392/WMAT A5 Zephyr Windstar vs. Ainsley

WMAT A5 Zephyr Windstar vs. Ainsley
Date of Scene:	11 August 2014
Location:	WMAT Arena - Gizard Wasteland
Synopsis:	WMAT Third Place bout between Zephyr Windstar and The Chronicler (Ainsley).
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, 151, 162, 395

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Ainsley (151) has posed:
    The lizard girl has picked a place to stand on the battlefield. Her stance is steady and her gaze fixed forward. She has the usual neutral, near-emotionless look on her face, as fitting for a reptile as it has always been. She begins to frown, though, as she realizes this is only a battle to qualify for a prize and it's against a friend she's known since she first arrived in the Multiverse. She shakes her head to clear her mind of those kinds of thoughts, and reaches to draw her sword.
    She has her Thaumostatic Harness on so that she can match Zephyr in the air. She does not, however, have a shield. That's one huge flaw to her world's magic: The lack of defensive utility.

    She's been there for a while since she usually shows up an hour or two before the match even starts. Her sword is already drawn and held at a relaxed grip at her side. She demonstrates a great deal of patience to have stood still for that entire period of time... there's no indication that she even fidgeted at all.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr arrives, not with fanfare or the usual pomp that she's taken since the tournament began. No. She simply walks out into the arena area in her Barrier Jacket. Divine Wind is nowhere to be seen, the axe-form hidden still within its standby shape. "How're the repairs holding up?" she asks softly, as she takes the coin from her right bra<span class=" fg_m bg_n ++ er.

    cm"><BEAM COHESION SYSTEM OFFLINE. MANA FLOW CONTROL NETWORK AT 60%. ALL REMAINING SYSTEMS SHOW GREEN.></span> reports the Device, dutifully. "Alright... lets skip Windshear form and head right into Mistral... going to have to work with what we have... Lets hope the repairs hold out."

    Zephyr then flicks her wrist, sending the coin flipping end over end into the air, where it transforms. Instead of the long haft and twin blades, it changes into a shorter haft, a single blade and a pair of turbine blade-like drones. She stops a short distance in front of Ainsley, and gives a bow. "Don't hold back." she says simply, offering that cocky smirk of hers before she sweeps her axe in a show of readiness, the central core gem glowing briefly and emitting a chime.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is once again in the announcers box, she's been really enjoying this. It's been a lot of fun and quite the learning experiance o see people fighting here. "Good Day ladies gentement and all assorted self aware beings! I'm Your announcer Kotone Yamakawa and today we have The Chronicler against The Winddancer of March! Both fighters have clawed their way through the masses to reach this point! Let's see what thse two fighters have to show us today!"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley's head turns when she spots Zephyr's approach. She follows the wind mage and remains silent for her approach. The neutrality remains, as it always has, from the lizard girl. She doesn't usually show a lot of emotion unless something draws it out of her.

    Her eyes focus on the weapon Zephyr had manifested. She is not familiar with Zephyr's full scope of abilities, she realizes. She lets out a sigh as her tension melts away, the smug confidence in her friend giving some comfort in the situation. All at once she is reassured that neither of them will be hurt if they lose. And so the lizard girl takes up a stance with the longsword, a weapon that seems far too big for her and yet she's been using regularly.

    "I would be at even more of a disadvantage if I held back," she tells Zephyr, smiling over at her 'Sis'.

    Then she advances. The sword is held behind her, both hands on the hilt. She moves at a pace that suggests she's a great deal more athletic than she was when she first arrived in the Multiverse... and it's accompanied by a swing of her blade that shows she's been practicing it, a rising horizontal slash using all of the momentum behind her charge. Ordinarily this would unbalance a normal opponent if they tried to block its full force, if they didn't have magic shields like Zephyr does.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr readies her weapon, held in one hand as she settles into a stance. She's preparing for Strike Arts, but is unprepared for Ainsley's sudden burst of athletic speed. Divine Wind is on the ball however, and erects a shimmering field of magic. <RAMPART AEGIS!> The shield sparks, showering ablated mana into the air, before cracking and shattering under the impact. The sword slices clean across Zephyr's metallic chestplate, sending a skreech of metal against metal to follow those mana sparks.

