What-If? Round X: dakkagor vs. RisingPhoenix (Judge - Jacogos)

[Jacogos]

Welcome to a grudge match between the Silver and Bronze winners of this year's Rumble on RPA!

dakkagor - Kally Sonder (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39454&p=1276602&viewfull=1#post1276602)

VS.

RisingPhoenix - Phoenix (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=40763&p=1327897&viewfull=1#post1327897)

It's a match that could've happened, but didn't! Did we miss out on an epic match? Was dakka cheated out of Silver by facing Pure a Round too early? We'll soon find out!

Disclaimer: This match is not sponsored or in any way truly affiliated with the actual Rumble. This fight will not determine new placements in the Rumble's final outcome.



Two warriors find themselves in darkness. Both Kally and Phoenix could recall their final moments in the Rumble, and their resulting victory and loss respectively. To them, this would be a match to determine who rightfully would claim Silver (barring the player's decision to keep them unknowing of their participation in a tournament). Restored to their prime, the Blank and the demigod now had to figure out just how to go about a fight in utter darkness.

Amidst the encompassing pitch blackness, a voice hissed at the two, seeming to come from between them, though it undulated and echoed, coming from other directions as well.

"Greetings, stalwart warriors of this year's fight... and welcome to the Proving Grounds. Here, you will find reality is completely under my control... As such, I invite you to do battle without holding back; your bodies will be restored to you after the climax."

The voice paused for a moment. Then... "You have but a short time to explore your new arena... After that, you might soon find that the darkness was preferable to what is in store..." Laughter followed, an icy cackle that belonged to someone who knew something sinister that you did not. And knew you wouldn't like it. With that, the presence and voice vanished, leaving the two warriors alone and in the dark, both figuratively and literally.



Exploration will reveal that the floor is flat and made of steel. Either character would have to move 20 yards behind them to reach a wall and 10 to either side to reach those walls. The two characters are exactly 10 yards away from each other. The walls and ceiling (which is about 20 feet up) are all also of steel, more than two feet thick and unblemished and seamless to the touch. Phoenix might like to know that there is fertile soil underground, through about a half-foot of steel.

After both players post once, I will intervene to post the changing environment. In fact, after EACH round of posting, I will be doing this interrupting post. The environment change will depend on a number of different variables and may or may not be very, very dangerous to your characters. You have been warned ;)

Fight hard.

Fight well.

Both players will post 5 times, then I will step in to judge the battle. There is no time limit between posts, this time.

At the flip of a coin, dakkagor will have the first post.

Let battle be joined! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W26IRMHOefg&list=PLP4PjxVSPgUstgOOvjV3d1xkqyjrihJwl&index=17)

[dakkagor]

OOC : sorry for the delayed response.

won't back down (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UPCLR8-Aeo)

Kally felt herself drop, nearly imperceptibly, about a millimeter or so before her booted feet contacted the solid ground below her. Her saber was still gripped tight in her right hand from her fight against the Assassin. Her heart was still pounding and her breathing was still ragged. She swallowed, hard, once and brought her body back under control.

"Greetings, stalwart warriors of this year's fight... and welcome to the Proving Grounds. Here, you will find reality is completely under my control... As such, I invite you to do battle without holding back; your bodies will be restored to you after the climax."

She ignored the mocking voice and listened to the echoes. This sounded like a sealed room, and there was not a breath of air movement. That worried her. By her guess, and her hivers instinct, she was 20 paces from the back of the room and 10 paces from either side. 40x20x what, 10 yards again to the ceiling? 8000sq yards of air to breath until the fight was over.

It would have to do.

She listened again and zeroed in on her opponent, her eyes adjusting to the gloom. A man, average height and build. She flicked her saber clear of her last victims blood and assessed his stance as she circled closer to him. No weapons she could see, but he seemed far to young, somehow, and wearing ornate nobles clothes. She shrugged in her heavy armour, rolling her shoulders as she continued to circle.

Then she charged. No battle-cry, no sound apart from her booted feet echoing off the steel floor as she ate up the distance. If he was unarmed, and unarmored, then getting him in range of her blank powers would give her a distinct advantage if he was a sorcerer or psychic. She pulled the saber up high and when she got in range, slashed it downwards in a savage cross designed to hack into his slim shoulder and drag down across his chest. A brutal, one hit kill with the weight of the lathe blade behind it against any mortal opponent.

