4785/Deck Work on Bikanel Island

Deck Work on Bikanel Island
Date of Scene:	15 November 2016
Location:	Spira(AOA)
Synopsis:	Neva and Yang go to Bikanel Island on Spira to train in an empty desert near Home.
Cast of Characters:	Bahamut, 644, Yang Xiao Long

---

Bahamut has posed:
     After picking up Neva near the Izzet towers, Bahamut gives the young planeswalker a lift to Home.

     At first, Neva might wonder if there even -is- a home. They fly over a vast, seemingly unending desert after passing over the ocean to get here. When they finally reach it, Neva finds out that...no, there is not. Home is in ruins, obviously the victim of some massive attack. It used to be a tower of ancient technologies cobbled together into a town, but now it is just several huge ribs of metal that rise like the bones of some fallen behemoth into the sky. All around it, small metal buildings and cloth tents can be seen, and a population of darkly tanned people can be seen working, scrapping the remains of Home and recycling it. They seem to be intent on rebuilding, but it is going to take a long time. Years, if not decades.

     However, the settlement provides shelter, food, and water, and the desert provides a vast, nearly undamageable area for Yang and Neva to use as their training ground. Human-sized, mishapen robots patrol the area, and often engage the creatures of the desert to keep them from encroaching on the settlement. Most of them seem pretty easy to deal with, but as they fly over the desert Neva would be able to see one or two massive fiends that would likely take a concerted effort to bring down.

     It is obviously not the safest area, but it is safe enough, and with Yang and Bahamut around any fiends that do slip through would be quickly destroyed.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    After her initial response to actually meeting Bahamut, in the form of an initial squeal and eventually toning down her excitement ("Is that a black dragon?! Is that---You're---Bah---EEEEEE--!!"), Neva did eventually hop onto Bahamut's back and enjoyed the rush of riding a dragon, ("OMYGOD I'M ON A DRAGON!!!") until she at least got used to the idea of actually riding one, which took about ten minutes, plus some entirely one sided conversation on her part.

    Finally reaching Home put a damper on her thrills, and she eventually hopped when they landed, trying to make sense of the visuals. "This place.... Isn't very homey." That put a damper on her spirits yes. "I guess it's devoid of people to accidentally hurt though..."

With that, she reaches into her satchel and takes a moment to fit on a gauntlet looking device from it, and slides a deck of cards into it, before powering the device up. Along the gauntlet glows the Izzet League symbol, winding up and brimming with mana.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang blazes a trail on her trusty motorcycle, weaving through Fiends that try to pounce on her as she heads through the desert towards Home from the nearest Warpgate. The deep, throaty growll of Ember Celica's Dust Engine would probably turn some heads in the mechanically inclined Al Bhed camp, but the blonde doesn't pay them much mind. She's here for Neva and Bahamut.

    So, she turns and approaches the pair as they land, popping a wheelie, then skidding to a halt in the loose ground, kicking the stand out to rest the bike on before swinging her leg over to dismount. She takes off her helmet, then ruffles her hair out before giving a big grin. "Yo."

    That's when she actually takes in the view... and her grin faulters. "This reminds me of Mountain Glenn..."

Bahamut has posed:
     Bahamut soaks in all of Neva's excited attention and happily answers any questions she asks on the way to the site. His ego needed a good stroking after the last few weeks.

     After landing just outside the settlement, Bahamut lets Neva down and chuckles. "It is homey enough. We Al Bhed are used to such conditions. Do not feel bad for us." he says to both Neva and Yang, then grins to Neva. "I would be more concerned with your challenger. Yang is quite the destructive force." he says as he takes up a spot a short distance away, standing tall and proud as dragons do, presenting a majestic figure against the setting sun behind him. Vibrant wings spread, arms crossed over his chest, his stance slightly askew in a heroic pose that he is obviously used to taking. "And when you two get tired...if you get tired...we can get food and drink at the settlement."

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva nods a little to Bahamut, before blinking as she hears oncoming motorcycle and turns to see the arriving Yang, and goes wide eyed just at everything that is Yang. "Oh, hey, you must be Yang!" She waves excitedly and begins yammering, "Ohmygod that bike looks so cool! I'm too scared to ride one myself, but I always thought they were cool looking! And your hair---WOW your hair is just gorgeous! It's like you popped out of one of those shampoo commercials! Except you're also pretty buffed up! At least you look buffer than me---AndI'mBabbling...!"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang chuckles a bit, both at the praise from Bahamut, and from the nerdy babbling from Neva. "Heh, thanks." she replies, rubbing the back of her head. "Anyway, we gonna do this? I'll show you what you're up against first."

    The blonde brawler deploys her gauntlets, the distinctly mechanical sound ringing across the open ground as the golden vabracers unfold along her forearms. She pumps both arms down, racking the slide mechanisms with a distinctly shotgun-like sound. "This is Ember Celica. They're Dual Range Shot Gauntlets... and my Semblance, allows me to absorb damage to boost my own strength.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva's eyes widen again as the Shot Gauntlets unfold and wind up, eliciting a gleeful response of, "Cooooool." Before Neva shakes her head and puts her game face on. "Okay, well, I guess I need to explain the nature of my powers a tiny bit more, because this might be a tiny bit... Um... Slow to start."