    "Not too shabby. How about this?" remarks the wind mage as she regains her footing. <MISTRAL SQUALL! BLIZZARD SHIFT!> states the Device, as those drones suddenly start to spin rapidly, and flit out to about 100m~ distance. The wind within their radius starts to churn and shift randomly. It also begins to chill, though it isn't as rapid nor as intense as the previous time the mage used this ability. It's not just the chill, the mage isn't standing still, and returns the slash with one of her own, after side stepping in a blurr of motion.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "It looks like the baddle of two lovely ladies here are just starting to go at it as the Chronicler opens up with a close in attack going right into melee and Winddancer is going to have none of this as she counter attacks the wind is dancing to her command as the two are just getting warmed up!"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley corrects her stance shortly after the successful impact of the sword on her opponent. She nods briefly at the compliment from her opponent, and keeps aware of the drones at least until they move well outside the range of her Visual Field. The use of a cold snap is quite effective, getting a shuddering breath out of her and a grimace. It slows her blood but not her reflexes, so she can react to the incoming edge with some skill. The blade slaces a bloody line across one of her arms as she swerves aside.

    The sword is sheathed again, and she pulls both daggers out to prepare to strike her opponent, but the speed enchantment has her going with even more speed! And with her Visual Field in place, the pivoting movement of her feet can be as weird and hard to read as she wants without losing sight of her opponent or losing where the openings are. She makes two quick strikes... but doesn't quite aim to get purchase, instead using them to cast lightning through the metal of the blades like a spellsword might do.
    She isn't quite as comfortable talking while she fights. She seems to require more concentration that Zephyr does to maintain her clear mind.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Luckily enough that her little control field is in place. Gusts of wind come from all angles, attempting to knock Ainsley off balance and deflect her blows. They're largely successful, but the first strike connects with her chestplate, sending a current through the metal into her body before it's deflected. The second strike glances off of a hastily erected shield, a spark or two piercing through. "You're fast. Faster than I remember anyway... this is gonna be fun, try to keep up!" she calls, hopping away from the Quetzal before launching into the air, four white flaring jets appearing on her back as she speeds away, followed closely by the drones. As the field collapses, the gusting winds die back down to 'normal' and the temperature returns.

    Zephyr isn't done though, as she flees, she leaves a trail of glimmering mana motes in her wake, that suddenly grow in size and fire off at the lizard-like girl. A fairly standard Shooting-type attack.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "The Chornicler keeps up with the melee assault fightin her way through the wind and she's now starting to launch bolts of lightngin through her owbn blade! The Winddancer is keeping up with hwe however and she's counter attacking with more wind magic! It looks like the Chronicler is taking it pretty hard, how long can she keep this up?!"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley gasps as quite ordinary motes of mana suddenly come at her as a torrent of bullets. She gets struck by /every single one/ of them, and forced back off her feet with painful-looking impacts! She gets some air time, and it almost seems as if she'll fall on her back, but she corrects herself by activating the Thaumostatic Harness and flipping backwards in the air until she's at a steady upright posture again. She doesn't land yet, putting the daggers away!

    Ainsley sniffs in and then lets out a blood-curdling battlecry, the sword drawn from its sheath. Lightning courses over her whole body, and then channels through the sword...! She swings the sword from that range, releasing shockwaves of electrical energy toward Zephyr in quick succession! It seems that she's trying to keep up with the magical skill Zephyr has by expending more mana for better spells, which requires a lot of visible effort on her part.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr wasn't expecting that, to say the least. She's struck by the shockwaves, and send spinning out of control, right into one of the rocky spires that dot the landscape. Debris and Dust obscure her location... that is, until the cloud explodes outwards and a torrent of compressed wind bullets course out of it.

    Zephyr is holding her device like a wand, pointing it at Ainsley while the single blade rotates lazily around the gemstone. At the tip of the gem is a compressed manaball that seems to be the source of the bullets... though the drones are also expelling their own torrents of bullets. Has she been taking lessons from Vervi?

