Scene #6734: MECC: Nova Terra vs Stella

Owner	Pose
Nova Terra	The seats of the arena are packed to the brim in the leadup to one of the last remaining fights of the MECC! Whoever wins this match will be a Grand Finalist and go on to fight the ultimate championship match. And so in the spirit of of offering up the best view for the audience and the best environment for the competitors to display their personal skills. The style of today's arena is: Plain! That's right. A standard fighting arena. No death traps. No marvels of natural, magic or technological construction are on display today. Just an open space for the two fighters to go at their all and show the true worth of their power! To that end, Nova walks out of her waiting area and to her starting position. Rifle in hand, she's got a serious look on her face. She may even be sweating a little. Not surprising, given the distance that she's come so far and thus the likely high strength of the person she's going to be fighting. Not to mention she's not far from oblivious to the streak of wins her opponent has accomplished. Soon enough the countdown towards the match starts. As it does, Nova reaches back to pull a device off the back of her suit. Roughly spherical, about the size of Nova's fist, it's not exactly clear what it's purpose might be. Whatever it is, Nova readies it as she waits for this fight, no doubt going to be a challenging one, to start.
Stella	Last round's opponent wasn't a knight. This one isn't either. Disappointment flows, despite claims to not give in to emotions. Stella wouldn't admit it, or maybe simply doesn't understand what she's feeling. It's soon replaced by resignation, and the fact it's all irrelevant anyway. Training experience is training experience. The arena being so plain, the cracks have no trouble spreading from Stella's feet the moment she enters the arena. Prismatic crystal spreads, threatening to quickly turn the arena from a plain field to something else entirely, the cracks turning the tiles into crystal around them. Stella, for her part, wordlessly waits for the signal, and the moment the sirens go off and the lights are green, she moves. Or rather, shifts her stance ever slightly. While blades form in her hands, spikes of crystal shoot out of the ground around Nova, more like very long swords than spikes, but sharp either way.
Nova Terra	The match starts! And before Nova even has a chance to act, she finds herself being assaulted by crystal swords from the ground. She is forced to dive to the side in an attempt to avoid being skewered. One of the crystalline ground blades still manages to connect, slicing through the side of Nova's suit, creating a nice tear and causing a little blood to start seeping out. "Ugh!" Hitting the ground after her dive, the device Nova was holding is thrown free of her hand. It bounces across the ground a couple of times before small metal panels extend across its surface. The device suddenly stops in mid-air and just stays there. Quickly picking herself up, Nova uses her free hand to tap a command on her wrist display. Blue light washes over the dropped device as it disappears from view. Nova quickly rises to her feet, starting to run to the side in order to make a harder target but keep Stella at distance. Her canister rifle is aimed and a burst of rounds fired off towards Stella. The rapid shots aren't highly accurate, but definitely distracting.
Stella	The cracks spread further. Crystal starts covering the arena floor, expanding outward from the golem like the pattern of a broken mirror struck in its center. The blades that made passes for Terra remain there, going absolutely nowhere. Stella doesn't move to track Nova; shots break against her skin, cracking and chipping the crystal without causing her to move just yet. The 'injuries' start closing as quickly as they forced, crystal growing to replace what's been blown away. Three large slabs of crystal appear in the air, like the blades of massive swords. They launch, one for Nova, and the other two for opposite corners of the arena. It almost seems like setup, not an attack, given the two secondary crystals don't serve any purpose to harm the Ghost. Nova's quick-footed, so she has to come up with a plan.
Nova Terra	Nova eyes those large slabs as she runs. It's not too hard to guess what's coming next. Nova dives once more, except this time it's far more controlled and graceful. She hits the ground in a roll, the large crystal sent flying at her just barely grazing the exterior of her suit. Nothing really to write home about. Nova comes out of her roll on one knee, rifle raised up and aimed towards Stella. Nova eyes the crystal woman through her scope, sighting on her the dead center of her chest. Just one round is fired this time. Yet it may prove deadlier than the burst fired before it. Of course, Nova doesn't fail to notice that Stella appears to be turning the arena into her own little crystal getaway. But the Ghost doesn't seem particularly worried at this stage. Partially because she has no idea what her opponent plans so right now there's not much she can do other than focus on her own efforts.
