge of the earlier fly-by axeing.

    He mananages to knock two kicks away with his forearms as some of his skill as a veteran returns to him, along with his senses. It seems that Wind Dancer snapped him out of whatever state he was in. The final blow hits into the palm of one hand as he moves to block it, sending a jolt up his arm and stinging his already-torn flesh. But he lets that same impact travel all the way up his shoulder, across his back, to his other shoulder blade, down his other arm, and out into his his hand as he lashes out with it, driving his weight and the terrain beneath him into it with his feet, and attempt to return some of the furious forces being shown to him to their deliverer with a punch to the belly.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Luckily for Zephyr, her belly is pretty well armoured. The breastplate of her Barrier Jacket absorbs and distributes the impact, lessening the blow, though it does still bring her up short. Staggering back a little, the Mage gathers up for another assault, though she does pause to clutch her chest, "Ghhnn..."

    The pause is momentary, and Zephyr shifts into a roundhouse axe swing, pirouetting around to try and bash Stein with another of those heavy hammer-blow axe strikes.

Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    Wind Dancer slams Stein in the face with her powerful blow, sending blood and saliva flying and whipping the mad doctor's head around to the side! His foe has shown enormous resilience, determination, and resourcefulness. She has beaten Stein down to a considerable level, and now it looks like she has finally delivered that final attack that will end the fight with her magic-bolstered axe...!

    One of Stein's hands suddenly attempts to clamp down on Wind Dancer's own, right where she holds onto her axe. And then he turns suddenly, eyes seemingly blank white such is the intensity of the Soul that blazes within and around him, surging with Madness. Then he offers a blank-eyed snarl as he unloads his Soul Wavelength once more, trying to fry his opponent with a full-strength Soul Menace aimed to wreak havoc on a foe that has already shown herself to be too tough to succumb to lesser attacks, no matter how numerous.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr is still for a long moment, the world slowed down to a crawl as her opponent doesn't fall. The grab, the impact, the electric misery that suffuses her entire being. It's too much. <EMERGENCY. REACTOR PURGE!> chimes Divine Wind, causing the outer layer of Zephyrs Barrier Jacket to explode outwards. It's a defensive measure, meant to deflect attacks that would put the Mage's life in danger, a cushioning effect and deflection. This is likely enough to knock the grip loose and Zephyr herself clear of the Mad Doctor, though she falls limp against the sand.

    The announcer doesn't even need to begin a count, it's obvious the Mage isn't getting up again.

Franken Stein (848) has posed:
    Stein takes some time to breathe in deeply, and try to return himself fully to control of his sanity (such as it is) when his foe finally falls. That was a very close battle. But it seems he'll have more opportunities to study his opponents and research the Multiverse's Elites. "You're right. Play time is over." It looks like Stein is making it to the semi-finals. And with the competition he has had so far, it doesn't look it's going to get easier as he approaches the end of it.

    At least Wind Dancer has some medics on the way to get her up and running again. And this is by no means that last the Multiverse will see of her determination.