Something told Kally this guy was anything but.

[RisingPhoenix]

Again he was placed in a place to fight against someone he didn’t know. The last battle had taken its toll on him as well as his opponent, but miraculously his opponent had won, but yet he still lived. It was something that rattled Phoenix’s mind, but he had no time for that now, now he had to fight to stay alive. This new voice, this menacing voice was one filled with malice. He could feel the presence of another, and if it were anything like before, he would have to fight for his very life, leaving no room for error. The voice he heard sent chills down his very spine and the darkness that surrounded him caused the atmosphere to seem colder than normal. He touched the floor of the dark place with his feet, feeling the cold metal beneath his feet. It was steel, something he was used to feeling. Steel meant no plant life, it also meant that he would be at a disadvantage here and he would have to use his cunning and wiles to overcome his opponent. Steel also had its advantages in this match, and he would find them.

The voice continued to speak, informing them that they had a short time to explore the “arena” and that they would find the darkness preferable to what would be in store for them later. It irritated Phoenix not knowing who was behind this. Still, if he had to defeat whoever he was facing to get out of this steel box then he would do so. Now the chore of figuring out exactly how much room he had to fight in. Closing his eyes, he unsheathed the rose whip and lashed it out directly beside him. The rose whip soared through the darkness and collided with a metal surface causing a pinging sound.

“10 yards........not bad,” Phoenix said softly to himself. The rose whip recoiled and he then sent it in the opposite direction, to the left of him. Again it hit the steel wall and he recorded the distance as 10 yards. Finally the rose whip was sent behind him and it seemed as if it wouldn’t hit anything, but finally the lovely pinging sound filled Phoenix’s ears and he noted the distance. “20 yards behind me and ten on either side, clearly not enough but it will have to do.”

He would’ve gone into a flashback if he hadn’t realized that footsteps were now heading in his direction, and the smell of a female scented the area within the arena. His thousands of years training and honing his skills would prove useful in this fight. He was satisfied to know that whatever the outcome, he had done what he had set out to do, and that was to gain knowledge. Yet still he was gaining more and more knowledge as time went on. He learned from his mistakes in the past and would thus use what he learned in the past to work to his advantage in present as well as future endeavors. This female warrior was closing the distance between them fast. Something about her scent gave off human but something more than a simple human. By now his eyes had adjusted to the dark, and his senses were on high alert. He could make out her silhouette, if only slightly, and the weapon she wielded carried the scent of blood, even if she had tried to remove it earlier. Throughout his long life, he has met many creatures, and none has he ever feared. This being was no exception. He could feel the rose whip coiling around his body, wanting to protect him, wanting to keep him safe, and it would. It was a sentient being, not controlled by magic, but by energy. It protected Phoenix and was indeed indestructible. Such a weapon has been sought after by many, and Phoenix has had to fight to keep it on numerous occasions.

The footsteps were now upon him and the sword he smelled came crashing down upon him only to be deflected by the swirling whip that smacked against the sword before Phoenix moved back ever so gently, barely making a sound.

“Well, I guess pleasantries are out the window here. That strike, if not deflected, would’ve killed a human, and most other beings both mythical and magical alike,” Phoenix stated, and simply smirked for he was neither. You couldn’t find his kind in any mythical book, and although he could wield magic and use it to his advantage, he was no sorcerer. He was a being of pure energy, something that couldn’t quite be contained, and was used to power other things. Yes he was different, very different, and this warrior was different as well. Now that he had dodged her death strike, he had to think of what to do next. “Very well, I suppose getting this over with as soon as possible would be the best thing to do.” Phoenix was holding in his energy and building it up. He would do what needed to be done when the time came. For now, he would have to keep his distance from this peculiar human, and unleash holy hell when he saw his opening. For now, it was better to be on the defensive. For now, he would feel her out and see what she could deliver.

[Jacogos]

Light suddenly flooded the room. Eight spotlights embedded in the ceiling switched on soundlessly as the stage that had been set began to liven up with the performance of these two lethal actors. The room was immediately basked in light, revealing just how blank and unassuming their box of steel was, as well as probably blinding them in the meantime.