Stella	A larger shell proves much more efficient. The blast actually knocks Stella back - her cracks audibly from the impact, her torso badly shattered where the shell left a crater. And while it's already starting to close - of course it is - it's going to remain a spot where the crystal is thinner and easier to damage until it does. But then, something did happen as the shell burst and flames erupted from the impact. As the fire reflected off the surface of the shiny, shimmering slabs she planted down moments ago, they became energized. The dancing image of the explosion, as if trapped in the crystal, replays and then gushes out of the slabs. From all three directions, bolts of fire assault Nova, all the while Stella finally makes a move, dashing towards her and bringing a sword down, equally energized into a fancy fire slash rather than just the threat of a crystal sword.
Nova Terra	Nova suddenly finds herself under assault from a hell of a lot of fire. She quickly stands as it rushes towards her from three directions. Nova doesn't move though, not entirely confident she can escape the flames. So Nova closes her eyes. It's not from acceptance. The flames suddenly hit an invisible force which sends them streaming around Nova, threatening to touch her but never quite making it. Nova concentrates as she uses her telekinesis to redirect the flames around her, if only a little. That is until until Stella comes streaking through them flames, crystal blade streaking down. There's a blast of fire as the bolts burst, spreading out all around the two. Passing, they reveal Nova to be down on one knee, canister rifle held up in both hands to block Stella's swing. The sword's flames lick at the strong metal alloy of the weapon, the sharp crystal edge slowly cutting into it but not making a lot of progress. Nova looks strained in this position, but still manages a smirk as she says, "Nice to see an opponent who doesn't say much." Nova pushes back against Stella's blade, adding in a quick blast of telekinetic energy to slam into the woman and send her flying. Though not too hard. Just enough to give Nova a bit of room to work with.
Stella	Stella is pushed back by sudden psychic powers. That's new. And as bit bothersome, as evidenced by the fact the impact spread cracks further along her torso, despite the blow not being especially meant to cripple. "There is nothing to say. I have no stakes in making you talk," she simply states, because it's true. It's not like Nova has information she wants, or that anything is riding on this for Stella. The blade in the golem's left hand suddenly seems to burst with growths, spikes and jagged hooks covering it until it's barely much of a sword anymore and more like a very large cluster of rainbowy crystal thorns. It's thrown, without fanfare, straight for Nova. The goal is to penetrate that shield - whether it's still there or not, and then burst, releasing the spikes and hooks with incredible force up close. Like trying to hug a cactus going at the speed of sound.
Nova Terra	Very refreshing indeed. And while it wasn't so much as a shield, the larger mass of the big crystal club still proves effective. Nova not even trying to throw it off course with her mind. Instead she charges straight for it! At the last moment, Nova hits the ground in a slide, letting the thrown weapon fly over her head. As it bursts, several of the spikes do manage to dig in to Nova's suit, causing the Ghost to wince at the pain. But Nova doesn't let the injuries distract her as she slides across the ground, raising her rifle to aim as she does and firing off yet another single, well-aimed round towards Stella's chest. The same point that she targetted before.
Stella	Another one of those heavy shells. This one actually succeeds - the explosion breaks Stella's body in half, but when she hits the crystalized floor, her body breaks apart into shiny crystal, almost being absorbed into the arena. Her body surges out of one of the large slabs she'd planted down, conveniently near Nova. Still regrowing, not whole, but recogniceably 'a person' at least. With both hands she wields a very large sword, charged with orange flames and explosive energy, meant to be released on impact this time, rather than scattered.
Nova Terra	Nova watches her opponent melt into the floor. She carefully takes a few steps, sweeping her rifle around as she tries to find Stella. Man, fighting these really weird types makes it hard to know what to expect. You know? Suddenly, Nova's psychey senses tingle and she shifts her rifle into one hand. With the other she reaches up to grab the hilt of the sword on her back. The psi-blade comes to life, energy blade surrounding the weapon. Nova spins around and attempts to place her weapon in the path of the emerging Stella's. However, the much large crystal blade manages to break through and there is an explosion of light and flame. Nova comes skidding out of the blast on her feet, quickly coming to a stop. The front of her suit is singed, with a rather large gash in it. But thankfully what defense she did manage to put up stopped it from being a particularly lethal blow. Nova quickly dashes forward again, closing the distance to Stella as she swings her psi-blade. However, she's not trying to hit Stella directly, instead targetting her large crystal sword in an attempt to push it to the side and create an opening.