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley tries to avoid the bullet storm -- at least it's not a Bullet Hell!! -- and has only limited success. She is struck repeatedly, with one hitting her middle, another glancing off her blade as she parries it away in an impressive spray of sparks and electricity, and the last goes right through her guard, propelling her backward through the air! She wobbles her limbs and pushes forward with her electrical mana to fight the momentum, and then surges forward at her maximum speed toward Zephyr!
    She pivots in the air with a surprisingly quick forward flip, and already she has the longsword held over her head and the whole weight of her body aimed to crash through the shield in an overhead slash! "HAH!" she shouts out in a loud kiai, assisting in the power behind the strike. She needs to put an awful lot of effort in breaking through that shield Zephyr has, it's obvious the two are not of an even level of strength. It's only by virtue of Zephyr's less-than-perfect state right now that she's able to match the windmage at all!
    A fact Ainsley is obviously quite aware of.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr tenses her grasp, dismissing the manaball and doing a quick pirouette. "YAH!" comes the returned kiai, as axe clashes with sword, spraying sparks and sending a shockwave of force out from the impact point. Ainsley has the momentum behind her though, and shoves Zephyr back, digging furrows up in the top of the spire she's standing on.

<COUNTER CHARGE. IMPACT BULLET!> states Divine Wind, as the windmage digs in. Her right hand comes up, and presses against Ainsley's midriff, as raw mana pours into her palm. It then surges out in a torrent of short-lived magical 'plasma'.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is in melee range, and so she can more easily predict her opponent's movements. In fact, the Impact Bullet goes off, and there's a sound of robes shredding and a burst of dust from around the both of them as if she got hit directly-- but when it clears, for a split-second, Zephyr can see that Ainsley managed to very narrowly avoid the entirety of the spell! And, taking advantage of the opening that Zephyr made with this spell, Ainsley tries to reciprocate it with a brutal retaliation.
    She whips around with the sword blade... with it sheathed back in its scabbard, a motion done while she was evading Zephyr's point-blank spell. She then channels electrical mana through her body and into her weapon and drops down to the ground. She is, unsurprisingly, shorter than Zephyr, and she moves quickly enough that she can get under that outstretched arm.
    She follows forward and does what looks like a baseball swing, aiming for Zephyr's midsection. Electrical magic is surged through the blunt strike, which would emit through the spire they have stood on and crack the structure from top to bottom with the force and heat behind that single attempt.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "And here they go the Wind Dancer and Chronicler are going at it storm wind and blade going at it here in the arena today they are not holding anything back as the lighting and blades are flying but as ever the winds are going like a hurricane and wait is that plasma?! The Chronicaler seems ready for that one as she gets out harms way just in the nick of time and she counter attacks with about everything she can muster!"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr tchs, then grits her teeth as she hops back from Ainsley. Taking to the air, she clashes her axe with the Quetzal's again, deflecting the majority of that strike, though the imperfect hit sends a quake right up her arm. <Core Frame damaged. Manaflow control down to 50%.>

    "You've improved a lot." she compliments, getting some distance, before a third drone spalls from her Device. The trio then flitting out to encompass the area again. <MISTRAL STORM! BLITZ DRIVE! MISTRAL HURRICANE!> states the Device, as Zephyr simply seems to wink out of existence... she's just moving very fast, and comes from several angles almost at the same time, leaving afterimages before she finally strikes, a heavy sweeping chop with her weapon, aimed for Ainsley's sword arm!

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley hisses at the sting in her fingers when her strike is blocked. She shudders and then looks up at Zephyr... her eyes widen. And then she can do nothing behind the attack, as the chop hits her sword arm and she is SLAMMED aside and sent tumbling through the air with a loud scream of startlement and pain! The sword flies through the air since it's knocked out of her hand, and at the apex, it seems like it's about to fall...
    Ainsley darts toward it and snatches it out of the air by the hilt, the scabbard sliding off of it. She holds it with one hand, her other arm not doing so hot and trembling under the pain driven into it like a hot nail.
    She follows up Zephyr's attack with another one of her own, but this time it's strangely faster. Something Zephyr might notice is that Ainsley doesn't have a primary sword arm-- the product of dual-wielding daggers is being able to swap her stance so she doesn't have the disadvantage of a weaker stance if she can't use both hands. If Zephyr is perceptive, she will note that Ainsley is holding the hilt of a dagger with the hand she can't use as easily, making up for the damage.
    A quick stab that moves with precision and power, blasting through the dust and debris they're kicking up from the spells they've exchanged with each other!