    She reaches to the Izzet Charm gauntlet and slips the deck of cards from the slot, and begins shuffling the deck. "So, I -am- capable of casting different all sorts of spells, but because I'm still technically a newbie, my repertoir of actual magic is kinda limited to... Cantrips I guess you could say? Simple spells, don't take mana, nearly instant. I can cast those on the fly, but for in order to make something resembling an army... I have to use a deck of cards as a focus. And not just any deck, a legally constructed deck of cards from the card game Magic the Gathering."

    She then slides the deck back into the gauntlet, waves a hand out and draws energy that crackles out of the air and gathers in her palm, and with another simple gesture the energy, red and blue colors, coalesce into a simple, if large form, a somewhat blobby creature. "This is Bob, he's a Blistercoil Weird. I have him do my hard labor." She gestures to a slab of rock, "Bob, bring that rock over here, I need a table." With that, the Weird turns and wobbles over to follow the command, all while Neva draws seven cards from the deck and sorts through them. "It's kind of weird, I know, but until I get strong enough to cast big spells on my own, this is how it works for me." She hmmms, "Allright..." She then holds a fist out, "Yang! Pass or Play!"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    "Huh..." Yang's eyes are lit up as she looks at those cards. "They look similar to cards we use in Remnant: The Game." she mentions, then grins. "I'm pretty good at that, but I can't summon big blobs or anything."

    At the question, the blonde lifts a hand, and taps her chin. "I pass my turn."

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Soon enough the Blistercoil Weird trundles back over to Neva's side, hauling a large, rock with a fairly flat surface, and Neva smiles at the creature, "Thank you, Bob. You may sit and watch." The Blobby creature just sort of response with an electric wibbly sound, if that makes any sense.

    With that, Neva takes one of the cards from her hand and says, "I get to play first! This means I get to play immediately, but no drawing from my deck until next turn." She puts down a card depicting a mountain range. "This is a Land card, and it represents my source of mana. Normally I can only draw as much mana as I have land cards, but..." She reaches into her satchel and pulls out an Izzet Signet, "I can cheat a little."

    With a grin, she turns the Mountain card to the side and red mana draws into her palm above it, before she redirects the mana into the Signet, and uses it to amplify the mana she has to work with. She gestures and pours a brighter amount of mana out into the sands before her, as she sets down another card, "Using the Izzet Signet to boost my mana, I summon YOUNG PYROMANCER!!" The a figure forms up in front of her and it is indeed a boy, possibly no older than her. "AAaaand... End turn, because Summoning Sickness.".

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang watches. The colours mean little to her, but the explanation does make some token sense. "Mana is 'resources'... spend those to use your cards. Different deck builds have different resources..." the gamer in her is working overtime, even as she watches the magic at work. Red light is amplified, and another teenage-looking 'monster' is brought forth. "Pass." says Yang simply, her closed fist still at her chin, contemplating.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva can't help but appreciate the much needed opportunity to build up her mana pool, and she takes a moment to draw a card now, hmming a little before bringing one from her hand down and dropping and Island Card onto the 'Table', "Islands represent Blue mana, Mountains rep Red Mana." She hmms a bit and continues, Young Pyromancer is a 2/1 Creature. He can probably ping you for a little bit of damage, but that's not what his real function is. His function is to allow me to summon 1/1 Fire Elemental Tokens by casting instant and sorceries..."

    She grins and taps the mountain and draws another charge of Red Mana, "CASE IN POINT!" She takes another card from her hand and throws it down to the board, "I CAST LIGHTNING BOLT TO YOUR FACE!!" She throws her free hand up and a storm cloud comes from positively noplace, swirling around the sky for a moment...

    And then... KRACKOOOOM!!! A bolt explodes from the sky, striking down at Yang Xiao Long.

    All the while the Young Pyromancer grins and summons a four foot fire elemental.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
Also she pointedly, at the beginning of her turn, untapped everything. Because procedure.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    And afterwards she calls out, "END TURN!" Because she still has to follow procedure, while she works on her next actions, planning her next untaps and waiting for Yang to respond.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang ponders then tilts her head. "That's an interesting tri--" SUDDENLY LIGHTNING!

    Yang brings her arms up defensively, the bolt of electricity striking at her gauntlets, and arcing across her body but not actually striking at her skin. Instead, it skitters across a glowing golden field that surrounds the teen's body.

    After the strike is over, the blonde appears to still be glowing, flecks of 'flame' shedding from the mane of golden hair. The strands also seem to 'waft' slightly, as if disturbed by slight water currents.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva grins with so much glee at the lightning strike coming down, as she habitually laughs, "MWAHAHA! Go Lightning bolt goooo--!" She trails off when she sees that Yang seems to have tanked it quite easily, and goes a little slack jaw, "Huh.... Okay then.. Well, Lightning bolt only does 3 damage right now anyway." Right now...