Their mysterious director wasn't done with that, however. In addition to the lights, reality seemed to tangibly shift around the warriors as something changed about their arena. With no more warning than that split second of oddity, the floor instantaneously changed, the once-flat surface now sloping dramatically towards the center of the room on all sides. It was at least a 40 degree incline, easily making it a rough climb towards the edges of the room. The smooth steel was replaced with a similar surface that provided better traction, to compensate.

It would be worth it to note that the warriors positions did not change due to the reality shift as well that the edges of the room's floor remained at the same point they had been. Due to this, the rest of the floor dropped without warning out from under them, a further drop down the closer they were to the center.

A faint chuckle echoed throughout the room from their unseen watcher, but nothing more happened.

[dakkagor]

Opening Fire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql3g1BUVfJs)

Her sabre cut through the air and hit the whip raised to block. She smirked as she pictured the look on the fops face when her lathe blade cut through the soft weapon and on into his shoulder.

She was surprised when the whip resisted, the jolt running down her unprepared arm as her sword bit into something as unyielding and solid as a block of ferrocrete. She staggered back, confused, as the anti-warpcraft runes on the blade burst into blue flame, the arc-welder glow filling the room with shadows and stark light as she pulled the blade back around for another strike. Whatever she had just hit had the power of a Greater Daemon of chaos behind it to get that kind of response from the hexagrammic blade.

“Well, I guess pleasantries are out the window here. That strike, if not deflected, would’ve killed a human, and most other beings both mythical and magical alike",

"Talky frakker" she snarled, circling, blade held in a high guard.

“Very well, I suppose getting this over with as soon as possible would be the best thing to do.”

She braced for an attack, not sure what to expect. What she didn't expect was for the lights to come up, temporarily blinding her. Was this the attack? She took a step backwards and found the floor wasn't there anymore. She fell, hitting the now sloped surface and reflexively going into a roll to lessen the impact. Had the fop done this to the arena? Or was it whatever force had been intruding on her dreams and forcing her to fight these surreal battles? The answer didn't matter right now. What mattered was that she did something right now.

Her sword slammed into the steel floor, the ultra dense, molecule sharp blade augmented with a disruptive powerfield sinking into the steel like a hot knife into butter. She hung grimly on with her left hand, ignoring the sudden spiking pain in her shoulders as she arrested her fall and slide to the bottom of the newly formed pit.

Ignore the old wounds and keep fighting Kally girl.

She unlimbered her boltgun with practiced ease, switching to psybolt ammunition and bringing the weapon to bear on her foe, singlehanded. She was a close combat expert, and that extended to shooting from the hip, or shooting from an disadvantaged position.

Or both at the same time, if necessary. She squeezed the trigger and opened up at full auto, the howling anti-witch rounds streaking towards her foe. Each round was silver tipped, micro etched with holy scripture and infused with the psychically charged tears of mankind's god, The Emperor.

They didn't just shred the body. They tore apart the soul, no matter what you were or where you came from. And she had twenty four of the deadly rounds to kill this freak with.

[RisingPhoenix]

He should’ve known that something was about to happen, but perhaps this was a blessing in disguise more so than a curse. He would need to weigh his options first before acting or reacting. There were things in this world even he didn’t know, thus the reason for his quest, thus the reason he was pitted against warrior after warrior, it was all for knowledge in his book, and yet he hadn’t killed a single one. He may have knocked them unconscious but he hadn’t killed them. This female warrior he faced now was lethal. She knew what she wanted and that was to kill him and prevail, but was he the single most important enemy she had right now? She didn’t even know who he was or what he represented. These thoughts would have to put on hold as the blinding light filled the room. Phoenix shielded his eyes momentarily before looking around seeing the steel box that they were in.

“Clever,” Phoenix said softly.

There was no way of knowing what to expect when in a battle that contained three combatants instead of two. Whoever this individual was who brought them here had a hand in this battle as well. In reality they were just as much involved in this battle as Phoenix and his opponent were, thus there were three combatants. Phoenix knew one thing and one thing for certain. He would make it out of this alive. He had to, for there was so much knowledge he had gained and he had to take it back to analyze it. If he died here all of his hard work would be lost, and he’d be damned if he allowed someone to take it from him. Still more surprises continued to come as the tangible world around them began to shift and change and the steel floor concaved inward towards the center, creating a steel bowl. Thankfully he could fly, and levitate otherwise he’d be in the bottom of the trap. Still when the steel shifted and changed a scent came through the molecules and filtered into his nose. The scent was very familiar, one he had smelled many times over. EARTH! He smelled earth that meant that this box was sitting on top of dirt. He could smell it, and if it hadn’t been for this shift, he probably wouldn’t have smelt it.