Stella	The psi-blade clashes with Stella's blade, but it's obvious she's not had to repel that kind of weapon before. With an opening created, it's not hard for Nova to capitalize on it and hit hard, shattering the sword and breaking chunks of the golem's arm off with it. She pauses to look at it, before a burst of regeneration restores the arm abrudly - both arms shift, the crystal crunching itself together to form long blades in lieu of forearms and hands. The same energy that visibly makes up Nova's psi-blades reflects from those blades, clearly empowering them to deliver the same kind of damage. Then she launches into a flurry - if Nova intends to stay in close range, Stella intends to hack away at her as much as she can, knowing it probably won't last and she needs to seize her chance.
Nova Terra	Nova doesn't intend to stay in close range. This becomes obvious as the moment that Stella forms her own version of Nova's weapon, the Ghost quickly backs off. Blue light washes over her as she does so, quickly hiding her from view. Moments later Stella's blades slash through empty air. Stella pulled a disappearing trick. It's only fair that Nova gets to too. There's practically no warning as a muffled gunshot echoes through the arena. Some distance away, a bullet emerges from a ripple in the air. Hard to see, but still a good indication of Nova's location. The bullet streaks through the air, yet again heading towards the same point on Stella's chest.
Stella	Another dead-eyed shot to the chest. Her torso shatters under the repeated pressure, but rather than meld back into the arena, this time Stella remains on the ground. Crystaline roots and hooks shoot out of the ground, as if joining the golem together with the area she crystalized. Then, the entire arena trembles. A dozen blades burst out of the ground under Nova. A massive hand, sword held tight, forms from the arena to slice down when she inevitably moves. Walls of crystal abruptly rise to try to block her path. The massive hand and blade readjust their arm and take slash after slash, trying to pin Nova down into the ever amplifying mess of field hazards. More and more blades rise from the floor, trying to deny safe passage and footing in the first place. It's chaotic, but it's all skillful and synchronized.
Nova Terra	The invisible Nova starts running. Her actions are somewhat followable, her speed and movements far too much for her cloak to compensate. But somewhat followable is still to her advantage. Nova ducks and weaves, jumps and bounds. She pushes her considerably flexible and athletic body to the limit, enhanced by her psychic power and the trademark Ghost suit that amplifies it into heightened physical prowess. There are many number of close calls as Nova navigates the obstacle course of crystal. Any number of which could very well have ended her match right here and right now had they been a solid hit. But ultimately, Nova's skill wins over. As the crystal maze settles, Nova is nowhere to be seen. That is, until she decloaks. There are multiple tears in her suit where the crystals glanced it. Lines of blood trail down from where the hits were deep enough to penetrate to her skin. Nova turns her head to spit out a bit of blood that had collected in her mouth. But when she looks back at 'Stella', she still looks like she's going strong. And yet, she makes no move to attack. Nova's psi-blade fizzles out and she returns it to her back. She moves her free hand to the control display on her wrist. Pressing a command on it, she says to Stella, "As a wise and honoured warrior leader of the Protoss Daelaam once said-" Blue light emanates from within Stella's large hand as the device Nova released at the start of the match decloaks. It seems like it had been caught up in the crystal woman's regeneration of the large limb. Now completely visible, the device emits a rising hum of power. Nova smirks as she finishes, "-Go to the void." The bomb explodes.
Stella	It's not hard to slip things into Stella when she grows or regenerates. In fact it's pretty trivial! Which means that when the bomb goes off, it does everything it's meant to and more. Crystal is blown off the arena floor and scattered in every direction, leaving a mess of broken shards in the corners. It takes an unusually long time (by Stella's standards) for her to finally reform - ressembling out of a mess in a corner, quickly starting to regain a humanoid shape. It seems even that wouldn't keep her down - but it doesn't matter if she gets back up, if she's essentially too exhausted to keep going. In fact, she doesn't move at all. "I yield. Though my body can keep reforming, it will not suffer any more battle." The announcers don't seem to need to see or hear more to sound the ending signal.