    She quickly untaps her cards, "You do realize that you're perfectrly free to start coming at me, right? But I suppose if you wanna sit back...." She draws another card and thenputs another mountain card into play, and says, "I'm just gonna ping you a bit!" She points, "GO Elemental Token! Go!"

    The Red Elemental, now seeming to be made more of magma than pure fire, chitters and charges at Yang, roaring a Magma Roar as it charges at her, aiming to take a chomp.

    Neva in the mean time waits, grinning as she rearranges the cards in her hands.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang watches the token monster approaching. As it opens its mouth, the blonde brawler draws back, and fires an explosive bolt right into the creature's open mouth. "I HOPE YOU'RE HUNGRY!"

    The bolt explodes like a grenade, kinetic force and fire expanding out from the bolt when it hits the back of the Token's throat. She then turns her grinning face on Neva. "I said I was gonna beat up monsters, remember? I could probably punch a hole straight through you if I wasn't careful."

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Perhaps on reflex, Neva drops another card on the board, as she taps the island and a mountain, "In response, Rune Snag!! Good old instant counter-spells!"

    It's not immediately visible, but a glowing rune appears in the blast range of the Impulse blast, the spell attempting to contain the shot, and prevent the Token minion from being destroyed... The Token reels back in any case, returning to its master.

    Neva sighs in relief, "Okay, that worked. I was hoping that would work." All while the Young Pyromancer spawns another Token.

    She pointedly keeps her used spells, the Instants she casted the last couple of times, in a pile nearby and is counting them, keeping track. "OKay, then!" She draws and immediately puts down an island card, before taking from her hand another creature card, tapping two mountains and an island. "WEE DRAGONAUTS!!"
https://deckbox.org/mtg/Wee%20Dragonauts?fromqs=true
    When that creature appears, Neva grins and points, "GO my Token Minions! Now there is two and no summoner sickness for the second one!! MWAHAHAHA!!"

    The two Elementals roar, and both charge at Yang now, aiming flank her and give her her money's worth.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang huffs a bit as her shell is countered. She then draws back and leaps up as the tokens come in to strike at her. She does a twirl, then drops back down, slamming her fist into the sand and sending out a tremor, the sand rippling out and rocky 'spears' emerging in a circle around her. She then pushes forwards with another pair of blasts from her gauntlets, aiming to slug the Young Pyromancer with another explosive punch.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva goes wide eyed as Yang just goes whole hog, taking on the minions one after after another, before she calling out, "End Turn..." To accelerate the pace of the battle, and watches as Yang goes on the assault, charging for the Young Pyromancer, and goes wide eyed as she does something COMPLETELY devoid of traditional logic.

    She calls out, "I don't declare any blockers, I soak the damage directly!" She then rushes out to put herself in front of the Young Pyromancer, and crosses her arms to brace herself.

    The explosive punch would blast right into Neva, sending her flying and crashing back, knocking her to the ground and groans painfully.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang actually pulls the punch when Neva rushes in, but she's already commited by then. At least the damage won't be so bad... but the Blonde instantly goes. "Crap..." and runs over to where the Planeswalker fell. "Why'd you do that?" she asks.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva groans and looks up, mumbling out incoherently, "5AEW391... That's the license plate..." She shakes her head clear and blinks, "Huh? What was the question...?"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang rolls her eyes. "Nerd... c'mon, lets get cleaned up, I think you've had enough."

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva rubs her head and pushes herself back up, "Oh, right... Why did I take the hit? Um.." She rubs her head a bit, "For starters, in my opponent's combat turn I have the option to declare blockers. There was also no tactical benefit to letting Young Pyromancer chump block at this time." She moves over to the 'table' and gathers her cards, all while waving off a dismissal of all the summoned creatures.

    "Tactical tanking basically... I soak direct damage for the short term so that my long term army growth can continue. Eventually doing that too much would be what is technically defined as 'A Bad Idea'."

Bahamut has posed:
     With the battle over, Bahamut lets out an approving rumble before he approaches. "Very impressive, both of you. Do you need a ride back to Ravnica, Neva? I am headed there anyway." the big grey dragon says as he stretches his wings slowly, little creaks of metal easily heard. He looks to Yang as well. "I would offer you a ride, but I suspect your bike may be your prefered mode of transportation."

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    "Sounds like Remnant: The Game again... sacrifice weaker things so you can build up a stronger force."

    Yang shrugs, then helps Neva up, before looking over at Bahamut. "Yeah, I'll be taking Bumblebee back. Besides, it's more fun weaving through those monsters out there."

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva hrrms a little, "Well... I don't really need a ride anymore... I mean it was fun, but I can definitely just 'Walk back now." She grins and closes her eyes, stretching her arms out and gathers mana around her, tracing a circle in the air, having come up with a a personal little ritual, before opening her eyes which glow with magical power. "Race ya!" And then slaps her hands together, ingulfing herself in the mana and then vanishing.

Bahamut has posed:
     Bahamut blinks at that, then grins. He probably has no chance of beating a planeswalker in a race such as this, but he is certainly going to give it a try! With his wings already spread, he leaps and gives a mighty flap, and takes off like a rocket.