He looked into the center of the bowl; it would be the weakest point. He had to cleave through it to get to the earth beneath and plant his seeds of destruction. He hadn’t paid much attention to the girl who had attacked him earlier, but when she slammed her sword into the side of the wall, he looked up at her and sighed. Of course she wouldn’t give up just as he wouldn’t give in. She was as determined as he was. This became apparent when she unleashed round after round of bullets towards Phoenix, but these bullets did not smell like normal bullets. No they weren’t normal bullets at all, he could tell by the way they moved, by the way they smelled and by the way they reacted to him. Still, he had to enact his own plan and he had to get to the center of the bowl. In a quick flash he had vanished from his previous position and was now in the center of the bowl. He didn’t have time to waste, for the warrior gal would be upon him once more shooting her deadly rounds at him.

In an instant he charged up the deadly symbiotic whip and sent it surging towards the steel floor. One thing was certain about his whip, it was no normal whip and it had the power to cleave through steel. He would now test his whip’s abilities. The whip struck the metal and created a small dent. This was not good enough. He repeated his attack over and over, but the steel was unyielding and he could only smirk.

“Then perhaps a different strategy no?” Phoenix stated as he clasped his hands together in a praying manner murmuring words that caused the atmosphere to change. He had closed his eyes momentarily but when he opened them they burned with determination. When he sent the whip into the steel, it pierced it with utter force that caused shrapnel to shoot in every direction. He began tearing the floor apart piece by piece as quickly as he could. When he saw the earth beneath, he smiled and knew this was his time for victory. The steel floor now destroyed, and pristine earth now perfuming the area gave Phoenix renewed hope and strength.

“I am Mother Nature, I am her will, I am her vessel, through me she enacts her vengeance, and through me she lives,” Phoenix said softly as he continued to murmur eerie words. He looked up at the female warrior, knowing she would soon attack him again, but this time he had Mother Nature on his side.

[Jacogos]

With both of the combatants near the bottom of steel pit, the stage once more decided to change. This time, the field morph did not directly affect the combatants, but it might eventually become an issue for these dueling gladiators.

The ceiling, once 20 feet up from where the sloping steel met the walls, now rushed down dramatically, closing in on the fighters and trapping them in an even tighter space. The ceiling stopped where the walls met floor, meaning the metal bowl now reached the ceiling as well. At its deepest point, the well was only 15 feet tall, meaning the arena quickly became cramped within a few feet of the center...

Where the warriors now stood.

Phoenix's efforts did not go unnoticed by the arena master, but the shade did not interfere... for now. Chuckling darkly in the ears of both competitors, he simply waited for the time when they would suffer more for their need of bloodshed.

[dakkagor]

Dauntless (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjviqTgAQVI)

She snarled as the ponce disappeared with barely a whisper of movement, or even the ozone and overpressure of a teleport beam. She let her trigger finger off her boltgun and held fire, scanning the arena. If he could teleport at will, she would have trouble pinning down such a slippery opponent. Not that he had shown much interest in fighting her.

When he reappeared, it was at the bottom of the hole. For a second Kally began to retrain her weapon on her opponent, who seemed to be paying her no attention at all. Then she watched as that daemon-whip began to claw at the base of the pit.

"What the hell." She muttered. It made no sense to try and attack the arena walls, unless there was something outside the arena her opponent needed to fight her off. When his attacks finally revealed bare earth outside the arena, the realization hit her.

Biomancer!

She yanked her blade out of the wall and slid down into the maw of the bit, the smell of earth and torn steel rising to meet her as she sheathed the blade and smoothly switched ammunition types in one clean, economical motion. Above her the ceiling began to close in, and she breathed silent thanks that the ceiling was moving after she had decided to.

“I am Mother Nature, I am her will, I am her vessel, through me she enacts her vengeance, and through me she lives,”

"You aren't nearly pretty enough." She muttered as she lined up her shot and fired again as she slid towards the bottom of the hole. Rounds streaked from her gun and towards her target as she continued to fall. The rounds where ceramic shelled, containing thousands of tiny glass needles coated in virulent mutagenic acid, the feared monster slaying Hellfire round.