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr is extremely fast herself, but the sudden surge in speed catches her by surprise... then she has a sword stuck in her, piercing the outer layer of her Barrier Jacket and finding purchase in her flesh beneath. Blood trickles out of the wound and drips down to the parched ground beneath.

    The mage is stunned, the pain doesn't even register right away. This might be a blessing or a curse, as she clenches her right hand into a fist, gathering power into it. <MACH PUNCH!> announces the axe in Zephyr's left hand, as the mage swings that heavy hook into Ainsley's face!

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "Let me tell you I'm on the edge of my sear here the two fightes have fought eachother to a standstill here. The Chronilcer striks with a brutal blow of her sword but the Wind Dancer hasn't fallen just yet as she counters with a heck of a hook!"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    BOOM!! The power behind the punch is felt through the pressure in the air. Ainsley's expression scrunches and she's knocked backward, the sword pulled from Zephyr's flesh with minimal risk of damage. Her eye remains closed behind the pain and bruising, and spits out blood... and a broken tooth. Adrenaline buzzes in her head, and her vision, turned blurry and red from the strike, focuses keenly on Zephyr.
    She maintains the odd stance of one-handed use of a sword, and follows Zephyr's attack with several of her own. Quick blade slashes swing in for the wind mage, followed by crashes of lightning as they pass, throwing up more and more dust and burning smells as the lightning scorches the field around them and igniting dried-out bushes harmlessly, and threatens to electrocute Zephyr with each stroke of the disproportionate weapon.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr winces as the sword is pulled free, pressing her right hand to the wound now the pain is starting to register. She isn't entirely prepared for the new storm, erecting shields to absorb the lightning, though many of them shatter instantly, allowing the full force of those lightning blasts to slam into the mage. The dust and debris is thick, but as it starts to clear a little, Zephyr is on one knee, panting for breath. Head bowed, it looks like she's about to give up. "Y'know... the easiest thing I could do right now is quit." she lifts her head, and grins madly. "But I ain't goin' nowhere!"

    Forcing herself to stand, Zephyr continues, as she draws out the haft of her axe so it can be more easily wielded with both hands. "You don't just give up halfway through, that's not the point!" she raises the axe above her head. "The point is the challenge. The Path. The road to victory, and if you don't have that, it doesn't MEAN ANYTHING!" <HURRICANE THUNDERCLAP> "And if you don't lose something along the way then you don't deserve it." <STRIKE!>

    Energy courses through the entire weapon, glowing brilliant purple, before she charges in straight at Ainsley. "HYYYYYAAAH!" the overhead chop is accompanied by a loud crash, like thunder, and a shockwave that blasts all the debris and dust clear of the combatants. It even snuffs out one of the bushes... but also sends it flying off into the distance.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley cannot help but try to evade Zephyr's attack, which ends up ending profoundly poorly for her. She is struck dead-on by the burst of mana and the axe-- and by some virtue of her attempt to deflect the attack with a burst of electrical mana of her own, she isn't knocked out or bisected. But the consequences are impressive. She's driven out of the air with such force that she slams into the ground and leaves a crater under her in the weakened dry earth!
    Magitech components fly in every direction, the harness smashed to bits beneath her! She trembles in the pain afterwards, the leather armor cleaved and some blood trickling down it... her swollen eye remains shut and her other eye gives a pained stare up at Zephyr. That was /not/ a fun attack to get hit by.

    But she gets up, struggling against the agony. She reaches down to the smashed remains of the Harness, and picks up the battery with her bare hand, leaving her sword on the ground. She transfers it to her injured hand and looks up at Zephyr. She considers the words that were just spoken to her before that attack, and figures she has one last attack in her before she is just knocked the hell out by whatever Zephyr throws at her next.
    She points her finger up at Zephyr. Like in the battle with Theo, she displays a surge of electrical mana. But there's something else. Wind kicks up, visibly, around her. It is /wind/ mana around her, too, just barely perceptible and forced out due to the sheer size of the upcoming spell. It isn't a part of the spell, but a strange glimmer of her nature coming out in full.