Her target wasn't her opponent. The rounds buried into the soft earth, detonating in wet loamy pops as they dug into the earth and their pressure sensors triggered. The salvo hopelessly contaminated the earth beneath the arena, riddling it with toxic shards and pockets of bubbling chemicals, destroying its ability to support any life. She slid to a halt, legs braced, and re-leveled the gun at Phoenix.

"Your move, asshole. How about you fight me, and not the box."

[RisingPhoenix]

Oh how things had shifted in this battle. He had unearthed the very thing that could give him an edge in this battle, and his smile did not come, instead it was replaced with worry. Worry not for his life, but worry because of this girl he was facing. Such youth, and yet such venom she had. The bullets she fired dove deep into the earth he had uncovered, and he felt it when the detonated. He felt the very fiber of his being become toxic. The bullets were meant to prevent life, they were meant to stop any upper hand he may have gained by unearthing quite literally earth. Phoenix sighed. It was so common for people to think that because his abilities were laced deep in mother earth, that by seemingly disabling it, you disabled him, but he had many tricks up his sleeve, tricks that were meant to counter any type of tampering one could do to Mother Nature.

The rose whip dove deep into the earth beneath him, and went to work soon after. The toxins and chemicals absorbed into the whip and then into him. His immunity to any poison came into play as his body absorbed the toxins and dispersed them, making them useless. He closed his eyes, knowing her chances of damaging his chances were now gone. When the toxins were absorbed, the rose whip released thousands of deadly seeds into the earth, their growth heightened by the sheer power Phoenix pushed into them. They would serve their purpose, and what a great purpose it would be. Phoenix’s whip retracted, coiling around him like a venomous snake ready to strike any who dare come near him.

“Now now Rose, she did not mean to disturb the earth with her deadly toxins, she only meant to cause me harm,” Phoenix said to the whip as it continued to slither around him as if upset that Kally would do such a heinous thing as poison mother earth, “do not worry, she will pay for her crimes, but not before she receives the ultimatum.”

Phoenix turned to Kally and shook his head, “we both know how this ends, you attack, I attack, you attack and think you’ve won, but there is so much more to life than that Kally. Surely you have something to go to, something to live life for.”

While he spoke, the seeds began to pull life from the soil around them, germinating and sprouting in seconds. Their sprouts began to break through the ground above them, but not yet breaking the surface. Their purpose would soon be spent and this match would soon be over.

[Kris]

*Revived per request*

[Jacogos]

The air seemed to hum with tension as the next phase of the arena's shifting began, subtly righting what it had wronged through its past few interferences. The rounded floor now flattened itself out, creating another 'box' fifteen feet high and 20 x 20 yards.

Well, 20 x 20 yards of nonlethal space, that is. For at the edge of this area, the walls were now completely riddled with steel spikes of varying sharpness. The ceiling, though unmoving, seemed to loom closer overhead as the two warrior came closer to their finales. All the while, the dark voice chuckled quietly under its breath in the ears of the competitors, egging them on to deal their decisive blows.

[dakkagor]

The floor leveled out and she climbed to her feet, with more speed than grace. She yanked her blade out of the floor, spinning it in the palm of her had once, back into the guard position, the bolter held at her side.

"Seriously?" she muttered as she watched the walls change to spike lined traps, and she listened to the freaks droning words. Was that an attempt at a threat? Was that the best this prancing nancy boy, this wilting willow of the person could come up with? She'd seen scarier attempts at intimidation from wounded animals. Shrugging her shoulders she re-sheathed her sword, then slung the boltgun over her shoulder.

"You don't scare me." She spared the fop a withering glare. "This isn't real, neither are you, and even if you where, you are still some thin-limbed freak I could snap with a lead pipe. Don't think knowing my name gives you some kind of edge over me. So why don't you shut up and die already."

She snap drew both her laspistols, the heavy steel-burners she kept in hip holsters. She pulled them and centered them on his torso in the time it took to blink, reflexes honed by hundreds of gunfights. Her fingers twitched and both pistols spat bolts of ruby death into Phoenix, and she emptied the two power packs at full auto, maximum power, the air shrieking with the sound as the pistols poured fire into Phoenix and his whip. As she did she advanced, stalking forwards in an attempt to drive him back, onto the wall of spikes.