    There is no ceremony. There is no speech. There is only the single blinding flash of lightning that speaks of nature's fury, spending all of the excess mana at once. The deafening shockwave sears into cameras and eyes, and nearly blinds Ainsley following the spell, and leaves scorched earth and smoldering shrubs in a line between her and Zephyr. Because Lightning is not a beam, but a branch with innumerable arms.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "The Wind Dancer and Chronilcer are giving as good as they get but this can't go on for ever! The Wind Dancer has foced the power of the storm into a single focused strike for The Chronicler. It looks like her last lightning strike wasn't quite enough abd niw she's launching her counter attack and that might be enough lightning there to power New Port for a few days!"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    <EVADE! BLITZ DRIVE!>

    Zephyr is all too willing to listen to that directive, flickering out just as the burst of electrical energy smashes past where she used to be. She reappears, skidding along the ground without her flight spell, digging furrows in the weakened, dry packed earth. She's singed around the edges, testament to the sheer fury of that strike. Had she not dodged... well.

    "Fight to the last. Every nail, every tooth." she states, then runs forwards, dragging her axe along the ground after her, kicking up sparks as she brings it in for the coup de grace. No spell, no magic, just a heavy axe being swung in a sweeping chop.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley /misses a lightning bolt/. A testament to Zephyr's ability to dodge, the exhausted reptile shudders in terror behind the idea that she's about to be struck down again... and then realizes what the windmage is saying. This is for the path. To see who is strong, to test one's skills. That is what she came in here to do. And if it were easy, she would have not had so much trouble. She would have no reason to do this. So she will fight until the very last shred of consciousness remains in her.

    Which she does by narrowly evading the attack made toward her to finish the match. She reaches to grasp at Zephyr's arm with one hand, and then her shoulder with the other. Her eyes look right into Zephyr's and her mouth wilts into a determined frown, the kind that would only be done by the most grizzled of protagonists. Her eyes both widened, one of them bloodshot from the impact of that fist earlier.

    And she jerks Zephyr toward her head as she swings her aching skull toward the mage's face. She can't use mana, and she doesn't have a lot of room for anything else.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Somewhere in the stands, beer has gone flying.
    "DESTROY HER, AINSLEY! EAT HER SPINE AND SPIT OUT LIGHTNING!"
    There is a very drunk, very rowdy, very red-eyed unicorn on one of the viewing platforms, frothing at the mouth.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Oh look, pretty stars. Zephyr takes the headbutt square to the bridge of her nose, the impact jolting her backwards and laying her flat.

    The judges seem ready to call it, until Zephyr drags her way back to her feet, teeth gritted, one eye scrunched shut and a bleeding gash on her nose bridge. Divine Wind is the one that speaks. <END IT!>

    And that's what Zephyr aims to do, surging forwards, she grabs for Ainsley, wrapping her arms around the lizards middle, before hoisting her up, over and aiming to slam her into the ground.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    And in those very same stands, one voice can be heard, raising in a cry that demands:
    "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "This one is coming down to the wite here both ifhters seem to be on their last legs but refuse to go down! This is as much a battle of will as it is of magical and martial skill! The Chronicler comes in with one last strike and the Wind Dancer counters it's not looking.... she has the Chroniocer ion a suplex and it looks like this fight to the wire is OVER!"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is brought over Zephyr's head... She makes a strangled noise of pain and surprise just from the motion...!

    And then she is slammed right into the ground... and just goes still, with that quite clearly knocked-the-hell-out expression on her face that blankly gazes upward with dizzy eyes that slooowly close.

    Zephyr wins!

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr rises, slowly, painfully from the suplex, lifts her right arm to the crowd, then makes that I'm Watching You gesture to Amalthea, two fingers pointing to her eyes, then to the Unicorn... before the mage simply passes out, falling face flat to the ground.

    Thud.